Month: January 2021

Categories
Health

India coronavirus vaccine candidate from Cadila Healthcare

India coronavirus vaccine candidate from Cadila Healthcare

SINGAPORE – Indian drug maker Cadila Healthcare is about to start a phase 3 clinical trial for a potential coronavirus vaccine, its chairman told CNBC.

“We are now entering the third phase, which will begin very, very soon,” Pankaj Patel told CNBC’s “Street Signs Asia” on Tuesday.

He said the process will involve around 30,000 volunteers and take around three to three and a half months.

The pharmaceutical company, also known as Zydus Cadila, announced on Sunday that it had received approval from India’s Medicines Agency to begin its Phase 3 clinical trial after previous studies found its DNA vaccine candidate was “safe, well tolerated and immunogenic “.

“We saw that the antibody response was very, very good, in the range of 20 to 80-fold increases in antibodies after the vaccine was given,” said Patel, adding studies that so far indicated that the volunteers the vaccine responded well to it. “We also saw good virus neutralization with it and we didn’t see any side effects to be concerned about.”

“Overall we have very good results and we believe that phase three should actually show us the exact effectiveness of the vaccine,” said Patel. Cadila’s candidate will likely become India’s second domestically developed Covid-19 vaccine when it receives regulatory approval following its phase three study.

Ground staff walk past a container that is being held at Freight Terminal 2 at Indira Gandhi International Airport and will be used as a COVID-19 center for vaccine handling and distribution on December 22, 2020 in New Delhi, India, according to officials becomes.

Anushree Fadnavis | Reuters

Unlike some other Covid-19 vaccines that require extremely cold storage temperatures, Cadila’s candidate can be kept stable at room temperature, according to Patel. That would make it easier to distribute to remote parts of India.

Patel stated that the company already has a distribution system in India and has invested in expanding its manufacturing capacity. He added that the company is also in advanced talks with several other countries to deliver the potential vaccine once it’s ready, but declined to name the nations.

South Asia’s largest country currently has more than 10.35 million reported cases of coronavirus infection, second only to the US. According to the Johns Hopkins University, almost 150,000 people in India are said to have died of Covid-19. However, official figures suggest that the number of cases of active infections is decreasing.

The Indian Medicines Agency on Sunday approved the restricted use of two coronavirus vaccines in emergency situations. One of them is a vaccine developed by AstraZeneca and Oxford University and made locally by the Serum Institute of India. The other was developed by India’s Bharat Biotech in partnership with the Indian State Council for Local Medical Research and received emergency approval if clinical trials continue.

Categories
Politics

Justice Dept. Seeks to Pare Again Civil Rights Protections for Minorities

Justice Dept. Seeks to Pare Back Civil Rights Protections for Minorities

The Trump administration has long sought to remove protections for groups at risk of such effects, arguing that the civil rights law passed by Congress only protects against willful acts of discrimination.

The administration had taken legal objections from conservative allies, including the influential Heritage Foundation, and placed the ordinance on a list of anti-discrimination laws advocated by the Obama administration, whose provisions it would revise after President Trump won a second term.

“Federal agencies are full of guidelines that take the multiple impact approach and the Trump administration needs to stamp them out,” wrote Roger Clegg, former president and general counsel of the Center for Equal Opportunity, a conservative think tank, in The National Review Year 2018.

The Trump administration has already signaled its objections to the concept and has taken steps to undermine it.

In 2017, the government closed a complaint from civil rights groups, including the NAACP Legal Protection and Education Fund, on the grounds that Republican Governor Larry Hogan’s cancellation of a major transportation project in Maryland called Red Line violated civil rights Act, because it disproportionately hurts the city’s black residents. The transportation department put the complaint, which opened on the last day of the Obama administration, on hold with no result or explanation.

The ordinance’s fiercest condemnation came in 2018, when the Trump administration essentially accused an Obama-era guidance document addressing the disproportionate disciplinary rates among black children in the U.S. for the mass shooting of a troubled white student in Parkland Fla.

Trump administration officials tried extensively to tie the document to the doctrine of different effects. In the days leading up to the revocation of the document by the Ministries of Education and Justice in December 2018, a federal school safety commission, led by Education Minister Betsy DeVos, published a report recommending that the guidelines be withdrawn because they are “based on different legal theory , but this theory lacks a foundation in applicable law. “It called the reading of the document of the law” at best dubious “.

Categories
Entertainment

Tanya Roberts, a Charlie’s Angel and a Bond Lady, Is Lifeless at 65

Tanya Roberts, a Charlie’s Angel and a Bond Girl, Is Dead at 65

Tanya Roberts, the breathless actress who became famous in the 1980s as a detective for “Charlie’s Angels” and as the brave earth scientist in the James Bond film “A View to a Kill”, died on Monday evening in Los Angeles. She was 65 years old.

Her death at Cedars Sinai Hospital was confirmed Tuesday by her companion Lance O’Brien. Her publicist, who received false information, announced her death to the news media early Monday, and some news organizations prematurely published obituary notices about her.

Publicist Mike Pingel said Ms. Roberts collapsed on December 24 after walking her dogs near her Hollywood Hills home and was plugged into a ventilator in the hospital. He did not provide the cause of death but said it was not related to Covid-19. He said she wasn’t noticeably ill before she collapsed.

Ms. Roberts’ big hiatus came in her mid-twenties when she followed the exploits of three attractive ex-cops who frequently fought crime on the fifth and final season of Charlie’s Angels, the ABC drama series that dealt with the sex appeal of its stars, wore shorts, low-cut blouses and even bikinis.

The show was an instant hit in 1976, but Farrah Fawcett, its breakout star, left the show after a season and was replaced by Cheryl Ladd. Kate Jackson quit in 1979 and her successor, Shelley Hack, was gone after just one season. Mrs. Roberts replaced Mrs. Hack. Jaclyn Smith appeared throughout the series run.

There were high hopes for Ms. Roberts as she joined the cast. Her character, Julie, had some of the streetwise demeanor of Ms. Jackson’s character; Julie was known to hit a gun straight out of the hand of a tough criminal. Her part couldn’t save the show’s falling ratings, but it did lead to an active decade for her in Hollywood.

Most importantly, she was a “Bond girl” who played a geologist threatened by a microchip monopoly (Christopher Walken) in “A View to a Kill” (1985), Roger Moore’s last appearance as Agent 007.

Ms. Roberts also appeared in “The Beastmaster” (1982), a fantasy film. And she played the title role in Sheena (1984), a highly acclaimed adventure film inspired by a comic book character of the Queen of the Jungle. Sheena, a Tarzan woman, wore skimpy fur outfits with a cleavage, rode a zebra, talked to animals and changed her shape. The film flopped at the box office and Ms. Roberts began to disappear from the public eye.

She returned to the limelight on the 1998 sitcom That ’70s Show as the glamorous young mom of a Midwestern teenager (Laura Prepon). In this role she was beautiful, slim and sexy – and delightfully dark. The comical puzzle was, year after year, how her chubby little husband, played by Don Stark with terrifyingly overgrown sideburns, had ever captured her heart. Ms. Roberts appeared on the show for three seasons and later made guest visits.

She was born Victoria Leigh Blum on October 15, 1955 in the Bronx, the second of two daughters of Oscar Maximilian Blum, a fountain pen salesman, and Dorothy Leigh (Smith) Blum. According to some sources, Tanya was her nickname. She spent her childhood in the Bronx and lived briefly in Canada after her parents divorced. She started her career by running away from home to become a model when she was 15.

Back in New York, she studied acting, appeared in a few off Broadway productions and worked as a model and dance teacher to make ends meet. Her modeling career included working for Clairol and Ultra-Brite toothpaste. She made her film debut in the horror thriller “The Last Victim” (1976) about a serial rapist-murderer.

After “Charlie’s Angels,” Ms. Roberts starred on both television and films. Her roles included private secretary Mike Hammer’s secretary in the television movie “Murder Me, Murder You” (1983), an undercover detective in a sex clinic in “Sins of Desire” (1993) and a talk radio host for the adult anthology series “Hot Line” “(1994-96). Her last screen appearance was in 2005 on the Showtime series “Barbershop”.

Even in her prime, Ms. Roberts did not seem to enjoy being interviewed. She chatted with Johnny Carson on The Tonight Show in 1981, laughing nervously, giving brief replies, and flirting with her fellow guest, Michael Landon. At one point, Mr. Carson mentioned a cover article about her in People magazine and asked Ed McMahon, the host’s pal, to suggest, “Maybe there is something in the magazine that would be interesting.”

Ms. Roberts was a teenager when she married in 1971, but the union was quickly broken at the urging of her new mother-in-law. In 1974 she met psychology student Barry Roberts while they were queuing up in a movie theater. They got married that year. Mr Roberts became a screenwriter and died in 2006 at the age of 60.

Besides Mr. O’Brien, she survives a sister, Barbara Chase, who was Timothy Leary’s fourth wife.

Ms. Roberts had always insisted that she was New York at heart, and not just because she hated driving.

“LA drives you crazy,” she said in the 1981 People magazine article. “I’m used to the weather and walking and people who say what they mean.”

Categories
Business

Examine says many unable to return to work six months later

Study says many unable to return to work six months later

As the first step in the largest vaccination campaign in Argentina’s history, first line health workers are receiving the Russian Sputnik V vaccine against the coronavirus.

Patricio Murphy | SOPA pictures | LightRocket | Getty Images

LONDON – The largest global study to date on Long Covid found that many people who suffer from persistent illness after being infected with Covid-19 cannot work at full capacity six months later.

The term “Long Covid” refers to patients who, after initially contracting the virus, suffer from a prolonged illness with symptoms such as shortness of breath, migraines and chronic fatigue.

Public discourse on the pandemic has mainly focused on people with severe or fatal illness, with the ongoing medical problems either underestimated or misunderstood. However, recent studies have shown that an increasing number of Covid patients experience persistent symptoms, with some patients referring to themselves as “long-distance drivers”.

A preliminary study, published Tuesday on MedRxiv, is believed to be the largest collection of symptoms yet identified in the long Covid population.

In the non-peer-reviewed study, the researchers interviewed 3,762 people aged 18 to 80 from 56 countries to identify the symptoms and other problems resulting from the long Covid.

205 symptoms were recorded in 10 organ systems, with 66 symptoms followed over seven months. On average, the respondents had symptoms from nine organ systems.

What were the results of the study?

The most common symptoms after six months were: fatigue, post-exercise fatigue, and cognitive dysfunction, sometimes called brain fog.

Respondents with symptoms over six months had an average of 13.8 symptoms by the seventh month. This is evident from the study by members of patient-led research for COVID-19, a self-organized group of patients with long coviden who are also researchers.

Over 45% of respondents said they needed a reduced work schedule compared to their previous illness, and 22.3% said they were not working at the time of the survey due to their state of health. Almost 86% experienced relapses, with exercise, physical or mental activity, and stress identified as the main triggers.

The analysis was limited to suspected and confirmed Covid cases with an illness that lasted more than 28 days and started before June. This should allow for an examination of symptoms over an average of six months, the researchers said.

A woman wearing a protective face mask walks on the levee at Stanley Park on January 4, 2021 in Vancouver, Canada.

Andrew Chin | Getty Images Entertainment | Getty Images

“We mustn’t forget Long Covid,” said Dr. Gabriel Scally, President of Epidemiology at the Royal Society of Medicine, on Tuesday via Twitter.

“Thousands of new cases develop every day. Vaccination is critical, but it needs to be carried out effectively and backed by other control measures that the Independent Sage has tirelessly advocated,” said Scally, a member of the scientific group that provides scientific advice on the pandemic British government and public.

The results of the study come from countries across Europe adopting tough new health measures to contain the spread of the coronavirus.

According to the Johns Hopkins University, more than 85 million people worldwide have infected Covid with 1.85 million deaths.

Categories
Health

Operating low on oxygen, emergency employees in Los Angeles County are advised to manage the minimal vital.

Running low on oxygen, emergency workers in Los Angeles County are told to administer the minimum necessary.

California’s daily coronavirus case numbers remain about four times what it was during the state’s summer flood, and officials predict the aftermath of a December wave related to holiday gatherings will worsen over the winter.

After new infections – fueled by Thanksgiving trips and gatherings, then Christmas festivities – led to a surge the state hadn’t seen before, the trend in its new cases flattened somewhat in the early days of 2021.

But there are more than twice as many Covid-19 patients in California hospitals as there were a month ago, and many intensive care units in the state are overcrowded. It has also been found that at least six people in the state are infected with the new, more transmissible variant of the virus first identified in the UK.

The state is also facing a lack of oxygen for patients and has deployed the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the California Emergency Medical Services Authority to help with the delivery and refilling of oxygen tanks.

As a sign of how bad the shortage is, Marianne Gausche-Hill, the medical director of the Los Angeles County EMS agency, issued guidelines on Sunday for emergency responders to administer the “minimum amount of oxygen” required keep the patient’s oxygen saturation at a level or just over 90 percent. (Levels in their low 90s or below are an issue for people with Covid-19.)

In the brutal logic of the pandemic, more cases inevitably lead to more suffering and death. As of Monday evening, 4,258 people had died with Covid-19 in the past two weeks, compared to 3,043 in the two weeks prior.

Updated

Jan. 5, 2021, 6:31 p.m. ET

“This is a deadly disease, this is a deadly pandemic,” Governor Gavin Newsom told reporters on Monday. “It remains deadlier today than at any point in the history of the pandemic.”

Some progress has been made. For example, California’s daily average of 38,086 cases per day for the past week is an 11 percent decrease from the average for two weeks earlier. And although hospital stays in Covid-19 have increased 18 percent to 20,618 in the past two weeks, that means a slight flattening of the curve, according to Governor Newsom.

But the state’s last major Covid-19 surge in the summer only caused about 10,000 infections on the worst days. And in Los Angeles County, the recent crisis has made the healthcare system so thin that patients arriving at a hospital were recently ordered to wait in an outdoor tent.

Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti said Sunday that the county’s recent spike infected a new person every six seconds and that many transmissions were in private settings.

“It’s a message for all of America: We may not all have the same density as LA, but what is happening in LA can and will come to many churches in America,” he said.

The state’s worst outbreak is centered in southern California and the San Joaquin Valley, where intensive care units are zero percent. Officials are now working to recruit additional nurses to handle the flood of patients. Governor Newsom said 90 patients were being held in “alternative care locations” outside of hospitals to ease the burden.

More vaccinations would help ease the burden on California, but Governor Newsom said vaccinations were only just increasing after some early challenges. So far, the state has only administered about 35 percent of the coronavirus vaccine doses received.

“That’s not good enough,” he said. “We recognize that.”

In the meantime, says Dr. Mark Ghaly, the secretary of state for health and human services, Californians should be extra careful when meeting with people outside of their household as the virus is so widespread.

“The same activities that you did a month ago today are much riskier today than from a Covid transmission perspective,” he said.

Categories
Business

Gordon ‘Butch’ Stewart, Founding father of Sandals Resorts, Dies at 79

Gordon 'Butch' Stewart, Founder of Sandals Resorts, Dies at 79

But he was itching to start his own business, the family declaration said, and he seized an opportunity in 1968 when he saw the appeal of air conditioning for people living in an island climate. He started his first company, Appliance Traders Ltd., after starting Fedders Corp. from Edison, New Jersey, to represent the brand in Jamaica.

From there, Mr. Stewart developed his overall business philosophy: “Find out what people want, give it to them, and exceed their expectations in the process,” says the family statement. Adam Stewart initially said this included being ready to install air conditioners for his customers at any time of the day or night.

“He did whatever it took,” said Adam Stewart.

Mr. Stewart’s work with the Sandals and Beaches resorts has resulted in leadership roles in the Jamaica tourism industry, including a decade as director of the Jamaica Tourist Board. In 1992, his Butch Stewart initiative pumped $ 1 million a week into the foreign exchange market to halt the decline in the Jamaican dollar.

In 1994, he led a group of investors who took control of Air Jamaica, the Caribbean’s largest regional airline. He put together an investment group that paid $ 37.5 million for 70 percent of the airline and gave itself a 46 percent stake.

The move was the kind of grand public gesture that Mr Stewart had become famous for, according to the New York Times in an article about the move.

At the helm of the troubled national airline, Mr. Stewart began adding routes and improving service. As part of the turnaround, he increased the airline’s turnover and gained market share from competitors.

“One thing you have to give Butch Stewart is he’ll try anything to make the company work,” Peter J. Dolara, then senior vice president of American Airlines, told The Times. “The man is a fierce competitor.”

Categories
Politics

Congress is ready to substantiate Joe Biden’s win over Trump. Here is what to know

Congress is set to confirm Joe Biden's win over Trump. Here's what to know

The U.S. Capitol Building is reflected in a puddle in Washington, United States, on November 10, 2020.

Hannah McKay | Reuters

Congress on Wednesday will count and confirm the votes cast by the electoral college, a process that will virtually finalize President-elect Joe Biden’s victory despite recent plans by some Republicans to question the election results.

The joint session will begin at 1:00 p.m. CET in the House Chamber, and Vice President Mike Pence is expected to chair.

In previous presidential cycles, the event was viewed as more of a formality than another battle in the White House war. After all, it comes more than three weeks after state voters have cast their votes and almost a month after what is known as the safe harbor to settle disputes over the results.

Yet more than a dozen GOP senators and dozens more in the House of Representatives have vowed to raise an unprecedented number of objections to electoral votes in key states despite Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., And other Republicans abandoning the crusade . This could add hours or even days to the certification process, but experts say the final result will stay the same.

“The ultimate outcome, I think, is inevitable,” said Keith Whittington, policy professor at Princeton University, in an interview with CNBC. “It’s just a matter of how long it will be to get there and how many fireworks will be on the way.”

U.S. President-elect Joe Biden jokingly thanks voters for Georgia confirming its victory three times as he camped on behalf of Georgia Democratic U.S. Senate candidates Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock during a January 5 runoff during a car campaign rally in Atlanta, Georgia, Jan. 4, 2021.

Jonathan Ernst | Reuters

The objectors, some of whom are rumored to have presidential ambitions, reworded Wednesday’s joint session as a final opportunity to cast doubts on the electoral process and press for a 10-day review of the results in a number of battlefield states.

Senator Josh Hawley, R-Mo., Was the first in the chamber to announce appeal plans and eleven others, led by Senator Ted Cruz, R-Texas, argued in a later statement that “unprecedented allegations of electoral fraud” and “deep “Suspicion” of the results requires investigation.

None of these senators’ statements made any mention of President Donald Trump, who has a broad and dedicated base of Republican support, had been relentlessly promoting unsubstantiated and exposed fraud conspiracies since the November 3 elections. The president and his allies have also filed dozens of lawsuits aimed at overturning the election results, including in the Supreme Court, but almost all of them have been denied.

Trump refuses to admit Biden, falsely claiming he won the race while pressuring state officials to change the results of their elections and attack Republicans who refused to participate.

The President’s unsubstantiated claim that his election was stolen from him and that many votes for Biden should be rejected poses a threat to Republicans. McConnell reportedly warned his caucus that following Trump’s wishes by objecting to the election count would force a vote that would likely split the party.

This could also cause discomfort to the Vice President, an unwavering loyalist to Trump who is expected to lead the session and ultimately declare Biden the winner. Experts say Pence’s role in the process is largely ceremonial, but Trump has appeared to have been hanging hopes for the past few days on the Vice President, who “comes through” for him on Wednesday.

“If he doesn’t get through, I won’t like him that much, of course,” Trump said Monday night at a rally in Georgia.

Political experts have also warned that Trump’s efforts to undermine confidence in elections could dampen GOP turnout in Georgia’s key runoff races on Tuesday, the results of which will determine Senate party control. On Saturday, Trump pressed the Georgian Foreign Minister Brad Raffensperger in a one-hour phone call To “find” enough votes to undo Biden’s victory there.

After a replay of the call was leaked, Senator Kelly Loeffler, R-Ga., Said on the eve of her race against Democratic candidate Rev. Raphael Warnock that she, too, would appeal. David Perdue, who is running against Jon Ossoff and whose term as Senator in Georgia expired on Sunday, also called on Senate Republicans to raise objections.

Once Congress finishes counting, Biden’s final step is to take the oath of office on January 20th.

This is how the meeting in Congress on Wednesday is expected to go:

The electoral list

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) swears new members of Congress during the first session of the 117th Congress in the Chamber of the House in the U.S. Capitol in Washington, DC, United States, on January 3, 2021.

Thassos Catopodis Reuters

The procedure is scheduled to begin in the house at 1:00 p.m. ET.

Pence receives the electoral lists of the states in alphabetical order. The Republican and Democratic leaders of the House Administration Committee and Senate Rules Committee will receive and count these votes.

Once a state’s record is released, Pence will ask if there are any objections. If at least one member of the Senate and one member of the House objects in writing, the two chambers will be divided for up to two hours of debate. You will then vote on the objections separately.

Traditionally, everything is “pretty superficial,” Whittington said. “It doesn’t take long to open all of the envelopes, record the votes, and then make an announcement.”

All objections are expected to be denied – but the possibility of separate debates over the highlights of several states could mean that the process will drag on far longer than in previous elections. For the past three cycles, certification took less than an hour total, according to NBC News.

Once the votes are counted and the objections resolved, Pence will announce the election results.

Pence in the spotlight

Vice President Mike Pence finishes a swearing in ceremony for senators in the Old Senate Chamber on Capitol Hill on January 3, 2021 in Washington, DC. Both chambers hold rare Sunday events to open the new Congress on January 3rd, as the constitution dictates.

J. Scott Applewhite | Getty Images

Pence, believed to be weighing a 2024 presidential campaign, is likely eager to do whatever it takes to avoid a barrage of criticism from Trump. The president has repeatedly cracked down on other Republicans he previously supported, particularly Georgia Governor Brian Kemp, after they refused to sustain his election overthrow efforts.

Experts say Pence, in his narrow role at Wednesday’s joint session, can do little.

“He opens the ballot. That’s his job,” said Neil Kinkopf, law professor at Georgia State University.

In carefully worded remarks to Georgia voters on Monday, Pence telegraphed support for the president and suggested that he let the process go as expected.

“I know we all have our doubts about the last election. And I want to assure you that I share the concerns of millions of Americans about electoral irregularities,” he said. “And I promise you, come this Wednesday, we’ll have our day in Congress. We’ll hear the objections. We’ll hear the evidence.”

Even so, Trump and his allies have falsely claimed that Pence’s powers are far greater.

“The Vice President has the power to reject fraudulently elected voters,” Trump tweeted on Tuesday.

In late December, Texas Republican MP Louie Gohmert, along with a group of Arizona Republicans, urged a federal court to declare that Pence had a unilateral power to decide which votes to count.

The long-term offer, in which Pence himself was listed as a defendant, was severely pushed back by a Justice Department attorney who represented the vice president. The lawsuit was dismissed last week.

Categories
World News

Your Wednesday Briefing – The New York Occasions

Your Wednesday Briefing - The New York Times

With the highest number of coronavirus infections in Southeast Asia, Indonesia is keen to start vaccinating in the coming weeks. However, one thing stands in the way of the hundreds of millions of Muslims: is the vaccine halal?

After waiting months for responses from Sinovac, the Chinese manufacturer whose shot is being distributed there, the clergy received a one-sentence answer that said: The vaccine was “made free of pig materials”. Religious leaders want more details as even the smallest amount of pork DNA could deter some devout Muslims from taking it.

President Joko Widodo has rejected concerns, saying the emergency situation is the greater priority. It is possible for a fatwa to be issued, as has been done in the past. Islamic authorities in other countries with large Muslim populations such as Malaysia and the United Arab Emirates have already declared the vaccine legal.

The goal: Indonesia hopes to vaccinate 181.5 million adults within 15 months.

Here are the latest updates and maps of the pandemic.

Voters take part in the elections in Georgia to decide which party has control of the Senate. On Wednesday, Congress will meet to confirm President-elect Joe Biden’s victory, while Republicans make one last attempt to scrap the election results.

The elections in Georgia are turning into a nail biter. In November, no candidate received 50 percent of the vote. Early voting data and polls show that the race is very close again.

If the Republicans keep control of the Senate, it will be much harder for Mr Biden to get his agenda through. Republicans need only win one of the two races to retain control of the Senate. Democrats need both to regain control. There is something to see here.

Next Up: Voting in Congress to confirm the results of the presidential election is a procedural step that Americans would ignore in most elections. But it has taken on new meaning in a year the president tried to derail the process.

Some Republicans are planning a final showdown to invalidate Mr Biden’s win, but they will almost certainly fail. Follow our latest updates here.

For the first time since the census was recorded, the number of newborns in South Korea fell below the number of deaths last year. A shrinking and rapidly aging population could lead to a long-term crisis in one of the world’s major economies.

The coronavirus pandemic may have contributed to the problem: Although the death toll was low at around 1,000 people, the health crisis may have deterred people from having children or from marrying. Successive governments have tried to provide financial incentives for couples to have more children without success.

The payment: There were 275,815 births, a decrease of 10.65 percent from 2019 and 307,764 deaths, an increase of 3.1 percent from 2019. South Korea’s birth rate is the lowest in the world.

Residents of the Pigeon Pavilion in California wake up in private rooms with views of the forested Santa Cruz Mountains and relax in landscaped courtyards throughout the day. It might sound like a resort, but the center is a mental health facility that opened in June.

Psychiatric hospitals have been a dire situation for decades. However, new research into the health effects of our surroundings is driving the development of mental health facilities that are cozy, calming, and supportive, with private spaces and more greenery.

Vietnam journalists: Three journalists were sentenced to 11 and 15 years’ imprisonment, including a prominent reporter who wrote for foreign news organizations and campaigned for the freedom of the press. As Congress draws closer to the ruling Communist Party, the authorities arrested or prosecuted its loudest critics.

Death penalty for China: Lai Xiaomin, the former chairman of Huarong Asset Management, was sentenced to death Tuesday. This is a rare and dramatic example of Beijing’s use of the death penalty for economic crimes. He was convicted of $ 277 million in bribes.

Blockade in Qatar: Representatives of several Gulf states signed an agreement to ease Qatar’s isolation from its Arab neighbors, who have blocked the country since 2017 when neighbors accused it of coordinating too closely with Iran. The deal came a day after Saudi Arabia agreed to reopen its borders and airspace to Qatar.

Snapshot: Above, a group in a rented igloo between curling games in New York City. Restaurants and cafes that can only dine outdoors get creative in a gloomy winter. Heated huts, igloos and games like ice stock sport are popping up in the city.

What we read: This Der Spiegel interview with BioNTech founders Özlem Türeci and Uğur Şahin. It contains reassuring information about the virus variant (yes, the vaccine will continue to be effective against it) and insight into the amazing life of this “first pair of medicines”.

Cook: This yam and plantain curry with crispy shallots is an adaptation of Asaro, a dish made from starchy root vegetables cooked in a flavored tomato and chili-based sauce and served in southern Nigeria and other parts of West Africa.

Read: “Himalaya: A Human History” by Ed Douglas, journalist and climber, tells the story of the highest mountains in the world and its equally enormous impact on humanity.

To do: Imagine you are in Cartagena. The Colombian city is so magical that it has inspired entire books by Gabriel García Márquez.

Whether books or baking, we have everything for you. At home, you have ideas for what to read, cook, see, and do while being safe at home.

David Vecsey, a Times editor, wrote about the gaffes and mistakes that can keep him up at night. Here is an excerpt.

It’s a feeling every editor knows. At 3 am you wake up from a deep sleep with your eyes open and say to yourself: Did I misspell “Kyrgyzstan” last night? And nine times out of ten, you can easily go back to sleep knowing you’ve done it.

Copy editors have an almost photographic memory when it comes to the words that pass before our eyes. Unfortunately, the cameras we use are those old-fashioned tripods that use flaming magnesium for a flash and take hours or even days to develop the images.

But at some point it all comes back in a rush of clarity. You might be pushing your toddler through the park on a glorious, sunny day off if you suddenly wonder: Did I say Dallas was the capital of Texas last week? Yes. Yes you did You idiot.

My job, put simply, is to get things right. So there’s no worse feeling than realizing that you’ve put a correctable mistake on the press and that a day or two later a correction will come up to say, “Because of an editing error …”

The Times has strict guidelines for correcting it: if it’s wrong, even if it’s online or in a print issue for a few minutes, get it corrected. It is this commitment to accuracy that deserves the trust of our readers.

Reading proofs in the New York Times is like taking a guided tour through the pitfalls of journalism. Here you will discover the Ginsberg-Ginsburg Vortex, a black hole that has engulfed many journalists who have confused the names of the poet and justice.

When I’ve learned one thing, there is one thing you need to shrug off your mistakes and move on. And one day I’ll learn from God how to do that.

That’s it for this briefing. Until next time.

– Melina

Many Thanks
To Theodore Kim and Jahaan Singh for the break from the news. You can reach the team at briefing@nytimes.com.

PS
• We listen to “The Daily”. Our latest installment is part 2 of a series about the Georgia Senate runoff races.
• Here is our mini crossword puzzle and a clue: Enthusiastic (five letters). You can find all of our puzzles here.
• Katie Glueck, our main reporter for the Biden campaign, joins Metro as Chief Political Correspondent.

Categories
Business

Gary Cohn joins IBM as vice chairman

Gary Cohn joins IBM as vice chairman

Gary Cohn, former President of Goldman Sachs and economic advisor to President Donald Trump, joins IBM as vice chairman.

Cohn announced the move in a tweet Tuesday morning in which he said it was “an honor” to be a member of the company’s board of directors.

IBM shares rose around 1.2% after the news.

CNBC’s Jim Cramer said the announcement was “an exciting move for IBM. Gary can be a change agent.”

In the new role, Cohn will act as advisor to IBM CEO Arvind Krishna, who took over the company in April with a promise to expand its reach into artificial intelligence and cloud computing.

That could make Cohn an unusual choice, given that his experience is mostly in finance and economics. He served Goldman as chairman and chief operating officer for nearly 11 years before accepting Trump’s appointment as director of the National Economic Council.

While at the White House, he helped Shepherds through the record tax cut package in 2017, but later ran into conflict with the president. He left the advisory position in April 2018 and was replaced by former CNBC host Larry Kudlow.

Upon returning to the private sector, Cohn partnered with Cliff Robbins to create Cohn Robbins Holding Corp and set up a special purpose vehicle (SPAC). Despite accepting the position at IBM, Cohn said he would continue with Robbins.

Categories
Health

Israel to enter third nationwide lockdown regardless of profitable Covid vaccination marketing campaign

Israel to enter third national lockdown despite successful Covid vaccination campaign

Despite its early success with the introduction of the Covid-19 vaccine, Israel is quickly facing a third national lockdown amid the spread of the virus.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and members of his cabinet blame a faster spread, first seen in the UK last month. Israeli officials confirmed four cases of the strain on December 23, days after British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said it was an emerging problem.

An ultra-Orthodox Jewish man receives a vaccination against coronavirus disease (COVID-19) as Israel continues its national vaccination campaign during a third national COVID lockdown at a Maccabi Healthcare Services office in Ashdod, Israel, on December 29, 2020.

Amir Cohen | Reuters

In a cabinet meeting Tuesday, Netanyahu told ministers, “We are in a state of emergency” as ministers agreed to a lockdown beginning Friday that closes schools, non-essential businesses and forces residents to be within a kilometer of their homes to stop.

It does so amid a global turmoil over a slow adoption of vaccines in the US and elsewhere that Israel largely avoided.

Tom, 69, and Judy Barrett, 67, of Marco Island wait in line early in the morning at the Lakes Park Regional Library to receive the COVID-19 vaccine in Fort Myers, Florida, the United States, on Dec. 30, 2020 . 2020.

Andrew West | USAToday | Reuters

Israeli officials have boasted that the country vaccinated more people in the first nine days of its vaccination campaign than it has had Covid-19 infections since the pandemic began.

The country had already vaccinated around 7% of its 9.2 million inhabitants last week. The Israeli Ministry of Health plans that up to 90% of the “at risk” population will receive their second of two shots from the Pfizer BioNTech vaccine within the next 25 days.

The effectiveness of its vaccination campaign has made it a potential model for the rest of the world, epidemiologists say.

Israel has an early advantage, said Dr. Itamar Grotto, Deputy Director General of the Israeli Ministry of Health and one of those responsible for the prosecution. “We have a national vaccination registry that was set up a few years ago. The whole country is in one database,” he said in an exclusive interview with CNBC.

Registration was started to ensure that children get all of their recordings. This infrastructure enabled Israel to be better prepared for this outbreak than many other countries fighting the virus. Israel had a terrifying dry run for Covid-19 when it was hit by a wild-type poliovirus outbreak in 2013.

The country brought this disease under control with an intensive vaccination campaign that paved the way for today’s vaccine database.

Israel’s medical infrastructure offers several other advantages, he said:

  • Medical care in Israel is largely socialized.
  • Israel only has four health organizations serving citizens across the country while many other nations have more competition in the system.
  • These HMOs are all linked to the country’s national health service, which keeps records of every Israeli citizen.
  • The whole system will be digitized under a single national system.

Before packages containing the Pfizer BioNTech vaccine arrived in Israel on December 9, a government-appointed panel began clarifying who would get the shots in the first wave.

Cardboard boxes containing the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine are being prepared for shipment at the Pfizer Global Supply Kalamazoo manufacturing facility in Portage, Michigan on December 13, 2020.

Morry Gash | Pool | Reuters

At the same time, the Ministry of Health began setting up a communication and distribution system so that the vials of the vaccine could arrive immediately, he said.

Patients in the database of the first group who received the vaccine were given an appointment via email, text, or an online registration form with a date and time period to receive their shot. Regular clinics, community centers, hospitals and some sports stadiums have been converted into vaccination centers and staffed with previously trained health care workers awaiting action, he said.

Because the vaccine cannot be frozen after thawing, Israel is encouraging vaccination site managers to use any dose.

According to Grotto, there is a ready list of people who can intervene at short notice if other people fail to show up at the end of the day. Officials at distribution centers also divide the vials into smaller packages suitable for each center. This is another attempt at avoiding waste.

However, the challenges facing Israel are far from over. Health officials recently confirmed that nearly 500 doses were wasted in the south of the country because health workers failed to get enough people ready to come to vaccination centers.

Israel expects more deliveries from Pfizer. Business has also been made with Moderna and AstraZeneca, but these recordings have not yet been delivered. But they are expected soon. Israel is also working on its own vaccine, but there is no word on when it will be ready.