Month: April 2021

Health

U.S. Requires Pause on Johnson & Johnson Vaccine After Blood Clotting Instances

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Post date April 13, 2021

U.S. Calls for Pause on Johnson & Johnson Vaccine After Blood Clotting Cases

Dr. Marks said the federal government hadn’t issued an order to suspend the vaccine, adding that health care providers could decide that for a given patient, the benefits of a shot outweigh the risks. “We’re not going to stop this provider from giving the vaccine because it might be right,” he said.

The decision is a new blow for Johnson & Johnson. Late last month, the company discovered that employees at a subcontracted facility in Baltimore had accidentally contaminated a batch of vaccine, forcing the company to throw away the equivalent of 13-15 million cans. That facility would handle the delivery of the vaccine to the US from Johnson & Johnson’s Dutch plants, which were federal certified earlier this year.

FDA certification of the Baltimore facility has now been delayed while inspectors investigate quality control issues and severely reduce the supply of Johnson & Johnson vaccines. The sudden drop in available doses sparked widespread complaints from governors and state health officials who had anticipated much larger deliveries of Johnson & Johnson’s vaccine this week than they did.

States have used the vaccine in a variety of settings, including at mass vaccination sites and on college campuses. The vaccine’s one-shot approach has proven popular, and officials have directed it to temporary, rural, and isolated communities where second-dose follow-up is more complicated.

It is common for regulators to investigate “safety signals” in new vaccines and other medical products. Very often the signals do not turn out to be critical. However, concerns about Johnson & Johnson’s vaccine echoes concerns about AstraZeneca’s vaccine, which European regulators investigated last month after some recipients developed blood clots.

Of 34 million people who received the vaccine in the UK, the European Union and three other countries, 222 had blood clots associated with low platelet levels. The majority of these cases occurred within the first 14 days after vaccination, mainly in women under 60 years of age.

On April 7, the European Medicines Agency, the main regulator, concluded that the disorder is a very rare side effect of the vaccine. Researchers in Germany and Norway published studies on April 9, suggesting that the AstraZeneca vaccine, on very rare occasions, caused people to make antibodies that activated their own platelets.

Tags Blood, calls, cases, Clotting, Johnson, Pause, Vaccine

Business

Day by day U.S. information on April 13

Post author By
Post date April 13, 2021

Medical staff is observing and advising walk-in patients who received their COVID-19 vaccination on April 12, 2021 at a pop-up clinic at Western International High School in Detroit, Michigan.

Matthew Hatcher | Getty Images

With U.S. Covid cases rising, the country is also administering vaccination shots at the fastest speed ever. Cases are on the rise in 27 states, with Michigan continuing to lead the nation in daily new infections per capita.

US Covid cases

After more than 70,000 coronavirus cases reported on Monday, the 7-day average of daily new cases in the US is 68,960, according to Johns Hopkins University. That number is up 7% over a week.

Michigan again reported the highest number of new infections per capita every day, according to a CNBC analysis of the Johns Hopkins data. On Monday, the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Dr. Rochelle Walensky that the state should “shut things down” as it deals with the surge and that a surge in Covid-19 vaccinations alone will not stop the spread of the virus.

Michigan has nearly 7,300 new cases a day, near the state’s pandemic high of more than 8,300 a day in December. Hospital stays and deaths are also increasing in the state.

US Covid deaths

The 7-day average of daily reported Covid deaths in the US is 962, Johns Hopkins data shows.

The recent trend in the death toll is influenced by a release of approximately 1,800 Oklahoma deaths due to the Oklahoma State Department of Health’s transition to data reporting guidelines in accordance with CDC requirements. These deaths are currently all reported for April 7th, even if they occurred previously.

Prior to this reporting anomaly, the daily US Covid death toll had declined from record levels in January.

US vaccine shots administered

CDC data shows 2.6 million vaccine doses were administered on Monday, bringing the 7-day average of reported doses administered in the US to a record 3.2 million per day.

The Food and Drug Administration said Tuesday it is calling on states to temporarily stop using Johnson & Johnson’s Covid-19 vaccine “out of caution” after six women in the US developed a rare bleeding disorder.

“Right now, these adverse events seem extremely rare,” the FDA said in a joint statement with the CDC.

US percentage of the vaccinated population

More than 120 million people, or 36% of the US population, have received one or more doses of a Covid vaccine. More than one in five Americans is fully vaccinated, according to the CDC.

Almost 80% of those over 65 have received at least one dose, and 62% are fully vaccinated.

Tags April, daily, Data

World News

The Johnson & Johnson Vaccine: Dwell Updates on States, Blood Clotting and Europe

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Post date April 13, 2021

Nearly seven million people in the United States have received Johnson & Johnson shots so far.

Here’s what you need to know:

Credit…Mary Altaffer/Associated Press

Injections of Johnson & Johnson’s single-dose coronavirus vaccine came to a sudden halt in much of the United States on Tuesday after federal health agencies called for a pause in the vaccine’s use following the emergence of a rare blood clotting in six recipients.

All six were women between the ages of 18 and 48 and all developed the illness within one to three weeks of vaccination. One woman died and a second woman in Nebraska has been hospitalized in critical condition.

“We are recommending a pause in the use of this vaccine out of an abundance of caution,” Dr. Peter Marks, director of the Food and Drug Administration’s Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research, and Dr. Anne Schuchat, principal deputy director of the C.D.C., said in a joint statement. “Right now, these adverse events appear to be extremely rare.”

At a news conference later on Tuesday morning, Dr. Marks said that “on an individual basis, a provider and patient can make a determination whether or not to receive the vaccine” manufactured by Johnson & Johnson.

While the move was framed as a recommendation to health practitioners in the states, the federal government is expected to pause administration of the vaccine at all federally run vaccination sites. Federal officials expect that state health officials will take that as a strong signal to do the same. Within two hours of the announcement, Gov. Mike DeWine of Ohio, a Republican, advised all health providers in his state to temporarily stop giving Johnson & Johnson shots. In New York, the health commissioner, Dr. Howard Zucker, said the state would halt the use of the vaccine statewide while federal officials evaluate the safety risks. Appointments for Johnson & Johnson’s shot on Tuesday at state mass sites would be honored with Pfizer doses, Dr. Zucker said.

Several other states quickly followed the call from federal health agencies on Tuesday to pause the administration of Johnson & Johnson’s vaccine after six women in the United States developed a rare disorder involving blood clots within about two weeks of vaccination.

The other states include: Connecticut, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Missouri, New Jersey, Nebraska, Oregon, Texas, Utah, Vermont and Virginia.

CVS and Walgreens, the nation’s largest retail pharmacy chains, also said that they would immediately stop Johnson & Johnson vaccinations. Both companies said they were emailing customers whose appointments would be canceled and would reschedule appointments when able.

Dr. Janet Woodcock, the acting commissioner of the F.D.A., said at the news conference Tuesday that the pause was only expected to last “a matter of days,” although she said the time frame depends on “what we learn in the next few days.” Dr. Schuchat said at the same briefing that the pause was enacted in part to “prepare the health care system to recognize and treat patients appropriately.”

Scientists with the F.D.A. and C.D.C. will jointly examine possible links between the vaccine and the disorder and determine whether the F.D.A. should continue to authorize use of the vaccine for all adults or limit the authorization.

“For people who recently got the vaccine within the last couple of weeks, they should be aware, to look for any symptoms. If you receive the vaccine and develop severe headaches, abdominal pain, leg pain or shortness of breath, you should contact your health care provider and seek medical treatment,”Dr. Schuchatsaid. She emphasized that an emergency meeting of the C.D.C.’s outside advisory committee, which has been scheduled for Wednesday, to discuss how to handle the vaccine in the future is made up of independent experts. Officials also stressed that no serious safety problems have emerged with either of the other two federally authorized vaccines, developed by Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna.

The move could substantially complicate the nation’s vaccination efforts at a time when many states are confronting a surge in new cases and seeking to address vaccine hesitancy. Regulators in Europe and elsewhere are concerned about a similar issue with another coronavirus vaccine, developed by AstraZeneca and Oxford University researchers. That concern has driven up some resistance to all vaccines, even though the AstraZeneca version has not been authorized for emergency use in the United States.

The vast majority of the nation’s vaccine supply comes from Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna, which together deliver more than 23 million doses a week of their two-shot vaccines.

But while shipments of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine have been much more limited, the Biden administration had still been counting on using hundreds of thousands of doses every week. In addition to requiring only a single dose, the vaccine is easier to ship and store than the other two, which must be stored at extremely low temperatures.

Jeffrey D. Zients, the White House Covid-19 response coordinator, said Tuesday the pause “will not have a significant impact” the Biden administration’s plans to deliver enough vaccine to be able to inoculate all 260 million adults in the United States by the end of May. With the Johnson & Johnson setback, federal officials expect there will only be enough to cover fewer than 230 million adults. But a certain percentage of the population is expected to refuse shots, so the supply may cover all the demand.

Mr. Zients said the administration will still “reach every adult who wants to be vaccinated” by the May 31 target.

Federal officials are concerned that doctors may not be trained to look for the rare disorder if recipients of the vaccine develop symptoms of it. The federal health agencies said Tuesday morning that “treatment of this specific type of blood clot is different from the treatment that might typically be administered” for blood clots.

“Usually, an anticoagulant drug called heparin is used to treat blood clots. In this setting, administration of heparin may be dangerous, and alternative treatments need to be given,” the statement said.

In a news release, Johnson & Johnson said: “We are aware that thromboembolic events including those with thrombocytopenia have been reported with Covid-19 vaccines. At present, no clear causal relationship has been established between these rare events and the Janssen Covid-19 vaccine.” Janssen is the name of Johnson & Johnson’s division that developed the vaccine.

In the United States alone, 300,000 to 600,000 people a year develop blood clots, according to C.D.C. data. But the particular blood clotting disorder that the vaccine recipients developed, known as cerebral venous sinus thrombosis, is extremely rare.

All of the women developed the condition within about two weeks of vaccination, and government experts are concerned that an immune system response triggered by the vaccine was the cause. Federal officials said there was broad agreement about the need to pause use of the vaccine while the cases are investigated.

The decision is a fresh blow to Johnson & Johnson. Late last month, the company discovered that workers at a Baltimore plant run by its subcontractor had accidentally contaminated a batch of vaccine, forcing the firm to throw out the equivalent of 13 million to 15 million doses. That plant was supposed to take over supply of the vaccine to the United States from Johnson & Johnson’s Dutch plants, which were certified by federal regulators earlier this year.

The Baltimore plant’s certification by the F.D.A. has now been delayed while inspectors investigate quality control issues, sharply reducing the supply of Johnson & Johnson vaccine. The sudden drop in available doses led to widespread complaints from governors and state health officials who had been expecting much bigger shipments of Johnson & Johnson’s vaccine this week than they got.

United States ›	United StatesOn Apr. 12	14-day change
New cases	72,286	+6%
New deaths	476	–27%

World ›	WorldOn Apr. 12	14-day change
New cases	617,202	+22%
New deaths	9,253	+25%

U.S. vaccinations ›

Credit…Phil Long/Associated Press

Several states quickly followed the call from federal health agencies on Tuesday to pause the administration of Johnson & Johnson’s vaccine after six women in the United States developed a rare disorder involving blood clots within one to three weeks of vaccination.

The states include: Connecticut, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Missouri, New Jersey, Nebraska, New York, Ohio, Oregon, Rhode Island, South Dakota, Texas, Utah, Vermont and Virginia.

Gov. Mike DeWine of Ohio and the state’s chief health official said they were advising all state vaccine providers to temporarily halt use of the single-dose vaccine. Connecticut health officials said they told vaccine providers to delay planned appointments or give an alternative option if they had the supply. New York’s health commissioner, Dr. Howard Zucker, said the state would stop using the Johnson & Johnson vaccine while the Food and Drug Administration and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention evaluate the safety risks.

The C.D.C.’s outside advisory committee of independent experts has scheduled an emergency meeting for Wednesday.

The White House on Tuesday said that the pause will not have a significant effect on the country’s vaccination campaign, which has accelerated in recent weeks as a rise in new virus cases threatens a fourth possible surge. Many states have already opened vaccination eligibility to all adults and others plan to by next week.

“Over the last few weeks, we have made available more than 25 million doses of Pfizer and Moderna each week, and in fact this week we will make available 28 million doses of these vaccines,” Jeff Zients, the White House Covid-19 response coordinator, said on Tuesday. “This is more than enough supply to continue the current pace of vaccinations of 3 million shots per day.”

As of Monday, 36 percent of the country’s total population has received at least one shot of a vaccine, and 22 percent are fully vaccinated, according to data from the C.D.C.

Even though the reaction to the Johnson & Johnson shot is rare, any questions about the safety of the shots could bolster vaccine hesitancy.

Nearly seven million people in the United States have received Johnson & Johnson shots so far, and roughly nine million more doses have been shipped out to the states, according to data from the C.D.C. The six women who developed blood clots were between the ages of 18 and 48. One woman died and a second woman in Nebraska has been hospitalized in critical condition.

“I know there are people who have gotten the vaccine, who are probably very concerned. For people who got the vaccine more than a month ago, the risk to them is very low at this time,” Dr. Schuchat said. “For people who recently got the vaccine within the last couple of weeks, they should be aware to look for any symptoms.”

Like many states, New York had already prepared for a significant drop in its supply of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine after federal officials said that supplies would be limited because of a production issue at a Baltimore manufacturing plant. On Friday, Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo said that New York expected to receive 34,900 Johnson & Johnson shots, a decrease of 88 percent from the previous week.

Dr. Zucker, New York’s health commissioner, said that the state would honor appointments made at state-run mass vaccination sites for the Johnson & Johnson vaccine by giving people the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine instead. That vaccine requires two doses, and it was not immediately clear how the state would handle the additional strain on its supply.

New Jersey health officials said the state would work with its vaccination sites to help people get appointments for the Pfizer or Moderna vaccine instead. Mayor Bill de Blasio of New York City said that the city would do the same, rescheduling appointments at city-run vaccine sites.

“Every site has been told this morning to stop giving the J&J shots,” he said at a news conference.

The city’s health commissioner, Dr. Dave Chokshi, said that around 234,000 residents have received the Johnson & Johnson vaccine and none had reported any blood clots so far. The city had been relying on the vaccine to inoculate hard-to-reach New Yorkers, including people who are homebound.

Both Mr. Cuomo and Mr. de Blasio received the Johnson & Johnson vaccine at separate appearances last month, which they framed as an effort to boost confidence in that vaccine’s efficacy rate and to address vaccine hesitancy.

Regulators in Europe and elsewhere are concerned about a similar issue with another coronavirus vaccine, developed by AstraZeneca and Oxford University researchers. That vaccine has not been authorized for emergency use in the United States.

Rebecca Robbins contributed reporting.

Credit…Szilard Koszticsak/EPA, via Shutterstock

Johnson & Johnson on Tuesday said it would delay the rollout of its vaccine in Europe amid concerns over rare blood clots, in another blow to the continent’s ambition to ramp up inoculation campaigns that have lagged behind other countries in the West.

Several countries of the bloc were poised to start administering the vaccine later this week, in what would have been a boost to efforts by the European Union to vaccinate 70 percent of adults by September.

“The safety and well-being of the people who use our products is our number one priority,” Johnson & Johnson said in a statement, adding that it had been reviewing the cases of blood clots detected in the United States with European health authorities.

The first signs of concern in Europe came last week. The European Medicines Agency, the bloc’s drug regulator, said it was investigating reports of four cases of blood clots in people who had received a shot of Johnson & Johnson’s Janssen vaccine in the United States, one of them being fatal. The regulator said it wasn’t clear if there was a link between the vaccine and the clots, adding that it treated the reports as “safety signal” that required further assessment.

Johnson & Johnson started delivering its one-shot vaccine to the bloc on Monday, with some member countries like Spain and Belgium already having received modest quantities of the shot, and preparing for the rollout later in the week. Fifty-five million doses of Johnson & Johnson’s vaccine are expected to be delivered to the European Union by the end of June, and another 120 million later in the year, according to Thierry Breton, the bloc’s top industry official.

On Tuesday, injections of Johnson & Johnson’s single-dose coronavirus vaccine came to a sudden halt in much of the United States on Tuesday after federal health agencies called for a pause in the vaccine’s use following the emergence of a rare blood clotting in six recipients.

All six were women between the ages of 18 and 48 and all developed symptoms within about two weeks of vaccination. One woman died and a second woman in Nebraska has been hospitalized in critical condition.

Nearly seven million people in the United States have received Johnson & Johnson shots so far, and about nine million more doses have been shipped out to the states, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Johnson & Johnson’s announcement comes as Europe has been embroiled in a regulatory back-and-forth over another vaccine, AstraZeneca’s. Several countries have restricted the use of the vaccine in younger people, after the European Medicines Agency said there was “a possible link” between blood clots and the vaccine earlier this month, and said it should be listed as a rare side effect.

Both Johnson & Johnson and AstraZeneca use the same technology, prompting concerns that the blood clots reported in recipients of both vaccines could be the same rare, yet sometimes fatal side effect.

The agency stopped short of advising to curb the use of the vaccine in 27 member countries, saying that it was up to the national authorities to decide who should receive which vaccine, which resulted in a patchwork of different national regulations.

France and Belgium have restricted its use for those older than 55, and Germany, Italy and Spain, for those over 60. Some other countries, such as Poland, which rely heavily on AstraZeneca in their national rollouts, decided to go ahead with AstraZeneca’s vaccine.

Credit…Emily Elconin for The New York Times

The virus is again surging in parts of the United States, but it’s a picture with dividing lines: ominous figures in the Northeast and Upper Midwest, but largely not in the South.

Experts are unsure what explains the split, which doesn’t correspond to vaccination levels. Some point to warmer weather in the Sun Belt, while others suspect that decreased testing is muddying the virus’s true footprint.

The contours of where the virus is resurgent can be drawn around one figure: states that are averaging about 15 new cases a day for every 100,000 people. The 23 states — including Alabama, Mississippi and Arkansas — that have averaged that or fewer over the past week seem to be keeping cases relatively low, according to a New York Times database. Nationally, the country is averaging 21 new cases per 100,000 people.

In the 27 states above that line, though, things have been trending for the worse. Michigan has the highest surge of all, reporting the most drastic increase in cases and hospitalizations in recent weeks. Illinois, Minnesota and others have also reported worrisome increases.

Nationally, reported cases in the United States are growing again after a steep fall from the post-holiday peak in January. In the past two weeks, new confirmed cases have jumped about 11 percent, even though vaccinations picked up considerably, with an average of 3.2 million doses given daily.

Some Southern states, like Alabama and Mississippi, are lagging in vaccinations. Only about 28 percent of people in each state have received at least one shot, according to a New York Times vaccine tracker. Still, case counts continue to drop in both states.

Health experts say cases are rising in the Northeast and Upper Midwest for several reasons, including pandemic fatigue, the reopening of schools and the resumption of youth sports.

Hospitalizations tend to follow the trend line in cases by a few weeks, and have been rising in some states, most notably in Michigan.

Officials are also concerned about the spread of more contagious virus variants, especially B.1.1.7, first identified in Britain. The variant is now the leading source of new coronavirus infections in the United States, the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said last week.

Just why those factors might affect some states more than others is hard to pinpoint, experts say.

Dr. David Rubin, the director of PolicyLab at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, said warmer weather in Southern states and California was probably playing a role, because it allows people to gather outdoors, with less risk of transmission.

New case reports have fallen by about 11 percent in Georgia over the past two weeks. And in Alabama, new cases are down roughly 29 percent, with a 17 percent decline in hospitalizations.

Some experts say, though, that reduced testing in some states could be obscuring the true picture. Testing in Alabama, for instance, has started to dip, but the share of tests that come back positive has remained high, at 11.1 percent, compared with a nationwide average of 5.1 percent, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University.

“People who are symptomatic and go to their provider are going to get a test,” said Dr. Michael Saag, the associate dean for global health at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, but “the desire for people to go get tested just because they want to know what their status is has dropped off dramatically.”

Still, Dr. Saag said, there is probably not a hidden spike in cases in Alabama right now, since hospitalizations in the state remain low.

Credit…Ahmad Gharabli/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images

Millions of Muslims on Tuesday began celebrating a second Ramadan in the middle of the pandemic, although in many countries the first day of the holy month offered the promise of a Ramadan with fewer restrictions than last year.

Mosques across the Middle East and other parts of the world were closed for prayer last year, and lockdowns prevented festive gatherings with friends and family. In Jerusalem, for instance, the Old City was largely empty and the Aqsa Mosque compound was closed to the public, as coronavirus cases were surging.

But a large degree of normalcy was back on Tuesday: The Old City’s narrow alleys were crowded, sweet shops were preparing Ramadan desserts, clothing stores were open and the Aqsa compound was welcoming worshipers.

“Last year, I felt depressed and I didn’t know how long the pandemic would last,” said Riyad Deis, a co-owner of a spice and dried fruit shop in the Old City, while selling whole pieces of turmeric and Medjool dates to a customer. “Now, I’m relaxed, I have enough money to provide for my family and people are purchasing goods from my shop — it’s a totally different reality.”

The enthusiasm of some didn’t mean the Ramadan would go as normal. Across several countries in the Middle East, the authorities imposed limitations on customs and festivities, requiring that mosques enforce social distancing and telling worshipers to bring their own prayer rugs and to wear face masks.

In Dubai, Saudi Arabia and Egypt, taraweeh, the optional extra prayers that worshipers can observe at night, were capped at half an hour. No one will also be allowed to spend the night in a mosque, as is common during the last 10 days of Ramadan.

Mosques around the region were also prohibited from serving the fast-breaking meal of iftar or the predawn meal of suhoor. Though Muslims could still gather for those meals with friends and family, the authorities asked them to limit those gatherings this year.

In Jerusalem, Omar Kiswani, the director of Al Aqsa Mosque, said he was overjoyed that the compound was open to worshipers, but still urged caution.

“These are times of great happiness — we hope the blessed Aqsa Mosque will return to its pre-pandemic glory — but these are also times of caution because the virus is still out there,” Mr. Kiswani said.

In Egypt, government officials and prominent television hosts linked to the authorities warned Egyptians of a third wave of infections as Ramadan approached, hinting that another curfew or other lockdown restrictions could be imposed if cases rose.

“If you want the houses of God to remain open,” Nouh Elesawy, an official who oversees mosques at the Egyptian Ministry of Endowments, said earlier this month, “adhere to the precautionary procedures and regulations.”

The Ramadan restrictions may hit the hardest in poor neighborhoods, where residents depend on iftar banquets usually sponsored by wealthy individuals or organizations. For those people, feasting and Ramadan gifts are likely to be rarer, with tourism still at a trickle and many small businesses still suffering from the economic effects of the pandemic.

In Lebanon and Syria, the pandemic has worsened economic crisis that will likely squeeze people’s ability to enjoy the holy month, more than the governments’ limited restrictions aimed at curbing the spread of the coronavirus.

In Syria, where experts say the official infection and death numbers for Covid-19 are far below the reality, the government has few restrictions in place. Worshipers will even be allowed to stand in line inside of mosques to pray together after breaking their fast, the Syrian Ministry of Religious Affairs said.

In Lebanon, which emerged recently from a strict lockdown, shops and restaurants can operate regularly during the day but must offer only delivery service during a nighttime curfew from 9:30 p.m. to 5 a.m.

Global Roundup

Credit…Rebecca Conway for The New York Times

India said on Tuesday that it would fast-track the approval of vaccines in use in other countries, a move aimed at rapidly increasing the country’s vaccine supply as it battles what is currently the world’s biggest coronavirus outbreak.

The Indian government said that it would grant emergency authorization to any foreign-made vaccine that had been approved for use by regulators in the United States, the European Union, Britain or Japan, or by the World Health Organization. The move had been recommended by a panel of Indian scientists and eliminates a requirement for drug companies to conduct local clinical trials.

“The decision will facilitate quicker access to such foreign vaccines” and encourage imports of materials that would boost India’s vaccine manufacturing capacity, the government said in a statement.

Earlier on Tuesday, India’s top drug regulator granted emergency approval to Sputnik V, the Russian-made vaccine, adding a third vaccine to the country’s arsenal on the same day that health officials recorded 161,736 new coronavirus infections in 24 hours.

It was the seventh straight day that India has added more than 100,000 cases, according to a New York Times database. Only the United States has seen a faster rise in infections during the pandemic.

India has administered about 105 million domestically produced vaccine doses for a population of 1.3 billion, but it is widely believed that the country needs to scale up inoculations rapidly because other measures have failed to control the virus. Many states have reimposed partial lockdowns and weekend curfews. In the country’s financial hub, Mumbai, health officials are racing to erect field hospitals as facilities report shortages of oxygen, ventilators and coronavirus testing kits.

And there is the risk of a superspreading event with the gathering of millions of Hindu pilgrims for the annual Kumbh Mela festival on the banks of the Ganges River, where the authorities say they are powerless to enforce social distancing.

India’s outbreak is reverberating worldwide as its pharmaceutical industry — which was supposed to manufacture and export hundreds of millions of doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine — is keeping most supplies at home. The approval of the Sputnik vaccine, whose first doses are expected to be available for use in weeks, offers hope that India could speed up its inoculation drive.

But it is unclear at this stage whether India will be able to procure significant quantities of other vaccines, including the Pfizer, Moderna and Johnson & Johnson shots in use in the United States. Major Western nations have accumulated much of the global supply of those vaccines and manufacturers are struggling to meet the surging demand.

India will import millions of Sputnik doses from Russia and then begin manufacturing the vaccine domestically, officials said. More than 850 million doses will be made, with some intended for export, Kirill Dmitriev, chief executive of the Russian Direct Investment Fund, a sovereign wealth fund that has financed the vaccine’s development, said in an interview with India’s NDTV channel.

“India is a vaccine-manufacturing hub and our strategic partner for production of Sputnik V,” Mr. Dmitriev said.

India has more than 13.6 million confirmed coronavirus cases, the second most after the United States, and 171,058 deaths, the fourth highest toll.

In other news around the world:

Japan has begun vaccinating 36 million people over age 65, the first time shots have been made available to the public during the country’s slow vaccine rollout. Officials said that 1,139 people nationwide had received doses on Monday, and that doses to cover all Japanese above the age threshold would reach municipal health facilities by the end of June. Although Japan has weathered the pandemic better than most countries, the pace of its vaccination effort, which until now had only covered 1.1 million frontline medical workers, has sparked public criticism and raised questions about readiness for the Tokyo Summer Olympics in just over three months.
Scotland on Tuesday moved forward plans to loosen its coronavirus lockdown, a day after the British government eased many restrictions in England. New rules beginning Friday will permit Scots to meet outdoors in groups of up to six adults from six households. The current rules restrict travel and set the maximum group size at four, from two households. Restrictions on shops and outdoor service in pubs, now relaxed in England, are scheduled to remain in Scotland until April 26.
Austria’s health minister resigned on Tuesday, citing personal health problems that he said have been exacerbated by the grueling job of helping lead the country’s response to the pandemic. “It feels like it has not been 15 months, but 15 years,” the minister, Rudolf Anschober, said in a statement. Mr. Anschober, 60, was appointed in January last year, as a Green party minister in a Conservative-led coalition, and has been one of the main faces of Austria’s coronavirus response. “In the worst health crisis in decades, the republic needs a health minister who is 100 percent fit. That is not currently me,” he said.
France will suspend all flights to and from Brazil, because of growing worries about the virus variant spreading there. “We see that the situation is getting worse” in Brazil, Prime Minister Jean Castex told lawmakers. The country previously permitted essential travel from Brazil, subject to testing and isolation requirements.
The World Health Organization on Monday evening called on governments to suspend the sale of live wild mammals in food markets to help prevent the emergence of new diseases. “Traditional markets, where live animals are held, slaughtered and dressed, pose a particular risk for pathogen transmission to workers and customers alike,” the agency said in a statement. Animals are the source of more than 70 percent of emerging infectious diseases in humans, it said. Early in the pandemic, Chinese officials suggested that the coronavirus outbreak might have started at a market. But W.H.O. experts said in a report last year that the role of animal markets in the story of the pandemic was still unclear.

Credit…Pool photo by Andreas Gora

BERLIN — Chancellor Angela Merkel’s government moved a step closer on Tuesday to securing the right to force restrictions on areas where the coronavirus is spreading rapidly, overriding state leaders reluctant to take action.

Ms. Merkel and her ministers approved a legislative proposal that would make it easier for the national government to enforce lockdowns and other limits on movement in regions where infection levels pass a set threshold. At current levels, it could lock down more than half of the country.

Under Germany’s decentralized leadership structures, the 16 state leaders have been meeting regularly with the chancellor to agree on nationwide coronavirus response policies. But with different regions experiencing different rates of infection, some state leaders have been reluctant to enforce the agreed limitations, leading to confusion and frustration among many Germans.

“I believe this amendment is as important as it is an urgent decision about how to proceed in the coronavirus pandemic,” the chancellor told reporters after meeting with her ministers.

Parliament still has to debate and approve the proposal, which would take the form of an amendment to the Protection Against Infection Act, and that process is expected to begin this week.

“We are in a situation where an emergency mechanism is necessary,” Ralph Brinkhaus, the leader of the Christian Democratic Union in Parliament, told reporters, before a meeting of his party lawmakers to discuss the amendment.

Under the proposed amendment, the federal government could force stores and cultural institutions to close and enforce limits on the number of people allowed to meet up in any region where infections surpass 100 new cases per 100,000 residents over a period of seven days.

More controversially, the law would also allow Ms. Merkel’s government to order that schools and day care centers close if the number of new infections reaches more than 200 per 100,000 inhabitants. Schools fall under the jurisdiction of the states, and local leaders are reluctant to relinquish that control.

Germany has registered more than three million infections and more than 78,700 deaths from Covid-19 since the virus began moving through the country last spring. It recorded 10,810 new cases of infection on Tuesday, bringing the national rate of infection to more than 140 per 100,000.

The number of patients in intensive care is expected to hit a record this month, as the country struggles to vaccinate enough people to get ahead of the spread of the highly contagious B.1.1.7 variant.

Credit…Andrew Testa for The New York Times

Britain has now offered vaccinations to everyone in the country age 50 and older, the government announced late on Monday, and is extending its program to another age group, the latest sign that the national rollout is continuing at pace.

On Tuesday, the authorities opened vaccinations to anyone 45 or older, yet the announcement came with a small hiccup: The website for the country’s National Health Service crashed for a short time after the younger cohort was invited to book appointments online.

The new step in the country’s vaccine rollout comes as the authorities eased several restrictions in England on Monday after months of stringent lockdowns, with pubs and restaurants opened for drinks and dining outside, and nonessential shops once again opening their doors.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson called the moment a “hugely significant milestone” and in a statement thanked those involved with the vaccine rollout. Mr. Johnson said the country was on track to offer all adults a vaccination by the end of July. More than 32 million people across Britain have received their first dose of one of the vaccines, according to government data.

The government said it had also already offered vaccinations to every health or care worker, and to everyone with a high-risk medical condition.

England has also began rolling out the Moderna vaccine, which will be offered as an alternative alongside the Pfizer BioNTech vaccine for those under 30, instead of AstraZeneca’s, which has been the mainstay of Britain’s program so far.

There have been concerns about a possible link between the AstraZeneca vaccine and very rare blood clots, and last week British regulators said an alternative should be provided for younger people. Potential infection still poses much greater risks than any vaccine side effect for all those over 30, they said, and could do so for younger people if cases surged again.

“The Moderna rollout marks another milestone in the vaccination program,” Stephen Powis, the medical director of the National Health Service, said in a statement. “We now have a third jab in our armory.”

The vaccination program, he added, “is our hope at the end of a year like no other” as he encouraged people to book their appointments.

But despite the hopeful vaccine news and the return to public life, the country is still battling new cases of the virus, and a cluster in two London neighborhoods of a worrisome variant first discovered in South Africa has prompted mass testing. Health workers have gone door to door to urge residents to get tested, even if they are not showing symptoms, as dozens of cases have emerged. Similar measures were carried out elsewhere in the city earlier this month.

Studies have shown that the variant contains a mutation that diminishes the vaccines’ effectiveness against it. Dr. Susan Hopkins, the chief medical adviser for the country’s test and trace campaign, said the cluster of cases in parts of South London was “significant.”

“It’s really important people in the local area play their part in stopping any further spread within the local community,” she said in a statement.

Credit…Victor J. Blue for The New York Times

More than a year after the coronavirus first swept through New York, the streets of Sunset Park in southern Brooklyn reflect the pandemic’s deep and unhealed wounds intertwined with signs of a neighborhood trying to edge back to life.

The sidewalks are filling with shoppers and vendors. More businesses are welcoming customers. But owners still struggle to pay rent and keep their enterprises afloat, while many workers laid off after the city locked down last year remain without jobs.

And while the rate of vaccination in New York has increased significantly, the coronavirus still percolates through this densely packed neighborhood. The ZIP code that includes Sunset Park had the highest rate of positive cases in Brooklyn in early April, nearly double the citywide rate. Some residents have expressed skepticism about the vaccines, spooked by false information circulated over TikTok and other social media.

Adding to the stress is a spate of hate crimes and violence against people of Asian descent in New York and around the country, fed in some cases by racist claims that Asian-Americans are responsible for spreading the virus.

About a third of the residents in Sunset Park have received at least one dose of the vaccine, roughly the same level as the city overall, according to the city health data. But local leaders say they want to push that number much higher.

Kuan Neng, 49, the Buddhist monk who founded Xi Fang Temple on Eighth Avenue, said that people had come to him in recent weeks to express concerns over vaccines.

“Why do I need to do that?” is a common refrain, according to Mr. Kuan, followed by: “I’m healthy now. The hard times are over, more or less.”

“Many people want to delay and see,” Mr. Kuan said, himself included.

Credit…Kate Warren for The New York Times

ArcLight Cinemas, a beloved chain of movie theaters based in Los Angeles, including the Cinerama Dome in Hollywood, will permanently close all its locations, Pacific Theaters announced on Monday, after the pandemic decimated the cinema business.

ArcLight’s locations in and around Hollywood have played host to many a movie premiere, in addition to being favorite spots for moviegoers seeking out blockbusters and prestige titles. They are operated by Pacific Theaters, which also manages a handful of theaters under the Pacific name, and are owned by Decurion.

“After shutting our doors more than a year ago, today we must share the difficult and sad news that Pacific will not be reopening its ArcLight Cinemas and Pacific Theaters locations,” the company said in a statement.

“This was not the outcome anyone wanted,” it added, “but despite a huge effort that exhausted all potential options, the company does not have a viable way forward.”

Between the Pacific and ArcLight brands, the company owned 16 theaters and more than 300 screens.

The movie theater business has been hit particularly hard by the pandemic. But in recent weeks, the majority of the country’s largest theater chains, including AMC and Regal Cinemas, have reopened in anticipation of the slate of Hollywood films that have been put back on the calendar, many after repeated delays because of pandemic restrictions. A touch of optimism is even in the air as a result of the Warner Bros. movie “Godzilla vs. Kong,” which has generated some $70 million in box office receipts since opening over Easter weekend.

Still, the industry’s trade organization, the National Association of Theater Owners, has long warned that the punishing closures were most likely to affect smaller regional players like ArcLight and Pacific. In March, the Alamo Drafthouse Cinema chain, which operates about 40 locations across the country, announced that it had filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection but would keep most of its locations operational while it restructured.

That does not seem to be the case for Pacific Theaters, which, according to two people with knowledge of the matter, fired its entire staff on Monday.

The reaction to ArcLight’s closing around Hollywood has been emotional, including an outpouring on Twitter.

Devastating. Too many losses to process. It’s just too much… At some point when I’m less upset, I’ll tell you guys a funny story about my first time meeting Quentin Tarantino in the lobby of Hollywood Arclight. https://t.co/cFypJxEk4L

— Lulu Wang (@thumbelulu) April 13, 2021
Credit…Robert Ghement/EPA, via Shutterstock

Three people infected with the coronavirus died at a hospital in Bucharest on Monday evening after the oxygen supply stopped functioning, according to the authorities, the latest incident involving oxygen failure, which in many countries has driven up the virus death toll.

It was also another fatal setback for Romania’s ageing and overwhelmed health care system, which has suffered two fires in Covid-19 wards in recent months, killing at least 15 people.

Ventilators shut down at a mobile intensive care unit set up at the Victor Babes hospital in Bucharest after oxygen pressure reached too high a level, the country’s health authorities said in a statement, depriving patients of a vital supply. In addition to the three patients who died, five others were evacuated and moved to other facilities in the city.

Romania has recorded its highest rate of Covid-19 patients in intensive care units since the pandemic began, and on Sunday Prime Minister Florin Citu said that there were just six intensive care beds available across Romania, out of nearly 1,600.

Intensive care units in Hungary and Poland have also been at risk of being overwhelmed, as much of Eastern Europe has struggled to cope with a third wave of infections across the continent. Some Hungarian hospitals have sought medical students and volunteers to assist in Covid-19 wards, giving training to those without previous medical experience.

The mobile unit struck by the oxygen problem on Monday had only been in operation since Saturday, and it has epitomized long-running concerns over the country’s fragile health care system. In January, five patients died and a further 102 were evacuated from a different hospital in Bucharest after a fire broke out. In November, 10 patients hospitalized with the coronavirus died after a fire broke out in a hospital in the northeastern city of Piatra Neamt.

Romania’s spending on health care is among the lowest in the European Union, with just over five percent of gross domestic product allocated toward it, compared with 10 percent on average among other countries of the bloc.

More than 25,000 people who tested positive for the virus have died in Romania, and the authorities have closed schools and kindergartens throughout April as part of an extended Easter holiday.

The authorities have so far administered more than 3.5 million vaccine doses, in a population of about 19 million.

Credit…Hannah Yoon for The New York Times

Studies have found that women in academia have published fewer papers, led fewer clinical trials and received less recognition for their expertise during the pandemic.

Add to that the emotional upheaval of the pandemic, the protests over structural racism, worry about children’s mental health and education, and the lack of time to think or work, and an already unsustainable situation becomes unbearable.

Michelle Cardel, an obesity researcher at the University of Florida, worries that this confluence of factors could push some women to leave the sciences.

“My big fear is that we are going to have a secondary epidemic of loss, particularly of early career women in STEM,” she said.

Female scientists were struggling even before the pandemic. It was not unusual for them to hear that women were not as smart as men, or that a woman who was successful must have received a handout along the way, said Daniela Witten, a biostatistician at the University of Washington in Seattle.

Women in academia often have little recourse when confronted with discrimination. Their institutions sometimes lack the human resources structures common in the business world.

Compounding the frustration are outdated notions about how to help women in science. But social media has allowed women to share some of those concerns and find allies to organize and call out injustice when they see it, said Jessica Hamerman, an immunologist at the Benaroya Research Institute in Seattle.

In November, for example, a study on female scientists was published in the influential journal Nature Communications suggesting that having female mentors would hinder the career of young scientists and recommending that young women seek out male help.

The response was intense and unforgiving: Nearly 7,600 scientists signed a petition calling on the journal to retract the paper — which it did on Dec. 21.

The study arrived at a time when many female scientists were already worried about the pandemic’s effect on their careers, and already on edge and angry with a system that offered them little support.

Alisa Stephens found working from home to be a series of wearying challenges. Dr. Stephens is a biostatistician at the University of Pennsylvania, and carving out the time and mental space for that work with two young children at home was impossible.

Things eased once the family could safely bring in a nanny, but there was still little time for the deep thought Dr. Stephens had relied on each morning for her work.

Over time, she has adjusted her expectations of herself. “Maybe I’m at 80 percent as opposed to 100 percent,” she said, “but I can get things done at 80 percent to some extent.”

Tags Blood, Clotting, Europe, Johnson, Live, states, Updates, Vaccine

Entertainment

Eddy de Pretto Is the Proud Sound of a New France

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Post date April 13, 2021

Eddy de Pretto is now 27 and sings on some of the biggest stages in France these days – or he did when the stages were open. At the age of 21 he performed for a smaller audience: the tourists on the Bateaux-Mouches, the Paris sightseeing cruises that carry millions of people up and down the Seine.

“It was a pretty crazy job. I’ve been on the vocal cruises where dinner is served, ”said de Pretto in a recent video interview from Paris. From the little stage in the boat’s dining room, he recalled, he’d serenaded tourists by syrupy Charles Trenet standards to the point of utter indifference. “They ate and looked at the Eiffel Tower. They didn’t even notice anyone was singing – they thought it was a soundtrack. “

“But those three years on the Bateaux-Mouches were so typical of a career,” he added. “It was absolutely formative to sing in front of people every evening who didn’t care.”

Those lonely nights on the cruise ship are the origin of “À Tous Les Bâtards” (“To all the bastards”), de Pretto’s second album, released last month in France. “I waited patiently to ascend the throne / And they sang my songs as if I had sung ‘La Vie en Rose'”, he says on the first single “Bateaux-Mouches”, the lyrics of which started from Remember Take part in lots of hip-hop bragging rights. But the name verification of both Rihanna and Édith Piaf as your guiding stars? That’s less common.

De Pretto rose to fame in 2018 with his triple platinum album “Cure”, and his mix of urban beats and chanson poetics wasn’t the only unusual attribute. There was his voice: big and lively, with every syllable articulated for the back of the house. There was his gaze: hoodies and tracksuits, a three-day beard and a strawberry-blonde tonsure like that of a medieval monk. And there was his biography: a young gay man, uninhibited and undisturbed, from the suburbs, which the Parisians still typified as the cultural backbone.

He was born in 1993 in Créteil in the south-east of the capital. His father was a driver and his mother a medical technician who worshiped an earlier generation of French singer-songwriters. “We lived in public housing and my mother heard a lot from Barbara, Brassens, Brel and Charles Aznavour,” he said. “She heard it all along and was very loud too. Loud enough to be heard through the vacuum cleaner. “

De Pretto said he did sports as a child, bad enough that his mother enrolled him in acting classes. The stage suited him. He landed a couple of small television and film roles. But his theatrical tendencies did not match the macho culture of the Parisian suburbs.

This tension inspired his breakout single “Kid”, a mid-tempo ballad about parents and their female sons. “You will be male, my child,” de Pretto sings over replacement piano chords and digital hi-hats, although the song’s video shows how he tries to obey the call. Shirtless and drenched in sweat at the gym, De Pretto looks way too bulky to lift the massive dumbbells caught between family expectations and his true nature.

“Every single word of ‘Kid’ is so wonderful,” said singer Jane Birkin, who performed a duet with de Pretto in 2018 Friends. And I should think he respected himself – I wouldn’t mess with him. At the same time, it has great fragility and sharpness. “

“Kid” was an instant hit in France and seemed to come out of nowhere. De Pretto’s weighty voice sounded like a throwback from the 60s, but he sang over frugal, menacing, bass-heavy beats. The slang texts had the vibrancy of the suburbs, but they were as poetic as they were sour, with that French fixation on what de Pretto calls “the weight of the word.”

On his first major TV appearance in 2017, he only appeared with his own iPhone to accompany him. The album cover of “Cure” had the same Gen-Z casualness: mirror selfie, phone in hand, leg pulled up on the kitchen table. A reviewer for the French newspaper Liberation said, astringent – but not without reason – that it looked like a late-night drunk picture sent to a Grindr connection.

In fact, there was also de Pretto’s theme: furtive glances in the locker room, sloppy after parties in dark basements, gloomy evenings while browsing the apps. In his spiky single “Fête de Trop” (“One party too many”) he describes the discomfort of another evening that gets high and “sticks my tongue into the salivating mouth” of the “boys of tonight”. “Jungle de la Chope” (“The Hookup Jungle”) is about the “bland conquests” of casual sex, whether safe or otherwise.

Some gay musicians treat their homosexuality as a non-issue; others want to make it a differentiator. What made de Pretto’s debut so exciting was that he didn’t do either of these. He assumed his identity to the full, making it nothing special. “I write from my perspective as a gay man,” he said. “But the songs aren’t a defense for being gay. I mean, yeah, I’m gay and I look out on society. “

He did, however, record a sideways pride anthem. “Grave” (“A Big Deal”) is fun, dirty encouragement for anxious gay teens – think Christina Aguilera’s “Beautiful” for teens whose first look at same-sex intimacy comes from streaming video. It’s a catalog of gay rites of passage that, as de Pretto sings, are “no big deal”: locating classmates in physical education, fantasizing about your best friend, and a lot more that can’t be printed in a family newspaper. “Don’t Live: This is a Big Deal!” goes the chorus.

“If I had to compare him to anyone, it would be Christine and the Queens, even though Eddy hasn’t exploded internationally,” said Romain Burrel, editor of French gay magazine Têtu. “Christine really paved the way for gender and sexual orientation issues,” he said. “But Eddy is very, very French. There has been a globalization of music, but when you hear Eddy de Pretto you are in the 11th arrondissement. “

Musically, “À Tous Les Bâtards” sounds a lot like “Cure”: the same big voice, the same minimal beats. But de Pretto’s writing has become less angry and more sectarian. “Désolé Caroline” (“Sorry Caroline”), his second single, initially sounds like a breakup song directed by a young gay man to the straight girl he cannot love. (In the interview, De Pretto described this type of romantic rejection with the charming Franglais verb “friendzoné”.)

On the other hand, this “Caroline” that the singer wants to get out of “my veins” may not be a real girl. She could be a personification of cocaine: a double meaning that he emphasizes in the music video in which de Pretto sings in a white parka amidst the snowstorms.

“I love to play with these double meanings,” said de Pretto, “because it opens up the field of possibilities.” He leaves the field open at the end of “À Tous Les Bâtards” in the ingeniously dirty ballad “La Zone”. This is where suburbs and sexuality become interchangeable, as de Pretto in a slick falsetto asks us to risk a visit … well, a particular area that is often viewed as dirty or dangerous.

“La Zone” in French slang refers to a rough suburban area, the kind of place to buy drugs. But when de Pretto speaks of the “dark joys” of a place where “some men are afraid to leave”, we realize that the particular zone he invites you into is more anatomical than geographical. (Birkin said the song reminded her of “Sonnet du Trou de Cul,” a poem by Verlaine and Rimbaud from 1871. “It’s a wonder people don’t talk about it anymore!” She added.)

The Parisian suburbs have produced so many of France’s best singers, actors and artists, not to mention the reigning soccer world champions. And yet, Western Europe’s largest and most diverse city treats the cities outside its ring road as inaccessible places. “That was the whole project of the first and hopefully this second album: breaking those fantasies and ideas that everyone has about what is going on in the suburbs,” said de Pretto. “And from a pretty stereotypical view of being gay.”

“It is an artist’s job,” he said, “to find points of view that have not yet been found.”

Tags Eddy, France, Pretto, Proud, Sound

Politics

Intelligence Report Calls China Greatest Menace to U.S.

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Post date April 13, 2021

Intelligence Report Calls China Biggest Threat to U.S.

China’s efforts to expand its growing influence pose one of the greatest threats to the United States, according to a major annual intelligence report released Tuesday that also warned that Beijing is capable of cyberattacks affecting the critical infrastructure in the United States Temporarily disrupt the United States.

In the report, China’s quest for “global power” ranks first on the list of threats, followed by Russia, Iran and North Korea. There are usually few general revelations in the annual reports that are a collection of approved reviews, although the ranking of intelligence threats and how they change over time can be meaningful.

“Beijing, Moscow, Tehran and Pyongyang have demonstrated the ability and intent to advance their interests at the expense of the United States and its allies despite the pandemic,” the report said. “China is increasingly a peer-to-peer competitor, challenging the US in a variety of areas – particularly economic, military, and technological – and pushing to change global norms.”

The section on Iran could influence negotiations on the re-entry of the United States into the nuclear deal. It is important that the intelligence services assess that Iran “is not currently engaged in the most important nuclear weapon development activities” required to build a nuclear device. However, according to the report, Iranian leaders will most likely be reluctant to hold talks with the United States without relieving sanctions.

The intelligence rating also offered a grim assessment of Afghanistan, just days before President Biden will announce when he will be pulling the last troops out of the country. Intelligence agencies believe the prospects for a peace deal remain slim and the Taliban are likely to make profits on the battlefield, the report said. Over the past few weeks, officials who said American troops should stay longer have used the assessment to reinforce their arguments.

China’s strategy, according to the report, is to drive wedges between the United States and its allies. Beijing has also used its success in fighting the Covid-19 pandemic to promote “system superiority”.

The report predicts that China will urge the Taiwanese government to move forward with unification and will criticize the United States’ efforts to step up engagement with Taipei. However, the report did not predict any direct military conflict.

China is using its electronic surveillance and hacking capabilities not only to suppress dissent within its country, but also to intervene that affects people outside its borders, the report said. China also poses a growing threat from cyberattacks against the United States, and intelligence agencies assess that Beijing “can at least cause localized, temporary disruptions to critical infrastructure in the United States.”

There are few surprises when it comes to assessing the secret service in Russia. It makes it clear that American spy agencies still view Moscow as a pre-eminent threat, despite many viewing Moscow as a declining power. They discover that a Russian supply chain hacking operation has created vulnerabilities in around 18,000 computer networks around the world. The assessment said that while Russia would avoid direct conflict with America, it would use campaigns of influence, mercenary operations, and military exercises to advance its interests and undermine those of the United States.

While the report highlights the traditional types of national security threats the nation faces, it gives a nod to the challenges of climate change and global pandemics that the Biden government has announced that intelligence agencies will investigate more closely. The threats are largely long-term, but can also have short-term effects, the report said.

“The American people should know as much as possible about the threats our nation faces and what their intelligence agencies are doing to protect them,” said Avril B. Haines, the director of the national intelligence agency whose office wrote the report published.

The new report is followed by statements from Congress by Mrs Haines; William J. Burns, the CIA director; and other senior intelligence officials on Wednesday and Thursday.

Tags Biggest, calls, China, Intelligence, report, Threat

Business

Inflation Fee Rises because the Economic system Reawakens: Dwell Updates

Post author By
Post date April 13, 2021

Here’s what you need to know:

Consumer prices rose in March at their fastest pace in nearly nine years, an increase that may fuel inflation fears but that likely overstates the extent of the acceleration.

The Consumer Price Index, a closely watched inflation measure, rose 0.6 percent in March from February, the Labor Department said Tuesday. That was up from February’s 0.4 percent increase, and a bit faster than economists’ expectations.

Prices at the pump drove the increase: Gasoline prices rose 9.1 percent in March.

Core inflation, which ignores volatile food and energy prices, rose 0.3 percent, up from 0.1 percent in February.

Prices were up 2.6 percent from a year ago. But that measure — usually closely watched by economists — was skewed by the comparison to March 2020, when prices fell as consumers pulled back spending in the face of the pandemic.

Inflation rose substantially above 2 percent in March.

PERCENT CHANGE

IN CONSUMER

PRICE INDEX

FROM A YEAR AGO

However, some of the jump can be explained

through what’s known as base effects — prices fell

significantly last spring, so the increase now from the

year prior is larger, even if prices are not rising as

dramatically.

2021 Consumer price index

Inflation rose substantially above 2 percent in March.

PERCENT CHANGE IN CONSUMER

PRICE INDEX FROM A YEAR AGO

However, some of the jump can be explained through what’s known as base effects —

prices fell significantly last spring, so the increase now from the year prior is larger, even

if prices are not rising as dramatically.

2021 Consumer price index

Inflation rose substantially above 2 percent in March.

PERCENT CHANGE IN

CONSUMER PRICE INDEX

FROM A YEAR AGO

However, some of the jump can be explained through what’s known as base effects — prices fell significantly last spring, so the increase now from the year prior is larger, even if prices are not rising as dramatically.

2021 Consumer price index

Economists surveyed by Bloomberg expected an increase of 0.5 percent in overall C.P.I. from February, and 2.5 percent from March 2020.

Inflation data matters because it gives an up-to-date snapshot of how much it costs Americans to buy the goods and services they regularly consume. And because the Federal Reserve is charged in part with keeping increases in prices contained, the data can influence its decisions — and those affect financial markets.

Consumer inflation is measured by statisticians who take a bundle of goods and services Americans buy — everything from fresh fruit to rent — and aggregate it into a price index. The inflation rate that is reported each month shows how much that index changed.

Why the annual rate may overstate the situation.

For a quarter century, most measures of inflation have held at low levels. The C.P.I. moves around a bit because of volatile food and fuel prices, but a “core” index that strips out those factors has mostly increased at a year-over-year rate of less than 2 percent.

But the data reported for March reflects a drop in prices last year, as the country went into lockdown and airlines slashed ticket costs, clothing stores discounted sweaters, and hotels saw occupancy plunge.

That means inflation measures are lapping low readings, and as that low base falls out, it will cause the year-over-year percent changes to jump — a little bit in March, and then a lot in April.

To be sure, climbing prices could last for a while as businesses reopen, consumers spend down big pandemic savings and producers scramble to keep up with demand. Economists and Federal Reserve officials do not expect those increases to persist for more than a few months, but if they did, it would matter to consumers and investors alike.

Credit…Jim Watson/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images

Americans pay $17 billion in overdraft fees every year. PNC Bank announced on Tuesday its plans to help customers reduce that burden, which often falls on those who can least afford it.

The bank is introducing measures that it said would cut customers’ overdraft fees about 60 percent, and its own annual revenue by $125 million to $150 million, the DealBook newsletter reports. It comes as PNC prepares to close its deal with BBVA, which would make it the country’s fifth-largest retail bank.

Eight percent of account holders generate three-quarters of overdraft fees, according to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Lawmakers have worried that banks obfuscate these fees as they become a reliable source of revenue. The fees are expected to come under scrutiny by the Biden administration, particularly if Rohit Chopra, a consumer advocate, is confirmed take over the C.F.P.B.

“Overdraft is an expensive fee they charge only on those people who run out of money that goes straight to short-term profits,” said Aaron Klein, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution.

PNC is hoping to change that with a new feature in its app. “We weren’t doing the best we could do by our clients,” PNC’s chief executive, William Demchak, said in an interview. In the PNC app’s new “low cash mode,” when an account goes negative, the customer has at least 24 hours to fix it, including by reviewing pending payments and deciding which to prioritize.

For the largest banks to adopt a similar approach is a matter of technology — and desire. On a scale of which banks earn the most from the fees, overdraft fees generate $35.61 per account for JPMorgan Chase on the high end and $4.90 per account for Citi on the low end, according to Mr. Klein. PNC fell in the middle, with $14.96 per account.

PNC already assumed a short-term revenue drop into projections as part of its deal with BBVA, but over the long term, it expects the move will help it gain market share. “We’re in a consolidated industry where we want to be one of the consolidators,” Mr. Demchak said. “In the short run, if it costs us 100 million bucks or something — so what?”

Credit…Greg Baker/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images

China has ordered 34 of its most prominent internet companies to ensure their compliance with antimonopoly rules within the next month and to submit to official inspections thereafter — with “severe punishment” promised for any illegal practices that are uncovered.

The demand, which China’s market regulator announced on Tuesday, represents the government’s latest cracking of the whip in its campaign to tighten supervision over giant internet platforms.

For years, Beijing gave internet companies wide berth to grow rich and innovate. But in China, as in the West, concerns have been growing about the ways the companies use their clout to edge out rivals, their use and abuse of algorithms and big data and their acquisitions of smaller peers. In recent months, China has begun using both regulatory enforcement actions and public shaming to keep tech companies in check.

The country’s market regulator imposed a record $2.8 billion antitrust fine on Alibaba, the e-commerce titan, on Saturday. And on Monday, Alibaba’s fintech sister company, Ant Group, unveiled a revamp of its business in response to government demands.

Officials from China’s market watchdog, internet regulator and tax authority met with the companies on Tuesday, according to the government’s statement. At the meeting, the officials “affirmed the positive role of the platform economy” but also told the companies to “give full play to the cautionary example of the Alibaba case.”

The nearly three dozen companies included almost all of the top names in the Chinese internet industry, from established titans like Alibaba, Tencent and Baidu to newer powerhouses such as TikTok’s parent, ByteDance; the food delivery giant Meituan; the e-commerce site Pinduoduo; and the video platform Kuaishou.

At Tuesday’s meeting, the companies were told to strengthen their “sense of responsibility” and to “put the nation’s interests first,” the regulator’s statement said.

Credit…Wallace Woon/EPA, via Shutterstock

Grab — a ride-hailing company, bank and food delivery business all rolled into one — is set to make its debut in the largest offering by a Southeast Asian company on a U.S. stock exchange.

The company, which is based in Singapore, announced a deal on Tuesday with Altimeter Growth, a company listed for the sole purpose of buying a business. These special purpose acquisition vehicles, or SPACs, have snapped up companies over the past year at a rapid-fire pace. But this deal, which values Grab at roughly $39.6 billion, is expected to the largest such deal to date. Grab shares will trade on the Nasdaq stock exchange

The deal also includes an investment of more than $4 billion from a group that includes BlackRock, T. Rowe Price Associates and Temasek. Altimeter Capital Management, the investment firm backing the vehicle acquiring Grab, has agreed to hold certain shares in the company for at least three years.

Grab offers a “super app” that allows users to order food, pay bills and hail a car. It’s a model already popular in China, where WeChat offers a range of services, but is growing in Southeast Asia, particularly as the region builds its digital businesses. The pandemic helped propel the trend forward, with Southeast Asian consumers spending more than $10 billion online last year.

Grab acquired Uber’s Southeast Asia operations in 2018 and a digital banking license as part of a consortium in 2020. It has attracted investors including Booking Holdings, Hyundai, Microsoft, SoftBank and Toyota.

The company is going public as deal-making is flourishing in Southeast Asia. Bain, the consulting firm, said in 2018 it expected that the region would have had at least 10 unicorns, or start-ups valued at $1 billion or more, by 2024. One of those, the e-commerce company Sea, went public in the United States in 2017. Shares of the company have risen more than 400 percent over the past year, giving it a market capitalization of $125 billion.

“It gives us immense pride to represent Southeast Asia in the global public markets,” Grab’s chief executive, Anthony Tan, said in a statement. “This is a milestone in our journey to open up access for everyone to benefit from the digital economy.”

Credit…Oli Scarff/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images

Credit Suisse said it would be able to pay back additional money to investors in funds whose troubles were among a series of disasters that have battered the Swiss bank’s reputation and finances.

The bank said it would pay an additional $1.7 billion to investors in funds linked to Greensill Capital, which collapsed last month. The latest payment means that investors will get back close to half of their money, with the prospect for more payments as Credit Suisse liquidates the funds.

Credit Suisse’s asset management unit oversaw $10 billion in funds put together by Greensill based on financing it provided to companies, many of which had low credit ratings or were not rated at all.

“There is potential for recovery in these cases although clearly there is a considerable degree of uncertainty as to the amounts that ultimately will be distributed to investors,” Credit Suisse said in a statement.

The more money that Credit Suisse can salvage from the funds, the better its chances of repairing its reputation and its ability to attract new customers. The bank has been in crisis following a series of debacles, including its disclosure last week that it will lose almost $5 billion because of money it lent to Archegos Capital Management, which crumbled this month after a high-risk stock market play went sour.

Including the $1.7 billion payment announced Tuesday, Credit Suisse has paid $4.8 billion to investors in the Greensill funds. The bank said it would take legal action to recover more money and “is engaging directly with potentially delinquent obligors and other creditors.” Some losses may be covered by insurance.

“We remain acutely aware of the uncertainty that the wind-down process creates for those of our clients who are invested in the funds,” Credit Suisse said. “We are doing everything that we can to provide them with clarity, to work through issues as they arise and, ultimately, to return cash to them.”

Credit…Jeenah Moon for The New York Times

Tech workers at The New York Times announced on Tuesday that they had formed a union and would ask the company to recognize it.

The group of more than 650 employees includes software engineers, designers, data analysts and product managers. It will be represented by the NewsGuild of New York. NewsGuild membership already includes more than 1,300 newsroom workers and business staff members at The Times, as well as workers at other media outlets.

As part of the Times Tech Guild, the tech workers would be in a separate bargaining unit from other Times employees represented by the NewsGuild.

In recent years, The Times has ramped up its hiring of tech workers as part of its strategy to reach 10 million paid digital subscribers by 2025. In 2020, digital-only subscriptions neared seven million and became the company’s largest revenue stream.

Kathy Zhang, a senior analytics manager and a member of the organizing committee, said in an interview that The Times felt like “an emerging company” in some ways, although it is a 170-year-old institution.

“There’s a lot of stuff we’re trying out,” she said. “There’s a lot of starting and stopping of different projects. It’s been really exciting, but it’s also been pretty exhausting.”

The tech workers were concerned about pay equity, health care costs, job security and career advancement, Ms. Zhang added. The union also hoped to improve diversity and inclusion in the department.

A spokeswoman for The New York Times Company said in a statement that the company had received the request for voluntary recognition from the union on Tuesday morning.

“At The New York Times, we have a long history of positive and productive relationships with unions, and we respect the right of all employees to decide whether or not joining a union is right for them,” the spokeswoman said. “We will take time to review this request and discuss it soon with representatives of the NewsGuild.”

The organizing of The Times’s tech workers came months after more than 400 Google engineers and other workers formed a union, a rarity in Silicon Valley. An organizing drive at an Amazon warehouse in Alabama was voted down last week.

Media companies have had a surge in such efforts. Workers at publications like BuzzFeed News, Vice, The New Yorker, Slate and Vox Media have all formed unions in recent years.

Stock trading on Wall Street was quiet for a second day on Tuesday, even as investors worried about a new setback in the fight to control the coronavirus and also considered updated inflation data.

The S&P 500 was essentially unchanged in early trading, after recovering from an early swoon that came in response to federal health agencies recommending an immediate pause to the use of the Johnson & Johnson’s single-dose coronavirus vaccine.

The Food and Drug Administration and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said on Tuesday that six women who received the vaccine had developed rare blood clots. “We are recommending a pause in the use of this vaccine out of an abundance of caution,” the agencies said.

Shares of Johnson & Johnson fell about 3 percent in early trading, weighing on the Dow Jones industrial average.

News of the vaccine setback had sent stock futures lower earlier Tuesday, but the market regained its footing as investors seemed to read the latest consumer price inflation report as less worrisome than they might have expected.

Investors have been focused on rising prices lately, worried that fast economic growth might fuel a jump that prompts the Federal Reserve to raise interest rates or otherwise remove its support for the economy.

Consumer prices did increase in March at their fastest pace in nearly nine years, and a rate slightly higher than economists had expected. But the increase wasn’t enough to spook investors. Government bond yields, which have jumped sharply this year over concerns about inflation, held steady after the report.

The Stoxx Europe 600 reversed earlier gains and was little changed by early afternoon in Europe.

Oil prices rose. Futures of West Texas Intermediate, the U.S. crude benchmark, gained 1 percent to just above $60 a barrel.

The stock market’s rally during the pandemic has been nothing short of amazing. But rising interest rates are raising the question of how long this bull market can last.

In the 12 months through March, the average general stock mutual fund tracked by Morningstar returned nearly 66 percent — a remarkable rebound after a three-month loss of nearly 22 percent at the start of last year.

The turnaround came after the Federal Reserve stepped in with support for financial markets and the economy, fueling much of the stock market’s exuberance with low interest rates.

But with the economy taking off, rates have begun to rise. At the start of a new quarter, it is a good moment to ask, how long can these strangely prosperous times last?

My crystal ball is no clearer now than it has ever been, alas, and I can’t time the market’s movements any better than anyone else. But this certainly is a good time to assess whether you are well positioned for a possible downward shift.

As always, the best approach for long-term investors is to set up a portfolio with a reasonable, diversified asset allocation of stocks and bonds and then live with it, come what may.

Our quarterly report on investing is intended to help. If you haven’t been an investor before, we’ve included tips on how to get started. Here you will find broad coverage of recent trends, guidance for the future and reflections on personal finance in a challenging era.

An Uneasy Exuberance in the Stock Market

It’s been a long, fine run for the stock market, but a great deal of the upswing has depended on low interest rates, and in the bond market rates have been rising. Investment strategists are taking a wide array of approaches to deal with this difficult problem. For now, the bull market rides on.

Finding Safety Through Global Diversity

Bonds provide ballast in diversified portfolios, damping the swings of the stock market and sometimes providing solid returns. Because bond yields have been rising — and yields and prices move in opposite directions — bond returns have been suffering lately. But adding a diversified selection of international bonds to domestic holdings can reduce the risk in the bond side of your investments.

It’s Not Really All That Complicated

Yes, the markets and the economy are complicated. That often puts people off, and stops them from taking action that can help them and their families immeasurably: investing. But investing need not be complicated. A succinct article gives pointers on how to get started, and on how to navigate the markets for the long haul.

NFTs Are Great, but the Real Money Is in Dollars

After a piece of virtual art known as a nonfungible token — an NFT — sold at auction for $70 million recently, NFTs have suddenly became an asset that you can invest in. Our columnist prefers real dollars.

Fossil Fuel Prices Recovered, but for How Long?

Short-term demand for oil and gas is rising, but if climate change is to be reversed, consumption of fossil fuels will have to diminish. This leaves investors in a tough spot.

Credit…Kate Warren for The New York Times

“This was not the outcome anyone wanted,” it added, “but despite a huge effort that exhausted all potential options, the company does not have a viable way forward.”

Between the Pacific and ArcLight brands, the company owned 16 theaters and more than 300 screens.

That does not seem to be the case for Pacific Theaters, which, according to two people with knowledge of the matter, fired its entire staff on Monday.

The reaction to ArcLight’s closing around Hollywood has been emotional, including an outpouring on Twitter.

— Lulu Wang (@thumbelulu) April 13, 2021

Tags Economy, inflation, Live, Rate, Reawakens, rises, Updates

Health

Airline, journey shares slip after U.S. recommends pause in J&J Covid vaccine

Post author By
Post date April 13, 2021

Airline, travel stocks slip after U.S. recommends pause in J&J Covid vaccine

Passengers board an American Airlines flight at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport in Arlington, Virginia on April 11, 2021.

Andrew Caballero-Reynolds | AFP | Getty Images

Airline and other travel stocks fell Tuesday after U.S. authorities called for a break in using Johnson & Johnson’s Covid-19 vaccine due to rare reports of blood clotting.

The Food and Drug Administration urged states to stop using the single-dose vaccine after six people in the United States developed a rare bleeding disorder after receiving the shot. J&J said that “no clear causal link” was found between the blood clots and the vaccine and that it is working with regulators to assess the problem.

The recommendation comes just as airlines and other travel companies reported an improvement in bookings after coronavirus cases peaked earlier this year and more people were vaccinated.

Delta Air Lines and United Airlines stocks both fell more than 3% in morning trading. American Airlines shares were down about 5%. The Fort Worth-based airline estimated Tuesday that first quarter revenue was 62% lower than in the first quarter of 2019.

American expects a net loss of $ 2.7 billion to $ 2.8 billion for the quarter, excluding state wage support for the sector. The airline said its daily cash use averaged $ 27 million per day for the quarter, including $ 9 million per day in debt and severance payments, down from the previously estimated $ 30 million.

The cruise companies Carnival and Norwegian Cruise Line each gained more than 2%, while Marriott and Hilton both declined more than 1%.

Tags airline, Covid, Pause, recommends, slip, Stocks, travel, Vaccine

Business

Pausing J&J Covid vaccine may have far reaching results: Dr. Kavita Patel

Post author By
Post date April 13, 2021

U.S. states face steep decline in J&J vaccine

Dr. Kavita Patel told CNBC on Tuesday that she believes the Food and Drug Administration’s recommendation that states stop using Johnson & Johnson’s single-shot Covid vaccine is likely to have a lasting impact on the country’s efforts to fight the pandemic.

“This is a devastating blow to this J&J vaccination effort in the US,” said Patel, a family doctor in Washington, DC, in an interview on Squawk Box. She also worked on health initiatives in the Obama administration while serving as director of policy for the Bureau of Interstate Affairs and Public Engagement.

Patel said the supply of Pfizer and Moderna’s two-shot vaccines will not be able to quickly meet the demand caused by the J&J hiatus. This will delay US vaccination efforts, she added.

The FDA recommendation, released Tuesday, came after six people in the US experienced rare and severe blood clotting problems after receiving the J&J vaccine.

In a tweet, the US regulator said its actions were taken “out of caution”.

All six cases occurred in women between the ages of 18 and 48, with symptoms developing six to 13 days after receiving the shot.

So far, J&J has said that there is “no clear causal link” between these rare events and the vaccine. The US drug giant also said it was working with regulators.

While she anticipates that Moderna and Pfizer will at some point be able to “fill some of that void,” said Patel, “it will be some time” before these other vaccine manufacturers have additional doses available in the US

A particular challenge in discontinuing the administration of J & J’s vaccine is that it only requires a single shot, while Moderna and Pfizer’s mRNA vaccines require two doses for complete protection of immunity.

“We just can’t replace it for the next week or three,” said Patel, a medical assistant for NBC News and a non-resident of the Brookings Institution. “This will delay our vaccination efforts.”

To compensate for this, the US could consider reducing second-dose administration to recipients of Moderna and Pfizer vaccines, Patel suggested.

The Chief Medical Officer of the White House, Dr. Anthony Fauci, has spoken out against requests earlier in the pandemic.

The second dose of Moderna is supposed to be given four weeks after the first, while Pfizer is three weeks apart.

“You will hear a renewal for calls to delay that second shot so we can get that many first shots in the arms. It’s not an unreasonable thing to think about now,” said Patel.

“If we postpone the second dose of Moderna or Pfizer for a week or two, it might actually help us fill some of that void faster,” she added.

Tags Covid, effects, Kavita, Patel, Pausing, Reaching, Vaccine

Health

Might the Pandemic Immediate an ‘Epidemic of Loss’ of Ladies within the Sciences?

Post author By
Post date April 13, 2021

Could the Pandemic Prompt an ‘Epidemic of Loss’ of Women in the Sciences?

Like many women during the pandemic, Alisa Stephens found working from home to be a series of tired challenges.

Dr. Stephens is a biostatistician at the University of Pennsylvania, and the technical and detail-oriented nature of her work requires long, uninterrupted deliberation. Finding the time and mental space to do this work at home with two young children proved impossible.

“That first month was really tough,” she recalled of the lockdown. Her young daughter’s daycare was closed and her 5-year-old was at home instead of school. Since her nanny could not come into the house, Dr. Stephens looked after her kids all day and worked late into the evening. Schools did not reopen in the fall, when her daughter was about to start kindergarten.

Things relaxed when the family was sure to bring in a nanny, but there was little time for the deep thought that Dr. Stephens had left every morning for work. Over time, she has adjusted her expectations of herself.

“Maybe I’m 80 percent versus 100 percent, but I can get things done at 80 percent to some degree,” she said. “It’s not great, it’s not my best, but it’s enough for now.”

Dr. Stephens is in good company. Several studies have found that women published fewer articles, conducted fewer clinical trials, and received less recognition for their expertise during the pandemic.

Add to this the emotional upheaval and stress of the pandemic, protests against structural racism, concerns about children’s mental health and education, and lack of time to think or work, and an already unsustainable situation becomes unbearable.

“The confluence of all these factors creates this perfect storm. People are at their breaking point, ”said Michelle Cardel, an obesity researcher at the University of Florida. “My great fear is that we will have a secondary epidemic of losses, especially from women in early STEM careers.”

Women scientists had problems even before the pandemic. It wasn’t uncommon for her to hear that women weren’t as smart as men, or that a woman who was successful must have received a handout along the way, said Daniela Witten, biostatistician at the University of Washington in Seattle. Some things are changing, she said, but only with great effort and at an Ice Age pace.

The career ladder is particularly steep for mothers. Even while on maternity leave, they are expected to keep up with laboratory work, teaching requirements, publications, and mentoring PhD students. When they return to work, most of them do not have affordable childcare.

Women in science often have little recourse when faced with discrimination. Your institutions sometimes lack the staffing structures that are common in the business world.

The road is even more difficult for color scientists like Dr. Stephens, who encountered other prejudices in the workplace – from everyday reactions, professional reviews or promotions – and now dealing with the disproportionate impact of the pandemic on black and Latin American communities.

Dr. Stephens said a close friend, also a black scientist, has five family members who have contracted Covid-19.

Updated

April 13, 2021, 6:10 p.m. ET

The year was a “break” for everyone, added Dr. Stephens added, and universities should find a way to help scientists when the pandemic ends – perhaps by adding an extra year to the time they have to earn a tenure.

Others said while additional tenure may help, it will now be far from enough.

“It’s like you’re drowning and the university is telling you, ‘Don’t worry if you need an extra year to get back on land,” said Dr. Witten. “It’s like,’ Hey, that is not helpful. I need a flotation device. ‘”

The frustration is compounded by outdated ideas about how to help women in science. But social media has allowed women to share some of those concerns and find allies to organize and exclaim injustices when they see this, said Jessica Hamerman, an immunologist at the Benaroya Research Institute in Seattle. “It’s just a lot less likely that people will sit still and hear biased statements that concern them.”

In November, for example, the influential journal Nature Communications published a controversial study on women scientists, suggesting that female mentors would hinder the careers of young scientists and recommending that young women seek men to help them instead.

The reaction was intense and unforgiving.

Hundreds of scientists, men and women, abandoned the paper’s flawed methods and conclusions, saying they had reinforced outdated stereotypes and failed to account for structural biases in science.

“The advice from the newspaper was essentially similar to the advice your grandmother gave you 50 years ago: get a man to look after you and you’ll be fine,” said Dr. Cardel.

Nearly 7,600 scientists signed a petition asking the journal to withdraw the paper – which it did on December 21st.

Class disturbed

Updated March 29, 2021

The latest on how the pandemic is changing education.

The study came at a time when many women scientists were already concerned about the impact of the pandemic on their careers and were already nervous and angry about a system that offered them little support.

“It was an incredibly difficult time being a woman in science,” said Leslie Vosshall, a neuroscientist at Rockefeller University in New York. “We’re already down, we’re already on our knees – and then the newspaper comes and kicks us to say, ‘We have the solution, let’s take the PhD students to an older man.'”

Some people on Twitter suggested that the Nature Communications paper had been withdrawn because a “feminist mob” requested it, but in fact the paper was “a dumpster fire of data,” said Dr. Vosshall.

According to several statisticians, the study was based on incorrect assumptions and statistical analyzes. (The authors of the paper declined to comment.)

Dr. Vosshall said she felt compelled to push back because the paper was “dangerous”. Department heads and deans of medical faculties have used the research to direct doctoral students to male mentors and to roll back all advances in equality of science. She said, “The older I get, the more windows I have for this job that really works.”

She used some of her wisdom to bring about change at Rockefeller University, one of the oldest research institutions in the country.

A few years ago Rockefeller University invited news anchor Rachel Maddow to present a prestigious award. On the way into the auditorium, Ms. Maddow pointed to a wall adorned with pictures of Lasker Prize and Nobel Prize winners – all men – who were affiliated with the university. At least four women at the university had also won prestigious awards, but their photos were not on display.

“What’s up with the guy wall?” Mrs. Maddow asked. And Dr. Vosshall, who had walked past the wall a thousand times, suddenly saw it differently. She realized that it was sending the wrong message to all the high school students, undergraduates, and graduate students who routinely walked by it.

“As soon as you notice a guy wall, you see them everywhere,” she said. “They are in every auditorium, in every corridor, in every departmental office, in every conference room.”

Rockefeller University eventually agreed to replace the display with a display more representative of the institution’s history. The pictures were taken on November 11th, announced Dr. Vosshall on Twitter and will be replaced with a more comprehensive set.

The departments at Yale University and Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston have also rethought their buddy walls, said Dr. Vosshall. “There are some traditions that shouldn’t be perpetuated.”

Tags Epidemic, Loss, Pandemic, Prompt, Sciences, Women

Business

Cinerama Dome in Hollywood Will not Reopen After Pandemic

Post author By
Post date April 13, 2021

Movie theater chain in Los Angeles, forced to close by the pandemic, will not reopen.

ArcLight Cinemas, a popular chain of Los Angeles-based cinemas, including the Cinerama Dome in Hollywood, will permanently close all locations, Pacific Theaters said on Monday after the pandemic decimated cinema business.

ArcLight’s locations in and around Hollywood have been home to many movie premieres and are popular spots for moviegoers looking for blockbusters and prestige titles. They are operated by Pacific Theaters, which also operate a handful of theaters under the Pacific name, and are owned by Decurion.

“After closing our doors more than a year ago, today we have to share the difficult and sad news that Pacific will not reopen its ArcLight cinemas and Pacific Theaters locations,” the company said in a statement.

“This was not the result anyone wanted,” he added, “but despite a tremendous amount of effort that has exhausted all potential options, the company has no viable path forward.”

Between the Pacific and ArcLight brands, the company owned 16 theaters and more than 300 screens.

The cinema business was particularly hard hit by the pandemic. But in the past few weeks, most of the country’s biggest theater chains, including AMC and Regal Cinemas, have reopened in anticipation of the list of Hollywood films to be reopened, many after repeated delays due to pandemic restrictions. There is even an air of optimism in the air as a result of the Warner Bros. film “Godzilla vs. Kong,” which has generated revenues of around $ 70 million since it opened over the Easter weekend.

Still, the industry’s trade organization, the National Association of Theater Owners, has long warned that the criminal closings would most likely affect smaller regional players like ArcLight and Pacific. In March, the Alamo Drafthouse Cinema chain, which operates around 40 locations nationwide, announced that it had filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, but that most locations would remain operational during the restructuring.

This does not appear to be the case with Pacific Theaters, which two knowledgeable people said they laid off all their staff on Monday.

The response to the ArcLight Hollywood closure has been emotional, including a pour out on Twitter.

Tags Cinerama, Dome, Hollywood, Pandemic, Reopen, wont