Aged care will be the focus of a Senate inquiry looking into the federal government’s coronavirus response.
The handling of the pandemic at aged care facilities has come under the spotlight, with 19 residents at a western Sydney nursing home dying after contracting coronavirus.
About 70 people have been infected with the virus at the Newmarch House nursing home.
The Senate inquiry will on Tuesday hear from the Aged Care Quality and Safety Commission and Chief Medical Officer Brendan Murphy as well as Department of Health officials.
Committee chair Katy Gallagher plans to question Professor Murphy on current health issues relating to the pandemic.
“And (we will be) looking into the government’s response to aged care issues including the COVID-19 outbreaks in Newmarch House and other facilities across the country,” the Labor senator told AAP in a statement.
Greens senator Rachel Siewert will ask the commission about approaches to infection control, safety and the industry visitor code.
Newmarch House and two other NSW aged care facilities where residents have died from the coronavirus, Dorothy Henderson Lodge and Opal Care Bankstown, will also form part of the aged care royal commission’s investigation into the impact of the pandemic.
An ambulance is seen leaving Anglicare’s Newmarch House aged care home in Kingswood, near Penrith, NSW, Thursday, May 7, 2020. (Source: AAP)
El Paso residents came together this weekend to throw a birthday party for the youngest survivor of a mass shooting that rocked the Texas city last summer.
Paul Gilbert Anchondo celebrated his first birthday on Saturday, nearly 10 months after his parents, Andre and Jordan Anchondo, were killed during the Aug. 3 shooting at a local Walmart.
Little Paul, dressed in a prince costume, held court while hundreds of people passed by him in parade formation, according to CNN.
Paul’s grandfather Gilbert Anchondo said the party was a way to let his grandson know he has the support of his whole community.
 “We want him to remember that everybody here in the El Paso area and our community is supporting him, that he’s not by himself,†Anchondo told local outlet KVIA TV.
Eduardo Prieto, the president of the Muertos MC motorcycle club, said people in the community wanted to do something special for Paul’s birthday.
“Well, this is going to be his first birthday and it’s unfortunate that his parents are not going to be here for his first birthday. So we want to give him something to look back and show that not only does he have his family’s support but the support of the community,†Prieto told KTSM TV.
Jordan and Andre Anchondo were among 23 people killed by alleged shooter Patrick Crusius of Dallas at the Walmart store. Although Crusius has pleaded not guilty, his arrest warrant says that he declared “I’m the shooter†after turning himself in to police.
Paul’s grandmother Misti Jamrowski told CBS Dallas-Fort Worth that her daughter, Jordan, shielded the baby with her body even after she was shot while Andre tried to protect them both.Â
“The shooter had aimed at Jordan. And Andre jumped in front of Jordan. And the shooter shot Andre, and the bullets went through Andre and hit Jordan,†Jamrowski said.
Laos has so far managed to keep the coronavirus under control. As of May 12th, the nation has recorded fewer than 20 confirmed cases, the vast majority of which have already made a full recovery.
With no new Covid-19 infections in almost a month, the Laotian authorities are confident that life can soon begin returning to normal in the Southeast Asian nation.
Changes to Laos Visa Policy during Covid-19
One way in which this low infection rate has been achieved is by restricting entrance to Laos. On March 18th it was announced that all tourist visas were to be suspended until further notice.
Under normal circumstances, tourists are able to apply for a Laos visa online and stay in the country for up to 30 days. With the situation continuing to improve, it is hoped that the normal visa policy will recommence in the not-too-distant future.
The announcement that the Laos visa overstay fees were to be suspended during the coronavirus outbreak came as welcome news to travelers in Laos. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs showed a flexible approach to foreigners with visas that expired during the lockdown period who were unable to request an extension.
Foreign nationals heading to Laos for non-touristic purposes are able to enter the country provided they submit the required health-related documents for approval prior to arrival.
Now that the Department of Immigration has reopened, visa holders are once again required to have a valid visa and pay the extension fees for any days spent in Laos without a valid visa since 9th April. Overstay fines came back into effect from May 8th.
Lockdown Measures Now Being Eased in Laos
Given that no new cases of the coronavirus have been detected in Laos for some weeks, the country is gradually beginning to open back up, an indication that life is slowly returning to a degree of normality.
Lockdown measures had been in place since the end of March. Like in many countries across the world, residents were asked to stay indoors, only leaving for essential purposes such as buying food or medicine. Businesses deemed as non-essential were to remain closed.
It would appear that the lockdown has been effective in preventing more people from catching Covid-19. For this reason, since May 4th, some cafes, restaurants, shopping centers, and offices have been able to reopen. The wearing of masks and social distancing is still required but economic activity can now start to resume, a positive sign.
For the time being, recreational spaces such as bars, cinemas, and gyms are to remain closed and large gatherings are not permitted. The situation is under constant review by the government, the current measures will remain in place for at least 2 weeks.
Except for exceptional circumstances, travel between provinces remains restricted, with the suspension of bus services and domestic flights.
The Importance of Tourism in Laos
Tourism is important to the economy of Laos. A country of great natural beauty with unspoiled mountainous terrain and remote villages to explore, Laos attracts sightseers from all over the world.
Laos visitor arrivals have increased over the past few years. The nation welcomed over 4.5 million international people in 2019, up 8.2% on the previous year. As well as foreign nationals from other Asian nations, Laos receives an increasing number of British, American, and German passport holders.
Tourism has therefore been of increasing importance in Laos in recent years, helping to boost economic growth and creating hundreds of thousands of jobs for local people.
Not only this but the rise of tourism in Laos has contributed to the development of infrastructure in the country. Airports and roads have both seen significant investment.
How will Laos tourism recover after Covid-19?
The coronavirus outbreak has hit global tourism hard, with flights grounded and visas suspended, holidays have temporarily been put on hold.
As Laos is now in the process of reopening, it is time to think about how the nation will recover from the effects of the pandemic.
travel becomes possible, international tourists will be encouraged to return to Laos to experience the landscapes and fascinating culture that so many millions have enjoyed in recent years. In fact, with so little footfall, some of the country’s most popular sites will be even more beautiful.
Luang Prabang, famed for its impressive architecture, temples, and wildlife, is one of the most visited places in Laos. The UNESCO World Heritage Site will surely benefit from this quiet period, ready to welcome travelers again once global tourism resumes.
Author bio:
Susan Noel is an experienced content writer. She is associated with many renowned travel blogs as a guest author where she shares her valuable travel tips and experience with the audience.
LOS ANGELES (AP) — The coronavirus hasn’t been kind to car owners.
With more people than ever staying home to lessen the spread of COVID-19, their sedans, pickup trucks and SUVs are parked unattended on the streets, making them easy targets for opportunistic thieves.
Despite silent streets and nearly nonexistent traffic, vehicle larcenies shot up 63% in New York and nearly 17% in Los Angeles from Jan. 1 through mid-May, compared with the same period last year.
And many other law enforcement agencies around the U.S. are reporting an increase in stolen cars and vehicle burglaries, even as violent crime has dropped dramatically nationwide in the coronavirus pandemic. It’s a low-risk crime with a potentially high reward, police say, especially when many drivers leave their doors unlocked or their keys inside.
“You might as well put a sticker on the window that says ‘come take my stuff,’†said an exasperated Alex Villanueva, the Los Angeles County sheriff.
In Austin, Texas, last month, a whopping 72% of the 322 stolen vehicles had their keys nearby. The total number of auto thefts in April spiked about 50%, and burglaries to vehicles were up 2% from April 2019.
The virus has created a “perfect storm,†said Austin police Sgt. Chris Vetrano, a supervisor in the 11-detective auto theft unit that investigates stolen vehicle cases.
The elements for that storm: Drivers are at home and not using or checking their cars regularly. School’s out, so teenagers are trying their luck. Criminals are out of work and have more time on their hands or need fast money to support a drug habit.
“You can get on the internet nowadays and learn how to break into vehicles just searching YouTube,†Vetrano said.
(He should know: Someone broke into his locked Ford F-150 pickup truck, one of the most commonly stolen vehicles, about a year ago.)
Salt Lake City police Detective Greg Wilking said a 22% spike in vehicle burglaries there could be from a few criminals working quickly on “car prowls.â€
“It’s really 10 seconds,†he said. “They’re not spending a lot of time in your car. It’s a smash-and-grab-and-go,†sometimes in broad daylight.
Wilking worries the numbers will keep rising because “people get more desperate as time goes on.â€
In Baltimore, though, a push to reduce the city’s historically high numbers of vehicle thefts and burglaries appears to have paid off. Thefts from autos plunged 24% and stolen vehicles dropped 19% from January to May compared with the same period last year.
Col. Richard Worley, the chief of patrol, in part credits aggressive efforts to remind residents to lock their cars, take their keys home and park in well-lit areas. In this case, however, the pandemic has actually helped police:
Residents are home, driving less and keeping an eye on the neighborhood, and officers now have time for proactive patrols because calls for service and violent crime have decreased. A thief was recently arrested with 13 stolen catalytic converters during a motor vehicle stop.
Sometimes, however, it’s just a matter of luck. Like for Lindsey Eldridge, the police department’s community outreach coordinator, who left her keys in her car’s cupholder. She realized her mistake just before falling asleep.
As Worley said: “She could have been a statistic.â€
This story has been corrected to show the quote was from Worley, not Eldridge.
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LONDON — It was an unprecedented press conference in every way, not least because the government’s own code of conduct for special advisers states that they “must not take part in public political controversy, through any form of statement.â€
As 4 p.m. came and went, it became increasingly clear that Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s chief adviser has as much respect for time as he has for the lockdown rules.
More than thirty minutes passed before Britain’s best known SpAd — short for special adviser — deigned to gift the waiting world with an explanation of why he seems to have violated the government’s strict lockdown rules by driving almost 300 miles to his parents’ farm in Durham, after his wife said she felt ill with COVID-19 symptoms.
When Cummings finally did stroll out into the Downing Street rose garden in his trademark untucked shirt, it quickly became clear that the strategy — hammered out behind closed doors over the last 24 hours — was for him to appear, if not contrite then at least eminently reasonable. And if that failed, he would drone everyone into submission.
“None of our usual childcare options were available,†so the Cummings had headed north.
Over the next twenty minutes, the prime minister’s most trusted adviser  — and the man widely credited with bringing Britain Brexit — delivered a detailed justification for his movements.
In April, his wife had rung him to say she was feeling ill and he had decided that they would therefore drive to a safe space, where help would be available if needed.
Everyone else in the country might have got the message about staying at home and saving lives but uniquely: “None of our usual childcare options were available,†so the Cummings had headed north.
In his version of events, Cummings was both victim and hero of the piece — a family man who had acted reasonably and who had subsequently been unfairly set upon by the press for doing the right thing.
This was an “exceptional situation†and “numerous false stories in the media†had sought to discredit him and make him look as if he had done something wrong. Cummings claimed he had a “full tank of petrol†and knew that he could safely drive to Durham and would be able to self-isolate in an empty estate cottage.
Having reached his parents’ farm, he and his wife had both displayed COVID-19 symptoms and self-isolated with their 4-year-old son. But then after a 14 day period, having recovered sufficiently, decided that it might be time to go back to work.
Cummings had suffered eyesight problems during the illness and his partner was worried so they “agreed to go for a short drive to see if I could drive safely.â€
That last admission already seems likely to be a phrase that will launch a thousand memes.
It was during that brief car journey to Barnard Castle and during some subsequent toilet breaks and exercise that he was spotted by members of the public, who were wished a hearty “Happy Easter†by Mrs. Cummings as they stared on from a distance.
It was all very reasonable, he said, and “I don’t regret what I did.â€
In ensuing question and answers with the journalists present, he doubled down. He hadn’t bothered the prime minister with the details of his journey because Johnson “had a million things on his plate†and was ill in bed.
N. 10 Downing Street special advisor Dominic Cummings returns to his home in London on May 24 | Glyn Kirk/AFP via Getty Images
Cummings blamed the media, the public, the willful misinterpretation of his words — but he refused to accept that he himself had acted wrongly.
Whatever he might say, however much he might refute it — Cummings did break the rules. While millions of other Britons forewent freedom of movement, while hundreds of thousands struggled with childcare and the effects of the virus, Johnson’s top adviser decided that he was above the fray.
What was on show in Cummings’ performance was the underlying superciliousness of the new elite running Britain — and most of all that of the Svengali who sits behind its throne whispering instructions.
How dare mere hacks and police constables question the judgment of the man who gave the world Brexit. It all made perfect sense to him so why couldn’t they grasp it?
Cummings has always been a whole set of paradoxes. For twenty years he carved a niche for himself in the shadows, cementing the agenda of Euroskeptic conservatism and serving the biggest elite in the land, while claiming all the while that he was some kind of anti-establishment outlier.
The growing antipathy of millions of Britons for an administration that thinks it’s “one rule for them and another for us†might yet frame the government’s future.
He isn’t. He sits at the heart of an overconfident inherently arrogant establishment that thinks it can ride this one out.
Cummings has a lot of enemies both within and without the inner corridors of power, and this performance won’t have won him many fans. Genuine contrition was thin on the ground and he seemed more preoccupied that “media reports†about him were false than anything else.
Perhaps he and Johnson have calculated it correctly. Perhaps he will weather this storm and cling on to power.
But if that happens, the damage it has wrought will linger. The growing antipathy of millions of Britons for an administration that thinks it’s “one rule for them and another for us†might yet frame the government’s future.
Whatever eventually happens, Cummings can add another paradox to his curriculum vitae.
The architect of Britain’s effort to “take back control†from the unelected and unaccountable bureaucrats is now an unelected, unaccountable bureaucrat refusing to cede control.
President Donald Trump once again took swings at criticism he received about golfing over the weekend amid the coronavirus pandemic, calling the media “deranged†and deflecting complaints onto his predecessor, Barack Obama.
“The Fake & Totally Corrupt News makes it sound like a mortal sin – I knew this would happen!†he tweeted Monday following news coverage of him hitting the links in Virginia as the nation’s COVID-19 death toll neared 100,000.
It was his first time golfing since he declared the pandemic a national emergency.
Some stories about the fact that in order to get outside and perhaps, even a little exercise, I played golf over the weekend. The Fake & Totally Corrupt News makes it sound like a mortal sin – I knew this would happen! What they don’t say is that it was my first golf in almost…
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 25, 2020
….3 months and, if I waited 3 years, they would do their usual “hit†pieces anyway. They are sick with hatred and dishonesty. They are truly deranged! They don’t mention Sleepy Joe’s poor work ethic, or all of the time Obama spent on the golf course, often flying to….
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 25, 2020
….Hawaii in a big, fully loaded 747, to play. What did that do to the so-called Carbon Footprint? He also played moments after the brutal killing by ISIS of a wonderful young man. Totally inappropriate – and it was me who shattered 100% of the ISIS Caliphate. I was left a MESS!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 25, 2020
Trump went on to say that the media was “sick with hatred and dishonesty†and “truly deranged.†He then attacked Obama’s own golfing habits as well as those of former Vice President and presumed Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden, saying the latter has a “poor work ethic.†His insults and complaints were similar to ones he tweeted on Saturday.
However, Trump managed to dodge the fact that he has also incessantly criticized Obama for playing golf while he was in the White House. In one interview Trump gave in 2014, he suggested that the game is entirely unpresidential.
“When you’re president, you sort of say, I’m going to give it up for a couple of years and I’m going to really focus on the job,†he told Fox News.
“Can you believe that, with all of the problems and difficulties facing the U.S., President Obama spent the day playing golf,†Trump tweeted that same year.
Can you believe that,with all of the problems and difficulties facing the U.S., President Obama spent the day playing golf.Worse than Carter
“I play golf to relax. My company is in great shape. @BarackObama plays golf to escape work while America goes down the drain,†he wrote on Twitter a few years earlier, in 2011.
Trump, who is an avid Twitter user, had similarly said that he would no longer tweet during his presidency.
After three years in office, he has already spent 270% more days on a golf course than Obama had at the same point in his first term, a HuffPost analysis found.
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International multilateral organisations have a crucial role to play in promoting ICT technologies – to help the European and global economies recover from the Covid-19 crisis, Huawei’s Chief Representative to the EU Institutions Abraham Liu said during an online debate today.
Abraham Liu
“Huawei has demonstrated know-how and dedication during recent months, setting up 5G networks with telecom operators in hospitals, providing technological solutions for telemedicine and for pandemic control procedures,†said Abraham Liu during the debate “Economic Transition into the ‘New Normal’: how can international organisations help European economies bounce backâ€, organised by The Brussels Times. “5G and AI technologies are also used in vaccine development and have played a key role in reliable medical data quantitative analysis. Our technology has also been successfully applied to managing public and private sector re-opening,â€Â Abraham Liu underlined.
“The process of innovation does not stop at any defined geographical border,†Mr Liu added. “The Horizon Europe research, innovation and science programme 2021-2027 is a key policy instrument that can play an important role in boosting economic competitiveness in Europe, delivering the EU Green deal and tackling the UN Sustainable Development Goals.â€
As lockdowns lift cautiously across Europe, the focus of collective attention is shifting to what key players can do to help the economy recover. Today’s debate, moderated by Digital Storyteller Dan Sobovitz and The Brussels Times journalist Pauline Bock, asked how the good practice that has come to the fore during the pandemic can be shared in the future, to ensure safe progress to renewed economic prosperity in Europe.
High-level representatives from the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), World Economic Forum (WEF), United Nations Industrial Development Organisation (UNIDO) andthe Croatian Presidency of the EU Council took part in the webinar.
Learn ON programme
Another good example of Huawei’s collaboration with international organisations is in its Learn ON programme to prevent education disruption during the pandemic. Working with UNESCO and partner schools and colleges, Learn ON has delivered an online distance education system to support around 50,000 students and their teachers.
The programme is continuing for the rest of 2020 with more than 100 online Train the Trainer (TTT) courses, involving 1,500 teachers, and the opening of over 130 Massive Open Online Courses (MOOC) covering advanced technological fields such as AI, Big Data, 5G and IoT, funded by a EUR 4.6 million Huawei ICT Academy Development Incentive Fund (ADIF).
The executive committee of the WHO’s Solidarity trial met on Saturday | Georges Gobet/AFP via Getty Images
The study has enrolled 3,500 patients in at least 17 countries since March
The World Health Organization is pausing the use of hydroxychloroquine in its global study of COVID-19 treatments amid a review of safety data, officials announced Monday.
The move follows findings from a large observational study, published Friday, that found increased risk of heart problems and death in COVID-19 patients who used chloroquine and hydroxychloroquine.
It’s a scientific decision nonetheless fraught with politics: U.S. President Donald Trump is a champion of hydroxychloroquine, revealing last week that he’s taking it to prevent COVID-19. He has threatened to cut off U.S. funding to the WHO within a month absent unspecified reforms.
The executive committee of the WHO’s Solidarity trial met on Saturday, said WHO Chief Scientist Soumya Swaminathan, and decided “in the light of this uncertainty that we should be proactive, err on the side of caution and suspend enrollment temporarily into the hydroxychloroquine arm.†(Chloroquine is not part of the trial.)
The meeting came a day after the Lancet published the largest observational study of the malaria drugs to date, and as some national regulators began expressing concern about using the drug.
WHO officials estimated the pause would last a week or two as the trial’s data safety monitoring board considers information already collected from the Solidarity trial and other ongoing studies to determine whether it’s safe to continue with hydroxychloroquine.
The study, a randomized trial, has enrolled 3,500 patients in at least 17 countries since March to study four medicines, including hydroxychloroquine.
New Castle, Delaware: Former vice president Joe Biden has made his first campaign trip outside his Delaware home since quarantining himself due to the coronavirus pandemic 10 weeks ago, visiting a nearby veteran’s memorial to mark the US Memorial Day holiday.
Biden, the prospective Democratic presidential nominee, and his wife, Jill, both wearing black masks, laid a wreath of white roses at a memorial for veterans of World War II and the Korean War.
Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden wore a mask as he laid a wreath on Memorial Day.Credit:AP
“It feels good to be out of my house,” Biden told reporters, his speech slightly muffled by the mask. Maintaining his distance, he saluted about a dozen veterans and other onlookers standing a few metres away and thanked them for their service.
Biden has been holding campaign events ahead of the November election online from his house in Wilmington ever since much of the country was forced to stay largely at home to curb the spread of the coronavirus.
Chief Advisor to Prime Minister Boris Johnson, Dominic Cummings | Pool photo by Jonathan Brady/WPA via Getty Images
Dominic Cummings says he disagrees with those who believe he broke lockdown rules.
LONDON — Boris Johnson’s top adviser Dominic Cummings insisted he “behaved reasonably†when he drove 260 miles during lockdown — but admitted he should have been clearer about his actions and spoken out sooner.
After his actions sparked major uproar, Cummings issued an unprecedented statement in the Downing Street rose garden on Monday.
Cummings was accused of breaching the rules of the lockdown when he drove from London to Durham to spend two weeks of quarantine near family after his wife showed coronavirus symptoms.
He said he made the decision to be near family out of fear it might be impossible to care for his 4-year-old child. He said he was also motivated to be somewhere more remote after receiving threats of violence over his role in Downing Street.
Cummings argued he acted “reasonably and legally†— pointing to a clause in the lockdown guidelines that allows for exceptional childcare circumstances — and added: “I think the people like me who make the rules should be held accountable for their actions.â€
He said some will think he breached the lockdown rules, adding: “I know the intense hardship and sacrifice the country has had to go through, however I respectfully disagree.â€
Cummings also explained that he drove 30 miles from Durham to the town of Barnard Castle to check he could drive safely before making the long journey back to London. But he denied he made a second trip to Durham, as has been claimed in the media.
Cummings refused to apologize or resign, after Conservative MPs, government scientists and members of the public argued he had undermined the lockdown rules, and suggested the media had misreported the facts.
But he admitted he should have explained himself beforehand — after the issue engulfed the government for a number of days. “It would have been better to have made this statement earlier,†he told reporters.
He also said he did not ask the prime minister before he drove to Durham, but did let him know after the fact.
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