Dozen injured as car crashes into Syd shop

PressNewsAgency
-
0
Dozen injured as car crashes into Syd shop

A dozen people, mostly young women, have been injured after a station wagon crashed into a Sydney hijab shop days before the end of Ramadan.

Mobile phone and security camera video shows the wagon pushing a white sedan aside at traffic lights before racing through the intersection and ploughing into the Greenacre store about 3.15pm on Thursday.

Witnesses described the scene as “surreal”.

The male driver, 51, was conscious when arrested and remains under police guard in hospital.

“He’s only been briefly spoken to, he’s yet to be interview by detectives and crash investigators,” Assistant Commissioner Peter Thurtell told reporters on Thursday evening.

“I am aware he has some traffic matters. I’m unable to comment on any medical episode. There’s no information that’s been given to me that there’s been any medical episode.”

Three men and eight women – mostly aged 18 to 30 – inside or near the shop at the time were treated for minor injuries.

Two people with broken legs were carried out of the smashed shop.

They’re all in a stable condition, NSW Ambulance Acting Inspector Caitlyn Murphy said.

“Our paramedics were met with a very chaotic scene,” she told reporters.

“There was a large crowd of bystanders who were quite distressed.”

NSW Police said there is no indication the crash was terror-related.

The reason for the crash remains under investigation.

The driver of the white sedan was Abdul Jelani, the Seven Network reported.

“All of a sudden I saw this car come out of nowhere and hit other cars and then I get hit from the back,” Mr Jelani said.

“I locked my brakes and he just kept pushing and pushing. Then all of a sudden I ended up on that side of the road … and he ends up in the shop.”

Dairee frozen yoghurt manager Malik Islam was preparing for the nightly Ramadan trade when he heard people screaming – but he didn’t think it could be “as horrific as a car ploughing into a shop”.

“It actually ploughed into the centre of the shop, there were a lot of people trying to enter the shop to provide some support,” the witness told AAP.

Footage he saw showed the wagon “pushed that car out and flung straight across the intersection”.

“It was disturbing, it’s very surreal, you don’t expect it – it’s a very chaotic intersection normally,” Mr Islam said.

NSW Police initially said incorrectly that the vehicle which crashed into Hijab House was a Subaru SUV.

Source by [author_name]

Infectious Disease Expert Explains Why White House Coronavirus Testing ‘Not Smart’ At All

PressNewsAgency
-
0
Infectious Disease Expert Explains Why White House Coronavirus Testing ‘Not Smart’ At All

Infectious disease expert Michael Osterholm on Wednesday criticized the White House’s coronavirus testing protocol, saying it was not an example of smart testing and likening it to giving squirt guns to Secret Service agents to protect President Donald Trump.

Osterholm, the director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy at the University of Minnesota, explained to CNN’s Anderson Cooper how testing for COVID-19 itself, while important, is not the end-all for slowing the spread of the contagion that has now killed almost 95,000 people nationwide.

Instead, Osterholm argued, it should be seen as part of a wider system of testing “the right person at the right time with the right result.”

“You have to understand that a test is not just a single thing that happens. You have to be testing the right population,” said Osterholm, who noted how “today, if I tested any citizen in the state of Minnesota for antibody, I’d probably find over half of them that have it, are false-positive antibodies, meaning that they don’t really have it.”

“If I’m testing certain groups that I need to have absolute certainty that I’ve screened out for the virus, like we just saw at the White House two weeks ago. Well, we know that test didn’t do that at all,” he continued. “Those are not examples of smart testing. So you want the right test for the right person at the right time with the right result.”

As an example of the “right result,” he noted how many auxiliary and drive-by clinics were unable to give the result of the test to people they were testing, and that health departments were not tracking the information.

“This has got to be part of a system, much more than just ‘if we’re testing for 8,000 people today we’ve made it.’ It’s like the Dow Jones average,” said Osterholm. “We need to do smart testing to test those who need it and get the results back to them and make a difference.”

Cooper suggested it was “pretty alarming” that “even in the White House, the testing they’re doing, you’re saying that’s not smart testing.”

“That was not smart testing at all,” he said. “I mean, trying to use that test as it was used to protect the president of the United States is like giving squirt guns to the Secret Service and saying ‘protect the president.’”

“That was just not an effective use of that test because there were clearly examples we could have false negatives, many of them,” Osterholm added. “And so, again, testing is important, but you’ve got to use the right test, and how you use it.”

Osterholm later highlighted another potential pitfall.

“Many people are not aware of the fact that we’re running these testing machines 24/7 right now around the world,” he said, noting how spare parts for the devices had to be sourced from Asia and Europe.

“We just haven’t thought about all of the things it takes to keep a testing system in place and so that’s what we’re trying to come back to,” he added.

A HuffPost Guide To Coronavirus



Source by [author_name]

New Zealand PM Ardern floats ‘four-day week’ as a way to help the economy

PressNewsAgency
-
0
New Zealand PM Ardern floats ‘four-day week’ as a way to help the economy

In a Facebook Live video posted earlier this week, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern shared the suggestion while discussing ways to revive domestic tourism in her country. Over the last few months, the coronavirus crisis has forced people around the world to lock down and decimated global demand for travel.

“I’ve had lots of people suggesting we should have a four-day week. Ultimately, that really sits between employers and employees,” Ardern said.

However, the idea has merit in that it might give domestic travelers “flexibility in terms of their travel and their leave,” she added. Ardern noted that 60% of New Zealand’s tourism industry comes from locals.

“There’s lots of things we’ve learnt about Covid and just that flexibility of people working from home, the productivity that can be driven out of that,” she continued.

The prime minister encouraged employers to consider allowing more flexible work set-ups — including remote work and putting in longer hours on fewer days — if possible, “because it certainly would help tourism all around the country.”

Four-day work weeks have become more popular recently as employers explore whether a tighter schedule can boost productivity.

New Zealand’s own government is no stranger to the idea of an alternative working schedule. Since 2018, several government agencies have signed up to pilot a program called “flexible work by default,” which directs employers to give their workers more freedom in various ways.
While it’s up to each participating agency to decide what that arrangement looks like, the government has outlined several possibilities — including allowing people to adopt shorter work weeks, “such as 40 hours over four days, or a nine-day fortnight.”
In 2018, New Zealand company Perpetual Guardian, which helps customers manage their wills and estates, also held a two-month trial of the concept. The firm said it was so successful, it wanted to make it permanent.

By working just four days a week, employees all reported higher productivity, better work-life balance and reduced stress, according to the firm, which had around 240 staffers.

“It was just a theory, something I thought I wanted to try because I wanted to create a better environment for my team,” founder Andrew Barnes told CNN Business at the time. “They went beyond my wildest dreams.”
Big businesses elsewhere are also starting to jump on the bandwagon. Last year, Microsoft (MSFT) took up the idea as the company’s team in Japan experimented by shutting down its offices every Friday in August, and giving all employees an extra day off each week.

The results were promising: While the amount of time spent at work was cut dramatically, productivity — measured by sales per employee — went up by almost 40% compared to the same period the previous year, the company said.

As a result, Microsoft announced that it would follow up with another experiment in Japan, and also asked other companies to join the initiative.

Source link

Coronavirus updates LIVE: Trump blames China for ‘mass worldwide killing’, global cases pass 4.95 million

PressNewsAgency
-
0
Coronavirus updates LIVE: Trump blames China for ‘mass worldwide killing’, global cases pass 4.95 million

That’s problematic and differs with early reports that described Covid-19 manifesting as pneumonia, according to researchers in Japan.

“Most cases are milder and could have more transmission potential because patients might not seek medical attention,” said Takeshi Arashiro, a junior resident at the Asahi General Hospital in Chiba, just outside Tokyo.

Early reports described Covid-19 manifesting as pneumonia, “but most cases are milder and could have more transmission potential because patients might not seek medical attention,” said Arashiro, who is also a collaborating researcher with the Infectious Diseases Surveillance Center in the National Institute of Infectious Diseases in Tokyo.

The lower threshold for testing people for the coronavirus while the cruise ship was quarantined in Yokahama “created an opportunity to observe mild Covid-19 cases and monitor patient symptoms,” he said.

Understanding the disease pattern that coronavirus infection can cause is important for informing strategies for detecting and controlling it.

The high proportion of people who test positive for the virus and have only mild or no symptoms makes fever-screening travellers, for example, much less useful in detecting probable infections than was the case with the related coronavirus that caused severe acute respiratory syndrome 17 years ago.

Bloomberg

Source by [author_name]

At Least 5 Million People Globally Have Been Infected With COVID-19

PressNewsAgency
-
0
At Least 5 Million People Globally Have Been Infected With COVID-19

When the World Health Organization declared the coronavirus outbreak a global pandemic in mid-March, about 120,000 confirmed cases had been reported worldwide.

Early Thursday, that number surpassed 5 million.

According to a Johns Hopkins University tally, at least 5,000,500 people in 188 countries and territories have been infected with COVID-19 to date. Over 1.5 million of these cases were reported in the United States and another 300,000 were reported in Russia. Brazil, the U.K. Spain and Italy have each reported over 200,000 cases.

The global death toll from the virus stands at over 328,000.

On Wednesday, WHO said it had recorded its highest-ever daily number of COVID-19 cases. The agency said 106,000 cases had been reported on Tuesday — “the most in a single day since the outbreak began,” WHO’s Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said during a virtual press conference. 

Tedros added that he was concerned about the spread of the virus in low- and middle-income countries ― and warned the pandemic was far from over. 

“We still have a long way to go in this pandemic,” he said.

A HuffPost Guide To Coronavirus



Source link

Sia Adopted 2 Teenage Boys As They Were Ageing Out Of Foster Care System

PressNewsAgency
-
0
Sia Adopted 2 Teenage Boys As They Were Ageing Out Of Foster Care System

Sia is spending her time in self-isolation with a newly expanded brood. 

In a new interview on SiriusXM’s “The Morning Mash Up,” the “Chandelier” singer-songwriter opened up about adopting two teen boys last year. The boys, she explained, were both 18 years old at the time of the adoption. 

“They were ageing out of the foster care system,” she said, “and I love them.”

Sia, whose real name is Sia Kate Isobelle Furler, didn’t reveal many specifics about the 19-year-olds. As for how they were managing their time amid the coronavirus pandemic, she said, “They are both finding it pretty difficult, one more so than the other.” 

“But they’re both doing things that are really good for them right now,” she clarified. “They’re really doing a lot of educational stuff that’s good for them.” 

Sia briefly alluded to the adoption in GQ’s January profile of Diplo, whom she described as “one of the most talented and attractive people in the world.” 

“This year I wrote [Diplo] a text,” the famously private star told the magazine. “I said, ‘Hey, listen, you’re like one of five people that I’m sexually attracted to, and now that I’ve decided to be single for the rest of my life and I just adopted a son, I don’t have time for a relationship’ … If you’re interested in some no-strings sex, then hit me up.’”

Watch a segment of Sia’s SiriusXM interview below. 

News of the adoption comes as Sia is gearing up to return to the spotlight. 

On Tuesday, she dropped a new single, “Together,” which will be featured in a forthcoming movie “Music.”

Written and directed by Sia, “Music” follows Zu (played by Kate Hudson), a newly sober woman who becomes the sole guardian of her half-sister, Music (Maddie Ziegler), a young girl on the autism spectrum. The film, which also stars “Hamilton” veteran Leslie Odom Jr., will feature 10 new songs and is due out later this year. 

“I saw her on Instagram singing karaoke at her house, and she sounded like one of the only actresses who hadn’t been musical theater-trained,” Sia said of her decision to cast Hudson in the film. “So I just tweeted her.”



Source by [author_name]

Mark Cuban Goes On One Of Trump’s Favourite Shows And Rips Into His ‘Victim Card’

PressNewsAgency
-
0
Mark Cuban Goes On One Of Trump’s Favourite Shows And Rips Into His ‘Victim Card’

Billionaire investor and “Shark Tank” star Mark Cuban appeared on one of US President Donald Trump’s favourite Fox News shows Wednesday night and tore into the constant complaints coming from the White House. 

Given that Cuban is the owner of the NBA’s Dallas Mavericks, he initially spoke with Sean Hannity about how sports could return amid the coronavirus pandemic. But it wasn’t long before the conversation turned to the president ― and the exchange got a little heated.   

“This is what really bothers me about the president: He’s the most powerful man in the world and he always plays the victim card: ‘The Dems are out to get me, the media is out to get me,’” Cuban said. “You’ve got to be the leader, you’ve got to be the strongest man in the game and he just hasn’t shown that strength.”

Hannity interjected that “they” spied on Trump, but Cuban wouldn’t let him change the subject.

“Who cares?” Cuban shot back. “He’s the most powerful man in the world. Be powerful, be a leader, set an example.” 

Earlier in the interview, the two sparred over the administration’s response to the pandemic. Hannity noted that Cuban supports former Vice President Joe Biden, and said: “Tell me all the things that Bunker Joe did on coronavirus that you admire, then I’ll tell you what I think Trump did that I admire.”

But Cuban noted that Biden isn’t the president and has no role at all in the government.

“You can’t really put him in that category,” Cuban said, then shared some specific details about the Trump administration’s shortcomings.  

Check out more of their conversation below:



Source by [author_name]

#Kazakhstan to allow free export of food products – EU Reporter

PressNewsAgency
-
0
#Kazakhstan to allow free export of food products – EU Reporter
Starting from 1 June, Kazakhstan will scrap bans and quotas on the export of food products that were introduced at the height of its coronavirus outbreak as an insurance against deficits on the local market, writes Almaz Kumenov.

Kazinform news agency cited Agriculture Minister Saparkhan Omarov as saying on 19 May that Kazakhstan is now fully stocked with required food products.

At the end of March, the government announced it was introducing a total ban on the export of a number of staple goods, including flour, buckwheat, sugar, potatoes, carrots, onions, cabbages and sunflower oil. Shortly afterward, authorities buckled under pressure from domestic producers, who complained that they were at risk of losing access to foreign markets, so they instead introduced a quota on the export of flour, wheat and certain types of vegetables.

Omarov also announced the launch of a state-sponsored campaign spearheaded by President Kassym-Zhomart Tokaev for the guaranteed purchase of 365,000 tons of agricultural products, such as wheat, barley, sunflower and buckwheat, from domestic farmers.

The state plans to then provide these raw materials to the domestic market for the production of what are termed “socially significant food products” in order to contain prices. The government has earmarked 24.5 billion tenge ($59 million) for this initiative.

“Today we will start drawing up the rules for forward-buying. All the groundwork has been done. Today and tomorrow we will start accepting applications [from farmers],” the minister said. 

In other support mechanisms, the government is rolling out preferential loans to agricultural producers at rates of 6 percent and devising a program of repayment deferrals on outstanding credit and leases for equipment.

In an overview of the current state of the industry in Forbes.kz, economist Murat Temirkhanov noted how the crisis had again prompted talk in the government on the “need for agriculture to replace the oil industry and become the new driver of the economy.”

Temirkhanov said that while agriculture is the largest recipient of state aid in Kazakhstan, there has been little evident effect to date, however.

“Enormous efforts and government money have been expended, but the share of agriculture in export and in the country’s economy is very small, and there are no prospects of it growing rapidly,” Temirkhanov said, pointing out that the share of the agricultural industry in the tax revenues accounts for less than 0.5 percent of the total.



Source by [author_name]

Chris Cuomo Swabs Brother Andrew With Absurd Coronavirus Props

PressNewsAgency
-
0
Chris Cuomo Swabs Brother Andrew With Absurd Coronavirus Props

CNN’s Chris Cuomo shared a moment of levity with his older brother, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D), during their latest on-air interview about the coronavirus pandemic Wednesday.

The “Cuomo Prime Time” host seized on the swab test that his sibling took (and tested negative for) during his briefing Sunday to bring out some comedy props.

Namely, a series of swabs that increased in size as the chat went on.

“This was the actual swab that was being used to fit up that double-barrel shotgun that you have mounted on the front of your pretty face,” said the younger brother.

“This is not love,” responded the governor, whose own response to the public health crisis is now under scrutiny. He couldn’t help laughing, however, and took the ribbing (the latest example of the brothers’ on-air banter) in his stride.

Check out the exchange here:

A HuffPost Guide To Coronavirus



Source by [author_name]

#UnitedNations – Joint statement by High Representative Borrell, Vice President Jourová and Commissioner Dalli on the rights of persons with disabilities – EU Reporter

PressNewsAgency
-
0
#UnitedNations – Joint statement by High Representative Borrell, Vice President Jourová and Commissioner Dalli on the rights of persons with disabilities – EU Reporter

EU High Representative Josep Borrel

After the joint statement on ‘Disability-inclusive response to COVID-19 –Towards a better future for all’ was presented to the United Nations in New York and endorsed by 138 countries, including all EU member states together with the European Union, High Representative/Vice President Josep Borrell (pictured), Values and Transparency Vice President Věra Jourová, and Equality Commissioner Helena Dalli said: “The Joint Statement on Disability-inclusive response to COVID-19 – Towards a better future for all, is an important demonstration of our commitment to disability-inclusive COVID-19 response and recovery measures.

“As we underline in the joint statement, the protection of the rights and needs of persons with disabilities need to be placed at the centre of our efforts. We support the efforts undertaken by the UN Secretary General and reaffirm our commitment to uphold the rights of persons with disabilities, in line with the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, to which the EU is party. The global response to the coronavirus must uphold human rights of all without discrimination of any kind. No one should be left behind, and no human right ignored. The European Union is committed to play its part.”

The full statement is available online.

Comments

Facebook comments

Tags: , , , ,

Category: A Frontpage, coronavirus, Coronavirus face masks, Coronavirus Global Response, COVID-19, EU, European Commission, Health, PPE, United Nations, World



Source by [author_name]

1...67,23567,23667,237...67,248Page 67,236 of 67,248