A new study led by the U.S. government has found that a new strain of the novel coronavirus that is prevailing worldwide is spreading faster than earlier versions.The study led by scientists at Los Alamos National Laboratory said the new strain, a mutated form of the original coronavirus, was detected three months ago in Europe. It traveled quickly to eastern U.S. states before becoming the world’s most dominant strain since mid-March.The scientists who wrote the report said their findings have prompted an “urgent need for an early warning” to vaccine and drug developers to produce solutions that will be effective against the new strain.The new strain has rapidly infected many more people than the earlier iterations that spread beyond the city of Wuhan, China, the report said. Within weeks, it was the only strain in countries affected by the coronavirus.The study found the new strain to be more infectious, although the reasons have yet to be determined. The new version does not appear to be more lethal than the original, though people with the mutated strain seem to have higher viral loads.The study warns if the pandemic does not diminish as the weather gets warmer, the virus could continue to mutate as work continues to develop vaccines and other medical treatments.The study’s authors said the effectiveness of new medical treatments could be limited if the global scientific community does not get ahead of the risk posed by the new strain.Los Alamos National Laboratory, based in the southwestern U.S. state of New Mexico, is part of the U.S. Energy Department.
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Month: May 2020
Danny Lin cruised his white sports car down Broadway, the bright lights of Times Square gleaming off his sharply detailed Audi R8. He looped through the tourist hotspot again and again, navigating around Corvettes, Mercedes, Mustangs and BMWs — a parade of high-priced vehicles gathered for a rare photo-op.”I never bring my car here,” said the 24-year-old from Queens. “Only for today, to get some cool shots.”From a star turn in “Taxi Driver” to the Naked Cowboy to the million people who crowd its streets on New Year’s Eve, the “Crossroads of the World” has for generations been an iconic New York backdrop in movies, culture and the arts. Now, Times Square has taken a turn toward Tokyo Drift, just without the “Fast and the Furious,” as car-loving New Yorkers flock to the barren streets of the theater district.Car mavens normally wouldn’t dare rev their engines in gridlocked Midtown, but they’re eagerly driving into Manhattan to take photos and show off for sparse crowds walking through the famed streets. With the weather turning toward summer and restlessness settling in after six weeks of mandated social distancing, hundreds of automobile aficionados rolled down Broadway on Saturday night.”This is the only time we could come down here and take photos,” Lin said. At least 100 pedestrians were wandering the area when the cars began roaring down Times Square’s main drag Saturday, along with dozens of motorcycles in one crew that created a deafening buzz. Police — some in cars, some on horseback — were mostly patient with the procession and only intervened if cars remained parked for too long.Some families with young children also drove through in minivans and SUVs, taking in Times Square as if touring neighborhood Christmas lights.Onlookers, mostly keeping six feet apart and wearing facemasks, cheered and took video from the sidewalks as suped-up cars and bikes went by.The area maintained some of its touristy quirks. A violinist with a glowing wand and blue hair played for tips, and a salsa-dancing couple put a camera phone on a tripod to record their performance. One woman wearing a leather leotard biked down Broadway a few times, cycling next to a giant van with a cameraman hanging out the passenger window to record as she sang and danced.By 11 p.m., sports cars were backed up for blocks along Broadway, and police closed the road from 47th Street down through Times Square, effectively ending the party.Car collectors have been driving into the area for weeks in smaller packs. Mike Hodurski and Steve Cruz brought their Chevrolet pickup trucks Wednesday night and took photos in front of a light-up American flag at the corner of Broadway and 43rd Street. It was already Hodurski’s second trip to Midtown amid the outbreak. This time, the MTA bus driver brought a blue 1977 Chevy C10 pickup that he’d purchased earlier that day.”It’s a lot of fun. Might as well take advantage of it now, while nobody’s over here,” Hodurski said. “The streets are dead. You’d never get to see the streets like this. So we said, ‘You know what, screw it,’ and we all got together.”Hodurski is from Queens and Cruz from Brooklyn, and both said they usually avoid Times Square as much as possible — too many tourists and too much traffic. There was hardly anyone in the area when they cruised through Wednesday. They spent about five minutes in front of the flag before a cop asked them to keep moving.Andre Godfrey has driven his 2018 Ford Mustang — with glowing red shark teeth embedded in the grill — into Times Square twice. He and a buddy came around 3 a.m. last Thursday, when the area was completely empty, and pulled his car up onto a sidewalk for a glamour shot. “Nobody bothered us,” Godfrey said. “There was one police officer down the street, like a crossing agent, and they didn’t really seem bothered by us on the sidewalk.”He came back Saturday after hearing from a friend that a crew of over 100 BMWs was heading toward the area. That caravan never got into Times Square — it arrived in Midtown shortly after police blocked off Broadway.”This is crazy,” Godfrey said.
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How close are we to getting a coronavirus vaccine? Trials are underway right now. Here’s a breakdown of the top 8 contenders and the countries working to make it happen.
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U.S. regulators Monday pulled back a decision that allowed scores of coronavirus blood tests to hit the market without first providing proof that they worked.The Food and Drug Administration said it took the action because some sellers have made false claims about the tests and their accuracy. Companies will now have to show their tests work or risk having them pulled from the market.Under pressure to increase testing options, the FDA in March essentially allowed companies to begin selling tests as long as they notified the agency of their plans and provided disclaimers, including that they were not FDA approved. The policy was intended to allow “flexibility” needed to quickly ramp up production, officials said.”However, flexibility never meant we would allow fraud,” Dr. Anand Shah, an FDA deputy commissioner, said in a statement. “We unfortunately see unscrupulous actors marketing fraudulent test kits and using the pandemic as an opportunity to take advantage of Americans.”Blood tests are different from the nasal swab tests currently used to diagnose active COVID-19 infections. Instead, the tests look for blood proteins called antibodies, which the body produces days or weeks after fighting an infection. Most use a finger-prick of blood on a test strip.The revised policy follows weeks of criticism from doctors, lab specialists and members of Congress who said the FDA’s lack of oversight created a Wild West of unregulated tests.The agency acknowledged Monday that there have been problems with deceptive, false marketing among the 160 tests that have been launched in the U.S. Some companies have claimed their tests can be used at home, although FDA has not allowed that use. Others make unsubstantiated claims about their accuracy. Some U.S. hospitals and local governments have reported buying tests that turned out to be inaccurate or frauds.So far, the FDA has granted authorization to 12 antibody tests, meaning their methods, materials and accuracy passed muster with agency regulators. Companies with test kits currently on the market without FDA authorization will now be required to submit formal applications to regulators within 10 business days. Companies that launch at a later date will have 10 days to turn over their applications after validating their tests.Health officials in the U.S. and around the world have suggested the tests could be helpful in identifying people who have previously had the virus — with or without getting sick — and developed some immunity to it. But researchers haven’t yet been able to answer key questions that are essential to their practical use: what level of antibodies does it take to be immune and how long does that protection last?”We’re spending a lot of time and resources on something that is not really a panacea for reopening,” said Kamran Kadkhoda, a lab director at the Cleveland Clinic.For now, the tests are mainly a research tool for scientists trying to determine how widely the coronavirus has spread among the U.S. population. Those studies are underway but have produced widely different preliminary results, in part, due to variations between tests. Even high-performing tests can produce skewed results when used in a large population where few people have had the virus.The National Institutes of Health and other federal agencies are also reviewing tests and conducting research into whether they can successfully predict immunity.FDA Commissioner Stephen Hahn told reporters Monday that his agency’s “careful balancing of risks and benefits shifted to the approach we’ve outlined today,” based on new data from FDA and NIH reviews. Hahn said more than 200 companies are in the process of submitting testing data to the FDA.Experts who criticized the government’s previous policy welcomed the new evidence requirement.”We want to make sure that testing in the U.S. is of high quality and that those using the tests understand how the results should or should not be used,” said Dr. Robin Patel of the Mayo Clinic.Monday’s move is the latest in the Trump administration’s fitful attempt to roll out an effective, comprehensive testing strategy. While testing has ramped up since the outset of the outbreak, state and local governments continue to report shortages of testing supplies needed to screen for the virus and safely ease social distancing measures. A “testing blueprint” released last week by the White House emphasized that states are responsible for developing their own testing plans.
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South Korea reported just three new coronavirus cases Tuesday, while the country’s professional baseball league returned to action with a slate of games played in stadiums without fans. Two months ago, South Korea was adding around 500 new cases each day, but used a series of measures, including aggressive testing and a smartphone app alerting people to nearby infections, to push down the spread of the virus. Sports leagues all over the world were forced to put their seasons on hold amid stay-at-home orders and limits on public gatherings. The Korea Baseball Organization is one of the first to resume play, and in a sign of the appetite for watching sports at this time, the league struck a deal to have some of its games broadcast on the U.S. cable sports giant ESPN in the middle of the night, U.S. time. The U.S. National Football League is set to announce its schedule Thursday, but has decided to abandon plans to hold games this season in London and Mexico City. New Zealand is also reporting promising progress with its second consecutive day of zero new cases. Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison said Tuesday they were working on a plan to reopen travel between the two countries, but cautioned it would take some time to put in place. New Zealand’s Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern briefs the media about the COVID-19 coronavirus at the Parliament House in Wellington, April 27, 2020.Monday brought cooperation from all over the globe on a European Union-led effort to raise more than $8 billion to fund the development of treatments and vaccines for COVID-19. About 40 countries, philanthropic organizations and individuals pledged donations, including $1 billion from the European Commission, $1 billion from Norway, $800 million from Japan and more than $500 million each from France, Saudi Arabia and Germany. The World Health Organization (WHO) praised the effort as a sign of international solidarity in the fight against the virus. “This virus will be with us for a long time, and we must come together to develop and share the tools to defeat it,” WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said. Notably absent was any participation from the United States. French President Emmanuel Macron said he has held talks with President Donald Trump on the issue and that he is confident the United States will join the effort. A senior State Department official said the United States is closely partnering with European allies, G-20 nations and the G-7 to respond to the coronavirus. “The United States is in the process of providing $2.4 billion in global health, humanitarian, and economic assistance towards the COVID-19 response, and we continue to ensure that the substantial U.S. funding and scientific efforts on this front remain an essential and coordinated part of this worldwide effort against COVID-19,” the official told reporters in a briefing. About 3.6 million people have been diagnosed with COVID-19 worldwide, and more than 250,000 have died. Britain’s Office of National Statistics reported the death toll Tuesday had surpassed 30,000. That is roughly equal to Italy as the highest reported in Europe. Globally, only the United States has reported more COVID-19 deaths with about 69,000. In India, a day after the government eased lockdown restrictions in some areas, thousands of people flocked to liquor stores, prompting authorities to institute a special 70% tax starting Tuesday to deter the crowds.
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Players for the U.S. women’s national team may have been dealt a blow by a judge’s ruling in their gender discrimination lawsuit against the U.S. Soccer Federation but the case is far from over. The women have vowed to keep up the fight, encouraged by the likes of Joe Biden, Billie Jean King and even the men’s national team. “This is just a setback,” King said when asked what she would tell the team. “There’s so many of these ups and downs. Just keep learning from it, keep going for it. You’re still such a great influence, not only in soccer, but for equality for everyone.” King, who was calling for equitable prize money in tennis in the 1970s, once famously proclaimed: “Everyone thinks women should be thrilled when we get crumbs, and I want women to have the cake, the icing and the cherry on top, too.” The players sued the federation last year, claiming they have not been paid equally under their collective bargaining agreement to what the men’s national team receives under its labor deal. They asked for more than $66 million in damages under the Equal Pay Act and Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. The federal judge threw out the players’ claim of discriminatory pay Friday in a surprising loss for the defending World Cup champions. U.S. District Judge R. Gary Klausner said the women rejected a pay-to-play structure like the men’s agreement and accepted greater base salaries and benefits. But he allowed aspects of their allegations of discriminatory working conditions to go forward. The trial remains scheduled for June 16 in federal court in Los Angeles. Players have vowed to appeal the judge’s decision. There are several legal options. Players could seek to overturn Friday’s decision at the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals and could even discuss with the USSF the possibility of a joint application for a stay pending appeal. They could proceed with a trial limited to working conditions such as flights, hotels and medical staff, then appeal Friday’s ruling. Or the sides could seek to settle, perhaps as part of a deal to replace and extend the current collective bargaining agreement, which expires on Dec. 31, 2021. On Feb 7, 2020 in Los Angeles, California, USA; Mexico defender Jimena Lopez (5) passes the ball while US midfielder Samantha Mewis (3) defends during the second half of the CONCACAF Women’s Olympic Qualifying soccer tournament.Biden, the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, went to Twitter this weekend to encourage the players. “To @USWNT: don’t give up this fight. This is not over yet. To @ussoccer: equal pay, now. Or else when I’m president, you can go elsewhere for World Cup funding,” he posted, referring to the 2026 men’s World Cup, set to be hosted by the United States, Mexico and Canada. The players’ association for the men’s national team also released a statement Monday expressing support. “For a year and a half the USMNT players have made proposals to the federation that would achieve equal pay for the USMNT and USWNT players,” the statement said. “We understand the WNT players plan to appeal last week’s decision and we support them.” Steven A. Bank, a professor at UCLA, said he was expecting Klausner’s decision on the summary judgment to focus the case but not to the degree it did. “Frequently, judges will do that in order to narrow down the issues, but because it also spurs the parties to settle by essentially using a heavy hand and saying, ‘Hey, a lot of these things you have is fluff, so let’s get rid of this, and neither of you have as great a case that you think you do.’ So I’m not surprised that there was some level of summary judgment granted and some level denied,” he said. “But I was surprised that the judge came down with what is a fairly complete victory for U.S. Soccer.” In an appearance on ABC’s “Good Morning America” on Monday, Megan Rapinoe said she was shocked by the decision. She pointed out the women’s team was far more successful than the men, winning consecutive World Cup titles and playing more games. “If I earn $1 every time I play, and a man earns $3, just because I win 10 games and he only wins three games, so I made $10 and he made $9, I’m not sure how that’s me making more money, while having to essentially win everything we could’ve possibly won over these last two years: two World Cups and just about every game we’ve played,” Rapinoe said. “For me, it missed the point, and was very disappointing, to be honest.” Arguments could be made that the team has already made its case in the court of public opinion. Following the U.S. victory in the World Cup final last year in France, the crowd chanted “Equal Pay” as the players celebrated on the field. The women also drew support from some of U.S. Soccer’s most high-profile sponsors when the federation argued in court documents that the women lacked the skills and responsibilities of their male counterparts. The so-called scorched earth argument led to the resignation of USSF President Carlos Cordeiro, who was replaced by former national team player Cindy Parlow Cone. “I think it’s great that they brought the case forward, because I think any visibility into this issue is just going to help further the cause, because it’s going to make more people sensitive and aware that the issue of unequal pay persists in all spectrums of our economy,” said Mary Ellen Carter, an associate professor of accounting at Boston College. “I happen to know it well in the executive space, but it’s not only there. So I think the courage that they had to come forward with the suit keeps the issue at the forefront, and I think that that’s important.”
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In just 50 years, 2 billion to 3.5 billion people, mostly the poor who can’t afford air conditioning, will be living in a climate that historically has been too hot to handle, a new study says. With every 1 degree increase in global average annual temperature from man-made climate change, about a billion or so people will end up in areas too warm, day-in, day-out, to be habitable without cooling technology, according to ecologist Marten Scheffer of Wageningen University in the Netherlands, co-author of the study. How many people end up at risk depends on how much heat-trapping carbon dioxide emissions are reduced and how fast the world population grows. Under the worst-case scenarios for population growth and carbon pollution — which many climate scientists say is looking less likely these days — the study in Monday’s Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences predicts about 3.5 billion people will live in extremely hot areas. That’s a third of the projected 2070 population. But even scenarios considered more likely and less severe project that in 50 years a couple of billion people will be living in places too hot without air conditioning, the study said. FILE – A youth walks on the parched bed of a temple tank during a hot day in Chennai, India, April 24, 2020.”It’s a huge amount and it’s a short time. This is why we’re worried,” said Cornell University climate scientist Natalie Mahowald, who wasn’t part of the study. She and other outside scientists said the new study makes sense and conveys the urgency of the man-made climate change differently than past research. In an unusual way to look at climate change, a team of international scientists studied humans like they do bears, birds and bees to find the “climate niche” where people and civilizations flourish. They looked back 6,000 years to come up with a sweet spot of temperatures for humanity: Average annual temperatures between 11 to 15 degrees. We can — and do — live in warmer and colder places than that, but the farther from the sweet spot, the harder it gets. The scientists looked at places projected to get uncomfortably and considerably hotter than the sweet spot and calculated at least 2 billion people will be living in those conditions by 2070. Currently about 20 million people live in places with an annual average temperature greater than 29 degrees — far beyond the temperature sweet spot. That area is less than 1% of the Earth’s land, and it is mostly near the Sahara Desert and includes Mecca, Saudi Arabia. But as the world gets more crowded and warmer, the study concluded large swaths of Africa, Asia, South America and Australia will likely be in this same temperature range. Well over 1 billion people, and up to 3.5 billion people, will be affected depending on the climate-altering choices humanity makes over the next half century, according to lead author Chi Xu of Nanjing University in China. With enough money, “you can actually live on the moon,” Scheffer said. But these projections are “unlivable for the ordinary, for poor people, for the average world citizen.” Places like impoverished Nigeria — with a population expected to triple by the end of he century — would be less able to cope, said study co-author Tim Lenton, a climate scientist and director of the Global Systems Institute at the University of Exeter in England.
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The Anchorage Daily News and ProPublica won the Pulitzer Prize in public service on Monday for illuminating the sparse policing of many Alaska villages. The New York Times won the investigative reporting prize for an expose of predatory lending in the New York City taxi industry, while the staff of The Courier-Journal of Louisville, Kentucky, took the breaking news reporting award for unpacking racial disparities and other issues in a spate of governor’s pardons. And a first-ever award for audio reporting went to “This American Life,” the Los Angeles Times and Vice News for “The Out Crowd,” an examination of the Trump administration’s “remain in Mexico” immigration policy. The Pulitzer Prizes in journalism were first awarded in 1917 and are considered the field’s most prestigious honor in the U.S. The Pulitzer Prizes in journalism and the arts were announced Monday after being postponed by the coronavirus outbreak. The initial Pulitzer ceremony, which was scheduled for April 20, was pushed to give Pulitzer Board members who were busy covering the pandemic more time to evaluate the finalists. The awards luncheon that is traditionally held at Columbia University in May will be postponed as well. Details of a fall celebration will be announced at a later date, the Pulitzer Board said. The Pulitzer Prizes in journalism were first awarded in 1917 and are considered the field’s most prestigious honor in the U.S.
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The winningest coach in U.S. National Football League history, Don Shula, has died at the age of 90.His former franchise, the Miami Dolphins announced his death from their official Twitter account Monday, saying he died peacefully at his home in Miami. Their statement went to say “Don Shula was the patriarch of the Miami Dolphins for 50 years, He brought the winning edge to our franchise and put the Dolphins and the city of Miami on the national sports scene.”Shula played college football at John Carroll University in Ohio and was drafted to play in the NFL in 1951. Shula played defensive back for the Cleveland Browns, the Baltimore Colts, and Washington Redskins through 1957.He became a coach in the NFL in 1960, when he was hired as the defensive coordinator for the Detroit Lions. Three seasons later, the Colts hired Shula to serve as head coach – at 33, the youngest head coach in league history at the time.After the 1969 season, Shula signed to coach the Dolphins and quickly turned them into a dominant team. Miami went to the Super Bowl to cap the 1971 season, where they lost to the Dallas Cowboys. After that the team won Super Bowls in the next two seasons. This included NFL’s only undefeated (17-0) season in 1972.The Hall of Famer remained the head coach in Miami through 1995, winning the coach of the year award four times. Shula finished with 328 regular-season wins and 19 playoff victories. His regular-season winning percentage translates to a victory rate of more than two out of every three games played.
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An alliance of world leaders is holding a virtual summit Monday hoping to drum up billions of dollars to fund research into a vaccine for the new coronavirus as well as develop better treatments and more efficient testing.Governments have reported around 3.5 million infections and more than 247,000 deaths from the virus, according to a count by Johns Hopkins University. But deliberately concealed outbreaks, low testing rates and the strain on health care systems mean the true scale of the pandemic is much greater.People in many countries across the globe, and notably in Europe this week, are cautiously returning to work, but authorities remain wary of a second wave of infections, and a vaccine is the only real silver bullet to allow something like normal life to resume.The video-conference’s aim is to gather around 4 billion euros ($4.37 billion) for vaccine research, some 2 billion euros for treatments and 1.5 billion ($1.64 billion) for testing. Officials say that amount is just the start, as much more will be needed in the months ahead to scale up production and distribution.In a statement ahead of the meeting, the leaders of France, Germany, Italy, Norway and top European Union officials said that the money raised will be channeled mostly through recognized global health organizations. No new structure would be set up to handle the funds raised.”If we can develop a vaccine that is produced by the world, for the whole world, this will be an unique global public good of the 21st century. Together with our partners, we commit to making it available, accessible and affordable to all,” the leaders said.Leaders from Australia, Canada, Israel, Japan, Jordan, South Africa and Turkey are also due to speak, along with China’s EU ambassador. The EU had been in contact with the White House and was keen for the United States, where more than 67,000 people have died, to take part but no U.S. official will speak at the event.In her weekly video message, German Chancellor Angela Merkel said that “anyone can fall ill with the virus and that is why we have the task of acting together worldwide. It is therefore not only an opportunity for joint action but I would say it is a must, and Germany is facing up to this responsibility.”A British government statement said that British Prime Minister Boris Johnson will say that “the race to discover the vaccine to defeat this virus is not a competition between countries, but the most urgent shared endeavor of our lifetimes.”About 100 research groups are pursuing vaccines, with nearly a dozen in early stages of human trials or poised to start. But so far there’s no way to predict which — if any — vaccine will work safely, or even to name a front-runner.Dr. Anthony Fauci, the U.S. government’s top expert, has cautioned that even if everything goes perfectly, developing a vaccine in 12 to 18 months would set a speed recordEven if a first useful vaccine is identified, there won’t be enough for everyone. A growing number of vaccine makers say they’re already starting to brew tons of doses — wasting millions of dollars if they bet on the wrong candidate but shaving a few months off mass vaccinations if their choice pans out.EU officials say that pledges made toward vaccine research since Jan. 30, not just on Monday, will be counted as donations toward the 7.5 billion euro ($8.2 billion) target of this conference.
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Goodbye lockdown, hello smartphone.
As governments race to develop mobile tracing apps to help contain infections, attention is turning to how officials will ensure users’ privacy. The debate is especially urgent in Europe, which has been one of the hardest-hit regions in the world, with nearly 140,000 people killed by COVID-19.
The use of monitoring technology, however, may evoke bitter memories of massive surveillance by totalitarian authorities in much of the continent.
The European Union has in recent years led the way globally to protect people’s digital privacy, introducing strict laws for tech companies and web sites that collect personal information. Academics and civil liberties activists are now pushing for greater personal data protection in the new apps as well.
Here’s a look at the issues.Why an App?
European authorities, under pressure to ease lockdown restrictions in place for months in some countries, want to make sure infections don’t rise once confinements end. One method is to trace who infected people come into contact with and inform them of potential exposure so they can self-isolate. Traditional methods involving in-person interviews of patients are time consuming and labor intensive, so countries want an automated solution in the form of smartphone contact tracing apps. But there are fears that new tech tracking tools are a gateway to expanded surveillance.Sorry, but your browser cannot support embedded video of this type, you can
download this video to view it offline. Embed” />CopyEuropean Standards
Intrusive digital tools employed by Asian governments that successfully contained their virus outbreaks won’t withstand scrutiny in Europe. Residents of the EU cherish their privacy rights so compulsory apps, like South Korea’s, which alerts authorities if users leave their home, or location tracking wristbands, like those used by Hong Kong, just won’t fly.
The contact-tracing solution gaining the most attention involves using low energy Bluetooth signals on mobile phones to anonymously track users who come into extended contact with each other. Officials in western democracies say the apps must be voluntary. Rival Designs
The battle in Europe has centered on competing systems for Bluetooth apps. One German-led project, Pan-European Privacy-Preserving Proximity Tracing, or PEPP-PT, which received early backing from 130 researchers, involves data uploaded to a central server. However, some academics grew concerned about the project’s risks and threw their support behind a competing Swiss-led project, Decentralized Privacy-Preserving Proximity Tracing, or DP3T.
Privacy advocates support a decentralized system because anonymous data is kept only on devices. Some governments are backing the centralized model because it could provide more data to aid decisionmaking, but nearly 600 scientists from more than two dozen countries have signed an open letter warning this could, “via mission creep, result in systems which would allow unprecedented surveillance of society at large.”
Apple and Google waded into the fray by backing the decentralized approach as they unveiled a joint effort to develop virus-fighting digital tools. The tech giants are releasing a software interface so public health agencies can integrate their apps with iPhone and Android operating systems, and plan to release their own apps later.
The EU’s executive Commission warned that a fragmented approach to tracing apps hurt the fight against the virus and called for coordination as it unveiled a digital “toolbox” for member countries to build their apps with.Beyond Borders
The approach Europe chooses will have wider implications beyond the practical level of developing tracing apps that work across borders, including the many found in the EU.
“How we do this, what safeguards we put in, what fundamental rights we look very carefully at,” will influence other places, said Michael Veale, a lecture in digital rights at University College London who’s working on the DP3T project. “Countries do look to Europe and campaigners look to Europe,” and will expect the continent to take an approach that preserves privacy, he said.Country by Country
European countries have started embracing the decentralized approach, including Austria, Estonia, Switzerland, and Ireland. Germany and Italy are also adopting it, changing tack after initially planning to use the centralized model.
But there are notable exceptions, raising the risk different apps won’t be able to talk to each other when users cross Europe’s borders.
EU member France wants its own centralized system but is in a standoff with Apple over a technical hurdle that prevents its system from being used with iOS. The government’s digital minister wants it ready for testing in “real conditions” by May 11 but a legislative debate on the app was delayed after scientists and researchers warned of surveillance risks.
Some non EU-members are going their own way. Norway rolled out one of the earliest – and most invasive – apps, Smittestopp, which uses both GPS and Bluetooth to collect data and uploads it to central servers every hour.
Britain rejected the system Apple and Google are developing because it would take too long, said Matthew Gould, CEO of the National Health Service’s digital unit overseeing its development. The British app is weeks away from being “technically ready” for deployment, he told a Parliamentary committee.
Later versions of the app would let users upload an anonymized list of people they’ve been in contact with and location data, to help draw a “social graph” of how the virus spreads through contact, Gould said.
Those comments set off alarm bells among British scientists and researchers, who warned last week in an open letter against going too far by creating a data collection tool. “With access to the social graph, a bad actor (state, private sector, or hacker) could spy on citizens’ real-world activities,” they wrote.
Despite announcing plans to back European initiatives or develop its own app, Spain’s intricate plan for rolling back one of the world’s strictest confinements doesn’t include a tracing app at all. The health minister said the country will use apps when they are ready but only if they “provide value added” and not simply because other countries are using them.
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CBS News “60 Minutes” correspondent Lesley Stahl said Sunday that she’s finally feeling well after a battle with COVID-19 that left her hospitalized for a week.
Stahl said she was “really scared” after fighting pneumonia caused by the coronavirus for two weeks at home before going to the hospital.
“One of the rules of journalism is ‘don’t become part of the story,'” Stahl said at the end of Sunday’s broadcast. “But instead of covering the pandemic, I was one of the more-than-one-million Americans who did become part of it.”
Stahl, 78, is the dean of correspondents at television’s best-known newsmagazine. She joined “60 Minutes” in March 1991, and before that was moderator of the Sunday talk show “Face the Nation” and a Washington correspondent.
She landed the first television interview with Donald Trump after he was elected president, and the first with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi when she become speaker — both in 2007 and again in 2019.
Stahl said there was a cluster of “60 Minutes” employees with the virus. One “had almost no symptoms while others had almost every symptom you can imagine,” she said. “Each case is different.”
Stahl said she found an overworked and nearly overwhelmed staff when she was hospitalized but paid tribute to their care, and said she was wheeled out through a gauntlet of cheering medical workers when discharged.
“In the face of so much death, they celebrate their triumphs,” she said.
60 Minutes declined to name the hospital involved.
“Thanks to them, like so many other patients, I am well now,” she said. “Tonight, we all owe them our gratitude, our admiration and, in some cases, our lives.”
Stahl is arguably the most prominent television journalist to disclose they had the disease. CNN hosts Chris Cuomo and Brooke Baldwin have tested positive, the former continuing his prime-time show while fighting symptoms. ABC “Good Morning America” host George Stephanopoulos had it, but like many infected, had only mild symptoms.
The virus has infected 3.5 million people and killed more than 246,000 worldwide, including more than 66,000 dead in the United States, according to a count by Johns Hopkins University. Experts say the numbers are likely larger.
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More than four million Australians have downloaded the government’s CovidSafe tracing App, but officials insist many more need to sign on to make it effective. Australia has had 6,800 COVID-19 cases, 5,800 patients have recovered, and 95 people have died with the virus. The CovidSafe App was launched in Australia just over a week ago. 4.25 million Australians have downloaded it, but officials say a greater uptake of the coronavirus tracing software would give political leaders the ability to be more “bold” in easing restrictions. The government has said that about 10 million Australians – or 40 % of the population – need to join the program to make it an effective tool to trace COVID-19 cases. Civil liberties groups say the technology breaches privacy, while some experts have questioned its ability to accurately trace users. But the Chief Medical Officer Brendan Murphy is urging more Australians to take part. “The other very important precondition we have talked about on many occasions is the App. 4.25 million Australians have now downloaded the App and clearly, we need to keep downloads and registrations increasing. We think there are about 16 million adults with Smartphones. They are our target population. They are the people we want to get to download App because they are the people are likely to be contacts of cases, and we want as many of them as possible to download the App,” Murphy said.Sorry, but your browser cannot support embedded video of this type, you can
download this video to view it offline. Embed” />CopyThe federal government says it will announce later in the week if more COVID-19 controls will be relaxed following moves by some state and territory authorities to ease some public gathering and recreational restrictions. More than 630,000 tests have been carried out across the country. Australia also shut its borders to foreigners in March to stop the spread of imported cases of the disease. A New Zealand rugby team are the first foreign nationals to be allowed into Australia since international borders were closed. The New Zealand Warriors will stay in quarantine for 14 days before the planned resumption of the Australian National Rugby League on May 28. The Auckland-based Warriors are the only overseas side to play in the 16-team competition. In Sydney, another elderly resident has died at a care home that has become an epicenter for COVID-19 in Australia. 14 people have now died after a staff member caused an outbreak by working several shifts despite having mild coronavirus symptoms. The New South Wales state government said the situation at the facility was “horrific” and “unacceptable.”
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An infant manatee rescued off the coast of Florida over the weekend is being treated at Miami Seaquarium, the Florida Keys News Bureau said. Owners of a private residence spotted the manatee along their dock and contacted the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, according to Florida Keys. The female calf is underweight at about 30 kilograms, a veterinarian at Seaquarium said. The Dolphin Research Center’s Manatee Rescue Team and the Dolphins Plus Marine Mammal Responder unit rescued the manatee, after it was separated from its mother, using a net to isolate the calf and take it out of the water. Manatees, also known as sea cows, are large, aquatic and mostly herbivorous marine mammals.
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Idir, an Algerian singer who gave voice to the Berber and Kabyle cultures, has died in Paris. He was 70.Saturday’s death of the singer, whose real name was Hamid Cheriet, was confirmed on a post on his official Facebook page that read “we regret to announce the passing of our father (to all), Idir. Rest in peace.”French media report that he died from pulmonary disease after being hospitalized on Friday.Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune paid tribute to him on Twitter, saying that “with his passing, Algeria has lost one of its monuments,” and referred to him as “an icon of Algerian art.”Idir was a national treasure in his native Algeria.Born on Oct. 25, 1949 in Ait Lahcene, near the Kabylie capital of Tizi Ouzou and part of French Algeria at the time, he studied to be a geologist, but his life took a twist in 1973 when he was called up as a last-minute replacement on the radio to sing “A Vava Inouva.” It was a lullaby with the “rich oral traditions” of the Berber culture and became a beloved song in the country.Idir moved to France in 1975, after finishing military service, where he recorded his first album, also titled “A Vava Inouva,” and a series of popular North African-style songs in the same decade.The style of his music, with lone vocals and acoustic guitar, championed the sounds of Kabyle music, and as such he was widely considered an ambassador of the Kabyle culture.The Berber-speaking Kabyle people are a sub-group of North and West Africa’s wider Berber ethnic population. In Algeria, the Kabyles are a minority that have historically been repressed by the central government and are indigenous to the north of the country, spanning the Atlas Mountains. Many Kabyle settled in France following the Algerian civil war.
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Gil Schwartz, the longtime CBS communications executive who wrote humorous novels and columns under the pen name Stanley Bing, has died. He was 68. CBS representatives said Sunday that Schwartz died Saturday at his home in Santa Monica, California. His death, they said, was unexpected, but due to natural causes. Schwartz had a distinguished nearly 40-year career in corporate America with CBS, Viacom and Westinghouse Broadcasting. He retired in 2018 from his post as senior executive vice president and chief communications officer of CBS Corporation.But unlike most of his peers, Schwartz had a once-secret and then public side career as a lauded humorist and writer of 13 books who satirized the business world he was part of. Under the pseudonym Stanley Bing, Schwartz wrote a column in Esquire for 13 years and then in Fortune. One, “Executive Summary: Stanley Bing,” from 1991, describes an unwelcome 40th birthday in the style of a corporate presentation. “You’ll have to excuse me if I sound a little morose. I am morose,” he wrote. “This corporation recently celebrated its fortieth anniversary of operations. Quite a few parties were held in its honor, and they succeeded in getting this speaker somewhat depressed in the way that only enforced merriment truly can.”Although he was able to hold the dual identities in secret for a while, in the 1990s, it became “the most poorly held secret in the media business.””Bing’s” books included “Crazy Bosses: Spotting Them, Serving Them, Surviving Them,” “You Look Nice Today,” “Lloyd: What Happened,” and “Immortal Life: A Soon to Be True Story.”Born in New York City in 1951, Schwartz studied theater arts and English at Brandeis University. He was a renaissance man: A poet, playwright, actor, guitarist and photographer of birds, food and travel. Schwartz is survived by his wife of 14 years, Laura Svienty, two children, two step children and two grandchildren. The statement says a memorial service will take place in the fall. In lieu of flowers, the family requests anyone seeking to honor Schwartz donate to lafoodbank.org, foodbanknyc.org or sfmfoodbank.org.
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Conner Brown, a law student at Stanford University, spent the early days of the pandemic following his brother as he spotted and collected characters in the Pokemon Go mobile game.Then, Brown noticed the birds.”I thought, ‘Why don’t I take up birding?’ It’s like real-life Pokemon Go. It’s super addicting because you can start logging them and you get a little collection. It’s really cool,” said Brown, 25. He paused, then added, “They should really game-ify it.” Brown, who’s living near Annapolis, Maryland, can now identify 30 different bird species. He can recognize the calls of the brown-headed cowbird and cardinal and tell male birds from females. He bought special binoculars that attach to his iPhone camera, downloaded bird identification and bird-logging apps, and is giving birding advice on Twitter.’A reason to get out of the house'”The world of birds is so much more vibrant and active than I’d ever realized, and once I paid attention, it just hit me in the face,” Brown said. “It’s given me a reason to get out of the house. It’s motivated me.”With coronavirus restrictions dragging on, interest in birdwatching has soared as bored Americans notice a fascinating world just outside their windows. Downloads of popular bird identification apps have spiked, and preliminary numbers show sales of bird feeders, nesting boxes and birdseed have jumped even as demand for other nonessential goods plummets. FILE – Jordan Miller, 11, watches birds in her backyard in Manlius, N.Y., April 25, 2020, after her Girl Scout troop’s group outing to a New York state park was canceled because of the coronavirus disease outbreak.The trend coincides with peak migration for hundreds of species and nesting season, giving newfound birders a front-row seat to some of nature’s biggest shows. Birds are their most active — and noisy — now, and like Brown, many Americans no longer in an office or classroom all day are taking notice.”The birds don’t know that there’s a pandemic. They’re migrating, building nests and laying eggs, just like they always have,” said Michael Kopack Jr., who put up a birdhouse at his home in Angier, North Carolina, and is watching a pair of bluebirds hatch their eggs.”It kind of takes us back to a magical time six or eight weeks ago when there was no pandemic,” he said. “It lets me decompress and get away from everything that’s going on in the world, at least for a little while.”Downloads of the National Audubon Society’s bird identification app in March and April doubled over that period last year, and unique visits to its website are up by a half-million. The prestigious Cornell Lab of Ornithology in Ithaca, New York, has seen downloads of its free bird identification app, Merlin ID, shoot up 102% over the same time last year, with 8,500 downloads on Easter weekend alone. Live bird camsVisits to Cornell’s live bird cams have doubled, and uploads of bird photos and calls have increased 45% and 84%, respectively, on Cornell’s crowdsourced bird-logging app, eBird.Even retailers seem to be cashing in despite the crashing economy. Preliminary marketing data show overall sales rising 10% to 15% this spring in the “birding category,” according to data from Panacea Products Corp., which makes bird-feeding products.Amid the surging interest, spring bird counts nationwide are getting some adjustments for social distancing. The counts are critical for understanding how migratory birds are faring and are a high point for avid birders each year.In Portland, Oregon, those participating in the Birdathon — a fundraiser for the Audubon Society of Portland — will go birdwatching individually over a period of weeks instead of heading out in teams for a day or a weekend. They will report their sightings by virtual check-in, ending with a Zoom celebration on May 9, said Sarah Swanson, the fundraiser’s coordinator.FILE – An osprey unsuccessfully tries to land on a twig-size branch atop a tree along the Cedar River next to Renton Municipal Airport, April 29, 2020, in Renton, Wash.”Birds are everywhere now. They’re singing, they’re migrating, they’re nesting,” she said. “They’re busy every minute of the day, doing all these interesting behaviors — and I think that’s what draws people in.”Even people who loved the outdoors before the pandemic have discovered — or rediscovered — birding in new ways.Phillip Torres, host of Discovery Channel’s Expedition X, knows a lot about nature but hadn’t paid much attention to birds, preferring to study insects, snakes and plants. When the virus postponed travel to exotic destinations and forced his show into hiatus, Torres moved from New York City to Seattle. He noticed birds in his new backyard, watching robins pluck worms from the ground “just like in the cartoons.”With his professional video gear still in New York, Torres put up hummingbird feeders and invested in a spotting scope and clamps to attach his iPhone to the feeders. He recorded stunning slow-motion video of an Anna’s hummingbird coming to his feeder that he shared on Twitter.”I managed to get something pretty spectacular that’s flying around us all the time, but we don’t get the chance to stop and appreciate it,” Torres said.”I’m really reconnecting with what’s immediately around me,” he said. “Everybody dreams about seeing lions in the wild or tigers in the wild, but we’ve got some pretty amazing stuff right out our window — and it’s really good for the soul.”
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A young Egyptian filmmaker imprisoned for directing a music video critical of President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi has died in a Cairo jail, his lawyer said Saturday.Shady Habash, 24, died in Tora prison, said lawyer Ahmed al-Khawaga, who was unable to give a cause of death.”His health had been deteriorating for several days. … He was hospitalized, then returned to the prison yesterday evening, where he died in the night,” he told AFP, without giving further details.Habash was detained in March 2018, accused of “spreading fake news” and “belonging to an illegal organization,” according to the prosecution.He was arrested after having directed the music video for the song “Balaha” by rock singer Ramy Essam.The song’s lyrics lambast “Balaha” — a name given to el-Sissi by his detractors in reference to a character in an Egyptian film known for being a notorious liar.Essam gained popularity during the popular revolt against then-President Hosni Mubarak in early 2011. He has since gone into exile in Sweden.The video has had more than 5 million views on YouTube.Died of ‘negligence’The Arabic Network for Human Rights Information (ANHRI) said in a Twitter post that Habash died as a result of “negligence and lack of justice.”Human rights groups have regularly highlighted poor prison conditions in Egypt.Since early March, because of the novel coronavirus pandemic, authorities have suspended visits and the work of the courts, further isolating detainees.”Due to the measures taken against the coronavirus, no one has been able to see [Habash]” recently, said Khawaga.Habash himself warned of his predicament in October, in a letter posted Saturday on Facebook by activist Ahdaf Soueif.”It’s not prison that kills, it’s loneliness that kills. … I’m dying slowly each day,” he wrote.Fearing the spread of the virus in overcrowded prisons, human rights defenders have called for the release of political prisoners and detainees awaiting trial.According to several NGOs, an estimated 60,000 detainees in Egypt are political prisoners, including secular activists, journalists, lawyers, academics and Islamists arrested in an ongoing crackdown against dissent since the military’s 2013 ouster of Islamist President Mohamed Morsi.
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The U.N. Children’s Fund warns that COVID-19 mitigation measures are preventing the shipment of vaccines to dozens of developing countries, putting the lives of millions of children at risk.
Lockdowns and other measures to stop the spread of the coronavirus are causing a massive backlog in vaccine shipments. UNICEF reports it had procured nearly 2.5 billion doses of vaccines last year, enough for 45% of all children under age 5 in 100 countries.
But the agency says that most of these vaccines are stuck in warehouses because of the dramatic decline in commercial and charter flights due to COVID-19 restrictions. It says dozens of countries are running out of these vaccines. It says 26 countries, more than half in sub-Saharan Africa, are at particular risk.
UNICEF spokeswoman Marixie Mercado says the skyrocketing costs of shipping the vaccines are compounding these problems. She says freight rates are 100 to 200% higher than before, and the cost of chartering a plane is exorbitant.
“Countries with limited resources will struggle to pay these higher prices, leaving children vulnerable to vaccine-preventable diseases such as measles and polio. Even before the COVID-19 pandemic, measles, polio and other vaccines were out of reach for 20 million children under the age of 1 every year,” Mercado said.
Health officials report most polio vaccination campaigns have been suspended, putting the decades-long polio eradication initiative at risk. Mercado told VOA it is possible to organize immunization campaigns in the midst of the pandemic.
“In DRC, which you know had the worst measles outbreak last year, we had been immunizing children against measles. Of course, respecting the social distancing and safety measures that are required now,” Mercado said.
UNICEF warns disruptions in routine immunization, especially in countries with fragile health systems, could lead to outbreaks of killer diseases this year and beyond. It is appealing to governments, the private sector and airline industry to free freight space and make the cost of transporting these vaccines affordable.
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The United Nations says torrential rains and flooding have affected nearly 150,000 people throughout Yemen, causing serious damage to vital infrastructure and exposing thousands to potentially life-threatening disease outbreaks.U.N. agencies say the rains, which have been ongoing since mid-April, have damaged houses and shelters, rendering thousands homeless. Flood waters have washed out roads and bridges, contaminated water supplies and knocked out electricity and other vital services.The U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs says conditions are particularly harsh for thousands of families already displaced by conflict, who have lost shelter, food rations and household supplies.OCHA spokesman Jens Laerke told VOA many people are at risk of getting ill or dying from disease outbreaks, which thrive in flooded, unsanitary conditions.“Water-borne disease such as cholera or vector-borne, such as malaria because the stagnant water after the flooding is a breeding ground for mosquitos. So, getting rid of the water as fast as possible is very important and, of course, providing clean drinking water for the families who are there already,” he said.Laerke said more than 110,000 cases of suspected cholera have been recorded across Yemen since January.Yemen’s civil war, which is in its fifth year, has taken a heavy toll in lost lives and has shattered the country’s socio-economic structure. The U.N. says 80 percent of the population, or 24 million people, are in need of international assistance. It calls Yemen the world’s worst humanitarian crisis.Looming over the existing calamity is the threat of COVID-19. Laerke said so far only six cases of the disease have been confirmed in the country.“But really, the setting there almost conspires to make this into a disaster if we start seeing widespread communal transmission of COVID-19. One particular issue here is really the massive funding problems in Yemen at the moment,” he said.Laerke said the U.N.’s humanitarian operation needs a significant boost in funding. Otherwise, he warns many programs critical to combatting COVID-19, such as providing clean water, sanitation and access to health care, risk being shut down in coming months.
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House lawmakers investigating the market dominance of Big Tech are asking Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos to testify to address possible misleading statements by the company on its competition practices. In a letter to Bezos, leaders of the House Judiciary Committee are holding out the threat of a subpoena if he doesn’t agree voluntarily to appear.
Amazon used sensitive information about sellers on its marketplace, their products and transactions to develop its own competing products, according to a recent Wall Street Journal report. An Amazon executive denied such a practice in statements at a committee hearing last July, saying the company has a formal policy against it.
Amazon spokesmen had no immediate comment.
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The U.S. space agency NASA has announced a new high-pressure ventilator developed by its engineers and designed specifically to COVID-19 patients has been approved for emergency use by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The device, called VITAL — meaning “Ventilator Intervention Technology Accessible Locally” — was designed and built in 37 days by engineers at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in the city of Pasadena, California. Its designers say it is intended to be used exclusively on COVID-19 patients, freeing up traditional ventilators, which are built for a broad range of medical uses, and the most severe coronavirus cases. In critical cases, the coronavirus damages healthy tissue in the lungs, making it hard for them to deliver oxygen to the blood. Ventilators feed oxygen into the lungs of patients through a tube inserted down the throat. Among those involved in the project, mechatronics engineer Michelle Easter said scientists approached the project in the same way they would build a spacecraft, with an eye towards reliability yet simplicity. NASA says as a result, it is cheaper to build, composed of fewer parts and can be modified for use in field hospitals. The California Institute of Technology, which manages the JPL, is offering a royalty-free license to manufacturers worldwide and is also contacting the commercial medical industry to find manufacturers for the device. Easter says they’ve received interest from potential production partners around the world, not just in the U.S.
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Two of India’s most beloved movie stars, Irrfan Khan and Rishi Kapoor, died within a day of each other this week, and though they came from two very different worlds and two very different schools of acting, both leave behind a treasure of cinematic work and millions of grieving fans.
This double whammy for India’s Hindi-language film industry, known as Bollywood, comes amid a crippling coronavirus lockdown that has brought the entertainment business — along with so much else — to a complete halt.
“It seems we are in the midst of a nightmare,” popular actor Akshay Kumar tweeted.
In normal times, the funerals for two of Bollywood’s most-admired actors would mean tens of thousands of fans gathering to bid them goodbye. Instead, their ceremonies were held in the presence of a handful of family and friends, surrounded by police.
The 54-year-old Khan died Wednesday after battling a rare cancer, while the 67-year-old Kapoor had leukemia and died Thursday.
The career trajectories of both actors reflect the changing contours of Bollywood, which in the past traversed two parallel streams of arthouse cinema and commercial films. The growing acceptance and box-office viability of content-driven films over the last two decades gave the two a chance to cross paths and act in movies that were both critically acclaimed and popular.
A trained stage actor, Khan started his career with television and found work in new-age Bollywood, which was experimenting with visceral themes reflecting India’s social and political fault lines in the 1990s.
It took years of roles in small films before Khan made it to the Bollywood big leagues. Balancing arthouse movies with popular commercial fare, Khan went on to play a wide array of roles including an intensely tormented lover in “Maqbool,” an adapation of “Macbeth,” and a gentle immigrant in Mira Nair’s “The Namesake.”
Unlike other Bollywood superstars with mega-stylized personas, the versatile Khan brought a rare intelligence and empathy to his characters over his 30-year career.
“He managed to walk off the screen and come home with us,” wrote film critic Shubhra Gupta in the Indian Express newspaper.
One of the best-known Indian faces in world cinema, Khan crossed over to Hollywood with ease, playing a variety of parts in movies like “Slumdog Millionaire,” “Life of Pi” and “The Amazing Spider Man.”
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences said in a tweet that Khan was an ” incredible talent” and “left his imprint on global cinema.”
“Gone too soon. When he is on screen, you can’t take your eyes off of him. He lives on in his films,” tweeted Hollywood filmmaker Ava Duvernay.
Kapoor’s cinematic journey could not have been more different.
Kapoor was a third-generation actor, born with showbiz in his blood. His grandfather Prithiviraj Kapoor and father Raj Kapoor were legendary actors of their time.
Rishi Kapoor started young, receiving the National Award, India’s preeminent film award, for his role as a child artist in his father’s 1970 film “Mera Naam Joker.”
“Acting was in my blood and there was simply no escaping it,” Kapoor wrote in his 2017 autobiography.
The runaway success of the teenage romance “Bobby” in 1973 made him a Bollywood heartthrob and a string of romantic, musical blockbusters followed.
The charming lover boy of the 1970s and 1980s went on to become one of the most dependable actors of his time and appeared in some of Bollywood’s most-loved films, including “Amar Akbar Anthony” and “Chandni.”
To be in sync with contemporary filmmakers moving away from melodrama and mining plot-driven stories, Kapoor refashioned his career in later years to play a variety of strong character roles. His portrayal of an old man in the 2016 movie “Kapoor & Sons” and as a Muslim man forced to prove his patriotism in “Mulk” in 2017 won him great acclaim. His most recent movie “The Body” was released last year.
“There may not be another actor who grew up and grew old on camera,” tweeted film critic Uday Bhatia.
In his final years, Kapoor became a popular presence on social media, and was refreshingly honest about his opinions. In his last tweet on April 2, he appealed to people to respect the work frontline health workers were doing.
“We have to win this Coronavirus war together,” Kapoor wrote.
Altogether Kapoor acted in more than 100 movies in a career spanning more than 40 years.
“He smiled on screen and the world outside became a little bit lighter,” film critic Baradwaj Rangan wrote in a tribute. “He gave us joy.”
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The World Health Organization (WHO) said Thursday that it has not been invited by China to join the investigation into the cause of the coronavirus pandemic.WHO’s representative in Beijing Dr. Gauden Galea said he expected China would discuss collaborations with the organization in the “near future.””We know some national investigation is happening but at this stage we have not been invited to join. We are expecting to get, in the near future, a briefing on where that is and to discuss possible collaboration,” Galea said.The coronavirus disease COVID-19, which originated in the Chinese city of Wuhan, has taken over 230,000 human lives worldwide, according to a collection of data compiled by Johns Hopkins University, and confirmed infection cases have reached 3.2 million.Beijing has been criticized for lack of transparency in its handling of the pandemic, with the United States investigating whether the virus might have gotten out from a Wuhan biosecurity laboratory.The official tally of infections in Wuhan has been questionable from the very beginning with the government frequently changing its counting criteria at the peak of the outbreak.Meanwhile, China has dismissed the possibility that the coronavirus pandemic originated in that lab and it was not transmitted from animals to humans in Wuhan as commonly believed.Although the origin of COVID-19 is yet to be determined, some scientists suspect the virus was transmitted to humans from animals at a wet market in Wuhan.
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