Hands up, masks on: High school students face whole new year

September 03, 2020

LONDON (AP) — Henry Holness said he had to sleep on it. Having found out just two days ago that he had secured a place at his first choice of high school, the 11-year-old and his parents clearly had a big decision to make.

A day later, he decided to accept the offer from Kingsdale Foundation School in southeast London, joining about 400 other seventh-grade children embarking on the next — and perhaps most crucial — period in their learning, as many schools in England on Thursday restarted in-class lessons.

“It was really a lot of fun, and it was really great to see so many people again,” said the soccer-mad Holness. Like countless others, he has been hungry for more human contact over the past few months during the coronavirus lockdown.

“Though COVID has clearly added complications to starting back at school, it's important for Henry and all the other kids to get back into a normal routine,” said his mother, Liz Holness. The coronavirus pandemic requires a lot from schools, which were closed in March as part of the lockdown imposed by the British government and are slowly reopening through next week.

One-way travel systems, hand sanitizing stations, temperature checks and the donning of face masks in communal areas such as corridors and stairwells are just some of the changes. Like all schools, Kingsdale has had to re-imagine how it safely delivers education in the coronavirus era.

No easy task, especially since Britain's Conservative government has offered meandering or contradictory advice about how best to tame the pandemic that has killed at least 41,600 people in the country, the worst virus death toll in Europe.

Kingsdale, a turnaround school that is now consistently rated as outstanding and considered one of the British capital's best, is welcoming back students in stages over the coming days, starting with the Year 7 students on Thursday. It won't be until the middle of next week that the school will be bouncing to the rhythm of its 2,000 or so students.

It will be a very different school experience though, with students kept to their own year bubbles in order to limit interactions. Start times and lunch breaks will also be staggered. “Necessity is indeed the mother of invention,” said Christine Matheson, the deputy headteacher at Kingsdale. “We believe we will be even better than we were before, despite having to overcome the logistical complexities of implementing a completely new timetable structure, social distancing, accelerated programmes of study for recovery and much-needed structured well-being packages.”

Many students were taking the changes in stride and have opted to wear masks in the classroom even though they're not required. “It felt fine going back to school, I didn't really think about corona," said Eddie Favell, also 11, after his first day at Kingsdale. “We have been wearing masks for so long now it is starting to feel normal.”

After six months being stuck at home, the reopening of all schools is clearly the single most important easing of the country's lockdown and one that can trigger other changes, such as encouraging more parents back into the office.

For parents and children, just being able to disconnect from each other for a few hours is a reward in itself. “I think both children and parents really need it," said Sophie Favell, Eddie's mum. “I am sure there will be issues and maybe local lockdowns along the way, but the schools all want the best for the pupils and as parents we have to do our best to support them.”

Afghans return to games, parks, weddings despite virus fears

September 03, 2020

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — When the bowling alley reopened, Zohal Bayat was eager to get back to the lanes. For four long months amid Afghanistan’s coronavirus, it and other recreational facilities had been closed. So that meant Bayat, a member of the country’s national women’s bowling team, had been unable to practice,

On top of that, Bayat was at one point struck with COVID-19, the illness caused by the virus. She spent more than 20 days in isolation, with fever, shortness of breath and coughing. Her father was infected as well, but now both are well.

“I am so excited,” the 25-year-old Bayat said, as she practiced at the Friend’s Café, her favorite alley. Still, she only comes on weekdays. Weekends are too crowded, as young people pack the place, which also features pool tables, music and the café itself. “I will continue to exercise,” said Bayat, who also plays basketball. “But I am afraid of the second wave of the virus.”

Desperate for relief from endless war combined with the pandemic, Afghans are rushing back to public recreation as the government eases the lockdown it imposed to fight the coronavirus. Since mid-July, Afghans can once again frequent parks, swimming pools and gyms, shop in malls and celebrate marriages in wedding halls. Universities and private schools have reopened, and at government schools, the 11th and 12th grades have restarted.

Few wear masks or take other precaution — and authorities are left trying to remind the public of the danger of a second wave of the pandemic. So far, the official figures have not shown new cases spiking since the easing of the lockdown, with a steady average of around 50 to 70 a day the past month. According to Health Ministry figures, Afghanistan has recorded over 38,200 cases of the virus so far, including 1,409 deaths.

But the real numbers are likely far higher, and the depth of the tragedy is far greater than people understand, said Mohammad Yaqoub Haidari, the provincial governor for the capital Kabul and head of the committee to fight COVID-19.

He told The Associated Press that in Kabul alone, close to 8,000 people have died due to the virus. At the peak, his teams were dealing with 200 to 700 deaths per day, especially during the months of May and June, and dozens of new graveyards have been made to take in the increased dead, he said.

There is no doubt the virus is still circulating. Haidari estimated that 53% of the capital’s population of more than 4 million people have been infected. Afghanistan’s fractured health care system makes the virus even more difficult to control. More than 2,700 medical workers, including 40 at the Afghan-Japan hospital, one of two hospitals in Kabul that handle virus patients, have contracted the virus, according to the Health Ministry. The ministry said 72 health care workers have died across the country.

Still, after months of lockdown, Kabul’s residents have been relieved to finally get out. Thousands have been going to the capital’s City Park, where the amusement park has reopened as well. The park restaurant is built out of an old passenger jet, and children rush excitedly to sit in the plane seats inside.

Obaidullah Rasouly came on a recent weekend with his two kids, his first outing to the park in months. He was happy to be there — but also worried. He wore a mask while few others in the crowded park did.

“Unfortunately, our country did not implement the lockdown effectively, and now that it has been lifted, people are failing to take the appropriate precautions.” The 30-year-old said as his children played on the slides.

It’s good to finally give people freedom of movement, he said. “but they should use protective kits, or at least wear masks.” At the amusement park, with its Ferris wheel and bumper cars, workers clean the machines three to five times a day, its director Habibullah Esmati said. Attendance is down from before the pandemic, both because of coronavirus worries and the security situation, he said.

He sees the reopening as a way to ease people’s stress from the outbreak. “If we can provide a place for entertainment, that is a help to people,” he said. But what many Afghans have looked forward the most to reopening are wedding halls. Marriages were virtually put on hold during the lockdown because wedding parties — whether at halls or at home — were banned.

That pent-up demand means reopened wedding halls are now fully booked every night. That means gatherings that can pack with thousands of people into a hall, presenting a significant risk of transmission of the virus.

Mohammad Nader Qarghayi, director of the Kabul Wedding Halls Association, insisted that halls will reclose voluntarily if there are signs of a new spike in cases. “This is our country; we live here, and we service the people. The lives of our people are so much more important than our business,” he said.

Still, at the other Cafés and blowing centers, university students who had come to bowl had mixed feelings. Several said they were happy to have the chance to relax once more. But if a second wave strikes, said 20-year-old Ahmad Sohail, “reopening of recreational places, given the circumstances, could be very dangerous.”

Detroit turns island park into COVID-19 memorial garden

September 01, 2020

DETROIT (AP) — A Detroit island park was transformed Monday into a drive-thru COVID-19 victims memorial as policy makers across the U.S. moved forward with plans to reopen schools and public spaces. Hearses led processions around Belle Isle Park in the Detroit River, where more than 900 large photos of local coronavirus victims provided by relatives were turned into posters and staked into the ground.

As the death toll continued to rise around the world, officials announced plans to bring children back to school in Rhode Island, allow diners back inside New Jersey restaurants and let fans watch football inside an Iowa college stadium.

New COVID-19 cases were linked to travelers on vacation in Europe and the head of the World Health Organization cautioned against opening societies too quickly. Nearly 1,000 inmates at a Tennessee prison tested positive.

More than 847,000 people worldwide have perished from the virus and more than 25.3 million have contracted it, according to Johns Hopkins University — figures experts say understate the true toll due to limited testing, missed mild cases and other factors.

DETROIT COVID VICTIMS

The pictures in the Detroit park showed those who died of COVID-19 during better times: Darrin Adams at his college graduation; Daniel Aldape catching a fish; Shirley Frank with an Elvis impersonator; and Veronica Davis crossing the finish line at a race.

They had “dreams and plans and a story,” Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer said at the park. “They weren’t finished yet.” Detroit’s director of arts and culture, Rochelle Riley, said officials hope the memorial will “wake people up to the devastating effect of the pandemic” and also “bring some peace to families whose loved ones didn’t have the funerals they deserved.”

LABOR DAY

Dr. Anthony Fauci, the U.S. government’s top infectious disease expert, said Labor Day weekend will be key in determining whether the U.S. gets a “running start” at containing the coronavirus this fall.

Fauci said Monday he has a “great deal of faith in the American people” to wash their hands, practice social distancing, wear masks, avoid crowds, and congregate outside during the weekend celebrations.

He said it’s important to avoid a surge in coronavirus cases like those seen after the Memorial Day and July 4th holidays.

COLLEGE FOOTBALL

President Donald Trump’s new pandemic adviser, Dr. Scott Atlas said he believes college football should be played this year even though many universities have canceled all fall sports.

Atlas, appearing with Republican Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis Monday in Tallahassee, said stadiums have plenty of room for distancing. “The communities of college towns depend on these activities,” Atlas said.

Iowa State said it will allow about 25,000 season-ticket holders to attend that team's opener in Ames against Louisiana-Lafayette on Sept. 12 , despite rising COVID-19 numbers in Iowa. Iowa State Athletic director Jamie Pollard told fans in a letter that they will be required to wear face coverings and that tailgating will be banned. Pollard asked that fans respect others’ wishes for distancing.

The decision came as Iowa continues to struggle with the virus spreading in several counties.

BACK TO SCHOOL

In Rhode Island, all but two public school districts have been given the go-ahead to resume in-person classes when schools reopen in two weeks.

Only Providence and the Providence suburb of Central Falls did not meet metrics required for reopening. The two cities have had the state's highest coronavirus infection rates. Gov. Gina Raimondo said reopening schools is not risk-free but that she expects children will return to the classroom.

COLLEGE CLOSING

In Northern California, California State University, Chico has switched to online the limited number of in-person classes it was offering. The move came after at least 30 people tested positive for the coronavirus three days after the fall semester started.

University President Gayle Hutchinson said students in campus housing must leave by the weekend.

RESTAURANTS OPENING

In New Jersey, indoor dining with limited capacity will resume at restaurants Friday, Gov. Phil Murphy announced.

Restaurants will be allowed 25% capacity under the new rules, which includes maintaining social distancing between tables.

WOMEN'S RIGHTS

The United Nations chief said the pandemic has deepened inequality between men and women and reversed “decades of limited and fragile progress on gender equality and women’s rights.”

Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said during a virtual town hall meeting on Monday that 70 to 90 per cent of healthcare workers are women but only 30 percent have decision-making roles, He also said the pandemic has also impacted physical and mental health, education, and employment.

“Today, millions of teenage girls around the world are out of school, and there are alarming reports of an increase in teenage pregnancies in some countries,” he said. “We know from the Ebola outbreak in West Africa that when teenage girls leave school, they may never return.”

TENNESSEE PRISON OUTBREAK

Nearly 1,000 inmates at a Tennessee prison have tested positive for COVID-19, corrections officials said. Officials tested 1,410 inmates at South Central Correctional Facility late last week after several inmates and staff began showed symptons, the Tennessee Department of Correction said in a statement.

As of late Monday afternoon, 974 of the inmates had tested positive while another 189 results were pending for the prisoners housed at the lockup run by private prison company Corecivic, the statement said.

FEDERAL PRISON VISITS

The federal Bureau of Prisons will begin allowing inmates to have visitors again in October, nearly seven months after visits were suspended at the 122 federal prisons across the U.S., according to a memo obtained by The Associated Press.

The visitation plan — detailed in a memo to senior bureau officials on Monday — instructed wardens to “immediately begin developing local procedures to reinstate social visiting.” Social visiting is scheduled to begin no later than Oct. 3. Physical contact will be prohibited, according to the memo.

Inmates and visitors would be required to wear face coverings and visitors would have their temperatures taken and would be questioned about whether they have shown any coronavirus-related symptoms.

EUROPE VACATION INFECTIONS

British authorities said 16 coronavirus cases have been linked to a flight that brought U.K. tourists back from Greece. All people who were aboard have been told to isolate themselves for two weeks. Public Health Wales said it was contacting nearly 200 people who were on the Tui flight from the Greek island of Zante to Cardiff, Wales, last Tuesday.

Gwen Lowe of Public Health Wales said 30 cases of COVID-19 have been confirmed over the last week among people who returned from Zante on several flights and that the number is expected to rise. In Italy, the popular holiday destination of Sardinia had experienced a handful or fewer cases for weeks. But with clusters of infections linked to crowded discos or holiday-goers’ parties on the Mediterranean island, Sardinia registered 79 new infections on Monday.

Associated Press journalists from around the globe contributed to this report.

Venice reclaims spotlight as 1st COVID-era film fest opens

September 01, 2020

ROME (AP) — Venice is reclaiming its place as a top cultural destination with the opening of the Venice Film Festival — the first major in-person cinema showcase of the coronavirus era after Cannes canceled and other international festivals opted to go mostly online this year.

But don’t be fooled. The 77th edition of the world’s oldest film festival will look nothing like its predecessors. The public will be barred from the red carpet, Hollywood stars and films will be largely absent and face masks will be required indoors and out as the festival opens Wednesday.

Those strict measures are evidence of the hard line Venice and the surrounding Veneto region took to contain the virus when it first emerged in the lagoon city in late February. Unlike neighboring Lombardy, which became the epicenter of the COVID-19 outbreak in Europe, Veneto largely kept the virus under control with early local lockdowns and broad testing once the virus was widespread.

La Biennale chief Robert Cicutto said the decision to hold the festival at all was an important sign of rebirth for Venice and the film industry, and said the experience on the Lido will serve as a “laboratory” for future cultural gatherings.

“It will be an experiment on the ground of how to confront an important event” in the COVID era, he said in presenting this year’s Venice lineup. The Sept. 2-12 festival marks Italy’s return to the art world stage after it became the first country in the West to be slammed by COVID. Even Tom Cruise’s “Mission: Impossible 7,” in Venice at the time for three weeks of filming, had to pull out.

Italy’s strict 10-week lockdown largely tamed the virus, but infections are now rebounding after summer vacations. Health authorities are scrambling to test passengers at airports and seaports to try to identify imported cases before they can spread.

Guests to the glamorous film festival are not exempt. If they arrive from outside Europe’s open-border Schengen area, they will be tested upon arrival. Other measures to limit contagion include reserved seats, spaced apart, for all screenings and a requirement to wear masks even during screenings and outdoors.

“Clearly we have to abide by anti-COVID measures,” said Paola Mar, Venice’s culture chief. “Each of us has a personal responsibility. And if all of us do our jobs, we can limit the harm.” But she said the show must go on, given the importance of the film festival and the Biennale’s other longer-term cultural contributions to Venice’s economy, which depends almost entirely on tourism.

Restrictions on travel from the U.S. to Europe have meant that Hollywood films, which often use Venice as a springboard for other festivals and ultimately the Oscars, are essentially no-shows this year.

That means no sightings of Venice regulars George Clooney and Brad Pitt arriving by water taxi, no red carpet photo ops with Lady Gaga, who premiered “A Star is Born" here, or Joaquin Phoenix, whose “Joker” won Venice’s top prize, the Golden Lion, last year before going on to Oscar glory.

This year’s slightly reduced lineup still contains in-competition films from a variety of countries, but will be a mostly European affair. Italian films are well represented, including the first Italian opening-night film in years, the out-of-competition family drama “Lacci” by Daniele Luchetti.

Two Italian documentaries filmed during lockdown are making their debuts: Andrea Segre’s “Molecules,” a haunting study of an empty, ethereal Venice, premieres as the festival’s pre-opening film Tuesday. And director Luca Guadagnino, whose documentary about Italian shoemaker Salvatore Ferragamo is an official out-of-competition film, offered up a last-minute short “Fiori, Fiori, Fiori!,” about reconnecting with his childhood friends in Sicily during the lockdown.

Spanish director Pedro Almodovar is premiering his first-ever English-language film, “The Human Voice,” which he filmed and edited in the weeks after Spain’s lockdown ended. The short film, an adaptation of the Jean Cocteau play of the same name, stars Tilda Swinton, who will be picking up a Golden Lion Lifetime Achievement award in Venice this year.

Cate Blanchett heads the main jury, which added Matt Dillon at the last minute after Romanian director Cristi Puiu pulled out. But other A-list celebrities are largely staying away. Venice itself still has a long way to go to recover from the economic devastation of a pandemic, the halt to cruise ship stops and a lockdown on a city beloved by the jet-set.

All this happened after Venice was already brought to its knees by the historic “acqua alta” floods last November, which raised deep questions about how Italy's lagoon city will function as climate change and rising sea levels grow to be increasing threats.

“The city hasn’t worked since November,” said gondolier Maurizio Carlotto. “There’s nothing. Absolutely nothing. The hotels that are open are half-empty. You look at the restaurants at night, they’re empty.”

“To relaunch Venice, and tourism in general, we need this virus to end,” he said, looking out at an eerily empty canal. “They have to find the antidote.”

Visual journalist Brian Hendrie contributed from Venice.

Russia's virus cases exceed 1 million, globally 4th highest

September 01, 2020

MOSCOW (AP) — Russia's tally of confirmed coronavirus cases surpassed 1 million on Tuesday as authorities reported 4,729 new cases. With a total of 1,000,048 reported cases, Russia has the fourth largest caseload in the world after the U.S., Brazil and India. Over 815,000 people have so far recovered, authorities said, and more than 17,000 have died.

Experts say the true toll of the pandemic is much higher than all reported figures, due to limited testing, missed mild cases and concealment of cases by some governments, among other factors. As of Tuesday, Russia has lifted most lockdown restrictions in the majority of the country’s regions.

Last month, Russian authorities announced approval of the first ever COVID-19 vaccine — a move that Western experts met with skepticism and unease as the shots were only tested on a few dozen people. Last week, officials announced starting advanced trials of the vaccine among 40,000 people.

It remains unclear whether vaccination of risk groups — such as doctors and teachers — announced earlier this year will be part of the trials or carried out in parallel. Russian President Vladimir Putin said last month one of his daughters had already been vaccinated.

True size of prehistoric mega-shark finally revealed

Swansea UK (SPX)
Sep 04, 2020

A new study led by Swansea University and the University of Bristol has revealed the size of the legendary giant shark Megalodon, including fins that are as large as an adult human.

There is a grim fascination in determining the size of the largest sharks, but this can be difficult for fossil forms where teeth are often all that remain.

Today, the most fearsome living shark is the Great White, at over six metres (20 feet) long, which bites with a force of two tonnes.

Its fossil relative, the big tooth shark Megalodon, star of Hollywood movies, lived from 23 to around three million years ago, was over twice the length of a Great White and had a bite force of more than ten tonnes.

The fossils of the Megalodon are mostly huge triangular cutting teeth bigger than a human hand.

Jack Cooper and colleagues from Swansea University and the University of Bristol used a number of mathematical methods to pin down the size and proportions of this monster, by making close comparisons to a diversity of living relatives with ecological and physiological similarities to Megalodon.

The project was supervised by shark expert Dr Catalina Pimiento from Swansea University and Professor Mike Benton, a palaeontologist at the University of Bristol. Dr Humberto Ferron from Bristol also collaborated.

Jack Cooper, who will now start his PhD at Swansea University said: "I have always been mad about sharks. As an undergraduate, I have worked and dived with Great Whites in South Africa - protected by a steel cage of course. It's that sense of danger, but also that sharks are such beautiful and well-adapted animals, that makes them so attractive to study.

"Megalodon was actually the very animal that inspired me to pursue palaeontology in the first place at just six years old, so I was over the moon to get a chance to study it.

"This was my dream project. But to study the whole animal is difficult considering that all we really have are lots of isolated teeth."

Previously the fossil shark, known formally as Otodus megalodon, was only compared with the Great White. Jack and his colleagues, for the first time, expanded this analysis to include five modern sharks.

Dr Catalina Pimiento said: "Megalodon is not a direct ancestor of the Great White but is equally related to other macropredatory sharks such as the Makos, Salmon shark and Porbeagle shark, as well as the Great white. We pooled detailed measurements of all five to make predictions about Megalodon."

Professor Benton added: "Before we could do anything, we had to test whether these five modern sharks changed proportions as they grew up. If, for example, they had been like humans, where babies have big heads and short legs, we would have had some difficulties in projecting the adult proportions for such a huge extinct shark.

"But we were surprised, and relieved, to discover that in fact that the babies of all these modern predatory sharks start out as little adults, and they don't change in proportion as they get larger."

Jack Cooper added: "This means we could simply take the growth curves of the five modern forms and project the overall shape as they get larger and larger - right up to a body length of 16 metres."

The results suggest that a 16-metre-long Otodus megalodon likely had a head round 4.65 metres long, a dorsal fin approximately 1.62 metres tall and a tail around 3.85 metres high.

This means an adult human could stand on the back of this shark and would be about the same height as the dorsal fin.

The reconstruction of the size of Megalodon body parts represents a fundamental step towards a better understanding of the physiology of this giant, and the intrinsic factors that may have made it prone to extinction.

Source: Terra Daily.
Link: https://www.terradaily.com/reports/True_size_of_prehistoric_mega_shark_finally_revealed_999.html.

Palau invites US military to build bases as China seeks regional clout

By Bernadette Carreon
Koror, Palau (AFP)
Sept 4, 2020

The tiny Pacific nation of Palau has urged the United States military to build bases on its territory -- which lies in a region where Washington is pushing back against growing Chinese influence.

US Defense Secretary Mark Esper visited the island nation last week and accused Beijing of "ongoing destabilizing activities" in the Pacific.

Palau President Tommy Remengesau later revealed he told Esper the US military was welcome to build facilities in his country, an archipelago about 1,500 kilometres (930 miles) east of the Philippines.

"Palau's request to the US military remains simple -- build joint-use facilities, then come and use them regularly," he said in a letter to the US defense chief that his office released this week.

The note, addressed to Esper and marked "by hand delivery, Koror. Palau," said the nation of 22,000 was open to hosting land bases, port facilities and airfields for the US military.

Remengesau also suggested a US Coast Guard presence in Palau to help patrol its vast marine reserve, which covers an area of ocean the size of Spain and is difficult for the tiny nation to monitor.

While Palau is an independent nation, it has no military and the US is responsible for its defense under an agreement with Washington called the Compact of Free Association.

Under the deal, the US military has access to the islands, although it currently has no troops permanently stationed there.

"We should use the mechanisms of the Compact to establish a regular US military presence in Palau," Remengesau said.

"The US military's right to establish defense sites in the Republic of Palau has been under-utilized for the entire duration of the Compact."

- 'Predatory economics' -

He said bases in Palau would not only increase US military preparedness but also help the local economy, which is struggling as the Covid-19 pandemic has halted tourism, its main industry.

Palau was the scene of bloody fighting between US and Japanese forces in World War II but Washington focused on bases in the Philippines and Guam after the war.

A US military radar facility is planned for Palau but construction has been suspended because of the pandemic, with the island nation keen to retain its virus-free status.

In addition to its close US ties, Palau is also one of Taiwan's four remaining allies in the Pacific and only 15 worldwide.

China, which sees Taiwan as part of its territory, has set about trying to win over Taipei's allies in the Pacific, persuading the Solomon Islands and Kiribati to switch sides last year.

Palau has refused, prompting Beijing to effectively ban its tourists from visiting the country in 2018.

While not naming China directly, Remengesau told Esper "destabilising actors have already stepped forward to take advantage" of the virus-related economic crises that small island nations were experiencing.

"Mr. Secretary, it has been a great relief to hear you, and other top US officials, recognize the complex reality of Indo-Pacific security -- which is as threatened by predatory economics as it is by military aggression," he wrote.

During Esper's visit last week, which lasted barely three hours, Remengesau said China was offering cheap loans to island nations to win their loyalty.

"That has an impact on how people view the relationship with those who help them," he said.

Source: Terra Daily.
Link: https://www.terradaily.com/reports/Palau_invites_US_military_to_build_bases_as_China_seeks_regional_clout_999.html.