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Coronavirus opened a window of opportunity that can't be missed - analysis


The global pandemic has brought Israel and Hamas closer than ever to a long-awaited prisoner swap.




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No Opposition

Someone has said that God plus one equals a majority. The truth is that God alone makes a majority. If every creature in the material and immaterial universe combined to oppose God together, still He would not be defeated. He is infinitely greater, and holier, and wiser, and more powerful than the aggregate of all His creation.

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Intel: US approves $2.3 billion sale of 43 Apache helicopters to Egypt

The US State Department has approved the $2.3 billion sale of 43 refurbished Apache helicopters to Egypt’s military.




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Why is Turkey prioritizing shopping malls in reopening plan?

Ankara’s haste to reopen shopping malls may be an effort to revive sagging consumption, but it also has to do with a tight nexus between politicians and businesses in the country.




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Union opposes privatising THAI, spinning off units

The Thai Airways International union has made clear its stance against privatisation and spinning off potentially profitable units as part of a rescue plan for the ailing national carrier.




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Malls, gyms tipped to open next

Shopping malls, gyms and amusement parks, considered high-density venues, are expected to reopen next if the number of new Covid-19 infections continues to drop for another week.




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PPP, medical bodies demand end to privatisation of healthcare facilities

PESHAWAR: The Pakistan People’s Party and the representatives of medical organisations of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa have demanded an end to the privatisation of healthcare facilities in the province and provision of automated coronavirus testing machines to medical staff. The demand was made...




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Coronavirus: China’s medical supply boom, lockdown backlog sparked surprise April exports rise

A surprise jump in Chinese exports in April will be short-lived, analysts said, with the world’s second largest economy unable to stay sheltered from the demand shock to come from the global economic downturn.A 3.5 per cent rise in shipments last month caught economists by surprise and left them scrambling for explanations as the consensus forecast was for an 11 per cent contraction.The rise was, in part, due to factories coming back online in China in March and April to fulfil orders that had…




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‘Profiting from fear’: US authorities target Covid-19 criminals after flood of fake cures and PPE

Criminal investigators in the United States have stepped up their pursuit of Covid-19 fraudsters selling unproven treatments and equipment online.The Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) has partnered with major health care and e-commerce companies to fight back against a deluge of fake goods being sold during the pandemic.There has been a rise in opportunists seeking to “capitalise and profit from the fear and anxiety” surrounding the Covid-19 disease, increasing sales of counterfeit…




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US regulator pulls approval for dozens of companies making respirators in China

A US regulator on Thursday pulled approval for dozens of companies making industry-standard masks in China, citing substandard performance, and warned health care providers to reconsider using any of the now-blacklisted products.After the US Food and Drug Administration’s determination that many of the made-in-China N95-style masks filter out less than 95 per cent of particulate matter – the filtration level that gives the N95 mask its name – the approved number of manufacturers dropped to 14…




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Start-up Blyncsy risks clash with Apple, Google over coronavirus contact tracing app royalties

A Utah-based start-up says it has exclusive business rights to the use of smartphones and other electronic devices for tracing people who have come into contact with a person with Covid-19, setting up a potential patent-infringement battle with some of the biggest technology companies.Blyncsy, which describes itself as a “movement and data intelligence” company headquartered in Salt Lake City, holds the business method patent for “tracking proximity relationships and uses thereof” by…




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Coronavirus scuppers Vladimir Putin’s grand plans, but can he bounce back?

The bombastic military parade through Moscow’s Red Square on Saturday was slated to be the spectacle of the year on the Kremlin’s calendar.Standing with Chinese leader Xi Jinping and French President Emmanuel Macron, President Vladimir Putin would have overseen a 90-minute procession of Russia’s military might, showcasing 15,000 troops and the latest hardware.But that was before the coronavirus pandemic.Now, military jets will roar over an eerily quiet Moscow, streaming red, white and blue…




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Coronavirus: US reversal scuppers UN vote on global pandemic ceasefire

The United States has stunned other members of the UN Security Council by preventing a vote on a resolution for a ceasefire in various conflicts around the world to help troubled nations better fight the coronavirus pandemic, diplomats said.Washington’s reversal on Friday came a day after it agreed to the text, negotiators said under cover of anonymity.“The United States cannot support the current draft,” the country’s delegation declared, without further detail, to the 14 other Security…




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Tokyo exotic dancer who earns tips can’t prove income drop to apply for Japan’s coronavirus aid

Japanese exotic dancer Aya Yumiko has been living off her savings since March as she waits for the bars and clubs in Tokyo where she performs in burlesque shows to reopen.But a decision by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe this week to extend a state of emergency to tackle the coronavirus pandemic until the end of May means Yumiko could use up her last reserves of cash before she can get back to work.“I had enough saved up to last me for two or three months,” said the 40-year-old dancer, who performs…




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Philippines government orders top broadcaster ABS-CBN to halt operations

The Philippines’ top broadcaster ABS-CBN on Tuesday was ordered off the air over a stalled operating licence renewal, drawing fresh charges that authorities were cracking down on press freedom.Since running afoul of President Rodrigo Duterte in 2016, the media powerhouse has seen bills to extend its franchise languish in Congress as the leader repeatedly attacked ABS-CBN in speeches.Duterte is notorious for tangling with media outlets critical of his policies, sparking concern that press…




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Philippines move for firms catering to Chinese gamblers to reopen amid lockdown faces backlash

The Philippines’ decision to allow gaming firms to resume their operations ahead of other local businesses has been met with fierce criticism, but officials insist the move is necessary as the government needs the revenue to fund its response to the Covid-19 pandemic.Philippine offshore gaming operators (Pogos) – which cater to gamblers in China, where the activity is illegal – were ordered to close in March as part of lockdowns to curb the spread of Covid-19. They employ tens of thousands of…




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Duterte’s ‘shoot-them-all’ approach to Covid-19 threatens his legacy as poor suffer in the Philippines

Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte’s response to the coronavirus crisis has been in line with his “macho populism” similar to that of Donald Trump’s in the US and Brazil’s Jair Bolsonaro.Like these illiberal leaders, a lockdown of Metro Manila since mid-March, and soon thereafter the entire Luzon area and beyond, came only after Duterte’s initial denial of the growing threat from the rapidly spreading pandemic.Once Duterte did finally act, it was in a haphazard and highly militarised fashion…




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Philippines’ ABS-CBN shutdown: TV network ‘did not attack Duterte’, Lopez matriarch says

The Philippines’ largest broadcaster ABS-CBN was forced off the air on Tuesday, the same day Conchita Lopez Taylor turned 90.“We’re used to it,” she said in a phone interview from her home in California.“We” referred to the large Lopez clan who owns the company, which had been forced to shut once before.Taylor was a 42-year-old mother of seven when ABS-CBN’s facilities were seized in 1972 by the clan’s former political ally, then-President Ferdinand Marcos. Her husband, former ABS-CBN chairman…




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Friday random news clippings

Prague Daily Monitor

Most mountain ranges across the country have received fresh snow. All suspected cases of coronavirus in the country have been tested negative. A young man was convicted of growing marijuana and sentenced to three years in prison. The Prague Monitor is continuing its fundraiser to upgrade its systems.

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How to approach your financial goals now

The pandemic will be contained soon and when it does, you will pick up from where you left off.




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Don’t take your woman shopping now

We have to run a very tight ship. Sacrifices have been made




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Sierra Leone president accuses opposition of 'terrorizing' state

A series of deadly unrests in the last two weeks that have claimed nearly two dozen lives.




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US women's national team files appeal after legal setback

The US women clinched back-to-back World Cup wins with victory at last year's finals in France.




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Pact between KNTC and OCP Kenya heralds new era in fertiliser supply

The partnership will ensure farmers get the input not only at the correct price but also at the right time.




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Shouting matches, scuffles as 11 Hong Kong opposition members thrown out of key committee meeting in legislature

A meeting in Hong Kong’s legislature descended into shouting matches and scuffles as 11 opposition lawmakers were thrown out by a pro-establishment leader who took control of a key committee to begin clearing a backlog of bills for review.The pan-democrats walked out of talks on Friday after losing their hold over the House Committee, threatening court action against Legislative Council staff, including legal advisers and security guards, whom they accused of abandoning political neutrality and…




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Hong Kong lunchtime protesters return after coronavirus social-distancing rules are eased but police quickly disperse group in mall with pepper spray

Police dispersed lunchtime protesters with pepper spray in an upscale Hong Kong shopping centre just 12 hours after the government relaxed some coronavirus social-distancing measures and allowed people to gather in groups of eight on Friday.Shortly after dozens of anti-government demonstrators began yelling slogans and belting out their anthem, officers entered the IFC Mall in Central to cordon off their protest site, forcing the Apple store to lower its shutters.Later, police used pepper spray…




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Coronavirus: Hong Kong researchers find three-drug combination suppresses virus nearly twice as fast as drug held up as major hope against pandemic

A combination of three drugs suppressed the coronavirus within seven days when used on patients in Hong Kong, nearly twice as fast as a single medicine did, in a result seen as a leading hope in the fight against the pandemic, a study has found.The findings of the research, led by University of Hong Kong academics and published in The Lancet on Saturday, could signal progress in the search for a standard form of therapy for Sars-CoV-2, the virus that causes the Covid-19 disease.It discovered…




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Coronavirus: with tourism on hold, Hong Kong travel firms eye a new moneymaking sideline – online shopping

While the coronavirus pandemic has forced the city’s tourism sector to a near standstill, agency head Christina Yuen Ho-yee is busier than ever, routinely working 12 hours a day.As the Covid-19 pandemic caused global lockdowns, sales at her firm, EGL Tours, dropped to zero between March and June, down from HK$500 million (US$64.5 million) in the same stretch last year.All of her roughly 600 staff members have been asked to take days of unpaid leave between April and June.But Yuen, the agency’s…




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Hong Kong suspect dies day after police used ‘appropriate force’ during his arrest

A man in Hong Kong has died the day after police used what they described as appropriate force to arrest him for criminal damage, drugs possession and assaulting officers.The force said that Yau Tsim district officers on patrol in Nathan Road were called at about 5pm on Thursday by members of the public who reported that a non-Chinese man “smelling strongly of alcohol” had damaged a moving vehicle with a glass bottle and toppled over a nearby motorcycle.The suspect “fiercely resisted” when he…




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Enforced Disappearances, Arbitrary Detentions, Hate Speech & Attacks on Civilians – ICC Report on Libya

The International Criminal Court (ICC) on Tuesday highlighted crimes against humanity and grave mismanagement of the law in Libya during a release of their latest report on the North African nation.  Fatou Bensouda, Chief Prosecutor of the ICC, said enforced disappearances, arbitrary detentions, hate speech, and severe maltreatment of detainees remains a massive concern in […]

The post Enforced Disappearances, Arbitrary Detentions, Hate Speech & Attacks on Civilians – ICC Report on Libya appeared first on Inter Press Service.




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Dear Diary: Ardern's new COVID-19 stopper

While Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison has proposed a voluntary contact tracing app, the New Zealand PM has a more homespun method for tracking its citizens.




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British government on the defensive over claims Boris Johnson skipped coronavirus meetings

Current and former cabinet ministers have rushed to defend Prime Minister Boris Johnson in the wake of damning claims.




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A disaster waiting to happen or a bold, evidence-based response? In Sweden, it depends who you ask

As winter fades and spring breaks over Sweden, a high-stakes experiment in self-responsibility is underway.




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Watford chief opposed to Premier League neutral grounds plan

The chief executive of Premier League club Watford has said that plans to resume the season at neutral venues are unfair and that there could be enough clubs in opposition to stop the idea. The Premier League’s “Project Restart” envisages a return to play in June, once given the green...

The post Watford chief opposed to Premier League neutral grounds plan appeared first on Cyprus Mail.




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Neetu Kapoor thanks Ambani family for immeasurable love and support

Neetu Kapoor wrote Mukesh Bhai, Nita Bhabhi, Akash, Shloka, Anant and Isha - you have been our guardian angels on this long and trying experience.




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Saif Ali Khan recalls his experiences getting laid off from film opposite Kajol

Saif Ali Khan opens up about his experince getting kicked off of his debut film back in 1992




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Farhan Akhtar donates over 1,000 PPE kits to hospitals all over India amid pandemic

Farhan Akhtar recently won the hearts of fans as a result of his generous donation to hospitals in India




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Outspoken Libyan princess Alia Al Senussi supports ‘New Saudi’ art scene

Outspoken Libyan princess Alia Al Senussi supports ‘New Saudi’ art scene




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Lean times during lockdown in cash-strapped Ukrainian zoo

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Judge video scandal case: ATC rejects approver's plea for bail

ISLAMABAD: The Anti-Terrorist Court Friday rejected the bail of approver in Judge Arshad Malik video scandal case. The accused, Faisal Shaheen, allegedly made the controversial video of former...

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UK Labour leader faces stiff opposition from 50 MPs over IOK statement

LONDON: Fifty Labour Party parliamentarians have told the new Labour leader Keir Starmer that his recent statement on Indian Occupied Kashmir after a meeting with Labour Friends of India is...

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PPP, medical bodies demand end to privatisation of healthcare facilities

PESHAWAR: The Pakistan People’s Party and the representatives of medical organisations of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa have demanded an end to the privatisation of healthcare facilities in the province...

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Judge video scandal case: ATC rejects approver's plea for bail

ISLAMABAD: The Anti-Terrorist Court Friday rejected the bail of approver in Judge Arshad Malik video scandal case.The accused, Faisal Shaheen, allegedly made the controversial video of former...

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Judge video scandal case: ATC rejects approver's plea for bail

ISLAMABAD: The Anti-Terrorist Court Friday rejected the bail of approver in Judge Arshad Malik video scandal case.The accused, Faisal Shaheen, allegedly made the controversial video of former...

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Punjab opp benches question spending of Rs 11 bn for Covid-19 management

LAHORE: Opposition MPAs Khwaja Salman Rafique and Uzma Bokhari at the Punjab Assembly criticised the Punjab government that it had claimed to have spent Rs 11 billion for tackling corona but the...

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UK Labour leader faces stiff opposition from 50 MPs over IOK statement

LONDON: Fifty Labour Party parliamentarians have told the new Labour leader Keir Starmer that his recent statement on Indian Occupied Kashmir after a meeting with Labour Friends of India is...

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Prince Harry and Meghan would've been supported by Diana for cutting off royal ties

Diana would’ve been extending her full support to Prince Harry and Meghan Markle




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British rapper Ty dies from coronavirus at 47

British Rapper Ty has died aged 47 after contracting coronavirus. Ty's death was confirmed by his team on Thursday.




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Deadpool 2: Ryan Reynolds' starrer slapped with fine over stuntwoman's death

The stuntwoman died while filming a scene for an actress




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Adele's trainer lashes out at trolls questioning her weight loss: 'Appreciate the hard work'

Adele got accused of getting her weight reduced cosmetically