The Herald is bringing live coronavirus updates and breaking news from Scotland, the UK and the world.

Source: www.businessinsider.com - Saturday, May 09, 2020
Mother's Day is the single most important holiday for flower shops, with many businesses relying on strong holiday sales to survive the summertime slowdown in demand for flowers. Thanks to the coronavirus pandemic, spring 2020 got off to an ominous start for florists across the United States. 1-800-Flowers.com, Inc. CEO Chris McCann and BloomNation CEO and cofounder Farbod Shoraka told Business Insider that their florist partners are seeing a major uptick in spending in the run-up to Mother's Day. The National Retail Federation is projecting that flower sales on Mother's Day will increase from $2.01 billion to $2.1 billion in 2020. Despite the good news, there remain major challenges to florists and the flower industry as a whole during COVID-19, including a major downturn for growers and wholesalers, reduced staffing, and even figuring out distribution capabilities. But Society of American Florists CEO Kate Penn told Busines Insider that florists are some of the "resourceful" and scrappy business owners out there: "Come rain, sleet, or social distancing they'll figure out how to get it delivered." Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories . For flower shops across the United States, Mother's Day is the most important date on the calendar. Millions of Americans setting out to make their moms feel special with a bright bouquet consistently ensure that the second Sunday of May is the biggest holiday in the flower business

Source: api-internal.usatoday.com.akadns.net - Friday, May 08, 2020
Vice President Pence's trip to Iowa shows how the Trump administration's aims to move past coronavirus are sometimes complicated by the virus itself.            

Source: www.vox.com - Friday, May 08, 2020
Trump gestures during an event with House Republicans on Friday. | Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images The president wants you to believe the US response is the envy of the world. It isn’t. The United States has endured over 78,000 coronavirus deaths as of May 8, far more than double the second hardest-hit country. Unlike most comparable countries, the trajectory of the per-day death toll has not yet meaningfully bent down here nor has the number of new cases diagnosed each day. By contrast, Germany and Japan combined have had just over 9,000 confirmed Covid-related deaths. Though Japan didn’t get off to a great start , the number of new cases per day has been hovering around 200 there. In Germany, it’s around 1,000 . In either case, the new case numbers are far below the nearly 15,000 identified in the US on Thursday. Put succinctly, while both countries continue to grapple with the virus and life is far from normal for people there, the pandemic has been somewhat brought under control to an extent Americans can only dream of. Here, by contrast, things aren’t really improving — and there’s no indication our federal government is capable of meeting the challenge. In fact, it’s quite the opposite . And yet to hear President Donald Trump tell it, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe are enamored by his fantastic response to the novel coronavirus, and they’re following his lead. They’ve even told him as m

Source: hyperallergic.com - Friday, May 08, 2020
It’s an era of masks, but Ýrúrarí Jóhannsdóttir’s knitted versions are the fantastical creations we need to see right now. Not sure if they are exactly ideal for a pandemic, but they make us smile amidst the zaniness. More knitted masks and info on Colossal . (via Colossal ) I’ve been thinking about this article since I read it earlier this week and I highly suggest you read it too. Immunoprivilege is a thing and there’s a long US history around it, according to Kathryn Olivarius: Yellow fever, a mosquito-borne flavivirus, was inescapable in the 19th-century Deep South and a point of near-constant terror in New Orleans, the region’s hub. In the six decades between the Louisiana Purchase and the Civil War, New Orleans experienced 22 full-blown epidemics, cumulatively killing over 150,000 people. (Perhaps another 150,000 died in nearby American cities.) The virus killed about half of all those it infected and it killed them horribly, with many victims vomiting thick black blood, the consistency and color of coffee grounds. The lucky survivors became “acclimated,” or immune for life. I can’t stop laughing at this: A wall slashes right thru the the heart of Midtown Manhattan, courtesy of ????????????????, A Real Estate developer, sometimes a museum and NY Times is concerned about a hypothetical wall on the Far West Side of the Town. https://t.co/e2B9HmOczh pic.twitter.com/nBLUPDGT0Y — Garo Gumusyan (@GaroGumusyan) January 21, 2020 Bhakti Sh

OM Director's Update from Lawrence Tong

OM Director's Update from Lawrence Tong, International Director

OM Director's Update from Lawrence Tong

Santa Cruz, Bolivia :: God surprises a Logos Hope crewmember with birthday treats and new perspectives as she serves with a team on shore.

He's in a growing spat with officials over reopening an electric vehicle plant.

In addition to Penn State’s virtual spring 2020 commencement ceremony at 2 p.m. on May 9, individual campuses and colleges across the University will be offering special recognition and events to their graduates.

Xiaoye You, Liberal Arts Professor of English and Asian Studies, will become director of the Center for Democratic Deliberation in the McCourtney Institute for Democracy, effective July 1.

From a bus break down to the relentless spread of a stomach virus: nothing deterred the medical team from carrying out Gods work.

The Gospel is primarily about relationships that impact, influence and are relevant, states Pastor Hugo Echeverri, a representative of OM in Colombia.

Adela, a lady from the women’s prison in Cartagena de Indias, Colombia, was baptised during the encounter called ‘Woman, you are free’.

Cartagena, Colombia :: Logos Hope's eager new crewmembers must pass fire and water safety tests before they can step aboard.

Cartagena, Colombia :: Logos Hope's volunteers share the message of hope for the future with elderly residents at a nursing home.

OM Director's Update from Lawrence Tong

OM Director's Update from Lawrence Tong, International Director

OM Director's Update from Lawrence Tong

Santa Cruz, Bolivia :: God surprises a Logos Hope crewmember with birthday treats and new perspectives as she serves with a team on shore.

OM Director's Update from Lawrence Tong

OM Director's Update from Lawrence Tong, International Director

OM Director's Update from Lawrence Tong

Santa Cruz, Bolivia :: God surprises a Logos Hope crewmember with birthday treats and new perspectives as she serves with a team on shore.

स्वास्थ्य विभाग के प्रधान सचिव संजय कुमार ने ट्विटर पर जानकारी देते हुए...

सूत्रों से मिली जानकारी के अनुसार, इस महीने 'मोदी सरकार 2.0' का एक साल पूरा होने...

The 2020 season is now set to start in July with the Austrian Grand Prix - the first of several races scheduled to take place behind closed doors as a precaution against the spread of COVID-19.

AC Milan said that the team would continue the individual training programmes that they and other Serie A clubs had begun this week.

Mother's Day 2020: Sports fraternity took to social media to express their love for their mothers.

Gautam Gambhir said that apart from the use of saliva to shine the cricket balls, he does not see too many rules changing due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Kiren Rijiju said that the Sports Ministry has tread carefully to prevent athletes from getting infected by the coronavirus.

Tips from executives on how to inspire creativity in the workplace

The number of novel coronavirus cases recorded worldwide surpassed four million on Saturday, according to an AFP tally based on official sources, as of 2145 GMT.

The United States recorded 1,568 coronavirus deaths in the past 24 hours, bringing the total to 78,746, according to the latest real-time tally reported by Johns Hopkins University at 8:30 pm Saturday...

Doctors at the government-run ESIC Hospital committed a "mistake" by not testing samples of a 16-year-old girl, who later died of Covid-19, Assam Health Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said on Saturday.

India reported 3,277 new coronavirus patients in the last 24 hours and 128 deaths linked to the illness that brings the total number of cases in the country to 62,939, including 2,109 deaths, the...

Two Air India Express flights from Dubai touched down in Chennai late on Saturday bringing home 356 Indians stranded overseas.

The Indian and American pharmaceutical companies are currently working together on at least three possible vaccines to fight the coronavirus, India Ambassador to the United States, Taranjit Singh...

A total of 329 people who were stranded in the UK due to travel restrictions arrived here in an Air India flight today morning.

Top infectious diseases expert Anthony Fauci is among three members of the White House's coronavirus task force who will self-isolate after potential exposure to the pathogen, US media reported...

Nearly 75 per cent coronavirus patients in Delhi are either asymptomatic or have mild symptoms, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said today as he reminded that the city has to "learn to live with...

Five pilots, an engineer and a technician of Air India have tested positive for coronavirus, sources in the airline have told NDTV. The pilots were detected after 77 pilots of the airline were tested...

Mahesh has been with Mahindras for over 20 years and has worked in design and development of engine and vehicle platforms from frugal 3-wheelers to flagship models.

Hyundai Motor India has restarted the production at its Chennai-based plant by ensuring 100 per cent compliance to social distancing and adhering to all the guidelines issued by the State and Central...

An under-wraps production-ready version of the upcoming 2020 new generation of the SUV has been spotted which reveals many design and utility details.

The app will generate real-time location-based alerts helping all employees and consumer base in being aware of the relevant localised corona safety information.