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Hundreds Demand North Carolina Governor End Stay-Home Order

Hundreds of people angry and frustrated with North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper’s stay-at-home order marched around his home while demanding that he cancel it to help restore the state's economy. The crowd gathered on Tuesday before being escorted by Raleigh police motorcycles to walk through downtown Raleigh streets, including those surrounding the Executive Mansion. Cooper’s current order expires April 29, but the governor has said goals still must be met to ease movement and commerce restrictions. He says he'll release more specifics this week about quantifying those goals. Governors of some surrounding states already have announced plans to reopen some businesses.




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NC Public Schools Closed For Remainer Of The Year

K-12 schools in North Carolina will remain closed due to the coronavirus pandemic. Gov. Roy Cooper announced Friday that remote learning will continue for the remainder of the year. "Classrooms might be closed, but the learning is not over," said Cooper. "We don't make this decision lightly, but it's important to protect the health and safety of our students and school staff." Cooper said the reopening of schools will depend on meeting health goals that will be developed. The governor also announced partnerships with AT&T and Duke Energy Foundation that will provide 180 hotspots to help students without home internet access. Cooper released a proposed budget Friday that directs $1.4 billion in federal funds to help with the state’s coronavirus response.




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Pandemic Could Delay Removal Of Grounded Ship On Outer Banks

The coronavirus pandemic could delay the removal of a 72-foot long fishing vessel that has been grounded for weeks on a beach on North Carolina’s Outer Banks. The scallop harvesting boat is considered a safety hazard as curious people climb aboard its rusting hull. The Virginian-Pilot reported Saturday that removing the abandoned boat could cost more than $60,000. The boat’s owner is responsible for its removal. But the owner lives in Texas. Stay-at-home orders have limited travel between states. Visitors are also banned from coming to the Outer Banks. The ship ran aground during a storm on March 1 near Oregon Inlet.




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FEMA Approves $1.1 Million For Hurricane Dorian Recovery

FEMA recently approved disaster assistance funding for public utilities affected by Hurricane Dorian. More than $940,000 will go to Carteret-Craven Electric Cooperative for the replacement of damaged poles and transformers. The City of Kinston will receive more than $143,000 to replace damaged poles and transformers. And Brunswick County will receive nearly $45,000 for wastewater treatment repairs. FEMA has provided more than $16.1 million for Hurricane Dorian-related expenses in North Carolina through the Public Assistance program.




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Perspective: COVID-19 Exposes Flawed Food Security System

“I never thought I would have to ask for food.” The young mother said as a box was placed in her car. In the last three weeks over 500,000 Illinois residents have filed for unemployment. We have never seen such a sudden, dramatic increase in the need for food in our region. There are now growing lines at area food pantries. Numbers of those seeking help has tripled. For 70% of them this is their first visit to a food pantry. This is occurring when food banks are receiving fewer donations from their sources. The food banks are dependent upon the donations from large food chains. Usually food whose shelf life has nearly expired, or produce that is about to go bad. Because nervous buyers have cleared out so many store shelves there is less leftover to donate. When you live at the bottom of the food chain and depend on leftovers, it is extra frightening when there is little left behind. We need to use this crisis to question our present food system built on dependence. We need to ask how




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Budweiser to invest more in e-commerce as virus hits offline demand

The company, which has a portfolio of more than 50 beer brands including Stella Artois, Corona and Harbin, reported quarterly revenue of $956 million, down from $1.6 billion last year.




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To avoid overcrowding, Delhi govt launches e-token system for liquor purchase

According to an official statement, the government released a web link - www.qtoken.in - where people will be designated specific time for purchasing liquor after they fill personal details. The e-tokens will be sent on the mobile phones of the registered persons, it said.




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States should consider home delivery of liquor during lockdown, says Supreme Court

The Supreme Court refused to pass any orders to this effect, but suggested that it could be a better alternative than the chaos which has followed the government decision to open liquor shops during the lockdown.




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After demonetisation, GST, floods hit Agra's footwear industry hard

Sharing the reasons for the slowdown in the shoe industry, shoe manufacturer Pradeep Kumar said: "The main cause is the flood that most part of the country is facing. Due to sluggish sales, we are also short of funds."




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Aspiration keeps premium footwear brands afloat despite slowdown

Industry players say premium and luxury buying sees an uptick in two cases — purchase for occasions by the aspirational millennial and by a growing cohort of marathon runners.




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Nike temporarily closes European headquarters due to coronavirus case

Dutch news agency ANP, citing an internal email, reported overnight that the office in Hilversum would be disinfected. The employee was staying home in isolation for 14 days, it said.




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Sustainable footwear brand Neeman’s raises $1 million from angel investors

Founded in 2017 by Taran Chhabra and Amar Preet Singh, Neeman’s is a sustainable shoe brand that uses completely natural, renewable, recyclable and chemical-free materials to reduce the carbon footprint.




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Decathlon's 'contact-details' demand sparks row

French retailer Decathlon’s refusal to do business with customers who refuse to share their contact details has sparked a wave of protests on social media.




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Swiss watchmakers see exports plunge amid pandemic

Exports to Hong Kong, the sector's biggest market, plummeted 41.3 percent, while exports to France fell 48 percent, and those to South Korea were down 46.2 percent.




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COVID-19 forces Apple to temporarily close retail store in Italy

Due to an 'abundance of caution' as the coronavirus threat loomed, Apple closed all retail stores, corporate offices and contact centres in Mainland China. Last week, Apple warned that coronavirus outbreak will affect its business in the January-March quarter as worldwide iPhone supply will be temporarily constrained




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COVID-19: Offline retailers urge FM, NBFCs to allow delays in EMI payments

The industry body represents 1.50 lakh mobile retailers who may be unable to pay their monthly instalments and interest towards credit cards, vehicle loan, home loan and business loans taken by them. A similar letter highlighting the concerns of the mobile retailers was also sent to non-banking finance companies (NBFCs).




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Free Download by Shemekia Copeland

Free download of Outskirts of Love from the CD of the same name by Shemekia Copeland , currently featured on The Sound. Find out more about the artist here.




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CBI gets one-day transit remand for Rotomac owner Vikram Kothari, son

The court allowed a day's transit remand for both the accused, who were arrested on Thursday for alleged default on loan repayment.




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Govt Notifies Three Schemes worth ₹48kcr for Electronic Makers

According to the notification, companies that make phones priced at ₹15,000 and above and which make a cumulative investment of ₹1,000 crore over four years, starting with ₹250 crore in the first year, will qualify for an incentive of 6% for the first two years, followed by 5% for the next two and 4% in the fifth year..




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Durables, electronic items to feature high on shoppers' list post lockdown: Croma

Products such as laptops, smartphones and printers have become crucial for those working from home, while household appliances like washing machines, ACs, TVs and vacuum cleaners are now more important than ever for households.




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Sony cuts television prices up to 20% to spur demand during Covid-19

The company has cut prices anywhere from Rs 2,000 on the smaller screen televisions going up to Rs two lakh on a flagship 85-inch model apart from rolling out long tenure no-cost EMI schemes and bundling offers. It has launched a new 85-inch model at Rs 5.9 lakh bringing down its earlier pricing structure of Rs 10 lakh in this screen size.




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Burberry to maintain employee pay through coronavirus crisis

While many UK companies have utilised the government's furlough scheme, which sees employees paid 80% of their salary, Burberry said it would not rely on government support for jobs in the UK where more than a third of its workers are based.




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Indian gold demand could hit 3-decade low as lockdown hits festivals, weddings

The drop in consumption by the world's second-biggest gold buyer could limit a rally in global prices.




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Jewellers may be staring at a 94% plunge in gold demand this Akshaya Tritiya

GJC chairman Anantha Padmanabhan said, “There may be some token booking for gold by individuals for amounts like Rs 5,000 or so. But there will be no big investments in gold as all the shops are closed. The drop in demand will be around 94%.”




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Nirav Modi set for remote extradition trial from May 11 in UK court

The 49-year-old, who has been lodged at Wandsworth Prison in south-west London since his arrest last year, appeared before a UK court via videolink.




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Rough diamond import may be curtailed as pandemic stalls trade

India’s gross import of rough diamonds had declined by 13.43% to $12.39 billion between April 2019 and February 2020 from a year earlier.




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Global gold demand sees modest growth in Q1 on lockdown-led disruptions: WGC

World's gold demand during the first quarter of 2019 stood at 1070.8 tonne, according to WGC's Q1 Gold Demand Trends report.




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Gold demand falls 36% in January-March due to volatile prices, economic uncertainties: WGC

According to the World Gold Council's (WGC) Q1 Gold Demand Trends report, in terms of value India's the first quarter gold demand fell 20 per cent to Rs 37,580 crore, compared to Rs 47,000 crore in the same period of 2019.




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Virus, high gold prices dent India’s Q1 jewellery demand by 41%: WGC

Jewellery demand in the world’s second largest consumer slumped 41% to 73.9 tonnes , thanks to a 25% jump in quarterly average price to Rs 36,874 per 10 gm (ex import duty and GST) and the fallout from Covid 19, the WGC latest global demand trends report shows.




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Khazana Jewellery to contribute ₹10 crore towards fighting the COVID-19 pandemic

Brand Content Initiative




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Apparel exporters seek complete waiver of demurrage on shipments

In a letter to Civil Aviation Minister Hardeep Singh Puri, he said the council members could not clear the shipments on time because of lack of documents, "therefore, demurrage waiver may please be granted starting from March 1 till the time lockdown continues".




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Rising demand for PPE products provides huge opportunity for domestic exporters: AEPC

The council had recently organised a webinar on 'Manufacturing of PPE Products under Medical Textiles', which saw about 2,000 participants, mainly apparel exporters from across the country.




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Sistema forms joint venture to bring Russian kids' brand Concept Group to India

Concept Group, one of Russia’s leading fashion retailers, creates collections and sells women’s clothing, accessories as well as children’s wear through its own retail stores.




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Lockdown 3.0: People place orders online for non-essential items; staff crunch may delay deliveries

E-commerce companies have been permitted to sell all items in Orange and Green Zones starting from Monday, the first day of the third phase of the nationwide lockdown that began on March 25.




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Flipkart group CFO Emily McNeal quits

Sources in the company said, McNeal’s role will now be divided between Sriram Venkataraman, who is expected to take over as the CFO of Flipkart as well as the fashion etailer Myntra, and Adarsh Nahata who is currently PhonePe’s CFO.




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Covid-19 crisis has highlighted e-commerce importance,cooperation in cross-border goods, services movement: WTO

Highlighting that network capacity and higher bandwidth services have proved to be crucial, not only during the pandemic itself, but also for e-commerce and economic inclusion in general, it said in an information note: “What can WTO members do to improve communications networks and services?”




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COVID-19: Amazon to deliver essential items in containment zones in Mumbai

Under the initiative, Amazon will deliver orders to a designated delivery point in the vicinity of the containment zone, from where volunteers will further deliver the packages to customers' doorstep, the company said in a statement.




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Demonetisation: Old money can still buy you hairdos and spa sessions

Salon chains and wellness providers look to spur sales and attract new clients.




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India's latest acceptance of curls lead to the emergence of a Rs 200 crore industry

Even though 60% of the world’s population has either curly or wavy hair, Indians have always considered straight hair the ideal type.




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Curefit raises Rs 832 crore from Temasek, Unilever

The deal would value the company at close to Rs 4,300 crore, a premium of about 15% to its previous round of funding which valued the company at over Rs 3,700 crore, according to filings from ministry of corporate affairs sources by TOI.




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Ceat signs Rohit Sharma for bat endorsement deal

The cricketer will now be seen playing with a bat prominently displaying Ceat in all formats of the game, Ceat said in a statement.




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Cyclists already think pavements are fair game - we don't need lanes

INTERESTING to hear that the level of traffic is steadily increasing despite the restrictions.




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Letters: Castlemilk deserves a shopping centre fit for 21st century

AS someone who has lived in Castlemilk for many years and indeed written to the Glasgow Evening Times (in the past) outlining the very lack of decent shops here, I truly hope that Stefan King’s G1 Group (which has taken over the Braes shopping centre) is committed to its regeneration.




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Coronavirus FAQs: Do Temperature Screenings Help? Can Mosquitoes Spread It?

This is part of a series looking at pressing coronavirus questions of the week. We'd like to hear what you're curious about. Email us at goatsandsoda@npr.org with the subject line: "Weekly Coronavirus Questions." More than 76,000 people in the U.S. have died because of COVID-19, and there have been 1.27 million confirmed cases across the country — and nearly 4 million worldwide. Though the virus continues to spread and sicken people, some states and countries are starting to reopen businesses and lift stay-at-home requirements. This week, we look at some of your questions as summer nears and restrictions are eased. Is it safe to swim in pools or lakes? Does the virus spread through the water? People are asking whether they should be concerned about being exposed to the coronavirus while swimming. Experts say water needn't be a cause for concern. The CDC says there is no evidence the virus that causes COVID-19 can be spread to people through the water in pools, hot tubs, spas or water




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How The Nature Of The Music Industry Has Changed During The Pandemic

Copyright 2020 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.




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What Recent College Graduates Are Going Through During The Pandemic, Continued

NPR's education reporter talks about what graduating seniors are going through right now as the colleges are closed due to the pandemic and answers their questions.




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What Recent College Graduates Are Going Through During The Pandemic

NPR's education reporter talks about what graduating seniors are going through right now as the colleges are closed due to the pandemic and answers their questions.




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Top 5 Moments From The Supreme Court's 1st Week Of Livestreaming Arguments

For the first time in its 231-year history, the Supreme Court justices heard oral arguments remotely by phone and made the audio available live. The new setup went off largely without difficulties, but produced some memorable moments, including one justice forgetting to unmute and an ill-timed bathroom break. Here are the top five can't-miss moments from this week's history-making oral arguments. A second week of arguments begin on Monday at 10 a.m. ET. Here's a rundown of the cases and how to listen. 1. Justice Clarence Thomas speaks ... a lot Supreme Court oral arguments are verbal jousting matches. The justices pepper the lawyers with questions, interrupting counsel repeatedly and sometimes even interrupting each other. Justice Clarence Thomas, who has sat on the bench for nearly 30 years, has made his dislike of the chaotic process well known, at one point not asking a question for a full decade. But with no line of sight, the telephone arguments have to be rigidly organized, and




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Want To Adopt A Dog? First Ask Yourself: Can You Still Commit Post-Pandemic?

Copyright 2020 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.




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When Pandemics Arise, Composers Carry On

Some people respond to suffering by turning it into art. That's true even with the harrowing experience of a pandemic. In the early 1400s, an Englishman named John Cooke composed Stella celi , a hymn to the Virgin Mary referencing the Black Plague which, according to some sources , wiped out half of Europe. Its text speaks of the "ulcers of a terrible death" but also the assurance that "the star of heaven ... has rooted out the plague." Cooke's hymn is unlikely the first direct musical response to a major pandemic, but it is one of the earliest. Many more composers, over the millennia, have been inspired to write music in times of crisis. YouTube As pandemics resurfaced and new ones cropped up, people centuries ago were, in general, keenly aware of the precarious nature of life. Johann Sebastian Bach was no exception. He was orphaned twice by age 10 and lost half of his 20 children and his first wife. Bach wrote music that could comfort in times of distress and music that directly