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Thursday, August 13, 2020

New Zealand coronavirus: 14 new Covid-19 cases reported

 New Zealand has reported 14 new Covid-19 cases a day after its biggest city, Auckland, went back into lockdown.

The detection of four new infected family members earlier this week shocked a country that had recorded no locally transmitted cases for more than three months.

Of the new cases, 13 have been linked back to this family, while one is an overseas arrival who was in quarantine.

A three-day lockdown was imposed in Auckland on Wednesday.

"We can see the seriousness of the situation we are in," Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said in a news conference.

Joe Biden and Kamala Harris say Trump has left US 'in tatters' 38 minutes ago Share this with Facebook Share this with WhatsApp Share this with Messenger Share this with Twitter Share Related TopicsUS election 2020

 Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden and running mate Kamala Harris have attacked "whining" President Donald Trump as an incompetent leader who has left the US "in tatters".

The pair held their first campaign event together, a day after Mr Biden unveiled Ms Harris as his number two.

President Trump hit back, saying Ms Harris had "dropped like a rock" in her own presidential bid.

Mr Biden will face Mr Trump, a Republican, in November's election.

What did Biden say?

Wednesday's event at a school in Wilmington, Delaware, was not open to the public, with Mr Biden, 77, citing coronavirus prevention needs. Both candidates walked on stage wearing masks to address a group of masked journalists.

Democratic presidential candidate and former Vice President Joe Biden; and vice presidential candidate Senator Kamala Harris take the stage at a campaign event, their first joint appearance since Biden named Harris as his running mate, at Alexis Dupont High School in Wilmington, Delaware, U.S., August 12, 2020.Image copyrightREUTERS

Mr Biden noted that Ms Harris, a US senator from California, was the first woman of colour to serve as a presidential running mate for a major US party.

Mr Biden said: "The choice we make this November is going to decide the future of America for a very, very long time."

He continued: "Donald Trump has already started his attacks, calling Kamala, quote, nasty, whining about how she is, quote, mean to his appointees.

"It's not a surprise because whining is what Donald Trump does best, better than any president in American history.

Media captionKamala Harris' childhood home reacts to Biden pick

"Is anybody surprised that Donald Trump has a problem with a strong woman, or strong women across the board?"

He also attacked Mr Trump's handling of the coronavirus pandemic, climate change, the unemployment rate and "his politics of racist rhetoric that appeals to division".

What did Harris say?

Coming to the podium next, Ms Harris said: "I am ready to get to work."

Media captionJoe Biden: Will it be third time lucky in 2020?

The 55-year-old former prosecutor told reporters: "Everything we care about, our economy, our health, our children, the kind of country we live in, it's all on the line."

Ms Harris - the daughter of immigrants from India and Jamaica - continued: "America is crying out for leadership, yet we have a president who cares more about himself than the people who elected him.

"He inherited the longest economic expansion in history from Barack Obama and Joe Biden. And then, like everything else he inherited, he ran it straight into the ground."

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A bare-knuckle fight

Analysis box by Anthony Zurcher, North America reporter

Much has been made of the differences between Joe Biden and Kamala Harris since he announced her as his running mate on Tuesday afternoon. Biden is more than 20 years her senior. He's a white man, son of working-class parents in Pennsylvania. She's a multiracial woman from California, daughter of immigrants from Jamaica and India.

In their first joint appearance on Wednesday, however, they both spoke about what they had in common. "Her story is America's story," Mr Biden said. "Different from mine in many particulars, but also not so different in the essentials."

Ms Harris echoed this, saying that the two candidates are "cut from the same cloth". It's the kind of message you'd imagine would come from a campaign that's calling for national healing and unity.

Of course, that didn't stop either candidate from going on the attack against their general election opponents. It's the first salvo for this ticket in what is sure to be a bare-knuckle fight for the White House.

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How did Trump respond?

At a White House news conference, Mr Trump disparaged Ms Harris' failed bid for the Democratic party's presidential nomination, during which she fiercely attacked Mr Biden's record on race.

Mr Trump said: "I watched her poll numbers go boom, boom, boom, down to almost nothing, and she left angry, she left mad.

Media captionHarris and Biden clash over his race record

"She said horrible things about him, including accusations made about him by a woman, where she, I guess, believed the woman.

"Now all of a sudden she's running to be vice-president saying how wonderful he is."

Last year Mr Biden was accused by a number of women of unwelcome contact, including touching and kissing. Mr Biden acknowledged at the time that he must respect personal space.

Media captionWho is Kamala Harris? A look at her life and political career

A more serious allegation surfaced this year from a former aide who accused Mr Biden of sexually assaulting her in the halls of Congress in 1993. He denied the claim.

Ms Harris, who had dropped out of the presidential race at that point, said Tara Reade "has a right to tell her story".

California state records also show Mr Trump donated to Ms Harris when she was a candidate for the state's attorney general in 2011 and 2013, while he was still a private citizen.

Shortly before the Biden-Harris event, Mr Trump goaded Mr Biden for remaining at home for much of the campaign so far amid the pandemic lockdown.

During a White House meeting with teachers who said that children learnt better in class than remotely, the president asked a asked: "So if you're a presidential candidate and you're sitting in a basement and you're looking at a computer, that's not a good thing?"

He also tweeted an attack on the Biden-Harris ticket, saying they would put Senator Cory Booker, who is black, in charge of low-income housing. Critics said the tweet was racist.

What happens next?

Mr Biden will formally accept the Democratic presidential nomination at next week's convention, which will largely be a virtual event because of the pandemic.

He became the party's presumptive nominee in April after Bernie Sanders, his only remaining competitor, ended his own campaign.

Meanwhile Mr Trump will be nominated for a second four-year term in the White House by his fellow Republicans at their party convention a week later.

A 10-week campaign will follow before voters deliver their verdict in the general election on 3 November.

Mr Trump and Mr Biden will hold three debates in September and October. Ms Harris will debate Vice-President Mike Pence in October.

Wednesday, August 12, 2020

Japanese Buddhist monk’s beatboxing chants are a social media hit

 

One of the Buddhist monk Yogetsu Akasaka's tracks has over nine lakh views on YouTube and in his unique creations he merges Buddhist chants with beatboxing 

Israeli jeweller creates gold and diamond-encrusted mask that costs $1.5 million

 An Israeli jewellery company is working on what it says will be the world’s most expensive coronavirus mask, a gold, diamond-encrusted face covering with a price tag of $1.5 million.

The 18-karat white gold mask will be decorated with 3,600 white and black diamonds and fitted with top-rated N99 filters at the request of the buyer, said designer Isaac Levy.

پاکستانی خفیہ ایجنسیوں نے بھارتی خفیہ ایجنسیوں کا بڑا سائبرحملہ ناکام بنا دیا

 

بھارتی خفیہ ایجنسیوں کا سائبر اٹیک کے ذریعے دفاعی حکام کے موبائل ہیک کرنے کا منصوبہ تھا،پاک فوج نے سائبر حلموں کو روکنے کے لیے ضروری حفاظتی انتظامات بڑھا دئیے۔آئی ایس پی آر

بھارتی سائبر اٹیک کے ذریعے دفاعی حکام کے موبائل ہیک کرنے کا منصوبہ تھا،آئی ایس پی آر کا کہنا ہے کہ دشمن ایجنسیوں کے مختلف ٹارگٹ کی تحقیقات کی گئیں،پاک فوج نے سائبر حلموں کو روکنے کے لیے ضروری حفاظتی انتظامات بڑھا دئیے ہیں۔تمام حکومتی اداروں کو سائبر سیکیورٹی کے اقدامات کیلئے ایڈوائزری جاری کر دی ہے۔آئی ایس پی آر کا کہنا ہے کہ سرکاری اہلکاروں اور فوجی اہلکاروں کے تکنیکی آلات کو ہیک کر کے دھوکہ دہی کی جاتی ہے۔اس کے علاوہ دشمن انٹیلی جنس ایجنسیوں کے مختلف اہداف کی تحقیقات کی جارہی ہیں۔

Coronavirus: Russia calls international concern over vaccine 'groundless'

 Russia has dismissed mounting international concern over the safety of its locally developed Covid-19 vaccine as "absolutely groundless".

On Tuesday, it said a vaccine had been given regulatory approval after less than two months of testing on humans.

But experts were quick to raise concerns about the speed of Russia's work, and a growing list of countries have expressed scepticism.

Scientists in Germany, France, Spain and the US have all urged caution.

"It seems our foreign colleagues are sensing the specific competitive advantages of the Russian drug and are trying to express opinions that... are absolutely groundless," Russia's Health Minister Mikhail Murashko told the Interfax news agency on Wednesday.

He added that the vaccine would be available soon.

Coronavirus: How ghost ,cruise ,ships, became a, summer tourist ,attraction

 One of the more unusual sights of the coronavirus pandemic has been that of cruise ships drifting around in the English Channel, apparently abandoned at sea. But why are they there? And how did they become a holiday attraction?

Paul Derham is welcoming passengers onboard when he picks up the phone. It's business as usual for his small passenger ferry in Dorset today. But when the wind dies down he'll be back to his latest venture: sightseeing tours of cruise ships anchored off England's south coast.

"It's a two-and-a-half hour trip," he says. "We have a really good trip out of it, actually."

During the coronavirus pandemic, ships that usually spend the summer cruising the Mediterranean and Caribbean islands have instead found themselves lingering, near-empty, in the Channel.

They have been anchoring off the coast from Portsmouth to Plymouth, and at night they illuminate the horizon.

The arrival of the UK's "ghost ships", as one Twitter user called them, has transformed the view from the coast and fascinated locals and tourists alike. They have now become a tourist attraction in their own right, with people paying to see them up close.

"I knew people would be impressed," Paul says of his mini-cruises. The 62-year-old spent around three decades sailing cruise ships around the world before he bought the Mudeford Ferry, near Christchurch. He was even deputy captain on one of the ships he now takes his customers to see.

"We whacked it on Facebook one day," he says of the idea. "We advertised two trips and we filled up within two hours."

People on the beach at Studland look out at the cruise shipsImage copyrightPA MEDIA

The cruise industry was hit early in the pandemic, when the virus first swept the Diamond Princess, in Japan and then the Grand Princess, in the US. Passengers were quarantined at sea after hundreds contracted the virus onboard.

Holidays were cancelled and empty boats had to go somewhere. So why have so many ended up in the Channel?

Ships have to pay fees to berth, meaning an already crippled industry would be losing even more money if they docked in ports.

The Port of Southampton - a departure port for many UK cruises - declined to say how much it charges, citing "commercial sensitivities", but said it has "remained open during the pandemic". "Ultimately, whether cruise ships anchor off the coast or alongside in the port, it is their choice," a spokeswoman said.

Cruise ships off the coast of Weymouth

But space could also be an issue. Southampton has four cruise ship terminals, and can take up to six in exceptional circumstances.

P&O said its ships remain at sea because Southampton, which is also its home port, does not have room for all of them.

The ships do need to dock every so often to refuel and stock up on supplies for the reduced crew on board. The Cruise Lines International Association said how often they refuel depends on the ship and the type of fuel used. While they are designed to be able to run for two weeks, they "can last much longer".

There are about 100 crew currently on each of the P&O vessels off the south coast, the company said. That is likely include crew in the engine rooms, as well as cleaners, electricians, chefs and medics. To put that number into context, P&O's largest liner - the Britannia - has capacity for around 5,000 guests and crew.

Professor Richard Bucknall, director of research at University College London's department of mechanical engineering, says it "isn't possible to have any ship at anchor without a crew on board".

He said that is because of dangers of "anchor drag", or ships drifting at sea, due to severe weather.

Cruise ships off the coast of PortlandImage copyrightPA MEDIA

Although they are anchored, they don't switch off all of their generators.

They need to keep a diesel-powered generator running in order to maintain things like safety systems and lighting for the crew on board, says Dr Tristan Smith of University College London's Energy Institute, who specialises in shipping.

"The power requirements will be significantly lower than when operating at sea with passengers, both because they won't be using the power for propulsion or for the wider passenger comfort and 'hotel' services."

"If they have full tanks before going to the anchorage, they will be able to run at lower power output for many weeks if not months without having to refuel."

Woman takes a photo of cruise ships in Portland, DorsetImage copyrightPA MEDIA

So is it bad for the environment?

Dr Smith says it would actually make little difference to green house gas emissions if ships docked in ports rather than anchored at sea, but the impact on air pollution would likely be greater.

More on cruise ships and coronavirus

He says the best way to reduce the environmental impact of cruise ships in ports is for them to connect to local electricity grids, or shore power, when they berth - which should allow them to shut down onboard power generators.

RAF Lossiemouth jets scrambled to Russian aircraft

  RAF jets were scrambled to intercept four Russian military aircraft to the north of Scotland. Typhoons from RAF Lossiemouth in Moray and a...