Month: November 2020

Some New Yorkers are finding unique ways to get together even when they can’t be in the same space. Evgeny Maslov has the story, narrated by Anna Rice.Camera: Michael Eckels    
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Britain Sunday became the ninth country with more than 1 million confirmed coronavirus cases. According to data compiled by the Johns Hopkins University Coronavirus Resource Center, as of early Sunday, Britain had 1,014,794 infections and 46,645 deaths. After resisting mounting calls for weeks to impose a national lockdown as COVID-19 cases were rising, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson Saturday joined his counterparts in France, Germany and Belgium in ordering a nationwide shutdown. New national lockdown restrictions will go into effect across England Thursday and last for a month. Wales announced a lockdown last week, and Scottish leaders say the next few days will be critical for Scotland to avoid a lockdown.   However, schools and universities as well as courts are to stay open. The construction industry will also be allowed to operate. There will, however, be no household mixing, and nonessential stores as well as pubs and restaurants are to close. Employers will be asked to encourage their employees to work from home where possible.  Meanwhile, the United States remains the country with the highest number of infections and deaths. As of Sunday morning, the U.S. had 9,127,100 cases of the coronavirus, an increase of nearly 80,000 in 24 hours, and at least 230,566 deaths, with over 850 dead in the last 24 hours. according to Johns Hopkins. The U.S. is followed by India, Brazil, Russia, France, Spain, Argentina, Colombia and the most recent one, Britain, with 1 million or more cases of the coronavirus each. The rising tide of new coronavirus cases worldwide is forcing leaders elsewhere to consider new lockdown measures to contain an increase in infections. In Greece, Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said Saturday that bars, cafes, movie theaters and gyms across much of the country would be shut down beginning Tuesday. Most of the affected areas are in northern Greece and in the Athens area.  On Friday, Belgium imposed a partial lockdown aimed at controlling the pandemic that has hit the country harder than any other in the 27-nation European Union, according to the European Center for Disease Prevention and Control. Belgium has a high ratio of infection, 1,600 cases per 100,000 people. In comparison, Spain and Italy have ratios less than a third of that. In addition, hospitals in Belgium have almost reached capacity.  French President Emmanuel Macron announced a nationwide monthlong lockdown, effective Friday, with restaurants, bars, cafes and other nonessential businesses closed. Citizens can leave their homes only for work, shopping and doctor appointments.  German Chancellor Angela Merkel announced a set of similar measures in her own monthlong lockdown, which takes effect Monday. In addition to restaurants and bars, all gyms, theaters and opera houses will be closed under Merkel’s order, while most businesses, shops and hair salons will be allowed to remain open.  Schools in both nations will remain open during their respective lockdowns.  European countries, meanwhile, are calling on the global community to grant the World Health Organization greater authority to independently investigate outbreaks after the pandemic exposed the agency’s deficiencies.    The WHO does not have the authority to independently investigate epidemics, forcing it to rely on countries to approve their lists of suggested experts and to abide by the agendas developed by them.   As of Sunday morning, there were over 46.1 million total coronavirus cases worldwide, including nearly 1.2 million COVID-19 deaths, according to Johns Hopkins statistics.  
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Iran’s daily tally of coronavirus deaths hit a record high of 434 on Sunday, the Health Ministry announced, and the head of a top medical body said the actual toll was at least three times higher than the official count. 
The deaths, announced by Health Ministry spokeswoman Sima Sadat Lari on state TV, take the official toll to 35,298 in the Middle East’s worst-hit country. She said the number of confirmed coronavirus cases increased by 7,719 to 620,491. The head of Iran’s Medical Council, Mohammadreza Zafarghandi, doubted the accuracy of the official toll and warned that Iran had reached a “catastrophic mortality rate”, the Students News Agency ISNA reported on Sunday. “The official death toll is only based on the number of registered patients,” Zafarghandi told ISNA. “Through field surveys in hospitals and cemeteries, our Council has obtained a figure at least three times higher than the official death toll.” The medical council is a non-governmental organisation that is responsible for licensing doctors in Iran. “Thousands of our health workers were infected with the virus and according to our statistics, 300 of them had died,” Zafarghandi said. A report by the Iranian parliament’s research centre in April suggested that the coronavirus toll might be almost twice as high as announced by the Health Ministry. To stem a third wave of the virus in Iran, the government has shut schools, mosques, shops and restaurants in most of the country. President Hassan Rouhani said on Saturday new restrictions will take effect on Wednesday in 25 of Iran’s 31 provinces for 10 days. Measures are tighter in the capital, where authorities on Monday will decide whether to impose a complete lockdown for two weeks, state TV reported. The Interior  Ministry said a four-day ban on travel in and out of 25 cities, including Tehran, will be imposed from Monday, state media reported.  
 
  
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Britain Sunday became the ninth country with more than 1 million confirmed coronavirus cases. According to data compiled by the Johns Hopkins University Coronavirus Resource Center, as of early Sunday, Britain had 1,014,794 infections and 46,645 deaths. After resisting mounting calls for weeks to impose a national lockdown as COVID-19 cases were rising, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson Saturday joined his counterparts in France, Germany and Belgium in ordering a nationwide shutdown. New national lockdown restrictions will go into effect across England Thursday and last for a month. Wales announced a lockdown last week, and Scottish leaders say the next few days will be critical for Scotland to avoid a lockdown.   However, schools and universities as well as courts are to stay open. The construction industry will also be allowed to operate. There will, however, be no household mixing, and nonessential stores as well as pubs and restaurants are to close. Employers will be asked to encourage their employees to work from home where possible.  Meanwhile, the United States remains the country with the highest number of infections and deaths. As of Sunday morning, the U.S. had 9,127,100 cases of the coronavirus, an increase of nearly 80,000 in 24 hours, and at least 230,566 deaths, with over 850 dead in the last 24 hours. according to Johns Hopkins. The U.S. is followed by India, Brazil, Russia, France, Spain, Argentina, Colombia and the most recent one, Britain, with 1 million or more cases of the coronavirus each. The rising tide of new coronavirus cases worldwide is forcing leaders elsewhere to consider new lockdown measures to contain an increase in infections. In Greece, Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said Saturday that bars, cafes, movie theaters and gyms across much of the country would be shut down beginning Tuesday. Most of the affected areas are in northern Greece and in the Athens area.  On Friday, Belgium imposed a partial lockdown aimed at controlling the pandemic that has hit the country harder than any other in the 27-nation European Union, according to the European Center for Disease Prevention and Control. Belgium has a high ratio of infection, 1,600 cases per 100,000 people. In comparison, Spain and Italy have ratios less than a third of that. In addition, hospitals in Belgium have almost reached capacity.  French President Emmanuel Macron announced a nationwide monthlong lockdown, effective Friday, with restaurants, bars, cafes and other nonessential businesses closed. Citizens can leave their homes only for work, shopping and doctor appointments.  German Chancellor Angela Merkel announced a set of similar measures in her own monthlong lockdown, which takes effect Monday. In addition to restaurants and bars, all gyms, theaters and opera houses will be closed under Merkel’s order, while most businesses, shops and hair salons will be allowed to remain open.  Schools in both nations will remain open during their respective lockdowns.  European countries, meanwhile, are calling on the global community to grant the World Health Organization greater authority to independently investigate outbreaks after the pandemic exposed the agency’s deficiencies.    The WHO does not have the authority to independently investigate epidemics, forcing it to rely on countries to approve their lists of suggested experts and to abide by the agendas developed by them.   As of Sunday morning, there were over 46.1 million total coronavirus cases worldwide, including nearly 1.2 million COVID-19 deaths, according to Johns Hopkins statistics.  
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FILE – Russian cosmonauts Sergei Krikalyov (Top), Yuri Gidzenko and U.S. astronaut Bill Shepherd (C) wave hands before the launch at Baikonur.Shepherd, a former Navy SEAL who served as the station commander, likened it to living on a ship at sea. The three spent most of their time coaxing equipment to work; balky systems made the place too warm. Conditions were primitive, compared with now.   Installations and repairs took hours at the new space station, versus minutes on the ground, Krikalev recalled.   “Each day seemed to have its own set of challenges,” Shepherd said during a recent NASA panel discussion with his crewmates.   The space station has since morphed into a complex that’s almost as long as a football field, with eight miles (13 kilometers) of electrical wiring, an acre of solar panels and three high-tech labs.   “It’s 500 tons of stuff zooming around in space, most of which never touched each other until it got up there and bolted up,” Shepherd told The Associated Press. “And it’s all run for 20 years with almost no big problems.”   “It’s a real testament to what can be done in these kinds of programs,” he said.   Shepherd, 71, is long retired from NASA and lives in Virginia Beach, Virginia. Krikalev, 62, and Gidzenko, 58, have risen in the Russian space ranks. Both were involved in the mid-October launch of the 64th crew.   The first thing the three did upon arriving at the darkened space station on Nov. 2, 2000, was turn on the lights, which Krikalev recalled as “very memorable.” Then they heated water for hot drinks and activated the lone toilet.   “Now we can live,” Gidzenko remembers Shepherd saying. “We have lights, we have hot water and we have toilet.”   The crew called their new home Alpha, but the name didn’t stick.   Although pioneering the way, the three had no close calls during their nearly five months up there, Shepherd said, and so far the station has held up relatively well.   NASA’s top concern nowadays is the growing threat from space junk. This year, the orbiting lab has had to dodge debris three times.   As for station amenities, astronauts now have near-continuous communication with flight controllers and even an internet phone for personal use. The first crew had sporadic radio contact with the ground; communication blackouts could last hours.   While the three astronauts got along fine, tension sometimes bubbled up between them and the two Mission Controls, in Houston and outside Moscow. Shepherd got so frustrated with the “conflicting marching orders” that he insisted they come up with a single plan.   “I’ve got to say, that was my happiest day in space,” he said during the panel discussion.   FILE – This image of the International Space Station with the docked Europe’s ATV /Johannes Kepler/ and Space Shuttle /Endeavour/ was taken by Expedition 27 crew member Paolo Nespoli from the Soyuz TMA-20 following its undocking on 24 May 2011.With its first piece launched in 1998, the International Space Station already has logged 22 years in orbit. NASA and its partners contend it easily has several years of usefulness left at 260 miles (400 kilometers) up.   The Mir station — home to Krikalev and Gidzenko in the late 1980s and 1990s — operated for 15 years before being guided to a fiery reentry over the Pacific in 2001. Russia’s earlier stations and America’s 1970s Skylab had much shorter life spans, as did China’s much more recent orbital outposts.   Astronauts spend most of their six-month stints these days keeping the space station running and performing science experiments. A few have even spent close to a year up there on a single flight, serving as medical guinea pigs. Shepherd and his crew, by contrast, barely had time for a handful of experiments.   The first couple weeks were so hectic — “just working and working and working,” according to Gidzenko — that they didn’t shave for days. It took a while just to find the razors.   Even back then, the crew’s favorite pastime was gazing down at Earth. It takes a mere 90 minutes for the station to circle the world, allowing astronauts to soak in a staggering 16 sunrises and 16 sunsets each day.   The current residents — one American and two Russians, just like the original crew — plan to celebrate Monday’s milestone by sharing a special dinner, enjoying the views of Earth and remembering all the crews who came before them, especially the first.   But it won’t be a day off: “Probably we’ll be celebrating this day by hard work,” Sergei Kud-Sverchkov said Friday from orbit.   One of the best outcomes of 20 years of continuous space habitation, according to Shepherd, is astronaut diversity.   In this photo released by NASA on Oct. 17, 2019, U.S. astronauts Jessica Meir, left, and Christina Koch pose for a photo in the International Space Station.While men still lead the pack, more crews include women. Two U.S. women have served as space station skipper. Commanders typically are American or Russian, but have also come from Belgium, Germany, Italy, Canada and Japan. While African-Americans have made short visits to the space station, the first Black resident is due to arrive in mid-November on SpaceX’s second astronaut flight.   Massive undertakings like human Mars trips can benefit from the past two decades of international experience and cooperation, Shepherd said.   “If you look at the space station program today, it’s a blueprint on how to do it. All those questions about how this should be organized and what it’s going to look like, the big questions are already behind us,” he told the AP.   Russia, for instance, kept station crews coming and going after NASA’s Columbia disaster in 2003 and after the shuttles retired in 2011.   When Shepherd and his crewmates returned to Earth aboard shuttle Discovery after nearly five months, his main objective had been accomplished.   “Our crew showed that we can work together,” he said. 
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