New top story from Time: With COVID-19 Cases Surging, Japan Extends the Areas Under a State of Emergency

https://ift.tt/38c7DNy

TOKYO — Japan was set to expand its coronavirus state of emergency for a second week in a row Wednesday, adding several more prefectures as a surge in infections fueled by the delta variant strains the country’s health care system.

The government last week extended the state of emergency until Sept. 12 and expanded the areas covered to 13 prefectures from six including Tokyo. Sixteen other prefectures are currently under quasi-emergency status.

The government at a meeting of experts Wednesday proposed upgrading eight prefectures from quasi-emergency status to a full state of emergency. Those prefectures include Hokkaido and Miyagi in the north, Aichi and Gifu in central Japan, and Hiroshima and Okayama in the west.
[time-brightcove not-tgx=”true”]

The proposal was expected to be approved and formally announced later Wednesday.

Japan’s state of emergency relies on requirements for eateries to close at 8 p.m. and not serve alcohol, but the measures are increasingly defied. Unenforceable social distancing and tele-working requests for the public and their employers are also largely ignored due to growing complacency.

The Japanese capital has been under the emergency since July 12, but new daily cases have increased more than tenfold since then to about 5,000 in Tokyo and 25,000 nationwide. Hospital beds are quickly filling and many people must now recover at home, including some who require supplemental oxygen.

More than 35,000 patients in Tokyo are recovering at home, about one-third of them unable to find a hospital or hotel vacancies immediately. Only a small percentage of hospitals are taking virus patients, either for financial reasons or because they lack the capability to treat the infections, experts say.

Japan has weathered the pandemic better than many other countries, with around 15,600 deaths nationwide since the start, but its vaccination efforts lag behind other wealthy nations. About 40% of the population has been fully vaccinated, mainly elderly people.

Economy and Fiscal Policy Minister Yasutoshi Nishimura, also in charge of the COVID-19 measures, said Wednesday that infections are spreading among those in their 20s to 50s who are largely unvaccinated. He urged them to take extra caution.

“Just imagine you may be the one getting infected tomorrow,” he said.

Rising infections among schoolchildren and teenagers could accelerate the surge as they begin returning to school after the summer vacation, said Dr. Shigeru Omi, top government medical advisor. He proposed schools curtail activity and urged high schools and colleges to return to online classes.

“Infections in Tokyo are showing no signs of slowing, and the severely tight medical systems will continue for a while,” he told a parliamentary session Wednesday.

The government has faced criticism for holding this summer’s Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics despite strong opposition from the public. Officials deny any direct link between the games and the spike in infections.

Comments

CBSE very likely to announce Class 10, Class 12 exam schedule tomorrow https://ift.tt/34zqEYO

The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) is very likely to announce the board exam schedule for Class 10 and Class 12 on Tuesday, official sources have said. The CBSE Class 10 and 12 exams are scheduled to be conducted next year through the paper-pen mode and an announcement regarding the examination dates is expected by Union Education Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank, who will interact with teachers across the country tomorrow.

New top story from Time: All 53 People Aboard Indonesia Submarine Declared Dead After Vessel’s Wreckage Found

https://ift.tt/3ezrzg5 ANYUWANGI, Indonesia — Indonesia’s military on Sunday officially said all 53 crew members from a submarine that sank and broke apart last week are dead, and that search teams had located the vessel’s wreckage on the ocean floor. The grim announcement comes a day after Indonesia said the submarine was considered sunk, not merely missing , but did not explicitly say whether the crew was dead. Officials had also said the KRI Nanggala 402’s oxygen supply would have run out early Saturday, three days after vessel went missing off the resort island of Bali. “We received underwater pictures that are confirmed as the parts of the submarine, including its rear vertical rudder, anchors, outer pressure body, embossed dive rudder and other ship parts,” military chief Hadi Tjahjanto told reporters in Bali on Sunday. “With this authentic evidence, we can declare that KRI Nanggala 402 has sunk and all the crew members are dead,” Tjahjanto said. An underwater ro...

New top story from Time: Ireland Abandons 12.5% Tax Pledge as Global Deal Races to Finish

https://ift.tt/3iFmrts Ireland is ready to sign up to a proposed global agreement for a minimum tax on companies, a climbdown that removes one hurdle to an unprecedented deal that would reshape the landscape for multinationals. On the eve of a key meeting between 140 countries hosted by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, the Irish government said it will join the push for a floor of 15% levied on profits of corporate entities. “This agreement is a balance between our tax competitiveness and our broader place in the world,” Irish Finance Minister Paschal Donohoe said in a statement Thursday evening announcing the pledge. The decision “will ensure that Ireland is part of the solution in respect to the future international tax framework.” [time-brightcove not-tgx=”true”] The rate agreed is 2.5 percentage points higher than the longstanding level that has been a pillar of Ireland’s economic model for a generation, underscoring its huge symbolic signifi...

New top story from Time: What Happened, Brittany Murphy?, Britney Spears and the Gendered Perils of Child Stardom

https://ift.tt/3oNitD2 Slowly but surely, we’re looking back at the tragic it girls of the aughts and finding out how little we actually knew—or, sadly, cared—about the people they were. Paris Hilton came forward, in last year’s film This Is Paris , with allegations that she was abused as a teenager at a series of residential reform schools—and explained that her airhead-heiress persona was an act devised to achieve financial independence from her family. A devastating court statement and a raft of investigative documentaries have revealed the extent to which Britney Spears has, by many accounts, lived like a prisoner since 2008. Now, the reckoning has expanded to encompass a misunderstood actor who didn’t live to tell her own tale: Brittany Murphy. [time-brightcove not-tgx=”true”] What Happened, Brittany Murphy? , which will arrive on HBO Max on Oct. 14, feels a bit tawdry. Directed by Cynthia Hill ( Private Violence ), the docuseries, such as it is, consists of two ho...

New top story from Time: An Innovative Washington Law Aims to Get Foreign-Trained Doctors Back in Hospitals

https://ift.tt/3v0a9kk Growing up in Somalia’s capital of Mogadishu, where people sometimes die of preventable or treatable illnesses like diarrhea, typhoid and malaria, taught Abdifitah Mohamed a painful lesson: adequate health care is indispensable. In 1996, Mohamed’s mother died of septicemia after spending nine months hospitalized for a gunshot wound. Her death, Mohamed says, inspired him to go to medical school, and for about four years he worked to treat the sick and injured in Somalia, Sudan and Kenya. But Mohamed hasn’t been able to work as a doctor since 2015, when he left for the United States, where his wife emigrated in 2007. Before moving, Mohamed believed that being allowed to practice in the U.S. was a simple matter of passing the United States Medical Licensing Examination (USMLE)—a three-step exam for receiving a U.S. medical license that tests medical knowledge, principles and skills—and then completing a medical residency. However, he didn’t expect that af...

New top story from Time: The Problem With Jon Stewart Could Be Great, If It Ever Catches Up to the Present

https://ift.tt/3D2oRKm There’s a telling moment in an early episode of The Problem With Jon Stewart . During a lively discussion on contemporary authoritarianism, Francisco Marquez, a Venezuelan activist and former political prisoner, mentions an event from the host’s Daily Show days . “I remember your march,” he says, referring to Stewart and Stephen Colbert’s jokey Rally to Restore Sanity and/or Fear , held on the National Mall in 2010. “I think it was against insanity or something along those lines.” In the perfect sarcastic deadpan that is his trademark, Stewart cracks: “Yeah, we won.” It’s a throwaway exchange, but one that captures Jon Stewart’s uncertain place in the culture, six years after leaving a role in which he helped launch so many still-thriving comedy careers and reshape late-night talk shows and political satire for the 21st century. At this point, the pleas for common sense and critical thinking—from politicians, the media and the public at large—that he i...

New top story from Time: Hurricane Ida Winds Hit 150 MPH Ahead of Louisiana Strike

https://ift.tt/3jmdoyl NEW ORLEANS — Hurricane Ida rapidly grew in strength early Sunday, becoming a dangerous Category 4 hurricane just hours before hitting the Louisiana coast while emergency officials in the region grappled with opening shelters for displaced evacuees despite the risks of spreading the coronavirus. As Ida moved through some of the warmest ocean water in the world in the northern Gulf of Mexico, its top winds grew by 45 mph (72 kph) to 150 mph (230 kph) in five hours. The system was expected to make landfall Sunday afternoon, set to arrive on the exact date Hurricane Katrina ravaged Louisiana and Mississippi 16 years earlier. [time-brightcove not-tgx=”true”] The hurricane center said Ida is forecast to hit at 155 mph (250 kph), just 1 mph shy of a Category 5 hurricane. Only four Category 5 hurricanes have made landfall in the United States: Michael in 2018, Andrew in 1992, Camille in 1969 and the Labor Day Hurricane of 1935. Both Michael and Andrew were u...

New top story from Time: Journalists Maria Ressa and Dmitry Muratov Win Nobel Peace Prize for Fighting for Freedom

https://ift.tt/3BnKjt7 (OSLO) — The 2021 Nobel Peace Prize was awarded Friday to journalists Maria Ressa of the Philippines and Dmitry Muratov of Russia. They were cited for their fight for freedom of expression. The winners were announced Friday by Berit Reiss-Andersen, chair of the Norwegian Nobel Committee. “Free, independent and fact-based journalism serves to protect against abuse of power, lies and war propaganda,” said Reiss-Andersen. “Without freedom of expression and freedom of the press, it will be difficult to successfully promote fraternity between nations, disarmament and a better world order to succeed in our time.” Alexander Zemlianichenko–AP In this Oct. 7, 2021 file photo, Novaya Gazeta editor Dmitry Muratov speaks during an interview with The Associated Press at the Novaya Gazeta newspaper, in Moscow, Russia. The 2021 Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to journalists Maria Ressa and Dmitry Muratov for the fight for freedom of expression in the Philippines an...

New top story from Time: Quarantine, What Quarantine? Nicole Kidman, Expats and White Privilege

https://ift.tt/38jNJQt The unsaid but common understanding about foreigners in many parts of the non-Western world is that there is one group of them who can get away with a great deal: white people. They are mostly referred to as expats, whereas non-white aliens fall into such categories as immigrants and guest workers . And being an expat comes with a range of privileges. Call it white privilege if you want. It does not only exist in America ; it is a global phenomenon. This privilege was the subject of heated debate last week in Hong Kong, a city that has for a long time been enthralled by all things Western due to its 150 years of colonization by the British. But even in Westernized Hong Kong, outrage was sparked because the Hollywood actor Nicole Kidman was allowed into the city without quarantine (7 days for Australian travelers at the time of her arrival, but increased shortly after to 14 days for the fully vaccinated and 21 days for the unvaccinated). This waiver was...

New top story from Time: Jordan’s King, Tony Blair and Vladimir Putin’s Friends Benefited From Secret Accounts, Leaked Pandora Papers Reveal

https://ift.tt/3otfIqn Hundreds of world leaders, powerful politicians, billionaires, celebrities, religious leaders and drug dealers have been hiding their investments in mansions, exclusive beachfront property, yachts and other assets for the past quarter-century, according to a review of nearly 12 million files obtained from 14 firms located around the world. The report released Sunday by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists involved 600 journalists from 150 media outlets in 117 countries. It’s being dubbed the “Pandora Papers” because the findings shed light on the previously hidden dealings of the elite and the corrupt, and how they have used offshore accounts to shield assets collectively worth trillions of dollars. [time-brightcove not-tgx=”true”] The more than 330 current and former politicians identified as beneficiaries of the secret accounts include Jordan’s King Abdullah II, former U.K. Prime Minister Tony Blair, Czech Republic Prime Minist...

My precise view

Search This Blog