Omicron variant confirmed in Colorado and Minnesota
A day after the COVID-19 omicron variant was confirmed in California, both Colorado and Minnesota confirmed cases of their own.
The Colorado state's department of health says a woman who traveled to southern Africa is exhibiting "minor symptoms." The patient was fully vaccinated but did not obtain a booster shot.
Minnesota's health officials say a man who attended an anime convention in New York City tested positive for the variant and had no history of international travel. The man was fully vaccinated and received a booster shot in early November.
With three confirmed cases of the omicron variant, the White House announced that vaccinations are on the rise. The Biden administration said Thursday that 2.2 million vaccine doses were administered in the last 24 hours -- the highest single-day total since May.
This comes as President Joe Biden laid out plans to fight COVID-19 over the winter, which include expanding booster access, expanding vaccine access for kids, offering free at-home rapid tests, extending the mask mandate for public transit, and testing international travelers.
Source-ABC
UNWTO says COVID will cost global tourism trillions of dollars in losses
The coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic will likely cost the global tourism sector trillion US dollars in lost revenue in 2021, the UN’s tourism body said, calling the sector’s recovery “fragile” and “slow.”
According to the latest forecast by the United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO), the same amount was lost in 2020, making it one of the sectors hit hardest by the health crisis.
Despite the improvement seen in the third quarter of the year, the pace of recovery remains slow and uneven across world regions.
In some sub-regions, such as Southern and Mediterranean Europe, the Caribbean, North and Central America, arrivals actually rose above 2020 levels in the first nine months of 2021.
However, arrivals in Asia and the Pacific were down by as much as 95 per cent when compared with 2019, as many destinations remained closed to non-essential travel.
Africa and the Middle East recorded 74 per cent and 81 per cent drops respectively in the third quarter compared to 2019. Among the larger destinations, Croatia, Mexico and Turkey showed the strongest recovery in the period of July to September.
But the report noted that the Caribbean had the highest results of any of the subregions defined by the UNWTO, with arrivals up 55 per cent compared to 2020.
It said international tourist arrivals “rebounded” during the summer season in the Northern Hemisphere thanks to increased travel confidence, rapid vaccination and the easing of entry restrictions in many nations.
In Europe, the EU Digital COVID Certificate has helped facilitate free movement within the European Union, the report added.
The report warned that despite recent improvements demand for travel could be further affected by “uneven vaccination rates around the world and new COVID-19 strains which had prompted new travel restrictions in some countries”.
In the past few days, the emergence of the Omicron variant has led dozens of countries to reinstate restrictions on arrivals, or to delay relaxation in COVID-19 travel and testing rules, leading to wide uncertainty for holiday season travellers worldwide.
Spikes in oil prices and the disruption of global supply chains have also had an effect. According to the latest UNWTO data, international tourist arrivals are expected to remain 70-75 per cent below 2019 levels in 2021, a similar decline as in 2020.
Although a 58 per cent increase in tourist arrivals was registered in July-September of this year compared to the same period in 2020, this remained 64 per cent below 2019 levels, the UN body found.
In August and September, arrivals were at 63 per cent lower than 2019, which is the highest monthly result since the start of the coronavirus pandemic. Between January and September 2021, worldwide international tourist arrivals stood at 20 per cent lower, compared to 2020, a clear improvement from the 54 per cent drop, over the first six months of the year.
“Data for the third quarter of 2021 is encouraging,” UNWTO Secretary-General Zurab Pololikashvili said, noting “however, arrivals are still 76 per cent below pre-pandemic levels and results across the different global regions remain uneven”.
In light of the rising cases and the emergence of new variants, he added that “we cannot let our guard down and need to continue our efforts to ensure equal access to vaccinations, coordinate travel procedures, make use of digital vaccination certificates to facilitate mobility, and continue to support the sector.”
Source- CMC
Ed and Elton reveal their Christmas track contender
Ed Sheeran and Sir Elton John have unveiled the song they hope will give them a Christmas number one this year.
Titled Merry Christmas, it's a bittersweet track that celebrates the season while remembering "the ones who have gone" in a painful year.
Complete with sleigh bells, ding-dongs and celestial choirs, it is one of three songs the stars wrote after Sir Elton pitched the idea last Christmas.
But the duo face stiff competition in the charts from Adele and LadBaby.
Sheeran already has one Christmas number one to his name with the Beyoncé duet, Perfect. Sir Elton's rollicking Step Into Christmas is also a festive staple, returning to the UK top 40 every year since 2017.
It was the continued success of that single that prompted the star to suggest a Christmas collaboration with Sheeran.
"He was so buzzed that Step Into Christmas gets a higher position each year," Sheeran told US chat show host Jimmy Fallon.
"So he's like, 'I want to do another Christmas song, do you want to do one with me?'"
However, Sheeran was initially cool on the idea.
"I've always been against it," he said. "Not that I don't like Christmas. I love Christmas. But in terms of doing a Christmas song, you need to chuck the kitchen sink at it."
In the end, the duo hurled more than a sink at the song. They chucked in the washing machine, the television, a sleigh full of Christmas bells, several terrified reindeer, five gooooold rings, four gallons of brandy butter, three packs of AA batteries, two sparkly pianos, and a partridge in a pear tree.
Their song contains every Christmas cliché you could imagine, from gathering around the tree to kissing under the mistletoe. And yet, it just works - sounding instantly familiar and refreshingly new at the same time.
The closing chant - "It's Christmas time for you and I / We'll have a good night and a Merry Christmas" - doesn't look like much on paper, but it's practically guaranteed to prompt drunken singalongs at Christmas parties (when Christmas parties are allowed again).
The stars have said any royalties they earn from the song over Christmas will be split between Ed Sheeran's Suffolk Music Foundation and The Elton John Aids Foundation.
Source-BBC
Nissan boss warns no end in sight to global chip shortage
The Omicron variant could add pressure to a chronic shortage of microchips used in car manufacturing, the boss of car giant Nissan has warned.
Makoto Uchida said it was too early to say when normal deliveries, and therefore finished cars, would resume.
"I can't give you a date. This new variant could add pressure to that, so how well we react is going to be crucial," he told the BBC.
Products from cars, washing machines and smartphones rely on computer chips.
Some factories had to close when the pandemic first struck in 2020, leading to a backlog in production in microchips, also known as semiconductors.
The impact was exacerbated by soaring demand, with people working from home needing laptops, tablets and webcams to help them do their jobs.
"We have a semiconductor shortage as an industry and how we recover from that is critical," Mr Uchida told the BBC.
Japan has banned incoming flights from abroad in response to the international alarm over the omicron variant first detected in South Africa.
Mr Uchida's comments come as Nissan announced its vehicle electrification strategy, which includes the proposed introduction of 23 electrified models by 2030, and the ambition that by 2026, 75% of the companies European sales will be electric vehicles.
Earlier this year, Nissan announced a £1bn investment to turn its Sunderland plant in the UK into a hub for electric vehicle production.
Its targets for China and the US are much less ambitious. Nissan hopes that 40% of the cars it sells in China will be electric or hybrid by 2026, while it only expects to hit that same proportion in the US by 2030 given slower consumer take-up.
The company did not set a target date for the elimination of combustion engines. At the recent COP26 climate summit, Nissan, along with Toyota, VW and BMW, refused to join Ford and Volvo in signing a pledge to phase them out by 2040.
Nissan is also investing more money in developing solid state batteries, which the industry hopes will ultimately prove more efficient than the current industry standard lithium-ion batteries.
Mr Uchida said Nissan remained committed to its alliance with Renault and Mitsubishi, which was the brainchild of former Nissan boss Carlos Ghosn who is now living in exile in Beirut having been smuggled out of Japan while awaiting criminal prosecution on charges of financial crime. Mr Ghosn strenuously denies the charges.
Source-BBC
Mary J. Blige, Ariana Grande & Kid Cudi, Khalid, and SZA
Mary J. Blige has a double holiday treat for her fans, dropping two new singles on Friday: "Good Morning Gorgeous," and "Amazing," featuring DJ Khaled.
"Good Morning Gorgeous" is the title track of her upcoming 15th studio album, set to drop on Friday, February 11, 2022, two days before Mary performs at halftime of Super Bowl 56 with Dr. Dre, Eminem, Snoop Dogg and Kendrick Lamar.
"Working on this new album has been so much fun,” the Queen of Hip Hop Soul said in a statement. “I’m excited for my fans to hear these first two songs to give them a taste of what’s to come. I’m grateful to all my collaborators and partners who have walked with me through this process and even more grateful to my fans who I hope have a blast with this new music.”
Ariana Grande and Kid Cudi released the title track of the soundtrack to the new film comedy, Just Look Up. They perform the song in the movie and co-wrote the track, which is nominated for a Hollywood Music in Media Award for Best Original Song. Just Look Up debuts in theaters December 10, and December 24 on Netflix.
Khalid also dropped his Scenic Drive EP, featuring Alicia Keys, Ari Lennox, Kiana Ledé and more. “I’m so grateful to have worked with so many amazing/talented artists on this project! Also, I’m so excited for everyone to hear this and live with it,” Khalid said on Instagram.
Finally, SZA has officially released “I Hate You," a track she debuted in August on an anonymous SoundCloud account. “Honestly this started out as an exercise. I just wanted somewhere to dump my thoughts w out pressure..y’all made it a thing and I’m not mad lmao. ask and u shall receive,” SZA commented on Instagram.
Source-ABC
Memphis Grizzlies maul Oklahoma City Thunder in record win
The Memphis Grizzlies ran up an NBA record for the biggest winning margin as they beat a dispirited Oklahoma City Thunder 152-79.
The rout eclipses the previous mark set in 1991 when the Cleveland Cavaliers beat the Miami Heat by 68 points.
Jaren Jackson Jr helped himself to 27 points for the hosts, with another eight Grizzlies players getting into double figures.
The Thunder have lost eight games in a row and 10 of their past 11.
Elsewhere, in-form Western Conference leaders the Phoenix Suns set a new franchise record with an 18th successive victory, beating the Detroit Pistons 114-103.
Cameron Johnson and Cameron Payne had 19 points and six rebounds apiece for the Suns in the absence of star shooting guard Devin Booker, who was injured in Tuesday's win over the Golden State Warriors.
The Milwaukee Bucks missed Giannis Antetokounmpo, absent with a sore calf, as their eight-game winning streak came to an end with a 97-93 defeat by the Toronto Raptors.
The Raptors overturned the form book after coming into the game on the back of five successive home defeats, Fred VanVleet scoring 29 points for the hosts.
DeMar DeRozan, who signed from the San Antonio Spurs in August, top-scored with 34 points in the Chicago Bulls' 119-115 win over the New York Knicks. The 32-year-old made 12 of 19 shots from the floor and 10 of 11 from the free-throw line.
The San Antonio Spurs cruised to victory over the Portland Trail Blazers in the night's final game, never trailing in a 114-83 win.
Source-BBC
TCIG OBSERVES INTERNATIONAL DAY OF PERSONS WITH DISABILITIES 2021
The Special Needs Unit within the Ministry of Health & Human Services joins the rest of the world on Friday, December 3, 2021, in observance of the International Day of Persons with Disabilities under the theme: “Not All D’s are Visible … Every Individual Matters’”. The D’s inclusive of Disabilities- (Cerebal Palsy, hearing, visually impaired) Disorders (ADHA, bipolarism, autism, anxiety) Deficiencies (AIDS, anemia and HIV), Diseases (kidney, diabetes, all forms of Cancer) and Differences-(down syndrome, physically challenged) all contributing to disabilities. The annual observance was proclaimed in 1992, by the United Nations General Assembly resolution 47/3. This day is annually observed to promote full and equal participation of persons with disabilities and take action for the inclusion of persons with disabilities in all aspects of society and development.
In keeping with my Government mandate focusing on the Seventeen Sustainable Development Goals of which five zero in on disability the department will be focusing. The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.
Guarantee equal and accessible education by building an inclusive learning environment and providing the needed assistance for persons with disabilities.
Emphasizing the social economic and political inclusion of persons with disabilities.
Creating accessible and green public spaces.
Promoting inclusive economic growth, full and productive employment allows persons with disabilities to fully access the job market.
Underlying the importance of data collection and monitoring of data collection and monitoring of the SDG’s emphasis on disability disaggregated data.
My government is committed to the strengthening of services and programs for persons with special needs in the Turks & Caicos Islands. I encourage parents to join the Parent Advocacy and Support Groups commencing January in Grand Turk, 2022 and other such programs.
According to WHO more than one billion people will experience disability and it is predicted to rise due to the ageing population and the prevalence of non -communicable diseases. There are 322 persons registered with the Special Needs Unit, Turks & Caicos Islands.
The World Health Organization recognizes that a world where all people attain the highest possible standard of health and well-being is only possible if health systems are inclusive of people with disabilities and states that, Countries need to shift towards a service delivery system rooted in the communities, reaching out and empowering people with disabilities. Leaving no behind. WHO and my government is committed to this course through the establishment of the Community Base Rehabilitation Program in the upcoming financial year.
The World Health Organization states that people with disabilities have been amongst the most vulnerable populations during the current COVID-19 outbreak due to many health, social and environmental barriers, discriminatory attitudes and inaccessible infrastructure. Let us help protect our vulnerable population including persons with special needs and the elderly by wearing a face covering, practicing social distancing and frequent hand washing.
Persons are encouraged to contact the Special Needs Office at 338-2171 in Grand Turk or 941-3187 on Providenciales for inquiries or for the registration of persons with the Special Needs Unit and other programs.
In observance of World AIDS Day and International Day of Persons with Disabilities 2021 theme “ Not all D's are Visible....Every Individual Matters “ let us all pledge to make the Turks and Caicos Islands an inclusive and enabling country where those with special needs can flourish freely.
Community Fellowship Centre, Salvation Army and Long Bay Storage Are Newest FortisTCI Solar Customers
FortisTCI is introducing three new solar customers as a part of the Utility Owned Renewable Energy (UORE) program to increase the clean energy footprint in the Turks and Caicos Islands. Community Fellowship Centre, The Salvation Army and Long Bay Storage are the latest UORE participants. Together, they will add 509.6 kilowatt (kW) of solar PV to the electricity grid in 2022.
Agreements were signed in September with representatives from Community Fellowship Centre for a 185.22 kilowatt-peak (kWp) Photovoltaic (PV) system with a projected annual production of 247.4 megawatt hour (MWh). A 15.68 kWp PV system will be installed at the newly-built Salvation Army headquarters on Leeward Highway with a projected annual production of 20.35 MWh. The agreement with Long Bay Storage entails a 308.7 kWp PV system with a projected annual production of 433.9 MWh. These new installations will help lessen the amount of fuel required for energy production, and collectively will assist the country in avoiding 500 metric tons of C02 emissions.
FortisTCI President and CEO Ruth Forbes thanked the Company’s newest RE participants. She said, “Science and research continue to reveal that around the world, we must do more to reduce our greenhouse gases and slow down climate change. COP26 brought together leaders from around the world to tackle this issue. As CEO of FortisTCI, I speak on behalf of all my colleagues when I say that we are committed to leading with action and doing our part to ensure that future generations have every opportunity to enjoy this beautiful planet during their lifetimes. I am thankful for our renewable energy customers who willingly want to be a part of the solution. We cannot do this alone.”
Mrs. Forbes continued, “I welcome The Salvation Army, Community Fellowship Centre and Long Bay Storage, who are great examples of how we can achieve more together and minimize our impact on the environment for the greater good. I also look forward to commissioning these systems very soon and continuing the important work alongside Government to create more ways for customers to be a part of the TCI energy transition.”
The UORE program credits participants monthly for rooftop space over 20 years and grants a share of the system production annually. FortisTCI currently has 1.6 MW of solar on the grid and targets 33% RE generation by 2040 the country’s energy roadmap, the Turks and Caicos Resilient National Energy Transition Strategy (R-NETS).
New lawsuit filed against R. Kelly for allegedly threatening accusers
R. Kelly is facing even more legal problems.
After the Chicago singer was convicted on nine criminal counts by a federal jury in New York City in September, he and his manager now are being sued for allegedly threatening his accusers.
Lizette Martinez, Lisa Van Allen and Faith Rogers, who claim they were sexually abused by the 54-year-old convict, filed the lawsuit in Manhattan Supreme Court this week, alleging that "Kelly and his inner circle…began an orchestrated effort to silence, harass, bribe and intimidate those brave young women and their friends and family," as reported by Page Six.
They claim that Kelly's manager, Donnell Russell, tried to prevent the 2018 premiere of the docuseries Surviving R. Kelly at a New York City theater by anonymously calling in a shooting threat at the venue.
Russell was arrested last year for allegedly making the anonymous threat to the Neuehouse theater on December 4, 2018, which caused an evacuation. The case is pending trial.
Russell and two other men, Richard Arline and Michael Williams, were also accused of trying to intimidate and bribe Kelly's victims. Both Arline and Williams pleaded guilty in the case.
"This lawsuit in no way connects Mr. Kelly to the alleged intentional acts of Donnell Russell,” Kelly's lawyer, Jennifer Bonjean, told Page Six.
As previously reported, R. Kelly is set to go in trial again on August 1, 2022, this time in his native Chicago, in a federal case that includes charges of child pornography, obstruction of justice and sexual abuse.
Source-ABC
Biden blasted for reviving Trump's Remain in Mexico policy
US President Joe Biden has come under fire for restoring a Trump-era policy that requires asylum seekers to wait in Mexico while their claims are processed.
Migrant groups said reinstating the Remain in Mexico programme would spur crime and violence in border camps.
Mr Biden had suspended the policy, calling it "inhumane", but was ordered by courts to resume it.
The US and Mexican governments confirmed they would revive it.
Mr Biden's administration has kept up one other major Trump-era border policy: Title 42, which allows for the quick expulsion of migrants on public health grounds.
Former US President Donald Trump introduced the programme, then known as the Migrant Protection Protocols, to send more than 60,000 asylum applicants back to Mexico.
Migrants were often left waiting in Mexico for months, where they sometimes fell prey to criminal gangs.
According to charity Human Rights First, there have been more than 1,500 publicly reported cases of kidnapping, rape, torture and other abuses against migrants returned to Mexico.
Mr Biden suspended the programme almost immediately after taking office, as part of a campaign pledge to reverse hardline immigration policies enacted by his predecessor.
In June, Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas terminated the policy.
But in August a federal court Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk, a Trump appointee, ruled that the policy had been improperly cancelled.
The Biden administration is appealing against the decision.
White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said on Thursday that the president stands by past remarks about the "unjustified human costs" of the programme.
"But we also believe in following the law," she said.
The policy has been revamped to address Mexico's concerns, including to limit time spent for each asylum application to six months.
Implementation is expected to begin next week at ports of entry in Texas and California.
Source-BBC