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PVR, Reliance Retail invoke 'Act of God', won't pay rent

"PVR has opted to insist on not paying any rent for the period of closure. PVR does not own properties and all of its screens operate on rent," said a source in Chennai-based SPI Cinemas which was acquired by PVR in August 2018.




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Multiplex Association appeals to landlords to waive off rent of operators amid lockdown

"While the lockdown may continue for the next month or two, the cinema industry will take several months ('recuperating period') even after the lockdown is lifted, to get back to its feet, as the pipeline of content begins to flow again, and our patrons gain the confidence to step out of their homes and start visiting crowded places like cinemas.




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With malls shut, owners waive rental for retailers

Major mall operators in the country risk losing 20-25% of their annual revenue due to the shutdown, as per a report by ICICI Securities.




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Mall operators seek Finance Ministry, IRDA intervention for bleeding business

In India, under traditional business interruption insurance policies, physical damage to property is the only criteria to trigger business interruption loss, while pandemics and epidemics are specifically excluded. Insurance companies, therefore, are refusing to accept any claims arising out of shutdown.




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Malls request govt to extend moratorium on bank loan

All malls have been shut since the lockdown began, and retailers in those malls are not in a position to pay rents because their outlets are shut. This in turn makes it difficult for the malls to pay the banks. About 85% of a mall’s revenue is dependent on rentals.




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Earnings preview: Q4 likely to bomb for multiplexes; sales may drop up to 30%

Emkay Global expects PVR and Inox Leisure to post steep year-on-year drop in revenues at 19 per cent and 24 per cent, respectively.




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Retailers eye revenue-share pact at malls

Around 75 retailers that operate 200 brands have written a letter to mall owners, seen by TOI, stating that revenue-share percentage should be a flat percentage depending on the category of stores. They suggested, for instance, revenue-sharing percentage for vanilla brands should be 10-12%, including common area maintenance (CAM), while for fast food brands and large format lifestyle stores, it should be 7-8%.




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Retail estate : The post pandemic road to recovery

The post pandemic society will witness a change in consumer behavior and overall lifestyle. It is estimated that consumers will be extremely cautious with their spending. The spending on luxury, travel, hospitality, and movies, fine dine, white goods, expensive gadgets, among others and see a drop.




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Only 4% say will visit malls post lockdown: Survey

Post lockdown relaxation, consumers say they will prefer buying items of need via local stores (instore or delivery) and ecommerce sites while only 4 per cent say will go to the mall to buy.




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Fearing a fall in salon footfalls, Lakme Lever may cut headcount

Top officials close to the development told ET that HUL will train a large set of advisors and beauty consultants, numbering about 1,500, to become entrepreneurs so that they can set up their own businesses.




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Malls, high street stare at 20% vacant space

While big-box retailers that enjoy a revenue-sharing model with malls will have some cushion to absorb the impact of the lockdown, smaller brands and restaurants may have to pay the price by reducing the number of outlets.




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Mall operators hurting, but divided over rental waivers

Large operators of malls such as Xander-backed Virtuous Retail, Select Group, Phoenix Group and Blackstone-backed Nexus have not waived rentals for their tenants.




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Two big trends - local grocer, ecommerce: HUL's Sanjiv Mehta

"There are two big trends emerging. One is the relevance of the humble grocer and people have realised that they are so close to you… proximity, and (that’s) such a big benefit. The second would be on ecommerce. With people becoming more averse to stepping out, they would like to place the order from home and receive it at home. "




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Didn't anticipate India to shut down like this, says Colgate-Palmolive CEO

Over the past few weeks, chief executives of Unilever, Mondelez, Hershey's Procter & Gamble, Coca-Cola and Kimberly Clark have said India’s Covid-19 lockdown protocols had led to severe supply chain disruptions and labour shortages, hurting business in the key market.




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Hindustan Unilever shares drop over 5 pc after Q4 earnings

FMCG major Hindustan Unilever on Thursday reported a decline of 3.93 per cent in consolidated profit to Rs 1,512 crore for the fourth quarter, impacted by the coronavirus crisis from mid-March.




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ITC, some unions lock horns over work during coronavirus, documents reveal

The workforce problems at two ITC food plants - one in Pune in the western state of Maharashtra and another in the southern state of Karnataka - show how labour issues weigh on Indian firms after a nationwide coronavirus lockdown forced thousands of workers to go back to their villages.




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Marico Q4 results: Profit slips 50% YoY; volumes drop 4%

It had posted a net profit of Rs 403 crore in the corresponding quarter last year.




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Top multinationals from HUL to Apple brace for rising online sales post Covid-19

LG, Samsung, Vivo and Xiaomi are also rolling out hyperlocal sales platforms that will connect their offline stores to consumers searching products online so that the outlet nearest to the consumer can deliver the order, industry executives said.




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Hygiene business in India impacted by shutdowns, though overall growth good: Reckitt Benckiser

The maker of Dettol and Lizol disinfectant reported best ever global sales growth for the March 2020 quarter as customers stocked up on hygiene products amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, with like for like growth up 13%, higher market share and strong growth in e-commerce.




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Varun Beverages Q4 results: Profit gains 50% to Rs 60 crore

Total income during the latest quarter stood at Rs 1,724.51 crore, up 24.78 per cent from Rs 1,382 crore in the year-ago period , Varun Beverages said in a regulatory filing.




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PepsiCo India funded COVID-19 testing kits start reaching laboratories

PepsiCo India had volunteered to support the scale up of India's COVID-19 testing capacity through support provided to FIND.




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Marico was on track for recovery before Covid struck: CEO

‘We have exited April at 70-80% of our run rate, which we were doing last year.’




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GSK selling $3.45 billion stake in Hindustan Unilever: Report

The 5.7% stake in Hindustan Unilever that is now on the market, was accepted by GSK as payment for the sale of the malted drink brand and other nutrition brands to Unilever, agreed in late 2018.




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Tata Consumer Products ties up with Domino's Pizza, Zomato to deliver essential goods

These channel partnerships have been done in a phased manner, with Flipkart being the first e-commerce platform to enable the availability of its essential products in Mumbai, Bengaluru and Delhi.




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This I Believe: I Believe In Siblings

I don’t know the type of person I would be if I were an only child, and honestly I don’t even want to imagine that version of myself. My older sister Isabel has taught me so much in my brief 19 years, both through her successes and her (occasional) mistakes. We weren’t the best of friends as children; my mom always tells me she was legitimately worried we would hurt each other in one of our epic brawls. My dad even started calling family game night “family fight night” because they would usually end with Isabel and me being sent to our rooms. But as I’ve grown older, I’ve begun to understand the complex person that is my sister. Isabel is probably the most courageous, self-sufficient person I’ve ever known. She won’t back down from anyone or anything. At 16 she decided to spend six months in the south of France as an exchange student, despite having taken only two years of French. I can’t imagine taking that chance now much less in high school, but that just shows how different we are.




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This I Believe: I Believe In Thank You Notes

I believe in thank you notes. I believe in sending them and in receiving them. Absolutely for gifts – every gift REQUIRES written acknowledgement – but also for random acts of kindness or thoughtful behavior and for hospitality. Ask anyone, “Hey, how are you doing?” and they will most likely respond, “Busy. I am SOOO busy. There is just too much going on.” People are busy. Everyone is busy. Work. Play. Shopping. Recreation. Family. Cooking. Errands. Laundry. School. Housework. Social commitments. Yard work. Commuting. Volunteering. It’s hard to make time for yourself, much less for others. That’s why it is so darned special when someone takes the time to do something nice. It may be something small, such as checking to see if you have books that need to be returned to the library since they are going. Or something bigger, like inviting you over for dinner because they know you’ve spent the day carting around mulch in the yard and will be too tired to cook. I believe people who make the




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This I Believe: I Believe In Connection

I cry every day. My tears are tears of anguish but also tears of the most intense joy. I don’t think I am depressed. I think I am responding appropriately to our contradictory and often terrifying world of conflict and violence. I think I am also in a constant state of amazement and wonder at the many quotidian miracles I witness…and how astonishing is Mother Nature’s delicate balance. Recently my husband and I saw a tiny baby black bear chasing a newborn spotted fawn dashing precariously across South Atherton Street, just before the town of Boalsburg. We still cannot believe it happened. I have discovered that some of us have been nourished by a profound sense of beauty and empathy at life on Planet Earth. This doesn’t mean I don’t also feel repelled by institutional racism, rampant cruelty, indifference, and denial. It’s hard work, but I am learning to reconcile these extremes and keep repugnance at bay—enough so that I am still under the magical sway of precious life. I believe the




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This I Believe: I Believe In Jeopardy

I believe in Jeopardy. Growing up, my family had a dinnertime routine. No matter what food we were eating or who was sitting around the kitchen table that night, we would always watch Jeopardy! at 7 o’clock. As Alex Trebek read the questions (or, as they’re known in Jeopardy terms, answers), we ate leftover lasagna and tried to remember facts about world geography and Shakespeare. The first person to shout out the correct answer was the winner. There was never any prize for us playing along at home, but that didn’t matter to me; being smarter than my parents and my sister was all the reward I needed. It was during these nightly viewings of Jeopardy that I first realized I didn’t like not knowing things. Nothing was worse to me than watching an entire category of clues go by while I knew nothing. I devoted my time to reading almanacs, newspapers, and even the dictionary in an attempt to learning everything about, well, everything. I don’t consider myself a competitive person; I lose




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This I Believe: I Believe In Party Dresses

I believe in party dresses. My mother and I both use clothes to make a statement. For 26 years, my mother, Margaret Simmons, worked as a high school home ec teacher. She can sew anything: business suits, wedding dresses. She must have altered a hundred prom dresses over the years for her students who were not conventionally sized. My mother loves fabric in bright colors, purples and reds. But she went to work every day in rather conservative business suits. That was her cry for some modicum of respect from school administrators who thought nothing of interrupting her class to get a cup of coffee from the home ec room kitchen. My mother started college in the 1950s. Teaching and nursing were pretty much the only fields that were open to her. Like most of her female classmates, she dropped out to get married. Three kids later, she finished her degree at the age of 40, staring down the difficult reality of single parenthood. She needed respect and a living wage. She didn’t get either.




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This I Believe: I Believe In Mental Health Awareness

I believe in mental health awareness. I believe that one cannot be physically healthy without being mentally healthy. Mental health has always been something I take very seriously. One’s emotions and mental stability can change their whole life, for better or for worse. And in doing that, it can change the lives of individuals around them. After being diagnosed with anxiety in the summer of 2017, I was immediately put on medication and placed into therapeutic and psychiatric help. Once I started talking things through and getting used to my medication, I realized that this thing called “anxiety” had been living in me for longer than I thought. I always assumed it was normal to have trouble breathing before major events, while meeting new people, or in a situation of sadness or stress. It was what my mind and body were used to. Once I found myself not being able to leave my dorm room, excessively sweating through the night and losing my appetite, I knew that this had gone way beyond a




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This I Believe: I Believe In Movie Theaters

I believe in movie theaters. The first time I went to a movie theater, I was about 6 years old. My parents took my brothers and me to the Rowland Theater in Philipsburg to see the original Disney version of 101 Dalmatians – it was around 1969. I remember sitting in the balcony. I remember a night scene where a car was barreling down a road with a network of dogs barking. I was scared and I was fascinated, and, doggone it, I couldn’t see the whole screen. There was a bar that ran across the front of the section, and it cut through the middle of the screen blocking my view. I had to keep scooching down in my seat, trying not to spill my popcorn. Cruella DeVil terrified me, and yet I wanted to see everything. I grew up going to matinees at the theater, as did almost everyone in my generation who grew up around Philipsburg. We all have memories of the 102-year-old movie palace that still draws people to our beloved town. This theater ties us together. The years have flown by since that




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This I Believe: I Believe In Taking Risks

“For all of you out there, there’s an old cliché: Go out on a limb—that’s where all the fruit is.” I listened to Colin Cowherd say this years ago, right after he left ESPN to work at Fox Sports. As an aspiring sports broadcaster, I’ve always loved watching Cowherd, but I never bought that dumb saying. However, it’s turned out to be a saying that’s defined much of my life. My family moved around a bit when I was young, but when I was six, my parents settled us down in Horsham, Pennsylvania. I loved Horsham. It was the first place I lived where I could make friends with neighbors, classmates, and not fear having to leave them in a few months. I was able to create a life for myself, and it was a life that was very comfortable. Then in middle school, my parents’ marriage started to fail. In the 8th grade, my father told me he was moving to Charleston, South Carolina because he’d accepted a teaching job there. He also told me the time had come for him and my mother to split. Where I fit




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This I Believe: I Believe In Running

I believe in running. If you asked me how I felt about running five years ago, I would have laughed at you. My feelings about running? Pure, undeniable disgust. Coupled with my asthma and general lack of motivation, I considered running as one of my worst enemies. When I was younger, I always dreaded the days in gym class when the teacher announced that we would be running the mile. I would drag myself to the starting line, a little behind everyone else, and wait for the whistle to blow. After the whistle blew, I started off in step with my classmates, but felt an all too familiar pit in my stomach as my classmates pulled ahead. My lungs began to burn, and my legs felt like they’d give out any minute. My breath would hitch in my chest as I slowed to a walk, shamefully looking up to see my classmates run past. My mind would race, and I’d constantly berate myself for walking. Why can’t I just run like everyone else? I’d ask. My lungs wouldn’t allow it, and I felt like they held me back.




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This I Believe: I Believe In Empathy

I believe in empathy. Part of empathy is understanding that every life we meet goes beyond the small part we see. One day, seven years ago, my family and I learned this life lesson together while on a family walk. To everyone outside, it looked like we were on an idyllic family stroll. In truth, we were walking to the hospital where we would learn whether I could survive my brain cancer. Just like the people who saw us, we too had no idea about the invisible struggles anyone else on the sidewalk faced. This experience has helped us have empathy for others. Before that, when I was wronged, my knee-jerk reaction was judgment. But now, I’m learning to have patience and to imagine what the other person might be going through, from roommate conflicts to a lost internship. This new perspective saves everyone involved unnecessary grief and bitterness, leaving room for happier things. Many behaviors change from condemnable to understandable with additional information. For example, a misdeed




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This I Believe: I Believe In Bunco

I believe in Bunco. As a trailing spouse, I’ve lived in Italy, France, Germany, Spain, Morocco, Boston, New York City, and Jacksonville, North Carolina. What’s a trailing spouse? Well, I followed my husband around the world for his career. We took our possessions, worked, traveled, and had children in these places. While it sounds exciting, when we arrived in a new city or country, I felt apprehensive about meeting new people. But through a game called Bunco, I was able to make life-long friends and gain valuable knowledge about the local community. Bunco is a dice game. It requires little skill, except the rolling of dice. It’s mostly a lot of gabbing, chatting and maybe a glass of wine…or two. It’s a great excuse to get out of the house for a few hours, away from chores and child rearing. The first time I played Bunco was in Jacksonville. One day when I was at the grocery store, I met a woman named Jen. We bumped into each other while scouring the shelves for gnocchi, and we struck




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This I Believe: I Believe In Good Parenting

I believe in good parenting. Since before I can remember, my cousin, Chase, has lived with my family. Our birthdays are twelve days apart and we have always been inseparable. We went to school together, had joint birthday parties, and basically lived our lives as twins. Although his last name isn’t Fleece, he did not know a life apart from me and my siblings. Chase’s mom had not particularly lived in a way that valued Chase or his brother, Brandon. She had them at a very young age and their dad was not in the picture. She was not sober and needed a little bit of help to get her back on her feet. Brandon, who lived with his mother, got in trouble constantly. He did not receive discipline or consequences, so he continued to misbehave. My mom stepped in when Chase was born to make sure he would get off on the right foot and to give his mom some time and space to sober up. Brandon is now living life in and out of jail and on drugs. Chase is now playing hockey in college and working two




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This I Believe: I Believe In Getting In The Zone

I believe in getting in the zone. The air around the swimming pool was still. Suddenly, an earsplitting “BEEP” pierced the silence, and the entire natatorium exploded with the sound of hundreds of cheering fans. SPLASH! The swimmers hit the water and the race began. With lactic acid throbbing in my arms and determination set in my mind, I had only one goal: to push my body and mind so vigorously that the only thing capable of stopping me would be that wall ahead. Underneath the surface of the water, I heard no cheering. I heard only the sound of my rapidly beating heart. Under the water, I saw nothing but that wall. I was focused on achieving my goal. I was focused on winning. That experience was the first time I can remember being in the zone. I believe experiences that put you in the zone are important to human development. Growing up, I was always a competitive swimmer, but I didn’t take the sport too seriously until 8 th grade. At that point in my life, I was a teenage boy going




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This I Believe: I Believe in Staying Young

I believe in staying young. Middle school is different than elementary school. There’s a sudden weight of responsibility on my shoulders. I am no longer shepherded from class to class by a chaperone. My peers expect me to be older and different than I was in elementary school, even though it’s just the difference of one summer. But there are some parts of me that remain the same, that still dream of playing with dolls and talking about my favorite Disney princess. There’s also a part of me that still wants to use tiny plastic figures to build worlds with my sister. Some kids experience this as only a small melancholy tug in the back of their mind. Some kids, on the other hand, experience it a bit more deeply, but pretend to ignore it. On the first day of middle school, recess was uncomfortable. Nobody knew anyone and I, like many others, just awkwardly sat with the kids who went to the same elementary school as me. Nobody played. We just all sat like zombies and made small talk,




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This I Believe: I Believe Immigrants Make America Great

I believe immigrants make America great. My maternal grandparents were refugees from an area in Syria that later became Lebanon. In the early 1900s they escaped a drought, the collapse of the Ottoman Empire, and relentless poverty to pursue a better life in America. My grandfather, we called him “Jiddu,” which is Arabic for “my grandfather,” was employed in a shoe factory and spent his spare time hanging out on his friend’s vegetable farm. Neither of them achieved prominence. They lived their lives contributing to industrial America and raising their children. I could not communicate with my grandparents because of the language barrier. I was told that Sittu, my grandmother, learned to read the destination on the bus she needed to take, but other than that could not communicate in English. I wish I had been able to ask them about their lives in the old country and why they left. Like other immigrant groups, they took a risk in coming to America’s shores. I believe those risk-takers




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This I Believe: I Believe In Being True To Yourself

I believe in being true to yourself. I’ve spent my entire life as a younger sister. My older sister was the tall one, the academically gifted one, and the soccer prodigy. People saw me as a smaller, lesser-than version of my sister. Everyone loved her and I wanted to be her. Without realizing it, I constantly put myself in her shadow. I allowed my identity to be connected to hers. I was comfortable there. We overlapped in high school for one year. She was the senior soccer captain; I was the freshman with something to prove. But, our coach made it clear I was not proving I deserved to be on the field in my own right, instead I was proving I could be as good as my sister. During this time, I felt trapped. There were expectations thrust upon me which were unattainable simply because we were two different people. When she graduated, I hoped the comparisons would end. That didn’t happen. During a soccer game my senior year I made a really good pass that was headed in for the game-winning




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This I Believe: I Believe In Black Clouds

I believe in b lack c louds. My official job title while I was i n the Marine Corps was “ Crewmaster .” That means I was an enlisted aircrew member who took part in logistics and combat support missions on the Marine Corps’ largest aircraft , the C-130 , also known as the “Super Hercules.” I could spend hours describing the various aspects of my job, but in summary the Crewmaster is responsible for nearly all aspects of aviation on the Super Hercules, short of actually flying the plane. The community of Marine Aviators, including Pilots and Aircrewmen, is tight knit. Every body knows every body , and m any of us receive a nickname, or what we refer to as “ c all s igns.” My call sign was Black Cloud ; a nickname I received because nearly every time I set foot on an airplane, something went wrong. Usually, these were relatively minor issues, such as erroneous alert messages or radios that weren’t working properly. But sometimes I brought bad luck in more serious ways. On ce , a liquid




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This I Believe: I Believe In Abandoned Buildings

I believe in abandoned buildings. The first thing you need to know about me is that I am a terrible driver. If I drive past something that I think is interesting, I will turn my eyes away from the road and look at that thing for a potentially dangerous amount of time. I'll be like, “Oo, look at that field!” Or, “Oo, look at that sunset!” And passengers in the car will be like, “No, look at the road!” And eventually I will, but I will always look at an old abandoned building. I'm not sure exactly what about dilapidated buildings intrigues me. Maybe it's tactile, when I look at one I can't help but imagine walking on the soft, creaky floorboards while looking up at the exposed rafters as sunlight rushes in through the dusty windows. As I walk, I inhale the air that feels uniquely musty, yet safe. I trust it like I'm breathing in an old familiar book. Maybe the thing I love about old buildings is that they have so much history. You know that something has happened there, perhaps so many




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This I Believe: I Believe In The Telephone

I believe in the telephone. In today's hyper connected world, personal communication is an incredibly easy task with the ubiquity of social media and instant messaging. But, a downside of these new methods of communication is that they can sometimes be overwhelming. I'm sure I'm not alone when I say the swarms of notifications on my phone and computer cause me to waste more time than I'd like to admit. On Instagram, for instance, I've wasted countless hours scrolling through my feed and messaging. Last month, when I checked how much time I spent on that app, I was downright embarrassed. So, how can we improve the quality of our social interactions rather than the quantity in 21st centuy life? I believe a way to address this is by taking a step back in time to another piece of technology, the telephone. The telephone remedies the issue of focus that I and many others often deal with online. The voices of thousands are present on social media and the internet, but in a phone conversation




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This I Believe: I Believe In Being In The Right Place At The Right Time

I believe in being in the right place at the right time. Several years ago, my husband and I were traveling through Italy and stopped in Venice for a couple of days. Anyone who’s ever been to Venice knows about the maze-like streets and how easy it is to get lost. On this particular day, we were on a crowded narrow street consulting our map when I happened to look up and see a 4-year-old Asian girl wearing a red dress coming toward us on the other side of the street. As she looked around bewilderedly, I knew this little girl was lost. In the next instant, a tall man wearing a belted brown raincoat swept up beside her, grabbed her hand, and continued walking. Immediately, and without thinking, I ran across the street and stopped right in front of him. I pointed my finger in his face and shouted, “NO!” He was at least three inches taller than me and powerfully built, but I was totally fearless. His mouth dropped open as he gaped at me. He let go of the child’s hand and I quickly pulled




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Biden is turned down on request for Senate records search over staffer's complaint

Secretary of the Senate Julie Adams has turned down presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden’s request to search for records of any complaint filed by his former staffer Tara Reade, citing legal advice that she has “no discretion” to release such materials, because they are confidential under current law.





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End the coronavirus lockdowns, skeptical experts tell Congress

Billed as a roundtable of the Senate Homeland Security Committee, Wednesday's hearing included some of the nation’s most prominent dissenters on mainstream measures like business closures, stay-at-home orders and calls for widespread testing.





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New Yahoo News/YouGov poll shows mixed reactions to Biden's handling of Tara Reade assault claim

Nearly half of people polled were “not satisfied” with Biden’s response to Reade’s allegations. Only 19 percent said they were “very satisfied.”





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Trump blasts 'human scum' who investigated his administration as Justice Department drops criminal case against Michael Flynn

President Trump excoriated the administration of President Barack Obama as “human scum” who attempted to undermine him by “targeting” former national security adviser Michael Flynn. 





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COVID-19’s toll on kidneys puts strain on dialysis supplies

Outpatient dialysis facilities have also reported challenges, including separating COVID-19 positive and negative patients and protecting their own workers.





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Document reveals Secret Service has 11 current virus cases, as concerns about Trump’s staff grow

This report comes as a pair of cases among White House staffers close to Trump and Vice President Mike Pence have put the West Wing’s coronavirus security procedures in the spotlight.