Pukeko Pictures, founded by Weta Workshop’s Richard Taylor and Tania Rodger with their friend and children’s author Martin Baynton, has released a free children’s ebook. The book is based on characters from the New Zealand kids’ show Kiddets and demonstrates to children the importance of remaining clean, clear, and kind. You can download a copy […]

Pagan healthcare providers discuss how they are coping with the stresses of the pandemic and how the power of their spiritual practices sustains them.

Continue reading Healthcare providers share how their Pagan practices nurture them through the pandemic at The Wild Hunt.

British medical journal’s editorial says the Brazilian president’s disregard for lockdown measures is damaging

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The biggest threat to Brazil’s ability to successfully combat the spread of the coronavirus and tackle the unfolding public health crisis is the country’s president, Jair Bolsonaro, according to the British medical journal The Lancet.

In an editorial, The Lancet said his disregard for and flouting of lockdown measures was sowing confusion across Brazil, which reported a record number of Covid-19 deaths on Friday, and is fast emerging as one of the world’s coronavirus hot spots.

Care minister’s request is admission that centralised programmes have fallen short

Ministers have asked local directors of public health to take charge of Covid-19 testing in English care homes in what will be seen as a tacit admission that centralised attempts to run the programme have fallen short.

In a letter to sector leaders, seen by the Guardian, the care minister, Helen Whately, acknowledged that testing of care home residents and staff needs to be “more joined up”. She describes the new arrangements as “a significant change”.

Horn was famed for introducing a pet cheetah to the magic show and was mauled on stage by a tiger in 2003

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Roy Horn of Siegfried & Roy, the duo whose extraordinary magic tricks astonished millions until Horn was critically injured in 2003 by one of the act’s famed white tigers, has died from coronavirus complications. He was 75.

Horn died of on Friday in a Las Vegas hospital, according to a statement released by his publicist Dave Kirvin.

• GoFundMe page for Navajo and Hopi aid lists many Irish names
• Choctaw Nation sent donation in 1847 for potato famine victims

The list of recent donors reads like an Irish phone book. Aisling Ní Chuimín, Shane Ó Leary, Sean Gibbons, Kevin Boyle, Kevin Keane, Clare Quinn, Eamonn McDonald, on and on down a GoFundMe page that by Friday had raised $3.15m of a $5m goal.

The individual amounts are not remarkable – $10, $20, $30, some exceeding $100 – but the story behind the donations stretches back two centuries and encompasses a singular act of generosity that forged a bond between Native Americans and Ireland, a bond now renewed in the coronavirus era.

Country’s leader Alexander Lukashenko boasts of holding only parade in former Soviet Union

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Thousands of people, including elderly veterans of the second world war, turned out for Belarus’s Victory Day military parade despite the coronavirus pandemic.

Images from the parade showed crowds packed on to parade bleachers as the country’s leader, Alexander Lukashenko, boasted of holding the only parade in the former Soviet Union to mark the defeat of Nazi Germany.

Inaccuracies in the testing, such as false negatives and false positives, are potentially harmful

Mike Pence’s press secretary tests positive to coronavirus; China reports one new case; Russia reports 10,000 new cases for sixth day in a row

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Donald Trump has said coronavirus will “go away without a vaccine” and is expecting 95,000 or more deaths in the US, as Mike Pence’s press secretary tested positive for coronavirus.

The president’s comments, at an event with Republican lawmakers, capped a horror week in the US, in which it was revealed unemployment had risen to 14.7%, up from 3.5% in February, with 20 million people losing their jobs in April.

Фонд Льва Левиева и Вячеслава Мирилашвили, сооснователей ВКонтакте, вкладывался в транспортное приложение в 2015 и 2018 годах..

The hunt for an effective treatment for COVID-19 has led one team of researchers to find an improbable ally for their work: According to US and Belgian scientists, a four-year-old llama named Winter who lives in a secret location in Belgium could hold the key to a cure and help scientists find a treatment for COVID-19. The team — from The University of Texas at Austin, the National Institutes of Health and Ghent University in Belgium — reports their findings of a potential avenue for a coronavirus treatment involving llamas on May 5 in the journal Cell.

Convention considers online replacement of September event

Online event still takes place on same September 2-4 schedule as previously planned physical event

12-episode series previously set to premiere this fall

Taking deep breaths and forcing a cough can help clear mucus, but these techniques are unlikely to prevent or treat coronavirus infections – here’s why

People from an ethnic minority are disproportionately affected by covid-19. Researchers say the reasons are rooted in existing social and healthcare inequalities

Climate models show that as the world warms, tropical cyclones will travel more slowly, dumping more rain in one place and making high-speed winds batter buildings for longer

A long-standing hypothesis suggests the BCG vaccine also serves to generally enhance the immune system, meaning it could protect against covid-19, and trials are under way to find out

Covid-19 contact tracers are part healthcare worker, part detective and part call centre operative. But what is the job really like? New Scientist spoke to one in Ireland to find out

Looking at how many more people are dying than usual gives an idea of the coronavirus pandemic’s true effect – and suggests a far higher death toll in many countries

A number of studies have found a link between air pollution and increased covid-19 deaths, but it isn't clear why. Both attack the lungs, but it could just be that more people live in polluted areas

The UK government has refused to say how many covid-19 contact tracers it has employed, with less than three weeks to go until its target of recruiting 18,000 of them by mid-May

Healthcare systems need to prepare for the extensive physiotherapy and mental rehabilitation that people put on ventilators for covid-19 will need as they recover

Once the coronavirus pandemic is over, we must work out how to stop the spread of poor information that has helped make a bad situation that much worse

Many countries are focusing coronavirus testing on people who have covid-19 symptoms. But regularly testing all essential workers would have more of an impact

Amid the global coronavirus outbreak, a second epidemic of preliminary, unverified and misinterpreted research has broken out. Can it be fixed?

The latest coronavirus news updated every day including coronavirus cases, the latest news, features and interviews from New Scientist and essential information about the covid-19 pandemic

New Zealand is on track to eliminate covid-19 altogether, but keeping the virus out for good will be a challenge, and the economic impacts are likely to hurt

Имперский колледж Лондона опубликовал фотоэссе о том, как исследователи из департамента инфекционных болезней разрабатывают вакцину от COVID-19. Вот самые важные факты: Ученые разработали вакцину-кандидата за 14 дней после того, как получили расшифрованный геном вируса из Китая. Самоамплифицирующаяся РНК-вакцина, по сути, вводит новый генетический код в организм, подсказывая ему, как создать белок, который вызывает защитный иммунный […]

Against her will, Sita Tyasutami became "case one", the face of Indonesia's coronavirus outbreak.

Experts tell the BBC that euphoria over success models runs the risk of people becoming complacent.

Women post selfies demanding more representation in official bodies dealing with Covid-19.

An investigation details how extremists are trying to exploit the pandemic via the social network.

Social media users have adopted the troupe as a dark-humoured symbol of death in the time of Covid-19.

In a joint investigation BBC Click investigates the groups behind fake news about the pandemic.

An investigation by BBC News Arabic has found how one Iranian airline contributed to the spread of coronavirus around the Middle East.

Park rangers in Africa say the closure of safari tourism is leading to an increase in poaching.

To lift the FIFA Futsal World Cup, teams must successfully negotiate seven matches, as Russia and Argentina – the Colombia 2016 finalists who will lock horns on Saturday – know all too well. Prior to that decisive duel, FIFA.com posed seven questions to the coaches of the two surviving teams. 

Former World no.1 badminton player Kidambi Srikanth has said that he was not happy with the unexpected break from the sport activities due to the lockdown amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

Srikanth last played at the All England Championships in March, where he lost to China's Chen Long in the first round. "I am not really happy with this forced break. We, as players, usually would like a break from the regular stretch of tournaments, training and then playing tournaments again," Srikanth said in his column on Hindustan Times.

"Having said that, this is not exactly the kind of break we want to take. You do not want to be in a position where you cannot even train. Hence, this period is really very frustrating as neither can you go out, train or pretty much do anything." Srikanth said that most of his time went in sleeping and he spends about 15 minutes every day working out.

"With so much time available and nothing much to do, I have been sleeping mostly; that is where most of my time goes. I sleep for 12 to 14 hours every day, after which there is little time left anyway," he said.

Srikanth had been in the middle of a race against time to seal qualification to the Tokyo Olympics when the coronavirus pandemic exploded on a global scale. It ultimately led to an unprecedented postponement of the Olympics itself to 2021.

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Sri Lanka has offered to host the 13th edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL) which has now been indefinitely suspended by the BCCI due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.

The 2020 IPL edition was slated to start from March 29 but with the coronavirus outbreak it was first deferred till April 15 and now with the extension of nation-wide lockdown in India till May 3, it has been indefinitely suspended.

Apparently, the Sri Lanka cricket board has written to their Indian counterparts wherein they have offered to host the IPL.

"Apparently it will cost the BCCI and its stakeholders more than $500 million to cancel the IPL," ESPNcricinfo quoted Shammi Silva, SLC president, as telling to Sinhala daily Lankadeepa.

"So perhaps they can minimise those losses by hosting the tournament in another country.

"If they play it in Sri Lanka, it's easy for Indian audiences to watch the games on TV. There's precedent for this because they've played the IPL in South Africa before. We're waiting for the Indian board to respond to our proposal," he added.

On two occasions in the past, the IPL has been shifted out of India. The 2009 edition of the IPL had been moved to South Africa due to Lok Sabha elections. In 2014, the UAE had hosted the first two weeks of IPL also because of the general assembly polls in India.

"If the Indian board does agree to play the tournament here, we're ready to provide facilities in line with the requirements and recommendations of medical professionals. It would be a substantial source of income for Sri Lankan cricket as well," Silva said.

Sri Lanka has so far registered fewer number of coronavirus cases as compared to India. Till now, the country has over 230 COVID-19 cases while seven lives have been lost in the island nation.

However, the lockdown imposed in Sri Lanka is even more severe than that in most parts of India, with a curfew having been put in place for almost four weeks. The Sri Lanka government remains optimistic about eliminating the virus from the country and if the goal is achieved, then Sri Lanka can become a viable option as an IPL venue. However, even then, the government clearance would be required to host such a big tournament.

In India, the condition is worse as more than 13,000 confirmed cases have been reported thus far with more than 400 people losing their lives to coronavirus.

BCCI is also looking at the two options of having an IPL this year. They are looking to organise the event in September and early October before the T20 World Cup in Australia or hosting it at the expense of the T20 World Cup if the ICC, Cricket Australia and other stakeholders are all in agreement.

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The unprecedented health crisis, triggered by COVID-19, is perhaps a stark reminder that man should now learn to respect nature and not tinker with it, says Indian shuttler Sameer Verma. In India, the coronavirus pandemic has killed more than 500 people and infected over 17,000, forcing the government to lockdown the country till May 3 to contain the deadly disease. The global situation is worse as 1,65,174 deaths have been recorded so far and more than 24 lakh positive cases reported. "We have been running after materialistic things for so many years now and this lockdown period, whatever is happening globally at the moment, it has taught us a lot that we shouldn't tinker with nature," Sameer told PTI.

"I hope after the crisis is over, it will change people's outlook towards things. We should not do anything that harms nature," added Sameer, who is spending so much time at home after about 14 years. The shuttler also felt that the coronavirus-forced break is an opportunity to fix mental weakness and that a six-week training regime should be good enough to regain match-fitness after normalcy returns. The COVID-19 pandemic has forced Badminton World Federation (BWF) to suspend all tournaments till the end of July and forced countries across the globe to shut borders. "It is an opportunity for everyone to analyse their own game and work on them. When we play, there are moments where we have been mentally weak, so during this time, you can rectify that and come out mentally stronger. I think it is a good time to work on mental strength," Sameer said.

"This break brings everyone at same level. If someone was playing well then his rhythm will be broken and someone who was not in form, it gives a chance to regain that." The Tokyo Olympics also got pushed to 2021 due to the rapidly-spreading pandemic with the BWF freezing world ranking by backdating it to March 17, 2020 until the international tournaments start again. "When things become normal, I don't think people will straight away run after tournaments. It is same situation for everybody right now, so at least players will train for at least six weeks before turning up for tournament," Sameer said. The 25-year-old from Madhya Pradesh, who won three tournaments in 2018, was close to breaking into coveted top 10 bracket last year but a shoulder injury followed by a dip in form dented his chances.

"Last year I had shoulder injury after June-July but I couldn't perform much in the second half. Fortunately, I'm completely fit now, so was looking forward to this year. I played three events this year before everything was suspended," said Sameer, who slumped from world number 11 to 31. Asked how is he maintaining his fitness, he said: "We are doing some basic training like strengthen, agility, push ups, wall practice, standing shadows to maintain our basic fitness." Athletes across the globe have been stressing on the need to maintain mental health during his lockdown period and Sameer said working out physically regularly will keep all mental issues at bay. "If you are training or doing exercises or being in touch with the sport you love even in a small way then I don't think you will get affected mentally," he said. The 2018 World Tour Finals semifinalist was also not too worried about the financial implications of the pandemic. "Everyone will be affected, people will suffer loses but then life is important and once things get normal, you can recover from the losses," he signed off.

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India badminton star Jwala Gutta posted this picture to her 1.5 million Twitter followers on Wednesday as she distributed food items and medical supplies near her Hyderabad home.

“During these unprecedented times we chose to contribute some basic essentials like rice, pulses, oil, sugar, masks n more to daily wage migrants near our residence!! #lockdown #migrantworkers ##coronavirus #unitedindia #standtogether #wewillgetthroughthis #WeAreOne,” the World Championships medal-winner captioned her post.

 

 

 

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During these unprecedented times We chose to contribute some basic essentials Like rice,pulses,oil,sugar,masks n more to daily wage migrants near our residence!! #lockdown #migrantworkers ##coronavirus #unitedindia ##wewillgetthroughthis #wewillgetthroughthistogether

A post shared by Jwala Gutta (@jwalagutta1) onApr 21, 2020 at 9:28pm PDT

The 36-year-old badminton player has been a prominent player in the sport over the past two decades. Jwala Gutta is known for her fierce gameplay and even fiercer attitude.

Jwala Gutta formed a dominant force alongside Ashwini Ponnappa in women's doubles over the years. At the Commonwealth Games, Jwala has won a gold, two silver and a bronze medal. She also has a bronze medal at the Asian Championships. Gutta has won 5 gold medals at South Asian Games.

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IPL franchise Royal Challengers Bangalore's Director of Cricket Operations Mike Hesson returned to New Zealand on Tuesday after being stranded in India for over a month amid the nationwide lockdown to combat the COVID-19 pandemic. The ex-New Zealand player and coach had arrived in India on March 5 for the 13th edition of the Indian Premier League but was stuck in the country after the lockdown was imposed and all flights were suspended.

"What a wonderful sight after spending over a day on a bus to get to Mumbai airport. The staff on @FlyAirNZ were simply outstanding on our return to New Zealand," Hesson tweeted. He also thanked Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the New Zealand Embassy in India, New Zealand's Ministry of Foreign Affairs and New Zealand's Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern.

"Special thanks to Down pointing backhand index @NZinIndia @MFATNZ @narendramodi @jacindaardern #repatriationflight #india #NZ" he added. To stem the spread of the coronavirus outbreak, India and New Zealand had announced lockdowns in their respective countries last month, alongside travel restrictions, forcing the 45-year-old to stay in Bengaluru.

While India remains in lockdown till May 3, New Zealand eased its stringent measures on Tuesday. The IPL, which was originally scheduled to get underway on March 29, has been suspended until further notice due to the pandemic.

The cornavirus outbreak, that originated in the Chinese city of Wuhan, has infected over 30 lakh people across the world while killing more than two lakh.
All sporting events, including the Tokyo Olympics, have either been cancelled or postponed.

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The 2020 edition of US Open badminton championship has been suspended by the Badminton World Federation (BWF) on Tuesday amid the coronavirus pandemic that has stalled the entire world. The World Tour Super 300 tournament was supposed to be held in Fullerton, California between June 23-28.

Over three million people have been infected by virus so far worldwide while in excess of two lakh individuals have lost their lives because of the pandemic.

"The Badminton World Federation can confirm the suspension of the YONEX US Open 2020 set to be held 23-28 June in Fullerton, California," the BWF said in a statement.

"This decision was made in close consultation and consensus with USA Badminton. BWF accepts that all relevant health, safety and logistical risks have been considered by the tournament organisers."

The US Open joins a long list of events cancelled by the BWF as earlier the Swiss Open, India Open, Malaysia Open, Singapore Open and Badminton Asia Championships were called off due to the outbreak as a precautionary measure.

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The lengthy Coronavirus-virus-caused lockdown has left many sportspersons restless, but Mumbai and India cricketer Dhawal Kulkarni has reason to be happy. Apart from an hour-long training schedule laid out by his Indian Premier League side Mumbai Indians, Dhawal is dedicating the entire day to his infant daughter, Nitara.

"The lockdown has its pros and cons. I've been injured since last December, so I was itching to get on the field. I was looking forward to playing for MI in the IPL, but unfortunately no cricket can take place at this moment. However, I'm fortunate to be able to spend so much time with my daughter. She was born on January 21 and it's great to see her grow.

"I enjoy playing with her, changing her diapers. I would've missed all this if the cricket season was on. Since no outsider is allowed in our housing society, I'm helping my wife [Shraddha] with household chores," Dhawal, who has played 12 ODIs and two T20Is, told mid-day.

"When Nitara wakes up, I take her to the balcony. I just try and be around her as much as possible," he added.

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India badminton coach Pullela Gopichand on Thursday emphasized on the need for physical literacy as people around the world are fighting against the COVID-19 pandemic. Gopichand along with Margaret Whitehead, who is an esteemed philosopher and stalwart of the modern interpretation of physical literacy, also highlighted the importance of support from the top leadership to promote the need for Physical Literacy and see it as a key pillar for the national level development.

"Physical literacy is a very important part of our life. I think physical activity needs to take centre stage. Health, fitness and all of these things are important especially in these days of COVID-19. We see the need for it more and more," Gopichand told reporters via video conferencing during ELMS Sports Foundation webinar. "We need a healthy and happy country during these challenging times. Our vision to improve physical literacy, sporting excellence in India has received a huge fillip with the involvement of stalwarts like Gopichand and Whitehead interacting on the subject," ELMS Sports Foundation's co-promoter Vita Dani said.

"A healthier and happier nation is truly the need of the hour, not just during the challenging times we're living in currently, but also in the future as we look to bounce back," she added, in the webinar that was widely attended by government officials, heads of private institutions, leading faculty from Physical Education and the media.

Mentored by two of India's most popular sports legends -- two-time Olympic medal-winning coach Gopichand and Olympic champion shooter Abhinav Bindra -- ELMS Sports Foundation has been making a huge impact highlighting the subject of physical literacy in the country.

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