His final line is “Television, like most things, seems to be more fun when it’s Australian”. Since the only television I watch is Bolt and The Outsiders, from that perhaps small sample I could not agree more.And, as I have said a million times before - you basically can blame Rupert Murdoch for this, because he found creating a bubble world of "only trust us" was a good way to make money.
President Vladimir Putin is letting his impatience show with Syrian ally Bashar al-Assad, who isn’t proving as grateful for being kept in power by Russian intervention in his country’s brutal civil war as the Kremlin leader needs him to be.
Consumed at home by the twin shocks of collapsing oil prices and the coronavirus epidemic, and eager to wrap up his Syrian military adventure by declaring victory, Putin is insisting that Assad show more flexibility in talks with the Syrian opposition on a political settlement to end the nearly decade-long conflict, said four people familiar with Kremlin deliberations on the matter.
Assad’s refusal to concede any power in return for greater international recognition and potentially billions of dollars in reconstruction aid prompted rare public outbursts against the Syrian president this month in Russian publications with links to Putin.
“The Kremlin needs to get rid of the Syrian headache,” said Alexander Shumilin, a former Russian diplomat who runs the state-financed Europe-Middle East Center in Moscow. “The problem is with one person -- Assad -- and his entourage.”
Singapore reported 528 new COVID-19 cases as of noon on Tuesday (Apr 28), bringing the national total to 14,951.And also on the CNA website:
The vast majority of the new cases are work permit holders residing in foreign worker dormitories, the Ministry of Health (MOH) said in its preliminary update.
In a later update, MOH said there were 10 cases in the community, of which seven were Singapore citizens or permanent residents; there were also two work pass holders and one visit pass holder who were infected.
Rome: Deaths from the COVID-19 epidemic in Italy climbed by 382 on Tuesday (Apr 28), against 333 the day before, the Civil Protection Agency said, while the total of people infected since the start of the outbreak topped 200,000.Over in Indonesia, no one really knows what is going on, it seems:
The daily tally of new infections stood at 2,091, higher than the 1,739 recorded on Monday.
The actual number of COVID-19 deaths in Indonesia may be substantially higher than officially reported as several regions have recorded hundreds of fatalities among patients under surveillance (PDPs), who are suspected of having contracted the highly contagious coronavirus.No one seems to understand why the UK has done so badly, too. Now they are worried about kids getting a dangerous condition possibly related to the virus:
Patients under surveillance refer to people with COVID-19 symptoms who have not been confirmed as having the disease, meaning that they are waiting either to be tested or for their test results to come back.
The central government's daily count of fatalities, at 773 as of Tuesday, does not include all PDPs who have died.
More than a dozen children have fallen ill with a new and potentially fatal combination of symptoms apparently linked to Covid-19, including a sore stomach and heart problems.On the upside: it's good to live in Australia, which does not seem to be getting the international attention it deserves for having apparently taken effective action that looks likely to all but eliminate it.
The children affected appear to have been struck by a form of toxic shock syndrome. All have been left so seriously unwell that they have had to be treated in intensive care.
At least one has received extra corporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) treatment, which is used when someone’s life is at risk because they can no longer breathe for themselves.
NHS bosses are so concerned that they have written to doctors alerting them to the emergence of these cases and asked them to urgently refer any children with similar symptoms to hospital.
TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — The false belief that toxic methanol cures the coronavirus has seen over 700 people killed in Iran, an official said Monday.That represents a higher death toll than so far released by the Iranian Health Ministry.An adviser to the ministry, Hossein Hassanian, said that the difference in death tallies is because some alcohol poisoning victims died outside of hospital.“Some 200 people died outside of hospitals”, Hassanian told The Associated Press.Alcohol poisoning has skyrocketed by ten times over in Iran in the past year, according to a government report released earlier in April, amid the coronavirus pandemic.
Homemade Tortillas Only Take Two IngredientsThis sounds like a cooking experiment worth trying.
Tortillas start with a dough made from regular old tap water and masa harina, a corn flour made from kernels that have been nixtamalized—soaked in an alkaline solution that softens them and makes them easier to digest. Then, those softened kernels are ground into a paste which is dried and sold as masa harina. All you have to do is add hot water to the dried corn to rehydrate—the resulting dough is similar to clay, and it’s quite easy to work with.
Gee. If I was a Western nurse/doctor, I would probably be a tad annoyed that I had to go to a lot more trouble with a Buddhist patient than just dosing them up with enough pain relief that they stop feeling pain.QUESTION: My patient is a Buddhist with end-stage colon cancer who keeps refusing pain medication. How can I help him manage his pain without infringing on his religious beliefs?ANSWER: Buddhism is an Eastern religion that's taken root in the United States. Its followers have a unique perspective on pain. Buddhists believe that suffering is part of life, to be expected, and that if a person experiences pain calmly, without becoming emotionally distressed, he can attain greater states of being.Preparation for death is an important part of Buddhism. Many religious practices focus on the moment of death and the immediate transition to the next life. Because Buddhists believe the mind must be as alert as possible at the time of death, many may decline pain medication or limit its use.Pain assessment for a Buddhist patient is the same as for any other patient. And, as with any patient, you should understand his pain control goals. A Buddhist patient may wish to withhold or limit the use of drugs that can cause drowsiness, such as opioids, so educate him about pain control choices that won't interfere with his goals. (Explain that drowsiness, for example, subsides after the first few days of opioid use.)Use the World Health Organization pain ladder to step up analgesic therapy for pain control. Using adjuvant medications, such as nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, lets you give lower doses of opioids and so limit adverse opioid reactions, such as drowsiness. Obtain orders for additional pain relief, even if the patient initially declines it. You'll be ready to provide immediate relief if his pain suddenly intensifies and he changes his mind. Be sure to document his statements about pain control interventions and goals and monitor the effectiveness of any alternative interventions used.From a Buddhist perspective, pain can be offered as a sacrifice to benefit all beings and has long-term benefits in reaching a higher state of consciousness. Your patient may wish to perform religious rituals such as quiet reflection, chanting, meditation, and prayer. Allow him periods of time alone for these rituals.Quiet reflection is one of the most important practices for Buddhists. Help the patient create a small space in his room for pictures of religious leaders or ancestors, prayer beads, and flowers. This area helps him focus his energy and can help him manage pain.Chanting involves quietly repeating specific prayers or mantras many times. Other members of the religious community may participate in this practice with the patient. If he can't chant himself, the family may bring in tapes from services, which you can play for him during the day. An alternative intervention is to encourage him to slowly breathe deeply and focus on inhalation and exhalation.Meditation can provide the most satisfying and effective religious expression for Buddhists. Allow the patient quiet time to empty his mind of thoughts, or to visualize specific images, depending on his tradition. If possible, put him in a room away from noisy areas, such as the nurses' station. Document your interventions to show that you're individualizing the patient's care plan. Contact religious representatives as requested by the patient.
Governors say Trump’s disinfectant comments prompted hundreds of poison center calls
Governors from both parties warn that people take what the president says seriously, even if he doesn’t.
According to the FT analysis, overall deaths rose 60 per cent in Belgium, 51 per cent in Spain, 42 per cent in the Netherlands and 34 per cent in France during the pandemic compared with the same period in previous years. Some of these deaths may be the result of causes other than Covid-19, as people avoid hospitals for other ailments. But excess mortality has risen most steeply in places suffering the worst Covid-19 outbreaks, suggesting most of these deaths are directly related to the virus rather than simply side-effects of lockdowns.
The really funny part was when he circled back to it later and put Birx on the spot. What do you think, doctor? Think we can scrap the vaccine and hit this virus with a little internal heat and light instead?I am half expecting Trump to endorse nudism, at least for women, as a protective measure.
At best, they had a guy in a Porsche turbo doing 140 which isn’t that fast on a quiet freewayThe accident happened late afternoon, not at freaking 3 am. There's more from MAGA man:
Sure: morally he’s bereft. But legally, and barrister worth his salt will have this guy walking and he will get bail. What threat to the community does he represent?I note on the ABC, after Pusey's court appearance this morning:
Mr Pusey has been remanded in custody and is expected to reappear in July.
It is not surprising then that, far from recommending revolution, the pandemic has reinforced the value of traditional goods. Stay-at-home orders, for example, might not be quite so harsh were more people homeowners than renters of small apartments. The alienation of social distancing might not be so severe were more adults married with children. Expert rule might be more effective had the academy and media class not been engaged in generations-long ideological mission creep. Perhaps borders and self-sufficiency might also have renewed credibility now that globalism has gone viral.This seems quaintly dogmatically conservative for someone from the IPA: he seems to be against relaxing planning laws to build whatever developers want; thinks more people should be married with children; and is dubious about globalism? Has he run this past Gina Rinehart, given that she doesn't have much of a business left if she can't ship away gigantic chunks of Australian dirt to other parts of the globe.
Fox News underestimated the danger of the coronavirus early on but as the death toll mounted, they were behind the scenes suspending non-essential business travel and had their employees cancel in-person meetings and summits. They also encouraged them to conduct business via Skype. According to Oliver, they did this because “they only tend to believe these things on television for money.”
By sampling sewage across greater Paris for more than 1 month, researchers have detected a rise and fall in novel coronavirus concentrations that correspond to the shape of the COVID-19 outbreak in the region, where a lockdown is now suppressing spread of the disease. Although several research groups have reported detecting coronavirus in wastewater, the researchers say the new study is the first to show that the technique can pick up a sharp rise in viral concentrations in sewage before cases explode in the clinic. That points to its potential as a cheap, noninvasive tool to warn against outbreaks, they say.I wonder if it is sensitive enough a test if there is a flu catching on as well? This method of testing for community spread of illness is better established than I knew, however:
Another advantage of wastewater sampling is that it picks up virus associated with the vast number of people who are infected with SARS-CoV-2 but do not present symptoms for the disease, says Paul Bertsch, science director of land and water at the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation in Australia. Although viral shedding varies among individuals and over the course of their infection, he says, a sewage system blends these variations into an average that represents the wider community. And depending on the sewage system, the warnings can come quickly. He points out that wastewater monitoring in Israel, for example, picked up a polio outbreak before any clinical cases appeared at all, according to a 2018 study.Brisbane gets a mention in the next paragraph:
Building on similar studies in the Netherlands and the United States, Bertsch’s group last week reported the first detection of coronavirus in Australian sewage. He and his colleagues sampled wastewater in Brisbane representing 600,000 people, in March and April. In contrast to the study in Paris, they found a peak of viral shedding that corresponded to the peak detected through direct human testing. The difference might be explained by more prevalent human testing in Australia, he says.Fascinating...
Bertsch says he hopes to “tap into” Australia’s existing systems for monitoring wastewater for illegal drugs to develop a national COVID-19 monitoring system that could be in place within 1 month. Later, it might even be feasible to “go up-pipe” with specialized sampling portals allowing finer-scale community sampling. “We could test by postal code, for example,” he says.
Police say the hunt for the gunman was hampered by the fact he was driving a vehicle that looked like a police cruiser and was wearing a police uniform. How he procured both is part of the investigation.* the US Senate Intelligence Committee, in a bi-partisan report, acknowledges that Trump won with the help of Russia's "unprecedented interference", which was approved by Putin. Trump wingnut denialism will continue, regardless. The Axios summary:
The search ended around midday on Sunday when the suspected shooter was located by police at a service station in Enfield, north of the provincial capital of Halifax. He was shot and later died.
Police have faced criticism for failing to issue a province-wide emergency alert to warn residents of the danger during the rampage.
The Senate Intelligence Committee on Tuesday released the fourth volume of its report on Russian interference in the 2016 election, which focused on a December 2016 intelligence community assessment provided to President Obama.* There has been news about ocean temperatures being high around the globe, with the Gulf of Mexico causing Florida to have a very warm spring. Indicates some big, wet hurricanes to come, which is just what the US needs after an economic slow down. And the whole planet is still hot:
Why it matters: The bipartisan report affirms the intelligence community's conclusion that Russia interfered in the election to help President Trump defeat Hillary Clinton, noting that the assessment "reflects proper analytic tradecraft despite being tasked and completed within a compressed timeframe."
The big picture: The highly redacted report breaks with an investigation by the GOP-led House Intelligence Committee in 2018, which disagreed with the intelligence agencies' assessment and concluded that the Russian government did not explicitly intend to help Trump win the election.
Worth noting: The report finds that U.S. intelligence agencies did not use information from the infamous Steele dossier to support its findings. The dossier was included in a highly classified annex to the assessment, which was in line with President Obama's directive.
- The Senate committee found "specific intelligence reporting to support the assessment that Putin and the Russian Government demonstrated a preference for candidate Trump," and that Putin "approved and directed" aspects of the interference.
- The Senate committee also disagreed with the House's claim that the intelligence agencies did not comply with analytical standards, noting: "The Committee found the ICA presents a coherent and well-constructed intelligence basis for the case of unprecedented Russian interference in the 2016 U.S. presidential election."
- "The Committee did not discover any significant analytic tradecraft issues in the preparation or final presentation of the ICA."
“Peta has always strongly denied that she and Tony were lovers. But if they were, that would have been the most unremarkable aspect of their friendship.”For a couple not having an affair, it is pretty hilarious that so many people - on their own side of politics - found it hard to believe that they were not lovers. Remember this?:
According to an extract published in The Australian, Senator Fierravanti-Wells went to Mr Abbott the night before the failed first attempt to unseat him last February.This must make Credlin's list of Liberal politicians she dislikes pretty long.
She told the then-prime minister he had to remove Ms Credlin, arguing colleagues considered her responsible for many of the government's problems, and they were prepared to take out their frustrations on him.
Senator Fierravanti-Wells is quoted in the book as telling Mr Abbott "politics is about perceptions".
"Rightly or wrongly, the perception is that you are sleeping with your chief of staff. That's the perception, and you need to deal with it.
"I am here because I care about you, and I care about your family, and I feel I need to tell you the truth, the brutal truth. This is what your colleagues really think."
According to the book, Mr Abbott responded calmly and said the rumours were not true.
Tony Abbott’s chief of staff, Peta Credlin, has been described as a “horsewoman of the apocalypse” as further leaks emerge from within the Liberal party executive.Everyone can see that there have been, shall we say, less than laudatory aspects of Turnbull's personality over the years; but the condemnation of Peta's has many more vouching for it. And poor old Tony ended up its political victim. Funny old world...
ABC’s Four Corners program has obtained a text message sent from federal Liberal party treasurer Philip Higginson to a senior party figure, in which he describes Credlin as the “horsewoman of the apocalypse” with “black robes flowing”.
The text message continues: “I do hope you can negotiate the removal of Credlin. That would be a huge win in itself,” the ABC reports.
As the number of confirmed cases of COVID-19 surges past 2.2 million globally and deaths surpass 150,000, clinicians and pathologists are struggling to understand the damage wrought by the coronavirus as it tears through the body. They are realizing that although the lungs are ground zero, its reach can extend to many organs including the heart and blood vessels, kidneys, gut, and brain.
“[The disease] can attack almost anything in the body with devastating consequences,” says cardiologist Harlan Krumholz of Yale University and Yale-New Haven Hospital, who is leading multiple efforts to gather clinical data on COVID-19. “Its ferocity is breathtaking and humbling.”
Understanding the rampage could help the doctors on the front lines treat the fraction of infected people who become desperately and sometimes mysteriously ill. Does a dangerous, newly observed tendency to blood clotting transform some mild cases into life-threatening emergencies? Is an overzealous immune response behind the worst cases, suggesting treatment with immune-suppressing drugs could help? What explains the startlingly low blood oxygen that some physicians are reporting in patients who nonetheless are not gasping for breath? “Taking a systems approach may be beneficial as we start thinking about therapies,” says Nilam Mangalmurti, a pulmonary intensivist at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania (HUP).
An Uber driver has died from Covid-19 after trying to hide his illness for fear that he would be evicted if his landlord found out, a friend has revealed.
Rajesh Jayaseelan, a married father of two who came to London from India about a decade ago, died alone in Northwick Park hospital in Harrow on 11 April, according to Sunil Kumar, a friend of his.
The 44-year-old driver had “starved” for several days in his rented lodgings, telling his wife by phone that he did not want to leave his room because other residents might realise he had Covid-19 and he would be thrown out.
Kumar, 38, an NHS IT worker, said the fear was founded in an experience in March when a previous landlord allegedly ordered him to leave because he thought Jayaseelan, as a minicab driver, would spread the disease to him and his family. Jayaseelan had to sleep in his car for several nights.
By the time he drove himself to hospital earlier this month, his condition was becoming critical and he was placed on a ventilator. He died shortly after his wife and mother in Bangalore saw him unconscious in a final video call arranged by Kumar.
Jayaseelan is the third Uber driver confirmed to have died from Covid-19 in the capital, but there have been reports of several more.
