The three-week order was previously set to expire on Monday…reports Asian Lite News
California has extended its regional stay-at-home order due to an unabated resurgence in the US state, authorities have confirmed.
Addressing a news conference on Tuesday, California Health and Human Services Secretary Mark Ghaly said that the stay-at-home order for the 11-county Southern California region and the San Joaquin Valley, which includes 12 counties, has been extended, reports Xinhua news agency.
The three-week order was previously set to expire on Monday.
The remaining intensive care unit (ICU) capacity in the two regions are still zero as of Tuesday.
At the start of this month, California Governor Gavin Newsom announced plans for the regional stay-at-home order to contain the pandemic based on hospital capacity, which is designed to be triggered when fewer than 15 per cent of beds are available in ICU for a region.
Southern California and San Joaquin Valley regions, home to 33 million people, have been the first part of the most populous US state with a population of around 40 million to enter the stay-at-home order since December 6 after the ICU capacity in the two regions dropped below 15 per cent.
As of Wednesday, California has registered a total of 2,187,221 confirmed coronavirus cases and 24,526 deaths.
More than 30 staff from across the NCID, including clinical, nursing, allied health, ancillary and administration staff, will be vaccinated on Wednesday..reports Asian Lite News
Singapore on Wednesday started its Covid-19 vaccination exercise, with the first batch of healthcare workers at the National Center for Infectious Diseases (NCID) getting inoculated against the disease, according to the Ministry of Health (MOH).
More than 30 staff from across the NCID, including clinical, nursing, allied health, ancillary and administration staff, will be vaccinated on Wednesday, reports Xinhua news agency.
The NCID said in a factsheet to media that the remaining NCID staff will be progressively vaccinated with the National Healthcare Group Management and Staff starting from January 2021.
The MOHhad said on Sunday that it aims to begin with vaccinating the elderly, starting with those aged 70 and above, from February 2021.
Thereafter, other Singaporeans and long-term residents who are medically eligible for vaccination will get inoculation.
Singapore has so far reported a total of 58,542 coornavirus cases and 29 deaths.
Since November 12, there has been an increase of one million child Covid-19 cases…reports Asian Lite News
More than two million children in the US have been infected with the novel coronavirus since the onset of the pandemic in the world’s hardest-hit country. according to authorities.
According to the latest data of the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) and the Children’s Hospital Association published on Tuesday, nearly 179,000 new child Covid-19 cases were reported in the week ending December 24, reports Xinhua news agency.
Since November 12, there has been an increase of one million child Covid-19 cases.
Over the two weeks from December 10 to 24, there was a 22 per cent increase in such cases across the country, according to the AAP.
Children account for 12.4 per cent of all confirmed coronavirus cases in the US.
The overall rate was 2,658 cases per 100,000 children in the population, according to the report.
“At this time, it appears that severe illness due to Covid-19 is rare among children. However, there is an urgent need to collect more data on longer-term impacts of the pandemic on children, including ways the virus may harm the long-term physical health of infected children, as well as its emotional and mental health effects,” the AAP report added.
As of Wednesday morning, the US, currently the hardest-hit country in the world by the pandemic, has registered a total of 19,299,960 confirmed coronavirus cases and 334,830 deaths, according to the Johns Hopkins University.
On Tuesday, the country reported 124,686 coronavirus patients in hospitals, the most reported on a given day during the pandemic, according to the Covid Tracking Project.
The country’s proportion of ICU patients who have coronavirus also has shot up, from 16 per cent in September to 40 per cent last week, according to the Department of Health and Human Services.
After months of negotiations, on December 24 the EU and the UK announced the reaching of an agreement that will govern bilateral trade and security relationship starting from January 1, 2021….reports Asian Lite News
Leaders of the European Union (EU) on Wednesday formally signed the post-Brexit trade deal with the UK.
Taking to Twitter, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen confirmed that she and European Council President Charles Michel “signed the EU-UK Trade and Cooperation Agreement” in Brussels.
“(UK) Prime Minister Boris Johnson will sign it later today in London,” she said.
“It has been a long road. It’s time now to put Brexit behind us. Our future is made in Europe,” von der Leyen added.
Today, @eucopresident and I signed the EU-UK Trade and Cooperation Agreement.
Prime Minister @BorisJohnson will sign it later today in London.
It has been a long road. It’s time now to put Brexit behind us.
After months of negotiations, on December 24 the EU and the UK announced the reaching of an agreement that will govern bilateral trade and security relationship starting from January 1, 2021.
The deal will need the approval of the European Parliament, the UK Parliament and the EU’s 27 member states.
The free trade deal is the biggest bilateral trade deal signed by either side, covering trade worth around 668 billion pounds ($905 billion).
The UK is the EU’s third largest trading partner in goods, after the US and China.
Fauci’s comments on Tuesday came after the US registered a record high 65,000 deaths in the past 28 days, making December the worst month for coronavirus fatalities since the start of the pandemic…reports Asian Lite News
Anthony Fauci, America’s top expert of infectious diseases, has said people in the US, currently the world’s hardest-hit by the Covid-19 pandemic, have to assume that the health crisis is going to get worse in the wake of an unabated spike in the number of fresh cases, deaths and hospitalisations.
Fauci’s comments on Tuesday came after the US registered a record high 65,000 deaths in the past 28 days, making December the worst month for coronavirus fatalities since the start of the pandemic.
December’s figure, roughly equivalent to over 1.6 Americans lost to the virus every minute, marked a significant surge from that in the entire month of November which registered 36,964 fatalities.
The country’s overall the overall death toll currently stood at 338,544, the highest in the world, according to the Johns Hopkins University.
Reacting to the grim developments, Fauci, Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, told CNN: “I hope we don’t just get to that level of continually seeing over 200,000 because, as you know, it staggers. You get cases, you get hospitalizations and then you get deaths.
“It’s highly predictable that once you increase in those number of cases in a staggered way every couple of weeks, you get increase in the number of hospitalisations.”
According to the top health expert, the country’s unabated resurgence has “gotten out of control in many respects”.
“It really is very, very difficult to do effective identification, isolation and contact tracing” due to the surges, he told CNN.
As of Wednesday morning, the US, currently the hardest-hit country in the world by the pandemic, has registered a total of 19,548,706 confirmed coronavirus cases, according to the Johns Hopkins University.
On Tuesday, the country reported 124,686 coronavirus patients in hospitals, the most reported on a given day during the pandemic, according to the Covid Tracking Project.
The US’ proportion of ICU patients who have coronavirus also has shot up, from 16 per cent in September to 40 per cent last week, according to the Department of Health and Human Services.
His new party has been named “The Israelis”…reports Asian Lite News
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B4f8DGGGdio
Ron Huldai, Mayor of the Israeli capital of Tel Aviv, has announced that he was running in the upcoming national elections and has established a new party.
In a televised press conference on Tuesday, Huldai said:”We will not get used to a Prime Minister under indictments. I have decided that I can no longer stand on the sidelines.”
His new party has been named “The Israelis”, reports Xinhua news agency.
Justice Minister Avi Nissenkorn will be in second place on the new list.
Nissenkorn, who was also a lawmaker with the Blue and White party, announced earlier on Tuesday that he was resigning to join Huldai’s new party.
An opinion poll published by Channel 12 TV news on Monday predicts Huladi might get about six to seven seats in Israel’s 120-seat Knesset (Parliament).
Huldai is considered to be on the centre-left side of Israel’s political map.
The election, which will be held on March 23, will be the country’s fourth within two years.
The snap election was called after the governing coalition, formed just seven months ago, failed to pass the state budget for 2020.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (Yoav Dudkevitch/JINI via Xinhua/IANS)
According to experts, the government, led by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defence Minister Benny Gantz, failed to tackle the crisis or any other issues.
Netanyahu is under indictment on three corruption charges.
This new election may pose Netanyahu with the greatest political challenge he has yet to face.
As the scene of the battle appears to be an internal one in the right, Israel may be in store for even longer political instability, the experts added.
In a year dominated by Covid realities all around us, one absolute truth that emerged is that viewing patterns of audiences all over the world were in the for a change this year. With cinema halls facing closure owing to lockdown, OTT platforms became the primary source of entertainment. While the big screen will not go away, streaming services have sure come of age and redefined for good how we perceive entertainment from now on.
The pandemic-induced lockdown ushered generic trends, too, and these are expected to be big in future. In India, especially, many subjects and trends that were traditionally not so popular are suddenly evincing popular interest, now that access to variety is just a click away.
“The pandemic induced lockdown has only accelerated the demand of multi platform content. OTT is not restricted by the pressure of finite airtime and hence the variety of content, at scale, is greater than broadcast,” Ajit Andhare, COO, Viacom18 Studios, told IANS while talking about the booming OTT space in India.
“Secondly, unlike theatrical productions, the content isn’t bound by time and scale constraints either. Therefore the platform offers versatility to content creators. It is this flexibility from mainstream production values that have enabled us to create shows like Jamtara, Taj Mahal and She. Audience exploring new narratives & genres augurs well for us creators and will further develop the creative ecosystem,” he added.
IANS takes a look at top trends that created ripples in the OTT space:
Anthologies
Abhishek Bachchan
The year started with the spooky anthology Ghost Stories, and the trend of stringing several stories together continued all through the year. Some of the noteworthy anthologies include, Ludo, Unpaused and Paava Kadhaigal.
Direct to service releases
With the cinemas shutting down due to the coronavirus pandemic, movies ditched the traditional release route for the digital world. the Amitabh Bachchan and Ayushmann Khurrana-starrer Gulabo Sitabo started the trend, which continues to gain steam.
Female-driven stories
Aarya, Gunjan Saxena: The Kargil Girl, Bulbbul, Bhaag Beanie Bhaag, Guilty, Four More Shots Please!, Hundred, Choked”, Raat Akeli Hai — the list only keeps growing. Female-led narrative are the trend all over in the world of entertainment, and the OTT space has been particularly suseptible to the trend.
Docu-dramas
There was a dose of reality in the diverse fiction world of the streaming services, thanks to documentary films and series. The topics were varied — from kabaddi to sneak peek into the lives of Bollywood wives.
Regional films and shows
Amid lockdown, regional content found a new and wide audience on the OTT platforms in India, from Telugu, Tamil, Kannada to Malayalam. Regional cinema from the South, especially saw good response in the digital space.
While on stories, here are the top shows and movies that grabbed attention for being a little out of the league, in terms of idea and themes:
Scam 1992: The Harshad Mehta Story
Filmmaker Hansal Mehta captured the story of one of the biggest financial scams in the Indian stock market. The financial thriller emerged as a winner, making Gujarati actor Pratik Gandhi, who essayed the role of Harshad Mehta, an overnight star.
Panchayat
The hilarious satire series emerged as one of the sleeper hits while providing much-needed comic relief to the audience. It is about a young secretary of a Panchayat office in a village, and his journey of coping up with rural life. The series stars Jitendra Kumar, Neena Gupta, Raghubir Yadav and Chandan Sanyal.
Asur
Arshad Warsi made his digital debut with the show on a successful note. The crime thriller brings forward two opposing worlds against each other — the less explored world of forensic science and the world of ancient Indian mythology. Available on Voot Select, it also stars Barun Sobti, Riddhi Dogra and Anupriya Goenka.
Fabulous Lives Of Bollywood Wives
The web series chronicles the lives of popular star wives such as Maheep Kapoor, Neelam Kothari, Seema Khan and Bhavana Pandey. It is backed by Johar’s Dharmatic Entertainment, the digital arm of Dharma Production.
Bad Boy Billionaires: India
The docuseries explores the greed, fraud and corruption that built, and ultimately brought down, the most infamous tycoons in India. It is available on Netflix.
Special Ops
The eight-episode Hotstar Special spy action thriller series is based on the role of Indian intelligence in a series of real terror attacks that India has faced over the last 19 years, including the 26/11. Filmmaker Neeraj Pandey has directed the series along with Shivam Nair. It stars Kay Kay Menon, Karan Tacker, Saiyami Kher, and Vinay Pathak.
Bandish Bandits
The musical show, which launched Ritwik Bhowmik and Shreya Chaudhry, was a hit. It follows the story of two lovers from different musical backgrounds. The show, streaming on Amazon Prime Video, also features Naseeruddin Shah, Atul Kulkarni, Sheeba Chaddha, Rajesh Tailang and Kunaal Roy Kapur.
Dil Bechara
Sushant Singh Rajput’s last film premiered on the Disney+ Hotstar in July, and got a lot of attention. It was the official remake of 2014 Hollywood romantic drama “The Fault in our Stars”. Earlier this year, according to a report by TV viewership monitoring agency BARC (Broadcast Audience Research Council) and data measurement firm Nielsen, Dil Bechara emerged as the top movie in the first week of release on an OTT platform, when it comes to the content viewed on smartphones.
Khuda Haafiz
With cinema halls shut owing to the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic, Khuda Haafiz went for a direct-to-OTT release. It stars Vidyut Jammwal and Shivaleeka Oberoi. After the success of the first part, the makers have announced the second chapter of the story, and are planning to release it on the big screen.
Extraction
The film may have drawn plenty of criticism as an entertainer, but it was truly a lavish crossover effort, between talents of Hollywood and Bollywood. Chris Hemsworth had a blockbuster digital debut as an actor with “Extraction”. He was seen as a fearless, black market mercenary Tyler Rake, who embarks on the most deadly extraction of his career when he is enlisted to rescue the kidnapped son of an imprisoned international crime lord. The film was majorly shot in India.
Never Have I Ever
Mindy Kaling’s quirky show traced her relationship with Indian culture and used her “relationship with being Hindu” to narrate the story of 15-year-old Devi, a first-generation Indian American, and her desperation to feel that she belongs in society in the delightful “Never Have I Ever”. The Netflix show was a big hit, and has been renewed for a second season.
Aarya
Sushmita Sen’s comeback show Aarya delved into how organised crime and betrayal runs deep in a family. It revolves around the protagonist Aarya Sareen, who is dragged into her husband’s narcotics business when her family is threatened after his death. The show will be back with a second season soon.
Paatal Lok
Actress Anushka Sharma’s debut web production Paatal Lok opened to rave reviews. The show is about a police officer Hathiram who is on the lookout for four criminals — serial killer Vishal “Hathoda” Tyagi (Abhishek Banerjee), Tope “Chaaku” Singh (Jagjeet Sandhu), Kabir M. (Aasif Khan), and Mary “Cheeni” Lyngdoh (Mairembam Ronaldo Singh).
Serious Men
Nawazuddin Siddiqui was universally applauded for his role in the Sudhir Mishra directorial, Serious Men. The Netflix movie was an adaptation of Manu Joseph’s book of the same name. It narrates the tale of an underachiever who tries to make it big in Mumbai after discovering that his child could be a boy genius.
Four More Shots Please!
The show follows four unapologetically flawed women as they discover life while balancing friendship in Mumbai. The second season showed how they coped with their fears and insecurities. The show will be back with the third season soon.
Bulbbul
The period horror drama narrated the journey of a young girl named Bulbbul from innocence to strength, with the looming shadow of the legend of a ‘chudail’. The story gives a positive spin to the term ‘chudail’.
The deal was signed on Tuesday by Turkish Trade Minister Ruhsar Pekcan and British Ambassador to Ankara Dominick Chilcott, in virtual presence of UK International Trade Secretary Liz Truss…reports Asian Lite News
Turkey and the UK have Tuesday signed a free trade agreement as the latter formally leaves the European Union (EU) this week.
The deal was signed on Tuesday by Turkish Trade Minister Ruhsar Pekcan and British Ambassador to Ankara Dominick Chilcott, in virtual presence of UK International Trade Secretary Liz Truss, reports Xinhua news agency.
“This is a historic day for Turkish-UK relations. We are taking the first step toward further deepening our ties while maintaining 25-year gains from the Customs Union,” said Pekcan in a speech at the signing ceremony.
The deal will secure existing preferential tariffs for the 7,600 UK businesses that exported goods to Turkey in 2019, ensuring the continued tariff-free flow of goods and protecting vital supply chains in the automotive and manufacturing sectors.
İkili ticaretimizin etkin ve sorunsuz devamı için attığımız bu imza iş dünyamıza hayırlı olsun.
The agreement will ensure preferential trading terms for UK businesses that exported more than 1 billion pounds worth of machinery, and iron and steel exports worth 575 million pounds to Turkey in 2019.
It also ensures UK businesses can continue to import under preferential tariffs, compared with no agreement.
The trade between Ankara and London were earlier subject to the regulations of Turkey’s Customs Union agreement signed with the EU in 1995.
“Today’s deal covers trade worth more than 18 billion pounds, delivers vital certainty for business and supports thousands of jobs across the UK in the manufacturing, automotive and steel industries,” Truss said.
ICYMI: the UK has signed a trade continuity agreement with Turkey. 🇬🇧 🇹🇷
At the virtual signing yesterday, @trussliz explained what this deal means for business and for the UK's future ambitions. 👇 pic.twitter.com/35NJsRXBdX
— Department for Business and Trade (@biztradegovuk) December 30, 2020
“It paves the way for a new, more ambitious deal with Turkey in the near future, and is part of our plan to put the UK at the centre of a network of modern agreements with dynamic economies.
“More trade and investment will drive economic growth across our UK and help us build back stronger from Covid,” she added.
The bilateral trade between Turkey and UK, Turkey’s second largest export market, was worth $25.25 billion in 2019.
The UK’s investments in Turkey are nearly $11.6 billion.
London has signed trade agreements with dozens of countries ahead of the end of the Brexit transition period on January 1, 2021, when it leaves the EU’s trading arrangements.
Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi met Ardakanian, who’s leading a delegation of high-ranking Iranian officials to Baghdad, to discuss the bilateral relations and means to boost cooperation..reports Asian Lite News
Iran’s Minister of Energy Reza Ardakanian has confirmed that his country will resume full natural gas exports to Iraq after reducing the supplies due to unpaid bills, which caused an acute electricity shortage in Iraq.
In an official statement issued on Tuesday in Baghdad, Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi met Ardakanian, who’s leading a delegation of high-ranking Iranian officials to Baghdad, to discuss the bilateral relations and means to boost cooperation, reports Xinhua news agency.
“Ardakanian conveyed the Iranian government’s pledge to urgently resume pumping Iranian gas, which was recently slashed due to technical reasons,” the statement said, without giving further details.
During his visit, Ardakanian also held meetings with Iraqi Minister of Electricity Majid Hantoush, Minister of Trade Alaa al-Jubouri and Iraqi Central Bank Governor Mustafa Mukheef.
Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi.
During the meetings, the two sides discussed financial cooperation, including Iraq’s payment of dues for importing Iranian gas and electricity, the official Iraqiya TV reported.
Ardakanian’s visit aimed to settle Iraq’s energy debts to Iran, which have amounted to more than $5 billion for gas imports from Iran, in addition to $1 billion for electricity imports.
Due to the unpaid bills, Iran slashed its natural gas exports to Iraq from 50 million cubic metres to 5 million two weeks ago, causing an acute power shortage in Iraq, according to Iraqi Ministry of Electricity.
MOSCOW, March 5, 2020 (Xinhua) -- Russian President Vladimir Putin (R) meets with his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Moscow, Russia, on March 5, 2020. Russia and Turkey agreed Thursday on a ceasefire in the de-escalation zone in Syria's northwestern province of Idlib, after talks between Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan which lasted for about six hours. (Sputnik/Handout via Xinhua/IANS)
Both sides agreed that the tense situation in Nagorno-Karabakh should not be used to deploy foreign mercenaries to the conflict, the Ministry said…reports Asian Lite News
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov discussed developments in relation to the joint Russian-Turkish peacekeeping centre in the conflict-ridden Nagorno-Karabakh region during his meeting with Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu in Sochi.
“The centre was created as a result of an agreement reached between the President of Russia Vladimir Putin and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan,” the Russian Foreign Ministry cited Lavrov as saying during a press conference following the meeting of the Russia-Turkey Joint Strategic Planning Group in Sochi on Tuesday.
Lavrov further emphasised that progress in relation to the development of the monitoring centre is currently underway, reports Xinhua news agency.
According to TASS, the Turkish side acknowledged that a ceasefire regime has been established in the region, and expressed hope that the joint monitoring centre in Aghdam, a district handed over to the Azerbaijani military on November 20 as a condition of the truce, will be fully set up in the very near future.
Both sides agreed that the tense situation in Nagorno-Karabakh should not be used to deploy foreign mercenaries to the conflict, the Ministry said.
Photo taken on Sept. 29, 2020 shows a man walking by a house damaged during clashes in the Tartar district bordering the Nagorno-Karabakh region. (Photo by Tofik Babayev/Xinhua)
“Relations between the Russian Federation and Turkey have intrinsic value and are self-sufficient. They do not depend on someone’s aggressive, unfriendly actions and do not depend on anyone’s whims,” Lavrov noted while discussing bilateral ties.
“Our relations acquired strategic importance long before the West began to threaten and impose its illegitimate unilateral sanctions,” he added.
In a related development also on Tuesday, Turkey sent soldiers to Azerbaijan to join Russian forces at an observation post in Nagorno-Karabakh.
“Our staff went to Azerbaijan, and are ready there. One general and 35 of our officers will take office immediately after the construction of the joint centre is completed and becomes operational,” Turkish Defence Minister Hulusi Akar said on Tuesday.
In November, the Turkish Parliament approved a motion for the deployment of its troops at the joint centre for a year as part of an accord between Ankara and Moscow to monitor the implementation of the fourth ceasefire between Armenia and Azerbaijan.
(160405) — NAGORNO-KARABAKH, April 5, 2016 (Xinhua) — Houses damaged in recent conflicts are seen in Azerbaijan’s Gapanli village bordering Nagorno-Karabakh region, on April 5, 2016.
The Armenian and Azerbaijani Defense Ministries both confirmed Tuesday that a ceasefire agreement in the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh region is currently being prepared. (Xinhua/Tofik Babayev)(dh)
The three other ceasefires — two brokered by Russia (October 10, 17) and one by the US (October 26) — collapsed after Armenia and Azerbaijan traded accusations and attacks.
A new round of armed conflict broke out on September 27 along the contact line of the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh region, which is internationally recognised as part of Azerbaijan but mostly governed by the Republic of Artsakh, a de facto independent state with an Armenian ethnic majority.
Armenia and Azerbaijan went to war over the region in 1988-94, eventually declaring a ceasefire.
