Sex difference in immune response to coronavirus decoded

Sudharma Times

{24 august 2020 ~ 30 august 2020}

 

Health News

                                                      ~by NIKHIL 

1.Sex difference in immune response to coronavirus decoded

26,Aug,2020

Women with COVID-19 mount a more robust and sustained immune response via the body’s T cells than men, according to a study that may help guide a sex-based approach to the treatment and care for those infected with the novel coronavirus.

The research, published in the journal Nature, assessed 98 patients -- aged 18 years or over -- admitted to the Yale New Haven Hospital in the US with mild to moderate disease, who had confirmed positive tests for novel coronavirus infection.

While previous research had shown that the severity of COVID-19 tends to be higher for men than for women, the underlying reasons for this discrepancy has remained unclear, according to the scientists, including those from Yale University in the US. In the current study, they found that female patients mounted a more robust and sustained immune response via the body’s T cells than men. The researchers noted that T cells played an essential part in the immune system with their roles including the killing of infected cells. According to the scientists, including Akiko Iwasaki from the Yale University School of Medicine, poor T cell responses correlated with a worse disease outcome in male patients.

“We found that a poor T cell response negatively correlated with patients’ age, and was associated with worse disease outcome in male patients, but not in female patients,” the researchers wrote in the study.

Compared with healthy control individuals, they said patients with COVID-19 were found to have elevated levels of innate immune cytokines and chemokines, which are signalling molecules involved in the recruitment of immune cells to sites of inflammation.

However, the study noted that the levels of some of these molecules were higher in male patients than in female patients. In female patients, the scientists said, higher levels of the cytokine molecules were associated with a worse disease response. Based on the results, they said male patients may benefit from therapies that elevate T cell responses whereas female patients may benefit from therapies that dampen early innate immune responses. However, the scientists caution that they were unable to rule out other underlying factors that may modify the risk of poor outcome in male and female patients with COVID-19.

2. Africa now free of wild poliovirus, but polio threat remains

25,Aug,2020

Health authorities on Tuesday declared the African continent free of the wild poliovirus after decades of effort, though cases of vaccine-derived polio are still sparking outbreaks of the paralyzing disease in more than a dozen countries.

The declaration leaves Pakistan and neighboring Afghanistan as the only countries thought to still have the wild poliovirus, with vaccination efforts against the highly infectious, water-borne disease complicated by insecurity and attacks on health workers.

The announcement by the African Regional Certification Commission for Polio Eradication comes after no cases were reported for four years. Polio once paralyzed some 75,000 children a year across Africa.

Health authorities see the declaration as a rare glint of good news in Africa amid the coronavirus pandemic, an Ebola outbreak in western Congo and the persistent deadly challenges of malaria, HIV and tuberculosis.

“This is an incredible and emotional day,” WHO Africa director Matshidiso Moeti said, but she urged vigilance as the coronavirus threatens vaccination and surveillance efforts.

The World Health Organization says this is just the second time a virus has been eradicated in Africa, after the elimination of smallpox four decades ago.

But sometimes patchy surveillance across the vast continent of 1.3 billion people raises the possibility that scattered cases of the wild poliovirus still remain, undetected.

The final push to combat the wild poliovirus focused largely on northern Nigeria, where the Boko Haram Islamic extremist group has carried out a deadly insurgency for more than a decade. Health workers at times carried out vaccinations on the margins of the insecurity, putting their lives at risk.

Africa’s last reported case of the wild poliovirus was in Nigeria in 2016. The country a year earlier had been removed from the global list of polio-endemic nations, a step toward being declared polio-free, but new cases were then reported in children in the north — a stark example of the difficulties in combating the disease.

This new declaration doesn’t mean Africa is polio-free. Cases remain of the so-called vaccine-derived polio virus, which is a rare mutated form of the weakened but live virus contained in the oral polio vaccine.

That mutated virus can spark crippling polio outbreaks, and 16 African countries are currently experiencing one: Angola, Benin, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Ivory Coast, Congo, Ethiopia, Guinea, Ghana, Mali, Niger, Nigeria, Togo and Zambia.

Health authorities have warned that the coronavirus pandemic has disrupted vaccination work in many countries across Africa, leaving more children vulnerable to infection.

In April, WHO and its partners reluctantly recommended a temporary halt to mass polio immunization campaigns, recognizing the move could lead to a resurgence of the disease. In May, they reported that 46 campaigns to vaccinate children against polio had been suspended in 38 countries, mostly in Africa, as a result of the coronavirus pandemic.

Eradicating polio requires more than 90% of children being immunized, typically in mass campaigns involving millions of health workers that would break social distancing guidelines needed to stop the spread of Covid-19.

Health officials had initially aimed to wipe out polio by 2000, a deadline repeatedly pushed back and missed. Even now in northeastern Nigeria, thousands of children remain out of reach of health workers carrying out vaccinations.

3.Vitamin D supplements are vital for baby’s gut microbiome: Study

23,Aug,2020

A team of researchers has now shed light on the influence of vitamin D supplementation on a baby’s developing gut microbiome.

The study, published in the journal Gut Microbes, found that vitamin D supplementation is associated with compositional changes in a baby’s microbiome--notably a lower abundance of the bacteria Megamonas--at three months of age.

“Vitamin D plays an important role in early life, supporting bone metabolism and the healthy development of a baby’s immune system,” said senior author Anita Kozyrskyj, a professor in the Department of Pediatrics at the University of Alberta and a CHILD Cohort Study investigator. “Most infants in North America receive vitamin D, either as a supplement to breastfeeding or as an ingredient in commercial infant formulas, so we wanted to understand the association between vitamin D and the presence or abundance of key bacteria within a baby’s intestinal tract.”

The researchers examined faecal samples taken during home visits from 1,157 infants who are part of the CHILD Cohort Study--a national study that is following nearly 3,500 Canadian children from before birth to adolescence with the primary goal of discovering the root causes of allergies, asthma, obesity, and other chronic diseases.

They found that direct vitamin D supplementation of infants with vitamin D drops was associated with a lower abundance of Megamonas, regardless of how a baby was fed (breastfed or formula-fed). “While little is known about Megamonas in infancy, our previous research suggests there may be a link between this bacterium and asthma or respiratory viral infections, so vitamin D may offer additional benefits for childhood health that should be studied further,” added Kozyrskyj, also a member of the Women and Children’s Health Research Institute.

The researchers also assessed the association between infant and maternal vitamin D supplementation and the presence of Clostridium difficile (C. difficile) in a baby’s gut. “Some infants carry the diarrhoea-causing bacterium C. difficile in their guts without any symptoms.

However, when the levels of gut bacteria become imbalanced, this particular bacterium can multiply, causing illness and increasing the susceptibility to chronic disease later in childhood,” commented first author Kelsea Drall, an MSc graduate from the U of A and an AllerGen trainee.

The study found that nearly 30 per cent of the infants carried C. difficile, but there was a lower incidence of the bacterium among exclusively breastfed infants. However, neither infant supplementation with vitamin D drops nor maternal vitamin D supplementation during pregnancy or after delivery was associated with C. difficile colonization. “Interestingly, maternal consumption of vitamin D-fortified milk was the only factor that reduced the likelihood of C. difficile colonization in infants,” added Drall.

According to Kozyrskyj, an infant’s gut microbiota undergoes a rapid change in early life. Therefore, it is critical to understand the factors associated with microbial communities populating the infant gut during this key developmental period.

“Low vitamin D levels have been associated with a respiratory syncytial virus (RSV)--a common lung infection among infants--and more recently, susceptibility to COVID-19 disease,” she pointed out. “In the CHILD Cohort Study, we have a unique opportunity to follow our study children as they get older to understand how microbial changes observed as a result of dietary interventions may be associated with later health outcomes such as asthma and viral infections.”

4. New treatment possibilities for young women diagnosed with rare form of ovarian cancer

27,Aug,2020

A recent finding by researchers at the BC Cancer Research Institute and the University of British Columbia (UBC) may offer a new treatment possibility for people diagnosed with a rare and aggressive form of ovarian cancer.

Small cell carcinoma of the ovary, hypercalcemic type (SCCOHT), is a particularly devastating cancer that has no effective treatments and is usually diagnosed in women in their 20s. The study, published in Clinical Cancer Research, describes a metabolic vulnerability present in cells that may represent a therapeutic target if proven in clinical trials.

“Finding this vulnerability and identifying a way to exploit it could have a huge impact for anyone diagnosed with this rare disease,” said the study’s first author Jennifer Ji, an MD/PhD candidate at UBC’s faculty of medicine and trainee at the BC Cancer Research Institute.

The discovery is welcome news to Justin Mattioli, whose 34-year-old wife Eileen, passed away from SCCOHT in the spring of 2019. Prior to her passing, Eileen made the decision to donate her tissue samples to help advance cancer research in the hopes of finding new treatments for others facing the disease.

“We would hate to see someone else go through what Eileen did,” said Justin. “And there is a good possibility that this may help advance further research into other types of cancers as well.”

Eileen’s samples are being used as a new cell model, enabling researchers to test the effects of new treatments and to better understand the biology of the disease.

The team found that SCCOHT cancer cells have very low levels of an enzyme necessary for the production of arginine, an amino acid needed to help our cells build protein.

Non-cancerous cells have this enzyme and can produce their own arginine, but tumours without it cannot produce this amino acid themselves, meaning that they need to be in an arginine-rich environment to survive.

Using a small molecule agent, the team has found a way to eliminate arginine in the tumour environment, essentially starving the cancer to death while having minimal effect on normal cells.

“This agent basically absorbs all of the arginine within the tumour environment so cells can’t produce it themselves, thus starving the tumour,” said research team lead Dr. David Huntsman, a pathologist and ovarian cancer researcher at BC Cancer and professor in the departments of pathology and laboratory medicine and obstetrics and gynecology at UBC. “As such vulnerability has been also discovered in several other cancer types, we are now looking to partner with other research organizations who are evaluating these treatment options in patients whose cancer lacks the expression of this particular enzyme.”

So far, researchers have validated this treatment in pre-clinical studies. They are now exploring combination therapy, with the use of Eileen’s samples, in an effort to boost the response and avoid potential resistance. In addition, they want to test their findings in clinical trials.

“This research is another step to better understanding a very aggressive form of ovarian cancer and providing better treatment outcomes for women diagnosed with this disease,” said Huntsman.

5. All child Covid-19 fatalities in the UK had ‘profound’ underlying conditions

28,Aug,2020

All the children who have died from Covid-19 in the U.K. had “profound” underlying medical conditions, according to a study suggesting that healthy school-age patients are at very limited risk of severe disease outcomes.

The report adds to previous indications that youthful patients suffer less from the disease than older people, but showed that Black or obese children are at a marginally higher risk. Of the 651 cases reviewed, 42% involved underlying health conditions, but only 18% overall required intensive care. There were six deaths, all involving serious pre-existing conditions.

“It is vanishingly rare to have severe disease in children,” said Calum Semple, professor of child health and outbreak medicine at the University of Liverpool. Even for Black or obese children, the risk remains “tiny,” he said.

“If you are a Black parent in Glasgow or London, your kids should still go back to school,” he added.

According to the study, published in the journal BMJ, 52 of the children suffered a “multisystem inflammatory syndrome” that has been linked to coronavirus patients. “Kids who get this sort of thing often end up with problems in their hearts,” Semple added.

6. Covid-19: Female health workers on India’s frontline push for fair pay

28,Aug,2020

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Rushing from one home to another in a village in western India, health worker Ashwini Mhaske cannot afford to take a breather.

Working to keep Covid-19 at bay while caring for mothers and babies, Mhaske races between households to meet job targets and earn bonuses for a average monthly wage of 4,000 rupees ($54) that India’s army of rural health workers say is derisory.

Accredited Social Health Activists - or ASHA workers - are the government’s recognised health workers who are usually the first point of contact in rural India, where there is often limited or no direct access to healthcare facilities.

Many of India’s one million all-women ASHA workers - who have conducted door-to-door checks to trace coronavirus patients in addition to their usual duties - went on strike this month to demand job recognition, better pay and proper protective gear.

“Now we work all hours, with no days off,” said 33-year-old Mhaske, who used to do farm work shifts to supplement her ASHA income before the coronavirus pandemic struck India in March.

India’s coronavirus cases crossed the 3.2 million mark this week - it is behind the United States and Brazil - after a surge in rural areas where two-thirds of its 1.3 billion people live.

With infections spreading further to small towns and remote regions, experts say the epidemic in India is likely to be months away from its peak, putting more strain on an already overburdened healthcare system and struggling ASHA workers.

“All we (ASHA workers) are saying is that the government should think about us,” Mhaske told the Thomson Reuters Foundation by phone from Osmanabad in Maharashtra state.

Enlisted as part of a 2005 national programme to boost healthcare services across rural India - from maternal care to vaccination drives - ASHA workers are treated like volunteers and not covered by state governments’ minimum wage legislation.

Business News

                                          ~by JATIN

1.New Chinese rules on export ban could hinder TikTok sale: Chinese news channel CGTN

-30 August 2020

Chinese Internet firm Byte Dance may have to suspend negotiations over the pending sale of its popular video-sharing app TikTok, a trade expert told Chinese news channel CGTN, after China released a revised catalogue of technologies that are subject to export bans or restrictions.

The revised catalogue, released on Thursday jointly by China's Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM) and the Ministry of Science and Technology, added a total of 23 items subject to export restrictions while deleting four items prohibited from export, including microbial fertilizing and caffeine production technologies, CGTN reported.

CGTN, formerly known as CCTV-9 and CCTV News, is an international English-language news channel based in Beijing owned by China Central Television, a state-controlled broadcaster.

Cui Fan, a professor of international trade at the University of International Business and Economics in Beijing, told CGTN that China has been revising laws in recent years to standardize technological imports and exports, such as forbidding forced technological transfer from foreign companies.

Cui said some Chinese companies, such as Byte Dance, could be affected by the new rule because its video-sharing app TikTok is in the middle of selling its U.S. assets that involve new technology included in China's new restriction list.

"The newly-added article 21 over 'personalized information push service technology based on data analysis' and article 18 about 'artificial intelligence interactive interface technology' may have something to do with Byte Dance," Cui noted to CGTN.

Byte Dance boasts a number of cutting-edge technologies in artificial intelligence and other spheres, and some technologies may have a close bearing on the adjusted catalogue, CGTN said.

The U.S. retail giant Walmart said Thursday that it’s teaming up with Microsoft in a bid for TikTok. In India, TikTok is in talks with Reliance Jio for a sale.

TikTok was among 59 apps banned by India in June over concerns of national security.

 

2.Zuckerberg says Facebook's failure to remove militia page 'an operational mistake'

-29 August 2020

Facebook Inc Chief Executive Officer Mark Zuckerberg took responsibility and faulted his company for not removing the page and event for a militia group before two people were killed at a protest in Kenosha, saying it was "largely an operational mistake".

The page and event listing violated Facebook's policies and should have been removed after numerous complaints were received about the group's violent nature, Zuckerberg said in a video to employees that he posted publicly on his Facebook profile.

The social media company removed the page for 'Kenosha Guard', and an event listing for 'Armed Citizens to Protect Our Lives and Property' a day after the shooting on Tuesday.

Two people were killed during protests in Kenosha that broke out in response to the police shooting of a Black man earlier this week.

"The contractors and reviewers who the initial complaints were funneled to basically didn't pick this up," Zuckerberg said. "And on second review, doing it more sensitively, the team that's responsible for dangerous organizations recognized that this violated the policies and we took it down."

Zuckerberg said there was no evidence the person charged with the shooting followed the Kenosha Guard page, but added that the company will continue to evolve its policies for identifying potentially dangerous organizations.

 

3.Intel's woes delays US' plan to make a supercomputer for exascale computing

-28 August 2020

When its selected Intel to help build a $500 million supercomputer last year, the Energy Department bet that computer chips made in the United States could help counter a technology challenge from China.

Officials at the department’s Argonne National Laboratory predicted that the machine, called Aurora and scheduled to be installed at facilities near Chicago in 2021, would be the first U.S. system to reach a technical pinnacle known as exascale computing. Intel pledged to supply three kinds of chips for the system from its factories in Oregon, Arizona and New Mexico.

But a technology delay by the Silicon Valley giant has thrown a wrench into that plan, the latest sign of headwinds facing government and industry efforts to reverse America’s dependence on foreign-made semiconductors. It was also an indication of the challenges ahead for U.S. hopes to regain a lead in critical semiconductor manufacturing technology.

Intel, which supplies electronic brains for most personal computers and web services, has long driven miniaturization advances that make electronic devices smaller, faster and cheaper. But Robert Swan, its chief executive, warned last month that the next production advance would be 12 months late and suggested that some chips for Aurora might be made outside Intel factories.

Intel’s problems make it close to impossible that Aurora will be installed on schedule, researchers and analysts said. And shifting a key component to foreign factories would undermine company and government hopes of an all-American design.

“That is part of the story they were trying to sell,” said Jack Dongarra, a computer scientist at the University of Tennessee who tracks supercomputer installations around the world. “Now they stumbled.”

Argonne and Energy Department officials remain committed to the project and “are in discussions with Intel to update the delivery plan for Aurora,” the Argonne lab said in a statement. The partners are “actively working to mitigate any potential impacts to the schedule,” Intel said in a separate statement.

The company was already struggling to rebound from a several-year delay in perfecting a new manufacturing process that was finally delivered last year. That lag allowed technology leadership to pass to Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. and Samsung Electronics, which build chips designed by other companies.

Intel, the last big U.S. company that both designs and makes microprocessors, signaled in July that it might for the first time use foundries owned by other companies to make some cutting-edge chips.

“What’s different is, we’re going to be pretty pragmatic about if and when we should be making stuff inside” and turn to external factories when it makes the most sense, Swan told analysts.

Intel’s disclosures caused its stock market value to drop by close to $50 billion. They were also bad news for Argonne.

Government labs and other organizations have long used supercomputers for tasks like breaking foreign communications codes, modeling weather changes and designing drugs. Aurora was viewed as the lead U.S. entry in the race to build exascale systems, capable of a quintillion calculation a second — roughly a 50-fold increase over existing supercomputers.

4.Facebook says Apple's mobile software will cut advertisement revenue

-27 August 2020

Facebook on Wednesday said a mobile software update about to be released by Apple will slash revenue for developers relying on its in-app ad network.

Changes coming to iOS software powering iPhones and iPads includes requiring apps to ask permission of users to collect and share device-identifying data.

"With iOS 14, iPadOS 14, and tvOS 14, you will need to receive the user's permission through the AppTrackingTransparency framework to track them or access their device's advertising identifier," Apple said in an online post aimed at developers.

"Tracking refers to the act of linking user or device data collected from your app with user or device data collected from other companies' apps, websites, or offline properties for targeted advertising or advertising measurement purposes."

Such data is relied on for targeting ads in ways that make them more relevant and likely to make money, according to Facebook.

Apple is expected to release the new iOS mobile operating system later this year.

But tests found that revenue from the Audience Network platform that lets Facebook's system work behind the scenes to target ads in apps fell by more than half when personalization was thwarted, an online post explained.

"In reality, the impact to Audience Network on iOS 14 may be much more, so we are working on short-and long-term strategies to support publishers through these changes," Facebook said in the post.

"We understand that iOS 14 will hurt many of our developers and publishers at an already difficult time for businesses," Facebook said.

"This is not a change we want to make, but unfortunately Apple's updates to iOS14 have forced this decision."

The internet firm's system will still be able to target ads in apps made for Android-powered smartphones or tablets, Facebook said.

Apple, which does not rely on digital ad revenue, has been working to limit tracking of online activity and has stressed user privacy as a priority.

5.American Airlines to cut 19,000 jobs in October without aid, workforce shrinking 30%

-26 August 2020

American Airlines said on Tuesday its workforce will shrink by 40,000, including 19,000 involuntary cuts, in October as the COVID-19 pandemic continues to weigh on air travel, unless the government extends aid for airline employee payrolls.

Airlines received $25 billion in U.S. government stimulus funds in March meant to cover payrolls and protect jobs through September. As the money runs out without a travel recovery in sight, airlines and unions have lobbied Washington for another $25 billion, but talks have stalled as Congress has struggled to reach agreement on a broader coronavirus assistance package.

Shares in American, which had 140,000 employees before the pandemic, fell 2.7%.

In a memo to employees, Chief Executive Doug Parker and President Robert Isom said the first relief bill had assumed the virus would be under control and demand recovered by Sept. 30.

"That is obviously not the case," they said.

Texas-based American's announcement comes in the midst of the four-day Republican National Convention, where President Donald Trump is trying to regain momentum against the backdrop of a pandemic that has killed over 175,000 Americans and produced a recession that has resulted in the loss of millions of jobs.

Airlines have argued that the industry is essential to a quick economic recovery.

American's planned job cuts comprise 17,500 furloughs of union workers -including 1,600 pilots and 8,100 flight attendants - and 1,500 management positions.

They are below the 25,000 warning on possible job cuts American sent last month thanks to early retirements and leaves.

Based on current demand levels, American said it now plans to fly less than 50% of its normal schedule in the fourth quarter, with international flying reduced to only a quarter of 2019 levels.

American said last week it was suspending flights to 15 small U.S. cities in October without more federal aid.

United Airlines has warned that 36,000 jobs are on the line but has not announced final cuts.

Among other large U.S. airlines, Delta Air Lines on Monday announced furloughs of nearly 2,000 pilots but has said the numbers could be reduced if they agree to a cut in minimum pay.

Southwest Airlines has said it hopes to avoid involuntary cuts this year thanks to strong demand for voluntary severance packages.

Budget carrier Spirit Airlines' pilot’s union said on Tuesday that nearly half of around 2,500 pilots had agreed to work fewer hours every month to prevent 600 furloughs in October.

 

6.Pakistan registers surplus of $424 million in July: Central bank

-25 August 2020

Cash-strapped Pakistan has shown a surplus of $424 million in July after posting a deficit of $100 million in June, the country's central bank has said.

The State Bank of Pakistan said "this is the fourth monthly surplus since last October."

The SBP said that the strong turnaround in the remittances and exports is achieved "with support from several policy and administrative initiatives taken by the bank and the federal government, the Express Tribune reported.

"Pakistan's current account balance swung into a surplus of $424 mn in July 2020 after posting a deficit of $100 mn in June," it said.

The export of goods increased to $1.89 billion in July compared to $1.58 billion in June. It was, however, 14 per cent lower than $2.22 billion export in July 2019, according to the central bank.

The remittances hit a record high of $2.77 billion in the single month of July compared to $2.47 billion in June and $2.03 billion in July 2019.

The import of goods enhanced by 2 per cent to $3.63 billion in the month compared to $3.56 billion in the previous month. It was, however, 13 per cent lower than $4.18 billion import of July 2019.

Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan on Monday said that the change from deficit into surplus was due to recovery in exports and increase in the remittances.

Next Capital Managing Director Muzammil Aslam said the balance of the current account in surplus is in line with the market expectations.

"The growth in workers' remittances was, however, surprising (in the month of July 2020)," Aslam said.

He said the balance in surplus would at least help the economy to absorb shocks if it encounters any unexpected higher import payments in the remaining months of the fiscal year.

The government has targeted to record the current account balance in deficit in the range of 1-1.25 per cent ($3-3.5 billion) in the year 2020-21 compared to 1.1 per cent (around $3 billion) in the previous fiscal year 2019-2020.

"The surplus in July has made it easier to achieve the set target of the current account deficit," he said.

7.Apple CEO Tim Cook is fulfilling another Steve Jobs vision

-24 August 2020

Apple co-founder Steve Jobs, who died in 2011, was a tough act to follow. But Tim Cook seems to be doing so well at it that his eventual successor may also have big shoes to fill.

Initially seen as a mere caretaker for the iconic franchise that Jobs built before his 2011 death, Cook has forged his own distinctive legacy. He will mark his ninth anniversary as Apple's CEO Monday -- the same day the company will split its stock for the second time during his reign.

Grooming Cook as heir apparent was 'one of Steve Jobs' greatest accomplishments that is vastly underappreciated,'' said long-time Apple analyst Gene Munster, who is now managing partner of Loup Ventures.

The upcoming four-for-one stock split, a move that has no effect on share price but often spurs investor enthusiasm, is one measure of Apple's success under Cook. The company was worth just under $400 billion when Cook the helm; it's worth five times more than that today, and has just become the first U.S. company to boast a market value of $2 trillion. Its share performance has easily eclipsed the benchmark S&P 500, which has roughly tripled in value during the past nine years.

But it hasn't always been easy. Among the challenges Cook has faced: a slowdown in iPhone sales as smartphones matured, a showdown with the FBI over user privacy, a U.S. trade war with China that threatened to force up iPhone prices and now a pandemic that has closed many of Apple's retail stores and sunk the economy into a deep recession.

Cook, 59, has also struck out in into novel territory. Apple now pays a quarterly dividend, a step Jobs resisted partly because he associated shareholder payments with stodgy companies that were past their prime. Cook also used his powerful perch to become an outspoken advocate for civil rights and renewable energy, and on a personal level came out as the first openly gay CEO of a Fortune 500 company in 2014.

Apple declined to make Cook available for an interview. But it did point to 2009 comments Cook made to financial analysts when he was running the company while Jobs battled pancreatic cancer.

Asked what the company might look like under his management, Cook said that Apple needs ``to own and control the primary technologies behind the products we make. `` It has doubled down on that commitment, becoming a major chip producer in order to supply both iPhones and Macs. He added that Apple would resist exploring most projects ``so that we can really focus on the few that are truly important and meaningful to us. ``

That laser focus has served Apple well. At the same time, though, under Cook's stewardship, Apple has largely failed to come up with breakthrough successors to the iPhone. Its smartwatch and wireless ear buds have emerged as market leaders, but not game changers.

Cook and other executives have dropped hints that Apple wants make a big splash in the field of augmented reality, which uses phone screens or high-tech eyewear to paint digital images into the real world. Apple has yet to deliver, although neither have other companies that have hyped the technology.

Apple also remains a laggard in artificial intelligence, particularly in the increasingly important market for voice-activated digital assistants. Although Apple's Siri is widely used on Apple devices, Amazon's Alexa and Google’s digital assistant have made major inroads in helping people manage their lives, particularly in homes and offices.

Apple also has stumbled a few times under Cook's leadership.

In 2017, it alienated customers by deliberately but quietly slowing the performance of older iPhones via a software update, ostensibly to spare the life of aging batteries. Many consumers, though, viewed it as a ploy to boost sales of newer and more expensive iPhones. Amid the furor, Apple offered to replace aging batteries at a steep discount; later it paid $500 million to settle a class-action lawsuit over the matter.

Apple has also faced government investigations into its aggressive efforts to minimize its corporate taxes and complaints that it has abused control of its app store to charge excessive fees and stifle competition to its own digital services. On the tax front, a court ruled in July that Apple did nothing wrong.

Cook has turned the app store into the cornerstone of a services division that he set out to expand four years ago. At the time, it was growing clear that sales of the iPhone -- Apple's biggest money maker -- were destined to slow down as innovations grew sparse and consumers kept their old devices for longer.

To help offset that trend, Cook began to emphasize recurring revenue from app commission, warranty programs and streaming subscriptions to music, video, games and news sold for the more 1.5 billion devices already running on the company's software.

Technology News

                                       ~by GAURAV

1.Apple’s stranglehold on App store blocks innovation Zuckerberg

-29 August 2020

Facebook CEO mark Zuckerberg has slammed apple for its app store policy saying it blocks innovation and allows the tech giant to charge monopoly rents.

Buzzfeed first reported that Zuckerberg told 50,000 employees in a webcast that apple has a unique stranglehold as a gatekeeper on what gatekeeper on what gets on phones.

The Facebook CEO added that App store “block innovation block competition and allows apple to charge monopoly rents.”

Now more than ever we should have the option to help people understand where money they intend for small businesses actual goes a Facebook spokesperson told Fox business on Friday.

Unfortunately, Apple rejected our transparency notice around their 30%tax but we are still working to make that information available inside the app experience.

Facebook gaming app was rejected by Apple For several month before the social network tweaked it for release on iOS devices.

2.N. Korea broadcasts encrypted spy message on YouTube

-28 August 2020

North Korea on Saturday broadcast a series of mysterious number presumed to be an encrypted message to its spies in the south for the first time on YouTube a media report said.

A video clip posted on the state-run radio Pyongyang’s YouTube account, in which a female announcer read what she described as an information technology review assignment of the remote education university for No 719 expedition agents said the Seoul based Yonhap news agency.

She repeated phrases such as no 23 on page 564 no -19 on page 479 for about one minute in the posting.

The number were not broadcast on the radio. north Korea has broadcast such seemingly random number via radio since the cold war era as recently as march 7 and 13.

But this is the first time that Pyongyang has used the global video-sharing platform to send the apparently coded messages.

3.Kids, parents spammed with porn during zoom meet in us

-27 August 2020

In yet another zoom bombing episode a kindergarten orientation in the US turned into a virtual nightmare for parents and kids when the meeting on the popular video meet platform was hacked into and threatening messages.

According to the TV news channel WBRE Ariella colon and her daughter logged into their virtual kindergarten orientation in the school in the state of Pennsylvania when unknown hacker entered the zoom meeting

While we were waiting for everything to start all of sudden,” colon was quoted as saying in the report on Friday.

She and her daughter heard a male voice using racial slurs and foul language.

Then they started messaging us in the chat saying that he we going to rape our children,” a shaken colon said.

Hazleton area school district superintendent Brian up linger was on the zoom feed when the incident occurred. He said it went on for about four minutes.

4.Drone delivery at home to get a boost in post Covid era

-26 August 2020

The Covid -19 pandemic has given a tremendous boost to online delivery speed of the drones will increase and the deliver speed of the drones will increase as technology will see a commercial rollout on a larger scale in the not-too distant future Indian -origin researchers have stressed.

The study found that both the number of last – mile warehouses and the delivery networks will become more decentralized with drones operating at increasingly faster speeds.

It would be reasonable to assume that drone technology is maturing quickly the covid-19 pandemic will perhaps hasten this process said Dr Milind Dawned professor of operation management at the university of Texas at Dallas Naveen Jindal school of management.

Hand -free delivery to one’ doorstep will be an advantage drones can offer in the post Covid era.

5.Apple launches one -year residency programme for AI/ ML experts

-25 August 2020

Apple has introduced a residency programme in Artificial intelligence and machine learning to find niche experts in the new-age technologies.

The AL/ML residency programme invites experts in various files to apply their experts to build revolutionary machine learning and AI empowered products and experiences.

Apple on-device machine learning enables intelligent experiences across our integrated hardware software and services,” the company said in the job description.

As these intelligent experiences solve our user’s problem across disciplines the need for domain experts to understand machine these experts in the ML space.

The year -long programme will welcome resident with STEM graduate degrees or equivalent industry experience software development backgrounds and niche expertise – like design, linguistics, neuroscience, or psychology.

How low-carb, high-fat diets affect older populations

Sudharma Times

{ 17 august 2020 ~ 23 august 2020 }

Health Related News

1.How low-carb, high-fat diets affect older populations

22,Aug,2020

A new study observed improvements in body composition, fat distribution and metabolic health in response to an eight-week very low-carbohydrate diet.

The study led by researchers from the University of Alabama at Birmingham’s Nutrition Obesity Research Centre was published in the journal Nutrition and Metabolism.

Older adults with obesity are at particularly high risk of developing cardiometabolic diseases such as Type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease. Rather than total fat mass, deposition of fat in certain areas, such as the abdominal cavity and skeletal muscle, may confer this greatest risk of disease development.

The study’s lead author is Amy Goss, Ph.D., RDN, an assistant professor with UAB’s Department of Nutrition Sciences. Goss says her team aimed to determine if a very low-carbohydrate, or VLCD, high-fat diet would deplete these fat depots and preserve lean mass without intentional caloric restriction in older adults with obesity, thereby improving outcomes related to cardiometabolic diseases, such as insulin sensitivity and the lipid profile.

“After the eight-week intervention, despite the recommendation to consume a weight-maintaining diet, the group consuming the very low-carbohydrate diet lost more weight and total fat mass than the control diet group,” Goss said.

Egg consumption was an important part of the VLCD prescription. Goss and her team provided eggs to the participants in this diet group and asked them to consume at least three per day.

“While eggs were a part of this study, we can’t conclude that our findings are a result of daily egg consumption; but I think what we can conclude is that whole eggs can be incorporated into the diet in a healthful way without adversely impacting blood cholesterol in older adults,” she said.

The primary difference in fat loss between the two groups was from the abdominal cavity and the skeletal muscle depots.

“We also found significant improvements in the overall lipid profile that would reflect the decreased risk of cardiovascular disease,” Goss said. “Further, insulin sensitivity improved in response to the very low-carbohydrate diet reflecting the reduced risk of Type 2 diabetes. Overall, we observed improvements in body composition, fat distribution and metabolic health in response to an eight-week, very low-carbohydrate diet.”

2. Covid-19 cannot be transmitted through breast milk, study reveals

20,Aug,2020

Answering the critical question of whether Covid-19 can be transmitted through breast milk or not, a recent study suggests that breast milk cannot transmit the virus to the infant.

The study, which was published in the online edition of JAMA was conducted by the researchers from the University of California San Diego School of Medicine and University of California Los Angeles.

The study examined 64 samples of breast milk collected by the Mommy’s Milk Human Milk Research Biorepository from 18 women across the United States infected with severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2).

Although one sample tested positive for viral RNA, subsequent tests found that the virus was unable to replicate, and thus unable to cause infection in the breastfed infant.

“Detection of viral RNA does not equate to infection. It has to grow and multiply in order to be infectious and we did not find that in any of our samples,” said Christina Chambers, PhD, MPH, co-principal investigator of the study, professor of paediatrics at UC San Diego School of Medicine, director of Mommy’s Milk Human Milk Research Biorepository and co-director of the UC San Diego Center for Better Beginnings.

“Our findings suggest breast milk itself is not likely a source of infection for the infant,” Chambers added.

The current recommendations to prevent transmission while breastfeeding are hand hygiene and sterilising pumping equipment after each use.

“In the absence of data, some women infected with SARS-CoV-2 have chosen to just not breastfeed at all,” said Grace Aldrovandi, MD, co-principal investigator of the study, chief of the Division of Infectious Diseases at UCLA Mattel Children’s Hospital and a professor of paediatrics in the David Geffen School of Medicine at UC Los Angeles.

“We hope our results and future studies will give women the reassurance needed for them to breastfeed. Human milk provides invaluable benefits to mom and baby,” added Aldrovandi.

Early breastfeeding is associated with a reduced risk of sudden infant death syndrome and obesity in children, as well as improved immune health and performance on intelligence tests. In mothers, breastfeeding has been associated with lower risks for breast and ovarian cancer, cardiovascular disease and type 2 diabetes.

The researchers also mimicked conditions of the Holder pasteurization process commonly used in human donor milk banks by adding SARS-CoV-2 to breast milk samples from two different donors who were not infected.

The samples were heated to 62.5-degree celsius for 30 minutes and then cooled to 4-degree celsius. Following pasteurization, infectious virus was not detected in either sample.

“This is a very positive finding for donor milk, which so many infants, especially those born premature, rely on. Our findings fill in some important gaps, but more studies are needed with larger sample sizes to confirm these findings,” said Chambers.

Chambers said future work will not only look at whether breast milk is free of the virus, but also whether it contains active antiviral components. For example, antibodies to SARS-CoV-2 that women may produce after exposure to the virus and then transfer to their infants through breast milk, protecting them from Covid-19.

3.Here’s how Covid-19 smell loss differs from common cold

19,Aug,2020

The new research has revealed how smell loss associated with COVID-19 infection differs from what you typically might experience with a bad cold or flu.

 

The research from a European group of smell disorder experts, including Professor Philpott, was conducted at the University of East Anglia.

The study published in the journal Rhinology is the first to compare how people with COVID-19 smell and taste disorders differ from those with other causes of upper respiratory tract infections.

The main differences found are that, although COVID-19 patients also lose their sense of smell, they can breathe freely, do not tend to have a runny or blocked nose, and they cannot detect bitter or sweet tastes.

These findings lend weight to the theory that COVID-19 infects the brain and central nervous system.

The research team hope that their work could help develop smell and taste tests for fast COVID-19 screening - in primary care and emergency departments.

Lead researcher Prof Carl Philpott, from UEA’s Norwich Medical School, said: “The loss of smell and taste is a prominent symptom of COVID-19, however, it is also a common symptom of having a bad cold. We wanted to find out exactly what differentiates COVID-19 smell loss with the kind of smell loss you might have with a cold and blocked-up nose.”

The research team carried out smell and taste tests on 10 COVID-19 patients, 10 people with bad colds and a control group of 10 healthy people - all matched for age and sex.

Prof Philpott said: “We wanted to see if their smell and taste test scores could help discriminate between COVID-19 patients and those with a heavy cold. We know that COVID-19 behaves differently to other respiratory viruses, for example by causing the body’s immune system to over-react, known as a cytokine storm, and by affecting the nervous system.”

“So we suspected that patterns of smell loss would differ between the two groups. We found that smell loss was much more profound in the Covid-19 patents. They were less able to identify smells, and they were not able to identify bitter or sweet tastes. In fact, it was this loss of true taste which seemed to be present in the COVID-19 patients compared to those with a cold.”

He added that this is very exciting because it means that smell and taste tests could be used to discriminate between Covid-19 patients and people with a regular cold or flu.

“Although such tests could not replace formal diagnostic tools such as throat swabs, they could provide an alternative when conventional tests are not available or when rapid screening is needed - particularly at the level of primary care, in emergency departments or at airports.

This research also shows that there are altogether different things going on when it comes to smell and taste loss for COVID-10 patients, compared to those with a bad cold.

It has previously been suggested that the COVID-19 virus affects the central nervous system, based on the neurological signs developed by some patients. There are also similarities with SARS, which has also been reported to enter the brain, possibly via smell receptors in the nose.

“Our results reflect, at least to some extent, a specific involvement at the level of the central nervous system in some COVID-19 patients.”

It is particularly interesting that COVID-19 seems to particularly affect sweet and bitter taste receptors because these are known to play an important role in innate immunity.

“More research is needed to see whether genetic variation in people’s bitter and sweet taste receptors might predispose them to COVID-19, or conversely, whether COVID-19 infection changes how these receptors function, either directly or through a cytokine storm - the over-reaction of the body’s immune system,” Philpott said.

4. Depression rate doubles during Covid-19 pandemic in UK, official data shows

18,Aug,2020

The proportion of people in Britain suffering with depression has almost doubled during the Covid-19 pandemic, official data showed on Tuesday.

The Office for National Statistics (ONS) said 19% of adults reported some form of depression during June, compared with 10% in the nine months to March 2020. Stress and anxiety were the most common types of depression listed by people, it said.

The data raises questions about the wider public health costs of a pandemic that has already left Britain with the highest excess mortality rate among major European countries, according to a recent ONS analysis.

“Adults who were young, female, unable to afford an unexpected expense or disabled were the most likely to experience some form of depression during the pandemic,” said Tim Vizard, ONS principal research officer.

One in eight adults developed moderate to severe depression during the pandemic, the ONS said. Only one in 25 saw an improvement.

A surge in depression is also likely to further harm the economy, which has already suffered a historic blow from the pandemic and the national lockdown it prompted in March.

A 2018 study from the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development put the cost of mental health problems in Britain at around 4% of its annual economic output.

5. D614G: Malaysia detects coronavirus strain that’s 10 times more infectious

17,Aug,2020

Malaysia has detected a strain of the new coronavirus that’s been found to be 10 times more infectious. The mutation called D614G was found in at least three of the 45 cases in a cluster that started from a restaurant owner returning from India and breaching his 14-day home quarantine. The man has since been sentenced to five months in prison and fined. The strain was also found in another cluster involving people returning from the Philippines.

The strain could mean that existing studies on vaccines may be incomplete or ineffective against the mutation, said Director-General of Health Noor Hisham Abdullah.

The mutation has become the predominant variant in Europe and the U.S., with the World Health Organization saying there’s no evidence the strain leads to a more severe disease. A paper published in Cell Press said the mutation is unlikely to have a major impact on the efficacy of vaccines currently being developed.

“People need to be wary and take greater precautions because this strain has now been found in Malaysia,” Noor Hisham wrote in a Facebook post on Sunday. “The people’s cooperation is very needed so that we can together break the chain of infection from any mutation.”

While Malaysia has largely managed to prevent a resurgence of the virus seen elsewhere in the world, the number of new cases found in the country has been picking up. The country confirmed 26 new cases on Saturday, the most since July 28, and added 25 cases on Sunday.

6. Covid-19, Cold, Flu or Allergy: Know the symptoms

16,Aug,2020

Amid the coronavirus pandemic, any fevers, aches, and pains can be scary. Do you have the virus? Should you be getting tested? Here’s a look at symptoms, causes and how to tell what’s what: 

IT IS HARD TRYING TO TELL THEM APART

Fever, fatigue, aches, and pains mark Covid-19, flu, respiratory allergies, and the common cold, which makes it near-impossible to figure out when to get tested for Sars-CoV-2.

Covid-19, flu, and cold are contagious respiratory illnesses caused by different viruses. The Sars-CoV-2 virus causes Covid-19, flu is caused by influenza viruses such as A/H1N1, A/H3N2, B/Colorado, and B/Phuket, among others, and the common cold symptoms are caused by more than 200 known viruses, including some coronaviruses.

Allergies are triggered by hypersensitivity to allergens in the environment, such as pollen, dust, fungi ould.

SIMILARITIES

Covid-19, the flu and the common cold are self-limiting diseases that usually last for one (cold) to two weeks.

Covid-19, the flu and cold can spread with close contact, mainly from infected droplets released into the air when infected people cough, sneeze, or speak. These droplets can land in the mouths or noses of others nearby or be inhaled.

Covid-19 and the flu may lead to hospitalization and death from complications, which can include respiratory failure, sepsis, cardiac arrest.

A severe allergic reaction may cause death from anaphylactic shock.

A common cold can cause complications like ear infection, sinusitis, strep throat, and croup, among others.

The risk in all four is highest in older adults, people with certain underlying medical conditions, and pregnant women.

DIFFERENCES

Children and young people are at higher risk of severe illness and complications from the flu, but Covid-19 raises the risk of multi-system inflammatory syndrome in children.

Adults with Covid-19 may have additional complications, such as the formation of blood clots in the veins and arteries of the lungs, heart, legs, or brain.

ompared with July 2019.

 "This crisis has put the public finances under signific

Business News

                                            ~by JATIN

1.TikTok to challenge Trump's crackdown in court amid rising dispute

-23 August 2020

TikTok plans to sue the U.S. government, the company confirmed Saturday, arguing that President Donald Trump’s moves to block the app had deprived it of due process and claiming it had been unfairly and incorrectly treated as a security threat.

The lawsuit, which the company plans to file next week, would amount to the most public pushback against the U.S. by TikTok, which is owned by the Chinese internet company Byte Dance.

 “Even though we strongly disagree with the administration’s concerns, for nearly a year we have sought to engage in good faith to provide a constructive solution,” Josh Gartner, a TikTok spokesman, said in a statement. “What we encountered instead was a lack of due process as the administration paid no attention to facts and tried to insert itself into negotiations between private businesses.”

 For weeks, Trump has railed against TikTok and its ties to China, arguing that the app was a national security threat and that it could share data about its users with the Chinese government. On Aug. 6, Trump issued an executive order against TikTok, saying it would ban transactions with the app within 45 days. A week later, he issued a separate executive order giving Byte Dance 90 days to divest from its U.S. assets and any data that TikTok had gathered in the U.S.

 Trump’s actions have pushed Byte Dance to seek a sale of Tiktok U.S. operations to a U.S. company. Microsoft and Oracle are among those that have recently held discussions for such a deal. The companies remain in negotiations for a potential acquisition of TikTok, which has more than 100 million regular users in the U.S.

 TikTok, which has repeatedly denied that it shares data with Beijing, previously tried to pacify the Trump administration. But as the White House’s actions escalated, TikTok became more critical of its moves.

 Representatives for the White House and the Department of Justice did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Reuters previously reported on Tiktok plan to file a lawsuit.

 Trump’s first executive order against TikTok draws its legal authority from the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, which allows the president to regulate economic transactions in a national emergency. Past administrations have used it to sanction foreign governments as well as terrorists, drug kingpins and hackers, but have never used it against a global technology company.

 Past administrations have also used the authority somewhat cautiously, wary that a legal challenge could result in a court curtailing some of the president’s expansive powers. Some Trump administration advisers have been concerned about such an outcome, but others view the economic powers as a kind of blank check, giving the administration wide-ranging authority to restrict U.S. commerce.

 Jason M. Waite, a partner at Alston & Bird, said the order raised serious questions, including whether the provision could be used to target people or companies registered in the U.S., even if they had a foreign parent company.

 “Using this authority against a Hezbollah leader does not present litigation risk like using this authority against a major global technology company,” he said. He added that the odds would be in the president’s favor but that the administration had still opened itself up to the possibility of having its economic powers curtailed.

 

2.United States just crossed the line debt hawks warned about for decades

-22 August 2020

Economists and deficit hawks have warned for decades that the United States was borrowing too much money. The federal debt was ballooning so fast, they said, that economic ruin was inevitable: Interest rates would skyrocket, taxes would rise and inflation would probably run wild.

The death spiral could be triggered once the debt surpassed the size of the U.S. economy — a turning point that was probably still years in the future.

 It actually happened much sooner: sometime before the end of June.

The coronavirus pandemic, and the economic collapse that followed, unleashed a historic run of government borrowing: trillions of dollars for stimulus payments, unemployment insurance expansions, and loans to prop up small businesses and to keep big companies afloat.

 But the economy has not drowned in the flood of red ink — and there is a growing sense that the country could take on even more without any serious consequences.

 “At this stage, I think, nobody is very worried about debt,” said Olivier Blanchard, a senior fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics and a former chief economist for the International Monetary Fund. “It’s clear that we can probably go where we are going, which is debt ratios above 100% in many countries. And that’s not the end of the world.”

That nonchalant attitude toward what were once thought to be major breaking points reflects an evolution in the way investors, economists and central bankers think about government debt.

As levels of debt among rich nations like the United States and Japan have climbed relentlessly in recent decades, the cost of carrying that debt — reflected in interest rates — has tumbled, leaving little indication that markets were losing confidence in the willingness and ability of these countries to carry their financial burdens.

And since the 2008 financial crisis, traditional thinking about borrowing by governments — at least those that control their own currencies — has further weakened, as central banks in major developed markets became enormous buyers in government bond markets.

 Critics repeatedly said this circular form of fiscal finance — in which one arm of the government, the central bank, basically creates the money needed to fund the arm of government that taxes and spends — would inevitably lead to a spiral of inflation, a spike in interest rates or a loss of confidence in the currencies. It didn’t.

 “This is a 40-year pattern,” said Stephanie Kelton, a professor of economics and public policy at Stony Brook University and a proponent of what’s often called Modern Monetary Theory. That view holds that countries that control their own currencies have far more leeway to run large deficits than traditionally thought. “The whole premise that deficits drive up interest rates, it’s just wrong,” she said.

At the end of last year, the United States was about $17 trillion in debt — roughly 80% of the gross domestic product. In January, government analysts predicted that debt would approach 100% of the GDP around 2030. But by the end of June, the debt stood at $20.53 trillion, or roughly 106% of GDP, which shrank amid widespread stay-at-home orders. (These numbers do not count trillions more the government owes itself in bonds held by the Social Security and Medicare trust funds.)

 

3.UK government debt exceeds £2 trillion for the first time in July

-21 August 2020

British government debt has exceeded £2.0 trillion for the first time following large state borrowing as the coronavirus pandemic pushed the UK economy deep into recession, official data showed Friday.

At the end of July, total accumulated debt hit £2.004 trillion ($2.61 trillion, 2.2 trillion euros), the Office for National Statistics (ONS) said in a statement.

The debt increased by £227.6 billion compared with July 2019.

 "This crisis has put the public finances under significant strain as we have seen a hit to our economy and taken action to support millions of jobs, businesses and livelihoods," finance minister Rishi Sunak said in a separate statement.

"Without that support things would have been far worse."

UK borrowing last month alone was estimated at £26.7 billion, the ONS said.

 

4. Departing World Trade Organization chief Roberto Azevedo gets top job at PepsiCo

-20 August 2020

The World Trade Organization's exiting chief, who is leaving the crisis-stricken institution a year ahead of schedule, will move to the private sector as a top executive at PepsiCo, the company said Thursday.

Roberto Azevedo, who on August 31 will step down as WTO Director-General after seven years at the helm, will the next day become an executive vice president and chief corporate affairs officer with PepsiCo, the US soft drink and snacks giant said in a statement.

 The company said the role had been created for the Brazilian career diplomat who will work on "solidifying PepsiCo's external engagement efforts with national and international (authorities), regulators, international organizations and non-governmental stakeholders."

 Azevedo, PepsiCo chief Ramon Laguarta said, would bring "valuable political skills and technical knowledge of the complex social, political, and regulatory environments" impacting the company.

 The departing WTO chief, who was educated as an engineer, said in the statement that he was "delighted to join PepsiCo at time when strengthening relationships between business, government and society has become essential to generating sustainable and inclusive long-term growth."

Azevedo, who made the surprise announcement in May that he would end his second WTO term 12 months early, for "personal reasons", is leaving the organization engulfed in multiple crises.

 One of eight candidates currently in the running to succeed him will be taking the reins in the midst of a devastating global economic downturn sparked by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Meanwhile, trade negotiations appear hopelessly stalled and trade tensions between the US and China continue to soar.

 At the same time, the appellate branch of the WTO's Dispute Settlement Body, sometimes called the supreme court of world trade, stopped functioning in December after years of relentless US opposition.

Washington accuses the court of major overreach and has blocked appointments of new judges, leaving it without the quorum needed to hear cases.

 Last month WTO members failed to agree on what had been expected to be a straight-forward appointment of one of four current deputy directors as an acting chief during the months-long selection process for a permanent leader.

 

5.World Trade Organization goods trade index hits record low, detects some recovery signs

-19 August 2020

The World Trade Organization said on Wednesday its goods trade barometer hit a record low, suggesting global merchandise trade registered a historic fall in the second quarter of 2020 as the coronavirus pandemic raged.

"Additional indicators point to partial upticks in world trade and output in the third quarter, but the strength of any such recovery remains highly uncertain: an L-shaped, rather than V-shaped, trajectory cannot be ruled out," the WTO said on its website.

 The barometer reading of 84.5 was down 18.6 points down from the year-ago period. In normal times, it anticipates changes in the trajectory of trade by a few months, but volatility triggered by the pandemic has reduced its predictive value.

"This reading - the lowest on record in data going back to 2007, and on par with the nadir of the 2008-09 financial crisis - is broadly consistent with WTO statistics issued in June, which estimated an 18.5% decline in merchandise trade in the second quarter of 2020 as compared to the same period last year," the WTO said.

The exact extent of the fall will become clear only when official trade data for April to June become available.

The WTO had forecast in April that global trade in goods would fall between 13% and 32% in 2020 before rebounding by 21-24% in 2021, but in June said rapid responses by governments meant its pessimistic scenario for this year was unlikely.

 "The WTO's June statistics implied a 14% drop in global merchandise trade volume between the first and second quarters of this year. This estimate, together with the new Goods Trade Barometer reading, suggest that world trade in 2020 is evolving in line with the less pessimistic of the two scenarios outlined in the WTO's April forecast," it said on Wednesday.

 

6.Britain's Marks & Spencer to shed 7,000 jobs in latest blow to retail sector

-18 August 2020

Marks & Spencer will cut a further 7,000 jobs, it said on Tuesday, as the COVID-19 crisis deals another blow to Britain's beleaguered retail sector.

"It is clear that there has been a material shift in trade and whilst it is too early to predict with precision where a new post-COVID sales mix will settle, we must act now to reflect this change," M&S said.Clothing and home trading in its stores remained well below last year though online and home delivery were strong, said the retailer, which has a UK workforce of about 78,000.

The 136-year old M&S is seeking to reinvent itself after decades of failed attempts. In May it said the crisis would indelibly change its business and that it would accelerate its turnaround plan.

 M&S said the crisis had shown it could work more flexibly and productively with more employees multi-tasking and switching between the food and clothing and home divisions. Its use of technology has also increased.

Last month M&S shed 950 store management jobs. Its latest cuts will impact its headquarters, regional management and UK stores over the next three months.

 The cuts add to thousands already announced by other major British retailers, including Boots, John Lewis, Dixons Carphone and WH Smith.

M&S expects a significant proportion of its cuts to be through voluntary departures and early retirement. Shop Workers' trade union Usdaw called for urgent talks.

 "These proposals are an important step in becoming a leaner, faster business set up to serve changing customer needs," CEO Steve Rowe said.

M&S shares were down 2.8% at 0818 GMT, extending 2020 losses to 48%.
The firm said it was retaining a cautious approach to planning for the balance of the year.

 Group sales were down 19.2% year on year in the 19 weeks to Aug. 8, which included part of Britain's lockdown period, with clothing and home sales down 49.1% and food sales down 1.1%.

Clothing and home sales were down 29.9% in the eight weeks since stores reopened. Store sales were down 47.9%, while online sales were up 39.2%.

 Food stores, which traded throughout the lockdown period, saw sales increase 2.5% in the latest eight weeks.

M&S said it was on track to launch an online food service next month through its partnership with Ocado.

 

7.Japan's economy shrinks at record rate, slammed by pandemic

-17 August 2020

Japan's economy shrank at annual rate of 27.8% in April-June, the worst contraction on record, as the coronavirus pandemic slammed consumption and trade, according to government data released on Monday.

 The Cabinet Office reported that Japan's preliminary seasonally adjusted real gross domestic product, or GDP, the sum of a nation's goods and services, fell 7.8% quarter on quarter.

 The annual rate shows what the number would have been if continued for a year.

 Japanese media reported the latest drop was the worst since World War II. But the Cabinet Office said comparable records began in 1980. The previous worst contraction was in 2009, during the global financial crisis of 2008-2009.

 The world's third largest economy was already ailing when the virus outbreak struck late last year. The fallout has since gradually worsened both in COVID-19 cases and social distancing restrictions.

The economy shrank 0.6% in the January-March period, and contracted 1.8% in the October-December period last year, meaning that Japan slipped into recession in the first quarter of this year. Recession is generally defined as two consecutive quarters of contraction.

Japanese economic growth was flat in July-September. Growth was minimal the quarter before that.

For the April-June period, Japan's exports dropped at a whopping annual rate of 56%, while private consumption dipped at an annual rate of nearly 29%.

That was without any full shutdown of businesses to contain coronavirus outbreaks, which have worsened in the past month, pushing the total number of confirmed cases to over 56,000.

Analysts say the economy is expected to recover gradually, once the impact of the pandemic is curbed. Japan's export-dependent economy relies heavily on growth in China, where outbreaks of the novel coronavirus began and have since subsided. But demand has remained subdued.

 Development of a vaccine or medical treatment for COVID-19 would also help, but prospects for such breakthroughs are unclear.

Since GDP measures what the economy did compared to the previous quarter, such a deep contraction will likely be followed by a rebound, unless conditions deteriorate further.

 On the other hand, some companies have reaped the rewards of people staying at home, such as the Japanese video-game maker Nintendo Co, whose recent profits have boomed.

Technology News

                                               ~by GAURAV

1.Why India need a strong cybersecurity policy 

soon

-23 August 2020

Prime minister Narendra modi on Saturday reiterated that the government will soon unveil a new cybersecurity policy. during his speech from the red fort on the 74^th Independence Day, Modi said that India is alert cautious and is taking decision to counter cyber threats and is constantly developing new systems.

The draft of National cyber security strategy 2020, that envisages creating a secure cyberspace in India is ready and is likely to be finalized this year.

The threats from cyberspace can endanger all these aspects of Indian life the government is alert to this threat and is taking all the necessary action,” Modi said the government recently banned several Chinese apps to apps to protect the personal data of the India users.

As nation-state bad actors from countries like china Russia and Pakistan amid the demand to keep the data of Indians to remain within the boundaries of the country the government has envisioned the country the government has envisioned the national cyber security strategy 2020”.Prime minister Narendra modi on Saturday reiterated that the government will soon unveil an new cybersecurity policy . during his speech from the red fort on the 74^th Independence Day, Modi said that India is alert cautious and is taking decision to counter cyber threats and is constantly developing new systems.

The draft of National cyber security strategy 2020, that envisages creating a secure cyberspace in India is ready and is likely to be finalized this year.

The threats from cyberspace can endanger all these aspects of Indian life the government is alert to this threat and is taking all the necessary action,” Modi said the government recently banned several Chinese apps to apps to protect the personal data of the India users.

As nation-state bad actors from countries like china Russia and Pakistan amid the demand to keep the data of Indians to remain within the boundaries of the country the government has envisioned the country the government has envisioned the national cyber security strategy 2020”.

2.With reels launch mark Zuckerberg’s personal

wealth hits $100 billon

-22 August 2020

The personal wealth of Facebook founder and CEO mark Zuckerberg has touched $100 billion after the social network launched a Tik Tok rival called integral reel this week .

With the launch of the short -video making app Facebook stock rose by more than 6% (Zuckerberg holds a 13 per cent stake in the social networking giant).

This rise, Zuckerberg has joined Amazona founder and CEO jeff Bezos and Microsoft’s bill gates in the exclusive the BBC.

Zuckerberg plant to donate 99 per cent of his Facebook share over his lifetime through the charitable foundation he set up with his wife priscilla Chan.

Amid uncertainties surround Tik Tok business in the US Facebook has introduced Instagram reels that will allow people to create and discover short entertaining videos.   

3.COVID-19 tracing app launches in northern 

Ireland

-21 August 2020

The stop COVID NI proximity App is available on both the apple store and google play and works by emitting anonymized coded key or identifier beacons which change every 15 minutes.

The UK government was developing its own app. which was originally supposed to rollout in England by June. however, the app was ineffective at tracking iPhone users and work was restarted using a new method developed by apple and google that the NI app is based upon.

The app has been designed to assist in stopping the spread of covid-19 by anonymously contact with someone who has tested positive for the virus. It will notify any app users that have been closer than two meters for more than 15 minutes in the previous 14 days.

4.Nasa’s latest mars rover blasts off in search of 

alien life

-20 August 2020

Nasa’s perseverance rover has successfully blasted off on its $2.4 Mission to mars atop an atlas 5 rocket signs of life on the planet.

The car – sized robotic spacecraft is set to deploy a mini helicopter on mars for the first times time and test equipment that may ultimately be used in a future manned mission.

The rocket carrying the rover launched from the cape Canaveral air force station in Florida today at around 12.50 pm GMT.

Dramatically a 4.2 magnitude earthquake shook southern California just 20 minutes before departure.

“I’m so relieved: Nasa’s science division chief Thomas Zurbuchen said on a live stream after the launch saying everything looking good.

5.EVs, batteries and the multi-million- ton scrap 

heap

-19 August 2020

As sale of electric vehicles start to soar, the thorny issue of what to do with end-of-life lithium ion batteries isn’t going away. we look at the problem and explore the solutions.

To say that the legacy of today’s electric vehicles is set to be a mountain of lithium-ion battery waste would be kind. in 2017 when worldwide sales of electrics vehicles exceeded one million cars per year for the first-time calculation from UK based University of Birmingham researchers revealed stark figures. these vehicles alone are destined to leave some 250,000 tons of unprocessed battery waste when they eventually reach the scrap heap in 2027 this is just the beginning.

Latest modelling from the Paris-based international energy agency indicates the number of electric cars on the road will lie between 125 million and 220 million by 2030. give this come the middle of this century the 250,000 –tone waste figure looks meagre against the tens of millions of tons of waste that could follow .and to make matters, recycling is playing catch-up.