India’s Finance Minister Sitharaman to table Economic Survey 2020-21

New Delhi, India: Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman will table the Economic Survey 2020-21 in Parliament on Friday, two days before the Union Budget is presented during the budget session of Parliament.

The Economic Survey, which is presented on the opening day of the budget session, provides a summary of the annual economic development across the country during the financial year.

The annual survey analyses the trends in infrastructure, agricultural and industrial production, employment, prices, exports, imports, money supply, foreign exchange reserves and other factors having an impact on the Indian economy and the budget.

The survey also puts out economic growth forecasts, provides justification and detailed reasons why it believes the economy will expand faster or decelerate. Sometimes, it also argues for some specific reform measures.

The Union Budget 2021 will be telecast live on Lok Sabha TV. Chief Economic Adviser KV Subramanian will address a press conference at 2.30 pm today in New Delhi after the presentation of Economic Survey 2020-21 by the Finance Minister in Parliament.

The Budget Session will begin today with an address by President Ram Nath Kovind to the joint sitting of two houses of Parliament.

The first part of the session will continue till February 15. The second part of the session will be held from March 8 to April 8.

Rajya Sabha will function from 9 am to 2 pm and Lok Sabha from 4 pm to 9 pm with Zero Hour and Question Hour.

Members of Parliament have been requested to undergo an RT-PCR test against COVID-19 before the start of the Budget session.

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Japanese woman hides her mother's corpse for 10 years

Tokyo: A Japanese woman who said she hid her mother's corpse in a freezer in her apartment for a decade told police she feared eviction if the death was discovered, media reported Saturday.

Police told AFP that Yumi Yoshino, 48, was held "on suspicion of abandoning and hiding a female body" found Wednesday inside the freezer in a Tokyo apartment.

Yoshino said she hid the body 10 years ago because she "didn't want to move out" of the home she shared with her mother, after finding her dead, local media reported, citing unnamed police sources.

The mother, thought to be aged around 60 at the time of her death, was named on the lease of the apartment in a municipal housing complex, Kyodo News said.

Yoshino had been forced to leave the apartment in mid-January after missing rent payments, the reports said, and a cleaner discovered the body in a freezer hidden in a closet.

An autopsy could not determine the time and cause of woman's death, the reports said.

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India: Farmers break barricades in Ghazipur, enter Delhi

New Delhi: Agitating young emembers from the farmer protest groups on Tuesday broke the police barricades at the Delhi-Uttar Pradesh Ghazipur border to enter the national capital, hours ahead of the their planned 'Kisan Gantantra Parade'.

Hundreds of farmers, comprising mostly young people removed the barricades forcefully even as senior members in the groups were seen persuading them not to take matters into their hands and protest in peaceful manner.

The youth also defied the conditions put by the farmers unions as they played loud music and rode their tractors at high speed on the highway that connects Delhi with Uttar Pradesh.

Delhi Police have made arrangements for security on the occasion of the Republic Day.

Earlier in the day, several groups broke the barricades at the Delhi-Haryana's Singhu and Tikri borders, to enter Delhi.

On Monday, the farmers unions said that their tractor parade will start only after the official Republic Day parade on Rajpath concludes. They also claimed that around 200,000 tractors were expected to participate in the parade in a show of strength and support.

Thousands of farmers from Punjab, Haryana and western Uttar Pradesh have been protesting at the several borders of the national capital since November 26 last year demanding repealing of three contentious farm laws passed in September to ensure minimum support price (MSP) for their produce.

Eleven round of talks of the government and the farmers have remained inconclusive as farmers also rejected the government's proposal to suspend the three farm laws for one and half years. Farmers want a complete roll back of the three laws.

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Pakistan put South Africa in a spin in Karachi, but tourists fight back in first test

Dubai: Pakistan spinners Yasir Shah and Nauman Ali took five wickets between them to restrict South Africa to 220 all out, but the home side faltered in reply to close on 33 for four on day one of a fast-moving first test in Karachi on Tuesday.

Azhar Ali and Fawad Alam were both not out on 5 and will resume on the second morning on a wicket already producing both turn and variable bounce, suggesting the visitors' modest first innings score could be par.

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In a major blow for the home side, captain Babar Azam (7) was trapped leg before wicket by spinner Keshav Maharaj just before the close of play.

South African fast bowler Kagiso Rabada (2-8) removed both Pakistan opening batsmen when he bowled Abid Ali (4) and then had debutant Imran Butt (9) caught at short leg from a vicious rising delivery.

Anrich Nortje then grabbed the wicket of Shaheen Shah Afridi (0) with a full delivery, only the fourth ball the hapless nightwatchman had faced.

South Africa were in many ways the architects of their own downfall with the bat, however, having won the toss in their first test in Pakistan since 2007.

They had two run outs in their top six, while captain Quinton de Kock (15) gave his wicket away with a wild swing across the line off left-arm spinner Nauman (2-38), who is playing in his first test at the age of 34.

Opener Dean Elgar (58) was the top scorer and looked in control until he drove at a wide delivery from Nauman and was caught at slip.

Rassie van der Dussen and Temba Bavuma were both run out on 17, while Yasir (3-54) picked up the key scalp of Faf du Plessis (23), who edged the ball to wicketkeeper Mohammad Rizwan.

Babar is captaining Pakistan in the test format for the first time having missed their recent series defeat in New Zealand with a thumb injury.

South Africa had initially included Tabraiz Shamsi as a third spinner in their line-up but he suffered lower back pain in the warm-up and was replaced by seamer Lungi Ngidi.

South Africa will play two tests and three Twenty20 Internationals on their tour, their first in Pakistan since a militant attack on the Sri Lanka team bus in Lahore in 2009 in which six policemen and two civilians were killed. 

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Who are the winners and losers as English Premier League reaches halfway?

Liverpool were thumped 7-2 by Aston Villa Image Credit: Reuters

An EPL season like no other

By Imran Malik, Assistant Editor

Have you ever seen anything like it? In all my years of watching the beautiful game, I can say, hand on heart, that the 2020/21 English Premier League season is shaping up to be the greatest of all time. And no, I’m not just saying that because my beloved Toffees are in with a genuine chance to win the title. Well, maybe I am, but then again, any of the current top 10 have a real chance to be crowned champions and that is why this is the most thrilling season there has been in years. Maybe ever. Definitely ever.

Usually at the halfway point, whoever is leading the pack tends to be closely followed by two or three others and it is a tight race until the bitter or sweet end — apart for the last campaign. Liverpool were home and hosed with 15 games still to play. That isn’t happening this time. Nobody is dominating and we seem to have a new leader after every round of fixtures. It’s incredible.

There have been surprises aplenty thus far and you can be sure there will be many more as the games come thick and fast. It’s time then for a half-term report on all 20 teams. There’s been good, bad, ugly and Sheffield United. Blades fans might want to look away now.

The 2020-21 Premier League standings at the halfway stage Image Credit: Seyyed Llata/Gulf News

1st — Manchester United
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has been under the spotlight ever since taking the job as manager and there were several moments last season when you thought he was on the verge of the sack. But United stuck with their former super sub and he has propelled them to the top of the table at the midway point of the season. They seem to start every game badly but go on to win. If Bruno Fernandes plays well United play well, while Marcus Rashford has been great on and off the pitch (he deserves all the plaudits for his campaigns on the issues of homelessness and child hunger in the UK). The Red Devils are leading the title race and have a healthy six-point advantage over current champions Liverpool — but the way this topsy-turvy season is shaping up, there’s no guarantee that they’ll stay there.
Half-term rating: 9/10

2nd — Manchester City
Much was expected this season from City and though they haven’t blown anyone away with any signs of scintillating football, their six-game winning run has seen them rise from mid-table to second. They are just two points behind neighbours United and have a game in hand. It is looking good for Pep Guardiola and he will be hoping the winning run continues but without star man Kevin De Bruyne, who has been ruled out with a hamstring injury for up to 6 weeks, it’ll be easier said than done. However, Ruben Dias has been solid as has — and I kid you not — John Stones.
8.5/10

3rd — Leicester City

They picked up brilliant away wins over City, Arsenal and Tottenham and will fancy themselves to keep the good form going into the second half of the season, but they will be without talisman Jamie Vardy for a few weeks as he undergoes an operation for a persistent hip problem. He’s banged in 11 goals this season and the loss of the 34-year-old could hit the Foxes hard. But Brendan Rodgers will have a few tricks up his sleeve — he is trying to tempt Christian Eriksen back to the Premier League (although his sky-high wages could be a stumbling block. Sorry mate, you’re not worth £300k a week) but you can expect Leicester to have another very good season.

8.5/10

4th — Liverpool
The US has had two Presidents since Liverpool last scored a goal in the league! The champions have not been at their best and lost their impressive 68 game unbeaten home record following Burnley’s smash and grab at Anfield. Having lost key man Virgil Van Dijk for the season, many believed the Reds would concede goals aplenty but the young lads Rhys Williams and Nat Phillips have done well, although Jordan Henderson does not look happy filling in at the back. However, with Sadio Mane and Mo Salah still a threat and Thiago Alcantara back from injury, Jurgen Klopp will demand a huge improvement if Liverpool are to defend their title. It’d take a brave man to bet against them. Well I’m brave and I’m an Evertonian. So, no, they won’t do it.
8/10

5th — Tottenham Hotspur
They’re not looking very convincing but then again nobody is and the way this season is shaping up, they will fancy their chances of topping the lot. With Harry Kane and Son Heung-min up front they’ll always have a goalscoring chance — but it seems they won’t be getting any ammunition from Dele Alli as his time at the club appears to be drawing to an end. You can expect Jose Mourinho to start the mind games soon, he always likes to have a little dig around this time. It’s far more preferable than all the whingeing.
7/10

6th — Everton
The last time Everton won all seven of our opening fixtures in all competitions came when none of us were even alive. It was during the 1894-95 season (ask your great, great, great grandad about it …) so you can understand the excitement at Goodison Park at having finally repeated the feat more than a century later. Following a little blip in form, serial winner Carlo Ancelotti has got them back on track and they’re sitting pretty in sixth with two games in hand. If they win those they can fly up to second. With a brand of football that is pleasing on the eye, Dominic Calvert-Lewin scoring for fun, Allan dominating the midfield and James Rodriguez back to his creative best, a top-four finish is the bare minimum that the Toffees should expect. We haven’t won the title since 1986-87 and I’m not saying we will this time, but we won’t have a better chance …
8.5/10

7th — West Ham United
David Moyes has had his fair share of criticism ever since taking the reins at Old Trafford but he proved during his time in the hot seat at Goodison that he can build teams that compete without much of a budget — and he is repeating that trick at West Ham. He’ll be rewarded with a new contract at the end of the season and deserves it not least for unearthing Tomas Soucek and Said Benrahma who have been brilliant signings. And that early-season comeback against Spurs will live long in the memory. Well, for Hammers fans anyway. But in all seriousness, that Manuel Lanzini leveller may well win goal of the season.
7.5/10

8th — Aston Villa
They were almost relegated last season then found themselves in the top four this season and are now in mid-table but have games in hand which if they win will see them back among the elite. They stuck with manager Dean Smith when many other clubs would have given him the boot and it’s paying off nicely. Much of Villa’s good work comes from Jack Grealish and if they can keep him injury free (heck, or just keep him — there are plenty of suitors out there) they could have a very good campaign. But as weird as this season has been, it is still hard to believe that they put seven past Liverpool ...
7.5/10

9th — Chelsea
Why so much expectation was thrust on Frank Lampard’s shoulders is one of life’s little mysteries. His only previous managerial experience was with lowly Derby, yet the Chelsea faithful reckoned the club legend would lead them to glory. He paid the price with his job on Monday. Due to the sheer peculiarity of this season, Chelsea are still in with a shout of the title. Owner Roman Abramovich has spent heavily yet again and will want the Blues fighting for the title. They have had an average campaign so far but are still within touching distance. Thiago Silva was brought in to provide some leadership at the back and with Mason Mount, Tammy Abraham and Kai Havertz at the business end of the pitch, they’ll be up there.
6.5/10

10th — Southampton
They have been good to watch as they play the game with a fast tempo and with the likes of Che Adams, Theo Walcott, Danny Ings and James Ward-Prowse, the Saints can be a handful on their day. Boss Ralph Hasenhuttl deserves credit for improving the team and there’s no reason why they can’t push on in the second half of the season for a Europa League spot at the very least.
8/10

11th — Arsenal
Do you remember Arsene Wenger’s Invincibles? Well, they’re calling Mikel Arteta’s Arsenal the Unthinkables. The current team looked ripe for a relegation dogfight having made their worst start to a season since 1974 but with four wins and a draw in the last five games, they’re in a slightly less precarious position. But, it may just be paper over the cracks. Arteta will have to hope he can keep the current form going but there is no hiding the fact that they have had an appalling first half of the season.
4.5/10

12th — Leeds United
Without question, they are everyone’s second favourite team. Whether they win or lose, they are always thrilling to watch, what with their all-or-nothing approach to every single game. They run around so much and cover every blade of grass that it isn’t a surprise the pitch at Elland Road has had to be relaid. They were smashed at Old Trafford yet even at 6-1 down they kept venturing forward in numbers in the hope they’d pull a goal back. Naive? Oh yes. But it sure is fun to watch. Patrick Bamford has been brilliant.
7/10

13th — Crystal Palace
With just one win in their last five following a bright start, Palace may be in for a bit of a struggle during the second half of the season. They have match winners in their ranks in Wilfried Zaha and Eberechi Eze — but will they be able to hold on to the former who almost left the club in January last year? Roy Hodgson will be hoping to get some consistency going and with the arrival of striker Jean-Philippe Mateta at Selhurst Park, Palace sure don’t lack an attacking threat. It’s at the other end of the pitch where they’re having problems.
5/10

14th — Wolves
We all thought they would kick on but they have struggled this season. They’re missing Raul Jimenez after that horrific head injury against Arsenal and will be hoping to get the deal done for striker Willian Jose from Real Sociedad as a replacement. They’ll need to start playing like we all know they can if they want to finish in the top half but it looks like it’ll be a transitional season for Nuno Espirito Santo.
5/10

15th — Burnley
Aside from the brilliant win at Anfield, it has been a difficult first half for Sean Dyche — but he did predict as much. They have the lowest budget in the league and lowest net spend too. They were in the bottom three for a while but they are finding their bullish self again however they will have to keep fighting for every point if they are to avoid being dragged into a relegation battle. It’s not been pretty but with the Clarets, it never is. Well, you know what they say — football teams are a reflection of their manager ...
4/10

16th — Newcastle United
They are where you expect them to be, hovering just above the relegation zone after Saturday’s 2-0 loss to Villa, and they should just do enough to stay there. Is that enough for the fans? No chance. And with Steve Bruce happy to serve up a bland style of football week in, week out, you wonder how long he’ll be at the helm. Still, Callum Wilson has been a hit following his move from Bournemouth but the Toon Army expect far more than what they’re getting. The return of Allan Saint-Maximin after two months out due to COVID should give them a lift.
4/10

17th — Brighton
They’re still playing an attractive brand of football and some would say they deserve more points, but the fact remains they have only three wins to their name and are in a battle to survive the dreaded drop. They managed that last season and Graham Potter will be hoping there are worse teams than his this time around again. Tariq Lamptey is a superstar in the making and if they can keep Adam Lallana fit they might just pull it off.
4/10

18th — Fulham
They did well to hold Liverpool to a draw and went one better against Leicester. Following a poor start, it appears they have the bit between their teeth (the draw against Spurs was arguably their best performance of the season). But, that Ademola Lookman penalty still haunts them and it is likely they’ll continue to struggle, however Scott Parker can take encouragement from some of their recent displays. Aleksandar Mitrovic must start firing on all cylinders.
4/10

19th — West Brom
Following a poor start to the season they got rid of Slaven Bilic — who did ever so well to get them promoted — for Sam Allardyce and not much has changed in terms of results or performances. He may have bitten off more than he can chew this time around. The Baggies don’t look fit, they don’t look organised, they struggle to score goals and they are leaking them at the other end. Can Fireman Sam pull off another rescue act? It’ll go down to the wire.
2/10

20th — Sheffield United
Nineteen games played and just one win to show for it, and that too thanks to a controversially awarded penalty. It’s been a disastrous season and it doesn’t look like improving. They were knocking on the European door last term but are now rock bottom and appear destined for the drop. It looks like they have forgotten how to defend and their finishing has been appalling and at times, laughable. Are they playing rugby? They seem to think so with a majority of shots at goal looking more like conversion attempts. It’s been like watching a rusty bicycle on a F1 track. Can Chris Wilder find that spirit of last season? He’ll have to, and fast.
1/10

Chelsea boss Frank Lampard is feeling the heat Image Credit: AP

The managerial sack race hots up

By Matthew Smith, Sports Editor

It is nearly February and despite the topsy-turvy manner of this season, until Monday we had only had one managerial casualty — Slaven Bilic at West Brom. Frank Lampard joined him on the scrapheap on Monday when he tasted ruthless Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich’s axe as his expensively assembled squad — Lampard spent more than 200 million pounds in the summer but players such as Timo Werner have failed to fire — stumbled to a series of poor results with five losses in eight games and the Blues have slid down the table.

However, one thing that is guaranteed, there will be more Premier League coaches joining the queue at the job centre before the season is out. But who else is in the firing line?


Steve Bruce Image Credit: AFP

STEVE BRUCE — NEWCASTLE
The former Manchester United star was always going to be up against it, with owner Mike Ashley failed to sell the club and refusing to shell out on new players. The Magpies are outside the relegation zone as it stands, but if their meek performance in a 2-0 loss to Aston Villa on Saturday is anything to go by, Bruce will be the fall guy and be on his way well before the end of the campaign as the club look to avoid the drop at any cost.


Chris Wilder Image Credit: AFP

CHRIS WILDER — SHEFFIELD
How Wilder has held onto his position this far is beyond me. There is patience then there is silly. It took until January 12 and 19 games for the Blades to pick their first win of the season — an unwanted Premier League record — and that was a shaky 1-0 win over a shonky Newcastle. The only reason I can think of for Wilder still clinging onto his job is a bit of faith after an impressive run in the league last season. That and the dearth of possible replacements. Not many coaches out there would fancy trying to get this mob into shape to even attempt a bid to stay up.


Mikel Arteta Image Credit: AP

MIKEL ARTETA — ARSENAL
The axe was looming large over the Gunners legend in his second year in the hot seat after departing Manchester City as Pep Guardiola’s assistant. A solid first campaign saw Arsenal finish eighth, qualify for the Europa League and triumph in the FA Cup over Chelsea at Wembley. However, a dramatic loss of form saw the Gunners slump to their worst start to a league season since 1974. a recent resurgence has eased the pressure somewhat, but Saturday’s defeat to Southampton in the FA Cup has cast a cloud over the Spaniard once again and another slump will lead to him being shown the exit door.


Jurgen Klopp Image Credit: Reuters

JURGEN KLOPP — LIVERPOOL
Yes, you read that right. Where did it all go wrong? As recently as September, Liverpool could do no wrong as they backed up their Champions League triumph in 2019 by storming to the English Premier League championship by a record 18-point margin over Manchester City, and left Manchester United trailing in third, a whopping 33 points adrift. But the tables have turned dramatically with United atop the league standings and Liverpool in crisis. On Sunday, Liverpool went down 3-2 to their old rivals at Old Trafford to crash out of the FA Cup. Reds boss Jurgen Klopp responded by saying “don’t worry about us”. But the truth is the Liverpool board will be worried and will soon start demanding answers before they are forced to make a change of their own. The Anfield club’s only victory in the past seven was over Aston Villa’s youth team in the last round of the Cup. We may not be worried Jurgen, but you should be. Steven Gerrard’s impressive run at Rangers in Scotland, means they have a ready-made replacement waiting in the wings.


Illustrative image. Image Credit: Pixabay

A timeline of the Premier League season so far

By Marwa Hamad, Assistant Editor

July-September

Season delayed due to COVID-19, as scheduling chaos erupts amid pandemic
The EPL 2020-21 was pushed back to September 12 instead of August 8. The 2019-20 season had previously been disrupted, including a three-month interruption, leading to a late finish date on July 26, instead of wrapping up in May.


An empty stadium as fans are forced to watch from home. Image Credit: AFP

Premier League unlikely to return to full capacity until vaccine, say experts
The Premier League, which had removed crowds toward the end of the 2019-20 season, would be unlikely to return to full capacity anytime soon. “Realistically I think it probably will need a vaccine and also a high take-up rate of that vaccine before we can really see full capacity stadia,” James Calder, part of the team that helped lay down protocols on return of sports, told the BBC in July.

Messi to Man City rumours grow; Robbo doesn’t want him anywhere near the EPL
As rumours grew that Messi would make a move from Barcelona to Manchester City, Liverpool’s Andy Robertson said he doesn’t want the Argentine icon anywhere near him. “He’s one of, if not the best player to ever play the game, so for him to go to one of your nearest rivals is probably never a good sign … I don’t want him anywhere near the Premier League and hopefully it stays that way,” admitted the Reds left-back.


Rumours swirled that Messi could move to Man City. Image Credit: Reuters

Leicester thrash Man City 5-2
In the first big upset of the season, Leicester thrashed Manchester City at the Etihad Stadium, including a hat-trick from Jamie Vardy. This marked the first time since 2003 that City conceded five foals at home since 2003.

October

Aston Villa deliver 7-2 thumping to Liverpool
In a shock result, Aston Villa thrashed Liverpool for a 7-2 result, including a hat-trick from Ollie Watkins and two goals from Jack Grealish. Villa, playing at home, only had 30 per cent possession, but still managed the massive result.

Virgil Van Dijk out of the game with brutal injury, Liverpool demand review 
The Reds luck got worse: star defender Virgil Van Dijk was wiped out for the remainder of the season with a brutal knee injury. Everton goalkeeper Jordan Pickford’s dangerous lunge out of goal resulted in an ACL rupture for Van Dijk. Despite the dangerous tackle from Pickford, the goalkeeper wasn’t booked; VAR ruled Van Dijk offside instead. Liverpool demanded the Premier League review the VAR calls from the Merseyside derby.


Liverpool's Dutch defender Virgil van Dijk leaves the field injured. Image Credit: AFP

Five substitute rule goes out the window 
The five substitute ruling, part of Project Restart, aimed to help players deal with the atypically intense scheduling in the wake of COVID-19 delays, and protect them from injuries. But it was voted out in October, which didn’t sit well with several outspoken managers. “I don’t understand and cannot believe that the vote went against that because we have to look after the players and think about the players,” says Manchester United manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer. Liverpool’s Jurgen Klopp blamed it on a “lack of leadership” while City boss Pep Guardolia questioned: “Why, in all the leagues is it happening, and here we cannot protect the players?”

Ozil excluded from Arsenal’s 25-man Premier League squad
In a shock move, Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta failed to name his most expensive player, Mesut Ozil, as part of his 25-man Premier League squad. This signalled the beginning of the end of Ozil’s time at Arsenal. By January, the German midfielder would complete a move to Turkish side Fenerbahce.


Mesut Ozil of Arsenal wears a dejected look on the pitch during the Champions League Round of 16 first-leg match against Bayern Munich at Allianz Arena, Munich. Image Credit: Agency

Petr Cech makes shock comeback for Chelsea
A 38-year-old Petr Cech was named an “emergency goalkeeper cover” as part of Chelsea’s 25-man Premier League squad. Cech had joined Chelsea’s coaching staff in 2019 after retiring from the game.


Petr Cech of Chelsea Image Credit: Agency

November

Liverpool draw with Manchester City
In one of the most anticipated matches of the season, Man City drew with Liverpool for a disappointing 1-1 result. Nonetheless both sides fought for the win. Klopp played his trusty trio of Roberto Firmino, Sadio Mane and Mohammad Salah at the front, though only Salah scored. Meanwhile, City’s Kevin de Bruyne missed a crucial penalty, and they only managed an equaliser from Gabriel Jesus.


Liverpool's Mohamed Salah makes an attempt to score during the English Premier League soccer match between Liverpool and Manchester City at Anfield stadium in Liverpool, England, Sunday, Nov. 10, 2019 Image Credit: AP

EPL scraps controversial pay-per-view model a month after launch
The league scrapped its controversial PPV model in the UK, only a month after it launched. The PPV model had mandated fans to pay £14.95 for games that had not been chosen for regular broadcast on television. It quickly drew harsh critiques.

Teams given green light to welcome 2,000 supporters to stadiums
Liverpool, Arsenal, Chelsea, Tottenham, Everton, Fulham, Crystal Palace and West Ham were among the EPL teams that would allowed to welcome crowds of up to 2,000 back to their stadiums starting December 2, following a new tiered system from the UK government. Klopp, however, questioned the logic behind the ‘2,000’ figure: “I don’t understand why you can put 2,000 people in a stadium with 60,000 [capacity], and 2,000 people in a stadium when 9,000 people would fit in,” he said. Meanwhile, Gary Neville wondered whether this would result in “unfair competition” as other clubs had to continue to play to empty stadiums for the time being.


Jurgen Klopp. Image Credit: Reuters

December

Two fixtures postponed, but the league refuses to suspend games
Aston Villa’s fixture against Everton, and Fulham’s clash with Tottenham were both postponed due to COVID-19 outbreaks, but the league refused to take another break to curb the spread of the virus. “The Premier League has not discussed pausing the season and has no plans to do so,” the league said. “The league continues to have confidence in its COVID-19 protocols to enable fixtures to be played as scheduled, and these protocols continue to have the full backing of government.”


Aston Villa COVID-19 breakout leads to postponed match. Image Credit: AFP

Premier League agree to £250m EFL bailout package
The Premier League struck an agreement with the English Football League for a 250-million-pound bailout package, to help mitigate the financial damage caused by COVID-19. “The Premier League is a huge a supporter of the football pyramid and is well aware of the important role clubs play in their communities. Our commitment is that no EFL club need go out of business due to COVID-19,” said chief executive of the Premier League, Richard Masters.

Mo Salah equals Ronaldo’s Premier League goalscoring record
The Liverpool winger matched Ronaldo’s Premier League goalscoring record after Liverpool defeated the Wolves 4-0. Salah scored his 84th Premier League in his 131st match, equalling Ronaldo’s tally of 84 Premier League goals in 196 matches. Salah was quicker to reach the total, needing 65 fewer games.


Cristiano Ronaldo's Premier League goalscoring record matched by Mo Salah. Image Credit: AFP

After less than a month,  clubs can no longer welcome fans 
After a short-lived period of allowing up to 2,000 fans into their stadiums, Liverpool and other EPL teams dropped to Tier 3 of a UK government plan, which meant they could no longer welcome any fans to their stadiums. Only teams chosen for Tier 1 and Tier 2 could welcome 4,000 and 2,000 fans respectively, and by end of December, all EPL teams had been removed from the higher tiers.

United thrash Leeds
Manchester United beat Leeds United 6-2, positioning them as worthy contenders for the title. At that point, United had been unbeaten for six of their previous seven matches and were within five points of table-toppers Liverpool.

January

Kane and Son match a record as they rack up assists
Harry Kane and Son Heung-min matched a 26-year-old Premier League record after their 3-0 win against Leeds United early this month. Kane and Son have combined for 13 goals this season, with one of them assisting the other, matching the record set by the ‘SAS’ of Chris Sutton and Alan Shearer for Blackburn Rovers in 1994-95.


Son Heung-Min scored four goals in Tottenham's win over Southampton Image Credit: Reuters

Mourinho says he refuses to submit his team to unrealistic schedule
The Spurs boss said he would not allow a repeat of what happened earlier this year, when Spurs had to play two Premier League fixtures, a Europa League match and a League Cup fixture within seven days. “The only thing we can say is that what we did in the beginning of the season is impossible to repeat and we refuse to repeat. We would never accept to play seven matches in three weeks like we did before,” said Mourinho.


Tottenham's Jose Mourinho saw his side lose to Leicester Image Credit: AP

Snodgrass investigation under way: Did it breach Premier League rules?
The Premier League began an investigation into whether an agreement between West Ham and West Brom over Robert Snodgrass’ transfer — which resulted in the midfielder being excluded from a match between the two teams — has broken any competition rules. “[We agreed] this game he wouldn’t be allowed to play. If we needed to get the player, which we did, we had to agree to that,” said West Brom manager Sam Allardyce in a prematch interview. But the league rules state: “No club shall enter into a contract which enables another party to that contract to acquire the ability materially to influence its policies or the performance of its teams in league matches.”


Robert Snodgrass. Image Credit: AFP

Fifa’s concussion subs trial to be implemented by Premier League
Concussion substitutes are soon to arrive to the Premier League. The league’s top-flight clubs agreed this month to add two extra permanent substitutes, who can only be brought on in case of a concussion or a suspected concussion, as part of a Fifa trial. If a team makes a concussion substitution, the opposing team can then make an additional change, as well.

Managers question virus celebration fears
After the Premiere League issued a new celebration edict this month in the hopes of curbing the spread of COVID-19, some managers questioned the need. “So to control the emotions is a fair ask, but to dictate emotion will probably be very difficult on the pitch,” said Chelsea manager Frank Lampard. “If that’s what the protocols are we’ll try our best to adhere to it. But I can’t promise that anyone won’t get carried away if they score a goal,” said Allardyce.


Chelsea celebrate Image Credit: Reuters

Sergio Aguero out with COVID-19 after City confirms three more cases
Manchester City’s woes grow as their top-scorer Sergio Aguero, who was out for months recovering from a knee surgery, tested positive for COVID-19. “After a close contact, I’ve been self-isolating and the latest test I took was positive for COVID-19. I had some symptoms and I’m following doctor’s orders for recovery. Take care, everyone,” wrote Aguero. City earlier this month confirmed several new cases of COVID-19, including goalkeeper Scott Carson, teen midfielder Cole Palmer and one unnamed member of staff.


Sergio Aguero Image Credit: AFP

Frank Lampard gets the sack after five league losses in eight games
Lampard’s FA Cup victory on January 24 (3-1 against Luton Town) was short-lived. The Chelsea manager - and former Chelsea player - got the sack on January 25 after failing to provide the results needed, leaving in Chelsea sitting in the mid-table. “We are grateful to Frank for what he has achieved in his time as Head Coach of the Club. However, recent results and performances have not met the Club’s expectations, leaving the Club mid-table without any clear path to sustained improvement,” a statement from the club read. The favourite to replace him is former Paris Saint-Germain manager Thomas Tuchel.


Frank Lampard gets the axe. Image Credit: AP


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Abdullah bin Zayed, Al Owais call Danish counterparts, affirm commitment to COVID-19 testing protocol

Dubai: Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, discussed, during a telephone call on Thursday with Jeppe Kofod, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Denmark, ways of deepening cooperation, sharing information and rallying efforts to collectively combat the COVID-19 pandemic.

Meanwhile, Abdul Rahman bin Mohammad bin Nasser Al Owais, Minister of Health and Prevention, spoke with Danish Health Minister Magnus Heunicke in a telephone call, to confirm the integrity of testing in the UAE and overall oversight and regulatory mechanisms according to the highest international standards.

During the calls, the UAE ministers called for clarification on the details of cases behind the decision to temporarily suspend flights from the UAE, noting that the UAE authorities have requested additional information on the timing and location of positive cases that reportedly traveled from the UAE to Denmark.

The UAE ministers underscored UAE's commitment to working with Denmark to collaboratively address concerns that may arise in the future. The ministers also highlighted that to date, over 25 million COVID-19 tests have been conducted in the UAE.

It is worth noting that the UAE and Denmark are among the top countries with the highest testing rates for COVID-19.

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Netflix testing sleep time feature on Android

San Francisco: Video-streaming platform Netflix is testing a new feature on Android devices globally that would allow subscribers to set a timer for their viewing period.

According to The Verge, after the selected time limit comes to an end, the Netflix app would stop.

The new feature lets people choose between four timer settings - 15 minutes, 30 minutes, 45 minutes or end of whatever people are watching.

This should in theory help conserve battery life on Android devices while also ensuring that episodes don't continue to auto-play, the report said on Friday.

Although, the test is limited to select users globally with Android devices right now, Netflix would explore bringing it to other devices, including TV sets and desktops, depending on how widely the product is adapted and if subscribers seem to like it.

As of now, the feature is only available on adult profiles. Although, it seems like a perfect feature for kids, especially where screen time is concerned, it is not available right now.

The company could potentially make a version of the feature more applicable for account profiles designed for children in the future, the report said.

However, it is not clear when this feature might be available for all the users on Netflix.

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India mother accused of killing daughters says she is Hindu deity ‘Shiva’

Hyderabad: A mother in Andhra Pradesh who battered her two daughters to death has now claimed to be Hindu deity Shiva and that COVID-19 came from her body particles.

The police are now planning to move the woman and her husband to a bigger hospital in Tirupati.

A local court in Madanpalle remanded the couple – Assistant Professor in Chemistry V Purushottam Naidu and his wife and school principal V Padmaja - to 14-day judicial custody and were lodged in local sub-jail. When the parents, who were arrested by the police after the brutal murder of their daughters 27-year-old Alekhya and 22-year-old Sai Divya in Mandanapalle town of Chittoor district, on Sunday night were produced before the judge, the woman continued to behave like she was in trance blabbering incoherent sentences.

Police found the battered and bloodied bodies of the two girls lying in a pool of blood in their home. Police found several tell-tale marks of religious rituals in the house suggesting that the double murder was related to some superstitious beliefs. The heads of the girls were half tonsured and there were marks of vermillion on them. There were small silver pots in their mouths. Police say the two girls were naked when they were killed but were later draped in red sarees.

Elder sister Alekhya (sitting) with her sibling Sai Divya. Image Credit: Family album

Police investigating the case say the daughters were murdered under some superstitious belief that they would be reborn in a “new and better age”.

Before being produced in the court when the couple were taken to the government hospital in Madanapalle, Padmaja refused to undergo any coronavirus test. “I am Lord Shiva. Coronavirus came from my body particles. Not from China. I won’t undergo any test,” she shouted at the team of doctors and nurses. When a police official counselled her to give a swab test, she shouted back, “Who are you to advise me”. She also claimed that COVID-19 would go away in March on its own. When her husband tried to intervene she pushed him away. “You are not my husband”, she declared.

Later medical staff collected the sample forcibly and she was shifted to court.

Purushottam Naidu, on the other hand, cooperated with the authorities in undergoing the coronavirus test.

In the sub-jail both the husband and wife refused to eat anything as if observing a fast.

Trance

Police officials said that the woman continued to be under some trance or delusion and they were now planning to shift her to a hospital in Tirupati town for further examination and treatment.

Deputy Superintendent of Police Ravi Manohara Chari said that the police had approached the court for permission to take her to Tirupati hospital.

Dr. Radhikha, a psychiatrist in Madanapalle hospital, told the media that the mental and psychological condition of the parents was not good. “But they can come out of the trance if treated properly”.

Police have booked a murder case against the couple under Section 302 of Indian Penal Code naming the father and mother as first and second accused.

The police team was going through CCTV footage of the past week to establish the goings on at the place leading to the incident. Police say that the two girls were battered to death by the mother using a trident and dumbbells.

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Watch: Singapore launches new self-driving bus trial

Singapore has moved a step closer to a driverless public transport network with the launch of a new trial of self-driving buses.

Orderly and high-tech, the Asian city-state has become a testbed for self-driving vehicles and has developed home-grown technology while inviting foreign companies to trial their own.

In a three-month trial launched this week, passengers can book a bus ride through an app that takes them around Singapore's Science Park, a high-tech business hub, during off-peak hours.

The charge is just Sg$0.20 ($0.15).

It is not the first self-driving bus trial in the city but is the first to charge a fee.

Singapore's first trial of self-driving buses came in 2015, while a trial of driverless road sweepers was launched earlier this year.

Despite the technology on the buses, a driver is still at the wheel to take control if necessary and must drive the bus manually along part of the route.

Khor Jing Qian, a 23-year-old student who took the bus to attend a scholarship interview on Wednesday, said the journey, which took about 10 minutes, was "convenient and easy".

"It was unnatural to see the bus driver not driving, but I've heard of these kinds of technologies, I've seen them before, so I think this is quite an innovative thing and definitely the way forward," he told AFP.

The shuttles are also operating in another area of the city on a fixed schedule as part of the same trial, according to a statement from the Ministry of Trade and Industry.

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WHO team visits 2nd Wuhan hospital in virus investigation

Wuhan: Members of a World Health Organization team investigating the origins of the coronavirus pandemic visited another Wuhan hospital that had treated early COVID-19 patients on their second full day of work on Saturday.

Jinyintan Hospital was one of the city's first to deal with patients in early 2020 suffering from a then-unknown virus and is a key part of the epidemiological history of the disease.

The team's first face-to-face meetings with Chinese scientists took place on Friday, before the experts who specialize in animal health, virology, food safety and epidemiology visited another early site of the outbreak, the Hubei Integrated Chinese and Western Medicine Hospital.

The Geneva-based WHO said late Thursday on Twitter that its team plans to visit hospitals, markets like the Huanan Seafood Market that was linked to many of the first cases, the Wuhan Institute of Virology, and laboratories at facilities including the Wuhan Center for Disease Control.

``All hypotheses are on the table as the team follows the science in their work to understand the origins of the COVID19 virus,'' WHO tweeted. It said the team had already requested ``detailed underlying data'' and planned to speak with early responders and some of the first patients.

The mission has become politically charged, as China seeks to avoid blame for alleged missteps in its early response to the outbreak.

A single visit by scientists is unlikely to confirm the virus's origins. Pinning down an outbreak's animal reservoir is typically an exhaustive endeavor that takes years of research including taking animal samples, genetic analysis and epidemiological studies.

One possibility is that a wildlife poacher might have passed the virus to traders who carried it to Wuhan. The Chinese government has promoted theories, with little evidence, that the outbreak might have started with imports of frozen seafood tainted with the virus, a notion roundly rejected by international scientists and agencies.

A possible focus for investigators is the Wuhan Institute of Virology. One of China's top virus research labs, it built an archive of genetic information about bat coronaviruses after the 2003 outbreak of SARS, or severe acute respiratory syndrome.

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Pakistan secures 17m doses of AstraZeneca vaccine through COVAX

Islamabad: Pakistan has secured 17 million doses of AstraZenecas COVID-19 vaccine under a global scheme to deliver coronavirus treatments to developing nations, a government health official said on Saturday.

About 6 million of the doses will arrive in the first quarter of 2021 under the COVAX scheme, with the remainder due by mid-year, Faisal Sultan, special assistant to the Prime Minister on National Health Services, said in a statement.

Pakistan signed up last year to the vaccine sharing scheme coordinated by the World Health Organisation to support lower-income countries.

“We remain confident that we will meet our plan of large-scale immunisation over the coming months this year,” Sultan said.

Pakistan expects to receive 500,000 doses of a vaccine made by China National Pharmaceutical Group (Sinopharm) in coming days. It will launch a vaccination drive, which will initially target healthworkers, next week.

The South Asian nation of 220 million people also expects China to donate a further one million doses.

Having already approved the AstraZeneca and SinoPharm vaccines, Pakistan is also likely to approve Russia’s Sputnik V, officials say, adding that the authorisations will be reviewed quarterly.

Pakistan reported 2,179 new infections and 65 deaths in the latest 24-hours, taking the total number of cases to 543,214, with 11,623 deaths.

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COVID-19 contained in India: Health minister

New Delhi: India has flattened its COVID-19 graph and 146 districts have reported no new case of the viral disease in the last seven days, 18 in 14 days, six in 21 days and 21 districts in the last 28 days, Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan said on Thursday.

This has been achieved due to pro-active testing with more than 195 million COVID-19 tests conducted in the country so far, Vardhan, who chaired the 23rd meeting of the high-level Group of Ministers (GoM) on COVID-19 through a video-conference, said, according to a statement issued by the health ministry.

The current testing capacity is 1.2 million tests per day, the minister added.

"With the 'Whole of Government' and 'Whole-of-society' approach envisaged by Prime Minister Narendra Modiji, India has successfully contained the pandemic. Less than 12,000 cases were reported in the last 24 hours and the active caseload has reduced to just 173,000," he said.

Vardhan informed that a meagre 0.46 per cent of the 173,000 active COVID-19 cases is on ventilators, 2.20 per cent is in the ICU and 3.02 per cent is on oxygen support.

The minister stated that 165 cases of a new UK variant of the virus have so far been reported in the country and the patients are kept under supervised quarantine and surveillance.

India has flattened its COVID-19 graph, he said.

No new cases in 146 districts

A total of 146 districts across the country have no new cases for the last seven days, 18 for the last 14 days, six for 21 days and 21 districts have not reported fresh cases of the coronavirus infection in the last 28 days, Vardhan said.

The health minister said that India has supported other countries with the supply of the COVID-19 vaccines during this global public health crisis and trained the personnel of several nations in vaccine administration.

"By being a 'mitra' (friend) to the global community, India has earned global trust by supplying indigenously made vaccines at this crucial hour," he was quoted as saying in the statement.

This handout picture taken on January 28, 2021, and released by Sri Lankan President's Office shows Sri Lanka's President Gotabaya Rajapaksa (L) receiving the first consignment of the Covid-19 coronavirus vaccine, manufactured by the Serum Institute of India, from the Indian High Commissioner Gopal Baglay (R), at Bandaranaike international airport in Colombo. Image Credit: AFP

Dr Sujeet K Singh, Director, National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC), presented a detailed report on the current and future scenario of COVID-19 in India, drawing a comparison with the trajectory of the confirmed cases and growth rates of the viral disease in other countries.

India has reported a seven-day growth rate of 0.90 per cent, among the lowest in the world, he stated.

Analysis of pandemic trajectory

Singh presented a granular analysis of the trajectory of the pandemic in India, pointing towards critical parameters like day-wise confirmed new cases with the growth rate, recovery rate, case-positivity rate, trend of active cases, concentration of cases in particular districts and other trends such as fatality and the spread of the new UK-variant cases across different states.

India's Case Fatality Ratio is showing a declining trend from 3.4 per cent in mid-June 2020 to the current rate of 1.4 per cent due to effective clinical management, he said.

The NCDC director also informed that Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu have the highest recovery rate of 99.79 per cent, followed by Arunachal Pradesh (99.58 per cent) and Odisha (99.07 per cent), while Kerala has a recovery rate of 91.61 per cent because of its present high active caseload.

Most active cases

He added that Mumbai, Thiruvananthapuram, Ernakulam, Kottayam and Kozhikode are the top five districts in the country currently in terms of reporting the highest number of active cases.

Maharashtra and Kerala account for 70 per cent of the active cases in India at the moment, Singh said.

He advised caution in the coming months, based on the nature of the transmission of the virus being witnessed in other countries and due to its mutant strain being reported throughout the world.

Through a detailed presentation, Dr Vinod K Paul, Member (Health), NITI Aayog, and Rajesh Bhushan, Union Health Secretary, apprised the GoM of the progress of the development of vaccines in the country and the vaccination drive launched by the prime minister on January 16, the statement said.

The health secretary showcased the logistics of the vaccination exercise and the gains made so far. He said over 11.2 million doses of the vaccines were distributed among the states and Union territories within three days (from January 12-14) prior to the start of the exercise and an additional 11.5 million doses were supplied to the states and Union territories by January 20.

A total of 69,000 programme managers, 250,000 vaccinators and 440,000 other team members have been trained so far and 9,376,030 healthcare workers and 5,394,098 frontline workers are now registered on the Co-WIN portal.

Dr Paul informed that India currently occupies the sixth spot in the world in providing vaccination coverage and will move to the third place in the next few days.

He said 16 AEFI hospitalisations out of 2.3 million vaccinations so far translate to just 0.0007 per cent with no case of severe or serious AEFI or death due to vaccination reported so far.

The GoM also discussed issues regarding balancing domestic requirements vis-a-vis requests from other countries for Indian vaccines.

The GoM meeting was joined by External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar, Civil Aviation Minister Hardeep Singh Puri, Minister of State for Health Ashwini Kumar Choubey, Minister of State for Home Affairs Nityanand Rai and Minister of State for Ports, Shipping and Waterways, and Chemical and Fertilisers Mansukh Mandaviya.

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House sending Trump impeachment to Senate, GOP opposes trial

Washington: As the House prepares to bring the impeachment charge against Donald Trump to the Senate for trial, a growing number of Republican senators say they are opposed to the proceeding, dimming the chances that former president will be convicted on the charge that he incited a siege of the US Capitol.

House Democrats will carry the sole impeachment charge of “incitement of insurrection” across the Capitol late Monday evening, a rare and ceremonial walk to the Senate by the prosecutors who will argue their case. They are hoping that strong Republican denunciations of Trump after the Jan. 6 riot will translate into a conviction and a separate vote to bar Trump from holding office again.

But instead, GOP passions appear to have cooled since the insurrection. Now that Trump’s presidency is over, Republican senators who will serve as jurors in the trial are rallying to his legal defence, as they did during his first impeachment trial last year.

“I think the trial is stupid, I think it’s counterproductive,” said Sen. Marco Rubio. He said that “the first chance I get to vote to end this trial, I’ll do it” because he believes it would be bad for the country and further inflame partisan divisions.

Trump is the first former president to face impeachment trial, and it will test his grip on the Republican Party as well as the legacy of his tenure, which came to a close as a mob of loyal supporters heeded his rally cry by storming the Capitol and trying to overturn Joe Biden’s election. The proceedings will also force Democrats, who have a full sweep of party control of the White House and Congress, to balance their promise to hold the former president accountable while also rushing to deliver on Biden’s priorities.

Arguments to begin on Feb 8

Arguments in the Senate trial will begin the week of Feb. 8. Leaders in both parties agreed to the short delay to give Trump’s team and House prosecutors time to prepare and the Senate the chance to confirm some of Biden’s Cabinet nominees. Democrats say the extra days will allow for more evidence to come out about the rioting by Trump supporters, while Republicans hope to craft a unified defence for Trump.

Sen. Chris Coons said in an interview with The Associated Press on Sunday that he hopes that evolving clarity on the details of what happened Jan. 6 “will make it clearer to my colleagues and the American people that we need some accountability.”

Coons questioned how his colleagues who were in the Capitol that day could see the insurrection as anything other than a “stunning violation” of tradition of peaceful transfers of power.

“It is a critical moment in American history and we have to look at it and look at it hard,” Coons said.

An early vote to dismiss the trial probably would not succeed, given that Democrats now control the Senate. Still, the mounting Republican opposition indicates that many GOP senators would eventually vote to acquit Trump. Democrats would need the support of 17 Republicans _ a high bar - to convict him.

When the House impeached Trump on Jan. 13, exactly one week after the siege, Sen. Tom Cotton, said he didn’t believe the Senate had the constitutional authority to convict Trump after he had left office. On Sunday, Cotton said “the more I talk to other Republican senators, the more they’re beginning to line up” behind that argument.

“I think a lot of Americans are going to think it’s strange that the Senate is spending its time trying to convict and remove from office a man who left office a week ago,” Cotton said.

Precedent

Democrats reject that argument, pointing to a 1876 impeachment of a secretary of war who had already resigned and to opinions by many legal scholars. Democrats also say that a reckoning of the first invasion of the Capitol since the War of 1812, perpetrated by rioters egged on by a president who told them to “fight like hell” against election results that were being counted at the time, is necessary so the country can move forward and ensure such a siege never happens again.

A few GOP senators have agreed with Democrats, though not close to the number that will be needed to convict Trump.

Sen. Mitt Romney, said he believes there is a “preponderance of opinion” that an impeachment trial is appropriate after someone leaves office.

“I believe that what is being alleged and what we saw, which is incitement to insurrection, is an impeachable offense,” Romney said. “If not, what is?”

But Romney, the lone Republican to vote to convict Trump when the Senate acquitted the then-president in last year’s trial, appears to be an outlier.

Sen. Mike Rounds, said he believes a trial is a “moot point” after a president’s term is over, “and I think it’s one that they would have a very difficult time in trying to get done within the Senate.”

On Friday, GOP Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, a close Trump ally who has been helping him build a legal team, urged the Senate to reject the idea of a post-presidency trial - potentially with a vote to dismiss the charge - and suggested Republicans will scrutinise whether Trump’s words on Jan. 6 were legally “incitement.”

Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell, who said last week that Trump “provoked” his supporters before the riot, has not said how he will vote or argued any legal strategies. The Kentucky senator has told his GOP colleagues that it will be a vote of conscience.

One of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s nine impeachment managers said Trump’s encouragement of his loyalists before the riot was “an extraordinarily heinous presidential crime.”

Rep. Madeleine Dean, said “I mean, think back. It was just two-and-a-half weeks ago that the president assembled a mob on the Ellipse of the White House. He incited them with his words. And then he lit the match.”

Trump’s supporters invaded the Capitol and interrupted the electoral count as he falsely claimed there was massive fraud in the election and that it was stolen by Biden. Trump’s claims were roundly rejected in the courts, including by judges appointed by Trump, and by state election officials.

Rubio and Romney were on “Fox News Sunday,” Cotton appeared on Fox News Channel’s “Sunday Morning Futures” and Romney also was on CNN’s “State of the Union,” as was Dean. Rounds was interviewed on NBC’s “Meet the Press.”

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With Amazon billions, MacKenzie Scott shakes up philanthropy

Washington: Food banks, immigrant rights groups, and struggling colleges across the US discovered a surprise benefactor last year as billions of dollars flowed into organizations hurting during the pandemic from MacKenzie Scott, the ex-wife of Amazon founder Jeff Bezos.

Scott unlocked a staggering sum of nearly $6 billion in charitable gifts last year, and unlike many other large donors did not attach any restrictions or even naming rights requirements.

The approach has shaken up the philanthropic world, not only with the size of her gifts, but without the limits and accounting requirements of many large foundations or donors.

Laura MacDonald, board chair of the Giving USA Foundation, a nonprofit which conducts research on philanthropic giving, said Scott's approach is part of a movement of "trust-based philanthropy" which does away with some of the red tape imposed by many donors.

MacDonald said Scott's approach moved beyond the "Big Brother" approach of some donors and the venture capital mindset which permeates much of the business world.

"Trust-based philanthropy has catapulted to the top of the list of taking points" in the philanthropic world as a result of Scott's initiative, MacDonald said.

"This may embolden other donors to try something and take more risks."

In December, Scott's latest funding round included 384 organizations ranging from Blackfeet Community College in Montana to the Arkansas Food Bank to the Immigrant Families Fund.

"This pandemic has been a wrecking ball in the lives of Americans already struggling," Scott wrote in a blog post.

"Economic losses and health outcomes alike have been worse for women, for people of color, and for people living in poverty. Meanwhile, it has substantially increased the wealth of billionaires."

Lots to celebrate

Philanthropy activists say Scott's actions are likely to make other billionaires - including her ex-husband - take notice.

"There is a ton to celebrate about her philanthropy," said Phil Buchanan, president of the Center for Effective Philanthropy, which provides research data to foundations and other charitable donors.

"I would hope that the sheer amount of money she is getting out the door and her intention to continue to do so is a kick in the pants to all those sitting on tremendous wealth at time of unbelievable challenge and need."

Scott, whose Amazon stake acquired in her divorce settlement is estimated at some $58 billion, pledged to give away the majority of her wealth to fight social inequity.

She announced grants of some $1.7 billion last July and another $4.2 billion in December.

She enlisted a team of advisors to help identify organizations to aid those suffering from the economic toll of the pandemic, focusing on those working to combat hunger, poverty and racial inequity.

While her ex-husband Bezos has donated $10 billion to fight climate change - the largest charitable gift of 2020 - and additional amounts to other causes, his giving has been slower and proportionately smaller, given that his fortune is worth more than three times hers.

The former couple could offer a major boost to philanthropy in the US, which represented some $450 billion in donations from Americans in 2019.

Speed and scale

Benjamin Soskis, senior research associate at the Center on Nonprofits and Philanthropy at the Urban Institute, said Scott's actions are remarkable not only for their scale but the speed in delivering the funds.

"The pandemic has amplified an imperative in getting money out the door as fast as possible," Soskis said.

Additionally, Scott has broken with much of philanthropic tradition by eliminating onerous restrictions and limits, which can complicate matters for organizations scrambling to cope with the pandemic.

"She has emphasized giving money and getting out of the way," Soskis said.

"Philanthropists often see themselves as part of the process, with multiple checks and evaluations and metrics which can be really burdensome."

One potential critique of Scott's approach is her "opaque" process in which she has selected grant recipients, Soskis said.

"She is operating in a realm of absolute discretion that is not accountable to anyone," he said.

Still, Soskis said her actions set an important precedent which could be a positive force for philanthropy.

"We shouldn't underestimate the role MacKenzie Scott plays in establishing a new norm for philanthropic giving," Soskis said.

"Any major philanthropist has to confront the example that she has set."

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YouTube Shorts eyes TikTok competition with 3.5 billion daily views in India

YouTube Shorts - the video-sharing website's quick clips meant to compete with TikTok - are racking up 3.5 billion views a day during beta testing in India, the platform's head said Tuesday.

Susan Wojcikci explained the feature in a note laying out her 2021 priorities.

"So far, videos in our new Shorts player - which helps people around the world watch short videos on YouTube - are receiving an impressive 3.5 billion daily views!" she said.

"We're looking forward to expanding Shorts to more markets this year."

YouTube, a subsidiary of Google, unveiled Shorts in mid-September, describing the videos as "a new way to express yourself in 15 seconds or less."

The feature, directly integrated into the existing YouTube interface, is currently only available in India as part of development work.

The new format is seen as a way for Google to compete with Gen Z-favorite TikTok, which currently has 700 million users worldwide.

Former president Donald Trump had threatened to ban TikTok - owned by Chinese group ByteDance - from the United States when he accused the company, without formal proof, of spying on behalf of Beijing.

Facebook-owned Instagram responded to TikTok's popularity with their own short video format called Reels last August.

And in November, Snapchat launched Spotlight, a public feed of content produced by users.

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Photos: Thais seek to restore fortunes with mock funerals

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Look: Women leaders of the world

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US health workers, stuck in the snow, administer coronavirus vaccine to stranded drivers

Portland: The public health workers were driving back from a vaccination site in rural Cave Junction, Oregon, on Tuesday when they got stuck in a snowstorm on the highway.

They knew they had only six hours to get the remaining doses of coronavirus vaccine back to people who were waiting for their shots in Grants Pass, roughly 48km away. Normally, the trip takes about 45 minutes.

But with a jackknifed tractor-trailer ahead of them, the crew realised they could be stuck for hours and the doses would expire.

So the workers made the decision to walk from car to car asking stranded drivers if they wanted to be vaccinated, right there on the spot.

"We had one individual who was so happy, he took his shirt off and jumped out of the car," said Michael Weber, the public health director in Josephine County, Oregon.

Another recipient, he said, was a Josephine County Sheriff's Office employee who had arrived too late for the clinic in Cave Junction but ended up stuck with the others on her way back to Grants Pass.

Most drivers laughed at the offer of a roadside coronavirus vaccine and politely declined, even though Weber said he had a doctor and an ambulance crew on hand to help oversee the operation. He acknowledged it was not the typical setting for a vaccination.

"It was a strange conversation," Weber said. "Imagine yourself stranded on the side of the road in a snowstorm and having someone walk up and say: 'Hey. Would you like a shot in the arm?'"

Still, Weber said the public health workers had administered all six doses of the Moderna vaccine to six grateful drivers.

Weber called it "one of the coolest operations" he had ever been a part of and said it had been an easy decision to administer the shots on the highway.

"Honestly, once we knew we weren't going to be back in town in time to use the vaccine, it was just the obvious choice," he said. "Our No. 1 rule right now is nothing gets wasted."

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Photos: Battling COVID-19 in the laundry of a Paris hospital

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India: Mother batters two daughters to death in Andhra Pradesh believing they will come back to life

Hyderabad: In a horrifying incident, a mother bludgeoned her two daughters in their 20s allegedly at the advice of a tantric priest or black magician. This happened even as their father watched the grisly act in silence.

The shocking incident occurred in Ankieshettypalle village of Chittoor district in Andhra Pradesh on Sunday night.

Police reached the scene of the incident after a tip off. The police identified the victims as 27-year-old Alekhya and 22-year-old Sai Divya. Police said after the double murder, the girls’ father informed his colleague over phone about the incident, who in turn alerted the police.

Religious rituals

Police have taken both the parents into custody and recovered a trident and a dumbbell used to kill the two girls.

Elder sister Alekhya (sitting) with her sibling Sai Divya. Image Credit: Family album

Police officials said they would send the parents for medical examination to ascertain their mental condition. While the mother, V. Padmaja, a gold medalist in MSC (mathematics) works as principal and correspondent at Masterminds IIT Talent School, the father, V. Purushottam Naidu, is an Associate Professor of Chemistry at Women’s Government Degree College at Madanapalle, police said.

The battered and bloodied bodies of the two girls lying in a pool of blood were moved to the government hospital at Madanapalle. Police found several tell-tale marks of religious rituals in the house suggesting that the double murder was related to some superstitious beliefs. The heads of the girls were half tonsured and there were marks of vermillion on them. There were small silver pots in their mouths. Police say the two girls were naked when they were killed but were later draped in red sarees.

‘Highly educated family’

The elder sister Alekhya had completed her MBA and was working at a forest management institute in Bhopal, while the younger Sai Divya, after completing her graduation in Business Administration, was learning music at AR Rahman Music Academy in Chennai. Both the girls were on a home visit and were staying at family home where the family had moved only last year.

Hundreds of curious people gathered outside the recently built house of the family as the heinous act sent shock waves across the state. A CLUES team rushed to the town from the district headquarters of Chittoor to gather evidence of what happened on Sunday. Police also seized the photo albums showing the family together and posing with various idols and religious figures.

Deputy Superintendent of Police Ravi Manohara Chary who is supervising the probe said that the police were looking into the incident from all possible angles. “We are also going through the CCTV footage to identify all the people who visited the house over the last few days to establish the motive behind the murder”.

'Girls will be reborn'

When the police rushed to the house late last night, the parents resisted them and opposed removing the bodies saying that the “girls will come back by morning”. “The Atmas (souls) left and they were supposed to come back. But they did not. I have lost my daughters,” a hysterical Padmaja told the police later. Police officials described the condition of the mother as “delusional”.

While Padmaja insisted they she did the act on her own and nobody had advised her to do so, police were trying to find the people who visited the house for rituals over the past few days. Police believe that some one brainwashed the parents that their daughters will be reborn in “Satyug” (era of truth).

The police are also going through the social media handles of both the girls to understand what happened to them.

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India: Serial killer in Hyderabad released on bail, murders two more women

Hyderabad: Hyderabad police have arrested a serial killer who allegedly murdered two more women after the court released him on bail.

Hyderabad city police commissioner Anjani Kumar told the media that Maina Ramulu was involved in the killing of 18 women over the last 24 years and was arrested and convicted earlier in 16 cases of murder.

Police said Ramulu turned a psychopath at the age of 21 and targeted married women after his wife eloped with her boyfriend.

Hyderabad Police Task Force arrested 45-year-old Ramulu in the city in connection with the murder of two women in Ghatkesar and Siddipet towns in December 2020.

His modus operandi was to pick up most of his victims at toddy or country liquor vends and kill them at isolated spots. Police said he used to approach women in their 30s and intoxicate them by offering liquor and lure them to isolated places apparently to have sex. In many cases after killing women with stones or strangulating them he would burn their faces by pouring alcohol to make identification difficult.

More crimes

He continued to commit the crimes even after serving an eight-year term in jail and coming out on bail. In the latest incidents he picked up one Venkatamma from a liquor vend in Yusufguda area of Hyderabad on December 30 and killed her at an isolated spot in Ghatkesar.

The other victim, an unidentified woman in her 30s, was picked up from a vend in Balangar area of the city and strangled to death at a village near Siddipet.

After his first arrest in 2009 in Narsingi near Hyderabad, a local court sentenced Ramulu to life imprisonment on February 2011. During his imprisonment he was admitted to mental hospital in Hyderabad for treatment. While staying in hospital he along with other five other inmates escaped on December 30, 2011.

During the next two years he committed five more murders on the outskirts of the city and was re-arrested by the police in May 2013. Later, he approached the High Court for release and committed two more murders while on bail.

“I suffered a lot because of what my wife did to me. I killed these women to see that others don’t suffer like me,” Maina Ramulu told the police after his arrest.

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AstraZeneca 'not selling EU doses to other countries': CEO

Paris: AstraZeneca's CEO insisted Tuesday that the company was not selling vaccines ordered by the European Union to other countries at a profit, after delayed orders sparked fury from EU leaders.

The British-Swedish drugs firm admitted last week that it would not meet its contractual delivery commitments to the EU because of "reduced yields" in its European supply chain.

That prompted European Health Commissioner Stella Kyriakides to announce that the EU plans to start tracking vaccine shipments exported to non-member countries - a sign of growing distrust.

"The European Union wants to know exactly which doses have been produced where by AstraZeneca so far, and if or to whom they have been delivered," she said Monday.

AstraZeneca's CEO Pascal Soriot sought to calm the situation on Tuesday, acknowledging that European governments were growing "aggravated or emotional" due to repeated stumbling blocks in their vaccine rollouts.

"Our team is working 24/7 to fix the very much issues of production of the vaccine itself," he told the LENA European newspaper alliance.

He stressed: "We're certainly not taking vaccines away from the Europeans to sell it somewhere else at the profit."

The company, which teamed up with Oxford University to develop its vaccine, has pledged not to make a profit on sales of the jab during the pandemic.

The company is working with Oxford to develop a vaccine that specifically targets a more infectious South African strain of COVID-19, Soriot said.

UK 'had time to fix glitches'

Europe's AstraZeneca woes came a week after US group Pfizer said it was also cutting early delivery volumes of its vaccine produced with German firm BioNTech.

Those two announcements have risked up-ending the EU's vaccination programmes while heaping pressure on the European Commission, which took on the task of negotiating vaccine orders on behalf of all 27 member states.

Soriot noted that recently-departed EU member Britain - which said Tuesday it was confident of receiving all its vaccine doses - had started its rollout three months earlier.

"So with the UK we have had an extra three months to fix all the glitches we experienced," he said.

The Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine is still awaiting regulatory approval in the EU, with a decision from the European Medicines Agency due Friday.

The firm said last year that it had agreed with the European Commission to supply up to 400 million doses to the EU.

"As soon as we get an approval by EMA, in the next few days, we will be shipping at least three million doses immediately to Europe," Soriot said.

"The target is to deliver 17 million doses by February."

Europe is on track to receive 17 percent of AstraZeneca's global production in February "for a population that is 5 percent of the world population", he noted.

The AstraZeneca vaccine is cheaper than that produced by rivals such as Moderna and Pfizer, and is also easier to stock since it does not need to be kept at ultra-low temperatures.

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'Doomsday Clock' stuck at 100 seconds to midnight

Washington: The 'Doomsday Clock' illustrating the perils facing the planet and mankind will remain at 100 seconds to midnight this year amid the threats of the coronavirus pandemic, nuclear war and climate change.

'The hands of the Doomsday Clock remain at 100 seconds to midnight, as close to midnight as ever,' Rachel Bronson, president of the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, said in a statement.

'The lethal and fear-inspiring Covid-19 pandemic serves as a historic 'wake-up call,' a vivid illustration that national governments and international organizations are unprepared to manage the truly civilization-ending threats of nuclear weapons and climate change,' Bronson said.

The decision on setting the hands of the clock is taken by board members from the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, which was founded in 1945 by Albert Einstein and University of Chicago scientists who helped develop the world's first atomic weapons.

The board members include 13 Nobel laureates.

Created in 1947, the clock moved to 100 seconds to midnight in January of last year - the closest to midnight it has been in its history.

It was originally set at seven minutes to midnight. The furthest it has ever been from midnight is 17 minutes, following the end of the Cold War in 1991.

Former California governor Jerry Brown, executive chair of the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, said it's 'time to eliminate nuclear weapons, not build more of them.

'Likewise, with climate change: the US, China and other big countries must get serious about cutting lethal carbon emissions - now,' Brown said.

Susan Solomon, professor of environmental studies at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), said 'the pandemic-related economic slowdown temporarily reduced the carbon dioxide emissions that cause global warming.

'But over the coming decade fossil fuel use needs to decline precipitously if the worst effects of climate change are to be avoided,' Solomon said.

Former Liberian president Ellen Johnson Sirleaf said the Covid-19 pandemic 'is a terrible warning against complacency in the face of global threats to all human life.

'It is only through collective action and responsible leadership that we can secure a peaceful and habitable planet for future generations,' she said.

The Bulletin members recommended that the United States and Russia extend the New START nuclear treaty and that the US return to the nuclear deal with Iran.

They also urged governments, technology giants and media organizations to cooperate on finding 'practical and ethical ways to combat internet-enabled misinformation and disinformation.'

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Observatory, space museum planned in Islamabad for stargazers

Islamabad: Pakistan’s capital city is all set to get an observatory and a space museum to take the stargazers on a spectacular journey through the universe.

The observatory will be established under a joint initiative of the Ministry of Science and Technology and Pakistan Science Foundation (PSF) for which the Institute of Space Technology (IST) will provide technical expertise.

The idea is to offer the public an understanding of space and astronomy and to inspire the next generation of scientists with enriching and engaging experience, Dr Tariq Masood, who is leading the project, told Gulf News. “There will be full-dome projection system, guided tours that teach about the solar system, educational science films offering visitors a unique view of the universe. The attraction will be open for all where people can enjoy both day and night sky views,” Dr Masood, joint scientific adviser at the ministry of science, said.

Dr Fazeel Mahmood Khan, associate professor of space science at IST who is supervising the technical aspect of the project, said the observatory would also help resolve the moon sighting issue while educating students and sparking an interest in science and space technology. His team hopes to acquire at least a 14-inch diameter reflector telescope or an advanced version for the observatory.

Location and facility

Architect Arif Masood, who is best known for the iconic Pakistan Monument landmark, is working on the observatory’s design. The facility is expected to be completed within six months as the CDA has already approved the site in Shakarparian. Although the location is far from ideal as the best sites for observatories are located away from the cities and at a high altitude, the Islamabad facility in the heart of the city will offer easy access to visitors to view the sky through the telescope, experts say.

Observatories all over Pakistan

The science ministry has also planned an observatory in each province after the successful completion of the Islamabad project. The experts, however, suggest replacing obsolete instruments and reviving planetariums in major cities such as Karachi, Lahore and Peshawar, which lost all charm due to poor maintenance and lack of funds. Instead of financing new ventures, “the federal government must revamp and invest in the existing planetariums that the local staff is running despite severe financial crunch,” said Humaira Khan, coordinator of schools, at PIA planetarium Karachi.

Engage local experts

Observatories play a key role in improving public understanding of astronomy in an engaging and effective manner, Dr Farrukh Shahzad, an Islamabad-based amateur astronomer, told Gulf News. “It is crucial to realise that an observatory is more than just a telescope or a facility that offers sky gazing opportunity. It is an investment in scientific education, research, innovation, which requires both expertise and instruments” to reach the goal of public education as well as research, explained Dr Shahzad, a founding member of PakAstronomers Islamabad (PAS) group active since 2007.

He urged the government to engage local experts and utilize their skills as they have been actively promoting space science and astronomy with educational activities and hands-on training in Islamabad for over two decades.

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