Lunar New Year - In The Know Singapore
Singapore is celebrating the Lunar New Year by keeping to this series of measures during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.
Singapore is celebrating the Lunar New Year by keeping to this series of measures during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.
Myanmar's ambassador to Britain Kyaw Zwar Minn called on Monday for the release of his country's detained leader Aung San Suu Kyi and ousted President Win Myint, drawing praise from British foreign minister Dominic Raab for his "courage". "We request the release of State Counsellor Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and President U Win Myint," he said in a statement published on the embassy's Facebook page after speaking to Raab and Britain's minister for Asia, Nigel Adams. Britain has called for the release of Suu Kyi and other leaders toppled in a Feb. 1 military coup, and demanded the restoration of democracy.
The number of people treated in French intensive care units (ICUs) for COVID-19 reached a 14-1/2-week-high on Monday, at 3,849, while total hospitalisations for the disease increased for the second day running, to 25,195. The number of people in ICUs is still almost two times lower than the 7,184 peak recorded in April 2020 but remains well above a government target level of 2,500-3,000 for easing coronavirus limits on the circulation of people. Illustrating the stress on the French health system, medical authorities of the greater Paris region - which accounts for roughly one-sixth of the French population - have ordered hospitals to cancel 40% of their planned normal activity to make space for COVID-19 patients in critical condition.
Two Saudi women have revved up to make historyLocation: Dahran, Saudi ArabiaMashael Alobaidan and Dania Akeel are the the first Saudi women to compete at an international rally(SOUNDBITE) (English) SAUDI FEMALE RALLY DRIVER, MASHAEL ALOBAIDAN, SAYING:"I say this message, not only to girls but to boys and everyone in the world, every human: If you love something, just go for it. If you see obstacles, just push push push until you do the things you love and enjoy life."Saudi Arabia lifted the ban on female drivers in 2018
British Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab praised Myanmar's ambassador to London who on Monday called for the release of Aung San Suu Kyi and President Win Myint, both of whom were detained in a military coup last month. "I commend the courage and patriotism of Myanmar Ambassador Kyaw Zwar Minn in calling for Aung Sung Suu Kyi and President U Win Myint to be released and for the results of the 2020 election to be respected," Raab said in a statement.
Finance minister Rishi Sunak aims to balance Britain's public finances by relying 60% on tax rises and 40% on spending cuts, a sharp reversal of the government's approach after the 2008-09 recession, the country's budget watchdog said on Monday. Sunak's budget plans last week showed Britain's budget deficit falling to 4% of gross domestic product in 2023/24 from a peacetime high of 19% of GDP in 2020/21, when borrowing paid for most of the financial cost of the COVID-19 pandemic. "If you look at the ratio of this budget's consolidation to what's been done in the past, it's about 60% being done by tax and about 40% being done through spending," Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) chairman Richard Hughes told parliament's Treasury Committee.
Daily COVID-19 testing will be administered for all players and staff and there will be no fans in attendance for semi-final action on March 26 and the following day's Isobel Cup Final, the NWHL said in a news release. Top-seeded Toronto will face Boston in the first semi-final followed by a clash between Minnesota and Connecticut. The six-team NWHL had originally planned to hold the entire two-week regular season and playoffs in Lake Placid, New York, but were forced to suspend play on the eve of the semi-finals because of positive tests for the novel coronavirus.
Phil Mickelson has fallen outside the top 100 of the Official World Golf Ranking for the first time in 28 years. In the new rankings released Monday, Mickelson was ranked No. 101, ending his record streak at 1,425 weeks. Additionally, Rory McIlroy of Northern Ireland, who was ranked No. 1 early in June 2020, fell out of the top 10, replaced by Bryson DeChambeau, winner of the Arnold Palmer Invitational on Sunday.
Despite multiple scientific studies saying the COVID-19 vaccine manufactured by AstraZeneca it is safe and effective, some residents in Europe are turning down that particular shot.They include 60-year-old Nadine Roger who lives in Paris. She’s recovering from breast cancer and is in the high risk category.She told Reuters “The AstraZeneca (shot) frightens me," and said she’s prepared to wait for an alternative dose, despite wanting to get vaccinated as soon as possible."The AstraZeneca vaccine requires two doses spaced three months apart. Three months is a very long time, especially after one year of being deprived from going out. So, the vaccine is not yet proven against variants, there's too little data on variants."According to the most recent data made available by the French health ministry, for the end of February, France was only using about a quarter of its AstraZeneca doses, compared with 82% for vaccines made by Pfizer/BioNTech and 37% for the Moderna shot. Partly due to logistical bottlenecks, but also because some French people don't trust the AstraZeneca shot because of concerns over side effects.European regulators have concluded the side-effects cause by the AstraZenaca vaccine are not a cause to doubt its safety. A study in Scotland covering 5.4 million people showed it, and the Pfizer vaccine, were highly effective in preventing severe infections.Student nurse, Anais Marmol Palacio views any reaction as minor and certainly not worse than getting the virus."I got COVID, and I don't want to get it a second time. I'm 18 and I had to go to the emergency room. If I got it a second time, we don't know what can happen. I prefer to have less effects and just have the fever (from AstraZeneca vaccine) than to be on oxygen."After initial concerns, France, Germany, and Italy have changed tack and are now giving the Astrazeneca vaccine to people over 65.
Shoppers are calling them the "best leggings ever."
Indie studios and streamers dominated the nominations for the 32nd annual Producers Guild of Awards, which were announced on Monday by the Producers Guild of America. Netflix and Amazon each landed three films on the list of 10, with Netflix’s “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom,” “Mank” and “The Trial of the Chicago 7” making the list along with Amazon’ “Borat Subsequent Moviefilm,” “One Night in Miami” and “Sound of Metal.” The nominees also included A24’s “Minari,” Searchlight’s “Nomadland,” Focus Features’ “Promising Young Woman” and the sole film from a major studio, Warner Bros.’ “Judas and the Black Messiah.” (“Nomadland” was released by the Disney-owned Searchlight, and “Promising Young Woman” by the Universal-distributed Focus Features.) Also Read: Writers Guild Nominates 'Trial of the Chicago 7,' 'One Night in Miami' - and 'Borat' Too Among the notable films missing from the PGA list are Universal’s Paul Greengrass Western “News of the World”; Christopher Nolan’s “Tenet,” which Warner Bros. released into theaters during the summer, to limited success; Spike Lee’s “Da 5 Bloods” from Netflix; and Florian Zeller’s “The Father” from Sony Pictures Classics. “Tenet” and especially “News of the World” are the kind of large-scale productions that would normally be celebrated by the Producers Guild, but both were overlooked after a year in which theatrical distribution for films like those was nearly impossible. In general, Producers Guild feature-film nominations are a reliable predictor of Oscar success: Since the Academy and the Guild both expanded from five to 10 nominees in 2009, 87 of the 111 Producers Guild nominees have gone on to receive Oscar nominations, accounting for almost 90% of the Oscar nominations during that stretch. The two awards have never completely agreed during that stretch, mostly because the Producers Guild stuck with a flat 10 nominees when the Academy moved to a variable number in 2011. But in three of the last four years, the slate of PGA nominees has included every film that would go on to be nominated for the Oscar. Also Read: SAG Awards 2021: The Full List of Nominees In the 30 years of the Producers Guild Awards, which began in 1989, only once, in 1996, has the eventual Oscar Best Picture winner (which was “Braveheart” that year) not been first nominated by the guild. In the animated feature category, two Pixar movies, “Soul” and “Onward,” were nominated alongside “The Croods: A New Age,” “Over the Moon” and “Wolfwalkers.” Television nominations went to “Better Call Saul,” “Bridgerton,” “The Crown,” “The Mandalorian” and “Ozark” in the drama category, and “Curb Your Enthusiasm,” “The Flight Attendant,” “Schitt’s Creek,” “Ted Lasso” and “What We Do in the Shadows” in comedy. Limited-series and TV-movie nominees included “I May Destroy You,” “Normal People,” The Queen’s Gambit,” “Bad Education,” “Hamilton” and “What the Constitution Means to Me.” Winners will be announced during a virtual ceremony on March 24. The nominations: Darryl F. Zanuck Award for Outstanding Producer of Theatrical Motion Pictures “Borat Subsequent Moviefilm” Producers: Sacha Baron Cohen, Monica Levinson, Anthony Hines “Judas and the Black Messiah” Producers: Charles D. King, Ryan Coogler, Shaka King “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom” Producers: Denzel Washington, Todd Black “Mank” Producers: Ceán Chaffin, Eric Roth, Douglas Urbanski “Minari” Producer: Christina Oh “Nomadland” Producers: Frances McDormand, Peter Spears, Mollye Asher, Dan Janvey, Chloé Zhao “One Night in Miami …” Producers: Jess Wu Calder & Keith Calder, Jody Klein “Promising Young Woman” Producers: Josey McNamara, Ben Browning, Ashley Fox, Emerald Fennell “Sound of Metal” Producers: Bert Hamelinck, Sacha Ben Harroche “The Trial of the Chicago 7” Producers: Marc Platt, Stuart Besser Award for Outstanding Producer of Animated Theatrical Motion Pictures “The Croods: A New Age” Producer: Mark Swift “Onward” Producer: Kori Rae “Over the Moon” Producers: Gennie Rim, Peilin Chou “Soul” Producer: Dana Murray “Wolfwalkers” Producers: Paul Young, Nora Twomey, Tomm Moore, Stephan Roelants Norman Felton Award for Outstanding Producer of Episodic Television – Drama “Better Call Saul” Producers: *Eligibility Determination Pending* “Bridgerton” Producers: *Eligibility Determination Pending* “The Crown” Producers: Peter Morgan, Suzanne Mackie, Stephen Daldry, Andy Harries, Benjamin Caron, Matthew Byam Shaw, Robert Fox, Michael Casey, Andy Stebbing, Martin Harrison, Oona O’Beirn “The Mandalorian” Producers: Jon Favreau, Dave Filoni, Kathleen Kennedy, Colin Wilson, Karen Gilchrist, John Bartnicki, Carrie Beck “Ozark” Producers: Jason Bateman, Chris Mundy, Bill Dubuque, Mark Williams, Patrick Markey, John Shiban, Miki Johnson, Matthew Spiegel, Erin Mitchell, Martin Zimmerman, Peter Thorell Danny Thomas Award for Outstanding Producer of Episodic Television – Comedy “Curb Your Enthusiasm” Producers: *Eligibility Determination Pending* “The Flight Attendant” Producers: Greg Berlanti, Kaley Cuoco, Steve Yockey, Meredith Lavender, Marcie Ulin, Sarah Schechter, Suzanne McCormack, Jess Meyer, Raymond Quinlan, Jennifer Lence, Erika Kennair “Schitt’s Creek” Producers: Eugene Levy, Daniel Levy, Andrew Barnsley, Fred Levy, David West Read, Ben Feigin, Michael Short, Kurt Smeaton, Kosta Orfanidis “Ted Lasso” Producers: Bill Lawrence, Jason Sudeikis, Jeff Ingold, Bill Wrubel, Liza Katzer, Jane Becker, Jamie Lee, Kip Kroeger, Brendan Hunt, Tina Pawlik, Joe Kelly “What We Do in the Shadows” Producers: Jemaine Clement, Taika Waititi, Paul Simms, Scott Rudin, Garrett Basch, Eli Bush, Stefani Robinson, Sam Johnson, Marika Sawyer, Derek S. Rappaport David L. Wolper Award for Outstanding Producer of Limited Series Television “I May Destroy You” Producers: *Eligibility Determination Pending* “Normal People” Producers: Lenny Abrahamson, Sally Rooney, Ed Guiney, Andrew Lowe, Emma Norton, Anna Ferguson, Catherine Magee “The Queen’s Gambit” Producers: William Horberg, Allan Scott, Scott Frank, Marcus Loges, Mick Aniceto “The Undoing” Producers: Susanne Bier, David E. Kelley, Per Saari, Nicole Kidman, Bruna Papandrea, Stephen Garrett, Celia Costas, Deb Dyer “Unorthodox” Producers: Anna Winger, Henning Kamm, Alexa Karolinksi Award for Outstanding Producer of Televised or Streamed Motion Pictures “Bad Education” Producers: Fred Berger, Eddie Vaisman “Dolly Parton’s Christmas on the Square” Producers: *Eligibility Determination Pending* “Hamilton” Producers: Thomas Kail, Lin-Manuel Miranda, Jeffrey Seller “Jane Goodall: The Hope” Producers: *Eligibility Determination Pending* “What the Constitution Means to Me” Producers: *Eligibility Determination Pending* Award for Outstanding Producer of Non-Fiction Television “60 Minutes” Producer: Bill Owens “The Last Dance” Producers: *Eligibility Determination Pending* “Laurel Canyon Producers: *Eligibility Determination Pending* “McMillions” Producers: *Eligibility Determination Pending* “Tiger King: Mayhem, Murder and Madness” Producers: *Eligibility Determination Pending* Award for Outstanding Producer of Live Entertainment & Talk Television “8:46 – Dave Chappelle” Producers: *Eligibility Determination Pending* “The Daily Show With Trevor Noah” Producers: *Eligibility Determination Pending* “Last Week Tonight With John Oliver” Producers: *Eligibility Determination Pending* “The Late Show With Stephen Colbert” Producers: *Eligibility Determination Pending* “Saturday Night Live” Producers: *Eligibility Determination Pending* Award for Outstanding Producer of Game & Competition Television “The Amazing Race” Producers: Jerry Bruckheimer, Bertram van Munster, Jonathan Littman, Elise Doganieri, Mark Vertullo, Phil Keoghan “The Masked Singer” Producers: *Eligibility Determination Pending* “Nailed It” Producers: *Eligibility Determination Pending* “RuPaul’s Drag Race” Producers: *Eligibility Determination Pending* “The Voice” Producers: *Eligibility Determination Pending* Read original story Producers Guild Nominations Range From ‘Nomadland’ to ‘Borat’ At TheWrap
Novak Djokovic surpassed Roger Federer for the most weeks at No. 1 in the ATP rankings on Monday. Djokovic is in his 311th week in the top spot, one more than Federer has spent there. “Big day today,” Djokovic tweeted Monday.
WWE is shutting down WWE Network as a standalone service in the U.S. next month, when it will move exclusively to NBCUniversal’s Peacock. The cutover date is April 4 — a week ahead of WrestleMania 37 — and prior to that, WWE Network customers will need to have signed up for a Peacock subscription in […]
Wrigley the 130 pound dog sits on Marshmallow the kitten in order to reclaim his bed. Priceless!
Cornelius meets Deerick the deer for the very first time. This is the beginning of a beautiful friendship! @jillzymarie
Pluto LOVES his banana time! Check out those dance moves!
A metal barrier erected around Mexico’s National Palace ahead of planned International Women’s Day demonstrations was turned into a memorial by activists on March 7.This footage, posted to Twitter, shows the mural honoring women identified by activists as victims of femicide.According to local news reports, the mural also displayed several women’s rights messages, including a call for the legalization of abortion and criticism of Felix Salgado Macedonio – a candidate for governor of the state of Guerrero who has been accused of rape.El Universal reported that the barrier was erected to prevent damage to the National Palace, but dozens of families and women’s rights groups converted the metal fencing into a memorial. Credit: Liliana Sánchez via Storyful
A majority of matches from the opening weekend will be held the following day, the EFL announced on Monday. The governing body of the three divisions below the Premier League said in a statement that playoff final games will be held at Wembley Stadium in the last two weekends of May 2022. The League One playoff final will take place on May 21, 2022 before League Two and Championship (second-tier) playoff finals on May 28 and 29 next year respectively.
Outsider Cees Bol won a crash-strewn stage two of Paris-Nice on Monday as the industrious Australian Michael Matthews took the yellow jersey in his first major race for the Bike Exchange team.
Iran has started enriching uranium with a third cascade, or cluster, of advanced IR-2m centrifuges at its underground plant at Natanz, the U.N. nuclear watchdog told its member states on Monday, further breaching Iran's 2015 deal with major powers. "On 7 March 2021, the Agency verified ... that: Iran had begun feeding natural UF6 into the third cascade of 174 IR-2m centrifuges," the International Atomic Energy Agency said in a report obtained by Reuters, referring to uranium hexafluoride, the feedstock for centrifuges.
Swiss fintech firm Taurus Group has integrated the decentralized finance (DeFi) Aave Protocol into its asset infrastructure, allowing banks and exchanges to deposit and borrow digital assets.