Coronavirus
Mining Sector Set to Lead Economic Recovery in Zambia
Sourced from Lusaka Times. Despite a challenging business environment in many sectors across the globe, Zambia’s wealth of natural resources continues to open the door for new investors and opportunities. As the world begins its recovery and gradual reopening in the face of the pandemic, traditional industries require energy, innovation and reinvention. ZCCM Investments Holdings Plc. – the mining conglomerate whose major shareholder is the Government of the Republic of Zambia – is signalling its intention to take on a leadership role in Zambia’s recovery with its announcement this week that they are partnering with a new strategic mining play – Array Metals. This company has an estimated inferred resource by JORC standards of 3 million tonnes of gold ore in Mumbwa, with 2.53.5grams per ton...
Matthew McConaughey Delivers 110,000 Masks to Rural Hospitals in Texas
Texas native Matthew McConaughey and his wife Camila Alves have delivered 110,000 medical masks to rural hospitals in the Lone Star State. The personal protective equipment was paid for by automobile company Lincoln, for whom McConaughey is a spokesperson. The Oscar-winning actor made the announcement in a Facebook statement. He posted a photograph of a well-stocked pickup truck, almost overflowing with boxes labelled for Lincoln’s parent company Ford. He captioned the pic, “me and Camila Alves hitting the road to get em to rural hospitals in need across Texas.” The nationwide mask shortage has continued into May, with a recent Washington Post-Ipsos poll finding that two-thirds of health care workers report PPE shortages, with 80% having worn one mask for an entire shift, and 70% re-w...
China reports no new coronavirus cases in 24 hours
China on Saturday reported zero new coronavirus infections for the first time since it started reporting data in January, a day after Communist Party leaders celebrated “major achievements” in the virus fight. The virus first emerged in the central Chinese city of Wuhan late last year, but cases have dwindled dramatically from the peak in mid-February as the country appears to have brought the virus largely under control. The official death toll in the country of 1.4 billion people stands at 4,634, well below the number of fatalities in much smaller countries. However, doubt has been cast on the reliability of China’s numbers and the United States has led the charge in questioning how much information Beijing has shared with the international community. The milestone comes a day after the ...
America’s Dad Tom Hanks Provides 2020 Grads with Special Coronavirus Diploma
Instead of a graduation ceremony, most of the class of 2020 is left with memories of quarantine and isolation. Now Tom Hanks, good actor and even better person, is offering a pandemic diploma to make those scholars feel special. A coronavirus survivor himself, Hanks also posted a photograph of his own 1974 yearbook photo, presumably to help people everywhere feel well-groomed. Check out both images below. The Oscar-winning actor revealed the special certificate on social media. “To all the Grads of 2020, Chosen Ones!” he wrote. “Print this up on a sheepskin!” It includes a seal with the words “Luctor et Emergo Fidens,” which in English seems to mean “I struggle and emerge without fear.” However, Google Translate has a slightly different take. And while it is almost certainly less accurate,...
My Chemical Romance, The Darkness, Gogol Bordello Members and More Cover The Ramones for Charity: Watch
Members of My Chemical Romance, The Darkness, Gogol Bordello, and more have teamed up to cover the Ramones classic “I Believe in Miracles” to raise funds for COVID-19 relief efforts. The socially distant performance was organized by Gogol Bordello guitarist Boris Pelekh, and features his bandmate Eugene Hutz as one of the vocalists. Also singing are Justin Hawkins (The Darkness), Walter Schreifels (Quicksand), Tom Higgenson (Plain White T’s), Brett Anderson (The Donnas), and Frank Turner. The collective, dubbed #rockforhopeproject, is rounded out by Pelekh, guitarist Frank Iero (My Chemical Romance), drummer Michael Miley (Rival Sons), bassist Roy Mitchell-Cárdenas (MuteMath), and bassist Nathen Maxwell (Flogging Molly). Along with the video of the performance, which premiered today (May 2...
John Malkovich Gives Epic Preschool Graduation Speech: Watch
Imagine you’re sitting on the floor at home in front of your laptop for class, John Malkovich logs onto your Zoom meeting, and suddenly the Academy Award-nominated actor is giving you and your classmates the most bizarre graduation speech ever. That could be your reality if you were one of the toddlers who enrolled at Play ‘n’ Learn, a made-up preschool that hired Malkovich for their official ceremony on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert. This whole thing went down because Colbert decided to give The New Pope star the prestigious opportunity of giving advice to recent graduates. Instead of giving him access to ivy leagues right away, Colbert tested him out with a brief message to preschoolers… and it went as oddly as expected. After introducing himself by saying, “You might know me f...
Goodluck Jonathan: Coronavirus could give rise to dictators
YouTube Former President Goodluck Jonathan, Friday advised Africans to be careful the way they handle coronavirus pandemic, noting that the virus could give rise to dictators. Disclosing this while speaking during a webinar organised by the Kofi Annan Foundation, Jonathan said: “This is the time that many continental bodies must come up with their own minimum standards for any country going into election to operate. “Otherwise people who ordinarily would have loved to be dictators will now exploit the problem of the COVID-19 pandemic and do what is not in line with the laws of the land.” Speaking further, Jonathan mentioned one positive thing’ in Nigeria’s COVID-19 response. According to him, “In Nigeria, I have seen one thing about the management of the COVID-19 which is also positive,” h...
System of Down, Faith No More, and Korn Announce Rescheduled Dates for Joint Shows
System of a Down (photo by Raymond Ahner), Faith No More (publicity), Korn (photo by Jon Hadusek) System of a Down, Faith No More, and Korn were set to join forces for a couple of the most anticipated concerts of the year, but were forced to postpone the shows due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Now, they’ve just announced rescheduled dates for the concerts. The shows would have taken place tonight (May 22nd) and tomorrow (May 23rd) at Banc of California Stadium in Los Angeles, but now they’ll happen on May 21st and May 22nd of 2021. Original support acts Helmet and Russian Circles will also be on board for the rescheduled concerts, billed as “Five Bands, Two Nights of Galactic Proportions.” A full statement from System of a Down on Instagram reads, “We’re excited to announce that the reschedule...
How Telecoms Can Rebuild Nigeria in the Wake of COVID-19
Sourced from the Guardian Nigeria. The COVID-19 worldwide pandemic has had and could continue to have long-lasting devastating effects on all social and economic sectors. For Nigeria, the pandemic can be seen as an eye-opener and a rude awakening to a new normal-knowledge economy. Apart from certain ingenious initiatives in Lagos and a few other states, Nigeria’s overall response to the pandemic has been less than satisfactory, writes The Guardian Nigeria. New, upcoming phases of recovery and thriving will be defining for the country. Now, in this crisis, it has become clear that telecommunications are playing a large role in retaining any semblance of normalcy in the country. In the recovery stage, telecoms could continue to help manage the transition out of COVID-19 related stagnation as...
South Sudan ministers test positive for coronavirus
Ten cabinet ministers in South Sudan are now confirmed to have contracted Coronavirus. Information Minister Michael Makuei has said that all former members of the high-level task force on Coronavirus – apart from the health minister – have tested positive for Covid-19, the respiratory illness caused by the virus. But he has denied reports that President Salva Kiir – who was also a member of the team – had also tested positive. It comes just days after first Vice-President Riek Machar announced he had tested positive alongside his wife, Defence Minister Angelina Teny. They tested positive after coming into contact with a former member of the team, who has Covid-19. All the ministers infected are now in self-isolation and the government says they are in good health. Dozens of bodyguards and ...
Israelis Stage Music Festival in Protest of Country’s COVID-19 Lockdown
Live music returned to Israel on Thursday, as over 3,000 people gathered in a park in Tel Aviv for an event called “Behind the Scenes: an Assembly of Solidarity”. Though technically billed as a protest, and not a concert, the event featured a dozen prominent Israeli artists performing on a large stage. Much like in America, Israel has been on a COVID-19 lockdown since mid-March, which has effectively shuttered the entertainment industry. Yesterday’s event served as a protest to encourage the government to reopen live events, according to Billboard. In order to stage such a large-scale mass gathering, organizers of the event exploited a loophole in Israel’s health regulations allowing for contained protests. Upon entering the park, attendees were asked to wear a face mask and keep six feet ...
Thousands Attend Israeli Music Festival Despite Country’s Lockdown
The show must go on! At least that’s what the organizers behind the outdoor concert event at Charles Clore Park in Tel Aviv thought when they put together a live music gathering that drew 3,000 people in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic. The show featured well-known Israeli acts like Aviv Geffen and pop singer Rita. A bunch of tours and festivals have been canceled due to the pandemic (and some experts saying shows won’t happen until 2021_, but that didn’t dissuade anyone here. Israel has been going through lockdown restrictions since mid-March but has slowly been easing back on the lockdown since late April. But that still didn’t mean that concerts could go on. But this event was veiled as a “cultural protest,” which is technically allowed according to Israel’s health regulations. In...
