COVID-19
Fuji Rock Festival, Featuring Disclosure, Major Lazer, and More, Postponed Due to COVID-19 Concerns
For over two decades, Japan has celebrated both regional and international music at the world-renowned Fuji Rock Festival. Like many other large-scale events around the world, the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has produced difficulties for festival organizers. While many were holding onto hope that the show would proceed after the outbreak became more controlled the timeline is unfortunately not progressing as fast as music lovers would like and organizers are left with no choice but to postpone the event. The musical showcase was set to feature performances from Major Lazer, Disclosure, and Mura Masa, among many others. In a statement posted to the festival’s website, the organizing committee announced that Fuji Rock Festival will not return until the summer of 2021....
Pool Parties Have Officially Returned to Las Vegas
In nearly the blink of an eye, the world’s nightlife and music industries were decimated by the ongoing global health crisis. While fortunately, the global spread of COVID-19 is slowing in many countries, due to the risk the virus possesses; concerts, festivals, and club nights have been put on hold. Surprising to some, 78 days after shutting down, pool parties have returned to Las Vegas’ Flamingo Hotel and Casino. While casinos have reopened across Sin City, the recent aquatic gathering is the first of its kind to restore. TMZ is reporting that few guests were practicing social distancing, but the casino’s staff was required to wear masks and gloves. They have also revealed that while the pools were open for business, it appears as though attendance was low. In an effort...
Ride-Hailing Businesses Begin to Recover
Sourced from Forbes. Uber Technologies Inc.’s global rides business is down 70% from this time last year, a small improvement from its rock-bottom fall during the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic. Though slight, it is an indication that recovery is coming, albeit slowly. The decline in rides seems to be offset, if partially, by a boom in food delivery. Uber Eats’ gains have more than doubled, and they continue to accelerate, says Dara Khosrowshahi, Uber’s CEO, speaking at a virtual tech conference hosted by Bank of America. Bloomberg reports that the ride-hailing company intends to continue to look for opportunities in the food delivery market. Khosrowshahi declined to comment on Uber’s proposal to buy Grubhub Inc., which was first reported by Bloomberg last month. Since being so hars...
Ugandan to lose $1.6 billion in tourism earnings as a result of coronavirus
Uganda will lose $1.6 billion a year in earnings from tourism as visitors stay away due to the impact of the coronavirus, President Yoweri Museveni said. Tourism is one of Uganda’s economic mainstays as the east African country attracts visitors to see a range of game including lions, giraffes, buffalos and others that roam its savannahs. Others are drawn by the mountain gorillas in forest in the southwest of the country on the border with Democratic Republic of Congo and Rwanda. “Already Ugandan will lose 1.6 billion dollars per annum from the loss of tourism,” Museveni said in a speech late on Monday referring to the impact of COVID-19 on the economy. The president did not say what time frame he was referring to. Latest available data from the country’s statistics’ office shows Uganda ea...
DC’s Biggest Nightclubs are Banding Together for Pandemic Rent Relief
While some non-essential businesses are finally being allowed to conduct business again in some US cities, like restaurants, barber shops, and gyms, nightclubs and music venues aren’t so lucky. Low on the priority list for reopening after the perceived peak of the COVID-19 pandemic, US music venues may still face a long road ahead before being allowed to continue operations. Clubs across the nation are feeling the financial strain of such a long shutdown period without the ability to bring in any revenue. According to a report from Eater, in Washington, DC, some of those nightclubs are now banding together to seek relief from the city, which would help to alleviate some of the burden of rent costs. 19 of the capital’s foremost club owners joined forces...
Flying Eagles striker delighted with his AS Trencin debut
Nigeria Flying Eagles striker Ahmad Abubakar Ghali said he’s delighted to make his debut for Slovakian side As Trencin. Ghali, joined the club from Nigeria professional football league side MFM FC shortly after he helped Nigeria win medal at 2019 All African games in Rabat Morocco. It would be recalled that Ahmad Ghali scored the winner to help Nigeria defeated South Africa 2-1 in their second game of the Football Event at the 12th African Games in Morocco. He was involved in his club 4-0 win over SpartakTrnava on Sunday as they prepare to restart the league in Slovakia. “Its been a tough time really for the whole world fighting Covid-19, football was suspended but we’re back. Good news, I made my official debut for @astrencin in our victory last weekend.” he wrote on his social media acco...
Disney Deploys Stormtroopers to Remind Patrons of Social Distancing
While Disney World in Orlando won’t reopen until next month, the House of Mouse recently revived the outdoor shopping center at Disney Springs. New coronavirus safety measures include reduced capacity, mandatory face masks, and a pair of bumbling First Order stormtroopers reminding patrons to maintain social distancing. In a video posted by Attractions Magazine, the stormtroopers are much closer to entertainment than security. They stand above visitors on a balcony, pointing prop guns skywards, while scripted dialogue is piped through loudspeakers. Even from the few snippets, their distinct personalities come through. The male trooper is a grating brown-noser, while the female soldier hates her job and wishes she could be anywhere else. This tension between them provides an excuse for...
ASCAB: President Buhari’s speech underestimate Sani Abacha’s $5 billion loot
Alliance for Surviving COVID-19 and Beyond, (ASCAB), a group led by prominent Nigerian human rights lawyer, Femi Falana has said that President Muhammadu Buhari’s claim that late dictator, Sani Abacha, stole $1 billion contradicts the figures earlier released by his own officials. The group described as inconsistent the President’s statement contained in an article he wrote for the international magazine, Newsweek adding that the $1bn quoted by Buhari is barely one fifth of the total amount top officials of the same government claimed to have recovered from the late military henchman. In a statement signed by ASCAB Secretary for Publicity, Adewale Adeoye and made available to newsmen on Monday said that the President’s article falls short of reflecting the stark realities of corrupti...
Sony Delays PS5 Reveal Event
Sourced from Wikimedia. Sony has announced that it has decided to postpone the PlayStation 5 reveal event, originally scheduled for 4 June. pic.twitter.com/ZAY8StN0EU — PlayStation (@PlayStation) June 1, 2020 The company has decided to postpone the event and the new generation console’s reveal as rioting and civil unrest continues in the US following the killing of unarmed man George Floyd. A killing that many Americans feel to be direly unjust. In addition, the globe is also still grappling with the society-crippling COVID-19 pandemic. “We have decided to postpone the PlayStation 5 event scheduled for June 4. While we understand gamers worldwide are excited to see PS5 games, we do not feel that right now is a time for celebration and for now, we want to stand back and allow more important...
Major Petrol Price Hike Could Cripple South Africa’s Economy says Expert
Sourced from the South African The major fuel price hike scheduled for tomorrow (3 June) is going to further hurt the economy and have a major impact on deeply indebted consumers. This is after the petrol price in the country slumped to a 21-year low as South Africa descended into a nationwide lockdown. All grades of petrol will spike at R1.18 ($0.07) a litre while diesel will increase by R0.22 ($0.013) a litre. Neil Roets, CEO of one of the largest debt counselling companies in South Africa, Debt Rescue, says the increases would have a devastating impact on consumers who are mostly three months or more behind in the repayments of their loans. /* custom css */ .tdi_3_56f.td-a-rec-img{ text-align: left; }.tdi_3_56f.td-a-rec-img img{ margin: 0 auto 0 0; } “This is going to lead to further un...
Nigeria declares telecoms facilities critical national Infrastructure
In response to the yearnings of industry stakeholders to declare telecom facilities Critical National Infrastructure, President Muhammadu Buhari, has finally approved and also directed that necessary physical protective measures be put in place to safeguard telecommunications infrastructure deployed across the country. This followed a proposal by the Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Dr. Ibrahim Pantami, to the President to identify telecommunications infrastructure as Critical National Infrastructure, with a view to protecting them from vandalization and theft, amongst other things. Recall that telecom operators and industry players had over the years been consistent in their demand for the Federal government to declare all telecoms facilities across the country critical nat...
Medical council validates four coronavirus test kits – registrar
The Medical Laboratory Science Council of Nigeria (MLSCN) says it has validated four Rapid Test Kits to determine their suitability for testing SAR-COV-2 infection popularly known as COVID-19 in the country. The Registrar and Chief Executive Officer of MLSCN, Dr Tosan Erhabor, disclosed this in a video posted on the official twitter account of the council @MedLabNigeria. Erhabor said the council placed an advert in four National Daily Newspapers on March, 30, requesting for submission of COVID-19 test kits by manufactures of their sales representatives in the country. “A total of eleven 11 in-vitro Diagnostics; one Polymerase Chain Reaction based kit, nine Rapid Test Kits (RTKs) two Antigen based seven Antibody based kits and one Viral Transport Medium (VTM) were received. “They were recei...
