Police in Paris clashed with protesters railing against President Emmanuel Macron’s plan to require a Covid-19 vaccine certificate or negative PCR test to gain entry to bars, restaurants and cinemas from next month.Macron this week announced sweeping measures to fight a rapid surge in new coronavirus infections, including the mandatory vaccination of health workers and new health pass rules for the wider public.In doing so, he went further than most other European nations have done as the highly contagious Delta variant fans a new wave of cases, and other governments are watching carefully to see how the French public responds.…
Author: Mike Harrison
Pakistan’s Minister for Religious Affairs Noorul Haq Qadri on Wednesday opposed a proposed restriction on changing religion before the age of 18 years.Qadri, who is also a member of the Senate Parliamentary committee on minorities’ rights, said the change of religion before 18 years of age is a matter of choice and no restriction can be imposed on it.”We do not support a restriction on religious conversion before 18 years of age. There are several examples in Islam of religious conversion before 18 years,” he said during a meeting of the committee.He said that the change of religion before 18…
Facebook is rolling out a new feature to let subject matter experts stand out in groups run by millions of admins and moderators around the world. The social media giant on Tuesday announced a new way to spotlight subject matter experts in Facebook groups. The group admins will be able to recognise knowledgeable members in their group by designating them as “group experts.”“Admins now have the ability to select specific members in their communities who stand out, empowering them to play a more meaningful role,” Facebook executive Maria Smith wrote in a blog post.“[A]dmins can collaborate with group experts to…
There are around 20 federally qualified health centers in the areas touched by the Lava, Tennant, and Salt fires, which started in Northern California at the end of June. The centers are part of the state’s healthcare safety net and offer primary care to low-income patients in the area. Despite the fire risk to the facilities, none of those 20 centers had backup generators, says Andrew Schroeder, who runs analytics programs at the humanitarian aid organization Direct Relief. That’s key information for officials and aid groups: if the power went out because of the fires, those centers might not be…
(Photo : GettlyImages/ SOPA Images ) Amazon satellite Amazon has officially acquired the team of employees that are behind Facebook’s internet connectivity project. Facebook’s team was initially assigned to build a secure internet connection from low Earth orbit satellites to power remote areas. Amazon Acquires Facebook’s Internet Team According to The Information, Amazon paid Facebook as part of the acquisition, but the amount was never disclosed. Due to the acquisition, more than a dozen employees from Los Angeles, California, switched to Amazon in April to work on Project Kuiper, Amazon’s satellite internet connectivity program. Project Kuiper is aimed at making internet connectivity available to…
A United Nations rights expert has called upon the international community’s immediate assistance in tackling the Covid-19 crisis in Myanmar. He also listed three reasons, which he called the “perfect storm of factors”, that could potentially cause significant loss of lives in the country in the absence of emergency assistance.“An explosion of Covid cases, including the Delta variant, the collapse of Myanmar’s health care system, and the deep mistrust of the people of Myanmar of anything connected to the military junta, are a perfect storm of factors that could cause a significant loss of life in Myanmar without emergency assistance…
The INEOS Grenadier made its first ever run up the Goodwood Festival of Speed’s iconic hillclimb, with the support of the wider INEOS family. The new 4×4 was accompanied by a peloton of cyclists from the INEOS Grenadiers cycling team. Among those representing the INEOS Grenadiers cycling team in the peloton were British Olympic gold medallist, Owain Doull, emerging Belgian star Laurens De Plus, and British road race champion, Ben Swift. Taking the Grenadier up the hill – Esteban Gutiérrez, driving on behalf of the Mercedes-AMG Petronas F1 Team. As well as its first dynamic show outing, this was also…
The EU drug regulator on Wednesday said that both shots of a two-dose Covid-19 vaccine are vital for protection against the highly contagious Delta variant. The European Medicines Agency (EMA) and the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) released a joint statement, urging citizens to get vaccinated and adhere to the recommended number of vaccine doses.“This is particularly important taking into account the spread of the Delta variant of Sars-CoV-2…the need to protect citizens, especially those at risk of severe Covid-19, and the desire to open up our societies and relax restrictions,” the statement read.The rapid spread of…
Microsoft Edge is currently expected to have a new feature that would certainly change how the players browse using the tech firm’s search engine service. (Photo : Photo Illustration by Thiago Prudencio/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images)In this photo illustration, a Microsoft Edge web browser logo seen displayed on a smartphone in front of a laptop. Specifically, Microsoft confirmed that the new PWA feature (Progressive Web Apps) will arrive in the Windows 10 Microsoft Edge version. If you have no idea what PWA is, it is a feature that can turn the websites you usually access into apps. On the other…
Former US president George W Bush has joined the growing chorus of criticism of the complete pullout of troops from Afghanistan ordered by President Joe Biden and publicly called it a mistake that would lead to “unbelievably bad” consequences.Bush had ordered US forces into Afghanistan in search of al-Qaeda perpetrators of the 9/11 terrorist attacks in 2001. They had overthrown the brutal and regressive regime of the Taliban that was sheltering al-Qaeda, and stayed on to fight terrorist groups, many of whom fled to safe havens in adjoining Pakistan.“I think it is, yeah,” Bush said to German broadcaster Deutsche Welle…