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Twitter to boot users who persist with Covid-19 lies
San Francisco (AFP) - Twitter said Monday it will start labeling misleading tweets about Covid-19 vaccines and boot users who persist in spreading such misinformation. The one-to-many messaging service introduced a "strike system" that will gradually escalate to a permanent ban after the fifth offending tweet. "We believe the strike system will help to educate the public on our policies and further reduce the spread of potentially harmful and misleading information on Twitter," the San Francisco-based company said in a blog post. "Particularly for repeated moderate and high-severity violations...
AFP
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'Nomadland' makes Globes history, as virtual gala honors late Boseman
Los Angeles (AFP) - "Nomadland" made Golden Globes history Sunday as Chloe Zhao became the first female director to win the awards' top prize for best drama, putting her film about marginalized Americans roaming the West in vans into Oscars pole position. Zhao also bagged the best director Globe, making her only the second woman to do so in the history of Hollywood's traditional awards season opener, which was a mainly virtual ceremony due to the coronavirus pandemic. The late Chadwick Boseman won best actor for 1920s blues drama "Ma Rainey's Black Bottom," six months after his death from canc...
AFP
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Facebook ramps up effort to curb vaccine hoaxes
San Francisco (AFP) - Facebook on Monday said it is ramping up efforts to stem the spread of misinformation about Covid-19 vaccines, spread facts, and figure out who might be wary of getting the jab. The move includes banning groups which repeatedly spread misinformation and debunked claims about the virus and vaccines in general. The leading social network has been highlighting health advice from reliable agencies and removing Covid-19 misinformation for months and on Monday expanded that initiative. A list of debunked claims about the virus or vaccines that are not welcomed at Facebook was u...
AFP
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Covid vaccine rollout urgent as new strains take hold
Paris (AFP) - The international spread of more infectious coronavirus strains has made inoculating a maximum number of people as quickly as possible more urgent than ever, experts say. Vaccines are already being rolled out across 73 countries or territories, with more than 86.5 million doses administered so far, including 26 million in the United States and 22.7 million in China according to an AFP tally Thursday. But with concerns mounting that new strains could evade immunity protection from either prior infection or immunisation, the global vaccine drive needs to be fast and flexible if it ...
AFP
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Microsoft profit soars as pandemic speeds shift to cloud
San Francisco (AFP) - Microsoft said Tuesday profit rose sharply in the recently ended quarter as the coronavirus pandemic revved a shift to relying on services hosted in the cloud for work, play and socializing. The US technology stalwart reported net income of $15.5 billion in the final three months of last year, a 33 percent jump from the same period in pre-pandemic 2019. Overall revenue rose 17 percent from a year ago to $43.1 billion, Microsoft said in its update for its fiscal second quarter. "What we have witnessed over the past year is the dawn of a second wave of digital transformatio...
AFP
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Las Vegas plans to reopen schools as suicide fears grow
Los Angeles (AFP) - Las Vegas schools are planning to reopen within weeks as anger and concerns grow over US student mental health and a possible surge in suicides since they closed due to Covid-19 last March. Nevada's Clark County, which includes Las Vegas and the fifth-largest school district in the country, has recorded 19 suicides among students since the school closures. That figure is "more than double the nine the district had the entire previous year," the district's press office told AFP, without directly tying the trend to reopening schools in the western state. A large number of co...
AFP
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Amazon offers to help with Covid-19 vaccine effort
San Francisco (AFP) - Tech colossus Amazon on Wednesday offered to put its vast operation to work helping President Joe Biden get 100 million Americans vaccinated against Covid-19 in the next 100 days. Chief of Amazon's worldwide consumer business Dave Clark sent a letter to Biden urging that its workers get vaccinated as early as possible and offering to put the company's resources to work in the broader vaccination effort. Amazon is the second largest employer in the US with more than 800,000 employees, most of whom are "essential workers" who can't do their jobs from home, according to a co...
AFP
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UK coronavirus strain detected in at least 60 countries: WHO
Geneva (AFP) - The UK coronavirus strain has been detected in at least 60 countries, the World Health Organization said Wednesday, 10 more than a week ago. With the global death toll now well past two million, and new variants of the virus causing deep concern, countries across the world are grappling with how to slow infections until vaccines become widely available. The South African strain, which like the UK one is believed to be more infectious, has now been reported in 23 countries and territories, the WHO also announced in its weekly update. It added that the number of new deaths climbe...
AFP
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Rocker David Crosby on songwriting, 'emotional voyages' and Donald Trump
New York (AFP) - Like all entertainers, David Crosby -- the mustachioed co-founder of both the seminal folk rock band The Byrds and the supergroup Crosby, Stills and Nash (and Young) -- had a disappointing 2020 that saw the pandemic ground tours and thwart live performance. But the two-time Rock and Roll Hall of Famer, songwriter and prominent Twitter personality has tried to make the most of it, working on a screenplay and new songs, catching up on music from jazz to bluegrass, and dreaming up a European museum tour for when it's safe to travel again. The 79-year-old is an adept social media ...
AFP
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The Burden of the Coronavirus Pandemic on the Healthcare System: Financial Impacts
The coronavirus pandemic has had a significant impact on just about every aspect of our lives. This includes the healthcare system. Obviously, this has created a medical crisis that is unprecedented. Even though there is good news coming out in the form of vaccinations, the financial impact of the coronavirus pandemic on the healthcare system may prove to have lasting impacts. Therefore, it is important to take a closer look at some of the inadequacies of the healthcare system that have been highlighted and what this means for the future. The Overall Cost of Personal Protective EquipmentOne of...
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