#and now my place of work officially has no policy. that expired with the federal public health emergency last may | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

newstfionline · 3 years ago

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Saturday, July 31, 2021

Biden to allow eviction moratorium to expire Saturday (AP) The Biden administration announced Thursday it will allow a nationwide ban on evictions to expire Saturday, arguing that its hands are tied after the Supreme Court signaled the moratorium would only be extended until the end of the month. The White House said President Joe Biden would have liked to extend the federal eviction moratorium due to spread of the highly contagious delta variant of the coronavirus. Instead, Biden called on “Congress to extend the eviction moratorium to protect such vulnerable renters and their families without delay.” By the end of March, 6.4 million American households were behind on their rent, according to the Department of Housing and Urban Development. As of July 5, roughly 3.6 million people in the U.S. said they faced eviction in the next two months, according to the U.S. Census Bureau’s Household Pulse Survey.

Evacuation flight brings 200 Afghans to US (AP) The first flight evacuating Afghans who worked alongside Americans in Afghanistan brought more than 200 people, including scores of children and babies in arms, to resettlement in the United States on Friday, and President Joe Biden welcomed them home. The evacuation flights, bringing out former interpreters and others who fear retaliation from Afghanistan’s Taliban for having worked with American service members and civilians, highlight American uncertainty about how Afghanistan’s government and military will fare after the last U.S. combat forces leave that country in the coming weeks. Family members are accompanying the interpreters, translators and others on the flights out. The commercial airliner carrying the 221 Afghans in the special visa program, including 57 children and 15 babies, according to an internal U.S. government document obtained by The Associated Press, touched down in Dulles, Virginia, just outside Washington, D.C.

Not in control (NYT) Consider these Covid-19 mysteries: In India—where the Delta variant was first identified and caused a huge outbreak—cases have plunged over the past two months. A similar drop may now be underway in Britain. There is no clear explanation for these declines. / In the U.S., cases started falling rapidly in early January. The decline began before vaccination was widespread and did not follow any evident changes in Americans’ Covid attitudes. / In March and April, the Alpha variant helped cause a sharp rise in cases in the upper Midwest and Canada. That outbreak seemed poised to spread to the rest of North America—but did not. / This spring, caseloads were not consistently higher in parts of the U.S. that had relaxed masking and social distancing measures (like Florida and Texas) than in regions that remained vigilant. / Large parts of Africa and Asia still have not experienced outbreaks as big as those in Europe, North America and South America. / How do we solve these mysteries? Michael Osterholm, who runs an infectious disease research center at the University of Minnesota, suggests that people keep in mind one overriding idea: humility. “We’ve ascribed far too much human authority over the virus,” he told me.

Diasporas at the Olympics (Foreign Policy) Cuban athletes at the Tokyo Olympics are evidence of the exodus from the island over the years. By the Cuban sports journalist Francys Romero’s count, more than 20 athletes at the Olympics were born in Cuba but became naturalized in and are now playing for other countries. That’s a group almost one-third the size of Cuba’s own delegation.

Peru’s politics (Foreign Policy) Peru’s new President Pedro Castillo chose Guido Bellido, a congressman and fellow member of his Marxist Free Peru party, as his prime minister as part of a cabinet announcement on Thursday, setting up a tense confirmation battle with the country’s opposition-led Congress. Bellido courted controversy in a local media interview in April when he expressed sympathy for members of Shining Path—a Maoist guerilla group who fought a bloody insurgency during the 1980s and 1990s.

Death toll in Turkish wildfires rises to four, blazes rage on (Reuters) The death toll from wildfires on Turkey’s southern coast has risen to four and firefighters were battling blazes for a third day on Friday after the evacuation of dozens of villages and some hotels. More than 60 wildfires have broken out across 17 provinces on Turkey’s Aegean and Mediterranean coasts this week, officials have said. Villages and some hotels have been evacuated in areas popular with tourists, and TV footage had shown people fleeing across fields as they watched fires close in on their homes.

Three Jehovah’s Witnesses sentenced to six or more years in Russian prison for their faith (RNS) Three Jehovah’s Witnesses in Russia were convicted and sentenced to prison for practicing their faith on Thursday (July 29). Vilen Avanesov, 68, was sentenced to six years, and his son Arsen Avanesov, 37, along with a third defendant, Aleksandr Parkov, 53, were both sentenced to six-and-a-half years. All three men have already spent more than two years in pretrial detention. “These men should never, ever have had to spend a minute in prison, and yet they’ve been locked up for two years,” said Rachel Denber, deputy director of Human Rights Watch’s Europe and Central Asia division. The three Jehovah’s Witnesses were detained in Rostov-on-Don in May 2019 and accused of continuing the operations of a Jehovah’s Witness organization that had been liquidated. All three were charged with organizing extremist activities. In January 2020, Arsen Avanesov was also accused of “financing extremist activities” by collecting donations to rent a room to meet with other Jehovah’s Witnesses. Near the trial’s conclusion, Arsen Avanesov spoke of his devotion to God: “I dedicated my life to him and did it sincerely. … I don’t want, I can’t and will not give up my promise.” The sentences for the three men are considered particularly harsh in a country where rape is punishable by three years in prison and kidnapping by five. The sentencing follows a 2017 ruling that categorizes the religious group as “extremist.”

Myanmar leaders ‘weaponizing’ COVID-19, residents say (AP) With coronavirus deaths rising in Myanmar, allegations are growing from residents and human rights activists that the military government, which seized control in February, is using the pandemic to consolidate power and crush opposition. Supplies of medical oxygen are running low, and the government has restricted its private sale in many places, saying it is trying to prevent hoarding. But that has led to widespread allegations that the stocks are being directed to government supporters and military-run hospitals. At the same time, medical workers have been targeted after spearheading a civil disobedience movement that urged professionals and civil servants not to cooperate with the government, known as the State Administrative Council. “They have stopped distributing personal protection equipment and masks, and they will not let civilians who they suspect are supporting the democracy movement be treated in hospitals, and they’re arresting doctors who support the civil disobedience movement,” said Yanghee Lee, the U.N.’s former Myanmar human rights expert and a founding member of the Special Advisory Council for Myanmar. “With the oxygen, they have banned sales to civilians or people who are not supported by the SAC, so they’re using something that can save the people against the people,” she said. “The military is weaponizing COVID.”

North Korea began the summer in a food crisis. A heat wave and drought could make it worse. (Washington Post) At the beginning of the summer, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un described the country’s food situation as “tense” after border closures caused by the coronavirus pandemic and crippling floods. By midsummer, a cycle of grinding heat and record-low rainfall could be a sign of a greater food crisis and hunger ahead. Temperatures in North Korea have climbed as high as 102 degrees in some areas this week—a shock in a country where temperatures do not often break 100 degrees. The heat wave has been compounded by a growing drought. North Korea had gotten 21.2 millimeters, or less than an inch, of rain as of mid-July. It is so hot that state media reports have been repeatedly warning residents about the dangers of dehydration and low sodium levels, especially for the elderly and those at risk of heart disease or stroke. They are urging residents to stay out of the sun, eat more fruits and vegetables, and drink more than two liters (about two quarts) of water per day, according to NK News, which monitors North Korea’s state media.

Hong Kong protester given 9-year term in 1st security case (AP) A pro-democracy protester was sentenced Friday to nine years in prison in the closely watched first prosecution under Hong Kong’s national security law as the ruling Communist Party tightens control over the territory. Tong Ying-kit, 24, was convicted of inciting secession and terrorism for driving his motorcycle into a group of police officers at a July 1, 2020, rally. He carried a flag bearing the banned slogan, “Liberate Hong Kong, revolution of our times.” Tong’s sentence was longer than the three years requested by the prosecution. He faced a possible maximum of life in prison. Tong’s sentence is a “hammer blow to free speech” and shows the law is “a tool to instill terror” in government critics, Amnesty International’s Asia-Pacific regional director, Yamini Mishra, said in a statement. The law “lacks any exemption for legitimate expression or protest,” Mishra said. “The judgment at no point considered Tong’s rights to freedom of expression and protest.” Defense lawyers said Tong’s penalty should be light because the court hadn’t found the attack was deliberate, no one was injured, and the secession-related offense qualified as minor under the law.

New Zealand rated best place to survive global societal collapse (Guardian) New Zealand, Iceland, the UK, Tasmania and Ireland are the places best suited to survive a global collapse of society, according to a study. The researchers said human civilisation was “in a perilous state” due to the highly interconnected and energy-intensive society that had developed and the environmental damage this had caused. A collapse could arise from shocks, such as a severe financial crisis, the impacts of the climate crisis, destruction of nature, an even worse pandemic than Covid-19 or a combination of these, the scientists said. To assess which nations would be most resilient to such a collapse, countries were ranked according to their ability to grow food for their population, protect their borders from unwanted mass migration, and maintain an electrical grid and some manufacturing ability. Islands in temperate regions and mostly with low population densities came out on top.

Ethiopian roadblock (NYT) Aid workers in Ethiopia claim that an unofficial Ethiopian government blockade has cut off the only road into the conflict-torn region where millions of Ethiopians face the threat of mass starvation. A relief convoy headed for Tigray came under fire on the road on July 18, forcing it to turn around. On Tuesday, the World Food Program said 170 trucks loaded with relief aid were stranded in Semera, the capital of the neighboring Afar region, waiting for Ethiopian permission to make the trek into Tigray. The blockade is intensifying what some call the world’s worst humanitarian crisis in a decade. The crisis comes during an intensifying war, which has deepened ethnic tensions and stoked fears that Ethiopia will collapse. The United Nations estimates that 400,000 people there are living in famine-like conditions, and another 4.8 million need urgent help. The Ethiopian prime minister, Abiy Ahmed, who won the 2019 Nobel Peace Prize, said last week that his government was providing “unfettered humanitarian access” and committed to “the safe delivery of critical supplies to its people in the Tigray region.” However, Mr. Abiy’s ministers have publicly accused aid workers of helping and even arming the Tigrayan fighters, leading to aid workers being attacked at airports, and even killed.

#headlines #news

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96thdayofrage · 4 years ago

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Given that array of challenges, many HBCU advocates were hoping that Obama would do more to lift their fortunes. But his focus has been on improving college access and affordability for all students, not necessarily singling out HBCUs for special help.

Not that the administration has been totally deaf to the complaints. Officials restored the $85 million program for HBCUs with great fanfare a year after letting it expire. And overall federal funding for the nation’s HBCUs is up more than $1.5 billion a year during Obama’s nearly eight years in office to more than $4 billion. That total includes a half-billion-dollar increase in direct grant money, as well as increases in federal student grants and loans.

“I know some people place a caveat on that. They say grants and loans to all colleges went up even more,” said John S. Wilson, president of Morehouse College and former head of the White House Initiative on Historically Black Colleges and Universities. “But even if you accept that, a half-billion-dollar increase in grant money to 105 institutions is not trivial.”

Still, some HBCU advocates say the new money does not compensate for the damage done by other federal policy changes that hit HBCUs especially hard.

In 2011, education officials decided to tighten federal requirements for the Parent Plus loan program to prevent families from getting in over their heads with school debt.

The result was that many students, particularly those at HBCUs, found themselves being rejected for loans and unable to pay for college. The United Negro College Fund (UNCF) estimates that about 28,000 students at black colleges — nearly 10 percent of the students at HBCUs — lost their Parent Plus loans during the 2012-13 academic year. Some were rescued by emergency grants and scholarships. Many others were forced to transfer to local community colleges or other, less expensive schools. Still others had to drop out altogether.

“We just could not believe this was happening under a black president,” said Johnny C. Taylor Jr., president and CEO of the Thurgood Marshall College Fund.

Once the administration learned about the damage being wrought by the loan rejections, officials rushed to put together an appeals process. The vast majority of students who knew how to access it were successful in reversing loan denials. But many students never knew they could have the rejections reconsidered.

Two years later, the new credit standards were relaxed. But by then the damage was done. Advocates estimate that the loan problems cost HBCUs as much as $250 million.

The new policies coincided with a general drop in college enrollment as the recession ended and some students chose to work instead. But the decline was more pronounced at HBCUs. Between 2000 and 2010, the number of students attending HBCUs increased by more than 12 percent. But they declined after that, and have yet to recover to 2011 levels despite a recent enrollment spike. That trend is similar to a decline in the overall number of black students attending college, HBCU advocates noted.

Even as HBCUs were reeling from some Obama administration policies, Congress moved to reduce the number of semesters that low- and moderate-income students can receive federal Pell grants from 18 to 12. Lawmakers also limited the use of the grants to just two semesters a year, which became a burden for students who rely on summer school to make up credits.

Those changes had a disproportionate impact on HBCUs, where nearly three in four students receive Pell grants. Many HBCU students — like many low-income students at all schools — need to take remedial courses in college, and just a small share graduate in four years.

UNCF says some 36 percent of HBCU students graduate in six years — a low rate, but one that is little different from the 42 percent graduation rate for black students at all schools. Overall, 60 percent of students graduate within six years of starting at a four-year college, according to the National Center for Education Statistics.

The president often raises the problems of low graduation rates and high loan default rates when discussing HBCUs, which has irritated some advocates.

As Obama was addressing a town hall meeting in New Orleans early this year, a Southern University student asked for advice on how to contend with people who view HBCUs as second-rate.

Obama invoked the proud tradition of HBCUs and said that he did not think that people looked down on the schools. But he went on to lament the HBCUs that are struggling with low graduation rates, adding: “We don’t want a situation in which young people are taking out loans, getting in debt, thinking that they’re going to get a great education and then halfway through they’re dropping out.”

Taylor, head of the Thurgood Marshall fund, said the president’s words were painful to hear. “That was not a response a president should have given. All those things hold true for community colleges, yet he wants to double down on funding them,” he said.

Last year, Obama unveiled a plan to make community college free for students nationwide. He later amended it because of an outcry from HBCU leaders and the proposal now includes HBCUs.

Taylor noted that like community colleges, HBCUs tend to take on high-risk students: first-generation college students who are often from low-income families and low-performing high schools. While many fail to graduate, those who do often thrive. Overall, HBCUs enroll less than 10 percent of black undergraduates, but produce about 18 percent of all bachelor’s degrees earned by African-Americans, according to the UNCF. Overall, 70 percent of black doctors and dentists, half of all black engineers and 35 percent of black attorneys are HBCU graduates, according to UNCF.

While Obama has faced some criticism from HBCU advocates, he also has received praise. Since taking office, his administration has increased the size of the maximum Pell Grant, broadened loan repayment programs, and lowered federal loan costs for students. All of that has helped black students.

“HBCUs are vital engines of economic growth and proven ladders of advancement for generations of African Americans, and this Administration remains committed to supporting and investing in HBCUs,” U.S. Secretary of Education John B. King Jr. said in a statement. “While we are tremendously proud of our work to support HBCUs and their students, we recognize that there is more work ahead to ensure all students have the opportunities they deserve.”

Taylor said the Obamas missed an opportunity to boost HBCUs by not having their daughter Malia — who is set to attend Harvard next fall — be seen visiting an HBCU during her college search, as she was at universities including Columbia and Stanford.

“That would have been a huge lift,” Taylor said. “To me it was telling that his child did not tour a HBCU, at least openly.”

Still, others say that even given some missteps, the Obamas have been strong HBCU supporters. When Obama won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2009, he donated $125,000 of the prize money to the UNCF. Meanwhile, he and Michelle Obama have repeatedly spoken at black colleges. Last spring, the first lady gave the commencement address at Jackson State University and Obama spoke to Howard University graduates. And on Tuesday, he will participate in a forum on sports, race and achievement sponsored by The Undefeated at North Carolina A&T State University in Greensboro, North Carolina.

“HBCUs need champions,” said Michael Lomax, the former president of Dillard University and CEO of the United Negro College Fund. “And I can’t think of two better champions for HBCUs than Michelle and Barack Obama. My expectation is that they will be able to do even more for HBCUs once they are out of office than they did while in office.”

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omgkatsudonplease · 7 years ago

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For the song prompts: "Boredom and Joy" by Jets Overhead. ^_^

day 3, part 2!

and yes, NICA (numerical integrated computer array, but i’m really bad at acronyms so pls feel free to suggest alternatives) is the AI version of @nicaforov. listen,,, evil AI is out, thirsty AI is in 😉

For Nevans, the act of the forehead and fingertip touch is deeply intimate, a show of trust and affection. Here is my mind meeting yours, it says. Here are my defenses, all laid bare at your feet. I am vulnerable at your touch, my mind open to yours and yours to mine.

Kissing Yuuri is more than he could have ever imagined.

He feels a weightlessness he’d never felt before, a sense of perfect clarity and rightness as the Terran’s fingertips press into his own. Yuuri breathes into their space, his lashes fluttering in wonder, and Viktor is blown away at the sheer wealth of information that Yuuri’s mind grants him at this touch. The underlying buzz of fear and anxiety, the strength, the stubbornness, the love – everything a contradiction and yet all of it impossibly amalgamated into the wonderful being kissing him now.

It’s everything Viktor has ever wanted to feel, and he never wants to stop feeling it, ever again.

“Are you okay?” Yuuri asks as they pull apart. “You seem… winded.”

“It’s a good winded,” Viktor says quickly. Not entirely – just this one kiss feels like the first bite into forbidden fruit. Now that he’s had a taste, he doesn’t want to return to normal, to a life without Yuuri in it.

Which may happen, as his time is running out. He cannot ascend the throne unbonded; Gosha has already had to hand down his place in the succession because he’s been unable to bond with any of the Candidates. The prospect of returning to Neva after this, and making a Candidate his bonded consort just to ascend the throne doesn’t appeal to him at all anymore.

(Gosha, as someone who had thrown himself into the study of ruling the planet, had wanted the throne more than him. He would be better suited, if it weren’t for his relatively terrible empath skills.)

Viktor tears himself out from his thoughts when he feels Yuuri’s fingers against the back of his hand. Unthinking, he turns his hand over, baring his palms. Yuuri smiles, trailing designs across Viktor’s skin.

“We should get up,” Yuuri says after a moment. His room is starting to brighten, anyway; Viktor suspects the hue of the light is meant to mimic Terran daylight. “NICA, what are we doing today?”

There is a meeting at 0800 standard hours, she replies. Captain Babicheva would like to discuss the job given to the crew by Prince Viktor of the House of Nikiforov. A pause. The Prince is in your quarters with you.

“Yeah, I got that,” Yuuri says, laughing. “What are the specifics of the job?”

The location and safe return of Prince Yuri of the House of Nikiforov, replies NICA. Prince Yuri is an adopted high-empath Nevan formerly of the noble House of Plisetsky, a cadet branch of the House of Nikiforov. His powers were discovered at the age of 5, and from thereon he was adopted into the main line and is currently second in the line of succession.

“That’s not public record,” Viktor remarks, raising an eyebrow. “I didn’t know ship computers had access to royal documents.”

“NICA’s sort of one of my pet projects,” Yuuri admits, his cheeks flushing pink. “Mila actually put some of the Nevan stuff into her when I was coding for her information retrieval system. She said it was ‘just in case’, so…”

Captain Babicheva has eluded Nevan Searchers for three Standard years after fleeing the planet in an attempt to escape an intended bonding to Prince Alexei, NICA chips in cheerily. Prince Alexei is currently unbonded, but has an official companion, a Terran named Kat Parson –

“NICA, you could’ve told me that before we went to Neva in the first place,” Yuuri points out.

Captain Babicheva set the security on that information to a ‘need to know’ basis. I have deduced that you need to know.

“Thanks.” Yuuri sighs. “NICA, can you order me a coffee?”

Viktor follows him, fascinated, as they head through the halls of the ship towards the galley. The Firebird is an older model of a standard Nevan long-distance starship, able to accommodate a crew of fifty with escape pods to spare, though clearly the current crew is much smaller than that. Based on some of the patches and quirks in the panelling and the Terran-coded ship’s computer, though, it’s clear that the Firebird has gotten some modifications during her time with this crew.

“I also put NICA on my own ship,” Yuuri adds as they pass the doors marked ‘hangar’. “In fact that’s where I do most of the tinkering; better she messes up the Vicchan instead of the Firebird, you know?”

“You named your ship after your dog?” asks Viktor, eyes wide.

“Well, her real name is the Victory,” replies Yuuri, shrugging. “I got her when we escaped an Orson raider fleet, so it felt fitting.”

Viktor gapes. Until now, he’s never heard of anyone who’s escaped an Orson raider fleet and lived to tell the tale. “How did that happen?”

“You should ask Phichit for the story, he’s got musical numbers,” replies Yuuri, as they step into the galley and he heads straight for the replicator. “Thank god for still being in orbit – I sometimes forget what real coffee tastes like when we’re out in space for ages.”

“Are you just trying to turn me off going out to space with you?” teases Viktor. “Because it’s not happening.”

Welcome, Prince Viktor of the House of Nikiforov, the ship’s computer suddenly says. Viktor blinks at the replicator panel, now displaying a variety of menu options. We have a variety of standard Nevan cuisine to order from portside for your comfort and enjoyment.

“It’s spaceport food,” says Yuuri, already halfway through his coffee. “Nothing fancy.”

Viktor purses his lips and looks at the menu. “What if I want to try something else?” he asks.

“There’s some meals from most Federation planets,” replies Yuuri. “I’ve been trying to perfect my mother’s katsudon recipe, but it’s strangely hard to code for breaded pork cutlets?”

“Ooh! I’d like to try that,” says Viktor. The replicator makes a whirring noise.

“Ah, I feel like I should apologise in advance.” Yuuri laughs. “Maybe if you ever find yourself on Earth sometime you should find my mother and get the original recipe. Nothing else will ever compare.”

Half an hour later, Viktor realises that if he ever does do that, he might expire on the spot from good food, because the replicator katsudon is one of the most delicious things he’s had in his entire life.

“Wow, this is amazing!” he exclaims. “Who made it?”

“The replicator,” says Yuuri. “Though, technically it was NICA controlling it. Again, it’s not really authentic, since she has to break down our existing food stock to create the raw ingredients, so sometimes she runs out of, like, the pork toner or the egg, or… I’m sorry. Bad time to discuss it.”

“Well, I don’t have a point of comparison, so it tastes good to me,” replies Viktor matter-of-factly. He looks up at one of the lights. “NICA, it was delicious!”

Thank you, Prince Viktor, replies NICA. I’m deeply touched.

After eating, Yuuri leads him into the wardroom where the meeting is apparently scheduled to take place. Mila is there, along with two Allegrians, the dark-skinned Terran Viktor vaguely recognises as Phichit, and Dr Minami. The ship’s doctor is sitting off to the side, though, and he waves at Viktor as they come in.

“Feeling better?” he asks. Viktor smiles and rotates his wrist upwards thrice. The Allegrian gesture works; Dr Minami smiles and repeats it.

“Thank you for joining us today, Your Highness,” Mila says as the door closes behind Yuuri. “Phichit has intercepted transmissions from Nevan Law Enforcement about the origins of the metal you turned in last night.”

The anger. The panic. The confusion. Viktor’s stomach turns as the reports are projected for everyone to see. “The Mandalan Empire,” he breathes.

“No way,” says Phichit.

The projection fades. Everyone looks over at the Terran, who has a hand clenched firmly against the table. “It says it’s Mandalan in origin,” one of the Allegrians points out.

“Most of the Mandalan delegation were severely injured,” Phichit points out. “They’re in no position to be stealing princes.”

“Maybe they did that and someone else took advantage of the situation?” asks Yuuri. Phichit sends him a betrayed expression.

“Seung-gil is a student, not a terrorist,” he hisses.

“Maybe not him, but one of his colleagues –”

“Which one of us spent the evening talking to them?” demands Phichit. “Chris, you can back me up. They support Prime Minister Park and the Emperor’s peace policies. They would never.”

The Allegrian named Chris bites his lip. “They were supportive of the Federation treaty,” he agrees after a moment. “But –”

“Okay, maybe it’s just my little human gut instinct, but I know they’re innocent,” snaps Phichit. “Wrong place at the wrong time. Someone stole a Mandalan bomb and set it off –”

“It was a Mandalan ship energy core,” corrects Mila. “They’re extremely volatile in contact with liquid. There’s a Mandalan ship out there with no or very little energy; those things are extremely pricey because they’re so efficient otherwise.”

“That only supports my theory!” Phichit exclaims, throwing up his hands. “Why would the Mandalans sabotage their own ship? I bet you someone did it to make it look like the Mandalans want to breach the treaty. Maybe the warmongering hawks in their Imperial Fleet paid them.”

Viktor takes the security footage of the blast, magnifying it until it fills most of the space. “Has whoever done this sent any demands?” he asks.

“Not that the Nevan Police know of,” replies Mila. “While they search planetside, we’ll check the logs at the spaceport. Chances are, whoever did this would want to get out of Nevan territory as soon as possible, especially if they’re also responsible for the explosion.”

“I think I know who did it,” says Chris suddenly, holding up his commlink. Viktor only catches a glimpse of a conversation hovering above the commlink before Chris dismisses it. “Seung-gil texted me, says he just got discharged from the hospital but can’t find his ship anywhere.”

A pause. “You think… no way.” Phichit shakes his head.

Chris nods. “Whoever stole Seung-gil’s ship probably has the Prince, too.”

#yoi #viktuuri #victuuri #lily's dabbles #yoiroyaltyweek #day 3 #rewrite the stars #iwritevictuuri #ask

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orbemnews · 4 years ago

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Black and Hispanic communities are confronted with vaccine misinformation. Here’s what you need to know: Buffalo Bayou Park in Houston last week. Some experts have raised concerns about intensifying the spread of the virus while the vaccination process is underway.Credit…Mark Felix for The New York Times HOUSTON — Orders requiring masks and limiting the occupancy of restaurants and other businesses were lifted across Texas on Wednesday, a move that some medical experts said was premature while the state was still in the throes of the coronavirus pandemic. Businesses are still allowed to require employees and customers to cover their faces and limit the number of people they allow inside. Cities can choose to keep limits in place in municipal facilities, and they remain on federal property. When Gov. Greg Abbott announced the changes last week, he argued that he was pushing back against the economic devastation wrought by months of limitations on movement and commerce. In a news conference at a restaurant in Lubbock, Mr. Abbott, a Republican, noted the hindrances for workers and small businesses. “This must end,” he said. “It is now time to open Texas 100 percent.” Moments after Mr. Abbott’s announcement, patrons at Barflys in San Antonio removed the plexiglass dividers separating themselves from the bartenders. At Barflys on Tuesday, an hour before the mask mandate was to expire, Amber Jowers, 32, was the bartender on duty. She welcomed the policy change. From now on, she will no longer wear a mask at work, she said. “And we’re taking the sign down at midnight,” she added. “We have to get back to normal now.” Barflys is a softly lit pub with a pool table, dartboard, and a slot machine. Metallica, Salt-N-Pepa, and the Texas Tornados play from the sound system. On the smokey back patio, Sophie Bojorquez, 47, sat at a table with friends. She is a vaccinated nurse and a self-proclaimed anti-masker. “I’m happy about the governor’s decision. The masks impeded the herd immunity we need. Now they want to vax so fast,” she said, shaking her head. The patio bartender, Britt Harasmisz, 24, said that most of her customers didn’t wear a mask even before the mandate ended. And though her employer decided that Barflys would no longer require face covers, she said that she would continue to wear one while working. “A lot of people have been vaccinated, Governor Abbott was vaccinated, but a lot of us on the front lines have not,” she said. “I’m going to wear a mask everywhere I go.” The move to open Texas has faced intense resistance. The governor’s medical advisers have said that they were not involved in the decision. And some experts have raised concerns about intensifying the spread of the virus while the vaccination process is underway. Texas, which is averaging about 5,500 new cases a day, has one of the lowest vaccination rates in the country. Lina Hidalgo, the county judge in Harris County, which includes Houston, has argued that lifting the mask mandate means workers must be the ones to enforce rules in retail establishments and restaurants. “We know better than to let our guard down simply because a level of government selected an arbitrary date to issue an all-clear,” Ms. Hidalgo, a Democrat and a persistent critic of Mr. Abbott, said in an op-ed column published this week by Time magazine. “I am working to clearly explain to the residents of my county that we will spare ourselves unnecessary death and suffering if we just stick with it for a little bit longer.” Bert Rossel, 39, stopped in for a drink at Barflys on Tuesday evening. He said he had known the pub’s owner for many years and worked for him at one time. Mr. Rossel is in the insurance business nowadays. He said he believed that the pandemic had been hyped on social media as another distraction, or as he calls it, “the latest hot topic.” “It’s survival of the fittest,” Mr. Rossel said. “My B.M.I. is higher than normal. Obese people are more susceptible to corona, but it’s been over a year. I would have gotten it already.” As the evening advanced, the patrons at Barflys drank beer and downed shots, smoked and gossiped, enjoying each other’s company. No one paid attention when, at midnight, Ms. Jowers pulled the sign from the front door that read, “MASKS REQUIRED UPON ENTRY.” — Rick Rojas, James Dobbins and Dave Montgomery United States › United StatesOn March 9 14-day change New cases 56,507 –13% New deaths 1,885 –20% World › WorldOn March 9 14-day change New cases 414,200 +11% New deaths 10,062 –10% U.S. vaccinations › President Biden attended vaccinations at a medical center for veterans in Washington on Monday.Credit…Doug Mills/The New York Times When President Biden pledged last week to amass enough shots by late May to inoculate every American adult, the pronouncement was greeted as a triumphant acceleration of a vaccination campaign that seemed only weeks earlier to be faltering. But the announcement was also a triumph of another kind: public relations. Because Mr. Biden had tamped down expectations early, the quicker vaccine production timetable conjured an image of a White House running on all cylinders and leaving its predecessor’s efforts in the dust. The Biden administration has taken two major steps that helped hasten vaccine production in the near term. His aides determined that by invoking the Korean War-era Defense Production Act, the federal government could help Pfizer obtain the heavy machinery it needed to expand its Kalamazoo, Mich., plant. Crucially, Mr. Biden’s top aides drove another vaccine manufacturer, Johnson & Johnson, to force a key subcontractor into round-the-clock operations so its vaccine could be bottled faster. At the same time, Mr. Biden benefited hugely from the waves of vaccine production that the Trump administration had set in motion. To Trump administration aides, the new president’s crowing rings off-key. “They criticize what we did, but they are using our playbook every step of the way,” said Paul Mango, the Trump administration’s deputy chief of staff for health policy and a senior official in the vaccine production effort then known as Operation Warp Speed. He said President Donald J. Trump’s team oversaw the construction or expansion of nearly two dozen plants involved in vaccine production and invoked the Defense Production Act 18 times to ensure those factories had sufficient supplies. Beyond the nuts and bolts of production, the Biden White House has pursued a starkly different messaging campaign than Mr. Trump’s: underpromise, and then try to overdeliver. Mr. Trump routinely boasted of imminent achievements, including a vaccine rollout before Election Day, only to fall short. Carefully calibrated goals “avoid losses,” said David Axelrod, the senior strategist for President Barack Obama’s campaigns in 2008 and 2012. The Biden administration, he added, “must have learned that lesson from watching Trump.” Katie Rogers contributed reporting. Kitty Bennett and Susan Beachy contributed research. Covid-19 information pamphlets with a mask and disinfectant kit distributed in San Jose, Calif.Credit…Ulysses Ortega for The New York Times Black and Hispanic communities are confronting vaccine conspiracy theories, rumors and misleading news reports on social media. The misinformation includes false claims that vaccines can alter DNA or don’t work, and efforts by states to reach out to Black and Hispanic residents have become the basis for new false narratives. “What might look like, on the surface, as doctors prioritizing communities of color is being read by some people online as ‘Oh, those doctors want us to go first, to be the guinea pigs,’” said Kolina Koltai, a researcher at the University of Washington who studies online conspiracy theories. Research conducted by the nonprofit Kaiser Family Foundation in mid-February showed a striking disparity between racial groups receiving the vaccine in 34 states that reported the data. State figures vary widely. In Texas, where people who identify as Hispanic make up 42 percent of the population, only 20 percent of the vaccinations had gone to that group. In Mississippi, Black people received 22 percent of vaccinations but make up 38 percent of the population. According to an analysis by The New York Times, the vaccination rate for Black Americans is half that of white people, and the gap for Hispanics is even larger. The belief that doctors are interested in experimenting on certain communities has deep roots among some groups, Ms. Koltai said. Anti-vaccine activists have drawn on historical examples, including Nazi doctors who ran experiments in concentration camps, and the Baltimore hospital where, 70 years ago, cancer cells were collected from a Black mother of five without her consent. An experiment conducted in 1943 on nearly 400 Black men in Tuskegee, Ala., is one of the most researched examples of medical mistreatment of the Black community. Over four decades, scientists observed the men, whom they knew were infected with syphilis, but didn’t offer treatments so that they could study the disease’s progression. Researchers who study disinformation followed mentions of Tuskegee on social media over the last year. The final week of November, when the pharmaceutical companies Moderna and Pfizer announced promising results in their final studies on the safety of their Covid-19 vaccines, mentions of Tuskegee climbed to 7,000 a week. Los Angeles students inside a Boys & Girls Club in August.Credit…Jae C. Hong/Associated Press The Los Angeles Unified School District and its teachers’ union have reached a tentative agreement to restore in-person instruction, clearing the way for a mid-April reopening of some classrooms in one of the last large school districts to bring students back in substantial numbers. The deal, contingent on teacher vaccinations, extensive health measures and the county’s impending exit from the state’s most restrictive tier of health regulations, was announced on Tuesday evening in a joint statement by the district superintendent, Austin Beutner, and the union president, Cecily Myart-Cruz. “The right way to reopen schools must include the highest standard of Covid safety in schools, continued reduction of the virus in the communities we serve and access to vaccinations for school staff,” they said. “This agreement achieves that shared set of goals.” The agreement is subject to approval by the district’s school board and ratification of the union’s membership. Under the tentative deal, elementary school and high-need students will be brought back in about six weeks, to allow time for returning school employees to be fully vaccinated, according to officials familiar with district negotiations. As middle school and high school teachers become inoculated, those students will then be phased in. The agreement will not immediately restore instruction to pre-pandemic levels. At most, officials said, it will be a blend of remote and in-person teaching, allowing students to come into school for several hours a week in small, stable cohorts while still taking classes online. The last day of school is June 11, and the district expects to offer summer school as it did last year. This month, California began immunizing teachers statewide, with Gov. Gavin Newsom setting aside 10 percent of new doses for school employees and channeling 40,000 doses specifically to Los Angeles school employees. About 38,000 of the district’s 86,000 teachers and other support personnel have been vaccinated, given appointments or waived the privilege, Mr. Beutner said. Most of those have been employed in the district’s preschools and elementary schools. In the governor’s State of the State address on Tuesday, Mr. Newsom said that “there’s nothing more foundational to an equitable society than getting our kids safely back into classrooms.” “Look, Jen and I live this as parents of four young children,” Mr. Newsom noted, echoing the pandemic frustrations of many California parents. “Helping them cope with the fatigue of ‘Zoom school.’ The loneliness of missing their friends. Frustrated by emotions they don’t yet fully understand.” He also noted that the state has committed $6.6 billion for tutoring, summer school, extended school days and mental health programs. “We can do this,” the governor said. “The science is sound.” Handling the Johnson & Johnson shots at a hospital pharmacy in Denver on Saturday.Credit…David Zalubowski/Associated Press President Biden will announce on Wednesday that he intends to secure an additional 100 million doses of Johnson & Johnson’s Covid-19 single-shot vaccine by the end of this year, with the goal of having enough on hand to vaccinate children and, if necessary, administer booster doses or reformulate the vaccine to combat emerging variants of the virus. Mr. Biden will make the announcement during an afternoon meeting with executives from Johnson & Johnson and the pharmaceutical giant Merck, according to two senior administration officials. The rival companies are partnering to ramp up production of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine, in a deal brokered by the White House. In announcing that agreement last week, Mr. Biden said that the United States would now have enough vaccine available by the end of May to vaccinate every American adult — roughly 260 million people. But the senior officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity to preview the president’s announcement, said the administration was trying to prepare for unpredictable challenges, from the emergence of dangerous virus variants to manufacturing breakdowns that could disrupt vaccine production. The officials said that they expected the doses to be delivered sometime in the second half of this year, but could not be more specific. They said Mr. Biden would direct officials at the Department of Health and Human Services to negotiate the details with Johnson & Johnson, and that Wednesday’s announcement would be a first step. The White House had initially intended to hold Wednesday’s event at the Baltimore manufacturing facility of Emergent BioSolutions, another company that partners with Johnson & Johnson to make coronavirus vaccine. But Mr. Biden canceled his trip after The New York Times published an investigation into how Emergent used its Washington connections to gain outsize influence over the Strategic National Stockpile, the nation’s emergency repository of drugs and medical supplies. The White House press secretary, Jen Psaki, has since said that the administration will conduct a comprehensive audit of the stockpile. Emergent officials will not attend Wednesday’s session. In explaining the change in plans, Ms. Psaki said that the administration thought the White House was a “more appropriate place to have the meeting,” which it is billing as a celebration of what Mr. Biden has called the “historic” partnership between Johnson & Johnson and Merck. The administration says the collaboration will increase manufacture of the vaccine itself, and will also bolster Johnson & Johnson’s packaging capacity, known in the vaccine industry as “fill-finish” — two big bottlenecks that have put the company behind schedule. Wednesday’s announcement is in keeping with Mr. Biden’s aggressive efforts to acquire as much vaccine supply as possible, as quickly as possible. Before Mr. Biden took office, he pledged to get “100 million shots into the arms” of the American people by his 100th day in office — a timetable that seemed aggressive at the time, but more recently has looked tame. He has been trying to speed it up ever since. At the time, two vaccines — one made by Moderna and the other by Pfizer-BioNTech — had been authorized by the Food and Drug Administration for emergency use. In January, Mr. Biden said the administration would have enough vaccine to cover every American by the end of summer. Last month, the president announced his administration had secured enough doses from those two companies to have enough to cover every American by the end of July. The recent addition of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine, which received emergency authorization in late February, opened a path for the administration to move up the timetable yet again. But Johnson & Johnson and its other partners, including Emergent, were behind schedule, which prompted the administration to reach out to Merck. Residents of a nursing home near Paris wait under observation after receiving their vaccines last month.Credit…Andrea Mantovani for The New York Times BRUSSELS — The European Union exported 25 million doses of vaccines produced in its territory last month to 31 countries around the world, with Britain and Canada the top destinations, just as the bloc saw its own supply cut drastically by pharmaceutical companies, slowing down vaccination efforts and stoking a major political crisis at home. The European Union — whose 27 nations are home to 450 million people — came under criticism last week, when Italy used an export-control mechanism to block a small shipment of vaccines to Australia. The move was criticized as protectionist and in sharp contrast to the bloc’s mantra of free markets and global solidarity in the face of the coronavirus pandemic. The issue of vaccine production and exports has also created a bitter dispute between the European Union and Britain, which recently departed the bloc, prompting accusations that Brussels wants to deprive London of doses out of spite, in part because Britain is doing so much better with its rollout. The tensions culminated in a diplomatic spat on Wednesday, after a top E.U. official accused the United States and Britain of implementing an “export ban” — a charge the British government vehemently denied. Practically speaking, ban or no ban, Britain is not exporting vaccines authorized for use at home. The country has said that it would be prepared to give excess shots to neighboring Ireland but only after it was done with its own vaccination efforts. The United States has also been hoarding doses, in part through a wartime mechanism known as the Defense Production Act which permits the federal government greater control over industrial production. President Biden last week promised each adult American at least one vaccine dose would be offered to them by May. But information made public for the first time, recorded in detailed internal documents seen by The New York Times, shows that the European Union, far from being protectionist, is in fact a vaccine exporting powerhouse. Of the nearly 25 million total vaccines made in the European Union that were exported from Feb. 1 — when the export mechanism came into force — to March 1, about a third, more than eight million doses, went to Britain. And while the United States kept doses for itself, the European Union shipped 651,000 vaccines to the country last month, and made vaccines for others across the Atlantic: The country that received the second-largest number of shots made in the European Union was Canada, with more than three million doses last month, while Mexico received nearly 2.5 million. Kim Andon gives Birch Creek resident Vincent Williams the Moderna vaccine at the Yukon Flats Health Center last month in Fort Yukon, Alaska.Credit…Ash Adams for The New York Times Everyone aged 16 and older living or working in Alaska is now eligible to receive the vaccine, Gov. Mike Dunleavy said on Tuesday evening, making it the first state to allow all of its residents access to the vaccine. Alaska has fully vaccinated 16 percent of its population, the highest rate in the country, according to a New York Times database. Adam Crum, the commissioner of the state health department, said, “If Alaskans had any questions about vaccine eligibility and criteria, I hope today’s announcement clears it up for you.” He added, “Simply put, you are eligible to get the vaccine.” Mr. Dunleavy encouraged all “Alaskans that are thinking about” getting vaccinated to do so, adding that the vaccine “gives us the ability now in Alaska to far outpace other states.” The announcement came as other states were rapidly expanding access to vaccines, with New York and Minnesota announcing on Tuesday that they would grant eligibility to wide swaths of their populations. The pace of vaccinations in the United States has continued to accelerate, with about 2.15 million doses being given daily, according to a New York Times database. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said on Tuesday that about 61.1 million people had received at least one dose of a Covid-19 vaccine, including about 32.1 million people who have been fully vaccinated by Johnson & Johnson’s single-dose vaccine or the two-dose series made by Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna. Some parts of Alaska have reached 90 percent vaccination rates among seniors, Governor Dunleavy said in a statement. In the Nome Census Area, over 60 percent of residents 16 and older have received at least one shot. “We want to get our economy back up and running. We want to get our society back up and running,” the governor said. “We want to put this virus behind us — as far as possible, as soon as possible.” The Pfizer vaccine is available to people 16 and older in Alaska, the governor said, while the Johnson & Johnson and Moderna vaccines are available to those 18 and older. Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo of New York said on Tuesday that his state would lower its age threshold for Covid-19 vaccine eligibility beginning on Wednesday, allowing anyone older than 60 to be inoculated. New York State is also opening vaccination eligibility next week to a large number of public-facing workers, including government employees, nonprofit workers and essential building services workers. Those people can begin to get vaccinated on March 17. New York will join a handful of other U.S. states that allow vaccinations for all people over 60; the majority have set their minimum age eligibility requirement at 65. Mr. Cuomo, in an appearance in Syracuse, pointed to expected increases in supply from the federal government as the reason behind expanding vaccine eligibility. Among the workers eligible to get vaccinated next week are public works employees, social service and child service caseworkers, government inspectors, sanitation workers, election workers, Department of Motor Vehicle employees and county clerks. Appointments will open for those over 60 starting at 8 a.m. on Wednesday, Mr. Cuomo said. People over 65 became eligible for a vaccine in January. Elsewhere, Gov. Tim Walz of Minnesota announced on Tuesday that the state would expand eligibility to more than 1.8 million Minnesotans this week, including essential workers in industries like food service and public transit, and people 45 and older with at least one underlying medical condition. The announcement is “weeks ahead of schedule,” the governor said in a statement, as the state is set to reach its goal of vaccinating 70 percent of Minnesotans 65 and older this week. In Ohio, residents 50 and older, as well as people with certain medical conditions who had not yet qualified, will be eligible to receive a vaccine this week, Gov. Mike DeWine announced on Monday. The same day, Gov. Henry McMaster of South Carolina announced that residents 55 and older, those 16 and older with high-risk medical conditions and some frontline workers were eligible. John Druschitz displays a stack of medical bills as well as careful notes he took about the timeline of his illness.Credit…Ilana Panich-Linsman for The New York Times John Druschitz spent five days in a Texas hospital last April with fever and shortness of breath as doctors puzzled over a diagnosis. They initially suspected coronavirus. But ensuing lab work was ambiguous: Multiple molecular tests for coronavirus came back negative, but an antibody test was positive. Doctors found that Mr. Druschitz, 65, had an irregular heartbeat and blood clots in both his lungs. They sent him home on oxygen, and ultimately did not give a coronavirus diagnosis because of the negative tests. He didn’t think much about the decision until this fall, when he received a $22,367.81 bill that the hospital has since threatened to send to collections. Working with a patient advocate, he discovered that his debt stemmed in no small part from his diagnosis. Not having a coronavirus diagnosis disqualified his hospital from tapping into a federal fund to cover his bills. Mr. Druschitz ultimately fell short of qualifying for multiple federal health programs that would have paid for his care if the details had been slightly different. On the day the hospital admitted him, he was 64 years old, 23 days away from qualifying for Medicare. He had mistakenly terminated his private health plan one month early. If his hospital visit had happened 24 days later, Medicare would have covered the vast majority of the costs. Because he was uninsured, the hospital sent a letter less than a week after discharge offering to “help apply for medical assistance through various government programs.” Mr. Druschitz had not yet received a bill at the time. When it did arrive, six months later, he was told that offer had expired. Another source of federal funding would have become available if the hospital had determined he had coronavirus: the Covid-19 Uninsured Program. Created last spring, the program pays the medical bills of coronavirus patients who lack health coverage. It has faced some criticism from hospitals and patients for being too narrow, and for covering bills only where coronavirus is the primary diagnosis. A patient with a primary diagnosis of respiratory failure and a secondary diagnosis of coronavirus would not qualify, for example. The Health Resources and Services Administration, which runs the federal fund, does not have plans to change that policy. So far, it has spent $2 billion to reimburse health care providers for the bills of uninsured coronavirus patients. Robbie Fairchild, a former dancer at New York City Ballet, lost his health insurance during the pandemic. He is now running a flower business to help with finances.Credit…Amr Alfiky/The New York Times Across the United States, thousands of actors, musicians, dancers and other entertainment industry workers are losing their health insurance or being saddled with higher costs in the midst of the pandemic. Some were simply unable to work enough hours last year to qualify for coverage. Others were in plans that made it harder to qualify for coverage. The insurance woes came as performers faced record unemployment. Several provisions in President Biden’s $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief plan, which passed the Senate on Saturday and is expected to pass the House on Wednesday, offer the promise of relief. One would make it a lot cheaper for people to take advantage of the federal government program known as COBRA, which allows people to continue to buy the health coverage they have lost. Another would lower the cost of buying coverage on government exchanges. Many of the more than two dozen performers interviewed by The New York Times said that they had felt abandoned for much of the year — both by their unions and by what many described as America’s broken health care system. “You never think it’s going to be you,” said Robbie Fairchild, a former dancer at New York City Ballet who was nominated for a Tony Award in 2015 for his star turn in “An American in Paris” on Broadway and who later appeared in the film adaptation of “Cats.” Unlike other workers who simply sign up for a health plan when they start a new job, the people who power film, television and theater often work on multiple shows for many different employers, cobbling together enough hours, days and earnings until they reach the threshold that qualifies them for health insurance. Even as work grew scarce last year, several plans raised that threshold. Musicians are struggling, too. Officials at Local 802 of the American Federation of Musicians, the New York local that is the largest in the nation, estimate that when changes to its plan take effect this month, roughly one in three musicians will have lost coverage. Insurance plan officials say they were left with no choice but to make painful changes to ensure their funds survive because health care costs have been rising at rates that have outpaced contributions. Source link Orbem News #Black #communities #confronted #Hispanic #Misinformation #Vaccine

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stephenmccull · 4 years ago

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Without a Pandemic Safety Net, Immigrants Living in US Illegally Fall Through the Cracks

Ana’s 9-year-old son was the first in the family to come down with symptoms that looked like covid-19 last March. Soon after, the 37-year-old unauthorized immigrant and three of her other children, including a daughter with asthma, struggled to breathe.

This story also ran on Time. It can be republished for free.

For the next three weeks, the family fought the illness in isolation — Ana clutching the top of door frames to catch her breath — while friends and neighbors left food on the porch of their home in Colorado Springs, Colorado. Ana and her children never took tests to confirm they caught the coronavirus, but the pressure in her lungs, the fever, the headache and the loss of smell and taste convinced her it couldn’t be anything else.

“It was horrible,” said Ana, a Colorado resident for more than two decades who requested her last name not be used because of her immigration status. “We had to lay on the floor to breathe.”

Nearly a year later, the effects of the virus go far beyond nagging shortness of breath for Ana. She lost her job cleaning houses when she got sick last March, so she couldn’t pay rent. A local nonprofit’s cash assistance funded by some federal covid relief helped her catch up in the fall, but she still had no work and fell behind on rent again. Her landlord finally threw the family out of their home at the beginning of January with 30 hours’ notice, she said.

Ana is one the nearly 11 million undocumented immigrants living in the U.S. without legal permission, who are particularly vulnerable to the economic fallout wrought by the pandemic and have no direct access to the billions of dollars in federal pandemic relief over the past year. An estimated 4 in 5 of them work essential jobs that put them at high risk to catch the covid virus. They are also more likely to suffer the economic consequences, even with protections in place — such as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s eviction moratorium, extended through March — because they fear that reaching out for help or reporting landlords could lead to deportation or detention.

President Joe Biden’s inauguration brought some encouraging news, as he’s said he wants to create a path for citizenship for many of the nation’s undocumented immigrants. He also said they should be able to be vaccinated against covid without worrying that they will be arrested and deported.

Even though the covid vaccines are available to everyone no matter their citizenship, a distrust of government and law enforcement in the immigrant community and a lack of culturally competent vaccination information and even misinformation have made some undocumented immigrants reluctant to come forward early in the vaccination rollout.

Even if Biden makes good on his pledge of equitable access to a vaccine, unauthorized U.S. residents continue to have no direct access to billions of dollars in federal pandemic relief. The issue was brought up again on March 6 when Republican Sen. Ted Cruz claimed Biden’s new $1.9 trillion aid package would send stimulus checks to every illegal alien in America. Democratic Sen. Dick Durbin clarified that undocumented immigrants don’t qualify for checks in the measure that passed the Senate. The House was set to take up the Senate’s changes on Tuesday.

Advocacy groups have argued for “inclusive” aid packages that provide direct aid to as many immigrants as possible no matter citizenship status, and while a few states set up aid for the undocumented, it’s not nearly enough, according to Marielena Hincapié, executive director of the National Immigration Law Center.

“Immigration status shouldn’t be the gatekeeper to any of these programs. It really ultimately is about need and ensuring that families have the economic stability, to not only survive, but to get through this pandemic that all of us are impacted by,” Hincapié says. “Eighty percent of undocumented immigrants are working as essential workers. We are relying on them, and yet are denying their families this basic support that everyone else is getting.”

Couples with mixed immigration status — in which only one partner is a U.S. citizen — were also blocked from aid until December. They can now apply for stimulus payments retroactively but will still receive less than couples who are U.S. citizens. Though the change made millions more families eligible for some aid, couples in which both partners are undocumented immigrants also have not received stimulus payments for their children even if their children were born in the U.S. and are citizens. A group of families sued the Trump administration in May 2020 after it excluded children in the first COVID-19 aid package known as the CARES Act. The Department of Justice under the Biden administration has continued to defend the policy and has asked a federal judge to dismiss the lawsuit. A decision is pending.

Meanwhile, in February, eight Senate Democrats, including John Hickenlooper of Colorado, voted in favor of a budget amendment that continues to block both documented and undocumented immigrants who pay taxes using ITINs (individual taxpayer identification numbers) from receiving direct relief. (A Social Security number is a requirement for federal pandemic aid, which means immigrants who pay taxes with ITINs can’t qualify.) After getting blowback for his vote from Colorado’s immigration rights community and a letter from the Colorado ACLU accused the senator of breaking campaign promises to stand with immigrants, Hickenlooper met with community members and released a statement to a local news station: “I recognize how this vote has distorted that important fact and fed dangerous and damaging narratives about the undocumented community. … I remain committed to working together to finally achieve a comprehensive fix for our broken immigration system, including a pathway to citizenship.”

Hincapié calls the vote “morally unconscionable.” “The pandemic has shown how interdependent we are and that this is a time in our nation to make sure we’re taking care of everyone. It’s the only way we’re going to get out of this,” she said. “There is no recovery without including immigrants.”

Nearly half of the nearly 11 million immigrants living illegally in the United States (including some 190,000 in Colorado) pay taxes, according to the American Immigration Council, a Washington, D.C.-based advocacy organization. In Colorado, they paid an estimated $272.8 million in federal taxes and $156.5 million in state and local taxes in 2018. According to the IRS, ITIN filers nationwide pay over $9 billion in annual payroll taxes.

The Migration Policy Institute, a nonprofit think tank in Washington, D.C., reported in January that 9.3 million unauthorized immigrants whose income meets the threshold for covid aid are blocked from accessing it, and also can’t apply for federal programs that provide cash and food assistance. It reported that undocumented people represent more than half of the workers in the hardest-hit industries, such as meatpacking, the restaurant business, health care and child care.

The Colorado nonprofit that provided Ana with rental assistance, Servicios de la Raza, received applications from 300 families for rental help. The group could assist only 51 of them, said Julissa Soto, the group’s director of statewide programs. Soto, who used to be undocumented herself, said she knows of at least 30 undocumented families that are homeless because of the pandemic in El Paso County, which includes Colorado Springs. She said she is frustrated by a lack of action by Colorado’s political leaders to address the problem.

“My community is starving and getting evicted, and this is because we are undocumented and we don’t exist,” she said. “No one wants to talk about the undocumented community.”

It’s unclear how many people living illegally across the nation have been evicted during the pandemic. One reason for the uncertainty is because they often leave the moment a landlord threatens to kick them out to avoid going to eviction court and risking deportation, immigration advocates say. As a result, landlords can often evict undocumented people without ever officially filing in civil court and without following the state and federal rules, so there is no paper trail to track.

“Rather than go to court and assert their rights, they just move out,” said Zach Neumann, founder of the Colorado COVID-19 Eviction Defense Project. “They often do so in a way that’s really disruptive to their families and their lives.”

Ana’s landlord evicted her at the end of her lease exploiting a loophole in the federal eviction moratorium that allows evictions when leases expire. She said her landlord threatened to call the police, so she left as quickly as possible. The short time frame her landlord set does not follow Colorado law, which allows tenants 10 days to appeal an eviction in court or leave the property after official notice is given.

A phone number listed for the landlord, AB Property Management, was disconnected, and multiple attempts to contact the owners of Ana’s past rental property were unsuccessful.

Though President Joe Biden’s proposed emergency pandemic aid package mentions ensuring vaccine access to Americans “regardless of their immigration status,” there is no similar statement included for the $30 billion proposed in rental and critical energy and water assistance, or extended unemployment benefits or individual stimulus checks..

California and New York City developed payment programs for undocumented residents. But despite having an undocumented population of almost 200,000 — accounting for about 3% of the state’s population in 2016 — Colorado has no financial aid program to address that community.

Ana and her children are now sleeping on the floor in a friend’s unfurnished spare room. She recently found a cleaning job that pays $300 a week. It’s not much, but she’s thankful to have it after nine months of looking for work. She’s still terrified of losing her kids if social-service workers find out the family is homeless.

“This is not living. This is just surviving. Let’s be clear. This is just surviving, and I want to live. I want a house for my kids,” she said.

KHN (Kaiser Health News) is a national newsroom that produces in-depth journalism about health issues. Together with Policy Analysis and Polling, KHN is one of the three major operating programs at KFF (Kaiser Family Foundation). KFF is an endowed nonprofit organization providing information on health issues to the nation.

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socialjusticeartshare · 4 years ago

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After forced separations at border, migrant families in the Baltimore area getting mental health help for trauma

They called it ‘la perrera,’ meaning the dog pen. It was one of the U.S. Custom and Border Patrol’s processing centers, where migrant women and children slept side by side, in chilly temperatures, in a cage lined by wire, with metallic bed sheets to keep warm. This is where the mother from Honduras was awakened in the middle of the night and separated from her 5-year-old daughter.

They didn’t see each other again for two months, and like hundreds of other migrant families forcibly separated at the border under a 2018 Trump administration policy, they have been left with the mental consequences of traumatic, often weeks and monthslong separations. The little girl screamed a lot, was afraid of police officers and would hide when hearing ambulance sirens. Her mother has suffered from insomnia and nightmares.

The mother and daughter are now among 55 Baltimore-area families, and some 578 across the country, who are receiving free, confidential mental health services, after a federal judge held the government legally accountable for mental trauma brought on by the separation policy. Doctors say that the traumaresulting from family separations and detentions can ultimately lead to long-term psychological effects, such as anxiety, post-traumatic stress disorder and depression.

“I thought I was going to wake up and I was going to be in a cell,” said the Honduran mother, who asked to only be identified by her first name, Lilian, because she fled violence and fears for her safety. After reuniting, the 29-year-old woman was traumatized if an alarm sounded. Even today, after three years in Baltimore, Lilian gets scared in her sleep, though with therapy, not as frequently as before.

More than 3,000 children were taken from their parents under Trump administration policies and put in government shelters or foster homes before the policy was largely curtailed under pressure in 2018. Recently, the Biden administration officially rescinded the family separation policy and later announced a task force to reunite families. According to the ACLU, the parents of 611 children are still missing.

Most of the Baltimore-area migrants getting help are from Latin America, particularly from Guatemala, Honduras, and El Salvador. According to a report last February from the nonprofit Physicians for Human Rights, many left their countries because of violence and credible fears that their children would be killed if they stayed. But their trauma was exacerbated when they got to the border and were forcibly separated, often given little information and put in poor, unsanitary living conditions. Many parents didn’t know if they would ever see their children again; some children thought their parents had deliberately abandoned them.

The Physicians for Human Rights report went so far as to assert that family separation “rises to the level of torture.”

Seneca Family of Agencies, a nonprofit mental health agency based in California, is spearheading the mental health effort through a $14 million federal government contract. Seneca has contracted with providers in Baltimore that include Health Care for the Homeless, Health Center for Wellness, La Clinica del Pueblo and the Pro Bono Counseling Project.

At one of the contractors, Hope Health Systems in Baltimore, Oscar Mejia, a clinical mental health counselor, has been treating immigrants in the program since July.

He has seen a cases of detachment and depersonalization among children. Mejia also noted symptoms that range from irritability to angry outbursts, lack of positive emotions, nightmares, and problems with concentration.

“When I hear these kids talking about those cold rooms where they are placed, this is a form of punishment,” Mejia said. “It is a torture that disfigures the image of a human being that takes away from many children the motivation and trust and desire to continue trying in this life.”

One of the migrants who is getting help, Edgar, 31, did not want to be identified by his last name because of the political violence he fled.

While the journey from his home country of Guatemala was surprisingly smooth, Edgar said the terror began when he and son, then 7, arrived in the United States. They were separated at a processing center; for four days, Edgar had no word about his son’s whereabouts.

Other migrants told Edgar that if children got too upset when they discovered their parents were gone, staff gave the kids something to calm them down. “Young children were given injections to stop crying,” Edgar said. He doesn’t know if his son was given what has been described in reports as tranquilizers.

He reunited with his boy after 35 days. But Edgar said his son was not the same. The once cheerful child would say little except for yes or no. He would have crying outbursts. He was afraid to shower or sleep alone. He feared going to school and being separated from his parents again. When he saw a police officer at his new school in Baltimore, the boy was terrified and wanted to hide. The officer later visited him at home to try and ease his traumatic reactions to adults wearing uniforms.

Under the new program, Edgar’s father was able to get free therapy for his son, which just started two months ago. Edgar and his wife also plan to get counseling once their son gets the help he needs.

Counselor Mejia said parents have been wracked with anguish about what happened.

“That is a desperate feeling, that is a feeling of guilt, because ‘I wanted to protect my child and now I am powerless.’” Mejia said. “The fear related, the guilt related, the sadness related to that separation turns into a post-traumatic stress disorder and to the more severe cases of suicidal ideation and suicide attempts.”

Monica Guerrero Vázquez sees the same trend in her work as Executive Director at Centro SOL, which partners with Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine to promote health and opportunity for Latinos. While Centro SOL is not part of the official program, they are running two mental health groups for about 23 Latinos. The service is pro bono for underinsured and uninsured patients.

“People come to these groups without knowing what they have, and some of them are going through PTSD, anxiety and depression,” said Guerrero Vázquez. “We facilitate that conversation so they can talk about the different stressors and risk factors and then learn how to name what they feel.”

Many haven’t gotten help because of language barriers, as well as the fact that talking about negative feelings is not a common part of Latino culture.

“There is a systemic problem of exclusion of these individuals,” said Guerrero Vázquez. “These are people who don’t have resources in general, who don’t have access to mental health care at all, [and] who don’t have enough income to pay out of pocket.”

Seneca’s care for children and guardians is set to expire in July. Advocates say COVID-19 has created obstacles for the program, making door-to-door outreach to these families tough. But Seneca’s General Counsel Paige Chan said the agency is determined to reach as many of the eligible immigrants as they can.

Lilian’s advice for migrants who need mental health support in their new country: see a psychologist. Under the program, Lilian has been in therapy for the past six months, while her daughter has had therapy for the past year.

“People think it’s because you’re crazy or because you’re sick,” Lilian said. “But no, you really need to talk, you need to release what you have suffered, so you can feel clean, and feel good inside.”

Her daughter is adapting, making friends and going to a local school. But every once in a while, like when her mother leaves for her job as a cleaner, the girl, now 8, grows sad. Part of her is still afraid her mother may not come back.

Families can access services by calling or texting Seneca’s confidential and toll-free hotline at 844-529-3327 or emailing [email protected].

Article Source

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wokeinmemphis-blog · 4 years ago

Text

Rishi Sunak defends emergency jobs scheme

Media playback is unsupported on your device

Media captionChancellor Rishi Sunak: “It’s not for me to… make pronouncements on what job is viable or not”

Chancellor Rishi Sunak has said it is “impossible” to predict how many jobs the government’s new wage subsidy scheme will save.

The scheme, set to replace furlough, will see the government top up the pay of people unable to work full time.

It aims to stop mass job cuts after the government introduced new measures to tackle a rise in coronavirus cases.

Mr Sunak said he hoped the plan would “benefit large numbers”, but he could not say what job is “viable or not”.

Under the Job Support Scheme, if bosses bring back workers part time, the government will help top up their wages with employers to at least three quarters of their full time pay.

It will begin on 1 November and last for six months.

How will the Job Support Scheme work?

Under the scheme, the government will subsidise the pay of employees who are working fewer than their normal hours due to lower demand.

Employers will pay for the hours actually worked. And then the government and the employer will between them cover two thirds of the lost wages. But only staff who can work at least a third of their normal hours will be eligible for the scheme.

The payment will be based on an employee’s normal salary, with the government contribution capped at £697.92 per month.

Why is the government doing this?

Mr Sunak described the scheme as a “radical new policy”, designed “to help protect as many jobs as possible [and] keep people in part-time work rather than laying them off”.

However, he said it would only support “viable jobs” – as opposed to jobs that exist because the government is continuing to subsidise the wages.

“It’s not for me to sit here and make pronouncements upon exactly what job is viable or not but what we do need to do is evolve our support now that we’re through the acute phase of the crisis,” Mr Sunak said at a press conference after the scheme was unveiled.

“We obviously can’t sustain the same level of things that we were doing at the beginning of this crisis.”

How many jobs will this save?

The BBC understands that the Treasury is estimating that anywhere between two and five million people could be covered by the new Jobs Support Scheme.

However, the chancellor told a press conference that he would be “lying” if he tried to give precise numbers but he said that some forecasts for unemployment “don’t make for good reading”.

Nearly three million workers – or 12% of the UK’s workforce – are currently on partial or full furlough leave, according to official figures. The current furlough scheme ends on 31 October.

The government’s contribution to workers’ pay will fall sharply compared with the furlough scheme. Under furlough, it initially paid 80% of a monthly wage up to £2,500 – under the new scheme this will drop to 22%.

“The primary goal of our economic policy remains unchanged – to support people’s jobs – but the way we achieve that must evolve,” Mr Sunak said.

“I cannot save every business, I cannot save every job.”

Image copyright Getty Images

How much will it cost?

The scheme will cost the government an estimated £300m a month. Companies who use it can also still claim the Job Retention Bonus, where the government pays £1,000 for every furloughed employee who comes back to work until at least the end of January.

Mr Sunak said a similar scheme for the self-employed would be available.

Who does it help?

All small and medium sized businesses will be eligible for the scheme but larger business will only qualify if their turnover has fallen during the crisis

It will run for six months starting in November and be open to employers across the UK even if they have not previously used the furlough scheme.

Employees must be in ”viable jobs” to benefit from the scheme. Those in industries currently closed – such as nightclubs – may lose out as there isn’t any work.

Image copyright Getty Images

Image caption Gavin McQueen, the manager of Pryzm in Leeds, sits in the club, which has not reopened since the UK went into lockdown in March

What do businesses think?

Business lobby group the CBI welcomed the government’s plan.

“It is right to target help on jobs with a future, but can only be part-time while demand remains flat. This is how skills and jobs can be preserved to enable a fast recovery, “said CBI director-general Dame Carolyn Fairbairn.

However, Torsten Bell, chief executive of the Resolution Foundation think tank said that the new jobs scheme on its own “will not encourage firms to cut hours rather than jobs because the one-third employer contribution means it is much cheaper for firms to employ one person full-time than two people part-time”.

He warned that the £1,000 Job Retention Bonus firms would receive for retaining workers at the end of January, combined with the new scheme could create a new “cliff-edge” for job cuts.

“We’ve now got a big incentive for firms to retain workers part-time until you qualify for the bonus.”

Labour, meanwhile, said it would support any measures to safeguard jobs but accused the government of acting too late.

Image copyright Getty Images

What about workers?

Tracey Sheppard is a cleaner at a leisure centre in Essex who’s been on furlough since the end of March. She said she hoped the new Jobs Support Scheme will help her, but there are no guarantees.

“They’re a very big company that I work for … but I don’t’ know whether they’d be able to afford to keep me on… I just don’t know,” she told the BBC’s World At One.

She said she feels “frightened” because her family only recently moved to the area and this is the only job she can fit in around childcare.

“I’ve just heard nothing [from my employer]. The last time I heard from them was the beginning of lockdown.”

What else did the chancellor announce?

A cut in VAT for hospitality and tourism companies will also be extended until March. The cut from 20% to 5% VAT – which came into force on 15 July – had been due to expire on 12 January next year.

However, the Food and Drink Federation (FDF) said this and the new jobs plan did “not go far enough” in helping the industry which has been hit by the government’s new restrictions to stop coronavirus cases from rising.

Image copyright Getty Images

What about loan repayments?

Mr Sunak also announced that businesses that have borrowed money through the government’s loan scheme would be given more time to repay the money.

The chancellor said that small businesses who took out “Bounce Back” loans can use a new “Pay as You Grow” flexible repayment system. It means borrowings can be repaid over 10 years instead of the original six year term.

The longer repayment time also applied to small and medium-sized firms who borrowed under the Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme.

Businesses will also have more time to apply for these loans, as well as the Coronavirus Large Business Interruption Loan Scheme and the Future Fund. Application dates for the various schemes had been due to end in October and November.

Will the scheme work?

The new jobs support scheme is a fraction of what we have seen over the past few months, and is concentrated on those deemed to be in “viable” jobs. It cannot prevent a sharp rise in unemployment in the coming months in “non-viable” jobs.

Indeed, the economic impact of this package of several billion pounds is likely to be far outweighed, even by this week’s announcement that the UK faces a six-month “new normal” of social restrictions.

The Treasury has extended the bridge of support it put in place in March to cover the next six months.

But the new scheme requires everybody to chip in. That will be too much for many employers. We are about to find out just how many.

Read more here

Will this scheme benefit you? Do you have any questions about the scheme? Email [email protected].

Please include a contact number if you are willing to speak to a BBC journalist. You can also get in touch in the following ways:

WhatsApp: +44 7756 165803

Tweet: @BBC_HaveYourSay

Please read our terms & conditions and privacy policy

The article was originally published here! Rishi Sunak defends emergency jobs scheme

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redroses879-blog · 4 years ago

Text

Rishi Sunak defends emergency jobs scheme

Media playback is unsupported on your device

Media captionChancellor Rishi Sunak: “It’s not for me to… make pronouncements on what job is viable or not”

Chancellor Rishi Sunak has said it is “impossible” to predict how many jobs the government’s new wage subsidy scheme will save.

The scheme, set to replace furlough, will see the government top up the pay of people unable to work full time.

It aims to stop mass job cuts after the government introduced new measures to tackle a rise in coronavirus cases.

Mr Sunak said he hoped the plan would “benefit large numbers”, but he could not say what job is “viable or not”.

Under the Job Support Scheme, if bosses bring back workers part time, the government will help top up their wages with employers to at least three quarters of their full time pay.

It will begin on 1 November and last for six months.

How will the Job Support Scheme work?

Under the scheme, the government will subsidise the pay of employees who are working fewer than their normal hours due to lower demand.

The payment will be based on an employee’s normal salary, with the government contribution capped at £697.92 per month.

Why is the government doing this?

Mr Sunak described the scheme as a “radical new policy”, designed “to help protect as many jobs as possible [and] keep people in part-time work rather than laying them off”.

However, he said it would only support “viable jobs” – as opposed to jobs that exist because the government is continuing to subsidise the wages.

“We obviously can’t sustain the same level of things that we were doing at the beginning of this crisis.”

How many jobs will this save?

The BBC understands that the Treasury is estimating that anywhere between two and five million people could be covered by the new Jobs Support Scheme.

However, the chancellor told a press conference that he would be “lying” if he tried to give precise numbers but he said that some forecasts for unemployment “don’t make for good reading”.

Nearly three million workers – or 12% of the UK’s workforce – are currently on partial or full furlough leave, according to official figures. The current furlough scheme ends on 31 October.

“The primary goal of our economic policy remains unchanged – to support people’s jobs – but the way we achieve that must evolve,” Mr Sunak said.

“I cannot save every business, I cannot save every job.”

Image copyright Getty Images

How much will it cost?

Mr Sunak said a similar scheme for the self-employed would be available.

Who does it help?

All small and medium sized businesses will be eligible for the scheme but larger business will only qualify if their turnover has fallen during the crisis

It will run for six months starting in November and be open to employers across the UK even if they have not previously used the furlough scheme.

Employees must be in ”viable jobs” to benefit from the scheme. Those in industries currently closed – such as nightclubs – may lose out as there isn’t any work.

Image copyright Getty Images

Image caption Gavin McQueen, the manager of Pryzm in Leeds, sits in the club, which has not reopened since the UK went into lockdown in March

What do businesses think?

Business lobby group the CBI welcomed the government’s plan.

He warned that the £1,000 Job Retention Bonus firms would receive for retaining workers at the end of January, combined with the new scheme could create a new “cliff-edge” for job cuts.

“We’ve now got a big incentive for firms to retain workers part-time until you qualify for the bonus.”

Labour, meanwhile, said it would support any measures to safeguard jobs but accused the government of acting too late.

Image copyright Getty Images

What about workers?

Tracey Sheppard is a cleaner at a leisure centre in Essex who’s been on furlough since the end of March. She said she hoped the new Jobs Support Scheme will help her, but there are no guarantees.

“They’re a very big company that I work for … but I don’t’ know whether they’d be able to afford to keep me on… I just don’t know,” she told the BBC’s World At One.

She said she feels “frightened” because her family only recently moved to the area and this is the only job she can fit in around childcare.

“I’ve just heard nothing [from my employer]. The last time I heard from them was the beginning of lockdown.”

What else did the chancellor announce?

Image copyright Getty Images

What about loan repayments?

Mr Sunak also announced that businesses that have borrowed money through the government’s loan scheme would be given more time to repay the money.

The longer repayment time also applied to small and medium-sized firms who borrowed under the Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme.

Will the scheme work?

The Treasury has extended the bridge of support it put in place in March to cover the next six months.

But the new scheme requires everybody to chip in. That will be too much for many employers. We are about to find out just how many.

Read more here

Will this scheme benefit you? Do you have any questions about the scheme? Email [email protected].

Please include a contact number if you are willing to speak to a BBC journalist. You can also get in touch in the following ways:

WhatsApp: +44 7756 165803

Tweet: @BBC_HaveYourSay

Please read our terms & conditions and privacy policy

The article was originally published here! Rishi Sunak defends emergency jobs scheme

0 notes

newstfionline · 4 years ago

Text

Headlines

Public losing faith in govts, says survey, as virus cases surge (AFP) A survey released Saturday showed governments are fast losing support for their handling of the coronavirus pandemic, as health officials recorded a surge of more than 280,000 new cases globally two days in a row. As governments worldwide struggle to contain the virus despite long and economically crippling lockdowns imposed on millions of people, a new survey suggested that faith in authorities is dwindling in six rich nations. Populations in France, Germany, Britain, Japan, Sweden and the US widely believed death and infection figures to be higher than recorded, according to the study, which polled 1,000 people in each nation. “In most countries this month, support for national governments is falling,” said the report by the Kekst CNC communications consultancy. One world leader widely criticised over his handling of the pandemic is Brazil’s Bolsonaro, who was diagnosed with coronavirus on July 7. And in the streets of Jerusalem and other cities, thousands called for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to resign, in part for his management of the coronavirus crisis.

Mnuchin: Virus aid package soon, $1,200 checks by August (AP) Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said Saturday that Republicans were set to roll out the next COVID-19 aid package Monday and assured there was backing from the White House after he and President Donald Trump’s top aide met to salvage the $1 trillion proposal that had floundered just days before. Mnuchin told reporters at the Capitol that extending an expiring unemployment benefit—but reducing it substantially—was a top priority for Trump. The secretary called the $600 weekly aid “ridiculous” and a disincentive for people to go back to work. He also promised a fresh round of $1,200 stimulus checks would be coming in August. Mnuchin’s optimistic assessment came before Democrats weighed in publicly on the updated proposal, which remained only a starting point in negotiations with House and Senate leaders in the other party.

The answer, my friend, is blowin’ in the wind (Washington Post) The tear gas started early Friday night, interrupting a line of drums and dancing, chanting protesters, an artist painting in oils underneath a tree in the park and a man with a microphone speaking about the issues of racial justice and policing at the center of these nightly demonstrations. As if on cue, a brigade of orange-shirted men with leaf blowers descended on the cloud, revved their engines and blew the tear gas away. The crowd cheered. The loud, pressurized air machines typically used to clear grass, leaves and other lawn debris are surprisingly effective tools at clearing caustic chemicals from the air. They’re so effective that on Friday night, federal agents frustrated at being caught in up in a redirected cloud of tear gas, showed up to the demonstration with their own handheld blowers. The leaf-blower wars were on. Hardware stores in the Portland area said they hadn’t noticed a rush on leaf-blowers in recent weeks, but several managers noted that summer is typically a hot season for leaf-blower sales.

Tropical Storm Hanna drenches South Texas (AP) A day after roaring ashore as a hurricane, Hanna lashed the Texas Gulf Coast on Sunday with high winds and drenching rains that destroyed boats, flooded streets and knocked out power across a region already reeling from a surge in coronavirus cases. Downgraded to a tropical storm, Hanna hovered over the U.S.-Mexico border with winds near 50 mph (85 kph), the National Hurricane Center said. It was expected to unload as much as 18 inches of rain (45 centimetres) on parts of South Texas and northeastern Mexico. More than 155,000 customers were without power Sunday afternoon throughout South Texas, including Corpus Christi, Harlingen and Brownsville, according to AEP Texas.

Protests Swell in Russia’s Far East in a Stark New Challenge to Putin (NYT) KHABAROVSK, Russia—Watching the passing masses of protesters chanting “Freedom!” and “Putin resign!” while passing drivers honked, applauded and offered high-fives, a sidewalk vendor selling little cucumbers and plastic cups of forest raspberries said she would join in, too, if she did not have to work. The protests in Khabarovsk, a city 4,000 miles east of Moscow, drew tens of thousands of people for a three-mile march through central streets for the third straight week on Saturday. Residents were rallying in support of a popular governor arrested and spirited to Moscow this month—but their remarkable outpouring of anger, which has little precedent in post-Soviet Russia, has emerged as stark testimony to the discontent that President Vladimir V. Putin faces across the country. Across Russia, fear of being detained by the police and the seeming hopelessness of effecting change has largely kept people off the streets. Many Russians also say that whatever Mr. Putin’s faults, the alternative could be worse or lead to greater chaos. For the most part, anti-Kremlin protests have been limited to a few thousand people in Moscow and other big cities, where the authorities usually crack down harshly. But the events in Khabarovsk have shown that the well of discontent is such that minor events can ignite a firestorm. The weekend crowds have been so large that the police have not tried to control them—even though the protesters did not have a permit, let alone a clear leader or organizer.

Officials Push U.S.-China Relations Toward Point of No Return (NYT) Step by step, blow by blow, the United States and China are dismantling decades of political, economic and social engagement, setting the stage for a new era of confrontation shaped by the views of the most hawkish voices on both sides. With President Trump trailing badly in the polls as the election nears, his national security officials have intensified their attack on China in recent weeks, targeting its officials, diplomats and executives. While the strategy has reinforced a key campaign message, some American officials, worried Mr. Trump will lose, are also trying to engineer irreversible changes, according to people familiar with the thinking. China’s leader, Xi Jinping, has inflamed the fight, brushing aside international concern about the country’s rising authoritarianism to consolidate his own political power and to crack down on basic freedoms, from Xinjiang to Hong Kong. By doing so, he has hardened attitudes in Washington. The combined effect could prove to be Mr. Trump’s most consequential foreign policy legacy, even if it’s not one he has consistently pursued: the entrenchment of a fundamental strategic and ideological confrontation between the world’s two largest economies.

A different way to hang out the laundry (NYT) Chang Wan-ji, 83, and Hso Sho-er, 84, have become Instagram stars in quarantine. The Taiwanese couple pose at a place they know well—their laundromat—and their funky fashions are curated from customers’ forgotten garments. They are naturals in front of the camera. “I had no idea so many foreigners would take interest in my grandparents,” said their 31-year-old grandson and unofficial stylist, who came up with the idea for the Instagram account. Mr. Chang said he hoped his and his wife’s experience would inspire other seniors to be active. “It’s better than sitting around watching TV or napping,” Mr. Chang said.

Virus adds to deep despair felt by war-weary young Arabs (AP) At 24, Sama al-Diwani and her college sweetheart had big dreams. He was working on opening a bakery in Iraq. She was preparing to leave to England, where she would spend a year working on her masters’ degree in pharmacy. After that, they would reunite, get married and start a family. Those dreams came to a screeching halt with the outbreak of the coronavirus, as countries shut down, economies buckled and global chaos followed. Her university admission is now on hold, the bakery project has fallen behind schedule, her family’s income has gone down by 40% and she frets about losing her job at a local pharmacy. Al-Diwani and Athir Assem, 26, are among millions of young people in the Middle East region whose pursuit of jobs or plans for higher education and marriage have been upended by the pandemic, plunging them into the kind of deep uncertainty and despair they had hoped to leave behind. Such turmoil is universal in the wake of the pandemic, but the despair is particularly pronounced in the Middle East, where wave after wave of war, displacement and disease have left this generation feeling bitter and hopeless. While in the West, many who have become unemployed believe they will eventually get their jobs back or somehow recover from the recession, the pandemic in some Arab countries was the final blow to economies now on the cusp of complete collapse. “For many young people, seeing economies crumble the way that they are and seeing their prospects vanish before their eyes ... it’s undoubtedly going to be taking a huge toll on mental health and well-being,” said Tariq Haq, a Beirut-based senior employment specialist with the U.N. labor agency.

South Africa warns COVID-19 corruption puts ‘lives at risk’ (AP) South Africa’s COVID-19 response is marred by corruption allegations around its historic $26 billion economic relief package, as the country with the world’s fifth highest number of COVID-19 cases braces for more. President Cyril Ramaphosa has announced a wide-ranging investigation into claims that unscrupulous officials and private companies are looting efforts to protect the country’s 57 million people. “More so than at any other time, corruption puts our lives at risk,” he said in a national address Thursday night. Food for the poor. Personal protective equipment for health workers. Grants for the newly laid off. All have been affected, he said. South Africa is seen as the best-prepared of any country in sub-Saharan Africa for COVID-19, but years of rampant corruption have weakened institutions, including the health system. In October, the head of the government’s Special Investigating Unit said fraud, waste and abuse in health care siphoned off $2.3 billion a year.

#headlines #news

4 notes · View notes

arcadeparade-blog1 · 4 years ago

Text

Rishi Sunak defends emergency jobs scheme

Media playback is unsupported on your device

Media captionChancellor Rishi Sunak: “It’s not for me to… make pronouncements on what job is viable or not”

Chancellor Rishi Sunak has said it is “impossible” to predict how many jobs the government’s new wage subsidy scheme will save.

The scheme, set to replace furlough, will see the government top up the pay of people unable to work full time.

It aims to stop mass job cuts after the government introduced new measures to tackle a rise in coronavirus cases.

Mr Sunak said he hoped the plan would “benefit large numbers”, but he could not say what job is “viable or not”.

Under the Job Support Scheme, if bosses bring back workers part time, the government will help top up their wages with employers to at least three quarters of their full time pay.

It will begin on 1 November and last for six months.

How will the Job Support Scheme work?

Under the scheme, the government will subsidise the pay of employees who are working fewer than their normal hours due to lower demand.

The payment will be based on an employee’s normal salary, with the government contribution capped at £697.92 per month.

Why is the government doing this?

Mr Sunak described the scheme as a “radical new policy”, designed “to help protect as many jobs as possible [and] keep people in part-time work rather than laying them off”.

However, he said it would only support “viable jobs” – as opposed to jobs that exist because the government is continuing to subsidise the wages.

“We obviously can’t sustain the same level of things that we were doing at the beginning of this crisis.”

How many jobs will this save?

The BBC understands that the Treasury is estimating that anywhere between two and five million people could be covered by the new Jobs Support Scheme.

However, the chancellor told a press conference that he would be “lying” if he tried to give precise numbers but he said that some forecasts for unemployment “don’t make for good reading”.

Nearly three million workers – or 12% of the UK’s workforce – are currently on partial or full furlough leave, according to official figures. The current furlough scheme ends on 31 October.

“The primary goal of our economic policy remains unchanged – to support people’s jobs – but the way we achieve that must evolve,” Mr Sunak said.

“I cannot save every business, I cannot save every job.”

Image copyright Getty Images

How much will it cost?

Mr Sunak said a similar scheme for the self-employed would be available.

Who does it help?

All small and medium sized businesses will be eligible for the scheme but larger business will only qualify if their turnover has fallen during the crisis

It will run for six months starting in November and be open to employers across the UK even if they have not previously used the furlough scheme.

Employees must be in ”viable jobs” to benefit from the scheme. Those in industries currently closed – such as nightclubs – may lose out as there isn’t any work.

Image copyright Getty Images

Image caption Gavin McQueen, the manager of Pryzm in Leeds, sits in the club, which has not reopened since the UK went into lockdown in March

What do businesses think?

Business lobby group the CBI welcomed the government’s plan.

He warned that the £1,000 Job Retention Bonus firms would receive for retaining workers at the end of January, combined with the new scheme could create a new “cliff-edge” for job cuts.

“We’ve now got a big incentive for firms to retain workers part-time until you qualify for the bonus.”

Labour, meanwhile, said it would support any measures to safeguard jobs but accused the government of acting too late.

Image copyright Getty Images

What about workers?

Tracey Sheppard is a cleaner at a leisure centre in Essex who’s been on furlough since the end of March. She said she hoped the new Jobs Support Scheme will help her, but there are no guarantees.

“They’re a very big company that I work for … but I don’t’ know whether they’d be able to afford to keep me on… I just don’t know,” she told the BBC’s World At One.

She said she feels “frightened” because her family only recently moved to the area and this is the only job she can fit in around childcare.

“I’ve just heard nothing [from my employer]. The last time I heard from them was the beginning of lockdown.”

What else did the chancellor announce?

Image copyright Getty Images

What about loan repayments?

Mr Sunak also announced that businesses that have borrowed money through the government’s loan scheme would be given more time to repay the money.

The longer repayment time also applied to small and medium-sized firms who borrowed under the Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme.

Will the scheme work?

The Treasury has extended the bridge of support it put in place in March to cover the next six months.

But the new scheme requires everybody to chip in. That will be too much for many employers. We are about to find out just how many.

Read more here

Will this scheme benefit you? Do you have any questions about the scheme? Email [email protected].

Please include a contact number if you are willing to speak to a BBC journalist. You can also get in touch in the following ways:

WhatsApp: +44 7756 165803

Tweet: @BBC_HaveYourSay

Please read our terms & conditions and privacy policy

The article was originally published here! Rishi Sunak defends emergency jobs scheme

0 notes

asanusta-blog · 4 years ago

Text

Rishi Sunak defends emergency jobs scheme

Media playback is unsupported on your device

Media captionChancellor Rishi Sunak: “It’s not for me to… make pronouncements on what job is viable or not”

Chancellor Rishi Sunak has said it is “impossible” to predict how many jobs the government’s new wage subsidy scheme will save.

The scheme, set to replace furlough, will see the government top up the pay of people unable to work full time.

It aims to stop mass job cuts after the government introduced new measures to tackle a rise in coronavirus cases.

Mr Sunak said he hoped the plan would “benefit large numbers”, but he could not say what job is “viable or not”.

Under the Job Support Scheme, if bosses bring back workers part time, the government will help top up their wages with employers to at least three quarters of their full time pay.

It will begin on 1 November and last for six months.

How will the Job Support Scheme work?

Under the scheme, the government will subsidise the pay of employees who are working fewer than their normal hours due to lower demand.

The payment will be based on an employee’s normal salary, with the government contribution capped at £697.92 per month.

Why is the government doing this?

Mr Sunak described the scheme as a “radical new policy”, designed “to help protect as many jobs as possible [and] keep people in part-time work rather than laying them off”.

However, he said it would only support “viable jobs” – as opposed to jobs that exist because the government is continuing to subsidise the wages.

“We obviously can’t sustain the same level of things that we were doing at the beginning of this crisis.”

How many jobs will this save?

The BBC understands that the Treasury is estimating that anywhere between two and five million people could be covered by the new Jobs Support Scheme.

However, the chancellor told a press conference that he would be “lying” if he tried to give precise numbers but he said that some forecasts for unemployment “don’t make for good reading”.

Nearly three million workers – or 12% of the UK’s workforce – are currently on partial or full furlough leave, according to official figures. The current furlough scheme ends on 31 October.

“The primary goal of our economic policy remains unchanged – to support people’s jobs – but the way we achieve that must evolve,” Mr Sunak said.

“I cannot save every business, I cannot save every job.”

Image copyright Getty Images

How much will it cost?

Mr Sunak said a similar scheme for the self-employed would be available.

Who does it help?

All small and medium sized businesses will be eligible for the scheme but larger business will only qualify if their turnover has fallen during the crisis

It will run for six months starting in November and be open to employers across the UK even if they have not previously used the furlough scheme.

Employees must be in ”viable jobs” to benefit from the scheme. Those in industries currently closed – such as nightclubs – may lose out as there isn’t any work.

Image copyright Getty Images

Image caption Gavin McQueen, the manager of Pryzm in Leeds, sits in the club, which has not reopened since the UK went into lockdown in March

What do businesses think?

Business lobby group the CBI welcomed the government’s plan.

He warned that the £1,000 Job Retention Bonus firms would receive for retaining workers at the end of January, combined with the new scheme could create a new “cliff-edge” for job cuts.

“We’ve now got a big incentive for firms to retain workers part-time until you qualify for the bonus.”

Labour, meanwhile, said it would support any measures to safeguard jobs but accused the government of acting too late.

Image copyright Getty Images

What about workers?

Tracey Sheppard is a cleaner at a leisure centre in Essex who’s been on furlough since the end of March. She said she hoped the new Jobs Support Scheme will help her, but there are no guarantees.

“They’re a very big company that I work for … but I don’t’ know whether they’d be able to afford to keep me on… I just don’t know,” she told the BBC’s World At One.

She said she feels “frightened” because her family only recently moved to the area and this is the only job she can fit in around childcare.

“I’ve just heard nothing [from my employer]. The last time I heard from them was the beginning of lockdown.”

What else did the chancellor announce?

Image copyright Getty Images

What about loan repayments?

Mr Sunak also announced that businesses that have borrowed money through the government’s loan scheme would be given more time to repay the money.

The longer repayment time also applied to small and medium-sized firms who borrowed under the Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme.

Will the scheme work?

The Treasury has extended the bridge of support it put in place in March to cover the next six months.

But the new scheme requires everybody to chip in. That will be too much for many employers. We are about to find out just how many.

Read more here

Will this scheme benefit you? Do you have any questions about the scheme? Email [email protected].

Please include a contact number if you are willing to speak to a BBC journalist. You can also get in touch in the following ways:

WhatsApp: +44 7756 165803

Tweet: @BBC_HaveYourSay

Please read our terms & conditions and privacy policy

The article was originally published here! Rishi Sunak defends emergency jobs scheme

0 notes

sophistikatedblogger-blog · 4 years ago

Text

Rishi Sunak defends emergency jobs scheme

Media playback is unsupported on your device

Media captionChancellor Rishi Sunak: “It’s not for me to… make pronouncements on what job is viable or not”

Chancellor Rishi Sunak has said it is “impossible” to predict how many jobs the government’s new wage subsidy scheme will save.

The scheme, set to replace furlough, will see the government top up the pay of people unable to work full time.

It aims to stop mass job cuts after the government introduced new measures to tackle a rise in coronavirus cases.

Mr Sunak said he hoped the plan would “benefit large numbers”, but he could not say what job is “viable or not”.

Under the Job Support Scheme, if bosses bring back workers part time, the government will help top up their wages with employers to at least three quarters of their full time pay.

It will begin on 1 November and last for six months.

How will the Job Support Scheme work?

Under the scheme, the government will subsidise the pay of employees who are working fewer than their normal hours due to lower demand.

The payment will be based on an employee’s normal salary, with the government contribution capped at £697.92 per month.

Why is the government doing this?

Mr Sunak described the scheme as a “radical new policy”, designed “to help protect as many jobs as possible [and] keep people in part-time work rather than laying them off”.

However, he said it would only support “viable jobs” – as opposed to jobs that exist because the government is continuing to subsidise the wages.

“We obviously can’t sustain the same level of things that we were doing at the beginning of this crisis.”

How many jobs will this save?

The BBC understands that the Treasury is estimating that anywhere between two and five million people could be covered by the new Jobs Support Scheme.

However, the chancellor told a press conference that he would be “lying” if he tried to give precise numbers but he said that some forecasts for unemployment “don’t make for good reading”.

Nearly three million workers – or 12% of the UK’s workforce – are currently on partial or full furlough leave, according to official figures. The current furlough scheme ends on 31 October.

“The primary goal of our economic policy remains unchanged – to support people’s jobs – but the way we achieve that must evolve,” Mr Sunak said.

“I cannot save every business, I cannot save every job.”

Image copyright Getty Images

How much will it cost?

Mr Sunak said a similar scheme for the self-employed would be available.

Who does it help?

All small and medium sized businesses will be eligible for the scheme but larger business will only qualify if their turnover has fallen during the crisis

It will run for six months starting in November and be open to employers across the UK even if they have not previously used the furlough scheme.

Employees must be in ”viable jobs” to benefit from the scheme. Those in industries currently closed – such as nightclubs – may lose out as there isn’t any work.

Image copyright Getty Images

Image caption Gavin McQueen, the manager of Pryzm in Leeds, sits in the club, which has not reopened since the UK went into lockdown in March

What do businesses think?

Business lobby group the CBI welcomed the government’s plan.

He warned that the £1,000 Job Retention Bonus firms would receive for retaining workers at the end of January, combined with the new scheme could create a new “cliff-edge” for job cuts.

“We’ve now got a big incentive for firms to retain workers part-time until you qualify for the bonus.”

Labour, meanwhile, said it would support any measures to safeguard jobs but accused the government of acting too late.

Image copyright Getty Images

What about workers?

Tracey Sheppard is a cleaner at a leisure centre in Essex who’s been on furlough since the end of March. She said she hoped the new Jobs Support Scheme will help her, but there are no guarantees.

“They’re a very big company that I work for … but I don’t’ know whether they’d be able to afford to keep me on… I just don’t know,” she told the BBC’s World At One.

She said she feels “frightened” because her family only recently moved to the area and this is the only job she can fit in around childcare.

“I’ve just heard nothing [from my employer]. The last time I heard from them was the beginning of lockdown.”

What else did the chancellor announce?

Image copyright Getty Images

What about loan repayments?

Mr Sunak also announced that businesses that have borrowed money through the government’s loan scheme would be given more time to repay the money.

The longer repayment time also applied to small and medium-sized firms who borrowed under the Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme.

Will the scheme work?

The Treasury has extended the bridge of support it put in place in March to cover the next six months.

But the new scheme requires everybody to chip in. That will be too much for many employers. We are about to find out just how many.

Read more here

Will this scheme benefit you? Do you have any questions about the scheme? Email [email protected].

Please include a contact number if you are willing to speak to a BBC journalist. You can also get in touch in the following ways:

WhatsApp: +44 7756 165803

Tweet: @BBC_HaveYourSay

Please read our terms & conditions and privacy policy

The article was originally published here! Rishi Sunak defends emergency jobs scheme

0 notes

pooki-chu-blog · 4 years ago

Text

Rishi Sunak defends emergency jobs scheme

Media playback is unsupported on your device

Media captionChancellor Rishi Sunak: “It’s not for me to… make pronouncements on what job is viable or not”

Chancellor Rishi Sunak has said it is “impossible” to predict how many jobs the government’s new wage subsidy scheme will save.

The scheme, set to replace furlough, will see the government top up the pay of people unable to work full time.

It aims to stop mass job cuts after the government introduced new measures to tackle a rise in coronavirus cases.

Mr Sunak said he hoped the plan would “benefit large numbers”, but he could not say what job is “viable or not”.

Under the Job Support Scheme, if bosses bring back workers part time, the government will help top up their wages with employers to at least three quarters of their full time pay.

It will begin on 1 November and last for six months.

How will the Job Support Scheme work?

Under the scheme, the government will subsidise the pay of employees who are working fewer than their normal hours due to lower demand.

The payment will be based on an employee’s normal salary, with the government contribution capped at £697.92 per month.

Why is the government doing this?

Mr Sunak described the scheme as a “radical new policy”, designed “to help protect as many jobs as possible [and] keep people in part-time work rather than laying them off”.

However, he said it would only support “viable jobs” – as opposed to jobs that exist because the government is continuing to subsidise the wages.

“We obviously can’t sustain the same level of things that we were doing at the beginning of this crisis.”

How many jobs will this save?

The BBC understands that the Treasury is estimating that anywhere between two and five million people could be covered by the new Jobs Support Scheme.

However, the chancellor told a press conference that he would be “lying” if he tried to give precise numbers but he said that some forecasts for unemployment “don’t make for good reading”.

Nearly three million workers – or 12% of the UK’s workforce – are currently on partial or full furlough leave, according to official figures. The current furlough scheme ends on 31 October.

“The primary goal of our economic policy remains unchanged – to support people’s jobs – but the way we achieve that must evolve,” Mr Sunak said.

“I cannot save every business, I cannot save every job.”

Image copyright Getty Images

How much will it cost?

Mr Sunak said a similar scheme for the self-employed would be available.

Who does it help?

All small and medium sized businesses will be eligible for the scheme but larger business will only qualify if their turnover has fallen during the crisis

It will run for six months starting in November and be open to employers across the UK even if they have not previously used the furlough scheme.

Employees must be in ”viable jobs” to benefit from the scheme. Those in industries currently closed – such as nightclubs – may lose out as there isn’t any work.

Image copyright Getty Images

Image caption Gavin McQueen, the manager of Pryzm in Leeds, sits in the club, which has not reopened since the UK went into lockdown in March

What do businesses think?

Business lobby group the CBI welcomed the government’s plan.

He warned that the £1,000 Job Retention Bonus firms would receive for retaining workers at the end of January, combined with the new scheme could create a new “cliff-edge” for job cuts.

“We’ve now got a big incentive for firms to retain workers part-time until you qualify for the bonus.”

Labour, meanwhile, said it would support any measures to safeguard jobs but accused the government of acting too late.

Image copyright Getty Images

What about workers?

Tracey Sheppard is a cleaner at a leisure centre in Essex who’s been on furlough since the end of March. She said she hoped the new Jobs Support Scheme will help her, but there are no guarantees.

“They’re a very big company that I work for … but I don’t’ know whether they’d be able to afford to keep me on… I just don’t know,” she told the BBC’s World At One.

She said she feels “frightened” because her family only recently moved to the area and this is the only job she can fit in around childcare.

“I’ve just heard nothing [from my employer]. The last time I heard from them was the beginning of lockdown.”

What else did the chancellor announce?

Image copyright Getty Images

What about loan repayments?

Mr Sunak also announced that businesses that have borrowed money through the government’s loan scheme would be given more time to repay the money.

The longer repayment time also applied to small and medium-sized firms who borrowed under the Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme.

Will the scheme work?

The Treasury has extended the bridge of support it put in place in March to cover the next six months.

But the new scheme requires everybody to chip in. That will be too much for many employers. We are about to find out just how many.

Read more here

Will this scheme benefit you? Do you have any questions about the scheme? Email [email protected].

Please include a contact number if you are willing to speak to a BBC journalist. You can also get in touch in the following ways:

WhatsApp: +44 7756 165803

Tweet: @BBC_HaveYourSay

Please read our terms & conditions and privacy policy

The article was originally published here! Rishi Sunak defends emergency jobs scheme

0 notes

crashinthefastlane-blog · 4 years ago

Text

Rishi Sunak defends emergency jobs scheme

Media playback is unsupported on your device

Media captionChancellor Rishi Sunak: “It’s not for me to… make pronouncements on what job is viable or not”

Chancellor Rishi Sunak has said it is “impossible” to predict how many jobs the government’s new wage subsidy scheme will save.

The scheme, set to replace furlough, will see the government top up the pay of people unable to work full time.

It aims to stop mass job cuts after the government introduced new measures to tackle a rise in coronavirus cases.

Mr Sunak said he hoped the plan would “benefit large numbers”, but he could not say what job is “viable or not”.

Under the Job Support Scheme, if bosses bring back workers part time, the government will help top up their wages with employers to at least three quarters of their full time pay.

It will begin on 1 November and last for six months.

How will the Job Support Scheme work?

Under the scheme, the government will subsidise the pay of employees who are working fewer than their normal hours due to lower demand.

The payment will be based on an employee’s normal salary, with the government contribution capped at £697.92 per month.

Why is the government doing this?

Mr Sunak described the scheme as a “radical new policy”, designed “to help protect as many jobs as possible [and] keep people in part-time work rather than laying them off”.

However, he said it would only support “viable jobs” – as opposed to jobs that exist because the government is continuing to subsidise the wages.

“We obviously can’t sustain the same level of things that we were doing at the beginning of this crisis.”

How many jobs will this save?

The BBC understands that the Treasury is estimating that anywhere between two and five million people could be covered by the new Jobs Support Scheme.

However, the chancellor told a press conference that he would be “lying” if he tried to give precise numbers but he said that some forecasts for unemployment “don’t make for good reading”.

Nearly three million workers – or 12% of the UK’s workforce – are currently on partial or full furlough leave, according to official figures. The current furlough scheme ends on 31 October.

“The primary goal of our economic policy remains unchanged – to support people’s jobs – but the way we achieve that must evolve,” Mr Sunak said.

“I cannot save every business, I cannot save every job.”

Image copyright Getty Images

How much will it cost?

Mr Sunak said a similar scheme for the self-employed would be available.

Who does it help?

All small and medium sized businesses will be eligible for the scheme but larger business will only qualify if their turnover has fallen during the crisis

It will run for six months starting in November and be open to employers across the UK even if they have not previously used the furlough scheme.

Employees must be in ”viable jobs” to benefit from the scheme. Those in industries currently closed – such as nightclubs – may lose out as there isn’t any work.

Image copyright Getty Images

Image caption Gavin McQueen, the manager of Pryzm in Leeds, sits in the club, which has not reopened since the UK went into lockdown in March

What do businesses think?

Business lobby group the CBI welcomed the government’s plan.

He warned that the £1,000 Job Retention Bonus firms would receive for retaining workers at the end of January, combined with the new scheme could create a new “cliff-edge” for job cuts.

“We’ve now got a big incentive for firms to retain workers part-time until you qualify for the bonus.”

Labour, meanwhile, said it would support any measures to safeguard jobs but accused the government of acting too late.

Image copyright Getty Images

What about workers?

Tracey Sheppard is a cleaner at a leisure centre in Essex who’s been on furlough since the end of March. She said she hoped the new Jobs Support Scheme will help her, but there are no guarantees.

“They’re a very big company that I work for … but I don’t’ know whether they’d be able to afford to keep me on… I just don’t know,” she told the BBC’s World At One.

She said she feels “frightened” because her family only recently moved to the area and this is the only job she can fit in around childcare.

“I’ve just heard nothing [from my employer]. The last time I heard from them was the beginning of lockdown.”

What else did the chancellor announce?

Image copyright Getty Images

What about loan repayments?

Mr Sunak also announced that businesses that have borrowed money through the government’s loan scheme would be given more time to repay the money.

The longer repayment time also applied to small and medium-sized firms who borrowed under the Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme.

Will the scheme work?

The Treasury has extended the bridge of support it put in place in March to cover the next six months.

But the new scheme requires everybody to chip in. That will be too much for many employers. We are about to find out just how many.

Read more here

Will this scheme benefit you? Do you have any questions about the scheme? Email [email protected].

Please include a contact number if you are willing to speak to a BBC journalist. You can also get in touch in the following ways:

WhatsApp: +44 7756 165803

Tweet: @BBC_HaveYourSay

Please read our terms & conditions and privacy policy

The article was originally published here! Rishi Sunak defends emergency jobs scheme

0 notes