Tokyo virus situation is out of control, panel expert says
A member of a Tokyo Metropolitan Government coronavirus advisory panel of experts said it was now impossible to control the spread of Covid-19 in the capital.
“Infections are raging at disaster level — it’s an emergency,” Norio Omagari said at a Thursday panel meeting with Tokyo Governor Yuriko Koike. “It’s impossible to control the situation.”
His comments came as the city and national governments consider whether to extend a state of emergency in Tokyo, which is experiencing its worst-ever wave of virus cases as it has joined the list of countries battling surges attributed to the delta variant. The emergency is currently set to be lifted at the end of August.
The imposition of successive states of emergency has become less effective over time, with many bars and restaurants ignoring instructions to close early and stop serving alcohol. Several experts have blamed the government for issuing mixed messages about the seriousness of the situation, including by staging the Olympics, saying this may have prompted people to drop their guard.
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Koike called for measures that would reduce the frequency of people’s outings by 50%, compared with the period immediately prior to the current emergency, echoing the advice of a government panel reported by public broadcaster NHK earlier in the day. She urged people to avoid going on vacation and stay away from their home towns.
Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga, whose public support hit new lows this week amid criticism of his handling of the pandemic, has rejected the idea of European-style lockdowns to contain the virus, ahead of a general election that must be held in the next three months. He has told reporters he’s relying on the vaccine rollout, and has also set limits on which patients can be hospitalized, in a bid to conserve resources.
Japan has fully vaccinated about 36% of its population, compared with 60% in the U.K. and 51% in the U.S., according to Bloomberg’s Vaccine Tracker.
Tokyo found 4,989 new cases of Covid-19 Thursday, near a record of 5,042 hit a week ago. The number of patients in hospitals and those in serious condition is continuing to hit records, putting the capital’s health care system under strain. Tokyo had 218 people suffering serious symptoms, its highest yet, while it has 392 beds available for those in serious condition.
Japan’s central government is considering extending the state of emergency into September, and expanding it to more regions, the Sankei newspaper reported earlier Thursday.
Published : August 13, 2021
By : Syndication Washington Post, Bloomberg · Isabel Reynolds
Calls for curfew, more curbs in Sydney as delta outbreak worsens
Australia is facing its worst Covid-19 crisis yet, and experts say a lockdown of its biggest city needs to be ramped up to prevent further deterioration to the nations vaunted record in stamping out the pathogen.
Though Sydney has been in lockdown for nearly two months now, the curbs are generally looser than those that helped Melbourne beat back the virus last year; daily cases have surged from 12 on June 26, when the stay-at-home order was first announced, to records of around 350 this week.
The situation is putting Australia in the worst of both worlds: half the population of 26 million people are cooped up again, but the delta variant is still spreading to new cities and regions hundreds of miles away, just like it is in reopened economies like the U.S. and U.K. National capital Canberra on Thursday became the latest to order a lockdown after one case were found.
New South Wales Premier Gladys Berejiklian is now under increasing pressure from other regional leaders and some health experts to tighten social-distancing restrictions to stem the outbreak, as her playbook of keeping the economy relatively open while trying to contain delta’s spread appears to be unequal to the variant’s highly contagious nature. While residents of Sydney and other locked-down areas have been told not to leave home unless unavoidable, there’s a lengthy list of exemptions such as for outside exercise or essential work that some people are using liberally.
“Covid Zero is clearly not holding up under delta — it’s so much more contagious,” said Raina MacIntyre, a professor of global biosecurity at the University of New South Wales. Unless Berejiklian changes tactics, “it will keep spreading and the case numbers will keep rising, and it will pose a greater threat to the rest of Australia.”
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MacIntyre said the only way to get Sydney’s outbreak under control was to enforce city-wide night-time curfews, curtail the number of retailers allowed to open, and circle the city in a “ring of steel” to ensure residents can’t leave — as occurred in Melbourne last year during one of the world’s most stringent and longest lockdowns.
It’s a dilemma also facing other countries with a zero-tolerance approach to Covid-19, including China and Singapore. With delta being so much more transmissible than the original virus, these governments need to ramp up the strictness of their containment measures to slow down spread, even as populations fatigue from the 18 months of stop-start lockdowns.
The slow nationwide vaccine rollout is the biggest obstacle in the way of Australia’s path to normalization and international reopening after shutting its borders in early 2020. Only 36.2% of people have received a first dose, one of the lowest levels among developed economies, according to Bloomberg’s vaccine tracker.
There’s also concern the decision to tier the outbreak response in different parts of Sydney is causing social unrest. Some areas of its south and western districts hardest hit by the outbreak — which also have relatively large multicultural populations and wider socio-economic problems — have been dealt stricter travel restrictions than those in the more affluent eastern and northern suburbs.
Mistrust of authorities has been fueled by military patrols in those areas aimed at supporting the police in enforcing lockdown rules.
Berejiklian has been criticized by health experts who say she didn’t enforce Sydney’s lockdown early enough after delta was initially seeded in the community in mid-June by a limousine driver who came into contact with infected international flight crew. Still, the state premier insists the lockdown measures are the toughest implemented in Australia, and the outbreak’s spread is due to delta’s virulence and non-compliance by a minority of residents.
The dangers of relying on people to self-police given high levels of lockdown fatigue was evident in a high-profile case of an infected Sydney man who traveled almost 500 miles to look at real estate. He did not use his phone to “check in” at venues he visited as required, and the tourist hub of Byron Bay and other towns he visited were this week locked down as a result.
“Many smaller cities are now in lockdown, with all the economic and emotional issues that come with that,” said Sanjaya Senanayake, an infectious diseases specialist at the Australian National University Medical School. “That could have been avoided if those people simply hadn’t left Sydney, the center of the outbreak. It only takes a small minority of people to be non-compliant to cause a lot of damage.”
Other state leaders, who have implemented their own hard borders against Sydney residents, are losing patience with Berejiklian, saying the deteriorating situation in New South Wales is threatening their own Covid Zero strategies that have so far kept coronavirus deaths in Australia to below 1,000.
Earlier this week, Victoria state Premier Daniel Andrews urged Berejiklian to build a “ring of steel” enforced by police around Sydney, even as he battles another outbreak in Melbourne that’s placed the nation’s second-largest city in lockdown for a sixth time.
Western Australia state Premier Mark McGowan — perhaps the nation’s strictest adherent to the zero tolerance approach — told reporters on Wednesday that New South Wales authorities “don’t have the backbone to do what is required.”
Meanwhile Berejiklian, who hasn’t ruled out tightening some of Sydney’s rules, is now backing away from indicating that she could ease restrictions by the end of the month should case numbers fall and her state’s adult vaccination number reaches 6 million. It’s at about 4.7 million now.
While Prime Minister Scott Morrison is promising every adult will have access to a vaccine by the end of the year, he said on Thursday that there are no other options in the meantime but to enforce strict stay-at-home orders where necessary.
“Suppress and vaccinate — that is the phase we are in,” Morrison told parliament in Canberra, just hours before the city entered its first lockdown for more than a year. “Whether in Europe, the Netherlands or Singapore or Japan or other countries: where they have sought to open up, the delta variant has had a very different view.”
Published : August 13, 2021
By : Syndication Washington Post, Bloomberg · Jason Scott
In new documentary, WHO scientist says Chinese officials pressured investigation to drop lab-leak hypothesis
The World Health Organization expert who led a controversial joint probe into the origins of the coronavirus pandemic says in a documentary airing Thursday night on Danish television that Chinese colleagues influenced the presentation of their findings.
Speaking to Danish documentarians, Peter Ben Embarek said Chinese researchers on the team had pushed back against linking the origins of the pandemic to a research laboratory in Wuhan in a report about the investigation.
“In the beginning, they didn’t want anything about the lab [in the report], because it was impossible, so there was no need to waste time on that,” Ben Embarek said during the interview. “We insisted on including it, because it was part of the whole issue about where the virus originated.”
In its report released earlier this year, the WHO-China team said it was “very unlikely” that the virus, officially named SARS-CoV-2, could have accidentally leaked from the Wuhan Institute of Virology or another facility in the Chinese city where infections were first found. The joint team of researchers said it would not recommend further investigation into the issue.
A discussion of whether to include the lab-leak theory at all lasted until 48 hours before the conclusion of the mission, Ben Embarek told the Danish reporters. In the end, Ben Embarek’s Chinese counterpart eventually agreed to discuss the lab-leak theory in the report “on the condition we didn’t recommend any specific studies to further that hypothesis.”
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Asked in the documentary whether the report’s “extremely unlikely” wording about the lab-leak theory was a Chinese requirement, Ben Embarek said “it was the category we chose to put it in at the end, yes.” But he added that this meant it was not impossible, just not likely.
Ben Embarek said one similar scenario, in which a lab employee inadvertently could have brought the virus to Wuhan after collecting samples in the field, could be considered both a lab-leak theory and a hypothesis of direct infection from a bat, which was described as “likely” in the report.
“A lab employee infected in the field while collecting samples in a bat cave – such a scenario belongs both as a lab-leak hypothesis and as our first hypothesis of direct infection from bat to human. We’ve seen that hypothesis as a likely hypothesis,” Ben Embarek said.
In further comments during the interview that were not included in the documentary but were incorporated in an account by the Danish channel TV2 on its website, Ben Embarek suggested that there could have been “human error” but that the Chinese political system does not allow authorities to admit that.
“It probably means there’s a human error behind such an event, and they’re not very happy to admit that,” Ben Embarek was quoted as saying. “The whole system focuses a lot on being infallible, and everything must be perfect,” he added. “Somebody could also wish to hide something. Who knows?”
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Asked for comment, Ben Embarek initially said the interview had been mistranslated in English-language media coverage. “It is a wrong translation from a Danish article,” he wrote, declining to comment further and referring The Washington Post to the WHO. He did not immediately respond to follow-up questions.
WHO spokesman Tarik Jasarevic also said that the comment was mistranslated and that the interview took place “months ago.”
“There are no new elements nor [a] change of the position [that] all hypothesis are on the table and WHO works with member states on the next step,” Jasarevic said, referring to comments by senior officials with the global health organization about the probe.
The documentary, titled “The Virus Mystery,” is scheduled to air on TV2 on Thursday evening.
Ben Embarek had cooperated with the documentary filmmakers, even going so far as to film his trip to China for them on his phone to provide an inside look at a closed-off trip.
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Ben Embarek led a team of international scientists on a mission to China in January to work with local officials to investigate the origins of a pandemic that has so far led to more than 200 million confirmed cases and at least 4.3 million deaths worldwide.
From the start, the trip was mired in controversy. Beijing delayed approval for the WHO trip, pushing back the researchers’ arrival, while some of the international experts on the team were criticized for prior links to Chinese research.
Even once it arrived, the WHO team, subject to strict quarantine procedures, had only two weeks in the field to conduct research.
After the team’s report was released in late March, it grew only more disputed. The team looked at four different scenarios for how the virus first spread to humans, labeling the idea of zoonotic spread from animals to humans as “most likely.”
Other, less likely scenarios included that the virus could have been imported to China on frozen food – a theory pushed repeatedly by Chinese officials but seen as unlikely by many international experts.
The “lab-leak” theory, the subject of intense speculation in the United States, was dubbed the least likely scenario, and the WHO team said it should no longer be investigated. Even skeptics of the theory found the dismissal a surprise.
At a news conference marking the release of the report, WHO Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said the scenario still needed closer study.
“Although the team has concluded that a laboratory leak is the least likely hypothesis, this requires further investigation, potentially with additional missions involving specialist experts, which I am ready to deploy,” Tedros said.
Ben Embarek and other researchers on the team have hinted at immense pressure during the trip from all sides, with as many as 60 Chinese colleagues working with not only scientists but also public health figures.
“The politics was always in the room with us on the other side of the table,” he told Science Magazine during an interview published in February.
Later this month, the U.S. intelligence community is expected to complete a 90-day review of the evidence about the origins of the coronavirus.
Tedros has also said that the WHO will continue its own research into the origins, although Chinese officials said last month that it would be “impossible” to accept a continuing China-focused probe.
Published : August 13, 2021
By : The Washington Post · Adam Taylor, Emily Rauhala, Martin Sesloe Sorensen
U.S. sending thousands more troops to Afghanistan to bolster security as some embassy staff are withdrawn
The Biden administration will send thousands of troops to Afghanistan to help airlift American personnel and local allies out of Kabul, U.S. officials said Thursday, as rapid-fire advances by the Taliban intensified the existential threat facing the Afghan state.
Approximately 3,000 combat troops will deploy to the international airport in Kabul, Afghanistan’s capital, to facilitate the withdrawal of additional civilian staff from the U.S. embassy and accelerate the departure of Afghans who have aided the U.S. government in the war effort, the Defense and State Departments said.
The orders to return American forces to Afghanistan comes just weeks before the military is scheduled to conclude its withdrawal under a timeline established by President Joe Biden, and coincides with Taliban’s seizure of Ghazni, the fifth provincial capital to fall to militant forces in less than a week.
On Thursday, Herat and Kandahar, Afghanistan’s second- and third-largest cities, were on the verge of falling to Taliban troops.
Pentagon spokesman John Kirby declined to call the deployment a combat mission, but said infantry soldiers and Marines will deploy with machine guns, mortars and other heavy weapons, and authorization to defend themselves if attacked.
State Department spokesman Ned Price said “core” diplomatic staff would continue their diplomatic and consular work at the heavily fortified U.S. embassy in Kabul , but declined to say how many U.S. government personnel are among the roughly 4,000 embassy staff there.
“The embassy remains open,” Price said. “This is not abandonment. This is not an evacuation. This is not a wholesale withdrawal.”
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But the decision marks a tacit admission that the United States is uncertain how long it can ensure the safety of its staff in a country where conditions are changing on a daily, and sometimes hourly, basis.
The 3,000 troops being dispatched to Kabul will include two infantry battalions from the Marine Corps and one from the Army, all already deployed in the region, Kirby said. In the next week, an additional 3,500 U.S. soldiers will be sent to Kuwait and put on standby in case even more combat troops are needed in Kabul, and about a thousand other personnel will deploy to Qatar to assist Afghan allies evacuated from their home country with American help.
The additional muscle will augment a force of approximately 650 American troops who have been in Kabul since the U.S. military all but completed its withdrawal from Afghanistan last month. Those forces have been split between the airport and the U.S. embassy to provide defense against rocket attacks.
In April, Biden announced that he would fully withdraw military forces in keeping with a February 2020 deal the Trump administration struck with the Taliban. News of the American departure after two decades appeared to have energized the Taliban and undermined the confidence of Afghan forces as they face their adversary without air and logistical support from foreign troops.
The government of President Ashraf Ghani now controls less than a third of the country.
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The fall of Ghazni, 80 miles southwest of the Afghan capital, added fuel to Afghans’ concerns about surrender deals between the Taliban and local leaders that have appeared to have contributed to the group’s dramatic battlefield sweep. In many instances, the militant fights have commandeered areas without a major fight.
On Wednesday, hundreds of Afghans forces surrendered as part of a deal near the northern city of Kunduz. On Thursday, Ghazni’s governor was arrested after fleeing the provincial capital as it fell.
A senior Interior Ministry official said the Taliban runs a recruitment team that reaches out to Afghan officials, pushing them to join the militants.
“One of the main reasons we lost so much ground is the cooperation of officials with the Taliban,” he said, speaking on the condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to disclose such information to the news media.
“We suspect a long list of governors who might have Taliban ties.”
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Analysts said the Biden administration’s decision to reduce its embassy presence occurs amid an understanding of the impact a full-scale embassy withdrawal would have on the ground in Afghanistan.
“Without a diplomatic footprint, the Afghan government would suffer a major psychological blow, narratives of U.S. abandonment would strengthen, and the Taliban would score yet another victory,” said Michael Kugelman, a South Asia scholar at the Wilson Center.
“The international community should absolutely prioritize the security of its diplomats,” he said. “But let’s be clear: Its departure from Afghanistan would send a sobering signal that the world is resigned to leaving Afghans to their fate.”
Although Price suggested that at least some of the departing diplomats would leave on commercial flights, saying that the Kabul airport remained open, the embassy has advised nonofficial U.S. citizens in Afghanistan to leave “immediately” and noted that flights are limited.
Kirby described the newly deployed troops’ mission as “narrowly focused,” and said it was far better to be prudent and deploy the troops now than to “wait until it’s too late.”
“We believe that this is the right thing to do, and the right time to do it,” Kirby said.
In a possible sign of the sensitivities involved, however, Kirby declined to call the new mission a noncombatant evacuation operation, a term the military generally uses to describe the departure of civilians and nonessential military personnel from a dangerous situation. The term “NEO” is politically charged, and the Biden administration has sought to avoid using it, two U.S. officials said, speaking on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue.
“The purpose here is to help with the reduction of civilian personnel out of the embassy,” Kirby said. “That is not the same as a noncombatant evacuation operation, where you’re moving a massive amount of people who aren’t necessarily U.S. government employees. It’s a different operation altogether, and we’re just not there.”
Others scoffed at that notion.
“This is, in no uncertain terms, a NEO, which is an operation designed to evacuate U.S. civilian personnel whose lives are threatened by war, civil unrest or natural disaster,” said Mark Jacobson, a former Pentagon official in the Obama administration. “There’s no cut-out for embassy personnel unless you are trying to make a political point which was, simply, not to use the word, ‘evacuation.’ “
A Defense Department publication for evacuation operations states that “diplomatic or other considerations may make the use of the term NEO inadvisable and require the use of other terms for the operation instead.”
For the past several months, the Defense Department has been negotiating with Turkey over its offer to provide security for the airport after the U.S. withdrawal. Those negotiations are not yet completed, Kirby said this week, although he expressed certainty that they would be successful.
Turkey has repeatedly said it intends to provide airport security despite Taliban advances, as long as it has the proper financial, diplomatic and logistical support from the United States. During a visit Thursday to Pakistan, Defense Minister Hulusi Akar said that Turkey fully intends to man the airport, and that Turkish troops would not be in danger, despite Taliban statements warning of attacks against them.
But the delay in finalizing an agreement has concerned all of those foreign missions remaining in Kabul, as well as the Americans.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has tried to elevate Turkey’s status in NATO, and circumvent numerous disagreements with Washington over Syria, its defense purchases from Moscow, and domestic crackdowns over civil rights. In an interview Wednesday with CNN Turk, Erdogan said the situation in Afghanistan was “really, really troubling,” and offered to meet with “the person who is [the Taliban] leader.”
“Why? Because if we do not get control of things like this at a high level,” he said, “it won’t be possible to secure peace this time in Afghanistan.”
Published : August 13, 2021
By : The Washington Post · Missy Ryan, Dan Lamothe, Ezzatullah Mehrdad, Susannah George
Thai Vietjet extends Support to Passengers during Travel Suspension Period
In order to support passengers holding the airline’s tickets across its entire domestic flight network with travel date between July 21 – August 31, 2021
According to the escalating COVID-19 situation and the Civil Aviation Authority of Thailand’s (CAAT) announcement on travel suspension to further prevent the spread of COVID-19, Thai Vietjet has confirmed its temporary suspension of domestic services until August 20, 2021. The airline is closely monitoring the situation and will advise for any further update.
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Thai Vietjet extends Support to Passengers during Travel Suspension Period
In order to support passengers holding the airline’s tickets across its entire domestic flight network with travel date between July 21 – August 31, 2021, regardless of booking period, the airline has extended service recovery policy which assengers may choose one of the following options:
1. Free change of flight date for one time. New travel date must be by December 31, 2021 (Black-out dates: October 13 and 23 – 25; November 18 – 21; December 4 – 6, 10 – 12, and 25 – 31, 2021) and subject to flight availability. Rerouting is not applicable. Or
2. Keeping the value of the ticket as Credit Shell, which extended validity to until December 31, 2021
Passengers may contact the airline to seek support as mentioned above (at least 72 hours prior to departure time), via the following channels:
1. Passengers, who booked ticket via airline’s website www.vietjetair.com/, can self-change flight conveniently through ‘Manage Booking’ feature on the airline’s website
3. By Line: @Thaivietjet and social media live chat
4. By email: vz.support@vietjetair.com
Currently, the airline still maintains its cargo flights operation and international semi-commercial flights as usual. Thai Vietjet is committed to providing the highest level of safety and has made continued efforts to provide all possible contact channels and policies to best support its passengers during the current COVID-19 outbreak.
List of Top 5 highest-paid football players in the world for 2021
The football players at the highest levels earn a huge balance of money and as far as the very best in the business like Messi, Ronaldo and Neymar are concerned. Now we will show you the list of the top 5 highest paid footballers in the world in 2021.
The beautiful game is a multi-billion pound industry, with the best football players in the world raking in vast sums with every swipe of the ball.
Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo and Neymar may be considered the best three players around, but is their talent reflected by financial success?
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Top 5 highest-paid football players in the world for 2021
1. Lionel Messi (PSG) – £960,000 per week
The Argentian captain and PSG player earn £960,000 per week
Messi has now signed a deal worth £25m per year as a base salary after tax. That works out at approximately £50m per year before tax.
Once bonuses, signing-on fees and appearance fees are paid, Messi will be lifting a pay packet worth well above the million-a-week milestone, and that’s before external sponsorships.
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An extra £25m is added to his pot from endorsements and sponsorships with the likes of Adidas and Pepsi.
2. Cristiano Ronaldo (Juventus) – £900,000 per week
Apparently being the most popular athlete on the planet isn’t enough to land you a place at the top of the rich list.
Cristiano Ronaldo may be the most followed sportsperson on Instagram but his annual earnings are marginally dwarfed by one footballer.
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The Portuguese superstar tops up his near-million pound weekly wages with an annual figure of approximately £34m in other earnings from his own Ronaldo brand and sponsors such as Nike and Herbalife.
He became the top goalscorer in football history with a goal for Juventus against Napoli in the 2021 Italian Super Cup to take his total for club and country to 760 and has continued to find the net since.
Top 5 highest-paid football players in the world for 2021
3. Neymar (PSG) – £606,000 per week
The Brazilian’s transfer from Barcelona to PSG is still the record transfer fee for any player in the world of football, and why not because he moved to another club in between his prime years.
Despite all the transfer speculations and reports that he is unhappy, Neymar has scored plenty of goals for his side and continues to do so. Hence, the dazzling Brazilian makes the cut at 3rd position in our list of the highest paid football players.
4. Luis Suarez (Atletico Madrid) – £575,000 per week
Luis Suarez was controversially sold by Barcelona for a very low fee and made them pay dearly as he fired Atletico to the La Liga title at the first time of asking.
He scored 21 goals in 32 La Liga games to super charge Atletico’s surge for the title and has been worth every penny of his wage, unlike some of Barcelona’s big name stars.
This is likely to be Suarez’s last big pay day as the 34-year-old approaches the end of his career.
5. Antoine Griezmann (Barcelona) – £575,000 per week
Barcelona’s long-anticipated signing of Antoine Griezmann from Atletico Madrid in 2019 is the fifth most-expensive transfer in history but the versatile forward has hardly set the Nou Camp alight.
The Catalan club need to get their finances in order, so Griezmann’s mega deal could put him in line for a move away before it expires.
La Liga Preview: The heat is on as new La Liga season kicks off in Spain
With one day to go, the new La Liga season will be opened, with lots of changes to watch.
Fans will be back in the stands after over a year of empty grounds when the new La Liga season kicks off this weekend in Spain.
The opening round of matches starts on Friday night when Valencia entertain Getafe after fate has decided that new Valencia coach Pepe Bordalas’ first game for his new club is against the team he left at the end of last season to move to the Mestalla Stadium.
Valencia have had another summer without important signings, so Bordalas’ influence will be key to their survival while it will be interesting to see if adopt a more attacking style under his replacement Michel Gonzalez.
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It has been a low-key summer for Real Madrid, whose only new face is defender David Alaba and we will have to see if Carlo Ancelotti decides to trust Gareth Bale, who is back from his loan at Tottenham.
Madrid are without Toni Kroos with a groin injury for Saturday’s visit to play Alaves, while Dani Cabellos is also sidelined with an ankle ligament injury and left-back Ferland Mendy has also been struggling with a muscle problem ahead of the league opener.
Results haven’t been brilliant for Ancelotti in the run up to the new campaign and if Lucas Perez and Joselu hit form in the Alaves attack, the season could kick off with a surprise.
The first round of matches in the summer comes with Spain expected to bake in the first major heatwave of the year and it will be hot in Saturday’s 5pm kick-off as Osasuna face Espanyol, who return to the top flight after a season in the second division.
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Osasuna look to have improved in attack with Ante Budimir signing a permanent deal and Kike Garcia joining from Eibar over the summer.
Mallorca also celebrate their return to the top flight with a home game against Betis, who travel without midfielder, Sergio Canales, with an ankle injury, while new arrival Yousouf Sabely has a muscle problem and Cristian Tello has to serve a suspension from the end of last season.
Cadiz face Levante, who have midfielder Jose Campana back in the side after he missed last season with a series of hamstring injuries, while Victor Chust could go straight into the Cadiz side after his loan deal from Real Madrid.
Sunday’s big game sees FC Barcelona at home to Real Sociedad as Barca start the post-Leo Messi era.
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Fans wait for Messi outside the Camp Nou Stadium in Barcelona, Spain, Aug. 8, 2021.
As well as bring without Messi, Barca coach Ronald Koeman has several injury problems with Ansu Fati still not fully fit, while Frenkie de Jong, Oscar Mingueza, Ousmane Dembele, Marc Andre Ter Stegen and Kun Aguero are also sidelined.
There is also a doubt whether new signings Memphis Depay and Eric Garcia will be able to play as on Thursday they had still not been included into the first-team squad due to the same financial fair play issues that led to Messi’s departure and with fans back in the Camp Nou, we can probably expect a ‘difficult’ atmosphere for club president, Joan Laporta.
Atletico Madrid kick off their title defense away to Celta Vigo in what promises to be an entertaining game if Celta maintain the swashbuckling style they showed under coach Eduardo Coudet.
Newly promoted Rayo Vallecano face a baptism of fire in every sense of the word as they travel to play Sevilla on a day where temperatures are expected to climb well over 40 degrees centigrade in Seville during the day and still be hovering in the 30’s when the game kicks off at 22:15 local time.
The first round of games ends on Monday as Roberto Moreno makes his debut as Granada coach with a difficult game in Villarreal, who pushed Chelsea all the way in the European Supercup before Athletic Club Bilbao aim to continue their pre-season form on their visit to Elche, who beat the Basque side 2-0 in the last game of last season to ensure their survival in the elite.
British Olympic silver medalist Ujah provisionally suspended after positive test during Games
China could bag a medal from the Tokyo Olympic Games mens 4x100m relay as silver medalist British team saw its relay member Chijindu Ujah provisionally suspended for positive doping test.
British sprinter Chijindu Ujah who won the men’s 4x100m relay silver medal at the Tokyo Olympic Games, has been suspended provisionally due to a positive test during the Games.
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revealed on Thursday that following the conclusion of the Tokyo Olympic Games, the doping control laboratory in Tokyo notified the the International Testing Agency (ITA) that Ujah’s test showed the “presence/use of a prohibited substance (Ostarine and S-23)”.
The 27-year-old Ujah ran the first leg for the British team which finished second after champions Italy in a margin of 0.01 second.
The sample was collected by the ITA under during an in-competition anti-doping control on Aug. 6 in Tokyo, following the final of the men’s 4 x 100m relay final. The result was reported by the WADA-accredited laboratory of Tokyo on Aug. 8.
“If requested by the athlete and if the B-sample analysis confirms the AAF, or alternatively if the athlete does not wish to have the B-sample analysis undertaken, the case will be referred to the Anti-Doping Division of the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS ADD) for adjudication under the IOC Anti-Doping Rules applicable to the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020 (IOC ADR),” said the ITA.
Italy took the gold medal of the men’s 4x100m while Canada bagged a bronze on Aug. 6. China came fourth.
Central Pattana launches ‘Central Kitchen’ reinforcing its position as the best food destination
where over 2,000 delicious dishes from world’s famous restaurants can be ordered from 21 Central shopping centers in Bangkok and its perimeter, Chonburi, Rayong, Korat and Hat Yai
• Convenient and clean with everything in one place reaching by direct call or branch official LINE service – visit https://www.centralplaza.co.th/CentralKitchen/ to browse from over 2,000 delicious dishes.
• Simply chat online or call us to order and pick-up at Drive Thru point, or if you visit our supermarket, stop by at the Central Kitchen counter to order and pick up on your way out.
• Enhanced ‘Central Hygiene & Safety x 2’ measures with strict supervision and control over the pick-up/delivery service points to help facilitate restaurants and ensure customer confidence in our highest standard of hygiene and convenience, with the full cooperation of shops, restaurants and staffs.
Bangkok – Central Pattana Plc has launched its latest service ‘Central Kitchen’ to serve deliciousness from Central at your doorstep with the concept of ‘Convenient and clean with everything in one place’. Enjoy more than 2,000 delicious dishes from the world’s famous restaurants, including Michelin-starred restaurants as well as those listed in the Michelin Guide in addition to other exclusive restaurants. All delicious dishes will be served at home without the wait in a queue. This reinforces Central as the best food destination, where customers can make their order from home or stop by at Central Kitchen service counter when visit the supermarkets at 21 Central shopping centers in Bangkok and its perimeters, Chonburi, Rayong, Korat and Hat Yai. Enjoying the delicious dishes from today onwards by simply adding the LINE Official Account (OA) or call your local branch of Central shopping center directly. Visit https://www.centralplaza.co.th/CentralKitchen/
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Central Pattana launches ‘Central Kitchen’ reinforcing its position as the best food destination
Dr. Nattakit Tangpoonsinthana, Executive Vice President of Marketing for Central Pattana Plc. said: “Central Pattana constantly develops new services to support tenants and restaurant operators as well as to ensure customer convenience. Our latest service, Central Kitchen, is a service center that offers convenience for customers – whether they want to make a direct call or order through the LINE OA of their local branch. Simply click on your favorite dishes and wait for your delivery; The restaurants can help finding the riders. Alternatively, when you visit our supermarkets, you can stop by and place the order at Central Kitchen counter and once you finished the shopping, your food will be ready for pick-up through our touchless experience,” Dr. Nattakit said.
Central is the best food destination, where over 2,000 delicious dishes from popular restaurants are ready to be served without queuing. We gather popular restaurants ranging from street food, shabu, barbeque-grilled, bubble tea to exclusive restaurants with a single branch in Thailand in addition to world-famous restaurants awarded a Michelin star and listed in the Michelin Guide.
Central Pattana launches ‘Central Kitchen’ reinforcing its position as the best food destination
There are a total of 2,000 dishes from 1,000 restaurants participating that you can place order and wait to be served at home without queuing. For example; Kam’s Roast with its legendary roasted meats that have been awarded the Michelin star for seven consecutive years; Thailand’s first branch of Song Fa with its Bak Kut The, listed in Michelin Guide Singapore; Din Tai Fung, the Taiwanese dim sum restaurants that have been awarded the Michelin star and top 10 world’s best restaurants; TP Tea: the world’s first bubble tea; The Coffee Academics: house brand coffee from Hong Kong – one of the world’s best coffee shops; %Arabica: Kyoto’s famous coffee shop as well as special menus from popular restaurants in our shopping centers such as Haidilao and its popular Mala Hot Pot; Sushiro: Japan’s no. 1 conveyor-belt sushi chain; La Meow with its famous Mala originally from Hunan; Seoga & Cook; Laem Charoen Seafood; Sushi Den, Sizzler, Spaghetti Factory, Ootoya, Mo-Mo-Paradise, Sushi Hiro, Pepper Lunch, Subway, Chuan Kitchen, Jones’ Salad, Kum Poon, Laos-Yuan, Pleun Pung, Tum Tum, Manee Mana, Katsuya.
Many scrumptious dessert shops that you must try such as Peak Chocolate, S&P, Mx cakes & bakery, Paul Bakery, Eric Kayser, Haagen-Dazs, Cheevit Cheeva, Swensen’s, Cold Stone, Krispy Kreme, Koomi, Kyo Roll En, Olino, Toku Dessert, Mom & Sis, Kyo Roll En, Baimiang.
Central Pattana launches ‘Central Kitchen’ reinforcing its position as the best food destination
Refreshen your day with the drinks from famous bubble tea shops and cafes such as Host x Amber, GaGa, Louisa Coffee, Koi Thé and many more delicious dishes from Food Park.
Convenient and clean with everything in one place
• When you visit any of our shopping centers, drop by to make an order before entering the supermarket and by the time you finish shopping, your food will be ready for pickup. Ready-meal boxes are also available for you to take home.
Central Pattana launches ‘Central Kitchen’ reinforcing its position as the best food destination
• Via online chat or call to order: Restaurants will facilitate to call the rider or you can manage self-pickup at the Drive Thru spot.
Ensuring the highest standards of ‘Central Hygiene & Safety x 2’
All services, staffs, common areas and restaurants are managed under the strict supervision. The measures include entrances and exits are clearly arranged; strict screening points for staffs before starting their shifts; strictly apply 100% social distancing; tracking staffs’ timelines; apply the double protection (two masks or a mask and a face shield) for staffs; implement cleaning and disinfecting with alcohol in every process in addition to a daily big cleaning. For delivery service, all riders must pass the screening and self-assessment through ‘Thai Stop Covid’; use alcohol gel to disinfect their hands and gloves before and after pick-up; arrange proper waiting area to ensure social distancing; refrain from gathering and talking while waiting. All are to ensure customer confidence in our services.
All dishes are ready to be served at your doorstep from 21 branches of Central shopping centers across the country including centralwOrld, Central Bangna, Pinklao, Ladprao, Mahachai, Grand Rama 9, Rama 3, Rama 2, Westgate, Chaengwattana, Rattanathibet, Ramindra, Salaya, Rayong, Chonburi, Korat, Central Marina, Pattaya Beach, East Ville, Hatyai and Central Village.
VGI Announced 1Q 2021/22 Results, Defying the Odds with 33.7% Growth YoY
The Group was able to maintain operational efficiency and record 33.7% revenue increase to THB 596mn and 109.7% net profit increase to THB 10mn compared to the same quarter last year
VGI PLC, the market leader in Offline-to-Online (“O2O”) Solutions across Advertising, Payment and Logistics platforms announced its 1Q 2021/22 performance, delivering solid revenue growth of 33.7% YoY and positive net profit of THB 10mn despite COVID-19 challenges. This is a result of the Group’s ability to effectively adapt to the situation and measures put in place to mitigate the impact of the pandemic and prepare for future crises.
Commenting on this achievement, Mr. Nelson Leung, CEO of VGI, said, “Notwithstanding the challenges of COVID-19, the Group was able to maintain operational efficiency and record 33.7% revenue increase to THB 596mn and 109.7% net profit increase to THB 10mn compared to the same quarter last year. During this quarter, we managed to bring in THB 378mn from our Out-of-Home (“OOH”) segment, an increase of 41.9% YoY from THB 266mn, and THB 218mn from Digital Services, an increase of 21.6% YoY.”
“For our key business highlights and management outlook, in the OOH Advertising segment, despite being heavily affected by the pandemic, we were able to amplify our marketing effectiveness through consumer engagement, utilizing all of our media platforms. In the Payment segment, we were able to expand our digital and online services under the Rabbit Group, with Rabbit LinePay teaming up with KBank to launch LINE POINTS Credit Card in response to the new normal spending. In this quarter, we also further strengthened our ecosystem through a new investment in e-Commerce by investing a 51.0% equity stake into Fanslink Communication Co. Ltd. (“Fanslink”), a leading importer of Chinese electronics and e-Commerce enabler. This alliance does not only offer a major opportunity for both businesses to expand our capabilities moving forward, but also broaden VGI’s ability to add value to our products and services through the consolidation of Fanslink’s premium products and VGI’s ecosystem.”
“Although there is encouraging progress this year with the vaccine rollout across the globe, the situation in Thailand remains volatile given the surge in infection cases and deaths since April, leading to stricter containment measures, and inevitably the sluggish pace of recovery. The Bank of Thailand has cut Thailand’s economic growth forecast in 2021 to 0.7%, the lowest in ASEAN. Nevertheless, VGI will focus on pursuing operational sustainability through our diversified platforms and creation of new synergies, while also maintaining a strong balance sheet and cash reserves. With that, we are confident we will be able to quickly pick up the pace and continue to create a thriving business once the pandemic comes to an end,” Mr. Leung concluded.
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Central Pattana launches ‘Central Kitchen’ reinforcing its position as the best food destination
Central Pattana launches ‘Central Kitchen’ reinforcing its position as the best food destination
Central Pattana launches ‘Central Kitchen’ reinforcing its position as the best food destination
Central Pattana launches ‘Central Kitchen’ reinforcing its position as the best food destination
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