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The kind of early effort needed to control the public health crisis of the coronavirus. Steps taken in Washington State on social distancing and action underway in the U.S. so that a proactive approach takes place, acting early and decisively.

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It is not just about the Apple ad Crush video that turns millions of hours of creativity in books media by crushing it into an iPad Pro that people find repulsive. Look carefully and the iPad which was touted for it helping to create a big change in promoting education has done little and Apple has not increased literacy in the world through the iPad. New products from Apple, Google and other tech companies are only slight variations from the old. A thinner iPad when the previous iPad was already thin, and small changes at the periphery that are no longer in much demand. Prices are still way too high.

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About 18,000 people in 134 countries were surveyed by Hubbub, a international group, based at Durham University. The survey found men and women need 5 to 6 hours of rest doing activities in which they are alone- doing things which they find restful which can vary by person. The survey shows the people who are rested do better on a well being scale. These activities include watching television, doing hobbies, gardening, taking a jog or a walk, reading, listening to music. The rhythms of work, of how we use time, also affect our well being. The most problematic thing is the notion that somehow when we rest or take some time to do restful activities we are lazy, say the authors of the study. Of the activities reading came first, then being in a natural environment, being on one's own, listening to music, and doing nothing in particular. About two thirds of people feel they were not getting enough rest. Interestingly the wellbeing gradually decreases when it is over 6 hours- so it is something like engagement in life combined with periodic rest periods that produces good results.  And the fading boundary between rest periods alone and work because of cell phones and other devices is not a positive. ...

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Unusual activity at the volcano of Mt Etna in Italy. Mt Etna has been in explosive form recently, showing it as one of the world's most active volcanoes.

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Britain has opted to take the approach of South Korea and Taiwan, where the app developed for contact tracing adopts a centralized approach sending information to a central server.  The Google Apple app is taking a decentralized approach where the information on who has the virus and who they came into contact with is not sent to a central server. Asian countries with success in lifting lockdowns have adopted a centralized approach as this has given proven results in allowing the rest of society to function smoothly without lockdown, by isolating a few people who have or have come into contact with people with virus. In a crisis of this magnitude with the huge risks involved democracies such as South Korea and Taiwan, other Asian countries, and now Britain, see less risk in relying on the centralized approach, because it works more effectively to accomplish the task of limiting spread and letting society function without lockdown.

 

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British prime minister Boris Johnson is looking at options to increase investment by Britain in domestic telecom companies so that they can  compete in the 5G technology market. The idea is to create a new international alliance of partners including South Korea, the U.S., India. This is part of a wider effort to regain leadership in this area for an alliance of western companies partnering with some Asian countries. It is also intended to reduce reliance on Huawei.

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The World Trade Organization is about to choose a new director-general to succeed Mr. Azevedo, a career diplomat from Brazil. The two candidates are a former finance minister from Nigeria,  Ms. Okonjo-Iweala supported by the European Union and the trade minister of South Korea, Ms. Yoo Myung-hee, supported by the U.S. Japan supports the Nigerian candidate because of its trade disputes with South Korea. The role of head of WTO is important today because of trade issues between countries particularly the trade issues between China and the U.S., U.S. and other countries. And the sense that the WTO arrangement is not working for many countries in recent years without a level playing field in many industries from improper subsidies. Before the U.S. withdrawal from the World Health Organization not much attention was given by the U.S. to how it had changed after new elections. As a result non profit foundations like the Gates Foundation from the U.S. played a leading part in representation of American interests and China played a leading role leading to the crisis facing WHO today. During the coronavirus pandemic the WHO lacking adequate influence of U.S. or European Union countries was not able to act in a way that met the needs and concerns of these countries with advanced health systems. In the past pandemics were better addressed worldwide when the U.S. and EU played a major role from the beginning because of long experience and technological resources,  a role that was missing in the current pandemic. Ebola and other virus were tackled in Africa only when the U.S. or European countries played a leading and critical role. This role was sorely missed in the current crisis. This is why changes at the World Trade Organization matter. World trade is important for the world economy and can best operate when the concerns of U.S. and European Union about a level playing field and fair competition are met. This level playing field and fair competition also meet the interests of developing countries such as India which are industrializing rapidly and need to protect their own markets from unfair dumping, as well as Indonesia and other parts of Asia, Latin America and Africa that are part of the supply chain for the world economy. ...