LyrArc Article Gist
Johnson & Johnson begins a 60,000 person clinical trial on 3 continents in the final stage of testing. It could learn vital results in early next year which if positive would lead to government authorization for emergency use soon after. J&J will test whether a single dose of vaccine will work. It is also doing work separately with the UK government for a separate phase three study to test whether a 2 dose vaccine will work.

Other companies in final stage of testing are Moderna and Pfizer with studies results expected in October and Astra Zeneca working with Oxford expecting results by the end of 2020.

LyrArc Article Gist
Battered by wild fires, heat waves and drought California is taking action for fighting climate change by ban on new gas powered cars in 2035.

LyrArc Article Gist
Unlike other vaccines being developed J&J vaccine entering final stage testing does not need to be frozen, and can be give with one shot dose instead of two shots.

LyrArc Article Gist
Senator Mark Warner sees China's quest for technological dominance as a serious threat to the U.S. He says the U.S. got used to an assumed advantage and got lazy about it. He sees China's erosion of America's technological advantage as an existential threat to American values at home and in the world. He says universities, businesses in America have to get involved and is briefing these communities.

LyrArc Article Gist
Trudeau's agenda for Canada in 2020 includes addressing the widening social gaps in society. Plans include renewed focus on social policy, increasing child care spaces, and improving care for the elderly. Trudeau says the government can take on more debt to help the economy recover and create jobs. A second wave means more help is needed for the economy and people struggling on low incomes. The second wave is here in Canada as cases increased from 5000 a day to 8000 this week from the prior week.

LyrArc Article Gist
What is the oldest man alive like. Bob Weighton was presented with his certificate by the Guinness World Records this week. He lives in a assisted living home and is self isolating. Here is someone who has been through the 1918-20 Spanish flu pandemic that took millions of lives all over the world. What is he like? He was a professor of Marine Engineering at the City University of London till he retired at age 65 in 1973. Weighton says he is very pleased he was able to live so long and make so many friends. He has had serious medical operations but nothing he has experienced is like the coronavirus and self-isolation. He calls it "bizarre." But his advice is that there is nothing you can do about this so you might as well do what you can and  never mind about what you can't. He has 3 children, 10 grandchildren and 25 great grand children. He and wife Agnes traveled and worked around the world then settled back in the UK. She and his wife Agnes who passed away in 1993 volunteered in retirement as marraige counselors and helped youth groups in Alton.  ...

LyrArc Article Gist
This report shows how women are shifting during the coronavirus from wearing bras to wearing soft bras or doing away with bras altogether in the interest of comfort and casual attitude.

LyrArc Article Gist
Supreme Court Justice could simply have retired and let then president Obama appoint her successor. She decided to stay into her eighties. As a result president Trump will choose a conservative as her successor and has the votes lined up in the Senate. In Britain the retirement age was changed from lifetime to 75 by an Act in 1959. In India the Constitution set the retirement age for the Supreme Court at 65. Only in the U.S. is this practice maintained.

LyrArc Article Gist
Addressing the UN General Assembly in a virtual setting Mr. Trump tells delegates that China should be held accountable for certain actions in letting the coronavirus pandemic spread. He included the denial by China of human to human transmission very early before Feb-March, and its allowing Chinese flights to go overseas when it had completely banned flights domestically. He said flights were allowed to leave China after the virus spread from Wuhan even after Mr. Trump banned flights from China to the U.S. This spread the virus from China to Europe and to America.  Mr. Trump says the WHO is controlled by China. And this happened after foundations such as the Bill and Melinda Gates foundation and other foundations partly replaced the strong role played by the U.S. government at the world health agency during the post war period maintaining strong U.S. and European oversight in the earlier period. The lack of cooperation by China to let American experts into Wuhan immediately in January played a role in delaying the U.S. getting a first hand look at the coronavirus at the epicentre. Instead a 2-3 week delay left the U.S. Europe and India unprepared for the speed and havoc caused.  The only way to tackle the coronavirus was with speed and that speedy response was doubly needed because Europe and the U.S. had no recent experience with epidemics. Even India and rest of Asia, Latin America, Africa have no experience with this type of transmission and spread making time absolutely critical.  This speed was affected because China and the WHO acted as stumbling blocks in this view of what happened. The result was that in past pandemics were fought together, this pandemic was fought on a country by country basis, a bad precedent. ...

LyrArc Article Gist
Pictures for the opening of the Taj Mahal in India.

LyrArc Article Gist
New efforts to control air pollution over New Delhi and the persistent haze that hangs over the city in winter months by controlling the burning of stubble in Haryana state. Red zones have been identified and farmers getting the equipment they need.

LyrArc Article Gist
Tata Projects Limited is the lowest of two bidders at 860 crores for India's new parliament building. The old parliament building is considered inadequate today and was first opened in 1927 when the British first introduced local legislatures as a form of home rule in India. The time allowed for it to be built is a strict 21 months and will require putting a new face on the central Vista area that runs through the centre of New Delhi. It should generate jobs, and provide a fitting place for debating the many issues that face India in its drive for modernization, particularly today after the pandemic when many issues such as manufacturing, industrial development defense, agricultural modernization, infrastructure development are taking on new urgency. After almost three decades of slow progress India is now entering a new phase for speed and implementation of projects.

LyrArc Article Gist
China has doubled its offensive capabilities at the border with India including heliports and combat aircraft capabilities in the three years since the Doklam incident in 2017, says this report from Europe. China's strategy is clearly to build enough offensive capabilities to secure advantages all along the border with India and maintain its position in Tibet, which happened with China's entry into Tibet in 1950 to secure water resources, increase its security following China's experience with the Japanese invasion through Manchuria.  

LyrArc Article Gist
The second wave is here in Britain with Stage 4 "exponential" increase seen in Britain. Cases could rise four fold from over 4000 today, after rising four fold in the last month Aug 20- September 20, and that could make it reach 50,000 cases a day and 200 deaths a day. New restrictions include- Masks required in all retail stores and restaurants and public places. Businesses that breach rules could be closed or shut down. Pubs, bars and restaurants close by 10 pm and only table service. Weddings and receptions limited to 10 people. Individual fines for first time breaches doubled to 200 pounds. Adult indoor team sports not allowed. This is the first response. If infection rates are not down from the over 1 R rate and the transmission increases a national lockdown is considered as the next step. To not harm the economy and strike a delicate balance all who can work from home are encouraged to work from home.      ...