Author: desk team

SAN GABRIEL, Calif. - Mass was celebrated Sunday on the grounds of a historic Catholic church in Southern California that had been heavily damaged by fire a day earlier. The blaze early Saturday destroyed the rooftop and most of the interior of San Gabriel Mission, which was undergoing renovation to mark its upcoming 250th anniversary celebration. Archbishop Jose H. Gomez presided over Sunday’s service at a chapel near the burned sanctuary. Liccia Beck said she was saddened by news of the fire at her home parish. She was among a crowd of worshipers which arrived early to pray the rosary before the Mass. “I’m hoping that more people will show up throughout the day,” Beck said. “We need to pray for our churches and our people that they’re safe.” Parishioners wore masks and kept a distan

Philippine police deployed as virus cases forced into quarantine A soldier wearing a protective mask guards a street while children look out from a balcony, as the city undergoes a stricter lockdown to contain the coronavirus disease ) spread, in Pasay City, Philippines, April 22, 2020. (Reuters file photo) Philippine police are being deployed to ensure people who test positive for the coronavirus and cannot self-isolate at home are taken to state-run quarantine centres, sparking warnings Wednesday of potential rights violations. The move comes as authorities step up efforts to slow the rapid spread of the disease by increasing testing, reimposing lockdowns, and building dozens of quarantine centres to isolate patients with mild symptoms. To clamp down on local transmission, police are...

China economy rebounds in Q2 after virus hit: AFP poll Analysts forecast China will be the only major economy to experience positive growth this year. BEIJING: China returned to growth in the second quarter after the coronavirus pandemic handed the world's second largest economy its first contraction in decades, according to an AFP poll of analysts. The survey of analysts from 11 institutions pegged China's growth at 1.3% -- a far cry from the 6.1% expansion posted last year but in better shape than other countries still grappling with the contagion. The coronavirus, which first emerged in China's industrial central province of Hubei late last year, has shut businesses worldwide and destroyed hundreds of millions of jobs. But analysts forecast China will be the only major economy to e...

Thai massage loses its charm behind masks, social distancing Therapists wearing face shields wait for costumers at a traditional Thai massage shop which reopened after the Thai government eased isolation measures to prevent the spread of the coronavirus disease in Bangkok, June 3, 2020. (Reuters file photo) Walk into a massage parlour and a familiar clasped-hands “wai” greeting will welcome you as a hint of jasmine lingers in the air. Less appealing is the smell of disinfectant and the squeaky sound of latex gloves. Thai traditional massage is being forced to reinvent itself in the Covid-19 era, in which the human touch has barriers and masks hide the faces of therapists in the Land of Smiles. That has implications for both its appeal to customers, and its role as employer of last resor

500,000 Hong Kongers cast 'protest' vote A volunteer holds a QR code for people to scan and vote during primary elections in Hong Kong on Sunday. (AFP photo) HONG KONG: Hundreds of thousands of Hong Kong citizens queued to cast ballots over the weekend in what the Chinese-ruled city's opposition camp says is a symbolic protest vote against tough national security laws directly imposed by Beijing. The unofficial poll will decide the strongest pro-democracy candidates to contest Legislative Council elections in September, when they aim to ride a wave of anti-China sentiment stirred by the law to seize control for the first time from pro-Beijing rivals. While the primaries are only for the opposition camp, observers are watching closely as they say the turnout will serve as a test of broa...

Pilgrims trickle back to the Ganges as India lockdown eases Life is slowly returning to normal among the hallowed temples of Haridwar, one of Hinduism's holiest places. HARIDWAR, India: Life is slowly returning to normal among the hallowed temples of Haridwar, one of Hinduism's holiest places, but the Indian pilgrimage town still has a forlorn air as the country emerges from its coronavirus lockdown. The town usually teems with tens of thousands of visitors who flock from far and wide for a dip in the holy waters of the Ganges and to catch riverside prayer ceremonies at dusk. But India remains in the grip of a raging Covid-19 outbreak that has claimed more than 15,000 lives and infected over half a million people. For the first time in as long as any local can remember, pilgrims stopp...

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka - Sri Lanka and Maldives have become the first two countries in the World Health Organization’s South-East Asia region to eliminate both measles and rubella ahead of a 2023 target, the U.N. health agency announced Wednesday. “This success is encouraging and demonstrates the importance of joint efforts” in combating diseases as the world grapples with the coronavirus, WHO South-East Asia regional director Poonam Khetrapal Singh said in a statement. A country is considered to have eliminated measles and rubella when there is no evidence of endemic transmission of the viruses for more than three years and there is a well- performing surveillance system. Maldives reported its last endemic case of measles in 2009 and rubella in October 2015, while Sri Lanka reported its la

Heroes: Women and the cost of informal care In Indonesia, heart-breaking stories about healthcare workers who died as a result of Covid-19 started appearing in newspapers within weeks of the first diagnosed cases in the country. Doctors, nurses and other frontline health workers without appropriate protective equipment were falling gravely ill and in far too many cases, dying. Similar stories appeared across many Asean member states. We are now about six months into the Covid-19 crisis and a few things have become clear: Older people are more vulnerable to the disease and more likely to need substantial care; increased exposure results in higher likelihood of infection; care-providers are on the front line of exposure -- often without the proper personal protective equipment; a strong im...

PARIS - Chanting “Impunity is Over!” or dancing against sexual violence, women’s rights activists protested Friday in multiple cities in France and abroad against President Emmanuel Macron’s appointment of a new interior minister who is accused of rape and a justice minister who has minimized the #MeToo movement. The actions started Friday morning in Dijon, where new Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin and Prime Minister Jean Castex were meeting with police. A dozen feminists held out banners and signs condemning Darmanin and rape culture. Later Friday, in front of Paris City Hall, women staged a flash mob and performed the song and dance “ A Rapist in Your Path “ started by feminists in Chile, which has become an international rallying cry against sexual violence and victim shaming. The

Protesters in front of Nathan Phillips Square have been served a trespass notice, two weeks after they first occupied the area, and ordered to remove all tents by Monday. The notice, delivered Friday morning, states that people cannot camp or set up tents in the area. People cannot light fires, candles, torches or stay in the square for longer than an incidental period and while social distancing, under the order. On Thursday, there were 43 tents huddled in the square between the arched pool and city hall’s front doors. The popular Toronto sign in the square has also been vandalized but it’s not confirmed who did it, or when it took place. Protesters with the core organizing group, the Afro Indigenous Rising collective, have been occupying the square to protest police brutality and urgi