SYDNEY — A western Sydney healthcare volunteer dismissed for speaking out about support given to women in labor said her sacking will make workers hesitant to blow the whistle. Kristyn Begnell went public in July after women giving birth at Blacktown Hospital were separated from their partners after delivery and prevented from seeing them in postnatal wards. Following the publicity, New South Wales Health, the state health ministry last week changed its Covid-19 infection control manual to make carers and support people a separate category of hospital visitors. A statewide directive also explicitly stated that visitors could be in birth units and postnatal wards.…
Author: zenger.news
When Miri Newcome and Chaya Ben-Baruch met while working at the English-language library in the northern Israeli city of Safed (Tzfat), little did they know that they would make each other’s dreams come true. Newcome had always wanted to be a beekeeper, while Ben-Baruch was looking for meaningful employment for her children with Down syndrome. Fast forward a few years, and the two U.S.-born friends found themselves at the helm of Neshikha (from the Hebrew for “kiss”), a small business manufacturing organic honey and beeswax products. Beekeeper Miri Newcome filling and weighing containers and bottles of Neshikha raw, unprocessed honey.…
ADELAIDE, Australia — Residents of South Australia in the northeastern Australian state, Queensland, have been urged to consider returning as soon as possible as the Sunshine State continues to battle a Covid-19 outbreak. South Australian residents are still allowed to return with southeast Queensland in lockdown, provided they spend 14 days in-home quarantine. But Premier Steven Marshall said that may change in the coming days, and local residents may face tougher restrictions, including the need to seek a special exemption to return. “People need to be thinking now about whether they should be staying in Queensland or coming back,” he said.…
LAGOS, Nigeria — Lagos, Nigeria’s commercial capital, is characterized by frenetic energies of survival and the undying resilience of its more than nine million inhabitants. A thriving seaport, vibrant culture, and a rapidly emerging tech industry contribute to its global fame. The city is the country’s manufacturing hub and a pan-African financial sector. It has booming music, fashion, and film industries with a global reach. However, the city’s emergence as one of the worlds’ top capitals has been largely overshadowed by less pleasant aspects. Rapid population growth, dire traffic conditions, air pollution, and insecurity have taken a shine off Africa’s largest city.…
Stricter guidelines aimed at controlling the spread of coronavirus variants aren’t hurting demand for gasoline, though prices could still moderate, analysts tell Zenger. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has recommended a return to wearing face masks to control the spread, and some private businesses are requiring vaccinations. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention advises people to avoid crowds and poorly ventilated indoor spaces. But strong demand has pushed retail gasoline prices to multi-year highs. Travel club AAA reports a nationwide average of $3.18 for a gallon of regular unleaded — the highest national average since October…
The Zurich Zoo has welcomed its first naturally reproduced harlequin poison dart frog. The brightly colored amphibians got their name from Native Americans, who used their toxic secretions to poison the tips of blow darts. Due to habitat destruction and the illegal animal trade, the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species lists the harlequin poison frog as critically endangered. The frogs survive only in a small part of a Colombian forest, where they lay just a few eggs and guard them from predators. They are endangered because their bright colors — which are supposed to deter predators by reminding them…
NEW DELHI — The hiring in the organized sector increased by 11 percent in the first quarter ended June, said the latest edition of Indeed India Hiring Tracker on Aug. 1. Standout growth was witnessed in information technology (61 percent), financial services (48 percent), and BPO/ITeS (47 percent) as the job market begins showing signs of recovery from the Covid-19 second wave. Large businesses continued to dominate hiring activity (59 percent of employers) while hiring by mid-sized businesses saw a decline (38 percent). Bengaluru continued to lead hiring (56 percent), and Kolkata replaced Chennai at the bottom of the hiring list (34 percent). The…
An overweight raccoon is put through its paces by his new personal trainer: the family dog. The 3-year-old raccoon, named Tornado, boasts 39,300 Instagram followers and lives with his owners Victoria and Alexander Domaratsky at their home in Orsk, Russia. The couple has recently recruited their dog to help the tubby raccoon shed some pounds, due to a lack of activity during the COVID-19 lockdown. In the video, the dog exercises Tornado by holding its lead in its mouth and leading the raccoon around. The couple said the dog also makes sure Tornado does not run off and always picks…
NEW DELHI — Operating conditions in India improved during July after growth was halted by the escalation of the pandemic in June, as per the latest Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) report by IHS Markit, the London-based research and analytics firm. Output, new orders, exports, the number of purchases, and input stocks all returned to expansion territory while a marginal increase in employment ended a 15-month sequence of job shedding. Meanwhile, there was a softer but still sharp increase in input costs. Output charges rose only slightly, however, as several companies absorbed additional cost burdens amid efforts to boost sales, as per the report.…
Two polar bears from a zoo in Germany enjoy an artificial ice floe recently set in their enclosure. Hertha and Tonja, at the Tierpark Berlin zoo in Germany, jump around and try out their new object of interest in a video the zoo posted on July 30. The bears “carefully examined their new ice chunk from all sides,” the zoo reported. “Whether they use it [the ice floe] as a ball shelf, or an aid to carry out a perfect jump into the cool water, or as an underwater hiding spot — our polar bears have a lot of fun…