BTS’ upcoming online concert to feature up-to-date technologies

SEOUL — K-pop sensation BTS will catch the eyes of its long-waiting fans with fresh up-to-date viewing experiences at its upcoming live online concert next month, its management agency said Tuesday.

The online concert titled “BTS Map of the Soul ON:E” will be livestreamed at 7 p.m. on Oct. 10 and at 4 p.m. on Oct. 11, according to Big Hit Entertainment.

During the two-hour event, the septet will perform on a scale equivalent to an offline concert, featuring augmented reality and extended reality software technology with high-definition content.

A multi-view live streaming service will also help audiences select and enjoy various scenes taken from six different angles on a real-time basis.

“We are preparing an unprecedented stage and a variety of set lists for fans who are missing offline concerts that have been canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic,” Big Hit said.

The Oct. 10-11 concerts were originally set to take place in-person in Seoul under government-led seat distancing guidelines, with a paid simultaneous streaming service.

But Big Hit canceled the in-person element last week due to nationwide tightened social distancing stemming from a recent spike in coronavirus cases across South Korea.

BTS’ previous paid online concert, “Bang Bang Con: The Live,” in June, set a new Guinness World record for “most viewers for a music concert livestream,” attracting 756,000 viewers in 107 countries and regions across the world. 

-Yonhap News Agency

Adesanya defends belt, Błachowicz wins title at UFC 253

ABU DHABI, United Arab Emirates — Unbeaten Israel Adesanya defended his middleweight title in style with a dominant second-round stoppage of Paulo Costa at UFC 253 on Sunday

Poland’s Jan Błachowicz also stopped Dominick Reyes late in the second round on Fight Island, the mixed martial arts promotion’s bubble performance venue in the Middle East, to claim the light heavyweight title vacated by Jon Jones.

Adesanya (20-0) carved up his previously unbeaten Brazilian opponent with flair and ease, battering Costa with leg kicks before ending it late in the second round. Adesanya crumpled Costa with a combination at the center of the octagon, and the champion finished on the ground with 61 seconds left in the round.

“I told you guys that it was going to be violent, and it was going to end fast,” Adesanya said. “That’s what I did. It was a little bit sloppy, but I’m a dog, so I do what I do.”

The win was the ninth straight in the UFC for Adesanya, the Nigeria-born, New Zealand-based phenomenon who has soared to prominence in mixed martial arts over the past three years.

In UFC 253′s co-main event, the 37-year-old Błachowicz (27-8) capped his late-career surge by winning his first UFC title.

After controlling most of the action in a slow first round, Błachowicz apparently broke Reyes’ nose during the second round, and he abruptly ended it when he landed a high left hook to the side of Reyes’ head. Reyes wobbled, stumbled and fell, and Błachowicz promptly finished him on the ground with 24 seconds left in the round.

“I still don’t believe it, but it’s here,” Błachowicz said. “It’s not a dream, right? It happened. I have the legendary Polish power, I proved it one more time. … Even a pandemic can’t stop me right now.”

Unheralded flyweight Brandon Royval also had a highlight-reel win on Fight Island, stopping Kai Kara-France with a guillotine choke in the second round.

Adesanya won his title last year by beating Robert Whittaker, but he was in need of a redemptive performance after defending his belt last March with a stupendously boring decision over Yoel Romero in Las Vegas.

The champion known as “The Last Stylebender” reminded the UFC just what he can do while dispatching Costa with ease

The heavily muscled Costa opened the fight with a cocky swagger, daring Adesanya to kick his lead leg by putting his hands behind his back. Adesanya preened back at Costa, but largely kept his distance and tagged Costa with kicks, while Costa’s own kicks were less successful.

Costa’s striking game never got going, and Adesanya wore him down before finishing the fight.

“I built a beachfront condo inside his head from the first time we met,” Adesanya said. “The way he was fighting, you just want me to stand there so you can punch me. I’m not stupid, dummy.”

While Adesanya was a favorite, Błachowicz’s victory was a surprise. He is the first fighter other than Jones or Daniel Cormier to hold the UFC light heavyweight title since 2011, when Jones began his rocky reign.

Jones vacated his belt three times during the ensuing nine years for doping offenses and criminal misbehaviors, but always reclaimed it. But he voluntarily relinquished the title earlier this year after lengthy negotiations over the future of his career with the UFC, apparently receiving the financial incentive to move to heavyweight.

But Jones doesn’t have a fight booked at heavyweight, and Błachowicz isn’t buying the move.

“Only one man is in my mind,” Błachowicz said. “Jon Jones, where are you? Don’t be a quitter. This is how we do it in Poland. I’m waiting for you.”

UFC President Dana White said he wouldn’t stop Jones if the former champion wanted to fight Błachowicz, a six-year UFC veteran. He earned this title shot with three straight wins, including stoppages of former champion Luke Rockhold and Corey Anderson.

Reyes is a former college football player from Southern California who only recently devoted himself to the sport full-time, but his 12-0 start to his career landed him a title shot at Jones in February. Jones won their matchup by decision, but most observers thought Reyes had nearly pulled off the monumental upset, keeping him first in line for a second title shot when Jones vacated.

Adesanya also said he wants to fight Jones soon, and he would be willing to move up to do it.

-Associated Press

Novavax enters late-stage clinical trials for COVID-19

WASHINGTON, United States — US biotech firm Novavax said Thursday it was initiating its final Phase 3 clinical trial for its experimental COVID-19 vaccine.

The trial will be carried out in the United Kingdom and aims to enroll 10,000 volunteers, aged 18-84, with and without underlying conditions, over the next four to six weeks.

"With a high level of SARS-CoV-2 transmission observed and expected to continue in the  UK, we are optimistic that this pivotal Phase 3 clinical trial will enroll quickly and provide a near-term view of NVX-CoV2373's efficacy," said Gregory Glenn, the company's president of research and development, using the technical name for the formulation.

It is the eleventh COVID-19 vaccine candidate to reach the Phase 3 stage globally.

The company has been awarded $1.6 billion by the US government to develop and fund the drug, which is administered by two intramuscular injections.

The Maryland-based company uses insect cells to grow synthesized pieces of the spike protein of the virus, which it hopes will evoke a robust human immune response.

It also uses an "adjuvant," a compound that boosts the production of neutralizing antibodies.

The company says the drug, which is a liquid formulation, can be stored at two degrees celsius to eight degrees celsius, refrigerator temperature.

In the spring, the company said it had proven the efficacy of a seasonal flu vaccine it had developed using the same technology.

Agence France-Presse

South Koreans defy virus to attend drive-in circus

SEOUL - A clown juggled and acrobats launched themselves through the air above a stage in an open field in Seoul at the weekend as the audience watched from the safety of their cars, cocooned from the risk of coronavirus.

The annual circus -- usually held in May -- was pushed back twice this year because of the virus until organizers turned it into a drive-in event.

"The performing arts are very important even during a pandemic," said Cho Beong-hee, manager of the Seoul Street Art Creation Centre.

"So we came up with different ideas in trying to make this event happen and the drive-in option was chosen as it was deemed the safest idea."

Each event allows 30 cars to park in front of the stage, while the event is also streamed online for free.

The lack of interaction with the audience posed new challenges for the performers.

"I had to re-imagine and re-think new ways to go about my performance," said Lee Sung-hyung, a performer at the circus.

The crowd clapped and honked car horns as acrobats swung above the giant stage, hoisted by a crane.

In the audience, Yu Hye-jin said she was satisfied with her seat.

"I think watching performances in cars is great," she said, adding, "I think it can be done in the future, with other performances like musicals."

Agence France-Presse

Chinese hackers 'stole data from Spanish vaccine labs' — report

MADRID, Spain — Chinese hackers have stolen information from Spanish laboratories working on a vaccine for COVID-19, El Pais newspaper reported Friday.

The report emerged as drug companies around the world race to produce an effective jab to counter a virus that has now killed more than 940,000 people and infected 30 million.

It was not clear what information was taken, when it happened, nor how important it was, with the paper citing sources privy to the attack. 

Quoted in the article, Spain's secret service chief Paz Esteban said hackers had mounted "a particularly virulent campaign targeting laboratories working on the search for a vaccine" not only in Spain but elsewhere. 

Speaking to journalists on Thursday, Esteban who heads the CNI intelligence services, said there had been a "qualitative and quantitative" increase in attacks during lockdown, with hackers targeting "sensitive sectors such as healthcare and pharmaceuticals".

Such attacks had multiplied in other countries involved in efforts to develop a vaccine, prompting an exchange of information between their respective spy services, she said. 

Most attacks were carried out by hackers from China and Russia, often from state organisations, but also by criminal organisations and universities who trade in hacked data, security sources said. 

But the attack in which Spanish data were stolen was launched by Chinese hackers, they said. 

The CNI was not immediately available to comment on the report. 

In July, a court in the US state of Washington charged two Chinese nationals with stealing terabytes of data from hundreds of computer systems all over the world, in some cases on behalf of Chinese government agencies. 

The hacking, which took place over a decade, had more recently involved looking for vulnerabilities in the systems of firms developing COVID-19 vaccines, testing technology, and treatments, the US justice department said. 

Spain was one of 11 countries named in the indictment as being targeted by the attacks.

Agence France-Presse

Desperately fleeing the burning hills in Northern California

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — As the flames closed in on tiny Berry Creek in the Sierra Nevada foothills early Wednesday, Misty Spires and her boyfriend hooked a fire hose to a hydrant in a desperate attempt to defend their homes and the town’s only laundromat.

They gave up around 4 a.m. when propane tanks began exploding and they were dodging embers “as big as my feet,” she said. But traffic was snarled on the two-lane bridge leading out of town, forcing Spires and others to turn around and drive down a sandbar to escape the flames.

She helped another man load his motorcycle on the back of her pickup truck before sprinting to safety.

“It was like a war zone, like standing in the breath of hell,” she said.

For the second time in two years, fire has destroyed a mountain community in Butte County. Two years ago it was Paradise, where roughly 19,000 buildings were destroyed and 85 people died in the most destructive wildfire in state history.

This time, it was Berry Creek — an unincorporated town of about 1,200 people in the same remote, rolling heavily forested mountains that locals described as a peaceful, close-knit community.

Dozens of wildfires have been burning for weeks across California and the U.S. West, most sparked by lightning strikes. But the North Complex Fire in Northern California surprised fire officials by how quickly it spread after smoldering for weeks in a mostly unpopulated region.

Aided by strong winds, steep terrain and miles of dried out foliage, the fire — more than 8 miles (13 kilometers) wide — quickly roared into Butte County on Tuesday.

This time, Paradise was spared. Smaller mountain communities such as Berry Creek and Feather Falls were quickly overwhelmed. Firefighters scrambled to rescue more than 100 people on Tuesday and early Wednesday.

But they couldn’t save everyone.

By Saturday, authorities said the fire claimed 12 lives and another 13 remained missing.

Millicent Catarancuic’s 5-acre property in Berry Creek was a rescue shelter of sorts. She had at least four dogs and several cats, many of whom wandered into her yard and never left after finding a loving home.

Her scattered family had seen much tragedy, but in recent years they had mostly settled at her compound in the hills, where it took a 30-minute drive to get anywhere. With her sister, Suzan Violet Zurz, and Phil Rubel, an uncle by marriage, the three lived in quietly, caring for animals and playing the card game FreeCell on a desktop computer.

They were not foolhardy with fires, having voluntarily evacuated for others. Tuesday, they had packed the car and were getting ready to leave when, about 7 p.m., they changed their minds. They were safe, they assured their families.

Authorities would later find Catarancuic’s body near a car, along with those of two others. Zurz and Rubel are still listed as missing. But Zurz’s son, Zygy Roe-Zurz, fears the worst.

“It’s absolutely devastating to find out the people you love are suddenly and horribly gone,” he said. “We lived all over the world and finally settled in a place. So much work and so much thought went into being there and it’s, just, all gone.”

Spires and her boyfriend, Jonathan Gonzales, were headed to the muddy sandbar north of Lake Oroville, the largest body of water in the area. Gonzalez knew the area was clear of trees and close to the water and told the drivers caught in the jam getting out of Berry Creek to follow him.

“He told the others, ‘If you want to live instead of sitting on this bridge follow me,’” she said. “He saved a lot of lives.”

Once there, Spires said most people stayed huddled in their cars. But others got out and consoled each other.

“There wasn’t much that you can say in that situation but to say, ‘I’m glad you’re alive,’” Spires said.

While waiting for daylight, she saw horses and other animals run toward the lake as flames licked the hillsides.

Spires moved from Kansas City to Berry Creek two years ago, drawn to its verdant landscape, creeks and waterfalls that feed into the lake and the mild climate for her mother, who suffers from debilitating arthritis. Her loved ones all survived the blaze, but she mourned the loss of a town she had come to love.

She also mourned the loss of the Sugar Pine Saloon, a 1940s era bar where people in the community had signed their names in the rafters. Spires and her boyfriend were working hard to remodel and reopen it.

“It was a place where the whole community was involved in some way,” she said. “The whole history is just gone.”

___

Nguyen reported from San Francisco.

Associated Press

US marks 9/11 anniversary at tributes shadowed by virus

NEW YORK (AP) — Americans commemorated 9/11 Friday as another national crisis reconfigured memorial ceremonies, dividing some victims’ families over coronavirus safety precautions, and a presidential campaign carved a path through the observances.

In New York, victims’ relatives gathered Friday morning for split-screen remembrances at the World Trade Center’s Sept. 11 memorial plaza and on a nearby corner, set up by separate organizations.

Standing on the plaza, with its serene waterfall pools and groves of trees, Jin Hee Cho said she couldn’t erase the memory of the death of her younger sister, Kyung, in the collapse of the trade center’s north tower.

“It’s just hard to delete that in my mind. I understand there’s all this, and I understand now that we have even COVID,“ said Cho, 55. ”But I only feel the loss, the devastating loss of my flesh-and-blood sister.”

Around the country, some communities canceled 9/11 ceremonies, while others went ahead, sometimes with modifications. The Pentagon’s observance was so restricted that not even victims’ families could attend, though small groups could visit its memorial later in the day.

On an anniversary that fell less than two months before the presidential election, President Donald Trump and Democratic challenger Joe Biden both headed for the Flight 93 National Memorial in the election battleground state of Pennsylvania — at different times of day. Biden also attended the ceremony at ground zero in New York, exchanging a pandemic-conscious elbow bump with Vice President Mike Pence before the observance began.

In short, the 19th anniversary of the deadliest terror attack on U.S. soil was a complicated occasion in a maelstrom of a year, as the U.S. grapples with a pandemic, searches its soul over racial injustice and prepares to choose a leader to chart a path forward.

Still, families say it’s important for the nation to pause and remember the hijacked-plane attacks that killed nearly 3,000 people at the trade center, at the Pentagon outside Washington and in a field near Shanksville, Pennsylvania, on Sept. 11, 2001 — shaping American policy, perceptions of safety and daily life in places from airports to office buildings.

“People could say, ‘Oh, 19 years.’ But I’ll always be doing something this day. It’s history,” said Annemarie D’Emic, who lost her brother Charles Heeran, a stock trader. She went to the alternative ceremony in New York, which kept up the longstanding tradition of in-person readers.


Speaking at the Pennsylvania memorial, Trump recalled how the plane’s crew and passengers tried to storm the cockpit as the hijackers as headed for Washington.

“The heroes of Flight 93 are an everlasting reminder that no matter the danger, no matter the threat, no matter the odds, America will always rise up, stand tall, and fight back,” the Republican president said.

Biden visited the memorial later Friday, laid a wreath and greeted relatives of victims including First Officer LeRoy Homer. Biden expressed his respect for those aboard Flight 93, saying sacrifices like theirs “mark the character of a country.”

“This is a country that never, never, never, never, never, never gives up,” he said.

At the Sept. 11 memorial in New York hours earlier, Biden offered condolences to victims’ relatives including Amanda Barreto, 27, and 90-year-old Maria Fisher, empathizing with their loss of loved ones. Biden’s first wife and their daughter died in a car crash, and his son Beau died of brain cancer.

Biden didn’t speak at that ceremony, which has a longstanding custom of not allowing politicians to make remarks.

Pence went on to the separate ceremony, organized by the Stephen Siller Tunnel to Towers Foundation, where he read the Bible’s 23rd Psalm. His wife, Karen, read a passage from the Book of Ecclesiastes.

“For the families of the lost and friends they left behind, I pray these ancient words will comfort your heart and others,” said the vice president, drawing applause from the audience of hundreds.

Formed in honor of a firefighter killed on 9/11, the foundation felt in-person readers were crucial to the ceremony’s emotional impact and could recite names while keeping a safe distance. By contrast, recorded names emanated from speakers placed around the memorial plaza. Leaders said they wanted to keep readers and listeners from clustering at a stage.

As in past years on the plaza, many readers at the alternative ceremony added poignant tributes to their loved ones’ character and heroism, urged the nation not to forget the attacks and recounted missed family milestones: “How I wish you could walk me down the aisle in just three weeks,” Kaitlyn Strada said of her father, Thomas, a bond broker.

One reader thanked essential workers for helping New York City endure the pandemic, which has killed at least 24,000 people in the city and over 190,000 nationwide. Another reader, Catherine Hernandez, said she became a police officer to honor her family’s loss.

Other victims’ relatives, however, weren’t bothered by the switch to a recording at the ground zero ceremony.

“I think it should evolve. It can’t just stay the same forever,” said Frank Dominguez, who lost his brother, Police Officer Jerome Dominguez.

The Sept. 11 memorial and the Tunnel to Towers foundation also tussled over the Tribute in Light, a pair of powerful beams that shine into the night sky near the trade center, evoking its fallen twin towers. The 9/11 memorial initially canceled the display, citing virus safety concerns for the installation crew. After the foundation vowed to put up the lights instead, the memorial changed course with help from its chair, former Mayor Mike Bloomberg, and Gov. Andrew Cuomo.

Tunnel to Towers, meanwhile, arranged to display single beams for the first time at the Shanksville memorial and the Pentagon.

Over the years, the anniversary also has become a day for volunteering. Because of the pandemic, the 9/11 National Day of Service and Remembrance organization is encouraging people this year to make donations or take other actions from home.

Associated Press 

Luxury goods giant LVMH cancels $14.5B deal for Tiffany

NEW YORK (AP) — Luxury goods giant LVMH is ending its takeover deal of jewelry retailer Tiffany & Co., saying the French government had requested a delay to assess the threat of proposed U.S. tariffs and amid wider industry troubles caused by the pandemic.

The Paris-based conglomerate said that both the French government and Tiffany had requested that the closing of the deal be postponed by a few months. The French government, it said, wanted to assess the impact of the possible U.S. tariffs on French goods.

As a result, LVMH said, the $14.5 billion deal — which would have been biggest ever in the luxury market and was scheduled to close Nov. 24 — will be canceled.

Tiffany replied that it’s suing to enforce the merger agreement, which was signed in November 2019. The New York company said LVMH’s argument has no basis in French law. Tiffany also said that LVMH hasn’t even attempted to seek the required antitrust approval from three jurisdictions.

“We believe that LVMH will seek to use any available means in an attempt to avoid closing the transaction on the agreed terms,” said Roger Farah, chairman of Tiffany, in a statement.

Shares in Tiffany slid 6% in afternoon trading in New York. Those in LVMH, which owns 75 brands including Christian Dior, Fendi, Givenchy and Tag Heuer, were stable.

The deal’s value came under strain during the coronavirus pandemic, which caused retail sales to plunge around the world. Tiffany’s share price has been trading around $125 a share for weeks - below the $135 per share price that LVMH had agreed to pay last fall, before the pandemic.

Back then, industry experts had said the deal made sense. Tiffany, known for its delicate jewelry, distinctive blue boxes and an Audrey Hepburn movie, had been trying to transform its brand to appeal to younger and more digital shoppers, and could have used an owner with deep pockets to help expand.

LVMH, led by billionaire Bernard Arnault, had thought the deal would strengthen its position in high-end jewelry and in the U.S. market. LVMH was also making a bet on China’s economy, where Tiffany had been expanding its presence.

The pandemic threw all those assumptions and plans in doubt, and the threat of new tariffs between the U.S. and Europe was cited as a further complicating issue.

Before COVID, the global market for personal luxury goods was solid, reaching a record high of $307.1 billion (260 billion euros) in 2018 — a 6% increase from the year before, according to consulting firm Bain & Co. That sector slipped by 2.1% to $331.9 (281 billion euros) last year, according to Bain estimates. But given COVID’s financial fallout and the shutdown of tourism worldwide, those sales could drop by 20% to 35% in 2020, Bain estimates. Bain expects that personal luxury sales won’t recover to pre-COVID levels until 2022 and 2023.

Tiffany’s global sales declined 29% during the fiscal second quarter ended July 31, following a 45% drop in the fiscal first quarter.

Last year, France sought to impose a tax on global tech giants including Google, Amazon and Facebook. The French tech tax is aimed at “establishing tax justice.” France wants digital companies to pay their fair share of taxes in countries where they make money instead of using tax havens, and is pushing for an international agreement on the issue.

In response to the tech tax, the U.S. threatened to slap 100% tariffs on $2.4 billion of French products.

The two sides are at a tense truce as France has said it would delay collection of the digital tax until December, parking the issue until after the next U.S. presidential election where Trump hopes to secure another four-year term.

In a press conference on Wednesday, French government spokesman Gabriel Attal confirmed that a letter was sent by French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian to LVMH and referred to international talks about U.S. tariffs as a “very important issue.”

“The (French) government is neither naive nor passive. We have objectives that we want to reach,” he said. He wouldn’t further elaborate and said that Le Drian is expected to express his views on the issue in the coming hours.

CFO Jean Jacques Guiony of the LVMH insisted in a phone interview with reporters that the letter received Sept. 1 from the French government was legal and valid and left the group no choice.

“I don’t think their objective is to please or not to please LVMH. They don’t give a damn…,” he said. “The letter is legally valid, is legal. When you get such a legally binding and legally valid letter, you just apply it…We will apply it.”

Asked about lowering the price to keep the deal alive, he said that had not even been considered as there is no article in the contract that would allow that.

“The deal cannot take place .. we are prohibited from closing this transaction … we have no choice.”

As for the threatened law suit, the CFO said that he doesn’t “see a way in between” the arguments the two sides could put forth – we don’t do the deal on Nov. 24 and they saying that you have to do it anyway, he said.

“We’ll see what happens.”

________

AP Writers Sylvie Corbet ad Elaine Ganley in Paris contributed to this report.

Associated Press

India now 2nd behind US in virus cases amid economic pain

NEW DELHI (AP) — India’s increasing coronavirus caseload made the Asian giant the world’s second-worst-hit country behind the United States on Monday, as its efforts to head off economic disaster from the pandemic gain urgency.

The 90,802 cases added in the past 24 hours pushed India’s total past Brazil with more than 4.2 million cases. India is now behind only the United States, where more than 6.2 million people have been infected, according to Johns Hopkins University.

India’s Health Ministry on Monday also reported 1,016 new deaths for a total of 71,642, the third-highest national toll.

The world’s second-most populous country with 1.4 billion people, India has been recording the world’s largest daily increases in coronavirus cases for almost a month. Despite over 2 million new cases in the past month and the virus spreading through the country’s smaller towns and villages, the Indian government has continued relaxing restrictions to try and resuscitate the economy.

On Monday, the Delhi Metro, which serves India’s sprawling capital, New Delhi, and adjoining areas, resumed operations after remaining shuttered for more than five months. The commuters were scarce and stations deserted. Only asymptomatic people were allowed to board the trains, with masks, social distancing and temperature checks mandatory.

Security personnel used metal detectors attached to rods to ensure social distancing during frisking at the stations, and commuters were allowed to enter only after sanitizing their hands.

New Delhi’s streets have already returned to their normal bustle, and people are again flocking to markets. The city’s bars will reopen on Wednesday.

The reopenings come after India’s economy shrank faster than any other major nation’s, nearly 24% in the last quarter.

India’s economic pain dates to the demonetization of the nation’s currency in 2016 and a hasty rollout of a goods and services tax the next year. But the strict virus lockdown that started on March 24 further exacerbated the economic woes.

When Prime Minister Narendra Modi ordered everyone in the country to stay indoors, the whole economy shut down within four hours. Millions lost their jobs instantly and tens of thousands of migrant workers, out of money and fearing starvation, poured out of cities and headed back to villages. The unprecedented migration not only hollowed out India’s economy but also spread the virus to the far reaches of the country.

Now, as cases surge, most of the country, except in high-risk areas, has already opened up, with authorities saying they have little choice.

“While lives are important, livelihoods are equally important,” Rajesh Bhushan, the top official of India’s federal health ministry, said at a news briefing last week.

Almost 60% of India’s virus cases are now coming from the states of Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh, the nation’s most populous state. But infections are also returning to areas that had managed to slow the spread of the virus, offsetting marginal gains.

Initially hit hard by the virus, New Delhi had seemed to turn the tide through its aggressive screening for patients. But after reopening steadily, the state has reported a recent surge in cases and fatalities. The reopening of the metro is expected to further worsen the situation, experts fear.

The recent surge in cases also highlights the risks of India’s strategy on relying too heavily on rapid tests that screen for antigens or viral proteins. These tests are cheap, yield results in minutes and have allowed India to test over a million people a day.

But they are also less precise and likely to miss infected people, said Dr. Gagandeep Kang, an infectious diseases expert of Christian Medical College at Vellore in southern India.

India also says its recovery rate is 77.3% and that the fatality rate has declined to around 1.72%.

But the economic crisis means that people in India, especially the poor who were inordinately impacted by the harsh lockdown, have to go out and work. They are also less likely to have access to good healthcare.

The virus has already deepened misery in the country’s vast hinterlands and poorer states, where surges have crippled the underfunded healthcare system and stretched resources.

S.P. Kalantri, a public health specialist, said India’s poor face a “desperate choice” between “an immediate death versus a death that could come any time.”

“The disease is already there in the villages,” he said.

Associated Press

Colleges combating coronavirus turn to stinky savior: sewage

SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — Days after he crossed the country to start college, Ryan Schmutz received a text message from Utah State University: COVID-19 had been detected at his dorm.

Within 10 minutes, he dropped the crepes he was making and was whisked away by bus to a testing site.

“We didn’t even know they were testing,” said Schmutz, who is 18 and from Omaha, Nebraska. “It all really happened fast.”

Schmutz was one of about 300 students quarantined to their rooms last week, but not because of sickness reports or positive tests. Instead, the warning bells came from the sewage.

Colleges across the nation — from New Mexico to Tennessee, Michigan to New York — are turning tests of waste into a public health tool. The work comes as institutions hunt for ways to keep campuses open despite vulnerabilities like students’ close living arrangements and drive to socialize. The virus has already left its mark with outbreaks that have forced changes to remote learning at colleges around the country.

The tests work by detecting genetic material from the virus, which can be recovered from the stools of about half of people with COVID-19, studies indicate. The concept has also been used to look for outbreaks of the polio virus.

Sewage testing is especially valuable because it can evaluate people even if they aren’t feeling sick and can detect a few cases out of thousands of people, experts say. Another wastewater-flagged quarantine of 300 students at Arizona State University, for example, turned up two cases. Both were students who were asymptomatic, but they could potentially still have spread the virus.

“That’s just tremendously valuable information when we think about the setting of a college dorm, and how quickly this disease can spread through that population,” said Peter Grevatt, CEO of The Water Research Foundation, which promotes studies of water and wastewater to ensure water quality and service.

Wastewater tests also flagged the possible presence of the virus at University of Colorado residence halls.

Utah has used the method more widely, including to track an outbreak at a meatpacking plant. The British, Italian and Dutch governments have also announced similar monitoring programs, and the Massachusetts-based company Biobot tests wastewater from cities around the country.

The method remains imprecise, though. It can spot infection trends, but it can’t yet pinpoint how many people have the virus or the stage of infection. That means it’s not yet quite as useful on a larger scale in cities, which don’t always have a university’s scientific resources or ability to require people to get tested.

The technology is being closely studied, though, and it is evolving rapidly, Grevatt said, adding that it’s best used along with other methods like contact tracing.

It’s not a panacea for colleges either. Utah State, for example, can only closely monitor sewage from the relatively small portion of students who live on campus — not the thousands of other people who come and go every day. The university has an enrollment of about 28,000.

And this week, Utah State’s positive wastewater test could be narrowed only as far as four residence halls that share the same sewer system. The test came back positive late Aug. 29, and the quarantine started the next day. Students were required to stay in their rooms, eating meals delivered by a “COVID care” team and barred from walking more than a few steps outside the residence hall.

The buildings are laid out in apartment-style suites, and students were released from quarantine in small groups if every roommate in a suite tested negative. The tests had turned up four coronavirus cases as of Thursday.

Schmutz, who tested negative along with his roommates, didn’t miss much in-person class time during his four-day quarantine.

But he’s a little disconcerted that he and his family weren’t told about the sewage testing. “It felt like we were kind of out of the loop on everything. It’s definitely hard to process,” he said.

Utah State has heard from parents and students similarly frustrated, though many others are grateful, spokeswoman Emilie Wheeler said. “They see it as a noninvasive early detection system,” she said.

The program is relatively inexpensive, too. The school takes samples daily to monitor several living areas, and the tests are run by a team of students.

“Wastewater has a story to tell about the public health status of communities,” Grevatt said. “There’s so many folks working on this right now. It’s just remarkable to see how quickly it has moved forward.”

Associated Press

Will long Labor Day weekend mean another coronavirus spike?

HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) — Americans headed into Labor Day weekend — the unofficial end to the Lost Summer of 2020 — amid warnings from public health experts that backyard parties, crowded bars and other gatherings could cause the coronavirus to come surging back.

“I look upon the Labor Day weekend really as a critical point,” said Dr. Anthony Fauci, the government’s top infectious-disease expert. “Are we going to go in the right direction and continue the momentum downward, or are we going to have to step back a bit as we start another surge?”

The rise in infections, deaths and hospitalizations over the summer, primarily in the South and West, was blamed in part on Americans behaving heedlessly over Memorial Day and July Fourth.

The landscape has improved in recent weeks, with the numbers headed in the right direction in hard-hit states like Florida, Arizona and Texas, but there are certain risk factors that could combine with Labor Day: Children are going back to school, university campuses are seeing soaring case counts, college football is starting, more businesses are open, and flu season is around the corner.

And a few states are heading into the holiday with less room in hospitals than they had over Memorial Day and the Fourth of July. Alabama, for example, had about 800 people hospitalized with the virus on July 1. This week, it has just under 1,000.

More beaches will be open on Labor Day than on Memorial Day, but Fauci said that is not cause in itself for concern, as long as people keep their distance.

“I would rather see someone on a beach, being physically separated enough, than someone crowded in an indoor bar,” he said.

The outbreak is blamed for about 187,000 deaths and almost 6.2 million confirmed infections in the U.S., by far the highest totals in the world. Cases of COVID-19, which spiked from about 20,000 per day to around 70,000 during the summertime surge in the South, are now down to about 40,000.

Dr. Albert Ko, a Yale University epidemiologist, said he is concerned about students heading back to school across the nation next week after coming back from holiday travel and a weekend of social gatherings.

“Any transmission events that happen here could be amplified unless we’re careful about it,” Ko said. “Whether it’s going to be a perfect storm, l don’t think so. People are aware of the risk, and people have been socially distancing. But this is certainly a concern.”

Associated Press

Macy’s posts $400 million loss as sales drop 36%

NEW YORK (AP) — Macy’s got more people to shop on its website and app, but it wasn’t enough to make up for plummeting sales inside its department stores.

Online sales were up 53%, and the company said it attracted 4 million new online customers. But sales sunk 61% inside its stores, which reopened in June after being temporarily closed due to the pandemic.

Macy’s is the country’s largest department store operator, offering a glimpse into what America’s are buying.

With people spending more time at home, shoppers bought fewer dresses, luggage and men’s suits. But they spent more on comfy athletic wear, as well as decor to spruce up their homes. Macy’s said luxury goods did surprisingly well, too, such as high-priced mattresses, perfumes and diamond jewelry. The New York company also owns Bloomingdale’s and the Bluemercury makeup and cosmetic chain.

Many of its department stores are at malls, which have struggled to attract shoppers even before COVID-19. Some of its mall-based rivals have gone bankrupt, including J.C. Penney, Neiman Marcus and Stage Stores.

Over the next two years, Macy’s said it plans to open smaller Macy’s and Bloomingdale’s stores that are not attached to a mall.

For the holiday season, it will spread out discounts over a longer period to avoid overcrowding at its stores and continue to push shoppers to buy online and pick up at the curb.

The virus is also forcing Macy’s to rethink how it will hold its annual holiday events, like Christmas tree lightings, holiday window decorations and its annual Thanksgiving Day parade. But the company didn’t provide any details on changes it plans to make.

Overall, the company reported a second-quarter loss of $431 million, or $1.39 per share, after posting a profit in the same quarter a year ago.

Adjusted losses came to 81 cents per share, which was better than the loss of $1.78 per share Wall Street analysts expected, according to Zacks Investment Research.

Revenue fell 36% to $3.56 billion in the period, also topping analyst expectations.

Shares of Macy’s Inc., which are down nearly 60% so far this year, rose less than 1.5% to $7.12 in midday trading Wednesday.

Associated Press