Senin, 30 November 2020
'Alarming' Coronavirus Surge Occurring In LA County, Thanksgiving Impact Not Felt Yet - KHTS Radio
An “alarming” coronavirus surge is occurring in Los Angeles County, far surpassing the summer spike in cases seen in July, public health officials said Monday.
An additional 5,150 Los Angeles County coronavirus cases have been reported Monday, ahead of an expected rise in two weeks following Thanksgiving weekend, according to Dr. Barbara Ferrer, director of the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health (LADPH).
Ferrer said on Monday the “virus is running rampant” in most areas of Los Angeles County, as the new Safer at Home order goes into effect.
The additional cases reported Monday bring the cumulative total to 400,919, according to Ferrer.
17 additional deaths have been reported Monday with the total deaths across the county reaching 7,655, according to public health.
Starting Monday, Nov. 30, through Dec. 20, all public and private gatherings and events with individuals not from the same household are prohibited, except for faith-based services and protests.
Residents are still permitted to travel to and from essential businesses, work or provide services to a healthcare operation or essential business; residents may also engage in essential activities, or participate in permitted individual or household outdoor and indoor activities while practicing required distancing, infection control and masking.
Restaurants, bars, breweries and wineries remain closed for in-person dining and drinking, as there is high risk of transmission of COVID-19 when people are eating, drinking and talking together without a face covering, as happens when people are dining onsite at restaurants. They are permitted to remain open for pick-up, delivery, and take-out and breweries and wineries may remain open for retail sales at 20 percent occupancy.
Over 3,734,000 coronavirus tests have been conducted as of Monday, with about 10 percent of those tests returning positive.
There are 2,185 people currently hospitalized with COVID-19 as of Monday, 24 percent of which are in the ICU. On November 1, the average daily number of people hospitalized for COVID-19 was 791, officials said.
An additional 118 Santa Clarita Valley coronavirus cases were reported Sunday, for a total of 9,447 cumulative cases in the valley since testing began in March, according to the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health (LADPH).
These cases include:
- 6,191 in the City of Santa Clarita* (+99)
- 222 in the unincorporated areas of Canyon Country (+2)
- 2,411 in Castaic* (+13)
- 50 in the unincorporated areas of Saugus
- 307 in Stevenson Ranch (+4)
- 64 in the unincorporated areas of Valencia (-1)
- 119 in the unincorporated areas of Val Verde
- 36 in the unincorporated areas of Newhall (+1)
- 16 in the unincorporated areas of Bouquet Canyon
- 14 in the unincorporated areas of Saugus/Canyon Country
- Seven in unincorporated Sand Canyon
- Three in San Francisquito/Bouquet Canyon
*As of Sunday, Nov. 29 public health officials have recorded 1,912 cumulative cases have been reported at the Peter J. Pitchess Detention Center, including 1,389 at the North County Correctional Facility. Those cases are distributed between both the City of Santa Clarita and Castaic totals.
An update on the Santa Clarita Valley is expected to be released Monday afternoon.
As of Monday, Nov. 30, Henry Mayo Newhall Hospital has conducted 12,502 COVID-19 tests. Of those, 1,408 have tested positive, and 13 tests are still pending with Henry Mayo, according to Patrick Moody, spokesperson for the hospital.
There are 52 patients in the hospital as of Monday, Nov. 30 while 402 patients have been discharged since the hospital’s first case was reported in March, according to Moody.
One additional death was reported at Henry Mayo on Monday with the number of COVID-19 patients doubling over the past weeks. `
There have been a total of 38 coronavirus deaths at the hospital, with at least 85 COVID-19 deaths reported across the Santa Clarita Valley.
See All Coronavirus Coverage: Coronavirus Coverage – COVID-19 Map
Ed. Note: These numbers are subject to change based on further investigation by the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health.
Do you have a news tip? Call us at (661) 298-1220, or send an email to newstip@hometownstation.com. Don’t miss a thing. Get breaking KHTS Santa Clarita News Alerts delivered right to your inbox. Report a typo or error, email Corrections@hometownstation.comKHTS FM 98.1 and AM 1220 is Santa Clarita’s only local radio station. KHTS mixes in a combination of news, traffic, sports, and features along with your favorite adult contemporary hits. Santa Clarita news and features are delivered throughout the day over our airwaves, on our website and through a variety of social media platforms. Our KHTS national award-winning daily news briefs are now read daily by 34,000+ residents. A vibrant member of the Santa Clarita community, the KHTS broadcast signal reaches all of the Santa Clarita Valley and parts of the high desert communities located in the Antelope Valley. The station streams its talk shows over the web, reaching a potentially worldwide audience. Follow @KHTSRadio on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.
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December 01, 2020 at 04:48AM
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'Alarming' Coronavirus Surge Occurring In LA County, Thanksgiving Impact Not Felt Yet - KHTS Radio
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Equity Monday: HungryPanda raises $70M, trade tensions and cross-border VC - TechCrunch
Hello and welcome back to Equity, TechCrunch’s venture capital-focused podcast where we unpack the numbers behind the headlines.
This is Equity Monday, our weekly kickoff that tracks the latest big news, chats about the coming week, digs into some recent funding rounds and mulls over a larger theme or narrative from the private markets. You can follow the show on Twitter here and myself here — and don’t forget to check out last Thursday’s edtech deep dive from our own Natasha Mascarenhas.
Right, now through the first of America’s national Q4 feast days, it’s time to get back to business. Namely, the business of VC and startups. Here’s what we got into this morning:
- It’s Cyber Monday, which means that the internet is going to be annoying today, but the fake-holiday is boosting e-commerce players like Etsy. That should be good news for payments processors incumbent and startup, as well as other e-commerce businesses, again large, small and even platform-focused.
- Zappos founder Tony Hsieh passed away this weekend. It was a surprise. He was loved.
- The U.K. is banning China’s Huawei 5G gear next year as Australia condemns China over a different matter. So if you are keeping tally of countries where Chinese tech may no longer be welcome, the list is certainly longer than merely India, which has banned all popular China-built apps from its mobile phones.
- These broader tensions are changing where VCs are investing their money, notably.
- Primer, the fintech helping merchants consolidate the payments stack, raises £14 million Series A.
- HungryPanda raises $70 million for a food delivery app aimed at overseas Chinese consumers.
- Firstminute Capital launches second $111M fund, featuring a who’s-who of founders as LPs.
And finally, we are heading into a deluge of IPOs over the next few weeks. So strap in, it’s going to be messy and fun.
Equity drops every Monday at 7:00 a.m. PST and Thursday afternoon as fast as we can get it out, so subscribe to us on Apple Podcasts, Overcast, Spotify and all the casts.
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December 01, 2020 at 12:37AM
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Equity Monday: HungryPanda raises $70M, trade tensions and cross-border VC - TechCrunch
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Britain and EU warn that time is running out for Brexit trade deal - Reuters
BRUSSELS/LONDON (Reuters) - Britain and the European Union warned each other on Monday that time was running out to reach a Brexit trade deal, with big differences still to be bridged on state aid, enforcement and fishing.
The United Kingdom leaves the EU’s orbit on Dec. 31, when a transition period of informal membership ends following its formal departure last January, and the sides are trying to secure a deal to govern nearly $1 trillion in annual trade.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who is also tackling Europe’s worst official death toll from COVID-19, says a deal would be preferable but that Britain, which joined the EU in 1973, would flourish without one.
Talks in London over the weekend were “quite difficult” and “massive divergences” remained on elements of fisheries, economic fair play and settling disputes, an EU source said.
“We are running out of time here,” Irish Foreign Minister Simon Coveney said.
Echoing his remarks, German Chancellor Angela Merkel said some EU member states were losing patience.
“We don’t need a deal at any price and we have made this clear... A deal is in everyone’s interest,” she said.
Johnson’s spokesman said there had been some progress but “there still remains divergence on issues (such as) fisheries and the level playing field.”
“We want to try and reach a free trade agreement as soon as possible but we’ve been clear we won’t change our negotiating position,” the spokesman said.
A trade deal would not only safeguard trade but also buttress peace in British-ruled Northern Ireland, though some disruption is almost certain at the busiest EU-UK border points.
Failure to secure a deal would snarl borders, spook financial markets and disrupt delicate supply chains that stretch across Europe and beyond -- just as the world grapples with the vast economic cost of the COVID-19 outbreak.
FISH
Talks between EU chief negotiator Michel Barnier and British chief negotiator David Frost continued on Monday. The EU team were expected to stay in London for two or three more days.
Asked whether there was reason for optimism, Barnier told reporters: “There are reasons for determination.”
Coveney told Ireland’s Newstalk Radio that a failure to agree on fishing rights could wreck a deal.
“If there isn’t an agreement on this, the whole thing could fall on the back of it and that’s the worry,” he said.
Fishing alone contributed just 0.03% of British economic output in 2019, but it is an emotive subject as many Brexit supporters see it as a symbol of the regained sovereignty they hope leaving the EU will bring. Combined with fish and shellfish processing, the sector makes up 0.1% of Britain’s GDP.
Britain wants “zonal attachment” to agree a total allowable catch for its waters - giving it a much larger quota share than if the fish maths were worked out on the EU’s proposals.
EU sources said Barnier had offered Britain a 15-18% bigger catch after Jan. 1 but London had demanded 80% and annual quota talks, which the bloc rejects.
Reporting by Guy Faulconbridge, Kate Holton and Elizabeth Piper in London; Conor Humphries in Dublin and Gabriela Baczynska, Francesco Guarascio and John Chalmers in Brussels; editing by William Maclean, Larry King and Timothy Heritage
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November 30, 2020 at 02:37PM
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Britain and EU warn that time is running out for Brexit trade deal - Reuters
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Broad powers won't make it easy for Biden to shift trade policy - Northwest Georgia News
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Broad powers won't make it easy for Biden to shift trade policy Northwest Georgia News"trade" - Google News
November 30, 2020 at 11:32PM
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Broad powers won't make it easy for Biden to shift trade policy - Northwest Georgia News
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Britain and EU warn that time is running out for Brexit trade deal - Reuters
UK
Gabriela Baczynska Elizabeth PiperBRUSSELS/LONDON (Reuters) - Britain and the European Union warned each other on Monday that time was running out to reach a Brexit trade deal, with big differences still to be bridged on state aid, enforcement and fishing.
The United Kingdom leaves the EU’s orbit on Dec. 31, when a transition period of informal membership ends following its formal departure last January, and the sides are trying to secure a deal to govern nearly $1 trillion in annual trade.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who is also tackling Europe’s worst official death toll from COVID-19, says a deal would be preferable but that Britain, which joined the EU in 1973, would flourish without one.
Talks in London over the weekend were “quite difficult” and “massive divergences” remained on elements of fisheries, economic fair play and settling disputes, an EU source said.
“We are running out of time here,” Irish Foreign Minister Simon Coveney said.
Echoing his remarks, German Chancellor Angela Merkel said some EU member states were losing patience.
“We don’t need a deal at any price and we have made this clear... A deal is in everyone’s interest,” she said.
Johnson’s spokesman said there had been some progress but “there still remains divergence on issues (such as) fisheries and the level playing field.”
“We want to try and reach a free trade agreement as soon as possible but we’ve been clear we won’t change our negotiating position,” the spokesman said.
A trade deal would not only safeguard trade but also buttress peace in British-ruled Northern Ireland, though some disruption is almost certain at the busiest EU-UK border points.
Failure to secure a deal would snarl borders, spook financial markets and disrupt delicate supply chains that stretch across Europe and beyond -- just as the world grapples with the vast economic cost of the COVID-19 outbreak.
FISH
Talks between EU chief negotiator Michel Barnier and British chief negotiator David Frost continued on Monday. The EU team were expected to stay in London for two or three more days.
Asked whether there was reason for optimism, Barnier told reporters: “There are reasons for determination.”
Coveney told Ireland’s Newstalk Radio that a failure to agree on fishing rights could wreck a deal.
“If there isn’t an agreement on this, the whole thing could fall on the back of it and that’s the worry,” he said.
Fishing alone contributed just 0.03% of British economic output in 2019, but it is an emotive subject as many Brexit supporters see it as a symbol of the regained sovereignty they hope leaving the EU will bring. Combined with fish and shellfish processing, the sector makes up 0.1% of Britain’s GDP.
Britain wants “zonal attachment” to agree a total allowable catch for its waters - giving it a much larger quota share than if the fish maths were worked out on the EU’s proposals.
EU sources said Barnier had offered Britain a 15-18% bigger catch after Jan. 1 but London had demanded 80% and annual quota talks, which the bloc rejects.
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November 30, 2020 at 02:37PM
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Britain and EU warn that time is running out for Brexit trade deal - Reuters
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No Man's Sky Next Generation Update 3.13 is out, here are the patch notes - TheSixthAxis
Hello Games have released a new patch for No Man’s Sky Next Gen, and that patch will roll out on PS5, Xbox Series X/S and rather oddly as it’s very much last generation, Xbox One, today. Here are the patch notes.
Patch Notes
- Fixed an issue that could cause shared bases to fail to download correctly for other players.
- Fixed an issue that caused some NPC starships to appear overly large while playing in multiplayer.
- Increased the quicksilver reward given for completing the daily mission at the Nexus.
- Added an option on all platforms that allows players to customise the strength of pad rumble.
- Added an option on PlayStation 5 that allows players to customise the strength of the trigger feedback.
- Fixed an issue that could cause some lighting scenarios to be overly bright on next-gen consoles.
- Fixed an issue that could caused random gaps to appear in the terrain on startup, and reduced the frequency of blocky and mismatched terrain textures generally.
- Fixed an issue that could cause some planetary props to be invisible until looked at directly.
- Fixed an issue that caused inconsistencies in the numbering when viewing customisation options.
- Fixed an issue that could cause part of the tutorial to occur on an inappropriate planet.
- Fixed an issue that could cause base parts to hover when constructed atop of decals.
- Critical markers (such as the ship and any active missions) are not faded with distance when viewed in the Analysis Visor.
- Fixed an issue that could cause some photography missions to fail to recognise when players were on the correct planet.
- Fixed an issue that could cause camera shake to persist after warping.
- Fixed an issue that caused fireworks not to detonate correctly.
- Fixed a rare issue that could prevent the tutorial from working correctly if players started on volcanic biomes.
- Fixed a number of issues with overly-loud base props.
- Fixed a number of issues with photo mode on PlayStation 5.
- Fixed a number of text and display issues with PlayStation 5 activities.
- Fixed an issue that could occasionally cause incorrect differences in rock distribution between Ultra and other planetary quality settings.
- Fixed an issue that caused the atmosphere on some weird planets to be overly dusty.
- Fixed an issue affecting the placement of props on the terrain.
- Introduced a performance optimisation related to moving foliage.
- Introduced a small optimisation to terrain rendering.
- Fixed an issue that could cause the game to crash when transferring items to/from other players on Xbox.
- Fixed a crash that could occur when predatory creatures bite something.
- Fixed a rare crash that could be caused when entering the galaxy map with a large number of active missions.
- Fixed a crash that could occur when landing on a derelict freighter in multiplayer.
- Fixed a rare crash that could occur on projectile impacts.
- Fixed a crash that could occur when scanning.
- Fixed a crash that could occur when using weapons with non-standard muzzle flash colours.
- Fixed a number of memory-related crashes.
- Fixed a rare crash that could occur when getting in the starship.
Source: NoMansSky.com
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December 01, 2020 at 02:11AM
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No Man's Sky Next Generation Update 3.13 is out, here are the patch notes - TheSixthAxis
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Promising lab results in quest to find naturally occurring anti-COVID therapies - Newswise
Newswise — HUNTSVILLE, Ala. (Nov. 30, 2020) – There are promising new laboratory results in an award-winning effort to find naturally occurring compounds that are therapeutic against the COVID-19 virus.
So far, 35 of 125 naturally occurring compounds identified computationally at The University of Alabama in Huntsville (UAH) to have potential against COVID-19 have shown efficacy in ongoing first-batch testing at the University of Tennessee Health Science Center’s Regional Biocontainment Laboratory (UTHSC RBL) that’s the next step in the process to becoming a drug.
The 125 candidate compounds were discovered in award-winning computational research by the lab of Dr. Jerome Baudry, the Mrs. Pei-Ling Chan Chair in the Department of Biological Sciences at UAH, a part of the University of Alabama System.
In a partnership between the Baudry Lab and Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE), the HPE Cray Sentinel supercomputer was employed to winnow the 125 candidates from an initial batch of 50,000 prospective naturally occurring compounds.
“There is very good news on vaccine developments, and it is great, but it is important that we continue working on other pharmaceuticals,” Dr. Baudry says. “It’s a bit like for the flu, where there are vaccines and there are pharmaceuticals, and they work together, not against each other. And what we learned here will be priceless to respond to other similar crises, if and when they show up in the future.”
The computational research relied on some data produced by the Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), which leads an international effort to find therapeutic drugs to fight COVID. The Baudry Lab is involved in those efforts, as well.
“We used some of the ORNL-produced data, and we basically added value to it,” Dr. Baudry says. “Although it is unique in many ways – our focus on natural products, for instance – it is important to note that this project of ours is still integrated into the national COVID-19 research effort.”
In Memphis, the biosafety level 3 rated UTHSC RBL directed by Dr. Colleen Jonsson is testing the candidate compounds for the capacity of the chemicals to kill the virus and/or prevent cell infections, Dr. Baudry says.
“They use live virus infections of living cells grown in the equivalent of Petri dishes,” he says. “The chemicals that will have a good profile can then be tested in animal models using mice.”
This first group will be tested by the RBL collaborators in several doses and assays to ensure statistical accuracy, Dr. Baudry says.
“Those chemicals that do well, if any, will be moved to being tested in animal models,” he says. “If we do not have enough promising test results, we can go to the next batch of chemicals that were predicted computationally to be of interest.”
Dr. Baudry’s research was recently awarded one of five 2020 Hyperion HPC Innovation Excellence Awards from 62 nominations. The award recognizes noteworthy achievements by users of high-performance computing (HPC) including simulation, AI and other advanced analytics, quantum computing and other methods and technologies. Winners were selected by independent judges primarily based on the demonstrated or projected impact of the innovation on science or engineering.
“Hyperion, the award sponsor, is the most respected group of industry experts in HPC,” says Dr. Baudry. “I was very surprised about the award because I didn’t not even know that we had been under consideration.”
Nominations come from the HPC industry, so even being nominated is a sign of recognition, he says.
“I was both very happy and very humbled. It sounds cheesy, but it’s true,” Dr. Baudry says.
“I have received awards and accolades before, but it is certainly the most important recognition of my career so far, because it recognizes a team rather than an individual. And so, it is not only the results we obtained that were recognized, but how they were obtained: in a collaborative and multidisciplinary project that involved science, communication, biology, physics, chemistry and, of course, supercomputers.”
Presented as part of the 2020 International Conference for High Performance Computing, Networking, Storage and Analysis, the awards recognize HPC-enabled innovations in science, engineering, and data analytics, including both public sector advances in science and public or private sector returns on investment. They showcase HPC accomplishments in various environments such as traditional HPC centers, enterprise data centers and cloud computing platforms, as well as quantum computing.
Dr. Baudry says the high degree of professional cooperation in the fight against COVID is notable.
“As terrible as this Covid19 crisis is, how we all came together in research has been incredible,” he says. “In my nearly 25 years of performing and leading scientific research, I have never experienced anything like that.” The effort is unique for its level of collaboration, he says.
“There are no competitors, only collaborators, and a unique feeling of purpose that is absolutely wonderful,” Dr. Baudry says. “This may be the most important experience of my professional life. It reminded me of what I read happened during the space exploration of the ’60s. There is nothing we cannot do when we work together.”
About The University of Alabama in Huntsville
Launched from America's quest to conquer space, The University of Alabama in Huntsville is one of America’s premier doctoral-granting, research-intensive universities. Located in the second largest research park in the United States, UAH has robust capabilities in astrophysics, cybersecurity, data analytics, logistics and supply chain management, optical systems and engineering, reliability and failure analysis, rotorcraft and unmanned systems, severe weather, space propulsion and more. UAH prepares students for demanding positions in engineering, the sciences, business, nursing, education, the arts, humanities and social sciences.
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November 25, 2020 at 05:35AM
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Promising lab results in quest to find naturally occurring anti-COVID therapies - Newswise
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The Surprising Benefits of Blinking on Visual Perception - Psychology Today
Blinking is one of the most frequent human activities, typically occurring every two to 10 seconds or about 10 blinks per minute. It has long been understood that blinking has protective effects for the eyes, providing a lubricant for the eyeball to keep it from drying out, and also protecting the eye from irritants in the environment.
However, research suggests that blinking serves additional purposes beyond protecting the eyes. Some evidence of this comes from the fact that blinking rates vary considerably across tasks. When we are reading, we tend to blink much less often—about four times per minute; when we are engaged in a conversation, we blink more often—up to thirty times per minute. The large variability in blinking rates across different tasks suggests that there may be cognitive costs as well as benefits to blinking.
Clearly, blinking imposes costs on visual processing. During a spontaneous blink, our pupils are partially or completely occluded for about 300 ms, causing us to miss any visual inputs occurring during that time window. To put this in context, we are normally able to process visual content in just 60 ms, meaning that we may miss up to five distinct visual events that occur during a blink. However, we are usually not conscious of these visual disruptions, as the brain suppresses our awareness of the large changes in the visual input during blinking so that we are not distracted by the closing and opening of the eyelids. Nevertheless, the cost to visual processing during blinking is considerable.
On the other hand, new research suggests that there may also be benefits to blinking that can be observed just after the completion of a blink.
In a recent paper, researchers Jit Wei Ang and Gerrit Maus investigated whether there are measurable benefits in visual processing just following a blink. To do this, they developed a rapid serial visual presentation (RSVP) task in which participants had to identify a target item among a stream of distractors presented every 60 ms; for example, a numerical digit among letters, or a picture of an animal among pictures of scenes. Across different conditions, participants were either (1) prompted by a beep to initiate a voluntary blink, (2) prompted by a beep that there would be an "artificial blink" (produced by shutter goggles) or (3) shown the stimuli with no blinks at all. For example, in Experiment 1, a sequence of letters was shown every 60 ms, with a single digit appearing somewhere randomly in the sequence. After the four-second trial, participants then had to identify which digit was shown, such that performance could be measured as percent correct identification.
In trials without blinks, participants did quite well in the task, identifying about 75 percent of the number targets in Experiment 1. Most critically, the researchers found a significant performance boost following both natural and artificial blinks that could not be attributed to any stimulus characteristics. Specifically, they found that number identification performance rose to about 86 percent during a short time window following a natural blink, with peak performance occurring about 180 ms following the end of the blink. A smaller but also significant boost in performance was also observed in the artificial blink condition, with performance rising to about 82 percent following the shutter-glasses-induced blinks.
Comparably, in Experiment 2, no-blink performance in identifying animal targets was about 58 percent, but this rose to 67 percent about 180 ms. after natural blinks. No such boost was observed for artificial blinks triggered by the shutter glasses.
Given these results, Ang and Maus concluded that blinking can in fact lead to significant perceptual boosts during a small time window following the blink. This is consistent with previous findings that suggest people are able to modulate their blinks strategically in response to the statistics of the input, blinking more often when there is a lower probability that a target event will appear (Hoppe et al.. 2018). These results are also consistent with research by Nakano et al. (2009) that showed: when people watch a movie, their blinks tend to occur more often during movie segments where no meaningful actions are occurring.
Although the studies by Ang and Maus examined "voluntary" blinks (as opposed to unconsciously generated blinks), they argue that the results should generalize. This is because the temporal dynamics of voluntary and involuntary blinks are nearly identical.
Therefore, as the researchers conclude, there are likely everyday benefits to blinking at particular times, just before an important visual event occurs. Aside from replenishing our eyes with moisture and protecting them from environmental irritants, eye blinks seem to reset the visual system, facilitating visual processing for the information that immediately follows.
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The Surprising Benefits of Blinking on Visual Perception - Psychology Today
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How Celtics can replace Gordon Hayward with massive $28.5 million trade exception his sign-and-trade created - CBS Sports
The exact sequence of events may never be known, but we can relatively comfortably make the following three statements about Gordon Hayward's departure from the Boston Celtics:
- When free agency began, Hayward wanted to sign with the Indiana Pacers. This was reported by both Marc Stein of the New York Times and Shams Charania of Stadium.
- The Pacers, unable to create the cap space to sign Hayward outright, made a significant offer to Boston to cooperate on a sign-and-trade. Gary Washburn of the Boston Globe reported that the Pacers offered Myles Turner and Doug McDermott. J. Michael of the Indianapolis Star reported that Indiana's offer included Turner, a first-round pick and a rotation player (perhaps McDermott).
- There was a lengthy window for negotiation. Montrezl Harrell agreed to join the Lakers on the first night of free agency, but according to The L.A. Times' Brad Turner, The Hornets offered him more money. Doing so would have prevented them from signing Hayward, suggesting that he was their second choice and that they pivoted toward him only after missing on their top target. Hayward's agreement with Charlotte was not reported until 1:30 p.m. ET on the second day of free agency, giving Boston and Indiana over 19 hours after the opening bell of free agency to go back to the bargaining table and reach an agreement amenable to all three concerned parties. In free agency, that's an eternity. Yet no deal was reached.
Hayward had agency in all of this, of course. Perhaps Charlotte's offer came earlier than it appears, and he might have lost any interest in the Pacers once the Hornets offered $120 million. But without even knowing the details, all of this points in an interesting direction: Danny Ainge simply didn't want to trade for Myles Turner.
It's somewhat surprising on paper. Boston lost to Miami in the Eastern Conference finals in large part because of Bam Adebayo's two-way domination. Turner, who finished fifth in Defensive Player of the Year voting, might have slowed him down. Brad Stevens has always emphasized shooting in his centers. Turner took 250 3-pointers last season, more than Al Horford ever did in Boston, and he did so playing for Nate McMillan, whose Pacers attempted the fewest 3-pointers in basketball. The fit appeared to be a clean one. Turner, six years younger than Hayward, would replace Hayward, shore up Boston's rim protection and space the floor for its many ball-handlers. But Ainge felt he could do better, so functionally speaking, he traded Hayward for a player to be named later.
Even if it wasn't the Hornets, he knew that Hayward's only option aside from the Pacers or a more favorable sign-and-trade was to sign with a team that had the cap space to add him outright. So he let that happen and then sent the Hornets a couple of free second-round picks to structure the deal as a sign-and-trade. Charlotte lost nothing in the equation, but the Celtics gained something enormous: The biggest trade exception in NBA history.
Trade exceptions function as empty salary slots. Teams can acquire a player, or multiple players through trade up to the amount of the exception without sending any money back to the other team. As Boston absorbed no salary in the Hayward sign-and-trade, the exception they are granted equals his first-year salary in Charlotte. Current estimates peg that number at $28.5 million, meaning the Celtics can absorb a player making up to that amount without sending a penny of salary out in the deal. Here's a simpler way of putting that: There are only 34 players in the NBA who make more than Hayward will next season (if you include the unsigned Anthony Davis), according to Spotrac. The Celtics can now take in literally any other player in basketball without sending out a cent. Ainge seemingly believes that he can find one player in that vast grouping more valuable to Boston than Turner.
These exceptions always have value because there will always be cheap owners and general managers with cap space ambitions. Sending money out without taking money back in is always going to be beneficial for a cap sheet. But those benefits are enhanced significantly during a pandemic in which revenue is going to be limited. More owners than ever are going to push their front offices to save money. The Celtics can eagerly accommodate.
That slot does come with one minor limitation, and it's self-imposed. By signing Tristan Thompson for the full mid-level exception, the Celtics hard-capped themselves at the $138,928,000 apron. They cannot spend above that amount for any reason, and if we're being honest, the Celtics would probably prefer to stay below the $132,627,000 luxury tax line as well. Doing so delays the repeater tax clock that will surely start ticking for them when Jayson Tatum's max extension kicks in for the 2021-22 season. Boston currently has around $117.1 million committed in salaries next season, giving it almost $21.8 million below the apron to work with, and around $15.5 million below the tax line.
The workaround there is a simple one: sending out extra salary. The Celtics can't expand their trade exception, but they can shave hard-cap and luxury tax room by including other players in such a deal. The Celtics have made five first-round picks over the past three NBA Drafts: Aaron Nesmith, Payton Pritchard, Romeo Langford, Grant Williams and Robert Williams. There aren't enough minutes for all five of them. Some combination, alongside future draft picks, will likely be dangled in trade talks. They may be able to afford an expensive new player, but they still have to give up assets to get the other team to agree to give that player up.
These restrictions likely played a part in motivating Boston's decision not to trade for Turner. Replacing Thompson and Jeff Teague with Turner and McDermott would have taken Boston over $131.5 million, giving them only around $1 million to work with below the tax line. That doesn't exactly offer in-season flexibility. The Celtics might have been interested without absorbing McDermott's deal, but the Pacers needed to send out more money to make the contracts work. Without paying off a third party to absorb extra salary, there was no way for Boston to avoid taking that money on next season. If we assume doing so was a nonstarter, a clearer picture of what the Celtics actually plan to use that trade exception for begins to form.
Boston's willingness to let Hayward go suggests its preference is to add a younger, more durable player. Otherwise, it would have just paid Hayward itself. The decision not to acquire Turner, and in turn sign Thompson, indicates that center simply isn't a position the Celtics want to make a long-term investment in, and the overall sequence of events combined with their expected future expenditures hints at a hesitance to pay the tax this season. With all of that in mind, a small group of players stands out as likely Celtics targets.
- Aaron Gordon rumors are nothing new, but Orlando's present state makes a trade likelier than ever. Without Jonathan Isaac and after losing DJ Augustin, the Magic appear destined for the lottery this season. Gordon has only two seasons remaining on his contract. The final season has a $1.7 million salary decline, which would be helpful for Boston in paying the tax next season, but at only $18.1 million in salary for this season, the Celtics could easily fit him under the 2020-21 tax by sending two cheaper players to the Magic. Gordon's positional versatility offers the Celtics a hedge on their plan not to invest in centers. Gordon has spent his entire career on gigantic Magic teams that have miscast him as a wing. Realistically, he's a power forward with small-ball center potential, giving the Celtics a solution at the position with the versatility to move down a slot or two when necessary.
- The Raptors need to move Norman Powell if they plan to open up max cap space to offer Giannis Antetokounmpo next offseason, assuming he opts into the final year of his deal. The Celtics just had the chance to scout Powell up close for seven games. The results were mixed. Powell struggled early in the second round and thrived in the final three games of the series.
- Eventually, the Spurs are going to have to settle on which of their young guards are actually long-term rotation pieces and which are expendable. Derrick White, Lonnie Walker and Keldon Johnson are all still on rookie deals. DeJounte Murray is not, and if Boston believes his jump shot will continue to improve, the Spurs might be open to off-loading their one somewhat expensive young piece.
- Trade exceptions typically last a year. Even if the timeline is altered to reflect the league's unusual schedule, there is no reason to believe Boston wouldn't keep this exception deep into 2021 free agency given how long it delayed the Hayward sign-and-trade. That suddenly puts 2021 free agents in play as sign-and-trade targets. Imagine a scenario in which the Mavericks need to clear cap space for a star-level addition. They'd likely be amenable to receiving draft compensation for Josh Richardson in a sign-and-trade rather than renouncing him outright, assuming he opts out of the final year on his deal.
Unless the Celtics cook up some sort of scheme to turn that exception into a superstar, that is the mold they are likely to explore here: a young perimeter player on his second contract playing for a team with different priorities. The exception doesn't even have to be their direct method of acquiring that player. If none present themselves, they could merely use it to add extra tradable salary so that when one such player does emerge, they are positioned to pursue him without breaking up their core to do so.
That wouldn't have been possible with Hayward making $30 million per year, and it might not have been with Turner sitting on their books at $18 million annually either. Boston's rejection of both was a gamble on the market producing a superior option in the semi-near future, one that they would need flexibility to pursue rather than a player whose immediate value to winning might be greater.
Hayward and Turner are both very productive players. There's a reason they got those contracts in the first place. There is no guarantee that they find an improvement. The majority of trade exceptions go unused. But Ainge was so confident in what he could do with this one that he seemingly turned down Turner to get it. He probably wouldn't have done so if he didn't have a plan to use it.
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How Celtics can replace Gordon Hayward with massive $28.5 million trade exception his sign-and-trade created - CBS Sports
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Broad powers won't make it easy for Biden to shift trade policy - Roll Call
U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer says the Trump imprint on trade will last for a long time.
“I think that Republicans and Democrats . . . both think about trade differently than they did before and I think that will continue,” Lighthizer told the Robert J. Dole Institute of Politics during a Nov. 19 virtual talk. “Whoever sits in my chair under any president going down the road, I’m feeling confident that the fundamental things that we’ve talked about, this reorientation of policy toward working people, worrying about the challenge of China, that those things are going to endure and that people will continue to make progress on them."
Section 301 and China
Trump used Section 301 to levy tariffs on $350 billion in imports from China starting in 2018. China retaliated with its own tariffs, targeting a key part of Trump’s political base, U.S. agriculture. Without removing the tariffs, the administration sought to soften the blow with a phase one deal in January 2020 under which Beijing agreed to buy $200 billion of agriculture, energy, manufactured goods and services through 2021.
Most trade economists are skeptical that China will meet the 2020 target. The Agriculture Department forecasts that China will buy $27 billion of U.S. agricultural exports in fiscal 2021, part of $152 billion in total farm exports, the second largest on record.
For Biden, who has said he will be tough on China, the problem may be not only whether Beijing hits the phase one target and who gets credit for it, but also whether China has any interest in a phase two agreement addressing government subsidies to state-owned enterprises. Some experts are skeptical.
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November 30, 2020 at 10:55PM
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Broad powers won't make it easy for Biden to shift trade policy - Roll Call
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Promising lab results in quest to find naturally occurring anti-COVID therapies - UAH News
Dr. Baudry's research was recently awarded one of five 2020 Hyperion HPC Innovation Excellence Awards recognizing noteworthy achievements by users of high-performance computing.
Michael Mercier | UAH
There are promising new laboratory results in an award-winning effort to find naturally occurring compounds that are therapeutic against the COVID-19 virus.
So far, 35 of 125 naturally occurring compounds identified computationally at The University of Alabama in Huntsville (UAH) to have potential against COVID-19 have shown efficacy in ongoing first-batch testing at the University of Tennessee Health Science Center's Regional Biocontainment Laboratory (UTHSC RBL) that's the next step in the process to becoming a drug.
The 125 candidate compounds were discovered in award-winning computational research by the lab of Dr. Jerome Baudry, the Mrs. Pei-Ling Chan Chair in the Department of Biological Sciences at UAH, a part of the University of Alabama System.
In a partnership between the Baudry Lab and Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE), the HPE Cray Sentinel supercomputer was employed to winnow the 125 candidates from an initial batch of 50,000 prospective naturally occurring compounds.
"There is very good news on vaccine developments, and it is great, but it is important that we continue working on other pharmaceuticals," Dr. Baudry says. "It's a bit like for the flu, where there are vaccines and there are pharmaceuticals, and they work together, not against each other. And what we learned here will be priceless to respond to other similar crises, if and when they show up in the future."
The computational research relied on some data produced by the Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), which leads an international effort to find therapeutic drugs to fight COVID. The Baudry Lab is involved in those efforts, as well.
"We used some of the ORNL-produced data, and we basically added value to it," Dr. Baudry says. "Although it is unique in many ways – our focus on natural products, for instance – it is important to note that this project of ours is still integrated into the national COVID-19 research effort."
In Memphis, the biosafety level 3 rated UTHSC RBL directed by Dr. Colleen Jonsson is testing the candidate compounds for the capacity of the chemicals to kill the virus and/or prevent cell infections, Dr. Baudry says.
"They use live virus infections of living cells grown in the equivalent of Petri dishes," he says. "The chemicals that will have a good profile can then be tested in animal models using mice."
This first group will be tested by the RBL collaborators in several doses and assays to ensure statistical accuracy, Dr. Baudry says.
"Those chemicals that do well, if any, will be moved to being tested in animal models," he says. "If we do not have enough promising test results, we can go to the next batch of chemicals that were predicted computationally to be of interest."
Dr. Baudry's research was recently awarded one of five 2020 Hyperion HPC Innovation Excellence Awards from 62 nominations. The award recognizes noteworthy achievements by users of high-performance computing (HPC) including simulation, AI and other advanced analytics, quantum computing and other methods and technologies. Winners were selected by independent judges primarily based on the demonstrated or projected impact of the innovation on science or engineering.
"Hyperion, the award sponsor, is the most respected group of industry experts in HPC," says Dr. Baudry. "I was very surprised about the award because I didn't even know that we had been under consideration."
Nominations come from the HPC industry, so even being nominated is a sign of recognition, he says.
"I was both very happy and very humbled. It sounds cheesy, but it's true," Dr. Baudry says.
"I have received awards and accolades before, but it is certainly the most important recognition of my career so far, because it recognizes a team rather than an individual. And so, it is not only the results we obtained that were recognized, but how they were obtained: in a collaborative and multidisciplinary project that involved science, communication, biology, physics, chemistry and, of course, supercomputers."
Presented as part of the 2020 International Conference for High Performance Computing, Networking, Storage and Analysis, the awards recognize HPC-enabled innovations in science, engineering, and data analytics, including both public sector advances in science and public or private sector returns on investment. They showcase HPC accomplishments in various environments such as traditional HPC centers, enterprise data centers and cloud computing platforms, as well as quantum computing. Dr. Baudry says the high degree of professional cooperation in the fight against COVID is notable.
"As terrible as this Covid19 crisis is, how we all came together in research has been incredible," he says. "In my nearly 25 years of performing and leading scientific research, I have never experienced anything like that."
The effort is unique for its level of collaboration, he says.
"There are no competitors, only collaborators, and a unique feeling of purpose that is absolutely wonderful," Dr. Baudry says.
"This may be the most important experience of my professional life. It reminded me of what I read happened during the space exploration of the '60s. There is nothing we cannot do when we work together."
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Maine fishermen tops in payouts from trade relief program - Kennebec Journal and Morning Sentinel
Maine fishermen rank first in the U.S. for payouts from a federal program intended to offset the impact of retaliatory tariffs on American seafood exports, according to a top official at the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
The Seafood Trade Relief Program, launched in September, pays fishermen up to $250,000 apiece based on qualified average landings of seafood commodities between 2017 and 2019, including lobster that were impacted by trade disruptions from America’s trade wars with China and other countries.
Almost $530 million was available to fishermen, with a Dec. 14 application deadline. As of Nov. 23, just about 5,100 applications worth $123 million had been paid out, according to the USDA’s Farm Service Agency.
Maine lobstermen were paid $36 million as of early November, according to U.S. Sen. Susan Collins’ office. The total amount available to lobstermen in Maine, based on landings, would be $50 million.
The Farm Service Agency would not provide detailed information on the payouts and reimbursement rates to Maine because the data “was not readily available.”
Farm Service Agency Administrator Richard Fordyce said the amount of money available was based on an agency estimate, but it was not sure what demand it could expect.
“If you look at the number of applications approved and paid, Maine is number one by a pretty long stretch; Alaska comes in number two,” Fordyce said.
“Honestly, we didn’t know what to expect. These are not the producers we typically work with,” he added. “For us to be administrating this is a little different. We had a bit of a learning curve and participants had a bit of a learning curve.”
The Trump administration program has been criticized by Maine lobster dealers and exporters, who spent years developing a market in China and were severely disrupted when parts of their business evaporated because of heavy tariffs by that country in retaliation for U.S. levies on other trade items.
Last year Maine lobstermen landed 100.7 million pounds of lobster, the lowest in nine years, but the price per pound paid to fishermen was $4.82, the highest price on record.
Fordyce could not explain why dealers and exporters were excluded from the relief program, except to say that the Farm Service Agency typically deals directly with farmers.
“Our systems are really designed to deal with the producer. Our definition of the producer is the lobstermen or the fishermen. I think we understood a little bit about the impact to the dealers or the exporters. It is difficult for us to engage at that level,” he said.
“This program was discretionary; it really came from the president and onto the secretary of agriculture to do something to help the industry.” Based on how little demand there has been for the funding nationwide so far, it may be extended but will be a one-time program, Fordyce added.
If money remains after the program expires, Maine lobster dealers hope it can be repurposed to aid their industry, which is still struggling to compete against Canadian lobster despite improved export conditions in China and the European Union.
“If we continue to have market access issues in foreign markets that are especially valuable for our products, like China, and there is some mechanism in the U.S. to provide support to those businesses, the U.S. needs to allocate those resources appropriately,” said Annie Tselikis, executive director of the Maine Lobster Dealers’ Association.
Maine seafood dealers aren’t the only ones hurting, Tselikis added. Major West Coast fish processors have also been harmed by Chinese tariffs and were not given relief through the fishermen payout program.
“To have zero support going to the business sector that built that market is just not fair,” Tselikis said. “It is very frustrating. We do absolutely hope there is some way to support the industry in a bigger way.”
Fishermen still have a little more than two weeks to apply for aid from the program, which covers lobster but also other Maine seafood such as flounder, pollock, herring and tuna. Potential applicants can contact the state’s Farm Service Agency or the Department of Marine Resources.
A lot of Maine lobstermen took advantage of the program because it was targeted at them by the Trump administration, but many other fishermen may not know it is available, said Ben Martens, executive director of Maine Coast Fishermen’s Association.
“There has just been some confusion about who can apply for what based on what types of metrics and business impacts,” Martens said. “It was really billed towards lobstermen; there are others in Maine who can also apply and should consider doing so.”
With a tumultuous presidential election, deadly pandemic and everyday concerns, the program may have gone unnoticed by some fishermen who could fall through the cracks, Martens added. He hopes the program is extended to give everyone eligible a shot at funding.
“I think there are a lot of fishermen at the end of the day that could realize they missed an opportunity because they didn’t know it was there,” he said.
Comments are not available on this story.
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November 30, 2020 at 04:00PM
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Maine fishermen tops in payouts from trade relief program - Kennebec Journal and Morning Sentinel
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Maine fishermen tops in payouts from trade relief program - Press Herald
Maine fishermen rank first in the U.S. for payouts from a federal program intended to offset the impact of retaliatory tariffs on American seafood exports, according to a top official at the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
The Seafood Trade Relief Program, launched in September, pays fishermen up to $250,000 apiece based on qualified average landings of seafood commodities between 2017 and 2019, including lobster that were impacted by trade disruptions from America’s trade wars with China and other countries.
Almost $530 million was available to fishermen, with a Dec. 14 application deadline. As of Nov. 23, just about 5,100 applications worth $123 million had been paid out, according to the USDA’s Farm Service Agency.
Maine lobstermen were paid $36 million as of early November, according to U.S. Sen. Susan Collins’ office. The total amount available to lobstermen in Maine, based on landings, would be $50 million.
The Farm Service Agency would not provide detailed information on the payouts and reimbursement rates to Maine because the data “was not readily available.”
Farm Service Agency Administrator Richard Fordyce said the amount of money available was based on an agency estimate, but it was not sure what demand it could expect.
“If you look at the number of applications approved and paid, Maine is number one by a pretty long stretch; Alaska comes in number two,” Fordyce said.
“Honestly, we didn’t know what to expect. These are not the producers we typically work with,” he added. “For us to be administrating this is a little different. We had a bit of a learning curve and participants had a bit of a learning curve.”
The Trump administration program has been criticized by Maine lobster dealers and exporters, who spent years developing a market in China and were severely disrupted when parts of their business evaporated because of heavy tariffs by that country in retaliation for U.S. levies on other trade items.
Last year Maine lobstermen landed 100.7 million pounds of lobster, the lowest in nine years, but the price per pound paid to fishermen was $4.82, the highest price on record.
Fordyce could not explain why dealers and exporters were excluded from the relief program, except to say that the Farm Service Agency typically deals directly with farmers.
“Our systems are really designed to deal with the producer. Our definition of the producer is the lobstermen or the fishermen. I think we understood a little bit about the impact to the dealers or the exporters. It is difficult for us to engage at that level,” he said.
“This program was discretionary; it really came from the president and onto the secretary of agriculture to do something to help the industry.” Based on how little demand there has been for the funding nationwide so far, it may be extended but will be a one-time program, Fordyce added.
If money remains after the program expires, Maine lobster dealers hope it can be repurposed to aid their industry, which is still struggling to compete against Canadian lobster despite improved export conditions in China and the European Union.
“If we continue to have market access issues in foreign markets that are especially valuable for our products, like China, and there is some mechanism in the U.S. to provide support to those businesses, the U.S. needs to allocate those resources appropriately,” said Annie Tselikis, executive director of the Maine Lobster Dealers’ Association.
Maine seafood dealers aren’t the only ones hurting, Tselikis added. Major West Coast fish processors have also been harmed by Chinese tariffs and were not given relief through the fishermen payout program.
“To have zero support going to the business sector that built that market is just not fair,” Tselikis said. “It is very frustrating. We do absolutely hope there is some way to support the industry in a bigger way.”
Fishermen still have a little more than two weeks to apply for aid from the program, which covers lobster but also other Maine seafood such as flounder, pollock, herring and tuna. Potential applicants can contact the state’s Farm Service Agency or the Department of Marine Resources.
A lot of Maine lobstermen took advantage of the program because it was targeted at them by the Trump administration, but many other fishermen may not know it is available, said Ben Martens, executive director of Maine Coast Fishermen’s Association.
“There has just been some confusion about who can apply for what based on what types of metrics and business impacts,” Martens said. “It was really billed towards lobstermen; there are others in Maine who can also apply and should consider doing so.”
With a tumultuous presidential election, deadly pandemic and everyday concerns, the program may have gone unnoticed by some fishermen who could fall through the cracks, Martens added. He hopes the program is extended to give everyone eligible a shot at funding.
“I think there are a lot of fishermen at the end of the day that could realize they missed an opportunity because they didn’t know it was there,” he said.
Comments are not available on this story.
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Maine fishermen tops in payouts from trade relief program - Press Herald
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Time is running out for Brexit trade deal, UK minister says - Reuters
LONDON (Reuters) - Britain and the European Union cautioned each other on Monday that time was running out for a Brexit trade deal as negotiators sparred over state aid, enforcement and fishing in a bid to avoid a tumultuous exit in just a month’s time.
The United Kingdom finally leaves the EU’s orbit on Dec. 31 when a transition period of informal membership ends, though both sides are rushing to hash out a deal that will govern nearly $1 trillion in trade.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who is grappling with Europe’s worst official death toll from COVID-19, says a deal would be preferable but that Britain would flourish without a deal when it goes it alone after 48 years of membership.
“We really are now running out of time. This is the crucial week -- we need to get a breakthrough,” British Environment Secretary George Eustice told Sky, adding that if good progress was made this week then negotiations could be extended.
The EU delivered a similar message.
“We are running out of time here,” said Ireland’s Brexit supremo, Foreign Minister Simon Coveney. “The truth of Brexit is now being exposed in terms of the challenges of it.”
After breaking all the deadlines imposed by both sides, the negotiators are still stuck on three main areas: fishing, state aid and how to resolve any future disputes. They have been stuck on those three issues for weeks.
A trade deal on goods would safeguard nearly $1 trillion in annual trade and buttress peace in British-ruled Northern Ireland, though some disruption is almost certain at the busiest EU-UK border points.
Talks between EU chief negotiator Michel Barnier and British chief negotiator David Frost continued on Sunday. British Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab said it was a significant week for Brexit.
“David Frost had made clear that we’re continuing the negotiations because we still think there is a prospect that we can get an agreement and while there is we should persevere with those,” Eustice said.
FISH
Ireland’s Coveney said this was a key week and that a deal could be done if there was give and take on both sides.
But he told Ireland’s Newstalk Radio that a failure to agree on fishing rights could wreck a deal.
“If there isn’t an agreement on this, the whole thing could fall on the back of it and that’s the worry,” he said.
While fishing alone contributed just 0.03% of British economic output in 2019, it is an emotive subject; many Brexit supporters see it as a symbol of the regained sovereignty they hope leaving the EU will bring. Combined with fish and shellfish processing, the sector makes up 0.1% of UK GDP.
Britain wants “zonal attachment” to agree a total allowable catch for the United Kingdom’s waters - a step that would give it a much larger quota share than if the fish maths were worked out on the EU’s proposals.
“All we’re asking for ... is there to be annual negotiations based on the science and also for there to be a move towards a fairer, more scientific sharing methodology, which is called zonal attachment, which is broadly where the fish are to be found,” Eustice told BBC radio.
“Under that analysis we currently only have access to about half of the fish in our own waters. That is profoundly unfair on our fishermen -- we’ve been clear throughout that needs to change.”
Reporting by Guy Faulconbridge, Kate Holton and Elizabeth Piper in London; Conor Humphries in Dublin and Gabriela Baczynska and John Chalmers in Brussels; editing by James Davey, William Maclean, Larry King
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November 30, 2020 at 02:37PM
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Time is running out for Brexit trade deal, UK minister says - Reuters
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Brexit trade talks enter ‘last leg’ with no-deal deadline just weeks away - CNBC
LONDON — The U.K. and the EU are in the "last leg of negotiations" over a post-Brexit trade agreement, according to Britain's foreign minister, with only a few weeks left to approve any potential deal.
The U.K. stopped being a member of the EU in January, but it agreed to keep following European rules until the end of 2020 so both sides could formulate new trade arrangements. However, this has proven to be a difficult task with talks stuck over the same three issues since the spring.
"I do think this is a very significant week, the last real major week," Dominic Raab, told the BBC on Sunday.
Both sides need to reach new trade arrangements and rectify them in their respective parliaments before the end of the year. Failure to achieve that could lead to a no-deal scenario — higher costs and barriers for exporters on both sides.
According to Raab, a breakthrough depends on overcoming differences over a "fairly narrow" number of issues. The major sticking points remain over fishing, competition policy and governance of any future deal. They have different views on how much access European fishing crews should have on U.K. waters, and on what sort of market competition rules should be applied to ensure Britain's departure does not jeopardize the EU's single market.
The EU's chief negotiator, Michel Barnier, told journalists in London on Sunday: "Let us work, let us work," according to Sky News in reference to the likelihood of a deal.
Before arriving in London for more talks, Barnier said Friday that the "same significant divergences persist."
Deal or no deal?
Earlier last week, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said that "these are decisive days" in the process, but she could not say whether there would definitely be a deal. The message in London since then has been more positive.
David Frost, the U.K.'s chief negotiator, said Friday that "it is late, but a deal is still possible."
A European official, who didn't want to be named due to the sensitive nature of the talks, told CNBC over the weekend that a breakthrough is dependent on a phone call between U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson and von der Leyen.
However, there aren't yet any plans for a call between the two.
In the meantime, businesses on both sides wait for an end to the process. The British Chambers of Commerce, a trade body for businesses, warned in late September of "major gaps" in government guidance for firms if no deal is reached.
As a member of the EU for more than 40 years, many U.K. exporters rely on raw materials or clients based in Europe and vice-versa.
Carmakers are reportedly stockpiling cars and parts to avoid being hit with tariffs in case the U.K. and the EU do not reach an agreement. Brands such as Volkswagen and Honda have large manufacturing plants in the U.K. and then export them to the rest of the EU.
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November 30, 2020 at 03:40PM
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Brexit trade talks enter ‘last leg’ with no-deal deadline just weeks away - CNBC
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China completes farm product quarantine protocols of U.S. trade deal -Global Times - Successful Farming
BEIJING, Nov 30 (Reuters) - China's customs authority has completed the quarantine protocols agreed under the Phase one trade deal between China and the United States allowing for the imports of various farm goods, the Global Times reported on Monday.
All 37 tasks outlined in the deal have been completed on time, said the report, citing Zhao Zenglian, director of the animal and plant quarantine department under the General Administration of Customs.
They include allowing the import of U.S. poultry, barley and pet food. (Reporting by Dominique Patton; Editing by Christian Schmollinger)
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China completes farm product quarantine protocols of U.S. trade deal -Global Times - Successful Farming
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Minggu, 29 November 2020
Trade Candidate: Francisco Mejia - MLB Trade Rumors
The Padres overhauled their catching mix at the August 31 trade deadline, acquiring Austin Nola and Jason Castro in separate trades with the Mariners and Angels, while Luis Torrens went to Seattle as part of the Nola trade and Austin Hedges was sent to the Indians as part of the trade return for Mike Clevinger.
The end result was that Francisco Mejia was the only catcher who entered and exited deadline season in a Padres uniform, though he wasn’t on the active roster. Mejia was on the injured list due to a thumb contusion and, once activated, he played in only one more MLB game before being sent to the Padres’ alternate training site. As we get deeper into the offseason, it’s fair to wonder whether that one September game (a pinch-hit appearance on Sept. 16) might also mark Mejia’s final outing as a Padre.
Nola is still the projected starter, but recent reports from Yadier Molina himself have connected San Diego to Molina’s free agent market. Star catching prospect Luis Campusano also made his big league debut in 2020 and, perhaps tellingly, was included on the Padres’ postseason roster over Mejia as the third catcher. However, Campusano’s status is currently up in the air following an October arrest for felony marijuana possession.
Given the uncertainty over Campusano and the chances that Molina could sign elsewhere, it’s quite possible that the Friars could simply hang onto Mejia and use him as Nola’s backup. (If not Molina, another veteran catcher could be signed as further depth, perhaps to a minor league deal rather than the MLB contract Molina will demand.) If the Padres did sign Molina or another noted veteran catcher, however, Mejia could suddenly be expendable.
It was back in July 2018 that Mejia was a much more prominent trade chip, as he was sent from the Indians to the Padres in exchange for both Brad Hand and Adam Cimber. At the time, Mejia was widely considered one of baseball’s top minor leaguers, ranked as high as fifth in Baseball Prospectus’ top-100 prospect ranking prior to the 2018 season. Over an even 2200 career plate appearances at the minor league level, Mejia has hit .295/.349/.462 with 58 home runs and looked all the world like a player ready for the Show.
Even in 2019, Mejia performed well enough in his first extended taste of Major League action that he seemed to be living up to the prospect hype. Despite two separate IL stints due to a knee sprain and an oblique strain, Mejia still hit a respectable .265/.316/.438 over 244 PA in 2019. Unfortunately, Mejia couldn’t come close to this form last season, hitting just .077/.143/.179 in 42 PA — with Hedges posting equally dismal numbers, it isn’t surprising that San Diego chose to shake up their catching corps at the deadline.
Mejia only turned 25 last month and is still close enough to his blue-chip prospect days that he would certainly generate some interest on the trade market. Any number of teams would like to upgrade their catching situation, ranging both from rebuilding clubs to would-be contenders. The Yankees, Phillies, Nationals, Mets, Braves, Marlins, Rays, Brewers, Reds, Angels, or Cardinals are some of the names in the latter group, and the two New York teams, St. Louis, and Anaheim have also been linked to Molina.
While lots of teams need catching, one of the outstanding questions about Mejia is whether or not he’ll ultimately stick at catcher over the long term. Mejia saw some action as a corner outfielder when he was in Cleveland’s farm system, and he also played four MLB games as a left fielder for the Padres in 2019. Obviously Mejia’s bat carries more value at catcher than at any other position, though showing an ability to at least passably play on the grass might not hurt Mejia’s trade value all that much, given how multi-positional versatility is so prized by modern front offices.
The Padres’ interest in Molina shows that the club has at least some inclination to alter its catching mix yet again, so this might be the position to watch since San Diego is otherwise pretty set elsewhere around the diamond. Rather than again deal from their deep farm system, the Padres could prefer to move an MLB-ready player like Mejia who might be in need of a change of scenery.
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November 30, 2020 at 09:01AM
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Trade Candidate: Francisco Mejia - MLB Trade Rumors
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