Rush hour in Hong Kong, where nearly 130 people are infected with the new coronavirus, on Wednesday.
Hong Kong blue chips have plunged by more than
900 points after the WHO declared a global pandemic from the
coronavirus that surfaced in China in December.
The benchmark Hang Seng Index has sunk now by 924.75 points, or 3.67 percent at 24,306.86.
China's Meituan Dianping (3690) shed more than 6 percent at HK$89.90.
In Tokyo, stocks extended their losses. The benchmark Nikkei is down by 5.27 percent, or 1,022 points at 18,393.34.
In Australia, the benchmark ASX 200 index also slumped and is now down by 6.21 percent, or 355.50 points at 5,370.40.
In
Seoul, stocks are sinking. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price
(KOSPI) Index fell 19.70 points, or 1.03 percent, to 1,888.57 in the
first 15 minutes of trading.
On Wednesday, the KOSPI plunged by nearly 3 percent to 1,908.27 points, the lowest level since February 17, 2016.
Protesters carry a national flag during a rally against the citizenship act in Calcutta on Thursday. (AP)
February 2020, New Delhi: A journalist
with a Hindi news portal was assaulted in riot-hit Maujpur in northeast
Delhi and forced to drop his pants to check if he was circumcised.
Rioters in Maujpur had also threatened to take the pants off a
photojournalist to confirm his religion before he was let off.
Last
Sunday, the unspeakable depravity that unfolded on the streets of
Ahmedabad and Delhi gate-crashed a doctor’s cabin in Calcutta and preyed
on a mother’s worst fears.
The paediatric surgeon, Subhasis Saha,
had conducted a procedure called circumcision on the woman’s child for
medical, not religious, reasons.
The surgeon had explained to the family, who does not belong to
any religion that mandates circumcision, that surgeries for phimosis
are performed through either of the two procedures — circumcision or
preputioplasty.
“Preputioplasty helps retain the foreskin which
is lost in the case of circumcision. But preputioplasty is far more
challenging than getting rid of the foreskin. It involves curing the
foreskin, saving it and ensuring that the situation does not recur
warranting another procedure later,” the surgeon explained.
That
Sunday, the surgeon had to perform two surgeries for phimosis in the
Calcutta hospital. “Both the patients were from a community that doesn’t
mandate the procedure. For one child, I could undertake preputioplasty.
However, for absolute medical reasons, circumcision was the only way
out for the other kid,” Saha recounted.
“When I told the child’s mother that I had to opt for circumcision, her face fell,” the surgeon said.
“The
woman’s brother told me that his sister was worried about the operation
ever since she read reports about the two journalists who were caught
in the recent riots and the way they were made to prove their religious
identity,” Saha said.
He added: “A socio-political crisis has come to influence a medical intervention.”
“It
has not been many days since the northeast Delhi riots, but it has
already left an indelible scar on the minds of parents of kids who have
been advised surgery for phimosis. The parents are worried because their
religion do not require them to undergo the process, but it has to be
done for pure medical reasons. They have already worked the Internet and
are suggesting that I undertake preputioplasty,” the surgeon added.
For
medical reasons, more than 2,000 circumcisions, including on adults,
are performed by general surgeons, urologists, paediatric and plastic
surgeons every month in Calcutta and its surroundings alone, doctors
said, adding that it was a conservative figure.
The Sunday incident does not appear to be an isolated one.
Another
doctor who also performs surgeries for phimosis but didn’t want to be
named said: “In the past few weeks, a couple of parents have approached
me with requests to retain the skin. In our WhatsApp group, doctors are
debating this trend with concern.”
Uday Shankar Chatterjee, who
pioneered preputioplasty in the city a little over two decades ago,
said: “When I had started the procedure, it was about saving the prepuce
or foreskin for medical reasons. In the context of the Delhi riots, it
gives a new dimension to the procedure.”
A Calcuttan whose son
had to undergo the procedure a few years ago recalled: “It was after the
Gujarat riots but it did not even occur to me then that what some thugs
did there will have any bearing on my child here in Calcutta. My son’s
health was my sole concern.”
“When the doctor recommended
circumcision for my son, I readily agreed. Now, I think what has
happened to our country of late is making us fear that such horrors need
not be confined to distant places. They can happen anywhere now,” he
added.
Sociologist Surajit C. Mukhopadhyay said: “This shows how
innocent people are getting drawn into the vortex of fear and that they
are trying to build a defence mechanism in a possible riot situation.”
He
pointed out: “The parents are aware that scientific explanation will
not wash with the bloodthirsty mob. So, they are trying to keep their
children safe.”
Mukhopadhyay added: “People who are not honed into
the majority and minority binary are trying to publicly show their
allegiance to the majority out of fear. This is almost a reflection of
what thousands of Germans did when they displayed their support for the
Nazis. Fear has overtaken democracy, and civil edifices are being
systematically destroyed. We are being pushed back to an era we had
supposedly left long ago.”
Psychologist Mohor Mala Chatterjee
echoed Mukhopadhyay. “Such actions of parents show how deep the threat
runs. Whether children or adults, the anxiety over the medical process
will definitely weigh negatively on their mind.”
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Hollywood stars Tom Hanks and Rita wife
Wilson have been diagnosed with the deadly coronavirus while in
Australia for the pre-production of an untitled Elvis Presley movie.
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Quibi is a company that is trying to capitalize on the ever deteriorating attention span of the consumer.
The service aims to compete with TikTok and YouTube by creating
professional content people can watch on their phones that's cut down to
7 minute segments - far shorter than traditional 22 minute TV shows.
The platform is also taking advantage of consumers' incessant need
for the ridiculous. Some of the ideas it is launching its service with
include "a cooking contest where competitors are slammed in the face
with meals fired out of a cannon, a show about customized dog houses
called 'Barkitecture', and a home-renovation program that 'removes the
stains' from houses where murders were committed," according to Bloomberg.
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Juventus, a football club based in Turin, a city in Piedmont situated
just outside Italy's initial exclusion zone, just confirmed that
center-back Daniele Rugani has tested positive for the coronavirus,
though it's not yet clear who.
BREAKING: Juventus centre-back Daniele Rugani has tested positive for coronavirus, the Serie A club have confirmed.https://t.co/PWNnhoOE5z
The Johns Hopkins University Coronavirus Resource Center, which maintains an interactive map
tracking the number of coronavirus cases worldwide, has changed how it
refers to Taiwan, Axios has learned. Instead of "Taiwan," the map now
uses "Taipei and environs."
Why it matters: The
change tracks closely with how the Chinese government prefers to refer
to Taiwan, which it views as part of Chinese territory.
Screenshots from early February show that the JHU coronavirus map still used "Taiwan" as a category under a section called "Confirmed cases by country/region."
But now the map uses "Taipei and environs," referring to Taiwan's capital city and surrounding areas.
What they're saying: When
contacted Lauren Gardner, an associate professor of civil and
systems engineering at JHU who directs the map project, said that they
had just caught the change and would be changing it back to "Taiwan"
immediately.
The big picture: Over the past
several years, the Chinese government has increasingly sought to control
how international organizations and companies refer to Taiwan,
insisting that they change wording to align more closely with the
Chinese Communist Party's "one-China policy."
In 2018, the
Chinese government threatened airlines around the world with retaliation
if they did not change wording on websites and on-place reading
materials.
Those airlines now list the capital of Taiwan as simply "Taipei" or as "Taipei, China."
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An order says that all district authorities and security forces have been instructed to close down all entry points.
The legalised border trade with Myanmar came to a grinding halt from
Tuesday as the Manipur government closed both the international gates I
and II at Moreh, Manipur’s border town.
An
order issued by H. Gyan Prakash, the special secretary (Home), Manipur,
says that the preventive measure was taken to check possible outbreak
and transmission of Coronavirus in Manipur.
Crossing the international gates by all sections of people through
these gates is prohibited. The order says that all district authorities
and security forces have been instructed to close down all entry points.
On Monday, the troops of 43 Assam Rifles deployed along the
border had banned crossing of the border. Only a few people are going to
Myanmar and entering Manipur through these gates manned by officials of
Manipur and Myanmar. Majority of the traders bring their goods to
Manipur through other parts of the border. An official source says that
the sealing of the international border will be extended to Nagaland and
Arunachal Pradesh which have a common border with Myanmar.
There
have been local media reports saying that just one or two officials
check the people coming from Myanmar. As there is no crowd control
system near the international gates, the possibility of contracting the
disease is high. Besides, reports say that those wanting to enter Manipur are stranded for hours as the doctors are yet to arrive from Imphal.
Health
officials said that the tests conducted on 12 suspect persons were
found to be negative. One Indian coming to Imphal was lodged in the
isolation ward of the Regional Institute of Medical Sciences, Imphal.
Medical Superintendent C. Arunkumar said the patient was improving and
said that he may be discharged soon.
There are two isolation wards in the two medical colleges, RIMS and JNIMS, in Imphal.
Chief
Minister N. Biren had already given approval for the construction of a
full-fledged isolation ward on the RIMS complex to meet any eventuality.
He also appealed to the people to shorten the Holi festival which is a
five-day carnival in Manipur.
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