Category: History – Politics

A bark is a sailing vessel with three masts. The three large British White Star liners "Titanic," "Olympic" and "Britannic" were the largest ships afloat for over twenty years between 1913 and 1935. Who were The Big Three during World War II?

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COVID -19: Fabric masks should have three layers of different material

10 JUN, 2020 – 04:06 

Roselyne Sachiti

Fearures, Health and Society Editor

The World Health Organisation (WHO) has published an updated guidance on the use of face masks for control of COVID-19.

WHO wearing masks properly
WHO do’s and don’ts

In his opening remarks at a media briefing on Covid- 19 last Friday, WHO Director-General Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said the guidance is based on evolving evidence, and provides updated advice on who should wear a mask, when it should be worn and what it should be made of.

He said WHO has developed this guidance through a careful review of all available evidence, and extensive consultation with international experts and civil society groups.

“I wish to be very clear that the guidance we are publishing today is an update of what we have been saying for months: that masks should only ever be used as part of a comprehensive strategy in the fight against COVID.

“Masks on their own will not protect you from COVID-19,” he emphasised.

He said the updated guidance contains new information on the composition of fabric masks, based on academic research requested by WHO.

“Based on this new research, WHO advises that fabric masks should consist of at least three layers of different material. Details of which materials we recommend for each layer are in the guidelines.”

According to the latest guidelines, cloth masks should consist of at least three layers of different materials: an inner layer being an absorbent material like cotton, a middle layer of non-woven materials such as polypropylene (for the filter) and an outer layer, which is a non- absorbent material such as a polyester or a polyester blend.

“Fabric cloths (e.g., nylon blends and 100 percent polyester) when folded into two layers, provides 2-5 times increased filtration efficiency compared to a single layer of the same cloth, and filtration efficiency increases 2-7 times if it is folded into 4 layers. Masks made of cotton handkerchiefs alone should consist of at least 4 layers, but have achieved only 13 percent filtration efficiency. Very porous materials, such as gauze, even with multiple layers will not provide sufficient

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These Three Things Need to Happen Before Stocks Bottom Out, Credit Suisse Says

By Callum KeownUpdated March 16, 2020 10:29 am ET / Original March 16, 2020 9:58 am ET

When will stocks reach the low and what will the recovery look like?

Workers wearing protective gear in South Korea.ASSOCIATED PRESS
Workers wearing protective gear in South Korea.ASSOCIATED PRESS

Credit Suisse said it needed to see three conditions required for a trough in global stocks:

1. Clear-cut fiscal easing in the U.S. — which happened late on Sunday;

2. A peak in daily infection rates

3. A trough in global purchasing managers indexes, which it said could happen in May.

In the severe acute respiratory syndrome crisis, markets bottomed out a week daily new infections hit a peak, the bank’s research analysts said.

“We expect a V-shaped recovery ultimately and would be buyers of equities on a one-year view; we believe markets will rise 15-20% over the next 12 months. 

“Historically when we look at exogenous supply-side shocks, markets tend to rise very rapidly from the trough (SARS, Kobe earthquake, Suez, 1987),” they said.

The analysts, led by Andrew Garthwaite, favored stocks in Asia (a commodity-importing region on top of the virus) relative to Europe. In a new realistic worst-case scenario, U.S. earnings would drop 20% and the S&P 500 would fall to 2,200 points, they added.

They also expected “massive” monetary and fiscal stimulus. “This should enable a V-shaped recovery that by the end of 2021 could make up for much of 2020’s lost growth,” they said.

Source: https://www.barrons.com/articles/these-three-things-need-to-happen-before-stocks-bottom-out-credit-suisse-says-51584367103

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George Will on the future of the GOP after Trump

George Will – Gene McCarthy once said “anything said three times becomes a fact”.

George Will speaking on The Last Word with Lawrence O’Donnell.

George Frederick Will is an American conservative political commentator. He writes regular columns for The Washington Post and provides commentary for NBC News and MSNBC. In 1986, The Wall Street Journal called him “perhaps the most powerful journalist in America,” in a league with Walter Lippmann.