ROBERT FYFE – who was best known for playing Howard in BBC sitcom Last of the Summer Wine for 25 years – has died at the age of 90.
Read more here Daily Express :: Celebrity News Feed
Tag Archives: summer
Summer book sale is July 22-25
… a wide variety of books,” states a Friends of … Lucky Day Book Collection, Summer Reading, Hooked on Books, and classes … make the book sale possible through donations of books, CDs and … volunteering their time, and purchasing books,” the release stated.
The …
Read more
This post originally posted here The European Times News
‘Travel confidence utterly destroyed’: Simon Calder warns it ‘won’t be a normal summer’
“However, [the Government gave] the impression just nine days ago that we can start a race to the sun,” he continued.
“[Now to] find out the rules have changed fundamentally for many people, [they] are either cancelling trips or trying to work out if they can self-isolate.
“It’s just triggering a huge amount of upset… and a sense they cannot possibly have any confidence in any travel arrangements.
“The travel industry is just saying consumer confidence is utterly destroyed by this latest move.”
Read more
This post originally posted here Daily Express
Cases are up in every US state. Vaccinations are down. Safety protocols are being reinstated. Summer is getting a reality check.
A version of this story appeared in CNN’s What Matters newsletter. To get it in your inbox, sign up for free here.
Case numbers and hospitalizations are up. Vaccinations are down and the US government has labeled vaccine misinformation a “serious threat to public health.”
“This is not a problem we can take years to solve,” US Surgeon General Vivek Murthy told Jake Tapper after releasing a 22-page health advisory.
The White House blames Facebook, in part, and White House press secretary Jen Psaki said the platform must move faster to take down misinformation, before people see it and not after it’s been posted for days.
Related: CNN’s Facts First database has reviewed tons of false claims that the vaccines are dangerous
This is the strange and deadly new Covid conundrum:
- The vaccine saves lives and we have it. Public health professionals are crying out that every single new US Covid death is preventable by a vaccine the country has in abundance.
- Some don’t trust it. Much of the US in numerous groups can’t be convinced to take the vaccine despite the experience of the past year and a half.
- Freedom to infect. Some Republican lawmakers and governors seem to be actively trying to push Americans away from the vaccine the health community insists will save lives.
Convincing the unconvinced. I watched a very sad interview Friday on CNN in which sisters from Arkansas who lost their unvaccinated mother to Covid explained that she just didn’t think the disease would come to her.
“I tried being very factual with her about what we know about Covid and that you could get it from somebody that isn’t even showing symptoms yet,” Rachel Maginn Rosser told CNN’s Kate Bolduan. “And I don’t really, I don’t know if her opinion really changed. She was — she was stubborn and so she made up her mind that she wasn’t going to do it, and so she wasn’t going to do it.”
Breakthrough cases. The vaccine does not entirely stop transmission. There are more and more stories of vaccinated people contracting Covid. But they are not dying or, for the most part, being hospitalized.
Three Texas state House Democrats who are fully vaccinated have tested positive, the Texas House Democratic Caucus said Saturday. They were part of a group of state House Democrats who flew from Austin to Washington, DC, this week to break the state House’s quorum and block Republicans from passing a restrictive new voting law.
The New York Yankees, for the second time this season, had so-called “breakthrough” cases of Covid in vaccinated players, which postponed Thursday’s planned game against the Red Sox.
The NFL Network anchor Rich Eisen posted about his breakthrough Covid and encouraged people to get vaccinated even though they might still get the disease.
“Every health care professional I’ve come across in the last few days tells me the two shots of Pfizer I got in February are what’s keeping a 52-year-old like me from a far worse experience than the awful one I’m having,” he posted on Instagram from quarantine.
Not hesitancy. Hostility. The anti-vaccine rhetoric pushed on Fox News and spread on social media sites like Facebook sounds absurd when it is carved into soundbites — listen here — but it is helping to turn vaccine hesitancy into outright hostility. Conservatives at CPAC last weekend cheered the idea of low vaccination numbers.
Cases were down. Now they’re up. Cases are rising, to varying degrees, in all 50 states, an abrupt switch from just weeks ago.
The US seven-day average of new cases hit a low the week of June 20, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. In less than a month, that figure has more than doubled, to 26,306 daily new cases.
Vaccinations have stalled. The pace of new full vaccinations — about 302,000 per day — is less than a quarter of the high mark of 1.3 million vaccinations a day during the spring, according to CDC data.
Just under half the US population — 48.4%, or about 160 million people — is fully vaccinated. A higher rate — 56.6% — of the population eligible for the shots has been fully vaccinated, according to the CDC.
Re-Masking. In Los Angeles County, officials are reinstituting an indoor mask requirement for both vaccinated and unvaccinated people. More than 1,500 new cases were reported in Los Angeles on Thursday, up from just 210 in mid-June, according to data from the county, where more than 10 million people live.
Related: What if the government got it wrong on masks again?
“We expect to keep masking requirements in place until we begin to see improvements in our community transmission of COVID-19,” said LA County Health Officer Dr. Muntu Davis, according to CNN’s report. “But waiting for us to be at high community transmission level before making a change would be too late.”
Related: Every single Covid patient in an L.A. County DHS hospital is not fully vaccinated
Los Angeles has a relatively high level of vaccinations. Other areas, while not as densely populated, are at risk because their populations aren’t nearly as vaccinated.
Vaccination helps slow transmission. “If you go look at the New England states and up in the mid-Atlantic states that are doing so well and where almost all the adults and adolescents are vaccinated, what that has the added benefit of is really reducing the overall level of transmission in the community,” Dr. Peter Hotez, a vaccinologist and dean of the National School of Tropical Medicine at Baylor College of Medicine, told CNN’s John King on Friday. “So that also protects some of the unvaccinated individuals.”
Anticipating hot spots. He added: “On the other hand, you look at the other extreme, places like Missouri, Arkansas, Louisiana, almost no one is vaccinated except the older Americans. What you’re going to see is transmission is going to accelerate and we’re going to see lots of adolescents and young people get sick.”
The Delta variant could be more transmissible in schools. More Hotez: “The thing that really worries me is here in the South, sometimes the school year starts pretty early in August. And now we’re going to have all those people mixing together in the schools. This is going to be tough.”
Related: Here’s what is known about the Delta variant of coronavirus
The schools question will be hotly debated again. Many Americans got more comfortable with the idea of in-person schooling at the end of the last school year, when cases were dropping, masks were commonplace and vaccine rates were rising.
There’s no indication the FDA will soon authorize Covid vaccines for children under 12, however.
And many Americans, vaccinated or not, gave up on masks after the CDC said they were not needed, outdoors or in, for most situations as long as a person had been vaccinated.
Forced freedoms. Republican-led states have tried to outdo each other in limiting the power of cities and counties to impose Covid restrictions in case of a new outbreak.
- Cities can’t impose lockdowns or issue new mask requirements.
- School districts can’t require masks, even though children are not currently eligible for vaccines.
- Adolescents cannot be required to be vaccinated for in-person public school, despite the long history of vaccine requirements for other diseases.
Now, in Arizona, Gov. Doug Ducey’s office has demanded that school districts drop a requirement for unvaccinated students exposed to Covid to quarantine. The districts are fighting the demand.
Nearby California about-faced on a strict statewide mask mandate for K-12 students and ultimately decided to leave the decision up to local districts.
One governor’s complaint. Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine signed such a bill to keep schools from requiring vaccinations, although he’s also argued that the Food and Drug Administration must fully approve the vaccines quickly, which currently have only emergency use authorization, even though the government is urgently trying to get Americans to take them. Nearly half the country has!
“It is past time for the FDA to take into account that hundreds of millions of people have received these vaccines, and move it from an emergency basis over to a regular basis,” DeWine said this week, according to WBNS. “That will help us, in Ohio and across the country, to get more people vaccinated.”
DeWine has a valid point about the FDA, but his signing of the bill probably didn’t help with vaccine hesitancy, either. Ohio’s 46% vaccination rate trails the national average.
Read more
This post originally posted here CNN.com – RSS Channel – HP Hero
News: Celebrity Silhouette extends UK summer season
Celebrity Cruises is extending its UK summer sailings onboard Celebrity Silhouette.
ADVERTISEMENT
The line has announced three new itineraries, all of which are available to book now.
Departing from her homeport in Southampton, Celebrity Silhouette will be embarking on three additional seven- and nine-day itineraries around the breath-taking British coastline on September 4th, 11th and 18th.
The ship will visit Dover, Belfast, Portland, Southampton, Kirkwall, Inverness and Liverpool.
Celebrity Silhouette began her UK summer season on July 3rd, welcoming fully vaccinated British guests for the first time in over 15 months and showing off her bow-to-stern revitalisation.
Read more
This post originally posted here Breaking Travel News
Camping, caravan & holidays: Scotland & north east beat south for last-minute summer stay
Although July and August promise the warmest temperatures in the North East and Scotland, with the average highs hitting 18 and 17 degrees Celsius respectively, the later months can offer decent weather too.
“September usually delivers some lovely weather, and a lot of our customers enjoy breaks well into Autumn,” he said.
“And with local indoor tourist attractions opening there are lots of things to do even on rainy days.”
However, while he acknowledges this isn’t an option for everyone, Mr Hodgson insists there are still ways to save during the busy summer months.
Read more
This post originally posted here Daily Express
GTA Online summer update REVEALED: Los Santos Tuners DLC out next week
The GTA 5 and Red Dead Redemption 2 makers said: “On July 20, the underground tuner scene in Los Santos roars to life with the launch of GTA Online: Los Santos Tuners. In addition to a ton of action-packed, Tuner-based missions and races, this update introduces the LS Car Meet, a gigantic, shared social space where you and your cherished personal vehicle can mingle freely with fellow car fans to race, show off your customized vehicles, and even link up with shady contacts looking for skilled drivers and a chance at easy money.”
The reveal of the GTA 5 Online summer update 2021 comes after the release of the latest Red Dead Redemption 2 summer update.
This week Rockstar Games released the Blood Money DLC for Red Dead Online, which brought with it a new mission type called Crimes and Opportunities plus much, much more.
The reveal of the GTA 5 Online summer update 2021 comes after the release of the latest Red Dead Redemption 2 summer update.
This week Rockstar Games released the Blood Money DLC for Red Dead Online, which brought with it a new mission type called Crimes and Opportunities plus much, much more.
Read more
This post originally posted here Daily Express
‘This summer is for the bold & desperate’: Simon Calder warns Britons face ‘dreadful’ time
Simon Calder is a travel journalist and expert who regularly appears on Good Morning Britain to discuss the Governemnt’s latest travel updates. This morning, he spoke about the most recent change in travel rules to Malta, as well as other European countries.
“It’s so much uncertainty.
“It looks as though this summer is for the bold and the desperate.”
Speaking to Richard Madeley and Susanna Reid of GMB, Mr Calder added: “The green list, and amber list, and green watchlist, and red list, are only a UK coming back in issue.
“The other half of the equation is exactly as you say Richard – will the destination let me in?”
Mr Calder continued: “My prediction is that if we see a levelling off in the UK and a calming down, gradually we might see some kind of equilibrium and it will be safe to book.
“But probably not until September.”
The travel expert emphasised that it is a “dreadful dreadful time” for people who want to travel.
“And, of course, the people who I do feel for are those who don’t want a holiday – they want to reunite themselves,” he said.
“Reunite themselves with loved ones they haven’t seen for months or over a year.
“And this is such a stressful time for them.”
As well as the news about Malta, the other travel updates include the fact that the Balearic Islands have been removed from the green list and added to the amber list.
Britons travelling from Ibiza, Majorca, and Menorca will now have to quarantine for 10 days on their return to the UK.
Read more
This post originally posted here Daily Express
GTA 5 Online Summer update: When is new GTA Online update coming out?
GTA Online remains one of the most popular multiplayer modes on PS4 and Xbox One consoles, with a new version in development for next-gen consoles.
But while gamers will have to wait for that version to arrive later in 2021, Rockstar Games has plans to launch its next big expansion.
As usual, this will be an online affair, meaning that the base Grand Theft Auto experience will not change.
However, while there are no plans to offer new story content for the best-selling game, things will be changing in multiplayer.
GTA Online is extremely popular and is one of the reasons that Grand Theft Auto V continues to top the best-selling charts over recent years.
So all eyes will be on what Rockstar Games has planned next for GTA Online across PS4, Xbox One and PC.
WHEN IS THE GTA 5 ONLINE SUMMER UPDATE COMING OUT?
Rockstar Games has not announced when it will be releasing its new GTA Online Summer update, but we do have some unofficial news.
According to TezFunz on Twitter – a reliable source for GTA news – the GTA Online Summer update has a release date set for Thursday, July 22.
For now, Rockstar Games has only teased its plans for its Summer expansion, including what will be included.
This includes their being a new Car Meet event that will be running, with the development team telling fans earlier in July:
“GTA Online’s forthcoming summer update includes the Los Santos Car Meet, the beating heart of car culture in Southern San Andreas. Keep an eye out on the Newswire for more information coming soon.”
If the GTA Online Summer update is being released next week, we can probably expect a new trailer or newswire post in the coming days.
It’s not guaranteed, but Rockstar Games could drop something as soon as Thursday, July 15.
This will be when the next Grand Theft Auto Online bonuses and rewards are released and would make the perfect time to share the latest information.
However, all this must be taken with a pinch of salt until we hear more from Rockstar Games.
There is no official guarantee that the new GTA Summer expansion will be available to play next week, and Rockstar could choose to share its announcement next week, followed by a longer wait for the patch to drop.
Rockstar recently dropped its new content expansion for Red Dead Online, and they have followed these types with others in the past.
And if nothing is revealed this week, GTA fans can look forward to a new list of rewards to be announced on July 15.
Until then, these are the current highlights worth tracking down in Grand Theft Auto Online:
- Seven new Survivals, available now
- Double GTA$ and RP in all Survivals
- A GTA$ 100K bonus for competing in any of the new Survivals
- Triple GTA$ and RP in Freemode Events and Challenges
- Free Sunset Tint Oversize Shades for completing any Simeon Export Request
- The Vapid Retinue Mk II is the top prize at the Lucky Wheel
- Vehicle and Property Discounts: 40% off all Garages, the Western Cargobob, Kraken Submersible, Lampadati Toro, and Vapid Slamtruck, plus 30% off the P-45 Nokota, V-65 Molotok, R-10 Bombushka, HVY Vetir, and Übermacht Revolter
- Prime Gaming Bonus: Players who connect their Social Club account with Prime Gaming will get a GTA$ 100,000 bonus for playing any time this week
- Prime Gaming Discounts: 70% off the Buckingham Valkyrie helicopter and 80% off the Dinka Sugoi.
Read more
This post originally posted here Daily Express
Green list chaos: Majorca and Ibiza removed before summer holidays-how to avoid quarantine
“But it will mean, I’m afraid, for some people, that they will have to come home and they will have to do those ten days of quarantine, or five days with Test to Release which is still available to everybody.”
It may be people can end quarantine early if they pay for a private COVID-19 test, through the Test to Release scheme.
Some who have been in a country or territory on the amber list in the 10 days before they arrive in England may be eligible for this scheme.
They will need to quarantine for 10 days on arrival, but under Test to Release, they can choose to pay for a private COVID-19 test on day five.
If this result is negative – and the day two test results was negative or inconclusive – then they can end their quarantine.
Read more
This post originally posted here Daily Express