As the people of Beirut clean up, France’s Macron urges world leaders to come together for Lebanon

frank lamjus 18 hours ago

French President Emmanuel Macron urged everyone “to come together in support of Lebanon and its people,” as he opened an international donors’ conference Sunday, five days after the devastating explosion that ripped through Beirut.



a large ship in a body of water: BEIRUT, LEBANON - AUGUST 08: A capsized ship at the city's port, the site of Tuesdays massive explosion, as seen on August 8, 2020 in Beirut, Lebanon. Tuesday's blast killed more than 150 people, injured thousands, and demolished large swaths of the Lebanese capital. Public anger swelled over the possibility that government negligence over the storage of tons of ammonium nitrate was behind the catastrophe. (Photo by Marwan Tahtah/Getty Images)

© Marwan Tahtah/Getty Images
BEIRUT, LEBANON – AUGUST 08: A capsized ship at the city’s port, the site of Tuesdays massive explosion, as seen on August 8, 2020 in Beirut, Lebanon. Tuesday’s blast killed more than 150 people, injured thousands, and demolished large swaths of the Lebanese capital. Public anger swelled over the possibility that government negligence over the storage of tons of ammonium nitrate was behind the catastrophe. (Photo by Marwan Tahtah/Getty Images)

Meanwhile, on the streets of Lebanese capital, many people — some skeptical about what the authorities will do and when — were taking the clean-up operation following Tuesday’s blast and violent protests Saturday into their own hands.



a group of people walking down a street: Protesters hurl rocks towards security forces during clashes in downtown Beirut, Lebanon, on Saturday.

© STR/AFP/AFP via Getty Images

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Unemployment insurance claims continue to go down in North Carolina and across the country | State and Regional News

frank lamjus 18 hours ago

Initial unemployment-insurance benefit claims in North Carolina remained on the decline last week, the U.S. Labor Department reported Thursday.

North Carolina experienced a 35.5% decrease, to 17,402, for the week that ended Aug. 1.

Nationwide, there were 1.19 million initial claims filed last week, compared with the revised figure of 1.43 million for the week that ended July 25. Claims have surpassed the 1 million mark for 20 consecutive weeks.

The national peak to date was the 6.87 million claims filed the week that ended March 28.

The nationwide total of UI claims filed since March 15 is 53.8 million, though that number could be affected by individuals filing multiple claims if they had multiple jobs. There were 32.1 million individuals with an active claim as of July 18, up from 30.2 million as of July 11.

North Carolina had the 13th highest UI claim filings in the nation last

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Pacira BioSciences Reports Second Quarter 2020 Financial Results and Business Update

frank lamjus 18 hours ago

— EXPAREL average daily sales return to year-over-year growth in month of June 2020 —
— Conference call today at 8:30 a.m. ET —

PARSIPPANY, N.J., Aug. 06, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Pacira BioSciences, Inc. (Nasdaq: PCRX), a leading provider of innovative non-opioid pain management options, today reported financial results for the second quarter of 2020.

“We are very pleased to report that since the peak of the impact from COVID-19 in April, we’ve seen a steady and continued increase in EXPAREL sales. This is a testimony to the resolve of our physician partners who are dedicated to ensuring that patients receive their much-needed surgeries, particularly in the ambulatory setting,” said Dave Stack, chairman and chief executive officer of Pacira BioSciences. “This pandemic has accelerated the shift of inpatient procedures to the 23-hour stay environment and we are well positioned to lead the way with our innovative opioid alternatives.”

“Today,

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Duchess Kate tweets ‘thank you’ for baby bank donations

frank lamjus 18 hours ago

The Duchess of Cambridge has shared a message of thanks on Twitter after more than 10,000 items were donated to baby banks following her initiative.

Kate, 38, posted a rare personal message on the account she shares with her husband Prince William, following the success of her campaign to support vulnerable families during the coronavirus crisis.

She said: “Baby banks are driven by incredible volunteers, demonstrating the power of community spirit in supporting families and coming together to raise the next generation.

“Thanks to the generosity of the companies taking part in the #SupportingBabyBanks initiative, baby banks across the UK will be able to support even more families through this particularly challenging time.”

While it’s not unusual for the duchess to share a message of thanks, her comments don’t often appear on social media in this way.

It could be another sign of changes that she and her husband are

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New Wineries Tout Views, Alter Business Plans Amid Pandemic | Washington News

frank lamjus 2 days ago

By BARRY ADAMS, Wisconsin State Journal

MUSCODA, Wis. (AP) — The ridge a few miles north of here holds 20 varieties of grapes, orchards filled with peach, apple, cherry, apricot and other fruit trees and one of the largest black current patches in the state.

What sold Colleen and Aaron Halverson on this 81-acre property in southern Richland County was the panoramic view of the Wisconsin River Valley.

For years, the vista has been largely off the beaten path for visitors to Weggy Winery, where the tasting room is in a former dairy barn with a stone foundation and in a low spot on the property. But for the Halversons, she a professor and novelist and he a certified public accountant, the view is as much a part of the business plan as the produce that is harvested and converted to red, white and fruit wines.

“It might be one

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State Unemployment Insurance Systems Are Held Together With “Chewing Gum and Duct Tape”

frank lamjus 2 days ago

The COVID-19 pandemic has sparked an unprecedented economic crisis, during which more than 30 million Americans have relied on state and federal unemployment benefits as a lifeline. While states have delivered hundreds of billions of dollars in aid to the jobless, almost everyone would admit that the process was something like a catamaran sailing during a hurricane. Millions of claimants had to wait weeks to receive their payments, and new benefits promised by the CARES Act to gig workers, students, and others typically ineligible for aid took weeks, even months, to set up and deliver.



a close up of a logo: Photo illustration by Slate. Photo by pic_studio/iStock/Getty Images Plus and Samohin/iStock/Getty Images Plus.

© Provided by Slate
Photo illustration by Slate. Photo by pic_studio/iStock/Getty Images Plus and Samohin/iStock/Getty Images Plus.

As a new data dashboard from the Century Foundation and New America makes clear, only 60 percent of unemployment  claims submitted by mid-June were paid by June 30—better than in the spring, but still far below historical averages.

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Provention Bio Reports Second Quarter 2020 Financial Results and Provides Business Update

frank lamjus 2 days ago

– Completed commercial-scale drug substance PPQ campaign ahead of schedule, enabling the expected on-time completion of the rolling Biologics License Application (BLA) submission for teplizumab in Q4 2020 –

– Expect to submit clinical module of rolling BLA for teplizumab in Q3 2020 –

– Extended follow-up results from the pivotal “At-Risk” TN-10 Study presented at ADA demonstrated that teplizumab significantly delays the onset of insulin-dependent T1D by a median of approximately three years compared to placebo –

OLDWICK, N.J., Aug. 6, 2020 /PRNewswire/ — Provention Bio, Inc. (Nasdaq: PRVB), a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company dedicated to intercepting and preventing immune-mediated disease, today reported financial results for the second quarter ended June 30, 2020 and provided a business update.

(PRNewsfoto/Provention Bio, Inc.)

“In the past few months, we have achieved tremendous progress in support of our efforts to advance teplizumab toward the market for the delay or prevention of

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MobilityOne Ltd rockets over 1000% on winning MoneyGram Malaysia contract

frank lamjus 2 days ago

MobilityOne Ltd () shares were highly mobile in Wednesday afternoon trading, skyrocketing almost 1,200% from 4.5p to above 58p after winning a contract with US money transfer giant MoneyGram Payment Systems.

The AIM-listed, Malaysia-headquartered ecommerce infrastructure specialist’s 50%-owned remittance business, OneTransfer Remittance (OTR), will act as one of MoneyGram’s correspondence remittance companies in Malaysia for an initial five years.

Under the deal, OTR customers will be able to send and receive money via MoneyGram’s global platform which connects to more than 200 countries worldwide, with OTR entitled to a share of the fees generated on money transfer transactions as well as a share of MoneyGram’s foreign exchange profits.

MobilityOne shares have finally topped their 12.5p IPO price, 13 years after coming to AIM.

1.10pm: Melrose wilts

Shares of  () wilted 18% to below 100p after the owner of aerospace and automotive engineer decided not to pay a half-year dividend. 

The

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Wayne LaPierre allegedly used the NRA as a ‘personal piggy bank’

frank lamjus 2 days ago

For nearly three decades, Wayne LaPierre has served as the face of the National Rifle Association, burnishing the organization’s influence and power in Washington, taking a defiant stance against gun control advocates in the wake of mass shootings and once famously declaring “the only thing that stops a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun.”



Wayne LaPierre holding a sign

© Provided by NBC News


On Thursday, LaPierre’s fixture as CEO and executive vice president of the most dominant gun lobby in the United States became increasingly precarious after New York Attorney General Letitia James filed a lawsuit against him and three other high-ranking current or former NRA executives, alleging they have undercut the nonprofit organization’s charitable mission by engaging in illegal financial conduct.

According to the lawsuit, that includes diverting tens of millions of dollars for personal trips and expenditures, lucrative no-show contracts to buy people’s silence and other

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Unemployment Insurance Extended Benefits will lapse too soon without policy changes

frank lamjus 3 days ago

The unprecedented scale of income support provided to displaced workers due to the COVID-19 pandemic has made the economic downturn less severe than it might have been for millions of U.S. households. Although there has been considerable focus on the July 31, 2020 expiration of the federal government’s initial tranche of more generous unemployment insurance (UI) benefits, less attention has been paid to a looming crisis: the millions of workers who are at risk of losing UI when extended benefits lapse.

Under consideration in Congress are new automatic stabilizers for critical countercyclical programs, similar to what was highlighted in The Hamilton Project and Washington Center for Equitable Growth’s book Recession Ready. We show in this blog post that there is room for Congress to improve the triggers under current law that turn on and maintain the Unemployment Insurance Extended Benefits program to support the long-term unemployed when the labor

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