In coordination with the Allegheny Health Network (AHN) and the advertising agency Doner, Marvel has created a comic book, called The Vitals: True Nurse Stories, based on an amalgamation of experiences had by nurses in 13 hospital facilities in Western Pennsylvania.
Marvel’s new comic book pays tribute to nurses. (Photo:Getty Images)
“Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, we have been in awe of the courage and resourcefulness of our nurses, who put their own health at risk to care for these vulnerable patients,” said AHN chief nurse executive Claire Zangerle in a statement. “We are so proud of them, and we want to make sure they know how much we appreciate their exceptional work. We hope that in seeing themselves as real Marvel Comics Super Heroes, they can take a moment to look back in pride on their exceptional work and compassion during an exceptionally difficult time for our communities.”
In a video made in conjunction with the comic book, the children of AHN nurses talked about their parents and the tireless work they’ve done throughout the pandemic. “We didn’t see her for like two months,” says one little boy of his mother, a nurse. “It makes me feel good that she’s being able to help,” says another.
In the video the children and their parents are given the comic book, which results in no shortage of tears. “That one looks like my mommy,” says one little girl as she points to a nurse on the cover of the comic. “You’re a hero,” says a little boy as he tearfully embraces his mother.
The comic books will be distributed at AHN hospitals and recruiting events, and are also available digitally on Marvel.com.
“At Marvel, we tell stories about heroes every day. But this story is special. It tells a story about our everyday heroes — the nurses and health care professionals working tirelessly and courageously to save lives,” said Dan Buckley, president of Marvel Entertainment, said in a statement. “Along with AHN, we are honored to help tell these stories, which we dedicate to the real heroes who are saving the world.”
Many secondary school students in Sokoto State do not know much about HIV and AIDS due to cultural and religious restriction to sex education in schools in the state.
Some of the students, who spoke with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in separate interviews in Sokoto on Sunday, expressed little knowledge about the virus, mode of transmission, prevention and care.
One of them, Abdullrasheed Umar, a Senior Secondary I (SS1) student at Sultan Bello Secondary School, Sokoto, said: “I have heard of HIV, but I have no idea what it really is.
“All I know is that it is a terrible disease and nothing more.”
When asked if there is HIV club or any form of sex education in his school, his response was negative.
“Sex education is not allowed in schools. No one talks to us about that,” he said.
Bello Mohammed, another student at the school, said he was ignorant of the diseases and its implication in the human body.
Similarly, Hussaini Abubakar and Abdul Mukaila, students of Community Demonstration Secondary School, told NAN that they had no idea what HIV was, or what it does to infected persons.
Also, Abduallhi Nura, a Junior Secondary School II (JSS II) at Sheikh Abubakar Gumi Memorial College, Sokoto said he only heard of the name HIV, but nothing more.
But Yunusa Mohammed, another JSS II student at the college, said he had some “useful” knowledge about HIV.
Mohammed said: “I heard that the disease is dangerous and one that can be infected through the use of sharp objects or blades used by an infected person. That is all I know,” he said.
Alhaji Umar Alkammawa, Executive Secretary, Sokoto State Agency for the Control of AIDS, Tuberculosis and Leprosy (SOSACAT), confirmed that culture and religion had made it “nearly impossible” to sensitise students on HIV.
“We have not been fair to ourselves by rejecting sex education in schools.
“But there is no way you will bring HIV education in schools without talking about sex and sex education is a no-go area in Sokoto State,” Alkammawa said.
Mohammed Garba, Deputy State Coordinator, Civil Society for HIV/AIDS in Nigeria (CiSHAN), has also said that the connection between HIV and sex had made it difficult to carry out HIV sensitisation in secondary schools.
Garba explained that corps members, under the Peer Educator Trainers (PET) programme, used to create awareness on HIV/AIDS among young people in secondary schools.
“The corps members conduct HIV sensitisation campaigns and most importantly train secondary school students as change agents among their peers, immediate families and communities.
“But about 10 years ago, the programme was stopped by the state’s ministry of education on the ground that the corps members were teaching students sex.
“But in the past three years, CiSHAN has been training youth corps members on HIV and reproductive health, after which they go to Churches, Mosques and other public places to sensitise people,” he said. (NAN)
Last-ditch discussions between the U.K. and the European Union over future trade ties are set to resume in Brussels later Sunday, two days after they were “paused” amid “significant differences” on an array of issues.
Britain’s main negotiator, David Frost, arrived in the Belgian capital on Sunday to pick up discussions with his EU counterpart, Michel Barnier.
The meeting was authorized by European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and British Prime Minister Boris Johnson after a telephone call on Saturday.
The two leaders noted that fundamental differences between the two sides remain over the “level playing field” — the standards the U.K. must meet to export into the bloc — how future disputes are resolved and fishing rights for EU trawlers in U.K. waters. Still, they said a “further effort should be undertaken by our negotiating teams to assess whether they can be resolved.”
Negotiators may only have until Monday evening to make some headway. Johnson and von der Leyen said they would talk again and underlined that “no agreement is feasible if these issues are not resolved.”
With the U.K.’s post-Brexit transition period due to end this year, the discussions are clearly at a crunch point, not least because of the necessary approvals required on both sides after negotiators reach a deal. Without an agreement in place, tariffs will end up being imposed on traded goods at the start of 2021.
Both sides would suffer economically from a failure to secure a trade deal, but most economists think the British economy would take a greater hit, at least in the near-term, as it is relatively more reliant on trade with the 27-nation EU than vice versa.
LONDON — The European Union and the United Kingdom decided Saturday to press on with negotiating a post-Brexit trade deal, with all three key issues still unresolved ahead of a year-end cutoff.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said after a phone call that their negotiators will return to the table today as fundamental differences persist over the rules for fair competition, legal oversight of the deal and fishing rights for EU trawlers in U.K. waters.
“Significant differences remain,” the two leaders said in a statement after their tea-time call to assess the state of play over the future relationship.
While the U.K. left the EU on Jan. 31, it remains within the bloc’s tariff-free single market and customs union through Dec. 31. Reaching a trade deal by then would ensure there are no tariffs and trade quotas on goods exported or imported by the two sides, although there would still be technical costs, partly associated with customs checks and nontariff barriers on services.
The talks would surely have collapsed by now were the interests and economic costs at stake not so massive. But because the EU is an economic power of 450 million people and Britain has major diplomatic and security interests beyond its commercial might, the two sides want to explore every last chance to get a deal before they become acrimonious rivals.
“Whilst recognizing the seriousness of these differences, we agreed that a further effort should be undertaken by our negotiating teams to assess whether they can be resolved,” Johnson and von der Leyen said after speaking for about an hour.
“We are therefore instructing our chief negotiators to reconvene tomorrow [Sunday] in Brussels,” the pair said in their statement, adding that they would reassess the chances of success Monday night.
The two leaders noted that progress has been achieved in many areas but that divisions remain on fishing rights, the “level playing field” — the standards the U.K. must meet to export into the bloc — and how future disputes are to be resolved.
“Both sides underlined that no agreement is feasible if these issues are not resolved,” von der Leyen and Johnson said Saturday.
An EU source, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the talks were ongoing, said the fair competition rules that the U.K. should meet before it can export tariff-free into the 27-nation bloc were still a major stumbling block.
At the heart of the negotiations is reconciling how Britain wrests itself free of EU rules with the bloc’s insistence that no country, however important, should get easy access to its lucrative market by undercutting its high environmental and social standards.
The politically charged issue of fisheries also continues to play an outsized role. The EU has demanded widespread access to U.K. fishing grounds that historically have been open to foreign trawlers. But in Britain, gaining control of the fishing grounds was a main issue for the Brexiteers who pushed for the country to leave the EU.
With the U.K.’s post-Brexit transition period due to conclude, the discussions are clearly at a crunch point, not least because of the necessary approvals required on both sides after negotiators reach a deal. Without an agreement, tariffs will end up being imposed on traded goods at the start of 2021.
Both sides would suffer economically from a failure to secure a trade deal, but most economists think the British economy would take a greater hit, at least in the near term, as it is relatively more reliant on trade with the EU than vice versa.
The EU’s chief Brexit negotiator, Michel Barnier, appears ready to go again.
“Work continues tomorrow,” he said in a tweet Saturday.
European Commission’s chief negotiator Michel Barnier wears a face mask as he leaves his hotel to head back to Brussels, in London, Saturday, Dec. 5, 2020. With less than one month to go before the U.K. exits the EU’s economic orbit, talks have been paused due to “significant divergences.” (AP Photo/Alberto Pezzali)
European Commission’s chief negotiator Michel Barnier waves as he leaves his hotel to head back to Brussels, in London, Saturday, Dec. 5, 2020. With less than one month to go before the U.K. exits the EU’s economic orbit, talks have been paused due to “significant divergences.” (AP Photo/Alberto Pezzali)
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen makes a statement on camera regarding Brexit negotiations, after a phone call with British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, at EU headquarters in Brussels, Saturday, Dec. 5, 2020. (Julien Warnand)
A pro-European Union membership supporter protests with illuminated European and Union flags outside Brexit trade negotiations between Britain and the EU at the Conference Centre in London, Friday, Dec. 4, 2020. With less than one month to go before the U.K. exits the EU’s economic orbit, talks are continuing, and U.K. officials have said this is the last week to strike a deal. (AP Photo/Matt Dunham)
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen holds her notes as she steps away from the podium after making a statement on camera regarding Brexit negotiations, after a phone call with British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, at EU headquarters in Brussels, Saturday, Dec. 5, 2020. (Julien Warnand)
European Commission’s chief negotiator Michel Barnier wears a face mask as he leaves his hotel to head back to Brussels, in London, Saturday, Dec. 5, 2020. With less than one month to go before the U.K. exits the EU’s economic orbit, talks have been paused due to “significant divergences.” (AP Photo/Alberto Pezzali)
El principal negociador para el Brexit por la Unión Europea, Michel Barnier, arriba el viernes 4 de diciembre del 2020 al Centro de Conferencias, en Londres, (AP Foto/Kirsty Wigglesworth)
Pro-European Union membership supporters protest outside Brexit trade negotiations between Britain and the EU outside the Conference Centre in London, Friday, Dec. 4, 2020. With less than one month to go before the U.K. exits the EU’s economic orbit, talks are continuing, and U.K. officials have said this is the last week to strike a deal. (AP Photo/Matt Dunham)
A pro-European Union membership supporter protests with illuminated European and Union flags outside Brexit trade negotiations between Britain and the EU at the Conference Centre in London, Friday, Dec. 4, 2020. With less than one month to go before the U.K. exits the EU’s economic orbit, talks are continuing, and U.K. officials have said this is the last week to strike a deal. (AP Photo/Matt Dunham)
“If Hungary and Poland still refuse to confirm the current state of affairs, it will be necessary to find a more radical solution, which means that the recovery plan for Europe will include 25 [EU members]. Legally, it is complicated but possible. Our stance is clear: we will not sacrifice either recovery [package], nor the rule of law”, Beaune said on Sunday in an interview with Le Journal du Dimanche.
The leaders of the EU’s member states struck a deal to create a 750 billion euro ($909 billion) COVID-19 recovery fund, named NextGenerationEU, back in July. However, controversy has arisen as the bloc seeks to make access to the funds contingent on the observation of European values, such as democratic norms and respect for the rule of law.
At a meeting of the Permanent Representatives Committee (Coreper II) on 16 November, Poland and Hungary refused to give their consent to the recovery fund in opposition of the rule of law mechanism, outlining their belief that it could result in double standards applied to different EU members.
They also refused to approve the bloc’s proposed 1.074 trillion euro budget, which is expected to run from 2021 through 2027, disrupting the European Union’s plan to adopt it before the end of the year.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen urged Poland and Hungary on 25 November to take their dispute to court, rather than hold up efforts to approve the budget and recovery fund.
LONDON/DUBLIN (Reuters) – British and European Union negotiators will meet in Brussels on Sunday in a last-ditch attempt to strike a post-Brexit trade deal before a transition agreement ends on Dec. 31.
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British Prime Minister Boris Johnson and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen spoke on Saturday and instructed their teams to resume talks after they were paused on Friday.
In a joint statement after their call, Johnson and von der Leyen said that no agreement was feasible if disagreements on the three thorny issues of governance, fisheries and competition rules, known as the level playing field, were not resolved.
“This is the final throw of the dice,” a British source close to the negotiations said.
EU Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier said the talks on Sunday with his British counterpart David Frost would show whether a new trade deal could be struck.
A majority of Johnson’s ministers were willing to back him if he decides a deal is not in Britain’s interests, the Times newspaper reported, saying 13 cabinet ministers – including eight who opposed Brexit – had confirmed they would do so.
British farming minister George Eustice backed that up in an interview on Sky News on Sunday, saying the country had done a huge amount of preparation for a no-deal and was ready to go through with such a scenario.
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“We’ll continue to work on these negotiations until there’s no point in doing so any further,” said Eustice.
But Irish Foreign Minister Simon Coveney, a key figure in Brexit talks in recent years, said it was not credible for the British government to suggest they could manage a no-deal.
Striking a more optimistic note, Coveney said it was his “very strong view” that a deal could be done. “We are more likely to get a deal than not,” Coveney told Ireland’s Sunday Independent newspaper.
Negotiations were paused on Friday after hopes of a deal earlier in the week evaporated. The British team said the EU had made demands incompatible with its sovereignty and warned that the talks could end without an agreement.
Coveney denied the EU had hardened its stance.
If they fail to reach a deal, a five-year Brexit divorce will end messily just as Britain and its former EU partners grapple with the economic cost of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Experts have warned that a no-deal scenario would cause huge long-term disruption to the British economy.
Additional reporting by Alistair Smout in London and Gabriela Baczynska in Brussels; Editing by David Clarke
Each week here at YNaija, we round up the best Nigerian writing on the internet, highlighting the stories, profiles, interviews and in-depth reporting that rise above the daily churn.
Timaya’s existence has been dedicated to a steady pursuit of wealth and artistic value. Even his weed—recently delivered in fancy wrapping—looks and smells rich. “Look at this strain,” he picks up a black pack, emptying the herbs into his palm and pushing it forward for me to catch a whiff. “This is called Purple Punch,” he says. “The other one is ‘Creative Sativa.” His assistant begins to roll some for the occasion. “Because of weed, I have to buy a house in Amsterdam,” Timaya declares. While we smoke, the dumbbells saw constant action.
In no other country in the world do so many pregnant women die as in Nigeria: around 58,000 women per year . Many of them die of an abortion that is performed under unsafe conditions – a 2019 study estimates that there are around 6,000 women annually – others die in childbirth or from its sequelae. For every woman dead, there are hundreds more who suffer from the health consequences of unsafe abortion .
LMAO. I stayed over that night. The next day, we went out for ice cream. We kept smiling at each other from across the table. We came back to his, and started watching a movie. He paused it, turned to me and said, “We’ve known each other for so long, we care about each other very much. I think we want to make each other happy. I think we should date.”
“I could call Dapo Abiodun [the state governor] but obviously you don’t just call him; he’s no longer Uncle Dapo.”
“My daddy gave me the commissioner of Police’s number. I called him, he said I was disturbing his sleep. I said ‘my dear, you will wake up.’”
“I called my grandpa, I said ‘sir, for your legacy – phone Obasanjo, start waking everybody you know. People are being imprisoned in our state, it’s not normal.’”
Immediately after NYSC, I got a job at an oil company. The starting pay was ₦350k/month. For the first time, I had more money than I knew how to spend. Anyway, I earned this for about 10 months before I moved jobs, another oil company, this time the pay was ₦500k.
I got a few promotions, and by the time I was leaving the company in 2019, I was earning roughly ₦1 million a month, excluding bonuses. I left to a bigger oil company and currently earn about ₦4 million/month.
Toluwanimi Onakoya is a spirited writer, creative and videographer. Her biggest drive is to connect with people and depict tales using various forms of media.
Toluwanimi is available on Instagram and Twitter @nimi_onaks
The trade volume between Qatar and the European Union reached $7bn in the first nine months of 2020, according to the Ministry of Commerce and Industry.
Qatar Chamber has also announced that although trade between the United Kingdom and Qatar has increased by 22% over the past two years, it has been dropping in recent months, with its value reaching $2.5bn at the end of the third quarter of 2020.
Trade between Qatar and European Union member states makes up 12.3% of Qatar’s total global trade, that’s according to minister Ali bin Ahmed Al Kuwari, who highlighted the growing business ties between Qatar and Europe during a call with EU and World Trade Organisation representatives.
Qatar has signed 14 commercial, economic, and technical cooperation agreements, as well as 12 “Reciprocal Promotion and Protection of Mutual Investments” agreements with various EU member nations in addition to having eight joint committees on trade and commerce.
Aside from trade, Doha’s investments in the EU stand at $31bn, while there are 2,129 fully or partial EU owned companies operating in Qatar. Qatari investments in the UK, which is on its way out of the European Union, currently stand at $47bn.
LONDON: Britain and the European Union will reconvene post-Brexit trade negotiations in Brussels on Sunday after UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson and EU chief Ursula von der Leyen held inconclusive talks, as time runs short to seal a deal.
The pair held the crunch on Saturday afternoon phone call, which reportedly lasted around an hour, with pressure intensifying to finalise an agreement ahead of the end of the Brexit transition period on Dec 31.
The high-level political intervention followed UK and European Union envoys pausing the last-ditch talks late on Friday.
Both sides continue to have “significant differences” on several critical issues that have long stalled negotiations, a joint statement said.
“Whilst recognising the seriousness of these differences, we agreed that a further effort should be undertaken by our negotiating teams to assess whether they can be resolved,” Johnson and von der Leyen said in a statement following their conversation.
“We are therefore instructing our chief negotiators to reconvene tomorrow in Brussels. We will speak again on Monday evening.” A deal is seen as essential to avoid deep trade disruption on both sides — but especially in Britain — to economies already damaged by the coronavirus pandemic.
Johnson and von der Leyen last spoke on Nov 7, but a month later Britain and the bloc remain divided over so-called level playing field provisions, governance and fisheries. “Both sides underlined that no agreement is feasible if these issues are not resolved,” Saturday’s joint statement added.
Britain formally left the EU in January, nearly four years after a referendum on membership that divided the nation.
But it has remained bound by most of its rules until the end of the year, as the two sides try to agree the exact nature of their future relationship.
Without a deal, the bulk of cross-Channel trade will revert to World Trade Organization terms, an unwanted return to tariffs and quotas after almost five decades of deepening economic and political integration.
Talks through this year have finalised most aspects of an agreement, with Britain set to leave the EU single market and customs union, but the most thorny issues have remain unresolved.
“We will see if there is a way forward,” EU chief negotiator Michel Barnier said. “Work continues tomorrow.” Johnson has insisted Britain will “prosper mightily” whatever the outcome of the talks, but he will face severe political and economic fallout if he cannot seal a deal.
“If we fail to get an agreement with the European Union, this will be a serious failure of statecraft,” Conservative lawmaker Tom Tugendhat, chair of parliament’s foreign affairs committee, told the Lowy Institute in an interview published on Saturday.
European capitals have remained remarkably united behind Barnier through the fraught Brexit process, but some internal fractures have now begun to surface.
France on Friday threatened to veto any deal that fails short of their demands on ensuring fair trade and access to UK fishing waters.
Meanwhile a European diplomat said that Belgium, the Netherlands, Spain and Denmark share Paris’s concerns that the EU side could give too much ground on rules to maintain competition.
Image Source : ANI Madhya Pradesh CM Shivraj Singh Chouhan chairs high-level meeting on Dharma Swatantrya (Religious Freedom) Bill 2020 in Bhopal today.
He said at the meeting that the Bill, will ensure that no religious conversion is carried out forcefully, or by tempting someone or through marriage.
<
p class=”artconfp”>Conversion through marriage or by any other fraudulent means will attract prison term of up to 10 years and fine of up to Rs 1 lakh under the proposed
Madhya Pradesh Religious Freedom Act, an official said on Saturday. A marriage solemnized only for the purpose of converting a person will be held as null and valid, he said.
If a person wants to undergo conversion, he or she would need to make a declaration before a district magistrate at least a month in advance under the proposed law.
Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan held a meeting on Saturday to discuss the proposed law, said an official of the state Public Relations Department.
Under the proposed law, no person in the state will be able to convert anyone directly or otherwise through marriage or by any other fraudulent means by luring or intimidating anyone, the official said, quoting the chief minister.
A person involved in converting another person by misleading, luring, threatening or through marriage will be prosecuted.
The sentence could be up to 10 years in the cases of religious conversion of minors, groups, or of those belonging to scheduled castes and scheduled tribes.
Blood relatives, including parents of victims of such religious conversion, can file complaint, the official said.
A marriage solemnized with the intention of religious conversion would be considered null and void. These cases would be investigated by a police officer not below the sub-inspector’s rank.
On November 28, governor of the BJP-ruled Uttar Pradesh gave assent to the Uttar Pradesh Prohibition of Unlawful Conversion of Religion Ordinance, 2020, against forcible or fraudulent religious conversions.
The ordinance provides for imprisonment of up to 10 years and a maximum fine of Rs 50,000 under different categories.
