Welcome to Olamama's blog!!!: July 2020

Thursday 30 July 2020

Lululemon to buy at-home fitness startup Mirror for $500 million

As the appeal of at-home workouts has become more ubiquitous during the pandemic, Lululemon, the athletic apparel company, is going all in on the craze. The company said Monday that it has entered into an agreement to buy home exercise startup Mirror for $500 million. The startup sells an immersive mirror through which customers can participate in fitness classes and personal training sessions.
In a statement, Lululemon CEO Calvin McDonald said the company looks forward to working with Mirror to "accelerate the growth of personalized in-home fitness."

French ex-Prime Minister François Fillon and his Welsh wife have received jail sentences in a fake jobs case. The conservative politician was found guilty of paying Penelope Fillon €1.156m (£1.06m, $1.3m) for work she never did as a parliamentary aide. He was sentenced to five years in prison, three of them suspended. She was given a three-year suspended term.
The scandal ruined his presidential bid in 2017. Both have appealed, blocking Fillon's immediate detention.

Rapper and record producer, Drake has beaten Madonna’s record for the highest number of Top 10 hits in US chart history. The Canadian born rapper broke the record after his collaboration with DJ Khaled, Popstar polled at No 3 while Greece charted at No 8 this week, bringing his total Top 10 hits to 40 and beating Madonna’s record of 38.
In March, he also broke the record for the most hits in the US Hot 100, at 208 but as at July that tally has now reached 224, aided by his most recent full-length release, Dark Lane Demo Tapes, which came out in May. Every track from it placed on the Hot 100, including hit track, Toosie Slide at No 1.

Former Tanzanian president Benjamin Mkapa has died age 81 in a Dar es Salaam hospital, the government announced Friday. He was the country’s third president after independence from Britain in 1962 and ruled from 1995 to 2005.
“I’m saddened by the death of the third president of Tanzania and that is a big loss for us as a country. Let’s pray for him and more information will follow later,” said President John Magufuli in a short televised speech.
He did not reveal the cause of death.

China reported 61 new coronavirus cases in the mainland for July 26, up from 46 cases a day earlier, the health commission said on Monday, with new infections not involving people returning from overseas hitting the highest number since early March.
Of the 61 new cases, some 57 were domestic transmissions, the health commission said, the most since March 6 when 75 new infections were reported.
Of the new domestic infections, the number in the far western region of Xinjiang nearly doubled from a day earlier to 41.

Jan Vertonghen has announced his departure from Tottenham Hotspur after eight years at the Premier League club in an emotional message. The Belgium defender, whose contract was extended in June until the end of the current season made 315 appearances in all competitions since joining from Ajax in 2012.
He wrote on Twitter: “So my time at the club comes to an end. A sad day for many reasons. I will miss the friends I’ve made here, the staff that make the club run, playing at the amazing new stadium & of course you fans.

Mattel announced a new Barbie 2020 "Campaign Team" set on Tuesday, featuring four dolls who each have roles within the campaign and election process. The set, which aims to "expose girls to public leadership roles and pique their interest in shaping the future," consists of a candidate, campaign manager, campaign fundraiser and voter doll, according to a Mattel press release.
The diverse collection of dolls features a Black Barbie as the candidate.

Amid protests, Norway’s government has begun tearing down a landmark building adorned with giant murals by Pablo Picasso as part of efforts to rebuild government headquarters damaged in the 2011 terrorist attack by the rightwing extremist Anders Breivik. The Y-block office building in Oslo, with a Picasso drawing sand-blasted on to a 250-tonne section of the facade, will be replaced by a modern, safer development, the government says.
The demolition has sharply divided opinion: some say the 50-year-old brutalist structure is ugly and deserves to be razed, while others have called for its protection.

UK tells people: eat less to reduce COVID-19 death risk

British people should eat less to lose weight as being obese increases the risk of dying from the novel coronavirus, junior health minister Helen Whately said on Monday.
Whately said that those with a body mass index of over 40 had double the risk of dying from COVID-19.

Former Malaysian Prime Minister, Najib Razak is sentenced to 12 years in jail and fined £38million after being found guilty in a multi-billion-dollar fraud

Malaysia's former prime minister, Najib Razak has been sentenced to 12 years in prison and fined £38 million after a court in Kuala Lumpur found him guilty of corruption in the first of five trials over the multi-billion-dollar 1MDB scandal. The conviction on Tuesday, July 28, makes Najib the first Malaysian leader to be found guilty of corruption.
The 67-year-old who faced seven charges of criminal breach of trust, money laundering, and abuse of power for diverting an estimated 42 million ringgit ($9.8m) from SRC International, a unit of 1Malaysia Development Berhad, into his personal bank accounts, was convicted on all charges.

Hollywood media giants, Warner Bros. is conducting an internal investigation of The Ellen DeGeneres Show following multiple complaints by employees of the show. According to The Hollywood Reporter and Variety, a memo was emailed to employees of The Show last week, which stated Warner Bros. will be interviewing current and former staffers about their experience on the set of the talk show, hosted by Ellen DeGeneres.
According to the report, interviews will be conducted by Warner Media's employee relations group and an unspecified "third party firm,".

Remington Arms Co on Monday filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection for the second time in two years as the U.S. gunmaker faced financial troubles partly because some retailers placed restrictions on gun sales after school shootings. The gunmaker has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in U.S. Bankruptcy court for Northern District of Alabama, according to the court filing.
In the filing, the company listed its assets and liabilities both in the range of $100 million to $500 million.

Australian police have warned universities and Chinese officials about “virtual kidnapping” scams by criminal gangs that coerce foreign students to fake their own kidnappings and trick families overseas into paying ransoms.
Police said in a statement that eight students in the state of New South Wales (NSW) were targeted in "virtual kidnapping" scams this year, with overseas relatives paying a total of 3.2 million Australian dollars ($2.3 million) in ransom.

Lewis Hamilton is facing criticism online for sharing an anti-vaxxer post with his followers on Instagram. The six-time Formula One champion, 35, shared the video by content creator King Bach of Gates being interviewed on CBSN about progress on a vaccine for Covid-19. The post was accompanied with the caption: ‘I remember when I told my first lie’.
In the video, Bill Gates dispels fears over potential side-effects of a coronavirus vaccine and rubbishes the baseless suggestions that he wants to embed tracking chips into a vaccine.

Meet the sturddlefish: a new species of fish accidentally created by scientists in Hungary. It's an unusual mix of two endangered species, the American Paddlefish and the Russian Sturgeon.
According to a study published in the journal Genes, researchers at Hungary's National Agricultural Research and Innovation Centre, Research Institute for Fisheries and Aquaculture said that they were not trying to create a new fish when the sturddlefish was born. Rather, they just wanted to know if the two species could be bred in captivity — and were shocked when the resulting fish actually grew to adulthood.

A former X-Factor contestant has been jailed for life for raping nine women over a 22-year period.
Phillip Blackwell, who went viral for his cover of Spandau Ballet's Gold duing his X-Factor audition in 2008, filmed the terrifying rapes, and even covered some of his victims' eyes with tape. The Warwick Crown Court heard the serial rapist used a camcorder to film himself attacking women after committing the first crime in 1997.

The 56-year-old was "calm and calculated" during the shocking assaults, even telling his victims he 'wanted them to enjoy it,' the court heard.

Breastfeeding mothers infected with coronavirus unlikely to infect their babies

Mothers with Covid-19 are unlikely to pass the virus to their newborns if simple infection control measures are in place, a small study suggests. Researchers reported no cases of the disease in 120 babies born to infected mothers, even when both shared a room and the child was breastfed.
Mothers were required to wear surgical masks when handling their child and follow stringent hand and breast washing procedures.
Babies were also kept in enclosed cots six feet (1.8metres) away from their parent at all times except when breastfeeding.

Eleven Colombian military personnel were missing and six injured after a helicopter crashed in the southeast of the country during an operation against guerrillas, the army said on Tuesday. The Blackhawk helicopter was carrying 17 military personnel when it went down. The armed forces’ high command did not reveal whether it was shot down or an accident.
Authorities found the helicopter in a stretch of the river Inirida in Guaviare state, an area where dissident former Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) guerrillas are active.

A statue of the 19th Century US black activist Frederick Douglass has been toppled in New York state. It appears to have been vandalised on 5 July - the anniversary of a famous speech the former slave gave in 1852. In it he said Independence Day celebrations were a sham in a nation that still enslaved its black citizens.
His statue, in the city of Rochester, could have been targeted in retaliation for attacks on monuments linked to slavery, activists said.
The leader of the group that erected the statue, Carvi Eison, said a new statue of Douglass would take its place.

A Wisconsin man who won the $22 million dollar jackpot last month decided to split his lottery winnings with his best friend to honour a promise he made nearly 30 years ago. In 1992, two best friends, Thomas Cook and Joseph Feeney, promised each other that if anyone wins the lottery, they will split the winnings equally, 50-50. They did not write a formal contract but simply shook hands after making the deal.
In June 2020, decades after they made the promise, Thomas Cook of Elk Mound won the Powerball jackpot after purchasing a lottery ticket from a gas station in Menomonie.

The United States government has abruptly ordered China to "cease all operations and events" at its consulate in Houston, Texas, escalating already heightened tensions between Beijing and Washington. Relations between China and the United States have plummeted in the last one year, amid an ongoing trade war, the Coronavirus pandemic, and US criticism of China's human rights abuses in Hong Kong and Xinjiang.
US State Department spokeswoman, Morgan Ortagus said the Chinese consulate was directed to close "in order to protect American intellectual property and the private information of Americans'

A 15-year-old girl from Michigan is currently in a juvenile detention facility for failing to complete her homework amid the coronavirus pandemic. The teen, who is referred to as 'Grace' in a ProPublica article published about the incident, was sent to the Children's Village detention center in Detroit on May 14 after a judge declared that the youngster's failure to complete school work had violated the terms of her parole.
Last year, Grace was charged with stealing another student's cellphone and assaulting her own mother during a row. Grace's mother, referred to by the pseudonym 'Charissa' in the ProPublica article, told the publication that her daughter immediately expressed remorse over her actions.

China has announced a $1 billion loan to Latin America and the Caribbean for access to it's Covid-19 vaccine. The announcement was made during a virtual gathering between Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi and his Latin American counterparts on Thursday (Chinese time), according to a statement released by the Mexican Foreign Affairs Ministry.
The virtual meeting was led by Mexico's Foreign Affairs Minister, Marcelo Ebrard, and Wang Yi. Their counterparts from Argentina, Barbados, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, the Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Panama, Peru, Trinidad and Tobago and Uruguay also joined.
"China's Foreign Minister said that the vaccine developed in his country will be a public benefit of universal access, and that his country will designate a loan of $1 billion to support access [to the vaccine] for the nations of the region," the statement by Mexico's Foreign ministrysaid.

North Korean citizens have been forced to eat terrapins due to food shortages. The hermit kingdom has found itself in the grips of famine since tightening its borders even more than usual due to the coronavirus pandemic.
The move has tipped many citizens over the edge into destitution, with millions having already been on the breadline for years due to governmental mismanagement and UN sanctions.
North Korean trade has been targeted due to leader Kim Jong Un's drive for nuclear weapons.

U.K school hires 10-year old Nigerian tech genius as its new coding instructor

A U.K School has hired a 10-year old Nigerian tech genius as its new coding instructor. One remarkable young Nigerian girl managed to defy the odds and was recently hired by a school in the United Kingdom to teach others about coding.
Emmanuella Mayaki is a coding and programming prodigy who recently received her first job at the Southfield Primary School in Coventry, England, as the after school coding club teacher. According to Face 2 Face Africa, she will be responsible for teaching other kids her age about the basics of coding including HTML and CSS. The school selected her for the job because of her extraordinary skill and knowledge in the area.

The US has ordered China to close its consulate in Houston, Texas, by Friday - a move described as "political provocation" by Beijing.
US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said the decision was taken because China was "stealing" intellectual property. China's foreign ministry condemned the move on Twitter, saying its embassy in Washington had received death threats.
Earlier, unidentified individuals were filmed burning paper in bins in the Houston building's courtyard.

Twitter is reportedly considering adding subscription options after its ad revenue dropped due to the COVID 19 pandemic. According to CNN Business, Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey disclosed the new development during an investor's conference call on Thursday, July 23.
"You will likely see some tests this year," Dorsey said. Dorsey also said he has "a really high bar for when we would ask consumers to pay for aspects of Twitter," but clarified that the company is seeking other means to bring in revenue that are in "very, very early phases of exploring."

The Spanish midfielder was taken off after 85 minutes in the final league match of a decade-long stay with the club. David Silva says that he is going to miss playing for Manchester City as the midfielder said he was proud of all of the club's success during his time at the Etihad.
The Spanish star played his final Premier League match for the club on Sunday as City cruised to a 5-0 win over bottom club Norwich.
Silva started and played 85 minutes of the match, receiving a round of applause from manager Pep Guardiola and the rest of his City team-mates as he departed his final league fixture.

Jamie Vardy won the Premier League Golden Boot despite not scoring in Leicester City's 2-0 defeat against Manchester United. Vardy, 33, becomes the oldest player to win the award. He scored 23 goals and was given a close run by Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang who scored twice in Arsenal's 3-2 win against Watford to finish on 22.
Danny Ings, who scored in Southampton's win against Sheffield United, also finished the campaign on 22.
"It's a wonderful individual achievement," Leicester manager Brendan Rodgers said. "We wouldn't be where we are without his quality and goals.

Harry and Meghan will never resume official roles following the bombshell biography that laid bare their rift with the Royal Family. The book titled "Finding Freedom: Harry and Meghan and the Making of a Modern Royal Family" reveals their soured relationship with the British Royal Family and, according to Daily Mail, it is likely to ruin any hopes of renegotiating their royal duties.
The revelations made in the book will also harm efforts to repair their rift with Harry's brother William and sister-in-law Kate.

Despite its name, the strawberry isn't a true berry. Neither is the raspberry or the blackberry. But the banana is a berry, scientifically speaking, as are eggplants, grapes and oranges.

Why is a banana a berry and a strawberry is not?
They are derived from a single flower with more than one ovary, making them an aggregate fruit. True berries are simple fruits stemming from one flower with one ovary and typically have several seeds.

Cristiano Ronaldo and his teammates celebrate as Juventus win ninth consecutive Serie A title (photos)

Italian club, Juventus won the Serie A league title on Sunday night, July 26 after Cristiano Ronaldo and Federico Bernardeschi's efforts helped the club defeat Sampdoria 2-0. Maurizio Sarri’s team win ensured they were seven points clear of second-placed Inter Milan with just two games left to play. The win means Juvenus have now won the league for the 9th consecutive time, a huge feat given how competitive the league has been over the years.

Swedish ref's career is 'over' after offensive remarks to Guinean

A Swedish referee suspended for making offensive remarks to Guinea international goalkeeper Aly Keita says his career is 'effectively' over. Speaking to a Swedish newspaper, Martin Strombergsson regretted remarks made to Keita in a top-flight match last year.
Ostersunds skipper Keita said last month the referee told him "to shut up and go back into his goal so bananas could be thrown at him."
"I need to find a new employer in the future," said the 43-year-old official.

Many people might find it tricky keeping quiet through an entire roller coaster ride, but one Japanese theme park wants you to do that - and more. Fuji-Q Highland near Tokyo re-opened last month after its virus shutdown. It asked riders to avoid screaming when they go on its rollercoasters, to minimise spreading droplets, and instead "scream inside your heart".
And to encourage people to play along, it's getting riders to put on their most "serious face" for the ride photo.

Demand for the leaves of Artemisia afra – also known as lengana, uMhlonyane, African wormwood, and Wilde Als in South Africa – has soared as South Africans seek it to treat Covid-19-like symptoms. Artemisia has been used for generations as a traditional cure for flu-related illnesses such as colds, fever, coughs and headaches, including by various South African communities. The World Health Organisation (WHO) has also recommended its use in treating "uncomplicated" malaria cases.
As the coronavirus pandemic started to grip Africa, many have turned to the plant to treat their symptoms, and the government of Madagascar has punted a remedy for Covid-19 based on it.
Artemisia can be found in the wild throughout much of South Africa.

Huacachina is a desert oasis and tiny village just west of the city of Ica in southwestern Peru. At its center are the green waters of the Huacachina Lagoon, ringed by palm trees and thought to have therapeutic properties. The lagoon's shores are dotted with bars and clubs. Dune buggies run across the high, rolling sand dunes surrounding the village.
More pictures after the cut

Bugatti and the London-based Little Car Company have teamed up to make 500 miniature electric Bugattis for kids -- and now a few of them have just become available to buy. Originally, all 500 of the mini electric cars that the companies planned to make were sold after the car was unveiled at the 2019 Geneva Motor Show. Due to the coronavirus pandemic, however, some customers changed their minds, making a few available for new customers, Bugatti announced Friday.
This new all-electric miniature car is called the Bugatti Baby II and starts at about $35,000. It's a modern interpretation of the original Bugatti Baby from nearly a century ago.

Two geriatric laundromat owners have become Taiwan's latest viral sensation by posing for a series of photos wearing clothes left behind by their customers. Having spent decades running a laundromat in the coastal city of Taichung, Hsu Sho-Er, 84, and her husband, Chang Wan Ji, 83, are now proving a hit on Instagram after their grandson -- and stylist -- set up an account for them in June. Any items left at the laundromat for over a year are considered fair game.
The couple pose in vintage-style garments, which they accessorize with hats and sunglasses. They also opted for more youthful looks -- one image sees the pair sporting Adidas tops and bucket hats.
"It was my grandson's idea," explained Wan Ji, who said he has run the business for the best part of 70 years, over email.

Two Christopher Columbus statues in Chicago have been removed by the city – at the direction of its mayor – "until further notice." Mayor Lori Lightfoot's office said in a statement Friday the move "is about an effort to protect public safety and to preserve a safe space for an inclusive and democratic public dialogue about our city's symbols."
The statues were removed from Grant Park and Little Italy's Arrigo Park after protests, demonstrations and violent clashes with police, CBS Chicago reports. Crowds cheered overnight as the Grant Park statue was removed overnight. The statue in Little Italy was removed early Friday morning.

A prosthetic mask, counterfeit driver's licenses, and personal information obtained on the internet. That's how federal authorities say a Michigan man allegedly managed to steal more than $100,000 from casino patrons in Michigan and Kansas. John Colletti even went as far as disguising himself as an elderly man to evade suspicion, federal prosecutors say.
Colletti, 55, allegedly targeted his victims by illegally obtaining their personal information and then using counterfeit driver's licenses to withdraw funds from their personal bank accounts via self-service kiosks at the casinos, according to a federal criminal complaint unsealed in federal court in Michigan Thursday.

An Australian dairy company is rebranding a controversial line of cheese products that share a name with a racial slur, in an attempt to "eliminate racism" from its brand.
"Coon" cheese — which has been sold in Australia for more than 80 years — has been the focus of complaints for decades. The company has insisted that the brand name paid homage to American cheesemaker Edward William Coon, who, according to its website, "patented a unique ripening process." But the word is also a deeply insulting racial slur directed at people of color.
Saputo Dairy Australia said in a statement released on Friday that it would rename the cheese following a "careful and diligent review" of the situation.

Burkina Faso star Bance quits international football

Burkina Faso star Aristide Bance, one of the most colourful and popular footballers in Africa, has called time on his international career. He played 79 times for the ‘Stallions’ and scored 24 goals over 16 years while helping the national team of the West African state rise from obscurity to a regular top-10 ranking in the continent. The forward stood out on the pitch because of his huge physique and fondness for blond dyed hairstyles.
Bance was part of the Burkinabe team that stunned Africa by reaching the 2013 Africa Cup of Nations final in South Africa, which they lost 1-0 to Nigeria.

Public hospitals in Madagascar have reportedly reached full capacity and will only admit patients with severe symptoms of Coronavirus as cases surge in the Indian Ocean island nation. The Bloomberg news portal reports that five public hospitals in the capital Antananarivo had already announced that they could no longer cope with the influx of patients.
The government has opened a 400-bed treatment center for people with mild symptoms and is importing about 1,000 oxygen machines.

US President Donald Trump has ordered the creation of a "National Garden of American Heroes" to defend what he calls "our great national story" against those who vandalise statues. His executive order gives a new task force 60 days to present plans, including a location, for the garden.
He insists the new statues must be lifelike, "not abstract or modernist".
A number of US statues have been pulled down since the police killing of an unarmed black man, George Floyd in May. Monuments linked to the slave-owning Confederacy during the Civil War in America have been especially targeted in the nationwide protests ignited by the death of Floyd in Minneapolis, Minnesota, after a white police officer knelt on his neck for nearly nine minutes.

Scientists successfully put tiny wireless cameras on beetles - paving the way for miniature robots
Scientists at the University of Washington have successfully created a wireless camera so miniature it can be carried on a beetle's back. The scientists published their research on July 15 in Science Robotics, as first reported by Engadget. Their camera weighs just 248 milligrams and can rotate 60 degrees while streaming black-and-white video back to a smartphone from a beetle's back using Bluetooth from a distance of up to 120 meters. The team have been working on the research since fall 2018 Vikram Iyer, one of the authors on the paper, told Business Insider.

The Trump administration will pay Pfizer and Germany's BioNTech SE nearly $2bn for a December delivery of 100 million doses of a COVID-19 vaccine the pharmaceutical companies are developing, the United States Department of Health and Human Services announced on Wednesday.
The US could buy another 500 million doses under the agreement.
The deal is part of President Donald Trump's Operation Warp Speed vaccine programme, under which multiple COVID-19 vaccines are being developed simultaneously. The programme aims to deliver 300 million doses of a safe and effective COVID-19 vaccine by January 2021.

Fuenlabrada’s disastrous trip to La Coruna for the final match of their Spanish second division season grew worse on Saturday when the club announced another 12 coronavirus positives. Fuenlabrada, from Madrid, have been in quarantine in the Galician city since their match against Deportivo on July 20 was postponed just before kick off. The game had significance at both ends of the table.
The club had flown to La Coruna despite four positive cases, who stayed behind in Madrid. Further tests before the match found another eight positives among the travelling party. On Thursday the club announced four more positives and on Saturday 12 more, taking the total to 28. The club has not said how many of those are players.

The number of COVID-19 cases in Africa has risen above 800,000. About 17,088 deaths have been recorded in the region, according to a report by the Africa Centre for Disease Control and Prevention.
As of 9am on Saturday, 810,008 cases have been confirmed across 55 states on the continent.
The figures from Africa CDC showed that South Africa, Egypt and Nigeria still have the highest reported cases on the continent.
South Africa accounts for the highest confirmed cases with 421,996 cases and 6,343 deaths, followed by Egypt with 91,072 cases and 4,518 deaths while Nigeria trails behind with 39,539 cases and 845 deaths.

Somalia’s parliament ousted Prime Minister Hassan Ali Khaire in a no-confidence vote on Saturday, the speaker of the house said, due to criticism of his efforts to tighten security in the country.
The vote also followed a dispute over the timing of a national election. Khaire, President Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed and the heads of regional governments have been in talks this week to try to agree if it should go ahead in February 2021.
Lawmakers voted 170-8 to remove Khaire from office, parliamentary speaker Mohamed Mursal Sheikh Abdirahman said.

Jeff Bezos added $13 billion to his net worth on Monday, July 20, the largest single-day jump for an individual since the Bloomberg Billionaires Index was created in 2012. Amazon.com shares surged 7.9%, the most since December 2018 on rising optimism about web shopping trends, and are now up 73% this year, according to TIMES.
Bezos, 56, who is the world’s richest person, has seen his fortune swell $74 billion in 2020 to $189.3 billion, despite the U.S. entering its worst economic downturn since the Great Depression during the 1930s.

Thursday 30 July 2020

Wednesday 29 July 2020

Tuesday 28 July 2020

Monday 27 July 2020

Sunday 26 July 2020

Saturday 25 July 2020