Archives for April 2021

CAIRO (AP) — The maritime traffic jam on both ends of the Suez Canal eased further on Friday, four days after the dislodging of a massive containership that had blocked the waterway, authorities said.

On Monday, salvage teams freed the skyscraper-sized Ever Given, ending a crisis that had clogged one of the world’s most vital waterways and halted billions of dollars a day in maritime commerce. At the time, canal officials said that more than 420 ships had been waiting for the Panama-flagged, Japanese-owned ship to be freed so they could make the crossing.

Lt. Gen. Osama Rabie, head of the Suez Canal Authority said 80 cargo ships carrying carrying a total load of 4.7 tons transited through the canal on Friday, including the American aircraft carrier USS Dwight D. Eisenhower.

“This proves the global maritime community has great faith in the Suez Canal and Egypt’s ability to guarantee safety and security to different types of vessels,” Rabie was quoted in a statement.

Earlier, Leth Agencies said that a total of 357 vessels have crossed the Canal since the ship was re-floated by a flotilla of tugboats, helped by the tides. The number of vessels waiting to transit fell to 206 on Friday, the company said, from over 300 earlier in the week.

The Ever Given had crashed into a bank of a single-lane stretch of the canal about 6 kilometers (3.7 miles) north of the southern entrance, near the city of Suez. That forced some ships to take the long, alternate route around the Cape of Good Hope at Africa’s southern tip — a 5,000-kilometer (3,100-mile) detour that costs ships hundreds of thousands of dollars in fuel and other costs. Others waited in place for the blockage to be over.

The unprecedented shutdown, which raised fears of extended delays, goods shortages and rising costs for consumers, added to strain on the shipping industry, already under pressure from the coronavirus pandemic.

Copyright © 2021 . All rights reserved. This website is not intended for users located within the European Economic Area.

Kansas basketball coach Bill Self has agreed to a new contract that will keep him with the Jayhawks until he retires, even as the school awaits a decision from an independent panel investigating five Level I infractions charges alleged by the NCAA.

The school announced Friday that Self agreed to a five-year contract that adds one additional year after the conclusion of each season — in effect, making it a lifetime contract. The deal guarantees him $5.41 million per year with a base salary of $225,000, professional services contract of $2.75 million and an annual $2.435 million retention bonus.

Self was closing in on the end of a 10-year contract signed in September 2012 that guaranteed him $52.2 million along with a $7.2 million retention bonus. That bonus will be paid in $100,000 monthly installments over seven years.

“There is no place I would rather be,” Self said in a statement. “As we continue to work through the challenges facing our program, we look forward to moving ahead and focusing on our bright future.”

Some wondered whether the 58-year-old Self would depart before the Jayhawks are potentially dealt severe sanctions tied to the FBI’s investigation corruption into college basketball. The NCAA announced the five charges along with less serious transgressions involving the football program in September 2019. The school disputed the charges, setting off a back-and-forth chain of events that still have not been resolved.

The case is now in the hands of the NCAA’s new Independent Accountability Resolution Process. The IARP is made up of arbitrators who have broad investigative powers and whose judgement is considered final.

Self’s new contract includes a clause that says the school cannot terminate him for cause “due to any current infractions matter that involves conduct that occurred on or prior to” the signing of the new contract. Instead, he would forfeit half of his base salary and professional services pay while he served any suspension handed down by the Big 12 or NCAA.

It’s unclear when the IARP will announce a decision, though most expect it sometime this fall.

“For almost 20 years, Coach Self has embodied the spirit and tradition of the University of Kansas,” Chancellor Doug Girod said. “We believe in Coach Self and we believe in the future of our program under his leadership, and we are thrilled that he will continue to be a Jayhawk for the rest of his coaching career.”

The timing of Self’s new contract is also unique in that Kansas doesn’t currently have a full-time athletic director. Jeff Long resigned las month amid pressure from fans and donors following his botched hiring of football coach Les Miles, who likewise was forced to resign when allegations of sexual harassment surfaced from his days at LSU.

With the help of an advisory panel and an outside firm, Girod is currently conducting a search for a new AD while the football team begins spring practice under interim coach Emmett Jones. The new AD will lead the search for a new coach.

With so much uncertainty, perhaps it made sense that Kansas wanted to keep Self around for the foreseeable future.

“I have known Bill for many years, but working closely with him over the past few weeks in my current role has shown me even more so on a daily basis how deeply he cares about this program,” said Kurt Watson, a longtime athletic department official and the current interim athletic director.

“We are certainly proud that he began his coaching career as a graduate assistant at KU in 1985,” Watson said, “and that this new contract will ensure he finishes his coaching career here as well.”

Self, who played at Oklahoma State, started as a graduate assistant to Larry Brown with the Jayhawks before returning to his alma mater and working under Leonard Hamilton and Eddie Sutton. Self got his first head job with Oral Roberts, then headed to Tulsa, where two NCAA Tournament trips and an Elite Eight appearance earned him the job at Illinois.

Self also led the Illini to the Elite Eight during three seasons in Champaign before the job opened at Kansas.

Since his arrival in Lawrence, the Jayhawks have won at least 21 games every season — including this past one, which was shortened due to the COVID-19 pandemic and ended with a loss to USC in the second round of the NCAA Tournament.

The Jayhawks have won or shared 15 conference titles during his 18 seasons and never failed to make the NCAA tourney when it was played. Eight of those trips made it to the Elite Eight or beyond, including three appearances in the Final Four and two in the national title game. Kansas beat Memphis in overtime to win the 2008 championship.

“Every day I am reminded just how fortunate I am to lead this storied program and there truly is no place else I would rather be,” Self said.

Copyright © 2021 . All rights reserved. This website is not intended for users located within the European Economic Area.

NEW YORK (AP) — Stocks rose in many of the markets worldwide that were open on Good Friday, while Treasury yields rallied after a report showed U.S. employers added hundreds of thousands more jobs last month than economists expected.

The U.S. bond market closed early after an holiday-shortened session that saw the yield on the 10-year Treasury climb to 1.72% from 1.68% late Thursday. It’s been rising sharply this year on expectations that a supercharged economic recovery and higher inflation are on the way due to COVID-19 vaccinations and massive spending by the U.S. government. The yield began the year close to 0.90%.

In Asia, stocks in Tokyo, Seoul and Shanghai all rose a day after the S&P 500 passed the 4,000-point level for the first time. Many major stock markets were closed in observance of Good Friday, including in New York and much of Europe.

Futures for U.S. stock indexes rose, suggesting the S&P 500 may add to its record when trading resumes on Monday.

Friday morning’s U.S. jobs report was highly anticipated, and investors hoped it would show their expectations for a strong economic recovery were warranted. Hiring blew past expectations, with employers adding 916,000 more jobs than they cut last month. Economists had forecast growth of 617,500.

It was nearly double the jobs growth from February, and it was the strongest since August. The data helped S&P 500 futures climb 0.4%, following the 1.2% rise for the index on Thursday to an all-time high. Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average and Nasdaq 100 also climbed.

“This is about as clear as it gets, the reopening is happening faster than nearly anyone expected,” Ryan Detrick, chief market strategist for LPL Financial, said in a statement. He also pointed to how the U.S. government said hiring in January and February was stronger than earlier estimated.

The numbers reassured investors that a sustained recovery appears to be taking root as more people get vaccinated and businesses reopen. So too did a corner of the jobs report showing workers’ wages aren’t jumping yet, even as hiring accelerates.

Average hourly earnings dipped 0.1% in March from a month earlier, on a seasonally adjusted basis. While that’s frustrating for workers, it encourages investors who had worried that a burst of inflation may be on the way. If inflation were to shoot higher and remain there, it would likely send Treasury yields spiking even higher.

Higher interest rates make investors less willing to pay high prices for stocks, particularly those seen as the most expensive. They also hurt stocks of companies asking investors to wait many years for big profit growth to come to fruition. Such worries have hurt the momentum for big technology stocks in particular this year.

Helping to counterbalance such concerns in the stock market this year has been immense spending by the U.S. government, which investors expect to help boost corporate profits. President Joe Biden unveiled details of his latest push earlier this week, a $2.3 trillion plan to shore up the nation’s infrastructure.

In Asia, Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 index gained 1.6% to 29,854.00 on Friday. The Kospi in South Korea added 0.8% to 3,112.80, and stocks in Shanghai picked up 0.5% to 3,484.39.

__

AP Business Writer Elaine Kurtenbach contributed.

Copyright © 2021 . All rights reserved. This website is not intended for users located within the European Economic Area.

SEOUL, South Korea — South Korea’s daily increase in coronavirus infections exceeded 500 for the fourth straight day, a pace unseen since January, as experts raise concern about another viral surge amid a slow rollout in vaccines.

The 543 new cases reported by the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency on Saturday brought the national caseload to 104,736, including 1,740 deaths.

More than 320 of the new cases came from the Seoul metropolitan area, home to half of the country’s 51 million people, where officials have struggled to stem transmissions tied to various places, including bars, offices, factories, schools, and gyms.

Health authorities this week said they are considering whether to approve rapid coronavirus tests that would allow people to regularly test themselves at home as they look for further tools to fight the virus.

South Korea has wrestled with a slower rollout of vaccines than many other developed economies, with officials insisting they could afford a wait-and-see approach as its outbreak isn’t as dire as in the United States or Europe.

____

THE VIRUS OUTBREAK:

VACCINES: More than 101.8 million people, or 30.7% of the U.S. population, have received at least one dose of a coronavirus vaccine, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Some 57.9 million people, or 17.5% of the population, have completed their vaccination.

CASES: The seven-day rolling average for daily new cases in the U.S. increased over the past two weeks from 54,696 on March 18 to 65,684 on Thursday, according to Johns Hopkins University.

DEATHS: The seven-day rolling average for daily new deaths in the U.S. decreased over the past two weeks decreased from 1,228 on March 18 to 869 on Thursday, according to Johns Hopkins University.

— CDC: Those fully vaccinated can travel again in U.S.

— UK bans travel from 4 more nations over virus; 39 in all

___

Follow AP’s pandemic coverage at https://apnews.com/hub/coronavirus-pandemic, https://apnews.com/hub/coronavirus-vaccine and https://apnews.com/UnderstandingtheOutbreak

___

SAN FRANCISCO — California on Friday cleared the way for people to attend indoor concerts, theater performances and NBA games for the first time in more than a year as the rate of people testing positive for the coronavirus in the state nears a record low.

State officials won’t require testing or proof of vaccination for some of those events, but they do limit the number of people allowed to attend. Events that do require testing and vaccinations will be allowed to have more paying customers than those that don’t. Only people who live in California can attend these live performances.

The rules are different for private indoor gatherings, including weddings, meetings or conferences. Those are only to be allowed if all guests test negative for the coronavirus at least 72 hours in advance or show proof of full vaccination.

“Allowing some of these activities and opportunities to vaccinated individuals is an incentive,” said Dee Dee Myers, director of the Governor’s Office of Business and Economic Development. “If they can return to some of their favorite activities because they’re vaccinated then hopefully a few more people will go and get vaccinated.”

The new rules seem to nudge California toward a system of vaccine verification, a hotly debated issue across the country. New York has launched a digital pass residents can use to show proof of vaccination or a negative COVID-19 test that is accepted at major entertainment venues. But Florida Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis issued an executive order on Friday banning businesses from requiring so-called “vaccine passports.”

___

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Despite promises from Gov. Gavin Newsom to build an “army” of contact tracers to contain the coronavirus pandemic, a new audit says California mustered less than half of the number promised.

But even if the staffing goals were met, it would not have been enough. The intended number of contact tracers was based on an assumption that California would average 5,000 new coronavirus infections a day. But the nation’s most populated state averaged 25,000 per day from late November to the end of December.

“The sheer number of cases has overwhelmed local health jurisdictions’ contact tracing efforts,” State Auditor Elaine Howle wrote in the report released Thursday.

Public health officials say one of the best ways to slow the spread of a dangerous disease is to contact infected people and retrace their steps. The goal is to identify others who have been exposed, contact them and ask them to quarantine before they can spread the virus to others.

Contact tracing was central to California’s strategy early in the pandemic. The Department of Public Health estimated the state needed 31,400 contact tracers. Newsom pledged to train 10,000 state workers and deploy them to help local public health departments meet that goal.

But by January, California had just 12,100 contact tracers, including 2,262 state workers.

That month, the state reported 834,000 COVID-19 infections. Local health officials tried to contact 85% of those people, but reached just 40%. Of those they did interview, officials identified others at risk of exposure in just 16% of total cases in January.

___

LINCOLN, Neb. — A 31-year-old Nebraska cattle rancher is recovering after doctors replaced his coronavirus-damaged lungs.

The Lincoln Journal-Star reports that Jake Immink, of Fairbury, got sick around Halloween and wound up hospitalized on a ventilator for months. His lungs were so damaged that his only chance for a fairly normal life was a double-lung transplant.

He underwent the surgery March 20 after losing weight and building up strength. He put his new lungs to the test this week, walking a mile and a half.

“I fully expect him to be herding cattle this summer,” said Dr. Heather Strah, a transplant pulmonologist with Nebraska Medicine in Omaha.

Doing transplants for patients whose lungs are damaged by an acute illness is rare, although it has become more common because of COVID-19. Strah said she’s aware of about 40 that have been done since the start of the pandemic, but Immink’s was the first in Nebraska.

Immink said he wants to be a cautionary tale to people who may not think COVID-19 is a big deal, and he encouraged everyone to get vaccinated as soon as they can.

“I just hope everyone takes it serious and we can get back to a normal life,” he said.

___

OKLAHOMA CITY — Data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention showed nearly a third of Oklahomans have received at least one coronavirus vaccination.

Data showed more than 1.26 million people in the state have received at least one dose, about 32% of the state’s nearly 4 million residents. More than 753,000 people have completed their vaccinations.

Deputy state health Commissioner Keith Reed said the total number of doses given has topped 2 million.

The state had the 22nd highest percentage of the population receiving at least one dose, according to data from Johns Hopkins University.

The rolling average of new Oklahoma coronavirus cases declined by 27.4% during the past two weeks from 447.3 per day to 324.7, according to the Johns Hopkins data.

Totals of 439,149 cases and 7,932 deaths since the pandemic began were reported by the Oklahoma State Department of Health, increases of 372 cases from Thursday and 34 additional deaths. The health department cited CDC death counts in its report.

___

MISSION, Kan. — Kansas counties already had started dropping or weakening mask rules before lawmakers toppled Gov. Laura Kelly’s newly reissued order requiring them. More counties are expected to follow suit.

Kelly’s order was similar to one passed in November. It was always porous, allowing the state’s 105 counties to set their own possibly less restrictive rules or opt out of the order entirely.

The Democratic governor was required to reissue it Thursday under a new Kansas law. That law also gives eight top legislators the power to reject her efforts to set rules to address the pandemic.

The lawmakers overturned Kelly’s order hours later on a party-line vote. That left counties that hadn’t set their own rules without mask requirements.

___

The race is on to vaccinate as many Americans as possible against COVID-19, but a significant number of people in the U.S. are still reluctant to get the shots, even in places where they are plentiful. That’s according to a new poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research.

The poll reports that 25% of Americans say they probably or definitely will not get vaccinated.

The holdouts are leery about possible side effects. They tend to be Republican, and they are usually younger and less susceptible to becoming critically ill or dying if they catch COVID-19.

There’s been a slight shift, though, since the first weeks of the nation’s largest-ever vaccination campaign, which began in mid-December. An AP-NORC poll conducted in late January showed that 67% of adult Americans were willing to get vaccinated or had already received at least one shot. Now that figure has climbed to 75%.

___

PHOENIX — The governor of Arizona is demanding that Phoenix drop plans to close parking lots and grills at city parks on Easter weekend.

Gov. Doug Ducey blasted Phoenix Mayor Kate Gallego for the move, escalating a long-simmering fight between the Republican governor and Democratic mayor.

The city says parks are open but parking is restricted to discourage large gatherings that can lead to a surge in COVID-19 cases. Ducey says the decision will only drive gatherings indoors where virus transmission is more likely.

The governor’s comments come as Arizona reports the largest daily increase in confirmed COVID-19 infections in three weeks with 940 additional cases along with 12 more deaths.

___

PORTLAND, Ore. — Oregon’s top public health official says the governor needs to “start raising a ruckus” over what he sees as an unfair supply of the COVID-19 vaccine sent to Oregon by the federal government compared to other states.

Oregon Health Authority Director Patrick Allen said in a letter to Gov. Kate Brown that if Oregon received the same amount of vaccine doses per capita as California, Oregon could have vaccinated an additional 150,000 residents by now.

He says if Oregon got as much vaccine as Kansas, that number rises to 227,000 additional Oregonians vaccinated.

Oregon ranks 39th in doses administered.

___

BELGRADE, Serbia — Serbia has received the first shipment of vaccines via the international COVAX mechanism.

International and the officials from the Serbian government welcomed at the Belgrade airport the delivery of 57,600 doses of AstraZeneca vaccines.

Serbia has separately acquired vaccines primarily China’s Sinopharm and also Pfizer-BioNTech, Russia’s Sputnik V and AstraZeneca. The country of 7 million so far has vaccinated some 1.5 million people with at least one dose.

Authorities also proposed to allow bars and restaurants to serve guests outside and stay open longer from next week, although nearly 5,000 new cases were reported in the past 24 hours and 39 people died.

Serbian doctors have repeatedly called for tougher measures warning that the system is highly-strung, but the government argues that lockdown is hurting the economy.

___

ISLAMABAD — Pakistani authorities announced to start walk-in vaccination of people who are 65-year-old or above amid a spike in fatalities and confirmed cases from coronavirus.

The older people can just walk in to designated medical facilities to get vaccination, according to the country’s National Command and Control Center which oversees Pakistan’s response to COVID-19.

The announcement comes after Pakistan imported 1 million doses of the Sinopharm vaccine from China, the first purchase that comes after initial donations. Pakistan is currently in the middle of the third wave of coronavirus.

Pakistan on Friday reported over 5,000 new cases in the past 24 hours, the highest single-day infection rate since June 2020.

Pakistan has reported a total of 678,165 infection cases and 14,613 deaths from coronavirus since last year.

___

CAMDEN, Ala. — Residents 16 and older will be eligible for COVID-19 vaccinations in Alabama on Monday, expanding an immunization program that ranks last in the nation.

Gov. Kay Ivey, who made the announcement Friday after touring a National Guard vaccine clinic in her home county of Wilcox, called the vaccine against the coronavirus “our ticket back to normal.”

The expansion of the vaccines means about 4 million of the state’s 4.9 million residents will be eligible for shots.

The state is currently receiving 115,000 first doses weekly, according to the governor’s office. More than 1.1 million people have received at least one vaccine dose in Alabama, and more than 660,000 are fully vaccinated.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention statistics indicate Alabama is last in the nation for one-shot vaccinations (24.7%), with neighboring Georgia, Mississippi and Tennessee only slightly better.

More than 10,600 people have died from the coronavirus in Alabama, which has reported 516,000 cases.

___

PHOENIX — Arizona health officials are preparing to move the state’s largest COVID-19 vaccination site indoors as temperatures rise.

Gov. Doug Ducey says the site will move April 23 from the parking lot of the NFL’s Arizona Cardinals stadium in Glendale to the air-conditioned interior of the nearby NHL’s Arizona Coyotes arena. It will stop its current 24-hour-a-day operations and run from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.

Ducey made the announcement as the state reported its largest daily increase in confirmed cases in three weeks with 940 infections and 12 more deaths.

___

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis issued an executive order banning businesses from requiring customers to show proof that they’ve been vaccinated to get service.

The Republican governor had previously announced his intent to issue an order banning so-called “vaccine passports.” His action also barred any government agency in Florida from issuing such documentation for the purpose of providing proof of vaccinations.

In his executive order, DeSantis asserts “vaccination passports reduce individual freedom and will harm patient privacy.”

The order doesn’t preclude businesses, such as restaurants and retail stores, from screening protocols and other measures recommended by state and federal health officials.

Florida has reported more than 2 million cases and nearly 33,500 confirmed deaths.

___

ANKARA, Turkey — Turkey reported 42,308 coronavirus cases on Friday, a single-day record for infections.

The new infections pushed the total number of cases to 3.4 million.

This week, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s government reinstated weekend lockdown in most of Turkey’s provinces. He also announced restrictions over the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, amid a new surge of infections in the country.

About 75% of the infections have been traced to the more contagious variant first identified in Britain, according to the health ministry.

Turkey’s overall confirmed death toll rose to 31,892, with 179 deaths reported in the past 24 hours.

Copyright © 2021 . All rights reserved. This website is not intended for users located within the European Economic Area.

The Latest on the effects of the novel coronavirus on sports around the world:

___

Dallas Mavericks coach Rick Carlisle will miss Friday’s game at the New York Knicks after testing positive for COVID-19 the morning of the game.

Carlisle says he has been fully vaccinated since January and wasn’t experiencing any symptoms. The 61-year-old was hopeful it was a false positive and he would still be able to coach against New York.

The official word that Carlisle was out came just a few minutes before tipoff. Assistant Jamahl Mosley is filling in. Carlisle’s next game will be his 1,500th in the regular season as a head coach.

After the positive test, Carlisle stayed behind at the team hotel. He met virtually with reporters about an hour before the game to announce the positive test while revealing publicly for the first time that he is vaccinated.

The Mavericks were hit hard by COVID-19 in January, with as many as four rotation players sidelined at the same time. The club’s record suffered as a result, but Dallas entered the New York game 17-8 since being a season-high five games under .500 in early February.

___

Atlanta United will allow 50% capacity for its home opener of the Major League Soccer season.

The team plans to open the two lowest levels of 71,000-seat Mercedes-Benz Stadium for the April 24 match against Chicago Fire.

Officials say they will determine stadium on a match-by-match basis.

Atlanta United has set numerous attendance records since joining MLS in 2017. The team generally closes off the upper deck for home games, limiting capacity to around 42,500, but does open the entire stadium for selected games.

“We’re excited to be able to kick off our 2021 season at 50% capacity,” said Catie Griggs, Atlanta United’s chief business officer. “This allows for seating pods to remain distanced from one another, while providing more of our season ticket members the opportunity to safely attend our first match.”

___

The NHL has moved Winnipeg’s home game against Ottawa that was originally scheduled for May 7 to Monday.

The league announced the schedule change Friday and said it was a result of recently postponed games affecting the Jets and Vancouver Canucks.

The Canucks have had their games postponed through Tuesday after two players and a member of the coaching staff entered the league’s COVID protocol.

The postponed contests include games originally scheduled for Sunday and Tuesday in Winnipeg.

___

The Washington Nationals say their season-opening three-game series against the New York Mets has been postponed because of coronavirus concerns.

That includes games scheduled for Saturday and Sunday at Nationals Park. Thursday night’s game already had been put off.

At least three Nationals players have tested positive for COVID-19, the illness caused by the novel coronavirus.

General manager Mike Rizzo said Thursday a fourth player has been deemed a “likely positive.”

The team’s statement announcing the series has been scrapped said the decision was “due to continued follow-up testing and contact tracing involving members of the Nationals organization.”

___

More AP sports: https://apnews.com/hub/apf-sports and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports

Copyright © 2021 . All rights reserved. This website is not intended for users located within the European Economic Area.