Day: August 5, 2021

The coronavirus pandemic has hit the lower-wage service jobs disproportionately in the US and labor market recovery could persist through 2022, according to Fitch Ratings.

“Employment recovery is far from complete and largely unequal,” the global rating agency said in a statement on Wednesday.

More than 22 million people in the US lost their jobs in March and April of 2020 due to the pandemic. The world’s largest economy still had 9.5 million unemployed as of June, according to Labor Department figures.

“We’re seeing widening of existing inequalities and a rise in the risk of long-term labor force detachment and economic scarring in the most affected states,” Fitch Senior Director Olu Sonola said in the statement.

“The segment of the population that has been unemployed for an extended period of time is most at risk for the impending government support cliff,” he added.

While the labor market is very tight in the states of Vermont and New Hampshire, it is showing slack in Hawaii, California, and New York, according to Fitch.

South Dakota and Kansas are the only states that are now back to the pre-pandemic level of high employment to population ratio, whereas West Virginia and New Mexico have the lowest ratio, Fitch noted.

Source: Anadolu Agency

US athlete Katie Nageotte won a gold medal in women’s pole vault at Tokyo 2020 Olympics on Thursday.

Nageotte, 30, jumped 4.90 meters in the final to be the Olympic champion in the Japanese capital.

Russian Olympic Committee’s Anzhelika Sidorova took silver with 4.85 meters.

Holly Bradshaw from Great Britain had a bronze medal with 4.85 meters, the same height with Sidorova.

The Tokyo 2020 Olympics will run through Aug. 8.

Source: Anadolu Agency

Major stock markets in Asia closed mixed on Wednesday, while Europe turned lower before the Bank of England’s decision despite two indices hitting new record highs.

Asia Dow, which includes blue-chip companies in the region, rose 9 points, or 0.23%, to close at 3,880.

Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 stock exchange, climbed 144, or 0.52%, to 27,728 points.

Hang Seng, the benchmark for blue-chip stocks trading on the Hong Kong stock exchange, decreased 221.86 points, or 0.84%, to 26,205, while China’s Shanghai stock exchange was down 10.67, or 0.31%, to 3,466 points.

On Wednesday, three stock markets recovered from their losses in the previous session to end higher, except Japan, as they posted gains between 0.46% and 0.88%.

In Europe, major indices saw increases earlier with STOXX Europe and CAC 40 renewing their records, but later some indices turned lower before the Bank of England’s (BoE) critical interest rate decision at 1100GMT.

Although the central bank is expected to continue its stimulus program and keep the interest rate unchanged despite rising inflation, experts believe the bank would raise its inflation forecasts.

STOXX Europe 600, which includes around 90% of the market capitalization of the European market in 17 European countries, was up 0.33% to 469.75 points at 1024GMT. The French stock market, CAC 40, stood at 6,777 with a 0.46% gain. Both indexes hit their all-time highs earlier in the session with 470.23 and 6,785.92 points, respectively.

London’s FTSE 100 and Spain’s IBEX 35 turned negative to 7,123 and 8,780 points, respectively.

While Germany’s DAX 30 was up 0.12% to 15,711 at that time, Italy’s Borsa Italiana FTSE MIB 30 gained 0.15% to 25,528.

European indices closed Wednesday higher with technology stocks seeing a 20-year high.

Source: Anadolu Agency

Turkey has administered more than 74.92 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines since it launched a mass vaccination campaign in January, according to figures released on Thursday.

The country continues its intensive vaccination campaign to curb the spread of the coronavirus, as everyone 18 and over is eligible for vaccine shots.

According to the Health Ministry, over 41.45 million people have gotten their first dose, while more than 28.15 million are fully vaccinated.

Turkey is also administering third COVID-19 vaccine booster shots, and over 5.3 million such doses have been given.

To date, 66.77% of the country’s adult population has received at least one dose of the two-step vaccines.

The ministry also confirmed 24,297 new infections and 108 coronavirus-related deaths in the last 24 hours, while as many as 6,636 more patients recovered.

Following the country’s Scientific Committee Meeting, Health Minister Fahrettin Koca said on Wednesday that Turkey will get nearly 13 million doses of BioNTech vaccines by Monday.

Amid a nationwide drop in cases and an expedited vaccination drive, Turkey entered a new normalization phase on July 1, lifting almost all virus-related restrictions.

However, seeking to limit the spread of the Delta variant, the country suspended flights from India and required arrivals from the UK, Iran, Egypt, and Singapore to have negative COVID-19 test results taken within 72 hours prior.

Since December 2019, the pandemic has claimed nearly 4.26 million lives in 192 countries and regions, with over 200.5 million cases reported, according to the US’ Johns Hopkins University.

Source: Anadolu Agency

Barcelona officially confirmed the departure of Argentine superstar Lionel Messi on Thursday due to “financial and structural” issues.

The talks over a new deal between with former team captain and Barcelona broke down as Messi’s contract expired in June.

“Despite club and player reaching an agreement and their clear intention to sign a new contract today, this cannot happen because of financial and structural obstacles,” the La Liga club said in a statement.

“As a result of this situation, Messi shall not be staying on at FC Barcelona. Both parties deeply regret that the wishes of the player and the club will ultimately not be fulfilled.”

Barcelona also expressed gratitude to Messi for his contribution to the club and wished him the best for his future career.

Having spent his entire football career at Barcelona since 2004, the 34-year old forward led the Spanish club to earn 10 La Liga and four UEFA Champions League titles.

The six-time Ballon d’Or holder also won seven Copa del Rey, three FIFA Club World Cups, and three UEFA Super Cups.

Source: Anadolu Agency

A total of 782 hand grenades dating back to the World War I era were found during archaeological excavations at the historical site in southeastern Turkey.

They were found in Amida Mound, or Amida Hoyuk – known as the heart of Diyarbakir province – which is located in the historical Sur district.

It was home to civilizations such as the Hurri-Mitannis, Urartians, Assyrians, Medes, Persians, Tigran, the Great Kingdom, Romans, Sassanids, Byzantines, Umayyads, Abbasids, Safavids, Ayyubid dynasty, Marwanids, Seljuks, Ottomans, and Artuqids.

Professor Irfan Yildiz from Dicle University, who is heading excavations, said his team is exploring “new surprises” every day.

Hand grenades were discovered in an area where renowned Islamic scholar Ismail Al-Jazari conducted scientific studies, he said.

Al-Jazari, a man of wisdom and a genius who was born in the 12th century and died in the early 13th century, inspired cybernetic and robotic sciences with his centuries-old inventions and he influenced modern systems of the steam engine and to some extent, automatic controls.

Yildiz underlined that the team found ammunition belonging to the Ottoman period on July 29 in the northwest part of the city’s walls.

“After two days of work, all the ammunition was unearthed. It was understood that the ammunition was used by both the Ottomans and Allied powers in the World War I,” he said, adding that the grenades were of Ottoman, British and German origin.

He said the grenades were taken by police for examination.

“After the examinations, those that can be emptied will be handed over to us and exhibited in museums,” said Yildiz, adding that the others will be destroyed.

He also highlighted that the ammunition was buried inside a stone wall and was covered with raft stones.

“Diyarbakir was an important center in the World War I, it was the headquarters of the 13th Corps. We think that the weapons that were not wanted to be delivered after the Armistice of Mudros (signed on Oct. 30, 1918, following the World War I) were buried here and that these weapons are those ones,” he added.

*Writing by Jeyhun Aliyev from Ankara

Source: Anadolu Agency