Leos fortune

BERLIN: Bruno Labbadia might have been seen as a rather desperate appointment by Hertha Berlin but his reputation as a coaching "fireman" has been consolidated by a flying start to his job. Labbadia became Hertha’s fourth coach of the season when they hired him in April, amid the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown, turning to a man whose trips on the Bundesliga carousel have taken him to a record 10 different clubs as player and coach. Hertha were six points above the relegation zone when the 54-year-old Labbadia took over and his task was to stop them from slipping into further danger. "With Bruno we get someone who has known the Bundesliga in detail for many years as a player and coach and has shown that he can stabilise teams," Hertha technical director Michael Preetz said. Labbadia’s impact has been a lot more than that, however, turning Hertha into one of the few form sides since the resumption of action in mid-May. They have jumped up the standings with 10 points from four … [Read more...] about Fireman Labbadia reviving Hertha’s fortunes

DUBLIN: Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar raised the prospect on Friday (May 29) of halving social distancing rules from two metres to one if the rate of coronavirus infections comes down further in a potential boost to still shuttered restaurants and pubs. Facing one of the longest shutdowns in Europe, Ireland's hospitality sector has called for the guidelines to be eased in line with a number of other European countries, saying it could be the difference between some operators reopening or not. "Before we can relax that rule and maybe reduce it to 1 (metre), which I know a lot of people would like, we just need to see the virus come down a bit more. We're not at that point yet but I think there's a good chance we get there, just not quite yet," Varadkar told Ireland's FM104 radio station. The daily number of new COVID-19 cases has stayed below 100 for 13 of the last 14 days and the so-called "reproduction rate" narrowed further to 0.4 to 0.5 this week, a trend the country's … [Read more...] about COVID-19: Irish PM says good chance social distancing rule can be relaxed

SINGAPORE: COVID-19 might be "with us for a long time", but the coronavirus can be contained if Singapore follows its "dance steps", said leading infectious diseases specialist Leo Yee Sin on Thursday (May 14). Calling the ongoing "circuit breaker" a "hammer" to curb the spread of the virus, she said that while strict safe distancing measures have flattened the infection curve in the community, such restrictions are "not sustainable". "Eventually, we need to come out of that lockdown situation," said Professor Leo, who was speaking at a webinar organised by the NUS Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine and National University Health System. However, it's unlikely that the virus will be eliminated, so the next step would be to minimise its impact, she said. "What is left is for us to now develop a system to be able to contain the virus in a way that we basically follow the dance step of the virus," said Prof Leo, who is the executive director of the National Centre for Infectious … [Read more...] about COVID-19 could be with us for a long time, but it can be contained: Head of NCID

REUTERS: Biotech firm Moderna Inc could reap tens of billions of dollars in sales and stock appreciation if it wins the race for a COVID-19 vaccine. If it loses, the early-stage company’s value could crash. In the meantime, the firm’s chief executive is pocketing millions of dollars every month by selling shares that have tripled in price on news of Moderna’s development progress, a Reuters analysis of corporate filings shows. The sales - by CEO Stéphane Bancel, his childrens’ trust and companies he owns - amount to about US$21 million between January 1 and June 26, including US$6 million in May. The company’s chief medical officer, Tal Zaks, has cashed out the majority of his available stock and options, netting over US$35 million since January, the filings show. The lucrative liquidations highlight the unusually powerful incentives for biotech executives to highlight development milestones for drugs that often never get approved or sold, according to interviews with seven … [Read more...] about How Moderna execs are cashing in on COVID-19 vaccine stock speculation

If you are a logical person, you can either believe in God or in life insurance. You can’t believe in both. But most people I know believe in both. They pray to God and pay their premiums. I do neither. I used to believe in God, but not anymore. I blame Modiji for that. When he said, “Be atmanirbhar’, I decided I’ll no longer depend on a Being whose existence, according to Twitter, is a disputed claim. Did I then go and buy life insurance? No, that’s where things get complicated. I find the very concept of life insurance morally suspect and existentially contradictory. Let me explain. The whole idea of life insurance is that you go on paying little sums of money to someone so that you get a big sum of money AFTER you die. They even have a name for it: ‘death benefit’. To me, ‘death benefit’ sounds a lot like torture benefit. Or lobotomy benefit. Or Achhe Din benefit. Call me selfish or whatever, but I can’t convince myself to shell out my hard-earned money — after paying income … [Read more...] about Why life insurance is nonsense