President Mahmud Abbas renewed a coronavirus lockdown in Palestinian-ruled areas of the West Bank for a further month late Monday, though some measures will be eased.
The state of emergency in place since March 22 will now last until at least June 5, Abbas announced.
But movement between cities in the Israeli-occupied territory will be eased and steps taken towards reopening shops and other businesses, he added.
The measures do not apply to the Gaza Strip, another part of the Palestinian territories which is run by the rival Hamas-led government and where restrictions have already been eased.
So far there have been 345 confirmed cases of the novel coronavirus in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, with two deaths.
Israel has more than 15,000 cases and the Palestinian government is concerned that the tens of thousands of Palestinians working inside Israel could bring fresh cases, especially with the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Fitr at the end of the month.
Israel imposed similar measures to prevent gatherings during recent Jewish and national holidays.
The virus causes mild to moderate symptoms in most patients, who recover within a few weeks, but it can cause severe illness or death, particularly older people and those with underlying health problems.
Israel has reported more than 16,000 cases and 223 deaths.
Superliminal%20
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The other virus: bigotry
Email sent to Uber team from chief executive Dara Khosrowshahi
From: Dara
To: Team@
Date: March 25, 2019 at 11:45pm PT
Subj: Accelerating in the Middle East
Five years ago, Uber launched in the Middle East. It was the start of an incredible journey, with millions of riders and drivers finding new ways to move and work in a dynamic region that’s become so important to Uber. Now Pakistan is one of our fastest-growing markets in the world, women are driving with Uber across Saudi Arabia, and we chose Cairo to launch our first Uber Bus product late last year.
Today we are taking the next step in this journey—well, it’s more like a leap, and a big one: in a few minutes, we’ll announce that we’ve agreed to acquire Careem. Importantly, we intend to operate Careem independently, under the leadership of co-founder and current CEO Mudassir Sheikha. I’ve gotten to know both co-founders, Mudassir and Magnus Olsson, and what they have built is truly extraordinary. They are first-class entrepreneurs who share our platform vision and, like us, have launched a wide range of products—from digital payments to food delivery—to serve consumers.
I expect many of you will ask how we arrived at this structure, meaning allowing Careem to maintain an independent brand and operate separately. After careful consideration, we decided that this framework has the advantage of letting us build new products and try new ideas across not one, but two, strong brands, with strong operators within each. Over time, by integrating parts of our networks, we can operate more efficiently, achieve even lower wait times, expand new products like high-capacity vehicles and payments, and quicken the already remarkable pace of innovation in the region.
This acquisition is subject to regulatory approval in various countries, which we don’t expect before Q1 2020. Until then, nothing changes. And since both companies will continue to largely operate separately after the acquisition, very little will change in either teams’ day-to-day operations post-close. Today’s news is a testament to the incredible business our team has worked so hard to build.
It’s a great day for the Middle East, for the region’s thriving tech sector, for Careem, and for Uber.
Uber on,
Dara
'HIJRAH%3A%20IN%20THE%20FOOTSTEPS%20OF%20THE%20PROPHET'
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