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BANGKOK, Sept 3 (Reuters) - Thailand's Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra on Tuesday said part of the government's vaunted 450 billion baht ($13.1 billion) "digital wallet" handout will be distributed in cash, in another change to its flagship populist policy. Details are still being finalised and will be announced in a policy statement to parliament, she added. The digital wallet handout had previously entailed transferring 10,000 baht ($292) in credit to 50 million Thais via a smartphone application to spend in their localities within six months.

Iran is reportedly advancing its secret nuclear weapons program, bringing it closer to the capability of building a nuclear bomb, according to an exclusive report citing Iranian officials published on Wednesday by Iran International. Three independent sources in Iran, who have chosen to remain anonymous due to the sensitive nature of the information, told Iran International that the Islamic Republic has made significant progress in its nuclear program.

Algerian boxer Imane Khelif gave an interview Sunday night urging folks to not bully Olympic athletes online, but her compassion was completely misplaced - it focused solely on her, not the women she and fellow alleged XY-chromosome holder Lin Yu-Ting have physically bullied over the past week, women whose lifelong dreams were shattered. In an AP article headlined, "Olympic boxer Imane Khelif calls for end to bullying after backlash over gender misconceptions," Khelif is quoted as saying: “I send a message to all the people of the world to uphold the Olympic principles and the Olympic Charter, to refrain from...

SAN FRANCISCO (KGO) -- During the height of the pandemic, many Bay Area school children took part in what families say was advertised as free COVID-19 testing at schools covered by the CARES Act. But now three years later, some families say they're still receiving bills from the lab that conducted the tests. That lab is now suing health insurance companies for reimbursements they say they're owed. As COVID raged during the early pandemic, COVID testing at schools was critical and welcomed. "The testing was supposed to be free testing that we got that was performed by a laboratory that...

head of President Biden’s first address in the Oval Office since announcing he was dropping out of the presidential race, the North American Aerospace Defense Command Public Affairs (NORAD) says it sent out fighter jets to intercept two Russian Tu-95 "Bear" bombers and two Chinese H-6 bombers off the coast of Alaska. In a press release from NORAD, the agency confirmed that they detected, tracked, and intercepted two Russian TU-95 and two PRC H-6 military aircraft operating in the Alaska Air Defense Identification Zone (ADIZ) on July 24.

WASHINGTON — Amid delays and cost overruns for key F-35 upgrades, officials have increasingly emphasized the need to tackle a top issue for the Joint Strike Fighter enterprise: a limited and aging testing infrastructure, whose woes could delay or endanger future upgrades to the jet. And now that a brand new F-35 test jet crashed last week, the stealth fighter’s testing problems could get even worse, fleet numbers shared exclusively with Breaking Defense show. “Any crash of our military aircraft is of utmost concern. While we know that expanding F-35 test capacity is the first step to fundamental F-35 transformation,...

Yale University will once again require standardized testing for students applying for admission in the fall of 2025. The decision, announced today, ends the test-optional undergraduate admissions process that had been in place at Yale since the pandemic. According to the announcement, the past four years of test-optional admissions had given Yale what it described as “an invaluable opportunity to think deeply about testing policy and to generate new data and analyses. With testing availability now fully restored for prospective applicants around the world, we have reevaluated our policy with the benefit of fresh insights.” Yale is describing its new...

Nearly four years after announcing it would temporarily remove the testing requirement for applicants, Dartmouth has announced it is reinstating the SAT.When Dartmouth suspended its standardized testing requirement for undergraduate applicants in June 2020, it was a pragmatic pause taken by most colleges and universities in response to an unprecedented global pandemic. At the time, we imagined the resulting "test-optional" policy as a short-term practice rather than an informed commentary on the role of testing in our holistic evaluation process. Nearly four years later, having studied the role of testing in our admissions process as well as its value as...

(NEXSTAR) — With respiratory illness spiking across the country, there’s a good chance you’re sick to start the new year. Maybe you have the symptoms of COVID-19, prompting you to take a test or two that you received for free from the federal government in 2023. It’s also possible you’re testing negative. While there is a relatively obvious reason why your test is negative (more on that in a moment), there is another less obvious possibility you may be overlooking.

HEALTH Infectious disease doctor says COVID testing is vital this fall as symptoms are less severe or obvious minnesota BY MARIELLE MOHS OCTOBER 15, 2023 / 5:46 PM / CBS MINNESOTA MINNEAPOLIS -- Flu season is well underway and now it's partnered up with the latest worldwide virus, COVID, as our "new normal." However, the impact of the virus for many is less severe. "I don't think there's going to be a public health recommendation for masking. It's just too potentially controversial," said Dr. Frank Rhame, an Allina Heath Infectious Disease Physician. Rhame says mandatory masking isn't coming back, even...

Experts on San Francisco, drugs and crime responded to San Francisco Mayor London Breed's Tuesday proposal to require residents who wish to receive welfare services to comply with mandatory drug testing and treatment programs. Breed's announcement comes amid growing pressure to hold back the city’s homeless and fentanyl crises and as challengers to Breed as mayor continue to throw their name in for office in 2024. "She's in trouble," former San Francisco councilman and business owner Tony Hall told FOX News Digital. "She's found her administration is under increasing fire from the voters in San Francisco. She has to do...

Florida’s public university system on Friday voted to approve the Classic Learning Test (CLT), a college entrance exam, making it the first state to accept an alternative to the SAT. Backed by Christian schools and conservative political groups, the CLT was first introduced in December 2015 and is currently accepted by over 250 American colleges and universities, according to its website. The $59 online test consists of a three-section, two-hour exam that assesses verbal reasoning, grammar and writing as well as quantitative reasoning. Students will also have the ability to view their scores the same day they complete the test....

First lady Jill Biden tested negative for COVID-19 on Thursday, her office announced, four days after she tested positive for the virus. The first lady tested positive Monday night and has been staying at the Bidens’ home in Rehoboth Beach, Del., since then. President Biden has been testing every day after her results and has been negative Tuesday, Wednesday and once more Thursday, just before he leaves for the Group of 20 summit in India.

Abbott Labs lays off another 199 workers at Westbrook COVID-test plant By Kay Neufeld May 23, 2023 Abbott Laboratories, one of the country’s largest producers of COVID-19 test kits, on Tuesday said it has laid off 199 workers at its Westbrook manufacturing facility because of dwindling demand for the tests. The job cut follows one in February, and brings the number of Maine-based Abbott employees who have lost their positions over the past two years to more than 800. In February, the Chicago-based pharmaceutical company did not provide an exact count of laid-off workers, though a notice sent to the...

Before he was Mr. “I would’ve fired Fauci”, Rob DeSantis was a poster boy for the CDC, who had a bizzare infatuation with Chinese made Covid tests pic.twitter.com/5D5nr5p5TL— johnny maga (@_johnnymaga) March 22, 2023

A law signed by Gov. Tom Wolf on Nov. 3 encourages doctors to test pregnant women, and children up to 2 years old, who they believe have been exposed to lead. Act 150 is a smart move, but it doesn’t go far enough. Lead is everywhere — especially in industrial regions with older housing, which means Pittsburgh and vast swaths of Pennsylvania. Sen. Lisa Baker, R.-Luzerne, wanted Act 150 to make testing mandatory, but it was watered down in the amendment process. Now she’s reintroducing a bill to switch “encourage” back to “require,” making lead testing mandatory for all young...

Several of China's largest medical testing companies have posted big increases in profit for the first three quarters of the year, as the country's strict zero-COVID policy boosts spending in a minority of sectors while depressing the broader economy. Over the past two weeks, at least six such companies have reported a soaring jump in earnings. Shanghai Labway reported a 241 per cent year-on-year increase in net profit between January and September to 604 million yuan (US$82.70 million) while Guangdong Hybribio recorded a 130 per cent increase over that same period to 1.49 billion yuan, according to stock exchange statements.

Dr. Rochelle Walensky, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has tested positive for COVID for the second time in recent weeks despite a course of the antiviral Paxlovid. The “fully vaccinated” 53-year-old first contracted the virus on October 21, eventually tested negative, but then came down with symptoms again and is now home in Massachusetts isolating.CDC director Rochelle Walensky, who got five covid shots and still got covid, has now tested positive for covid again. The sixth shot will definitely keep all this from happening, guys.— Clay Travis (@ClayTravis) October 31, 2022Like President Joe Biden, Chief...

Our thousands of nuclear weapons were designed, tested and built in the 1960s, ’70s and ’80s to win the Cold War. None of these weapons has been tested since 1992, over a quarter century ago. Nor has a single new weapon been designed, tested or built during this same period. The tens of thousands of active nuclear weapons scientists in our three nuclear weapons labs have never designed, tested and built a nuclear weapon. Nuclear weapons are the most complex systems ever created by man. The detonation of a nuclear weapon is so complex that there are many activities and...

Canada’s federal government will likely drop its COVID-19 vaccine requirement for people entering Canada at the end of the month, a government source said on Tuesday. The source, who was not authorized to speak on the record, said Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was “likely” to drop the vaccination requirement on Sept 30. The Globe and Mail newspaper reported the news earlier on Tuesday. Canada will also drop random coronavirus testing on the same day, and make it optional to use its ArriveCAN app, where travelers have been required to upload their proof of vaccination, the source said. Canadian airports faced...