Gertrude Aziz

Amazon launches online pharmacy in India

By Gertrude Aziz 57 mins ago

Online retail giant Amazon has launched an internet pharmacy in India, marking its entry into the country’s online medicine market.

Amazon Pharmacy will make its debut in Bangalore and it may be trialled in other Indian cities.

The move comes as the online drugs business has been given a major boost during the coronavirus pandemic.

This year US technology giants have invested billions of dollars in the Indian economy.

The Amazon Pharmacy service offers prescription, over-the-counter and traditional Ayurveda medication as well as basic health devices.

“This is particularly relevant in present times as it will help customers meet their essential needs while staying safe at home,” an Amazon spokesperson said.

Amazon started its move into pharmaceutical retailing in 2017. The following year it bought US-based home delivery medications startup PillPack.

At the end of last year, the company introduced its Amazon Pharmacy branding to PillPack’s service.

In January, Amazon

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How France, Malta and Netherlands joining ‘no-go’ list will affect British travellers

By Gertrude Aziz 2 hours ago

Action stations: Dover is expected to be extremely busy as travellers race to get home before quarantine takes effect: Port of Dover
Action stations: Dover is expected to be extremely busy as travellers race to get home before quarantine takes effect: Port of Dover

Hundreds of thousands of British holidaymakers in France, Malta and the Netherlands, and many more with plans to visit these countries, face two weeks in self-isolation when they return.

As a result of new soaring coronavirus cases in some parts of these countries, they have been stripped of their “quarantine exempt” status by the Department for Transport (DfT). In addition, the Foreign Office warns against non-essential travel.

Monaco, Aruba and the Turks & Caicos Islands are also off the “safe” list.

These nations now join Spain, Portugal, Belgium and many other countries as effectively off-limits to many UK travellers.

These are the key questions and answers.

What has changed – and why?

These countries have seen sharp increases in cases of coronavirus over the past few weeks. As

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How to Shop for Well-Made Clothes Online

By Gertrude Aziz 2 hours ago

Online shopping has come a very long way since it first became a thing in the early ’90s. You may recall that the major players back then were pretty much just eBay and Amazon (which was a book retailer at the time). Fast-forward to today and practically every fashion business has an online component, save for a few holdouts (the most noteworthy being Chanel).

Even before the COVID-19 pandemic took hold of the world, the shift from traditional brick-and-mortar retail to e-commerce has been one of the fashion industry’s biggest talking points. If you grew up going to malls every weekend, you probably never thought you’d see the day when a department store as storied as Barneys New York would cease to exist, but here we are.

Whether or not you were comfortable with shopping online for clothes before 2020, the pandemic has pretty much forced it upon you, at

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watching the world open up for disabled people

By Gertrude Aziz 4 hours ago

When lockdown began, chronic illness meant I’d already been stuck at home for a couple of years. It was my own self-isolation before self-isolation was in the lexicon, except with less sourdough. I won’t say I was used to missing the world outside my bedroom because it is never a thing you truly get used to. House plants are not great conversationalists. A glass of wine in a restaurant is a thing of beauty to long for. But you adapt, because circumstances are demanding like that.

Related: Chronic illness has made me a self isolation expert: here’s how to ease yourself out of lockdown

If the pandemic created one shared experience, it was this sense of missing out. Fomo went global and the world got creative to cope. Theatres went online. Museums hosted virtual tours. Work held meetings over Zoom. Musicians streamed gigs live to fans. As a disabled person,

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Trump’s ex-lawyer Michael Cohen says to reveal president’s ‘skeletons’ in upcoming book

By Gertrude Aziz 6 hours ago

By Karen Freifeld

(Reuters) – Michael Cohen, U.S. President Donald Trump’s former personal lawyer and fixer, on Thursday promised to show how Trump cheated in the 2016 election with Russian help in an upcoming book titled “Disloyal, A Memoir.”

“Trump had cheated in the election, with Russian connivance, as you will discover in these pages, because doing anything — and I mean anything — to ‘win’ has always been his business model and way of life,” Cohen writes in the book’s foreword, which was published online on Thursday.

The 3,700-word foreword does not reveal anything new about Russia’s interference in the 2016 presidential election, and it was not clear if the book would.

Former Special Counsel Robert Mueller last year concluded that Russia waged a major campaign to help Trump to victory in 2016.

Mueller did not find evidence of a criminal conspiracy between Trump’s campaign and Russia, but he

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How Kamala Harris got the call, and will the Legislature extend eviction limits?

By Gertrude Aziz 6 hours ago

Firefighters battle the Lake Hughes fire in Angeles National Forest on Wednesday, Aug. 12, 2020, north of Santa Clarita, Calif.
Firefighters battle the Lake Hughes fire in Angeles National Forest on Wednesday, Aug. 12, 2020, north of Santa Clarita, Calif.

Plus: School looks different depending on which county you’re in. Voting at Dodger Stadium? And crowds are flooding into parks.

Greetings from Palm Springs, where we’re about to be engulfed by a brutal heat wave! I’m Rebecca Plevin, The Desert Sun’s immigration reporter and its most dedicated ice cream-eater.

But first: It’s fire season, and several big ones are burning. Evacuations were ordered in parts of northern L.A. County as Lake Fire grew to 10,500 acres near Lake Hughes, in Angeles National Forest north of the Santa Clarita Valley. To the east, officials issued mandatory evacuation orders Thursday as the Ranch Fire threatened Azusa’s Mountain Cove community. But in some good news, the containment of the 33,424 Apple Fire burning in the San Bernardino National Forest has grown to 80%.

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Michael Cohen previews tell-all Trump book, alleges Russia collusion, other sordid scandals

By Gertrude Aziz 7 hours ago

Michael Cohen is moving forward with his tell-all memoir about President Donald Trump, weeks after a judge ruled that his being sent back to prison was a retaliatory act over the book.

The former attorney and self-described fixer for the president announced on Twitter Thursday that his book, “Disloyal: A Memoir: The True Story of the Former Personal Attorney to President Donald J. Trump,” is now available for pre-order online, where people can also read the book’s foreword.

“The day has finally arrived,” he wrote. “I have waited a long time to share my truth.” 

The memoir will be released Sept. 8 by Skyhorse Publishing. Cohen did not list a publisher for the book and, as of midday Thursday, it was not listed on Amazon.com or Barnes & Noble.com. Skyhorse has a history of taking on books by controversial public figures, including a memoir this spring by Woody Allen that

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A Transforming HBC Pumps Up Management

By Gertrude Aziz 9 hours ago

HBC LP, continuing to transform since turning private last March, has appointed Michael Culhane as chief financial officer, in a string of executive changes disclosed Thursday.

Culhane, who has 30 years experience in finance and accounting primarily in retailing, in September will succeed Ed Record who is stepping down as planned awhile ago. Record was instrumental in completing HBC’s privatization and will remain with HBC through a transition period.

In other key appointments, Vinton Vickers has become managing director, special projects for HBC Properties and Investments, the company’s real estate and investments operating company.

And Stephen Gold, the chief technology officer since May 2018, will also take on the role of chief process improvement officer. Gold and his team will work with each of HBC’s operating companies to identify and implement “transformational” initiatives, which the company cited as robotic process automation, online profitability, returns optimization and fraud Improvements.

The Toronto-based

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France, Malta and Netherlands join ‘no-go’ list for British travellers

By Gertrude Aziz 9 hours ago

Action stations: Dover is expected to be extremely busy as travellers race to get home before quarantine takes effect: Port of Dover
Action stations: Dover is expected to be extremely busy as travellers race to get home before quarantine takes effect: Port of Dover

Hundreds of thousands of British holidaymakers in France, Malta and the Netherlands, and many more with plans to visit these countries, face two weeks in self-isolation when they return.

As a result of new soaring coronavirus cases in some parts of both countries, they have been stripped of their “quarantine exempt” status by the Department for Transport (DfT).

Malta, Monaco, Aruba and the Turks & Caicos Islands are also off the “safe” list.

These nations now join Spain, Portugal, Belgium and many other countries as effectively off-limits to many UK travellers.

These are the key questions and answers.

What has changed – and why?

These countries have seen sharp increases in cases of coronavirus over the past few weeks. As a result, the Joint Biosecurity Centre and Public

… Read More

7 coping skills to deal with anger you might be feeling right now

By Gertrude Aziz 10 hours ago

7 coping skills to deal with anger you might be feeling right now
7 coping skills to deal with anger you might be feeling right now

There’s a lot to be angry about these days.

For instance: A pandemic that has stolen more than 166,000 American lives (and counting), a government unwilling to act to prevent more death, officials pushing to re-open schools despite a deadly virus, mass unemployment, and the continuance of police brutality despite a global uprising against it.

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The list goes on.

“There’s this sense that things are supposed to be a certain way… And some people are angry and frustrated because they don’t have any other solutions,” says Dr. Rheeda Walker, a clinical psychologist, speaker, and professor of psychology at the University of Houston who focuses on Black mental health.

Like any emotion, in itself, anger is normal and healthy, says Dr. Lynn Bufka, the American Psychological Association’s (APA) senior director of practice transformation and quality. “All

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