President Donald Trump’s predictions that a coronavirus vaccine would be ready before Election Day, Nov. 3, will not be met. On Friday, pharmaceutical giant Pfizer announced it would not seek emergency authorization to release its coronavirus vaccine until late November.  Two other vaccine frontrunners are on hold. A fourth is unlikely to have results until the end of the year. Trump has said repeatedly that a vaccine would be available to many before the election as part of the administration’s highly touted Operation Warp Speed, created to accelerate the development of a vaccine. Top scientists in and out of government have long said that timeline is unrealistic. Trump Contradicts CDC Director on Vaccine and MasksSeeking to draw a contrast with President Donald Trump’s approach to combating the pandemic, Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden laid out plans for developing and distributing a vaccine if he wins in the November election Conceding the point earlier this month, Trump blamed politics, without explanation. “I think we should have it before the election,” Trump said in a video on Twitter shortly after his release from the hospital following COVID-19 treatment. “But frankly, the politics gets involved, and that’s OK, they wanna play their games. It’s gonna be right after the election.” A MESSAGE FROM THE PRESIDENT! pic.twitter.com/uhLIcknAjT
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 7, 2020Safety first In a statement Friday, Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla said that the company may know by the end of October whether its vaccine works. But it will not reach its safety milestone until late November.  “Safety is, and will remain, our number one priority,” Bourla wrote. Pfizer’s vaccine is one of several taking a novel approach to immunization. Rather than injecting patients with a dead or weakened virus or a piece of the germ, the vaccine contains genetic instructions for a part of the coronavirus. The patient’s body takes up the instructions, known as mRNA, and produces the virus fragment. The immune system responds to the fragment, priming the body to fight off the real virus. Pfizer is collaborating with German biotech firm BioNTech, which came up with the genetic instructions being tested in the vaccine. Nearly 40,000 patients are taking part in the clinical trial so far.Before the U.S. Food and Drug Administration will consider an emergency use authorization, the company needs to monitor at least half the patients for two months after their last dose to watch for side effects. “We estimate we will reach this milestone in the third week of November,” Bourla wrote.Another vaccine frontrunner that uses mRNA technology, from biotech company Moderna, also expects results in late November.On hold Meanwhile, two other vaccine trials have paused because of potential safety problems.AstraZeneca said it put its trial on hold temporarily after at least one participant came down with an “unexplained illness.” Media reports have described the illness as transverse myelitis, a form of spinal inflammation that can cause pain, weakness and paralysis in the limbs, as well as bladder and bowel problems. But the company has not confirmed the diagnosis.Pauses to check possible safety issues are not uncommon in vaccine trials, experts say, and there are several factors besides the vaccine that may have caused the current illness. The trial has resumed in the United Kingdom, Brazil, India and South Africa. It remains on hold in the United States, however.Another vaccine using a similar approach, from pharmaceutical company Johnson & Johnson, also has hit a safety snag, though its problems, too, may be unrelated to the vaccine.The company reported an “unexplained illness” in one of its trial participants last week.”We’re also learning more about this participant’s illness, and it’s important to have all the facts before we share additional information,” the company said in a statement. Having received billions of dollars of government money, drug companies are taking the unprecedented step of scaling up vaccine manufacturing before results are in.There won’t be enough for everyone right away, however. Government agencies are drawing up plans for who should get vaccinated first. Health care workers, first responders and more vulnerable populations including the elderly are likely to be first in line. It may be the middle of next year before most Americans are vaccinated, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention chief Robert Redfield told Congress last month.  
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A Chinese drug developer is offering an experimental coronavirus vaccine to students going abroad in a strategy that health experts say raises safety and ethical concerns. China National Biotech Group has two vaccine candidates out of five from Chinese developers that are in the final stages of clinical trials. They are part of a global race to develop a vaccine that, if they are successful, offers the fledgling Chinese industry the potential for prestige and worldwide sales. CNBG’s vaccine has been given to medical workers and employees of Chinese companies being sent abroad under an emergency authorization for people in high-risk categories. Now, CNBG said it will provide the vaccine for free to Chinese students who study abroad. More than 168,000 people signed up to receive the vaccine via an online survey, and more than 91,000 are being considered, CNBG said on its website. That page had been removed by Tuesday. A student who is due to go to Britain said she signed up via the online link after classmates said they received the vaccine. The student, who would give only her English name, Sally, said she started to hear in September that the vaccine was available to people like her. She said other students said she might need to travel to Beijing, the national capital, or Wuhan, where the outbreak emerged in December, to receive the vaccine. The ruling Communist Party declared victory over the outbreak in March following anti-virus measures that isolated cities with a total of 60 million people. The country has reported 4,634 deaths and 85,622 confirmed cases.Follow-up needed If the vaccine works, it might help protect students going to Europe or the United States, where the pandemic is still raging, medical experts said. But they said developers need to make clear it is unproven and keep track of what happens to people who receive it. If the vaccine does not work, then “this is giving people a false sense of security,” said Sridhar Venkatapuram, a specialist in bioethics at King’s College London’s Global Health Institute. Chinese developers have announced plans to test vaccines in Indonesia, Morocco and other countries. But their approach also has prompted concern. Papua New Guinea turned back a flight carrying 180 Chinese mine workers in August after they received a vaccine in a possible unauthorized trial. The Papuan government demanded an explanation from Beijing. “The manufacturer has an obligation to obtain follow-up information” from people who receive a vaccine, K. Arnold Chan, a National Taiwan University expert on drug regulation, said in an email. Failing to do that “is irresponsible and not compliant with international standards,” he wrote. It was unclear whether Chinese students were being offered the CNBG vaccine under the same emergency authorization. The agency that oversees drug and vaccine approvals, the National Medical Products Administration, did not respond to questions sent by fax. CNBG did not respond to a request for comment. Vaccine recipientsA business news website named Star Market Daily reported Monday that anyone could sign up on CNBG’s webpage to receive the vaccine. It said students who plan to study overseas would get priority. “Currently, it seems Chinese students going abroad have a strong desire to take the vaccine,” a CNBG employee was quoted as saying by state-owned newspaper, The Paper, based on the survey results in September. However, a separate report by the Health Times, another state-owned newspaper, cited unidentified sources in the company as denying anyone could sign up to receive a vaccine in Beijing or Wuhan. The final stage of clinical trials, conducted on larger groups, is used to find any rare side effects and study the effectiveness of a treatment. The first and second stage trials are meant to determine whether a vaccine or treatment is safe. CNBG has given the vaccine to 350,000 people outside its clinical trials, a company executive said in September. The trials have about 40,000 people enrolled. More than 600,000 Chinese students studied abroad before the pandemic, according to Ministry of Education figures. They make up a large share of the foreign student body in the United States, Britain, Australia and some other countries. Western universities are “not protecting their students,” Venkatapuram said. “The company is basically offering its citizens protection going outside of China, which in essence is what any country would ideally be doing.” 
 
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France’s Interior Ministry has launched an investigation into a wide range of hate speech following the beheading of a history teacher last week. Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin said that 80 instances of hate speech online had been investigated since Friday’s attack and that 51 French Muslim organizations would be probed, as well. “Not a minute of respite for enemies of the republic,” Darmanin wrote Monday on Twitter. Pas une minute de répit pour les ennemis de la République.👉+ de 80 enquêtes ouvertes pour haine en ligne suite à l’attentat de vendredi.👉 51 structures associatives verront toute la semaine des visites des services de l’Etat et plusieurs d’entres elles seront dissoutes. pic.twitter.com/r7F8UOTHJH— Gérald DARMANIN (@GDarmanin) October 19, 2020The comments follow a weekend of countrywide rallies defending free speech and secularism in France after middle school teacher Samuel Paty was beheaded Friday near his school in the Paris suburb of Conflans-Sainte-Honorine.Latest Terror Attack in France Sparks Anger, Fear Some believe free expression and France’s secularist creed are on the line  A national commemoration in honor of Paty takes place Wednesday. Among the groups being investigated by the French government is the Anti-Islamophobia collective (CCIF), a group that tracks anti-Muslim attacks. Darmanin called the group an “enemy of the state.” CCIF, which expressed condolences for Paty’s family and all teachers on social media, accused Darmanin of slander. Nearly a dozen people are being held for questioning in Paty’s killing, which took place as he returned home from class. They include the family of the suspect, an 18-year-old Chechen refugee identified by officials as Abdoullakh A., who police shot and killed shortly after he allegedly stabbed and decapitated his victim.  
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In his first foreign trip since taking office last month, Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga was in Hanoi Monday for bilateral talks with his Vietnamese counterpart, reaching agreements on strengthening economic and security cooperation.  Suga succeeds Shinzo Abe, who recently resigned, citing ill health.At a news conference following talks with Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc, Suga announced an agreement for Japan to export military equipment to Vietnam, as China has been asserting its military presence in the region.Suga told reporters the agreement was a “big step in the field of security for both countries that we reached an agreement in principle on the transfers of defense equipment and technology.” The two leaders also agreed on the importance of maintaining peace, security and freedom of navigation, and overflight in the South China Sea.Vietnam welcomes Japan, a global power, to continue to actively contribute to regional and global peace, stability and prosperity,” Phuc said.Suga said the two countries had agreed to bolster their cooperation to mitigate the economic impact of the coronavirus pandemic and reopen markets as soon as possible. “We agreed on restarting ‘business track’ travel, as well as passenger flights between the two countries today,” he said.Suga added that Japan would “advance the diversification of supply chains” without going into the details.After their talks, Suga visited the home of former Vietnamese Leader Ho Chi Minh and laid a wreath at his mausoleum. His first diplomatic trip continues with a stop in Indonesia.
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Національний банк України встановив опівдні 19 жовтня довідкове значення курсу 28 гривень 38 копійок за долар. Це на 2 копійки більше за офіційний курс на сьогодні і на 2 копійки менше за рекордне цього року значення (28,4 гривні за долар), встановлене на 6 жовтня.

За даними Finance.ua, станом на 12:35 торги на міжбанківському валютному ринку відбуваються на рівні 28 гривень 37–39 копійок за долар.

Фахівці сайту «Мінфін» не вбачають підстав для знецінення гривні на початку цього тижня.

«Основним мотиватором для всіх учасників торгів буде необхідність розрахунків з бюджетом. Клієнтам треба поспішати закрити свої заборгованості перед державою. Дефіцит гривні у частині великих гравців призведе до збільшення продажів валюти експортерами на фоні зниження можливості щодо її купівлі імпортерами, тому що їм також необхідно закрити свої борги перед податковою», – ідеться в аналізі експертів «Мінфіну».

Гривня нині перебуває поблизу найнижчих цього року показників (28,4 за долар). Близько двох місяців тому, 17 серпня, торги завершилися більш як на гривню нижче – на рівні 27 гривень 23,5–25,5 копійки за одиницю американської валюти.
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A look at people coming up with new ideas to help their community.  
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Officials in Australia’s Victoria state, once the epicenter of the coronavirus pandemic in the country, began loosening lockdown restrictions Monday as new and active cases continued to decline.As of Monday, residents of the state — which includes Melbourne, Australia’s second-largest city — will no longer face limits on the time they can spend away from their homes for education or recreation and will be allowed to travel up to 25 kilometers from their homes. Parks, golf courses and beauty salons are also open, but are subject to mask and social distancing requirements.  Outdoor gatherings of up to 10 people from two households will be allowed and golf and tennis games can resume.Residents and some lawmakers said they felt the region waited too long to loosen the restrictions, but State Premier Daniel Andrews defended them, saying every one of them was about safety and keeping virus case numbers low.  Regulations will be further loosened on Nov. 2 with the partial reopening of shops, bars and restaurants.Victoria state reported only four new cases of the coronavirus on Monday and one death.
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Національний банк України встановив на 20 жовтня курс 28 гривень 38 копійок за долар, послабивши національну валюту на 2 копійки порівняно з офіційним курсом на 19 жовтня.

Це сталося попри зростання пропозиції валюти на ринку, про яке писали аналітики сайту «Мінфін».

«Торги по долару активні ближче до обіду. Пропозиція перевищує попит. Частина продавців усе ж таки чекає можливого виходу «Сітібанку» з купівлею долара під нерезидентські заявки і не поспішає знижувати котирування», – відзначали фахівці станом на 13:00.

До кінця торговельної сесії (станом на 16:15) попит знову зріс, і котирування повернулися до позначок 28 гривень 37–39 копійок за долар, це вище за рівень відкриття торгів, свідчать дані Finance.ua.

Гривня нині перебуває поблизу найнижчих цього року показників (28,4 за долар). Близько двох місяців тому, 17 серпня, торги завершилися більш як на гривню нижче – на рівні 27 гривень 23,5–25,5 копійки за одиницю американської валюти.
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China appears to have escalated a trade dispute with Australia. Australia’s cotton industry says Chinese mills are being told not to process Australian imports. The reported action follows restrictions in China on Australian coal and other agricultural commodities.       Australia’s cotton industry is worth about $565 million annually. China is by far its biggest customer, but there are concerns cotton growers are the latest victims of a simmering trade war. Chinese mills have reportedly been told not to buy Australian cotton, and industry representatives fear that exports to China could face Beijing-imposed tariffs as high as 40 percent, which would likely make the trade unviable. To add to the frustration, cotton producers are beginning to plant for what is forecast to be a large crop after a long drought in Australia.   Adam Kay is the chief executive of Cotton Australia, a leading trade organization.  He believes the ban on Australian imports into China is widespread.  “Most of the mills we have spoken to have been impacted.  So, you know, it is concerning for us because something like 65 percent of our Australian crop does go to China at the moment and it has been a really mutually beneficial relationship and to have that jeopardized is a real worry,” Kay said.The Australian government is urgently trying to clarify the situation, although government ministers have said extracting information from their Chinese counterparts is hard. Bilateral ties have soured in recent years. In 2017, Australian intelligence agents warned of growing Chinese attempts to influence Australian domestic politics. A year later, Australia banned the Chinese technology company Huawei from its 5G telecommunications network because of national security fears. This year, Australia’s call for a global investigation into the origins of the new coronavirus, which was first detected in China, provoked more anger from Beijing. No-one is quite sure where all this leaves Australia’s relationship with its biggest trading partner, but the trade disputes appear to be intensifying.   China has reportedly banned some imports of Australian coal, and has imposed restrictions on barley and meat, and launched an anti-dumping investigation into Australian wine imports. China has also warned students and tourists not to visit Australia because of allegations of racism.   Beijing has also been agitated by Canberra’s close military ties with the United States, and analysts have said Australia needs deft and delicate diplomacy to protect its pivotal trading relationship with China. 
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The leader of Sudan’s transitional government has pledged to cooperate with the International Criminal Court in its case against former autocratic leader Omar al-Bashir. Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok met Sunday with a delegation from the ICC led by prosecutor Fatou Bensouda. The ICC has issued arrest warrants for Bashir on charges of genocide and crimes against humanity in connection with the unrest in the western Darfur region in 2003. Al-Bashir reacted to an insurgency in Darfur against his regime by sending in the Janjaweed militias, which are accused of killing up to 300,000 people and driving as many as 2.5 million people from their homes. Al-Bashir was overthrown by the military in April 2019 following mass demonstrations in the capital Khartoum and elsewhere that began in December of the previous year.  He is currently serving a two year prison sentence in Sudan on corruption charges and is currently on trial for the 1989 coup that brought him to power.   The ICC delegation is also seeking information on two of al-Bashir’s associates, Abdel Raheem Muhammad Hussein and Ahmed Haroun.  Both men were detained after al-Bashir’s overthrow.   Ex-Janjaweed commander Ali Kushayb has been in ICC custody since surrendering to authorities in the Central African Republic in June.  He is facing charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity in Darfur, including several counts of murder, torture, pillaging and rape.  
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President Donald Trump and Democratic rival Joe Biden campaigned Sunday in swing states they are trying to flip during the Nov. 3 election that is just more than two weeks away. Trump began his day in Nevada, making a visit to church before a fundraiser and an evening rally in Carson City. Once considered a battleground, Nevada has not swung for a Republican presidential contender since 2004. The rally drew thousands of supporters who sat elbow to elbow, cheering Trump and booing Biden and the press. The vast majority wore no masks to guard against the coronavirus, though cases in the state are on the rise, with more than 1,000 new infections reported Saturday. The president warned that a Biden win would lead to further lockdowns and at one point appeared to mock Biden for saying he would listen to scientists. “He’ll listen to the scientists. If I listened totally to the scientists, we would right now have a country that would be in a massive depression,” Trump said. Biden, a practicing Catholic, attended Mass in Delaware before campaigning in North Carolina, where a Democrat has not won in a presidential race since Barack Obama in 2008. Both candidates are trying to make inroads in states that could help secure a path to victory, but the dynamics of the race are remarkably stable. Biden enjoys a significant advantage in national polls, while carrying a smaller edge in battleground surveys. Earlier in the day, Trump sat in the front row at the nondenominational International Church of Las Vegas as the senior associate pastor, Denise Goulet, said God told her early that morning that the president would secure a second term. “At 4:30, the Lord said to me, ‘I am going to give your president a second win,'” she said, telling Trump, “you will be the president again.” Trump spoke briefly, saying “I love going to churches” and that it was “a great honor” to attend the service. He dropped a handful of $20 bills in the collection plate before leaving. The message was far different later in the day, when Biden attended a virtual discussion with African American faith leaders from around the country. Biden held up a rosary, which he said he carries in his pocket every day. “I happen to be a Roman Catholic,” Biden said. “I don’t pray for God to protect me. I pray to God to give me strength to see what other people are dealing with.” Earlier, at a drive-in rally in Durham, North Carolina, Biden focused heavily on promoting criminal justice changes to combat institutional racism and promised to help build wealth in the Black community. He noted that Trump had said at one of his rallies that the country had turned the corner on the pandemic. “As my grandfather would say, this guy’s gone around the bend if he thinks we’ve turned the corner. Turning the corner? Things are getting worse,” Biden said. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the U.S. recorded more than 53,000 new cases of the coronavirus Sunday. In addition to public polling that indicates Biden has an edge, the former vice president enjoys another considerable advantage over Trump: money. Trump raked in $12 million during a fundraiser Sunday afternoon at the Newport Beach home of top GOP donor and tech mogul Palmer Luckey, which also featured a performance by the Beach Boys. But over the past four months, Biden has raised over $1 billion, a massive amount of money that has eclipsed Trump’s once-overwhelming cash advantage. Trump’s visit to Nevada is part of an aggressive schedule of campaign events, where he has leaned heavily into fear tactics. Trump’s Carson City rally was held at an airport where he relived fond moments from his 2016 campaign against Hillary Clinton, revisited his long-running feud with NFL players and went on an extended rant about water management policy, which he blamed for people having to “flush their toilet 15 times.” He also added to his litany of attacks against Biden, claiming that, if Biden were elected, he would mandate new lockdown measures that would make Carson City “a ghost town” and “the Christmas season will be canceled.” Biden started his day with Mass in Delaware at St. Joseph’s on the Brandywine, as he does nearly every week. He and his wife, Jill, entered wearing dark-colored face masks. She carried a bunch of flowers that including pink roses. The church is a few minutes’ drive from Biden’s home. Biden’s son Beau, who died of brain cancer in 2015, is buried in the cemetery on its grounds. Joe and Jill Biden visited the grave after the service. Trump attends church far less often but has drawn strong support from white Evangelical leaders and frequently hosts groups of pastors at the White House. Trump often goes to the Church of Bethesda-By-The Sea near Mar-a-Lago in Florida for major holidays, including Easter, and he attended a Christmas Eve service last year at Family Church in West Palm Beach before the onset of the pandemic. 
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Dr. Scott Atlas is a neuroradiologist, a fellow at a conservative-leaning think tank, a science adviser to President Donald Trump and a member of the White House Coronavirus Task Force. He is also the latest person in Trump’s world to have a tweet blocked by Twitter. Facebook to Ban Anti-Vaccine AdsThe social media giant says the efforts are part of an attempt to support vaccinesOver the weekend, Atlas tweeted “Masks work? NO,” and said widespread use of masks is not supported, according to the Associated Press. Twitter told the AP that the tweet violated its policy that prohibits false and misleading information about COVID-19 that could lead to harm. The “This Tweet is unavailable” label was put on Atlas’ Twitter feed where his tweet once was.Atlas followed up with another tweet, which remained on the site as of Sunday night. He praised what he called Trump’s “guideline,” which is to “use masks for their intended purpose – when close to others, especially hi risk. Otherwise, social distance. No widespread mandates.” That means the right policy is @realDonaldTrump guideline: use masks for their intended purpose – when close to others, especially hi risk. Otherwise, social distance. No widespread mandates. #CommonSensehttps://t.co/GZpBZxfNYa— Scott W. Atlas (@SWAtlasHoover) October 17, 2020The deletion of Atlas’ tweet is the latest in what has become an ongoing battle between Trump and internet companies. Twitter has blocked or put warnings on Trump’s tweets regarding COVID-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus, as well as vote-by-mail. Last week, Twitter temporarily blocked the Trump campaign’s ability to share a story about his presidential challenger, former Vice President Joe Biden. Some congressional leaders accuse Twitter, Facebook and other internet companies of bias and say they are unfairly limiting speech close to the U.S. election. Some have called for the leaders of Twitter and Facebook, which has also taken action on some of Trump’s posts, to testify in front of Congress as soon as the coming week. Twitter told the AP it relies on public health authorities to determine whether a statement is false or misleading.In September, Dr. Robert Redfield, the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention testified at a congressional hearing that masks are “the most powerful public health tool” against the coronavirus.Atlas, a fellow at the Hoover Institution at Stanford University, joined the White House task force in August. A medical doctor, Atlas does not have a background in infectious diseases or public health. He is reportedly helping to shape the White House policies about how to handle the virus, including policies about masks and other issues. Atlas told the AP that Twitter’s actions were censorship. “General population masks and mask mandates do not work,” he said.
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After circling an ancient asteroid hundreds of millions of miles away for almost two years, a NASA spacecraft this week will attempt to descend to the treacherous, boulder-packed surface and snatch a handful of rubble.  The drama unfolds Tuesday as the U.S. takes its first crack at collecting asteroid samples for return to Earth, a feat accomplished so far only by Japan.Brimming with names inspired by Egyptian mythology, the Osiris-Rex mission is looking to bring back at least 2 ounces (60 grams) worth of asteroid Bennu, the biggest otherworldly haul from beyond the moon.  NASA Plans to Land First Woman on the Moon in 2024Lunar landing will be America’s first since 1972The van-sized spacecraft is aiming for the relatively flat middle of a tennis court-sized crater named Nightingale — a spot comparable to a few parking places here on Earth. Boulders as big as buildings loom over the targeted touchdown zone.  “So for some perspective, the next time you park your car in front of your house or in front of a coffee shop and walk inside, think about the challenge of navigating Osiris-Rex into one of these spots from 200 million miles away,” said NASA’s deputy project manager Mike Moreau.Once it drops out of its half-mile-high (0.75 kilometer-high) orbit around Bennu, the spacecraft will take a deliberate four hours to make it all the way down, to just above the surface.Then the action cranks up when Osiris-Rex’s 11-foot (3.4-meter) arm reaches out and touches Bennu. Contact should last five to 10 seconds, just long enough to shoot out pressurized nitrogen gas and suck up the churned dirt and gravel. Programmed in advance, the spacecraft will operate autonomously during the unprecedented touch-and-go maneuver. With an 18-minute lag in radio communication each way, ground controllers for spacecraft builder Lockheed Martin near Denver can’t intervene.If the first attempt doesn’t work, Osiris-Rex can try again. Any collected samples won’t reach Earth until 2023.  While NASA has brought back comet dust and solar wind particles, it’s never attempted to sample one of the nearly 1 million known asteroids lurking in our solar system until now. Japan, meanwhile, expects to get samples from asteroid Ryugu in December — in the milligrams at most — 10 years after bringing back specks from asteroid Itokawa.  Bennu is an asteroid picker’s paradise.The big, black, roundish, carbon-rich space rock — taller than New York’s Empire State Building — was around when our solar system was forming 4.5 billion years ago. Scientists consider it a time capsule full of pristine building blocks that could help explain how life formed on Earth and possibly elsewhere.”This is all about understanding our origins,” said the mission’s principal scientist, Dante Lauretta of the University of Arizona.  There also are selfish reasons for getting to know Bennu better.  The solar-orbiting asteroid, which swings by Earth every six years, could take aim at us late in the next century. NASA puts the odds of an impact at 1-in-2,700. The more scientists know about potentially menacing asteroids like Bennu, the safer Earth will be.When Osiris-Rex blasted off in 2016 on the more than $800 million mission, scientists envisioned sandy stretches at Bennu. So the spacecraft was designed to ingest small pebbles less than an inch (2 centimeters) across.Scientists were stunned to find massive rocks and chunky gravel all over the place when the spacecraft arrived in 2018. And pebbles were occasionally seen shooting off the asteroid, falling back and sometimes ricocheting off again in a cosmic game of ping-pong.  With so much rough terrain, engineers scrambled to aim for a tighter spot than originally anticipated. Nightingale Crater, the prime target, appears to have the biggest abundance of fine grains, but boulders still abound, including one dubbed Mount Doom.  Then COVID-19 struck.The team fell behind and bumped the second and final touch-and-go dress rehearsal for the spacecraft to August. That pushed the sample grab to October.  “Returning a sample is hard,” said NASA’s science mission chief, Thomas Zurbuchen. “The COVID made it even harder.”Osiris-Rex has three bottles of nitrogen gas, which means it can touch down three times — no more.  The spacecraft automatically will back away if it encounters unexpected hazards like big rocks that could cause it to tip over. And there’s a chance it will touch down safely but fail to collect enough rubble.  In either case, the spacecraft would return to orbit around Bennu and try again in January at another location.With the first try finally here, Lauretta is worried, nervous, excited “and confident we have done everything possible to ensure a safe sampling.”
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The women grappled with each other inside the vehicle. The driver jerked to ease the grip around her neck, then turned to elbow her attacker in the back seat. She flung the door open to make her escape, ending the simulated attack.  “This one is too strong for me,” the attacker said, smiling and shaking her head. Then it was another woman’s turn in the exercise to prepare drivers for Uganda’s new all-female ride-hailing service, Diva Taxi.  The taxi service, dreamed up by a local woman who lost her logistics job at the start of the coronavirus outbreak, was launched in June and has recruited more than 70 drivers. They range from college students to mothers hoping to make good use of their secondhand Toyotas.  “It started off as a joke, supported by close friends and family, but eventually the idea picked up,” said company spokeswoman Rebecca Makyeli. “They said, ‘Why not?’ So we called it Diva Taxi.”It’s uncommon to find women taxi drivers in Uganda, a socially conservative east African country where most women labor on farms or pursue work in the informal sector.  Diva Taxi believes countless women are looking for job opportunities at a time of severe economic distress. The International Labor Organization has said women’s employment in developing countries is likely to be hit harder than men’s in the pandemic.”I should say I was personally affected by COVID,” Diva Taxi founder Gillian Kobusingye said. COVID-19 is the disease caused by the coronavirus.A regular traveler, she found herself grounded indefinitely as authorities imposed restrictions on movement to slow the spread of the virus. For several weeks, even taxis were not authorized to operate in Uganda.Still, Kobusingye felt optimistic.  “Despite whatever circumstance in the world, there will be need of something to reach somebody. … And how does that happen? Through transport,” she said.She believed that a woman seeking to become a driver was likely to want the opportunity more than any man. And she backed women to be more reliable.  “Our ladies are extremely hardworking, very motivated, and I like their sense of pride when they do this work,” she said. “They do it with one heart compared to other people, and that’s the difference we have with our competitors.”Some clients, who include men, agree.  “The divas are always on time,” said Kampala-based auditor Jemimah Bamwebaze, a regular user. She also feels safer “being driven by a fellow woman.”A prospective driver must have a car in good condition and a smartphone equipped with the mobile app that clients use, along with a valid driver’s license and a certificate of good conduct issued by Interpol.With Diva Taxi, 85% of proceeds from a trip go to the driver, strikingly low in Uganda but part of a plan to size up the market, Makyeli said.  Driver Donna Ochen, a FedEx accountant furloughed in March who looks after three children, said she had been “doing nothing” at home when she saw a Diva Taxi employee on television discussing opportunities for women. With the consent of her skeptical husband, she contacted the company and was recruited.  “I decided to take it up because it would be an opportunity for me to serve and earn and support my family,” Ochen said. And “it would empower me to do something for myself rather than sitting.”Another driver, college student Tracy Abola, said her mother, a teacher, had been out of work since schools were shut down in March. Abola had been driving a 1998 Toyota “to keep up appearances with friends” until she learned she could make money with Diva Taxi.  “So I decided to do something so that I can also help a bit at home,” she said.  The Diva Taxi app has been downloaded at least 500 times, and each of the company’s 72 drivers makes an average of 30 rides each week, Makyeli said. The company expects to have 2,000 active users by the end of this year, a modest target in a city of more than 3 million people where taxis and passenger motorcycles are the main means of transport for the working class.  Despite the security training — each driver also receives a canister of pepper spray — safety remains a concern.  Ochen said she drives only during the day “to avoid being caught up in any tricky situations,” including with drunken groups.  Even though she hopes to return to her job as an accountant, she plans to remain a Diva Taxi driver for as long as possible.  “We love what we are doing and it’s really fun,” said founder Kobusingye, an occasional driver herself. “I can’t wait to partner with every woman out there that’s willing to be part of Diva Taxi.”
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