MEDIA-Social Capital launching second blank-check listing in a week – Bloomberg News

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Expecting mother hospitalized following Saskatoon motel fire

Extensive damage has been done to a motel on Saskatoon’s west side after a fire broke out on Monday.

The blaze in the 2500 block of 22nd Street West was reported to the Saskatoon Fire Department at roughly 12:20 p.m.

President Trump Suggests Schools May Be Among First to Reopen

President Donald Trump suggested that schools might be among the first institutions to reopen given the lower vulnerability of youngsters to the coronavirus.

“I think you’ll see a lot of schools open up,” the president said Monday at a White House press briefing. “Young people seem to do very well.”

The president is urging states to restart their economies, and he stressed Monday that safety must be the key consideration. But he also said he expected some schools to restart even if there are only a few weeks left in the school year.

“Even if it’s for a very short period of time,” Trump said. “I think it would be a good time.”

GM boss Mary Barra’s $21.6M salary last year was actually a pay cut

General Motors CEO Mary Barra received a compensation package worth $21.6 million in 2019, 1.1 percent less than the previous year, according to the US automaker’s proxy statement released on Monday.

Barra’s pay package included a salary of $2.1 million, stock awards worth $12.14 million, options worth more than $3.5 million and a performance award worth $2.73 million, according to the proxy. Her salary remained unchanged from 2018, while her performance award was 38.7 percent lower from 2018.

Barra’s total compensation package was valued at $21.63 million, below the $21.87 million she received in 2018. Barra, GM’s chairman and CEO, was paid $21.96 million in 2017.

GM said Barra’s pay was 203 times that of the median company employee.

The company on Monday suspended its quarterly cash dividend on its common stock and its share buybacks to save cash in the face of the coronavirus crisis that has severely hurt global automobile sales.

GM, which has been forced to shut some production in North America along with other carmakers, had also said last month that compensation of board members will be reduced by 20 percent, while executives will see a cut of 25 percent to 30 percent.

EARNINGS SUMMARY: Details of National Oilwell Varco Inc. Q1 Earnings Report

Below are the earnings highlights for National Oilwell Varco Inc. (NOV):

-Earnings: -$2047 million in Q1 vs. -$77 million in the same period last year.
-EPS: -$5.34 in Q1 vs. -$0.20 in the same period last year.
-Revenue: $1.88 billion in Q1 vs. $1.94 billion in the same period last year.

COVID-19 puts Libya's health service in danger of collapse

The staff at Libya’s only medical equipment factory are working round the clock to make more protection gears for doctors and nurses.

Libya has so far avoided the worst of the coronavirus, with just 17 confirmed cases.

But with a war raging, the health service could be in danger of complete collapse if the virus spreads.

There is now a race to get more equipment into hospitals to help cope with any major outbreak.

Al Jazeera’s Mahmoud Abdelwahed reports from Tripoli.

Pandemic profiteering: US cracks down on scammers, price gouging

Viral scams and increased prices, how prosecutors in the US are taking on pandemic profiteers.

The global demand for hand sanitisers and other hygiene products has risen because of the coronavirus pandemic.

And, in the United States and some other countries, there has also been a surge in complaints about profiteering and opportunism.

As doctors combat the virus, prosecutors are pursuing the opportunistic villains who prey on the fearful.

Al Jazeera’s John Hendren reports from Chicago.

Northeast Calgary home badly damaged by fire

A home in the northeast Calgary community of Abbeydale was badly damaged by an intense fire on Monday afternoon.

According to the Calgary Fire Department, firefighters were called to the home on Aberdare Way N.E. at about 3 p.m.

Education on hold: School closures disadvantaging Africa's poor

As education moves online for millions of students, many others are left behind. Al Jazeera reports from East Africa on the growing digital divide.

The coronavirus pandemic has forced schools around the world to close, with students continuing their education online.

But many of them in some parts of Africa are missing out because the resources are not available.

Al Jazeera’s Catherine Soi reports from Mwingi in eastern Kenya, where thousands of students in urban informal settlements and rural areas are struggling.

Coronavirus: Lethbridge residents still finding ways to make money amid pandemic job losses

High school and university students are either already finished online classes or on the precipice of ending their school year.

Normally, many of these students would take up a summer job, working as a lifeguard, at a summer fair, at a camp or in other industries.

China exports ventilators and masks crucial in coronavirus fight

As hospitals across the world run out of protective gear against COVID-19, China ramps up medical supplies production.

The Chinese government is donating 1,000 ventilators to the hard-hit US state of New York, one of the many jurisdictions across the world competing for medical gear made in mainland China.

But the equipment is sometimes faulty and critics say the Chinese government’s donation drive is self-serving.

Al Jazeera’s Katrina Yu reports from Beijing, China.