Orlando (US), Oct 31:Walt Disney World says it plans to lay off more than 11,000 unionized workers because of the new coronavirus, bringing the total number of pandemic-related job casualties at the Florida resort to almost 18,000 positions.
Disney World said in a letter to state and local leaders Thursday that the 11,350 union workers — mostly part-timers — will be laid off at the end of the year.
Company officials previously had said that another 6,400 nonunion Disney employees in Florida would lose their jobs.
Earlier this week, 720 Disney World actors and singers were laid off since many of the live entertainment shows at the Florida resort have gone dark, according Actors’ Equity Association, the labour union representing the performers.
The layoffs are part of a decision by The Walt Disney Co. Last month to eliminate 28,000 positions in its parks division in California and Florida because of the pandemic.
Disney’s parks closed last spring as the coronavirus began spreading in the US The Florida parks reopened this summer with restrictions on how many people could be in the parks at any given time and new requirements for social distancing and mask-wearing.
The California parks have yet to reopen because of restrictions by the state of California. (Agencies)

Washington, Oct 31: Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden has accused President Donald Trump of dividing the US and turning Americans against one another based on race, ethnicity and national anthem.
Speaking at a rally in Minnestota on Friday, Biden said the US cannot afford to have Trump for another four years as the country’s President.
“The only thing that can tear America apart is America itself. That’s exactly what Donald Trump has been doing from the beginning. Divide America. Pitting Americans against one another based on race, ethnicity, national origin. That’s wrong. That’s not who we are. Everybody knows who Donald Trump is. Let’s keep showing him who we are,” Biden said.
Biden, 77, who has been having restrictive campaigning and strictly adhering to the social distancing measures due to the coronavirus pandemic asserted that the US can no longer afford to have Trump for another four years.
“We cannot afford four more years of Donald Trump. In 2008 and 2012, you placed your trust in me and Barack Obama. And each day we were in office, we worked for you and the entire community. I’ll do it again in 2020. My campaign is a broad coalition of Democrats, Republicans, independence, Democrat–Republican officeholders. I’m running as that proud Democrat, but I will govern as an American president,” Biden said.
“It’s unconscionable that Trump, from the day he got elected to right now he’s fighting in court to rip that peace of mind away from tens of millions of Americans. But we’re not going to let him do it. We’re never going back to those days,” he said.
Biden said that he will work as hard for those who don’t support his as those who do.
“Because that’s the job of a president. It’s the duty of care for everyone. And you too have a sacred duty. The duty to vote. It matters. Minnesota matters,” he said and asserted that it’s time to stand up, and take back the democracy.
Biden alleged that the six generals who worked directly for the Trump administration have left and they say he does not deserve to be the commander in chief of the United States.
“That’s never happened to any president before,” he said.
Urging countrymen to use their power to vote to change the course of this country and the course of history, Biden asked them to keep that sense of empowerment.
“Keep that empowerment with you, that sense of optimism of what we can overcome. Now look, there’s a reason they don’t want to hear me, because they know the president doesn’t say anything, so they’re not used to not hearing anything. But I know it’s hard, folks. I know it’s hard,” he said.
The former vice president on Friday also travelled to Milwaukee in Wisconsin, and Des Moines in Iowa. (PTI)

United Nations, Oct 31: The UN Security Council defeated a Russian resolution Friday to commemorate the 20th anniversary of a UN measure demanding equal participation for women in activities promoting global peace, with opponents objecting to its failure to adequately address human rights and the key role of civil society in pushing for gender equality.
The email vote on the resolution was 5-0, with 10 countries abstaining, far less than the minimum nine “yes” votes required for adoption.
The Russian draft was supported by Russia, China, Vietnam, Indonesia and South Africa.
The countries that abstained were the United States, United Kingdom, France, Belgium, Dominican Republic, Germany, Estonia, Niger, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, and Tunisia.
Opponents said the Russian draft weakened the initial UN resolution adopted in 2000 and nine follow-up resolutions — which Russia strongly denied.
Germany’s UN Ambassador Christoph Heusgen said his calls for strong language on the human rights foundation of all the resolutions, and for “the adequate reflection of the critical role of civil society, women peacebuilders and human rights defenders” in implementing the measures were not reflected in the Russian draft.
What is needed is “action and implementation,” he said, “not more words.”
US Ambassador Kelly Craft said the Trump administration and the other countries that abstained were protecting the women, peace and security agenda from an attack by Russia and China, which contributed to the draft resolution.
She said the draft resolution “was designed to undermine and reverse the progress of the past 20 years,” and “it is evident that our Russian and Chinese colleagues … Do not believe women should be fully empowered to prevent conflict, or sit at the table to pursue peace and reconciliation.”
Russia’s UN Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia, the current Security Council president, told a news conference after announcing the vote that the defeated draft did reaffirm and urge implementation of all 10 previous resolutions — and he dismissed claims that it was a step back or watered down as “not true.”
“Civil society, human rights were all there,” he said.
“We are for the civil society and human rights. To accuse us that we are trying to strike out the references to this is at best unworthy.”
Civil society and human rights are mentioned in the defeated resolution’s introductory paragraphs — but not in its binding operative paragraphs.
They were in the operative paragraphs in earlier drafts, but diplomats said the were dropped at China’s insistence.
The Russian resolution would have commemorated the 20th anniversary of the initial women, peace and security resolution and noted “with deep concern persistent barriers” to its implementation.
At a council meeting Thursday commemorating the anniversary, the head of the UN agency promoting gender equality said the resolution’s demand for equal participation for women in peace negotiations has failed.
Women still remain “systematically excluded” from talks to end conflicts where men make decisions affecting their lives, UN Women’s Executive Director Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka said.
Despite some good initiatives, she said that in peace negotiations from 1992 to 2019 only 13 per cent of negotiators, 6 per cent of mediators, and 6 per cent of signatories to peace agreements were women.
Mlambo-Ngcuka said negotiations elevated and empowered “the actors that have fuelled the violence,” instead of empowering women and others who are peace-builders — and women were either confined to “informal processes or relegated to the role of spectators.”
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres reiterated to the council that “gender equality is first and foremost a question of power, and wherever we look, power structures are dominated by men,” starting at the top where women lead only 7 percent of countries.
Britain’s acting UN ambassador Jonathan Allen said after the vote that the UK held the widely shared view that the Russian draft lacked “sufficient language on implementation” and on women’s human rights and the protection of civil society.
“The adoption of this text would have undermined the significant achievements made on this critical agenda and the enduring efforts of so many women’s rights activists,” Allen said. (AGENCIES)