Leidos Holdings Inc (LDOS) Q4 2020 Earnings Call Transcript
LDOS earnings call for the period ending January 1, 2021.
The Duke of Sussex is determined to stand shoulder to shoulder with his brother at the unveiling of a statue of their mother Diana, Princess of Wales, whatever the fallout from his interview with Oprah Winfrey. Prince Harry hopes that the brothers can present a united front at Kensington Palace on July 1, which would have been the Princess’s 60th birthday, in an attempt to move past their rift. A source close to Prince Harry insisted that whatever had been said and done, he desperately hoped to attend the event and considered it a priority. There is more uncertainty about whether the Duke might make it back to the UK for earlier events, such as Trooping the Colour on June 12 or the Duke of Edinburgh’s 100th birthday on June 10, partly due to the impending birth of his second child, thought to be due around that time. Despite the explosive nature of the revelations made to Ms Winfrey, the Sussexes consider the interview their last word on the subject and want to move on. They felt they needed to have their say and explain to the public why they turned their backs on royal life, but now consider the matter closed, sources said. One friend said: “It was something they felt they wanted and needed to do but now they have done it, they feel a line has been drawn under that chapter of their lives and they want to move on.”
Unions have warned parents that schools could close if not enough pupils wear face masks, raising the spectre that the long awaited return to classrooms could be short lived. Schools across England reopen on Monday, in the first step in easing lockdown, but there are escalating tensions over the rules on pupils wearing face masks. Government guidance now stipulates that masks should be worn in the classroom and anywhere indoors where it is impossible for secondary students to keep two metres apart, whereas previously when schools were open masks were only required in corridors. This has caused an outcry among parents, MPs and health experts who fear that masks impede education and are uncomfortable for children, with insufficient evidence that they help to reduce transmission of the virus. On Sunday night Geoff Barton, general secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders (ASCL), the main union representing secondary heads, said a letter had been issued to members to send to parents who raise objections about their children wearing masks when they return to school. The letter, seen by The Telegraph, says that if not enough pupils wear masks it could create “ramifications” for a school’s insurance. It explains that masks are one of the recommended measures schools need to take to get “risk of infection to an acceptable level to enable them to remain open”. On Sunday the chief inspector of schools added her voice to the chorus of concern about face masks. Amanda Spielman said she hoped that they will only be necessary for a “short time”, adding: “I love the idea of children being able to come back in summer term able to see everybody fully." Ministers have vowed to reconsider the advice at the end of this month after Public Health England analyses the impact of schools being open for three weeks. A source close to the Education Secretary Gavin Williamson said he is reluctant to prejudge the analysis and will wait for the review, but added: “He wants to see a return to pre-pandemic norms as safely and as soon as possible.” The return to schools represents the first step in the lifting of lockdown. From Monday, people are also able to meet one on one to socialise as well as to exercise, and the government has confirmed that children under 5 do not count towards the limit, allowing grandparents to be reunited with young grandchildren.
Everyone aged 56 and over will be invited for jabs this week, NHS England has announced. Hundreds of thousands of letters for those aged between 56 and 59 began landing on doorsteps on Saturday. The latest round of invitations comes after eight in 10 people aged 65 to 69 took up the offer of inoculation. More than 18 million people in England - more than a third of the adult population - have already received a vaccine. Across the UK, more than a million people have received both doses of a Covid-19 vaccine, while almost 21.4 million people have had one dose. Dr Nikki Kanani, NHS England national medical director for primary care, said: "It is testament to our incredible staff that we can now move on to the next age group. The vaccines are both safe and effective, so if anybody who is eligible hasn't been vaccinated yet, I'd urge them to go online or call 119 and get themselves booked in."
Austrian authorities have suspended inoculations with a batch of AstraZeneca's COVID-19 vaccine as a precaution while investigating the death of one person and the illness of another after the shots, a health agency said on Sunday. "The Federal Office for Safety in Health Care (BASG) has received two reports in a temporal connection with a vaccination from the same batch of the AstraZeneca vaccine in the district clinic of Zwettl" in Lower Austria province, it said.
Britain should prepare itself for a "hard winter" with the threat of Covid-19 and a flu surge still a possibility, a Public Health England official has said. The NHS will have to be ready for a potential rise in respiratory viruses as people wait to discover if there is a strong level of immunity in the population, according to Dr Susan Hopkins, who advises the Government on its Covid policy. Dr Hopkins, who is Covid-19 strategic response director to Public Health England, told the BBC's Andrew Marr Show: "I think we have to prepare for a hard winter, not only with coronavirus but we've had a year of almost no respiratory viruses of any other type, and that means potentially the population immunity to that is less, and so we could see surges in flu. "We could surges in other respiratory viruses and other respiratory pathogens." Dr Hopkins added: "So it's really important that we're prepared from the NHS point of view, from public health and contact tracing, that we have everything ready to prepare for a difficult autumn, and we hope that it won't occur and there will be a normal winter for all of us." Dr Hopkins said she believed "we will all have our summer holidays" but her job is to advise the Government and to prepare for "worst-case scenarios". She told the programme: "We have to make sure that we're prepared, and that we're better prepared for this autumn than we have been previously." Despite her warnings for next year, Dr Hopkins said the emergence of new variants of the coronavirus should not derail a plan to start easing a nationwide lockdown in England over the coming weeks. "I think it won't change it for the next three to five weeks, that would be highly unlikely," Dr Hopkins, PHE’s strategic response director, told the BBC's Andrew Marr show. "We will need to watch it carefully as new strains come into the country from around the world and we will need to be very ready for autumn."
Morgan has criticised the duke and duchess of Sussex multiple times in recent weeks
Hospitals offer holiday and bonuses to Covid-weary staff in England. Food, drama and poetry also part of efforts to reward NHS workers and improve conditions
"I find it ridiculous."
Follow the day’s events as they happened
No European Union country has a bigger stock of AstraZeneca (AZ) vaccines or has used a smaller percentage of its stock than Italy. Rome, with European Commission permission, stopped a shipment of 250,000 of the Oxford University jabs leaving the EU for Australia. The ban was a rebuke to the British-Swedish pharmaceutical firm, which Brussels accuses of breaking its contractual obligations, which AZ denies. In January it cut supplies to the EU in the first quarter to 40 million doses from the 90 million in the deal, and said it would cut deliveries by another 50 per cent in the second quarter. The EU has lagged far behind the UK, US and Israel in rollout, which it blames on supply shortfalls. Italian prime minister Mario Draghi aims to use AZ to speed up vaccinations as his country gears to face a third wave. He is expected to lift age restrictions and follow Britain's lead in having a longer gap between first and second jabs to increase the number having at least one shot. But a new YouGov survey of 1,029 Italians found that almost a quarter (23 per cent) would refuse the AZ jab and demand an alternative.
She accused critics of the Duchess of being racist
Pope Francis held the first ever papal mass in Iraq on Saturday, March 6, at the Chaldean Cathedral of Saint Joseph in Baghdad.Earlier on Saturday, Francis met with Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, Iraq’s top Shia cleric, in the city of Najaf.The Vatican went ahead with the historic visit — the first ever by a pope to Iraq — despite concerns over security and the spread of coronavirus in the country.This footage, taken from video shared by the Vatican’s media arm, shows the service at Saint Joseph’s Chaldean Cathedral on Saturday evening. Credit: Vatican News via Storyful
It comes as those aged 56-59 are being invited to join the cohort of the population being offered a Covid-19 vaccine.
‘Population immunity’ to flu and other viruses may have been impacted by Covid health measures, government adviser says
Exodus of foreign workers ‘a threat to UK recovery’Construction, care and hospitality industries all at risk from major shortage of employees, say business leaders The government could fail to meet its target to build 300,000 homes a year because of a potential shortage of workers in the construction industry. Photograph: Matt Cardy/Getty Images
More than third of Scottish voters less likely to vote for cutting ties with rest of UK after events of recent days
Education secretary said teachers were among public sector workers set to face "pay restraint".
The Queen's husband is spending another weekend in hospital.
Yemen's Houthi forces fired drones and missiles at the heart of Saudi Arabia's oil industry on Sunday, including a Saudi Aramco facility at Ras Tanura vital to petroleum exports, in what Riyadh called a failed assault on global energy security. Announcing the attacks, the Houthis, who have been battling a Saudi-led coalition for six years, also said they attacked military targets in the Saudi cities of Dammam, Asir and Jazan.
Exclusive: Chancellor has only done ‘half the job’, warn NHS bosses as they call for waiting time targets to be suspended