Verizon, the main New York phone company, has now said that it will make all 4, 000 of its public payphones in the city free "for the duration of the current emergency", and unlike in normal times would lift the bar on incoming calls.

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"The next two years should see some improvement, with a normal monsoon likely to lift agriculture, and exports, industry and services expected to expand on stronger domestic and external demand, " it said.

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By launching closer to the equator, the rocket receives a bigger boost from the Earth's rotation, meaning it can lift nearly double the mass of a normal Baikonur payload - a maximum of three tonnes, as opposed to 1.7 tonnes, into a geosynchronous orbit 36, 000km above the Earth.

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For those who have not, it is a condition of flight in which lift is reduced to such an extent that normal flight ceases and the aircraft becomes a brick.

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The authority said The Twin Sails Bridge would operate to its normal lifting schedule, "albeit with a slightly slower lift speed".

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