Question:
Move is hailed by Sir David Attenborough as ‘the most prestigious environment prize in history’

Prince William has announced what was described as “the most prestigious environment prize in history” to encourage new solutions to tackling the climate crisis.

The “Earthshot prize” will be awarded to five people every year over the next decade, the Prince said on Tuesday, and aims to provide at least 50 answers to some of the greatest problems facing the planet by 2030.

They include promoting new ways of addressing issues such as energy, nature and biodiversity, the oceans, air pollution and fresh water.

The prize, inspired by US president John F Kennedy’s ambitious “Moonshot” lunar programme and backed by Sir David Attenborough, promises “a significant financial award”, a statement said.

The Duke of Cambridge, a grandson of the Queen and second in line to the throne, said the Earth was “at a tipping point” and faced a “stark choice”.

David Attenborough and Prince William take world leaders to task on environment Read more

“Either we continue as we are and irreparably damage our planet or we remember our unique power as human beings and our continual ability to lead, innovate and problem-solve,” he said. “Remember the awe-inspiring civilisations that we have built, the life-saving technology we have created, the fact that we have put a man on the moon. People can achieve great things.

“The next 10 years present us with one of our greatest tests – a decade of action to repair the Earth,” he said.

Kensington Palace (@KensingtonRoyal) "The earth is at a tipping point and we face a stark choice: either we continue as we are and irreparably damage our planet or we remember our unique power as human beings and our continual ability to lead, innovate and problem-solve." — The Duke of Cambridge @EarthshotPrize pic.twitter.com/SfGaKY9qsG

The award, which will be launched later in the year and bestowed from 2021, is open to individuals as well as communities and businesses.

It has the support of conservation campaigners, groups and scientists, including the veteran British natural history broadcaster Attenborough.

“The spirit of the Moonshot can guide us today as we confront the serious challenges we face on Earth,” Attenborough said in a film to mark the launch. “This year Prince William and a global alliance launch the most prestigious environment prize in history ... designed to motivate and inspire a new generation of thinkers, leaders and dreamers to think differently.”

Both Prince Charles and Prince Philip have campaigned for environmental causes and against the illegal trade in wildlife around the world.

William is hoping to build on their work through the prize, which will initially be run by his and his wife’s own charitable foundation.

(Newser) – On the last day of 2019, Prince William announced on the Kensington Palace Instagram feed "the most prestigious environment prize in history." The multimillion-dollar Earthshot Prize, which will be formally launched in 2020 per the BBC, will hold awards ceremonies in cities around the world every year from 2021 to 2030, ABC News reports. "Who is ready to lead as we make the 2020s a decade of action to repair our planet?" reads one of the palace's two Instagram posts on the challenge. "Just as the moonshot that John F. Kennedy proposed in the 1960s catalysed new technology such as the MRI scanner and satellite dishes, we want our Earthshot challenges to create a new wave of ambition and innovation around finding ways to help save the planet," says the official website.

The palace says William and a global alliance of philanthropists and organizations will work together to "inspire the the planet’s greatest problem solvers to solve Earth’s greatest problems: the emergencies facing our natural world." The BBC says specific challenges will be launched, aiming to find at least 50 solutions to problems facing the planet. The palace says prizes "could be awarded to a wide range of individuals, teams or collaborations—scientists, activists, economists, leaders, governments, banks, businesses, cities, and countries—anyone who is making a substantial development or outstanding contribution to solving these environmental challenges." Winners will get a financial award as well as public recognition for their projects that will, hopefully, inspire businesses and governments to join in the work. (Read more Prince William stories.)

First are the vowels, which, with one exception, come in pairs:

First are the vowels, which, with one exception, come in pairs:

[ https://www.marathigrammar.com/marathi-alphabets/ Marathi Alphabets] in Marathi Langauge have One Update In. Now Marathi Vowels Is 14 So Now Marathi Barakhadi Called As Marathi Chaudakhadi you can go to this link and see actual change that happens

marathi-alphabets in Marathi Langauge have One Update In. Now Marathi Vowels Is 14 So Now Marathi Barakhadi Called As Marathi Chaudakhadi

Marathi is written in the Devanagari script. It consists of 11 vowels, 40 consonants, and 2 sound modifiers.

The Devanagari syllabary is organised according to the way sounds are produced using the voice box and the mouth.

Vowels

Marathi Alphabets in Marathi Langauge have One Update In. Now Marathi Vowels Is 14 So Now Marathi Barakhadi Called As Marathi Chaudakhadi you can go to this link and see actual change that happens First are the vowels, which, with one exception, come in pairs:

अ आ इ ई उ ऊ ऋ ए ऐ ओ औ अं अ:

Using the International Alphabet of Sanskrit Transliteration (IAST), these vowels would be represented thus:

a ā i ī u ū ṛ e ai o au an aha

अ ( a ) is pronounced as a default vowel, similar to a schwa.

( ) is pronounced as a default vowel, similar to a schwa. आ ( ā ) is like the vowel a in father . Note that this must NOT be confused with a similar o-like sound, and can be represented by the sound children, and even adults, make when a GP tells them to say "Aah." In a RP accent, this can also be said like the "ar" in farther .

( ) is like the vowel a in . Note that this must NOT be confused with a similar o-like sound, and can be represented by the sound children, and even adults, make when a GP tells them to say "Aah." In a RP accent, this can also be said like the "ar" in . इ ( i ) is like the vowel in tin .

( ) is like the vowel in . ई ( ī ) is like the vowel in see .

( ) is like the vowel in . ऋ ( rū ) is like the vowel in ruby .

( ) is like the vowel in . उ ( u ) is like the vowel in book .

( ) is like the vowel in . ऊ ( ū ) is like the vowel in tool .

( ) is like the vowel in . ए ( e ) is like the vowel in May except there is no diphthong.

( ) is like the vowel in except there is no diphthong. ऐ ( ai ) is one of the only two diphthong vowels in Marathi, and pronounced differently depending on regional accent. Often it is pronounced like the vowel in buy .

( ) is one of the only two diphthong vowels in Marathi, and pronounced differently depending on regional accent. Often it is pronounced like the vowel in . ओ ( o ) is like the vowel in hole .

( ) is like the vowel in . औ ( au ) is the other diphthong vowel, also with varying pronunciation. It is often pronounced like the vowel in autum .

( ) is the other diphthong vowel, also with varying pronunciation. It is often pronounced like the vowel in . अं ( an ) is like the vowel in uncle .

( ) is like the vowel in . अं: (aha) is like the vowel in no similar use in English.

All vowels in Marathi have two forms: Their standalone form and their mātrā form. The mātrā form modifies consonants. Here are the eleven vowels paired with the syllable क (k):

क का कि की कु कू कृ के कै को कौ ka kā ki kī ku kū kṛ ke kai ko kau

Note that there is no mātrā form for the first vowel, अ --a. This is because all Marathi consonants, unless part of a conjunct (see below), or they appear at the end of a word, automatically contain this vowel. So, the letter क is pronounced ka.

Regular Consonants

There are 25 regular consonants (consonants that stop air from moving out of the mouth) in Marathi, and they are organized into groups (vargas) of five. The vargas are ordered according to where the tongue is in the mouth. Each successive varga refers to a successively forward position of the tongue. The vargas are ordered and named thus (with an example of a corresponding consonant):

Velar (k)

Palatal (j)

Retroflex (English t)

Dental (Spanish t)

Labial (p)

The five consonants in each group are ordered thus:

unaspirated, unvoiced

aspirated, unvoiced

unaspirated, voiced

aspirated, voiced

nasal

The difference between voiced and unvoiced consonants is as simple for an English speaker to understand as understanding the difference between the consonants "k" and "g" or "j" and "ch." However, aspiration is a distinction foreign to most English speakers. To understand the difference, do this simple exercise:

Hold your palm about an inch in front of your mouth. Say the word "pit." Notice that your hand will likely feel a short burst of air coming from your mouth. Now say the word "spit" and notice that there is little or no burst of air. Now attempt to say "pit" again, this time without letting the burst of air happen.

Here are the five vargas of regular consonants, followed by their corresponding IAST characters:

क ख ग घ ङ

च छ ज झ ञ

ट ठ ड ढ ण

त थ द ध न

प फ ब भ म

k kh g gh ṅ

c ch j jh ñ

ṭ ṭh ḍ ḍh ṇ

t th d dh n

p ph b bh m

Notes:

The nasal consonants in the first two vargas are almost never found written alone; they are usually conjuncted (more on conjuncts later) with another consonant in their corresponding vargas, as the other nasal consonants often are.

The consonants in the first two vargas, as well as the last, are pronounced exactly as they are in English. In other words, a Marathi k sounds like an English "k" (without aspiration).

The consonant written 'c' can be confusing; it is pronounced like the first sound in the word chair but without aspiration. The consonant ch is virtually indistinguishable from c to the untrained English speaker, but is indeed a different letter.

The English consonants "t" and "d" fall somewhere in between the Marathi consonants t and d, and ṭ and ḍ. They are closer to the latter (retroflex), so when Marathi speakers say or speak English words containing t or d, they almost always use the retroflex version. To achieve these sounds, curl the tongue back and touch the tip to the roof of the mouth.

The dental consonants are pronounced exactly like the "t" and "d" in Spanish, with the tongue touching the back of the upper teeth.

Voiced, aspirated consonants (gh, bh, etc.) are by far the hardest sounds for the English speaker to learn how to make; however, with some practice they are not overly difficult.

Semivowels

There are four semivowels in Marathi:

य र ल व

y r l w (v)

y is very similar to its corresponding English sound.

is very similar to its corresponding English sound. r, like most non-English "r" sounds, is flipped, but not rolled.

like most non-English "r" sounds, is flipped, but not rolled. l is the same as the English "l".

is the same as the English "l". w (v) has a somewhat flexible pronunciation, depending on context and regional dialects. Sometimes it is pronounced like the English "w" (as in the word swami), and other times it is closer to the English "v". It is often pronounced somewhere in between the two sounds.

Sibilants

There are three sibilants:

श ष स

ś ṣ s

ś is the same as "sh" in English.

is the same as "sh" in English. ṣ is also similar to "sh" in English, and though it is technically pronounced farther back in the mouth, functionally there is very little or no difference between the two in spoken Marathi.

is also similar to "sh" in English, and though it is technically pronounced farther back in the mouth, functionally there is very little or no difference between the two in spoken Marathi. s is the same as "s" in English.

Fricative

There is one fricative consonant:

ह

h

h is pronounced the same as "h" in English.

Additional Consonants

There are three additional consonants:

ळ क्ष ज्ञ

La kSha dnya

Modified Consonants

Most of the sounds mentioned in this section do not belong to Marathi. This section needs to be revised.

There are many sounds found in Marathi that do not directly correspond to any Devanagari letter:

क़ (q) is pronounced farther back in the throat than क. For example, the Arabic word Qu'ran begins with this letter.

ग़ (ġ) is pronounced in the back of the throat, similar to the French "r."

ख़ ( kh ) is pronounced like "ch" in German words like Bach or Reich.

ज़ (z) is the same as the English "z."

ड़ (ṛ) is difficult to describe, except by example. The Marathi word गाड़ी (gaṛī) sounds very much like "gardee." Notice that the character used to denote this character is the same as denotes ऋ . The only way to tell the difference is context; if ṛ is followed by a consonant, it corresponds to ऋ (example: ऋषि -- ṛṣi or "Rushi"). If it is followed by a vowel or falls at the end of a word, is is most likely ड़ .

ढ़ (ṛh) is the aspirated version of ड़ .

फ़ is the same as the English sound "f."

Sound Modifiers

The anusvara is notated with a small dot above the corresponding letter. In IAST, it is notated ṃ. It can have two different effects:

In mid-word, when it appears before a consonant, it has the same effect as if that consonant's corresponding nasal consonant were placed right before it. For example, if placed before the "k" sound in the English word "buck," it would make the word change to "bunk."

Marathi example:

Placed at the end of a word (after a vowel with no further consonants), it simply nasalizes the vowel, often sounding as if the English "ng" (as in "song") had been placed at the end of the word, though lightly.

Marathi examples:

The ardhacandra (meaning "half moon") is notated with a small crescent (see below). The sound is similar to "ae", as in "cat", "bat", "rat".

The candrabindu (meaning "moon dot") is very similar to the anusvara and is notated with a dot and a small crescent (see below). When placed above a vowel, the vowel becomes nasalized.

Marathi example:

The visarga is notated with what looks like an English colon. It is transliterated with ḥ. It is only found at the end of words, and only found on Sanskrit loan words. It has the effect of adding a h as well as a lighter version of the preceding vowel. For example, नमः is pronounced namaha, with the last a having as little emphasis as possible.

The halant is a small diagonal line which indicates that the default vowel अ -- a is not to be pronounced. It only appears at the end of words. In Marathi, however, this symbol is almost never seen, as, unlike Sanskrit, the default vowel is almost never pronounced on the final consonants of words. Example: नाम् -- nām (name).

Conjuncts

Very often, two or more consonants are combined. If you see conjuncts, they will conjoin two consonants in an obvious manner. The visarga may be used in the middle of a word as a conjunct if an obvious conjunct is not possible.

Reference

Complete List of Standardised Marathi Alphabets

Late 'voice' of Kentucky athletics, Cawood Ledford, voted into NSMA Hall of Fame

Cawood Ledford, the late "voice" of Kentucky athletics, has been voted into the National Sports Media Association Hall of Fame, the association announced Monday.

Ledford, who died in 2001, spent 39 years calling UK basketball and football games. He even called several Kentucky Derbys, winning three Eclipse Awards for his coverage of thoroughbred racing. He was tabbed Kentucky Sportscaster of the Year 22 times, according to the UK Athletics Hall of Fame.

The 2020 Hall of Fame class will be celebrated on June 29.

How these brands think they look:

How they actually look:

This is why you don’t want a bunch of old men calling ALL the shots.

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More funny pics:

The only public execution of a British head of state occurred 371 years ago outside the Banqueting House in Whitehall on 30 January 1649. It was a radical, unintended act, born of failed negotiations and it entirely disregarded the people of Scotland and Ireland. The surviving details are piquant and shaming: Charles I in two shirts so as not to betray shivered fear on a cold day, a masked executioner in a wig and false beard, a collective groan from the crowd.

This used to be the moment when the curtain dropped. After an interval, or interregnum, in which Oliver Cromwell assumed power and killed all joy, the Stuarts returned for the second act, Charles II: the merry monarch. His reign was backdated to his father’s death and an Act of Oblivion drew a line under the horrid business of republic and civil war. As Paul Lay demonstrates in his immensely stimulating study of Cromwell’s Protectorate, this simply will not do. This was one of the most extraordinary, exhilarating, innovative and anxiety inducing periods in British history. There is no better time to be looking at it.

The providence of Lay’s title is the lodestone Protestant belief that God in his mystery had a hand in all things. Nothing could happen, not salvation, nor a sneeze, without divine direction. This made the hotter sort of Protestants, the Puritans, off-balance and twitchy for approval, like social media addicts, Lay observes. None was more hooked on providence than Cromwell, a yeoman farmer from Cambridgeshire (and kinsman of Henry VIII’s minister), who had risen through the ranks of the army to take effective charge of Whitehall and Westminster.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Portrait of Charles I by Anthony van Dyck. Photograph: De Agostini/Getty Images

Providence is also a volcanic island in the Caribbean and it is here that the book opens, on Christmas Eve 1629, with idealistic Puritans hoping to settle a godly colony. They failed, largely because they refused to trade with Spaniards, but the vision endured, as did its backers, including key players in the Long Parliament that went to war with the king. At the battles of Naseby, Marston Moor and the “crowing mercy” of Worcester, God blew and the royalists were scattered. Providence justified the abolition of the monarchy and the House of Lords, just as it explained Cromwell’s clean sheet of victories. After his seemingly miraculous defeat of the Scots at Dunbar in 1650, he was seen laughing excessively “as if he had been drunk; his eyes sparkled with spirits”.

Others thought he was high on hubris. In December 1653, having forcibly dissolved two parliaments, Cromwell accepted the title of Lord Protector, which was written into a constitution known as the Instrument of Government. It was resisted by the first protectorate parliament and so, in a constitutional contortion that might make even today’s politicians blush, Cromwell dissolved parliament by counting its minimum period in lunar months, rather than the conventional, longer, calendar months. “I speak for God and not for men,” he told MPs. He was beginning to sound a lot like Charles I.

Cromwell’s fundamental goal was liberty of conscience, but his challenge was to keep his army standing, deliver strong and stable government (“healing and settling”) and shape the people into a nation worthy of Christ’s imminent return. In that great gross line, he described the English as “under circumcision, but raw”. Above all, he strained to hear God’s voice once the guns had fallen silent.

The answer, he decided, was global. He would take God’s fight back to the Caribbean, seize the island of Hispaniola, avenge the loss of Providence and return with enough bullion to pay the army. The expedition commander was so buoyed by the venture that it doubled as his honeymoon. He returned to Portsmouth “almost a skeleton” and was dispatched to the Tower of London. The “Western Design” was an abject failure. The subsequent conquest of Jamaica was a face-saving afterthought and, it would turn out, the inversion of liberty.

In that crucial year, 1655, Cromwell also suppressed an ineffectual royalist rebellion. Spurred by John Lambert, the hero of Dunbar, he surmised that God would be placated by a clampdown on security and sin. England was divided into military districts. Former royalists had to register their movements and pay for the privilege in the form of a decimation tax. Vagrants were apprehended. Meetings at racecourses and bear-baiting rings, where conspiracies might fester, were dispersed. War was waged on fornication, drunkenness and gambling: “wars unwinnable”, Lay notes. In Altham, Lancashire, 200 unlicensed alehouses were closed within three months of the arrival of Major-General Worsley, a fundamentalist who drove himself to death in his maniacal pursuit of vice. The major generals lacked the resources to effect a moral reformation and were soon rejected by the electorate. It was, nevertheless, a dystopian time and not forgotten: “No man in uniform has ruled Britain since Cromwell,” Lay points out.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Charles II by John Michael Wright. Photograph: Dea Picture Library/De Agostini/Getty Images

Providence Lost is a learned, lucid, wry and compelling narrative of the 1650s as well as a sensitive portrayal of a man unravelled by providence. Lay’s Cromwell is dithering and ambiguous, too slippery to pin down, but almost likable, almost true. He welcomed Jews back to England, even if he aimed to convert them to Christianity (Sigmund Freud named his son Oliver). He regretted, on a personal and procedural level, the Commons’ retrospective judgment of James Nayler, a priapic, lank haired Quaker with messianic pretensions, who was branded for blasphemy and whipped until his back was a sheet of raw flesh. (One MP even mooted the obscure Roman punishment of stitching him into a sack with a dog, a cock, a viper and an ape, and tossing him into the river.)

As Cromwell settled into his reign – an accurate enough word – he displayed shades of hypocrisy. “Lascivious” songs and stage plays were forbidden, but the elite could enjoy dancing and the first English opera. Cromwell dipped into Charles I’s art collection and had a room at Hampton Court draped in sinful tapestries. And yet: when, in the wake of a royalist-leveller gunpowder plot in 1657, the issue of the succession led to parliament offering Cromwell the crown, he turned it down: “I would not seek to set up that which providence hath destroyed.”

On Cromwell’s death in 1658, the Protectorate passed to his son Richard, who had that rare gift in politics of realising when he was not up to the job. He did not resist when army radicals ousted him in May 1659. The following year, having lost any semblance of order or legitimacy, they too were gone. The Protectorate was too out of touch, too reliant on the sword and far too expensive to be missed. Its failure ensured that whichever randy prince might come along, monarchy would endure.

Two contemporary works capture the contrasting tempers of the time. The Anglican Izaak Walton’s The Compleat Angler is a fishing manual that rejoices in the beauty and bounty of the land. It reflects still waters and a contented patience beyond the ken of Puritanism. Lay doesn’t discuss John Milton’s Paradise Lost, but the title and its themes of tyranny and failed revolution shadow every page of his book. Milton gave his life to the Puritan cause and was crushed by its betrayal, but even when he went blind, he did not lose sight of liberty, or God. Paradise Lost closes with Adam and Eve wiping their tears and venturing out of Eden with “providence their guide”. It is an epic, eloquent scream into the cataclysm and a testament to the intellectual ferment of the republic, but it is the quiet little fishing book that has been reprinted more often.

• Providence Lost: The Rise and Fall of Oliver Cromwell’s Protectorate is published by Head of Zeus (RRP £30). To order a copy go to guardianbookshop.com. Free UK p&p over £15.

This is the year to start taking happiness seriously. But how – and where do you find the time? Here are the tips and advice you need for a pleasure-filled year

The last time I felt joy was at an event that would be many people’s vision of hell: a drunken Taylor Swift club-night singalong in the early hours of the morning a few weekends ago.

I certainly experience joy, either as peaks of euphoria or in quiet, unexpected bursts. But as I go about my everyday business – sprinting to meet deadlines, standing in front of the open fridge – I wouldn’t say it looms large.

I am not alone. Many of us treat joy like the good china, only warranted on special occasions. Even if we know it is within our reach, we may not see it is within our control.

But this is a mistake, according to happiness experts. Nataly Kogan, the author of Happier Now, says: “Happiness and emotional health are not extras, or bonuses, or nice-to-haves – they’re actually at the core of what helps us live well.”

Seeking joy may sound frivolous, but being happy has been shown to promote habits and behaviours that are important to our health. A 2017 study of roughly 7,000 adults found that those with positive wellbeing were more likely to be physically active and to eat fresh fruit and vegetables. Being happy has also been linked to better sleep, better weight management, lower stress levels, an improved immune system and even increased life expectancy.

Despite the myriad benefits of joy – and the obvious incentive that it feels good – many of us don’t prioritise it. But experts point out that our resources and energy are finite; what we put off will fall by the wayside. So, as with any goal, the first step to a joyful life is to make it a priority – which may mean you need to let go of other commitments – and then do the work. In other words, we need to start taking joy seriously.

As the founder and chief executive of the wellbeing business Happier, Kogan helps companies to improve their workplace culture and professionals to foster joy in their lives – lessons born out of her experience of career burnout and personal dissatisfaction in her late 30s. She likens herself at the time to a ship on the ocean – fine in favourable conditions, but at the mercy of any storm.

Now 44 and based with her family in Boston, Massachusetts, Kogan says she has landed on practices and tools to harness happiness as a steady, sustainable presence in her daily life. The first of these is not to think of happiness as something to pursue at a later date, when your life is in order. “I lived with this idea of: ‘I’ll be happy when ...’ as I know so many people do,” she says. “We have to look at emotional health as a skill, not a destination. And, as with any skill, when you practise, you do better.”

The gains have been established in research into baseline happiness – what in psychological literature is called our “hedonic set point”. It varies from person to person, but the key point is that our baseline is only half determined by genetics. “That means the other 50% is up to us,” says Kogan. “I think that is incredibly empowering.”

So, what can we do to make 2020 a more joyful year?

Identify the problem

Facebook Twitter Pinterest ‘Draw a large circle, divide it into segments and label each to reflect a different area of life that you want to assess.’ Illustration: Adam Higton/The Guardian

Start by identifying where joy is most lacking. Sarah Waite, a London-based psychologist, suggests the “wheel of life”, a personal development exercise derived from the Buddhist theory of balance. Draw a large circle, divide it into eight or 10 segments and label each to reflect a different area of life that you want to assess.

There are templates online, typically along the lines of fun and recreation, physical environment, career, finances, personal growth, romance, family and friends, and health. Shade in each wedge to reflect your level of satisfaction.

The finished circle should be an overview of the areas of your life that you feel you have under control, and those that may need further attention. When it comes to deciding where to allocate resources, “it’s not necessarily the one you’ve marked the lowest; it’s the one you really value the most,” says Waite. It may be that your job is not a priority for you, so it doesn’t matter if it remains only two-thirds filled.

The goal is to get perspective and clarity. The brain has evolved to be much more sensitive to negatives than positives as, historically, it has been more important for us to be attuned to hazardous situations than satisfactory ones. This “negativity bias” distorts our perspective, meaning it is hard to make a good decision under stress, says Kogan. “People can focus on things that are not ‘as they should be’ … We all have our stories of why we are not happy, at work or otherwise.” But small, practical steps taken to boost joy in one part of life can improve happiness across the board as momentum builds.

The big picture

Kogan’s first tip is to start by writing a list of what you like about your job, no matter how small. “Be specific, think broadly and don’t judge your list as you write it.” It doesn’t matter what they are, or how many there are; the idea is to shift your mindset.

Kogan suggests making it a daily habit to note three small, highly specific things that you are grateful for every morning, perhaps before you reach for your phone. “It’s not about pretending that nothing is wrong, it’s about helping your brain to get out of that negativity spiral.”

Just three weeks of this consistent “gratitude practice” has been shown to establish new neuron connections facilitating optimism, with the effects lasting for six months. Mindfulness and self-compassion are similarly powerful, says Shamash Alidina, the author of Mindfulness for Dummies and the co-founder of the not-for-profit Museum of Happiness – and more attainable than people may think.

Many equate mindfulness with clearing one’s mind of thoughts entirely. This means they often give up out of frustration, says Alidina – but “it’s not about not thinking, it’s about being aware”. Spending just a few minutes noticing your thoughts pass you by like clouds, experimenting with what Alidina calls your “flexibility of attention”, can equip you to stop negative spirals before they start. “People associate meditation with being calm or relaxed, but it’s really just about not getting lost in your thoughts,” he says.

What does it all mean?

Finding lasting happiness is also about what we do, particularly what we do for others. Kogan says it is important to have a sense of purpose – to find what she calls “the bigger why” among our deadlines and meetings. “It’s not possible to be a happy human being if you don’t feel like what you’re doing is meaningful,” she says.

Assessing your to-do list – particularly tasks you find mundane or frustrating – through the lens of “Who does this help?” can increase motivation, lift your mood and improve your ability to manage stress, she says. “When you say: ‘This project is going to help a lot of people’ – my team, customers, readers, whatever – your stress has context and you feel more resilient getting through it.”

Helping others may seem like a circular way of boosting your happiness, but Kogan says even small gestures, such as pulling out a chair for a colleague or checking in with them about their day, releases oxytocin in the giver and the receiver. Over time, it also fosters a sense of belonging at work and can lead to office friendships – one of the most common factors in job satisfaction.

Play is an effective mood‑booster that is often neglected in adulthood

The mindset shift encouraged by practising “intentional kindness” means it is worth doing for your own happiness, says Kogan. At 3pm every day, she receives a reminder to “be kind”. Sometimes that is as simple as texting someone she hasn’t spoken to in a while and telling them that she’s thinking of them: “I cannot tell you how much that means to people.”

Family fortunes

It is well known that strong relationships are important to happiness, but what those look like – and how to forge them – can be ambiguous. “Happiness can feel very abstract,” says Gretchen Rubin, the author of The Happiness Project. “My approach is to think about what you want, then break it up into manageable, concrete actions that you can actually take.”

In terms of improving relationships, that might look like making a regular time to call or meet a friend, committing to attend a reunion or throw a party, or having a daily exchange with someone in public. Every five days or so, Rubin’s family email each other an update on the “boring everyday stuff” of their lives, freed from any pressure to entertain or an expectation to reply. “We realised that, by staying in touch with the little minutiae, we would feel more connected – and it’s absolutely working.”

Making warm greetings and goodbyes habitual at home is another small but effective shift (“I always think that I don’t want to be less enthusiastic than my dog,” says Rubin). Such low-level commitments are less daunting to start and easier to keep up – and they make a real impact. We all have different definitions of happiness, Rubin says, whether it be joy, peace, satisfaction, bliss. “My way of thinking about it is: today, next month, next year – are there things you can do to be happier?” she says. “And if there are, why not do them?”

Home truths

If Rubin comes across an improvement at home that she can make in less than a minute, she does it immediately. For her, “outer order contributes to inner calm”, so happiness can be as simple as a clean kitchen bench or a decluttered shelf. “It feels trivial – and yet over and over people say: ‘When I have control of my environment, I feel like I have control generally,’” says Rubin. “Like making your bed every morning – it gives people a lift, more than really makes sense.”

Often this is understood as minimalism – but there are many happy, successful people who take pleasure in being surrounded by their possessions, says Rubin. It is not a moral failing to prefer abundance, and making your personal space reflect your values and interests “can be very pleasing”.

Ingrid Fetell Lee, the author of The Aesthetics of Joy, agrees. “We’ve been taught to think about our homes through the lens of other people: what’s trendy, what the design books say,” she says. As a result, many of us are out of touch with how our spaces measure on our own “joy meters”. We may view a neutral grey palette as the height of sophistication when, in fact, what brings us pleasure is a neon front door.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest ‘Control is inextricable from exercise, sleep and good money management.’ Illustration: Adam Higton/The Guardian

Even the presence of different shapes can have an impact, with people finding angular objects more subconsciously anxiety-inducing than round ones. Rounded objects also tend to make environments more playful, says Lee: “Not only because your mind is unconsciously set at ease, but because you’re less worried about bumping into sharp edges.”

Play is an effective mood-booster that is often neglected in adulthood. Rubin says she marks holidays such as Halloween and St Patrick’s Day with themed meals, just because, while the Museum of Happiness’s pop-up installations in London and Manchester later this month are testament to the transformative effects of a ballpit on otherwise sober adults.

To bring some of that spirit into your home, Lee advises trying to imagine you are visiting for the first time: “Notice how it makes you feel, almost the physiological sensation in your body, as you move from room to room. What are the things that, when your eyes land on them, make you smile or feel drained?”

The key is not to feel burdened by your possessions. “Owning less means you are surrounding yourself with only your favourite things,” says Joshua Becker, who writes the blog Becoming Minimalist. Being intentional with the things that we own – and, by extension, our money – means that our lives align with our values and passions: things that really matter to us. “Minimalism removes distractions so that we can free up our money, time and energy on those things that bring us real joy in life,” says Becker.

Early to bed

Play, gratitude and kindness may factor into a life full of joy, but so can discipline. A sense of control is more important to happiness than many people realise, says Rubin. Prosaically enough, this is inextricable from exercise, sleep and good money management. Too often, happiness is located solely in the moment, she says, when it could be achieved through giving up sugar or alcohol, or setting an alarm to go to bed on time. “Sometimes, to be happier in the long run, we have to ask more of ourselves or deprive ourselves of something,” says Rubin. “A happy life is not one that’s focused only on the present.”

Embracing boredom

In the same vein, putting off a difficult or boring task can detract from your daily experience more than getting stuck into it. Waite says she rolls her eyes at the framing of self-care as “baths and candles”: “I love those things, but if doing your tax return is really making you anxious, maybe the kindest thing you can do for yourself is to make a start.” It may not be what is typically understood by joy, but sustainable, long-lasting happiness involves recognising that there are many shades on the emotional palette.

Research shows that occasionally accepting the presence of harder emotions means you experience them less intensely and for less time. In fact, the first step towards a joyful life may be letting go of your ideas of what that looks like – and recognising that it is down to you.

“Part of this exercise is to recognise that there isn’t anything out there that is going to make you feel good 100% of the time,” says Kogan. “That’s actually great news, because when we let go of this particular idea of happiness we give ourselves more opportunities to be in alignment with our lives.”

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Question:
According to the Reuters report, Ripple, the company behind the third-largest cryptocurrency XRP, is planning to collaborate with banks in Brazil to utilize XRP for cross-border settlements. Ripple launched operations in Brazil to expand the use of XRP not only in Brazil but the whole South American region.

Ripple to collaborate with digital banks.

According to the report, Ripple is expected to announce partnerships in the coming months with more institutions, including digital banks. Ripple, recently raised $200 million in a series c funding around. The company has successfully partnered with several banks and financial institutions to make cross-border payments easier, utilizing XRP. MoneyGram is one of the financial giants that the company has partnered with.

A 10% rise in cross-border transactions in Brazil

The cross-border settlements between Brazil and other countries from January to November totaled the US $ 4.6 billion, an increase of 10% over the same period last year. Currently, all of these transactions are processed via SWIFT, which is quite expensive and very slow. Ripple aims to take over SWIFT to provide frictionless international payments. Ripple’s CEO in Brazil, Luiz Antonio Sacco, said, “With successive advances in Brazilian banking regulation to facilitate financial transactions, including international, opportunities here will grow greatly in the coming years.”

Daniel Webber Founder & CEO Daniel is Founder and CEO of FXcompared and has 18 years of experience in the international finance world focusing on cross-border payments, technology and the property sectors. Daniel is widely… Read more

Firm to build up its presence in the region, with moves to work alongside regulatory bodies and other firms in an effort to find potential partners to use XRP

Expansion to Brazil comes on the back of acknowledgement that the country has good regulations – and moves to Argentina are expected to follow in future

“Brazil is a leader in fintech innovation and positioned to forge a path for the rest of Latin America to follow”, says Ripple spokesperson

Fast-growing blockchain-powered payment platform Ripple has announced it will expand into a key South American market – and follow up the move in future with other South American economies too.

The liquidity-boosting cross border payments platform, which has already signed agreements to work alongside a wide range of institutions with global presences including MoneyGram, will scale up its presence in the country.

In South America in particular, it has a number of partnership agreements in place – and it works alongside names such as Rendimento and Santander.

However, these institutions do not use one of Ripple’s key products – XRP, which is also known as a “digital asset”.

XRP is able to provide organisations involved in the payment pathway with liquidity when they need it, or “on-demand” as it is known.

This is especially useful for organisations which are unable to access a sufficient amount of conventional, “fiat” liquidity.

Instead, these current partner organisations simply use the messaging system associated with Ripple.

Now, a Ripple statement has revealed that the organisation is in touch with companies – as well as regulators in the country – about potential partnerships and other steps forward.

It is believed that Brazil was an appealing spot for potential expansion for Ripple given that it has a reputation for having banking regulations which prioritise clarity.

It is also understood that 30% of remittances and other transactions placed via Ripple’s platforms come from Brazil.

However, the plans for expansion also cover other parts of the South American continent – with expansion to Argentina, Peru and other nations believed to be in the pipeline.

In a statement, Ripple’s managing director – Luiz Antonio Sacco – emphasised Brazil’s status as being “a leader in fintech innovation”.

“We are excited to grow our ecosystem in the region and bring additional financial institutions onto RippleNet to help provide excellent, efficient cross-border payment experiences for their customers”, he said.

“Brazil is a leader in fintech innovation and positioned to forge a path for the rest of Latin America to follow”, he added.

Ripple has quickly become a big name on the international money transfer scene.

It currently operates in 45 markets around the world, and its products are known for improving the speed of cross border transactions.

They are also known for reducing the costs involved.

If you need to find out more about what Ripple and organisations similar to it are doing in the international money transfer world, we can help.

Just head over to our magazine pages to discover more.

Abstract

During the 2014-2015 Ebola epidemic in Sierra Leone, people were required by law to call a trained “safe burial” team to dispose of the body of a person who had died from Ebola. It took days for a team to arrive, however, due to limited resources and rural travel obstacles, so some villagers felt obliged to bury their loved ones themselves. Even with timely arrival of a team, there can be cultural priorities that deserve attention. One man’s case discussed in this article suggests the need for Ebola responders to consider villagers’ perspectives and possibilities for compromise.

Case

Dr R is a physician working in the Democratic Republic of the Congo tasked with creating a quarantine policy for the bodies of Ebola victims, given high transmission rates from bodily fluid exposures. He receives reports of a confirmed Ebola death in a nearby village. Upon arriving with the Ebola response team, he is met by the wife and brothers of the deceased man. They refuse to allow the man’s body to be removed according to safety protocol. They explain that his body cannot be buried without first undergoing a religious cleaning by the family and a religious leader. Dr R explains that touching the body is dangerous and can easily lead to others contracting Ebola. The man’s family insists that he should not be buried without the religious ritual. How should Dr R reconcile the cultural importance of honoring local burial rituals with his obligation to prevent the spread of Ebola?

Commentary

The anthropologist Mary Douglas devoted her career to explaining that moral arguments derive from social context,1 and because social life is complex and open-ended, there will always be conflict between competing values. It was a basic concern of anthropology, she argued, to understand how human groups accommodate conflicting ethical demands.2 This article applies Douglas’ insight to safe burial protocol implementation during the 2014-2015 Ebola epidemic in Sierra Leone and is based on our experience living and working there.

Mutual Care Conflicts With Containment

In rural communities at the edge of a tropical forest region in Upper West Africa, villages are small and can be interconnected by marriage ties, so the welfare of family members linked by marriage is prioritized as an ethical value among members of these communities. Mutual support sustains their way of life, and visiting those who are ill, dying, or deceased reinforces social solidarity. Ebola virus disease (EVD) challenges the moral basis of local social life in such communities, since infection can spread when one cares for the sick and prepares bodies for funerals. In other words, infection containment requires that one refrain from caring for the sick in moments of patients’ extreme need and from preparing corpses for dignified burial. Infection containment thus presents many people with a conflict between 2 social obligations: to care for others as an expression of local interfamily solidarity and to preserve the community by helping control the spread of disease.

Families were prevented from washing and dressing corpses and had to wait, sometimes for days, for a trained burial team to arrive.

National and international Ebola responders stressed infection control, key to which is early isolation of patients with EVD. But early EVD symptoms can look like malaria, also widespread in the region, and thus can be hard to accurately diagnose early. Later onset symptoms of EVD (vomiting, diarrhea, and sometimes bleeding, for example) are optimally managed in specialized care facilities—typically far from where patients live, especially if rehydration therapy is applied—to improve patients’ chances of survival. An instinct of many patients’ family members was to follow the patient to a care facility and offer support by preparing food and touching or talking to the patient, for example. But when a patient with EVD was brought by ambulance to a distant treatment center, personal care was compromised, if not impossible. Furthermore, when a transported patient receiving specialized care died, it was rarely possible for family members to be notified in time to take part in that person’s burial.

How Ethnography Informed Compromise

Sierra Leone was one of the worst-affected countries in the 2014-2015 West African Ebola epidemic.3 Responders deployed modern media resources to impart (Western, allopathic) messages about biosafety that implied that “traditional” approaches to caring for EVD patients and burying deceased patients were backward or barbaric. Such messaging was backed by the Sierra Leone government, which threatened fines and imprisonment and insisted upon family members’ exclusion from all burials throughout the country, even though few deaths at that time were due to EVD. Families were prevented from washing and dressing corpses and had to wait, sometimes for days, for a trained burial team to arrive. Out of fear or nervousness, some teams heaved corpses quickly into graves with poles. Mourners were held at a distance or forbidden from witnessing burials at all. Outraged, some people resisted on having loved ones with EVD infections transported to care centers and began hiding and burying bodies of deceased patients.

One young man in a village in eastern Sierra Leone, who had attended his mother as she died of EVD, viewed it as simply unforgiveable not to clean and dress her body. She had given him life, and he saw himself as obliged to stand by her in death. So he performed the ritual alone and quietly buried her; he informed no one and accepted that he would probably become infected with EVD and die. To protect others from his probable infection and to avoid incarceration in an Ebola treatment facility, he left his village, planning to hide in the bush until EVD symptoms emerged; if they did, he would die alone. After experiencing no symptoms, he reported to a health center for an EVD blood test. His test was negative. Although this man’s story is obviously clinically important, from an anthropological perspective, it suggests the importance of compromise between needs of responders to contain disease and needs of local people to perform burial rituals of cultural significance.

Anthropological Foundations of Improved Ebola Care

Possibilities for compromise emerged when anthropologists helped gain a wider hearing for local people’s stories and ethical perspectives.4 One result of anthropologists’ publicizing of stories involving ethical dilemmas was to shift responders’ views about burials. As a result, Sierra Leone’s national protocol on safe burial was amended to “safe and dignified” burial.5 Pastors and imams were engaged to officiate at the graveside, and families were allowed to attend. Another result of anthropologists’ roles in the 2014-2015 epidemic was that EVD treatment became localized. That is, large and distant Ebola treatment centers were supplemented by smaller, local community care centers (CCCs)6 where all diseases were treated. This change encouraged earlier reporting of EVD symptoms and testing. Moreover, many CCC staff were recruited from local communities and thus were known to patients. This familiarity enhanced trust, eased family access to patients, enabled better reporting about patients’ progress, and facilitated provision of home-prepared food for patients. Even when family members couldn’t enter the “red zone” to be at a patient’s side, they could see the patient and talk through open sides of the tents. Family presence helped some patients survive. Even when the CCC reported deaths by phone, loved ones were on hand and able to gather for burial.

Although CCCs improved family access to patients, responders began to recognize that not all communities had working phones from which to call for an ambulance or roads that an ambulance could even traverse. As a solution, poster-based information, reinforced by radio broadcasts, helped family members learn what to do for a patient while waiting for an ambulance.5 Family members continued to care for patients while also protecting themselves with plastic bags and coats worn backwards. They also attempted to mitigate risk of contracting EVD by having one person care for the patient while others supported the carer.3,7

Contextualizing “Biosafety”

Allowing more family involvement in caregiving changed public attitudes towards the epidemic response effort significantly. Communities took ownership of local care facilities and EVD itself. Caregiving and burial preparation were never regarded as “safe,” so recruiting and training local burial teams remained as important as allowing family members to assume active roles in burial. One lesson is that competing cultural and public health values need to be balanced. Shouting down pleas to perform culturally important death and burial practices in the name of biosafety was not helpful. The 2014-2015 Ebola epidemic in West Africa demonstrated the necessity of compromise between conflicting values and the role of anthropology in implementing compromise.

SYDNEY - A memorial to commemorate the first anniversary of the deadly mosque attacks in New Zealand has been canceled because of fears over the new coronavirus.

Fifty-one people died when a gunman attacked two mosques in Christchurch a year ago. The shootings in one of New Zealand’s biggest cities were broadcast live on Facebook.

New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said her country of 4.5 million had "fundamentally changed" since the atrocity. New gun laws restrict the number of high-powered weapons like those used in the attacks. The alleged shooter is expected to go on trial in June.

The government in Wellington has also announced tough quarantine measures to try to stop the spread of the disease.

Ardern said that starting midnight Sunday, almost everyone entering New Zealand must self-isolate to contain the spread of the Covid-19 virus.

"We must go hard and we must go early," Ardern said. We must do everything we can to protect the health of New Zealanders. That is exactly why to tackle this global pandemic, cabinet made far-reaching and unprecedented decisions today, because these are unprecedented circumstances.”

Arrivals into New Zealand from the Pacific Islands will be exempt.

The government has said the quarantine measures are the strictest in the world and would be reviewed in 16 days. Ardern also said that no cruise liners would be allowed to dock in her country until June 30.

The group representing the cruise industry, the Cruise Association, has insisted the ban on passenger ships is draconian, and goes too far.

Essential air and ship deliveries will continue as normal, but the economic impact of the restrictions on New Zealand is expected to be severe. Details of a government stimulus package are expected early next week.

KABUL, Afghanistan — For three miraculous days in June 2018, the Afghan war came to a halt. Under a brief cease-fire agreement, Taliban fighters appeared in towns and cities, mingling with civilians and uniformed troops, praying in community mosques and getting a taste of peace.

The fighting quickly resumed, and in the 18 months since, thousands more Afghan civilians and security forces have been killed, as well as over 40 American troops. Peace talks between Taliban and U.S. officials dragged on for a year, and were abruptly canceled in September by President Donald Trump.

But suddenly, in the past week, rumors of a possible new truce have flooded the news, striking a rare spark of hope among the war-weary citizenry. International media outlets have reported that a cease-fire is imminent, citing unnamed sources after Taliban leaders held several meetings in Pakistan.

The prospect of a truce, seen as the first step toward a U.S.-Taliban peace deal that would soon be followed by negotiations between Taliban and Afghan leaders, has also sparked a flurry of political activity and controversy over who would lead and participate in such talks.

Spokesmen for the insurgents have adamantly denied the reports of a nationwide truce deal. But they have held open the possibility of accepting a narrower, more vaguely defined period of lessened conflict, with the time frame and territory still in dispute.

"The Islamic Emirate has no intention of declaring a cease-fire," Zabihullah Mujahid, the main Taliban spokesman, said in a statement, using the group's name for a religious government. "The United States has asked for a reduction in the scale and intensity of violence, and discussions being held by the Islamic Emirate are revolving solely around this specific issue."

American officials have said nothing about the conflicting reports; even the main U.S. negotiator, Zalmai Khalilzad, usually a fount of upbeat tweets, has fallen silent since returning to Washington this week after meeting with Taliban and Pakistani officials.

Afghan officials said they have received no word from either side. The Taliban have refused to recognize Ghani's government, but he appears to have narrowly won re-election in a September poll and has asserted that the final results will confirm that, giving him a mandate to lead the peace effort.

"We have not heard anything that raises our hopes for a truce," said Javid Faisal, an aide to Ghani. "We want it to happen, because it will be an important step forward toward negotiations among Afghans. But it has to be a real truce, a complete truce that is guaranteed and assured."

In the absence of facts, a wave of confusion and commentary has swept media and political circles here. One common theory is that Taliban leaders in Pakistan agreed to a truce but that some field commanders still oppose it, believing they can win the 18-year war and return the country to full-fledged religious rule.

The momentum has also been slowed by the likelihood that Trump may soon reduce the 13,000 U.S. troops in Afghanistan to about 8,600. Previously, U.S. officials insisted that the insurgents had to sign a peace agreement before any major troop cuts would take place.

Other points of contention include whether the fighting pause would last one week or longer, whether it would be confined to certain cities or include rural areas, and whether it would be called a formal truce or a more subjective reduction in violence.

"The Taliban are under pressure from Pakistan and the U.S. to sign a deal, and they may be putting on an appeasing face to buy time, but their past behavior shows they are difficult to trust," said Haroun Mir, an analyst in Kabul who helped found Afghanistan's Center for Research and Policy Studies. If the insurgents agree to a brief truce during a cold winter, when fighting always slows, he said, "it will mean nothing."

On Tuesday, comments from Taliban and Afghan officials suggested that mistrust and intransigence remain high on all sides. One Taliban military commander insisted that as long as U.S. troops remain in Afghanistan, there can be no truce. A member of the government's High Peace Council said both Ghani and the insurgents are being too stubborn; the president, in turn, announced plans to dissolve the entire council.

Since preliminary election results showed Ghani winning re-election by about 10,000 votes, his opponents have filed thousands of fraud complaints that may take months to investigate. But Ghani is racing to form a delegation to negotiate with the Taliban, even as an array of rivals have objected that they are being left out.

"The whole country is keenly interested in peace, but the ground is not being prepared for it," said Ehsanullah Zia, Afghan director of the nonprofit U.S. Institute of Peace. Even with people dying every day, he said, some Afghans are demanding "red lines for peace. We don't have the luxury of setting red lines. People need to suppress their personal ambitions for the sake of the country."

Aides to Ghani insist that the list of peace delegates, kept secret so far, will represent all sectors of society. In April, when Kabul tried to choose a group to meet with insurgent leaders in Qatar, it became so unwieldy that the insurgents canceled the talks.

"These talks will be very inclusive," said Faisal. "All sides that matter will be included. If the Taliban don't accept it this time, the blame will go to them."

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So, farewell, then, the decade with no name whose passing few will mourn, writes Martin Freeman.

We have endured ten years of austerity and vanishing insect life.

The British obsession with the weather became a nationwide concern with its increasingly frequent extremes and the cause of them: man-made global warming.

One particularly violent episode provided one of the images of the decade: the Westcountry main rail line washed away by a storm in February 2014 and hanging like a rope bridge at Dawlish.

We learned the phrase “the left-behind” and realised we were among them. The Midlands and the North was getting HS2 while we were still coping with average speeds that the Victorians would have recognised and weather-resilience that their engineers would have been appalled by.

We embraced the smartphone that was a novelty in 2010 and is an essential for most of us in 2020. But in many parts of the Westcountry we couldn’t use them because of reception “not spots”.

Parts of the South West have some of the fastest broadband speeds in the UK, but many in rural areas, hampered by a snail’s-pace link, can only dream of enjoying what became the norm this decade, streaming of television services.

(Image: Publicity Picture)

Electric cars were a curiosity ten years ago, are commonplace now and will probably be driverless before the new decade is over. But too many South West roads are potholed, narrow and congested.

In 2010 few would ever have dreamed that the UK’s first horizontal launch spaceport would be in the Westcountry. Now we are told the first flights will began from Spaceport Cornwall in Newquay next year , thanks to backing from Cornwall Council and the Government, confirmed last year.

A decade ago, a few miles along the coast, the focus was on one of Cornwall’s more traditional industries and the culture associated with it: Port Isaac-based sea-shanty singers Fisherman’s Friends won a £1-million record deal.

The same year saw the death of a famous Plymothian, former leader of the Labour Party and one of the country’s greatest radical idealists, Michael Foot.

His brand of socialism was dusted off and offered to a new generation as the decade ended, and was rejected as Jeremy Corbyn’s Labour Party was trounced by the Conservatives. Boris Johnson became the third Conservative Prime Minister of the decade having surpassed and outlived – in political terms – David Cameron, his former rival who came to power in the May 2010 general election.

Mr Cameron needed the support of the Liberal Democrats and their leader, Nick Clegg, to become PM as the two parties formed a coalition government, the first in 70 years.

Few political analysts doubted the partnership could be formed swiftly and even fewer thought that it would last. The team stayed together. sustained by the friendship between the two, until the Tories ruthlessly targeted the Lib Dems in the 2015 general election and the third party was wiped from the map in the South West.

Despite this being one of their strongholds for decades the Lib Dems have yet to recover in the two elections since.

Nobody used the word “Brexit” in 2010. By 2020 most are sick of it.

(Image: PA)

The European Union referendum of 2016 that Mr Cameron thought would remove the issue for a generation at least, instead extended the division throughout the nation, removed him from office, would go on to destroy the premiership of his successor, Theresa May, paralyse politics for four years and help propel Mr Johnson into No 10.

The South West voted to leave, but the split drove through communities and families in the region. Cornwall, the UK region that most benefited from EU aid, was solidly in favour of Brexit in the referendum.

The EU stamp on the duchy extended beyond bricks and mortar to include one of the lighter stories of the decade, Protected Geographical Indication.

Since 2011 to be called a Cornish pasty the favourite food must be made west of the Tamar and to a certain recipe. Bizarrely, the pasty was also the focus of one of the most memorable political U-turns of the decade: the Government’s “pasty tax” – a plan to include the food as the levy was extended to hot takeaway foods – was withdrawn after fierce lobbying against the 2012 Budget measure.

Sport was the big story of 2012, though: the Olympic flame arrived in Culdrose Cornwall, accompanied by sporting royalty (David Beckham) and real royalty (Princess Anne).

The torch was carried by runners through the South West on the way to London. The games brought double success to many South West athletes: Cornwall’s four-times gold medal winning sailor, Ben Ainslie, was knighted, while Devon horsewoman Mary King, Penzance teacher-turned rower Helen Glover and paralympic swimmer Jonathan Fox, from St Stephen near St Austell, were all made MBEs, in the New Year Honours.

Communication rather faster than that Olympic flame relay provided the story of 2013 which touched on some themes of the decade: privacy, surveillance and the ability of a whistle-blower to wreak havoc.

One of the revelations exposed by the US intelligence officer, Edward Snowden, was the use of GCHQ Bude to eavesdrop on internet traffic. We learned that the spy centre was part-funded by the US National Security Agency.

Another US-UK collaboration, the war in Afghanistan, came to an end in 2014, at last as far as full British involvement. The 13-year campaign cost the lives of 453 British servicemen, including 77 from the Westcountry or serving with units based in the South West region.

Two other wars were in mind through the decade, as anniversaries of the key dates in the First and Second World Wars were remembered.

Former servicemen from across the Westcountry made the journey across the Channel once again to commemorate 70 years since D-Day in June 2014.

Due to the ravages of age fewer were able to repeat the journey for the 75th anniversary this year. Communities that hosted US servicemen who trained in the region before heading to the Normandy landings also marked the dates.

The 100th anniversaries of the start and end of the First World War, in 2014 and 2018, were also marked. Among the most moving tributes was by Somerset artist Rob Heard’s Shrouds of the Somme project.

His 19,240 miniature shrouded figures were first laid out in Exeter in 2016 – 100 years after the start of the battle – and the project was extended to remember all 72,396 Allied soldiers killed on day one.

Exeter was the focus of national attention in October 2016 when a devastating fire destroyed key buildings on the Cathedral Green, the most prominent being England’s oldest Hotel, the Royal Clarence.

(Image: MARK PASSMORE)

Extremes of heat, and of the weather, generally, were never far from the news during the decade. The many, many highs included two this year alone: the warmest-ever winter day, 21.2C (70.2F) in Kew Gardens in London on February 26 and the hottest-ever day, 38.7C (101.7F), in Cambridge on July 25.

There was, well, a spate of floods. Pick almost any year or season for an example, say December 2010 in Cornwall or in the South West generally in any of the final four months of this year.

Visually the most striking was in February 2014 when the Somerset Levels hosted the largest lake in England, at 65sq km it was more than four times the size of the largest permanent inland body of water, Windermere.

Small wonder that climate change moved high up the political agenda. Climate emergencies were declared by councils across the Westcountry, and even one school (St Peter’s Church of England Primary in Budleigh Salterton in East Devon).

The issue was pushed there by a growing band of activists and protesters, including the Extinction Rebellion movement.

(Image: Penny Cross)

Prominent among them were young people, the most recognisable being the Swedish 16-year-old, Greta Thunberg, who became an honorary Plymothian when she headed to the city in August this year to hitch a ride across the Atlantic on a yacht to attend the United Nations climate change summit,

Her year-long devotion to the cause, putting her education on hold, rather went against the grain of a decade characterised by an obsession with the self and typified by the selfie on the ubiquitous smartphone, and the rise of me-first populist politics.

This was the decade when many felt like turning away from the world, pulling on a comforting all-in-one garment, and hiding from politics, austerity and the weather. So, farewell, then, the Onesies.

On Tuesday — following U.S. military airstrikes in Iraq and Syria — hundreds of supporters of the Iran-backed Shiite militia Kataib Hezbollah (not to be confused with the Hezbollah in Lebanon) angrily stormed the U.S. embassy compound in Baghdad, setting fires and chanting, “Death to America.” The incident was an assertion of growing anti-American sentiment in Iraq, and conservative opinion writer Max Boot asserts in his Washington Post column that President Donald Trump has no real strategy for dealing with Iran.

Boot, one of Trump’s most outspoken critics on the right, recalls that although he was critical of President Barack Obama’s Iran policy in 2015, it was better than Trump’s.

Obama’s deal with Iran, Boot writes, “did nothing to curb Iran’s regional power play and may have even fueled it by lifting economic sanctions — which is why I and others opposed it at the time. But it did at least stop Iran’s development of nuclear weapons. President Trump blundered by exiting the nuclear deal in 2018 and imposing economic sanctions on Iran in 2019, even though it was complying with the agreement.”

The airstrikes in Iran and Syria over the weekend were in response to a missile attack on a military compound near Kirkuk, Iraq on Friday that left a contractor dead. And the airstrikes, Boot notes, “killed 25 members of Kataib Hezbollah.”

“The United States has only two ways out of this escalating crisis: fight or negotiate,” Boot emphasizes. “A war with Iran, as I have previously argued, could be the mother of all quagmires; it could easily spin out of control with tit-for-tat responses of the kind we have seen in recent days. Better to negotiate. That would mean trying to rebuild a tougher nuclear deal in return for the lifting of U.S. sanctions.”

Boot concludes his column by lamenting that things will only get worse for the U.S. in the Middle East if Trump fails to come up with a coherent Iran policy.

“Trump shows little interest in either seriously negotiating or fighting,” Boot laments. “He has waged economic warfare on Iran while doing nothing to curb its regional aggression; indeed, by withdrawing U.S. troops from part of northern Syria, he has allowed an extension of Iranian influence. So, we are left with the worst of all possible worlds: Iran is once again waging a low-intensity conflict, and America once again has no effective response.”

Instruction: Retrieve semantically similar text.


Question:
Macau Casino Workers Pushing For Better Pay, More Vacation Time Schedule Thursday Demonstration

Posted on: December 31, 2019, 08:40h.

Last updated on: December 31, 2019, 10:04h.

The New Macau Gaming Staff Rights Association, a labor group representing workers at the peninsula’s casinos, is planning a Thursday, Jan. 2 march. It’s aimed at pressing operators there to deliver increased pay and better working conditions, including more time off.

Macau casino staffers plan to march on Jan. 2 to demand higher pay and more leave time. (Image: Voice of America)

Last month, the New Macau Gaming Staff Rights Association pushed the Special Administrative Region’s (SAR) six license holders to boost casino workers’ compensation by at least five percent. But this week’s rally extends beyond the call for higher wages, expanding into the matter of what the labor group believes are onerous scheduling policies.

Many gaming workers are shift workers, and the existing holiday plan provided to them is too short,” said New Macau Gaming Staff Rights Association leader Cloee Chao in an interview with GGR Asia.

The group is demanding a mandatory 22-day time off policy, which is well in excess of Macau’s current requirement. Labor law on the SAR mandates that workers are afforded at least one day off per week, 10 holidays per year and six vacation days after a year of working for a single employer.

Interesting Timing

The march will take place less than two weeks after Ho lat Seng was sworn in as Macau’s newest chief executive.

Ho’s appointment, revealed earlier this year, drew some criticism from geopolitical experts, with some calling him a “puppet” of the regime in Beijing. Critics added that the new Macau leader has two core constituencies: China’s Communist Party and the six gaming companies operating on the peninsula.

He said he will give gaming employees even better benefits than what were asked for,” said Chao earlier this year. “I really hope he can achieve it.”

There’s some incentive for the SAR’s concessionaires to work with staffers on the pay and time off issues. Amid a slump in VIP turnover, 2019 was rough in terms of gross gaming revenue (GGR) on the peninsula. With many analysts forecasting a rebound in the second half of 2020, companies may not want to disrupt those prospects with potential labor strife.

Some Success

The New Macau Gaming Staff Rights Association is calling for a five percent wage hike, as well as bonuses equal to two months of workers’ salaries. Whether those demands are met remains to be seen, but the group has previously notched victories in prodding bonuses out of operators.

For example, Sands China, the Macau operating unit of Las Vegas Sands, in July revealed a bonus scheme equivalent to a month of salary capped at around $6,200. That plan applied to employees that had one year of continuous service as of Aug. 30.

Sands rivals SJM Holdings and Wynn Resorts also delivered summer bonuses, and that was after Galaxy Entertainment, Sands, and Wynn earlier this year increased paid maternity and paternity leaves for workers.

Operators there often reveal winter bonuses in January, so those announcements for 2019 could be coming over the next several weeks.

Macau casino staff plan Jan 2 rally on pay, conditions

A Macau gaming labour activist group plans a demonstration passing by the city’s downtown casino district on Thursday (January 2) to call for better pay and conditions for local casino workers.

Under Macau rules, only local ID holders can be casino dealers. The organiser of the planned rally - New Macau Gaming Staff Rights Association – called in November for the city’s six gaming operators to award their staff a pay hike of “at least 5 percent”. On Monday this week, Cloee Chao, the head of the activist group, told GGRAsia the demonstration was not only about money, but also concern about staff “health issues”.

The rally coincides with the start of a fresh government administration in Macau, under the new Chief Executive, Ho Iat Seng. Mr Ho was sworn into office on December 20 during the visit to Macau by China’s President Xi Jinping, a date marking the 20th anniversary of the handover of Macau from Portuguese administration to that of China.

In September, New Macau Gaming Staff Rights Association sent the then Chief Executive-elect Mr Ho a wish list of gaming worker needs, based on what it said was a survey among frontline workers.

The route for Thursday’s rally starts in the ZAPE district on Macau peninsula – close to where several major casino resorts including Wynn Macau, MGM Macau and StarWorld Hotel are located – and ends at the Macau government headquarters in Nam Van.

As well as a pay hike of at least 5 percent, the activist group is also calling for an annual bonus equating to two months of salary; the introduction of a mandatory allowance for working night shifts; and a “five working days” per week policy for staff on shifts, Ms Chao noted to us.

In recent years, Macau operators have been awarding annual salary increases to their staff, with the announcements made at the beginning of the calendar year. Most operators have also been making supplementary payments to staff on a twice-yearly basis in recent times, on an ad hoc basis.

“We also want 22-day annual leave,” Ms Chao told us on Monday. That is understood to be more holiday than the mandated under local labour law.

Macau workers are entitled to one rest day per week; 10 days of mandatory holidays and a minimum of six working days of annual leave after one year of service, according to local labour law.

“Many gaming workers are shift workers, and the existing holiday plan provided to them is too short,” the gaming labour activist told GGRAsia. “That pressurises family relations for these workers, as they don’t even have quality time to spend with their kids.”

Ms Chao said her group would gather signatures from casino workers turning out for Thursday’s demonstration, and submit them via a petition to be handed in at the government headquarters.

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There are hundreds of vacancies across Staffordshire, but we've plucked out 20 that almost anyone could apply for today - with little experience needed.

Whether you fancy making coffee, answering the phone, or selling beauty products - you'll find a job in this list that you can apply for.

Intu Potteries

Ann Summers sales assistant

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Security officer for intu

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Monsoon Assistant Manager

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Affinity Outlet

BB’s Team Member

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Charles Clinkard sales assistant

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Cotton Traders sales assistant

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Edinburgh Woollen Mill apprentice

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GAP floor manager

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Police are investigating after a young girl was among two people hospitalized after a shooting in Miami's Little Haiti neighborhood Monday afternoon.

The shooting happened around 12:30 p.m. in the area of Northwest 2nd Court and 77th Street, Miami Police spokesperson Kiara Delva said.

According to Delva, officers responding to a ShotSpotter alert found an adult man suffering from a gunshot wound. A young girl who was with the man wasn't shot but was injured by glass that was broken during the shooting, Delva said.

Both were taken to Jackson Memorial Hospital in stable condition.

The incident follows the Saturday shooting a 14-year-old in south Miami-Dade.

"The senseless and cowardly carnage continues in the streets of our community. Yesterday’s victim, a 14-year old teen, today, a seven year old baby is shot in a drive-by act of terror. Someone knows something. Speak up! Your identity will be protected," Miami-Dade Schools Superintendent Alberto Carvalho tweeted Monday.

Both shootings remain under investigation.

The year 2019 was successful for Israel's security agencies, who although didn't manage to prevent the deaths of five Israelis murdered by Palestinian terrorists, did manage to avert multiple terror attacks.

According to the Meir Amit Intelligence and Terrorism Information Centre, a think tank dedicated to the research of terror trends, 2019 saw only 28 "serious" attacks against Israelis, in which people were killed or hurt. But although Palestinian militants' ability to carry out such acts has declined, their motivation hasn't.

"Shin Bet [Israel's internal security agency] says that they - together with the country's other forces - have averted some 450 terror attacks from the beginning of the year, up until November", said Amos Gilad, a former senior defence official, who has filled key positions in Israel's military apparatus, including heading a military intelligence research division and serving as a spokesman for the Israel Defence Forces.

In 2018, Israel faced 55 terror acts and 480 attempts to carry out assaults.

Gilad says today's militants are more difficult to spot and track, but claims Israel's security forces have managed to arrest and jail "big terrorists" thanks to the fact that over the years Israel has managed to develop techniques and technologies that proved to be indispensable when handling terrorism.

"We enjoy unprecedented success. Now we have unique intel capabilities coupled with technology, our deep understanding [of the area and the region] and qualitative coordination with Israel's various security agencies".

Catch 22

But there is another component - tight cooperation with the Palestinian Authority.

In 2015 alone, the PA's security forces arrested a third of the suspected terrorists and is reported to have prevented up to 200 attacks against Israel. More recently, it was reported that Ramallah handed over to Tel Aviv the intelligence information that eventually led to November's assassination of Baha Abu al-Atta, a top commander from the Palestinian Islamic Jihad in Gaza.

Although Gilad dismisses the allegations that the PA's assistance played the main role in Israel's success story, he does admit that the coordination with Ramallah contributed greatly to the country's ability to curb terror.

© AFP 2019 / JALAA MAREY Israeli troops patrol the Israeli-occupied sector of the Golan Heights on January 18, 2015.

Now, however, this might come to an end. On Sunday, Israel's security cabinet approved a bill proposed by Defence Minister Naftali Bennett that would deduct $45 million from the annual sum of $550 million Israel transfers to the PA as part of the 1994 Paris Agreement.

Israel says that the tax money it collects for the Palestinians - and which is supposed to be used to pay officials' salaries as well as provide Palestinians with social welfare - goes to fund terrorists jailed in Israel for security offences, including the murder of Israelis. Palestinians don't deny these allegations but stress the money is essential to support families that have lost a bread-winner.

"We need to be sensitive to their needs and appreciate their cooperation. Unlike Yasser Arafat [late chairman of the PLO], who supported terror while talking peace to Israel, President Abbas rejects terrorism and we have to appreciate it", Gilad noted, adding that he preferred to encourage the Palestinians, rather than punishing them for their contribution to Israel's security, which has brought about economic prosperity.

Missed Opportunities

Israel has already lost an important ally that helped the Jewish state to combat terrorism - Turkey.

In 2010, news website UPI reported that Ankara had severed ties with Israel'd Mossad and stopped exchanging intelligence information and conducting joint operations with the country's spy agency.

Relations between the two soured following Israel's 2008 Cast Lead Operation that saw more than a thousand Palestinians killed and as a result of Israeli forces' assault on six Turkish vessels bound for Gaza that resulted in the deaths of nine Turkish nationals.

"Terror suspects, arrested by our security forces, admitted that they had Turkish handlers", said Gilad adding that it was unlikely for the Turkish government, which boasts superb intelligence capabilities, not to know about their existence.

© REUTERS / MUSSA ISSA QAWASMA An Israeli soldier shouts during a protest as Palestinians call for a day of rage over U.S. decision on Jewish settlements, in Hebron in the Israeli-occupied West Bank November 26, 2019

"If President [Recep Tayyip] Erdogan wanted to stop terror, he would have done so easily. This is very sad that they keep on supporting terror when Turkey itself suffers from an acute security problem", he summed up.

Since the beginning of the so-called knife intifada in 2015, which has been characterized by terror acts planned and executed by individuals, not groups, Palestinian militants have killed 87 Israelis and wounded more than 1500 in 210 stabbings, 239 shootings, and 77 vehicular attacks.

The views and opinions expressed in the article do not necessarily reflect those of Sputnik.

It is believed that around 4,000 people have gathered on a beach at Mallacoota to escape the fire in the far south east of the state of Victoria as the fire threatened to engulf the town; a change of wind direction just a few hours later meant the town was not destroyed. Despite this good news, thousands of residents and tourists are in need of food, water and medicine – and with fires still making road access difficult, the Navy is sending ships to aid the evacuation effort, while heavy-lift helicopters are being deployed to evacuate the most vulnerable. A joint task force from the Navy and Air Force has been established to co-ordinate the rescue effort. Defence Minister Linda Reynolds authorized the deployment of four helicopters, one fixed-wing aircraft and two ships. The helicopters include one Chinook, two Black Hawks and one Taipan naval chopper. Two C-27J Spartan battlefield airlifters from the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) base at East Sale will also be available for support efforts. RAAF bases are currently being used as SAR bases, providing meals to firefighters, accommodation to volunteers and assisting in fire mapping.

Additional aerial firefighting resources – including personnel and aircraft – have been requested from the US and Canada.

An impressive number of big-name actors were considered for the role of Albus Dumbledore in the Harry Potter film series based on the novels by J.K. Rowling. The Hogwarts Headmaster was originally played by Irish actor Richard Harris. After his untimely death following the second film, the studio was tasked with recasting the role. Michael Gambon was chosen as the replacement, portraying the character for the remainder of the films; however, there were other names on the list throughout both stages of casting the prominent role.

Albus Dumbledore served as Harry Potter's primary mentor during the young wizard's time at Hogwarts. Over time, Harry and his friends started to understand just how much influence Dumbledore had on the wizarding world. He was a half-blood wizard with immense powers and strength for leading through the toughest of times. Dumbledore founded the Order of the Phoenix and stood as a symbol of resistance following Lord Voldemort's second uprising. Even after the wizard's tragic death, Dumbledore's legacy lived on.

Continue scrolling to keep reading Click the button below to start this article in quick view.

Related: Why The Harry Potter Movies Cut Professor Binns

Not only did Warner Bros. and the team behind the film adaptations have a difficult task in casting a major role, but they had to do it multiple times. Dumbledore was just one of a small handful of characters to appear in every Harry Potter movie. Whoever was chosen for the role had to be available and dedicated to the role for the long-term. A few actors were considered before Harris acquired the role ahead of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone. Actor Patrick McGoohan reportedly had an interest in the role but stepped away from acting due to health reasons in the early 2000s. Sean Connery was also targeted but the actor was against the idea of committing to a children's movie about wizards. The list of "could have been" Dumbledore actors would grow in just a few years.

The Actors Considered When Dumbledore Was Recast

Following the actor's tragic passing in 2002, an even larger list of actors was rumored to be in line for his replacement. Christopher Lee was the producers' top choice in replacing Harris but he was forced to decline the offer due to scheduling conflicts. Harris' fellow Lord of the Rings veteran Ian McKellen was also considered. McKellen, however, expressed discomfort at the prospect of taking over the role of Dumbledore because Harris had previously criticized McKellen's acting style.

In addition, Peter O'Toole was reportedly considered but the studio worried that his age would become troublesome down the line. Acclaimed Indian actor, Naseeruddin Shah, has shared that his agent urged him to audition but he declined the opportunity. In the end, Gambon took over as Dumbledore which ended up becoming one of his best-known roles. It's always a tough task to replace an actor due to illness or death, but the studio successfully honored the original actor while giving the next stage of the role to an appreciative person. There's no doubt that some of the names mentioned above would have knocked the role out of the park in Harry Potter, but Gambon never took the chance of playing Dumbledore for granted.

Next: Harry Potter’s Bizarre “Dumbledore Is Time-Traveling Ron” Theory Explained

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Star Trek Picard: How The New Series Can Avoid Voyager’s Mistakes

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