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Thiruvananthapuram: With an aim to boost the confidence of customers and bring in more transparency in the real estate sector, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan launched the Kerala Real Estate Regulatory Authority (K-RERA) here on Wednesday.
"It is just because of a handful of realtors who divert from good practice and indulge in illegal ways to mint money that the whole sector sometimes get a black mark. We have heard terms like the real-estate mafia," Vijayan said at the official launch event.
"It is the greed of a few that are spoiling the market. With the Real Estate Regulatory Authority (RERA) in place, there will be more transparency and credibility. It will also help to redefine the promoter-buyer relationship in the sector, " he added.
The Kerala Chief Minister further said that the real-estate sector has seen tremendous growth in the country in the last decade.
"It also helped the middle class realize their housing needs. With an effective regulatory mechanism, the real estate sector is poised to grow more instilling confidence in home buyers," he said.
Passed by the Parliament, the Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Act, 2016, had directed the state governments to establish RERA for effective regulation of the real estate sector and also for speedy dispute redressal.
As per the Act, buildings with more than eight apartments and real estates projects with 500 square metres of land or more will have to be registered with RERA. | Chief Minister formally inaugurates regulatory authority for realty in State
Chief Minister formally inaugurates regulatory authority for realty in State
The Kerala Real Estate Regulatory Authority (K-RERA) will help build trust in the real estate sector and infuse it with transparency and efficiency, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan said on Wednesday.
The activities of a few individuals have served to malign this important sector to the extent that it has been equated to a ‘mafia,’ the Chief Minister said, formally inaugurating K-RERA at a function here.
With its emphasis on protecting the interests of consumers (buyers, allottees), K-RERA focusses on the prevention of malpractices in the real estate sector, he said.
Duping of buyers
Instances of buyers being duped by a section in the real estate sector had prompted the Parliament to pass the Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Act in 2016 making it mandatory for all States to form RERAs. K-RERA is designed to prevent such malpractices in Kerala.
Realtors who function in a lawful manner will not find themselves inconvenienced by RERA, Mr. Vijayan said.
The real estate sector is integral to the development of land. Negative financial trends in real estate affects the economic sector as a whole.
If policies are favourable, the sector can grow. So it is important to have policies and approaches that do not weaken it.
While the sector has witnessed spectacular growth in the past few decades, the absence of an effective regulatory mechanism was the main reason for the problems associated with real estate sector.
“This is not a sector which should be equated to a ‘mafia’,” the Chief Minister said.
From Oct. 2019
Technically, K-RERA came into being in October last year with P.H. Kurian as chairman and Preetha P. Menon as member. The Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Act, 2016, makes it compulsory for builders to register projects with the State-level RERA.
Real estate agents also need to get themselves with the authority. RERA registration is applicable to projects where the land to be developed is 500 square metres or more and the number of apartments is eight or more inclusive of all phases.
An adjudicating officer who will handle compensation claims and an appellate tribunal for handling appeals on K-RERA decisions will be appointed soon, the Chief Minister said. He issued the registration certificates to builders and real estate agents who registered with RERA. The Chief Minister also released the emblem of K-RERA on the occasion. Minister for Local Self Government A. C. Moideen presided. Additional Chief Secretary T.K. Jose, K-RERA chairman P. H. Kurian and member Preetha P. Menon spoke. | 3.666667 |
Katherine DeClerq, CP24.com
TORONTO -- Hospitals across the Greater Toronto Area welcomed the first babies of 2020 early Wednesday morning.
A bouncing baby boy was born at exactly the stroke of midnight at Humber River Hospital in Toronto. Weighing a healthy 8.3 pounds, Amiir Deeq Mohammed could be seen on Wednesday afternoon in his mother’s arms, swaddled in a knit blue blanket.
“I’m very happy,” the boy’s father said. “I am excited to have this wonderful, special baby boy.”
Deeq Mohammed Farah said that his son was due a couple of weeks ago, so the family was not expecting a new year’s baby.
“When the baby came, at the right time, the attendants, nurses and doctors, they explained it really well. They said you hit the new year,” Farah said. “It was a great surprise,”
“It’s a miracle boy.”
Trillium Health Partners, a hospital system that serves certain areas of the GTA, said that their first baby of the year was delivered just 50 seconds after midnight on New Year’s Day at Credit Valley Hospital in Mississauga.
The little boy, named Aryan, weighed in at about eight pounds.
Speaking with CP24 on Wednesday morning, the baby’s mother said that, at the time, she had no idea Aryan was the first child born in Mississauga this year.
“When the baby was delivered, everyone was so excited,” Anu Walia said. “We couldn’t be happier.”
“Fifty seconds into the new year and we got this little precious gift,” Simran Walia said while holding his newborn son in his arms.
Anu Walia’s delivery date was scheduled for Jan. 13 and she said that her family was already preparing for a 2020 baby—but those plans were put on hold when she went into labour early.
“My maternity photoshoot, my baby shower, all the decorations, everything was planned around 2020, so when the labour hit yesterday, I was like, ‘oh my gosh all that is going to go to waste now,’” Anu Walia said. “But the baby actually helped us out and came after the new year.”
Other hospitals ring in New Year with newborns
Mount Sinai Hospital in Toronto welcomed its first bundle of joy at 12:13 a.m. and Lakeridge Health in Oshawa announced their first baby was born at 12:34 a.m.
Leo Di Giovanni was born at 2:31 a.m. at Mackenzie Health in Richmond Hill.
"This is the first baby for proud parents Lisa and Steve originally from Maple and now living in Innisfil," the hospital said in a statement.
At North York General Hospital, Kert Lin was born at 5:51 a.m.
"Congrats to the family and happy birthday to all our New Years babies," the hospital said. | As 2020 ushered in on Wednesday, hospitals across the GTA welcomed its first babies of the new year and a new decade.
One of the first babies — if not, the first baby in the GTA — was born at Humber River Hospital in North York just after midnight.
“Just seconds after the stroke of midnight, Baby Mohammed was born … the first baby to be delivered in Toronto,” the hospital said in a tweet.
Just seconds after the stroke of #Midnight Baby Mohammed was born being the first baby to be delivered in @Toronto. As you see the baby and mom are feeling great thanks to Dr. Lynn Sterling and the #HRH staff. @City_tv @CTVNews @globalnews @TorontoStar @CP24 #NewYearsBaby pic.twitter.com/89dzNc0m2r — Humber River Hospital (@HRHospital) January 1, 2020
First Toronto baby of the decade! Meet Amiir, born 00:00:00 at Humber River Hospital. Congratulations to the happy parents. We’ll have their story tonight @CityNews pic.twitter.com/VaOPWsUyj7 — Tina Yazdani (@TinaYazdani) January 1, 2020
Another baby just couldn’t wait a minute longer. In Mississauga, a baby boy — weighing eight pounds and two ounces — was born 50 seconds after 12 a.m. at Credit Valley Hospital.
“The Walia family is thrilled to welcome their first child. Both baby and mom are healthy and doing well,” Trillium Health Partners said in a release.
Happy New Year! THP is honoured to have delivered Mississauga’s first baby boy, Aryan, born just 50 seconds after midnight at our Credit Valley Hospital. Congratulations to Anu & Simran Walia on a happy, healthy start to a new decade. #BetterTogetherTHP #NewYearsBaby pic.twitter.com/hr68cjo5KI — Trillium Health Partners (@THP_hospital) January 1, 2020
Just under 15 minutes later, Mount Sinai Hospital in Toronto welcomed its first baby of the year. The baby was born at 12:13 a.m. | 4 |
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Calgary police are investigating a random assault that sent a man in his 40’s to hospital Wednesday morning.
Police said the victim was waiting at a bus stop at 5th Avenue and 2nd Street SE shortly after 7:30 a.m. when a man he didn’t know randomly attacked him.
READ MORE: Winnipeg man slashed with machete in random Pembina Highway attack
Police are still investigating but believe the suspect approached the victim and started punching him in the face. He suffered serious lacerations to his face and was rushed to Foothills Hospital.
A suspect was arrested a short time later not far from the assault scene and charges against him are pending.
Paramedics said the victim was transported hospital in stable condition
. 1:47 Pair of Calgary councilors pushing for police detachment in downtown core Pair of Calgary councilors pushing for police detachment in downtown core
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Emergency crews in Saint John, N.B. responded to a call Wednesday morning after a pickup truck left the road and crashed into a home.
Police said it happened on Bayside Drive just east of Expansion Avenue a little before 9 a.m.
READ MORE: Woman, 7-year-old girl’s death in Rothesay deemed suspicious: police
Police have not commented on whether or not charges will be laid.
1:16 Driver who hit home causing gas explosion under impaired driving investigation: London police Driver who hit home causing gas explosion under impaired driving investigation: London police
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Bangkok, 27 December, 2019 – The Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) is expecting 3.18 trillion Baht in overall tourism revenue for Thailand in 2020, or a 4% year-on-year increase. This includes 2.02 trillion Baht from international tourists (up 3%) and 1.16 trillion Baht from domestic tourists (up 5%).
The outlook for 2020 follows the overall tourism situation in 2019, which is estimated to generate 3.06 trillion Baht (4% increase over 2018), comprising 1.96 trillion Baht (up 4%) from 39.77 million international tourists (also up 4%) and 1.10 trillion Baht (up 3%) from 167 million domestic trips (up 1%). Thailand welcomed the 39 millionth tourist on 27 December, 2019.
“TAT’s target for 2020 is based on several favourable factors, ranging from the government’s stimulus measures, TAT’s focussed marketing strategies and promotions of emerging destinations, new air routes and the positive outlook of international tourists to Thailand from key source markets.” Mr. Yuthasak Supasorn, TAT Governor
The Thai government has launched 16 tourism stimulus measures aimed at stimulating more inbound travel, including the opening of more VAT refund shops and counters, 24-hour cross-border tourism on the Thai-Malaysian and Thai-Lao borders during weekends and holidays, the e-visa service and exemption of the visa-on-arrival fee until 30 April, 2020, and the 50% discount on airport landing fees for international flights from 1 December, 2019, to 30 April, 2020, to name but a few.
Thailand is also seeing new air routes, including Hangzhou-Chiang Rai, Sendai-Bangkok, Munich-Phuket, and Doha-Chiang Mai.
At the same time, some emerging Thai destinations have become more popular among international tourists and gained global recognition. Buri Ram ranked third on Airbnb’s list of 20 trending destinations to visit in 2020, while Sukhothai has been designated by UNESCO as a ‘Creative City of Crafts and Folk Art’.
Mr. Yuthasak said, “Leveraging these favourable factors and gearing up to mark the 60th anniversary in 2020, TAT is committed to making travel and tourism the kingdom’s most economically promising, environmentally sustainable, and culturally vibrant sector.”
TAT’s marketing strategies also include the launch of “The MICHELIN Guide Bangkok, Chiang Mai, Phuket & Phang Nga 2020.”
In 2020, TAT is seeing a positive outlook of international tourists to Thailand from several markets including the CLMV countries (Cambodia, Lao PDR., Myanmar, and Vietnam), Malaysia, the Philippines, Indonesia, South Korea, Taiwan, India, Spain, Eastern Europe, Israel and the US. The Chinese, Singaporean and Middle Eastern markets are showing signs of recovery. Meanwhile, the Japanese, Hong Kong, European, Scandinavian, Australian and Latin American markets are expected to remain stable or show a slow growth.
Mr. Yuthasak said, “TAT is also preparing to overcome several challenges, including the effect from the China–US trade war, the rise in consumption tax in Japan, and Brexit. The strong Thai Baht, Tokyo 2020 Summer Olympics, World Expo 2020 Dubai and stimulus visa schemes from country competitors have also been taken into consideration when laying out our tourism marketing strategies.” | Bangkok, 27 December, 2019 – Thailand welcomed its 39th millionth tourist to the Kingdom today, a record high for the country that surpassed last week’s most recent record of 38.26 million arrivals.
Mrs. Anna Pavlovskaya, travelling from Moscow, Russia, with her family, arrived on Thai Airways International (THAI) flight TG975 at Bangkok’s Suvarnabhumi International Airport on 27 December to a VIP welcoming committee that included Minister of Tourism and Sports, H.E. Mr. Pipat Ratchakitprakan.
“We are gathered here today to celebrate another arrival milestone for Thailand as we are both proud and grateful for this achievement. It shows that the entire Thai tourism industry remains committed to promoting quality tourism, to bring a better quality of life to all Thai people and continue to promote responsible tourism that both preserves Thailand’s tourism assets and generates revenue for the country,” H.E. Mr. Pipat, said.
After clearing immigration, she was invited to the latest welcome ceremony and was greeted by senior officials and VIPs from Thailand’s tourism industry, including the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT), Suvarnabhumi Airport, Immigration Bureau and Thai Airways International (THAI).
Mr. Tanes Petsuwan, TAT Deputy Governor for Marketing Communications, said, “The new record of 39 million arrivals to Thailand shows that the TAT’s focus of promoting unexpected experiences in Thailand’s secondary destinations is paying off and attracting more visitors. This is also in line with the government’s direction to spread income to all levels of society while at the same time promoting responsible tourism.”
A ‘Luckiest Visitor’ jacket was presented to Mrs. Pavlovskaya in addition to a certificate, round-trip tickets for two between her country of residence and Thailand valid for one year, and a voucher for five nights’ accommodation at a four or five-star hotel in Thailand.
She also received gifts and souvenirs from representatives from Suvarnabhumi Airport, the Thai Tourist Police, and Immigration Department before being whisked away to their hotel in town in an exclusive airport limousine provided by THAI.
Mrs. Srisuda Wanapinyosak, TAT Deputy Governor for International Marketing – Europe, Africa, Middle East and Americas, added, “We are confident that Thailand will achieve our international tourism target of 39.77 million arrivals, which represents a 4% year-on-year increase. These will generate 1.96 trillion Baht revenue, also a 4% growth. Meanwhile, domestic tourism will reach 167 million trips, a 1% growth, and distribute 1.10 trillion Baht revenue. This means tourism will help inject 3.06 trillion Baht to the Thai economy this year.” | 3.333333 |
A Birmingham man has been taken into custody for the December 23 homicide, officials said. He has been identified as Cameron Rayford, 36.Birmingham police responded to a report of a person shot at 5929 Martin Luther Avenue at about 1:11 p.m. They found Justin Rayshun Johnson, 31, of Birmingham, lying in the driveway unresponsive.Birmingham Fire and Rescue was called and took Johnson to UAB for treatment of his injuries. He was pronounced dead on arrival at the hospital.Investigators learned Rayford was located near the scene suffering from a non-life threatening injury to the hand. He was taken to the hospital for treatment, according to police records.Authorities said the shooting was the result of a verbal altercation.
A Birmingham man has been taken into custody for the December 23 homicide, officials said. He has been identified as Cameron Rayford, 36.
Birmingham police responded to a report of a person shot at 5929 Martin Luther Avenue at about 1:11 p.m. They found Justin Rayshun Johnson, 31, of Birmingham, lying in the driveway unresponsive.
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Birmingham Fire and Rescue was called and took Johnson to UAB for treatment of his injuries. He was pronounced dead on arrival at the hospital.
Investigators learned Rayford was located near the scene suffering from a non-life threatening injury to the hand. He was taken to the hospital for treatment, according to police records.
Authorities said the shooting was the result of a verbal altercation. | BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (WIAT) — During the Outback Bowl Wednesday, the Auburn Tigers will be paying tribute to one of their own.
In a message shared on Twitter Tuesday night, Auburn unveiled a special helmet with the “7” printed on the side to honor Pat Sullivan, a Heisman Trophy winner and former Auburn quarterback who died Dec. 1.
Sullivan was born in Birmingham and played football at John Carroll Catholic High School before going on to play for Auburn. Between 1969 and 1971, Sullivan led the team to a 26-7 record. In 1971, he received the Heisman Trophy.
After several years in the NFL, where he played for the Atlanta Falcons and the Washington Redskins, Sullivan went into coaching, first as a quarterback coach at Auburn from 1986 to 1991 and, after stints at Texas Christian University and UAB, was the head coach at Samford from 2007 to 2014.
Sullivan died on Dec. 1 after battling cancer for years.
Auburn will face Minnesota at noon Wednesday in Tampa. The game will be broadcast on ESPN. | 1.333333 |
A month after the news of a triple murder rocked Barbados, the victims’ bodies are still to be buried and at least one family member wants to know why it took so long for autopsies to be performed.
Hollist Webb is demanding answers from the Coroner’s office about why the body of his brother and two other men murdered on Independence Day remained in the morgue for four weeks without autopsies.
The 51-year-old is accusing authorities of totally ignoring the feelings of his family and ruining their holiday season by leaving them waiting in vain to plan a funeral for their slain relative, Cecil Webb.
On Saturday, Webb’s body was released to the family. But it was too late for many of his relatives who had come home to grieve and bury him.
“My brother got murdered. If in two weeks’ time we were able to bury him, at least we would know he isn’t just lying in a freezer somewhere. He would have been buried and gone and we could have started to rebuild instead of having to now go through the process of burying him,” said the upset brother.
“No one has ever issued an apology explaining the reason why it happened. The thing about it is that it happened on a day like November 30th, which we believed, would be memorable in people’s minds.”
He added: “I had family that came in and spent two weeks and had to get back to work and they will have to miss the funeral. For Christmas we did nothing. Even my family members overseas did not hang up lights or give gifts or celebrated Christmas as they used to before,” Hollist said dejectedly.
On November 30th, Cecil Webb, 49, of Lower Walkers; Terry Small, a man in his late forties, of Walkers; and Lennox Browne, 48, of Walkers, all in St Andrew were killed in a bloody dispute reportedly over land.
When Hollist spoke to Barbados
TODAY on Monday, he indicated the bodies of the two other men were also released on Saturday.
“I am not just speaking on the behalf of my family but on behalf of all the families. I know in Barbados many people let things happen and they don’t seem to have the guts or the balls to speak out but that is why things are always like this. We let people do things and get away with it. That is why I speak on behalf of all of the families because I know they also have to be frustrated,” he said.
Efforts to reach the Coroner’s office as well as Attorney General Dale Marshall for an explanation were unsuccessful.
But according to Hollist, the process may have taken even longer had he not contacted someone who assisted in having the procedure “fast-tracked”. He said he was informed that a pathologist had to come from “one of the islands” to conduct the autopsies.
“Usually autopsies don’t happen on Saturdays but we had to let them know that the family really needed to get some closure and it is taking too long for a body to be there,” he complained, while adding that the sting of his brother’s death still lingered.
“With my family, it is hard, because I buried my dad on the 6th of November and then this tragic incident was really too close because I had not even gotten over my father.
“You don’t sit down and study these things but there are constantly on your mind. You’re out there crying, you’re driving and you have to pull over and you’re in the grocery store and tears come. It’s really hard,” he said.
[email protected] | Pogba did not travel to East Lancashire with the rest of the squad at the weekend, after making substitute appearances against Watford and Newcastle United.
Those two cameos off the bench added up to around 70 minutes of action after almost three months out injured for the 26-year-old.
Solskjaer has indicated the midfielder simply required additional rest. | 1 |
Proposed legislation in Albany would require children born after Jan. 1, 2009 to be vaccinated against the human papilloma virus before entering the seventh grade starting in September 2021. The measure has outraged many. As a public health professional and uncle to 10- and 12-year-old nieces, it seems like a no-brainer.
Many comments against the measure seem to be fueled by misinformation. As a sexual and reproductive health researcher, I’d like to debunk common myths about HPV and the vaccine. HPV is the most common sexually transmitted disease. It affects about 1 in 4 Americans. It is usually transmitted through sex, but can pass from person to person through close skin-to-skin contact. About 70% to 80% of people with HPV clear the infection on their own and won’t know they had it.
While many people are concerned about the sexual transmission of HPV, the importance of the vaccine is as a cancer-fighting tool. There are more than 100 types of HPV. Some cause warts on hands, feet and genitals. Others cause cells to abnormally change, which may lead to cancer in the cervix, vagina and vulva in women, penis in men, and the anus and back of the throat in both women and men. These cancers can take years to develop which is why the vaccine is recommended for youth. Anyone age 9 to 45 is eligible.
Now that it’s clear what HPV is and how it is transmitted, let’s examine a few myths.
Myth 1: My children aren’t having sex, why give them the vaccine?
The vaccine works best if it is given before someone becomes sexually active and is exposed to HPV. Research shows that adolescents and young teens create more antibodies to the vaccine than those in their late teens. Antibodies destroy the vaccine germs and then stay in the body, providing immunity. Because young people can produce a lot of antibodies, they only need two doses while those over 15 will need three doses of the vaccine.
Myth 2: My child will have sex earlier if the vaccine is administered.
There is no research suggesting preteens and teens will have sex because they feel the protection from the vaccine. It is important, especially when young people don’t receive comprehensive school-based sexual and reproductive health education, to educate them about sexual health because the vaccine protects against HPV and no other STDs. Research shows that those who get the vaccine are more aware of the risks of condomless sex and STDs.
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Myth 3: The HPV vaccine isn’t safe. It can cause major side effects and death.
Side effects like pain, redness at the injection site, or a reaction if someone is allergic to a vaccine ingredient, are not unheard of and are possible with any vaccine. While death is possible, only two of the seven reported HPV vaccine deaths between 2014-2017 were medically verified (out of 28 million doses).
Myth 4: It’s unlikely one vaccine can protect against different cancers.
The HPV vaccines are noninfectious and contain “virus-like” particles. There are three HPV vaccines: 2vHPV (for females only), 4vHPV, and 9vHPV, all of which target different types of HPV. The 4vHPV and 9vHPV are approved for males because they protect against genital warts, whereas the 2vHPV does not.
This might seem new and confusing in the United States, but other countries have done this for some time. The Australian government’s school-based HPV vaccine program has seen substantial decreases in cervical disease and genital warts. If there was a lung-cancer- or brain-cancer-prevention vaccine, people would line up at the doctor’s office to get it. Let’s not make the HPV vaccine debate about sex. It’s about disease prevention.
Anthony J. Santella is an associate professor of public health at Hofstra University. | Parents choose a school to provide the most effective education for their child’s specific needs.
They need to find the right environment that suits their child the most. In Malaysia, the education system consists of four different schools – public, private, international and home-schooling.
To make it easier for parents, here is a rundown of the different kind of schools:
1. Public school
The curriculum in these government run schools is Malaysian, and the teacher to student ratio is very large averaging 30 to 40 children in a classroom.
Public school students are diverse, consisting of Malays, Chinese, Indians and other ethnic Malaysians. While the main language used is Bahasa Malaysia, English is also taught.
There are two sessions – one in the morning and another in the afternoon. It is free for Malaysians as most of the costs are borne by the government, except for uniforms, stationaries and other school necessities.
This is definitely the cheapest schooling system in Malaysia but it is only open to children of Malaysian citizens.
On the flip side, many who studied in public schools are said to be dissatisfied with the teaching methodology which still follows rote learning. There is also a lack of many facilities and equipment in public schools.
2. Private schools
Private schools are semi – government controlled. Although they follow the same curriculum as public schools, private schools can be quite costly.
They follow guidelines set by the ministry of education but most of these private schools use English as the medium of instruction.
They have smaller classrooms and the teacher to student ratio is much smaller. Resources and infrastructure are better and expat children are accepted.
Parents usually have higher expectations from private schools as the fees they pay are quite high. It is not easy to get financial aid from the government and scholarships are hard to come by.
3. International schools
These schools offer international education in an international setting. They are fully independent as they are not government controlled.
The curricular offered differ from public and private schools and is very diverse including British, American, Australian, Indian, French and Canadian.
What private and international schools have in common is their small classrooms, smaller teacher to student ratio and better facilities.
However, the benefits of studying in an international school far outweigh that of private schools as it offers global acceptance, which means easier entry to foreign universities for higher education.
Other benefits include teachers who are the best in the industry and are hired from all around the world.
The nationalities of students in these schools are varied too, with some schools boasting students from up to 67 nations.
Children attending these schools get global exposure from an early age making it easier for them to study and work overseas.
Possibly the only concern with international schools is that they are hugely expensive. But, in all fairness, the cost of these schools is justified by the superior facilities and the quality of education provided.
4. Home-schooling
Another popular choice is home-schooling, especially for parents who have lost faith in the public schooling system but cannot afford a private or international school.
It is legal in Malaysia, but you must apply for school exemption and get approval from the ministry of education beforehand.
There are three types of home-schooling – parents as teachers, families coming together to teach children and home-school learning centres.
The bright side of home-schooling is the flexibility it offers. For example, if your child has the sudden enthusiasm to learn math at night, you can follow their lead and treat it as a part of “school” timing.
The biggest downside to home-schooling is that children miss the opportunity to interact with others which may cause social skill issues in the future.
Lack of facilities and equipment
Lack of facilities like a gym, swimming pool and chemicals, apparatus and other material needed for experiments are hurdles to a good education in home-schooling.
Not to mention the fact that the child would not feel challenged as there is no competition, hence no motivation to push themselves to do better.
In home-schooling where parents are teachers, they must put in their time and patience into educating the children.
Hopefully, the above descriptions will help parents in deciding where to place their children.
It is important to base your decision on all factors such as expense, curriculum, culture, facilities and overall environment of the school.
It is not easy for children to change from one education system to another halfway through as there will be a lot of unnecessary hardships and challenges.
School Advisor provides information on private and international schools, extra-curricular activities as well as other education-related topics in Malaysia. | 1 |
One of the best investments we can make is in our own knowledge and skill set. With that in mind, this article will work through how we can use Return On Equity (ROE) to better understand a business. To keep the lesson grounded in practicality, we’ll use ROE to better understand Otsuka Information Technology Corp. (GTSM:3570).
Otsuka Information Technology has a ROE of 21%, based on the last twelve months. Another way to think of that is that for every NT$1 worth of equity in the company, it was able to earn NT$0.21.
Check out our latest analysis for Otsuka Information Technology
How Do You Calculate Return On Equity?
The formula for ROE is:
Return on Equity = Net Profit (from continuing operations) ÷ Shareholders’ Equity
Or for Otsuka Information Technology:
21% = NT$129m ÷ NT$630m (Based on the trailing twelve months to September 2019.)
Most readers would understand what net profit is, but it’s worth explaining the concept of shareholders’ equity. It is the capital paid in by shareholders, plus any retained earnings. Shareholders’ equity can be calculated by subtracting the total liabilities of the company from the total assets of the company.
What Does Return On Equity Mean?
ROE looks at the amount a company earns relative to the money it has kept within the business. The ‘return’ is the amount earned after tax over the last twelve months. A higher profit will lead to a higher ROE. So, as a general rule, a high ROE is a good thing. That means ROE can be used to compare two businesses.
Does Otsuka Information Technology Have A Good ROE?
Arguably the easiest way to assess company’s ROE is to compare it with the average in its industry. The limitation of this approach is that some companies are quite different from others, even within the same industry classification. As is clear from the image below, Otsuka Information Technology has a better ROE than the average (12%) in the Software industry.
That is a good sign. I usually take a closer look when a company has a better ROE than industry peers. For example you might check if insiders are buying shares.
Why You Should Consider Debt When Looking At ROE
Virtually all companies need money to invest in the business, to grow profits. That cash can come from retained earnings, issuing new shares (equity), or debt. In the first and second cases, the ROE will reflect this use of cash for investment in the business. In the latter case, the debt used for growth will improve returns, but won’t affect the total equity. That will make the ROE look better than if no debt was used.
Combining Otsuka Information Technology’s Debt And Its 21% Return On Equity
One positive for shareholders is that Otsuka Information Technology does not have any net debt! Its ROE already suggests it is a good business, but the fact it has achieved this — and doesn’t borrowings — makes it worthy of further consideration, in my view. At the end of the day, when a company has zero debt, it is in a better position to take future growth opportunities.
In Summary
Return on equity is one way we can compare the business quality of different companies. Companies that can achieve high returns on equity without too much debt are generally of good quality. If two companies have around the same level of debt to equity, and one has a higher ROE, I’d generally prefer the one with higher ROE.
But when a business is high quality, the market often bids it up to a price that reflects this. Profit growth rates, versus the expectations reflected in the price of the stock, are a particularly important to consider. Check the past profit growth by Otsuka Information Technology by looking at this visualization of past earnings, revenue and cash flow.
But note: Otsuka Information Technology may not be the best stock to buy. So take a peek at this free list of interesting companies with high ROE and low debt.
If you spot an error that warrants correction, please contact the editor at editorial-team@simplywallst.com. This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. Simply Wall St has no position in the stocks mentioned.
We aim to bring you long-term focused research analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. Thank you for reading. | A look at the shareholders of Investec Australia Property Fund (JSE:IAP) can tell us which group is most powerful. Institutions often own shares in more established companies, while it’s not unusual to see insiders own a fair bit of smaller companies. We also tend to see lower insider ownership in companies that were previously publicly owned.
Investec Australia Property Fund is a smaller company with a market capitalization of R9.0b, so it may still be flying under the radar of many institutional investors. In the chart below, we can see that institutional investors have bought into the company. Let’s take a closer look to see what the different types of shareholder can tell us about Investec Australia Property Fund.
View 4 warning signs we detected for Investec Australia Property Fund
What Does The Institutional Ownership Tell Us About Investec Australia Property Fund?
Institutions typically measure themselves against a benchmark when reporting to their own investors, so they often become more enthusiastic about a stock once it’s included in a major index. We would expect most companies to have some institutions on the register, especially if they are growing.
Investec Australia Property Fund already has institutions on the share registry. Indeed, they own 55% of the company. This suggests some credibility amongst professional investors. But we can’t rely on that fact alone, since institutions make bad investments sometimes, just like everyone does. It is not uncommon to see a big share price drop if two large institutional investors try to sell out of a stock at the same time. So it is worth checking the past earnings trajectory of Investec Australia Property Fund, (below). Of course, keep in mind that there are other factors to consider, too.
Institutional investors own over 50% of the company, so together than can probably strongly influence board decisions. Investec Australia Property Fund is not owned by hedge funds. Investec Asset Management Limited is currently the largest shareholder, with 12% of shares outstanding. With 9.0% and 3.7% of the shares outstanding respectively, Investec Property Fund Limited and The Vanguard Group, Inc. are the second and third largest shareholders.
A closer look at our ownership figures suggests that the top 19 shareholders have a combined ownership of 50% implying that no one share holder has a majority.
While it makes sense to study institutional ownership data for a company, It also makes sense to study analyst sentiments to know which way the wind is blowing. While there is some analyst coverage, the company is probably not widely covered. So it could gain more attention, down the track.
Insider Ownership Of Investec Australia Property Fund
While the precise definition of an insider can be subjective, almost everyone considers board members to be insiders. The company management answer to the board; and the latter should represent the interests of shareholders. Notably, sometimes top-level managers are on the board, themselves.
I generally consider insider ownership to be a good thing. However, on some occasions it makes it more difficult for other shareholders to hold the board accountable for decisions.
We can see that insiders own shares in Investec Australia Property Fund. In their own names, insiders own R102m worth of stock in the R9.0b company. There’s no doubt that we learn useful information from looking at a company’s ownership structure and shareholders. But ultimately, many risks exist within the business itself, rather than its shareholders. For example, we’ve discovered 4 warning signs for Investec Australia Property Fund (of which 1 is major) which any shareholder or potential investor should be aware of.
General Public Ownership
With a 37% ownership, the general public have some degree of sway over IAP. While this group can’t necessarily call the shots, it can certainly have a real influence on how the company is run.
Private Company Ownership
Our data indicates that Private Companies hold 5.9%, of the company’s shares. It might be worth looking deeper into this. If related parties, such as insiders, have an interest in one of these private companies, that should be disclosed in the annual report. Private companies may also have a strategic interest in the company.
Next Steps:
I find it very interesting to look at who exactly owns a company. But to truly gain insight, we need to consider other information, too.
Many find it useful to take an in depth look at how a company has performed in the past. You can access this detailed graph of past earnings, revenue and cash flow.
If you would prefer discover what analysts are predicting in terms of future growth, do not miss this free report on analyst forecasts.
NB: Figures in this article are calculated using data from the last twelve months, which refer to the 12-month period ending on the last date of the month the financial statement is dated. This may not be consistent with full year annual report figures.
If you spot an error that warrants correction, please contact the editor at editorial-team@simplywallst.com. This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. Simply Wall St has no position in the stocks mentioned.
We aim to bring you long-term focused research analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. Thank you for reading. | 1.333333 |
Two years ago, I designed a tattoo for a friend, a celebration of the first anniversary of his gender transition. It was the Deathly Hallows symbol from the “Harry Potter” series, with the quote “You fail to recognize that it matters not what someone is born, but what they grow to be” underneath.
I was 7 the first time I read “Harry Potter,” curled in bed with my mom, wandering through Hogwarts and finding the world that would define my childhood. Like many in my generation, I grew up alongside The Boy Who Lived. I can still remember sitting in a Borders bookstore with high school friends for the midnight release of “The Deathly Hallows” — a gaggle of 16-year-old queer kids in cheap black robes and colored ties, holding our breath, waiting for something like magic to happen.
It would be years before I met my friend who’d get the tattoo or embarked on my own transition. But I found myself in the pages of J.K. Rowling’s books long before that journey. Queer and trans parallels aren’t hard to come by in those books, from closet metaphors to themes about loss and loneliness growing up.
The series is full of social outcasts building a found family that accepts them for who they are. The night I came out to my parents, I sat where I’d first read “Harry Potter” and exhaled.
So when I woke up recently to see Rowling was trending on Twitter for expressing transphobic views, I was tired. Tired because I thought of my childhood self, carrying Rowling’s books tucked against my chest, seeking escape to the halls of a school that I believed could love and accept me, too.
Rowling had tweeted her support for a British woman, Maya Forstater, whose employment contract with a think tank wasn’t renewed after she espoused transphobic views about the immutability of physical sex. While the cisgender world debated Rowling’s intentions, I had quietly gone about the business of divorcing myself from the image of Rowling in my head.
I know the difference between who someone is and the person we want them to be — though that recognition can still cause an ache. The connection we form with fiction and the way it shapes us is a strange thing. Reconciling the truth of Rowling’s reality to what she has meant to me was hard, snatching away the thing that made me feel I belonged when I was most vulnerable.
As we grow, we come to learn that the world is often less welcoming than it is in books, and goodness more difficult to define. Sometimes the people we admire, who we feel shaped us, are fallible and cruel.
I do not know Rowling, only her books and the hope they have instilled in me since I was young and the many friends I made because of a shared love for the world she created. I know the diverse fan community that continues to shape that world. I know my friend, with his tattoo, and the words that mean more to us now than when we read them as children. I know that the spirit of those books lives in more than just one woman.
Now, as a writer, words are my life, which is not unlike being a professional wizard. What is magic, really, if not speaking an existence into the world?
When Harry summoned his broom, disarmed an opponent, or created light to banish shadows, he said a spell and made it so. I think the wizarding world is on to something in knowing that power can rest in names like Voldemort or Dumbledore.
Having transitioned, saying my name aloud is its own type of magic, crafted over the years I spent locked inside myself. I write to create worlds and people I recognize — people like me, on the page, happy and alive.
I owe that in part to Rowling’s work, the place where my journey started more than 20 years ago. But so much more of me belongs to the people I shared it with. That’s what I carry now, tucked against my chest.
I was not what I was born, but what I’ve grown to be.
Daniel Mazzacane is a writer and poet living in Riverside, California. This column was originally published by the Los Angeles Times. | Despite all this needless hostility and manufactured conflict between transgender people and wider society, there has also been a lot of progress (Picture: WIktor Szymanowicz/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
2019 has not been an easy year for transgender people in the UK.
The ongoing negative and misleading media coverage has continued to have serious adverse affects on transgender people, with hate crimes and hate incidents at an all-time record high.
Getting access to transgender-related healthcare has become more difficult, with people having to wait up to two to three years for a single appointment at a gender identity clinic. It hasn’t always been like that, and the lists only seem to be getting longer and longer.
Healthcare for transgender people has been routinely questioned even though the benefits of medical transition have been established by international institutions such as the World Health Organisation.
Transgender people’s access to activities and gendered spaces have also been put into question.
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In May, access to Hampstead’s swimming ponds was formalised for transgender people, a policy that was almost immediately followed up with threats of legal action. Before this, the ponds had been been inclusive of transgender people for decades.
Transgender people also need access to services to stay safe, such as homeless shelters and refuges for survivors of sexual, as well as domestic abuse. Transgender people remain one of the most vulnerable groups in society and are at a heightened risk of homelessness, discrimination and violence, but even access to these has been ‘debated’ with malice and misinformation.
Due to the government’s lack of action, the reform of the Gender Recognition Act (2004) has been halted for almost three years now, cultivating endless media rows over transgender rights, despite the law only having to do with changing people’s birth certificates.
But despite all this needless hostility and manufactured conflict between transgender people and wider society, there has also been a lot of progress in terms of awareness and social acceptance for the transgender community in a wider sense, including for non-binary people.
‘They/them’ was announced as the word of the year 2019 (Picture: David Livingston/FilmMagic )
The singular pronoun ‘they/them’ was announced as word of the year 2019 according to Merriam-Webster, giving gender-neutral pronouns a much-needed recognition. The pronoun is most prominently used by non-binary people across the UK, allowing people to be referred to without being gendered as ‘she’ or ‘he’.
We have also seen a wider array of positive media representation with TV shows such as Pose and Butterfly accurately reflecting the experiences of transgender people.
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A growing number of influential individuals are showing their support for transgender people and trans youth publicly, including Jameela Jamil, Prince Harry, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Harry Brewer.
Emma Watson has shown staunch support for young people who are transgender, which is directly at odds with Harry Potter creator JK Rowling.
Rowling tweeted her support for Maya Forstater, a former employee of the think tank Center for Global Development, who claimed transgender women cannot ‘change their biological sex’.
After her contract was not renewed, she pursued an employment tribunal and lost.
It was a significant case for transgender people, and LGBTQ people more widely: the judge was adamant that her comments were ‘absolutist’ and could create an ‘intimidating, hostile, degrading, humiliating or offensive environment’ for trans people.
If Forstater had won, it would have set a dangerous precedent and given grounds for people to express homophobic, misogynistic, racist and prejudiced views against minorities without consequence.
It is vital that we as a society recognise masked bigotry and discourse for what it is.
Arguments about ‘biology’ or ‘sex’ should never be used as grounds to deny transgender people the right to express themselves freely, or deny them their dignity and rights.
TV shows such as Pose have accurately reflected the experiences of transgender people (Picture: FX)
At current, transgender pupils face high levels of bullying for who they are – 45 per cent of students reported being bullied according to Stonewall’s 2017 School Report – and we lack strong anti-bullying policies to tackle this.
Is it any wonder that kids do not respect their transgender peers, when adults cannot do so either?
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We need to start setting an example for our kids that no one should be discriminated against because of who they are, transgender people included.
I can only hope that 2020 will be a year of growing compassion and understanding for the lives and experiences of transgender people. I hope that we as a society start to recognise the need to accept and acknowledge our plight, so that we can create a more accepting and free world for our younger generations.
Instead of relentless attacks for the alleged threats we cause to society, I want us to focus on how we can make society a better place for transgender people.
This means more than just being intolerant of transphobia as an idea, but speaking up against it too – at work, on the street or wherever we see it. It means more funding allocated to transgender healthcare, to deal with the growing demand and need for it.
It means keeping services running and continuing to be inclusive, allowing transgender people to blossom in their chosen profession or hobby and ensuring their gender identity is respected.
In 2020, I hope that everyone is able to express their gender however in a way that makes them feel comfortable and whole.
Transgender people are people first and foremost, and all have lives worth living and lives worth showing. They are an active part in society and share your workplace, your gym, your supermarket and your social circles.
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So let’s move forward with a willingness to learn and listen.
It might seem obvious but I still feel compelled to say that we need to do away with all this hostility, anger and distrust towards transgender people.
I don’t have all the answers but I think this would be a very good start. Not just for transgender people, but for everyone.
MORE: When 331 trans people were murdered this year, it’s hard not to feel helpless
MORE: Don’t believe what you read about transition regret
MORE: Cancel culture can be toxic in the trans community
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The Nifty ended 2019 on a strong note as it gained 12% to close near 12,150 zones, while the Sensex gained 14% to settle above 41,000 levels.
The Nifty opened with marginal loss and breached its sequence of making higher highs, higher lows of last two sessions. The index formed a negative candle on daily chart; while we are witnessing formation of Doji kind of candle with long lower shadow on monthly chart. The index is expected to remain in the range of 12000 – 12300 in coming days.
However, the overall trend is positive and we maintain our ‘buy’ on dips strategy till it holds above 12,100 levels. On upside, we may see an up move towards 12,250 –12,300 zone; while on the downside, the support is seen at 12,100 and then 12,000 levels.
The Nifty ended 2019 on a strong note as it gained 12% to close near 12,150 zones, while the Sensex gained 14% to settle above 41,000 levels.
On the broader front, midcap and smallcap Indices relatively underperformed but quality stocks managed to hold its gains. On the sectorial front, financials and energy indices ended higher while pharma, auto and metals indices relatively underperformed.
Reversal in subscriber addition trend in telecom: After 10 months of weakness, the telecom industry expanded in Oct’19, with gross subscriber addition of 9.7m M-o-M to reach 1,183 million; active subscriber addition swelled 20.3 million to 981 million. This indicates that players are potentially focusing on quality subscribers.
In Oct’19, RJio launched its IUC plans, which supported active/MBB subscriber run-rate for both Bharti and VIL. Bharti has regained its top position in active subscriber market share with 31.5%. VIL has the highest market share of 31.5% in gross subscribers; however, RJio is inching toward the top spot with market share of 30.8%. Broadband subscriber adds stood at 18.6m in Oct’19 (+9.3m in Sep’19) to reach 624m, forming 63.6% (+60bp MoM) of total active subscribers in the market.
This healthy addition should support ARPU as MBB subscribers are high ARPU customers. We expect even better numbers in Nov’19, which would reflect the full month benefits. | Data is like statistics, you can use the data points and periods to effectively track the returns and then use them to make investment decisions, to plan the goals and reach milestones.
In 2019, while the the 30-share S&P BSE Sensex has delivered around 14% returns, the broadmarkets could not match the benchmark’s performance. So, investment returns and the Sensex returns do not mirror. Can we know why?
The Sensex comprises 30 stocks. And the investment portfolio of the investor will be the universe of stocks which will be outside of the 30-stock Sensex. And moreover, a handful of stocks within the Sensex has delivered the returns.
In mid 2018, in order to streamline the Indian mutual fund industry, Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) had issued guidelines for scheme categorisation. This definitely made the existing schemes align with the guidelines issued by Sebi. For instance, it defined large-cap as the top 100 companies in terms of market capitalisation with similar guidelines for mid-cap and small-cap funds.
Category-wise returns
If one looks at the category-wise one-year return of a large cap mutual fund scheme, which is a more reflective return on account of the scheme categorisation, the returns for the top 20 schemes vary from 4.3%-18%. Within the scheme also there is a large divergence in the returns. So ultimately, it is the stock selection and the holding period, which has made a difference. This is true in all the cases. The returns in majority of the mid-cap and small-cap schemes have delivered a low single digit or negative returns, with only one or two schemes delivering outlier returns.
It is said that history repeats. So let us see what were the Sensex returns in the immediate past two years. In 2018, it was 5.9% (it definitely reflected on account of the re-organisation of the schemes as per the Sebi guidelines). In 2017, the returns were 27.9%. So the one-year returns for each of the past three years did not move secularly. What about the three-year rolling returns for each of the past years. In 2017, it was 8.28%. In 2018, it was 11.92% and in 2019,it is 15%.
So , the three-year rolling Sensex returns reflected a much healthier picture as compared to a one-year return. All of this is data and how do we as an investor use this to our advantage in our investment journey?
Short-term vs long-term returns
Data is our friend and as one can notice there is a huge divergence in the returns in the short time frame. And in a longer time frame, the returns get normalised.
From the beginning of the year 2010 till date, the Sensex has grown by 2.40 times. The annualised return is 9.1 % and this is after the Sensex return in the immediate following year 2011, delivered a negative return of 25%. When we compare data, point-to-point, what happens in the intervening period goes unobserved.
Data is like statistics, you can use the data points and periods to effectively track the returns and then use them to make investment decisions, to plan the goals and reach milestones.
Ultimately, it boils down to stock selection and the manner in which you have maintained your Emotional Quotient (EQ) in the investment journey. It is not incorrect to say that the temperament of the investor plays a bigger role in the investment journey. And adding to the temperament is the asset allocation which plays an important role and this is what the year 2019 has reinforced.
As an investor, if you are investing in equity as an asset class, you should brace for periods of suboptimal or even negative returns . Diversification among the mutual fund scheme categories in line with the goals and milestones is the approach. And more importantly, ‘time in the market’ rather than ‘timing the market’ must be your approach to investments.
The writer is managing partner,
BellWether Advisors LLP | 1.666667 |
President Muhammadu Buhari has reiterated his intention not to contest the 2023 presidential elections but determined to help strengthen the electoral process both in Nigeria and across Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS).
News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that several ECOWAS members will be going to the polls in 2020.
Buhari made his feelings known in a letter to Nigerians issued by his Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Mr Femi Adesina, in Abuja on Wednesday to mark the commencement of 2020.
He said his decision to help strengthen the electoral process, particularly in Nigeria, was informed by the frustrations the nation’s electoral system had triggered.
“Elections are the cornerstone of our democracy.
“I salute the commitment of the millions who voted in peace last February and of those leaders who contested for office vigorously but fairly, submitting to the authority of the electorate, the Independent National Electoral Commission and judicial process.
“I understand very well the frustrations our system has in the past triggered. I will be standing down in 2023 and will not be available in any future elections.
“But I am determined to help strengthen the electoral process both in Nigeria and across the region, where several ECOWAS members go to the polls this year,’’ he said.
On security, the president said: “As Commander-in-Chief, my primary concern is the security of the nation and the safety of our citizens.
“When I assumed office in May 2015 my first task was to rally our neighbours so that we could confront Boko Haram on a coordinated regional basis. Chaos is not a neighbour any of us hope for.
“We have been fighting on several fronts: violent extremists, cultists and organised criminal networks. It has not been easy.
“But as we are winning the war, we also look to the challenge of winning the peace, the reconstruction of lives, communities and markets.’’
According to the president, the North East Development Commission will work with local and international stakeholders to help create a new beginning for the region.
He also expressed government’s readiness to continue to work with State Governors, neighbouring countries and the international partners to tackle the root causes of violent extremism and the networks that help finance and organise terror.
“Our security forces will receive the best training and modern weaponry, and in turn will be held to the highest standards of professionalism and respect for human rights.
“We will use all the human and emerging technological resources available to tackle kidnapping, banditry and armed robbery.
“The new Ministry of Police Affairs increased recruitment of officers and the security reforms being introduced will build on what we are already delivering.
“We will work tirelessly at home and with our allies in support of our policies to protect the security of life and property,’’ he added.
Buhari maintained that his administration’s actions would be governed by the rule of law as well as engagement with well-meaning leaders and citizens to promote dialogue, partnership and understanding.
“We need a democratic government that can guarantee peace and security to realise the full potential of our ingenious, entrepreneurial and hard-working people.
“Our policies are designed to promote genuine, balanced growth that delivers jobs and rewards industry.
“Our new Economic Advisory Council brings together respected and independent thinkers to advise me on a strategy that champions inclusive and balanced growth and above all fight poverty and safeguard national economic interests.
“As we have sat down to celebrate with friends and family over this holiday season, for the first time in a generation our food plates have not all been filled with imports of products we know can easily be produced here at home,’’ he said.
He also noted that the nation’s revolution in agriculture had become a reality in all corners of the country.
The president expressed the hope that the new agreements with Morocco, Russia and others would help access on attractive terms the inputs the country needed to accelerate the transformation in farming.
“A good example of commitment to this inclusive growth is the signing of the African Continental Free Trade Area and the creation of the National Action Committee to oversee its implementation and ensure the necessary safeguards are in place to allow us to fully capitalise on regional and continental markets.
“The joint land border security exercise currently taking place is meant to safeguard Nigeria’s economy and security. No one can doubt that we have been good neighbours and good citizens.
“We have been the helpers and shock-absorbers of the sub-region but we cannot allow our well-planned economic regeneration to be sabotaged.
“As soon as we are satisfied that the safeguards are adequate, normal cross-border movements will be resumed,’’ he added. | President Muhammadu Buhari has assured Nigerians that he will leave office in 2023.
He gave the assurance in a New Year letter to Nigerians sent to PREMIUM TIMES by the presidency.
"I will be standing down in 2023 and will not be available in any future elections," the president wrote.
"But I am determined to help strengthen the electoral process both in Nigeria and across the region, where several ECOWAS members go to the polls this year," he added.
Mr Buhari's clarification comes amidst fears by some Nigerians that he was seeking a backdoor to continue in office beyond the constitutionally permitted 2023.
The fears increased when some protesters called for a constitutional amendment to allow him stay in office beyond 2023. A member of Mr Buhari's party, APC, also approached the court to nullify the term limit set in the constitution. The party man later withdrew the suit after the APC distanced itself from it.
Mr Buhari was first elected president in 2015 on the APC platform. He won reelection earlier this year defeating dozens of other candidates including Atiku Abubakar, a former vice president and candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party.
In his letter titled, 'A Letter from the President at New Year', President Buhari stated that his primary concern is the security of the nation and the safety of its citizens.
"When I assumed office in May 2015, my first task was to rally our neighbours so that we could confront Boko Haram on a coordinated regional basis. Chaos is not a neighbour any of us hope for.
"We have been fighting on several fronts: violent extremists, cultists and organised criminal networks. It has not been easy. But as we are winning the war, we also look to the challenge of winning the peace, the reconstruction of lives, communities and markets. The North East Development Commission will work with local and international stakeholders to help create a new beginning for the North East," he said. | 4 |
LAS VEGAS (KLAS) -- Traffic officials spoke of their plans for DUI enforcement Wednesday, after a busy New Year's Eve with over 100 arrests on the roads.
While the valley got through Dec. 31, 2019, with zero deaths, Andrew Bennett of The Nevada Office of Traffic Safety told 8 News Now too many people still chose to get behind the wheel impaired. | LAS VEGAS (KLAS) — Authorities were working at the scene of a bank robbery in northwest Las Vegas on Tuesday.
The U.S. Bank branch at Craig Road and Jones Boulevard was closed while the investigation proceeded.
Police released two photos of a suspect in the robbery of a U.S. Bank branch at Craig Road and Jones Boulevard on New Year’s Eve. (Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department)
A suspect described as a black male, heavy-set, between 30 and 40 years old, approached two tellers with a handgun and demanded money.
He left the bank, driving east in an older maroon 4-door.
Authorities did not disclose how much money was taken in the robbery. | 1.666667 |
In April 2019, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo spoke at Texas A&M University about his experience as director of the CIA. The video with his remarks was later shared by Russian international network RT.
US-based MSNBC host and correspondent Joy Reid came under increased scrutiny this Tuesday after slamming US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo for allegedly appearing on Russian TV network RT. In a now-deleted post, Reid retweeted a video with the RT logo of Pompeo speaking at Texas A&M University in April 2019 about his work at the CIA. Just like the user, who originally shared the clip, the TV host suggested that the US secretary of state had made the remarks while being a guest on the Russian news channel.
In the video, that was previously shared by RT on its social media, Pompeo reflected on his work as the director of the CIA, while saying “we lied, we cheated, we stole”.
“We had entire training courses”, the secretary of state said, when replying to a question about US foreign policy.
Pompeo: 'I was the CIA director. We lied, we cheated, we stole' [April 2019] pic.twitter.com/f94BfEYMCQ — RT (@RT_com) December 8, 2019
Reid seemed to believe that the remarks were made during Pompeo’s supposed appearance on RT, which caused her vociferous reaction.
“Can you imagine what Republicans would have said if Secretary of State Hillary Clinton had gone on Russian State TV and said this during the Obama administration?” Reid said in a now deleted tweet, as quoted by Fox News. “Now? Republicans are unphased by this remarkably brazen Kremlin bowing. Putin really did win the year
Yet again, Joy Reid is blatantly lying and there will be no consequences at all because she works for MSNBC and is spreading lies to advance today's neo-McCarthyism.
RT pulled a random clip of Pomepo's speech. In Reid's hands, this becomes: Pomepo "has gone on Russian State TV." https://t.co/x3EN6D2Z4b — Glenn Greenwald (@ggreenwald) December 31, 2019
The MSNBC host was rebuked for the error, which prompted Reid to later delete the tweet and clarify that Pompeo’s comments were actually made in Texas. The correspondent, however, did not apologise for her mistake.
This actually was said in Texas and was posted by RT. Updating for my thread. https://t.co/61zHaiZTCZ — Joy Reid (@JoyAnnReid) December 31, 2019
Netizens were shocked that Reid had managed to escape almost unscathed for such an egregious error, slamming the journalist for failing to do her homework before making bold statements.
You should get facts straight first and not spread misinformation — Ellen Stevens (@EllenSt92614455) December 31, 2019
You’re a journalist, you have a responsibility to fact check information before making gut instinct reactions. You do not just damage your own credibility with such actions, but you are damaging modern journalism’s credibility when journalism is more important than ever. — E. (@machiavelliauo) December 31, 2019
So just an “update” but no apology for spreading fake news?? You are pathetic! — maria (@maria62514863) January 1, 2020
What happened to your tweet about Pompeo on Russia RT?? Did you right that???
What a clown! You don't even rate a Fake News! You get the pure BS rating! — MTPhillips (@MTP_IOH54) December 31, 2019
@JoyAnnReid lied about Pompeo like she often does about Trump but had to delete her tweet.... Stupid leftists are liars — W Johnson (@gymmratttt) January 1, 2020
I dont think you lied with the Pompeo tweet you deleted. I think you're an idiot and actually believed it. If you had any integrity you would have apologized for it. — BigCat (@ImTheRealBarry) January 1, 2020
Reid also came under fire back in 2018 after making dubious claims that some of her old blog posts containing homophobic statements were a result of hacker attacks. | Hullabaloo
Wednesday, January 01, 2020
Pompeo the loose-lipped diplomat
US State Dept Secretary Pompeo is on Putin’s State TV: “I was the CIA director. We lied, we cheated, we stole”. How patriotic! pic.twitter.com/zIzlajhkTf December 31, 2019
Pompeo actually made the remark in Texas and it was shown on RT. Nonetheless, it's more than a little bit disturbing to see the US Secretary of State say such a thing in public.
But consider that he might have just been talking about his wife and himself:
Susan Pompeo, wife of Central Intelligence Agency chief Mike Pompeo, has taken on an unusually active role for a CIA spouse in agency affairs since he started the job in January 2017, regularly spending her days at the agency, traveling with her husband, and attending agency social events -- seven sources with knowledge of the matter told CNN... While Pompeo does not technically have her own office, she frequents the seventh floor director's suite at CIA's campus in Langley, Virginia, where CIA employees often "assist Mrs. Pompeo in various ways," said Trapani. This includes preparing "materials, briefings, meeting agendas and so forth for our programs assisting spouses traveling overseas." She also works on projects for the Family Advisory Board, as well as providing support services to relocate CIA officers around the world.
Pompeo should not say what he said. But that's what happens when Republican presidents inevitably try to put wingnut politicians in charge of the CIA. (Remember Porter Goss?)
It is simply not a good idea to pluck some partisan ideologue with no serious experience out of the House and put him in charge of that big, secretive bureaucracy. That Pompeo was taken so seriously simply because he graduated first in a military academy, did a short stint at the CIA and went to Harvard years ago is proof that the GOP bench is very, very thin.
If you would like to support this kind of independent media as we cover what is going to one doozy of a political year, you can do so below.
And thank you so much for reading and supporting my work all these years. I am truly grateful. --- d
dp 1/01/2020 03:00:00 PM | 2 |
David Stern, the former commissioner of the NBA and one of the most important men in its history, died on Wednesday three weeks after suffering a brain hemorrhage in New York. The 77-year-old Stern had been involved with the league in some capacity for over 40 years, and it was his guiding hand that turned the league into the financial juggernaut that it is today.
And so, let's dive into David Stern's legacy and look at some of the most important moments and decisions throughout his time with the NBA. Here is a timeline of Stern's tenure with the NBA.
1978: Hired by NBA as general counsel
Before Stern was the commissioner, he was a lawyer. As a rising star at famed New York law firm Proskauer, Rose, Goetz & Mendelsohn, Stern worked with the NBA on a number of matters, including Oscar Robertson's suit against the league in 1966 and the 1976 merger between the NBA and ABA. Stern so endeared himself to the league office in that time that it hired him as its general counsel, before promoting him to executive vice president of the league and ultimately commissioner.
1983: Helps create salary cap
Stern's greatest contribution to the NBA may have come before his commissionership. With several teams in dire financial straits and players on the verge of a strike, Stern helped create the first salary cap in the history of North American sports. The deal not only limited the spending power of big-market teams but as it was based on a percentage of revenue, effectively made players partners to ownership in the success or failure of the league as a whole. The NFL would not institute a salary cap of its own until 1994, and the NHL eventually followed a decade later following the 2004-05 lockout.
1984: Becomes commissioner
Stern was officially named commissioner of the NBA on Feb. 1, 1984. He replaced Larry O'Brien, whom he would one day name the league's championship trophy after. Stern's tenure came at the height of the Magic Johnson-Larry Bird era, but at the time, the league was struggling to market its two biggest stars. Stern ultimately helped change that, turning the NBA into a star-driven league through aggressive marketing of its biggest personalities.
1985: Institutes Draft lottery
Stern's first draft as a commissioner was a big one and the teams involved knew it. With Hakeem Olajuwon, Michael Jordan and Charles Barkley set to enter the NBA in 1984, a few organizations took steps to ensure that they would be in a position to draft one of those collegiate stars. To ensure that they would finish the season with the league's worst record, for example, the Houston Rockets played then-38-year-old Elvin Hayes 35 minutes during the season finale despite giving him only around 12 minutes per game throughout the regular season.
Stern, sensing the tanking epidemic that would one day come, acted quickly to eradicate the problem. The system he inherited awarded draft picks based on record, with the two worst teams flipping a coin for the No. 1 overall pick. In 1985, he did away with that draft structure by instituting a lottery that gave every non-playoff team an equal chance at the No. 1 pick. The mechanics of the lottery would change again several times during Stern's tenure and beyond, but the league has kept the basic idea for three-and-a-half decades.
1990: Brings the NBA to NBC
In the 1980s, the NBA Finals were often aired on tape delay. By the 1990s, the NBA Finals, when viewed as a whole series, put up viewership numbers comparable to the Super Bowl. Maximizing the league's television presence was a priority for Stern, and for 12 years, NBC was the league's first truly successful television partner. He would eventually bring the league to ESPN, ABC and Turner in 2002, and while there will always be ebbs and flows in ratings, it was Stern's stewardship that ultimately made the league the TV juggernaut that it is today.
1992: Creates the Dream Team
Prior to 1992, NBA players were not allowed to compete in the Olympics. An embarrassing 1988 loss to the Soviet Union and the NBA's desire to push into the global marketplace changed all that. Stern helped build the Dream Team, a group of 11 NBA All-Stars (and one Christian Laettner) to don the red white and blue in Barcelona in front of the entire world.
The plan was a complete success. Not only did Team USA storm its way to a gold medal, but the Dream Team stoked worldwide interest in basketball. Six years later, Dirk Nowitzki was drafted by the Dallas Mavericks and the era of the international player was born. The league now plays both exhibition and regular-season games on foreign soil. The last MVP honors Stern saw awarded went to Giannis Antetokounmpo, from Greece, and the last champion he got to watch was the Toronto Raptors, a team he helped put in Canada. The NBA's rise to global dominance was Stern's vision from the start, and will continue to play out long after his passing.
1998: Leads NBA through longest lockout in history
The NBA endured a total of four lockouts under Stern, but none as contentious as the one that nearly killed the 1998-99 season. At that point, the soft salary cap instituted in the 1980s allowed player salaries to grow far beyond what was intended. By the 1997-98 season, 57 percent of basketball-related income went to players, whereas the CBA only called for them to receive 48 percent. The settlement eventually created the rookie salary scale, the max contract and the Mid-Level Exception.
2004: Eliminates hand-checking
Scoring trended downwards throughout the 1980s and 1990s, making the league largely unwatchable. Stern took a number of steps to try to promote scoring and make the game more watchable, including introducing the defensive three-seconds rule and briefly shortening the 3-point line. The big winner, though, was the elimination of hand-checking. With any hand contact now considered a foul, smaller players could finally move about the court freely.
Not coincidentally, the next two MVP awards were won by Steve Nash as his seven seconds or less Phoenix Suns dominated the league. Prior to the rule change, only two players had ever won the MVP award below 6'6'', and one of them was Charles Barkley, a power forward. In the 15 years since, Nash, Derrick Rose, Stephen Curry, Russell Westbrook and James Harden have all done so. The shift from a size-based league to a skill-based league has been at the core of just about every positive development for the NBA over the past two decades.
2004: Issues longest suspension in NBA history (Ron Artest)
Stern was known as a disciplinarian who strictly adhered to the letter of the law. In many cases, he did so unpopularly. His 1997 and 2007 suspensions of players on the New York Knicks, Miami Heat and Phoenix Suns for leaving the bench prematurely during altercations on the court may have swung championships in both seasons, but what happened in 2004 was undoubtedly a turning point for the league.
Ron Artest broke the fourth wall of fandom when he charged into the stands to fight a fan that he believed had thrown a beer at him. Several other players followed in what would become the worst public relations crisis in recent NBA memory. Stern acted decisively and historically, issuing the longest suspension in NBA history to Artest by banning him for the rest of the season. This move, like his others, could have impacted the championship that season, but Stern's strictness ultimately created the thriving environment that has allowed Adam Silver to take a more relaxed attitude towards discipline.
2005: Institutes player dress code
Stern recognized that the league had an image problem following the Malice at the Palace, so he decided to combat the problem at the source. If the players looked more professional, he reasoned, they would be viewed more professionally. And so, the league's dress code was born. What he couldn't have predicted, and has spoken of his enjoyment of, is what would happen next. Rather than fight the code, the players ultimately embraced it by making fashion a core element of their brands. The tunnel is now the NBA's version of a runway, and several players have become fashion icons as a direct result of Stern's dress code.
2011: Vetoes Chris Paul trade
Most of the items on this timeline were undertaken in Stern's role as commissioner of the NBA. This one, however, was done as the interim owner of the then-New Orleans Hornets. The league had taken control of the team while seeking a buyer to replace George Shinn, and in the intervening period, general manager Dell Demps attempted to trade Chris Paul to the Los Angeles Lakers for a package that Stern deemed underwhelming for "basketball reasons." And so, he vetoed the deal.
In the wake of The Decision and leaguewide fear that every small-market superstar would force his way to a major city, the veto was hailed as a leaguewide rebuttal to the player empowerment trend LeBron James started. It didn't end up as such. After all, Paul was eventually traded to Los Angeles anyway, but to the Clippers, not the Lakers. In the end, it was perhaps the greatest test of the power of his office. Stern, working for the owners, managed to act as an owner himself, and ultimately succeeded. It is unlikely the NBA ever needs to take over another team, but if it does, the Paul trade set a historic precedent for just how much control the league office would have over its operations.
2012: Issues $250,000 fine against Spurs for load-management
One of Stern's final battles, and, with the benefit of hindsight, his great losses, came against the concept of load-management. Before it was a league-wide trend, it was the proprietary tactic of the San Antonio Spurs. When Gregg Popovich rested four of his best players during a nationally televised game against the Miami Heat, Stern responded by issuing a $250,000 fine of the organization. His hope was that doing so might dissuade other teams from considering load-management to be a realistic option, but nothing has been able to slow the trend down in recent years. Even Stern's record wasn't flawless.
2014: Retires
Stern officially handed the reins over to Adam Silver on Jan. 31, 2014. His tenure lasted exactly 30 years, making him the longest-reigning commissioner in the history of American sports. Even after his retirement, he retained the title of commissioner emeritus, and while his passing concludes his official relationship with the NBA, he will forever be remembered as one of the most important figures in league history. | Former NBA Commissioner David Stern died on Wednesday at the age of 77.
Stern was the commissioner of the NBA from 1984-2014 and was widely recognized for his role in growing the game nationally and globally.
After retiring in 2014, Stern stayed involved with basketball and said the league "couldn't be in better shape."
He is survived by his wife, Dianne Brock Stern, and two sons, Eric and Andrew.
Visit BusinessInsider.com for more stories.
David Stern, the former NBA Commissioner, died on Wednesday at the age of 77, the league announced.
Stern suffered a brain hemorrhage and underwent emergency surgery on December 12. Stern suffered a second brain hemorrhage and subsequent surgery on December 17.
He is survived by his wife, Dianne Brock Stern, and two sons, Eric and Andrew.
NBA Commissioner Adam Silver issued the following statement:
"For 22 years, I had a courtside seat to watch David in action. He was a mentor and one of my dearest friends. We spent countless hours in the office, at arenas and on planes wherever the game would take us. Like every NBA legend, David had extraordinary talents, but with him it was always about the fundamentals – preparation, attention to detail and hard work.
"Every member of the NBA family is the beneficiary of David's vision, generosity and inspiration. Our deepest condolences go out to David's wife, Dianne, their sons, Andrew and Eric, and their extended family, and we share our grief with everyone whose life was touched by him."
Stern served as NBA Commissioner from 1984-2014. He is widely recognized for his role in the growth and expansion of the NBA and the sport around the world.
A legal role working with the NBA
Stern grew up in Teaneck, New Jersey. He graduated from Rutgers in 1963 and Columbia Law School in 1966.
Shortly after graduating Columbia, Stern joined Proskauer Rose Goetz & Mendelsohn, the law firm that represented the NBA. With the firm, Stern worked on cases that included the ABA-NBA merger in 1976 and the development of free agency.
Joining the NBA
In 1978, then-NBA Commissioner Larry O'Brien convinced Stern to work for the league. Stern first joined as a counsel, until O'Brien created the role of executive vice president for Stern. Stern's responsibilities included "marketing, television and public relations," The New York Times reported in 1983.
David Stern in 1983. Mario Suriani/AP Stern's early work included the introduction of a salary cap to help control player salaries in a financially unstable league and the implementation of drug policies, which were a problem for the league.
In 1983, Stern was selected as the fourth commissioner of the NBA.
"I told [team owners] of David's qualities and how I urged him to extend his work beyond the legal department," O'Brien said at the time. "By creating the position for him, it made him the No. 2 man. I'm extremely pleased that they have made the No. 2 man, the No. 1 man.''
When Stern took the job, he spoke of expanding the league's television ratings and expanding the game overseas.
A growing league
Stern's hiring coincided with the introduction of several marquee players, including Michael Jordan, Hakeem Olajuwon, Charles Barkley, Patrick Ewing, and John Stockton. The national popularity of Magic Johnson and Larry Bird was also gaining the league more attention.
The emergence of Jordan ushered in a new era of popularity, helped, in part, by sneaker companies like Nike and Adidas.
Under Stern, the NBA signed increasingly large TV deals, according to CBS — a two-year, $26 million deal with TBS in 1984; a four-year, $173 million deal with CBS in 1986; a four-year, $275 million deal with TNT and four-year, $601 million deal with NBC in 1990, to name a few.
The league expanded from 23 teams in 1983-84 to 29 teams by 1995-96. Under Stern, a total of seven new franchises were introduced. Several teams also relocated.
Michael Jordan is presented with the 1996 MVP trophy by David Stern. Charles Bennett/AP NBA TV ratings dipped following Jordan's retirement. In the 2000s, the NBA introduced several changes, including the elimination of hand-checking to open up the game to draw more fans.
Despite occasional dips in interest and popularity, the NBA continued to grow under Stern. From 1990 to 2010, the salary cap rose from $20.6 million to over $60 million. In a 2006 profile of Stern, Sports Illustrated's Jack McCallum wrote that league revenues had grown "twelvefold" under Stern.
Stern is perhaps most widely credited for growing the NBA internationally, as he helped open 13 global NBA offices and the staging of regular-season games in other countries.
Stern also helped oversee the creation of the WNBA in 1996.
Controversies during his tenure
David Stern speaks to reporters during the 2011 lockout. Neilson Barnard/Getty Images) Stern's tenure as Commissioner was not without its bumps.
Stern oversaw five lockouts — three with players, two with referees — two of which, in 1999 and 2011, forced reduced seasons.
Stern was criticized for several policies, most famously the NBA's dress code. In 2005, the league-mandated that players wear business casual clothing to games and wear a dress jacket while sitting on the bench. Some players accused the policy of being racist.
Other changes were considered flops. Players widely complained about a new ball that was introduced in 2006 until the league went back to the previous version.
The league drew negative headlines for several big altercations, most notoriously the "Malice at the Palace" fight between Detroit Pistons and Indiana Pacers players and fans in 2006, which resulted in historic suspensions and fines. Playoff altercations between the New York Knicks and Miami Heat and San Antonio Spurs and Phoenix Suns also resulted in suspensions that affected the series outcomes.
Conspiracy theories surrounded some of the biggest moments during Stern's tenure, though he denied them. The "frozen envelope" theory suggested an envelope was intentionally marked during the 1985 draft lottery to award the New York Knicks with the No. 1 pick, Patrick Ewing, to boost TV ratings. Stern famously lashed out at sports radio host Jim Rome for asking if the draft was rigged.
There were also theories that Michael Jordan's first retirement in 1993 was due to a gambling suspension. Stern joked with ESPN about the rumor that he suspended Jordan in his own house: "My wife still wants to know where she was that day."
Stern and the NBA came under fire in 2011 after vetoing a trade between the New Orleans Hornets, which the league ran at the time and the Los Angeles Lakers that would have sent star point guard Chris Paul to the Lakers. Some accused the NBA of trying to keep a large-market team like the Lakers from landing a star player.
Retirement
Adam Silver and David Stern. Getty Images Stern retired on February 1, 2014, 30 years to the day that he became NBA commissioner. Adam Silver succeeded him.
Stern was inducted into the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame in 2014.
In 2019, Stern told ESPN's The Undefeated that he rarely attended NBA games, but frequently watched from home. He remained involved in the game, working with companies that worked on the physical and mental health of players.
Stern told The Undefeated said he approved of the job Silver was doing, saying the NBA "couldn't be in better shape." | 3.333333 |
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Email notifications are only sent once a day, and only if there are new matching items. | These are the headlines that dominated the cannabis industry in 2019 -- what can we expect in 2020?
January 1, 2020 6 min read
This story originally appeared on MJBizDaily
The U.S. cannabis industry experienced some momentous moves forward on the legalization front in 2019, but it also faced significant obstacles that reflected how the licensed marijuana sector is continuing to mature and why it cannot always expect boom times and unfettered growth.
The top page views of the year at Marijuana Business Daily show the industry’s interest in both sides of the coin. Among the most viewed stories of the year were those that focused on:
The vaping health scare.
Illinois’ historic move as it became the first state in the country to legalize retail sales through its Legislature and the 11th overall to approve adult use.
A key U.S. House committee’s approval of the Marijuana Opportunity Reinvestment and Expungement (MORE) Act.
California marijuana business headwinds such as those surrounding the illicit market and ongoing licensing barriers.
What follows is a rundown of MJBizDaily’s top stories of the year, as determined by the number of page views on the U.S. site.
RELATED: 20 Bold Predictions For The Cannabis Industry In 2020
1. Colorado’s Largest Cannabis Grower Loses Millions Of Dollars In Early Freeze: Supply Disruption Expected
Los Sueños Farms, which is based in Pueblo, Colorado -- and is the largest marijuana cultivator in the state -- revealed in October that it lost millions of dollars because of an early winter storm.
The industry braced for ripples throughout the cannabis supply chain in the state, reducing the amount of marijuana available to retailers and processors -- and meaning higher wholesale cannabis prices.
By December, however, Los Sueños’ owner reported the outdoor harvest was still better than 2018, and the company had ample material for the extraction market. The grower estimated it lost roughly $7 million from the freeze.
2. U.S. House Panel Passes Federal Cannabis Legalization Bill In Historic Vote
The Marijuana Opportunity Reinvestment and Expungement (MORE) Act of 2019 passed a vote by the U.S. House Judiciary Committee in November. If adopted into law, the measure could open up huge business opportunities for legal marijuana nationwide, similar to the federal legalization of hemp.
If the MORE Act does pass the full House in the 2020 election year, it still faces the huge obstacle represented by the Republican-controlled Senate.
3. UPS Sues California Cannabis Delivery Companies For Infringing On Trademark
Underlining why putting a moniker on a cannabis business isn’t as easy as it sounds, Atlanta-based United Parcel Service accused a group of California marijuana businesses -- United Pot Smokers, UPS420 and THCPlant -- of using names and logos that are “confusingly similar” to the package-delivery giant’s name and shield logo.
UPS also said the alleged infringement hurts its reputation through association with a marijuana company and further claimed the defendants have a reputation for offering “sham services” under the UPS mark and shield logo.
RELATED: 3 Lessons Entrepreneurs Can Learn From The Vaping Industry
4. Deaths, Illnesses Related To Vaping Cannabis On The Rise, Health Authorities Say
Concerns over marijuana vaping-related fatalities and illnesses began to dominate headlines in earnest in September as U.S. health officials urged people to stop vaping until it was determined why some consumers were coming down with serious breathing illnesses.
Now at the end of 2019, the worst days of the vaping crisis appear to be behind the legal cannabis industry as evidence mounted that products from the illicit market were mainly to blame.
The cannabis industry went on the offensive this year as marijuana businesses pushed to educate consumers about the importance of buying from the legal market.
5. Cannabis Industry Insiders Brace For Potential Fallout As Health Officials Report New Vaping Deaths
As news of the vape health crisis and related deaths spread, some in the cannabis industry expected at least a temporary drop in sales for products such as disposable vape cartridges, and that did come to pass.
The vape crisis hurt business in all recreational cannabis markets in the United States. And while vape sales moved up toward the end of the year in major markets, most have not yet fully recovered to where they were before.
6. 400-Plus California Marijuana Business Licenses Suspended, Injecting Fresh Uncertainty Into State’s Cannabis Industry
In 2020, the legal marijuana business in California is likely to get worse before it gets better. And that’s after an already challenging 2019.
For example, California suspended more than 400 marijuana business permits in November, which affected roughly 5 percent of the state’s legal cannabis supply chain.
Marijuana businesses from retailers to distributors were affected and had to cease all sales until their licenses were reinstated to “active” status.
Later in the month, however, industry observers said California’s licensed marijuana supply chain likely wouldn’t see huge effects from the permit suspensions, because many of the cannabis companies involved weren’t operational or were canceled business ventures.
RELATED: The 10 Biggest Cannabis Stories Of 2019
7. Legal Cannabis Gifts Lead To New Business Practice In Michigan
In January, a legal loophole in Michigan was pointed out that allowed individuals to give away cannabis free of charge. That led to a new business model by some companies in which they sold products such as non-infused candy or art and added a free bit of marijuana as a “gift.”
Some entrepreneurs might have gotten the idea from Washington DC, where recreational cannabis is legal but sales are still prohibited and where gifting popped up as a way to sidestep the sales ban.
8. California Governor To Send National Guard To Combat Illegal Marijuana Growers
California Gov. Gavin Newsom signed an order in February that redeployed 360 National Guard troops from the U.S.-Mexico border to three other state-specific assignments.
The move was welcomed by the state’s legal marijuana growers, which have long struggled against a thriving illicit market.
9. In Landmark Move, Illinois Lawmakers Approve Adult-Use Cannabis Program That Could Hit $2 Billion In Sales
Illinois made the historic move in May of becoming the first state to legalize adult-use marijuana cultivation and sales through its Legislature.
The announcement was cheered by the cannabis industry as it potentially created of one of the nation’s largest adult-use marijuana markets offering massive business opportunities.
Marijuana Business Daily estimates the Illinois recreational market could eventually hit $2.5 billion a year in sales.
10. Marijuana Wholesale Prices On The Rise In Mature Recreational Markets
As of August, wholesale cannabis prices looked to be going up in the recreational cannabis markets in Colorado, Oregon and Washington state, according to two reports and insights from growers.
The upward price trend seemed related to stronger demand and weaker supply, growers going out of business and some farmers pivoting to hemp.
To stay up to date on the latest marijuana-related news make sure to like Marijuana Business Daily on Facebook | 1.333333 |
Agra, Jan 1 (IANS) A bullion merchant along with his wife and daughter were found dead in a parked car on Yamuna Expressway near the Vrindavana cut.
Mathura SSP Shalabh Mathur said prima facie it seems to be a case of suicide as a suicide note has been found from the car.
The deceased have been identified as Neeraj Agarwal, 40, his wife Neha, 35, and their 8-year-old daughter. | The victim's car. (Photo credit: Anil Agarwal)
AGRA: A 37-year-old bullion trader allegedly killed himself after shooting his wife and his minor daughter in his car near 105 milestones of Yamuna Expressway in Mathura on Wednesday.While the trader, Neeraj Agarwal, his wife, Neha ( 35) and his daughter, Dhanya (6), were found dead on the back seat of the car, his son, Shaurya (10), who was also shot at, is battling for his life in a hospital in Delhi.Police said that the incident took place after 12am on Wednesday. Police sources claimed that Neeraj was “depressed” due to long ongoing Enforcement directorate inquiry against him. The inquiry had reportedly been initiated after demonetisation. Police officials said that this could have been a plausible reason behind the murders and suicide.According to SP (city) AK Meena, the family hails from Mathura but had been staying in Delhi’s Mayur Vihar for the past few months. He said the injured boy was found breathing when the police broke the glass of the car and he was immediately rushed to Nayati hospital from where he was shifted to Apollo hospital, Delhi, as his condition was critical.Meena told TOI that small note was also found inside the car and the same has been sent for a forensic wing for checking its authenticity. He said, police found a pistol in Neeraj’s right hand and he had apparently shot himself on his right temple. While Neeraj was sitting on the driver’s seat, all the other three members of his family were on the back seat and car was locked. The SP said the bodies have been sent for post mortem.Talking to TOI, Neeraj’s father Dinesh Chandra Agarwal, claimed that Neeraj could not have committed this crime and this was a murder, planned by the trader’s enemies. He said some people had attacked and shot at Neeraj two years ago in Govardhan area and a police complaint was filed in this regard. Fortunately, he survived as the bullet nicked his car only.“My son and his family members were murdered,” he said, adding that his son Neeraj had shifted to Delhi around 7 months back and used to come to Mathura frequently. He said that his wife also hailed from Mathura’s Jaganathpuri area.He admitted that an ED inquiry was going on but Neeraj had filed an appeal in the case and this could not be the reason for his death.In Video: 37-year-old bullion trader, wife and daughter found dead in car near Yamuna Expressway | 4 |
BOSTON (CBS) — The Cleveland Browns are starting over. Again. That could mean a big promotion for Patriots offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels.
After a disappointing 6-10 season, followed by the firing of head coach Freddie Kitchens on Monday, Cleveland has now parted ways with GM John Dorsey. Owner Jimmy Haslam wants a new front office structure, and Dorsey didn’t want to be part of it after running the Browns for the last two years.
Enter McDaniels. The Ohio native is always connected to the Browns when they begin their annual head coaching search, and this time is no different. Cleveland reportedly requested a head coaching interview with McDaniels on Monday, but that may not be the only job they offer him when they get a chance to chat.
According to NFL analyst Gil Brandy, the Browns may give McDaniels complete control of the team, very much like Bill Belichick has control of the New England Patriots.
Don't be surprised if Browns target Josh McDaniels and hand him Belichick-like role with complete control of the groceries and menu. — Gil Brandt (@Gil_Brandt) December 31, 2019
McDaniels has been itching to get another head coaching gig since last offseason, but he only interviewed for the Green Bay Packers opening and was not considered a finalist for the job. He was a hot commodity two years ago and was prepared to leave New England for the Indianapolis head coaching job, but Robert Kraft stepped in at the last minute and made McDaniels and offer he couldn’t refuse. McDaniels returned as New England’s offensive coordinator with a big raise, but is now ready to move on again.
He got his first shot as a head coach with the Denver Broncos in 2009, but that did not go well for either party. McDaniels explored trading for Patriots backup QB Matt Cassel when he arrived in Denver, which upset Broncos starting QB Jay Cutler. The two sides couldn’t mend fences, and the Broncos were forced to trade Cutler to the Bears that offseason. McDaniels also drafted quarterback Tim Tebow in the first round in 2010, a questionable pick that was met with quite a bit of criticism.
Though the Broncos started McDaniels’ first season on the sideline with six straight wins, they stumbled the rest of the way and missed the playoffs with an 8-8 record. He was fired after a 3-9 start to the 2010 season. He spent some time as an offensive assistant in St. Louis before returning to the Patriots in 2012, winning three more Super Bowls in the process.
Now he’s ready to have another team of his own, and the Browns may be willing to give that and more to him. While Cleveland is a mess once again they have a promising roster, especially on offense with quarterback Baker Mayfield, running back Nick Chubb and wide receivers Odell Beckham Jr. and Jarvis Landry.
And if Cleveland gives him full control, it may be an offer too good to turn down — or back out of — for McDaniels. | Josh McDaniels Reportedly 'Lining up Staff' Ahead of Potential Departure From New England By Michael Luciano | Jan 01 2020 New England Patriots OC Josh McDaniels | Michael Hickey/Getty Images
The New England Patriots have lost quite a few assistants to the head coaching market in the last few years, and the team could see its offensive coordinator wooed away by the promise of being the head man somewhere else.
Josh McDaniels has been reportedly lining up a potential staff should he decide that he will leave the Patriots and take a head coaching job.
Josh McDaniels "already lining up staff" for potential departure from Patriots to Cleveland or Carolina, @AlbertBreer says on "Early Edition"https://t.co/AZLfS2GCMb pic.twitter.com/mnHTYjLO1U — NBC Sports Boston (@NBCSBoston) January 2, 2020
McDaniels has been the one of the chief architects of the New England Patriots dynasty over the last decade, as he returned to New England following a disastrous stint as the head coach of the Denver Broncos a decade ago.
The two teams that have been at the forefront of the McDaniels sweepstakes are the Cleveland Browns and Carolina Panthers, both of whom want to pair their quarterbacks with a young offensive mind.
Cleveland Browns requested permission to interview Patriots’ OC Josh McDaniels for their head-coaching vacancy, per source. Panthers also expected to request interview. — Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) December 30, 2019
McDaniels has a horrible two-year stint with the Broncos and his desertion of the Colts on his resume, but the driving force behind the Patriots offense over the last decade is still an innovative offensive mind, and he could make for an interesting hire in Cleveland or Carolina. | 3 |
The numbers of arrests for drunken behavior used to be in the 100s for spectators waiting overnight for Pasadena’s Rose Parade to begin.
But no more, Lt. Pete Hettema of the Pasadena Police Department said early Wednesday .
Last year, only seven were arrested and this year, the number is down to three, Hettema said.
“We’ve seen a substantial decrease in the numbers of people who stay on the parade route,” he said. “I don’t think they party as much as they used to.”
As for this year, “it was a very quiet night, ” Hetteman said. “It was a little warmer than last year.
Still with a low temperature of 45 degrees, people were still trying to stay warm and there were a lot of fires, he said.
Police also made an arrest for public intoxication, another for a vehicle code violation and one for a violation of a restraining order, Hettema said.
In 2013, more than 20 were arrested. | When we think back on the defining beauty moments of the decade, nails are front and center. Hear us out: The most popular nail colors and trends often reflect their respective times. In an era when nail art props abound and the engagement manicure has become a very real (and specific) kind of pressure, it makes sense to take a closer look at the bottles we're gravitating toward for the perfect Instagram shot. The past 10 years have brought us elaborate spins on nostalgic trends—like squishy jelly nails and the immortal French manicure. But in the interest of distilling these moments down to their most basic forms, we're focusing on the standalone shades that made their mark.
So what exactly gives a nail polish notoriety? Sometimes a well-timed celebrity associations raises particular shades to new heights. Other launches start trends of their own. "I know all I wore in 2012 was Essie Mint Candy Apple," reminisced one Glamour editor while we were brainstorming this story. (She was later vindicated by our research; the data shows that Mint Candy Apple was a 2013 top seller.) We talked to three of the top nail polish brands to discover the most popular shades year-to-year from 2009 to 2019. Scroll through for a detailed look at the 11 best-selling shades of the decade—and what made them so iconic. | 1 |
Buried IED blast in 2007 in Iraq.
(Image by Wikipedia (commons.wikimedia.org)) Details DMCA
As the calendar prepared to flip from 2019 to 2020, protesters stormed the US embassy in Baghdad. As I write this, the action -- a response to US airstrikes in Iraq and Syria which killed at least 25 and wounded more than 50 -- hasn't yet become a reprise of the Iran hostage crisis of 40 years ago, but it's eerily reminiscent.
Although few Americans seem to notice, Iraq is arguably the second-longest war in US history.
Mainstream media often refer to the 18-year US occupation of Afghanistan as "America's longest war." That claim is wrong on its face.
Setting aside a century of "Indian wars" and two decades of involvement in Vietnam prior to the 1965 escalation, the Korean War handily takes the "longest war" prize: It began in 1950 and has merely been in ceasefire status, with occasional flare-ups and no final settlement, since 1953. If wars were people, the Korean War would be collecting Social Security.
The US war in Iraq is approaching its 28th birthday, also with no end in sight.
It began in January of 1991 with Operation Desert Storm ("the liberation of Kuwait" from Iraqi occupation). The 12 years between that "mother of all battles" and the 2003 US invasion were punctuated by US bombings to facilitate a Kurdish secession movement in the north, protect persecuted Shiites in the south, and provide convenient distractions from assorted Clinton administration peccadilloes.
Following the short, sharp conventional fighting phase of the invasion, the war remained a very hot conflict -- a combination of civil war and anti-occupation insurgency -- for years following US president George W. Bush's "mission accomplished" announcement in May of 2003.
A brief cooling period accompanied Barack Obama's 2009 inauguration, but by 2014 American troops (and "civilian contractors," i.e mercenaries) were once again arriving to intervene in the new regime's fight against the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS).
The airstrikes which sparked the current protests were carried out in response to a rocket attack on a regime military base in which one of the aforementioned American mercenaries was killed.
The bigger picture:
The US government is using Iraq as a staging area for its ongoing actions in Syria and against Iran (which it blames for this specific rocket attack and for its backing of militias in Iraq in general).
US president Donald Trump talks a good "let's get out of all these stupid wars" game. But in actuality he has increased, and continues to increase, the size of US military deployments to, and the tempo of US military operations in, the Middle East and Central Asia.
Several thousand US troops remain in Iraq and the war looks likely to stretch into a fourth decade.
There is, of course, an alternative: Trump could put his money where his mouth is and begin withdrawing US troops from the region instead of continuing to pour American blood and treasure into a series of conflicts which should never have happened in the first place.
Peace on Earth? Maybe not. But the US going home and minding its own business would be a good start. | TEHRAN (Tasnim) - US President Donald Trump said he does not want, or foresee, war with Iran, after he earlier threatened to retaliate against the country following recent protests in Iraq.
- Politics news -
Asked about the possibility of tensions spiraling into a war with Iran, Trump told reporters at his Mar-a-Lago club in Florida, "Do I want to? No. I want to have peace. I like peace. And Iran should want to have peace more than anybody. So I don't see that happening," Reuters reported.
In response to US accusations, Iran's Foreign Ministry spokesman called on the White House to quit its destructive policies in the region.
"The surprising impudence of the American authorities is at such a level that after slaughtering at least 25 people, wounding many Iraqi people, inflicting financial damages on Iraq and violating the country's national sovereignty and territorial integrity, they (Americans) are now blaming the Islamic Republic of Iran for the protests from the Iraqi people against their own ferocious measures in a blatant and cheap act of pinning the blame on others," Abbas Mousavi said.
On Sunday, US forces conducted drone strikes on a number of Kata'ib Hezbollah bases in Iraq's western Anbar province, killing at least 25 individuals and leaving another 51 injured, according to the PMU (Popular Mobilization Units).
Following the strikes, the Pentagon issued a statement saying that it had targeted three locations of the Iraqi fighters in Iraq and two in Syria in response to alleged attacks targeting American forces.
Kata'ib Hezbollah is part of the PMU. The PMU, also known as Hashd al-Sha'abi, played a key role in defeating the Daesh terrorist group that had occupied parts of Iraq since 2014. | 2 |
EMERGING ARTIST: James Stickland is a local artist who has created some amazing pieces. One has been selected in the finals for the Sunshine Coast local Artist Local Content in January 2020. Photo Patrick Woods / Sunshine Coast Daily.
EMERGING ARTIST: James Stickland is a local artist who has created some amazing pieces. One has been selected in the finals for the Sunshine Coast local Artist Local Content in January 2020. Photo Patrick Woods / Sunshine Coast Daily.
“SHAWNEE stood out in her uniform. The light horseman patrolling the beach. The surfboats fighting the waves to lay their wreaths. I had to capture this moment on canvas.”
It’s hard to believe that the painting of a navy girl that emerging artist James Stickland met at the Mooloolaba Anzac Day Dawn Service last year was the third painting he ever done.
But after a lifetime of dreaming of becoming an artist, he picked up the skills very quickly – within a year – and his artwork has already featured in many exhibitions across the Sunshine Coast.
Stickland is a late bloomer when it comes to art, having found his passion at the age of 47.
The Warana-based artist said life “got in the way” of dreams he made as a child.
And with his two children now aged 21 and 19 and life getting a little stagnant, now was the time for change or “forget about it”.
EMERGING ARTIST: James Stickland is a local artist who has created some amazing pieces. One has been selected in the finals for the Sunshine Coast local Artist Local Content in January 2020. Photo Patrick Woods / Sunshine Coast Daily.
“In January last year, I purchased a work van. It was set up with a mattress in the back, so I took advantage of my last four days of holidays and took my wife to Tweed Heads,” he said.
“We accidentally found the Tweed Gallery, stopped in and admired the Margaret Olley exhibition.
“This sparked an inner itch and after 26 years of sitting on a computer running a sign shop, kids grown up and not knowing what to do in life, I decided to enrol in a local art class and start my art career.”
The Art School Co. in Buderim introduced him to many media and finally, he “found himself”.
“I worked hard in different mediums, but my new-found love of oils prevailed and my chosen field – portraiture,” he said.
“The joy of others entertained by my art is what pushes me forward as there are many down days where you question what you do.”
Stickland is also exhibiting in the Cooroy Butter Factory Arts Centre, and earlier this year, he won the Emerging Art Award in the Kenilworth Art Prize.
“The more I paint, the more I want to tell a story,” he said.
“I am currently enrolled in some short courses to further my skill and make 2020 a storytelling year of paintings.”
The navy girl will be displayed at the Caloundra Regional Art Gallery as a finalist in the Sunshine Coast Local Artist, Local Content prize, which opens on January 17.
To follow Stickland’s artistic journey, visit his Instagram @james_stickland_art. | One of the simultaneous joys and terrors of writing is the blank page. When the writing flows, you rapidly fill this sea of whiteness with a flood of words and thoughts. The high of creation is intoxicating as you create what had not yet existed. On the other end of the spectrum, when you experience a bout of writer’s block, the blank page mocks you and you stare into this void.
Thankfully, I have rarely experienced writer’s block when it comes to these columns. I have struggled with it more in my larger creative works of essays and stories and in the forthcoming semester— poems. What I have learned is that it is my own mind, my fears, my anxieties that often keep me from putting pen to paper. I write something, look at it and cringe or groan in despair at how inadequate or terrible it is. With the advent of technology, I no longer find myself surrounded with a mountain of crumpled paper, instead the offending prose disappears into my trash bin or is simply erased and replaced with a new effort.
As I write this column on the last day of one year to be read early in the next year, I cannot help to notice how analogous my writing process is to how I compose or attempt to compose my life. How many of us are excited with the mostly blank page of the new year? 2020 sits before us and we have energy and optimism that when we revisit our lives a year from now, it will be with the satisfaction of a year well lived.
Many of us are now in the midst of writing our resolutions, making a list of things we will do or things we will avoid, perhaps from lessons learned in years past. Some of these items seem daunting, but in the dawn of this new year our confidence allows us to embrace the challenge of the days and months to come.
And yet, do we not also censor or limit ourselves based on fear and uncertainty. Just as I am often discouraged by my writing, we are often defeated by our own self-doubt and negative thinking. The blankness of the page scares us and we often sit paralyzed before our future.
Several years ago, I read an essay regarding academic writing that approached the difficulty of composing a thesis or dissertation by observing how much would be accomplished if you produced a mere two pages a day. At the end of a year, you would have over 700 pages of writing. While this essay focused on academic writing, the same would be true for a novelist, essayist or memoirist. Two pages a day would make the inevitable process of revision much easier.
What is to prevent us from doing the same with our lives? If we purposefully devote part of each day to accomplishing our life goals, I find it difficult to believe we would not make significant process towards achieving our goals and maintaining whatever resolutions we set for ourselves. The future often seems frightening because like the blank page it is unknown and unwritten. But the best part of this process is that we as the author of the lives have the power to write the future we desire.
Nicolas Shump is a longtime educator and writer in northeast Kansas. He can be reached at nicshump@gmail.com. | 1 |
A New Year message from the main church leaders has called for "courageous decision-making" in order to make political progress in 2020. (stock photo)
Church leaders call on Northern Ireland politicians to make 'courageous' decisions in 2020 BelfastTelegraph.co.uk A New Year message from the main church leaders has called for "courageous decision-making" in order to make political progress in 2020. https://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/northern-ireland/church-leaders-call-on-northern-ireland-politicians-to-make-courageous-decisions-in-2020-38825298.html https://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/republic-of-ireland/e9059/38825765.ece/AUTOCROP/h342/priest.jpg
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A New Year message from the main church leaders has called for "courageous decision-making" in order to make political progress in 2020.
They called for "leadership across all sections of society" in Northern Ireland to support the return of devolved government "that will be sustainable in the context of significant social, economic and political challenges".
The leaders added the new round of political talks "gave renewed hope that the profoundly-damaging political vacuum might be brought to an end".
"A sense of collective responsibility will be required to enable a new Executive and Assembly to take difficult decisions in the interests of the common good," they said.
"Our political context north and south demands courageous decision-making which moves beyond self-interest and takes account of the whole of society.
"Our call is also to all people of goodwill to commit to building relationships across the political and cultural divisions so that in this New Year, and in the years to come, we build communities where all can flourish."
The joint message is signed by Church of Ireland Primate Archbishop Richard Clarke, Catholic Primate Archbishop Eamon Martin, Presbyterian Moderator the Rt Rev Dr William Henry, Methodist President Rev Sam McGuffin and Irish Council of Churches President Rev Brian Anderson.
They said: "In the past few years we have faced difficult and divisive referenda and elections across the island.
"The effects of these events do not cease to be felt once the polls have closed.
"In our conversations with friends, family and those with whom we interact day to day, we feel the weight of these cultural and political divisions."
In his first New Year message as the recently-appointed Church of Ireland Bishop of Derry and Raphoe, the Rt Rev Andrew Forster, said he was on an "emotional roller-coaster". He said: "As the New Year approaches, I am filled with excitement at the possibilities of what lies ahead, but unsettled at the same time by the awesomeness of it all.
"The New Year chimes will scarcely have subsided when we find ourselves confronted by harsh reality.
"Brexit looms in all its complexity.
"There will be renewed efforts to cut the Gordian knot at Stormont and to restore political institutions.
"Also in Northern Ireland the less well-off are threatened by impending changes to the welfare system, while in the Republic various crises - homelessness, a shortage of social housing and rent costs - defy solution.
"Globally the damage we are doing to our planet is becoming more obvious and more frightening.
"In the face of such challenges it would be easy, indeed entirely understandable, to become dispirited. But as Christians we are people of faith and hope."
Belfast Telegraph | New Year: Pastor Timothy Bakare, the Zonal Superintendent of Christ Apostolic Church, Oke-Ibukun, Ile-Ife, has charged Christians to remain committed to serving God in 2020.
The cleric gave the charge during the first service of the church in the New Year on Wednesday in Ile-Ife.
READ ALSO: New Year: Continue to place your trust in Buhari’s administration, Ajimobi tells Nigerians
He said that it was only by focusing on God that one could earn success, citing Samson and Gehaz among other biblical figures that had derailed due to lack of focus.
The cleric also admonished Christians to emulate Jesus Christ in His determination to sacrifice his life for humanity.
“Without strong determination in the Lord, the nation and the whole universe cannot make it,” he added.
He also appealed to Christians to eschew immorality and be determined to dedicate themselves to God’s service.
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1 day ago | DETROIT – Welcome to Sunday, Motown. Happy Hanukkah and Happy Kwanzaa! Today is day four of Kwanzaa, and the theme is Ujamaa (Collective Economics).
Today’s weather theme is soggy and warm. Rain is arriving and will be heavy, at times, especially during the day. Monday remains wet and mild. Colder air arrives as we leave the old year and bring in the new. Even a few snowflakes will fall before the year’s (and decade’s) end.
Sunday morning becomes wet before dawn. Scattered light to moderate showers arrive from the east and south east. Temperatures rise from the 30s just after midnight to the 40s before dawn on Sunday.
Sunrise is at 8:02 a.m. ET.
Football fans and tailgaters will need their rain gear and plan on indoor tailgating activities. Rain will be heavy at times, especially during the late morning and early afternoon. There’s even a chance of a thunderstorm or two before the Lions game.
The Detroit Lions take on the Green Bay Packers at Ford Field at 1 p.m. During the game the rain outside becomes more scattered in the afternoon. The Detroit area will still have cloudy skies for the afternoon, but it becomes warmer. It feels like spring-time again with high temperatures in the middle 50s.
Another round of rain returns Sunday evening and Sunday night. Sunday evening becomes wet with light to moderate rain moving in from the south. Temperatures will be around 50°F at dinner time. Families going out to Kwanzaa celebrations and Hanukkah ceremonies will need to be careful on wet roads. As always, look out for pedestrians.
Sunday night will still be wet. Overnight lows will be near 40°F. On Monday it will be raining in the morning.
The one-and-a-half day rain total will be around an inch or more in many spots. Homeowners must make sure their basements are secure and dry.
Monday afternoon will be mostly cloudy and mild. Highs will be near 50°F.
After a cold front passes, it becomes colder for New Year’s Eve Tuesday and New Year’s Day Wednesday. Tuesday will have scattered snow showers from lake affect snow generated with wind whipping off of Lake Michigan.
Temperatures will be in the 30s all day . By midnight and when we ring in 2020, snowflakes will have gone away, and the temperature will be at 32°F. Bundle up before going out to New Year’s Eve parties.
Happy New Year, Wednesday. New Year’s Day will be partly sunny and chilly, but not too cold. Highs will be in your 40°F.
Remember to download the FREE Local4Casters weather app -- it’s easily one of the best in the nation. Just search your app store under WDIV and it’s right there available for both iPhones and Androids!
Weather radar
Keep an eye out for severe weather alerts and the radar here: | 1 |
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Do you have any resolutions for the new year? Eat better? Drink more water? Get more sleep?
Do you have any resolutions as far as your beauty routine is concerned?
I, personally, don’t take long to get ready. It takes me just a few minutes to put on my make-up. Letting my hair air dry takes the longest. I need to start getting ready a couple of hours before I need to leave if I want to let my hair dry naturally and have my natural wave come through. If I don’t mind not having my natural waves, I can just blow dry my hair.
My daughter takes FOREVER to get ready. Not only is she very particular about her make-up (she has to have the “perfect” eye), but her hair… oh my goodness her hair… that takes the longest. First she needs to take a shower and wash her hair. Then she needs to blow dry her hair. She has very thick hair, so that alone takes a very long time. After her hair is dry, she then has to use the straightener to straighten her hair.
If only there was a way she could dry and straighten her hair at the same time, but that would not be possible. Or would it?
Believe it or not, you CAN blow dry your hair AND straighten it at the same time. All you need is a revolutionary product called RevAir.
RevAir is the world’s first and only reverse air dryer. By reverse air, I mean instead of blowing hot air on your hair, RevAir “sucks” (for lack of a better description) the wetness from your hair. I liken it to a vaccuum cleaner… but for your hair.
Not only does RevAir dry your hair 3x faster than conventional hair dryers, it also straightens your hair too.
RevAir is good for all hair types, from fine to thick and from straight to kinky/curly. Anyone could use and enjoy RevAir.
I was sent a unit to review.
I was shocked when I received the package. The brand includes a lot with the unit (depending on the package you purchase). The one I received included a holder, clips and more goodies.
This is NOT your ordinary hair dryer. It literally looks like a mini-vacuum cleaner. The RevAir has a triangular shaped base, a thick hose and a strangely shaped wand at the end.
The wand creates a reverse-air tunnel that surrounds your hair from root to tip with heated air to naturally dry and straighten your hair. The high heat setting is half the wattage of a standard blow dryer. There is also a low heat setting and it can be used with no heat, as a cool shot of air. Reverse-air moves heat in the natural direction of cuticles helping to smooth hair. Consistent tension effectively straightens hair replacing the need for a brush’s damaging friction.
Check out this brief video to see the RevAir in action.
Due to a shoulder injury, I am unable to use the RevAir myself (using it was my initial “game plan” when offered a unit to review). My daughter was more than happy to use the RevAir and help me to facilitate my review.
My daughter has very thick hair. It’s normally wavy towards the ends of her hair (as seen in the photo below). It used to be thicker/wavier, but years of coloring and cutting it has taken away some of the thickness and wave to her hair.
My daughter’s hair is still wet/damp in the above photo. The top layer of her hair has already started to dry. You can use RevAir with wet hair (it just took me a bit to take the “before” photo, which is why it started to dry).
Small sections of you hair goes inside of the RevAir wand to “suck” the water out of it, while straightening it at the same time. If you would like to learn more about the process, you can read about it here – https://myrevair.com/pages/how-it-works.
Here is my daughter’s hair after using RevAir (disregard her split ends – that is from content coloring her hair).
It’s amazing how quickly my daughter can get herself ready by combining two steps (drying her hair and straightening it). We both like how her hair looks afterwards. Using the flat iron makes her hair look stiff and too flat/straight. Using the RevAir her hair is straight, but in a more natural looking way.
Here are some tips to using RevAir;
Tension (Reverse Air Speed) This is the dial on the Base Unit. Tension replaces the need for a brush or hot flat irons. Start at setting 2-3. Once you see what your individual hair can tolerate, you can go up one level at a time. If you have any tangles, go down a level. Do not turn it immediately to level 7, as it may not give you the best result – in fact, it can be the opposite. Coily, Type 4 hair usually works best around Level 5-7. Heat This is located on the Wand. The Temperature Settings are No, Low and High Heat. Even the hottest heat of the Wand is LESS than the lowest heat on most Flat Irons. No Pumping There is no need to pump or bounce the want. In fact, when you do that, you are not allowing the roots to get dry. The reverse-air move constantly and consistently down the entire length of your hair, drying from root to end at once. Bouncing the wand may distrupt air flow and that can cause tangles. Time to Dry Each section will dry in 30-90 seconds, so long as Wand is kept to scalp. Thickness, texture and section size mean your time may vary. Experiment to find your ideal time. Test by pulling Wand a few inches away from scalp and touching roots. If they are dry, it is likely you are done.
Waist length hair is much less dense at the ends, watch your tension setting and perhaps use detangler on the ends. You may need to use a bit bigger section if tangles occur at low tension settings (1 or 2). Some may have to dry in 2 phases – Dry the roots first, then move about half way down on a lower setting to be sure each section of hair gets dry time in the wand chamber. Want it straighter? For those with Type 4 hair, you may find you want to finish your look with flat ironing. Remember, getting hair to this point has just happened in less time with less heat, meaning less damage.
It took my daughter a few times to figure out what level works best for her. Now that she has the settings figured out to suit her hair type, it takes her even less time to do her hair. She’s a “pro” at using RevAir now.
Once my shoulder is better, I am going to start using the RevAir too. I do like how my hair looks with it’s natural wave, but those times where I want to change up my look, or I just need for my hair to dry faster (for example, when it’s freezing cold outside), I will defiantly use the RevAir. I have seen how nice my daughter’s hair looks using it, and I know what a time saver it is.
There are only a few “issues” some might have with RevAir. For one, it is costly (over $300+), so it is not “budget friendly.” If you would like to take into considering how much time it saves you on your beauty routine, then the price makes it well worth it. I would never be able to afford one myself, but owning one, I can appreciate the benefit to owning one.
The unit is large, and the hose is cumbersome. You would need room in your closet to fit it. My daughter keeps in on the floor by her dresser because we have no other place to house it. It does take up a lot more room than a typical hair dryer.
Initially it’s a little awkward to use, but once you get the hang of it, it’s not that bad (as per my daughter).
My daughter loves the RevAir, and she uses it all the time. She’s also very picky about her beauty products, so that says a lot about the RevAir.
If you are interested in learning more about RevAir, visit RevAir.com. The brand can also be found on social media. All of their links are found at the bottom of their website.
Check out their YouTube channel to see RevAir in action and some gorgeous before/after results.
Kimberly
*I received a free product sample to review. There was no compensation. The opinions expressed are my own and not influenced in any way. | A dog’s sleeping position can reveal a lot about their health, personality, and how they are feeling. Just like a sleeping baby, there’s just something angelic about watching a dog sleep. Just as every parent knows, no matter how mischievous their child has been, once they fall asleep all is forgotten and they are reminded what angels they really are. Dog owners feel the same, their precious pup sleeping just brings on feelings of peace and melts away anxiety.
But have you ever noticed the varying sleep positions a dog will lay in? Sometimes they are curled all up and others stretched way out for the world to see them. Turns out, these sleeping positions can have different meanings, and they are all quite interesting to get an inside look into what they may be feeling.
1) The Donut
Don’t dogs just look so adorable all curled up like a donut sleeping? Well, it turns out the sleeping position can mean your precious pooch is trying to conserve body heat and protect the most vulnerable parts of its body. Out in the wild this is the most common sleeping position among animals because for them too it conserves warmth and protects their vital organ. Usually you will see a dog sleep this way in the winter – but it’s not anything to worry about. It’s just a cozy and comfortable way for them to sleep.
2) On Their Backs
There could be two reasons a dog might sleep on their backs. First, it looks just too cute when they do, but it could mean they are feeling too hot so they get in this position to cool down. The belly of a dog has thinner fur and also their paws hold sweat glands. In this position it’s the best way to diminish some extra heat. Another reason a pooch might sleep this way is an indication he’s very comfortable with his surroundings. When dogs are willing to reveal their bellies, it’s a sign of submission and vulnerability. It shows they are relaxed in their surroundings and feels trust and comfort from you.
3) The Cuddle Bug
The sweet reason a dog might sleep like a little cuddle bug goes back to when they were puppies. Sleeping back to back helped the newborns to regulate their body temperature. As the puppy matures it still is habit for them and is an instinctual way for them to show you in their minds you are part of their “pack” and they trust you.
4) The Superman
It always brings a smile to see a dog sprawled out with its limbs stretched forward while laying on its stomach as if he were flying through the air like Superman. But have you ever noticed they only sleep like this during the day? This is because it’s the best position for a dog to quickly get on its feet and is willing to play at the drop of a hat.
5) Side Sleeping
This one will melt your heart. The typical dog that sleeps on its side is doing so to show its affection and to share a close bond with their owners. It shows the pup has no worries in life and is relaxed and comfortable in its surroundings.
6) The Lion Pose
Dogs will get into this position at times when they still have a considerable amount of energy and they don’t feel like sleeping. This way they can easily get up and play if the opportunity arises for them. It also is a position that will relieve the dog of stress and make them feel more comfortable.
7) Laying On Your Clothes
Though it may not come all that appreciated especially if you have a high shedding dog, the sweet reason a dog does this is to show its love. Your clothing has your scent on it and your dog just wants to feel closer to you.
8) Circling And Digging
We’ve all seen the dog circle and dig around as if trying to get their “bed” as comfortable as possible. This is an instinctual thing as dogs are knowb to trample down the grass to get their spot as comfortable as they possibly can.
Next time your pooch goes to sleep, now you will know a little bit more of what’s going on in his mind.
Check out the video below for more explanation into the fascinating reasons dogs choose a certain sleeping position.
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Veteran: Paddy Reynolds
Reporter Paddy Reynolds who penned colourful memoir of a lost age passes away BelfastTelegraph.co.uk Paddy Reynolds, who was a former northern editor of the Dublin-based Irish Press newspaper, has died peacefully at his home in north Belfast. https://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/northern-ireland/reporter-paddy-reynolds-who-penned-colourful-memoir-of-a-lost-age-passes-away-38825307.html https://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/northern-ireland/987d5/38825306.ece/AUTOCROP/h342/2020-01-01_new_55980371_I1.JPG
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Paddy Reynolds, who was a former northern editor of the Dublin-based Irish Press newspaper, has died peacefully at his home in north Belfast.
He was a well-known character who filed regularly from Belfast for the Irish Press and also worked for the Daily Mail covering many of the major stories in the early days of the Troubles.
In a 2004 memoir titled The Late Paddy Murphy: Memoirs Of An Irish Journalist, he recounted some of the more colourful aspects of his career after five decades in journalism.
He was brought up in the Cregagh area of Belfast and he had vivid recollections of the city during the Second World War, as well as memories of Dublin and the Republic, which was beginning to recover from the austere years of De Valera's leadership.
Reynolds belonged to the generation of reporters that found conviviality through their news gathering, not only in their offices or homes but also in some of the well-known hostelries in Belfast and elsewhere.
He recounts in his memoir the dangers of succumbing to alcoholism, imbibing strong drink from the start of, and throughout, each working day.
He also recounted how his wife Enda helped to save his life by sending him for a medical examination and then to a treatment centre for his alcoholism.
In one portion of his memoir he writes about a Paddy Murphy who allegedly worked from Northern Ireland for the Irish Press Group in the 1960s.
His Dublin bosses were so impressed that they called him down to appoint him to a staff job.
Apparently this "Paddy Murphy" was a nom de plume for Reynolds himself who had been writing Murphy's copy to supplement his salary - the pay cheques for the Murphy character being cashed by a friendly bookmaker.
It was no coincidence that the fictitious Paddy Murphy suddenly died of a heart attack, to protect his inventor Reynolds who then had difficulty in preventing his Dublin editor from travelling north for the "funeral". The story sounds surreal, but in those distant days of journalism, anything might have been possible.
In a review of the book, Irish Times journalist Gerry Moriarty wrote: "It is a cracking read, teeming with wit, great yarns and a finally sobering awareness of how his drinking was a form of slow suicide. Reynolds tells his stories with a craftsman's pitch: funny when appropriate, serious when dealing with the horrors of the Troubles, light yet quietly profound and self-aware when dealing with how alcohol almost killed him."
No doubt some of Paddy Reynolds' stories gained in the telling, but his memoirs gave a picture of a world of colourful print journalism that has long disappeared.
Mr Reynolds died peacefully at his home in north Belfast on December 28 "surrounded by his loving family".
He was predeceased by his wife Enda, and survived by daughters Anne, Pauline, Joanie and Colette. His Requiem Mass will take place tomorrow at 10am in the St Therese of Lisieux Church, Somerton Road, Belfast, followed by interment at Carnmoney Cemetery.
Belfast Telegraph | "Part of what I'm enjoying about this is that I don't know what's next."
Seamus McKee reflects on a long, distinguished career in journalism - and his impending departure from the BBC.
He is one of four of the most familiar voices on Northern Ireland's airwaves who are stepping down from their roles in 2020.
Talkback's William Crawley spoke to Seamus about his life and how he got into broadcasting.
As a child, Seamus says he split much of his time between his native Belfast, where his father owned a paint business, and Dublin where his mother came from.
"I was a cross-border body," he said.
He began his career, not in broadcasting, but in teaching, which he did for 12 years.
He started working for the BBC part-time while still teaching.
Of the decision to accept a full-time job Seamus says: "It was a big decision and, to this day, I'm not quite sure why I made it."
He added: "When I started it was the hunger strikes and you had to be exceedingly careful what you said. And if you got it wrong very, very quickly people let you know you got it wrong."
He said he is passionate about the importance of the arts in Northern Ireland.
"I suppose I'm passionate about artists, writers, musicians, dancers - they all contributed to finding answers in this place long before the politicians did and I will never have that taken away from them."
He said interviews with people who have suffered, or are survivors, were more difficult than interviewing politicians.
"They may not have told what they're telling you to anyone before and you're aware of how much trust they're putting in you," he said.
Seamus said he is looking forward to the next phase in his life.
"For longer than I can remember, my life has really been about what comes next, whether it's the next question in an interview or the next programme, the next assignment.
"The notion that I've been allowed to go on this long is probably the highlight.
"It is a very long career, it's been a very privileged one."
You can hear Seamus McKee talk about his BBC career on Talkback on BBC Radio Ulster at 12 noon on New Year's Eve. | 2.333333 |
(MENAFN- EIN Presswire) Global Remote Patient Monitoring Devices And Equipment Market Overview
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Sourcing and Referencing: Data and analysis throughout the report are sourced using end notes.
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Patient Monitoring Devices Market By Types (Fetal And Neonatal Monitoring Devices, Vital Parameter Monitoring Devices, Weight Monitoring Devices, Body Temperature Devices And Remote Patient Monitoring Devices), By End User (Hospitals, Homecare, Diagnostic Centre/Clinics), By Companies And By Regions - Global Forecast Research To 2022
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Contact Oliver GuirdhamThe Business Research Company+44 20 7193 0708email us here Share This Story | (MENAFN- EIN Presswire) More than 24,000 ex-military members benefit from Social Fund aid
Luanda, ANGOLA, January 1 - The Ministry of National Defence announced plan to launch a strategic and business plan to assist more than 24,000 former military personnel and their dependents.,
Ministry of Defence announced the implementation of the strategy through the Angolan Armed Forces (FAA)'s Social Fund.
The move is intended to make the FAA Social Security Fund less dependent on the State General Budget (OGE).
The objective is to increase the ability to generate extra income for families and employment for young dependents of former military personnel.
Angolan minister of National Defence, Salviano Sequeira, said Tuesday that the strategic plan, approved by the Economic Commission of the Cabinet Council, aims to attract domestic and foreign investors in areas such as agriculture, industry, tourism, real estate, health and renewable energy.
Speaking at year-end greeting ceremony, Salviano Sequeira said 9, 108 beneficiaries were integrated in FAA Social Security payments system in 2019, at a time the institution has a total of 72, 259 pensioners.
As for international commitments, the official stressed the actions to strengthen defence and security cooperation with neighbouring countries and Angola's strategic partners.
The minister also highlighted the FAA's involvement in the Humanitarian Aid Mission in Mozambique hit by Cyclone Idai, adding that the FAA mission was successfully accomplished.
In defence industries, he said that studies were carried out for the implementation of various projects, in order to provide logistical support to the defence and security agencies and to serve, in a first phase, the internal market.
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Share This Story | 1 |
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump’s campaign said Thursday that it raised $46 million in the last quarter of 2019 and had $102.7 million on hand as the election year begins.
The sum far exceeds what Democratic candidates, who are embroiled in a hotly contested primary, have reported so far for the final three months of 2019. In addition, tens of millions of dollars are expected to have been raised by the Republican National Committee and other affiliated groups, which will report their finances later this month.
The Trump campaign’s haul was bolstered by bumper fundraising days surrounding the president’s impeachment by the House last month. The campaign said the investigation and subsequent vote have motivated the supporters to rally around Trump.
“The president’s war chest and grassroots army make his re-election campaign an unstoppable juggernaut,” said Trump campaign manager Brad Parscale in a statement.
Copyright © The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. | President Donald Trump speaks to the media about the situation at the U.S. embassy in Baghdad, from his Mar-a-Lago property, Tuesday, Dec. 31, 2019, in Palm Beach, Fla., as Melania Trump stands next to him. (AP Photo/ Evan Vucci)
PALM BEACH, Fla. - President Donald Trump says the federal government will soon announce a new strategy to tackle underage vaping, promising, “We’re going to protect our families, we’re going to protect our children, and we’re going to protect the industry."
Trump was vague about what the plan would entail but suggested “certain flavours” in cartridge-based e-cigarettes would be taken off the market “for a period of time."
The Wall Street Journal reported Tuesday that the Food and Drug Administration would ban the sale of most flavoured e-cigarettes. E-cigarette pods formulated to taste like tobacco or menthol would still be allowed.
The Journal also reported that tank-based vaping systems, which are less popular among teenagers, would still allow users to custom-mix flavours. The Journal report cited anonymous “people familiar with the matter."
In September, Trump and his top health officials said they would soon sweep virtually all flavoured e-cigarettes from the market because of their appeal to young children and teens. But that effort stalled after vaping lobbyists pushed back and White House advisers told Trump the ban could cost him votes with adults who vape.
Beginning in May, All e-cigarettes will need to undergo FDA review. Only those that can demonstrate a benefit for U.S. public health will be permitted to stay on the market.
On Tuesday, Trump suggested a ban of flavoured e-cigarettes might be temporary. “Hopefully, if everything’s safe, they’re going to be going very quickly back onto the market," he told reporters at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida, where he was hosting a New Year's Eve party.
“People have died from this, they died from vaping," the Republican president said. “We think we understand why. But we’re doing a very exhaustive examination and hopefully everything will be back on the market very, very shortly."
Trump added: “Look, vaping can be good from the standpoint — you look at the e-cigarettes, you stop smoking. If you can stop smoking, that’s a big advantage. So, we think we’re going to get it back on the market very, very quickly." | 2 |
Priyanka Chopra rang in 2020 sharing a passionate kiss with her singer husband Nick Jonas. During the Jonas Brothers' concert in Florida, at midnight, the J sisters (Priyanka, Sophie Turner and Daniele Jonas) joined the boy band on the stage and welcomed the new year.
Read: Priyanka Chopra, Nick Jonas Begin New Year with On-stage PDA, Video Goes Viral
Rajkummar Rao started New Year with a surprise for his fans. The Queen actor shared the first look from his next project Ludo and left netizens baffled. In the first of the two pictures, the actor can be seen sporting a drag look, wearing ghagra choli with thigh-long hair, red lipstick and a bindi.
Read: Rajkummar Rao Cross-dresses for Ludo, Fans Confuse Him for Alia Bhatt, Kriti Sanon
Virat Kohli and Anushka Sharma made hearts melt on New Year’s Eve with their holiday pictures. The celebrity couple took to Instagram to share pictures that they clicked of each other during the Swiss vacation. Anushka didn’t shy away from praising Kohli. Sharing a series of pictures on her account, she captioned them, “Knowing what I want to eat and making me laugh ! My husband has figured it out.”
Read: Anushka Sharma Says Virat Kohli Figured Her Out on Swiss Vacation
Having played an array of roles, from an escort to a feisty Punjabi girl and a fading Bollywood superstar, Kareena Kapoor Khan has an incredible ability to disappear into a character. She, however, landed all these remarkable roles without auditioning for them. Laal Singh Chaddha happens to be the first film for which Kareena ever auditioned and she did so only for her co-star Aamir Khan.
Read: When Saif Ali Khan Convinced Kareena Kapoor to Audition for Aamir Khan's Laal Singh Chaddha
Among the many reasons the Twitterati has been abuzz about News18's The Newcomers Roundtable 2019 is Soni actor Geetika Vidya Ohlyan's act of dissent when she drew attention to the words etched on her hand - "Unnao", "CAA" and "Jamia". Ohlyan also had a vertical line of the hakenkreuz (the Nazi symbol that resembled the swastika) and crosses drawn on her arms, to presumably express her opposition to fascistic regimes.
Read: Actor Geetika Vidya Ohlyan’s Bold Stand on Jamia Violence, CAA on Rajiv Masand Show is Must Watch
Follow @News18Movies for more
Get the best of News18 delivered to your inbox - subscribe to News18 Daybreak. Follow News18.com on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, Telegram, TikTok and on YouTube, and stay in the know with what's happening in the world around you – in real time. | Kiara Advani didn't find success right away. It took her a long time to make a name for herself in Bollywood, and the actress says she is happy that she didn't stop trying.
After making her debut with Akshay Kumar's poorly received comedy Fugly in 2014, Kiara appeared in the Sushant Singh Rajput-starrer M S Dhoni: The Untold Story. Even as the film was a success, it didn’t help the actress much professionally.
"It can make you feel a little low when you are just waiting for opportunities. But I feel glad that I didn’t give up and I went after my dream, that' why today things are looking brighter. If you have the talent then nobody can take that away from you," Kiara said.
Kiara became a sought-after actor after her breakout role in Karan Johar's short web film Lust Stories. But it was her performance in Sandeep Reddy Vanga's Kabir Singh that catapulted her into a whole new level of fame.
"Now I enjoy going to work and it is making me more and more hungry to do better. I still have a long way to go but it is very motivating when directors call you to not just praise your performance but they also dissect the scenes they liked," the actress added.
Her latest movie Good Newwz revolves around two married couples - Akshay Kumar, Kareena Kapoor Khan and Diljit Dosanjh and Kiara, both trying to conceive a baby through In-vitro Fertilisation (IVF).
Talking about her role in the movie, she said, "There was never a moment when I felt, 'Oh my god this is not feeling real', and 'how am I going to play a mother'. The minute we would wear that 'belly' the body language would change. I think every woman has that maternal instinct. It just comes to us naturally."
On starring opposite Diljit Dosanjh, the actress said, "Diljit is calm and composed on set like he is in real life. He is extremely reserved and soft-spoken but in front of the camera he is a livewire who just transforms and lights up the screen."
Follow @News18Movies for more
Get the best of News18 delivered to your inbox - subscribe to News18 Daybreak. Follow News18.com on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, Telegram, TikTok and on YouTube, and stay in the know with what's happening in the world around you – in real time. | 1.333333 |
One of my nominations won 🎊🎉✌️
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I agree with nixing Drumpf noms.
Just for next year... Throwback to last decade with best comment/post/thread of the decade
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Unless it's his death post tbh!!
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That might be tough to do with all the posts that got deleted after brendan left
Edited at 2020-01-02 05:34 am (UTC)
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I’d like a most wtf reality tv moment. (Trying to make my interests relevant here. 😂)
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DQ Tr*mp, plz
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I agree at getting rid of Trump!
Suggestion: PR Couple/Fake Relationship of the year
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yes please disqualify him.
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ia re trump
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I agree he should just be left out entirely for next year's nominations.
New category ideas: "Ironically Best/Worst Movie" (expected to be good but it's awful, and vice-versa lol). Or "Most WTF Celeb Moment".
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DISQUALIFY HIM.
I suggest removing categories that didn't get many nominations.
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Categories:
Tweet of the Year
Viral Video of the Year
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Can we split the game category re: best cellphone game/best console and PC game?
This might just be me being salty but comparing Mario Kart Tour to something like... Control or Outer Wilds or Fire Emblem Three Houses, hurts a bit.
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What do you think about moving the whole thing after NYE when everyone's back to their old rhythms, not on vacation, partying and all that
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OH, and maybe doing a half year retrospective in July, but just for posts, threads and comments? So that we remember more of those and the first part of the year doesn't get forgotten
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could have a politics category or two? i like that our little community is so adamantly anti tr*mp so it's nice to reiterate our values somehow!
regardless, it's hard to put him in regular bad categories cuz he should always win them
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Agreed re: t*ump
What about best celebrity-thrown shade?
Sometimes celebs come out with some good ones
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I think there should be a worst comment, worst thread and possibly worst post of the year tbh!
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the only category tr*mp should be eligible for in 2020 is Least Relevant Has Been or whatever
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Yeah the worst male celeb was like actual criminals instead of just problematic/drama stuff. I couldn’t even pick one.
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Since we're all mostly on the same page with politics, maybe we do a category of titles tr*mp should have (since he didn't get "Person of the Year," lol) and we let the creative geniuses here come up with titles and vote on the best one(s).
We could also do biggest moment for LGBT+ people, biggest racial activist, best moment in equality (something related to those not focused on ableism), most surprising bigoted celebrity, biggest celebrity ally actions (actual behaviors not performance for cameras), etc. and call out the best and worst for equality.
I wonder if there'd be more votes if this happened in mid-December instead so that people aren't yet on holiday but it's late enough in the year to include everything and get it out right about New Years Day.
Thank you for making and taking the time to put all of this together and thank you for being you <3
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It would be too much work to to a best of & worst of post, I guess.
I suggest change devastating breakup to surprising break-up because there were two I wanted to suggest but I didn't think they qualified as "devastating."
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Coming in hot, but I think Varsity Blues was only exciting at first. Yah, it covered more than one celeb but it was kind of lackluster to me. I’ll be here for aunt Becky’s trial though.
Jussie’s was way juicier to me because it was changing literally everyday. To this day, I imagine the average person still has no clue how it was resolved.
Buttttttt... this is an instant for wealthy white women to be dragged & I’m here for it.
Edited at 2020-01-02 04:14 am (UTC)
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I agree with you. Both were crazy scandals but Jussie's was WILD and it just still feels so unresolved.
Also I'm still bitter that for scandal name Varsity Blues won over the GENIUS of WAGatha Christie.
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omg same at WAGatha Christie
what genius
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I don't even know how it ended tbh.
Wasn't it 100% clear he faked it? And then he was suddenly released?
Edited at 2020-01-02 05:34 am (UTC)
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I still think of the crazy days/weeks on here following the Jussie Smollett case. That shit was the epitome of WILD, with users on here switching sides almost every day as well. The emotions we all felt were intense, with threads of users making dissenting comments to people who believed him or didn't believe him. WHEEWW!
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Jussie smollett's case depresses me so for me it's not surprising that another "scandal" won, one where it's more fun to gloat at those who are exposed.
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I'm going to try to remember to bookmark any posts or comments I like this year
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I read one user said they had a google doc and I’m totally doing that this year.
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Same same. I'm going to make a little table with all the categories and make screenshots/links lol. We forget so much over the year!
Hopefully ONTD doesn't crash & burn in 2020 or get shut down by the Russians so the effort isn't for nothing lol.
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I did that troughout 2018 and then missed the noms AND voting post lol I'm gonna try again this year
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The Jussie Smollett thing still astounds me. How could you simply ruin your own life like that?
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It's so convoluted. How was that real life?!
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He was just grabbing some Subway at 2 a.m. in Chicago!
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During a polar vortex!
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Me either. He had the thirst of a Youtuber during all of that. Whew child
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I know someone who has professional connections to him, and when she said she was 99% sure the rumors were true and Jussie had faked the attack, I was like, there is NO WAY. My friend had waaayyy more access than I do so obviously she knew and was right, but I literally couldn't understand how someone would do that to themselves. It's so wildly self destructive.
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On one hand it's shocking, but on the other hand, Hollywood is such a huge industry, probably there's a lot of stuff celebs get away with that we don't know of, so he must have thought he could get away with it.
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I can't wait for the inevitable Netflix docu series
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100%, that really stunned me more than any other celeb story last year lol. and here i thought i'd be the lone Empire viewer until the bitter end
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eveofrevolution , you are a true queen for putting these posts together!!
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You're MY user of the year <333
(ok everyone else is too but YOU KNOW WHAT I MEAN)
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I feel like I've been sick of crisp rat for at least two years now
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Honestly. I can't think of anything in particular he did this year, so I'm surprised he won
He got married to one of Schwarzenegger's daughters & posted that weird photo (supposedly) post-workout for the new Guardians movie looking wistful with a plastic water bottle that Jason Momoa called him out on.
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yeah ONTD being done with him happened before 2019 for sure
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Baby yoda really did that
and omg that j lo gif
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"Come sit in my fur" very nearly redeemed 2019. Not entirely, but close.
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came in for baby yoda, am not leaving disappointed :')
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Video/Cellphone Game of the Year
Mario Kart Tour
what? anyway, congrats.
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yessss Parasite! <3 That'll make it better when it inevitably loses Best Picture to something hideously unworthy.
also, lmao @ ONTD hating men so much that Baby Yoda wins over all the actual real humans. It's what they deserve.
I still think Tr*mp doesn't belong here, since he's causing actual global harm and not just regular messy celeb stuff, but oh well. And I had to check Rosario's tag to remember what she did -- did we ever get any further info on that situation??? Nuts.
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Yeessss Smudge the kitty won meme of the year!! 😁 Lmao I love the kitty pic under the Trump cut, too. Always a wise choice, OP.
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parasite!! for once the comm gets it right.
are we doing the movie/tv awards too? cause i call "doesnt money make you horny?" the only choice for best quote.
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Northeast Florida’s booming housing industry isn’t leaving a lot of options for the area’s wildlife, as noted by surge in animals taken in by a Nassau County wildlife rescue nonprofit.
Wildlife rescues and rehabilitations are on the rise in Northeast Florida with The Ark Wildlife Care and Sanctuary reporting it took in 62 deer in 2019.
Jonathan Howard, president of Nassau County nonprofit, said that’s a 29 percent increase and record from the previous year. This is combined with the steady increase of opossums, raccoons, squirrels and other animals The Ark cared for in 2019.
"This continued growth has led us to greatly expand our animal housing areas to accommodate the increase, and of course, ever increasing costs to feed the animals," Howard said. "We expect this trend to continue in the coming years and we want to be ready for the animals that need our care."
He attributed it to the unprecedented housing growth in Northeast Florida that reduces land availability for wildlife. Animals are forced from their natural habitats and are increasingly encountering people and traffic.
"They are losing their habitats and are closer to our roads and land where people can see/find injured animals," said Sherry Ledbetter, also with the Hilliard sanctuary. "In addition, more and more people know about The Ark and the job we do, so we are recommended when injured or abandoned animals are found."
Orphaned wildlife are kept and cared for until they can be released back into the wild. Others that are injured or handicapped and not capable of surviving in the wild are cared for at the sanctuary their entire lives. Howard said those numbers are increasing as well.
One such fawn taken in over the fall is Nymera, born with no eyes. Howard said she is now growing and thriving at The Ark.
"People ask, ‘Why would we try to save an animal like this?’ Why wouldn’t we, they may have a handicap or be different, but they still cherish life like any other," he said on the sanctuary’s Facebook. "... Nymera thanks us with nuzzles and licks and kisses, believe me they value life."
Howard previously told The Times-Union that a battle with kidney cancer and a fawn arriving in his front yard changed his outlook and led him to this passion for wildlife rehabilitation. He went through the training and education and received a Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission permit for The Ark in 2014.
It is not a nuisance-control or animal-trapping service but help when injured or orphaned animals are found and also have veterinarians available if necessary.
Scott Butler: (904) 359-4566 | Now that Florida’s law enforcement officers will be ticketing drivers for texting and driving it might be a good time to download a smartphone app so you can put the phone down and focus on the road.
Florida’s new texting and driving law began July 1, but motorists were given a six-month period during which warnings were issued for people spotted texting while driving. On Jan. 1, law enforcement officers will begin issuing tickets.
There are exceptions to the rule. It’s OK to text if a vehicle is stopped at a red light. And motorists can use a GPS device while driving.
To help you avoid a costly ticket and drive safely we’ve compiled a list of 12 smartphone apps that can help you achieve that goal.
Read on below for information about apps to help you avoid distracted driving. | 1.333333 |
Bolivia's interim president said on Thursday the country's former leader, Evo Morales, cannot run in any prospective elections.
Jeanine Anez, a Senate deputy leader who claimed the presidency earlier this week, told a news conference: "Evo Morales does not qualify to run for a fourth term."
Read more: Bolivia crisis: 5 things to know
She also criticized Mexico for allowing the former president to rally support in exile.
"We have to let the Mexican government know that cannot be happening,'' said Anez, who says she wants to bring calm to Bolivia but has been accused of unfairly seizing power by Morales supporters.
Anez is striving to restore stability to a deeply-divided nation that has been rocked by protests since an election in October, which was won by Morales but tainted by allegations of fraud.
Watch video 02:11 Share Tensions in Bolivia Send Facebook google+ Whatsapp Tumblr linkedin stumble Digg reddit Newsvine Permalink https://p.dw.com/p/3SyCK Bolivia: Tensions between political camps
Support for Morales
Despite the accusations of electoral irregularities, and Anez's call for calm, Morales still holds strong backing in his homeland.
Demonstrators flooded the streets Thursday, brandishing the national flag and waving the multicolor "Wiphala'' flag that represents indigenous peoples, in support of Morales.
Meanwhile, protesters in the central city of Sacaba, were shouting: "Evo: Friend, the people are with you!''
Supporters of ex-President Evo Morales march in La Paz, Bolivia, with multicolored indigenous flags
Morales said he will ask the United Nations and possibly Pope Francis to intervene in a bid to resolve the dispute.
He told the Associated Press he still considers himself president because the Andean nation's Legislative Assembly has yet to recognize his resignation.
"If they haven't accepted or rejected it, I can say I am still president," he said.
jsi/rt (Reuters, AP)
Each evening at 1830 UTC, DW's editors send out a selection of the day's hard news and quality feature journalism. You can sign up to receive it directly here. | A funeral in northeastern Germany ended in a hospital trip for some after mourners were accidentally served a cake laced with hashish, police in the city of Rostock said on Tuesday.
According to authorities, a group of mourners who had just attended a burial gathered at a restaurant to have coffee and cake — a German afternoon tradition.
But after chowing down on the cake, 13 mourners — including the widow — suddenly reported feeling dizzy and nauseous.
According to authorities, one woman had to be taken via ambulance to the hospital during the funeral, while the others sought medical treatment later on in the day.
They then later reported the case at the police station and pressed charges, a spokesperson told news agency DPA.
The incident at the funeral took place in August, but police said they waited to report on it out of respect to the mourners.
Read more:5 facts about cannabis laws in Germany
Watch video 04:45 Share Medicinal cannabis Send Facebook google+ Whatsapp Tumblr linkedin stumble Digg reddit Newsvine Permalink https://p.dw.com/p/3CSZx Medicinal cannabis
18-year-old baked cake 'for own use'
Authorities later determined that the drug-laced cake was brought in by a restaurant employee in charge of baked goods, who asked her 18-year-old daughter to make some cakes for the funeral.
The 18-year-old did, indeed, bake cakes for the funeral — but also baked a separate hash cake that the planned to consume herself or use on a different occasion.
The restaurant employee then accidentally took the hash cake from her freezer at home without discussing it first with her daughter.
The 18-year-old is now currently under investigation and faces 13 charges of negligence and bodily injury as well as disturbing a funeral and violating Germany's narcotics law.
Read more: Is hemp really a green miracle plant?
'Hash brownie' party busted in Darmstadt
Also on Tuesday, police in the city of Darmstadt said that several young people were taken to the hospital after over-indulging on "hash brownies" at a party.
Six people between the ages of 19 and 24 had to be treated at the hospital after apparently underestimating the strength of the substances baked into the brownies.
At least one of the party-goers consumed so many that he collapsed at the party, police said
rs/msh (AP, dpa)
Each evening at 1830 UTC, DW's editors send out a selection of the day's hard news and quality feature journalism. You can sign up to receive it directly here. | 1 |
The 2010s made one thing clear: Tech is everywhere in life.
Tech is in our homes with thermostats that heat up our residences before we walk through the door. It’s in our cars with safety features that warn us about vehicles in adjacent lanes. It’s on our television sets, where many of us are streaming shows and movies through apps. We even wear it on ourselves in the form of wristwatches that monitor our health.
In 2020 and the coming decade, these trends are likely to gather momentum. They will also be on display next week at CES, an enormous consumer electronics trade show in Las Vegas that typically serves as a window into the year’s hottest tech developments.
At the show, next-generation cellular technology known as 5G, which delivers data at mind-boggling speeds, is expected to take center stage as one of the most important topics. We are also likely to see the evolution of smart homes, with internet-connected appliances such as refrigerators, televisions and vacuum cleaners working more seamlessly together — and with less human interaction required.
“The biggest thing is connected everything,” said Carolina Milanesi, a technology analyst for the research firm Creative Strategies. “Anything in the home — we’ll have more cameras, more mics, more sensors.” | The UN set a target of 3 million people on the HIV prevention drug PrEP by 2020 – but lingering prejudice and sheer ignorance of its existence mean we're nowhere near
Josie Ford
IN 2016, the UN issued its “Political Declaration on Ending AIDS“, aiming to rid the world of the HIV epidemic by 2030. One target for 2020 was to reduce new HIV infections to fewer than 500,000 by, among other things, reaching 3 million at-risk people with pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) by this year. But this target is set to be missed by a country mile, hindering the global fight.
PrEP is a pill containing two chemicals, tenofovir and emtricitabine, that kills HIV before it can infect a person. It can be taken either daily, or at specific … | 1 |
The Peninsula
Doha: Msheireb Properties has launched the Msheireb Tram yesterday, which interconnects all of Msheireb, making it easier for visitors to move from one spot to the other making the city a truly walkable and environment friendly city.
With 9 stations, visitors, residents, and tenants can find a tram car on the loop every six minutes, with a 400-meter hop-on/hop-off zone along the single 2 km, closed-loop track system.
The modern high-tech streetcar also includes many advanced features making it a convenient and safe method of transportation for passengers, such as: level boarding at all stations; a hop-on-hop-off service in Wadi Msheireb area; Virtual Tram Detection and tram priority at the traffic signals, tram arrival signs in real-time on the trams and at the passenger stations, on-board CCTV, and on-board Wi-Fi.
The Msheireb Tram also includes a unique open-air feature allowing it to be operated as an open-air car by removing the glass panels.
Manufactured by the US-based TIG/m, LLC, Msheireb Tram adopts the latest in eco-friendly transportation technology with options and conveniences that makes it also an accessible method of commuting within the downtown area for people with special needs.
The self-powered environmentally friendly tramway depot is Platinum LEED certified. It is made up of three one-deck, high-tech, electric streetcars, which are fully air-conditioned, incorporating special light-filtering glass panels which prevent over 90% of the heat from sunlight.
Ali Al Kuwari, Acting Chief Executive Officer, Msheireb Properties said: “It is a great way to end a year full of success, with the launch of the Msheireb Tram. We hope that this sustainable way of commuting will encourage more people to leave their cars behind. The tramway is very user friendly, cost effective, suitable for everyone, and I am confident that our visitors and residents will find it very convenient.”
Msheireb Tram links all areas of Msheireb Downtown Doha within 18 minutes, with a station at the Central Msheireb Metro Station, where everyone can access Qatar Rail’s all three operating metro lines.
The MDD trams run on standard gauge track (1,435 mm) and are custom designed and handcrafted to the highest standards of excellence while adhering to European Standards for Tramway Safety.
Msheireb Tram goes through nine stations; Sahat Al Nakheel Station, Wadi Msheireb Station, Galleria Station, Msheireb Prayer Station, Heritage Quarter Station, Al Baraha Station, Sahat Al Masjid Station, Al Kahraba Street Station, and Al Mariah Street Station giving everyone multiple points of access to the tramway.
Msheireb Properties is a real estate company and a subsidiary of Qatar Foundation. The company’s name, Msheireb, means ‘a place to drink water’ and is the historical name of the downtown area of Doha.
Msheireb Downtown Doha is the world’s smartest and most sustainable city district and the first sustainable downtown regeneration project worldwide.
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Read More Latest progress update from Qatar’s FIFA World Cup 2022 stadiums 31 Dec 2019 - 15:42 One of the Supreme Committee for Delivery & Legacy's major highlights during 2019 was the inauguration of the spectacular Al Janoub Stadium. The 40,000-capacity venue, designed by architectural legend Zaha Hadid, was unveiled to the world in May when it hosted the Amir Cup final.
Read More Free entry, WiFi for public on Education City tram 25 Dec 2019 - 19:10 All tram services are free of charge. No special tickets or passes are required. It will operate from 6:30am to 5pm on weekdays. For special events the timing could be extended. | Raynald C Rivera I The Peninsula
The Cultural Village Foundation (Katara) starts off the year on a high note launching a fresh initiative aimed at enriching Qatar’s art scene, discovering talents and gifted artists, and promoting innovation in the art community.
In line with its mission to enhance Qatar’s art landscape, Katara has launched the Katara Art Laboratory – a new programme offering training courses and workshops which begin today.
Located in Building 18, the Art Laboratory seeks to provide a number of art programmes to support brilliant people of different ages and create a generation of exceptional artists.
“This lab was established on the recommendations of Dr. Khalid bin Ibrahim Al-Sulaiti, General Manager of Katara, with the necessity to launch an art laboratory that sponsors talented and professional artists of different ages is in line with the role that Katara plays to promote art and support genius and creative abilities, whether by training or by organizing art exhibitions,” said Amal Al Atham, director of the Katara Art Laboratory project.
She added that “the laboratory will follow a professional artistic approach with an educational and specialized art programs targeting different arts and groups of society to create a new generation of young artists.”
“Distinctively, the Katara Art Laboratory works according to a continuous curricula and educational standards to raise the level of the trainees to the highest levels of excellence and professionalism,” she stressed.
Al-Atham said that “the laboratory programme is rich and diverse, as it will provide various workshops to teach all kinds of arts on a daily ongoing basis for all ages.”
“The laboratory will also coordinate with schools and contribute to achieving integration with academic curricula and educational arts and creativity programs,” she pointed out.
She explained that the laboratory has an open art studio through which the trainees will learn the principles and foundations of various drawing such as portraiture, light, clothing and different materials.
It is also equipped with special tools and devices specialized in providing various types of technical workshops.
The Katara Art Laboratory conducts daily its activities in two periods from 9am to 1pm and from 4pm to 8pm at Building 18.
Find more information on its social media accounts, by e-mail: [email protected] or by calling 50111751 and 50111752.
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Read More Msheirb Tram starts operation across Msheireb Downtown Doha 31 Dec 2019 - 17:16 Msheireb Properties has launched the Msheireb Tram yesterday, which interconnects all of Msheireb, making it easier for visitors to move from one spot to the other making the city a truly walkable and environment friendly city.
Read More Latest progress update from Qatar’s FIFA World Cup 2022 stadiums 31 Dec 2019 - 15:42 One of the Supreme Committee for Delivery & Legacy's major highlights during 2019 was the inauguration of the spectacular Al Janoub Stadium. The 40,000-capacity venue, designed by architectural legend Zaha Hadid, was unveiled to the world in May when it hosted the Amir Cup final. | 1 |
Duluth, Minnesota (OpEdNews) December 31, 2019: Even though we may express our measure and estimate of various persons, places, and things in qualitative terms, we tend to express certain measures in quantifiable (countable) terms (e.g., "December 31, 2019"), and then we also tend to attach significance to certain numerical terms. For example, on my last birthday, I turned 75, which seems like a personal milestone in a way that turning 74 did not.
More recently, I published my 400th OEN article (over roughly ten years in retirement), which also seems like another milestone of a sort in a way that publishing my 399th OEN article did not.
We tend to think of 20/20 vision as the gold-standard for our eyesight, and so the advent of 2020 might be the advent of a special year, eh? Stay tuned.
In any event, it has become customary to use the end of the year as an occasion for looking back over the year. However, the end of the year 2019 also marks the end of a decade and the beginning of a new decade, not just the beginning of a new year.
When I look back over my OEN articles in 2019, I notice that I frequently wrote about Pope Francis and President Donald J. Trump.
When I think back over the decade of the 2010s, during which I published most of my 400 OEN articles, I have to single out for special attention the election on March 13, 2013, of the Italo-Argentinian Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio (born in 1936 in Buenos Aires to Italian parents who had immigrated to Argentina). He took the name of Pope Francis in honor of the medieval Italian St. Francis of Assisi.
Pope Francis is also the first Jesuit pope. When I was in the Jesuits (1979-1987), Pope John-Paul II was so unhappy with the Jesuits that he appointed a man of his own choice to take over as the head of the order an extraordinary move. Consequently, when I left the Jesuits in 1987, I never expected to see a Jesuit elected as pope. But it happened in 2013.
When I look back over my OEN articles in 2019, I would single out for special attention my OEN article "Pope Francis on Evil and Satan" (dated March 24, 2019):
https://www.opednews.com/articles/Pope-Francis-on-Evil-and-S-by-Thomas-Farrell-Abortion_Catholic_God_Homosexuality-190324-51.html
When I look back over the decade of the 2010s, I would single out Pope Francis' 2015 eco-encyclical as the most urgent book published in the 2010s. I know, I know, it is not customary to refer to lengthy papal encyclicals as books, even though certain encyclicals have been published as books. For example, in 2015, Melville House in Brooklyn and London published the Vatican's official English translation of Pope Francis' eco-encyclical as the book Encyclical on Climate Change & Inequality: On Care for Our Common Home, with an Introduction by Naomi Oreskes of Harvard University (pages vii-xxiv).
As I say, arguably Pope Francis' 2015 eco-encyclical is the most important book published in the 2010s, but Pope Francis has still got his work cut out for him in 2020 as the titular head of the Roman Catholic Church and in the decade ahead as he continues his efforts to counter the understandable disillusionment of practicing Catholics with the bishops' complicity in the priest-sex-abuse and cover-up scandals.
Now, it is still too soon to say how practicing Catholics will react to Frederic Martel's 2019 book in French In the Closet of the Vatican: Power, Homosexuality, Hypocrisy, translated by Shaun Whiteside (Bloomsbury Continuum). However, even if practicing Catholics take certain gaydar claims made by Martel with a grain of salt, certain other claims he makes are disturbing. See my OEN book review "Perceptive Book About Gay Vatican Clerics" (dated February 25, 2019):
https://www.opednews.com/articles/Perceptive-Book-About-Gay-by-Thomas-Farrell-Catholic_Catholicism_Homophobic_Homosexuality-190225-829.html
Now, when I look back over the decade of the 2010s in American politics, I have to single out President Barack Obama's tepid campaigning in the 2010 mid-term elections as an enormous blunder, because the Republicans made real gains in the 2010 mid-term elections.
As the 2012 elections approached, the paranoid style of the Republicans (to use Richard Hofstadter's famous terminology) was going full throttle, as Bill Press shows in his 2012 book The Obama Hate Machine: The Lies, Distortions, and Personal Attacks on the President and Who Is Behind Them (Thomas Dunne Books/ St. Martin's Press). Nevertheless, President Obama managed to win re-election in 2012.
Next Page 1 | 2 | Pope Francis looked visibly irritated on New Year’s Eve after he had to pull himself away from a woman who grabbed his hand in St Peter’s Square.
The 83-year-old pontiff was seen on video being yanked by a woman in the crowd gathered to greet him in Vatican City, indignantly slapping her hand away.
(Video: Guardian News)
Making his way through St. Peter’s Square on Tuesday, Pope Francis was regaled by shouts of “Happy New Year!” and chants of “Pope! Pope!” from pilgrims gathered to catch a glimpse of him. The head of the Catholic Church greeted admirers on his way to see the Nativity scene set up in the esplanade at the center of Vatican City
He took the time to bless children along the route which had him separated from the throngs by fencing, shaking hands and smiling just before he pivoted to move away.
Just before he walked away, a woman along the fence could be seen making the sign of the cross. She reached out to touch his hand as many others had been doing, but she did not let go as the pontiff walked away. She forcefully tugged at his hand to pull him back toward her, a move that appeared to cause him pain and visibly angered him.
The pope wrenched his hand free and seemed to scold the woman, who was trying to say something to him. Though it was not clear what she said, it was more than obvious that Pope Francis was annoyed, as his face clearly showed when he turned to walk away after slapping the woman’s hand away and admonishing her.
The sovereign of the Vatican City State and the first non-European leader of the Catholic church in over 1,000 years, Pope Francis led a New Year’s Eve Vespers service in St. Peter’s Basilica on Tuesday where he encouraged people to “build bridges, not walls.”
The religious leader, who was born Jorge Mario Bergoglio in Buenos Aires, Argentina, has raised eyebrows with his many progressive views and decisions since being elected the 266th pope of the Roman Catholic Church in March 2013, replacing his predecessor Pope Benedict XVI.
The relationship between the two religious leaders and Bergoglio’s rise to the papacy is portrayed in the new Netflix film “The Two Popes,” in which actor Jonathan Pryce plays the part of Pope Francis.
Tuesday’s incident in the crowd was widely discussed on social media as many defended the Pope for his irritation at being forcefully pulled.
She was out of line and being disrespectful. No one should think it’s ok to grab other people with no consequence. — WillPaintForFood (@ClevrGerl) January 1, 2020
She was very rude and he did what he has to do. — Sally (@Sally86Li) January 1, 2020
I don’t think he done a thing wrong. Security was awful but in his position we’d all react like that — Ste Mccoy (@lpool39) January 1, 2020
Even Popes get angry — Boitumelo Matsho (@Boitumelo_M68) January 1, 2020
You can see that the Pope was hurt. He is already old and almost lost his balance. Even the person beside her was shock because of what she did. — That’s Okay, X(이유)Soo❤️What A Life w/ City Lights✨ (@xiumin2326) January 1, 2020
He shakes, quite literally, thousands of hands in any given day or week and Pope John Paul II was actually shot. I think he was just being proactive in taking care of himself. Also, as someone else pointed out, she could have been holding his hand tight enough to hurt. — Linda Armstrong (@LindaSalem) January 1, 2020
Others admonished the religious leader who, ironically, spoke about making “time for others” during the New Year’s Eve service.
Did Pope Francis have time for this obviously desperate women? Did he dialogue with her? How did he recognize her attempts to speak to him? With two slaps and name calling “Bruja! https://t.co/CvMosPJnTB — Leticia Velasquez (@CauseofourJoy) December 31, 2019
I’m agree.
But maybe ask her what she needed? — DeboraS (@DeboraS91563560) January 1, 2020
Miscommunication. He should have listened to her. — Stephen (@Wreinhardt_) January 1, 2020
She was trying to tell him something. What was it? — Charles Stuart (@Charles94070343) January 1, 2020
Has Christ slapped a desperate woman? Not once — Semos (@RicketyJohnson) January 1, 2020
I am not sure how I want to feel about this. I know that a woman grab the robe of Jesus and we wasn’t mad about it. When I see this I think okay so are you the pope or a person? Odd attitude seeing that this pope said make bridges and not walls. — Amused But Not (@amusedbutnot) January 1, 2020 | 1 |
Thursday’s Editorial: Resilience is the key word for Jacksonville’s extensive waterfront.
Jacksonville is one of the most vulnerable cities in the nation to the dangers of sea level rise and storm surge.
After all, we have so much waterfront at stake.
If Jacksonville were to build seawalls everywhere, it would cost billions. That won’t be practical. But all of the options need to be addressed.
So kudos to City Council President Scott Wilson for establishing a special committee on resilience and for Councilman Matt Carlucci for proposing it.
Carlucci lives in San Marco, which is used to flooding. But it has become worse in recent years.
The committee needs to look at past, present and future challenges.
For the past, we need to understand the baseline? Is flooding getting more frequent and more extensive? In many cases, it is.
For the present, what can be done immediately that can have an impact?
For the future, what should be done about development along the waterways? When is it more economical to spend money on infrastructure like protecting sewage treatment plants in flood zones? Or when it is more economical to retreat?
Downtown developments along the St. Johns River need to be protected from the impact of rising seas and storm surge.
The storm surge from Hurricane Irma literally shut down buildings for months.
Warmer seas have meant that hurricanes have become more intense and have dumped record amounts of rainfall as well.
The Northeast Florida Regional Council has been quietly studying these issues for years, taking a businesslike, risk-management approach that fits the culture here.
City planners have also been studying the issue, for instance evaluating whether current flood area maps have become outdated,
These are issues that will remain for generations. It’s about time that City Hall began addressing them.
Businesses see risks
It was only a time before the financial industry began to seriously take note of the dangers of flooding in a warmer world.
According to a story from Bloomberg News, "During the preparations for Jacksonville’s sale of $197 million in bonds in August, a disclosure counsel asked if the city had long-term plans to implement projects that increased resilience against storm-related risks.
"Questions like that are new, said Randall Barnes, the city’s treasurer."
According to the Reuters News Sservice, "Investors, analysts, research firms and companies are putting more emphasis on how climate issues ranging from rising sea levels to record heat waves will affect profits and revenues in the United States and what companies are doing to address those risks."
In 2019 alone, there have been 10 weather and climate disaster events that caused more than $1 billion in damages.
Wildfires and hail, once considered secondary risks, have accounted for $13 billion of $15 billion in natural disaster claims through August.
And 30-year mortgages may become unattainable due to climate risks, reported the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco.
Financial markets hate uncertainty, and the huge losses taken recently are likely to make funders cautious.
In California, for instance, 50,000 homeowners can’t obtain property or casualty insurance because of risks to their homes.
Banks are shifting risky mortgages along the coasts to the federal government, meaning taxpayers support people building on floodplains, reported The New York Times.
Losses from flooding could be worse than the subprime crisis because many of these home values won’t come back.
"It is less likely that borrowers will continue to make mortgage payments if their homes literally are under water," said the chief economist at the federal agency Freddie Mac.
But this is not just a coastal issue. Extreme climate events like heat waves, heavy rain, drought and wildfires can happen anywhere.
Florida, however, is especially vulnerable to the impacts, which is why our elected leaders need to be aggressively preparing now.
A dollar spent on resilience will go a long way to prevent many more dollars on restoration.
Just look at what Hurricane Michael did to the Panhandle of Florida.
It came strong and fast, and the devastation is still apparent. | CLICK HERE if you are having a problem viewing the photos or videos on a mobile device
The ball has dropped, and the roaring 2020s have arrived. If the top Bay Area news of the past decade are already out of sight and out of mind, brush up on all the new laws now in effect across California.
But if you’re spending the day off work and prefer to tune out the news about new laws, upcoming primaries and a presidential election, indulge your “so last decade” binge-watching habit by checking every title off the lists of the 20 best Bay Area movies of the decade and the top 10 Netflix shows of 2019.
Of course, with a new year and new decade, you could turn inward with a look at our horoscopes section to forecast what personal developments await you, or the probability that you will stick to your resolutions. For help reshaping your resolutions to maximize sustainability and success, we’ve got you covered there.
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Cartoons: Trump’s exaggeration about low-flow toilets Beyond your better health, greater prosperity and success, the Mercury News and East Bay Times wishes you a Happy New Year.
For more political cartoons, CLICK HERE | 2 |
Taking back control: Why China must regulate AI in financial services
Taking back control: Why China must regulate AI in financial services
ARTIFICIAL intelligence (AI) is disrupting the financial services industry, including areas such as risk management, customer experience, and fraud detection.
The implementation of AI in finance is only going to accelerate in the future, and without careful regulation, can be disastrous. It can have a chain effect, where no one is immune, including the customers.
The need for regulation in China was recently emphasized by policy advisers at the China 40 Finance Forum.
At the forum, it was recommended that a regulatory framework specifically for AI in finance be put in place. This is because regulation is most effective when carried out in a structured manner.
Policy advisers also urged China to look into improving the technology employed to strengthen industry-wide supervision.
With the banking industry becoming more ‘intelligent’, characterized by emerging technologies such as facial recognition and big data analysis, regulators must work hard to keep up.
Utilizing obsolete technologies to tackle the rapidly evolving face of financing will no longer be enough to keep financial institutions in check.
Further, it was recommended that China avoid playing defense when it comes to these matters. They ought to constantly evaluate emerging technologies and establish industry-wide contingency plans.
Also, data privacy and security cannot be an afterthought. Authorities must, therefore, draft laws and regulations that will ensure that the data entrusted by consumers will not be manipulated or exploited.
In light of this, Xiao Gang, the former chief of China’s securities regulator, cautioned against neglecting the use of AI, reiterating that it is not foolproof.
“The key point now is how we make sure it is safe for use and include it with proper supervision”.
China is no stranger to the catastrophe of dragging its feet when it comes to regulations.
The boom and bust of its online peer-to-peer(P2P) lending sector was largely due to regulations not being created on time.
What was originally applauded as an important source of credit was being undermined by pyramid-scheme scandals, leading to great public discontent and broader government crackdowns.
Zhang Chenghui, chief of the finance research bureau at the Development Research Institute of the State Council, noted that policymakers must pull their weight, as change must start from them.
“We suggest regulation on intelligent finance be written into the 14th five-year plan of the country’s development, and each financial regulator – including the central bank, banking, and insurance regulators and the securities watchdog – should appoint its own chief technology officer to enhance supervision of the sector.”
The importance of regulation extends outside the borders of China. Regardless of geographical location, the need for regulation applies to all that wish to use AI in the finance industry.
Therefore, regulatory bodies must work together to put safeguards in place, ensuring that the industry can reap the most benefits from AI. | Only great masters of style can succeed in being obtuse. -- Oscar Wilde Most UNIX programmers are great masters of style. -- The Unnamed Usenetter | 1 |
_ultraforma_/iStock(LONDON) — This past year was a big one for the royal family, and on Tuesday, the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge and the Duke and Duchess of Sussex reflected on 2019 by posting “Year in Review” videos to Instagram.
While most of the footage was from charitable events the princes and duchesses attended over the year, Harry and Meghan capped off their video with a new photo of Prince Harry cuddling seven-month-old Archie.
It is unclear when or where the photo was taken, but it could be from the family’s holiday trip to Canada, as they are wearing winter clothing.
“Wishing you all a very Happy New Year and thanking you for your continued support! We’ve loved meeting so many of you from around the world and can’t wait to meet many more of you next year,” the Duke and Duchess of Sussex captioned their video. “We hope 2020 brings each of you health and continued happiness.”
“To all the fantastic organisations and inspirational people we met and worked with in 2019: Thank you for a wonderful year, and see you in 2020!,” Prince William and Kate shared in their Instagram post.
Prince William, 37, kicked off New Year’s Eve by looking ahead to the future. On Tuesday, the Duke of Cambridge unveiled a new initiative called the Earthshot Prize, which will be awarded to five winners each year over the next decade. The hope is for “Earth’s greatest problem solvers to solve Earth’s greatest environmental problems,” the palace said in a statement.
Meanwhile, Kate, also 37, has seemingly turned her attention to maternal health. Last week she wrote a letter honoring the work of midwives. She noted in her tribute that 2020 will be named International Year of the Nurse and Midwife.
Prince Harry, 35, and Meghan, 38, are enjoying time off at the moment, having spent the holidays in Canada with the duchess’ mother, Doria Ragland, and their son.
This past year was a busy one for the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, who welcomed Archie in May, and in September, took him on a royal tour to Africa.
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PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) - A suspected serial killer will soon return to Clark County, Washington, to be charged with the murder of a teen found dead in the 1970s.
KOIN-TV reports Warren Forrest has been behind bars since 1978, serving a life sentence for his conviction in the 1974 murder of Krista Kay Blake.
But he’s suspected of abducting and killing a total of seven women and girls on both sides of the Columbia River. One of those girls was Martha Morrison.
Prosecutors in Clark County recently issued a first-degree murder warrant against Forrest for Morrison’s killing.
Detectives believe Forrest’s first victim was Jamie Rochelle Grissim. She disappeared after going to school in 1971 and has never been found; however, her school ID turned up along remote Doe Valley Road in Clark County.
Hunters found the bodies of Carol Valenzuela and Morrison nearby in 1974.
In an unexpected discovery revealed in 2017, Morrison’s DNA was found on a dart gun that Forrest admitted to using to attack another woman.
Forrest has never admitted to other killings or if he knows where Grissim’s body is hidden. But Grissim’s sister Starr Lara hopes he can now be convinced to reveal what happened to Grissim while being prosecuted for Morrison’s murder.
Forrest is expected to be transferred from the state penitentiary in Walla Walla, Washington, to appear in Clark County court sometime next week.
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Copyright © 2020 The Washington Times, LLC. | ATLANTA (AP) - First comes the holiday snacking, then comes the New Year’s resolutions.
If you’re already eyeing a new you in 2020, state officials encourage you to kick off the new decade with a hike at one of Georgia’s 48 state parks. On New Year’s Day, there will be “first day hikes” and other activities taking place at many of the state parks and historic sites across Georgia, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported.
The events in Georgia are part of a larger nationwide effort led by America’s State Parks alliance to get people out into nature for guided hikes and activities on Jan. 1.
“So many studies have shown that spending time outside, in nature, is good for our well being. Going for a hike is not only good for your heart, it’s good for your soul,” said Kim Hatcher, a Georgia State Parks spokeswoman. “And with many people making New Year’s resolutions to improve their health or find more calm in their lives, First Day Hikes are the perfect way to begin.”
Whether you’re looking to sweat off a hangover, start your resolutions off strong or just a family friendly outing, there are plenty of ways to start 2020 off on the right foot. Here are some of the events being held:
Traditional Plant ID; First Day Hike
Time: 1-3 p.m.
Location: Red Top Mountain State Park, Acworth
Price: $5 parking fee
Start the new year with some new knowledge. In this ranger-lead hike, attendees will follow the Sweetgum Trail and identify trees, shrubs and plants.
Dog Creek Hike-First Day Hike
Time: 1-3 p.m.
Location: Don Carter State Park, Gainesville
Price: $5 admission, $5 parking fee
This hike will be along the Dog Creek outer loop, which is about 1.5 miles. Take in views of Lake Lanier and Dog Creek.
First Day Hike through the Piedmont Forest
Time: 2-3:30 p.m.
Location: Sweetwater Creek State Park, Lithia Springs
Price: $5 admission, $5 parking fee
A ranger will lead this hike through the park’s Piedmont forest. The hike will include identifying animals, birds, flowers and trees encountered along the way. It’s open to everyone 6 years and older.
For more information: visit www.gastateparks.org
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Copyright © 2020 The Washington Times, LLC. | 1.2 |
Carla Lockhart and son Charlie Newlywed Claire Sugden with husband Andrew Dolores Kelly Andrew Muir
Northern Ireland politicians share hopes and dreams for 2020 BelfastTelegraph.co.uk Enjoying friends and family, settling into life as a working mum, turning an old house into a family home and attempting to run a marathon in under three hours... these are the ambitions of some of our politicians away from public life in 2020. https://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/northern-ireland/northern-ireland-politicians-share-hopes-and-dreams-for-2020-38825496.html https://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/northern-ireland/4c79e/38825492.ece/AUTOCROP/h342/2020-01-01_new_55985545_I1.JPG
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Enjoying friends and family, settling into life as a working mum, turning an old house into a family home and attempting to run a marathon in under three hours... these are the ambitions of some of our politicians away from public life in 2020.
While politics is never far from their minds, it's sometimes hard to remember our representatives are trying to balance serving their electorate alongside a life away from their media profiles.
North Antrim MLA Claire Sugden said she'll find it hard to top 2019, having enjoyed a very special day in her life last summer - her wedding day.
"I know everyone said it was a formality we'd get married as Andy and I have been together for so long, but it was still a big event in my life," she said.
"I've now reached a stage where I'm very content and I have no wedding to plan for in 2020 so it's a relief that the pressure is off a little.
"Now the focus will be on our home. We live in a very old house and that's what the attention will be on in 2020: turning that into a lovely family home."
With no impending family to speak of just yet, the independent MLA, a former Justice Minister, is also hoping for a return to Stormont in the near future. | Fortnite Credit: Epic Games
Another trip around the sun, another chilly January morning. 2019 was something of a problematic year, like most of them, but it’s over now, time to start anew. Fortnite’s Winterfest challenge today is New Year’s themed, just like it was last year, asking you to launch some fireworks and celebrate 2020, whatever it might bring. Read on for a map, guide and location for where to launch frozen fireworks found on beaches at Dirty Docks, Craggy Cliffs and Sweaty Sands. Your reward will be the quite stylish 2020 glider.
We know where we’re going: it’s right there in the name. Spawns for frozen fireworks do not seem to be consistent, so the best you can do is head to one of the requisite coastlines and just start running around until you find one of them. I’ve marked each coastline on the map here:
Fortnite Credit: Epic Games
You’ll want to land right away, because once a Firework is launched, it’s launched, even if you didn’t launch it. Just get down early, fire something off and try to stay alive to earn the glider.
A note: like an idiot, I initially just sort of loaded up a match and tried to light fireworks, but didn’t see anything on the ground. That’s because these things will not spawn unless you head to the Winterfest cabin first and open your stocking, thus triggering the challenge. So don’t be like me, and don’t forget to open your stocking.
2019 was a year of stabilization for Fortnite. It started things off near the peak of its fame, but declined off of those highs throughout the year. This is pretty standard for any game that becomes as big a phenomenon as Fortnite, but it can still be a bit of a come down for fans when it actually happens.
2020 should be an interesting year, however. It’s starting off slow with a dramatically extended Chapter 2, Season 1, but then we’ll see if Epic has used some of that extra time to build some more features. But expect more standard content, an expanded creative mode, and more likely than not a ton of crossover events. We’ll see what happens. | 1 |
The state-by-state winning lottery numbers through Wednesday:
4-9-9
(four, nine, nine)
01-04-14-15-36
(one, four, fourteen, fifteen, thirty-six)
Estimated jackpot: $233,000
10-20-25-28-34-42
(ten, twenty, twenty-five, twenty-eight, thirty-four, forty-two)
Estimated jackpot: $3.3 million
12-15-20-23-25-30
(twelve, fifteen, twenty, twenty-three, twenty-five, thirty)
Estimated jackpot: $1.74 million
9-0-9
(nine, zero, nine)
0-6-1
(zero, six, one)
2-6-7-3
(two, six, seven, three)
3-9-8-6
(three, nine, eight, six)
12-14-27-31-35
(twelve, fourteen, twenty-seven, thirty-one, thirty-five)
Estimated jackpot: $65,000
6-5-1
(six, five, one)
3-7-2
(three, seven, two)
1-7-1-5
(one, seven, one, five)
1st:4 Big Ben-2nd:10 Solid Gold-3rd:11 Money Bags, Race Time: 1:46.60
(1st: 4 Big Ben, 2nd: 10 Solid Gold, 3rd: 11 Money Bags; Race Time: one: 46.60)
Estimated jackpot: $86,000
04-18-24-37-38
(four, eighteen, twenty-four, thirty-seven, thirty-eight)
Estimated jackpot: $75,000
04-09-17-35-40, Mega Ball: 8
(four, nine, seventeen, thirty-five, forty; Mega Ball: eight)
Estimated jackpot: $9 million
01-14-19-24-25
(one, fourteen, nineteen, twenty-four, twenty-five)
Estimated jackpot: $20,000
04-06-14-17-18-30
(four, six, fourteen, seventeen, eighteen, thirty)
01-09-10-19-25-36
(one, nine, ten, nineteen, twenty-five, thirty-six)
1-8-2
(one, eight, two)
2-5-2
(two, five, two)
02-10-13-24-27
(two, ten, thirteen, twenty-four, twenty-seven)
02-06-07-11-12-15-17-19
(two, six, seven, eleven, twelve, fifteen, seventeen, nineteen)
01-02-04-07-12-13-16-22
(one, two, four, seven, twelve, thirteen, sixteen, twenty-two)
6-3-2
(six, three, two)
3-3-4
(three, three, four)
5-8-2-4
(five, eight, two, four)
6-8-7-2
(six, eight, seven, two)
16-25-27-29-31-33
(sixteen, twenty-five, twenty-seven, twenty-nine, thirty-one, thirty-three)
Estimated jackpot: $71,000
7-0-2
(seven, zero, two)
6-3-9
(six, three, nine)
4-7-2-3
(four, seven, two, three)
9-7-1-5
(nine, seven, one, five)
2-9
(two, nine)
5-2
(five, two)
3-1-3
(three, one, three)
4-8-7
(four, eight, seven)
7-9-9-1
(seven, nine, nine, one)
7-3-4-6
(seven, three, four, six)
9-3-7-5-9
(nine, three, seven, five, nine)
1-7-3-4-8
(one, seven, three, four, eight)
03-05-06-22-23
(three, five, six, twenty-two, twenty-three)
03-05-15-18-30-31
(three, five, fifteen, eighteen, thirty, thirty-one)
Estimated jackpot: $2.5 million
03
(three)
4-4
(four, four)
0-6
(zero, six)
9-3-1
(nine, three, one)
4-3-0
(four, three, zero)
2-6-3-6
(two, six, three, six)
7-3-4-9
(seven, three, four, nine)
4-6-0-9-4
(four, six, zero, nine, four)
0-0-2-3-6
(zero, zero, two, three, six)
7-5-3
(seven, five, three)
9-8-0
(nine, eight, zero)
6-7-1
(six, seven, one)
8-9-4-6
(eight, nine, four, six)
9-7-6-3
(nine, seven, six, three)
2-3-5-6
(two, three, five, six)
05-11-29-33-39
(five, eleven, twenty-nine, thirty-three, thirty-nine)
Estimated jackpot: $150,000
4-2-9-1-8
(four, two, nine, one, eight)
4-6-5-9-6
(four, six, five, nine, six)
12-18-22-37-44
(twelve, eighteen, twenty-two, thirty-seven, forty-four)
Estimated jackpot: $242,000
3-8-4
(three, eight, four)
2-3-2
(two, three, two)
04-14-23-26-28
(four, fourteen, twenty-three, twenty-six, twenty-eight)
07-08-26-37-44
(seven, eight, twenty-six, thirty-seven, forty-four)
16-19-22-32-42
(sixteen, nineteen, twenty-two, thirty-two, forty-two)
Estimated jackpot: $200,000
02-05-06-08-10-13-17-26-28-32-37-41-48-49-52-53-64-73-74-75, BE: 8
(two, five, six, eight, ten, thirteen, seventeen, twenty-six, twenty-eight, thirty-two, thirty-seven, forty-one, forty-eight, forty-nine, fifty-two, fifty-three, sixty-four, seventy-three, seventy-four, seventy-five; BE: eight)
4-2-0, SB: 8
(four, two, zero; SB: eight)
9-5-6, SB: 1
(nine, five, six; SB: one)
6-5-3-9, SB: 8
(six, five, three, nine; SB: eight)
2-1-1-7, SB: 1
(two, one, one, seven; SB: one)
9-5-6
(nine, five, six)
4-2-0
(four, two, zero)
2-1-1-7
(two, one, one, seven)
6-5-3-9
(six, five, three, nine)
0-7-7
(zero, seven, seven)
6-1-3
(six, one, three)
12-20-22-29-32, Cash Ball: 3
(twelve, twenty, twenty-two, twenty-nine, thirty-two; Cash Ball: three)
Estimated jackpot: $260,000
AC-JD-QS-4S-8S
(AC, JD, QS, 4S, 8S)
08-19-28-31, Cash Ball: 5
(eight, nineteen, twenty-eight, thirty-one; Cash Ball: five)
7-0-3
(seven, zero, three)
3-8-2
(three, eight, two)
1-3-4-7
(one, three, four, seven)
2-4-8-0
(two, four, eight, zero)
02-19-24-28, Bonus: 3
(two, nineteen, twenty-four, twenty-eight; Bonus: three)
03-08-13-30-37
(three, eight, thirteen, thirty, thirty-seven)
Estimated jackpot: $50,000
01-16-18-23-31-36
(one, sixteen, eighteen, twenty-three, thirty-one, thirty-six)
Estimated jackpot: $325,000
7-7-7
(seven, seven, seven)
0-3-0-8
(zero, three, zero, eight)
QS-8C-10D-3H-4H
(QS, 8C, 10D, 3H, 4H)
QS-AS-3C-8D-7S
(QS, AS, 3C, 8D, 7S)
03-10-18-36-38, Bonus: 25
(three, ten, eighteen, thirty-six, thirty-eight; Bonus: twenty-five)
0-8-3
(zero, eight, three)
3-0-9
(three, zero, nine)
0-4-0-5
(zero, four, zero, five)
3-9-1-3
(three, nine, one, three)
03-13-14-28-33
(three, thirteen, fourteen, twenty-eight, thirty-three)
02-10-14-15-25-48
(two, ten, fourteen, fifteen, twenty-five, forty-eight)
Estimated jackpot: $8.3 million
4-8-4-3
(four, eight, four, three)
9-3-4-8
(nine, three, four, eight)
11-18-19-21-26-45
(eleven, eighteen, nineteen, twenty-one, twenty-six, forty-five)
Estimated jackpot: $1.3 million
QD-AD-4D-5D-6D
(QD, AD, 4D, 5D, 6D)
5-0-3
(five, zero, three)
0-9-7-7
(zero, nine, seven, seven)
6-7-4
(six, seven, four)
7-6-7-3
(seven, six, seven, three)
01-04-19-29-32
(one, four, nineteen, twenty-nine, thirty-two)
Estimated jackpot: $192,000
01-05-06-11-15-20-24-25-30-33-34-35-42-43-44-48-52-54-55-58-76-77
(one, five, six, eleven, fifteen, twenty, twenty-four, twenty-five, thirty, thirty-three, thirty-four, thirty-five, forty-two, forty-three, forty-four, forty-eight, fifty-two, fifty-four, fifty-five, fifty-eight, seventy-six, seventy-seven)
9-0-1
(nine, zero, one)
03-16-24-33-46
(three, sixteen, twenty-four, thirty-three, forty-six)
Estimated jackpot: $110,000
07-11-14-15-18
(seven, eleven, fourteen, fifteen, eighteen)
Estimated jackpot: $25,000
04-05-09-15-35-40
(four, five, nine, fifteen, thirty-five, forty)
Estimated jackpot: $1 million
3-4-9
(three, four, nine)
2-8-8
(two, eight, eight)
7-7-7-8
(seven, seven, seven, eight)
7-5-4-7
(seven, five, four, seven)
04-06-19-30-34
(four, six, nineteen, thirty, thirty-four)
Estimated jackpot: $50,000
06-16-23-27, Bonus: 11
(six, sixteen, twenty-three, twenty-seven; Bonus: eleven)
04-18-20-26-30
(four, eighteen, twenty, twenty-six, thirty)
Estimated jackpot: $50,000
Month: 4, Day: 21, Year: 86
(Month: four; Day: twenty-one; Year: eighty-six)
3-4-5
(three, four, five)
13-14-22-26-31
(thirteen, fourteen, twenty-two, twenty-six, thirty-one)
Estimated jackpot: $66,000
JH-6D-3H-6H-6S
(JH, 6D, 3H, 6H, 6S)
8-9-3, Fireball: 9
(eight, nine, three; Fireball: nine)
5-6-5-8, Fireball: 9
(five, six, five, eight; Fireball: nine)
03-20-25-26-41, Xtra: 2
(three, twenty, twenty-five, twenty-six, forty-one; Xtra: two)
Estimated jackpot: $75,000
6-8-0, Fireball: 2
(six, eight, zero; Fireball: two)
9-5-4-9, Fireball: 2
(nine, five, four, nine; Fireball: two)
2-1-4
(two, one, four)
8-8-1
(eight, eight, one)
9-1-9-2
(nine, one, nine, two)
8-2-0-1
(eight, two, zero, one)
05-06-07-14-24
(five, six, seven, fourteen, twenty-four)
Estimated jackpot: $98,000
7-8-4
(seven, eight, four)
5-7-3-7
(five, seven, three, seven)
5-4-3
(five, four, three)
5-4-7-9
(five, four, seven, nine)
09-18-19-27-30
(nine, eighteen, nineteen, twenty-seven, thirty)
06-09-10-13-15-22-37-42-43-48-55-56-57-58-62-66-72-75-76-78
(six, nine, ten, thirteen, fifteen, twenty-two, thirty-seven, forty-two, forty-three, forty-eight, fifty-five, fifty-six, fifty-seven, fifty-eight, sixty-two, sixty-six, seventy-two, seventy-five, seventy-six, seventy-eight)
13-14-28-50-51-56, Bonus: 46
(thirteen, fourteen, twenty-eight, fifty, fifty-one, fifty-six; Bonus: forty-six)
Estimated jackpot: $2.9 million
03-06-18-28-43
(three, six, eighteen, twenty-eight, forty-three)
Estimated jackpot: $134,000
7-1-2, Lucky Sum: 10
(seven, one, two; Lucky Sum: ten)
8-4-5, Lucky Sum: 17
(eight, four, five; Lucky Sum: seventeen)
8-1-2-3, Lucky Sum: 14
(eight, one, two, three; Lucky Sum: fourteen)
7-5-6-0, Lucky Sum: 18
(seven, five, six, zero; Lucky Sum: eighteen)
06-07-20-37-42-48, Kicker: 1-5-7-5-5-5
(six, seven, twenty, thirty-seven, forty-two, forty-eight; Kicker: one, five, seven, five, five, five)
Estimated jackpot: $7.7 million
9-3-3
(nine, three, three)
3-4-2
(three, four, two)
5-1-9-0
(five, one, nine, zero)
1-3-7-3
(one, three, seven, three)
7-9-7-4-6
(seven, nine, seven, four, six)
4-4-5-3-0
(four, four, five, three, zero)
06-15-30-34-38
(six, fifteen, thirty, thirty-four, thirty-eight)
Estimated jackpot: $100,000
03-07-12-13-24
(three, seven, twelve, thirteen, twenty-four)
1-8-1
(one, eight, one)
03-08-12-15-FREE-17-22-26-30
(three, eight, twelve, fifteen, FREE, seventeen, twenty-two, twenty-six, thirty)
Estimated jackpot: $45,000
01-02-26-32-44-45
(one, two, twenty-six, thirty-two, forty-four, forty-five)
Estimated jackpot: $8.1 million
5-4-7-8
(five, four, seven, eight)
9-1-7-0
(nine, one, seven, zero)
9-5-8-6
(nine, five, eight, six)
3-5-3-4
(three, five, three, four)
10-53-66-76
(ten, fifty-three, sixty-six, seventy-six)
08-18-22-29-35
(eight, eighteen, twenty-two, twenty-nine, thirty-five)
Estimated jackpot: $125,000
03-06-12-24-28-39
(three, six, twelve, twenty-four, twenty-eight, thirty-nine)
Estimated jackpot: $770,000
2-4, Wild: 3
(two, four; Wild: three)
1-7, Wild: 3
(one, seven; Wild: three)
8-5-9, Wild: 3
(eight, five, nine; Wild: three)
4-5-4, Wild: 3
(four, five, four; Wild: three)
1-3-8-8, Wild: 3
(one, three, eight, eight; Wild: three)
5-5-7-8, Wild: 3
(five, five, seven, eight; Wild: three)
6-9-0-9-9, Wild: 3
(six, nine, zero, nine, nine; Wild: three)
4-8-3-0-9, Wild: 3
(four, eight, three, zero, nine; Wild: three)
08-11-14-19-24
(eight, eleven, fourteen, nineteen, twenty-four)
Estimated jackpot: $107,000
3-5-6-3
(three, five, six, three)
7-4-2-4
(seven, four, two, four)
14-16-33-37-38, Power-Up: 3
(fourteen, sixteen, thirty-three, thirty-seven, thirty-eight; Power, Up: three)
2-5-6
(two, five, six)
9-0-9
(nine, zero, nine)
3-3-6-4
(three, three, six, four)
2-9-1-5
(two, nine, one, five)
04-09-14-19-25
(four, nine, fourteen, nineteen, twenty-five)
Estimated jackpot: $20,000
2-5-0, Lucky Sum: 7
(two, five, zero; Lucky Sum: seven)
6-3-8, Lucky Sum: 17
(six, three, eight; Lucky Sum: seventeen)
4-2-5, Lucky Sum: 11
(four, two, five; Lucky Sum: eleven)
9-5-8-5, Lucky Sum: 27
(nine, five, eight, five; Lucky Sum: twenty-seven)
4-2-2-1, Lucky Sum: 9
(four, two, two, one; Lucky Sum: nine)
7-6-6-8, Lucky Sum: 27
(seven, six, six, eight; Lucky Sum: twenty-seven)
05-11-12-22-23, Bonus: 3
(five, eleven, twelve, twenty-two, twenty-three; Bonus: three)
Estimated jackpot: $520,000
01-03-05-06-07-08-10-14-15-19-20-24
(one, three, five, six, seven, eight, ten, fourteen, fifteen, nineteen, twenty, twenty-four)
01-02-03-06-11-13-14-15-18-19-21-24
(one, two, three, six, eleven, thirteen, fourteen, fifteen, eighteen, nineteen, twenty-one, twenty-four)
01-03-05-10-11-15-16-17-18-20-21-23
(one, three, five, ten, eleven, fifteen, sixteen, seventeen, eighteen, twenty, twenty-one, twenty-three)
01-03-05-07-08-09-10-12-13-16-19-22
(one, three, five, seven, eight, nine, ten, twelve, thirteen, sixteen, nineteen, twenty-two)
01-07-09-20-24
(one, seven, nine, twenty, twenty-four)
6-4-2-8, FIREBALL: 6
(six, four, two, eight; FIREBALL: six)
5-4-7-3, FIREBALL: 3
(five, four, seven, three; FIREBALL: three)
0-3-0-4, FIREBALL: 6
(zero, three, zero, four; FIREBALL: six)
0-7-9-9, FIREBALL:
(zero, seven, nine, nine; FIREBALL: zero)
03-04-13-19-35-37
(three, four, thirteen, nineteen, thirty-five, thirty-seven)
Estimated jackpot: $15.5 million
1-5-8, FIREBALL: 4
(one, five, eight; FIREBALL: four)
4-8-4, FIREBALL: 7
(four, eight, four; FIREBALL: seven)
2-5-5, FIREBALL: 4
(two, five, five; FIREBALL: four)
6-1-4, FIREBALL: 8
(six, one, four; FIREBALL: eight)
03-10-11-24-32-33, Bonus: 37
(three, ten, eleven, twenty-four, thirty-two, thirty-three; Bonus: thirty-seven)
18-26-28-31-32
(eighteen, twenty-six, twenty-eight, thirty-one, thirty-two)
02-14-23-25-26
(two, fourteen, twenty-three, twenty-five, twenty-six)
6-5-0
(six, five, zero)
8-2-6
(eight, two, six)
5-8-3-4
(five, eight, three, four)
3-4-6-6
(three, four, six, six)
7-7-3
(seven, seven, three)
12-16-24-30-38
(twelve, sixteen, twenty-four, thirty, thirty-eight)
Estimated jackpot: $290,000
03-04-08-15-16-17-18-19-20-21-22-23-31-50-61-63-65-66-75-80
(three, four, eight, fifteen, sixteen, seventeen, eighteen, nineteen, twenty, twenty-one, twenty-two, twenty-three, thirty-one, fifty, sixty-one, sixty-three, sixty-five, sixty-six, seventy-five, eighty)
15-17-18-32-34-43
(fifteen, seventeen, eighteen, thirty-two, thirty-four, forty-three)
Estimated jackpot: $2 million
02-04-13-24
(two, four, thirteen, twenty-four)
4-7-9
(four, seven, nine)
3-4-5-7
(three, four, five, seven)
01-02-04-05-10-14-15-16-18-19-22
(one, two, four, five, ten, fourteen, fifteen, sixteen, eighteen, nineteen, twenty-two)
07-09-29-32-39-47
(seven, nine, twenty-nine, thirty-two, thirty-nine, forty-seven)
Estimated jackpot: $7.7 million
02-25-31-34-35-36, Doubler: N
(two, twenty-five, thirty-one, thirty-four, thirty-five, thirty-six; Doubler: N)
09-16-18-22-27
(nine, sixteen, eighteen, twenty-two, twenty-seven)
Estimated jackpot: $51,000
1-3-3
(one, three, three)
6-9-4-3
(six, nine, four, three)
Copyright 2020 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. | Walmart
Promising review: "This is the best style of curtains ever. I have them on every window but the one in the kitchen." —JayDig
Price: $12+ (available in six colors and three sizes) | 1.5 |
Montana Jewish Community Is A Model For Others Who Are Harassed Members of a synagogue added armed guards to services following harassment by a neo-Nazi website. They also coordinated harassment responses with police, and say more towns should do the same. | PHILIPSBURG:— Whether you will be heading to a church, to a party, or bringing in the New Year in the comfort of your own home, New Years is a time to reflect and set goals, and as we say goodbye to this year, I would like to take this opportunity to reflect on 2019 for the Government of St. Maarten.
Fellow St. Maarteners and visitors, on behalf of the Council of Ministers, I’d like to wish each and every one of you a Happy and Prosperous New Year.
Firstly, I want to Thank God almighty for another year; one without any
To read more: http://www.smn-news.com/st-maarten-st-martin-news/33638-honorable-prime-minister-silveria-e-jacobs-new-year-s-address.html | 1 |
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The Raleigh of 2000 bears little resemblance to the Raleigh of today. Over the last two decades, Raleigh has grown from a sleepy capital town into a bustling big city with big-city amenities—and big-city problems. Here, we ask five residents—the mayor, a former mayor, and community advocates—to explore what the future holds.
Mary-Ann Baldwin
It’s 2040. Raleigh (and the Triangle) is one of the top metro regions in the country.
What did we do right?
In Raleigh, we acted with urgency on housing affordability before it became a crisis. We teamed with Lyft on a first-in-the-nation transit experiment. And we partnered with our universities and colleges to create an unrivaled center of innovation and entrepreneurship. But most important, twenty years ago, our city leaders, county commissioners, and school board decided to work together to address poverty. No easy task.
What happened?
The city decided to be bold. It changed its zoning policies to accommodate housing choices—divisive at the time but now common across the country. Raleigh now has several thousand accessory dwelling units that comfortably fit in neighborhoods, requiring no new infrastructure. We partnered with Lyft to pilot a bus service that focused on moving people in a whole different way, from hub to hub. It’s automated, with dedicated lanes across the city; most trips take fewer than fifteen minutes. It also connects to commuter rail, created through partnerships with neighboring counties. We’ve made it so easy to travel that many people age forty and up don’t own cars. (They started the revolution, including our now-famous cycle tracks).
Even better, the city recently sold off some of its downtown parking decks for redevelopment due to the rise in autonomous vehicles and the reduced demand for parking.
We also have this incredible park in the center of the city that is visited by people from around the world. Once a mental health hospital, it now houses a world-class research facility where N.C. State, Duke University, and UNC researchers have discovered a cure for schizophrenia. While paying homage to its history this way, the park also serves the community with play, preservation, nature, and connection. It’s a model for the world with twenty more years of future buildout.
And by the way, did I mention it’s connected to downtown by a gondola?
Although the city of Raleigh now has 750,000 residents, it doesn’t feel crowded. It feels vibrant. The downtown core has grown south with new hockey and soccer stadiums, in an area focused on entertainment and music. It’s one of the most diverse areas of the city. There’s a new greenway trail that connects from Downtown South to Umstead State Park, where people travel on e-bikes with amenities along the way. It’s pretty cool.
Remember when I mentioned the city, county, and schools working together? They identified underutilized properties and offered them to developers to build a spectrum of housing—creating mixed-use, mixed-income, walkable communities for all. They carved out space for amenities that create equity. These include day-care centers and early childhood education centers located (get this) next to senior housing. Seniors volunteer at the centers, helping young children see all they can be. Tech companies also created a give-back to the community, in which investments were made in workforce training to expose children living in poverty to new opportunities.
Our mayor twenty years ago, known as Notorious, started this thing with a young city council that dreamed big and demonstrated political will. They lobbied the federal government to revise its housing policies and invest in infrastructure. They worked with the legislature to connect rural and urban communities, providing jobs and technology. They sought out partnerships with developers and corporations to do good.
They set the tone for the next twenty years.
Ten years ago, we got our first forty-story tower. And yes, that made us smile. But what really made us smile was that poverty was reduced by 30 percent over twenty years because our government entities, business community, and wealthiest individuals worked together to reach and teach our kids, to inspire them, to show them who they could be.
Looking back, we smile because our community made the decision to invest in what was most important—our people.
Mary-Ann Baldwin was elected Raleigh mayor in 2019. She previously served on the city council from 2007–17.
Octavia Rainey
As I look into the future of Raleigh, I have to first talk about the past.
In 1974, Congress passed the Housing and Community Development Act, which required cities receiving Community Development Block Grants to further fair housing and undergo an analysis of their regulations and policies affecting the location, availability, and accessibility of housing before receiving money. It was supposed to ensure that black people who had faced discrimination for a century could access quality public and private housing.
And yet, today, there is no affordable housing in high-opportunity areas in Raleigh, not for those who earn 30 percent or less of the area median income. This statistic disproportionately affects members of the protected class—i.e., racial or ethnic minorities. The city pushed out people living in the inner city starting in 1960 with Smoky Hollow, in the 1970s with Fort Ward, and in the 1980s through today with Thompson Hunter I, Thompson Hunter II, Downtown East, the Moore Square area, South Park, Idlewild, and College Park.
All of these developments used CDBG dollars to displace black people. All of these neighborhoods were black, and now they are 80 percent white and higher-income areas.
The poor black folks who were displaced will never come back. People the city displaced had average incomes between $10,000 and $20,000 per year. The city moved them out to create a higher tax base.
Is this something to be proud of? And the bus rapid transit line coming down New Bern Avenue will amount to the biggest displacement you have ever seen—with no affordable housing at all.
When the city announces its affordable rental housing program, it often neglects to say whether it’s targeted at those earning 30 percent of AMI, 40 or 50 percent of AMI, or 60 or 80 percent of AMI. Just saying it’s “affordable housing” isn’t good enough. The city has a real problem with housing for those in the 30 percent bracket, especially in high-opportunity areas.
Segregation is very high in Raleigh. Opportunity Housing Areas are located all over the city in areas with very high incomes. Yet we are building limited housing for those at or below 30 percent of the AMI. We have forty-two hundred children who have been identified as homeless. These children are a part of a protected class. The city is not protecting the protected class.
The city is a long way from economic prosperity and equity for the have-nots. It is expanding housing choices for higher-income families, managing growth for higher-income families, and coordinating land use and transportation only for higher-density developments while excluding black communities.
So I believe that no blacks will live in the city by 2040. There will no longer be black businesses nor a black voting bloc. Instead, all blacks will live deep in Wake County.
I have lived in Raleigh all my life, in the same neighborhood, and never have I seen poor black folks left behind at this rate. Forced out, priced out, and shut out. There is no room in Raleigh for the black poor.
Octavia Rainey has been a community and fair housing advocate since 1973.
Charles Meeker
The pace of Raleigh’s change will increase over the next twenty years. This change will include our vehicles, which will become electric and autonomous. Downtown parking decks will be considered for conversion to housing—mainly affordable—since most residents will no longer own cars.
The trend toward density downtown and in other focus areas will accelerate, often with apartments and shops. Office space will see less demand since there will be multiple users for each office.
Bus rapid transit and electric mini-vehicles will be prominent alternatives to cars. There will often be separate lanes, not just striping, for each. There will be no charge for buses. One-way streets will be gone downtown. Roadways will be more pedestrian-friendly, with a renewed emphasis on trees due to the increased length of the summer season.
The city will have several farmers markets, with fresh produce grown nearby in greenhouses and warehouses.
Raleigh’s reputation as a center of innovation will be enhanced. Technologies developed on N.C. State’s Centennial Campus will be the basis for many companies, large and small.
Raleigh will be an increasingly desirable city, in part because so many young and educated people want to live here. Lifestyle and cost will be more than competitive with larger cities. Many university graduates will take jobs here instead of going home.
Raleigh’s problems will not disappear. Many workers will not be paid enough to live in the city, and affordable housing will remain a major problem. In a city of over six hundred thousand people by 2040, traffic congestion in the suburbs will become an increasing complaint. Heavy rains from large storms will deepen our creek beds.
Though facing evolving challenges as 2040 arrives, Raleigh will remain one of our country’s top twenty-first-century cities.
Charles Meeker was Raleigh mayor from 2001–11. His brother Richard Meeker owns the INDY.
Carly P. Jones
What defines a city? The expression of its people. This is why arts communities and the creative workforce are the souls of a city.
Raleigh is not the same sleepy city I grew up in. When I graduated from high school in the early 2000s, I left North Carolina with a music scholarship, hoping to find more artistically and culturally diverse adventures. After graduating during the Great Recession, I came home, as many millennials did. I planned to save money before making my next move to a bigger, bustling city that would appreciate my fine-arts education.
Upon my return, however, I was pleasantly surprised to find a thriving and vibrant city with a growing arts community. Now that I am rooted in Raleigh, I look forward to the future and being a part of this dynamic metropolis as it experiences a pivotal time of growth and change.
As we tackle issues in our burgeoning city—public housing, transportation, food deserts, environmental problems—it is important to recognize the creative workforce as a crucial partner in building equitable and expressive communities. Often, planning for urban transformation focuses on improving a city’s image instead of the quality of life of its residents. Quality of life includes not only food, shelter, a clean environment, and economic opportunity but also ways to experience art and expression.
An example of this expression is Raleigh’s festival culture. Festivals create exciting spaces to immerse people in music, dance, film, and art. Raleigh is already a melting pot of nationally acclaimed musical festivals—e.g., Hopscotch, World of Bluegrass, and Dreamville. I see festivals also responding to community needs and establishing ways of thinking about heritage in communities that have been overlooked. Festivals not only cause an economic boost but can also make spaces that empower, expose, and unite.
In 2040, I visualize Raleigh as an incubator of creativity, bridging a shining business community with a creative workforce. Our city realizes that arts and culture are not just amenities that come with a rich civic life but are also important economic and tourism drivers. I envision a city where artists and arts leaders collaborate on panels and boards for community projects, as they have with Dix Park, with local leaders, business owners, and institutions to design creative solutions. These collaborations can meaningfully empower communities to articulate their experiences of the city on their own terms.
Raleigh in 2040? I see culturally vibrant arts communities celebrating their heritage; I hear music on street corners and melodies drifting out of living performance venues; I see the work of local artists hanging in our nationally renowned restaurants and colorful murals on the sides of buildings illustrating the rich history of our city and the stories of black and brown community leaders; I smell barbecue on one corner and curry on the next.
I see Raleigh as a mosaic of arts and culture.
In 2040, Raleigh will not only be the warm, beautiful city I’ve always known and loved. It will also be on the cutting edge in creativity, innovation, and artistic collaboration, embracing all who call it home.
Carly P. Jones is a singer, theater artist, and arts advocate.
Harry Johnson
For our family, this Christmas was a little different. And by a little different, I mean oceanic-sea-change different. It was our first Christmas with our son George, a three-month-old boy whose primary items on his Christmas list included warm bottles of milk (check), fresh diapers (check), and tubs of Desitin cream (check). (Don’t worry, he also got some nice toys.) But for me—a new parent filled with the universal hopes and fears experienced by all new parents—a larger, long-term Christmas wish list for George is in order.
Call it a wish list for Raleigh—the city where I want to help my son learn, grow, and develop into a man and someday, hopefully, decide to make home.
So what’s on this wish list?
Well, it’s infinite, as is appropriate for a parent’s hopes and wishes for their child. But the long and short of it is that I want George to be able to enter into adulthood in a city, state, nation, and world that is more charitable, more equitable, and more sustainable than the one we live in now. That can mean any number of things—ensuring that a young boy growing up one zip code over from us has the same educational opportunity that George will, recognizing housing as a human right and not just an outcome of market forces, or (Dad’s favorite soapbox) reducing an omnipresent dependence on cars in a way that allows for a healthier, more equitable, and more sustainable community.
Over the next year or two, our city has a great opportunity to make significant gains toward these goals and others, and I’m excited to see what a young and energetic city council brings to the table.
But I also recognize that, in many ways, this important work still inevitably treats only some of the symptoms present in a country that has, over the past few years, proven to be very susceptible to the lesser angels of our nature. In other words, in order for these “laundry list” items to be obtainable, Raleigh must also, to use one of the favorite words of our new mayor, act with compassion. I’d go further: In the season in which a significant number of Raleighites, including our family, celebrate the birth of Christ, we must work to ensure that the distilled Christmas message—to love our neighbors as ourselves—permeates our community work. We have to start with an effort to see ourselves in others, and our children in the children of others.
So that’s my Christmas wish for George. That, in 2040, when George comes home to Raleigh, he comes home to a community that has taken the lead in both the concrete policy actions necessary to allow anyone who calls Raleigh home the opportunity to lead a prosperous, abundant, and sustainable life, and to take on the challenge with a hearty dose of joy and compassion that informs the direction of our city in every decision it makes.
Harry Johnson, an attorney and local franchise specialist for Google Fiber, is the former political chair of the North Carolina Sierra Club.
Comment on this story at backtalk@indyweek.com. Click here to read the rest of our 2040 predictions.
Support independent local journalism. Join the INDY Press Club to help us keep fearless watchdog reporting and essential arts and culture coverage viable in the Triangle. | The best part of my job is traveling the state of North Carolina, meeting with people from all walks of life. We’re a diverse state with many differences, but we are united in our mutual hope for the future.
I’m amazed at the depth of this hope, whether people face happy times or hardship. I remember meeting one woman in a shelter during Hurricane Florence. She told me about the brave first responders who swept her to safety as Florence crashed in on her world. She escaped with virtually no possessions, but she had gratitude and hope for the future, and she firmly told me, “I’m going to make it.”
The “future” is a term that can spark excitement, anxiety, dread, anticipation. But I view the future for our state as an opportunity, a wide-open plain of unlimited potential if we seize it.
In my job as governor, nothing speaks to the future more than our focus on education. Our teachers and school-support personnel have dedicated their careers to nurturing our youngest and shaping the leaders of tomorrow. That’s why I’m dedicated to supporting those educators and treating them like the professionals they are. In 2020, it’s time they get the raise they deserve.
Education is key to our success. In 2019, we recruited more than twenty-one thousand jobs to our state in both rural and urban areas—the most in one year since before the recession. How? By touting our education system, our workers, and the training we can offer through our universities and community colleges. These classrooms are portals to the future, and we have to prioritize them over more unnecessary, sweeping corporate tax cuts that rob from our students. From the world’s biggest companies to the small-business owners with the biggest ideas, our state is open for business and ripe for more economic growth.
No conversation about the future is complete without addressing climate change head-on. On this challenge—one of our greatest—I am forcing North Carolina to do its part. In 2019, we moved forward on the Clean Energy Plan, which calls for a 70 percent reduction in power-sector greenhouse-gas emissions below 2005 levels by 2030 with carbon neutrality by 2050. In the absence of leadership from Washington, North Carolina is charging ahead, showing that we can protect our air and water while creating clean-energy jobs of the future. Together with our push for greater resiliency to protect us from natural disasters, North Carolina is moving forward to grow smarter and stronger.
Although Republicans blocked it in 2019, I remain hopeful that we will expand Medicaid in North Carolina in the new year. This is the right thing to do for the five hundred thousand North Carolinians who will be able to access affordable health care. But it’s also the smart thing to do for the rural hospitals struggling on the brink of bankruptcy, the forty thousand jobs it can create, the lower health insurance premiums it creates for the private sector, and the communities that will be transformed.
Over the last three years, we’ve built a strong foundation for the future. We repealed House Bill 2, restored our reputation, and signed a sweeping anti-discrimination executive order. We implemented paid parental leave for state employees. We banned state dollars from being spent on harmful conversion therapy. We worked together to achieve decreases in the rates of opioid-overdose deaths and infant mortality. We invested billions to recover stronger and smarter from devastating storms. The momentum we’ve built and the progress that lies ahead energize me and leave me with hope and optimism.
Since taking office, I’ve talked about my mission as governor. I want a North Carolina where people are better educated, healthier, and have more money in their pockets so that there will be more opportunities for people to have lives of purpose and abundance. For me, these are the keys to a hopeful future, and I’ll keep working every day until it’s unlocked for every North Carolinian.
Roy Cooper is the seventy-fifth governor of North Carolina. Comment on this story at backtalk@indyweek.com. Click here to read the rest of our 2040 predictions.
Support independent local journalism. Join the INDY Press Club to help us keep fearless watchdog reporting and essential arts and culture coverage viable in the Triangle. | 2.666667 |
DETROIT, MI - NOVEMBER 17: Damon Harrison #98 of the Detroit Lions walks off the field after a 35-27 loss to the Dallas Cowboys at Ford Field on November 17, 2019 in Detroit, Michigan. (Photo by Rey Del Rio/Getty Images)
Detroit Lions Damon Harrison is among the most likable players in the NFL but his pending retirement is his own fault and deserves no sympathy from fans.
Immediately following the Detroit Lions Sunday finale against the Green Bay Packers, members of the media were listening to Damon “Snacks” Harrison in tears, mulling retirement. He bemoaned his declining capabilities and not being fair to himself or to the team if his body can’t do what it used to do.
Don’t buy it even for a minute. Despite his enthusiasm for the game and his former All-Pro status, this is a simple case of a voluntary workout and minicamp holdout who let himself get out of shape. He sat at home demanding a new contract extension and shortly after reporting to training camp he got what he wanted, which included a $7.5 million signing bonus along with an extra $1 million as “salary” to boot.
Harrison wasn’t even able to be a part of team practice until they took him off the PUP list 3 weeks into training camp. The trainers were saying they were “easing him in” as they do with other players who missed the workouts. Translation: He joined the team overweight and out of shape.
It’s wildly unrealistic that Harrison could end a 2018 season as such a dominating player, then 7 months later have a body deteriorate during an offseason unless he just didn’t take his physical condition seriously. While It’s true that an age 31 body can’t do the same as a 21-year-old’s, a true professional knows that the older body requires a certain type of specialized attention.
Workouts designed particularly to avoid injury while maintaining overall conditioning. This is common knowledge among professional athletes across the entire spectrum of competitive sports, especially necessary for players of his size. There was no reason for the big defensive lineman to endure any physical punishment in the offseason.
One exception would be concussions. Lions Pro Bowl guard T.J. Lang, for example, retired at age 31. Lang made a wise move for his long-term brain health experiencing no less than six such injuries in his career. But, when he was on the field he made a big difference. He kept himself in great physical shape and when he was active the Lions running game was noticeably better.
Imagine if our star defensive lineman against the run had rejoined the team this year in the same shape he was in at the end of 2018. The Lions were in the lead in 12 of 14 games in 2019. A well-conditioned Harrison could have been the difference between a competitive season and the train wreck we just endured. We’ll never know.
Harrison needs to use the offseason to heal his injuries, drop about 20 pounds and train in a manner of a true professional. While it’s true that the position he plays requires him to be hit harder by bigger guys than most positions, he was on the injury list all season with numerous injuries related to lack of conditioning, such as lingering groin and calf issues.
Lions general manager Bob Quinn probably now would welcome Harrison’s retirement as it would free up $11.75 million in salary-cap space. But when Snacks is healthy he is as good as anybody in the league when it comes to stopping the run. That’s not easily replaceable at any price. Damon needs to prove to his fans he is the professional athlete we were so excited to get.
Damon Harrison has every right to make decisions in the best interests of himself and his family. But if we never see him again it will be because he became another fat and happy player who simply took the money and ran. The fact that he is so well-liked and was such a major asset to the team would make it that much more saddening and disappointing.
Being a Detroit Lions fan is difficult enough, we should demand from our players at least to exercise the appropriate self-discipline to work on strengthening their abilities year-round. If not, don’t expect our sympathy. Just another in a long line of disappointments. | Detroit Lions' Mike Daniels: IR trip 'precautionary,' healthy enough to play now
Show Caption Hide Caption Detroit Lions GM Bob Quinn speaks: Here's what we learned Dave Birkett and Carlos Monarrez break down what they learned from Detroit Lions general manager Bob Quinn's news conference on Dec. 30, 2019. Carlos Monarrez and Dave Birkett, Detroit Free Press
At 30 years old and coming off two straight injury-riddled seasons, Mike Daniels said he has a lot more football left in him. He hopes at least some of that is with the Detroit Lions.
Daniels said earlier this week that he plans to return for a ninth NFL season in 2020 and "absolutely" wants it to be in Detroit.
"Just get back to the lab," Daniels said. "This isn’t the first time I’ve missed time and didn’t go to the playoffs, so get back to work. Things’ll turn around and that’ll be about it."
Cut by the Green Bay Packers after a foot injury cost him the final six games of the 2018 season, Daniels signed a one-year deal with the Lions in July that paid him about $8 million.
He missed five games early this season with a sprained foot, returned to play six straight games in November and December, then finished the year on injured reserve after hurting his arm in a Week 15 loss to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
Daniels, who had 10 tackles in nine games this season, said he's healthy enough now that he'd be able to play in a game if the Lions had one this weekend.
More: What Aaron Rodgers' 2019 decline tells us about Matthew Stafford's future
"I’m good," he said. "I think it was one of those precautionary things like, 'Oh, the season’s over.'"
The Lions spent big on their defensive line in 2019, signing Daniels and Trey Flowers to large free-agent deals and extending the contract of Damon Harrison, and they'll likely have to rebuild the unit again this offseason.
Harrison said he's considering retirement after an injury-filled season, A'Shawn Robinson is a free agent who seems destined to explore his options elsewhere, Da'Shawn Hand finished his second straight season on injured reserve, and Daniels' future in Detroit is unclear.
Daniels played well in limited snaps this season – he was the Lions' fifth-highest rated defensive player, according to Pro Football Focus – but his recent injury history is a concern and the Lions have enough cap space to pursue a top-tier free agent at the position should they choose.
Daniels said he'll let his agent handle the contractual stuff, but he "definitely, definitely want(s) to be back here."
"I feel good," Daniels said. "So I’m excited to get things rolling, see what happens. Definitely want to make sure I get back here."
Contact Dave Birkett at dbirkett@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @davebirkett. Read more on the Detroit Lions and sign up for our Lions newsletter. | 3 |
VANCOUVER -- Heavy waves are being blamed for sending a tank trailer full of dead fish plummeting into the water off the coast of Vancouver Island last weekend.
Fisheries and Oceans Canada said the trailer rolled off the deck of a landing craft – a vessel similar to a barge – early Saturday morning north of Campbell River "due to heavy wave action."
Witnesses told CTV News they saw something leaking into the water after the accident.
"There's a hatch and a valve and it's indented," said James Lawson, a commercial diver from the area. "There was some fish matter settled and then occasionally it would spurt out a pink liquid that would diffuse into the surrounding water."
But the owner of the vessel, Coastal Seatrucking Ltd., and Fisheries and Oceans Canada have insisted the trailer remained intact.
In an email to CTV News, a spokesperson for the DFO said "there was no discharge of dead fish into the environment."
The fish came from Cypress Harbour, a fish farm owned by Cermaq Canada. Officials said the deaths were not caused by disease.
Bill Vaughn, owner of Coastal Seatrucking, said the contents of the trailer were being pumped out Tuesday so the trailer could be removed from the water.
Fish farms are responsible for making sure carcasses are securely transferred to land, and officials said they will be checking to make sure proper procedures were followed.
"DFO is looking into this incident to determine if any licence conditions have been breached," the department's spokesperson said.
The incident follows less than two weeks after some 21,000 non-native salmon escaped into B.C. waters from a fish farm owned by Mowi Canada West. | DFO says heavy waves caused the trailer to roll off the deck near Campbell River
A tank trailer filled with liquefied dead fish was knocked into the water off Vancouver Island on Dec. 30, 2019. (Tavish Campbell)
An ocean transportation company says it has retrieved a tank trailer filled with liquefied fish after it was knocked into the water off Vancouver Island.
Billy Vaughn of Coastal Seatrucking says the silage was pumped into another tanker on Tuesday and the trailer was removed from the ocean near Campbell River.
Silage is a product made with dead fish that is commonly used in animal feed.
The Department of Fisheries and Oceans says heavy wave action caused the trailer to shift and roll off the deck of the landing craft, which is similar to a barge, on Monday.
It says the Canadian Coast Guard attended the scene and no one was injured or required rescue.
The department says the tank trailer remained afloat and was towed into Duncan Bay.
READ MORE: B.C. fish farm operator says most of escaped salmon likely eaten
Photographer Tavish Campbell says he was out boating in the area when he came across the scene Monday.
“It’s a huge tanker trailer and it was half submerged with the oil boom around it,” he said.
The Canadian Press
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Tziporah Malkah has slammed 'greenie people' for blocking backburning efforts in a bizarre rant on social media.
It comes as the ABC were accused of bias for deleting a social media post about climate change activists protesting against backburning.
Malkah, a former actor and model, uploaded a YouTube video on New Year's Eve aggressively blaming Green's voters for the devastating bushfires ravaging the South Coast of New South Wales.
The 46-year-old began by addressing the 'people of Australia' and appeared enraged as she accused the environmental political party of preventing firefighters from carrying out backburning efforts in East Gippsland in September 2019.
Tziporah Malkah slams 'greenie people' for blocking backburning efforts in a bizarre rant on social media
East Gippsland was ravaged by bushfires on Tuesday. Seven people have died, four are missing and hundreds of homes were damaged.
'As we know, the bushland that we live in requires fire,' she said.
'However, the Green's and all the greenie people have forced us to not do fire control by getting out the underbrush and whatsoever... Doing burn-offs.'
The former Siren's star paused for a moment and pursed her lips in frustration.
'I hope that we learn from this. It's a terrible, terrible, terrible way to learn. But we need to get out sh*t together, Australia.
'Stop it. Stop it. Stop being so stupid!' she yelled.
Malkah went on to explain that she has friends and family on the South Coast of the state before again directing her anger at the political party.
Malkah also made a post on Instagram telling 'greenies' to 'go chain yourself to a tree'
Malkah went on to explain that she has friends and family on the South Coast of the state before again directing her anger at the political party
'Just rack off, greenies. Let sensible people do the job.'
She then apologised for 'politicising' the rant and prayed to God to help the animals because 'people are f**ked up'.
The rant comes after the ABC was accused on Monday of deleting a social media post from September about climate protesters stopping firefighters from backburning.
The post showed an elderly couple protesting backburning efforts in the Gippsland region amid fears the flames could kill baby birds in their nests.
A helicopter tackles a bushfire with water bombs in East Gippsland on Monday, December 30
They claimed backburning in spring was a bad time because animals would be breeding.
But the ABC deleted the post after one person commented that the post 'did not age well'.
Writing on Facebook Michael Ayling said: 'I have sent the ABC a message asking why they deleted it and reminding them of their government charter for balance.' | Buchan bushfire victim believed to be Mick Roberts remembered by family as a 'hero'
Updated
The first victim of Victoria's East Gippsland bushfires has been identified by his family as 67-year-old Buchan resident Mick Roberts.
Key points: Police have not yet formally identified the body
Premier Daniel Andrews previously said four Victorians were unaccounted for
Many homes have been lost in Buchan since fires hit the area on Monday morning
The body was found by one of Mr Roberts's relatives in his bedroom inside his Buchan home after bushfires hit the town this week, but is yet to be formally identified by police.
Toby Parsons told the ABC his great-uncle 'Mick' was a "hero" in the community and "someone you could look up to".
"He was much more than just my uncle," he said.
"He was the best uncle you could ask for.
"I always had respect for him and no matter how rough or hard he looked on the outside he was so lovely on the inside and would always make you feel good."
'Dry humour' and wit remembered by sister
Mr Roberts's sister, Jenner Carter, told the ABC her brother was the youngest of five and had lived in Buchan for 17 years.
"Everybody knew him, and he knew everyone," she said.
Ms Carter described her brother as a "witty" man with "dry humour".
She said her brother's body was found in his bedroom by a family member after he had been missing for some time.
"He loved his farm. He would never have left his home no matter what," she said.
Ms Carter said the cool change that swept through Buchan "lifted the rafters off the house".
She said it was not yet clear how exactly her brother died.
Some communities remain 'totally isolated'
Mayor of the East Gippsland Shire Council John White said Buchan was a resilient community.
"I didn't know him [Mr Roberts], but he would certainly have been well known in Buchan and by others too, so that's just really, really sad," he told ABC Statewide Drive.
"Buchan has been enduring these bushfire attacks for the last three years, and finally they have succumbed.
"Under the conditions we had on Monday evening, they were more than anyone could control."
Mr White said the difficult terrain in East Gippsland would make it hard to get supplies into the isolated communities.
"We still have communities that are totally isolated that we haven't heard from," he said.
"We're in a situation where we have a fire that is still out-of-control, but we're also trying to get in to do recovery. Coordinating all that is an enormous task."
Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews said on Tuesday that four people were unaccounted for after bushfires hit the state's east and north.
Topics: bushfire, disasters-and-accidents, fires, buchan-3885, vic, sale-3850
First posted | 2 |
Abstract
In response to the 2013-2016 Ebola virus disease (EVD) outbreak primarily affecting Guinea, Sierra Leone, and Liberia, the World Health Organization (WHO) set out Guidance for Managing Ethical Issues in Infectious Disease Outbreaks, which covered social distancing, research in outbreak settings, and clinical care. This article assesses the Guidance’s recommendations on research and long-term storage of biological specimens during infectious disease outbreaks and argues that the Guidance does not provide adequate direction for responders’, researchers’, and organizations’ actions. It considers local persons’ access to benefits of research in the aftermath of outbreaks and preparedness for outbreaks, drawing on lessons from both the 2013-2016 EVD outbreak and ongoing research in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
Introduction
In 2016, the World Health Organization (WHO) published Guidance for Managing Ethical Issues in Infectious Disease Outbreaks.1 The Guidance arose in the context of the 2013-2016 Ebola virus disease (EVD) outbreak that primarily affected the Western African nations of Liberia, Sierra Leone, and Guinea; cases also arose in 7 other nations.2 That outbreak, declared a public health emergency of international concern (PHEIC) in August 2014,3 resulted in more than 28 000 suspected cases and 11 325 confirmed deaths.2
The WHO guidelines are particularly salient in light of the current EVD outbreak in the North Kivu and Ituri provinces of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), declared a PHEIC in July 2019.4 They span the gamut of bioethical issues: public engagement, allocation of scarce resources, public health surveillance, duty to treat, clinical research, use of experimental interventions, and vulnerability in the context of international and domestic sources of structural inequality.1 Many, if not most, of these concerns are not new and have been raised in the context of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV),5 armed conflicts,6,7 and previous EVD outbreaks.8 Nonetheless, the document is important for its scope and particular focus on infectious disease outbreaks within the purview of the International Health Regulations (IHR), from which PHEIC declarations arise.9
Infectious disease outbreaks are, in cases like EVD, one of the only times scientists can study a disease in situ. Clinical data on EVD is generally only collected in the context of outbreak responses.10 Moreover, testing novel vaccines and interventions on humans is sometimes only possible in the context of outbreaks, especially when it would be too risky to pursue human challenge experiments (ie, intentionally infecting subjects).11 Subjects of scientific12 and therapeutic research have some claim to benefits that arise from knowledge generated through their involvement in science and medicine, as may the communities in which those subjects reside. What that claim entails and how it should be executed, however, is subject to debate.
The management of EVD continues to raise serious questions about what the obligation to share scientific and clinical benefits entails, how to discharge that obligation, and who ought to discharge it. In March 2019, it was reported that blood samples taken during the West African EVD outbreak, which were reportedly held by American and British authorities, were being withheld from researchers in the countries they were taken from.13 Among other values, security was used to justify limiting access, as Ebola virus is considered a pathogen with high potential for development into a biological weapon. In June 2019, reporting from the DRC detailed ongoing negotiations to make vaccines tested in Western Africa affordable for widespread use, a process that was in limbo because of policies not to disclose the price of development and manufacture of the vaccine.14 The same report noted that of the thousands of samples collected by predominantly Western responders from patients in Liberia, Guinea, and Sierra Leone, neither the samples nor the proceeds from their sale and use in research had made their way back to their respective countries of origin. This circumstance was attributed, among other reasons, to the United States’ decision to not sign the Nagoya Protocol to the Convention on Biological Diversity,15,16 which would require mutually agreed-upon terms when exporting genetic samples from signatory countries (though, as some have argued, the ratification of the protocol by the host country alone may be sufficient to enforce this requirement15). As discussed below, the Guidance provides a broad framework for articulating what nations, including the United States, ought to do regarding benefit sharing during infectious disease outbreaks, but understanding why they ought to do it requires further interpretation, which we provide here.
Sharing Benefits of Research
Infectious disease outbreaks produce at least 3 broad classes of tangible objects or data that benefit individuals and communities. First, the treatment of patients produces clinical data that is useful in understanding the pathophysiology of disease, improving diagnosis and management, and improving public health surveillance. Second, collection of samples provides sequence data for humans and viruses, which are useful in the development of surveillance technologies, diagnostics, and medical interventions. Finally, the use of experimental interventions in outbreaks provides information and tangible products such as vaccines and therapeutics.1,17
Under principles of fair allocation of resources or equity, countries whose citizens have provided samples ought to have access to those samples.
The WHO claims all three of the above benefits should be shared.1 Section 10 of the Guidance states that clinical data must be shared rapidly to assist in responding to an outbreak. It notes that “every researcher who engages in generation of information related to a public health emergency or acute public health event with the potential to progress to an emergency has the fundamental moral obligation to share preliminary results once they are adequately quality controlled for release.”1 Regarding samples, the Guidance requires individuals and organizations involved in the long-term storage of samples to engage communities in dialogue about the conditions of storing, transferring, and sharing of those specimens for future use. Finally, the WHO states that existing international guidelines on research ethics mandate that individuals and communities participating in research should have access to any benefits that result from their participation. These points of guidance, however, are inadequate in the absence of a more thoroughgoing analysis of the ethical basis for benefit sharing.
The Moral Justification for Benefit Sharing
To begin, it might be asked why individuals and their communities ought to receive access to the benefits of science and medicine. A skeptic might argue that participants in research frequently give informed consent knowing that benefits may never arise.18 If participants or others enter freely into a contract with a researcher with no promise of access to benefits even if they do arise, a skeptic might then argue that there is no reason to believe this is an invalid form of contract.
We identify 4 major reasons—utility, equity, justice, and liberty—why benefit sharing is necessary and why researchers, institutions, companies, and governments are obliged to offer specific people and communities access to the benefits arising from some kinds of research. These reasons need not all apply to the same kinds of benefits, recipients, or providers; any one may suffice.19,20 These reasons, we argue further, are particularly salient in infectious disease outbreaks with implications for global health security—which often arise in resource-deprived communities that might be current or former victims of armed conflict or colonization—especially when such outbreaks occur in low- and middle-income countries.
Utility. Early intervention in an outbreak is better than a delayed response when an epidemic has had a chance to spread widely. Put in explicitly ethical terms, the utility of an intervention—its capacity to promote community or global well-being—is, all other things being equal, likely to be much higher the sooner we act. In the context of research on EVD, the utility of research and medicine is greatly diminished if countries and communities initially and directly affected by outbreaks are unable to access lifesaving interventions or data that would enable care. Insofar as we have an obligation to ensure that medical research promotes its stated benefits—in this case, preventing an EVD epidemic—we ought to make the results of research available.
Equity. The WHO defines inequities as “inequalities that are judged to be unfair, that is, both unacceptable and avoidable,” and notes that equity must be reached between countries.21 While some might argue that sharing the benefits of biomedical research can be very costly, it can be justified if it promotes equity. For example, blood samples from patients with EVD from Western African countries have been found to be very lucrative for their potential use in research and drug development, with one report indicating samples may fetch more than €3600 per 0.5 mL.14 Under principles of fair allocation of resources or equity, countries whose citizens have provided samples ought to have access to those samples, even if this access were to diminish the financial benefit organizations gain by selling those samples on the open market. This is not to say that, should resources be available, such samples ought not to be sold, only that samples first be shared with the appropriate researchers and countries. As with other areas of genetics and genomics, the potential for great innovation—or financial gain—is not sufficient to justify inequity in socially and economically disadvantaged groups who have been further harmed by an epidemic in their community.21
Justice. The nations that have most recently experienced EVD outbreaks have been subject to a legacy of colonialism, forced resource extraction, and exploitation by developed nations. The benefit produced for the West cannot be understated; for example, the United States of America received roughly 80% of the uranium ore that would form the core of the nuclear weapons created in the Manhattan Project from the Belgian-controlled Congo, at the cost of lives and resources from the land and people now known as the DRC.23 Contemporarily, the tantalum used in cellphones (among other electronics) is extracted from mines in the DRC, often under forced labor and slave-like conditions.24 Economic inequalities and corresponding health inequalities in the DRC are often rooted in historical and ongoing injustices perpetuated or strategically tolerated by developed nations. In this case, taking samples and clinical knowledge from bodies of sick patients in the DRC without commensurate benefits to those patients and their communities perpetuates and mirrors the historical injustice of resource extraction from DRC land and exploitation of bodies in the DRC.
A central demand of global health justice is to seek to repair people who have been victims of injustice.25 It is incumbent on developed nations to make available data, samples, and interventions as part of an effort to redress historical health, social, and economic injustices.
Liberty. Theories of contract typically presume a scheme of just initial acquisitions: we all start off with a fair amount of goods with which to trade.26 Under such a system, the skeptical argument as presented above would be justifiable as long as individuals made the informed choice to enter into scientific research (or medical care) with no expectation of return. Yet this is not the case due to the history of the region: the DRC’s health care system is underresourced; the nation is embroiled in civil conflict; and the country lacks a rival pharmaceutical industry on the scale of North America’s or Europe’s, in part because the resources of the developed world are built on theft and exploitation. As such, it is unlikely any individual contract can be meaningfully free and informed.
There is therefore an obligation to ensure redress so that vulnerable populations can negotiate contracts on fair terms, keeping in mind that leaving a people with only their bodies (including their blood) as resources to be sold seems to violate Article 4 of the United Nations Universal Declaration on Human Rights. (“No one shall be held in slavery or servitude; slavery and the slave trade shall be prohibited in all their forms”.27) Benefit sharing during infectious disease outbreaks thus could form part of the transfers that count towards redressing these initial thefts. Other transfers would include capacity building in terms of local infrastructure and scientific resources.
Challenges to Benefit Sharing
Despite strong reasons to engage in benefit sharing, practical hurdles remain that the Guidance does not address. Sharing clinical data, for example, requires collecting sufficient amounts of it—and in the right formats—to be meaningful and providing a platform on which it can be accessed.28 These data might be the property of a variety of different actors and therefore subject to different kinds of ownership and legal regime.29 Moreover, securing consent to share clinical data collected from patients who were unable to give consent at the time of treatment may be difficult or impossible, given the potential of patients and next of kin to be displaced by outbreaks. However, we note that as these samples continue to be used and shared after the outbreak, investigators and their institutions might need to spend time and resources to secure consent for future work.
Samples pose different challenges. Samples can be costly to store, requiring expensive freezers and generators to maintain a continuous cold chain (ie, a refrigerated supply chain for medical supplies). Even with the capacity to store samples, laboratories in low- and middle-income countries may lack the appropriate molecular diagnostics to work with those samples. For some emerging infectious diseases that pose a serious safety or security threat, such as EVD, there may also be challenges in ensuring samples are stored in a way that secures them against theft or misuse—even inadvertently, such as occurred when a taxi functioning as a courier for samples was robbed in Guinea in 2014, with the bandits inadvertently making off with infected blood samples.30 While it might seem easiest and most efficient to ship samples to high-income countries that already have capacity for safe storage and handling, the aforementioned demands of justice and equity argue instead for establishing appropriate infrastructure within affected countries. One reason given for the taxi robbery in Guinea in 2014, for example, was that the Guinea Red Cross lacked its own vehicles in which to securely transport blood samples.31 Developing local infrastructure has the additional benefit of creating research, detection, and prevention facilities, which are of obvious utility and promote liberty.
A central question regarding the sharing of tangible products such as therapeutics or vaccines is cost. It is not sufficient to claim these products should be shared: a mechanism to pay for and distribute them needs to be found. In some cases, charitable donations or nongovernmental organizations such as Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance can serve this function. In others, it may be governments or drug companies that provide therapeutics or vaccines at reduced or no cost to those who need them—as did Merck, the manufacturers of the rVSV-ZEBOV Ebola vaccine, working with the US Department of Health and Human Services.32 Nevertheless, cost is not simply a matter of the cost of producing a vaccine or therapeutic procedure. Benefit sharing may also require necessary infrastructure, such as cold chains to store and deploy products once shared, research facilities and laboratories, or basic utility systems and roadworks.
In general, overcoming these infrastructural and other considerations requires addressing them early, ideally ahead of an outbreak. In the case of clinical data collection, developing accessible, standard platforms for data can be done well ahead of any emergency. In the case of vaccines and therapeutics, better national implementation of—and support for—the International Health Regulations33 can provide a basis for sharing that is equitable and negotiated ahead of time. And investment in nations’ health care infrastructure, including laboratories, and physical infrastructure (roads, water, power) before epidemics emerge can prevent outbreaks from becoming health emergencies.
Conclusion
The ongoing EVD outbreak in the DRC remains out of control. There are a range of challenges in resolving the epidemic, but one of them is securing access to the products of previous outbreaks to benefit those currently affected by the disease. The Guidance provides a principled basis for such access as well as for sharing benefits that will arise from the current outbreak in the DRC with those affected in order to better prepare for future Ebola virus disease outbreaks—which, given the past history of outbreaks in the region, we can assume with confidence will happen again.9 The underlying ethical principles of utility, equity, justice, and liberty are broad and subject to practical concerns, but they provide a roadmap for delivering the benefits of the life sciences to affected peoples. | Abstract
Ethical and logistical challenges of deploying experimental vaccines in humanitarian emergencies are exacerbated by a paucity of safety and efficacy data. For outbreaks caused by pathogens with high mortality rates and few treatments, such as Ebola virus disease, not offering access to experimental vaccines with some evidence of efficacy can also be ethically suspect. This article recommends (1) gathering more preclinical data about experimental vaccines’ safety and (2) improving research infrastructure to enable participation of a wide range of subjects in affected communities over long trial periods. Motivating these goals would facilitate clearer definitions of population vulnerability and risk acceptability.
Risk of Disease vs Risk of Experimental Vaccination
Safe and effective vaccination programs are critical to mitigating disease outbreaks, but vaccine deployment can be fraught with logistical challenges and ethical questions that vary with the environments in which programs are implemented. Effectively deploying experimental vaccines for emerging infectious diseases relies on policy and research infrastructure to ensure safe, ethical research during emergencies. The complexity of these challenges was apparent during the management of recent Ebola virus disease (EVD) epidemics. At the time of the 2013-2016 West African outbreak, effective management was hampered by, among other things, a lack of licensed vaccines and treatments to deploy to control EVD.1,2 In the midst of global community members’ push to initiate clinical trials for experimental vaccines and therapeutics, discussions arose about which criteria should be used to distribute experimental vaccines among vulnerable groups, particularly those in resource-limited settings.3 The current North Kivu EVD outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) suggests a continuing need to consider distribution criteria and to develop strategies for anticipating and addressing ethical and logistical questions.
During recent EVD outbreaks, whether experimental recombinant vesicular stomatitis virus-based vaccine (rVSV-ZEBOV) should be used in pregnant and lactating women and in children under one year of age has raised ethical questions. During the 2013-2016 West African Ebola epidemic, members of these populations were excluded from Ebola ça Suffit! trials.4 Although the World Health Organization (WHO) Research Ethics Review Committee guided implementation of trials during that outbreak and requested amendments to the protocol to include members of these populations as subjects, it later relented, as further review was seen as delaying trial initiation and “potential benefit for all.”5 In 2019, the DRC National Ethics Committee approved inclusion of pregnant or lactating women and children in a large experimental rVSV vaccination campaign that was underway but required close follow-up and limited distribution to areas where Ebola was being actively transmitted.6 This committee’s decision highlights that comparing vulnerable community members’ risk of harm from EVD to their risk of harm from rVSV tends to be considered in decisions about whether, where, and with whom to use experimental vaccines.
A first question to ask about experimental vaccine administration among vulnerable populations in emergent situations is this: How should the concept of vulnerability be defined? Individual, social, cultural, and scientific variables should be prioritized in a definition of this concept and considered with reference to a specific situation or circumstance. We argue that members of vulnerable populations can more safely participate in experimental vaccine trials that (1) gather preclinical data and (2) bolster research infrastructure that enables diverse enrollment and long-term follow-up.
Defining Vulnerability
In research ethics, a vulnerable population is generally thought to be one whose members’ ability to consent to participate in a research protocol is compromised (eg, through lack of competency, illiteracy, poverty, or inability to communicate). A Canadian Tri-Council Policy Statement (TCPS2) more generally defines vulnerability as “diminished ability to fully safeguard one’s own interests in the context of a specific research project” due to “limited decision-making capacity or limited access to social goods, such as rights, opportunity, and power.”7 Vulnerability “may require greater effort to minimize risks to participants and/or maximize potential benefits” in order that they be treated justly.8
More often than not, members of populations considered vulnerable are excluded from clinical trials.
Applying this definition of vulnerability responsibly requires considering that observers can differ in their perceptions of a subject’s moral agency.9 For example, during an outbreak, individuals or communities might not perceive themselves as vulnerable, although regulatory bodies or health care organizations do, and vice versa. Moreover, simply identifying characteristics that confer “vulnerability” can also be challenging largely because they can consist of both individual traits—including young age, ethnicity, race, gender, or general or mental health status—and particular contexts that apply to an entire community.
How we define vulnerability shapes how those seen as vulnerable are treated and influences opportunities they are offered. As examples, the Ebola ça Suffit! trial prioritized vaccination for subjects exposed to the virus who were not pregnant, breastfeeding, or severely ill; other trials have included health care workers as subjects, excluding pregnant or lactating women.4 More often that not, members of populations considered vulnerable are excluded from clinical trials.10 Although pregnant women tend to suffer high mortality from EVD,11 they and members of other groups have been excluded from clinical EVD trials.11 Recently, there has been a shift toward not labeling populations as vulnerable,11,12 but removing protections justly and equitably requires input and buy-in from members of these populations, which is difficult to accomplish during an outbreak.
EVD outbreaks have occurred—and continue to occur—in settings fraught with armed conflict and displacement,14 which exacerbate individuals’ and communities’ vulnerability. Postconflict food insecurity and lack of health care infrastructure in West Africa likely heightened susceptibility to EVD during the 2014 epidemic and helped propagate it.15,16 These conditions persist in the ongoing epidemic in the DRC, where conflict has made tracing contacts difficult, complexified vaccine investigation, and led some to switch to mass vaccination strategies. Such factors must contextualize how we define and understand concepts such as vulnerability and even emergency, which the WHO defines as the co-existence of outbreak along with either a man-made or natural condition that could cause disruption to health care services.17 Since context can be dynamic, the process of defining key concepts should also be dynamic. Therefore, international and local agencies should develop close relationships with communities to keep abreast of geopolitical shifts that might influence assessments of vulnerability.
The state of medical science related to emerging diseases like EVD also matters to how vulnerability is defined. A change in clinical standards of care for a particular disease that alters the risk-benefit profile used in individuals’ and agencies’ decision making should also be regarded as a key variable in understanding and defining vulnerability. For example, populations’ susceptibility to EVD during the 2013-2016 epidemic largely hinged on lack of alternatives to experimental drugs to prevent and treat EVD, which likely affected subjects’ decision making about whether to participate in trials. New therapeutic and investigational vaccines have emerged since then,18 which have altered risk-benefit profiles of communities undergoing an epidemic and will likewise critically shape conceptions of vulnerability. The changing medical context suggests the importance of determinations of vulnerability being made and reassessed continuously by regulatory committees or global health organizations with regular input from affected communities.
Inclusion and Safety
Several reports, including a recent review by the Pregnancy Research Ethics for Vaccines, Epidemics, and New Technologies (PREVENT) Working Group, highlight how exclusion of vulnerable groups, including pregnant women and children, from research can result in their not having access to experimental vaccines during emergencies.19 This report’s key recommendations for including pregnant women in vaccine research set good milestones to follow for research with other vulnerable populations, however defined in a particular situation.
Gather preclinical data on safety of experimental vaccine use in vulnerable populations. The PREVENT group recommends using advanced technology to study immune responses of pregnant women and children and recommends creation of market incentives to include vulnerable subgroups in research.19 These efforts should also seek to augment knowledge about use of experimental vaccines in persons with HIV and highly prevalent co-infections that might lead to biological vulnerability to disease.6 Enable safe enrollment of vulnerable subjects in vaccine trials during crises. Reports have stressed the importance of building surveillance and health information systems to allow improved capture of the outcomes of experimental vaccine deployment, particularly in vulnerable populations.19,20 Aside from strengthening national health systems, building research capacity in countries where Ebola and other pathogens on the WHO’s priority diseases list pose risk can motivate safe deployment of experimental vaccines during outbreaks.21 A review of clinical trials conducted during the 2013-2016 EVD epidemic by a committee of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine suggests the importance of long-standing research engagement to enable timely deployment of investigational agents in communities at risk.22 Cultivate long-term, trusting relationships. The WHO has developed a framework for ethical decision making concerning use of experimental vaccines during emergencies.17,23 In addition, perceptions of risks and benefits of groups considered to be vulnerable should inform community participation strategies. One recent study found that many subjects in an Ebola vaccine trial were motivated by altruism, curiosity, hope, health seeking, and notions of exchange.24 Understanding the role of these values in subjects’ decisions about whether to enroll in a protocol suggest that engagement with local leaders and decision makers is key when discussing experimental vaccine deployment in an emergency and is critical for motivating trust. Due to mistrust, 2 Ebola vaccine trials were suspended in Ghana.25
Conclusions
Ethical questions about deploying experimental vaccines during recent and ongoing EVD outbreaks are complex and multifaceted and require attention to dynamic context. Navigating collaborative responses to these questions is aided by contextualizing definitions of vulnerability and emergency; preparedness; nourishing ongoing and sustainable partnerships with people in local communities where outbreaks tend to recur, including through developing trusting communication; and investing in research infrastructure. | 1.666667 |
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Edward Lee and his dog Benji are already looking forward to the grand opening of Lucky Eddie's Social Center on Jan. 24. It was Lee's grandfather, a 30-year Island resident, who first had the idea that Lee should open an adult arcade in this location.
"I've had positive experiences with adult gaming," said Lee. "It gives people a chance to get out and do something fun. It's geared toward people looking for a night out, with maybe a chance to meet new friends."
Lee said more than anything he wants to offer people a chance to socialize in an environment that benefits everyone in the community.
Article Photos The interior of Lucky Eddie’s Social Center.
PAULETTE LEBLANC
In addition to having food and drinks brought in from local restaurants at no charge to his gamers, he also plans to hand out winning gift certificates from surrounding businesses, in an effort to support local revenue.
"I put this place here for people to have fun. Once you get to know Benji and me, it's pretty easy to figure out that I'm here to build relationships and friendships. I'd like to do pizza night on Fridays; a ladies night, where women spend $20 and get an extra $10 to play with. I'd also like to do something to honor veterans. If I can bring people together who didn't know each other, that's what I want to do. If I can keep people from having to drive far away to have a good time, I'd like to do that too," said Lee.
Lucky Eddie's is located at 10700 Stringfellow Road, Bokeelia, FL 33922. For additional information, call 239-558-8145. | New laws are set to come into effect in the new year that will see menthol cigarettes banned.
From 20 May 2020, any menthol flavoured products will be taken off the shelves in an attempt to stop young people from taking up smoking.
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The ban comes from the EU Tobacco Product Directive laws, which will also see skinny cigarettes banned from UK shops.
Philip Morris, the manufacturer of cigarette brands including Marlboro, attempted to appeal the law, taking it to the European Court of Justice - but it wasn't successful.
Laws to deter smokers have already been put into place, including graphic images on packets. Credit: PA
Anti-smoking charity, Action on Smoking and Health (ASH) says that the move will help to stop young people from taking up the habit.
As reported by the Liverpool Echo, a spokesperson said: "No person may produce or supply a cigarette or hand rolling tobacco with:
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"(a) a filter, paper, package, capsule or other component containing flavourings;
"(b) a filter, paper or capsule containing tobacco or nicotine; or
"(c) a technical feature allowing the consumer to modify the smell, taste, or smoke intensity of the product."
Amanda Sandford, of ASH, told the news outlet that the new laws are an attempt to make smoking less appealing - as well as the move to only sell menthol cigarettes in packs of 20.
Credit: PA
She said: "Cigarettes are already expensive. And the price increase of cigarettes is a key factor in making people quit smoking. So by removing the packet of 10 cigarettes this means people will have to find that extra money for a packet.
"It will hit poorer and younger smokers harder who are more likely to buy smaller packs.
"Paying £3 or £4 for a packet of 10 cigarettes at the moment might not seem so much to people and still leave them with change in their pockets.
She said: "It is naturally hard to inhale smoke and for many the first time they smoke it is repugnant, but people persevere with it and that's when they become addicted.
"There is evidence that menthol cigarettes relax the airways and the flavour masks the harshness of the smoke, therefore younger people find it easier to smoke.
"However, it is an absolute myth that menthol cigarettes are better for you. | 1 |
A Beverly Hills plastic surgeon has filed a multi-million dollar lawsuit against a mortuary and crematorium for allegedly colluding with his in-laws to deny him half of his late wife's ashes after she died of cancer.
Dr. Alexander Sinclair claims he was only given two ounces of his wife Kyoko Yonezawa's ashes despite paying more than $7,000 to have her cremated after she died early last year.
His in-laws, Seiji Yonezawa and Yoriko Yonezawa, allegedly received the bulk of his wife's ashes.
Dr. Alexander Sinclair claims he was only given two ounces of his wife Kyoko Yonezawa's ashes despite paying more than $7,000 to have her cremated after she died early last year
The lawsuit claims Kubota Mortuary and Evergreen Cemetery breached the contract they had with Sinclair over the disbursement of his wife's ashes.
Sinclair, who has been a plastic surgeon for 35 years, claims his in-laws agreed to reimburse him for the cost of the services and cremation but they never paid him
He said he had a written agreement with the mortuary to receive half of the ashes, the Los Angeles Times reports.
Gene Shioda, an attorney representing Kubota Mortuary, said the situation 'took place when a different person was in charge of the mortuary'.
'The mortuary will be thoroughly investigating,' he said. 'At this time, the mortuary will deny the allegations.'
A representative for Evergreen Cemetery said the business had not received any notification about a lawsuit and could not comment.
Sinclair filed a separate lawsuit in August against his wife's parents who live in Japan.
His wife was diagnosed with stage four stomach cancer back in February 2017 and she died almost two years later.
He alleges in the lawsuit that her parent's refused to let him participate in making funeral arrangements.
The lawsuit claims Kubota Mortuary and Evergreen Cemetery breached the contract they had with Sinclair over the disbursement of his wife's ashes
Kyoko Yonezawa was diagnosed with stage four stomach cancer back in February 2017 and she died almost two years later
Sinclair, who has been a plastic surgeon for 35 years, claims his in-laws agreed to reimburse him for the cost of the services and cremation but they never paid him.
He claims his in-laws never approved of him marrying their daughter in Los Angeles back in 2016 after dating for several years.
Sinclair says he financially supported his wife's parents over the years even though they disapproved of the relationship.
'They were not shy about taking all they could from Dr Sinclair and using Dr Sinclair’s good character and reputation and vast resources to their personal and business advantage,” the lawsuit claims.
Sinclair is seeking an injunction ordering the defendants to provide him with half of Kyoko's ashes and punitive damages in excess of $5 million. | BEVERLY HILLS—Kubota Mortuary and the Los Angeles County Crematorium Cemetery is being sued by Beverly Hills plastic surgeon, Dr. Alexander Sinclair. Sinclair alleges that Kubota Mortuary promised to give him half of his late wife Kyoko Yonezawa ashes after she died of stomach cancer on April 11, 2019.
Sinclair paid the facility nearly $7,800 for half of her ashes to be shared between himself and his wife’s parents. The lawsuit filed in court on December 27 indicates that Sinclair only received two ounces of his wife’s ashes; less than 10 percent of his wife’s ashes.
The plastic surgeon is seeking millions of dollars in damages on allegations of breach of contract, fraud, misrepresentation, intentional and negligent infliction of emotional distress. Sinclair filed a lawsuit against his late wife’s parents in August 2019 who reside in Japan.
Dr. Alexander Sinclair operates Sinclair Plastic Surgery in Los Angeles with offices in Beverly Hills and Whittier. According to the company’s website, he is a diplomate of the American Society of Plastic Surgery (ASPS), the largest plastic surgery specialty organization in the world. He is certified by the American Board of Plastic Surgery (ABPS).
He received his medical degree from Michigan State University’s College of Human Medicine and has been operating in the Los Angeles area for over 30 years.
Written By Anita Brown and Casey Jacobs | 4 |
American Girl is ringing in the new year by unveiling its first hearing impaired doll and 2020 Girl of the Year.
The popular doll line, owned by Mattel, introduced Joss Kendrick, with the help of Olympic surfing hopeful Caroline Marks.
Joss is a "a fierce athlete born with hearing loss and a passion for surfing and competitive cheer," the company said in a news release . Her story is based her hometown of Huntington Beach, California.
The doll has brown hair and brown eyes and comes with a removable hearing aid.
"American Girl has a rich legacy of creating timeless characters who encourage girls to reach for new heights and discover who they're meant to be," said Jamie Cygielman, general manager of American Girl.
"Working with Olympic hopeful surfer Caroline Marks adds real-world inspiration about what can happen when you go 'all in' on your dreams."
In addition to the doll release, American Girl is partnering with the Hearing Loss Association of America to raise awareness and collect donations. The company also plans to donate $25,000 to the organization and support its annual walk. Starting January 1, it will also take donations for the HLAA in American Girl retail stores.
Joss is available online starting Tuesday and in stores starting Wednesday. | By Crispian Balmer
VATICAN CITY (Reuters) - Pope Francis apologized on Wednesday for having angrily slapped a woman's arm when she had grabbed hold of his hand and yanked him toward her, saying he had lost his patience and set a "bad example".
His unusual apology came after he used his first homily of the new year to denounce violence against women, which he compared to profaning God.
Pope Francis, 83, had a sharp encounter with a woman on Tuesday evening during a walkabout in St. Peters Square.
The pilgrim, who has not been identified, unexpectedly seized his hand and pulled him toward her, causing him evident alarm. A clearly disgruntled Francis wrenched himself free by slapping down at her arm.
"So many times we lose patience, even me, and I apologize for yesterday's bad example," the pope told thousands of pilgrims gathered in St. Peter's Square on Wednesday at the end of the traditional New Year Mass.
He had used the service to issue a forthright condemnation of the abuse of women in modern society.
"All violence inflicted on women is a desecration of God," he told a packed St. Peter's Basilica.
"How often is a woman's body sacrificed on the profane altar of advertising, profit, pornography," he said, adding that the female body "must be freed from consumerism, it must be respected and honored".
Despite creating life, women "are continually offended, beaten, raped, forced into prostitution" and made to have abortions, he said. "We can understand our level of humanity by the way we treat a woman's body," he told the congregation.
During his homily, Francis also addressed another theme close to his heart, immigration, saying women who moved abroad to provide for their children should be honored, not scorned.
"Today even motherhood is humiliated, because the only growth that interests us is economic growth," he said.
"There are mothers, who risk perilous journeys to desperately try to give the fruit of the womb a better future and are judged to be redundant by people whose bellies are full of things, but whose hearts are empty of love."
The leader of the Roman Catholic Church, which allows only unmarried men to be ordained as priests, also said women "must be fully involved in decision-making processes".
The pope said last April the Church had to acknowledge a history of male domination and sexual abuse of women. A month later, he appointed for the first time four women to an important Vatican department that prepares the major meetings of world bishops.
(Reporting by Crispian Balmer; Editing by Peter Graff) | 1 |
At least 26 members of Afghanistan's security forces were killed in a new wave of Taliban attacks in northern Afghanistan, local officials said on January 1.
The insurgents claimed responsibility for all the attacks.
In northern Kunduz Province, at least 10 Afghan officers were killed and four others wounded in an attack on a police checkpoint in the district of Dashti Archi late on December 31, the head of the provincial council Mohammad Yusouf Ayubi said.
In Balkh Province, the Taliban killed nine police officers in an attack on their checkpoint. The fate of four other policemen who were at the checkpoint was unknown, said Mohammad Afzel Hadid, head of the provincial council.
In another attack on December 31 seven members of the security forces were killed in a gun battle with the Taliban, according to Jawad Hajri, the provincial governor's spokesman. He said 10 Taliban fighters were also killed.
Earlier this week, the Taliban said it has no intention of declaring a temporary cease-fire in Afghanistan.
'In the past few days, some media have been releasing untrue reports about a cease-fire... The fact is that, the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan has no cease-fire plans,' the Taliban said in a December 30 statement.
Taliban militants continue to stage near-daily attacks targeting Afghan and U.S. forces, as well as government officials -- even as the group holds peace talks with a U.S. envoy tasked with negotiating an end to the military conflict in Afghanistan.
Based on reporting by AP, AFP, and dpa
Copyright (c) 2018. RFE/RL, Inc. Republished with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave NW, Ste 400, Washington DC 20036 | Prominent Afghan comedian and actor Asif Jalali has died of a heart attack in the Afghan capital, Kabul, Afghan Ministry of Information and Culture spokesman Sabir Mohmand told RFE/RL's Radio Free Afghanistan.
His death on January 1 has surprised people across Afghanistan, and some of his many fans have been honoring him on social media.
'Jalali did God's work by making us laugh,' Saad Mohseni, who heads the MOBY group that owns local broadcaster TOLO TV, said on Twitter.
Jalali hosted several comedy shows on local Afghan broadcasters, including the popular 'Shabkhand' ('Evening Laughter').
Film director Latif Ahmadi told the dpa news agency that Jalali has started his artistic career some 13 years in commercials.
Jalali appeared in the famous Afghani drama 'Bulbul,' in which he played the love interest of a female character.
With reporting by dpa
Copyright (c) 2018. RFE/RL, Inc. Republished with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave NW, Ste 400, Washington DC 20036 | 1.333333 |
Florida high school football star hit by train in suicide was under pressure, uncle says
Bryce Gowdy, 17, who died days before he was to enroll at Georgia Tech on a football scholarship, had been taking care of his mother and siblings, his uncle said. | A 17-year-old high school football star was struck and killed by a train early Monday in Deerfield Beach.
A freight train struck a pedestrian at around 4:06 a.m. in the area of Southeast Fourth Avenue and Southeast 10th Street, according to the Broward Sheriff's Office.
The pedestrian was taken to Broward Health North, where he died, BSO said. He was later identified as Bryce Gowdy.
Gowdy was a wide receiver and a defensive back at Deerfield Beach High School. He had just signed with Georgia Tech two weeks ago.
"We are heartbroken," Georgia Tech's head coach Goeff Collins tweeted Monday afternoon along with a statement on Gowdy's death. "Bryce will always be a part of our Georgia Tech football family. We will be praying for him and all those who love him. #BelieveIn7 #RIPSimba"
We are heartbroken. Bryce will always be a part of our Georgia Tech Football Family. We will be praying for him and all those who love him.#BelieveIn7 #RIPSimba pic.twitter.com/dtV5g50Tiq — Coach Collins🏆🏆🏆🏆 (@CoachCollins) December 30, 2019
Gowdy's family has set up a GoFundMe to cover funeral costs. | 4 |
Dunbrody Archers turned out in force on Hook Head in Co Wexford on Wednesday to participate in a ceremony going back more than 300 years.
Chair of New Ross District Municipal Council, Cllr John Fleming explained the origin of the tradition of firing an arrow into the sea from the rocks beneath the world’s oldest operational lighthouse.
“The tradition dates from 1687 when the Mayor and the corporation of New Ross Town Council claimed their authority over the waters by travelling to Hook and shooting an arrow into the sea from Hook Head Lighthouse.”
Cllr Fleming explained that the Mayor of New Ross, casting the arrow into the sea symbolises the port of New Ross’s authority over the estuary of the Barrow and the Suir all the way down to Hook Head.
The members of Dunbrody Archers, founded in 2004 and now one of the largest archery clubs nationally, assisted Cllr Fleming in “the arrow ceremony” by unleashing a volley of arrows into the air at the historic lighthouse.
Cllr Fleming explained that Hook Head is renowned as the oldest intact working lighthouse in the world, dating from the fifth century when local monks lit fires on the headland to keep the ships at sea safe.
“Hook Lighthouse was built by the knight, Sir William Marshal and he also built the port town of New Ross along with Kilkenny Castle, Ferns Castle, Tintern Abbey and many other historical gems in the area,” he said.
“He married Isabel De Clare the daughter of Strongbow and Aoife and they became quite the medieval ‘power couple’ and it is thought that he built Hook Lighthouse to guide ships safely to his port town of New Ross.”
“The Hook Lighthouse tour incorporates 115 steps to the top of the lighthouse tower and features holograms illustrating the ancient history of the tower and the Hook area and spectacular views of the southern coast.” | China's central bank said Wednesday it was cutting the amount of cash that all banks must hold as reserves, releasing around 800 billion yuan ($114.91 billion) in funds to shore up the slowing economy.
The People's Bank of China(PBOC) said on its website it will cut banks' reserve requirement ratio (RRR) by 50 basis points, effective Jan. 6 . The move would bring the level for big banks down to 12.5%.
The PBOC has now cut RRR eight times since early 2018 to free up more funds for banks to lend as economic growth slows to the weakest pace in nearly 30 years.
Of the latest funds released, small and medium banks would receive roughly 120 billion yuan, the central bank said, stressing that it should be used to fund small, local businesses.
... | 1 |
Astronomers from Villanova University recently published an article noting that Betelgeuse, in the constellation Orion , has been significantly dimmer in recent months, leading some to speculate it could go into a supernova, Reuters reported.The dimming of the light might mean that burning fuel on the star is running out, which means the planet will explode. If that happens, a supernova - literally ‘super-new’ because a new source of light is spotted in the night sky - would be created. While nova eruptions are not rare, supernova eruptions are."Once the star explodes, the explosion would be visible during daylight and could even be brighter than the moon at night for a few weeks or even months," Reuters reported.It is believed that the only supernova observed and documented by humans before now took place in 1604 and was described by Johannes Kepler in his 1606 De Stella Nova [The New Star]. The light from that supernova was so intense he was able to see it using the naked eye for three solid weeks.However, there’s no reason to believe Betelgeuse’s light is dimming because it is about to explode. Other scientists have suggested that these are natural changes which should not cause any alarm.Located 430 light years away from Earth, Betelgeuse is so large that if it was placed where our sun is it would reach Jupiter , Cosmo-knowledge reported. Should it ever implode, it is suspected it will become a black hole.The name is derived from Arabic, where Ibṭ al-Jauzā means ‘the armpit of Orion.’ The name had been corrupted in Latin to Beit al-Juz, which is also its name in Hebrew.While it is spoken in English like the name Beetlejuice, the character Michael Keaton played in the same-named 1988 movie by Tim Burton, the similarity is accidental.The star was known by the Persians, the people of ancient India, the Chinese, and the people of Hawaii who called it Kaulua-koko: 'brilliant red star.' | (CNN) "My love for you is as eternal as the sun" might be a heartfelt line in a love letter written by a young man to his beloved. As poetic as the sentiment might be, it doesn't mean quite what the young swain intended, for the sun, like all stars, was born and now lives in vibrant middle age, but it is destined to die one day. While that inevitable moment is billions of years in the sun's future, a nearby star may be facing a more imminent demise .
Betelgeuse is in a class of star called a red supergiant. The "red" means it is much cooler than the sun (e.g. a surface temperature of about 6000 degrees Fahrenheit , compared to about 10,000 F ), and "supergiant" means both massive and with a large volume. (Those two things don't necessarily have to go together, as a large thing like a hot air balloon doesn't have to be massive. In the case of Betelgeuse, both apply.) Betelgeuse is approximately 12 times more massive than the sun and, if it were to be located in our solar system, it would be bigger than the orbit of the asteroid belt and perhaps even engulf Jupiter
"Live fast and die young" might be the mantra of giant stars, and Betelgeuse is no exception. It is only about 10 million years old -- compared to the sun's 4.5 billion -- but its days are numbered. Like all stars, Betelgeuse began its life by fusing hydrogen into helium, but its hydrogen supply has largely run out. It then began fusing helium into heavier elements. It is this transition to fusing helium that heated the core of the star and caused it to expand to its current enormous size.
Eventually stars run out of fuel and their cores are no longer hot enough to overcome the star's gravity. Their cores collapse; their internal temperatures spike to incredible levels and the star then explodes. That is how a star goes supernova. Betelgeuse is approaching this phase.
Witnessing this process is rare for humans. Roughly speaking, astronomers expect two supernovae per century in the Milky Way. In fact, the last supernova observed in the Milky Way galaxy was in the 17th century and was recorded by Johannes Kepler. We're overdue for another.
If Betelgeuse does go supernova, is there any danger to us here on Earth? The simple answer is no. The star is about 700 light-years away , which would attenuate the impact of the blast. High-energy light from the supernova will bathe the Earth's ozone layer and it is possible that scientists will be able to see this effect, because a reduced ozone layer will result in increased ultraviolet radiation making it to the Earth's surface.
If Betelgeuse does go supernova, it will be the brightest star in the sky for many months. (Except for the sun, of course.) It will even be visible during the day.
Of course, it is unlikely that the recent dimming of the star is the most immediate precursor of a supernova. Betelgeuse has varied its brightness for centuries and even perhaps has changed its color . Indeed, it is expected that a star in the last stages of using up all of its stellar fuel will undergo changes and the timescale for stellar evolution is much longer than human timescales. Astronomers predict that Betelgeuse will continue to burn through the last of its fuel for as many as 100,000 years . So, as exciting as the prospect of getting such a close view of a supernova is for astronomers, this outcome is improbable during our lifetime.
Still, it would be exciting to see in the world's telescopes. Perhaps even more exciting is the prospect of seeing the explosion using other scientific instruments. The LIGO and Virgo detectors, located in the United States and Italy, respectively, are gravitational wave detectors that have seen the merging of pairs of black holes. They use powerful lasers and mirrors separated a kilometer apart to measure distances smaller than the size of a proton, and will also be able to record Betelgeuse's death knell.
Another set of cosmic observatories are large neutrino detectors, including IceCube , a detector that uses a cubic kilometer of ice under Antarctica to study cosmic neutrinos from outer space. And, if Betelgeuse cooperates and waits for perhaps a decade to explode, two sophisticated neutrino detectors ( DUNE , hosted by my own laboratory, Fermilab , and Hyper-K in Japan) are being built that will be able to study the outpouring of neutrinos that accompany a supernova.
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The last time terrestrial detectors monitored a supernova was in 1987, when a star in a smaller galaxy orbiting the Milky Way detonated. Betelgeuse's proximity and more than 30 years of improvements in detector technology will give vastly improved measurements.
While the speculation of the impending death of Betelgeuse is probably premature, it is a captivating prospect to consider, both from a human and a scientific perspective. And, if we do see it, it might make young lovers reconsider their metaphors for permanent devotion as they compose their letters. | 4 |
BRIDGETOWN, Barbados (CMC) – The President of the Caribbean Hotel and Tourism Association (CHTA), Patricia Affonso-Dass is predicting that 2020 will be an exciting and fruitful year for the sector.
“As we look ahead through the crystal ball to 2020, data received from CHTA members indicate we may have more to celebrate. While there are challenges and there is always the unknown, most indicators point to continued steady economic conditions in our key source markets and robust visitor expenditures,” she said in an end of year message.
Affonso-Dass said that Caribbean hoteliers have much to be proud of in 2019 after taking up the challenges of the past 12 months “and successfully folded them into an optimistic canvas for the New Year”.
She said that the destinations hardest hit by the 2017 hurricanes have made impressive progress to pre-hurricane levels and are back on track with new and improved product.
'Their fortitude has encouraged many of our members who were spared the wrath of the storms to reassess their product, spurring many of them to greater heights. The silver lining on the dark clouds of hurricane devastation was the fact we were not only able to rebuild but we also were able to bolster our structures to withstand the wrath of future storms.”
The CHTA official said that arrivals throughout the region, in fact, are very high and on pace for a record year in 2019.
“The vast majority of destinations recorded marked increases and the Caribbean is on pace to reach its highest annual RevPAR in history by year-end,” she said, noting that “while external factors like the global economy are key to our success, it would not be possible without the aggressive efforts by the region's public and private sectors over the past decade to expand and modernize airports and attract significant hotel investments – both in new and refurbished properties.
“We continue to see arrivals growth fuelled by accommodation disruptors in the form of vacation home rentals; this will continue to be an important part of the accommodations sector – it is ever more important therefore to ensure that it is better regulated, taxed and integrated into the collaborative efforts of all tourism industry stakeholders.”
In her message, Affonso-Dass singled out the Bahamas, still recovering from the passage of Hurricane Dorian on September 1 that killed nearly 70 people and left damage estimated at US$3.4 billion.
“Our sincere thanks also goes out to all those who supported our efforts to ease the suffering of the islanders by giving generously to our recovery fundraising initiatives.
“Through one of our support initiatives, the Caribbean Tourism Job Bank, we were pleased to see the number of organisations from areas unaffected by the storm, offering jobs to some 2,500 Bahamian hotel workers who were displaced by Dorian. We are working collaboratively with our partners in The Bahamas to support their recovery with the funds which were raised.”
She said she was also pleased that the CHTA Education Foundation has been organising and offering scholarships and special assistance for the education and training of Caribbean tourism industry personnel and students pursuing tourism and hospitality careers.
“Over the past year the foundation and its partners have made special efforts for students from hurricane-afflicted islands as well as focused on the critically important issue of diversity to better equip our team members to warmly welcome, respect and embrace the world.
“We are committed to being leaders in this space and are happy that our efforts have begun to open doors for discussions on issues that urgently need to be addressed so that all people living in and visiting our beautiful region – irrespective of gender, sexual or religious preference – feel safe, welcomed and truly part of our Caribbean community.”
She urged participation at the January 21-23 Caribbean Travel Marketplace to be held in the Bahamas as well as the Caribbean Hospitality Industry Exchange Forum (CHIEF) and Taste of the Caribbean to be held in Miami in June. | The Barbados-based Caribbean Tourism Organization (CTO) Tuesday described 2019 as “a varied year, which both highlighted the strengths in Caribbean tourism and its inherent weaknesses”.
In a New Year’s message, CTO acting secretary general, Neil Walters, said the sector’s strengths were evident in the significant growth rates experienced by most Caribbean countries.
He said that despite contraction in some larger destinations, such as Cuba and the Dominican Republic, the Caribbean experienced an overall 6.1 per cent level of growth in visitor arrivals during the first nine months of the year.
“It is noteworthy that the growth rates of those countries affected by the 2017 hurricanes were substantial, in some cases up to triple-digit levels. This level of recovery speaks volumes about the commitment of the Caribbean to this industry which has become the lifeblood of several countries,” he said.
Walters said that when Hurricane Dorian, a Category 5 hurricane, swept through the Bahamas, the destruction “was a further wake-up call to us in the region that the climatic changes are here and likely irreversible.
“It is our responsibility to create resilience in not only the tourism sector, but all sectors of our economies, and by extension all sections of our societies. We continue to commiserate with our brothers and sisters in The Bahamas on the loss of life and property experienced as a result of Dorian.”
Walters said that the cruise sector has also had a strong showing in 2019 with a 5.8 per cent growth rate for the first three quarters.
“Implicit in this growth of cruise visits is the fact that as occurred in 2018, there has been consistent growth of cruise visits in each quarter of 2019, albeit at rates which are lower than those experienced in 2018,” he said.
“The Caribbean tourism sector is ending 2019 in a position of which all of us can be proud, having seen an overall reversal of the position at the end of 2018. As we look to 2020, we should not rest on our laurels, but continue to work to sustain the growth which was realised this year,” Walter said.
“At the same time, we must remember that we live in a volatile climatic region which, while providing the palate for amazing experiences for our visitors, must always be respected and considered in our planning and development.”
Walters said that in the new year, the CTO will continue with the theme of the ‘Year of Festivals’ as it recognised that it was all but impossible for it to fully embrace the rich culture of the Caribbean in one 12-month period.
“This year we hope to move even further along the path of integrating our festivals and other cultural events into the tourism product in all our countries. We recognise that not only do these aspects of our individual countries distinguish us from each other, but they also hold significant potential in the quest to attract even more visitors to our shores,” he said.
“What is also becoming clearer to us is that we have not begun to fully and responsibly harness the power of our culture and heritage in defining who we are, and this is critical as we seek to offer authentic experiences which benefit both the visitor and the communities in which these experiences exist.”
Walters said that given the results recorded so far in 2019, “it is our expectation that 2020 will, all things being equal, be another year of growth, likely at a rate slightly lower for both stay over arrivals and cruse visits.
“One way that we can arrest the reduction in growth – or even maintain growth at current levels – is to embrace the value of speaking with one voice, ONE CARIBBEAN, to the rest of the world,” he added. | 3.333333 |
From shuttering of a 27-year-old airline to repeated grounding of planes to ailing Air India, headwinds blew across the once-fastest growing domestic civil aviation space in 2019 while a spike in regional air connectivity served as a silver lining in relatively cloudy skies.
If Jet Airways going bankrupt left hundreds of people jobless and shattered decades-old supply chain network, frequent Pratt & Whitney (P&W) engine woes for Airbus 320 neo aircraft continued to pose safety concerns even as aviation watchdog DGCA came out with stringent directions.
Global ban on Boeing 737 MAX aircraft in the wake of two fatal accidents came as a blow to many airlines worldwide, including SpiceJet, which has largely pinned hopes on these fuel-efficient planes for its ambitious expansion plans.
In 2020, the Centre expects sale of Air India and privatise more airports while AirAsia India is likely to get green nod for international flights. Besides, Vistara and IndiGo are anticipated to increase the number of overseas flights.
On the airlines side, differences between IndiGo's co-founders and co-promoters -- Rakesh Gangwal and Rahul Bhatia -- came to the fore in July. The promoters' spat, which is far from over, also brought the alleged corporate governance lapses and other issues under the regulatory scanner.
After surging over 18 per cent in 2018, domestic air passenger growth sputtered to a five-year low in April 2019 before flying back into double-digit expansion of 11.86 per cent in November.
At the same time, domestic passenger traffic grew at the lowest in the last five years till October with April seeing 4.5 per cent degrowth.
On the contrary, when the domestic economy expanded by a healthy 7.15 per cent in the January- December period of 2018, the domestic air passenger volume surged a robust 18.60 per cent.
Under the regional air connectivity scheme or UDAN, as many as 134 routes commenced operations between January and October while some 335 routes were awarded during the year, covering 33 airports, comprising 20 un-served, three under-served and 10 water aerodromes.
Speaking at a business event in Mumbai in December, Civil Aviation Secretary Pradeep Singh Kharola said if the economy has to reach the USD 5-trillion mark, some sectors would have to grow in double digits and that aviation sector is the one which has the potential to grow.
His observations only seem more apt when one looks back into the performance of aviation sector in the year gone by vis--vis economic growth.
Jet Airways, whose closure left 20,000-odd unpaid employees in the lurch, also became the first domestic airline to undergo insolvency proceedings.
The demise of Jet Airways, which used to operate over 600 flights on national and international routes per day, resulted in around 20 per cent capacity deficit, resulting in skyrocketing fares.
The government also temporarily allotted hundreds of airport slots owned by it to other carriers, with an aim to contain soaring airfares in the peak holiday season. Even though SpiceJet and IndiGo started flights on many ex-Jet Airways' routes, it was not enough to meet domestic air passenger demand.
SpiceJet also took Boeing 737 planes that were earlier leased by Jet Airways.
In the wake of frequent glitches in P&W engine-powered A320 neos, IndiGo ordered CFM engines for its 280 A320/321 neo planes.
During the year, IndiGo also placed an order for 300 Airbus aircraft, its largest ever worth an estimated USD 33 billion to replace old planes in its fleet and operate non-stop flights to long-haul destinations such as London and Tokyo.
In March 2019, aviation regulators -- including the DGCA -- banned 737 MAX aircraft after two of these planes met with accidents within a span of five months, killing around 350 people, allegedly due to faulty software systems.
SpiceJet had to ground 13 737 MAX planes in March.
Nevertheless, competition among the airlines remained fierce, causing fares to remain comparatively low. IndiGo and SpiceJet, India's two biggest airlines, reported Rs 1,062 crore and Rs 463 crore in the second quarter of 2019-20.
With airfares remaining low even during the festive season around Diwali, 2019-20 is likely to remain a tough year for Indian airlines revenue-wise, according to market analysts.
AirAsia India -- a joint venture between Tatas and AirAsia Investment Ltd, which is a subsidiary of Malaysian airline group AirAsia Berhad -- is likely to get approval for flying overseas in 2020.
Vistara -- which connected Indian cities to international destinations such as Singapore, Dubai, Bangkok and Colombo in 2019 -- is also expected to start flights to distant destinations such as London and Tokyo once it starts getting deliveries of wide-body 787-9 Dreamliner aircraft from Boeing in February 2020.
While disinvestment-bound Air India's net loss in 2018-19 was around Rs 8,556 crore, its current total debt is over Rs 60,000 crore.
The fate of the Maharaja continues to be uncertain with Minister of State for Civil Aviation Hardeep Singh Puri even saying that the airline would go out of business if it is not privatised.
The new year is also expected to see movement forward in construction of new airports at Jewar in Uttar Pradesh and Navi Mumbai in Maharashtra. The Airports Authority of India (AAI), in September, recommended privatisation of airports at Amritsar, Varanasi, Bhubaneswar, Indore, Raipur and Trichy. Privatisation of these aerodromes is likely to be completed in 2020.
(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) | In December, Boeing announced suspension of 737 MAX production starting in January due to certification moving into 2020. (Reuters photo used for representation)
As many airlines worldwide await the final word on Boeing 737 MAX aircraft, the US aviation watchdog FAA has said a "thorough process" is being followed for testing the plane but no timeframe has been set for completion of the work.
In the wake of two fatal accidents involving MAX planes, regulators across the globe, in 2019, imposed a ban on flying these fuel-efficient aircraft. The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) also ordered grounding of these planes in India.
Since then, Boeing has been working on addressing the problems with MAX aircraft.
In India, SpiceJet is the only domestic carrier having MAX aircraft in its fleet. The budget airline grounded 13 737 MAX planes in March last year.
A spokesperson for the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) said the regulator is following a thorough process for returning the Boeing 737 MAX to passenger service.
"We continue to work with other international aviation safety regulators to review the proposed changes to the aircraft. Our first priority is safety, and we have set no timeframe for when the work will be completed," the spokesperson told PTI.
For several weeks, testing of various types are being done on the proposed modifications to the aircraft flight control system. The process would continue in the coming weeks until certification is complete.
A senior airline official said test flight of MAX plane is likely to be done by the FAA and the EASA (European Aviation Safety Agency) together in January, possibly in the third week. Once the test flights are successfully completed, then it might take at least one month for the certification process, the official added.
The airline is a MAX aircraft customer.
Queries sent to Boeing, EASA and SpiceJet regarding MAX planes did not elicit any immediate response.
In December, Boeing announced the suspension of 737 MAX production starting in January due to certification moving into 2020.
Jet Airways, which was shuttered in April 2019, was also operating these planes.
In December, aviation consultancy CAPA India said the continued grounding of the 737 MAX has had a significant impact on SpiceJet.
This is because of the inability to benefit from the improved fuel efficiency of the aircraft or to access the sale-and-leaseback revenue generated from their induction, it had said in a report.
In March 2019, a Nairobi-bound Ethiopian Airlines' 737 MAX aircraft crashed after taking off from Addis Ababa and killed 157 people. The fatal incident came less than five months after a 737 MAX plane, operated by Lion Air, crashed, killing over 180 people in Indonesia in October 2018. | 2.666667 |
A heavy police presence was out in force as tens of thousands of revellers attended the Field Day music festival in Sydney on New Year's Day.
There were 169 people arrested and charged with drug-related offences – 167 of them for possession and two for supply. These included a 19-year-old man who was allegedly found with more than 3.4 grams of MDMA in his underwear.
Police question a man after a sniffer dog identified him for suspected drug possession. Credit:James Alcock
Police sniffer dogs were kept busy at the sold-out festival in the Domain, with dozens of people being taken for questioning after the dogs identified them for possible drug possession.
The Herald also observed a strong presence of undercover police, with at least 20 plain clothes officers detaining patrons both inside and outside the venue. | Scannography (also called scanography, Scanner Photography or
Scan-art) is a new way to represente the world around us…
In this slideshow you can see random images of what you find on the artists pages.
Overfly the image to discover the artist's name The term is subject to discussions, I choosed the "scannography" with two "n" because I thought it suited with the fact that most scannographers do a real graphic work based on scanner (with two "n") captured images. Scannography is also the term for medical scanns but that shouldn't be a contrariety. Some artist prefer "scanography" with one "n" as "scan" is ended with one only. In the early days of photography it wasn't considered at all as an Art. It's up to us to make scannography seen as something special that has it's place in Fine Arts… Scannography is near from photography but also very different from it in many points. A few of them are the absence of perspective and of depth of field, the regularity of the light captured by thousands of captors… Some of these points are very different from one artist to the other. The material seeem to have it's importance too. One of the most interesting things about scannography is that it is a new way to see the things around us. It's not macro but can be ! It's not drawing but has something similar to those documentary drawings done to capture the essence of plants or animals ! It's not photography but it reproduces the reality with extraodinary precision ! You will discover some artists here (if you are yourself a scannographer and want to be included in those pages please contact me) and some tips and tricks on this site that can help you to catch what scannography is about ! | 1 |
HYDERABAD: Panjagutta police booked a case against film producer Natti Kumar’s son , Kranthi, for allegedly obstructing police from performing their duties.According to the police, at 11.30pm on December 31, a patrolling team of Panjagutta PS received a dial 100 complaint from Kranthi. “Our staff attended the complaint and met Kranthi. While the constables were talking to him, Kranthi behaved rudely and created nuisance. Constables Samiuddin and Anjaneyulu requested him to behave properly, but Kranthi did not listen to them and pushed them,” Panjagutta police said.SI Vijaya Bhaskar Reddy and inspector Karunakar Reddy, who were present at the spot brought him to the police station for enquiry. Panjagutta ACP, Tirupatanna, said: “Kranthi’s father, Natti Kumar, and his family came to the police station and they too behaved rudely. We registered a case against Kranthi.” | A+ A-
Hyderabad: Tollywood producer Natti Kumar’s son Kranthi is booked on charges of abusing policemen on New Year’s Eve near Country club at Somajiguda.
The Punjagutta patrolling team arrived at the scene after receiving the message of a brawl outside the club, Hans reports.
The Police found few individuals individuals involved in the brawl.
“When the patrol officers were collecting details, Kranthi behaved rudely and created a nuisance.
He obstructed the policemen and pushed them,” said Karunakar Reddy, Inspector, Punjagutta.
The police detained Kranthi and shifted him to the police station and minutes later his father and family members came to the police station.
The Police have registered a case against Kranti under section 353 (deterring duties of public servant) of IPC read with 34 of IPC. | 4 |
Floods are common in the city around this time of year. They are one of the reasons Mr Widodo plans to move the capital to East Borneo in the next few years. | Jakarta [Indonesia], Jan 1 (ANI): At least nine people were killed on Wednesday after heavy monsoon rains struck the Indonesian capital and nearby cities since New Year's Eve, triggering the worst flooding in almost seven years, submerging homes and cars, according to state media citing local authorities.
The Jakarta disaster management agency said that a 16-year-old was electrocuted by a power line, while three more people died of hypothermia, according to Bangkok Post.
"We are hoping that the floodwaters will recede, but if the rain keeps up it will continue," an official said.
State-owned electricity firm PLN has temporarily shut down electricity in 724 flood-hit areas in the city to prevent any electricity-related accidents.
Head of the National Disaster Mitigation Agency Doni Monardo has urged the affected residents to evacuate to safer places, Xinhua news agency reported.
Separately, Jakarta Governor Anies Baswedan has instructed officials of his administration to get directly involved and help evacuate people.
"I want all the officials in the Jakarta administration to make sure that all government buildings and schools are ready to be used as evacuation shelters. Prepare public kitchens, healthcare posts, medicines, sleeping mats, public toilets and other basic needs for evacuees," he was quoted as saying.
The flash floods have disrupted public transportation systems in the city. At least 10 flights at Halim Perdanakusuma Airport in East Jakarta were reportedly canceled. (ANI) | 3.5 |
Firefighters in McHenry County this month raised more than double the amount they brought in last year for The Salvation Army of McHenry County's red kettle campaign, officials said Tuesday.
Firefighters from more than half a dozen area fire departments participated in the Firefighter Red Kettle Challenge on Dec. 21, the second consecutive year for such an event, said Jeff Pal, volunteers and community relations manager for the McHenry County organization. Firefighters staked out spots outside Jewel grocery stores in Cary, Crystal Lake, Algonquin, Huntley and McHenry, netting $23,172.85.
Last year was the first year for the firefighter challenge, Pal told the Northwest Herald on Tuesday. Last year, firefighters from Crystal Lake and Algonquin manned red kettles collecting money for the organization, Pal said. But this year, they wanted to host a challenge.
"Part of it is to be competitive," Pal said. "Part of it is hoping you make a difference."
This chapter of The Salvation Army provides food and services to families in need in McHenry County.
Last year's firefighters brought in about $10,000, Pal said.
This year, the winning firefighters from Fox River Grove/Cary/Barrington Countryside fire departments, who staked out the Cary Jewel, collected $12,849.59 for The Salvation Army. Coming in at second place were firefighters from the Crystal Lake Fire Department, who collected $3,282.27 at the Crystal Lake Jewel, according to The Salvation Army. In third place were Algonquin/Lake in the Hills firefighters, who netted $2,608.89 outside Algonquin Jewels.
Huntley firefighters, who rang at the Huntley Jewel, collected $2,444.50 on Dec. 21, coming in at fourth place. In fifth place were McHenry firefighters, who rang outside of the McHenry Jewel, and brought in $1,987.60, according to The Salvation Army.
"Algonquin really wanted to win," Pal said, but firefighters on the Fox River Grove/Cary/Barrington Countryside team expressed the same sentiment.
The money raised will be used throughout the year to help McHenry County residents in need of assistance. Programs and services differ so as to meet the needs of residents in the communities, according to The Salvation Army.
"That's going to individuals who truly need it," Pal said.
A holistic approach to “doing the most good” is used, without discrimination, whether in terms of disaster relief, emergency assistance, substance abuse rehabilitation or educational programs for children, according to the organization.
Pal said Lt. Darrell Cook with the Crystal Lake Fire Department played an integral role in creating this firefighter challenge. “He is the bridge. He brings so much passion and leadership to the firefighter challenge,” he added.
Pal said he hopes the firefighter challenge expands next year. Lake County firefighters are "looking into starting something like this," Pal said. | I would like to wish readers a happy new year as we move into 2020.
This year is set to be another exciting one for this district.
I said last year that 2019 was the year we were going to rebuild faith in politicians and I think we have certainly done that.
Last year, I promised that this council would prioritise fighting for jobs and investment and the progress at Summit Park proves it is doing this.
This council is behind 1,800 jobs and many more jobs will be created off the back of it.
I was particularly proud that the old DWP building in Sutton was brought back into use after standing empty for more than a decade.
I promised to continue the war on waste and fly-tipping is again down 15 per cent compared to last year, while prosecutions are up.
There is still too much fly-tipping though and the council will launch its third Big Ashfield Spring Clean in March to combat this.
Over the past two years, this council has invested the biggest ever amount of money for parks.
And this will continue in 2020 by continuing to protect green spaces and continuing to do its bit to combat climate change by delivering more charging points for electric cars, planting more community orchards and making its fleet of vehicles as green as possible.
The council will also continue to work with the police and other agencies to make the district safer.
The biggest challenge for the council this year though is that this will be the first year it receives no grant whatsoever from the Government.
This means it has raise money to maintain the high level of services it provides and will continue its investment programme so it can pour the returns back into the district.
As a council, we will fight to deliver as many services as locally possible and fight any attempts to scrap this council and deliver services from West Bridgford.
I will also continue the fight to get this council’s fair share of funding to fix broken roads and pavements and get gullies cleaned to avoid flooding.
And we will work with the new Conservative MP but will hold him to account at every opportunity. | 1 |
Customers of industrial, commercial and captive power classes connected to 50 PSIG line, on both sides of the Dhaka-Narayanganj highway, will not receive gas from 9am to 7pm, Titas said in a notice.
“Almost all of the customers in the area are connected with the 50 PSIG line. There is one person who is using a 150 PSIG line. He has been personally informed,” Titas Director (Operations) Rana Akbar Haidari told bdnews24.com
Apart from the installation of new lines, some leakage repair work has been done in the area, said Rana. | Laughing at Wall Street: How I Beat the Pros at Investing (by Reading Tabloids, Shopping at the Mall, and Connecting on Facebook) and How You Can, Too Chris Camillo
(4.5/5)
Free | 1 |
MEERUT: Police on Wednesday found the charred body of a 14-year-old boy from Haryana 's Panipat town, 40km from west UP's Shamli district where his father - a 'bhajan' singer - mother and elder sister were found murdered a day ago.The accused, Himanshu Saini, an aide of 'bhajan' singer Ajay Pathak (45), was arrested by Haryana police. According to Panipat police, Saini was arrested when he was trying to flee after setting ablaze Pathak's SUV which had his son, Bhagwad's body. Police have sent the charred body for forensic and post-mortem examination.It all happened a day after Ajay, his wife Sneha Pathak (42) and daughter Vasundhra Pathak (16) were murdered with a sharp-edged weapon at their Shamli house. Police said during interrogation, Himanshu confessed to have killed the entire family for not returning Rs 60,000 they owed to him. Himanshu alleged that he was insulted by Ajay every time he asked for his money .The accused confessed to have killed the family with "one of the many swords which were kept at their home". Shamli SP Vineet Jaiswal said, "Himanshu had dinner with the family on Monday, and decided to kill them after he was allegedly humiliated by Ajay.""After dinner, as the family was sleeping, he first went to Ajay's room and attacked him and his wife Sneha with a sword. Then he went to Vasundhra's room and killed her. He then strangulated 14-year-old Bhagwad to death," said SP Jaiswal. Police said Himanshu planned to dispose all the bodies. He first took Bhagwad's body to Panipat. "But, when he got to know that the news of the murders has spread, he set the car on fire," said Jaiswal. | The body of the missing child of a Bhajan singer, who was found dead along with his wife and daughter at their home in Shamli district Tuesday, was recovered on Wednesday from a car in Haryana’s Panipat, even as police arrested a 30-year-old man in connection with the case.
The body of the 10-year-old missing son of Ajay Pathak (42) was recovered with burns from the dickey of the car, police said.
Bhajan singer Pathak, his wife Neha and their daughter Vasudhra (12) were killed with sword at their home in Punjabi Colony in the neighbouring district Tuesday evening, they said.
Himashu Saini, who used to learn music from Pathak, was arrested in connection with the case. | 3.666667 |
Victorian authorities are ramping up efforts to reach and evacuate cut-off communities in East Gippsland, where 28 people remain missing after destructive bushfires tore through the region.
Key points: Remote communities across the region are either evacuating in convoys or preparing to stay and defend
Remote communities across the region are either evacuating in convoys or preparing to stay and defend In one isolated town, several residents are relying on a single shared radio at the general store
In one isolated town, several residents are relying on a single shared radio at the general store For the latest information, visit the Vic Emergency website
Premier Daniel Andrews said 24 Victorian communities were still isolated by bushfires on Thursday afternoon.
Rescue crews were battling to clear roads to reach them so they could evacuate before the risk increased this weekend, he said.
Nine satellite phones had also been dropped into other isolated communities.
This morning, Mr Andrews said the number of people missing in bushfire-affected areas in Victoria had risen from 17 to 28.
"I can confirm today that as at 9:30am, there are 28 people that we cannot locate, and we are very concerned about their wellbeing," Mr Andrews told a press conference in Melbourne.
Earlier, a body found in a home at Buchan was identified as 67-year-old Mick Roberts.
Fires have isolated the East Gippsland community of Cann River. ( Facebook: Sherylle Holster )
Thirty-nine firefighters from North America landed in Melbourne on Thursday afternoon to join the battle to control the East Gippsland blazes.
The charity group Need for Feed has also organised fodder to be dropped across East Gippsland to help isolated farmers trying to stop their livestock from starving.
On Friday morning some of the 4,000 people trapped in the coastal town of Mallacoota were transported to a Navy ship that arrived in the area the previous day.
They will be evacuated from Mallacoota to Western Port, at Hastings on the Mornington Peninsula, a journey that is expected to take 17 hours.
A contingent of 39 firefighters from North America has landed in Melbourne to help fight the East Gippsland blazes. ( AAP: Julian Smith )
Dirt-road convoy gets out of Cann River
A convoy of 46 cars and a bus left Cann River on Thursday afternoon after residents were told trying to leave on Saturday would be extremely dangerous.
The convoy, which included emergency vehicles, was able to leave after crews cleared an old dirt track out of town.
Alison Rainey, who owns a local cafe, said they were all headed to the town of Orbost.
She said some residents who were undecided about leaving had opted to join the convoy after they were told at a briefing that Saturday would be an extremely dangerous day for the town.
The Cann River P12 College kept the community safe when bushfires approached. ( Supplied: Joe Stephens )
Ms Rainey — who has decided to stay in Cann River — said her 10-year-old son was with his father in Bonnie Doon.
"Now that the town population has plummeted there's plenty [of food] to go around," she told ABC Statewide Drive.
She said she planned to take shelter in the school if things worsened.
"I feel confident that the school will be fine, that we will be protected here, I have no doubt about that."
Massive smoke plumes could be seen over Bemm River on Thursday afternoon. ( ABC News: Ben Jaensch )
Nowa Nowa residents share single radio
Further west, several residents in Nowa Nowa have been relying on a single shared radio at a general store to monitor bushfire warnings.
Nowa Nowa General Store owner Sandra Huggins said the town was confronted by a "massive wall of fire" on Tuesday. She is now concerned about what will happen this weekend.
"Our community hasn't had power since Monday evening," she said.
"Because we have no power or phones or internet we're not getting any of the emergency warnings.
"If we got out of town a few Ks, we all of sudden get 'ping, ping, pings' and all these messages.
"It's a bit disconcerting to learn you're on Watch and Act, which you didn't even know."
A passing tradie left them with a decent radio, which is now located in the only part of town with reception — in the car park outside the store.
"We don't get radio reception in our store or in our house," Ms Huggins said.
Sandra Huggins said the radio at the general store was one of the few sources of information from outside the town. ( ABC News: Nicole Asher )
"That's our only contact with what's happening, we have no idea otherwise.
"It's very scary, especially with what happened on Monday night and what may happen."
In the meantime, the community is cooking up the food from their defrosting freezers at a barbecue outside the shop.
"We're happy to feed anyone who wants to come and eat it," Ms Huggins said.
Space to play or pause, M to mute, left and right arrows to seek, up and down arrows for volume. Watch Duration: 1 minute 31 seconds 1 m 31 s Entire streets of homes were reduced to rubble in Mallacoota.
Those left in Genoa will face the fires alone
Just north-west of Mallacoota, the small community of Genoa has found itself completely cut off from Victorian authorities as a result of the fires.
CFA chief officer Steve Warrington said Victorian firefighters had asked their NSW counterparts to help, but even they could not reach the town.
Space to play or pause, M to mute, left and right arrows to seek, up and down arrows for volume. Watch Duration: 2 minutes 13 seconds 2 m 13 s CFA Chief Officer Steve Warrington says authorities are working to rescue thousands of Victorians trapped by bushfires.
He said a police officer had driven from Eden through the fire to get into Genoa and help the community as it was hit by the same blaze that devastated Mallacoota.
On Wednesday, authorities said about 100 people were trapped in Genoa.
David Sykes, who runs the nearby Wallagaraugh River Retreat, said he told his 56 guests to leave the holiday park on Sunday.
He said properties in the area had been destroyed, but most residents had already fled over the border to Eden.
"That is very, very sad, because as much as the fire out in the open has died down and is under control and in private land, you know, now the sad stories are starting to come out," he said.
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Orbost serving as a point of refuge
The town of Orbost, which sits between Bairnsdale and Mallacoota, is serving as the main point of refuge for people leaving some of East Gippsland's more remote communities.
But some people remain trapped in remote communities to the north, such as Goongerah and Bonang.
Further west, a major relief centre at the Bairnsdale saleyards has been filling up with bushfire evacuees and about 250 horses.
East Gippsland Mayor John White said a backup centre may be needed at the local racecourse.
Space to play or pause, M to mute, left and right arrows to seek, up and down arrows for volume. Watch Duration: 22 seconds 22 s Bushfires tore through East Gippsland this week and are expected to flare again this weekend.
Metung told 'we need to evacuate'
Victorian authorities have told communities to the south and south-east of the Bairnsdale complex of fires that they are under threat and should leave as soon as possible before this weekend's weather hits.
That message was hardened by Metung CFA Captain Trevor Blundell on Thursday, who told a local meeting that the town needed to be evacuated.
Space to play or pause, M to mute, left and right arrows to seek, up and down arrows for volume. Watch Duration: 1 minute 3 seconds 1 m 3 s Metung CFA Captain Trevor Blundell told people they were 'not safe'.
"We are not safe in Metung. We are not safe in Metung. We need to evacuate this town," he told a crowd through a speaker on one of the brigade's trucks.
"Holidaymakers, residents, all these people in front of me looking at me, we need to leave Metung." | There are grave fears for 17 people missing in Victoria's massive, deadly East Gippsland bushfires.
Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews told reporters on Thursday none of the 17 people missing in the region are emergency services personnel.
The increased number comes after family members confirmed Buchan man Mick Roberts had died at his home.
"There are at least 17 people that at this stage we cannot account for. Their whereabouts are unknown to us, plus there is one person confirmed as deceased," Andrews told reporters at Bairnsdale.
"Whilst Victoria Police have not been through the official identification processes, it is clear that the Roberts family have identified Mr Roberts and we send our condolences to their family and the Buchan community to whom he was so well-known and very highly regarded."
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* Naval ship arrives at Mallacoota to evacuate people as bushfires cut off town
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* Naval ships, aircraft ready for Australia bushfire rescues as thousands jump in water to flee flames
* 'Out of control': Volunteer firefighters in Australia demand income support, equipment
Andrews did not narrow down what communities of East Gippsland the missing people are from.
"It may be some of those people are safe but we hold very significant fears for the welfare of anybody who is missing at this time," he said.
AP In this image made from video, an aerial scene shows fires burning and smoke rising close to properties in Bundoora, Victoria, on Monday. The fires are expected to last for weeks.
The military has arrived to get fire victims across the region relief and resources, and also off the beach at Mallacoota.
About 24 communities are isolated and reaching them to deliver supplies have been difficult.
Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison said the federal government was offering any assistance requested.
"Our task has been to fully support and provide whatever assistance is necessary through all the various agencies of the Commonwealth," he told reporters in Sydney.
AP Bushfires are raging across Australia, with at least 16 people killed across the country since they began.
"The provision of disaster payments that have now exceeded some more than A$21 million in New South Wales alone and we expect more of that to continue in Victoria as the full devastation of the fires there becomes more evident."
All fires in Victoria are currently sitting no higher than a watch and act alert, but smoky conditions have meant flights to rescue people, deliver supplies and swap out firefighters have at times been stopped.
Firefighters are being helped on Thursday by moderate conditions, with temperatures in East Gippsland in the low to mid 20s expected to be paired with fairly light winds of up to 20 kmh.
AP An aerial scene shows destroyed properties after a wildfire in East Grippsland, Victoria, on Wednesday. Australia deployed military ships and aircraft to help communities ravaged by the fires.
But the mercury is forecast to creep up in the region on Friday, before reaching the 40s on Saturday, when the heat, hot winds and possible thunderstorms will increase the risk of new fires.
People near the Corryong fire in Victoria's northeast near the NSW border are being doorknocked and told to get out of the region before the weekend. | 3.8 |
A man is recovering after he was kidnapped, robbed and shot in Phoenix on Sunday, police say.
Court documents say a man was sleeping in his Jeep Wrangler parked at an apartment complex near Baseline Road and 44th Street early Sunday morning after having an argument with his girlfriend.
The victim, identified in court records as Anthony, says a man wearing a ski mask knocked on the window and said Anthony was parked in his parking space. The victim partially rolled down the window and the man then pointed a pistol at his head and ordered the victim to get out of the vehicle, court documents say.
Two other men wearing ski masks showed up and they forced Anthony in the backseat of the Jeep.
They drove Anthony to an ATM and forced him to take out money. They then drove him to the area of 71st Avenue and Greenway Road and told him to get out of the Jeep and walk away backward.
RELATED: Woman charged with multiple felonies after trying to pepper spray Gilbert police officer
Anthony told investigators that's when one of the men pointed the gun at him and he turned around and ran. He ran east towards 71st Avenue.
He was shot in the lower back as he was running away, court documents allege. Anthony told police he believes shot toward him six to eight times.
Anthony ran to nearby homes looking for help. A person called 911 and Anthony was taken to the hospital where he underwent emergency surgery, police reported.
RELATED: 'A cold, hard, callous act': Man in wheelchair says he was robbed of his rent money
Investigators say the suspects took Anthony's phone and the Jeep. Police were able to trace his phone and found the Jeep parked in front of a home near Carver Drive and 21st Street.
Police say the three suspects were still inside the Jeep when they arrived. The suspects sped away through the neighborhood until they eventually stopped near 20th Street and E. Euclid Avenue.
Police arrested Roderick Jabri Smith, 18, and two juveniles.
Smith allegedly admitted to pointing the gun at the victim and forcing him to withdraw $300 to $600 from an ATM.
Smith reportedly told investigators they drove around with the victim and smoked weed.
Smith claims he stayed in the Jeep when the victim was told to get out. He says the other two suspects got out with the victim. That's when he says he heard several gunshots, according to court documents.
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Smith is a convicted felon and is on probation. His bond was set at $75,000. He was ordered to not have any contact with his co-defendants.
He will be back in court on January 6. | An Ohio State University football fan visiting Arizona for the Fiesta Bowl was carjacked, kidnapped and shot — and then made a desperate plea for help on a stranger’s doorbell camera, according to reports.
The victim — a 32-year-old San Diego man identified only as Anthony — was sleeping in his car early Sunday outside an apartment complex in Phoenix when he awoke to three people pointing a gun at his face before they pushed him into the backseat, KNXV reports.
The suspects then drove Anthony to ATM machines, where he was forced to make withdrawals. One of the suspects, 18-year-old Roderick Jabri Smith, later confessed to detectives that he took out up to $600 in cash during the spree, according to a police report.
The trio then drove the victim to a location in nearby Peoria before ordering him to get out of the car, his sister recalled.
“They told him to keep backing up, and pointed the gun at him and then they just said something about, ‘it’s over,’” the victim’s sister, Michelle, told the station. “And he said, ‘Just take me home,’ and they started shooting.”
In all, a neighbor said she heard up to eight gunshots, one of which hit Anthony in the lower back before lodging in his abdomen, according to the station.
The victim then frantically ran to nearby homes in search of help, ultimately coming upon the residence of a firefighter after running through several yards and hopping multiple fences.
“Hey, I’ve been shot,” Anthony told the firefighter who had just turned off his 5 a.m. alarm. “I’ve been shot.”
“Who’s Anthony?” the firefighter, identified only as Jerry, replied.
“Just call 911, I’ve been shot,” Anthony said, according to video obtained by ABC News. “I swear to god.”
“Get the f–k out of here!” Jerry said.
The firefighter called 911, likely saving Anthony’s life, ABC News reports.
“I could tell he’s hurt, in some way shape or form,” Jerry later told ABC News. “I’ve glad to hear he’s OK. I’m glad to hear he’s a righteous dude.”
Three teen suspects, including a 16- and 17-year-old, were later arrested by police on charges of kidnapping and armed robbery, including two juveniles ages 16 and 17, ABC News reports.
Smith, 18, was also charged with aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, court documents show.
The victim, meanwhile, is still shaken from the ordeal.
“He feels very lucky to be alive but he is extremely traumatized,” his sister told KNXV. | 3.666667 |
A SENIOR Tory MSP has called for a ban on anonymous social media accounts to help clean the “cesspit” of abuse faced by politicians online.
Murdo Fraser, who won the Herald’s E-Politician of the Year award in 2019 for deft use of social media, said anonymity was driving a daily torrent of “vile” posts.
Research into last month’s general election found candidates were subjected to four times the abuse seen in 2017, with around one in six messages directed at them insulting.
Analysis by PoliMonitor on behalf of the Joseph Rowntree Trust found 16.5 per cent of Twitter posts aimed at candidates were abusive, against 4% just two years earlier.
Most of the abuse - 96% - was directed at 150 candidates, with a select handful attracting hundreds of angry messages each day.
The most attacked person online was Boris Johnson, followed by Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn and the then LibDem leader Jo Swinson.
Female candidates received slightly more abuse than male ones.
Online abuse has been cited as a significant factor in MPs standing down at the election, and a reluctance on the part of women in particular to enter politics.
Last year the prominent SNP MP Joanna Cherry QC revealed she had received a police escort to her constituency surgery after a “credible death threat” against her.
Kirstene Hair, the then Tory MP for Angus, also told the BBC she would go “insane” if she didn’t ignore the abuse she received, yet knew threats had to be taken seriously.
Writing in the Scotsman, Mr Fraser said there was a clear role for social media companies such as Twitter and Facebook in helping to curb attacks.
“It is simply too easy for any individual to set up an anonymous Twitter account and then use it to bombard those of a different political persuasion with abusive messages.
“Whilst tweets can be reported for inappropriate language, in my experience the bar is set very high in terms of what is viewed as permissible, and in any event, this is only addressing the problem after it has occurred.
“It is the anonymity of social media that makes abuse so prevalent.
“If individuals were required to identify themselves, they might be much less prepared to send vitriol to complete strangers who just happen to take a different political view.
“If they knew that family members, friends and work colleagues could see what they were posting, they might just pause and think before pressing Send on a torrent of vile abuse.”
He acknowledged ending anonymity in social media would require a change of policy by the media leviathans involved, but said it was a step “that needs to be taken”.
People had to change too.
“We cannot just blame the social media companies for a negative aspect of human character. This is an area where each and every one of us has to take personal responsibility.”
He said binary views on Brexit and Scottish independence had “undoubtedly contributed to the toxicity of the political debate”, and hoped the absence of a scheduled election in 2020 would make the atmosphere “a little less febrile”. | Virality was once the delightful miracle of a networked age; you’d see a funny video going around, get caught up in the collective wonder and hilarity, and forward it on to your 100 closest pals. At its meme-ified best, participating in this sort of viral feast felt like a boon to collective social bonding. Remember, kids, that one glorious day we were all talking about the crazy dress? What times, what times!
But, The Dress notwithstanding, in the 2010s virality got too easy, and then it grew sour, venal and dishonest. Nobody’s counting, but by my unscientific estimate almost everything that became instantly popular online in the last decade turned out to be problematic in one way or another. That photo of the shark washed onto a freeway by a hurricane? Fake. The culture-war-defining outrage your aunt just posted to Facebook? Debunked, of course. The suddenly popular influencer? A “milkshake duck” running from his past.
Social networks and even governments are looking into ways to curb viral misinformation, but this fight will define our age. The root of the problem is that humans are weak, gullible dolts; every day many of us, even people who should know better — folks with fancy jobs and blue check marks next to our handles — keep falling for online hoaxes. Virality hijacks our better instincts, and because so many of the internet’s business models benefit from instant popularity, there’s a great deal of money and power riding on our failings.
There is only one long-term fix: that a critical number of us alter how we approach viral content. Let’s all consciously embark on a mind-set shift. In 2020, question anything that everyone’s talking about, especially if it fits all your priors, or there’s some kind of ad money involved. (Hint: There’s always ad money involved.) If you can’t stop sharing, at least slow your roll. The stakes are enormous; there’s no room for error. Strive to be better, please.
Resist the easy dunk.
In the 2010s, Twitter became the center of the political universe. In some ways this was for the better — Twitter is a haven for righteous activism against the global powers that be — but most times, it was for the worse. Twitter is a daily toxic nightmare of reflexive egotism and groupthink that will prompt you to question your priorities, not to mention your sanity. | 1.5 |
Daytona Beach police are hoping a video can help them locate an armed robber.The suspect is accused of robbing a convenience store on Christmas Eve, investigators say.The store owner said the suspect held him at gunpoint and demanded money. The man then allegedly grabbed cash from the register and rode away on a bicycle.Anyone with information is asked to contact police.
Daytona Beach police are hoping a video can help them locate an armed robber.
The suspect is accused of robbing a convenience store on Christmas Eve, investigators say.
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The store owner said the suspect held him at gunpoint and demanded money. The man then allegedly grabbed cash from the register and rode away on a bicycle.
Anyone with information is asked to contact police. | VOLUSIA COUNTY, Fla. (WESH) — Authorities arrested a man after he outed himself on social media.
Volusia County sheriff’s deputies said Kevin Gaines, 20, was wanted for numerous charges, including grand theft auto.
In body camera video released by officials, Gaines is shown on a cellphone doing a live feed on his Instagram account, which revealed his location.
Deputies are heard in the video saying Gaines turned off his live feed when he saw the blue lights of law enforcement.
Gaines was taken into custody without incident.
Investigators said several weapons were found in the home.
Along with existing charges, Gaines was also charged with possession of a firearm by a delinquent.
LATEST STORIES: | 2.333333 |
(MENAFN- America News Hour) This cyber security market report focuses on the U.S. financial services demand side of cyber security products, systems & services. It is based on hundreds of interviews with financial institutions' cyber security customers, CEOs, CISOs and CIOs as well as cyber security industry executives and world-class experts.
The surge and sophistication of 'successful' cyber crimes against the U.S. financial services enterprises, major retail chains, and banks during 2013-2015, when over 600 million customers' bank records and payment cards were compromised, shook the board rooms of the U.S. financial institutions.
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Considering the economic and business implications of cyber attacks, it has now become mandatory for the financial industry to significantly increase its investments in state-of-the-art cyber security technologies, solutions, and outsourced services to detect, prevent, analyze and resolve the epidemic of financial cyber crime.
According to the Cyber Security Market Report 'U.S. Financial Services: U.S. Financial Services: Cybersecurity Systems & Services Market – 2016-2020' report, the U.S. financial institutions cyber security market is the largest and fastest growing private sector cyber security market. Its cumulative 2016-2020 market size is forecasted to exceed $68 Billion.
We corroborated our findings by conducting a meta study which integrated the results of eight individual surveys performed by others (e.g., Verizon, IBM, SANS survey for: Blue Coat, FireEye, ForeScout, Raytheon, Sourcefire Tenable Network, N.Y. State Department of Financial Services, Accenture, Zurich Insurance and more) with thousands of combined responders.
This report is a resource for executives with interests in the cyber security industry. It has been explicitly customized for the cyber security industry and financial services decision-makers to identify business opportunities, developing technologies, market trends and risks, as well as to benchmark business plans.
Questions answered in this 663-page report include:
What will the market size and trends of the cyber security market for financial institutions be during 2016-2020?
Which are the submarkets that provide attractive business opportunities in this cyber security segment?
What is the U.S. financial institutions industry structure?
Who are the decision-makers?
What drives the U.S. banking & financial services managers to purchase cyber security solutions and services?
What are the customers looking for?
What are the technology & services trends?
Where and what are the market opportunities?
What are the market drivers and inhibitors?
Who are the key cyber security vendors?
What are the challenges to market penetration & growth?
The report examines each dollar spent in the market via two orthogonal money trails: Technology & Service sectors and the Financial Services sectors that procure the products & services. Within these trails, the report is further granulated into: 25 technologies, solutions & services and 12 financial industry sectors as shown below:
Cyber security market in finance
Also included with this report: a roster of 21,653 banking and financial services enterprises that are potential cyber security customers. 87% of the listed enterprises include corporate contact information. Provided in an Excel file, the roster is segmented into 10 U.S. financial industry sectors (Banks, Credit Card Issuers, Credit Unions, Insurance Companies, Pension Funds, Accounting Companies, Stock Brokerage Companies, Stock Exchanges, Mortgage Companies and Real Estate Investment Companies).
We particularly look into the retail industry primes and the payment cards industry commitment to replace the 1970s security technology magnetic stripe cards and point of sale cash card scanners by new chip & pin cards and POS reading equipment.
The report presents in 663 pages, 259 tables & figures, analysis of 23 current and pipeline cyber security services & technologies and 193 leading cyber security vendors. It is explicitly tailored for both the cyber security industry and banking & financial services industry decision-makers. The report details market & cyber security legislation trends, and enables the two communities to identify business opportunities, present pipeline technologies, cyber security market size, legislation trends, drivers and inhibitors. It also provides for each submarket 2013 -2014 data, analyses, and projects the 2015-2020 market and technologies from several perspectives, including:
Business opportunities and challenges
SWOT analysis
Market analysis (e.g., market dynamics, market drivers and inhibitors)
2013-2020 market size data & forecasts, current & emerging technologies & services, key facts, sector background and analysis of the following 18 submarkets:
1. Endpoint Security
2. Identity and Access Management
3. Mobile Enterprise Management
4. Mobile Security
5. Security Information and Event Management
6. Content Security
7. Data Loss Prevention (DLP)
8. Datacenter Security
9. Firewall
10. Next Generation Firewall
11. IDS/IPS
12. Unified Threat Management
13. Cloud-Based Services
14. Vulnerability/Risk Management & Managed Security Services
15. Consulting Services
16. Integration Services
17. Education and Training Services
18. Forensics, VPN, Web Security, Policy & Compliance and Other Services
2013-2020 market size data & forecasts, key facts and analysis of 7 banking & financial services sectors:
1. U.S. Banking Industry
2. U.S. Insurance Industry
3. U.S. Credit Card Companies & Mobile Payment Providers industry
4. U.S. Government Related Financial Services industry
5. U.S. Stock Brokerages & Exchanges
6. U.S. Pension Funds industry
7. U.S. Credit Unions, Investment Funds, Accountancy Companies & Other financial sectors
The report includes:
8 Appendices:
Appendix A: Other Banking & Financial Services Cybersecurity Solutions
Appendix B: Techno-Tactical Trends
Appendix C: Cyberspace Layers
Appendix D: Cybersecurity Standards
Appendix E: The E.U. Banking and Financial Services Security Regulations
Appendix F: Payment Card Transactions & Security Systems
Appendix G: Financial Sector Acronyms & Glossary
Appendix H: NIST – Framework for Improving Critical Infrastructure Cybersecurity
Data on 191 Cybersecurity companies operating in the market (profiles, contact information & management personnel) including:
41st Parameter, Accenture, Agiliance, AhnLab, Airbus, AirWatch, Akamai, Alert Logic, AlertEnterprise, AlienVault, Alt-N Technologies, Application Security, AppSense Limited, Arbor Networks, Attachmate, Authentify, AVAST Software, Aveksa, AVG Technologies, Avira, Barracuda Networks, Beyond Security, BeyondTrust, Bit9, Bitdefender, BlackBerry, BlackStratus, Blue Coat Systems, BoxTone, Bromium, BullGuard, Cassidian Communications Inc., Catbird Networks, Centrify, Cenzic, Check Point, CipherCloud, Cisco Systems Inc, Clearswift, Click Security, CloudFlare, CloudLock, Code Green Networks, Commtouch Software, Comodo, CORE Security, Corero Network Security, Courion, Covisint, CrowdStrike Holdings, CSID, Cyber Operations, Cyber-Ark, CyberArk Software, Cyberoam, Cyren, Damballa, DigiCert, Digital Info Security Company, EdgeWave, EiQ Networks, Elbit Systems, Enterasys Networks, Entrust, ESET, Exobox Technologies Corp, Extreme Networks, Faronics Technologies, Fast facts, Fiberlink, Fidelis Security Systems, FireEye, FireMon, ForeScout Technologies, FoxGuard Solutions, F-Secure, Fulcrum IT Services Company. LLC, G2 Web Services, Gemalto, General Dynamics, GFI Software, Good Technology, Guardian Analytics, Guidance Software, Hewlett-Packard Co, HyTrust, ID Analytics, Igloo Security Inc, Imprivata, Intel Security Group, International Business Machines Corp, Intrusion Inc, IOActive, Iovation, Juniper Network, Kaspersky Lab, L-3 Communications, Lacoon Security Ltd, Lancope, LANDesk Software, LogRhythm, Lookingglass Cyber Solutions, Lookout Mobile, Lumension Security, M5 Network Security, Mandiant, Mantech International Corp, Memento, Merlin International, MessageLabs, MetricStream, Mobile Active Defense, Mobile Vault, MobileIron, Mobilityone Ltd, Mocana, MU Dynamics, N-Dimension Solutions, NetCentrics Corporation, Network Security Systems, Nics Tech Co. Ltd., NIKSUN, NSS Labs Inc., Odyssey Technologies, Okta, OpenDNS, Palantir Technologies Inc, Palo Alto Networks Inc, Panda Security, ParetoLogic, Perimeter Internetworking Corp., PerspecSys, Ping Identity, Prolexic Technologies, Proofpoint, Qualys Inc., Quick Heal Technologies (P) Ltd., QUMAS, QuoVadis, Radware Ltd, Rapid7, Raytheon Pikewerks Corporation, Red Lambda Inc., ReD plc, RedSeal Networks Inc., Retail Decisions Plc, RLM Communications Inc., RSA Security LLC, SafeNet Inc., SailPoint Technologies Inc., SAINT Corporation, Salient Federal Solutions Inc., SecurityMetrics, Senetas Corp Ltd, SilverSky, Skybox Security Inc., SolarWinds, Solera Networks Inc., Sophos Ltd., Sotera Defense Solutions Inc., Splunk Inc., Stormshield Network Security (Formerly: NETASQ S.A.), Strikeforce Technologies, Symantec Corporation, Sympli ied Inc., Synectics Plc, Tangoe, TeleSign Corp., Tenable Network Security, Thales, The KEYW Holding Corporation, ThreatMetrix, TIBCO Software, TraceSecurity, Trend Micro Inc, Tripwire, Trusteer, Trustwave, Utimaco Safeware Inc., Vanguard Integrity Professionals Inc., Varonis Systems, VASCO Data Security International, Venafi, Veracode, Verdasys, Verint Systems Inc, WatchGuard Technologies, Webroot, WhiteHat Security, Workshare Technology, Zix Corporation, Zscaler
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Contact Info of 87% of the following U.S. Financial Institutions (in an attached Excel file):
Financial Sector # of Firms
Banks 6665
Credit Card Issuers 770
Credit Unions 6977
Insurance Companies 944
Pension Funds 252
Accounting Companies 1277
Stock Brokerage Companies 3817
Stock Exchanges 18
Mortgage Companies 831
Real Estate Investment Companies 92
About Kenneth Research:
Kenneth Research provides market research reports to different individuals, industries, associations and organizations with an aim of helping them to take prominent decisions. Our research library comprises of more than 10,000 research reports provided by more than 15 market research publishers across different industries. Our collection of market research solutions covers both macro level as well as micro level categories with relevant and suitable market research titles. As a global market research reselling firm, Kenneth Research provides significant analysis on various markets with pure business intelligence and consulting services on different industries across the globe. In addition to that, our internal research team always keep a track on the international and domestic market for any economic changes impacting the products' demand, growth and opportunities for new and existing players.
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Darlene Dooley
Darlene Dooley is a research expert and freelance writer. She is very dedicated towards her work and writing. She enjoys to write on current news on any industry and conclude the news with highly professional report. She has almost 8 years of experience in the same field. She has strong professional skill in Market research, Business Strategies, online marketing, Industry analysis interested in innovative and trending technologies. | Tagging 2020 as the ‘year of Revival and New Glory, Olukoya urged Nigerians to pray because the year would be messy and confusing.
Read Also: Pastor Tackles MFM’s Olukoya Over Christmas ‘Unbiblical’ Comment
Here are the prophecies below:
”1. 2020 is a year where disobedience to God would yield terrible result that no deliverance can reverse.
2. More than any other year the enemy plans to bring the dog spirit (strange sexual perversions).
3. Year where round the clock prayers are needed against national restlessness.
4. This year impatience would lure many Into strange marriages.
5. A year not only to take back what the enemy has stolen but for you to occupy new territories.
6. Hot prayers are required in 2020.
7. This year would be messy and confusing.
8. Year when some many leaders would be shifted away.
9. A year where all things many have planted and watered in the past years would now begin to produce fruits.
10. Year where many who have endured season of darkness and delay would sing their song and dance their dance.
11. Year of returns of long time prodigals.
ALSO READ: Oluwo of Iwo announces separation from his wife, Chanel Chin
12. Year we must return to our accient landmark ( holiness and righteousness.
13. Year of perfection for vision.
14. Year of positive and negative harvest.
15. Extra ordinary and sacrificial giving would yield powerful result this year.
16. 2020 would be an up and down year.
17. Year that the Lord shall tear in pieces kingdom of those boasting against him.
18. Season where that which that has delayed the blessing of God’s children shall be dashed to pieces.
19. Resurrection power would bring back dry bones.
20. The lord would bring fresh start for a lot of people.
21. The lord would bring fresh start for a lot of people.
22. Year for rewriting negative family history.
23. Year of aggressive prayers against voices from foundation.
24. Year of unbelievable answers to prayers.
25. Year of it can only be God testimonies.
26. Year where many captives would divorce their chains.
27. Year for consistently deploying the blood of Jesus.
28. Year when the Lord shall dash to pieces kingdom of evil rulers.
29. Many families shall climb to a new height of victory.
30. Year when sins must be more sensitive to heaven frequencies.
31. Food supplies from the kingdom of herod shall be cut off.” | 1 |
Follow Yahoo Finance here for up-to-the-minute briefings on the financial markets, breaking news and other topics of interest to investors and traders. Please check back for continuing coverage.
4:06 p.m. ET: S&P climbs 29% in 2019, best gain since 2013: report
The S&P 500 climbed 29% in 2019 in the best annual gain since 2013, Bloomberg reports. The S&P added a record $5.9 trillion in market value in 2019.
Here’s where markets stood as of 4:06 p.m. ET:
S&P 500 (^GSPC): 3,230.78, up 9.49 points or 0.29%
Dow (^DJI): 28,538.44, up 76.30 points or 0.27%
Nasdaq (^IXIC): 8,972.60, up 26.61 points or 0.30%
Crude oil (CL=F): $61.15 per barrel, down $0.53 or 0.86%
Gold (GC=F): $1,520.40 per ounce, up $1.80 or 0.12%
3:40 p.m. ET: The past decade for stocks
Here’s how the major indices performed over the past decade since Dec. 31, 2009:
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2:47 p.m. ET: Stocks mixed
Here were the main market moves, as of 2:47 p.m. ET:
S&P 500 (^GSPC): 3,220.52, down 0.77 points or 0.02%
Dow (^DJI): 28,432.51, down 29.63 points or 0.10%
Nasdaq (^IXIC): 8,957.68, up points 11.68 or 0.13%
Crude oil (CL=F): $61.16 per barrel, down $0.52 or 0.84%
Gold (GC=F): $1,523.20 per ounce, up $4.60 or 0.30%
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10:30 a.m. ET: Wages keep rising as 2019 draws to a close
IMAGE DISTRIBUTED FOR AMERICAN EXPRESS - Public Domain celebrates Small Business Saturday, a day founded by American Express, on Saturday, Nov. 30, 2019 in Portland. (Carlos Delgado/American Express via AP Images)
Flat worker wages, which has figured prominently in the debate over income inequality, has been on the rise lately. New data from Paychex | IHS Markit Small Business Employment Watch confirms the trend of rising wages, with workers both working longer and earning more in December.
Paychex-IHS noted “steady growth in hourly earnings and hours worked” -- with the latter posting the strongest gains since 2012. Meanwhile, weekly earnings growth to new highs for small businesses:
“Small business job gains have flattened in the second half of the year as labor markets prove very tight,” said James Diffley, chief regional economist at IHS Markit. “In response, weekly earnings have accelerated, surging from 2.49 percent mid-year to 4.13 percent at year-end.” “The new high seen in weekly earnings growth this month is certainly positive news for the employees of small businesses,” said Martin Mucci, Paychex president and CEO. “Not only are businesses raising wages, but they’re also increasing hours for their current employees, a sure sign employers are responding to the pressures of the tight labor market.”
Story continues
Paychex-IHS’s figures also found that the South is the best region for small business jobs, while the West has seen the strongest earnings growth.
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10:00 a.m. ET: Consumer confidence climbs, but disappoints
The Conference Board’s index of consumer confidence climbed to 126.5 in December from 125.5 in November. This was just shy of the 128.5 economists were expecting.
“While consumers’ assessment of current conditions improved, their expectations declined, driven primarily by a softening in their short-term outlook regarding jobs and financial prospects,” the Conference Board’s Lynn Franco said. “While the economy hasn’t shown signs of further weakening, there is little to suggest that growth, and in particular consumer spending, will gain momentum in early 2020.”
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9:37 a.m. ET: Stocks open flat
Markets opened lower to kick off a holiday-shortened week. Here were the main market moves, as of 9:40 a.m. ET:
S&P 500 (^GSPC): 3,222.13, up 0.84 point or 0.03%
Dow (^DJI): 28,460.51, down 1.63 points or 0.01%
Nasdaq (^IXIC): 8,953.32, up 7.32 points or 0.08%
Crude oil (CL=F): $60.71 per barrel, down $0.97 or 1.57%
Gold (GC=F): $1,524.90 per ounce, up $6.30 or 0.41%
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9:16 a.m. ET: Trump says the Phase 1 trade deal will be signed January 15
From President Trump’s Twitter account: “I will be signing our very large and comprehensive Phase One Trade Deal with China on January 15. The ceremony will take place at the White House. High level representatives of China will be present. At a later date I will be going to Beijing where talks will begin on Phase Two!”
I will be signing our very large and comprehensive Phase One Trade Deal with China on January 15. The ceremony will take place at the White House. High level representatives of China will be present. At a later date I will be going to Beijing where talks will begin on Phase Two! — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 31, 2019
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9:00 a.m. ET: Home prices climb
According to the S&P Corelogic Case-Shiller monthly home price report, the average price of a home in 20 major metro areas climbed by 0.43% month over month in October, which was a bit hotter than the 0.30% forecast by economists.
"October's U.S. housing data continue to be reassuring," S&P Dow Jones Indices’ Craig Lazzara said. "With October's 3.3% increase in the national composite index, home prices are currently more than 15% above the pre-financial crisis peak reached July 2006. October's results were broad-based, as both our 10- and 20-city composites rose. Of the 20 cities in the composite, only San Francisco saw a year-over-year price decline in October.”
(S&P Dow Jones Indices)
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8 a.m. ET: Stock futures indicate lower open
U.S. stock futures indicted a lower open for the major indices Tuesday on the final day of trading this year.
Here were the main pre-market moves, as of 8 a.m. ET:
S&P futures (ES=F): 3,221, down 2.50 points or 0.08%
Dow futures (YM=F): 28,417, down 23 points or 0.08%
Nasdaq futures (NQ=F): 8,723.75, down 10 points or 0.11%
Crude oil (CL=F): $61.03 per barrel, down $0.65 or 1.05%
Gold (GC=F): $1,523.80 per ounce, up $5.20 or 0.34%
Despite the slight pullback from all-time highs, stocks are still on pace to close out their best year since 2013. The S&P 500 (^GSPC) rose 31% this year, while the Dow (^DJI) jumped 25% and the tech-heavy Nasdaq (^IXIC) advanced 36%.
The U.S. dollar (USD=X) was also in focus, as it weakened for the fourth straight day to its lowest level in nine months. Multinational companies struggled for much of the year on the back of a strong dollar, but Wall Street analysts expect the pressure to abate with a a weaker greenback in 2020.
In this Nov. 4, 2019, file photo trader Peter Tuchman, center, works on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange. (AP Photo/Richard Drew, File)
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Heidi Chung is a reporter at Yahoo Finance. Follow her on Twitter: @heidi_chung.
More from Heidi:
Find live stock market quotes and the latest business and finance news
Follow Yahoo Finance on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Flipboard, LinkedIn, and reddit. | A worker of the LIC Corner Cafe prepares an expresso for customers in Long Island City, New York, November 7, 2018.
Weekly earnings for employees of small businesses grew at an annual rate of 4.1% at the end of the year, the fastest pace since the Paychex/IHS Markit Small Business Employment Watch began.
The employment report began making annual comparisons in 2011.
Steady gains in hourly earnings and the strongest increase in hours worked in December since 2012 helped drive earnings growth. Hours worked were up 1% from the same period last year. Job growth was flattish, up just 0.06% from November's level, but year-over-year, job growth fell 0.7% due to declines in the first half.
"Small business job gains have flattened in the second half of the year as labor markets prove very tight," said James Diffley, chief regional economist at IHS Markit. "In response, weekly earnings have accelerated, surging from 2.49 percent mid-year to 4.13 percent at year-end."
The monthly report focuses on small businesses and uses payroll data of about 350,000 Paychex clients to glean wage trends and activity by region and sector.
Wage growth had been steadily rising and sometimes stubbornly slow since the financial crisis, but picked up in late 2018 and 2019. | 2 |
In 2020, quite a few horror movies are slated to hit theaters. Here's a sneak peek at what horror fans can expect in the new year.
"Underwater"- Jan. 10
"The Turning"- Jan. 24
"Fantasy Island"- Feb. 14
"The Invisible Man"- Feb. 28
"A Quiet Place Part II"- March 20
"Saint Maud"- March 27
"The New Mutants"- April 3
"Antlers"- April 17
"Antebellum"- April 24
"Ghostbusters: Afterlife"- July 10
"Halloween Kills"- Oct. 16
“It ain’t over till the fat lady sings.” Well, my friends and fans....I’m just WARMING UP__ Happy Halloween _2020/2021 @halloweenmovie #halloweenkills #halloweenends pic.twitter.com/mjkZNdYqiY — Jamie Lee Curtis (@jamieleecurtis) July 19, 2019
Aside from the above trailers, there are a handful of horror films that have planned releases in the new year but have yet to release any clips, including a new addition to the "Saw" franchise. Additionally, "Morbius," a new "Purge" film, "Escape Room 2," and others will make their debut in 2020.
Photo: Universal Pictures | Looking back to the year just passed is an interesting thing to do. Sometimes sobering, at other times amusing, yet always somewhat inspiring if one considers what has been accomplished and what else is left to be done.
A lot has been accomplished in the city. Many ongoing and new initiatives have been pushed forward and continue into the new year. Observing and participating in the machinations of municipal goings on, even at the most fundamental level, is something of a civic duty that we all should share a sense of responsibility for. It’s what makes democracy great, that every man and woman makes a difference in what transpires, mainly when they express their viewpoints at the polls.
Looking ahead to what may come in 2020, we can’t help but feel optimistic about the days ahead. It will take some hard work and serious planning, but a lot can be accomplished if we pull together and focus on what’s important.
As always, it’s up to us to push things along in the right direction. To send the proper signals to our representatives in public office. To back them up when they get it right, and to call them on it when they seem to go astray. They have their duties and personal agendas, just as we have ours. Let each one carry on in the best way possible.
It is the time tested way of our community. We enjoy a uniquely favorable reputation as those who can. | 1.333333 |
The FIFA Club World Cup, which sees the winners from each of six continental confederations compete every year, is normally a quiet affair. Fan attendance is relatively low, and in Europe in particular the tournament receives little enthusiasm—or even attention.
But this year’s event, which saw England’s Liverpool team take the top prize earlier this month, was significant for an entirely different reason: It was hosted by Qatar. The tournament was in effect a dry run for how the small Arab Gulf nation will manage the FIFA World Cup, by far the globe’s most popular sporting event, in 2022.
Bottoms up?
One lingering question is how the conservative country will handle the availability and affordability of alcohol, something that is widely considered a central part of soccer fan culture. It’s also a concern that Qatari officials have sought to allay repeatedly.
Though alcohol was banned at stadiums at this month’s Club World Cup—a departure from tournaments elsewhere—an outdoor fan zone was set up with reduced beer prices of $6 a pint. That’s more affordable than the $13 typically charged for beer at the 40 or so hotels that serve alcohol in Qatar.
But there was a catch: The outdoor drinking area was at a golf course about an hour from the final match. Spectators were reportedly bussed between the Khalifa stadium and the fan zone. The toilet-less ride pushed some to publicly urinate on walls outside the fan zone, with authorities turning a blind eye—a sign of how they might deal with boisterous fans in 2022.
World Cup organizers say serving beer at stadiums is not entirely off the agenda.
A good night’s rest
Another crucial question is just where the many fans expected to turn up for the tournament will sleep. There are fewer than 40,000 hotel rooms in Qatar, and organizers are planning to have a capacity of 70,000 rooms ahead of the tournament. More than 1 million people are expected to arrive for the month-long sporting event.
Lodging concerns have already pushed Qatari officials to approach organizers of Glastonbury—the famous British music festival—to consider building desert tents to accommodate visitors. The government has also signed deals with luxury cruise liners that might sleep up to 40,000 people over the course of the tournament. Officials have previously expressed concerns that those could turn into “booze cruises,” particularly if England’s team qualifies.
Infrastructure for all
Qatar is building seven new stadiums ahead of the 2022 tournament, each with a capacity of tens of thousands of people. The World Cup will for the first time be held in the winter months, to avoid summer temperatures that can reach 50°C (122°F), and stadiums will be equipped with outdoor cooling facilities to counter highs in the 20s°C. Roads and infrastructure connecting the stadiums are also being built, including Doha’s first subway system, unveiled in May.
Migrant workers’ rights
Qatar has been criticized for its human rights record since winning the bid to host the FIFA World Cup. Hundreds of migrants, who make up about 90% of the country’s population, have died constructing the massive infrastructure projects for the games. But the deaths—the state confirms only three—and the bad publicity from them has also pushed Qatar to reform its labor laws.
The country is abolishing the kafala sponsorship system, in place across the Gulf Cooperation Council countries, which prohibits workers from switching jobs or leaving the country without their employer’s approval. Qatar is also strengthening worker protection rights, and has passed a new minimum-wage law.
Is it worth it?
In the end, Qatar looks set to accommodate the expectations of World Cup-goers to some degree. But the tournament, which in the past led to even Russian bars running low on beer, is likely to be a less rowdy affair in 2022. And it will come with a hefty $200 billion price tag for Doha—dwarfing the $11.6 billion that host Russia spent in 2018.
Whether the cost—financial and otherwise—is worthwhile remains to be seen. | Hassan Al Thawadi - Club World Cup & Gulf Cup shows Qatar is on the right track towards delivering 2022 World Cup
The Middle-East nation will only benefit by hosting international tournaments in the run-up to the 2022 World Cup, feels the high-ranking SC official
have been pulling out all stops as they gear up for the 2022 World Cup. Be it cutting edge technology incorporated into stadiums, world-class infrastructure, stadiums that are more of architectural marvels - the Supreme Committee for Delivery & Legacy (SC) are in overdrive.
Keeping in line with their tagline for the tournament, Deliver Amazing, have been fine-tuning their preparations at every possible juncture. The Asian champions just hosted the 2019 Club World Cup that won and the Arabian Gulf Cup. Secretary General of the SC, Hassan Al Thawadi, feels that hosting these competitions has helped Qatar prepare for the sport's greatest spectacle in terms of the challenges in ticketing, security, travel, accommodation & more.
"Both tournaments showed we are on the right track to delivering an outstanding World Cup in 2022. We learned a lot across every functional area, whether it be ticketing, security, communications, travel, accommodation, protocol and others. Both events were invaluable – and we expect the Club World Cup in 2020, plus the event we host in 2021, will be exactly the same. They are all vital learning experiences," he said.
"Despite the successes, we know we still have a long way to go in order to deliver the best possible tournament for fans, players and officials in 2022. We are still learning and there remain plenty of challenges. However, we are proud of both tournaments and pleased with the feedback we have received so far. We will carefully assess the constructive criticism and apply the lessons learned in 2020 and beyond," he added.
Mr. Thawadi also touched upon the hospitality that was extended to the first-time visitors to the country during the Club World Cup. He feels that the visitors got a feel of the Qatari culture and Arab hospitality.
"It was a key test – and as we've been saying would be the case for many years, those fans were welcomed with open arms. We have always said that we want to showcase Qatari and Arab hospitality – and that's exactly what we did during the Club World Cup. The fans discovered a very friendly country which was prepared to go the extra mile in order to deliver a memorable fan experience.
"We know, however, that there are areas where we can improve the fan experience."
The Doha Metro is likely to play a key role during the 2022 World Cup to help fans get from one venue to the other. The Red, Green and Gold lines of the Metro was operational during the Club World Cup and Gulf Cup and Al Thawadi says SC will study how the Metro will help ease the fans' travel.
Article continues below
"One of our biggest challenges in 2022 will be getting groups of people from A to B. Shuttling fans, players and officials between their hotels, training sites, stadiums and fan zones will require careful planning. Having the metro operational during the two recent tournaments was a huge advantage. It is very convenient for everyone. It is also the cheapest and quickest way of getting around Qatar. Huge credit must go to Qatar Rail for providing such an exceptional experience.
"One of our tasks now is to look carefully at the entire journey the fans take. Did they find it easy to get to a metro station? Did they take advantage of the free travel on match days? What about the journey on foot from the metro station to the stadium? Then once they arrived at the stadium, how quickly did they come through security and get to their seats? These are all questions we need to assess and review over the coming months."
He also added that four stadiums are in the final stages of delivery - Education City Stadium, Al Bayt Stadium, Al Rayyan Stadium and Al Thumama Stadium. | 2.333333 |
The first of three All-Decade team articles.
The 2010’s, (that feels so weird to write) was an amazing decade for soccer in Kansas City. The sport blossomed all around the city at every level and each professional team had their highs and lows.
The Kansas City Wizards became Sporting Kansas City and moved into a beautiful new stadium in 2011. The city responded with enthusiasm over the next few years. A full and raucous stadium combined with entertaining and successful teams on the field blended to make Sporting KC games THE place to be in Kansas City. Three U.S. Open Cups and the 2013 MLS Cup gave the hardware to show off the success.
FC Kansas City was one of the highs and lows for soccer in Kansas City. The U.S., Canadian and Mexican federations (for a short time) came together to kick start a new women’s league. After two previous leagues failed to make it past the three-year mark (hubris, mismanagement and more) the NWSL started with a less lofty attitude and a better plan. Kansas City was awarded a franchise to the then owners of the Comets. A coach with an indoor soccer background and not well known outside of an arena (and youth soccer) was given the reins. Vlatko Andonovski led the “Blues” to the playoffs in the first three years with championships in 2014 and 2015. Ownership struggles in 2016 and outright ownership mismanagement in 2017 bordering on negligent malpractice forced the team to be shut down and the franchise moved to Utah. Two trophies and a beautiful style that led Andonovski to be elevated to the highest profile job in women’s soccer as the U.S. Women’s National Team coach is a pretty good legacy for a team that lasted just five years.
At the same time the Wizards were transitioning to Sporting Kansas City, the original soccer sweetheart of Kansas City made another comeback. Indoor soccer exposed a lot of Kansas Citians to a form of the sport in the 80’s and third and latest version made their return in 2010. The Missouri Comets brought back “Hot Winter Nights” playing at the Independence Events Center. The team later replaced the Missouri with Kansas City to better represent who they are and have only missed the playoffs once while winning their league title in the 2013-14 season. A couple ownership changes and struggles but the team seems to be on a strong path with local management, home grown players and a new excitement for the future.
The first coach for the Comets was indoor legend Kim Roentved who put together a team that was the foundation for later success. Always looking for a team that played solid defense and a quick passing offense the team grew over the first few years. When assistant coach Andonovski took over the team stepped up another level, winning the championship and setting a model for other teams to try and follow.
The Comets have been fortunate to have some of the best players in the indoor game, some former Sporting KC players and a lot of players with local ties as the backbone of the squad. Trying to pick an All-Decade team for the Comets at first sounds easy but as the experts we consulted gave their teams they all realized just how deep and competitive the Comets have been over the last decade.
With two full teams including a goalie on each team as the generic format, former coaches, management and media have made their All-Decade selections in whatever format they wanted.
Brian Budzinski:
Budzinski was the driving force behind the Comets return and an original owner. With a love and knowledge for the indoor game that is rare amongst ownership, Budzinski has been a huge factor in building the team upon it’s rebirth and again this year when he joined the new ownership group.
1st team
G Danny Waltman, D John Sosa, D Brian Harris, M Vahid Assadpour, M Bryan Perez, F Leo Gibson
2nd team
G Boris Pardo, D Ryan Junge, D Robert Palmer, M Lucas Rodriguez, M Ramone Palmer, F Stefan Stokic
Goran Karadzov:
“G” was an assistant under Andonovski for both the Comets and FC Kansas City before becoming the Comets head coach in 2016. He is a noted local youth coach that has taken his teams to the national level numerous times.
1st team
G Danny Waltman, D John Sosa, D Robert Palmer, M Ramone Palmer, M Vahid Assadpour, F Leo Gibson
2nd team
G Boris Pardo, D Brian Harris, D Alain Matingou, M Max Touloute, M Lucas Rodriguez, F Stefan Stokic
Alan Mayer:
Alan is a legend in Kansas City soccer. Former Comets and U.S. National Team keeper, Mayer has been a coach for the Comets, the Wizards, SKC Academy and local colleges in the area. It is no coincidence that Mayer has coached several of the best keepers in both indoor and outdoor.
1st team
G Danny Waltman, F/D Leo Gibson D John Sosa, M Vahid Assadpour, M Lucas Rodriguez, F Byron Alvarez
2nd team
G Boris Pardo, D Robert Palmer, D Brian Harris, M Ramone Palmer, M Bryan Perez, F Stefan Stokic
Jeff Husted:
Jeff was the PR/Media relations (and other hats) staff for both the Comets and FC Kansas City and this year bumped up to the MASL league office. I told most people they could do it anyway they want and Jeff took advantage of the freedom to name a full roster. He may have given us one too many starters but we will overlook that since he is the only to spell out every name and not just use nicknames or last names.
Forwards
Leo Gibson*, Byron Alvarez*, Ramone Palmer, Stefan Stokic
Midfield
Vahid Assadpour*, Lucas Rodriguez*, Bryan Perez, Geison – HM, Milan Ivanovic
Defense
John Sosa*, Brian Harris*, Ryan Junge, Robert Palmer, Alain Matingou
Goalkeepers
Danny Waltman*, Boris Pardo, Stephen Paterson
*starters
Vlatko Andonovski
Andonovski was the head coach when the Comets won the MISL Championship and has a tremendous amount of insight to the team still today. Current head coach Leo Gibson lists Vlatko as his mentor as a coach. One of the fun things in talking to the various contributors for this was watching and listening to them decide who to include. Speaking with Andonovski was almost a coaching lesson in itself, listing off which players contributed to the championship and wanting to make sure players were recognized that did not always get the glory.
1st team
G Waltman, D Harris, D Sosa, M Vahid Assadpour, M Lucas Rodriguez, F Leo Gibson
2nd team
G Boris Pardo, D Robert Palmer, D Alan Matingou, M Bryan Perez, M Ramone Palmer, F Stefan Stokic
Nick Vasos
Nick has been the broadcast voice of the Comets and has obviously watched them closely. Nick works in local news and is a wealth of historical knowledge about the game. #prayersforNick
1st team
G Danny Waltman, F Leo Gibson, M Vahid Assadpour, M Bryan Perez, D Brian Harris, D John Sosa.
2nd team
GK Stephen Paterson, F Byron Alvarez, M Geison Moura, M Lucas Rodriguez, D Guerrero Pino D Robert Palmer
Mike Kuhn
Mike is the unofficial historian of all things soccer in Kansas City for the past two decades. Need a stat? Mike has it in a spreadsheet somewhere.
1st team
G Waltman, D Sosa, D Harris, M Assadpour, M Rodriguez, F Gibson
2nd team
G Paterson, D Junge, D Andrews, M Geison, M Perez, F Alvarez
Nathan Dunn
Nathan has the Comets beat writer for The Blue Testament and can be read around the internet. Nathan not only provided his teams but his reasonings as well.
1st team:
GK- Danny Waltman
One of the best keepers in the modern era of indoor soccer; great shot-stopper and great with his feet; shoes still haven’t been filled five seasons after departure
D- Brian Harris
Full of energy; Difficult to replace after he didn’t return after 2016/17; 2014 MISL Championship MVP
D- John Sosa
Vital on dangerous restarts; on-field coach; great intelligence and ball control
M- Vahid Assadpour
Connected defense to midfield better than anyone else; still hasn’t been replaced; vital on restarts
F- Leo Gibson
Stats speak for itself; Incredible that he’s scored more goals than he has games played despite spending some time playing defense;
F- Byron Alvarez
First three seasons were sensational; big goal against the Wave in playoffs
2nd team
GK- Mark Saxby
By default; only keeper other than Waltman to have an impact for multiple seasons; great story (working at Olive Garden and signing as an emergency keeper)
D- Robert Palmer
Great shotblocker; picked over Stokic because Palmer doesn’t miss as many opportunities as Stokic; good physical presence
D- Alain Matingou
Intelligent player; unorthodox approach that could cause the opposition trouble when attacking; provided good balance
M- Bryan Perez
Solid and consistent contributor throughout his career; former captain
F- Ramone Palmer
Blazing speed and quickness; knows his role; unique player for the indoor game
F- Kiel Williams
Has gradually made himself a solid forward; gets better every season
Thad Bell
Since I am compiling the list, I get to go last and make/break my own rules guidelines.
1st team
G Waltman, D Sosa, D Harris, M Assadpour, M Rodriguez, F Gibson
2nd team
G Pardo, D Junge, D Palmer, M Perez, M Palmer, F Stokic
Byron Alvarez, Milan Ivanovic, Alain Matingou and Coady Andrews all deserve to be on this team as well and would be on my roster.
There is a reason every single person named Waltman, Gibson, Assadpour and Sosa to the first team. At their best they would be starting for any team in the league and should be in the indoor hall of fame.
Waltman not only was a top keeper in the league for years but was also the most fan friendly player possible. Post-game autograph sessions drew the longest lines for kids (and their parents) to get his autograph again and again. He could stand on his head and spin around his curly locks to steal a game and was good enough with his feet to be an asset out of the box. Pre-game introductions have not been the same since he left with no more backflips off the wall.
Gibson is so talented he could be listed in any of the field player roles and he has played them all. Could be the prototype of an indoor power forward. He leads the team in just about every statistical category and now leads the team as the player-coach this year.
Sosa went from the midfield to defense so he could better control the game with his vision. He keeps the ball moving as a deep lying playmaker and is normally on the ball during set pieces.
Assadpour has not played for a couple years but was a true leader for the Comets. Need a goal to tie the game up or take the lead, odds are he would he have scored it or set up the goal when the team was dominate.
Rodriguez and Harris round out my first team and was on most of the lists, just not all of the first teams. Harris was a rough and tough defender that would run through a wall if needed. Added a fair amount of spectacular goals as well.
At mid it was a tough choice between Rodriguez and Perez but Lucas got the nod from me for the first team. Perez was a key contributor for the Comets but Lucas brings a little more offense.
On the second team I wanted to include Byron “El Matador” Alvarez. He was such a big part of the early success of the Comets and was a deadly sniper, especially on restarts and power plays. His celebrations jumping on the wall and sometimes into the stands became so legendary they created an Alvarez rule to stop him.
Ultimately, I had to include Stefan Stokic in that spot. There is nobody more dedicated and consistently hard working on the field than Stokic and nobody more committed to blocking shots. His work on the penalty kill alone would earn him consideration.
A number of other players could and probably should be considered. Let us know if we missed someone or who would be on your All-Decade team. | Happy New Year, everyone! We’re kicking 2020 off right by celebrating a talented woman who has already had a very impressive acting career and doesn’t seem to be slowing down (or Spinning Out of control? Sorry, I just had to do it) any time soon. Let’s give it up for the first Woman Crush Wednesday of the New Year, Kaya Scodelario!
WHO’S THAT GAL: Kaya Scodelario
WHY WE’RE CRUSHING: Scodelario is the lead in the brand new Netflix series called Spinning Out, which drops on the platform today. The show is a drama that follows Scodelario’s character, Kat Baker, an up-and-coming, talented figure skater who may have to quit skating for good after a horrible fall. The show follows her journey back into the world of competitive skating as she is forced to compete as a pair skater for the first time, alongside bad-boy partner Justin Davis (Evan Roderick), all the while trying to keep a secret that could unravel her entire life. Fans of skating and drama will rejoice at this show, as it has plenty of both, and with Scodelario at the helm, we know that Spinning Out is sure to be a ten out of ten.
WHERE YOU’VE SEEN HER BEFORE: Scodelario is young, but boy has she already made quite the mark in the entertainment industry! Her first role and big break was as Effy Stonem in the hit British teen comedy-drama show, Skins, from 2007 to 2010, and then again in 2013. From there, Scodelario made her film debut with a supporting role in the 2009 sci-fi flick, Moon, as Eve Bell, and then her career quickly began to blow up, as she went on to appear in multiple music videos for English hip hop recording artist Plan B from 2009 to 2011, as well as appearances or starring roles in films like 2010’s Clash of the Titans, 2011’s Wuthering Heights, 2017’s Pirates of the Caribbean: Dean Men tell No Tales, and 2019’s Crawl.
The role for which Scodelario is most known, however, is Teresa, the first and only female Glader, in the dystopian sci-fi The Maze Runner film trilogy. She starred alongside Dylan O’Brien in all three films (the first in 2014, the second in 2015, and the third in 2018), knocking it out of the park in the popular big-budget series and officially turning her into a worldwide household name.
WHERE YOU’LL SEE HER AGAIN: It seems like this New Year is going to be another productive and great one for Scodelario. She will have a starring role as Marie-Josèphe (alongside her real-life husband Benjamin Walker!) in upcoming action-adventure fantasy film The King’s Daughter (which also features former 007, Pierce Brosnan, as her father, King Louis XIV), and another big role as Hermia Redcliffe in upcoming BBC television mini-series The Pale Horse, which is an adaptation of Agatha Christie’s 1961 mystery novel of the same name. Indeed, this year is looking to be a big one for Scodelario, and we can’t wait to see what else it holds for this star!
Stream Spinning Out on Netflix | 1 |
Nairaland Forum / Nairaland / General / Religion / Is It A Sin To Begin January 1 Drinking In A Bar? (9864 Views)
Is It A Sin To Return Empty Offering Envelope Back To The Church Offering Box? / Is It A Sin To Have Sex With Wife On Sunday? / Sex Stories: Is It A Sin To Read Them? (2) (3) (4)
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Some people believe the New Year must not meet you in bar. While some people go to church, others may decide to drink their way with friends into the new year.
Is it a sin to begin the new year drinking in a bar? 9 Likes 3 Shares
How can you start the year with a bottle of beer. I pray you don't spend all your income on beer throughout the year. Eleyi gidi gan ooo.
I dedicate this FTC to nairalanders. Happy new year. 20 Likes 3 Shares
What is the difference between 31st and 1st of a new year is there any additional hrs that makes 1st of the year special...mm an over hype days..... u can drink anytime u feel like.. 209 Likes 8 Shares
Oya atheist come and eat your food o.. Watch them swarm here like shark to blooded food 10 Likes 1 Share
I think this depends on perceptions. The way you perceive life is the way you live by it. 25 Likes
What makes the 1st day of the year different from others? It's in your head bro, it just a wrong perception.
If you didn't drink to open the year and later start drinking from other date till December, what's the difference?
Nothing change, it just a date. 106 Likes 4 Shares
Pay 500 to enjoy unlimited glo data for 2days, pay 1500 to enjoy unlimited data for 5days.....I give u data before payment if u go against our agreement I collect my data back.
add me up on te-le-gram
johnwilliam00 2 Likes
olumide3367:
Oya atheist come and eat your food o.. Watch them swarm here like shark to blooded food and a deluded believer on d loose and a deluded believer on d loose 26 Likes
twhy111:
What makes the 1st day of the year different from others? It's in your head bro, it just a wrong perception.
If you didn't drink to open the year and later start drinking from other date till December, what's the difference?
Nothing change, it just a date. abi naa.... celebrating a date cos others is celebrating it makes one a big fool abi naa.... celebrating a date cos others is celebrating it makes one a big fool 7 Likes
comradewanle:
I think this depends on perceptions. The way you perceive life is the way you live by it. exactly exactly 1 Like
i blame the people that brought about the calendar..
if not we wouldn't even know it's a new year to begin with let alone contemplating about whether drinking beer is a sin or not 30 Likes 2 Shares
jtjohn:
Pay 500 to enjoy unlimited glo data for 2days, pay 1500 to enjoy unlimited data for 5days.....I give u data before payment if u go against our agreement I collect my data back. Am interested Am interested
hisexcellency34:
Some people believe the New Year must not meet you in bar. While some people go to church, others may decide to drink their way with friends into the new year.
Is it a sin to begin the new year drinking in a bar?
Not at all. I’ve been drinking my way into the new year for the past 10 years and it makes no difference. Not at all. I’ve been drinking my way into the new year for the past 10 years and it makes no difference. 28 Likes
Live your life my brother. 1 Like 1 Share
my hobby is drinking beer
where is that dead meat seller? I am back, you numbskull! 8 Likes
Average Yeebows are drunkards 1 Like
I was sleeping in my house all through. I did not go to any church to shout My Father My father because in the end if you do not pursue your dreams and goals no amount of prayer will change a thing.
If you feel taking a drink into the new year will ruin it. Think again. All these pray your way into the new year na just paparazzi from church goers. They feel if they don't pray their way into the new year things will not look up for them. It's all in their head.
You think Bill gates, Elon musk and those big guns in the world are busy praying into the new year? They are probably at a wealthy party shaking hands and hugging each other while sipping champagne and mapping out plans to save the world and make more money.
Africa has a lousy mentality and that should be dropped in 2019. 91 Likes 6 Shares
The sin is actually asking a stupid question on the 1st of January. 20 Likes 1 Share
No
No big deal joor, if that’s who you are, no wahala. Not even the new year can change you unless you change yourself 9 Likes 2 Shares
Wow
Religion has finished us in this part of the world... 17 Likes 1 Share
So?
I don't think it's a seen
Starting the year with “SIN” question?
Shouldn’t you be thinking how to obtain a better result with your life? 5 Likes
it is same as drinking on any other day 4 Likes
GEJDHERO:
Am interested
Okay....add me up on te-le-gram
johnwilliam00 Okay....add me up on te-le-gramjohnwilliam00
"2020. Year of being drunk to stupor"
It's only an indicator of how the year will be, naa."2020. Year of being drunk to stupor"
Hmm | Please follow and like us:
Happy New Year!!!
If you’re reading this, God has blessed you to see another year!!! Thank You, Jesus!!!
You have 366 to write another chapter in your story! I must admit I love it when we go into another year! It’s like a blank canvas, I love seeing vision board parties, I love seeing the motivation to try some new things that you didn’t try last year! I personally love it! I noticed on Facebook there was lots of “Debbie Downers” trying to unmotivate people, but I am here to tell you that you can start over at any time but if you choose to start at the beginning of the year, you do just that and don’t let anyone discourage you!
I am still on Winter Break from my job! I have 4 days left and I plan to thoroughly enjoy them! I was looking forward to this time off! 2019 was a little rough personally! 2019 was financially rough, which then became mentally stressful! However, during that time we have received TONS of blessings! Sunday at church I had a chance to thank one of the members who would randomly send groceries our way! I never asked her to, nor did she know what we were going through financially…But God did!
As we enter this new year, I look forward to the new year with a grateful heart! Even through our struggles, we have been blessed!
Last year I feel like I learned a lot of lessons, and I would like to share them as tips (in no particular order) for this upcoming year…
1. Do whatever you need to do to work on you! If that means create resolutions, getting a new planner, make a vision board, write a bucket list, pray, meditate…no matter what it is, do it for you! Share with others or keep it to yourself! But do you, and don’t apologize for it!
2. Do it scared! For 13 years I have worked in Higher Education, but this year I left my job in Higher Education to work at a K-12 Private School! I won’t lie to you, it’s been a great change but it has come with being uncomfortable! Very uncomfortable at times, but I know this was the best decision for myself and for my family!
3. Take Time For You…and REST!!! I can’t stress it enough, you are important, so if that means taking a day off work, taking a weekend road trip, “hibernating” at home, do it!!! Family Secret…Darrick and I will often schedule a weekend that we are “busy” but really we use that weekend for US! Rest is just as important as being busy, so make sure you’re taking time to REST!!!
4. No is a Full Sentence! Listen, people, you will drive yourself crazy if you don’t say no! I know this is a lesson that I have to often remind myself of because you will run yourself crazy if you say yes to everything! If someone doesn’t respect your answer of No, then that’s something they have to deal with, not you! Protect your mental, physical and emotional self by saying No!
5. Take One Tank Trips! One of the best things you will thank yourself for is a getaway! At the end of October, we went to Columbus for the weekend for my sister in law’s birthday, and we didn’t rush back! It was so relaxing! We stayed at a hotel that was brand new, we visited my nephew who is in college in that town, and the next morning we walked around the mall talking and enjoying each other’s company! Not only was it relaxing for the adults but for the kids too!
6. Eat at Home! I love going out just as much as the next person, but the reality is we spend a lot of money on food! Pack snacks, eat a meal before you leave…save money to spend in other ways! Don’t spend it by eating out ALL THE TIME! I may be preaching to myself right now, but all those little stops to eat here and there can save you hundreds a month…and it’s not that we eat out that much but all those quick trips add up quickly!
7. Find somewhere to Fellowship with those of the same beliefs as you! Find a time during the week to be around those who have the same beliefs as you! It will recharge you! It could be a church, life group, Bible Study…we all need a recharge, find that place and go! Your spirit will thank you for it!
8. Go for a Walk! From November to December I participated in a Step Challenge at work, my team didn’t win, but personally, I challenged myself and totally underestimated how walking makes you feel! It gives you energy, refreshes you throughout the day if you power walk it serves as exercise and clears your mind!
9. Purge! Before Christmas, we purged a lot of our kid’s toys because we knew they would be receiving more and we needed to make room! However, the refreshing feeling of parting ways with things you know you will no longer use feels awesome! This is something I know most people do before the New Year but do it anytime, it feels amazing! I purged my closet last night!
10. Go to the Doctors! Make the appointment, keep the appointment and go! Period! (I may be preaching to myself on this one)!
11. Do at least one fun thing each weekend! It doesn’t have to be something extravagant but do something to zone out and have fun! One of my blogger friends Eboni from CR8Joi asks questions on her Instagram Stories each weekend to see if you’re prepped for the week. One of the questions is did you have fun this weekend? And one particular time I answered no and I was like wait, I have to change this…I need to do something fun each weekend! PERIOD! It doesn’t have to be big, but I deserve some fun!
I’m sure I am missing some but at least this list will help you to get started!
What tips do you have to make 2020 a more happy, healthy and successful year? | 1.666667 |
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Dr. Angela Gatzke-Plamann didn’t grasp the full extent of her community’s opioid crisis until one desperate patient called on a Friday afternoon in 2016.
“He was in complete crisis because he was admitting to me that he had lost control of his use of opioids,” recalls Gatzke-Plamann, 40, the only full-time family physician in the central Wisconsin village of Necedah, population 916, nestled among bluffs and pines.
The patient had used opioids for several years for what Gatzke-Plamann calls “a very painful condition.” But a urine screening one week earlier had revealed heroin and morphine in his system as well. He denied any misuse that day. Now he was not only admitting it, but asking for help.
But Gatzke-Plamann had no resources to offer. Both she and the patient started searching the internet while still on the phone, trying to find somewhere nearby that could help. No luck.
Here was a patient with a family and job who spiraled into addiction due to doctor-prescribed pain pills, yet the community’s barebones health system left him on his own to find treatment — which he later did, 65 miles away. If that situation was going to change in Necedah, it was up to Gatzke-Plamann to change it.
“That weekend I went home and I said, ‘I’ve got to do something different,’ ” Gatzke-Plamann recalls.
In many ways, rural communities like Necedah have become the face of the nation’s opioid epidemic. Drug overdose deaths are more common in rural areas than in urban ones. And rural doctors prescribe opioids more often by far, despite a nationwide decline in prescribing rates since 2012. Meanwhile, rural Americans have fewer alternatives to treat their very real pain, and they disproportionately lack access to effective addiction treatment like the medication buprenorphine.
For rural physicians like Gatzke-Plamann, the burden of responding to the opioid epidemic falls on their already-loaded shoulders.
Rural residents report more pain
One reason there are more opioid prescriptions in the rural United States: Those residents report more chronic pain. For one, rural communities skew older, meaning they disproportionately deal with painful conditions related to aging, such as arthritis. Injuries also appear to be more common among communities more dependent on jobs that call for physical labor, such as mining and logging.
For 62-year-old Necedah resident Michael Kruchten, the chronic pain stems from chemotherapy and radiation therapy treatments he received for lung cancer back in 2011.
Kruchten is cancer free now, but the treatments left him with neuropathy — permanent and severe nerve damage — in his hands and feet.
“It’s very hard to explain,” Kruchten says of the pain caused by his neuropathy. “Sometimes it’s a burning — a continuous burning. Sometimes it’s just like a sharp jolt of pain. And then sometimes it’s just pain, pain, pain.”
The pain forced him to stop working at the ethanol plant in Necedah. Daily chores like chopping wood for his furnace or even carrying a plate of food became challenging. And maybe worst of all, the pain would keep him awake a night.
“A lot of nights I pounded the pillow trying to get to sleep, I’d get so frustrated and restless,” Kruchten says.
Gatzke-Plamann tries to avoid prescribing opioids when she can, but alternatives are limited around Necedah. The nearest physical therapy is in Mauston, a 17-mile drive south. Other treatments such as cognitive therapy for pain require an even further drive to Madison, Marshfield or La Crosse, each at least an hour away.
She first tried prescribing Kruchten gabapentin and then duloxetine, two non-opioid medicines for treating pain. Neither helped enough. Eventually she prescribed the opioid hydrocodone, two pills before bed in the evening. That finally gave Kruchten enough relief to sleep.
“Without the sleep I was a couch potato,” Kruchten says. “Once I started to get to sleep (at night), I got rid of my TV and the couch and started becoming more active.”
Doctor launches multi-pronged effort
Necedah is not exactly at the center of the opioid epidemic, but it is not far from it either. The overdose death rate in Juneau County — home to Necedah — tracks with the state average, which itself is about average in the United States. But Juneau County shares a border with Adams County, which has one of the highest overdose death rates in the state.
When Gatzke-Plamann came to Necedah in 2010, U.S. opioid prescriptions were peaking. She estimates she inherited 25 to 30 patients with monthly opioid prescriptions. Soon she, just like her peers around the country, noticed a rise in opioid overdose and misuse.
“We were seeing that some patients were losing control of their ability to use these. It became very problematic,” Gatzke-Plamann says.
Today, Gatzke-Plamann’s affiliated hospital sends her a monthly report of how many of her patients have opioid prescriptions. It varies from month to month, she says, but it is usually between seven and 10. And that is after her concerted effort.
Around 2012, she stopped taking on new patients using chronic opioid medications so she could focus on her current opioid patients. She weaned many of them off of opioids altogether and tracked how many individual pills she prescribed for acute pain. Instead of defaulting to a month’s worth of pills for a C-section patient, for example, she might only prescribe three to five pills.
“Most of the time those patients really only have that much pain for a couple of days,” Gatzke-Plamann says. “We don’t need to have those pain medications sitting in their medicine cabinets.”
Gatzke-Plamann helped shape her community’s wider discussion about opioids. That included joining the county’s substance abuse prevention coalition and addressing her peers about best prescription practices.
Agreements help opioid users
Around 2016, Mile Bluff Medical Center — the hospital in Mauston with which she is affiliated — established a standardized medication treatment agreement, contracts with patients laying out rules for opioid prescriptions.
Patients such as Michael Kruchten must agree to a litany of stipulations before getting a new prescription. That includes getting pills from only one doctor and filling prescriptions at just one pharmacy. Patients must also submit to random pill counts and urine screenings. Kruchten is something of a model patient in that regard, according to Gatzke-Plamann.
“You come in for appointments regularly and you’re always on time and you’re respectful with the staff,” she tells him as they review the contract at an appointment in November.
Gatzke-Plamann can stop prescribing opioids to patients who violate the agreement. But the contracts aim less to punish than to keep communication open. Each time she reviews the contract with a patient — at least once a year for chronic opioid patients — it allows them to revisit the risks and warning signs of addiction.
On his recent visit, Kruchten tells the doctor he only took one hydrocodone pill instead of his usual two the previous night, saying it was “satisfactory” in curbing the pain.
“And that’s good that you don’t take it to just put yourself to sleep,” Gatzke-Plamann responds. “Because it’s not a sleep medicine. You understand that. We’ve talked about that one before.”
“Yep,” Kruchten agrees.
Treatment lacking in rural areas
The Friday call for help in 2016 made Gatzke-Plamann realize Necedah was missing a crucial resource in solving the pain puzzle: addiction treatment.
“We don’t have as many resources here,” Gatzke-Plamann says of Juneau County, one of the poorest and least healthy in the state. “When I see that there’s a need for something, it’s on me to do something about that.”
She says that is what happened with buprenorphine.
Experts say buprenorphine effectively treats addiction, but the medicine is particularly scarce in rural communities. More than 10 million rural Americans — more than one-fifth of the country’s rural population — live in counties without a single clinician licensed to prescribe the drug. (The rural-urban disparity in access has, however, shrunk since 2017.)
In Wisconsin, 18 of 72 counties lack a buprenorphine provider, and 14 of those unserved counties are rural, according to an analysis by Wisconsin Public Radio and Wisconsin Watch.
Today Gatzke-Plamann is one of only two people in Juneau County licensed to prescribe buprenorphine. The other is a physician’s assistant she supervises. They treat about 10 patients in this small part of their practice that kicked off in October 2018.
Adding addiction treatment to a family medicine practice that was “already at capacity” is not easy, Gatzke-Plamann says. But she took on the challenge, seeing the need in her community.
“That’s sort of how it is with family medicine in a rural area,” she says.
Catina Stoflet is among the buprenorphine patients who benefit.
Stoflet, now 35, got hooked on prescription opioids as a 16-year-old in 2001, during the first wave of the nation’s opioid epidemic. She started getting kidney stones in high school. She has had more than 200 of the painful obstructions by her count, leading to many surgeries to remove them.
That first prescription was for Tylenol 3, a combination of acetaminophen and the opioid codeine. But doctors soon escalated her to stronger drugs: vicodin, percocet, oxycodone.
“It was right around the time that people didn’t know what (opioids were) doing to you,” Stoflet says.
Stoflet says she spent years in recovery, including from about 2007 to 2014, and participated in Narcotics Anonymous. But she relapsed in 2014, progressing to harder drugs including heroin and methamphetamine.
This year she decided to quit for good. Stoflet says her primary care doctor introduced her to Gatzke-Plamann, who had just recently begun prescribing buprenorphine.
Just like Gatzke-Plamann’s opioid patients, her buprenorphine patients must sign contracts laying out terms of treatment, including agreeing to participate in a treatment program.
Stoflet works with a counselor and community recovery specialist at the Roche-A-Cri Recovery Center in Friendship, Wisconsin, about 20 miles from Necedah. The center opened in September 2018. Without its additional resources, Gatzke-Plamann says she would not feel comfortable prescribing buprenorphine.
“I am just one part of their treatment plan,” Gatzke-Plamann says. “I prescribe the medication but they need the counseling. They need the psycho-social support. They need the group meetings.”
“All of that happens because the recovery center opened up.”
Stoflet lives about 30 miles from Roche-A-Cri and 40 miles from Gatzke-Plamann’s clinic in Necedah. Even so, Stoflet calls the long, frequent drives for recovery worthwhile.
‘It might be rocky’
At an appointment in early November, for example, Stoflet was nervous about an upcoming surgery that would require her to briefly pause her buprenorphine treatment and go back to opioids for pain. Her check-up allowed her to talk through the angst and walk through the steps with Gatzke-Plamann.
“We would potentially take you off the buprenorphine and do short-acting pain medications around that time,” Gatzke-Plamann says. “The trouble is then, after your acute pain episode from the surgery is no longer as significant — then we need you to stop those pain medicines for at least 24 hours. And then you can start up on your regular buprenorphine dose.”
“So I will be able to go right to the regular dose,” Stoflet says, “and I should be fine?”
“Yes,” Gatzke-Plamann reassures, adding, “it might be rocky.”
“I know it’s going to be —it’s no treat,” Stoflet replies. “…That’s really fine with me. I was just really worried about how we were going to do this.”
Stoflet did end up on opioids briefly after her surgery in late November. Then she resumed her buprenorphine treatment, just like Gatkze-Plamann said she would. December marks seven months on her medication-assisted treatment journey.
The opioid epidemic is too complicated to boil down to grim statistics about overdose deaths or pills prescribed in any given county. Nor can the stories of one or two patients fully describe it. But the crisis is real across central Wisconsin and beyond.
Dr. Angela Gatkze-Plamann knows that because she confronts it every day.
“I couldn’t imagine not doing it, because — then who would?”
This story comes from a partnership of Wisconsin Watch, Wisconsin Public Radio and NPR. Bram Sable-Smith is WPR’s Mike Simonson Memorial Investigative Fellow embedded in the newsroom of Wisconsin Watch (www.WisconsinWatch.org), which collaborates with WPR, PBS Wisconsin, other news media and the University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Journalism and Mass Communication. All works created, published, posted or disseminated by Wisconsin Watch do not necessarily reflect the views or opinions of UW-Madison or any of its affiliates. | Rep. Elijah Cummings, D-Md., was in the middle of describing drug price gouging as a scheme to enrich a few industry executives at the expense of everyday patients when he stopped to reprimand a witness.
"It's not funny, Mr. Shkreli," said Cummings, the top Democrat on the House Committee on Oversight and Reform until his death this past October, to a smirking man at the table before him. "People are dying. And they're getting sicker and sicker."
The man was Martin Shkreli, the former CEO of Turing Pharmaceuticals, who was called before Cummings' committee in February 2016. After hiking the price of an old drug for parasitic infections to $750 a pill from $13.50, Shkreli became the poster boy for pharmaceutical greed that helped define the past decade.
During that time, new drugs emerged with higher price tags than ever, and many old drugs got sudden price hikes. Meanwhile, nearly 1 in 4 Americans has trouble affording prescription drugs, according to a recent Kaiser Family Foundation poll.
"Price increases that consumers have suffered under the last 10 years have been at a greater rate compared to inflation than we've ever seen in this country," says Jim Yocum, a senior vice president of Connecture DRx, a health data firm.
Here are a few medicines that Americans depend on but that suddenly became much harder to afford in the last decade.
Daraprim: An old drug gets a huge new price
For decades, Daraprim has been the go-to medicine for treating toxoplasmosis, a parasitic infection especially dangerous for people with compromised immune systems, such as people living with HIV and patients who've undergone organ transplants.
The drug was approved by the Food and Drug Administration in 1953, and its patents expired long ago. But there wasn't a generic version available, and there was only one supplier in the United States. Even so, Daraprim cost just $13.50 a pill in early 2015, which was a good deal for a lifesaving drug with minimal side effects, Wendy Armstrong, an infectious disease specialist at Emory University, told Shots.
Then Turing Pharmaceuticals — run by former hedge fund manager Martin Shkreli — bought the rights to the drug and raised its list price more than 5,000% overnight. Shkreli eventually left the company and went to prison for an unrelated crime (securities fraud), but not before becoming known as the "Pharma Bro."
The pricing tactic didn't start with him. It's what another company called Valeant did the same year when it bought two old heart drugs — Isuprel and Nitropress — that had little competition. It's also what Rodelis Therapeutics did when it acquired an old tuberculosis drug called Seromycin and hiked the price for a month's supply to $10,800 from $500.
"Once you're the sole manufacturer, you can do what you want," says Vinay Prasad, an oncologist at Oregon Health & Science University. There's no competition to drive prices down.
Despite public outcry over Shkreli's move, Daraprim's price hasn't budged.
Today, many health insurance companies won't pay for the drug, and it's too expensive for many hospitals to keep in stock, says Armstrong. As a result, she says, doctors have been forced to turn to cheaper alternatives that have more side effects and less proof that they work.
One of her patients was diagnosed with toxoplasmosis after undergoing a kidney transplant. But when it came time to move the woman from the hospital to a rehabilitation facility, the rehab place wouldn't take her.
"They wouldn't assume the cost of the drug," Armstrong tells Shots. "She ended up staying in a hospital for months, developing additional complications — simply because the Daraprim was priced out of range for the accepting facility."
EpiPen: A steady stream of price increases adds up
By the time the EpiPen's list price reached $300 per auto-injector in 2016, its manufacturer, Mylan, had made more than a dozen price hikes in just six years.
People clamored for a cheaper generic of the product, which injects a dose of epinephrine to counteract allergic reactions.
"These things have an expiration date," Connecture DRx's Yocum says. "So they have to be replaced on a regular basis, even if they are never used."
And the EpiPen wasn't new, after all. The product was approved in 1987. But Mylan had a virtual monopoly on it. In the spring of 2016, the FDA had rejected two applications from other firms that wanted to make generic versions.
State and federal lawmakers took notice. For years, they had been passing laws that pushed for schools and other public places to have EpiPens on hand.
"My office has been contacted by dozens of concerned Connecticut residents, families, school nurses, and first responders who urgently require your life-saving product but fear that its skyrocketing price has put it out of reach," Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., wrote to Mylan's CEO at the time. He demanded that the company lower its price.
It did. Well, sort of. Mylan started offering its own generic at half the price in December 2016 and left the price of its brand-name product where it was. Mylan's new version is called an authorized generic. These are usually introduced to undercut competition from other companies' generics — and eat into some of the competitors' profits.
In this case, Mylan's generic version was an apparent response to public pressure, but it still cost triple what the EpiPen had cost just a few years earlier.
In 2018, the first true generic version of the EpiPen was approved, but it wasn't cheaper than the authorized generic.
"It's the new normal," Yocum says. "The first several generics that come in have not typically been at a significant discount to the branded product."
Sovaldi: a first-of-its-kind hepatitis drug with a sky-high price tag
Sovaldi was heralded as a turning point for people with hepatitis C when the FDA approved the medicine in 2013. It was the first drug that could cure most cases of the chronic liver disease in just a few months — and without the debilitating side effects of previous treatments. But there was a catch: Sovaldi was priced at $1,000 per pill. To rid a patient of the hepatitis C virus would cost $84,000 per person.
State health systems struggled to pay for the treatment, and health insurers denied the drug to all but the sickest patients. An investigation led by Iowa Republican Sen. Chuck Grassley and Oregon Democratic Sen. Ron Wyden found that state Medicaid programs spent more than $1 billion on the drug in 2014, but less than 2.4% of Medicaid patients with hepatitis C got Sovaldi.
"There were potentially a million people in the Medicaid program who had hepatitis C," Matt Salo, executive director of the National Association of Medicaid Directors, told Shots. "At the list price that we were getting back in 2014, 2015, we would have spent as much on that one drug for this one condition as we would have for every other drug in the entire Medicaid program combined."
Now, there are a few other brand-name hepatitis C cures on the market, creating some competition.
"We were able to go to Merck and Gilead and the other manufacturers and say, 'We're going to cover one of these products. It might be yours. It might be the other guy's. So if you want it to be yours, you're going to have to bring your price down significantly,' " Salo says.
Now the negotiated price after discounts and rebates for hepatitis C medicines can be around $20,000 per patient, which helps improve access, Salo says. But even that price is not low enough to provide a cure to everyone who has hepatitis C.
Now attention has turned to Louisiana, which reached a five-year deal with drugmaker Gilead for an unlimited amount of an authorized generic of Epclusa — another hepatitis C drug, which Gilead makes — for its Medicaid and prison populations. Instead of paying per dose, Louisiana will pay a fixed annual dollar amount. The state is calling this subscription approach the "Netflix model." The goal is to eradicate the disease from Louisiana.
Insulin: Near-simultaneous price hikes draw a lawsuit
After insulin was discovered nearly 100 years ago, the rights to it were transferred to the University of Toronto for $1 so that insulin could be made widely available at a low cost.
But insulin prices have continued to creep upward at a rate that's higher than inflation. As a result, some patients have rationed their medicine, skipping doses or cutting them in half.
In 2017, a group of patients sued the three major insulin-makers — Sanofi, Eli Lilly and Novo Nordisk — when they noticed that the companies were increasing their prices in lockstep.
Yocum calls these price hikes "mind-boggling." They seemed to go up in a pattern, at certain times of year, despite the availability of products from competing manufacturers. "I can't think of a product, over the last 10 years, where you have that sort of pricing leverage," Yocum says, that hasn't led to "some sort of competitive pushback from another manufacturer of prescription drugs."
When Congress and the media took notice, the price hikes mostly stopped, but prices didn't drop.
"The last time we saw significant increases across the board in the list prices of insulins was between 2017 and 2018," Yocum says. "Most of them have held the line on that pricing since then."
One of the lawyers in the insulin-pricing suit tells Shots that his team is seeking an injunction against the insulin manufacturers that could lower prices.
"Hopefully, we will obtain a ruling to that effect within a year," says attorney Steve Berman.
The drug companies, for their part, say the allegations against them are false, and they are fighting the suit.
Zolgensma: a gene-altering drug that could bust the bank
Despite increasing pressure from the White House and Congress in recent years to reduce the price of prescription medicines, Novartis introduced in 2019 the world's most expensive drug: Zolgensma.
It's a gene-altering injection that costs $2.1 million for a one-time treatment for a severe form of spinal muscular atrophy, a rare inherited disease that destroys certain cells involved in muscle movement. If left untreated, the young patients often don't live past childhood.
"It's a new phenomenon that we will see more of in the next decade," Yocum predicts of seven-figure drug prices.
Novartis has offered insurers the choice of paying for the treatment in $425,000 installments over five years.
Critics were initially somewhat split about the propriety of such a price. On the one hand, the drug could add years to patients' lives. On the other hand, even if a drug is covered by a patient's health plan, insurers simply pass along the high cost to everyone else in the form of higher premiums.
Then came even more controversy. Novartis learned that data used in the marketing application submitted to the FDA for Zolgensma's approval had been manipulated, but it didn't tell the FDA until after Zolgensma's approval. The manipulation by company researchers happened during testing on mice, not people, and the company fired two executives after the scandal broke. The FDA said it is still confident in the drug's safety and efficacy.
Novartis plans to give away free doses of Zolgensma via a lottery in countries where the drug hasn't yet been approved for use, but the move has been criticized as too simplistic and emotionally taxing for families to endure.
What's next?
In December, the House passed a bill to lower prescription drug prices. The proposed legislation would allow the government to negotiate prices of some drugs prescribed to Medicare patients, cap Medicare patients' out-of-pocket costs for prescription medicines and penalize drugmakers for raising prices faster than inflation. But the Senate isn't expected to move forward on the House bill, and the White House has vowed to veto it.
Still, action on drug prices is inevitable, says Oregon Health & Science University's Prasad.
"What is the status quo?" Prasad asks. "Unrelenting price increases with no downward pressure in a system that at some point cannot take it anymore and will collapse."
But until the nation has no choice but to solve its drug price problem, Prasad said, pharmaceutical companies will "extract as much money as they can." | 2 |
Shoes reputedly owned by Gaddafi feature in the collection (Niall Carson/PA)
Republican society hopes to secure museum status for Troubles collection BelfastTelegraph.co.uk A collection of Troubles-era artefacts that includes shoes reputedly owned by Colonel Muammar Gaddafi is attempting to secure official museum status ahead of a major expansion. https://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/northern-ireland/republican-society-hopes-to-secure-museum-status-for-troubles-collection-38826551.html https://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/northern-ireland/972ef/38826548.ece/AUTOCROP/h342/bpanews_98b6d520-c28d-4c7f-b221-35c3c08667b4_1
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A collection of Troubles-era artefacts that includes shoes reputedly owned by Colonel Muammar Gaddafi is attempting to secure official museum status ahead of a major expansion.
Over the last five decades, the Roddy McCorley Society in west Belfast has amassed a large number of items related to the conflict and associated with the republican tradition.
It includes decorative shoes the Libyan dictator apparently gifted to IRA leader Joe Cahill during a visit to his North African regime to secure arms for the Provisionals.
Among the weaponry the IRA obtained from Gaddafi’s Libya were tonnes of Semtex explosive used in some of the most notorious bomb attacks of the conflict.
Nine years on from Gaddafi’s death, relatives of those killed continue to campaign for compensation from the current Libyan authorities.
Kevin Carson curator of Roddy McCorley Society living history museum in Belfast holds a pair of Col Muammar Gaddafi’s shoes (Niall Carson/PA)
As well as the dictator’s shoes, the Troubles collection also includes a bed and blanket from Long Kesh/Maze prison and a badly damaged Army issue rifle a member of the public apparently found close to the site of the Narrow Water bombings which killed 18 soldiers in 1979.
The society has already secured Belfast City Council backing to transform the collection’s present home, in three rooms above the Roddy McCorley Social Club on the Glen Road, into a purpose-built museum facility.
As part of the process it is hoping to achieve museum accreditation. The society recently met with officials from National Museums NI to discuss its ambitions.
Society committee member Kevin Carson said the official status would enable it to loan and swap artefacts with other museums throughout Ireland.
“We started in one room and then we took over a second room and now we have a third room and, even at that, we haven’t enough space to put on show all the stuff we have,” he said.
“We do look forward to getting museum status. Me and other members of the committee have travelled the length and breadth of Ireland to tie up with other groups and museums and collectors to hope in the future to actually exchange parts of our exhibitions back and forward, so stuff from Belfast could be on show in Cork or Mayo or Derry or Donegal, but we need to have proper museum status.
“We are going through the process at the moment with meeting all the groups that would be great assistance to us to turn ourselves into a museum.”
A rifle found near the site of the Narrow Water bombing in 1979 (Liam McBurney/PA)
The Roddy McCorley Society was formed in 1972 as a vehicle to raise funds for the families of republican prisoners.
The collection of artefacts began with art crafted by those prisoners, such as Celtic crosses and leather wallets.
While the society tells the story of the Troubles very much through a republican prism, the collection also includes several loyalist items, donated by ex-prisoners from the other tradition who have visited as part of peace process reconciliation initiatives.
Mr Carson said Gaddafi’s shoes were “very valuable” and continued to generate significant interest among visitors. A TV crew from the Middle East visited during the summer to film Mr Carson recounting the story of the shoes.
“Joe Cahill, one of our major republican personalities over the years, had been in Libya on a number of occasions to meet Gaddafi and on one of the occasions he met Muammar Gaddafi in the desert after a great long journey in the sun and heat and dryness, because Gaddafi in those days could never stay in one spot,” he said.
“Joe on that occasion was presented by Muammar Gaddafi with these slippers as a souvenir of this visit.”
The director of National Museums NI, Kathryn Thomson, said: “The story of our recent past is one that is distributed through a network of museums, visitor attractions, and tours across Northern Ireland.
“At National Museums NI we work with this network as part of the development and programming of important exhibitions such as the Troubles & Beyond at the Ulster Museum.
“Where relevant we are always willing to offer curatorial and other expert advice and support to community led initiatives.
“Within this context we welcomed the opportunity to visit the Roddy McCorley Museum recently and look forward to seeing their project develop.”
PA | The PSNI must confiscate a British soldier’s rifle reportedly taken from the scene of an IRA atrocity and now on show in a republican museum in west Belfast, an MLA has said.
UUP Justice spokesman Doug Beattie was speaking after the Roddy McCorley Society went public with its plans to secure official museum status, while displaying the remains of the rifle.
It was reportedly taken from the scene of the Narrow Water massacre in 1979. The double IRA bomb attack killed 19 soldiers in the most damaging single attack on the armed forces during the Troubles.
“This weapon must be confiscated by the PSNI to ensure all evidence has been gathered and a valid decommission certificate has been issued,” Mr Beattie said on social media. “Then it needs to be returned to MoD for disposal.”
A critic responded to him that there was “no right or wrong memorabilia”.
But Mr Beattie replied: “In the same way the Seán Graham bookies murder weapon should never be in a museum, neither should this weapon.” His critic conceded the point: “Yeah I agree with that.”
The museum also sports a pair of shoes given by Colonel Muammar Gaddafi to former Belfast IRA commander Joe Cahill, who was convicted of gun running from Libya in a Dublin court in 1973.
But Jonathan Ganesh, who was seriously injured in the 1996 Canary Wharf bomb which used Libyan Semtex, condemned the exhibit. “Surely this is a sick joke?” he said.
Mr Ganesh was speaking after it was reported the collection is seeking official museum status.
The Roddy McCorley Society, based on the Glen Road in west Belfast, did not offer any comment. It is hoping to achieve museum accreditation and recently met with National Museums NI as part of the process.
Loyalist blogger and activist Jamie Bryson described the matter as “an utter outrage”.
He said: “The PSNI have spent three years seizing UVF flags, and badges and the like and holding press conferences saying they are indicative of membership of any proscribed organisation..... yet a republican museum is untouched?”
Det Chief Supt Bobby Singleton said: “Following today’s press coverage we are now aware of the existence of what is reputed to have been a weapon belonging to British Army personnel at Narrow water. We have now commenced initial enquiries with a view to establishing the veracity of these claims and what, if anything, PSNI will be legally required to do.” | 3 |
Google recently rolled out tab groups to Chrome on Android, and the next step is to make switching tabs more fluent and mobile-first. The beginning of that change is already available in some dev builds of Chrome, if you’re willing to put in some work.
The new design for Chrome has Google’s Duet bar moved to the bottom of the screen, instead of at the top. This puts your controls at your fingertips, instead of forcing you to reach when you need to change tabs or anything.
Going past that, newer builds of Chrome use TabStrip, which shows your currently open tabs in a long stripe with favicons. If you’re running a dev or canary build, though, you can merge the two features into a much more compact design. By enabling that integration, you simply long-press on the tabs buttons, and you’ll have a floating strip of favicons showing your currently open tab. Don’t even need to leave your browser page, and you can easily see everything you have open for multitasking.
Well, except for one small problem. All of the icons are identical, so if you have multiple tabs open from the same site, it might get a little confusing remembering which is which. Could be a problem for things like Amazon where you might be price comparing, but you can still do a single press to get a full visual view of all your open tabs.
That’s probably something that Google plans to polish up, though. This is only available in early builds, after all. Fingers crossed.
source: 9to5Google
Related | Realme has very confidently announced that they’ll be kicking off 2020 with a bang. And by bang, we mean more ads on your phone. Yikes.
It’s called “content recommendations” and Realme says it’s being done to give users a better ecosystem and to keep a sustainable business model, but it’s definitely something to keep an eye out for with your next phone.
The process is pretty simple, at least if you’re familiar with other Android device bloatware. You’ll randomly see promotions for apps and other commercial links on your device if you’re running ColorOS 6 and above, which could be anything from a popular game to a shopping site that’s paid Realme for the advertising space. It sounds a little more intrusive than most other ads on devices since they’ll just show up in places on your device, but there is an opt-out.
Realme has detailed how you can go into settings and remove these recommendations from your phone so you won’t have to keep dealing with them. Most people, however, probably won’t be doing that, and that’s the point. They see some ads, Realme makes some cash and gets to keep their phone costs low. I can understand the reasoning, but that doesn’t make it suck any less.
source: Realme
Related | 2 |
From Robert Reich Blog
Boeing recently fired CEO Dennis Muilenburg in order "to restore confidence in the Company moving forward as it works to repair relationships with regulators, customers, and all other stakeholders."
Restore confidence? Muilenburg's successor will be David Calhoun who, as a long-standing member of Boeing's board of directors, allowed Muilenburg to remain CEO for more than a year after the first 737 Max crash and after internal studies found that the jetliner posed an unacceptable risk of accident. It caused the deaths of 346 people.
Muilenburg raked in $30 million in 2018. He could walk away from Boeing with another $60 million.
Last August, the Business Roundtable an association of CEOs of America's biggest corporations, of which Muilenburg is a director announced with great fanfare a "fundamental commitment to all of our stakeholders" (emphasis in the original) and not just their shareholders.
Rubbish. Corporate social responsibility is a sham.
Another Business Roundtable director is Mary Barra, CEO of General Motors. Just weeks after making the Roundtable commitment, and despite GM's hefty profits and large tax breaks, Barra rejected workers' demands that GM raise their wages and stop outsourcing their jobs. Earlier in the year GM shut its giant assembly plant in Lordstown, Ohio.
Some 50,000 GM workers then staged the longest auto strike in 50 years. They won a few wage gains but didn't save any jobs. Meanwhile, GM's stock has performed so well that Barra earned $22 million last year.
Another prominent Business Roundtable CEO who made the commitment to all his stakeholders is AT&T's Randall Stephenson, who promised to invest in the company's broadband network and create at least 7,000 new jobs with the billions the company received from the Trump tax cut.
Instead, AT&T has cut more than 30,000 jobs since the tax cut went into effect.
Let's not forget Jeff Bezos, CEO of Amazon and its Whole Foods subsidiary. Just weeks after Bezos made the Business Roundtable commitment to all his stakeholders, Whole Foods announced it would be cutting medical benefits for its entire part-time workforce.
The annual saving to Amazon from this cost-cutting move is roughly what Bezos whose net worth is $110 billion makes in two hours. (Bezos's nearly-completed D.C. mansion will have 2 elevators, 25 bathrooms, 11 bedrooms, and a movie theater.)
GE's CEO Larry Culp is also a member of the Business Roundtable. Two months after he made the commitment to all his stakeholders, General Electric froze the pensions of 20,000 workers in order to cut costs. Culp raked in $15 million last year.
The list goes on. Just in time for the holidays, US Steel announced 1,545 layoffs at two plants in Michigan. Last year, five US Steel executives received an average compensation package of $4.8 million, a 53 percent increase over 2017.
Instead of a holiday bonus this year, Walmart offered its employees a 15 percent store discount. Oh, and did I say? Walmart saved $2.2 billion this year from the Trump tax cut.
The giant tax cut itself was a product of the Business Roundtable's extensive lobbying, lubricated by its generous campaign donations. Several of its member corporations, including Amazon and General Motors, wound up paying no federal income taxes at all last year.
Next Page 1 | 2 | The Jets injury problem was so bad in 2019 that the trainer’s room barely had enough space for all of the rehabbing players, who had to schedule their times with trainers to avoid a logjam.
Now, the Jets are trying to figure out if there was a reason for all of those injuries or if it was just bad luck. Jets coach Adam Gase said they began looking at what was causing all the injuries about two months ago.
“I wish it was cut and dry and say, ‘Hey we had 15 hamstrings,’ ” Gase said. “But we’re having season-ending-type injuries. We’ve had discussions with the training room, strength and conditioning; [general manager] Joe [Douglas] and I have had conversations; we’ve talked to other people. We’re going to continue to take deeper dives and all that when we meet with the staff as far as was it practice schedule, training camp, offseason. Is it something we’re doing during the season? We’re combing through everything because we can’t have this happen again.”
The Jets had a staggering amount of injuries. Here are some eye-popping numbers:
They used a franchise-record 73 players. Only the Dolphins and Redskins used more this season.
They had 20 players wind up on injured reserve.
They used 11 starting offensive linemen. They had nine starting combinations on the line. They had three starters each at left guard and right guard.
They used four quarterbacks and three starting quarterbacks. It was the first time since 2005 they had four quarterbacks take a snap.
Four players viewed as key starters in the preseason ended up playing two games or less — ILB C.J. Mosley (2 games), TE Chris Herndon (1 game), WR Quincy Enunwa (1 game) and ILB Avery Williamson (0 games).
The Jets used six starting cornerbacks on the outside (not counting nickel corner Brian Poole). They used five starting inside linebackers.
All of this contributed to the Jets’ 7-9 season. They failed to overcome many of these injuries in the first half of the season but handled them much better in the second half.
see also Jets' Joe Douglas is on the clock Thirty miles east of Jets headquarters and two hours before...
The Jets need to consider whether changes need to be made to their medical or strength and conditioning staffs, although Gase indicated that is highly unlikely.
Practice rules in the NFL are highly regulated by the collective bargaining agreement. There are limits on offseason practices and how often you can wear pads in practice. That makes it unlikely Gase is running practice any differently than other teams when it comes to contact and the length of practices.
“Without having all of the facts, my initial thought is that this year is a bit of anomaly as far as the amount of injuries that we sustained as an organization, as a team,” Douglas said. “We are in the midst of that research; we are doing a deep dive to as far to what we can do to prevent this from happening again and what we need to implement to make sure that this amount of injuries doesn’t happen.”
The Jets have plenty of priorities this offseason. Figuring out a solution to their injury issue, if there is one, should be near the top of the list.
For more on the Jets, listen to the latest episode of the “Gang’s All Here” podcast: | 1 |
Zenerchi, a Salt Lake City-based startup, is developing medical visualization technology for museums, healthcare and wellness providers and for individuals that could fundamentally change the way humans see themselves.
Founded by Bryan Brandenburg, who co-founded Comic Con Salt Lake (later changing the name after a trademark lawsuit to FanX Salt Lake), I failed to see the connection between cosplay and medical visualization. It turns out, he dropped out of college a few credits shy of a dual degree in applied physics and applied math to do graphics for early video game technology.
Bryan Brandenburg Credit: Zenerchi
“After this, I created flight, golf and human simulators based on the science of aerodynamics and early versions of artificial intelligence in video games,” Brandenburg told me. “Later I was instrumental in visualizing human anatomy, biology, and microbiology as CEO of Zygote Media Group. I created 3D models and the associated physics of the solar system and built the International Space Station, space shuttle, Hubble Telescope, the Earth and moon and a lunar base in 3D.”
Brandenburg’s science cred is validated by having one of Utah’s most respected biotech entrepreneurs and venture capitalists, Dinesh Patel, join the board. While Zenerchi will have entertainment and educational aspects, Brandenburg isn’t just playing around.
“I have deep experience in both the wellness and medical realm and in technology, which made Zenerchi’s vision especially appealing to me,” Patel says. It is a platform for education, for educational entertainment, and even more a technology vehicle that can make a dramatic impact on health, wellness and medical treatments worldwide.”
Patel also serves on the Board of The Leonardo, a science-focused museum in Salt Lake City and helped to arrange for the museum to be the first in the US to host a Zenerchi exhibit. Recently, it was reported that the Leonardo is experiencing financial challenges. The video below provides a glimpse into what the exhibit could be.
“This video demonstrates some of the key components of the scientific visualization of the human body including a cell simulator, body simulator, cancer simulator, visualization of anatomy, heart, brain, cells and more,” Brandenburg says. “It also highlights some of the augmented reality features demonstrating our ability to project complex physiology into a mixed reality environment like the museum.”
By the fourth quarter of 2020, he says the exhibit should be ready for launch at The Leonardo and, via a partnership with China-based Pop Life Global, throughout Asia as well. Pop Life Global has produced five FanX Salt Lake events, which he notes have attracted an audience of “100,000 or more.”
“Pop Life is an ideal partner to manage the production, merchandizing and consumer brand of Zenerchi throughout China and the Asia Pacific and will be influential to the company’s growth in the U.S.,” he says.
One of the innovations Zenerchi is incorporating in its products is a concept Brandenburg calls fractal physiology. “In our known universe, from superclusters of galaxies down to atoms, subatomic particles and quarks, each level has magnificent detail,” he explains, asserting that the fractal nature of human physiology has not been seen in a museum before.
“Additionally, our app will have features that allow you to take pictures of another person that can age them, change their body type and even simulate x-ray vision,” he says. “Unlike the plasticized and anonymous humans you can see in current body exhibits, we will manufacture and present an artistic and scientifically accurate new view of physiology through experiential displays of anatomy, cells, organs and more.”
For Zenerchi, the museum exhibit is a starting place. The hope is to use the technology not only for consumer education but for medical training and potentially as an aid to performing medical procedures.
Dinesh Patel Credit: Zenerchi
Patel suggests that the technology will enable us to “predict or even know the impact a supplement or procedure will have on our own body and how to maximize the result.”
Perhaps as early as next year, you’ll be able to visit a museum and through Zenerchi’s technology see yourself right down to a representation of the quarks in the atoms that make up the molecules in the cells that comprise your organs, bones and tissues. | Text size
One way to view the relatively brief history of the internet is that it was once a wide-open space that has been turned into a series of digital walled-gardens, where the defining feature is centralized control by an increasingly small group of powerful companies.
It’s a profitable system for those companies, and they very much want users to spend as much time inside their particular patch of the digital world as possible.
And if engagement is the coin of the realm, why not issue a coin to keep people engaged? That’s what Facebook plans to do, the New York Times reported Thursday:
The company is working on a coin that users of WhatsApp, which Facebook owns, could send to friends and family instantly, said five people briefed on the effort who spoke on the condition of anonymity because of confidentiality agreements.
The Facebook project is far enough along that the social networking giant has held conversations with cryptocurrency exchanges about selling the Facebook coin to consumers, said four people briefed on the negotiations.
(Facebook’s coin project was first reported by Bloomberg.)
When JPMorgan Chase announced its digital coin prototype for institutional customers, I wrote that it was the latest bit of increasingly telling evidence that the initial dream of cryptocurrency – unmediated, cash-like transactions – was dead and Facebook’s coin project provides more of the same. (Privacy-focused messaging apps Telegram and Signal are also working on their own coin projects.)
These sorts of stablecoins, which are pegged to the U.S. dollar, function as a sort of internal IOU – company scrip for the digital age.
Of course, there is an element here, particularly in JPMorgan’s case, of simply making the way things currently function more explicit. The dollars that large corporations deposit with JP Morgan are already effectively digital IOUs.
Nor is the desire to use money to coerce engagement or adherence to certain rules new. Indeed, that’s one way the U.S. government uses the dollar and the banking system that holds it. Economic sanctions, one of the strongest foreign policy tools at the U.S.’s disposal, are effected through the various regulated uses of the dollar.
Cryptocurrencies were supposed to challenge states’ stranglehold on that sort of power. And if they ever do, it’s looking like they’ll be issued by some of the world’s largest corporations. | 1 |
Star Wars: Major Skywalker parentage canon fact confirmed
We’re taking another look at a point of interest in the history of the official canon Star Wars universe today – specifically at Anakin Skywalker. It’s the perfect time to make clear a significant point on Anakin’s history since the last(?) of 9 movies is out in the Skywalker Saga right this minute. The following article does NOT contain major spoiler beyond the point that the trailers for The Rise of Skywalker made abundantly clear: That Emperor Palpatine isn’t necessarily as “dead” as we previously assumed.
In Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace, we see Shmi Skywalker suggest to Jedi Master Qui-Gon Jinn that her son, Anakin Skywalker, had no father. Not just no father because the father wasn’t in the picture – no – absolutely no father whatsoever. “There was no father,” she said.
Qui-Gon Jinn hypothesized that Anakin was conceived by midi-chlorians. Midi-chlorians are microscopic life forms that “reside within all living cells” according to Qui-Gon. These life forms are a conduit through which beings like Anakin and Qui-Gon are able to interact with and sense The Force.
Sidenote: The planet with no name, aka “Wellspring of Life” appears in Star Wars: The Clone Wars, in the episode “Destiny” and “Sacrifice”. This planet is the home planet of and birthplace of Midi-chlorians.
The exact nature of Anakin’s manifestation is still unknown – beyond what we’ve seen in The Phantom Menace. HOWEVER, a pair of panels in a comic by the name of Darth Vader (number 25, 2018) shows what might’ve appeared to be a major clue. In the comic, Anakin had a dream.
In the dream, as you’ll see above, you could very easily conclude that The Emperor (Palpatine) had something to do with the creation of Anakin in the womb of Shmi Skywalker. Palpatine stands behind Shmi, smiling, as Shmi’s pregnancy is shown as a swirl of red and black.
To confirm the reality of the situation – the most important part of the conclusions that could be made from these panels, Lucasfilm Story Group Creative Executive Matt Martin spoke up on Twitter. As part of the official Lucasfilm Story Group, Martin is, as he says, “someone with an official say on what is and isn’t canon in the Star Wars galaxy.”
Above, the first panel in question is referenced in a question from a Star Wars fan to Martin. Per Martin, “I’ve gone into this at length a few times. No, that is not what the comic is implying. Just no. There’s more to that comic than those two panels. It should be read in context.”
Replying to Martin, another Star Wars fan says “What? It may just be Anakin’s fear or something like that but it was definitely the implication. ESPECIALLY when you read it in context. Like a page later there’s a shot of Palpatine with the text ‘I am your father’, people weren’t making this connection out of thin air.” That panel is shown below – in the same Darth Vader comic.
“But this is all in Anakin’s head,” said Martin. “Wouldn’t that idea, a concept that Palps hinted at to Anakin himself, be something likely to freak Anakin out? Something that would linger in his mind? “Oh crap, what if he made me!” Doesn’t make it true. It’s all through Anakin’s lens.”
A few more comments appear on Twitter, including a reply from a fan who says “I think the best way to about it is to leave it up to interpretation, that’s what vision sequences are all about.”
Then the final word from Martin: “But I can tell you definitively, as someone who worked on the comic, that is 100% not the intended implication. I’m not saying there isn’t a logical misinterpretation that they’re coming to. I’m just telling you definitively that it’s not correct.”
Star Wars Episode 9, The Rise of Skywalker, was in theaters at press time for this article, on January 1, 2020. The streaming service Disney+ gave access to all other Star Wars: Skywalker Saga films at that time, episodes 1 through 8. If you’d like to see the rest of the Darth Vader, you’ll need to head to your local comic shop. The comic referenced above can be found digitally via Marvel’s online shop right this minute. | ILLINOIS (WTVO) — Over 200 new laws are taking effect on January 1, 2020.
Here is 10 of the Illinois State Senate Democratic Caucus’ highlighted laws that could affect you:
1. Minimum Wage Increase: For the first time in nearly a decade, Illinois is raising its minimum wage. It increases from $8.25 to $9.25 on January 1, and to $15 by Jan. 1, 2025.
2. Legal Recreational Marijuana: On January 1, adults will be able to buy cannabis legally from a well-regulated market.
3. Gratuity Not Included: Starting January 1, the law says all tips must go to the employee – not their employer.
4. Defending DNA: Your genes are your business. Companies like Ancestry.com and 23andMe won’t be able to share your ancestry test results with health or life insurance companies without consent.
5. Safety First: Staring Jan. 1, 2020, you’ll pay more for reckless driving. The maximum penalty for hitting a construction worker increases to $25,000. The fine for illegally passing a school bus doubles on January 1. Drivers who violate Scott’s Law may be fined up to $10,000.
6. Drop It and Drive: Illinois residents will no longer be able to watch streaming video while driving.
7. Pet Project: Dog and cat kennels must be equipped with a fire sprinkler or alarm system if the kennel is not staffed at all times.
8. You’re In!: Starting in 2020, Illinois high schoolers in the top 10% of their class are guaranteed acceptance into NIU, EIU, SIU and WIU.
9. Families First: Illinois police and firefighters risk their lives to keep us safe. That’s why the burial benefit for a first responder killed in the line of duty doubles Jan. 1.
10. Helping Heroes: Police will have access to better mental health resources in 2020 with training focused on wellness and suicide prevention.
Check out the full list here.
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Max Clark has impressed in the Eredivisie (Picture: Getty Images)
Liverpool are weighing up a move for Vitesse left-back Max Clark as cover for Andy Robertson.
Clark came through the system at Hull City and made 30 appearances for the East Yorkshire club before moving to the Netherlands in 2018.
The 23-year-old has been impressive since the switch to Vitesse and caught the eye for his attacking threat from full-back, becoming especially renowned for his crossing ability.
Sky Sports placed Clark in their team of most promising Under-23 players from across Europe due to his assists and the former England Under-17 international is enjoying a growing reputation across the continent.
His contract at Vitesse expires in 18 months and the Dutch club are expecting there to be bids for him in January, according to the Mirror.
He moved from Hull when his contract expired with the club and the English side received around £400,000 for him, and while Vitesse would expect a lot more than that, he may be a relatively cheap option to add cover at left-back for the Reds.
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Robertson is clear first choice at Anfield, but Jurgen Klopp is short of options after the Scot, with James Milner generally next in line at left-back.
Clark could provide a more natural option as back-up to Robertson, and he believes his time in Holland has helped him grow as a player and a person.
‘I’ve learned a lot about myself,’ Clark told the Hull Daily Mail. ‘It’s given me time to think about myself as a person. It can be hard when you’re lonely so I’ve looked for things to study. I’m reading a lot more than I ever did before. I’m not sure I ever opened a book at home.
‘I’ve turned into a man. I was in a comfort zone living in England. I was happy being around my family and my friends, going out to Nandos, the normal things you do.
‘Over in Holland it was up to me to find a different routine, doing different things, like taking myself for walks. I’ve got used to my own company a lot more but I’d say I’m mentally stronger for that. I think my family have seen me grow into a different person in the last year.’
MORE: Takumi Minamino unable to make Liverpool debut against Sheffield United
MORE: Why referee and VAR did not give Virgil van Dijk handball in Liverpool vs Wolves | CARLISLE, ENGLAND - OCTOBER 22: Carlisle United mascot Olga the Fox looks on prior to the Sky Bet League Two match between Carlisle United and Northampton Town at Brunton Park on October 22, 2019 in Carlisle, England. (Photo by Pete Norton/Getty Images)
Three players who took it to the next level in December
Three players who took it to the next level in December by Russell Hughes
A 17-year-old Liverpool transfer target is expected to move in January amid interest from Premier League rivals Chelsea.
The Daily Mail has reported that the Reds are interested in strengthening their youth ranks with the signing of Carlisle United starlet Jarrad Branthwaite.
He is the third defender to be linked with a move to Anfield in the last few days after Vitesse left-back Max Clark and Sevilla star Diego Carlos.
Clark would make a good back up for Andy Robertson and Carlos would plug the injury gap that Joel Matip and Dejan Lovren has left behind, while the towering Branthwaite would be a good option for the future.
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Chelsea have their beady eye on the League Two starlet, who has made his breakthrough this season and played 10 games for the Cumbrians.
The report indicates that Carlisle bosses are resigned to losing Jarrad Branthwaite this winter, although it doesn’t specify the fee. He isn’t even given a valuation by Transfermarkt, the normally reliable website, although you wouldn’t imagine it would take an extortionate offer to sign the youngster.
Liverpool are well stocked in their defensive youth ranks with Ki-Jana Hoever making his first team debut and impressing, while Sepp van den Berg joined in the summer after doing well for Zwolle in the Eredivisie.
It seems to mark an indication of how the club will continue their activity in the market. They are looking for young players with potential to improve, who can play a back-up role to those established first team regulars.
Max Clark would come in as Robertson’s understudy, Takumi Minamino will operate as a versatile forward across the front three in order to relieve the pressure on Sadio Mane, Roberto Firmino and Mohamed Salah while Branthwaite will be regarded as one for the future.
These are exciting times to be a Liverpool fan, and the January transfer window is only going to increase the anticipation for what’s to come. | 2.666667 |
We will remember 2019 as a year of uprisings. In over a dozen countries on five continents, people have risen up to confront economic inequality and even the most repressive governments. These mobilizations are answering the question of how to tackle ascendant right-wing authoritarianism — and women have been at the heart of it all.
In part, that’s because women know well the consequences of living under these draconian governments. Far-right politicians and groups have repeatedly sought to win political support by promising to keep women in their place. In the lead-up to their elections, Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro touted his opposition to a law imposing penalties for gender-motivated killings, and Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte crassly joked about possibly participating in a gang rape.
Right-wing forces promote a toxic brand of masculinity that defines manhood through violence and aggression, promising men a slice of patriarchal power in exchange for backing authoritarian rule. They relegate women to silence and submission and force LGBTIQ people into hiding. They have targeted female human rights activists who defy patriarchal norms with harassment, criminalization and even murder.
But the leadership we’ve seen from women during uprisings is not just a defensive reaction against these threats. Women-led, feminist organizing has become a vital, effective strategy to confront authoritarian power — partly because women tend to lead nonviolent, inclusive movements that often work to bring about political change against authoritarian regimes.
Nonviolent movements have been twice as effective at achieving their goals as violent uprisings, succeeding more than 50% of the time, according to a 2008 study of more than 320 uprisings from 1900 to 2006. And when women are at the forefront, mass mobilizations are more likely to be peaceful, another study concluded. Among nonviolent movements, more than 60% featured women’s organizations that formally called for peace, compared with only 35% among violent campaigns.
In Sudan, young activist Alaa Salah climbed atop a car this year to lead protest chants and inspire millions. Women — who bore the brunt of Sudanese dictator Omar Bashir’s repression, including policing women’s behavior and consigning them to second-class citizenship — made up two-thirds of protesters. Persisting in the face of assault, arrest and sexual violence at the hands of government forces, they insisted on nonviolence, ultimately ousting Bashir and overturning his repressive orders.
In Colombia, the initial trigger for the biggest mobilizations the country has seen in decades was a rumor of government cuts to pensions. Rights activist Stella Duque, who founded the peace-building organization Taller de Vida, immediately knew that the Colombia uprising was not just about pension cuts.
The fury grew from years of thwarted opportunities for real peace. It erupted over the government’s failures to effectively implement a historic 2016 peace agreement or to address the needs of those who had suffered through the worst of the violence: former child soldiers, survivors of wartime sexual violence and indigenous and black communities.
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A hallmark of women’s organizing is making sure no one is left behind. For years, Duque has focused on providing healing services through art therapy and support groups for those most impacted by violence, especially young people and demobilized child soldiers. Currently, she’s using her networks and the trust she’s built among those marginalized communities to bring their voices into the protests.
Feminist uprising is also an antidote to authoritarianism because women’s movements provide the infrastructure needed to sustain grass-roots organizing. For years, Yanar Mohammed of the Organization of Women’s Freedom in Iraq has trained and mobilized a nationwide network of activists for democracy and gender justice in Iraq — while trying to meet women’s needs that include shelter, job training and know-your-rights workshops.
The Iraqi people’s outrage at their corrupt, undemocratic government has resulted in the country’s largest demonstrations since 2003. When the protests began in October, Mohammed and other activists were ready to draw on their networks and tools. They shuttled people to and from protests and disseminated food and emergency supplies. To guide newly mobilized, less-seasoned activists, they set up tents in Baghdad’s Tahrir Square to educate people and explain tactics — and distribute brochures about feminism and human rights.
Iraq’s protests have already compelled the country’s prime minister to resign. Further victories, such as reforms to combat corruption and sectarianism, will require long-term organizing. Grassroots Iraqi women’s groups have been building channels to keep people engaged through work that began long before the uprising, including broadcasting radio programs about rights and democracy and hosting community-building gatherings.
Feminist movements stand for something that right-wing authoritarians fear: the end of patriarchy. Women are rewriting the rules that allocate power to some and suppress others based on restrictive gender norms. They are creating inclusive communities where people of all genders and identities can live freely, assured of their rights. That’s more than a beautiful dream. It’s a blueprint for a successful uprising.
Yifat Susskind is executive director of Madre, a human rights organization that partners with women’s groups facing war and disaster worldwide. She wrote this for the Los Angeles Times. | We have too many economists and too few anthropologists in politics. This occurred to me after covering for the media such events as the 2016 Brexit vote in the UK, Donald Trump's stunning 2016 victory (the biggest election upset since 1948), and the 2019 re-election of the Morrison government.
There were many local issues and particular differences. But a general trend was the importance of "cultural" issues rather than "economic" ones. This is reversing a trend that has dominated our lives: "money is the measure of all things".
In recent decades in western countries there has been the growth of (under various names) "new right economic rationalism" and "neo-market liberalism".
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In essence the focus is economic. It has been assumed that the "hip pocket nerve" determines political outcomes.
But recent political developments suggest otherwise. The UK's Brexit crisis is a good example. Many UK commentators and politicians assumed that people would vote on economic lines. The UK had done well from its four decades of European Union membership, with almost half of its exports going to the EU. If the UK had to negotiate a new trade deal, it would not get the same favourable grounds as currently prevailed.
However people tended to vote on cultural grounds. They were sick of foreigners (as they saw them) taking over the British way of life. For example, Polish is now the second most common language in England.
They voted to leave the EU even though it could damage them economically. The political class in the UK (and the US) could not believe that the working class would vote against what the political class perceived to be the financial interest of the working class.
Economics was not top of their mind – except in so far as new right economic rationalism had destroyed their jobs (particularly so in what used to be the Labour heartland in northern England).
Economists – and the politicians and commentators who relied on them – focussed on the booming service-based economy around London. It was assumed that somehow the wealth would trickle up towards the north.
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To a person with a hammer, every problem is a nail. They could only think in terms of numbers.
Most economists failed to predict the 2008 global financial crisis and they have escaped the consequences of their failed thinking. They are still in business – which is more than can be said of many people in manufacturing and mining.
Ironically many anthropologists have been discussing for decades what new right economic rationalism has been doing to societies. They have seen how these policies have created oases of wealth (such as London bankers) in an ocean of British squalor. | 1.333333 |
Brrrrrrrrrrr!!! Ready or not winter has returned! I’m thinking a person could get rather spoiled with 50-degree weather in Indiana at this time of year! My Aunt Martha used to say, “We take whatever comes.” How true that is. Sometimes we take whatever comes with quiet resignation and acquiescence. Sometimes we take whatever comes without complaining. Sometimes we take whatever […]
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Visit your Account page to renew your subscription, or enroll in a new plan on our Subscribe page! | The headliners from the 2019 Freedom Fireworks Extravaganza will again entertain in their hometown when Wilkes County’s J.B. Hopkins and Stephen Blackburn, along with fellow Puzzletruck bandmate Rick Reese return for the 2020 W-W Chamber of Commerce Community Awards Banquet. “You loved them when they took the stage at Freedom Fireworks and now they are coming back,” Chamber Executive Director […] | 2 |
A number of those detained are suspected of having set rubbish bins alight. Others are suspected of having thrown objects at cars, busses and police vehicles. The arrests were mainly in the Brussels West, Brussels-Elsene and Brussels South policing areas and to a lesser extent in the Brussel-North policing zone.
The police report that the situation was tense in a number of areas of the city, including the area around the Lemonnierlaan in the city centre, Kuregem in Anderlecht and Zwarte Vijvers in Sint-Jans-Molenbeek.
There were reports of a ca rand a scooter being torched in Molenbeek. A car was also set alight in Vorst. | The evening was not without incident though. A 21-year-old man that is in Belgium illegally was stabbed in the leg in a fight in front of the Beekkant metro station in Sint-Jans-Molenbeek at around 2:10am. He sought sanctuary in the station. The station was cordoned off while police carried out an investigation and search of the area where the stabbing took place.
MIVB also reports that one of its trams had its windows smashed in the city centres, two metro carriages were daubed with graffiti at the Erasmus Metro Station in Anderlecht and a bus shelter was trashed in the centre of Ukkel. | 3.333333 |
(MENAFN - ACCESSWIRE )
UPDATE REGARDING PROPOSED TRANSACTION AND ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING
TORTOLA / ACCESSWIRE / January 2, 2020 / Atlas Mara Limited ("Atlas Mara" or "the Company") announced on 30 April 2019 that it had entered into a binding term sheet pursuant to which Atlas Mara agreed to the exchange of certain banking assets in four countries for shares in Equity Group Holdings Plc ("EGH"). On 30 September 2019, Atlas Mara noted that confirmatory due diligence has been substantially concluded.
As of the date of this announcement, the parties have yet to sign detailed transaction agreements. While there is no assurance that the potential transaction will be concluded on the terms previously announced, the parties continue to be engaged in discussions, with the objective to reach mutually-acceptable terms as soon as practicable in early 2020. The Company will provide any further update to the market in due course.
The Company also announces that its next Annual General Meeting will be held in May 2020. Customary formal notice of the meeting including the date, time and location will be circulated to shareholders in due course. The articles of association of the Company require the approval of the holders of a majority of the ordinary shares in the Company to hold an Annual General Meeting no more than 15 months after the prior Annual General Meeting, which was held on 29 August 2018. The Company has received the necessary approval. Atlas Mara will circulate a written resolution to all holders of ordinary shares, as required by its articles of association.
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Kojo Dufu, +1 212 883 4330
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Anthony Silverman, Apella Advisors
+44 (0)7818 036 579
This information is provided by RNS, the news service of the London Stock Exchange. RNS is approved by the Financial Conduct Authority to act as a Primary Information Provider in the United Kingdom. Terms and conditions relating to the use and distribution of this information may apply. For further information, please contact [email protected] or visit www.rns.com .
SOURCE: Atlas Mara Limited
MENAFN0201202000703708ID1099497133 | ONLINE and telephone banking has been blamed for the slow decline of Echuca’s Bank Australia branch, which will close on April 3.
The Hare St branch has been named as one of the locations on the bank’s regional hit list for new year closures, which Bank Australia deputy chief executive John Yardley put down to the changing nature of banking.
The local branch is one of four Victorian branches which are set for closure however Mr Yardley said local customers will still be able to bank online or by phone.
“We have made the difficult decision to close the Echuca branch after a thorough review of our operations across our national branch network over the past six months,” he said.
“We have had a long history serving the community of Echuca and we’re committed to ensuring that our local customers are able to continue to access banking services – whether this is through our digital and phone channels, which many are already using, or with another local bank if the customer needs a face-to-face service.
“We will be working with individual customers to find a solution to meet their particular needs.
“Our priority is ensuring our team members affected by this decision are supported to find other roles within Bank Australia, or with other employers in the region.
“We recognise the timing of this announcement so close to Christmas period is not ideal, and will be unwelcome news for the affected staff and customers.
“However, we wanted to let everyone know about this decision soon after it was made.
“Ultimately, this closure reflects the changing nature of banking as more and more customers choose to do their banking online.”
An information session will be held in early 2020 for customers to meet with senior representatives of the bank to talk about the branch closure and their banking needs. | 1.333333 |
JAMMU: Dr Darakhshan Andrabi, a member of Central Waqf Council, on Wednesday met Jammu and Kashmir Lieutenant Governor Girish Chandra Murmu here at the Raj Bhavan.
The Lt Governor and Dr Andrabi discussed about the various important matters concerning the working of the Waqf Board and the due administration of Auqaf. Dr Andrabi shared with the Lt Governor her views about the prevailing scenario in the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir and also apprised the Lt Governor about several measures initiated by the Council for protection and retrieval of the Waqf properties and removal of encroachment and implementing Educational and Women Welfare Schemes for skill development. (AGENCIES) | JAMMU: A Border Security Force jawan on Wednesday suffered a bullet injury in the firing by Pakistan army in Poonch district, a police official said.
The jawan was manning a forward post and was hit by a bullet in the left leg from across the border in Mankote area of Mendhar sector, the official said.
He said the injured was shifted to hospital and his condition was stated to be “stable”.
There was a brief exchange of fire between the two sides following the incident, the official said. (AGENCIES) | 2 |
Paul Ewart was Oxford’s head of atomic and laser physics
Northern Ireland professor Paul Ewart forced to quit Oxford post wins ageism case BelfastTelegraph.co.uk A Belfast-born physics professor has won a landmark ageism case after being forced to retire from Oxford University. https://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/northern-ireland/northern-ireland-professor-paul-ewart-forced-to-quit-oxford-post-wins-ageism-case-38825562.html https://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/northern-ireland/e5d1e/38825561.ece/AUTOCROP/h342/2020-01-01_new_55987915_I2.JPG
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A Belfast-born physics professor has won a landmark ageism case after being forced to retire from Oxford University.
Paul Ewart (71) was forced to leave his post as Oxford's head of atomic and laser physics before his 70th birthday.
He told the Belfast Telegraph that "a scientist's best work can come at any age" and that he felt vindicated in his fight against Oxford's "ageist" retirement rules.
It's expected that the university will now be under pressure to roll back on a controversial policy allowing them to dismiss academics at the age of 67 to make way for younger and more diverse staff.
Only Cambridge University and St Andrews University also adopt this rule.
Professor Ewart said he agreed there needed to be more diversity and opportunities for young people at Oxford, but discriminating against older staff was not the right way to do it.
He is now set to receive at least £150,000 in back pay and hopes to be reinstated, having spent £30,000 of his own money on the case. | Oxford University could appeal a landmark ageism case after an employment tribunal ruled the dismissal of a physics professor 'unfair'.
Paul Ewart was discriminated against on the grounds of age when his contract was not renewed in September 2017, the hearing in Reading found.
He was forced to leave his post as Oxford's head of atomic and laser physics before his 70th birthday.
A spokesperson for the university said: "In light of this ruling the university will be considering its options, including the possibility of an appeal."
The legal victory for Prof Ewart will now put pressure on the institution to overturn its controversial policy that allows them to dismiss academics at the age of 67.
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In its judgement, shared with Times Higher Education magazine, the employment tribunal said: "If a heavily discriminatory measure results in the creation of only two to four per cent more vacancies than would otherwise arise, we do not see how that can be proportionate.
"The increase in the number of vacancies in support of the legitimate aim is trivial in comparison with the discriminatory effect."
Prof Ewart, who had worked at Oxford for 38 years, has requested he be reinstated as a senior lecturer.
READ AGAIN: Those who left their mark on Oxfordshire and died in 2019
He is the second Oxford professor to challenge the institution's controversial retirement policy that, as claimed by the university, is aimed at promoting 'inter-generational fairness and improvements in diversity'.
In May last year Professor John Pitcher, who taught English at St John’s College, lost a similar claim against Oxford University after he was forced to retire at 67.
He sued the university for age discrimination and unfair dismissal, claiming loss of earnings of £100,000. Both claims were dismissed.
Prof Pitcher is appealing that decision. | 4 |
D.G. Martin hosts “North Carolina Bookwatch,” Sunday at 11 a.m. and Tuesday at 5 p.m. on UNC-TV. The program also airs on the North Carolina Channel Tuesday at 8 p.m. and other times. | MEXICO CITY (AP) — At least 16 inmates in a central Mexico prison were killed and five more were wounded in a riot that closed out a violent 2019 for the country, authorities said.
Zacatecas state security secretary Ismael Camberos Hernández told local press that authorities confiscated four guns that they believe were introduced to the Cieneguillas state prison during prison visits Tuesday. He said the prison had been searched for weapons on Saturday and Sunday and no guns were found.
The melee broke out around 2:30 p.m. Tuesday and the prison was brought under control by 5 p.m., according to a statement from the state security agency.
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Fifteen of the victims died at the prison and one died later at a hospital.
One prisoner was detained with a gun still in his possession and the other three were found inside the prison, the statement said. Camberos said not all of the victims died from gunshot wounds. Some were stabbed and others beaten with objects.
No guards or police were wounded, Camberos said. He did not offer a possible motive, but such killings frequently involve score settling between rival cartel members or a battle for control of the prison's illicit business. | 1 |
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Chad Wolf, the acting secretary of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), ordered a review of state laws allowing illegal aliens to obtain driver’s licenses that will enable many illegals to vote.
New York is the latest state to pass such a bill on driver’s licenses.
Many county clerks in New York State are against the new law that allows illegals to use foreign documents to get driver’s licenses because employees are unfamiliar with the documents that are usually in Spanish.
It opens up the process to massive fraud.
You can use your driver’s license to register to vote in New York, which makes it easy for illegals to vote.
Every time an illegal casts a vote, it cancels out the vote of an American.
Wolf has ordered every department at the DHS to review the laws and see how they affect the DHS from doing its job.
Wolf has previously indicated that he is not in favor of illegals having licenses.
This review is probably to establish the fact that it violates the supremacy clause that disallows states from passing laws that are contrary to federal laws.
From The Daily Caller :
Wolf on Tuesday ordered all of the components of DHS to conduct a department-wide review of the state laws to determine how they affect their day-to-day operations, according to a memo obtained by the Daily Caller News Foundation. The DHS chief’s directive indicates he is prepared to take aim against the state laws.
“Accordingly, I am instructing each operational component to conduct an assessment of the impact of these laws, so that the Department is prepared to deal with and counter these impacts as we protect the homeland,” Wolf’s memo read.
The memo follows implementation of New York’s “Green Light” law, and passage of a similar bill in New Jersey in December. Both laws not only allow illegal aliens to obtain driver’s licenses, but also restrict DMV data from Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and other agencies within the Department of Homeland Security. | The acting secretary of Homeland Security is taking aim Tuesday at new laws in New York, New Jersey and other states that allow immigrants to get driver's licenses without proof they are in the U.S. legally, and restrict data sharing with federal authorities.
Chad Wolf sent a memo to all the components of Homeland Security, which include U.S. Customs and Border Protection, the Coast Guard and the Transportation Security Administration, requesting a department study on how the laws affect its enforcement efforts for both immigration and other investigations into human trafficking, drug smuggling and counterterrorism.
New York's law went into effect earlier this month, and migrants lined up to get documents. It was the 13th state to authorize licenses for drivers without legal immigration status, and most of the other states also restrict data sharing. New Jersey lawmakers passed a similar bill in December.
New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo and New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio, both Democrats, are frequent thorns in the side of the Trump administration's efforts to restrict immigration. New York City is home to an estimated 500,000 immigrants in the country illegally.
The laws prohibit state Department of Motor Vehicles officials from providing data to agencies that enforce immigration law unless a judge orders it. New York cut off database access to at least three federal agencies last week when the law went into effect.
Wolf said in his memo, obtained by The Associated Press, that the department must be "prepared to deal with and counter these impacts as we protect the homeland."
An estimated 265,000 immigrants without legal documents were expected to get driver's licenses within three years, more than half of them in New York City, according to the Fiscal Policy Institute.
Applicants must still get a permit and pass a road test to qualify for a "standard driver's license," which cannot be used for federal purposes like an enhanced driver's license or Real ID.
Wolf's directive asks that each agency survey what DMV information is already available, how it is used in day-to-day operations, and what the security consequences are without the data.
"The Trump administration takes the mission of protecting the Homeland very seriously," said DHS spokeswoman Heather Swift. She said the laws were short-sighted and unsafe and skirt immigration laws on the books for decades. "These types of laws make it easier for terrorists and criminals to obtain fraudulent documents," she said.
New York authorities and other state officials say the laws are meant to lower the number of uninsured people, improve traffic safety and allow for better opportunity for work. | 4 |
Chris Brunskill/Fantasista/Getty Images
Liverpool will look to maintain their march toward the Premier League title on Thursday as they host Sheffield United at Anfield.
The Reds hold a 13-point lead atop the table after 19 matches, with a game in hand on those below them.
They face Tottenham Hotspur, Manchester United and Wolverhampton Wanderers in their following three league matches, so they'll want to precede that difficult run of games with another win.
Date: Thursday, January 2
Time: 8 p.m. GMT/3 p.m. ET
TV: BT Sport 1 (UK), NBCSN (USA)
Live Stream: BT Sport Player (UK), NBCSports.com (USA)
Odds: Liverpool (29-100), Draw (9-2), Sheffield United (10-1)
Odds courtesy of Caesars
Liverpool's involvement in the FIFA Club World Cup meant their fixture list saw them play nine matches in December, but they came through it almost unscathed.
They only failed to win one of those nine, and that was the Carabao Cup quarter-final against Aston Villa in which they deployed a team made up entirely of youngsters.
The Reds were a little fortunate to come away with all three points against Wolves on Sunday, though.
Sadio Mane's goal was the difference between the two sides in an otherwise even contest, in which Pedro Neto had a goal disallowed for a marginal offside call:
The win extended Liverpool's remarkable run of results at Anfield:
The only league match the Reds have failed to win this season came in their 1-1 draw with Manchester United at Old Trafford in October, so they'll be targeting another three points at home here.
Sheffield United excel in picking up points on the road, though, so it won't be an easy game.
The Blades lost 2-0 at Manchester City on Sunday, but they had been on an impressive run away from home prior to that:
Chris Wilder's side have only shipped 19 goals in the Premier League this season, too—only the Reds have a better defensive record.
They've not been quite as imperious going forward, though. Sheffield have netted 23 goals this season, and in the top half, only Crystal Palace (18) have scored fewer.
Against a Liverpool side that has kept four consecutive clean sheets in the league, that could be an issue. | Klopp reveals how he'd solve VAR shambles as latest controversy sees Grealish goal ruled out
The Liverpool boss wants to see the line used to check offside made thicker, with the flaws in the technology exposed once again at Turf Moor
manager Jurgen Klopp has revealed how he'd solve the ongoing issues surrounding VAR, with falling victim to another controversial decision on New Year's Day.
Video assistant referees were introduced at the start of the 2019-20 campaign in an attempt to ease the pressure on officials and take human error out of the equation when clear and obvious errors have occurred.
However, the technology has stolen headlines for all the wrong reasons, with marginal offside calls proving to be a source of major frustration for managers and supporters across the Premier League.
Villa midfielder Jack Grealish has been at the centre of the latest perceived injustice, with his 12th-minute strike against ruled out due to Wesley's heel being millimetres ahead of the last defender during the build-up.
After another controversial incident, there was plenty of reaction on social media.
VAR in Premier League will go into history as a failed tech implementation due to failure to take into account the major stakeholders - the fans. If you overcomplicate technology and don't review your processes the implementation will fail! pic.twitter.com/nNMRbhrMES — hash (@hashim0307) January 1, 2020
VAR checking for offside
vs
VAR checking any other decision pic.twitter.com/3DGM346xtz — Simão (@SimonWe1ss) January 1, 2020
VAR starting 2020 showing why it needs to return to original aim. Clear/obvious. Grealish goal ruled out for fractional Wesley offside in #BURAVL. Who believes decision by technician quickly drawing lines is 100% accurate apart from PGMOL? Game’s about goalscorers not Mike Riley. — Henry Winter (@henrywinter) January 1, 2020
New Year, same VAR.
Jack Grealish's opener for Aston Villa was ruled out for offside.
🙃#BURAVL pic.twitter.com/QADsUQyoYA — Goal (@goal) January 1, 2020
Just get rid of it ASAP. Yes yes “you can’t do it midway through the season” but the 20 clubs must surely be able to come together and realise this situation is disastrous for them collectively. https://t.co/AFldEVE5eM — Michael Cox (@Zonal_Marking) January 1, 2020
Klopp has seen Liverpool involved in their fair share of similar incidents, and he is in favour of a change which would see the attacker given the benefit of any doubt in tight situations.
The German boss told a press conference: "We had a manager meeting with UEFA and it was decided to make the line bigger [wider]. I would like that.
"I don't know who would decide that. That it doesn't take so long until a decision would also be better.
"It's not the biggest problem in the world. We want to have clarification and right decisions, offside we get that now, the only problem is it feels like half an hour until the toenail is offside. But that's the decision."
Klopp was speaking ahead of Liverpool's clash with newly promoted at Anfield on Thursday, where his side will be looking to extend their 36-match unbeaten run.
The Reds have won their last 10 in the Premier League, and have only dropped points in one of their 19 fixtures this season.
Liverpool have stormed 13 points clear of their rivals at the top of the table, despite having been forced to negotiate their way through a hectic winter schedule which included a Club World Cup venture in .
Article continues below
A 1-0 home win over Wolves on Sunday marked their latest triumph, with Klopp fully focused on keeping the squad as fresh as possible as the fixture list continues to pile up.
He added: "Four days is a proper recovery so that's okay but after that, there's another game. It isn't just about rhythm, we don't have massive alternatives in all positions, some will have to go again and hopefully, they can.
"But the players are all in good shape, so I'm happy about that. But it's not always easy to make the right decisions." | 2.333333 |
news, story, article
Winneba (C/R), Jan. 1, GNA - Mr Johnson Asiedu Nketia, General Secretary of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), has described the country’s laws on political party financing and campaigning as vague and called for it to be strengthened.
He said the laws must be expanded to set limit of funding for every parliamentary candidate during an election and also demand that they declared their sources of funding.
“The campaign financing laws must be specific as to which activities can be financed, how much to spend on each activity and must make it mandatory for candidates to disclose their sources of funding”, he said.
Additionally, he said, the assets declaration laws are a “useless ritual” without any proper significance and called for its review.
Mr Asiedu Nketia made the call at Winneba on Tuesday when he took his turn to address the 38th anniversary of the 31st December Revolution on the theme, “Monetization of Elections in Ghana: ‘A threat to National Development and Genuine Democracy”.
He also called for a second look at the chunk of money spent on internal elections of political parties saying sufficient budget must be made available to the Electoral Commission (EC) to organise and supervise such elections.
This, he said, would stop political parties from charging filing fees from aspirants to help reduce the cost of seeking political position and ultimately reduce corruption and the monetization in the body politic of the country which had made politics very expensive.
Brigadier General Nunoo Mensah, former Chief of Defense Staff, said politics was not a business venture which politicians could use to enrich themselves, but an avenue for decent people who have genuine desire and the calling to serve their people in order to improve their quality of life.
Regrettably, he said, the very ills of corruption, bad governance, mismanagement, gross indiscipline among others which the revolution was against continued unabated.
He called for a new national movement which would inculcate the ideals and values of the 31st December Revolution into Ghanaians in order to be able to bring about the desired change to build a genuine democracy.
GNA | By Afedzi Abdullah, GNA
Winneba (C/R) Jan 01, GNA – Former President
John Dramani Mahama and Presidential flagbearer of the National Democratic
Congress has expressed concern about the growing loss of faith and trust in the
country’s democratic system.
He described it as a ‘looming danger’ to
democracy and could be dangerous to citizens.
He said it was manifesting with apathy
towards elections and demands of money and material things in exchange for
political support, adding that, monitisation made politics more expensive and
continued to fuel corruption in the country.
Former President Mahama shared these views
at the 38th anniversary of the 31st December Revolution in Winneba on Tuesday
on the theme, “Monetization of Elections in Ghana: ‘A threat to National
Development and Genuine Democracy.”
According to him, Ghanaians had become
despondent with strong sentiments that no matter what happened, there could be
no significant transformation in their lives.
He blamed the practice on the arrogance of
power, lack of humility and modesty in public service and waste of national
resources by public office bearers and stressed the need to the Country to work
towards restoring modesty and humility in government, while identifying with
the sacrifices of the people.
“The only means we can bring back the trust
of our people and minimize monitisation in our politics is to uphold the
revolutionary principles of probity and accountability. We must be prepared to
be probed and to be accountable”, he said
He said there was the need to step up the
fight against corruption and nepotism, while strengthening the assets
declaration regime of the country.
Mr. Mahama said a new NDC government would
seek to review the law and ensure that every public office holder including;
the president would declare their assets and publish those assets for all
Ghanaians to see.
He urged supporters of the NDC to reflect on
the principles of probity and accountability as trumpeted by the
31st December Revolution to work hard for victory in 2020.
He said the 31st December Revolution,
which played a pivotal role in the history of the Country, laid a solid
foundation for the 4th republic and the formulation of the 1992
constitution.
Former President John Jerry
Rawlings bemoaned the level of corruption in the Country saying, “corruption
has eaten so deep into the fabric of the masses of our country that it has
taken away that team spirit at the grassroots”.
He said it was time the Country drew lessons
from the two incidents to reform, transform and improve upon justice and freedom
in the society.
He underscored the need to give due
respect to all deserving people and not only to people of high social class.
GNA | 2 |
JERUSALEM (JTA) — Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will not extend the term of Danny Danon, Israel’s ambassador to the United Nations.
Danon’s term officially expired on Tuesday, the same day that the announcement that his term would not be extended was made, Israel’s Channel 12 first reported.
Danon’s term was supposed to end in August, but Netanyahu extended it to the end of 2019.
Netanyahu did not name a permanent replacement for Danon, and because he is heading a transitional government likely will not be able to make such a senior appointment.
The deputy representative to the U.N., Noa Furman, will lead the diplomatic mission in the meantime.
Netanyahu this week asked Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit if he can make a permanent appointment while heading an interim government but has not yet received an answer.
Danon in 2017 was elected as vice president of the General Assembly as the representative of the Western states. His tenure has been notable for a strong push against the U.N.’s historically poor treatment of Israel
There currently are no Israeli ambassadors to Russia, Canada and Egypt, The Jerusalem Post reported. | Fort Lewis College is updating about a dozen panels at the Clock Tower in the center of campus to better recognize the past, "in a way that's fully inclusive of our Native American community on campus and the families directly affected by Indian boarding schools." | 2 |
Lupi & Leo Is A Hidden Gem Restaurant Near Pittsburgh That’s Earned Rave Reviews
When you discover a hidden gem, a place that very few people know about, don’t you feel as though you’ve uncovered an amazing secret? A secret you want to share with everyone you know. At the same time, however, you want to keep it all to yourself. Discover this hidden gem restaurant near Pittsburgh, where you can indulge in a scrumptious homemade meal that will leave you stuffed.
Bring a hearty appetite with you when you visit Lupi & Leo, a charming restaurant in Greensburg that boasts a delicious menu of dishes made the old-fashioned way... Facebook/Lupi & Leo Homemade with fresh ingredients and sprinkled with a bit of love. The hidden gem restaurant offers something for everyone, whether you're craving a cheesy pizza or a filling entree. Trip Advisor/mrlincolnhigh Speaking of pizza...what's your favorite? Choose a classic cheese pizza or a specialty pie. Lupi & Leo serve such specialties as pickle pizza and mac and cheese brisket pizza. Facebook/Lupi & Leo If you're not quite in the mood for pizza, check out the rest of the menu that includes a generous assortment of sandwiches. How does the shrimp po boy, the burger, or the crab cake sandwich sound? Facebook/Lupi & Leo For a hearty entree, stop Lupi & Leo's starting at 3 p.m. The menu's bursting with such popular dishes as seared salmon, Mahi Mahi tacos, and shrimp and grits. Facebook/Lupi & Leo While homemade meals certainly hit the spot, perhaps nothing tops a homemade dessert. Ask your server to see the day's dessert tray. Facebook/Lupi & Leo Dig into a mouthwatering homemade meal at Lupi & Leo, open Tuesday through Thursday from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m., Friday from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m., and Saturday from 12 p.m. to 9 p.m. Facebook/Lupi & Leo Click here for the official website of Lupi & Leo. Or, go here for Facebook. Facebook/Lupi & Leo
What’s your favorite hidden gem restaurant near Pittsburgh? Tell us about it in the comments! If you like hidden gems, set your GPS to find Don’s Diner, tucked under a bridge in Pittsburgh.
Address: 201 West Dr, Greensburg, PA 15601, USA | The Santa Maria Public Library will show the 2017 movie "The Big Sick" on Jan. 13.
The movie, rated R for language, will be shown at 3 p.m. in Shepard Hall. It is free and no tickets are required.
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In the film, Pakistan-born comedian Kumail Nanjiani and graduate student Emily Gardner fall in love but struggle as their cultures clash. When Emily contracts a mysterious illness, Kumail is forced to face Emily’s feisty parents, his family’s expectations and his true feelings.
Seating is limited and offered on a first-come, first-served basis. Free freshly popped popcorn will also be served.
The library, located at 421 S. McClelland St., is open from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday through Thursday, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Friday and Saturday and 1 to 5 p.m. Sunday.
For more information, call 805-925-0994, ext. 8562.
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Jackie Patton, chair of RYANI and Donaghadee Sailing Club member, is on a mission. She used to crew a 505 and along with Thomas Anderson, ex 505 helmsman and crew and past Commodore of Royal North of Ireland YC, is organising a 505 Irish fleet reunion on Saturday 25th April in the RNIYC clubhouse at Cultra near Belfast.
The fleet disbanded in the mid-1980s. The well-known sailor and the retired owner of McCready Sailboats chandlery in Holywood, Wic McCready, and Jackie were the last to win an Irish championship. The class is still active in the rest of the UK and internationally.
As reported previously in Afloat.ie there was an august gathering of Irish 505 sailors at the National Yacht Club on Thursday 7th November to commemorate the second European Championships of the class, which was held in Dun Laoghaire in August 1969.
Former 505 sailors came from far and wide across the island of Ireland to remember the championships, which helped build a young and dynamic group who went on to contribute greatly to Irish Sailing over the following 50 years.
Jackie can be contacted at [email protected] | Taoiseach Leo Varadkar has made a first general election campaign pitch by promising to help deliver 50,000 new jobs and provide 25,000 new homes in the State this year.
In a New Year video, Mr Varadkar and Tánaiste Simon Coveney list Fine Gael priorities for the coming year.
Mr Varadkar says he will steer Ireland through the next phase of Brexit by helping to secure a trade deal between the European Union and the UK; he also vows to give Irish businesses and farmers access to the British market; and promises to “achieve a new record high when it comes to employment”.
“We know that well-paid secure jobs are the best ways to improve living standards, create opportunity, and reduce poverty,” he says.
Happy New Year!
Want to know what my priorities are for the year ahead? pic.twitter.com/JcR6VM8Lge — Leo Varadkar (@LeoVaradkar) January 1, 2020
The Taoiseach also claims the Government will add 11,000 units to the social housing stock. “That’s more new social houses than any other year this century under any other party,” he says.
The Taoiseach’s messages also alludes to climate change, with promises to reduce greenhouse emissions by creating warmer homes, improving air quality and investing in public transport.
The video is the second such broadcast made by the Taoiseach in recent days. On St Stephen’s Day, he described his achievements since assuming office 2½ years ago.
It is one of a number of social media broadcasts and publications recently issued by Fine Gael, suggesting the party is upping the ante ahead of a general election, which is widely expected to take place in the spring.
Minister for Climate Action Richard Bruton has also announced a raft of initiatives on waste, packaging and climate change in recent days.
Climate change and the “green agenda” are expected to be major themes of the election campaign. Fine Gael, in particular, may be vulnerable to rising support for the Green Party in affluent urban areas, after that party’s strong performance in the local and European elections and November’s byelections. | 1 |
Crime Stoppers USVI paid out more than $30,000 in claimed rewards in 2019, the anonymous tip service reported Wednesday.
“We would like to thank the community for stepping up and making the call,” the service said in its “Crime of the Week” news release Wednesday. “Every tip submitted makes our territory safer!”
Crime Stoppers listed a St. Thomas homicide and a St. Croix school robbery as this week’s “Crime of the Week.”
ST. THOMAS – At about 11:07 p.m. Monday, Dec. 23, the 911 call center received a call of shots being fired in the area of Hospital Ground. At the scene, VIPD officers discovered an unresponsive man in the roadway with a gunshot wound to the body. The victim succumbed to his injuries and was later identified as 31-year-old Kalico Canton.
ST. CROIX – At 9:52 a.m. Thursday, Dec. 26, the 911 call center received a report of a burglary at the John H. Woodson Junior High School. Police discovered that seven Lenovo laptops, six Chromebooks and one DVR system with an estimated total cost of $6,000 were stolen from the school.
Anyone with information on the Crime of the Week cases or any other crime can call Crime Stoppers USVI at 1-800-222-8477 (1-800-222-TIPS) or submit a tip online at www.P3tips.com or www.crimestoppersvi.org. Callers will be issued a confidential PIN and are encouraged to check back frequently for reward eligibility.
Tips that result in a case being resolved can qualify the caller for an anonymous cash reward. | Brisbane - Venus Williams pulled out of the season-opening Brisbane International on Wednesday after a "setback" during practice.
The American veteran said she still hoped to play at the Adelaide International later this month ahead of the Australian Open, the first Grand Slam of the year.
"Unfortunately I will not be starting my season in Brisbane due to an unexpected setback during my training," the 39-year-old seven-time major winner said in a statement.
"I look forward to being in Australia in the new year and will see everyone in Adelaide."
The tournament, featuring a strong field including world number one Ashleigh Barty and Australian Open champion Naomi Osaka, gets underway on January 6.
Organisers will announce a replacement for Williams on Thursday. | 1 |
Ramallah/PNN/
The Palestinian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates slammed Israel’s decision to deduct millions of dollars from the Palestinian tax revenues.
The ministry slammed Israel’s decision to deduct 150 million Israeli shekels ($43million) from the taxes it collects on behalf of the Palestinian Authority on goods destined to the Palestinian areas as “an attempt to stigmatize the Palestinian people with terrorism” and as an “act of piracy” and “organized state terrorism”.
“Stealing more funds from the Palestinian people falls under the systematic economic war waged by the Israeli occupation against the Palestinian people,” said the ministry in a statement, adding that it was tantamount to “a desperate attempt to disrupt the domestic stability and the social fabric.”
It added, “Attempts to weaken the Palestinian Authority and its institutions are central to these Israeli schemes.”
Israel said it will freeze $43 million from the tax revenues, which it says is equivalent to the amount the monthly Palestinian allowance to the families of prisoners and those killed by Israel for resisting its occupation. | Your opinions matter to us times;
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I don't buy many plastic bottles, but the ones that I do will take some creative workarounds to avoid.
Few of us, even us TreeHugger writers, are 100-percent perfect when it comes to sustainability. I haven't eaten meat in many decades, haven't had a car since 2008; I pay extra for renewable energy, don't fly that frequently, don't waste food, don't buy new clothes, and can generally check off most items on a "how to go green" checklist. But I confess I haven't been great about zero waste when it comes to plastic bottles. I never buy bottled water, but there are some things I use that come in plastic bottles, items like Sriracha, the brand of brewer's yeast my daughter prefers, the non-toxic laundry detergent our washer likes, some personal care products, et cetera.
I have switched many of these out before, but I have been so focused on other sustainable goals that I have let some of them slip back into my life – justifying it all with handy-dandy "aspirational recycling" – I put the bottles in the bin and hope for the best.
But then the hermit crabs came along to shake it all up. Everyone has certain things that tip the scales into new behavior, and for me, it was a bunch of tiny crustaceans in the middle of nowhere . On an island with a population of 600 people and located about 1,300 miles off the coast of Western Australia, researchers found 414 million pieces of garbage, most of it plastic. They found 373,000 toothbrushes and 977,000 shoes, for which it would take the population of the island 4,000 years to create on their own. And they also noticed something else: Hundreds of thousands of dead hermit crabs who got stuck in plastic bottles. The crabs would venture in looking for a new shell to call home, but were then unable to get back out – their fate a long death in a hot plastic bottle along with throngs of their mates. The researchers say that this perfect storm of awfulness is likely occurring on beaches around the world.
The thought of my dish soap bottle, that I was sure would be recycled, ending up on an island and trapping hermit crabs inside ... it's just too much. And that was it: No more plastic bottles for me. Even if I have previously focused on buying products in recyclable bottles, or made of recycled plastic, the fact remains: Recycling is ineffective and anything purchased in a plastic bottle could become a hermit crab death trap! Or any number of other awful things, from whale food to to microplastic pollution to sitting in a landfill for a zillion years.
I know many of you have already hopped on the zero-waste train and stopped buying anything in plastic a long time ago. I have made so many changes in my 15 years of writing about sustainability, but it's time to tackle this one.
I don't think it will be that hard since, as I mentioned before, I don't buy that many plastic bottles, but it will be interesting to find the workarounds for the products I do rely on. Like, will I have to start making my own aspirin?!
I will post follow-ups on my progression and we will see how it goes. In the meantime, godspeed to all the hermit crabs who have had to suffer through this stupid phase of humanity. May we wise up before we wipe out all of them. | SAN FRANCISCO -- Hello, 2020... goodbye, alcohol? A growing number of people are cutting out drinking in the new year, and it's not just for the so-called "dry January." For some, it's a lifestyle change that could last much longer.The movement is called "Sober Curious." It's a trend to cut out alcohol long-term and makedrinking cool."It is a true curiosity," Laura McKowen, author of upcoming book "We Are The Luckiest: The Surprising Magic of a Sober Life," told ABC7 News. "Like, what might happen if I removed this thing from my life for a while? Just to see."McKowen worked in advertising for 15 years, which she described as being an alcohol-obsessed culture. She quit in 2016, a year or so after she became sober."I started an Instagram account five years ago, it was called 'Clear Eyes Full Heart,' just to talk about my own sobriety, and it was still a very underground thing then," she recalled. "And I would say now every other account is a sobriety account, and it's certainly become a really big thing."On Instagram, hastags like #sobercurious, #soberlife and #sobermovement have millions of tags.Sober bars are opening up around the country. In the Bay Area, restaurants are adding zero-proof cocktails to the menu.The blog "Hip Sobriety," by former San Francisco techie Holly Whitaker, has also helped fuel the movement.But there are some concerns about the trend."I think the fact that sobriety might be having a moment and might be starting to be looked at as something cool is great because it lowers the bar of the conversation," McKowne said. "That said, there always is a part of me that worries about the trendy side of it downplaying the seriousness of it for some people."Still, for people who are sober, like Jeffrey Holland, a recent college graduate who stopped drinking eight months ago for medical reasons -- the movement is refreshing."It's way more authentic. If you want to go talk to a girl or someone you want to meet, you're doing it all on your own volition," Holland said. "You're testing your abilities and innate characteristics 100% of the time, which sounds, I guess, exhausting, but it's kind of rewarding in the end." | 1.333333 |
After defending Hawaii Open champion Kei Nishikori announced his sudden withdrawal from the 2019 tournament at a press conference, the door opened for 18-year-old wild card Brandon Nakashima to make his mark at the annual exhibition event. Just two weeks earlier, the San Diego native opted not to return to the University of Virginia for his fourth semester. The newly-minted professional then headed into Honolulu where he defeated Christian Harrison in the opening round, 6-1, 6-0, then upset Top 35 player Taylor Fritz, 7-6 (7-4), 6-4, in the semifinals.
Fellow American – and ATP Tour veteran – Sam Querrey was Nakashima’s formidable opponent in the championship match held at the University of Hawaii at Manoa. After losing the opening set, 6-4, Nakashima took the second in a tiebreaker, nine points to seven, aided by three double faults by Querrey.
The equally topsy-turvy final set was played in a super tiebreak, meaning that the player who reached 10 points first or won by two beyond that threshold would be declared the champion. This time Nakashima actually held two match points but couldn’t convert, allowing the 6’6″, 32-year-old Querrey to take advantage and prevail, 6-4, 6-7 (7-9), 13-11 (super tiebreak).
On the women’s side, a highly anticipated rematch between Danielle Collins and Angelique Kerber – Collins upset Kerber at the 2019 Australian Open, 6-0, 6-2, in the fourth round – unfortunately did not materialize after the German defaulted with an injury. Collins was then declared the winner of the women’s singles event, and the final was replaced with an entertaining mixed doubles match, which Collins and Christian Harrison won over Querrey and Yanina Wickmayer, 6-4, 6-7 (6-8), 10-6 (super tiebreak).
Photos: Sam Querrey def. Brandon Nakashima – 2019 Hawaii Open men’s championship
all photos by Kwai Chan / Meniscus Magazine
Video: Sam Querrey def. Brandon Nakashima – 2019 Hawaii Open men’s championship
video by Kwai Chan / Meniscus Magazine
Full Video Playlist: 2019 Hawaii Open
all videos by Kwai Chan and Yuan-Kwan Chan / Meniscus Magazine | WEST PALM BEACH, FL - MARCH 13: A baseball sits on the field before a spring training baseball game between the the Atlanta Braves and the Washington Nationals at Fitteam Ballpark of the Palm Beaches on March 13, 2019 in West Palm Beach, Florida. (Photo by Rich Schultz/Getty Images)
The rookie level of minor league ball is generally for those players getting their first taste of professional baseball.
The Miami Marlins have two such teams. One based in the Dominican Summer League, and one based out of Jupiter in the Gulf Coast League. Today, we’re going to dig into the numbers for the 2019 GCL Marlins and try to project a few prospects who will make the jump to the Short-season-A Batavia Muckdogs in the New York-Penn League and a few who may jump two levels to the Single-A Clinton LumberKings in the Midwest League (MWL).
Bound for Clinton
Now the MLB pipeline’s 28th ranked Marlins prospect, 18-year-old Victor Mesa Jr. demonstrated he’s ready for a double jump with a much better showing than that of his older and twice named brother. In 47 games for the GCL Marlins, the younger Mesa slashed .284/.366/.398, leading the team with 50 hits, nine doubles, and four triples. He also ranked second on the club with 24 RBI and stole seven bases in 11 attempts. And check that bat flip.
With a fastball that tops out at around 89 MPH, Venezuelan left-handed pitcher Luis Palacios has proved everything he possibly can at the rookie level. Turning 20-years-old a week into the Short-season schedule, Palacios would be better served at a full-season league such as the MWL. His rookie-level credentials are near-legendary. He’s 13-0 with a 1.49 ERA, 147 K’s in 150 2/3 innings, an opposing batting average of .181, and a WHIP of 0.78.
Batavia or Bust
Press box video!! Nasim Nunez flashes some leather at shortstop. #Marlins pic.twitter.com/MlQjCEdGhE — Jordan McPherson (@J_McPherson1126) September 17, 2019
Miami’s second round pick is whiz-kid shortstop Nasim Nunez. A glove first asset at this point in his career, the number 15 Marlins prospect hit just .211/.340/.251, showing little power but a lot of patience and speed on the offensive side of the ball. He drew a GCL-second 34 walks and stole a league-leading 28 bases while getting caught only twice. Promoted to Batavia very late in the season, he was 0-for-10 with a walk and a run in three games with the Muckdogs.
Although with numbers not quite as flashy as Palacios, right-hander Matt Givin showed enough to graduate a level. After getting selected in the 20th round in 2017, Givin allowed one run in 23 1/3 innings before visiting the injured list and eventually undergoing Tommy John Surgery, missing the 2018 season entirely. On his return, Givin went 5-1 with a 2.74 ERA, 35 K’s in 46 frames, and a 1.11 WHIP.
Look for these four lower level prospects to continue their rise through the Marlins system, including the somewhat unheralded Palacios. | 1.333333 |
How to Do It is Slate’s sex advice column. Have a question? Send it to Stoya and Rich here. It’s anonymous!
Dear How to Do It,
I am a straight woman in my late 20s dating a man of the same age. My boyfriend told me he was asexual when I met him. I am not, but that was never a problem; he is OK with hand stuff and receiving oral sex, and we have had a satisfying relationship for more than three years. Recently, we have begun having penetrative sex at his suggestion. Personally, I am thrilled. I had never hoped to change him or try to suggest penetrative sex, but I do really enjoy it and am happy that we can bring it into our relationship. I have been trying to have more conversations about it just to make sure he is comfortable with this shift, but he does not really want to have them after sex or in the daylight at all. He seems to be having an OK time with it (he enjoys himself during the act and continues to initiate it), but he does not want to talk with me explicitly about how he currently identifies. How can I best support him in what seems to be a transitional period regarding sex and sexual ID?
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—Something-Sexual
Dear Something-Sexual,
This is not my wheelhouse, so I called in Cyndi Darnell, sex and relationship therapist and friend of the column, for some expert advice. Here’s what she had to say about what you can expect from your partner:
How your partner identifies is important and how he participates in sex may be influenced and determined by his identity too. Similarly, your sexual and emotional needs are important and require care and attention also. He may not want to discuss his identity with you which, while frustrating for you, is his private business. However, if he is having sexual interactions with you and you want to talk about that, he needs to recognize that having frank and honest discussions about sex and its effect on your relationship is an important part of any mature adult intimate relationship. Talking about sex—when you’re not in the middle of doing it—is crucial to keeping tabs on how it’s going. His identity is not a get-out-of-jail-free card to avoid having conversations he may find challenging. People of all orientations and identities are obliged to nourish their relationships by participating in communication and care. Discussing sex is a crucial part of having a rich erotic relationship whether you’re having intercourse or only giving each other oral and hand jobs. Whether he’s experiencing an erotic transition or morphing into demisexuality rather than strictly asexuality, it may be as bewildering to him as it is to you. To help you get a little clearer, I invite you to consider what exactly you’d like to know about his identity, especially given that he’s initiating sex, and, as you say, appears happy about it. Are you simply trying to connect with him, or is there more you would like to know to help you understand the relationship further? Perhaps if you guided him around your communication motivation, he may be a little more open to it. Or perhaps talking about sex squicks him out, in which case now is a great time for him to learn to practice stepping up and doing it differently.
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To summarize, you’re going to have to talk about (some of) it.
Dear How to Do It,
Woman in her 40s here.
Do vibrators decrease sensitivity to pleasuring with fingering? I learned to masturbate in my mid-20s and initially just used my fingers and porn. I never had a vaginal orgasm, although I do very much enjoy vaginal intercourse. My first masturbation orgasm opened a whole new world for me. Then I discovered vibrators, and instead of 10 to 15 minutes for me to orgasm, it was two to five minutes for the most part—sometimes longer, but rarely more than 10 minutes.
I never orgasmed from fingering from a partner until my current spouse, and while it took a while, it still happened maybe every second or third time. I loved it. Then we had kids, and no one has the energy for loooong sex sessions anymore, so it was easier for me to just use the vibrator after (together) or on my own. Some years went by, and we now have a bit more time occasionally, and he’s put some real effort into masturbating me, but has not been able to get me to orgasm again. I’ve come close, but then I always get anxious about how long it’s taking, and whether he’s tired already, and I “lose” it.
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One thing I’ve wondered about is whether my use of vibrators has “dulled” things, making me less sensitive? I can no longer finger myself to an orgasm anymore either, nor do I have the patience or energy, frankly, when a vibrator will do the job in two to three minutes. I do use a very strong vibrator and like it that way. My spouse is OK with me using it after to “finish up,” but I do miss orgasming from his fingering. Do I need to suck it up, stop using a vibrator, and learn how to masturbate with my own fingers again to regain it? Do vibrators make a difference to sensitivity and that is indeed the issue, or is that a myth?
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Is it all in my head, and it’s my anxiety about me taking too long to orgasm with his fingering that is stopping me from reaching orgasm? Is it possible to orgasm from someone else’s fingering, when I can’t even do it for myself anymore? Your insights on this will be greatly appreciated.
—Can’t Put My Finger on It
Dear Can’t Put My Finger on It,
The body can absolutely become accustomed to a certain kind of stimulation. Yes, that includes vibrators. Take a break from the vibe for a few weeks and see what your sensory input is like after you’ve had some time off.
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Another factor here is that sexuality shifts over the course of our lives. What you liked in your 30s and what you like in your 40s may be two different things. You might need different pressure or technique than you needed before you had kids.
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You can experiment by yourself or with your husband. The goal here is to try all the things and find out what works now. Start with broad pressure (rest your palm on the pubic mound and apply gentle pressure to the vulva with your flat fingers). Move into strokes around the clitoris and clitoral hood. Work directly with the clitoral glans. Pay attention to the bottom of the labia and the crease between inner and outer labia. Follow what feels good. You’ve got this.
Dear How to Do It,
My husband and I are straight and have been poly for a couple years, and it’s working out really nicely for us. We’re fantastic, loving partners and parents together but aren’t sexually compatible, so I initiated the change to poly. We’re both stable, long-term-relationship kind of people. We both spend about the same amount of time with secondary partners, but he spreads his time among a few regular secondary partners and I prefer to have a single secondary partner. My secondary for the last year has been a man with a primary partner, and it’s been great. I don’t know his primary well, but my partner did a good job of balancing both. I felt cared for. We recently broke up, sadly but amicably, because he needed to focus more on his primary relationship.
While I’m not ready to date again just yet, it has me thinking about what’s next. If I could order up my perfect secondary, I’d like a single (divorced, widowed, whatever) man for whom I am the only one. I’m thinking someone who has a fulfilling independent life and/or busy enough schedule that a married woman he sees a couple nights a week fits. Someone with long-term potential who lived on his own but was maybe part of our family dynamic and who my kids saw as a family friend.
I’ve dated two single men before, and one wanted more of my time than I could give. The other one actually fit that ideal profile and it worked well for a while, but we broke up for unrelated reasons. I’m trying to decide if this is a realistic thing for me to seek. Are there men this might appeal to? I mean, I found one. Surely there are others? Or is it “un-poly” of me to want a secondary partner who sees only me, and I should be unpacking my reasons for wanting this? Am I really a monogamous person making do, and is that bad?
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—Single Secondary
Dear Single Secondary,
I’d like us to take a minute to separate “poly” from individual needs and desires. Yes, there’s a poly community that does things in certain ways. Yes, there are a few books about poly relationships that seem to dictate how “poly” should be done. At the end of the day, though, different relationship structures should be about getting people’s needs met in ways that work for everyone involved.
So let go of any pressure you might be feeling to do poly “right.” As long as everyone involved is happy, I think everything is fine.
I do think you should unpack your reasons for wanting the arrangement you desire—for your own sake, and for that of your partners. The more you understand about what you want, the better you’ll be able to communicate that to your potential partners.
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Remember this whole mono/poly thing is a spectrum. A forked spectrum. Complete monogamy is on one end, and the other end forks at ethical nonmonogamy into polyamory and relationship anarchy. The top fork is about structure and the bottom fork is about, well, not structure. You might be a 0.5 on the mono-poly scale. You might be a 1. Some people are in a relationship anarchy zone that requires the one word I promised my editor I wouldn’t use in this column: polyfuckery.
I do want to caution you that it’s unlikely you’ll find someone who wants to be a monogamous secondary for an extended period of time. Then again, the universe might surprise us both. Good luck out there.
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Dear How to Do It,
My husband (of 13 years) says his preferred frequency is sex three times a week. I could go three months without thinking about sex. What do we do? If you’re going to say I should spend more time with my body by masturbating or using toys or porn or flirtatious texting—we have tried it all. Our sexual incompatibility remains the source of greatest tension in our relationship.
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—Tale As Old As Time
Dear Tale As Old As Time,
Have you considered opening up the relationship? It isn’t necessarily going to be easy, but it would allow you to have sex on your own schedule while knowing your partner’s needs are getting met.
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You might find Emily Nagoski’s Come As You Are useful, too. It talks a lot about different arousal styles and how partners can use that knowledge to help their lover’s engine get started.
Either way, remember that you love each other and communicate to the best of your ability.
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—Stoya
More How to Do It
I’m dating a new man. When we became intimate, I was pleasantly surprised that he was very well-endowed (about 8 inches). The sex is solid and getting better, but I’ve noticed his erections are not particularly, well, erect—he’s definitely hard and penetration isn’t a problem, but he’s not rock-hard like many men I’ve been with in the past. I raise this question because it reminded me that another very well-endowed man I was with in the past also had this issue; he’d be hard, but he was never going to cut a diamond. Is this common? Is there just not enough blood to power the biggest guys? | Dining Duo takes the chicken sandwich challenge
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Popeye’s, Chick-fil-A, Wendy’s in a taste bud battle ‘The Dining Duo’
Special to the Times Back in the summer, if you recall, Popeye’s Louisiana Kitchen debuted its first-ever chicken sandwich in that growing fast food market niche and sparked a cute Twitter battle with Chick-fil-A over who has the best chicken sandwich.
Popeye’s new chicken sandwich sold out in 15 days and it actually sparked fights in the parking lot among customers trying to get their hands on one. It returned on Nov. 5 and this time Popeye’s insists that it won’t run out again.
Chick-fil-A, which is now the third-largest fast-food chain in the country, fired back that its bun+chicken+ pickles is still the “original” chicken sandwich. Not to be outdone, Wendy’s Tweeted that they were enjoying watching the two rival chains fighting over who has the “second best” chicken sandwich.
The Dining Duo decided to take the chicken sandwich challenge to see which of the three we liked best. “Cat” and I attempted to try this a few months ago, but Popeye’s had not brought it back on the menu yet.
I know I promised that “Cat” would make an appearance, but Christmas family responsibilities got in the way and she was unable to take the challenge. She has promised though to join me for lunch and dinner in Germantown soon.
Instead, I enlisted the help of “Poison Ivy,” who used her plant toxins and mind-controlling pheromones to get me to let her come along on this Dining Duo excursion.
We started with Chickfil- A. Believe it or not, “Ivy” had never been to Chick-fil-A before. She’s not much on eating fried foods. She enjoyed her first bite, noting that it had a nice pickle-y flavor.
Chick-fil-A’s sandwiches are marinated in pickle brine, served on a toasted bun with two pickles. “It’s very good,” Ivy said. “It’s very juicy. It’s definitely not a chopped and pressed chicken patty and not very fast food-y. It’s more like one that you would get at a sit down restaurant.”
I agree that Chick-fil-A has a good taste to it. I’ve had it before. This time, thankfully, it wasn’t too greasy. It’s a good chicken sandwich, better than the frozen ones at McDonald’s, but not my favorite.
Next up was Wendy’s country-style chicken sandwich. I expected this to be the weakest of the three. I expected it to be a small frozen patty. I was pleasantly surprised. It was a nice plump piece of chicken. It had a good taste to it, but it still tastes…I don’t know, fast food-y, but a higher quality fast food taste. I really liked it. “Ivy” also agreed that it has a good taste, but noted “it’s not the quality of the Chick-fil-A.
Popeye’s was the one I was the most curious about. I love Popeye’s.
It’s my favorite place to go for fried chicken. But I wondered it if really could top Chick-fil-A. They are the “original” after all.
One thing we both noticed right away was how big the chicken is on these sandwiches. It looks like a big piece of breaded fried chicken. “It’s massive,” Ivy said. “It’s good. I like it. It is more old-fashioned tasting.”
Popeye’s sandwich is served on a toasted brioche bun and also has pickles. I’m not a big pickle fan on my sandwiches, but the quality of Popeye’s pickles are far superior to the ones on Chick-fil-A.
“These are better pickles,” Ivy agreed.”
“Ivy” and I both agreed though, that Popeye’s chicken sandwich doesn’t taste like what you expect a chicken sandwich to taste like. It tastes, well, like fried chicken on a bun. Don’t get me wrong, I loved it. But I guess I am used to a frozen chicken patty that you get at most fast food places.
We also sampled the spicy Popeye’s chicken sandwich. I also love Popeye’s spicy chicken, but it doesn’t love me back so I have had to lay off it because it kills my stomach.
“Ivy” noted right away that yes, this sucker is VERY hot and spicy, the kind of burn your fingers spicy. “Just licking my fingers made my mouth burn,” “Ivy” said.
At the end of our little taste test, “Ivy” and I compared notes and assigned a rank to each one.
IVY: 1. Chick-fil-A — “I like that mild pickle taste,” “Ivy” said.
2. Popeye’s — “It’s very thick,” “Ivy” commented. “It doesn’t taste like a chicken sandwich. It tastes like fried chicken.”
3. Wendy’s — “This was my least favorite,” “Ivy” said. “But it is still good.
It looks more like frozen chicken though.”
BAT: 1. Wendy’s — I know this is a shocker.
But it is really good. It was totally unexpected. I thought the quality was good and despite a fast food taste, it still tastes like country style chicken.”
2. Popeye’s — Yes, it tastes like fried chicken, but the quality is top notch. I even ate my pickles.
3. Chick-fil-A — I like Chick-fil-A okay. But honestly, it is greasy and it’s just not my favorite. I love the waffle fries though. | 1 |
The City of Weyburn moved forward on a number of major projects this year, said Mayor Marcel Roy, and signs are positive for the coming year in 2020, in spite of the sagging economy in the province right now.
In a year-end interview, the mayor noted that the City finished off the Government Road project, including new pavement on the portion that had major water and sewer line work done, plus progress has been made on the construction projects for the new elementary school and the City’s new $25 million Weyburn Recreation and Culture Centre on Fifth Street.
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Construction on those projects will continue through 2020, with the opening of both facilities set for September of 2021.
Another major project was completed in 2019, namely the new 13-million litre water reservoir, bringing the total storage capacity for the water treatment plant to 20 million litres, with a project total cost of $15.9 million.
The mayor noted that Weyburn also received another major ranking from a national magazine, this time by Maclean’s magazine, which ranked Weyburn as the best place to live on the Prairies and 45th overall in Canada.
“It gives us national exposure, and the magazine does this with their own list of criteria,” said Mayor Roy.
Positive factors cited by the magazine included a low unemployment rate, good average housing prices, an agriculture-based and oil-based local economy, and lots of amenities for those raising a family.
Weyburn is also the regional centre for the southeast, added Mayor Roy, with the head offices of both the Southeast Cornerstone and Holy Family school divisions and Southeast College based here, plus regional offices for the Sask. Health Authority, as examples.
Mayor Roy is holding out hope that the long-awaited new acute-care hospital will be on its way to Weyburn, although he noted Prince Albert is also being promised one, and Weyburn split a $5 million fund with P.A. for planning in the spring budget.
“Although the city is part of the development for the hospital, it’s the provincial government who will be building the hospital,” said Mayor Roy, who pointed out that the Hospital Foundation here has done their fundraising work towards the cost of the new facility, while P.A. hasn’t.
In the coming year, the mayor said there will be a lot of sidewalk projects done, and more infrastructure work, along with new welcoming signs at the entrance points to the city, and a replacement of the works shop, to replace the historic round house in the public works yard.
“These are some of the biggest projects the city has had in the last 20 years or so,” said Mayor Roy, of the projects done in 2019 and yet to come in 2020.
The council has been working on the budget, and the mayor said as of the time of the interview, the expectation was for a tax increase of around three per cent.
“It was a somewhat tough budget,” he said. “Every budget is tough, because we don’t know how much money the province is giving us.”
He added the city council is “budgeting differently than we did in the past. Usuallly they would wait for the provincial budget in May and go from there. Now, we do the budget earlier so we can get tenders out for projects for the year.”
The hope is that by getting tenders and requests for proposal out early, they can get the best prices, and have contractors lined up to do the projects this year rather than hope they can do the projects later in the year.
The City also was part of the Weyburn Region Transportation Study, along with the RM of Weyburn and the Regional Planning Commission, with an information session held for the public on Oct. 29. The plan will help ensure the city and RM can develop a road network that can safely handle the traffic of the area generated by regional growth and development.
This is also an election year, with the municipal elections bumped to November as the provincial election is set for October.
“I look forward to it,” said the mayor, who is planning to make another run for the mayor’s chair.
Overall, while there are challenges in the local economy, such as in the oil and gas sector, “we still have lots of optimism in the future of the community.” | (WBNG) -- 2020 is now officially underway, and with it comes new legislation across New York State.
Among the new laws and acts this year, agricultural workers can now unionize under a new labor practices act.
The Farm Laborers Fair Labor Act will give farmers collective bargaining rights, as well as paid overtime and at least one guaranteed day off each week.
The introduction of bail reform will also be a staple of 2020.
NYS legislators hope new laws will help low income community members from falling under the financial burden of bail, while also eliminating cash bail for close to 400 crimes, including some felonies.
In March, plastic bags will start to phase out across the state.
Stores like Wegmans will be ridding their shelves and checkout aisles of the single-use bags, choosing paper and reusable bags as the more suitable options to become more eco-friendly.
Wegmans announced last year the store will no longer offer plastic bags starting on July 29, 2020.
Starting in October, travelers will have to update their IDs to fly domestically.
Real IDs will be required by TSA for passengers looking to take to the skies for their travels.
The Real IDs will cost the same amount as a traditional ID if people choose to renew their ID as a Real ID. A separate trip for the Real ID will cost $12.50. The ID will feature a star on the card.
Finally, Governor Andrew Cuomo and the State Legislature plan to continue their push to get rid of flavored e-cigarettes and related vaping products in the new year.
Lawmakers are looking to ban all flavors, with the exceptions being tobacco and menthol.
Near the tail end of 2019, the state raised the minimum age to buy e-cigarettes and tobacco to 21 years old, hoping the move helps cut down the rising number of children using e-cigarettes.
As 2020 kicks off, expect many more bills, laws and acts to take place, some of which could have an affect on you and your family.
Stay with 12 News throughout the year for coverage regarding these legislative developments. | 1.333333 |
The newly elected officials in Carroll County were sworn into their respective offices this week. In their Oath of Office, administered by Carroll Circuit Court Judge Benjamin Diener, they agreed to “support the Constitution of the United States and the Constitution of the State of Indiana” and “faithfully, impartially and diligently discharge the duties” of their office “according to the […]
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Visit your Account page to renew your subscription, or enroll in a new plan on our Subscribe page! | The News-Reporter traveled with Ginny King and Skeet Willingham to Beverly Hills, California, this week in celebration of Ginny’s birthday. As part of their trip, they attended the Rose Bowl game between the Oregon Ducks and the Wisconsin Badgers. This News-Reporter is 2,039 miles from home. | 1 |
After years studying the climate, my work has brought me to Sydney where I’m studying the linkages between climate change and extreme weather events.
Prior to beginning my sabbatical stay in Sydney, I took the opportunity this holiday season to vacation in Australia with my family. We went to see the Great Barrier Reef – one of the great wonders of this planet – while we still can. Subject to the twin assaults of warming-caused bleaching and ocean acidification, it will be gone in a matter of decades in the absence of a dramatic reduction in global carbon emissions.
We also travelled to the Blue Mountains, another of Australia’s natural wonders, known for its lush temperate rainforests, majestic cliffs and rock formations and panoramic vistas that challenge any the world has to offer. It too is now threatened by climate change.
I witnessed this firsthand.
I did not see vast expanses of rainforest framed by distant blue-tinged mountain ranges. Instead I looked out into smoke-filled valleys, with only the faintest ghosts of distant ridges and peaks in the background. The iconic blue tint (which derives from a haze formed from “terpenes” emitted by the Eucalyptus trees that are so plentiful here) was replaced by a brown haze. The blue sky, too, had been replaced by that brown haze.
The locals, whom I found to be friendly and outgoing, would volunteer that they have never seen anything like this before. Some even uttered the words “climate change” without any prompting.
The songs of Peter Garrett and Midnight Oil I first enjoyed decades ago have taken on a whole new meaning for me now. They seem disturbingly prescient in light of what we are witnessing unfold in Australia.
The brown skies I observed in the Blue Mountains this week are a product of human-caused climate change. Take record heat, combine it with unprecedented drought in already dry regions and you get unprecedented bushfires like the ones engulfing the Blue Mountains and spreading across the continent. It’s not complicated.
Tom Lowrey (@tomlowrey) The smoke is so thick in Katoomba tourists are opting for photos with billboards, rather than the Three Sisters themselves. @abcsydney pic.twitter.com/MOWvH8UBgs
The warming of our planet – and the changes in climate associated with it – are due to the fossil fuels we’re burning: oil, whether at midnight or any other hour of the day, natural gas, and the biggest culprit of all, coal. That’s not complicated either.
When we mine for coal, like the controversial planned Adani coalmine, which would more than double Australia’s coal-based carbon emissions, we are literally mining away at our blue skies. The Adani coalmine could rightly be renamed the Blue Sky mine.
In Australia, beds are burning. So are entire towns, irreplaceable forests and endangered and precious animal species such as the koala (arguably the world’s only living plush toy) are perishing in massive numbers due to the unprecedented bushfires.
The continent of Australia is figuratively – and in some sense literally – on fire.
Yet the prime minister, Scott Morrison, appears remarkably indifferent to the climate emergency Australia is suffering through, having chosen to vacation in Hawaii as Australians are left to contend with unprecedented heat and bushfires.
Morrison has shown himself to be beholden to coal interests and his administration is considered to have conspired with a small number of petrostates to sabotage the recent UN climate conference in Madrid (“COP25”), seen as a last ditch effort to keep planetary warming below a level (1.5C) considered by many to constitute “dangerous” planetary warming.
But Australians need only wake up in the morning, turn on the television, read the newspaper or look out the window to see what is increasingly obvious to many – for Australia, dangerous climate change is already here. It’s simply a matter of how much worse we’re willing to allow it to get.
Australia is experiencing a climate emergency. It is literally burning. It needs leadership that is able to recognise that and act. And it needs voters to hold politicians accountable at the ballot box.
Australians must vote out fossil-fuelled politicians who have chosen to be part of the problem and vote in climate champions who are willing to solve it. | Prime Minister Scott Morrison has, on January 2nd, managed to take some time out of his busy party and backyard cricket schedule to front Australian media, where he has asserted that one of the real tragedies of the on-going, cataclysmic fire catastrophe is milk that’s had to be poured out.
Morrison and Minister for Water Resources David Littleproud fronted media a short time ago for a large and at-times rambling press conference in a bid to quell rising fury from the public in regards to the complete lack of visible action from the Morrison Federal Government as the fire issues have worsened and the associated death toll has risen.
Remarkably enough, the Prime Minister singled out the NSW town of Cobargo, which was virtually flattened as the fire front swept through the town just before New Year’s. Rather than suggest that people losing their homes, and even their lives, Morrison suggested that the biggest tragedy for Cobargo was dairy farmers having to pour milk down a hill due to blackouts shutting off refrigerated storage.
“In particular, down in Cobargo and places like that, where dairies have been milking and they simply have to pour the milk down the hill because of the lack of power to those areas at this time. That is the tragedy of what is occurring as a result of these disasters.”
READ MORE Scotty From Marketing Spent Yesterday Faffing About With Cricketers
In a remarkably defensive and at times visibly angry appearance, Morrison repeatedly passed the buck of immediate fire response onto the states – though he did assert Commonwealth assistance was being made available whenever it was needed.
The Prime Minister was repeatedly grilled on the links between climate change and the conditions that have severely exacerbated fire conditions, and it was on this issue that he became visibly annoyed.
Tersely, he snapped “What we will do is make sure our policies remain sensible, that they don’t move towards either extreme, and stay focused on what Australians need for a vibrant and viable economy, as well as a vibrant and sustainable environment. Getting the balance right is what Australia has always been able to achieve.”
Shortly after that, he closed his response off with a curt “thank you very much,” before storming off and ending the press conference.
The Prime Minister did not field any question, nor did he provide comment on, his extraordinarily ill-timed Hawaii holiday, nor his reported past 24 hours spent entertaining a variety of guests at Kirribilli House.
All in a day’s work for Scotty, folks. | 3 |
Carlos Ghosn is apparently beyond the reach of Japanese justice after fleeing to Lebanon but his departure poses many questions, not least the fate of his former aide, Greg Kelly.
Kelly, 63, remains on bail in Japan where he awaits trial on similar charges to Ghosn. Nissan accused Kelly, who is American, of “deep involvement” in his boss’s misconduct. This included the underreporting of Ghosn’s pay packets, which had faced criticism as being excessive. Both have denied all allegations against them.
Kelly, a lawyer by training who joined Nissan in 1988, rose steadily through the carmaker’s human resources division. Ghosn arrived in 1999 with a mandate to turn round the struggling company, with a key ally in Kelly, who became the first American to join Nissan’s board in June 2012.
The US Securities and Exchange Commission said in September that Kelly gave Ghosn “substantial assistance” to conceal more than $90m (£68m) of pay, along with a boost of more than $50m to his retirement package. Kelly paid a $100,000 penalty to settle the SEC charges, without admitting or denying guilt, and was barred as a US company director for five years.
Kelly was released from the Tokyo detention centre – where he and Ghosn spent long periods – on Christmas Day 2018. Ghosn’s escape will now thrust the spotlight on the trial of his former righthand man.
It will also heighten scrutiny of Japan’s notoriously harsh justice system, which experts say ill befits one of the world’s most advanced economies. A widely cited 99.8% conviction rate for those charged with crimes has led to criticism that judges give prosecutors too much credence, while the country still retains the death penalty for more serious crimes.
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In April, more than 1,000 Japanese academics and lawyers – including Ghosn’s lawyer, Junichiro Hironaka – signed a letter organised by Human Rights Watch criticising Japan’s hitojichi-shiho, or “hostage justice” system. Suspects can be detained for long periods, questioned without their lawyers present, and barred from access to their families – as was the case for Ghosn.
Kenneth Roth, the non-governmental organisation’s executive director, said: “Among the conditions of Japan’s justice system that Carlos Ghosn fled was a prohibition of communicating with his wife – part of the pressure to induce confessions even out of formal custody.”
The Ghosn case also highlights the potential for abuse of a 23-day detention limit, with prosecutors regularly rearresting suspects on minor variations of original charges in order to continue questioning. | TOKYO >> By jumping bail, former Nissan Chairman Carlos Ghosn, who had long insisted on his innocence, has now committed a clear crime and can never return to Japan without going to jail.
“So he now has burnt his bridges to Japan,” Stephen Givens, a lawyer and expert on Japan’s legal and corporate systems, said Wednesday. “This is going to end in basically a stalemate with him spending the rest of his life in Lebanon.”
How exactly Ghosn fled surveillance in Japan and popped up in Lebanon, or who might have directed the dramatic escape, remains unclear.
The Tokyo District Court revoked his bail, Japanese media reports said, meaning authorities would seize the $14 million Ghosn had posted on two separate instances to get out of detention.
Ghosn was first arrested in November 2018, released and then rearrested.
The court was closed for the New Year’s holidays and could not be immediately reached for comment.
Ghosn had been out on bail while awaiting trial on various financial misconduct allegations. The trial was expected to start in April. The date had not been set.
How the Japanese authorities might investigate Ghosn’s escape and what action they might take on the apparent security lapses remains unclear.
Ghosn, who is of Lebanese origin and holds French, Lebanese and Brazilian passports, disclosed his location in a statement through his representatives but did not say how he managed to flee Japan. He promised to talk to reporters next week.
He said he wanted to avoid “injustice and political persecution.”
“I am now in Lebanon and will no longer be held hostage by a rigged Japanese justice system where guilt is presumed, discrimination is rampant, and basic human rights are denied, in flagrant disregard of Japan’s legal obligations under international law and treaties it is bound to uphold,” the statement said.
His lawyer Junichiro Hironaka denied all knowledge of the escape, saying he was stunned. He said he didn’t expect Ghosn to return to Japan.
When asked if Ghosn had taken any of the documents being prepared for the trial, Hironaka acknowledged he hadn’t checked but said he seriously doubted Ghosn would care about a trial he had taken such pains to avoid.
Japanese media reports said Wednesday there were no official records of Ghosn’s departure from the country, but a private jet had left from a regional airport to Turkey. One report said he sneaked out from his Tokyo home hiding in a case for a musical instrument.
Lebanon’s minister for presidential affairs, Selim Jreissati, told the An-Nahar newspaper that Ghosn entered legally at the airport with a French passport and Lebanese ID.
France has reacted with surprise and confusion, denying any knowledge.
Speculation is rife that a foreign or Japanese government, or both, might have been involved, or maybe just looked the other way to allow the escape to rid the public of a potentially embarrassing trial.
With him missing, Ghosn’s trial is suspended.
But a trial is still pending against Nissan as a company and Greg Kelly, another Nissan executive. Kelly, an American, has said he is innocent.
Kelly’s allegations overlap with those charges against Ghosn related to the underreporting of Ghosn’s future compensation. Those charges are less serious than the additional breach of trust accusations against Ghosn.
Ghosn has been charged with breach of trust in having Nissan shoulder his personal investment losses, and diverting payments in Saudi Arabia and Oman for personal gain.
He has repeatedly asserted his innocence, saying authorities trumped up the charges to prevent a fuller merger between Nissan and alliance partner Renault SA. | 4 |
Green shoots appeared to be emerging in the auto sector on Wednesday with Maruti Suzuki India reporting 3.9 per cent increase in total sales during December.
Driven by festive season and heavy discounts, the country's largest car manufacturer sold 1.33 lakh units as compared to 1.28 lakh units year-on-year.
Domestic sales grew by 3.5 per cent at 1.25 lakh units against 1.21 lakh units in December 2018 while exports grew by 10.2 per cent at 7,561 units in December 2019 as against 6,859 units in the same month of previous year.
Passenger car sales went up by 9.1 per cent at 91,341 units against 83,729 units while passenger vehicle sales grew by 2.5 per cent at 1.22 lakh units against 1.19 lakh units year-on-year.
While the mini-car segment showed a decline of 13.6 per cent at 23,883 units from 27,649, the compact-car segment (New WagonR, Swift, Celerio, Ignis, Baleno, Dzire) reported 27.9 per cent jump in sales at 65,673 units from 51,346 units. Taken together, the mini and compact segment clocked a gain of 13.4 per cent.
However, the mid-size Ciaz reported 62.3 per cent drop in December 2019 sales at 1,786 units from 4,734 units in the year-ago period. The sale of vans (Omni, Eeco) too crashed by 51.8 per cent to 7,634 units from 15,850 units.
Amid slowdown in economic growth and weak demand environment, the automobile industry saw a significant decline in sales during 2019 due to increase in the cost of acquisition of a car, more stringent safety and emission (BS 6) norms, increase in vehicle insurance expenses and hike in road taxes in many states.
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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) | The country's leading carmaker Maruti Suzuki India recorded 2.4 per cent year-on-year rise in car sales at 133,296 units in India during December. A major reason for the rise has been attributed to a higher demand for compact models such as New WagonR, thereby offsetting a slump in smaller cars. Maruti had seen a 3.3 per cent drop in sales in November.
In a statement to the stock exchanges, Maruti Suzuki India said it sold 124,375 vehicles in the domestic market in December, compared to 121,479 vehicles sold in the same month a year back. After including exports and sales to other original equipment manufacturers (OEM), the firm clocked a 3.9 per cent rise in sales to 133,296 vehicles, the company said.
Mini cars comprising products like Alto, S-Presso and Old WagonR saw sales drop 13.6 per cent to 23,883 pieces. However, the compact category, which includes cars like New WagonR, Swift, Celerio and Dzire, saw nearly 28 per cent rise to 65,673. Mid-sized Ciaz saw a 62.3 per cent drop in sales to 1,786, while utility vehicles sale rose 17.7 per cent to 23,808 units. During April-December, Maruti's domestic sales had dropped nearly 17 per cent at 1.1 million units.
Maruti Suzuki India, which had posted a 2.3 per cent increase in sales in October breaking a series of seven straight months of decline, fell in November posting a 3.3 per cent drop in its passenger vehicle sales over the last year. The company dispatched 139,133 units to its dealerships across the country last month against 143,890 units in October last year. In absolute terms, this was Maruti's highest sales in any month this fiscal.
India's automobile industry is bracing itself for a unique challenge in the first quarter of 2020 when the transition of BS-IV to BS-VI emission norms has to be made at the stroke of midnight on March 31, 2020. No BS-IV vehicle could be sold from April 1, 2020, which means automakers would have to reduce their inventory on BS-IV models to zero by then. The exercise is likely to see companies show extra caution in dispatching cars to dealers in the next few months, which may cause a continuation of the decline in wholesale numbers.
Also read: It's a wrap: The best and worst of cars in 2019
Also read: Maruti Suzuki Dzire is the highest-selling passenger vehicle in first eight months of FY20 | 4 |
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