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Failing to persuade the Christians, the Muslims proceed to "cajole" and offer "monetary incentives and protection" (in the modern case) and "flatter" and offer "many honors and much glory" (in the historic case). All that the Christians need do is speak some words, the Kalma, and become Muslim.
When the Christians still refuse, the Muslims fly into a savage rage, beating and torturing their victims to death (in the modern case, the Muslims assumed they had killed their victims).
Considering the Ottoman Empire and contemporary Pakistan are separated by culture, language, and some 500 years, how does one explain these identical patterns? What binds them together?
Only Islam—Islam empowered, Islam in charge; Muslim majorities governing, and thus abusing their non-Muslim minority. A fact of life, past and present.
Vijay Sales reported revenues of Rs 3,160 crore in FY17 and expects sales will improve by 10% to 15% in the current year.
How have sales been post GST?
We had announced aggressive discounts of as much as 20% to 45% in June to clear our stocks. We now have very little stock on display and the new stocks, with new price tags, is just arriving. Prices have gone up by 3% to 4% with 28% GST for most items like refrigerators, air conditioners and micro-wave ovens.
Do you see any impact on your business due to the price increase post GST?
July sales are expected to be 25% to 30% lower compared to last year as most customers made their purchases in June. However, consumer durables are a necessity and soon we expect sales will be back on track. An early festive season will also help recovery of sales.
How many stores do you have at present?
We have 70 stores operational in the country and plan to add another three stores within the next couple of months, one in Pune and two in Delhi. We are very clear that each of our stores should be profitable and we have expanded cautiously. The first Vijay Sales was opened by my father, Nanu Gupta, at Mahim in Mumbai ...
Are you also offering discounts at similar levels offered by the online players to drive sales?
Our prices are competitive and we don’t offer heavy discounts like the online players. The online business is loss-making due to heavy discounting and we have limited our presence just for customer awareness. We do have a website and have been forced to have a presence online due to steep competition but we are bleedin...
Despite stiff competition from online players how have you managed to survive?
While categories like smart phones and gadgets sell more online, customers still prefer to buy big ticket items like TVs, refrigerators, air conditioners from the stores as they want to see the product. Moreover, for the purchase of large ticket items the decision is not taken by one member but mostly by all members of...
How do you expect sales to be this year?
The company witnessed sales of around Rs 3,160 crore in FY17 compared to sales of Rs 2,750 crore in FY16. Sales are expected to improve by 10% to 15 % compared to last year in FY18. We are a profitable company.
We plan to add not more than 6 to 7 stores in FY18 and are going slow on expansion as we want to ensure that all our operational stores are profitable. We are in no hurry to expand. We have only company-owned stores and that is how we would like to expand. Earlier the company used to add around 10 stores but has slowed...
It’s one proposal being looked at by Dublin City Council.
DUBLIN CITY COUNCIL is looking at housing homeless people in prefabs on vacant sites.
As it stands there are 156 families including 341 children living in Dublin hotels.
It’s being reported that the buildings would be insulated with cooking facilities and separate living and sleeping areas.
I don’t particularly think that they are … there are a couple of thousand properties which have been boarded up. Dublin City Council are being funded to reopen that and that’s the first thing [it should do].
Sean Moynihan, CEO of ALONE - the charity that cares for older people in need – said he is “astounded by such a proposal”.
Considering that there are a substantial number of boarded up units in Ireland, with a large number of these located in the Dublin City Council area, you would expect that DCC would invest in refurbishing these purpose built housing units.
He said that ALONE has previously called for the release of these boarded up units to organisations and charities such as itself.
Moynihan said that 25% of all calls to ALONE relate to older people’s housing needs, and noted there are currently 4,765 older people in Ireland in need of housing.
ALONE says that older people are increasingly finding themselves in situations where they are homeless or living in unsafe and unsuitable conditions.
In the last quarter, ALONE saw a 50% increase in calls for support, with a majority of these relating to housing issues.
Email “Dublin's homeless could be housed in prefabs”.
Feedback on “Dublin's homeless could be housed in prefabs”.
New Five Eyes slides leaked by NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden show that the Australian government was willing to share bulk uncensored metadata on Australian citizens with other nations.
New slides leaked by NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden reveal that the Australian government was willing to share vast amounts of uncensored data that it collected on its citizens with a number of other countries around the world.
The slides from April 2008, first reported by The Guardian, show the willingness of the Australian government, through the Australian Signals Directorate, to hand over large amounts of metadata on its citizens to the other governments of the Five Eyes group — the United States, Canada, Britain, and New Zealand.
Where there is a "pattern of life" search of the metadata looking to target a specific individual using their metadata records, the DSD said in the slide that a ministerial warrant would need to be obtained.
Metadata is the information about a communication, such as the time a call was made, the location of the call, the phone number, and the call duration. In the financial year of the leak of the slides, the Attorney-General's Department recorded 183,099 authorisations from government departments to access metadata from A...
In 2011-12, authorisations for metadata access rose to 293,501. The latest figures have yet to be released, but the Attorney-General's Department told ZDNet that the report on telecommunications interception and access in the last financial year is due to be tabled this month.
The Snowden leak also reveals that the Australian Federal Police was reviewing how signals intelligence information can be shared to non-intelligence agencies.
The collection of metadata has been a source of major controversy in Australia over the past year, with the Australian parliament this year conducting a review into national security obligations for Australian telecommunications companies . As calls and texts are increasingly moving over to data on the networks, and bi...
The agencies have lobbied the government to require ISPs to store this data for up to two years, but neither the former government nor the new government made any move towards requiring mandatory data retention.
Can Citizens United Be Rolled Back?
Behind the fight to overturn the Supreme Court ruling that unleashed a torrent of corporate election spending.
Doran/FlickrOn Thursday evening, residents of 83 towns and cities throughout the country—places like Marietta, Georgia, and East Troy, Wisconsin, and Anchorage, Alaska—will make their way to the home of a friend or neighbor or outright stranger for a night of partying. But these aren’t holiday parties. They’re the grou...
The campaign to counter Citizens United sprang to life immediately after the ruling was announced. Led by Public Citizen, the good government group founded by Ralph Nader, its goal is to pass a constitutional amendment that neutralizes the ruling’s effects. But the effort didn’t fully take off until this year—the publi...
This past March, Public Citizen launched a website called Democracy Is for People. It urges people to sign a petition supporting a constitutional amendment, offers a primer on Citizens United‘s impact, and helps people organize house parties to build support for the idea of an amendment. (More than 300 parties have bee...
Amending the Constitution, of course, is no small matter: At least two-thirds of each house of the Legislature must approve the amendment, and then at least three-quarters of the state legislatures must ratify it. Many observers doubt that a Citizens United amendment stands a chance. In the 235 years of the republic, a...
Elizabeth Wydra, chief counsel for the Constitutional Accountability Center, a progressive think tank, wrote in January that while an amendment is one option for progressives in overturning Citizens United, it’s important to remember that amendments are seen as a way to correct flaws in the Constitution itself.* Citize...
There are currently at least four resolutions in the House of Representatives seeking a constitutional amendment to counteract Citizens United. In the Senate, Tom Udall (D-N.M.) and Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) have introduced their own amendments, which specifically give Congress and state legislatures more power to write n...
Udall told me he’s constantly talking with Republican colleagues about money in politics, and he hopes to get some GOP support for his bill, whose cosponsors now consist of 16 Democrats, plus Sanders. He points to Congress’ 11 percent approval rating and multiple surveys showing widespread support for such an amendment...
While Udall twists arms in Washington, city and governments nationwide have been weighing in. Last week, prodded by Move to Amend, Los Angeles became the first major city to pass a resolution urging Congress to amend the Constitution to revoke the corporate personhood rights the justices laid out in Citizens United. Mo...
Cressman stressed that while amending the Constitution is the most ambitious policy option in the book, the sheer amount of money pouring into elections combined with dwindling disclosure requirements called for drastic action. “This does feel like a rare moment in history—a constitutional moment if you will—when the A...
This paragraph has been clarified to better reflect Wydra’s views on the Citizens United constitutional amendment campaign.
Advocates for radical reform to the fostering system in England should look away now. Sir Martin Narey, a government adviser on children’s social care and former chief executive of Barnardo’s, and Mark Owers, a children’s services adviser, have conducted a review for the Department for Education, and they are strikingl...
The care system has an undeservedly poor reputation, and fostering is a success story that rarely gets the credit it deserves, they say. Although they have strong views on how and why fostering could be improved, children in care are remarkably positive about fostering and their sense of wellbeing is “surprisingly high...
The review, conducted over the past six months and published on Tuesday, is based on interviews with and submissions from hundreds of people with an interest in fostering, including foster carers, care-experienced children and young people, fostering providers and social work leaders. It is eagerly awaited by the care ...
Those awaiting a rallying call for change may be disappointed. On the key issue of fostering allowances, widely criticised by carers, the review concludes that they are adequate – particularly once tax and benefit arrangements are taken into account – and are not an obstacle to recruiting high-quality carers at current...
The review rejects the notion that foster carers should be defined as professionals with the same status as, for example, social workers. And it warns of the adverse consequences of extending employment rights to foster carers, as being sought in a claim against Hampshire county council. “This could negatively affect t...
This is not to say that the review’s suggestions for change are not significant. Indeed, Narey and Owers recommend the creation of a permanence board, chaired by the most senior official in the department responsible for the care system. Its purpose would be to promote a whole system approach, including adoption and re...
They also call for an overhaul of the way local authorities plan and commission fostering, saying there is significant potential to reduce spending on fostering while securing better placements for children. They propose scrapping the role of the independent reviewing officer – saving £70m a year – and question the ben...
But the most profound change recommended by the review is a renewed focus on the parenting aspects of fostering, as opposed to caring. For example, it strongly recommends giving foster carers greater discretion over everyday decisions that would normally fall to parents, such as haircuts, clothes and friends. Needless ...
It also urges the DfE to issue guidance to encourage foster carers to feel confident in showing physical affection and comfort to foster children, which is vital to a healthy childhood.
In response to frequent concerns from foster carers, the review also makes robust recommendations around birth family contact, which often goes ahead against the advice of carers and despite clear evidence of distress to the child. The law was changed in 2011 to specify that contact arrangements should only be in place...
“Professionals should not shirk from offering evidence to the courts about the potentially damaging consequences of contact,” say Narey and Owers. As a parent, if your gut instinct is that contact is wrong, then say so.
The review makes realistic and affordable recommendations to improve foster care, but at its heart is a simple call for carers to be well-supported, well-trained, treated as the experts they are, and allowed to lead on decision-making for and with children. They want carers to be biased and tenacious in pursuing the in...
Platte River Networks employee Paul Combetta, the person who wiped Hillary Clinton's private server and email archive with BleachBit, plead the Fifth Tuesday and refused to testify in front of the House Oversight Committee.
"On advise of counsel I respectfully decline to answer and assert my Fifth Amendment privilege," Combetta said.
Platte River Networks is the company employed by Clinton to host her private email servers and email accounts during her time at the State Department.
According to the timing presented FBI report on the criminal investigation into the servers, Combetta wiped the server with BleachBit four weeks after the investigation started and two weeks after Congress requested all emails be preserved. Combetta has also been accused of wiping the server while under subpoena.
Combetta's colleague, Bill Thornton, was also called to testify and plead the fifth.
This is a developing story, stay tuned for updates.
LISTEN TO OWEY'S LATEST SINGLE "TESTIMONY"
Pittsburg's own Owey is returns today with his latest single. Produced by Stevie B and Yace, Owey delivers "Testimony" - a brief yet powerful introspective-type track detailing his dedication to his family, the game, and living an honest life. With this as a little taste of what's to come, we hope we get more from Owey...
Located in a professional building....Perfect for a massage therapist, counselor or any other business needing a smaller space. Landlord pays all utilities, Tenant just pays the monthly rent. Neat, clean, tastefully decorated and turn key. Additional space available.
Mayor Bill de Blasio will visit Israel late next week to speak about anti-Semitism and security challenges faced by cities, and the trip will be paid for by an Israeli entrepreneur as a gift to New York City, his office said Thursday.
De Blasio, who speaks frequently of the city's bond with Israel, will participate in a Jerusalem conference called "Anti-Semitism in the West: How Cities Must Lead," his office said.
De Blasio will be in Israel from Oct. 16 through Oct. 18. It will be his first trip to the Jewish state as mayor, but he has made three previous trips to Israel.
His travel and lodging costs and those of the staff members who accompany him will be covered by Baruch Eliezer Gross, an Israeli businessman with a Brooklyn company that makes personal rescue devices for use in case of high-rise fires, de Blasio's spokeswoman and Gross' spokesman said.
Security costs will be covered by the NYPD, the mayor's office said.
The event will be attended by other mayors from around the world. It is hosted by American Jewish Congress, American Council for World Jewry and World Forum of Russian-Speaking Jewry.
Gross, who founded the Jerusalem-based Besadno Investment Group, an incubator and start-up firm, said in a statement yesterday, "New York City can provide other cities with a model for protecting all communities against hate."
The city's Conflict of Interest Board approved the funding of the trip as consistent with its rules.
De Blasio told reporters in March after violence that targeted Jews in France that he would travel to Israel to focus on "the need for European governments to step up and do a better job of protecting their Jewish communities."
Frank Zhang* moved to New Zealand five years ago from China full of optimism and with great hope of a better life for his family.
But within 18 months of visiting the casino, he gambled away $2 million and lost everything.
"I lost not only $2 million but also my family, friends, credit, dignity and pride ... suddenly they were all gone," Zhang said.
His story is one of several being shared by Asian Family Services in its Real people, Real journeys magazine.
Zhang's foray into gambling started with a $5 bet, but this soon led to bigger punts - and even a $50,000 bet on one occasion.
"The very first bet ... was the beginning of the horrible, dangerous, crazy and uncontrollable behaviour," he said.
"I gambled 72 hours non-stop without eating, I gambled without thinking of the consequences."
The casino made him a VIP and Zhang said he was drawn into the meticulous treatment from casino staff and the luxurious VIP rooms.
"I generously offered tips of $100 or even $1000 to waitresses for a cup of coffee ... I was appreciative of all that the casino provided and in return I visited more frequently," said Zhang.
"It was madness, I lost $300,000 within two hours in Auckland and $400,000 within one week in Christchurch."
He borrowed money to fund his gambling habit, but said the special treatment ended when he lost all his money.
Zhang then sought help from Asian Family Services, which he said helped him through the toughest time of his life.
The 2018 National Gambling Study by AUT University found that migrants who gambled were at a higher risk of becoming a problem gambler compared with New Zealand-born Kiwis.
Although gambling participation continues to fall, the report said levels of gambling-related harm remained unchanged.
Professor Max Abbott, director of the Gambling Addictions Research Centre, warned that unless strong measures were taken, the rates of gambling participation and problem gambling among migrants were highly likely to increase.
"Asian people who do gamble are at very high risk of problem gambling," Abbott said.
This is despite the rates of gambling participation among Asians were lower than Europeans and others.
The study found that problem gambling prevalence rates among Asians are similar or slightly higher than Europeans.

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