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"There is no threat coming from Iran to any of its neighbors…and are prepared to engage with confidence-building measures with our neighbors." |
Hopes of a new era of economic prosperity and political inclusion emerged over the weekend when 10 years of sanctions against Iran were lifted after the country convinced international inspectors that it had curtailed its nuclear ambitions. |
The ending of sanctions against the country, which have isolated it economically and diplomatically, came after a landmark nuclear deal between Iran and global powers. |
Zarif said that the origin of the breakdown in relations with Saudi Arabia came in 2013 when a preliminary nuclear deal was reached, making Saudi Arabia nervous. |
"I want to make a point though that since the agreement in Geneva in 2013 our Saudi neighbors have been panicking but there is no need to panic, our friends. Iran is there to work with you and Iran doesn't want to exclude anyone from this region. There is no need to engage in a confrontation." |
Zarif said those that had attacked the Saudi embassy were being prosecuted but that Saudi had been "looking for an excuse to break diplomatic relations." |
"We should try our best, as Iran has done, to exercise self-restraint and to come to our senses and engage in serious discussions." He added that extremism and terrorist groups such as the so-called Islamic State were a common enemy that needed to be defeated. |
More hostility with its neighbors is the last thing Iran needs as it takes the first steps to get its beleaguered economy, isolated by a decade of sanctions, back on track. |
Mohammad Agha Nahavandian, chief of staff of the Presidency of the Islamic Republic of Iran, told the WEF audience that Iran had the potential to see its gross domestic product (GDP) expand 8 percent. |
"Iran has the potential to come out of this recession and sanctions with a growth rate of 8 percent, that's feasible, being mindful of the fact that there are so many global companies who have expressed interest in the energy sector, ICT and transit routes in Iran, be it railway, roads or airways," he said. |
"Of course, there are things to be done and the administration is mindful of the fact that the business environment has to improve a great deal and we've already started that," he added. |
Singer-songwriter Deep Money, who is known for his hits such as Dope Shope and Lak Tera, talks about his debut Bollywood song, Hiriye, in the upcoming Salman Khan-starrer Race 3. |
It took more than a decade for Punjabi singer-songwriter Deep Money aka Amandeep Singh to enter Bollywood, but he isn’t complaining. The Dope Shope hitmaker has sung Hiriye, featuring actors Salman Khan and Jacqueline Fernandes for Remo D’Souza’s upcoming film, Race 3. |
“Everyone has their own journey. Some get into the industry very quickly and make a name, some take time. If you look at [actor] Amitabh Bachchan, his career started with a string of flops, and only later, he started delivering hit films. Look at him now, he’s one of the biggest stars in the industry. I don’t want to c... |
“And to be making a debut by singing for the biggest superstar in the country (Salman Khan), for one of the biggest film franchises, only proves that it was worth the wait,” says Deep. |
The singer says that this is the basic difference between independent music and Bollywood music. “Take for example, Guru Randhawa’s Suit Suit. It got popular when he released it as a single. But, just see the response it got after it was a part of a movie (Hindi Medium; 2017). Look how big it became! Bollywood songs ha... |
Now, Deep wants to concentrate on that, but that doesn’t mean he will ignore independent music. “Just like Diljit (Dosanjh) paaji, who takes time out to do movies, sings in Bollywood and [does] his independent stuff as well, I have to do the same. I’ll have to keep doing independent stuff to maintain my presence in Pun... |
Sascha Segan Nokia N810 Internet Tablet The do-it-all handheld is a great alternative to the iPod touch for Linux geeks, Palm aficionados, and Rhapsody fans, but it's still too buggy and expensive for most other people. |
Well-designed and attractive. Gorgeous high-resolution screen. Excellent Web browser. |
Pricey. No PIM or Microsoft Office solution available. Application installation process is seriously buggy. |
The do-it-all handheld is a great alternative to the iPod touch for Linux geeks, Palm aficionados, and Rhapsody fans, but it's still too buggy and expensive for most other people. |
Nokia's N810 is the company's latest gift to Linux geeks, Rhapsody users, and, surprisingly, to Palm aficionados. If you're looking for a Linux handheld to hack or an upgrade for your Palm TX, you may have found it. But the lack of PIM and document reading software, and the N810's problematic third-party software in ge... |
The N810, like its predecessors the N800 and N770, isn't a phone. It's a Linux-based handheld computer that connects to the Internet via Wi-Fi or with a Bluetooth connection through a mobile phone. Nokia has finally gotten the form factor right; the N810 is a pleasure to hold and to use. The 2.8 by 5 by 0.55 inches (HW... |
The N810's home screen consists of "widgets," including a Google search box, RSS reader, clock, and Internet radio app that you can move around on the screen, showing the Debian Linuxbased operating system's attractive transparency effects. Big icons on the left-hand side of the screen let you launch other apps with y... |
The N810 connects to the Internet effortlessly, either through Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g (with WPA2) or using a Bluetooth connection to a mobile phone. If you choose to go the mobile-phone route, you'll need to subscribe to a relatively expensive tethering planaround $50 a monthfrom your carrier. This has nothing to do with N... |
The e-mail program supports only POP3. When I tried to use its IMAP option, the device choked and crashed. But messages are rendered in HTML, and reading text on the crisp-looking screen is a pleasure. The interface did seem a bit sluggish sometimes, with responses trailing after button pressesa surprise considering t... |
Music and video players are also on board, along with a Rhapsody client. The music player handles AAC, WMA, and MP3 formatsthough no DRMand the video player plays WMV and a somewhat perplexing subset of MP4 files. You can put your music on an SD card or share it with PCs through your wireless networkthe N810 sees Wi... |
Though the N810 isn't a phone, you can make calls using Skype and Gizmo VoIP clients that work over Wi-Fi. I got surprisingly decent call quality with Skype calls, which is refreshing: Skype on handhelds usually sounds pretty dismal. The Gizmo app also connects to popular IM networks, including AIM, MSN, and Yahoo!, bu... |
The N810 comes with GPS, as well, but the GPS chipset is mediocre. Though the device acquired a signal well in low-rise Queens, it was absolutely hopeless in high-rise Manhattan. The free built-in U.S. and Canadian maps, from Wayfinder, include an extensive array of points of interest. A $129, three-year license enhanc... |
The N810's biggest drawback is that it still lacks two absolutely key features for a handheld: a PIM suite and some sort of Microsoft Officecompatible document editing program. (It does have a PDF reader, which rendered even our most complex graphical documents with aplomb.) The brilliant Palm OS emulator fixes that t... |
That's rightPalm OS. ACCESS seems to be unable to write a new Linux OS for Palm devices, but the company has come up with a perfectly capable Palm emulator for the N810. The free Garnet VM pops a 320-by-320-pixel application window and a virtual graffiti area into the middle of the N810's screen, leaving the rest of t... |
With Linux, it should be simple to rewrite desktop apps for the N810. According to Maemo.org, the application development group, there are now 198 apps for the device, including a contact syncing solution, text editors, IM programs, multiple music and video players, and games, though there's no comprehensive PIM or Off... |
The poorly functioning installer hurts the N810's major advantage over its top rival, the iPod touch. Like the N810, the touch is an awesome Web browser and music and video player. The touch is better at multimedia and PC syncing; the N810 is better with the Web and integrates e-mail and IM options, which the touch doe... |
So here we are, back where we started. When I first reviewed the Nokia N800, I heralded it as breakthrough hardware that needed the software to make it sing. The N810 still struggles with the same problem. Though Nokia's Web browser is gorgeous and the development community seems to be working hard to create new softwa... |
Compare the Nokia N810 Internet Tablet with several other PDAs side by side. |
Bottom Line: The do-it-all handheld is a great alternative to the iPod touch for Linux geeks, Palm aficionados, and Rhapsody fans, but it's still too buggy and expensive for most other people. |
George Soros' Fund Dumped These 2 Stocks: Should You? |
Billionaire investor and hedge fund guru George Soros attracts a considerable amount of attention from investors because of his stellar track record as a money manager. When he was running the Quantum Fund, for example, the firm produced an average annual gain in excess of 30%. |
At the ripe age of 85, Soros presumably allows his army of analysts to make the bulk of the day-to-day decisions for Soros Fund Management. However, the Street and retail investors alike are still keen on knowing what this particular fund is doing on a quarterly basis -- given its history of producing market-beating re... |
Soros Fund Management is unique among its multibillion-dollar peers for both its high turnover rate (number of stocks bought and sold per quarter), and its rich tradition of taking positions in small-cap companies with little to no revenue. Stemming from Soros' theory of reflexivity, one of the fund's main mo... |
We learned from the recently filed 13Fs that, during the third quarter of 2015, the Soros Fund dumped its entire holdings in the speculative biopharmas Opko Health and Pacira Pharmaceuticals . Does this bearish move by the Soros Fund indicate that retail investors should now avoid these two stocks, or should long-term ... |
Opko could have a transformative 2016Opko is a tiny but rapidly growing healthcare company with three broad commercial segments, namely diagnostics, pharmaceuticals, and biologics. Over the last eight or so years, the company's founder, Phillip Frost, has pieced Opko together mainly through a series of value-addin... |
The key issue to understand is that Opko is only now at the point where it could start to generate some serious revenue for its shareholders -- but there is a catch. To do so, the company will need to continue to build on the commercial launch of its prostate cancer screening test 4Kscore and gain regulatory approvals ... |
Opko's shares fell by more than 40% during the quarter, according to S&P Capital IQ. On the bright side, this mass exodus appears to have more to do with the market's growing concern over drug prices than anything specifically wrong with Opko. Backing up this assertion, Opko is actually expected to become cas... |
Pacira's growth story centers around one drugPacira is on track to grow its total revenues by 25% this year and is projected to grow them by roughly another 25% next year, fueled mainly by surging sales of its post-surgical pain medicine Exparel (an extended-release formulation of bupivacaine). The Street also exp... |
Presumably, Pacira's stock nosedived over concerns that Exparel could come under intense scrutiny for its reported $300 price tag per vial, given that standardbupivacaine costs around $2 per vial. After all, the company is almost completely dependent on Exparel for growth right now. Having said that, there hasn&ap... |
In the cases of these two biopharma stocks, Opko looks like a compelling buy for patient investors right now based on how the company's business plan is starting to come into focus. So, it's probably a bad idea to follow in the fund's footsteps on this one. |
Regarding Pacira, the company is unquestionably generating top notch levels of growth, but there is the lingering concern about the sustainability of its double-digit revenue growth in the current political environment. Therefore, investors may want to be cautious with this stock until the company is able to build out ... |
The article George Soros' Fund Dumped These 2 Stocks: Should You? originally appeared on Fool.com. |
Global charity Oxfam has criticised the World Bank's private lending arm for financing multinationals who then channel funds through tax havens. |
A report by Oxfam found 51 of 68 companies funded by the World Bank's International Finance Corporation in 2015 to undertake projects in sub-Saharan Africa used the tax haven of Mauritius to hide wealth and to dodge tax. |
Oxfam said the use of tax havens by multinationals had "no apparent link" with their core businesses of building infrastructure and providing services in some of the world's poorest nations. |
The allegations from Oxfam come in the midst of a global crackdown on multinational tax evasion and the shady practices revealed in the Panama Papers by the law firm Mossack Fonseca. |
Oxfam Australia's chief executive Dr Helen Szoke said the channelling of World Bank finance to tax havens is more evidence that the international tax system is broken. |
"At a time when the Australian Government is also increasing its engagement with the private sector through the Australian aid program, the Government's focus must be on responsible investment and sustainable development," Dr Szoke told The World Today. |
"These companies could be cheating poor countries out of tax revenues that are needed to fight poverty and inequality. |
"The World Bank Group should not risk funding companies that are dodging taxes in Sub-Saharan Africa and across the globe. It must put safeguards in place to ensure that its clients can prove they are paying their fair share of tax." |
The Oxfam report found that, over the past five years, the International Finance Corporation had doubled its investments in companies that use tax havens from $US1.2 billion in 2010 to $US2.87 billion in 2015. |
Dr Szoke said Mauritius is also a destination for the practice of "round-tripping", where a company shifts money offshore before returning it disguised as direct foreign investment. |
Instead, Dr Szoke said the World Bank should be ensuring that its financing is used to fund infrastructure and health services for poor nations in sub-Saharan Africa. |
"The region lacks money to provide enough skilled birth attendants, clean water or mosquito nets, for example, resulting in high rates of child mortality; one child in 12 dies before their fifth birthday," she added. |
The International Finance Corporation has dismissed the Oxfam report as "flawed". |
Follow Peter Ryan on Twitter @peter_f_ryan and on his Main Street blog. |
Parents are not prepared for the day after a 'parenting hangover,' reveals a report from the C.S. Mott Children's Hospital National Poll on Children's Health at the University of Michigan. One-fourth of the parents who drink alcohol on holiday gatherings do not think about limiting how much they drink or about taking c... |
The nationally-representative report is based on responses from 1,170 parents with at least one child ages 0-9 years. |
Three in 10 parents (29 percent) also said they know of an adult who may have caused an unsafe situation for their child due to drinking alcohol at a special celebration. These parents were most concerned that the other adult was too impaired or hung over to supervise their child (61 percent) or to handle a possible em... |
Another 1 in 12 parents (8 percent) admitted to a prior situation where they may have been too impaired from alcohol to take care of their parenting responsibilities. About the same proportion of mothers and fathers acknowledged a prior lapse in judgment related to alcohol. |
"Most parents planning to drink alcoholic beverages on a night out arrange for a designated driver and childcare for the event itself," says poll co-director Sarah Clark. "Fewer parents may consider how their alcohol consumption could impact parenting responsibilities to their young children the next day." |
Most parents reported drinking alcoholic beverages during special events, either often (27 percent), sometimes (36 percent) or rarely (17 percent). Among those, 73 percent said they were very likely to make plans in advance for someone to watch their child during the event, and 68 percent were very likely to plan for s... |
However, just 47 percent were very likely to think in advance about how much they will drink, and 64 percent said they are very likely to make plans for someone to take care of their child the day after the event. |
"The amount of alcohol consumed can affect parenting the next day," Clark says. "A parent passed out on the couch will not be effective in recognizing and reacting to the everyday safety risks that occur with children." |
One particularly interesting finding: Parents who said they drink rarely were less likely to plan in advance for childcare and transportation the night of the special event and childcare responsibilities the following day compared to parents who drink sometimes or often. |
However, even rare instances of celebrating with alcohol can have serious consequences for children, Clark says. |
Parents may prevent overindulging by alternating alcoholic drinks with non-alcoholic drinks, Clark notes. But if they aren't sure whether their alcohol consumption may impair parenting abilities, it's better to be safe than sorry. |
"Parents who plan to drink alcoholic beverages during an outing should plan ahead for transportation to ensure they arrive home safely," Clark says. |
"If alcohol use may potentially impact their ability to take care of their children the following day, parents may also consider childcare arrangements. Having children stay the night at a relative's home or asking a grandparent to stay overnight are options to ensure young children are in a safe and supervised environ... |
Getting your kids to eat veggies can be a difficult task. We all know how important it is to eat veggies for good health. These eight sneaky tips and kid-friendly recipes can get your kids to eat more veggies. |
Fox News host Laura Ingraham spent her show last night talking about the horrific shooting at a high school in Parkland, Florida that left 17 people dead. But she devoted six full minutes of her program to just how “safe” the AR-15 assault rifle is. Seriously. |
“You have a less likelihood of sporadic fire or hitting innocent people if you’re using it for home defense because it shoots really straight,” Cohen said of the AR-15, extolling the features of the weapon. |
“So it’s actually a very safe weapon, it’s easier to shoot than a pistol,” Cohen continued. |
The AR-15 is the same rifle that was used in yesterday’s shootings in Florida, not to mention the shootings in Aurora, Colorado in 2012 (12 dead, 70 injured), Newtown, Connecticut in 2012 (20 children between the ages of 6 and 7-years-old dead, 6 adults dead), San Bernardino, California in 2015 (14 dead, 22 seriously w... |
“It didn’t take him long to go right to gun control,” Ingraham said after airing a clip of Democratic Senator Chris Murphy. Murphy correctly pointed out on the US Senate floor yesterday that these shootings simply don’t happen in countries where guns are tightly regulated. |
But Ingraham would have you believe that any restrictions on the sale of the AR-15 in America would be silly, because the gun is so wonderful. |
“If you’re not trained, and if you have a criminal disposition—a violent disposition—it can be turned into a killing machine. But [Senator] Chris Murphy wants to make it all about the weapons,” Ingraham said. |
To say that the AR-15 can “be turned into” a killing machine is wholly disingenuous. The AR-15 is a killing machine. That’s literally what it is designed and manufactured to do, kill people. But she and her guest kept insisting during the nauseating segment that it’s ultimately a perfectly safe thing for Americans to k... |
“There is a mental health epidemic here, which is being confused for a gun problem,” Cohen said on Fox News with a straight face. |
“Where are the parents?” Cohen asked, presumably about the parents of the alleged gunman Nikolas Cruz. |
You can watch the entire Fox News segment on YouTube if you have the stomach for it right now. |
The rest of the world has plenty of people with mental health problems. But no other country watches their children regularly slaughtered by guns on TV the way that America does. |
It was encouraging to read the news of appointment of Officer Syeda Ghazala as Sindh’s first female Station House Officer (SHO) of Clifton Police Station, Karachi. |
This is definitely a step in the right direction, both in terms of policing and in domains of social justice, equality and women’s rights. The decision to appoint a female commander is nothing short of an informal declaration of the beginning of women’s emancipation in Pakistan at the grass roots level (where it is nee... |
To set the stage, let me relate my experience from early this year with Pakistan Telecommunication Company Limited (PTCL) One Stop Shop (OSS) at II Chundrigar Road opposite National Bank Head Office a month back. My internet device had been malfunctioning and I brought it in for a quick check. |
I was astonished at the reply. |
Evidently, the tone was missing the word ‘please’. Perhaps, the subordinate forgot that he was addressing his superior. But here was a junior officer actually subverting the orders of his boss. |
Would he have done the same if the senior officer was male? |
I can’t answer that in certainty, but in our patriarchal society, I wouldn’t be surprised if the manager was male that the subordinate would quietly do as he was asked. |
The men in our society harbour a non-professional attitude towards professional women in the public sector. Women may not necessarily be visibly detested and opposed from holding a seat of influence, but they are certainly taken non-seriously by many of their subordinates. The misogynistic attitude becomes visibly pron... |
In the event narrated above, the manager also seemed reluctant to exert authority and clearly lacked the confidence. Her feeble smile gave away the unease and lack of confidence that she felt when her subordinates refused to obey her orders. Such is the state of affairs that Officer Ghazala is also likely to face once ... |
My advice to her is to be firm, even a bit discourteous if the situation so warrants, and proactively challenge subtle or outrageous sexism. Take a stand and hold ground. Meet criticism with strong rebuttals. The sooner she establishes her authority the better because otherwise she will just run the risk of being made ... |
Her immediate assignment may be to oversee the affairs of police stations under her control; however, she has a bigger job – that of eradicating the subtle discrimination between women and men in all spheres of Pakistani life. All her decisions must reflect the spirit of the bigger goal in the larger interests of estab... |
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