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TAMPA, Fla, Oct. 20, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Tampa-based thyroid, parathyroid and adrenal surgeons have been recognized as top doctors in the nation across numerous prestigious ranking systems including Castle Connolly, US News, The American Registry and more. The news comes during National Healthcare Quality Week.
The surgeons at the Norman Parathyroid Center, Clayman Thyroid Center and Carling Adrenal Center—all operating exclusively at the recently opened Hospital for Endocrine Surgery—have received top honors across the board during the week when healthcare quality is emphasized in the US.
Among these awards are distinctions of "America's Most Honored Doctors" from The American Registry which honors the country's top 1% of doctors, "Top Doctors" from Castle Connolly which honors the top 7% of physicians in the nation, and US News & World Report's Top Doctor's which is a searchable database of peer-nominated physicians across the country. Each of the Hospital's eleven surgeons are listed in this database with outstanding reviews. Combined, the surgeons have over 10,000 five-star reviews online.
For many of the Hospital's honorees, these awards are added to a long list of professional acknowledgements throughout their storied careers. Dr. Jim Norman and Dr. Gary Clayman, directors of the Norman Parathyroid Center and Clayman Thyroid Center respectively, have consistently received top honors among these ranking systems for the last 30 years. Drs Norman and Clayman have also received Lifetime Achieve Awards as America's Most Compassionate Doctors, Patient's Choice awards for many consecutive years, the Newsweek Magazine Award for Top Doctors for Cancer, Vitals Award for Top 10 Doctors and more.
The surgeons are also recognized by local and community publications year after year for their expertise and excellence. In 2022, each surgeon was honored as one of "Tampa's Elite Doctors of the Year" by Tampa Style Magazine.
In addition to celebrating healthcare quality, this week is also National Healthcare Education Week. "High quality healthcare is more than just excellent care in the operating room," said Dr. Norman. "It involves taking care of all the patients' needs, including education about their problem. This education helps them to obtain the best possible outcome."
"We at the Clayman Thyroid Center, Norman Parathyroid Center and Carling Adrenal Center continually improve and expand our educational websites which serve a global population of people with endocrine tumors and the potential need for endocrine surgery," continued Dr. Clayman. "The ability of our websites to facilitate patients to understand their thyroid, parathyroid and adrenal condition and advocate for their own care and wellness was and remains our vision in the creation of these educational resources."
www.parathyroid.com has been the world's #1 website for parathyroid disease and surgery for more than 25 years with billions of downloads, with www.thyroidcancer.com and www.adrenal.com following suit for thyroid disease and adrenal disease. Collectively, the websites maintained by the Hospital for Endocrine Surgery's doctors garner about 2.5 million users per year and serve as the most comprehensive online resources for endocrine tumors and surgery.
"When I was diagnosed with thyroid cancer, I started doing extensive research online," said a recent patient at the Hospital for Endocrine Surgery. "I came across thyroidcancer.com [Clayman Thyroid Center's website] and devoured every piece of information I could find. I could not find a single negative review on Dr. Clayman – and I tried! I thought it had to be too good to be true, but after traveling to Tampa and having a truly wonderful and painless experience, I can confirm that it isn't. I'm confident I made the right decision in choosing these doctors and I'm confident that my cancer will not come back."
The Norman Parathyroid Center, Clayman Thyroid Center, and Carling Adrenal Center united under one at the Hospital for Endocrine Surgery in January, and are now the highest volume endocrine surgery practice in the world. These surgeons trained at the very best academic institutions including MD Anderson, Harvard, Georgetown, Duke, Columbia, Yale, Cleveland Clinic and more.
Physicians from all over the globe refer their most challenging cases to the Hospital for Endocrine Surgery. In fact, 90% of the hospital's patients travel from over 150 miles away – very different than the demographics of a traditional hospital. Another 40% travel from outside the state of Florida to have surgery at the specialty hospital.
"Being honored as a top doctor is always a great feeling," said Dr. Norman. "But what I really hope is that it helps us reach even more people suffering with thyroid, parathyroid and adrenal tumors and cancers. We can help thousands of patients every day through our continued educational programs"
Located in Tampa, Florida, the Norman Parathyroid Center is the leading parathyroid gland tumor treatment center in the world, performing nearly 3,800 parathyroid operations annually. Well known for cure rates over 99% via an operation that typically lasts about 20 minutes, the Norman Parathyroid Center's success centers on a teamwork approach by the most experienced parathyroid surgeons in the world.
www.parathyroid.com | (813) 972-0000
Founded by one of the nation's best-known thyroid surgeons, the Clayman Thyroid Center is the highest volume thyroid cancer referral center in the United States. The Center boasts the most experienced thyroid surgeons in the US who provide personalized care allowing the greatest opportunity for cancer cure, wellness and cosmetic, and functional, outcomes via all types of thyroid surgery from minimal incision to scarless thyroid surgery to advanced cancer care.
www.thyroidcancer.com | (813) 940-3130
Founded by Dr. Tobias Carling, one of the world's leading experts in adrenal gland surgery, the Carling Adrenal Center is a worldwide destination for the surgical treatment of adrenal tumors. Dr. Carling spent nearly 20 years at Yale University, including 7 as the Chief of Endocrine Surgery before leaving in 2020 to open to Carling Adrenal Center, which performs more adrenal operations than any other hospital in the world.
www.adrenal.com | (813) 972-0000
The Hospital for Endocrine Surgery is a campus of HCA Florida South Tampa Hospital focused on compassionate patient care and highly specialized treatment of endocrine tumors. We provide a wide array of services necessary for the diagnosis and surgical treatment of tumors of the thyroid, parathyroid and adrenal glands. Our team includes doctors, surgeons, nurses and technicians who have dedicated their careers to delivering the highest cure rates using the most advanced techniques available. HCA's Hospital for Endocrine Surgery is the nation's highest volume hospital for thyroid, parathyroid, and adrenal tumors and cancers.
www.hospitalforendocrinesurgery.com
Media Contact:
Julie Canan, Director of Marketing
941 468 3002
juliec@parathyroid.com
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SOURCE Norman Parathyroid Center | https://www.ktre.com/prnewswire/2022/10/20/tampa-doctors-rank-among-best-endocrine-surgeons-country-during-national-healthcare-quality-week/ | 2022-10-20T16:57:35 | en | 0.952696 |
Continue wearing mask in crowded places, especially people in vulnerable category: Experts
People should continue to wear masks in crowded areas, especially those in the vulnerable category like pregnant women and the elderly, experts said on Thursday, hours after the Delhi government withdrew the Rs 500 fine for not wearing it in public places.Doctors at the citys leading government and private hospitals concurred that people should exercise extra caution because though cases in Delhi are on the lower side, a new variant of COVID-19 is being reported which is very transmissible.It is a festive season and people will ge together, socialise at workplace and at homes.
- Country:
- India
People should continue to wear masks in crowded areas, especially those in the vulnerable category like pregnant women and the elderly, experts said on Thursday, hours after the Delhi government withdrew the Rs 500 fine for not wearing it in public places.
Doctors at the city's leading government and private hospitals concurred that people should exercise ''extra caution'' because though cases in Delhi are on the lower side, a new variant of COVID-19 is being reported which is very transmissible.
''It is a festive season and people will ge together, socialise at workplace and at homes. Though the fine for not wearing mask has been lifted, I would still say that people should wear it in open and crowded places, during meetings in enclosed rooms, if not at homes. ''More than laws, we need self-discipline, as we have all learned a lot in these two years,'' said Dr Suranjit Chatterjee, senior consultant, internal medicine, Apollo Hospital.
The doctor said air quality in Delhi has dropped and so a mask can protect from various other kinds of pollution-related infection too.
The Delhi government on Thursday issued an order withdrawing the Rs 500 fine for not wearing masks in public places in the national capital.
The Delhi Disaster Management Authority (DDMA) in a meeting last month had decided to stop levying the penalty after September 30 amid a decline in COVID-19 cases.
The authority in its meeting on September 22 noted that the positivity rate of the COVID-19 infection has come down substantially and majority of the population has been vaccinated.
Delhi recorded 107 fresh COVID-19 cases with a positivity rate of 1.64 per cent on Wednesday, according to health department data. On Tuesday, the positivity rate was 2.04 per cent, 3.61 per cent on Monday, 1.59 per cent on Sunday, 2.12 per cent on Saturday and 1.75 per cent on Friday.
The number of active cases now stands at 488. The number of daily cases in the city had touched a record high of 28,867 on January 13 during the third wave of the pandemic.
Dr Richa Sareen, consultant of pulmonology at Fortis Hospital said, ''We have to be cautious since a new variant is being reported. People who are vulnerable to such infection such as pregnant women and the elderly should continue to wear mask in public places, fine or no fine''.
''Also, we all need to be extra cautious because a new variant of COVID-19 is being reported, which is very transmissible. Though cases in Delhi are on the lower side, the fine for not wearing a mask in public places being lifted should not push us into a zone of false sense of security that 'everything is fine'. Having said that, we should not panic either,'' she said.
Chatterjee at Apollo Hospital said a person not wearing a mask is also at risk of contracting many other respiratory infection if standing next to a person who has any of these infections. So a mask helps, he said.
In its meeting held last month, the DDMA had emphasised on not lowering guard against Covid in view of the upcoming festivals.
Some expert had then said that the government could have waited for two months for the festive season to end, while others had said people should voluntarily be allowed to discipline themselves. Diwali falls on October 24, followed by Chhath festival few days later and then Christmas in December.
(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
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Maharashtra okays Rs 513 cr Diwali package for ration card holders | https://www.devdiscourse.com/article/health/2221361-continue-wearing-mask-in-crowded-places-especially-people-in-vulnerable-category-experts | 2022-10-20T16:57:34 | en | 0.965221 |
After USA, the charm of RRR has reached Japan. The song “Naatu Naatu” from the SS Rajamouli directorial is getting love from the audience in Japan as well. Japanese YouTuber Mayo expressed her adulation for it by recreating the song’s mind-blowing dance steps.
The YouTuber got to interview Rajamouli, Ram Charan and Jr NTR as the trio is in Japan for the promotion of RRR. After the interview, the YouTuber made a video of herself dancing on “Naatu Naatu”. Sharing the video, she wrote, “After the interview with @AlwaysRamCharan @tarak9999 @ssrajamouli, for #RRR release in Japan, we got so excited and made another video on the way back home 😂.”
After the interview with @AlwaysRamCharan @tarak9999 @ssrajamouli, for #RRR release in Japan,
we got so excited and made another video on the way back home😂@RRRMovie @RRR_twinmovie
#NaatuNaatu #RRRInJapanThank you @kaketaku85 for always having my back! pic.twitter.com/bOzax8TNcu
— まよ🇮🇳日印つなぐインフルエンサー (@MayoLoveIndia) October 20, 2022
Mayo’s friend matched steps with her in the video. He also shared a picture with team RRR and wrote, “I joined @MayoLoveIndia interview, danced and gave Japanese gifts😊 I’m glad to hear they had fun! Finally, RRR will be released tomorrow in Japan!!!!”
I joined @MayoLoveIndia interview, danced and gave Japanese gifts😊
I’m glad to hear they had fun!
Finally, RRR will be released tomorrow in Japan!!!! @AlwaysRamCharan @tarak9999 @ssrajamouli @RRRMovie @RRR_twinmovie #NaatuNaatu #RRRInJapan : @Chi_Bollyque pic.twitter.com/Y7GSV6NGNC— KAKETAKU💫 (@kaketaku85) October 20, 2022
SS Rajamouli is on a promotional spree in Japan. Earlier, Rajamouli met video game creator Hideo Kojima in Japan. He also visited the Kojima Productions studio where he sat in a body scanner which is used to create 3D images of a person.
The team of RRR received a warm welcome in Japan, where the film will be releasing in theatres on October 21. Ram Charan’s wife Upasana recently also shared pictures of herself with her husband which were clicked by Rajamouli. She captioned the photos, “With love from Tokyo ❤️🇯🇵 📸 : @ssrajamouli ☺️ #rrr in #Japan.”
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RRR was a blockbuster upon its release in India. | https://indianexpress.com/article/entertainment/telugu/japanese-youtuber-mayo-dances-to-naatu-naatu-as-team-rrr-promotes-the-movie-in-japan-watch-video-8221633/ | 2022-10-20T16:57:36 | en | 0.920433 |
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With Britain’s Prime Minister Liz Truss announcing her resignation, efforts to find her replacement have begun. While Truss herself got the top job after a three-month process, her successor is to be chosen within a week.
How will the new UK Prime Minister be elected? We explain the possibilities.
According to the BBC, when a Conservative leader resigns, the new leader has to be elected via an election. The rules of the election are organised by the 1922 Committee. The 1922 Committee, or the Conservative Private Members’ Committee, is the Tory parliamentary group in the House of Commons and consists of all ‘backbench MPs’, who are legislators not holding a government office.
While so far, there is no clarity on how the polls will be held, generally, there are two final candidates, between whom party members choose by voting. The election is to be concluded by October 28.
If, after two candidates have been chosen, one drops out – as Andrea Leadsom did opposite Theresa May in 2016 – the need for voting is eliminated. In other circumstances, removing party members from the voting process could require a change to the Conservative Party’s constitution, the BBC said.
Whoever is chosen as the Tory party leader will be invited by King Charles III to become the Prime Minister.
Not unless the new Prime Minister calls for it. The next general election is scheduled for January 2025.
According to the BBC, the contest to replace Boris consisted of two stages.
“Firstly, Tory MPs chose two candidates to go forward to a vote of the wider membership of the party. Tory MPs whittled down the field with a series of ballots where the candidate with the fewest votes was eliminated after each round. Ms Truss – along with former chancellor Rishi Sunak – ended up with the most votes and therefore entered the final stage. In stage two, Conservative Party members chose the winner in a vote,” the BBC said. | https://indianexpress.com/article/explained/explained-global/liz-truss-resigns-how-will-britains-new-pm-be-chosen-8221673/ | 2022-10-20T16:57:42 | en | 0.97208 |
The Company has also Appointed Evan Bregman as General Manager of Streaming to Oversee the Viewership and Growth of Tastemade's Streaming Business
Tastemade Home Launches with Award-Winning Titles Featuring Home and Design Inspiration, Including Original Series "Beyond the Block" and "Weekend Refresh" hosted by Tia Mowry, as well as other fan favorites including "Gok's Fill Your House for Free," "Dream Home Makeovers," "The Home Team," and "The Great Garden Revolution"
LOS ANGELES, Oct. 20, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Today, Tastemade announces the launch of the Tastemade Home streaming channel, which is now available on Amazon Freevee, Tubi, and SLING TV. Tastemade Home, a brand new 24/7 channel designed for a new generation of homeowners and renters, is the latest addition to Tastemade's network of streaming channels, joining Tastemade, Tastemade Travel, and Tastemade en Español.
The new streaming channel brings together an exciting slate of Home & Design content that is a natural extension of Tastemade's success with Home content on social. Paired with Tastemade's existing programming offerings in the Food and Travel spaces, Tastemade Home will continue to deepen the company's roots in the lifestyle streaming space and launching at a time when the Tastemade streaming business is seeing rapid expansion with their most ambitious programming lineup to date – premiering 27 global shows (more than 200 hours of content) in 2022 alone, and currently reaching more than 150 million households in over 60 countries with studios across the U.S, South America, Europe, and APAC.
Tastemade Home features original series that inspire, including the award-winning Beyond the Block, a unique home buying show in partnership with Realtor.com®. The series features first-time homebuyers and focuses on the neighborhoods and the people in them, and it is currently in its third season with host Andrew Tyree. New series will include Weekend Refresh hosted by Tia Mowry, based off of Tastemade's successful social series, which highlights impressive home improvement makeovers in just 48 hours.
Additional new and upcoming shows include:
- Dream Home Makeovers: Featuring the UK's undisputed queen of color, Dream Home Makeovers with Sophie Robinson follows the interior design guru as she pushes brave homeowners just beyond their comfort zones to create eye-popping interiors that are cozy to live in and amazing to look at.
- The Great Garden Revolution: A team of expert designers and gardeners transform outdoor spaces while supplying ideas that viewers can use to makeover gardens of any size or shape.
- Gok's Fill Your House for Free: This popular home improvement series shows how to take homes from shabby to chic on a thoroughly thrifty budget. Renowned style guru, Gok Wan, turns his attention from clothes to house interiors as he meets families who are desperate to give their homes a makeover, but have little money to spend.
- The Home Team: Join Anthony Scott and Leah McLeod in their workshop as they help out homeowners with their renovations by making homemade solar lights, hardwood benches, vertical gardens, and more.
In addition to launching Tastemade Home, the company has also brought on digital media executive, Evan Bregman, to serve as General Manager of Streaming. Bregman will report to Tastemade's Co-Founder and CEO, Larry Fitzgibbon, and will oversee and drive the viewership and growth of Tastemade's streaming business. Prior to joining Tastemade, Bregman was VP, Head of Business Operations at Rooster Teeth, the original gaming lifestyle brand where he oversaw the strategic operation of Rooster Teeth's direct-to-consumer business, leveraging data analytics to drive efficient revenue and audience growth across all social channels, ecommerce, podcasting, Rooster Teeth's O&O apps, and their flagship membership product, FIRST.
"I'm proud to join Tastemade at an incredibly exciting time as we double down on the growth of our streaming business and launch our fourth US streaming channel," stated Bregman. "The places we call 'home' are more important than ever. Whether you rent or own, buy brand new furniture or do your own reupholstering, home is a key place to show off your taste. Recently, we've seen an +80% year over year increase in views and engagement on our Tastemade Home social channels, we know there is a huge opportunity for a new kind of long-form storytelling in the Home & Design space, and we are thrilled to bring our viewers this new channel dedicated to the informative, fun, and inspiring programming that Tastemade is known for."
Content on Tastemade's Home & Design social channels, which were launched in October 2017, is deeply engaging and saw more than 55 million engagements over the last year as well as an average of 20 million minutes watched per month, demonstrating why this new channel is a natural extension.
Visual assets are available HERE.
Tastemade is a modern media company that engages a global audience of more than 300 million monthly viewers on all major digital, mobile, and streaming television platforms, garnering 700 million minutes watched each month. We create award-winning video content and original programming in the categories of Food, Travel, and Home & Design that we share with an engaged, passionate, and global community. Tastemade has been recognized with more than 65 awards including three Emmy Awards, three James Beard Awards, numerous Webby Awards, and has been twice recognized as one of Fast Company's "Most Innovative Companies." For more information, visit Tastemade at: www.tastemade.com.
Tastemade on Facebook | Instagram | YouTube | Twitter | Pinterest | TikTok
CONTACT:
Emma Garth
Tastemade
emma.garth@tastemade.com
(585) 319-6004
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SOURCE Tastemade | https://www.ktre.com/prnewswire/2022/10/20/tastemade-launches-home-streaming-channel-now-available-amazon-freevee-tubi-sling-tv/ | 2022-10-20T16:57:42 | en | 0.941517 |
AIIMS Delhi introduces SOPs to streamline medical facilities for MPs; draws flak from doctors' associations
- Country:
- India
With a view to streamline treatment facilities for MPs, AIIMS Delhi has come up with a set of standard operating procedures (SOPs) that include providing a nodal officer to coordinate and facilitate medical care arrangements.
The move has, however, drawn sharp criticism from a section of doctors who have called out the ''VIP culture'' at the premier health institute.
In a recent letter to Y M Kandpal, joint secretary at the Lok Sabha Secretariat, AIIMS Director M Srinivas listed the SOPs for outpatient department (OPD), emergency consultation and in-patient hospitalisation of members of both Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha.
In his letter, Srinivas has said duty officers from the department of hospital administration will be available at the AIIMS control room round-the-clock to coordinate and facilitate arrangements.
The Federation of Resident Doctors Association (FORDA), however, questioned the move highlighting that the special privilege to MPs might come at the cost of ordinary patients.
It said in a tweet, ''We condemn VIP culture. No patient should suffer at the cost of another's privileges. That being said, having a protocol to streamline things should not be viewed as derogatory, provided it doesn't hamper patient care.'' Later, in another tweet, FORDA said, ''We stand for 'Janta pehle, pratinidhi baad meyn (people first, representatives later)'. Only VIP in healthcare is a sicker patient. A doctor shouldn't be made to choose.'' The AIIMS director has in his letter said the MP's staff can contact 011-26589279, 011-26593308, 011-26593574 or 9868397016 to speak to the officer on duty.
The officer, also a qualified medical professional, will in turn speak to the specialist or super-specialist doctor or the head of the department concerned to fix an appointment, the letter said.
In case of emergency, the Lok Sabha or the Rajya Sabha secretariats or the MP's staff can contact the duty officer, who will guide them to emergency services, it said.
The Federation of All India Medical Association (FAIMA) also tweeted and shared a letter to Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya appealing to him to take cognisance of the issue.
''On one side our Hon'ble @PMOIndia shri @narendramodi Ji says 'There is no #VIP Culture in #India ! But on the other hand @aiims_newdelhi Director #Dr_M_Srinivas releases an letter to promote #VIP Culture! Like past we still stand against #VIP Culture! #SayNoToVIPculture,'' it tweeted.
(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
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Now adopt animals at Delhi zoo | https://www.devdiscourse.com/article/health/2221391-aiims-delhi-introduces-sops-to-streamline-medical-facilities-for-mps-draws-flak-from-doctors-associations | 2022-10-20T16:57:43 | en | 0.92365 |
American Airlines dropping first class for more business class seats
American Airlines dropping first class for more business class seats
The airports are busier than ever, according to the Transportation Security Administration, The T. S. ***. reports that they screened *** whopping 2,494,757 passengers on October 16, the highest number since February of 2020. Ed Bastian Ceo of Delta Airlines spoke of the increase in air travel, the Reuters. After two years of delaying travel, it is clear that consumers are getting out and traveling the world. The number of travelers is likely to increase, bastian told NBC, demand has not come close to being quenched by *** hectic summer travel season. With the holidays approaching, it's safe to assume that long lines at airport T. S. ***. Security will remain long.
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American Airlines dropping first class for more business class seats
American Airlines is dropping its first class cabins and replacing them with more business class seats.The move was disclosed in a conference call with investors Thursday by Vasu Raja, the company's chief commercial officer, who said the change is in response to customer demand."The first class will not exist ... at American Airlines for the simple reason that our customers aren't buying it," he said in response to a question. "The quality of the business class seat has improved so much. And frankly, by removing we can go provide more business class seats, which is what our customers most want or are most willing to pay for."This is a developing story. Check back for updates.
American Airlines is dropping its first class cabins and replacing them with more business class seats.
The move was disclosed in a conference call with investors Thursday by Vasu Raja, the company's chief commercial officer, who said the change is in response to customer demand.
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"The first class will not exist ... at American Airlines for the simple reason that our customers aren't buying it," he said in response to a question. "The quality of the business class seat has improved so much. And frankly, by removing [first class] we can go provide more business class seats, which is what our customers most want or are most willing to pay for."
This is a developing story. Check back for updates. | https://www.4029tv.com/article/american-airlines-dropping-first-class/41722478 | 2022-10-20T16:57:45 | en | 0.969074 |
You need to enable JavaScript to run this app. | https://sportspyder.com/mlb/kansas-city-royals/articles/41193342 | 2022-10-20T16:57:47 | en | 0.738227 |
Once it is established that seized poppy straw has morphine and meconic acid no other test will be necessary to establish the guilt of an accused under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act, the Supreme Court said Thursday.
A bench of Justice B R Gavai and Justice C T Ravikumar delivered its verdict while dealing with questions, including whether it is necessary to particularise the species of the recovered contraband — poppy husk and poppy straw among others.
It noted that answers to these questions have a bearing on a number of cases under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act.
It observed that the dominant purpose of the 1985 Act was to curb the menace of trafficking of drugs and psychotropic substances and thus the interpretation which advances the purpose of the law has to be preferred rather than adopting a “pedantic and a mechanical approach”.
While referring to earlier enactments, international conventions and scientific studies, the Supreme Court observed it is well recognised that the ‘papaver somniferum L’ plant was the main source for the production of opium and studies have established that ‘papaver somniferum L’ consists of morphine and meconic acid.
“In other words, once it is established that the seized poppy straw tests positive for the contents of morphine and meconic acid, no other test would be necessary for bringing home the guilt of the accused under the provisions of Section 15 of the 1985 Act,” the bench said in its 74-page judgement.
Section 15 of the NDPS Act deals with punishment for contravention in relation to poppy straw.
The issue cropped up before the apex court while dealing with an appeal filed by the state of Himachal Pradesh challenging the November 2007 judgement of the high court which had set aside the conviction and 10 years sentence awarded by a trial court to an accused in a narcotic case.
According to the prosecution, a huge quantity of poppy husk was recovered at the instance of the accused.
In its verdict, the apex court said if the view taken by the high court is to be accepted, a person who has been found contravening the provisions of the 1985 Act and dealing with contraband material which has been found in the chemical examiner’s report to contain morphine and meconic acid, would escape the stringent provisions of the law.
“We are therefore of the considered view that the High Court was not justified in holding that, even after the chemical examiner’s report establishes that the contraband contains meconic acid and morphine, unless it was established that the same was derived from the species of ‘papaver somniferum L’, conviction under section 15 of the 1985 Act could not be sustained,” it said.
The bench referred to the legislative history prior to the coming into force of the 1985 Act and observed that since many deficiencies were found in the earlier enactments and the provisions therein were not found sufficient to deal with the problems of drug trafficking, it was found necessary to enact a new law.
It noted that after the passing of the three earlier enactments, there were tremendous developments on an international platform and a vast body of international law in the field of narcotics control had evolved through various treaties and protocols.
“The Government of India had been a party to these treaties and conventions which entailed several obligations which were not covered or were only partly covered under the old Acts. It was further noticed that the scheme of the earlier Acts was not a sufficient deterrent to meet the challenge of well-organised gangs of smugglers,” the bench said.
It noted that the penalty provided under the old Acts was also inadequate.
The bench said taking into consideration that the country had, for the last many years, been increasingly faced with the problem of drugs trafficking, which had posed serious problems to governments at the state and the Centre, it was found necessary to enact a comprehensive law.
“It is thus clear that the dominant purpose of the new enactment was to curb the menace of trafficking of drugs and psychotropic substances. Therefore, the interpretation which advances the purpose of the Act has to be preferred rather than adopting a pedantic and a mechanical approach,” it said.
The Supreme Court said there was also a development in the last century at the international level to make a combined effort in controlling and prohibiting the menace of drugs and psychotropic substances.
“In the result, we hold that, once a chemical examiner establishes that the seized poppy straw indicates a positive test for the contents of morphine and meconic acid, it is sufficient to establish that it is covered by sub-clause (a) of clause (xvii) of section 2 of the 1985 Act and no further test would be necessary for establishing that the seized material is a part of ‘papaver somniferum L’,” the bench said.
Dealing with the appeal, the apex court remanded the matter to the high court for consideration afresh in accordance with what has been held by the bench.
“We suspend the sentence till the matter is decided on merits by the high court,” it said. | https://indianexpress.com/article/india/sc-poppy-morphine-meconic-acid-8221639/ | 2022-10-20T16:57:48 | en | 0.971336 |
GRAND RAPIDS, Mich., Oct. 20, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- The children are back in school for the year, but they may not know their teachers spent time learning in those same classrooms over the summer. Educators at National Heritage Academies (NHA) schools took part in special professional development programs to learn the latest in teaching techniques. Equipping teacher growth isn't just an obligation for NHA, it's an opportunity.
Education boards in each state mandate the number of hours teachers must spend learning throughout the year, and Sarah Vogel, NHA's Manager of Curriculum and Instruction Operation and Assessment is proud to say NHA does more than most to promote teacher learning. She has seen first-hand how the ratio of supports to teachers makes a difference in enabling more robust coaching and learning opportunities for educators.
"Being a teacher is the hardest job you could ever do," Vogel said. "So, let's give them all the tools that they'll need to be successful. We also want to ensure that they're utilizing the tools in ways that are the most efficient and gain the most student outcomes."
Nicole Franzese is one of those teachers. Franzese is a Language Arts Teacher at Endeavor Charter Academy in Springfield, Mich., and is in her eighth year with NHA.
"I think being able to give those teachers real-life tips, it's important," Franzese said. "We're all in this together. One of the best parts is that you're being taught by actual educators and not people who haven't been in the classroom for 20 years."
Franzese recalled a PD session she attended four years ago that focused on Mindfulness. It opened her eyes to the many challenges children face today.
"I learned a lot about how to teach kids the language of their own brain," she said. "It's scary what trauma can do to a growing, not fully developed child. Having that taught to me and then being taught how to help kids was honestly life changing."
Focusing on teachers will continue to be a priority for NHA schools, Vogel said, because the work they do is so important to so many children.
"They are the most important employees in this organization, the ones in the school building," Vogel said. "So, whatever we can do to ensure they're good teachers, and then retain these good teachers, that's what we try to do."
National Heritage Academies (NHA) is a network of 98 tuition-free, public charter schools across nine states, serving more than 60,000 students in kindergarten through 12th grade. For more information, visit nhaschools.com.
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SOURCE National Heritage Academies | https://www.ktre.com/prnewswire/2022/10/20/teaching-teachers-summer-learning-helps-educators-succeed-classroom/ | 2022-10-20T16:57:48 | en | 0.97522 |
Mumbai logs 147 new COVID-19 cases, zero death; active tally at 1,037
- Country:
- India
Mumbai on Thursday reported 147 new coronavirus cases, but no fresh death linked to the infection was recorded in the metropolis, the local civic body said.
With this, the overall tally of COVID-19 cases rose to 11,52,992, while the death toll remained unchanged at 19,738, said the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) in a bulletin. On Wednesday, Mumbai had logged 128 new COVID-19 cases, but zero fatalities.
As per the bulletin, the new COVID-19 cases were detected after 5,122 tests were conducted in the last 24 hours, taking their cumulative count to 1,84,12,571.
A day ago, 6,108 COVID-19 tests were conducted in the city.
Mumbai's tally of recuperated cases rose to 11,32,217 after 179 patients recovered from the respiratory illness, said the bulletin.
The city has a coronavirus recovery rate of 98.2 per cent and is now left with 1,037 active cases, it said.
Of the 147 new COVID-19 cases, only 8 patients were symptomatic, according to the BMC.
The growth rate of COVID-19 cases in the city was 0.014 per cent between October 13 and October 19, while the case doubling rate stood at 4,968 days, it added.
(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
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- Mumbai
- Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation | https://www.devdiscourse.com/article/health/2221417-mumbai-logs-147-new-covid-19-cases-zero-death-active-tally-at-1037 | 2022-10-20T16:57:51 | en | 0.957783 |
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“Straight trees are always cut first,” said senior bureaucrat Ashok Khemka while reacting to appointments of some of his batchmates as secretaries in different Central government departments.
Khemka, an Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer of the 1991 batch, is currently serving as Principal Secretary (Additional Secretary level) in his cadre state Haryana.
The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet on Wednesday approved the appointment of 16 senior bureaucrats, including his batchmates, as secretaries in various Central government departments.
“Congratulations to my batchmates newly appointed as Secretaries to GOI! While this is an occasion for merry, it brings an equal measure of despondency for one’s own self having been left behind. Straight trees are always cut first. No regrets. With renewed resolve, I shall persist,” Khemka tweeted.
Congratulations to my batchmates newly appointed as Secretaries to GOI! While this is an occasion for merry, it brings equal measure of despondency for one’s own self having been left behind.
Straight trees are always cut first. No regrets. With renewed resolve, I shall persist.— Ashok Khemka (@AshokKhemka_IAS) October 19, 2022
Manoj Govil, a 1991-batch IAS officer of the Madhya Pradesh cadre, has been appointed as Secretary in the Ministry of Corporate Affairs.
Khemka’s another batchmate Shailesh Kumar Singh from the Jharkhand cadre has been named as Rural Development Secretary in Wednesday’s reshuffle.
Similarly, Sudhansh Pant (also a 1991 batch IAS officer of Rajasthan cadre) has been appointed as Secretary in the Ministry of Ports, Shipping and Waterways after incumbent Sanjeev Ranjan superannuates on January 31, 2023.
There are also some other officers of the 1991 batch who have been appointed as secretaries in central government departments. | https://indianexpress.com/article/india/straight-trees-always-cut-first-ashok-khemka-appointment-batchmates-secretaries-8221637/ | 2022-10-20T16:57:54 | en | 0.971493 |
PALO ALTO, Calif., Oct. 20, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Varian, a Siemens Healthineers company, is highlighting its portfolio of intelligent, end-to-end imaging and cancer care technologies and services during the 2022 American Society for Radiation Oncology (ASTRO) annual meeting taking place from October 23-26 in San Antonio, Texas.
The combined company addresses the full cancer care continuum, and is working to create an oncology ecosystem to support care providers along the entire cancer care journey – from screening to survivorship. The innovative products, technologies, and clinical research Varian will feature during this year's show reflect the company's evolution into a comprehensive cancer care company and commitment to helping care providers make more informed decisions at every point of the cancer care journey.
"As a Siemens Healthineers company, Varian's perspective of the patient journey and our vision for the future – including what we can achieve on behalf of patients – has expanded," said Chris Toth, Varian's CEO. "The advancements we are sharing at ASTRO demonstrate this expansive view and how we are bringing the power of our perspective to the fight against cancer, with a more comprehensive, integrated, streamlined, and smarter approach."
These key advancements include:
- Connected Imaging: As a Siemens Healthineers company, Varian is enabling greater personalization of cancer care through multimodality imaging and connecting oncology teams with advanced imaging capabilities inside and outside the treatment vault. The company is positioned to develop a comprehensive portfolio of imaging technologies, from PET/CT, CT simulation, and MRI, to software optimized to support radiotherapy processes. In particular, Varian will be unveiling the newest innovations around imaging versatility and precision without compromise.
To validate improvements in clinical efficiency and provide useful guidance and insight from the user perspective, Varian has established the Intelligent Imaging Consortium. James Robar, PhD, FCCPM, Chief of Physics at Nova Scotia Health, who is serving as head of the Intelligent Imaging Consortium, stated, "We are excited about the possibilities new innovations inside the treatment room present. We look forward to further testing the clinical performance and are energized by some of the early data we are seeing on accuracy."
- Advanced Oncology Solutions (AOS): Cancer care is evolving at a rapid pace, and providers face numerous challenges, from technological complexity to a shortage of skilled personnel. In recent months, Varian has brought together many of its diverse service and partnership programs, and is introducing the new positioning of the AOS portfolio. Varian's AOS organization supports customers with technology and services that address their most pressing challenges as they strive to optimize their operations. AOS offers tailored engagements—large and small, time-limited and long-term—that harness the power of technology and combine it with professional support by world-class experts with diverse clinical and operational experience. These teams help each cancer center realize its unique goals for expanding, upgrading, or standardizing operations while implementing global best practices in cancer care.
For example, AC Health, an Ayala Company, has entered into a multi-year Advanced Oncology Solutions partnership to establish the first dedicated specialty cancer hospital in the Philippines. Through long-term clinical and operational guidance from AOS and Siemens Healthineers, the hospital will focus on delivering comprehensive cancer care with innovative medical technology, clinical care services, digital healthcare solutions, tech-enabled solutions, and more.
- Clinical Research: Varian is committed to investing in evidence-based medicine to improve patient outcomes and has approximately 100 clinical research projects planned or underway across imaging, radiotherapy, and interventional therapy. These include both Varian-sponsored and investigator-initiated studies focused on daily online adaptive radiotherapy using the Ethos™ system as well as Varian-sponsored clinical trials evaluating Flash therapy (ultra-high dose-rate radiation therapy). Results from FAST-01 (FeAsibility Study of Flash therapy for the Treatment of Symptomatic Bone Metastases), the first-in-human clinical trial of Flash therapy, has been designated by ASTRO as a top-scoring abstract and will be presented on Sunday, October 23, in a Science Highlights session beginning at 9:30 a.m. Central Time in the Stars at Night Ballroom of the Henry B. Gonzalez Convention Center.
- Improving Interoperability: To provide clinicians with greater flexibility and empower them to maximize the value of their systems, Varian is introducing 3cosystem, an expanded third party program committed to more seamless integration of teams, processes, and technologies within mixed product environments. This program aims to establish a new industry standard for dependability and collaboration, to address the unique needs of customers and their patients.
"We look forward to continuing to work with our customers to find opportunities to drive innovation across the cancer care continuum and accelerate the path to survivorship for patients," Toth added.
For the sixth year in a row, Varian achieved the top ratings for Best Customer Satisfaction, Best System Performance, and Best Service in Radiation Oncology in the 2022 IMV ServiceTrak™ report on industry leaders in diagnostic imaging equipment in the United States.
The company will provide one-on-one product demonstrations as well as host a hybrid Users Meeting event the day before the Annual Meeting officially begins. Varian is also this year's sponsor of the ARRO seminar, ASTRO's resident program, and will host the 2nd annual ARRO Quiz Bowl. In addition, Varian will have a presence at the American Society of Radiologic Technologists (ASRT) and Society of Radiation Oncology Administrators (SROA) concurrent meetings.
About Varian
At Varian, a Siemens Healthineers company, we envision a world without fear of cancer. For more than 70 years, we have developed, built and delivered innovative cancer care technologies and solutions for our clinical partners around the globe to help them treat millions of patients each year. With an Intelligent Cancer Care approach, we are harnessing advanced technologies like artificial intelligence, machine learning and data analytics to enhance cancer treatment and expand access to care. Our 11,000 employees across 70 locations keep the patient and our clinical partners at the center of our thinking as we power new victories in cancer care. Because, for cancer patients everywhere, their fight is our fight. For more information, visit http://www.varian.com and follow @VarianMedSys on Twitter.
Press Contact
Katie Villany
Varian Corporate Communications
Katie.villany@varian.com
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SOURCE Varian | https://www.ktre.com/prnewswire/2022/10/20/together-with-siemens-healthineers-varian-showcases-technologies-services-spanning-full-cancer-care-continuum-astro-2022/ | 2022-10-20T16:57:55 | en | 0.928921 |
President Biden seeks symbol of rebuilding at Pittsburgh bridge that collapsed
The Fern Hollow Bridge in Pittsburgh became a symbol of the country's troubled infrastructure, collapsing into a ravine earlier this year just before President Joe Biden visited the city.
Biden detoured to survey the scene, where vehicles were stranded on shards of the roadway and several people were injured, and he pledged that help was on the way.
The Democratic president hopes to turn the bridge into a symbol of success for his administration when he returns to Pittsburgh on Thursday, less than three weeks before the midterm elections.
A new span is being built, and it could be finished by December. The White House is crediting the bipartisan infrastructure law championed by Biden for the accelerated timeline.
The legislation is one of Biden's most notable successes from the first two years of his term, and he repeatedly emphasizes its impact while traveling the country to roadways, airplane terminals and seaports. Out of roughly $1 trillion in spending, about $40 billion is dedicated to bridges.
Video above: Bus lifted out of Pittsburgh bridge collapse wreckage
John Fetterman, the Democrat running for the U.S. Senate in Pennsylvania, is expected to be on hand when Biden visits the bridge.
Afterward, Biden plans to stop in Philadelphia for a fundraiser with Fetterman, trying to replenish coffers that have been drained in one of the year's most expensive races.
Fetterman is competing with Dr. Mehmet Oz, a Republican, for an open seat being vacated by Sen. Pat Toomey, also a Republican. If Fetterman wins, Democrats will have a much better shot at maintaining control of the Senate.
Biden was born in Pennsylvania, and the state remains central to his political identity.
His trip on Thursday will be his 14th to the state since taking office. A 15th trip has already been scheduled for next week, when he's expected to return to Philadelphia for another political event.
Video above: Bus driver talks about bridge collapse | https://www.4029tv.com/article/biden-infrastructure-pittsburgh-fern-hollow-bridge-visit/41722850 | 2022-10-20T16:57:55 | en | 0.975747 |
Some countries may see another wave of COVID-19 infection due to XBB subvariant, says WHO chief scientist
Chief scientist at the World Health Organization WHO, Dr Soumya Swaminathan, on Thursday said some countries may see another wave of infections with the XBB subvariant of Omicron, a variant of COVID-19 virus.Talking to reporters on the sidelines of the annual general meeting of the Developing Countries Vaccine Manufacturers Network DCVMN here, she clarified that as of now, there was no data from any country to suggest that these new variants are clinically more severe.There are over 300 subvariants of Omicron.
- Country:
- India
Chief scientist at the World Health Organization (WHO), Dr Soumya Swaminathan, on Thursday said some countries may see ''another wave of infections'' with the XBB subvariant of Omicron, a variant of COVID-19 virus.
Talking to reporters on the sidelines of the annual general meeting of the Developing Countries Vaccine Manufacturers Network (DCVMN) here, she clarified that as of now, there was no data from any country to suggest that these new variants are clinically more severe.
''There are over 300 subvariants of Omicron. I think the one that is concerning right now is XBB, which is a recombinant virus. We had seen some recombinant viruses earlier. It is very immune-evasive, which means it can overcome the antibodies. So slightly that we may see another wave of infections in some countries because of XBB,'' she said.
Swaminathan said they are also tracking derivatives of BA.5 and BA.1, which are also more transmissible and immune-evasive. As the virus evolves, it is going to evolve more and more transmissible, she said.
''As of now, there is no data from any country to suggest these new subvariants are more clinically severe,'' she clarified.
Suggesting the measures that need to be taken, Dr Swaminathan said monitoring and tracking are the key steps.
''We need to continue to monitor and track. We have seen that testing has gone down across countries, the genomic surveillance has also gone down over the last few months. We need to maintain at least a strategic sampling of genomic surveillance so that we can keep tracking the variants as we have been doing and studying,'' she said.
According to her, the Director General of the WHO has said that COVID-19 continues to be a public health emergency of international concern. She added that 8,000 to 9,000 deaths are being reported every week worldwide due to the infection. ''So we have not said that the pandemic is over, which means that all precautions and tools continued to be used. Good thing is that we have now many tools and the most important thing is vaccines,'' Dr Swaminathan said.
''As far as vaccine coverage is concerned, our goals are 100 per cent of people over the age of 60 and 100 per cent of health care and frontline workers. Then we have a goal of achieving 70 per cent of the country, but subgroups are more important because they are most likely to face morbidity and mortality,'' she said.
She said that a number of deaths from elderly groups were seen when Omicron spread as they were not fully vaccinated. ''The full vaccination schedule is actually three doses. The primary two doses plus booster in the next four to six months. But in many countries, including India, the uptake of the booster is low. So we really encourage people to take the third dose,'' she said.
She advised continuing to use masks for protection from infection.
''While vaccines are still protecting us from severe disease and hospitalization, the risk of long COVID conditions seems to increase with each infection. So it is not benign. We should not be too casual by saying that it is okay to get the infection.
''Many people just think that it is just like the flu or any other respiratory infection, but more and more data is coming out on how COVID is affecting all organ systems and not just the respiratory route. It also affects the cardiovascular system and the inflammatory environment. So we have seen the risk of diabetes doubling, we have seen the risk of heart attacks...and other neurocognitive problems,'' Dr Swaminathan added.
(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) | https://www.devdiscourse.com/article/health/2221427-some-countries-may-see-another-wave-of-covid-19-infection-due-to-xbb-subvariant-says-who-chief-scientist | 2022-10-20T16:57:59 | en | 0.969964 |
Bhutan is all set to host the fifth edition of the Royal Highland Festival in Laya on October 23 and 24 this year. According to the official website, highland communities from 10 dzongkhags (districts) of Bhutan will participate in the festival “to showcase their unique culture and tradition”.
One of the most sought-after events of the Royal Highland Festival, the famous 25-kilometre cross-country Laya Run from Ponjothang (Gasa) to Langothang (festival ground, Laya) will be held on October 23. Participants can opt to trek through stunning mountain trails or be dropped on location by helicopter, gasa.gov.bt stated. “Please be informed that all expenditures have to be borne by the concerned individual/party including food and accommodation throughout the festival. This also applies to all the runners participating in Laya Run,” it added.
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Among other things at the festival, visitors can witness the traditional offering of Buelwa with Auley, which is a traditional epic poem/song recitation tradition. The latter began during the reign of Zhabdrung Rinpoche and displays loyalty and respect by the community of Laya towards the monarchs.
One can also enjoy a variety of cultural programs performed by the Layaps and witness the competitions of traditional songs and dances. “The various competitions on highland animals including the yaks, horses and mastiffs will be held,” the official website said.
The festival also consists of a series of stalls which will feature local yak produce, highland technology, highland agriculture, medicinal herbs, plants and other things.
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The Royal Highland Festival was first introduced on October 16, 2016, “to mark the celebration of the birth of HRH the Gyalsey; 400 years of Shabdrung Rimpoche and the Rabjung (60 years cycle) birth year of Guru Rimpoche”. Per the website, it shares the beauty and the wonders of Gasa Dzongkhag through its nature, history, and its age-old tradition and culture.
It aims to share Gasa’s vision of ‘Good to Great Gasa’ and the authenticity and simplicity of the life of the highlanders with the visitors.
📣 For more lifestyle news, follow us on Instagram | Twitter | Facebook and don’t miss out on the latest updates! | https://indianexpress.com/article/lifestyle/destination-of-the-week/bhutan-royal-highland-festival-october-23-24-showcase-wonders-of-gasa-dzongkhag-8220370/ | 2022-10-20T16:58:00 | en | 0.932376 |
CANTON, Ohio, Oct. 20, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- According to Top Echelon Network, an elite network of highly specialized search firms, the recruiting profession is having another stellar year.
Fueled by low unemployment and the "Great Resignation", professional recruiters and search consultants enjoyed a robust year in 2021. However, there has been no decline in 2022. In fact, judging by data collected by Top Echelon Network, business has increased this year. According to Top Echelon, recruiters have billed roughly $2 million more through the Network during the first nine months of the year than during the same timeframe in 2021.
Top Echelon is a split placement network in which two recruiters share the search responsibilities on an assignment and ultimately share the placement fee. The average fee for placements made in Top Echelon Network is roughly $20,000. That means through the first nine months of the year, Network recruiters have made approximately 100 more placements in Top Echelon than they did in 2021.
"This has been a good year for Network recruiters and for the profession in general," said Drea Codispoti, Top Echelon Director of Network Operations. "Employers are still hiring, and because qualified candidates are in short supply within many industries, they're still willing to enlist the services of a professional recruiter to identify and hire the right candidates."
Top Echelon allows members of its Network to share information with each other in a blinded fashion, thereby enabling them to leverage each other's resources for the purpose of making split placements. The Network offers software that helps its members accomplish this. Top Echelon's software includes the Network Candidates sourcing tool, which is an integration module that operates between members of Top Echelon's recruiting network and users of its applicant tracking system and CRM for recruiters.
There are more than 6 million recruited candidates in the Network Candidates sourcing tool. It's just one of several software tools that Top Echelon offers to its Network members to help them make more split placements. At present, over 550 recruiting agencies and more than 1,000 individual recruiters in the United States and Canada are members of Top Echelon Network.
ABOUT TOP ECHELON SOFTWARE: Founded in 1988 in Canton, Ohio, Top Echelon's mission statement is "To help the world work by providing innovative recruiting and hiring software that transforms the employment marketplace. Visit www.topechelon.com for more information!
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SOURCE Top Echelon Software | https://www.ktre.com/prnewswire/2022/10/20/top-echelon-network-recruiting-profession-even-healthier-than-2021/ | 2022-10-20T16:58:01 | en | 0.958745 |
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A cooler than normal winter is forecast for a dozen states amid rising energy costs
A dozen states could see cooler than normal temperatures this winter, according to NOAA's outlook released Thursday morning. That could mean an increase in energy consumption across the northern tier of the U.S. -- amid rising energy costs.
"It takes energy to heat your house," Andrew Dessler, a professor of atmospheric sciences at Texas A&M University who was not affiliated with NOAA's outlook, told CNN. "So, the colder it is, the more energy we need for heating. And that's bad news in a world where energy is constrained by things like the war in Ukraine."
People from Oregon to Michigan may be feeling the pinch when they get their energy bills as temperatures are expected to be below normal during what is already the coldest part of the year.
"Putin has shut off Russian gas for Europe but they still need gas," Dessler told CNN. "So they're going to buy U.S. gas. That's going to drive up the price for U.S. consumers. So it's definitely bad news for U.S. consumers."
In cities including Minneapolis, Seattle, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and Portland, Oregon, where the forecast predicts below normal winter temperatures, the concern is how people will react to higher consumer prices.
"Since the price will go up, and it will price people out, people will hopefully turn their thermostats down, as opposed to there being shortages," said Dessler.
One area where this may be easier is the southern tier of the U.S., where temperatures are expected to be above normal. Even some of the big cities in the Northeast may catch a break. Boston, New York, Philadelphia, and Baltimore all have a 33% to 40% probability of above normal temperatures this winter.
The forecast also calls for drought-stricken areas such as Southern California, Texas, Oklahoma and the lower Mississippi River Basin to receive below average rainfall during the winter months.
"Drought conditions are now present across approximately 59% of the country, but parts of the western U.S. and southern Great Plains will continue to be the hardest hit this winter," said Jon Gottschalck, chief of the operational prediction branch of NOAA's Climate Prediction Center. "With the La Niña climate pattern still in place, drought conditions may also expand to the Gulf Coast."
Oklahoma, Texas and Arkansas will also see an enhanced wildfire danger over the next few months.
Large-scale weather forecasts are strongly influenced by the effect of La Niña versus El Niño. Right now, La Niña is in effect. Essentially this means, "Equatorial sea surface temperatures are below average across most of the Pacific Ocean," according to the prediction center.
The prediction center put the odds at 75% that La Niña would be in place through this winter. This will be the third winter in a row where La Niña has influenced the overall weather pattern.
La Niña and the polar vortex are driving the winter forecast
This typically creates drier conditions across much of the South and wetter conditions for the Pacific Northwest and portions of the Ohio Valley. La Niña also brings warmer temperatures to much of the South and mid-Atlantic, and cooler temperatures to the Pacific Northwest and northern Rockies.
The climate prediction center is calling for a 75% chance of La Niña during the Northern Hemisphere winter (December through February).
"La Nina is an important factor, but I think whether we really have a cold or a warm winter across the U.S. is much more dependent on the state of the polar vortex," said Judah Cohen -- director of seasonal forecasting at Atmospheric and Environmental Research, a climate consultancy.
Cohen cites the recent record early snow in the Midwest as an example. "That's related to this polar vortex stretching. I think we can expect even if we have an overall strong polar vortex, I would expect we'll see these stretching events. So, we can get a very sharp turn to cold weather, but it doesn't last long."
The polar vortex is a circulation of strong, upper-level winds that normally surround the northern pole, moving in a counterclockwise direction -- a polar low-pressure system.
Cohen also points out that we are seeing more weather whiplash in the winter, as far as temperatures go.
"I think with climate change, we've actually seen an increase in variability in the wintertime. So, whether we have a mild winter or cold winter, I think we'll see kind of this ping pong or the windshield wiping effect from extreme temperatures."
But even if you live in the southern portion of the U.S. which is more likely to have an overall milder winter, there will still be short-term cold blasts that you have to plan for.
"You always have to be prepared," Dessler said. "Even without seeing the forecast, I know we have to be prepared for a cold winter, because it can happen even in a warming world." | https://www.4029tv.com/article/cooler-than-normal-winter-is-forecast-for-a-dozen-states/41723738 | 2022-10-20T16:58:05 | en | 0.956582 |
After four years, Pakistan on Friday may exit the grey list of the global watchdog on terror financing and money laundering FATF, a development that will allow it to try to get foreign funding to tide over its precarious financial situation.
Till June, Pakistan had completed most of the action items given to it 2018 by the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) and a few item which were left unfulfilled including its failure to take action against UN designated terrorists, including Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) chief Masood Azhar, Lashker-e-Taiba (LeT) founder Hafiz Saeed and his trusted aide and the group’s ‘operational commander’ Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi.
Azhar, Saeed and Lakhvi are most wanted terrorists in India for their involvement in numerous terrorist acts, including 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks and bombing of a CRPF bus at Pulwama in Jammu and Kashmir in 2019.
Pakistan was put in the inglorious list in 2018 for its failure to check risk of money laundering, leading to corruption and terror financing.
The FATF had found Pakistan’s deficiencies in its legal, financial, regulatory, investigations, prosecution, judicial and non-government sector to fight money laundering and combat terror financing considered serious threat to global financial system.
The Paris-based global watchdog on money laundering and terrorist financing had recently said that the “first FATF Plenary under the two-year Singapore Presidency of T. Raja Kumar will take place on October 20-21” in Paris.
Pakistan has made high-level political commitments to address these deficiencies under a 27-point action plan. But later the number of action points was enhanced to 34.
With Pakistan’s continuation on the grey list, it had increasingly become difficult for Islamabad to get financial aid from the IMF, the World Bank, the Asian Development Bank (ADB) and the European Union, thus further enhancing problems for the cash-strapped country.
Pakistan needed 12 votes out of 39 to exit the grey list and move to white list. To avoid black list, it needed support of three countries. China, Turkey and Malaysia are its consistent supporters.
Pakistan was placed on the grey list by the FATF in June, 2018 and was given a plan of action to complete it by October, 2019. Since then the country continues to be in that list due to its failure to comply with the FATF mandates.
The FATF is an inter-governmental body established in 1989 to combat money laundering, terrorist financing and other related threats to the integrity of the international financial system.
The FATF currently has 39 members including two regional organisations — the European Commission and Gulf Cooperation Council.
India is a member of the FATF consultations and its Asia Pacific Group. | https://indianexpress.com/article/pakistan/pakistan-may-exit-fatfs-grey-list-friday-8221678/ | 2022-10-20T16:58:06 | en | 0.960825 |
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Covid: 118 new cases in Delhi
There are 49 containment zones in Delhi.The number of daily cases in Delhi touched a record high of 28,867 on January 13 during the third wave of the pandemic.The city recorded a positivity rate of 30.6 per cent on January 14, the highest during the third wave.
- Country:
- India
Delhi recorded 118 fresh Covid cases with a positivity rate of 1.77 per cent on Thursday, according to data shared by the health department. No Covid-related fatality was reported in the city.
With these new cases, the capital's infection tally has climbed to 20,05,329 while the death toll stands at 26,506, the department said in its latest bulletin.
The new cases were detected from 6,652 tests conducted the previous day, it said.
Meanwhile, the Delhi government on Thursday issued an order withdrawing the Rs 500 fine for not wearing masks in public places in the national capital.
The Delhi Disaster Management Authority (DDMA) had in a meeting last month decided to stop levying the penalty after September 30, amid a decline in Covid cases.
Experts said that people, especially those in the vulnerable category like pregnant women and the elderly, should continue to wear masks in crowded areas.
Doctors at leading government and private hospitals in the city concurred that people should exercise ''extra caution'' because though cases in Delhi are on the lower side, a new variant of the coronavirus is being reported which is very transmissible.
Delhi recorded 107 Covid cases with a positivity rate of 1.64 per cent on Wednesday.
On Tuesday, the national capital had logged 141 new cases with a positivity rate of 2.04 per cent, while 61 cases with a positivity rate of 3.61 per cent was reported on Monday.
On Sunday, the city recorded 115 cases with a positivity rate of 1.59 per cent. and on Saturday, 135 cases were reported with a positivity rate of 2.12 per cent.
The number of active Covid cases in Delhi now stands at 476, the bulletin stated, adding that 317 patients are under home-isolation.
Of the 8,819 beds reserved for Covid patients in various city hospitals, 51 are occupied, it said. There are 49 containment zones in Delhi.
The number of daily cases in Delhi touched a record high of 28,867 on January 13 during the third wave of the pandemic.
The city recorded a positivity rate of 30.6 per cent on January 14, the highest during the third wave.
(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
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Pfizer COVID vaccine clears Japan panel for use with young children | https://www.devdiscourse.com/article/health/2221455-covid-118-new-cases-in-delhi | 2022-10-20T16:58:06 | en | 0.955829 |
- $1 billion liquefied natural gas (LNG) and electric infrastructure project achieves commercial operations
- Represents country's largest ever private foreign direct investment
- Provides up to 30% of country's energy demand with clean, reliable electricity
CHICAGO, Oct. 20, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Invenergy, the largest privately held global developer, owner, and operator of sustainable solutions, has reached commercial operations at the Energía del Pacífico (EDP) LNG-to-power project, located at the Port of Acajutla in El Salvador. The completion of EDP is a major uplift in electric reliability and lower emissions through natural gas supply to the Central American region. The project represents the country's largest ever private foreign direct investment and is providing clean and reliable power to meet up to 30% of El Salvador's energy demand.
By shifting a significant amount of power supply to natural gas, EDP reduces El Salvador's reliance on diesel and heavy fuel oil-fired power generation, offsetting 600,000 tons of carbon dioxide emissions per year, and provides grid support to facilitate more renewable energy penetration, further diversifying the country's energy mix.
The commercial operations milestone for the state-of-the-art, historic energy infrastructure project was achieved in the spring of 2022, despite significant obstacles as a result of the worst global pandemic in modern history. These challenges included supply-chain disruptions, travel restrictions, airport closures, and global financial volatility. Despite these unprecedented circumstances, EDP maintained the highest standard of COVID-19 health and safety protocols during construction to deliver the project.
The project is comprised of a 380-megawatt (MW) natural gas-fired power plant, a permanently moored floating storage regasification unit (FSRU), a 1.8-km subsea pipeline that connects the power plant to the FSRU, and two 230-kV electric transmission lines, one of which connects to the Central American Electrical Interconnection System, providing added grid reliability to the region and opening further opportunities for renewable energy in El Salvador.
The more than $1 billion transformative infrastructure project, the largest-ever private investment in El Salvador, was financed by leading global financial institutions U.S. International Development Finance Corporation, International Finance Corporation, IDB Invest, Finnish Export Credit Ltd and KfW IPEX-Bank. The project, which commenced building in early 2020, employed over 2,000 construction workers and its operations employ 80 people today. EDP has long-term contracts with seven local electric distribution companies under power purchase agreements.
"EDP marks a step change in the clean energy transition in Central America and for our work as innovators building a sustainable world. Bringing our landmark Energia del Pacifico project online during the pandemic is nothing short of remarkable and is a testament to Invenergy's expertise and perseverance and remains a shining example of the opportunities that can be created when private initiatives have strong local government support." said Michael Polsky, Invenergy Founder and Chief Executive Officer. "I am proud of Invenergy's leadership in delivering a clean energy future for El Salvador."
Invenergy served as lead developer of the EDP project with the support of El Salvador-based partners Grupo Calleja, VC Energy de Centroamerica and Quantum Energy. To construct the project, Invenergy worked with a consortium of global project partners including BW LNG, BW Offshore, SAAM Towage, Boskalis, Wärtsilä, Elecnor, and Shell.
The project's construction and commercialization are already strengthening the Salvadoran economy. EDP supports local Acajutla communities through investments of $500,000 per year in economic and social development projects. Multiple social impact projects have already been completed, including the remodeling of schools and community centers, paving central roadways, electrification of homes and businesses, and infrastructure improvements, such as a new sewage and wastewater treatment plant. EDP is also committed to the environment and biodiversity in the region and helped create 150 artificial reefs, hosts educational workshops to promote the conservation of local ecosystems, supports local fishing cooperatives, among other environmental initiatives.
Invenergy drives innovation in energy. Invenergy and its affiliated companies develop, own, and operate large-scale renewable and other clean energy generation and storage facilities in the Americas, Europe and Asia. Invenergy's home office is located in Chicago, and it has regional development offices in the United States, Canada, Mexico, Spain, Japan, Poland, and Scotland.
Invenergy and its affiliated companies have successfully developed more than 30,000 megawatts of projects that are in operation, construction or contracted, including wind, solar, transmission infrastructure and natural gas power generation and advanced energy storage projects. Learn about Invenergy at Invenergy.com.
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SOURCE Invenergy | https://www.ktre.com/prnewswire/2022/10/20/transformative-lng-to-power-project-lights-up-el-salvador-accelerates-regions-energy-transition/ | 2022-10-20T16:58:08 | en | 0.928702 |
IN A boost to the BSP, which is trying to woo back Muslims to the party, Western Uttar Pradesh leader Imran Masood on Wednesday joined it from the Samajwadi Party. BSP supremo Mayawati immediately appointed Masood the coordinator of the west UP region, where he is a prominent voice among Muslims, signalling his importance.
Wooing the Muslim vote has been on the mind of all of the state’s major political players ever since the SP got significant support from the community in the UP elections early this year. The BJP’s Pasmanda conference Sunday and the Congress’s appointment of old BSP hand and key Muslim face Nasimuddin Siddiqui as the party’s regional president of western UP earlier this month can be seen in the same context.
In the bypoll held in Azamgarh this June, BSP candidate Shah Alam alias Guddy Jamali finished third with over 2.66 lakh votes, a significant chunk of them Muslim votes. Since then, the BSP has been quoting the results to say that the community was aligning with the party owing to its disappointment with the SP, which failed to defeat the BJP even after getting votes of the minority community. With Masood in their fold now, the BSP is looking to cash in his popularity in Western UP in a similar manner.
Masood, the nephew of former MP Rasheed Masood, won his first election in 2007 as an Independent from the Muzaffarabad Assembly constituency. In 2012, the Congress picked him as a youth face in Rahul Gandhi’s team. In 2012 and 2017, he contested from the Nakur Assembly seat in Saharanpur but lost narrowly.
Masood was at the centre of controversy ahead of the 2014 Lok Sabha polls, when a video clip of him threatening Narendra Modi, then the PM candidate of the BJP, and blaming the BJP and the RSS for the 2013 Muzzafarnagar riots had surfaced. A case was registered against him for hate speech. In the Lok Sabha polls that followed, Masood lost to a BJP candidate.
Despite electoral losses, he was able to retain his popularity among Muslim youth.
Just ahead of the Assembly polls this year, Masood switched over to the SP. However, as per him, his short tenure with the Akhilesh Yadav-led party left him “disappointed”.
A day after joining the BSP, Masood told The Indian Express: “Muslims voted for the SP in a one-sided manner and the desired result (of forming the government) was not achieved. If these votes (of Muslims) had gone to the BSP, it would have formed the government.”
He added: “I joined the SP with the hope that the party will provide justice to the Muslim community. But the SP’s working style shows that the party could not ensure justice to our community and other oppressed and Backward sections.”
Masood’s exit from the SP incidentally comes on the heels of Akhilesh facing accusations of maintaining silence on alleged harassment of Muslims under the BJP state government. In August, when Akhilesh met jailed party MLA Ramakant Yadav at the Azamgarh district jail, Mayawati questioned “why he does not visit the jailed Muslim leaders of his party”.
Masood said he believed that the Muslims and Dalits would come together under the BSP. “They will support the BSP to bring change in UP. People trust only the BSP. The state’s political history shows that whenever the SP got strength, the BJP became stronger. And, when the BSP became powerful, the BJP became weak.”
Masood said the coming urban local body elections, considered an indication of where various parties stand ahead of the 2024 polls, will be the next big challenge for the party and that he would work to ensure the BSP’s win.
In this year’s Assembly polls, the BSP field the maximum number of Muslim candidates – 88 – across the 403 Assembly seats. The SP and its alliance partners had 61 candidates from the community, out of which 33 candidates won. None of the BSP’s Muslim contenders won, with the party itself getting a single seat. | https://indianexpress.com/article/political-pulse/new-bsp-leader-imran-masood-says-their-eye-on-uniting-muslim-dalit-numbers-8221684/ | 2022-10-20T16:58:12 | en | 0.975681 |
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Carolina continues to expand its online graduate education offerings with partner 2U, Inc.
CHAPEL HILL, N.C. and LANHAM, Md., Oct. 20, 2022 /PRNewswire/ --The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and 2U (Nasdaq: TWOU), the parent company of leading global online learning platform edX, have partnered to create a new online master's degree in applied data science available through Carolina's new School of Data Science and Society. This is Carolina's fifth degree program developed with 2U, the university's exclusive online program partner.
"Our mission is to create the best possible higher education opportunities for Carolina students and learners around the world, and this new offering in the fast-growing and cross-industry field of data science will enable us to meet both student and industry demand in a powerful and highly accessible way," said Stanley C. Ahalt, dean of UNC-Chapel Hill's School of Data Science and Society. "Creating high-quality, dynamic learning programs that deliver great outcomes for students takes skill and deep expertise, and we're confident that our continued partnership with 2U will help us build a truly world-class experience for the next generation of data scientists."
The new degree program features an industry-aligned curriculum that gives graduates the in-demand skills needed to succeed in one of the fastest growing professions in the U.S. "Data scientist" was listed at number three among the 50 best occupations in the U.S., according to Glassdoor's list of the best jobs for 2022, with over 10,000 job openings in 2022 so far and a median base salary of $120,000. As more tech companies move into North Carolina, the state has also seen an influx of data science career opportunities – according to Burning Glass Labor Statistics, more than 98,000 data science-related jobs have been posted in the region in the past six months alone.
"UNC-Chapel Hill's new online Master in Applied Data Science underscores our shared commitment to co-creating high-quality online programs that equip learners in North Carolina and beyond with the skills and education needed to build meaningful careers in an in-demand field," said Andrew Hermalyn, 2U's President of Partnerships. "Throughout our 12-year partnership we've shown that, when done well, online learning can yield transformational academic and career outcomes, and that work continues with this new offering."
Carolina's partnership with 2U includes a variety of online graduate degree and boot camp programs available through the Kenan-Flagler Business School; Gillings School of Global Public Health; School of Government; and Digital and Lifelong Learning. With the launch of the new degree program, Carolina continues its commitment to digital, flexible and lifelong learning for students.
Pending approval, the new online degree program is expected to accept applications for admission in March 2023, with courses beginning September 2023. To learn more about all of Carolina's online offerings, visit 2u.com/partners/unc.
About the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill:
The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, the nation's first public university, is a global higher education leader known for innovative teaching, research and public service. A member of the prestigious Association of American Universities, Carolina regularly ranks as the best value for academic quality in U.S. public higher education. Now in its third century, the University offers 77 bachelor's, 112 master's, 66 doctorate and seven professional degree programs through 15 schools, including the College of Arts & Sciences. Every day, faculty, staff and students shape their teaching, research and public service to meet North Carolina's most pressing needs in every region and all 100 counties. Carolina's more than 356,000 alumni live in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, U.S. Territories and 161 countries. More than 188,667 live in North Carolina.
About 2U, Inc. (Nasdaq: TWOU):
For more than a decade, 2U, Inc. has been the digital transformation partner of choice to great non-profit colleges and universities delivering high-quality online education at scale. As the parent company of edX, a leading global online learning platform, 2U provides over 45 million learners with access to world-class education in partnership with more than 230 colleges, universities, and corporations. Our people and technology are powering more than 4,000 digital education offerings — from free courses to full degrees — and helping unlock human potential. To learn more: visit 2U.com.
Media Contacts
Caitlin Kanaly, 2U, Inc.
media@2u.com
Hilary Culbertson, UNC-Chapel Hill Digital and Lifelong Learning
hilary.culbertson@unc.edu
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SOURCE 2U, Inc. | https://www.ktre.com/prnewswire/2022/10/20/unc-chapel-hill-2u-partner-new-online-masters-degree-applied-data-science/ | 2022-10-20T16:58:15 | en | 0.928545 |
A nursing student rendered aid to shooting victims. Then she discovered she was also shot
A nursing student in Ohio helped keep a shooting victim alive until paramedics could reach her. Then she realized she had also been shot.
Cincinnati police responded to Reading Road near Summit Road in Roselawn in the early morning hours of Oct. 8.
Three people had been shot in a drive-by shooting. One of them, Jasmine, is a medical assistant working her way through nursing school. She asked only to be identified by her first name, fearing retaliation for her role in keeping the other victims alive.
Jasmine has been in the hospital for more than a week, recovering from surgery and anticipating a possible second surgery. She was shot in a major artery in her left arm.
"I can't feel any of my arm," she said.
Doctors told her she would need weeks of intensive rehab and may not regain feeling in her arm.
Earlier this month, she and her friends were waiting in line at a food truck after spending a night out downtown. She was talking with a woman she had never met when she watched the woman fall to the ground.
"I didn't hear any gunshots at the time. It took me a few seconds to realize what exactly just happened," Jasmine said. "I'm calling her. I'm like, 'Hey friend, friend, can you tell me who you are? Talk to me.' And she just kind of coded. So I began to do CPR on her."
Jasmine said the woman was bleeding from her head and vomiting blood.
"You're not gonna die on me. Not on my watch," Jasmine told her.
She said when a responding Cincinnati police officer arrived and started providing aid to the woman, Jasmine got her nurse kit out of her car and applied a tourniquet on a male victim who was shot in the leg.
Then she returned to the female victim.
"The police officer who's helping me turn her on her side, he looks over at me, he's like 'you're shot,'" she said. "If it wasn't for that police officer literally grabbing me and putting that tourniquet on me himself... I want to know who he was because it's -- thank you."
Jasmine, who is a mom of three, thinks her adrenaline took over, helping mask her pain and panic. She had a message for the other female victim.
"We made it out there, baby girl — like I promised you," she said through tears. "I don't know how I was able to keep that promise to you, but we made it out of there and because we made it out of there, I'm sitting here holding my daughter's hand, and I hope that you're holding your babies too."
Jasmine fears she will lose the function of her arm and be unable to do patient care in the future. She said she does not regret immediately rendering aid to the other victims.
"I don't feel like I'm a hero. I feel like I did something that anybody else would have done," she said.
Jasmine's family started a GoFundMe page to help with medical expenses during her road to recovery.
Cincinnati police have not announced any arrests in the shooting. | https://www.4029tv.com/article/ohio-nursing-student-shot-in-drive-by-shooting-renders-aid/41723901 | 2022-10-20T16:58:15 | en | 0.993076 |
Xi's narratives indicate China unlikely to embrace rapid foreign policy changes, says expert
Ever since Chinese President Xi Jinping addressed the opening event of the 20th National Congress, China analysts are looking for answers to better understand the mind of all-powerful leader who is set to enter his third term.
- Country:
- China
Ever since Chinese President Xi Jinping addressed the opening event of the 20th National Congress, China analysts are looking for answers to better understand the mind of all-powerful leader who is set to enter his third term. Regional experts say Xi will either be re-elected as general secretary of the CCP or will be newly elected as chairman of the CCP, a title that has lain dormant since 1982 and was once the highest position ever held by Mao Zedong.
The congress is taking place at one of the most perilous periods in world affairs in recent years. Also, inadequate economic performance and zero-covid policy have received flak. Writing for the Asia Times, Senior Lecturer in Chinese Studies, The University of Western Australia, Yu Tao said many foreign policy narratives in this year's report are similar or identical to those in his 2017 report. This includes key phrases such as upholding world peace, promoting common development, and working to build a community with a shared future for humankind."
"The continuity in Xi's narratives indicates China is unlikely to embrace rapid foreign policy changes in the foreseeable future. Keeping the existing foreign policy narratives may also be a deliberate choice. After all, Xi is widely expected to secure a historic third term as China's top leader, so his policies will likely stay," he said in an article first published in The Conversation. According to Yu, China President's report that he presented to the CCP members indicates China will not only look after its own security but also work on common security, primarily through the Global Security Initiative raised by Xi in April 2022.
"It will likely become China's new foreign policy framework to take on the US's Indo-Pacific Strategy, which China believes aims to contain China and attempts to make Asia-Pacific countries 'pawns' of US hegemony," he adds. On Sunday, Xi Jinping opened the ruling Communist Party's twice-a-decade National Congress. Analysts say that Xi will undoubtedly extend his term in power for another five years.
Confirmation of Xi Jinping's third term will be an ominous moment not only for China but for the world, according to Amnesty International's Deputy Regional Director Hana Young. "Confirmation of Xi Jinping's third term will be an ominous moment not only for the millions of Chinese citizens who have suffered grave human rights violations under his rule, but also for people around the world who feel the impact of the Chinese government's repression," Hana Young said in a statement on October 15.
"President Xi's decade in power has been characterized by sweeping arbitrary detentions, a ruthless nationwide crackdown on freedom of expression and association, crimes against humanity against Muslims in the Xinjiang region, and a dramatic escalation of repression in Hong Kong," she added. Further slamming China's repressive policies, Young said the government's policies and practices under Xi's leadership pose a threat to rights not just at home, but globally. (ANI)
(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
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Maharashtra voters elected you and BJP in Assembly elections, but you betrayed people by allying with Congress and NCP: Eknath Shinde to Uddhav Thackeray. | https://www.devdiscourse.com/article/international/2221414-xis-narratives-indicate-china-unlikely-to-embrace-rapid-foreign-policy-changes-says-expert | 2022-10-20T16:58:15 | en | 0.966295 |
Former champion Kidambi Srikanth bowed out of the Denmark Open Super 750 tournament after suffering a straight-game defeat to Loh Kean Yew of Singapore in the pre-quarterfinals here on Thursday.
Srikanth lost to the seventh seeded opponent 13-21 15-21 in a match that lasted 35 minutes.
Srikanth, the 2021 World Championships silver medallist, had won the title here in 2017. He had a head-to-head record of 1-1 against Yew before Thursday’s match.
In men’s doubles, Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty, seeded seventh in the tournament, advanced to the quarterfinals with a 21-14 21-16 win over Indonesia’s Muhammad Shohibul Fikri and Maulana Bagas in a 36-minute round of 16 match.
The Indian duo next faces the fourth seeded Malaysian pair of Aaron Chia and Soh Wooi Yik in the quarterfinals.
The women’s doubles duo of Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand as well as the mixed doubles pair of Ishaan Bhatnagar and Tanisha Crasto also bowed out of the tournament in the pre-quarterfinals.
While Treesa and Gayatri lost to the sixth seeded Thai pair of Jongkolphan Kititharakul 21-23 13-21, Ishaan and Tanisha suffered 16-21 10-21 defeat against second seeded Japanese duo of Yuta Watanabe and Arisa Higashino. | https://indianexpress.com/article/sports/badminton/srikanth-bows-out-of-denmark-open-in-pre-quarterfinals-8221682/ | 2022-10-20T16:58:18 | en | 0.935638 |
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- The Iconic MetaSkull collection by Jacky Tsai is a limited edition NFT collectible for Halloween 2022
PALO ALTO, Calif., Oct. 20, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- London-based contemporary artist Jacky Tsai and his fashion-forward MetaSkull Collection become the designer's first foray into the metaverse debuting in Upland, the largest open metaverse mapped to the real world. Fans of the Shanghai-born designer around the world and the Upland community will have the unique opportunity to collect and trade three different rarities of the iconic MetaSkull in the form of digital collectibles, Upland's coveted Block Explorers, and structural decor used to decorate metaverse neighborhoods in time for Halloween.
In collaboration with Froyo Games, Jacky Tsai will be launching his first NFT collection in Upland, the largest property-trading metaverse, with over 3 million registered users and the highest number of virtual property owners. Just in time for the popular season of Halloween, the Upland community will have a new opportunity to decorate their property structures with limited edition and seasonal fine art, creating a unique, immersive metaverse experience. Fans of the former Alexander McQueen designer will be introduced to a web3 experience in Upland where they can contribute and benefit from the utility of Tsai's unique NFT collection.
Tsai's dynamic art has been featured in some of the top galleries and museums globally, including Unit London and Richard Taittinger Gallery with realized prices ranging from 48,000 USD to 302,000 USD. The artist's iconic skull motifs first gained international recognition in 2008, when it was used in Alexander McQueen's Spring/Summer menswear collection.
"I am thrilled to bring the MetaSkull collection to Upland's global audience that is eager to support quality digital art. Upland's unique building landscape allows for boundless artistic growth and expression, which is key to bridging the gap between the artistic world and the ever expanding metaverse," says Jacky Tsai. "My vision for the collection is to inspire the next generation of gamers with bold and thought provoking designs."
Tsai's vision with the MetaSkull launch is to dispel the notion of fear and negative attitudes towards death amongst Chinese communities. His art often combines traditional Eastern art techniques and Western pop art references that serve as the perfect way to express this message and create truly unique art pieces that establish harmony between the cultural extremes.
"We are excited to elevate the visual aesthetic in Upland with an artist as talented as Jacky Tsai and introduce this unique MetaSkull collection to the Upland community," says Dirk Lueth, Co-Founder and Co-CEO of Upland. "With this collection, every structure in Upland will be decorated with iconic visuals as more property owners bring their personal style into the metaverse."
The Jacky Tsai MetaSkull Collection will be revealed to the Upland community on Friday, October 21. Upland is available to download for free on iOS, Android and the web, and can be played from anywhere in the world.
ABOUT UPLAND ME, Inc.
Upland (https://upland.me/) is an open web3 platform for the metaverse mapped to the real world. The company's mission is to build one of the leading and most dynamic maker-communities through a strong entrepreneur economy that allows players, creators, developers, and brands to manufacture goods and experiences, monetize assets, and provide utility and fun to other players. Headquartered in Silicon Valley with hubs in Las Vegas, Ukraine, and Brazil, Upland was named among Fast Company's "Next Big Things in Tech'' in 2021 and one of "22 San Francisco Startups To Watch in 2022" by Built In SF. Upland is committed to becoming carbon negative and is a proud partner of Carbonfuture. For more information about our sustainability commitment visit https://www.upland.me/sustainability. Upland is available on iOS, Android and the Web, and can be played from anywhere in the world.
About Jacky Tsai
Jacky Tsai is a Shanghai-born and London-based Chinese Asian Modern & Contemporary artist. Jacky Tsai basked in the limelight in 2008 when British fashion designer Alexander McQueen adopted his floral skull creation for its 2008 Spring/Summer Menswear Collection, and since then, he has used the floral skull in many of his artworks. The floral skull represents life and death, the beauty in decay, and rebirth.
Over the years, Jacky's talent and creativity have expanded. Apart from painting and sculpting, his creation also incorporates a wide range of other media, including what others consider dying crafts, traditional lacquer carving, silk embroidery, and hand-painted porcelain. In addition, Jacky Tsai is well-known for his unique style of merging traditional Chinese painting techniques and references with Western Pop Art. Jacky's dynamic art and constantly evolving creativity have landed him opportunities to collaborate with many big names in the fashion industry, such as Bvlgari & Shanghai Tang. He even earned the affection of pop star Jay Chou.
About Froyo Games
Froyo Games has collaborated with Jacky Tsai to launch an NFT series called "MetaSkull", to be announced later in October.
Froyo Games is a Web3 gaming publishing platform enabling gamers to interact with blockchain games and NFTs on a single integrated platform in a seamless and hassle-free manner. Froyo Games is backed by its strategic investors that include Animoca Games, GBV, Spartan etc. Froyo Games' main strategic partner is iCandy Interactive - the largest game development company in the Southeast Asia region, that has extensive experience making AAA and casual games globally.
Media contact: Lindsay Aamodt, lindsay.a@upland.me
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SOURCE Upland | https://www.ktre.com/prnewswire/2022/10/20/upland-brings-fashion-fine-art-metaverse-with-iconic-jacky-tsai-metaskull-collection/ | 2022-10-20T16:58:21 | en | 0.941447 |
Villagers of India's first solar-powered village, Modhera, interact with UN Chief Guterres
Villagers of India's first solar-powered village, Modhera, interacted with the UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Thursday and said that they talked to him about their village and the benefits they are getting due to the project as they are able to save money and also getting electricity 24 hours of the day.
- Country:
- India
Villagers of India's first solar-powered village, Modhera, interacted with the UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Thursday and said that they talked to him about their village and the benefits they are getting due to the project as they are able to save money and also getting electricity 24 hours of the day. The UN Chief is currently on a three-day trip to India and launched the Mission LiFEmovement in Gujarat, along with Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Both leaders also held a bilateral meeting.
Mission LIFE is expected to be an India-led global mass movement that will nudge individual and collective action to protect and preserve environment. Speaking to ANI, the beneficiaries said that they had a good interaction with the UN Secretary-General.
"I had a good interaction with the UN Secy General, he shared some details with us. With the installation of solar panels, we have benefitted a lot. Previously we used to pay 1500-2000 as a bill. Modhera has got famous due to solar energy," Ichha Ben Patel told ANI. "Now we also use AC, and fans and still do not have to pay any electricity bill. This has all been possible due to Modiji," she added.
In a separate statement, another villager Bhuriben Patel said that the installation of solar panels has been benefitting them a lot. "Now we are not paying any electricity bills; instead, money is being deposited in our accounts. We thank Modiji for all this," the beneficiary said.
Modhera is famous for its Sun temple. According to the Gujarat government, which shared information in a series of tweets, over 1000 solar panels have been installed on the village houses, generating electricity round the clock for the villagers. Significantly they will be provided with solar electricity at zero cost.
The Gujarat government has said that it has ensured the sustainable implementation of various welfare projects in Gujarat, keeping in mind the Prime Minister's vision of increasing the use of renewable energy in India. Terming India a partner of choice of the UN, the UN Chief said New Delhi has increased its impact on the international stage due to the donation of medicines, equipment, and vaccines at the height of Covid-19 to neighbouring countries during his visit.
UN Chief also paid tributes to the victims of the 26/11 terror attacks at the Taj Mahal Palace hotel in Mumbai and addressed students at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Bombay. (ANI)
(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
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Diversity is a richness that makes India stronger; it must be nurtured, strengthened and renewed every day: UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres. | https://www.devdiscourse.com/article/international/2221423-villagers-of-indias-first-solar-powered-village-modhera-interact-with-un-chief-guterres | 2022-10-20T16:58:23 | en | 0.965852 |
The young Afghan couple raced to the airport in Kabul, clutching their baby girl close amid the chaotic withdrawal of American troops last year.
The baby had been rescued two years earlier from the rubble of a U.S. Special Forces raid that killed her parents and five siblings.
After months in a U.S. military hospital, she had gone to live with her cousin and his wife, this newlywed couple.
Now, the family was bound for the United States for further medical treatment, with the aid of U.S. Marine Corps attorney Joshua Mast.
When the exhausted Afghans arrived at the airport in Washington, D.C., in late August 2021, Mast pulled them out of the international arrivals line and led them to an inspecting officer, according to a lawsuit they filed last month.
They were surprised when Mast presented an Afghan passport for the child, the couple said. But it was the last name printed on the document that stopped them cold: Mast.
They didn’t know it, but they would soon lose their baby.
This is a story about how one U.S. Marine became fiercely determined to bring home an Afghan war orphan, and praised it as an act of Christian faith to save her.
Letters, emails and documents submitted in federal filings show that he used his status in the U.S. Armed Forces, appealed to high-ranking Trump administration officials and turned to small-town courts to adopt the baby, unbeknownst to the Afghan couple raising her 7,000 miles (11,000 kilometers) away.
The little girl, now 3 ½ years old, is at the center of a high-stakes tangle of at least four court cases.
The Afghan couple, desperate to get her back, has sued Mast and his wife, Stephanie Mast. But the Masts insist they are her legal parents and “acted admirably” to protect her.
They’ve asked a federal judge to dismiss the lawsuit.
The ordeal has drawn in the U.S. departments of Defense, Justice and State, which have argued that the attempt to spirit away a citizen of another country could significantly harm military and foreign relations.
It has also meant that a child who survived a violent raid, was hospitalized for months and escaped the fall of Afghanistan has had to split her short life between two families, both of which now claim her.
Five days after the Afghans arrived in the U.S., they say Mast — custody papers in hand — took her away.
The Afghan woman collapsed onto the floor and pleaded with the Marine to give her baby back. Her husband said Mast had called him “brother” for months; so he begged him to act like one, with compassion. Instead, the Afghan family claims in court papers, Mast shoved the man and stomped his foot.
That was more than a year ago. The Afghan couple hasn’t seen her since.
“After they took her, our tears never stop,” the woman told The Associated Press. “Right now, we are just dead bodies. Our hearts are broken. We have no plans for a future without her. Food has no taste and sleep gives us no rest.”__
PULLED FROM THE RUBBLE
The story of the baby unfolds in hundreds of pages of legal filings and documents obtained under the Freedom of Information Act, as well as interviews with those involved, pieced together in an AP investigation.
In a federal lawsuit filed in September, the Afghan family accuses the Masts of false imprisonment, conspiracy, fraud and assault. The family has asked the court to shield their identity out of concerns for their relatives back in Afghanistan, and they communicated with AP on the condition of remaining anonymous.
The Masts call the Afghan family’s claims “outrageous, unmerited attacks” on their integrity.
They argue in court filings that they have worked “to protect the child from physical, mental or emotional harm.”
They say the Afghan couple are “not her lawful parents,” and Mast’s attorney cast doubt on whether the Afghans were even related to the baby.
“Joshua and Stephanie Mast have done nothing but ensure she receives the medical care she requires, at great personal expense and sacrifice, and provide her a loving home,” wrote the Masts’ attorneys.
The baby’s identity has been kept private, listed only as Baby L or Baby Doe.
The Afghan couple had given the baby an Afghan name; the Masts gave her an American one. Originally from Florida, Joshua Mast married Stephanie and attended Liberty University, an evangelical Christian college in Lynchburg, Virginia. He graduated in 2008, and got his law degree there in 2014.
In 2019, they were living with their sons in Palmyra, a small rural Virginia town, when Joshua Mast was sent on a temporary assignment to Afghanistan.
Mast, then a captain in the U.S. Marine Corps, was a military lawyer for the federal Center for Law and Military Operations.
The U.S. Marines declined to comment publicly, along with other federal officials.
That September in 2019 was one of the deadliest months of the entire U.S. occupation in Afghanistan, with more than 110 civilians killed in the first week alone.
On Sept. 6, 2019, the U.S. attacked a remote compound.
No details about this event are publicly available, but in court documents Mast claims that classified reports show the U.S. government “sent helicopters full of special operators to capture or kill” a foreign fighter.
Mast said that rather than surrender, a man detonated a suicide vest; five of his six children in the room were killed, and their mother was shot to death while resisting arrest.
Sehla Ashai and Maya Eckstein, attorneys for the Afghan couple, dispute Mast’s account. They say the baby’s parents were actually farmers, unaffiliated with any terrorist group. And they described the event as a tragedy that left two innocent civilians and five of their children dead.
Both sides agree that when the dust settled, U.S. troops pulled the badly injured infant from the rubble. The baby had a fractured skull, broken leg and serious burns. She was about 2 months old.
Mast called the baby a “victim of terrorism.” His attorney said she “miraculously survived.”_
‘DO THE RIGHT THING’
The baby was rushed to a military hospital, where she was placed in the care of the Defense Department.
The International Committee of the Red Cross told AP that they began searching for her family with the Afghan government, often a plodding process in rural parts of the country where record-keeping is scant. At first, they didn’t even know the baby’s name.
Meanwhile, Mast said, he was “aggressively” advocating to get her to the U.S. Over several months, he wrote to then-Vice President Mike Pence’s office, according to exhibits filed in court.
He said his colleagues in the military tried to talk to President Donald Trump about the baby during a Thanksgiving visit to Bagram Airfield. Mast also said he made four requests over two weeks to then-White House Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney, asking for help to medically evacuate the baby “to be treated in a safe environment.”
The Masts were represented by Joshua’s brother Richard Mast, an attorney with the conservative Christian legal group Liberty Counsel, which says it is not involved in this case. None of the Masts responded to repeated requests for interviews.
In emails to military officials, Mast alleged that Pence told the U.S. Embassy in Kabul to “make every effort” to get her to the United States. Mast signed his emails with a Bible verse: “‘Live for an Audience of one, for we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ.”
Pence’s spokesman, Marc Short, did not respond to requests for comment.
The U.S. Embassy never heard from Pence’s office, said a Department of State official, who requested anonymity because they did not have permission to speak publicly about the situation. But they did begin getting highly unusual inquiries about the possibility of sending the baby to the U.S. The diplomats were rattled by the suggestion that the U.S. could just take her away; they believed the baby belonged to Afghanistan.“I was aware that it may not be smooth sailing ahead, but that just made me more determined to do the right thing,” the State Department official said.
About six weeks after the baby was rescued, the U.S. Embassy called for a meeting, attended by representatives of the Red Cross, the Afghan government and the American military, including Mast.
The State Department wanted to make sure everyone understood its position: Under international humanitarian law, the U.S. was obliged to do everything possible to reunite the baby with her next of kin.
At the meeting, Mast asked about adoption, the State Department official said. Attendees from Afghanistan’s Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs explained that by Afghan law and custom, they had to place the baby with her biological family. If that did not work, the Afghan Children’s Court would determine a proper guardian.
The American concept of adoption doesn’t even exist in Afghanistan. Under Islamic law, a child’s bloodline cannot be severed and their heritage is sacred. Instead of adoption, a guardianship system called kafala allows Muslims to take in orphans and raise them as family, without relinquishing the child’s name or bloodline.
American adoptions from Afghanistan are rare and only possible for Muslim-American families of Afghan descent. The State Department recognizes 14 American adoptions from Afghanistan over the past decade, none in the past two years.
Yet two days after the embassy meeting, a letter was sent to U.S. officials in Kabul from Kimberley Motley, a near-celebrity American attorney in Afghanistan, the State Department official said. Motley wrote that she was representing an unnamed concerned American citizen who wished to adopt this baby. Motley declined to be interviewed by the AP.
Mast also continued his appeals to American politicians. The U.S. Embassy began hearing from Congressional staffers about the baby, and diplomats met with a military general, the official said.
The general in turn put a “gag order” on military personnel about the baby and said “no one was to advocate on her behalf,” Mast wrote in a legal filing.
But he wasn’t ready to give up.
HALFWAY AROUND THE WORLD
The Masts searched for a solution halfway around the world — in rural Fluvanna County, Virginia, where they lived.
They petitioned the local Juvenile and Domestic Relations Court, describing the baby as a “stateless minor recovered off the battlefield.” In early November 2019, a judge granted them legal custody. The name of this judge is not publicly available because juvenile records are sealed in Virginia.
A few days later, a certificate of foreign birth listed Joshua and Stephanie Mast as parents.
The custody order was based on the Masts’ assertion that the Afghan government — specifically now-deposed President Ashraf Ghani — intended to waive jurisdiction over the child “in a matter of days,” according to a hearing transcript. The waiver never arrived.
In an email to AP, Ghani’s former deputy chief of staff Suhrob Ahmad said there is “no record of this alleged statement of waiver of Afghan jurisdiction.” Ahmad said he and the head of the Administrative Office of the President do not remember any such request going through the court system as required.
The U.S. Embassy heard that Mast was granted custody. Military lawyers assured them that the Marine was just preparing in case Afghanistan waived jurisdiction, but would not interfere with the search for the baby’s family, according to the State Department official.
Yet all along they planned to adopt the baby, according to records obtained from the state of Virginia under a Freedom of Information Act request.
Richard Mast wrote the Attorney General’s office in November 2019 that the Masts “will file for adoption as soon as statutorily possible.”
In the meantime, Joshua Mast enrolled the baby in the Defense Department health care system, made an appointment at a U.S. International Adoption Clinic and asked to have her evacuated.
Then came a surprise: The Red Cross said they’d found her family. She was about five months old.
In late 2019, Afghan officials told the U.S. Embassy that the baby’s paternal uncle had been identified, and he decided his son and daughter-in-law were best suited to take her, according to court records.
They were young, educated newlyweds with no children yet of their own, and lived in a city with access to hospitals.
The young man worked in a medical office and ran a co-ed school, which is unusual in Afghanistan. His wife graduated from high school at the top of her class, and is fluent in three languages, including English.
They had married for love, unlike many Afghans in arranged marriages.
Mast expressed doubts about the newly-found uncle, describing him in court records as “an anonymous person of unknown nationality” and claiming that turning the baby over to him was “inherently dangerous.”
He asked the Red Cross to put him in touch, but they refused.
In emails to a U.S. military office requesting evacuation, Mast alleged that he read more than 150 pages of classified documents, and concluded the child was a “stateless minor.”
Mast believed she was the daughter of transient terrorists who are citizens of no country, his attorney said.
He also speculated that if reunited with her family, she could be made a child soldier or a suicide bomber, sold into sex trafficking, hit in a U.S. military strike, or stoned for being a girl.But Afghanistan did not waver: the child was a citizen of their country.
Mast’s attorney sent the U.S. Embassy a “cease and desist” letter warning them not to hand the baby over, according to the State Department official. But on February 26, 2020, the Masts learned that the U.S. was preparing to put the baby, now nearly 8 months old, on a plane early the following morning to join her family in another Afghan city.
The Masts, represented by Richard Mast, sued the secretaries of Defense and State in a federal court in Virginia, asking for an emergency restraining order to stop them. The Masts claimed they were the baby’s “lawful permanent legal guardians.”
Within hours, four federal attorneys — two from the Justice Department and two from the U.S. Attorney’s Office — were on the phone, and Richard Mast was in Federal Judge Norman Moon’s office.
Richard Mast said the baby should not be “condemned to suffer.” He complained that the Afghan government had not conducted DNA testing to confirm the family they found was truly related to the child.
But the Justice Department attorneys said they had no right to mandate how the Afghan government vets the family, and that the Red Cross — which has reunited relatives in war zones for more than a century — had confirmed it was done properly. Further, the federal government’s attorneys described the Masts’ custody documents from state court as “unlawful,” “deeply flawed and incorrect,” and “issued on a false premise that has never happened” — that Afghanistan would waive jurisdiction.
Judge Moon asked Richard Mast: “Your client is not asking to adopt the child?”
“No sir,” Mast responded. “He wants to get her medical treatment in the United States.”
Justice Department attorneys argued that the United States must meet its international obligations. Attorney Alexander Haas put it simply: Taking another country’s citizen to the United States “would have potentially profound implications on our military and foreign affairs interests.”
Judge Moon ruled against the Masts, and the baby stayed in Afghanistan.
The next day, she was united with her biological family. The Afghan couple wept with joy.“We didn’t think she would come back to her family alive,” said the young Afghan man. “It was the best day of our lives. After a long time, she had a chance to have a family again.”_
AN EXTRA MEASURE OF TENDERNESS
As the months passed in her new home in Afghanistan, the girl loved getting henna painted on her hands and dressing up in new clothes, the Afghan couple said. She always wanted to do her new mother’s makeup, or brush her hair.
“She knew about Allah, about clothes, about the names of food,” the woman wrote.
The couple cared for her as if she was their own daughter, but with an extra measure of tenderness because of the unimaginable tragedy she’d already suffered.
“We never wanted her to feel she couldn’t have something she wanted,” said the young man.
Meanwhile, Mast continued to worry that the child was “in an objectively dangerous situation,” Richard Mast wrote in court documents. The Masts asked Kimberley Motley, the attorney, to track down the family, saying he wanted to get the child medical treatment in the U.S, Motley said in court records.
Motley contacted the Afghan family in March 2020, about a week after the baby was placed in her new home. Motley is named as a defendant in their lawsuit, but her attorney, Michael Hoernlein, told the AP the claims against her are “meritless.”
In court documents, Motley’s attorneys describe her role as professional and above-board, and asked that the claims against her be dismissed.
Motley had originally gone to Afghanistan in 2008 under an American-funded initiative to train local lawyers. She stayed, largely representing foreigners charged with crimes.
She took on high-profile human rights cases, gave a TED Talk and wrote a book. Over the course of a year, Motley called for updates about the child and occasionally asked for photos.
In July, around the baby’s first birthday, the couple sent Motley a snapshot of the child in swim trunks, smiling and splashing in a wading pool.At the same time, the Masts’ adoption case was still winding through the court system in Fluvanna County, Virginia.
In December 2020, the state court granted the Masts a final adoption order based on the finding that the child “remains up to this point in time an orphaned, undocumented, stateless minor,” according to a federal lawsuit.
Fluvanna County Circuit Court Presiding Judge Richard E. Moore did not respond to repeated requests for clarity on how the cases progressed.International adoption lawyers were baffled.
“If you have relatives there who are saying, ‘no, no, no, we want our daughter, we want our little girl,’ it’s over,” said Irene Steffas, an adoption and immigration attorney.
“There is no way the U.S. is going to get into a match with another country when it comes to a child that’s a citizen of that country.”
Karen Law, a Virginia attorney who specializes in international adoption, said state law requires an accredited agency to visit three times over six months and compile a report before an adoption can be finalized. The child must be present for the visits — but this baby was thousands of miles away.
On July 10, 2021, around the baby’s second birthday, Motley facilitated the first phone call between the Afghan couple and Joshua Mast, with the aid of translator Ahmad Osmani, a Baptist pastor of Afghan descent.
Mast told the Afghan couple that unless they sent the child to the United States for medical care, she could “be blind, brain damaged, and/or permanently physically disabled.”
But the Afghan man now raising her, who had worked in the medical field, did not think her burn scars, a leg injury and mysterious allergic reactions amounted to a life-altering condition in the way Mast described.
The couple declined sending the baby to the United States.
The woman was pregnant, and worried about the risk of such a long flight. They said they asked Mast: Could they take the baby to Pakistan or India for treatment instead?
The answer was no, their lawsuit says. The conversations continued for months. Osmani, the translator, vouched for the Masts and described them as kind and trustworthy, according to the lawsuit, which names him as a defendant.
Osmani did not respond to requests for comment. He asked a federal judge to throw out the lawsuit, and said he never deceived anyone. He was only a “mere translator.” His attorneys wrote: “No good deed goes unpunished.” _
‘LIVING IN A DARK JAIL’
In late summer 2021, the Taliban seized power in Afghanistan. Mast said he contacted the family to bring the baby to the U.S. “before the country collapsed.”
He said he was “extremely concerned that they may not get another chance.”
The couple agreed.Mast applied for special visas for the Afghan family and for relatives of Osmani, the translator, according to court records.
They characterized the Afghan couple as an escort for a “U.S. military dependent” — the baby.
In an email to U.S. officials filed in court, Mast wrote that Osmani was “very instrumental to helping a U.S. Marine … adopt an Afghan child.”
Soon, the Afghan family began their days-long journey to the U.S. Joshua Mast told them to say he was their lawyer.
“If anyone asks to talk about your documents, show them this text: I am Major Joshua Mast, USMC. I am a Judge Advocate … ,” Mast texted them detailed directions for how to deal with U.S. authorities, their lawsuit says.
When the family arrived in Germany for a stopover, Joshua Mast and his wife greeted them at the air force base. It was the first time they had met in person.
In Germany, the Masts visited the Afghan family’s room three times to try to get the baby to travel separately with them, “insisting that it would be easier for the toddler to enter the United States that way,” the Afghan couple recalled in their lawsuit. They refused to let the girl out of their sight.
When the Afghans finally landed in the United States, they began explaining that the child was too young to have Afghan documents. That’s when they claim Joshua Mast pulled out an Afghan passport.
Inside was the same photo of the child in the wading pool, but altered to change the background, add a shirt and smooth her hair. Mast told the Afghans to “keep quiet” about having his name on her passport, their lawsuit alleges, so it would be easier to get medical care.
The Afghan couple asked to be taken to Fort Pickett Army National Guard base, a location specified by Mast, according to the lawsuit. Thousands of Afghan refugees were temporarily housed there.
Soon after, they said, soldiers came to their room and told them they were moving. A strange woman sat in the back of the van next to a car seat, according to court records, and the baby fussed as she buckled her in.
The van pulled up to a building they didn’t recognize, where a woman who called herself a social worker said the Masts were the girl’s legal guardians. Confused and frightened, the child cried and the couple begged. But it did no good. Mast took the baby to his car, where his wife was waiting, the lawsuit says.
They had lost her.
In their heavily redacted response to the lawsuit, the Masts acknowledge they “took custody” of the child; they said their adoption order was valid and they did nothing wrong.
Richard Mast is also named as a defendant in the Afghan family’s lawsuit. He wrote in legal documents that his brother’s adoption of the child was “selfless;” it saved both the child, and the Afghan family fighting to get her back, “from the evils of life under the Taliban.
”The Afghan couple believed that their baby was stolen, and they immediately sought help at Fort Pickett to get her back.
“But the playing field was not level,” their attorney, Ashai, told the AP. The couple “were forced to navigate a complex and confusing system in a foreign country in which they had just arrived, after having survived the greatest trauma of their lives.”
Meanwhile, the couple says in court documents, Osmani warned them not to contact a lawyer or the authorities, and suggested that Mast might give them the baby back if they dealt directly with him.
And so they tried to maintain contact with Mast. They were also scared of him. If he could abduct their child in broad daylight, they worried he might hurt them too, their lawyers wrote in legal filings.
The Afghan woman plunged into a deep depression and, despite being nine months pregnant, stopped eating and drinking. She could not sleep. Her husband was afraid to leave her alone.
“Since we have come to America, we have not felt happiness for even one day,” the Afghan man told the AP. “We feel like we are living in a dark jail.
”His wife gave birth to a girl on October 1, 2021. The young mother’s grief became overwhelming. A month later, she considered suicide and was hospitalized.
Soon the couple sought legal help; by December 2021, the Afghan couple had asked the Fluvanna judge to reverse the adoption. But those proceedings, almost one year in, have been opaque and slow.
On Feb. 27, 2022, when the Afghan baby was 2 ½ years old, the Masts traveled to the Mennonite Christian Assembly in Fredericksburg, Ohio, to share their joy during a special church service. In a video advertising the event called “Walking in Faith,” the pastor apologized to congregants that it would not be online, because the Marine would share “very confidential, classified information.”
“Unforeseen events gave the couple an unexpected opportunity to stand up to protect innocent life,” read the program flyer. “Come hear how God’s mighty hand allowed for a remarkable deliverance.
”Pastor John Risner told the AP that the Masts had requested the service be confidential, and he didn’t want to betray their trust by disclosing any details.
All he would say is that their story is “amazing.”
NO HAPPINESS HERE
The fate of the Afghan child is now being debated in secret proceedings in a locked courtroom in the village of Palmyra, Virginia, home to about 100 people.
Earlier this month, Joshua Mast arrived at the Fluvanna County courthouse along with his wife and his brother Richard. Mast was dressed in his starched Marine uniform, holding his white and gold hat in his hand. The hearing stretched on for roughly eight hours.
The proceedings have been completely shielded from public view, mandated by presiding Judge Moore. The AP was not allowed inside the courtroom. Court clerk Tristana Treadway refused to provide even the docket number, saying she could “neither confirm nor deny” the case existed at all.
More than a dozen lawyers streamed into the courthouse, carting boxes of evidence, and each said they were forbidden from speaking.
Mast remains an active duty Marine, and has since been promoted to major. He now lives with his family in North Carolina. The Afghan toddler has been with them for more than a year.
In Texas, the Afghan couple continues to grieve the loss of the child. The baby the woman gave birth to shortly after arriving in the U.S. just turned 1. The young mother had planned to raise the girls as sisters.But they’ve never met.
“There is nothing to celebrate without her. There is no happiness here,” the Afghan man said. “We are counting the moments and days until she will come home.” | https://indianexpress.com/article/world/afghan-couple-us-marine-8221645/ | 2022-10-20T16:58:24 | en | 0.982378 |
You need to enable JavaScript to run this app. | https://sportspyder.com/mcb/virginia-tech-hokies-basketball/articles/41193980 | 2022-10-20T16:58:25 | en | 0.738227 |
U.S. Congressional District 1 candidates Crawford and Hodges debate
The pair of candidates are discussing the big issues affecting voters ahead of the election.
U.S. Congressional District 1 candidates Crawford and Hodges debate
The pair of candidates are discussing the big issues affecting voters ahead of the election.
Advertisement
U.S. Congressional District 1 candidates Crawford and Hodges debate
The pair of candidates are discussing the big issues affecting voters ahead of the election.
The candidates for U.S. Congressional District 1 debated in Conway. Watch the full debate in the video player above.Republican Rick Crawford and Democrat Monte Hodges addressed the issues facing voters.
CONWAY, Ark. —
The candidates for U.S. Congressional District 1 debated in Conway. Watch the full debate in the video player above.
Republican Rick Crawford and Democrat Monte Hodges addressed the issues facing voters.
Advertisement | https://www.4029tv.com/article/us-congressional-district-1-candidates-crawford-and-hodges-debate/41722952 | 2022-10-20T16:58:25 | en | 0.923382 |
CHAGRIN FALLS, Ohio, Oct. 20, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- With the release of this vibrant new stamp, the U.S. Postal Service continues its tradition of issuing stamps for the Hanukkah celebrations.
This joyous Jewish holiday commemorates the liberation and reconsecration of the Temple in Jerusalem in the second century B.C. Also known as the Festival of Lights, Hanukkah is a time for family and friends to come together to rejoice.
A dedication ceremony for the stamp was held today at Temple Emanu El.
"I remember looking forward to Hanukkah as a child, especially the traditional foods, gifts, and games," said Lori Dym, U.S. Postal Service managing counsel for procurement and property law, who served as the dedicating official. "And now, on behalf of the 655,000 men and women of the United States Postal Service, I am honored to participate in the unveiling of our new stamp celebrating this joyous Jewish holiday."
Dym was joined by Susan Krantz, president of Temple Emanu El; Rabbi Matt Cohen; Jeanette Kuvin Oren, the stamp's designer and artist; Kathy Mulcahy, mayor of Orange Village, OH; and Darcy Hershey, congregant and administrative assistant at Temple Emanu El.
"Temple Emanu El is honored that the United States Postal Service approached our congregation to host the first-day-of-issue ceremony for the launch of the 2022 Chanukah Stamp," said Krantz. "We are proud that in selecting Temple Emanu El, the USPS recognized our long-standing passion for social justice which is deeply embedded in our traditions. Our congregants care about the world around us and engage in the ongoing work of helping to improve the world in which we live. Our temple is a Jewish institution of connection, gathering, learning and practicing spiritual life. Working together we bring meaning to our lives and to the lives of others."
"The miracle of Hanukkah came early this year (kind of)!" said Cohen. "While our Hanukkah menorahs are not yet kindled, this communal celebration reminds us that despite all odds, throughout time and history, the lights of the Jewish people have miraculously continued to grow brightly and illuminate the world with wholeness, blessing, and peace. Our Temple Emanu El family is honored to host this event and to welcome our friends from the Greater Cleveland Community into our sacred home."
News of the stamps is being shared on social media using the hashtag #HanukkahStamp. Followers of the Postal Service's Facebook page can view the stamp story at facebook.com/usps.
Background
Hanukkah means "dedication" in Hebrew. The story of Hanukkah begins with the victory of the Maccabees, an army of Jewish fighters, over the forces of Hellenic emperor Antiochus IV, whose supporters had desecrated the Temple in Jerusalem by building an altar to the Greek god Zeus.
After reclaiming the Temple and preparing to rededicate the holy space, the worshippers discovered that only one small jar of consecrated oil remained — enough to last one day. Rather than wait for more oil to arrive, they lit the Temple menorah, which miraculously burned for eight days.
The miracle of the oil is celebrated with the ceremonial lighting of the hanukkiah, the nine-branch candelabra used only at Hanukkah. The hanukkiah, also called menorah, holds eight candles, one for each night of Hanukkah, plus one known as the "shamash," which means the servant or helper candle used to light the others.
The candle for the first night is put on the far-right side of the menorah. On each subsequent night, an additional candle is placed to the immediate left of the previous night's candle. The candles are lit from left to right, so that the lighting begins with the newest candle.
A family-centered holiday, Hanukkah celebrations usually take place in people's homes, with games, songs, gifts and feasting. Traditional fried foods include latkes — potato pancakes — and doughnuts called sufganiyot.
Hanukkah begins on the 25th of Kislev in the Hebrew calendar, a date that falls in late November or December. In 2022, Hanukkah begins at sundown on Dec. 18.
Stamp Artwork
The stamp art features the design from an original wall-hanging. The fiber art was hand-dyed, appliquéd and quilted to form an abstract image of a hanukkiah.
The blue and purple colors are used to represent the sky, the greens and browns represent the earth. The bright yellows and oranges represent the Festival of Lights, as Hanukkah is also known. Along the bottom of the stamp, the words Hanukkah, Forever and USA appear in white capital letters.
Jeanette Kuvin Oren was the stamp designer and artist. Ethel Kessler was the art director.
Postal Products
Customers may purchase stamps and other philatelic products through the Postal Store at usps.com/shopstamps, by calling 844-737-7826, by mail through USA Philatelic or at Post Office locations nationwide.
The Hanukkah Forever stamp is sold in panes of 20. Forever stamps will always be equal in value to the current First-Class Mail 1‑ounce price.
The Postal Service generally receives no tax dollars for operating expenses and relies on the sale of postage, products and services to fund its operations.
Please Note: For U.S. Postal Service media resources, including broadcast-quality video and audio and photo stills, visit the USPS Newsroom. Follow us on Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest and LinkedIn. Subscribe to the USPS YouTube channel, like us on Facebook and enjoy our Postal Posts blog. For more information about the Postal Service, visit usps.com and facts.usps.com.
National contact: Jonathan Castillo
jonathan.r.castillo@usps.gov
Local contact: Naddia Dhalai
naddia.n.dhalai@usps.gov
usps.com/news
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SOURCE U.S. Postal Service | https://www.ktre.com/prnewswire/2022/10/20/us-postal-service-issues-new-hanukkah-forever-stamp/ | 2022-10-20T16:58:28 | en | 0.93745 |
The president of Iran’s national Olympic committee claimed Thursday that competitive climber Elnaz Rekabi will not be punished or suspended after competing in South Korea over the weekend without wearing her nation’s mandatory headscarf.
Supporters of Rekabi, however, remain worried for the 33-year-old climber as other athletes have been targeted by the government for supporting the weekslong protests rocking Iran. Activists say security forces already have killed over 200 people and arrested thousands in an ongoing crackdown on dissent.
Speaking to The Associated Press in the South Korean capital of Seoul, Mahmoud Khosravi Vafa said there was no reason to take disciplinary measures against Rekabi because not wearing a headscarf, or hijab, was an “unintentional” act on her part.
An Instagram account associated with Rekabi also described the decision as “unintentional,” and she did as well after reaching Tehran early Wednesday. She blamed being rushed to compete, though a video of her climb Sunday showed her relaxed and waving to the crowd.
“It’s a small issue. I’m surprised that it is being talked about so much,” Khosravi Vafa said, despite protests over the mandatory hijab reaching over 100 cities in Iran so far. “In our view it was not a big issue.”
Khosravi Vafa said he discussed Rekabi with International Olympic Committee President Thomas Bach on Wednesday on the sidelines of the Association of National Olympic Committees General Assembly in Seoul. Khosravi Vafa said he spoke to Rekabi as well.
“I talked to her and told her that you definitely are very talented in sports and you should continue down this path to maybe qualify for the Paris Olympics and you’ll be fully supported by the Iranian Olympic committee,” he added in remarks made in Farsi.
The International Olympic Committee described Rekabi on Wednesday as having “returned to Iran safely and with her family.”
Khosravi Vafa, however, described Rekabi as being “a guest at Iran’s Olympic committee hotel for one day, along with her family.” It wasn’t clear if Rekabi had a choice over the stay. A later image published by Iranian state media showed her in a meeting hours after returning to Tehran in the same black baseball cap and hoodie she wore after her flights.
Khosravi Vafa said Rekabi would return to her hometown Thursday.
Rekabi’s competition without a hijab was seized upon by demonstrators who have protested for weeks in the Islamic Republic. Hundreds of people gathered outside Imam Khomeini International Airport for her arrival and cheered a woman they called “Elnaz the Champion” and saw as an inspiration for their continued protests.
When asked whether he discussed the issue with Iranian delegates, Robin Mitchell, a Fijian sports official who was elected the new president of the Association of National Olympic Committees at the assembly on Thursday, said they had not spoken and indicated he wasn’t aware the Iranians were at the meetings.
Khosravi Vafa didn’t specifically address suspicions that Iranian authorities confiscated Rekabi’s passport after the event in Seoul and forced her to leave early.
Iran has been swept by nationwide protests since the Sept. 16 death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini, who had been detained by the country’s morality police over her clothing.
The demonstrations, which have prompted women to remove their hijabs in public, have drawn school-age children, oil workers and others to the streets and represent the most serious challenge to Iran’s theocracy since the mass protests surrounding its disputed 2009 presidential election. | https://indianexpress.com/article/world/irans-olympic-chief-claims-no-punishment-coming-for-climber-8221635/ | 2022-10-20T16:58:30 | en | 0.976909 |
Analysis: The ripples of the war Russia says isn't a war
The Soviet Union lost 10,000 to 15,000 men in Afghanistan out of a much larger population base, says Samantha de Bendern, an associate fellow in the Russia and Eurasia Program at the international affairs think tank Chatham House.
- Country:
- United Kingdom
It's not a war, Vladimir Putin said then — and says now. It's a “special military operation.” In most every sense of the term, though, Russia's war in Ukraine is precisely that.
And when a nation is at war, even if it claims it is not, the reverberations back home — the place where the conflict was first conceived — can be far-reaching.
Eight months after Russia launched a war in February expecting a lightning victory against neighbouring Ukraine, an independent nation from which it already annexed Crimea in 2014, tens of thousands of people have been killed in Ukraine. Millions are displaced from their homes. A brutal winter approaches. Nuclear fears are spiking. And the Kremlin is now using killer drones to degrade Ukraine's power supply, plunging more hundreds of thousands into darkness. Four more regions of Ukraine have been illegally annexed in the last month, though they are far from fully under Russian control, and Putin declared martial law in them on Wednesday. Even without calling it a formal war, Putin could be laying groundwork to extend these restrictive measures throughout Russia. A clause in the decree allows measures envisaged by martial law to be imposed in any Russian region “when necessary.” What's more, officials in multiple Russian regions rushed to assure the population after Putin's announcement that they're not planning to impose additional measures.
The war that isn't called a war by Moscow has also exacerbated death and tension in Russia among its own citizens. There are huge numbers of dead and wounded Russian soldiers, many ill-equipped and ill-commanded, sent to the front to die essentially as cannon fodder. The Soviet Union lost 10,000 to 15,000 men in Afghanistan out of a much larger population base, says Samantha de Bendern, an associate fellow in the Russia and Eurasia Program at the international affairs think tank Chatham House. And, she told The Associated Press, even the most conservative model suggests 50,000 men dead in Ukraine. That's between three and five times greater than what the Soviet Union lost in Afghanistan in nearly 11 years. “I can't see how a society can sustain that,” de Bendern said. The undeclared war ripples elsewhere, too.
When a leader starts losing on the battlefield and announces a “partial” mobilization of reservists, hundreds of thousands of Russian families are immediately impacted by a conflict they may or may not have supported. Putin's decree doesn't outline any specific criteria for who should be mobilized and doesn't spell out how many people should be drafted. The contrast with highly motivated Ukrainians defending their nation could not be more stark. And when thousands of Russian men don't want to be conscripted for an undeclared war, they flee the country by air, sea and land, across borders to wherever will take them.
Antiwar and anti-mobilization protests have been ruthlessly suppressed. Not all have been sympathetic to those trying to leave Russia, and have shut their borders. Leaders of Baltic states wondered aloud: Where were their voices against the war as it raged? Russia has been mobilizing from various republics and ethnicities who do not necessarily share the Kremlin's war aims and politics, and there have been violent incidents at training or recruiting stations. Last week, a shooting left 11 dead and 15 others wounded in the Belgorod region in southwestern Russia. The two attackers — from a former Soviet nation that Russian authorities didn't identify — fired on other soldiers during target practice and were killed by return fire. In another incident in Siberia weeks earlier, a local commandant was shot and gravely wounded by a young man whose friend had been called up. The gunman had shouted: “No one will fight. ... We will all go home now.” In contrast to the daily bombardment Russia has rained upon Ukraine, military attacks by Kyiv on Russia itself have been significantly less deadly. The United States has been cautious about supplying Ukraine with any weaponry that could have enough range to strike inside Russia, lest it be drawn into a direct conflict. But border areas in the Belgorod, Kursk and Bryansk regions of Russia have been shelled since the start of the invasion.
Also, when a country is at war, declared or not, it has more planes in the air. That can mean heightened tension among its stretched and untested forces — and deadly crashes.
On Monday, the crash of a Russian warplane into the Sea of Azov Russian port city of Yeysk killed 15, including three who died when they jumped from a nine-story apartment building to escape a massive blaze. The Su-34 bomber came down after one of its engines caught fire during takeoff for a training mission, the Russian Defense Ministry said.
That accident, in which there was no indication of sabotage, marked the 10th reported noncombat crash of a Russian warplane since Moscow sent troops into Ukraine. Military experts note that as the number of Russian military flights increases sharply during the fighting, so do the crashes.
De Bendern, the international affairs analyst, paints a bleaker picture for Russia's future and its troops. “It's not so much the dead who come home who are the problem,'' she said. “It's the people who are alive who come home that's the problem — the people who are alive and who come home and say, Hey we're not fighting Nazis in Ukraine. We're killing innocent women and children.'” And that's yet another problem of the war that Moscow isn't calling a war: Its painful legacy could last generations.
(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) | https://www.devdiscourse.com/article/law-order/2221339-analysis-the-ripples-of-the-war-russia-says-isnt-a-war | 2022-10-20T16:58:31 | en | 0.969269 |
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TULSA, Okla., Oct. 20, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Work Health Solutions, a leading 24-hour occupational medicine provider and Shield Screening, a nationally accredited background screening company, have expanded their relationship to provide more comprehensive health and screening services that is expected to maximize protection and network coverage for Work Health Solutions clients.
"As a company that is focused on the health and safety of our clients and their employees, it is important to us that whoever we partner with holds the same values and commitment to service that we do," said Jeremy Green, owner and director of marketing for Work Health Solutions. "Shield Screening has been a long-term affiliate of ours, providing fast service and thorough results for our clients, and we are excited to expand our partnership."
As part of the expanded relationship, clients of Work Health Solutions will receive discounted volume pricing on all screening services, including all criminal background check products, references and verifications, as well as specialized services such as continuous criminal monitoring and motor vehicle records.
"We are thrilled to be able to expand our relationship with Work Health Solutions and offer their clients significant savings on background screening," said Terri Sampson, general manager of Shield Screening. "To streamline the setup and ordering process, we have provided a link on their website where employers can sign up for and order background checks. All services appear on a single invoice so everything is in one place with one point-of-contact."
Work Health Solutions offers employers complete occupational healthcare services including injury care, regulatory testing, medical legal services and year-round 24-hour service, both on-site and in-clinic. Serving over 800 employers in Oklahoma, Work Health Solutions has grown to also include employers in surrounding states and continues to expand.
For more details and information, please email Jeremy Green at jpgreen@workhs.com or call 918.402.1179.
Work Health Solutions is dedicated to high-quality occupational medicine in Eastern Oklahoma. We deal with workers' compensation issues on a daily basis. We are well equipped to treat acute and chronic work-related injuries and illnesses. We handle the collection and review of substance abuse samples, and we offer considered and well-supported medical opinions in complex medical and litigated matters. You, your employee or your client will receive our full attention when in the office or on the job site. To learn more, visit www.workhs.com.
Shield was built on the idea that better products and more customized solutions lead to superior results. We are nationally accredited through the Professional Background Screening Association. To deliver our goal of saving our clients time and money while alleviating risk, Shield relies on comprehensive data sources, highly secure solutions, and a compliance-focused approach to delivering quality screening results. To learn more, visit www.shieldscreening.com.
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SOURCE Shield Screening | https://www.ktre.com/prnewswire/2022/10/20/work-health-solutions-partners-with-shield-screening-provide-complete-occupational-health-amp-screening-solutions-businesses/ | 2022-10-20T16:58:35 | en | 0.955935 |
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View More | https://indianexpress.com/web-stories/sports/sri-lanka-bounced-back-from-their-early-debacle/ | 2022-10-20T16:58:36 | en | 0.933791 |
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — A man has been arrested after a fatal shooting in the Hogans Creek area on Tuesday night.
Officials responded to a reported shooting to find a 30-year-old man with a gunshot wound on Cleveland Street. He was rushed to the hospital where he died.
Although First Coast News obtained the arrest report, details remain vague as it was heavily redacted. Jacksonville police were able to speak with several witnesses at the scene, including a juvenile, the report said.
Around noon on Wednesday, Jarrett Williams was found in the 29th & Chase area and brought in for questioning as a suspect. Following his interview, he was transported to booking, according to the arrest report.
The 32-year-old is facing charges for evidence tampering. It is unknown what information lead investigators to his arrest.
A law enforcement source told First Coast News Williams' arrest was connected to the deadly shooting. The case numbers on the incident and arrest reports are also the same.
This is a developing story. | https://www.firstcoastnews.com/article/news/local/man-arrested-following-hogans-creek-shooting/77-6375e96e-dc19-48b7-8ee3-0221917afe3e | 2022-10-20T16:58:40 | en | 0.988756 |
Russia's Putin inspects preparations of mobilised servicemen - agencies
- Country:
- Russia
Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday inspected a training ground for mobilised servicemen in the Ryazan region southeast of Moscow, news agencies reported.
They said Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu reported to Putin on how the mobilised troops, called up to support Russia's military effort in Ukraine, were being trained.
(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
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Spanish, German leaders meet amid questions over air defence talks | https://www.devdiscourse.com/article/law-order/2221340-russias-putin-inspects-preparations-of-mobilised-servicemen---agencies | 2022-10-20T16:58:40 | en | 0.931694 |
HILLIARD, Fla. — Officials responded to a fatal fire in Nassau County, early on Thursday morning.
Crews responded to a structure fire in Hilliard at 2903 Jane Lane around 3:30 a.m. after a neighbor called police. A mother and her children were killed in the blaze, according to the Nassau County Sheriff's Office.
The little boy and girl were ages seven and eleven but officials have not determined which child was which age. The mother was believed to be in her 40's. The children's father was out of town at the time of the fire. He is heading back to the area after officials contacted him.
The double-wide was destroyed in the flames, officials said.
The cause of the fire is undetermined at this time. However, Sheriff Bill Leeper encourages the community to be mindful when using space heaters as temperatures drop.
This is a developing story. | https://www.firstcoastnews.com/article/news/local/mother-child-killed-in-hilliard-house-fire/77-23398f85-6257-4d10-a47d-e73ce0dd8b29 | 2022-10-20T16:58:46 | en | 0.984406 |
U.S. diplomat's wife pleads guilty over fatal UK car crash
Sacoolas, whose husband worked as a U.S. intelligence officer at the base, left Britain shortly after the accident, claiming diplomatic immunity from criminal prosecution and the United States refused to extradite her. Appearing at London's Old Bailey court by videolink from the United States, Sacoolas denied causing death by dangerous driving but admitted the less serious charge.
Anne Sacoolas, the wife of a U.S. diplomat, pleaded guilty on Thursday to causing the death of a teenager by driving carelessly in England three years ago, a case that led to diplomatic friction between Britain and the United States.
Harry Dunn, 19, died in August 2019 after his motorcycle was hit by a Volvo car driven on the wrong side of the road by Sacoolas near RAF Croughton, an air force base in the English county of Northamptonshire that is used by the U.S. military. Sacoolas, whose husband worked as a U.S. intelligence officer at the base, left Britain shortly after the accident, claiming diplomatic immunity from criminal prosecution and the United States refused to extradite her.
Appearing at London's Old Bailey court by videolink from the United States, Sacoolas denied causing death by dangerous driving but admitted the less serious charge. Prosecutor Duncan Atkinson said that after consideration at the "very highest level" and in close consultation with Dunn's family, the decision had been taken not to proceed to trial.
The crash led to a diplomatic spat between London and Washington, with the British government backing the call for Sacoolas to be prosecuted. In 2019, Dunn's parents travelled to the White House for a meeting with then-President Donald Trump, who surprised them by revealing that Sacoolas was in an adjoining room. Dunn’s parents declined to meet her.
"It's what we've been waiting for and fighting so damn hard for," his tearful mother Charlotte Charles told reporters outside court, saying she had fulfilled her promise to her son. Sacoolas will be sentenced in the week commencing Nov. 28, and the judge, Bobbie Cheema-Grubb, directed that she attend in person.
The charge she admitted carries a maximum jail term of five years but guidelines suggest either a community order or a shorter prison sentence. She was told by judge that she had shown remorse by an early plea of guilt and by taking part in the court process which she could not be compelled to do.
"If sentence is one that does not involve immediate custody, there is no barrier to her returning home after the hearing," the judge said.
(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
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Biden disappointed by 'shortsighted' cut by OPEC+, White House says | https://www.devdiscourse.com/article/law-order/2221343-us-diplomats-wife-pleads-guilty-over-fatal-uk-car-crash | 2022-10-20T16:58:49 | en | 0.979511 |
On Oct. 17, South Korean K-pop band BTS announced the band was going on hiatus so its members can serve their mandatory military duties under South Korean law. They plan to reunite sometime in 2025.
BTS is one of the most popular bands in the world. The band topped the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI) global charts in 2021, winning the IFPI Global Recording Artist of the Year Award for the second year in a row. BTS was also the third most streamed music artists in 2021, according to Spotify’s statistics.
A viral tweet claimed the pop stars are being “forced” to serve in the South Korean military while many people searched for information online about BTS and Korean military service. Rolling Stone writer Jae-Ha Kim explained that BTS never applied for the exemption from military service available to artists and athletes.
THE QUESTION
Do members of K-pop band BTS qualify for an exemption from mandatory military service in South Korea?
THE SOURCES
South Korea’s Military Service Act
South Korea’s Military Manpower Administration
Yonhap News Agency, which is partially funded by the South Korean government
Realmeter, a South Korean polling agency
THE ANSWER
No, BTS band members do not qualify for an exemption from mandatory military service under South Korean law — although the country’s lawmakers have debated whether that law should be changed.
WHAT WE FOUND
In South Korea, male citizens between 18 and 28 are required to complete 1.5 to 2 years of mandatory military service. Certain “arts and sports personnel” may apply for an exemption, but current South Korean law does not grant that exemption to pop stars, such as the members of BTS.
Mandatory military service is governed by South Korea’s Military Service Act. Article 33-7 of the act says “persons with specialty in the field of arts or sports” can be assigned supplementary service as arts or sports personnel. During this supplementary service, which lasts for two years and 10 months, the exempted person must use their skills in arts or sports to “serve in the public interest.”
Eligibility for this exemption is detailed in articles 68-11 of the Enforcement Decree of the Military Service Act. A person in sports needs to be at least a bronze medalist in the Olympic Games or a gold medalist in the Asian Games, while a person in the arts needs to win a prize at certain international arts competitions, win first prize at certain national arts competitions or have studied certain traditional art forms.
At the time BTS announced its band members would serve their mandatory military duties, that law did not include awards for popular music or even presidential awards the band has received. South Korea’s Military Manpower Administration lists 28 international music competitions on its website, all of which are classical music competitions for instruments such as the piano and violin.
BTS might not be out of the spotlight though. The country’s defense ministry has said BTS will have the opportunity to participate in "national" events for the "public good" while serving in the military, according to Yonhap News Agency. This came after earlier comments from the nation’s defense minister who said the group will be able to continue performing internationally during their military service.
Though the band members don’t qualify for exemption, the government did allow its members to put off military service for two extra years.
In 2020, the South Korean government amended the Military Service Act to allow citizens who are enhancing the country's “prestige” through "sports," "public culture" and "arts" to postpone their military service for two extra years, from 28 to 30. That amendment allowed the oldest member of BTS, 29-year-old Jin, to put off his military service until this year, when he turns 30 in December.
But while the Korean government agreed to let the pop stars postpone their military service while in the prime of their careers, it has fiercely debated whether the members of BTS should be exempt from military service entirely.
According to reporting from Yonhap News Agency, which is partially funded by the Korean government, the head of the country’s Military Manpower Administration has publicly spoken against changing the law to exempt BTS from military service. The country’s former culture minister proposed exempting BTS and its current culture minister has said that public opinion should be the most important factor in considering whether BTS should be granted an exemption from military service.
An April 2022 survey run by South Korean polling agency Realmeter found that 65.5% of South Korean people surveyed believed BTS should be granted an exemption from military service, while 30.2% were opposed to it. | https://www.firstcoastnews.com/article/news/verify/pop-culture/bts-south-korea-kpop-band-no-exemption-mandatory-military-service/536-ed313ac9-9bd8-48a1-801c-e2456f9863da | 2022-10-20T16:58:52 | en | 0.967824 |
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More people support internet shutdown; sizeable favours surveillance: Lokniti-CSDS
It was conducted in 19 States among 7,463 citizens aged 15 years and above.
- Country:
- India
A study on Thursday claimed that more people were in support of internet shut down to maintain law and order than those opposing it, and a sizable number of people were in favour of surveillance as well.
The Lokniti-CSDS survey on Media in India also found that social media, though used a lot by internet users, was least trusted, and half of all social media users admitted to have been misled by fake news or information on the net at some point.
The survey was done in partnership with Konrad Adenauer Stiftung.
''Support for internet shutdowns by governments on law and order grounds was also greater than opposition to it. The only issue, perhaps, on which a not so conservative opinion was seen, was that of government regulation of social media content,'' the study stated.
Among all respondents, 36 per cent were in support of the idea of internet shut down for law and order purposes, while 26 per cent found it wrong, and 38 per cent expressed no opinion.
A similar sentiment was found about government surveillance in the survey, while it was acknowledged, it was not considered immoral by many.
''A sizeable proportion of them (respondents) saw nothing wrong with it (surveillance),'' it said.
''Most smartphone and internet users were found to hold the belief that the government monitors what people do on the internet or their phone, they acknowledged that it takes place. However this acknowledgment does not mean that they disapprove of government surveillance,'' the survey stated.
As per the statistics on perception about surveillance, 34 per cent were of the view that government monitors what people do on mobile or internet, 14 per cent said it doesn't, and 52 per cent were non committal to the idea.
Similarly 28 per cent were in favour of the government regulating the social media content, 33 per cent were against it, and 39 per cent gave no opinion.
The survey points out that more than half of the internet users are concerned about fake news and the same number of social media users ''admitted to have been misled by fake news or information online at some point,'' the survey on Media in India said.
Describing the survey as a ''systematic study'', CSDS Director Sanjay Kumar said, ''we did a systematic proper sampling both from rural India, urban India, to get an idea what real opinion of the Indians are about the media.'' ''I think there is a divided opinion about government surveillance, but when it comes to security, which has become a concern for Indians, there is a sizeable support for surveillance and that has come out very clearly from the survey,'' Kumar told PTI.
The study was focused on both traditional and new media. It was conducted in 19 States among 7,463 citizens aged 15 years and above.
(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
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- India
- Media
- Lokniti
- Indians
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- Konrad Adenauer Stiftung
- Sanjay Kumar
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Ayodhya Ram temple head priest demands immediate ban on 'Adipurush', says it wrongly depicts deities | https://www.devdiscourse.com/article/law-order/2221349-more-people-support-internet-shutdown-sizeable-favours-surveillance-lokniti-csds | 2022-10-20T16:58:57 | en | 0.971095 |
SC orders treatment of HIV positive ex-armyman at Base Hospital
Let the entire matter be medically examined at Base Hospital and report on that behalf be submitted on the next occasion, it ordered.It said the petitioner was at liberty to place the invoices, showing expenditure incurred by him for medication, and upon proper verification, the Army shall reimburse him.The bench has now posted the case for disposal before another bench on November 22.
- Country:
- India
The Supreme Court Thursday came to the rescue of a retired army personnel, who contracted HIV allegedly due to contaminated blood transfusion in an army hospital, directing that he be treated at the Base Hospital here.
The court also sought a report on his medical condition to be submitted before it.
The armyman, who was part of Operation Parakram, had moved the top court alleging he had contracted HIV due to transfusion of contaminated blood in a field hospital in 2002 and has now become an AIDs patient. He alleged he was being denied medical care at Army hospitals.
India had launched Operation Parakram in the wake of the December 13, 2001 terrorist attack on Parliament.
"He is our man. We will take care of him," Additional Solicitor General Vikramjit Banerjee, appearing for the government, told the bench comprising Chief Justice U U Lalit and Bela M Trivedi.
"The nature of controversy and the urgency in the matter in extending medical facilities to the petitioner was dealt with by this Court in its orders dated April 25, and July 18, 2022," the bench noted. The Army veteran claimed he got no medication at least on three occasions when he reported at the Base Hospital.
"We need not go into these issues as Vikramjeet Banerjee, ASG has fairly accepted that whatever is required shall be done and every single facility shall be extended to the petitioner as his condition may deserve. In the circumstances, we direct the petitioner to report at the Base Hospital, Delhi Cantt tomorrow itself," the court said.
"He shall be examined by the concerned doctors who will check his present status (according to the petitioner the latest report from Dr. Lal Path Labs indicates that going by the NACO guidelines he is now "Aids patient"). Let the entire matter be medically examined at Base Hospital and report on that behalf be submitted on the next occasion," it ordered.
It said the petitioner was at liberty to place the invoices, showing expenditure incurred by him for medication, and upon proper verification, the Army shall reimburse him.
The bench has now posted the case for disposal before another bench on November 22.
(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
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Now adopt animals at Delhi zoo | https://www.devdiscourse.com/article/law-order/2221350-sc-orders-treatment-of-hiv-positive-ex-armyman-at-base-hospital | 2022-10-20T16:59:05 | en | 0.977716 |
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Case in Pune against Uddhav faction MLA for 'derogatory' remarks against Union minister Rane
- Country:
- India
A case has been registered in Pune against Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray) MLA Bhaskar Jadhav for allegedly making derogatory remarks against Union minister and BJP leader Narayan Rane, police said on Thursday.
The case was filed after Yogesh Shingate, a Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) office-bearer, registered a complaint against Jadhav at the Deccan police station here on Wednesday night.
According to the police, the legislator has been booked under Indian Penal Code (IPC) sections 505 (intent to cause or likely to cause fear or alarm among the public), 504 (intentional insult with intent to provoke breach of the peace), 500 (punishment for defamation) and 153A (promoting enmity between different groups).
Addressing a rally at Kudal in Sindhudurg district in the Konkan region recently, Jadhav, who belongs to the Shiv Sena faction headed by former CM Uddhav Thackeray, had mocked Rane and levelled corruption allegations against him.
(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
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No other test needed to establish guilt once seized poppy straw tests positive for morphine, meconic acid: SC
- Country:
- India
Once it is established that seized poppy straw has morphine and meconic acid no other test will be necessary to establish the guilt of an accused under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act, the Supreme Court said Thursday.
A bench of Justice B R Gavai and Justice C T Ravikumar delivered its verdict while dealing with questions, including whether it is necessary to particularise the species of the recovered contraband -- poppy husk and poppy straw among others.
It noted that answers to these questions have a bearing on a number of cases under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act.
It observed that the dominant purpose of the 1985 Act was to curb the menace of trafficking of drugs and psychotropic substances and thus the interpretation which advances the purpose of the law has to be preferred rather than adopting a ''pedantic and a mechanical approach''.
While referring to earlier enactments, international conventions and scientific studies, the Supreme Court observed it is well recognised that the 'papaver somniferum L' plant was the main source for the production of opium and studies have established that 'papaver somniferum L' consists of morphine and meconic acid.
''In other words, once it is established that the seized poppy straw tests positive for the contents of morphine and meconic acid, no other test would be necessary for bringing home the guilt of the accused under the provisions of Section 15 of the 1985 Act,'' the bench said in its 74-page judgement.
Section 15 of the NDPS Act deals with punishment for contravention in relation to poppy straw.
The issue cropped up before the apex court while dealing with an appeal filed by the state of Himachal Pradesh challenging the November 2007 judgement of the high court which had set aside the conviction and 10 years sentence awarded by a trial court to an accused in a narcotic case.
According to the prosecution, a huge quantity of poppy husk was recovered at the instance of the accused.
In its verdict, the apex court said if the view taken by the high court is to be accepted, a person who has been found contravening the provisions of the 1985 Act and dealing with contraband material which has been found in the chemical examiner's report to contain morphine and meconic acid, would escape the stringent provisions of the law. ''We are therefore of the considered view that the High Court was not justified in holding that, even after the chemical examiner's report establishes that the contraband contains meconic acid and morphine, unless it was established that the same was derived from the species of 'papaver somniferum L', conviction under section 15 of the 1985 Act could not be sustained,'' it said.
The bench referred to the legislative history prior to the coming into force of the 1985 Act and observed that since many deficiencies were found in the earlier enactments and the provisions therein were not found sufficient to deal with the problems of drug trafficking, it was found necessary to enact a new law.
It noted that after the passing of the three earlier enactments, there were tremendous developments on an international platform and a vast body of international law in the field of narcotics control had evolved through various treaties and protocols. ''The Government of India had been a party to these treaties and conventions which entailed several obligations which were not covered or were only partly covered under the old Acts. It was further noticed that the scheme of the earlier Acts was not a sufficient deterrent to meet the challenge of well-organised gangs of smugglers,'' the bench said.
It noted that the penalty provided under the old Acts was also inadequate.
The bench said taking into consideration that the country had, for the last many years, been increasingly faced with the problem of drugs trafficking, which had posed serious problems to governments at the state and the Centre, it was found necessary to enact a comprehensive law. ''It is thus clear that the dominant purpose of the new enactment was to curb the menace of trafficking of drugs and psychotropic substances. Therefore, the interpretation which advances the purpose of the Act has to be preferred rather than adopting a pedantic and a mechanical approach,'' it said.
The Supreme Court said there was also a development in the last century at the international level to make a combined effort in controlling and prohibiting the menace of drugs and psychotropic substances.
''In the result, we hold that, once a chemical examiner establishes that the seized poppy straw indicates a positive test for the contents of morphine and meconic acid, it is sufficient to establish that it is covered by sub-clause (a) of clause (xvii) of section 2 of the 1985 Act and no further test would be necessary for establishing that the seized material is a part of 'papaver somniferum L','' the bench said.
Dealing with the appeal, the apex court remanded the matter to the high court for consideration afresh in accordance with what has been held by the bench.
''We suspend the sentence till the matter is decided on merits by the high court,'' it said.
(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
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Massachusetts woman accused of assaulting officers with swarm of angry bees
A Massachusetts woman stands accused of using a swarm of bees as a dangerous weapon, according to a county sheriff, after she allegedly unleashed a hive of angry insects on deputies trying to serve an eviction notice last week. The incident unfolded when Rorie Woods, a 55-year-old professional beekeeper, drove up to the home in Longmeadow while deputies were in the process of enforcing the eviction notice, the sheriff's department said in a statement on Wednesday.
A Massachusetts woman stands accused of using a swarm of bees as a dangerous weapon, according to a county sheriff, after she allegedly unleashed a hive of angry insects on deputies trying to serve an eviction notice last week.
The incident unfolded when Rorie Woods, a 55-year-old professional beekeeper, drove up to the home in Longmeadow while deputies were in the process of enforcing the eviction notice, the sheriff's department said in a statement on Wednesday. The residence, outside Springfield in the south-central part of the state, belonged to a man who had been litigating against his removal for years, garnering support of anti-eviction activists, including Woods, a department spokesperson said in an email on Thursday.
When she arrived at about 9:15 a.m. local time, towing a stack of manufactured beehives with a SUV, Woods exited the vehicle and tried to open the lids to unleash the bees, the department said. "A sheriff’s deputy tried to stop her, but as the agitated bees started getting out and circling the area, he pulled back," the office said.
She then smashed the lid of one hive and flipped it off the flatbed, agitating the bees, the sheriff said on Wednesday. They swarmed the area, stinging several officers and bystanders who were nearby. One deputy was taken to the hospital where he was treated. Meanwhile Woods put on a professional beekeeper suit to protect herself, and she carried a tower of bees to the front door of the home, trying to stop the eviction. At that point, deputies arrested her.
"I support people’s right to protest peacefully but when you cross the line and put my staff and the public in danger, I promise you will be arrested," Hampden County Sheriff Nick Cocchi said. Attempts to reach a lawyer for Woods were unsuccessful.
Woods, who lives in Hadley, Massachusetts, about 25 miles (40 km) north of Longmeadow, faces four felony counts of assault and battery by means of a dangerous weapon and three counts of assault by means of a dangerous weapon. She also faces a misdemeanor disorderly conduct charge. Local media reported that Woods pleaded not guilty to the charges.
(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
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Politician Shrikant Tyagi released on bail from Noida jail
In the wake of the controversy, the BJP had denied links with Tyagi, who had remained at large for four days before being arrested and booked under the Gangsters Act, among other charges.
- Country:
- India
Politician Shrikant Tyagi, who was arrested in August for assaulting a woman in a Noida society, was released on bail Thursday, a senior police officer said.
Tyagi was lodged in the Luksar jail in Greater Noida since August 9, and was granted bail by the Allahabad High Court two days ago.
''He was released this (Thursday) evening after all legal formalities,'' Jail Superintendent Arun Pratap Singh told PTI. Clad in a white kurta-pyjama paired with a black waist-coat, Tyagi, 34, came out from jail around 6.30 pm. His family thanked the Tyagi Community for its support during their ordeal.
The community members had held panchayats to mobilise support for Tyagi and staged a protest outside the society here after his arrest in August, demanding his release and revocation of the Gangsters Act in the case.
''We are very happy and have got sweets at home for his welcome. We will be celebrating Diwali now with full fervour,'' his wife Anu Tyagi said.
Tyagi was granted bail by the Allahabad Court on Monday.
Justice Surendra Singh granted him bail in the Gangsters Act case after his counsel argued that he was ''falsely implicated'' in the case ''due to police rivalry''.
''Considering the facts and circumstances of the case, the nature of allegations, and the gravity of the offence, but without expressing any opinion on the merits of the case, this court is of the opinion that the applicant is entitled to bail,'' Justice Singh had noted.
Tyagi, who flexed political connections and claimed association with the ruling BJP, was caught on camera assaulting the woman, a resident of his Grand Omaxe society in Noida's Sector 93B, after he was challenged by her.
He was also heard hurling expletives at the woman, who objected to his installing plants in the common area. In the wake of the controversy, the BJP had denied links with Tyagi, who had remained at large for four days before being arrested and booked under the Gangsters Act, among other charges.
(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) | https://www.devdiscourse.com/article/law-order/2221367-politician-shrikant-tyagi-released-on-bail-from-noida-jail | 2022-10-20T16:59:40 | en | 0.988002 |
Pakistan may exit FATF's grey list on Friday
- Country:
- India
After four years, Pakistan on Friday may exit the grey list of the global watchdog on terror financing and money laundering FATF, a development that will allow it to try to get foreign funding to tide over its precarious financial situation.
Till June, Pakistan had completed most of the action items given to it 2018 by the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) and a few item which were left unfulfilled including its failure to take action against UN designated terrorists, including Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) chief Masood Azhar, Lashker-e-Taiba (LeT) founder Hafiz Saeed and his trusted aide and the group's 'operational commander' Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi.
Azhar, Saeed and Lakhvi are most wanted terrorists in India for their involvement in numerous terrorist acts, including 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks and bombing of a CRPF bus at Pulwama in Jammu and Kashmir in 2019.
Pakistan was put in the inglorious list in 2018 for its failure to check risk of money laundering, leading to corruption and terror financing.
The FATF had found Pakistan's deficiencies in its legal, financial, regulatory, investigations, prosecution, judicial and non-government sector to fight money laundering and combat terror financing considered serious threat to global financial system.
The Paris-based global watchdog on money laundering and terrorist financing had recently said that the ''first FATF Plenary under the two-year Singapore Presidency of T. Raja Kumar will take place on October 20-21'' in Paris.
Pakistan has made high-level political commitments to address these deficiencies under a 27-point action plan. But later the number of action points was enhanced to 34.
With Pakistan's continuation on the grey list, it had increasingly become difficult for Islamabad to get financial aid from the IMF, the World Bank, the Asian Development Bank (ADB) and the European Union, thus further enhancing problems for the cash-strapped country.
Pakistan needed 12 votes out of 39 to exit the grey list and move to white list. To avoid black list, it needed support of three countries. China, Turkey and Malaysia are its consistent supporters.
Pakistan was placed on the grey list by the FATF in June, 2018 and was given a plan of action to complete it by October, 2019. Since then the country continues to be in that list due to its failure to comply with the FATF mandates.
The FATF is an inter-governmental body established in 1989 to combat money laundering, terrorist financing and other related threats to the integrity of the international financial system.
The FATF currently has 39 members including two regional organisations -- the European Commission and Gulf Cooperation Council.
India is a member of the FATF consultations and its Asia Pacific Group.
(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
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IEA reports that global energy-related carbon emissions set to rise by under one per cent this year, fuelling hopes peak emissions could be close
Could it finally be happening? After a series of false dawns, are global emissions poised to peak? That is the question sparked by the latest update today from the influential International Energy Agency...
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44 NIA cases pending in designated courts in Delhi: HC told
- Country:
- India
Altogether 44 cases registered by the NIA are pending before the designated special courts in the national capital, the Delhi High Court has been informed.
The administrative side of the high court has filed a status report before Justice Jasmeet Singh stating NIA cases at Patiala House Court here are being heard by two judges—Principal District and Sessions Judge and an Additional Sessions Judge (ASJ).
The submission was made pursuant to a high court order by which it had sought a report from the Principal District and Sessions Judge, Patiala House, regarding the pendency of NIA cases and their current status.
“As on July 31, 2022, 4 NIA cases are pending before the Principal District and Sessions Judge, Patiala House and 39 NIA trial cases are pending before the ASJ-03. There is one appeal pending before ASJ-03,” the status report filed through advocate Gaurav Agrawal said.
The report was filed in the context of a petition by an accused in a case lodged under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) seeking day-to-day hearing in his case pending before a special NIA court here.
The high court administration had earlier submitted it has resolved to withdraw all other cases being heard by the two special designated NIA courts and assign them to three newly created courts of ASJs in view of the pendency.
In December last year, the high court had said it was of paramount importance that cases under anti-terror law UAPA are tried expeditiously and that it was for the high court authorities to consider the issue and make appropriate recommendations for establishing exclusive courts for trial.
The court had observed since the cases under UAPA involved serious offences and foreign nationals, it was not easy for those in custody to secure bail and the trials lasted long.
In the petition filed through lawyer Kartik Murukutla, petitioner Manzar Imam has sought a direction to ensure that the special courts under the Act deal exclusively with NIA-investigated scheduled offences. He claimed the accused in NIA cases were “languishing for years on end”, in violation of their fundamental right to speedy trial under Article 21 of the Constitution.
He said he was in jail for eight years and there was a delay in the trial as there were only two designated courts which were also hearing non-NIA cases including bail matters, other IPC offences, and MCOCA matters.
The petitioner was arrested in August 2013 in a case registered by the National Investigation Agency alleging members of terror outfit Indian Mujahideen, in association with sleeper cells based in the country and others, were conspiring to commit terrorist acts and preparing to target important places in India.
PTI SKV SKV SK
(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
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'Let people of Delhi breathe clean air': SC refuses to urgently hear plea against firecracker ban
A bench of Justices M R Shah and M M Sundresh refused to list the plea challenging the direction issued by Delhi Pollution Control Committee DPCC on September 14 for a complete ban on manufacturing, storage, sale and bursting of all kinds of firecrackers till January 1, 2023, in Delhi.The bench told the counsel appearing for Tiwari that instead of firecrackers, people should spend their money on sweets.Let the people of Delhi breathe clean air.
- Country:
- India
The Supreme Court on Thursday refused an urgent hearing of a plea seeking the removal of complete ban on firecrackers in the national capital, saying ''let the people of Delhi breathe clean air''. The plea was filed by BJP MP Manoj Tiwari. A bench of Justices M R Shah and M M Sundresh refused to list the plea challenging the direction issued by Delhi Pollution Control Committee (DPCC) on September 14 for a complete ban on manufacturing, storage, sale and bursting of all kinds of firecrackers till January 1, 2023, in Delhi.
The bench told the counsel appearing for Tiwari that instead of firecrackers, people should spend their money on sweets.
''Let the people of Delhi breathe clean air. People should not spend money on firecrackers instead they should eat sweets,'' the bench said and added that plea will be coming up for hearing along with the main matter pending before the court. Earlier in the day, noting the pendency of issues related to firecrackers before the Supreme Court, the Delhi High Court also refused to entertain a petition challenging the ban on sale and use of all kinds of firecrackers in the national capital.
A single judge bench of Justice Yashwant Varma dismissed the petition by two merchants who sought to ''purchase, sell and store only green crackers'' during the festive season, and said it was not appropriate for the high court to independently examine such a challenge when the issue ''does appear to be engaging the attention'' of the top court.
The high court, however, said the petitioners were free to initiate appropriate proceedings under the law to seek redressal of their grievances. On October 13, the apex court had refused to accord urgent hearing to a fresh plea against an order banning storage, sale, and use of all types of firecrackers in the national capital till January 1, 2023. It had asked the petitioners to approach the Delhi High Court. On October 10, the top court had refused to stay the Delhi government's order banning storage, sale, and use of all types of firecrackers till January 1, 2023 to check pollution levels in the national capital, saying it doesn't want to add to the pollution of Delhi.
It had expressed concern over pollution levels during Diwali.
''You're a permanent resident of NCR, right? Have you seen the pollution? We do not want to add to the pollution. We are not dismissing your plea, we will consider it,'' the bench had told advocate Shashank Shekhar Jha, appearing for BJP MP Tiwari.
The lawyer insisted in the court that the air pollution was due to stubble burning.
The Supreme Court had tagged the petition along with the main matter and said it will come up for hearing before Diwali.
Contending that freedom of religion cannot be taken away under the pretext of the right to life, Tiwari has also sought directions to all states not to take any coercive action like lodging FIR against common people found selling or using permissible firecrackers during the festival season, including Diwali.
The top court had last year clarified there is no blanket ban on the use of firecrackers and only those fireworks which contain barium salts are prohibited.
The BJP MP, in his Thursday's plea filed through advocate Ashwani Kumar Dubey, said several state governments and certain high courts had in 2021 passed orders contrary to the stand taken by the apex court and imposed a blanket ban on firecrackers.
''With so many different orders, directions and views, it was confusing for the people at large to understand whether the firecrackers were allowed or not despite this court's refusal to put a blanket ban,'' he said in the plea.
''In the name of right to life, freedom of religion cannot be taken away and that a balance has to be struck like that has been done through the decision of this court dated October 29, 2021,'' the plea said.
The petition alleged that despite clear orders of the top court, certain states and Union territories did not take necessary steps to ensure proper arrangements for the celebration of Diwali and instead registered FIRs and imposed curfew.
''The chief secretaries, police commissioners, police superintendents, station house officers, and others in order to comply with the orders of their respective state governments have taken action against the common people who while purchasing the firecrackers did not even have knowledge about the ingredients of the crackers at all,'' it said.
Tiwari's plea said such arrests and FIRs sent out a ''very bad message'' to the society at large and unnecessarily created ''fear and anger'' among the masses.
(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
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As scrutiny of 'greenwashing' ramps up across Europe, the UK advertising watchdog has pledged to crackdown on misleading 'green' marketing and climate claims
Companies making broad brush claims about their environmental credentials could face significantly more scrutiny from the end of this year, after the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) announced it...
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MADISON, Wis. (AP) — University of Wisconsin police are investigating how private photos and video of members of the school’s national champion women’s volleyball team got circulated publicly without their consent. Wisconsin’s athletic department says players contacted campus police after they became aware the photos had been made public. The volleyball players aren’t being investigated for wrongdoing. University of Wisconsin police spokesman Marc Lovicott confirmed the investigation, but details are not being disclosed.
Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission. | https://wtmj.com/ap-news/2022/10/20/wisconsin-female-athletes-notify-police-over-private-photos-2/ | 2022-10-20T17:00:17 | en | 0.961168 |
Russian official says 'practical' issues delay visit to POWs
Gennady Gatilov, Russias ambassador in Geneva, said it was unreasonable to think Red Cross teams could visit all 6,000 Ukrainian POWs. Some critics say the Geneva-based ICRC has not done enough to try to obtain access to Russian detention centers.
- Country:
- Switzerland
The International Committee of the Red Cross has conducted at least five visits to Ukrainian prisoners of war since Russia invaded Ukraine, a Russian diplomat said Thursday while insisting that “practical arrangements” were holding up a trip to a prison where dozens of POWs died. Gennady Gatilov, Russia's ambassador in Geneva, said it was unreasonable to think Red Cross teams could visit all 6,000 Ukrainian POWs. Some critics say the Geneva-based ICRC has not done enough to try to obtain access to Russian detention centers. The humanitarian organisation said Sunday that it has an 11-person team ready to visit any POWs in separatist-held areas of Ukraine's eastern Donetsk region, including those held at the Olenivka prison. Russian and Ukrainian authorities accused the other of a July 29 attack that destroyed a barracks at the separatist-run prison. At least 53 Ukrainian POWs died and dozens more were wounded, according to Russian and separatist authorities.
The international Red Cross would “check on the conditions of internment and treatment, deliver essential supplies, and ensure the prisoners of war can contact their families,'' the organisation said.
The Red Cross reiterated it has been unable to visit all the sites it wanted to in connection with the war in Ukraine.
“Blaming the ICRC for being denied full and immediate access does not help prisoners of war or their families,” it said. Gatilov suggested that security concerns were responsible for delaying another possible visit to the prison in Olenivka, a settlement controlled by the Moscow-backed Donetsk People's Republic. “What the ICRC wants is security for these visits,” he said. “Sometimes … it's not easy to provide that sort of security because the shelling is continuing, and specifically the shelling of the area of Olenivka.” “Our counterparts in the Red Cross, they understand. They still believe that they can do this,” he said. “They will do this in the future. And the only thing we need is just to discuss the practical arrangements for this visit. From the point of view of security, first of all.'' Alexander Pchelyakov, a spokesman for the Russian mission in Geneva, later specified the five dates that ICRC teams already had made to Ukrainian POWs: in Crimea's Sevastopol on April 11, May 19 and August 4; on May 19 in Olenivka and the Azov Sea coastal town of Novoazovsk; and a July 28 trip to Mulino, a rural area in Russia near the city of Nizhny Novgorod.
In comments that diverged from the findings of U.N. human rights experts and other independent monitors, Gatilov claimed that Ukrainian prisoners of war were “treated quite well” while Russians held by Ukrainian authorities have been subject to torture and “psychological” and “physical” pressure that violates the Geneva Conventions.
A U.N. team of experts last month cited testimonies of beatings, electric shocks and forced nudity in Russian detention facilities.
(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) | https://www.devdiscourse.com/article/law-order/2221389-russian-official-says-practical-issues-delay-visit-to-pows | 2022-10-20T17:00:15 | en | 0.96891 |
Akzo Nobel expects core profit below $146.73 million in Q4 2022
The Amsterdam-based group said it expects a core profit below 150 million euros ($146.73 million) for the fourth quarter after posting 201 million in the third quarter and 209 million euros in the fourth quarter last year.
Dutch paints and coatings maker Akzo Nobel on Thursday warned of a continuing impact in its fourth quarter from high raw materials costs and too much stock as it suspended its 2023 profit guidance.
The Amsterdam-based group, which makes the Dulux and Flexa paints and supplies sectors ranging from aerospace to yachts, said it expects a core profit below 150 million euros ($146.73 million) for the fourth quarter after posting 201 million in the third quarter and 209 million euros in the fourth quarter last year.
"Softening demand and destocking means more negative pressure on our margins from weaker volumes before we start realizing the long-awaited margin expansion in 2023," said chief executive Thierry Vanlancker, set to be replaced by French businessman Gregoire Poux-Guillaume on Nov. 1st.
"We're lowering the expectation for all the dynamics we have", he added on the company's fourth-quarter assumptions.
Sales volumes for the fourth quarter are expected to drop by a mid- to high-single digit percentage compared to last year. The impact from raw material and freight inflation is expected to be in the range of 210-240 million euros, the company said.
The company's significant inventories of raw materials bought at previous high prices still have "to be flushed out of the system", Vanlancker said.
It had so far managed to pass on costs to consumers, increasing its prices by 22% in two years.
"That inflated balloon of raw material price really is deflating pretty quickly now, and that's going to be a bit ugly for 3-4 months until it actually gets back to normal", Vanlancker said.
The paintmaker's shares fell 2-3% in morning trading.
Akzo Nobel suspended its core profit outlook of 2 billion euros in earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) in 2023, blaming macroeconomic turbulence which is negatively affecting consumer confidence.
Analysts average consensus estimates stand at 1.22 billion euros for 2022 and 1.53 billion for 2023, according to a recent poll published on Akzo Nobel's website. | https://realty.economictimes.indiatimes.com/amp/news/allied-industries/akzo-nobel-expects-core-profit-below-146-73-million-in-q4-2022/94990642 | 2022-10-20T17:00:22 | en | 0.941031 |
Asian Paints posts 32% growth in net profit in Q2 FY23
The company's total consolidated income stood at Rs 8,553.04 crore in Q2 FY23, a growth of 18.23 per cent from Rs 7,234.21 crore it recorded in the similar quarter last year.
NEW DELHI: Asian Paints has registered 32 per cent growth in its net consolidated profit during the quarter ended September 2022. Its profit after tax (PAT) stood at Rs 803.83 crore in Q2 FY23 as against Rs 605.17 crore it recorded in the corresponding quarter of the previous fiscal, the company said in a BSE filing.
The company's total consolidated income stood at Rs 8,553.04 crore in Q2 FY23, a growth of 18.23 per cent from Rs 7,234.21 crore it recorded in the similar quarter last year.
The board of directors approved payment of interim dividend of Rs. 4.40 per equity share of the face value of Re. 1 each for the financial year ending March 31, 2023.
"The domestic decorative business showed resilience to deliver a double-digit volume growth and healthy value growth despite subdued demand conditions, impacted by the extended monsoon. The International business also registered a good double digit revenue growth despite multiple headwinds across key markets. We took a series of calibrated price increases to offset the impact of increased inflation on margins," Amit Syngle, managing director & CEO of the company.
Its consolidated sales increased by 19.8% to Rs 8,430.60 crore in Q2 FY23 from Rs 7,036.51 crore it registered in Q2 FY22.
International business sales increased by 15.3% to Rs 805.99 crore in in Q2 FY23 from Rs 699.28 crore a year ago. Profit before tax (PBT) was Rs 43.48 crore in Q2 FY23 as against loss before tax of Rs 16.74 crore in the corresponding period of previous year.
Bath Fittings business sales increased by 10.9% to Rs 101.77 crores in Q2 FY23 from Rs 91.77 crore in Q2 FY22. PBT was Rs 0.24 crore in Q2 FY23 as against Rs 3.29 crores in the corresponding period of previous year.
Kitchen business sales increased by 14.2% to Rs 117.83 crore in Q2 FY23 from Rs 103.15 crore in Q2 FY22. Loss before tax was Rs 4.30 crore in Q2 FY23 as against a profit before tax of Rs 0.25 crore in the corresponding period of previous year. | https://realty.economictimes.indiatimes.com/amp/news/allied-industries/asian-paints-posts-32-growth-in-net-profit-in-q2-fy23/94994386 | 2022-10-20T17:00:23 | en | 0.95848 |
Asian Paints to invest Rs 2,100 crore to set up manufacturing facility for VAE and VAM
The installed capacity of the said manufacturing facility would be 100,000 tons per annum for Vinyl Acetate Monomer (VAM) and 150,000 tons per annum for Vinyl Acetate Ethylene Emulsion (VAE). | https://realty.economictimes.indiatimes.com/amp/news/allied-industries/asian-paints-to-invest-rs-2100-crore-to-set-up-manufacturing-facility-for-vae-and-vam/94994157 | 2022-10-20T17:00:24 | en | 0.917067 |
Asian Paints to invest Rs 550 crore to set up white cement manufacturing facility in UAE
The overall investment would be approximately Rs 550 crore, to be invested over the next two years. The cost of the project would be funded through a combination of equity funding by Asian Paints & the other parties and external debt financing.
NEW DELHI: Asian Paints has entered into a binding term sheet with Riddhi Siddhi Crusher & Land Transport (Riddhi Siddhi), Associated Soap Stone Distributing Company (ASD), Raj Kumar Bohra and Nita Bohra to form a joint venture to carry out the business of manufacturing and exporting white cement & white cement clinkers by setting up a manufacturing plant in Fujairah, United Arab Emirates (UAE), the company said in a BSE filing.
The proposed joint venture would be set up with 60:40 partnership between the company and other parties and would carry out the business of manufacturing and exporting white cement and white cement clinker.
The initial capacity of the manufacturing facility, to be set up in Fujairah, would be 2,65,000 tons per annum. In addition, clinker grinding units would be set up in India as well.
The overall investment would be approximately Rs 550 crore, to be invested over the next two years. The cost of the project would be funded through a combination of equity funding by the company & the other parties and external debt financing.
White cement is the key raw material for some of the powder products and undercoats like putty which is a levelling powder product for various substrates. In addition, white cement is used in the home construction & repair segment, for various applications like – tile/marble fixing, sanitary-ware work, repair work, etc. The market for usage in undercoats and in repair/ tile fixing area is growing at 15-20% every year, the company said in a media release.
"Given the synergy of 70% of the white cement being sold through the paint/hardware/tile retailers, this offers Asian Paints a huge opportunity to market white cement to our extensive network of dealers across the country," said Amit Syngle, MD & CEO of the company.
At present, the company purchases white cement for manufacturing powder products and undercoats in India. The above proposal of setting up the manufacturing facility for white cement is towards fulfilling the company's long-term requirements to cater to internal consumption and also for selling white cement as a finished product.
Riddhi Siddhi holds mining permits for high – quality limestone mines in Fujairah and is a supplier of limestone. ASD (Golcha Group) is one of the trusted suppliers of certain raw materials to the company. | https://realty.economictimes.indiatimes.com/amp/news/allied-industries/asian-paints-to-invest-rs-550-crore-to-set-up-white-cement-manufacturing-facility-in-uae/94993998 | 2022-10-20T17:00:26 | en | 0.956115 |
BJP demands judicial probe into impostor calling up Bihar DGP posing as HC judge
- Country:
- India
The BJP Thursday demanded a judicial inquiry into phone calls made to Bihar DGP by a conman, who posing as a high court judge sought leniency towards an IPS officer accused of links with liquor traders in the dry state.
State BJP president Sanjay Jaiswal also asked the Nitish Kumar government to come out with a “white paper” in the matter which came to light earlier this week with the arrest of the alleged conman.
“The entire truth must be known. We believe that such an audacious fraudster must not have stopped at making calls to the DGP. He must have contacted many other officials, principal secretaries and even the chief secretary. Who knows, he might have made calls to the chief minister himself,'' Jaiswal told reporters.
The BJP leader said that since the director general of Police S K Singhal was himself trapped, the efficacy of the police in cracking the case has become suspect.
“The DGP might even have tried to oblige the conman, believing him to be a high court judge. This also raises question marks on the state police chief's professional competence and integrity. The matter must, therefore, be investigated by a committee headed by a sitting judge of the High Court,” Jaiswal said.
“Since the racket seems to have been masterminded by a serving IPS officer, who may have been well connected, the state government must also bring out a white paper on the sordid episode. The credibility of the state police is in tatters because of a dismal law and order situation and such scandals make the matters only worse,” he added.
IPS officer Ashish Kumar, against whom an FIR is pending for alleged collusion with liquor mafia while he was the Gaya senior superintendent of police, has been absconding and placed under suspension.
Meanwhile, senior BJP leader Sushil Kumar Modi, who has served as the Bihar deputy chief minister for over a decade, issued a statement advocating a CBI inquiry into the matter.
At his press conference, Jaiswal also charged Nitish Kumar, whom his party had squarely blamed for the Patna High Court's adverse ruling in urban local body polls matter, with splurging public money on the review petition which was heard and disposed of the previous day.
“The government, in effect, withdrew its review petition. If that was all it intended to do, why did it hire an army of Supreme Court lawyers who charge seven-figure sums for every appearance? Of what good is the state's advocate general if he cannot argue a case?” asked Jaiswal.
“The state government filed not just one but over a dozen review petitions, all at the same time. It speaks volumes about the incompetence of the current dispensation. The advocate general, who is often reluctant to put his signature on documents vetted by minister and secretary of the law department, seems more concerned about taking orders from the chief minister's residence”, alleged the BJP leader.
On Wednesday the High Court, which had on October 4 declared as illegal the quotas for extremely backward classes in the state's urban local bodies, agreed to the state government's plea that fresh polls, with reservations in place, be allowed after a report to the effect was obtained from a statutory commission set up for the very purpose.
(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
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Sushil Modi slams Nitish Kumar, says CM feels insecure about Amit Shah's visit on JP's birth anniversary | https://www.devdiscourse.com/article/law-order/2221401-bjp-demands-judicial-probe-into-impostor-calling-up-bihar-dgp-posing-as-hc-judge | 2022-10-20T17:00:27 | en | 0.978513 |
HDFC corners 15% of CLSS housing market with Rs 67,000 crore loans
Managing director Renu Sud Karnad said they have over 3.13 lakh credit linked subsidy scheme (CLSS) customers, who have cumulatively borrowed more than Rs 67,000 crore from them since the launch of the plan under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (PMAY).
MUMBAI: With over Rs 7,200 crore in subsidy disbursals, the largest pure-play mortgage lender HDFC has cornered over 15 per cent of the credit-linked subsidy scheme for affordable housing since its launch in June 2016.
The 45-year-old Corporation, which is awaiting a reverse merger with its subsidiary HDFC Bank, has also won the best housing finance company award from the government for this for the third time this year.
Its Managing director Renu Sud Karnad said they have over 3.13 lakh credit linked subsidy scheme (CLSS) customers, who have cumulatively borrowed more than Rs 67,000 crore from them since the launch of the plan under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (PMAY).
These customers have received more than Rs 7,200 crore in subsidies, which is a tad over 15 per cent of the total subsidy of Rs 48,250 crore given by the government.
The corporation has been awarded the best performing housing finance company under the CLSS and the same was given away by Union Housing Minister Hardeep Singh Puri in Rajkot last night, Karnad said in a statement on Thursday.
It can be noted that poll-bound Gujarat has become the best-performing state under the scheme in terms of the number of borrowers.
HDFC in July 2018 won the best-performing primary lending institution in the EWS and LIG segments and the second-best in the MIG segment under the scheme. In March 2019, it was also awarded the best private sector financial institution under this.
Karnad expects affordable housing to continue to drive the real estate sector as there is a strong structural demand for housing due to better affordability, government incentives, favourable demographics, increasing urbanisation and rising aspirations to own a house.
She has also noted a paradigm shift among customers across all segments applying online, which has enabled HDFC to assist over 3 lakh customers under the PMAY, especially during the pandemic. As result, today over 92 per cent of new loan applications received are through digital channels, which was less than 20 per cent before the pandemic.
Over the past 45 years, HDFC has funded more than 95 lakh homes. It has 695 offices in the country and also in London, Dubai and Singapore. | https://realty.economictimes.indiatimes.com/amp/news/allied-industries/hdfc-corners-15-of-clss-housing-market-with-rs-67000-crore-loans/94990514 | 2022-10-20T17:00:32 | en | 0.972275 |
Trial will see e-bike company offer Deliveroo riders subsidised bikes at affordable rates to help encourage greener takeaway deliveries
E-bike company VOLT has announced it is launching a trial with food delivery service giant Deliveroo to provide its delivery riders with a greener and more affordable alternative to motor vehicles.
VOLT said it would be offering a group of Deliveroo's riders across the UK subsidised e-bikes that feature bespoke Deliveroo branding at a special discounted rate. Riders will be offered VOLT's Burlington model and the trial will explore various buying options for a select group of Deliveroo riders.
Switching to a VOLT Burlington bike would allow riders to cover longer distances than with a traditional push bike, as well as providing a zero emission alternative to motorised vehicles for riders who are looking to upgrade, the company said.
"For VOLT to partner with Deliveroo in the UK to offer riders high quality e-bikes at an accessible price is incredibly exciting," said James Metcalfe, founder and owner of VOLT.
"We look forward to seeing what impact this initial trial period can bring and hope to continue our collaboration into the future and get more riders on alternative more environmentally friendly transport soon."
Paul Bedford, director of policy and sustainability at Deliveroo, welcomed the news and hailed it as a step in the right direction for the company's sustainability drive.
"By significantly reducing the cost of a new, high spec VOLT e-bike, we hope to accelerate the trend towards a greener fleet, reducing carbon emissions while helping riders to maximise their earnings - a win-win for all," he said.
The pilot is the latest in a series of trials from takeaway delivery companies to incentivise their drivers to switch to electric scooters, e-bikes, and bicycles, so as to reduce fuel costs, carbon emissions, and air pollution. | https://www.businessgreen.com/news/4058488/deliveroo-volt-bikes-trial | 2022-10-20T17:00:36 | en | 0.959898 |
BSF troops catch bird with aluminium rings on its legs near Indo-Pakistan border
- Country:
- India
Border Security Force (BSF) troops on Thursday caught a bird near the Indo-Pakistan border with aluminium rings on its legs, raising suspicion that it could be a part of espionage. Border Security Force (BSF) troops caught the Asian Houbara Bustard near Longewala this morning.
According to official sources, the bird is suspected to have come from across the border and it is being examined whether the rings were being used for spying.
(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
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Advertisement | https://www.devdiscourse.com/article/law-order/2221402-bsf-troops-catch-bird-with-aluminium-rings-on-its-legs-near-indo-pakistan-border | 2022-10-20T17:00:35 | en | 0.951198 |
Housing starts fall, building permits rise in USA in September 2022
Housing starts dropped 8.1% to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.439 million units last month. Data for August was revised down to a rate of 1.566 million units from the previously reported 1.575 million units.
U.S. homebuilding fell more than expected in September, led by a 13.1% decline in multi-unit projects, according to Census Bureau data released on Wednesday.
Housing starts dropped 8.1% to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.439 million units last month. Data for August was revised down to a rate of 1.566 million units from the previously reported 1.575 million units. Economists polled by Reuters had forecast starts would come in at a rate of 1.475 million units.
The Federal Reserve's aggressive monetary policy tightening has significantly weakened the housing market, with most indicators falling to levels last seen during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic in the spring of 2020. In contrast, other sectors of the economy, like the labor market, have shown resilience despite the U.S. central bank's attempts to cool demand.
Since March, the Fed has lifted its benchmark policy rate from near zero to a range of 3.00%-3.25%, and the fed funds rate is now expected to end the year in the mid-4% range with inflation yet to show signs of abating materially.
Mortgage rates have risen even higher. The 30-year fixed mortgage rate averaged 6.94% last week, the highest since 2002, up from 6.81% a week earlier, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association.
Permits for future home construction rose 1.4% to a rate of 1.564 million units in September. Residential fixed investment declined at its steepest pace in two years in the second quarter, contributing to the second straight quarterly drop in gross domestic product during that period.
Homebuilding is likely to remain on the back foot for the rest of the year. A survey on Tuesday showed the National Association of Home Builders/Wells Fargo Housing Market sentiment index fell for the 10th straight month in October. | https://realty.economictimes.indiatimes.com/amp/news/residential/housing-starts-fall-building-permits-rise-in-usa-in-september-2022/94991127 | 2022-10-20T17:00:42 | en | 0.966504 |
Kevin Spacey's sex abuse denials 'not worthy of your belief,' lawyer tells jury
A lawyer for a man who says Kevin Spacey sexually abused him when he was 14 told a Manhattan jury on Thursday that the Oscar-winning actor’s denials were "inconsistent," as a civil case over the alleged abuse draws to a close. Anthony Rapp, now 50, accused Spacey of making an unwanted sexual advance on him 1986, when he was 14-years-old and Spacey was 26.
A lawyer for a man who says Kevin Spacey sexually abused him when he was 14 told a Manhattan jury on Thursday that the Oscar-winning actor’s denials were "inconsistent," as a civil case over the alleged abuse draws to a close.
Anthony Rapp, now 50, accused Spacey of making an unwanted sexual advance on him 1986, when he was 14-years-old and Spacey was 26. Spacey denied the allegation on the stand and said he had never been alone with Rapp. Rapp’s lawyer, Richard Steigman, urged jurors to discredit Spacey’s recollection of the events.
“It’s inconsistent. It's not worthy of your belief,” Steigman said during closing arguments. The trial in Manhattan federal court began on Oct. 6, just under five years after Spacey's career was upended by sexual misconduct allegations. He has denied those allegations.
Rapp, who starred in the Broadway musical "Rent," sued Spacey for battery and intentional infliction of emotional distress in November 2020. During the trial, Judge Lewis A. Kaplan dismissed Rapp's claim for emotional distress but allowed the case to proceed on his battery claim.
Last week, Spacey's lawyer challenged Rapp's memory of the 1986 incident during cross-examination, questioning him on why he described the encounter as having occurred in a bedroom when Spacey lived in a studio at the time. Spacey won Oscars for performances in "American Beauty" and "The Usual Suspects," but his career largely ended after more than 20 men accused him of sexual misconduct.
Spacey faces a criminal trial in London next year after pleading not guilty to five sex offense charges over alleged assaults between 2005 and 2013.
(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
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Musical 'Matilda' opens London Film Festival | https://www.devdiscourse.com/article/law-order/2221413-kevin-spaceys-sex-abuse-denials-not-worthy-of-your-belief-lawyer-tells-jury | 2022-10-20T17:00:44 | en | 0.972159 |
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Akzo Nobel expects core profit below $146.73 million in Q4 2022
The Amsterdam-based group said it expects a core profit below 150 million euros ($146.73 million) for the fourth quarter after posting 201 million in the third quarter and 209 million euros in the fourth quarter last year.
Dutch paints and coatings maker Akzo Nobel on Thursday warned of a continuing impact in its fourth quarter from high raw materials costs and too much stock as it suspended its 2023 profit guidance.
The Amsterdam-based group, which makes the Dulux and Flexa paints and supplies sectors ranging from aerospace to yachts, said it expects a core profit below 150 million euros ($146.73 million) for the fourth quarter after posting 201 million in the third quarter and 209 million euros in the fourth quarter last year.
"Softening demand and destocking means more negative pressure on our margins from weaker volumes before we start realizing the long-awaited margin expansion in 2023," said chief executive Thierry Vanlancker, set to be replaced by French businessman Gregoire Poux-Guillaume on Nov. 1st.
"We're lowering the expectation for all the dynamics we have", he added on the company's fourth-quarter assumptions.
Sales volumes for the fourth quarter are expected to drop by a mid- to high-single digit percentage compared to last year. The impact from raw material and freight inflation is expected to be in the range of 210-240 million euros, the company said.
The company's significant inventories of raw materials bought at previous high prices still have "to be flushed out of the system", Vanlancker said.
It had so far managed to pass on costs to consumers, increasing its prices by 22% in two years.
"That inflated balloon of raw material price really is deflating pretty quickly now, and that's going to be a bit ugly for 3-4 months until it actually gets back to normal", Vanlancker said.
The paintmaker's shares fell 2-3% in morning trading.
Akzo Nobel suspended its core profit outlook of 2 billion euros in earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) in 2023, blaming macroeconomic turbulence which is negatively affecting consumer confidence.
Analysts average consensus estimates stand at 1.22 billion euros for 2022 and 1.53 billion for 2023, according to a recent poll published on Akzo Nobel's website.
The attached properties include land, commercial spaces, plots, residential houses and bank accounts, the federal agency said in a statement issued on Saturday. The total value of these attached properties is Rs 1,317.30 crore. | https://realty.economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/allied-industries/akzo-nobel-expects-core-profit-below-146-73-million-in-q4-2022/94990642 | 2022-10-20T17:00:48 | en | 0.937793 |
Assam CM writes to Mamata for intervention for probe into Assam student's death in IIT Kharagpur
- Country:
- India
Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma Thursday wrote to his West Bengal counterpart Mamata Banerjee requesting her to intervene for a thorough investigation into the circumstances surrounding the death of IIT Kharagpur student Faizan Ahmed.
Sarma said that the untimely death of Ahmed has caused a deep sense of grief in Assam.
Ahmed, hailing from Twho hails from Tinsukia, was a third year mechanical engineering student in the Institute and was found dead in his hostel room on October 14. His parents filed a case with the local police in Kharagpur requesting the superintending of police of Paschim Medinipur, West Bengal and inspector-in-charge of Kharagpur (Town) police station for an investigation.
(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
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Asian Paints posts 32% growth in net profit in Q2 FY23
The company's total consolidated income stood at Rs 8,553.04 crore in Q2 FY23, a growth of 18.23 per cent from Rs 7,234.21 crore it recorded in the similar quarter last year.
NEW DELHI: Asian Paints has registered 32 per cent growth in its net consolidated profit during the quarter ended September 2022. Its profit after tax (PAT) stood at Rs 803.83 crore in Q2 FY23 as against Rs 605.17 crore it recorded in the corresponding quarter of the previous fiscal, the company said in a BSE filing.
The company's total consolidated income stood at Rs 8,553.04 crore in Q2 FY23, a growth of 18.23 per cent from Rs 7,234.21 crore it recorded in the similar quarter last year.
The board of directors approved payment of interim dividend of Rs. 4.40 per equity share of the face value of Re. 1 each for the financial year ending March 31, 2023.
"The domestic decorative business showed resilience to deliver a double-digit volume growth and healthy value growth despite subdued demand conditions, impacted by the extended monsoon. The International business also registered a good double digit revenue growth despite multiple headwinds across key markets. We took a series of calibrated price increases to offset the impact of increased inflation on margins," Amit Syngle, managing director & CEO of the company.
Its consolidated sales increased by 19.8% to Rs 8,430.60 crore in Q2 FY23 from Rs 7,036.51 crore it registered in Q2 FY22.
International business sales increased by 15.3% to Rs 805.99 crore in in Q2 FY23 from Rs 699.28 crore a year ago. Profit before tax (PBT) was Rs 43.48 crore in Q2 FY23 as against loss before tax of Rs 16.74 crore in the corresponding period of previous year.
Bath Fittings business sales increased by 10.9% to Rs 101.77 crores in Q2 FY23 from Rs 91.77 crore in Q2 FY22. PBT was Rs 0.24 crore in Q2 FY23 as against Rs 3.29 crores in the corresponding period of previous year.
Kitchen business sales increased by 14.2% to Rs 117.83 crore in Q2 FY23 from Rs 103.15 crore in Q2 FY22. Loss before tax was Rs 4.30 crore in Q2 FY23 as against a profit before tax of Rs 0.25 crore in the corresponding period of previous year.
The attached properties include land, commercial spaces, plots, residential houses and bank accounts, the federal agency said in a statement issued on Saturday. The total value of these attached properties is Rs 1,317.30 crore. | https://realty.economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/allied-industries/asian-paints-posts-32-growth-in-net-profit-in-q2-fy23/94994386 | 2022-10-20T17:00:54 | en | 0.952337 |
New report warns EU faces higher emissions if it fais to deliver on recycling targets
The European Commission is facing calls to introduce more ambitious measures to drive up recycling rates for drinks packaging, including glass, metal, and plastic bottles, or risk seeing decarbonisation and resource security efforts derailed.
That is the headline warning contained in a new report from waste non-profit Reloop, which estimates that bolder recycling targets and policies could save billions of empty cans and other drinks containers from going to waste each year in the process delivering huge emissions and material savings.
Titled Target 90, the new report calls on European officials to extend rules requiring 90 per cent separate collection of plastic bottles to cover all other recyclable drinks packaging, including glass and metal.
The report argues that deposit return schemes (DRS) should be applied to all metal, glass, and plastic drinks containers in order to boost recovery rates and ensure the ambitious new targets are met.
It also warned that without the widespread use of DRS backed by EU law, supplies of used PET plastic will struggle to demand and by 2030 the average new bottle will contain just 15 per cent recycled plastic, half the amount required by EU law.
The report estimates that hitting the 90 per cent target would cut consumption of virgin PET by 1.6 million tonnes, while also saving almost 400,000 tonnes of virgin aluminium and over 20 million tonnes of virgin glass.
Figures suggest the savings could reduce emissions by 10 million tonnes of CO2 equivalent by 2030. In 2030 alone, the savings could amount to 2.7 mtCO2e, equivalent to 1.4 per cent of the EU's 2030 emissions reduction target.
Although the report recognises that it would take time to deliver near universal DRS regimes, it suggests the approach could avoid an estimated 170 billion drinks containers from going to waste through to 2030, while also cutting vast amounts of litter, boosting closed-loop recycling, and greatly enhancing the quality of recycling streams.
Despite the EU having some of the world's most stringent waste and recycling rules, the report estimated that a third of drinks containers will be lost from recycling streams in 2022, amounting to 830,000 tonnes of plastic, 140,000 tonnes of aluminium, and nine million tonnes of glass, materials worth nearly €900m.
The report found that France, Italy, Poland, and Spain have the most to gain from the widespread adoption of DRS, accounting for 60 per cent of expected savings.
The European Commission has a mandate in place to make all packaging reusable or recyclable by 2030, and it is expected to propose rule changes detailing how to deliver on the goals towards the end of the year.
Reloop said that policies in Denmark, Finland, Germany, Norway, and Lithuania already meet its 90 per cent target, while 18 EU states, covering 45 per cent of the EU population, will have national DRS in place by 2026.
"It is madness to be wasting billions of drinks containers in the face of our growing climate and resource crises," said Reloop chief executive officer Clarissa Morawski. "Reaching Target 90 would end this, deliver sizeable climate savings and push the drinks sector into a 'waste nirvana' of closed-loop recycling meeting most of the EU's PET, glass and aluminium needs. We expect the Commission to set this course in November and EU level action is sorely needed to push laggard member states in the right direction."
In other drinks industry news, zero-waste spirits brand Discarded has unveiled new research which reveals that the average British household wastes more than £245 worth of fruit per year, which includes throwing out as many as 110 bananas over 12 months.
The research also found that a third - of Brits said that they throw fruit out all the time, with a fifth admitting that they buy fruit in a bid to be healthy, but they end up throwing the fruit out before they are able to eat it.
"This research indicates despite having the best intentions, Brits are guilty of throwing away fruit, from bananas to apples to strawberries," said Calum Fraser, Discarded UK ambassador.
"At Discarded, we are passionate about showing how 'everyday' waste, like banana peels, can be given a beautiful second life with a little creative imagination. Our ambition is to challenge people to reverse needless waste by thinking about how they can live more sustainably; including what they drink. At Discarded Spirits Co. we're proud to develop award-winning spirits that not only taste great but give back to the planet too." | https://www.businessgreen.com/news/4058506/study-deposit-return-schemes-slash-european-emissions-million-tonnes | 2022-10-20T17:00:57 | en | 0.946948 |
You need to enable JavaScript to run this app. | https://sportspyder.com/nba/brooklyn-nets/articles/41193113 | 2022-10-20T17:01:00 | en | 0.738227 |
CBI court frames charges against Atiq Ahmad in BSP MLA murder case
A special CBI court on Thursday framed charges against politician Atiq Ahmad and other accused for the murder of BSP MLA Raju Pal in 2005. The court framed charges against Ahmad and the others for murder, conspiracy, and attempted murder. The incident was reported at Dhoomanganj Police Station in Prayagraj by Pooja Pal, Raju Pals wife.
- Country:
- India
A special CBI court on Thursday framed charges against politician Atiq Ahmad and other accused for the murder of BSP MLA Raju Pal in 2005. The court has fixed November 3 for recording evidence of prosecution witnesses. Ahmad was brought from Sabarmati jail, Gujarat, under high security and produced in the court of special CBI judge Kavita Mishra.
Talking to reporters from inside his van in which he was brought, Ahmad praised Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath calling him ''brave and honest.'' ''Yogi Adityanath is a very brave CM and is honest,'' Ahmad said from inside the van at the court.
The state government has targeted Ahmad and has launched a crackdown on his illegal properties, several of them were attached and demolished also. The other accused, Ashraf and Farhan, were brought to the court from Lucknow district jail.
Four other accused – Ranjit Pal, Aabid, Israr Ahmed, and Junaid – who are on bail, were also present in the court. The court framed charges against Ahmad and the others for murder, conspiracy, and attempted murder. All accused denied charges and pleaded not guilty. Raju Pal, BSP MLA from Allahabad West, was shot dead on January 25, 2005 in broad daylight. In the incident, two others, Devi Pal and Sandeep Yadav, were also killed, and two more were seriously injured. The incident was reported at Dhoomanganj Police Station in Prayagraj by Pooja Pal, Raju Pal’s wife. The investigation was initially conducted by police and CBCID, but was later taken over by the CBI on January 22, 2016, at the Supreme Court’s order. The CBI had submitted a chargesheet against Ahmad and the other accused on August 20, 2019.
(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) | https://www.devdiscourse.com/article/law-order/2221429-cbi-court-frames-charges-against-atiq-ahmad-in-bsp-mla-murder-case | 2022-10-20T17:00:59 | en | 0.987026 |
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Asian Paints to invest Rs 2,100 crore to set up manufacturing facility for VAE and VAM
The installed capacity of the said manufacturing facility would be 100,000 tons per annum for Vinyl Acetate Monomer (VAM) and 150,000 tons per annum for Vinyl Acetate Ethylene Emulsion (VAE).
The setting up of facility for manufacture of VAM would be based on licensed technology tie up with Kellogg Brown & Root LLC (KBR), USA.
The installed capacity of the said manufacturing facility would be 100,000 tons per annum for VAM and 150,000 tons per annum for VAE.
Manufacturing VAM and VAE in India would provide substantial sustainable cost efficiencies, substituting company's dependence on imports and would be used for the its internal consumption. This would be a key backward integration project for the company.
VAE is considered to be the emulsion of the future, and the key constituent for manufacturing environment friendly paints. It offers better paint properties and can significantly improve paint performance in customer facing attributes.
The attached properties include land, commercial spaces, plots, residential houses and bank accounts, the federal agency said in a statement issued on Saturday. The total value of these attached properties is Rs 1,317.30 crore. | https://realty.economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/allied-industries/asian-paints-to-invest-rs-2100-crore-to-set-up-manufacturing-facility-for-vae-and-vam/94994157 | 2022-10-20T17:01:00 | en | 0.938143 |
You need to enable JavaScript to run this app. | https://sportspyder.com/nba/brooklyn-nets/articles/41193126 | 2022-10-20T17:01:06 | en | 0.738227 |
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Asian Paints to invest Rs 550 crore to set up white cement manufacturing facility in UAE
The overall investment would be approximately Rs 550 crore, to be invested over the next two years. The cost of the project would be funded through a combination of equity funding by Asian Paints & the other parties and external debt financing.
NEW DELHI: Asian Paints has entered into a binding term sheet with Riddhi Siddhi Crusher & Land Transport (Riddhi Siddhi), Associated Soap Stone Distributing Company (ASD), Raj Kumar Bohra and Nita Bohra to form a joint venture to carry out the business of manufacturing and exporting white cement & white cement clinkers by setting up a manufacturing plant in Fujairah, United Arab Emirates (UAE), the company said in a BSE filing.
The proposed joint venture would be set up with 60:40 partnership between the company and other parties and would carry out the business of manufacturing and exporting white cement and white cement clinker.
The initial capacity of the manufacturing facility, to be set up in Fujairah, would be 2,65,000 tons per annum. In addition, clinker grinding units would be set up in India as well.
The overall investment would be approximately Rs 550 crore, to be invested over the next two years. The cost of the project would be funded through a combination of equity funding by the company & the other parties and external debt financing.
White cement is the key raw material for some of the powder products and undercoats like putty which is a levelling powder product for various substrates. In addition, white cement is used in the home construction & repair segment, for various applications like – tile/marble fixing, sanitary-ware work, repair work, etc. The market for usage in undercoats and in repair/ tile fixing area is growing at 15-20% every year, the company said in a media release.
"Given the synergy of 70% of the white cement being sold through the paint/hardware/tile retailers, this offers Asian Paints a huge opportunity to market white cement to our extensive network of dealers across the country," said Amit Syngle, MD & CEO of the company.
At present, the company purchases white cement for manufacturing powder products and undercoats in India. The above proposal of setting up the manufacturing facility for white cement is towards fulfilling the company's long-term requirements to cater to internal consumption and also for selling white cement as a finished product.
Riddhi Siddhi holds mining permits for high – quality limestone mines in Fujairah and is a supplier of limestone. ASD (Golcha Group) is one of the trusted suppliers of certain raw materials to the company.
The attached properties include land, commercial spaces, plots, residential houses and bank accounts, the federal agency said in a statement issued on Saturday. The total value of these attached properties is Rs 1,317.30 crore. | https://realty.economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/allied-industries/asian-paints-to-invest-rs-550-crore-to-set-up-white-cement-manufacturing-facility-in-uae/94993998 | 2022-10-20T17:01:07 | en | 0.95119 |
Straight trees always cut first: Ashok Khemka over appointment of his batchmates as secretaries
Straight trees are always cut first, said senior bureaucrat Ashok Khemka while reacting to appointments of some of his batchmates as secretaries in different central government departments.Khemka, an Indian Administrative Service IAS officer of the 1991 batch, is currently serving as principal secretary additional secretary level in his cadre state Haryana.The officer, who has been transferred 52 times, according to his executive record sheet on the Department of Personnels website, had cancelled the mutation of a prime plot of Congress leader Sonia Gandhis son-in-law Robert Vadra in Manesar in Gurugram district.
- Country:
- India
''Straight trees are always cut first'', said senior bureaucrat Ashok Khemka while reacting to appointments of some of his batchmates as secretaries in different central government departments.
Khemka, an Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer of the 1991 batch, is currently serving as principal secretary (additional secretary level) in his cadre state Haryana.
The officer, who has been transferred 52 times, according to his executive record sheet on the Department of Personnel's website, had cancelled the mutation of a prime plot of Congress leader Sonia Gandhi's son-in-law Robert Vadra in Manesar in Gurugram district. The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet on Wednesday approved the appointment of 16 senior bureaucrats, including his batchmates, as secretaries in various central government departments.
''Congratulations to my batchmates newly appointed as Secretaries to GOI! While this is an occasion for merry, it brings an equal measure of despondency for one’s own self having been left behind. Straight trees are always cut first. No regrets. With renewed resolve, I shall persist,'' Khemka tweeted. Manoj Govil, a 1991-batch IAS officer of the Madhya Pradesh cadre, has been appointed as secretary in the Ministry of Corporate Affairs. Khemka's another batchmate Shailesh Kumar Singh from the Jharkhand cadre has been named as rural development secretary in Wednesday's reshuffle.
Similarly, Sudhansh Pant, also a 1991-batch IAS officer of the Rajasthan cadre, has been appointed as secretary in the Ministry of Ports, Shipping and Waterways after incumbent Sanjeev Ranjan superannuates on January 31, 2023.
There are also some other officers of the 1991 batch who have been appointed as secretaries in central government departments.
(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
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Miscreants fire at man in Gurugram | https://www.devdiscourse.com/article/law-order/2221437-straight-trees-always-cut-first-ashok-khemka-over-appointment-of-his-batchmates-as-secretaries | 2022-10-20T17:01:07 | en | 0.969701 |
You need to enable JavaScript to run this app. | https://sportspyder.com/nba/brooklyn-nets/articles/41193376 | 2022-10-20T17:01:12 | en | 0.738227 |
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HDFC corners 15% of CLSS housing market with Rs 67,000 crore loans
Managing director Renu Sud Karnad said they have over 3.13 lakh credit linked subsidy scheme (CLSS) customers, who have cumulatively borrowed more than Rs 67,000 crore from them since the launch of the plan under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (PMAY).
MUMBAI: With over Rs 7,200 crore in subsidy disbursals, the largest pure-play mortgage lender HDFC has cornered over 15 per cent of the credit-linked subsidy scheme for affordable housing since its launch in June 2016.
The 45-year-old Corporation, which is awaiting a reverse merger with its subsidiary HDFC Bank, has also won the best housing finance company award from the government for this for the third time this year.
Its Managing director Renu Sud Karnad said they have over 3.13 lakh credit linked subsidy scheme (CLSS) customers, who have cumulatively borrowed more than Rs 67,000 crore from them since the launch of the plan under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (PMAY).
These customers have received more than Rs 7,200 crore in subsidies, which is a tad over 15 per cent of the total subsidy of Rs 48,250 crore given by the government.
The corporation has been awarded the best performing housing finance company under the CLSS and the same was given away by Union Housing Minister Hardeep Singh Puri in Rajkot last night, Karnad said in a statement on Thursday.
It can be noted that poll-bound Gujarat has become the best-performing state under the scheme in terms of the number of borrowers.
HDFC in July 2018 won the best-performing primary lending institution in the EWS and LIG segments and the second-best in the MIG segment under the scheme. In March 2019, it was also awarded the best private sector financial institution under this.
Karnad expects affordable housing to continue to drive the real estate sector as there is a strong structural demand for housing due to better affordability, government incentives, favourable demographics, increasing urbanisation and rising aspirations to own a house.
She has also noted a paradigm shift among customers across all segments applying online, which has enabled HDFC to assist over 3 lakh customers under the PMAY, especially during the pandemic. As result, today over 92 per cent of new loan applications received are through digital channels, which was less than 20 per cent before the pandemic.
Over the past 45 years, HDFC has funded more than 95 lakh homes. It has 695 offices in the country and also in London, Dubai and Singapore.
The attached properties include land, commercial spaces, plots, residential houses and bank accounts, the federal agency said in a statement issued on Saturday. The total value of these attached properties is Rs 1,317.30 crore. | https://realty.economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/allied-industries/hdfc-corners-15-of-clss-housing-market-with-rs-67000-crore-loans/94990514 | 2022-10-20T17:01:13 | en | 0.965834 |
Britain sanctions Iran over supply of drones to Russia
(Adds sanctions) LONDON, Oct 20 (Reuters) - Britain on Thursday slapped sanctions on three Iranian military figures and a defence manufacturer for supplying Russia with drones to attack civilian and infrastructure targets in Ukraine.
(Adds sanctions) LONDON, Oct 20 (Reuters) -
Britain on Thursday slapped sanctions on three Iranian military figures and a defence manufacturer for supplying Russia with drones to attack civilian and infrastructure targets in Ukraine. Senior Iranian military officers Mohammad Hossein Bagheri, Seyed Hojjatollah Qureishi and Saeed Aghajani will be subject to an asset freeze and travel ban, Britain's foreign office said in a statement.
The three individuals were "personally responsible" for providing the drones used in strikes in Ukraine, it added. "Iran’s support for Putin’s brutal and illegal war against Ukraine is deplorable," British Foreign Secretary James Cleverly said. "This is clear evidence of Iran’s destabilising role in global security."
Russia has launched dozens of "kamikaze" drones on Ukraine on hitting energy infrastructure and killing five people in the capital of Kyiv. Ukraine says they are Iranian-made Shahed-136 attack drones. Tehran denies supplying the drones to Moscow and the Kremlin on Tuesday denied its forces had used Iranian drones to attack Ukraine. Washington says Iran's denial is a lie.
Britain will subject Shahed Aviation Industries, the Iranian manufacturer of the Shahed drones, to an asset freeze, the foreign office said.
(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
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After tax U-turn, Truss pledges to steer Britain through 'stormy days' | https://www.devdiscourse.com/article/law-order/2221439-britain-sanctions-iran-over-supply-of-drones-to-russia | 2022-10-20T17:01:15 | en | 0.921068 |
Fracking vote triggers resignation, with new Prime Minister expected to be elected by the end of next week
Prime Minister Liz Truss has this afternoon resigned after just 44 days in office, following Number 10's chaotic handling of yesterday's Commons vote on the government's controversial plans to lift the moratorium on fracking in the UK.
In a brief statement, Truss confirmed she would step down in a week's time following a fast-tracked election to select a successor. Chair of the Conservative Party 1922 Committee Sir Graham Brady indicated that the Party membership would be consulted, raising the prospect of an online ballot and the potential election of another Prime Minister who does not command majority support amongst Conservative MPs.
Truss said she had come into office "a time of great economic and international instability" and had delivered on energy bills and cutting national insurance, while setting out a "vision for a low tax, high growth economy that would take advantage of the freedoms of Brexit". But she added that "given the situation" she could not deliver on the "mandate on which I was elected by the Conservative Party" and as such had notified King Charles she would resign.
She said that the election of a new Prime Minister within a week would allow the government to deliver on its fiscal plans and maintain the UK's economic stability and national security.
The situation Truss referred to was the complete implosion of her authority as Prime Minister following a mini-budget that threw bond and currency markets into turmoil and sent interest rates soaring, the resignation of her Chancellor and Home Secretary, record low polling numbers, and the complete mismanagement of last night's Opposition Day motion, which saw scores of Tory MPs threatened with losing the whip if they refused to vote with the government so as to block Parliamentary scrutiny of Number 10's decision to break the Conservatives' own manifesto pledge to maintain the moratorium of fracking.
Responding to Truss' resignation Labour leader Keir Starmer argued the election of the third Prime Minister this year should trigger an immediate general election. "The Conservative Party has shown it no longer has a mandate to govern," he said. "After 12 years of Tory failure, the British people deserve so much better than this revolving door of chaos. In the last few years, the Tories have set record-high taxation, trashed our institutions and created a cost-of-living crisis. Now, they have crashed the economy so badly that people are facing £500 a month extra on their mortgages. The damage they have done will take years to fix.
"Each one of these crises was made in Downing Street but paid for by the British public. Each one has left our country weaker and worse off."
Green Party co-leader Carla Denyer similarly called for an immediate election. "The Tory chaos has spiralled beyond any pretence that the country has a viable government," she said. "It is reckless for the Tories to claim that they can replace Liz Truss with any leader capable of commanding authority, nationally or internationally. The Tories want to impose Austerity 2.0 with no electoral mandate. That means more cuts to vital public services and more suffering for people across the country. The government simply cannot govern - it is unfit for office. We need a General Election now so people can vote for the policies they want to see that will turn this mess around."
Speculation is now at fever pitch over who will succeed Truss and how they will be elected. Reports have suggested MPs are keen to secure a new leader by acclamation, with the two candidates who ran Truss closest this summer, Rishi Sunak and Penny Mordaunt, the most likely prospects.
But the divisions within the Party remain so deep that a field of candidates could yet emerge, leading to another fractious campaign and the consultation of the Party membership that backed Truss this summer. Reports suggested Boris Johnson could stand, in an attempt to engineer a shock return to Number 10.
The change in leadership leaves the UK's net zero agenda, environmental policy plans, and COP27 Presidency facing another chaotic period with huge uncertainty over the future direction of a host of crucial policies.
This summer's leadership election saw the emergence of two candidates, Suella Braverman and Kemi Badenoch, who signalled their intention to scrap or dilute the UK's net zero targets. Both were rewarded with Cabinet posts and remain popular with the right of the Party.
In contrast, Johnson's re-emergence would likely see a rapid revival of his support for the net zero agenda, while both Sunak and Mordaunt signalled they would continue to advance the UK's decarbonisation plans.
However, whoever emerges as the next Prime Minister faces a raft of critical climate and environmental policy decisions following Truss' ill-fated premiership.
During her brief time in office Truss sparked a fierce row with conservation NGOs by announcing plans to water down EU-derived environmental protections, introduce new investment zones that would dilute planning and environmental rules, and review sweeping plans to reform farming subsidies to encourage more sustainable behaviour.
She also secured plaudits from the energy industry for announcing plans to lift the de facto ban on onshore wind farms in England, but accompanied the move with controversial proposals to effectively block solar farm development and revive fracking projects in the UK. Meanwhile, the mini-budget that triggered Truss' downfall provided only £1bn of additional funding for energy efficiency schemes, despite repeated warnings that energy saving measures represented the most effective means of enhancing energy security and minimising the multi-billion pound cost of the government's energy bill support package.
However, none of Truss' environmental and energy reforms were finalised, meaning the next Prime Minister faces a series of urgent decisions as to whether to retain or scrap the proposals unveiled in the past month.
Truss also appointed former Energy Minister Chris Skidmore to lead a review of the UK's Net Zero Strategy to assess whether it was sufficiently "pro-business and pro-growth". Skidmore was due to submit his review before the end of the year, but was among the group of MPs to rebel in yesterday's vote, risking losing the whip in the process.
"As the former Energy Minister who signed net zero into law, for the sake of our environment and climate, I cannot personally vote tonight to support fracking and undermine the pledges I made at the 2019 General Election," he wrote. "I am prepared to face the consequences of my decision."
Moreover, a raft of long-standing climate policy decisions remain unresolved, including how to mobilise investment in new nuclear, hydrogen, and carbon capture and storage (CCS) projects, how to enhance energy efficiency across the economy, how to accelerate the roll out of electric vehicles, and how to tackle emissions from agriculture and land use.
These challenges have been further complicated by soaring interest rates and economic instability that have badly hampered business investment in low carbon infrastructure, despite the fact soaring gas prices have further strengthened the economic case for switching to clean technologies.
The uncertainty comes at a time when Europe faces the threat of winter energy shortages in the event that Russia cuts off all gas exports to the continent. At the same time, the EU, US, China, and others are all doubling down on their attempts to attract green investment, adopting policy packages that aim to drastically accelerate the roll out of renewables projects, energy efficiency upgrades, electric vehicles, and other forms of low carbon infrastructure.
Business leaders have repeatedly warned the UK risks losing out on crucial investment if it cannot provide a stable and ambitious climate policy environment. Writing on Twitter today, CBI boss Tony Danker warned the political turmoil was directly impacting business confidence and the UK's economic prospects.
"Today, the UK's growth engine - firms investing more in products, services and people - is coming to a halt in some places," he wrote. "Political instability makes business owners unsure - What will taxes be? What will regulations be? What will government spend money on? What will be cut? Lots of businesses want to invest - they have the money and the plans - but by my estimates, about half of them won't press the button until this political mess clears up and we have a clear government plan and market stability... If we get political and market stability, there will be headspace and clarity for business owners to press go on plans. Then we need all those government enablers for growth to come on tap: immigration reform, a better planning regime, more clean energy projects etc."
The chaos also poses a threat to the UK's net zero targets and its reputation on the world stage as a leader on climate action as it prepares to hand over the Presidency of COP26 to Egypt next month.
Earlier this year, the Climate Change Committee warned that the UK was badly off track to meet its medium-term emissions goals, while the High Court ruled the government's Net Zero Strategy was unlawful on the grounds that it provided insufficient information as to how the UK's emissions targets would be met. The government has been ordered to provide an updated plan by the end of March next year.
It is one of many pressing issues that will be added to the in-tray of the third Prime Minister of 2022. | https://www.businessgreen.com/news/4058544/liz-truss-resigns-throwing-uk-net-zero-plans-chaos | 2022-10-20T17:01:17 | en | 0.964987 |
You need to enable JavaScript to run this app. | https://sportspyder.com/nba/brooklyn-nets/articles/41193442 | 2022-10-20T17:01:18 | en | 0.738227 |
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Housing starts fall, building permits rise in USA in September 2022
Housing starts dropped 8.1% to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.439 million units last month. Data for August was revised down to a rate of 1.566 million units from the previously reported 1.575 million units.
U.S. homebuilding fell more than expected in September, led by a 13.1% decline in multi-unit projects, according to Census Bureau data released on Wednesday.
Housing starts dropped 8.1% to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.439 million units last month. Data for August was revised down to a rate of 1.566 million units from the previously reported 1.575 million units. Economists polled by Reuters had forecast starts would come in at a rate of 1.475 million units.
The Federal Reserve's aggressive monetary policy tightening has significantly weakened the housing market, with most indicators falling to levels last seen during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic in the spring of 2020. In contrast, other sectors of the economy, like the labor market, have shown resilience despite the U.S. central bank's attempts to cool demand.
Since March, the Fed has lifted its benchmark policy rate from near zero to a range of 3.00%-3.25%, and the fed funds rate is now expected to end the year in the mid-4% range with inflation yet to show signs of abating materially.
Mortgage rates have risen even higher. The 30-year fixed mortgage rate averaged 6.94% last week, the highest since 2002, up from 6.81% a week earlier, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association.
Permits for future home construction rose 1.4% to a rate of 1.564 million units in September. Residential fixed investment declined at its steepest pace in two years in the second quarter, contributing to the second straight quarterly drop in gross domestic product during that period.
Homebuilding is likely to remain on the back foot for the rest of the year. A survey on Tuesday showed the National Association of Home Builders/Wells Fargo Housing Market sentiment index fell for the 10th straight month in October.
The attached properties include land, commercial spaces, plots, residential houses and bank accounts, the federal agency said in a statement issued on Saturday. The total value of these attached properties is Rs 1,317.30 crore. | https://realty.economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/residential/housing-starts-fall-building-permits-rise-in-usa-in-september-2022/94991127 | 2022-10-20T17:01:19 | en | 0.959459 |
You need to enable JavaScript to run this app. | https://sportspyder.com/nba/brooklyn-nets/articles/41193538 | 2022-10-20T17:01:24 | en | 0.738227 |
Court frames charges against Kairana MLA in cheating case
Samajwadi Party MLA from Kairana Nahid Hasan here appeared before a court, which framed charges against him in connection with a case of issuing threats and cheating. Nahid Hasan is currently lodged in the Chitrakoot district jail and was brought to the Kairana court in police custody.
- Country:
- India
Samajwadi Party MLA from Kairana Nahid Hasan here appeared before a court, which framed charges against him in connection with a case of issuing threats and cheating. Nahid Hasan is currently lodged in the Chitrakoot district jail and was brought to the Kairana court in police custody. According to Assistant Prosecution Officer Anu Tomor, Hasan and eight others are facing trial for allegedly cheating and threatening one Mohammad Ali. Police had registered a case against Hasan and others on the complaint of Ali in 2018.
(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
- READ MORE ON:
- Hasan
- Mohammad Ali
- Nahid Hasan
- Samajwadi Party
- Chitrakoot
- Kairana
- Anu Tomor
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Ukraine and Russia: What you need to know right now
* A Russian missile strike hit a major thermal power station in the city of Burshtyn in western Ukraine, the region's governor said, the latest in a wave of attacks on infrastructure ahead of winter.
- Country:
- Ukraine
Ukrainians endured power curbs including the first blackouts imposed by grid authorities since the war began on Thursday to allow the repair of infrastructure destroyed by Russian air strikes as Kyiv's forces pressed on towards the city of Kherson.
ON THE GROUND
* Russia's defence ministry said its forces continued to hit military and energy targets in Ukraine over the last 24 hours. It also said Russian forces had repelled a Ukrainian counter-offensive in the southern Kherson region, from which Russian-installed officials are evacuating tens of thousands of residents.
* A Russian fighter jet released a missile near an unarmed British spy plane patrolling in international airspace over the Black Sea on Sept. 29, defence minister Ben Wallace said.
* A Russian missile strike hit a major thermal power station in the city of Burshtyn in western Ukraine, the region's governor said, the latest in a wave of attacks on infrastructure ahead of winter.
DIPLOMACY
* Russia's air force held scheduled patrol flights at the borders of its ally Belarus on Thursday, Minsk said, as concerns remain that it could take a more active role in the Ukraine war.
* Britain sanctioned three Iranian military officers and one company involved in the supply of drones to Russia for use in Ukraine. Foreign Minister James Cleverly called Iran's support for Moscow's war "deplorable".
* Russia's foreign ministry said European Union weapons supplies to Kyiv made the bloc party to the conflict in Ukraine and that countries pumping Ukraine with weapons were "sponsors of terrorism".
* The EU Commission head called Russia's attacks on power stations and other infrastructure in Ukraine "acts of pure terror" that amount to war crimes.
* NATO allies will act if Sweden or Finland come under pressure from Russia or another adversary before they become full members of the alliance, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said.
* Russian President Vladimir Putin is using energy and hunger as weapons but has failed to break the West's unity and will not achieve his war aims through scorched earth tactics, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said.
(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
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