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Who are the favourites for Euro 2020?

Get email updates with the day's biggest stories Invalid Email Something went wrong, please try again later. Sign up Thank you for subscribing We have more newsletters Show me See our privacy notice The mouth-watering tournament has been capable of throwing up shocks in the past, with Portugal being crowned surprising champions of Euro 2016, while Greeces miraculous triumph in Euro 2004 remains the biggest shock to date. Given the teams entering a tournament have had an extra year to prepare, not many would envisage a shock on the cards and that remains the case in various betting markets. But recent times would suggest that carving a path to the prize on offer is no easy feat and the current form of the big-hitters in the competition leaves much to be desired. France laboured to a 1-1 draw with Ukraine, Belgium were held against the Czech Republic and perhaps most surprisingly of all, Germany were beaten by minnows North Macedonia. Form heading into a tournament is crucial and after a tiring domestic season, teams can be caught out with a slow start. So how has recent form altered the betting odds and who are the favourites for the competition. Daily Mirror Sport delves into a closer look at the betting markets. The Favourites: France - 5/1 England - 11/2 Belgium - 6/1 Portugal - 8/1 Germany - 9/1 Spain - 9/1 Italy - 11/1 18+ | Odds subject to change | begambleaware.org | Gamble Responsibly | Odds supplied by Grosvenor France are favourites with Grosvenor at odds of 5/1. Their squad is littered with mercurial talents at the top end of the pitch, with Mbappe expected to set this tournament alight. England head into this tournament as second-favourites and are available at 11/2. The domestic form of Harry Kane and their favourable group of Scotland, Czech Republic and Croatia catapults them into early contention for the tournament. The Three Lions are also in scintillating form having suffered two defeats in their last 14 outings. However, England have never handled the pressure of expectation, so how their tournament pans out could be make or break for Gareth Southgate. Third favourites are Belgium at odds of 6/1. With their ageing squad coming towards a trophyless golden generation, the Euros could represent a last swansong for a large portion of their squad. There were surprise inclusions of Nacer Chadli and Thomas Varmaelen, with their tournament hopes hinging on the form of Inter Milans Romelu Lukaku and Manchester City s Kevin De Bruyne. Portugals strength in-depth is frightening, so to see them come in at 8/1 is surprising. A firing Cristiano Ronaldo and an ability to keep out their opponents in a similar manner to their Euro 2016 victory is a formula they will be hoping to replicate in this tournament. Germany are also available at 9/1 but are in the group of death alongside Portugal and France. In Joachim Lows final tournament with Germany before he departs, the weight of expectation hasnt ever been lower. Spain (9/1) and dark horses Italy (11/1) make up the rest of the top seven favourites in the bookmakers odds.

https://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/betting/who-favourites-euro-2020-24247518

Do Guyanese women have the power and the means to get the policy outcomes they seek?

In this instance, the petition focused on sexual harassment and called on the government to do several serious things: enact legislation, sign and fulfill international treaties, launch an investigation, and review policies and practices. That the letter columns were the chosen outlet to advocate and appeal for solutions suggests that the political process has failed. This is not how it was supposed to work. The process was designed to be responsive to women issues in several ways. Take, for instance, the once-heralded constitutional amendments on gender representativeness. These led to women occupying a secured minimum of one-third of the 65-seat National Assembly. Such presence was intended to be more than window-dressing. It was intended to foster political consensus and a more caring society (based on the inherent qualities of women). Even more, a substantial number of women have held and today hold cabinet and ministerial positions. A woman was also the President of Guyana and the leading figure in her party. Both of the major political parties have a womens arm. It is apparent that the presence of women in their partys leadership and in the executive and legislature arms of government has not translated into effective representation and activism on women issues. True, among us, the common people, and ethnicity dominantly shapes voting preference. There is no mass mobilization of voters around gender issues. But women at the top of the political establishment can rise above these electoral calculationswith the right mental attitude. The system inserted additional features to ensure the voices of women are heard and their concerns addressed. A Women and Gender Equality Commission (WGEC) was established and given a sweeping mandate that includes the proposal and review of laws and policies, the monitoring of govt compliance with international accords, and the investigation of complaintssome of the very demands made of the government in the advocates petition. Also added to the system is the Parliamentary Sectoral Committee on Social Services as a potential forum for problem solving and decision-making. Evidently, the entire infrastructure for women representation has collapsed (or never ever worked well). Sporadic letter writing and media releases seem to be the last resort. It was supposed to work differently. To fix this, the first step would be for the government to be called upon to hold national stakeholders meetings. For effectiveness, planning must include key aspects, such as: (i) the overall focus of the meetings must be to activate and optimize the system, not to vent on issues such as sexual harassment; (ii) invited stakeholders must also include institutions with a sizeable share of women in their midst, such as labour unions and religious organizations, (iii) meeting agendas must be highly structured, with action plans produced to fix each problem, and (iv) a high-powered task force must be established to quarterback and monitor implementation. Timeframe for full completion: six months. Sincerely, Sherwood Lowe

https://www.stabroeknews.com/2021/06/04/opinion/letters/do-guyanese-women-have-the-power-and-the-means-to-get-the-policy-outcomes-they-seek/

Who is really looking out for children to prevent the occurrence of abuse?

Dear Editor One cannot help but notice the increasing trend in criminal conduct against women, children, and the elderly especially since the onset of the pandemic. The lockdowns and other restrictive measures on movement are intended, on the one hand to reduce the spread of Covid-19, but, on the other hand, they are contributing to unintended negative consequences such as rape, assault and sometimes even murder. The 300 child abuse cases recorded in January as reported by ChildLink must be taken seriously, especially considering that many cases go unrecorded. The creation of Child Advocacy Centres (CACs) is indeed a welcomed and much-needed initiative. According to the Director of the organisation, these CACs encourage children to speak up about their horrific experiences and offer them requisite treatment. I am positive ChildLink also does a lot of work in prevention, even though I have read on its website that ChildLinKs expertise lies in providing child friendly counselling and other psychosocial interventions to children, youths and their families, from a rights-based approach. This is a post-facto intervention. Editor, I do hail the efforts by all organisations, both governmental and non-governmental, to eliminate and deal with the scourge of violence against our women and children. However, please allow me to repeat a few of my suggestions. Role of Teachers Quite some time ago I had written about the important role of teachers in identifying cases of abuse or potential abuse of children. Children spend most of their waking hours with teachers (except during this period of the pandemic). If teachers do engage their apprentices as they should, then they would notice the signs, both physical and emotional. I am positive teachers must have received some training in child psychology during their studies. They have more power than they realise to stop cases of abuse. When a child stops coming to school, a child who prefers to be by him/herself, bodily marks of violence, unusual bouts of crying/sadness, drastic decline in studies, overly aggressive behaviour, etc. these are signs of a child begging for help. I am no psychologist, but it is plain commonsense. It is important to reiterate that the state of mind/body of a child does provide an indication about the state of her/his home environment. Role of Doctors/Nurses Similar to the role of teachers, doctors and nurses must be trained (if they are not so trained as part of their formal education) to recognise and report signs of abuse. I am positive that health care workers encounter on a daily basis several cases involving victims of domestic/partner abuse. It must become their obligation not only to treat but to report suspected cases to relevant authorities. The government, on the other hand, must clearly identify who constitutes this authority. In some countries, it is the police force and/or child protection agencies and/or department of social services, etc. Community Engagement We must not underestimate the role the community can play in its own safety and development. As the saying goes, it takes a community to raise a child or it takes a village to raise a child. There is also the maxim: be thy neighbors keeper. All of these holds true for a community to succeed in keeping its members safe. But the first step is to initiate the community spirit with mobilization and action. This is where the NGOs and government agencies come in. As a quick reference, the Community Engagement Theory can serve as a useful tool for those who may decide to take on this worthwhile task. There is no need to reinvent the wheel when there are numerous examples of success stories globally. In some countries, it is called Neighborhood Watch, in others, it is labelled Community Watch or Community Surveillance, or something similar. Many countries even have umbrella associations of community groups of various types. In Guyana, we have had a stint with Community Policing Groups (CPGs) and Community Development Councils (CDCs). Unfortunately, they did not enjoy a sustained existence; they dwindled away. I am not sure if any still exists. According to its Manual, a USA Neighborhood Watch program is a group of people living in the same area who want to make their neighborhood safer by working together and in conjunction with local law enforcement to reduce crime and improve their quality of life. https://bja.ojp.gov/sites/g/files/xyckuh186/files/Publications/NSA_NW_Manual.pdf. This definition clearly tells us that there must be some level of trust between members of the community and the police force. This is a psychological driver, which, if in place, will prompt members to not hesitate to call for help should they notice any sign of abuse or other criminal activity. The absence of fear of victimization and the need to remain anonymous if so needed are part of the process of trust-building between the two parties. This is a humungous task in Guyanas context, but it is the only way forward if the will is there to curb criminal and other unwanted behaviour within our neighborhoods. To what extent this trust can be achieved depends largely on key stakeholders such as government agencies, the police force, community leaders, NGOs, the private sector and religious bodies. Making our country safe for everyone, especially our children, is everyones business. Sincerely, A. Adler

https://www.stabroeknews.com/2021/06/04/opinion/letters/who-is-really-looking-out-for-children-to-prevent-the-occurrence-of-abuse/

Would ESG help in ecosystem restoration?

The theme for World Environment Day this year is Ecosystem Restoration. This day also marks the launch of the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration to ensure that for the next ten years we focus on resetting our relationship with nature. That the focus during this decade would be on restoring ecosystems globally, highlighting the mess we have created for ourselves. The conservation and restoration of our ecosystems would ensure greater green cover, richer biodiversity, protection of endangered species and creating larger carbon sinks. We have realised its importance more than ever after witnessing humanity suffer one of the worst pandemics in decades. Conservation and restoration The onus now is not just on the governments and development agencies but also the communities and, more importantly, on the businesses to ensure that environment protection, including ecosystem conservation and restoration is at the heart of everything they do hereafter. Interestingly, with the recent focus on Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) data by financial institutions, investors, insurers etc. there could not have been a better tool to ensure ecosystem conservation and restoration. While there is much more to ESG than just environmental protection, it might just serve as the wonder pill to cure us of our sustainability woes. BRSR framework The usual assumption is that the profit motive guides businesses. Therefore, they ignore doing much on the environment, health, well-being etc., unless coerced by the regulator or directed by the courts. However, the recent focus on ESG parameters by funding institutions etc., might just change the discourse. Investors and companies are increasingly recognising the importance of addressing environmental challenges and climate change risks to secure their investments and future. Notably, that this step has also been at the instance of the regulator, the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI). However, despite the reporting being voluntary for the current financial year, companies are already gearing up to ensure that they perform well on the ESG parameters prescribed in the Business Responsibility and Sustainability Reporting (BRSR) framework prescribed by SEBI for the top 1,000 companies in India by way of market capitalisation. ESG reporting requirements promote sustainable investments by ensuring that investors can assess the performance of their targets on ESG parameters before making investment decisions. However, there is also a need to ensure transparency and accountability to ensure that no one uses the ESG tag and that the ESG-focused funds put their money where the mouth is. This will ensure the sanctity of this initiative. While these are early stages, once we mature as a market and there is wider awareness and acceptability of the idea, we will witness better accountability on both sides. The answer is in the affirmative. The answer is a clear no. We need to understand and appreciate that innovative initiatives like ESG reporting will ensure that financial institutions and companies set their house in order. However, this will always be influenced by our policies and how we set the priorities for all the stakeholders including the governments and civil society. We need to simultaneously work towards achieving our committed targets under the climate change mitigation initiatives like the Net Zero Agenda, Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) etc. . Environmental laws Companies are increasingly taking up voluntary commitments to address climate change. Our courts in various judgments have also reiterated how Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) could be an effective tool towards environment protection, ecosystem restoration, wildlife conservation etc. We have funds for compensatory afforestation, which, if utilised well and for the purpose for which they were created would make a very positive impact. Our environmental laws are being revised to meet the requirements of the changing times. However, until they are not diluted in the garb of improvement and the focus is on protecting the environment and vulnerable communities while ensuring economic progress, it is a commendable effort. While the laws need to be revised and consolidated from time to time, the key always remains in its practical and transparent implementation, boosting investor confidence. To sum up, ESG reporting by companies would definitely help in ecosystem restoration because the reporting mechanism would ensure that we have quality data that would guide us in assessing and addressing activities that may have a detrimental impact on the environment, including the ecosystems. This reporting obligation will also help the companies mitigate their non-financial risks. All our activities have an environmental impact. Be it the emissions, the effluents, the waste generated, our use of natural resources; everything hits the ecosystem around us. So, if we assess our activities and introspect to ensure that we cause no harm to our ecosystem, the purpose will be served. ESG reporting and data is a very effective tool that will help us achieve this. Happy World Environment Day! The author is a Partner in the Environmental Law practice at Shardul Amarchand Mangaldas & Co.

https://www.thehindubusinessline.com/opinion/would-esg-help-in-ecosystem-restoration/article34725604.ece

Who is Fabio Paratici as former Juventus transfer guru is linked with Tottenham role?

Tottenham have held talks with Antonio Conte over becoming their next manager as the Premier League club continue their search for Jose Mourinho's successor. But an intriguing side story is that former Juventus chief football officer Fabio Paratici could come in as Tottenham's technical director. The 48-year-old administrator is the man who brought Paul Pogba and Cristiano Ronaldo to Turin as well as several eye-raising purchases that didn't cost a penny. But it all turned sour over the Luis Suarez case. Sportsmail's ALVISE CAGNAZZO has everything you need to know about Paratici. Fabio Paratici with the Serie A trophy after their title success in the 2019-20 campaign Master of the free transfer Fabio Paratici has been a Juventus talisman for over 11 years, a sports director with a passion for young people and for the top players on the free transfer list. Andrea Pirlo, Lucio, Adrien Rabiot, Sami Khedira and Aaron Ramsey are among the players he brought in without the Agnelli family, the owners of Juventus, having to spend a single cent. Move of the century But his best deal must be the arrival of Cristiano Ronaldo in 2018. A documentary produced by Sky Sport in 2019 revealed how Paratici was the man who masterminded the purchase of the century from Real Madrid. Paratici (second left) was the man who masterminded the signing of Cristiano Ronaldo (left) Paul Pogba (left) and Andrea Pirlo (right) were two other players Paratici brought to the club 'I entered Andrea Angelli's room and I told him, 'President, don't kick me out of this office', Paratici said. 'I have news, we can buy CR7 and bring him here. 'Agnelli told me to sit down. After a few weeks, we announced the purchase of Ronaldo to the world and brought him to Turin.' A shy yet passionate character Paratici has always been a shy character but since the departure of CEO Giuseppe Marotta in 2018, he has tried to overcome his reticence in front of the cameras by presenting himself before the microphones of Sky Sport Italia and Dazn every Sunday. This shyness vanishes when he is in the stands, however. His temperament is very passionate and often in his career as a sports director he has suffered fines and sanctions for offensive attitudes towards referees. Paratici pictured in the stands with Juventus president Andrea Agnelli at a game last season He is highly superstitious and throughout his whole time as Juventus sporting director he wore an undershirt with buttons under his jacket in every single pre and post-game appearance. The place where Paratici does his transfer business has always been the Hotel Parco dei Principi in Milan, where he has an office for weekly appointments with various agents. The farewell of Marotta, who was something of a father figure, created a rupture between the pair. Marotta, who is now at Inter Milan, has repeatedly declared he felt betrayed by the young sporting director he weaned like a son during 16 years of collaboration at Sampdoria and then Juventus. Antonio Conte is in talks to become the new Tottenham manager and is a strong contender Conte posted this photo onto Instagram on Wednesday with the caption: 'It's a nice day' Leaving Juventus under a cloud Departing Juventus after 11 year and 19 trophies was not easy but the drama of being exposed to the media over the Luis Suarez case meant Paratici was in a shadow. According to newspapers Corriere della Sera and Repubblica, which published some excerpts of the minutes of the testimony of the Juventus president to the Perugia prosecutors investigating the 'farce' Italian language exam taken by Suarez, Agnelli would have discharged all responsibility on Paratici. Juventus wanted to sign the Uruguayan striker but in order to gain citizenship, Suarez needed to pass a language exam. Prosecutors alleged that the contents of the test were known in advance and the result was pre-determined. Luis Suarez arrives in Perugia for his language test that caused such controversy and led to the collapse of his transfer to Juventus Agnelli said: 'I head about the examination from the newspapers. He managed everything, Paratici. I learned from Pavel Nedved that Suarez had proposed with a text message.' Suarez ultimately moved to Atletico Madrid but the episode proved damaging to Paratici. Criticism over Ramsey Paratici also suffered a lot of criticism for choosing to buy Aaron Ramsey on a free after he left Arsenal. The Welsh midfielder has never managed to play continuously and demonstrate his worth in Serie A and is costing Juventus a lot of money due to his salary of 7.5 million euros (6.45m) a year. Aaron Ramsey was signed on a free but his enormous salary hasn't been justified at Juventus A modest player Paratici was a modest defender during his playing days but he did help the small Brindisi win the Coppa Italia Serie C towards the end of a journeyman career. He was never able to play in Serie A. As a player he held a right-sided role, both in defence and midfield, but was used all over there place at one point or another. After retiring, he started helping Marotta, then director general at Sampdoria, and chose to pursue a career as a sporting director. His first assignment at Sampdoria was that of Marotta's secretary and later as his assistant with responsibility for transfers. But Paratici's professional dream has always been to work with Conte again, the coach with whom he won three Scudetti in Turin, and this may become a reality in London.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-9647677/Who-Fabio-Paratici-former-Juventus-transfer-guru-linked-Tottenham-role.html?ns_mchannel=rss&ns_campaign=1490&ito=1490

Does Christianity Endorse Slavery?

There are many who focus in on our freedom from the law (Romans 7:6). And what a great freedom that is!. For it frees us from the need to try to earn our salvation by proving our righteousness. It frees us to be forgiven for our past mistakes where we have not obeyed the law as well as we should, and it frees us to trust in Gods righteousness and goodness rather than the worth of our own good works. But there are some who misunderstand this freedom, and they twist these verses into basically saying that they have been given a freedom to sin.

https://www.newsbreak.com/news/2263724394752/does-christianity-endorse-slavery

Is vivo Y70t Copy of its own Predecessors?

The Chinese brand, vivo is introducing several devices these days giving people multiple options to buy from, according to their own specs choice. Today, it has announced a new addition to its Y70 family: Y70t. While Y70t was teased for a long time, sadly the device has the same specifications as that of Y51s which also was a copy of Y70S from earlier that year. While the company is launching uncountable devices, it should also ensure that the devices are not the replica of each other with a different name and minor changes. vivo Y70t announced with Exynos 880 and 4,500 mAh battery Vivo Y70t will have an IPS LCD having a punch-hole cutout for an 8 MP selfie cam. Just like previous designs, the side-mounted power control button is followed by a fingerprint sensor. The headphone jack is placed just right beside the USB-C port. The camera module includes a 48 MP primary camera along with a 2MP macro cam and a 2MP depth helper. Since it is a mid-range device, it is powered by Samsungs Exynos 880 SoC along with 6/8GB RAM and 128/256GB storage that is expandable via microSD. The device comes with FuntouchOS 10.5 on top of Android 10. The battery is also fine ie; 4,500mAh that supports 18W charging. No doubt, features are fine for a mid-range device but the company should have brought some changes in design at least as compared to its previous models. Since the device is available in two variants, the 6/128GB model retails for $235, whereas 8/128GB trim for $265 and a model with 8GB RAM and 256GB storage for $310. Initially, these devices will launch in the home country Chine whereas, in a couple of months, they will be announced globally as well. Also Read: vivo Introduces V21 with 44MP OIS Night Selfie System at PKR 59,999

https://www.phoneworld.com.pk/is-vivo-y70t-copy-of-its-own-predecessors/

What Makes SameUSD the Perfect Currency?

Many cryptocurrencies in the market today claim to be the perfect digital currency. However, few meet the standard requirements of an ideal currency. Before we pass a judgment on these cryptocurrencies, let us look at the qualities of a perfect currency. Other than the obvious use cases of cryptocurrencies, such as storage of value and unit of account, they also need to be stable to serve as payment methods. Price stability is a major flaw that prevents the mainstream adoption of digital currencies as a viable payment option. Luckily, SameUSD checks all the boxes of the perfect currency by ensuring minimal volatility. SameUSD delivers this function because it is backed by a verifiable reserve of top stablecoins in the current market. Well, lets dive right in! Advantages of Using SameUSD over other Cryptocurrencies Whenever cryptocurrency gets mentioned in a room, the first thing that crosses anyones mind is Bitcoin. I dont think so, at least not today. Although the coin has risen tremendously in value, it is not an ideal payment option for everyday online purchases due to its overwhelmingly high transaction fees, slow processing time, and price fluctuation. SameUSD ($SUSD) looks to correct all of the shortcomings of Bitcoin and other mainstream cryptos like Ethereum ($ETH). With SameUSD, you are assured of stability which is a much-desired trait of any currency. One SameUSD is equivalent to one USD in value. This stable value allows for proper valuation of goods and services, unlike other cryptocurrencies that fluctuate in value every second. SUSD achieves this stability via its unique mechanism that backs the coin by a reserve of top stablecoins. These stablecoins in the reserve are calculated and adjusted through the help of smart contracts to ensure that SUSD maintains a stable value ($1) even in a volatile market. Additionally, SameUSD is designed to offer more efficiency in online transactions by providing faster and more reliable payment processing with the lowest transaction fees in the market today. To get the most out of the SameUSD, you need to use SamePay a payment platform that allows you to enjoy rewards for minting, staking, and using SameUSD. Using SameUSD on SamePay SamePay is a cryptocurrency payment and exchange platform within the Samecoin ecosystem. It allows SameUSD users to be rewarded for certain activities done using the stablecoin. There are several benefits of using or HODLing SameUSD in your SamePay wallet. Here are some of them: SameUSD has a verifiable reserve. Unlike other stablecoins like USDT, which have been questioned about their fiat-backed reserves, SameUSD is backed by a large reserve of stablecoins that are easily verifiable, owing to its decentralized property. Transactions made using SameUSD on SamePay are faster compared to some other cryptocurrencies. Since SameUSD is backed by a reserve of stablecoins, it maintains a more stable USD value compared to other stablecoins pegged directly to the USD. Users are rewarded with Samecoin ($SAME) a utility token in the Samecoin ecosystem whenever they mint or make transactions using the stablecoin. $SAME can be used to pay for trading fees on the platform. SameUSD vs Other Stablecoins SameUSD is by far a superior stablecoin in comparison to other stablecoins in the market today. Stablecoins such as the USDT have periodically faced concerns about stability and their fiat reserves. These reserves are subject to control by central authorities and manipulation that may not be disclosed to the general public. This can lead to the violation of client trust since the reserve reports cannot be verified. As for SameUSD and other SAME-stablecoins, the large pool of stablecoin reserves can be easily verified by the public since it is decentralized. This places the SUSD ahead of other stablecoins where stability and credibility are concerned. Conclusion Cryptocurrencies are supposed to facilitate more manageable online payments. However, some projects have only created further challenges, such as higher transaction costs and decimal values that do not give a fiat-like figure that is easy to understand. SameUSD comes as a solution, offering lower transaction fees, efficient online payment solutions, understandable, and stable US dollar value. And that, to me, is a perfect currency.

https://www.cryptopolitan.com/what-makes-sameusd-the-perfect-currency/

Could it be a sizzling summer in Donegal?

Donegal could be sizzling in the sun this summer. Bookies have just slashed odds on Ireland enjoying the hottest summer on record - as temperatures are set to hit 20C over next week. Ladbrokes have already cut the odds from 5/2 to just 2/1 on this month going down as the hottest on record. However, Met ireann has pointed out that it is somewhat unclear just how the weather will pan out over the coming days. An Atlantic weather is coming the Azores high pressure area to the south tries to build, meaning western areas are most likely to see any cloud or rain with eastern areas expecting drier and brighter weather. Saturday will see scattered outbreaks of rain and drizzle clear through the morning before dry and sunny conditions extend from the west, in highest temperatures of 15C to 20C, to be mildest in the east. Sunday will be dry bar isolated showers as the mercury hits between 15C and 19C, while on Monday cloud will push in from the Atlantic to bring scattered showers but it'll stay fairly dry in the east in top temperatures of 16C to 20C. The good news is that temperatures are expected to increase through the week, reaching high teens or low twenties.

https://www.donegallive.ie/news/news/638805/could-it-be-a-sizzling-summer-in-donegal.html

Was ist Slow Media und wo liegen hier Chancen fr Ihr Content Marketing?

Jeder Trend provoziert einen Gegentrend so auch in der Kommunikation. Angesichts der immer schnelleren Taktung im digitalen Informationszeitalter wchst bei vielen Verbrauchern der Bedarf nach Entschleunigung. Slow Media heit das Stichwort. Erfahren Sie, wie Sie diesen Gegentrend fr Ihr Content Marketing nutzen knnen. Keine Frage: Die digitale Kommunikation hat sich in den letzten Jahren immer weiter beschleunigt. Aktuell prasseln die Posts und Feeds in immer hherer Schlagzahl auf die Konsumenten nieder. Und diese Entwicklung wird auch in Zukunft voranschreiten. Live-Streaming, TikTok-Videos und Instant-Kommunikation via Tweets, Snaps & Co. sind nur einige Beispiele. Digitale Kommunikation nhert sich also immer weiter der Geschwindigkeit und damit auch der Flchtigkeit direkter Kommunikation an. Mit dem Unterschied, dass immer mehr Gesprche zur gleichen Zeit gefhrt werden. Was in der realen Welt lngst zu unertrglichem Lrm geworden wre, wird digital zwar nicht immer goutiert, aber zumindest (noch) toleriert. Fr Sie als Kommunikations-Verantwortliche stellt dies eine erhebliche Herausforderung dar. Angesichts des immer hektischeren Medienkonsums auf immer neuen Kanlen wird es zunehmend schwerer, mit Ihren Botschaften beim Verbraucher durchzudringen. Andererseits wchst gerade im groen Getse das Bedrfnis nach Klarheit, Tiefgang und Entschleunigung. Slow Media heit das Stichwort sozusagen die kleine Achtsamkeitsbung im groen Mediengetmmel. Seit einigen Jahren geistert der Begriff Slow Media durch die Kommunikationslandschaft. In Deutschland erlangte dieses Konzept bereits 2010 durch das sogenannte Slow Media-Manifest erste Popularitt. Ausgangspunkt des Manifests ist die berlegung, dass nach den tiefgreifenden technologischen Vernderungen in der Medienlandschaft zu Beginn des Jahrtausends nun angemessene und nachhaltige Wege entwickelt werden mssen, wie die Konsumenten mit dieser Medienrevolution umgehen knnen. Das Slow Media-Manifest schreibt die Voraussetzungen fr einen hochwertigen und nachhaltigen Medienkonsum fest. hnlich wie bei der Slow-Food- oder der Slow-Travel-Bewegung geht es hierbei nicht um Langsamkeit im Sinne von Trgheit, sondern um einen reflektierten und bewussten Umgang mit Medien und vor allem natrlich um hochwertigen Content. Vier wesentliche redaktionelle Anforderungen an Slow Media-Content lassen sich aus dem Manifest ableiten: Hohe inhaltliche Qualitt : Das versteht sich von selbst bei Slow Media geht es um gute und schne Inhalte , die lange Freude machen. Im besten Falle besitzen diese Inhalte eine Strahlkraft, die ber das dargebotene Format hinausreicht. : Das versteht sich von selbst bei Slow Media geht es um , die lange Freude machen. Im besten Falle besitzen diese Inhalte eine Strahlkraft, die ber das dargebotene Format hinausreicht. Monotasking : Slow-Media-Content ist kein Informationshppchen fr den schnellen Konsum nebenbei, sondern zieht die volle Aufmerksamkeit des Lesers auf sich. : Slow-Media-Content ist kein Informationshppchen fr den schnellen Konsum nebenbei, sondern zieht die volle Aufmerksamkeit des Lesers auf sich. Zeitlose Inhalte : Slow-Media-Content hat eine lange Lebensdauer. Auerdem ist er so gut gemacht, dass man ihn gerne mehrmals liest, hrt oder anschaut. Deshalb ist diese Form der Content-Produktion auch nachhaltiger: Slow Media ist kein Wegwerfprodukt. : Slow-Media-Content hat eine lange Lebensdauer. Auerdem ist er so gut gemacht, dass man ihn gerne mehrmals liest, hrt oder anschaut. Deshalb ist diese Form der Content-Produktion auch nachhaltiger: Slow Media ist kein Wegwerfprodukt. Handwerklich erstellter Content: Slow-Media-Content wird von echten Menschen produziert nicht von Chatbots und das merkt man auch. Und die Menschen, die diesen Content erstellen, wissen auch genau was zu tun ist, damit glaubwrdige und gut gemachte Inhalte entstehen. Zahlen und Fakten zu Slow Media Dass die Idee von einem entschleunigten und bewussteren Medienkonsum mehr als nur ein akademisches Gedankenkonstrukt ist, wird durch zahlreiche aktuelle Untersuchungen untermauert. Slow Media trifft ganz einfach den Bedarf vieler Konsumenten. Hier drei Beispiele: Eine anwenderbezogene Slow-Media-Basisstudie frdert interessante Ergebnisse zu Tage: ber 90 % der Deutschen finden es wichtig, sich voll und ganz auf das zu konzentrieren, was sie gerade machen. Fast 70 % genieen es, beim Lesen, beim Surfen im Internet oder beim Sehen von Filmen in eine andere Welt abzutauchen. Fr 75 % der Befragten ist Qualitt das wichtigste Entscheidungskriterium beim Einkauf. bertragen auf den Medienkonsum legen diese Ergebnisse nahe, dass sich viele Verbraucher lieber einem Medium intensiv als mehreren gleichzeitig widmen wollen, und daher eine hohe redaktionelle Qualitt mit Tiefgang dem schnellen Infosnack nebenbei vorziehen. Andere Forschungsergebnisse kommen zum Ergebnis, dass das viel beschworene Multitasking (also in unserem Falle die gleichzeitige Nutzung mehrerer Medien) alles andere als effizient ist und im Extremfall sogar krank machen kann. Und last but not least zeigt eine Studie der Blogging-Plattform Medium, dass es auch im Internet weniger die Echtzeit-Info-Kurzhappen sind, sondern vielmehr die durchdachten und mit Sorgfalt erstellten Formate, die von den Lesern dank ihrer inhaltlichen Qualitt geschtzt und geteilt werden. Wir von djd haben uns seit vielen Jahren auf guten, nachhaltigen Verbraucher-Content spezialisiert. Nehmen Sie hier mit uns Kontakt auf und vereinbaren Sie noch heute ein kostenfreies Beratungsgesprch!

https://www.djd.de/content-marketing/slow-media-bewusster-medienkonsum/

Is Apprenticeship the Way That Architectural Education Stays Relevant?

This article was originally published on Common Edge. In this week's Common Edge piece, Duo Dickinson explores his personal journey from teaching to practice to teaching again, and the differences he perceived. Stating that "no one today believes that school can fully prepare students for what architecture will become in 10 years", the author explains how architectural education has been evolving and questions what could be the best ways to ensure that education remains relevant. When I received a letter in 1987 from Raj Saksena, the founding dean of the School of Architecture at Roger Williams College (now University), I was flattered and surprised. I had graduated a decade earlier from Cornell with a BArch. Even though I had written two books, won an Architectural Record House Award, and was a new partner with Louis Mackall, I did not have a masters degree, and I had never taught. But Raj was not shy. He wanted me to teach design more than two hours away from my office. I had just hung up my cleats as an assistant high school football coach and had not yet become a parent, so there was a window. Related Article 12 Ways to Reform Architectural Education And that window was not just personal. It is common to have practicing architects become adjunct faculty, teaching one course a semester. Adjuncts offer a professional perspective no academic can replicate, and this is true for all professional degrees, whether its doctors, lawyers, engineers, or architects. But in 1987, I had the time and hubris, and I agreed to teach design; then I did a seminar on writing in architecture. Raj asked if I could stay on, but my life was changing. ), my wife and I were trying to have a child, I was knee-deep into my next book, and also contemplating creating my own office. Twenty-plus hours a week teaching and commuting was not possible. And yet teaching was a deeply rewarding experience because it forced me to define a design process and do it through the eyes of students with little or no knowledge or experience, a valuable exchange for all involved. Still, I was only a dozen years older than they were, and back then the way architects produced drawings was the same in my education as it was in theirs. I enjoyed working with the other professors in the classic studio model of desk crits, hang-ups, presentations. But my passion was building, and the local school, Yale, was not hiring teachers without masters degrees. So I taught for three semesters at Roger Williams and returned to practice. Until Yale called. After our first child was born, Kent Bloomerwho ran the undergraduate, nonprofessional degree architecture program there, and had seen me at a reviewasked if I could fill in for an absent professor. It was 20 minutes away from my office. Of course, I would. The students were extremely articulate and thoughtful, and the TAs from the graduate school were also smart, engaged students that benefitted from my experience as well. The next 30 years saw five more books, two sons, 1,000 design commissions, an office of a half-dozen people, and many talks, design juriesprofessional and academicbut no real thoughts of teaching. Until I got a call from Maggie Moore Alexander, wife of Christopher Alexander. Architect Susan Ingham of Seattle had seen an article that I had written on Common Edge, and Maggie asked if I wanted to give a talk at the new program in architectural education, Building Beauty, in Italy. Why not more? I suggested. So we created the HOME Competition. Given the enthusiasm for this effort, I contacted the University of Hartfords architecture program to see if the school would be interested in participating. The new dean, Jim Fuller, agreed to meet, and he loved the idea. After a year he suggested I teach at UHart, an hour from home, for a seminar, one day a week. It has been two semesters of another great experience, now made better in the Zoom era, where guest lecturing is easy and engaging for all concerned, perhaps the only positive reality to come out of sequestration. It is clear to me that my 30-year absence from teaching (beyond being a guest critic) has revealed many changes. There are more professors who teach as adjuncts but do not earn a living building. There are now more ways to reach more students and lecturers from all over the world. The extreme cost of an architectural education remains but has meant that scholarships are necessary, which translates into less money for the school. And yet the demand for degrees has remained constant. According to the NCARB, 2019 architecture enrollment was the highest in six years. The last 30 years of exploding technologies in rendering, engineering, and construction have erased the confident status quo of 1987. No one today believes that school can fully prepare students for what architecture will become in 10 years. Contemplating the future more than a decade ago, David Celanto wrote in Harvard Design Magazine that the coming change involves nothing more than the abandonment of thousands of years of precedent. Indeed, I think the differences that I have observed between 1987 Roger Williams College and 2021 Building Beauty will seem quaint in just a few short years. Architects are sitting at the edge of an A.I. revolution that will transform everything. In teaching at four different venues over the past 35 years, I know that the students have not fundamentally changed, nor has the passion of those dedicated to academic architecture. What has changed, and will completely explode, is how buildings will be made. If thats true, then education has to change. Perhaps architects will use A.I. to once again take on the mantle of Master Builder, rather than serve as the uneasy center of a quilt of consultants who may one day be replaced by technology. This evolution might well end the last centurys fine arts architecture pedagogy of education. If so, then our education must reflect these fluid shifts. While the understanding of history, design, and theory remains crucial, the design studio may become less important to a students education. Instead, the apprentice model of direct professional integration may be the best way education can remain relevant in a world where change happens too quickly to be taught.

https://www.archdaily.com/962744/is-apprenticeship-the-way-that-architectural-education-stays-relevant

How Long Does It Take To Beat Biomutant?

In the new open-world RPG Biomutant, you are free to choose the way you want to increase your stats, from the moment you begin your journey, up the they very end of it. There are many parameters you need to pay attention to, from the most usual stuff like Strength and Agility, to some more unique ones like Charisma and Luck. Each of them are equally important, but depending on your own, unique playstyle, its only natural to focus on some more than others. Whatever the case may be, below you can find how to increase your stats in Biomutant.

https://www.newsbreak.com/news/2262946636519/how-long-does-it-take-to-beat-biomutant

Why Instagram for kids?

Depends on whom you ask. If you ask Instagram, which is part of Facebook, which is run by CEO Mark Zuckerberg, you will hear things like the following: Despite our posted lower age limit of 13 for the regular Instagram image-sharing service, we know a lot of kids younger than that are lying to get on it. We would prefer to create a new service designed just for pre-teenagers so we can customise it with parental controls and so on, and bring Instagram to those younger users who currently have to lie to use it. If you ask the attorneys general of forty U. S. states, they will cite sociological studies that link social media use to depression, anxiety, and bullying in young people. Following the news in March that Instagram was contemplating this new service, the National Association of Attorneys General got together and issued a letter in May to Mark Zuckerberg asking him not to do this thing. Thats as far as the letter went they didnt say what theyd do if he went ahead and did it anyway. But the implication is clear that lawsuits might be in the offing if the proposed new service causes problems in its targeted age group. Way back in the dark ages of social media, shortly after September 11, 2001, I wrote an article speculating on the ethical implications of electronic communication. The immediate context was the fact that during the Twin Towers attack that day, the radio systems that first responders were relying on to coordinate their uniquely challenging rescue efforts largely broke down. At the time, I concluded that, other things being equal, more communication among human beings was better than less. But back then, Facebook wasnt even a gleam in Zuckerbergs eye, and hardly anybody imagined the huge economic and social forces that growth of social media would lead to. Some questions are like diamond drills. If you keep asking them they just keep going deeper and deeper and sometimes reveal unexpected things. One of these questions is the innocent-sounding, Whats the point? If you ask Mark Zuckerberg that question about Instagram for those under 13, I think the bottom-line answer must be to make more money. There is a thin veneer of public service that social media likes to coat their enterprises with. And there is justification for this veneer: billions of people (yes, billions) successfully use social media for largely innocent activities such as keeping in touch with relatives and friends. Because the vast majority of users do not pay for the service, Facebook and Instagram have to manipulate things so that their advertisers reach their intended audiences. The user is the product and the advertiser is the customer. Right off the bat, that step has strayed into a swamp that philosopher Immanuel Kant warned us against. I am told that he said in effect, Dont treat people as means, but only as ends. That is to say, using people solely as a means to something else is wrong. Of course, every business enterprise in the world could be accused of such a thing, and so providers of goods and services should not treat their customers only as a means to make money. And if Instagram goes ahead with its plans for the under-13 crowd, Im sure they will make efforts to protect their users against some of the worst abuses that social media can be used for: stalking, sexual predation, bullying, and other criminal activity. But if they dont make money at it, they will have failed, because they are not a charity they are a publicly-owned profit-making organisation, and the point of such organisations is to make money. There is a reason that Instagram currently says its users must be 13 or over. Historically, at least within the last century or so, children were regarded as especially worthy of protection and special safeguards. Just to give you an antiquated example, I attended the Fort Worth Independent School District from 1960 to 1972. At that time, both teachers and parents made strenuous efforts to keep commercial enterprises and advertising out of public schools. The only exception to this that I can recall is that in grade school, the teachers offered to let us practice saving money, and gave us little envelopes with the name of the First National Bank of Fort Worth printed on them. Thats it: no TV, no sponsored commercial films, no nothing. I am told that things are different now. History may judge our time as a peculiarly child-hostile period. The ideal of a child being raised to adulthood by his two biological parents one male, one female is receding into the past as other situations arise that are more convenient to the parents, maybe, but shortchange the kids. And I need not mention abortion as the ultimate child-hostile policy, but I did anyway. In an era of declining birthrates, more people than ever are asking Whats the point? about the whole business of childbearing in the first place, and coming up with a negative answer. For a time, advertising on childrens TV shows was also controversial, but that battle has receded into the distant past as TV itself turns into a bewildering array of shape-melding forms that anybody can access, even the baby in the nursery. Short of getting laws passed that prohibit Instagram for kids under 13, even the state attorneys general cant do much more than write letters saying that they wont be happy if Instagram goes ahead with its plans. Rather than further erode the influence and authority of parents over their children by taking even more of the childs attention away from the live human beings who care for them and using them as a means of profit as well as providing a dubious service that so far they have done fine without, I hope that Zuckerberg listens to the attorneys general and declares the under-13 set sacrosanct from further intrusions by his firm. But to do so would indicate that he is getting a different answer to the question of what the point is than hes gotten up to now. And so far, hes given no sign of doing so. This article has been republished with permission from Engineering Ethics.

https://mercatornet.com/why-instagram-for-kids/72506/

Is it COVID-19 or are my allergies acting up?

Dr. Atiq Rehman Columnist No doubt, the COVID-19 conundrum continues. But dont forget we live in the Ohio Valley, which is full of lush green vegetation and, thus, a productive breeding ground for native pollen, ragweed and mold. Therefore, allergies are rampant as well. Thus a common question for people with sniffles, is whether it is the more common everyday allergy or COVID-19, certainly with more serious implications. There are some commonalities to both pathological processes, for example, neither present with wheezing. People with either condition may have a sore throat, generalized tiredness and headaches. Let us look more closely at the variation in the symptoms between these two conditions. Generally, allergies have an abrupt onset lasting several weeks, whereas COVID-19 may have mild to severe symptoms for one to three weeks. Dry cough is common in COVID-19, but rare in allergies. On the contrary, runny nose is common in allergies, but rarely may be present in COVID-19. You dont expect shortness of breath and chest tightness in allergies, but they may occur in COVID-19. One of the very common symptoms in allergies is sneezing, which generally does not occur in COVID-19. Fever is one of the very clear distinguishing symptoms. It is common in COVID-19, but not present in allergies. Similarly patients with COVID-19 may present with body aches, pains, chills, nausea, vomiting and diarrhea, but they are not present in allergies. Loss of taste or smell are more common in COVID-19 and rare in allergies. To summarize, there are some obvious distinguishing symptoms and then others that are common to COVID-19 and allergies. Generally if there is fever, chills, shortness of breath and gastrointestinal symptoms, such as nausea, vomiting and diarrhea accompanying other symptoms, think COVID-19. As we have seen there are some similarities and differences between the two conditions. However, if there is any doubt, such as having overlapping symptoms of these distinct conditions or symptoms are persisting, err on the side of caution and consult your health care provider at the earliest. Dr. Atiq Rehman is chief of Cardiothoracic Surgery at Genesis HealthCare System.

https://www.zanesvilletimesrecorder.com/story/news/local/2021/06/04/covid-19-my-allergies-acting-up/5289828001/

Will Meghan Markle and Prince Harry's Kids Be at Trooping the Colour 2022?

Next year will mark Queen Elizabeth's 70th year in her role as monarch, and to celebrate, the British royal family is planning an enormous celebration. The "Platinum Jubilee" of June 2022 will include a four-day holiday weekend, a Trooping the Colour ceremony with 1,400 soldiers, and a "Platinum Party at the Palace" broadcast live. Already, there are rumors Prince Harry and Meghan Markle want to attendPrince Harry has always been close to his grandmother, and reportedly remains so even after stepping down as a senior royaland may even bring their children, Archie (who will be three), and their infant daughter, due this summer. If the Sussex family does come to London next summer to honor and celebrate Harry's grandmother and Archie and his sister's great-grandmother, it's possible that they'll take part in the traditional family gathering on the Buckingham Palace balcony. "Gathering" isn't quite accurate heretechnically, members of the family stand on the balcony to watch a military flyoverbut it's historically been a photo op during every Trooping the Colour celebration. Here's the entire royal family, including Meghan and Harry, in their last Trooping the Colour balcony shot, which was in 2019 (they didn't gather in 2020 due to the coronavirus pandemic): DANIEL LEAL-OLIVAS Getty Images 2018: Chris Jackson Getty Images 2017: Chris Jackson Getty Images You get the gist: All members of the royal family, even those who are not technically senior royals (you can see Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie in some of the above photos, for example), are gathered for what is at once an honoring of the military and a photo op. If Harry and Meghan do come to the U.K. for Trooping the Colourand given Harry's great affection and respect for his grandmother, which he's made clear at every opportunity, it would be surprising if he didn'tthen the whole family would likely be invited to appear on the balcony as well. If this were to happen, it would mark Archie and his little sister's first public appearance since Archie was a newborn. Since he and his sister are growing up in California without royal titles (although they are both very much in the line of succession), they're not likely to make a public appearance until Trooping the Colour, if they do at all. Harry is expected to return to the U.K. in July 2021 for an unveiling of a statue in honor of his late mother, Princess Diana, but he'll likely go alone; the trip is expected to be just weeks after Meghan is due to give birth to their daughter. This content is created and maintained by a third party, and imported onto this page to help users provide their email addresses. You may be able to find more information about this and similar content at piano.io

https://www.marieclaire.com/celebrity/a36621138/archie-harrison-sister-trooping-the-colour-2022-buckingham-palace-balcony/

Does Anyone Actually Like Adam Schiff?

By This is how Adam Schiff, a leading Democrats scam artist raises moneyby blaming others, not his words or polices for death and destruction. Schiffs email reads, in part, In the past year, weve seen a seismic shift in activism. He then claims Democrats have lifted up the voices of those crying out. Weve listened. Weve stood up. Weve marched alongside activists. But Republicans have stood in the way at every turn, he continued. Villainizing peaceful protest. Preventing justice. Laughing off accountability. And blowing racist dog whistles as loud as bullhorns to rally their base. More than 100 straight days of riots, dozens murdered, more than a billion dollars in damage and those mean, racist, dog whistle-blowing Republicans villainized those sweet, sweet people. I am waiting for him to apologize and give reparations to black Americanssince it was the Democrat Party that defended slavery, created Jim Crow laws and suppressed the black vote. Derek Hunter, Townhall, 6/1/21 | There are some Members of Congress you see and think, I get it, I can see how that person got elected. Either theyre charismatic, smart, attractive, have that it factor, or some combination of those traits and you get it. Then there are some who have you thinking they made some kind of deal with the devil to get there personality-less, weird, creepy, almost soulless people whod say or do anything if it helped them, even a little. California Congressman Adam Schiff is the perfect example of that. He hasnt been in the news much, which should tell you something about all the allegations he threw around during the Trump administration. Of course, he was lying. Thats what he does, lies are his water. But you cant help but think about this guy and wonder how he got there. Its California, being a pervert would probably be a plus. The only reason these thoughts occurred to me is on the 1 year anniversary of the death of George Floyd I got an email from the Schiff campaign. I have no idea how I ended up on his campaign list, I signed up for a few campaign emails just to see what they were sending out, but not his. Somewhere in the process my contact info was sold to him, and now I get regular requests for money. The reason I mentioned George Floyd is the one on May 25th was about him and raising money off his death. Classy, as always. I dont know if Schiff was the only Democrat raising money off Floyd, I cant imagine he was Democrats will raise money off anything, no matter how classless it is to do. Schiffs email reads, in part, In the past year, weve seen a seismic shift in activism. He then claims Democrats have lifted up the voices of those crying out. Weve listened. Weve stood up. Weve marched alongside activists. But Republicans have stood in the way at every turn, he continued. Villainizing peaceful protest. Preventing justice. Laughing off accountability. And blowing racist dog whistles as loud as bullhorns to rally their base. More than 100 straight days of riots, dozens murdered, more than a billion dollars in damage and those mean, racist, dog whistle-blowing Republicans villainized those sweet, sweet people. He doesnt come right out and beg for money in the email, even Democrats get how tacky that would be. Schiffs email includes a link to sign a petition demanding Republicans pass police reform, which Democrats had just finished blocking in the last year of the Trump administration. (No mention of that in the email.) From the signing of the petition, as soon as you hit submit, then comes the ask for cash. Its really gross. The petition is meaningless, just an attempt to reel suckers in; and it works. So, with the lies, the creepy personality, the willingness to do or say anything, you really have to wonder what the alternatives are every two years that make Adam Schiff the most appealing option to voters of his district. Because I cant imagine anyone actually likes him. Derek Hunter is the host of a free daily podcast ( subscribe! ), host of a daily radio show on WCBM in Maryland , and author of the book, Outrage, INC. , which exposes how liberals use fear and hatred to manipulate the masses.

http://www.capoliticalreview.com/capoliticalnewsandviews/does-anyone-actually-like-adam-schiff/

How Did India End Up Disappointing Both Israel and Palestine?

In an extraordinary development this week, Palestines Foreign Minister Riad Malki has written to his Indian counterpart, S Jaishankar, decrying Indias abstention from the latest United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) resolution on the Palestinian issue as an act that stifles human rights. Using terms seen as unusually strong, Malki declared that the Republic of India missed an opportunity to join the international community at this turning point, both crucial and long overdue, on the path to accountability, justice and peace. Those are tough words to use for a long-standing ally and patron of the Palestinian cause. The resolution, Malki pointed out, was the product of extensive multilateral consultations and Indias abstention stifles the important work of advancing human rights for all peoples, including those of the Palestinian people. The UNHRC resolution was adopted with 24 votes to 9 against, with 14, including India, abstaining. Its passage sets up an independent commission of inquiry to investigate violation of international law by Israel. As with previous such commissions, Israel will not co-operate in its work. Still, the episode confirms a perceptible shift in the Indian position that many had noticed between the Indian intervention in the UN Security Council on 16 May and our statement in the UN General Assembly on 20 May. At the Security Council meeting, Permanent Representative TS Tirumurti seemed to echo the traditional policy in the area by noting that it was the intrusion by Israeli forces into the Al Aqsa mosque during Ramzan prayers that ruptured the delicate peace in the region. Three days later, that point was incomprehensibly omitted in Indias statement to the General Assembly, where sympathy for the Palestinians is actually far more extensive than in the Security Council. The formulation reiterating Indias strong support to the just Palestinian cause and its unwavering commitment to the two-state solution, which was part of the Indian statement in the UN Security Council, was absent from the General Assembly statement, raising questions about the overall direction of our policy. Story continues Indias later statement has also conveyed the impression that we have thrown our support entirely to Israel. Whereas an Indian citizen from Kerala, Soumya Santosh, a nurse serving in Israel, was among the casualties early in the conflict, and India, mourning her tragic death, would be justified in condemning the rocket attacks by the Hamas whatever the provocation, the Indian stand at the General Assembly went well beyond this in showing understanding of the Israeli case. Strikingly, nowhere did India point out that disproportionate retaliation by a much stronger, organised military is unacceptable, particularly in view of the civilian casualties caused by Israeli strikes, including the deaths of many women and children. At the same time, the Israeli attack on media offices, undermining the first principles of free flow of information, went without censure from our side. Israeli Treatment of Palestinians: How India Toned Down Its Reactions Indias abstention in the voting at the Human Rights Council on 27 May on a resolution reiterating international law and demanding Israels compliance with globally-acknowledged human rights merely confirmed the policy shift. If previously we had managed both relationships with the dexterity of a diplomatic trapeze artist, here we had clearly fallen off the tightrope. It is true that over the years, the Indian government has been toning down its statements reacting to Israel's treatment of the Palestinians, expressing mild disapproval and also denouncing Palestinian transgressions which in the past it had been inclined to excuse, or even justify, as reactions to harsh Israeli policies. As relations with Israel warmed, India stopped initiating hostile resolutions at the UN, while continuing to vote for them. It was seen as a moderating influence in shaping the language of some anti-Israel resolutions. New Delhis Juggling Act Its not easy. Policy-makers in Delhi must juggle a number of considerations. There are obvious domestic interests involved, given the passionate support of Indias 190 million Muslims for the Palestinian cause. This also explains India's largely pro-Arab stance in the region, further buttressed by the presence of some six million Indian workers in the Gulf countries, a vital source of remittances which New Delhi would not wish to jeopardise. On the other hand, the Arab world itself is changing, with a growing number of countries joining Egypt in recognising Israel and seeing it as a source of support against the growing menace of radical Islamism in the region, which could threaten many of the Arab regimes in place. A more pro-Israel Indian policy would now have fewer negative consequences. And the increasing closeness of India and Israel particularly the enhanced security co-operation between the two countries means alienating the Jewish State carries a greater price for India than in the past. Netanyahu pointedly left India off a tweet listing twenty countries he thanked for standing by Israel. We are scrambling to make amends. Need for a Fine Balance These three UN meetings have made India's tilt towards Israel amply clear. Still, a balance must be found. There are mounting concerns abroad about the BJP governments propagation of Hindutva bigotry at home. Taking Israels side completely risks Indias stance being projected in the Muslim world as a Jewish-Hindu axis against Islam. This is obviously not in our interests, whoever is in power in New Delhi. The Congress party, which in government strove to maintain a careful balance in its support for Palestinian rights and freedoms while deepening strategic, security and technological co-operation with Israel, expressed its dismay at this overt tilt. It reiterated that our traditional position in support of the two-state solution, with appropriate recognition of East Jerusalem as the capital of independent Palestine, must not be undermined by omission. India has long maintained that both parties must abjure violence and return to peace negotiations to achieve a two-state solution, with equal sovereign rights for the two peoples, there being no other path to a meaningful, peaceful co-existence of Israel and Palestine. How India Can Turn Our Lose-Lose Proposition Into a Win-Win Right now, as the Netanyahu tweet and the Malki letter make clear, we are at risk of disappointing both sides in the conflict. Our policy looks like a lose-lose proposition. We should try to turn it into a win-win. As one of the few countries to have maintained good relations with both parties to the conflict, India should seriously consider the appointment of a Special Envoy to the Middle East, to lend our good offices to both Israel and Palestine in the quest for peace. We had such a position in the past, but it was allowed to lapse. Perhaps the time has come for the Modi government to revive it. Also Read: India Slams Attacks by Hamas at UN But Shows Support for Palestine Also Read: Why Indian Nationalists Supporting Israel Need to Read History Also Read: Indias Call for Restraint Isnt Enough, But It Cant Irk Israel (Dr Shashi Tharoor is a third-term MP for Thiruvananthapuram and award-winning author of 22 books, most recently The Battle of Belonging(Aleph). He tweets @ShashiTharoor. This is an opinion piece, and the views expressed are the authors own. The Quint neither endorses nor is responsible for them.) . . Read more on Opinion by The Quint.

https://ca.sports.yahoo.com/news/did-india-end-disappointing-both-090933278.html?src=rss

Where would prime Tyron Woodley rank in the UFC welterweight division in 2021?

A recent attempt to ignite a rap career has shown us that Tyron Woodley is somewhat of an audiophile. Wonder if he ever heard the 1970 George Harrison song All Things Must Pass. The Beatle softly sang, "none of lifes dreams can last, so, I must be on my way," lyrically exploring the transient nature of human existence, but with optimism rather than fatalism. The Chosen One, recently released from the UFC after an eight-year stint, currently finds himself in a state of transition. On August 28, Tyron Woodley will lace up gloves for the first time in a professional boxing match against YouTuber-turned-boxer Jake Paul. While some fans view this as a sad climax to a great combat sports career, the glass-half-full fan would claim that Woodley will receive his biggest payday yet and potentially reshape the face of an ex-Disney star. Tyron Woodleys first pro boxing bout will be contested at 190 pounds and with 10-ounce gloves, sources told @arielhelwani pic.twitter.com/2Cb2UN6OcZ ESPN MMA (@espnmma) June 1, 2021 Tyron Woodley was a phenomenon UFC 205: Woodley v Thompson Arguably one of the most gruesome matches in UFC history, Robbie Lawlers rematch with Rory MacDonald in 2015 showed just how tough the welterweight division had become. A 21-minute bloodbath was stopped just shy of the scheduled five rounds, as MacDonald couldn't bear the pain of his injuries any longer. Ruthless had successfully defended his UFC welterweight title for the first time and sent a message to the rest of the division in the process. Before their UFC careers, both Tyron Woodley and Lawler had been rising the ranks of the Strikeforce promotion at the same time. However, Ruthless competed in the middleweight division, so the pair had never met inside the cage. The day of reckoning finally came at UFC 201 in 2016, with Lawler entering the contest as a heavy favorite, then on a five-fight win streak. Fight fans didnt have to wait long as The Chosen One smoked Lawler with a right hand just two minutes into the first round, becoming the new UFC welterweight champion in devastating fashion. These are questions that could be argued over ad infinitum, and while they produce some interesting and passionate arguments, the fact remains: it is impossible to compare generational skill sets. As the Earth spins at 1,000mph every day, our world constantly evolves, and perhaps things move even quicker within the MMA universe. Dear @jakepaul keep the I'm taking your head clean off your neck! #GotchaSoul pic.twitter.com/f7Ba8MELJ4 Tyron T-Wood Woodley (@TWooodley) June 1, 2021 The sport's popularity has grown exponentially over the past 20 years, and the talent pool seems to have grown with it, which has only made it harder to hold onto UFC gold. Only three other fighters have successfully defended the welterweight title more times than Woodley (4) in UFC history: Matt Hughes (5), Kamaru Usman (8), and Georges St-Pierre (9). With this in mind, it's perhaps fair to say that a prime Tyron Woodley would certainly be able to hold his own in the current top five welterweight rankings. His kryptonite was the current champion Kamaru Usman, the man responsible for dethroning 'The Chosen One' and starting his decline. Considering Usman is making a case for the best UFC welterweight of all time, Tyron Woodley couldnt have lost to a better opponent. Please take 30 seconds to answer this survey so that we can better understand how to serve your MMA needs. Edited by Avinash Tewari

https://www.sportskeeda.com/mma/where-prime-tyron-woodley-rank-ufc-welterweight-division-2021

Is Chris Hogan playing in Premier Lacrosse League?

Chris Hogan, a former wide receiver in the National Football League, is now pursuing his other sporting passion: lacrosse. Hogan made three Super Bowl appearances with the New England Patriots, winning two. Hogan hasn't played lacrosse since college in 2010. After Chris Higan left the Patriots, he spent just one season apiece with the Carolina Panthers and New York Jets. This past February, Chris Hogan announced that he would be entering the 2021 Premier Lacrosse League entry draft, going back to his roots and pursuing a possible career in the sport. Chris Hogan was signed by the Boston Cannons Chris Hogan went undrafted in the 2021 Premier Lacrosse League draft but was later signed by the Boston Cannons. Hogan, a midfielder, wasn't guaranteed a spot on the 25-man roster as a free agent but has shown he is still capable of playing at a high level at thirty-two years old. Chris Hogan received a scholarship to play lacrosse at Penn State. Hogan had an elite college career at Penn State before graduating. With one year of eligibility left, Chris Hogan went to Monmouth University to play college football. At Monmouth, he played quarterback, receiver and even made appearances at cornerback. Chris Hogan went undrafted in 2011 out of Monmouth University, but signed with the San Francisco 49ers after the draft. He was released by the 49ers just a few months later and went on to be signed and cut by the New York Giants and the Miami Dolphins. In 2012 the Buffalo Bills signed Chris Hogan, who played for three seasons before signing with the New England Patriots in 2016. "To be able to make the 25-man roster, I think back to my days when I was on the bubble of getting cut [in the NFL], and that feeling. I certainly had it last night." -- @ChrisHogan_15, whose @PLLCannons face the @PLLRedwoods at @GilletteStadium on Friday (7 p.m. ET). https://t.co/NeD9uhYas4 Mike Reiss (@MikeReiss) June 2, 2021 It was during his time with the New England Patriots that Chris Hogan really became a breakout star. In three seasons with the Patriots, Chris Hogan had twelve receiving touchdowns and 1,651 receiving yards. Chris Hogan was an integral part of the Patriots offense that went to three Super Bowls, winning two of them. Hogan even set a record for most receiving yards in a playoff game with 180 yards. After his success with the New England Patriots, Chris Hogan played just seven games with the Carolina Panthers in 2019 and five games with the New York Jets in 2020. Less than a week away from the start of the @PremierLacrosse season. Were ready to see Chris Hogan and Bryce Wasserman put on a show #FlyHawks x #HawksInThePros pic.twitter.com/i5aiHeJlsG Monmouth Hawks (@MonmouthHawks) May 30, 2021 Hogan then decided to pursue a career in professional lacrosse after the 2020 season. Chris Hogan will be playing back at Gillette Stadium in Foxboro, Massachusetts this weekend as the Cannons take on the Redwoods of California. "Foxboro will forever and always be a place that is near and dear to my heart. "@ChrisHogan_15 returns to @GilletteStadium with the @PLLCannons this weekend: https://t.co/WMJfO0ftJO New England Patriots (@Patriots) June 2, 2021 Edited by Rohit Mishra

https://www.sportskeeda.com/nfl/is-chris-hogan-playing-premier-lacrosse-league

What is WhatsApp Fast Playback and how to use it?

(Pocket-lint) - WhatsApp officially introduced Fast Playback in June 2021. The feature - which was first rumoured back in March 2021 - enables users to speed up the playback of voice messages, consequently reducing the time to listen to them. Voice messages are great. They allow users to send more information without having to type it all in a message. They are also a little more personal than a written message, and they help to get the right context across, some of which can be lost in a message. The problem with them however, is that they can take quite a long time to listen to if you have a particularly chatty friend. Fast Playback helps with that. There are three settings available to choose from - 1x, 1.5x and 2x - none of which change the pitch of the person's voice. Here's how to use Fast Playback on WhatsApp. To speed up voice messages on WhatsApp, follow the steps below: Open WhatsApp Tap on the play icon of the voice message you want to speed up Tap on the 1x on the voice message to change it to 1.5x - the 1x icon will appear when you press play Tap the 1.5x icon to change it to 2x Tap the 2x icon to change it back to the default 1x speed That's it. Simples. The WhatsApp Fast Playback feature is available on the WhatsApp iOS and Android apps, as well as WhatsApp Desktop and WhatsApp web. To get it, make sure you are running the lastest version of WhatsApp. You need to make sure you're running version 2.21.101 or later. Open the App Store on iOS or Google Play Store on Android, search for WhatsApp and make sure it's on the latest version. EaseUS is the easiest way to recover your sensitive data on Mac or PC By Pocket-lint Promotion 4 June 2021 Writing by Britta O'Boyle.

https://www.pocket-lint.com/apps/news/whatsapp/157188-what-is-whatsapp-fast-playback-and-how-to-speed-up-voice-messages

What does the presence of the Delta variant mean for Australia?

tidings Health authorities have said the variant, which is the dominant species in Indias ongoing devastation, appears to have a greater transmission, including to children. New data show that the Delta variant carries 2.61 times the risk of hospitalization within 14 days compared to the Alpha variant. It is more infectious than the Alpha variant [formerly B.1.1.7], which is now 50100% more contagious than the type that caused Victorias second wave last year. If we do not identify every new contact and case, it would be a harder blast to control. This is infectious disease expert Professor Raina MacIntyre GP news in connection with the discovery of the Delta variant of COVID-19 in Victoria. Formerly known as B.1.617.2, it has become the dominant species in both India and the UK, prompting the World Health Organization to classify it as a concern variant. His discovery in Victoria was announced on Friday, after genomic testing revealed that members of a Victorian family had tested positive for the variant after traveling to New South Wales. The NSW Department of Health has confirmed that the infections are not genetically linked to known cases in NSW. Authorities have so far been unable to link cases in the Victorian family with other previously identified Delta cases. Victorias Chief Health Officer Professor Brett Sutton said it remains possible for the family to become infected while traveling interstate, but the dominant theory is that the variant was transmitted between two 5th graders at the school. We suspect so, but we have to look further. But this is the possible broadcast at the moment, said Professor Sutton. We know this family traveled to the Gulf of Jervis [NSW] and we are examining what is the possible case of the index in this family, and therefore we are trying to find out where this variant is taken. We are working with New South Wales, ACT and Commonwealth counterparts in that direction. We will look at all the other sequences, reviewed to the fullest extent possible across Australia to see if there are any possible links to known cases and that include those who have passed official quarantine, but also someone other, naval, airline, diplomatic. So far, the Kappa variant, formerly known as B.1.617.1, has been at the center of the current Victoria blast. Stuart Turville, an Associate Professor in the Kirby Institutes Immunovirology and Pathogenesis Program, describes the Delta variant as a Kappa genetic cousin the main difference is that the Delta variant has a fitness gain that allows the virus to bind cells better. . Where Kappa had a change called 484q, this has 478k. If we recall back in our second wave, we had a similar virus called variant 20F. He also had a similar change called 477n, he said. Changes in these regions [477 and 478] have been observed to increase affinity for the primary ACE2 receptor. In the laboratory under controlled conditions, we see Delta to be approximately 1.4 times better than Kappa. While this is a laboratory observation, the relocation of Kappa from Delta to India supports it to be a more suitable variant in populations where vaccine immunity is low. Data from Public Health England released this week shows that the Delta variant carries 2.61 times the risk of hospitalization within 14 days compared to the Alpha variant. The Delta variant also seems to be more transmissible among children, with 140 explosions in schools and educational facilities in the UK. It seems to be the most significant [variant] in terms of transmissibility, said Professor Sutton. There is not much information about the severity of the disease with this variant, although there are some anecdotal reports of a greater severity of the disease in children, as well as the possible increased transmissibility in children. So we have concerns for this reason. While the effectiveness of AstraZeneca and Pfizer vaccines appears to be declining against the variant, experts say recent data in the UK are reassuring, indicating that both offer relatively good protection after two doses. The effectiveness of a dose of Pfizer or AstraZeneca is only 33% versus B.1617.2 [Delta]; but this increases to 88% after two doses of Pfizer and 59.8% after two doses of AstraZeneca, said Professor MacIntyre. This means that there is some resistance to vaccines, although not as much as the South African variant [Beta]. There is also the possibility of vaccine evasion for B.1617.1 [Kappa]. Professor MacIntyre says Deltas confirmed presence in the Australian community adds further urgency to the spread of vaccines, which she believes should include children, but Pfizers 21-day waiting period between doses (compared to AstraZenecas 12 weeks) ) makes it a preferred vaccine option Very few Australians are vaccinated, and even less fully vaccinated, she said. These are reasons why people should be vaccinated as soon as possible and why a gap of three months to wait for your second dose can end up costly during an epidemic. And we also need to start formulating a vaccination strategy for children. Dr. Turville agrees. Vaccination is our main defense and until we have higher levels, we have to treat this variant and all the variants as we did in 2020, he said. Log in below to join the conversation. Dissemination of vaccines of the COVID-19 Delta variant Kappa variant

https://exbulletin.com/world/963921/

What have building engineers ever done for us?

David Frise of BESA asks the question. Im sure everyone in our industry would answer yes to all of the above, but how do we explain our value to our clients many of whom are much more interested in the cost of what we do. The often quoted What have the Romans ever done for us? sketch from Monty Pythons Life of Brian hit on an enduring truth that it is often easier to criticise than to look for the positive in a situation. In this instance that meant ignoring the clearly useful and life enhancing aquaduct (not to mention peace). In our world, it means we dont really get noticed unless something goes wrong. Building engineering professionals succeed in the shadows. If occupants are not too hot or cold, if the lighting is perfect, and they cant hear any motors or pumps we have succeededand nobody notices. However, that means a sector that includes more than 60,000 businesses, over 350,000 skilled professionals and comprises some 40% of UK construction by value is often overlooked. Building engineering services directly contribute 100bn to the countrys GDP and enable a further 600bn what we do affects everyone in our society. Public discussion Our industry is a specialist in tackling invisible threats and ventilation is a prime example. Out of sight and out of mind for so long, a Cinderella service, but now front and central with people spending more time indoors during lockdown and growing increasingly fearful of airborne threats to their health. Buildings are also responsible for more than 40% of the countrys total carbon emissions, so engineering services also provide a significant part of the solution to the climate crisis. David Frise Yet, it is not only consumers and clients who undervalue our work. We do it ourselves by touting our work to the lowest bidder, which leads us to undermine supply chain colleagues and putting them under pressure to deliver against unrealistic programmes. Not a good recipe for value. Part of breaking this pernicious cycle, is having a methodology that measures and explains how we add value and why our contribution deserves better recognition and remuneration. That is what the Construction Innovation Hub is trying to create with its innovative Value Toolkit, which has now been released to our industry for testing. Taking its inspiration from work carried out by the Construction Leadership Council and Ann Bentley, in particular it aims to show how much better we can do things and demonstrate real, concrete added value for public and private sector clients. More than 70 early adopters have signed up to be part of the pilot phase, including Arup, Mace, Mott MacDonald and Morgan Sindall. They will use the Value Toolkit on live projects and programmes over the next six months to measure its usefulness. And the member bodies of the engineering services alliance Actuate UK support the initiative as it can bring positive, evidence-based change. To understand if we are hitting targets and delivering value for our clients, we must measure a range of factors throughout the whole life of a building. The Toolkit gives its users the wherewithal to measure each stage of a project from design to construction and on through occupation. It also creates a data feedback loop to ensure we can learn vital lessons for the future. It chimes nicely with the governments new Construction Playbook, which includes as part of its ethos a determination to test (and hopefully reject) unrealistically low bids, which repeatedly undermine the sectors ability to deliver value. The challenge to the industry and our clients, is to use the value toolkit as intended. Not just in the initial stages where anything seems possible but when it gets difficult, when budget and programme are under pressure and compromises inevitably need to be made. That will be the true test of this excellent initiative. The Playbook states that social value should contribute as much as 10% of the awarding criteria for public sector projects. That is a laudable aim, but a hard thing to measure unless you have a robust and all-encompassing approach. With the Value Toolkit that has just moved a little closer. David Frise is CEO at BESA Related links: Related articles:

https://modbs.co.uk/news/fullstory.php/aid/19595/What_have_building_engineers_ever_done_for_us_.html

How will SEA teams qualify for the PUBG Mobile Global Championship 2021?

Each country will have atleast one representative in the event. The 2021 season for PUBG Mobile esports is currently underway. It has a total prize pool of $14 million which is split across several regions and tournaments. One of the largest regions for PUBG Mobile is Southeast Asia. The region is made up of four leagues in Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia/Singapore, and Vietnam. In each country, separate Club Opens (PMCO) are held as well that determine the teams in the Pro Leagues (PMPL). From here, the top teams qualify for the SEA Championship to crown a regional champion. There are two seasons (seasons three and four) of each tournament in 2021. While there is plenty of prize money for the teams to fight for throughout the year, the main goal is to qualify for the PUBG Mobile Global Championship (PMGC) 2021. This will likely be an offline event at the end of the year to crown a world champion. Unlike last year, the process of qualification for it is a bit complicated in 2021. Screengrab via PUBG Mobile Esports PMPL SEA Championship season four The fourth season of the PMPL SEA Championship will be held towards the end of 2021, before the PMGC. From here, the top teams will make it to the PMGC. Tencent hasnt revealed how many teams will qualify for the PMGC though. The PMPL SEA Championship season three will not be used to determine the teams in the PMGC. However, the top two teams from the third season, which concluded last monthThe Infinity and Evos Rebornwill make it to the fourth season to have a shot at qualification. Country-wise qualification Every match in the country-specific PMPLs will now count towards qualification for the Global Championship. The team with the highest total score from the third and fourth seasons of the regional PMPLs will make it to the PMGC. This includes the total score earned in the Super Weekends and the country finals. This means that there will be at least one team from Indonesia, Singapore Malaysia, Vietnam, and Thailand in the PMGC 2021.

https://dotesports.com/news/how-will-sea-teams-qualify-for-the-pubg-mobile-global-championship-2021

Is Sweden Africas legal good samaritan?

Sweden, the very centre of prosperous Nordic social democracy, has long established itself as a Good Samaritan on the international stage. The country is a global leader in international aid and human rights, playing an outsize role on the world stage given its relatively small population and economy. As Sweden seeks to expand this role into the administration of international law, the time has come to ask whether the countrys good intentions always lead to good outcomes for Africa. Swedens role as a global Good Samaritan is well established, so much so that some feel the role forms part of its national identity. In her seminal study on the subject, Professor Alison Brysk, University of California, Santa Barbara, notes that Sweden sets the gold standard for human rights foreign policy promotion: funding, sheltering, mediating, and advocating for the full spectrum of human rights, all over the world, for several generations. Brysk details how an active and generous approach to human rights runs through almost all Swedish foreign policy, and is broadly reflected in domestic policy. She examines how this position is engrained in Swedens political culture, an agenda pursued by governments of the right and the left. Most importantly, Brysk argues, Swedens role as global Good Samaritan is motivated not by pure altruism, but a form of enlightened self-interest, this ongoing series of policy choices was enabled and inspired by a collective ideology that reconstructed national interest as global cosmopolitanism. Sweden is one of the few countries in the world to exceed the UNs target for foreign aid as a proportion of gross national income, with contributions reaching a world-leading 1.4 percent of GNI in 2016 according to the OECD and falling to 0.99% in 2019. It has an aid policy framework linked to the UNs Sustainable Development Goals and particularly focused on promoting human rights. In the diplomatic field, Sweden was a leading critic of apartheid South Africa, applying sanctions and supporting ANC leaders. In Sudan, Sweden combined a major package of aid with a concerted diplomatic push for peace in 2007. It is a major contributor to the UN and international institutions supporting human rights and international development. Not every commentator is entirely full of praise for Swedens role in human rights and global equity. Writing in the Nordic Journal of Human Rights, Johan Karlsson Schaffer of the University of Gothenburg points to areas in which Sweden has sought to exempt itself from the activism it applies to other countries. Sweden was initially keen to promote the development of international law and human rights norms, but by the 1980s, the government began realising that Swedens international human rights commitments had more far-reaching domestic implications than it had assumed, as an increasingly proactive European Court of Human Rights delivered its first judgments finding against the state. From its treatment of the Sami people to more technical matters, Swedens governments have often found themselves taking positions at odds with their diplomatic rhetoric. Ultimately, Schaffer concludes, Swedens commitment to human rights at home and abroad is at least partly shaped by domestic political considerations. Regardless of any notes of minor domestic hypocrisy, its clear that to date, African nations have been overwhelming beneficiaries of the domestic political considerations that have led to a generational commitment to international aid and human rights. Where those considerations are more dangerous, however, are in the realm of law. Sweden, along with its European neighbours and many African states, is a party to the Rome Statute that established the International Criminal Court (ICC) in 2002. It is the only internationally recognised court with jurisdiction to prosecute international crimes, including genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes. All of the forty individuals to have been indicted at the ICC have been from African countries. Nine have been convicted, and four acquitted. Sweden is a supporter of the ICC, yet, ever the activist, appears keen to take up cases the court will not pursue. Following the signing of the Rome Statute, Swedens parliament passed the Act on Criminal Responsibility for Genocide, Crimes against Humanity and War Crimes in 2014. This act enshrines the crimes detailed in the Rome Statute in domestic law, creating the offences listed in the title of the Act. A peace-loving nation, its unlikely that genocides and war crimes will take place in Sweden in the near future. The law is also, however, subject to the unusual legal principle of Universal Jurisdiction. This means that crimes can be tried in Sweden regardless of where the crime took place or the nationality, residency or current location of the perpetrator and victim. A report published in the UK by international criminal lawyer Steven Kay QC in May highlights problems with this approach that could have a significant impact in Africa. The Swedish Prosecutors Office, which has its own department of human rights, has the right under the 2014 law to launch investigations and prosecutions of individuals that should, by international convention, be heard at the ICC. Steven Kays report details that the Swedish Prosecutors eleven-year investigation into Lundin Energys activities in southern Sudan does not meet the standard of evidence required by the ICC. The allegations at the heart of the case were also considered and thrown out by a US court when levelled at the Canadian Talisman Energy. Most disturbingly, the report details political pressure on the prosecutor from civil society organisations to pursue the case. Swedens socially democratic and enlightened political culture, the domestic political considerations detailed above make it an activist on the world stage. It actively seeks to promote and impose its values on other countries, particularly on African countries. Carl Bilt, the countrys best known and perhaps best-loved global statesman, put the position clearly when he spoke at the UN in 2007, Sweden must never cease to speak out in criticism of dictatorships that remain and the authoritarian regimes in which human rights protection is weak. We must also have the strength to criticize shortcomings in our own circle. As far as this relates to international aid, the promotion of gender equality and criticism of despots, three of Swedens top priorities, the approach is beyond reproach. Where the same political culture leads a nation to apply its own legal system to the affairs of other countries, questions must be asked. When it comes to Africa and international law, Sweden may be well advised to defer to the international courts.

https://venturesafrica.com/is-sweden-africas-legal-good-samaritan/

What does Amazons buyout of MGM mean for movie-lovers?

After days of speculation, Amazon was officially confirmed as the new owners of MGM, and by proxy many huge movie and TV franchises are now theirs to do what they like with. Like Disney's acquisition of Fox before it, the merger opens up many new avenues for Amazon to explore - although some movies such as The Wizard of Oz and Gone With The Wind to mention two after off limits for complex legal reasons. With their Prime Video service already scoring multiple hits in the TV series stakes, with the likes of Bosch, The Boys and Jack Ryan, along with their multi-million dollar Lord of The Rings TV Series taking shape, we take a look at which of their newly purchased movie franchises Amazon could put into production right now, and which they are likely to pass on.

https://www.newsbreak.com/news/2263156967966/what-does-amazon-s-buyout-of-mgm-mean-for-movie-lovers

Will raising standards for advisors be a double-edged sword?

Open this photo in gallery There appears to be a consensus that the new baseline competency profiles that the Financial Services Regulatory Authority has proposed for financial planners and financial advisors is a sound approach. Oleksii Didok/iStockPhoto / Getty Images Although measures imposed in Britain to raise educational requirements for financial advisors have resulted in investors who are better served, they have also contributed to a continuing shortage of advisors that has made advice harder to access for many investors who are less affluent. Advisors in Britain have been required to meet higher educational standards since 2013, when a series of reforms known as the Retail Distribution Review (RDR) came into effect. Those requirements are set by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and are administered by organizations that the financial services regulator has approved. That structure is similar to the one being proposed by Ontarios Financial Services Regulatory Authority (FSRA), which will oversee the implementation of the new Financial Professionals Title Protection Act. If the new model is adopted, it will give authority to a government agency for the first time to set educational and ethical standards for two of the most widely used titles in the Canadian investment industry: financial planner and financial advisor. Story continues below advertisement While there is broad consensus that raising professional standards has mostly benefited investors and the investment industry in Britain, issues remain. They range from a stubborn shortage of advisors many who fell short of the new standards left the field, widening the advice gap, especially for less affluent investors to creating advice silos that make it harder for some investors to obtain a holistic picture of their finances. On the topic of silos, in particular, there are concerns that some advisors, especially those who practice alone or in very small firms, may be tempted to offer advice in areas in which they lack expertise, even though they are technically permitted to do so. People [can be] clingy with their clients. If they cant advise on something, they are not very keen on handing them over to somebody else. So, [the British scheme] needs to have a more joined-up approach, with fewer knowledge gaps in between, says John Somerville, head of regulatory relationships, professional education at the London Institute of Banking & Finance, which provides training programs for advisors. However, for some in Canada, any upgrades are preferable to the current state of affairs, in which virtually anyone may set him- or herself up as a financial planner or advisor without the need for specific training or experience. The lack of government-mandated credentials has led to consumer confusion and made it easier for fraudsters to flourish. As such, there appears to be a consensus that the new baseline competency profiles that FSRA has proposed for both financial planners and advisors is a sound approach. Dan Hallett, vice-president, research, and principal at Oakville, Ont.-based Highview Financial Group, says that while the new rule should eventually become more rigorous and cover more titles, it takes a practical approach thats welcome in an already heavily regulated sector. It does need to go further, he adds. It doesnt need to go further right away, but its something they need to keep building on, to keep pushing in the direction [of higher standards]. Story continues below advertisement Members of Britains financial services industry view the standards that the FCA has set as appropriate, for the most part, especially as the regulator has the power to hand out tough penalties for those who violate the standards. At the most basic, independent financial advisors (IFAs) in Britain a special category indicating the advisor has no special relationship with any product provider must complete Level 4 training. That standard is met after finishing a diploma course that generally takes less than a year. While thats the bare minimum, IFAs are encouraged to upgrade their training to Level 6, which is roughly equivalent to completing the first year of a bachelors degree. Level 4 is by far the most common, but Level 6 is generally viewed as more appropriate for serving clients with complex needs, such as those who need help with pension transfers and inheritance taxes. Indeed, Level 6 is now a requirement for advisors who take on the closely regulated task of advising clients who are transferring their pensions out of defined-benefit pension plans. Both credentials require the successful completion of exams in areas such as government regulation, creating financial plans, and assessing clients risk tolerance. Both also allow candidates to work for financial services firms as they train, providing supervised opportunities to interact with clients and apply what they have learned as they go. Mr. Somerville says that the changes have mostly been beneficial, particularly at the Level 4 standard, which is appropriate for clients with smaller accounts. (The FCA recently estimated that about 92 per cent of investors in Britain receive no financial advice at all because of its cost.) There is a huge space for Level 4 advisors, he says. Its a good standard, it gets people into the industry, and helps provide advice to the masses, which is what we want. Story continues below advertisement David Hearne, a certified financial planner with Financial Planning Partners Ltd. in Maidenhead, England, and a chartered fellow of the Chartered Institute for Securities & Investment, which sets professional standards advisors, says that raising educational standards for advisors was the right thing to do. The complexity and potential impact of good or bad advice requires it, plus it elevates the role [of advisors] toward other professions such as accounting and law, he says. That may help to attract new talent to the profession, particularly post-university, and extends the range of the profession, which is typically older than in the U.S. and Canada.

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/investing/globe-advisor/advisor-news/article-will-raising-standards-for-advisors-be-a-double-edged-sword/

What's gained from post-match interviews in modern sport?

EARLIER in the week, the news that tennis' world number two Naomi Osaka was to be fined and threatened with expulsion by the French Open for not doing a press conference after her first-round victory, smacked of a spoilt millionaire sports star throwing a tantrum and refusing to talk to media and therefore rightly punished by the tournament's governing body. A couple of days later, Osaka withdrew totally from the tournament stating that she has been suffering from depression and anxiety on an ongoing basis and found that having to fulfil media requirements was adding to her stress and mental health anxieties. Suddenly, the French Open's sanctions was not a good look for the authorities at Roland Garros. To be fair, they could not know Osaka's mental health issues and were merely following through on the contractual obligation Osaka and all professional tennis players sign up to, which demands that all players need to talk to the media when required after every match during a tournament. The controversy has brought to a head the long-standing issue of media access to sports players and management, and the value such meetings have for either the sport or the media. Every one of us can relate to the stress of public speaking, that stress is exaggerated when talking to the 'world' through the medium of the press that in some cases is looking to find fault in your performance or even your character. A happy Manchester City's Kevin De Bruyne poses with his winners medal after the Premier League match at the Etihad Stadium, Manchester. But he was not so pleased to do the post-match interview. Picture: Peter Powell/PA Wire A recent social media video doing the rounds showed Man City players celebrating their recent Premier League title triumph, after their last game of the season against Everton, as players and coaching staff hugged and celebrated together. One of the stars of the team, Kevin de Bruyne, is seen jumping for joy with his teammates, a wide smile across his face until he was approached by a member of the City staff who tells him he is wanted to do the post-match interview. The smile quickly dropped from de Bruyne's face and you did not need to be a lip-reader to understand when he mouthed, "Ah for f**k sake". De Bruyne professionally fulfilled his duty to the club by doing the TV interview, which I saw live at the time. It was concise and polite, he answered the questions and it was totally forgettable. I do not recall one syllable from the interview as it was just another one of those post-game drones we have all become so accustomed to and that we no longer heed what is being said. The novelty of having access to the superstars of sport waned a long time ago. But it is part of the game and with so many other sports and other distractions on the airwaves and internet it is understandable that individual sports insist their stars are available to the press for maximum exposure. For the media itself, it's a bit of a poisoned chalice task too. Long waits followed by frantic questions to a bored if not angry interviewee, is hardly ideal. Plus there is the risk of the interview going against you. Our sympathy for professional sports stars or the media having to do interviews may be one thing. Seeing the amateur stars of the GAA struggle with the task is another thing altogether. I think most of us would understand if GAA players were excused from the exercise of answering questions immediately after the game. To be honest, the vast majority of these interviews are painful to watch, ranging from monosyllabic replies to terrified expressions. Sure some are more accomplished and if they are willing let them do it. Otherwise, let the manager do the talking. He's the fella calling the shots anyway. Ireland Brian O'Driscoll working up a thirst before the interviews in the Six Nations. Picture: INPHO/Tom Honan Indeed, it's the managers and their outbursts that have produced the real memorable interviews over the years. The Davy Fitz controlled fury in GAA, the Mourinho self-promoting "special-one" in soccer, Brendan Venter's "Mike Bassett" homage in rugby. There are the funny ones: Kieran Donaghy calling out Joe Brolly in Gaelic Football, Shane Long's triumphant "yessss!" moment after scoring the winner against Germany. And who could forget the strangest OTT interview in Irish sport when Brian O'Driscoll spent an entire post-game chat indulging in product placement for an isotonic drink when answering his questions. Newcastle United manager Kevin Keegan gained notoriety for a post-match rant in the 1996 season. For many, the funniest post-match interview is, the much replayed and often quoted, "I would love it if we could beat them" meltdown by Newcastle manager Kevin Keegan in 'that interview' at the height of the 1996 Premier League title race against Man United. We all had a good laugh at Keegan losing the plot under pressure.

https://www.echolive.ie/corksport/arid-40303523.html

Can the rich pay for a better America?

President Joe Biden has, however, repeatedly promised not to increase taxes on households making less than $400,000 a year. And his budget does indeed propose raising all the additional money via higher receipts from corporations and high-income individuals. Its worth noting, by the way, that the two proposals that have attracted the most attention raising the corporate tax rate, which Donald Trump cut from 35% to 21%, up to 28%, and raising the top individual rate back to 39.6% account for only a fraction of the proposed revenue increase (just over a quarter). Most of the money is supposed to come from closing loopholes and eliminating perceived inequities things like giving the IRS the resources to crack down on wealthy tax cheats, eliminating rules that allow many capital gains to go completely untaxed and closing off some of the major avenues for corporate tax avoidance. My answer is yes to the first two questions, if you assume as I think we should that given the political realities Biden needs to keep his ambitions fairly modest. The answer to the third is, its complicated. There are, as I see it, three main critiques of Bidens tax approach, two of which deserve to be taken seriously. The unserious critique is the claim that raising taxes on corporations and high incomes would cripple the economy. Assertions that prosperity depends on keeping taxes at the top low have been refuted by experience time and time again most recently in the failure of the Trump tax cuts to deliver the promised immense investment boom. The only reason the obsession with low taxes for the rich retains any influence is that keeping this zombie shambling around serves the interests of corporations and the wealthy. So lets not waste time on it. A far more serious critique of Bidens approach comes from the left. Theres a good case that the kind of society progressives want us to become, with a very strong social safety net, cant be paid for just by taxing the rich. A country like Denmark, for example, does have a high top tax rate (although its not that much higher than the effective tax rate facing high-income New Yorkers, who pay state and city as well as federal taxes). But Denmark also has very high middle-class taxation, in particular a 25% value-added tax, effectively a national sales tax. And the fact that even the Nordic countries feel compelled to raise a lot of money from the middle class suggests that there are limits much higher than conservatives claim, but limits nonetheless to how much you can raise just by taxing the rich.So if you want "Medicare for All," Nordic levels of support for child care and families in general, and so on, just raising taxes on the 400K-plus elite wont get you there. And many progressives myself included would like us to have these things. It would, however, be incredibly risky politically to try selling members of the US middle class on the idea that paying substantially higher taxes would be worth it because of all the benefits they would receive. Surely it makes sense to pursue a more modest agenda, one that would still make a huge difference to American lives but that could be financed by raising taxes only on corporations and the wealthy. There are many interesting, smart ideas out there for example, Elizabeth Warrens proposed wealth tax that didnt make it into the Biden plan. There have also been technical critiques of the details of Biden proposals and tax policy is an area where details really matter. Oh, and its likely that one way or another revenues would fall short of what the Biden administration is projecting, and that as a result deficits would be larger. Given that the US government can borrow at negative real interest rates, however, this isnt a big concern. Honestly, I cant tell. I like to think that I know a fair bit of economics and can recognise the difference between real experts and hacks. But tax policy is really hard partly because youre trying to make rules that can withstand assaults from very well paid accountants and there are seriously credible experts on both sides of the detailed tax debates. Some of my go-to tax experts are now in the administration! What this means, I suspect, is that while some of the critiques may well be correct, Bidens proposals are appropriate in their general thrust and probably dont have huge flaws in their details. My biggest concern isnt that hell botch important issues, it is that Democrats in Congress some of whom are still far too deferential to moneyed interests will water down the things hes trying to do right. 2021 New York Times News Service

https://bdnews24.com/world/2021/06/04/can-the-rich-pay-for-a-better-america

What the F*ck Is Wrong With Joe Manchin?

Thats what Molly Jong-Fast, co-host of The New Abnormal, wants to knowalong with What the fuck is wrong? with him. Because of the West Virginia senator, Democrats cant say they have the majority in the Senate. Unfortunately, thats the way they have to look at it, she says. Its totally screwy. We are in this weird conundrum of our own Democratic making. Subscribe to The New Abnormal on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, Amazon Music, or Overcast. To listen to our weekly members-only bonus episodes, join Beast Inside here. You can listen here and sign up for new episode email alerts here. Forget about it, because Manchin doesnt want to do it. The Daily Beasts congressional reporter, Sam Brodey, joins the podcasts latest episode to offer insight on what makes the senator tickand what might possibly move him on the all-important filibuster. While he always wants to find the middle, even as his party has moved leftward, hes looking out for his brand as much as anything else, Brodey says. I mean, this is all burnishes him as, you know, the bipartisan voice of reason, which is I think how he sees himself and how he wants to cultivate himself. The failure of the Jan. 6 commission left the senator distraught, and yet it didnt push him to end the filibuster. But if the whole Senate shut down, he could no longer pretend that bipartisanship was workingand then we might see a shift, says Brodey. Also on the show, comedian Andy Levy laments the passing of Donald Trumps blog and says the former commander in chief was undone by the media he hates so much, with reporters tweeting about his posts and thereby robbing him of vital traffic. Still, Trump has nothing to be ashamed of, Levy says: The world is littered with failed bloggers. Levy also weighs in on Ron DeSantis, whos been sparring with the CDC over vaccine requirements for cruise ships. The Florida governor is being unfairly pilloried by the lamestream media, Levy saysall while sliding into the spot recently vacated by Mike Pence. Later in the episode, writer Sasha Issenberg talks about how same-sex marriage was the dominant culture war issue for a long period of time. And now I think we look back at it as the most significant civil rights breakthrough of this millennium. Issenberg, author of The Engagement: Americas Quarter-Century Struggle Over Same-Sex Marriage, predicts it wont be overturned at the Supreme Court and talks about how transgender issues are just getting started as the next conservative battlefield. Listen to The New Abnormal on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon, and Stitcher.

https://www.thedailybeast.com/what-the-fck-is-wrong-with-joe-manchin

Why Has David O. Russell Never Answered for Groping His Trans Niece?

David O. Russell never bothered denying that he groped his niece. In 2012, The Smoking Gun obtained a police report in which Nicole Peloquin accused the famed director of fondling her breasts. Peloquin, who was 19 at the time, had been visiting Russell with her mother (Russells sister by adoption) at an Embassy Suites in Florida, the report states. Peloquin and Russell were working out together, she said, when he offered to help her with ab exercises and placed his hand on her abdomen to point out the muscle groups various exercises engaged. He placed his hand right above her genitals, she said. Peloquin, who is trans, told police that Russell eventually asked about her transition and, after she described the hormones she used, slipped his hand under her shirt and felt both breasts. When reached by police, Russell did not dispute that the incident occurred. But he did claim that Peloquin had been acting very provocative towards himand that, in fact, it had been Peloquin who asked for his help with the ab exercises. The director told police hed asked multiple times if Peloquin was uncomfortable, and that shed never stated that she was. (Peloquin told police that she had felt uncomfortable, but that she hadnt asked Russell to stop.) Russell did not face any charges. Russell also told police that since her transition, Peloquin was always causing drama and has become very provocative and seductive. A spokeswoman for the director said in a statement at the time, David O. Russell emphatically denies any wrongdoing and has cooperated fully with the authorities." Peloquin did not respond to The Daily Beasts interview request. The allegation did nothing to slow down Russells career. Silver Linings Playbook, which debuted the same year that the Peloquin news broke and was distributed by serial rapist Harvey Weinstein, won Jennifer Lawrence her first Oscar in 2013. That same year, Russells American Hustle lit up the box office, and two years later Silver Linings stars Lawrence and Bradley Cooper reunited on Russells Joy. And lest anyone believe Hollywood had no idea what Russell had been accused of, theres the email that The Daily Beast uncovered during the Sony hackin which Michael De Luca, co-president of production for Hustle distributor Columbia Pictures, casually asked then-Sony Pictures Entertainment Co-Chairman Amy Pascal, remember when he got in trouble for feeling up his transgender nieces [sic] boobs? Amazon Studios raised eyebrows in 2017 when it scrapped an upcoming David O. Russell project due to Weinsteins involvement in the production. As Amy Zimmerman wrote for The Daily Beast at the time, the decision to nix the project due to Weinsteins behavior but not that of Russell, displays the full-blown hypocrisy of an industry in which men consistently flourish in spite of allegations against them; an industry in which men only perform shock, disgust, and denouncement when a former colleague has been so thoroughly exposed that he is no longer useful. And now, Taylor Swift has joined the cast of his new film Canterbury Glass, which already features A-listers including Margot Robbie, Christian Bale, Rami Malek, and John David Washington. Advertisement Tuesdays news brought plenty of excitement from fans, but also a wave of disbelief. At a time when Hollywood is working overtime to prove it cares about flushing out bad actors and bullies, its curious to see Russell continue to make movies without answering for his behavior. As alarming as Peloquins allegation was, its also not the only strike against the director, who even before that had established an unsavory reputation among his peers as an occasionally violent tyrant. As alarming as Peloquins allegation was, its also not the only strike against the director, who even before that had established an unsavory reputation among his peers as an occasionally violent tyrant. The earliest of the allegations against Russell came from the 1999 war movie Three Kingswhere Russell allegedly verbally and physically assaulted various crew members, including pushing a background actor to the ground and kicking him. George Clooney claimed in a Playboy interview that the incident brought his own long-simmering feud with the director to a head. He turned on me and said, Why dont you just worry about your fucked-up act? Clooney told the magazine. Youre being a dick. Come on, pussy, hit me. Im looking at him like hes out of his mind. Then he started banging me on the head with his head. He goes, Hit me, you pussy. Hit me. Then he got me by the throat and I went nuts. Russell, meanwhile, claimed it was Clooney who attacked first. "I never physically attacked him, he said at one point. If I ran into him, Id say, Shut the fuck up, you lying-ass bitch." Theres also that infamous video from the set of 2004s I Heart Huckabees, in which Russell can be seen fuming on set, throwing things, and berating Lily Tomlinwhom he at one point calls a cunt. Advertisement Speaking about the blow-up with The Hollywood Reporter in 2015, Tomlin said she and Russell made up in just a few hours, and then we had a second fracas. By then, I was, like, stoic in my suffering. But weve overcome it. It dissipates and its gone. She added that she was probably overextended with too many projects at the time, and added that the altercation wasnt any big deal. Russells other alleged misdeeds include putting director Christopher Nolan in a headlock for daring to poach Jude Law from him, making Sally Field cry, and abusing Amy Adams so horribly on the set of American Hustle that, per journalist and Daily Beast columnist Jonathan Alter in an email leaked during the Sony hack, Christian Bale got in his face and told him to stop acting like an asshole. (As previously mentioned, Bale will return to work with Russell in the upcoming film.) Each of these incidents should be damning enoughbut Peloquins experience and its subsequent erasure really rankle. It doesnt help that Swifts casting announcement landed just at the beginning of Pride Month, as she joined GLAAD in pushing for the Equality Act with a statement on Twitter complete with a rainbow background. Actress Jennifer Lawrence and director David O. Russell attend the 88th Annual Academy Awards at Hollywood & Highland Center on February 28, 2016, in Hollywood, California. Jason Merritt/Getty Beyond the treatment Peloquin allegedly received from Russell, its worth considering how her identity as a trans woman shaped the medias treatment of her storyand the degree to which people did or did not bother to engage with it. Advertisement The officer Peloquin spoke with misgendered her throughout the narrative portion of the police report, referring to her with both he/him and she/her pronouns interchangeably. Some news organizations also misgendered Peloquin, and framed the ordeal with sensationalized, exploitative descriptions. One story made light of the incident, ending on the kicker, And you thought your interactions with relatives over the holidays were uncomfortable? TMZ, meanwhile, cited a family source who said that Peloquin had looked up to Russell before the incident, and she believes he lured her into a false sense of security before taking advantage of her. Given the long list of men who continue to thrive in Hollywood despite inappropriate behavior, its not necessarily surprising that Russell continues to collect paychecks seemingly without incident. For every Harvey Weinstein or Scott Rudin who faces reprisal for their alleged misdeeds, theres a Michael Fassbender or a Casey Affleck who does not. But it would be willfully ignorant to assume Peloquins transness did not make her experience all the easier to expunge from the public record. After all, this is a country that erases trans people at pretty much every opportunityincluding, as Swift herself once pointed out, in our census. A representative for David O. Russell did not respond to The Daily Beasts request for comment.

https://www.thedailybeast.com/why-has-david-o-russell-never-answered-for-groping-his-trans-niece

Is Online Employee Time Clock Software A Good Investment in 2021?

If you are a new owner or have recently become a manager, you may want to invest in the latest timesheet management software. Many business owners are hesitant about adopting this new technology, debating whether it is a good investment for their businesses. We get it; you dont want to purchase something unless there is a high ROI or return on investment. However, we also know that there are some undeniable advantages to using this software. If youre wondering what it is that is worth the investment, here it is. This job clock can help track all employees, ensure breaks happen, run daily reports, motivate an entire team, and help with scheduling problems. If you have been doing payroll by hand, 2021 is the year to invest in online employee time clock software. You will find that your team is happier knowing that you are giving them the freedom to work without hovering. It will motivate your workers to do better, and it will help you keep track of those who have never missed a day of work. This is a way to get your business and team organized. Being organized and put together is one of the best ways to ensure the success of a company. Track All Employees The bigger your company gets, the more employees you will have. It can be incredibly challenging to get them all on the same page. It can also be hard to see everyones hours when you are tracking by pen and paper. Using employee timesheet software allows you to track employee work hours down to the second automatically. You can quickly review employee work hours from one centralized dashboard and make adjustments to time as needed. Not only can you accurately track employee work hours, but you can sync employee time to your payroll provider automatically. This reduces the chances of clerical errors and ensures employees are paid in the correct amount each pay period. Ensure Breaks Happen When you have a large team that starts at different times, it can seem impossible to coordinate and manage breaks. You cant expect everyone to remember when to go on breaks, especially in the middle of a big project. However, breaks are mandated in some states, so you must track them accordingly. With online employee time clock software, you can send out notifications to alert employees they have an upcoming break or missed taking a mandated break. Not only is this beneficial to you as an employer to ensure you remain labor law compliant, but to employees, as breaks provide them with the ability to renew during the workday. Track Daily Reports Online employee time clock software does more than just track employee work hours and time off. It can track essential business data like sales, time spent on projects and allows you to see how profitable you are. You can compare all of this with labor costs to see what your business makes in a day or week. Online timesheet software also stores all employee information securely in the cloud so that it can be accessed from any permitted location and device. Motivate Teams Of Employees When your team knows that you are keeping track of time, projects and rewarding those who do well, this can help motivate them. They will see you are less concerned with time and more concerned with results. This can push your team to success but also encourages them to do better. An online timecard system can also help increase productivity levels. When employees understand how theyre spending their time, they can better manage their day and ensure theyre on task to meet project deadlines. Help With Scheduling Ease Lastly, using online employee time clock software can help with scheduling. Its impossible to remember everyones availability and when theyve requested time off. Each month your team can request days off through the app or update their schedule for availability. You have this information in one place, and you can schedule with ease. If youre still using an ancient time tracking method, then it may be time to make the switch to a modern solution. All of the benefits mentioned in this article make online employee time clock software an excellent investment for businesses of all sizes in 2021.

https://wheon.com/is-online-employee-time-clock-software-a-good-investment-in-2021/

What Should I Do If I Get Into A Collision While Cycling?

With temperatures starting to rise, cyclists have started flocking to the streets to get a breath of fresh air. As a matter of fact, the COVID-19 pandemic has changed the cycling industry in Canada. Cycling has become so popular in Canada within the last year, that the industry is seeing massive supply shortages. With an influx of cyclists on the roads, the safety of cyclists is paramount. In 2020, three cyclists were killed on the busy streets of Toronto. Cyclists must exercise diligence in looking out for their own safety on the road. Even the most experienced and cautious cyclists can still find themselves in a collision, which is why all cyclists should have a plan of what they should do in the event they are involved in one. Cycling collisions can be traumatic, but there are some simple tips that all cyclists should follow before going out for a bike ride and in the event that they are involved in a collision. Before leaving home Cycling safety starts before leaving your residence. Before heading out, all cyclists should do the following: Wear a helmet : helmets are required by law per Highway Traffic Act 104 for those 17 years of age and under. Cyclists of all ages are encouraged to wear helmets to reduce the risk of brain injuries sustained in a collision. However, just because a cyclist does not wear a helmet when they are involved in a collision, this does not mean they can't recover from a defendant's negligence. : helmets are required by law per Highway Traffic Act 104 for those 17 years of age and under. Cyclists of all ages are encouraged to wear helmets to reduce the risk of brain injuries sustained in a collision. However, just because a cyclist does not wear a helmet when they are involved in a collision, this does not mean they can't recover from a defendant's negligence. Wear appropriate clothing : make sure your clothing will not snag on your bicycle. Loose clothing can catch on a moving part of your bicycle, which could lead to an accident. : make sure your clothing will not snag on your bicycle. Loose clothing can catch on a moving part of your bicycle, which could lead to an accident. Check the weather : if it's going to rain, slippery conditions and poor visibility for motorists increase the chances of a collision. You should also consider fluorescent clothing to make yourself most visible to other cyclists and motorists. : if it's going to rain, slippery conditions and poor visibility for motorists increase the chances of a collision. You should also consider fluorescent clothing to make yourself most visible to other cyclists and motorists. Bring your phone: not only can your phone help you in the event of getting lost, but it is absolutely essential to have your phone available in case of an emergency. You'll want your phone to dial 911 and take pictures if you're involved in a collision. After a collision In the event you're injured in a collision with a motorist, here are six things you should do: Call 911 : request Police and Ambulance. If you or someone else is seriously injured, also request Fire, as they are also trained to give medical attention and may respond quicker than Ambulance. When Police arrive on the scene, they will write an accident report. Make sure you obtain the officers' contact information, as they may need to be contacted for a statement when processing your claim. If it is safe to do so, move off the street to avoid oncoming vehicles. : request Police and Ambulance. If you or someone else is seriously injured, also request Fire, as they are also trained to give medical attention and may respond quicker than Ambulance. When Police arrive on the scene, they will write an accident report. Make sure you obtain the officers' contact information, as they may need to be contacted for a statement when processing your claim. If it is safe to do so, move off the street to avoid oncoming vehicles. Document the collision scene : taking pictures of your injury and damage to your bicycle with your phone can help your claim down the road. Also, take pictures of the motorist's vehicle and the scene of the collision. This information is vital to a successful claim. You can also draw rough diagrams of the collision scene on your phone's notepad app to help you remember any important visual details, such as your direction of travel relative to the vehicle. Make sure you note the time and location, and it's best not to discuss fault with the motorist. : taking pictures of your injury and damage to your bicycle with your phone can help your claim down the road. Also, take pictures of the motorist's vehicle and the scene of the collision. This information is vital to a successful claim. You can also draw rough diagrams of the collision scene on your phone's notepad app to help you remember any important visual details, such as your direction of travel relative to the vehicle. Make sure you note the time and location, and it's best not to discuss fault with the motorist. Get the motorist's information : ensure you note the vehicle license plate number, the motorist's name, and contact information, driver's license number, and their insurance information (name of insurance company, the company's contact information, and policy number). By obtaining this information, you will be able to more efficiently process your claim. : ensure you note the vehicle license plate number, the motorist's name, and contact information, driver's license number, and their insurance information (name of insurance company, the company's contact information, and policy number). By obtaining this information, you will be able to more efficiently process your claim. Talk to witnesses : talk to anyone who witnessed the collision and get their statement. Ensure you obtain their contact information as they may need to be contacted to help your claim. You can write their statement down in a notepad app on your phone, or record their statement with their permission in a voice memo or even by video to get the most accurate depiction of what happened. : talk to anyone who witnessed the collision and get their statement. Ensure you obtain their contact information as they may need to be contacted to help your claim. You can write their statement down in a notepad app on your phone, or record their statement with their permission in a voice memo or even by video to get the most accurate depiction of what happened. Get medical help : when Ambulance arrives on the scene, they will assess your injuries and advise on the next steps. If your injury is serious, they may transport you to the hospital. Be sure to keep any receipts of any medical expenses you have to pay out of pocket. Whether you go immediately to the hospital or you see a doctor within a few days after the collision, be sure to disclose all symptoms to a doctor or nurse. Medical personnel will write detailed notes, and these can be crucial to your claim. : when Ambulance arrives on the scene, they will assess your injuries and advise on the next steps. If your injury is serious, they may transport you to the hospital. Be sure to keep any receipts of any medical expenses you have to pay out of pocket. Whether you go immediately to the hospital or you see a doctor within a few days after the collision, be sure to disclose all symptoms to a doctor or nurse. Medical personnel will write detailed notes, and these can be crucial to your claim. Call a lawyer: you should speak to a lawyer as soon as possible and certainly before contacting your insurance company. If a lawyer feels as though a municipality is to blame, the municipality must be given notice of the claim within 10 days, per the Municipal Act. The right lawyer will ensure your financial interests are looked after in processing your claim. Not only will a lawyer ensure your out-of-pocket claims are covered, but they'll also assess your loss of income and future cost of care. Your lawyer will advise you on all remedial options against the motorist (such as claiming through the motorist's auto insurance), as well as no-fault claims through your own auto insurance and Ontario's Motor Vehicle Accident Claims Fund if the motorist did not have their own insurance. Co Author by Cody Malloy, Summer Student The content of this article is intended to provide a general guide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought about your specific circumstances.

https://www.mondaq.com:443/canada/rail-road-cycling/1075122/what-should-i-do-if-i-get-into-a-collision-while-cycling

When will Joe Biden meet the Queen?

When you subscribe we will use the information you provide to send you these newsletters. Sometimes they'll include recommendations for other related newsletters or services we offer. Our Privacy Notice explains more about how we use your data, and your rights. You can unsubscribe at any time. Sign up fornow and never miss the top Royal stories again. Joe Biden stepped into the Oval Office as US President in January this year, taking over from Donald Trump after a landmark victory in 2020. He has since focussed on delivering ambitious domestic reform but is yet to travel far from his home country. Mr Biden will soon have an opportunity to meet Queen Elizabeth II, an honour his predecessor didn't get until two years into his sole term. Mr Biden's first foreign commitment is at the G7 this year. The summit will see the President meet with other international leaders to discuss pressing global issues. The event marks the first time he gets to meet many of his counterparts in person. READ MORE: EU Army plan ripped apart as Joe Biden urged to support bloc

https://www.express.co.uk/news/royal/1445378/When-will-Joe-Biden-meet-the-Queen-evg

Why Is DIRECTV Giving Refunds In Colorado?

TV Answer Man, I read that DIRECTV has to give a refund in Colorado for something. Tim, Norfolk, Virginia. Tim, 204,000 current and former DIRECTV subscribers will soon get a $5 refund, but you are not one of them. Let me explain. In September and October of 2019, DIRECTV stopped carrying the Altitude regional sports channel in Colorado due to a carriage dispute. (The channel carries the regional broadcasts of both the Denver Nuggets and Colorado Avalanche.) Although DIRECTV wasnt carrying Altitude during those two months, the satcaster continued to charge Colorado subscribers a monthly regional sports fee, which ranged from $1.89 a month to $8.49 a month depending upon where the subscriber lived. Click Amazon: See Todays 1-Day-Only Deals! On behalf of Colorado residents, Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser sued DIRECTV and the state official announced yesterday that DIRECTV has agreed to a settlement which calls for it to give a $5 refund to every current and former subscriber in Colorado who had to pay the 2019 regional sports fee. DIRECTV used these fees to take advantage of Coloradans, charging them for services they werent getting or were no longer relevant, and only refunding those who noticed and reached out to the company about the issue, Weiser said in a statement. Consumers should not be penalized for being too busy to wait on hold to demand fair treatment. Todays settlement remedies the harms caused by DIRECTVs actions and will provide refunds to consumers. In addition, Weiser said DIRECTV agreed to pay a $1-3 a month credit to more than 15,000 Colorado residents who had been charged a HD fee. The satellite service began charging all DIRECTV subscribers a $10 a month HD fee when High-Definition was a novelty two decades ago. However, it continued to require that fee for years even after HDTV became the norm, and Weiser said the fee was unfair. Charging this unnecessary, outdated fee was unfair to consumers, many of whom were unaware they were paying extra for a service that was now standard part of programming packages, said Weiser. We are pleased to ensure Coloradans will receive welcome relief from this unfair payment. Again, the credit will only be awarded to those 15,000 Colorado residents. However, it would not be surprising if other states file legal actions against DIRECTV because the HD fee was once required nationwide The TV Answer Man will monitor this situation and report back here if anything changes. Tim, hope that makes sense. Happy viewing, and stay safe! Please buy it using one of the Amazon links here. This site receives a small portion of each purchase, which helps us continue to provide these articles. Send it to The TV Answer Man at swann@tvpredictions.com. Please include your first name and hometown in your message. Phillip Swann Share this: Twitter Facebook

https://tvanswerman.com/2021/06/04/why-is-directv-giving-refunds-in-colorado/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=why-is-directv-giving-refunds-in-colorado

What happens when the media fights back in a battle with the RCMP?

In todays Big Story podcast, every time theres a protest, or dispute, or anything else newsworthy in rural Canada, the media shows up to cover it. And runs into the RCMP. Sometimes, nothing happens. But more often than not, access to the story becomes a story in itself, with the RCMP insisting media arent allowed in, or offering access only to accredited media. You can imagine where this leads, and probably guess that Indigenous journalists have born the brunt of it. But this time, when the RCMP attempted to stop journalists from access the site of a protest against old-growth forest logging near Port Renfrew, B.C., the media went to court. What happens next will go a long way to determining who gets access to protests attempting to stop natural resource extraction in rural areas, and other contentious issues that happen far away from big cities GUEST: Brent Jolly, President, Canadian Association of Journalists You can subscribe to The Big Story podcast on Apple Podcasts, Google and Spotify You can also find it at thebigstorypodcast.ca.

https://www.680news.com/2021/06/04/what-happens-when-the-media-fights-back-in-a-battle-with-the-rcmp/

Who is supporting Chinese tech shares in Hong Kong?

HONG KONG -- June Fourth could be the best chance to see whether "one country, two systems" is actually working in Hong Kong. On this day in 1989, the Chinese military violently suppressed unarmed students and civilians in Tiananmen Square, in central Beijing. The tragic event has been a taboo subject in mainland China, but Hong Kong citizens have been able to commemorate the victims every year, even after the territory's sovereignty was handed over to China from the U.K. in 1997. That tradition, which lasted for over three decades, is set to be broken this year. Police have banned the commemoration, blaming the pandemic, even though there has been only one new local infection over the past 28 days. A similar ban with a similar reason was in effect last year, too, though many defied it and gathered in Victoria Park. The imposition of the National Security Law by Beijing at the end of last June changed everything. The organizer's core members and prominent pro-democracy activists -- including Albert Ho, Lee Cheuk-yan, Jimmy Lai and Joshua Wong -- are serving prison sentences. The lack of a June Fourth candlelight vigil in the city would be another clear indication of the "one country" overwhelming the "two systems," but in the business world, the line has already been blurred. The metamorphosis of Hong Kong's stock market, a cornerstone of the territory's international financial hub status, is a case in point. The Hang Seng Index, the city's leading benchmark, will add three constituents on Monday, bringing the total to 58. All three are mainland Chinese companies, including BYD and Xinyi Solar Holdings. It was back in August 1992 when Citic Pacific -- now China Citic, a unit of state-owned conglomerate Citic, which was established in 1979 under the leadership of Deng Xiaoping -- was selected to be the first mainland enterprise to be part of the city's blue-chip index. The latest update brings the proportion of mainland shares close to two-thirds. Mainland companies already make up 80% of the market capitalization of the entire Hong Kong equity market. Except for AIA and HSBC, the top 10 most valuable shares today are from the mainland. Tencent Holdings and Alibaba Group Holding taking the top two slots, despite a mounting crackdown by Beijing. Mainland Chinese investors, casually referred to as "northern water" in Hong Kong, have become market movers as well. The Hong Kong Exchange's "stock connect" arrangements with bourses in Shanghai and Shenzhen, which open a rare legal window for mainlanders to make portfolio investments beyond their borders, reached 16.65 trillion Hong Kong dollars ($2.15 trillion) in turnover during the first four months of the year, taking up almost a quarter of the total turnover. The Hong Kong market traditionally has been heavy on financials and developers, but the recent rise of tech shares is supported, at least partly, by mainland money. The top three active shares through southbound trading in recent months and quarters have been tech, namely Tencent, Meituan, and Xiaomi. This is stimulating changes in the market's structure. Hong Kong may be losing luster as a free city for many locals as "one country, two systems" rapidly fades, but it seems to be looked at differently by mainlanders whose freedoms are restricted at home. Apparently, Hong Kong is a cozy place to list for mainland companies, as the U.S. becomes more unwelcoming. Big tech names like Alibaba, JD.com and NetEase made Hong Kong their secondary listing location as they hedge against their primary listing status in the U.S. Nana Li, China research director at Asian Corporate Governance Association, believes these brands "prefer the more predictable regulatory regime in Hong Kong, the city's open capital account, and its stronger base of global institutional investors." Even though their main operations are on the mainland, they are missing these aspects. This in turn invites more global institutional investors to Hong Kong, as there are various restrictions to accessing Chinese companies listed on the mainland. Hong Kong remains the major channel for those who wish to invest in Chinese equities, despite the lack of democracy and civil liberties in China as well as the deterioration of various freedoms in Hong Kong. "I think Western investors take the view that liberal democracy, which works in the West, is not the system which is undertaken in China, and for that reason find it difficult ideologically to accept that equity investment in China is actually valuable," Jim McCafferty, joint head of APAC equity research at Nomura, said during an online forum on Tuesday. His position, perhaps shared by many of his industry peers, is that "we tend to refute that view." He added that the pressure to discourage investment in China by various U.S. agencies -- which he calls a "kind of a propaganda machine" -- is here to stay. But, he said, "we think being rational is best to ignore that particular metric." The biggest change over the past 32 years in terms of China and Hong Kong is probably coming from local politicians and business owners. Immediately following the crackdown in Beijing on June 4, 1989, a flurry of newspaper advertisements in Hong Kong newspapers protested and condemned the authorities' actions in Beijing. But today, many Hong Kong politicians and business people avoid talking about June Fourth, as they have firmly positioned themselves to support Beijing and the territory's pro-Beijing regime. In contrast to 32 years ago, many of today's ads in Hong Kong papers are being taken out by pro-Beijing organizations and companies indicating their full support of policies that shave off the territory's freedoms and partially owned democracy. The pose these ads strike is one of loyalty to Beijing. No wonder the Hang Seng Index has gained almost 20% since the imposition of the National Security Law, even when the basic framework of governance is decaying in Hong Kong. Kenji Kawase is chief business news correspondent for the Nikkei Asia and an editor of #techAsia, a newsletter on technology in Asia that combines the best reporting from Nikkei and the Financial Times. He has been reporting and editing for Nikkei since 1992, mainly covering corporate and financial news in Tokyo, Osaka, Shanghai, Hong Kong and Bangkok. He returned to Hong Kong for the third time last year.

https://asia.nikkei.com/Spotlight/Comment/Who-is-supporting-Chinese-tech-shares-in-Hong-Kong

Whats next for patient advocacy?

Senior leaders from the pharmaceutical industry and patient groups are coming together this July for a virtual panel discussion about the future of patient advocacy. will discuss the leading trends in the pharmaceutical and life sciences industries and examine what they mean for patient-centricity. To request your free place at the event, register here. Places are limited, with priority given to those working in patient groups or pharmaceutical companies. Last years Patient Partnership Insights Conference saw senior figures from Pfizer, Janssen, Sanofi Genzyme and Gilead Sciences share best practice and insight from their GOLD Index entries alongside their patient group partners, including MS Trust, Crohn's & Colitis UK, UK Sepsis Trust and the Africa Advocacy Foundation. The event is organised by OVID Health and is part of our exclusive collaboration on the Patient Partnership Index the UKs leading initiative to showcase communications and advocacy partnerships between pharmaceutical companies and patient organisations. The Index aims to raise the bar for industry by celebrating the very best examples of partnerships, with a panel of expert judges awarding top projects Gold, Silver and Finalist status. Judges for the Index this year, who will be taking part in the event, are Andy Powrie-Smith, executive director of Communications & Partnerships, European Federation of Pharmaceutical Industries and Associations (EFPIA); Sarah Woolnough, chief executive, Asthma UK and the British Lung Foundation; and Elliot Dunster, executive director, Corporate Affairs and Devolved Nations, The Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry (ABPI). Alongside our judges, the virtual event will feature an exciting panel of pharmaceutical leaders and voices from their patient group partners. To find out more about the Index and be the first to hear as we announce our exciting list of speakers, follow the #PatientIndex2021 hashtag and subscribe to PharmaTimes and OVID Health on Twitter and LinkedIn.

http://www.pharmatimes.com/news/whats_next_for_patient_advocacy_1371174

What Price Loyalty?

ARTICLE To print this article, all you need is to be registered or login on Mondaq.com. The concept of loyalty has been under severe strain this week. Dominic Cummings' excoriating denunciation of the mendacity and ineptitude of the Prime Minister and Health Secretary has been a seminal example of the evaporation of loyalty in a former colleague. It must have all been dreadfully upsetting for Messrs Johnson and Hancock, although hysterically funny for the rest of us. Like Oscar Wilde greeting the news of the death of Little Nel, one needed a heart of stone to read Mr Cumming's evidence to the Health Select Committee without laughing. And so respect is due to the Financial Conduct Authority for restoring some value to the notion of loyalty. They've announced measures that will mean that loyalty no longer comes at price when renewing your home or car insurance. The problem has been the practice of "price walking", whereby customers who renew their insurance are offered less favourable prices than new customers. This is fine if you have the time and inclination to shop around every time a policy comes up for renewal, as well as internet access, so you can visit the price comparison websites. But if you don't have that time or those resources, or if you actually have a life and better things to do with your time, "price walking" is a pain in the ....neck. For the insurers, however, price walking has been a nice little earner. The FCA calculates that in 2018, 6 million policy holders would have saved 1.2 billion had they paid the average price for their actual risk, rather then staying loyal to their current insurer. The FCA's new rules mean that renewing customers must be offered a price no higher than a new customer. They also require insurers to provide consumers with easier ways to cancel auto renewals; to give greater consideration to how they offer fair value; and to provide data to the FCA, so that it can supervise the insurance market more effectively. Of course there will be losers, specifically the kind of "weirdos and misfits" that shop around for the lowest premium every year, or who Mr Cummings used to think should be working at 10 Downing Street, back in the days when he had a say in such matters. In our view, however, its great to see the FCA end this week, of all weeks, by demonstrating that there should not be a price on loyalty when it comes to buying car insurance. And as a man with poor eyesight who occasionally has to drive all the way from London to Barnard Castle just to get an eye test, we hope Mr Cummings is suitably grateful. But, somehow, we doubt it. "These measures will put an end to the very high prices paid by many loyal customers. Consumers can still benefit from shopping around or negotiating with their current provider but won't be charged more at renewal just for being an existing customer." Sheldon Mills, Executive Director, Consumers and Competition at the FCA https://www.fca.org.uk/news/press-releases/fca-confirms-measures-protect-customers-loyalty-penalty-home-motor-insurance-markets Originally Published by Lewis Silkin - AdLaw The content of this article is intended to provide a general guide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought about your specific circumstances.

https://www.mondaq.com:443/unitedstates/consumer-law/1074878/what-price-loyalty

Can Iceland Become The World's First Green Hydrogen Economy?

Authored by Irina Slav via OilPrice.com, If there is one thing everyone knows about the tiny northern nation of Iceland, it is that it has plentiful geothermal resources. Europe's northernmost independent state satisfies a solid portion of its energy needs with local renewable geothermal power. And these resources could now help Iceland become the world's first fully green hydrogen economy. Geothermal, according to Iceland's National Energy Authority, accounts for a quarter of the country's power generation and as much as 66 percent of Iceland's total primary energy use. Geothermal is also used to heat 90 percent of Icelandic households. And it is renewable. Iceland is also ahead of other countries in utilizing hydrogen. With early plans to become oil- and gas-free by 2050, the country started using hydrogen buses in Reykjavik back in the early 2000s. Yet buses could be only the start of what could become the world's first hydrogen economy. It is worth noting that Iceland is unique, and if it succeeds with its net-zero plans with hydrogen, it will hardly be possible to replicate it anywhere else. For one thing, it has unlimited geothermal resources and also abundant hydropower resources. For another, it is a tiny nation of fewer than 300,000 people. This means a lot lower energy demand than other countries. So, a technology as expensive as green hydrogen production has a better chance of being commercially viable in Iceland than virtually anywhere else. "People say Iceland is a very small country and can't be copied. But it's a real society, with infrastructure similar to big societies," chemistry professor Bragi Arnason from the University of Iceland said back in 2005. "We can start in Iceland on a small scale," he added. Arnason has been called Professor Hydrogen for his work in the field. According to Arnason, when it comes to transport in particular, engine efficiency could offset the energy losses during the process of producing green hydrogen, thus offsetting part of the costs. Theoretically, all this sounds very promising. In truth, the first attempt of Iceland to introduce hydrogen buses was scrapped shortly after its start because the technology had yet to be developed enough to make hydrogen buses viable. It did develop eventually, and in 2018, the EU provided funds for Iceland to purchase a number of hydrogen buses for its public transport system. But hydrogen buses are only the start. In a 2009 paper for the International Association for Energy Economics, oil economist and consultant Mamdouh Salameh noted Professor Arnason's plan to make all vehicles and vessels in Iceland run on hydrogen, which can be produced locally at a cost considerably lower than in most other developed countries. He also noted a few challenges for the hydrogenization of the Icelandic economyand any other economy, for that matterchief among them which was cost. Since 2009, the costs of producing most forms of renewable energy have fallen considerably, making them a lot more viable alternatives to fossil fuels than before. With hydrogen, however, things have moved more slowly because green hydrogen production is a picky technology that needs an optimal location for an electrolyzer near a water source and with good wind or solar energy generation potential. With Iceland, this would be easier than in most other countries, thanks to its geothermal and hydropower resources and its small population. But the country has bigger plans than just domestic supply. Last year, Icelandic media reported the national power utility, Landsvirkjun, and the port authorities of Rotterdam had inked a deal for cooperation on hydrogen-related matters to find ways to make exports of green hydrogen from Iceland to Europe a reality. While the agreement is quite general, it may be the latest indication that hydrogen, and especially green hydrogen, is moving nearer to becoming economical enough to produce on a large enough scale to export it.

https://www.zerohedge.com/energy/can-iceland-become-worlds-first-green-hydrogen-economy?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+zerohedge%2Ffeed+%28zero+hedge+-+on+a+long+enough+timeline%2C+the+survival+rate+for+everyone+drops+to+zero%29

What Good Are Institutionalists?

A peculiar creature inhabits Washington called the institutionalist. The labelsometimes assigned, sometimes adoptedhas been applied to characters as varied as Chief Justice John Roberts, Senator Dianne Feinstein, and President Joe Biden. Institutionalists tend to be veteran, aging, members of a given government entity. They relish their reputations as defenders of hallowed traditions and norms that have supposedly kept the country intact. Many institutionalists simply have a reflexive distaste for change, preferring the enduring, if ossified, conventions that offer them inherited credibility. But perhaps in part because they are mostly old, white men, institutionalists are afforded significant deference by the media and the general public. Their motivations are considered pure and their small-c conservatism is viewed as prudent, a necessary bulwark against a more radical politics or even chaos. Washington insiders may assign a kind of nobility to their fervent commitmenteven against all logicto the status quo. These insiders accept the institutionalist argument that the Supreme Court and Congress actually work behind the scenes thanks to labyrinthine procedures that were sprinkled with Founding magic. But these institutions are valuable only insofar as they advance certain indispensable principles: democracy and the rule of law, for instance. Shielding them from reform even when they run counter to their fundamental purpose hardens dysfunction, and breeds cynicism in voters who are left to believe that change, even change they voted for, is impossible. Institutionalism for its own sake is not protectiveits corrosive. The continued existence of the filibuster is the prime example. Self-described Senate institutionalists have defended it as though it were a sacrament, rather than the product of an ill-considered line edit by Aaron Burr. The result of their fervor is something between tragedy and farce. Read: The decision that will define Democrats for a decade One might think that Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, always high on the list of famous institutionalists, would have sought justice after his physical institution was attacked by a violent mob of insurrectionists on January 6. Instead, he led his caucus to filibuster the creation of a bipartisan commission to investigate the deadly incident. In response, another institutionalist, Senator Joe Manchin, said, That is extremely frustrating and disturbing. I know hes an institutionalist. I would like to think he loves this institution. And yet the day before the vote, Manchin once again voiced his opposition to eliminating the filibuster, even when used to prevent an investigation of the people who tried to destroy our government, because, by his puzzling construction, Im not ready to destroy our government. The institutionalists are so committed to institutionalism that they cannot protect the institution. In theory, the filibuster encourages bipartisan compromise, which is itself treated like an institution. Some believe that bipartisan cooperation is possible on major legislation, such as an infrastructure package, and is worth championing. The bipartisanship that people fondly recall is a relic of an era when the parties were less ideologically sorted, when progressive Republicans and segregationist Democrats aligned on some issues. Today, party polarization is so extreme that even a bipartisan-curious Republican has no political incentive to support measures proposed by Democrats. Bipartisanship remains a rhetorical proxy for getting things done, when, in reality, its a proxy for getting nothing done at all. Moderates such as Senator Susan Collins engage in performative negotiations with Democrats and the White House, knowing full well that working with the other side of the aisle is a nonstarter with their base, not to mention their leadership. To justify walking away from the negotiating table, they throw tantrums over minor slights and small missteps. Read: Mitch McConnells gift to progressives This is not new. I was a health-care staffer for a Democratic senator during the Affordable Care Act debates. We were repeatedly told that if we just waited and conceded and then waited and conceded some more, a few Republicans would eventually come around and support the bill, which was, after all, rooted in their ideas. Not a single one did. When Democrats tout bipartisanship as a kind of moral duty, theyre setting an impossible standard for themselves and giving cover to Republicans bad-faith refusal to cooperate and govern. Some institutional traditions are, obviously, worth defending, but only so long as they advance a defensible goal. Elaine Kamarck, an expert on government innovation and reform at the Brookings Institution, notes that Democrats will certainly find themselves in the minority again and in need of whatever power they can amass. Rules like the filibuster have served democracy in the past, Kamarck told me, and you shouldnt change them lightly. But McConnell uses institutionalism for his own policy preferences, she said, and congressional Republicans are refusing to negotiate with Democrats. If this is the new normal, it might be time to change the filibuster in the Senate just to get things done. This, to me, is rational: Protect the old ways if and only if the old ways are leading to desirable outcomesnot for their own sake. Not everybody sees it this way, however. Senator Kyrsten Sinema, a moderate Democrat from Arizona who supports the filibuster, said, The reality is that when you have a system that is not working effectively ... the way to fix that is to fix your behavior, not to eliminate the rules or change the rules, but to change the behavior. This makes a mockery of the notion of self-government. Institutions work for citizensnot the other way around. Experts warn that Republicans are so endangering our democracy through systemic attacks on voting rights that Democrats must act alone to stop them. At some point, people like Sinema will have to choose. You can be either for institutions that fail to serve democracy, or for democracy itself. You cannot be for both.

https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2021/06/institutionalists-hurt-democracy-filibuster/619093/?utm_source=feed

Is Guy the Guy?

Barbados Underground posted a view on May 22 in the blog Is Guy Hewitt the Way, Truth and Light for the DLP. On June 2 the goodly Reverend Guy Hewitt in a turnabout from a couple weeks earlier declared his interest to challenge Verla De Peiza for the presidency of the Democratic Labour Party (DLP). This is an interesting development for many reasons. At the top of the list two years from a constitutionally due general election the DLP should have its slate of candidates available to the public to take advantage of the little time available to sell an alternative message. Ardent political supporters will vote for the colours. We have allowed our political parties to take the vote from citizens for granted. We will not agree on every issue. But let us respect those differences and respect one another. Let us recognize that we do not serve an ideology or a political party; we serve the people. John Lynch The DLP is led by Verla De Peiza, a lawyer who has managed to retain the leadership of the DLP for 3 years at a difficult time. According to political talking heads Peter Wickham and George Belle, Hewitt does not have a ghost of a chance of winning and by presenting himself at this eleventh hour, he is essentially making himself a nuisance to the process at a time the party should be advancing its preparation for the 2023 general election. That said, the process to elect the president of the DLP is democratic and unless the Reverend withdraws before the vote, it presents another interesting development on the political landscape of Barbados. The blogmaster has followed Guy Hewitts journey from the early 2000s when he was a junior priest at Christ Church Anglican Church- never one to mince words he has always articulated his messages with panache and of late his social and political missives have infused the political mill with fodder worthy of commentary. The Reverend throwing his hat in the ring raises a couple of imponderables. There is the perception politics is a blood sport. Reverend Guy Hewitt is a man whose primary role as a priest some will argue diametrically conflicts with that of a politician. The local landscape is crying out for a new kind of politics. Political apathy in the general population continues to rise especially in the youth segment. The upside for the DLP is that challenger Reverend Hewitt brings an effusive personality to the political equation in stark contrast to the incumbent. At the bare minimum it may be infectious.

https://barbadosunderground.net/2021/06/04/is-guy-the-guy/

How to watch The Family Man Season 2 on Amazon Prime Video for free?

The one thing most of us will relate to is the urge to veg out in front of our TVs and watch content to pass the lockdown time period right now. Oftentimes, we are on the lookout for shows and movies for this is what we have right now. To give us some content, Amazon Prime Video has finally released Season 2 of The Family Man and those who have watched the first season would know whats the hype about. If you intend to watch Season 2 of the show or start with the first one to get onto the bandwagon, all you need to do is head to Amazon Prime Video. The answer, to everyones joy, is a yes! If you have these questions in your head too and are eagerly waiting to binge-watch the series, you are at the right place. Also Read - How to use Amazon Prime Video 'Shuffle episodes' feature The Family Man 2 now airing! Before we jump to the main part, heres a gist about the Manoj Baypayee-starrer Indian show. The Family Man Season 2 is a sequel to the Amazon Prime Video show going by the same that aired in 2019. The show is an action-drama that stars Samantha Akkineni (Rajalakshmi), Priyamani (Suchitra Tiwari), Shreya Dhanwanthary (Zoya), and more as the lead actors, besides Bajpayee as Srikant Tiwari. Also Read - Amazon Prime Video gets shuffle button but with limited functionality The shows first season, which got an overall IMDB rating of 8.6, is also available on Amazon Prime Video, so you can watch/rewatch it too. Amazon recently ended the free trial perk that was available until recently. But this doesnt mean there isnt a workaround to access the video-streaming platform for free, that too legally. Popular telecom operators such as Airtel, Jio, and Vi. They are kind enough to bundle the subscription up for free so that you can watch whatever content is available. Airtel users can go for the Rs 89, Rs 131, the Rs 299, and the Rs 349 prepaid plans are there to do the deed. All these plans provide you with a free trial of a month. Once you recharge and get hold of the freebie, you are then simply needed to sign up with your Amazon credentials. If you are new to Amazon too, just create an account first, which will require you a few minutes. Airtel postpaid plans (Rs 399, Rs 499, Rs 749, Rs 999, and Rs 1,499) offer the same. This subscription is for a year. Broadband users also get the perk with the Rs 999 Entertainment, Rs 1,499 Ultra, and Rs 3,999 Premium plans. The Vodafone Idea (Vi) postpaid plans provide users with Amazon Prime Videos free subscription for a year. The plans include the Rs 499, the Rs 699, and the Rs 1,099 plans. So is the case with Jio. It offers a years free Amazon Prime Video with its postpaid plans, namely, the Rs 399, the Rs 599, the Rs 799, the Rs 999, and the Rs 1,499 plans. The JioFiber plans (Rs 999, Rs 1,499, Rs 2,499, Rs 3,999, Rs 8,999) also offer Amazon Prime Video along with access to several other OTT platforms for free. All these plans offer calling, 4G data, and more as the primary offerings. To know about all of them, you can visit the respective websites. Amazon Prime Video subscription, if youre interested! Following this, if you wish to become a permanent member and watch more shows/movies, you can choose from the Amazon Prime video subscription plans. the Rs 329 plan (for three months) or the Rs 999 plan (for a year). There was a 1-month plan too, which got discontinued recently. There was a mobile-only Rs 89 plan too but is available only via Airtel prepaid plans as a free trial. Both these new plans offer other Amazon services (Amazon Music, Amazon Prime delivery, and more), besides access to online content. But, Amazon tries to make things easier for people. It currently has an offer that provides people aged between 18 and 24 access the Rs 329 and the Rs 999 plans at 50 per cent off. Users will be required to pay the full amount and verify their age. Once this is done and they are deemed eligible, the extra money will be credited to the Amazon Pay wallet. This will turn the plans price to Rs 165 and Rs 499, respectively. This proves beneficial as you can request any one of the required age to sign up for you even if you arent the age. The drawback is that the money wont be credited to your bank account, so you will be required to make a purchase via Amazon India.

https://www.bgr.in/how-to/how-to-watch-the-family-man-season-2-on-amazon-prime-video-for-free-964216/

What Bonuses Can Be Beneficial in Online Games?

The world of online gaming has come very far since the first online casinos. As more casinos are introduced to the online world, we see more exciting features and enticing bonuses to attract players. This article will teach you about a few types of online gaming bonuses you might encounter when visiting an online casino. - Advertisement - Many international casinos that are banned in the Norwegian market tend to attract Norwegian players with sign-up bonuses and free spins. Be sure that the online casino you sign up to is one of the two state-controlled casinos licensed to operate in Norway. Click on the link to learn more about the beste odds sider and their gaming bonuses. Our expert on the topic , Jrgen Aasgen, provides valuable guidance and advice on casino bonuses. Sign-up Bonus A sign-up bonus is a free incentive the casino offers to players simply for signing up. Often this is a significant factor in peoples decision to sign up with one casino above another as its one of their first impressions. Some casinos only offer this bonus if you deposit money into your account when you sign up. Still, some offer an additional No Deposit bonus if you dont deposit anything upon signing up. These No Deposit bonuses often include Free Spins bonuses and free chips for games offered by the casino. - Advertisement - Online sign-up bonuses give players a feeling that there isnt as much risk involved because they arent spending money out of their own pockets for the first few games. Reload Bonus Being a successful online casino isnt just about attracting new customers but also keeping your current clients happy. One of the ways online casinos do this is by offering a reload bonus. The specifics of reload bonuses are different depending on the casino you have signed up to. Some casinos offer a reload bonus on the first deposit every week or month, while others require you to meet specific criteria to earn the bonus. Often these gaming bonuses are small and only cover 30% to 40% of your deposit and therefore usually have lower wagering requirements. Loyalty (VIP) Programs and Bonuses Long-time or regular customers at casinos are often offered positions in VIP or loyalty programmes that encourage them to keep playing. These programmes reward you for playing at the casino, often offering points or rewards for playing and/or winning certain games. You can either receive cash in your account or use points to claim more significant prizes such as vacations, tickets to sporting events or concerts, or appliances and electronic items. Many casinos even have tiered VIP programs that allow loyal, long-time customers to earn more points and better rewards. Rewards you receive from loyalty programs often have very low to no wagering requirements so that you can withdraw your winnings sooner. Free Spins Many of the bonuses mentioned above often include a free spins bonus. You could get free spins when signing up or reloading, and free spins are almost always included in both deposit and no deposit bonuses. You can also earn free spins by winning a particular game or triggering in-game bonuses. - Advertisement - Be sure to check the wagering requirements of your free spins bonus carefully. Many can only be played on specific games and have to be played within a particular time frame. Free spins can be beneficial if you want to try out a slot without spending too much money or to help you get started when you first set up your profile. Other Types of Online Gaming Bonuses Some casinos offer a cashback bonus that covers a small percentage of your losses over a predetermined period. Often youll also find weekly/monthly promotions that offer bonuses for specific games or periods. There are even bonuses you can earn if you refer the casino to a friend. Conclusion There are so many ways online casinos can give back to you and help you ace your game without losing too much money. You just need to keep an eye on new offers and always read the wagering requirements and Ts & Cs carefully to take advantage of these and other online gaming bonuses.

https://qcostarica.com/what-bonuses-can-be-beneficial-in-online-games/

Does Ramdevs rancorous rage suit the government?

Baba Ramdevs serial abuse of modern medicine and its practitioners has led to both anger at the persistence of his egregious statements and bewilderment at the governments inaction. His apologies for one appalling statement invariably segue into another set of aggressive, malicious and slanderous comments. Despite doctors protesting against him, the Central government is unable to tame him. Instead of initiating legal action against him, it has at best cajoled him to apologise. The apology inveigled out of Ramdev was followed by an aggressive 25 questions to allopathic doctors. His sidekick, Acharya Balkrishna, head of the Ayurvedic business, made a horrendous assertion that the critics of his mentor were part of a Christian plot to malign yoga and Ayurveda! Under public criticism, Ramdev has backtracked and offered up his alter ego, Balkrishna, for vaccination. He deflected the question when asked if he would take the vaccine, with: Why does a hatta-katta (strong and muscular) man like me need to take anything? Section 54 Centre of the Disaster Management Act could be evoked against Ramdev for spreading falsehood and alarm about the Covid pandemic. The Centre has been quick to evoke Section 51 of the same Act against the Chief Secretary of West Bengal, two hours before he was due to retire for disobedience. The Acts provisions cover spreading fake news and rumours. Ramdev cannot absolve himself by saying he was only reading out a forwarded message when he said that Allopathic medicine was stupid and bankrupt and that more patients have lost their lives due to allopathic medicines than lack of medical oxygen or shortage of beds. The Indian Medical Association has asked the government to act against him under the provisions of the Epidemics Diseases Act for endangering the life, health and safety of Covid patients. Read | Book Baba Ramdev for sedition, says petition filed in Bihar court However, no Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government either at the Centre or in the states will act against Ramdev. Ramdev knows that there is some public receptivity for his statements arising from peoples frustration with the pandemics devastation. But he misdirects and channels public anger towards modern medicine rather than against the BJP governments mishandling of the pandemic, by populating the public sphere with red herrings. But the ruling dispensation also values Ramdev for his network of Pantanjali Ayurveda agents/franchisees and yoga disciples. They can be politically leveraged during elections. In March 2010 Ramdev launched a movement called Bharat Swabhiman and declared that he would launch a political party to contest all Lok Sabha seats in 2014. His vast network of supporters and franchisees was obviously part of these political calculations. One might also recall that he was unsuccessfully wooed by Arvind Kejriwal as well. Once Ramdev saw the tide turn in Narendra Modis favour in the run-up to the 2014 general election, he threw his weight behind the BJP. The BJP used Ramdev as a force multiplier in the 2014 election campaign. His contribution to the BJPs stunning victory was acknowledged by Arun Jaitely. In a hyperbolic statement, he said that The role played by Ramdev in awakening the voters is similar to the struggles of Mahatma Gandhi and Jayaprakash Narayan who stayed away from power. Amit Shah, then party president, also commended Ramdevs contribution and promised that his endeavours to promote Ayurveda and yoga would have government support. That promise was kept. Ramdevs business empire benefitted from his proximity to the BJP government. BJP chief ministers were open-handed in giving him free public land to set up herbal parks, factories, cowsheds, universities and schools. He was given Z-plus security and the Central Industrial Security Force was deployed to guard his private business enterprise at Haridwar. Ramdevs controversial Coronil for treating Covid-19 was promoted by the Union Health Minister and BJP-rule Haryana has included Coronil in the free Coronavirus kits for public distribution. The media, especially TV channels, love Ramdev and his oafish antics because they get sackfuls of advertising revenue from his Patanjali Ayurved. Additionally, unlike other advertisers, Ramdev attracts viewers by his verbal gladiatorial displays. Ramdev doesnt lose an opportunity to market his remedies on TV and never fails to name a clutch of his branded products. Or miss an occasion to point to the underbelly of modern medicine unscrupulous hospitals ordering unnecessary medical tests, overcharging patients and prescribing costly branded medicines. So, even if this Baba is decried as a snake oil salesman who is damaging the governments healthcare strategies to control the pandemic, it does not matter to the BJP. It is a price they seem willing to pay for the political capital he brings to the party. (The writer is a journalist based in Delhi)

https://www.deccanherald.com/opinion/does-ramdev-s-rancorous-rage-suit-the-government-993679.html

Why does bitcoin use energy?

In 1999, on the verge of the popping of the dot-com bubble, anyone involved in technology was awakening to the near-endless opportunities that the Internet and home computing could provide. At the same time, we saw anyone whos incentivised by creating panic talk about the terrible energy-intensive world we were creating by using computers. Statistics suggested that we would require a pound of coal to store 2MB of data, and that in 2025, 20% of all electricity would be used by the Internet. By implementing proof-of-work, nodes on the network that mine transactions are made to try to solve a (computationally) difficult mathematical puzzle These concerns arent new to bitcoiners. Even bitcoins inventor, Satoshi Nakamoto, had to address the energy consumption concerns, so lets do a deep dive into why bitcoin uses energy, how its used and how bitcoin could become an even bigger user of renewable energy. Bitcoin is not the first digital currency humans have built. David Chaum created DigiCash in 1989 but the business faced technological problems that forced it to centralise. In retrospect, perhaps the biggest problem with centralised private money is that if the business goes under, the digital money becomes worthless because all of the databases and ledgers are no longer available to the public or even online. The blockchain The second major problem we faced is that digital data can be easily copied with enough time or money (and sometimes with little effort). So, in 2008, Nakamoto took the ideas behind DigiCash and a few other sources and put together what we now know as a blockchain. Lets take a look at what he used and how he did it. The simplest proposal might be that you allow a bunch of computers to form a network, and if the majority of the computers agree that a transaction has taken place, or agree on the general network rules, then all is good. Theres a small flaw with this approach, and that is that if every computer on the network had equal voting power, it would be relatively cheap and easy to buy enough computers to control the network by purchasing thousands of low-cost computers like Raspberry Pis. Once the person or people that control the new majority are connected to the network, they could mint new coins, double spend, or do a number of other things that would damage the integrity of the network. This type of attack is called a Sybil attack. We need to consider that the more computing power introduced to the network, the more transactions cost to mine Nakamoto realised that blockchains could be resistant to this type of Sybil attack if there was a cost to run a node on the network, so inspired by Adam Backs proposed Hashcash proof-of-work algorithm he implemented proof-of-work on bitcoin. By implementing proof-of-work, nodes on the network that mine transactions are made to try to solve a (computationally) difficult mathematical puzzle. The puzzle difficulty gets more and less difficult depending on the total computational power of the network, which is measured in hashes per second (h/s). More energy Nakamoto then chose to reward these nodes for their work, by offering them a block reward of 50 bitcoins for every puzzle they successfully solved before another mining node did so. So, we have a cost to validate transactions on the network, as well as a reward for validating those transactions. Lastly, we need to consider that the more computing power introduced to the network, the more transactions cost to mine, the more computing power is required, and yes, the more energy is consumed. Now this might feel like an endless cycle of increased computing power and energy use, but mining nodes are businesses that are economically incentivised to run efficiently, so increasing their computing (or hashing) power, and thereby also increasing their electricity costs without having to, wouldnt make economic sense. So, the Bitcoin network isnt ever using more power than it needs. This model of increasing difficulty as the networks hashing power increases is what makes bitcoin secure and resistant to anyone attempting to take control of the network theyd need to buy enough computing power to equal at least 51% of the networks computing power. The future of money or the greatest store of value whatever you think it is that makes bitcoin important is only made important because of the networks energy use, which is directly correlated to the computing power (and Sybil resistance) of the network. The bitcoin network doesnt waste energy, it consumes it. The utility of the exchanges made possible by bitcoin will far exceed the cost of electricity used. Therefore, not having bitcoin would be the net waste Back in 2010, Nakamoto understood this already when he wrote: Its the same situation as gold and gold mining. The marginal cost of gold mining tends to stay near the price of gold. Gold mining is a waste, but that waste is far less than the utility of having gold available as a medium of exchange. I think the case will be the same for bitcoin. The utility of the exchanges made possible by bitcoin will far exceed the cost of electricity used. Picking one cryptocurrency to back like bitcoin, for example can be risky because, at the end of the day, you may have chosen the wrong horse to back regardless of your best analysis. Even the professionals dont get it right every time. As mentioned earlier, many professional investors would recommend a diversified approach, so youre not putting all your eggs in one basket. Instead, youre buying a basket of cryptocurrencies. Crypto investing can be complicated, time-consuming and quite intimidating, so Revix has created an ultra-simple investment platform that allows you to own a diversified Bundle of the top cryptocurrencies for as little as R500. And whats great is that you can sell out of your Bundle and withdraw your funds at any time. Revixs Bundles are ready-made investments that provide you with direct exposure to the underlying cryptocurrencies within each Bundle. This means that you dont have to guess which cryptocurrencies to own. Investing is as easy as signing up and buying a Bundle. The greatest component of Revixs Bundles is the invest and leave it functionality. The Crypto Bundles automatically update your holdings every month so that you always stay up to date with the fast-paced crypto market. Our Crypto Bundles let the most successful cryptocurrencies come to you, and this puts your whole investing experience on autopilot making your money work harder for you, explains Revix founder and CEO Sean Sanders. Revix offers three crypto Bundles on its platform, all of which track the crypto market and are known as passive investments as there isnt a fund manager picking which cryptocurrencies anyone should own. Instead, Revixs Bundles provide investors exposure to the largest and most established cryptocurrencies. The Top 10 Bundle is like the JSE Top 40 or S&P 500 for crypto and provides equally weighted exposure to the top 10 cryptocurrencies making up more than 85% of the crypto market. The Payment Bundle provides equally weighted exposure to the top five payment-focused cryptocurrencies looking to make payments cheaper, faster and more global. These cryptos include the likes of bitcoin, ripple, bitcoin cash, stellar and litecoin. Revixs Bundles have outperformed an investment in bitcoin alone over one, three and five years The Smart Contract Bundle provides equally weighted exposure to the top five smart contract-focused cryptocurrencies like ethereum, EOS and tron that allow developers to build applications on top of their blockchains, similar to how Apple builds apps on top of iOS. Revixs Bundles have outperformed an investment in bitcoin alone over one, three and five years. The alternative cryptocurrencies, called altcoins, have outperformed bitcoin, and this is why our Bundles have performed so well as we equally weight each of the cryptocurrencies within the Bundles, which diversifies your crypto portfolio, says Sanders. About Revix At Revix, were driven to empower everyday people to become their own wealth managers. Cryptocurrencies have been our first investable category. We offer bitcoin, a regulated gold tokenised commodity called Paxos Gold, and three ready-made crypto Bundles. These Bundles are like the S&P 500 for crypto and offer passive, diversified exposure to the crypto asset class. Investing is as easy as signing up, choosing an asset, and then watching your portfolio grow. We have some exciting new products on their way. Soon youll be able to invest in emerging themes, sectors and asset classes in an effortless way. Sign up to learn more. Disclaimer This article is intended for informational purposes only. The views expressed are not and should not be construed as investment advice or recommendations. This article is not an offer, nor the solicitation of an offer, to buy or sell any of the assets or securities mentioned herein. You should not invest more than you can afford to lose, and before investing, please take into consideration your level of experience, investment objectives and seek independent financial advice if necessary.

https://techcentral.co.za/revix-why-does-bitcoin-use-energy-revprom/107799/

Can GOP reproduce Florida?

Demography is not always destiny. Many Democrats incorrectly assumed their coalition would dominate national politics once Hispanics became a large enough share of the electorate, just as the party has in California over the past generation. Twice as many Floridians voted in 2020 than 2000and the increase in numbers was accompanied by an unexpected shift in the composition of the voters. The electorate in that time became substantially less white and more Republican, said GOP strategist Curt Anderson, who helped elect Sen. Rick Scott as Floridas governor and then to the Senate in 2018. Scott now chairs the National Republican Senatorial Committee, where hes determined to replicate across the Sun Belt in the 2022 midterms some of the gains the party has achieved among Hispanics in the Sunshine State. The NRSC has already aired Spanish-language attack ads against Democratic incumbents in Nevada and Arizona. The stakes are high: An estimated 16.6 million Latinos cast ballots last November, a 31 percent increase from four years before. Democrats still win handily among this group nationally, but exit polls show their margin of victory has declined in presidential contests from 44 percent in 2012 to 38 percent in 2016 to 33 percent in 2020. The GOP courtship isnt new. Latinos are Republican. They just dont know it yet, Ronald Reagan joked in 1980. George W. Bush, another border-state governor who became president, pulled a record 44 percent of the Hispanic vote in 2004. But the trendline of the past decade is remarkable considering former President Donald Trumps build the wall rhetoric, and Democratic operatives acknowledge their party grew overly complacent about this constituency. Sen. Marco Rubio said Hispanic frustration about the coronavirus lockdowns helped Trump carry his state by 3.4 points, three times the former presidents 2016 margin of victory. He believes a generational realignment is underway in which working-class Latinos, who tend to be more conservative, will drift toward Republicans. Democratic strategist Stephanie Valencia, president of research firm Equis Labs, credited Republicans with building what she calls a year-round, surround-sound, echo-chamber infrastructure in South Florida that allows them to relentlessly appeal to Latino voters on radio stations their allies control and by cultivating influencers on YouTube and social media. Its a playbook that theyd be smart to replicate in other states and one that Democrats need to get ahead of, she said. More than eight years ago, the Republican National Committees post-election autopsy said the party must embrace and champion comprehensive immigration reform, warning gravely: If Hispanics think we do not want them here, they will close their ears to our policies. Now, GOP operatives emphasize that their private poll shows a startling 72 percent of Hispanic voters agreed with this statement: We should do what is necessary to control our southern border and stop the surge of illegal immigration.

https://www.arkansasonline.com/news/2021/jun/04/can-gop-reproduce-florida/

Are Trade Tariffs To Blame For Swelling Inflation?

A dairy scandal in Canadadubbed Buttergateholds crucial economic lessons for the U.S. as well as for our northern neighbor. It highlights the idiocy of both tariffs and highly intrusive government regulations. Demand for butter soared during the pandemic lockdowns, as Canadians had more time for baking. In a normal market dairy farmers would have beefed up their herds to produce more milk. But Canada rigidly regulates the production and pricing of milk, eggs and poultry. The upshot: Dairy farmers were not allowed to expand their herds. Moreover, because of tariffs and other trade barriers, Canada couldnt import more dairy products from the U.S. So Canadian farmers resorted to getting more milk from their cows by feeding them more palm oil product. Milk production went upbut the texture of the butter went down. Lumber is another example of government brainlessness. At a time when U.S. prices of wood and wood products have risen meteorically, the Biden Administration wants to double tariffs on Canadian imports.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/steveforbes/2021/06/04/are-trade-tariffs-to-blame-for-swelling-inflation/

Whats The Right High School Size And Structure?

TomGerry Irrizarys maker lab at The Urban Assembly Maker Academy High school is often a pivotal stage in a young persons development, one where they formalize a sense of identity and make some early but important life decisions about careers and lifestyles. Context, relationships and expectations matter a great deal during this periodbut so do the experiences and environments of the institutionmost of which were inherited from decades or even centuries gone by. Its a question being reconsidered as educators reflect on a year and a half of remote and hybrid learning and as society continues to change rapidly. Theres no single right answer to the question, solutions depend on goals and context. For more than 100 years, the best public and private secondary schools have organized themselves into grade level cohorts of 100-125 students. With a total enrollment of 400-500 students, a high school is small enough to maintain an intentional culture and large enough to offer a coherent curriculum. The average American high school has about 850 studentstwice the ideal but half of the stereotypical suburban high school. Beginning in the 1970s suburban high schools often grew to more than 1,000 students. Offering more elective courses and extracurricular options, what became known as shopping mall high schools offered more choices. With the presumption of cost efficiency and growing interest in winning football teams, suburban schools, particularly in the south, often grew to more than 2,000 students in the 1980s and 1990. While big schools can get it right (more on that below), there are seven typical challenge of big schools: Big schools often became tracked with affluent white students in a college bound course sequence and underserved students of color in career courses. Big schools have a student set culture. Without heroic leadership, big school cultures are a mixture of cliques that exclude many and dont develop positive dispositions. Big schools with a catalog of choices reduce the likelihood of sustained adult relationships, reduce curricular integration and coherence, reduce a sense of community and with it a sense of safety, belonging, and attachment. Big schools are inefficient. Big schools actually produced diseconomies of scale (above about 600 students) requiring more administration, more security, and more transportationall increasing the percentage of non-teaching staff. Big schools dampen participation. Scale and consolidations were frequently fueled by zeal for competitive sports but it often comes at the cost of participation. Big schools typically have lower rates of participation in extracurricular activities as they become larger and more selective. Big schools are less responsive. Its hard for big schools to incorporate student voice in decision making. Size can make them less agile when changes is needed. Big schools damage rural communities. Several thousand small rural high schools were closed in the last four decades. This consolidation into big regional schools initiates a death spiral for many communities. Every high performing charter school network in the country has high schools of 400-500 students with a coherent college preparatory curriculum. Examples include Achievement First, Aspire, Basis, DSST, Green Dot, Harmony, IDEA, KIPP, Noble, Summit, Uncommon, Uplift, and YES. The 300 high schools of New Tech Network, EL Education, and High Tech High are schools of about 400 students that feature a coherent team-taught course of study that supports personalization through projects. Rather than a large number of elective courses, students at these deeper learning schools explore and express interests through project-based learning. In the School District of Philadelphia, the faculty of Science Leadership Academy, has shared instructional values including inquiry, research, collaboration, presentationthat are evident in every classroom. It is difficult to create the same level of fidelity to a sophisticated learning model in a large comprehensive school. New York has a 50 year tradition of small public and private high schools. Beginning in 1995 with the Julia Richman Education Complex, large comprehensive high schools were closed and replaced with several small schools that share common space and extracurricular activities. New high schools opened between 2000-2006 often doubled the graduation rate of the schools they replaced and performed better than remaining comprehensive high schools. Over the last 30 years, more than 1,000 career academies were formed as semi-autonomous schools in shared facilities. Learners benefit from strong sustained relationships, a coherent curriculum and related work-based learning experiencesas well as large campus extracurricular activities. Academies supported by NAF and ConnectEd have high graduation and college going rates. Da Vinci Schools in Los Angeles features three small themed high schoolsDesign, Communications, and Sciencein a shared facility. Each school has three career pathways in small supportive environments. The three schools share common spaces and activities including music and performing arts, and a robust athletics program. Da Vinci represents the best features of small career-focused schools and large comprehensive schools. For hundreds of years, high schools have been organized around a series of courses required for graduation. As schools focus more on essential skills and meeting the needs of individual students, these content building blocks can become confining artificial constraints. A few innovative small schools including Purdue Polytechnic High in Indianapolis and One Stone in Boise organize learning skill sprints, advisory groups and projects. Every learner has a learning journey that combines individual skill building with team projects and the support of a coach and advisory cohort. The superintendents association recently published Learning 2025, a report encouraging co-authored learning journeys. That means more voice and choice for learnersless about a big catalog of courses and more about the ability to tailor learning pathways that combine the right level of communication and problem solving experiences with projects on topics that are important to the learner and the community. Its likely that as capacity is built to support individual and cohort learning journeys, that the size of schools will become less relevantas the point of coherence moves to the individual learner, it is less necessary to rely on a course sequence or a school model to be the unifying factor. Yes, but it takes four strong elements that borrow from the lessons of good small schools. First is an intentional culture rooted in shared valuesand it takes committed and sustained leadership in a big school. Shared values must be evident in climate, communication, curriculumthey must be observed, heard, experienced every day. Second, the use of small unitshouses, academies, or microschoolscan promote strong relationships and a sense of belonging and attachment. While these structures may limit elective options, they support deeper learning through integration and application. Third, strong advisory programs provide a home base for performance and growth monitoring, skill building, and postsecondary planning. Also, a multiyear advisor relationship is key (see core and optional advisory functions). And fourth is a system of integrated and tiered supports (often coordinated through the advisory system). Turnaround for Children notes that Tier 2 and 3 supports must be provided in ways that are responsive to the often complex needs of students who experience trauma and adversity. Small schools are no guarantee for a compelling, coherent, personalized high school experience but big schools make it a real challenge. Some suggest the future is ecosystems of learning opportunities that, with the aid of an advisor (and a few good apps), come together for individual learnersand that may be best answer to the question of how to organize a high school.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/tomvanderark/2021/06/04/whats-the-right-high-school-size-and-structure/

When will Portugal move to the amber list?

Portugal will be removed from the UK's 'green list'. Picture: PA By Emma Clarke It was announced that Portugal will be removed from the 'green list' on Thursday. Back in May, Portugal was added to the 'green list', meaning non-essential travel was allowed. However, on June 3 the UK Government announced that the country would be removed from the 'green list' and added to the 'amber list' from next week. Holidaymakers in Portugal are now scrambling to get back to the UK before the new restrictions apply. Here's everything you need to know... Portugal will officially be moved to the 'amber list' from Tuesday, June 8. The changes will come into effect from 4am. In practice, that means that UK tourists should not be travelling there and those returning from Portugal after that point will have to isolate for 10 days. You can read the full list of rules below. The UK Government has cited a rise in cases and a Covid mutation, or the so-called 'Nepal variant', which was apparently found in Portugal. That said, the World Health Organisation (WHO) was "not aware" of this variant. WHO is not aware of any new variant of SARS-CoV-2 being detected in Nepal. The 3confirmed variants in circulation are: Alpha (B.1.1.7), Delta (B.1.617.2) and Kappa (B.1.617.1). The predominant variant currently in circulation in Nepal is Delta (B.1.617.2). @mohpnep @PandavRajesh WHO Nepal (@WHONepal) June 3, 2021 Transport Secretary Grant Shapps said that the UK was taking a "safety first approach". The Department for Transport also stated that the new measures were to "protect our vaccine rollout". Since the announcement, both Portuguese officials and the travel sector have voiced their anger about the decision. British Airways said the update was "incredibly disappointing and confusing news, not just for aviation but also for our customers". easyJet's chief executive Johan Lundgren, meanwhile, commented: "Portuguese rates similar to those in the UK", and that the decision "simply isn't justified by the science." He added: "When this framework was put together, consumers were promised a waiting list to allow them to plan. "Yet the government has torn up its own rule book and ignored the science, throwing people's plans into chaos, with virtually no notice or alternative options for travel from the UK. "This decision essentially cuts the UK off from the rest of the world." Jet2 has also pushed back the restarting of flights from June 23 to July 1. "We know how disappointed our customers and independent travel agency partners will be following today's announcement, and we share their concerns and frustrations," said Jet2's chief executive Steve Heapy. Portugal's Cabinet of Minister of State for Foreign Affairs also tweeted: "Portugal continues to carry out its prudent and gradual de-confinement plan, with clear rules for the safety of those who live here and those who visit us." Since the news was announced, holidaymakers in Portugal have been scrambling to get back to the UK before the new restrictions are enforced, to avoid the quarantine period. Before you depart an 'amber list' country for the UK, you will need proof of a negative Covid-19 test. Upon your return, you must have a booked PCR test on day two and day eight, and quarantine for 10 days. You may be able to end your quarantine period sooner if you take an additional PCR test on day 5 and the results are negative. Below is a useful visual aid, explaining the dos and don'ts. Traffic light system rules. It depends. If the Government announces new safety measures for a specific country and advises against travel, your airline or travel company is more than likely to cancel your pre-booked flights and holidays. In this event, you are entitled to a full refund, which should take up to 7 days - although in some cases may take longer. Package holidays should be refunded in full within 14 days. However, if you decided to cancel your trip because you feel it's no longer safe, but the Government has not advised against travel, you may not be entitled to a refund. You may wish to reschedule your flights to another time or destination, in which case you may receive a voucher, refund or be subjected to transfer fees. The best thing to do is to check with the airline and/or holiday company before you travel or book. The Government will review the traffic light system every three weeks, but that does not mean changes will be made. Previously, changes came into effect on May 17, suggesting that the review would fall on June 7. However, this month's review came earlier on June 3.

https://www.lbc.co.uk/news/explained/portugal-move-amber-list-date-time/

Can tide height affect an objects visibility from a yacht?

James Stevens answers your questions of seamanship Question: The skipper and crew of the Bowman 46, Flying Colours, are anticipating their arrival in Falmouth after crossing the Atlantic. They are currently about 30 miles off the Isles of Scilly, sailing through the night in clear visibility. John, the skipper, tells his crew to look out for their first landfall, Bishop Rock lighthouse situated off the southwest of the Isles of Scilly. The lighthouse has a charted height of 44m and a white light that flashes twice every 15 seconds. John reckons they should see the light at 17 miles out. It will be low water at about the time the light will become visible. The mate, Bill, thinks that because the yacht is lower down than at high water they will not see the light until they are closer; he believes that a yacht is higher up at high water so you can see further, just as you can if you climb the mast. John says at low water the light is higher out of the water so you can see it from further away. Alan, one of the other crew, says the tidal height makes no difference to how far you can see the light because the yacht being higher at high water is cancelled out by the height of the light being less above the water level. There is a spring tide that night and the range is 5m. James Stevens answers: The light will be visible from further away at low water. The higher an object is, the further away you can observe it at sea. The almanac has a table of the rising or dipping distances of lights which tells navigators how far off they are from a charted light. The charted heights of lights are given from Mean High Water Springs, MHWS, so in this case the height of the light is 44m plus the fall of the tide, 49m. Continues below Assuming the height of the eye of the observer in the cockpit is 3m, the tables will show the distance that the light will appear on the horizon at low water as 18.2 miles. At Mean High Water Springs the distance is 17.4 miles. Before electronic navigation this was a really useful way of fixing a yachts position with a bearing and distance off. When sailors approach light, they see the loom first. This is the light from below the horizon which becomes visible before the actual light. In a heavy sea, the light will appear and disappear so an accurate distance off is more difficult, but seeing it after an ocean passage is a great moment.

https://www.yachtingmonthly.com/sailing-skills/can-tide-height-affect-an-objects-visibility-78501

What Makes Caitlyn Jenner Run?

Jenners first marriage unraveled. Jenner suggested when they were all but divorced and she learned Chrystie was pregnant with their second child that Chrystie get an abortion. My first reaction was that I didnt want it, Jenner said in an interview in 1980 in Playboy. Cassandra Jenner was born that summer. Three days after the divorce was finalized, Jenner married Linda Thompson, Elvis ex and one of the Hee Haw Honeys on "Hee Haw," after meeting her at a celebrity tennis tournament at Hugh Hefners Playboy Mansion. She gave birth to Jenners third child five months later. She was much different than Chrystie, Jenner said in 1982 in an interview in Playgirl. Chrystie was very dominant, tried to control me, belonged to NOWthe National Organization for Womennot that thats terrible Jenner continued: It was just the way she tried to control me, and Linda was the opposite of that. She was a very warm, sensitive woman, and that struck me right off. Linda was a lot more gentle. To me she was a lot more woman. Jenner kept talking: Now thats a pretty big statement, but its how she handled her man, OK. She was a lot more submissive, she let me be more the man. Jenner didnt stop: Not that women have to be submissive to be feminine. I cant really put my finger on it, but Linda is totally a woman, totally a lady. In the same Playgirl interview, Jenner also discussed the Vietnam War. Jenner wasnt opposed on principle. Just didnt want to serve. I never involved myself in the protests against the war and all that other stuff, Jenner said. I ran in the Olympic Games in 72 and two weeks later I flunked my physical. Did they know you were an Olympic athlete? the reporter asked. I never brought the subject up, a grinning Jenner responded. I got out because I had a bad knee. Running didnt bother it at all, and walking was no problem, but marching killed my knee, so I couldnt go in. I could run in the Olympic Games, and high jump and stuff, but God, marching I was very proud to have an American flag in my hand. On the other hand, I didnt really want the all-American, apple-pie image. Im not quite that. I didnt win the gold medal for the United States. I wasnt trying to be all-American. I was just trying to get out of the service. I didnt worry about all-American. My dad was in the Fifth Ranger Battalion in World War II. He landed on D-Day. He was like a Green Beret of his day, and he saidDont go! Stay out if ya can, kid, Jenner said with a laugh. I was very proud to have an American flag in my hand, Jenner said of the victory-lap scene before the medal ceremony in Montreal. On the other hand, I didnt really want the all-American, apple-pie image. Im not quite that. I didnt win the gold medal for the United States. I won it for myself. Living in the United States gave me a great opportunity to grow up and do with my life what I wanted, and I went with it. The government wasnt paying me. The Olympic committee didnt help. I did it all on my own. That medal is significant because of what I accomplished. It wasnt because our system is better than any other in the world. The medals in my house, not the White House. Jenners second marriage started to fail, too. Like her predecessor, Jenners second wife struggled with the emotional disconnect in their relationship, the distance and the distractedness. Just never seemed to be all there and whole. Having enjoyed many hours with Elvis, discussing religion and philosophy and the meaning of love and life, I definitely noticed that Bruce did not seem to engage with these topics in quite the same way, Thompson would write in 2016. This is not to say he was in any way shallow, just that he seemed to be most comfortable in motion. To the extent that Jenner was ever comfortable at all. In the 80s, when given the opportunity of an empty house, Jenner more and more began putting on makeup, blouses and wigs, making VHS tapes, posing, playing them back, trying to see the way that she felt, roaming in parks in the dark in dresses. Linda Thompson holding her book, A Little Thing Called Life: On Loving Elvis Presley, Bruce Jenner, and Songs in Between, in New York, Aug. 24, 2016. | AP Photo I identify as a woman, Jenner told Thompson, according to Thompsons memoir, in early 1985, when their older son was three and a half and their younger son was 18 months. For as long as I can remember, Ive looked in the mirror and seen a masculine image staring back at me, where there should have been a feminine reflection. I have lived in the wrong skin, the wrong body, my whole life. It is a living hell for me, and I really feel that I would like to move forward with the process of becoming a woman, the woman I have always been inside. Jenner moved out. Still doing ads for London Fog and Ford along with a bi-monthly magazine called Bruce Jenners Better Health and Livingand the speeches, up to $25,000 a pop, talking to IBM, talking to the Future Farmers of America, talking to the Boy Scouts, about Finding the Champion Within, while on the inside feeling like a fraudJenner stayed in a Malibu rental, six acres, sheltered, and began transitioning. Feminizing facial surgery and hormones. Excruciating electrolysis, one hair at a time, to get rid of the beard. Quiet and prone on a table in tears. This is what you get for being who you are, Jenner thought with each prick, shot and burn. Just take the pain. Its difficult to be a legend. Its hard for me to recognize me, James Baldwin, the late writer and activist, said in an interview in 1987. Its unbearable because time is passing and you are not your legend, but youre trapped in it. Trapped. Couldnt transition. Stopped in 1989. Couldnt finish. The culture of celebrity does not look kindly upon those who disappear. Becoming relevant again once you have largely made yourself irrelevant is often impossible, as Jenner would explain years later about the agony of having to share her life with an almost fictitious character. Bruce still has earning potential. Bruce pays the bills. Bruce is tired of being lonely and isolated and wonders if as a trans woman she would be even more lonely and isolated, as Jenner put it. I have to get back in the game. I have to once again establish Bruce as the dominant presence, no matter how much I loathe him. Jenner met the divorced Kris Kardashian in 1990, through a retired Los Angeles Dodger, on a celebrity fishing trip. Their first date started at a celebrity golf tournament. A few weeks later, according to Kardashians memoir, they went to a private cocktail party for Ronald and Nancy Reagan. The following spring, they were married in the backyard of the Bel Air home of the chair and CEO of Warner Bros. Entertainment. Jenner saw opportunity with Kardashian. The feeling was very much mutual. Jenner had the gold medal in a sock drawer. Kardashian went and took it out. There should be Bruce Jenner clothing, Bruce Jenner exercise products, Bruce Jenner endorsement deals, Bruce Jenner vitamin supplements, she said. The Kardashian-led hustle led to informercials for sunglasses and for home aerobics equipment, the Power Trainer, the Super Step, the Stair Climber Plus, and that led to yet more speeches. The champion from The Champion Within gave rah-rah talk after rah-rah talk, according to Jenners memoir, while wearing a bra, pantyhose and panties covered by a dark-blue suit before hurrying upstairs to put on a wig and a blouse and a dress and do a plastic-wrap waist cinch and a Krazy Glue facelift.

https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2021/06/04/caitlyn-jenner-governor-california-profile-2021-491773

What is Bitdefender Central and what can it do?

Thats what were going to clear up in this article. The very brief answer is that Bitdefender Central is an online hub that facilitates the management of your Bitdefender products and account. So, lets break down what Bitdefender Central is capable of and why it might - or might not - be useful to you as a subscriber to a Bitdefender service. Bitdefender Central is an online platform which can be used to manage a whole host of things related to your Bitdefender products and subscriptions. You need to create an account to log in to the Bitdefender Central web portal, and the main dashboard there will provide at-a-glance details about all your Bitdefender stuff which devices youve got protected, and any recent threats detected. You can also view any piece of hardware you have Bitdefender installed on to manage those devices, and also manage any active subscriptions, or browse a library of help features should you be stuck with anything. So it's a handy hub if you've got an all-singing all-dancing Bitdefender internet security suite covering multiple devices. Bitdefender Central also facilitates access to further premium services from the security firm. Bitdefender Central can be used on any piece of hardware capable of running a web browser. All you need to do is head to the browser, go to the Bitdefender Central page, and log in to your account, then youre off and running. Bitdefenders online portal is equipped with a number of features to make managing all your devices with the companys products installed on them easier. It offers not just management but remote access, too, which means if you have a subscription like Bitdefender Total Security which supports a lot of devices perhaps across your entire family you can take control and do things for less tech-savvy folks. The functions you can access via Bitdefender Central include: Remote management You can view the details of any device with a Bitdefender product installed, and manage certain features directly from the Bitdefender Central hub. That includes remotely triggering a malware scan on a device, for example (note that obviously the hardware in question must be powered on and connected to the net). You can also remotely run device optimization measures, or a vulnerability scan. Anti-theft capabilities Should you lose a device or have it stolen, Bitdefender Central gives you the ability to track it down, or send a message and in the worst-case scenarios, remotely lock or wipe the hardware (again, assuming its connected online). Parental controls Those who have Bitdefender Internet Security or Total Security get parental controls with these packages, and can manage them in Bitdefender Central. From the hub, its possible to monitor your childs online activity, and their location in the real world, setting screen time limits and more. Support portal Theres a bunch of help provided within Bitdefender Central, including video tutorials, FAQs, a knowledgebase, and more. These resources are very handy for the less experienced users out there. Subscriptions and services There are also panels to manage your subscriptions including the ability to turn off auto-renewal and offers of premium services from Bitdefender, like a remote PC full tune-up service. Bitdefender provides a full range of antivirus solutions, bristling with stacks of features when you look at the higher-end plans, and Bitdefender Central represents a neat way of managing your purchased products via a convenient portal you can access anywhere. Should you get stuck with anything, the Bitdefender Central hub provides some quality help resources, and it has some standout remote management capabilities, particularly for those with a family, who (assuming theyve subscribed to a plan with parental controls) can keep an eye on their kids from any device with a browser. In short, Bitdefender Central is a useful extra that anyone who has bought one of the security firms products will likely benefit from but if you dont want to use this web portal, you dont have to (beyond first setting up your Bitdefender antivirus solution, or managing your account and subscriptions).

https://www.techradar.com/nz/news/bitdefender-central

Will students in the south be able to attend graduation ceremonies this year?

Video report by ITV News Meridian's Christine Alsford Tens of thousands of students have had to forego traditional graduation ceremonies during the pandemic. Yet as lockdown eases and mass events for sport and music are already returning, very few universities are trying to lay on face to face events this summer. It has led to disappointment and frustration among undergraduates who have already lost almost an entire year of face to face teaching. . However some universities in the south are pledging to help students graduate in traditional fashion. It marks the culmination of three years of hard work, a moment of public recognition, and a rite of passage. But ever since the pandemic began, the closest tens of thousands of undergraduates have come to graduation ceremony is a virtual event held online. Now a few like the University of Portsmouth are taking a leap of faith and preparing to hold a whole series of traditional face to face events this summer. Prof Graham Galbraith, Vice Chancellor, said: "We're planning for it to be socially distanced so we will have to run almost four graduation ceremonies a day for a period of three weeks so it's an immense undertaking. "But I think it's right that we put in the effort for the students to give them that celebration at the end of their experience that they deserve." Clip: Prof Graham Galbraith, Vice Chancellor The University of Winchester is planning to carry out a whole series of evening ceremonies at the city's cathedral in July. However some students at other universities feel let down that their graduations won't be held face to face. Third year student Georgia Shakeshaft says she feels let down by the University of Sussex who don't plan to organise anything until 2022. Georgia said: "I do understand that graduation can't take place as it normally would but I think the absence of anything - no Zoom award ceremony even with our schools - small course celebrations - I just wish there was something in place of that." The University of Sussex says restrictions and uncertainty meant they had no choice but to cancel and they didn't want to 'water down' celebrations. Prof Coate, Pro-Vice-Chancellor, said: "Sussex's grad ceremonies are amazing; renowned throughout the sector. "So it would have been difficult to replicate in any way to get the right spirit. What we've decided to do is hold something very special next year." Universities maintaining safety is their highest priority, but some believe they also won't risk organising expensive events if they can't get insurance should they need to cancel. They are not the only ones worrying about the bottom line. Marston Robing at Andover saw its hire and sales business disappear overnight when the pandemic hit. Credit: ITV News Meridian Managing Director John Martin said: "We have about 25,000 and they have hung here unused since January of last year." Now things are looking up and the company has been packing up and heading 200 miles north for their first in-person graduation event in 18 months. John said: "There's a lot more looking to September and into the Autumn and even quite a number looking at early next year, early 2022." The wait on graduation ceremonies means those on shorter university courses will end up waiting longer to celebrate their achievements than they did actually studying for them.

https://www.itv.com/news/meridian/2021-06-04/will-students-in-the-south-be-able-to-attend-graduation-ceremonies-this-year

Whats the best way to save money for my grandchildren?

Q. I am the representative payee for two grandchildren and would love to invest the money we dont use. When they turn 18, I understand any unused guns must be turned over to them. My husband and I are concerned that at 18, they may have poor judgment and waste the money we have saved in their names. Grandparent A. Were glad to hear youre trying to save funds for your grandchildren. Any custodial account that is set up, such as a Uniform Transfers to Minors Act account (UTMA) or Uniform Gifts to Minors Act account (UGMA), allows a minor to have money invested with the oversight of a guardian or trustee such as yourself, said Jody DAgostini, a certified financial planner with Equitable Advisors/The Falcon Financial Group in Morristown. You can manage the account until they come of age, which in New Jersey is the age of 18, she said. Earnings in this account are taxed at the generally lower tax rate of the child, DAgostini said. Up to $1,050 of gains in the account are not taxed. Earnings up to $2,100 are taxed at the childs rate with anything earned over that amount at your higher tax rate. Investing these funds could be a great opportunity to educate the children about the value of investing, DAgostini said. As they get older, you can educate them on the different types of assets and their performance over time, she said. They can learn about saving towards their goals. A good alternative, once they receive employment income, is to open and fund a Roth IRA, she said. You would be limited to the amount earned, but these accounts are powerful as they grow income tax free and the distributions are also tax-free, she said. Contributions could be accessed without penalty, but earnings that are accessed incur a 10% penalty as well as taxation if they are withdrawn prior to age 59 or after the account has been open for at least five tax years. Another option would be to set up trust accounts in the childrens names with you as the trustee, and perhaps an alternative trustee since the trust will likely survive you, she said, noting that you can decide the terms of the trust. DAgostini said trusts can protect a child and provide a source of income over time. You could create an incentive trust that requires some description of what actions need to be done for distributions such as obtaining some education, being gainfully employed or not using drugs, she said. The trust will insulate them from creditors and perhaps an eventual divorce as these are off limits for those purposes. Youll need to consult with an estate planning attorney if you go this route. Email your questions to Ask@NJMoneyHelp.com. Karin Price Mueller writes the Bamboozled column for NJ Advance Media and is the founder of NJMoneyHelp.com. Follow NJMoneyHelp on Twitter @NJMoneyHelp. Find NJMoneyHelp on Facebook. Sign up for NJMoneyHelp.coms weekly e-newsletter.

https://www.nj.com/news/2021/06/whats-the-best-way-to-save-money-for-my-grandchildren.html

Should an investor prioritize a defensive stock over the others?

The definition of defensive stocks Defensive stocks ensure that they will give dividends regularly regardless of the status of the stock market. Companies that produce defensive stocks sell on-demand products, so these stocks are usually stable in a business cycle's business phase. These companies with defensive stocks showcase stable operations and strength to avoid the likeliness of facing bankruptcy. Also, these are very different from defense stocks, and investors should be aware of this information. Companies that produce ammunition and weapons are the ones that have defensive stocks. More on defensive stocks Defensive stocks indeed have significantly less risk because they would require a massive disaster before the business collapses. However, people more or less turn towards defensive stocks not only because they have lower risks. If that's the sole reason, they can always buy treasury bills that have zero risks. People turn into defensive stocks because the dividend offered is more than what the treasury bills provide. Some examples of companies with defensive stocks are Coca-Cola, Pepsi Co., and Johnson and Johnson's. Pros and cons in investing in defensive stocks We have already outlined some of the essential points of defensive stocks. In this part of the article, we will discuss the advantages and disadvantages of defensive to help investors and potential investors in decision making. Let us start with the advantages of defensive stocks. First, of course, these long-term investments come with low risks. Most would say that they are the better choice when investing because of their high Sharpe ratio. Warren Buffet can prove to us that increased risk is not always equal to beating the market. Instead, beating the market may sometimes mean avoiding too many losses. Warren Buffet is Berkshire Hathaway's CEO and one of the world's most successful investors who use the strategy of long-term growth investments. Defensive stocks also have some disadvantages. Since the stocks have low volatility, these stocks can only offer small gains even in times of bull markets. This part is very tricky when it comes to investments. Timing is crucial. Investors tend to leave these stocks and hop on to another stock in a bull market. However, in economic downturns like a pandemic, investors may tend to buy defensive stocks even when they should have done it sooner to earn a higher return. In short, defensive stocks are high-performing stocks in a recession but are underperforming stocks in expansion times. Some common types of defensive stocks We can also consider these types of stocks listed below because people would still buy and prioritize them over anything else regardless of the status of the market or the economy. They are mostly necessities, and some tend to surpass the market in an economic downturn. Utilities . We are referring to water, gas, and electricity. . We are referring to water, gas, and electricity. Consumer supplies and staples . We refer to food, beverages, and other necessities and vices like hygiene items and cigarettes. . We refer to food, beverages, and other necessities and vices like hygiene items and cigarettes. Healthcare . People will always need to buy medicine and drugs, so we consider pharmaceutical companies and anything related to medicine as defensive stocks. . People will always need to buy medicine and drugs, so we consider pharmaceutical companies and anything related to medicine as defensive stocks. REITs. REITs or Apartment real estate investment trusts are defensive stocks because a shelter is a basic human need.

https://www.forexlive.com/Education/!/should-an-investor-prioritize-a-defensive-stock-over-the-others-20210604

When will PUBG Mobile Season 19 end?

PUBG Mobile Season 19 has kicked off with a brand new theme, Traverse, adding many new rewards, new season exclusive outfits, weapons, gun skins, and more. Players can buy the Elite Pass for 600 UC and Elite Upgrade Plus for 1800 UC to earn premium rewards by completing various missions. The ranks of all the players have also been reset, and they will have to start battling in ranked matches to push their rank to reach Conqueror while unlocking various tier rewards before the season ends. According to the date mentioned in the Royale Pass section, PUBG Mobile Season 19 will end on July 12 (UTC) before Season 20 releases the next day. Unlike the normal patch updates, Season 20 will not be released on Google Play Store or App Store; instead, it will get downloaded automatically on the games loading screen. Screenshot by Gamepur There are no leaks regarding the content that will be coming to the next season; however, we will get the list of Season 20 royale pass and tier rewards after the PUBG Mobile 1.5 beta update is released.

https://www.gamepur.com/guides/when-will-pubg-mobile-season-19-end

Will USD break lower or reverse higher over summer?

The fortunes of the USD going into the summer Following an impressive Q1 which saw the Dollar rallying by almost 5% against a broad basket of its main trading counterparts, the global reserve currency has fallen out of favour over the last three months. The Q1 Dollar index highs, which printed neatly on March 31st, quickly gave way to a sudden and sustained sell off which has seen the index falling to lows of around the mid 89s, an almost 100% reversal of the gains in Q1. The driver behind this stark shift in sentiment was the weakening of US inflation expectations. Across Q1, as the US vaccination program gained increasing momentum, the government introduced fresh fiscal easing and focus turned to reopening (both actual and expected), US inflation expectations began to ratchet higher. Traders began to anticipate that the lift-off in US inflation as a result of the combination of economic reopening and vaccine optimism would lead the Fed to consider removing its monetary easing - a process known as tapering. USD Reversed as inflation Expectations Faded However, across Q1 and into Q2 the Fed stuck to its guns and reaffirmed its view that any spike in inflation would be temporary in nature and would not lead the Fed to shift its policy approach this year. This rebuttal from the Fed was accompanied by certain data points which cast further uncertainty on the turbo-rebound some were expecting. A much weaker than forecast set of retail sales in both February and April raised questions. A weaker than expected jobs report in April also took the shine off a stronger than forecast inflation reading for the month. In response to this data, and with the Fed reaffirming its anti-tapering message, US inflation expectations receded, and the Dollar sold off. With central banks remaining committed to keeping easing in place for the near future at least and with budding optimism linked to the reopening underway across many key economies, equities, commodities and other high yielding assets (including risk FX) have been higher against the Dollar, both benefiting from and reinforcing its decline. USD Short Position Growing Again Firstly, looking at the COT data, the net-USD short position, although growing, is still way off the extended levels seen in Q3 2020 and in January 2021. This means that there is still plenty of room for USD to move lower in terms of positioning. However, in considering the fundamental backdrop, risks appear to be building to the topside here. US Labour Reports in Focus While data has been a little hit and miss, the general trend has been upward and with that in mind, there is a huge amount of focus on the US employment reports on Friday. Following last month's low print of 266k, the market is now looking for a reading of 645k. Additionally, the forecast is for the unemployment rate to reduce from 6.1% last to 5.9%. If these readings meet forecasts, or beat them, this is likely to resurrect the issue of fed tapering, sending USD higher. If the readings are firmly higher, this could see a sharp unwinding of USD shorts. Fed's Daly Suggests Shift in Tapering Discussions With inflation set to have jumped in May also, a strong US employment report (particularly if wages growth is seen higher again) might be all it needs to see the USD turn on a dime. Fed's Daly this week hinted that discussions around tapering are entering the Fed's universe, saying that the bank was now "talking about talking about tapering". This marks a clear hawkish development from Fed's Powell saying at the last meeting that it was too early to talk about tapering. June FOMC in Focus Given the fuller reopening and further progress with vaccinations seen across May, a strong release this week would bring inflation expectations back into full force, suggesting the likelihood of even faster growth over the summer, placing a greater emphasis on the Fed's June meeting. Technical Views US Dollar Index The sell-off in the Dollar index over Q2 has seen price trading lower within a narrow bearish channel. Price has also broken through the rising trend line from 2021 lows. However, the move has now stalled into a test of those 2021 lows and with firm bullish divergence on the RSI indicator and the MACD having turned bullish here, the prospect of a reversal is growing. The key upside level for bulls to break is the 90.98 region, which will turn the focus back to 92.07 and above. This article was submitted by Tickmill. Disclaimer: The material provided is for information purposes only and should not be considered as investment advice. The views, information, or opinions expressed in the text belong solely to the author, and not to the author's employer, organization, committee or other group or individual or company. High Risk Warning: CFDs are complex instruments and come with a high risk of losing money rapidly due to leverage. 73% and 65% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs with Tickmill UK Ltd and Tickmill Europe Ltd respectively. You should consider whether you understand how CFDs work and whether you can afford to take the high risk of losing your money.

https://www.forexlive.com/Education/!/will-usd-break-lower-or-reverse-higher-over-summer-20210604

Will Fortnite Chapter 2 Season 6 have an ending event?

As Chapter 2, Season 6 draws to a close in Fortnite, players are wondering if there will be an even of season event. Of course, it is the tradition by now for something pretty spectacular to happen in order to move Fortnite from one season into the next. Truthfully, we also have a lot of questions that need to be answered from the last end-of-season event, the one that actually led to the Primal island and the Spire. An end-of-season event seems like the logical way to give us some answers, and properly introduce the aliens that appear to be on the way to the island. At the moment, however, Epic have said absolutely nothing about any end of season event, when it might be, or how we might watch it. The chance of it happening is obviously very high, we just dont have any official confirmation from the developers themselves. Hopefully Epic confirms if an event is or is not happening soon, and gives us some details about what it might be. When that happens, you can check this article for updates with all the details.

https://www.gamepur.com/guides/will-fortnite-chapter-2-season-6-have-an-ending-event

Which Ohio State football commits and targets are attending Buckeye Bash 2.0?

COLUMBUS, Ohio -- Ohio State footballs 2022 recruiting class has been building strong relationships over the past year, thanks to the technology of the 21st century. Now theyll finally meet in person. The Buckeyes coaching staff made it a point to get as many people as possible from a 12-man class to Columbus to start the month; all but three will be in town. That includes all four in-state commits and the four guys rated as five-star recruits. Typically youd want to spread guys out in the name of peer recruiting, but given how the last 15 months have gone, getting everyone together was more of a priority. We discussed that as a staff, and we just felt like since theyve been so loyal to us, we wanted to them to get here that first weekend just because they deserve it, director of player personnel Mark Pantoni said last Friday. They deserve to all be here together (to) get to know each other. They are our best recruiters -- them along with our current players. In a month where Pantoni and his staff will be so busy that he joked hell need a vacation afterward, the first weekend will be the most work. Half of the time will be spent getting players acquainted while showing them their future home. The rest will be telling remaining targets why they should join them. In 2019, the Buckeye Bash and Barbecue produced a run of commits for what became the fifth-ranked class nationally. In 2020, the Bash was more about building camaraderie for a 2021 group that finished second. This weekend, Buckeye Bash 2.0 will combine both as Ohio State continues pushing for a No. 1 class. Heres the complete list of official visitors for the first weekend in June. Commits Player, Position School Rank (Pos.) Stars Rating Quinn Ewers, QB Southlake Carroll (Texas) No. 1 (No. 1) 5-Star 1.000 C.J. Hicks, LB Archbishop Alter (Ohio) No. 17 (No. 2) 5-Star 0.9953 Caleb Burton, WR Lake Travis (Texas) No. 35 (No. 4) 5-Star 0.9841 Gabe Powers, LB Marysville (Ohio) No. 43 (No. 3) 4-Star 0.9811 Jyaire Brown, CB Lakota West (Ohio) No. 115 (No. 13) 4-Star 0.9510 Kyion Grayes, WR Chandler (Ariz.) No. 146 (No. 19) 4-Star 0.9399 Tegra Tshabola, OT Lakota West (Ohio) No. 183 (No. 20) 4-Star 0.9261 Benji Gosnell, TE East Surry (N.C.) No. 320 (No. 13) 4-Star 0.8958 Bennett Christian, TE Allatoona (Ga.) No. 247 (No. 14) 4-Star 0.8925 Targets Zach Rice, Liberty Christian High School (Va.) This is official visit No. 1 for the five-star recruit to OSU, but the nations No. 5 player and top offensive tackle visited North Carolina during the week before. Rice is the highest 2022 priority of any undecided player visiting Ohio State this summer. The Buckeyes have landed a five-star offensive tackle in every other recruiting class since 2018, and he is their best chance of keeping that streak alive. He will visit Virginia (June 11), Alabama (June 18) and Notre Dame (June 25) this month. Rice would be a second five-star Virginia recruit in as many years, joining TreVeyon Henderson. Hed also be the 10th player from the state, overtaking former linebacker Curtis Grant as the highest-rated commit. Omari Abor, Duncanville (Texas) High School Ohio State has already pulled two five-star recruits out of Texas. Despite the Longhorns resurgence under Steve Sarkisian, Ryan Day can continue raiding the state. Abor is the countrys No. 21 player and No. 5 defensive lineman. Since October, hes had crystal balls favoring Oklahoma but hasnt scheduled an official Sooners visit yet. Columbus will be his first stop, followed by LSU (June 11) and Alabama (June 25). Duncanville will send two players to Columbus for official visits with his teammate Jaylen Early coming the following week. The Buckeyes havent landed five-star defensive ends in back-to-back classes since Nick Bosa (2016) and Chase Young (2017). A successful summer would provide Larry Johnson three five-stars in two cycles with Jack Sawyer already enrolled and J.T. Tuimoloau visiting on June 18. Zion Branch, Bishop Gorman High School (Nev.) OSU has seen success at the Las Vegas school with Haskell Garrett and Tate Martell in 2017. Branch is the fourth in 2022 to earn an offer, although the other three chose Miami (Fla.), USC (where Branch is crystal-balled as well) and Washington. The countrys No. 49 player and No. 4 safety isnt expected to decide soon. Hell take official visits to Ohio State, Oklahoma (June 18) and USC (June 25). Then hell wait to see Alabama (Nov. 5) and Clemson (Nov. 12), meaning his timeline is closer to Signing Day. This weekend is a chance for a good first impression. Hes Nevadas highest-rated player and the only person with an OSU offer. Xavier Nwankpa, Southeast Polk High School (Iowa) The nations No. 71 player and No. 5 safety has been considered an Ohio State lean for months. He has a solid relationship with the commits and quickly checks off the need for a free safety. Hed also be the first Iowan to ever come to Columbus. Some players could be on the edge of committing. Nwankpa has visits to Texas A&M (June 11) and Notre Dame (June 18), but a Columbus visit could convince him its where he needs to be. I get in contact with Ohio State more than most schools, Nwankpa told cleveland.com in December. LSU is probably a couple of times a month. Ohio State is every week, sometimes twice a week. Our relationship feels stronger right now. Aamil Wagner, Wayne High School Rice isnt the only top-100 offensive line option on the board. Wagner is the No. 109 player and No. 10 tackle in the country, and OSU doesnt have to leave the state for him. Like Nwankpa, the four-star could be a visit away from pulling the trigger. Hell head to Kentucky (June 11), Notre Dame (June 18) and Penn State (June 25) to close out the month. Wagner is still new to playing offensive line, but his rapid climb in the rankings reflects how much hes grown over the past year. Hes already good friends with OSU commit C.J. Hicks, whos shown relentless effort as a peer recruiter. Its funny because C.J. is actually one of my close friends who played in the same conference going up in middle school because we both went to smaller schools, Wagner told cleveland.com in April. Ive known him a little bit longer than a lot of other recruits, and hes the one that got me up to the Buckeye Bash. Toriano Pride, Lutheran North High School (Mo.) Kerry Coombs and Matt Barnes went to Florida for a cornerback reload in 2022, finding a five-star and two late-bloomers. Finding a fourth player is where the two will have to fight Clemson. The nations No. 180 player and No. 22 cornerback visits Clemson on June 11 before heading to Auburn on June 25. There are also plans to see Missouri and Oregon this summer. But if Nwankpa and Wagner are a visit away from being Buckeyes, that June 11 date could be all Pride needs to make himself a Tiger. Dominick James, IMG Academy (Fla.) Oregon joins Ohio State as the only non-SEC schools among the top six for the nations No. 181 player and No. 24 defensive lineman. There isnt a planned trip to Eugene yet, but James has trips to LSU (June 18) and South Carolina (June 25) following the Buckeye Bash. Leaving Alabama off his final list is a big deal, as is James love for Chase Young. This weekend, getting a chance to work with elite D-line coach Larry Johnson could hold plenty of weight in James decision. George Fitzpatrick, Cherry Creek High School (Col.) OSU looks to find success in Colorado once again. Sam Hart was the first player since 2012 to go from the Centennial State to Columbus as a 2021 tight end. The four-star offensive lineman could deliver depth as the No. 294 player and No. 32 offensive tackle. Hell visit Oklahoma (June 18) and Oregon (June 25) following the Buckeye Bash. - Fields Bears jersey: Ohio State football fans can purchase Justin Fields new Chicago Bears jersey here. Its available in white, blue and orange and in mens, womens and youth sizes. Theres also a cheaper T-shirt option. More Buckeyes coverage Watch 2022 QB commit Quinn Ewers throw a 70-yard pass OSU alum Cornell suspended three games by NFL The freshman whod make a great two-way player: Hey, Buckeye Talk Why a prospect compared Larry Johnsons recruiting style to Lamborghini sales pitch Purdue RB Zander Horvath: Buckeyes best opponents, No. 48 How Georgia factors into OSUs plan to win 2021 national title: Podcast Akron RB Teon Dollard: Buckeyes best opponents, No. Hey, Stephen 2023 TE Preston Zinter, brother of Michigan lineman, receives OSU offer Tickets go on sale with hope for full capacity and a push for vaccinations Day-by-day look at a recruiting-packed June for Buckeyes

https://www.cleveland.com/buckeye-talk-podcast/2021/06/which-ohio-state-football-commits-and-targets-are-attending-the-buckeye-bash-20-buckeyes-recruiting.html

Where can I watch the Lightning play?

The puck drop for Game 4 is set for 4 p.m. Saturday. The Bolts are leading the series 2-1. TAMPA, Fla. The Bolts will be back at home for Game 4 on Saturday. After losing in overtime at home Thursday to the Carolina Hurricanes in Game 3, the Lightning will have a chance to redeem themselves for the second round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs. For the second round of playoffs, the number of fans allowed at games will go from 9,000 to 13,500. If you're not one of the lucky people to snag a ticket to watch the game up close and personal, don't worry, there are still ways for you to be the "Distant Thunder." From parties at the plaza to the Pepsi Porch Playoff Experience and Cigar City Taproom downtown experience, there are plenty of ways to take part in the home game fun. You can read more about home and away game playoff parties here. The puck drop for Game 4 is set for 4 p.m. Saturday. The Bolts are leading the series 2-1.

https://www.wtsp.com/article/sports/nhl/lightning/lightning-watch-party/67-d295481c-0d60-4d6c-aeb6-0edae51abfea

Are Arsenals youngsters success due to our new loan policies?

Credit must go to Arsenals new loan-system In a dismal season, there was one thing Arsenal fans held tightly onto: the youngsters. At the Emirates Stadium, rather than the more experienced players leading by example, it was the young players who kept the Arsenal fans candles burning bright at night. Naming three players in Kieran Tierney, Bukayo Saka and Emile Smith Rowe for the clubs annual Player of the Season award, who are all 23 or under, was a testament that this season will only be remembered for the on-pitch development of Arsenals youth. While Kieran Tierney and Bukayo Saka have already been applauded countless times that it has become the new normal, the emergence of Emile Smith-Rowe is what surprised people the most. Although many were awestruck, some predicted that Smith Rowes genesis in first team of Arsenal in arguably the best league in the world was just a matter of time. They were the people from the Englishmans former club Huddersfield Town. The 20-year-old spent six months on loan at the John Smiths Stadium last season. But acquiring his services was not straightforward. The North London outfits loan manager Ben Knapper identified few clubs which suited Smith Rowes playing style. The club then wanted assurances from Huddersfield about the time being given to their academy product, due to his past injury records. The 20-year-olds manager at Huddersfield, Danny Cowley, explained Portsmouth News how they acquired the youngsters signature after a disappointing spell at German side Leipzig. Emile had a really disappointing time at Leipzig, who paid about 2million for the loan and then he got injured in the first couple of weeks. He was young and in Germany on his own. The way Leipzig play is a very high-pressing game, extremely different to how Arsenal play. As a consequence, they broke him quite early. That meant we worked really hard with Arsenal to look after him. We put in a huge amount of work to make that transition as smooth as possible which meant we had him available to us for virtually the whole season. He continued, At that time, though, Emile wasnt able to physically play 90 minutes on the Saturday-Tuesday-Saturday, so we agreed with Arsenal that wed manage his minutes. I would have to take him off at 60 minutes and the crowd would murder me! The comments of Cowley proves that Arsenal have a new system for the players going out on loan. That has certainly benefitted Smith-Rowe and more recently Joe Willock, Ainsley Maitland Niles and under 23s player Mark McGuinness. Their development is apparent, which has resulted in their market value soaring. Arsenal now looks like a club of ideas as they try to transform the workings at boardroom level. It is safe to say that Serge Gnabry, Ismael Bennacer, Donyell Malen and Jeff Reine-Adelaide could have been Arsenal stars, if they were loaned out to clubs who matched their playing style. Regret among the backroom staff is obvious. And now it looks like they are working to avoid similar situations. Next season, they have players in the form of Folarin Balogun, Miguel Azeez, Ben Cotrell and the 17-year-old Kido Taylor-Hart who can develop massively from a loan. The clubs cause will be tested again. But many inside the club will be confident of finding the best clubs suited to their players playing style. So that they can have a successful career at Arsenal, rather than somewhere else. Yash Bisht

https://www.justarsenal.com/are-arsenals-youngsters-success-due-to-our-new-loan-policies/283991

Should we be worried about the Indian and Nepal coronavirus variants?

New coronavirus cases involving the Indian variant have increased by 79% compared with last week, and the strain is now believed to be dominant in the UK. There are now 12,431 confirmed cases of the Indian variant, also known as Delta, in the UK, up from 6,959 last week. Early evidence from Public Health England (PHE) published on Thursday suggests this version of Covid-19 may lead to an increased risk of being admitted to hospital compared with the previously dominant Kent variant (Alpha). Meanwhile, another coronavirus variant, thought to have originated in Nepal, has also been seen in the UK. The so-called Nepal variant is believed to be a mutated version of the Indian variant, with a spike mutation, known as K417N. Experts believe this mutation may have the potential to make vaccines less effective although it is too early to tell without further investigations. HEALTH Coronavirus Variant (PA Graphics) Of the 12,431 Indian variant cases so far confirmed in the UK, 10,797 are in England, 1,511 in Scotland, 97 in Wales and 26 in Northern Ireland. In England, the cases are spread across the country, and the most affected areas include Bolton in Greater Manchester (2,149 cases), Blackburn with Darwen in Lancashire (724), Bedford (608), Leicester (349), Manchester (278) and Birmingham (223). Dr Jenny Harries, chief executive of the UK Health Security Agency, said: With this variant now dominant across the UK, it remains vital that we all continue to exercise as much caution as possible. Professor Neil Ferguson, from Imperial College London, whose modelling was instrumental to the UK locking down in March 2020, said the Indian variant is anywhere between 30% and 100% more transmissible than the Kent variant. He said 60% is a good central estimate at the moment, telling the BBC Radio 4s Today programme: Unfortunately, I mean, the news is not as positive as I would like on any respect about the Delta variant. Meanwhile, new data from the PHE suggests people are more at risk of hospital admission if infected with the variant although a majority of admissions involve those who have not been vaccinated. The Nepal variant contains the K417N mutation, which has also been found in the coronavirus strain first detected in South Africa (Beta). Experts believe this mutation has the potential to allow the virus to evade protection from vaccines to some degree. As the Indian variant appears to be more transmissible, scientists are carefully monitoring the K417N mutation. Coronavirus vaccines (PA Wire) Meaghan Kall, an epidemiologist at the PHE, said 73% of the cases involving the Indian variant are in unvaccinated people, while only 3.7% cases are in people who have had both doses. She said that only 5% (seven) hospital admissions were people who have been fully vaccinated, suggesting that vaccination still appears to be making an impact on spread. Meanwhile, new laboratory data published on Thursday suggests that people who have received the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine have fewer antibodies targeting the Indian variant although real-world data is needed to confirm this. Experts say that delivering second doses promptly and providing boosters to those with weakened immune systems will help keep hospital admissions low. All viruses undergo small genetic changes as they make copies of themselves in the host. Most of these mutations are harmless but some can make the disease more infectious or threatening, and evade protection gained through infection or vaccination. The PHE has designated the Indian, Kent, South African, and Brazilian (Gamma) variants as being of concern. Current vaccines have been designed for earlier versions of coronavirus, but scientists believe they should still work, although they may be less effective. Most experts are confident that existing vaccines can be tweaked to better tackle emerging mutations. The UK Government has a deal with biopharmaceutical company CureVac to develop vaccines against future variants, and has pre-ordered 50 million doses. The Government has also begun negotiations with AstraZeneca to secure a variant vaccine that can tackle the South African variant.

https://www.newschainonline.com/news/should-we-be-worried-about-the-indian-and-nepal-coronavirus-variants-187299

What happened to Bongani Fassie?

Kaunda Selisho Bongani Fassie's new Moja Love show will find out where he is, how he's doing, what happened after his mother's death and what he's up to now. In 2006, Bongani Fassie was one of the hottest things to have happened to contemporary South African music, much like his iconic mother, the late Brenda Fassie. However, some years later he went on to live such a quiet life that many were left asking what happened to Bongani. Well, from Saturday 5 June onwards a new show titled Finding Bongani Fassie will venture to answer that question. Episode 1 of the first season of Finding Bongani Fassie will air on Moja Love (DStv channel 157) at 8.30pm on Saturday 5 June. Although Fassie had been in the limelight in some form or other thanks to the fact that he was the son of a South African pop legend, his life took an interesting turn after Brendas death in May 2004 when she was just 39 years old. In the new reality series, the producer and musician in his own right will reveal what it was like growing up in a celebritys family, how her death rocked his life and his struggle to protect Brendas legacy and secure his own. RELATED: Bongani Fassie booted from Mandelas mansion According to DStv, Bongani promises to open up about his own struggles with mental health and the effects of the speculation surrounding his mothers death. No stone will be left unturned in this show as Fassie endeavours to shed light on the behind-the-scenes fight over Brendas millions, her estate and music rights. Perhaps he may even touch on what happened after the split of his music group, Jozi, and what his relationship with Da L.E.S and Ishmael is like after the group lost former bandmate Luther Crazy Lu Cohen in 2019.

https://citizen.co.za/lifestyle/entertainment/tv/2513488/what-happened-to-bongani-fassie/

Which Thai provinces have been the hardest hit by Covid?

Well, its a start. Good news today for Thailands snail-paced rollercoaster of vaccine rollout as the Ministry of Public Health has taken possession of the first 1.8 million AstraZeneca vaccines produced domestically. The vaccines were manufactured in the Bangkok by Siam Bioscience and are slated to be an integral part of Thailands mass vaccination scheme officially launching next Monday. Siam Bioscience held a ceremony where AstraZeneca (Thailand) President James Teague officially handed over the vaccines to Public Health Minister Anutin Charnvirakul, with other senior government health officials in attendance. 6 million vaccines will be received by the Public Health Ministry during the month of June, according to the Public Health Permanent Secretary. The vaccines, both Sinovac and AstraZeneca, will be dealt out across the nation as they are received, starting in Bangkok. The Permanent Secretary said that provinces in the further reaches of the country may see their vaccines arrive more slowly, but vowed to deliver all shipments by the scheduled date. As vaccines become available, they will be allotted based on several factors and may stray from original plans. The needs will be assessed based on the severity of Covid-19 outbreaks in the provinces, as well as the relative importance of the province for tourism and other economic contributions. The delivery is a positive note and surprised some cynics after delays in Thai-made AstraZeneca vaccines to the Philippines were announced. But Teague says the revised delivery date in the Philippines will be met, and delivery to other Asian countries are on schedule. He also reassured that the Siam Bioscience-produced vaccines meet all the rigorous standards as foreign-produced AstraZeneca jabs, explaining that samples have already passed a 60-point review in the US and UK for quality control. AstraZeneca now oversees 25 production facilities throughout the world. Their vaccine has now been produced and administered to people globally over 500 million times. Download our app on Android or iOS for instant updates on your mobile Subscribe to our daily email newsletter Like/Follow us on Facebook Subscribe to or Join our YouTube channel for daily video updates

https://thethaiger.com/coronavirus/which-thai-provinces-have-been-the-hardest-hit-by-covid

Can Congress Do Anything to Save Reproductive Rights?

Donald Trump led a truly damaging attack as part of the culture war between regressive rightist forces and those of the (multiracial) progressive left. At least for his tenure in office, the federal government ceased to be a source of progressive social change. Think back to the 1960s, at least in domestic terms. Not in your state legislaturebe it Republican or Democrat. Not even your city or county government. What you would find at that time, and at the level of local government, was a race-based attitude we now attribute mainly to Trumpsters and unredeemed police forces. It was rather to congress and the federal courts that Martin Luther King and other progressive leaders looked for redress against the racist impulses festering at the level of state and local government (think LBJs Great Society legislation).

https://www.newsbreak.com/news/2262947971481/can-congress-do-anything-to-save-reproductive-rights

Why is it so difficult to build affordable housing in Dallas?

Note: This article is part of our State of the City project, in which The Dallas Morning News explores the most critical issues facing our communities. Find more topics in our look at the Dallas economy in the coming days. *** Dallas-Fort Worth leads the country in building new homes and apartments, with over 70,000 living units added a year. But in the city of Dallas, not so much. Last year, only about 1,500 of the more than 47,000 single-family homes built in D-FW were started inside Dallas city limits. And Dallas accounted for only about 4,000 of the regions roughly 30,000 rental units put up last year. Builders say high land prices, community opposition and city red tape make it hard for them to provide the housing Dallas needs particularly affordable homes. Home construction in Dallas was already headed down in recent years. Single-family building permits have been declining since 2018. The COVID-19 pandemic made the situation worse. And with almost 75,000 people moving to North Texas during 2020, the shortage of housing in the entire region has worsened. The process for obtaining permits and engineering approvals to start a Dallas home project can take months, according to builders. Its tough to get it done, said Camden Homes Cyrus Zadeh. Thats not because there is not demand for homes. Its because there is a lengthy process. The pandemic resulted in a backlog of hundreds of Dallas homebuilding permits and increased wait times for builders. The city even turned to outside service providers to try to break the permit logjam. A sign on the door of the model house informed prospective homebuyers that inventory was sold out at the Kensington Valley home project by Camden Homes in southeast Dallas on May 20, 2021. (Lynda M. Gonzlez / Staff Photographer) Camden Homes has two new communities in southeast Dallas and has had buyers lining up for the houses. Its first project Kensington Valley near the intersection of Interstates 635 and 20 has 112 homes. We are sold out, Zadeh said. Everything is under $300,000 thats about as affordable as you get. Median home prices in April hit an all-time high of $320,000 in Dallas County up 24% in just one year. Camden is also building 220 homes in its Teagarden Estates, south of Interstate 20 and next door to Ebby Halliday Elementary. We have already sold and closed 13 houses there, Zadeh said. These deals will do well if you can get to the finish line. The biggest hurdle, any developer will tell you, is the development and design process is historically lengthy in the city of Dallas. Phil Crone, the top executive at the Dallas Builders Association, estimates that Dallas lost between 500 and 900 home starts in 2020 because of city permitting delays. Builders say they can get permits to start homes in suburban North Texas cities in half the time or less than what it takes in Dallas. In all corners of the city, as fast as we can build them, somebody wants to live there, Crone said. A lot of people want a single-family home and to live close to downtown where they work and where their social life is. Crone said land costs and neighborhood resistance to construction also hold back building in many areas of Dallas. And the opposition isnt just to low-cost housing. Construction was underway last month on houses in Kensington Valley by Camden Homes in southeast Dallas. The community is near the intersection of Interstates 635 and 20 and has 112 homes. (Lynda M. Gonzlez / Staff Photographer) I see it happen quite a bit, he said. Its frustrating when people think a half-million-dollar home is repugnant to the neighborhood. City officials say they are making progress at reducing delays. Staff has reduced the time frame down to five to seven weeks, said Dallas City Council member Chad West. Its better than it was certainly. But its not anywhere near what is acceptable. The permitting office is our key to housing and construction in the city. Its our revenue source. We have to get this fixed. But its not just the regulatory tangle thats slowing Dallas home construction. With recent residential property value increases, finding sites in Dallas neighborhoods to add housing is an even bigger challenge, builders say. It is hard to find a good site within the city limits at a number that makes sense to build a new single-family home, said custom builder Jeff Dworkin. I can buy a home site in a neighborhood where the homes go for $1 million or $1.2 million, but that lot will cost me half a million. The numbers dont work. That also means the price tags of the tear-down home projects are out of the range of most buyers. The homes we are building are not priced for most of the people who live in the neighborhoods, Dworkin said. Prices have gone up as far as the sales price, but it doesnt make it any more affordable. Builders looking for close-in Dallas home construction sites often have few choices. As of today, single-family sites are available in Dallas, but prices of land as well as material shortages and cost increases have intensified the challenge of getting new projects to the finish line, Adam Stetson with Storybuilt Homes said. Storybuilt is still very bullish on the single-family market in Dallas. However, we are also aware that delivering homes in todays market requires smart and efficient development. Storybuilt has developed several small single-family home communities in close-in Dallas locations. We believe people choose to live in Dallas to enjoy the proximity to the culture they enjoy and their work life, Stetson said. Affordable new apartments are also in short supply in Dallas. Most of the citys recently built apartments are high-end units. In the central city including Uptown and downtown where the largest share of the Dallas apartments have been constructed, rents average $1,724 a month, according to Richardson-based technology firm RealPage. That compares with a region-wide average of $1,195. Developer Palladium USA just opened a less expensive rental community in Dallas Red Bird area, and the project already has a waiting list. Rents start at less than $1,000 and go up to more than $1,800 a month. Palladium USA's 300-apartment project in Dallas' Red Bird area is part of the redevelopment of the old Red Bird Mall and is more than 90% leased. Rents start at less than $1,000 and go up to more than $1,800 a month. (Juan Figueroa / Staff Photographer) The 300-apartment Palladium RedBird project thats part of the redevelopment of the old Red Bird Mall is more than 90% leased. Palladium USA CEO Tom Huth said he could rent a lot more workforce housing if he could find the locations to build. He has two more projects in the works inside Dallas city limits. Another apartment community Palladium USA wants to build in southwest Dallas is facing vocal neighborhood opposition. Neighbors in Dallas Mountain Creek area say they dont want any more workforce housing. We want high-end housing, one resident said at a recent City Council meeting. Theres a lot of NIMBY-ism and politics that makes it hard to get these deals done, said Huth, who is also building outside Dallas in locations including Glenn Heights and Garland. Most of his projects include a majority of tax-credit-subsidized rental units. The renters dont receive direct support payments, but the developer can sell the tax credits to lower its costs. Our waiting list in Glenn Heights has 120 on it for a 270-unit development, Huth said. We cannot meet the demand that is out there. Huth said there are fewer and fewer attractive, zoned, affordable apartment sites in the city of Dallas. Everybody talks about what is the housing shortage, he said. Its huge. Its probably more than that. Almost 30,000 new apartments will open in Dallas-Fort Worth this year, but very few of them are affordable rental units in Dallas. The supply of apartments added each year within Dallas city limits has been falling since 2017, according to RealPage. About 4,000 were completed last year less than half the total of new apartments in Dallas five years earlier. Yes, its a struggle in the city of Dallas, said Greg Willett, chief economist with RealPage. I dont think anybody questions that if you can deliver workforce housing anywhere across the country, potential tenants will line up for that. But its hard to make those work financially. In less-than-premium locations where builders cant get the higher rents, conventional financing sources are not interested.

https://www.dallasnews.com/business/real-estate/2021/06/04/why-is-it-so-difficult-to-build-affordable-housing-in-dallas/

Does GTA 6 even need an Online mode when it releases?

Rockstar Games has made it no secret that GTA Online is one of their most valued projects and one that they ideally want to keep around for longer. Yet, as the years go by, fans have grown increasingly concerned about whether GTA Online's monumental growth is what has essentially stunted development on a sequel. With Rockstar not looking like they're ready to announce their plans just yet, fans have been debating whether GTA Online is that integral a part of the experience. For the most part, GTA has been a single-player-oriented franchise, and players have flocked to the series for exceptionally well-made campaigns and open worlds. When news first broke of GTA 4 containing an Online component, the fanbase couldn't be more excited. The modern sensibilities of players have reflected that games with a strong Online component fare better in the long run, given their nature as a constantly evolving experience. Note: This article is subjective and solely reflects the opinion of the writer. If one looks at it through a purely statistical lens, it only makes sense for Rockstar to work on Online projects. Since the most popular and profitable games of today are multiplayer. Yet that would be so far off the mark in practice, as the game's core audience comes not from its Online mode but from the single-player fanbase. The appeal of GTA Online is to successfully translate a single-player experience into a co-op/PvP mode. As it stands, it looks like Rockstar is doubling down on their Online mode with the release of Red Dead Online, and later this year, GTA Online as a standalone title. From the looks of things, it wouldn't make much sense to have another iteration of GTA Online that lines up with GTA 6. Instead, a Fortnite/Apex Legends-style Seasons approach might make more sense. A new phase of GTA Online GTA 6's release is potentially way into the future since Rockstar's plans seem to currently be centered around GTA 5 on next-gen consoles. Ideally, the plan would be to expand upon the Online mode on next-gen consoles and extend its run on new consoles. If GTA 6 does come out, it won't make much sense for Rockstar to build another Online experience from scratch. Using the next-gen version of GTA Online as a base, Rockstar can simply build on it using GTA 6's new locations and assets. Thus, creating a new Season of sorts for players who want to experience a new iteration of the game. While that certainly has its issues, the upside would be that Online would then act as a separate entity entirely from the single-player experience, which the fanbase has been demanding for a while. Edited by Shaheen Banu

https://www.sportskeeda.com/gta/does-gta-6-even-need-online-mode-releases

What Should Seth Jones' Next Contract Look Like?

GM Kekalainen will be busy this year, but he has the flexibility to improve Columbus. It's fair to say the 2021 season didn't go quite the way the Blue Jackets hoped. An early blockbuster trade netted Patrik Laine and Jack Roslovic but unsettled a locker room that never quite found its personality all season. Key players - including the defining defensive duo of Seth Jones and Zach Werenski as well as huge trade acquisition Max Domi - struggled to find their game at the start of the season. And just when it appeared the Blue Jackets were finding their stride, a disastrous road trip put the team firmly in the sellers' camp when it came to the trade deadline.

https://www.newsbreak.com/news/2262976912924/what-should-seth-jones-next-contract-look-like

Is it possible to automate all of cloud operations?

As I move from project to project, Ive seen the latest trend is to leverage operational tools, such as AIops and security operations platforms to automate most of what it takes to proactively operate a cloud, hybrid cloud, or multicloud deployment. This means automating everything from routine management and monitoring to shutting down and starting servers to work around problems, and all the while machine learning on the job (thats the AI in AIops). Nobody is ready to retrain their ops staff yet, but its clear that advances in root-cause diagnostics and self-healing processes, business continuity and disaster recovery, and other services that make up the daily life of a cloudops engineer can be automated to be more reliable than humans. Were now dealing with tools that can learn, that improve as they experience operations, that can perhaps work better than a human, eventually. Automation of cloudops is much like the automation of driving. Although we know that the technology can drive the carperhaps better than we canthe idea is still intimidating. Cloudops automation is much more complex than driving a car, but many of the same types of problems will have to be overcome. The result is a set of automated processes that may result in a much better-run cloud, as well as a proactively aware security system that becomes better over time. My view on emerging technology is that it takes about three or four years from the time the technology is capable to the time that its widely employed. Considering that most enterprises have taken 10 years to get just 20% to 30% of their workloads into public clouds, this may be a longer trod than we think. A critical success factor will be for cloudops and secops automation to provide much better results than traditional approaches, meaning humans. I figure a few aggressive upstarts will be the first to go hands-off; once they prove successful, others will follow. Its been this way as long as Ive been in the technology business. Even though technology is all about leaps of faith, everyone wants someone else to leap first. Effective automation will be a true force multiplier for a business. Automated ops processes can scale and become much more advanced and effective over time. The scary part is that if humans took back control for whatever reason, they most likely would not be as effective as the AI-powered automated ops processes. This is not science fiction; this stuff is working today. Were it not for the possibility of getting walked to the edge of the property for doing so, I could set up deep automation for 80% of the manual processes for most enterprise cloud deployments, moving to 100% in just two years. The trick is dealing with the expectations and fears of humans before we can replace humans.

https://www.infoworld.com/article/3620952/is-it-possible-to-automate-all-of-cloud-operations.html

Can Indiana Jones 5 avoid nuking the fridge all over again?

As filming begins on chapter five of the swashbuckling archeologists adventures, the more pertinent question might be how Lucasfilm and new director James Mangold give Indy one last hurrah without ruining his legacy. Its been known for decades that Harrison Ford always preferred doing the Indiana Jones movies to Star Wars, largely because he always found himself playing second fiddle in George Lucass space saga even if Ford ended up being the only one of the original trio to really carve out a subsequent career as a Hollywood A-lister. In Raiders of the Lost Ark and its sequels, on the other hand, there was never any question that Ford was front and centre. A hamfisted attempt to usher in a potential successor in 2008s Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, Shia LaBeoufs leather-clad greaser Mutt Williams, turned out to be even less popular than Lucass god-awful CGI gophers. Mangold, director of the Oscar-winning Walk the Line as well as the excellent superhero noir Logan, has replaced Spielberg at the helm of a film that will reportedly see Indy caught up in a 1960s adventure involving the space race between the US and the Soviet Union. Mads Mikkelsen, who is confirmed to join the cast, is rumoured to be playing a former Nazi scientist recruited by the Americans to help them beat the communists. the Temple of Doom. Photograph: Allstar/Lucasfilm/Sportsphoto Ltd Where the poorly received, infuriatingly madcap Kingdom of the Crystal Skull really went wrong was in its inability to understand that just because Indys previous adventures had delved heavily into the realms of fantasy, that did not mean audiences were ready for an instalment that loses touch entirely with reality. Lucas has spent the intervening years trying to persuade us you really can survive a nuclear blast by hiding for a few seconds in a standard domestic fridge, but when your movies scene becomes shorthand for the tendency of a plot to swirl into abject nonsense, theres a problem. Those Amazonian aliens may not have been any more preposterous than the murderous avenging angels hidden in the Ark of the Covenant, or the 700-year-old (though strangely modern-accented) Grail knight of Last Crusade, but they certainly looked phonier. The confluence of Nazis and space in the plot unfortunately brings to mind the execrable Iron Sky movies, and you wouldnt have put it past Lucas to attempt something similar with a storyline that wound up with Indy battling the last remnants of the Third Reich on the blimmin moon plenty of room for dodgy CGI that way. And yet the Star Wars creator stepped back from Lucasfilm the best part of a decade ago now, and is not expected to be involved in cooking up the story this time around. This, at least, should come as something of a relief. Its also exciting to see Fleabags Phoebe Waller-Bridge as part of the ensemble, though we dont yet know who shell play. Karen Allens Marion Ravenwood does not appear to be back, despite marrying Indy at the end of his most recent adventure. The biggest question here will be whether Mangold chooses to ignore Indys advanced age or accept that Ford (quite reasonably) needs to take a back seat when it comes to the action scenes. Even worse, the reality is that taking the other option might just make the infamous fridge scene appear perfectly plausible by comparison.

https://www.theguardian.com/film/2021/jun/04/can-indiana-jones-5-avoid-nuking-the-fridge-all-over-again

What is the new dry scooping craze on TikTok and is it safe?

We spoke to a doctor and a fitness expert to find out (Picture: dash.c/mattprestafit/TikTok) A trend known as the dry scooping craze has swept fitness TikTok, but, as is often the case with the internet, it seems its not all its cracked up to be. While dry scooping is supposedly intended to give you an extra boost before a workout, in reality theres a bit more to it than that. One woman, who posts on TikTok under the username brivtny, shared videos in which she said she ended up having a heart attack after trying it. So, before you get tempted to try it yourself, heres what you need to know about dry scooping and whether or not its safe. The dry scooping trend involves people ingesting a scoop of protein powder dry, and just washing the scoop down with a little bit of water. To be honest, it doesnt look hugely pleasant. Protein powder supplements are simply not designed to be ingested this way, and the caffeine content can make doing so risky and uncomfortable. GP Clinical Lead at EveAdam, Dr Daniel Atkinson, told Metro.co.uk he was quite concerned as a medical professional when he learned about the challenge, describing it the latest in a string of dangerous online trends that, to my disbelief, seem to grow in popularity. He added that protein supplements should be taken as they were intended in the doses recommended, explaining: Certain pre-workout powders contain lots of caffeine, sometimes extremely high amounts. When you mix the power into a shake, youll typically drink it over a few minutes. You wouldnt consume the whole thing in one go, and you shouldnt do this. You need to give the body time to absorb what you provide it with. Beth Trueman, Fitness Expert at PureGym agrees, telling us: You should always consume supplements and ergogenic aids in line with the product instructions, so dry scooping pre-workout is definitely not recommended. She adds: Consuming such a high dose of caffeine in a short space of time can amplify the physiological response, such as increased heart rate, jitters and gastrointestinal (GI) discomfort. This response will also be dependent on the individuals caffeine tolerance, so if you dont regularly consume caffeine, its definitely recommended that you avoid high dose caffeine products like pre-workout altogether. Ingesting a high amount of caffeine in a very short space of time can be problematic and risky, says Dr Daniel. Consuming too much caffeine can cause several symptoms including dilated pupils, increased urination, dizziness, headaches, dehydration, nausea, pain in the chest and irregular heartbeats or palpitations. The more you consume in one go, the more at risk you will be. This is especially true if youre of a certain age, or you have a history with heart or chest problems On top of that, theres also a choking hazard. Beth says: Dry scooping pre-workout also puts you at risk of breathing in the powder, so again, is something people should avoid doing. The power, which is very fine, could cause problems for your airways and for your breathing, said Dr Daniel (Picture: mattprestafit) Dr Daniel says its not a good idea (Picture: brivtny/TikTok) Dr Daniel says: Pre-gym protein powders are often quite fine, like flour. Theyre intended to be mixed with something else, like milk or water, as part of a shake. Because of this, there is a very real chance that the powder could clump together when mixing with your saliva. I see no reason why this could not get trapped in the throat and even restrict your air supply. This, for clear reasons, is extremely dangerous. He adds: If you suffer with respiratory conditions such as asthma, I would also strictly caution against this challenge as you are more at risk. The power, which is very fine, could cause problems for your airways and for your breathing. As if thats not enough health concerns to be getting on with, Dr Daniel also points out that some of these powders can be pretty acidic, which means putting an undiluted scoop straight into your mouth isnt good for your oral health. Get in touch by emailing MetroLifestyleTeam@Metro.co.uk MORE : NHS calls for magnets used as tongue piercings in TikTok trend to be banned MORE : Girl, 13, has appendix and part of bowel removed after copying TikTok video MORE : UKs biggest Black TikTok star has 10 million followers but is officially homeless

https://metro.co.uk/2021/06/04/tiktok-what-is-the-new-craze-dry-scooping-and-is-it-safe-14707278/

Should the police have facial recognition tech?

This week, King county, Washington, became the first county in the US to ban its sheriffs office and other agencies from using facial recognition technology in nearly all circumstances. The new measure flies in the face of Washington states lenient facial recognition law, which was authored by a Microsoft employee and passed last year, and brings a challenge on an emerging set of technologies to greater Seattle, the home of both Microsoft and Amazon, two tech giants that sell facial recognition software. The situation in Washington state reflects a broader national debate. Law enforcement is increasingly reliant on facial recognition, which can help identify suspects. Earlier this year, it was used by the FBI to identify insurgents at the US Capitol on Jan. 6. But as its use spreads, theres a growing backlash from critics, who see the practice as an invasion of privacy, an expansion of police power, and biased against people of color. In the absence of any federal privacy regulation, some states and localities are taking action on the matter. King county joins more than a dozen cities, including San Francisco and Boston, and the state of Vermont, which have already banned police and other agencies from using facial recognition. Experts expect more to join the list. The King county ban The King county law, which only applies to countywide agencies, prohibits the government from acquiring facial recognition technology or using that kind of biometric data. The county police can still participate in the nationwide program that locates missing children, which relies on facial recognition. King county was not currently using any facial recognition technology and both Amazon and Microsoft halted sales of their tech to police departments last summer following the police killing of George Floyd and nationwide protests over the mistreatment of Black Americans at the hands of law enforcement. IBM and others have stopped selling facial recognition technology to law enforcement agencies as well, but others carry on. Earlier this year, BuzzFeed News found that more than 7,000 people from nearly 2,000 government agencies used or tested facial recognition software from Clearview AI. Washington states nascent law allows facial recognition technology as long as its AI systems are subject to meaningful human review, a provision widely criticized by civil liberties advocates. It is an industry-backed bill that purports to put safeguards around the use of facial recognition technology, but actually legitimizes the infrastructural expansion of facial recognition technology that is sold by tech companies, Jennifer Lee, the technology and liberty project manager at the Washington ACLU, said in an interview. Individual privacy vs. public safety Facial recognition is likely more widespread than you expect in the US. According to Georgetown Law Schools Center on Privacy & Technology, as of 2016, about half of all American adults had their photo included in a criminal facial recognition database. While facial recognition technology has been used to capture criminals like the Capital Gazette newspaper mass shooter, it also carries the risk of overreach and false positives. There have been numerous reports of false identification of criminals based on the technology in recent years in which Black people were wrongly arrested. The Electronic Frontier Foundation, a leading digital rights group, says it supports the complete abolition of government surveillance via facial recognition. Adam Schwartz, a senior staff attorney at the foundation, said its use is discriminatory, an Orwellian invasion of privacy, and deters people from participating in public protests. There are some surveillance technologies that we think that broad requirements and transparency about how its being used might be enough, but face surveillance is so dangerous that governments should not be using it at all, Schwartz told Quartz. Daniel Castro, who directs the Information Technology and Innovation Foundations (ITIF) Center for Data Innovation, said the King county law is premised on faulty information about how biased these systems are. Castro said the evidence is incontrovertible that the best-performing systems have no racial bias. A 2019 study from the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), a government agency, found significant differences among various algorithms tested. NIST concluded that US-developed algorithms had high rates of false positives for Asians, African Americans, and Native Americans. But Castro asserts that theres a stark difference between the best and worst-performing algorithms, and said the King county ban makes it harder for local government to use everyday technology to keep its citizens and workers safe. Waiting for Congress Pressure is mounting to rein in the worst aspects of government use of facial recognition or ban it entirely. On Thursday, a coalition of civil liberties groups including the ACLU and EFF put out a joint statement saying that even with improvements in facial recognition technology, its still fundamentally flawed. The group, which also includes the NAACP and the Innocence Project, is calling for a ban or moratorium on law enforcement use of the tech. The letter also urged lawmakers not to preempt state and local bans through any federal legislation. A series of bills were introduced last Congress, including the George Floyd Justice In Policing Act and Advancing Facial Recognition Act, that would have clamped down on facial recognition, but none were adopted. Brian Hengesbaugh, who chairs the Global Data Privacy and Security Business Unit at the law firm Baker McKenzie, expects a wildfire of activity in privacy regulations in the coming years. And any future federal and state privacy laws would likely include requirements for public and private entities capturing biometric data, he said. In many of the US jurisdictions that regulate biometric data collection, and under the EUs GDPR regulations, private companies have to obtain express consent from individuals they track or else they could face legal action. Thats not really feasible in a law enforcement context.

https://qz.com/2016814/should-the-police-have-facial-recognition-tech/

Could Syracuses Jim Boeheim pass Mike Krzyzewski on the NCAAs all-time wins list?

Syracuse, N.Y. Mike Krzyzewski will retire after the 2021-22 season as the NCAAs all-time leader in career coaching victories. The legendary Duke coach announced his decision to call it a career after one more season on the sidelines on Wednesday followed by a news conference on Thursday. In his 41 years at Duke plus another five as the head coach at Army, Krzyzewski amassed 1,170 coaching victories. That places him atop the NCAAs record book. On Thursday, Boeheim told Syracuse.coms Donna Ditota that he has given no thought to retiring and definitely plans on coaching in the 2022-23 season. I want to make sure the recruits that were recruiting know Im not retiring, he said, that Im going to coach them. And thats the bottom line. As things now stand, it would take an improbable eight to 10 years or the reversal of an NCAA penalty. Boeheim, who has been the head coach at his alma mater for the past 45 years, currently sits in second-place behind Krzyzewski with 982 coaching victories. At least, thats the number of wins according to the NCAA. In 2015, after an investigation into the Syracuse basketball program, the NCAA vacated 101 of Boeheims wins. The punishment seemed extreme at the time given that in its ruling the NCAA did not find that Boeheim had committed any violations. Krzyzewski has a lead of 188 wins over Boeheim, heading into next season. For the sake of simplicity, lets assume that the difference remains the same following the 2021-22 season. Boeheim, who turns 77 years old next November, would need to average 23.5 wins for eight seasons, beginning with the 2022-23 campaign, in order to pass Krzyzewski on the all-time wins list. Its hard to believe that Boeheim would still be coaching in the year 2030 at the age of 85. Suddenly, Krzyzewskis lead over Boeheim would be down to just 87 wins, depending on how Duke and Syracuse fare in the 2021-22 season. Lets say Duke wins seven more games than Syracuse next season. Krzyzewski would end his career with 94 more wins than Boeheim. In that case, Syracuse would have to average 23.5 wins over the next four seasons for Boeheim to pass Coach Ks final victory total. Thats 23.5 wins through the 2025-26 season when Boeheim would be 81 years old. Perhaps. Not at all. ORANGE BASKETBALL FANS Face masks | Gear and apparel | Stream games on fuboTV, Sling, Hulu + Live TV

https://www.syracuse.com/orangebasketball/2021/06/how-long-would-it-take-for-syracuses-jim-boeheim-to-surpass-mike-krzyzewski-on-the-ncaas-all-time-wins-list.html

Who can replace Trent Alexander-Arnold in Englands Euro 2020 squad?

James Ward-Prowse, Ollie Watkins and Jesse Lingard have missed out on England's 26-man European Championship squad With Trent Alexander-Arnold ruled out of the European Championship with a thigh injury, England manager Gareth Southgate now has a decision to make on who is called up in his place. The Liverpool defender pulled up late on in Wednesdays win over Austria and the Football Association announced on Thursday he would miss the finals. Here, the PA news agency takes a look at the five outfield options originally cut from the provisional squad who are available to be drafted in by Southgate. Ben Godfrey (Everton, age 23, caps 1, goals 0) Godfreys versatility may have made him a tempting choice for the Three Lions boss, who would have been aware of the defender due to his rise through the England age groups. A regular with the Under-21s, he played twice at their European Championship in March and caught the eye across several positions for Everton. His lack of experience compared to his rivals at centre-back would have counted against him but he did make his debut in the recent friendly against Austria. Ben White (Brighton, 23, 1, 0) The 23-year-old was a surprise inclusion in Southgates bigger group, but was rewarded for an impressive debut season in the top flight. The centre-back had also impressed during Leeds promotion-winning campaign two years ago, with his flexibility viewed as a big asset. While White is adept in a back three or back four, it was always expected this tournament was a little too early and, like Godfrey, made his bow off the bench in the Austria win. James Ward-Prowse (Southampton, 26, 7, 1) James Ward-Prowse scored for England against San Marino in March (Carl Recine/PA) The dead-ball specialist has been in and around the England camp since Southgate took over but was not taken to the World Cup three years ago and has missed out again. While the Saints captain scored during the fixtures back in March, he has ultimately paid the price for Jordan Hendersons return to fitness and the emergence of Kalvin Phillips of Leeds. Jesse Lingard (Manchester United, 28, 28, 4) Southgate says @JesseLingard, @Prowsey16 and Ollie Watkins were all given the option to leave the group after missing out on the final squad but they've all chosen to remain for this week's pre-#EURO2020 friendlies. Top class ?https://t.co/OCTJGSpB6u England (@England) June 1, 2021 A successful loan with West Ham got the playmakers season back on track and he earned a place in Southgates most recent squad, but the national team manager did admit the United ace was lucky to be involved with injuries elsewhere opening up a space. While Lingard finished the campaign with nine goals, too much competition in the attacking areas has seen him drop out. Ollie Watkins (Aston Villa, 25, 2, 1)

https://www.shropshirestar.com/sport/uk-sports/2021/06/04/who-can-replace-trent-alexander-arnold-in-englands-euro-2020-squad/

What Are the Best Suburbs In Western Sydney for Cafes and Casual Dining?

The best Chinese restaurants in Sydney are among the top-rated in the country, and its not a surprise. The harbour city is known for its culturally diverse dining scene, and Chinese cuisine is one of Sydneys favourites. The Chinese cuisine is just as diverse as the country, with traditional dishes from every province, nook and cranny of the historically rich nation. The best Chinese restaurants in Sydney take lots of their inspiration from Cantonese food, as most Chinese immigrants originally came from Hong Kong. Now, the influences of West China and surrounding hubs have made their way over and we arent complaining! With so many places to try, we have gone all over Sydney to provide you with a fool-proof list of the best Chinese restaurants in Sydney.

https://www.newsbreak.com/news/2263161301366/what-are-the-best-suburbs-in-western-sydney-for-cafes-and-casual-dining

Is DJ Stewart running out of time with the Orioles?

With a runner on third and two out in the fourth inning on Sunday, Juan Soto popped one up behind home, only it didnt go back into the seats, but straight up, and blown by wind, came back over the field, falling in-between the Orioles who were tracking it as well. Soto ran towards first, but Os catcher Pedro Severino picked it up and threw it by him for out No. 3, on what could have been an unconventional RBI single. Soto slammed his helmet past first base. He clearly knew that wasnt a good look. His manager let him know just in case Soto didnt realize it.

https://www.newsbreak.com/news/2263281990917/is-dj-stewart-running-out-of-time-with-the-orioles

Which Countries Will Receive Americas Donated Covid-19 Vaccine Doses?

The White House announced on Thursday that the U.S. will donate at least 80 million covid-19 doses to countries around the world by the end of June, with the first 25 million doses going out to nations in the very near future. About 19 million of the first 25 million batch will be distributed through the global COVAX initiative, which helps streamline the process by identifying which regions need the most resources. Roughly 6 million doses will be allocated to Central and South America, according to the White House: Brazil, Argentina, Colombia, Costa Rica, Peru, Ecuador, Paraguay, Bolivia, Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Panama, Haiti, and other Caribbean Community (CARICOM) countries, as well as the Dominican Republic. About 7 million doses will be allocated to countries in Asia: India, Nepal, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Afghanistan, Maldives, Malaysia, Philippines, Vietnam, Indonesia, Thailand, Laos, Papua New Guinea, Taiwan, and the Pacific Islands. About 5 million doses will be shared with African countries that havent been selected yet, but will be determined through White House coordination with the African Union. The exact timetable for that coordination hasnt been released yet. The remaining 6 million doses that arent allocated through COVAX are being distributed to U.S. allies as well as areas identified as being most in desperate need, including Mexico, Canada, South Korea, West Bank and Gaza, Ukraine, Kosovo, Haiti, Georgia, Egypt, Jordan, India, Iraq, and Yemen, and a special batch for United Nations workers, according to a White House press release. The pandemic is still raging in many parts of the world, even as things return to normal in wealthy countries like the U.S. and UK. But the pandemic wont truly be over until a majority of the worlds population is vaccinated, and thats going to take some serious work to get done. Over 2 billion covid-19 vaccine doses have been administered around the world, with 443 million people fully vaccinated globally. But thats just 5.7% of the world fully protected against covid. Weve got quite a ways to go. Editors Note: Release dates within this article are based in the U.S., but will be updated with local Australian dates as soon as we know more.

https://www.gizmodo.com.au/2021/06/which-countries-will-receive-americas-donated-covid-19-vaccine-doses/

Will Ahmeti pull a new Pse Jo stunt or announce his resignation from the leadership position in DUI?

Everyone is waiting for the news that DUI leader Ali Ahmeti will announce tomorrow. This is a well-tried recipe of the longest-serving party leader in Macedonia to attract public attention. It is commented in political circles that Ahmeti is considering announcing his political departure from the leadership position in DUI. As a reason he will state that after two decades it is time to give it to the younger ones. He has the greatest trust in Artan Grubi and it is to be expected that someone in whom Ahmeti and Grubi have the greatest trust would fill in the leader position. But the real reason could be that Ali Ahmeti could soon leave for a longer stay at The Hague Tribunal. Ahmeti was already questioned by investigators from The Hague in Pristina. It was then announced that he had gone there as a witness, but following the example of Ramush Haradinaj and Hashim Thaci, the journey from a witness to a resident of the Scheveningen prison is short. The other possibility is for Ahmeti to announce that he and his coalition partner SDSM will have a joint candidate for mayor of Skopje. This would be a repeat of the Pse Yo campaign in the last parliamentary elections when DUI said that the condition for entering the government is for the prime minister to be Albanian. They also elected a specific future prime minister Naser Ziberi, but later satisfied their appetites with the first deputy prime minister position in the government, which was given to none other than Artan Grubi. Ahmeti is considered a politician with the longest tenure. The public met him as the leader of the paramilitary NLA in the military conflict and in politics he outlived Branko Crvenkovski, Nikola Gruevski and certainly Zoran Zaev.

https://english.republika.mk/news/macedonia/will-ahmeti-pull-a-new-pse-jo-stunt-or-announce-his-resignation-from-the-leadership-position-in-dui/

What do changes to coronavirus restrictions mean for sporting events in Wales?

Wales' summer rugby Tests are among sporting events in the country set to benefit from further easing of Covid-19 lockdown restrictions by the Welsh Government. Outdoor events with up to 10,000 people will be able to resume in Wales from Monday. Larger organised events, such as concerts, football matches and sporting activities, will recommence for up to 4,000 people standing and 10,000 people seated. First Minister Mark Drakeford said: "The risk of infection is significantly less outdoors than it is indoors. This is why we are phasing in the changes in this three-week cycle. "This will allow more people to enjoy events outdoors and take advantage of the Welsh summer, while we continue to roll out the vaccination programme to all adults." Wayne Pivac's team have not played in front of a crowd on home soil since February last year. Credit: PA Guinness Six Nations champions Wales have three games scheduled at Cardiff's Principality Stadium next month, hosting Canada before facing back-to-back games against Argentina. Wayne Pivac's team have not played in front of a crowd on home soil since February last year, when they were beaten by Six Nations opponents France. There will also now be an opportunity for fans to watch the next generation of rugby talent, as Cardiff Arms Park hosts the rescheduled Under-20s Six Nations tournament between June 19 and July 13. England's cricketers, meanwhile, play Pakistan in a one-day international at Cardiff's Sophia Gardens on July 8, and latest developments will also mean crowds for the start of cricket's new Hundred competition in Wales. Recent pilot test events saw small attendances allowed for home play-off home games involving Swansea City and Newport County, and a crowd of 6,500 is expected for Wales' final pre-Euro 2020 fixture against Albania at Cardiff City Stadium on Saturday.

https://www.itv.com/news/wales/2021-06-04/what-do-changes-to-coronavirus-restrictions-mean-for-sporting-events-in-wales

Who went out of The Masked Dancer and is Peter Kay really Zip?

It was a busy night on The Masked Dancer UK last night (Thursday June 3) with two characters being unveiled. And, as the penultimate episode of the series approaches tonight, four more are set to be unmasked. However, viewers are convinced that one them is Peter Kay. Heres who went out of The Masked Dancer last night and what might happen tonight. Christopher is Beagle! In last nights show, viewers got a shock when they found out who two characters were. Beagle was the first to go, and despite the bookies thinking that it was an ex-football player, the panel and viewers at home were shocked at the characters real identity. No one including guest guesser David Walliams predicted it would be ice skating legend, Christopher Dean. Read more: Squirrel on The Masked Dancer to be unveiled as Maisie Smith, viewers predict The panel were great but they were way off the mark, Christopher said. It was then left to the judges to choose between Llama and Zip. They chose to save Zip. Zoe was revealed as Llama (Credit: ITV) Furry hoofed friend on The Masked Dancer Because Zip was saved, Llama had to take off its mask. And it was revealed that the furry character was none other than ex-Strictly star, Zoe Ball. Zoe unmasking was a little bit less of a surprise as both David and Jonathan had guessed correctly. In a Tweet afterwards, Zoe said she had had the BEST TIME EVER and would miss her furry hoofed friend. Viewers are convinced that one of the remaining characters, Zip, is reclusive comedian Peter Kay. In last nights show, each character was asked to reveal a word that could help the judges guess their identity. Zip said the word Geraldine, and many fans thought this was a reference to one of Peters TV characters, Geraldine McQueen. Zip is Peter Kay, he was Geraldine in drag, one fan said on Twitter. Read more: The Masked Dancer UK 2021: Bookies name favourites for remaining characters Elsewhere, fans also have a theory as to who Frog is Kelly Osbourne. With clues like a jack in a box, writing the word Ozzy instead of Australia, everything points to the 36-year-old. One viewer said on Twitter: Frog is Kelly Osbourne. Ozzy on the map. Jack in the box and the show the Osbournes was like Big Brother. Sang little shop of horrors, Im pretty sure thats how their family was once described in the good old days. Amazing dancer though. The Masked Dancer continues on ITV at 7.30pm tonight (Friday June 4)

https://www.entertainmentdaily.co.uk/tv/the-masked-dancer-uk-who-out-peter-kay-zip/

Where is Tipping Point today? And what is taking its place on ITV?

Tipping Point on ITV has become a staple for quiz show fans across the country with its daily doses of trivia and arcade game thrills. However, Tipping Point is not on today (Friday, June 4) because the channel is rolling out live sport all afternoon until The Chase at 5pm. Quiz show fans will have to find something else to do this afternoon because live horse racing dominates the ITV schedules from 1.30pm onwards. The afternoon of racing is a big one for fans of the sport. Along with the Derby, the One Thousand Guineas, the Two Thousand Guineas and the Saint Ledger, The Oaks is part of the five English classic horse races in the UK. Read more: Tipping Point: ITV viewers distracted by contestant Shirleys appearance ITV is going to town on the Derby Festival from the Epsom race course, with Francesca Cumani and Ed Chamberlain presenting a whole weekend of races. Today its The Oaks at 4.30pm, which follows races throughout the afternoon. And tomorrow its the turn of The Derby itself. Have no fear Tipping Point fans. The show will be back on Monday (June 7) after todays absence in its usual time slot. Host Ben Shephard will be back to welcome another three contestants, each with a crack at winning 10,000. It will then continue throughout the week uninterrupted. Itll be like nothing has ever happened. Viewers werent best pleased when they heard the news. One used a Father Ted gif of the swearing priest, and captioned the video snippet by saying: Bloody horse racing is on today meaning no #TippingPoint. Read more: Tipping Point on Twitter: Viewers turned off by inappropriate ad during break Another matched the viewers frustration by leaving a facepalm emoi as a response.

https://www.entertainmentdaily.co.uk/tv/where-is-tipping-point-today-why-isnt-it-on/

Why BTS' RM's Post On Weverse About 'Butter' Being NO 1 On Billboard Left Fans Confused?

Leader of BTS, also known as Bangtan Boys, Rap Monster or RM took to his Weverse account and expressed his gratitude to their fans for making their new album Butter number 1 on Billboard. Although the post had a very sweet message for the fandom ARMY, they were left quite confused by the message as they were not able to figure out what BTS' RM meant by the word musun129. BTS' RM in his post thanked ARMY for helping BTSs Butter debut at No 1 on Billboard Hot 100 Chart. He wrote in his post that he just logged into Weverse musun129. He thanked his fans and told them that he missed them. The fans were left very confused by the word musun129 and could not figure out what RM meant by it. Due to their query musun129 started trending and Channel A decided to help the ARMYs with their misery. According to the reports, musun129 is a slang that is used in the Gyeongsang Province dialect. It translates to Whats going on? or Whats happening?. The part il-igo in museun il-igo sounds like one, two and nine in Korean. Despite the confusion, lots of fans wrote very encouraging comments to RMs post. While one fan wrote, Dont thank us, because we are family another wrote, You're welcome this is nothing I hope we can do more than that. Some of the fans noticed RMs phone charge and told him to charge it as soon as possible. One of them wrote, Joon your mobile charging is 13% same like me. And another fan said, I really hope you were about to charge your phone here. Earlier this week another BTS member, V, made headlines for posting a video of himself dancing to Butter. Later, V deleted the video and left his fans confused again but some fans believed that he might have deleted it because he attempted to stop the video from appearing on news. More about BTS' Butter BTS released their album Butter in May and delighted the fans with a comeback. The video made the record for the biggest YouTube premiere after getting 3.9 million views. Earlier too, BTS has been No 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 Chart. Other albums of BTS like Dynamite and Love Yourself: Tear were also quite famous among the fans. IMAGE CREDIT: BTS/INSTAGRAM, RM/WEVERSE Get the latest entertainment news from India & around the world. Now follow your favourite television celebs and telly updates. Republic World is your one-stop destination for trending Bollywood news. Tune in today to stay updated with all the latest news and headlines from the world of entertainment.

https://www.republicworld.com/entertainment-news/music/why-bts-rms-post-on-weverse-about-butter-being-no-1-on-billboard-left-fans-confused.html

Why did Portugal move down to the UK amber travel list?

Get the latest news from all parts of our city - sign up for our free email newsletter Invalid Email Something went wrong, please try again later. Subscribe Thank you for subscribing We have more newsletters Show me See our privacy notice Its a move that has been met with dismay by many in the travel industry and by everyone in the UK who was finally looking forward to getting away on a sun holiday this summer. Portugal was moved from green to amber by Transport Secretary Grant Shapps on Thursday, citing rising Covid cases in the country and concerns over new variants. It raises the question over the usefulness of the list, given many of the destinations are quite difficult for UK tourists to visit anyway but prudence must prevail in the time of Covid. Heres everything you need to know about why Portugal was downgraded and where you can still go without having to quarantine. Portugal has been moved to the UKs amber list due to the rising case numbers of Covid in the country and concerns about the Delta variant first detected in India, as well as a reported mutation. This new mutation is currently being referred to as the Nepal variant , and is under investigation by Public Health England. The reason the UK decided to act now is that cases of coronavirus have doubled in Portugal since the last time the government reviewed the situation. However, Portugal has questioned the logic of the decision, saying that it still feels like the country is a safe place for UK tourists to visit. Under government advice, people should only travel to amber list countries for essential reasons such as work. This means that if you do visit countries on the amber list, you have to follow a strict regime of Covid tests and quarantining all of which is quite costly. For those currently on holiday in Portugal, they need to return to the UK before 4am Tuesday morning of next week to avoid following the amber list rules. This has, however, sent the price of return flights to the UK skyrocketing, showing how difficult foreign travel in the Covid era still is. Portugal was the only country on the UKs green list that was seen as a traditional holiday destination for tourists. As such, its removal presents a major blow to the tourist industry and those hoping to get away for a sun holiday this year. No new countries were added to the UKs green list when Grant Shapps made the announcement on Thursday, however, seven countries are to be moved from the UKs amber list to the red list (Afghanistan, Bahrain, Costa Rica, Egypt, Sri Lanka, Sudan and Trinidad and Tobago). The countries still on the green list include:

https://www.leeds-live.co.uk/news/uk-world-news/portugal-move-down-uk-amber-20741056

Which Countries Will Receive America's Donated Covid-19 Vaccine Doses?

U.S. President Joe Biden at the Eisenhower Executive Office Building, next to the White House, on June 2, 2021. Photo : Mandel Ngan ( Getty Images ) The White House announced on Thursday that the U.S. will donate at least 80 million covid-19 doses to countries around the world by the end of June , with the first 25 million doses going out to nations in the very near future. Advertisement About 19 million of the first 25 million batch will be distributed through the global COVAX initiative, which helps streamline the process by identifying which regions need the most resources. Roughly 6 million doses will be allocated to Central and South America, according to the White House: Brazil, Argentina, Colombia, Costa Rica, Peru, Ecuador, Paraguay, Bolivia, Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Panama, Haiti, and other Caribbean Community (CARICOM) countries, as well as the Dominican Republic. About 7 million doses will be allocated to countries in Asia: India, Nepal, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Afghanistan, Maldives, Malaysia, Philippines, Vietnam, Indonesia, Thailand, Laos, Papua New Guinea, Taiwan, and the Pacific Islands. About 5 million doses will be shared with African countries that havent been selected yet, but will be determined through White House coordination with the African Union. The exact timetable for that coordination hasnt been released yet. The remaining 6 million doses that arent allocated through COVAX are being distributed to U.S. allies as well as areas identified as being most in desperate need, including Mexico, Canada, South Korea, West Bank and Gaza, Ukraine, Kosovo, Haiti, Georgia, Egypt, Jordan, India, Iraq, and Yemen, and a special batch for United Nations workers, according to a White House press release. Advertisement The pandemic is still raging in many parts of the world, even as things return to normal in wealthy countries like the U.S. and UK. But the pandemic wont truly be over until a majority of the worlds population is vaccinated, and thats going to take some serious work to get done. Over 2 billion covid-19 vaccine doses have been administered around the world, with 443 million people fully vaccinated globally. But thats just 5.7% of the world fully protected against covid . Weve got quite a ways to go.

https://gizmodo.com/which-countries-will-receive-americas-donated-covid-19-1847031412

What TV channel and time is Glasgow Warriors v Leinster on tonight in the Rainbow Cup?

Sign up to our FREE newsletter Invalid Email Something went wrong, please try again later. Yes please! Thank you for subscribing We have more newsletters Show me See our privacy notice Leinster face an in-form Glasgow Warriors side in the Guinness Pro14 Rainbow Cup this weekend. Leo Cullens men sit in 7th place but will come into the game encouraged by recent victories over provincial rivals Ulster and Connacht when they take on 3rd-placed Glasgow Warriors. A bonus point win could catapult them up among the contenders. The match takes place at Scotstoun Stadium on Friday, June 4. The game will get underway at 8.15pm. The match will be shown live on Eir Sport 1. Their coverage gets underway at 8pm. While the game will not be available live on free-to-air TV, TG4 will have deferred coverage of the game from 10.35pm. You can also follow live updates with The Irish Mirror's live blog. Leinster team 15 Hugo Keenan, 14 Tommy OBrien, 13 Garry Ringrose, 12 Rory OLoughlin, 11 Jimmy OBrien, 10 Ross Byrne, 9 Luke McGrath; 1 Ed Byrne, 2 Rnan Kelleher, 3 Michael Bent, 4 Ross Molony, 5 James Ryan, 6 Josh Murphy, 7 Josh van der Flier, 8 Caelan Doris. Replacements: 16 Dan Sheehan, 17 Peter Dooley, 18 Andrew Porter, 19 Ryan Baird, 20 Scott Penny, 21 Rowan Osborne, 22 Jordan Larmour, 23 Cian Kelleher. Glasgow team 15 Adam Hastings, 14 Kyle Steyn, 13 Nick Grigg, 12 Sam Johnson, 11 Cole Forbes, 10 Ross Thompson, 9 George Horne; 1 Aki Seiuli, 2 Fraser Brown, 3 Enrique Pieretto, 4 Rob Harley, 5 Scott Cummings, 6 Ryan Wilson, 7 Rory Darge, 8 Matt Fagerson. Replacements: 16 George Turner, 17 Tom Lambert, 18 Darcy Rae, 19 Kiran McDonald, 20 Thomas Gordon, 21 Sean Kennedy, 22 Stafford McDowall, 23 Niko Matawalu Quotes Corner Leinster Assistant Coach Robin McBryde: In all the Pro 14 matches that we lost this season, we lost them to a team that has something to play for. Glasgow are still in the hunt, 3rd in the table so theyll be chasing a bit of silverware as well so itll be a good test for us to see if we can match that edge. There have been tight affairs between the two teams and Im sure theyll be looking to get the balance of it [results] more their way as well so itll be a good contest for us.

https://www.irishmirror.ie/sport/rugby-union/what-tv-channel-time-glasgow-24249783

How can cement be carbon-neutral?

German building materials company HeidelbergCement has announced it will upgrade one of its factories to make it the worlds first carbon-neutral cement plant. A carbon capture facility will be built next to the existing cement plant on the Swedish island of Gotland by 2030 it will be able to capture its total carbon dioxide emissions, an estimated 1.8 million tonnes of carbon dioxide. The company says the captured carbon dioxide will be transported to a permanent offshore storage site, located several kilometres down in the bedrock. The firm also plans to increase the use of bio-based fuels in cement production to support its sustainability commitments. Dr Dominik von Achten, Chairman of the Managing Board of HeidelbergCement, said: Key for decarbonising our industry is to find, apply and scale technical solutions for carbon capture and utilisation or storage. After having gained valuable experience with carbon capture, utilisation and storage technologies in Norway and other countries, we are now excited to make the next step with a completely carbon-neutral cement plant in Sweden. This will be a game-changer for our industry.

https://www.energylivenews.com/2021/06/04/how-can-cement-be-carbon-neutral/

Does eliminating statues eradicate the good along with the bad?

To my knowledge none actually exist. I dont know if the comparison is apt or not, the comparison of John A. Macdonald and Egerton Ryerson with Hitler and Stalin, although all four were responsible for genocides in some way. The historian in me (I was a high school history teacher, not really a historian) says these statues should stay as teaching tools. As a student of history, in university even, I knew nothing of residential schools. The main Indigenous history I knew about was Louis Riel and the debate about his trial and treatment at the hands of the federal government under the leadership of Macdonald. We were taught Macdonald had a problem with alcohol, but we didnt learn he had a problem with Indigenous peoples to the extent of wanting to totally annihilate them. But statues and building names were reminders of how great these men were. I was taught that Macdonald was the father of Confederation and that was the beginning of our nation. I was taught Ryerson was the father of public education in Ontario. I come around again to how I would feel seeing statues of Hitler or Stalin, and wonder if the comparison even fair.

https://www.thestar.com/opinion/letters_to_the_editors/2021/06/04/does-eliminating-statues-eradicate-the-good-along-with-the-bad.html

Can Geraint Thomas turn Ineos Grenadiers attacking strategy into Tour de France glory?

Member Exclusive Become a member to unlock this story and receive other great perks. Thomas scored a victory so uncharacteristic on stage 5 of the Critrium du Dauphin that it had many hitting rewind to watch it afresh. Known for his big engine and steady head, the Welshman hopped on board Ineos Grenadiers new commitment to attacking racing with a surprise move that upturned the applecart. Also read: RIP the Sky Train It wasnt planned, Thomas said Thursday. I knew it was all lined out and the last bit was a bit twisty so I just thought sod it, go for it. I went with a kilometer to go, the boys said on the radio that I had a gap, and I just went all in. The short-range solo handed Thomas his first stage win since sprinting to victory atop Alpe dHuez at the 2018 Tour de France. Magnifique final de @GeraintThomas86 qui attaque la flamme rouge ! Revivez le dernier kilomtre de la 5me tape du #Dauphin. Fantastic finish by @GeraintThomas86 who attacked at the red kite! Relive the last kilometre of stage 5. pic.twitter.com/IXw0cS1Haw Critrium du Dauphin (@dauphine) June 3, 2021 Gambling for the biggest prize in cycling Ineos Grenadiers has entered a new era while Thomas has been awaiting his opportunities in the past nine months. When Thomas crashed out of last years Giro dItalia, Tao Geoghegan Hart picked up the leadership baton and landed a GC victory forged on aggressive racing and unlikely opportunities. Just weeks later, Richard Carapaz nearly cracked Primo Rogli at the Vuelta a Espaa with an onslaught of uphill attacks in the final week. The trend continued last month when Egan Bernal forged his Giro title on a series of unmatchable moves that left the pack choking on his fumes. Team boss Dave Brailsford praised his squads new style in light-headed elation when Bernal rolled into Milano last month, hinting that theres plenty more pure racing to come. Also read: Bernal lands Zoncolan slam at Giro dItalia Weve got our strategy for the tour, but we want to enjoy it. We said last year it was about enjoying racing and putting a smile back on peoples faces, he said. We love racing and weve bought that back into our team this year. That effervescence of it all is paying dividends. Were just loving it loving life. Back to back #Giro victories We had fun. We rode hard. We did it together pic.twitter.com/nag4EOJ7hQ INEOS Grenadiers (@INEOSGrenadiers) May 30, 2021 Bernal won the Giro free of pressure as he nursed an injury, and did it against a relatively lightweight field. But Thomas will lead Ineos Grenadiers in what may be the sternest test of its Tour de France legacy this summer. Tadej Pogaar has blitzed onto the scene as one of the most aggressive and uncontrollable riders of the peloton and has new heft in his UAE Emirates team. Rogli has a will of steel and a seven-man Jumb0-Visma steamroller that could be as strong as, if not stronger than, the seven sent in support of 2018 champ Thomas. Racing according to the conditions, not the planning-room What happened at the past two Giri cannot be taken as a portent of things to come. Ineos had the room to stretch its wings when it sent Geoghegan Hart and then Bernal into pink. Rogli and Pogaar were elsewhere, and Jumbo-Visma didnt even make it to the second-half of the 2020 race. Then last month, the Dutch team limped through the Giro with a squad built on youthful vigor rather than race-winning heft. With no Wout van Aert, Sepp Kuss and Steven Kruijswijk assembling carriages and throttling the race with their own train, the British squad could make hay at the past two corsa rosa. When the Jumbo express returns to France in a months time, Ineos Grenadiers will have little option but to retaliate in kind and with the likes of Richie Porte and Rohan Dennis there to do the pulling, it would be bonkers not to. Its hard to imagine a freewheeling, unbridled Ineos Grenadiers at the Tour this summer, particularly with Thomas at the helm. The pressure on Brailsford to deliver will be sky-high after Bernal buckled last year, ending the squads five-year streak of success. And Thomas too has a lot riding on the race. After missing the Tour squad last year and with a contract to fight for, the 35-year-old isnt going to be re-writing the script after riding to the podium at both the Volta a Catalunya and Tour de Romandie in the blanket of a team that trounced the field. And the TT-heavy Tour this summer points toward the Team Sky style of old. Although Thomas hasnt looked his best on the TT bike so far this year, he will be eyeing the Tours 58 time trial kilometers as an opportunity to match up to, if not better, Rogli and Pogaar. And then when the road points uphill, the wheels of Dennis, Porte, and Carapaz will give him the armor to defend every second he gained against the clock. What happens in the Dauphins three mountain stages to come particularly the long summit finish Saturday will provide some hints at what Thomas and Brailsford plan for the Tour. But with Rogli, Pogaar, and Ineos Grenadiers co-leader Carapaz all sitting out the race, this weekend wont serve up the complete picture. Thomas made a daring gamble with his kick for victory Thursday. It was a promising sign of an attacking, explosive Tour to come. But dont go betting on any daring long-range moves like Bernals gung-ho attack over the Giau at the Giro last month. The stakes are too high and the opposition too stiff. The Tour is what grabs the headlines and fills the coffers and its not the place to gamble. Brailsford has sent four riders to seven yellow jerseys off the back of his tried-and-trusted Sky Train. Dont expect him to be leaving it in the depot at the Tour de France next month.

https://www.velonews.com/events/tour-de-france/can-geraint-thomas-turn-ineos-grenadiers-attacking-strategy-into-tour-de-france-glory/

Is Experiential Retail Still Relevant In 2021?

CEO & Co-Founder @SimpliField, the ultimate all-in-one mobile platform for retail operations, communications and employee performance. getty Experiential retail was a hot topic in the industry before Covid-19. But since the pandemic began, online sales have surged and many brick-and-mortar retail stores have closed their doors permanently. But the truth is that physical stores are poised to make a big comeback: In-store retail is still the dominant retail channel, and it's still very much part of the customer journey. Some big brands have already voiced optimism about post-crisis pent-up demand bringing customers rushing back to stores for new shopping experiences. Drawing on my experience working with over 130 retailers who are using experiential retail to reinvent the retail space, heres what to expect and how retailers can thrive in the new normal. A Renewed Need For Human Interaction Everyone is craving a return to normal face-to-face interactions. In fact, nearly 50% of the consumers surveyed earlier this year said they plan to immediately start shopping in stores as soon as Covid-19 restrictions are lifted. This means brands that create real human interactions will be ahead of competitors who solely focus on e-commerce efforts. In 2020, consumers proved that physical stores still have their place: Three in four shoppers still went to stores during the crisis, and almost 80% of them made traditional in-store purchases (versus using curbside pickup or buy online, pick up in store). And according to PwCs March 2021 Global Consumer Insights Pulse Survey, "in-store shopping remains consumers channel of choice for daily or weekly shopping." Given all this, physical stores will likely play a vital role in maximizing sales after the crisis, and store associates are likely your best assets. Retailers that have well-trained advisors and true brand advocates will be ready to meet built-up customer expectations. In the luxury sector, in particular, we're seeing brands already capitalizing on personalization and localization and going as far as preparing store employees to offer concierge-level service. Showcasing The Store As Essential Experiential retail exists as a counterbalance to the fact that the widespread availability of e-commerce means shopping in a physical store is no longer a necessity. However, showcasing physical stores as essential can pay off. One way to do that is through personalization. The first step is to collect customer data at different touchpoints, both online and in the store. Then, you can use this data to create personalized customer experiences think attractive offers and innovative in-store experiences tailored to specific regions, stores and individuals. On the most basic level, focus on the stores core asset: providing sensory experiences. However, with the need for health and safety measures, consistent visual storytelling through flawless and surprising visual merchandising is key. Today, more than ever, your stores showcase not just your brand, but also your level of innovation and consideration for your customers' needs. Make sure visual merchandising complies with health and safety regulations, but also put the same messaging and products online. Consolidating data can further support your visual storytelling strategies by filling in the details you need to create flawless and surprising visual merchandising based on what products and moods your customers are craving today. Bridging The Gap Between Online And In-Store With Technology That Matters Online and offline can work hand in hand. The right technology can make a difference. Drive-to-stores and stores-to-web technologies, such as BOPIS, curbside pickup and contactless technology in the form of contactless payments, self-checkout kiosks and mobile checkouts, are becoming increasingly mainstream. Not only did these create valuable frictionless shopping journeys in response to Covid-19 restrictions, but they also enabled innovative retailers to gather precious data insights that feed into omnichannel strategies. Today, ruling out options like these may not be wise: Half of consumers expect to have the option to buy online and pick up in the store. Similarly, augmented reality and virtual reality technologies can play an important role in compensating for the lack of physical store experiences, particularly when it comes to targeting digital-savvy Generation Z and millennial shoppers. To implement such technologies with the aim of bridging the gap between in-store and online, evaluate where the gaps are and what your customers want based on insights from store employees who directly interact with them during the sales process. To invest in the right digital innovations, start small, and be incremental and very targeted. Preparing Sales Associates To Meet Customer Expectations Sales associates are doing more with less. As the eyes and ears for companies, field and store teams have become even more of a key asset to reinventing experiences in stores. In fact, brands are increasingly taking action on empowering their teams and investing in their success through digital transformation. Recent RIS research revealed that store IT spending in 2021 is expected to increase by 4.1% compared to last year. With new consumer behaviors and sales methods, and possibly restrictions, to adapt to, equipping retail talent with digital solutions can ease the reopening process and help ensure long-term success. Empowering employees has been proven to increase team engagement, performance and visibility, and it enables them to provide the curated experiences that customers crave. Whether you build your own on-premise software or opt for a SaaS solution, be sure to inform employees about the benefits of your digital tools and provide proper support and training to help them meet customers' expectations. The Takeaway Experiential retail is far from irrelevant in 2021. In fact, the pandemic has only accelerated the process of reinventing the store and adapting to new customer expectations and innovations. With customers eager to return to stores and the widespread availability of digitally enhanced solutions, retailers should empower their teams and prepare them for a reopening with waves of experience-savvy customers. Forbes Business Council is the foremost growth and networking organization for business owners and leaders.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbesbusinesscouncil/2021/06/04/is-experiential-retail-still-relevant-in-2021/

What makes the Bugatti La Voiture Noire the most expensive vehicle in motoring history?

What makes the $18M Bugatti La Voiture Noire the worlds most expensive on-road automobile, find out here. When Ettore Bugatti designed his first Bugatti in 1909, he had an unbending motto: If it is comparable, it is no longer Bugatti. For over a century, Bugatti has built its legacy on this foundation, and their latest automobile extravagance unveiled this summer in Geneva, toes the same line. The Bugatti La Voiture Noire is an ode to Jean Bugattis (founder Ettores son) iconic all-black Type 57SC Atlantic line from 1934, and comes with the heftiest price tag a production vehicle has ever had 11 million (approximately US$18 million). Heres the answer. Theres no such thing as an affordable Bugatti, the Noire does come with justifiable reasons. The La Voiture Noire literally translates to the black car, and takes very subtle design cues from the 57SC Atlantic line from 1934, a 4-piece bespoke Bugatti veteran, lost to the World Wars. As a part of the cars allure, its been crafted out of carbon-fibre and finished with a deep black gloss that shows the materials weave, and only a sparse amount of chrome trim breaks up the darkness. Naturally, carbon fibre is an extremely exotic material and comes with a profound manufacturing procedure. Sharing similar structural integrity with a diamond, its ultra-lightweight, stronger than steel, and also used in building million-dollar vehicles like airplanes and space shuttles. While Bugatti claims that this vehicle is handcrafted, there are so many more details that separate the Noire from the rest of the fleet. Take for instance, the headlights theyre essentially clusters of small LEDs encased in glass that elegantly fit onto the carbon fibre base. Triangular perforations on the hoods twin scoops match the pattern on the engine cover, and it has very small slits hidden at both ends, echoing the vents at each end of the headlights. The two-tone wheels use Bugattis 3D-printed brake calipers. All these tiny handmade details, certainly bump up its price tag. Theres no way of being certain about how much Bugattis engines cost but guessing by its specs, they are spectacularly high and can dwarf even the best sports cars we have today. The car cages a monstrous 8.0-L Quad Turbocharged W16, that can effortlessly churn out power to match 1500-1600 horses. Thats 0-60 in mph in less than three seconds. Having a 100-horsepower more than the speed-ranking Chiron, the La Voiture Noire wont be shy of breaking its 261-mph record, making it the worlds fifth fastest production car too. Other key highlights include a straight-six exhaust; the rear end, which bears a massive grille for engine breathability; and a sleek end-to-end LED taillight. Bugatti hasnt officially shown us the inside of the car, but theyve said that it has the comfort of a luxury limousine and is the most elegant and fastest way to travel. So, the Bugatti La Voiture Noire has two major factors that give it its exorbitant price tag its handcrafted carbon-fiber body and hefty engine. As of today, theres just one Noire thats been produced and its reportedly owned by Real Madrids hunter, Cristiano Ronaldo. Both apexes, in their respective fields of work. All images: Courtesy Bugatti This story first appeared on Lifestyle Asia India

https://www.prestigeonline.com/id/pursuits/motors/bugatti-la-voiture-noire/

Could Public Support For Renewables Wane?

LONDON, UNITED KINGDOM - 2021/05/31: An Extinction Rebellion activist stands outside the Science ... [+] Museum in London (Photo by Vuk Valcic/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images) SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images The election of the Biden Administration has helped create a surge in the value of equities in the renewable energy space (including electric vehicles or EVs), with expectations that a variety of measures intended to discourage fossil fuel consumption and accelerate the transition to a newer, cleaner energy sector will be enacted. Arguably, some pullback can be expected given the not irrational but perhaps excessive optimism about the prospects for clean energy inasmuch as many nations are in dire financial straits due to the pandemic. In 1999, I published an article entitled, Oil scarcity, oil crises, and alternative energies - don't be fooled again in which I argued that too many renewable energy advocates were relying on a combination of regulatory support but also invalid expectations of higher oil prices, partly because of the tendency to misinterpret short-term price spikes from political disruptions of supply as representing the new normal. My belief then as now is that renewable energies need to be fairly competitive in the marketplace, rather than relying on government support or mandates, let alone expectations about soaring oil prices or scarce natural gas, in order to become significant sources of energy. But in recent years, I have been concerned about what seems to be irrational exuberance on the part of some climate change activists and green energy advocates who insist that fairly extreme measures should be applied to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Some argue that this would be cheap as they insist that solar and wind are cheaper than coal power and that electric vehicles are on the verge of being cost-competitive with oil-fueled ones. Many of those same also argue for increased government support for those energy sources (or carriers), which would seem to contradict the claim of their competitiveness. Certainly, the Biden Administration should be counted on to continue the existing subsidies for wind and solar, and attempt to raise the limits on subsidies for electric vehicles (currently set at 200,000 per manufacturer, which both GM and Tesla TSLA have surpassed), as well as investment in vehicle charging infrastructure. Given the balance of power in the Senate, the most optimistic spending estimates are unlikely to be enacted, but whether it increases somewhat or remains stable is not clear. (A decrease seems out of the question, unless Republicans take control of Congress in 2022.) Historically, there have been a number of social movements that have lost momentum over time, to varying degrees in different places. The opposition to nuclear power, at least in the U.S., appears to have declined sharply, as the predicted apocalypse never arrived. Concern about homelessness was strong in the 1980s, but then receded from public view for a time, before resurging recently. Part of the problem, it is claimed, stems from activists insistence that homelessness was due to conservative economic policies, when ultimately research demonstrated it was primarily due to people with substance abuse and/or mental health problems. Numerous reasons can be given for the change in support for any given policy or societal challenge, including the short attention span of the public and the media. The public seems unwilling to devote time every day for an extended period to most problems, such as hunger or homelessness, although activists remain committed and involved. I would argue that there are a number of factors that cause political views to change on policy issues, and this could apply to the movement advocating major investments in and subsidies for renewable energy and electric vehicles. The bulk of the difficulty comes from politicians and activists, rather than the scientists, most of whom make reasoned arguments and proposals. The list below represents years of observation and research, but I would recommend Niall Fergusons Doom (which I just started reading after I began this column). Apocalyptic Nature of Warnings: As Michael Shellenberger notes in his book Apocalypse Never, some of the loudest voices are sounding warnings so dire that they are not credible. Extinction Rebellion co-founder Roger Hallam has been widely quoted as saying, Slaughter, death and starvation of six billion people this century. Scientist Guy McPherson coined the term Near-Term Human Extinction, apparently claiming extinction was certain within a decade. (Recall that one prominent peak oiler also claimed the problem threatened the possible extinction of mankind.) Im A Scientist: Dave Levitan in Not a Scientist notes that many climate denialists start with the phrase, Im not a scientist, but and he rightly criticizes politicians who make (supposedly) definitive comments about the state of the science. He doesnt, however, mention the many climate activists who claim to be scientists or describe their claims as being supported by science. Shellenberger challenged a number of such claims, asking for the scientific evidence (while noting it wasnt in the IPCC reports), and got little or no response. Indeed, many climate scientists have attacked activists for their misrepresentations. This is particularly a problem when you have groups from Greenpeace to the Sierra Club who often adopt stances against GMOs or nuclear power that are not based in science. This tends to discredit them (and others) when they argue that climate scientists should be heeded. (On a personal note, a geologist who helped found the peak oil movement refused to debate me because "It's like asking a doctor to talk about medicine with a faith healer. (Wall Street Journal 9/21/04) I had suggested a reporter confront him about claims he made that were simply untrue but were the core of his beliefs, to say nothing of the fact that he was not performing science but curve-fitting.) Crying Wolf: The use of extinction as a threat will be very familiar to the older population, since for decades many have argued that the Earth cannot even sustain its current population. The Ehrlichs (authors of 1968s The Population Bomb) have repeatedly warned of imminent mass starvation, the date of which is constantly moving out. Peak oil advocates, as my book The Peak Oil Scare noted, started with a 1989 article claiming world oil production had already reached a peak. The expected date moved out repeatedly, Absolutism: People attempting to reduce carbon emissions often find they are opposed by those who want to eliminate them immediately, resisting natural gas usage in circumstances where it is more efficient (such as heating) or displaces a dirtier fuel (guess which one) because they oppose any fossil fuel usage. Hypocrisy: Some of the loudest voices have displayed astonishing hypocrisy on this issue, with celebrities deserving the most approbation. Leonardo DiCaprio produced a documentary called The Eleventh Hour, the primary argument being that people needed to live simply, while he himself lives the life not of Riley but of Croesus. Some environmental groups have been accused of gaming the carbon permit system or investing in fossil fuel developments. Inconsistency: Michael Bloomberg, as mayor of New York, was perceived as promoting the government as public nanny, especially when he talked of regulating salt content in restaurant food and banning large soft drinks. Yet, when Citi Bike start a bike rental program, he had no trouble with letting renters ride without helmets. It is claimed that solar panel manufacturing relies in part on coerced labor in China, and much of the rare earths production needed by clean energy comes from so-called blood minerals. Climate activists appear torn about how to respond, at least to date. Reverse-Engineering: If you ask most activists why they support renewable energy and electric vehicles, they will argue that the purpose is to reduce climate change. But many are not advocating to reduce emissions per se, but for a particular technology or investment. Electric vehicles are a particularly inefficient way to reduce GHG emissions, and that was highlighted when the California Air Resources Board backed away from its 1990s-era electric vehicle mandate, noting their job was to reduce pollution, not promote electric vehicles. It is always possible that the public turns against movements simply out of crisis fatigue, especially given all of the above factors. The apocalypse has been predicted many times historically, sometimes by religious figures with scientific calculations of Judgement Day, but also by many who observed disastrous events and thought this time it really is the end of the world. I suspect that the current skepticism that infects a large portion of the public reflects a general distrust of authority and elite figures, which has often been encouraged by the type of activist behaviors described above. Unfortunately, someone seeking a rational discussion of the challenges and appropriate policy responses can feel as lonely as Diogenes in his quest for an honest man. Planet 3.0 McPherson's Evidence That Doom Doom Doom

https://www.forbes.com/sites/michaellynch/2021/06/04/could-public-support-for-renewables-wane/

Is vliegen wel veilig als toestellen lang aan de grond hebben gestaan?

Er was voor gewaarschuwd en toch ging het al twee keer mis. Vliegtuigen die weer in gebruik genomen waren na (vanwege de coronapandemie) een tijd aan de grond te hebben gestaan, moesten terugkeren vanwege een technisch mankement. De Onderzoeksraad voor Veiligheid (OVV) doet onderzoek naar die twee incidenten, maar houdt de luchtvaart nu alvast voor: er is sprake van ernstige veiligheidsrisicos en die vragen extra aandacht. Vergeten ... Het eerste incident deed zich in oktober 2020 voor. De bemanning van een Boeing 737 van Tui Fly, vertrokken vanaf Schiphol, merkte dat de snelheids- en hoogtemeters niet goed werkten. Het toestel moest terugkeren naar de luchthaven. Daar bleek dat het systeem dat de luchtdruk meet was afgedekt. In de tijd dat het vliegtuig aan de grond stond, was op die manier voorkomen dat de leidingen verstopt raakten, bijvoorbeeld met insecten. Maar toen het toestel weer in gebruik genomen werd, was vergeten die afdekking te verwijderen. Anderhalve maand geleden gebeurde iets soortgelijks met een toestel van Transavia, eveneens een Boeing, dat was opgestegen vanaf vliegveld Rotterdam-Den Haag. De leidingen waren wel losgemaakt en gereinigd, maar daarna niet goed vastgezet, waardoor ook deze keer de snelheids- en hoogte-indicaties niet klopten. Het toestel wist uit te wijken naar Schiphol. Goed weer, helder zicht Dat het beide keren goed afliep, is volgens de OVV mede te danken aan het goede weer en het heldere zicht: de bemanning zag simpelweg dat de meters niet konden kloppen. Daardoor konden ze hun toestel onder controle houden en veilig laten landen. Precies dit risico was bekend, stelt de OVV met nadruk vast, onder meer omdat Boeing zelf ervoor had gewaarschuwd. Zorgwekkend, vindt de raad, want de komende maanden zullen vanwege de versoepelingen van coronamaatregelen veel vliegtuigen vliegklaar worden gemaakt en dat blijkt dus mis te kunnen gaan. Lange lijst met risicos Er kan overigens veel meer misgaan. Een maand geleden publiceerde Easa, het agentschap voor veiligheid in de luchtvaart van de Europese Unie, een lange lijst met risicos die samenhangen met het weer op gang komen van het vliegverkeer na een lange periode van bijna-stilstand. De Easa ziet meer problemen. Mensen kunnen hun routines ontwend zijn geraakt. Anderen hebben ander werk gekregen waarin ze misschien nog niet goed getraind zijn. Er is ervaring verdwenen, omdat veel mensen hun baan zijn kwijtgeraakt. Die mensen zijn niet zomaar terug te halen, omdat ze intussen ander werk hebben gevonden. De volgens de Easa vaak schrale arbeidsvoorwaarden van grondpersoneel verergeren dat probleem nog. Lees ook: Oplevend vliegverkeer, de prijsvechters zijn er klaar voor. Vliegen kan weer, binnenkort. Maar de luchtvaart ziet er na de pandemie anders uit dan ervoor, want prijsvechters lijken beter in staat om in te spelen op de veranderende omstandigheden. Niet tot ieders vreugde.

https://www.trouw.nl/economie/is-vliegen-wel-veilig-als-toestellen-lang-aan-de-grond-hebben-gestaan~b1176420/

Was hilft bei Reisebelkeit?

Scopolamin wird fnf bis sechs Stunden vor Reiseantritt oder bereits am Abend zuvor an eine intakte, trockene, unbehaarte Stelle hinter dem Ohr aufgeklebt. Der Schutz vor Reisebelkeit hlt 72 Stunden an, sodass sich Scopolamin gut fr lngere Reisen eignen drfte. Nach dem Aufkleben, sollte das Pflaster nicht mehr berhrt werden, da Druck erhhte Abgabemengen und berdosierungen bewirken kann mit Unruhe, Erregungszustnden, Verwirrtheit, Halluzinationen. Zu den ohnehin sehr hufigen Nebenwirkungen (ohne berdosierung) zhlen Schlfrigkeit, Schwindel, Strungen der Augenakkomodation (vor allem, wenn Wirkstoffreste der Hnde in die Augen gelangen, weswegen nach Anbringen und Entfernen des Pflasters stets die Hnde zu waschen sind) und Mundtrockenheit. Scopolamin wirkt als Parasympatholytikum durch Blockade der Acetylcholinwirkung am Muskarinrezeptor. Scopoderm TTS ist zugelassen fr Kinder ab zehn Jahren.

https://www.deutsche-apotheker-zeitung.de/news/artikel/2021/06/04/was-hilft-bei-reiseuebelkeit

Could an Israeli Government Without Netanyahu Shift US-Israel Ties?

JERUSALEM, Israel Two days ago, a political earthquake shook Israel. Naftali Bennett and Yair Lapid formed the first coalition government in 12 years without Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. The coalition agreement awaits a Knesset vote that would install Bennett as prime minister for the first two years followed by Lapid for the next two years. Many are wondering what this new coalition would mean for US-Israel relations. Bennett a religious conservative - holds strong views that differ from President Joe Biden, particularly on the Iranian nuclear deal. Biden helped draft the original 2015 Iran deal and his administration is currently negotiating another agreement. Bennett explained to CBN News earlier this year why he believes the original was a bad deal. It gives a false sense of confidence that you know, weve got Iran covered, said Bennett. But it doesnt. In fact, the deal allows Iran to proceed to the very verge of acquiring not one nuclear weapon, but dozens and all they need to do is press a button and theyll have within days dozens of nuclear bombs. ***Please sign up for CBN Newsletters and download the CBN News app to ensure you keep receiving the latest news from a distinctly Christian perspective. *** Yet in Washington, Defense Minister Benny Gantz who would remain Defense Minister in a Bennett government said any disagreements would be expressed in private. We will continue this important strategic dialogue in private discussions, Gantz said. Netanyahu on the other hand challenged the Biden administration this week. "If we have to choose, I hope it does not happen, between friction with our great friend the United States and the elimination of the existential threat - the elimination of the existential threat is increasing, he said. Netanyahu claims his possible successor Naftali Bennett - wont be able to stand up to pressure from the Biden administration the way he would on a number of issues like Iran, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, the re-funding of UNRWA and the contentious issue of the Jerusalem neighborhood of Sheikh Jarrah. The head of UNRWA came to that neighborhood to condemn what he says is a violation of international law. The US State Department has also warned Israel about the situation. To confront the US on this issue and others, Bennett would head a divided coalition with many internal ideological differences, including an Arab party that holds anti-Zionist views. The one main glue holding the coalition together is their desire to oust Netanyahu. The fragile coalition still needs to be ratified by the full Knesset sometime next week. Until then, Netanyahu is doing what he can to convince one or two defectors not to support the new coalition. Its perhaps his last opportunity to avoid being out of the office of prime minister for the first time in twelve years.

https://www1.cbn.com/cbnnews/israel/2021/june/could-an-israeli-government-without-netanyahu-shift-us-israel-ties

Will The Arab Party in The New Israeli Cabinet Make Any Difference?

Political foes of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday pushed for a quick parliamentary vote to formally end his long rule, hoping to head off any last-minute attempts to derail their newly announced coalition government. Opposition leader Yair Lapid and his main coalition partner, Naftali Bennett, have reached a deal to form a new government, mustering a majority in the 120-member Knesset. In the political maneuvering, the signature on the coalition agreement by Mansour Abbas, head of the United Arab List (Raam), to be part of the new alliance has been hailed as historic. #Israels opposition leader #YairLapid tells the president he has rallied the votes needed to form a coalition government to oust that of veteran Prime Minister Benjamin #Netanyahu.https://t.co/ZfNetGMNc3 pic.twitter.com/Bc7XNwof4w Al Arabiya English (@AlArabiya_Eng) June 2, 2021 At the same time, there is a chance that Ahmad Tibi and Osama Saadi from the Arab Movement for Change, which split earlier this year from Raam, could abstain from voting and that will help the new coalition to stay alive. While Raam will not have any ministers in the government, it will head the Interior Knesset committee. Issawi Freij, an Arab member of the Knesset from the left-wing Meretz party, will be minister for regional cooperation. Palestinian citizens of Israel are expected to benefit economically from the coalition agreement. It includes $16 billion for developing Arab communities in Israel during the coming four years. Raam has succeeded in putting a road map to legalizing unrecognized Arab towns in Israel and work on suspending house demolitions within the boundaries of the state of Israel. Johnny Mansour, a Haifa-based university lecturer, said the new coalition aims to save the Israeli regime from its crisis. He said while the new coalition will open the way in the future for Arab parties which in the past were opposed to the policies of Israeli governments to be part of a new process, it is still unclear what will be the contribution of the coalition to the status of Palestinian Arabs in Israel. UPDATE For the first time in Israel's history, an Arab-Israeli party agrees to join a coalition government as Netanyahu era endshttps://t.co/ArnTWkLhGm pic.twitter.com/B2nqGp1gFS DAILY SABAH (@DailySabah) June 2, 2021 Wadi Abunassar, director of the International Center for Consultation, said that the new coalition is a historic achievement for the entire Arab community. This has given legitimacy to Palestinians in the so-called Jewish state. Abunassar said Netanyahu needs to be thanked for this breakthrough as he paved the ground for allowing Raam to be part of an Israeli coalition, even if they are not directly represented in the government through ministers, they will head committees. Ofer Zalzberg, director of the Middle East Program at the Herbert C. Kelman Institute, in Austria, said that the presence in the coalition of an Arab-Palestinian party that draws inspiration from the Muslim Brotherhood offers unique opportunities and challenges.

https://www.albawaba.com/news/what-arab-party-new-israeli-cabinet-make-any-difference-1431402

Can a WhatsApp account be deleted after 45 or 120 days of inactivity?

Popular messaging platform WhatsApp has come up with two different types of time limits on inactivity which can further lead to permanent deletion of the WhatsApp account. The WhatsApp accounts data, if not stored in a backup can get deleted also and even that would be erased from WhatsApp servers as well. If you open the Frequently Asked Questions(FAQs) section, WhatsApp has clearly mentioned that to maintain security, limit data retention, and protect the privacy of our users, WhatsApp accounts are generally deleted after 120 days of inactivity. An account can be seen as inactive if it is not connected to the internet and that means the user hasnt connected to WhatsApp. Even if a person has a WhatsApp account, it will still be considered inactive if there is no internet connection available. The Facebook-owned messaging platform can also delete an account if there is no activity for just 45 days where the same account number seems to have been allotted to a new user. As per WhatsApp, if an account remains inactive for 45 days and then a user decides to change his/her phone number and uses a different device for that, then the messaging platform will remove the previous accounts data like the phone number and About section. Live TV #mute

https://zeenews.india.com/technology/can-a-whatsapp-account-be-deleted-after-45-or-120-days-of-inactivity-2366688.html

Did Alia Bhatt Share Her Picture From Maldives Vacation With Beau Ranbir Kapoor?

A while ago, actress Alia Bhatt shared a lovely picture on her Instagram page, wherein she is seen chilling by a beach. In the picture, Alia is seen donning co-ords set of yellow crop top and shorts. She styled her look with a floral hat and wavy hairdo. Needless to say, Alia is looking too cute in this picture, and we wonder if the picture is from her recent Maldives trip that she took along with her beau Ranbir Kapoor. Well, our guessing game is as good as yours! On a related note, Alia also shared a childhood picture of hers wherein she is seen striking a pose by the beach. In her childhood picture, Alia is seen wearing a swimwear while staring at the camera. Alia captioned the post as, "Because no matter who we are" Her post has received lovely comments from friends as well as followers. Ranbir Kapoor Spotted in Alia Bhatt's Old Live Session Video, Fans Thank Admin 'Aapke Charan Kahan Hai Prabhu' Ranbir's sister Riddhima Kapoor left three emoticons of heart on Alia's post. Actress Jacqueline Fernandez, on the other hand, couldn't stop awwing over Alia's picture and wrote, "Awwwww " Just like Riddhima and Jacqueline, Ayushmann Khurrana's wife Tahira Kashyap also left heart emoticons on Alia's post and sent love to her. Prep Work For Karan Johar's Prem Kahani Starring Ranveer Singh And Alia Bhatt Begins With respect to work, Alia is quite pre-occupied with multiple projects. She will next be seen in Sanjay Leela Bhansali's Gangubai Kathiawadi. The film also casts Ajay Devgn in key role. Post its release, she will be seen in SS Rajamouli's RRR alongside Ram Charan, Jr NTR and Ajay Devgn and Ayan Mukerji's Brahmastra, which also casts Ranbir Kapoor, Amitabh Bachchan, Mouni Roy, Akkineni Nagarjuna and Dimple Kapadia in the lead roles. Apart from these releases, she also has Karan Johar's Takht and Jasmeet K Reen's Darlings in her kitty.

https://www.filmibeat.com/bollywood/news/2021/did-alia-bhatt-share-her-picture-from-maldives-vacation-with-beau-ranbir-kapoor-314921.html

Will green buildings be new source of growth for SA commercial real estate?

As SA corporates strategically align themselves to the green economy by committing to carbon neutral and net-zero emissions, so the demand will sharply increase for green certified buildings to rent or own. Green buildings play a pivotal role in spurring clean energy and securing a transition to low-carbon economies for an increasing number of companies and governments. This shift could be a new source of growth for the SA commercial real estate market, which needs to transform to attract green- minded tenants or risk becoming vacant and ultimately a stranded asset. Real-estate investment trusts (Reits) the world over are still struggling from declining demand for office space as a result of the lockdowns, even as the world inches closer to returning to work. The hybrid model of working from home and an office is likely to be the new normal for some time to come. The question remains how the transformation of existing buildings could be funded, given that it is a costly process at a time when Reits face falling rentals and higher vacancies. There are similar financing and sustainability challenges for real estate developers. They must keep pace with tenants' green demands for energy and water efficiency, with respect to both existing and new leases. Developers will increasingly need to build green buildings to differentiate their offering, while attracting investors that are progressively keen on directing their money into green initiatives. Enter the Climate Bond Initiative (CBI), an international organisation working solely to mobilise the largest capital market of all, the $100-trillion bond market, for climate change and green solutions. They promote investment in projects and assets necessary for a rapid transition to a low carbon and climate resilient economy. Currently, in SAs commercial property sector R4.7bn ($330m) worth of buildings meet the CBI criteria, but it is estimated that R100bn ($7bn) of new or refurbished buildings could potentially qualify as green buildings as per the green buildings principles. The principles are based on conserving resources and minimising the environmental and health effects of buildings while ensuring they are energy efficient. The SA opportunity is part of the global green buildings sector, which represents a $24.7-trillion investment opportunity by 2030 across all emerging market cities (with a population of more than half a million people). As the demand for sustainability rises there is a growing niche market for green finance as issuers, building buyers and renters become increasingly environmental, social & governance (ESG) focused. We expect to see several climate and green bonds and loans issued by large corporates and Reits in SA in the coming years, which will radically transform the commercial property stock. The reasons are compelling for all parties. According to the International Finance Corporation (IFC), a sister organisation of the World Bank and member of the World Bank Group, there is a strong business case for growing the green buildings market. Their research indicates that green buildings, or buildings that use energy and water more efficiently, are a higher-value, lower-risk asset than standard structures. The IFC notes that while building green could range from 0.5% to 12% in additional costs, green buildings can decrease operational costs by up to 37%, achieve higher sale premiums of up to 31%, and faster sale times. They also have up to 23% higher occupancy rates, and have superior rental income of up to 8%. Issuing green bonds effectively links sustainable development and green buildings with capital markets. Savvy investors understand the financial benefits of green buildings, from lower long-term operating and maintenance costs to potentially higher returns on investment. The bonds give investors bespoke opportunities to participate in supporting greater environmental sustainability and climate change mitigation and enable them to easily evaluate the environmental impact of their investment. In response to the evolving sustainability concerns, landlords and property management companies can make good use of effective tenant engagement to disseminate sustainability-related information and attain continuous improvement of the occupancys environmental, social and governance performance. Conducive tenant engagement brings abundant advantages. Tangible ones include reduction in water and energy consumption and hence utility cost savings, whereas intangible ones refer to enhancement in environmental awareness, fostering landlord-tenant communication, improving overall environment of occupancy, and promoting health and wellbeing of occupants. As a large and liquid green and climate bond market develops, it will help drive down the cost of capital for climate projects in developed and particularly in emerging markets. SA faces a transformative time in the overhauling and greening of a substantial amount of its building stock for which capital is becoming increasingly available. Beck is head of sustainable finance & ESG advisory at RMB.

https://www.businesslive.co.za/bd/opinion/2021-06-04-will-green-buildings-be-new-source-of-growth-for-sa-commercial-real-estate/

How much is Prince Charles worth? How does Prince Charles earn money?

Never miss a big story in Cornwall again with our daily newsletter Invalid Email Something went wrong, please try again later. Sign me up! Thank you for subscribing We have more newsletters Show me See our privacy notice Prince Charles is said to be the second richest member of the Royal family, after the Queen. According to Forbes, the Royal family as a whole is worth $28 billion in assets it holds but cannot sell. It also estimated that Elizabeth II herself owns $500 million in personal assets. Most of it will be passed down to Prince Charles when he becomes king. The Prince of Wales is also said to be worth hundreds of millions of pounds. It is difficult to work out exactly how much a member of the Royal family is actually worth - however how Prince Charles earns money is in the public domain. The Prince of Wales' income for private and official matters comes from the Duchy of Cornwall, which owns a significant amount of land and properties in the country worth nearly $1.3 billion, according to Forbes. Surprisingly, to this day, only 13 per cent of the Duchy estate is located in Cornwall. The rest can be found across 23 counties in England and Wales, but mostly in the South West. You can read about everything Prince Charles owns in Cornwall - including Tintagel Castle - here. You can stay up to date on the top news and events near you with CornwallLives FREE newsletters enter your email address at the top of the page. The Duchy of Cornwall website reports that most of the income from the Duchy is used to support the public duties and charitable work of Prince Charles, Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall, Prince William and Kate and formerly Prince Harry and Meghan. "The Prince of Wales also meets the official expenditure of The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge and, until 31 March 2020, The Duke and Duchess of Sussex out of this income," the Sovereign Grant and Sovereign Grant Reserve, Year to 31 March, Financial Summary reports. Prince Charles also receives funding from the Sovereign Grant, which meets the running expenses of Her Majestys official household and covers maintenance of the Royal Palaces in England. Within the Royal Family, Prince Charles is described as "the second-biggest operation", MyLondon reports. Estimates into Prince Charles' net worth vary wildly: Go Banking Rates says $100 million, while Wealth-X estimates $400 million. According to Clarence House's Annual Review 2020, Prince Charles' income from the Duchy of Cornwall was 22.244m last year and funding from the Sovereign Grant was 1.762m. The Duchy of Cornwall website reports: "Since 1337, the revenues from the Duchy have either passed to an eldest surviving son and heir or where there has not been one, the Sovereign. These revenues can be spent as the Heir or Sovereign see fit. "However the current Prince of Wales chooses to use a substantial proportion of his income from the Duchy estate to meet the cost of his public and charitable work as well as the public and private lives of his family, The Duchess of Cornwall, The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge and The Duke and Duchess of Sussex, and their children." For the year to March 31, 2020, Prince Charles spent 8.453m on official duties and charitable work. Non-official expenditure reached 3.203m - and includes the salary costs of personal staff and costs related to Highgrove House in Gloucestershire and Birkhall on the Balmoral Estate in Scotland. More news from the Royal family: Prince Charles' secret 'panic room' where royals could survive for weeks Prince Charles does not eat lunch - Prince of Wales' favourite foods and eating habits revealed

https://www.cornwalllive.com/news/uk-world-news/how-much-prince-charles-worth-5433254

What Is Plant-Based Meat Made From?

According to Nestle Professional , the plant-based meats are most commonly made from soy, peas, beans, mushrooms, mung beans, or wheat gluten (otherwise known as seitan). The most advanced plant-based meats are often a mix of some of those proteins, and many include natural pigments to make the meat look red and brown. Plant oils are often added to make the meat juicy, add flavor, or give the appearance of marbled fat. Vegan binding agents are added to the mix as are an assortment of nuts, seeds, or veggies. Yeast can be added to create a meatier, more distinctively umami flavor. Many plant-based types of meat also include added vitamins like B12, iron, and zinc, which are all commonly found in animal sources. Here's a look into a few of the most popular ingredients in plant-based meats:

https://www.greenmatters.com/p/plant-based-meat-ingredients