Ziomara Nazario looked up at Worcester Police Sgt. Jason Gaumond. Tears fell as she told the officer that police are doing a great job cleaning up the section of the city known as Main South.
The compliment took Gaumond by surprise considering he had just arrested Nazario for crack possession.
"The cops are cleaning up the streets little by little," Nazario said, her hands in cuffs. "The addiction out there, the fentanyl, the drugs, it's crazy."
The 31-year-old who has struggled with drug addiction for eight years was caught as the Worcester Police Department's Neighborhood Response Team spent a recent Wednesday addressing drug dealing, prostitution and quality of life issues in Main South.
"I know I need help," she said, weeping loudly as the police wagon showed up.
Gaumond quickly grabbed the police radio on his shoulder.
"You need help?" he asked Nazario. Within seconds he arranged for an officer to talk to Nazario about drug treatment once she reached the station.
The Neighborhood Response Team employs the boots on the ground theory to police work. Officers on the streets talk to local business owners to establish relationships, learn about neighborhood issues and help address those problems.
Members of the roughly 10-officer team attend crime watch meetings for seven Neighborhood Watch groups in Main South. The team covers other areas of the city as well, but of the more than 300 arrests made by the NRT, 75 percent have been in Main South.
The team has made 40 arrests in Main South between June 1 and Aug. 1. The majority of the arrests are for street-level drug dealing, but also trespassing, prostitution and warrants.
Last year, police conducted several prostitution stings in Main South in an effort to address the issue.
Main South has seen improvements thanks to the partnerships between the city and Clark University, the programs in University Park, the work of the Boys & Girls Club and YMCA, as well as the new housing created by the Main South Community Development Corporation.
But the longstanding issues of prostitution and drug dealing remain in Main South. Families feel safer heading to University Park and walking the streets, but the crime still has them looking over their shoulders.
"Most of the primary issues we get from the Neighborhood Watch meetings and some of the community organizations down there as well as the residents is quality of life issues, the big ones are street-level drug dealing, street-level drug use, trespassing, loitering, a big issue with opiate problems and the homeless," Lt. David Doherty.
Some of Worcester police's presence in Main South is easily seen. Officers Luis Baez and Sean Lovely Sr. are constantly chatting with residents and business owners.
But there are officers in the shadows as well, hiding in discreet locations and driving unsuspecting cars.
It was that undercover work that resulted in Nazario's arrest. She was seen with a suspected dealer moments earlier.
"Yep, he's dealing," Gaumond said over the radio after Baez pointed out a suspected drug buy.
"They are still dealing," the 23-year veteran officer said. "They are hiding more. They aren't doing it as open as they used to."
The cat and mouse game began. Officer Neftali Batista and Gaumond circled the area in unmarked cars and Baez continued surveillance. The suspected dealer slipped into a Murray Avenue building, but officers knew where Nazario went.
Gaumond continued to circle around behind Main Street. A woman on Murray Avenue twitched, her body convulsing as she hugged a mailbox. The movements were the telltale sign of drug use.
Even though the officers see the underbelly of Main South more than others, they see the changes as well. Decades earlier, the area was depressed.
"There is a big difference down here for sure," Gaumond said. "It's a lot better than what it was years ago. It has improved quality of life-wise. There aren't as many abandoned houses. There is still prostitution, but it isn't a blatant as it used to be. The drug dealing, street-level, has gone down."
The Neighborhood Response Team stopped at the Odd Fellows building on Main Street as a group of men smoked cigarettes and ate food on the front steps. Two men were put in handcuffs for trespassing.
Batista then pointed at the mess of food left on the steps.
"The people that live here, they don't deserve that," he said. "Look at the mess left here."
Gaumond hopped in his unmarked car and took a drive over to the Concordia Lutheran Church on Murray Avenue. The pastor said people were dealing drugs near the church.
The drug dealing stopped near the church with one simple step.
Police noticed the dealers were using the overgrown trees on the streets as cover, so Gaumond called the city's Public Works and Parks Department and had the trees trimmed.
"The good people in the neighborhood, they appreciate what we do," he said. "You see them give us a thumbs up or a head nod. It's rewarding."
Officer Sean Lovely Sr. knows Main South well. The officer's family has decades of history here.
Lovely swiveled his head as he drove in marked cruiser down a side road in Main South. He noticed a man he knows has issues with heroin use. Lovely checks on him from time to time and reports back to the man's social worker.
"Percy, you need to go to the hospital?" Lovely asks.
"No, I'm good," Percy responded while taking a drag from his cigarette. "People like you, you are good people."
Lovely then checked some of the side streets around the area. He began taking mental notes about the blight of trash, mattresses and other items around the Mount Pleasant Street area. The officer will make a call to code enforcement to have the garbage cleaned up.
"There are a lot of elements working together," he said, noting the work done by police and the investments made by several organizations. "We've done so much here, there are less opportunities for people to commit crimes."
After checking on a home known as a shooting gallery - a place for drug dealers to shoot up - Lovely stopped at St. Peter's Catholic Church on Main Street.
Within seconds a woman working at the church told Lovely about a homeless encampment on the church grounds.
A heavy and thick set of bushes in plain view of anyone passing by on Main Street has a hidden secret. Pillows, clothes and other items were inside a hollowed out section of the bushes.
The Rev. Monsignor Francis Scollen met the officer outside. He didn't want the homeless arrested, but agreed with the officer that if seen, the people should be asked to move along.
A few blocks over, Baez walked along Main Street. He popped into JCA Beauty Supply and the owner, Victoria Wisseh, greeted him with a smile.
Wisseh told Baez a group of people recently stole some items from the store. She wanted the officer to know what was happening in the area.
"Sometimes he has meetings with us, he does a good job," she said. "I trust him to tell him anything."
Earning trust is a big reason the officers walk the beat. Baez, who speaks Spanish, was met with handshakes and hugs at some of the stores.
"Everything good, no problems?" Baez asked one storeowner as he passed him in the streets. The man smiled, told him everything was good and shook Baez's hand.
Behind the counter at Maria's Kitchen, the smell of freshly cooked meals wafted in the air. A woman behind the counter gripped Baez's hands and chatted with him in Spanish.
"For the most part people will let me know if there is something going on," Baez said.
Police work with the city's Quality of Life Team and their down Crisis Intervention Team to help drug users and prostitutes receive treatment. Without offering some help, the cycle is just going to continue, Worcester Police Chief Steven Sargent said.
The officers on the streets show the residents the city is invested in the area, the chief said. The relationship building is helping police respond to issues and residents feel that they do have someone they can reach out to for help.
Little things are being done in Main South to help the area and police. LED lights help save the city money, but city officials found the increased lighting has reduced crimes in other cities.
"This is old school policing. We are working with the people in the neighborhoods," Sargent said. "If our officers feel responsible for the neighborhoods, the neighborhoods feel responsible for our officers."


"Far and Near Korea" book published in Baku
Azerbaijan, Baku, April 4 /Trend S.Agayeva/
Baku hosted a presentation of Far and Near Korea book in the days of the 20th anniversary of establishing diplomatic relations between Korea and Azerbaijan.
The authors of the book are the head of the Ministry of Education of Azerbaijan Faig Shahbazov and assistant professor of the Azerbaijan Pedagogical University Agtay Alkhasov.
"This year the two countries celebrate the 20th anniversary of establishing diplomatic relations. A good progress is achieved in bilateral relations during this period," Ambassador of Korea to Azerbaijan Lee Ji Ha said at a presentation.
Lee Ji Ha noted that the new book might be a good guide for Azerbaijanis in Korea and will provide an opportunity to get more information about the country.
Lee Ji Ha added that Azerbaijan and Korea have historical roots and similar culture. Historically, people of both countries were divided into two parts and both nations faced with similar problems. Based on these facts, the ambassador called the two countries both near and far.
The electronic version of the book is available on the website of the Embassy of Korea in Azerbaijan.


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Damaging wind incidents can occur with a few of the thunderstorms forecast Saturday from the northern and western Philadelphia and New York City suburbs to part of the St. Lawrence Valley.
Metro areas that could be affected by the gusty, drenching thunderstorms Saturday afternoon and evening include Reading, Allentown and Scranton, Pa.; Albany, Binghamton and Syracuse, N.Y.; Burlington and Rutland, Vt. and Ottawa and Montreal, Canada.
A strong cool front will push out of the Midwest and into the northern and central Appalachians during Saturday. Warmth will build ahead of the front, making the atmosphere unstable. As thunderstorms poke up into a zone of strong winds, downdrafts can bring gusts between 50 and 60 mph in a few locations.
According to AccuWeather.com Chief Meteorologist Elliot Abrams, "The severe weather event Saturday will not be nearly as widespread as this past Tuesday, but it has the potential to bring downed trees and power lines in some neighborhoods that did not experience problems recently."
The setup appears to taking shape as a straight-line wind event and not one that favors tornadoes. However, occasionally, a brief tornado can be produced in a severe thunderstorm.
Straight-line winds can tear off shingles, push a tree into your home and cause other property damage.
Since it is a weekend, there are many sporting events taking place, such as football, baseball, golf, soccer, field hockey and cross country.
Spectators will want to have a rain poncho at their disposal, despite the breezy, warm, humid feel to the day.FYI:
Take shelter indoors, in your vehicle or under a stadium superstructure as storms approach, due to the risk of a lightning strike.
Avoid parking your vehicle, or standing under a canopy of trees due to the risk of large limbs coming down during strong wind gusts.
Tents, trees and golf carts do not provide protection from a lightning strike.
"The main energy for the storms will lift northeastward," Abrams said, "For that reason we do not expect widespread severe weather reaching from Washington, D.C. and Richmond to Boston."
However, spotty, less intense storms can reach these locations with localized downpours and brief wind gusts. The storms may also remain strong after dark as they cross northern New Hampshire, northwestern Maine and the eastern townships of Quebec.
Keep checking in at AccuWeather.com for updates.
Much cooler air will roll eastward during the weekend. The cool air will make its presence known in the central Appalachians Saturday evening and then areas farther east by Sunday.
Comments that don't add to the conversation may be automatically or manually removed by Facebook or AccuWeather. Profanity, personal attacks, and spam will not be tolerated.
A new tropical threat in the western Pacific Ocean will heighten the risk for flooding across the Ryukyu Islands and parts of eastern China over the next several days.
An area of downpours with a history of flash flooding will shift eastward to end this week then settle southward this weekend over the central United States.
Flooding will continue to be a significant concern along the west coast of India from southern Maharashtra through Kerala into this weekend.
Florida Gov. Rick Scott declared a state of emergency for the ongoing toxic red tide bloom. The algae bloom is largely responsible for the deaths of tons of marine life on the state’s west coast.
In recent days, winds have been lifting and carrying smoke particles all the way across the country and landing in places like New York City.
After a hot summer for much of western Europe and parts of the British Isles, warmth will keep on rolling into autumn.
The slow-moving tropical storm will bring a high risk for flooding and mudslides to parts of China and Vietnam into this weekend.


We have twelve years to save the planet. According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), we have less than two decades to make the significant strides necessary to avoid catastrophic and truly irreversible impacts of global climate change accelerated by our use of fossil fuels.
That is just one of the headlines coming from the 24th annual meeting of the United National Framework convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) taking place in Katowice, Poland (COP24). The event has put the world’s biggest challenge front and center once again. Though climate change and its impacts need little help grabbing headlines, the conference is a good reminder of the global community’s shared responsibility for altering the unsustainable and catastrophic trajectory on which we currently find ourselves.
I’ve Got a Bad Feeling About This
Without question, the news on global climate continues triggering alarms. Energy demand jumped in 2017 after years of remaining relatively flat, and efficiency levels dropped. The combination of the two lead to a dramatic spike in global greenhouse gas emissions despite renewable energy output rising 6 percent compared to coal and natural gas demand rising one and three percent, respectively. Add to that the fact that the last four years have been the hottest since record keeping began, this year is shaping up to best them all. In short, we’re failing. Badly.
Adding insult to injury was the failure of COP24 participants to adopt the IPCC’s landmark scientific report briefly mentioned above. The report, released in October, shows just how perilously close the world is to destroying itself. It concludes the world is on track to shatter the 1.5 degree Celsius threshold that will trigger irreversible impacts of global climate change. COP24 was prepared to welcome the report and its findings, which would have stressed the urgency of the situation and continued the momentum of the 2015 Paris Agreement. But the United States, Russia, Saudi Arabia, and Kuwait objected and demanded the report only be “noted” instead of “welcomed.” The result is that text referring to the pivotal report has been dropped altogether.
However, failure to adopt the report does not diminish its importance in the eyes of the rest of the global community. Unfortunately it highlight’s America’s continued retreat from global leadership and its current trajectory of weakness that began when it announced its intention to withdraw from the Paris Agreement. Given the withdrawal’s basis in faulty logic, half-truths, and misleading statements, it comes as no surprise to find the global community taking the United States less seriously on everything.
Now For the Good News
While the world’s largest economy and greenhouse gas emitter by historic standards sits idly by, the rest of the world continues dealing with reality as it is. There are good reasons for hope and optimism. Earlier this year the European Union announced its commitment to 32 percent renewable energy target by 2030 under a legally binding framework. Non-OECD countries (essentially those not deemed “developed”) have taken the lead in renewable energy installations. According to Bloomberg New Energy Finance’s annual Climatescope, developing countries are bringing more new renewable energy generation than they are fossil fuel-based generation and outpacing developed countries to boot.
And for those who feel the transition to a more sustainable energy future is not happening fast enough (this writer is one of them), a recent study from the Stanford Woods Institute for the Environment concluded that almost 140 countries could aggressively transition to a 100 percent renewables-based electricity system. Doing so would require an almost unprecedented level of infrastructure investment, but it also has the potential to create millions of jobs, save money, and make serious progress on the challenge of climate change. What’s more, this aggressive transition would pair nicely with the global retreat from coal-fired generation. Carbon Tracker Institute recently documented coal’s dire global predicament with its “Powering Down Coal” report and interactive web portal. Demonstrating coal’s difficult road ahead: 42 percent of the global stock of coal-fired generation has been unprofitable this year, a trend which will reach 72 percent by 2040 and one that is consistent with the current reality for US-based coal and nuclear plants.
In fact, coal plant retirement in the United States in 2018 has only been outpaced by retirements in 2015, which is a large reason why carbon emissions in the United States continue to decline.
Rounding out reasons to be hopeful, I’d be remiss if I did not highlight that Maersk, the global shipping giant, announced its plan to be carbon emission free by 2050. This would be a tremendous step forward for an industry responsible for just over 2 percent of global emissions alone, and that powers itself by burning bunker fuel, some the dirtiest on the planet. Lastly, though it seems like a pittance compared to the monumental task before us, Patagonia’s recent decision to give the proceeds of its $10 million tax cut to environmental groups, underscores that if we all do our bit, we just might have a chance.
First, the important work done at the annual UN climate conference must be stressed and kept in the spotlight year-round. Sign up for newsletters and alerts to keep up with the topic and see the very real impact we are having on our environment.
Second, keep perspective. The Trump administration’s position on climate change grabs many headlines and camera flashes. For the second time this year, the entire world audibly laughed at the United States. (The first was at the UN General Assembly in September) But the truth is, there is plenty going on behind the scenes (as there has been for years) to advance real solutions and we should do what we can to be aware of them and support them.
Third, when a major player such as the United States cedes leadership on a matter of global importance, it underscores the need for everyone to get involved! Just because the federal government is currently too weak and cowardly to take this issue seriously doesn’t prevent others from stepping in to fill the void. Therefore, get involved! Look all around you at what’s going on at levels big and small. Draw inspiration. Throw support behind big names, and throw your time and energy at something in your backyard. Yes, the splashy headline stuff is important and necessary, but so is the next person seeing you do your bit so that they might be inspired to do theirs. And so on. And so on. Get to it. Time’s a wasting.


Abdul Aziz is new MAIS chairman
SHAH ALAM,. The Sultan of Selangor Sultan Sharafuddin Idris Shah today consented to present the letter of appointment to Tan Sri Abdul Aziz Mohd Yusof as the new chairman of the Selangor Islamic Religious Council (MAIS), effective Friday (Jan 1).
The appointment of the former chairman of the Election Commission (EC) was to replace Datuk Mohammed Khusrin Munawi whose tenure would end tomorrow after chairing MAIS since 2018.
The appointment was made in a ceremony to present letters of appointment to members of MAIS for the 2021-2023 session, Members of the Board of Trustee for the Selangor Zakat Board (LZS) and the Selangor Syariah High Court Judge at Istana Bukit Kayangan here.
He also presented letters of appointment to five new members of MAIS for the 2021-2023 session.
They were Selangor Deputy Mufti, Datuk Dr Anhar Opir, former Deputy Inspector-General of Police, Tan Sri Mazlan Mansor, Lembaga Permodalan Wakaf Nasional Berhad chairman Tan Sri Hashim Meon and two members of the Selangor Royal Family.
They were Tengku Seri Paduka Shah Bandar, Tengku Datuk Ardy Esfandiari Tengku Abdul Hamid Shah and Datuk Kurnia Bakti Diraja, Datuk Mohd Effendi Abdullah who is also the Pertubuhan Rumah Amal Cahaya Tengku Ampuan Rahimah (RACTAR) honourary treasurer.
The new appointments headed by Abdul Aziz, brought the total members of MAIS for the 2021-2023 session to 21 people.
Sultan Sharafuddin also consented to present letters of appointments to 11 Members of the Board of Trustees of LZS for the 2021-2023 sessions headed by its chairman Tan Sri Syed Anwar Syed Jamalullail, deputy chairman Tan Sri Ambrin Buang and Selangor Mufti Datuk Mohd Tamyes Abd Wahid as Member of the Board of Trustees of LZS.
All the appointments were effective this Friday until Dec 31, 2023.
Sultan Sharafuddin also handed over the letter of appointment to the new Selangor Syariah High Court Judge, Mohamad Khalid Share @ Shaii, effective Dec 16.


Anti-gambling activists have threatened legal action against the Jockey Club over its unprecedented practice of allowing children to attend daytime race meetings at the Sha Tin racecourse. They accuse the Jockey Club of trying to 'lure' young people into gambling and claim such a move may have breached the club's licensing conditions. But the club argued yesterday that it aimed to show children the positive aspects of horse racing. A dozen representatives from Hong Kong Gambling Watch, a coalition of about 10 local anti-gambling groups, rallied outside the club's headquarters in Happy Valley. Waving placards and shouting slogans, the protesters urged the government to step in to halt the Jockey Club's move, saying the practice was against the administration's anti-gambling policy. At the centre of the row is the club's new arrangement for children to attend daytime race meetings at the Sha Tin racecourse from the new racing season, starting tomorrow. The club said the move was in response to requests by racehorse owners, whose support had helped 'Hong Kong's racing industry to achieve the high international reputation that it has'. The club also said there would be measures to prevent children from placing bets or accessing betting counters. But coalition convenor Reverend Wu Chi-wai said: 'The racecourse is never a place for family day activities when race meetings are under way. Children can easily become addicted to gambling if they often follow their parents to the races.' Reverend Wu also said it was a licensing condition that the club should not allow minors to enter venues where bets were accepted. 'We may consider taking the case to the courts if the club does allow children to attend the Sunday meetings,' he said. The coalition urged the government to step in or it would step up its protests. The Jockey Club is the only authorised operator of horse racing. Similar family fun day arrangements were made in 1999 to mark the new millennium and in 2004 for National Day, events that also drew criticism from anti-gambling groups. In a statement, the Jockey Club said yesterday that many horse owners wanted their children to be allowed to go to race meetings to share the enjoyment of seeing their family's horse compete. The club said their requests were 'reasonable and legitimate', and it would be unreasonable to 'ignore the strong urging of its racehorse owners'. The club also said children were allowed onto racecourses in many countries including Japan, Australia, the United States and Britain. 'There is no evidence in these countries that allowing minors to enter racecourses leads to underage gambling,' the club said. The Home Affairs Bureau, which is in charge of gambling policy, said it was satisfied with the club's arrangements to prevent children from placing bets and thus the club was not violating the licensing conditions. A spokeswoman said the bureau would monitor the situation and review the arrangements with the club if needed.


New Rules for Product Advertisements on Instagram
October 26, 2020
[caption id="attachment_5586" align="aligncenter" width="500"] Photo Credit: CreativeNature_nl | Getty Images[/caption]
Published in The Catalyst Newspaper 2020
Facebook announced that they will make it hard for Instagram users to hide the fact that they are posting advertisements without specific labeling.
What better place to create exposure for your personal brands or services and potentially reach one billion users but Instagram? Thousands of business owners post content daily to gather more customers to buy from their brand and the app makes it easy for anyone to grow their audience. Instagram caters to business pages by creating tools for call to action, video and photo editing, and insights. But even with these helpers at hand, many business owners and content creators rely on promotions from influencers.
Instagram influencers are users who share content and are involved in a specific niche or topic, like beauty, food, travel, etc. Depending on how long a user has been contributing to that community, they could gain trust and reliability from a large audience. Because of this trust that was built, businesses see that as an excellent opportunity to get their product in the hands of someone with a huge following base by paying them.
According to CNN’s Hanna Ziady, “Social media influencers with thousands of followers often earn fees from companies to promote their products. Many businesses and major global brands are allocating a growing portion of their advertising budgets to influencer marketing, particularly to reach younger consumers who may not watch television or read newspapers.”
Because many businesses are getting their products or services promoted to a large platform, a lot of brands are getting sales and are seeing a huge return on investments from influencer marketing. According to Big Commerce’s Rochelle Bailis, “However, nearly 90% of all marketers find ROI from influencer marketing comparable to or better than other marketing channels.”
As this cycle of paying influencers and getting exposure continues, the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) recognized that influencers are not saying if their post is an advertisement or not.
“The CMA said it has been investigating whether too many influencers are posting content about businesses without making it clear where they have been paid or incentivized to do so, amid concerns that the platform was not doing enough to tackle the problem,” Ziady said.
Posting a product without saying it is promoted can make a follower believe that the influencer uses the product and recommends it to others. Unfortunately, some products are not as good as they seem and affect online buyers.
“If I see an influencer promoting a product or service, I go to the business website and go straight to the reviews. It’s crazy how some people can be so naive to believe every product someone with a large following post is actually being used every day,” says Zachary Dorcinville, a frequent online shopper.
“For too long, major platforms have shied away from taking responsibility for hidden advertising on their site,” said Andrea Coscelli, CEO of the UK Competition and Markets Authority (CMA).
As a result, Instagram will make users select whether the influencer was paid for the promotion or not and if so, they must click on the “paid promotion” tool. This will help buyers decide if they want to buy an item within paid promotion and could potentially decrease misleading sales. Companies will be able to see who promotes their items and how their items are being promoted across Instagram. Such measures are being seen by UK regulators who want to see a change and spread transparency across the application.
A spokesperson for Facebook told CNN Business that it is “pleased to be working with the CMA on our continued efforts to help people be transparent about when they are paid to post content on Instagram,” according to Ziady. The spokesperson said Facebook will regularly report to the CMA on its enforcement measures regarding UK users.


Digg never became a billion-dollar company the way that its backers hoped, but founder Kevin Rose has had the good fortune to make early investments in start-ups that have since reached such prominent status.
In an interview, he admitted selling Digg shares during the company’s venture capital financing rounds, but said he “did not make a lot of money.” Where Rose did make a lot of money was in his angel investing. “The bulk of my success has been in angel investing,” he said.
Rose invested in Twitter in 2008, and as early as last year the Web messaging services was valued at more than $8 billion. A few years later, Rose said that he sold some of his Twitter stock for an undisclosed sum. Rose also invested in Zynga in 2009 at a reported valuation of $625 million — today the company has a market capitalization of $3.6 billion.
Other notable investments in which Rose took part include a 2009 funding round of mobile payments company Square, now valued at more than $1 billion; OMGPOP, the mobile video game maker bought by Zynga for $200 million; Foursquare, the popular mobile check in service; Fab, the design sales product site; and Path, the mobile social networking app company founded by Chief Executive Dave Morin, a former Apple and Facebook employee. (For a full list of his investments, check out Rose’s About.me page)
If you’re noticing a lot of mobile companies in Rose’s portfolio, there’s good reason for the pattern. Rose has long recognized the transformation that smartphones would bring to technology, say some people who have worked with him, despite the fact that Digg’s mobile products never gained much user traction.
“What he wanted to accomplish at Digg is being accomplished at a lot of his investments,” says Brian Wong, a former Digg employee and chief executive of Kiip, a mobile gaming rewards company where Rose is an adviser. “There was a huge mobile vision at Digg but it never came to fruition for many various reasons. Who knows what they could’ve done if they had made certain choices?”
After resigning from Digg last year, Rose started up Milk, a mobile product development studio that raised $1.7 million before Rose and his team shut down the company to join Google this March. Rose was initially named a senior product manager on Google+, the company’s social networking project, but was named a partner at Google Ventures.
Rose has a reputation as an innovative thinker who can listen to other people’s ideas and improve them, something that makes him an attractive investor, says Wong. “You sit down with him for ten minutes, tell him your idea, and you’ll see it become something so much greater.”
Rose says that his own intuition guides his investments. “I look for the next big thing,” he said in the interview. “I look for consumer Internet companies that I would use, and getting into them as early as possible.”
Spencer Ante contributed to this article.


Lessons from History's Largest Crypto Hack: Exclusive Interview with Coincheck's PresidentBy Emily Parker
Last year, the Japanese exchange Coincheck suffered the largest hack in cryptocurrency history. The incident deeply spooked Japanese authorities, sending a regulatory chill over a country that once looked like a Bitcoin capital. For a long time, Japan had no new exchange licenses or coin listings.
Then in early 2019, a year after the Coincheck hack, one Japanese exchange finally got a license to operate. That exchange was hacking victim Coincheck, which is now one of the largest in Japan.
In this exclusive interview, Coincheck President Toshihiko Katsuya talked to LongHash about the hack, its lingering effects, and Coincheck's remarkable comeback.
"Coincheck, with over $500 million stolen, was the biggest hack since Mt. Gox," Katsuya said. "We still don't know who the hackers were. I think people were astonished by the amount."
"Last year, because of the hack, regulations tightened. The progress of the fintech industry lagged, probably because of that. But I think it can't be helped."
Japan's crypto world looks very different than it did two years ago, in large part because of Coincheck. Japan was once widely seen as a crypto-friendly nation. In 2017 it declared Bitcoin to be a legal form of payment and granted licenses to 16 cryptocurrency exchanges.
When Coincheck was hacked it did not have a license, but was operating on provisional basis. Katsuya says this was in part because Coincheck offered some privacy coins, which the Japan Financial Services Agency (JFSA) had some concerns about.
Then came the crypto boom. "Coincheck made a huge profit in 2017, and then was hacked on January 26, 2018. Coincheck management tried to do their best in late 2017, but the boom came so suddenly they were not able to prepare a cold wallet for NEM," Katsuya said. (NEM was the virtual currency that was stolen from Coincheck). "Coincheck returned almost all the money to customers, because NEM was not so liquid.”
The hack highlighted a larger vulnerability in the crypto economy. Cryptocurrency is supposed to be decentralized. One of the great advantages of the Bitcoin blockchain, for example, is that it is distributed throughout the world, meaning that there is no central point to hack into. But this is not necessarily true of cryptocurrency exchanges.
"Crypto exchanges function like a kind of bank," Katsuya said. "Crypto exchanges hold everything: customer information, customer fiat money, and customer crypto. So, we need to be very careful to safeguard these things."
"After the hack, people realized crypto exchanges are custodians of crypto as well as fiat. They need to be more careful about that. JFSA had to order the strengthening of internal controls."
In April of 2018, Coincheck was acquired by the online brokerage Monex. At the time of the hack, Katusya was the COO of Monex Group, in charge of overseas operations. The JFSA gave Coincheck a business improvement order after the hack, telling Monex to change the exchange's governance.
So in April Katsuya started running Coincheck, as president. (Coincheck had no CEO after the Monex acquisition). Coincheck had to prove to regulators, and the public, that it could be trusted.
"We tried to persuade the JFSA that we can improve on cyber security, internal control and money laundering.”
But the pressure wasn't only on Coincheck. All Japanese exchanges were subject to harsher regulatory scrutiny. "Before the hack, as long as crypto exchange activity was not prohibited by a specific law, it was OK," Katsuya said. "But after the regulatory framework changed last year, crypto exchanges need to make sure their activity complies with self-regulatory rules." Rules were determined by Japan Virtual Currency Exchange Association (JVCEA), a self-regulatory organization among crypto exchanges.
After the hack, new coins needed to get approval from JVCEA. Over 18 months later, no new coins had been approved.
"The crypto exchanges under a business improvement order cannot list new coins," Katsuya explained. "Most crypto exchanges were ordered to improve in June of last year. I think the JFSA realized they needed to look into the safety and soundness of coins more carefully. They asked JVCEA to examine the appropriateness of coins. Because of that, JVCEA set up a checklist for new coins."
Coincheck had to submit a monthly progress report on their business improvement plan, ultimately convincing regulators that they had sufficiently improved. "Finally, the JFSA said that we don't need to report. In January of 2019, they gave us a formal registration."
For better or worse, the hack made it a lot harder to operate a cryptocurrency exchange in Japan. Because of new requirements for security, anti-money laundering and countering financing for terrorists, the costs of compliance have risen. “I don't think most of the crypto exchanges can keep up," Katsuya said.
The hack also had a dampening effect on the public's attitude toward crypto. "Most media, especially television broadcasters, were reluctant to have commercials for crypto after the hack," Katsuya said. "Since the Coincheck hack, the activity of individual Japanese traders went down by a lot." He said Bitcoin prices are now largely determined by institutional investors, mostly in the Western world.
The Japanese crypto market is finally starting to come back. "Individual traders came back this year. In terms of trading volume, it came back to the same level as one year before. Last month, the trading level has returned to [that of] July last year."
Kastuya said that Coincheck is probably Japan's second largest exchange by trade volume, but still has to work to win over public trust. "There are still a number of people who are against Coincheck. Before getting the registration, we tried to keep our existence low profile, after getting the approval, after April this year the market sentiment has changed, then we gradually increased marketing."
Coincheck stopped accepting foreign applicants after the hack, so most of its customers are Japanese. According to Katsuya there are 2.5 million people that have downloaded the app, with 1.9 million registered users. The actual number of accounts is 900,000, with active users making up probably half of that. "Our main customers are males in their 20s and 30s, very similar to FX traders, they love the volatility."
All over the world, governments are trying to find a way to regulate crypto without stifling innovation. Crypto also moves at a lightning-fast pace, which poses a particular challenge for Japan.
"In Japan, most things are determined by bureaucrats. They are bureaucrats from start to end. Most of the regulations are determined by bureaucrats, who do not have experience doing business, even though they are very smart. In the crypto world, the technology changes so quickly, it's very tough for bureaucrats to act in a timely manner."
Still, Katsuya believes that regulations are being properly determined. Without consumer protection, the industry will not grow. Besides, Coincheck can't really complain.
"We were severely hacked. I don't think we are in a position to say: the regulation is so tough."


On Thursday morning, “Today” aired a segment about President-elect Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate. The segment included an interview with the President-elect’s former butler, Anthony Senecal, who was investigated by the Secret Service for writing that President Barack Obama should be “hung for treason!!!”
Senecal was included in the segment and is featured discussing Trump’s Florida retreat: “It’s absolutely magical. It’s the most beautiful place in the world.” The former butler walks through the grounds of the estate and shares family photos of himself with the Trumps.
What the segment didn’t include was that Senecal made news during Trump’s campaign last May and was investigated by the Secret Service after it was found out that he had posted multiple Facebook posts calling for Obama to be harmed.
“Looks like that sleezey bastard zero (O) is trying to out maneuver Congress again, if the truth be known this prick needs to be hung for treason!!!” Senecal wrote in an April 2015 Facebook post, the magazine Mother Jones had reported and Senecal allegedly also confirmed those were his words to the magazine. Below is a screenshot of a Facebook post by the former Trump butler from May 2016.


Proterra Inc., a leading innovator in commercial vehicle electrification technology, has announced the election of Joan Robinson-Berry to the company’s board of directors. Robinson-Berry recently retired from a 35-year career with The Boeing Company.
“Proterra is delighted to welcome Joan to our board of directors,” said Jack Allen, Proterra CEO and chairman of the company’s board of directors, in a statement. “Joan is an accomplished engineering leader whose deep skillset, expertise, and experience with world-class manufacturers will help accelerate our company’s growth and mission.”
During her career with The Boeing Company, Robinson-Berry held leadership positions in engineering, maintenance, and modifications for all Boeing government and commercial product lines. Most recently, she served as senior vice president and chief engineer for Boeing Global Services, where she was responsible for product and services safety, technical integrity, and engineering. Robinson-Berr held roles including vice president and general manager of Boeing South Carolina and vice president of supplier management and chief procurement officer for The Boeing Company’s Shared Services Group business unit.
“Proterra’s mission is to advance EV technology to deliver the world’s best performing commercial vehicles. I am excited to have the opportunity to join the Proterra Board at a time when transportation needs are changing,” said Robinson-Berry.
Robinson-Berry joined Boeing in 1986, after working in design engineering for General Dynamics and cofounding and operating a small engineering company in the inner city of Los Angeles. Throughout her 30-year career, Robinson-Berry has promoted science, technology, education, and mathematics (STEM) in the communities where she lived including Long Beach, Seattle, St. Louis, Chicago, and Charleston. She works tirelessly to bring a message of hope and confidence to students who need the inspiration to aspire to careers in engineering, technology, and development.
In 2007, Robinson-Berry received Career Communications Group’s Black Engineer of the Year Achievement Award and was inducted into the CCG Alumni Hall of Fame in 2012.
Robinson-Berry earned a bachelor’s degree in engineering technology from California State Polytechnic University-Pomona and an MBA in engineering and industrial management from West Coast University. She currently serves on the Cal Poly Pomona Philanthropic Foundation Board as well as the boards of directors for both Valmont Industries, Inc. and Unaka Company Inc.


Enterprise State Community College awarded the bid on the Forester Hall renovation project on Monday, March 25.
Bullard-Cook, Inc. out of Montgomery was awarded the bid for $1.3 million, according to ESCC Dean of Student Services Olivier Charles.
“Our faculty is excited because they have a quality space to teach and a state-of-the-art space to teach,” Charles said. “Our students will have a state-of-the-art space to learn in and our community will have a state-of-the-art fine arts building that they can visit or peruse right here in Coffee County.”
The renovations will see a complete overhaul of the building, separating it into three different areas: music, theater and art.
The art portion of the renovations will include turning the lobby of the building into a gallery for visual arts students.
“Our art will be able to have art shows—right there—within their building that the public can view,” Charles said. “Also, the community can also have shows there as well. We want to open that building up to the community and allow them to use the spaces if they need to.”
New furniture will also be brought in to the lobby for students to use to hang out and relax or study between classes.
“A lot of our fine arts students actually sit and hang out in that building between classes so we’re going to add the proper furniture so that they can sit and study and be able to plug their devices in right there and prepare for the next class,” Charles said.
Another renovation under the art section of the building will be a darkroom for photography students, according to Charles.
He said as far as the renovations for the music side, the choral rehearsal room will be repainted and soundproofed.
The theater section of the building will see a brand new black box theater for the students to use as a classroom and for performances.
“There will be opportunities for students to build props, there will be one-man or one-woman shows, there will be small recitals, there will be small plays and all of those will happen within the black box theater,” Charles said.
He said the theater will hold 85-100 seats and will also be open to the community to use for shows.
The ESCC Foundation gifted the institution $350,000 to build the black box theater and will be named after the ESCC Foundation.
Other renovations will include new bathrooms and an office suit for all the faculty with a break room.
Charles said that the renovations are slated to start in late April or early May after spring classes are over but before finals are taken. Construction is expected to take 90 days and he said that ESCC hopes to have the faculty and staff moved back in by early-mid August before fall classes start.
The building is currently slated to be opened and used at the start of fall classes.
“We believe that a successful fine arts program not only enhances opportunities for our students, but it also provides a means to connect our community with the college,” ESCC President Matt Rodgers said. “We are fortunate to have excellent support from our community for this important program. We want ESCC to be known as the ‘Center for Fine Arts in the Wiregrass.’”


Frenchie Davis, singing competition veteran, decided to come out of the closet and confess to the world that she’s been dating a woman for the past year.
“I wasn’t out before the relationship, but I wasn’t in,” she told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. “I dated men and women, though lesbians weren’t feeling the bisexual thing. Now I’m in love with a woman I think I can be with forever.”
The singer is best known for her Broadway performance of “Rent” and traveling musical “Dreamgirls.”
She proudly supports the gay community and will be performing this weekend at the Chicago Pride Festival. She’s also working on a new album that she says is going to make people dance.


Spain to ease conditions for startups to attract entrepreneurs, investment
MADRID, Dec 10 (Reuters) - Spain's cabinet approved a suite of tax breaks for entrepreneurs and investors and simplified the process of setting up a new business on Friday as part of a new bill to make the country more attractive to startups.
Known as the "startup law", the legislation forms part of a package of reforms that Madrid agreed with the European Commission in exchange for the release of pandemic recovery funds.
"Startups are the foundation of the new digital economy, they generate highly skilled jobs and have high growth potential," Economy Minister Nadia Calvino said after a weekly cabinet meeting.
Registration fees will be eliminated and the requirements for creating new company will be streamlined, Calvino said.
Spain currently ranks 97th on the World Bank's ranking for ease of starting a business, among the lowest scores in Europe.
Under the new law, employees can receive up to 50,000 euros ($56,385) a year in stock options - a common form of remuneration in startups - without paying tax, compared with a previous 12,000 euro limit.
The amount and rate for investors to claim back deductions on investments in startups will also increase.
In an effort to attract and retain talent, Spain will offer startup employees, investors and so-called digital nomads a favourable tax regime under a special five-year visa, Calvino said.
The bill will now be sent to parliament.
($1 = 0.8868 euros)
Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.


Richard Drew, a 52 year old school principal at Jumeira Baccalaureate School has been inspiring hundreds of school children to follow a fit lifestyle for decades. He holds a Masters degree in Physical Education and Sports Science. Ever since Dubai Fitness Challenge was introduced in 2017, the challenge has been well accepted by him.
Although the challenge started on the weekend, children of his school had started with their fitness journey much in advance to make sure they are a part of the movement. The whole school including staff and parents were doing Zumba. They have various events and activities lined up during early morning and lunchtime before the challenge ends. Fitnovation was started much before the 30 x 30 started.
Source: Khaleej Times


Maine youth center testing staff, detainees for virus
PORTLAND, Maine (AP) — The Long Creek Youth Development Center is testing all staff and residents for the new coronavirus after a youth detainee tested positive for the virus.
The Maine Department of Corrections announced the decision to adopt universal testing Sunday after learning of the positive test result. The youth was tested Friday before being released; test results became available Saturday, officials said.
The minor was asymptomatic while at the detention center and is now self-quarantining, officials said.
In addition to campus-wide testing, the South Portland detention center is stepping up precautions to prevent the spread of the virus, including medical monitoring and use of personal protective equipment.
In other Maine coronavirus-related news:
Maine reported 30 more cases of the virus Monday along with an additional death. That brought the total reported cases to 3,221 and the number of deaths to 105.
For most people, the new coronavirus causes mild or moderate symptoms, such as fever and cough that clear up in two to three weeks. For some, especially older adults and people with existing health problems, it can cause more severe illness, including pneumonia and death.
Bath Iron Works reports that two more shipbuilders have tested positive after another worker tested positive last week.
The two workers had been carpooling with the worker who tested positive last week, the shipyard said. They are receiving medical care and have been instructed to self-isolate.
The Maine Center for Disease Control classifies three or more cases to be an outbreak.
Three workers who previously tested positive have recovered and returned to work.
Maine's independent Sen. Angus King has joined a group of 15 senators in asking the Treasury Department to provide answers about problem some residents have had after receiving CARES Act stimulus payments as debit cards. King and the other senators said the program has included additional fees. Some residents have also been confused by the cards and thrown them out, he said.
King has also called for direct cash payments to be the standard.
Portland bar scene
The Portland Police Department said businesses in the Old Port district are in compliance with restrictions imposed because of the coronavirus.
Many were outraged when photos circulated on social media of a large group of people, many without face coverings, Friday night on Wharf Street, which is home to numerous restaurants and bars.
Police stepped up patrols Saturday night, and the sweep yielded no violations or fines, said police spokesman Lt. Robert Martin.
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Striking a dissenting note over the additional charge of sports and youth empowerment, Karnataka Minister for Rural Development and Panchayat Raj KS Eshwarappa on Saturday said he was mulling whether to accept it or not.
His statement comes a day after Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa gave additional responsibilities to 14 ministers.
"Some additional responsibilities have been given to the ministers. I have been given the additional charge of sports and youth empowerment. I will discuss with the chief minister and decide whether to accept this responsibility or not," Mr Eshwarappa told reporters, without elaborating further.
Replying to a query on the war of words between former chief minister Siddaramaiah and former union minister KH Muniyappa, Eshwarappa said, "Power and position are not permanent. It is applicable to me, Siddaramaiah, Yediyurappa or Kumaraswamy."
According to reports, a bitter war of words ensued between Siddaramaiah and KH Muniyappa during the Karnataka Congress meeting held on Thursday to discuss their strategy for the upcoming bypolls and strengthening the party base.
Mr Muniyappa was reportedly upset with his defeat from Kolar Lok Sabha constituency and held Siddaramaiah accountable for it.
Recalling how Mr Yediyurappa's attempt to form Karnataka Janata Paksha to counter the BJP fell flat, Mr Eshwarappa asserted that no one was above the party and any attempt to destroy it would have a bearing on their political future as well.
"No one comes to power without the support of the party. Siddaramaiah had built the party but how many seats could he win? Three plus one! Yediyurappa too formed a party, how many seats did he win? Three plus one seats!" the minister said.
Mr Eshwarappa said that no one could succeed by crossing their limits and trying to go beyond the party line.
"If people in power do not understand this then, they alone will be destroyed, not the party," he added.
Get Breaking news, live coverage, and Latest News from India and around the world on NDTV.com. Catch all the Live TV action on NDTV 24x7 and NDTV India. Like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter and Instagram for latest news and live news updates.


The first week of our term-2 Television student projects has been a busy one!
On Tuesday, our first-year production team “Keen-Wa Productions” was shooting a PSA promoting workplace gender equality using our new Sony FS-700 cinema camera, and on Thursday, “4:1 Films” faced the elements as we produced an exterior shoot for a bicycle safety public service announcement.
Only a small part of the production is on-set however; students spend weeks of work planning and preparing these productions! Just showing up to shoot is easy, going fully prepared, and with all of the necessary documentation is a lot of work!
The faculty lectured on Music Videos (with a generous helping of Michael Jackson!), and we demonstrated some of our production gear such as the Jimmy Jib with a remote camera head, and HD field monitors.


"I commend Lonely Planet for recognizing what Brooklynites have always known: our borough is not just the best place to live, work, and raise a family—it’s also a world-class place to visit," Brooklyn Borough President Markowitz said in a press release. "It gives me great pride to know that word is spreading that you can see the world, and stay in Brooklyn."
“Of all the boroughs, none has exploded in popularity like Brooklyn," Brice Gosnell, Lonely Planet’s Regional Publisher, Americas added in the release. "Brooklyn is the new downtown—with urban hipsters, diverse communities still intact, its own parades and festivals, and its own unique blend of small businesses and restaurants that make it must-see for any visit to New York."
There are many places to visit in Brooklyn Heights as part of a whirlwind tour of our borough. Check out the BHB Tourist Info section for more.


Powerful SMS Call Center platform converts costly inbound phone calls to cost-effective text message conversations
ORLANDO – March 17, 2014 – As customer service costs continue to climb, companies look to automation as a solution, however, this often comes at the expense of satisfaction and loyalty. To help businesses better serve customers in a cost-effective and efficient way, OneReach today introduced an SMS customer service offering – SMS Call Center – that changes the face of inbound service by providing the ability for companies to directly convert incoming calls to text conversations, which are convenient and flexible for customers. The company is showcasing the platform at Enterprise Connect, March 17-20, 2014 at the Gaylord Palms in Orlando, Fla.
According to a study from J.D. Power & Associates, 93 percent of IVRs have resulted in decreased customer satisfaction versus talking with an agent. Providing a Web chat channel has shown to improve satisfaction by up to 65 percent, but customers who call in for assistance cannot be transferred directly to chat, meaning they have to abandon their phone call to switch devices and can feel they’ve lost the progress made through the IVR.
Pew Research Center’s Internet & American Life Project reports that text messaging is becoming a preferred method of communication among consumers, with 31 percent of mobile phone owners preferring to text instead of talk. The SMS Call Center offering from OneReach can transfer callers to a text message conversation with a live agent to address their needs in a simple, convenient text message exchange they can have from anywhere.
“Many call centers have adopted SMS as a marketing tool or for simple notifications, however, there are huge opportunities for businesses to use this powerful, always-available channel to engage in two-way communication with their customers,” said Rich Weborg, CEO of OneReach. “Our SMS Call Center application provides a smart bridge from an expensive, sometimes frustrating phone interaction to an efficient engagement that is cost effective for businesses and convenient for the customer.”
When a customer calls in to a company’s IVR, the OneReach SMS Call Center platform provides the option for a caller to complete their interaction via text messaging instead of wading through IVR prompts or waiting on hold for an agent. The caller is prompted to press a button and is then transferred to text-based communication to resolve their request either through a live text conversation with an agent or an automated interaction.
The cost per interaction for SMS customer service is about 25 percent less than a phone call through the IVR. Companies that manage high quantities of service calls regarding a simple, specific action – such as a password change or tracking an order – can automate the SMS customer interaction so that an agent is not required, reducing the cost per interaction to about 25 cents.
OneReach allows call centers to create simple to complex SMS automation capability using OneReach’s visual designer. Text message applications can be set up quickly and easily without the need of development resources. For companies that don’t have a call center in place, OneReach can also provide standalone SMS, IVR and Web chat capabilities that are easy to set up, implement and manage.
Once SMS customer service is implemented, companies can further increase meaningful engagement with their customers, including adding point of sale integration and outbound communications that allow for two-way interaction. For example, an outbound reminder for an automatic re-order of a product sent via text can also ask customers if they would like complimentary products added, and then confirm the sale through SMS.
OneReach is demonstrating its SMS Call Center platform at Enterprise Connect at booth 1914. More information on SMS Call Center can be found at www.onereach.com/callcenter.html.
OneReach facilitates interactive, two-way conversation between companies and their customers through a multichannel, automated communications platform. Created by a team of customer experience experts, OneReach helps companies enhance their customer service efforts by seamlessly incorporating voice, text messaging, email and other communication channels into a single communications system that increases customer loyalty while decreasing operational costs. OneReach seamlessly integrates with any back-end system without the need for development resources.
For more information on OneReach, call or text 303-974-7351, or visit www.onereach.com. Follow us on Twitter @onereach, on LinkedIn, or “like” us on Facebook.
About Enterprise Connect®
Enterprise Connect® is the leading conference and exhibition in North America for enterprise communications and collaboration systems, software and services. Enterprise Connect® brings corporate IT decision makers together with the industry’s suppliers, analysts and consultants to focus on the issues central to enterprise communications and collaboration networks. Enterprise Connect® owns and produces No Jitter, (http://www.nojitter.com/), providing daily blogging and analysis of enterprise communications, and it also serves the community with a weekly email newsletter, a Webinar Series and Virtual Events. For more information, visit http://enterpriseconnect.com/.


Sue Ryder is disappointed to see that the Employment Bill was not announced in the Queen’s Speech.
Sue Ryder is urging the Government to include the Employment Bill in the Queen's Speech on 10 May, in which they can introduce a legal right to paid bereavement leave for all.
Sue Ryder comments on government amendment to the Health and Care Bill which would make it a legal right for dying people to receive the healthcare they need.
Today, Wednesday 27 October, the Chancellor announced the government’s Autumn budget, setting out tax changes and new spending commitments.
Today Sue Ryder co-hosted a roundtable with thought leaders and professionals in the field of bereavement to discuss key themes of work for the recently formed bereavement commission.
Our Influencing and Engagement team attended the Labour and Conservative Party Conferences in September and October, respectively, to raise awareness of the growing demand for palliative care, and the need for a sustainable funding solution to secure its future.
On 16th June, Sue Ryder and Barbara Keeley MP hosted a roundtable with MPs and hospice charities discussing the funding challenges facing the sector.
Dr Paul Perkins, Chief Medical Director at Sue Ryder and Consultant in Palliative Medicine, talks about the latest Ambitions Framework for Palliative and End of Life Care, and how the important principles of person-centred care are embodied in the support we provide at Sue Ryder.
Sue Ryder marks Dying Matters Week by calling on the government to end the funding crisis facing the palliative care sector.
A coalition of MPs, businesses and charities have backed Sue Ryder's campaign for statutory bereavement leave in a powerful new video.


Travel survey reveals that 55% of families would be willing to pay more to make their trip sustainable and over a third would accept a 10% increase on the price of their holiday to make it carbon neutral.
Our survey of over 3,000 members in the Your Baby Club network has revealed that taking environmentally-friendly holidays is of growing importance to families.
85% think that sustainable travel is an important issue, almost 3/4 (74%) said they want to travel more sustainably following the pandemic and 40% would like to stay in sustainable accommodation over the next year.
These attitudes are also influencing consumer decisions. Over 75% of families see an airline taking steps to be being ‘cleaner’ as important in choosing to fly with them.
If the price is right
Despite 37% of families willing to pay up to a 10% increase on the price of their holiday to make it carbon neutral and over 3/4 feeling either positive or neutral about a compulsory carbon tax in the future, it’s clear that cost could still be an obstacle.
85% of families consider price the most important factor in whether they would carbon offset their holiday and 54% are only willing to pay an increase of less than 5%.
80% also said they would choose a carbon offset holiday over a standard package if it was included somewhere in the price.
Doing their part
Even though 40% of families stated they are prepared to make lifestyle compromises to benefit the environment and almost 60% get annoyed when somewhere they are staying prevents them from being sustainable, over half are yet to book an environmentally-friendly holiday.
47% have also never used a service to offset the CO2 generated by their holidays, with over a third (36%) admitting they didn’t know these services existed.
So, will we see sustainable travel intent from the pandemic turn into real action?
Well 80% of families said they would travel to less popular destinations and attractions to ensure they aren’t contributing to overcrowding.
70% of families also intend to use reusable water bottles instead of bottled water while travelling, with 68% wanting to reduce their general waste and a further 63% looking to reduce energy consumption by turning off A/C and lights when not in their hotel room.
The signs are positive but there is still a way to go for sustainable travel to become a mainstream choice: family-friendly services, cost, location and brand reputation are all considered more important factors than green credentials for families when choosing their holiday package.


By PHIL KABLER
CHARLESTON, W.Va. — With members of his Greenbrier East High School girls basketball team leading a cheer on the House of Delegates floor, Gov. Jim Justice in his second State of the State address Wednesday declared, “We’re on our way, let’s go get it done.”
Using whiteboards to show the six years of budget deficits projected when he took office in 2017, and the current six-year plan showing state budgets in the black, Justice said before the joint assembly of the House and Senate, “You can’t fathom how dire it was, and you can’t imagine how promising it looks.”
If there was any semblance of a theme, it might be that Justice is honored to be called governor but prefers being called coach.
“I coach for the players; I don’t coach for myself,” he said. “The people of West Virginia are the players.”
See more from the Charleston Gazette-Mail


Former Congolese rebel commander Bosco Ntaganda has reduced the number of witnesses he will call to testify at the International Criminal Court (ICC) from more than 100 to 40 following the weeks-long testimony he gave in his own defense. Before Ntaganda began his testimony, defense lawyers said they would make their case significantly shorter if the accused was allowed to testify for several weeks at the start of the defense case.
Following the completion of Ntaganda’s testimony at the end of last month, his lawyers filed an updated list that comprises 40 witnesses. Last week, the lawyers said they would no longer call one of those witnesses (D-214). Meanwhile, the defense asked judges to allow the addition of two individuals, Witness D-251 and Witness D-257, to the list. Judges granted the request, which the prosecution and lawyers representing victims opposed.
Ntaganda, whose trial started in September 2015, started his defense case last June, and judges have heard evidence from eight defense witnesses since. However, the trial stalled last week due to unspecified challenges defense lawyers were experiencing in getting witnesses to appear before the court.
The accused was the second witness called by the defense, and he testified between June and September of this year. Prior to his testimony, the defense had indicated that it intended to call up to 111 witnesses. Last month, the defense said it intended to drop 11 witnesses. The prosecution in the Ntaganda trial called 71 witnesses.
Meanwhile, the defense is seeking to add Witness D-251 five months after the deadline for submitting its witnesses because it expects her testimony to contradict purportedly incriminating prosecution evidence about the age of specific individuals whom Ntaganda knew (and who are purportedly former child soldiers), and about how Ntaganda treated female soldiers and escorts. The witness would also testify that Ntaganda’s bodyguards were not raped or sexually abused, and offer her knowledge of specific prosecution witnesses who alleged rape and sexual abuse. Her evidence would therefore be “relevant and exculpatory to issues of core importance” to the case, said the defense.
Defense lawyers submitted that, in order to save court time, they would tender Witness D-0251’s testimony under Rule 68(3) of the court’s Rules of Procedure and Evidence, under which judges may allow the introduction of the prior recorded testimony of a witness who is present before the chamber if the individual does not object and if both parties and the chamber have an opportunity to examine the witness.
Regarding Witness D-257, the defense stated that his evidence would corroborate Ntaganda’s testimony on the reasons for his visit to Kigali, Rwanda, in 2003, which the prosecution challenged during cross-examination. The defense stated that this testimony was directly relevant to Ntaganda’s credibility.
In permitting the defense to add the two individuals to its witness list, judges noted that Witness D-251 was expected to provide exculpatory evidence on a number of issues of significance to the case, including Ntaganda’s treatment of female escorts, his attitude towards relationships between soldiers and escorts, the age of escorts, and Ntaganda’s directions on the treatment of the civilian population and prisoners. Judges also ruled that Witness D-257’s anticipated testimony might be of relevance to a contested issue in the case, namely Ntaganda’s testimony in relation to his visit to Rwanda.
The prosecution opposed the addition of the two witnesses, arguing that the request was filed five months after the expiration of the relevant deadline and after the major part of the defense case had passed. The prosecution faulted the defense for failing to provide valid reasons for not seeking to add these witnesses at an earlier stage, and claimed Witness D-257’s proposed evidence was not relevant to any matters to be determined.


Construction union boss John Setka is facing court action to stop him from stealing members from other sections of the powerful industrial body.
CFMMEU national secretary Michael O'Connor has lodged legal papers in the Federal Court in Melbourne seeking orders to prevent Mr Setka and 29 other construction division officials from poaching members from Mr O'Connor's manufacturing branch.
Mr O'Connor is seeking permanent orders stopping Mr Setka and other officials from "encouraging or advising any members of the union in the Victorian district of the manufacturing division of the union" to resign their membership of the division.
Watch the latest News on Channel 7 or stream for free on 7plus >>
As well, Mr O'Connor wants orders preventing officers and organisers of Victorian-Tasmanian division from enrolling members who have resigned, and the members and their union dues to be returned to the manufacturing division.
No date has been set for a hearing.
It is the latest escalation of the war within the CFMMEU.
Mr Setka was forced out of the Labor party last year, having pleaded guilty to harassing his wife, but has controversially held onto his union position.
Last September, CFMMEU national and mining and energy division president Tony Maher received support for a motion condemning Mr Setka's "unprincipled actions" in stealing members from other divisions.
Mr Maher said at the time the union would not tolerate "breaches of rules and the principle of divisional autonomy".
The Morrison government has sought to use the CFMMEU ructions as an example of why "ensuring integrity" laws need to be passed.
The draft laws will go to the Senate when parliament resumes in Canberra on February 4.
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It was going to happen eventually, and to no surprise, it was a Yankee that hit the first home run in London. Although, it may not have been who you might’ve originally thought.
Yankees outfielder Aaron Hicks added a pair of runs on his two-run home run to right center, the first ever home run hit in London.
— MLB (@MLB) June 29, 2019
While the Yankees pummeled on Red Sox starter Rick Porcello in the first inning with one out, Aaron Hicks’ two-run bomb extended the Yankees lead to 6-0 to start the game and knocked out Porcello, who pitched just a third of an inning.
The Yankees batted around in the first before Colten Brewer struck out DJ LaMehieu looking to end the inning.
The hit was also Hicks’ first off of Porcello for his career. London fans are being treated to some fireworks early on.
Read more: thebiglead.com


February came and went in a flash, but not before Senior Business Development Manager, Shawn Roderick, earned the nomination from his teammates to win the February employee of the month Puck Award. At a recent company meeting, President Torin Dragsbaek presented the award, highlighting a few of the reasons why Shawn is so deserving of this award. “No matter what the job, Shawn is always willing to step up and make things happen,” said Torin. “I especially appreciate that he takes on tasks without even being asked. He is always there to help out.”
This is Shawn’s second stint at JVT. He first joined the team in 2007, left in 2011 and worked in healthcare IT recruiting for a few years before returning to JVT.


It will take just 500 rupees to access the Aadhaar data of a billion of Indian citizens. According to a report published on the tribune, they’ve purchased a service offered by an anonymous dealer over whatsapp that provided them ability to access to details of billions of Addhar numbers.
According to the report, they’ve paid 500 rupees or $8 and the anonymous person gave them a Log in id and password of a gateway, by which anyone could enter to the UIDAI portal and can access to anyone’s aadhaar personal identification details including name,photos,mobile numbers, PIN code,address. Not only this, an “agent” of the group running the racket, offered a software that could print the details of Aadhaar cards.
Furthermore they’ve claimed that there is existence of this racket since the past six months or more. Last year in November, UIDAI stated Aadhaar data is totally secured and safe, and there has been no data breach from UIDAI data base. Though there was a case last year, where details of millions of jio users were uploaded on a mysterious website, though the website was taken down right after the data leak.
Additional Director General of UIDAI Regional Center, Sanjay Jindal stated, “Except the Director-General and I, no third person in Punjab should have a login access to our official portal. Anyone else having access is illegal, and is a major national security breach.
While UIDAI called this “a case of misreporting” and denied about the possibility of Aadhaar data breach. As per the authority, some people misused the demographic search facility of the database which is provided to the officials to retrieve details of people who’ve lost their Aadhaar card. As per UIDAI aadhaar card information leak or breach can’t lead to any kind of fraud or financial loses as it requires iris recognition or fingerprint authentication to gain access. Also the government tweeted a series of tweet to claim that there was no data leak and further more actions will be taken against the illegal activists including FIR.


If Einstein is correct and “insanity” is doing the same experiment again
and again and expecting different results, then America is truly delusional in its approach to
education and racial integration. Fifty years after Brown v. Board, the landmark Supreme Court
decision that invalidated the doctrine of “separate but equal,” America’s schools are as segregated
as ever—with often abysmal educational and psychological outcomes for black children.
To stop the madness, both Ogletree and Bell argue that what America must stop doing again
and again is attempting to provide integrated education for its children.
The notion of retreating from integration is blasphemous, unthinkable,
inherently racist. Yet, it rings true, even as one sputters in protest at the heresy. Fifty years
of culture wars notwithstanding, integration is still more rhetoric than reality, and it is the
ever-neglected minority children who pay the price for our continued focus on this seemingly
unattainable goal. Perhaps it’s time America cried “Uncle.” Racism won.
Mournful books both, Bell’s best captures the significance of Brown
at the time of its pronouncement and of African Americans’ then-unconquerable optimism about
the country’s ultimate goodness. Mustered out after the Korean War, Bell was in law school in 1954;
Brown, he was convinced, “marked the beginning of the end of Jim Crow oppression in all its myriad
forms. For black Americans long burdened by our subordinate status, there was, to paraphrase the
spiritual, ‘a great day a-coming.'” He describes meeting with William H. Hastie, the first black
federal judge, shortly before Bell graduated in 1957. “Son,” Hastie told him, “I am afraid that
you were born 15 years too late to have a career in civil rights.”
Forty-seven years later, civil-rights advocates are still trying
to integrate America’s schools, wistfully invoking Brown like the abandoned child stationed
at the window waiting for parents who are never coming back for her. But not Ogletree and Bell;
two of the nation’s premier civil-rights scholars and attorneys, they’ve surrendered the dream
of integration and now demand that separate schools actually be made equal.
While Plessy-style segregation might have been psychologically harmful,
even more so has been the fruitless, enervating quest to force, trick, or cajole whites into sharing
their neighborhoods and classrooms. An elderly teacher from one of the Jim Crow era’s highest achieving
black schools—Dunbar in Washington, D.C.—remarks sadly, “Integration, with all
the good it brought, was also the beginning of the end of Dunbar and Negro education as I’d known it.
I wouldn’t want it to go out that I’m not for integration—I am. I’m not for what it did to Dunbar
and to students.” One woman adds, “We got what we fought for, but we lost what we had.” Even that was
too optimistic; except for the rhetorical victory of Brown, blacks did not get what they fought
Whatever its promise, the reality of desegregation has been grim, as
a peek inside America’s still segregated and still substandard black classrooms quickly reveals.
White students, Bell notes, attend schools that are 80 percent white. Today’s residential and
educational segregation rates equal that of de jure Jim Crow to within two-tenths of a percent in
some neighborhoods, resulting in a “social and economic apartheid.”
Educational outcomes have been equally stark: On standardized reading-achievement
tests, black nine-year-olds have scored an average of 10 points lower than white ones, and black
students are still twice as likely to drop out of high school as whites. Functional illiteracy is
as high as 40 percent among minority youths.
“With fifty years of hindsight,” Ogletree writes, “the tragic lesson”
of Brown is that it “actually defined…the power of racism as a barrier to true racial progress.”
The Brown directive to proceed “with all deliberate speed,” rather than with specific goals and
timetables, he argues, opened the door to “massive resistance” at every level of society. “It began
from the day the decision was issued…through to the Boston busing crisis of 1975…and,
most telling, to the resegregation of our schools and our communities in the twenty-first century.”
Somewhat ruefully, these two legal stars, both of whom committed substantial
portions of their careers to Brown-style advocacy, admit that the black community
was ambivalent about integration. “Too often, integration is presented as an unalloyed benefit
for African-Americans,” notes Ogletree:
For many in the African-American community, however, integration was viewed with
suspicion or something worse. Many communities at the center of the battle…would
have welcomed something less than the full integration demanded by the civil rights lawyers.
These teachers, school principals, and janitors would rather have kept their schools, their jobs,
and their positions of power and influence than see their charges bused to white schools run by white
principals where white educators often made the children all too grimly aware of their distaste
for the new state of affairs.
Indeed, the NAACP was known to oust local leaders who opposed integration
and to file court briefs attacking the plans of blacks who fought to improve, rather than integrate,
black schools. These two books apologize for that—for an elite forcing its vision on a wiser,
more practical community. They function as eulogies for the dying dreams of integration, for years
spent in fruitless jousts with white intransigence, for two generations of black children used
as pawns and tossed aside, uneducated. And they offer a hero’s funeral for Brown with a promise to
keep fresh flowers on its grave, that resting place for what might have been.
Plan B—the actual education and nurturing of minority, segregated
children—will now have to suffice.
Whites will argue that it is not racism that causes white flight and dismal
minority educational outcomes. But Eisenhower, president during Brown, was unguarded enough
to tell the truth: “[Southern whites] are not bad people. All they are concerned about is to see that
their sweet little girls are not required to sit in school alongside some big overgrown Negroes.”
Fifty years later, that determination remains. So be it, because Eisenhower was also correct in
noting that “it is difficult through law and through force to change a man’s heart.” Impossible,
perhaps—or so advocates for minority education should believe.
Regardless, 50 years is a long enough experiment, and it’s time we accepted
the obvious, as did W.E.B. DuBois in 1935: “Negro children needed neither segregated schools nor
mixed schools. What they need is education.” Insane as it seems, perhaps embracing segregation—ensuring
that separate truly is equal—will make all the difference.


The Future Looks Rosy in U.K. Robotics Landscape Report
Innovate UK says the nation's robotics and autonomous systems market presents an opportunity to catch up to the U.S., Asia.
(April 07, 2015)
Qualcomm and Techstars to Grow Robots in Sunny San Diego
Qualcomm and Techstars building robots one robot at a time.
(December 18, 2014)
The Three Amigos: Jimmy, Pepper and Jibo
The first wave of truly social companion robots for the average family is here.
(November 26, 2014)
Exoskeleton Revolution: From Rigid to Soft to Ultra Soft
2014 was a breakout year for exoskeletons. The field is now crowded and very active with competing brands.
(November 19, 2014)
Can China’s Homegrown Robots Supplant Foreign Brands?
The robot gold rush for foreign robot brands may well be coming to an end.
(November 13, 2014)
Essential Robotics: RBR Research Reports 2014
Our first six webcasts and aligned research reports are ready for you.
(August 03, 2014)
How Tricky Is Investing in Robotics for Oil, Gas & Mining?
Robots are heading into brand new worlds where they have never before made contact
(July 25, 2014)
The Quiet Giant of Asian Robotics: Korea
Korea is well on its way to becoming a major player in the global robotics market.
(May 08, 2014)
Future Factory Robots Get STAMINA Boost
European researchers involved in the STAMINA project have concluded a series of experiments on a flexible robot learning system that allows factory bots to be easily trained by co-workers.
(April 04, 2014)
Is Robotic Milking a Viable Option for Farmers?
Researchers expect 20% of cows in Europe to be milked by robots in 2020. A new project is testing the economic viability of integrated cow grazing and robotic milking systems.
(March 29, 2014)
Tasty Impact: 3D Printing, Twinkies and Robotics
Are the world's giant and not so giant food producers aware of 3D printed food?
(March 14, 2014)
NeuroRover Uses Spiking Neurons, Artificial Bee Brain to Adapt
The NeuroRover features artificial mini-brains with spiking neurons that generate electrical signals just as real biological neurons, a bio-inspired structure that has potential for widespread application in robotic systems.
(March 06, 2014)


We are delighted with the excellent A Level results achieved by our Upper Sixth this year. These are the highest results in the history of the school, particularly at the A* Level. Enormous congratulations to our Upper Sixth students for these successful grades.
A level Results 2021 2020 2019 2018
% Grade A* 49.2% 34.4% 21.2% 23.8%
% Grade A* - A 85.0% 68.9% 54.0% 56.0%
% Grade A* to B 95.6% 91.6% 74.6% 77.0%
% Pass rate 100% 100% 98.9% 99.4%
The School recently acquired the new building on Linhope Street, which is now being converted into a Sixth Form Centre More...


It may be time to admit that there will never in fact be a common European foreign and security policy. Long before the crisis over Iraq erupted, momentum towards the creation of such a policy was quietly ebbing away.
The neoconservatives of the Bush administration have remained surprisingly determined on going to war with Iraq, despite the British insistence on UN involvement and Saddam Hussein's agreement to weapons inspections. Anatol Lieven considers what they hope to gain.
The Carnegie Endowment hosted a panel discussion on a pre-election assessment report by the National Democratic Institute, the International foundation for Election Systems, and the International Republican Institute.
The inflammation of US nationalism since 11th September has blinded it to the potential strategic disaster of a split with Europe. If an American strike against Iraq were to go badly wrong, the resulting international discord could spell the end of the cultural entity known as "the west".
The current focus on political reform, among Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza and within the Bush administration, is a product of the Intifada, the collapse of the peace process, and the impasse between Israel and Palestinian leadership.
Introduction by Carnegie President Jessica T. Mathews.
Special advance screening presented by the Carnegie Endowment and Paramount Pictures.


On July 29, the United States Bureau of Economic Analysis reported on the US Personal Consumer Spending Price Index (PCE) for the month of June and the figure saw the largest increase in 12 months since 1982. The same day, Stanford University senior researcher at the Hoover Institution and economics professor John Cochrane said the Federal Reserve would need to raise rates over 9% to tame inflation.
The PCE price index rose by 4.8% compared to a year ago
The US economy continues to look bleak every time a new economic report or data is released to the public. In mid-July, the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ Consumer Price Index (CPI) report was released, which revealed that the June CPI data reflected a record 9.1% year-over-year increase. On July 27, the US Federal Reserve raised the federal funds rate by 75 basis points (bps) to help curb searing inflation.
Two days later, the Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) released the carefully monitored personal consumption spending index data, otherwise known as the PCE. The PCE index saw the biggest jump in 12 months up 6.8% in June, an increase that hadn’t been recorded since January 1982.
“Since the same month a year ago, the June PCE price index has risen by 6.8%,” the BEA report details. “The prices of goods increased by 10.4% and the prices of services by 4.9%. Food prices increased by 11.2% and energy prices by 43.5%. Excluding food and energy, the PCE price index increased by 4.8 percent compared to a year ago, ”the government agency’s records read. The BEA plans to publish the results of the annual update of the national economic accounts on 29 September.
Economics professor at Stanford University thinks a Gold or Bitcoin standard won’t work
On the same day, economist John Cochrane gave an interview to Kitco’s editorial team and said the US central bank is expected to raise interest rates over 9%. Cochrane also noted that a gold or bitcoin standard would not be able to control inflation. The economics professor at Stanford University said the “consensus view” was that the Fed should raise rates “substantially above” the region by 9%.
“This means that, right now with 9% inflation, economists are talking about interest rates of 10, 11 or 12% to bring [prices] down, “Cochrane noted.” I think the Fed and the markets are counting on a lot of inflation going away on its own without interest rates having to go up that high, “Stanford economist David Lin told al. host of Kitco News.
Lin also asked Cochrane for a gold standard or a bitcoin standard used to control inflation. “Sorry, no,” the economist replied. “Under the gold standard, there was a lot of inflation and deflation. 10 or 20 percent of the ups and downs of inflation and deflation, but each inflation was then accompanied by deflation. Sorry, we’re not going back to gold. ”Cochrane believes the Fed needs to implement tighter fiscal policy to combat inflationary pressures.
As for a bitcoin standard, Cochrane said it was a terrible idea and insisted that bitcoin (BTC) was “worthless”. “This is a terrible idea,” Cochrane said in his interview with Lin. “In terms of financial technology, Bitcoin is an attempt to revive gold, something inherently worthless that people cling to just because it is rare … Bitcoin is also very poor to transact in itself, as it is so computationally intensive “. Cochrane concluded:
The best answer is that our governments should start implementing sober fiscal and monetary policies and pay more attention to keeping inflation in check.
What do you think of the latest PCE data and the opinion of economist John Cochrane? Do you think improving fiscal and monetary policies can help tame US inflation? Let us know what you think about this topic in the comments section below.
Image credits: Shutterstock, Pixabay, Wiki Commons


Punjab---Ravneet Singh Bittu nominated as Member of ICAR Society
Author(s): City Air NewsRavneet Singh Bittu, MP from Ludhiana. Ludhiana, September 16, 2014: Ravneet Singh Bittu, Member Parliament from Ludhiana has been elected by Lok Sabha to serve as a Member on board of Indian Council of Agriculture...
Ludhiana, September 16, 2014: Ravneet Singh Bittu, Member Parliament from Ludhiana has been elected by Lok Sabha to serve as a Member on board of Indian Council of Agriculture Research Society (I.C.A.R Society), under Ministry of Agriculture. The mandate of society is to promote, aid, and coordinate agricultural and animal husbandry education, research and its applications in practice, development and marketing in India.
This nomination will help me in communicating the various issues concerning the farmers of our state and the problems being faced by them to the Government of India and will help in a speedy remedial measures of their grievances, said Ravneet Singh Bittu.
Ravneet further added that being an agrarian state the economy of the state is closely interlinked with agrarian economy. Given the present state of affairs in the state a lot is needed to be done to improve the various sectors of agriculture and animal husbandry and there is a need to make our farmers aware about rapidly changing global scenario of agriculture.
It is pertinent to mention here that the Indian Council of Agriculture Research (ICAR), New Delhi, India is an autonomous organisation under the Department of Agricultural Research and Education, Ministry of Agriculture. It has 47 institutes, 4 National Bureaus and 26 National Research Centres and 11 Project Directorate spread across the country. In addition to this it provides financial support to Universities engaged in the field of Agriculture research all over India.
The ICAR has played a role in enabling the country to increase the production of foodgrains by four, horticultural crops by six, fish by nine (marine five and inland 17, milk six times and eggs 27 times since 1950.
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Supermarkets are the most common places that people have visited in the days leading up to a positive coronavirus test reported to the Test and Trace app in England, according to new data collated by Public Health England (PHE) between 9th and 15th November.
PHE collated the data using the NHS Test and Trace app, which means that the figures were based on members of the public who had the app and had tested positive for COVID-19.
While pubs have been and will continue to be, following yesterday’s announcement by Boris Johnson, subject to the harshest restrictions on trading during the pandemic, it’s supermarkets where people seem mostly likely to contract Covid-19 in the UK.
More than 18% of those who had contracted coronavirus in the UK had been to a supermarket in the days ahead of the positive test result.
According to data released by Public Health England (PHE) last week, based on information from the NHS Test and Trace app, supermarkets, not pubs, are the most common places visited in the days before a positive coronavirus test.
As first reported by Sky News, the new findings revealed that supermarkets are the “primary setting” where those who have contracted the virus have recently been, followed by secondary schools, then primary schools, hospitals, and care homes.
In contrast pubs come in at ninth place in a list of places visited ahead of the positive test.
While the data does not prove where people contracted the virus, however by analysing the contacts, and reviewing the movements of the 128,808 people who had tested positive for Covid-19 between 9 to 15 November, PHE has been able to show the most common locations visited by those with the virus.
The result is that over 18% of those who had contracted coronavirus had been to a supermarket in the days ahead of the positive test result, while less than 2% had visited a pub or a bar.
This data supports the hospitality and on trade’s assertion that the sector is being disproportionately punished when it comes to measures being used to attempt to slow the spread of the virus.
As reported in CLHNews yesterday https://catererlicensee.com/curfew-changed-to-11pm-and-new-tiered-system-imposed-which-will-kill-christmas-says-sector/
Leading industry figures believe that the government’s new restrictions will destroy the sector, Emma McClarkin, Chief Executive of the British Beer & Pub Association, said: “Our sector has been singled out by these new measures which unfairly target pubs. The additional restrictions will destroy our sector if they go ahead as proposed. Whilst the review of curfew is overdue the relaxation of the 10pm curfew is meaningless if most pubs are rendered unviable or forced to close under tiers two and three.
PHE results below showing the most frequent places visited leading to a positive Covid test:
- Supermarket – 18.3%
- Secondary school – 12.7%
- Primary school – 10.1%
- Hospital – 3.6%
- Care home – 2.8%
- College – 2.4%
- Warehouse – 2.2%
- Nursery preschool – 1.8%
- Pub or bar – 1.6%
- Hospitality – 1.5%
- University – 1.4%
- Manufacture engineering – 1.4%
- Household fewer than five – 1.2%
- General practice – 1.1%
- Gym – 1.1%
- Restaurant or cafe – 1.0%


Prabhudas Lilladher's research report on Rallis India
RALI in their pre-quarterly conference call highlighted that (a) domestic crop care business likely to post subdued performance primarily led by tepid demand due to disproportionate rainfall resulting into lower pest infestation and miss in sprays; (b) exports at a better-off position led by improved demand scenario globally supported by better product and price mix, however have cautious outlook due to drought in US and European markets; (c) herbicides continues to outperform (to post double digit growth in 2Q) as compared to insecticides and fungicides category; (d) launched 3 new 9(3) molecules in 1HFY23 as against guidance of 4 product launches in FY23E, additionally launched 5 new 9(4) molecules in 1H’23; (e) crop nutrition business to post double digit revenue growth, aided by better product mix; (f) high cost inventory to exert pressure in near term, however remains confident to maintain absolute EBITDA led by recent price hikes. We expect revenue/PAT CAGR of 13%/18% over FY22-25E (vs 8%/3% over FY11-22). Retain ‘BUY’.
We retain ‘BUY’ on Rallis India (RALI) with a target price of Rs250 (Rs230 earlier) based on 18xFY25 EPS even as we reduce our EPS estimates by 5.5% and 4.9% for FY23/24E on near term margin pressures due to high cost raw material inventory in 2Q23 despite 4-5% price hike in June’22.
At 17:30 Rallis India was quoting at Rs 218.25, down Rs 5.60, or 2.50 percent.
It has touched an intraday high of Rs 226.00 and an intraday low of Rs 216.80.
It was trading with volumes of 21,340 shares, compared to its thirty day average of shares, a decrease of percent.
In the previous trading session, the share closed down 0.11 percent or Rs 0.25 at Rs 223.85.
The share touched its 52-week high Rs 324.85 and 52-week low Rs 182.55 on 19 October, 2021 and 20 June, 2022, respectively.
Currently, it is trading 32.83 percent below its 52-week high and 19.53 percent above its 52-week low.
Market capitalisation stands at Rs 4,244.28 crore.
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