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litheammunition · 5 years

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Brexit: An Unwinnable War

How do you stage a coup? You start a war. You fan its flames, until it grows out of control. You make it so that it’s impossible for the moderates to win, showing them as out of their depth, needing a stronger, unconventional hand to sort the mess out. Then you step in, and find that you can get away with breaking all the rules...

Act 1 - Project Fear

The spark was the slow part. There had always been rumblings of discontent around the UK’s place in Europe, dating right back to our accession to the European Community in 1972, and intensifying since the project formally became a political European Union in 1993.

There had been a referendum in 1975, won by a 67.2% vote to remain, but the question was raised again after the 1993 Maastricht Treaty. No referendum was needed for the government to sign up, but neighbours Ireland and France held one to confirm the decision, and many in the UK thought they deserved the same. That year saw the birth of a number of protest parties, the most successful of which, UKIP, continues to pressure for ‘Brexit’ today.

After years of pressure from UKIP and the sizable Eurosceptic wing of his own Conservative party, Prime Minister David Cameron finally gave into their demands. In 2016, a referendum was held, with one simple question: Should the United Kingdom remain a member of the European Union or leave the European Union? No details were provided as to what the latter option would look like. That was down to the campaigns to provide.

It turned out that it was actually many options hidden within one. Every leaver had their own idea of what shape Brexit would come in. Many talked about the Norway model, a country with full access to single market, but which is obliged to make a financial contribution, accept most EU laws, and which has free movement with the rest of the EU. Others suggested a Swiss model, part of the EFTA but not the EEA, making a smaller financial contribution to access specific areas of trade, and again with free movement.

Still others spoke about Turkey, with no membership of the EEA/EFTA but its own customs union with the EU, to avoid the need to impose tariffs on exports. They were a dozen combinations available. What was certain was that there would be some sort of deal, and it would be quick and painless to negotiate. What was clear was that “absolutely nobody is talking about threatening our place in the Single Market” as Daniel Hannan, known as the Godfather of Brexit and a major push behind it, had said the year before. I have saved a full raft of quotes from other Leave leaders for Act 2, below.

On 26 June, senior Leave campaigner and PM hopeful Boris Johnson wrote an article confirming that the UK would remain part of the single market. In government and parliament, discussing how to implement Brexit, the main debate was between full access to the single market or only a customs union. There was no mention of crashing out with no deal. There was certaintly no mention that, in August 2019, over three years after the debate, we would be no closer to a resolution.

The Leave campaign seemed happier telling voters what the former option on the ballot would look like. The electorate might have thought they already knew what staying in the EU would look like, seeing as it was just the continuation of a fairly agreeable status quo, but they were corrected with a spate of glossy leaflets from the multiple Leave campaigns, and the same talking points brought up in every interview.

One colourful infographic, common across the material, tried to spread fear that the entirety of Turkey’s 76 million population was about to move in next door. The truth is that Turkey is nowhere near joining the EU, and that the UK has a veto (i.e. even if they tried to join, we alone could stop them). Turkey cannot join the EU unless the UK wants it to. But if you say “Turkey is joining the EU”, or treat it as a done deal, and slap FACT on it, people will get shocked. If you highlight it in orange and red with a big red arrow of Turkish people swarming into the UK, people will be worried. That’s what you want. It doesn’t matter if it’s true.

I use the term ‘swarming’ advisably, because although it’s a despicable way to describe to human beings, dehumanising them to insects, vermin, it’s the term that David Cameron used in July 2015, shortly after plans for the referendum were confirmed. As shown in other Leave material, such as the UKIP poster above that has been frequently compared to the Nazi propaganda below it, this debate was consistently coded with xenophobia and racism, an attempt to win by appealing to voter’s fears of mass immigration, the need to secure our borders, even though this was a picture of refugees moving approximately one thousand miles away and several countries away from the UK.

If there was any doubt over the racial intention, the original photograph for this poster is below. It has a prominent white face at the front. Now note the way the original has been cropped and where the single opaque box of text has been placed, with everything else transparent. Note which one individual has been covered up, with all of the others put on show.

Even if they weren’t abhorrent, the claims around immigration are also not true. The UK already has control of its own borders. Whilst some other EU countries like France and Germany have chosen (of their own will), to have open borders with each other, in a region called the Schengen Area, the UK had the free choice not to be a part of this. This means that the UK has full border checks on every individual entering the country. The UK’s agreement with the other EU countries is that nationals of those countries (not refugees from the Middle East passing through) can stay here on a three month visa, but after that it’s our choice.

In addition, that agreement has always been subject to ‘grounds of public policy, public security or public health’, which effectively means that the UK can choose not to let in any individual they don’t want to. The UK has specific power to expel any EU citizen who they believe poses ‘a genuine, present and sufficiently serious threat affecting one of the fundamental interests of society’, and the country they came from has to accept them back.

In short, the UK only needs to accept productive members of society. Indeed, all research (including by the government’s own Office of Budget Responsibility) has shown that immigrants make a net contribution to the country’s economy, and many industries are dependent on migrant workers. The campaign to ‘end uncontrolled immigration from the EU’ or ‘protect our security - open borders gives criminals and terrorists an easy route into the UK’ is therefore another straight-up lie designed to leverage people’s base xenophobic fears.

The frequently repeated idea that the NHS and UK benefits system are being exploited by migrants is also fake. Not only do migrants pay £78,000 more into the UK government over their lifetime than they take out over their lifetimes, but the NHS specifically depends on immigration: 37% of doctors qualified overseas. The problem with long NHS waiting times is not because the system is overcrowded, but because it is understaffed, and immigrants are the solution rather than the problem. But this is a government policy problem, and for too long they have found it easier to blame the people coming here to help.

Before the referendum, David Cameron had also secured the UK further powers in restricting benefits paid to migrants, a massive compromise from EU principles of fairness which would have given the UK privileged status amongst member states. There would be a 4 year break before benefits had to be paid to EU citizens working in the UK, with tax credits phased in over the same period. EU migrants without a job would be restricted to claiming jobseeker’s allowance for 3 months, and then deported after 6 in they were still unemployed. Benefit payments would be fixed to the amounts available in their home countries, removing any incentive to come to the UK to claim them.

This is all without even considering a fourth angle, that the freedom works both ways. Hundreds of thousands of British citizens exercise their right to visit and live in and work in the EU, just as happens the other way around. Finally, it’s worth noting that immigration from the EU makes up a minority of total migration to the UK, even with these supposed ‘open borders’, and specifically when net migration is considered. Most of the people coming for the long term do so from elsewhere in the world, where we have never had ‘open borders’ but still freely choose to let them in, suggesting that immigration numbers have always been up to the UK government and migration from EU countries will similarly continue at a similar rate no matter what the border situation is.

There were many other obvious lies at the time, such as the suggestion that the EU were in the process of building an army, a completely transparent attempt to spark fear, but they were told so often that they started to be believed. On the other side, all concerns about the risks of leaving were dismissed as Project Fear, a classic example of projecting: as the Leave campaign were in the business of fearmongering, it helped distract from that by accusing their opponents of the same at every opportunity.

Project Fear became a term used to silence all dissent as part of some elitist conspiracy. Some experts said that Brexit will cost the economy? Project Fear. Since the referendum the value of the pound has dropped off the charts, the UK has experienced negative growth at a time of economic success for its neighbours, and Sony, Dyson, Flybmi, Nissan, Honda, Ford, Moneygram, Philips, P&O, Airbus, Barclays, Hitachi, JPMorgan, Citibank and other firms have announced they are closing their UK operations and moving to Ireland or the Netherlands or other countries who still have trade links with the EU. Brexit hasn’t even hit its hardest yet, and it had already cost the economy £66 billion by April this year, about £1,000 per person. It turns out that the experts were exactly right.

Project Fear said that leaving threatened a break up of the UK. “If we vote to leave then I think the union will be stronger”, Michael Gove countered in May 2016, but the referendum vote has predictably intensified movements for Scottish (and Northern Irish) independence, as well as creating an endless dispute over the Irish-UK border, reopening scars that were just started to heal. Again, it seems that the people who knew what they were talking about... actually knew what they were talking about. The Leave campaign told people to ignore these false warnings as part of elite conspiracy, writing off the expertise of academics and industry leaders as ‘this country has had enough of experts’, an unexcusable anti-intellectualism that excused all lies and criticised anyone who dared to point out the truth.

They still put their fingers in their ears now, when reminded that those warnings have virtually all come true. This weak, the government’s reports on Operation Yellowhammer were leaked, their own forecasts suggesting a massive negative hit from leaving without a deal. When Kwasi Kwarteng, Minister of State for Business and Energy, was asked about them on TV, he described his government’s own projections as scaremongering and Project Fear, confused as to which lie he was supposed to be telling. Lead Brexiteer Michael Gove came out to dismiss them as the ‘worst case scenario’, even as a Whitehall source clarified ‘this is the most realistic assessment of what the public face with no deal. These are likely, basic, reasonable scenarios – not the worst case’.

It isn’t the first time. Theresa May withheld projections and legal advice from voters and MPs, and her government was the first ever to be held in contempt of parliament for deliberately hiding the facts to push through her votes: in contempt of democracy, in contempt of the truth, adding constitutional offences to the free-flowing lies that have been a feature throughout. Amongst all of them, perhaps the biggest lie was that Brexit was about the sovereignty of the UK parliament, taking back control from the undemocratic elites: from Theresa May and Boris Johnson we have seen two unelected Prime Ministers who have tried everything they can to circumvent British democracy, as detailed below.

#Brexit #UK #politics #Boris Johnson #EU

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covid19diarylondon · 4 years

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For the record - 01/11/2020

Last night, the UK government announced that England would go into a lockdown for a month from 5 November. Let’s make one thing crystal clear - the aim of the lockdown is not to eradicate the virus. Its aim is to avoid hospitals buckling under the weight of Covid patients and it follows that fewer people will die. This is exactly the same reasons given to us in March this year when we had our first lockdown. In March, I could just forgive the government for being caught out (although arguably it should have been apparent to the government that they should have taken actions much sooner when they saw what was happening in our neighbouring countries). Six months on, history repeats itself. Let’s not excuse ourselves by saying that France, Spain and Germany are facing the same difficult situation and we are doing exactly what they are now doing. Instead, can we look farther afield to places like Taiwan, Hong Kong, South Korea or New Zealand and see what they have done right? Taiwan has not had a homegrown Covid 19 case for over 100 days continuously. My friends in Seoul have been living a more or less normal life for months. Hong Kong has never had a full lockdown. I’m not for one minute suggesting that we should copy their models without scrutiny. I also recognise that some policies used in those places will never be accepted by the people in the UK. However, I do believe that lessons can be learned by studying how other places have got it right and why their infection and death rates are so much lower than ours.

We have also seen how divided the scientists are. There is simply no hope that those scientists who made the Great Barrington Declaration will be able to convince the “Fauci” group or vice versa. That said, apart from lockdown or no lockdown; herd immunity or no herd immunity, I believe that common grounds can be found to better control the virus from spreading.

Specifically, in Hong Kong, if a person is tested positive, no matter how mild or serious his illness is, and regardless of his age, he will be sent to a hospital for treatment. This achieves two purposes: 1) he is immediately taken out of circulation and he will not be able to spread the virus to the wider community; 2) common with all illnesses, it is easier and cheaper to treat people when the illness is not serious. The patients will be released after they are tested negative twice consecutively. Treating patients with bronchitis is easier than treating those with pneumonia; people with stage 1 cancer have a better chance of survival than people with stage 4 cancer. It is the same for Covid 19 patients. This is common sense. Treating Covid 19 patients at their early stage of illness in isolated wards is far cheaper than treating them in the ICUs. Those patients have a far better chance to survive if their illness is treated sooner. Those medical staff treating patients with mild symptoms will have a lesser risk of being infected by the virus. Now, what do we do in this country? If you have symptoms, stay at home and self-isolate. If you are tested positive, stay at home and self-isolate. If you get well all by yourself, all is well. Hospitals are not interested in you unless your condition becomes serious and can no longer cope. To me, this is crazy. It is also a false economy especially we have now learned so much about the virus and various effective ways to treat a Covid patient. Everyone knows how expensive and precious an ICU bed is and how labour intensive it is to look after a patient in the ICU. This is not my theory. This is advocated by Dr Yuen Kwok-yung who graduated from the University of Hong Kong in 1981 and has the rare distinction of being a microbiologist, surgeon and physician. He also had first-hand knowledge when SARS struck HK in 2003 and is one one the main advisors advising the HK government on fighting the pandemic right now. You can find his Bloomberg interview here:

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-10-17/treat-covid-19-early-to-save-patients-lives-sars-veteran-urges?srnd=markets-vp

Can the eminent scientists whom we see all day on the television please explain to me why Dr Yuen’s theory is wrong and why it cannot or should not be done in the UK?

I have great hesitation posting this because I don’t want to be trolled. I don’t want to be labeled as Covidiots. I am not. I just believe that we cannot go in and out of lockdowns without becoming wiser. I believe in sensible debates. I am just a frustrated and concerned citizen and I don’t think I am alone.

#covid_19 #covid lockdown #piers morgan #vicki young #laura kuenssberg #victoria derbyshire #fergus walsh #emily maitlis #freddie sayer #chris whitty #sunetra gupta #keir starmer #ed davey

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xtruss · 4 years

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Coronavirus, Vaccines and the Gates Foundation

Arguably, no one has been more active in promoting and funding research on vaccines aimed at dealing with coronavirus than Bill Gates and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. From sponsoring a simulation of a coronavirus global pandemic, just weeks before the Wuhan outbreak was announced, to funding numerous corporate efforts to come up with a novel vaccine for the apparently novel virus, the Gates presence is there. What does it actually entail?

— By F. William Engdahl | Global Research, May 02, 2020 | Theme: Intelligence, Science and Medicine | First published on March 20, 2020

We must admit that at the very least Bill Gates is prophetic. He has claimed for years that a global killer pandemic will come and that we are not prepared for it. On March 18, 2015 Gates gave a TED talk on epidemics in Vancouver. That day he wrote on his blog, “I just gave a brief talk on a subject that I’ve been learning a lot about lately—epidemics. The Ebola outbreak in West Africa is a tragedy—as I write this, more than 10,000 people have died.” Gates then added, “As awful as this epidemic has been, the next one could be much worse. The world is simply not prepared to deal with a disease—an especially virulent flu, for example—that infects large numbers of people very quickly. Of all the things that could kill 10 million people or more, by far the most likely is an epidemic.”

That same year, 2015, Bill Gates wrote an article for the New England Journal of Medicine titled, “The Next Epidemic: Lessons from Ebola.” There he spoke of a special class of drugs that “involves giving patients a set of particular RNA-based constructs that enables them to produce specific proteins(including antibodies).Although this is a very new area, it is promising because it is possible that a safe therapy could be designed and put into large-scale manufacture fairly rapidly. More basic research as well as the progress of companies like Moderna and CureVac could eventually make this approach a key tool for stopping epidemics.” Moderna and CureVac both today receive funds from the Gates Foundation and are leading the race to develop an approved COVID-19 vaccine based on mRNA.

2017 and Founding of CEPI

A global flu-like pandemic in fact is something that Gates and his well-endowed foundation have spent years preparing for. In 2017 during the Davos World Economic Forum, Gates initiated something called CEPI, the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations, together with the governments of Norway, India, Japan, and Germany, along with the Wellcome Trust of the UK. Its stated purpose is to “accelerate the development of vaccines we’ll need to contain outbreaks” of future epidemics. He noted at the time that “One promising area of vaccine development research is using advances in genomics to map the DNA and RNA of pathogens and make vaccines.” We will return to that.

Event 201

By 2019 Bill Gates and the foundation were going full-tilt boogie with their pandemic scenarios. He made a Netflix video which made an eerie imaginary scenario. The video, part of the “Explained” series, imagined a wet market in China where live and dead animals are stacked and a highly deadly virus erupts that spreads globally. Gates appears as an expert in the video to warn, “If you think of anything that could come along that would kill millions of people, a pandemic is our greatest risk.” He said if nothing was done to better prepare for pandemics, the time would come when the world would look back and wish it had invested more into potential vaccines. That was weeks before the world heard about bats and a live wet market in Wuhan China.

In October, 2019 the Gates Foundation teamed up with the World Economic Forum and the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security to enact what they called a “fictional” scenario simulation involving some of the world’s leading figures in public health. It was titled Event 201.

As their website describes it, Event 201 simulated an “outbreak of a novel zoonotic coronavirus transmitted from bats to pigs to people that eventually becomes efficiently transmissible from person to person, leading to a severe pandemic. The pathogen and the disease it causes are modeled largely on SARS, but it is more transmissible in the community setting by people with mild symptoms.”

In the Event 201 scenario the disease originates at a pig farm in Brazil, spreading through low-income regions and ultimately explodes into an epidemic. The disease is carried by air travel to Portugal, the USA and China and beyond to the point no country can control it. The scenario posits no possible vaccine being available in the first year. “Since the whole human population is susceptible, during the initial months of the pandemic, the cumulative number of cases increases exponentially, doubling every week.”

The scenario then ends after 18 months when the fictional coronavirus has caused 65 million deaths. “The pandemic is beginning to slow due to the decreasing number of susceptible people. The pandemic will continue at some rate until there is an effective vaccine or until 80-90 % of the global population has been exposed.”

Event 201 Players

As interesting as the prescient Gates-Johns Hopkins Event 201 fictional scenario of October, 2019 may be, the list of panelists who were invited to participate in the imaginary global response is equally interesting.

Among the selected “players” as they were called, was George Fu Gao. Notably, Prof. Gao is director of the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention since 2017. His specialization includes research on “influenza virus interspecies transmission (host jump)… He is also interested in virus ecology, especially the relationship between influenza virus and migratory birds or live poultry markets and the bat-derived virus ecology and molecular biology.” Bat-derived virus ecology…

Prof. Gao was joined among others at the panel by the former Deputy Director of the CIA during the Obama term, Avril Haines. She also served as Obama’s Assistant to the President and Principal Deputy National Security Advisor. Another of the players at the Gates event was Rear Admiral Stephen C. Redd, Director of the Office of Public Health Preparedness and Response at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The same CDC is at the center of a huge scandal for not having adequate functioning tests available for testing cases of COVID-19 in the USA. Their preparedness was anything but laudable.

Rounding out the group was Adrian Thomas, the Vice President of scandal-ridden Johnson & Johnson, the giant medical and pharmaceutical company. Thomas is responsible for pandemic preparedness at J&J including developing vaccines for Ebola, Dengue Fever, HIV. And there was Martin Knuchel, Head of Crisis, Emergency & Business Continuity Management, for Lufthansa Group Airlines. Lufthansa has been one of the major airlines dramatically cutting flights during the COVID-19 pandemic crisis.

All this shows that Bill Gates has had a remarkable preoccupation with the possibility of a global pandemic outbreak he said could be even larger than the alleged deaths from the mysterious 1918 Spanish Flu, and has been warning for at least the past five years or more. What the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation also has been involved in is funding development of new vaccines using bleeding-edge CRISPR gene-editing and other technologies.

The Coronavirus Vaccines

Gates Foundation money is backing vaccine development on every front. Inovio Pharmaceuticals of Pennsylvania received $9 million from the Gates-backed CEPI, Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations, to develop a vaccine, INO-4800, which is about to test on humans in April, a suspiciously rapid time frame. In addition Gates Foundation just gave the company an added $5 million to develop a proprietary smart device for intradermal delivery of the new vaccine.

In addition Gates Foundation monies via CEPI are financing development of a radical new vaccine method known as messengerRNA or mRNA.

They are co-funding the Cambridge, Massachusetts biotech company, Moderna Inc., to develop a vaccine against the Wuhan novel coronavirus, now called SARS-CoV-2. Moderna’s other partner is the US National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), a part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH). Head of NIAID is Dr Anthony Fauci, the person at the center of the Trump Administration virus emergency response. Notable about the Fauci-Gates Moderna coronavirus vaccine, mRNA-1273, is that it has been rolled out in a matter of weeks, not years, and on February 24 went directly to Fauci’s NIH for tests on human guinea pigs, not on mice as normal. Moderna’s chief medical adviser, Tal Zaks, argued, “I don’t think proving this in an animal model is on the critical path to getting this to a clinical trial.”

Another notable admission by Moderna on its website is the legal disclaimer, “Special Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements: …These risks, uncertainties, and other factors include, among others: … the fact that there has never been a commercial product utilizing mRNA technology approved for use.” In other words, completely unproven for human health and safety.

Another biotech company working with unproven mRNA technology to develop a vaccine for the COVID-19 is a German company, CureVac. Since 2015 CureVac has received money from the Gates Foundation to develop its own mRNA technology. In January the Gates-backed CEPI granted more than $8 million to develop a mRNA vaccine for the novel coronavirus.

Add to this the fact that the Gates Foundation and related entities such as CEPI constitute the largest funders of the public-private entity known as WHO, and that its current director, Tedros Adhanom, the first WHO director in history who is not a medical doctor, worked for years on HIV with the Gates Foundation when Tedros was a government minister in Ethiopia, and we see that there is practically no area of the current coronavirus pandemic where the footprints of the omnipresent Gates are not to be found. If that is to the good of mankind or grounds to be worried, time will tell.

— F. William Engdahl is strategic risk consultant and lecturer, he holds a degree in politics from Princeton University and is a best-selling author on oil and geopolitics, exclusively for the online magazine “New Eastern Outlook” where this article was originally published. He is a Research Associate of the Centre for Research on Globalization.

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cindylouwho-2 · 5 years

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RECENT NEWS, RESOURCES & STUDIES, early October 2019

Welcome to my latest summary of recent news, resources & studies including search, analytics, content marketing, social media & ecommerce! This covers articles I came across in the first part of October, although some may be older than that.

[I am out of town for nearly a week in late October, so don’t expect another update until the end of the month at the earliest.]

Just a reminder - you don’t need to read everything here! I try to organize the material by topic and provide a brief summary so that you can easily skip things you don’t need to read.

I’ve tried to improve the layout for better readability, by bolding key words in each paragraph - do you find that helpful, or too hard on the eyes? Leave a comment below, email me through my website, or send me a message on Twitter.

TOP NEWS & ARTICLES

14 elements that will help your product pages get sales. Trust badges & reviews can really make a difference. Also, here’s a really simple explanation of how your descriptions should try to sell the product: “Bridge the gap between features and benefits: A feature is essentially a fact about your product or offer. The benefit mainly answers how a feature is useful for your customer. Tell them exactly “how” a particular feature is useful for them, and “why” they should make this purchase. Product descriptions that bridge the gap between features and benefits can lessen buyer’s guilt and ease the buying decision.”

It’s time for holiday season forecasts! Halloween spending is expected to be steady. While some are predicting up to a 4-5% increase in US November-December retail spending this year, others are worried about consumer debt. There is still “a stubborn wealth gap in the United States that appears to be once again worsening and in fact is "the biggest it’s ever been." The Gini index, a standard economic measure of income inequality, for the U.S. in 2018 was "significantly higher" than 2017, after widening steadily for the last 50 years, according to a Sept. 26 report from the U.S. Census Bureau.” Note that online retailers are finding that the holiday season is less crucial than it used to be, since people shop online all year now. “...the holiday season accounted for almost 24% of all retailers’ sales in the late 1990s, but is closer to 21% today.” Finally, “A late Thanksgiving this year, falling on Nov. 28, means there are six fewer days between Thanksgiving and Christmas than in 2018. In fact, 2019 is the shortest possible holiday calendar scenario”.[emphasis added by me]

Kansas state tax collection on online sales is in question after the lack of a minimum on revenue or orders is criticized. The dictate kicked in October 1st, requiring any business selling anything in the state to register, which didn’t exempt small businesses as other states have done. This is important - if they manage to apply this tax to even the smallest businesses, and win any court challenges, other states are likely to follow suit.

ETSY NEWS

Etsy released a new stats page last week, which like most things they do these days, isn’t finished yet. You can read the announcement here, and a more detailed explanation here, including a discussion of the conversion rate numbers now provided. [I don’t find those very useful on Etsy, as I find I get a lot of visits that are not from buyers, such as people checking out my SEO.] Also note that there will be a Q & A thread this week in the forum, starting October 14th at 10 am EDT.

When a listing is clicked from any search, there is now a link at the top saying “Back to search results” which only goes to page one of the search on Etsy, not the page you were on. It even does this when someone clicks on your item from a search of your shop.

They made some recent improvements to the buyer app, including integrating shop names into the regular search. No need to tag with your exact shop name! (Mobile & desktop search also work the same way; the app was the last hold out.)

More holiday marketing tips continue to roll out, including this one on merchandising. It includes a list of holidays at the end (although Canadian Thanksgiving was just 5 days away on the date of publication, so that seems to have been a waste of space). Potentially more useful to some of us is the transcript of the podcast on shopper behaviour during the holidays. [includes links to the podcast if you would rather listen] “9% of our buyers do the bulk of their shopping in late December right before the holidays” and “On Etsy specifically, searches around the holidays spike for gifts in conjunction with a descriptor of the recipient. We see searches like “gifts for grandma,” “gifts for boyfriend,” and “unique gift for a friend” spike.” Finally, “In terms of uniqueness, 90% of Etsy buyers would rather give a unique or one-of-a-kind gift.” They also cover some specific research on holiday shopping patterns in the UK & Germany, compared to the US.

There is a new help file on search called Beginner’s Guide to Etsy Search, and while it is up to date, I am not sure why it is needed, when they already have a page (they even link to it) called “How Etsy Search Works”, which isn’t as up to date. If they are planning on releasing new instructions, as they told me months ago, they are going about it really, really slowly.

Etsy Ireland lost money last year, apparently due to the DaWanda deal. “Etsy, whose mission is to “keep commerce human”, faced a wave of criticism from users after designating its business in Ireland as an unlimited liability company in 2015 so that it didn’t have to publicly disclose financial information about the unit. The company has, however, published annual accounts for the subsidiary for both 2017 and last year.”

Meanwhile, free shipping & Etsy Ads have produced quite a stock boost for the main company. “KeyBanc’s comments were echoed by Canaccord Genuity, which earlier this week wrote that the company’s initiatives were driving “robust growth and improving profitability.” Analyst Maria Ripps called free shipping “an important step in bringing Etsy’s platform closer to par” with other e-commerce leaders like Amazon.com Not only will free shipping improve “consumer perception around the platform,” but she estimated that it could add upside of 3%-5% upside to 2020 estimates for both revenue and adjusted Ebitda. The company’s Etsy Ads initiative, she added, “should ultimately attract high affinity customers with strong repeat purchase behavior.” Also, they noted that no major analysts no recommend selling the stock - most say “buy”, with a few saying “hold”.

Etsy partnered with Blackrock Emergency Savings Initiative to help US sellers deal with the financial pressures of self-employment.

SEO: GOOGLE & OTHER SEARCH ENGINES

Google’s advice on how to get your category pages to rank well is worth reading: among other things, you shouldn’t keyword stuff.

If you want your content to get the featured “0” position at the top of Google search, you should check out this article on featured snippets, or this Whiteboard Friday from Moz. [video & transcript]

More analysis of Google’s September core update shows that it may not have been as dramatic as the June update, but “your money, your life” (YMYL) sites still seem the most affected. SEMRush said the biggest winners were “DailyMail, eBackPage.com, lasd.org and marionschool.net. The biggest losers were TheFourMusic.com, Monks.org, BraidingClub.com, PascoLibraries.org and RoyalCaribbean.com.au.” Other case studies saw a lot of change in health and medical sites.

Another study states that websites still get most of their traffic from organic search.

If your own website isn’t ranking on Google, there are numerous fixable reasons, although some are more difficult than others.

Google says that HTML sitemaps aren’t necessary to good SEO.

If you are getting less organic traffic to your Patreon page recently, that could be because their SEO team accidentally de-indexed the entire site. It’s been fixed, but it could affect some pages for the next few weeks, if Google doesn’t recrawl you right away.

YouTube is the 4th most visited website, so improving your YouTube SEO can provide a huge boost in traffic.

CONTENT MARKETING & SOCIAL MEDIA (includes blogging & emails)

Facebook’s experiment on hiding like counts has rolled out in Australia. (Articles looks at the sociological studies behind this)

Instagram launched an account posting tips for “creators”, which the author notes does not focus on making money off of that content.

They have also expanded their Shopping part of the app, however, which is about making money.

And IG has released a Snapchat challenger called Threads, a standalone app run by Facebook. Techcrunch did a more detailed review & analysis. Right now, it doesn’t have any ads & they say they have no plans to add them.

Hubspot uses their own Snapchat account experience as a case study in how to make Snap work for business. (includes video & step-by-step instructions, if you are new to Snapchat.)

Twitter and Tweetdeck had a bad outage for several hours October 1-2, and it still isn't clear what happened.

If you use Twitter for your business, you should also be using Twitter lists. (I use Tweetdeck to organize mine.)

Now that it is working again, here are the best-performing hashtags on Twitter over the past few years.

ONLINE ADVERTISING (SEARCH ENGINES, SOCIAL MEDIA, & OTHERS)

Hubspot’s comprehensive guide to Google Ads is completely up to date for all new developments, and covers search ads as well as ads across Google’s network. [video and text]

They also put out a Facebook ad checklist, with video, text & screenshots.

And they also did a guide to YouTube advertising. [video and text]

Research and ad placement are key to getting better conversion from Facebook ads.

Gen Z (younger than millennials) don’t yet have full purchase strength as a cohort, but they influence buying in their households after seeing ads on Snapchat. Since Gen Z shows the least brand loyalty of any generation, it's necessary to reach them in new ways.

Shopify now has an integration with Microsoft Ads, which include all Verizon properties (Yahoo, AOL). More than 116 million Americans use Bing searches each month in some way.

LinkedIn has improved its ad tools, including audience forecasting.

Quora has improved ad targeting; they say they have over 300 million monthly users.

STATS, DATA, OTHER TRACKING

Advanced tips for site search in Google Analytics can get more out of the data than you thought was there.

Facebook will likely be paying out $40 million to settle a lawsuit for grossly overreporting video watching stats, including video ads.

Google Search Console is now reporting a lot fewer links for websites than in the past; it’s not clear if this is a bug or not.

The Console is now reporting on your videos.

Everything you need to know about Pinterest Analytics.

ECOMMERCE NEWS, IDEAS, TRENDS

If you use abandoned cart emails on your website, make sure they are optimized for conversions.

Ecommerce fraud rates are definitely increasing. “... digital goods have seen such an increase in fraud because they often have a streamlined purchase process that requires less information than other items.”

Google launched its new Shopping pages, which is not the same as Google Shopping but is connected to it, and allows buyers to check out on Google rather than retailer websites.

Amazon apparently surveyed Handmade sellers recently asking how they felt about Amazon Handmade.

Will Amazon face consequences in the US for its competitive activities? It’s looking more likely now. “Bloomberg reported in August that Amazon was dropping sellers' products in searches on its site if they priced a product cheaper on rival sites, behavior the news service noted could draw antitrust scrutiny.”

BUSINESS & CONSUMER STUDIES, STATS & REPORTS; SOCIOLOGY & PSYCHOLOGY, CUSTOMER SERVICE

We all have difficult customers occasionally - here are 9 tips on how to deal with them.

While most web browsing happens on mobile, desktop users are still way more likely to buy. They also spend more than mobile buyers.

Gen Z members plan on doing most of their holiday shopping in physical shops this year (just like baby boomers), but many will do research online first. Also, “Forty-two percent of shoppers said that low prices are the top motivator for making purchases and 31% said free shipping was also a shopping incentive.”

Offering fewer options can lead to more sales. (The article has great suggestions on different ways to use this info.)

MISCELLANEOUS

Vimeo app Magisto is facing a class-action lawsuit over holding biometric data without the owners’ permission.

Haven’t heard much about the EU privacy law lately? It turns out that businesses that are GDPR-compliant are more successful than those that are not. The shocker is that only 28% of the companies surveyed were actually completely compliant, so this may be correlation and not causation. Also, the results were self-reported, so maybe not that accurate.

Here’s a decent list of free website builders, but I strongly suggest doing your own research on any that sound good, as the writeup isn’t very detailed. (The Etsy forum is a very good place for some of this research, as you can ask very specific questions of people who probably have similar needs to yours.)

Chrome is going to block embedded content that isn’t from an https site, beginning in December. [if your website isn’t yet https, get on that right away - it is going to become more & more crucial for being seen.]

#cindylouwho2newsupdates #smallbiz #Ecommerce #content marketing #contentmarketing #Social media #stats #analytics #EtsyNews #search engine marketing #search engine optimization #SEO

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alexsmitposts · 5 years

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Coronavirus and the Gates Foundation Arguably, no one has been more active in promoting and funding research on vaccines aimed at dealing with coronavirus than Bill Gates and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. From sponsoring a simulation of a coronavirus global pandemic, just weeks before the Wuhan outbreak was announced, to funding numerous corporate efforts to come up with a novel vaccine for the apparently novel virus, the Gates presence is there. What does it actually entail? We must admit that at the very least Bill Gates is prophetic. He has claimed for years that a global killer pandemic will come and that we are not prepared for it. On March 18, 2015 Gates gave a TED talk on epidemics in Vancouver. That day he wrote on his blog, “I just gave a brief talk on a subject that I’ve been learning a lot about lately—epidemics. The Ebola outbreak in West Africa is a tragedy—as I write this, more than 10,000 people have died.” Gates then added, “As awful as this epidemic has been, the next one could be much worse. The world is simply not prepared to deal with a disease—an especially virulent flu, for example—that infects large numbers of people very quickly. Of all the things that could kill 10 million people or more, by far the most likely is an epidemic.” That same year, 2015, Bill Gates wrote an article for the New England Journal of Medicine titled, “The Next Epidemic: Lessons from Ebola.” There he spoke of a special class of drugs that “involves giving patients a set of particular RNA-based constructs that enables them to produce specific proteins(including antibodies).Although this is a very new area, it is promising because it is possible that a safe therapy could be designed and put into large-scale manufacture fairly rapidly. More basic research as well as the progress of companies like Moderna and CureVac could eventually make this approach a key tool for stopping epidemics.” Moderna and CureVac both today receive funds from the Gates Foundation and are leading the race to develop an approved COVID-19 vaccine based on mRNA. 2017 and Founding of CEPI A global flu-like pandemic in fact is something that Gates and his well-endowed foundation have spent years preparing for. In 2017 during the Davos World Economic Forum, Gates initiated something called CEPI, the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations, together with the governments of Norway, India, Japan, and Germany, along with the Wellcome Trust of the UK. Its stated purpose is to “accelerate the development of vaccines we’ll need to contain outbreaks” of future epidemics. He noted at the time that “One promising area of vaccine development research is using advances in genomics to map the DNA and RNA of pathogens and make vaccines.” We will return to that. Event 201 By 2019 Bill Gates and the foundation were going full-tilt boogie with their pandemic scenarios. He made a Netflix video which made an eerie imaginary scenario. The video, part of the “Explained” series, imagined a wet market in China where live and dead animals are stacked and a highly deadly virus erupts that spreads globally. Gates appears as an expert in the video to warn, “If you think of anything that could come along that would kill millions of people, a pandemic is our greatest risk.” He said if nothing was done to better prepare for pandemics, the time would come when the world would look back and wish it had invested more into potential vaccines. That was weeks before the world heard about bats and a live wet market in Wuhan China. In October, 2019 the Gates Foundation teamed up with the World Economic Forum and the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security to enact what they called a “fictional” scenario simulation involving some of the world’s leading figures in public health. It was titled Event 201. As their website describes it, Event 201 simulated an “outbreak of a novel zoonotic coronavirus transmitted from bats to pigs to people that eventually becomes efficiently transmissible from person to person, leading to a severe pandemic. The pathogen and the disease it causes are modeled largely on SARS, but it is more transmissible in the community setting by people with mild symptoms.” In the Event 201 scenario the disease originates at a pig farm in Brazil, spreading through low-income regions and ultimately explodes into an epidemic. The disease is carried by air travel to Portugal, the USA and China and beyond to the point no country can control it. The scenario posits no possible vaccine being available in the first year. “Since the whole human population is susceptible, during the initial months of the pandemic, the cumulative number of cases increases exponentially, doubling every week.” The scenario then ends after 18 months when the fictional coronavirus has caused 65 million deaths. “The pandemic is beginning to slow due to the decreasing number of susceptible people. The pandemic will continue at some rate until there is an effective vaccine or until 80-90 % of the global population has been exposed.” Event 201 Players As interesting as the prescient Gates-Johns Hopkins Event 201 fictional scenario of October, 2019 may be, the list of panelists who were invited to participate in the imaginary global response is equally interesting. Among the selected “players” as they were called, was George Fu Gao. Notably, Prof. Gao is director of the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention since 2017. His specialization includes research on “influenza virus interspecies transmission (host jump)… He is also interested in virus ecology, especially the relationship between influenza virus and migratory birds or live poultry markets and the bat-derived virus ecology and molecular biology.” Bat-derived virus ecology… Prof. Gao was joined among others at the panel by the former Deputy Director of the CIA during the Obama term, Avril Haines. She also served as Obama’s Assistant to the President and Principal Deputy National Security Advisor. Another of the players at the Gates event was Rear Admiral Stephen C. Redd, Director of the Office of Public Health Preparedness and Response at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The same CDC is at the center of a huge scandal for not having adequate functioning tests available for testing cases of COVID-19 in the USA. Their preparedness was anything but laudable. Rounding out the group was Adrian Thomas, the Vice President of scandal-ridden Johnson & Johnson, the giant medical and pharmaceutical company. Thomas is responsible for pandemic preparedness at J&J including developing vaccines for Ebola, Dengue Fever, HIV. And there was Martin Knuchel, Head of Crisis, Emergency & Business Continuity Management, for Lufthansa Group Airlines. Lufthansa has been one of the major airlines dramatically cutting flights during the COVID-19 pandemic crisis. All this shows that Bill Gates has had a remarkable preoccupation with the possibility of a global pandemic outbreak he said could be even larger than the alleged deaths from the mysterious 1918 Spanish Flu, and has been warning for at least the past five years or more. What the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation also has been involved in is funding development of new vaccines using bleeding-edge CRISPR gene-editing and other technologies. The Coronavirus Vaccines Gates Foundation money is backing vaccine development on every front. Inovio Pharmaceuticals of Pennsylvania received $9 million from the Gates-backed CEPI, Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations, to develop a vaccine, INO-4800, which is about to test on humans in April, a suspiciously rapid time frame. In addition Gates Foundation just gave the company an added $5 million to develop a proprietary smart device for intradermal delivery of the new vaccine. In addition Gates Foundation monies via CEPI are financing development of a radical new vaccine method known as messengerRNA or mRNA. They are co-funding the Cambridge, Massachusetts biotech company, Moderna Inc., to develop a vaccine against the Wuhan novel coronavirus, now called SARS-CoV-2. Moderna’s other partner is the US National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), a part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH). Head of NIAID is Dr Anthony Fauci, the person at the center of the Trump Administration virus emergency response. Notable about the Fauci-Gates Moderna coronavirus vaccine, mRNA-1273, is that it has been rolled out in a matter of weeks, not years, and on February 24 went directly to Fauci’s NIH for tests on human guinea pigs, not on mice as normal. Moderna’s chief medical adviser, Tal Zaks, argued, “I don’t think proving this in an animal model is on the critical path to getting this to a clinical trial.” Another notable admission by Moderna on its website is the legal disclaimer, “Special Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements: …These risks, uncertainties, and other factors include, among others: … the fact that there has never been a commercial product utilizing mRNA technology approved for use.” In other words, completely unproven for human health and safety. Another biotech company working with unproven mRNA technology to develop a vaccine for the COVID-19 is a German company, CureVac. Since 2015 CureVac has received money from the Gates Foundation to develop its own mRNA technology. In January the Gates-backed CEPI granted more than $8 million to develop a mRNA vaccine for the novel coronavirus. Add to this the fact that the Gates Foundation and related entities such as CEPI constitute the largest funders of the public-private entity known as WHO, and that its current director, Tedros Adhanom, the first WHO director in history not a medical doctor, worked for years on HIV with the Gates Foundation when Tedros was a government minister in Ethiopia, and we see that there is practically no area of the current coronavirus pandemic where the footprints of the omnipresent Gates are not to be found. If that is to the good of mankind or grounds to be worried, time will tell.

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marlaluster · 6 years

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Emptying the cliptray on the new phone. ....

1. https://www.express.co.uk/news/world/1083017/us-iran-Barham-Salih-iraq-troops-donald-trump/amp 2. 10° express_logo NEWS SHOWBIZ FOOTBALL COMMENT News World Trump move to keep US troops in Iraq to spy on Iran BLASTED by furious Baghdad trump Donald Trump has faced backlash from Iraq leader Barham Salih (Image: GETTY) PRESIDENT Donald Trump has faced backlash from Iraq leader Barham Salih for announcing troops from the US will remain in his nation to spy on Iran. By CARLY READ PUBLISHED: 19:58, Tue, Feb 5, 2019 UPDATED: 20:04, Tue, Feb 5, 2019 Share on FacebookShare on TwitterShare on Google+Share with EmailShare via Whatsapp President Salih hit back at claims Mr Trump will keep US military in Iraq in order to monitor neighbouring Middle East nation Iran. Mr Salah told the Daily Beast: “The troops in Iraq are operating based on the agreement between the government of Iraq and the United States for the specific mission of combating terrorism.” Then, in a swipe at President Trump he added: “Don’t overburden Iraq with your own issues. “Iran is our neighbour. We don’t want to be part of any axis, American or otherwise.” ADVERTISEMENT Mr Salah’s remarks come after President Trump told CBS News in an interview that his US soldiers would be in Iraq indefinitely to spy on and survey Iran. He said: “We have an unbelievable and expensive military base built in Iraq. “It's perfectly situated for looking at all over different parts of the troubled Middle East rather than pulling up. “And one of the reasons I want to keep it is because I want to be looking a little bit at Iran because Iran is a real problem.” ADVERTISEMENT RELATED ARTICLES State of the Union time: What time is State of the Union address - GMT State of the Union: Will Bernie Sanders respond to Trump SOTU speech? He also called Iran “the number one terrorist nation in the world”. But lawmakers in Iraq are already planning a vote on a parliamentary measure that will expel US forces out of the country. The legislation has a third of parliament’s support. trump President Salih hit back at claims Mr Trump will keep US military in Iraq (Image: GETTY) Tensions in Iran have further soared after the nation’s top judge said Tehran would never accept the "humiliating conditions" set by the European Union for non-dollar trade intended to evade US sanctions. France, Germany and Britain have opened a new channel for non-dollar trade with Iran to get around the sanctions, reimposed on Iran after President Donald Trump's decision in May to exit a 2015 nuclear deal between Tehran and six major powers. Sadeq Amoli-Larijani said: “After nine months of procrastination and negotiation, Europeans have created a mechanism with limited capacity only for food and medicine. RELATED ARTICLES State of the Union speech 2019: When is Donald Trump's address? ISIS WARNING: Expert reveals ONE thing US must do to prevent TERROR “Iran will never accept their strange and humiliating conditions of joining the FATF (the Financial Action Task Force) and negotiations on its missile programme.” The European statement said they expected Iran to swiftly implement all elements of its FATF action plan. RELATED ARTICLES Donald Trump State of the Union speech 2019: How to watch GBP/USD slips as UK economy runs risk of stalling COUNTDOWN TO WAR: Russia reveals plans for FEARSOME new missiles Privacy Policy Terms & conditions Cookie Policy Cookie Settings Copyright ©2019 Express Newspapers. "Daily Express" is a registered trademark. All rights reserved. IPSO Regulated 3. https://www.express.co.uk/news/world/1078358/world-war-3-resistance-axis-iran-syria-hezbollah-israel 4. ramping up tensions in the region still further. By CIARAN MCGRATH 22:41, Sat, Jan 26, 2019 | UPDATED: 22:52, Sat, Jan 26, 2019 Hassan Nasrallah talks to al-Mayadeen TV (Image: GETTY) Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah said Hezbollah made his comments as he responded for the first time to Israel's discovery of tunnels dug into Israeli territory from Lebanon by claiming his organisation had "for years" been able to enter Israel. Israel's unveiling of what it called Hezbollah "attack tunnels" last month, and Lebanon's accusation that an Israeli border barrier crosses into its territory, have increased tensions. Israel regards Iran as its biggest foe and Hezbollah as the main threat on its borders. It has waged an increasingly open campaign of military strikes against them both in Syria, where they are fighting on the government side in the civil war. RELATED ARTICLES World War 3: Russia tells Israel strikes on Syria ‘MUST END’ World War 3: Iran launches military drills to ‘counter AGGRESSION’ Mr Nasrallah said Hezbollah did not want to draw Lebanon into a war with Israel. ADVERTISING inRead invented by Teads However, he said there was a fear that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu might miscalculate before the Israeli elections in April and "do something rash". He warned that the "resistance axis", as the group refers to itself, Iran and Syria, might change their reaction to Israeli strikes in Syria, including with a bombardment of Tel Aviv. PROMOTED STORY 4 Breakfast Ideas Sure To Make Your Valentine Smile 4 Breakfast Ideas Sure To Make Your Valentine Smile (California Walnuts) Both Israel and Hezbollah have already indicated that any new war between them would be greater in scope than the last one, fought in 2006 in Lebanese territory. 5. Mr Nasrallah warned Israel's PM Benjamin Netanyahu not to "miscalculate" the situation (Image: GETTY) Mr Nasrallah said: ”Part of our plan in the next war is to enter into Galilee, a part of our plan we are capable of, God willing. “The important thing is that we have this capability and we have had it for years.” He added that all of Israel would be the battlefield and reiterated that the group now had precision rockets that could strike deep into Israel. Mr Nasrallah stopped short of explicitly saying the tunnels were Hezbollah's work, citing the heavily armed group's policy of "ambiguity" on military matters and a desire to deny Israel a pretext to attack. RELATED ARTICLES World War 3: 'Rapid military escalation' between Iran and Israel Israel sparks World War 3 fears with HUGE show of military force An Israeli tank in the Golan Heights (Image: GETTY) He said Israel was still looking for more tunnels, despite having said its operation to find them was over. Israel had only discovered some tunnels, adding "it is not known" if more exist, he added. This week the UN Middle East envoy said that at least two of the tunnels found by Israel crossed the "blue line" between the countries, "and thereby constituted violations". UN Security Council resolution 1701, which ended the 2006 war, said both sides must stick to their side of the blue line and that Hezbollah must leave the area around the frontier. World must tell Abbas to stop inciting terror: Netanyahu Play Video The blue line is a decades-old demarcation line that both sides have agreed to abide by until they can agree on a formal delineation of the disputed border. The envoy, Nickolay Mladenov, told the United Nations that peacekeepers had not been granted access to the Lebanese entry point of one of the tunnels. Mr Nasrallah indicated the tunnels had been dug long ago and that it was "a surprise" Israel took so long to locate them. "One of the tunnels discovered goes back 13 years," he said, asserting it predated resolution 1701, but without discussing how old other tunnels were. Israel has launched a number of air strikes on Iranian targets in Syria in recent days. RELATED ARTICLES Iran ‘used satellite launch as missile DECOY’, claims US and Israel World War 3 alert: ‘Don’t play with a lion’s tail!’ Iranian commander Israel POUNDS ‘Iranian’ targets in Syria 6. https://www.express.co.uk/news/world/1076927/world-war-3-russia-israel-syria-iran-strikes-putin-rouhani-tehran-tel-aviv-moscow 7. People also ask Is Adam Levine related to Avril Levine? A spokeswoman for Lavigne, 27, confirmed the pair got engaged earlier this month. This will be 37-year-old Chad Kroeger's first marriage while it is Avril Lavigne's second. Adam Levine of Maroon 5 has also taken to Twitter to clarify the announcement.Aug 22, 2012 Avril Lavigne to wed Nickelback front man Chad Kroeger - BBC ... www.bbc.co.uk › newsbeat › article › av... 8. World War 3: 'Rapid military escalation' between Iran and Israel World War 3 FEARS: Syria threatens missile attack on Tel Aviv According to the Russian defence ministry, only Syrian troops were killed. However, pro-Syrian opposition media claimed there were nearly a dozen casualties from Iran, a close ally of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. ADVERTISEMENT Ms Zakharova added: “In our opinion, forging an atmosphere of hostility in the region is not in the long-term national interests of any of the Middle Eastern states, including, of course, Israel. PROMOTED STORY 9. https://www.instagram.com/p/BtfFjnwHsU8/?hl=en 10. 868,931 likes behatiprinsloo No words can describe all of this.... I love you... imkarenmartinez Cutieeeessss 😍 hika_zerohair behati....💕💕💕💕大好きだよー😭❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️ sarahcoliaa pelakor :) sarahcoliaa seharusnya aku yg digituin adam levine :( ladyninjaexplorer His performance sucked but this photo is precious. webbbrana Hawt amandaluong @tbaertschi k this is cute swedefit ♥️♥️♥️ chaabeliitaa Trulyyy love 💏 chabs_escabas Yessss 😍 fel_melisa 😍😍 themacdonalds1995 One of the good ones!!! You both are blessed!! 💖 lykam924 So sweet 😍😍 such a lovely couple angiehurtado129 @paucobo17 y no comparte un poquito.... jennobl Luckiest woman in the world!! pkjr99 And She will be loved...🔥😍 kriskauy Swoon kriskauy 1 BILLION HEARTS FOR YOU TWO!!! #relationshipgoals kriskauy @vmtquinosa hndi ko knkaya eto.. npka swrte nilalang ni behati introvrtdsoul ❤️❤️💕 uk_yong0425 ❤️❤️❤️ victoriazeneth I absolutely love this! 💞 jasminesnest ❤️ zenaoviyanti @lucky.febi daa geli2 gimana gitu sihh. Tapi enyakkk kayaknyaaa lucky.febi @zenaoviyanti geli geli enyaaaak jxphwrtzbch omggggggg 😍😍😍😍 rhea_singh15 💛💛💛💛💛 tgirl126 Amazing performance as usual. Finally a great half time show. kimberlylundgrenevan Not just a show, clearly. 👏🏻❤️ hizrafazriyanti mantan terindah 😁 photographybyjoe @f_rs__ Doubt i’d ever be jealous of someone who gets tats within a two year period from having none, just to follow the wannabe “tough guy” look when you sing like a girl lol Hollywood tats, they mean nothing. Even Bieber has sleeves. Case in point. d.ni.ss.e 🔥😍 brendaelizabeth16 @anajuliaavieira paraaaaaaaaaaaaa deysemery I loved the show! ❤ betancourt960411 You have the whole California for you haha. And really happy for you gays. And I am a fan of you and Adam yuxun0405 Sweet sweet👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻 sizukhasz ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️ xxxblondie10xxx Oh my heart. 😍 you two are a beautiful couple fawilafazr @azizahrini 😭 julialindborg @sannabjelm gråter azizahrini @fawilafazr the kind of relationship i want😭 mirobxl ❤️ bonnie.piper.58 A picture really does tell a thousand words.... honest moment of love johannahdlrx Ughhh you two!!! 😍💗 bonnie.piper.58 ❤️ la_mielo great sannabjelm @julialindborg jag vet😩såg denna för fina sannabjelm @julialindborg du har väl sett musikvideon för girls like u också🤤blev så glad lol är tönt juanavillamil @juanasaleseb me muero t juro f_rs__ @photographybyjoe really jealous! Oh man get a life (and a job😉)... f_rs__ @photographybyjoe and just FYI Adam has tattoos since at least 2008 🤣 f_rs__ @photographybyjoe 😂😂😂 joydelareal 😭 julialindborg @sannabjelm självklart, man e ju tönt heh sannabjelm @julialindborg hahqhqhhh lool har en har två, vi faller i samma fällor juanasaleseb @juanavillamil es un moton liwayyym I'm so inlove... julialindborg @sannabjelm HAHA lika skämmiga som morsorna och har en konversation i kommentarerna sannabjelm @julialindborg men fyfan du får komma över detta håller inte gidrostroitel Красота! Очень сильно! Beautiful ☮👍💓 macagaleano77 😍😍😍😍😍😍 sitziaalice 😍😍😍😍😍 sweetwatersies 😍😍😍💕 steffaniebittner17 Thank you Maroon 5 for the best Super Bowl performance ever! blinfin 🔥 ipekoztas @zeynepsuguzel oha eridim addierivera Sweet 💜💜💜😙😙😙 vlecv this is dope jassminelegaspi Lucky j.girll Is she like 8’0😳 keesha.azor ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️ hellobeautiful143716 #relationshipgoals cath_rose1 @deirdrereidy I know. 🙌 victoriasecretfss Love❤️❤️❤️ steffylovelots 😍😍😍 debbiestop2 @kazk9 😵 jasonmilagrosa @anjeeluu 😍😍😍😍😍😱🔥 theshafiq 😍 luana_lessa22 ❤️ presidentdoya YEAH😭😭😭❤️❤️❤️ angieleiva18 Don`t lie, pathetic and stupid slut, bad mother!!!!!!!!, leave him alone!!!!!!, I hate you!!!!!! faisal._.khan 🔥 patrickbutler43 are you a robot ? pundachka @my.mil_ cesurr4756 ❤️ llcf18 My God😍😍 mariiaacllaraa 💖 angelagartin Love this lizmemms @angiecroz were you watching the same show I was. Because 10 seconds after he started singing we all groaned at how shit it was and continued to be. delfihilal Los amo delfihilal ❤️ delfihilal 🧡 delfihilal 💙 reneema8248 Btw I don't care what the haters say about the halftime show, to me you're always awesome! Take good care of your family they come before anything and anyone else. chandlerjanemarie Who cares what people think or say about Levine or his family. Leave them alone!! ♥️ anette_montes_ @mariaa_josee03 🤭 1 DAY AGO 11. https://cdn.images.express.co.uk/img/dynamic/78/590x/secondary/iran-news-donald-trump-usa-venezuela-maduro-rouhani-world-war-3-2-1720049.jpg?r=1549123865656 12. RELATED ARTICLES State of the Union time: What time is State of the Union address - GMT State of the Union: Will Bernie Sanders respond to Trump SOTU speech? He also called Iran “the number one terrorist nation in the world”. But lawmakers in Iraq are already planning a vote on a parliamentary measure that will expel US forces out of the country. The legislation has a third of parliament’s support. 13. https://www.express.co.uk/news/world/1083017/us-iran-Barham-Salih-iraq-troops-donald-trump/amp 14. PRESIDENT Donald Trump has faced backlash from Iraq leader Barham Salih for announcing troops from the US will remain in his nation to spy on Iran. By CARLY READ PUBLISHED: 19:58, Tue, Feb 5, 2019 UPDATED: 20:04, Tue, Feb 5, 2019 Share on FacebookShare on TwitterShare on Google+Share with EmailShare via Whatsapp President Salih hit back at claims Mr Trump will keep US military in Iraq in order to monitor neighbouring Middle East nation Iran. Mr Salah told the Daily Beast: “The troops in Iraq are operating based on the agreement between the government of Iraq and the United States for the specific mission of combating terrorism.” Then, in a swipe at President Trump he added: “Don’t overburden Iraq with your own issues. “Iran is our neighbour. We don’t want to be part of any axis, American or otherwise.” 15. https://www.express.co.uk/news/world/1081615/iran-news-donald-trump-usa-venezuela-maduro-rouhani-world-war-3 16. Officials in Tehran announced this week they were preparing to step up their production of enriched uranium. The radioactive element is used as fuel for nuclear power but can also be further refined to create material for atomic weapons. President Trump this week warned Iran remains a “source of potential danger and conflict” but his intelligence chiefs said Tehran is not working to create a nuclear weapon. 17. https://lifebru.com/incredible-photos-from-the-insanity-that-is-burning-man/?utm_source=adrizer&utm_campaign=129938&azs=adrizer&azc=129938&azw=Northern+%26+Shell_Express+%28Express+Newspapers+Ltd%29_-_Express+-+News+%2F+World_-_00a237eb80c88a206da40f6a4d1713f55a_-_00261c7d32b5578ced2a7258c81808922e&utm_term=Northern+%26+Shell_Express+%28Express+Newspapers+Ltd%29_-_Express+-+News+%2F+World_-_00a237eb80c88a206da40f6a4d1713f55a_-_00261c7d32b5578ced2a7258c81808922e&utm_content=blog& 18. https://www.express.co.uk/news/world/1078358/world-war-3-resistance-axis-iran-syria-hezbollah-israel 19. Incredible Photos From The Insanity That Is Burning Man These days just about everyone knows what Burning Man is. It’s a yearly event out in the desert where people go to escape the world, make and display incredible art, and do a little… let’s say “experimenting.” And while these photos you’re about to see are truly crazy… would you believe that they’re all from the most recent Burning Man in 2017? Well… they are! Orion Pictures Ad by Orion Pictures The Prodigy - In Theaters Friday READ MORE 20. TOP STORIES Congressional antagonism toward Big Tech threatens America’s global dominance San Bernardino County Sun - 5 hours ago Zimbabwe's Water Supply Threatened by Wetland Construction Voice of America - 17 hours ago TheHill Trump team threatens to wreck bipartisan consensus on Venezuela | TheHill 1 day ago Wall Street Journal A Sino-Russian Entente Again Threatens America 1 week ago CNBC Trump threatens to 'devastate Turkey economically' if it attacks Kurds in Syria 3 weeks ago More News Opinion | A Sino-Russian Entente Again Threatens America Wall Street Journal threatens america from www.wsj.com Jan 29, 2019 · A Sino-Russian Entente

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ladystylestores · 4 years

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Ex-Cop Advising On Riot Control Has Inflated Résumé

BuzzFeed News; Getty Images (2); Safeware via YouTube / Via youtube.com

The day before federal police officers gassed peaceful protesters to make way for a President Donald Trump photo op, Geoff Perrin posted a picture on Instagram of officers bearing riot shields and squaring off with a group of demonstrators.

Perrin was “at the White House,” where he “served as an adviser to the US Secret Service and US Park Police responsible for protecting the area,” his company announced, using the hashtags “#riotcontrol” and “#publicorder.” A second post showed a line of armored police vehicles. “We are just waiting for them to pull the pin,” Perrin wrote in the caption.

Perrin has trained police officers around the country. His website features Molotov cocktails, riot vans, and semiautomatic assault rifles. Muscular and tanned with a salt-and-pepper crew cut, Perrin dishes out wisdom in a clipped South London accent in YouTube instruction videos, including one where he explains how riot shields “could be used as a weapon as well if need be.”

Perrin’s teaching draws on martial arts, as well as American and British police tactics, the latter of which he has claimed to have learned during years as an elite instructor and “tactical adviser” for the UK’s Metropolitan Police Service.

But several of those claims are false. Perrin was never a “tactical adviser” and he did not teach the advanced instruction courses he said he taught. And four current and former officers say the methods he has been teaching US law enforcement are far more aggressive than anything advocated by the Met.

Perrin’s teachings are “self-made, unproven, and legally not defensible,” a British police training coordinator told BuzzFeed News on condition of anonymity. “The only reason why he’s got so far is because the US police are so far back in methodology and tactics therefore they believe his bullshit.”

In phone interviews, Perrin admitted that he has made erroneous and “misleading” claims about his experience. Less than an hour after the first phone call, Perrin’s biography on his company website was taken down.

Screenshot

Perrin’s bio on the Survival Edge website before he revised it.

Perrin also acknowledged that, contrary to the impression his social media has created, he has not been working as a formal “adviser” with the Secret Service or the Park Police during the George Floyd protests. He said he has previously trained officers from both agencies, and wanted to give them a “basic refresh” and to supply them with helmets and limbguards. “I am not going to watch officers get injured because they didn’t have any equipment,” Perrin said. He said he has not been paid for this work, and that he “did not write” the company announcement that described him as an adviser.

Neither the Secret Service nor the Park Police responded to repeated requests for comment about their relationship, if any, with Perrin. The Maryland State Police confirmed to BuzzFeed News that it has worked with him and said that he gave the department legitimate credentials for the job, which they verified with British police. Federal records show that his company has also won contracts with the Department of Defense.

Perrin said he left the UK for family reasons, and because he believes that higher-ups there don’t do enough to protect cops who are trying to subdue crowds. But he was also sharply critical of “dinosaur tactics” in US policing. Many police departments offer “no training for what these guys are facing,” Perrin said. “Because they’re so dumb, it is a constant battle to get them to see a different viewpoint other than use of force” when responding to protesters.

“They just say, ‘Geoff, this is how we do things in America,’” he said. “My team are quite excited about the fact that US is actually going to look at some reforms because it needs to happen.”

Perrin told BuzzFeed News that he is a “massive advocate” against the use of tear gas. Before officers in Washington cleared the protest to make way for Trump’s photo op in front of St. John’s church, Perrin said he had been “concerned” about how much tear gas officers had and pushed commanders to “use other tactics.”

He claimed the Secret Service and Park Police largely followed his advice, and he blamed “other agencies” — namely the DC Metropolitan Police — for its use. He also pointed out that there were other federal officers there that night who refused to identify themselves.

Both the Secret Service and the Park Police have acknowledged using chemical agents designed to produce tears.

Most of the officers on the ground had “honest intentions,” Perrin said, and were short on both staff and supplies. “The police did the best they could with the equipment and the personnel they had.”

Roberto Schmidt / Getty Images

Riot police confront protestors near the White House on June 1, 2020 as demonstrations against George Floyd’s death continue.

In 2001, violence erupted in the South London neighborhood of Brixton after an unarmed Black man named Derek Bennett was shot dead by the police. Metropolitan Police officers were accused of using excessive force to control the crowds.

Geoff Perrin was a medic with the force at the time, and an officer safety instructor in the London borough of Lewisham. He grew up in Brixton, and said the way police used to target his Black friends influenced his decision to join the force. “I wanted to see a change to policing,” he said.

But Perrin said he grew outraged at the way that police leadership responded to the 2001 unrest — he felt that rank-and-file officers were “thrown under the bus like sacrificial lambs.” Neither the Met and nor the UK’s Home Office responded to repeated requests for comment about Perrin’s time with British police.

In 2004, Perrin left the Met. Soon afterward he moved to the US. He claimed that his training methods had drastically reduced the number of officer injuries in Lewisham, and told BuzzFeed News he believed he might help police departments in the US do the same. In 2006, he helped start Survival Edge Tactical Solutions, based in Utah, with a fellow ex-cop, Jared Wihongi.

Once in the US, Perrin began winning contracts with American police forces to train them on crowd management and how to de-escalate tense situations, as well as on the use of protective gear.

Perrin also claimed during one phone interview that he spent a few years “teaching counterterrorism stuff for the FBI for their missions overseas.” The bio on his website listed work in numerous countries, including Cyprus, Germany, Croatia, Mongolia, Kenya, France, Canada, Singapore, and the Netherlands. The FBI did not respond to a request for comment.

His website says he has worked with a number of state and local departments, including the Utah Highway Patrol and Atlanta Police Department. Neither force responded to a request for comment.

While in Utah, Perrin was involved in the creation of a charity calendar featuring British bikini models firing guns, riding tanks, and posing with heavy artillery and soldiers in uniform. Two Utah police officers and several Utah National Guard members were suspended after a video of the “Hot Shots” shoot — featuring Perrin’s name in the credits — was posted on YouTube.

“There was nothing untoward, it was just way too racy for Utah,” Perrin said. But “it raised a hell of a lot of money for the help for heroes and special ops charities over here.”

That same year, he began working with the Maryland State Police, which was reviewing its own practices in the wake of mass unrest in Baltimore following the death of Freddie Gray. Thanks to his training, “we have updated our personal protective equipment to better protect our troopers and implemented tactics that enable us to end volatile situations quickly, while protecting the rights of peaceful protesters,” a spokesperson told BuzzFeed News.

It is unclear exactly when Perrin started overstating his credentials, but a Salt Lake Tribune article about the “Hot Shots” controversy refers to Perrin as a “tactical adviser.”

This is a phrase that holds serious meaning in UK policing circles — it reflects a specific job and elite training. To qualify for the job, an officer must pass a four-week course that is “generally regarded as the most physical course in the police,” a former public order instructor told BuzzFeed News. “It’s a very highly regarded role.”

Perrin used that term in the now-deleted bio on his website, and it is referenced in Facebook posts and in interviews. In an interview that Perrin did with an apparel company selling protective gear, an officer is photographed back to camera wearing a helmet plastered with a Union Jack sticker and the insignia “Tactical Advisor.”

Perrin also claimed to have been an elite instructor for the Met’s public order unit. Perrin acknowledged that he wasn’t as high-level an instructor as he put on his résumé, and that he didn’t work in the police’s central headquarters but at a local level, in the London borough of Lewisham.

“I’ll own it,” Perrin said of his résumé. “Yes, you know what, it was definitely fluffed up, and it’s being cleaned up 100%.”

Perrin told BuzzFeed News that he hadn’t used the statements in his bio to obtain any of his current contracts, because “Americans have not got the time for British policing,” so he has to win business by doing demonstrations.

“Nothing on that CV has helped me at all,” he said, “because they just go ‘What do you guys know about guns? What do you guys know about policing the type of violence we police here?’” Perrin insisted he got to where he is by hard work alone.

Screenshot via Instagram

Perrin train law enforcement officers

Perrin describes the methods behind his “hybrid” police-martial arts model in a number of videos online. In one posted in 2017, Perrin moves his arm in a punching motion to demonstrate how to “distance people.” Perrin says this is an effective “defensive” method if the officer doesn’t have a baton.

The move bears an eerie resemblance to one used by a Park Police officer on June 1 against an Australian news camera operator, which prompted an apology from the Park Police after Australia’s prime minister denounced the incident.

Perrin told BuzzFeed News that the officer used his elbow in a way that “we don’t teach.” For Perrin’s taste, the officer “would have to justify” his use of the technique. But he said the video doesn’t necessarily show the whole picture. “I can’t give you his perception or his fear of what happened,” he said. “I don’t know what happened before in that corner.”

“I can’t speak for what was going through his head at that period of time,” he added. “I don’t know how much sleep he had. If he’d done continued days of 16 hours extended tours, I just don’t know. Everyone has a different perception of fear.”

Perrin said his methods are all about reducing violence in riot control — by properly protecting officers. “You can’t expect them to stand out there and take projectiles,” he said. “Nobody wants to get hurt, and when an officer gets hurt, they can sometimes use more force than they may have intended.”

Three of the former and current British officers who spoke to BuzzFeed News said Perrin’s methods had little in common with what is taught in the UK, where officers rarely wear heavy-duty anti-riot equipment or military gear, and are taught to use force less frequently.

Perrin told BuzzFeed News the difference is intentional. He believes British police leaders don’t do enough to protect cops trying to subdue crowds, and that Americans often go too far. His “hybrid” approach is a balance between the two, he said.

Perrin believes that some of his former colleagues simply envy his success. “There’s a few people back home who are jealous that a South London boy who has come from pretty much nothing has done quite well for himself,” he said.

Perrin also pointed out that the mayhem in Washington on June 1 contrasted sharply with the work of his clients a short drive away in Maryland.

The Maryland State Police were called into action in Baltimore, where protests broke out soon after George Floyd’s death. According to multiple news reports, those protests unfolded more peacefully than they did in other cities.

The day before Trump’s walk to Lafayette Square, Perrin wrote about a double role — and dizzying schedule — on Instagram.

“From being down at the White House supporting our US Secret Service Level 1 team to then running with two Maryland State Police Level 1 teams to Baltimore. The teams did could [sic] crushed any problems in the City and Baltimore did not burn. Outstanding work and am safe and now in bed at 05.46.” In another post, he filmed Marine One carrying the president overhead. “Mr T coming home last night just before we got the call to go to Baltimore,” the caption read.

Perrin did not post anything about the events at Lafayette Square. And he has continued to post on social media, including from inside the White House, about working with the federal government.

On June 6, D-Day, Perrin posted a video saying he “was down at the White House training the White House personnel as in secret service” and that he had been invited to the map room to look at World War II maps. D-Day was a reminder of when “America showed everybody what they can do,” he said. ●

Screenshot

Perrin at the White House on June 6

John Templon contributed reporting.

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studywithds · 5 years

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05-03-2020 | NewsPaper Analysis

05-03-2020 | NewPaper Analysis | StudywithDS

1. SC Frees trade in cryptocurrencies, annuls RBI curb 2. SC order on cryptocurrency will offer only temporary relief Ring-fencing regulated entities from virtual currencies Technological innovations, including those underlying virtual currencies, have the potential to improve the efficiency and inclusiveness of the financial system. However, Virtual Currencies(VCs), also variously referred to as cryptocurrencies and crypto assets, raise concerns of consumer protection, market integrity, and money laundering, among others. Reserve Bank has repeatedly cautioned users, holders and traders of virtual currencies, including Bitcoins, regarding various risks associated with dealing with such virtual currencies. In view of the associated risks, it has been decided that, with immediate effect, entities regulated by RBI shall not deal with or provide services to any individual or business entities dealing with or settling VCs. Regulated entities that already provide such services shall exit the relationship within a specified time. A circular in this regard is being issued separately. RBI's Concern on Virtual Currencies: Seeks to develop as a parallel system of payment. Challenges- regulatory, legal & operational risks. Risks of consumer protection, data security. Goes against global money laundering and terrorist financing rules. Will impact monetary policy of RBI and leads to tax evasion. Efforts of RBI and Govt. : Dec-2016- many central banks around the world, started examining the feasibility of creating their own VCs. GOI set up an Inter-Ministerial Committee on 02-11-2017 April 2018-submitted first main report with draft crypto token & crypto asset(Banning, control, & regulation) Bill, 2018. Ban might be an extreme tool Objectives can be achieved through regulation Feb 2019-fresh Bill suggested -'Banning of cryptocurreny & regulation of official digital currency bill 2019. Proposes to ban mining, generation, holding, selling, dealing in, issuing, transferring, disposing of or using cryptocurrency in India. To create a digital rupee as a legal tender by GOI in constitution with RBI Recognize official foreign digital currency Why Supreme Court set aside RBI's Circular? It violates article 19(1)g of the constitution. RBI has not so far found, in the past 5 years or more, the activities of VC exchanges to impact RBI regulated entities adversely. Supreme Court asked RBI to direct the central bank of India to defreeze the current account of Discidum Internet Labs Pvt. Ltd and to release the funds. 3. River linking: CM writes to Andhra Govt. 4. State's outreach to neighbours raises river-linking expectations: National Perspective Plan(NPP): Envisages inter-basin transfer of water from surplus to deficit river basins: Optimal utilization of water resources. Raise the irrigation potential. Generation of additional hydro power. Other benefits like flod control, navigation Etc,. 2 Componenets: Himalayan Rivers Development Peninsular Rivers Development- 'Interlinking of Mahandi-Godavari-Krishna-Cavery rivers and build storages at potential sites in these basins'. National Water Development Agency(NWDA): Autonomous Society Setup in 1982. Ministry of Jal Shakti. Functions: To carry out a detailed survey and investigation of possible reservoir sites and interconnecting links in order to establish feasibility of the proposal of peninsular rivers development and Himalayan rivers development components forming part of the national perspective for water resources development prepared by the then Ministry of irrigation(now ministry of water resources, RD & GR) and Central Water Commission. To carry out detailed studies about the quantum of water in various peninsular river systems and Himalayan river systems which can be transferred to other basins/states after meeting the reasonable needs of the basin/states in the foreseeable future. To prepare a feasibility report of the various components of the scheme relating to peninsular Rivers development and Himalayan Rivers Development. To prepare detailed project report of river link proposals under a national perspective plan for water resources development after concurrence of the concerned states. To prepare pre-feasibility/detailed project reports of the intra-state links as may be proposed by the states. The concurrence of the concerned co-basin states for such proposals may be obtained before taking up their FRs/DPRs. To Undertake/ construct/ repair/renovate/rehabilitate/implement the projects either on its own or through an appointed agency/organization/PSU or company and the projects falling under Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchal Yojana(PMKSY) of which projects under Accelerated irrigation benefits programme(AIBP) are also included and similar other projects. NWDA to act as a repository of borrowed funds or money received on deposit or loan given on interest or otherwise in such manner, as directed by MoWR, RD & GR and to secure the repayment of any such borrowed funds/money/deposits/loan, etc, by way of mortgage, pledge, change or lien upon all or any other property, assets or revenue of the society both present and future. To do all such other things the society may consider necessary, incidental, supplementary or conducive to the attainment of the above objectives. 5. Nuclear race, slow but steady: Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons(NPT) Entered into force in 1970; extended indefinitely in 1995 Objactives: Prevent the spread of nuclear weapons and technology. Promote co-operatio in peaceful use of nuclear energy. Achieve nuclear disarmament and complete disarmament. 191 countries including permanent 5 of UNSC have joined the treaty. Nuclear weapon possessing countries like India, Pakistan and Israel sisi not sign. Allegations against NPT: It divides the world into nuclear weapon states(Nuclear haves) and non-nuclear weapon states(Nuclear have nots) Article-1: Prohibits transfer of nuclear weaponsor explosive devices or control of such weapons to non-nuclear weapon states. Article-2: Prohibits non-nuclear weapon states to manufacture or acquire nuclear weapons or explosive devices. NEWS: NPT's achievements in the last 50 years- no of nuclear warheads reduced from 70300 in 1986 to 14,000 in 2019. NPT helped to limit total no of nuclear states to 9 -> P5+India,Pakistan,Israel,N.Korea. Problems: Rate of reduction is falling in last 25years. China, Pakistan, India and North Korea are increasing their warheads 1800 warheads of US,UK,France and Russia- on high alert. 6. E-Waste recycling has doubled, says Centre: E-Waste: 'E-waste' means electrical and electronics equipment, whole or in part discarded as waste by the consumer or bulk consumer as well as rejects from manufacturing, refurbishment and repair processes. Why Recycling is important: Hazardous to Environment(Soil, water & air) and health - It contains toxic substances -> lead, cadmium, mercury, beryllium Etc, Saving of Resources E-Wastes in India: 'Ranks 5th among e-waste producing countries after USA, China, Japan, and Germany'. E-Waste(Management Handling) Rules,2011 E-Waste(Management) Rules,2016 E-Waste(Management) Amendment Rules,2018 Responsibility Producer, Consumer/bulk consumer, collection centre, dismantler and recycler-extended producer responsibility(EPR) Has strengthened EPR. Manufacturer, dealer, refurbisher and producer responsibility org(PRO) - E-Waste collection target did not set collection targets 30% collection of e-waste generated during first 2years. 40% during 3th and 4th years, 50% during 5th and 6th years, 70% from 7th year onwards. Relaxed the target 10% collection of e-waste generated in 2017-18 with a 10% increase every year untill 2023. Applicability Electrical and Electronic equipment mentioned in Schedule-I of the 2011 rules extended its purview to components or consumables or parts or spares of electrical and electronic equipment(EEE), along with thier products. - 7. Violence was one-sided, says delhi minorities panel: Delhi Minorities Commission(DMC): Setup by the Govt of NCT of Delhi under Delhi Minorities Commission Act, 1999. Objective: Safeguard rights and interests of minority Communities in NCT Delhi. Minority Communities- Defined so by the centre under National Commission for Minorities Act, 1992. Muslim, Sikh, Christian, Parsis, Buddhista and Jain are minorities in NCT Delhi Functions: Examine the working of the various safeguards provided in the constitution of India or laws enacted by parliament and the laws passed by the Legislative Assembly of Delhi for the protection of the minority communities, and to make recommendations to ensure their effective implementation. Monitor the implementation of the policies and schemes of the govt for the welfare of minority communities. Assess the representation of Minority Communities in the services of the Govt, semi-Govt Bodies and Govt. Undertakings, Municipal Corporations of Delhi, Delhi Development Authority, New Delhi Municipal Council, Other local authorities, and in case of inadequate authorities for necessary action. Look into specific complaints regarding the deprivation of the rights and safeguards of the minority communities and to take up such matters with the appropriate authorities for necessary action. Conduct studies, research, analysis in order to make recommendations to promote socio-economic upliftment of Minority Communities and hols seminars, debates, discussions, etc. on the problems affecting the minority communities in Delhi. NEWS: Riots in N.E. Delhi killed more than 45 people DMC Report: Most damage was done to shops and houses of muslims. Riots were will planned and one sided. Riots caused irresponsible damage harmony Compensation announced by Delhi govt. was inadequate. Read the full article

#CurrentAffairs #DailyCurrentAffairs #DEEPIKA #DEEPIKASINGAMSETTY #GOVTEXAMCURRENTAFFAIRS #RAILWAYS #SSC #studywithDs #UPSC

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sciencespies · 5 years

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Here's why next week's UN climate summit is the biggest moment since Paris agreement

https://sciencespies.com/environment/heres-why-next-weeks-un-climate-summit-is-the-biggest-moment-since-paris-agreement/

Here's why next week's UN climate summit is the biggest moment since Paris agreement

Hopes of a breakthrough in international climate change ambitions are being downplayed for a landmark meeting in New York. The United Nations climate action summit looks set to disappoint the thousands of campaigners who will take to the city’s streets just days earlier.

The summit is arguably the most important moment for climate change since the Paris climate deal was agreed in 2015. A key part of the historic agreement was that by 2020, countries would “ratchet up” the carbon-curbing plans they put forward for Paris, which are insufficient to meet the accord’s goals.

UN secretary general António Guterres has called on leaders to come to New York with concrete, realistic plans, rather than “beautiful speeches”.

He has set the bar high for heads of state, who are expected to include Narendra Modi of India, Emmanuel Macron of France, Angela Merkel of Germany, and the UK’s Boris Johnson.

Guterres has made four specific requests: carbon neutrality plans for 2050, ways to tackle fossil fuel subsidies, taxing carbon and no new coal power beyond 2020.

Three days before the meeting, Greta Thunberg was among the thousands that took to New York’s streets for a “global climate strike”, with potentially millions more joining worldwide. Two days after the UN summit, scientists will issue a special report on how global warming will affect the planet’s oceans and frozen corners.

But despite the spotlight these events will shine on the summit, hopes are relatively low. “I don’t think we should expect some huge breakthrough,” says Nicholas Stern of the London School of Economics.

A source close to the UK government, who does not want to be named, says: “It is not quite where everybody hoped it would be at this point.”

This is partly due to the EU and the US. The leadership role that the latter played ahead of the Paris summit was crucial to unlocking commitments from China, but such leadership has been absent under Donald Trump, who has kickstarted the process of withdrawing the US from the Paris accord in 2020.

The EU’s failure this summer to adopt a goal of net zero emissions for 2050 also hurt momentum this year.

Despite the gloom, anywhere between 60 and 100 countries are expected to come with a plan on 23 September. No major economies are expected to announce a stronger nationally-determined contribution (NDC), UN jargon for countries’ carbon-curbing plans, but some smaller ones may. Many will come with a commitment to commit later.

“For me it’s a really important staging post, an inflection point where at leader level we get a sense of how transformational this can be for economies,” says Nick Bridge, the UK’s top climate envoy. He believes Guterres has been right to make bold demands.

“A lot of this is getting back to the evidence and the science. Are we meeting what we need to do? No.”

The ambition in existing NDCs needs to increase five times for the world to limit temperature rises to 1.5°C and three times for 2°C, the tougher and minimum targets of the Paris deal, says Niklas Hagelberg of the UN Environment Programme.

The expectation is that most countries will submit a new NDC in the first half of next year, ahead of a key UN climate conference in November likely to be co-hosted by the UK and Italy in Glasgow.

If current pledges are delivered, the world will warm by around 3°C by the end of the century, says Niklas Höhne of Climate Action Tracker (CAT). Those pledges, which include China peaking emissions by around 2030, will see emissions continue to rise for the next 10 years.

By contrast, for a 2°C world, over that period they must fall 30 percent, and 50 percent for a 1.5°C world.

“We are not a little bit off, we are really far off,” says Höhne. At best, the new NDCs in aggregate might shave something in the order of 0.1°C off future warming, rather than a dramatic change like 0.5°C, he says.

However, he sees reasons for optimism beyond national governments.

An analysis by CAT found that if cities, region and business deliver all the emissions cuts they have promised by 2030, by that point the world could still stay under 2°C, albeit not 1.5°C. “That is encouraging,” he says.

Stern doesn’t think this month’s UN summit will be the point when we see promises materialise that close the gap between 3°C and “well below” 2°C as Paris demands.

“I think the most important thing is the shared recognition of the magnitude of the task ahead,” says Stern.

This article originally appeared in New Scientist. It is republished here as part of ScienceAlert’s partnership with Covering Climate Now, a global collaboration of more than 250 news outlets to strengthen coverage of the climate story.

#Environment

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tripstations · 5 years

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Following Greta: joining the Swedes on their no-fly holidays | Travel

At Hamburg central station it felt like the whole of Sweden was taking the train to somewhere else in Europe. You could hear snatches of Swedish everywhere. When we queued up to buy water, both couples ahead of us were Swedes. An entire handball team from Gothenburg was going by rail to a tournament in Austria.

“Sweden is trend-oriented: if there’s a new trend, everyone will follow it,” said Anna Maria Hilborn, an art teacher I met when my five-year-old son started spinning around a signpost on the platform with hers.

Sweden’s flygskam, or flight shame, movement first came to notice in the summer of 2017 when the singer-songwriter Staffan Lindberg wrote an article co-signed by five of his famous friends, in which they announced their decision to give up flying. Among them were the popular ski commentator Björn Ferry, opera-singer Malena Ernman (the mother of climate activist Greta Thunberg), and Heidi Andersson, the eleven-times world champion arm-wrestler.

Concourse, Hamburg Hauptbahnhof. Photograph: imageBROKER/Alamy Stock Photo

However, it was last summer that flygskam really gained momentum. Passenger numbers at Sweden’s 10 busiest airports fell 8% from January to April this year, following a 3% fall in 2018, according to Swedavia, which operates them. The number of journeys on Sweden’s national rail network increased by 5% last year and 8% in the first quarter of this year, according to Swedish Railways. Meanwhile, sales of Interrail tickets to Swedes increased by 45% in 2018 – and are expected to rise again this year.

“The big thing, of course, was the very warm summer last year,” Hilborn told me once we were on the train to the Rhineland city of Duisberg, the German countryside rattling by outside. “I think it affected people because it usually isn’t that hot in Sweden. It had an impact on farmers: they had to slaughter some of their animals early. And people felt it, too, of course.”

Seeing the effects of climate change in the here and now made Hilborn decide that next time she took her annual trip to visit her brother in Innsbruck, Austria, she would go by train.

“My personal impact won’t change a lot,” she said. “But when a percentage of people start doing something it creates a new norm. So, just by being a part of that movement and sharing it, I’m doing something.”

After nearly eight years living in Malmö, I’m perhaps Swedish enough to start following national trends such as flygskam, which made the official list of new Swedish words for 2018. I signed up to the country’s Flygfritt 2019 (Flight Free 2019) campaign in February – even though, strictly speaking, I had already failed, as I’d flown to the UK at the start of January.

Swedish climate change activist Greta Thunberg speaks at Extinction Rebellion’s environmental protest camp, London, April 2019. Photograph: Tolga Akmen/AFP/Getty Images

Using the calculator on the International Railways Union’s EcoPassenger site, I realised that by taking the train, rather than flying, on my four annual visits back to the UK would cut my annual CO2 emissions by about 1.8 tonnes, if you adjust for the impact of emitting at height. That is close to half the total annual carbon emissions, excluding flights, of the average person living in Sweden. To me it seemed crazy to pass up that kind of reduction to save a few days and a few hundred pounds.

“Your poor children,” my stepmother said after I announced my plan to travel overland from Malmö to my parents’ home in Surrey. My wife, while supportive, had nightmare visions of me and the children stranded on a cold station platform for the night. Though the truth is that seven-year-old Eira and five-year-old Finn loved it. In each direction, they got more than 24 hours of nearly non-stop parental attention, unlimited screen time, and Lego sets and craft equipment bought by their Swedish mum.

There was the excitement of passing through five countries – Denmark, Germany, Belgium and France on the way out, plus the Netherlands on the way back – and the thrill of racing through the French countryside at 186 mph on Eurostar. At the good-value A&O hostel we stayed at in Hamburg, Eira was inexplicably reduced to hysterical laughter by the large selection of goodies you could sprinkle on top of your yoghurt at the breakfast buffet.

On the train to Duisberg, at 3½ hours the longest single leg of the journey, I also met Elin Persson and her husband Morgon, on their way to Málaga with their four children. Like Hilborn, Morgon is an artist: a glass-blower who transforms used wine and beer bottles into vases. Elin Persson conceded that many of the Swedes she had seen travelling fitted a particular demographic. And it is true that the success of the flygskam movement has generated a backlash, with politicians and columnists in Sweden attacking it as a form of one-upmanship: one where middle-class Swedes sneer at their working-class compatriots for taking charter flights to Thailand or the Canary Islands.

Duisburg harbour, Germany. Photograph: Getty Images

“Mostly, it is now middle-class, but hopefully it will spread,” said Susanna Elfors, co-founder of the Tågsemester (Train Holiday) Facebook group which over the last year has gained 90,000 members.

I’d been thrown together with the Perssons by a 20-minute signalling delay that meant we all risked the same domino-chain of missed connections.

“You are the group leader,” the conductor informed me with mock formality as he shared my route, which had slightly better connections, with other Brussels-bound passengers. In the end, we had just four minutes to rush down the underpass and up to the right platform in Duisberg – with Finn on my shoulders, my wheeled suitcase trundling behind and Eira gamely struggling to keep up.

We made it, but the experience underlines the risk of international train journeys in a system not yet designed for them. Instead of buying a ticket all the way to your final destination – as was the case before budget flights replaced international rail travel – a sequence of shorter journeys is now purchased. With the ticket I bought online from Loco2, we had reserved seats on specific Eurostar and German Intercity-Express (ICE) trains. If we missed a connection, we would have no right to take a later one.

In the days before I left Malmö, I’d regretted not making more of a holiday of it. Aside from an hour and a bit in Brussels, our only stop longer than 20 minutes was the hour and a half we had in Ösnabrück on the return leg. We did manage to entertain ourselves, however.

Although no one said anything, German travellers seemed less indulgent of small children than those back home in Sweden. But the comfortable table seats we had booked on the German ICE trains were perfect for drawing, playing Lego and making wool pom-poms. The short trips we had on standing-only overcrowded local trains in Germany and the Netherlands were more difficult.

Hook of Holland terminal, the Netherlands. Photograph: Alamy

We stayed away from the decent-looking ICE restaurant cars selling German food, such as currywurst and beef gulasch, but indulged ourselves whenever the trolley selling drinks and pretzel breads passed by (although coming from cash-free Sweden, I was astonished they didn’t take cards).

In Brussels, we visited an overpriced restaurant outside the station to try the national dish – some of the worst mussels I have ever eaten. I made up for the disappointment on the return leg, by gorging on deep-fried mussels from Hoekse Vishandel outside the Hook of Holland ferry terminal.

“Are there places like this all over the Netherlands?” I asked the owner. “There are,” he said. “But we’re the best.”

In Ösnabrück, a city in north-west Germany, we missed the medieval centre and renowned zoo but met an engineering student in Burger King who kept the children spellbound as he explained the workings of his self-built electric skateboard.

Osnabrück, Germany Photograph: Getty Images

On the 45-minute ferry from Germany to the Danish island of Lolland, the children threw themselves around in the wind so wildly on deck that they fell asleep as soon as we got onto the rail replacement bus to Copenhagen. Indeed, Finn was so exhausted that when, an hour later, he threw up half-digested spaghetti bolognese over his sister, he didn’t even wake up. By that time all we had left was a hop over the Öresund Straits, and a short cycle home to our apartment where, at well past midnight, the children were greeted by their relieved mother.

The trip took two more days than it would have if we’d flown, but they weren’t days wasted. They might even be the best I’ve spent with Eira and Finn all year.

Journey times from Malmo to London By train: from 18hrs 52minutes with four changes (source Loco2) – but factor in more time if you want a less tiring journey. For example Richard and family spent a night in Hamburg. By air: from 4hrs 25 minutes, with one stop (SAS).

Carbon emissions from Malmo to London By train: 53.9kg. By air: 269.8kg (source: ecopassenger.org)

• Tickets booked online at Loco2. Outbound journey: depart Malmö 3pm, travelling via Copenhagen to Hamburg (accommodation at the A&O Hostel); then to London St Pancras via Duisberg, Aachen (Eurostar from Brussels). Return journey: Stena Line night ferry from Harwich to Hook of Holland, and then to Malmö via Schiedam, The Hague, Hengelo, Osnabrück, Hamburg and Copenhagen. Trip cost: £710, for one adult and two children.

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