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Indian Stewardship to Guide The Afghan Ship In A Perpetual Typhoon
Posted By: Lt Gen PR Kumar (Retd) November 29, 2021
Amidst the propensity of meetings of select nations across global capitals, India shedding its reticence hosted a meet chaired by its NSA. The Indian stance on Afghanistan found commonality with all participants leading to the release of a joint statement that's both practical and keeps Afghan wellbeing central to it. However, notwithstanding the urgency of the situation, with sanctions persisting, winter racing in, and hunger creeping just round the bend, would it be possible to push the pace and ensure Afghans don't face a winter of hardships.
Winter has Come!
Winter has come in more ways than one, for the unfortunate people of Afghanistan. It has been three months since the Taliban dramatically seized power, resulting in NO governance. The Taliban players who acted as leaders and diplomats are nowhere to be seen or heard. Other nations especially global and regional players (the USA and its partners, China, Russia, Iran, Pakistan and CAR countries) who were enjoying playing their 'great game', with tragic consequences for the Afghan people, are still wondering what hit them and are counting their losses (nobody won anything including Pakistan who will find out sooner than later if not already aware). They have left behind the Taliban which does not know what governance means, and a humungous humanitarian crisis brought about by hunger and famine, which may turn into a catastrophe with the winter creeping in and sanctions not yet lifted.
International aid in all forms: lifting sanctions with pre-conditions, food, medicines, water, tentage and housing camps for the millions of needy, needs despatch and distribution to all segments of society immediately. Here again, there is a fear of favouritism for supporters of the Taliban. The security situation has worsened and threatened the region and, in my assessment, the globe. After all, we do live in an interconnected globalised world.
There are no victors in this appalling dynamic despite initial chest-thumping in some regional capitals. While the USA and its allies may move on temporarily, the immediate neighbours must bear the cross and salvage the situation urgently. While experts within and outside India may keep debating, India remains the only power that has space to manoeuvre between the conflicting interests and games of nations in the region and also simultaneously assuage the anxieties of the West and UN.
The Current Crisis
As hopes that the Taliban might form a more inclusive government faded, on 22 November, they added 27 new members (deputy ministers, corps commanders and heads of independent departments), but again a predominantly Pashtun majority, and shunned women. No country has formally recognised the Taliban government in Afghanistan and the country is on the verge of economic collapse. Afghanistan is also facing a threat from the Islamic State, which has ramped up attacks over the last few months. The security situation is grim; at some stage, the current low-key anti-Taliban resistance, which in itself constitutes of disparate groups with individual agendas (Northern resistance, Uzbeks, IS and the Fatemiyoun Brigade composed of Afghan Shia's, each wanting to establish its sphere of influence) will gather momentum and the stage will be set for a chaotic tragic civil war.
Deplorable Human Rights Situation
The human rights situation in Afghanistan continues to deteriorate. There are credible reports of reprisal killings of former members of the Afghan security forces, as well as reports which indicate that the Taliban has arbitrarily detained former government officials and conducted house-to-house searches in an effort to locate people connected with the former government.
The new Taliban regime has barred women from the public sphere and Afghan girls' have limited access to education. Reports of several instances of Taliban fighters using violence against protesters and journalists have emerged. Numerous terrorist attacks have taken place in Afghanistan since mid-September. On 9 October, a suicide bomber struck a Shiite mosque in Kunduz, killing at least 43 people and wounding more than 140 others. Similarly, on 15 October, another Shiite mosque in Kandahar was attacked killing 47 people with over 70 injured.
As per the published UN Security Council November 2021 Forecast on Afghanistan, it is interesting to note that China, apparently sought to remove language that indicated the mosques were Shiite, which was opposed by other council members led by India. An understanding was reached whereby the specific mosques were named. On 7 October, the Human Rights Council (HRC) adopted resolution 48/1, which appointed a special rapporteur to monitor the human rights situation in Afghanistan.
Fawzia Koofi, the now-exiled first woman deputy speaker of the Afghan parliament briefed the Security Council on 12 October 2021. She underlined the importance of putting in place "a pluralistic social and political structure" for peace in Afghanistan and called on the international community to work with the Taliban only if they "map out a clear path that guarantees the fundamental rights of all segments of society, in particular women and girls", since the Taliban's ideology discriminates on the basis of gender. While vide Resolution 2596, adopted on 17 September 2021, the UNSC has extended the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) mandate until 17 March 2022, the complexities and uncertainties can be gauged by the fact that nobody is clear what its role should be.
Ironically, many members of the Taliban cabinet are on the UNSC and US sanctions list, which constitutionally can impede to render aid to Afghanistan. Both have to seriously consider reviewing the 1988 sanctions. Despite the rhetoric and threats, many in the international community have acknowledged the need to cooperate with the Taliban, while not recognizing it, to prevent an economic collapse and humanitarian crisis. The USA enabled the Taliban via the Doha Accord but retained sanctions till the main elements of the Accord are fulfilled. EU, Russia, China and many other countries are willing to talk to the Taliban. Pakistan of course remains a natural ally. Pakistan, China and Russia have functional embassies in Kabul hoping to exploit the situation to meet their objectives, and to keep other regional players like India out. It is difficult to imagine how the people in Afghanistan can be helped without involving the Taliban.
No Dearth of Bilateral and Multi-lateral Meetings: Crisis Deepens
On 20 October, members of the Taliban attended a conference in Moscow with representatives of China, India, Iran, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Pakistan, Russia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan. A statement followed, emphasising that practical engagement with Afghanistan needs to take account of the Taliban's seizure of power, irrespective of whether the international community recognises "the new Afghan government" or not.
The statement also called on the Taliban to form an inclusive government and proposed an international donor conference under the auspices of the UN. This was the third meeting held in the "Moscow format", which was established in 2017 to discuss Afghanistan. Meetings on Afghanistan are becoming commonplace at the UN, and in the West, with mainly rhetoric and not much movement on the ground.
Unfortunately, to complicate matters, there is no unity or cohesion within the Taliban. Inter and intra-group fights/brawls have been continuous, highlighted by the reported brawl between the Taliban's Deputy Prime Minister, Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, and supporters of Khalil ur-Rahman Haqqani, the Taliban's Minister for Refugees and a prominent figure in the Haqqani network. The fault lines within the Taliban, of divisions along ethnic lines and factions that represent the northern, eastern, and southern parts of the country have accelerated.
Reticent India Displays Leadership
The Indian government has cautioned the global community not to rush into any formal recognition of the interim government set up by the Taliban. It has also urged the world leaders to ensure that the Taliban delivers on its commitments that Afghan soil will not be used by terror groups, especially Pakistan-based organisations such as Lashkar-e-Taiba and Jaish-e-Mohammed.
A 'Reticent India' finally broke its own shackles and hosted the 'Delhi Regional Security Dialogue' on 10 November 2021, chaired by NSA Doval and attended by his counterparts from Iran, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan and Tajikistan. China and Pakistan refused the invite, while Afghanistan was not invited. Interestingly, this is the first time that all Central Asian countries – and not just Afghanistan's immediate land neighbours, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan, participated. This is the third such meeting with the previous two regional meetings held in Iran in September 2018 and December 2019.
India is clearly signalling that it has no intention of giving up on its role as a key interlocutor on the issue. India is continuing with its policy of supporting the aspirations of ordinary Afghans, the emerging of a stable polity and 'peace within and with its neighbours', which has been widely welcomed globally, signifying acceptance of India's legitimate interests and leadership on this vital issue and region globally.
Geo-Political-Strategic Rationale
Afghanistan, geopolitically a nation at the cusp between Central and South Asia, has shifted towards South Asia and its link between the two regions is largely predicated on the strength of India-Afghanistan ties, not its ties with Pakistan. While the West can walk away, India will have to work with its regional partners in finding a long-term solution.
No single regional State is in a position to deal with problems such as violent extremism, radicalisation, porous borders and drug trafficking on its own. Regional coordination is needed and security agencies across borders will have to work together. It is in this context that India's decision to take a leadership role in Afghanistan is a welcome change from its historical reticence. Further, India's interests converge significantly with those of Russia, Iran and Central Asia. Russia is concerned about the spread of radicalism and extremism to its peripheries including CAR. Iran wants to safeguard Shia minorities from persecution and prevent a refugee crisis. CAR countries want a stable region free of radicalism. Indian stewardship as a regional power capable of finding a common minimum ground to ensure stability and coordinate urgent humanitarian assistance to Afghan people is being increasingly accepted.
Pakistan Responds with an Extended Troika plus one Meeting
The day after the Delhi summit, on 11 November, 2021 Islamabad hosted a meeting of the extended Troika, comprising Pakistan, China, Russia, and the USA to discuss the latest situation in Afghanistan. Nothing significant emerged except to reiterate old agreements, terms of the Doha agreement and UN resolutions, and exhort the regional players to play a more pro-active role to strengthen stability and reach humanitarian assistance to Afghanistan.
Pakistan and China: The Spoilers
Pakistan's initial jubilation over a perceived "victory" in Afghanistan has waned. It's grappling with a fiasco of its own making as radicalisation sweeps through the Pakistani hinterland, forcing the political class and the military-intelligence complex to make compromises with the extremists. Ironically, calling India a "spoiler" confirms Pakistan's desire to view Afghanistan largely as a protectorate as opposed to an independent sovereign nation. It reflects Islamabad's reluctance to engage with New Delhi, and reinforces its policy of marginalising India. China wants early entry and primacy in Afghanistan. It is keen to fill the geo-political vacuum left by USA, expedite expansion of its BRI with a passage through CAR into Europe. It eyes the rare earth resources available for its economic and strategic payoffs. It also wants to safeguard its restive Xinjiang region and Uighur population from radicalisation and terrorist influence, thus providing an impetus to its 'China Dream' of being acknowledged as a super power.
it can be stated that Afghanistan is descending back to the stone age with regional players intervening with divergent national agendas. Its descent is aggravated by a lack of governance and gains additional momentum from the increasing intra and inter-factional rivalry and fighting. There is a high probability of civil war with tragic humanitarian consequences. India appears to be the sole regional power with the status, capability, capacity and backing of a sizeable international community and global players to prevent a 'descent to hell' by working out a road map for stability and rehabilitation. It's also a geo-political-strategic compulsion for India with rich rewards if achieved, but major vulnerabilities, if it fails.
Lt Gen PR Kumar (Retd)
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Lt Gen PR Kumar (Retd) served in the Indian Army for 39 years, He was the DG Army Aviation, before superannuating from the appointment of Director General of Military Operations (DGMO) in end 2015.
Read More About: Lt Gen PR Kumar (Retd)


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Google reportedly fired a software engineer on Monday after a document he wrote criticising the companys diversity efforts and attributing the tech industrys gender imbalance to biological differences between men and women went viral.
To suggest a group of our colleagues have traits that make them less biologically suited to [Googles] work is offensive and not OK, Google CEO Sundar Pichai wrote in a memo to employees. It is contrary to our basic values and our code of conduct.
The firing of the memos author, who identified himself as James Damore in an email to the Guardian, was first reported by Bloomberg. Google declined to comment on an individual employees case, but tweeted a link to further comments by Pichai: Our co-workers shouldnt have to worry that each time they open their mouths to speak in a meeting, they have to prove they are not like the memo states, being agreeable rather than assertive, showing lower stress tolerance or being neurotic.
The 10-page manifesto was initially published internally, but was leaked to the press on Saturday after prompting a firestorm within the company. The document, entitled Googles Ideological Echo Chamber, takes aim at Googles diversity and inclusion initiatives, such as implicit bias training and programs to promote women and under-represented minorities, and argues that the company is intolerant of conservative political views.
When it comes to diversity and inclusion, Googles left bias has created a politically correct monoculture that maintains its hold by shaming dissenters into silence, the author wrote.
The author also made questionable claims about supposedly innate differences between men and women to account for the extreme gender disparity in Googles workforce.
Like most of Silicon Valleys top tech companies, Google is overwhelmingly male, white and Asian. Women make up just 20% of the technical workforce, and African Americans just 1%, according to Googles most recent diversity report.
Google is also engaged in a legal battle with the US Department of Labor, which is investigating the company for wage discrimination. A DOL lawyer told the Guardian in April that its analysis of wage data showed that discrimination against women in Google is quite extreme, even in this industry.
At this point the department has received compelling evidence of very significant discrimination against women in the most common positions at Google headquarters, the attorney said.
The internal document sparked a heated debate within Google and the tech industry at large, with many Google employees expressing anger and dismay about its contents on Twitter. Many called for the authors firing, arguing that his opinions created a hostile work environment, while others raised concerns about sacking an employee for expressing unpopular views.
Rightwing news site Breitbart covered the controversy extensively, focusing on the perceived culture of political correctness in the tech industry, and casting the memos author as a victim of a witch hunt by social justice warriors.
In his memo, Pichai acknowledged concerns over freedom of expression, adding: Many points raised in the memo such as the portions criticising Googles trainings, questioning the role of ideology in the workplace, and debating whether programs for women and underserved groups are sufficiently open to all are important topics.
The author had a right to express their views on those topics we encourage an environment in which people can do this and it remains our policy to not take action against anyone for prompting these discussions.
The CEO told staff he would be returning from a vacation early in order to hold a town hall meeting to discuss how we create a more inclusive environment for all.
Google is the latest company to face issues of sexism, discrimination and harassment this year. The Uber CEO, Travis Kalanick, resigned in June and an additional 20 employees were fired amid the fallout from allegations of widespread sexual harassment and gender discrimination at the company.
The tech industry has also been rocked by accusations that a number of high-profile venture capitalists have harassed female startup entrepreneurs.


The best custom homes reflect the materials and building styles of their region, and some of the finest examples are vacation homes. It's an opportunity to go local in the most literal sense, as clients expect their house to take on some of the flavor of their favorite destination. The builders and architects of the following homes took that idea seriously while creating dynamic spaces that are welcoming and highly functional.
Part pavilion, part porch, Casa Xixim sits among coconut palms on a finger of land between Mexico's Soliman Bay and the Atlantic Ocean. The luxury vacation rental, in a resort community just north of Tulum, merges with its site in surprising ways to create a continuous outdoor experience. It's difficult to tell, but this house works as hard as it plays by generating all of its own power, capturing and reusing rainwater, and processing its own biological waste—something the town encourages because waste disposal is difficult on this narrow strip with water abutting both sides.
The property's carefully designed ecological systems help to offset the carbon its visitors create in getting to their destination. A series of tanks hidden behind walls process biological waste, which is neutralized and then released into a man-made wetland on the west side of the house. The wetland consists of a serpentine channel with plants whose root systems absorb nutrients from the waste, so the water comes out clean enough for irrigation. In addition, all rainwater on the site is captured and stored in an underground cistern, from which it is pumped to a pressurization tank on the roof for domestic use.
The construction, labor, and materials were firmly rooted in the local community, though the materials are not always what tourists expect. There is no dried palm thatch, for instance, which has become something of a cliché on vacation-home roofs, but the hand-glazed, traditional cement "pasta tiles" and the wood, limestone, concrete, and stucco were sourced nearby.
Twenty-six-foot-wide sliding louver doors open on both sides of the first and second stories, creating the feeling of a pavilion. The louver doors have screens, though the near-absence of pesky insects allows the house to be completely open most of the time. "There is a one-hour window in the late afternoon when the mosquitoes come out," Specht says.
While lush plantings are part of the scenery in a tropical paradise, here they weave their way into the house, helping to keep stormwater on the site and entirely screening the neighbor from view. Upper bedrooms open to a series of planted decks, and a stair tower leads to a flat, partially planted roof and large terrace shaded by the solar array. "They've hung hammocks under there," Specht says. "We try to use technical things for other purposes as well." On the second-floor bedroom terraces, thickened walls contain sliding louvers that close off the passageway to the bedrooms. The walls are inset with geometric-patterned pasta tiles and sunset benches that face west over the mangrove area.
In an unexpected turn, the builder abandoned the job after the shell was up, leaving owners Dave and Jenny Blizard of San Francisco to find someone to manage the project with them. "It's important to have your fixer—someone who can speak the language, negotiate, and do checks at a level of proficiency I couldn't," Dave says. A Mayan crew was hired to do the carpentry. "The trickiest part was all the railings that go up the staircase and make several turns," he says. Specht had designed a template of anodized aluminum in different diameters for making the railing rods, which are set in concrete and capped with wood. The rods were electrostatically painted in Cancun to create a durable finish, and carpenters installed the tubes and wooden railing cap on site.
The home's design was conceived as a merging of the clients' differing sensibilities: He likes rustic, while she prefers contemporary (Photos: Matthew Millman).
This 10-acre riparian plot on the Snake River in Jackson, Wyo., had a thicket of cottonwood and conifer trees and a view of the Teton mountain range—raw ingredients any design team would covet. Owl Ditch Residence was conceived as a vacation getaway for a Chicago family with four young boys and is the work of John Carney of Jackson architecture firm Carney Logan Burke Architects, known for designing houses that are refined in their details, yet livable.
Jennings drilled holes in the slab and mounted it on stainless steel rods that hold it about 2 inches off the wall. A corner window in the shower illuminates the slab from the side during the day, and Jennings experimented with super-bright LED strips to create even lighting behind it. "We added strips to create overlapping light where there were hot spots," he says. Mounting the onyx on steel rods also allows the slab to be pulled off to replace the light strips when necessary.
The three-part 6,500-square-foot retreat takes its cues from local agrarian buildings, which often have a main building connected to smaller wings. Here that idea is interpreted with a central building containing a double-height living and dining room, a separate kitchen with a breakfast area, and a bunk room tucked above. The home's overall impact is reduced with glassy passageways connecting two pavilion-like wings.
The north wing has a guest suite and game room on the first floor and a master suite and office above; the south wing contains a three-car garage, mudroom, and laundry on the first floor, and four identically laid out bedrooms above—like monastic quarters—for the boys. With the bunk room's big adjacent bathroom and easy access to the downstairs mudroom and outdoors, "they can really put up some kids," Carney says.
The home's design was conceived as a merging of the clients' differing sensibilities: He likes rustic, while she prefers contemporary.
The materials and design represent a meeting of the minds between the husband, who prefers a rustic feel, and the wife, who envisioned something contemporary. Local design guidelines dictated gabled roofs and rustic exterior materials. And the area's old lodges and national park structures have small punched windows and dark interiors, but the clients wanted something lighter, more transparent, and outdoor-focused. Carney's design fuses the Western vernacular of exposed timbers, covered porches, pitched roofs, and generous overhangs, with large, modern expanses of glass.
be dark inside, but this one gets plenty of light through curtain walls of thermally broken steel windows—a nod to the modernist in the family. Their mullions look like true divided lights, thanks to a spacer panel inside, but the windows are actually one sheet of glass, making them much more energy-efficient than individual panes. The window walls also appear on the connectors, exposing the floating main stair on the north link.
Cheryl Weber, a writer based in Pennsylvania, covers design.
Comments on: "Vacation Homes: Change of Climate"


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Tragedi i tre akter (eng. Three Act Tragedy) är en detektivroman av Agatha Christie som utkom i Storbritannien 1935 (i USA redan 1934 som Murder in Three Acts) och på svenska 1937. Romanen har två huvudpersoner; mästerdetektiven Hercule Poirot och Mr. Satterthwaite, en prydlig och ganska feminin liten herre, som helst iakttar livet "från sidan om".

Handling
Berättelsen börjar med att Poirot, Satterthwaite och flera andra är inbjudna till en middag hos skådespelaren Sir Charles Cartwright i dennes sommarvilla i ett litet samhälle vid Englands kust. Men det blir ingen trevlig tillställning; redan vid cocktailen före middagen faller ortens kyrkoherde, Stephen Babbington, ner död. Men... vem i all sin dar kan ha haft motiv att döda den oförarglige gamle prästen?

Nästa akt i dramat kommer när Sir Bartholomew Strange, läkare på Harley Street, men också gammal vän till Sir Charles och en av gästerna vid dennes olycksdrabbade middag, dör av förgiftning under en middag i sitt eget hem. Flera av gästerna från Sir Charles' middagsbjudning är närvarande den här gången också! Ska det bli ett tredje mord innan Hercule Poirot lyckas lösa mysteriet?

Filmatiseringar
En TV-filmatisering gjordes 1986, med Peter Ustinov som Poirot. Handlingen var här överflyttad till nutid och tilldrog sig i Acapulco, och rollfiguren Satterthwaite hade ersatts av Arthur Hastings, Poirots parhäst i flera andra böcker. Även mördarens motiv hade man tvingats ändra eftersom det förbud, som i boken drev mördaren att begå sina hemska dåd, inte fanns i lagen längre...

2009 kom en ny TV-film med David Suchet i huvudrollen; den var mer trogen mot romanförlagan. Rollfiguren Satterthwaite hade dock, liksom en annan av de misstänkta, tagits bort helt.

Skönlitteratur 1934
Brittiska romaner
Brittiska kriminalromaner
Engelskspråkig skönlitteratur
England i skönlitteratur
Verk av Agatha Christie

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


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Two years ago, NASA made a big splash when it announced the discovery of flowing water on the surface of Mars. Unfortunately, according to new research from the U.S. Geological Survey, the surface features that NASA thought were made up of liquid water may actually be flowing grains of sand instead. The Verge reports: The features in question are dark streaks that show up periodically on Martian hills, known as recurring slope lineae, or RSLs. When one of NASA's spacecraft, the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, studied these lines more closely, it found that the RSLs were made up of hydrated salts -- meaning they were mixed with water molecules. At the time, NASA thought that was significant evidence that flowing liquid water caused these bizarre streaks. But researchers at the USGS say these features look identical to certain types of slopes found on sand dunes here on Earth. Those slopes are caused by dry grains of sand flowing downhill, without the help of any water. It's possible the same thing is happening on Mars, too. Since liquid water is key for life here on Earth, many thought these strange lines of flowing water may help support life on the Martian surface. But now these RSLs may not be the best place to look for life anymore.
Prof Bellis from Public Health Wales NHS Trust said the setting in which the alcohol was consumed was an important factor that the study tried to take into consideration by asking about drinking at home and outside of the home. He said the way different drinks are marketed and promoted might encourage people to select certain drinks to suit different moods, but that this could backfire if it triggered negative emotions. He also said the study revealed a difference between men and women's emotional relationship with different alcoholic drinks.
Google and several leading Russian search engines have completely wiped 786 "pirate" sites from their search results. That's according to telecoms watch Rozcomnadzor, which reports that the search providers delisted the sites after ISPs were ordered by a Moscow court to permanently block them. TorrentFreak reports: Late July, President Vladimir Putin signed a new law which requires local telecoms watchdog Rozcomnadzor to maintain a list of banned domains while identifying sites, services, and software that provide access to them. [...] Nevertheless, on October 1 the new law ("On Information, Information Technologies and Information Protection") came into effect and it appears that Russia's major search engines have been very busy in its wake. According to a report from Rozcomnadzor, search providers Google, Yandex, Mail.ru, Rambler, and Sputnik have stopped presenting information in results for sites that have been permanently blocked by ISPs following a decision by the Moscow City Court. "To date, search engines have stopped access to 786 pirate sites listed in the register of Internet resources which contain content distributed in violation of intellectual property rights," the watchdog reports. The domains aren't being named by Rozcomnadzor or the search engines but are almost definitely those sites that have had complaints filed against them at the City Court on multiple occasions but have failed to take remedial action. Also included will be mirror and proxy sites which either replicate or facilitate access to these blocked and apparently defiant domains.
An anonymous reader shares a report: In yet another backflip worthy of the Moscow Circus, a Russian minister has said that the country will never legalize bitcoin, just seven months after another government minister said it was considering making it legal. Minister of Communications and Mass Media Nikolai Nikiforov made the statement this week, saying that "bitcoin is a foreign project for using blockchain technology, the Russian law will never consider bitcoin as a legal entity in the jurisdiction of the Russian Federation." Recognizing that blockchain technology is separate to bitcoin, Nikiforov went on to say that "I think that it is quite possible to use blockchain technology and the use of various digital tokens." Those tokens may constitute a Russian-issued cryptocurrency. TASS reported that "Russia's Communication Ministry has submitted to the government the document containing technical details related to cryptocurrencies adoption."
Yesterday, it was reported that Uber concealed a massive cyberattack that exposed 57 million people's data. Recode reports that at least five states -- Illinois, Massachusetts, Missouri, New York and Connecticut -- would investigate the matter. From the report: Meanwhile, Uber must contend with the possible threat of a new probe at the Federal Trade Commission. The agency, which acts as the U.S. government's top privacy and security watchdog, penalized Uber for its privacy and security practices just this August. But it may not have known that Uber had suffered a major security breach in 2016, even as they investigated the company at the same time for other, unrelated security missteps. For now, the agency merely said it's "closely evaluating the serious issues raised." And some affected customers are similarly taking action. On Wednesday -- hours after the breach became public -- an Uber user filed a lawsuit accusing the company of negligence and deceptive business practices. The plaintiff, Alejandro Flores, is seeking to represent a class of affected riders and drivers alike.
For one thing, 48 states maintain some version of a law that requires companies that suffer a data breach to communicate what happened to consumers. In most cases, companies must disclose a security incident if hackers steal very sensitive customer data -- such as driver's license numbers, which happened with Uber in late 2016. To that end, the attorneys general in Illinois, Connecticut and New York have said they are probing the breach at Uber -- perhaps with an eye on whether the company skirted state laws. The top prosecutors in other major states, like Pennsylvania and Florida, did not immediately respond to emails on Wednesday seeking comment. California's AG declined to comment.
According to VentureBeat, Samsung is planning to show off its next-generation Galaxy S9 and S9+ smartphones at January's Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. Some of the information about the devices will be shared at CES, but Samsung is still apparently holding an official launch event in March, as it did this past year for the Galaxy S8 and S8+. From the report: Codenamed Star 1 and Star 2 -- and going by model numbers SM-G960 and SM-G965 -- the S9 and S9+ will feature the same 5.8-inch and 6.2-inch curved-edge Super AMOLED "Infinity" displays, respectively, as their predecessors. While no specific processor was mentioned, it is said to employ 10-nanometer fabrication techniques, which is highly suggestive of the upcoming Snapdragon 845 from Qualcomm (and likely a similar Exynos model for some regions). Besides a bigger screen, the S9+ will reportedly offer more RAM (6GB versus 4GB) and a second rear camera, similar to the Note8. Both models pack 64GB of internal storage, supplemented by a microSD slot, and both leave the 3.5-millimeter headphone jack intact. Regardless of rear camera configuration, both phones orient the elements on the back of the device vertically -- with the fingerprint sensor on the bottom, in acknowledgement of one of the most frequent complaints about all three of Samsung's 2017 flagship handsets. Another change that's sure to be well-received is the addition of AKG stereo speakers. Finally, Samsung plans to introduce a backward-compatible DeX docking station that situates the phones flat and utilizes the screens as either a touchpad or a virtual keyboard.
An anonymous reader quotes a report from The Verge: The FCC received a record-breaking 22 million comments chiming in on the net neutrality debate, but from the sound of it, it's ignoring the vast majority of them. In a call with reporters yesterday discussing its plan to end net neutrality, a senior FCC official said that 7.5 million of those comments were the exact same letter, which was submitted using 45,000 fake email addresses. But even ignoring the potential spam, the commission said it didn't really care about the public's opinion on net neutrality unless it was phrased in unique legal terms. The vast majority of the 22 million comments were form letters, the official said, and unless those letters introduced new facts into the record or made serious legal arguments, they didn't have much bearing on the decision. The commission didn't care about comments that were only stating opinion. The FCC has been clear all year that it's focused on "quality" over "quantity" when it comes to comments on net neutrality. In fairness to the commission, this isn't an open vote. It's a deliberative process that weighs a lot of different factors to create policy that balances the interests of many stakeholders. But it still feels brazen hearing the commission staff repeatedly discount Americans' preference for consumer protections, simply because they aren't phrased in legal terms.
Ask Slashdot: What Are Your Greatest Successes and Weaknesses With Wine (Software)?
wjcofkc writes: As a distraction, I decided to get the video-editing software Filmora up and running on my Ubuntu box. After some tinkering, I was able to get it installed, only to have the first stage vaporize on launch. This got me reflecting on my many hits and misses with Wine (software) over the years. Before ditching private employment, my last job was with a software company. They were pretty open minded when I came marching in with my System76 laptop, and totally cool with me using Linux as my daily driver after quickly getting the Windows version of their software up and running without a hitch. They had me write extensive documentation on the process. It was only two or three paragraphs, but I consider that another Wine win since to that end I scored points at work. Past that, open source filled in the blanks. That was the only time I ever actually needed (arguably) for it to work. Truth be told, I mostly tinker around with it a couple times a year just to see what does and does not run. Wine has been around for quite awhile now, and while it will never be perfect, the project is not without merit. So Slashdot community, what have been your greatest successes and failures with Wine over the years?
Apple's first publicly disclosed paper on autonomous vehicles has been posted online by the company's computer scientists. The research describes a new software approach called "VoxelNet" that helps computers detect three-dimensional objects like cyclists and pedestrians while using fewer sensors. Reuters reports: The paper by Yin Zhou and Oncel Tuzel, submitted on Nov. 17 to independent online journal arXiv, is significant because Apple's famed corporate secrecy around future products has been seen as a drawback among artificial intelligence and machine learning researchers. The scientists proposed a new software approach called "VoxelNet" for helping computers detect three-dimensional objects.
Self-driving cars often use a combination of normal two-dimensional cameras and depth-sensing "LiDAR" units to recognize the world around them. While the units supply depth information, their low resolution makes it hard to detect small, faraway objects without help from a normal camera linked to it in real time. But with new software, the Apple researchers said they were able to get "highly encouraging results" in spotting pedestrians and cyclists with just LiDAR data. They also wrote they were able to beat other approaches for detecting three-dimensional objects that use only LiDAR. The experiments were computer simulations and did not involve road tests.
An anonymous reader quotes a report from Bloomberg: Facebook will show people which Russian propaganda pages or accounts they've followed and liked on the social network, responding to a request from Congress to address manipulation and meddling during the 2016 presidential election. The tool will appear by the end of the year in Facebook's online support center, the company said in a blog post Wednesday. It will answer the user question, "How can I see if I've liked or followed a Facebook page or Instagram account created by the Internet Research Agency?" That's the Russian firm that created thousands of incendiary posts from fake accounts posing as U.S. citizens. People will see a list of the accounts they followed, if any, from January 2015 through August 2017. Facebook will only be showing people the names of the pages and accounts, not the content. A user will only see what they liked or followed, so if they simply saw IRA content in their news feeds, they won't be notified.
An anonymous reader shares a report: A study of pictures of Earth by night has revealed that artificial light is growing brighter and more extensive every year. Between 2012 and 2016, the planet's artificially lit outdoor area grew by more than 2 percent per year. Scientists say a "loss of night" in many countries is having negative consequences for "flora, fauna, and human well-being." A team published the findings in the journal Science Advances. It showed that changes in brightness over time varied greatly by country. Some of the world's "brightest nations," such as the US and Spain, remained the same. Most nations in South America, Africa and Asia grew brighter. Only a few countries showed a decrease in brightness, such as Yemen and Syria -- both experiencing warfare. The nocturnal satellite images -- of glowing coastlines and spider-like city networks -- look quite beautiful but artificial lighting has unintended consequences for human health and the environment.
Jordan Crook, writing for TechCrunch: During yesterday's announcement of the upcoming vote, the FCC neglected to mention the historic 22 million comments on the issue, the majority of which were opposed to its rollback. In response, protests are being held on December 7 at Verizon retail stores across the country. The protests were organized by Demand Progress, Fight For The Future, and FreePress Action Fund. Here's what the protest organizers have to say on their event page: "Ajit Pai is clearly still working for Verizon, not the public. But he still has to answer to Congress. So we're calling on our lawmakers to do their job overseeing the FCC and speak out against Ajit Pai's plan to gut Title II net neutrality protections and give Verizon and other giant ISPs everything on their holiday wishlist.
An anonymous reader shares a report: U.S. graduate business schools -- once magnets for American and international students seeking a certain route to a high income -- are in an existential crisis. They are losing droves of students who are balking at sky-high tuition and, in the case of international applicants, turned off by President Trump's politics. The once-venerated MBA is going the way of the diminished law degree, pushed aside by tech education. Graduates of the top 25 or so MBA schools still command the elite Wall Street and corporate jobs they always did, but the hundreds of others are scrambling, and some schools are shutting down their programs. Survivors are often offering new touchy-feely degrees like "master of social innovation." [...] In the more than 350 programs that didn't make the top ranks, rising tuition costs and smaller returns in the form of employment and income have forced a rethink of the traditional MBA degree.
Kristen Brown, reporting for Gizmodo: The Food and Drug Agency has issued a stern warning to anyone who might be crazy enough to undertake gene therapy in the do-it-yourself fashion. Definitely don't do this at home, a statement released on Tuesday implies. And if you do, we'll throw every law we can at you. The FDA's deterrent comes on the heels of a brazen DIY gene therapy experiment, in which a 27-year-old software engineer injected himself with an unprove gene therapy for HIV designed by three biohacker friends. The first injection was streamed live on Facebook in October, and went viral after it was covered by Gizmodo. "You can't stop it, you can't regulate these things," patient zero, Tristan Roberts, told Gizmodo at the time. Apparently the FDA begs to differ.
It has been 30 years since the Max Headroom hack, arguably the creepiest hack in the television history took place. Caroline Haskins, writes about the incident for Motherboard: It was a few minutes after 9 PM on Sunday, November 22, 1987. Chicago sportscaster Dan Roan was cheerily summarizing the Bears's victory that day for Channel 9 local news. Suddenly, televisions went silent, and their screens went black. At first, it seemed like an equipment malfunction. Without warning, televisions in the area blasted loud radio static. It was overlain with the screech of a power saw cutting into metal, or a jet engine malfunctioning. At center screen, a person wore a Max Headroom mask -- a character who appeared on various television shows and movies in the 1980s. He appeared to have yellow skin, yellow clothes, and yellow slicked-back hair. As purple and black lines spun behind him, Max nodded and swayed back and forth. His plastic face was stuck in laughter, and opaque sunglasses covered his eyes, which seemed to peer through the screen. The screen went black again. After a moment, Roan reappeared. "Well if you're wondering what'll happen," Roan said with a laugh, unaware of what had happened during the interruption, "so am I." Two hours later, it happened again on another channel. This time, Dr. Who had just turned to get his companion, Leela, a hot drink, when a line of static rolled across the screen, revealing the yellow man. After 30 years and an intense FCC investigation, the people behind the Headroom hack remain unknown. The correspondent has spoken to the newscasters who were interrupted and mocked that day. You can read the interview here.
Brian Josephs, writing for The Outline: New York's northernmost borough is the city's most diverse, has the lowest income per household, and is the only borough without an Apple Store after one opened up in Brooklyn's predominantly white neighborhood of Williamsburg last year. This trend holds true on a national scale. That means 251 of the 270 stores, or 93 percent, are located in majority-white ZIP codes. Of the 19 that are not located in majority-white ZIP codes, eight are in ZIP codes where whites are still the largest racial bloc. For context, Garden City, New York, a city with a population of around 22,000 that is 94 percent white, has an Apple Store. Lake Grove, New York, which has a population of around 11,000 and is 89 percent white, has an Apple Store. By comparison, nearly 1.5 million people live in the densely-packed Bronx, which is only 21 percent white. Bronx residents must travel either north to Ridge Hill or down to the Upper East Side to get to an Apple store. Apple told me it couldn't comment on the record about what criteria it uses to decide where new stores are built or the demographics of its stores' neighborhoods, but USC Marshall School of Business professor Ira Kalb reasoned that the company is "going after the high-end of the market, so their store location choices typically go after areas that are considered upscale."


"Every one of the concepts under discussion is a prequel, rather than a sequel," the author said.
May 15 (UPI) -- George R.R. Martin is sharing new details about the Game of Thrones spinoffs.
The 68-year-old author said in a blog post Sunday that there are five "successor shows" with new characters in development at HBO. Game of Thrones, which will return for a seventh season in July, is based on Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire book series.
"For what it's worth, I don't especially like the term "spinoff," and I don't think it really applies to these new projects. What we're talking about are new stories set in the 'secondary universe' (to borrow Tolkien's term) of Westeros and the world beyond, the world I created for A Song of Ice and Fire," Martin clarified.
"None of these new shows will be 'spinning off' from GOT in the traditional sense. We are not talking Joey or AfterMASH or even Frazier or Lou Grant, where characters from one show continue on to another," he added.
"Every one of the concepts under discussion is a prequel, rather than a sequel," the writer explained. "Some may not even be set on Westeros. Rather than 'spinoff' or 'prequel,' however, I prefer the term 'successor show.' That's what I've been calling them."
Martin will work with Max Borenstein, Jane Goldman, Brian Helgeland, Carly Wray, and a fifth, secret writer, on the five successor shows. HBO has ordered pilot scripts for the projects, but has yet to greenlight pilot and series orders.
"I do think it's very unlikely that we'll be getting four (or five) series. At least not immediately," Martin said. "How many pilots will be filmed, and how many series might come out of that, remains to be seen."
Martin denied the successor shows will adapt his Tales of Dunk and Egg novellas or focus on Robert's Rebellion. He said Tales of Dunk and Egg will eventually make it to TV, while Robert's Rebellion will be resolved in A Song of Ice and Fire.
"When the day comes that I've finished telling all my tales of Dunk & Egg, then we'll do a tv show about them... but that day is still a long ways off," the author said.
HBO first announced the successor shows this month. Game of Thrones showrunners Dan Weiss and David Benioff will executive produce the projects, which will "explore different time periods in George R.R. Martin's vast and rich universe."


text:
Q: Robot Framework: How do I direct my test results to an external file? I have a functioning Robot Framework test that searches for identified elements in a list and then logs their presence or absence to the console. This has been working just fine for me so far. But now I need that console output directed to a file.
I have used the LOG keyword, I've used LOG MANY keyword and I've tried to also use APPEND TO FILE to get this done. I'm wondering at this point if my issue is the list/search logic itself. I can have individual commands logged or appended no problem. Even looking at the generated log.html file, only those basic log commands show up. Not the console output. Here's the keyword in question. And just to note, the search logic is sound. My problem is how to LOG what normally shows in the console to a file.
***Test Keyword***
Log            "TEST MENU ----"
${StaList}=    Create List   test1  test2  test3  test4  test5  test6
FOR    ${a}    IN    @{StaList}
    ${p}=  Run Keyword And Return Status   Page Should Contain Element   xpath=//*
         [contains(text(), "${a}")]
    Run Keyword If   ${p}  Log  "(${a}) X"  ELSE  Log  "(${a}) "
END

When I run this with "Log To Console", this is what I get. A running list showing me if an element is present (with X) or absent (without X).
"TEST MENU ----
"(test1) X"
"(test2) "
"(test3) X"
This works fine if its just me running it. But I need this output sent to a text file to deliver to my team. I've been at this for a while now and need some help. Anybody have any ideas? Thanks so much!

A: Log to Console, does just that. It shows in Console but not in log.html.
What you want is to duplicate your step to APPEND TO FILE, so you have in Console and in the file.
You need to add \n or ${ENTER} to your output strings.
EDIT: Here is a fully working example:
*** Settings ***
Suite Setup       Create and Open Page
Suite Teardown    Close All Browsers
Library           SeleniumLibrary
Library           OperatingSystem

*** Test Cases ***
Example Test
    Verify Elements

*** Keywords ***
Verify Elements
    Log To Console    "TEST MENU ----"\n
    Create File    test_menu.txt    TEST MENU ----\n
    ${StaList}=    Create List    test1    test2    test3    test4    test5    test6
    FOR    ${a}    IN    @{StaList}
        ${p}=    Run Keyword And Return Status    Page Should Contain Element    xpath=//*[contains(text(), "${a}")]
        Run Keyword If    ${p}    Log To Console    "(${a}) X"\n
        ...    ELSE    Log To Console    "(${a}) "\n
        Run Keyword If    ${p}    Append To File    test_menu.txt    (${a}) X\n
        ...    ELSE    Append To File    test_menu.txt    (${a}) \n
    END
    Log    The result is test_menu.txt    html=True

Create and Open Page
    Create File    my_mock.html
    Append To File    my_mock.html    \n \ \ \ \n \ \ \ \ \ \ \
test2
\n \ \ \ \ \ \ \
test4
\n \ \ \ \ \ \ \
test5
\n \ \ \ \n
    Open Browser    file://${CURDIR}/my_mock.html

You should replace Run Keyword If by IF/ELSE/END blocks.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


Nürnberg take you back in time. The city of Nürnberg has a very long history dating back tom the time of the 11th century when it became an important city and since that time takes people back into their time: From being a village at the crossroads from north to south and east to west. Already from the beginning the city became the right to hold also markets and this lead also to get the right to print money and charging taxes. From a prosperous city with the right to elect the rulers of Bavaria this city was given over to the population of Nürnberg and even the fortress was sold in the 15th century to the community of Nürnberg. The former ruling house, called the Hohenzoller kept the title of dukes of Nürnberg until the year 1918. Due to the high quality of craftsmanship and the strategically position in the middle of Europe Nürnberg was very much liked by the rulers of the holy roman empire until the 30 years war during which the town was never taken over but due to a lot of damages and fights between the protestants and the catholics the area lost quite a lot of power and wealth. From there it became only a trading city in the middle of Europe. Only in the beginning of the 19th century Nürnberg became officially part of the Bavarian empire, after Napoleon restructured Europe and gave the are to the newly developed empire of Bavaria.
In the 19th.century the city of Nürnberg became the center of industrialization within the area of Bavaria. With the first operative railroad in Germany it strengthened again it's importance. For the first ride, a British train driver on a British locomotive were used and due to the high risk of brain damage to the people of this high speed of 15mph no passengers were willing to join that ride but instead some beer barrels were used and after their arrival in the neighboring city of Fürth with a proofed taste of the beer the people agreed on building more railroad tracks in Germany. Nowadays Nürnberg is considered one of the biggest railroad centers in Germany for passengers and goods, including also one of the biggest repair center of the national railroad of Germany.
Especially in the second world war Nürnberg plaid a very important role for the Nazis. With the foundation of the zeppelin fields and the nazi party rally grounds the city plaid an important role in the propaganda of the nazi regime. The Nazis chose this area due to the strategically position in the middle go Europe and for the fact that is had the biggest train hub to bring as many people into the area of Nürnberg as possible. Nowadays it had one of the biggest and most important documentation center of Germany. Also the jewish question has been solved int he Nürnberg racial laws,established in the year 1935 in which the openings of new concentration camps and other killing methods were decided.
After the bombings in the second world war in which most of the surrounding area of Nürnberg was destroyed, also the Nazi war trials took place in the courtroom 600 in the court of Nürnberg. It was also the beginning of international war criminal trials and led to the foundation of the criminal trial in Den Haag in the Netherlands.
Nürnberg also took a major role in the German "Wirtschaftswunder" with companies like Siemens, Grundig, AEG, MAN, etc. still nowadays Nürnberg is one of the major industrial city in Bavaria.
Nürnberg is a fascinating city and also a very different one. One one hand you will see a city form the 16th century with huge city walls, old houses and new shops and then you can see the train museum in Nürnberg, as one of the most complex in Germany, can see the German National museum of Nürnberg where the most important artists, writers, etc will be shown and there is for sure to explore also the Toy museum in Nürnberg.
The toys used to play and still nowadays play an important role in Nürnberg since it has the biggest toy fair in Germany and is well known for all toy producers all around the world. Nürnberg's highlight is definitely to see the toy museum and to explore historically and up to day toys.
Besides that you will see that the city of Nürnberg is at the official capital of ginger breads. Ginger bread can be found everywhere in the center and also most of the factories are around the city center of Nürnberg. The prices vary very much from hand-crafted ones to the very cheap industrial made ones. You will find the ginger bread in all different varieties, such as with sugar, with ginger or no, gluten-free, with different chocolates (dark, white, or milky one), in different forms and variations.
So you will see that there are many ways to explore the city of Nürnberg.
Nürnberg reflect the Bavarian culture very well and offers all of the typically things of Bavaria: From beer halls, to old buildings, to Sausage kitchens and the world famous christmas market, the so called "Christkindlesmarket", one of the oldest and most traditionally christmas market in Europe. It has nowadays more than 200 different sales stands and is one of the biggest in Bavaria. Each year it attract millions of visitors when a blond angel opens the market and sends a peace message to the world for a quiet and nice christmas time and the time to wait for the arrival of Jesus christ.
In Nürnberg you will find also one of the oldest receipts of the sausages. They even had a legal fight with the town of Regensburg about who has the better and older sausage. The question was solved by the fact that Regensburg had the oldest sausage kitchen and Nürnberg the oldest receipt. But you will have to try bot, to know which ones you prefer. The recipe is form the 15th century and is still made in the same way including the precise length between 7-9cm and a thickness of 15mm and as ingredients only pork meat, salt, marjoram and some other herbs. It is even copywrited nowadays by the european union as a unique item for that region.
Nürnberg is nowadays dealing very well wit its heritage and its history. The buildings of the second world war are still there and can be visited at any time. At the Nazi party rally grounds are nowadays a documentation center to inform people about what happened, why and making people aware that history should not be repeated. The old town of Nürnberg is also newly renovated and keeps now more and more the old buildings and combine as a perfect match old and new architecture and businesses. But do not miss out to try one of the red beers and take the time to see also the surrounding city walls and the fortress of Nürnberg, where you can explore how well this city is set in it's surrounding. Visit Nürnberg and learn a lot of this city – history and fascinating stories of medieval time, christmas and the second world war – b(e)specialtours!
If you want to enjoy some great time in Nürnberg, book a private tour to Nürnberg with B(e)special Tours from Salzburg, or arrive directly in Munich, enjoy a city tour with our comfortable vans, enjoy a guided tour through the town of Nürnberg and continue a nice drive either through Germany, or Austria. So if you are planning to come to Nürnberg, or if you want to visit the city of Nürnberg and the romantic road coming from Salzburg then please do not miss a nice ride with b(e)special tours! It is fun for youngsters and the older ones and you can taste a lot of delicious typical Austrian dishes and of course a lot of Beer! Enjoy the fascinating city of Nürnberg – Nürnberg and history – with fresh ideas, food and a lots of fun – b(e)specialtours!


This design is cut to reflect the stones that move and resettle every time the tide passes, much like the changing political landscape of Europe past World War I. Locarno Beach, named after the Swiss town noted for the 1925 Peace Treaty, is one of the many beaches on Vancouver's Panoramic shore. Inspired by stones that bridge the sea and the sand, the table top is a filigree of marble, which rests on thin steel legs that channel the best of the mid-centre design masters. Our marble is sourced in Canada. Each table is hand assembled and finished in Vancouver, Canada. Variations in colour and finish are unique to each piece.
H15" x L30" x W24"


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UN Raps Media Crackdown in Turkey
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Turkey President Tayyip Erdogan's giant poster is seen hung on the exterior wall of a residential building in Ankara, capital of Turkey (File)
The UN human rights chief called on the Turkish authorities to respect the fundamental rights of civilians in its security operations and to promptly investigate the alleged shooting of a group of unarmed people after "shocking" video footage of the event….reports Asian Lite News
Turkey Presiden Tayyip Erdogan's giant poster is seen hung on the exterior wall of a residential building in Ankara, capital of Turkey (File)
"The footage apparently shot by Refik Tekin in Cizre some ten days ago is extremely shocking," UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein said, voicing concern that the cameraman, who was himself wounded in the south-eastern town, is facing arrest once he leaves hospital.
"It shows what appears to be an unarmed group of civilians, led by a man and a woman holding white flags. They push a handcart, reportedly carrying dead bodies, across a street, watched at a distance by an armoured military vehicle. As they reach the other side, they are apparently cut down in a hail of gunfire, and Tekin keeps filming as blood flows past his lens," he explained.
Mr. Zeid also expressed concern at the "extraordinarily harsh" life prison terms sought by prosecutors in the trials of two other well-known Turkish journalists, the editor-in-chief of Cumhuriyet newspaper, Can Dündar, and its Ankara bureau chief, Erdem Gül.
He said the "alarming number" of journalists and other media operatives already convicted, or awaiting trial raises questions about Turkey's compliance with the right to freedom of expression, stressing that anti-terrorism legislation should not be used as a means to curtail freedom of opinion or expression.
"No one should be facing life sentences, as in the cases of Can Dündar and Erdem Gül, because of articles they wrote," he said. "Journalists and other media workers should not be arrested, detained or prosecuted for the legitimate and peaceful exercise of their profession. It is the role of the media to stimulate critical debate on matters of public interest."
A quick way for the Government to show that it does respect these rights would be to free all those, whether journalists, academics or human rights defenders, who have been detained or prosecuted simply for recording or criticizing the actions of the State," he added. "In addition it is important to review, and if necessary amend, all laws which have enabled such draconian actions by the authorities against critics armed only with words and cameras," stressed Mr. Zeid.
Mr. Tekin is reported to be in Mardin State Hospital with a police officer waiting outside his room. A variety of reports suggest custody orders, signed by the Governor and a prosecutor, have been issued accusing him of being a member of a "separatist terrorist organization."
"Filming an atrocity is not a crime, but shooting unarmed civilians most certainly is," Mr. Zeid stressed. "It is essential there is a thorough, independent, impartial investigation into this and any other events that have led to the wounding or killing of civilians," he said.
"The emergence of this video raises major question marks about what exactly has been going on in Cizre and other parts of south-eastern Turkey which the security forces have allegedly sealed off from the outside world," he added.
He recognized the Government's duty to protect the population from violence, and that it is facing major difficulties in the south-east, noting he had been informed by the Government that 205 members of the Turkish police, gendarmerie and military had been killed between 20 July and 28 December 2015.
"Nevertheless, the authorities must take great care to protect human rights when conducting military or security operations. If State operatives commit human rights violations, they must be prosecuted," he said.
Mr. Zeid cited numerous reports of the deteriorating human rights situation facing ordinary people, including children, in south-eastern Turkey, especially in Cizre, Silopi, Sur and the city of Diyarbakir, where the imposition of numerous 'temporary security zones' and curfews are impacting heavily on people's economic and social rights, including access to basic services such as medical care, water, food, and electricity.
Non-State actors opposing Government forces have reportedly also taken actions, including the digging of trenches, which have impeded access to medical care as well as other emergency services. There are also reports of them recruiting minors.
Mr. Zeid urged the Government "to ensure that all actions taken in the name of countering terrorism comply fully with its obligations under international law to protect and respect human rights, particularly the rights to life, freedom from torture and ill-treatment, freedom of expression and liberty and security of the person."
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Japan Tobacco Inc. raised its annual profit target by 22 percent as the sale of its vending machine units is expected to boost earnings.
Net income will probably be 471 billion yen ($3.8 billion) for the year through December, compared with its previous forecast of 387 billion yen set in February, the Tokyo-based company said Monday. That's higher than the 442 billion yen average of 14 analysts estimates compiled by Bloomberg.
Japan Tobacco has said its priority is investing to boost competitiveness of its tobacco businesses, which led to its withdrawal from its drinks and vending machine businesses. The former Japanese tobacco monopoly has sped up acquisitions of brands and products abroad in the face of a shrinking population and a stagnating smoking rate at home.
Japan Tobacco said on May 25 that it will sell its vending machine units and transfer two of its beverage brands to Suntory Beverage & Food Ltd. Suntory Beverage for about 150 billion yen. The vending machine disposal is expected to provide a 100 billion yen boost to the company's net income, the company said last month.
The earnings impact from vending machine sale is "very temporary," Executive Deputy President Hideki Miyazaki said at a briefing in Tokyo, adding Japan Tobacco has not yet decided on including the gain into its dividend. The planned interim payout for 2015 remains at 54 yen per share, he said.
Japan Tobacco shares ended 0.7 percent higher at 4,846.5 yen by the close of trading in Tokyo, before the announcement. The benchmark Topix index closed little changed.
The company's net income rose 4.7 percent to 211.5 billion yen in the first half ended June, even as operating profit fell 6.7 percent to 290 billion yen. The international unit reported adjusted operating profit dropped 3.2 percent to 212.9 billion yen during the six-month period.
Tightening sanctions against Russia over the Ukraine crisis has weakened the ruble, eroding the value of Japan Tobacco's profit from its biggest overseas market when converted into dollars at its international unit. The currency fell 40 percent versus the dollar in the past 12 months.
In February, President Mitsuomi Koizumi announced 2015 as Japan Tobacco's "year of investments" and said the company plans to speed up investments into other types of tobacco products such as e-cigarettes. Japan Tobacco bought Zandera Ltd., the maker of the E-Lites e-cigarette brand in the U.K., in June last year for an undisclosed sum.
The company completed 11 acquisitions totaling at least $2.1 billion in the past five years, the largest of which was the purchase of a 20 percent stake in Russia's Megapolis Distribution BV for $750 million in 2013, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
More recently, Japan Tobacco announced a purchase of Logic Technology Development LLC, a U.S. e-cigarette brand, for an disclosed sum on April 30 as it expands in emerging products.


text:
Foreign Exchange | Articles
Will COVID-19 uncertainty affect the pound?
The latest coronavirus developments in Britain could soon saddle sterling with political risk.
So far the U.K. currency is weathering the crisis but it's unclear if that will continue.
As the COVID-19 pandemic continues to alter daily life across the globe, it was unfortunately announced that British Prime Minister Boris Johnson checked into a London hospital on April 5 with symptoms related to the virus. His health reportedly worsened and he was moved to the ICU, where he currently remains. While Britons rally around their leader in hopes of a quick recovery, tensions are understandably high as the country's concerns over the virus increase. What does this new level of uncertainty mean for the pound?
So far the U.K. currency is weathering the crisis but it's unclear if that will continue. Temporarily, Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab is taking over tasks for Mr. Johnson, though he has a reduced set of powers. Additionally, there is no formal process in place, should the PM require additional time away from his post. Though it is hoped that he will make a swift recovery, Britain's constitution doesn't formally designate a deputy prime minister who could assist in a more official capacity, unlike other nations. At the moment this distinction does not appear to be causing concerns, though any additional bad news for the U.K. could spell more volatility for sterling.
Of course, the pound is no stranger to political uncertainty which continues to stalk it, albeit in ebbs and flows, with the Brexit situation persisting. Britain exited the EU earlier this year and is now observing a transition phase until year-end when it hopes to have a long-term trade agreement in place.
The prospect of increased volatility for sterling suggests its direction in April could potentially resemble March when it fluctuated wildly between roughly 1.14 to 1.32.
In the meantime, the pound will be closely watched in the coming days in the hopes that it will remain relatively stable during this challenging time.
In Canada, services are provided by Custom House ULC, doing business as Western Union Business Solutions. Western Union Business Solutions is a business unit of The Western Union Company.
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Transaction fee-free EDGE Network Payment services are available between fully accredited customers that have registered to use the WU® EDGE platform and are authorised by a WUBS affiliate to access services in Australia, Austria, Canada, Czech Republic, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Italy, Malta, New Zealand, Poland, Singapore, Switzerland, United Kingdom, and USA. WUBS will apply a foreign currency exchange rate, which includes a margin set by WUBS, whenever a transaction includes a currency conversion. Transaction fees may also apply to transactions other than EDGE Network Payment services.


We stock hundreds of bulk spices and herbs. Quantity sizes range from 1/4 pound to as much as 25 pound bulk. All of our spices and herbs are packaged at the time of your order and delivered fresh to your front door or business. Prices on the website are wholesale.


text:
Video Archive - Winchester
Winchester – Film Scene 02
Added: Feb 1, 2018	| Duration: 1:26	| Views: 1979
Sarah (Helen Mirren) tells Dr. Price (Jason Clarke) about the ghosts in Winchester House and how she communicates with them.
Dr. Price (Jason Clarke) and Sarah Winchester (Helen Mirren) meet for the first time at the Winchester House.
Winchester – B-Roll
Added: Jan 31, 2018	| Duration: 5:17	| Views: 785
Footage from the making of "Winchester", including scenes with Helen Mirren and Jason Clarke.
Winchester – Press Junket Interview (Italy)
Compilation of press junket interviews with Helen Mirren in Rome, Italy, to promote the theatrical release of "Winchester".
Winchester – Press Junket Interview 04 (United States)
Added: Jan 31, 2018	| Duration: 1:57	| Views: 1085
January 30, 2018. Compilation of press junket interviews with Helen Mirren to promote the theatrical release of "Winchester" in the United States.
Added: Jan 31, 2018	| Duration: 14:48	| Views: 1157
January 30, 2018. Compilation of press junket interviews with Helen Mirren and Jason Clarke to promote the theatrical release of "Winchester" in the United States.
Winchester – Featurettes
Compilation of promotional featurettes for the theatrical release of "Winchester" in the United States".
Press junket interview with Helen Mirren to promote the theatrical release of "Winchester" in the United States.
Winchester – Press Junket Interview (United Kingdom)
January 22, 2018. Press junket interview with Helen Mirren to promote the theatrical release of "Winchester" in the United Kingdom.
Added: Dec 24, 2017	| Duration: 4:25	| Views: 1045
Compilation of press junket interviews with Helen Mirren and Jason Clarke during the photocall on the set of "Winchester".
Winchester – On-Set Interview
Added: Dec 21, 2017	| Duration: 20:24	| Views: 1252
Helen Mirren discusses the mysteries of the Winchester house in the grand ballroom of the mansion in San Jose, California.
Winchester – Theatrical Trailer
Added: Oct 28, 2017	| Duration: 2:04	| Views: 796
Theatrical trailer for "Winchester: The House That Ghosts Built", directed by Michael and Peter Spierig and starring Helen Mirren.
Winchester – Teaser Trailer
Teaser trailer for "Winchester: The House That Ghosts Built", directed by Michael and Peter Spierig and starring Helen Mirren.
Public Appearaces
Television Specials
News Segments


I'm a code-monkey that's increasingly taken on SysAdmin duties for my small company. My code is our product, and increasingly we provide the same app as SaaS.
About 18 months ago I moved our servers from a premium hosting centric vendor to a barebones rack pusher in a tier IV data center. (Literally across the street.) This ment doing much more ourselves--things like networking, storage and monitoring.
As part the big move, to replace our leased direct attached storage from the hosting company, I built a 9TB two-node NAS based on SuperMicro chassises, 3ware RAID cards, Ubuntu 10.04, two dozen SATA disks, DRBD and . It's all lovingly documented in three blog posts: Building up & testing a new 9TB SATA RAID10 NFSv4 NAS: Part I, Part II and Part III.
We also setup a Cacit monitoring system. Recently we've been adding more and more data points, like SMART values.
I could not have done all this without the awesome boffins at ServerFault. It's been a fun and educational experience. My boss is happy (we saved bucket loads of $$$), our customers are happy (storage costs are down), I'm happy (fun, fun, fun).
Some time after lunch we started getting reports of sluggish performance from our application, an on-demand streaming media CMS. About the same time our Cacti monitoring system sent a blizzard of emails. One of the more telling alerts was a graph of iostat await.
Performance became so degraded that Pingdom began sending "server down" notifications. The overall load was moderate, there was not traffic spike.
After logging onto the application servers, NFS clients of the NAS, I confirmed that just about everything was experiencing highly intermittent and insanely long IO wait times. And once I hopped onto the primary NAS node itself, the same delays were evident when trying to navigate the problem array's file system.
Time to fail over, that went well. Within 20 minuts everything was confirmed to be back up and running perfectly.
After any and all system failures I perform a post-mortem to determine the cause of the failure. First thing I did was ssh back into the box and start reviewing logs. It was offline, completely. Time for a trip to the data center. Hardware reset, backup an and running.
So I went to check the Cacti graphs for the disks in the array. Here we see that, yes, disk 7 is slipping away just like syslog says it is. But we also see that disk 8's SMART Read Erros are fluctuating.
Disk 8 is experiencing an odd hardware fault that results in intermittent long operation times.
Maybe there is a more accurate or correct description, but the net result has been that the one disk is impacting the performance of the whole array.
Am I being naïve to think that the RAID card should have dealt with this?
How can I prevent a single misbehaving disk from impacting the entire array?
I hate to say "don't use SATA" in critical production environments, but I've seen this situation quite often. SATA drives are not generally meant for the duty cycle you describe, although you did spec drives specifically rated for 24x7 operation in your setup. My experience has been that SATA drives can fail in unpredictable ways, often times affecting the entire storage array, even when using RAID 1+0, as you've done. Sometimes the drives fail in a manner that can stall the entire bus. One thing to note is whether you're using SAS expanders in your setup. That can make a difference in how the remaining disks are impacted by a drive failure.
But it may have made more sense to go with midline/nearline (7200 RPM) SAS drives versus SATA. There's a small price premium over SATA, but the drives will operate/fail more predictably. The error-correction and reporting in the SAS interface/protocol is more robust than the SATA set. So even with drives whose mechanics are the same, the SAS protocol difference may have prevented the pain you experienced during your drive failure.
How can a single disk bring down the array? The answer is that it shouldn't, but it kind of depends on what is causing the outage. If the disk were to die in a way that behaved, it shouldn't take it down. But it's possible that it's failing in an "edge case" way that the controller can't handle.
Are you naive to think this shouldn't happen? No, I don't think so. A hardware RAID card like that should have handled most issues.
How to prevent it? You can't anticipate weird edge cases like this. This is part of being a sysadmin...but you can work on recovery procedures to keep it from impacting your business. The only way to try to fix this right now is to either try another hardware card (not probably what you'd want to do) or change your drives to SAS drives instead of SATA to see if SAS is more robust. You can also contact your vendor of the RAID card and tell them what has happened and see what they say; they are, after all, a company that is supposed to specialize in knowing the ins and outs of wonky drive electronics. They may have more technical advice on how the drives work as well as reliability...if you can get to the right people to talk to.
Have you missed something? If you want to verify that the drive is having an edge-case failure, pull it from the array. The array will be degraded but you shouldn't have more of the weird slowdowns and errors (aside from the degraded array status). You're saying that right now it seems to be working fine, but if it's having disk read errors, you should replace the drive while you can. Drives with high capacity can sometimes have URE errors (best reason not to run RAID 5, side note) that don't show up until another drive has failed. And if you're experiencing edge-case behavior from that one drive, you don't want corrupted data migrated to the other drives in the array.
I'm not an expert, but I'm going to take a wild shot in the dark on the basis of my experience with RAID controllers and storage arrays.
Disks fail in many different ways. Unfortunately, disks can fail, or be faulty, in ways where their performance is seriously affected but the RAID controller doesn't see as being a failure.
If a disk fails in an obvious way, any RAID controller software should be pretty good at detecting lack of response from the disk, removing it from the pool and firing any notifications. However, my guess as to what's happening here is that the disk is suffering an unusual failure which, for some reason are not triggering a failure on the controller side. Therefore when the controller is conducting a write flush or a read from the affected disk, it's taking a long time to come back and in turn is hanging the whole IO operating and therefore the array. For whatever reason, this isn't enough for the RAID controller to go "ah, failed disk", probably because the data ends up coming back eventually.
My advice would be to immediately replace the failed disk. After that, I'd take a look at the configuration for your RAID card (It's 3ware, I thought they were pretty good) and find out what it considers a failed disk to be.
P.S. nice idea importing SMART into cacti.
You need the features of enterprise class storage devices. Specifically, the WD RE 4 enterprise drives have two features needed to prevent this behavior in RAID Arrays. The first technology listed below prevents rotational harmonic vibration from causing needless wear on the hard drive mechanical components. The second technology is what caused your problem, SATA protocol does not have this feature. To get these features you need SAS, and if you insist on SATA drives you can purchase SAS to SATA Interposer cards such as the LSISS9252.
Enhanced RAFF technology Sophisticated electronics monitor the drive and correct both linear and rotational vibration in real time. The result is a significant performance improvement in high vibration environments over the previous generation of drives.
RAID-specific, time-limited error recovery (TLER) Prevents drive fallout caused by the extended hard drive error-recovery processes common to desktop drives.
Just a guess: the harddisks are configured to retry on read errors rather than report an error. While this is desirable behaviour in a desktop setting, it is counterproductive in a RAID (where the controller should rewrite any sector that fails reading from the other disks, so the drive can remap it).
drive 7 is failing. it has some failure windows where it's not available.
drive 8 has some 'lighter' errors too; corrected by retrying.
RAID10 is usually "a RAID0 of several RAID1 pairs", are drive 7 and 8 members of the same pair?
if so, then it seems you hit the "shouldn't happen" case of two-disk failure on the same pair. almost the only thing that can kill a RAID10. unfortunately, it can happen if all your drives are from the same shipping lot, so they're slightly more likely to die simultaneously.
I guess that during a drive 7 failure, the controller redirected all reads to drive 8, so any error-retry caused big delays that caused an avalanche of frozen tasks, killing performance for a while.
you're lucky that drive 8 doesn't seem to be dead yet, so you should be able to fix without dataloss.
I'd start by changing both drives, and don't forget to check cabling. a loose connection could cause this, and if not routed firmly, it's more likely to happen in adjacent drives. also, some multiport cards have several two-port connectors, if drive 7 and drive 8 are on the same one, it might be the source of your trouble.
SATA Interposer Cards are another solution.
I recently experienced exacly the same fate and found this thread. The overall tenor is that SAS protocol is better suited for RAID than SATA, because SATA is lacking features. This is why the same physical drives are equipped with SAS controllers, then sold as Nearline SAS.
I'm investigating upgrading one of my storages with a batch of these. Right now, the price difference between 3 TB SATA vs SAS is 400% (vanilla price, same brand, specs and shop, Germany). I obviously can't tell if this strategy works out well, but it's worth a try.
I have seen a SATA disk with broken electronics lock up the firmware init of an Areca 12something solidly, there was no way to access the BIOS let alone boot the machine from any medium until the offending hard drive was found by pulling disks out in a binary search fashion.
Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged performance hard-drive hardware-raid sata sas or ask your own question.
How exactly & specifically does layer 3 LACP destination address hashing work?
SAS or SATA for 3 TB drives?
Linux RAID10 hit bad disk while re-syncing. Is it hosed?
Why is this SSD drive failing with bad sectors, and was it predictable?
How do I clone a single drive onto a new RAID 1 array?
How to find the cause of a single event file content corruption?
Which disks in an mdadm-managed RAID-10 near-layout array mirror each other? How to distribute it on multiple SATA controllers?


text:
//   This file is part of the gussound library, licensed under the terms of the MIT License.
//
//   The MIT License
//   Copyright (C) 2010-2013  Augustin Preda (thegusty999@gmail.com)
//
//    Gusty's Serpents is free software: you can redistribute it and/or modify
//    it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
//    the Free Software Foundation, either version 3 of the License, or
//    (at your option) any later version.
//
//    This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
//    but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
//    MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the
//    GNU General Public License for more details.
//
//    You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
//    along with this program.  If not, see <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.
//
//    Audio utility class.

//
// Includes
//

//
// C++ system headers
//

#include <string>
#include <vector>

//
// Other libraries' headers
//

// The implementation is based on OpenAL.
#include "al/al.h"
#include "al/alc.h"

// Add support for ogg files.
#include "vorbis/vorbisfile.h"

//
// This library's headers
//

// The API abstraction layer.
#include "gussound.h"

// definition for the float type expected to be used by the underlying sound lib.

namespace GOpenAl
{
  // forward class defs
  class GUSSOUND_EXPORT_SYMBOL OpenAlSoundRepository;

  ///
  /// A helper class to encapsulate Ogg streaming functionality.
  /// Note: using some of the guidelines and techniques mentioned here:
  /// http://devmaster.net/posts/2895/openal-lesson-8-oggvorbis-streaming-using-the-source-queue
  ///
  class GUSSOUND_EXPORT_SYMBOL GOggStreamedSound
    : public gussound::EffectableSound
  {
  public:
    /// Constructor
    GOggStreamedSound(OpenAlSoundRepository* repoPtr, const std::string& id = "");

    /// Destructor
    ~GOggStreamedSound();

    /// Open a file.
    void open(const std::string& fileName);

    void release();
    void display();

    /// Commence the low-level sound play. Note that certain actions may be performed if the sound is already
    /// playing, but not all possible actions are supported at this low level.
    virtual void play2D(
        gussound::ActionIfPlayingEnum actionIfPlaying = gussound::ActionRestart,
        bool repeatContinuously = false);

    bool playing();
    bool update();

    void setVolume(float volume)
    {
      if (playing())
      {
        alSourcef(source_, AL_GAIN, volume);
      }

      volume_ = volume;
    }

    const gussound::SoundDuration getEstimatedDurationInSeconds() const
    {
      return estimatedDurationInSeconds_;
    }

    virtual gussound::SoundVolume getOutputVolume()
    {
      return volume_;
    }

    virtual gussound::SoundDuration getSeekDuration();

    /// Tell whether the sound received the play command with the repeat flag, meaning it will
    /// play continuously until a stop is issued.
    virtual bool isRepeating() const
    {
      return false;
    }

    /// Pause the sound.
    virtual void pause();

    virtual gussound::SoundDuration getDuration();

    virtual gussound::SampleRate getSampleRate()
    {
      return sampleRate_;
    }

    virtual void seekToTime(const gussound::SoundDuration& duration);

    virtual void setOutputVolume(const gussound::SoundVolume& volume);

    virtual void stop();

    virtual void rewind();

  protected:
    /// A pointer to the sound repository is stored here.
    /// Do not change this to a smart pointer, as the repository is likely
    /// to store the sounds as smart pointers and that would produce issues.
    OpenAlSoundRepository* repositoryPtr_;

    std::string sourceFile_;

    bool stream(ALuint buffer);

    /// Empty the currently loaded buffers.
    void emptyBuffers();

    /// Perform some check-ups for ogg stream commands.
    void oggcheck(const std::string& comment);

    virtual bool loadFrom(
        const gussound::AudioDeviceSmartPtr& devicePtr,
        const std::string& fileName,
        bool loadInMemory,
        bool onlyOneInstance = true);

    /// Utility function to retrieve the time that is currently elapsed from the stream.
    virtual gussound::SoundDuration getStreamElapsedTime();

    virtual void elapseTime(const guslib::TimeUnits & time);

    virtual void doPlay(bool repeatContinuously = false);
    virtual void doResume(bool repeatContinuously = false);

    std::string makeAlErrorString(ALuint code);
    std::string makeOggErrorString(int code);

    gussound::SoundDuration estimatedDurationInSeconds_;

    /// The sample rate for the loaded sound.
    gussound::SampleRate sampleRate_;

    /// The duration in milliseconds that passed since this sound began playing.
    gussound::SoundDuration elapsedFromStart_;

  private:
    FILE*           oggFilePtr_;
    OggVorbis_File  oggStream_;
    vorbis_info*    vorbisInfo_;
    vorbis_comment* vorbisComment_;

    // For ogg, we have 2 buffers dedicated to the stream
    // There is a buffer being played and one waiting to be played. When the buffer being played
    // has finished the next one starts.
    // While the next buffer is being played, the first one is refilled with a new chunk of data
    // from the stream and is set to play once the one playing is finished.
    ALuint buffers_[2];

    ALuint source_;
    ALenum format_;
    float volume_;
    bool m_initialized;
  };
}

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


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There are 60,379 new perfume in suppliers, mainly located in Asia. The top supplying country is China (Mainland), which supply 100% of new perfume in respectively.
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