The Northern Ireland secretary has said he will take steps to allow a budget bill to be introduced in Westminster.James Brokenshire said talks between the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) and Sinn Fein had failed to reach agreement to establish an executive.The parties are attempting to end a 10-month deadlock that has left the region without a devolved administration.Sinn Fein said the latest talks had "ended in failure" but added the party was prepared to resume negotiations.The party's Stormont leader Michelle O'Neill said her party had tried to be "flexible", but "endless talks without conclusion are not sustainable".
Mr Brokenshire said he would be ready to withdraw the budget bill if an an executive is formed before December.The budget would only deal with 2017-18 financial year, he said, adding that it did not mean a return to direct rule from Westminster.Northern Ireland's two largest parties have failed to reach an agreement in spite of numerous rounds of discussions since March, after the Northern Ireland Executive collapsed amid a bitter split between the parties in January.It is understood they have made little progress on key dividing issues.Sinn Fein's demand for legislation to give official status to the Irish language viewed as the stumbling block in the negotiations.The DUP has said it wants to see the government press ahead with its budget plan, but Sinn Fein has warned that doing so would force an end to the talks.
Speaking at Stormont on Wednesday, the Northern Ireland secretary said he would be seeking independent advice on what steps should be taken to "reflect the current circumstances in MLA pay".Mr Brokenshire had previously said he would examine the issue of assembly members' salaries in the absence of devolution, amid calls for their salaries to be docked.The secretary of state stressed "important progress" had been made in discussions between the DUP and Sinn Fein.He also said the British and Irish governments would continue to work with the parties as they proceed with ongoing talks.Irish Foreign Affairs Minister Simon Coveney said Mr Brokenshire had taken the budget decision with the "utmost reluctance and at the latest possible juncture".Both the UK and Irish government had "spared no effort" in supporting the talks between the DUP and Sinn Fein, he added."The issues under discussion - particularly those on language and culture - go to the heart of the divisions in society here in Northern Ireland," he said."However, I have always believed that it is possible to reach an honourable compromise."There have been sincere efforts to stretch for that and measurable progress in finding an agreed outcome had been made, but we are not there yet."
SDLP leader Colum Eastwood insisted the Secretary of State's move was direct rule. He pointed to the DUP-Tory deal as an issue at the talks. "A Tory-DUP government will do nothing for the rights of people in the north," he said. "It only strengthens the DUP's intransigence.""It will do nothing for the rights of Irish language speakers, the LGBT community or [Troubles]victims," he added.Northern Ireland business leaders have also expressed disappointment."Our members deserve better than a 'care and maintenance' administration with important decisions on business rates, infrastructure and many other areas, not currently being taken by Ministers, said the chief executives of Hospitality Ulster and Retail NI, Glyn Roberts and Colin Neill."Political instability is bad for business and our economy as a whole."


As a coach and consultant, Alyce focuses on executive leadership coaching, change management, learning and development and talent management. In addition to the implementation of MIT's diversity and inclusion strategy, Alyce has led other successful change initiatives: implementation of an enterprise wide system. She has coached leaders in higher education involving Stanford, UC Berkeley and University of Pennsylvania. Alyce continues a long history of also coaching leaders at MIT through the Leader to Leader Program. Additionally, she supports and facilitates the ongoing leadership lessons and opportunities for co-hort based leaders at MIT.


Our staff recognise that they are one of their students' greatest influences and are passionate about what they do, drawing on the rich and fulfilling experiences they have in their lives beyond the classroom. They aspire to be the best they can be, are trusted and their professionalism is respected and valued by students, colleagues, parents and the wider community.
Our staff strive to pass on their passion for learning and inspire their students. They are focused on what is best for their students and endeavour to know and understand them.
Each of our staff contributes to a calm, collegiate, happy and purposeful organisation which cares for and invests in us as individuals and valued members of a team. Our staff care deeply for our students, encouraging them to achieve the vision JCG has for its students.
Our staff feel their career aspirations are known, valued and supported; that their professional learning is recognised, nurtured and tailored to them as an individual. Our staff engage with and participate in research and critical inquiry in order to refine their practice. Our staff feel empowered and encouraged to innovate, be creative, curious and to inquire, with space to re-design and re-think how we do things for our students, not only in their studies but in the wider aspects of their lives.
Our staff seek to excel as educators and in doing so, have a positive impact on our students, our colleagues and our community.
Our staff enjoy working in the exciting, vibrant JCG community, where colleagues and students possess a strong sense of belonging.


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Rauno Alliku (* 2. März 1990 in Pärnu) ist ein estnischer Fußballspieler.

Alliku spielt aktuell beim FC Flora Tallinn. Zwischenzeitlich wurde er auch an Tulevik Viljandi verliehen, um Spielpraxis zu bekommen.

Sein Debüt in der Meistriliiga gab er am 2. August 2008 bei der 0:1-Niederlage gegen JK Kalev Tallinn. Des Weiteren war er Stammspieler der U-19- und der U-21-Auswahl seines Landes.

Weblinks

Fußballnationalspieler (Estland)
Fußballspieler (FC Flora Tallinn)
Fußballspieler (JK Tulevik Viljandi)
Este
Geboren 1990
Mann

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


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Home > Featured Blogs > Local vendors challenge global players in our analysis of Europe's public cloud market
Local vendors challenge global players in our analysis of Europe's public cloud market
Paul Miller, VP, Principal Analyst
Public Domain image of Europe, derived from NASA World Wind data, uploaded to Wikimedia Commons.
The hyperscale global clouds seem to crop up pretty much everywhere, these days. But we all know that customer requirements differ, from industry to industry, and from country to country. So… how do they cope, and how do we account for the peculiarities of different markets?
Today, we publish our latest take on the public cloud platforms market in Europe: The Forrester Wave™: Enterprise Public Cloud Platforms In Europe, Q4 2016. Read the report itself, or sign up for my 3 November webinar to learn more.
The report (my first Wave, so allow me to feel pleased with myself) is, of course, interesting and useful in and of itself. But what's more interesting, perhaps, is that it's part of a collaboration that allows Forrester to account for those regional quirks.
Over in the States, my colleagues Dave Bartoletti and John Rymer laid out their premise, and defined a set of criteria they wished to measure. That's how Waves usually get done. But then they actively involved their colleagues in Australia and New Zealand, China, and Europe, encouraging us to validate those criteria and to identify particular issues that mattered more in our regions than they might from a global (US-centric) view of the world. All of this means that we end up with a core set of global criteria (and scores), a common process, and a small set of local criteria (such as multi-lingual support, in Europe). We really can begin to compare the relative strengths of global cloud providers in different regions, and introduce significant local players without the reach to figure in a single global analysis. Four Waves (plus a likely fifth) allow both vendors and customers to understand the different picture in each region. The Wave graphics clearly show the Leaders, the Strong Performers, the Contenders, and the Challengers. Positioning is important, but the way that positioning changes from region to region is particularly telling: we'll be digging further into that aspect of things very soon. Do the Leaders always lead? Do Strong Performers draw closer to the Leaders in some regions than in others? Yes, of course they do. Because features dismissed as niche in one market are fundamental in another.
Taken together, these Waves offer a great insight into the public cloud platforms market today. Take a look, and do let us know if the results match your impression. And remember that one of the values of a Wave is that you can download the underlying spreadsheet and adjust the weightings to better reflect your own specific set of requirements.
Insights For Technlogy Leaders
Accelerate growth with a technology strategy fit for the future.
Service Providers Are Set For Growth In 2023 Despite An Uncertain Business Outlook
Dario Maisto 10 hours ago
Growth Despite Turbulent Surroundings 2022 was a tough year, and economic forecasts show uncertainty about what will happen in 2023. Complex global geopolitical conditions see constant announcements of budget cuts, layoffs, and tech execs' priorities being reshuffled. Service providers are expecting growth in 2023, however, with a new focus on partnerships, delivering co-innovation, and building […]
A Massive Key To Your Future Success Is Healthy Service Provider Relationships
Ted Schadler 22 hours ago
On average, companies spend 28% of their technology budgets on technology services. Those budgets have increased by 13% over the past four years (and, for custom software, by 20%). And we don't see this trend slowing. This lively and vibrant sector is both a fast follower of enterprise demand and an instigator, supporter, and sometimes creator […]

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


Well, it's been a minute.
I owe you, and me, three blog posts.
Today, I finished writing this fantastically long post for my $10+/month patrons on Patreon. It took days, throwing away drafts, revising–what I call real writing. So I'm glad. It's about some really good things that have happened to me last month, which explains some of my absence.
What I can say about that is holding space for something that may or may never happen is never as good as letting go and opening up space for greater opportunities.
Unfortunately, you get the really bad things that have happened to me story. But there's still a lot of growth, and it won't be as down in the mouth as I have been historically.
And, for once, I will make this short.
Last month was really busy with a client doing work I used to do back in the day in my research days.
But since June, I had been consistently screwing up with data fidelity. I'm a recovering perfectionist, but this was becoming an expensive issue for my client and a perplexing situation for me.
I'm used to not only doing a good job–I'm used to excelling. I didn't go through living in a hypercritical household with two narcissists as parents for nothing.
So when I kept trying to correct this problem, but getting the same result, I was in a state of insanity.
Admittedly, my client threw me in the deep end of their operation, and I thought I was swimming well, with some instruction, but not that much.
I thought I didn't need it, and I didn't even know what to ask to solve the problem.
As I started to sinking under continual screw-ups, including one that they didn't catch for weeks, I realized that this wasn't entirely my fault. And I'm used to taking on too much blame.
The client is super smart, the kind of smart that will skip over steps because they assume everyone knows what they know.
Last week, after I screwed up for umpteenth time, we had a terse conversation which I was still so confused why things were still a mess.
I was told that they would be in touch.
It took me two hours of my own time to figure out why things were a mess. It was something that would have taken less than 2 minutes to explain.
I told the client what I had discovered, apologized for the frustration, appreciated their patience and understanding.
I believe that phrase "I appreciate your patience and understanding" is what set them off, because it seemed like this wasn't a big deal.
The ultimate consequences was hours and hours of work I did had to be redone (this was an error that my client didn't catch after spending weeks with the data) and that I was constantly pinging people twice.
And that was spelled out in an email in reply to mine, 8 days ago, as if I didn't know those things. That felt a bit insulting because I had spent the weekend before feeling terrible about the errors because of those very things listed.
I left the email laying there until last night. I knew I needed to sleep on it when I read it, because I felt like the client emotionally vomited all over me.
You're to blame, you're to blame, you're to blame.
But I knew this wasn't completely true.
I also knew I didn't want to work with someone who couldn't rightly see their own fault in the matter, that they were too busy to be bothered to look over my work, that they wanted me to take on more responsibility than I had been trained to take.
I talked to a friend about what to do, and he wisely advised me not to burn bridges–which I was ready to do.
He gently told me about how football (soccer) coaches will bring on some hotshot player for millions of dollars, but then he doesn't perform. And then that player is sold to another team for less than what they had originally purchased.
I don't think I've ever screwed up, knowingly or unknowingly, for so long and cost people time and money.
But it's not unusual. It happens all the time, just like that football example. It just doesn't happen to me–until this summer. First time for everything, right?
And I had been relying on that income to help as I grow my own writing business.
I then talked to my business coach who told me to not even address all the heated emotions.
She told me to offer a solution which I would be paid to create: a standard operation procedure manual (SOP) for what I had to do.
So going back and forth between my friend and my coach, I came up with a pithy email that was sent at midnight last night. I know it was read, but it hasn't been responded to.
Whether I get a reply or not, wheter the I know I did the right thing.
I took responsibility for my part.
I didn't reply immediately with a blowtorch email.
While writing this post, the client emailed their reply. They said thanks for the offer, they were trying to get a report out which has gone through some changes, but it doesn't make sense to them at this point.
I haven't worked with that client going on two weeks, and I feel a lot better. And more writing work has started to trickle in.
I feel supported and I feel at peace.
The growth of accepting when I'm wrong, but consistently wrong–it was such a huge, painful growth spurt for me.
And my identity as some perfect android shattered. I couldn't get myself out of this mess that I had help in creating. I found the limits to my alleged perfection.
I became human last month. And I'm grateful.
I feel emboldened to ask even more questions than usual.
I feel freed, period. I am free to be fallible, to be imperfect, to not ace it at first try.
I've always been the reliable one, the smart one, the strong one, the resilient one.
But this summer, I became pretty ordinary. And the humility was so necessary.
Who can live under such pressure to perform flawlessly every day? I thought I thrived under pressure, but not sorta kinda set up to fail pressure.
At the very least, I learned that although I did gain some pleasure from doing work I used to do years ago, I'm much happier writing and reading astrology and tarot.
It was and is so great to have two people in my life support me, take the flamethrower out of my hands, and give me some options that didn't involve tearing myself or my client down.
I don't have to villainize myself into a complete failure. I can forgive myself instead.
So now, I think of my inner child who has gotten so much succor and strength from being "the one," the star, the leader, the brain, the local Old Faithful. But now, she can finally find her rest and comfort in being her full and fallible self.
She doesn't had to be it all and do it all for anyone, and especially for herself.


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"In many ways, you can think of edX as an Uber for education. Uber are universities and institutional partners who create content in our platform as well as 12 million learners growing rapidly who take that learning", said Anant Agarwal, Founder and CEO of edX, during the a webinar about disruption in education titled "Micro to Massive: How Enterprises are Using Microlearning & MOOCs to Revolutionize Corporate Training" and hosted by EdCast (watch it below, along with Mr. Agarwal's presentation slides).
Another interesting new idea Anant Agarwal mentioned is this: "We will launch very soon at edX a professional certificate on soft skills. Soft skills are the new big thing for corporations, with subjects such as teamwork, communications, critical thinking and so on." (…) "edX is serving as a bridge between the university and the corporate world; there is a huge demand for continuing education. (…) "In that sense, many corporations are using edX for Business".
Future Learning 2020 Summit, organized by edCast.


That summit cairn/shelter could have done with a bit more height ! But enjoyed it all the same. Think I should have put my goggles on as eyes were sore following morning after being blasted all day.
Glad you took some pics as my camera never came out. We'll get back up there and complete the other's, ideal winter ones methinks as no major difficulties as long as its a reasonably nice day with less wind.
Sure will Dave as soon as I know next days off I'll post to see if ye are free.
Depending on the weather of course but can always travel a bit too.
Shame only a few photo's, but its one more off the list.
I'm happy to travel, you have to to get to many of these, still not so far now I live here rather than Bedfordshire !!
I've got nearly all to do over Braemar way and the Cairngorms, apart from Lochnagar (just the one) which I did a few weeks back with Hazel and only done 3 in the Gorms. But daylight limits the distances walkable, but having seem Ben Wyvis today, as I took some rubbish to the tip at Dingwall, it looked superb clothed in white. Reckon despite the thaw setting in during our day more white stuff must have fallen overnight.
If we get less wind I'll give you some compass/map lessons and maybe some ice axe stuff if you fancy it !!
Did Hazel get any grief from her post about the walk on facebook.
Tomsie wrote: Did Hazel get any grief from her post about the walk on facebook.
No grief Tomsie - but bruises galore after my fall. My rear end is really quite a glorious sight with a mixture of red, black, blue now tinged with yellow!!! My left elbow is double its normal size and my arms are covered with deep bruising from the jaggy rocks I landed on. Love the pic of me trying to stand still btw...looks like I'm really having a blast - not!!!!
Doesnt sound to good HLL, didnt realise it was that bad, hows the knee?
Yeah Monty it was a good day meeting both HLL and Spiderwebb, will learn a lot from both of them, (well they are older ).
Older don't I know it ! You set a good pace going up and there was me thinking the snow will slow you both down a bit !!
Must take a mirror with me before photos....looks like I've got an egg on my head !
Tues or Wed keep me posted may be able to get out.
Wed should be Ok, I'll confirm late on Monday and I'll have alook at what to do meantime.


Join us March 9th for our sixteenth!! Acoustic Saturday show at Newaygo Brewing Co. Alex Mendenall will be accompanying lunch from 12p – 4p. Visit his epic website and check out the plethora of video's he has hosted there! The man can rock and roll. Check the calendar for other local acts playing Acoustic Lunches at the brewery.
Join us on May 18th for the local, famous, and occasionally late Jack Leaver! He will be playing an acoustic lunch set of classic and modern rock from 12p – 4p. View his website HERE.
The Second Thursday of the month from 7p-9p on our Thursday Social Nights!
Join us for another great Acoustic Lunch in the Taproom. Local schooler, Isaac Schneider will be playing piano from 12p -3p. Its going to be delightful. Don't miss this amazing community show!
On the Last Thursday Social Night of each month we will break out the Cards Against Humanity decks, invite you to bring your own games and players as well and get hysterical over beer and community! Hosted by our awesome Mug Club Members!
Join us June 1st for another great Acoustic Lunch. This week features rock and roller Nathan Dill (of SKYKING) playing jazz guitar and other melodic things. He'll be here from 12p – 4p. Free show. Enjoy the #Brewaygo community up here with us in the Near North.


According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, employment of psychologists is expected to increase about 14% through 2026. Job prospects are best for those with a specialization, such as educational psychology. Educational psychologists work with students, conduct research, implement and monitor programs. They understand how individuals learn. Earning an online Ph.D. or Ed.D. in Educational Psychology can give you the tools you need to work in companies, schools and government organizations.
We researched institutions offering doctorate degrees in educational psychology to create our ranking of the top educational psychology online Ph.D. programs in the United States. The APA does not offer accreditation to online Ph.D. programs in educational psychology. However, these are programs offered by regionally and nationally accredited universities.
We looked for programs in which students engage with faculty and peers during limited residency experiences or through an online learning platform. We also selected schools offering comprehensive coursework in educational psychology. Finally, we looked for flexible programs for those with family and work obligations. We ranked the programs using a point system for student/faculty ratio and average graduate tuition rates. While ratios and tuition rates may be different for Ph.D. programs, we felt this was effective ranking criteria since the information was available on all the schools we considered.
Most of the coursework is delivered online through a state-of-the-art Global Student Dashboard. Two short residencies are required to learn hands-on practices and complete the competency examination.
Michigan State University's Department of Counseling, Educational Psychology, and Special Education program offers an online Ph.D. in Educational Psychology. It can be completed in a hybrid format. Students can continue working full-time while earning their degree on a part-time basis. Students usually take one course each semester and two summer courses. Most students can earn their degree in about five years. Those with an interest in language and literacy can pursue the Doctor Specialization in Language and Literacy Education. Or they can earn the Urban Education Graduate Certificate.
The program includes online courses, short in-person residencies, and a comprehensive exam and dissertation. Students conduct legitimate research and apply their knowledge to the practice of educational psychology and understanding learning.
The online Ph.D. in Educational Psychology program at Regent University is a cohort model 75 credit hour program. While most of the coursework is online, students participate in short, on-campus residencies which promote student success. Students gain expertise in testing and program evaluation and assessment at the school district level. They also get training in the latest theories and research. Ideal students are those who want to incorporate research skills into their profession.


Cut the rolls in half without cutting through completely. Spread the inside with cream cheese and mustard if using. Follow by layering with lettuce, cheese slices, ham, tomato and avocado slices. Season and top with microgreens and close the roll to serve.


Burnout means something way down deep just collapses, and we can't keep going.
I am not confident that, if I took this book to heart and swallowed its Christianity whole, I would be ready to stand before God on that great and final day.
Ray Ortlund is the lead pastor of Immanuel Nashville in Nashville, Tennessee. You can find him on Twitter at @rayortlund.


My dear friend, Holly, of Holly Mathis Interiors is on fire! She's got a beautiful new website, was recently featured in Good Housekeeping and today...her brand new online store is open!
The shop is the perfect reflection of Holly's signature fresh cottage style, offering some of her favorite and most requested design elements like beautiful fabrics, blue & white porcelain, botanical prints and her treasured silhouette's. Her site is easy to navigate and so pretty!!!
Ya'll stop by today and pick out some goodies for yourself! Congratulations Holly!!!


ANAHEIM, Calif. — Legendary Motown singer/composer Smokey Robinson thinks texting, Facebook and Twitter have a real hold on young people. "Social media is out of hand," he told us recently at the National Association of Music Merchants convention here, where he was awarded the "Music for Life" award.
Robinson, who either wrote or co-wrote such classics as My Girl, Tracks of My Tears, Shop Around and I Second That Emotion for both Motown performers and Robinson and the Miracles, does say he's comfortable with technology. His Windows Phone is his lifeline, and he's all over Facebook and Twitter himself. But that's just for professional reasons, as he explained to us in our NAMM interview.
He doesn't collaborate on writing by e-mail ("I'm old-fashioned. I'm at the piano.") but he is using remote tech tools for his new upcoming album of duets. Some singers are too busy to get to the studio, so he's having them record their parts and send them in.
The National Association of Music Merchants (NAMM) honored Motown legend Smokey Robinson with the Music for Life award. NAMM recognized Robinson for his five decades in music and as one of the founders of the Motown movement.
Robinson will release a duets LP in 2014, which will feature him singing his own tracks alongside an all-star duet partner.


You can kinda see this on your profile page, although it is a cumulative total of ALL battles.
Right, But how would you suggest having this implemented?
Issue, people can make many accounts XD I would also do this.


A focus group can help authors understand how their manuscript is perceived from a reader's perspective. Members of a focus group read manuscripts and provide objective feedback on the merits and limitations of the work. This ultimately helps authors and/or publishers know whether readers understand the manuscript as it was intended.
A reader in a focus group is not an editor; however, they often do cite errors. Their main job is to give an overall impression of the work — whether or not they liked the book, and why. But, more importantly, the main job of a focus group member is to provide specific advice about the characters, plot, climax, denouement, vocabulary, readability, theme/message, etc.
An author will often give their manuscripts to a spouse or trusted friend for a review. The problem with this convenient approach is that your close relationship may cause the reader to give biased support, even unjustifiable praise absent of critical insight. These allies may feel obligated to say something positive as a show of support, which doesn't help an author realize the manuscript's limitations. These loyalists may not even be good analysts or effective reviewers. Lastly, a couple of confidants do not represent the diversity of the reading public.
How Do You Set up a Focus Group?
BestSellerPublications.com (BSP) finds focus group readers through all network venues. We advertise the opportunity in our quarterly newsletter, promote the concept through social media, and connect with avid readers at literary association meetings and other social gatherings. Members have included colleagues, referrals, and complete strangers. We vet these individuals to determine that they are well read and understand that they must evaluate the works objectively.
When we use focus groups, we also gather a few facts from the readers, such as their age, education level, gender, preferred genre, how many books they read a month, etc. Then we issue a series of questions to help direct their attention on issues that concern the publisher.
We distribute two different surveys: one is essay-based; the other is a score-based assessment. The essay-based survey asks the reader to write responses to a variety of key questions about the manuscript, as well as any other thoughts they may volunteer. In addition, a second, 100-point survey is given that covers 10 issues, such as use of vocabulary, readability, plot, climax, ending, etc. Each issue is graded from 1 to 10, 10 representing excellence; 1 representing poor execution. The 10 scores are added for a total score that is compared from member to member in the focus group. If a trend can be seen among the survey scores, it could indicate to the author how well the book is received. If all the focus group members grade it low, maybe it's not ready for publication.
After a member submits the two surveys we provided them, BSP evaluates their thoroughness and insights they bring. If their essay answers are lacking in depth, we do not invite them to perform additional reviews. For members who provide insightful feedback, we offer additional manuscripts to review. There is, therefore, a constant turnover of members so that the core membership are the most talented and effective. The incentive to join this effort is mostly for the personal rewards of participating; however, BSP provides a $25 gift card for each review as a show of appreciation.
Some members of the focus group have special talents, such as having a good ear for dialogue; others are great at punctuation. Although the focus group members are not editors, BSP encourages them to identify any errors or improvements in the content as they read the manuscript. By catching errors in awkwardness, mechanics, style, and flow, the manuscript can be passed on to the professional editor in a cleaner state. This way the professional editor can focus on the most important aspects of their task.
For one of our clients' manuscripts, which featured members of the Mafia who frequently cursed, focus group members said they enjoyed the manuscript but felt the frequency of cursing marred the experience. BSP examined this issue and took it very seriously, especially since several of the focus group members cited the same issue. In collaboration with the author, we eliminated about 30 percent of the cursing, which we realized was gratuitous. The story still captured the rawness of gangster language, but flowed better with less emphasis on cursing.
Surveys submitted by the focus group help BSP identify both weaknesses and strengths in the work, as well as give an overall indication of favorability of the work. Scores for publishable works should exceed 80 percent on the favorability scale. Though BSP makes the decisive call on whether to publish a manuscript, based on other criteria such as novelty, style, humor, insight, entertainment value, fit for the BSP portfolio, and so much more—the focus group is a key external influence that cannot be overlooked, helping improve the product and give an impression of how the work will be received by the public.
What Makes a Good Focus Group?
In the end, if you adhere to the following four "rules," you should be able to create a good focus group for your book(s).
It should consist of an adequate number of members. There is no magical number, but the more the better. For reference, BestSellerPublications.com uses about nine readers as a focus group for each manuscript.
The members should be competent readers. They don't necessarily have to be college educated, but they should be avid readers.
Employ readers who like the genre of your manuscript. Readers who love romance novels may be poor candidates for a focus group if you have them read a crime thriller. A cross section of readers with varied interests may better represent the general public. So, it depends whether you want to know if your work will appeal to the masses or to a more niche group.
The readers you select should be coached to speak freely. They can provide objective insights and justifiable opinions. They can also cite examples to identify the negatives and positives of the work.
Cory Schulman is the owner of BestSellerPublications.com and can be reached through BestSellerPublications@gmail.com. His debut in fiction, The World of Comics, just recently released.


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EU to assess risks of conflicting laws that apply online EU to assess risks of conflicting laws that apply online
EU to assess risks of conflicting laws that apply online
Out-Law News | 18 Feb 2014 | 9:36 am | 1 min. read
The European Commission is to conduct an "in-depth review" of the risks present in conflicting laws and jurisdictions that apply online.
The Commission made the announcement in a new communication it issued last week on internet governance.
The Commission identified "a number of contradictory legal decisions" that have been applied in an online setting and said that the review of risks presented by conflict laws and jurisdiction is merited due to the "sheer quantity of cross-border transactions of various types which take place online".
It said that "a certain degree of legal uncertainty" could arise due to the "complexity and, in some cases, the opaqueness" of both contractual arrangements between businesses and consumers and the "non-contractual obligations" that online businesses and intermediaries are subject to.
EU rules resolve some of these issues within the trading bloc, the Commission claimed, but rules to address conflicting laws and jurisdictions internationally are "insufficiently developed" and this has the potential to harm growth in some online industries that are "cross-border in nature", the Commission said.
The Commission said that its review would reflect the fact that "one single mechanism" may not be suitable for addressing some issues where conflicts of law and jurisdiction can arise.
"The European Commission will launch an in-depth review of the risks, at international level, of conflicts of laws and jurisdictions arising on the Internet and assess all mechanisms, processes and tools available and necessary to solve such conflicts," the Commission's communication (12-page / 102KB PDF) said." All options for action at the Union or international level will subsequently be carefully considered, including possible legislative initiatives or additional guidelines as needed, subject to appropriate impact assessments. This work will build on existing policies."
The Commission's communication also called for a change in the way the internet is governed. It called for the globalisation of ICANN, the body that oversees the identification of websites, and IANA, the body that is responsible for responsible internet protocol resources such as domain names and IP addresses. It also called for multiple stakeholders, not just governments, to have a say in internet governance matters, among other things.
EU Commissioner Neelie Kroes said: "Some are calling for the International Telecommunications Union to take control of key Internet functions. I agree that governments have a crucial role to play, but top-down approaches are not the right answer. We must strengthen the multi-stakeholder model to preserve the Internet as a fast engine for innovation."
Supply of Goods & Services
Share plans on an initial public offering (IPO)
Brexit will spur divergence in the regulation of digital services
Australia_s largest battery to be built at NSW coal-fired power plant
Record money laundering fine highlights HMRC scrutiny
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Roger Woods
Senior Pensions Consultant
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Celina Cremer


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Evan William Watkins (third ¼ 1882 – 9 January 1956) was a Welsh rugby union, and professional rugby league footballer who played in the 1900s, and cricketer who played in the 1900s and 1910s. He played representative level  rugby union (RU) for Monmouthshire, and at club level for Abertillery, and club level rugby league (RL) for Warrington (Heritage № 146), as a . He also played cricket for Monmouthshire.

Playing career
Evan Watkins made his début for Warrington on Saturday 8 February 1908, and he played his last match for Warrington on Friday 17 April 1908. He played cricket for Abertillery Town Cricket Club, Blaina Cricket Club, and Monmouthshire in the Minor Counties Championship between 1909 and 1911, making 6 appearances.

Genealogical information
Evan Watkins' younger brother was the Olympic gymnast Edgar Watkins. Evan's marriage to Miriam (née Davies) was registered during first ¼  1914 in Llandovery district.

References

External links
Search for "Watkin" at rugbyleagueproject.org

1882 births
1956 deaths
Abertillery RFC players
Footballers who switched code
Monmouthshire County RFC players
Monmouthshire cricketers
Rugby league players from Merthyr Tydfil
Rugby league wingers
Rugby union players from Merthyr Tydfil
Warrington Wolves players
Welsh cricketers
Welsh rugby league players
Welsh rugby union players


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Sibley East High School Visits Heartland Corn
Winthrop, March 14 - Twenty-six high school students toured the Heartland Corn Products ethanol facility in Winthrop today to get a better understanding of renewable fuel production.
The students, from Sibley East High School, toured the various processes of ethanol production at the 108 million-gallon-a-year facility.
"We were pleased to welcome the students from Sibley East High School and provide them with a first-hand look at how clean Minnesota-grown renewable energy is produced," said Scott Blumhoefer, Vice-President at Heartland Corn Products.
The students, from grades 10 to 12, learned several different components of ethanol production during the tour including incoming grain grading, grain handling, fermentation, grain storage, dried distiller grain production and storage, liquefaction, fermentation and ethanol storage and shipment.
The plant tour was organized by the Minnesota Bio-Fuels Association. Heartland Corn Products is a member of the Minnesota Bio-Fuels Association.
"Today's visit is part of our annual grant program to schools in Minnesota to tour and learn about ethanol production.
"These tours provide students with a better understanding of how a homegrown renewable ingredient is converted into a clean fuel that has and continues to reduce harmful greenhouse gases," said Tim Rudnicki, executive director at Minnesota Bio-Fuels Association.
Heartland Corn Products is one of the largest ethanol plants in Minnesota and was built in 1995.
Jeff Eppen, agriculture science teacher at Sibley East High School, accompanied the students.
"We hope this visit will spark an interest for our students to learn about ethanol in the classroom," he said.
Eppen said it was important for students to get a better understanding of the ethanol industry and how it is produced, adding some former students from Sibley East have been employed at Heartland Corn Products.
"A unique part about agricultural education is the instructor, students and community help decide the curriculum for their school. We as a school have decided that we want biofuels as a part of our Ag education," he said.


More Canadian employers choose to post conservation and wildlife jobs at WorkCabin.ca than any other site in Canada. Period. We know our niche. So does our audience.
WorkCabin was founded in 2007 by conservationist Gregg McLachlan, a past director with a world biosphere reserve foundation. He owns and manages a 30-acre conservation forest reserve. He's a nature photographer, explorer and wilderness trekker, helps to educate others about conservation, and is formally accredited and certified with the Professional Association of Resume Writers and Career Coaches (PARW/CC). He was the keynote speaker at the Ontario Envirothon 2015 Championships, a provincewide competition which brings together the most innovative high school students to compete in skills related to wildlife, aquatics and forestry. He was also a presenter at the 2016 Latornell Conservation Symposium.
WorkCabin is a full-time company. We continually invest capital in our service. Just like our quality clients, we understand that it's vital to remain progressive today.
WorkCabin has firmly established itself as a Canadian conservation-focused leader on social media. We have a highly engaged follower base that we interact with on a daily basis. In fact, social media is a major reason why WorkCabin has grown so fast and become a Canadian success story. We have more than 15,000 followers across Twitter, Instagram Facebook.
Our everyday rates are about value. We attract employers to our service who see that value and embrace investing to use the premiere service that delivers results, attracts qualified applicants, and complements their own values about conservation.
Top employers, organizations, municipalities and provincial government agencies choose to be associated with WorkCabin. That's something we take very seriously. Our brand is about delivering the best to Canada's top brands for environmental and conservation employment.
Our users, as well as nonprofit and industry professionals, continually tell us that WorkCabin is relevant to a wider, skilled and qualified audience. We're not a job board where 90% of the postings apply to only job seekers with 15+ years experience.
WorkCabin is hugely popular among students at Canadian colleges and universities. In fact, 42% of our visitor traffic is skilled, and between the ages of 25 and 34. Many college and university career centres have links directly to WorkCabin.ca.
Quality and credibility is paramount to us at WorkCabin.ca. The types of postings and employers we attract illustrates how we stand out. We don't attract fluff postings nor do we swipe job advertisements from employer websites and use them without authorization. We're a professional-level, paid service that attracts the best. Employers choose to use us and post their jobs with us because of our reputation and results.
WorkCabin is proudly Canadian. We're an established brand name known by Canadians. Employers' feedback shows that WorkCabin.ca produces more qualified Canadian job applicants compared to similar websites, generalist job boards or international job boards that flood HR with unqualified applicants or worldwide applicants.


I started writing my first poem when I was 5 years old. Thanks to my mom, who got frustrated with my incessant talking and suggested that I engage myself more fruitfully by writing my own poems. Over the years, she also taught me to document all my poems. Poetry is the strongest core of my self and the tool I use for deep reflection. In that, I am glad to have had this gift to engage with one of the most subtle forms of human language. I use poetry to create visual art and dance as well. Often, I look at the universe and in resonance with it find, sublime poetry!
earth pouring back into me.
Some days, I wish, I lived on a planet where life doesn't exist, including me!
What does it take to lose hope I wonder?
the burden of hope no more!
not ask for something better!
and to sell it as packaged eco-friendliness!
It doesn't matter if you are man, woman, beast or child.
I am not I, the Individual.
I am I, the Collective!
I am not dreams, spirit, goddess, comfort.
I am not gender, statistics, headlines, hope.
In you, I stand in equality, faith, compassion, joy.


James Baldwin's book-length essay on American cinema is not the kind of film criticism Roger Ebert or Janet Maslin writes. Baldwin doesn't particularly care which movies should be rated four stars and which movies should be rated two. Unlike Ray Carney, François Truffaut, or Pauline Kael, he's not a partisan for any one particular kind of cinematic tradition. He doesn't even particularly like movies. Yet The Devil Finds Work is a penetrating examination of the place of cinema within the larger American reality.
The Devil Finds Work begins with Baldwin reminiscing about the effect film had on his developing consciousness as a child. He talks about Joan Crawford. For my generation, Crawford is most commonly thought of as the abusive mother in the film based on her step-daughter Christina's book Mommie Dearest. For Baldwin, she is simply the first face he remembers seeing on the big screen. Yet, almost as soon as he leaves the movie theater, he sees a black woman in a story who, he imagines, looks exactly like Joan Crawford, a testament to the power of the image movies, and, more importantly, the dominant white culture, can project.
Baldwin then goes on to talk about the 1936 version of Last of the Mohicans with Randolph Scott. Like the 1992 version with Daniel Day Lewis, it ends with a white woman leaping to her death rather than let herself be "defiled" by an Indian. He echoes my own opinion that John Ford's Grapes of Wrath is the greatest American film, not necessarily because it's his favorite movie, but because he believes that Henry Fonda and the Joad family almost manage, through their dramatization of the poverty of the Great Depression, to become black. "In a way," he writes, "during the 1930s we were all niggers." He talks about Betty Davis, how her facial features, especially her bulging eyes, reminded him of his own, about the power cinema has to validate the emerging, yet still narcissistic, imagination of a little boy. He goes on an extended meditation about the great 1935 Tale of Two Cites, and the relationship between Sydney Carton and Uncle Tom's Cabin.
If James Baldwin spends his long essay on the American cinema talking almost as much about books as he does about film, then it's largely because another title for The Devil Finds Work could easily be "On the Failure of American Cinema to Adequately Express the America Reality." Baldwin is not a true movie lover. He was never the kind of lonely young man who liked nothing better than to sit inside a dark movie theater watching the camera project images onto a screen. On the contrary, for James Baldwin, cinema takes a back seat to literature, the church, and, above all, live theater and music. Although one of the most important cultural event in the young Baldwin's life was staged by a filmmaker, it wasn't a movie, but a play, Orson Welles' all black Macbeth. It's not only that Welles' visionary production of Shakespeare's tragedy gave the young Baldwin his first look at characters from canonical British literature with black faces — "It was the first time I ever really saw black actors at work." — but the way his fellow audience members helped enrich his own experience of what they were all watching together. A play, Baldwin argues, is a living, constantly evolving medium of expression, a communal experience that allows the audience to share a small piece of history. Film, by contrast, like the images projected on the wall of Plato's cave, alienates the viewer not only from the reality he's trying to picture through the pictures, but from his fellow movie goers.
The Devil Finds Work closes with a long, detailed analysis of Lady Sings the Blues, the 1972 biographical drama about Billie Holiday that starred Richard Pryor and Diana Ross, followed by a much shorter, but devastating take down of William Friedkin's 1973 film The Exorcist. While Baldwin does concede that Ross and Pryor attempt to convey the reality of Holiday's life in a way that largely white film studios try to make as difficult as possible, he clearly thinks it's a bad movie, only worth his time because it allows him to to talk about the failure of Sidney J. Furie — the same director, interestingly enough, who made the great Vietnam War film The Boys in Company C — to capture Holiday's long confrontation with pain, depravity, poverty, and, most importantly, evil. Film cannot capture the key events in Holiday's life, drug addiction, childhood sexual abuse, witnessing the aftermath of a lynching, the way words, Holiday's own autobiography, can. The film Lady Sings the Blues is an extended exercise in avoiding reality. Holiday's memoir is the real thing.
If Lady Sings the Blues is an inadequate film, The Exorcist is a banal, contemptible film. The most terrifying thing about Friedkin's movie, Baldwin argues, is the evidence of the enormous gap between the nature of evil and white perception of evil. Lady Sings the Blues may not have been able to dramatize the history of lynching, but at the very least it alluded to the history of lynching. Evil, in William Friedkin's imagination, centers on the fear of a white mother that her daughter might not grow up to be as successful or well-adjusted as she is. Baldwin is aghast. Is that all white people really fear? As a black man, who understands the devil, not only from his teenage experiences in the church, but from his later experiences with the "dark" side of white America, he fears that The Exorcist is representative of the mindset capable of lynching. It's as damning an indictment of that wretched movie as I've ever seen.
Great essay, your posts always manage to expand on ways to think. To whit, I remember being in my teens and seeing, for the first time ever, a painting in which Jesus was a black man. That moment blew apart an entire false narrative that had been squatting, invisible, in my head space.
Baldwin actually made me think more about the current debates on casting white actors in non-white roles. I've never quite been able to understand why, for example, the new Stonewall film caused people to get so angry. But now I realize the damage that could be done be replacing a black transgender character with a "cisgender" white male. I see people who look like me all the time in the movies. But Baldwin reminded me not only that many people don't, but that he himself might never have become a writer had Orson Welles not put a black Macbeth on stage. It was also, interestingly enough, a play funded by the WPA, Works Progress Administration (a New Deal Agency).
You've got me curious so I just ordered Baldwin's Cross of Redemption from the library.


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Partner Perspectives
Syria and Sweden: A distant conflict with serious consequences at home
by Karl Lallerstedt in Stockholm Free World Forum
The conflict in Syria is made possible by covert state support and a criminal "terror economy" which are sustaining the warring parties. Despite the fact that Damascus lies over 3,000 kilometers away from Stockholm, Syria's civil war is closer than ever. A large number of Swedish citizens are fighting for terrorist organizations in Syria; some of these combatants are very likely to commit acts of terror upon their return. In 2014 alone, fleeing Syrians representing over half a percent of Sweden's population applied for permanent residence.
The smuggling and human trafficking networks behind this not only account for billions of Swedish kronor, but also pave the way for illegal trade in contraband goods and weapons. The situation in Sweden also heightens the risk for terror attacks and other crime in our neighboring countries.
Even though Damascus lies over 3,000 kilometers away from Stockholm, the Syrian civil war arguably presents a more widespread threat to Sweden than any conflict since the Second World War.
Since the fighting began, an estimated 250-300 Swedish citizens have traveled to Syria and Iraq in order to join al-Qaida-inspired organizations. Many have died. Some of those who survive could potentially commit acts of terror upon their return.
During this ongoing humanitarian catastrophe, which has seen over 9 million people driven from their homes, the Swedish government implemented a unique asylum policy resulting in a third of all EU-bound Syrian refugees ending up in Sweden. As there are no legal means for these refugees to make the journey to Sweden, they are forced to turn for assistance to migrant smugglers.
Human smuggling from Syria to Sweden is a brutal operation, generating billions and killing hundreds of its desperate "customers." Moreover, it strengthens criminal organizations and contributes to drug smuggling and other offences in Sweden.
This report summarizes the economic forces behind the war and what effects they have in Sweden.
PART 1: Covert support, weapon deliveries and the illicit terror economy
Two factors primarily facilitate the continuation of the conflict—namely, support from foreign states to different sides of the conflict, and the emergence of a potent illicit economy in Syria.
The conflict in Syria is characterized by its opaqueness. Foreign support to the different parties facilitates the continuation of the conflict, but this is, by-and-large, secret or covert. Meanwhile, criminal activities make up a significant source of financing for rebel and terrorist groups. The first part of this report will illuminate some of these murkier aspects – for example, how certain foreign states, terror groups and illicit trade play an important role in the protracting and worsening of the conflict.
Overview of the protagonists of the conflict
Actors who support Assad
Iran is Syria's most important ally and supports the regime both militarily and economically. Iran has troops on the ground who have, among other things, trained and supported militia forces, and fostered and assisted foreign Shia militia (an estimated 7-8,000 troops who came primarily from Iraq earlier this year ) to fight on the side of the Syrian government. Iran delivers military supplies and provides intelligence. Despite the fact that Iran is subject to a UN weapons embargo prohibiting exports from the country, it is clear that the Iran has been a supplier of weapons to Syria, and there is speculation that Iran also partially finances the delivery of Russian weapons. Syria is also important for Iran's ties to Hezbollah in Lebanon, allowing for logistical support to reach the organization via Syria.
Intimately allied with Syria and Iran, the terrorist organization has played a leading role in the conflict. Thousands of Hezbollah soldiers support the Assad regime and have been involved in heavy fighting, including against al-Nusra. According to the Meir Amit Intelligence and Terrorism Center, Hezbollah has thousands of soldiers in Syria, of whom an estimated 360 had been killed by 1 April 2014. There have been reports of Syrian weapons deliveries to Hezbollah, in addition to speculation about whether Syria delivers coveted weapons to Hezbollah in return for their support.
Hezbollah has been accused of being partially responsible for several acts of terror, including suicide bombings. The organization also stands accused of profiting from narcotics trafficking and other illicit trade, including cigarette smuggling. Hezbollah has active Swedish members, such as Hossam Taleb Yacoub, who was sentenced to prison by a Cypriot court in 2013. He had mapped the arrival times of flights from Israel to Cyprus, probably in preparation for terrorist attacks. This only a short time after a 2012 suicide bombing that targeted Israeli tourists within the EU's borders, killing seven people and injuring 32 in Bulgaria.
According to a Lebanese Member of Parliament, Syria has transferred missiles capable of bearing chemical weapons to Hezbollah. Defectors have also claimed that, in order to avoid their destruction, Syria has transferred chemical weapons and their production capacity to Lebanon and Iraq.
Syria is one of Russia's closest allies, and was one of the eleven countries which voted against the UN General Assembly's condemnation of the annexation of the Crimea. Since 1971, first the Soviet Union and then Russia have maintained a small naval base on the peninsula. In 2012 it was reported that 30,000 Russians lived in Syria .There is also significant Russian investment in the country. Russia plays a critical role as Syria's largest supplier of weapons, something that has continued since the start of the civil war. Russia also acts as Assad's protector at the UN Security Council, where it has veto rights. Additionally, Russia has a base in Syria where it analyses satellite images that provide the Assad regime with insight into rebel troop movements. According to Jane's International Defence Review, this is being financed by Iran's Revolutionary Guard. At the beginning of October, Free Syrian Army (FSA) troops took over a spy signals base in southern Syria which had previously been used by the Russian military's intelligence service, GRU, and the Syrian intelligence service. It is, however, unclear when Russia left that base.
The comprehensive cooperation agreement signed by Russia and Syria at the end of 2013 for the exploitation of energy resources in the Mediterranean is possibly "payment" for Russia's support.
Together with Russia, China has protected Syria in the UN Security Council. China has also historically been both a weapons supplier and important trade partner to Syria.
North Korea and Syria have a lengthy history of good relations. North Korea helped build a secret nuclear reactor which was bombed by Israel in 2007, and in 2009 Greek authorities raided a North Korean ship bound for Syria, confiscating 14,000 chemical weapon protection suits. Syria's missile program has been developed with North Korean assistance. In 2013, Michael Flynn, the head of the United States' Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA), testified that Syria's Scud B-, C- and D-missile programs were dependent on foreign assistance, primarily from North Korea. In 2012, South Korean authorities confiscated North Korean graphite cylinders on a Chinese ship bound for Syria. The cargo had been declared as lead pipes, but there are suspicions that these were in fact missile components. The two countries have long conducted a military exchange program, and it has been speculated that North Korean military advisors are assisting the Assad regime, although North Korea has denied it.
Assad's opposition
The majority of the global community officially supports the view that the Syrian opposition, the National Coalition for Syrian Revolution and Opposition Forces, is the legitimate representative of the aspirations of the Syrian people, and many states have explicitly called for Assad to step down.
Direct intervention against the Assad regime has yet to take place; sanctions and support to rebel forces have instead been employed in an attempt to affect the outcome of the civil war. But there is no united front. Different states support different rebel groups, and at different scales. The unexpected emergence of IS last summer has, however, shaken things up, unlocking a door to previously unforeseen alliances.
Already in August of last year the UK's Chairman of the Parliament's Security and Intelligence Committee proposed that the West ought to partner with Iran in facing off against IS. Even earlier, at the beginning of last year, Syria's Deputy Foreign Minister had claimed that many Western intelligence services had visited Damascus in order to discuss the containment of radical Islamist groups, something confirmed also by the British intelligence services.
Turkey is the country that has offered the strongest support to rebel groups. Jonathan Schanzer at the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies said to Al-Jazeera:
"The eastern Turkish frontier has become the gateway to the Syria jihad. Some have gone so far as to deem it the Peshawar of this generation of jihadists. This is not an exaggeration. Turkey has allowed this territory to become a safe haven, a logistics and planning base, and a zone of terrorism finance. It cannot be understated how important this is to the continued growth of the various jihadi factions fighting in Syria."
During a visit to Stockholm in 2013, former Turkish Prime Minister (now President) Erdogan claimed that groups like al-Nusra and al-Qaida were not being protected by Turkey. But it was only in June last year that Turkey decided to brand al-Nusra (al-Qaida in Syria) a terrorist organization. Several European states share the view that Turkey has not done enough to stop jihadists from crossing the border into Syria, and its intelligence service, MIT, has not been regarded as cooperative in this context.
Prime Minister Davutoglu, for many years a significant role-player in Turkish foreign policy, has described the borders of the Middle East as artificial colonial constructs which shall be broken down. Turkey's central role in supporting Islamist groups in Syria is part of a wider Turkish engagement to support a political Islam. In his earlier academic writings Davutoglu wrote, "according to an objective foreign policy assessment, the most advantageous option enabling Turkey to become influential in the Middle East is the rise of Islamic movements." That Turkey has opened up its territory to armed fundamentalist groups and, together with Saudi Arabia and Qatar, given these groups protection, assistance and weapons must be seen within this context. President Erdogan's personal invitation to meet Hamas' political leader in 2013 can be interpreted as yet another indication that Turkey's view of terror organizations departs markedly from that of the EU and the US. The Iraqi intelligence services suspect that the Turkish military intelligence might have been deeply involved in supporting IS during its restructuring in 2011, according to Middle East correspondent Patrick Cockburn. Whether these allegations are true or not, it is likely that Turkey has grown increasingly concerned over IS, as it has evolved into the world's most notorious terrorist organization.
The Free Syrian Army, founded by officers who had defected from Assad's army, was previously the most powerful military rebel group in Syria. But the Islamist-focused groups within the resistance movement have increased in relative strength, probably thanks to foreign support and more effective organizational abilities.
The Islamic Front is the largest of the Islamist coalitions, with Saudi Arabia as its chief sponsor. The Islamic Front wants to establish an Islamic state within the borders of Syria, governed by Sharia law. In interviews with the Front's members, a majority stated that rival rebel groups constitute a larger threat to the Front than Assad's forces, and that even if Assad were defeated, they would have to continue battling rival rebels.
Al-Nusra (al-Qaida in Syria), listed as a terrorist organization by both the EU and the US, has joined a wider coalition against Assad's forces. It was originally allied with IS, although this is no longer the case. Al-Nusra's stated goal is to create an Islamic caliphate that stretches beyond Syria's borders. When government forces, in conjunction with Hezbollah soldiers, drove al-Nusra out of the city of Yabrud in March 2014, they found workshops for the production and installation of car bombs intended for suicide attacks.
The Islamic State (IS)
The Islamic State has its origins in al-Qaida, even though the relationship has since been formally broken. The organization often referred to as al-Qaida in Iraq declared itself the Islamic State in Iraq already in 2006. Upon expansion to Syria, the group took the name the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant, before changing simply to the Islamic State last summer.
Structurally, the organization is like a disciplined and well-organized army, which acts to establish control over sprawling territories. Coming up with exact estimates of the extent of territorial control is difficult, but cited estimates posit that the Islamic State controls one-third of Syria's territory, even though the degree of control probably varies from one place to the next.
It is also difficult to estimate how many fighting jihadists belong to the organization. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights told Al-Jazeera in mid-August 2014 that IS had 50,000 fighters in Syria, with a further 6,000 fresh recruits (including 1,000 foreigners) having joined up in the month of July alone. This surge in new recruits apparently stemmed from IS's notable successes. The CIA's estimate in September 2014 was that IS could mobilize 20,000-31,500 men in both Syria and Iraq, while earlier American estimates were much lower, putting the number at about 10,000 men.
It is clear that a deep war chest is required to finance such an enterprise, with ambitions to govern the land it controls. Various media outlets have stated that IS holds assets in excess of US$2 billion. While it is impossible to confirm that figure, the value of military equipment confiscated from the Iraqi army must be very high all by itself. The organization has a strong, growing economy, profiting from a diverse range of activities, including the control of oil fields. IS also makes money from smuggling and runs protection operations. (See "Criminal Economy" below).
Despite setbacks during US attacks on Iraq in August 2014, IS has had a few successes in Syria. Towards the end of August, the IS government's last flight base in the eastern region of the country was taken. When IS took Mosul in the summer, it was reported that two Iraqi divisions – approximately 30,000 men – had turned and run in the face of just 800 attacking IS soldiers. But heavy air strikes against IS, setbacks at the Mosul Dam and difficulties taking Kobane raise questions about the sustainability of the organization's progress.
In July 2014, it was reported that IS had seized 40 kilograms of radioactive material from Mosul University. Iraq's Ambassador to the United Nations warned in a letter to the UN Secretary General that these substances could potentially be used in a terror attack. Commentators have, however, judged the risk to be small that these stolen goods could constitute a serious danger. The same month, IS took over an older chemical weapons facility where 2,500 dismantled sarin rockets were housed. This, too, was not considered a serious threat. Seen together, however, what the events do show is the organization's interest in acquiring weapons of mass destruction.
IS's interest in weapons of mass destruction has been further confirmed by the contents of a computer confiscated from an IS member who had studied university-level chemistry and physics. The computer contained instructions for the production and use of the bubonic plague in an attack. It also contained a fatwa, issued by the Saudi cleric Nasir al-Fahd, expressly supporting the use of weapons of mass destruction against non-believers, "even if it kills them all and eliminates their descendants from the surface of the earth." Terrorism expert Magnus Ranstorp at Sweden's Defense University says that "the challenge with all these weapons (of mass destruction) … (is) to actually have a working distribution system which kills many [people]. But the production of quite scary weapons is definitely within the scope of (ISIS) abilities."
In recent months, IS appears to have actually used chemical weapons. In September, eleven Iraqi policemen were injured in a chlorine gas attack, according to the country's authorities. The following month, it was reported that Kurdish troops who were fighting against IS in Kobane had been exposed to unknown chemicals, with speculation that this could have been mustard gas.
The role of the illegal economy in a conflict
Finance is a precondition for maintaining and winning a conflict. It is expensive to have soldiers in combat: salaries, food, weapons, fuel, ammunition, and other equipment are constant costs. In order to buy or maintain loyalty among the civilian population, a working infrastructure is needed. Food, clothing and other supplies become strategic resources. Economic power is a precondition for military and political power, and a party attempting battle without economic resources is a guaranteed loser.
A detailed presentation for sources of income for IS and other groups is comprised in the report here
PART 2: How the conflict affects Swedish Interests
Refugee streams to Sweden
Sweden has an open refugee policy, and is the first European country to offer permanent residence to all Syrian refugees it accepts. The ramifications of this policy became clear in 2013, when statistics showed that Sweden offered asylum to more Syrians than any other EU member state. Even though the country consists of less than 2 percent of the EU population, it took in 20 percent of total asylum-seekers within the entire Union. By the first half of 2014, this had risen to 22 percent. Such an open-arms policy makes Sweden relatively sensitive to international refugee streams.
In his 2014 summer speech, then-Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt addressed the question of what a forecasted increase in the number of asylum seekers would mean in terms of increased costs. The Swedish immigration authorities had forecast a cost increase of 48 billion Swedish kronor (US$5.8 billion) over the coming four years. Because of the ongoing conflict, more asylum-seekers come to Sweden from Syria than from any other country. By the end of 2013, 24,800 Syrians had sought refuge in Sweden.
That trend continued in 2014. According to the Swedish Migration Board, 30,583 Syrians and 7,863 stateless people, mostly from Syria, sought asylum in Sweden during 2014. A further 14,471 Syrians and 5,287 stateless individuals sought permanent residence on the grounds of family ties to those who had already been offered asylum.
Over 45,000 Syrians applied for permanent Swedish residency in 2014, as did 13,150 stateless persons, the majority of whom came from Syria. This totals over 50,000 people, or over one-half of one percent of Sweden's current population: a significant figure for a single year, and not comparable to any other country in the European Union.
Over and above the budgetary burden, this also has practical consequences at the local level where concentrations of refugees are received. The drain on local healthcare services, childcare facilities and schools will increase, while housing deficiencies will be accentuated. There is also the risk of increased public health concerns. Healthcare and vaccination programs suffer in a conflict zone. For example, while Syria had been free of polio for 14 years before the conflict began, the World Health Organization declared a Public Health Emergency of International Concern amid a resurgence of polio in Syria in May 2014.
Political consequences in Sweden
Sweden has escaped violent demonstrations, unlike Germany, where hundreds of IS sympathizers armed with baseball bats, knives and machetes have attacked people they considered opponents. This in turn has fuelled violent forces, primarily "Hooligans against Salafists," who mobilized right-wing extremists and football hooligans. At the end of October 2014, 44 policemen were injured during a "Hooligans against Salafists" demonstration of 4,000 participants from across Germany. By contrast, the non-violent incident in Halmstad, Sweden, when Kurdish demonstrators forced their way into a public service radio station was the most dramatic incident to have happened in Sweden, and is nowhere near comparable to the violent events in Germany. Depending on how the conflict develops, though, and because more and more Syrians are establishing themselves in Sweden, the risk that tensions in Syria could escalate this situation in Sweden, leading to violent incidents there as well, cannot be ruled out.
An indirect political consequence of the conflict will most likely be a strengthening of xenophobic forces in Sweden. Syrians make up by the far the largest portion of refugees in Sweden – over 47 percent, if one counts both Syrians and the stateless (the bulk of whom come from Syria). It can therefore be assumed that tensions brought about by increased asylum acceptance will contribute to the strengthening of xenophobic forces in Sweden. Should Sweden become a victim of Islamist terrorist acts, both xenophobia and Islamophobia will further accelerate in society. Unfortunately, acts of terror are not an improbable scenario.
Terror threats against Sweden
People with Swedish roots have long been active within the global jihad movement. Up until now, their main focus has been directed toward distant places. The exceptions were one suicide bomber who planned a mass attack on the popular shopping street Drottninggatan, the Swedish terrorists who planned a massacre at the Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten, and those who planned to assassinate Swedish artist Lars Vilks. The Swedish security service, Säpo, has also disclosed that it has successfully headed off two further planned acts of terror against Swedish targets.
According to the Swedish Security Service, violent Islamist extremism constitutes Sweden's most serious security threat today.
That Swedish Islamists travel abroad in order to fight is nothing new. "Guantanamo Swede" Mehdi Ghezali, whose release Swedish politicians and the Foreign Ministry worked hard to obtain, was probably Sweden's first Islamist "celebrity." Abu Qaswarah, al-Qaida's second-in-command in Iraq, who was killed in 2008, has until now been the most senior person within an al-Qaida related organization disclosed as Swedish. In 2013, after the Westgate Mall attack in Kenya, US Navy SEALs killed a Swedish Somali belonging to the al-Qaida-connected al-Shabab.
IS's predecessor al-Qaida in Iraq put a price of US$50,000 on the head of Swedish artist Lars Vilks—double that if his head was cut off.
What differentiates travel to Syria today from earlier Swedish travel to war zones is the sheer number of people who go. According to Säpo's Director General Anders Thornberg, travel to Syria has taken on totally new dimensions. Swedes have gone to Afghanistan, Yemen, Somalia and other countries over a number of years, but in the last two years alone more have travelled to Syria than to previous conflict zones in their entirety.
According to Säpo, violent Islamist extremism is the most serious security threat that Sweden faces today. On 22 October 2014, Säpo confirmed 100 cases of Swedish citizens joining al-Qaida-inspired organizations in Syria and Iraq. The total figure is, however, significantly higher: 250-300 Swedes have travelled to Syria and Iraq to fight.
Those who return from conflict zones are considered to constitute the most serious threat because they come back more radicalized and in possession of practical battle training. Already last year Gilles de Kerchove, the EU's Counter-Terrorism Coordinator, warned that it is "highly probable that ISIS…is preparing, training, and steering some of its foreign soldiers to conduct attacks in Europe, or outside of Europe." He believed that there would be a high probability of further attacks like the shooting which killed four people at the Jewish Museum in Brussels ahead of European elections.
The Paris terrorist attacks in January and subsequent law enforcement actions confirm de Kerchove's fears. Although al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula claimed responsibility for the attack against the Charlie Hebdo magazine in Paris, Amedy Coulibaly, who carried out the attack against the kosher market, had declared his loyalty to IS in a video recording. Later in January, following the attacks, Belgian police arrested 13 and killed two suspected terrorists. The suspects were said to be returnee foreign fighters plotting to massacre policemen. The following day it was reported that suspected terrorists thought to be under IS command were also apprehended in Germany and France.
Las year a high-level official told the UK-based Financial Times that more than half of MI5's cases revolve around threats from Brits who return from Syria. A planned, Mumbai-style attack against targets in a large city has already been headed off. On a per-capita basis, Sweden is one of the European countries with the biggest travel contingent to Syria. Extremist terror groups IS and the al-Nusra Front attract the largest number of foreign jihadists travelling to Syria. According to media reviews, the lion's share of Swedish jihadists is likely fighting for IS.
More about the consequences for Sweden in the report here
Engage the EU to introduce the practice of zero tolerance for ransom payments in return for the release of hostages.
Encourage more transparent and registered deliveries of weapons to moderate Syrian rebel factions, as an alternative to supplying them with black-market weapons.
Analyse the illegal trade connected to Syria and Iraq and, if problems are identified, examine the possibilities to cut down on the trade in, for example, narcotics, weapons, antiquities and equipment which can be used for the purposes of terror.
Proposals to reduce the risk from combatants who travel abroad:
Alternatives to simple prohibition against people fighting abroad that are more thoroughly thought out than those previously proposed by certain politicians. The effects of prohibition alone are likely to be limited, especially for jihadists who are prepared to sacrifice their lives.
Membership in terror groups ought to be criminalized and laws amended to allow increased surveillance of people who are suspected to be in danger of traveling abroad to fight for extremist groups.
Investigate whether there is practical value in current European attempts to deradicalize and integrate returning combatants.
Preventative work to "win hearts and minds" for a long-term reduction of radicalization. This is a very broad operation, where both 'blocking' and 'planting' of content in social media ought to be important components.
Investigate whether there are more humane alternatives to the current Swedish refugee policy. The current side effects mean a billion-kronor market for criminal and dangerous human trafficking, while exposing Sweden and its neighbors to increased risk of terrorism and crime.
Preparations against kidnapping and brutally violent terror attacks on Swedish soil.
Karl Lallerstedt is the co-founder of Black Market Watch (www.blackmarketwatch.org), the Program Director for illicit trade, economic and financial crime at the Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime (www.globalinitiative.net) and a member of the OECD's Task Force on Charting Illicit Trade. He has previously worked in fields related to illicit trade within the private sector, and as a political and economic analyst at the Economist Intelligence Unit and Oxford Analytica.


Moving house is billed as one of the most stressful things a person can do in their lives, so it's no surprise moving your entire business can be equally as challenging, if not more. However, careful preparation and early planning can take the stress out of moving, avoid setbacks and extra cost to your business.
A dedicated project leader will keep everything - and everyone - on target, concentrated on tasks and minimise delays to ensure the key objectives set out at the beginning of the move are achieved.
A budget is crucial to help you assess your costs, plan your finances and manage your expenditure throughout the relocation. Budgets can also help you to gauge the success of your project and measure its ROI.
Consider where your key employees live and whether the location is convenient for them. While you're never going to please everyone, it may be worth conducting a staff survey of commutable areas to find the best location for the majority of staff. A long and expensive commute may push them to seek employment elsewhere, causing costly - and avoidable - recruitment costs.
The Express HUB also allows your workforce to choose from an extensive range of nearly 1,000 products. With so many options, employers can cater for a variety of dietary requirements such as vegetarian, vegan or kosher meals and can constantly update products to keep up with current trends.


text:
Q: In fuse.js with angular, where do we pass searched string and options? I have worked with fuse.js in javascript project. But now I am working with angular and I have installed the required module for fuse.js but I am not able to use its functionality for searching a word here in angular.
I have tried using the code provided by the documentation but not sure from where the code uses the searching keyword.

https://www.npmjs.com/package/angular-fusejs

    {{ element.author.firstName }}

//In Javascript file//
var fuse = new Fuse(newData, options);
var sresult = fuse.search(searchValue);
console.log(sresult);

I need to use similar code in angular which I have used in Javascript file.

A: I see it's been a while since this was asked but I'll show how I got it to work.  Basically exactly like the documentations shows.
npm i fuse.js
component.html

    <input id="fuzzy-player" type="text" (input)="search($event)">
    Search...

//displaying results

 0 ? '' : 'hide'">

    <ng-template [ngIf]="fuseResults && fuseResults.length > 0">
//showing top 5 results but can be changed to "let i of fuseResults"

        {{ fuseResults[i].name }}

    </ng-template>

component.ts
import * as Fuse from 'fuse.js'
...
export class Component implements OnInit {
  public fuse: any;
  public fuseResults: any[];

  ngOnInit() {
    //instantiate Fuse with your object and options
    this.fuse = new Fuse(list, options);
  }

  //binding to the HTML input element
  public search(evt: KeyboardEvent): void {
    const target = evt.target as HTMLInputElement;
    this.fuseResults = this.fuse.search(target.value);
  }
}

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


A walk through our Showrooms will promise to be a feast for your eyes, with delightful textures, bold hues and fabulous pattern. There are so many details to take in, so we strongly suggest a walk rather than a run through. Don't let the grand scale be all you see, wander through the intricate vignettes to discover a taste for every style on the design board. Our Showrooms are constantly changing with fresh new product and exciting rearrangements, so if you've been in before, we assure you it will feel as if you have entered an entirely different world than before.
So, come take a tour of either one of our Showrooms (both are equally as fulfilling)!


Automotive innovations in the field of ADAS and Autonomous Driving, but also in the field of Domain Controllers, Infotainment and Powertrain Systems claim for more processing power within automotive ECUs. The migration to multicore systems is a logical step, e.g. when thinking about AUTOSAR Adaptive applications like sensor fusion of radar, lidar, camera etc. or deep learning algorithms and computer vision. But also when thinking about AUTOSAR Classic based control applications.
High resolution sensor data has to be processed and intelligent decision making algorithms have to be executed, both meeting real-time requirements and additional safety constraints. Furthermore, legacy code applications have to be migrated into parallel applications and the whole software project has to be partitioned and distributed on automotive multicore platforms.
With SLX, the interaction of tasks and runnables can be revealed as well as the program flow and data dependencies. Additionally, beneficial opportunities for parallelization are disclosed. Based on this information, parallelization of runnable implementation as well as runnable to task mapping and scheduling can be optimized.
To increase safety and efficiency, today's aircrafts are becoming increasingly intelligent – whether manned or unmanned. Several data inputs from communication systems and on-board sensors are being processed in real-time. But the implementation of these navigation algorithms in a safety critical environment is still a challenge. With SLX, software professionals can meet these challenging system requirements due to its state-of-the-art compiler technology and performance estimation capabilities.
Next generation mobile networks like 5G offer radically faster connections and significantly more simultaneous users. Highly dynamic workloads can be handled under tight, real-time constraints and thus increase reliability.
This is enabled by mobile base stations that use hundreds of processor cores. But baseband algorithms must be massively parallelized and optimized for heterogeneous cores in order to fulfill all timing and power requirements. This is where base station makers are facing the problem of optimizing their LTE Advanced Pro or 5G code for in-house or of-the-shelf SOCs, as finding further parallelization opportunities and software distribution require huge manual efforts. With SLX automated programming solutions the most challenging system requirements can be met as to its state-of-the-art compiler technology and full heterogeneity awareness.
Self-flying drones or autonomous robots need to understand the world around them and safely navigate in critical situations. This requires a high level of visual intelligence that is enabled by super fast image processing. But the implementation of these algorithms on a device, where every last drop of battery counts, is still a challenge. With SLX, software professionals can meet these challenging system requirements as to its state-of-the-art compiler technology and full heterogeneity awareness.


text:
Steve King Is At It Again
Rep Steve King of Iowa has long been an opponent of comprehensive immigration reform.
Steve King got big headlines and widespread condemnation recently when he described DREAMers as drug mules.
After House Speaker John Boehner derided King's statement, many pundits expected the Iowa conservative to lay low. Instead, he went back on TV a day later to reiterate his charge. Then this past Sunday, when Latina Republican strategist Ana Navarro criticized King on Meet the Press, he questioned whether she "understood the language."
King's racist characterizations of Latinos might seem embarrassing to his party, but it is good to recall that just two months ago, nearly all House Republicans voted for his proposal to end the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program that halts the deportation of DREAMers. Far from making him an outcast, King's radicalism has won support from the Tea Party wing and those Republican politicians who live in fear of them.
King's popularity on the Right is so high now that he has launched a national "Stop Amnesty" tour that is bringing his message to Republican swing districts around the country. On the tour, he insists that Latinos are culturally violent people. He told an audience in Virginia: "If you bring people from a violent civilization into a less-violent civilization, you're going to have more violence right? It's like pouring hot water into cold water, does it raise the temperature or not?"
Steve King's supporters want to make him the face of Republican opposition to immigration reform. Unless the House leadership passes immigration reform, King will be seen as the true immigration leader in Congress.
Previous articleA Nation of Immigrants and Entrepreneurs
Next articleHardly Anyone Shows Up to Steve King Anti-Immigration Rally
One Proud Boy Identifies Himself or Maybe He Doesn't
More on the Proud Boys Marches on Long Island Last Saturday


All Saints Centre (NE33 4SU) pupils and paying 12.23 p/kWh estimated .
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Ashley Primary School (NE34 0QA) 461 pupils and paying 12.23 p/kWh estimated .
Bamburgh School (NE34 7TD) 182 pupils and paying 12.23 p/kWh estimated .
Bede Burn Primary School (NE32 5NJ) 209 pupils and paying 12.23 p/kWh estimated .
Bede Childrens Centre (NE32 4AQ) pupils and paying 12.23 p/kWh estimated .
Biddick Hall Infants' School (NE34 9JD) 236 pupils and paying 12.23 p/kWh estimated .
Biddick Hall Junior School (NE34 9SP) 240 pupils and paying 12.23 p/kWh estimated .
Biddick Hall and Whietleas (NE34 9JD) pupils and paying 12.23 p/kWh estimated .
Boldon Nursery Children's Centre (NE35 9DG) pupils and paying 12.23 p/kWh estimated .
Boldon Nursery School (NE35 9DG) 76 pupils and paying 12.23 p/kWh estimated .
Boldon School (NE35 9DZ) 1100 pupils and paying 12.23 p/kWh estimated .
Clervaux Nursery School (NE32 5UP) 61 pupils and paying 12.23 p/kWh estimated .
Dunn Street Primary School (NE32 3QH) 150 pupils and paying 12.23 p/kWh estimated .
East Boldon Infants' School (NE36 0SW) 180 pupils and paying 12.23 p/kWh estimated .
East Boldon Junior School (NE36 0DL) 243 pupils and paying 12.23 p/kWh estimated .
Epinay Business and Enterprise School (NE32 5UP) 146 pupils and paying 12.23 p/kWh estimated .
Fellgate Primary School (NE32 4XA) 204 pupils and paying 12.23 p/kWh estimated .
Forest View Primary (NE34 8RZ) 315 pupils and paying 12.23 p/kWh estimated .
Groundwork South Tyneside and Newcastle (NE31 1HG) pupils and paying 12.23 p/kWh estimated .
Hadrian Primary School (NE33 2BB) 310 pupils and paying 12.23 p/kWh estimated .
Harton Academy (NE34 6DL) 1601 pupils and paying p/kWh currently .
Harton Primary School (NE34 6PF) 702 pupils and paying 12.23 p/kWh estimated .
Hebburn Comprehensive School (NE31 2QU) 1186 pupils and paying 12.23 p/kWh estimated .
Hebburn Lakes Primary School (NE31 2SL) 448 pupils and paying 12.23 p/kWh estimated .
Hedworth Lane Primary School (NE35 9JB) 315 pupils and paying 12.23 p/kWh estimated .
Hedworthfield Primary School (NE32 4QF) 244 pupils and paying 12.23 p/kWh estimated .
Helen Gibson Nursery School (NE36 0DL) 72 pupils and paying 12.23 p/kWh estimated .
Horsley Hill Children's Centre (NE34 7TD) pupils and paying 12.23 p/kWh estimated .
Jarrow (NE32 3QH) pupils and paying 12.23 p/kWh estimated .
Jarrow Cross CofE Primary School (NE32 5UW) 315 pupils and paying 12.23 p/kWh estimated .
Jarrow School (NE32 5PR) 820 pupils and paying 12.23 p/kWh estimated .
Laygate Community School (NE33 4JJ) 294 pupils and paying 12.23 p/kWh estimated .
Lord Blyton Primary School (NE34 9BN) 236 pupils and paying 12.23 p/kWh estimated .
Marine Park Children's Centre (NE33 2LS) pupils and paying 12.23 p/kWh estimated .
Marine Park Primary School (NE33 2RD) 238 pupils and paying 12.23 p/kWh estimated .
Marsden Primary School (SR6 7HJ) 243 pupils and paying 12.23 p/kWh estimated .
Monkton Junior School (NE34 9RD) 240 pupils and paying 12.23 p/kWh estimated .
Mortimer Community College (NE33 4UG) 1085 pupils and paying 12.23 p/kWh estimated .
Mortimer Primary School (NE34 0RW) 634 pupils and paying 12.23 p/kWh estimated .
Park View School (NE34 0QA) 50 pupils and paying 12.23 p/kWh estimated .
Primrose Centre (NE32 5QY) pupils and paying 12.23 p/kWh estimated .
Ridgeway Children's Centre (NE34 8AB) pupils and paying 12.23 p/kWh estimated .
Ridgeway Primary Academy (NE34 8AB) 472 pupils and paying 12.23 p/kWh estimated .
Riverside Children's Centre (NE33 4JT) pupils and paying 12.23 p/kWh estimated .
SS Peter and Paul RC Voluntary Aided Primary School (NE33 4RD) 240 pupils and paying 12.23 p/kWh estimated .
Sea View Primary School (NE34 7TD) 438 pupils and paying 12.23 p/kWh estimated .
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South Tyneside Early Excellence Centre (NE31 1QY) pupils and paying 12.23 p/kWh estimated .
St Aloysius RC Voluntary Aided Infant School (NE31 1RZ) 245 pupils and paying 12.23 p/kWh estimated .
St Aloysius' RC Voluntary Aided Junior School (NE31 1BQ) 241 pupils and paying 12.23 p/kWh estimated .
St Bede's RC Primary School, Jarrow (NE32 3AJ) 214 pupils and paying 12.23 p/kWh estimated .
St Bede's RC Voluntary Aided Primary School, South Shields (NE33 4PG) 236 pupils and paying 12.23 p/kWh estimated .
St Gregory's RC Voluntary Aided Primary School (NE34 6DZ) 217 pupils and paying 12.23 p/kWh estimated .
St James' RC Voluntary Aided Primary School (NE31 2BP) 210 pupils and paying 12.23 p/kWh estimated .
St Joseph's Catholic Academy (NE31 2ET) 1490 pupils and paying 12.23 p/kWh estimated .
St Joseph's RC Voluntary Aided Primary School (NE32 4PJ) 227 pupils and paying 12.23 p/kWh estimated .
St Mary's RC Voluntary Aided Primary School (NE32 4AW) 257 pupils and paying 12.23 p/kWh estimated .
St Matthew's RC Voluntary Aided Primary School (NE32 5YT) 210 pupils and paying 12.23 p/kWh estimated .
St Oswald's CofE Aided Primary School (NE31 1HT) 210 pupils and paying 12.23 p/kWh estimated .
St Oswald's RC Voluntary Aided Primary School (NE34 8NS) 235 pupils and paying 12.23 p/kWh estimated .
St Wilfrid's RC College (NE34 0QA) 1140 pupils and paying 12.23 p/kWh estimated .
Stanhope Primary School (NE33 4SZ) 224 pupils and paying 12.23 p/kWh estimated .
Toner Avenue Primary School (NE31 2LJ) 360 pupils and paying 12.23 p/kWh estimated .
Tyne Coast College (NE34 6ET) pupils and paying 12.23 p/kWh estimated .
Valley View Primary School (NE32 5QY) 273 pupils and paying 12.23 p/kWh estimated .
West Boldon Primary School (NE36 0HX) 315 pupils and paying 12.23 p/kWh estimated .
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Whitburn Church of England Academy (SR6 7EF) 1184 pupils and paying 12.23 p/kWh estimated .
Whitburn Village Primary School (SR6 7NS) 233 pupils and paying 12.23 p/kWh estimated .
Whitburn and Marsden Children's Centre (SR6 7NS) pupils and paying 12.23 p/kWh estimated .


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Kentucky law requiring abortion seekers to listen to fetal heartbeat will stand
SCOTUS declines to hear case
The Supreme Court on Monday rejected a challenge to a Kentucky law requiring doctors to describe ultrasound images and play fetal heartbeat sound to abortion seekers.
Kentucky argued the law is "simple and straightforward," calling it part of an" informed-consent process." The law, Kentucky said, "does nothing more than require that women who are considering an abortion be provided with information that is truthful, non-misleading and relevant to their decision of whether to have an abortion."
The court rejected the case without comment or noted dissent by any of the justices.
Challengers, including an abortion clinic, argued that the law forced patients to see the images even if she didn't want to, and that it violated doctors' First Amendment rights.
The law had been upheld by the 6th US Circuit Court of Appeals, but that ruling was on hold pending the Supreme Court appeal.
"As a First Amendment matter, there is nothing suspect with a State's requiring a doctor, before performing an abortion, to make truthful, non-misleading factual disclosures, relevant to informed consent, even if those disclosures relate to unborn life and have the effect of persuading the patient not to have an abortion," the appeals court held in its ruling.
Civil rights groups blasted the court's decision not to take up the challenge.
"By refusing to review the 6th Circuit's ruling, the Supreme Court has rubber-stamped extreme political interference in the doctor-patient relationship," said Alexa Kolbi-Molinas, senior staff attorney at the ACLU Reproductive Freedom Project. "This law is not only unconstitutional, but as leading medical experts and ethicists explained, deeply unethical."
The Kentucky denial comes as the landmark 1973 Roe v. Wade ruling that legalized abortion in the US is facing multiple challenges in lower courts.
"Although this case is abortion-related, the plaintiffs' challenge was that the law violated the free speech rights of the doctors, as opposed to the abortion rights of the patients," said Steve Vladeck, CNN Supreme Court analyst and professor at the University of Texas School of Law.
"In that regard, although many find the Kentucky law offensive, it doesn't implicate the same fundamental questions about the continuing scope of the right to choose that the justices identified in Roe as other cases already on the court's docket this term and coming down the pipeline," Vladeck added.
Later this term, the justices are set to consider a separate Louisiana law that requires doctors to obtain admitting privileges from a nearby hospital. The justices in 2016 struck down a similar law from Texas, which had led to clinic closures. The court majority said the law put an unconstitutional burden on women seeking abortion.
It will be the first abortion case that will be argued since Justice Brett Kavanaugh and Neil Gorsuch joined the bench, solidifying a conservative majority.
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