text:
John Downey granted bail in Dublin ahead of extradition hearing over UDR murders
John Downey has been granted bail ahead of an extradition hearing. Image from BBC
Cate McCurry, Press Association
John Downey arriving in the back of a Garda car at court in Dublin this week. Picture by Justin Kernoghan/Photopress
A Co Donegal man wanted by prosecutors in Northern Ireland over the 1972 murders of two soldiers has been granted bail in a Dublin court ahead of a formal extradition hearing.
John Downey (66), whose prosecution for the IRA's Hyde Park bombing in London collapsed in controversy four years ago, is expected to be released from prison in the city within 24 hours after bail of €35,000 was approvid by Ms Justice Aileen Donnelly.
Downey was detained in Co Donegal on Monday on a European Arrest Warrant.
The Northern Ireland Public Prosecution Service initiated extradition proceedings after determining it had sufficient evidence to charge him with the murders of Lance Corporal Alfred Johnston (32) and Private James Eames (33) in a car bomb attack in Enniskillen.
An extradition hearing is due to take place in two weeks.
In 2013, Downey was charged with murdering four Royal Household Cavalrymen in an IRA bomb in Hyde Park in 1982.
He stood trial at the Old Bailey, but the case dramatically collapsed after it was revealed he had received a written assurance from former prime minister Tony Blair's government that he was not actively wanted by the authorities.
Foster accuses Sinn Féin of 'hysterical response' to Downey arrest
Analysis: John Downey case once again shines a spotlight on OTR scheme (premium)
Explaining the rationale for granting bail today, the judge highlighted that Downey had been on bail during court proceedings in England and had abided by all conditions.
Ms Justice Donnelly also noted that he appeared to have some health issues, and had lived in the Republic for more than 30 years.
"On a previous occasion, he faced charges in a court in England and was released on bail during these matters and abided by the conditions," she said.
Downey is on a state pension, but Ms Justice Donnelly said she did not know whether it was contributory or not.
"I have no idea what he has been working at," the judge added.
"I am told that he is living at a substantial property, and for some reason he transferred the house out of his name to his wife last year."
The judge added that it was a concern to the court that his wife and two adult children were able to raise a cash sum of €5,000.
She added that she is left in a situation where "I have to take a view" that Downey has access through his acquaintances to a "greater level of surety".
The judge granted bail on this morning conditional on Downey providing evidence that the financial bail guarantee could be covered.
She sat again after lunch when the sureties were approved.
A friend of Downey's agreed to provide surety of €30,000 (£26,000) while Downey is to lodge his own bond of €5,000.
He was ordered to abide by a number of bail conditions including signing on every day at a Garda station, residing at his own house, providing his mobile number to gardai and attending the High Court when ordered to do so.
The Sinn Féin member, wearing a red jumper and checked shirt, remained impassive during the court proceedings.
His defence barrister Tony McGillicuddy had earlier told the judge that Downey has had "a commitment of working in a positive manner in the Irish peace process since the early 1990s", and had carried out functions in that regard with a number of agencies.
Hyde Park bomb accused John Downey was arrested at his Co Donegal home in connection with a bomb attack which killed two UDR soldiers in Co Fermanagh in 1972
Mr McGillicuddy said that he engaged positively in meetings around the peace process and has a "strong commitment" to it over the last 20 years.
The two Ulster Defence Regiment soldiers died when an IRA bomb exploded in a car they were checking on Irvinestown Road, Cherrymount, Enniskillen, on August 25 1972.
Downey's prosecution for the Hyde Park bombing collapsed when it emerged he had received a UK government letter issued under the terms of the controversial On The Runs (OTRs) scheme.
In 2014, trial judge Mr Justice Sweeney ruled that Downey's arrest at Gatwick Airport, as he transited the UK on the way to a holiday, represented an abuse of process and he put a stay on any future prosecution in relation to the Hyde Park case.
The episode sparked a government inquiry into the OTR scheme.
Downey has always denied any involvement in the Hyde Park attack.
on the runs
John Downey
James Eames
Alfred Johnston
08 November, 2018 12:28 Northern Ireland news


text:
Tây Ninh () is a provincial city in south-eastern Vietnam. It is the capital of Tây Ninh Province, which encompasses the town and much of the surrounding farmland. Tay Ninh is one of nine provinces and cities in the Southern Key Economic Region (Hochiminh City, Dong Nai, Binh Duong, Ba Ria – Vung Tau, Binh Phuoc, Tay Ninh, Long An and Tien Giang). Tây Ninh is approximately  to the northwest of Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam's largest city and 182 km (113 miles) to Phnom Penh, Cambodia capital city. As of 2019, the city had a population of 135,254 over the provincial population of 1,169,165, and a total area of .

Tourist attractions
The city is known for being the home of the Cao Dai religion, a syncretic Vietnamese faith that includes the teachings of the major world religions. The Cao Dai religion's Holy See, built between 1933 and 1955, is located around  to the east of Tay Ninh's city centre.

Besides the Cao Dai Holy See, other tourist attractions include:

 Black Virgin Mountain, the tallest mountain in southern Vietnam
 Dau Tieng Lake, one of the largest man-made lakes in Vietnam and Southeast Asia.
 Lò Gò-Xa Mát National Park
 Thien Lam or Go Ken Pagoda
 Chang Riec Forest
 Mộc Bài International Border Gate
 Long Hoa central market

Agriculture industry

Tay Ninh has relatively favorable natural conditions for agricultural development (flat land, mild climate, no drought, no flood). In 2015, the total cultivated area reached 929,832 acres, including 646,996 acres of annual crops and 282,836 acres of perennial crops. Tay Ninh agriculture accounts for about 28% of the province's economic structure with the agricultural production area of 665,331 acres, accounting for 66.7% of the natural area. Some popular crop including:

 Wet rice (approximately 365,000 acres)
 Sugar-apple
 Rubber tree (approximately 247,000 acres)
 Sugarcane (approximately 61,000 acres)
 Cassava (approximately 123,000 acres)

Notable people
 Nguyễn Thị Ngọc Châu - Miss Universe Vietnam 2022
 Nguyễn Văn Nên - Secretary of the Ho Chi Minh City Party Committee

Education
 Hoang Le Kha High School for the Gifted
 Tay Ninh High School
 Ly Thuong Kiet High School
 Tran Dai Nghia High School
 IGC Tay Ninh (escalator school)
 Tay Ninh College of Education

History
After the Fall of Saigon, the town of Tây Ninh was reorganized to comprise three wards and one commune. In August 2001, the town was expanded to include five wards and five communes. On 29 December 2013, Tây Ninh town was upgraded officially to provincial city status, under administration of Tây Ninh Province, along with the upgrade of its two communes Ninh Sơn and Ninh Thạnh to ward status.

Climate

Administrative division
Tây Ninh city, Vietnam comprises 7 wards (phường) and 3 communes (xã):
 Ward 1
 Ward 2
 Ward 3
 Ward 4
 Hiệp Ninh Ward
 Ninh Sơn Ward
 Ninh Thạnh Ward
 Bình Minh Commune
 Tân Bình Commune
 Thạnh Tân Commune

The ward is further divided into quarters (khu phố). Thee commune are further divided into hamlets (ấp).

References

External links

Populated places in Tây Ninh province
Districts of Tây Ninh province
Provincial capitals in Vietnam
Cities in Vietnam

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


text:
Travel restrictions in Morocco cause mayhem
Home /Africa, Morocco, World News/Travel restrictions in Morocco cause mayhem
Africa,Morocco,World News |
Morocco has decided to ban all travel to and from its major cities in an effort to stop a small spike in coronavirus cases.
The restriction, announced barely 5 hours before it took effect, saw Moroccans rush to the bus stations and the roads.
Even though the North African country has remained less impacted than its European neighbours, Morocco justified this decision by stating that many Moroccans were not complying with measures of social distancing encouraged by the government in order to fight the spread of the coronavirus.
Health Minister Khalid Ait Taleb announced that the country had recorded more contaminations in the past week than it did in the last four months.
Killer of Rafiki, Uganda's rare silverback mountain gorilla, jailed
Dozens killed in fresh wave of violence in Nigeria

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


The Obama administration's investigation intoToyota safety problems found no electronic flaws to account for reports of sudden, unintentional acceleration and other safety problems. Government investigators said Tuesday the only known cause of the problems are mechanical defects that were fixed in previous recalls.
The Transportation Department, assisted by engineers withNASA, said its 10-month study of Toyota vehicles concluded there was no electronic cause of unintended high-speed acceleration in Toyotas. The study, which was launched at the request of Congress, responded to consumer complaints that flawed electronics could be the culprit behind Toyota's spate of recalls.
Officials with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said they reviewed consumer complaints and warranty data in detail and found that many of the complaints involved cases in which the vehicle accelerated after it was stationary or at very low speeds.
Did it make a difference that the federal government has taken a proprietor's interest in major Toyota competitors GM and Chrysler, or that a former trial lawyer lobbyist heads the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration?
I had more back in July (and here, where I observe that scientific data on breast implant safety did nothing to stop the torts, and is unlikely to do so in this case). I questioned the US Government's conflict of interest in this matter way back in January of 2010.
By the way, anyone want to reopen the case on that guy in LA with the runaway Prius -- I thought it was concocted at the time (I called him balloon boy in a Prius) and am doubly sure now. How is what he did, in retrospect, and different from leading the police on a high-speed chase?
One aspect of the recent debate about the Supreme Court's Citizen's United decision that really irritates me is the notion, propounded by the NY Times among others, that corporations and the individuals assembled in them do not have free speech rights because corporations are "state-created entities."
This is wildly untrue, or alternatively, if you accept the logic, then nearly every aspect of our lives is state-created. Take your pick. Basically, the argument is that because the government has set the rules for corporate incorporation, and that these incorporations require state approval, that makes corporate entities "state-created." But corporations are nothing more than a structure by which people can assemble and aggregate their capital and share ownership of an enterprise that employs that capital. If government incorporation law did not exist, individuals still would have the incentive to assemble in some sort of entity.
I don't know of anything in the corporate structure that could not be duplicated with contract terms. People point to the liability limitation as some sort of government gift to the corporate world, but that could easily be written in to every contract of, say, a partnership (certain torts are an exception I would have to think about). Vendors might choose not to accept such contracts, preferring to be able to pierce the partnership to go after individual owners to settle debts, but that choice exists today. I have many, many vendor contracts in my corporation, and nearly all of my bank loans, that require the personal guarantee of all the owners, effectively waiving the liability limitation for those transactions.
My point, though, is that corporate forms have evolved as they are because that is what the sum of investors and business people were working towards on their own, and government merely enshrined these forms into law. In fact, this basic rules-setting of the contracts playing field is one of the few arguably useful things government has done. If we allow government rules-setting over certain activities to be the test of whether it can further restrict our Constitutional rights, then nearly every aspect of our lives would be subject to such restrictions.
The Arizona transaction privilege tax is commonly referred to as a sales tax; however, the tax is on the privilege of doing business in Arizona and is not a true sales tax. Although the transaction privilege tax is usually passed on to the consumer, it is actually a tax on the vendor.
Rights, like the ability of free exchange between individuals, supposedly can't be revoked, but privileges can. Thus the name. For folks who treasure individual liberty, we have already lost the battle when we allow the state this kind of language.
Anyway, I feel like I am having a failure of eloquence over this issue. Ilya Somin got me started thinking about these issues, so I will turn it over to him here.
Third, it's important to consider what is meant by "state-created entity." If the term refers only to institutions that literally would not exist absent state authorization, it does not accurately characterize many, perhaps most corporations. If the federal government passed a statute abolishing corporate status tomorrow, most actual corporations would still exist and still continue to engage in the same business or nonprofit activities. They just would do so under different and perhaps less efficient legal rules (maybe as LLCs, partnerships, or sole proprietorships). But they wouldn't all just collapse or go away. There would still be a demand for most of the products produced by corporations.
If "state-created entity" doesn't refer to the mere existence of organizations currently defined as corporations but to the particular bundle of legal rights currently attached to the corporate form, then it turns out that virtually all other organizations are state-created entities as well. Universities, schools, charities, churches, political parties, partnerships, sole proprietorships, and many other private organizations all have official definitions under state and federal law. And all have special government-created privileges and obligations that don't apply to other types of organizations.
Even individual citizens might be considered "state-created" entities under this logic. After all, the status of "citizen" is a government-created legal entitlement that carries various rights and privileges, many of which the government could alter by legislation, just as it can with those of corporations (e.g. "" the right to receive Social Security benefits, which the Supreme Court has ruled can be altered by legislation any time Congress wants). In that sense, "citizens" are no less "state-created" entities than corporations are.
I should clarify that in this post, as before, I'm not arguing that corporations themselves are "persons" with constitutional rights. Rather, I'm asserting that their owners and employees are such persons and that that status enables them to use corporations to exercise their constitutional rights. Similarly, partnerships, universities, schools, and sole proprietorships aren't people either. But people can use them to exercise their constitutional rights, and the government can't forbid it on the sole ground that they are using assets assets assigned to "state-created entities." This distinction was unfortunately obscured in the current post by my shorthand references to "corporations'" rights. I only used that terminology because it's cumbersome to always write something like "people exercising their constitutional rights through corporations."
I used to write a lot about junk science in civil cases. I have never really liked the idea of limitations on liability awards as a solution for nutty civil rulings -- after all, how can Congress know in advance exactly what real damages will arise, and why should my ability to recover real damages be capped?
Protection of dependents from nuisance suits and mass torts, both of which derive their power from the cost of defense rather than the facts of the case, forcing the innocent to settle just to avoid these defense costs.
I always had naively thought that the junk science issues were mainly limited to civil courts, and that criminal courts, with their much stronger protections against false convictions, did not really have these problems.
At least two other men suffered the same fate "" and another shared link: a dog.
Not just any dog. A wonder dog helped convict all three men: a German shepherd named Harass II, who wowed juries with his amazing ability to place suspects at the scenes of crimes.
Harass could supposedly do things no other dog could: tracking scents months later and even across water, according to his handler, John Preston.
How "safety" news gets shaped: a litigation consultant "at the request of trial lawyers "¦ combed through hundreds of coroner's reports and media accounts" and before long ABC had an alarming story to run.
There is a symbiosis between tort lawyers (who want to inflame a jury into giving large awards, or better yet create a mass tort), the media (who want scare stories to boost circulation) and government (populated with legislators just itching to ban or regulate something to show they "care"). Someone should write a book about that.
future attacks while the charges were pending."
serious crime; victims and the accused deserve better than college justice.
being harassed finds the harassing behavior hard to avoid. Unless the "harasser"
make sure that everyone stays comfortable.
schools), or respect for fundamental freedoms (at all schools), requires.
There are legitimate concerns that need to be addressed in putting together tort reform legislation; and there are shortcomings, as usual, in the GWB proposals (see below). This, however, via Kevin Drum, is grasping at straws by tort reform's opponents. Drum cites a recent UC San Diego Study described here that shows that there are a disproportionate number of medication errors in the first few days of the month. The study claims that this is due to pharmacists being overworked and making mistakes because they claim poor people all rush to buy their drugs after their government checks arrive.
Kevin Drum cites this study as evidence that malpractice tort reform is misguided, because, as he puts it "one of the causes of malpractice lawsuits is "" surprise! "" malpractice".
This study has nothing to do with medical malpractice! The debate is around doctors and doctors getting driven out of business by their malpractice rates. What do pharmacist mistakes have anything to do with the types of medical malpractice and medical malpractice insurance rates. The departure of doctors from certain counties has nothing to do with pharmacy errors.
Note that of the four categories of mistakes above and included in the numbers (wrong drug given, wrong drug taken, accidental overdose, and drug taken inadvertently), three of the four are reasonably the fault of the individual taking the drug, not the pharmacist. However, since most supporters of the current tort system tend to reject the notion individual responsibility, I guess this little issue was ignored.
The authors never have anything to say about Mr. Drum's point, ie they do not correlate these deaths with actual malpractice suits, so it is impossible to actually make Mr. Drum's point in the first paragraph. The best evidence I have seen is equivocal - it says that a large number of lawsuits are baloney, but that a large number of true malpractice victims go uncompensated.
The authors actually have no evidence, other than their supposition, that these deaths are due to pharmacists being overworked. They did not do any research into the specific cases involved - they just surveyed notoriously inaccurate death certificates. In fact, though it may be in the actual report, I don't see any evidence that demand actually increases or that pharmacists are indeed overworked the first few days of the month - they just seem to hypothesize it without proof. And, if there really is more work load the first few days of the month, they never mention any data on staffing - presumably if there is such a trend, pharmacies may actually staff up for it, which would also defeat their supposition. My business gets more traffic on certain days of the year and we staff for it.
No one denies that some malpractice torts are from real malpractice. Wrong legs ARE cut off, etc. No one wants to protect people who are guilty of obvious malpractice.
Second, too many good doctors are punished with suits because they had bad outcomes from good medicine. Sometimes babies are born with birth defects, sometimes medications that help millions have unpredictably bad side effects for a few unlucky people, and sometimes people die and there is nothing that can be done.
More important than damage caps, both for truly injured patients and good doctors, is to bring scientific sanity to the system, and to make sure that bad medicine, not bad outcomes, are punished.
Frivolous suits do go to trial and can win. Just think McDonald's coffee.
And yes, I have had experience with frivolous suits. In one case, a person who claims to have stepped on a nail head protruding from a board in our campground sued us for sexual dysfunction. That case is still active more than 3 years later! In another case, a person claimed to have hurt her knee falling on some steps. Excluding the issue of why I am at fault if she fell down a perfectly safe set of steps, we eventually discovered that she had hurt her knee several weeks earlier, had no medical insurance, and was visiting a number of local businesses making the same claim to try to get someone to pay for an operation.
So please, don't lecture me on frivolous suits. When Mr. Drum has to pay $400 an hour to defend a suit from someone who got an infected paper cut while reading his article in a magazine, then he can talk about why frivolous suits are OK. However, he is right in this respect - I don't think the answer is capping damages. The answer is having a way to defeat these things, to drop them out of the system quickly and inexpensively. To have some kind of sanity filter. This would help those of us subject to BS suits, and would help the truly injured get to trial faster.


If you see a snake crossing the road, it is better to give it priority. On this video transmitted to DUMATO, the anaconda is named Eunectes murinus. It is recognizable by the dark spots on its back and its greenish colour. It's the biggest snake in the world.
Anacondas are not poisonous, but they are still dangerous. Adults can measure between 5 and 8 meters long. Females are larger and weigh over 300 kilos. They have sharp teeth with which they capture their prey and surround it to crush its bones and swallow it more easily. The anaconda feeds on mammals and fish. Some attacks against humans have been recorded.
In general, the anaconda digests for several hours, sometimes even weeks, depending on the size of the prey.


text:
#ifndef __PROJECT_EULER_PROBLEM302_H__
#define __PROJECT_EULER_PROBLEM302_H__
/*
 * ProjectEuler/include/c/ProjectEuler/Problem302.h
 *
 * Strong Achilles Numbers
 * =======================
 * Published on Saturday, 18th September 2010, 07:00 pm
 *
 * A positive integer n is powerful if p2 is a divisor of n for every prime
 * factor p in n.     A positive integer n is a perfect power if n can be
 * expressed as a power of another positive integer.     A positive integer n is
 * an Achilles number if n is powerful but not a perfect power. For example, 864
 * and 1800 are Achilles numbers: 864 = 25·33 and 1800 = 23·32·52.     We shall
 * call a positive integer S a Strong Achilles number if both S and φ(S) are
 * Achilles numbers.1  For example, 864 is a Strong Achilles number: φ(864) =
 * 288 = 25·32. However, 1800 isn't a Strong Achilles number because: φ(1800) =
 * 480 = 25·31·51.   There are 7 Strong Achilles numbers below 104 and 656 below
 * 108.     How many Strong Achilles numbers are there below 1018?    1 φ
 * denotes Euler's totient function.
 */

#  ifdef __cplusplus
extern "C" {
#  endif

#  ifdef __cplusplus
}
#  endif

#endif  /* __PROJECT_EULER_PROBLEM302_H__ */

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


The first in Impossible's new line of instant photography hardware turns your digital smart phone pictures into real instant photos.
In October 2008, Impossible bought the very last factory in the world manufacturing Polaroid film and saved analog instant photography from extinction. Now the Austrian company is turning their attention to the future of instant photography with the release of their first hardware: the Impossible Instant Lab.
The Impossible Instant Lab was designed to build a bridge between digital and analog instant photography and via your iPhone, transform any digital image into a one-of-a-kind instant photograph that, no longer confined to a screen, can be shared, exhibited or simply treasured.
As with an instant camera, the image is exposed 'naturally'. Simply select an image on your phone, place the iPhone in the cradle and slide open the shutter on the base. A signal tells you when the exposure is finished. Close the shutter, push the button and the Instant Lab ejects the instant film, ready to develop in the palm of your hand. The Instant Lab is the first device to convert digital images into real analog instant photographs.
At the heart of the Instant Lab is Impossible's brand-new high-precision platform, the Impossible FPU (Film Processing Unit) that processes and develops the new generation of Impossible Color and B&W film. Unlike classic Polaroid hardware, the Impossible FPU features a modern and ecological rechargeable battery allowing the use of the new Impossible film that doesn't contain a battery.
As Impossible Founder, Dr. Florian Kaps, put it: "Our new FPU is the basis of a future range of more exciting and exacting analog instant instruments." The Impossible FPU was developed by the Impossible R&D team in partnership with DHW, based in the former Rollei Factory in Braunschweig, Germany.
The launch of the Instant Lab coincides with the release of an official Impossible Project App for iOS. As well as enabling users to transform their digital photos into real analog photographs with the Instant Lab, the App also provides a platform for scanning, uploading and sharing those analog instant photos. Supporting a variety of social media, the Impossible Project App encourages photographers to share their instant photographs and at the same time get inspiration from the photographs of others; an international community for analog instant photography lovers.
The Impossible Project App also features an online store – a quick and easy way to stock up on instant film.
It will be available in stores August 29.


Relieve your headaches instantly with AcuBand!
It's the newest acupressure system that helps relieve tension and stress by targeting the head and neck.
The AcuBand has double acupressure pads that target headache trigger points known as the suboccipital muscles, gently taking away throbbing and nerve tension without the need for medication.
Free yourself from headaches easily with AcuBand. Simply wrap it around your head, and tighten the straps for perfect pressure. You'll feel relief in just minutes!
The AcuBand is proven to relieve headaches and stress. A clinical study reports that 86.6% of users claimed to have felt relief in only under 2 minutes of using it!
The AcuBand is an acupressure system based on pain therapy. Having the AcuBand is like having a personal physical therapist with you, anytime, anywhere you need it!
Stop wasting money on multiple trips to your therapist. No need to rely on medication to cure your throbbing headaches.


At the new Good Samaritan Society -- Specialty Care Community in Robbinsdale, Minn., there is a Snoezelen® therapy room designed to help individuals manage Huntington's disease behavioral or pain side effects. But what is a Snoezelen room??
Snoezelen, a registered trademark of the English company Rompa, refers to a controlled multisensory environment to manage Huntington's disease. It is designed to be both soothing and stimulating, using a combination of lighting, colors, sounds and scents. The concept of a Snoezelen room was developed in the Netherlands in the 1970s but now is common the world over for managing Huntington's disease.
Snoezelen therapy does not rely on verbal communication to manage Huntington's disease, making it ideal for individuals who have trouble communicating. It combines the physical environment with the human element to reduce anxiety or pain, either physical or emotional. A person with Huntington's disease can focus on his or her personal needs in an environment that is neither positive or negative. It is completely client-centered.
A typical Snoezelen room to manage Huntington's disease might incorporate vibro-sensory stimulation in mats or a reclining chair. The room might also include different sounds, such as relaxing music, and a variety of aromatherapy scents that help to manage Huntington's disease. There could be bubble tubes, fiber optics, wheels and other products to address vestibular motion. Furnishings are generally soft and might include adaptations for wheelchairs.
To help, please use your credit card to DONATE NOW.


text:
Alabama plans to defeat Biden's COVID-19 vaccine mandates as the SCOTUS hearing approaches
By Ngan R. Huffman	 On Dec 30, 2021
The fate of President Joe Biden's COVID-19 vaccine mandates could soon be forged as the U.S. Supreme Court takes over the controversial decrees.
The country's Supreme Court is due to hear oral arguments on Jan. 7 about legal challenges against COVID-19 vaccine rules by the Biden government's private employer and health workers.
Thousands of Americans are expected to arrive in the country's capital in late January to protest the government's vaccination regulations. The attempt has been labeled "Defeat the Mandates – An American Homecoming". Movement organizers claim the effort was organized by a diverse group of Americans who fear their jobs could be jeopardized if Biden's vaccine mandates are implemented.
The protesters' feelings mirror those of a large part of the Alabam population. A poll conducted in October found that nearly 65% of the state's citizens were against a mandatory COVID-19 vaccination.
In an effort to protect citizens from Biden mandates, the state of Alabama has put in place both legal and legislative strategies to combat what it believes is overwhelming for the executive branch.
In late October, Governor Kay Ivey issued an executive order instructing all units under the state executive to coordinate with the Alabama Attorney General to assist in any vaccination-related litigation the state would bring against the federal government.
Just days after the governor issued her executive order, Attorney General Steve Marshall filed a lawsuit on behalf of the state to block the Biden government's COVID-19 vaccine mandate. According to Marshall, the rule is currently unenforceable as Alabama recently emerged victorious in securing a statewide injunction against the decree.
Almost a week after filing the first lawsuit, Marshall filed a legal challenge against Biden's vaccine waiver from the private employer. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) policy requires employers with 100 or more employees to force vaccinations or weekly virus tests on their employees.
Additionally, the state of Alabama filed a lawsuit in mid-November to block enforcement of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) COVID-19 vaccine mandate for healthcare workers.
As the Supreme Court nears its hearing on vaccination regulations for private employers and healthcare workers, Marshall recently expressed optimism that the Supreme Court would rule that the government has exceeded its legal powers to mandate.
In addition to Alabama contesting Biden's vaccine decrees in the judicial system, state lawmakers decided in early November to bring the issue up in a specially convened session of the Alabama legislature. While the special session was necessary to deal with the ten year redistribution process, the legislature concluded that laws are needed to consolidate protection for those who might be adversely affected by the mandates.
A majority of Republicans in the Legislature allowed the passage of Senate Bill 9, written by State Sen. Chris Elliott (R-Daphne), which instructed Alabama employers to "freely interpret" employee waiver requests from the COVID-19 vaccination.
At the federal level, Republican members of the Alabama Congressional Delegation have attempted, through legislation or other means, to block and refute the government's COVID-19 vaccination regulations. Such attempts have been unsuccessful, however, as the Democrats currently control both chambers of Congress and the White House.
The state of Alabama, along with a number of other Republican-led states, is aiming for a grand victory in defeating the Biden government on one of the most controversial political issues of 2021.
Many observers believe the current composition of the Supreme Court is favorable to opponents of the mandates, with the bank's Conservative justices having roughly a conservative majority of six to three.
Dylan Smith is an editor at Yellowhammer News. You can follow him on Twitter @DylanSmithAL
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text:
Mecuburí es una villa y también uno de los veintiún distritos que forman la provincia de Nampula en la zona septentrional de Mozambique, región fronteriza con las provincias de Cabo Delgado de Niassa y de Zambezia . Región ribereña del Océano Índico.

La sede de este distrito es la villa de Mecubúri.

Características
El río Lúrio situado al norte del distrito es la frontera con la provincia de Cabo Delgado, distrito de Namuno;
linda al oeste con el distrito de Lalaua y de Ribaué;
al sur con el de Nampula;
y al este con los de Namapa-Eráti y de Muecate.

Tiene una superficie de 7 315 km² y según datos oficiales de 1997 una población de 118 726 habitantes, lo cual arroja una densidad de 16,4 habitantes/km². En el año 2005 contaba con 142 687 habitantes.

División Administrativa
Este distrito formado por diez localidades, se divide en cuatro puestos administrativos (posto administrativo), con la siguiente población censada en 2005:
 Mecubúri, sede y 76 485 (Issipe, Momane, Nahipa-Marrirrrimue y Natala-Popue).
 Milhana, 14 910.
 Muite, 25 894 (Napai y Ratane).
 Namima, 25 398.

Referencias

 Nampula.gov.mz. Portal del Gobierno de la Provincia de Nampula.
 Undp.org.mz. Perfil de los distritos de Nampula. Con datos y gráficos oficiales. (En portugués).
 . Mapa del distrito.

Distritos de Mozambique
Localidades de Mozambique
Provincia de Nampula


text:
<?php

namespace Doctrine\MongoDB\Tests;

use Doctrine\MongoDB\Collection;
use Doctrine\MongoDB\Cursor;

class CursorTest extends DatabaseTestCase
{
    private $doc1;
    private $doc2;
    private $doc3;
    private $cursor;

    public function setUp()
    {
        parent::setUp();

        $this->doc1 = ['name' => 'A'];
        $this->doc2 = ['name' => 'B'];
        $this->doc3 = ['name' => 'C'];

        $collection = $this->conn->selectCollection(self::$dbName, 'CursorTest');
        $collection->drop();
        $collection->insert($this->doc1);
        $collection->insert($this->doc2);
        $collection->insert($this->doc3);

        $this->cursor = $collection->createQueryBuilder()->getQuery()->execute();
        $this->cursor->sort(['name' => 1]);
    }

    /**
     * @covers Doctrine\MongoDB\Cursor::getSingleResult
     */
    public function testGetSingleResult()
    {
        $this->assertEquals($this->doc1, $this->cursor->getSingleResult());
    }

    /**
     * @covers Doctrine\MongoDB\Cursor::getSingleResult
     */
    public function testCursorIsResetAfterGetSingleResult()
    {
        $this->assertEquals($this->doc1, $this->cursor->getSingleResult());

        // Make sure limit is restored and cursor is rewound
        $expected = [$this->doc1, $this->doc2, $this->doc3];
        $actual = [];
        foreach ($this->cursor as $entry) {
            $actual[] = $entry;
        }
        $this->assertEquals($expected, $actual);
    }

    /**
     * @covers Doctrine\MongoDB\Cursor::getSingleResult
     */
    public function testCursorIsResetBeforeGetSingleResult()
    {
        $this->assertEquals($this->doc1, $this->cursor->getNext());
        $this->assertEquals($this->doc1, $this->cursor->getSingleResult());
    }

    /**
     * @covers Doctrine\MongoDB\Cursor::getSingleResult
     */
    public function testGetSingleResultReturnsNull()
    {
        $collection = $this->conn->selectCollection(self::$dbName, 'tmp');
        $collection->remove([]);
        $cursor = $collection->createQueryBuilder()->getQuery()->execute();
        $this->assertNull($cursor->getSingleResult());
    }

    public function testGetSingleResultWhenIdIsObject()
    {
        $doc = ['_id' => ['key' => 'value'], 'test' => 'value'];

        $collection = $this->conn->selectCollection(self::$dbName, 'tmp');
        $collection->insert($doc);

        $cursor = $collection->find();

        $this->assertNotNull($cursor->getSingleResult());
    }

    public function testSetUseIdentifierKeys()
    {
        $this->cursor->setUseIdentifierKeys(false);
        $this->assertFalse($this->cursor->getUseIdentifierKeys());

        foreach ($this->cursor as $key => $document) {
            /* Note: Driver versions before 1.5.0 had an off-by-one error and
             * count from one, so just assert the key's type here.
             */
            $this->assertInternalType('int', $key);
        }
    }

    public function testToArray()
    {
        $this->assertEquals(
            [
                (string) $this->doc1['_id'] => $this->doc1,
                (string) $this->doc2['_id'] => $this->doc2,
                (string) $this->doc3['_id'] => $this->doc3,
            ],
            $this->cursor->toArray()
        );
    }

    public function testToArrayWithKeysOverridesClassOption()
    {
        $this->cursor->setUseIdentifierKeys(false);

        $this->assertEquals(
            [
                (string) $this->doc1['_id'] => $this->doc1,
                (string) $this->doc2['_id'] => $this->doc2,
                (string) $this->doc3['_id'] => $this->doc3,
            ],
            $this->cursor->toArray(true)
        );
    }

    public function testToArrayWithoutKeysOverridesClassOption()
    {
        $this->cursor->setUseIdentifierKeys(false);

        $this->assertEquals([$this->doc1, $this->doc2, $this->doc3], $this->cursor->toArray(false));
    }

    public function testSlaveOkayReadPreferences()
    {
        $mongoCursor = $this->getMockMongoCursor();

        $mongoCursor->expects($this->never())->method('slaveOkay');

        $mongoCursor->expects($this->once())
            ->method('getReadPreference')
            ->will($this->returnValue([
                'type' => \MongoClient::RP_PRIMARY,
            ]));

        $mongoCursor->expects($this->at(1))
            ->method('setReadPreference')
            ->with(\MongoClient::RP_SECONDARY_PREFERRED, []);

        $mongoCursor->expects($this->at(2))
            ->method('setReadPreference')
            ->with(\MongoClient::RP_PRIMARY);

        $cursor = $this->getTestCursor($this->getMockCollection(), $mongoCursor);

        $cursor->slaveOkay(true);
        $cursor->slaveOkay(false);
    }

    public function testSlaveOkayPreservesReadPreferenceTags()
    {
        $mongoCursor = $this->getMockMongoCursor();

        $mongoCursor->expects($this->once())
            ->method('getReadPreference')
            ->will($this->returnValue([
                'type' => \MongoClient::RP_PRIMARY_PREFERRED,
                'tagsets' => [['dc' => 'east']],
            ]));

        $mongoCursor->expects($this->once())
            ->method('setReadPreference')
            ->with(\MongoClient::RP_SECONDARY_PREFERRED, [['dc' => 'east']])
            ->will($this->returnValue(false));

        $cursor = $this->getTestCursor($this->getMockCollection(), $mongoCursor);

        $cursor->slaveOkay(true);
    }

    public function testSetReadPreference()
    {
        $mongoCursor = $this->getMockMongoCursor();

        $mongoCursor->expects($this->at(0))
            ->method('setReadPreference')
            ->with(\MongoClient::RP_PRIMARY)
            ->will($this->returnValue(true));

        $mongoCursor->expects($this->at(1))
            ->method('setReadPreference')
            ->with(\MongoClient::RP_SECONDARY_PREFERRED, [['dc' => 'east']])
            ->will($this->returnValue(true));

        $cursor = $this->getTestCursor($this->getMockCollection(), $mongoCursor);

        $this->assertSame($cursor, $cursor->setReadPreference(\MongoClient::RP_PRIMARY));
        $this->assertSame($cursor, $cursor->setReadPreference(\MongoClient::RP_SECONDARY_PREFERRED, [['dc' => 'east']]));
    }

    /**
     * @dataProvider provideSortOrderValues
     */
    public function testSortOrderConversion($actual, $expected)
    {
        $mongoCursor = $this->getMockMongoCursor();

        $mongoCursor->expects($this->once())
            ->method('sort')
            ->with(['x' => $expected]);

        $cursor = $this->getTestCursor($this->getMockCollection(), $mongoCursor);

        $cursor->sort(['x' => $actual]);
    }

    public function provideSortOrderValues()
    {
        return [
            // Strings should be compared to "asc"
            ['asc', 1],
            ['ASC', 1],
            ['desc', -1],
            ['DESC', -1],
            ['not-asc', -1],
            // Scalar values should be cast to integers (even though boolean false doesn't make sense)
            [1.0, 1],
            [-1.0, -1],
            [true, 1],
            [false, 0],
            // Non-scalar values should be left as-is
            [['$meta' => 'textScore'], ['$meta' => 'textScore']],
        ];
    }

    public function testRecreate()
    {
        $self = $this;

        $setCursorExpectations = function($mongoCursor) use ($self) {
            $mongoCursor->expects($self->once())
                ->method('hint')
                ->with(['x' => 1]);
            $mongoCursor->expects($self->once())
                ->method('immortal')
                ->with(false);
            $mongoCursor->expects($self->at(2))
                ->method('addOption')
                ->with('$min', ['x' => 9000]);
            $mongoCursor->expects($self->at(3))
                ->method('addOption')
                ->with('$max', ['x' => 9999]);
            $mongoCursor->expects($self->once())
                ->method('batchSize')
                ->with(10);
            $mongoCursor->expects($self->once())
                ->method('limit')
                ->with(20);
            $mongoCursor->expects($self->once())
                ->method('skip')
                ->with(0);
            $mongoCursor->expects($self->at(7))
                ->method('setReadPreference')
                ->with(\MongoClient::RP_PRIMARY)
                ->will($self->returnValue(true));
            $mongoCursor->expects($self->at(8))
                ->method('setReadPreference')
                ->with(\MongoClient::RP_NEAREST, [['dc' => 'east']])
                ->will($self->returnValue(true));
            $mongoCursor->expects($self->once())
                ->method('snapshot');
            $mongoCursor->expects($self->once())
                ->method('sort')
                ->with(['x' => -1]);
            $mongoCursor->expects($self->once())
                ->method('tailable')
                ->with(false);
            $mongoCursor->expects($self->once())
                ->method('timeout')
                ->with(1000);
        };

        $mongoCursor = $this->getMockMongoCursor();
        $recreatedMongoCursor = $this->getMockMongoCursor();

        $setCursorExpectations($mongoCursor);
        $setCursorExpectations($recreatedMongoCursor);

        $mongoCollection = $this->getMockCollection();
        $mongoCollection->expects($this->once())
            ->method('find')
            ->with(['x' => 9500], [])
            ->will($this->returnValue($recreatedMongoCursor));

        $collection = $this->getMockCollection();
        $collection->expects($this->once())
            ->method('getMongoCollection')
            ->will($this->returnValue($mongoCollection));

        $cursor = $this->getTestCursor($collection, $mongoCursor, ['x' => 9500]);

        $cursor
            ->hint(['x' => 1])
            ->immortal(false)
            ->addOption('$min', ['x' => 9000])
            ->addOption('$max', ['x' => 9999])
            ->batchSize(10)
            ->limit(20)
            ->skip(0)
            ->slaveOkay(false)
            ->setReadPreference(\MongoClient::RP_NEAREST, [['dc' => 'east']])
            ->snapshot()
            ->sort(['x' => -1])
            ->tailable(false)
            ->timeout(1000);

        $cursor->recreate();
    }

    public function testSetMaxTimeMSWhenRecreateCursor()
    {
        $self = $this;

        $setCursorExpectations = function($mongoCursor) use ($self) {
            $mongoCursor->expects($self->once())
                ->method('maxTimeMS')
                ->with(30000);
        };

        $mongoCursor = $this->getMockMongoCursor();
        $recreatedMongoCursor = $this->getMockMongoCursor();

        $setCursorExpectations($mongoCursor);
        $setCursorExpectations($recreatedMongoCursor);

        $mongoCollection = $this->getMockCollection();
        $mongoCollection->expects($this->once())
            ->method('find')
            ->with(['x' => 9500], [])
            ->will($this->returnValue($recreatedMongoCursor));

        $collection = $this->getMockCollection();
        $collection->expects($this->once())
            ->method('getMongoCollection')
            ->will($this->returnValue($mongoCollection));

        $cursor = $this->getTestCursor($collection, $mongoCursor, ['x' => 9500]);

        $cursor->maxTimeMS(30000);

        $cursor->recreate();
    }

    private function getMockCollection()
    {
        return $this->getMockBuilder('Doctrine\MongoDB\Collection')
            ->disableOriginalConstructor()
            ->getMock();
    }

    private function getMockMongoCursor()
    {
        return $this->getMockBuilder('MongoCursor')
            ->disableOriginalConstructor()
            ->getMock();
    }

    private function getTestCursor(Collection $collection, \MongoCursor $mongoCursor, $query = [])
    {
        return new Cursor($collection, $mongoCursor, $query);
    }
}


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Yes Not now
A misleading 'Obamacare' poll, courtesy of the Chamber of Commerce and Harris Interactive
By Glenn Kessler
Glenn Kessler
A Tea Party member reaches for a pamphlet titled "The Impact of Obamacare," in Littleton, N.H., in this Oct. 27, 2012, file photo. (Jessica Rinaldi/Reuters/Reuters)
"Despite the Administration's delay of the employer mandate by a year, small businesses expect the requirement to negatively impact their employees. 27% say they will cut hours to reduce full time employees, 24% will reduce hiring, and 23% plan to replace full time employees (30 hours per week or more) with part-time workers to avoid triggering the mandate."
— United States Chamber of Commerce Small Business Outlook Study, conducted by Harris Interactive, released July 16, 2013
We have long warned readers about the perils of relying on data from opt-in Internet polls, especially those that make broad claims about estimating population values. We have given Pinocchios both to President Obama, for relying on an opt-in poll when he claimed that a majority of millionaires support the Buffett rule, and the National Rifle Association, for asserting that an opt-in poll reflected the views of the nation's police.
This is a yet another case, but with a wrinkle. Here, the polling company, Harris Interactive, and the sponsor, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, presented the data in a highly misleading way — and then made false claims about the type of poll that had been conducted.
The Chamber has been a fierce opponent of the health-care law, a.k.a. Obamacare, and we frequently warn readers they should always be skeptical of polls peddled by partisan organizations. Perhaps it should be no surprise that this poll was released just as the GOP-led House of Representatives scheduled a vote to repeal the law.
Given the way the data was presented, Republican lawmakers thought they had been handed a gift — and ended up with egg on their faces.
Looking at the language in the report, highlighted above, is it any wonder that House Speaker John A. Boehner would tweet: "Study: '74% of small businesses will fire workers, cut hours under #Obamacare.'"
Or that Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) would write: "75% of small businesses now say they are going to be forced to either fire workers or cut their hours."
Of course, that was the intended message. If there was any doubt, Chamber senior vice president Rob Engstrom tweeted a thank-you to Fox News host Bill O'Reilly for mentioning the survey on the air, adding: "74% will fire or reduce hours bc of employer mandate."
But that's not what the survey says — not by a long shot. Let's dig into the data.
In an apparent effort to give the poll statistical authority, Harris included this line: "Margin of sampling error: +/- 2.5 percentage points." That is supposed to mean that 95 out of 100 times the poll was conducted, the numbers in the poll should fall within in that range.
But we thought this notation was curious, because the poll was created through on-line surveys of two groups — 499 Chamber of Commerce members and 805 non-Chamber members ("small business executives" in firms with less than $25 million in revenues), which Harris claimed was weighted to be representative of small businesses.
But this is not a random sample, and such margins of error apply only to random samples from a population. (An example of that would be a poll based on random digital dialing, in which survey participants are randomly selected for interviews.)
Both Harris and the Chamber claim that this was an inadvertent mistake. We can understand a one-time screw-up. But it turns out that every Harris "small business" survey released every quarter by the Chamber since 2011 has had this bogus notation about a margin of error.
Why is this important? By reporting a margin of error, Harris indicated to readers that this is a probability sample where all businesses had some chance of inclusion, which is not correct. This notation boasts a higher level of statistical rigor than a sample cobbled from Chamber members and convenient lists. The nature of the actual poll greatly limits the ability to generalize the results to all small businesses.
The American Association for Public Opinion Research's 2010 task force, in its top recommendation, warned researchers to avoid "nonprobability online panels" when trying to accurately estimate population values. In other words, despite suggestions that this poll represents the views of small businesses, it really only expresses the views of the business executives who happened to have answered an online survey, including members of an organization dedicated to repealing the health-care law.
As for the factoid eagerly repeated by Republican foes of Obamacare, there is a hint in the Chamber news release (but not in the more detailed Harris poll document) that a crucial piece of information is missing: "Among small businesses that will be impacted by the employer mandate, one-half of small businesses say that they will either cut hours to reduce full time employees OR replace full time employees with part-timers to avoid the mandate. 24% say they will reduce hiring to stay under 50 employees."
"Among the small businesses that will be impacted by the employer mandate" suggests that these figures come from a subsample of the poll.
A Chamber spokeswoman, who declined to be identified, acknowledged that only 17 percent of the businesses surveyed said they would be affected by the employer mandate. Put another way, the poll found that 83 percent of small businesses surveyed said they would not be affected by an employer mandate that the Chamber of Commerce has said is a burden on small businesses.
Instead, Harris and the Chamber highlighted the answers of only those affected by the employer mandate. Moreover, they did not disclose that respondents could select as many options as they wanted, meaning the numbers could not be added up, because some executives may have selected more than one answer.
To find out the real values, a two-step process is necessary. First, the numbers have to be significantly reduced to account for the fact that only 17 percent of the sample (222 businesses) answered the question. Then you have to account for the possibility of multiple answers.
We will spare you the calculations, but here's the bottom line: just 4.5 to 8.5 percent of small business executives surveyed said they will reduce hours or full-time staff in response to the employer mandate. That certainly has a different ring than "74 percent."
Given that the law requires companies with more than 50 full-time employees to provide health care or pay a fine, it is quite possible some businesses will take steps to avoid the employer mandate.
Scott Clement survey research analyst for The Washington Post's Capital Insight, noted that in April, Gallup conducted a random-sample poll in which it asked small business owners (drawn from a Dun & Bradstreet list of active companies with less than $20 million in revenues) if they had taken any specific actions in response to the health care law. Among the answers: 41 percent said they held off plans to hire new workers and 38 percent said they had pulled back plans to grow the business.
But Gallup also noted an important caveat: small-business owners have a "tendency to be more Republican than Democratic, higher income, more against big government, more conservative, and less optimistic than Americans overall."
Chamber officials would not speak for the record.
"We are trying to tell a story and not every number fits in," explained Sarah Simmons, a Harris vice president and senior consultant. "We were not attempting to be misleading."
Simmons disputed the idea that survey report had created confusion about the results, saying she had received only one other media inquiry — from FactCheck.org, the nonpartisan, nonprofit project of the Annenberg Public Policy Center at the University of Pennsylvania. "FactCheck.org is a partisan organization," asserted Simmons, who in 2008 had been director of strategy for Sen. John McCain's presidential campaign.
"Harris' good name and strong history in the research world would indicate that we, as a practice, do our level best to represent the data and let the data tell the story — regardless of our clients' interests," Simmons said.
The Pinocchio Test
Maybe the Chamber of Commerce got exactly what it paid for in this poll.
But in their zeal to bolster Republican talking points, the Chamber and Harris Interactive offered a misleading picture of what the poll said — and the nature of the poll itself. They should offer apologies to the Republicans who so quickly took the bait — and conduct a thorough review of how such polls are presented in the future.
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Home/Singapore General Election 2015
Singapore General Election 2015
WE NEED BY-ELECTION IN MARSILING-YEW TEE, DON'T LET RULING PARTY PLAY WITH THE CONSTITUTION
Our reader who is a resident of Marsiling-Yew Tee finds it undemocratic for the ruling party to play around with the Constitution and have Mdm Halimah Yacob quit the party in order to run for the Presidential election. She said this is not what the residents have voted for and hopes opposition politicians can do something about this.
SDP: WHY DID LAWRENCE WONG KEEP QUIET ON PROBLEMATIC SIGMA LIFTS DESPITE SPATE OF ACCIDENTS?
The Straits Times reported last week that Sigma Elevator, a lift company, had been banned from tendering for new HDB projects since October 2015 because of poor performance of its lifts. But after a spate of serious lift malfunctions that resulted in severe injuries and even one death, Minister for National Development Lawrence Wong did not reveal this fact.
EX WP MP YAW SHIN LEONG LIVING IT UP IN MYANMAR AS "AMOS RAO"
Former WP MP for Hougang Yaw Shin Leong was supposed to be next in line to head the Workers' Party after current Secretary-General Low Thia Khiang's tenure. However, his political career was cut short after his extra-marital affair was exposed. Now, Yaw is living it up in Myanmar with the name, "Amos Rao".
PM LEE CONFIRM SENIOR CITIZEN LIAO – RECEIVED PASSION SILVER CONCESSION CARD ALR
Received my new PAssion Silver Concession Card yesterday. I am now a certified senior citizen! :) This new card was launched last week and replaces the purple Senior Citizen Concession Card. If you currently have a purple card, you will automatically receive the new PAssion Silver Card in the mail.
NUS ADJUNCT PROF: TENGAH FOREST TOWN IS JUST BUT A BLUFF
I sent to Straits Times Forum Page my comments about Tengah New Town one week ago. they did not publish it so i have no choice but to post it on FB and invite concerned Singaporeans to help prevent this destruction of the only large forest land on the west of Singapore from being built upon. Calling it a forest town is a bluff.
LKY'S POWER HUNGRY ATTITUDE GAVE US MANY 2ND RATED MPS
If one were to look back at Singapore's Parliamentary history, then he should be acquainted with fact that the GRC system was introduced shortly before the 1988 General Elections. The Election before – in 1984 – was when they loss two Seats to the opposition. While they may argue that this GRC system was introduced to safeguard minority representation, political history has shown this to be untrue. From JBJ to Murali, there have been minority-race candidates who win on their own merit!
POLICE ARRESTS ROY NGERNG FOR COOLING DAY OFFENCE, SEARCH HIS HOME FOR 3 HRS
Roy Ngerng Yiling and Teo Soh Lung are now being extensively investigated for their alleged offence for posting posts on their Facebook account during the recent Bukit Batok By-election Cooling Off Day. The Election Department had earlier filed police reports against the two individuals for allegedly violating the parliament election act, by posting posts that promote candidates on cooling off day.
TIME FOR DR CHEE SOON JUAN TO CONTEST BUKIT BATOK BY-ELECTION & GIVE PAP A GOOD FIGHT?
I do not care why David Ong resigned, I do not want to know why he resign. For all we know, he has come down with serious illness and all he wants now is peace and quiet to recuperate. Speculation of such is pointless, it is smarter to think forward. This time is ripe and the opportunity has come. I think it is time for Dr Chee Soon Juan to return to Parliament. Dr Chee's fiery performances during GE2015 has given the 30 percent of Singaporeans hope that one day we will have a multi-party Government. This is the time for Dr Chee to prove his mantle and put his words into actions.
WORKER'S PARTY DANIEL GOH: IT IS MY HONOUR TO BE A DUCKWEED IN PARLIAMENT
Objectively, this is true in the long run, and I am with the WP MPs and the party opposing the NCMP scheme. But for me, personally, at this point in my life, and as I see it, at this point in Singapore's history, the principle of national service trumps the political principle of opposing the NCMP scheme. If my country sees fit that I contribute as duckweed, then it is my honour to be duckweed Goh. It is no insult; it is a privilege.
CRAZY WOMAN PICKED MY FALLEN ORANGES & STARTED EATING THEM
This frustrating incident took place on 20/1/16, I went CNY shopping and bought 3 plastic bags full of oranges. As I was carrying them home, I accidentally dropped 1 bag. While picking them up, a woman holding a kid who looks not more than 5 joined me. It was after picking them up that I realised this woman had taken 2 oranges and starting peeling one of them. She shouted that it was just an orange and I was being immature. I started telling her how absurd her actions were and how she was being a bad example to her kid when her kid started crying loudly.


text:
Industry Blogs
A Housing Statistics and Policy Update for Planning Professionals
It is no secret that housing has once again moved to the forefront of policy decisions for hundreds of cities and counties. Housing shortages persist in communities across the country, which in turn, negatively affects housing affordability. It's simple supply and demand. If there isn't enough housing, keeping a percentage of it more affordable for middle and lower-income households becomes difficult, at best.
According to the U.S. Census Bureau's numbers that came out today, new residential housing starts increased by only 0.8% from January 2021 and decreased by over 5% from December 2021. Housing completions increased by 6.2% year over year. This is key because a housing start doesn't necessarily lead to a prompt completion. If a slab is put down for a house, that's counts as a start, but if there isn't available labor or materials (due to cost and/or supply), that "start" may sit there for months without progressing towards completion. One of the more telling stats is building permits because it's a stronger indicator of what will happen down the road. New residential permits increased by a meager 0.8% year over year. The bottom line is that, on the whole, the housing situation nationally is not seeing significant improvement.
Planning and community development directors are at the center of this situation. For hundreds of suburban areas, there has been a level of growth and demand for housing many did not anticipate. This can lead to elected and appointed officials feeling a need to loosen future land use plans to meet the demand from developers and the public.
One of the many benefits of GIS in planning and housing policy is that it helps drive and present a data-driven approach. When I was a planner, I learned the hard way that planning commissioners and city councilors didn't always accept my opinion as the last word. A data-driven approach to housing policy shows that, first, there's understanding of the characteristics of the neighborhood.
The above map, available through Esri Maps for Public Policy, shows households that spend more than 30 percent of their income on housing (a red flag as denoted by HUD), whether they're renting or owning. Understanding where people are struggling to pay for housing is almost certainly an indication of a lack of housing affordability and a place where efforts for development need to be focused.
GIS can also empower officials to view two variables together. In the map below (created in ArcGIS Business Analyst Web App), we can see a bivariate map of median household income combined with housing affordability index. This helps to highlight locations that have income for housing, those that do and lack affordable options, and those that have neither sufficient income nor access to affordable options.
Finally, GIS can be used to generate scenarios to design individual developments, whole blocks, or entire neighborhoods, and measure the impact of each proposed development. How many people will be added? How many office jobs? How many retail jobs? What will the impact on utilities be? ArcGIS Urban is a web-based tool that empowers planners to play out these scenarios without having any GIS software on their machine.
As the margin for error in our response to the housing crisis decreases, it is essential that planners embrace a data-driven approach to housing policy. GIS is a mission-critical tool to make that happen.
To learn more, visit www.esri.com/planning.
Keith Cooke
Keith Cooke is the Global Industry Manager for Planning & Community Development at Esri. A graduate of Auburn University, he has been a GIS professional since 1994 and has worked for planning and community development agencies at the regional and municipal level. Prior to this role, he was an account executive at Esri for 15 years working with over 100 local governments. He is a frequent speaker at GIS, community planning, and economic development events and is an active member in the American Planning Association, where he has conducted nearly 100 hands-on GIS workshops for planners since 2004 at the National Planning Conference and state chapter conferences.
Access to Location Data—A Key for Commercial Real Estate Success


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The Battles of the Separation Corridor (, Kravot Retzu'at HaNituk) were a series of military engagements between the Israel Defense Forces and the Egyptian army in Operation Yoav, and were the centerpiece of the operation. They took place throughout all of Yoav (October 15–22, 1948), in the strip of land between the Israeli-held Negev enclave and the rest of the country. This area is generally called the Separation Strip in Hebrew.

The battles saw the Israelis set up a permanent land connection with the enclave through the Junction (, HaTzomet, a strategic crossroads west of Negba), Kawkaba and Huleiqat. A wedge was set up at Khirbet Masara (between Fallujah and Bayt Jibrin), in accordance with Operation Yoav's strategy to create wedges to cut off large Egyptian units, however, the wedge was unsuccessful and the Egyptians bypassed it. Attacks on other positions in the corridor, including the Iraq Suwaydan police fort, were also unsuccessful.

The battles, having opened a safe supply route to the Negev, had both political and military significance. It strengthened the Israeli claim to the whole Negev Desert and allowing for much of Israel's conquest in Operation Horev and Operation Uvda in December 1948 – March 1949.

Background
The second truce of the 1948 Arab–Israeli War started on July 18, 1948, with an Israeli enclave in the Negev disconnected from the rest of the country. Military operations, including An-Far, Death to the Invader and GYS, to create a corridor between the two areas, failed. The United Nations mediator Folke Bernadotte's second plan for Palestine became known on September 20, days after Bernadotte was assassinated by the Lehi. This plan envisioned the Israeli Negev enclave to be handed over to the Arab side.

Israel's military options were pondered by its leadership during the second truce, and the Bernadotte Plan prompted the government and army to decide to concentrate the next effort on the southern front. The Operation, codenamed The Ten Plagues, was meant to open a permanent ground connection to the Negev, and gradually encircle the Egyptian forces in the Majdal – Bayt Jibrin corridor by creating wedges that would deny the Egyptians free movements between their main troop concentrations. This was the approach favored by Yigal Allon, head of the Southern Command, which mostly won over the General Staff's proposals to directly assault the large Egyptian concentrations.

The Junction was an important crossroads between the Majdal – Bayt Jibrin road and the internal Negev road. It was overlooked by kibbutz Negba, the Iraq Suwaydan police fort, and Hills 100, 103 and 113.

Khirbet Masara wedge
On the night of October 15–16, Israeli forces from the Givati Brigade's 53rd Battalion occupied the site of Khirbet Masara and the adjacent Hill 224.9, positions on the road connecting Iraq al-Manshiyya to Bayt Jibrin. On October 17, the site of Khirbet 'Atalla to the northeast was also taken. However, as in the case of the Beit Hanoun wedge, this did not stop the Egyptians from moving from Fallujah and Iraq al-Manshiyya to Bayt Jibrin and Hebron, as they created an alternate path south of the wedge, through Qubeiba. However, the wedge served as a staging point for further Israeli territorial gains, eventually leading to the isolation of Fallujah and Iraq al-Manshiyya in what became known as the Fallujah Pocket.

Battle of Iraq al-Manshiyya
The plan of Operation Yoav called for the creation of a permanent land corridor to the Negev through Iraq al-Manshiyya. The attack was meant to be carried out on October 17, 1948. It was, however, brought forward 24 hours to October 16 after a recommendation by Yitzhak Sadeh, commander of the 8th Armored Brigade. The attack would mark the first time that tanks would be used by Israel in the southern front. The Israelis hoped that Egypt would concentrate its main defenses in Fallujah, the locality that overlooked the vital Junction position, and therefore leave Iraq al-Manshiyya lightly defended. The village's two main positions were a tell just north, and the village school.

At 06:20, the Israeli artillery began its barrage, and at 07:00, the Israeli tanks (Cromwell and Hotchkiss of the 82nd Battalion) set out to assist the infantry (Negev Brigade's 7th Battalion), which had already left their bases. At 07:40, the infantry reached the school and a report came in that the village itself was being abandoned. What followed was complete chaos on the Israeli side; a Cromwell tank broke down, a Hotchkiss tank drove into a trap, and others ran out of ammunition. As other tanks broke down, more were needed to take them back for repair. There was no clear communication between the infantry and armored forces, and in different sectors, infantry and armor acted separately.

When the unit attacking the school retreated, the one that was on its way to the tell suffered a severe morale blow. As the Egyptians opened fire from previously unknown positions, it completely surprised the Israelis who had about a third of their force killed or wounded. After the armored forces were all out of the fight, an order was given to withdraw. Only 15 soldiers made it back to the starting positions. Rescue efforts to return the wounded still in the field continued throughout the day. In all, the Israeli forces suffered over 100 casualties and four tanks were destroyed.

Capturing the Junction
After the failure to open up a permanent land corridor to the Negev through Iraq al-Manshiyya, the head of the Southern Command, Yigal Allon, decided to shift the major efforts to the west. On the night of October 16–17, the Givati Brigade's 51st Battalion set out from Julis to capture the Junction. It moved in three separate prongs—the 2nd Company in the west, the 3rd in the center and the 4th in the east. Another force set out from Negba to intercept possible Egyptian reinforcements from Iraq Suwaydan. The Egyptian forces in the area consisted of one battalion spread out through the hills north of the Junction, the Junction itself, and the positions of Kawkab and Huleiqat.

At 21:15, the 2nd Company noticed movement near the location on the road where it was supposed to set up its own blocking force to intercept reinforcements. It turned east and set up its block closer to the Junction. At 21:20, the Israelis began shelling hills 100, 103 and 113, just northwest of the junction, with 3" (81 mm) mortars. Meanwhile, an Egyptian Bren carrier ran into a mine on the eastern roadblock, killing the local Egyptian commander. At 22:50, Hill 103 was taken without resistance by the 4th Company, which proceeded to link up to the 3rd Company attacking Hill 113. Hills 100 and 113, joined by Egypt into one position, were captured by the two companies on October 17 at 01:15.

The Junction consisted of two major positions—one in the southwest and one in the northwest. The 2nd Company's commander decided to mount an assault on the southern position and at the same set up a roadblock just south. During the attack, communication with other Israeli forces was lost. Two soldiers were sent to the Israeli-held Hill 105 to renew it. Jeuda Wallach, the commander of the 51st Battalion, moved his HQ to Hill 113. The Givati forces took the southern position, and the Egyptians from the northern position counterattacked. The attack lasted 3 hours, during which the Israeli company commander recalled the force blocking the road to the south to help. Israelis suffered 30 casualties, but successfully repelled the assault. A Samson's Foxes force was sent to assist in the southern position, but encountered Egyptian Bren carriers and turned back. The Egyptians, finding themselves isolated, also decided to avoid another confrontation and the northern position retreated to Iraq Suwaydan, allowing Givati to complete the capture of the Junction.

Battles around Fallujah and Iraq Suwaydan
In the night of October 18–19, the Israelis attacked various positions on the Egyptian "Burma Road", a bypass road created during the second truce after Israel captured Hatta and Karatiyya in Operation Death to the Invader. An initial Yiftach Brigade attack on Huleiqat the previous night failed, and the southern command decided to use its reinforcements brought for Operation Yoav, the Oded Brigade, to take a number of positions just west of Fallujah. The brigade had just been brought from the Galilee and did not get sufficient practice in fighting in a flat topography. The plan was to take Position 2, followed by 1 and 4, and finally Position 3.

Oded attacked from Karatiyya with the strength of four companies, without artillery or armored support. At 21:00 on October 18, they breached the fence of the 2nd position, but met with heavy fire and the deputy battalion commander was killed in action. The company in the operational reserve was brought to assist, but failed to effect a difference. Meanwhile, another company assaulted the 4th position and also managed to breach the fence. Interpreted as a success, the final company was sent to attack the 3rd position. It stalled due to Egyptian artillery fire and withdrew. At 02:00 on October 19, the company attacking the 4th position, pinned down and unable to advance, retreated as well, and at 03:00, the Oded forces fighting at the 2nd position did the same.

Two more attempts were made to capture the Iraq Suwaydan police fort until October 22. On the night of October 19–20, Givati's 51st Battalion made its assault, under the assumption that the fort was manned by one demoralized Egyptian platoon. The fort was surrounded by three barbed wire fences, and bunkers were placed in between. The Givati force encountered one such bunker, and could not overcome it until Ben-Zion Leitner threw a grenade inside and clear it. Leitner was severely injured, and later awarded the Hero of Israel. Nevertheless, exhausted and suffering from problems with their munitions, the Israeli forces retreated.

The 51st Battalion attempted another takeover of the fort on October 21–22. After an artillery and aircraft barrage at 18:00, the Givati forces made their assault, employing a rigged armored vehicle which was meant to blow a hole through the fort's walls. It got trapped between the barbed wire fences, but its explosion destroyed them and allowed the infantry to advanced onto the fort itself. Four soldiers managed to infiltrate it, but were overwhelmed by Egyptian fire and withdrew. The final battle of the corridor in Operation Yoav also came on the night of October 21–22, when Givati's 53rd Battalion made an attempts at the Egyptian Burma Road, failing to take any positions and retreating.

Battles of Kawkaba and Huleiqat

As mentioned, the Yiftach Brigade failed to capture Huleiqat and its outlying position (Hill 138.5) on October 17–18. Givati, on the other hand, succeeded in capturing Kawkaba to the north, and on October 18–19—the adjacent Bayt Tima. No further attempts were made to attack Huleiqat from the south, and instead Givati set out to capture it from the north. The participating units were four companies from the 52nd Battalion and two from the 54th. The Egyptians were spread out in hills 114.1, 123.2, 120, 120a, 128.2, 138.5, 131.2 and in Huleiqat itself. Their force now consisted of three companies—two of Egyptian and one of Saudi origin.

At 21:30 on October 19, Israeli artillery began shelling the Egyptian positions. The attack began at 22:45; Hill 120a was the first to fall, at the hands of the 52nd Battalion's 3rd Company, with little resistance, but the Saudi troops who retreated from there reinforced the adjacent Hill 128.2 and counterattacked, dislodging the Israelis who had just captured the hill. On Hill 120a, the Egyptians and Saudis left many weapons, including 34 Vickers machine guns, which an Egyptian prisoner of war taught the Givati forces to use. The weapons were used in the final capture of Hill 128.2.

The 54th Battalion's company took part of Hill 123.2, but entered a stalemate with the Egyptians there. Next, the 52nd Battalion's 1st Company took hills 114.1 and 120 in the center, in two waves. They then repelled an Egyptian counterattack from Huleiqat. Meanwhile, the 52nd Battalion's 2nd Company retook Hill 128.2. After establishing itself on Hill 120, part of the 1st Company (52nd) took Hill 138.5, facing only light resistance. The 54th Battalion's 3rd Company meanwhile assisted the 1st in finishing the takeover of Hill 123.2. Finally, at 03:00 on October 20, the Saudi forces manning Hill 131.2 retreated and the position was taken by the 52nd Battalion's 4th Company, putting the entire Kawkaba–Huleiqat corridor under Israeli control. Givati suffered 28 dead and 70 wounded.

Significance
One of the main Israeli achievements of these battles, and indeed, Operation Yoav, was the creation of a permanent land corridor between the Israeli Negev enclave and the rest of the country, following the capture of Huleiqat on October 20. This allowed for the commencement of Operation Moshe on October 21, which saw the capture of Beersheba, the "capital of the Negev", by the Negev Brigade. Another point of significance was the creation of the basic guidelines for what would later become the Fallujah Pocket (the area of Fallujah – Iraq al-Manshuyya), and the general cutting off of the western wing of the Egyptian expeditionary force from its eastern wing.

References

Bibliography

Separation Corridor
October 1948 events in Asia
October 1948 events in Africa


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Velocys' technology profiled on BBC Radio 4 PM programme
Velocys discusses sustainable fuels technology in the context of the inaugural Jet Zero Council meeting
Velocys spoke about the company's sustainable fuels technology on BBC Radio 4's news and current affairs programme, PM.
Dr Neville Hargreaves, VP Waste to Fuels, described the waste-to-jet-fuel process and stressed the 'here and now' status of our technology. The jet fuel produced would reduce carbon emissions by 70 percent, compared with conventional jet fuel , and that could be increased to 100 percent with the availability of carbon capture and storage in the UK.
In the programme, presenter Evan Davis suggested Velocys' concept of using household waste to produce sustainable fuel was a 'double win'. Chris Stark, Chief Executive at the Committee on Climate Change, said that given the difficulty of replacing fossil fuels in aviation, waste-to-jet-fuels represented a 'sensible strategy' for decarbonisation.
You can listen to the full programme on BBC Sounds. Velocys' segment can be found at 17:39.


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Home >> Automotive >> Report Detail
Electric Vehicles: Hybrid cars represent immediate future of electric vehicles
Almost conclusively now, electric vehicles appear to have won the power train argument in the automotive industry and car manufacturers from all over the world have made significant promises to deliver only hybrid and electric vehicles in the future. From automotive shows to the world's cities, new models and ideas are being tested and the general public whilst being broadly reticent at first is now beginning to accept the idea of battery powered chargeable vehicles.
Whilst the industry waits for consumer adoption levels to really boom, manufacturers are gearing up for a serious fight to establish a position in what will undoubtedly become the main automotive market. The leaders of a few years ago now have significant new challengers and are having to fight harder for sales than ever before. Huge new challenges are becoming obvious as the world tries to establish exactly how it will power and build all these new vehicles.
There is a new heavy demand for the rare earth materials that electric vehicles need and some concerns about the environmental implications of replacing the global fleet with this technology. One country that is not being overly cautious about this change is China and it has ploughed ahead to the point where its manufacturers are now dominant in the electric vehicle industry. Within the next decade a point will arrive where electric vehicles will outsell traditional combustion engine vehicles, but in order for that to happen and it not be a charging and technical disaster many things must change.
- Advancements in internal combustion technology have caused a fair degree of revising time estimates of when fossil fuel powered cars will cease new sales; in contrast, although heralded as the future, a mass produced FEV that can compete with internal combustion on cost grounds appears to still be some way off. More efficient petrol engines - such as the Skyactiv X Mazda engine which the Japanese car maker claims will exceed 50% thermal efficiency, far beyond any road going engine currently on the market - will help the hybrid cause. For manufacturers this is potentially very important. Costs for FEVs remain very high, even when lucrative government subsidies are taken account of.
An advantage that the hybrid concept has over electric is the length of time road going models have been on sale. Toyota put the Prius on sale in 1997; now over 20 years old, the model is into a fourth generation. Plug-in technology first appeared on the Prius in early 2012, helping Toyota to achieve 10% improvement in fuel consumption with the launch of each new generation since the launch of the original. Development in plug-in charging times will help sales grow.
- Even though the plug-in still requires charging, convenience is not impacted to anything like the same extent that is true for vehicles powered solely by electric. A BMW 330e will only last approximately 25 miles using the electric element of the drivetrain, but when combined with a small internal combustion engine will last 370 miles. Only three hours are required for re-charging, avoiding a significant problem still afflicting electric vehicles. Given few consumers are likely to want to travel further within the three hours it will take for the battery to charge again, this version of the EV idea encompasses much of the convenience available through internal combustion but also accesses some of the efficiencies promised by a fully electrified powertrain.
- Advances in electric car technology are exciting in the potential to transform how the car fleet in many countries will be powered at some stage in the future, but the steps forward in hybrid technology taken by high-performance manufacturers suggest the hybrid concept has much potential still to be unlocked. Supercar manufacturers are now building entire cars around the hybrid powertrain idea. Companies such as McLaren have been using highly sophisticated energy recovery and deployment techniques on cars such as the P1 for a few years.
- Although the hybrid systems are used as performance enhancers rather than to extend range, that such companies are developing new means of reducing weight and size (as well as extracting more power) of hybrid systems with performance in mind shows the extent of future development that is possible with hybrid concept. Small production runs and the very deep pockets of the clientele mean that whilst the likes of McLaren are very small compared to mass producers, the technology contained within their cars is industry leading. Competition with other manufacturers seeking to attract the super-rich has already moved on the expected degree of performance such cars will produce. This environment is very important for the development of mass produced vehicles. Technology will trickle down, hence why what is taking place at the most expensive section of the market is important for progress towards the car of tomorrow.
- Examine who the main players are in the EV industry and who are the emerging new players
- Look at the challenges faced by the industry and how likely these are to be overcome
- See the countries that are really pushing ahead with the technology and why
- Analyze the future of the industry, who the winners and losers are and what the competition looks like
- What are the most important EV models on sale?
- What companies are going to become dominant?
- Why are hybrids so important in EV tech?
- What does the future of the industry look like?
- What do governments need to do to encourage growth?
- How far away are we from the expected EV boom?
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Daley Blind's late goal salvaged a point at West Bromwich Albion but could not end Manchester United's winless run away from home under Louis van Gaal.
United trailed early on when Stephane Sessegnon fired a stunning opener, but half-time substitute Marouane Fellaini levelled within minutes of coming on.
Saido Berahino restored the home advantage with a curled finish.
But United rallied, with Robin van Persie striking the post before Blind extended their unbeaten run to three.


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Essential Oil infused play dough.
This essential oil infused play dough was super easy and fun to make! It was our first time making it and the kids had so much fun helping and picking out the oils they wanted to use!
This would be a great sensory activity! Our favorite was the lavender play dough and we also made another peppermint batch before Christmas that was a hit!