text:
Forced Evictions in Haiti Escalating Again
Haiti's 'Baby Doc' Duvalier Hospitalised
Beaten Haitian Worker Continues Fight for $7-Per-Day Wage
March 4, 2013 Quixote Center. Original article here
Over the last two months violent forced evictions targeting people living in camps for the internally displaced in Haiti have accelerated.
Saturday, February 16th, 2013, near midnight, heavily armed men killed Anèl Egziyis, a young man living in a tent, and set fire to the Acra 2 camp in Juvenat, near the Karibe Hotel. Sunday, February 17th, in full daylight, the men returned to set fire to whatever tents and victims' possessions had not been burned the night before. The criminal blaze consumed a five-year-old child, nearly four thousand tents, and all the possessions of four thousand families. Dilia Marie, mother of five, says she just barely rescued her one-month-old baby, Cadet Ismaella, from the flames of Martelly's bandits. (see full statement from FRAKKA on this case here)
Friday, February 15th, Justice of the Peace Frantz Vertus, also known as Tenmpla, accompanied by police and thugs in various states of armament, entered the Gaston Magon camp near Mariani. They beat the inhabitants, striking even children, and knocked down nearly 150 tents in the camp. The police fired many shots to frighten the people and allow the others to wreak their destruction. The thugs themselves took the chance to steal money and other items from the victims. Following this action—worthy of the Tonton Macoutes—nearly 150 families are sleeping on the street. The situation is especially difficult for women and children. Carrefour City Hall did do a headcount of the camp after the "legal bandits" had left, but they still haven't done anything for the victims. We must remember, this Justice of the Peace already destroyed 20 tents in this camp on Friday, November 26th, 2012 with no official permission to do so. (full statement from FRAKKA here).
At Grace Village in Carrefour an ongoing campaign of intimidation aimed at forcing people to leave the camp continues. The camp is still home to over 500 families. Last week a brief was filed with the Inter-American Commission for Human Rights requesting that measures be taking to protect families from further violence, and that a resettlement plan be put in place. The brief highlights a pattern of abuse by Pastor Joel Jeune who claims ownership of the land that the camp is on. Over the last year or so, Pastor Joel has worked to intimidate families and make life so miserable in the camp that people will leave. Pastor Joel and camp guards have refused to let people clear out garbage, dig a latrine, and they have refused admittance to the camp by aid agencies. A report from activists on the ground last week details some current concerns, after Pastor Joel removed the gate from the camp:
The concerns expressed by the IDPs is that they now feel as though the slight security that they had within the walled in compound is now compromised, leaving them open to "thieves, rapist, and anyone that Pastor Jeune will send to enact violence against us at night." This concern was well founded, as later in the evening, rocks were thrown into the camp. No injuries were reported. IDPs interviewed repeated numerous times that they were unable to sleep and spent the night "standing on their two legs".
The Haitian National Police have been in the camp, firing their weapons in the air to pressure people to leave. The local Mayor has been reported to only take the side of the Pastor, and supports his illegal activities, as do the church groups in the US that are funding these actions by Pastor Jeune, though hopefully without their knowledge.
Amnesty International released an alert concerning two other forced evictions involving hundreds of families that occurred in January.
Police officers violently evicted 84 families from camp Fanm Koperativ, in Port-au-Prince on 22 January. Ten days earlier, on the third anniversary of Haiti's devastating earthquake, municipal officials and officials from the Civil Protection Agency forcibly evicted around 600 families from Camp Place Sainte-Anne, also in Port-au-Prince. (read full alert here).
350,000 people remain in camps for the internally displaced established following the devastating earthquake in January of 2010. The families in the camps have nowhere else to go, as the reconstruction effort remains stalled, and the government and international community have yet to prioritize the creation of a long-terms sustainable housing plan. Housing rights activists in Haiti are demanding that the forced evictions end and the government establish a social housing plan NOW with input from Haitian civil society.
Keep up to date with the Under Tents Campaign. Action items on these cases will be coming soon.
Categories:Displacement & Land Reform, HSG News Archives
In Haitian Civil Society, HSG News Archives, Sweatshops & Labour on 6th March 2013
In History, HSG News Archives, Politics & Elections on 6th March 2013
Failure to disarm anti-Aristide gangs creates problems for relief agencies
[Devastating Fire at] Camp Lycée Toussaint
Ghost of Bloody Past Set for Revival


text:
package de.lessvoid.nifty.slick2d;

import javax.annotation.Nonnull;

/**
 * This enumerator contains the possible settings for the update order of the Nifty-GUI and the game in the overlay
 * game
 * and game state implementations.
 *
 * @author Marting Karing <nitram@illarion.org>
 */
public enum NiftyUpdateOrder {
  /**
   * Using this enumerator value the game will be updated first, followed by the Nifty-GUI.
   */
  @Nonnull
  NiftyLast,

  /**
   * Using this enumerator value the Nifty-GUI will be updated first, followed by the game.
   */
  @Nonnull
  NiftyFirst
}

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


Your basement is surrounded by water. The soil around your basement retains moisture. It's not usually a problem until the ground becomes saturated, like during spring runoff or heavy rains. Then, there is so much water in the soil, it cannot drain properly and starts looking for other places to go like through leaks in your basement walls. Unfortunately, the best material for building basements and foundations is concrete, it's great for holding up your house, but terrible for waterproofing your basement. All concrete will crack eventually, and if your basement walls have not developed cracks already, they will.
Even hairline cracks can allow moisture into your basement. Basement waterproofing is a great way to make sure water does not enter your basement and create problems. Without waterproofing your house, you leave yourself open to all the problems that can happen because of basement leaks: - Odours standing water can develop unpleasant odours. - Mold and Mildew are just looking for a little bit of moisture to germinate and grow. Mold and mildew can aggravate allergies and cause breathing problems throughout your home - Rot moisture from a basement leak will weaken and damage wood structural supports and panelling.
- Dirt and Insects water from the soil outside your basement brings with it dirt, debris and insects through cracks in your basement walls. - Furniture Damage Your furniture and belongings can be damaged when your basement leaks. If you are planning to finish your basement, you should definitely carry out any needed basement and foundation wall repairs and then waterproof your basement. Foundation and basement waterproofing will avoid costly water damage to your finished basement. If you don't waterproof your basement before finishing it, you may not know you have a moisture problem until it's too late. You need to make sure you water proof your basement properly to take care of all existing and potential leaks in your basement or foundation walls. Using the services of a professional basement waterproofing service is the best way for you to be sure you have done everything you can to make sure your house is waterproof. The basement waterproofing professionals at Clarke Basement Systems know how to make your basement moisture problems disappear.


text:
What is a pension small pot payment?
Small pots – what do you need to know?
Small pots case study
What is trivial commutation?
Commutation of DB lump sum death benefit
Small pots and defined benefit trivial commutations
1 What is a pension small pot payment?
2 Small pots – what do you need to know?
3 Small pots case study
4 What is trivial commutation?
5 Commutation of DB lump sum death benefit
If clients have small pensions, they may be able to take them as cash lump sums – up to three small pots of £10,000 each from non-occupational pension schemes and an unlimited number from occupational pension schemes, subject to rules.
A maximum of three small, non-occupational pensions can be commuted under small pot payments.
There is no limit to the number of occupational pensions that can be commuted under small pot rules.
A small pot payment (properly called 'small lump sum') can be made from any arrangement, whether the rights are uncrystallised or comprise a pension in payment, irrespective of the overall value of the individual's pension's worth. Up to three small non-occupational pensions (personal pension plans etc.) can be commuted under small pots payments, but there's no limit on the number of occupational pensions that can be taken under small pots. To allow the payment of small pot commutation, the following conditions need to be fulfilled:
the member has reached the minimum retirement age of 55, or satisfies the definition for ill-health early retirement or has a protected early pension age.
each payment must not exceed £10,000 at the time it's paid to the client
for non-occupational pension schemes, the payment must extinguish all member benefit entitlement under the arrangement
for occupational or public service pension schemes, the payment must extinguish the member's entitlement to benefits under the paying scheme,
in respect of non-occupational pensions (personal pensions etc.), there's a maximum of three small pot payments are permitted. A full list of the conditions is in the Pensions Tax Manual (PTM063700) covering;
Payments under occupational or public service pension schemes
Payments under larger occupational or public service pension schemes
Payments under a scheme that is not an occupational or public service pension scheme
Small pots from non-occupational pension schemes are about arrangements, not schemes
'Small pots' applies at arrangement level rather than scheme level. So the payments can be made from two or three separate registered pension schemes or from the same scheme where the payments are made from two or three different arrangements under that scheme.
Effect on entitlement to benefits
Small pot payments extinguish the member's entitlement to benefits under the arrangement from which the payment is made, but not necessarily their entitlement under the scheme as a whole. A member can take a small lump sum even though they may still have an entitlement to benefits under another arrangement in that scheme.
Managing a large number of arrangements
For example 100 or even 1000 arrangements under the same registered pension scheme, where each arrangement contains well under the commutation limit under this regulation. Subject to what the scheme rules allow, these funds may be consolidated either by merging arrangements into a smaller number of arrangements or by a transfer of funds between multiple arrangements. This allows the maximum small pot to be taken from either one or each of two or three arrangements under the scheme. A 'reshaping' of existing arrangements (either by merging multiple arrangements or internal transfers of funds between multiple arrangements in the same scheme) won't involve the setting up of a new arrangement. This avoids any potential consequences for members who have valid enhanced protection, fixed protection, fixed protection 2014 or fixed protection 2016.
Funds in excess of the commutation limit
If a member has funds in excess of the limit in an existing single arrangement, some of which are then moved into arrangements set up to allow a member to take one, two or three small lump sum payments under Regulation 11A, this will entail the setting up of one or more new arrangements. This could potentially have consequences if the member has valid enhanced protection or any of the fixed protections (i.e. the protection would be lost).
Please note: small pots don't trigger the money purchase annual allowance (MPAA). We've written more about this in our Money Purchase Annual Allowance article.
Crystallised and uncrystallised benefit rights
Where the payment represents uncrystallised benefit rights, 25% of the payment is free of income tax, and the balance of the payment is chargeable to income tax as pension income. If the payment represents crystallised rights, all of the payment is chargeable to income tax as pension income. Where the payment represents a mixture of both uncrystallised and crystallised benefit rights, only 25% of the part of the payment relating to the uncrystallised rights can be paid free of income tax.
Mr James lives in England and has three pension plans he has built up over his working life but has never consolidated. These plans are uncrystallised, however you can use small pots from crystallised funds, but there would be no tax free element to a small pots payment from these. They are valued at:
Pension 1: £9,000
Total: £27,000
To extract this, Mr James closes pots 1-3 under the small pots rule. This returns:
Gross total: £27,000
Tax-free cash: £6,750
Balance taxed at marginal rate, (assuming total income does not exceed basic rate tax band=20%): £20,250 - £4,050 = £16,200
Total extracted: £6,750 + £16,200 = £22,950
Scottish taxpayers will pay the Scottish rate of income tax (SRIT) on non-savings and non-dividend (NSND) income. NSND income includes employment income, profits from self-employment (including sole trades and partnerships), rental profits, and pension income (including the state pension). Similarly, from 6 April 2019 Welsh Taxpayers pay the Welsh Rate of Income Tax (CRIT (C for Cymru)) on NSND income.
Other tax and deductions such as Corporation Tax, dividends, savings income and National Insurance Contributions etc. will remain based on UK rules. This could mean the amount of income tax relief which can be claimed on pension contributions by Scottish and UK tax payers may not be the same. For more info on SRIT and how this works in practice, please visit our facts page. For more info on CRIT and how this works in practice, please visit our facts page.
This payment is likely to be taxed at basic rate initially with the client needing to sort out any overpaid or underpaid tax with HMRC directly.
HMRC PTM063700
Trivial commutation is where a defined benefit pension member may commute one or more pension arrangements as long as they comply with the following:
the member has reached the minimum retirement age of 55, or satisfies the definition for ill-health early retirement or has a protected early pension age
the lump sum extinguishes the member's entitlement to defined benefits under the registered pension scheme making the payment
all commutations must take place within a 12-month period from the date of the first trivial commutation payment. Any commuted lump sum paid after the 12-month period has ended won't qualify as a trivial commutation lump sum
the value of all members' rights should not exceed £30,000 on the nominated date (the nominated date can be any date within 3 months of the start of the commutation period). The £30,000 value is for all pensions, so if a client has a DB scheme valued at £29,000 and a Stakeholder Pension worth £2,000 on the nominated date then commuting the DB scheme will not be possible.
the member hasn't been paid a trivial commutation lump sum previously (from any registered pension scheme), except any earlier payment within the commutation period (a trivial commutation that occurred before 6 April 2006 doesn't count)
the lump sum is paid when the member has some available lifetime allowance.
If the member hasn't previously drawn or become entitled to any other benefits under the registered pension scheme before the trivial commutation lump sum is paid, 75% of the lump sum paid is treated as taxable pension income for the tax year the payment is made, accountable through PAYE. The 25% deduction is given to reflect that, if the trivial commutation lump sum wasn't paid and normal benefit rules applied, the member would (generally) be entitled to a tax-free pension commencement lump sum, representing 25% of the capital value of the benefits coming into payment. No extra deduction is given where the member is entitled to a pension commencement lump sum of more than 25%, due to the transitional protection of such an entitlement held before 6 April 2006.
Where a pension in payment is being commuted, or the member has previously drawn (or become entitled to) any other benefit from the scheme, but still has uncrystallised rights held in any arrangement under the scheme, 25% of the value of the uncrystallised rights may be paid tax-free. The remaining part of the payment is taxed as pension income for the tax year the lump sum payment is made. Again, this taxable income is accountable through PAYE.
Since April 2015, trivial commutation of all pension benefits has only been relevant to defined benefit pension schemes. Historically, it was also used for defined contribution schemes. However, the introduction of pensions flexibility for DC schemes after April 2015 removed the need for this option, as all DC benefits can now be accessed as lump sum (regardless of the amount).
If, on the death of a member the capital value of the following pensions is under £30,000 per scheme, a commutation lump sum death benefit can be paid instead of the ongoing pension benefit:
dependant / nominee / joint life pension
guaranteed annuity / scheme pension guarantees.
The commutation lump sum death benefit will be subject to marginal rate income tax in the hands of the recipient.
HMRC Pension Tax Manual - PTM073700
Labelled Under:
Retirement income Pensions and retirement
small pots and triv Q&A
Answers to common questions on the topics of small pots and triviality
Taxation of pension income
We outline how pension income is taxed as earned income, using Pay As You Earn (PAYE) and cover some key considerations. Usually the income is initially set up with an 'emergency tax code'.
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Ask the Technical Team a question

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


This paper aims to give an overview on the right(s) to land of indigenous peoples in Latin America. Firstly, it shortly discusses why the right(s) to land is of the utmost importance for indigenous peoples, what it signifies for them and its multiple natures. Secondly, the international protection system of such right is presented. Nowadays there is a wide range of international actors that monitor and pledge to safeguard indigenous rights, and thus, their right(s) to land. General human rights instruments may also guarantee indigenous rights. However, there are two instruments of international law that specifically protect the rights of indigenous peoples, namely the International Labour Organization's Convention No.169 of 1989 ("Convention concerning Indigenous and Tribal Peoples in Independent Countries"), and the United Nations Declarations on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples of 2007. Hence, the provisions regarding the right(s) to land of indigenous peoples through these instruments are discussed. These apparatuses provide indigenous peoples with a number of relevant rights and set the standard for their protection, however, their implementation is left up to the State. The majority of the Latin American countries fail to apply the rights contained in the two above-mentioned international instruments, as well as their own Constitutions. This has caused, and continues to cause, land disputes in which indigenous peoples are often not in the position to protect their right(s) to land due to a set of causes that will be explored. Due to the failure of the States to comply with their obligations, indigenous peoples have resorted to taking their cases before domestic and international (human rights) courts. In particular, the Inter-American Court of Human Rights started creating interesting and evolving jurisprudence since 2001 regarding the right(s) to land of indigenous peoples. A number of landmark decisions of the Court are thus illustrated. The paper finalizes with some conclusions and recommendations. As required by the conference, , this paper attempts to highlight the potential role of the European Union to ensure a proper application of indigenous land right(s) in Latin America, and to draw on these lessons for the European context.


Did your ring lose a bit of shine and the protective finish chipped off? No worries you can send the ring back to us and we'll reapply the protective finish. We'll make your ring shine again – free of charge within one year after the purchase. After that, it costs USD $18 for wooden rings and USD $32 for any metal rings plus shipping.
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If you missed the post about our first event at Henley, click here.
We were early for our next event, but so was everyone else and they were queueing down the street. An effect of my partner's back problem is that she can only stand for a short period of time before it gets painful. With that in mind and, tempting though it was to join the queue, we decided to walk on and come back closer to the start time. Our hope was that people would have started to go in, but not so many that there would be very few seats to choose from.
As it turns out, we got it more or less right, getting seats near the back, but fairly central so we had a reasonably good view of the stage. It also meant we weren't waiting too long for the lights to go down.
We were here to see Anthony Horowitz, an author I'd first come across when reading the Alex Rider books to my son – and carried on reading them when he lost interest! I like Horowitz's style as a writer. He's accessible, his books have pace, and you come away feeling entertained.
He was joined on the stage by the author James Scudamore, who was there to interview him. They sat down on either side of a low table and the conversation began.
Of the festival events I'd been to, this was, by far, the most entertaining. Horowitz really engages with his audience, and his enthusiasm for his craft came across very strongly. As did his enthusiasm for James Bond, which was important as he was there to talk about Forever And A Day, the latest Bond book, and the second he has written.
The subject of Bond books post-Fleming is one that could probably fill several volumes on its own, but I do have a sense it might be time to knock them on the head – especially as there must be about twice as many non-Fleming books out there as there are of Fleming's. Nevertheless, if anyone is likely to do a decent job, I suspect Horowitz is the man. His knowledge of the originals seems solid – and of the movies, as I discovered later. Plus, having read most of the Alex Rider series in the past, I can say that his ability to generate excitement in a reader is up there with the best thriller writers.
It's fair to say the hour passed very quickly. Aside from Bond, he discussed Alex Rider, his grandmother – the inspiration behind his book Granny (apparently, the best thing she ever did was die) – his time working on Midsomer Murders, as well as the development of Foyle's War and Michael Kitchen's requirements for playing the lead (he didn't want Foyle to ask questions!). These were only examples: he covered so much more, and that was before the audience were invited to ask questions. And such was the enthusiasm for questions, the event was in grave danger of over-running. Remarkably, it did manage to finish on time, at which point the opportunity was presented for people to bring books up for signing.
Like most people, we hadn't brought one with us, so (very thoughtfully) the local bookshop had brought a supply of Forever And A Day along for us to buy. The queue formed along the right-hand side of the auditorium, the front ending at a short flight of steps up to the stage, where the booksellers waited patiently, while Horowitz was seated on the left-hand side of the stage at a desk, pen in hand.
We decided to make a purchase. In spite of my comments about further Bonds, I was curious, and who doesn't want a signed copy of a book anyway? Because the queue looked as long as the one we'd seen outside earlier, I suggested we hold back and join it when it had gone down. Aside from my partner's back issues, the chances were that we wouldn't get up there much quicker anyway and, if we were the last to arrive, I figured we might get more of a chat. As it turns out, things didn't work out that way, but we certainly didn't come away disappointed. You'll find out why in the final instalment, so watch this space.
I only know Horowitz through Foyle's War and he would be high on my list of people to see at a literary festival.
I'd definitely go to see him again, April. Well worth it.


text:
Q: Delphi 2006-2010 error: "Cannot create file C:\Users\Admin\AppData\Local\Temp\EditorLineEnds.ttr" I am getting an error after installing Delphi 2007 (Edit: This problem occurs in all Delphi versions from 2006 to 2010) that I can not figure out and have never seen before.  After restarting I can launch the program without any problems, but if I were to close out of the program and start again it will give me the following error:
"Cannot create file C:\Users\Admin\AppData\Local\Temp\EditorLineEnds.ttr".  The process cannont access the file because it is being use by another process."
"System" has a handle on this file that cannot be cleared unless I reboot. I can also correct the problem by renaming the file before I launch the program.
I have tried reinstalling the program with no luck.
Version installed: CodeGear™ Delphi® 2007 for Win32® R2 Version 11.0.2902.10471.
Operation System: Windows 7 Pro 64bit
Update 08/14 13:35 EDT
Tried the following solutions, but still having the same file lock issue:

*

*Renamed Temp Directory to a directory I know had full security rights.  Files would be created in this directory when launching Delphi, but EditorLineEnds.ttr  would still get locked by SYSTEM and prevent me from relaunching.

*Uninstalled the following security updates KB2982791 and KB2976897, but this did not solve the problem.  I have suppressed windows updates for now and will try uninstalling all security patches for 8/13.

*Uninstalled Delphi completely and re-installed.  Problem still occurs after re-installing everything.

I will try reinstalling Windows from scratch and install Delphi before Windows
updates to see if updates are truly the cause.  My workaround for now is just renaming EditorLineEnds.ttr before launch Delphi.

A: This is my bds_start.bat script running Delphi2006 on Win7-64bit system. I customized GabeMeister answer and similar script found in one of the links. I now can restart DelphiIDE without reboot. All ttr temp files are still locked by system so del command may not work. They are deletable once system is rebooted.
It's however impossible to restart Delphi double clicking myproject.dpr project files. I was afraid to install IDEFixPack for D2006 because one of comments did not promise it to work.
bds_start.bat
@REM http://www.danielmagin.de/blog/index.php/2014/08/windows-update-disable-delphi-2007-2010/
@REM http://stackoverflow.com/questions/25295980/delphi-2007-error-cannot-create-file-c-users-admin-appdata-local-temp-editorl
@REM http://docs.embarcadero.com/products/rad_studio/delphiAndcpp2009/HelpUpdate2/EN/html/devcommon/idecommandline_xml.html

@REM del files created by DelphiIDE, may not able to delete but
@REM moving to a new name is possible. Use unique name by timestamp.
del "%temp%\EditorLineEnds*.ttr"
set dt=%date%_%time:~3,2%-%time:~6,2%
rename "%temp%\EditorLineEnds.ttr" "EditorLineEnds_%dt%.ttr"
start "" "C:\Borland\BDS\4.0\Bin\bds.exe" -pDelphi

Running CBuilder change argument to -pCBuilder. Maybe best fix would be to create bds.exe replacement tool, del/move *.ttr file, run and passthrough cmd arguments to the original bds_original.exe file. This should enable *.dpr double click restarts. Or use BdsLauncher.exe which I think is regedit linked to *.dpr extension. Then process list had bds.exe name.

A: There are three solutions to this that I am aware of:

*

*Try uninstalling the Windows security update KB2982791 which was already mentioned by Francisco Caffagni. This solved the issue for me (Windows 8.1 + Delphi 2007) but it might not be such a good idea to uninstall a Windows security update.

*Rename the file every time you start Delphi. See below for a simple program that does it for you.

*Use Andreas Hausladen's IdeFixpack (Delphi 2007 version, beware that version 4.4 does not work under Windows 8, version 4.3 seems to work), (for later Delphi versions) Note that the editor option Show Lineends will use a different character if you use this fix because the IDE won't load the EditorLineEnds.ttr font any more. (Solution 1 and 2 don't have this drawback, but who uses that option anyway?)

Note: Microsoft withdrew this fix a few days later and issued a new one KB2984615 on 2014-08-27. Unfortunately this did not fix the issue for me. Maybe uninstalling KB2982791 first and then installing KB2984615 might work, but I haven't tried it.
I wrote a simple program, that solves the issue for me:
It uses FindFirstChangeNotification / FindNextChangeNotification and checks whether that file exists and if yes, moves it to a unique subdirectory in %temp%.
Binary download
The source code is available from sourceforge.

A: Here is another workaround from http://www.danielmagin.de/blog/index.php/2014/08/windows-update-disable-delphi-2007-2010/
Quote:

you can rollback easy in two ways
1: create a batch file with following lines
  wusa /uninstall /kb:2982791
  wusa /uninstall /kb:2970228
  this batch file you run on start up of windows. but with auto update both updates installs every time
2: disable the KB's from autoupdate
  after update goto WindowsUpdatesin your system. disable both KB's so on new updates it will be not
  installed again

A: For Delphi 2007, install IDEFixPack 4.4 and add add the following environment variable to the system settings:
IDEFixPack.DisabledPatches=DotNet.GlobalizationSearch
Reboot and it should work.
I have 2 desktops with Win 8.1 Pro and its working like a charm!

A: If you are on windows, I made a batch file shortcut for starting Delphi. Basically it is a batch file that changes the name of EditorLineEnds.ttr to the current date time, moves it to a different sub folder, and then starts Delphi.
Here are the contents of my batch script:
SET HOUR=%time:~0,2%
SET dtStamp9=%date:~-4%%date:~4,2%%date:~7,2%_0%time:~1,1%%time:~3,2%%time:~6,2%
SET dtStamp24=%date:~-4%%date:~4,2%%date:~7,2%_%time:~0,2%%time:~3,2%%time:~6,2%

if "%HOUR:~0,1%" == " " (SET dtStamp=%dtStamp9%) else (SET dtStamp=%dtStamp24%)

if exist "C:\Users\<username here>\AppData\Local\Temp\EditorLineEnds.ttr" (
  echo "Moving EditorLineEnds.ttr"
  MOVE "C:\Users\<username here>\AppData\Local\Temp\EditorLineEnds.ttr" "C:\Users\<username here>\AppData\Local\Temp\ExtraEditorLineEnds\%dtStamp%.ttr"
) else (
  echo "EditorLineEnds.ttr was not found."
)
start "C:\Program Files (x86)\CodeGear\RAD Studio\6.0\bin\bds.exe"

A: Just to point out that the KB2982791 update has been withdrawn by Microsoft. The reasons cited appear to be problems with font rendering and system crashes and not this specific issue which, on the face of it, does appear to be the fault of Delphi and is merely exacerbated by the update.
The KB article on the Microsoft site has been updated: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2982791
Specifically these sections are of interest:

Known issue 2
Microsoft is investigating behavior in which fonts do
not render correctly after any of the following updates are installed:
2982791 MS14-045: Description of the security update for kernel-mode
drivers: August 12, 2014
2970228 Update to support the new currency
symbol for the Russian ruble in Windows
2975719 August 2014 update
rollup for Windows RT 8.1, Windows 8.1, and Windows Server 2012 R2
2975331 August 2014 update rollup for Windows RT, Windows 8, and
Windows Server 2012
Status
Microsoft has removed the download links to
these updates while these issues are being investigated.
Known issue 3
Microsoft is investigating behavior in which systems may
crash with a 0x50 Stop error message (bugcheck) after any of the
following updates are installed:
2982791 MS14-045: Description of the
security update for kernel-mode drivers: August 12, 2014
2970228
Update to support the new currency symbol for the Russian ruble in
Windows
2975719 August 2014 update rollup for Windows RT 8.1, Windows
8.1, and Windows Server 2012 R2
2975331 August 2014 update rollup for Windows RT, Windows 8, and Windows Server 2012
This condition may be
persistent and may prevent the system from starting correctly.
Status
Microsoft has removed the download links to these updates while
these issues are being investigated.

A: The problem seems to be with Windows Updates installed on 13th August.
I tried uninstalling KB2982791 as suggested by the previous poster, but that did not fix the problem.
Uninstalling all Windows updates from 13th August did cure the problem however.

A: The same for CodeGear Delphi 2009 on Windows 7
Uninstalling following windows update 2982791 2970228 wont help.
Using IDE Fix Pack after that will help.

A: dzEditorLineEndsFix - Cannot create file %Temp%\EditorLineEnd.ttr
This is a small program that fixes the problem introduced by the Windows update KB2982791 with Delphi 2006 to 2010 that causes the error "Cannot create file %Temp%\EditorLineEnds.ttr".
It works by moving the file to its own unique subdirectory whenever it is being created.

A: I'm using Windows 8, not 8.1
I turned off all Windows updates and yesterday I checked for updates and installed all security updates. Today I have the same problem, but none of the above mentioned update was installed on my notebook.
I looked for all of them, but did not find any between installed security updates:
KB2982791, KB2970228, KB2975719, KB2975331
But I found another update KB2993651 and tried to uninstall it, uninstallation process was halted. I reset my comp. Now I cant find this update, and the problem did not solved.
So did not find a another workaround and created the following script, that I run before opening RAD 2010.
cd %temp%
ren EditorLineEnds.ttr EditorLineEnds%RANDOM%.ttr

I'm using the %RANDOM% function, because with the fixed name on second time the renamed file will also be locked and the script will not succeed on rename.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


text:
Q: non-linear correlation formula There are some formula that calculate the linear correlation between two random variables, for example Pearson or Spearman Correlation. My question is that is there any formula that can calculate the non-linear correlation between two random variables ?

A: As is searched, i found out that the Mutual Information between two random variables can reveals the non-linear relation between them which is described here.


text:
MPR News with Kerri Miller
The rise of the graphic novel
Chris Farrell and Kelly Gordon
ListenMPR News with Kerri Miller - The rise of the graphic novel
A wall of graphic novels at Waterstones.
Morebyless | Creative Commons via Flickr
When the John Newbery Medal was handed out Monday, for the first time ever, the prestigious children's literature award went to a graphic novel, Jerry Craft's "New Kid." Just more proof that the popularity of comic books and graphic novels is one of the biggest success stories in publishing right now. In 2018, sales topped $1 billion. Long dominated by male readers and superheroes, the genre is expanding to focus more on women and girls, people of color, the LGBTQ experience and even nonfiction.
Guest host Chris Farrell discusses the rise of graphic novels with two Minneapolis comic artists. Is this the origin story of a formidable new breed of books?
Rob Kirby is a cartoonist and author of the comic strip "Curbside" and several graphic novels, including his work-in-progress memoir, "Marry Me A Little."
Barbara Schulz runs the Comic Art degree program, which she helped establish, at the Minneapolis College of Art and Design.


text:
https://doi.org/10.5005/jp-journals-10033-1416
Volume 13 | Issue 3 | Year 2020
Minimal Access, Optimal Dryness: A Review of Laparoscopic Repair of Vesicovaginal Fistula
Michael S Archibong1, Oluwole E Ayegbusi2
1,2Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Obafemi Awolowo University Teaching Hospital, ILE-IFE, Nigeria
Corresponding Author: Michael S Archibong, Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Obafemi Awolowo University Teaching Hospital, ILE-IFE, Nigeria, Phone: +2348025997728, e-mail: beracah4@yahoo.com
How to cite this article Archibong MS, Ayegbusi OE. Minimal Access, Optimal Dryness: A Review of Laparoscopic Repair of Vesicovaginal Fistula. World J Lap Surg 2020;13(3):130–132.
Source of support: Nil
Conflict of interest: None
Background: Vesicovaginal fistula (VVF) is an embarrassing condition for women. Various routes of surgical intervention exist for the management of VVF. Laparoscopic repair is safe and effective.
Aim and objective: To review the success rate of laparoscopic repair of VVF and to highlight the benefits/advantages of the laparoscopic approach.
Materials and methods: Using various databases, previous studies of patients who underwent laparoscopic VVF repair between 2008 and 2018 were reviewed. Outcome measures from these studies were success rate, mean blood loss, mean operating time, length of hospital stay, major intraoperative complications, and conversion to open surgery.
Results: Fourteen retrospective studies (full-text articles) were retrieved and reviewed. Two hundred and sixty-nine patients had a laparoscopic repair. The pooled success rate was 96.7%. Mean blood loss ranged from 30 to 400 mL, length of hospital stay ranged from 1.1 to 7.8 days while the mean operating time ranged from 54 to 229 minutes. There was only one major intraoperative complication. Only four patients had to be converted to open surgery.
Conclusion: Laparoscopic repair of VVF has a high success rate and is a safe, patient-friendly, and cost-effective route for surgical management of VVF.
Keywords: Abdominal repair, Laparoscopic route, Vesicovaginal fistula..
Vesicovaginal fistula (VVF) is an abnormal communication between the epithelium of the bladder and that of the vagina which leads to continuous/total involuntary leakage of urine. It is a condition that not only affects the health of the woman but also imposes a great deal of social embarrassment and psychological trauma on the patient. It is considered as one of the most dehumanizing conditions that affect and reduce the quality of life of women.1
The etiology of VVF is largely influenced by socioeconomic development/standard of healthcare delivery system. In underdeveloped/developing countries, prolonged labor accounts for over 90% of VVF; however, in developed countries, it is usually from iatrogenic causes particularly from hysterectomies for benign gynecological conditions, radiation therapy, and advanced reproductive tract malignancies.2
It has been estimated that there are about 3 million women with unrepaired fistula globally, with about 150,000 new cases every year.3
Ever since the first successful VVF repair pioneered by James Marion Sim, various methods and techniques have subsequently been discovered and employed to surgically treat VVF. For the route of repair, there is no consensus regarding the best route, as this is influenced by various factors like the site, size, etiology, surgeons' choice, and level of expertise/competence.4
Vesicovaginal fistula can be repaired by two routes: Vaginal and abdominal. The abdominal route repair has been performed predominantly by open surgery (laparotomy) and is associated with more morbidities; these morbidities can be minimized/avoided via minimal access surgery.5
Minimal access surgery has reformed the field of gynecology; becoming established in everyday practice and is gradually becoming the norm and gold standard in gynecological practice and diagnosis and treatment of various gynecological conditions including repair of VVF. Laparoscopic repair of VVF has been conducted with remarkable success.6
The purpose of this article is to review the success rates of the laparoscopic repair of VVF and also highlight some of the benefits/advantages of the laparoscopic repair.
Relevant studies/publications were searched for using PubMed, Google Scholar, Cochrane library, ScienceDirect, Embase, and Medline. The databases were searched using the relevant medical subject headings (MeSH) terms. Search words included: vesico-vaginal fistula, laparoscopic repair, abdominal route. No restriction was placed on the language of publication.
Study Selection
Studies selected were original research articles published in the last 10 years with >7 patients. Studies >10 years from the date of publication and/or studies with <8 patients were excluded.
The data assessed from the studies included: Success rate, mean blood loss, mean operating time, length of hospital stay, major intraoperative complications, and conversion to open surgery.
Within the limits of the literature search, 14 full-text articles met the aforementioned criteria. All articles were retrospective, there were no prospective studies or randomized controlled trials. From this review, a total of 269 patients underwent laparoscopic repair of VVF. Two hundred and thirty-one (85.9%) cases were primary repairs, while 38 (14.1%) cases had previous failed repairs. Nine out of the 14 series reviewed reported a success rate of 100%, the other series reported success rates of 98, 95.5, 91.6, 87.5, and 86%, respectively. Laparoscopic repair failed in only 9 out of the 269 patients (2 out of these 9 patients were those with previously failed repair). The pooled/overall success rate was 96.7%, while the success rates for those undergoing primary and previously failed repair were 96.9 and 94.7%, respectively. Mean blood loss ranged from 30 to 400 mL, length of hospital stay ranged from 1.1 to 7.8 days while the mean operating time ranged from 54 to 229 minutes. There was only one major intraoperative complication (bleeding), giving a complication rate of 0.37%. Two hundred and sixty-five (98.5%) cases were completed laparoscopically; only four patients had to be converted to open surgery due to severe adhesions, the overall/pooled conversion rate was 1.5% (Table 1).
The first laparoscopic VVF repair was reported by Nezhat in 1994.16 Like any advancement in medical practice, it was initially greeted with a lot of skepticism and criticism. However, over the years, this approach has come to be embraced and has gained more acceptance among fistula repair surgeons because of the available evidence which has proved it to be very effective. Meta-analysis and comparative studies have found the success rates between laparoscopic and open laparotomy to be comparable with a statistically significant shorter hospital stay and reduced blood loss.6,12,20
Table 1: Outcome of laparoscopic vesicovaginal fistula repair
Cure rate
Mean blood loss (mL)
Hospital stay (days)
Mean operating time (minutes)
Utrera et al.7 8 100 No data 4.7 150 0 0
Abdel-Karim et al.8 15 100 110 3.1 171.6 0 0
Miklos and Moore9 44 98 39 1.1 144.8 0 0
Sharma et al.10 22 100 75 5 140 0 0
Shuah11 22 86 180 4.5 145 0 3
Xiong et al.12 22 95.5 52 5.6 98.6 0 0
Chu et al.13 11 100 229.4 No data 80.2 0 0
Abreu and Tanaka14 8 87.5 No data No data No data 1 1
Javali et al.15 22 100 35 1.5 75 0 0
Mallikarjuna et al.16 20 100 30 2.5 54 0 0
Rizvi et al.19 8 100 60 No data 145 0 0
Zhang et al.18 18 100 95 5 135 0 0
González et al.19 36 91.6 No data 7.8 140.4 0 0
Ghosh et al.20 13 100 58.69 4 No data 0 0
Previously, it was thought that the laparoscopic route may be associated with a lot of conversions to open surgery, this review has disproved that, as only 4 out of the 256 repairs were converted to open surgery. Interestingly, conversions were not due to a complication of laparoscopy per se but rather from dense intra-abdominal adhesions/fibrosis (due to previous surgeries) which in itself is a relative contraindication to laparoscopy.
It was also thought that laparoscopic repair may not be suitable for patients with previously failed repair; however, this review has revealed that the success rate for primary repair and those with previously failed repairs are comparable.
With a complication rate of <1% from this review, credence has been lent to the safety of the laparoscopic approach to VVF repair. The safety and minimal blood loss in laparoscopic repair may be attributed to the enhanced/magnified vision during surgery which affords the surgeon the benefit of dissecting tissues with a high degree of precision and accuracy without iatrogenic injury to adjacent structures. The pneumoperitoneum also functions as a hemostatic tamponade to help minimize blood loss.
The quick recovery period, reduced hospital stay, and better cosmesis associated with laparoscopic repair have shown that this approach confers on the patient some cost-benefit or cost-utility.
Laparoscopic repair of VVF is a highly technical and advanced laparoscopic procedure which involves a lot of intracorporeal suturing and knot tying, this underscores the need for proper training and skill acquisition to attain expertise and competence before it should be embarked upon. However, the advent of barbed sutures, which eliminates the need for knot tying, can enhance surgical efficiency and significantly shorten the operating time.21
The laparoscopic approach to the surgical management of VVF is effective, safe, and associated with minimal complications.
Fistula repair surgeons (particularly) in developing countries should acquire the necessary skills and acquaint themselves with this route of repair in order for patients to benefit from the advantages which this approach confers.
Studies done so far on the laparoscopic repair of VVF have been retrospective studies. There is a need for prospective and randomized controlled trials to further substantiate and strengthen the already existing body of evidence.
The authors wish to acknowledge the entire training staff of world laparoscopy Hospital, Gurugram, Haryana, India, led by Prof RK Mishra and Dr Chowhan.
1. Ijaiya MA, Rahman AG, Aboyeji AP, et al. Vesicovaginal fistula: a review of nigerian experience. West Afr J Med 2010;29(5):293–298.
2. Mselle LT, Kohi TW, Mvungi A, et al. Waiting for attention and care: birthing accounts of women in rural Tanzania who developed obstetric fistula as an outcome of labor. BMC Pregnancy Childbirth 2011;11(1):75. DOI: 10.1186/1471-2393-11-75.
3. Adegoke AI. Prevalence of anaemia in obstetric fistula patients in Abakaliki. Int J Res Med Sci 2018;6(8):2611–2614. DOI: 10.18203/2320-6012.ijrms20183241.
4. Abdel-Karim AM, Mahfouz W. Laparoscopic VVF repair: current trends. Curr Women's Health Rev 2013;9(2):93–98. DOI: 10.2174/157340480902140102152840.
5. Nwogu-Ikojo E, Chigbu C, Iloabachie G. Bladder-only repair of vesicovaginal fistula: twelve years experience in South-eastern Nigeria. Webmed Cen Obstet Gynaecol 2010;1(10):1–4.
6. Bodner-Adler B, Hanzal E, Pablik E, et al. Management of vesicovaginal fistulas (VVFs) in women following benign gynaecologic surgery: a systematic review and meta-analysis. PLoS ONE 2017;12(2):e0171554. DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0171554.
7. Utrera NM, Foneron A, Castillo OA. Laparoscopic vesicovaginal fistula repair. Arch Esp Urol 2012;65(10):887–890.
8. Abdel-Karim AM, Mousa A, Hasouna M, et al. Laparoscopic transperitoneal extravesical repair of vesicovaginal fistula. Int Urogynecol J 2011;22(6):693–697. DOI: 10.1007/s00192-010-1334-7.
9. Miklos JR, Moore RD. Laparoscopic extravesical vesicovaginal fistula repair: our technique and 15-year experience. Int Urogynecol J 2015;26(3):441–446. DOI: 10.1007/s00192-014-2458-y.
10. Sharma S, Rizvi SJ, Bethur SS, et al. Laparoscopic repair of urogenital fistulae: a single centre experience. J Min Access Surg 2014;10(4):180–184. DOI: 10.4103/0972-9941.141508.
11. Shuah SJ. Laparoscopic transabdominal transvesical vesicovaginal fistula repair. J Endourol 2009;23(7):1135–1137. DOI: 10.1089/end.2009.0080.
12. Xiong Y, Tang Y, Huang F. Transperitoneal laparoscopic repair of vesicovaginal fistula for patients with supratrigonal fistula: comparison with open transperitoneal technique. Int Urogynecol J 2016;27(9):1415–1422. DOI: 10.1007/s00192-016-2957-0.
13. Chu L, Jian-Jun W, Tong X-W, et al. Laparoscopic repair of iatrogenic vesicovaginal and rectovaginal fistula. Int J Clin Exp Med 2015;8(2):2364–2370.
14. Abreu AD, Tanaka M. Laparoscopic management of iatrogenic lesions. J Endourol 2008;22(6):1279–1283. DOI: 10.1089/end.2008.0050.
15. Javali TD, Katti A, Nagaraj HKA. A simplified laparoscopic approach to repair of vesicovaginal fistula: The MS Ramaiah technique. Urology 2015;85(3):544–546. DOI: 10.1016/j.urology.2014.11.014.
16. Mallikarjuna C, Maryak P, Reddy S. The AINU technique for laparoscopic vesico-vaginal fistula repair: a preliminary report. Urol Int 2015;95(3):357–360. DOI: 10.1159/000439355.
17. Rizvi SJ, Gupta R, Patel S, et al. Modified laparoscopic abdominal vesico-vaginal fistula repair-"Mini-O'Conor" vesicotomy. J Laparoendosc Adv Surg Tech A 2010;20(1):13–15. DOI: 10.1089/lap.2009.0176.
18. Zhang Q, Ye Z, Liu F, et al. Laparoscopic transabdominal transvesical repair of supratrigonal vesicovaginal fistula. Int Urogynecol J 2013;24(2):337–342. DOI: 10.1007/s00192-012-1850-8.
19. González L, Rodríguez R, Javier A. Laparoscopic transperitoneal vesicovaginal fistula repair. J Gynecol Surg 2017;33(5):1–5. DOI: 10.1089/gyn.2016.0060.
20. Ghosh B, Wats V, Pal DK. Comparative analysis of outcome between laparoscopic versus open surgical repair for vesico vaginal fistula. Obstet Gynecol Sci 2016;59(6):525–529. DOI: 10.5468/ogs.2016.59.6.525.
21. Shah HN, Nayyar R, Rajamahanty S, et al. Prospective evaluation of unidirectional barbed suture for various indications in surgeon-controlled robotic reconstructive urologic surgery: wake forest university experience. Int Urol Nephrol 2012;44(3):775–785.
© The Author(s). 2020 Open Access This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and non-commercial reproduction in any medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver (http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated.


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Are You Walking in God's Great Adventure for Your Life?
4:00PM EDT 6/4/2019	 Matt Brown
(Photo by Holly Mandarich on Unsplash)
As I sipped the golden-brown foam off the top of the most delicious cappuccino I've ever tasted—my wife, Michelle, and I looked out from the crowded coffeehouse, across the cobblestone streets, to the Pantheon, one of the wonders of ancient Rome. Once used for the worship of various gods, the Pantheon eventually became a worship hall for Christians, and now, two thousand years later, it overflows with tourists for it still captivates the imagination with awe and wonder. It is an architectural masterpiece in the heart of Rome, just blocks from the Vatican, and a 20-minute walk from the Colosseum. So much history has unfolded in these streets. My taste buds—as well as my mind—were exploding with sensory overload and bliss.
I'd long wanted to visit the nation of my Italian grandmother Longiotti's roots. The opportunity finally came after Michelle and I had been married a few years, and we decided to visit Milan, Florence and Rome. Milan had the feel of a global city, with a lot of high-end shopping. Florence had the air of old Italy. And Rome, once the epicenter of the earth, is the eternal city, home to not only the Vatican but countless ancient wonders. There you find the modernity of today's world, but you can also get lost in the cobblestone streets and artifacts, not to mention the pizza, spaghetti and coffee of a past world.
Rome was breathtaking. Aside from getting lost on cobblestone walkways, admiring the architecture, and savoring the food, we visited many ancient sites, including the Colosseum. This is where countless gladiators were forced to do battle in front of thousands of onlookers who jeered and cheered the warriors to their death. It's hard to believe that any culture could be so callous as to make sport out of something like this, but it's part of our human story.
Christians have always been at odds with the culture around them, and the first Christians were no exception. At times, the Roman Empire persecuted Christians for worshipping Jesus rather than the emperor. Christians claimed to be part of a different kingdom, and for that they were perceived as a threat. Much of this persecution happened right there in the Colosseum. We paid to gain entrance and wound down the ancient stairwells and peered into the underground halls and closures that housed both victims and animals.
It was here that ancient Christians knelt and cried out to God for deliverance before being fed to the beasts in front of the mocking crowds. There are no words to express the horror of what took place. The savagery that Christians have endured throughout history, including being persecuted around the world today, reminds us of the mind-boggling value of our faith. Those Christians could have simply denied Jesus and been set free, but they valued what Christ meant to them more than their own lives.
After our tour, we visited a few other ancient buildings and then wound our way back around the Colosseum in search of lunch. After a quick bite, we continued down the street and stumbled upon an old church. Its underground passages seemed to take us further and further back in history until, at the bottom of the site, we entered rooms and halls where some of the very first Christians worshipped and prayed. Most likely, they prayed for some of their own who were being taken to the Colosseum to their deaths. They prayed for their communities and their city and the world that the message of Jesus would be carried far and wide through their witness. They prayed for, and possibly along with, the apostle Paul and the apostle Peter before both of those men were martyred in the city. We were breathing the air of legends!
As we wound down those stairs, deeper and deeper into the roots of our collective Christian faith, we couldn't help but sense the magnitude of what we've inherited today in Christ, in the church. This isn't some newfound faith, where we get to make up the rules as we go. We stand on the shoulders of all those who have gone before us, with their abiding faith and unforgettable impact on the world. Their faith helps us grasp the gravity of our faith today. Jesus, the hope of the world, has worked in countless lives through the centuries, including our own.
But sometimes it can feel as if we're doing pitifully little compared to those Christians who gave their lives in the Colosseum or those on whose shoulders of prayers and sacrifice the first churches were built. The gospel spread at breakneck speed long before internet was ever invented. Those early Christians knew that the message had transformed their lives, and they showed it in everything from their passion to spread the gospel to the very act of martyrdom—giving their lives rather than denying the gospel of Jesus Christ.
God has a place and a purpose for us today as well. He wants to build His beautiful kingdom on our shoulders too. He is working in and through us to help us follow Him. He created us and saved us for good works, which He has prepared in advance for us to do. We are part of this great adventure of representing God to our world.
Taken from Truth Plus Love by Matt Brown. Copyright © 2019 by Matt Brown. Used by permission of Zondervan. www.TruthPlusLoveBook.com
Matt Brown is an evangelist, author, and founder of Think Eternity, a ministry dedicated to amplifying the gospel every day to millions through devotionals, videos, live events, and more. Matt and his wife Michelle and their two sons live in Minnesota. You can follow Matt on social media at @evangelistmatt and at thinke.org
RELATED TOPICS: Destiny | Purpose
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If you sustained injuries in the SEPTA accident, you will need prompt medical attention. Do not delay this process. Postponing medical treatment could be detrimental to your physical health and affect your overall recovery. Medical reports will also support your description of the accident and any injuries you experienced. These documents will be instrumental in demonstrating that you deserve compensation.
If a SEPTA employee or legal representative tries to discuss the details of the accident with you or solicit an admission of guilt, you are under no legal obligation to speak with them. In fact, obtaining your own legal representation is critical, as it will provide you with the protection you need to ensure that your rights are not violated. The skill of an experienced lawyer that is well versed in personal injury law will be key to negotiating compensation for the injuries caused in the accident, particularly when dealing with SEPTA's insurance and legal representatives.
If you have been injured in a car or motorcycle accident involving SEPTA, contact me, Jeffrey H. Penneys, Esq., for a consultation regarding your claim. I am prepared to handle the legal complexities for you so you can focus on your recovery rather than the accumulating financial loss. I believe in taking every claim seriously and fighting for what is important: your rights. Call today or fill out the online contact form and I will be in touch within 24 hours.


text:
'This was not their fault or their failure' Mississippi VA officer, retired from Navy seeing veterans' disappointment from recent events
Published 4:34 pm Thursday, August 19, 2021
Retired Navy yeoman chief and Lincoln County's Veterans Affairs Officer Dwayne Gill says he is "seeing the disappointment" from veterans of the War in Afghanistan over recent events there.
U.S. Armed Forces officially began withdrawal from the county in March 2020, after the U.S. and Taliban signed the Agreement for Bringing Peace to Afghanistan. The deadline for full withdrawal is Aug. 31, 2021.
Members of the Taliban — meaning "students" or "seekers" — refer to themselves as the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, a militant religious-political movement considered terrorists by multiple governments and organizations.
On July 9, the Taliban had control of 90 of the country's 398 districts, while 141 remained under Afghan government control and 158 were contested. The Taliban slowly gained more control, holding 132 districts to the government's 114 on Aug. 13.
Just two days later, Sunday, Aug. 15, the Afghan government held only 12 districts, 41 were contested and the Taliban had full control of 345 districts. By Monday, the Taliban held 391 districts, only seven were contested and the government had fallen.
Veterans of the United States' 20-year conflict in the country are deeply affected by the turn in events and what Gill called "so much hard work put into it," even as President Joe Biden has defended the decision to withdraw forces, saying earlier this week, "American troops cannot and should not be fighting in a war and dying in a war that Afghan forces are not willing to fight for themselves."
Gill served almost 21 years in the U.S. Navy in the submarine force prior to his retirement. Appointed by the Lincoln County Board of Supervisors in 2013 after the death of the previous officer, Gen. Steven L. Melancon, U.S. Army-Ret., Gill's part-time role is to guide veterans through paperwork, help with appeals, guide through pitfalls with benefits, etc.
"There are a lot of resources out there (from the VA and other sources), but I still think your local veterans are going to have a harder time utilizing those, because it's coming from a government entity and that's who you feel hurt by," Gill said. "I think veterans will reach out to veterans, brothers."
While Gill has had no requests for VA materials, he has seen multiple posts from veterans on social media, offering encouragement and empathy to veterans of Afghanistan.
"Social media is playing a large role in this, whereas you didn't have it back with Vietnam and other wars. You don't have to scroll around much to see it," he said.
Some have posted the toll-free number for the Veterans Crisis Line — 800-273-8255.
Some posted comments such as, "I hope they know they did their job and they did it well. This was not their fault or their failure."
A letter published earlier this week from Veterans of Foreign Wars National Commander Fritz Mihelcic expressed encouragement to veterans of the war in Afghanistan.
"Scores of VFW members know the anger, frustration and sadness you are experiencing after hearing the troubling reports and seeing the disturbing images coming from lands where we sacrificed so much," Mihelcic wrote. "However, while there is bitter sentiment over this withdrawal, we encourage you to hold your head high. Because of your vigilance, hard work, and selfless sacrifice, you dealt a tremendous blow to Al-Qaeda, taking out its leader Osama Bin Laden, and disrupting its ability to plan and execute another major attack on American soil since September 11, 2001. You who served in Afghanistan with honor, valor and distinction, our nation owes you a tremendous debt of gratitude for the past twenty years of relative safety and security. Your service was not in vain."
The commander urged veterans to remember they are not alone.
"There are people you or a battle buddy can talk to and resources available to help cope with the stress of the situation," Mihelcic wrote.
"I'm seeing the disappointment," Gill said, "but it's not a military fight anymore. It has become a government thing. For the most part, the veterans are satisfied with their duty, the job they did and other veterans, but it's hard to see such work go away so quickly."
Gill can be reached at the Veterans Service Office at 601-835-3470.
Digital trail of tears: Mississippi COVID-19 stories tragically shared…


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text:
Wzniesienie Strzeleckie – wzniesienie o wysokości 79,7 m n.p.m. położone w woj. pomorskim, na obszarze miasta Sopot.

Przed II wojną światową wzniesienie nie posiadało nazwy, zaś obecnie stosowana nazwa to "Wzniesienie Strzeleckie".

Na wzniesieniu usytuowany jest punkt widokowy, zaś na północ od wzniesienia w odległości ok. 200 m przebiega ul. Zacisze.

W 2018 przewidziana jest renowacja punktu widokowego: położenie nowej nawierzchni, przełożenie wybranych stopni schodów z płyt kamiennych, naprawa muru oporowego oraz wymiana balustrad,
montaż pięciu ławek z oparciami, koszy na śmieci i tablicy informacyjnej. Zagrodzony dotychczas teren przy murze oporowym będzie stanowił dodatkowe miejsce, skąd będzie można podziwiać panoramę Sopotu i Zatoki Gdańskiej.

Przypisy

Wzniesienia Sopotu
Trójmiejski Park Krajobrazowy

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


text:
Pleyel et Cie. ("Pleyel and Company") is a French piano manufacturing firm founded by the composer Ignace Pleyel in 1807. In 1815, Pleyel's son Camille joined him as a business partner. The firm provided pianos to Frédéric Chopin, who considered Pleyel pianos to be "non plus ultra". Pleyel et Cie. also operated a concert hall, the Salle Pleyel, where Chopin performed his first – and last – Paris concerts. Pleyel's major contribution to piano development was the first use of a metal frame in a piano. Pleyel pianos were the choice of composers such as Chopin, Debussy, Saint-Saëns, Ravel, de Falla and Stravinsky and of pianists and teachers Alfred Cortot, Philip Manuel and Gavin Williamson. Nineteenth-century musicians involved in the company's management included Joseph O'Kelly and Georges Pfeiffer.

History
Around 1815, Pleyel was the first to introduce the short, vertically strung cottage upright piano, or "pianino" to France, adapting the design made popular in Britain by Robert Wornum. Their pianos were such a success that in 1834 the company employed 250 workers and produced 1000 pianos annually.

The company's success led them to invest in experiments, resulting in the double piano in 1890, invented by Hungarian composer Emánuel Moór. Although not the first company to experiment with building two pianos into the same frame, Pleyel's instrument, patented as the "Duo-Clave", was by far the most successful and produced the largest instruments. The company manufactured a very small number of double pianos in the 1890s and continued to make them until the 1920s. CDs can be bought today of performances on some of these pianos.

Towards the end of the 19th century, the Pleyel firm produced the first chromatic harp.

In the early 20th century, performances by Wanda Landowska helped revive interest in the harpsichord.

In 1913, Pleyel built the "Jungle Piano" for use by Albert Schweitzer in his hospital in Lambaréné (French Equatorial Africa – now Gabon). It was fitted with pedal attachments (to operate like an organ pedal-keyboard) and built with tropical woods that would acclimate to conditions there.

In the early 1920s, Pierre Hans (1886-1960), an engineer with very thick fingers, commissioned Pleyel to build a piano he designed with an upper keyboard and a lower keyboard tuned a half tone apart, which became known as the Hans piano. Pleyel produced several Hans pianos, but they fell out of use after World War II.

Pleyel also pioneered the player piano with the Pleyela line of pianos. These were often small pianos of an unusual design.

Today
Pleyel continued to manufacture pianos through 2013, under the corporate auspices of the French Piano Manufacturing Company ("Manufacture Française de Pianos, Cie."). In the 1980s, the Pleyel company bought out the Erard and Gaveau piano companies which also manufactured pianos in France. The Pleyel pianos of today incorporated improvements of these companies and others. In the last two decades, the company was bought by the same family which had bought the Salle Pleyel concert hall in order to revive the name Pleyel. They built a new factory in the south of France and started making a line of newly designed and improved pianos. Then, in 2008, they decided to downsize the factory and lines of pianos. They moved the factory back to Paris and opened a new factory where they began introducing new pianos designed by famous designers. The red spruce used by Pleyel came from the Fiemme Valley in Trentino, Italy. After full assembly of a piano, the instrument received a further 30–40 hours of fine-tuning.

At the end of 2013, the company announced it would cease manufacturing pianos. In 2017, Pleyel was bought by Algam, a company based in Nantes, France. Algam has invested heavily in the brand and production of new Pleyel pianos has now recommenced making Pleyel the oldest piano company in the world which is still producing pianos.

2009 replica
In September 2009, the company produced a replica of the Pleyel piano, produced in 1830, that was used by Fryderyk Chopin. The original, which is now in the collection of the Fryderyk Chopin Institute in Warsaw, was used as the source for the plans for this replica. This replica was used in The 1st International Chopin Competition on Period Instruments in September 2018.

Recordings made with originals and replicas of Pleyel et Cie pianos

 Yuan Sheng. Frederic Chopin. Ballades Nos 1-4/Impromptus Nos 1-4. Played on the 1845 Pleyel piano. Label: Piano Classics
 Ronald Brautigam. Felix Mendelssohn. Piano Concertos. Played on a copy of the 1830 Pleyel piano made by Paul McNulty. Label: Bis
 Janusz Olejniczak. Chopin evening around 1831 Pleyel.
 Alexei Lubimov. Chopin, Bach, Mozart, Beethoven: at Chopin's home piano.  Played on the original 1843 upright Pleyel piano. Label: NIFCCD
 Dina Yoffe. Fryderyk Chopin. Piano Concertos No 1 & 2. Version for one piano. Played on the 1848 Pleyel and the 1838 Erard pianos. Label: Fryderyk Chopin Institute
 Viviana Sofronitsky, Sergei Istomin. Frederyk Chopin. Complete works for cello and piano. Played on a replica of the 1830 Pleyel piano made in 2010 by Paul McNulty. Label: Passacaille
 Kevin Kenner. Fryderyk Chopin. 4 Impromptus. Played on the 1848 Pleyel piano. Label: Fryderyk Chopin Institute
 Tomasz Ritter. Fryderyk Chopin. Sonata in B Minor, Ballade in F minor, Polonaises, Mazurkas. Karol Kurpinski. Polonaise in D minor. Played on the 1842 Pleyel piano, the 1837 Erard piano and a copy of Buchholtz piano from ca 1825-1826 made by Paul McNulty. Label: Fryderyk Chopin Institute
 Kimiko Douglass-Ishizaka. Frederic Chopin. 24 Preludes. Played on the 1842 Pleyel piano. Released under a Creative Commons license.

References

External links
 Official Pleyel pianos website
 Pleyel of Paris newsletter
 Salle Pleyel, a Paris concert hall built in the late 1920s
 A web site on Pleyel pianos by Stephen Birkett of the University of Waterloo; includes pictures of Pleyel and of historical Pleyel pianos
 Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, 2001 s.v., Pleyel (ii), pp. 923–924
 Pictures of several Pleyel pianos
 History of Pleyel and their pianos with many pictures and details
 International Chopin Competition on Period Instruments website
 Rachel Donadio, "Storied French Piano Manufacturer to Close".  New York Times "ArtsBeat" blog, 14 November 2013
 Pleyel Pianos – The Piano in Polish Collections
 Chopin's last piano (Pleyel 14810)

 Official McNulty pianos website link to Pleyel 1830 copy by Paul McNulty built for Chopin Institute Warsaw
 Pleyel replica to make its concert debut
 Fryderyk Chopin Institute website

Piano manufacturing companies
Musical instrument manufacturing companies of France


text:
Pakistan Edition
Fearing torture, ex-PM Khan's aide files petition for medical examination
Central bank rejects claim capping dollar price caused $3 billion losses in exports, remittances
Pakistan's president, PM express sorrow after 50 die in twin transport mishaps
PM calls for 'global unity' to fight Islamophobia after desecration of Holy Quran in Denmark
Pakistan has to abide by tough IMF conditions out of 'compulsion' — defense minister
Tuned in: Pakistani twins ride the wave of Ertugrul's success with local soundtrack
Tuned in: Pakistani twins ride the wave of Ertugrul's success with local soundtrack /node/1680241/pakistan
A still from the music video of 'Sayonee' covered by Leo Twins
https://arab.news/8jrxy
Kaukab Jahan
Musician brothers say reaction to the cover version has been a 'breakthrough' experience
Work gets millions of views, retweets by Turkish deputy minister, global bloggers
KARACHI: It's got a ring to it.
Or so say fans and followers of 26-year-old Pakistani musician brothers, Leo Twins, after the duo created a cover version of Turkish drama Diriliş: Ertuğrul's original soundtrack.
"We were actually asked by our fans to create a cover version of the original soundtrack in the comments section of our channel. So, it's an amazing feeling to know that it's being loved so much," Sharoon Leo, one of the twins, said during an exclusive interview with Arab News.
It's the cover track which accompanies the roll credits for Ertugrul Ghazi, the Urdu-dubbed version of the drama series which is based on the history of the Muslim Oghuz Turks from the 13th century, and was released on state-run PTV on April 25 after Prime Minister Imran Khan said it would "help the youth learn about Islamic values and history."
Since being released on video-sharing platform Youtube three weeks ago, the soundtrack has already garnered 5.1 million views.
Sharoon told Arab News that while recreating the cover was a challenge – owing to the popularity of the OST conceptualized by Jenerik Müziği – they've tried to retain its "Middle-Eastern feel" as much as possible.
"We always try to do our covers differently from the originals," Sharoon said talking about their cover versions of HBO's popular series, Game of Thrones, and Pakistani drama Mere Pass Tum Ho.
"There was an instrument in the original track which we thought could best be replaced with the rubab. We also enhanced the violin, which was not very obvious initially," he explained.
A screengrab from the music video of the track 'Hum Zalmi' featuring Leo Twins.
While Sharoon plays the violin and cello, his twin, Haroon works with other instruments such as the guitar, rubab, tabla, piano, cajon, ukulele, mandolin, darbuka, and more.
Together, they set up Leo Twins, a namesake of their zodiac sign, in their birthplace of Rawalpindi in 2012.
Sharoon credits their success to their "real teacher in music," Ustad Idrees Ahmed Khan, explaining how a simple gesture of kindness on his part set the tone for their triumphant rise.
"One day, we saw a guitar and violin at a shop, but did not have enough money to buy them. So, we sold our new mobiles and paid for the instruments. Ustaad Idrees Ahmed Khan, who used to give music lessons at the shop, was observing us the whole time, and asked if we would like to learn music from him for free. He said it was because he saw a passion in us for music, which was rare those days, especially in our generation," Sharoon said.
That was eight years ago, and while they've had several hits and misses through the years, they got their first big break in 2015, after featuring alongside music giants, Rahat Fateh Ali Khan and Atif Aslam, as part of their team on Nescafe Basement's Season 3.
However, nothing compares to the accolades they've received for the Ertugrul cover, Sharoon said, with the soundtrack being retweeted by Turkish Deputy Minister Ali Shaheen and several other bloggers in Turkey.
"It has attracted a very different audience. We have been doing covers to pay tribute to our legendary artists for several years now and could only gather 45,000 subscribers. Still, after we uploaded the Ertugrul Ghazi soundtrack, the number of subscribers has crossed 243K. This soundtrack has given us a new breakthrough," he said.
Topics: Pakistan leo twins celebrities entertainment ertugrul Turkish Drama ghazi
Fearing torture, ex-PM Khan's aide files petition for medical examination /node/2241071/pakistan
Chaudhry Fawad Hussain urges court to take notice of violation of his constitutional rights
Hussain was arrested last week on charges of threatening members of Pakistan's election regulator
ISLAMABAD: Former prime minister Imran Khan's aide, Chaudhry Fawad Hussain, on Sunday submitted a plea before an Islamabad judicial magistrate for his medical examination to be conducted, fearing he may be subjected to torture in police custody.
Hussain, who served as information minister in former PM Khan's cabinet, was arrested on Wednesday from Lahore and brought to Islamabad. A sedition case was registered against Hussain after a case was registered against him by the Election Commission of Pakistan's (ECP) secretary, who said Hussain had threatened members of the commission and their families.
On Saturday, an Islamabad local court remanded Hussain for two days in police custody. Hussain and Khan's Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party have denied allegations he threatened ECP's members. The party and its chairman have repeatedly raised concerns Hussain's constitutional rights are being violated by authorities.
"It is feared that the applicant may be subjected to mental and physical torture," Hussain's petition read. "It is important to conduct the medical examination of the applicant to protect his legal and constitutional rights," it added.
The petition said police were not conducting Hussain's medical examination which was against the court's directives, adding that they were also in violation of his constitutional rights.
The petition alleged that Islamabad police had subjected two PTI senior leaders, Senator Azam Swati and Dr. Shahbaz Gill, to torture during custody. Islamabad police has rejected the allegations. "The police might do the same as they did in the past, and this is why they are not conducting my medical," the petition said.
It also requested the court to direct police "to immediately conduct the applicant's medical examination and submit a report in the court."
The former information minister is scheduled to be produced before the judicial magistrate in Islamabad tomorrow, Monday, after the expiry of his two-day physical remand. The investigators argued before the court that they wanted to have a photogrammetry test of the accused conducted. They also demanded his laptop and cell phone be recovered for forensic analysis.
Topics: Fawad Chaudhry
Central bank rejects claim capping dollar price caused $3 billion losses in exports, remittances /node/2241061/pakistan
Arab News Pakistan
State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) says rising inflation, global economic slowdown behind dwindling remittances, exports
SBP says devastating floods last year and ensuing supply disruptions also contributed to decline in Pakistan's exports
ISLAMABAD: The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) on Sunday rejected media reports which stated that capping the price of the US dollar caused the country losses worth $3 billion in exports and remittances, saying that a decline in both was due to "exogenous factors."
In a major sign that it was willing to swallow the bitter pill and agree to the International Monetary Fund's (IMF) tough conditionalities, Pakistan's foreign exchange companies last week removed the cap on the US dollar. The price of the rupee, as a result, fell to a 24-year-low against the greenback, compounding problems for the South Asian country.
Local media reports had claimed that capping the price of the US dollar had dealt Pakistan losses of $3 billion in exports and remittances as people preferred to send remittances to Pakistan via illegal channels, which offered a better rate.
In a press release, the SBP rejected the reports, describing them as "incorrect." It added that Pakistan's exports were facing headwinds due to moderating demand in international markets as the country's trading partners go through a period of monetary tightening.
"For instance, US Federal Funds rate has surged from 0.25 percent in March 2022 to 4.5 percent to date; suggesting a noticeable global monetary tightening," the SBP said.
The central bank said inflation has been "significantly higher" in developed countries, eroding people's purchasing power. The SBP also said that devastating floods last year and ensuing supply disruptions are also to blame for Pakistan's dwindling exports.
"In this backdrop, linking decline in exports to relatively stable exchange rate is not appropriate," it added.
It said workers' remittances were gradually "tapering off" from the all-time high figure of $3.1 billion in April 2022 due to Eid-related flows.
"This decline is primarily attributed to global economic slowdown as higher inflation in developed countries has led to higher cost of living abroad, thus reducing the surplus funds that could be sent back to homeland as remittances," the central bank added.
Pakistan's foreign reserves have dipped to an alarming eight-year low of $3.6 billion, barely enough to cover three weeks of imports. Islamabad hopes the resumption of the IMF's stalled loan program would help unlock inflows from allies and multilateral organizations.
Topics: Pakistan economy State Bank of Pakistan (SBP)
Pakistan's president, PM express sorrow after 50 die in twin transport mishaps /node/2240826/pakistan
A passenger bus fell into a ravine and caught fire in Balochistan's Bela area, killing at least 40 people
In second mishap, 10 children were killed after their ferry capsized in country's northwest on Sunday
KARACHI: Pakistan's President Dr. Arif Alvi and Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif in separate statements on Sunday expressed "deep grief and sorrow" over two transport tragedies that left at least 50 people dead and renewed the debate about transport safety protocols in the South Asian country.
In the first incident, a passenger bus fell into a ravine and later caught fire in the Bela area of Pakistan's southwestern Balochistan province, where road accidents claim thousands of lives annually. At least 40 people were killed in the accident.
In another incident, 10 children, aged between seven to 14 years, died when their boat capsized in Tanda Dam lake near Kohat in the country's northwest, according to police. The boat was carrying between 25 and 30 students on a day trip from a local madrassa when it overturned.
"The president has stressed authorities take practical steps to avert the occurrence of such incidents in the future," the state-owned Associated Press of Pakistan (APP) reported, citing a statement from the president's secretariat said.
"The prime minister has directed [authorities concerned] to ensure the provision of all available medical facilities to the injured," the Prime Minister's House said in a statement according to the APP.
Balochistan, a mountainous, desert region bordering Afghanistan and Iran, is Pakistan's largest but most impoverished province, with a staggering 40,000-kilometer network of road infrastructure.
According to the Motorway police, 6,000 to 8,000 people die each year in accidents across the Balochistan province, mainly on single-lane roads that have infamously come to be known as "killer highways."
"A bus going from Quetta to Karachi plunged into a ravine and caught fire at around 3 am," Hamza Anjum Nadeem, the Bela assistant commissioner, told Arab News. "At least 39 bodies have been recovered and search for others is underway."
Anjum later confirmed the death of another passenger, taking the count to 40.
Of these, 38 dead bodies were being moved to the southern port city of Karachi, 177 kilometers away from Bela, for medico-legal formalities, Karachi Police Surgeon Dr. Summaiya Syed told Arab News.
Balochistan is the epicenter of the $64 billion China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), a road and infrastructure development plan, which aims to ultimately provide the shortest route for Chinese cargo headed for the Middle East, Africa, and Central Asia.
Major roads are slated for construction under the CPEC, including the road from Balochistan's Khuzdar district to the Chinese-funded, deepwater port of Gwadar. But for now, the absence of dual carriageways, inadequate training of drivers, and a lack of highway patrol mean thousands continue to die on these roads each year.
Like road accidents, mass drownings are also common in Pakistan when aged and overloaded vessels lose their stability and pitch passengers into the water.
In July, 18 women drowned when an overcrowded boat carrying a wedding party across the Indus river in Punjab province capsized.
The South Asian country also has poor road safety controls and thousands of lives are lost to road crashes each year, particularly in the southwestern Balochistan province.
At least seven people were killed, and 15 others were injured after a passenger bus collided with a truck in Balochistan's Killa Saifullah district this month.
In June last year, 22 people were killed when a passenger bus veered off a narrow road and fell into a ravine in the same district.
Topics: bus accident
PM calls for 'global unity' to fight Islamophobia after desecration of Holy Quran in Denmark /node/2241006/pakistan
Shahjahan Khurram
Danish far-right politician torched a copy of the Holy Quran on Friday near a Copenhagen mosque
PM Shehbaz Sharif says desecration of Holy Quran 'highly offensive' act, calls on world to denounce it
ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif called for "global unity" to fight Islamophobia on Sunday amid increasing incidents of the desecration of the Holy Quran in Denmark and Sweden last week.
The prime minister's comments came after a far-right Danish politician torched a copy of the Holy Quran on Friday near a mosque and outside the premises of the Turkish embassy in Copenhagen.
Rasmus Paludan, known for his extremist stance towards Muslims, pulled a similar stunt in Stockholm last week. Paludan said he would repeat the act every Friday until Sweden is included in the NATO alliance. Turkey, whose support is crucial for Denmark to join the military alliance, has spoken out against Copenhagen's bid to join NATO.
Paludan's Islamophobic acts have triggered anger among the Muslim community worldwide and evoked strong condemnations from Pakistan, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, and other Muslim countries around the world.
In a Twitter post, Pakistan's prime minister condemned the "highly offensive" incident, calling on the civilized world to denounce it as well
The highly offensive desecration of the Holy Quran by a Danish politician is the third such incident in a row that should be strongly condemned by the civilised world. The need for global unity to fight Islamophobia couldn't be more urgent than it is now. We are deeply hurt.
— Shehbaz Sharif (@CMShehbaz) January 29, 2023
"The need for global unity to fight Islamophobia couldn't be more urgent than it is now. We are deeply hurt," he wrote on Twitter.
Pakistan's foreign office on Saturday issued a strong statement against Paludan's act, describing it as "a senseless and deeply offensive" action.
"This repetition of the vile act leaves little doubt in the minds of Muslims around the world that freedom of expression is being blatantly abused to spread religious hatred and incitement to violence," it had said.
Topics: Pakistan Holy Quran Islamophobia
Pakistan has to abide by tough IMF conditions out of 'compulsion' — defense minister /node/2240951/pakistan
Sarah B. Haider
IMF wants Pakistan to reestablish market-based mechanism to determine Pakistani rupee's value
Defense Minister Khawaja Asif says government would try not to burden citizens under IMF's conditions
ISLAMABAD: As Pakistan increased petrol prices by Rs35 per liter, Defense Minister Khawaja Muhammad Asif said on Sunday that the country had to agree to "very tough" conditions imposed by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) out of "compulsion" to address its economic woes.
The IMF's mission is scheduled to visit Pakistan on January 31 to discuss the resumption of its $7 billion loan program, as Islamabad desperately seeks another loan tranche to shore up its foreign exchange reserves. Pakistan's forex reserves have declined to a staggering $3.6 billion, not even enough to cover a month of imports.
Earlier today, Finance Minister Ishaq Dar announced jacking up prices of petroleum products in the country by as much as Rs35 per liter. The minister said the decision was taken due to the Pakistani rupee's recent devaluation and up to an 11 percent increase in global fuel prices.
The hike in prices of petroleum products is part of the IMF's conditionalities to revive the stalled loan program, which requires Pakistan to do away with expensive energy subsidies. The price hike is expected to further increase decades-high inflation in the South Asian country.
The global lender also wants Pakistan to reestablish a market-based mechanism to determine the value of the Pakistani rupee, which fell to a record low of 269.60 against the dollar in the open market this week. Such a mechanism is a key prior action for the country to receive IMF support.
"The IMF program, which we had to re-enter because of the [current] circumstances and out of compulsion, has set very strict and tough conditions for Pakistan," Asif said on Sunday, speaking to reporters.
He added the government would undertake efforts to ensure the common man would not have to bear the economic burden of IMF's conditions.
"We will try that only those belonging to the [upper] socioeconomic class will have to bear the economic burden of this crisis," he said.
Answering a question related to the acute dearth of forex reserves in the country and the ensuing depreciation of the rupee against the dollar, the defense minister said people who have a foreign currency account in the country would still be able to withdraw "some" of their money in dollars.
"If someone here has a dollar account and wants to withdraw money from their banks, they can do so but in small amounts. For instance, if someone wants to take out money to pay for their children's school fees, they can do so," he clarified.
Asif also said the country's imports, which had to be halted due to the dwindling reserves, were "gradually being relaxed."
"Our exports are gradually being relaxed, so we will hopefully recover from the economic [turmoil] soon," he said. "Slowly and gradually, things are being streamlined."
Pakistan secured a $6 billion IMF bailout in 2019, which was topped up with another $1 billion last year. However, the lender then stalled disbursements in November due to Pakistan's failure to make more progress on fiscal consolidation and economic reforms.
Topics: Pakistan economy International Monetary Fund (IMF)
Study on Saudi workplace wellness identifies key challenges, suggests solutions
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text:
The Vagrants is the first novel by Yiyun Li. It was published in 2009, following her award-winning 2005 short story collection A Thousand Years of Good Prayers.

The novel won Li the 2009 gold medal of California Book Award for fiction.

In his review, in The New York Times, Pico Iyer characterizes her novel as an instance of "American stories that are World stories".

References

2009 American novels
2009 debut novels
Random House books


text:
Fittler filthy over Origin racism claims
Brad Fittler says he won't cop claims of racism from Latrell Mitchell.
Brad Fittler has hit back at claims of racism from Latrell Mitchell after the disgruntled star accused NSW of going "real funny" on a trio of indigenous players over their Origin anthem stance.
On Saturday NRL.com published a wide-ranging interview with Mitchell in which he made the explosive allegations against Blues officials only for the comments to be taken out following the threat of legal action from the NSWRL.
"NSW went real funny on us because we don't sing the anthem," Mitchell said referring to himself, Cody Walker and Josh Addo-Carr.
What remained in the article, however, was criticism from Mitchell of Fittler's handling of his axing following a disappointing performance in Game One.
"I didn't get told what I needed to work on. I know I played a bad game but it's like I can't play good every game," Mitchell told NRL.com.
"I haven't had a yarn with him (Fittler), he said he was going to ring me and he still hasn't rang me … it's like well, I haven't got nothing off him.
Speaking to the Sydney Morning Herald, Fittler brushed off the selection criticism but drew the line at claims of mistreatment of the indigenous players.
"I'm cool," Fittler told the Herald.
"There were some things in the interview that appeared and were then taken out. I can handle the other stuff, but the claims about the anthem are completely false. I wasn't going to cop that.
"I hope Latrell has a good break."
Latrell Mitchell, Josh Addo-Carr and Cody Walker during the national anthem at Game One.
Mitchell also addressed his future in the interview, describing the Roosters decision to pull their contract offer as a "kick in the teeth".
The centre's playing future remains one of the hottest rugby league topics of the summer after informing the Roosters of his intention to explore the open market. But the Roosters' centre revealed being surprised when he went home to Taree on the NSW mid-north coast to learn the club had withdrawn from negotiations on an extension.
Mitchell plans on confronting coach Trent Robinson and chairman Nick Politis about the developments once he returns from his off-season break. "I said to Trent, 'Look, I want to go and explore my options, is that alright?' and he's like 'Mate, you're entitled to it'," Mitchell told NRL.com
"That's where it ended, pretty much, and that's all I took out of it. "I said, 'Righto, well, then I'm going to go see. Then I went to pub that day, having a beer here and there, and then see the Roosters pull out of Latrell Mitchell's deal.
"And I was like, 'That's a kick in the teeth'." As it stands, Mitchell has one year left on his deal at the Bondi-based club, but is widely tipped to be with a new team by the start of next season.
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Former Tennessee basketball assistant Tony Jones coached with Bruce Pearl for years and knows what makes this season's Final Four team special.
DETROIT - Tony Jones knows Bruce Pearl better than most.
Jones, an assistant coach at Oakland, spent 12 years on Pearl's staff at Milwaukee, Tennessee and Auburn.
According to Jones, reaching the Final Four "was an obsession" for Pearl.
And he knows just how far Pearl — and this season's Auburn basketball team, the first in program history to make the Final Four — has come to reach this point.
"He's had some adversity," Jones said, "but he's persevered from that adversity and he was fortunate enough to get another opportunity at Auburn, and he's taken advantage of it."
Nearly a decade ago, Pearl was one missed free throw from potentially reaching the Final Four.
In 2010, he and Jones were at Tennessee when the Vols earned a No. 6 seed and won their first three games to advance to the Elite Eight. There, they met Michigan State.
Tennessee guard Scotty Hopson went to the line with 12 seconds left and his team down one.
Hopson made the first free throw. He missed the second. The Spartans got the ball to Raymar Morgan, who was fouled with 2 seconds left and split a pair of free throws to send MSU to the Final Four.
"Everybody that was a part of that program knew that if Scotty had made that free throw, we would've had our defense set and we would've stopped Michigan State on that last possession and we would've been to the Final Four," Jones recalled. "That didn't happen."
It was the beginning of the end for Pearl, who lied to the NCAA about recruiting violations and lost his job following the 2010-11 season (his final game was a blowout loss to Michigan in the NCAA tournament). He was hit with a three-year show cause penalty,, which all but banned him from coaching until 2014.
His next job: Auburn, a program not known for basketball success.
Jones, after serving a one-year show cause for his role in the Tennessee violations and two seasons as coach at Alcoa High, joined Pearl's staff at Auburn and was an assistant for just over a year. During that time, he helped recruit Bryce Brown, a member of the 2015 class, and Jared Harper, a member of the 2016 class.
Brown and Harper are the Tigers' top two scorers, averaging 16 and 15.4 points per game, respectively.
Neither player was recruited by blue bloods Kansas, North Carolina or Kentucky. But Auburn beat all three in this year's NCAA tournament en route to the Midwest Region title.
"What stands out is their ability to compete — their ability to have a chip on their shoulder," Jones said. "When you play those teams, those guys have a little bit more incentive to go out there and compete. And to be quite frank, Bryce Brown and Jared Harper are very talented basketball players. They are hard to cover one on one and they're proficient from the 3."
Part of what makes Auburn special, according to Jones, is a "next-man up" mentality instilled by Pearl. When forward Chuma Okeke suffered a torn ACL against No. 1 seed North Carolina in the Sweet 16, that mentality helped the Tigers sustain a double-digit lead against the Tar Heels — and it helped them get past No. 2 seed Kentucky with Okeke watching from the sideline.
Auburn is a talented team with plenty of experience. And, of course, the Tigers have Pearl.
"He's very talented, especially at calling plays, recognizing mismatches on the offensive end," Jones said. "Defensively, he gets his kids ready to play. He has his kids playing hard and willing to run through a brick wall for him.
Jones is flying to Minneapolis this week for the Final Four and will spend time with Pearl and Auburn before Saturday's game. There's still a connection to the team, especially with Brown and Harper, who Jones hasn't seen in a couple years but has kept in touch with over text.
He already knows what he'll say to both players.
Final Four: Could former Tennessee basketball coach Bruce Pearl actually win it all at Auburn?