State of the EHS Nation- Exclusive results from ISHN’s 28^th annual White Paper Reader Survey.

The Chicago Transit Board today approved the Chicago Transit Authority’s $2.16 billion operating budget for 2025, a strategic plan designed to maintain current fares, enhance bus and rail services beyond pre-pandemic levels and support continued investments in infrastructure and technology. The budget aims to further elevate the transit experience by prioritizing investments that address what’s most important to our riders, including system security, accessibility, reliability and safety.

Noting this, report comes from Japan media (Sankei) via Reuters:

• Japanese government to compile a supplementary budget of about 13.5 trillion yen ($87 billion)
• to fund a stimulus package to help low-income households and offset rising prices
• government would provide 30,000 yen to low-income households that are exempt from residential taxes and 20,000 yen per child for households with families

I've been eyeing these for a while. Not an all-time low (which was $349 back in Sep 2023) however this is the lowest it's been in a year.

Unsure if these will get even cheaper during Black Friday deals, but personally I'm in no rush and I'll probably wait it out and see before pulling the trigger. Great price for those who want to grab a pair now.

The Technics AZ80s are pretty underrated IMO - been watching many "middle end" earbud reviews (the real top of the line stuff is in a whole other league) and these are very competitive against all the other big name earbuds out there (Bose QC2, Sony XM5, Jabra Elite, Nothing Ear, AirPods Pro if you are on iOS, etc.).

As of Nov. 13, the Beats Studio Buds are on sale for $99.99 at Target. Normally they retail for $149.99.

The best Amazon deals on Nov. 13 include Samsung Galaxy Buds FE, PlayStation Store gift card, Fitbit Sense 2, and Fire TV Stick 4K.

[Premium Times] Mr Jega alleged that some legislators attempted to influence budget allocations and secure contracts, undermining public officials' efforts to maintain integrity.

[New Zimbabwe] THE Harare City Council (HCC) has approved a US$548,1 million budget for the year 2025 with water and sanitation and road rehabilitation receiving the biggest shares.

Deported Ukrainian children are Russia's future army recruits, ombudsman says

Slovenský premiér Robert Fico minulý týden navštívil Čínu. Dle novináře Arpáda Soltésze směřuje Slovensko k opakování čínského scénáře v Maďarsku. "Má obrovský infrastrukturní dluh, nemáme dálnici do Košic, rozpadá se železnice. Pro Číňany nebude problém to zaplatit," říká Soltész v podcastu Padni komu padni.

For any social media conspiracy theorists that believe incumbent President Joe Biden actually voted for President-elect Donald Trump over Vice President Kamala Harris … you might have some more fodder now. Trump […]

The post Watch: Trump and Biden 'Act Like Buddies' as They Meet in Oval Office appeared first on The Western Journal.

The City of Edmonton is falling short of its greenhouse gas emissions targets, two years after the municipality introduced its first carbon budget. 

The Ottawa Police Services Board tabled a net operating budget of $388.7 million Wednesday morning, up $16.3 million from 2024. 

Residents are set to pay more for a variety of city services next year if Ottawa's 2025 draft operating budget, tabled Wednesday, is adopted.

Ottawa city staff have drawn up a budget that would hike taxes and transit fares to patch over a gaping transit deficit.

As Donald Trump prepares his return to the White House, one of his most omnipresent confidants has been not his running mate or wife but a fellow brash billionaire, Elon Musk.

Oyo State Governor, Seyi Makinde, on Wednesday, presented a proposed budget estimate of N678,086,767,322.18 to the state House of Assembly for legislative consideration and approval. Makinde, while presenting the budget, tagged, “Budget of Economic Stabilisation,” said it was 35 per cent higher compared to the 2024 budget. He said, “Out of the budget, capital expenditure

Governor Ademola Adeleke of Osun state on Wednesday presented the total sum of Three Hundred and Ninety Billion, Twenty Million, Two Hundred and Seventy Seven Thousand, Seven Hundred and Forty Naira Only (390,028,277,740.00) to the state House of Assembly as 2025 budget. Governor Adeleke who tagged the 2025 budget as “Budget of Reconstruction and Recovery” […]

The post Gov Adeleke presents N390bn budget to Osun assembly  first appeared on Business Hallmark.

• Hike in petroleum levy, imposition of GST on petroleum products not expected anytime soon
• Govt sees economic activity picking up next month due to stable rupee, lower policy rate
• Senate body points to issues in Islamic banking, fraudulent POS receipts, fake ATM notes
• 10pc levy on transport with Iran has left over 600 trucks stalled

ISLAMABAD: The Inter­national Monetary Fund (IMF) is reported to have expressed satisfaction over the increase in the tax-to-GDP ratio by nearly 1.5 percentage points, relieving the authorities from any push for additional tax measures through a mini-budget.

According to sources closely involved in ongoing discussions with the visiting IMF mission, the Federal Board of Revenue’s (FBR) revenue collection target for the current fiscal year will remain unchanged at Rs12.97 trillion. Authorities have ruled out the need for additional taxes or a mini-budget, citing the IMF’s positive response.

Officials said that economic activity is expected to pick up by December in view of a stable exchange rate and a reduction in the State Bank’s policy rate, likely offsetting a tax shortfall of around Rs190 billion recorded in the first four months (July to October) of the fiscal year.

There would neither be any increase in the petroleum levy nor would general sales tax (GST) be imposed on petroleum products, the sources said after a meeting of the Senate Standing Committee on Finance and Revenue presided over by PPP Senator Salim Mandviwalla.

They said the tax-to-GDP ratio had increased from 8.8pc to 10.3pc and the IMF was satisfied with this 1.5 percentage point improvement.

The sources reiterated the commitment given to the IMF that tax collection on agriculture income would start from the next fiscal year. They said that tax reforms were progressing and the draft Tax Laws Amendment Ordinance 2024 had been presented to the prime minister for approval. The ordinance contains a new family income tax return system and abolishes the concepts of non-filers and late filers.

The sources, however, hinted at tinkering with the Tajir Dost Scheme to effectively bring in traders into the tax net and said these were being discussed with the IMF mission during the ongoing meetings.

The IMF has been told that the FBR collected Rs12bn from retailers during the first quarter of 2024-25, although only 500,000 potential retailers were the target out of three million small shopkeepers.

‘Slow progress on Islamic banking’

Earlier, the Senate panel decided to call scholars of the Council of Islamic Ideology to have input on the working of Islamic banking operations in Pakistan, for which a special session would be arranged.

The central bank’s deputy governor told the panel that Riba was the main difference between conventional banking and Islamic banking.

Senator Farooq H. Naek pointed out that full implementation of Islamic banking was committed for 2027, but progress had been very slow. The SBP’s deputy governor emphasised the need for continued deliberation on Islamic banking and assured the committee that several banks were actively working towards compliance.

FBR Chairman Rashid Mehmood Langrial told the panel that FBR’s enforcement would be improved in the coming months after approval of a transformation plan, including enhancing the board’s operational expertise, organisational capacities and anti-smuggling measures.

Key discussions during the meeting included the contentious 10pc levy on transport and businesses between Pakistan and Iran, raised by Senator Manzoor Ahmad Kakar in a Senate session. The committee resolved to report to the house that the issue may be referred to the Standing Committee on Communications, noting that the levy, imposed with the federal government’s approval, did not pertain to the Federal Board of Revenue.

While FBR officials emphasised that this specific tax was not their responsibility, Senator Kakar raised concerns that Pakistani trucks were being unfairly taxed, with over 600 trucks currently parked due to the levy. The committee agreed to forward the matter to the Communications Committee for further deliberation.

The committee also discussed concerns raised by Senator Mohsin Aziz regarding the fee collected by FBR for point of sale (POS) services and its utilisation. The FBR chairman confirmed the introduction of a policy to penalise businesses that are issuing fake POS receipts, imposing fines of Rs500,000 and shutting down shops involved in such practices.

Senator Aziz highlighted weaknesses in enforcement, with some fake receipts circulating in the mar­ket, including a bill in Islamabad marked “tentative”. The FBR chairman acknowledged the issue and assured that enforcement mea­sures would be strengthened soon.

A key briefing by the SBP highlighted the performance of banking branches in smaller provinces, revealing that as of June 30, 2024, there were 3,334 banking branches operating in Balochistan, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Azad Jammu and Kashmir and Gilgit-Baltistan, accounting for 20pc of the total nationwide branches. Additionally, 199 branches of microfinance banks were serving these regions, representing 13pc of the country’s total microfinance network.

Another pressing issue discussed was the problem of counterfeit currency dispensed from ATMs. Senator Kakar cited a case where a young man received fake Rs5,000 notes from an ATM. The CEO of a commercial bank assured the committee that security measures were being enhanced to address this issue.

Published in Dawn, November 14th, 2024

Tech billionaire Elon Musk is increasing his political footprint as he joins the Trump orbit for days at Mar-a-Lago and traveled with President-elect Trump to Washington, D.C.

As the Union Budget 2025 approaches, the CBDT is reportedly focused on introducing a streamlined version of India’s income tax laws. ...

Prime Minister Michel Barnier's minority government now has a largely free hand in submitting a cleaned-up text to the Senate upper house

It has given impetus to the developmental goals outlined in the NDA’s election manifesto, say MLAs on the first day of discussion

Principal amount outstanding in 2019-20 was ₹67,171 crore, and it touched ₹1,54,797 crore in 2023-24, says the PAG report released by the I&PR Department

FISHING BUDDIES LIMITED EDITION PRINT by Scott Kennedy is a(n) Limited Edition. The Edition is Limited to Limited to 1000 pcs

INTERNETS this artist has won it.

Peripheral taste neurons exhibit functional, genetic, and morphological diversity, yet understanding how or if these attributes combine into taste neuron types remains unclear. In this study, we used male and female mice to relate taste bud innervation patterns to the function of a subset of proenkephalin-expressing (Penk+) taste neurons. We found that taste arbors (the portion of the axon within the taste bud) stemming from Penk+ neurons displayed diverse branching patterns and lacked stereotypical endings. The range in complexity observed for individual taste arbors from Penk+ neurons mirrored the entire population, suggesting that taste arbor morphologies are not primarily regulated by the neuron type. Notably, the distinguishing feature of arbors from Penk+ neurons was their propensity to come within 110 nm (in apposition with) different types of taste-transducing cells within the taste bud. This finding is contrary to the expectation of genetically defined taste neuron types that functionally represent a single stimulus. Consistently, further investigation of Penk+ neuron function revealed that they are more likely to respond to innately aversive stimuli—sour, bitter, and high salt concentrations—as compared with the full taste population. Penk+ neurons are less likely to respond to nonaversive stimuli—sucrose, umami, and low salt—compared with the full population. Our data support the presence of a genetically defined neuron type in the geniculate ganglion that is responsive to innately aversive stimuli. This implies that genetic expression might categorize peripheral taste neurons into hedonic groups, rather than simply identifying neurons that respond to a single stimulus.

A Discipleship centre student from an unreached people group meets a girl with the same ethnic background and tells to her about salvation.

Shopping is a great fun if budget is not a constraint. Shopping coupons were initially introduced as promotional coupons for entertaining online shoppers by offering some extra discounts against each online purchase deals. Later on the...

The new budget has been overshadowed by the scandals with the two politicians who had to resign. I wonder what the former prime minister is thinking...

UPDATE 10/17/06:

It looks like the media is on a hunt for digging up more dirt, a.k.a "stories"...

• Finance minister admits making cash-in-hand payments - Radio Sweden.

Pacific Holidays Inc. has recently announced their latest Flash Deal, which can help anyone take their dream Japan vacation.

Salary.com, the leading SaaS provider of cloud-based compensation data and analytics, today released the results of its eighth annual U.S. and Canada National Salary Budget Survey – revealing, for the eighth year in a row, that annual salary increase budgets are expected to remain flat at 3% for the upcoming year.

Camm Solutions (www.camm.org) has developed a globally scalable alternative to plastic and plastic packaging that is fully compostable, biodegradable and recyclable. The patented CAMM material contains zero microplastics, toxins, or eternal chemicals. CAMM has the potential to halve plastic waste globally. UN Organisation UNIDO defined it as global solution for microplastics.

Italy is an amazing country to visit, but it can be expensive – particularly if you’re travelling around from city to city trying to take in all the sites. Planning a trip to Italy on a budget isn’t as difficult as it may seem, though, and we’ve put some of our local writers onto the […]

The post Planning a trip to Italy on a budget – tips appeared first on Three Monkeys Online Magazine.

Some of Britain's biggest retailers have warned the chancellor that last month's budget will stoke inflation in the economy and spark job losses as tax hikes add nearly £2.5bn to the industry's annual tax bill.

Every business needs well managed capital to scale. If you’re able to budget properly, then there will always be enough capital for you to grow your business. Every business operates differently which means there is no universal formula to creating a viable budget for your company.

complete article

It is hard to start a profitable business in a competitive landscape. No doubt, business starts with a primary goal of making profits. Getting these profits from the phase of no client to multiple clients is a period of learning, falling, getting through and finally managing to sustain.

complete article

One of the great things about being in business these days – whether it is having a side hustle or a retail store or an online business – is that there is just so much free help available.

To wit: Last week, I held my most popular webinar ever (almost 4,000 people registered!) for SCORE, called 7 Steps to Starting on a Shoestring. SCORE is an amazing organization; more than 10,000 business volunteers who can help and mentor you (physically or virtually) on almost any aspect of your business – marketing, sales, taxes, whatever. And, like my webinar, many of SCOREs offerings are free.

complete article

Finding and keeping the best talent has never been easy. It became the top concern for HR professionals this past year, with more than two-thirds reporting struggles with their recruitment and retention efforts. While the reasons for those struggles run the gamut, they often relate to attracting qualified candidates (49%), retaining star employees (49%) and issues with the talent-culture fit (42%).

For small and midsize businesses (SMBs), any difficulties with finding talented hires end up wasting precious resources. Worse yet, the cost of a bad hire is equal to 30% of the hires first-year salary – without factoring in the potential losses in revenue and time associated with onboarding the wrong person for a job.

Title: Do Tongue Scrapers Damage Taste Buds?
Category: Diseases and Conditions
Created: 5/11/2022 12:00:00 AM
Last Editorial Review: 5/11/2022 12:00:00 AM

Wie können die CO2-Emissionen weltweit sinken? Darüber diskutiert gerade die UN-Klimakonferenz. Doch aktuelle Zahlen von Wissenschaftlern zeigen: Eine Trendwende bei den fossilen Emissionen ist gar nicht in Sicht. Von Simon Plentinger.

All TV channels worldwide suddenly begin to show a nonstop, noninterruptible live performance by Buddy Holly originating from a Jovian moon. Oliver Vale is the apparent object of the broadcasts. Story elements relevant to TTM include TV, a drive-in theater, 60s/70s/80s pop music and culture, and the Kansas/Oklahoma setting. Free ebook. More in GB 321.

The author of the original book, Bradley Denton, has an update on the status of the movie with a link to the movie's Facebook page in GB 321.

Jon Heder is the star of a movie now in production: "Buddy Holly is Alive and Well on Ganymede". Plot recap: All TV channels worldwide show a noninterruptible live performance by Buddy Holly originating from a Jovian moon. Oliver Vale is the apparent object of the broadcasts. Story elements relevant to TTM include TV, a drive-in theater, 60s/70s/80s pop music and culture, and the Kansas/Oklahoma setting (book only). YouTube and links in GroupBlog 324.

Exercising with the ideal exercise partner, companion.

1 MILLION FREE VISITORS ON YOUR WEBSITE !!! Hurry up downloading the secrets while it's in here!