[Inter-Korea] :
People who suffer damages as a result of North Korea’s trash balloon campaign will eventually be eligible for government compensation. The National Assembly passed an amendment to the Framework Act on Civil Defense during a plenary session Thursday, allowing the government to provide compensation for ...

[more...]

An aerial photograph of the San Gabriel Mountains in Southern California.; Credit: Bruce Perry, Department of Geological Sciences, CSU Long Beach; Courtesy National Park Service

A friend who has one of those cabins in the San Gabriels that you have to ride a mule into sent Off-Ramp a note about an event for fans of L.A.'s mountains ... which is pretty much everyone:

"The Sierra Madre Historical Preservation Society and First Water Design present the finest assembly of experts of our magnificent mountains and their impact on our history, culture, and way of life." It's a long list of historians, authors, and others who've spent their lives studying and writing about the mountains.

• John Robinson: "The San Gabriels," "Trails of the Angeles: 100 Hikes in the San Gabriels," "Sierra Madre’s Old Mount Wilson Trail"
• Michele Zack: "Southern California Story: Seeking the Better Life in Sierra Madre," "Altadena: Between Wilderness and City"
• Elizabeth Pomeroy: "John Muir: A Naturalist in Southern California," "San Marino: A Centennial History"
• Nat Read: "Don Benito Wilson: From Mountain Man to Mayor," "Los Angeles 1841 to 1878"
• Michael Patris:  "Mount Lowe Railway"
• Glen Owens: "The Heritage of the Big Santa Anita"
• Paul Rippens: " The Saint Francis Dam"
• Willis Osborne: "A Guide to Mt. Baldy & San Antonio Canyon"
• Christopher Nyerges: "Enter the Forest"
• Norma Rowley: "The Angeles Was Our Home"
• Chris Kasten: cartographer and former manager of Sturtevant Camp

The event takes place on Saturday, Jan. 24, from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m, at Pritchard Hall at the Sierra Madre Congregational Church, 170 West Sierra Madre Blvd., Sierra Madre, CA 91024.

And it's free! Email Jeff Lapides for more info, or call him at 626-695-8177.

This content is from Southern California Public Radio. View the original story at SCPR.org.

Sahabat-AI would enable Indonesians to build artificial intelligence-based services and applications in Bahasa Indonesia and various other local languages, with the understanding of local context, the companies said in a joint statement.

Gluten-free pioneer Bakery on Main has seen steady growth over the past two decades and brought forth a flurry of innovation in the wake of expansion into a new plant.

State of the EHS Nation:

Exclusive results from ISHN’s 28^th annual White Paper Reader Survey

Elon Musk will co-lead a newly created Department of Government Efficiency in the Trump administration, president-elect Trump said late Tuesday. According to Trump’s press statement, the Department of Government Efficiency will […]

Access locations your competitors can’t and save extraction time and increase your profits with this winning combination of productivity tools.

11/18/2024 - 6:30 PM - Venue: Pueblo West Library

11/18/2024 - 6:00 PM - Venue: Rawlings library

The City of Shanghai entered the low-orbit broadband satellite market. Shanghai Spacecom Satellite Technology (SSST) launched 18 satellites in August and a second batch of 18 satellites in October. The satellites are being branded as Qianfan, or 'Thousand Sails.' SSST satellites are being launched by the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation (CASC) using the Long March 6A rocket.

During an appearance on Fox News Channel's "The Ingraham Angle," Rep. Anna Paulina Luna (R-FL) called on The New York Times to retract its report that then-candidate Donald Trump was making "false claims" about FEMA neglecting certain areas impacted by Hurricane Helene because of political leaning. 

The post GOP Rep. Luna: NY Times ‘Should Retract’ FEMA Conspiracy Theory Accusations appeared first on Breitbart.

Removed From Network (Open for application): Anti-Bullying Movement (Movements)

Here is the audio, video, and transcript. Here is part of the episode summary: In Neal’s second appearance, Tyler asks him why he sometimes shifts from envisioning the future to illustrating the past, the rise of history autodidacts, the implications of leaked secrets from the atomic age to…

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In a world where women can buy a "Just in Case" sports bra with a hidden pocket for weapons, or download the "bSafe" app with a voice-activated SOS alarm, you'd be forgiven for not realizing the "AwarePod," as the Canadian Women's Foundation dubbed its new campaign, is satire.

India’s HEX20Labs has partnered with Japanese firm ispace for a mission to send a CubeSat into lunar orbit. Scheduled to launch on ispace's M2 mission, the Indian CubeSat will ride aboard the lander Resilience, aiming to orbit the Moon and conduct critical technology testing. This mission signifies a major stride in India’s cislunar exploration efforts, enhancing capabilities in satellite standardisation for lunar missions. With this launch, India and Japan strengthen their cooperation in space research, marking a significant step toward future lunar exploration and the advancement of technology in low-gravity environments.

Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL), the government-run telecom service provider, launched a direct-to-device satellite connectivity service on Wednesday. The Indian Department of Telecommunications (DoT) announced the launch, calling it the “India’s first Satellite-to-Device service”. The Indian telecom developed this technology along with Viasat, a California-based communications technology company. It is aimed at offering seamless connectivity to users even in the remote and isolated corners of the country.

US President Joe Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping will meet Saturday at the APEC summit in Peru, in what will likely be their last encounter before Donald Trump returns to the White House, US officials said.

• 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

Mura, directed by Muhammed Musthafa, has solid performances by a group of young actors, which include new faces

President Biden plans to tell China's Xi Jinping that communication channels between the two governments need to remain open — no matter who is in the White House.

AptarGroup, a specialist in drug and consumer product dosing, dispensing and protection technologies, announced that it was awarded a contract from the U.S. Federal Government to advance development of its ActivShield technology.

1. Won’t back off from ‘Pharma Village’, says Telangana CM’s brother  The Siasat Daily
2. Lagcherla: KTR named in remand report  Deccan Chronicle
3. Ex-BRS MLA held over mob attack on Vikarabad collector  Hindustan Times
4. Video | Violence Over Land Row In Telangana Chief Minister's Constituency, 55 Detained  NDTV
5. Govt. charges BRS with hatching conspiracies to stall development projects for political gains  The Hindu

U.K. consumer rights group ‘Which?’ is filing a legal claim against Apple under competition law on behalf of some 40 million users of iCloud, its cloud storage service. The collective proceeding lawsuit, which is seeking £3 billion in compensation damages (around $3.8 billion at current exchange rates), alleges that Apple has broken competition rules by […]

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Vatican a lansat o serie de servicii noi bazate pe inteligență artificială pentru Bazilica Sf. Petru, permițând acces virtual la comorile arhitecturale din perioada Renașterii și tururi îmbunătățite pentru vizitatori – zilnic aproximativ 40.000-50.000 de oameni. Noile experiențe au fost prezentate în pregătirea pentru Anul Sfânt sau Jubileul Bisericii Catolice din 2025, care are loc ...

The post Servicii AI pentru Bazilica Sf. Petru lansate de Vatican înainte de anul jubiliar appeared first on Forbes Romania.

Rupali Ganguly's lawyer Sana Raees Khan of Bigg Boss 17-fame reveals why Anupamaa actress is asking for Rs 50 crore as defamation compensation from her stepdaughter Esha Verma.

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It is a significant step towards safeguarding the rule of law and fundamental rights of citizens, say Jamiat leaders

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Before the election, the three Jarkiholi brothers — Satish (Congress MLA), Ramesh (BJP MLA), and Balachandra (BJP MLA) — met in a private hotel in Belagavi to discuss the names of candidates

Tiruvannamalai Collector D. Bhaskara Pandian chaired the hearing organised by the TNPCB on Wednesday. The black granite quarry is proposed to be set up on about 8.46 hectares of government land in Sathanur

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McMartin, I; Godbout, P -M; Campbell, J E; Tremblay, T; Behnia, P. 2020 NWT and Nunavut Geoscience Forum, presentations; 2020 p. 1, 1 sheet