Does Russia want its athletes humiliated at the Olympic Games again? Will Russia boycott the Games this time? Olympic alternative to Russian national anthem In December 2020, the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) prohibited Russian athletes from performing at world championships and Olympic Games under the national flag and deprived them of the right to perform the Russian national anthem. To crown it all, Russia was deprived of the right to host such sports events too.A number of active Russian politicians started looking for an alternative to the Russian national anthem and picked up the idea for the Russian athletes to perform ​​the famous WWII song "Katyusha." Some of them were not even embarrassed by the fact that the IOC requires not to include any mentioning of any war or any war-related topic in the Games, including in opening and closing ceremonies. They apparently assumed that the rest of the world should accept World War II as an excuse for Russia's current problems. On March 13, 2021, CAS rejected the request from the Russian Olympic Committee to use the "Katyusha" song as a replacement for the Russian anthem at the upcoming Olympic Games in the summer of 2021 in Tokyo and in February 2022 in Beijing. The court clarified that the concept of "any anthem associated with Russia" applied to all songs associated with Russia. However, the court decision did not close the discussion in Russia anyway, and the search for the replacement for the Russian national anthem continues. Does Russia need the white flag in sports? This is strange indeed: if Russia can stand up against the world supremacist state in Syria, return territories in Europe, ignore the work in the Council of Europe and make harsh statements about its readiness to terminate relations with the European Union, then why not slam the door to the IOC?Why should Russia should feel humiliated to participate in the Olympics? Those who believe that one needs to think about the athletes and their most important sports competitions, may forget to think that it goes about Russian athletes being Russian citizens. Does Russia need athletes that do not want to sacrifice their achievements and victories for sake of their country's dignity? Or does Russia need to live up to the interests of a handful of athletes to the detriment of its own national interests and interests of millions of other Russian citizens, who are not thrilled at the whole idea of Russia's sports humiliation?

A powerful solar flare that caused a massive ejection of solar matter on June 2, 2024, may cause a very string magnetic storm on Earth. The plasma cloud will reach our planet on Tuesday, June 4th. The June 2 X-class flare (the most powerful one) has become the third highest-level flare in the past 24 hours caused by active region 3697. This area caused a powerful flare in 2017 and the strongest magnetic storm since 2005. A total of five X-class flares were recorded in just three days from the moment the area appeared on the side of the Sun facing the Earth. The most dangerous flare occurred on May 29, but the ejection passed by the planet.

US President Joe Biden may take drastic actions before he resigns, Alexander Yakovenko, a member of the scientific council at the Security Council of the Russian Federation and former Russian Ambassador to the UK believes. "Biden and his administration are still in power as a lame duck. In December 2016, Barack Obama similarly decided to sharply aggravate relations with Russia by expelling 35 Russian diplomats. The same can be expected now, especially in Ukraine,” Yakovenko said. Trump will take up US foreign affairs before his inauguration while trying to push the current administration out of decision-making processes, Yakovenko suggested.

[Science] :
Jeju Island experienced another tropical night on Sunday, setting a fresh record for the number of tropical nights in the southern island. According to the regional office of the Korea Meteorological Administration (KMA) on Sunday, lows for the previous night recorded 26-point-four degrees Celsius on the ...

[more...]

[Domestic] :
Singer Kim Ho-joong has been sentenced to two-and-a-half years in prison for crashing into a taxi with his car and fleeing the scene. The Seoul Central District Court issued the ruling on Wednesday, saying Kim drove under the influence of alcohol and caused injuries and material damage, yet irresponsibly ...

[more...]

[International] :
The price of Bitcoin surpassed the 80-thousand-dollar mark for the first time just days after Donald Trump’s reelection to the U.S. presidency.    According to the U.S. cryptocurrency exchange platform Coinbase, the world’s most popular cryptocurrency was worth 81-thousand-110 U.S. dollars at 1:25 a.m. ...

[more...]

[Culture] :
KBS hit drama "Winter Sonata" which led the Korean Wave in the 2000s will be released as a theatrical film in Japan next year. Pan Entertainment, which produced the show, announced Monday that it had decided to release a film version after receiving continuous requests from Japanese distributors and ...

[more...]

Earthquake hits Midlands as British Geological Survey confirm magnitude  Birmingham Live

In the title compound, {(C6H8N)[Zn2(HPO3)2(H2PO3)]}n, the constituent ZnO4, HPO3 and H2PO3 polyhedra of the inorganic component are linked into (010) sheets by Zn—O—P bonds (mean angle = 134.4°) and the layers are reinforced by O—H⋯O hydrogen bonds. The protonated templates are anchored to the inorganic sheets via bifurcated N—H⋯(O,O) hydrogen bonds.

The synthesis and structural characterization of four novel supra­molecular hy­dro­gen-bonded arrangements based on self-assembly from mol­ecular `[Cu(2,2'-bi­imid­az­ole)]' modules and malonate anions are pre­sent­ed, namely, tetra­kis­(2,2'-bi­imid­az­ole)di-μ-chlorido-dimal­on­atotricopper(II) penta­hydrate, [Cu3(C3H2O4)2Cl2(C6H6N4)4]·5H2O or [Cu(H2biim)2(μ-Cl)Cu0.5(mal)]2·5H2O, aqua­(2,2'-bi­imid­az­ole)­mal­on­atocopper(II) dihydrate, [Cu(C3H2O4)(C6H6N4)(H2O)]·2H2O or [Cu(H2biim)(mal)(H2O)]·2H2O, bis­[aqua­bis­(2,2'-bi­imid­az­ole)­cop­per(II)] di­mal­on­atodi­perchloratocopper(II) 2.2-hydrate, [Cu(C6H6N4)2(H2O)]2[Cu(C3H2O4)(ClO4)2]·2.2H2O or [Cu(H2biim)2(H2O)]2[Cu(mal)2(ClO4)2]·2.2H2O, and bis­(2,2'-bi­imid­az­ole)­copper(II) bis­[bis­(2,2'-bi­imid­az­ole)(2-carb­oxy­acetato)mal­on­atocopper(II)] tridecahydrate, [Cu(C6H6N4)2][Cu(C3H2O4)(C3H3O4)(C6H6N4)2]·13H2O or [Cu(H2biim)2][Cu(H2biim)2(Hmal)(mal)]2·13H2O. These as­sem­blies are characterized by self-com­plementary donor–acceptor mol­ecular inter­actions, demonstrating a recurrent and distinctive pattern of hy­dro­gen-bonding preferences among the carboxyl­ate, carb­oxy­lic acid and N—H groups of the coordinated 2,2'-bi­imid­az­ole and malonate ligands. Additionally, co­or­din­ation of the carboxyl­ate group with the metallic centre helps sustain re­mark­able supra­molecular assemblies, such as layers, helices, double helix columns or 3D channeled architectures, including mixed-metal com­plexes, into a single structure.

The structures of three multicomponent crystals formed with imidazole-based drugs, namely metronidazole, ketoconazole and miconazole, in conjunction with tri­thio­cyanuric acid are characterized. Each of the obtained adducts represents a different category of crystalline molecular forms: a cocrystal, a salt and a cocrystal of salt. The structural analysis revealed that in all cases, the N—H⋯N hydrogen bond is responsible for the formation of acid–base pairs, regardless of whether proton transfer occurs or not, and these molecular pairs are combined to form unique supramolecular motifs by centrosymmetric N—H⋯S interactions between acid molecules. The complex intermolecular forces acting in characteristic patterns are discussed from the geometric and energetic perspectives, involving Hirshfeld surface analysis, pairwise energy estimation, and natural bond orbital calculations.

Boxo has partnered with global payments infrastructure firm

This bodes well for the possibility of bulk mining at this silver-gold project in British Columbia, noted a Research Capital Corp. report.

Cars make their way toward downtown Los Angeles on April 22. California could regain the right to set its own vehicle emissions standards after the Environmental Protection Agency announced it was moving to curb a Trump-era policy that sought to erode the state's previously-held power.; Credit: Mario Tama/Getty Images

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) said on Monday it is preparing to restore California's right to set its own vehicle emissions standards, in a widely anticipated reversal of Trump-era policies.

The decision, which will take several months to be finalized, reaffirms the Golden State's powerful position as an environmental regulator after the Trump administration had in 2019 sought to remove California's powers to set its own emissions standards.

It also sets the stage for negotiations over how strict federal vehicle standards will be under President Biden.

"I am a firm believer in California's long-standing statutory authority to lead," EPA administration Michael Regan said in a statement.

"The 2019 decision to revoke the state's waiver to enforce its greenhouse gas pollution standards for cars and trucks was legally dubious and an attack on the public's health and wellbeing," he added.

The EPA will be accepting public comment until July 6 as part of the process of reversing the Trump-era rule.

The populous, car-loving state has been waging a battle against smog for decades.

And in recognition of that history, the EPA has long granted a waiver giving the state the authority to set its own standards for vehicle emissions, as long as they're more stringent than the national regulations.

That's an unusual exemption — other states can't set their own policies, although they can choose to adopt California's standards as their own.

Between California and the states that follow suit, about a third of the U.S. new car market is covered by the Golden State's policies, giving California regulators a remarkable amount of sway over the auto industry.

However, when the Trump administration weakened federal clean car standards, it also sought to revoke the waiver allowing California to set a higher bar.

That triggered a legal battle and divided the auto industry, with some carmakers choosing to side with California and voluntarily accept somewhat stricter vehicle emissions standards while the rest backed the Trump administration.

After Biden won the White House, every major automaker eventually dropped their support for the now-doomed Trump position.

The EPA has now started the process of reversing Trump's decision. The Department of Transportation last week also proposed to "wipe clean the regulatory slate," indicating that the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration would no longer seek to block state emissions standards, as it had under Trump.

It's still not clear what federal regulations on vehicle emissions and fuel economy will be under the Biden administration. Some environmental groups and progressive lawmakers are pushing for the reinstatement of the Obama-era standards, with more ambitious targets to follow.

The auto industry, meanwhile, is calling for standards midway between the Obama-era and Trump-era policies.

The EPA says it will propose new fuel economy rules in July.

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

Architectural plans have been finalized for the new Sherrills Ford branch of Catawba County Library. The 10,000 square foot facility, to be erected on 2.5 acres near the intersection of Highway 150 and Sherrills Ford Road, is expected to be completed in 2014.

The White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) this week requested that the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine rapidly examine the information and data needed to help determine the origins of the novel coronavirus that is causing a global outbreak of respiratory illness.

WASHINGTON — In response to the COVID-19 outbreak, the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy has asked the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine to establish a Standing Committee on Emerging Infectious Diseases and 21st Century Health Threats.

The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine announced today that Harvey Fineberg, former president of the Institute of Medicine (now the National Academy of Medicine) and current president of the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, will serve as the chair of the Standing Committee on Emerging Infectious Diseases and 21st Century Health Threats.

The Executive Office of the President should consider establishing a task force to prevent renter evictions and mitigate housing instability caused by the pandemic, says a new report from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine.

The Gulf Research Program is providing awards totaling nearly $900K to five universities for the creation of interdisciplinary architectural studio design courses that engage with the unique features of the Gulf of Mexico region, such as offshore energy safety, environmental protection and stewardship, and Gulf health and resilience.

Password leaks are increasingly common and figuring out whether the keys to your own kingdom have been exposed might be tricky – unless you know where to look

Attackers abusing the EvilVideo vulnerability could share malicious Android payloads via Telegram channels, groups, and chats, all while making them appear as legitimate multimedia files

“Earlier, there used to be the largest companies who were there to solve the customers’ problems. But now there are hundreds of startups that are coming up. We need to make sure we work together with them and build an ecosystem with them. We share with them our issues, and they come back and build the products with us together. And then we help them scale,” he said.

TikTok has been fined $368 million by European regulators for breaching data privacy rules and failing to protect children's privacy. The investigation found that the app's sign-up process for teen users made their accounts public by default, posing a risk to underage users. The "family pairing" feature also allowed adults to turn on direct messaging for users aged 16 and 17 without their consent.

The 24% quarterly growth follows a slower-than-expected 16% growth in the January to March quarter, as reported by ET in May. While certain segments like pharma and eye wear have grown at a faster clip, senior ecommerce industry executives said there is an emerging trend of slowdown in online sales of low-priced items across categories like fashion, appliances, etc.

TECH-AI-OpenAI and rivals seek new path to smarter AI as current methods hit limitations

Blue California has launched novel food-grade whitening agents as a clean-label alternative to replacing potential health risk white colorant titanium dioxide.

New plant-based snack features smooth, creamy taste and green peas as first ingredient.

The bread is baked with the equivalent of one cup of veggies per loaf and fortified with vitamins A, D, and E.

The upcycled tortilla chips reportedly save 20 gallons of water per bag.

The products are now being sold at 88 retail locations around the Midwest.

The snacks, unveiled earlier this year and previewed at Sweets & Snacks Expo, are a permanent addition to the brand portfolio.

The producer also is bringing back Cranberry English muffins, bagels, and swirl bread.

Started by a Mexican-British couple, the brand aims to mesmerize consumers’ taste buds.

 Like the rest of the series, the new products are constructed with high-quality materials and designed for easy installation and maintenance, making them an ideal choice for busy commercial settings.

The Keltech acquisition will also begin a new partnership between Bradford White and Bradley.

Whether it is appropriate to attach non-FR embroidery and emblems to flame resistant protective garments is always a difficult question to address.

In 1998, according to a Bureau of Labor Statistics report, 413 workers were struck and killed by vehicles. That was “the highest number in the 7-year period that the fatality census has been compiled.”₁ Without a standard in place, the numbers were steadily rising.

Colgate Optic White and the McBride Sisters Collection introduced the McBride Sisters Collection x Colgate Optic White Limited-Edition Set, designed to help everyone “Live Life to the Brightest” this red wine season. 

Through its new global brand platform and U.S. ad campaign, White Claw is inspiring even more people to seek out genuine, real-world connections — and “Grab Life By The Claw.” 

For beverage manufacturers looking to tackle the challenge of building a new facility, experts highlight the ins and outs of planning to get the job done, as well as current trends that are shaping the need to build or revamp a facility.

Austin, Texas-based Nutrabolt, owner of C4, is shaking up the active nutrition landscape as it announced the rebrand of its C4 pre-workout powders, including new, innovative formulations; an updated look and feel of the product; and the We Hit Harder brand equity platform. 

In June, Swoon brought Barbiecore to the beverage aisle with the limited-edition release of Barbie x Swoon Pink Lemonade. That partnership led to the zero-sugar brand experiencing its highest monthly volume sales.

Gatorade, a brand of Purchase, N.Y.-based PepsiCo, announced the national launch of its first unflavored water: Gatorade Water. 

Renowned author, speaker, and radio/TV personality, Dr. Madelyn Blair, takes the spotlight in this very special profile. "Unlock" her hit series, explore her acclaimed work, and get ready for the return of Mental Espresso, reimagined for 2023.

Renowned author, speaker, and radio/TV personality, Dr. Madelyn Blair, takes the spotlight in this very special profile. "Unlock" her hit series, explore her acclaimed work, and get ready for the return of Mental Espresso, reimagined for 2023.

Nitin Saksena is a seasoned expert in enterprise architecture as a senior director at Albertsons Companies

Esteemed educator, author, and podcaster, Barbara Taber, EdD, has delivered the highly anticipated season finale of Take It Or Leave It, against impossibly high expectations, following the landmark achievement of her previous three episodes.

Ms. Goodin-Whitegrass specializes in Native American law with the Puyallup Tribe of Indians