1. Astronomers Identify Closest Black Hole to Earth  VOA Learning English
2. Astronomers find closest black hole to Earth yet to be discovered  9News
3. New black hole discovered - and it's the closest to Earth ever found, say scientists  Mirror Online
4. View Full coverage on Google News

Medical officer advises older people to remain cautious as restrictions are eased  Ballarat Courier

1. DFL-preses na coronagevallen bij Dresden: "Geen reden om te twijfelen"  sporza.be
2. Volledige ploeg Dynamo Dresden moet één week voor herstart Duitse competitie in quarantaine: “Kunnen 14 dagen niet spelen”  Het Laatste Nieuws
3. Al 3 spelers besmet: "Niet twijfelen aan de voortzetting 2. Bundesliga"  VoetbalNieuws.be
4. 2 extra besmettingen bij Dresden: team in quarantaine en duel met Hannover uitgesteld  sporza.be
5. Geen twijfels over hervatting Duits voetbal na nieuwe besmettingen: “Vanaf het begin gezegd dat we hierop voorbereid zijn”  Het Laatste Nieuws
6. Hele verhaal bekijken via Google Nieuws

Noooo, that's not how you fix your lenses with a glowstick! All you have to do is squeeze the liquid directly into your eyes. Bam. X-ray vision.

~NSHA

If you're thinking 'bout my squee horsey, it don't matter if you're black or white!

-Sally Squeeps

untravpaths:

Horseshoe Bend in the USA.

Check out travel recommendations at Wanderfly!

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Crowd wisdom tends to favor the most popular information, not necessarily the most correct — mass ignorance can cancel out a knowledgeable minority, resulting in the wrong answer becoming the most accepted. To improve wisdom-of-crowds surveys, Princeton University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology researchers have developed what they call the "surprisingly popular" algorithm, wherein the correct answer is that which is more popular than people predict.

BOSTON - The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is proposing targeted modifications to the 2016 Small Municipal Separate Storm Sewer System (MS4) general permit for Massachusetts communities.

BOSTON - The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is proposing targeted modifications to the 2017 Small Municipal Separate Storm Sewer System (MS4) general permit for New Hampshire communities.

(MEXICO CITY) – Today, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Andrew Wheeler wrapped up trilateral meetings with Canada and Mexico as part of the 25th Anniversary of the Commission for Environmental Cooperation (CEC) Council meetings in Mexico City.

DALLAS – (April 24, 2020) In conjunction with the 50th anniversary of Earth Day, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) awarded $11.5 million to replace 580 older diesel school buses.

COVID-19 has killed at least 19,000 New Yorkers and dealt a body blow with lasting consequences to the city. Two paths lie ahead. If pandemics become common, then not only New York City but all of America’s service-based economy faces a bleak future. If this terrible plague is a unique event, then things will eventually get almost back to normal. To save both the nation’s biggest and most productive metropolis and tens of millions of service jobs across the county, we must invest enormously to prevent future pandemics.

Republicano perdeu seu principal discurso, os bons números econômicos, seis meses antes da eleição. Agora, luta para ser visto como bom gestor da crise.

Cryptocurrency investor Michael Terpin sued AT&T over a SIM card attack in 2018 that lost him control over $23 million. Now Bloomberg reports that he's suing the "15-year-old hacker and his crew of 'evil computer geniuses'" behind the attack. (Alternate source) Terpin, the founder and chief executive officer of blockchain advisory firm Transform Group, is suing Ellis Pinsky, now 18, for $71 million under a federal racketeering law that allows for triple damages. "Pinsky and his other cohorts are in fact evil computer geniuses with sociopathic traits who heartlessly ruin their innocent victims' lives and gleefully boast of their multi-million-dollar heists," Terpin said in his complaint filed Thursday in federal court in Manhattan. Pinsky, of Irvington, New York, couldn't be reached for comment.... According to Terpin. Pinsky's ring identifies people with large cryptocurrency holdings and gains control of their phones by bribing or fooling employees of their wireless carriers. The hackers are then able to intercept authentication messages, gain information and drain the victims' cryptocurrency accounts. Pinsky has boasted to friends that, starting at age 13, he stole more than $100 million worth of cryptocurrency, hundreds of thousands of dollars of which has been converted into cash stored in his bedroom, the lawsuit alleges. Terpin also claims that, after confronting Pinsky about his alleged role in the theft, the teenager sent him cryptocurrency, cash and a watch with a combined value of $2 million. He claims this was an admission by Pinsky that he had stolen from Terpin.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

The newly-created U.S. Space Force has released its first recruitment video, CNET reports: In a video posted Wednesday to Twitter showing rockets, mission control-types rooms and U.S. Space Force members in spacesuits, a voice-over says, "maybe your purpose on this planet isn't on this planet." Secretary of the Air Force Barbara Barrett said during a livestream Wednesday that so far recruitment hasn't been a problem for the Space Force. "There's been an avalanche of applicants." This sixth branch of the US military was established in December 2019 and will be operational by mid-2021. CNET notes the video appeared "a day after Netflix dropped a trailer for its upcoming comedy Space Force. And the leader of the U.S. Space Force says he's looking forward to the Netflix comedy co-created by Steve Carell. "The one piece of advice I'd give to Steve Carell is to get a haircut," Gen. Jay Raymond, the U.S. Space Force Chief of Space Operations, said Wednesday during a webinar hosted by the nonprofit Space Foundation. Raymond is bald, and joked that Steve Carell is "looking a little too shaggy if he wants to play the Space Force chief."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Saskatchewan reported nine more confirmed COVID-19 cases on Saturday, bringing the provincial total to 553.

Kingston’s top health officials say that there are no current cases of COVID-19 active in the city.

There have been 1,644 total lab-confirmed cases of COVID-19 since the first case was confirmed March 11.

Filed under: Arts and Culture, North America, United States

Joanne and Gary, rival travel agents compete for their industry's top honor, the Globel Prize, while trying to address their clients' impossible demands in an Off-Broadway comedy that debuts this week, "Craving for Travel."

The 85-minute, two-actor, 30-character comedy was commissioned and produced by Jim Strong, president of the Dallas-based Strong Travel Services travel agency.

"Travel agents are always asked to do the impossible, and this play shows how that is done, from finding the impossible rooms to making dreams come true," Strong told the "Dallas Morning News." "I decided to bring it to life on stage as a comedy in New York."

From "Craving for Travel's" press release:

With their reputations on the line, travel agents Joanne and Gary will tackle any request, no matter how impossible, and any client, no matter how unreasonable. Full of overzealous travelers, overbooked flights, and hoteliers who are just over it, Craving for Travel reminds us why we travel-and everything that can happen when we do.

"Craving for Travel" opens Thursday at the Peter J. Sharp Theater, where it'll run through Feb. 9. Tickets are $32.50 and $49. They can be purchased at CravingForTravel.com, 212-279-4200 or the Ticket Central Box Office (416 W. 42nd St., 12-8 p.m. daily). More than half of the shows are already sold out.

Continue reading Off-Broadway Comedy 'Craving for Travel' Showcases Travel Agents Trying to do the Impossible

Off-Broadway Comedy 'Craving for Travel' Showcases Travel Agents Trying to do the Impossible originally appeared on Gadling on Tue, 07 Jan 2014 10:19:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Filed under: Panama, Airports, News, Central America

Travel tip: If you're trying to smuggle cash into Panama, start using the train.

Three Honduran men were arrested at Panama City's international airport after police found $7.2 million, mostly in $100 bills, in secret compartments in eight pieces of luggage. According to this video from Newsy (Newsy? Really? Really.), officials in Panama believe the money was connected to a drug cartel. Thirty-two officers and airport security staffers have been suspended as a result of the find.

Continue reading $7.2 Million Cash Found in Suitcases at Panama City Airport

$7.2 Million Cash Found in Suitcases at Panama City Airport originally appeared on Gadling on Fri, 17 Jan 2014 17:04:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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While the phased-in reopening of schools in South Africa in the midst of Covid-19 remains provisional and sensitive, the Western Cape Education Department has advised principals and school management teams to wait a few more days before returning.

Alberta reported 59 new COVID-19 cases on Saturday, bringing the total number of active cases in the province to 1.837.

A man is dead after a single-vehicle motorcycle crash in southeast Calgary.

Fear is ripe soil for the unscrupulous. With so much uncertainty and concern over our health and the broader world economy, cybercriminals have been playing on that fear to steal a few extra dollars out of the most scared and vulnerable. The U.S. Secret Service warned that phishing attacks were up significantly and scams over fake COVID-19 treatments have led to seizures and arrests.

From companies and organizations to individuals, it’s never been more important for everyone to have their cybersecurity measures on high alert. And whether you’re looking to protect your own assets or you’ve been tasked with safeguarding a company and all its workers, the vital work of white hat hackers is absolutely essential these days.

The training in The Ultimate 2020 White Hat Hacker Certification Bundle can put you in a position to understand all aspects of maintaining cybersecurity for a communication system of virtually any size, a lucrative career that can earn you a six-figure income.

The four-part Complete Cyber Security Course (taught by cybersecurity expert and noted consultant Nathan House) is a 360-degree starting point for any cybersecurity career. Starting at the beginning, each part of this multi-pronged introduction will help guide you through vital knowledge, from network hacking techniques and vulnerability scanning to all the defense methods that assure every laptop, desktop, smartphone and tablet in your network remain secure.

The hacker training continues with the rest of the courses in the collection, including building security analysis tools using Python and learning how to analyze web app security vulnerabilities and solutions using frameworks like Ruby on Rails and PHP. Read the rest

The DML News App offers the best in news reporting.

The post REPORT: German Intelligence Releases ‘Harsh’ Verdict About WHO and China appeared first on Dennis Michael Lynch.

As Quebec begins to reopen schools and businesses, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said he’s ‘worried’ about the province’s deconfinement plans, particularly in Montreal.

Dr. Bonnie Henry announced 15 new confirmed cases of the virus in the province, bringing the total number of positive tests since the pandemic began to 2,330.

John Hillman - the 101-year-old Second World War veteran who has been walking laps around the courtyard of his Oak Bay retirement home in hopes of raising $101,000 for charity - has surpassed his goal.

The following article, California Sheriff Refuses to Arrest People Defying Stay-at-Home Order: “There cannot be a new normal”, was first published on 100PercentFedUp.com.

Riverside, California Sheriff Chad Bianco spoke to the Riverside Board of Supervisors on May 5th to say that he will not enforce the stay-at-home order in California. He tells people who are afraid of contracting the coronavirus that they should stay home if they want to. Bianco continues with the suggestion that any business owner […]

Continue reading: California Sheriff Refuses to Arrest People Defying Stay-at-Home Order: “There cannot be a new normal” ...

The following article, Witness Tampering? Asst. HHS Secretary Releases Threatening Text Messages From Dem Rep. Eric Swalwell: “In clear violation of House Ethics rules “, was first published on 100PercentFedUp.com.

Now that Michael Caputo, who was previously a target of the Mueller investigation, has been cleared, he has released some pretty damning text messages from the virulently anti-Trump lawmaker from California, Rep. Eric Swalwell (D). The text messages appear to prove that Swalwell, who has spent the last 3 1/2 years calling for Trump’s impeachment, […]

Continue reading: Witness Tampering? Asst. HHS Secretary Releases Threatening Text Messages From Dem Rep. Eric Swalwell: “In clear violation of House Ethics rules “ ...

Members Event

Event participants

Richard Heald, CEO, UK India Business Council (UKIBC)
Manoj Ladwa, Communications Director, Narendra Modi for Prime Minister Campaign
Dr Gareth Price, Senior Research Fellow, Asia Programme, Chatham House

Chair: Adam Roberts, South Asia Bureau Chief, Delhi, The Economist

12 November 2014 , Volume 90, Number 6

Ousted vaccine expert Rick Bright said he is "frustrated at our inability to be heard as scientists."

Bacterial products such as lipopolysaccharides (or endotoxin) cause systemic inflammation, resulting in a substantial global health burden. The onset, progression, and resolution of the inflammatory response to endotoxin are usually tightly controlled to avoid chronic inflammation. Members of the NF-κB family of transcription factors are key drivers of inflammation that activate sets of genes in response to inflammatory signals. Such responses are typically short-lived and can be suppressed by proteins that act post-translationally, such as the SOCS (suppressor of cytokine signaling) family. Less is known about direct transcriptional regulation of these responses, however. Here, using a combination of in vitro approaches and in vivo animal models, we show that endotoxin treatment induced expression of the well-characterized transcriptional repressor Krüppel-like factor 3 (KLF3), which, in turn, directly repressed the expression of the NF-κB family member RELA/p65. We also observed that KLF3-deficient mice were hypersensitive to endotoxin and exhibited elevated levels of circulating Ly6C+ monocytes and macrophage-derived inflammatory cytokines. These findings reveal that KLF3 is a fundamental suppressor that operates as a feedback inhibitor of RELA/p65 and may be important in facilitating the resolution of inflammation.

β-Glucocerebrosidase (GBA) hydrolyzes glucosylceramide (GlcCer) to generate ceramide. Previously, we demonstrated that lysosomal GBA1 and nonlysosomal GBA2 possess not only GlcCer hydrolase activity, but also transglucosylation activity to transfer the glucose residue from GlcCer to cholesterol to form β-cholesterylglucoside (β-GlcChol) in vitro. β-GlcChol is a member of sterylglycosides present in diverse species. How GBA1 and GBA2 mediate β-GlcChol metabolism in the brain is unknown. Here, we purified and characterized sterylglycosides from rodent and fish brains. Although glucose is thought to be the sole carbohydrate component of sterylglycosides in vertebrates, structural analysis of rat brain sterylglycosides revealed the presence of galactosylated cholesterol (β-GalChol), in addition to β-GlcChol. Analyses of brain tissues from GBA2-deficient mice and GBA1- and/or GBA2-deficient Japanese rice fish (Oryzias latipes) revealed that GBA1 and GBA2 are responsible for β-GlcChol degradation and formation, respectively, and that both GBA1 and GBA2 are responsible for β-GalChol formation. Liquid chromatography–tandem MS revealed that β-GlcChol and β-GalChol are present throughout development from embryo to adult in the mouse brain. We found that β-GalChol expression depends on galactosylceramide (GalCer), and developmental onset of β-GalChol biosynthesis appeared to be during myelination. We also found that β-GlcChol and β-GalChol are secreted from neurons and glial cells in association with exosomes. In vitro enzyme assays confirmed that GBA1 and GBA2 have transgalactosylation activity to transfer the galactose residue from GalCer to cholesterol to form β-GalChol. This is the first report of the existence of β-GalChol in vertebrates and how β-GlcChol and β-GalChol are formed in the brain.

The dextransucrase DSR-OK from the Gram-positive bacterium Oenococcus kitaharae DSM17330 produces a dextran of the highest molar mass reported to date (∼109 g/mol). In this study, we selected a recombinant form, DSR-OKΔ1, to identify molecular determinants involved in the sugar polymerization mechanism and that confer its ability to produce a very-high-molar-mass polymer. In domain V of DSR-OK, we identified seven putative sugar-binding pockets characteristic of glycoside hydrolase 70 (GH70) glucansucrases that are known to be involved in glucan binding. We investigated their role in polymer synthesis through several approaches, including monitoring of dextran synthesis, affinity assays, sugar binding pocket deletions, site-directed mutagenesis, and construction of chimeric enzymes. Substitution of only two stacking aromatic residues in two consecutive sugar-binding pockets (variant DSR-OKΔ1-Y1162A-F1228A) induced quasi-complete loss of very-high-molar-mass dextran synthesis, resulting in production of only 10–13 kg/mol polymers. Moreover, the double mutation completely switched the semiprocessive mode of DSR-OKΔ1 toward a distributive one, highlighting the strong influence of these pockets on enzyme processivity. Finally, the position of each pocket relative to the active site also appeared to be important for polymer elongation. We propose that sugar-binding pockets spatially closer to the catalytic domain play a major role in the control of processivity. A deep structural characterization, if possible with large-molar-mass sugar ligands, would allow confirming this hypothesis.

Contact between inflammatory cells and endothelial cells (ECs) is a crucial step in vascular inflammation. Recently, we demonstrated that the cell-surface level of endomucin (EMCN), a heavily O-glycosylated single-transmembrane sialomucin, interferes with the interactions between inflammatory cells and ECs. We have also shown that, in response to an inflammatory stimulus, EMCN is cleared from the cell surface by an unknown mechanism. In this study, using adenovirus-mediated overexpression of a tagged EMCN in human umbilical vein ECs, we found that treatment with tumor necrosis factor α (TNF-α) or the strong oxidant pervanadate leads to loss of cell-surface EMCN and increases the levels of the C-terminal fragment of EMCN 3- to 4-fold. Furthermore, treatment with the broad-spectrum matrix metalloproteinase inhibitor batimastat (BB94) or inhibition of ADAM metallopeptidase domain 10 (ADAM10) and ADAM17 with two small-molecule inhibitors, GW280264X and GI254023X, or with siRNA significantly reduced basal and TNFα-induced cell-surface EMCN cleavage. Release of the C-terminal fragment of EMCN by TNF-α treatment was blocked by chemical inhibition of ADAM10 alone or in combination with ADAM17. These results indicate that cell-surface EMCN undergoes constitutive cleavage and that TNF-α treatment dramatically increases this cleavage, which is mediated predominantly by ADAM10 and ADAM17. As endothelial cell-surface EMCN attenuates leukocyte–EC interactions during inflammation, we propose that EMCN is a potential therapeutic target to manage vascular inflammation.

The U.S. refugee protection system, while generous in many respects, has become less robust over the last two decades. The unique and often diverse needs of emerging refugee populations have exposed severe limitations in the standard resettlement approach.This report examines U.S. legal and policy responses to those seeking protection and addresses the barriers, gaps, and opportunities that exist.

At least 10 stores inside the Portmore Mall have fallen casualty to the economic chokehold brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic, with several others struggling to stay afloat as St Catherine businesses grapple with revenue losses. And with a 14-day...

Uber lost US$2.9 billion in the first quarter as its overseas investments were hammered by the coronavirus pandemic, but the company is looking to its growing food delivery business and aggressive cost-cutting to ease the pain. The ride-hailing...

(AP): Many people saw more than the last moments of Ahmaud Arbery’s life when a video emerged this week of white men armed with guns confronting the black man; a struggle with punches thrown; three shots fired and Arbery collapsing...

(AP): South Korea’s capital, Seoul, has closed down more than 2,000 bars and other nightspots because of a new cluster of COVID-19 infections; Germany scrambled to contain fresh outbreaks at slaughterhouses; and...

Jamaica is now two cases shy of 500 confirmed COVID-19 infections with the confirmation of eight new cases in the past 24 hours.  The new infections bring the total number to 498 confirmed COVID-19 cases.  In a release a short while...

Este manual ofrece a los formuladores de políticas y especialistas una guía accesible y práctica sobre las iniciativas gubernamentales referentes a la diáspora. Este manual contiene un menú, seleccionado cuidadosamente, de opciones normativas y programáticas viables basadas en experiencias reales en distintas partes del mundo.

This year’s Mother’s Day has undoubtedly been impacted by the COVID-19 virus. Plans to show appreciation to the one you call ‘mama’ have been thwarted due to worldwide quarantine conditions. But while there may not be the usual elaborate dinner at...

The enactment of President Clinton’s Limited English Proficiency (LEP) Executive Order, issued in 2000, triggered a proliferation of efforts to provide services to individuals who cannot speak, understand, read, or write English fluently. With increased service provision, state and local government agencies have expressed a strong and growing interest in assuring the quality and cost-effectiveness of language access services. This paper attempts to catalog and describe some of those tools and practices.