In recent years few, if any, lenders will have escaped the experience of borrowers challenging the enforceability of arrears administrations’ fees and regulators requesting that the level of such fees be justified, for example: credit card l...

Determined  to face  the challenges poised by the coronavirus pandemic (COVID-19), the National Judicial Council (NJC) has issued a fresh guidelines all Nigerian courts are expected to carry out its duties and functions as enshrined by the Constitution of the Federal republic of Nigeria. In a press statement signed by the Chief Justice of Nigeria […]

The post COVID-19: NJC issues Fresh guidelines for court sittings appeared first on Nigerian Pilot News.

Nigeria (Blank NEWS Online) –:  The people of Ugborodo Community in Warri South West Local Government Area of Delta State have said that they are satisfied with the current  location […]

[Nyasa Times] Malawi opposition supporters erupted into wild scenes of celebrations on Friday after the Supreme Court on Friday in a unanimous decision upheld an earlier constitutional court ruling that declared President Peter Mutharika was "not duly elected" in a disputed 2019 vote.

The United States has tightened visa rules for Chinese journalists as the tit-for-tat war on the media between the two sides escalated.The rules, which will take effect on Monday, limit visas for Chinese passport holders to 90 days with the option for an extension, the US Department for Homeland Security said on Friday.Journalists with passports from Hong Kong or Macau will not be affected.“The department is issuing this rule to address the actions of the PRC [People’s Republic of China]…

As Asia’s rich contemplate where to place their nest eggs, most have overwhelmingly chosen Singapore over rival international financial centre Hong Kong so far this year, according to the region’s largest wealth manager.High-net-worth individuals have mainly instructed their private bankers at UBS to place new money in Singapore rather than Hong Kong, said Edmund Koh, the Swiss bank’s president in the Asia-Pacific region. Last year, the region’s high-net-worth individuals opened more new…

VISAKHAPATNAM: Engineers battled Friday to prevent more toxic gas escaping at a chemical plant on India´s east coast, a day after a pre-dawn leak killed 12 people and knocked locals unconscious in the street. Although the death toll was lower than feared, the accident which left hundreds...

VISAKHAPATNAM, India: Engineers battled on Friday to prevent more toxic gas escaping at a chemical plant on India’s east coast, a day after a pre-dawn leak killed 12 people and knocked locals unconscious in the street.Although the death toll was lower than feared, the accident which left...

New Delhi : The Competition Commission of India (CCI) has ordered a fresh probe against a DLF group firm, DLF Universal, for allegedly imposing unfair and unreasonable conditions on office buyers at one of its commercial projects — Corporate Greens at Sector 74A — in Gurgaon. CCI said in its 11-page order dated June 23 that “the conduct of DLF Group, emanating from its dominant position in the relevant market, prima facie, amounts to imposition of unfair terms and conditions on the commercial office buyers which is anti-competitive”. After looking into the complaint, CCI said its prima facie opinion was that despite the presence of other developer in commercial real […]

Music has the ability to uplift, refresh, and redefine our lives. As Elton John once said, “Music has healing power,” so it’s no surprise that concert ticket sales in North America amounted to $8 billion in 2017. Not only does attending a musical ...

ABSTRACT

Aquifers, which are essential underground freshwater reservoirs worldwide, are understudied ecosystems that harbor diverse forms of microbial life. This study investigated the abundance and composition of prokaryotic and viral communities in the outflow of five springs across northern Florida, USA, as a proxy of microbial communities found in one of the most productive aquifers in the world, the Floridan aquifer. The average abundances of virus-like particles and prokaryotic cells were slightly lower than those reported from other groundwater systems, ranging from 9.6 x 10³ ml^–1 to 1.1 x 10⁵ ml^–1 and 2.2 x 10³ ml^–1 to 3.4 x 10⁴ ml^–1, respectively. Despite all of the springs being fed by the Floridan aquifer, sequencing of 16S rRNA genes and viral metagenomes (viromes) revealed unique communities in each spring, suggesting that groundwater microbial communities are influenced by land usage in recharge zones. The prokaryotic communities were dominated by Bacteria, and though the most abundant phyla (Proteobacteria, Cyanobacteria, and Bacteroidetes) were found in relatively high abundance across springs, variation was seen at finer taxonomic resolution. The viral sequences were most similar to those described from other aquatic environments. Sequencing resulted in the completion of 58 novel viral genomes representing members of the order Caudovirales as well as prokaryotic and eukaryotic single-stranded DNA (ssDNA) viruses. Sequences similar to those of ssDNA viruses were detected at all spring sites and dominated the identifiable sequences at one spring site, showing that these small viruses merit further investigation in groundwater systems.

IMPORTANCE Aquifer systems may hold up to 40% of the total microbial biomass on Earth. However, little is known about the composition of microbial communities within these critical freshwater ecosystems. Here, we took advantage of Florida’s first-magnitude springs (the highest spring classification based on water discharge), each discharging at least 246 million liters of water each day from the Floridan aquifer system (FAS), to investigate prokaryotic and viral communities from the aquifer. The FAS serves as a major source of potable water in the Southeastern United States, providing water for large cities and citizens in three states. Unfortunately, the health of the FAS and its associated springs has declined in the past few decades due to nutrient loading, increased urbanization and agricultural activity in aquifer recharge zones, and saltwater intrusion. This is the first study to describe the prokaryotic and viral communities in Florida’s first-magnitude springs, providing a baseline against which to compare future ecosystem change.

Most freshwater bacterial communities are characterized by a few dominant taxa that are often ubiquitous across freshwater biomes worldwide. Our understanding of the genomic diversity within these taxonomic groups is limited to a subset of taxa. Here, we investigated the genomic diversity that enables Limnohabitans, a freshwater genus key in funneling carbon from primary producers to higher trophic levels, to achieve abundance and ubiquity. We reconstructed eight putative Limnohabitans metagenome-assembled genomes (MAGs) from stations located along broad environmental gradients existing in Lake Michigan, part of Earth’s largest surface freshwater system. De novo strain inference analysis resolved a total of 23 strains from these MAGs, which strongly partitioned into two habitat-specific clusters with cooccurring strains from different lineages. The largest number of strains belonged to the abundant LimB lineage, for which robust in situ strain delineation had not previously been achieved. Our data show that temperature and nutrient levels may be important environmental parameters associated with microdiversification within the Limnohabitans genus. In addition, strains predominant in low- and high-phosphorus conditions had larger genomic divergence than strains abundant under different temperatures. Comparative genomics and gene expression analysis yielded evidence for the ability of LimB populations to exhibit cellular motility and chemotaxis, a phenotype not yet associated with available Limnohabitans isolates. Our findings broaden historical marker gene-based surveys of Limnohabitans microdiversification and provide in situ evidence of genome diversity and its functional implications across freshwater gradients.

IMPORTANCE Limnohabitans is an important bacterial taxonomic group for cycling carbon in freshwater ecosystems worldwide. Here, we examined the genomic diversity of different Limnohabitans lineages. We focused on the LimB lineage of this genus, which is globally distributed and often abundant, and its abundance has shown to be largely invariant to environmental change. Our data show that the LimB lineage is actually comprised of multiple cooccurring populations for which the composition and genomic characteristics are associated with variations in temperature and nutrient levels. The gene expression profiles of this lineage suggest the importance of chemotaxis and motility, traits that had not yet been associated with the Limnohabitans genus, in adapting to environmental conditions.

Would rather hang out with an advice-giving cats or a species of hivemind hominids? Would you rather play Dragon Quest XI on PS4 or 3DS?...

Out of 200 employees tested at a German meat processing plant, 151 tested positive Thursday for coronavirus, triggering an "emergency mechanism" to delay the easing of social distancing restrictions.

Not as substantial as hoped

On the heels of the Federal Trade Commission’s latest warning about coronavirus treatment scams, here are five scams to be aware of. 

Harvey Weinstein has been charged with a new count of sexual assault, prosecutors in Los Angeles have said.

A family who were stopped by police while driving to Brighton during the coronavirus lockdown told officers they were "bored of staying in and wanted some fresh air".

Italians were today looking forward to a gradual easing of their coronavirus lockdown after the unveiling of a detailed exit strategy by prime minister Giuseppe Conte.

Two "lucky" men with beer on tap said they can't complain after going into coronavirus lockdown in a London pub.

Full-scale tracking and tracing of new coronavirus infections by the end of this month was today made an official Government target.

The most interesting and innovative idea to come out of the first meeting of the all-party Special Committee on Electoral Reform, or ERRE, was Nathan Cullen's suggestion, seconded by Elizabeth May, to allow members of the public access to question the expert witnesses before the committee in real time via email or twitter [...]

From bearded capuchins to yellow baboons, the furry creatures in BBC1's new nature series are a reminder we have a lot in common with our closest animal relatives

DJ Jazzy Jeff has recovered from coronavirus-like symptoms

Avery died in 2013 of complications following heart surgery

These creative tricks are easy to put back when you move out for renters worried about their deposit.

Players and coaching staff at LaLiga side Eibar have released a statement revealing fears of a fresh coronavirus outbreak ahead of a planned return for the competition next month.

Up to 50 Premier League players are planning to revolt against plans to restart the season, according to reports.

Plus, take a look at other stars going au naturale.

The anticipated proliferation of devices demands an innovative approach to managing, securing and delivering these endpoints and the applications that will run on them.

Keep on reading: Why End-User Computing Needs a Refresh

Tyson Fresh Meats, Inc., the world’s largest supplier of premium beef and pork, has agreed to pay a $2,026,500 civil penalty to settle allegations that it violated terms of a 2002 consent decree and a federally-issued pollution discharge permit at its meat processing facility in Dakota City, Neb.

The Department of Justice today reached a settlement with Grupo Bimbo S.A.B. de C.V., BBU Inc. and the Sara Lee Corporation that requires them to divest brands of sliced fresh bread and associated assets, in order to proceed with Grupo Bimbo and BBU’s acquisition of Sara Lee’s North American Fresh Bakery business.

FreshPoint Inc., a Houston, Texas-based food distribution company and wholly owned subsidiary of Sysco Corp., has agreed to pay $4.2 million to resolve allegations that it overcharged the Department of Defense for fresh fruit and vegetables purchased under 15 separate contracts.

He guided Zuora from startup through a successful IPO and subsequent quarters as a public company.

The post SaaS unicorn Freshworks appoints ex-Zuora executive Tyler Sloat as CFO appeared first on DealStreetAsia.

The company said the latest round was led by existing investor Sequoia Capital.

The post Fintech startup Robinhood raises fresh funds at $8.3b valuation appeared first on DealStreetAsia.

Since 2013, hundreds of thousands of refugees have migrated southward to Jordan to escape the Syrian civil war. The migration has put major stress on Jordan’s water resources, a heavy burden for a country ranked among the most water-poor in the world, even prior to the influx of refugees. However, the refugee crisis also coincided […]

LA Whole Foods shoppers now can have concierge-shopped groceries delivered to their door via solar powered electric bikes

Founded by two sons of farmers, this company wants to grow farm-fresh food -- out of shipping containers.

This soil-free smart garden promises fresh greens and veggies that are grown as local as it gets.

Grow some of your own greens, veggies, and herbs indoors with one of these automated hydroponic growing systems.

Photo credit: Abhijit Tembhekar via Flickr/Creative Commonsdigg_url = 'http://www.treehugger.com/files/2009/11/scientists-develop-rot-proof-apple-stays-fresh-four-months.php';Scientists in Australia have developed an apple that won't rot. Or, won't rot

This modular curtain could help existing buildings photosynthesize oxygen and get rid of pollution in cities.

These 131 exercises will teach you to block distractions and deepen your focus.

Looking to reduce waste, increase local food security and create a "circular economy," this permaculture project is growing food in the Arctic.

Cities can be a lot of fun seems to be the message of awesome video from Argentinean creator.

Good for the Westons, owners of both, for doing the right thing by admitting their use of the factory and their willingness to help out.

The large solar-powered box will help farmers get more food to the market for selling.

Different themes seemed to be embedded in the Valencia Design Week. After spotting 6 great wooden flat-pack designs, I also found these little

It is a strange and wonderful experience where you don't know what's around the corner.