Taliban militants have killed a provincial police chief and two others in a roadside bomb attack in Khost Province in Afghanistan’s southeast, officials said on May 8.

In its decision of 27. June 2019 (Ref. 6 U 6/19), the Higher Regional Court of Frankfurt am Main ruled that participation in a sweepstakes can be made dependent on participants giving their consent to receive future marketing via e-mail or calls. In...

All cargo destined for neighbouring countries will now be loaded onto the SGR.

CHANDIGARH/GURGAON: There is a ray of hope for real estate projects awaiting change of land use (CLU) licences from the state government. The department of town and country planning on Tuesday submitted a revised sub-regional plan to the NCR Planning Board (NCRPB). The builders, however, will have to wait till the board approves the revised plan. Last month, the Punjab and Haryana high court had barred the state government from issuing CLU licences to developers or government agencies in NCR because of the same reason. Earlier, the NCRPB had highlighted loopholes in Haryana’s draft of the sub-regional plan, but the government failed to incorporate the changes. After a rap from […]

ONGOING EVALUATION. : This evaluation will assess the performance of the Regional Cooperation and Integration Fund (RCIF) against its establishment objectives and provide recommendations for its future directions.

ADB has a vacancy for the position of Senior Regional Cooperation Specialist in the Sustainable Development and Climate Change Department. The deadline for submitting applications is on 18 May 2020.

The Roundtable on Financing Water, to be held on 26–28 November 2019 in Manila, Philippines, is jointly organized by OECD and ADB. This is the fifth meeting of the roundtable series and focuses on the Asia and Pacific region.

Energy security is a nation’s ability to meet the energy needs of its inhabitants uninterruptedly at an affordable price.

The European experience could be useful to inspire the future evolution of the Chiang Mai Initiative Multilateralization in the ASEAN+3 membership.

Trade facilitation, by reducing trade costs and raising the efficiency of moving goods across borders, is integral to international trade.

The global financial architecture should focus on providing short-term lending facilities to improve the efficiency of developing projects.

Energy security is a nation’s ability to meet the energy needs of its inhabitants uninterruptedly at an affordable price.

The European experience could be useful to inspire the future evolution of the Chiang Mai Initiative Multilateralization in the ASEAN+3 membership.

BACKGROUND Pregnant patients from rural counties of Western North Carolina face additional barriers when accessing comprehensive perinatal substance use disorders care at Project CARA as compared to patients local to the program in Buncombe County. We hypothesized regional patients would be less engaged in care.

METHOD Using a retrospective cohort design, univariate analyses (², t-test; P < .05) compared patients' characteristics, engagement in care, and delivery outcomes. Engagement in care, the primary outcome, was operationalized as: attendance at expected, program-specific prenatal and postpartum visits, utilization of in-house counseling, community-based and/or inpatient substance use disorders treatment, and maternal urine drug screen at delivery negative for illicit substances.

RESULTS Regional patients (n = 324) were more likely than Buncombe County patients (n = 284) to have opioid [209 (64.5%) versus 162 (57.0%)] or amphetamine/methamphetamine use disorders (25 [7.7%] versus 13 [4.6%]), but less likely to have cannabis use (19 [5.9%] versus 38 [13.4%]; P = .009) and concurrent psychiatric disorders (214 [66.0%] versus 220 [77.5%]; P = .002). Engagement at postpartum visits was the significantly different outcome between patients (110/221 [49.8%] versus 146/226 [64.6%]; P = .002).

LIMITATIONS Outcomes were available for 66.8% of regional and 79.6% of Buncombe County patients of one program in one predominately white, non-Hispanic region of the state.

CONCLUSION Contrary to our hypothesis, regional and Buncombe County women engaged in prenatal care equally. However, a more formal transition into the postpartum period is needed, especially for regional women. A "hub-and-spokes" model that extends delivery of perinatal substance use disorders care into rural communities may be more effective for engagement retention.

If you don’t have a big budget to invest in largest cities, think about buying properties in regional towns with many advantages. However, it’s important to look for the right location to pour your money.

EXCLUSIVE

As the drought bites deeper, residents in a growing number of rural communities are fighting to stop local groundwater being taken to satisfy Australia's thirst for bottled water.

Restaurants, cafes and shops are given the green light to reopen and local and regional travel is on the cards under the first step of National Cabinet's plan to ease coronavirus restrictions.

International travel remains on hold for "the foreseeable future" as the Government announces plans to open up local, regional and interstate travel.

The Federal Government has thrown airline Regional Express a funding lifeline to continue servicing airports in regional Australia during the ongoing pandemic.

What do Barrie Cassidy, Annika Smethurst, Tony Wright and Sean Murphy have in common? They all got their start on country newspapers. And recent mass closures have had a visceral impact on each of them.

Regional centres are concerned they could be badly hit by the potential collapse of Virgin Australia, with higher airfares and less competition.

Fresh support from the Federal Government and several states means the key carrier will be able to increase services across its network.

Almost 7,000 square kilometres of land will be released for coal and gas exploration in central and north Queensland as part of measures to ensure the survival of the resources sector through the coronavirus pandemic, the State Government says.

Five sisters make up a quarter of their tiny town's under-16s Aussie Rules team. They can't compete right now, but they are all determined to break into the professional ranks one day.

John Wieland Homes and Neighborhoods Inc., and John Wieland Homes and Neighborhoods of the Carolinas Inc., based in Atlanta, Ga., have agreed to pay a $350,000 civil penalty to resolve alleged violations of the Clean Water Act, the Justice Department and U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced today.

Attorney General Eric Holder and U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius today kicked-off the first in a series of regional health care fraud prevention summits in Miami.

Today Attorney General Eric Holder and U. S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Kathleen Sebelius kicked off the second in a series of daylong summits bringing together a wide array of federal, state and local partners, beneficiaries, providers and other interested parties to discuss innovative ways to eliminate fraud within the U.S. health care system.

"It is clear – from the record of achievement that you just shared – that great progress is being made here in Northern California. And I believe that the discussions we're beginning today provide a unique and important opportunity to build on all that is being achieved."

"Despite the commitment you represent and the great work being done across Massachusetts and beyond – we can all agree that it’s time to take our nationwide fight against health care fraud to the next level."

"We can no longer afford the societal, moral and budgetary costs incurred when defendants and inmates cycle in and out of our prisons two, three, or four times. We need to look at individuals who have committed low-level, nonviolent crimes and for whom a punishment – other than jail time – will still hold them accountable," said Deputy Attorney General Cole.

"At every level, my colleagues and I have made the fight against financial fraud a top priority. We’re more determined than ever to eradicate these crimes – and, alongside more than two dozen additional federal government agencies and private sector partners, we’ve made an historic commitment to advancing this work at the national level," said Attorney General Holder.

"As we continue to work with reentry projects and learn about them, we realize more and more that they need to be sustained and continuous if they are to be successful. They need to start the first day an individual arrives at the prison," said Deputy Attorney General Cole.

EMH Regional Medical Center has agreed to pay the United States $3,863,857 and North Ohio Heart Center Inc. has agreed to pay the United States $541,870 to settle allegations that they submitted false claims to Medicare.

Derek Matthews, 46, of Harwood, Md., pleaded guilty today to accepting bribes from a government contracting company in exchange for using his position to help the company find and win contracts.

Today the Department of Justice filed a complaint and a simultaneous settlement agreement in the District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia to ensure that prisoners at the Piedmont Regional Jail in Farmville, Va., receive appropriate medical and mental health care.

Stronger cooperation is essential for APEC as economies address inequality, environmental health, and the digital economy – the region’s critical challenges – said the APEC Secretariat’s Executive Director Dr Rebecca Sta Maria.

“I would like to express our appreciation to APEC member economies that put their faith in Malaysia’s leadership and made it a point to participate.”

Parekh joins Tikehau Capital later this year from National Australia Bank, where he serves as General Manager Asia.

The post Tikehau Capital appoints Neil Parekh as new Asia regional head appeared first on DealStreetAsia.

Apr 22, 2020

In October 2019, the Belfer Center's Arctic Initiative and the Wilson Center's Polar Institute co-hosted a workshop on Policy and Action on Plastic in the Arctic Ocean with the Icelandic Chairmanship of the Arctic Council. The Arctic Council asked Magnús Jóhannesson, the Council's designated Special Coordinator on Plastics Pollution and Marine Litter, and Gunn-Britt Retter, Head of Arctic and Environmental Unit at the Saami Council — who both participated in the workshop — to comment on some of the points that the report raises.

Apr 22, 2020

In October 2019, the Belfer Center's Arctic Initiative and the Wilson Center's Polar Institute co-hosted a workshop on Policy and Action on Plastic in the Arctic Ocean with the Icelandic Chairmanship of the Arctic Council. The Arctic Council asked Magnús Jóhannesson, the Council's designated Special Coordinator on Plastics Pollution and Marine Litter, and Gunn-Britt Retter, Head of Arctic and Environmental Unit at the Saami Council — who both participated in the workshop — to comment on some of the points that the report raises.

Apr 22, 2020

In October 2019, the Belfer Center's Arctic Initiative and the Wilson Center's Polar Institute co-hosted a workshop on Policy and Action on Plastic in the Arctic Ocean with the Icelandic Chairmanship of the Arctic Council. The Arctic Council asked Magnús Jóhannesson, the Council's designated Special Coordinator on Plastics Pollution and Marine Litter, and Gunn-Britt Retter, Head of Arctic and Environmental Unit at the Saami Council — who both participated in the workshop — to comment on some of the points that the report raises.

Apr 22, 2020

In October 2019, the Belfer Center's Arctic Initiative and the Wilson Center's Polar Institute co-hosted a workshop on Policy and Action on Plastic in the Arctic Ocean with the Icelandic Chairmanship of the Arctic Council. The Arctic Council asked Magnús Jóhannesson, the Council's designated Special Coordinator on Plastics Pollution and Marine Litter, and Gunn-Britt Retter, Head of Arctic and Environmental Unit at the Saami Council — who both participated in the workshop — to comment on some of the points that the report raises.