The director for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said his agency's guidance for reopening the country was in "draft form" and not ready to be released in the midst of reports that top administration officials decided to shelve the CDC’s recommendations. “The re-opening guidance shared prematurely was in draft form and had not been vetted through the interagency review process," CDC Director Robert Redfield said in a statement circulated by the...

O2 and Virgin media sign a £31.4 billion merger agreement to form a telecom giant in the UK. The new company will boast 46 million total subscribers and revenue of £11 billion. The joint venture plans on making a £10 billion investment in the United Kingdom in five years. Earlier this week on Thursday, Spain’s Telefonica (EBR: TFA) and UK’s Liberty Global (NASDAQ: LBTYA) announced to have signed a £31.4 billion...

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ALMATY: Two Nasa astronauts and a Russian cosmonaut on Friday made a safe return from the International Space Station to find the planet transformed by the coronavirus pandemic. Andrew Morgan, Jessica Meir and Oleg Skripochka touched down in central Kazakhstan … read more

Russia's Red Army Choir shot a video at home playing notes from the Ottoman military band Mehter in support of Turkey's fight with the novel coronavirus.

In its response to COVID-19, the UK Government has also been listening to business and seeking to provide further support mechanisms to help those businesses that have been forced to close in the short term. This has included the prohibition on land...

Across the banking sector, the Bank of England and the Financial Conduct Authority predict that firms’ utilisation of artificial intelligence (AI) solutions will triple in the next three years (BoE and FCA Joint Report on Machine Learning in U...

Vital Kamerhe to answer questions on his role in the misappropriation of public funds.

After watching the South Africa pack demolish England in last year's Rugby World Cup final, coach Eddie Jones' next step was obvious — get the ...

The 61-year-old, who led NPB in home runs in 1988, is enjoying his new role in charge of the Wei Chuan Dragons, who will join ...

We will never fully know what Iran and Russia actually think of Assad or each other’s historic role in Syria.

Modern evangelistic strategies often stumble by emphasizing the method over the message. We hear a lot about contextualization, felt needs, and relevance. On the other hand, we steadily seem to hear less and less about the power of God’s Word to transform the sinner’s soul. As the church becomes increasingly enamored of such pragmatic strategies, it proves decreasingly convinced of the sufficiency of Scripture.

We recently asked Mike Riccardi—the local outreach pastor at Grace Community Church and one of the keynote speakers at Truth Matters—what impact, if any, the sufficiency of Scripture makes in evangelism. Here’s what he had to say:

Registration for Truth Matters is now closed. However, we will be streaming every session of the conference live on the Internet. Wherever you are, we hope you will join us for this special time of Bible teaching, worship, and fellowship.

Ecumenism is nothing new. Satan always works to mingle the truth with error, and the evangelistic co-belligerence of evangelicals and Catholics is just one example. But for some reason, this unlikely doctrinal mashup has been growing in popularity for the past two decades.

We should be grateful for the Reformers’ accomplishments—they recovered precious biblical doctrines, and many of them died defending those essential gospel truths. But our response should go beyond mere remembrance. We recently asked John MacArthur how those lessons from the past should influence the true church today. Here’s what he had to say:

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu formally received the support of a majority of lawmakers to lead a new government on Thursday, paving the way for a controversial power-sharing deal with rival-turned-partner Benny Gantz.Later in the day, Israel’s figurehead president, Reuven Rivlin, assigned Netanyahu the task of forming a government within two weeks, after he received the signatures of 72 lawmakers endorsing the Likud party leader as prime minister.Israel’s parliament, the Knesset,…

The Covid-19 crisis has exposed weaknesses in Chinese health care system despite some impressive reforms over the past two decades, witnesses told an advisory arm of the US Congress on Thursday.China has strengthened its Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to improve the monitoring of outbreaks and better coordinate local public health authorities, US experts on international health care told the United States-China Economic and Security Review Commission.This happened after the…

Currently, platform has attracted over 100 million users.

Hong Kong doctors have performed Asia’s first heart transplant using a new technology invented in the United States that keeps the organ warm, beating and supplied with blood during the transfer, in a medical breakthrough that will enable more life-saving operations across borders.Dr Timmy Au Wing-kuk – chief of Queen Mary Hospital’s cardiothoracic surgery department, which carried out the medical procedure – hailed the Organ Care System as a success story that could not only allow up to five…

ONLINE HIGH-LEVEL DIALOGUE Moderated by Jorge Ramos (journalist & author, Univision)

 
4 May 2020, 17:00-18:15 CET (GMT+2) / 11:00am-12:15pm EDT

 
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The post Press Freedom and Tackling Disinformation in the COVID-19 context appeared first on Inter Press Service.

A former Pakistani child bride, who was wrongly accused of killing her husband at 13 and subsequently spent almost two decades in prison, is making history by being the first victim of a miscarriage of justice to seek compensation from the state, say legal human rights experts.   This March, Rani Tanveer, who was released in […]

The post Former Child Bride Holds Pakistan to Account for Wrongful Imprisonment in Historic Legal Challenge appeared first on Inter Press Service.

Virat Kohli, Kriti Sanon, Ayushmann Khurrana and Sara Ali Khan joined forces for a video

Salman Khan has undergone a shocking transformation during the coronavirus lockdown

Kartik Aaryan considers 'Love Aaj Kal' opposite Sara Ali Khan as the best performance in his career so far

LAHORE: A formula has been devised in Punjab to promote students of matric and Inter to the next classes. New suggestions have been prepared after cancellation of examinations in the wake of the...

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Courteney Cox's former husband reveals he recorded behind the scene footage from 'Friends'

Michael Bay clarified that it wasn’t his decision to lay off Megan Fox

The graduation approach provides a sequenced intervention designed to overcome multiple barriers that prevent the extreme poor from breaking out of poverty.

Millions of Asia’s informal workers – such as vendors, day laborers, and others – are left out of national pension systems. Here’s what we can do to help them in their later years.

Reforming state-owned enterprises can be an extraordinarily complex activity but it is underpinned by a single clear goal.

Performance assessments help people in Southeast Asia determine how well their government is performing and how they can be improved.

With key financial reforms, Ho Chi Minh City has the potential to follow the model of Tokyo, Shanghai, Mumbai, and other cities which came to global financial prominence.

"I was inspired by my sense of fashion," Ward said. "It was my first home and I wanted my home decor to represent me and my personality as much as possible. I have a lot of space so I could create different aspects of my life into each room."

Next-Generation Miniaturized Rubidium Atomic Clock Improves Performance and adds Features without Increasing Size

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ISLAMABAD: Chief Justice of the Islamabad High Court (IHC) Justice Athar Minallah on Friday converted the matter relating to delay in administration of justice into public interest litigation and sought reports from the interior secretary, the chief commissioner of Islamabad and judges of trial courts working within the IHC’s jurisdiction.

Chief Justice Minallah asked the police, district administration and federal government to explain why police reforms could not be enforced in the federal capital even though the law had been promulgated some 18 years ago.

The court framed six questions to be answered by these authorities, including why Police Order 2002 could not be implemented in Islamabad; why proper investigation training was not imparted to investigation officers; whether the code of criminal procedure 1898 and Qanoon-i-Shahadat [Evidence Act] of 1984 were still applicable; whether the state was responsible for delay in administration of justice and whether victims of delayed justice could seek remedy from any forum.

The court appointed criminologist Dr Shoaib Suddle, Kamaluddin Tippu, director general of the National Police Bureau, superintendent of Adiala Jail and vice chairmen of the Pakistan Bar Council and Islamabad Bar Council as amici curiae in the matter.

Further hearing was adjourned to May 14.

During the hearing, the inspector general of Islamabad police submitted a report on the problems arising during investigation of crimes which hindered administration of justice.

In the report, the IG said that the investigation officer (IO) of a case had to pay Rs5,000 parcel fee from his own pocket to send evidence to a forensic laboratory for analysis.

“There should not be any laboratory fee or it should be responsibility of the district administration [to pay the fee],” he said.

The IG noted that it took around two months to send evidence to laboratory for analysis. “An IO should be given the authority to send evidence to a laboratory without waiting for the approval of high officials,” he suggested.

Similarly, he said, an IO paid Rs15,000 for preparation of a sketch of a suspect believed to have committed a crime. “Such a sketch should be prepared within two days.”

The report said that plaintiffs did not cooperate with police after registration of first information reports.

The absence of a forensic laboratory in Islamabad, lawyers’ strikes and deployment of police personnel for special duties also delayed investigation process and subsequently trials, the report said.

Earlier, acquitting a murder suspect Chief Justice Minallah had observed that the existing criminal justice system had failed to deliver and it was on the verge of collapse.

The court had observed that the existing criminal justice system failed to prevent and prosecute crime and it was perpetuating miscarriages of justice.

It had noted that low-paid investigating officers did not have sufficient resources to visit the crime scene when a crime was reported, let alone sending the sealed samples and arranging the payment of the fee to a laboratory for conducting forensic examinations.

Published in Dawn, May 9th, 2020

ISLAMABAD: As many as 1.6 billion of the world’s 2bn informal economy workers are affected by Covid-19 lockdown and containment measures, a new briefing paper issued by the International Labour Organi­sation (ILO) said.

Most are working in the hardest-hit sectors or in small units more vulnerable to shocks including workers in accommodation and food services, manufacturing, wholesale and retail, and the more than 500 million farmers producing for the urban market, the report says. Women are particularly affected in high-risk sectors, it adds.

The Covid-19 lockdown and containment measures threaten to increase relative poverty levels among the world’s informal economy workers by as much as 56 percentage points in low-income countries.

In high-income countries, relative poverty levels among informal workers is estimated to increase by 52 percentage points, while in upper middle-income countries the increase is estimated to be 21 percentage points.

In addition, with these workers needing to work to feed their families, Covid-19 containment measures in many countries cannot be implemented successfully. This is endangering governments’ efforts to protect the population and fight the pandemic. It may become a source of social tension in countries with large informal economies, the report says.

More than 75 per cent of total informal employment takes place in businesses of fewer than ten workers, including 45pc of independent workers without employees.

With most informal workers having no other means of support, they face an almost unsolvable dilemma: to die from hunger or from the virus, the briefing says. This has been exacerbated by disruptions in food supplies, which has particularly affected those in the informal economy.

For the world’s 67 million domestic workers, 75pc of whom are informal workers, unemployment has become as threatening as the virus itself. Many have not been able to work, whether at the request of their employers or in compliance with lockdowns. Those who do continue to go to work face a high risk of contagion, caring for families in private households. For the 11 million migrant domestic workers the situation is even worse.

The countries with the largest informal economies, where full lockdowns have been adopted, are suffering the most from the consequences of the pandemic. Informal economy workers significantly impacted by lockdown vary from 89pc in Latin America and the Arab states to 83pc in Africa, 73pc in Asia and the Pacific, and 64pc in Europe and Central Asia.

Countries need to follow a multi-track strategy that combines several lines of actions relating to both the health and economic impacts of the pandemic, the ILO said.

Among its recommendations, the report highlights the need for policies that reduce the exposure of informal workers to the virus; ensure that those infected have access to health care; provide income and food support to individuals and their families; and prevent damage to the economic fabric of countries.

Published in Dawn, May 9th, 2020

ADB needs to address issues causing weak sustainability of its projects to improve performance, says the 2020 Annual Evaluation Review (AER) conducted by ADB’s Independent Evaluation Department.

ADB needs to address issues causing weak sustainability of its projects to improve performance, says the 2020 Annual Evaluation Review (AER) conducted by ADB’s Independent Evaluation Department.

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From clean power to port infrastructure, the Asian Development Fund is transforming the Pacific.

  Sericulture farms in India’s northeastern state of Assam, are suddenly witnessing a rush of female workers.

With the Narendra Modi government taking charge on Tuesday, real estate players hope the sector will get due priority, which will help bring the economy back to 8-9 percent growth. “The new government will pave way for realty reforms and take concrete steps to implement its promise given in the BJP manifesto to ensure housing for all in eight years,” Confederation of Real Estate Developers’ Associations of India (Credai) Lalit Kumar Jain said. The merger of Housing and Urban Development Department will ensure coordination and proper control, he said. “The new government will bring in a positive change to developers and buyers in the otherwise dark era that has been […]

Capitedge India Investment Advisory, a realty fund and asset management firm floated by six former members of Indian realty team of American banking giant Wells Fargo, is coming out with a residential properties-focused fund in India. This would mark its first fresh fundraising exercise after floating an independent investment advisory firm, which is also managing the remaining assets of Wells Fargo after it shut operations in the country last year. While the founding partners are closely associated in operations, Hiral Soni is driving the domestic fundraise and investment strategy, as per the company website. She was previously with Marvel Realtors and had later also set up a boutique investment banking […]

This paper describes the implementation of the Certificate in Educational Studies in Leadership (CESL) in the Philippines as a professional development initiative delivered in a customized blended learning mode.