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The Crisis of Western Christendom II: The Hypertrophic Papacy

In this episode, Fr. John discusses ways in which papal supremacy led to the growing sense of crisis that preceded the Protestant Reformation.




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The Crisis of Western Christendom: The Curse of Anthropological Pessimism

In this latest episode on the impending Protestant Reformation, Fr. John discusses ways in which the long legacy of pessimism about the human condition and the world in general undermined western Christendom at one of her most critical moments.




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The Crisis of Western Christendom IV: New Directions in Western Soteriology

In this episode, Father John continues his discussion of developments that led to the Protestant Reformation, emphasizing doctrines and practices related to human salvation.




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The Crisis of Western Christendom V: The Protestant “Resolution”

In this episode Father John concludes his reflection on the critical state of western Christendom on the eve of modern times, exploring how the Reformation tried to resolve the issue of anthropological pessimism but ironically served to intensify it.




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The Crisis of Western Christendom I: Martin Luther's Reformation Breakthrough

Returning after a long absence from the podcast, Fr. John in this episode introduces a new reflection on the crisis of western Christendom prior to the Reformation by discussing the penitential context of Martin Luther's famous Ninety-Five Theses.




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Practical Orthodoxy, Part Three: Anamnisis

Fr. Ted addresses the concept of remembrance.




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Identity Crisis

Fr. Ted address three issues that he has encountered in his local parish which speak to the heart of our identity as Orthodox Christians.




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Evita Parálisis del Espíritu

Domingo 11 de Mayo Pd. Nicolás predicó sobre como el amor para Dios puede dar nos la fuerza para evitar parálisis del espíritu. Hechos 9:33-42 Sunday May 11 Fr. Nicholas preached about how the love for God can give us the strength to avoid spiritual paralysis. Acts 9:33-42




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Crisis of Confidence: A Book Review

I have just finished reading Crisis of Confidence: Reclaiming the Historic Faith in a Culture Consumed with Individualism and Identity, by my friend Carl R. Trueman. Dr. Trueman is professor of Biblical and Religious Studies at Grove City College, and a member of the Orthodox Presbyterian Church (which, despite the title, has no connection with our own Eastern Orthodox Church).




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Mental Health in times of Crisis

Fr. Apostolos Hill discusses the phases of crisis and the importance of wisdom to cling to the One who gives us hope.




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Crisis In The Holy Land

John Maddex talks with Dr. Maria Khoury, Orthodox writer and speaker from Taybeh, Palestine, about the tragic war and loss of life in Gaza and Israel.




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Healing Humanity: Confronting Our Moral Crisis

Bobby Maddex interviews Reader Nicholas Chapman, Dn. Paul Siewers, and Kh. Frederica Matthewes-Green about the new title from Holy Trinity Publications, Healing Humanity: Confronting Our Moral Crisis. Listen in as they discuss the conference that inspired the book as well as timely topics such as sexuality, freedom, theosis and the challenges that Christians face as they stand for traditional values. This incredible title can be purchased directly from Holy Trinity Publications here.




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Crisis of Beauty

Kevin Allen's guest is Fr. Stephen Freeman, the pastor of St. Anne Orthodox Church in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, and the host of the "Glory to God" podcast. They discuss the idea of "beauty" and its lack in our secularized culture, as well as how to live a sacred life in a secular culture.




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Crisis in Syria

Kevin is joined by Dr. Najib Saliba, Metropolitan Philip, and Samuel Noble to discuss the current crisis in Syria as well as the controversy surrounding the pending attack by the US.




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Businesses 'beyond crisis point' over budget

Several business organisations in Northern Ireland have written to Stormont ministers calling for support with their rates bill.




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'Raac crisis isn't over for us' - school leaders

More than a year on, some heads say they still do not know when their Raac-hit schools will be rebuilt.




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Uncovering the keys to well-being: calling, mindfulness, and compassion among healthcare professionals in India amidst the post-COVID crisis

This study investigates the well-being of healthcare professionals in India, with a specific focus on the detrimental effects of the pandemic on their mental and physical health, including stress, burnout, and fatigue. This research examines the roles played by calling, mindfulness, and compassionate love as essential resources in promoting the well-being of healthcare professionals. Utilising structural equation modelling (SEM), the results reveal a significant cause and effect relationship between calling, mindfulness, and compassionate love and their influence on overall well-being. Furthermore, the study identifies a noteworthy parallel mediation effect, demonstrating that mindfulness and compassionate love serve as mediators in the relationship between calling and well-being. This research offers practitioners invaluable insights into the effective utilisation of mindfulness and compassionate love practices to enhance the overall well-being of healthcare professionals.




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Are Universities to Blame for the IT Careers Crisis?




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The Potential of E-Learning in Assisting Post-Crisis Countries in Re-Building Their Higher Education Systems: The Case of Libya




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Distance Learning During the COVID-19 Crisis as Perceived by Preservice Teachers

Aim/Purpose: This study examined learning during the COVID-19 crisis, as perceived by preservice teachers at the time of their academic studies and their student teaching experience. Background: The COVID-19 crisis is unexpected. On one hand, it disrupted learning in all learning frameworks, on the other, it may create a change in learning characteristics even after the end of the crisis. This study examined the pro-ductive, challenging, and thwarting factors that preservice teachers encountered during their studies and in the course of their student teaching during the COVID-19 period, from the perspective of preservice teachers. Methodology: The study involved 287 students studying at teacher training institutions in Israel. The preservice teachers were studying online, and in addition experienced online teaching of students in schools, guided by their own teacher. The study used a mixed method. The questionnaire included closed and open questions. The data were collected in 2020. Contribution: Identifying the affecting factors may deepen the understanding of online learning/teaching and assist in the optimal implementation of online learning. Findings: Online learning experience. We found that some of the lessons at institutions of higher learning were delivered in the format of online lectures. Many pre-service teachers had difficulty sitting in front of a computer for many hours—“Zoom fatigue.” Preservice teachers who had difficulty self-regulating and self-mobilizing for study, experienced accumulating loads, which caused them feelings of stress and anxiety. The word count indicated that the words that appeared most often were “load” and “stress.” Some preservice teachers wrote that collaborating in forums with others made it easier for them. Some suggested diversifying by digital means, incorporating asynchronous units and illustrative films, and easing up on online lectures, as a substitute for face-to-face lectures. Online teaching experience in schools. The preservice teachers' descriptions show that in lessons taught in the format of lectures and communication of content, there were discipline problems and non-learning. According to the preservice teachers, discipline problems stemmed from difficulties concentrating, physical distance, load, and failure to address the students' difficulties. Recommendations for Practitioners: In choosing schools for student teaching, it is recommended to reach an understanding with the school about the online learning policy and organization. It is important to hold synchronous sessions in small groups of 5 to 10 students. The sessions should focus on the mental wellbeing of the students, and on the acquisition of knowledge and skills. Students should be prepared for participation in asynchronous digital lessons, which should be produced by professionals. It should be remembered that the change of medium from face-to-face to online learning also changes the familiar learning environment for all parties and requires modifying the ways of teaching. Recommendations for Researchers: A change in the learning medium also requires a change in the definition of objectives and goals expected of each party—students, teachers, and parents. All parties must learn to view online learning as a method that enables empowerment and the application of 21st century skills. Impact on Society: Teachers' ability to deploy 21st century skills in an online environment de-pends largely on their experience, knowledge, skills, and attitude toward these skills. Future Research: This study examined the issue from the perspective of preservice teachers. It is recommended to examine it also from the perspective of teachers and students.




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(GbL #2) Constructive Simulation as a Collaborative Learning Tool in Education and Training of Crisis Staff




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Crisis and Disaster Situations on Social Media Streams: An Ontology-Based Knowledge Harvesting Approach

Aim/Purpose: Vis-à-vis management of crisis and disaster situations, this paper focuses on important use cases of social media functions, such as information collection & dissemination, disaster event identification & monitoring, collaborative problem-solving mechanism, and decision-making process. With the prolific utilization of disaster-based ontological framework, a strong disambiguation system is realized, which further enhances the searching capabilities of the user request and provides a solution of unambiguous in nature. Background: Even though social media is information-rich, it has created a challenge for deriving a decision in critical crisis-related cases. In order to make the whole process effective and avail quality decision making, sufficiently clear semantics of such information is necessary, which can be supplemented through employing semantic web technologies. Methodology: This paper evolves a disaster ontology-based system availing a framework model for monitoring uses of social media during risk and crisis-related events. The proposed system monitors a discussion thread discovering whether it has reached its peak or decline after its root in the social forum like Twitter. The content in social media can be accessed through two typical ways: Search Application Program Interfaces (APIs) and Streaming APIs. These two kinds of API processes can be used interchangeably. News content may be filtered by time, geographical region, keyword occurrence and availability ratio. With the support of disaster ontology, domain knowledge extraction and comparison against all possible concepts are availed. Besides, the proposed method makes use of SPARQL to disambiguate the query and yield the results which produce high precision. Contribution: The model provides for the collection of crisis-related temporal data and decision making through semantic mapping of entities over concepts in a disaster ontology we developed, thereby disambiguating potential named entities. Results of empirical testing and analysis indicate that the proposed model outperforms similar other models. Findings: Crucial findings of this research lie in three aspects: (1) Twitter streams and conventional news media tend to offer almost similar types of news coverage for a specified event, but the rate of distribution among topics/categories differs. (2) On specific events such as disaster, crisis or any emergency situations, the volume of information that has been accumulated between the two news media stands divergent and filtering the most potential information poses a challenging task. (3) Relational mapping/co-occurrence of terms has been well designed for conventional news media, but due to shortness and sparseness of tweets, there remains a bottleneck for researchers. Recommendations for Practitioners: Though metadata avails collaborative details of news content and it has been conventionally used in many areas like information retrieval, natural language processing, and pattern recognition, there is still a lack of fulfillment in semantic aspects of data. Hence, the pervasive use of ontology is highly suggested that build semantic-oriented metadata for concept-based modeling, information flow searching and knowledge exchange. Recommendation for Researchers: The strong recommendation for researchers is that instead of heavily relying on conventional Information Retrieval (IR) systems, one can focus more on ontology for improving the accuracy rate and thereby reducing ambiguous terms persisting in the result sets. In order to harness the potential information to derive the hidden facts, this research recommends clustering the information from diverse sources rather than pruning a single news source. It is advisable to use a domain ontology to segregate the entities which pose ambiguity over other candidate sets thus strengthening the outcome. Impact on Society: The objective of this research is to provide informative summarization of happenings such as crisis, disaster, emergency and havoc-based situations in the real world. A system is proposed which provides the summarized views of such happenings and corroborates the news by interrelating with one another. Its major task is to monitor the events which are very booming and deemed important from a crowd’s perspective. Future Research: In the future, one shall strive to help to summarize and to visualize the potential information which is ranked high by the model.




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The Influence of Crisis Management, Risk-Taking, and Innovation in Sustainability Practices: Empirical Evidence From Iraq

Aim/Purpose: This study examines the impact of decision-making, crisis management, and decision-making on sustainability through the mediation of open innovation in the energy sector. Background: Public companies study high-performance practices, requiring overcoming basic obstacles such as financial crises that prevent the adoption and development of sustainability programs. Methodology: Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, which has led to the closure of businesses in Iraq, a survey was distributed. To facilitate responses, free consultations were offered to help complete the questionnaire quickly. Of the 435 questionnaires answered, 397 were used for further analysis. Contribution: The impact of crises that impede the energy sector from adopting sustainable environmental regulations is investigated in this study. Its identification of specific constraints to open innovation leads to the effectiveness of adopting environmentally friendly policies and reaching high levels of sustainable performance. Findings: The impacts of risk-taking, crisis management, and decision-making on sustainability have been explored. Results show that open innovation fully mediates the relationship between the factors of risk-taking, crisis management, decision-making, and sustainability. Recommendations for Practitioners: The proposed model can be used by practitioners to develop and improve sustainable innovation practices and achieve superior performance. Recommendation for Researchers: Researchers are recommended to conduct in-depth studies of the phenomenon based on theoretical and empirical foundations, especially in light of the relationship between crisis management, decision-making, and risk-taking and their impact on sustainability based on linear and non-compensatory relationships. Impact on Society: This study provides a reference for organizations with similar cultural backgrounds in adopting sustainable practices to minimize pollution in the Iraqi context. Future Research: A more in-depth study can be performed using a larger sample, which not only includes the energy industry but also other industries.




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Review: Applied Crisis Communication and Crisis Management: Cases and Exercises

Over the past decade, the terms "crisis" and "crisis management" have become increasingly popular topics of interest for business professionals and management academics alike. According to the Institute for Crisis Management (2013), "Newsworthy business crises have been on a steady upward trend since 2009.




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Germany’s deepening political crisis

Chancellor Scholz’s three-party coalition government has fallen apart




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Four things companies need to know about protecting employees during times of crisis

Published on behalf of SAP Concur. Are companies relieved of their duty to care for the wellbeing of their employees during this lockdown period? Angelique Montalto, Regional Sales Director at SAP Concur, clarified the situation: “Organisations owe it to their employees...




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Education crisis

Over 3,500 Balochistan schools are closed due to a teacher shortage, revealing a severe educational crisis.




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WHO to hold emergency meeting to debate if mpox remains global health crisis

A combination of images shows the World Health Organisation logo seen near its headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland and a test tube labelled "Mpox virus positive". — Reuters/File

The World Health Organisation will convene a meeting of its Emergency Committee on November 22 to...




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Jamie Foxx embraces powerful daily mantra following life threatening health crisis

Jamie Foxx embraces powerful daily mantra following health crisis

Jamie Foxx revealed the daily mantra he lives by after surviving a health scare back in April 2023.

The Oscar winner took to his official Instagram account on Tuesday, November 12, to share his powerful...




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Piracy Shield Crisis Erupts as AGCOM Board Member Slams Huge Toll on Resources

Critics of Italy's Piracy Shield are not difficult to find but, with its powerful and influential proponents rarely far away, getting heard is a considerable challenge. Not to mention getting anything done. After calling for the platform's suspension and meeting resistance in the wake of the recent Google Drive blocking blunder, AGCOM board member Elisa Giomi has gone public with a laundry list of concerns. It pulls zero punches.

From: TF, for the latest news on copyright battles, piracy and more.




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Pakistan's food waste crisis: An enemy from within our kitchens

In a country where millions go to bed hungry every night, 40% of the total food produced is being wasted annually.



  • The Way I See It

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Smog crisis shuts schools, moves classes online in five more Punjab divisions

Students wearing face masks walk along a street amid smoggy conditions in Lahore on November 21, 2023. — AFP

RAWALPINDI: As intense smog continues to choke residents across Punjab, the provincial government on Tuesday ordered the closure of public and private schools and a...




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Catalan political crisis 'should speak to all democrats'

JOAQUIM Forn was Catalonia’s interior minister until he was arrested for his role in the October 2017 independence referendum. He has been in jail since.


THE NATIONAL

18th December 2018



Exclusive by GREG RUSSELL



Forn has also been on hunger strike for two weeks, one of four prisoners taking this drastic course of action. Here, he talks about his incarceration, the forthcoming trials and Europe.

What is your view of events such as the continuing refusal of European leaders to take up your cases; and the way Spain is lurching further to the right almost every day?

I am worried that Europe turns its back on the situation we are in. What is happening is a clear violation of civil rights and liberties. In Spain, an involution is happening as a consequence of a weak left that is being dragged by the discourse of the PP (People’s Party) and Ciudadanos (Citizens) and also due to the rise of the extreme right with Vox.

Europe should not be unconnected to this regression and should position itself in defence of our liberties.

The political prisoners have a huge amount of support with daily protests outside Lledoners – does that support give you more strength?

Absolutely. Some of us have been for more than a year in pretrial and preventative detention. First in prison in Madrid and now in Catalunya.

These last few months have been very tough and we have been able to overcome them thanks to the support from our families and the societal mobilisation that there is in Catalunya.

From the prison courtyard we can hear the chants and shouts of support. Without this great support, the situation would have been more difficult to bear.

You have been on hunger strike now for two weeks, are you not worried that this protest can damage you?

We have not imposed a time limit upon ourselves. Our hunger strike aims to denounce the inaction of the Constitutional Court (TC), which has not reviewed our appeals. Some of these were submitted a year ago. The court, who should be the guarantor of our rights, is acting subordinate to political interests and is denying us access to European justice.

What we are enduring in Spain should not only worry independence supporters. Any democrat should react to this arbitrariness. We are clearly worried about the possible consequences to our health. The medical services from jail check us daily. We cannot forget that our trial is starting next month and that we should confront it in the best possible condition, both physical and mentally.

The TC judges have said they will hear you appeals next month (and will hear some cases before then) – do you believe that they will stick to that timetable?

From the moment we started the hunger strike, the TC made some moves. This week, it has started to resolve five of almost 30 appeals that all the defendants have presented.

Next week it will continue to resolve other appeals. It is clear that the TC knows it has not acted according to the law and should face our complaint.

How do you view the world’s response to what is happening in Catalonia?

I would like there to be a bigger awareness of what is happening in Spain. The governments of both PP and PSOE (Spanish Socialist Party) have dismissed dialogue, which is the political way, and have ended up imposing criminal law solutions against the political demands of millions of Catalans.

The fact that in Europe, in the 21st century, we are talking about exiled and imprisoned politicians should worry the European states and citizens. The crisis being lived in Catalunya should speak to all democrats. The debate about liberties is very alive in Europe and the world, so we cannot turn our backs as if this debate does not concern us.

How worrying is the prospect of not receiving a fair trial?

Without a doubt, we are very worried. In any case, I see the trial as an opportunity. We are not in the pretrial proceedings any more, so now the accusations need to be argued with proof.

The prosecution wanted to create the narrative of rebellion and sedition, based on the police reports from the Civil Guard and the National Police. The German courts have compellingly ruled out these crimes. The trial will be broadcast live, with the presence of international observers.

I have not lost faith and I truly think that with the criminal code in hand, the only possible sentence is absolution.

Is there anything else you’d like to say?

I would like to thank the Scottish people for showing their solidarity and support. We have received hundreds of letters and postcards. We cannot answer them all which is why I want to take this opportunity to thank them for their gesture.







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Identity Crisis

President Trump’s anti-immigrant rhetoric ran high in the run up to the US midterm elections. He called the migrant caravan making its way north through Mexico an invasion. He even sent troops to the southern border between the US and Mexico to keep out the migrants. But now that the Democrats are in control of the House of Representatives, President Trump may not have as much power as he used to in executing his immigration policies.

Also: Maria Mendoza and Eusebio Sanchez were deported from the US to Mexico, leaving their four children behind. Now their eldest daughter, Vianney, is looking after her siblings; Jose Antonio Vargas talks about his life in the US as an undocumented immigrant; Terrell Jermaine Starr on the difficulties of being a black reporter in Ukraine; Plus, why some passports are more valuable than others.

(Members of a family reunited through the border wall between Mexico and United States, in Ciudad Juarez, Chihuahua state, Mexico. Credit: Herika Martinez/Getty Images)




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The Watchman: After Paris, What's Next for ISIS?

On this week's edition of The Watchman, we analyze the growing ISIS threat to America in the wake of the Paris attacks. We also examine how Europe's capital, Brussels, is in the crosshairs of radical Islamists.




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How to Protect Yourself in Times of Crisis

If you’re feeling panicked about money in these uncertain times, I want you to hear me on this:  You are not alone. You will be okay. People all across the country are wanting to know how the COVID-19 virus will affect their finances. Here are some of the top questions I’m getting about how to handle money during this trying time. What should I do to protect myself and my family right now? Conserve your financial resources. This means cutting unnecessary spending, like cable television, eating...




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Trustee ‘crisis’ declared as four in five charities have board vacancies

One-third of charities have had vacancies on their board for more than a year, the NCVO finds




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SIAC Solutions Timelier Than Ever During Police Staffing Crisis

David Margulies examines how SIAC’s mission is to be the go-to resource for public safety leadership when it comes to the issue of electronic security.





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Mental illness an ‘unrecognized crisis’ among miners with black lung, study shows

Charlottesville, VA — Coal miners with black lung disease commonly face various mental health issues, including thoughts of suicide, results of a recent study conducted by researchers from the University of Virginia show.




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Recovery-friendly workplaces can help combat the nation’s opioid crisis: report

Washington — The opioid epidemic has had a wide-ranging impact on U.S. workers, but employers who support recovery can help, a new policy report states.




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‘A Crisis of Disrupted Learning’: Oregon teachers’ union report details hazards in the classroom

Portland, OR — Episodes of agitated student behavior – including verbal abuse of fellow students and teachers, as well as physical acts such as hitting, weaponizing school supplies, and destroying school or student property – may foster a “disrupted learning environment” that puts teachers’ safety and health at risk, according to a recent report from the Oregon Education Association.




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Survey puts spotlight on ‘crisis of violence’ against teachers, school staff

Washington — A third of teachers and nearly 2 out of 5 school administrators have experienced verbal harassment or threats of violence from students during the COVID-19 pandemic, results of a recent American Psychological Association survey show.




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Integrators’ Role in Tackling the Evolving Shoplifting Crisis

Dive into how systems integrators can leverage advanced video analytics to enhance retail security and proactively combat the evolving challenges of shoplifting.




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Ab? Mu??ab Al-??r?: Al-Qaeda and ISIS Jih?d? Strategist: Al-Mawd?d? and Qu?b Are the Pioneers of Jih?d? Ideology




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The Dispute Between Ab? Mu?ammad al-Maqdis? and ISIS: Kh?rijites Falling Out with Each Other with Respect to Matters of Kh?rijite Jurisprudence




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‘At a crisis point’: Teachers commonly face threats from students, survey shows

Dover, DE — More than half of public school teachers have been the target of verbal aggression or threats by a student in the past three years, according to a recent survey conducted by the Delaware State Education Association.




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Rise in worker deaths a ‘national crisis,’ AFL-CIO president says during Workers’ Memorial Week

Washington — The state of workplace safety and health protections in the United States is a “national crisis,” according to Richard Trumka, president of the AFL-CIO, which has released its annual report detailing the hazards that workers face every day on the job.




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Health care workers facing a mental health crisis: CDC report

Washington — Health care workers are reporting burnout and poor mental health at levels higher than before the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a new report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.