[Politics] :
The Supreme Court has upheld a suspended prison term for former Rep. Youn Mee-hyang, who was convicted of embezzling donations to an advocacy group for South Korean victims of sexual slavery during World War II. On Thursday the top court upheld the 18-month sentence, suspended for three years, after ...

[more...]

[Politics] :
President Yoon Suk Yeol has departed for South America to attend the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation(APEC) and Group of 20(G-20) forums. Ruling People Power Party leader Han Dong-hoon and floor leader Choo Kyung-ho, and presidential chief of staff Chung Jin-suk saw Yoon off when he boarded the ...

[more...]

[Politics] :
The leaders of South Korea, the United States and Japan will hold a three-way discussion on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation(APEC) summit in Lima, Peru. According to Seoul’s presidential office, President Yoon Suk Yeol, U.S. President Joe Biden and Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru ...

[more...]

[Politics] :
The special counsel bill mandating an investigation for first lady Kim Keon-hee has passed in the National Assembly. The main opposition Democratic Party introduced the bill, its third attempt following presidential vetoes for previous bills, and all 191 lawmakers present voted in its favor in a plenary ...

[more...]

[Inter-Korea] :
People who suffer damages as a result of North Korea’s trash balloon campaign will eventually be eligible for government compensation. The National Assembly passed an amendment to the Framework Act on Civil Defense during a plenary session Thursday, allowing the government to provide compensation for ...

[more...]

[Politics] :
The ruling People Power Party has decided to take steps to ensure that the National Assembly recommends candidates for the post of special inspector to look at allegations against members of the president’s family. The ruling camp adopted the party policy during a general meeting for its lawmakers on ...

[more...]

[Politics] :
Main opposition Democratic Party chair Lee Jae-myung says he will appeal a court decision to fine his wife one-point-five million won, or around one-thousand-100 U.S. dollars, for violating the Public Official Election Act.  Lee expressed deep regret over the Suwon District Court handing down such a ...

[more...]

Binary chalcogen halogen EX4 species represent intriguing systems in terms of chemical bonding theories, such as hypervalency and stereoactivity of lone electron pairs. Instead of a simple molecular EX4 structure, selenium tetrachloride forms an ionic pair, Cl3Se+Cl−, that assembles into a tetrameric (SeCl4)4 structure, namely, tetra-μ3-chlorido-dodecachloridotetraselenium. This article describes the charge–density analysis of the tetrameric molecule of β-SeCl4 based on the aspherical model obtained from Hirshfeld Atom Refinement of the tetrameric molecule and of an explicit cluster of 15 tetramers that simulates the crystal packing. Deformation density, electron localization function (ELF) and Quantum Theory of Atoms in Molecules (QTAIM) were used to evaluate the bonding situation, the electron-density distribution around the Se atom and the interaction energy of the tetramer.

The title compound [systematic name: 1,10-phenanthrolinium 6-hydroxy-5-(oxidoimino)-1,3-diazinane-2,4-dione–6-hydroxy-5-(hydroxyimino)-1,3-diazinane-2,4-dione–water (1/1/5)], C12H9N2+·C4H2N3O4−·C4H3N3O4·5H2O, is a co-crystal salt hydrate comprising 1,10-phenanthrolinium cations, violurate anions, free violuric acid as co-former and five water molecules of crystallization per formula unit. The violurate and the violuric acid residues each form distinct N—H...O hydrogen-bonded tapes with a common R22(8) hydrogen-bond motif extending parallel to (103). Solvent water molecules connect the tapes to form a tri-periodic hydrogen-bonded network with channels extending parallel to the a-axis direction, which accommodate the N—H...Owater hydrogen-bonded 1,10-phenanthrolinium cations. Direct N—H...O hydrogen bonds between the 1,10-phenanthrolinium and violurate ions are not encountered.

This New York-based company has made large strides in building out its nuclear reactor program, noted a Benchmark Co. report.

Mastercard has introduced Biz360, a digital platform...

A large The Actor statue is placed on stage during 21st Annual SAG Awards Behind The Scenes At The Shrine Auditorium Jan. 23, 2015 in Los Angeles.; Credit: Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images

Click here for KPCC's Awards Tracker

This Sunday's Screen Actors Guild Awards aren't as high profile as the Academy Awards, or even the Golden Globes, but they serve as one of the best predictors of who's going to take home a gold statue come Oscar night. Here's why.

Who votes for the SAG Awards?

SAG Award nominees are chosen by a committee of about 2,100 of the guild's members, according to awards news site Gold Derby. Then, all of the 111,228 members of the Guild have the chance to vote for their picks.

Meanwhile, the acting nominees for the Academy Awards are chosen by the 1,100 members in the Academy's actors branch, before being voted on by the Academy's full 5,700 members. Those actors are all part of SAG, so you're likely to see a strong correlation most years between the awards, particularly in the acting category.

How often do the SAG Awards predict the Oscar winners?

The SAG Awards have proven to be the best Oscar predictor in the acting category of any other major awards season prize since they began in 1995, both in nominations and winners. Of the 20 nominations and four winners from each shows, the overlap between the SAG Awards (aka "the Actors") and the Academy Awards in the last few years:

• 2009: 18 nominations; 3 winners
• 2010: 19 nominations; all 4 winners
• 2011: 17 nominations; all 4 winners
• 2012: 16 nominations; 3 winners
• 2013: 15 nominations; 3 winners
• 2014: 14 nominations; all 4 winners

This year, 17 nominees crossed over between the awards shows, with the Oscars matching up on all five nominations for best supporting actor and four of the five nominations in the other three acting categories.

Where have the SAG Awards differed from the Oscars?

SAG voters have lined up with the Academy on Best Actor 16 out of 20 times. The last time they differed from the Oscars was 2003, when Johnny Depp won at the SAG Awards for "Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl" before Sean Penn took the statue home at the Oscars for "Mystic River."

For Best Actress, SAG last split from Oscar in 2011, going with Viola Davis for "The Help" over eventual Oscar winner Meryl Streep for "The Iron Lady." They've matched up 14 out of 20 years.

In the supporting categories, the SAG Awards haven't fared as well. They went 12 for 20 in Best Supporting Actor, and 13 for 20 in Best Supporting Actress. That one also has an asterisk — one of those was a tie, so if you don't count that one, they're also only 12 for 20.

What does this all mean for the Oscars?

The SAG Awards remain the ones to watch when it comes to the acting awards — though their Best Ensemble category, the SAG Awards version of Best Picture, doesn't have a particularly strong correlation to the Oscars Best Picture winner. (For that, you'll want to watch for the Producers Guild Awards.)

We're tracking awards season and what experts are predicting; see KPCC's Awards Tracker below or click here to see the full page. You can watch the Screen Actors Guild Awards this Sunday at 5 p.m. Pacific, 8 p.m. Eastern on both TBS and TNT.

Disclosure: Mike Roe, along with other members of KPCC's staff, are members of the Screen Actors Guild as part of their employment with KPCC.

This content is from Southern California Public Radio. View the original story at SCPR.org.

At the corner of Glendale and Glenfeliz, Jeff Harmes created an art garden completely from scratch. ; Credit: Alana Rinicella

On the median on the Atwater Village side of the Hyperion bridge, Jeff Harmes built a garden. It's an act he calls "taking nothing and making it into something that everyone can get something out of, that can inspire everyone."

Having lived on the streets for 30 years, Jeff says grew to hate litter. He used to sweep street gutters with a piece of cardboard and remove trash packed into the forks of trees. He thought of them as small acts that would go mostly unnoticed.

On a whim last spring, he started tilling the median — or "the island," as he likes to call it ... although "oasis" is more like it, now. He made rock sculptures from stones he scrounged out of the L.A. River. In celebration of spring, he made a peace sign out of flowers. 

He says he doesn't know much about gardening or landscaping. He learns as he goes and looks to commuters for suggestions. In the absence of running water, he relies on rainfall.

Vibrant succulents sit next to kitschy items like gnomes and plastic flamingos. Intricate formations of seashells and stones contrast starkly against the neatly patted dirt. A young girl even donated her seashell collection for the peace sign. 

Recently, though, a vandal smashed the peace sign and wrecked Jeff's plants, including his squash crop. With help from the neighborhood, Jeff has been able to rebuild the garden. New plants have sprouted and the stonework has been repaired.

Jeff says his new goal with the garden is for people to draw something positive from it. "I want hate to be transferred into something beautiful," he said. Moving forward, he hopes to expand it down the island. 

(Note: This post has been edited. The original called it a "meridian," which is an invisible geographic line. "Median" is correct.)

This content is from Southern California Public Radio. View the original story at SCPR.org.

There are still a couple dozen tickets left for one of the most interestingly-cast performances of H.G. Wells, Orson Welles and Howard Koch's "War of the Worlds." On Saturday, Jan. 17,  generations of Star Trek actors will take on the world's most famous radio show.

The cast — directed by Jim Fall — features: René Auberjonois (“Star Trek: Deep Space Nine”), Michael Dorn (“Star Trek: TNG”), Dean Haglund (“The X-Files”), Walter Koenig ("Star Trek"), Linda Park ("Star Trek: Enterprise"), Jason Ritter (“The Event”), Tim Russ (“Star Trek: Voyager”), Armin Shimerman (“Star Trek: Deep Space Nine”) and Wil Wheaton, playing... Orson Welles.

The performance is a fundraiser for Sci-Fest LA, the new annual science fiction play festival, so tickets aren't cheap — but they're scarce, and this looks like a memorable night.

KPCC and "Off-Ramp" celebrated the 75th anniversary of the broadcast last year by distributing the original 1938 performance, and a new documentary, internationally... introduced by George Takei, another original Trek actor you might have heard of.

War of the Worlds: Sat., Jan. 17,  8 PM; The Acme Theatre, 135 North La Brea Ave. LA CA 90036

This content is from Southern California Public Radio. View the original story at SCPR.org.

The L.A. Philharmonic will be the new operator of the John Anson Ford Theatre, the smaller outdoor venue near  the 101 Freeway across from the Hollywood Bowl, under a plan approved by the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors.  

L.A.  funding sustains the Ford, and the county recently spent $80 million renovating the 1,200  seat amphitheater.  But attendance has been lackluster — and Supervisor Sheila Kuehl hopes the L.A. Philharmonic can change that. 

“The Ford will be able to take advantage of the natural synergies in marketing, capacity-building and program resources that simply haven’t been available to the Ford as an independent institution," she  said.

The move by the L.A. County  blindsided many local artists.  They say the Ford is an important incubator for diverse talent.  They also worry ticket prices will increase.  Prompted by their criticism, the Supervisors will require the Phil to meet with artists and annually review the diversity of the Ford’s shows with county officials.

This content is from Southern California Public Radio. View the original story at SCPR.org.

; Credit: Illustration: Dan Carino

Read the full article at LAist

Source: Michael Legg 11/12/2024

Nano Nuclear Energy Inc. (NNE:NASDAQ) saw a 69% raise in its target price to US$66 per share from US$39 by The Benchmark Co. in light of the nuclear energy company's robust internal development, reported analyst Michael Legg in a November 7 research note. Nano Nuclear is developing 1–2 megawatt small modular reactors (SMRs).

"Nano Nuclear's balance sheet has been bolstered by capital raises placing over US$65 million (US$65M) on [the] balance sheet, allowing [the company] to continue to execute on its strategy," Legg wrote.

As the company was trading at the time of the report at about US$19.05 per share, the new target price implies a 246% return, noted Legg.

Nano Nuclear remains a Buy.

Strengthened Financial Status

This New York-headquartered company improved its balance sheet to the point of having US$65M in cash and no debt, which allowed Nano Nuclear to keep working its strategy.

"We have lowered our discount rate on our net present value analysis to 20% from 25% to reflect reduced risk," Legg wrote.

Company's Recent Efforts

The analyst reported Nano Nuclear's newest achievements and progress. They include:

1) Advancing development of its ZEUS and ODIN SMRs to the physical test work phase from the design stage and starting initial rig construction. The company also did external design audits on its SMRs.

2) Expanding its team, adding advisers and engineers, to expedite program development. Nano Nuclear appointed John Vonglis as chairman of its Executive Advisory Board for Strategic Initiatives. Vonglis is a former chief financial officer of the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and Acting Director of DOE’s Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy.

The energy company appointed Lieutenant General Terry G. Robling, USMC (Ret.), as chair of its Executive Advisory Board for Federal and Defense Appropriations and Requirements. It appointed Carlos Maidana as head of its Thermal Hydraulics and Space Program and added six engineers to its Nuclear Technology and Engineering team.

3) Acquiring for US$1.71M in August a 14,000-square-foot, two-story building in Oak Ridge, Tenn., to be its Nuclear Technology Center location.

4) Signing a memorandum of understanding with the Rwanda Atomic Energy Board, which could result in deployment of SMRs and microreactors in the African country.

5) Starting its pre-application review with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC). Nano Nuclear provided the NRC and DOE the status of its microreactor designs and the estimated development timelines, so the NRC may line up the personnel needed to oversee the related licensing. Nano Nuclear is in the process of identifying places for a test bed reactor site.

6) Winning a DOE Gateway for Accelerated Innovation in Nuclear (GAIN) voucher, which provides it with funding for 80% of a winning proposal, the remaining 20% to be covered by Nano Nuclear. This increases its chances of being awarded additional vouchers in the future, purported Legg.

Nuclear Power Demand Grows

Momentum in the clean energy sector, particular nuclear power, being sought out for artificial intelligence data centers, bitcoin mining and electric vehicles, also is benefitting Nano Nuclear, Legg wrote.

A string of recent events exemplify the demand. Amazon.com announced it will buy power from SMRs, and Google partnered with Kairos for nuclear power. Sam Altman and Bill Gates invested in nuclear. President-Elect Donald Trump had noted while campaigning that he would expand nuclear power were he elected.

Further, the U.S. federal government passed the Accelerating Deployment of Versatile, Advanced Nuclear for Clean Energy (ADVANCE) Act, aimed at ramping up development of advanced nuclear technology and preserving existing nuclear power generation.

"We believe this passing is further justification that nuclear is needed to reach climate initiatives, as nuclear is the only large-scale, reliable, emission-free energy source," Legg wrote.

Foreseen Benefits to the Stock

Legg noted that ongoing operational success could positively impact Nano Nuclear's share price.

Other catalysts, he wrote, include increased knowledge about and demand for SMRs, expected to happen as climate change efforts favor emission-free energy and the public accepts safety and use cases.

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2. This article does not constitute investment advice and is not a solicitation for any investment. Streetwise Reports does not render general or specific investment advice and the information on Streetwise Reports should not be considered a recommendation to buy or sell any security. Each reader is encouraged to consult with his or her personal financial adviser and perform their own comprehensive investment research. By opening this page, each reader accepts and agrees to Streetwise Reports' terms of use and full legal disclaimer. Streetwise Reports does not endorse or recommend the business, products, services or securities of any company.

For additional disclosures, please click here.

Disclosures for The Benchmark Co., Nano Nuclear Energy Inc., November 7, 2024

The Benchmark Company, LLC. (“Benchmark” or “the Firm”) compensates research analysts, like other Firm employees, based on the Firm’s overall revenue and profitability, which includes revenues from the Firm’s institutional sales, trading, and investment banking departments. No portion of the analyst’s compensation is based on a specific banking transaction. Analyst compensation is based upon a variety of factors, including the quality of analysis, performance of recommendations and overall service to the Firm’s institutional clients.

This publication does not constitute an offer or solicitation of any transaction in any securities referred to herein. Ratings that use the “Speculative” risk qualifier are considered higher risk. Any recommendation contained herein may not be suitable for all investors. The Benchmark Company, LLC makes every effort to use reliable, comprehensive information, but we make no representation that it is accurate or complete. We have no obligation to disclose when information in this report changes apart from when we intend to discontinue research coverage of a subject company. Although the information contained in the subject report has been obtained from sources, we believe to be reliable, its accuracy and completeness cannot be guaranteed. This publication and any recommendation contained herein speak only as of the date hereof and are subject to change without notice. The Benchmark Company, LLC and its affiliated companies and employees shall have no obligation to update or amend any information herein. This publication is being furnished to you for informational purposes only and on the condition that it will not form a primary basis for any investment decision. Each investor must make its own determination of the appropriateness of an investment in any securities referred to herein based on the legal, tax and accounting considerations applicable to such investor and its own investment strategy. By virtue of this publication, none of The Benchmark Company, LLC or any of its employees shall be responsible for any investment decision. This report may discuss numerous securities, some of which may not be qualified for sale in certain states and may therefore not be offered to investors in such states. The “Recent Price” stated on the cover page reflects the nearest closing price prior to the date of publication. For additional disclosure information regarding the companies in this report, please contact The Benchmark Company, LLC, 150 East 58th Street, New York, NY 10155, 212-312-6770. The Benchmark Company, LLC is not in any way affiliated with or endorsed by the Menlo Park, California venture capital firm Benchmark Capital. This report may not be reproduced, distributed, or published without the prior consent of The Benchmark Company, LLC. Copyright © 2024. All rights reserved by The Benchmark Company, LLC.

( Companies Mentioned: NNE:NASDAQ, )

Source: Streetwise Reports 11/12/2024

As 321gold's Bob Moriarty discussed the outcome of the BRICS conference in Russia and the state of the gold market with Robert Sinn of Goldfinger Capital, he lamented the need for more young gold bugs to enter the market as the yellow metal enters what he predicted will be a five- to 10-year bull market.

Sinn said at a recent conference, despite recent record gold prices, two-thirds of the seats were empty at gold panels with experts talking about likely windfalls in 2025.

"If you went to a gold conference last year, what was the average age?" Moriarty said during the interview posted last month, guessing 67 "or higher." "We have to get young people into the market, and we have not done that yet. The fact is that nobody's (at) the gold show because they all died of old age."

Moriarty said he expects there will be plenty of those windfalls coming in the bull market. He said there "absolutely has to be" more majors doing acquisitions.

Before the Bre-X scandal of the 1990s, in which fraudulent samples led to the collapse of the CA$6 billion company, most major mining companies had their own exploration departments, which many later cut, Moriarty pointed out.

"Since 2000, all of the exploration has been juniors," he said. "So, there has to be a lot more M&A activity. There has to be."

Yukon Projects Won't Go For 'Chump Change'

Gold hit its latest record high on October 30. It slid after the election, but most experts agree it is in a bull market and will continue to be.

"We are still relatively constructive on gold," said Taylor Krystkowiak, investment strategist at Themes ETFs, according to a report by Ian Salisbury for Barron's. "Why does gold go up? It's geopolitical uncertainty, it's deficit spending, and it's inflation. Right now, all those stars are aligned."

Despite pushbacks during its rise, "gold continues to climb," Nick Fulton, managing partner at USA Pawn, told Newsweek. "When we saw US$2,600 an ounce gold, I thought US$2,800 by the end of the year. Now? We could see gold at US$3,000 an ounce happen in a 30-day time span."

Moriarty said the highest recent scores logged by sentiment indices on gold and silver, which are reflected in a scale of 0 to 100, are lower than he would expect at "88 for gold and 88 for silver."

"I would think it would be in the 90s, and it's not," he said. Silver, for instance, when it hit its all-time record high in 1980, had a score of 95, he said.

The juniors should be performing "three or four times higher, and they're not," Moriarty said.

"So, were in an interesting situation," he said. "We're going to have five to 10 years at least of a bull market. And when the dollar changes its value dramatically, it's going to drive gold and silver much higher."

Moriarty said the majors are "trying to go out and pick up copper projects now," which he doesn't think makes sense.

"The majors are always wrong," he said. "They're paying the most for projects at the very top. Projects are being given because they're not interested. But when you have four major projects in one small area in the Yukon (and) those projects are going into production, somebody is going to buy them. But I don't think they're going to buy them for chump change. I think it's going to cost some money."

BRICS Conference: 'Who Cares?'

The two also discussed the recent BRICS meeting Russia. An intergovernmental organization, BRICS is an acronym for founding members Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa. Iran, Egypt, Ethiopia, and the United Arab Emirates are all full members now and it has also expanded to add 13 new "partner nations."

But one thing it didn't do was settle on a common currency for the countries, which disappointed Moriarty.

"I think the BRICS meeting was really important, and I was hoping for kind of agreement on what the BRICS financial solution is, and they really didn't come up with it," he said. "It was a meet and greet, and they talked about opening commodities exchanges. Who cares?"

This potential currency would allow these nations to "assert their economic independence while competing with the existing international financial system," wrote Melissa Pistilli of Investing News Network. "The current system is dominated by the US dollar, which accounts for about 90 percent of all currency trading."

Russian President Vladimir Putin presented a colorful mockup of a BRICS bank note at the conference, but Moriarty wasn't impressed.

"They need to do something, but they haven't done it yet. "You've got dozens of countries that recognize (that) the stranglehold the United States has on the rest of the world geopolitically is a negative for the rest of the world. And they all agree that that needs to change, but nobody's talked about how to do it."

Sitka Gold Corp.

One company Moriarty and Sinn discussed was Sitka Gold Corp. (SIG:TSXV; SITKF:OTCQB; 1RF:FSE), which recently released high-grade intercepts from its RC Gold Project in the Tombstone Gold Belt of Yukon.

The standout results included one hole that returned 678.1 meters of 1.04 grams per tonne gold (g/t Au) from surface, including 409.5 meters of 1.36 g/t Au, and 93 meters grading 2.57 g/t Au. The intercept also contained a high-grade core of 5.5 meters grading 17.59 g/t Au.

The results extended gold mineralization approximately 200 meters deeper than any previously drilled hole at the Blackjack deposit, signaling the potential for continued high-grade mineralization at depth and showing persistent mineralization throughout the entire 708.7-meter length of the hole.

Moriarty said the company is drilling Clear Creek on the RC property now, "and I think we're going to see a lot. More 400-, 500-, 600-meter intercepts. So, what's going to happen is the majors are going to wake up."

He predicted the company could be another Snowline Gold Corp. (SGD:CSE; SNWGF:OTCQB), which "has somewhere between seven and eight times the market cap" of Sitka. At the time of writing, Snowline had a market cap of CA$883 million to Sitka's CA$129 million.

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Important Disclosures:

1. As of the date of this article, officers and/or employees of Streetwise Reports LLC (including members of their household) own securities of Snowline Gold Corp.
2. Steve Sobek wrote this article for Streetwise Reports LLC and provides services to Streetwise Reports as an employee.
3. This article does not constitute investment advice and is not a solicitation for any investment. Streetwise Reports does not render general or specific investment advice and the information on Streetwise Reports should not be considered a recommendation to buy or sell any security. Each reader is encouraged to consult with his or her personal financial adviser and perform their own comprehensive investment research. By opening this page, each reader accepts and agrees to Streetwise Reports' terms of use and full legal disclaimer. Streetwise Reports does not endorse or recommend the business, products, services or securities of any company.

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( Companies Mentioned: SIG:TSXV; SITKF:OTCQB; 1RF:FSE, )

Japan-based startup SmartBank has announced the rise of a USD 26 million funding round, aimed at the development of its personal finance management app. 

US-based identity platform Persona has partnered with Okta to deliver an automated identity verification solution and support organisations to safeguard against phishing and deepfakes. 

Volt has partnered with Kinguin to allow the latter's 18 million users to securely make purchases of games and in-game items through a Pay by Bank option.

Patt Morrison's outfit for May 20. ; Credit: Michelle Lanz/KPCC

Here’s another version of those capris – these are a lace print from H&M – and while I’ve seen women wearing them with high heels, it just doesn’t seem right somehow. It so sullies the legacies of Mary Tyler Moore and Audrey Hepburn to pair them with anything but flats!

This is my version of a cutaway coat. In a coat like this I could attend Royal Ascot, or invent the telegraph. Obviously it’s a girl version, but I feel empowered, even … princely. At least Fred Astaire-ish. Maybe a pair of spats would make me feel more so. And I could waltz facing forward, not dancing backward, a la Ginger.

As for the adornments, I am not a hearts-and-butterflies kind of girl, but I do like to wear themed brooches in clusters or multiples, and this pair of hearts – just like a poker hand – seemed to work. One is the arrow-pierced one [not to be confused with the Pierce-Arrow, one of the handsomest motorcars ever made].

And the other, the enormous bogus diamond heart, I got from Butler & Wilson, the imaginative London costume jewelry [or better yet ‘jewellery’] designer. It’s my homage to a recent auction of what may be the largest perfect diamond in the world, 101.73 carats.

Harry Winston, the legendary jeweler, bought it for nearly $24 million and has chosen to call it, I am sorry to say, the “Harry Legacy,” which is not the kind of name a diamond like this deserves, one redolent of romance and myth, like “the Hope Diamond” or “the Koh-I-Noor Diamond.”

If you have any suggestions about what to name this magnificent perfect diamond, I’d love to hear them.

My own faux diamond’s name, I have decided, is “The Rhinestone Corazon.” How do you like it?

This content is from Southern California Public Radio. View the original story at SCPR.org.

Libero Copper and Gold Corp. (LBC:TSX.V; LBCMF:OTCQB) announced the progress and objectives of its 14,000-metre exploration program at the Mocoa porphyry copper-molybdenum project in southern Colombia. Read more to discover how this ambitious program targets high-grade copper and molybdenum zones.

An image released by Google shows an early version of its driverless vehicle. The company has built several prototypes of the self-driving car.; Credit: /Google

California is one step closer this week to making the 1980s Hollywood fantasy of Knight Rider a 21st century reality because permits for self-driving cars issued by the Department of Motor Vehicles officially went into effect Tuesday. Now a handful of companies can test automated cars on public roads.

Buckle up — it's gonna be a wild ride.

John O'Dell is a Senior Editor at Edmunds.com, and he joins Alex Cohen to talk about what this means for the future of the driverless car industry.

 

Apple Senior Vice President of Worldwide Marketing Phil Schiller announces the new iPhone 6 during an Apple special event at the Flint Center for the Performing Arts on September 9, 2014 in Cupertino, California. Apple unveiled the two new iPhones the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus.; Credit: Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

Apple's latest mobile operating system — iOS 8 — is now available, and with it, a new technical hurdle for law enforcement. The company says it will be technologically impossible to access data on phones and iPads running iOS 8, because it won't allow user passcodes to be bypassed.

Our phones, of course, contain troves of information — contacts, messages, recordings — which can be helpful for investigative or prosecutorial purposes. The Supreme Court earlier this year ruled law enforcement cannot access that kind of data without a warrant. Prosecutors had already feared the warrant hurdle would be too much — Rockland County, N.Y., District Attorney Thomas Zugibe told the Wall Street Journal in June that technology "is making it easier and easier for criminals to do their trade," while the court "is making it harder for law enforcement to do theirs."

Now, even with a warrant, data from Apple devices running iOS 8 will be tough — and, Apple says, impossible — for law enforcement to get its hands on.

As The Washington Post reports, the move "amounts to an engineering solution to a legal quandary: Rather than comply with binding court orders, Apple has reworked its latest encryption in a way that prevents the company — or anyone but the device's owner — from gaining access to the vast troves of user data typically stored on smartphones or tablet computers."

Not so fast, writes an iOS forensics expert, Jonathan Zdziarski. Just because Apple will no longer help police doesn't mean police can't find ways to use existing commercial forensics tools to extract the data themselves. Wired Magazine describes how Zdziarski proved his own point:

Zdziarski confirmed with his own forensics software that he was still able to pull from a device running iOS 8 practically all of its third-party application data — that means sensitive content from Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, web browsers, and more — as well as photos and video. The attack he used impersonates a trusted computer to which a user has previously connected the phone; it takes advantage of the same mechanisms that allow users to siphon data off a device with programs like iTunes and iPhoto without entering the gadget's passcode.

"I can do it. I'm sure the guys in suits in the governments can do it," says Zdziarski.

And, Apple will still be able to turn over user data stored outside its phones, for example, on its iCloud service, The Washington Post notes. Users often back up photos, videos, emails and more to iCloud, as the recent nude photo theft reminded us.

Apple, in creating plausible deniability for itself, is also using its strongly worded new privacy stance as a marketing opportunity. It's reinforcing what it says is a commitment to privacy and transparency when it comes to government data requests. Apple says so far this year, it has received fewer than 250 government requests for data, including requests to unlock encrypted iPhones.

In this file photo, job seekers line up to enter Choice Career Fair at the Los Angeles Convention Center on December 1, 2010 in Los Angeles, California. Overall, the number of unemployed Californians ticked up by 1,000 over the month to nearly 1.4 million for August 2014, but the rate remained unchanged, at 7.4 percent. The national unemployment rate is down to 6.1 percent.; Credit: Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images

California's unemployment rate is unchanged for a third month, holding at 7.4 percent in August.

The California Employment Development Department reported Friday that the state added 44,200 nonfarm jobs during the month, bringing the state total to 15.5 million in August.

Last month's gains mean the state has added 1.4 million jobs since February 2010, when the jobless number hit a peak of 12.4 percent.

Overall, the number of unemployed Californians ticked up by 1,000 over the month to nearly 1.4 million. The national unemployment rate is down to 6.1 percent.

Construction posted the largest increase over the month, adding 13,600 jobs. Manufacturing, financial activities, business services, education, health, leisure and government all added jobs in August.

Trade, transportation and utilities, along with information, posted job losses of 8,300.

Foxconn's shares have surged more than 100% so far in 2024, far outperforming the broader market's 28% gain. Foxconn said last month it was building in Mexico the world's largest manufacturing facility for bundling Nvidia's GB200 superchips, a key component of the US firm's next-generation Blackwell family computing platform.

OpenAI is preparing to launch "Operator," an AI agent designed to automate computer tasks such as coding and travel booking. Set for a research preview release in January through OpenAI's API, Operator marks the company's foray into autonomous AI agents.

Yamato will display its high speed, fragile product handling combination weigher at Pack Expo Chicago 2012, Booth N-4726. 

The hyper-detect^® from tna and Safeline is the world’s first non-symmetrical balanced coil metal detector with a conical aperture into the detector.

Ross Vacuum-rated High Speed Dispersers are a family of tank-mounted and raisable mixers featuring a laser-cut saw-tooth blade that runs to approximately 5,000 ft/min. 

Designed for automatic ingredient additions and high-speed mixing, the pictured Solids/Liquid Injection Manifold (SLIM) Mixer is piped to a 400-gallon jacketed tank and mounted on a compact skid. 

Accurately weigh 0.5 to 50 gram portions at up to 120 per minute using the new Ishida Micro multihead weigher from Heat and Control, Inc.

G.H. Cretors has launched a 70-calorie bag of its two organic flavors, Extra Olive Oil and Simply Salted.

Kellogg Co.’s new chewy Special K Snack Bars are all made with golden rolled oats and have 100 calories each.

Cape Cod Tortilla Dipping Shells from Cape Cod Potato Chips let consumers easily scoop their favorite chip toppings.

A baker’s dozen is a familiar expression that has been around for generations and even centuries. Why has the baker’s dozen continued on as a perpetual phrase? For ideas, products, even industries to perpetuate, they must connect to a sense of truth or emotional certainty. There are two values the baker’s dozen phrase aligns with, no matter what the conception. Those two values are integrity and generosity.

Chipping in for a “greener” future, Frito-Lay North America’s snack manufacturing facility in Casa Grande, Ariz., is the company’s first Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Gold snack unit—a remarkable achievement in its own right. But the plant, which Frito-Lay calls its Near Net Zero project showcase, is also the result of a highly ambitious sustainability project that took the location “off the grids,” running primarily on renewable energy sources and recycled water, while producing zero landfill waste. The plant could be the most sustainable food production facility of its kind in the U.S.

Axium Foods’ 130,000-sq.-ft, corn-based snacks operation in South Beloit, Ill., has expanded several times, thanks in part to the success of the many private-label products it packs and products it copacks. It’s also launching its own line of Mystic Harvest purple tortilla chips, which contain powerful antioxidants. Outfitted with seven highly flexible production lines, Axium produces 150 different stock-keeping units of snacks each week.

PL snack and bakery lines have moved beyond the basic and bargain-basement to go toe-to-toe with big-brand offerings.

How the Pipe Trades Giants happens.

It was a very good year ...

Booming construction and remodeling boosts the industry.

Nonresidential construction - education, healthcare, hospitality, etc. - keeps the industry afloat.

Positive attitude prevails despite faltering economy.

Plumbing and mechanical contractors are making the most out of a down economy.

Contractors are working on internal processes to prepare for an improving economy.