When it comes to hedge strategies, onshore FCA-authorised fund vehicles may offer some unique advantages with fewer drawbacks than you might think. When it comes to authorised funds - as in a fund authorised as a product, by a regulator &ndas...

The SFC Moves to Regulate Depositaries of SFC-authorised Collective Investment Schemes In September 2019, the Securities and Futures Commission of Hong Kong (the “SFC”) issued a Consultation Paper (available here) setting out its proposa...

The Financial Services Authority (FSA) has fined Toronto Dominion Bank £490,000 for systems and controls failings in relation to one of its trading books. The fine arose from a failure to supervise a trader within the firm who had been recordi...

The cornerstone of the Financial Services Authority (FSA) policy in the mortgage industry is the Mortgage Effectiveness Review (the Review). The first stage of the Review was published in 2006 and concentrated on disclosure, advice and selling pract...

Central government funding has long been focused on social infrastructure such as schools and housing - with massive programmes of investment such as Building Schools for the Future. Infrastructure such as roads and bridges has not typically been fu...

After the recent decision in R (Weaver) versus London and Quadrant Housing Trust [2009] EWCA Civ 587 the answer, more frequently than not, will be when it is not acting as a 'hybrid authority' and not exercising the pow...

From 30 June 2015, Central Government Departments, their Executive Agencies and Non-Departmental Governing Bodies (“in-scope organisations”) will have to accept “unstructured” electronic invoices from their suppliers for invo...

As Contracting Authorities will be aware, in circumstances where the Negotiated Procedure is used, they are able to negotiate with tenderers in order that their tenders can be adapted to meet the requirements in the contract notice, the specificatio...

The Chancellor’s Autumn Statement contained the following stamp duty land tax announcement regarding the tax-free ...

As part of the EU’s general clampdown on certain forms of aggressive tax planning, Directive 2011/16/EU (commonly known as DAC6) will soon require taxpayers and intermediaries across the EU to start reporting information in relation to certain...

The suggestion that ports are public bodies may seem a little strange. By far the greater majority are now private entities being either trust ports or private limited companies. But the position may not be quite as clear cut as it first looks. ...

President Cyril Ramaphosa has authorised the parole of selected low-risk prisoners to alleviate pressure at correctional services facilities amid the coronavirus pandemic.

Afghan President Ashraf Ghani has ordered a probe into the drowning of several Afghan migrants last week after reports that Iranian border guards allegedly forced them into a river.

The French Competition Authority (FCA) is entitled to give advisory opinions on any competition matter, in particular for the attention  of the French Government and the Parliament. The FCA has been recently asked to give its opinion on coopera...

Companies are facing difficult times with reporting, audits and meetings in view of the COVID-19  outbreak. In this update we take a look at the measures that have been announced this week to assist companies. Whilst we are seeing some creative...

? The Solicitors Regulation Authority has undertaken consultation on proposed changes to the rules for solicitors employed by local authorities.  The SRA is proposing to amend rule 4.15(e) of the Practice Framework Rules, to ...

Introduction The Charities (Protection and Social Investment) Bill 2015 (“the Bill”) is currently before Parliament. The Bill is relatively short and deals with two areas in particular: i) the powers of charities to make social investmen...

Competition Law E-Briefing: Fashion sector competition probe On Tuesday 24 March 2015, the UK’s competition regulator, the Competition and Markets Authority (the “CMA”), opened an investigation into suspected anti-competitive arrangements in the UK ...

On 31 March 2015, the German Federal Cartel Office (“Bundeskartellamt”, BKartA) announced that it has blocked the proposed takeover of approximately 450 Kaiser’s Tengelmann supermarket branches by EDEKA, the leading German food ret...

On 29 September 2016, the French Competition Authority (l’Autorité de la concurrence - the “Autorité”) imposed a fine of EUR 2.4 million on 37 model agencies and their main trade association, the SYNAM, in relation to...

Introduction The Competition and Markets Authority (“CMA”), the authority responsible for operating and enforcing the UK merger control regime, has published its updated Retail Mergers Commentary (“New Commentary”).1 The CMA ...

In July 2017, the German Federal Cartel Office (“FCO”) published a detailed guidance paper (the “Guidance Paper”) on resale price maintenance (“RPM”) in the retail food sector. The purpose of the paper is to expl...

Background The Competition and Markets Authority (“CMA”) has recently published draft guidance on its approach to assessing rail franchise awards under its merger control powers (the “Draft Guidance”)1. The guidance has been ...

While fines recently imposed by the French and UK data protection supervisory authorities have been high, the supervisory authorities in Germany have so far imposed rather moderate penalties. This could now be changed by a new model for calculating ...

Case C-216/17, Autorità Garante della Concorrenza e del Mercato – Antiturst, Coopservice Soc. coop. arl In its judgment of 19 December 2018 (the &ldq...

Introduction The Italian Competition Authority (“ICA”) has recently adopted a harsh approach imposing quite significant fines on those operators who accept direct debit payments only to the extent that their customers are holders of an ...

Background The Procuring Authority has engaged the International Finance Corporation, acting through its Public Private Partnerships Transaction Advisory Services division, to act as lead transaction advisor in relation to the Project. The RFQ will ...

Introduction In this briefing we look at the regulatory framework applicable to remotely piloted aircrafts in Italy, as recently updated by the Italian Civil Aviation Authority. In particular, this Authority, in line with the Government’s deci...

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[ANGOP] Tômbwa -The Namibe provincial vice-governor for Political, Economic and Social Sector, Maiza Tavares advised this Friday in the municipality of Tômbwa the women who work on fish processing to improve the hygienic and sanitary condition in work places.

The government plan to re-open workplaces will be mandatory, and the Health and Safety Authority will be allowed to shut down businesses that do not comply.

Lands Authority confirms that the FKNK has no title to Miżieb and l-Aħrax tal-Mellieha, independent candidate Arnold Cassola says 

The authority and inerrancy of Scripture are fundamental doctrines, yet we have an entire generation of professing Christians who are neither committed to those dogmas nor able to fight to defend them.

Criminal investigators in the United States have stepped up their pursuit of Covid-19 fraudsters selling unproven treatments and equipment online.The Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) has partnered with major health care and e-commerce companies to fight back against a deluge of fake goods being sold during the pandemic.There has been a rise in opportunists seeking to “capitalise and profit from the fear and anxiety” surrounding the Covid-19 disease, increasing sales of counterfeit…

Two Hong Kong men found carrying weapons at an unauthorised protest last year were jailed for eight months on Friday.Fanling Court sentenced sales consultant Yung Wai-shing, 26, and clerk Chu Tsz-wan, 24, to jail for possessing an extendable baton, a laser pointer, a catapult and a packet of metal pellets at a march in Yuen Long on the night of July 27.The court sentenced co-defendant Vincent Chu Chun-hoi, a 19-year-old cook, to correctional training for carrying an air pistol at the same event…

Paulo Coelho praised Shah Rukh Khan for his recently released movie 'Kaamyaab'

More than two months after a black man was shot to death while jogging on a Sunday afternoon, Georgia investigators conceded that the facts show enough evidence to jail a white father and son on charges of felony murder and aggravated assault.  The investigation appeared stalled by local author...

HYDERABAD: Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) commissioner Somesh Kumar suspended deputy municipal commissioner, Qutubullapur, V Mamata, assistant city planner M Tulasiram and section officer Sreedhar Goud for failing to take timely action against an unauthorized construction in Qutubullapur. According to an official release issued here on Monday, suspension orders of the deputy municipal commissioner, the then in-charge assistant city planner (now with Circle 9, Abids) and town planning were issued as they failed to perform their duties in preventing the illegal construction (stilt+ground floor) on plot number 117 & 118 in survey numbers 208, 209, 211 & 212 of Qutubullapur circle as evidenced from the order of the High Court […]

The Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA) has begun the construction of 3.1 km-long new Metro Line 7A. The proposed metro corridor would comprise two stations and would connect Line 7 with the Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport. The Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA) has commenced the development of the Metro Line 7A.  The reach of the new metro would be 3.1 km, out of which 2.1 km-long section would be underground and would include a twin-tunnel. The corridor would establish connectivity between Metro Line 7 and the Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport. Other areas that are expected to benefit from the improved connectivity include Andheri and Dahisar (East). According to an MMRDA […]

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on Saturday approved emergency use authorization (EUA) to Quidel Corp for the first COVID-19 antigen test.

NIH-supported scientists have made over 300,000 author manuscripts available in PMC. Now NIH is making these papers accessible to the public in a format that will allow robust text analyses.

You can download the PMC collection of NIH-supported author manuscripts as a package in either XML or plain-text format at ftp://ftp.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pub/pmc/manuscript/. The collection encompasses all NIH manuscripts posted to PMC that were published in July 2008 or later. While the public can access the manuscripts’ full text and accompanying figures, tables, and multimedia via the PMC website, the newly available XML and plain-text files include full text only. In addition to text mining, the files may be used consistent with the principles of fair use under copyright law.

Please note that these author manuscript files are not part of the PMC Open Access Subset.

The NIH Office of Extramural Research developed this resource to increase the impact of NIH funding. Through this collection, scientists will be able to analyze these manuscripts, further apply NIH research findings, and generate new discoveries.

For more information, please visit the PMC author manuscript collection webpage.

Dr. Sethi raises an excellent point about the term functional neurologic disorder (FND) in his comment on the editorial.¹ It seems clear that reticence to use the term functional creates the ambiguity he mentions. Medically unexplained symptoms, categorized in the international classification of diseases as undifferentiated somatoform disorders, are a diagnosis that many providers are loathed to give. Whether that is because of concern about missing a diagnosis is not clear. Having evaluated and treated more than 400 of these individuals in the FND clinic at the University of Colorado, I can attest to the fact that patients arrive confused about their diagnosis. Multiple incorrect diagnoses, as Dr. Sethi points out, pack the medical histories of patients with FND, leading doctors and patients astray. I believe that the commentary by Perez et al.² gives us the best chance for a way forward, by teaching a new generation of residents and fellows how to approach patients in a nonjudgmental and open-minded fashion. It took 30 years to add Functional Neurologic Disorder to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual, and it is still parenthetical to the term Conversion.³ Stripping the diagnosis of FND of its stigma and empowering care providers to rule in functional disorders is an actionable step which should be taken.

We appreciate the readers' comments on the prevalence and impact of apathy on quality of life among individuals with Parkinson disease. In constructing our survey instrument, we discussed the inclusion of apathy as a symptom. However, we ultimately opted against inclusion because of concerns about the specificity of terminology in our online survey. Patients and care partners may not be familiar with the term "apathy,"and near-synonyms such as "reduced motivation" have substantial overlap with other nonmotor features. Still, as the readers point out, apathy is extremely common and under-recognized. Similar to many of the nonmotor symptoms identified in our study,¹ we agree that clinicians should be screening for apathy among those with Parkinson disease.

JABFM seeks to widely disseminate its peer-reviewed publications, increasing article visibility for the purpose of advancing scientific knowledge. We describe the journal’s approach to dissemination and recommend a number of strategies for authors to implement, including press releases and social media. Providing the article’s digital object identifier (DOI) is most useful, compared with links that can break, or attaching the article PDF, which will depress reader metrics. All JABFM articles are freely accessible online worldwide.

Physician-led thoracic ultrasound (TUS) has substantially changed how respiratory disorders, and in particular pleural diseases, are managed. The use of TUS as a point-of-care test enables the respiratory physician to quickly and accurately diagnose pleural pathology and ensure safe access to the pleural space during thoracentesis or chest drain insertion. Competence in performing TUS is now an obligatory part of respiratory speciality training programmes in different parts of the world. Pleural physicians with higher levels of competence routinely use TUS during the planning and execution of more sophisticated diagnostic and therapeutic interventions, such as core needle pleural biopsies, image-guided drain insertion and medical thoracoscopy. Current research is gauging the potential of TUS in predicting the outcome of different pleural interventions and how it can aid in tailoring the optimum treatment according to different TUS-based parameters.