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Tiger Force volunteers urged to serve people

TIMERGARA: The volunteers of the Prime Minister’s Corona Relief Tiger Force were urged to serve the people without any political consideration. They were administered oath at a ceremony at...

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Call to allow final year students to conduct research

PESHAWAR: The Pakistan Development Foundation has asked the government to allow the students of final semesters in BS and masters programme to return to the universities.Muhammad Bilal Sethi, the...

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Tiger Force launched in Upper Dir

DIR: The Prime Minister’s Volunteer Tiger Force for Covid-19 was inaugurated in Upper Dir the other day.In this regard, a simple function was organised at the district council hall in Dir town...

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HRCP voices reservations over formation of national minorities' commission

The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan has strong reservations over the formation of a national minorities’ commission through a cabinet decision based on a summary moved by the Ministry of Religious Affairs and Interfaith Harmony.In a statement, it has said that the proposed composition...




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Search on as minor boy 'drowns in storm water drain'

A minor boy feared to have died while bathing in a storm water drain in the Khamiso Goth area on Saturday.According to the New Karachi Industrial Area police, the incident took place when 11-year-old Hamza was bathing in the storm water drain along with some other kids near his residence. Rescuers...




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AVLC arrests eight 'motorcycle lifters' in raids across city

The Anti-Vehicle Lifting Cell on Saturday arrested three suspects allegedly involved in various cases of motorcycle theft in parts of Karachi.According to a spokesperson for the AVLC, the suspects were arrested during a series of raids in the Bin Qasim, Malir and Gulshan-e-Iqbal areas. Officials...




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Indian forces clash with lockdown rebels

AHMEDABAD, India: Indian security forces clashed with angry residents who flouted a pandemic lockdown in the city of Ahmedabad on Friday as the country saw a surge in coronavirus deaths and cases that is predicted to worsen. While authorities have insisted that the crisis is under control in the...




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Traders protest forceful closure of shops

Rawalpindi : Unruly scenes were witnessed when the shopkeepers of the city and cantonment board areas opened their shops on Saturday but were forced to close down by the local administration and police. The shopkeepers started a protest demonstration and raised full throated slogans against local...




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Work on Forces School begin

Rawalpindi : The foundation stone laying ceremony of Forces School’s flagship campus was held at Blue World City, one of its kind lifestyle community project, which offers unique leisure and entertainment opportunities of international standards, says a press release.Forces School is an...




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'I don't wear N-95 masks because my force doesn't have these'

Corona has brought with it a different lifestyle, new challenges and opportunities. Unfortunately, urban centres like Karachi, Lahore, Rawalpindi and Peshawar etc. had turbulence in landing into this new scenario as we witnessed scenes of public humiliation of lockdown violators and disorder in...




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Benchmark's Bill Gurley on network effects and local commerce

What the VC firm learned from eBay.




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Searchers find more bodies from AirAsia plane crash

Search teams bring in more bodies from the AirAsia crash to a military base in Indonesia. Rough Cut (no reporter narration).




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Researchers watch as virus meets warm weather

"It is important that individuals still do what they can to protect themselves and others," said Emory University health expert Robert A. Bednarczyk.




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Officials searching for 2 Utah teens who went missing while tubing

Priscilla Bienkowski, 18, and Sophia Hernandez, 17, have been missing since Wednesday when they were tubing on Utah Lake.




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The right to worship: Church and state clash over religious services in the coronavirus era

Just this week, the Justice Department got behind a rural Virginia church's claim that the state improperly discriminated against it by limiting its gatherings.




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Reuters: Jared Kushner Had Undisclosed Contact With Russian Envoy, Say Sources

By Ned Parker and Jonathan Landay

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump’s son-in-law and close adviser, Jared Kushner, had at least three previously undisclosed contacts with the Russian ambassador to the United States during and after the 2016 presidential campaign, seven current and former U.S. officials told Reuters.

    Those contacts included two phone calls between April and November last year, two of the sources said. By early this year, Kushner had become a focus of the FBI investigation into whether there was any collusion between the Trump campaign and the Kremlin, said two other sources - one current and one former law enforcement official.

Kushner initially had come to the attention of FBI investigators last year as they began scrutinizing former national security adviser Michael Flynn’s connections with Russian officials, the two sources said.

    While the FBI is investigating Kushner’s contacts with Russia, he is not currently a target of that investigation, the current law enforcement official said.

The new information about the two calls as well as other details uncovered by Reuters shed light on when and why Kushner first attracted FBI attention and show that his contacts with Russian envoy Sergei Kislyak were more extensive than the White House has acknowledged.

    NBC News reported on Thursday that Kushner was under scrutiny by the FBI, in the first sign that the investigation, which began last July, has reached the president’s inner circle.  

    The FBI declined to comment, while the Russian embassy said it was policy not to comment on individual diplomatic contacts. The White House did not respond to a request for comment.

Multiple attempts to obtain comment from Kushner or his representatives were unsuccessful.

In March, the White House said that Kushner and Flynn had met Kislyak at Trump Tower in December to establish “a line of communication.” Kislyak also attended a Trump campaign speech in Washington in April 2016 that Kushner attended. The White House did not acknowledge any other contacts between Kushner and Russian officials.

 

BACK CHANNEL

Before the election, Kislyak’s undisclosed discussions with Kushner and Flynn focused on fighting terrorism and improving U.S.-Russian economic relations, six of the sources said. Former President Barack Obama imposed sanctions on Russia after it seized Crimea and started supporting separatists in eastern Ukraine in 2014.

After the Nov. 8 election, Kushner and Flynn also discussed with Kislyak the idea of creating a back channel between Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin that could have bypassed diplomats and intelligence agencies, two of the sources said. Reuters was unable to determine how those discussions were conducted or exactly when they took place.

Reuters was first to report last week that a proposal for a back channel was discussed between Flynn and Kislyak as Trump prepared to take office. The Washington Post was first to report on Friday that Kushner participated in that conversation.

Separately, there were at least 18 undisclosed calls and emails between Trump associates and Kremlin-linked people in the seven months before the Nov. 8 presidential election, including six calls with Kislyak, sources told Reuters earlier this month. . Two people familiar with those 18 contacts said Flynn and Kushner were among the Trump associates who spoke to the ambassador by telephone. Reuters previously reported only Flynn’s involvement in those discussions.

Six of the sources said there were multiple contacts between Kushner and Kislyak but declined to give details beyond the two phone calls between April and November and the post-election conversation about setting up a back channel. It is also not clear whether Kushner engaged with Kislyak on his own or with other Trump aides.

 

HOW KUSHNER CAME UNDER SCRUTINY

    FBI scrutiny of Kushner began when intelligence reports of Flynn’s contacts with Russians included mentions of U.S. citizens, whose names were redacted because of U.S. privacy laws. This prompted investigators to ask U.S. intelligence agencies to reveal the names of the Americans, the current U.S. law enforcement official said.

Kushner’s was one of the names that was revealed, the official said, prompting a closer look at the president’s son-in-law’s dealings with Kislyak and other Russians.

    FBI investigators are examining whether Russians suggested to Kushner or other Trump aides that relaxing economic sanctions would allow Russian banks to offer financing to people with ties to Trump, said the current U.S. law enforcement official.

    The head of Russian state-owned Vnesheconombank, Sergei Nikolaevich Gorkov, a trained intelligence officer whom Putin appointed, met Kushner at Trump Tower in December. The bank is under U.S. sanctions and was implicated in a 2015 espionage case in which one of its New York executives pleaded guilty to spying and was jailed.

The bank said in a statement in March that it had met with Kushner along with other representatives of U.S. banks and business as part of preparing a new corporate strategy.

    Officials familiar with intelligence on contacts between the Russians and Trump advisers said that so far they have not seen evidence of any wrongdoing or collusion between the Trump camp and the Kremlin.  Moreover, they said, nothing found so far indicates that Trump authorized, or was even aware of, the contacts.

    There may not have been anything improper about the contacts, the current law enforcement official stressed.

    Kushner offered in March to be interviewed by the Senate Intelligence Committee, which is also investigating Russia’s attempts to interfere in last year’s election.

The contacts between Trump campaign associates and Russian officials during the presidential campaign coincided with what U.S. intelligence agencies concluded was a Kremlin effort through computer hacking, fake news and propaganda to boost Trump’s chances of winning the White House and damage his Democratic opponent, Hillary Clinton.

 

 (Reporting by Ned Parker and Jonathan Landay; Additional reporting by John Walcott, Warren Strobel and Phil Stewart in Washington; Editing by Kevin Krolicki and Ross Colvin)

 




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The Intercept Discloses Top-Secret NSA Document on Russia Hacking Aimed at US Voting System

On Monday, the Intercept published a classified internal NSA document noting that Russian military intelligence mounted an operation to hack at least one US voting software supplier—which provided software related to voter registration files—in the months prior to last year's presidential contest. It has previously been reported that Russia attempted to hack into voter registration systems, but this NSA document provides details of how one such operation occurred.

According to the Intercept:

The top-secret National Security Agency document, which was provided anonymously to The Intercept and independently authenticated, analyzes intelligence very recently acquired by the agency about a months-long Russian intelligence cyber effort against elements of the US election and voting infrastructure. The report, dated May 5, 2017, is the most detailed US government account of Russian interference in the election that has yet come to light.

While the document provides a rare window into the NSA's understanding of the mechanics of Russian hacking, it does not show the underlying "raw" intelligence on which the analysis is based. A US intelligence officer who declined to be identified cautioned against drawing too big a conclusion from the document because a single analysis is not necessarily definitive.

The report indicates that Russian hacking may have penetrated further into US voting systems than was previously understood. It states unequivocally in its summary statement that it was Russian military intelligence, specifically the Russian General Staff Main Intelligence Directorate, or GRU, that conducted the cyber attacks described in the document:

Russian General Staff Main Intelligence Directorate actors … executed cyber espionage operations against a named U.S. company in August 2016, evidently to obtain information on elections-related software and hardware solutions. … The actors likely used data obtained from that operation to … launch a voter registration-themed spear-phishing campaign targeting U.S. local government organizations.

Go read the whole thing.




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Hashtag Trending – Data Transfer Project; Amazon and COVID-19; and NVIDIA’s open source ventilator

Facebook is rolling out a tool that lets users in the US and Canada transfer photos and videos from its platform to Google Photos, Amazon says it plans to spend all of its profit for the second quarter, an estimated $4 billion, on its response to the coronavirus pandemic, and NVIDIA’s chief scientist rolls out…




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ICANN rejects private equity purchase of .org

The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) this weekend announced that it has voted down the proposed change of control and entity conversion request submitted to it by the Public Interest Registry (PIR). ICANN, a not-for-profit corporation dedicated to ensuring the secure and stable operation of the internet’s unique identifier systems, noted in…




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Mastercard study finds a significant rise in the use of contactless payments amid COVID-19

There has been a significant surge in contactless payments for everyday purchases since the onset of COVID-19, according to a new study. The Mastercard global consumer study conducted from April 10 to 12 says that in Canada, 76 per cent of consumers say contactless payments are now their preferred way to pay when making in-store…




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Hashtag Trending – Shopify turn heads; Airbnb slashes 25% of jobs; Purchased Tesla part has extra surprise

Today Shopify’s latest earnings call turns heads; Airbnb says it’s cutting a quarter of its staff; and a hacker buys old Tesla equipment and finds them full of user data.   After reporting that adjusting earnings tripled to 19 cents a share from 6 cents a year ago, social media is again buzzing about the…




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Saskatoon company using plants to help search for COVID-19 vaccine

ZYUS Life Sciences is working with VIDO-InterVac to see if proteins produced by plants can be made into a working COVID-19 vaccine. 




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Who Invented Radio: Guglielmo Marconi or Aleksandr Popov?

Popov may have been first but he didn’t patent his inventions or try to commercialize them




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Sabrewing Cargo Drone Rises to Air Force Challenge

The Rhaegal cargo drone pivots to new possible military missions under a U.S. Air Force contract




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Physical Modeling of Supercapacitors and Lithium-Ion Capacitors

Learn how researchers are exploring new hybrid devices that can exploit features of both supercapacitors and lithium-ion batteries.




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U.S. next week to start purchasing $3 billion worth of farm goods: Trump

President Donald Trump on Saturday said the United States will next week begin purchasing $3 billion worth of dairy, meat and produce from farmers as unemployment soars and people are forced to food lines.




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Notorious narco terrorist arrested by NIA

New Delhi, May 10: A notorious narco terrorist has been arrested by the National Investigation Agency. Ranjit Singh along with co-accused Iqbal Singh Shera are the prime accused in case registered by NIA in connection with the seizure of 532





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COVID-19: Air India schedules 7 commercial flights to repatriate nationals from the US




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5 Air India Pilots, 2 Staffers Test Positive For COVID-19: Sources

They were tested positive during the pre-flight COVID test,





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The Search Is Over. This Boyfriend And Girlfriend Had The Best Halloween Costumes Of The Year.

Of all the Halloween costumes out there, this guy and his girlfriend blew everyone away.




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75 percent COVID-19 cases in Delhi are asymptomatic or with mild symptoms: Kejriwal

The government has also made arrangements for treatment of those at their homes with mild COVID-19 symptoms in accordance with the Centre's guidelines.




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From the archive: what makes Kevin Keegan the King of the Kop, 1973

The Liverpool and England striker with the staggering sideburns explains how to outjump taller opponents and how he made it to the top of the game

The Observer football correspondent Leslie Duxbury spoke to Liverpool and England striker Kevin Keegan, ‘The most exciting player on the current soccer scene’, for a new coaching series for Young Observers starting on 21 January 1973 (‘What makes Kevin Keegan King of the Kop’).

The cover (which you could order as a poster for 25p) features those long locks and staggering sideburns before his famous bubble perm appeared. Keegan was my first footballing hero as a young kid until Kenny Dalglish replaced him as Liverpool’s No 7 in 1977 (when King Kevin made way for King Kenny). My most treasured item was the Grandstand Kevin Keegan electronic action game. Imagine a handheld football version of Pong – yup, that sophisticated.

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In ongoing church-state COVID-19 clashes, two more victories for religious freedoms

For the second time, a federal judge has issued a restraining order against Kentucky officials who moved to block church services during the coronavirus shutdown.

U.S. District Judge Gregory Van Tatenhove ruled Friday night in favor of Tabernacle Baptist Church of Nicholasville and against Democratic Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear's order ...




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UFC 249 results: Justin Gaethje stuns Tony Ferguson, Henry Cejudo retires, undercard reaction

Justin Gaethje put on a striking masterclass to score a surprise knockout victory over Tony Ferguson and win the interim lightweight title at UFC 249, which took place at the VyStar Veterans Memorial Arena in Jacksonville, Florida on Saturday.Ferguson, who came into the fight on a 12-win streak, suffered damage as Gaethje chopped at his legs and landed thunderous hooks before referee Herb Dean stepped in to end the fight late in the fifth round.





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On this day in sport: Cruyff wins first trophy as Barca coach, Nadal makes tennis history

May 10 saw Barcelona win their first trophy with Johan Cruyff as coach, while Rafael Nadal achieved a remarkable tennis feat.





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On this day in sport: Cruyff wins first trophy as Barca coach, Nadal makes tennis history

London, May 10: The transformation of Barcelona under Johan Cruyff took an important step forward on May 10, 31 years ago. The Catalans won their first trophy since the great Cruyff's return to his old club, beating Sampdoria to claim the





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Rumour Has It: Real Madrid set Arsenal Aubameyang deadline, Barcelona poised to sign Pjanic

Arsenal reportedly must decide on Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang's future by next month amid Real Madrid links.





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Rumour Has It: Real Madrid set Arsenal Aubameyang deadline, Barcelona poised to sign Pjanic

London, May 10: Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang is out of contract in June 2021 and the Gabon international is no closer to signing a new Arsenal deal. The former Borussia Dortmund star is not short of suitors amid uncertainty over his future





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F1 News: Perez says Force India's money woes were "evident on day one"

Sergio Perez has revealed that the financial problems at the former Force India squad were evident on the first day he visited its factory before the 2014 Formula 1 season





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Arctic explorers stranded amid coronavirus lockdowns

They were first women to overwinter in the Arctic Circle without a man. Now Sunniva Sorby and Hilde Fålulm Strøm face a longer stay due to the pandemic.





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Coronavirus: New research underway to screen for stress, burnout in Nova Scotia health-care workers

The idea is to identify the problem of burnout early and stop it before it happens.




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Brits urged not to 'throw away' coronavirus lockdown efforts as Boris Johnson prepares to exercise 'extreme caution' with restriction easing

Boris Johnson will exercise "extreme caution" in easing lockdown restrictions, the Transport Secretary has said, as he warned the public not to "throw away" their hard work by going outside.




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Virus delay, early ice melt challenge Arctic science mission

Now dozens of scientists are waiting in quarantine for the all-clear to join a year-long Arctic research mission aimed at improving the models used for forecasting climate change, just as the expedition reaches a crucial phase. News of the pandemic caused jitters among those already on board, said Matthew Shupe, an atmospheric scientist at the University of Colorado and co-leader of the MOSAiC expedition. The rest of the crew will be exchanged with the help of two other German research ships that will meet the Polarstern on the sea ice edge.








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The world's top 10 new architecture projects

Making a virtue out of global lockdown, our critic takes a virtual tour of the world’s best new architecture projects – from a rural Vietnamese preschool to a Belgian folly and a synagogue in Paraguay

It’s a good principle that, except in exceptional circumstances, architecture critics see the buildings that they review. You wouldn’t want a food critic to recommend a restaurant based on photographs of loaded plates, nor a theatre critic to base their judgments on films of performances. You’re meant to sniff, feel and sense the things you describe, to experience them in the round.

There’s a downside to this good principle, which is that buildings don’t come to you, and that many fine works are done all over the world which it would be absurdly expensive and eco-reckless to visit. Circumstances are, what’s more, what can only be described as exceptional. Given that almost everywhere is now almost equally inaccessible, whether another county or another continent, I’ve decided to make an opportunity out of a problem, and to offer a world tour of the very best new architecture, as seen through the portal of a laptop.

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Should I wear a mask when I'm exercising outside?

It’s important to get fresh air and exercise – but do we need to wear masks while running, walking and cycling? We asked some experts

To mask or not to mask while getting fresh air is the question many of us are asking ourselves. According to the CDC, we should wear masks in “areas of significant community-based transmission”, such as grocery stores and pharmacies. While the CDC doesn’t list the outdoors as a high-density space, that doesn’t necessarily mean it’s OK to exercise outdoors mask-free.

Related: Quarantine is perfect for discovering the beauty and power of boredom

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Kylie Moore-Gilbert feels abandoned by Australia, sources in Iranian prison say

Academic has reportedly told other prisoners she is outraged at the government’s handling of her imprisonment

British-Australian woman Kylie Moore-Gilbert is despairing at her isolation inside Tehran’s Evin prison, believing she has been abandoned to her decade-long sentence, according to sources within the prison.

Political prisoner Moore-Gilbert, who has spent more than 600 days inside the notorious Ward 2A of Tehran’s Evin prison, much of it in solitary confinement, was convicted in a secret trial and sentenced to 10 years prison on charges of espionage.

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Global report: Anthony Fauci and two other White House Covid-19 taskforce members to self-quarantine

Fauci and heads of CDC and FDA potentially exposed to coronavirus; Boris Johnson to announce UK lockdown changes

Three members of the White House coronavirus taskforce have placed themselves in self-quarantine after contact with someone who tested positive for Covid-19. It comes as the British prime minister, Boris Johnson, prepares to unveil his “roadmap” to a new normality in a national broadcast and global infections pass four million.

Dr Anthony Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, Dr Robert Redfield, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and the commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration, Stephen Hahn, are all expected to work remotely due to potential exposure to Covid-19.

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