1 Netherlands Antillean Guilder = 2.0461 United Arab Emirates Dirham

1 Estonian Kroon = 0.2575 United Arab Emirates Dirham

1 Danish Krone = 0.5338 United Arab Emirates Dirham

1 Fiji Dollar = 1.6303 United Arab Emirates Dirham

1 New Zealand Dollar = 2.2546 United Arab Emirates Dirham

1 Croatian Kuna = 0.5294 United Arab Emirates Dirham

1 Peruvian Nuevo Sol = 1.0806 United Arab Emirates Dirham

1 Dominican Peso = 0.0667 United Arab Emirates Dirham

1 Papua New Guinean Kina = 1.0708 United Arab Emirates Dirham

1 Brunei Dollar = 2.5991 United Arab Emirates Dirham

Trump's proposed budget severely cuts the EPA and DOE's efficiency and renewables offices, but allocates funding for R&D, clean coal and advanced nuclear.

Trump's proposed budget severely cuts the EPA and DOE's efficiency and renewables offices, but allocates funding for R&D, clean coal and advanced nuclear.

Developers, manufacturers, investors and other renewable energy industry stakeholders need to know where the next big market is going to be so that they can adjust their business decisions accordingly.

The Hong Kong Monetary Authority has issued a statement on the Chief Executive-in-Council approving United Nations sanctions on Libya and Afghanistan.

Bio-energy forest plantations will supplement woody biomass from other sources such as logging residues. In the southern U.S., projections are for an increase of up to 25 million “new” tons of woody biomass demand for bioenergy. To supply this woody biomass demand will require purpose grown plantations of various species including pine, eucalypts, sweetgum, hybrid poplar and cottonwood, amongst others. Forest plantation yields can be 8-15 green tons/acre/year on rotations of 5-12 years. Utilization of this renewable and sustainable biomass resource will be as feedstock “designed” for a large number of bio-energy applications.

Gender pay gap reporting The Government will introduce new regulations requiring larger employers, with at least 250 employees, in the private and voluntary sectors to publish details of their gender pay gap (the difference in pay between male and f...

Introduction to Abu Dhabi Global Market – Employment Regulations In 2013 the Abu Dhabi Global Market (“ADGM”) was established as a financial free zone in Abu Dhabi, UAE. Since then, the ADGM has implemented its own rules and regul...

Major new anti-slavery law affecting global organisations doing business in the UK in force The Modern Slavery Act 2015 requires commercial organisations with a turnover of £36 million and above and supplying goods or services to publicly repo...

UAE employers be aware - new UAE employment requirementsThree new Ministerial Decrees came into effect on 1 January 2016. These Decrees, issued by the Ministry of Labour (“MOL”), impact upon the way job offers are made and have implicati...

This case was a reference to the European Court of Human Rights under Protocol 1, Article 1 of the European Convention of Human Rights – peaceful enjoyment of possessions. The claimants had owned land that was leased to a group of fa...

By Marcus Noland HONOLULU (November 19, 2019)—Rising diplomatic tensions between South Korea and Japan are putting American security interests at risk. Yet the United States government appears detached, unable to facilitate a rapprochement between its two allies. This is a critical moment because a South Korea-Japan intelligence-sharing agreement, aimed at North Korea, is due to lapse on 22 November this year.

This is a summary only. Click the title for the full article, or visit www.EastWestCenter.org/Research-Wire for more.

By Lora Saalman HONOLULU (14 April 2020)—Artificial intelligence (AI) is an increasingly important component of weapons systems, with both positive and negative implications for nuclear deterrence. Integration of AI into military platforms has the potential to allow weaker nuclear-armed states to reset the imbalance of power, but at the same time it exacerbates fears that stronger states may further solidify their dominance and engage in more provocative actions.

This is a summary only. Click the title for the full article, or visit www.EastWestCenter.org/Research-Wire for more.

Len McCluskey has been elected leader of the UK's biggest trade union, Unite. It was a comfortable victory, polling 101,000 votes ahead of second-placed Jerry Hicks, who had 52,000 votes. However, he is short of an overwhelming endorsement, given an...

Adebayo Obajemu The Federal Government on Friday evacuated 253 Nigerians from the United Kingdom aboard a British Airways Boeing 747 aircraft which landed at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA), Lagos. The returnees were part of the second batch of Nigerians flown in under the special flights arrangements for nationals stranded abroad. An Emirates flight […]

The post FG evacuates 253 Nigerians from United Kingdom appeared first on Hallmarknews.

The defender was part of the Harambee Stars squad which held the Super Eagles to a 1-1 draw in Calabar in 2013 ......

Pressure from progressives for more expansive government assistance programs, especially now during the COVID pandemic, along with concerns over a recent sexual assault allegation and a challenge from a third-party candidate, threaten to fracture that unified support

Opposition to President Donald Trump has consolidated Democratic party...

An American newspaper stressed in a report: Although the US government has intensified its rhetoric and economic pressure on Iran, it seems that in fact, the main focus on Iran in its national security strategy is shifting to Russia and China. According to Fars News Agency, the administration of US President Donald Trump has intensified its rhetoric about Iran’s alleged threat this year. On the other hand, military officials and experts believe that the US military has reduced its presence in the Persian Gulf region and has withdrawn its ships, military aircraft and missiles. No US aircraft carrier has been replaced in the region since Theodore Roosevelt sailed from the Persian Gulf to...

[WHO] The WHO country office and the Delegation of the European Union (EU) to Somalia have joined hands under a new collaboration in the country to strengthen operational response activities for COVID-19. The new collaboration aims to accelerate support for the frontline work of WHO in combating COVID-19 in a seemingly vast country where transportation of vital medical supplies and personnel needed for rapid response to the outbreak remain a perpetual challenge owing to suspension of commercial and cargo flights

[Dalsan Radio] The United States Embassy in Mogadishu calls on the Somali Government and people to allow and encourage transparent reporting on the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic to facilitate the critical efforts to protect and preserve the health and safety of the people of Somalia.

ATAREB, Syria: Amid mounds of rubble and the ruins of buildings destroyed during nearly a decade of war, a Ramazan iftar meal has reunited a community in northwestern Syria, foreign media reported.Dozens of men and children sat out on a long line of blankets on the ground in the town of Atareb for...

NEW DELHI: Unitech Corporate Parks, a Unitech group firm listed in London, has received bids of up to Rs 2,700 crore from six companies, including Blackstone, for sale of its IT Special economic Zone (SEZ) in Gurgaon. Listed on London’s Alternative Investment Market and set up to invest in commercial real estate of India, UCP has 60 per cent stake in the Gurgaon SEZ comprising 3.6 million sq ft commercial space. Unitech has remaining stake in the SEZ. UCP has given the mandate to property consultant Jones Lang LaSalle India to find out potential buyers. According to sources, UCP, which has put the Gurgaon SEZ on the block, has received […]

NEW DELHI: As many as 29 special economic zone developers including Tata Consultancy ServicesBSE -0.20 %, Parsvnath Infra and Navi Mumbai SEZ Pvt Ltd have sought more time from the government for implementing their projects. The inter-ministerial Board of Approval (BoA) chaired by Commerce Secretary S R Rao will consider these requests at its meeting on November 8. Posco-India Pvt Ltd, Unitech Infracon and Lodha Dwellers have also requested additional time for project implementation from the BoA, according to the agenda note of the meeting. The developers have cited reasons like global meltdown and fluctuating market conditions for delay in completion of projects. TCS, which is setting up IT/ITES zone […]

The chief executive of United Airlines sat down before a House panel on Tuesday to testify about the forced removal on April 9 of a passenger from a Chicago flight, an incident that drew international condemnation.

Background:

Thyroid disorders are among the most commonly treated conditions by the United States health care system. The number of patients reporting thyroid hormone use has increased in recent years, but it is unknown if there have been differential increases in the number of treated individuals within different demographic groups. Previous research has also not evaluated how expenditures for different thyroid hormone medications have changed in recent years.

Purpose:

To identify specific actions and characteristics of health care providers (HCPs) in the United States and Canada that influenced patients with type 2 diabetes who were initially reluctant to begin insulin.

Omadacycline is a broad-spectrum aminomethylcycline approved in October 2018 by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for treating acute bacterial skin and skin structure infections and community-acquired pneumonia as both an oral and intravenous once-daily formulation. In this report, the activities of omadacycline and comparators were tested against 49,000 nonduplicate bacterial isolates collected prospectively during 2016 to 2018 from medical centers in Europe (24,500 isolates, 40 medical centers [19 countries]) and the United States (24,500 isolates, 33 medical centers [23 states and all 9 U.S. census divisions]). Omadacycline was tested by broth microdilution following the methods in Clinical and Laboratory Standards Institute document M07 (Methods for Dilution Antimicrobial Susceptibility Tests for Bacteria That Grow Aerobically; Approved Standard, 11th ed., 2018). Omadacycline (MIC_50/90, 0.12/0.25 mg/liter) inhibited 98.6% of Staphylococcus aureus isolates at ≤0.5 mg/liter, including 96.3% of methicillin-resistant S. aureus isolates and 99.8% of methicillin-susceptible S. aureus isolates. Omadacycline potency was comparable for Streptococcus pneumoniae (MIC_50/90, 0.06/0.12 mg/liter), viridans group streptococci (MIC_50/90, 0.06/0.12 mg/liter), and beta-hemolytic streptococci (MIC_50/90, 0.12/0.25 mg/liter), regardless of species and susceptibility to penicillin, macrolides, or tetracycline. Omadacycline was active against all Enterobacterales tested (MIC_50/90, 1/8 mg/liter; 87.5% of isolates were inhibited at ≤4 mg/liter) except Proteus mirabilis (MIC_50/90, 16/>32 mg/liter) and indole-positive Proteus spp. (MIC_50/90, 8/32 mg/liter) and was most active against Escherichia coli (MIC_50/90, 0.5/2 mg/liter), Klebsiella oxytoca (MIC_50/90, 1/2 mg/liter), and Citrobacter spp. (MIC_50/90, 1/4 mg/liter). Omadacycline inhibited 92.4% of Enterobacter cloacae species complex and 88.5% of Klebsiella pneumoniae isolates at ≤4 mg/liter. Omadacycline was active against Haemophilus influenzae (MIC_50/90, 0.5/1 mg/liter), regardless of β-lactamase status, and against Moraxella catarrhalis (MIC_50/90, ≤0.12/0.25 mg/liter). The potent activity of omadacycline against Gram-positive and -negative bacteria indicates that omadacycline merits further study in serious infections in which multidrug resistance and mixed Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacterial infections may be a concern.

Imipenem-relebactam (I-R) is a recently developed carbapenem–beta-lactamase inhibitor combination agent that can overcome carbapenem resistance, which has now emerged in Escherichia coli, including sequence type 131 (ST131) and its fluoroquinolone-resistant H30R subclone, the leading cause of extraintestinal E. coli infections globally. To clarify the likely utility of I-R for carbapenem-resistant (CR) E. coli infections in the United States, we characterized 203 recent CR clinical E. coli isolates from across the United States (years 2002 to 2017) for phylogroup, clonal group (including ST131, H30R, and the CTX-M-15-associated H30Rx subset within H30R), relevant beta-lactamase genes, and broth microdilution MICs for I-R and 11 comparator agents. Overall, I-R was highly active (89% susceptible), more so than all comparators except tigecycline and colistin (both 99% susceptible). I-R’s activity varied significantly in relation to phylogroup, clonal background, resistance genotype, and region. It was greatest among phylogroup B2, ST131-H30R, H30Rx, Klebsiella pneumoniae carbapenemase (KPC)-positive, and northeast U.S. isolates and lowest among phylogroup C, New Delhi metallo-β-lactamase (NDM)-positive, and southeast U.S. isolates. Relebactam improved imipenem’s activity against CR isolates within each phylogroup—especially groups A, B1, and B2—and particularly against isolates containing KPC. I-R remained substantially active against isolates coresistant to comparator agents, albeit somewhat less so than against the corresponding susceptible isolates. These findings suggest that I-R should be useful for treating most CR E. coli infections in the United States, largely independent of coresistance, although this likely will vary in relation to the local prevalence of specific E. coli lineages and carbapenem resistance mechanisms.

Carbapenem resistance in Enterobacterales is a public health threat. Klebsiella pneumoniae carbapenemase (encoded by alleles of the bla_KPC family) is one of the most common transmissible carbapenem resistance mechanisms worldwide. The dissemination of bla_KPC historically has been associated with distinct K. pneumoniae lineages (clonal group 258 [CG258]), a particular plasmid family (pKpQIL), and a composite transposon (Tn4401). In the United Kingdom, bla_KPC has represented a large-scale, persistent management challenge for some hospitals, particularly in North West England. The dissemination of bla_KPC has evolved to be polyclonal and polyspecies, but the genetic mechanisms underpinning this evolution have not been elucidated in detail; this study used short-read whole-genome sequencing of 604 bla_KPC-positive isolates (Illumina) and long-read assembly (PacBio)/polishing (Illumina) of 21 isolates for characterization. We observed the dissemination of bla_KPC (predominantly bla_KPC-2; 573/604 [95%] isolates) across eight species and more than 100 known sequence types. Although there was some variation at the transposon level (mostly Tn4401a, 584/604 [97%] isolates; predominantly with ATTGA-ATTGA target site duplications, 465/604 [77%] isolates), bla_KPC spread appears to have been supported by highly fluid, modular exchange of larger genetic segments among plasmid populations dominated by IncFIB (580/604 isolates), IncFII (545/604 isolates), and IncR (252/604 isolates) replicons. The subset of reconstructed plasmid sequences (21 isolates, 77 plasmids) also highlighted modular exchange among non-bla_KPC and bla_KPC plasmids and the common presence of multiple replicons within bla_KPC plasmid structures (>60%). The substantial genomic plasticity observed has important implications for our understanding of the epidemiology of transmissible carbapenem resistance in Enterobacterales for the implementation of adequate surveillance approaches and for control.

Nine hundred Haemophilus influenzae clinical isolates from 83 U.S. and European medical centers were tested for susceptibility by reference broth microdilution methods against ceftolozane-tazobactam and comparators. Results were stratified by β-lactamase production and infection type. Overall, ceftolozane-tazobactam MIC_50/90 values were 0.12/0.25 mg/liter, and 99.0% of isolates were inhibited at the susceptible breakpoint of ≤0.5 mg/liter; the highest MIC value was only 2 mg/liter. Our results support using ceftolozane-tazobactam to treat H. influenzae infections.

Colorectal cancer is a growing burden in adults less than 50 years old. In 2018, the American Cancer Society published a guideline update recommending a reduction in the colorectal cancer screening start age for average-risk individuals from 50 to 45. Implementing these recommendations would have important implications for public health. However, the approximate number of people impacted by this change, the average-risk population ages 45–49, is not well-described in the literature. Here, we provide methodology to conservatively estimate the average-risk and screening-eligible population in the United States, including those who would be impacted by a lowered colorectal cancer screening start age. Using multiple data sources, we estimated the current average-risk population by subtracting individuals with symptomatic colorectal cancer, with a family history of colorectal cancer, and with inflammatory bowel disease and hereditary nonpolyposis colorectal cancer from the total population. Within this population, we estimated the number of screening-eligible individuals by subtracting those with previous colorectal cancer screening (45- to 49-year-old) or up to date with colorectal cancer screening (50- to 74-year-old). The total average-risk population is estimated between 102.1 and 106.5 million people, of whom 43.4–45.2 million people are eligible for colorectal cancer screening. Lowering the screening age would add roughly 19 million people to the average-risk population and increase the current number of screening-eligible individuals on immediate implementation by over 60% (from 27 to 44 million). Estimating the population size impacted by lowering the recommended colorectal cancer screening start age enables more accurate decision-making for policymakers and epidemiologists focused on cancer prevention.

AT 3PM today, May 8th 2020, hundreds of lone pipers across the UK, including one at the top of Ben Nevis, will play a tune specially composed to remember May 8th 1945.

To mark Friday's 75th anniversary of the end of World War II in Europe, the British government revealed the final Nazi message intercepted and decoded by U.K. codebreakers as Allied forces were advancing through Germany.