U4SSC - City Snapshot - Sykkylven, Norway

U4SSC - City Snapshot - Tingvoll, Norway

U4SSC - City Snapshot - Ulstein, Norway

U4SSC - City Snapshot - Vanylven, Norway

U4SSC - City Snapshot - Vestnes, Norway

U4SSC - City Snapshot - Volda, Norway

U4SSC - City Snapshot - Hareid, Norway

U4SSC - City Snapshot - More og Romsdal, Norway

U4SSC - City Snapshot - Larvik, Norway

U4SSC - Snapshot - Mashhad, Iran

U4SSC - City Snapshot - Daegu, Korea

U4SSC - City Snapshot - Narvik, Norway

U4SSC - City Snapshot - TROMSØ, NORWAY

U4SSC - Snapshot - Geneva, Switzerland

U4SSC - City Snapshot - Kyebi, Ghana

U4SSC - City Snapshot - Anyang, Korea (Republic of)

SnapNrack and CertainTeed join forces to offer seamless warranties for solar installations on residential roofs, ensuring peace of mind for homeowners and installers.

Mule-Hide's EclipsEdge snap-on fascia simplifies raised roof edge and gravel stop installations, offering wind protection, reduced material costs, and versatility for various roofing systems.

Roofing Services Solutions, a Dunes Point Capital portfolio company, has acquired Earl W. Johnston Roofing, expanding its Florida presence to 10 locations and 200 employees.

La compañía anuncia un nuevo procesador que supera al reciente A18 Pro de Apple en baterías de prueba multinúcleo y que incluye varias novedades en su estructura Leer

SnapFulfil has secured another distinguished supply chain and logistics award. The Top Supply Chain Projects 2024 (formerly known as SDCE 100) profiles innovative application success projects designed to automate, optimize, streamline and improve the supply chain. 

It has recently emerged that consumer habits amongst Gen Z are changing, with many now turning to social media for retail therapy. Weighing in on this growing phenomenon of social media shopping, Nick Drewe, founder of the online discount platform Wethrift, offers his insights:

Spotify, Snapchat and Google Cloud report outages

WikiLeaks: 2009-12-15: 09STOCKHOLM779: Snapshot of Muslim Communities in Sweden

Tech giants including Meta, Snap, Google and others are racing to build smart glasses. It could change our lives for the better or worse.

A new collection of teddy by MusicLegs®.

Semi-opaque long sleeves teddy in soft stretchy nylon from MusicLegs. 3 buttons snap on crotch for convenience.

A new collection of teddy by Garo®.

Fashion opaque teddy suit. 2 buttons snap on crotch for convenience. Goes well with skirt and as inner wear with jacket for a sexy look. Great to be worn at home under a robe.

A new collection of teddy by MusicLegs®.

Semi-opaque meshed teddy in soft stretchy nylon with elastic spaghetti straps. 3 buttons snap on crotch for convenience.

Look back at Volume 2024 through photos from our photographers Volume Music Festival's return after five years was nothing short of epic…

The 'Hot Girl Summer' hitmaker has been signed on to front 'Off Thee Leash With Megan Thee Stallion', which is produced by Will Smith's Westbrook Media company.

The 'Hot Girl Summer' hitmaker has been signed on to front 'Off Thee Leash With Megan Thee Stallion', which is produced by Will Smith's Westbrook Media company.

Quentin Hayes ran for 91 yards and two second-half touchdowns on 25 carries.

Nathan MacKinnon had his most productive night of the season to pull the Colorado Avalanche out of a funk, but the club's extraordinary injury crisis may have somehow reached a new level.

Perception is everything.

Honor готовится выпустить новую модель смартфона Magic7 RSR Porsche Design, которая снова будет привлекать внимание своим дизайном, напоминающим стиль автомобилей Porsche.

1. Germany to hold snap election in February after government's coalition collapse  ABC News
2. The briefcase, the Porsche and the collapse of the German government – podcast  The Guardian
3. Germany set for snap election following collapse of Olaf Scholz’s coalition  The Conversation
4. President calls German early election plan 'realistic'  DW (English)

Worldwide revenues will triple in 2022   April 11, 2022 (New York, NY) – TikTok’s worldwide ad revenues will triple this year and surpass that of two competitors combined, according […]

Following its snap election, Japanese politics has entered uncharted waters Expert comment LToremark 5 November 2024

Prime Minister Ishiba’s election gamble has failed. Japan now faces another period of political uncertainty, which could affect its international standing.

In Japan’s snap election on 27 October, the ruling coalition of the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) and New Komeito lost the overwhelming majority it had held since the 2012 general election. The ruling coalition now has 215 seats, leaving it 18 seats short of a majority. 

The largest opposition party is the Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan (CDP), which gained 50 seats to 148. The second largest opposition party is the Japan Innovation Party (Ishin), which lost six seats to 38, and the third largest opposition party is the National Democratic Party (NDP), which gained 21 seats to 28.

But the opposition is divided and there is no real appetite to form a coalition government. This will likely result in a hung parliament, which will further destabilize Japan’s government.

The election results reveal three key things  about the state of Japanese politics and what comes next.

First, that Prime Minister Ishiba’s snap election gamble has failed. The aim was for Ishiba, a non-mainstream member of the LDP, to strengthen the party base and stabilize his administration. But with the ruling coalition losing its majority, the party base has been further weakened and the Ishiba administration is now more likely to be short-lived. LDP voters as well as the public in general  had hoped that Ishiba, as the ‘opposition within the party’, would change the LDP’s structure and government policies, eliminate the uncertainty surrounding party funding and increase transparency on how MPs use public funds to finance political activities.

However, when Ishiba became LDP leader and prime minister, he abandoned his previously more critical stance and prioritized carrying on the policies of the mainstream LDP, leaving his supporters feeling betrayed.

Second, while the ruling coalition has been punished, the people of Japan still did not vote for a change of government. The opposition is divided and, despite its gains in this election, the CDP is not fully committed to take the lead and consolidate the opposition to form a coalition. The CDP also suffers from internal division. The left wing of the party would prefer a coalition with the Communist Party, while the right wing of the party does not want to form a coalition with the LDP or the Communist Party, preferring a partner such as the NDP.

Third, the NDP has become the key to future Japanese politics. By becoming the minority ruling party, the NDP is in a position to control the fate of Ishiba administration. While the CDP has no intention of cooperating with the LDP, the NDP is more willing to do so in order to implement its own policies. As the budget cannot be passed without the NDP’s cooperation, the ruling coalition will have no choice but to accept the NDP’s policy of substantial tax cuts through the expansion of tax credits. It will also likely have to accept an option for married couples to decide their family names, which requires a change of civil codes and is something it has been reluctant to do so far. 

If the NDP’s demands are rejected, a no-confidence motion will likely be submitted and passed, leaving the Ishiba cabinet with no choice but to resign or dissolve the House of Representatives (the lower house of Japan’s parliament).

But the NDP has chosen to not form a coalition with the ruling party and enter government. Why? From the NDP’s point of view, forming a coalition with the LDP, would mean getting involved in the LDP’s internal turmoil – something it wishes to avoid. In addition, elections to the House of Councillors (upper house of parliament) will be held in the summer of 2025. The NDP may have judged that it will have a better chance of implementing its policies by cooperating with the government on a case-by-case basis, rather than forming a coalition with a party that is losing public support and risk following suit.

The minority ruling system that has emerged after the election is extremely rare in Japan’s political history and is likely to make its politics even more unstable in the years ahead. The Ishiba administration will probably be able to survive until the budget is passed in March next year by cooperating with the NDP, but beyond that its prospects are unclear.

As the House of Councillors elections get closer, some in the LDP may say that they cannot fight the election with Ishiba as prime minister. If so, they may choose the option of a same-day election for the lower and the upper house. The cost of an election campaign is significant, and the LDP’s financial strength gives it an advantage in the case of a same-day election. There is also a strong possibility that the public will choose the LDP to regain stability in government. However, this election has shown that public distrust of the LDP is high, and if Ishiba continues to be pushed around by the NDP, his party’s chances of winning would be reduced.

Japanese politics has entered uncharted waters, where the patterns and customs of the past do not apply. There are now doubts both at home and abroad as to whether Ishiba, who has a weak party base, will be able to stay on and steer the government. Over the past decade, the Abe and Kishida administrations have provided Japan with political stability, which has in turn enhanced its international presence. An unstable political system, with frequent changes of government, will likely lead to a decline in Japan’s international influence.

There is also a risk that US–Japan relations  could become unstable. Although the NDP does not have a strong agenda to change the course of this relationship, Ishiba may struggle to keep the promise made by his predecessors to increase defence spending. Ishiba’s nationalist posture could also create a confrontational relationship with the United States, while his weak leadership means he may not seek to invest in strengthening the US–Japan alliance. 

Donald Trump’s win in the US presidential election could pose a further risk. Although Trump might be open to Ishiba’s demand for parity with the US, he could become irritated with Ishiba’s weak domestic position. Ishiba may not be able to make decisions – or a deal with Trump – unless the NDP agrees to it.

Highly engineered phytases, which sequentially hydrolyze the hexakisphosphate ester of inositol known as phytic acid, are routinely added to the feeds of monogastric animals to improve phosphate bioavailability. New phytases are sought as starting points to further optimize the rate and extent of dephosphorylation of phytate in the animal digestive tract. Multiple inositol polyphosphate phosphatases (MINPPs) are clade 2 histidine phosphatases (HP2P) able to carry out the stepwise hydrolysis of phytate. MINPPs are not restricted by a strong positional specificity making them attractive targets for development as feed enzymes. Here, we describe the characterization of a MINPP from the Gram-positive bacterium Bifidobacterium longum (BlMINPP). BlMINPP has a typical HP2P-fold but, unusually, possesses a large α-domain polypeptide insertion relative to other MINPPs. This insertion, termed the U-loop, spans the active site and contributes to substrate specificity pockets underpopulated in other HP2Ps. Mutagenesis of U-loop residues reveals its contribution to enzyme kinetics and thermostability. Moreover, four crystal structures of the protein along the catalytic cycle capture, for the first time in an HP2P, a large ligand-driven α-domain motion essential to allow substrate access to the active site. This motion recruits residues both downstream of a molecular hinge and on the U-loop to participate in specificity subsites, and mutagenesis identified a mobile lysine residue as a key determinant of positional specificity of the enzyme. Taken together, these data provide important new insights to the factors determining stability, substrate recognition, and the structural mechanism of hydrolysis in this industrially important group of enzymes.

Linebacker Quinton Bell and Miami Dolphins defenders deleted drives and put the Los Angeles Rams offense in quicksand, holding them without a touchdown to propel a primetime victory and snap a three-game losing streak.

Timo Meier scored the go-ahead goal late in the second period, Jacob Markstrom made 33 saves and the New Jersey Devils snapped Florida’s seven-game winning streak by beating the Panthers 4-1 on Tuesday night.

The Winnipeg Jets' reign as the only unbeaten NHL team ended with a 6-4 Toronto Maple Leafs' victory handed by John Tavares who scored three goals at the game Monday night at Canada Life Centre.

Download the data from Education Week showing how over 900 school districts provided instruction on their first day of the school year.

About 80% of trophy home sales in Cape Town were along the Atlantic Seaboard, especially in Camps Bay, Clifton, Bantry Bay, Fresnaye and at the Waterfront.

Blue Ribbon and Snowflake owner Premier Foods is on the prowl for acquisitions, including the likes of JSE-listed food producers like Remgro-controlled RCL Foods, Libstar and RFG, if they ever become available.

iQOO Neo 10 series will be unveiled in China soon. Details about the upcoming lineup have been circulating in the rumour mill over the past few weeks, and now a senior company executive has confirmed its imminent launch, though the exact date remains unannounced. The series is expected to include a base iQOO Neo 10 and an iQOO Neo 10 Pro.

Google has announced the silent rollout of its Quick Share app for ARM-powered devices running Windows 11 or later. Users can now easily send and receive photos, documents, and more data between nearby Android devices and ARM-based Windows PCs including the new Snapdragon X Elite laptops.

Asus ROG Phone 9 will be officially launched later this week. Following Qualcomm's unveiling of the Snapdragon 8 Elite chipset last month, Asus confirmed that the ROG Phone 9 would use the flagship SoC. Now, ahead of the launch, the handset has been reportedly spotted in the Geekbench ML online database suggesting key specifications.