Staff from OM SportsLink and Campus Crusade for Christ cycled from Pretoria to Cape Town to minister to people in rural villages along the way.

A local church group's visit to a clinic in central Greece.

Cyclists with the Ride to Transform initiative rode 830 kilometres (about 515 miles) through Italy to raise funds for Transform relief projects around the Mediterranean.

“I climb in the name of the young women we serve,” said Boris Salinas, who will participate in a Freedom Climb event on 26 April.

Republicans have won enough seats to keep control of the House of Representatives, ABC News projects, clinching a unified GOP government in Washington.

The index was designed to quantify the specific vulnerabilities faced by countries, especially small island developing states

“Climate change continues to happen, and it is important that Israel remains part of the efforts to mitigate the effects of climate change,” Behar said.

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif highlighted on Wednesday that financial pledges made at the previous two United Nations’ annual climate summits — COP27 and COP28 — were yet to materialise.

He made the remarks during the 29th United Nations Climate Change Conference, also known as COP29, that is being held in Azerbaijan’s capital of Baku. The premier presented Pakistan’s case on the second and final day of the World Leaders Climate Action Summit.

Pakistan is ranked among the top 10 most climate-vulnerable countries, according to the Global Climate Risk Index. It has faced increasingly frequent and severe weather events, such as unprecedented floods, intense monsoon rains, devastating heat waves, rapid glacial melting and glacial lake outburst floods.

Addressing the summit, PM Shehbaz asserted that COP29 should “make this understanding loud and clear that we will have to fulfil those financial pledges” committed at COP27 and COP28.

“And yet, I think, those huge financial commitments have to be materialised.”

The prime minister said the event was aimed at understanding the “calamities which, unfortunately, some of the countries have already faced and some will if we do not act”.

At COP27 in 2022, which was also attended by PM Shehbaz, countries had adopted a hard-fought final agreement to set up a “loss and damage fund” to help poor countries battered by climate disasters.

At COP28 last year, then-caretaker premier Anwaarul Haq Kakar had called for immediately executing the $100 billion in commitments for climate finance.

According to the UN, around $700 million have been pledged so far for the loss and damage fund, with France, Italy, Germany and the UAE being the biggest contributors.

At COP29 today, PM Shehbaz also spoke about the devastating monsoon floods of 2022, highlighting they had resulted in 1,700 deaths, massive displacement, destruction of houses and crops, and $30 billion loss to the country’s economy.

He called on the international community “to take measures which are so important at this point in time to have a conducive environment” to combat climate change.

The prime minister stressed that Pakistan was one of the countries that “hardly contribute” to global emissions, yet it was vulnerable to climate change and listed as one of the “10 countries which can, God forbid, face this kind of devastation again”.

“My memories are still fresh,” he said, recalling a meeting with flood affectees in Balochistan, including a boy named Ikramullah who had “lost everything”.

“His entire village was erased from the face of the earth, his home was completely demolished, and his school was also submerged. And we had arranged his education [in] another part of Pakistan,” he said.

PM Shehbaz stated he would not want “other countries to face the plight Pakistan faced back in 2022”.

Describing Pakistan as a “resilient, hard-working and responsible nation”, the premier affirmed his country was “fully committed to being part of the global climate solutions”.

Concluding his speech, the prime minister expressed the hope that under Azerbaijan’s leadership, COP29 can transform into a “finance COP by restoring confidence in the pledging process and scaling up climate finance”.

“I strongly feel that climate finance must be grant-based and not add to the debt burden of vulnerable developing countries,” he said, reiterating his remarks from yesterday on the sidelines of the summit.

“Two years ago, I warned, and I warned at the top of my voice, that the future would never forgive our inaction. Today, I echo the same warning with greater urgency,” PM Shehbaz asserted.

‘We shouldn’t brave impact of emissions by others’

Referring to the 2015 Paris Agreement, PM Shehbaz said: “Ten years ago in Paris, we had failed to stop the rise in emissions and catastrophic global warming, and those pledges in Paris 10 years ago, which were made have yet to see the light of the day.”

“As the minus-one emitters, we should not brave the impact of emissions realised by others without even the tools to finance resilience,” he emphasised.

“Without climate justice, there can be no real resilience,” the prime minister asserted.

The premier further said Pakistan would “go through a renewable energy revolution”, noting that the country last year presented a “comprehensive National Adaptation Plan”.

He continued: “This year, we have developed our National Carbon Market Framework. But we cannot do it alone. Pakistan needs international support to deliver on its climate ambitions.”

“My government has taken concrete actions to deliver on its commitment of producing 60 per cent of all energy from green sources and shifting 30pc of our vehicles to EVs (electric vehicles) by the end of this decade,” he told the summit.

PM Shehbaz stated that developing countries would need an estimated $6.2 trillion by 2030 to implement less than half of their current Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs).

“The same goes for adaption and loss and damage,” he added, recalling the efforts at COP27 led by then-climate change minister Sherry Rehman.

Early warning systems for all

Addressing the COP29 summit, Deputy Prime Minister Ishaq Dar highlighted the utility of early warning systems for climate-induced disasters and extended his gratitude to UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres for launching the ‘Early Warning for All’ initiative.

“Today, the threat is not limited to floods, we are facing rising temperatures, more intense and frequent heatwaves, and erratic rainfall patterns,” Dar said. “Early warning systems for various climate-induced hazards including floods, glacial lake outbursts, droughts and extreme heat are essential for resilience, not just for Pakistan but for all vulnerable nations worldwide,” he added.

The deputy PM thanked the UN Secretary-General for the early warning initiative, which “aims to protect every person on earth with an early warning system by 2027”.

Dar added that the threat of extreme heat emphasises the necessity of multi-hazard early warning systems, which he said were “critical to saving lives and supporting sustainable development in the face of climate adversity”.

“Despite our limited resources, Pakistan is committed to climate action and has set very ambitious goals,” the deputy PM said. “Our pledge to reduce projected greenhouse gas emissions by 50pc by 2030 comprises a 15pc reduction through national efforts and an additional 35pc contingent on international support.”

Dar named the Green Pakistan Project, an “electric vehicle policy”, a large-scale project to rehabilitate mangroves and implement Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) mass transit systems in Pakistan’s major cities.

“These efforts aim to fulfil our nationally determined contributions and to balance our global mitigation role with local adaptation needs,” Dar said. “However, we must acknowledge that national efforts alone are insufficient.”

The deputy PM highlighted that accessible climate finance is essential for Pakistan to meet these targets. “We urgently call on developed nations to honour their $100bn climate finance annual pledge and establish a new collective quantitative goal that reflects today’s needs with funding reaching the trillions,” he stated.

He added that this funding must be “accessible, grant-based and reflective of the historical responsibilities of industrialised nations”, adding that the burden “cannot rest solely on developing countries”.

“While Pakistan is ready to do its part, we look to the international community for support, particularly in accessing climate finance for early warning systems and climate resilience projects,” he said. “We need mechanisms that ensure easy, direct access to funds that can bolster national programmes rather than piloting isolated projects.”

Dar reiterated Pakistan’s commitment to “being part of the solution” to the shared climate crisis and stressed that through shared partnerships and support from global allies, “we can bridge the early warning gap, enhance resilience and build a safer, more sustainable future for generations to come”.

‘Debt cannot be new normal’

Speaking at a Pakistan-organised conference at COP29 yesterday, PM Shehbaz had said debt cannot become the “acceptable new normal” in climate financing.

He had explained that finan­c­ing in the form of loans pushes developing nations towards “mounting debt traps”, which he ref­erred to as “death traps”.

Speaking at Glaciers 2025: Actions for Glaciers, the prime minister had also linked humanity’s survival with the health of glaciers, saying Pakistan was ready to work with the world on the matter.

PM Shehbaz also met with various world leaders on the sidelines of the summit, including UAE President Sheikh Moha­m­med bin Zayed Al Nahyan, UK PM Sir Keir Starmer and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, as well as those from South and Central Asia.

Dozens of world leaders convened in Azerbaijan for COP29 but many big names skipped the UN climate talks where the impact of Donald Trump’s election victory was keenly felt.

US President Joe Biden, China’s President Xi Jinping, India’s PM Narendra Modi and France’s President Emmanuel Macron were among the G20 leaders missing the event.

Pakistan witnessed devastating floods during the 2022 monsoon season, induced by climate change, resulting in the loss of at least 1,700 lives.

With 33m people affected and swathes of agricultural land washed away, the damage incurred losses worth $30bn, according to government estimates.

In June 2024, a heat wave brought record-high temperatures, severely impacting public health and agriculture.

1. Wedding Invitation Scams at rise: A single click may put you in grave danger  India TV News
2. Police warns: Wedding invites on WhatsApp are taking control of smartphones; stealing money, photos and m  The Times of India
3. All about the 'wedding invitation' scam on WhatsApp that can get your phone hacked  Moneycontrol
4. WhatsApp wedding invitations are the new cyber trap — here's how scammers are stealing your data  CNBCTV18
5. WhatsApp wedding invite scam: What to know about this and how to be alert  India Today

The U.N. climate summit known as COP29 is underway in Baku, Azerbaijan, where negotiators are trying to make progress on reducing emissions and preventing the worst impacts of the climate crisis. Many activists, however, have criticized the decision to hold the talks in an authoritarian petrostate. The host country is also facing accusations that it is using the climate talks for business, after the head of the talks, Elnur Soltanov, was caught in a secret recording promoting oil and gas deals. That sting was organized by the group Global Witness, which put forward a fake investor. “In exchange for just the promise of sponsorship money, that got us to the heart of the COP29,” says Lela Stanley, an investigator at Global Witness. “We need the U.N. to ban petro interests from sitting at the table, from influencing the COP.”

Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton is leading Republican rival Donald Trump by 2 percentage points among likely voters, according to a national Fox News poll.

FiveThirtyEight founder and editor-in-chief Nate Silver said in a blog post

Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump today scrambled to make their final pitch to voters in the closely-contested U.S. presidential race dogged by controversies like the Democratic nominee's email scandal.

Hillary Clinton on Tuesday beat Republican rival Donald Trump in Dixville Notch, a small town in New Hampshire that traditionally votes just after midnight before the Presidential election balloting starts elsewhere in the US later in the day

Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton leads her Republican rival Donald Trump by 4% points, a latest national opinion poll said on Sunday, two days ahead of the crucial US general elections.

With per-placement orders catapulted up by 25-30 pct, 2016 has been a year of opportunities for IIT’s when compared to last year. But, in spite of the rise in placements

The Woodpeckers, established by Meher Attari and Neha Taneja, transforms vintage wood into contemporary, stylish handcrafted furniture

Muted quarterly earnings and weak trends in global markets were also the spoilsport for the markets, traders said

The sculpting was done by E. Frudakis (the Uncle of Dino Kartsonakis, her pianist). Condition = The medallion and keychain are both in great condition with no damage or other issues. The medallion is made of solid bronze or brass. SEE PICS

The program provides excellent anytime devotions and is perfect as a gift for others. Most importantly the end user can create their own comments list, add links to other websites, blogs, RSS feeds, references and documents that once combined create an inclusive individual 'Platform' for Christian research, devotionals and study projects.

HELP YOU MAKE IT TO YOUR FLIGHT - Buck Howdy

Grandma Got Molested At The Airport

The "Star Spangled Banner" Story

How the Obama Stole Christmas!

Watch all of this . It will send chills down your spine .

The Song "Donna" As You've Never Heard It. ......YUP, This is a WOW!!!!!!‏

An attempt to show that our political elite is selling us down a river by devaluing our currency, thereby initiating inflation. Prices aren't going up because of corporate greed, the political elite…
00:03:57

Premier Stitching, a sewing specialty dealer in Bryan Texas, needed a new website and sewing specialty focus that was achieved by the Marketing Heroes Team to better highlight the dealer's dedicated services for clients seeking all types of sewing, quilting, and embroidery machine purchases as well as maintenance work in the greater Brazos Valley area.

Berlin-based x-cardiac GmbH is pleased to announce that Freiburg University Hospital has become the second pilot customer for its AI-based software "x-c-bleeding" for predicting severe bleeding complications after cardiac surgery. With the implementation of "x-c-bleeding", the University Hospital Freiburg takes another important step towards AI-based medicine.

Acousia Therapeutics GmbH, a Tübingen-based clinical stage biotech company focused on the enhancement and preservation of natural hearing, will be presenting the ACOU085 Phase 2 PROHEAR clinical study at the HansonWade 4th Inner Ear Disorders Therapeutics Summit in Boston (MA) from August 20–22, and at the 36th World Congress of Audiology from September 19–22, 2024.

Aachen, Germany, 22 October 2024 – Today, Grünenthal announced that the first participants have been enrolled in a first-in-human Phase I clinical trial for a nociceptin (NOP) receptor agonist. The trial will include 90 healthy volunteers and aims to demonstrate a favourable safety and tolerability profile and to confirm the pharmacokinetic characteristics of the compound after single and multiple ascending doses. The results of the trial are expected in Q3 2025.

Nicole Henry has successfully released a new album, is currently debuting in a musical to standing ovations and is starring in her own Whitney Houston Theatrical Tribute Show around the U.S.

The Law Firm of Hildebrand & Wilson, LLP in Pearland Texas needed a website rebranding that was achieved by the Marketing Heroes Team to better focus on the law firm's dedicated services to clients injured in car and truck accidents.

New York City Personal Injury Lawyer Richard M. Kenny received a glowing review on Birdseye from a happy client regarding the firm's services. Reviews like this make us proud to do our job, day in and day out. We believe that those who've been unfairly injured as a result of another party's negligence deserve to be fully and fairly compensated for the damages they've incurred.

Gustitis Law in Bryan Texas needed a website transformation that was achieved by the Marketing Heroes Team to better highlight the law firm's dedicated services to clients needing a criminal defense attorney.

David Gardner's Jewelers & Gemologists of College Station Texas needed an upgraded website and new digital marketing strategy that was achieved by the Marketing Heroes Team and made their customer's website experience as friendly and helpful as when you visit their store.

Frontline Source Group, Inc., a leading professional staffing firm with nationwide offices announced today that they have won Inavero's 2017 Best of Staffing® Client and Talent Awards for providing superior service to their clients and job seekers.

Frontline Source Group, a principal employment agency in the staffing industry, announced today that they have received Inavero's Best of Staffing® Client and Talent Awards for providing superior service to their clients and job seekers. Presented in partnership with CareerBuilder, Inavero's Best of Staffing winners have proven to be industry leaders in service quality. This award is based entirely on ratings by their clients and the employees for whom they've coordinated job placements.

ClimatePartner, a leading solutions provider for corporate climate action, is expanding its senior management team in the United States: Gregg Demers will be taking over as Head of ClimatePartner USA, a role previously held by Tristan A. Foerster, CEO and Co-Founder.

Under the name "Last Call for Beauty", Ocean us is bleaching famous paintings to raise awareness of the extinction of coral reefs in the world's oceans.

Will She Be Able To Come Up With A Solution In Time

Ostara Systems are proud to welcome NCP as their newest CAFM software client.

- The Phase III trial AV001 aims to evaluate QUTENZA® in post-surgical neuropathic pain (PSNP), a debilitating complication of surgery occurring after approximately 10 percent of all surgical procedures[1], thus affecting more than 3 million people with surgical procedures per year in the U.S.[2]

Prague - 17.7.2024 - The Czech company [url=https://www.emclient.com/?lang=en]eM Client[/url] releases a new version of the eponymous application for Windows, Mac, Android and iOS. eM Client is a popular tool for managing (not only) emails, which has become the main challenger to Microsoft Outlook for both end users and businesses. Version 10 brings the largest number of new features and improvements in the history of the product.

Keir Starmer's arrival at COP29, with a promise to drastically cut the UK's carbon emissions by 81%, will be a small ray of sunshine in an otherwise gloomy start to the climate talks.

Old-school Apple fans probably remember a time, just before the iPhone became a massive gaming platform in its own right, when Apple released a wide range of games designed for late-model clickwheel iPods. While those clickwheel-controlled titles didn’t exactly set the gaming world on fire, they represent an important historical stepping stone in Apple’s long journey through the game industry. Today, though, these clickwheel iPod games are on the verge of becoming lost media—impossible to buy or redownload from iTunes and protected on existing devices by incredibly strong Apple DRM. Now, the classic iPod community is engaged in a quest to preserve these games in a way that will let enthusiasts enjoy these titles on real hardware for years to come. ↫ Kyle Orland at Ars Technica A nice effort, of course, and I’m glad someone is putting time and energy into preserving these games and making them accessible to a wider audience. As is usual with Apple, these small games were heavily encumbered with DRM, being locked to both the the original iTunes account that bought them, but also to the specific hardware identifier of the iPod they were initially synchronised to using iTunes. A clever way around this DRM exists, and it involves collectors and enthusiasts creating reauthorising their iTunes accounts to the same iTunes installation, and thus adding their respective iPod games to that single iTunes installation. Any other iPods can then be synced to that master account. The iPod Clickwheel Games Preservation Project takes this approach to the next level, by setting up a Windows virtual machine with iTunes installed in it, which can then be shared freely around the web for people to the games to their collection. This is a rather remarkably clever method of ensuring these games remain accessible, but obviously does require knowledge of setting up Qemu and USB passthrough. I personally never owned an iPod – I was a MiniDisc fanatic until my Android phone took over the role of music player – so I also had no clue these games even existed. I assume most of them weren’t exactly great to control with the limited input method of the iPod, but that doesn’t mean there won’t be huge numbers of people who have fond memories of playing these games when they were younger – and thus, they are worth preserving. We can only hope that one day, someone will create a virtual machine that can run the actual iPod operating system, called Pixo OS.