The newly-created U.S. Space Force has released its first recruitment video, CNET reports: In a video posted Wednesday to Twitter showing rockets, mission control-types rooms and U.S. Space Force members in spacesuits, a voice-over says, "maybe your purpose on this planet isn't on this planet." Secretary of the Air Force Barbara Barrett said during a livestream Wednesday that so far recruitment hasn't been a problem for the Space Force. "There's been an avalanche of applicants." This sixth branch of the US military was established in December 2019 and will be operational by mid-2021. CNET notes the video appeared "a day after Netflix dropped a trailer for its upcoming comedy Space Force. And the leader of the U.S. Space Force says he's looking forward to the Netflix comedy co-created by Steve Carell. "The one piece of advice I'd give to Steve Carell is to get a haircut," Gen. Jay Raymond, the U.S. Space Force Chief of Space Operations, said Wednesday during a webinar hosted by the nonprofit Space Foundation. Raymond is bald, and joked that Steve Carell is "looking a little too shaggy if he wants to play the Space Force chief."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Lockdown words of love and comfort across Ireland and the globe during the Covid-19 pandemic.

While many Red Stripe Premier League (RSPL) players are finding it very difficult to stay motivated and maintain their training regime until the league is able to restart, Portmore defender Romaine Breakenridge remains highly motivated and eager...

Testimony of Marc Rosenblum, MPI Senior Policy Analyst, before the National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform.

Correctional Service of Canada says an inmate, who escaped from an Edmonton facility in 2018, was arrested by police in Saskatoon on Saturday morning.

War is the great distraction. Right or wrong, foolish or wise, it suspends all the usual political and economic rules. Suddenly a chancellor who has spent five and a half years telling us “there is no money” can find ready billions for warfare.

Teens attending TeenStreet Europe in July will raise money for a project to bring reconciliation to the ethnically divided youth of Mostar, Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Hearts owner Ann Budge has described the decision by Ladbrokes Premiership clubs to scrap league reconstruction as "shameful" and vowed the Tynecastle club will "formally challenge" any decision to end the top flight prematurely if they are relegated.

Discover 110 and Discover 125 - the two budget commuters by Bajaj Auto won't be getting updated to BS6 emission norms and this can be due to multiple reasons. We explain!

TVS Radeon and Hero Splendor Plus, the two popular entry-level commuters have been launched in BS6 avatars very recently. Here's how the two fare against each other on paper.

With the majority of the population asked to stay indoor, power demand across the country tanked over 8% in March and was expected to fall another 32% in April.

As uncertainty looms large, volatility again jumped 28% on Monday as equity markets resumed trading after a long weekend.

Most of the sectoral indices were trading in deep sea of red. Nifty FMCG index dropped 1.33 per cent weighed by Godrej Consumer Properties, Britannia, Dabur India and Marico.

Edge computing is the way forward, but are we ready to surrender control to corporations.

Now, any developer could create an app and run it on Amazon, Microsoft or Google’s servers and make millions or billions in the process.

Outstanding promoters’ pledged shares were Rs 1.95 lakh crore, which is about 1.38% of the total BSE-500 Index’s market capitalisation in March 2019.

India’s Achilles heel on ratings is its parlous state of fiscal affairs and the risk of a sharp deterioration of government debt to potentially ~75-80% of GDP.

In what could be seen as a silver lining for employees, as many as 50% of the organisations have reported no change in the planned salary hike budgets despite the headwinds that the novel-coronavirus pandemic has brought.

The WTO work programme defines electronic commerce as the production, distribution, marketing, sale or delivery of goods and services by electronic means.

In a statement, GSTN said this new functionality on the GST portal is aimed at providing a major relief to taxpayers, especially at the time of the COVID-19 crisis when there is limited access to cash resources.

The record excise duty hike on petrol and diesel will not help the government bridge the fiscal gap as planned, nor will it help boost economic growth as consumption demand will further be crippled, warns a report. Despite crude prices trading at a two decades low, the government had earlier this week hiked excise duty […]

This new film is the latest remake of Devdas, but what is equally interesting is the fact that it is in conversation with films made in the West. Unlike Bhansali’s more spectacular version of the older story, Anurag Kashyap’s Dev.D is a genuine rewriting of Sarat Chandra’s novel. Kashyap doesn’t flinch from depicting the individual’s downward spiral, but he also gives women their own strength. He has set out to right a wrong—or, at least, tell a more realistic, even redemptive, story. If these characters have lost some of the affective depth of the original creations, they have also gained the hard edges of modern lives.

We don’t always feel the pain of Kashyap’s characters, but we are able to more readily recognize them. Take Chandramukhi, or Chanda, who is a school-girl humiliated by the MMS sex-scandal. Her father, protective and patriarchal, says that he has seen the tape and thinks she knew what she was doing. “How could you watch it?” the girl asks angrily. And then, “Did you get off on it?” When was the last time a father was asked such a question on the Hindi screen? With its frankness toward sex and masturbation, Dev.D takes a huge step toward honesty. In fact, more than the obvious tributes to Danny Boyle’s Trainspotting, or the over-extended psychedelic adventure on screen, in fact, as much as the moody style of film-making, the candour of such questions make Dev.D a film that is truly a part of world cinema.

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President Barack Obama will pledge $3 billion to a United Nations climate-change fund that’s intended to help poor nations boost renewable energy and counter the ill effects of global warming.

Mexico has become the first developing nation to formally promise to cut its global-warming pollution, a potential milestone in efforts to reach a worldwide agreement on tackling climate change.

Japan anticipates that by 2030 clean energy such as solar and hydro will generate slightly more of the nation’s electricity than nuclear power plants.

Executives from 13 major U.S. corporations are announcing at least $140 billion in new investments to decrease their carbon footprints as part of a White House initiative to recruit private commitments ahead of a United Nations climate-change summit later this year in Paris.

Companies including Apple Inc., Berkshire Hathaway Energy Co., and Goldman Sachs Group Inc. will join Secretary of State John Kerry and top administration officials at the White House for the announcement. In addition to pledges to cut emissions, provide financing to environmentally-focused companies, and reduce water consumption, the companies have said they will procure at least 1,600 MW of new, renewable energy. The White House said in a statement that it expects to announce a second round of similar pledges later this fall from additional companies.

The commitments are being announced as President Barack Obama is looking to build momentum toward a legacy-defining global climate accord in Paris. In addition to company-specific commitments, the corporate leaders on Monday will signal their support for a strong climate agreement out of the United Nations talks. They administration is using the pledges to set an example for companies to find ways to eliminate their carbon emissions.

Climate Talks

“As the world looks toward global climate negotiations in Paris this December, American leadership at all levels will be essential,” the White House said in a fact sheet detailing the announcement.

The administration’s actions are pushing the issue into the 2016 presidential debate. Hillary Clinton, the front-runner for the Democratic nomination, released an energy strategy saying she would both defend and go beyond Obama’s efforts. Republican candidates have criticized the administration’s initiatives as costly to the economy and unnecessary.

Among the pledges, aluminum manufacturer Alcoa Inc. has agreed to reduce emissions by 50 percent from its 2005 levels, while agricultural giant Cargill Inc. says 18 percent of its total energy use will come from renewable sources.

Coca-Cola Co. said it would drive down the carbon footprint of its beverage production by 25 percent over the next five years, while Google says it plans to triple its purchases of renewable energy over the next decade. Berkshire Hathaway says it plans to invest up to an additional $15 billion in the construction and operation of renewable energy generators, while Bank of America Corp says it will increase its environmental business initiative by $75 billion over the next decade, according to the White House

Other participating firms include Wal-Mart, United Parcel Service Inc., PepsiCo Inc., Microsoft Corp., General Motors Inc.

The corporate commitments won’t be the administration’s only major climate announcement in the next few weeks. The Environmental Protection Agency is set to present final regulations that aim to reduce carbon emissions from power plants by 30 percent from 2005 levels by 2030 later this week.

While visiting Kenya over the weekend, Obama repeatedly praised the country for its efforts to address climate change, saying its efforts tor educe emissions “has put it in the position of being a leader on the continent.” And next month, the president will travel to Alaska for an international summit on Arctic climate issues.

©2015 Bloomberg News

For more, see Big Companies, Big Renewable Investments.

President Barack Obama will pledge $3 billion to a United Nations climate-change fund that’s intended to help poor nations boost renewable energy and counter the ill effects of global warming.

Mexico has become the first developing nation to formally promise to cut its global-warming pollution, a potential milestone in efforts to reach a worldwide agreement on tackling climate change.

Japan anticipates that by 2030 clean energy such as solar and hydro will generate slightly more of the nation’s electricity than nuclear power plants.

The secretary general of the United Nations is frustrated with the pace of negotiations for what’s intended to be a crucial agreement limiting global warming.

Climate change pledges submitted so far from the world’s leading economies won’t be enough to keep the planet from warming dangerously, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said Monday in New York.

Proposals to reduce heat-trapping emissions need to be “a floor, not a ceiling,” he said.

The global increase in temperatures will exceed 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit) under the national pledges already submitted to UN, Ban said. That’s the goal scientists and the UN have set to avoid the worst effects due to global warming.

The proposals submitted to date “will not be enough to place us on a 2-degree pathway,” Ban said.

Without any changes to global emissions, the world is on track to warm by 4 degrees Celsius or more, UN Assistant Secretary-General for Climate Change Janos Pasztor said earlier this month.

World leaders have five months to go before a meeting of almost 200 nations in Paris that’s intended to seal a new global pact to cut planet-warming carbon emissions. If successful, the agreement would be the first ever to require both developed nations like the US and growing economies like China to address climate change.

“The pace of UN negotiations are far too slow,” Ban said. “It’s like a snail’s pace.”

The U.S., the world’s biggest historic source of greenhouse gases, pledged earlier this year to cut its emissions by as much as 28 percent by 2025. The European Union has promised a 40 percent cut by 2030. Several other major economies, including Australia and Japan, have yet to submit climate plans to the UN.

Executives from 13 major U.S. corporations are announcing at least $140 billion in new investments to decrease their carbon footprints as part of a White House initiative to recruit private commitments ahead of a United Nations climate-change summit later this year in Paris.

Companies including Apple Inc., Berkshire Hathaway Energy Co., and Goldman Sachs Group Inc. will join Secretary of State John Kerry and top administration officials at the White House for the announcement. In addition to pledges to cut emissions, provide financing to environmentally-focused companies, and reduce water consumption, the companies have said they will procure at least 1,600 MW of new, renewable energy. The White House said in a statement that it expects to announce a second round of similar pledges later this fall from additional companies.

The commitments are being announced as President Barack Obama is looking to build momentum toward a legacy-defining global climate accord in Paris. In addition to company-specific commitments, the corporate leaders on Monday will signal their support for a strong climate agreement out of the United Nations talks. They administration is using the pledges to set an example for companies to find ways to eliminate their carbon emissions.

Climate Talks

“As the world looks toward global climate negotiations in Paris this December, American leadership at all levels will be essential,” the White House said in a fact sheet detailing the announcement.

The administration’s actions are pushing the issue into the 2016 presidential debate. Hillary Clinton, the front-runner for the Democratic nomination, released an energy strategy saying she would both defend and go beyond Obama’s efforts. Republican candidates have criticized the administration’s initiatives as costly to the economy and unnecessary.

Among the pledges, aluminum manufacturer Alcoa Inc. has agreed to reduce emissions by 50 percent from its 2005 levels, while agricultural giant Cargill Inc. says 18 percent of its total energy use will come from renewable sources.

Coca-Cola Co. said it would drive down the carbon footprint of its beverage production by 25 percent over the next five years, while Google says it plans to triple its purchases of renewable energy over the next decade. Berkshire Hathaway says it plans to invest up to an additional $15 billion in the construction and operation of renewable energy generators, while Bank of America Corp says it will increase its environmental business initiative by $75 billion over the next decade, according to the White House

Other participating firms include Wal-Mart, United Parcel Service Inc., PepsiCo Inc., Microsoft Corp., General Motors Inc.

The corporate commitments won’t be the administration’s only major climate announcement in the next few weeks. The Environmental Protection Agency is set to present final regulations that aim to reduce carbon emissions from power plants by 30 percent from 2005 levels by 2030 later this week.

While visiting Kenya over the weekend, Obama repeatedly praised the country for its efforts to address climate change, saying its efforts tor educe emissions “has put it in the position of being a leader on the continent.” And next month, the president will travel to Alaska for an international summit on Arctic climate issues.

©2015 Bloomberg News

For more, see Big Companies, Big Renewable Investments.

Reaction to the Chancellor's Summer Budget 2015 A radical budget with big surprises, as well as much of that was expected. A good budget for UK plc, with corporation tax rates to be reduced to 18% by 2020, the rates of VAT, incom...

The Chancellor set out a number of measures of interest to the property sector in his Pre-Budget Report on 24 November 2008. The key ones are: a reduction in the rate of VAT from 17.5 per cent to 15 per cent for the period 1 December 2008 to 31 D...

Justice Bello said all courts in the FCT must resume on Monday.

The post Coronavirus: FCT Chief Judge orders reopening of courts appeared first on Premium Times Nigeria.

Health Minister David Clark has rejected claims he and other Government ministers have been "gagged", as he fronted today to announce a $160 million boost to Pharmac health spending.An email from the Prime Minister's office, obtained...

[Premium Times] The Chief Judge of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) High Court, Ishaq Bello, has ordered all courts in the FCT to resume regular proceedings from Monday, May 11.

[Zimbabwe Standard] AN acute shortage of buses has hampered the fast movement of Zimbabweans repatriated from South Africa with some of the returnees stuck in Beitbridge for the past two days despite having completed formalities to travel to provincial quarantine centres.

The sale of draft beer and fountain drinks will be prohibited while all transactions will be restricted to credit cards.

Simple rules that have been repeated to us ad nauseam can, if followed effectively, ward off the virus.

Confined to their 100 sq ft space in a subdivided flat in Hong Kong amid the Covid-19 pandemic, Wendy Cheung and her husband quarrelled numerous times over hygiene, money and caring for their son.Finally, she decided it was time to get a divorce after eight years of marriage.The distress caused by the fear of coronavirus infection, confinement measures and social isolation has taken a toll on couples. Cooped-up Hongkongers have been flooding hotlines with calls seeking help with conflicts at…

Case centered on claims that the government shorted Native Americans on contract costs to manage federal services

ISLAMABAD: Textile Industry has submitted with the government its budgetary proposal for budget 2020-21 asking for abolishing turnover tax, reduction of corporate tax to 25 percent and withdrawal of...

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ISLAMABAD: Textile Industry has submitted with the government its budgetary proposal for budget 2020-21 asking for abolishing turnover tax, reduction of corporate tax to 25 percent and withdrawal of...

[[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]]