Switzerland, England, Spain, Denmark, Germany, Netherlands and France extended their 100% starts.

The International Crisis Group congratulates the members of the Tunisian National Dialogue Quartet as this year’s recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize. It is an apt recognition of its achievement in allowing the spirit of inclusion and compromise to triumph over the polarisation and violence that has been all too prevalent in the region, and of the central role civil society can play at moments of crisis.

Los obreros de OM en la Península Arábiga usan sus empleos de forma intencional como una fuente oportunidades para desarrollar relaciones y compartir la verdad con sus compañeros de trabajo en las naciones menos alcanzadas.

Home advantage could be key with 13 of the 15 players in The Scout's squad playing second legs on their own ground.

Apple's new $4,999 Pro Display XDR monitor (and its $1,000 stand) may sound mighty expensive on the surface. It has the potential to upend a whole industry, however—it's made to compete with panels five to ten times the price. We have one in-house, and here are our first impressions.

ViewSonic's Elite XG270QG gaming monitor delivers everything that 1440p gamers could want, and a bunch more. It's a premium panel that, despite the price, still packs tremendous value for serious high-speed play.

The Tennessee department of education is proposing unsually comprehensive legislation that will require all current and new K-3 teachers, and those who train them, to know evidence-based reading instruction.

Source: www.bitsandpieces.us - Friday, May 08, 2020
via

041 - Draws to be held at UEFA headquarters in Nyon on 19 July

053 - UEFA Club Financial Control Body investigatory chamber takes measures

The Culture, Tourism, Europe and External Affairs Committee will on Thursday (5 March) question the Secretary of State for Scotland regarding the Withdrawal Agreement and the future relationship between the European Union and the UK.

The first Leaders’ Virtual Question Time will take place tomorrow, Thursday 9 April, at 12:30, with arrangements set out in a message sent to all MSPs from the Scottish Parliament’s Presiding Officer, Rt Hon Ken Macintosh MSP, today.

The detrimental impact of Covid-19 and the lockdown measures imposed on people across Scotland is to be investigated by MSPs.

Unit trusts make investing possible for everyone.

The pandemic has disrupted internships and student teaching in Pennsylvania’s teacher education programs. Teacher educators in K-4 Professional Development School partnership between Penn State and the State College Area School District have taken an inquiry stance to empower interns to navigate learning to teach during these times.

Synchronous and asynchronous education on Zoom and other platforms are the new normal, and student teachers Kristen Krause, Lexi Principe, Gabriela Marsh and Carley Cassandro have rolled with punches delivered by the COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent K-12 school shutdowns.

Open resources, old textbooks, content controversies: How much do you know about what's happening in the world of curriculum and instruction?

The road to the 16-team 2018/19 U17 EURO finals in the Republic of Ireland has begun with the qualifying round draw made, involving 52 of the hopefuls.

The 32 teams that will take part in March's elite round have been decided.

The 2019/20 qualifying round draw has set the first steps on the road to Estonia.

France's Adil Aouchiche equalled a record shared by Michel Platini with his nine U17 EURO finals goals.

Source: www.youtube.com - Wednesday, May 06, 2020

School superintendents, principals, and school board members found a lot to like in a draft bill to renew the Elementary and Secondary Education Act.

The terminal sections and car parks at Schönefeld Airport will be given new names at the end of March. When Berlin Brandenburg Airport is put into operation at the end of October 2020, Schönefeld Airport will become Terminal 5 (T5) of BER. In order to a...

QuickBooks Online Payroll bets big on machine learning and automation to expand small to midsize business payroll options.

The 2018/19 qualifying round draw has been made in Nyon involving 48 of the record entry of 51, with Liechtenstein making their debut in a women's football competition.

The elite round line-up is complete with best third-placed teams Greece and Bulgaria joining the top two in each group.

Breidablik, Mitrovica, Hibernian, Minsk, ŽFK Spartak, BIIK-Kazygurt, Braga, Anderlecht, Twente and Vllaznia made it through.

See which 28 teams are through to the elite round after the 11 qualifying round groups ended.

Arsenal, Glasgow and Paris have joined Atlético, Barcelona, Bayern, holders Lyon and Wolfsburg in the last eight.

Holders Lyon face Bayern, Atlético take on Barcelona, Arsenal meet Paris and Glasgow play Wolfsburg.

See how the groups are unfolding and how the 15 sides to join England in the finals will be decided.

UEFA's head of women's football Nadine Kessler explains why the 2021/22 switch to a group format is a win-win – for clubs, players and fans.

CNA Staff, Mar 27, 2020 / 11:19 am (CNA).- Four men working in Iraq for the French humanitarian organization SOS Chrétiens d'Orient who went missing in Baghdad in January have been released by their kidnappers, the French president announced Thursday.

Emmanuel Macron announced March 26 that he “welcomes the release of our three nationals Antoine Brochon, Julien Dittmar, Alexandre Goodarzy and Iraqi Tariq Mattoka.”

The men disappeared Jan. 20 after they made a trip to an appointment by car. SOS Chrétiens d'Orient tried to contact them the following day, unsuccessfully.

The missing employees had gone to Baghdad “to renew their visas and the registration of association with the Iraqi authorities and to monitor the association's operations” in the country.

Macron's office said it had made “every effort” to secure their release, and he expressed “gratitude to the Iraqi authorities for their co-operation.”

SOS Chrétiens d'Orient said last week that they had received no ransom demand, and no group had claimed responsibility for the abduction.

The organization works to support Eastern Christians with humanitarian material aid; it has permanent missions in Syria, Iraq, Lebanon, and Egypt.

Christians in Iraq have suffered persecution in recent years, especially during the invasion of the Islamic State.

Prior to the United States invasion of Iraq in 2003, there were about 1.5 million Iraqi Christians. Today, that number is believed to be fewer than 500,000.

Rome Newsroom, Apr 22, 2020 / 12:00 pm (CNA).- For Iraqi Christian and Yazidi communities still recovering from the destruction wreaked by the Islamic State, the coronavirus poses significant risks, NGOs have said in a joint statement. 

“The public health system in Sinjar and the wider Nineveh Governorate was decimated by ISIS during its brutal occupation and genocidal campaign in Iraq, beginning in 2014,” the letter stated.

“An impending humanitarian and security disaster looms large in Iraq. … There is a significant attendant threat to global security if ISIS uses this opportunity to regroup and return, but it does not have to be this way. Iraqi authorities and the United Nations must act now,” it continued.

Twenty-five NGOs working in northern Iraq issued a joint statement April 16 calling on the World Health Organization to undertake an assessment mission in the area, where testing has been limited, and urging Iraqi authorities to prevent the Islamic State from regrouping.

Signed by the Iraqi Christian Relief Council, Free Yezidi Foundation, Genocide Alert, and the Religious Freedom Institute, the statement described how the pandemic is exacerbating existing security, humanitarian, and health risks among displaced and rebuilding Iraqi minority communities. It highlighted, in particular, the global risk of a potential resurgence of the Islamic State.

Security threat

“COVID-19 and the precipitous drop in oil prices have caused the Iraqi economy to collapse, leaving a dangerous security vacuum for ISIS to exploit. Indeed, the resultant political turmoil and social strife recall the very conditions that earlier incarnations of ISIS and its supporters capitalized on during its initial surge almost a decade ago,” it stated.

“According to International Crisis Group, ISIS in its weekly newsletter Al-Naba called on its fighters to attack and weaken its enemies while they are distracted by the pandemic,” it added.

U.S. military officials have expressed concern that the Islamic State could use adverse conditions to its advantage in it recruitment efforts.

“COVID-19 has also hastened the departure of some coalition forces from Iraq, weakening counter-terrorism operations, while some ISIS detainees have recently escaped prison in Syria,” the letter stated.

On March 30, Islamic State fighters imprisoned in northwestern Syria revolted. The rioting prisoners took over one wing of the prison before Kurdish forces intervened.

“There is an urgent need for reform in the civilian security sector, in order to integrate regional militias into a unified Federal Police that upholds the rule of law and protects all citizens, regardless of religion or clan affiliation,” the letter said.

Health infrastructure needs

The economic strain has also hindered Iraqi minorities’ efforts to rebuild their communities, including medical infrastructure needs.

“Many Yazidis (Ezidis/Yezidis) want to return to Sinjar, but security, reconstruction and basic services are still lacking to allow a dignified return. There are currently only two hospitals and just one ventilator to assist the current population of around 160,000 people in the region,” the NGOs’ statement explained.

Iraq’s healthcare system, which has suffered for decades from the effects of sanctions and war, currently faces a critical shortage of doctors and medicine, according to a Reuters investigation. Hospitals in Iraq are already overcrowded and doctors overworked, while the healthcare situation is slightly better in the semi-autonomous Kurdistan Region of Iraq, which has its own health ministry.

There have been at least 1,600 cases of COVID-19 documented in Iraq, which is under pressure to reopen its border with Iran, which has had more than 85,000 confirmed coronavirus cases, according to Johns Hopkins University Coronavirus Resource Center.

Humanitarian workers have also had trouble reaching those in need due to movement restrictions, and have raised concerns about the risk of an outbreak in internally displaced persons (IDP) camps.

Social distancing is very difficult in these high-density IDP camps in Iraq, where 1.8 million people remain displaced due to insecurity and reconstruction needs, according to the UN.

The 25 NGOs called for the government of Iraq and the United Nations to provide testing capacity in the IDP camps in Sinjar, Tel Afar and the Nineveh Plains.

“At present, it is impossible to apprehend the extent of the spread of the virus because no testing for the disease is taking place in the camps, while restrictions of movement impede the work of humanitarian actors who provide basic essentials such as food, water and medicine,” they stated.

Psychological risk for trauma survivors

Genocide survivors with trauma also face increased personal risk of psychological harm amid isolation imposed by coronavirus measures.

As in much of the world, authorities in Iraqi Kurdistan have ordered people to stay home, imposed a curfew, and have closed places of worship, schools, restaurants, and most businesses. 

“Another alarming corollary of the COVID-19 pandemic in Iraq is the psychological impact on at-risk communities, including Yazidis, Turkmen and Christians, such as Assyrians,” it said.

This is a particular concern for the Yazidi communities in which thousands of women were victims of sexual violence by the Islamic State.

“Prior to the outbreak, Médecins Sans Frontières reported on a debilitating mental health crisis among Yazidis in Iraq, including a rising number of suicides,” it stated.

Suicides in this community have already been reported since social distancing measures were put into place, the NGOs reported. They called on the World Health Organization to address this “acute mental health crisis.”

In their appeal to the WHO and Iraqi government, the NGOs insisted that the stakes were high: 

“COVID-19 is a pandemic the likes of which we have not seen before. Survivors of genocide and other mass atrocity crimes are now waiting for this silent death to pass through the camps and their homes, unable to fight back.”

Google's quantum computer performed a computation in 200 seconds that would have taken the world's fastest supercomputer 10,000 years to calculate. But IBM is dismissing Google's claim that it achieved quantum supremacy.

Real Madrid, Chelsea, Liverpool, Atlético Madrid, Tottenham and Porto won their round of 16 ties on Wednesday to join Barcelona and Manchester City in the quarter-finals.

Holders Barcelona, fellow two-time winners Chelsea, Porto and debutants Hoffenheim won their quarter-finals to reach Nyon.

To view more press releases, please visit http://ir.wintrust.com/news.aspx?iid=1024452.

To view more press releases, please visit http://ir.wintrust.com/news.aspx?iid=1024452.

To view more press releases, please visit http://ir.wintrust.com/news.aspx?iid=1024452.

To view more press releases, please visit http://ir.wintrust.com/news.aspx?iid=1024452.

To view more press releases, please visit http://ir.wintrust.com/news.aspx?iid=1024452.

To view more press releases, please visit http://ir.wintrust.com/news.aspx?iid=1024452.

Young people in Bangladesh learn to combine sport with their love for God, and one programme participant explains his enthusiasm for the experience.

Despite having a degree, a young woman in Bangladesh finds it impossible to get a job until she completes an OM computer course.

One man's curiosity draws him to discover why the OM team members lead a different lifestyle.

There will be two all-European quarter-finals at the FIFA Futsal World Cup with Spain meeting Russia, and Portugal up against Italy following the conclusion of the round of 16 in Thailand.

Spain will travel to the Netherlands as they begin their bid to win a third title while debutants Denmark and Wales will meet after the preliminary and main round draws were made.