Titan Company experienced a 15% profit decline in Q2. The company attributes this to losses from a customs duty drop on gold. Despite this, Titan saw strong sales growth in its jewellery and watches segments. The company remains optimistic about the future, particularly the upcoming festive season. Titan is also closely watching the lab-grown diamond market and formulating its strategy.

Thinking about refreshing your podcast branding? Before I discuss the "when," let's consider how your podcast might benefit from a branding refresh.

The post 6 Benefits of a Podcast Branding Refresh first appeared on The Audacity to Podcast.

Well before invention of the computer age, reading each day is a habit that practically that everybody who wanted to learn adopted. There was no constant necessity emphasise the advantages of literature. The following examples will motivate you to pick up a book. Brain stimulation Your cerebral functioning is stimulated if you read day in ... Read more

The post Here are The Benefits of Reading Books first appeared on Storytellers Unplugged.

The gaming world is more broad and diverse today than it has ever been before. Games nowadays can be played on all sorts of devices, online and offline, alone or with large groups of people, on a tabletop or... Tagged as:

As rigorous as the pursuit of education can be, supplementing academic efforts with fun outdoor activities can yield remarkable benefits for serious students. From enhancing physical health to improving cognitive functions, the advantages of engaging in leisure cannot be overstated.... Tagged as:

Video Marketing Video marketing is a widespread choice for businesses now a day’s. With increasing market tactics and gaining popularity, video marketing is an aspect of not just SEO, but a solid way to get your message across to your subscribers. Creating a video marketing plan is a great way to find new customers and […]

The health benefits of hot peppers are well-documented, and their popularity in various forms of cuisine is increasing rapidly. The chemical responsible for both the heat and the health benefits is called capsaicin. Before the invention of refrigeration, adding spicy elements to food was a common practice in warm climates to prevent spoilage. Capsaicin, found ... Read more

The post Extremely Spicy Peppers Health Benefits appeared first on Star Two.

Taylor Swift is known for her glamorous red-carpet looks and sparkling stage outfits. But she's also fashionable in her everyday life.

Are you dreaming of being your own boss someday, or would you like to bring in extra income? Starting an online business is one of the easiest ways to accomplish this. The biggest challenge of starting an online business can be developing your business plan. If you are struggling to come up with that brilliant […]

The UK must focus on how the Chagos decision is implemented to gain its benefits and minimize risks Expert comment jon.wallace 11 October 2024

The UK decision was welcomed by India and the US, and shows a capacity for fresh thinking. But the transfer of sovereignty must be handled carefully.

The UK announced on 3 October that it would cede sovereignty over the Chagos Archipelago to Mauritius.

There are potential strategic and reputation-related upsides for the UK from the decision – but these can only be realized if the deal is implemented in ways that meet the UK’s stated goals.

First, the UK aims to safeguard the utility and security of the joint US–UK base on Diego Garcia. It also intends for the decision to benefit the Chagossians, who were displaced by the British decision in 1965 to separate the Archipelago from Mauritius as part of a deal to grant Mauritian independence.

The decision has already proved deeply controversial in the UK, provoking sustained criticism from former Conservative government ministers and commentary that has branded it naive, dangerous, and a blow to British prestige.

Part of the reason for the welter of criticism may be the apparent suddenness of the announcement. The impression that this was a hasty decision is likely because it came just three months after the Labour government came to office. But this belies the far longer gestation period around the decision.

World opinion

In fact, the previous Conservative UK government decided to begin negotiations over sovereignty of Chagos – following Mauritius bringing the matter to the International Court of Justice. In 2019, the court issued a non-binding opinion in favour of Mauritius.

The same year the UN General Assembly voted 116 in favour to 6 against, and with 56 abstentions, for a resolution ‘welcoming a 25 February 2019 International Court of Justice advisory opinion on the legal consequences of separating the Chagos Archipelago from Mauritius in 1965, demanding that the UK unconditionally withdraw its colonial administration from the area within six months’ to ‘enable Mauritius to complete the decolonization of its territory.’

But returning the islands will not necessarily boost the UK’s international standing. Issues relating to the Archipelago are complex, and it will take work to convince interested international parties that the UK is acting fairly against a colonized and displaced population.

Mauritius has no pre-colonial history of controlling the Chagos islands, which are located some 1,500 miles away from Mauritius across a vast sprawl of the Indian Ocean. It is true that the Chagos Islands were a colonial remnant, but to ensure that UK is seen by global audiences to be acting fairly, the handover of sovereignty must be carefully handled. Perhaps the greatest reputational risk will come from failing to adequately account for the rights of Chagossians.  

The more pertinent historical injustice has been to them. And reporting by the BBC has shown that at least some Chagossians were dismayed by not having been consulted in negotiations between the UK and Mauritius.

The UK government announcement on the deal did state that that ‘the welfare of Chagossians’ will be paramount and that ‘the UK will capitalize a new trust fund, as well as separately provide other support, for the benefit of Chagossians’. But for the Chagossians, there will be a clamour to see this realized in full.

Strategic interests

On the strategic question, the utility of the joint US–UK military base on Diego Garcia has been guaranteed in a 99-year lease. As the UK negotiator Jonathan Powell has explained, this deal was reached in close consultation with US officials and puts the base on legally safe ground for the first time in decades. 

Indeed, Powell has explained that Joe Biden was keen to reach agreement ahead of the US elections so that US military access to Diego Garcia was safeguarded against any possible contrary decision by a possible returning Trump presidency.

There are understandable concerns that, as a result of the decision, China may develop commercial ports in the region and seek to compete with India for economic and strategic relationships. But this is a long-term matter of concern to monitor, regardless of the UK’s decision on Chagos.

Chinese naval influence in the Indian Ocean is currently limited, compared to its assertiveness in the South China Sea, where it is building artificial islands, or in the South Pacific where it is pursuing policing assistance deals like that secured with the Solomon Islands.

And the strategic situations in the Pacific and Indian Oceans are not at all alike. Indeed, the Chagos Islands are far closer to India and its economic influence than they are to any other major economic power. 

The fact that India has welcomed the UK’s decision over Chagos sovereignty is noteworthy, given the UK’s separate attempts to modernize and expand its bilateral relations with New Delhi.

In the long run, it is likely that India will play a leading role in Indian Ocean security, and the UK will want to be well-placed to explore how to play a role as an effectively partner.

The more pertinent immediate concern is the implications for other overseas UK territorial responsibilities. There are legitimate questions to be raised over setting a precedent that could undermine RAF Akrotiri and Dhekelia in Cyprus, which remained sovereign UK bases after Cyprus’s independence in 1960.

Ion mobility separates molecules in the gas-phase based on their physico-chemical properties, providing information about their size as collisional cross-sections. The timsTOF Pro combines trapped ion mobility with a quadrupole, collision cell and a TOF mass analyzer, to probe ions at high speeds with on-the-fly fragmentation. Here, we show that on this platform ion mobility is beneficial for cross-linking MS (XL-MS). Cross-linking reagents covalently link amino acids in proximity, resulting in peptide pairs after proteolytic digestion. These cross-linked peptides are typically present at low abundance in the background of normal peptides, which can partially be resolved by using enrichable cross-linking reagents. Even with a very efficient enrichable cross-linking reagent, like PhoX, the analysis of cross-linked peptides is still hampered by the co-enrichment of peptides connected to a partially hydrolyzed reagent – termed mono-linked peptides. For experiments aiming to uncover protein-protein interactions these are unwanted byproducts. Here, we demonstrate that gas-phase separation by ion mobility enables the separation of mono-linked peptides from cross-linked peptide pairs. A clear partition between these two classes is observed at a CCS of 500 Ų and a monoisotopic mass of 2 kDa, which can be used for targeted precursor selection. A total of 50-70% of the mono-linked peptides are prevented from sequencing, allowing the analysis to focus on sequencing the relevant cross-linked peptide pairs. In applications to both simple proteins and protein mixtures and a complete highly complex lysate this approach provides a substantial increase in detected cross-linked peptides.

Weight-loss surgery in adolescents with severe obesity can lead to long-term health benefits, such as more frequent remission of type 2 diabetes than in adults who undergo the same treatment, a large, NIH-funded study.

President Joe Biden on Monday addressed a Veterans Day crowd at the national cemetery in Virginia where he revealed newly-expanded veteran benefits and urged Americans to "come together" and "keep faith."

Congress is voting on a bill Tuesday that will empower the executive branch to remove the tax-exempt status from any nonprofit it deems to be supporting terrorists.

Students at Bellevue Elementary in Syracuse, N.Y., spend an extra 70 minutes at school each day, and their principal says the extended school day has improved their academic performance.

Wildland firefighters were at Queen’s Park on Wednesday to outline why they feel a new bill that extends protections for cancers, heart injuries and post-traumatic stress disorder linked to their occupation falls short.

Anivesh Sinha is one of the graduate research assistants working with a team of faculty and students from five Commonwealth Campuses, with funding from a University Presidential Public Impact Research Award, to help Pennsylvania nonprofit organizations improve their cybersecurity practices.

An overview of the biggest business developments in SA and beyond.

A federal grant that enhanced services for veteran students at Pennsylvania College of Technology recently ended, but its benefits will endure.

The dollar slid on Monday as investors braced for a potential pivot this week for the global economy as the United States chooses a new leader, and as it likely cuts interest rates again with major implications for bond yields.

Modern classrooms are slowly taking a new approach to imparting wisdom and knowledge to the upcoming generation. Traditional classroom teaching techniques are giving way to a new system of blended learning.

A Penn State psychologist explains why humans like being scared.

A wide-ranging group of community organizations serving Delawareans from all walks of life have been selected to receive year 2022 grants from the Financial Literacy Education Fund (FLEF). “Financial literacy levels the playing field across all communities in our state,” said Delaware State Bank Commissioner Robert Glen. “For this round of grants, our team reviewed […]

Delaware 250 Grants for Museums, Heritage Groups, and Non-Profits Notice of Funding Opportunity   About Delaware 250 The year 2026 will see the United States Semiquincentennial, the commemoration of the 250th anniversary of America’s (and Delaware’s) independence. This anniversary provides an opportunity to reflect on Delaware’s unique history and its contributions over the course of […]

If you are an independent contractor or a self-employed worker in Delaware and want to receive Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA) as detailed in the CARES Act, please review and follow the steps detailed below.   Step 1: Apply for traditional UI benefits. Get started by visiting the website ui.delawareworks.com   Step 2: Receive a denial […]

  For Immediate Release July 20, 2020 Contact: Kenneth Briscoe Director of Communications Kenneth.Briscoe@delaware.gov   (Wilmington, DE) – The Delaware Department of Labor announced today that Delaware has already begun offering the Federal-State Extended Benefits program for those who have exhausted their previous unemployment benefits.   Delaware’s most recent insured unemployment rate (IUR) exceeded the […]

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE- Thursday, July 30, 2020, Wilmington, Delaware. The Delaware Department of Labor releases public notification to inform all Delawareans currently receiving Unemployment Insurance Benefits, that the Federal Pandemic Unemployment Compensation (FPUC) program ended on July 25, 2020.   Due to the rise in unemployment resulting from the COVID-19 global pandemic, Congress authorized a […]

WILMINGTON (Sept. 8, 2020) — The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) approved Delaware’s application to receive Lost Wages Assistance funding from FEMA’s Disaster Relief Fund. On August 8, 2020, President Trump made available up to $44 billion from FEMA’s Disaster Relief Fund to provide financial assistance to Americans who have lost wages due to the […]

  For Immediate Release September 28, 2020 Contact: Kenneth Briscoe Director of Communications Kenneth.Briscoe@delaware.gov   (Wilmington, DE) – Monday, September 28, 2020 The Delaware Department of Labor announced today the extension of unemployment benefits, triggered by Delaware’s high jobless rate. Delaware’s three-month averaged, seasonally adjusted unemployment rate as of August 2020, is 10.6%.   Primarily […]

  FOR RELEASE: December 9, 2020 CONTACT: Kenneth Briscoe Kenneth.Briscoe@delaware.gov   Unemployment Benefits Scheduled to Expire on December 26, 2020 for Many Claimants in Delaware   WILMINGTON, DELAWARE – According to federal program guidelines, all unemployment compensation programs created by the CARES Act are currently scheduled to expire on or before December 26, 2020.   Many […]

WILMINGTON, DE – The Delaware Department of Labor (DOL) will require Unemployment Benefit recipients to look for work and register in Delaware JobLink (https://joblink.delaware.gov) in order to qualify for benefits or to continue to receive UI benefits, effective June 12, 2021. Starting on that date, claimants must register with JobLink, which includes creating or uploading […]

The Delaware Department of Agriculture (DDA) is reminding senior Delawareans who registered to participate in the Senior Farmers Market Nutrition Program to visit local farmers markets and on-farm markets to use their benefits before they expire on October 31.

NEW CASTLE (Jan. 10, 2022) – With Delaware facing the coldest temperatures of the winter Monday and Tuesday nights, Code Purple is being declared across the state by the nonprofit and volunteer organizations that operate the shelters to keep people who are homeless safe during dangerous winter weather. Because of the COVID-19 pandemic and the […]

NEW CASTLE (Jan. 24, 2022) – The Delaware Division of Social Services will issue emergency benefits for January to eligible households as part of the state’s ongoing response to the COVID-19 public health crisis. Benefits will be issued as part of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) and two cash assistance programs – Temporary Assistance […]

The Delaware Division of Social Services will issue emergency benefits for February to eligible households as part of the State’s ongoing response to the COVID-19 public health emergency.

NEW CASTLE (March 23, 2022) – The Delaware Division of Social Services will issue emergency benefits for March to eligible households as part of the State’s ongoing response to the COVID-19 public health emergency. Benefits will be issued as part of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) and two cash assistance programs – Temporary Assistance […]

NEW CASTLE (April 26, 2022) – The Delaware Division of Social Services will issue emergency benefits for April to eligible households as part of the State’s ongoing response to the COVID-19 public health emergency. Benefits will be issued as part of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) and two cash assistance programs – Temporary Assistance […]

NEW CASTLE (May 25, 2022) – The Delaware Division of Social Services will issue emergency benefits for May to eligible households as part of the State’s ongoing response to the COVID-19 public health emergency. Benefits will be issued as part of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) and two cash assistance programs – Temporary Assistance […]

NEW CASTLE (June 28, 2022) – The Delaware Division of Social Services will issue emergency benefits for June to eligible households as part of the State’s ongoing response to the COVID-19 public health emergency. Benefits will be issued as part of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) and two cash assistance programs – Temporary Assistance […]

Benefits will be issued as part of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) and two cash assistance programs – Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) and General Assistance (GA). The SNAP emergency food benefit will be available on recipients’ Electronic Benefit Transfer (EBT) cards Thursday, July 28. Eligible TANF and GA households will receive an emergency cash benefit check on or after Thursday, July 28.

Eligible Families Will Receive Emergency Food Assistance Benefits in 2 Distributions   NEW CASTLE (Aug. 2, 2022) – Eligible Delaware households will receive emergency food assistance benefits under the Pandemic Electronic Benefit Transfer (P-EBT) program to cover the summer period when children are on break and not receiving meals at school. The following children are […]

NEW CASTLE (Aug. 24, 2022) – The Delaware Division of Social Services will issue emergency benefits for August to eligible households as part of the State’s ongoing response to the COVID-19 public health emergency. Benefits will be issued as part of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) and two cash assistance programs – Temporary Assistance […]

NEW CASTLE (Sept. 27, 2022) – The Delaware Division of Social Services will issue emergency benefits for September to eligible households as part of the State’s ongoing response to the COVID-19 public health emergency. Benefits will be issued as part of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) and two cash assistance programs – Temporary Assistance […]

While the hustle and bustle of summer may be over, Fall is the perfect time to get out and visit Delaware farmers’ markets and on-farm markets to access fresh fruits and vegetables. Many of these venues will be open until right before Thanksgiving; however, the Delaware Department of Agriculture (DDA) reminds seniors and WIC participants with Farmers’ Market Nutrition Program vouchers to spend these by October 31.