Shahabuddin moves to Tihar amid tight security
Former Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) MP and bahubali (strongman) Mohd. Shahabuddin began his journey to Delhi’s Tihar Jail from Siwan Jail in Bihar on Saturday. The move follows a February 15 Supreme Court directive to the State government that the MP be shifted following complaints from families of his victims of the “nerve-wrecking terror” he wields in Siwan.Shahabuddin was moved by district authorities from Siwan jail at 2:40 a.m. and brought by road to Patna’s Beur Central jail in a six hour journey. A cavalcade of his supporters followed him to the State capital. At Beur jail, sources told The Hindu, that independent MLA and another bahubali [strongman] from Mokama, Anant Singh, met Shahabuddin; several hardened criminals lodged in the prison also allegedly jostled to meet Shahabuddin in the ward, said sources. Shahabuddin’s transit was kept completely under wraps with media speculation on how he would be conveyed to Delhi alternating between a journey by the Rajdhani Express or an evening flight.At around 3 p.m. the MP was taken out of Beur jail in a blue prisoner’s van amid tight security. Scores of media persons and supporters followed the van which however, did not stop at Patna junction as expected but moved further to the Rajendra Nagar Terminal. The entire move was telecast live on local channels. A large number of security personnel, led by a senior STF officer, cordoned off the prisoner’s van. As the supporters and media waited, Shahabuddin remained in the van. At around 5 p.m. when the Delhi-bound Rajendra Nagar-New Delhi Sampoorna Kranti Express reached at the platform, gun-totting security personnel escorted the high profile prisoner, clad in jeans and a jacket with a black and white muffler, to the train. While photographers and television crew jostled for the best view, Shahabuddin, in a ring of policemen, crossed the foot over-bridge and was taken to coach S-2. The security personnel then shut both the doors to the coach. A senior police official told The Hindu that about 16 policemen would be travelling with Shahabuddin. While reserved passenger of coach S-2 were forced to move to other coaches. the MP’s suporters boarded the train without tickets. “We’re travelling without ticket but ready to pay fine…we’ll see off our leader upto Tihar jail,” one of them said.
The police in western Assam’s Dhubri town have detained two special verification officers assigned the job of updating the National Register of Citizens (NRC) for demanding ‘service charge’ from people summoned to submit documents establishing their citizenship.The detention on Sunday evening follows reports of people offering bribes, submitting forged documents or borrowing legacy data of genuine citizens to be included in the second NRC draft that the Supreme Court wants updated by May.First draftThe first draft, recognising 1.9 crore of the 3.29 applicants who can prove they have been living in Assam before March 24, 1971, was published at the stroke of midnight on December 31.“Special verification officer Fardous Zaman, sectional assistant in PWD Roads, and his deputy Swapan Dutta, a gram panchayat secretary, were detained after a complaint that they had demanded ₹300 to get the documentation of a couple from Tamarhat done on April 19,” said Longnit Terang, Dhubri Superintendent of Police.The duo had allegedly demanded ₹100 from the couple but later increased it to ₹300. The resultant delay forced the couple to stay at the house of a relative who works at the Dhubri Deputy Commissioner’s office. His complaint to the district’s administrative head led to Zaman and Dutta’s detention.“Though the duo are accused of seeking gratification money in NSK2 (NRC Seva Kendra number 2, at the office of inspector of schools, Dhubri), the case is not of manipulation of documents,” Mr. Terang said.Officials handling the NRC exercise did not rule out the possibility of similar cases across the 1,093 verification centres in Assam.Last week, the police in Darrang district’s Sipajhar arrested two people of suspected nationality – San Khan and Nayan Khan – for offering to bribe ₹20,000 to the NRC officials for including their names in the second draft.Officials said at least half a dozen such cases have been reported from central Assam’s Nagaon and Morigaon districts with some offering up to ₹2 lakh to get their names included in the NRC.By the first week of April, the NRC authorities identified more than 4,000 people who submitted forged papers despite having been declared foreigners by 100 Foreigners’ Tribunals across the State. Apart from government employees, the probe revealed several village heads were issuing fake domicile certificates.One such village head, Moijan Ali of Soulmari village in Biswanath district, had been charging ₹500 for each fake document.The NRC authorities received a setback earlier this month when Ali Ahmed, who was declared a foreigner in 2011, filed a review petition in the Gauhati High Court saying he cannot be an illegal immigrant as his name figured in the first draft of the updated NRC. The NRC authorities blamed it on faulty data collection by the State’s border police.Borrowed legacy dataOfficials said there have been several cases of people using legacy data of others to establish their family trees. In Nagaon district, for instance, a person named Fakaruddin, son of Umed Ali, tried to pass off as Suresh Das by using one Robi Das’s legacy data. Verification officials caught Fakaruddin’s bluff when Robi Das – both were called to the NSK concerned – could not recognise him.In another case reported from Barpeta district, one Abdul Salam was caught trying to pass his second wife Kadbanu as his first wife Kanchan Nessa, who died a few years ago. The second wife could not submit papers to establish her citizenship, officials said.Meanwhile, 85 companies of Central armed forces have been deployed in Assam apprehending trouble in certain parts during the process. More than half of these companies were provided before the publication of the first draft on December 31.
Balali (Haryana), Nov 20 (PTI) Aamir Khan, who essays the role of Geeta Phogats father Mahavir Singh in upcoming “Dangal”, visited the wrestlers house here and wished her a happy married life.The face of womens wrestling in India, Geeta is all set to marry fellow wrestler Pawan Kumar tonight in a ceremony in Dadri.Aamir looked his part as the “ladkiwala” in his white kurta pajama, black bundi and red safa. He was accompanied by actress Sakshi Tanwar, director Nitesh Tiwari and Sanya Malhotra as he handed out gifts to the bride-to-be.Aamir said he wanted to gift Geeta the wedding ensemble but was told that according to rituals it is supposed to come from her maternal uncles side.”Yes, I was supposed to give it to her but I was told that it comes from her mamas side. But I have just given her a small token of love from the team of Dangal. Hope she likes them. But the greatest gift to them is the film itself.”It is a very joyous occasion for us. It is her wedding day. Our heartiest congratulations to her. We pray that the couple have a happy married life,” Aamir said.Geeta, who won Indias first ever gold in womens wrestling (in the 55 kg freestyle category) at the 2010 Commonwealth Games in Delhi, said, “I cant believe that he came. It is my biggest gift.”The Phogat residence was crammed with around 500 guests who came to wish Geeta as well as catch a glimpse of Aamir, who was welcomed with a resounding applause.advertisementSome even complained to the star, saying they are disappointed that the film, which is a story of Haryana, was shot in Punjab.”We shot in Punjab because of technical and creative requirements. But when you watch the film you will see that there is no difference, “Aamir said.Talking about the wrestling drama, Aamir said, “Mahavirs story is an inspiration to all. Thats why Nitesh wrote this story. Wrestling is the oldest sport. I watch wrestling on TV and I wish I could also join them in the fights.”While Nitesh added, “I wrote the story after Gretas win at CWG.”Aamir signed off with a dialogue from the film, “Mari choriya choro se kam hain Kay? (My daughters are no less than sons”)Sanya Malhotra and Fatima Sana Shaikh are playing Aamirs on-screen daughters in “Dangal” while Sakshi plays his wife. The film releases on December 23. Aamir will be next seen in “Thugs of Hindustan” in which he co-stars with Amitabh Bachchan. PTI JCH BK
A SIOUX CITY COUPLE IS IN CUSTODY FACING CHARGES OF ALLEGEDLY MISTREATING THEIR DOGS, WHICH WERE FOUND LIVING IN FILTH IN A CONFINED SPACE.32-YEAR-OLD BLAKE DANDURAND AND 31-YEAR-OLD JAMIE DANDURAND ARE EACH CHARGED WITH EIGHT COUNTS OF ANIMAL ABUSE.COURT DOCUMENTS STATE THAT THE EIGHT DOGS WERE FOUND ON APRIL 11TH LIVING IN A FOUR FOOT BY FOUR FOOT PEN IN THE MUD FLOOR CELLAR OF A HOME LOCATED AT 1412 VIRGINIA STREET.THE DOGS WERE LIVING IN FILTHY CONDITIONS AND THEIR MATTED FUR WAS COVERED WITH FECES AND MUD.THE DOGS HAD NO ROOM TO MOVE AND AN ANIMAL CONTROL OFFICER DESCRIBED THE SMELL IN THE CELLAR AS HORRIFIC.THE DEFENDANT ADMITTED THAT THE DOGS WERE LET OUTSIDE ONLY 8-10 TIMES A YEAR.ANIMAL RESCUE WORKERS HAD TO SHAVE THE DOGS BECAUSE THE FILTH CAKED ONTO THEIR FUR COULD NOT BE REMOVED.ANIMAL CONTROL SAYS THAT THE DOGS WERE TREATED AND IN THE LAST MONTH HAVE ALL BEEN ADOPTED OUT TO GOOD HOMES.THE DANDURAND’S ARE BEING HELD IN THE WOODBURY COUNTY JAIL ON $10-THOUSAND DOLLARS BOND EACH.
Sevilla reveal ambitious plans for its Sports Cityby Ian Ferrisa month agoSend to a friendShare the loveSevilla have announced plans to turn its Ciudad Deportiva José Ramón Cisneros Palacios sports city into a new corporate hub, reports, www.sportspromedia.com/.The complex upgrades, which are costing the club €20 million (US$22 million), will take between three and four years to complete and will span 260,000 square metres. 60,000 metres will be allocated for use by the first team, which will include training pitches, a gym, medical centre, dining area and accommodation with forty rooms.The development will have eight football fields, split between three artificial grass surfaces and five natural grass ones. The Jesús Navas stadium, home to Sevilla’s reserve and women’s teams, will apparently have its capacity extended.The stadium will also be renovated to including corporate offices, capable of holding up to 400 employees. Further offices will be built under another of the stadium’s stands.A new soccer pavilion will be constructed, plus a gym and swimming pool for players not in the first team, making up 3,500 square metres of the site. In addition, 3,000 square metres have been allocated for a series of auxiliary buildings, such as a press room, cafeteria and meeting spaces.With work on the project possibly not due for completion until summer 2023, Palco23 reports that Sevilla has opted for construction to be carried out in phases, lessening the impact on the club’s players and staff who train and work there.As well as investing in the new corporate hub, the club have already revealed that they are looking to expand the Ramón Sánchez Pizjuán stadium by adding a third ring to their 43,000-seater home. TagsSpanish Football NewsAbout the authorIan FerrisShare the loveHave your say
New Delhi: Slain liquor baron Ponty Chadha’s son Manpreet Singh Chadha was granted bail on Monday in an alleged real estate fraud case. Additional Session Judge Gulshan Kumar granted relief to Manpreet, apprehended at Delhi airport when he was leaving for Phuket on Wednesday night, on a personal bond of Rs 50,000 and two sureties of the same amount. The court, however, put various conditions on the accused, including that he won’t be able to leave the country without prior permission. It also asked the Economic Offences Wing (EOW) of Delhi Police why no investigation was done between January 2018 and June 2019 into the claims of other investors.
Mandy Leacock treated the woman like a slave, ordering her to cook and clean as an “unpaid skivvy”, punishing her by dousing her with bleach as she sat in a bath.Jurors heard she was also repeatedly punched and kicked by the pair, and swung around by her hair until it came out in chunks.The court was told on two occasions Leacock, 34, forced her to perform oral sex on him at his London flat.The woman, who cannot be named for legal reasons, told police she moved in with Leacock because she “felt lonely and wanted to be loved again” after a previous abusive relationship.Prosecuting, David Povall said: “She was living in a state of fear, oppression, being bullied and controlled.”Leacock, of Paddington, is on trial at Southwark Crown Court accused of two counts of rape and two of assault causing actual bodily harm. She was living in a state of fear, oppression, being bullied and controlled.David Povall, prosecuting A lonely woman who went looking for “love and romance” on the internet was raped and assaulted by a man she met on a dating site, a court heard.The woman moved in with Colin Leacock in 2015 shortly after they met on Match.com.But his domineering sister forced her to live with her instead, to prove she was good enough for her brother. Should dating websites be doing more to protect women?Bumble: Meet the woman revolutionising online dating Jurors were told Mandy Leacock was not on trial but had previously pleaded guilty to assault causing actual bodily harm, including pulling the woman’s hair and using bleach on her. Show more Want the best of The Telegraph direct to your email and WhatsApp? Sign up to our free twice-daily Front Page newsletter and new audio briefings.
The Labour Party is responsible for the rise of “softcore Holocaust denial”, Dr Deborah Lipstadt has said.The American academic won a high-profile legal battle against the British historian David Irving in 2000 after he sued her for libel when she declared him a Holocaust denier. She said that anti-Semitism that has become “embedded” in the Labour Party under Jeremy Corbyn’s leadership, adding that it has become more socially acceptable to “make a crack” at a dinner party about Jews. As a result of her high-profile legal battle against Irving, she said: “The kind of Holocaust denial that I fought in the courtroom – what I call hardcore Holocaust denial – has been seriously weakened. And people who engage in it are seen as at best loony, at worst hateful anti-Semites, falsifiers of truth and so on.“But what we see today more of is softcore Holocaust denial. Softcore Holocaust denial is where everything becomes a genocide. Softcore Holocaust denial is where people say ‘I’m so tired of hearing about this, why am I always hearing about the Holocaust, too much about the Holocaust, oh you Jews and the Holocaust, jokes about the Holocaust…’” 
Dr Lipstadt went on to say how Mr Corbyn is at best “blind to overt manifestations of anti-Semitism”, citing his questioning of a London council’s decision to destroy an anti-Semitic mural which depicted a group of Jewish bankers counting money. Mr Corbyn later apologised for his comments. “To talk about a genocide, or to talk about the Nazi-like tactics of the Israeli army is ludicrous,” she said. “Every army makes mistakes, every army does things wrong. There are things the Israeli army does wrong, but to compare it to Nazis is softcore denial.”Dr Lipstadt, who is the Dorot Professor of Holocaust Studies at Emory University in Atlanta, said she believes anti-Semitism and “softcore Holocaust denial” are both on the rise in the UK, in part due to the Labour Party. Dr Lipstadt said that Mr Corbyn is at best “blind to overt manifestations of anti-Semitism” Speaking at the Holocaust Educational Trust’s annual conference in Westminster, London, she described how “softcore Holocaust denial” can also crop up in connection with Israel, where people go beyond criticism of policies and strategy and begin to draw comparisons with Nazi Germany. The Daily Telegraph’s coverage of the Irving v Penguin Books Ltd High Court case in 2000 Want the best of The Telegraph direct to your email and WhatsApp? Sign up to our free twice-daily Front Page newsletter and new audio briefings. “You have a former mayor here in London [Ken Livingstone] who would talk about the cooperation between the Zionists and the Nazis,” she said.“He took one little historical fact and blew it up into something that never existed, completely twisted the truth. Irrespective of how you feel about him politically – its historically rubbish. “But it’s more than that – it’s a form of anti- Semitism. That’s the kind of softcore denial I worry about much more. It’s subtly anti-Semitic and its clearly denial because it rewrites history.”Mr Livingstone was suspended from Labour in 2016 for claiming Adolf Hitler supported Zionism in the Thirties. He resigned from the Labour Party in May, but insisted he was in no way guilty of anti-Semitism. Rachel Weisz as Deborah Lipstadt in the film Denial She said that while anti-Semitism has always existed on the right of politics as well, she said: “It has become more acceptable to have those kind of attitudes, its become more embedded in the Labour Party.”A Labour Party spokesperson said: “Jeremy Corbyn has been absolutely clear that he is a militant opponent of anti-Semitism and is committed to driving it out of politics and our society. Labour has deep roots in the Jewish community and is campaigning to increase support and confidence in our Party among Jewish people in the UK.“Any complaints of anti-Semitism, including Holocaust denial, are taken extremely seriously and are fully investigated, and appropriate disciplinary action, in line with Party rules and procedures. “Labour’s new General Secretary Jennie Formby has made it her first priority to speed up and strengthen our procedures and to develop a programme of political education to create deeper awareness and understanding about all forms of antisemitism.”
Epiroc has teamed up with Lazarus & Lazarus to expand its reach into the Honduras mining and construction market.Lazarus & Lazarus will become a distributor of the Sweden-based OEM’s products, Epiroc said.The tie-up is part of a wider plan to expand the service network offering of Epiroc’s CVCA subsidiary, according to Bjorn Tisell, Regional Manager of Epiroc CVCA. Epiroc CVCA serves the Colombia, Venezuela, Central America and Caribbean markets. It is headquartered in Bogotá, Colombia, and has offices, service workshops and warehouses in Medellin and Panama City.Tisell said Honduras has potential in the mining and construction markets that needs to be developed with environmentally-friendly and safe technologies for personnel working in the drilling and excavation processes.One of the more prominent mines in Honduras is the El Mochito mine, in the Department of Santa Barbara. The underground zinc-lead-silver asset has been in almost constant operation since 1948 and was recently re-started by Ascendant Resources. It is expected to produce 85 MIb-95 MIb of zinc-equivalent this year.
Sandvik Mining and Rock Technology has introduced an operator training simulator to provide a compact and flexible solution to safely train operators and maintenance teams on its DD422i, DD422iE and DT922i drill rigs. This latest development provides a low weight safe training tool that is highly portable, enabling it to be used where it is most needed – on site. The new Sandvik Operator Training Simulator has been designed specifically to improve both operator and drilling performance, delivering real benefits for underground drilling applications.The latest development from Sandvik is a fully mobile system which weighs less than 50kg, enabling training to be undertaken anywhere. The simulator delivers ‘real life’ training in a simulated working environment, with drill rig operators and maintenance teams learning about rig capabilities before progressing to the actual equipment. The simulator acts like a real rig, operated with authentic controls and combined with the same control system software as that installed on the drills themselves.The simulator comes with purpose-developed software that includes a range of specific exercises for recording and measuring operator behaviour. The trainer can initiate machine faults, incidents or hazards to train and assess operators, thereby ensuring they are able to respond correctly to any scenario with maximum efficiency. Additionally, training sessions can be conducted for multiple participants in a safe environment, preventing risk of injury or material damage. Furthermore, it facilitates regular operator retraining and the implementation of an operator assessment process without impacting on site productivity.Thanks to its compact size and its wheeled carrying case, the simulator can easily be carried by a single person to wherever it is needed. With a very short set-up time, operator training can begin even before the rig has been delivered and commissioned. This provides increased levels of operational efficiency, with no learning curve required prior to using the rig on site. The simulator has been designed to enable tailor-made training sessions to suit trainee experience levels, using a range of exercises and simulated conditions in a variety of applications and situations. A report evaluates and measures trainee performance, ensuring that the training is of direct benefit to operators.The simulator safely develops and refreshes operators’ skills within a protected environment and significantly reduces the drill start up period. It has been designed to ensure that rig operators are fully familiar with the features and the capabilities of the Sandvik rig from day one. The shorter transition to using the real equipment results in quicker familiarization, improving efficiency and productivity. Additionally, there is no risk of equipment damage, zero consumption of rock tools and fuel, zero emissions and no exposure of the trainees to risk in familiarizing them with a new drill rig.Ensuring that operators can use the drill rig to its full potential safely and productively as quickly as possible is what the simulator is about, with the training simulator performing all boom and feed movements, as well as the entire drilling cycle. It is fully compatible with Sandvik iSURE™ software – Sandvik’s tunnel management tool for accurate drilling, charging and blasting plans.Thanks to the training course management tool, the trainer can customise training and use multiple pre-planned training scenarios. This ensures 100% peace of mind, with training routines and exercises repeated until the appropriate level of knowledge is reached.The use of the simulator is estimated to produce a 5% increase in annual productivity in rig availability alone. In addition, training costs are reduced by up to 35%, with training sessions being easily and safely conducted on site with multiple operators.
In case you were wondering why everyone is talking about a DC comic book villain that wasn’t one of the people appearing in Suicide Squad, it was because Ben Affleck – not Zack Snyder, not Warner Bros, but the Batfleck himself – tweeted out a short video of a monitor showing Deathstroke.https://t.co/0NsNzCtGip— Ben Affleck (@BenAffleck) August 29, 2016Which is confusing for a couple of reasons. First, Ben Affleck is shooting Justice League right now in London. Second, Ben Affleck tweeted this so it’s obviously a well-calculated piece of marketing. Three, it was immediately followed up by a report from The Wrap saying that Deathstroke was going to be the primary antagonist in Ben Affleck’s Batman film: a movie that does not have a release date or title.Everything we’ve been told about Justice League so far indicates that the heroes of Batman V. Superman: Dawn of Justice will meet The Flash, Cyborg, and Aquaman to battle Steppinwolf, an alien warrior who has come to Earth to reclaim some MacGuffin objects called Motherboxes. That doesn’t have any room for a character like Slade Wilson, a former soldier in the U.S. Army, he was enhanced through an experimental super-soldier program, uses 90% of his brain and was originally a villain for the Teen Titans.Then again, there have been rumblings around some parts that Justice League might have a few more villains than Steppenwolf up its sleeve, I just don’t think anyone was expecting Deathstroke to be part of that equation.The Wrap’s assertion that Deathstroke will be the villain in the Ben Affleck written Batman movie seems to leave out that nothing about the Batman movie is anywhere close to being filmed. Right now Ben Affleck is with the rest of the Justice League cast in the process of making Justice League. Is it possible that he is doing screen tests for his solo Batman movie before there’s even a public release date?It’s much more likely that this iteration of Deathstroke is going to debut in Justice League in some way and that’s what we’re seeing. It might be a post credits scene or it might be a cameo like Ezra Miller’s The Flash in Suicide Squad this month, which was also shot on the Justice League set.The character previously appeared on The CW’s Arrow as the major antagonist in season two, but when asked about if that character would return, Executive Producer Marc Guggenheim said “The character of Slade Wilson is currently tied up in another DC project.” That was last February, before the release of Batman V. Superman: Dawn of Justice.Since Dawn of Justice opened, the rumor about the Batman movie was that it was going to feature many Batman villains in what could be an Arkham Asylum like scenario. This new report from the Wrap that says Deadshot is going to be the “main antagonist” is puzzling because…well, you’d assume The Joker would be the head honcho in a multiple villain extravaganza.Although the tweet did come from Ben Affleck, I’m going to wait until we’re hearing Batman movie news from more than one unnamed source. But for sure Deathstroke is joining the DC Cinematic Universe and there’s someone in that costume on the Justice League set.Right now, rumor-money is on Joe Manganiello (Magic Mike XXL, True Blood) who had apparently auditioned for “Deathstroke” in Suicide Squad. Eventually when we learned that Deathstroke wasn’t in the movie, everyone discounted the Deathstroke rumors. Now, Manganiello’s social media presence does suggest he is currently in London, so maybe the gossip mill actually got one right over two years in advance this time.
Hello. My name is Stephanie, and I am a smartphone addict.My handset is more than just a means to communicate: It is a boredom buster, an escape route, a friendly face.I reach for it while watching TV, working at my desk, waiting for tea to brew; there are always games to play, social media feeds to skim, and news articles to weep over.My habits, however, can’t be curbed by a “Substitute Phone.”From Vienna-based designer Klemens Schillinger, the phone clone replicates movements we make “hundreds of times on a daily basis”—but without lights, colors, pixels, or sensors.You might as well fondle some dominos (via Leonhard Hilzensauer)By replacing digital functions with stone beads, the Substitute Phone provides physical stimulation when the real thing is unavailable. (Which seems like the drastic measures of an intervention, not the average adult’s reaction to too much screen time.)Sets of marbled pellets are built into a sleek rectangle in various patterns: two horizontal rows in the center (scroll across), one long vertical line (scroll up and down); one horizontal row at the bottom (unlock/answer call); one long slanted line (zoom); one short slanted line (scroll side-to-edge).The object, according to Schillinger’s website, is to reduce users’ routine to “nothing but the motions.”“This calming limitation offers help for smartphone addicts to cope with withdrawal symptoms,” the site said, offering the toy as a “therapeutic approach.”Even if you practice great restraint (congratulations!), you’re bound to know someone who is always looking at their handset—often for no particular reason other than out of habit.Substitute Phone as a therapeutic approach (via Leonhard Hilzensauer)“More and more often one feels the urge to check their phone, even if you are not expecting a specific message or call,” Schillinger told Dezeen. “These observations inspired the idea of making a tool that would help stop this ‘checking’ behavior.”But I’m not convinced the Substitute Phone will solve the problem. That’s what fidget spinners are for. People who are constantly using their mobile device are accessing what’s behind the screen—the messages, the photos, the apps—not the screen itself.Schillinger’s project was inspired, he told Dezeen, by writer and philosopher Umberto Eco, who tried giving up smoking by exchanging his pipe for a wooden stick.“It was the same thing, but without the nicotine, just the physical stimulation,” he said. “I remembered this and thought to make phones that would provide the physical stimulation but not the connectivity.”The simulated smartphone is not yet available to the public; Schillinger’s online shop is “coming soon.” Stay on target Sir Jony Ive Leaves Apple to Start His Own Design FirmEnter BBC’s ‘Doctor Who’ Fan Art Competition 
If you know someone who has dedicated their life to promoting the soybean industry or membership, you can nominate them for an ASA award. ASA is currently accepting nominations for the Special Meritorious Award, Lifetime Achievement Award (Membership focus) and the Lifetime Achievement Award (Association focus). To nominate a someone, apply online.All nominations, including letters of recommendation, must be submitted online or in writing to to Byron Keelin at bkeelin@soy.org no later than Friday, Nov. 21, 2014. The nominations will be reviewed by the ASA Membership and Corporate Relations Committee. The awards will be presented at the ASA Awards Banquet on Friday, Feb. 27, 2015 during Commodity Classic in Phoenix, Ariz. Feb. 26 –28, 2015.
Offering a good-quality pension scheme that goes beyond the legal minimums can be an effective tool to recruit, retain and engage employees.What is the value to employers of offering a good-quality pension scheme?There is a very strong and increasing focus on pensions. With the move away from defined benefit schemes, a lot of employees have become aware of the quality of what they are losing and the quality of what is replacing it in a defined contribution scheme.The other side to that is auto-enrolment. Overall awareness of pensions is increasing. So the value to the employer is people realising, first of all, they have had a pension scheme for longer than most people or that they have a good pension scheme compared to most people. Employees valuing it in the same way as they value their salary could be really powerful.What does a good pension scheme look like?Awareness is going to increase, ultimately, of what a basic pension looks like. People will start to become aware of that because everyone will be in a pension and everyone will be auto-enrolled each time they move jobs.If people become aware of what the bare minimum is, then anything above 8% contributions before any government makes it mandatory will look better than the average. Employers will start to be able to say: ‘here’s what we pay in salary but we’ve actually got a better than average pension scheme’. They can comfortably say that if most organisations are offering the bare minimum.How can employers measure the value they are getting from their scheme?This is the million-dollar question. It remains very difficult. One way to think of it is that if people value it alongside income in their benefits package, then think about how people value income. Employers pay a salary which has to be at least commensurate with market rates if they want to attract people. If they pay more than market rates they might attract good people. If they have a good meritocracy where they reward people based on their performance, they are more likely to keep people. It is the same with pensions. If pensions start to become valued to the same depth as income, employers can probably measure it alongside the return they get on things like paying salaries. We are not there yet, but we could be over the next three to five years.It is getting much easier to do pensions benchmarking. First of all, ask how good it is, what people think of it and how much they value pensions over salary. It will be easier for organisations with older workforces to measure it because people aged 50 plus are more likely to be focused on what they are getting back from pensions, particularly when they have got access at 55. So employers with an ageing workforce will probably find it easier to ask people and get a favourable response on the importance of the pension.What key compliance issues do employers need to take account of? The compliance issue, for larger firms, is more likely to be around ensuring the scheme remains up to date. How do they manage people who want to start withdrawing money and exercising their retirement freedoms? Is there a route to doing that which does not leave the organisation liable in any way?There is the ongoing theme of contributions and re-enrolment, the triennial reviews coming up over the course of this year for the big employers that staged first in 2013. Getting that wrong could result in compliance notices or even fines. These are quite significant for larger organisation, especially as they rack up on a daily basis once a breach has been identified. Most big employers are very used now to paying contributions and getting that done accurately and on time every month but re-enrolment will be the first big test of how well embedded auto-enrolment is.Similar to auto-enrolment the first time round, data and employee records need to be up to date. It is a bit more complex when employers have got to take into account people who have opted out, when they opted out and their current eligibility, so do not leave it too late.It will not be as much work because employers have got the scheme in place, but they should carry out the same checks.How can employers overcome a compliance breach? The key thing is to tell The Pensions Regulator, the provider and adviser immediately that they have spotted the problem and try to rectify it. The longer the breach goes unrectified, the more likely the regulator is to take action and the more difficult it is to correct.Usually, mistakes compound over time so the quicker they are rectified and the quicker employers engage the provider and the regulator, the better the outcome.Jamie Jenkins is head of pensions strategy at Standard Life
Former state senator and gubernatorial candidate Mike Dunleavy talks to the audience during a Juneau Chamber of Commerce forum on Thursday, September 6, 2018, in Juneau, Alaska. (Photo by Rashah McChesney/Alaska’s Energy Desk)As Gov.-elect Mike Dunleavy prepares to take office on Dec. 3, there are still a lot of unknowns about how he’ll approach his campaign priorities — a big one being education. What a Dunleavy administration might do on the issue of public education is a big question looming over rural schools across the state.On Tuesday, the governor-elect’s transition team responded to a request for comment on rural school funding with a “no comment” for the time being. Dunleavy and his transition staff are “busy at the moment,” slowly unveiling the incoming administration’s priorities and Cabinet appointees. A member of the Dunleavy transition team, Sarah Erkmann Ward, said in an email to KYUK that, “Education is one of the governor-elect’s passions, and all Alaskans will hear more about his ideas for improving outcomes soon.” For now, KYUK’s questions don’t have answers.A former rural educator, Dunleavy hasn’t been specific about what steps he’d take or the changes he’d like to see for state-funded schools. As reported by KTOO and Alaska Public Media reporter Andrew Kitchenman, during Dunleavy’s time in the state Senate he supported cutting state funding to prekindergarten education, supported a proposed constitutional amendment allowing state money to go to private education, and has campaigned on wanting rural areas to have access to regional schools in hub communities while somehow not taking away from village schools.“Public school choice first is important, meaning we have a situation in Alaska right now that we have public monies going to private education as part of the vendor process for public home schools. We have private individuals that get paid through the allotment process to help educate kids in our public schools. We already have this process going on,” said Dunleavy, in response to whether he’d support school vouchers from the Oct. 25 debate with Democrat Mark Begich. He’s on record supporting what he calls “public and private partnerships.”According to unofficial election results, rural Alaska and most of the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta voted Democratic on Election Day, with 67 percent of the vote in Bethel going to Begich.The Lower Kuskokwim School District is the largest school district in the Y-K Delta and its budget, like all Regional Educational Attendance Area, or REAA, schools, relies wholly on state funding. The Legislature forward-funded education for the next two years, with a boost of $20 million for fiscal year 2019, and $30 million for fiscal year 2020, which LKSD says has helped keep up with staffing and fuel costs. But come 2021, it will be a big concern for the district if the Legislature does not take action to avoid another flat funding year. When funding has remained static in the past, the district has had to cut funds for staff positions and increase the student-to-teacher ratio.Last month, when outgoing state Education Commissioner Dr. Michael Johnson visited the LKSD board, he made it clear that he likes the direction their district is currently taking.“I also very much like your mission statement and how you tie culture to the work that’s happening in your schools, and that’s something I think every school board in the state wants to happen,” said Johnson.Johnson pointed to the use of Yup’ik language in the classroom and a strategic thinking model that the district is using. The state Board of Education prioritizes every student being proficient in reading by the end of third grade. For the Walker administration, that has meant proficiency not just in the English language.“Because we know that students who are proficient at the end of third grade in reading, whatever language that is, outperform students that only learn English by the end of sixth grade on the standardized tests,” Johnson said. “So it’s a wonderful thing you’re doing. It’s a wonderful thing you’re offering to our state.”Johnson hoped that the LKSD model will spread to other districts. As for the next administration, their stance on the issue has yet to be determined. Gov.-elect Mike Dunleavy will take office on Dec. 3.
Medchal: District Collector M V Reddy on Wednesday directed the municipal commissioners to be ready for the ensuing civic elections to be held shortly.Addressing a video conference from the collectorate with municipal commissioners, MPDOs. EOPRDs, panchayat secretaries on municipal elections and ‘Haritha Haram’ programme, Reddy sought details of the municipality-wise details by July 5 of claims, acceptance of objections, draft notification, final publication, identification of polling stations. Also Read – Secunderabad: Major General N Srinivas Rao makes farewell visit to AOC Advertise With Us The DC directed that a gazetted officer and a non-gazetted assistant should be appointed for three wards each. He wanted the polling stations to be identified and a report on ballot box requirements be prepared. The staff needed for poll duty should be identified along with a review of conduct of polls municipality-wise. Speaking on ‘Haritha Haram’, Reddy stated that it was very important along with the civic polls. He asked officials to make the programme successful. ‘You should get ready for planting of saplings in view of the commencement of the monsoon season. The spots where icon/avenue plantations are to be taken up should be identified. Agreements for raising saplings should be signed with recognised and empanelled firms. Also Read – Kolkata artists giving final touches to 24 ft clay Ganesh idol Advertise With Us He directed officials to secure six ft saplings from Kadiyam Nursery for plantation, with metal tree guards. Money should be secured from donors for raising plants with a provision for boards listing the names donors/organisations. Reddy stated that plantations should be taken up in gram panchayats, roads on either side in municipalities, temples, mosques, churches for providing a green look. The saplings should be planted in villages and municipalities under the aegis/supervision of Haritha Haram committees, with active participation of members. Advertise With Us He suggested that the saplings from the grampanchayat nurseries to be handed over to each house should be given only to those who have already dug up pits, with stress on not wasting saplings raised after Herculian effots. Steps should be taken for taking up plantations by farmers as part of MGNREGS programme. Daily reports on the status of sapling should be submitted. Those present at the video conference included DRO Madhukar Reddy, DPO Sudhakar Reddy, DRDO Koutilya, district-level officials.
Ongole: Prakasam District Collector Dr Pola Bhaskara said that if the tahsildars and VROs do their duty at ground level, there will not be many complaints from the public at the weekly grievance cell Spandana on every Monday. Speaking at the Kandukur division revenue officials review meeting on Thursday, the collector said that there is strong criticism from the public that the revenue department is not performing up to the expectation. Also Read – DGP Gautam Sawang warns over objectional posts on social media Advertise With Us He said that the tahsildars and VROs are not responding to the pleas of the public at the ground level and that is the reason they are turning up at Spandana programme. He ordered them to put the focus on the redressal of urges received through the Mee Seva immediately and bring good name to the department. He advised them to utilise the latest available technology in speedily solving the applications. He advised the tahsildars to not depend on the data entry operators and supervise the records entering work. Also Read – AP Cabinet to meet on September 4 Advertise With Us He warned them to not make unnecessary changes in adangals and if any instances are found to be made for profit of others, he said that the legal action will be initiated against the officers. He warned them to not let the tanks and ponds encroached in the villages. The Kandukur RDO KS Ramarao, DRDA PD Narasimhulu, tahsildars, deputy tahsildars and VROs from the Kandukur revenue division participated in the meeting.