MP Bob Zimmer provides input on the Caribou Recovery Program
CHETWYND, B.C. – Member of Parliment Bob Zimmer released a video, on Facebook, sharing his views on the Caribou Recovery Program.In the video, Zimmer says, even as an M.P., he is unsure as what will happen next in regards to the Recovery Program as talks are being held behind closed doors and that the potential closures would impact Chetwynd.“What is going on right now is really a conversation behind closed doors, that we’re not really privy to it. Even myself, as a Member of Parliment, I’m just watching from the outside seeing this conversation go on and we don’t know what’s going to happen. This government has closed different areas before and the potential closures, right now, would dramatically affect Chetwynd.” Chetwynd’s economy is mainly made up of the forestry and mining industries, with many fearing that they could be closed as a result of the Program.Zimmer also says he recently met with District of Chetwynd Mayor Allen Courtoreille & Council and the Concerned Citizens for Caribou Recovery about the potential closure of the backcountry in the B.C. Peace and many areas of interior B.C.Zimmer is encouraging all of his constituents to voice their opinions and concerns, on the matter, to the Ministers involved in the Caribou Recovery Program.A list of the Ministers contact information can be found on the Facebook post.The video can be viewed below.
Senco Gold and Diamonds, the largest jewellery retail chain from Eastern India, drew up a noble way to pay homage to the martyrs of our country.Christened as ‘An Ode to the Nation,’ the event held in memory of the 41 CRPF jawans who gave up their lives to protect the nation, saw the jewellery brand paying tributes to the brave souls. The event was attended by the families of martyrs like Sepoy Gangadhar Dolui of Jagatballavpur, Sepoy Biswajit Ghorai of Gangasagar, Captain Anirban Bandopadhyay of Salt Lake, Naik Dipak Maity of Medinipore, Havaldar Arup Banerjee of Basirhat and Lt Nita Deshwal, wife of martyr Major Amit Deswal. Also Lt Nita Deshwal, who is currently serving the country at the Sikkim order shared her story at the event, about her fight against all odds, how she recovered herself and joined armed forces. Speaking at the ocassion, Suvankar Sen, Executive Director, Senco Gold and Diamonds, said, “These brave jawans have made the supreme sacrifice, laying down their lives to protect us and our nation. It is our way of saluting these martyrs, however it is small. The contribution of our soldiers is immeasurable, and paying tribute to our martyrs is the least we can do.”
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. Danny Dyer loses out to the BBC’s Planet Earth II for TV Moment of the Year at the 2017 Baftas.The award for the nature documentary series’ ‘iguana vs snake’ scene is accepted by an iguana in a hilarious video message directed at Dyer.The actor was hoping to pick up a gong for his appearance in Who Do You Think You Are? in which he discovers his remarkable links to royalty.
Nicolas Hulot : il reprend les rênes de sa fondationSept mois après avoir quitté la présidence de sa Fondation pour la Nature et l’Homme (FNH), Nicolas Hulot en a repris les rênes. L’animateur et écologiste, qui a crée cette fondation il y a 20 ans, avait renoncé à ce poste lorsqu’il a présenté sa candidature aux élections primaires du parti Europe Ecologie-Les Verts (EELV).Nicolas Hulot a été réélu président de sa Fondation pour la Nature et l’Homme le mardi 22 novembre par le Conseil d’Administration de la FNH. Cette réélection avait été proposée par Pierre Siquier, qui exerçait ce poste depuis le mois d’avril 2011, au moment où Nicolas Hulot l’a quitté pour se présenter aux primaires du parti EELV, précise un communiqué publié sur le site de la Fondation (lien non disponible).À lire aussiJournée mondiale de l’environnement : Quelques astuces pour un mode de vie plus écolo au bureauCandidat malheureux de ces élections remportées par Eva Joly, l’animateur et écologiste souhaitait depuis plusieurs semaines reprendre la fonction qu’il occupait au sein de l’association qu’il a fondée il y a 20 ans. “Comme il l’a toujours fait, Nicolas Hulot entend conserver sa liberté d’expression et d’intervention auprès de l’ensemble des responsables économiques et politiques; une posture indispensable au portage des idées qu’il défend avec la FNH” affirme le communiqué.Dans un un courrier électronique adressé à ceux qui l’ont soutenu lors de la primaire d’EELV, un mail dont Le Figaro s’est procuré une copie, Nicolas Hulot promet que sa “mobilisation en faveur de la transition écologique, économique et sociale ne faiblira pas”. Et Nicolas Hulot d’assurer : “Par cette décision, je ne renie en aucune façon mon engagement à vos côtés à l’occasion de la primaire de l’écologie, et mon amitié vous reste entière. Sachons être complémentaires, chacun à notre place pour porter et défendre les enjeux écologiques et sociaux”.Cette décision ne manque toutefois pas d’en décevoir certains, comme le conseiller régional du Centre Christophe Rossignol. Ce dernier a dit regretter le choix de Nicolas Hulot. “Maintenant, Nicolas dit qu’il souhaite être complémentaire. Ca doit vouloir dire qu’il souhaite rester à nos côtés pour la présidentielle” espère-t-il. De son côté, l’eurodéputée Sandrine Bélier évoque “un manque pour l’écologie politique et EELV, mais pas pour l’écologie tout court”.Le 23 novembre 2011 à 15:19 • Maxime Lambert
NASA’s Dawn spacecraft arrived at the dwarf planet Ceres in March of last year, and what it found there was rather unexpected. Scientists had always expected Ceres to be a lifeless chunk of rock, the furthest possible thing from geologically active. And yet, there are some interesting things going on across Ceres, including a cryovolcano half the size of Mount Everest on Earth.The NASA team detected the mountain, now known as Ahuna Mons, near the equator of the dwarf planet. At first, they weren’t sure how to classify this feature. It had the same basic shape as a volcano on Earth from the dome to the steep flanks surrounding it. The formation is also much younger than the surrounding terrain, as evidenced by the sharp lines and relative lack of craters. Of course, Ceres doesn’t have enough internal heat for volcanic activity. A cryovolcano was the only possible explanation.This isn’t the first time Ceres has surprised scientists. It was discovered in 1801 and thought to be a planet, but that was before we knew that asteroids existed. It was demoted to an asteroid a few decades later, though a huge one. Then, in 2006 it was promoted to a dwarf planet along with Pluto.With a more geologically active surface, Ceres is looking more planet-like. It is believed that Ahuna Mons has spewed salt water into space within the last billion years. The water freezes and falls back down to cover the cryovolcano in an icy dome. This was happening quite recently for what was believed to be a static ball of rock and ice.At three miles tall and twelve miles wide, Ahuna Mons stands out on a dwarf planet the size of Texas. NASA plans to make a series of mapping runs across Ahuna Mons to get a better idea of its mineral composition. The hope is Dawn can find something unique about that area of Ceres that could explain the formation of such a giant cryovolcano.
Clark County Jail is in need of expansion and serious renovations in order to remain viable, but, in some ways, the 33-year-old facility is in surprisingly good shape.That was the conclusion of a much-anticipated consultant’s study on the jail that was presented at a Clark County work session on Wednesday. Last year, the county approved a $300,000 contract with the DLR Group, a facilities consulting firm with offices in Portland and Seattle, to determine what sort of upgrades, remodeling and expansions the jail will require to remain functional.The consultants projected that if the county followed best practices, it would need to add up to 467 new jail beds in the next 20 years and allow the facility to nearly triple in size.But what’s there now, while cramped, is holding up well, they said.“As a whole, we’re actually very surprised by the physical assessment,” Bill Valdez, a principal of the firm, told the council and staff. “Your big-dollar items … are performing very well, but there is still quite a bit of deferred maintenance as well as other upgrades that would be needed just to be able to make the current jail operational for a set period of time.”Valdez told the council the jail’s parking lot falls in the “performing well” column, as do the groundwater and stormwater systems.But, he added, the list of items in need of repair or replacement includes parts of the jail’s HVAC, mechanical, electrical and plumbing systems. Valdez also said the county needs to replace the jail’s doors, which he said manufacturers no longer make and have been kept workable by fabricating or finding spare components.
Alongside all his football players from the Real Madrid premises, president Florentino Perez sent a hopeful Christmas message to the fans.The year 2018 is one of the most successful in Real Madrid’s history, one that a man like president Florentino Perez was obviously going to brag about during his traditional official Christmas message he sent out this Monday.It’s not only in football, but Los Blancos also won the European Cup in Basketball and Perez made sure that the fans were proud with his hopeful message for the upcoming 2019.This was arguably one of the most successful years in the club’s modern era, after winning a third consecutive Champions League and the Basketball’s 10th European championship throughout the whole year.Talking about the club’s achievements was pretty predictable for a president like Florentino Perez, with a 2019 that doesn’t look as hopeful as the present year.“In 2018 the madridistas experienced something that has never happened before,” said Florentino on his message via Real Madrid’s official website.“For the first time in our 116 years of history and for the first time in the history of sports, Real Madrid are European champions in football and basketball in the same season.”
Mourinho: “Lionel Messi made me a better coach” Andrew Smyth – September 14, 2019 Jose Mourinho believes the experience of going up against Barcelona superstar Lionel Messi at Real Madrid made him a greater coach.“We will remember it as the year of the Decimotercera in football and the Décima in basketball.”“In football, the third consecutive European Cup and the fourth in five years is something that nobody had ever done; and in basketball we won the second European Cup in four years.”“We have end 2018 by returning from Abu Dhabi as world champions for the third time in a row and for the fourth time in the last five years.”“And also, beyond what has been achieved on the playing fields, I want to highlight the work that is done every day so that this club continues to grow in sports, economically and socially,” he concluded.🎄⚽🌟 Merry Christmas!📸 https://t.co/7m6Uw7ai9M@RealMadrid | #HalaMadrid pic.twitter.com/Eo9go5kqXQ— Real Madrid C.F. 🇬🇧🇺🇸 (@realmadriden) December 24, 2018
July 16, 2018 Driver of stolen vehicle crashes SUV into house in Escondido, 3 injured KUSI Newsroom Posted: July 16, 2018 ESCONDIDO (KUSI) – Two men suspected of stealing a car struck the side of an SUV, sending it into the side of an Escondido home and injuring a woman and two passengers in the vehicle, police said Monday.It happened shortly after 6:40 p.m. Sunday in the 1000 block of South Quince Street near West 10th Avenue, Escondido police Sgt. Ryan Banks said.Officers spotted a red Hyundai Elantra at West 9th Avenue and South Spruce Street that was reported stolen and attempted to stop the vehicle.The driver of the car fled and struck the side of a Honda CRV after running a stop sign at South Quince Street and West 10th Avenue, Banks said, adding that the collision caused the Honda CRV to crash into the side of an Escondido home nearby.The woman driving the SUV and two other passengers in the vehicle were transported to a hospital with injuries that were not expected to be life-threatening, Banks said.The house sustained no structural damage in the crash.The two men in the suspected stolen car were transported to a hospital with injuries not expected to be life-threatening, Banks said. Categories: Local San Diego News FacebookTwitter KUSI Newsroom, 
“But unless your district Rep. is able to meet with them and have the dialogue that goes along with it, especially in the upper Susitna area, and our roads, which are way, way overused and underfunded, you can’t really go down to Juneau and find out what the needs are working with DOT.”Purcell says the proposed Susitna dam is not in the right place, and that he wouldn’t have voted to spend state money on the project. “Hydro is good, the dam in this location is not. As far as I am concerned, it is not in the correct place to put it.” Purcell resigned his mayor’s post in 2008, a day before a recall election was set to oust him, but Purcell says the railroad link between Houston and Port MacKenzie came into being under his watch. He says Port MacKenzie is the future economic driver of the Mat Su region.“Port MacKenzie is actually the future of the Valley and the state of Alaska. And, the reason is, is with the rail spur going in, which I fought for strongly as mayor, when we put the road beside it all the way down, we will have a truck route highway, a real highway going beside the rail spur down to the Port. You’ll see at that point the different mines opening up in Interior of Alaska, the jobs that will be created. With the high unemployment rate we have now in District 10, you’ll see the ability of folks in this area to get jobs at Port MacKenzie.” As of the most recent reports, Keller and Lacy have spent about 8 thousand dollars each, on their campaigns, Purcell a little over 3 thousand dollars. House 10 stretches from the northern outskirts of Wasilla up to Trapper Creek and the Denali border, swinging West to include Skwentna and the most remote areas of the Matanuska Susitna Borough.Republican Wes Keller has served the district since he was appointed in July of 2007 to replace Vic Kohring. He’s won every election since, and has served on a wide variety of House committees and subcommittees. He currently chairs the House Judiciary. Keller’s campaign slogan :”Your experienced voice” sums up his involvement in the legislature. Keller reflects pro-family, pro-gun and limited government regulation views.“I’m ready to take on another two years. I’ve been endorsed by the CPG, the Citizens Patriot Group, the National Right to Life and the National Rifle Association’s Sports Caucus.”The incumbent was faced on KAKM’s Running by upstart Democrat Neal Lacy, a semi – retired educator, and interestingly enough, a former bow hunting safety instructor for state Fish and Game.“I would like a chance to be your legislator. I will listen, I will not be condescending toward my constituents.”Lacy opposes Keller on almost all points. He challenged Keller on women’s issues, resource development and the minimum wage. Lacy charges that some of Keller’s legislation — on voter id — was actually written by the American Legislative Exchange Council, an outside organization which attempts to rewrite state laws. Keller says he only uses ALEC legislation as a starting point, not as a template.And, Lacy says the Susitna Dam project is a boondoggle.“The Sustina Dam project is a complete and absolute waste of money. We have spent, since the 1980s, somewhere close to about 400 million dollars, and just this last year, the legislature appropriated 20 million more. We know that large scale dams are a problem.”Keller says the Susitna project is worth the current level of state investment.“You know,we need to look at it, and we don’t just write it off , you know, based on some pre-determined predjudice or bias. Even now, we don’t have the information we need to make a rational decision. We are waiting for data, that was part of the deal. That was part of the reason we spent 20 million dollars to get more information to see if it is, in fact, feasible. And I would contend that if the gas pipeline doesn’t come into being and progress, that affordable electricity is still going to be something we have to look at. Maybe smaller projects maybe elsewhere. “ Keller also supports investment in Port MacKenzie, because of the economic benefits it could have for the area.Keller and Lacy spar on health care, and the best way to keep the budget in check. Wes Keller:“What we have to do is figure out a realistic picture of what the revenues can be, and then ask the agencies to modernize their budgets to accommodate the amount of money available. And some of the departments have done really well with that already, and we are going to have to ask them again to do it. “Neal Lacy says cut waste.“We need to look for efficiencies in everything that we do. My bone of contention comes when we give tax credits to organizations that really do not need them. If your business model requires you to have a tax credit from the government, you probably shouldn’t be in that business to begin with.”Keller, who serves on the Alaska Health Commission, says escalating health costs in Alaska can be checked with some innovation“..Introduce competitive services to try to de-regulate some of the things that are going now. We have to start taking some risks maybe, but we need to take the lid off the providers and the industry out there, so they can make the best use of technology, distance delivery.”Lacy argues the state needs to expand Medicaid“The governor’s refusal to do that was a huge mistake for the people of the state ofAlaska. As I go and visit the constituents around my area, there are a number of people who could be benefiting, I’m talking about retired people.”Stirring up the two party mix – Roger Purcell, a former mayor of Houston, running as a non-affiliated candidate“I didn’t give up my Republican registration, and I’m still a registered Republican.”Purcell says an effective representative works with city councils in his district to find out what the actual needs are.Purcell says substandard roads are a big problem, as is flooding and underfunded senior centers. He says the state’s road upgrades are too slow, and that long term loans are available to get highway upgrades on the fast track.
SEAGLA members get together to march in Juneau’s 2014 July 4th parade. (Photo courtesy James Hoagland)Juneau’s alliance group for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer people has been going through a renaissance with new board members and energy. Now, with recent grant funding, SEAGLA hopes to increase visibility and awareness in the capital city and beyond.Download AudioSEAGLA has been around since the early 1980s providing support for the LGBTQ community in Juneau. The name used to be an acronym for Southeast Alaska Gay and Lesbian Alliance, but it’s moved away from that strict definition to be more inclusive.For years, SEAGLA’s programming consisted of a weekly Friday night social and an annual picnic. Last year, SEAGLA organized a first ever Pride Week in Juneau with several events.“We did a film festival, a hike, a kickball game, a karaoke night, a big dance and a picnic,” says James Hoagland, one of eight volunteer board members. “All sorts of different kinds of events because we wanted to see who was out there, who our community was and what they needed from us, and we found that they liked all the events and they said, ‘We need more of this and we need to do it even bigger.’”The annual picnic last year drew about 200 people, the biggest attendance in the organization’s history.It recently received a $5,000 grant from thePride Foundation, which supports LGBTQ groups in the Northwest. It awarded funds to 56 organizations – three in Alaska. This is the largest grant SEAGLA has ever received.The money will help expand programming.“We know that there are hundreds of people out there who just even locally want to get together and do things and build community in all sorts of ways,” Hoagland says.SEAGLA is meant to be an alliance group for all of Southeast Alaska, but it’s historically served just Juneau. The grant will allow the nonprofit to bridge gaps and offer services to other Southeast communities. Hoagland says individuals in Ketchikan, Haines, Sitka and Skagway have reached out to SEAGLA.Josh Hemsath with Pride Foundation in Anchorage says the organization gave funding to SEAGLA for this very reason. Anchorage-based Identity Inc. also received a grant to bring students from rural areas to a youth leadership summit at Birchwood Camp.“The need that we were seeing was how best to address serving individuals, whether they be youth or people who experience geographic isolation because they live in rural and remote communities,” Hemsath says.Outside of grant funding, Hoagland hopes SEAGLA can grow in other ways.“It’ll be particularly interesting during the legislative session and figuring out how to plug SEAGLA into the really dynamic political landscape that’s going on right now in Alaska for LGBT people,” Hoagland says.With the legalization of same-sex marriage, Hoagland says other issues are ripe for change. Representatives Cathy Muñoz, a Republican, and Democrat Andy Josephson have pre-filed billsto add sexual orientation to the state’s anti-discrimination laws. Hoagland says SEAGLA can play a role in education. He says many Alaskans don’t even realize that people can get fired from a job because of sexual orientation.“They thought that maybe we’re protected under another law or something like that and it’s just not the case and I think that most people understand that that’s just not fair. And just opening up their eyes to the importance of putting that on the books in writing so that we can make sure that people don’t experience a really tragic situation like losing your job just because of the person you love,” Hoagland says.Hoagland says making a political impact will be a natural outcome of expanding membership and strengthening SEAGLA.
Bethel’s Pete Kaiser wins the Kuskokwim 300 sled dog race for the second year in a row. Last year he became the first local musher to win the race in 29 years. Sunday at 11:05 a.m. he joined Myron Angstman, the competition’s founder, as the only other Bethel local to win the premier mid-distance race two times.Download AudioPete Kaiser of Bethel claims his second consecutive K300 victory. (Photo by Chris Pike/KYUK)Surrounded by a cheering crowd, Kaiser shot up the race chute into the arms of his finance, Bethany, Hoffman and son, Ari, as his friends, family, and neighbors spread around him, clapping and hollering.“It was probably one of the hardest courses I’ve ever seen, a lot of challenges but it’s good to be here,” Kaiser said at the finish line.Kaiser finished the race with an elapsed time of 40 hours and 36 minutes. He was followed by Brent Sass of Eureka by 10 minutes and Joar Ulsom of Norway who finished six minutes behind Sass.Kaiser took the lead Saturday night when he left the inbound Kalskag checkpoint 19 minutes ahead of Ulsom with 100 miles left in the race. By the time Kaiser pulled into the inbound Tuluksak checkpoint, 50 miles later, he’d almost doubled that lead. He left Tuluksak 34 minutes ahead of the pack, racing the final stretch overland to the finish.Ulsom gained on the leading musher, but Kaiser never lost his edge. Brent Sass overtook Ulsom about four miles from the finish to claim the runner-up position.The hometown here, Pete Kaiser of Bethel, is swarmed by media as he claimed his second consecutive K300 title. (Photo by Chris Pike/KYUK)Seven dogs pulled Kaiser into the chute, many of the same dogs who lead Kaiser to victory the year before.The musher said last year’s run gave him a better understanding of his team’s capabilities. “It seemed like last year they finished with an excess amount of energy and speed. And if it came down to it, I could get a little bit more out of them this year.”Kaiser said he applied a similar strategy to this race as he used in the last K300— a conservative pace to Kalskag and a push at the end. But having better learned his team, this time Kaiser loosened the reins.“I pushed them a little harder early on in case there was a bigger gap to close by someone who get farther ahead of me early on.”The $130,000 K300 purse surpassed the Yukon Quest purse of 2015 to become the second highest annual purse in dog racing, behind only the Iditarod. Kaiser won $25,000 for his victory.Polished ice and hard wind battered most of the slick, snowless trail. Open holes and bare ground offered other dangers. Many mushers veered off course and multiple sleds busted on the unforgiving terrain.Kaiser said the river was one of the tougher courses he’s seen, but his lead dog Palmer guided them through the troubles. “And that was really handy in a lot of tricky spots with glare ice and side wind and finding trails,” Kaiser said. “He made a big difference in helping getting us here smoothly and quickly.”Kaiser has competed in the K300 seven times, placing in the top six of those times. He’s also competed in the Iditarod, won the Sportsmanship Award in 2010 and the Best in the West award twice.
Amaravati: The TDP national general secretary and former Minister Nara Lokesh criticized the YSRCP government’s advertisement over the pensions hike through a Twitter post. In a Twitter message, Nara Lokesh tweet questioning Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy that even for lies, should you spend this much of money? Have you forgotten who has given Rs 2,000 pension for six months from January 2019 to June 2019? Also Read – Civic chief orders erection of YSR statue in Vijayawada Advertise With Us Have you forgotten in those months, Chandrababu Naidu was the Chief Minister for the five months. In one government’s advertisement, so many lies? Lokesh tweets. On the occasion of late CM YS Rajasekhara Reddy Jayanthi celebrations, CM YS Jagan has decided to provide the old age pension of Rs 2,250 which will be eventually increased to Rs 3,000 and Rs 10,000 pension to physically disabled and dialysis patients under YSR Pension Kanuka. Also Read – VVIT students excel in karate Advertise With Us అయ్యా @ysjagan గారు, అబద్ధాలకు కూడా, ఇంత డబ్బులు తగాలెయ్యాలా ? జనవరి 2019 నుంచి జూన్ 2019 వరకు అంటే ఆరు నెలల పాటు 2 వేల రూపాయలు పెన్షన్ ఇచ్చింది మర్చిపోయారా ? అందులో 5 నెలల పాటు @ncbn సియంగా ఉండగా ఇచ్చారన్న సంగతి మర్చిపోయారా ? ఒక ప్రభుత్వ ప్రకటనలో ఇన్ని అబద్ధాలా ? 🤨 pic.twitter.com/vIiyAYopwg— Lokesh Nara (@naralokesh) July 8, 2019
Egyptians celebrate in Cairo`s landmark of Tahrir Square on June 3, 2014 after ex-army chief Abdel Fattah al-Sisi won 96.9 percent of the vote in Egypt`s presidential election.What happened to the leaders whose power was challenged in the so-called Arab Spring that began in late 2010?Here is a look.Egypt: Mubarak freedHosni Mubarak stepped down on February 11, 2011 after three decades in office and handed power to the army, following an 18-day revolt.Mubarak was arrested that April, and succeeded in June 2012 by an Islamist, Mohamed Morsi, Egypt’s first freely elected president.Morsi was in turn toppled by then army chief, now President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi after a single year in power marked by crises and political dissent.Sentenced to life in prison in June 2012 on charges of involvement in the deaths of some 850 protesters during the uprising, Mubarak was acquitted by Egypt’s top appeals court on March 2, 2017.Aged 88, he was released from military hospital on Friday.Tunisia: Ben Ali fleesMonth-long protests over poverty and unemployment forced Tunisian president Zine El Abidine Ben Ali and his family to flee on January 14, 2011, after just over 23 years in power, in the first of the Arab Spring uprisings.He went into exile in Saudi Arabia and, now 80, has maintained a low profile, communicating mainly via a Lebanese lawyer.The Tunisian courts have since convicted him of a raft of offences in absentia, including corruption and incitement to violence against protesters during the uprising. He was sentenced to life in prison on the latter charge.Syria: Assad survivesSyrian President Bashar al-Assad is still in power.Military support from Iran, Russia and Lebanon’s Hezbollah have since 2015 turned the tables in his favour in a civil war sparked by the brutal suppression of protests against his rule which erupted in March 2011.More than 320,000 people have been killed in the conflict and millions forced from their homes.Rebel groups that have received backing from Turkey, the Gulf Arab states and Western governments are still fighting Assad’s forces but they have been overshadowed by jihadists of the Islamic State group and former Al-Qaeda affiliate Fateh al-Sham Front.Libya: Kadhafi slainLibyan strongman Moamer Kadhafi was captured and killed on October 20, 2011 after 42 years in power while trying to flee Sirte, his hometown, as NATO-backed rebels closed in. It was the climax of a revolt that began with protests in second city Benghazi that February.Libya has since descended into chaos, with rival parliaments and governments vying for influence and militias fighting over territory and the country’s vast oil wealth.Yemen: Saleh allies with rebelsPresident Ali Abdullah Saleh stepped down in February 2012, following year-long protests and armed clashes, ending more than 33 years in power. His vice president Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi took over and was subsequently elected president.However, Saleh retained the loyalty of some of the best equipped units in the armed forces and when Huthi Shiite rebels overran the capital Sanaa in September 2014, his loyalists did nothing to stop them.Saleh has since formed a close alliance with the rebels and despite a two-year-old military intervention by a Saudi-led coalition they retain control of Sanaa and much of the northern highlands and Red Sea coast.Bahrain: royals intensify crackdownBahrain’s Sunni Muslim ruling family faced month-long protests led by the kingdom’s Shiite majority in 2011 calling for a constitutional monarchy and an elected prime minister.It crushed them with deadly force after its Gulf allies Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates sent in troops.Despite repeated calls from Western allies for compromise and reform, Bahrain’s King Hamad has since dissolved the main Shiite opposition movement and sentenced many of its leaders to lengthy prison terms.It has also moved to ban other opposition groups.Algeria: Bouteflika in wheelchairIn 2011, Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika kept the lid on protests, announcing reforms while consolidating his grip on power, playing on fears of a repetition of the devastating civil war that rocked the country in the 1990s.Re-elected as president in 2014 for a fourth term, Bouteflika, now 80, is rarely seen in public and, when he is, it is from a wheelchair and speaking with difficulty, after suffering a stroke in 2013.Morocco: King cedes some powersIn Morocco, King Mohammed VI was one of the first leaders to take stock of the Arab Spring revolts, announcing a reform of the constitution in March 2011 in the wake of a February 20 demonstration against corruption.Following a referendum, he succeeded in keeping his political and religious preeminence, while granting more powers to the prime minister and parliament.
Microsoft is clearly still positioning the Hololens as a device for professionals. Kipman was launched on stage by Anand Argawala, the CEO of Spatial, for a demo of AR-powered meetings. Kipman also said that the company has made it easier for enterprise partners to customize the Hololens hardware to their own needs.That focus on the enterprise also had a clear impact on the device pricing: Hololens 2 will cost $3500. The device can be pre-ordered effective immediately, and will initially be sold in United States, Japan, China, Germany, Canada, United Kingdom, Ireland, France, Australia and New Zealand.However, Microsoft also made it clear that it wants to be part of entertainment — if only the production side, for now. Kipman was joined on stage by Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeney, who announced his company was adding Hololens 2 support to the Unreal Engine in an attempt to bring AR production tools to Hollywood and the video games industry.Sweeney also hinted at a possibility that some of that technology will reach consumers at some point, saying: “In the years to come, Epic will support Hololens in all of our endeavors.”In addition to Hololens 2, Microsoft also announced a few other hardware and software products that will enable next-generation immersive experiences. These include what the company calls Spatial Anchors — essentially a cloud-based AR solution that makes it possible to share persistent AR experiences across devices, including Android and iOS phones as well as Hololens headsets. “This will enable the internet of holograms,” said Kipman.The company also announced remote rendering for AR experiences, and unveiled a new hardware accessory for the use of AR and other sensor-rich experiences in enterprises with the Azure Kinect depth-sensing camera. The Azure Kinect developer kit will be available for $399. Popular on Variety Doubling the field of view is a big step for Hololens. Microsoft has never published the field-of-view data of the original Hololens, but has been reported to be between 30 and 35 degrees horizontally. The company didn’t share exact field-of-view data about the new headset either Sunday.One of the major new features of Hololens 2 is hand tracking, which allows users to touch and interact with holograms. In a demo shown on stage Sunday, Hololens 2 was capable of precisely tracking each and every finger, allowing users to touch buttons and even play an AR piano.The headset also comes with integrated eye tracking, and is meant to be more ergonomic. This includes a display that flips up, allowing wearers to easily switch between AR and real-world without having to take off the headset. Microsoft also developed what Kipman called a “universal fit system” for the device — a subtle dig at the Magic Leap One, which has to be custom-fitted for each and every user. ×Actors Reveal Their Favorite Disney PrincessesSeveral actors, like Daisy Ridley, Awkwafina, Jeff Goldblum and Gina Rodriguez, reveal their favorite Disney princesses. Rapunzel, Mulan, Ariel,Tiana, Sleeping Beauty and Jasmine all got some love from the Disney stars.More VideosVolume 0%Press shift question mark to access a list of keyboard shortcutsKeyboard Shortcutsplay/pauseincrease volumedecrease volumeseek forwardsseek backwardstoggle captionstoggle fullscreenmute/unmuteseek to %SPACE↑↓→←cfm0-9Next UpJennifer Lopez Shares How She Became a Mogul04:350.5x1x1.25×1.5x2xLive00:0002:1502:15 Microsoft unveiled the second generation of its Hololens augmented reality headset at a press event in Barcelona Sunday. The new headset features more than double the field of view of the original Hololens, according to Microsoft technical fellow Alex Kipman, while still offering 47 pixels per degree of sight.
London murders: Stats theory shows numbers are predictable The researchers, Mikhail Simkin and Vwani Roychowdhury, both electrical engineers from the University of California, Los Angeles, began their analysis by making a graph showing Chikatilo’s cumulative number of murders over the 12-year period. The graph is highly irregular, with long time periods with no murders interrupted by short time periods with many murders. The shortest interval between murders was three days, while the longest was more than two years. Due to this irregularity, and the step-like appearance of the plot, mathematicians call this distribution a “Devil’s staircase.”Next, the researchers graphed the distribution of intervals between murders, clearly showing that short intervals are more common than long intervals. Somewhat surprisingly, this distribution of intervals between murders is very similar to the distribution of intervals between epileptic seizures, with both following a similar power law. Simkin and Roychowdhury note that previous research has suggested a link between epilepsy and criminality (and psychosis), so the possibility that similar processes in the brain may lead to both epileptic seizures and serial murders is not unreasonable.The researchers previously proposed a model based on the brain’s neuron firing to explain the distribution of intervals between epileptic seizures, and here they’ve applied the same model to explain the distribution of intervals between murders. They hypothesize that the simultaneous firing of a large number of neurons in the brain induces psychotic effects that cause a serial killer to commit murder, similar to the effects that induce epileptic seizures. Citation: Serial killing follows predictable pattern based on brain activity (2012, January 18) retrieved 18 August 2019 from https://phys.org/news/2012-01-serial-pattern-based-brain.html The model assumes that committing a murder has a sedative effect on the killer, causing neural excitation to fall below the threshold. (Otherwise, the neural excitation would be in the murder zone for half the total time.) But neuron firing must still be close to the threshold, since the probability of a new murder is significantly higher in the days after a murder compared to the average murder rate.Although the model closely approximates Chikatilo’s behavior, the researchers note that it’s not exact. The biggest disagreement is that the model predicts several one-day intervals between murders, while Chikatilo’s shortest interval was three days. The researchers think that accounting for successful and unsuccessful murder attempts could improve the agreement between the model and data.Although it’s difficult to tell if understanding the patterns of a serial killer will help prevent murders, the fact that any kind of rational explanation may exist for seemingly irrational behavior is both uncomfortable and revealing. More information: M.V. Simkin and V.P. Roychowdhury. “Stochastic modeling of a serial killer.” arXiv:1201.2458v1 [physics.soc-ph]via: Physics arXiv Blog Distributions of intervals in the Devil’s staircase plot closely obey a power law simulation. Short intervals between murders occur much more often than longer intervals. Image credit: Simkin and Roychowdhury Explore further
The researchers explain that the probability of any neuron firing randomly is small. But since the axon of one neuron can connect to the synapses of thousands of other neurons, if that neuron fires then its impulse could cause others to fire if they’re close to the firing threshold. The model predicts that the killer commits murder when the total number of firing neurons reaches a certain threshold – or “murder zone” – for a certain period of time. During this time of abundant neuron firing, the killer plans, prepares, and carries out the crime. A graph of the cumulative number of murders committed by Andrei Chikatilo over 12 years. The irregular plot is a “Devil’s staircase.” Image credit: Simkin and Roychowdhury © 2011 PhysOrg.com (PhysOrg.com) — Over a period of 12 years, Andrei Chikatilo murdered at least 53 people before being arrested in Rostov, Russia, in 1990. While Chikatilo’s killings, mainly of women and children, may have been senseless, a new study has found some sense in the distribution of intervals between the murders, which closely follows a power law. The researchers propose that the murder activity can be explained by a model describing neuronal firing in the brain, very similar to the model that describes the distribution of intervals between epileptic seizures. This document is subject to copyright. Apart from any fair dealing for the purpose of private study or research, no part may be reproduced without the written permission. The content is provided for information purposes only.