Category: jmduuhss
Rahul seeks PMs help for Kerala flood victims
New Delhi: Former Congress chief and Wayanad MP Rahul Gandhi on Friday spoke to Prime Minister Narendra Modi seeking help for people affected by flood following incessant rain in Kerala over the past two days. Modi assured him of all necessary assistance. “Wayanad MP Rahul GandhiA spoke to the Prime Minister seeking all possible assistance for the people severely affected by the floods and landslides in the state, especially in Wayanad. Also Read – Uddhav bats for ‘Sena CM’ “The Prime Minister has assured to provide any assistance required to mitigate the effects of the disaster,” Gandhi’s Wayanad MP office tweeted. On Thursday, the Wayanad MP spoke to Kerala Chief Minister P. Vijayan to seek assistance for the flood affected people in his parliamentary constituency and other parts of the state. Gandhi had decided to postpone his trip to Wayanad as he felt it would affect the rescue operations. Incessant rain in Kerala have claimed 23 lives in the past two days. Over 22,000 people have been shifted to some 315 relief camps across the state, officials said. Till late on Thursday the toll was eight, but Friday’s count put the number at 23. Malappuram, Kozhikode, Kannur, Wayanad, Kasargode and Idukki were the worst affected. There has been 260 mm of rain in Wayanad — the parliamentary constituency of former Congress President Rahul Gandhi. A huge landslide has marooned around 2,000 people in Meppadi in the district.
NonIndigenous professor gets goahead to teach residential schools course
HALIFAX – A non-Aboriginal history professor has been given the green light to teach a residential schools course at Mount Saint Vincent University, despite objections from some who say the course should be the purview of Indigenous academics.The Halifax school says a meeting was held Tuesday at the request of Dr. Martha Walls, who developed the course. The discussion included history department leaders, faculty, school administration and the senior adviser to the president on Aboriginal affairs.“Dr. Walls has the support of Indigenous and non-Indigenous faculty and administration at the Mount, to teach the course regarding residential schools,” the university said in a statement after the meeting.“Indigenous faculty and staff at the Mount believe that true allies committed to honest reconciliation — like Dr. Walls — must be engaged in sharing knowledge of First Nations/Canadian history in order to reach all those in education who should be reached with this important information.”The Mount said there was a thoughtful discussion Tuesday over concerns raised on social media.Last week, critics said the decision to assign a “settler scholar” to teach the course was a kind of historical appropriation and reinforcement of the systemic oppression of First Nations.“Consistent with her usual practice, and as was originally planned, Dr. Walls’ curriculum will prioritize first voices, Indigenous narratives, firsthand accounts and primary sources,” said the statement.“This is an approach that is consistent with academic inquiry that often reaches beyond one’s own community or identity.”The statement called truth and reconciliation a partnership and said it requires “complex and sometimes challenging discussions.”“Critique, discussion, and reflection are at the heart of academic inquiry and are foundational to research and teaching. In keeping with our commitment to academic freedom, today’s meeting represents our responsibility as an academic institution to take up difficult questions.”The university said it recognizes the consequences of colonization and is committed to continued work with partners inside and outside the school and will continue to “strongly support” Indigenous students and communities, including increasing the number of Indigenous faculty in the university.The meeting came a day after a group of Canadian professors spoke out against the university’s handling of the controversy.The Society for Academic Freedom and Scholarship said a professor’s race or ethnicity should not be a consideration when assigning a course and it chided Mount Saint Vincent for holding the meeting, saying it would undercut university collegiality and academic integrity.Society president Mark Mercer said it was also up to the Mount’s history department to consider a professor’s expertise and perspectives — matters he said should be judged on academic grounds alone.But critics maintain only Indigenous Peoples have the lived experience to understand the complex and cumulative ways they’ve been discriminated against, and that they should teach their own history.In the midst of the criticism, Walls received support from Sherry Pictou, a women’s studies professor at the university who is Mi’kmaq.Pictou said she had “full confidence” in Walls as both as a historian and an ally to the Indigenous community.According to findings by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, more than 150,000 First Nations, Metis, and Inuit children were often taken from their families by force to attend government residential schools, where at least 6,000 died from malnutrition, disease and widespread abuse.About 7,000 survivors testified before the commission and related graphic details of rampant sexual and physical abuse at the schools.
Jackson Browne To Perform A Benefit Concert At La Mirada Theatre For
On February 27th at La Mirada Theatre For The Performing Arts in La Mirada, CA, songwriters and long-time friends Jackson Browne, Steve Noonan and Greg Copeland will return to their hometown for an evening benefitting the Steve Noonan Medical Fund and the Fox Fullerton Restoration Project.The show begins at 8PM. General Tickets ($40/$60/$80) and Golden Circle seats go on sale at 12 Noon PT on Saturday, February 1st and are available here or by calling the theater box office at 562-944-9801 or 714-994-6310.For over eighty years, The Fox Theatre has been a dominant feature in the heart of downtown Fullerton. In 2001 the Fullerton Historic Theater Foundation- a 501c3 nonprofit- formed to meet the challenge of saving the Fox Theater, restoring it and helping to create programming that will allow the Theater to be a self-sustaining cultural center. A portion of the evening’s proceeds will be put towards helping the Fox Fullerton achieve this goal. The other portion of the evening’s proceeds will go to the Steve Noonan Medical Fund. Noonan, like so many musicians, was uninsured when he was faced with the astronomical costs of surgery and treatment for prostate cancer.Browne, Noonan and Copeland went to high school in Fullerton, CA and began writing songs and working together at that time. Noonan landed a recording contract with Elektra Records, and together he and Copeland wrote the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band’s first hit, “Buy For Me The Rain.” His 2008 album, “Bringin’ It Back Home,”—his first CD after returning to music full time—garnered rave reviews in the foreign press. Noonan is currently finishing work on a solo release.Copeland and Browne wrote “The Fairest Of The Seasons,” recorded by Nico on her Chelsea Girl album, which was featured in the Wes Anderson film The Royal Tenenbaums. Copeland continued writing songs, some of which were recorded by Joan Baez, Jackson Browne and David Lindley. In 1982 Copeland recorded his first solo album, produced by Browne for Geffen Records. His second solo album, Diana and James, was produced by Greg Leisz, another Sunny Hills High School graduate. It was released in 2008 on Browne’s Inside Recordings.Greg Leisz, one of the most acclaimed and sought after musicians and producers to emerge from the Los Angeles music scene in the last twenty years, has worked and recorded with Bill Frisell, K.D. Lang, Eric Clapton, Emmy Lou Harris, Dave Alvin, Joe Cocker, Joe Henry, Jackson Browne and many others. He joins Steve Noonan, Greg Copeland and Jackson Browne for this return to Orange County by four of its native sons.Don’t miss an incredible evening of songs and stories with Jackson Browne, Steve Noonan, Greg Copeland and Greg Leisz at La Mirada Theatre For The Performing Arts in La Mirada, CA.For more information visit: www.jacksonbrowne.com.
Newstrike shareholders overwhelmingly support CanniMed takeover deal
TORONTO – Shareholders of Newstrike Resources Ltd. (TSXV:HIP) voted overwhelmingly in favour of an acquisition by licensed cannabis producer CanniMed Therapeutics Inc. (TSX:CMED) at a special meeting today.Approximately 99.4 per cent of the votes, representing more than 271.8 million outstanding common shares, were cast in support of a plan that would see Newstrike shareholders receive 33 CanniMed shares for each 1,000 shares of Newstrike.The Tragically Hip, a major shareholder in Newstrike, last week threw its support behind the company’s friendly takeover by Saskatoon-based CanniMed.However, the deal, which CanniMed says better positions the company for entry into the recreational cannabis market, is subject to approval from CanniMed shareholders at a special meeting scheduled for Jan. 23.The final outcome of that deal remains uncertain, as CanniMed is also the target of an all-stock hostile takeover by Edmonton-based Aurora Cannabis (TSX:ACB) that is conditional on abandoning the Newstrike deal.CanniMed has urged its shareholders to vote in favour of Newstrike, but three of the Saskatoon-based company’s biggest shareholders representing 38 per cent of outstanding shares have signed lock-up agreements backing Aurora’s bid.
Moroccan Magistrates Condemn Minister’s Comments on Hamieddine’s Re-Prosecution
Rabat – Speaking at a press conference in Casablanca, the Hassania Association of Magistrates and the Magistrates Club of Morocco unanimously condemned the position of Mustapha Ramid, Morocco’s human rights minister.Commenting on Abdelali Hamieddine’s prosecution, Ramid recalled that “no one can be prosecuted or punished because of an offense for which he has already been acquitted or condemned by a final judgment in accordance with the law and the criminal procedure of each country.”Ramid was referring to the decision of the investigating judge at the Fez Court of Appeals to re-prosecute Hamieddine for “voluntary homicide.” The murder took place on February 25, 1993, at Dhar El Mehraz University in Fez, during clashes between leftist students and Islamist militants, which resulted in the killing of Mohammed Ait Ljid Benaissa. In response to Ramid’s remarks, the president of the Hassania Association, Abdelhak El Aiassi, said that the case came in the wake of the Justice and Development Party’s (PJD) pressure and confusion it sustained after hearing the news. He argued that the PJD has led them to “cross the red lines” by looking at the judiciary as not independent and saying that “it would lose people’s faith.”He also said that the case was reopened after new information was submitted to the investigating judge.Read Also: Judge Re-Prosecutes PJD’s Hamieddine as Accomplice in a 1993 MurderDefending his client, Hamieddine’s lawyer, Abdessamad El Idrissi, who is also a member of the PJD, echoed Ramid’s statement.He immediately condemned the case on his Facebook page, calling it “political” and contrary to “the internally recognized principles of justice.” “There are some people who seek to destroy confidence in any possibility to have an independent judiciary based on law and conscience,” Idrissi wrote.During the press conference, a question from a journalist created great confusion in the conference room.The questioner wondered such press conferences have not been held to ensure fair trials in many national cases, such as the Hirak Rif and Hirak Jerada case, as well as the recent prosecution of two journalists, Hamid El Mahdaoui and Taoufik Bouachrine.The panelists preferred not to answer the question, arguing that it was not the subject of the conference.
Most actively traded companies on the TSX
Some of the most active companies traded Friday on the Toronto Stock Exchange:Toronto Stock Exchange (15,728.32, down 47.98 points):Aurora Cannabis Inc. (TSX:ACB). Healthcare. Down eight cents, 2.57 per cent, to $3.03 on 9.5 million shares.Canopy Growth Corp. (TSX:WEED). Healthcare. Down 19 cents, 1.50 per cent, to $12.48 on 6.3 million shares.Element Fleet Management Corp. (TSX:EFN). Financial Services. Up 94 cents, or 10.40 per cent, to $9.98 on 4.3 million shares.Aphria Inc. (TSX:APH). Pharmaceutical. Down 23 cents, or 2.99 per cent, to $7.45 on 4.1 million shares.Baytex Energy Corp. (TSX:BTE). Oil and gas. Down 20 cents, 5.35 per cent, to $3.54 on 3.5 million shares.B2Gold Corp. (TSX:BTO). Miner. Down four cents, or 1.12 per cent, to $3.54 on 3.4 million shares.Companies reporting major news:Bombardier Inc. (TSX:BBD.B). Aerospace, rail equipment. Up two cents, 0.91 per cent, to $2.21 on 3.4 million shares. On Friday, the U.S. Department of Commerce tacked on another 79.82 per cent of preliminary anti-dumping duties, now totalling almost 300 per cent, for Bombardier to export its CSeries commercial jet into the American market once deliveries to Delta Air Lines begin next year.Restaurant Brands International Inc. (TSX:QSR). Fast food restaurants. Up $1.21, 1.50 per cent, to $82.11 on 315,991 shares. The legal battle between a group of Tim Hortons franchisees and their parent company escalated Friday as the corporate-unsanctioned franchisee association filed a lawsuit alleging RBI, its subsidiary and several executives of subverting their right to associate.
UN marks 20th anniversary of landmark treaty governing use of the worlds
At today’s commemorative meeting at the UN General Assembly in New York, Secretary-General Kofi Annan called the Convention on the Law of the Sea a milestone for the rule of law. “In a world of uncertainty and insecurity, it is indeed a great achievement to have established this Convention, and to ensure the rule of law in an element where human beings from different nations have interacted through the centuries,” he said.The Convention was opened for signature on 10 December 1982 in Montego Bay, Jamaica, after nine years of negotiations, with a record 119 countries signing on. The treaty came into force on 16 November 1994, and is fast approaching universal participation, with 138 States Parties, including the European Union, and 157 signatories.Among its provisions, the “constitution for the oceans” established that the seabed and ocean floor beyond the limits of national jurisdiction are the “common heritage of mankind,” whose use and protection are the right and responsibility of all. The treaty also called for the compulsory settlement of disputes, set out the overall legal framework for all activities in or on the oceans and seas, and provided detailed rules governing all uses of the oceans and defined the rights and responsibilities of States.In his statement today, the Secretary-General noted that over the last two decades the implementation of certain aspects of the accord have been “inadequate,” pointing out that the world’s fisheries are becoming increasingly depleted, and the environment is becoming dangerously and seriously degraded.”These are threats not only to food security and to the livelihoods of many coastal communities, but also to human health and to life itself,” he said. “The oceans and the seas are vitally important for the earth’s ecosystem. They provide vital resources for food security, and without them, economic prosperity and the well-being of present and future generations could not be sustained.”He urged countries to improve their cooperation on the issue, and appealed also to those not party to the treaty to ratify the Convention. “There could be no bigger tribute to its success and importance than to see it become truly universal,” he said. “Peace and security, development and trade, cooperation and the rule of law would be strengthened by that achievement.”General Assembly President Jan Kavan of the Czech Republic said the elaboration of the Convention represented an attempt to establish “true universality” in the effort to achieve a just and equitable international order governing ocean space. “For the first time the Convention offers a universal and complex legal framework for sharing the oceans as a common heritage of mankind,” he stressed.The text of the Convention is not only the result of the codification of customary law, Mr. Kavan added, but embodies the progressive development of international law as well by setting up the International Seabed Authority and the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea. “The high number of States Parties to the Convention is the best proof of the magnificent success of all those who participated in this work,” he said.
Canadian Tire to launch trial run of home delivery this year CEO
Canadian Tire to launch trial run of home delivery this year, CEO says TORONTO – Canadian Tire will launch a trial run with home delivery at the end of this year, its CEO said Thursday in what is likely a response to the rising threat posed from competitors such as Walmart and Amazon.The move marks a reversal for the national retailer, which for years had expressed no interest in home delivery, saying there was no need to offer it when 90 per cent of the country’s population lives within 15 minutes of one of its stores.“It’s a big move,” Canadian Tire CEO Stephen Wetmore said in an interview Thursday following the company’s annual general meeting and latest earnings release.Details are scant. Wetmore said the company needs to pick a market, decide on how many of its nearly 500 stores will participate and which products will be eligible for home delivery.The trial run will be assessed to determine whether home delivery should be rolled out across the country.“It’s really complex with CTR (Canadian Tire retail),” he said.About 100 Canadian Tire stores across the country already offer limited delivery on a small number of products. Delivery is also already available at nearly all of Canadian Tire’s other retail banners, including Mark’s, Pro Hockey Life and Sport Chek.Canadian Tire has also offered a pay-and-pickup option since it rolled out its e-commerce website in 2014.The retailer is likely feeling the squeeze from the likes of Walmart Canada and Amazon, which offer same-day and sometimes free delivery.Wetmore recently returned as the head of the company in July, replacing Michael Medline, who had been in the top job for less than two years. Since his return, Wetmore’s focus has been on improving Canadian Tire’s e-commerce and data analytics strategy.He said Canadian Tire has been in recent talks with retailers, primarily in Europe, to sell its private brands including home decor lines such as Noma and Canvas.The company isn’t eyeing any international expansion with its store banners at this point, Wetmore said, but it is open to more mergers and acquisitions abroad.On Wednesday, Canadian Tire announced it purchased Padinox, the company that owns the Canadian rights to the Paderno kitchenware brand, for an undisclosed amount.Earlier Thursday, Canadian Tire reported that its profit jumped 26 per cent in its latest quarter to $107.9 million, or $1.24 per share, for the 13-week period ended April 1. That compares with $85.6 million, or 90 cents per share, for the same period a year earlier.Its revenue climbed 7.6 per cent to $2.75 billion.The improvement came despite warmer weather in January and February that hurt sales in outerwear, accessories and boots and a cold start to spring that took a bite out of sales in bicycles, running shoes and casual clothing, the company said.Its shares were down 5.4 per cent in late afternoon trading on the S&P/TSX composite index, trading at $157.32.Follow @LindaNguyenTO on Twitter. by Linda Nguyen, The Canadian Press Posted May 11, 2017 8:10 am MDT Last Updated May 11, 2017 at 2:40 pm MDT AddThis Sharing ButtonsShare to TwitterTwitterShare to FacebookFacebookShare to RedditRedditShare to 電子郵件Email
March 2014 – EV registrations
SMMT has published Electric Vehicle (EV) registration figures for March and the year-to-date. Plug-In Car Grant: Since the launch of the Plug-In Car Grant in January 2011, there have been 8,696 eligible cars registered.Please note: this data includes only new car registrations and not commercial vehicles.For questions about these figures, or to enquire about more detailed data sets, e-mail data@smmt.co.uk.Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
Smits leads Valparaiso past UNLV 7264
LAS VEGAS — Derrik Smits scored 20 points with 12 rebounds and Valparaiso beat UNLV 72-64 on Wednesday night.Smits was 8 of 16 from the field for the Crusaders (4-3). Bakari Evelyn added 13 points, five assists and four steals before fouling out and Markus Golder had 10 points.Valparaiso had 13 steals contributing to 25 UNLV turnovers.The Crusaders trailed 31-20 with five minutes to play in the first half then surged 11-4 on a 3-pointer by Evelyn and dunks by Golder and Javon Freeman to tighten it to 35-31 at halftime.Smits scored on a layup to start the second half then followed with a 3-point play to give the Crusaders a 36-35 edge. An Evelyn 3-pointer and another Golder dunk helped stretch it to 48-39 with 12:48 to play and the Crusaders cruised from there.Shakur Juiston scored 14 points and matched his career-best with 19 rebounds for the Rebels (4-2).The Associated Press
Seann Walshs girlfriend Rebecca Humphries leaves him after Strictly kiss and accuses
She said he had flatly denied a romantic relationship with Jones, his professional dance partner, until they were photographed kissing outside a London pub. The girlfriend of Seann Walsh, the Strictly Come Dancing contestant, has left him and accused him of branding her a “psycho” when she voiced suspicions about his relationship with Katya Jones. 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. In a damning statement which is likely to force his exit from the BBC One show, Rebecca Humphries alleged that Walsh was a controlling character who had subjected her to “inappropriate, hurtful behaviour”. She said: “Those pictures were taken on October… The statement, published via social media, began: “My name is Rebecca Humphries and I am not a victim.”–– ADVERTISEMENT ––
SGS expands Corescan services in North America
SGS Minerals Services (SGS) has expanded its hyperspectral analysis capability in North America with the addition of a mobile unit based in Canada. The expansion follows a significant show of support for the service offered by SGS and its hyperspectral partner Corescan in the North American market. It also enhances SGS’s mineralogy services offering with a footprint that includes Corescan in Santiago, Chile and Perth, Australia.SGS and Corescan (based in Australia) entered into an agreement in 2014 to incorporate Corescan’s mineralogical imaging technology into SGS´s global laboratory network to provide service to its clients in both the minerals and oil and gas industries.Hyperspectral scanning offers clients objective mineralogical and geotechnical data from drill core or chips and increases confidence in resource estimation, domain creation and mine optimisation modelling. The new unit will be moved to various sites in Canada for trial and demonstration purposes, and will support exploration and production campaigns where it can deliver high volume mineralogical data for direct application to resource models or production monitoring programs.Recent hyperspectral users have realised direct value from Corescan through improved geological understanding in both exploration and mine programs globally. SGS is pleased to now be able to offer this service directly to its Canadian clients.The mobile unit incorporates state-of-the-art hyperspectral imaging sensors integrated with ultra-high resolution core photography and 3D core profiling technologies. Data can be independently processed and interpreted in real time by Corescan´s proprietary mineralogical software; results are available for remote viewing via a web-based virtual core library called Coreshed. Results can also be provided in report and data formats that are compatible with all standard geological modelling packages.
Researchers in Cork develop technology that will identify child sexual abuse images
By Órla Ryan Dec 2nd 2016, 6:39 PM File photo Share17 Tweet Email1 Researchers in Cork develop technology that will identify child sexual abuse images online Current systems mean specialists have to view “traumatic and distressing” material. 7 Comments 7,346 Views NEW TECHNOLOGY WILL use artificial intelligence to help police and find offenders who present the highest risk to the public, according to a UCC researcher who helped develop it.The iCOP (Identifying and Catching Originators in P2P Networks) toolkit will automatically identify new and previously unseen images of child sexual abuse for police and help to reduce the volumes of materials specialists have to view in order to find children.Maggie Brennan, a researcher and lecturer in the Schools of Applied Psychology and Criminology at UCC, worked on the research team with Sean Hammond of UCC’s School of Applied Psychology to develop the technology.‘Traumatic’“It’s common to seize computers and collections of child sexual abuse materials containing enormous volumes of illegal materials, terabytes of individual files. Having to view this material to find victims can be traumatic and distressing for the specialists working to find these children,” Brennan said.In a statement released today, UCC said current systems rely on identifying known media. As a result, these tools are unable to assess the thousands of results they retrieve, whereas the iCOP toolkit uses artificial intelligence and machine learning to flag new and previously unknown child sexual abuse media.The new approach combines automatic filename and media analysis techniques in an intelligent filtering module. The software can identify new criminal media and distinguish it from other media being shared, such as adult pornography.Brennan said law enforcement “urgently need these kinds of supports to help them manage the volumes of cases they are being faced with – to find the children who are victimised in these images and videos, as well as those offenders who present the highest risk to the public”.The research behind the technology was conducted in an international project founded by the European Commission by researchers at UCC, Lancaster University and the German Research Center for Artificial Intelligence (DFKI).At UCC, the team worked closely with international law enforcement specialists in online child sexual abuse investigation to understand their needs and develop a tool that allows them to find the most urgent cases for intervention.Our role also involved developing a psychological profiling system to identify viewers of child sexual abuse images who may be at risk of committing hands-on abuse.“We have been researching this topic with international law enforcement agencies like Interpol for many years, since the early 2000s. The volumes of child sexual abuse images and videos now in circulation is a real concern, and it can be overwhelming for law enforcement.“Trying to find recent or ongoing cases of child sexual abuse is an absolute priority, but the sheer volume of illegal materials in circulation online makes this task incredibly difficult for the police,” Brennan said.Hundreds of searches There are hundreds of searches for child abuse images every second worldwide, resulting in hundreds of thousands of child sexual abuse images and videos being shared every year.The people who produce child sexual abuse media are often abusers themselves – the US National Center for Missing and Exploited Children found that 16% of people who possess such media had directly and physically abused children.“Identifying new child sexual abuse media is critical because it can indicate recent or ongoing child abuse,” Claudia Peersman, lead author of the study from Lancaster University said. “And because originators of such media can be hands-on abusers, their early detection and apprehension can safeguard their victims from further abuse.”The researchers tested iCOP on real-life cases and police trialled the toolkit. It was highly accurate, with an error rate of only 7.9% for images and 4.3% for videos.Read: Elderly woman spends 15 hours on hospital trolleyRead: Concern for man missing from Cork since last Friday
Tweet thisShare on FacebookEmail this article File photo Image: Shutterstock/Antonov Roman Image: Shutterstock/Antonov Roman Friday 2 Dec 2016, 6:39 PM Short URL http://jrnl.ie/3116461 
In the Marvel Universe President Trump Is a MODOK
One of the reasons that Marvel Comics gained the advantage over D.C. in the 1960s and onwards was that their comics were set in the “real world.” Instead of Metropolis and Gotham, Marvel had New York and Chicago. And when politicians showed up in the pages of Captain America, they were usually real people.Case in point: Barack Obama. The first African-American President actually made the cover of Amazing Spider-Man #583, complete with a story inside where the Chameleon impersonates Barack and tries to take over the White House. Spidey saves the day, of course, and the issue was one of the best sellers of the 2000s, moving 350,000 copies over five printings.Bush and Clinton showed up sporadically throughout their terms as well, and even Tricky Dick Nixon showed up during the 70s to cut funding for Hulkbuster Base. So how will the comics deal with President Trump?Well, before his Presidential aspirations Trump’s been in the comics as a businessman. He showed up in a cameo in New Avengers #47 when Luke Cage moved his limo out of the way of an ambulance. Trump, seeing a Black person, immediately threatened to sue. But that was nothing compared to Spider-Gwen Annual #1 by Jason Latour with art by Chris Visions, Michael Walsh, Chris Brunner and Annapaola Martello.Haven’t been reading Spider-Gwen? Here’s the gist. It’s set in an alternate universe where Gwen Stacy, not Peter Parker, was bitten by the radioactive spider and got powers. She’s got a striking costume, a cool supporting cast, and the book is a lot of fun. Put it on your pull list.The annual is a collection of short pieces, most of which are pretty solid. The one we’re concerned with here stars the Captain America of this alternate earth, Samantha Rogers – a pilot who went through the Super-Soldier process. Instead of being frozen in ice, she was lost in a bizarre alternate dimension and just returned to her home. In the story, she’s reading comics by Steve Rogers (who we know as our Cap, and who has been a cartoonist for his “day job”) and marveling at the weird world they present. One of the stories involves a villain known as “Mental Organism Designed As America’s King,” or “M.O.D.A.A.K.”That’s a portmanteau of M.O.D.O.K, the Mental Organism Designed Only For Killing (originally a Captain America villain who would go on to plague many other heroes) and real estate magnate turned Republican President-Elect Donald J. Trump. How exactly Trump got the big head, tiny limbs and hoverchair of a M.O.D.O.K. isn’t explained, but Cap deals with him swiftly and easily.He only appears for a few pages, but if this is how Marvel plans to treat Trump moving forward, we predict a bunch of really whiny Tweets about the matter.Oddly enough, that’s not even the first villainous Trump in Marvel history. During the 1980s, Daredevil contended with Carlton Sanders; a former stage magician turned crook who went by the alias “Trump.” It’s hard to say with any certainty whether the character was based on the Donald or a reference to playing cards, but he was a D_lister at best.So that’s where Donald J. Trump stands in the Marvel Universe. We’ll see how the company deals with his Presidency moving forward, and if he manages to extract himself from that hoverchair.Check it out for yourself at Amazon. Stay on target Sony Pictures CEO Says ‘Door Is Closed’ for Now on Spider-Man SplitMarvel Censors Criticism of America From Marvel Comics #1000 
House Democrats Release Budget Appropriations Details
House Appropriations Committee leaders introduced Tuesday the details of their budget blueprint for allocating $1.3 trillion in fiscal 2020 spending, The Hill reported.The budget proposal is $51 billion more than fiscal 2019 levels and includes a $15.5 billion increase for defense spending, according to Appropriations Committee’s plan.The plan proposes fiscal 2020 defense base budget spending at $622 billion, as ADC reported.The military construction and VA spending bill received an $8.1 billion increase in proposed funding, bringing its total to $105.2 billion.The House’s plan reveals how Democrats propose to distribute defense and nondefense spending among the 12 spending bills that fund the federal government each fiscal year.It also dismissed President Trump’s 2020 budget request that included deep domestic spending cuts while adding billions to DOD overseas contingency accounts that are a not subject to mandatory spending caps.The Senate won’t release its budget until later this month as it waits to see if House, Senate and White House negotiators can reach a broader fiscal 2020 spending agreement. ADC AUTHOR
3 NeoJMB men arrested in Jhenidah
Map of JhenaidahMembers of Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) arrested three suspected members of Neo-JMB’s ‘Sarwar-Tamim’ group from different parts of Jhenaidah district on Thursday, reports UNB.The arrestees are Rana Hossain, 25, son of Amirul Islam Monwar Hossain, 30, son of Mujibor Hossain of Sadar upazila and Ashraful Alam, son of Shohor Ali of Kotchandpur upazila. Tipped off, a team of RAB-6 conducted separate raids in Sadar and Kotchandpur upazilas and arrested them around 5:00pm, said major Manir Ahmed, company commander of Jhenidah RAB-6. Later, they were produced before the Senior Judicial Magistrate SM Maniruzzaman where they made their ‘confessional’ statements under section 164.
A prisoners dilemma for reallife situations
The creation and growth of communities requires a degree of cooperation among citizens. Photo Credit: US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Physicist Matjaž Perc of the University of Maribor in Slovenia has recently developed a model for the evolution of cooperation that provides a more realistic description for the altruistic behavior of individuals than previous explanations do. In a recent issue of the New Journal of Physics, Perc explained how selfish individuals are more likely to cooperate in a prisoner’s dilemma game version which accounts for certain extrinsic factors. For instance, individuals often change their connections, engage in long-distance interaction that bridges gaps, and sometimes experience lesser risk and greater benefit for cooperating than those of the average outcome.”External influences are omnipresent in everyday life,” Perc explained to PhysOrg.com. “So far, the framework of evolutionary game theory, in which the evolution of cooperation is often studied, has not yet been supplemented by external factors. Thus, the payoffs of players (for example, humans, animals, firms, etc.) were considered as being fully deterministic (known in advance). In reality, however, unpredictable expenses, originating, for example, from accidents, fines, small violations of law we didn’t really intend to do can hardly be discarded as being irrelevant. It is interesting to see that under such real-life motivated conditions, cooperation thrives best.”The basic premise of the prisoner’s dilemma is that two suspects are placed in two different rooms, and each is asked separately whether or not his partner is guilty. Prison sentences depend on how each suspect responds: if both remain true to each other, they each serve only six months. If both betray each other, they both serve two years. If one betrays and one stays silent, the silent/cooperative partner serves 10 years while his betrayer goes scot-free. As one of the suspects, if you choose to betray, you will have better results, either serving two years or going free. If you choose to cooperate, you’re in the cooler for either six months or 10 years. With those odds, most people should betray, even though the best result for everyone would be full cooperation. As others have done, Perc studied a version of the prisoner’s dilemma that includes many individuals and repeats the game numerous times, called an iterative prisoner’s dilemma. In contrast with earlier models, however, he did not impose certain restrictions on the players, allowing them to commence or terminate connections, as often happens in real life. Perc also recognized that although outcomes average out “fairly” (e.g. the set prison sentences), sometimes individuals may reap better or worse results at any instance of the game, which he calls random payoff variation. For example, the risk of cooperation is not always equivalent to 10 years behind bars—sometimes, it might be eight, or six, or four. Also, sometimes the single betrayer doesn’t go free, but actually serves more than six months, meaning that two cooperators will benefit more individually as well as overall. Depending on the scale of fluctuations of pre-determined “average payoffs,” it can be rarer for the risk of cooperation to increase, or for the benefits of mutual cooperation to decrease, Perc found. So overall, a certain degree of payoff variations encourages cooperative strategies. Explore further Deceptive behavior may (deceivingly) promote cooperation Citation: A ‘prisoner’s dilemma’ for real-life situations (2006, September 20) retrieved 18 August 2019 from https://phys.org/news/2006-09-prisoner-dilemma-real-life-situations.html
Perc determined critical values for the variable payoffs, as well as for changing and long-term connections, and found that accounting for these two factors—what he calls the “double resonance” phenomenon—results in greater cooperation between individuals. In particular, cooperators survive by forming clusters so as to protect themselves against being exploited by defectors. Cooperators located in the interior of such clusters enjoy the benefits of mutual cooperation and are therefore able to survive despite the constant exploitation by defectors along the cluster boundaries. However, as the temptation to defect exceeds a threshold value, cooperators die out.”In reality, humans often form alliances not just with their immediate neighbours, but also with others that are physically far away,” said Perc. “On the other hand, however, the introduction of shortcuts hinders cluster formation and enables defectors to exploit clustered cooperators not just along the cluster boundaries but also from within. Thus there exists an optimal fraction of shortcuts among players that still enables at least some long-range connections among distant cooperators, but at the same time does not hinder large cluster formation in the spatial domain. In simpler terms, it is good if firms expand, and form alliances with foreign partners, but at the same time they must always maintain a healthy and solid core—a central facility, the Fort Knox, if you will—upon which everything is based and which holds everything together.” Another real-life situation involving the benefits of cooperation is an arms race between two countries that spend billions of dollars on making weapons for fear that their enemy may be investing in the same defensive strategy. Both lose, considering that the money could have been spent on more productive means. According to Perc’s results, countries who can take the risk of forming and trusting allies will aid one another through cooperation. They can more readily cooperate, according to the double resonance phenomenon, by beginning to cooperate during instances of decreased risk, as well as by taking advantage of currently existing long-distance bonds that provide a mechanism for cooperative alliances across the globe.Citation: Perc, Matjaž. “Double resonance in cooperation induced by noise and network variation for an evolutionary prisoner’s dilemma.” New Journal of Physics. 8 (2006) 183.By Lisa Zyga, Copyright 2006 PhysOrg.com What’s best for the individual and what’s best for society are often not the same thing–this predicament is the premise for the famous “prisoner’s dilemma” game. However, healthy societies depend on individuals cooperating for the common good, even at the risk of personal loss. In theory, individuals should choose what’s in their own best self-interest, but the reality is that many people–and even animals–instead choose to cooperate, to the puzzlement of many professionals who study sociology, game theory and other disciplines. 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.
Siliguri celebrates Rath Yatra
Siliguri: Goutam Deb, state Tourism minister, inaugurated the 29th Uttar Banga Rath Yatra festival organised by ISKCON in Siliguri. The chief guest to the event was the minister himself along with Sourav Chakraborty, the SJDA chairman, the IRS Commissioner, the IPS, DCP and other eminent personalities.Lord Jagannath’s journey began from ISKCON temple at 2 pm, taking a tour of the whole Siliguri town in the freshly coated multi-coloured chariot winding through Sevoke Road, Panitanki More, Pakurtala, Nazrul Sarani, Swamiji More and other routes. Every year, the Lords come out in three different chariots pulled by their devotees in large numbers and visit their aunt’s place, better known as Gundicha Mandir, located at Sevoke Road.
CM lays foundation stone for Gorkha Welfare Centre
Darjeeling: In a move set to benefit the Gorkha community significantly, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Wednesday laid the foundation stone for a Gorkha Welfare Centre in Delhi.Banerjee, who was in Delhi on Wednesday to attend the AAP rally, laid the foundation stone for the centre, which will come up at Saket in Delhi. “The centre will be a big help for the students and patients visiting Delhi from the Hills. This is a permanent asset for Darjeeling. It is being done jointly by the state government and the GTA,” stated the Chief Also Read – Bose & Gandhi: More similar than apart, says Sugata BoseMinister in her address. A four-storied building will come up in the 28,820 sq feet area at a cost of Rs 20 crore. “This land was given to the DGHC 18 years ago. However, the DGHC and the GTA had failed to come up with anything concrete here. Later, when we took charge of the GTA, we approached the Chief Minister with a proposal for the welfare centre. She immediately agreed. The land had been encroached by land mafia. We had to seek legal recourse with the help of the state government to get back the land,” stated GTA chairman Binay Tamang. Also Read – Rs 13,000 crore investment to provide 2 lakh jobs: MamataThe aim of the centre is to provide accommodation to students who come to Delhi to appear for different examinations, interviews and for patients who come for treatment. It will also serve as a guest house for officials travelling to Delhi. 85 percent of the land will be used for residential purpose, while the rest will be institutional. “The centre is not just for Gorkhas but for all communities. It is not just for the Darjeeling and Kalimpong Hills but for Gorkhas residing throughout India,” added Tamang.
Smart paper ticket to check unauthorised entry at Eco Park
Kolkata: Housing Infrastructure Development Corporation ( HIDCO) has proposed to introduce smart paperticket to facilitate the visitors and stop unauthorised entry of people at the Eco Park. Eco park, the biggest urban park in eastern India, has recorded 1.5 crore footfall since its opening in 2015. At Gate 3, near Misti Hub, a smart paper ticket has been introduced which does away with the plastic RFID cards but is able to operate the automatic gates in the same way. It allows just one visitor to enter after ticket scanning and closes down the gates rapidly to prevent a second visitor to enter unauthorisedly. Also Read – Rs 13,000 crore investment to provide 2 lakh jobs: Mamata This is done through printing on a QR code on the ticket that is read by a photo sensor and then operate the gate flaps. The smart component is ensuring that a paper ticket with QR code cannot be used twice although the paper ticket is retained by the visitor. The intelligent software connecting the gate mechanism with the server in ticket counter ensures that the ticket is valid for 30 minutes from the time of issue and once scanned and gates operated, the Also Read – Lightning kills 8, injures 16 in statesame QR coded ticket is invalidated from opening the gates again. So one can’t buy one ticket and pass it across the fence to a friend and enter again. There are six entry gates at the Eco Park. Lakhs of visitors enter through these, the most popular ones being at Gates numbers 2 and 4. There are ticket counters with multiple windows manned by staff of Hidco to issue tickets. On payment a white RFID enabled plastic card is issued from the ticket counter to each visitor and on insertion in the slot at the automatic gates the gate flaps will open for a few seconds to let the visitor go in and then rapidly close. This worked well as networked software system also counted the number of cards issued and thus the accounts closing at the day’s end (Eco Park closes at 8.30 pm in summer). But there was no receipt with the visitor as a result of which, once inside, no further surprise random checks could be done to prevent unauthorised entry.