Like everyone else who's not a monster, Lady Gaga is deeply distraught following the recent spate of mass shootings. On Friday, she pledged to do something about it.
In a Facebook post, Gaga announced her intent to "fully fund the classroom project needs" in Dayton, Ohio; El Paso, Texas; and Gilroy, Calif. Those three communities have all suffered in recent weeks in the wake of mass shootings that left, in total, close to 100 people dead or injured.
"My heart goes out to those who were taken from us too soon and to their families, loved ones, and communities who are left to grieve," Gaga's note begins. "Everyone has the right to laws that make them feel safe in their communities. In this moment, I want to channel my confusion, frustration, and fury into hope. Hope that we are there for each other and for ourselves." Read more...
Hope, a 19-year-old college student at the University of Texas, had just walked off a plane from a family vacation when she had a sinking realization: she had left her AirPods onboard.
She soon grew desperate. In an effort to get back her beloved earbuds before the plane left for its next destination, she climbed onto the wing. But she was unsuccessful, and the plane took off with her struggling to cling to the wing — still trying to retrieve her AirPods.
It was literally a nightmare scenario. "I woke up crying," she said.
The whole ordeal had been an exceptionally vivid dream.
Hope, a design student who asked to be identified by her first name only, says she, like most people, has had stress dreams in the past. But this one — the only, so far, to feature her AirPods — affected her much more than other dreams. Read more...
With the influx of Bluetooth speakers on the market, consumers are faced with an embarrassment of riches. But think of it as a delightful dilemma. You're no longer relegated to only a handful of options that you most likely don't even want; you quite literally have hundreds and thousands of options to choose from.
Need to procure speakers with excellent sound quality? All it takes is one Google search. Want one that you can carry on a hiking trip? There's a speaker designed for that. If your motive for buying new speakers is purely for recreational purposes, though, we have the perfect suggestion: the iHome flask-shaped Bluetooth speaker — a speaker that screams F-U-N. Read more...
Put simply, Microsoft Excel is one of the best tools to master for data-driven workplaces. (Which, if you think about it, is essentially everywhere.)
You can project your company’s revenue, seamlessly navigate complex data in order to pull actionable insights, as well as organize, structure, and streamline different essential reporting. If you were your boss, even you'd be impressed.
Of course, this is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to Excel’s capabilities. So it’s no surprise to us that this particular piece of computing software continues to reign supreme in almost every workplace. That means mastering Excel isn’t just going to make you look good; for many job functions, understanding the ins and outs of the platform is absolutely critical. Read more...
The Apple Watch is often regarded as a perfect piece of tech. Not only is it trendy, but it's also extremely customizable and feature-rich, leaving little to be desired. But even then, you can still trick it out with accessories to improve your experience.
Whether you're on the hunt for a new charging dock or a stylish strap, you can find something you want in this roundup of discounted Apple Watch accessories:
For something as sleek as the Apple Watch, it's only fitting that you park it on something with the same aesthetic. Featuring a modern design, the Nomad Stand is an aircraft-grade, precision-cut aluminum stand that holds your watch upright and keeps your charging cable out of sight. Its high-friction rubber footing and copper alloy base allow for stability, while the space between the design makes sure your $399 timepiece isn't scratched. Read more...
Succession is hardly the first show to notice that the rich are not like you and me. We've all heard the power corrupts, that money is the root of all evil, and also that greed is good; we've all ogled the reality-show mansions and indulged in the princess fantasies.
What makes Succession stand out, however, is that it's the rare show about wealth that doesn't make it look particularly fun. The first season of Jesse Armstrong's HBO drama introduced us to the Roys, the tight-knit clan behind a lucrative media empire, and then picked them apart bit by bit, revealing them to be even more dysfunctional than we'd previously imagined. They're warped by privilege, starved for love, and ensnared by their father's looming legacy. Read more...
Everyone hates parking tickets. Not everyone, however, is an information security researcher with a mischievous side and a freshly minted vanity license plate reading "NULL."
That would be Droogie (his handle, if that's not obvious), a presenter at this year's DEF CON hacking conference in Las Vegas and man with a very specific problem: He's on the receiving end of thousands of dollars worth of tickets that aren't his. But don't tell that to the DMV.
It wasn't, of course, supposed to end up this way. In fact, exactly the opposite. Droogie registered a vanity California license plate consisting solely of the word "NULL" — which in programming is a term for a value of zero — for fun. And, he admitted to laughs, on the off chance it would confuse automatic license plate readers and the DMV's ticketing system. Read more...
Nina Kollars just wanted a cheaper cup of coffee. Stumbling across an online credit card fraud ring was simply an added bonus.
As she explained to a crowd at the annual DEF CON hacking conference in Las Vegas, the associate professor at the Naval War College didn't set out to become an unwitting money mule accidentally helping to defraud senior citizens, but hey, not everything goes the way you think it will.
Kollars, a fan of Nespresso coffee pods, had found what seemed to be an amazing deal on eBay: 200 of the pods listed at half price. So she placed her order, and, soon after paying via PayPal, her order arrived — along with a brand-new $280 Nespresso espresso maker that she hadn't ordered or paid for. Read more...
We don't know what jade vagina eggs are supposed to do, but helping memory clearly isn't one of them. Goop founder and Marvel star Gwyneth Paltrow has a reputation for forgetting her fellow stars in some of the biggest blockbusters of movie history — including, most recently, Nick Fury himself.
First it was Sebastian Stan, the Winter Soldier, who starred alongside Paltrow in several Avengers movies and had to reintroduce himself to her three times (and counting). Then it was the entirety of the Spider-Man: Homecoming cast, when Paltrow completely forgot she was in the movie while doing an episode of The Chef Show inspired by her role in said movie. Read more...
A man in a hotdog suit repeatedly smashes a computer with a sledgehammer as raucous cheers fill the room.
No, you did not just wander into a David Lynch dreamscape, but rather the d(struction)20 CTF at the annual DEF CON hacking conference in Las Vegas. The competition, which pits a group of hackers and researchers against each other in random security and cryptography challenges, comes with a very DEF CON-esque twist: Participants are subject to the roll of a 20-sided die, and the resulting number corresponds to physical damage inflicted upon their computer. Then they have to complete the next challenge. Read more...
Look, I get it. Temperatures are rising, leaders are getting dumber, and it seems like an apocalypse is nigh. We're all freaked — including at least one member of the social media team at Charleston, S.C.'s paper, The Post and Courier.
How do I know? Just look at this tweet posted on Friday, linking to a story about Bubba Gump Shrimp Co.'s Charleston location closing.
Here in Charleston it really doesn't matter when restaurants open or close because one day the entire city will be underwater, nothing will exist, and all our pain and suffering will disappear.
Your luck can change on the dime in New York City — and rain will likely have something to do with it.
The Big Apple has been dealing with the torrential effects of bad storms over the past several months. Up until now we've only seen endless, hellish Twitter videos of subway flooding. But now, in a time-lapse video captured on an iPhone XR, we can get a different perspective on the city's weather problems. The video comes courtesy of Reddit user allsp49, who shot it from a vantage point in Jersey City, right across the water from Manhattan.
Robocalls are a menace to modern society. So you resort to a third-party app to block them and all's well, right? Actually, no.
As it turns out, many popular robocall-blocking apps such as TrapCall and Truecaller don't have your best interests in mind.
According to TechCrunch and Dan Hastings, a security researcher at NCC Group, many top robocall-blocking apps share your phone number with analytics firms and uploading device information such as device type and software version to companies like Facebook without your explicit consent,
Yikes!
And while some these apps released "fixes" after getting caught red-handed, the damage is already done. How can you even trust any of them anymore? You could go and read their lengthy privacy policies to see exactly what data they collect, or you can find another way to block and reduce robocalls without using third-party apps. Here's how you can do that. Read more...
The Hunt won't be making its planned Sept. 27 release, and there's no timeline for when it will hit theaters.
Universal officially shelved the upcoming Blumhouse thriller on Saturday, confirming the decision in a statement provided to Mashable. The story of rich elites capturing "deplorables" and hunting them in some unnamed foreign location is just a bit too raw for the present moment.
"While Universal Pictures had already paused the marketing campaign for The Hunt, after thoughtful consideration, the studio has decided to cancel our plans to release the film, ” the statement reads. "We stand by our filmmakers and will continue to distribute films in partnership with bold and visionary creators, like those associated with this satirical social thriller, but we understand that now is not the right time to release this film." Read more...
We don't know what a double-double dismount from the beam is, but Simone Biles just pulled it off, so we know it's a miracle already.
She's won four gold medals for the United States already, but Biles couldn't wait for the 2020 Olympics to make headlines for her unmatched talents. At the U.S. Gymnastics Championships on Friday, she achieved a double-twisting somersault dismount off the balance beam, which as the announcer points out, had never been attempted before in a competition.
And your girl nailed it. The 22-year-old gave a knowing, beaming smile — before sauntering away like it was no big deal to make history (again). Read more...
The Empire is striking back... in Bristol, England.
There's nothing to fear if you live there and notice a giant Darth Vader head floating overhead.
The Star Wars hot air balloon is part of the Bristol International Balloon Fiesta, the largest annual meeting of hot air balloons from around the world, running from Aug. 8-11.
But unlike the 130-plus hot air balloons that show up at the event, this particular Darth Vader hot air balloon, which was made in Bristol and has flown in cities around the world, never flew in its hometown until now.
A landfill of nearly 200 acres of trash grows daily and torments residents on the outskirts of Morocco's largest city. No one knows quite what to do about it.
His great-great-uncle Ernie McDowell provided Radcliffe with a lot of inspiration during his filming of WWI drama "My Boy Jack." Unfortunately, McDowell's story is a sad one.
Pitt's one of the most movie star–looking movie stars out there. But his best performances, from Fight Club to Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, have been in scene-stealing supporting roles.
Browse securely and privately even on a shared WiFi connection with Hotspot Shield VPN. Opt for the three-year plan, and you can save hundreds of dollars off the sticker price.
You can rarely get Apple products on sale, so if you want to get the most bang for your buck, buy refurbished: this Apple MacBook Air 11.6" 128GB WiFi Silver (Certified Refurbished) offers 4GB of RAM, a 1366x768 resolution LED-backlit display and nine hours of battery life. Normally $999, it's just $369.99 today.
Front lawns have limited habitat potential, consume millions of gallons of pesticide and contribute to climate change. How did Americans begin their love affair for them?
The Harlem Cultural Festival attracted everyone from Stevie Wonder and Nina Simone to RFK and Jesse Jackson, but quickly faded into obscurity. Fifty years later, a rediscovery is finally underway
* Three-year-old security treaty between US and two key allies under threat as tensions between Seoul and Tokyo continue to escalate * End of General Security of Military Information Agreement risks undermining Washington's influence in the region
The possible termination of a military information-sharing pact between South Korea and Japan would be a symbolic victory for China, a security analyst has warned.
Recent tension between the two countries recently threatened to spill over into the sphere of intelligence after Seoul signalled that it may pull out of the General Security of Military Information Agreement (GSOMIA) pact.
The agreement signed in 2016 enables three-way intelligence gathering between the US and its two allies and provides a crucial framework for coping with North Korea's nuclear and missile threats.
But the escalating trade dispute between Seoul and Tokyo, prompted by a dispute about Japan's colonial legacy, has left the future of the deal in jeopardy as the annual deadline for its renewal looms.
WNU Editor: The current trade dispute between South Korea and Japan coupled with a dispute about Japan's colonial legacy has poisoned relations between Japan and South Korea. The U.S. has limited leverage in trying to get both countries to abide with this intel-military sharing agreement.
Red faces in Moscow this weekend, with the news that hackers have successfully targeted FSB—Russia's Federal Security Service. The hackers managed to steal 7.5 terabytes of data from a major contractor, exposing secret FSB projects to de-anonymize Tor browsing, scrape social media, and help the state split its internet off from the rest of the world. The data was passed to mainstream media outlets for publishing.
FSB is Russia's primary security agency with parallels with the FBI and MI5, but its remit stretches beyond domestic intelligence to include electronic surveillance overseas and significant intelligence-gathering oversight. It is the primary successor agency to the infamous KGB, reporting directly to Russia's president.
All-seeing 24/7 video surveillance technology, first developed for use in war, is now affordable enough to be used domestically to fight crime and terrorism. Some lawmakers are wary.
Over a period of three months in 2016, a small aircraft circled above the same parts of West Baltimore that so recently drew the ire of President Trump. Operated by a company called Persistent Surveillance Systems, the plane was equipped with 12 cameras which, at 8,000 feet, could take in 32 square miles of city in minute detail.
This system is an update of one originally designed for the Air Force, which was used in Iraq to provide aerial intelligence to Marines as they rolled into Fallujah, says Ross McNutt, founder and president of Persistent Surveillance Systems. Only this time, it was being used to catch criminals in the U.S.
Across 300 hours of flight time, the system captured 23 shootings, five of them fatal. In some instances, detective could use this 192-megapixel gods'-eye view to trace suspects to their getaway cars, then rewind to points when those cars had passed in front of one of the city's 744 closed-circuit cameras.
Jeffrey Epstein's apparent suicide in federal custody provokes skepticism among online conspiracy theorists as well as some officials who question how he could have killed himself in a highly secured part of the prison. https://t.co/OI3mKoO4X0
🇬🇹 Guatemalans worried by corruption, poverty, gang violence and migration head to the polls on Sunday to decide which of two candidates will be their next president: center-left former first lady Sandra Torres or conservative Alejandro Giammattei https://t.co/vJiDsRE7lYpic.twitter.com/ho5aDUc4jS
In India's curfew-smothered Kashmir valley, the city of Srinagar is coming up on one week without internet or phones, its 1.5 million residents cooped up in their homes unless they have a curfew pass https://t.co/40HxrvrKkU 📷 @TauseefMUSTAFApic.twitter.com/yzFL09CYKL
Holy sh*t! A new missile! Not KN-23, though similar flight profile. This is the third brand new missile system North Korea has tested since Hanoi, and the fourth new system they've shown us (purported SSBN being the fourth). They've been busy https://t.co/eeZHmwGsEV
WATCH: After a failed bid in July, French inventor Franky Zapata successfully crossed the English Channel riding a jet-powered hoverboard he designed pic.twitter.com/lK4XdWGnCQ
The studio's decision came a day after President Trump took aim at the film, saying it was "made to inflame and cause chaos." The story follows a group of elites hunting "deplorables" for sport.
Universal has decided to scrap the release of The Hunt — an R-rated satire in which elites hunt "deplorables" for sport — following a series of mass shootings across the country. The film had been set to hit theaters on Sept. 27.
The studio's Saturday announcement came a day after President Donald Trump took aim at the film — though he didn't name its title — and Hollywood, saying on Twitter, "Liberal Hollywood is Racist at the highest level, and with great Anger and Hate! They like to call themselves "Elite," but they are not Elite. In fact, it is often the people that they so strongly oppose that are actually the Elite. The movie coming out is made in order to inflame and cause chaos. They create their own violence, and then try to blame others. They are the true Racists, and are very bad for our Country!"
Tehran says it will have the right to take action if Israel becomes involved in the US-led naval mission
Iran has warned Israel against aiding a United States-led maritime mission in the Gulf, saying it reserved the right to confront such a "clear threat".
The comments on Friday by foreign ministry spokesman Abbas Mousavi came after Israeli media reported that Israel's Minister of Foreign Affairs Israel Katz had told colleagues in a closed-door meeting on Tuesday that the country was assisting the US-led coalition with intelligence and other unspecified aid.
The People's Liberation Army—the official name of the Chinese Army—still rides yaks to patrol some of the country's most difficult borders. The use of yaks, basically hairy cows adapted to mountain life, allows the PLA to go places tanks and armored vehicles can't. Here's why a surprising number of military forces, including the German Army and the U.S. Marine Corps regularly make use of, or at least train to use beasts of burden in modern war.
China Defense Blog has a number of what it says are the PLA's only yak unit. The photos show Chinese soldiers, wearing digital camouflage and shouldering QBZ-95 assault rifles, crossing streams, mountainsides, and gorgeous, snow-capped hills.
After 24 years in special operations, you get an idea of what stuff works and what doesn't. These are one soldier's top picks for average folks.
Well, let's start with a universal truism in life. Stuff. A path through any human life is populated by and littered with stuff, right? The legendary comedian and brilliant truth-teller George Carlin captured this reality in his classic comedy bit "A Place For My Stuff." I may connect with that bit deeper in a future article, but for this article, I want to talk about stuff in a soldier's life.
Of course, in the Army, we can't call it just "stuff." It is "gear" or "kit," or sometimes, and more boringly, "OCIE"—organizational clothing and individual equipment.
But who are we kidding? It's stuff.
What I want to discuss is a few key items across a spectrum of categories that have been my go-to "stuff" during a 24-year career filled with actual combat deployments and that remain so in my life as a civilian today. Why? Because this stuff just works. And when something works, you don't discard it. You incorporate it into your life forever.
WNU Editor: I have the knife, multitool, military flashlight (two of them actually), socks (of course), duct-tape (always), and the watch (Russian version). I may get the gloves.
Government official claims 'it's all over' as serious fractures within the Saudi-led coalition threaten fresh conflict
Yemen's southern separatists have seized control of the port city of Aden after storming the presidential palace, the seat of the internationally-recognised government, ripping apart a Gulf coalition fighting rebels in the north and sparking fears of a new war.
Yemeni officials confirmed that the Southern Transitional Council, which was once part of a Gulf-backed coalition fighting the Houthi rebels, had taken all of the government military camps in the strategic city. A separatist commander later claimed they also seized the presidential palace.
The country's recognised foreign ministry called the action a "coup" while an official within the government told Reuters "it's all over".
Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro is isolated, and key members of his governing coalition have secretly begun searching for an exit strategy, with some ready to oust him if it gains them safe passage out of the current crisis, the country's former spy chief says.
"There are many people [inside the regime] that have done business [and accumulated a lot of money], and are basically not interested in Maduro staying. That is the truth," said Gen. Manuel Cristopher Figuera, the former head of the Bolivarian National Intelligence Service, who defected in April after taking part in an effort to have Maduro leave power.
WNU Editor: There are probably a lot of men in Maduro's inner circle who want to see him gone, but there are also a lot who want him to remain where he is.
Women and children wait to be registered prior to a food distribution carried out by the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) in Thonyor, Leer state, South Sudan, February 26, 2017. REUTERS/Siegfried Modola
Famines have all but disappeared outside of war zones.
Adequate nutrition is a basic requirement for human survival, yet food was always scarce. The prevalence of food shortages can be gleaned from the profusion of commonly used idioms, such as "feast today, famine tomorrow," children's stories, such as Hansel and Gretel, and scriptural references, such as the Biblical Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, in which Famine accompanies Pestilence, War and Death. In fact, the greatest famine of all time occurred between 1958 and 1962, when the Chinese communist ruler Mao Zedong used brute force to nationalize his country's farmland, causing between 23 and 55 million deaths in the process.
U.S. Air Force Tech. Sgt. Brian West watches an Air Force F-35 Lightning II joist strike fighter aircraft approach for the first time July 14, 2011, at Eglin Air Force Base, Fla. (U.S. Air Force photo by Samuel King Jr.)
The 23 U.S. military F-35 stealth fighters in the test fleet at Edwards Air Force Base in California achieved a "fully mission capable" rate of just 8.7 percent in June 2019, according to the F-35 program office.
The 23 U.S. military F-35 stealth fighters in the test fleet at Edwards Air Force Base in California achieved a "fully mission capable" rate of just 8.7 percent in June 2019, according to the F-35 program office.
That's equivalent to around two F-35s that are fully ready for testing.
An expert with the Washington, D.C. Project on Government Oversight described the test force's readiness rate "abysmal" in a recent report on their website. The low mission-capable rate underscores ongoing problems with the F-35's design, testing and production and could weigh on the Pentagon's efforts to accelerate F-35 production and boost the readiness of the frontline fleet.
* The 'Falagh' is an overhauled version of the imported 'Gamma' surveillance radar * The unveiling comes at a time of rising tensions with the US and UK * Iran shot down a US Global Hawk drone with a surface-to-air missile in June
Iran has unveiled a new air defence system today which it says is capable of detecting missiles and drones at a range of 250 miles.
The 'Falagh' is a locally overhauled version of the imported 'Gamma' surveillance radar, the country's semi-official news agency ISNA said, in an apparent reference to a Russian-made system of that name.
It had been inoperable due to 'sanctions, lack of spare parts and the inability of foreign engineers to carry out repairs', it added.
At a conference on the future challenges of intelligence organizations held in 2018, former Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats argued that he transformation of the American intelligence community must be a revolution rather than an evolution. The community must be innovative and flexible, capable of rapidly adopting innovative technologies wherever they may arise.
Intelligence communities across the Western world are now at a crossroads: The growing proliferation of technologies, including artificial intelligence, Big Data, robotics, the Internet of Things, and blockchain, changes the rules of the game. The proliferation of these technologies – most of which are civilian, could create data breaches and lead to backdoor threats for intelligence agencies. Furthermore, since they are affordable and ubiquitous, they could be used for malicious purposes.
* Three of Europe's largest economies — Germany, Italy, and the UK — are either in recession or are on the verge of it, which could spell danger for the eurozone. * Germany, Europe's industrial backbone, is stuttering. The unemployment rate has risen for the second time in three months. * The UK economy contracted for the first time since 2012, as output fell 0.2% in April to June. * Italy's debt crisis is only being made worse by political uncertainty.
Europe could be about to hit a crisis, as three of its largest economies are tanking at the same time. What's more, the European Central Bank looks like it's out of bullets to fire the economy up.
WNU Editor: The French economy is also tanking .... French second-quarter growth slows unexpectedly to 0.2% (Reuters). And while the experts will blame Brexit/trade war/etc. for this slow down, the fact is that with the exception of Germany, the European economy has been a poor performer for years.
Soldiers with the 4th Infantry Division at Fort Carson, Colorado, try the pizza MRE in 2014. After more recent modifications, now it's ready to be packaged into MREs. (David Kamm/U.S. Army Natick Soldier Research, Development and Engineering Center)
Army scientists have developed a method to shrink down a soldier's portable rations to one-third their normal size, which troops say could yield big benefits.
The new vacuum microwave dryer technology can compress the normally bulky Meals, Ready-to-Eat, better known as MREs, into tiny food bars. Not only are some of these bars more nutritious, their smaller size could save both time and space for companies on the move.
"Probably a good idea. Speaking as a quartermaster officer, it will probably reduce overall mass of MRE bulk shipment and may reduce the unfortunate tendency of air-filled MRE elements to 'pop' when dropped with force," Capt. Nick Smith, an Army reservist, told the Washington Examiner.
If you want a vision of the future, imagine a thousand bots screaming from a human face – forever (apologies to George Orwell). As U.S. policymakers remain indecisive over how to prevent a repeat of the 2016 election interference, the threat is looming ever more ominous on the horizon. The public has unfortunately settled on the term "bots" to describe the social media manipulation activities of foreign actors, invoking an image of neat rows of metal automatons hunched over keyboards, when in reality live humans are methodically at work. While the 2016 election mythologized the power of these influence-actors, such work is slow, costly, and labor-intensive. Humans must manually create and manage accounts, hand-write posts and comments, and spend countless hours reading content online to signal-boost particular narratives. However, recent advances in artificial intelligence (AI) may soon enable the automation of much of this work, massively amplifying the disruptive potential of online influence operations.
The U.S. Navy, it seems, is optimized for the blue-water conflagration that's least likely to occur. Question marks surround who would prevail in the scenarios that are most menacing and most likely to occur. Carrier-killing munitions may make the fortress fleet a going concern at last, long after the age of Mahan. And that suits Beijing fine.
Ah, yes, the "carrier-killer." China is forever touting the array of guided missiles its weaponeers have devised to pummel U.S. Navy nuclear-powered aircraft carriers (CVNs). Most prominent among them are its DF-21D and DF-26 antiship ballistic missiles (ASBMs), which the People's Liberation Army (PLA) has made a mainstay of China's anti-access/area-denial (A2/AD) defenses.
WNU Editor: On a day when the weather was miserable but tens of thousands still showed up to protest for fair elections. This is a number that the authorities cannot ignore.
More News On Today's Demonstrations For Free Elections In Russia
The sun sets along the Iraq-Syria border as seen from a 3rd Squadron, 3rd Cavalry Regiment, observation point overlooking the Euphrates River in Iraq, Sept. 28, 2018. (Capt. Jason Welch/Army)
A U.S. service member died Saturday during a mission in Ninewah province, Iraq.
The American was conducting a planned operation alongside Iraqi Security Forces, U.S. officials said in a press release.
"We cannot confirm details of the incident at this time, pending an investigation," officials told Military Times when asked whether the death occurred during combat.
The name of the service member will be withheld until notification of next of kin, officials said.
The service member was part of the Inherent Resolve coalition, which is tasked with ensuring the defeat of the Islamic State.
A general overview of the main facilities at the new US air base in Agadez as of July 2019. The three existing hangars and the new construction next to them are visible just below the runway. Google Earth
Satellite imagery shows work on a new hangar with a separate apron and taxiway as the base gets set to open for flying operations later this year.
Satellite imagery shows the U.S. military is building a new approximately 20,800-square foot hangar along with its own 100,000-square foot apron and associated taxiway at its new air base outside of the city of Agadez in central Niger. The American facilities in Agadez, which will form an important regional hub for U.S. military operations in Northwest Africa, have been actively under construction since 2016. The new runway, while complete, isn't slated to open for actual operations until some time this fall.
We look forward to the day we can help bring the Iranians and their neighbors the peace and prosperity they deserve
The Trump administration has implemented an unprecedented pressure campaign on Iran's leaders with two objectives: First, to deprive the Iranian regime of the money it needs to support its destabilizing activities. Second, to force the Ayatollah Ali Khamenei to the negotiating table to conclude a comprehensive and enduring deal.
The comprehensive deal we seek with the Iranian regime should address four key areas: its nuclear program, its ballistic missile development and proliferation, its support for terrorist groups and proxies, and its treatment and illegal detention of U.S. citizens.
WNU Editor: Sanctions and the other measures that the U.S. has imposed on Iran will take a long time to have an impact. It is too premature to say that the Iran regime is weakening.
World Health Organization records 1,800 malaria deaths since start of year, almost equalling number of lives claimed by Ebola in DRC
A serious outbreak of malaria in Burundi has reached epidemic proportions, killing almost as many people as the Ebola crisis in the nearby Democratic Republic of the Congo.
The outbreak in the tiny Great Lakes country has infected almost half the total population, killing about 1,800 people since the beginning of the year.
According to figures gathered by the World Health Organisation, almost 6 million cases have been recorded since the first week of January to the end of July, with infections reaching crisis levels in May.
The figures look on course to outstrip the epidemic of 2017, when more 6 million cases were recorded for the whole year.
WNU Editor: When half of your population has been infected with a disease .... it is an epidemic. Why the government of Burundi has refused to declare an emergency is beyond me.
President Trump said Saturday that he plans to meet with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un "in the not too distant future," alluding to a third possible summit between the two to leaders discuss denuclearization of the Korean peninsula.
Trump tweeted early Saturday that Kim had sent him a letter seeking a meeting to start negotiations between Washington and Pyongyang following the conclusion of the United States's joint exercises with South Korea.
"It was a long letter, much of it complaining about the ridiculous and expensive exercises," Trump wrote, adding that Kim apologized for testing short range missiles and claimed the "testing would stop when the exercises end."
WNU Editor: I am sure they will be meeting again, and probably a few times in the next year. As for President Trump's remarks on military exercises. They are expensive to hold but they are not "ridiculous". They are necessary to keep a military prepared to meet any conflict.
More News On President Trump's Remarks On North Korean Leader Kim Jong-Un's Letter
BENGHAZI, Libya — A bomb-laden vehicle exploded Saturday outside a shopping mall in Libya’s eastern city of Benghazi, killing at least two U.N. security staff, health officials said. The attack came even as the country’s warring sides said they accepted a cease-fire proposed by the U.N. aimed at halting combat in the capital Tripoli during an upcoming Muslim holiday.
The officials said the blast took place outside Arkan Mall in the Hawari neighborhood, where people were gathering for shopping a day before the Eid al-Adha holiday begins. The Benghazi municipal council said the attack targeted a convoy for the U.N. Support Mission in Libya.
The site of the attack is close to offices of the U.N. support mission in Libya. The officials said the two dead hailed from Libya and Fuji. The blast also wounded nine people, including a 3-year-old child and a U.N. staff member from Jamaica, the health officials said.
The U.N. special envoy for Libya, Ghassan Salame, condemned what he called a “cowardly attack.”
“This attack will not discourage us, nor will it prevent us from carrying on with our duties to bring about peace, stability and prosperity to Libya and its people,” he said in a statement.
Salame said the commitment of the parties of the U.N.-proposed cease-fire in Tripoli “sends an irrevocable message that the blood of Libyans, and UN staff, … was not shed in vain in this heinous explosion.”
Footage circulated online shows what appears to be burnt U.N.-owned vehicles, as thick smoke bellows into the sky.
The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to brief reporters.
No group immediately claimed responsibility for the attack, which came just a month after two bomb-laden vehicles went off in Benghazi, the stronghold for the self-styled Libyan National Army. The July attack killed at least four people and wounded 33 others.
The warring sides, meanwhile, said they accepted a multi-day truce for the Eid holiday, which begins Sunday.
Earlier this week, the U.N. envoy for Libya Ghassan Salame urged the LNA and the U.N.-supported government to declare a cease-fire for the holiday.
The Tripoli-based government on Friday responded positively to the proposal, while LNA spokesman Ahmed al-Mosmari told a news conference in the eastern city of Benghazi on Saturday that they would abide by the cease-fire from Saturday to Monday.
If it takes place, the cease-fire would be the first since the LNA, led by military commander Khalifa Hifter, launched a surprise military offensive on April 4 aimed at capturing Tripoli, ushering in fierce battels with militias loosely allied with a U.N.-supported but weak administration in the capital.
The battle for Tripoli has killed over 1,100 people, mostly combatants, and has displaced more than 100,000 civilians.
Thousands of African migrants captured by Libyan forces supported by the European Union are trapped in detention centers near the front lines. An airstrike on one facility early last month killed more than 50 people, mainly migrants held in a hangar that collapsed on top of them.
In past weeks, the battle lines have changed little, with both sides dug in and shelling one another in the southern reaches of the capital. They also resorted heavily to airstrikes and attacks by drones.
The LNA is the largest and best organized of the country’s many militias, and enjoys the support of Egypt, the United Arab Emirates and Russia. But it has faced stiff resistance from fighters aligned with the U.N.-recognized government, which is aided by Turkey and Qatar.
Libya slid into chaos after the 2011 uprising that toppled and killed long-ruling dictator Moammar Gadhafi. Armed groups have proliferated, and the country has emerged as a major transit point for migrants fleeing war and poverty for a better life in Europe.
MOSCOW — Tens of thousands of people rallied Saturday in one of Moscow’s biggest political protests in recent years, denouncing the exclusion of opposition and independent candidates from the Russian capital’s city council ballot.
The rally was the fourth consecutive weekend demonstration in Moscow over the local election. The determined opposition has prompted protests in other cities, reflecting widespread frustration with Russia’s tightly controlled politics.
An arrest monitoring group said 70 people were arrested Saturday in St. Petersburg at an unsanctioned demonstration in support of the Moscow protests.
OVD-Info said 10 people were detained in connection with the Moscow rally, but it was not immediately clear on what grounds.
Unlike the previous two Moscow rallies, where police harshly dispersed the crowds and detained thousands of demonstrators, Saturday’s gathering in a neighborhood with relatively few passers-by was officially sanctioned.
It was held on a street flanked by high buildings and sandwiched between two busy thoroughfares.
A group that monitors attendance of public meetings, Beliy Schetchik, said it counted about 50,000 people at the demonstration; a police estimate put the crowd at 20,000.
Some opposition figures called for an unauthorized march to follow the permitted rally, but it was unclear if the action would materialize.
Lyubov Sobol, one of the city council candidates denied a place on the ballot and a spearhead of the election protest, was among those detained in Moscow on Saturday.
A video on Sobol’s Twitter feed showed officers breaking into her office as she demanded an explanation from them.
Small related protests also were reported in several Siberian cities on Saturday.
HONG KONG —After the protesters evacuated, the residents took their place.
In one Hong Kong neighborhood on Saturday, riot police fired multiple rounds of tear gas, prompting demonstrators to flee after they started a fire outside a police station and threw eggs at its exterior. But while the pro-democracy protesters left to occupy yet another district, the residents who were watching from the sidelines descended by the hundreds.
They watched as officers grabbed a woman who was wearing neither a black shirt nor a mask — the telltale attire of a protester. The crowd surrounded the police and yelled: “Let her go! Let her go!”
More than two months of mass demonstrations in Hong Kong have given way to routine clashes between protesters and police. As protesters lead police from neighborhood to neighborhood, leaving hastily constructed road blocks in their wake, residents across the districts have increasingly been caught in the fray.
Not all are supportive of the movement, which began in June against an extradition bill that would have allowed Hong Kong residents to be sent to the mainland to stand trial. It has since morphed into calls for broader democratic reforms and violent acts of defiance against the police, who in turn have been accused of excessive force and deliberate negligence.
“I support them, though I don’t agree with all their methods,” Annie Chan, a 51-year-old accountant, said at a shopping plaza that protesters briefly occupied. “Most of us middle-aged people understand that the younger generation feels helpless.”
Police said they used tear gas on Saturday to disperse protesters who blocked roads and one major cross-harbor tunnel. Following a pattern established in past weekends, the demonstrations continued into the night despite police refusal to grant permission for the public gatherings.
Tear gas was fired at a crowd of some 1,000 people in a brief evening standoff at a commuter rail station in Tai Wai in the northern region of New Territories. In a separate incident, tear gas was fired at protesters who surrounded a police station in the Tsim Sha Tsui district on the northern side of Hong Kong’s harbor, opposite Hong Kong Island.
Earlier, afternoon protest marches went ahead in two areas, Wong Tai Sin and Tai Po, despite a police refusal of permission for the gatherings.
A former British colony, Hong Kong was returned to China in 1997 under the principle of “one country, two systems,” which promises the city’s residents certain democratic rights not afforded to people on the mainland. But in recent years, some in the territory have accused the Communist Party-ruled central government of steadily chipping away at their freedoms.
“I miss the British colony,” said a protester at Tai Po, Alexandra Wong, who carried two British flags and wore a T-shirt that said, “Establish a Democratic China.”
“After 1997, young people don’t see a future,” she said.
Wong, 73, was among protesters carrying British, Taiwanese or U.S. flags. Some chide them for playing into Beijing’s claim that hostile foreign forces are behind the demonstrations.
Of those accusations, Wong said: “I don’t care what the government says. They will say anything.”
Demonstrators say they no longer trust authorities after 44 civilians were injured in a mob attack at a commuter rail station last month. The assailants were all dressed in white in an apparent rebuttal to the protesters’ trademark black. While the extradition bill has since been suspended, protesters say they won’t rest until it’s fully withdrawn. The legislation’s critics said it would threaten Hong Kong’s coveted judicial independence and expose residents to the political trials that are common in the mainland.
Police have arrested more than 500 protesters since early June on charges such as unlawful assembly, possessing offensive weapons and rioting, which carries a maximum penalty of 10 years in jail. On a shopping street Saturday, hundreds of people who appeared to be local residents and passers-by surrounded police officers who arrested a woman. They did not respond to the crowd’s questions about why she was being arrested.
The angered residents first surrounded the police officers who had apprehended her and then the police vehicle that she was placed in. They booed and shouted one of the movement’s catchphrases: “Hong Kong police know the law and break the law!”
Earlier in the day, a Hong Kong-based association of people from southern Fujian province gathered around police stations to show their support for law enforcement. They held up large in Chinese flags and signs that read, “Support the Police Line, Firmly Enforce the Law.”
Also on Saturday, several thousand people continued the second day of protests at Hong Kong’s busy international airport. They chanted slogans, set up TV sets to show video of recent protests and handed out leaflets explaining the controversy over the proposed extradition law and demands for universal voting rights.
In another district, a group of parents staged a separate march that was approved by police. They called for better protection for children following incidents in which ordinary people have been caught in clashes between police and protesters.
“It’s dangerous to bring my child to participate in any protest,” said Natalie Lee, who was with her 2-year-old daughter. “Today’s march provides a good opportunity for us to bring our children to voice our demands and I hope more peaceful protesters will come out too.”
Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam defended her government’s handling of the protests in a phone call with Britain’s foreign secretary, Dominic Raab.
The protests have strained Beijing’s relations with Britain, which has called on China to honor the terms of their handover agreement and the freedoms its promises.
In the call Friday, Lam told Raab that while her government “respects the diverse views held by members of the public on various issues as well as the freedoms of speech and assembly, it will not let violence and illegal behaviors disrupt public order,” according to a statement issued by her office.
___
Associated Press news assistant Phoebe Lai and videojournalist Johnson Lai in Hong Kong and writer Joe McDonald in Beijing contributed to this report.
BERKELEY HEIGHTS, N.J. — President Donald Trump said Saturday that North Korea’s Kim Jong Un wants to meet once again to “start negotiations” after joint U.S.-South Korea military exercises end. He also said Kim apologized for the flurry of recent short-range missile tests that has rattled U.S. allies in the region.
Trump is tweeting more details from the “beautiful” three-page letter he told reporters on Friday that he’d received from Kim. Trump, who is on vacation at his golf club in New Jersey, said Kim spent much of his letter complaining about “the ridiculous and expensive exercises,” which North Korea sees as a threat.
He said Kim offered him “a small apology” for the recent tests and assured him “that this testing would stop when the exercises end.” North Korea on Saturday fired what appeared to be two short-range ballistic missiles into the sea, according to South Korea’s military — the fifth round of launches in less than three weeks.
“I look forward to seeing Kim Jong Un in the not too distant future!” Trump wrote.
The two leaders have met three times — in Singapore, Hanoi and at the Korean Demilitarized Zone — but critics say Trump has received few concessions in the standoff over North Korea’s nuclear weapons program in exchange for the meetings.
At their second summit in Vietnam in February, Trump rejected Kim’s demand for widespread sanctions relief in exchange for dismantling the North’s main nuclear complex, a partial disarmament step.
The U.S. and South Korea have scaled down their major military exercises since Trump and Kim’s first summit in June 2018. But the North insists even the downsized drills violate agreements between Kim and Trump and compel it to “develop, test and deploy the powerful physical means essential for national defense.”
When they last met in June of this year, Trump and Kim agreed to resume working-level nuclear talks that have been stalled since February, but there have been no known meetings between the two sides since then.
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BODIES of Russian scientists killed following a colossal nuclear radiation explosion have mysteriously vanished, arousing suspicions corpses have been thrown into the sea.
IRAN'S Revolutionary Guard has claimed that its gunboats chased down the Royal Navy's destroyer HMS Duncan after releasing a dramatic video of the alleged event.
EUROPE is preparing for a shock 7.0-magnitude earthquake, amid concerns that a doomsday mega-quake could unleash a tsunami into Mediterranean's tourist hotspots.
CHILLING footage from Russia has intensified fears of a nuclear radiation accident after ambulances were spotted lined with protective chemical sheets and hospitals workers were seen wearing hazmat suits.
FEARS of all out war in the Middle East have surged after a senior advisor to the Iranian Parliament warned that "smoke will rise from Tel Aviv" if Israel joins a US led coalition aimed at protecting shipping in the Strait of Hormuz.
ITALIAN deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini has delivered a withering put-down to Richard Gere after the movie star urged the Italian government to stop "demonising" migrants - telling him to "take them back to your Hollywood villas".
FUKISHIMA nuclear plant in Japan, which went into meltdown after a massive earthquake and tsunami in 2011, is running out of storage space for radioactive water, raising the prospect of an alarming spillage which could have huge environmental implications.
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NHAI Recruitment 2019 – Apply Online for 30 Young Professional Vacancies. National Highway Authority of India announced a Notification for the Young Professional, Legal Post. Accordingly, 30 Vacancies are tentatively allotted for NHAI Jobs. Central Government Jobs seekers can check this NHAI Notification for the Young Professional Posts. The National Highway Authority of India Apply online Link is active, Interested can begin to register for the NHAI Recruitment 2019.
Candidates will be recruited on Contractual basis. Aspirants completed a Degree in Law from a recognized university can apply for the NHAI Recruitment. Applicants will be selected on the merit-base in CLAT (PG) 2018 Score. The closing date of the NHAI Job online application is 23rd August 2019. Aspirants satisfying the eligibility conditions as per the NHAI Notification can start applying for the vacancies. Get NHAI Careers @www.nhai.org.
NHAI Recruitment 2019 based on CLAT (PG) 2018 Score
Eligibility Criteria for National Highway Recruitment 2019
Educational Qualification
Completed Degree in LAW from a recognized University / National Law School/Institution.
Preferable – Experience in the field of law related to contractual matters/arbitration /legislative matters/land acquisition
Age Limit:
Maximum Age Limit – 32 Years
Age Relaxation:
As per the Govt. of India Instructions.
Application Fee:
Refer to Official Notification of NHAI Recruitment 2019.
Salary Structure:
Applicants selected for the Young Professional Job through NHAI Recruitment will get a good salary with 5% annual increment depends on the satisfactory performance.
Rs 60,000/- Per Month
Selection Process:
Merit-Based – CLAT (Post Graduate) 2018 Score
How to Apply Online for West Bengal Police Recruitment 2019?
Click on the Apply Online link given below.
Enter basic details, address details, and educational details.
Fill the CLAT (PG) Exam 2018 Registration number, Score, and rank details.
Upload scanned copies of essential documents.
Read the declaration and tick on I Agree.
Hit on Next option and proceed to the further step.
Recheck with the details in the application preview page.
Finally, Submits the application form and take a printout for future reference.
NHAI Recruitment 2019. Apply for 46 Assistant Manager & Other Posts: National Highway Authority of India has been released the notification for all over the Indians by stuffing 46 Assistant Manager & Other Posts in NHAI Delhi. Eligible and Interested aspirants are invited to apply for the Vacancies in NHAI through Offline Mode by Post. Competitors can send their duly filled applications by the Last date of 19th August 2019 @ www.nhai.gov.in.
National Highway Authority of India announces to recruit the eligible candidates from various states by giving the Official Notification from NHAI jobs 2019. Candidates belonging to SC / ST / Minority Communities/ladies are especially welcome and should apply in large numbers for NHAI Careers. Those who are seeking for Central Government Jobs can send the application from 20th June 2019. Get more details about NHAI Careers @ www.nhai.org.
Sr. Principal Private Secretary & Principal Private Secretary:
Bachelor Degree from a recognized university.
Private Secretary & Personal Assistant:
12th or equivalent from a recognized Board of Education/Institute; Dictation of 10 minutes at the speed of 100 words per minute in Shorthand (English/Hindi) and transcription time (on computer only) is 40 minutes for English and 55 minutes for Hindi.
Assistant Manager (LEGAL):
Degree in Law from a recognized University/Institute; and 2 years experience in the field of law related to contractual matters/arbitration/legislative matters/ land acquisition.
Deputation Period:
Name of the Posts
Deputation Period
Sr. Principal Private Secretary
02
Principal Private Secretary
03
Private Secretary
03
Personal Assistant
03
Assistant Manager (LEGAL)
03
Age Limit:
Maximum Age – 56 years
Application Fee:
Check out the Official Notification Pdf to know about the Application Fee.
NHAI Salary:
Name of the Post
Salary
Sr. Principal Private Secretary
Pay Band-3 (Rs.15600-39100) with Grade Pay Rs.7600/-(pre-revised) equivalent to level 12 of Pay Matrix of 7th CPC
Principal Private Secretary
Pay Band-3 (Rs.15600-39100) with Grade Pay Rs.6600/-(pre-revised) equivalent to level 11 of Pay Matrix of 7th CPC
Private Secretary
Pay Band-2 (Rs.9300-34800) with Grade Pay Rs.4800/-(pre-revised) equivalent to level 8 of Pay Matrix of 7th CPC
Personal Assistant
Pay Band-2 (Rs.9300-34800) with Grade Pay Rs.4600/-(pre-revised) equivalent to level 7 of Pay Matrix of 7th CPC
AssistantManager (LEGAL)
Pay Band-2 (Rs.9300-34800) with Grade Pay Rs.4800/-(pre-revised) equivalent to level 8 of Pay Matrix of 7th CPC
Selection Process:
Selection Procedure for NHAI Recruitment 2019 includes,
Written Examination
Interview Process
How to Apply OFFLINE for NHAI Recruitment 2019
Download the NHAI Recruitment Official Notification Pdf to know in detail about the Vacancies of NHAI
Then Download the Application Form.
Fill in all the details.
Attach the necessary documents listed in Official Notification.
Recheck the filled details.
Post the Application Form to the below listed postal address before the last date.
Postal Address:
Ajay Malik, DGM (HR&Admn.)-I Plot No: G – 5&6, Sector – 10 Dwarka, New Delhi – 110075
Certificates to be produced:
Enclose attested copies of Annual Confidential Reports for the last five years along with a discipline/vigilance clearance certifying that no penalty is imposed against the officer for the last ten years, integrity certificate and no penalty certificate.
Certify that the particulars are given by the candidates in their application, regarding the details of educational qualification, relevant experience and pay particulars, etc. have been verified from the service records and are true, correct and complete for the post applied for
Certify the position/status of the candidate in the hierarchical structure of the organization along with respective grades and pay scales.
The NHAI was created by the National Highways Authority of India Act, 1988. Section 16(1) of the Act states that the function of NHAI is to develop, maintain and manage the national highways and any other highways registered in or entrusted to, it by the Government of India.
NHAI came into operations on February 1995 and was formally made an autonomous body. It is responsible for the development, maintenance, and management of National Highways, totaling over 92,851.05 km (57,694.97 mi) in length. The NHAI is also responsible for the toll collection on several highways. Yogendra Narain was the first Chairman of NHAI in 1988. He is a retired IAS officer of Uttar Pradesh cadre.
UPSC CDS Result 2019: for CDS II Examination is live now. Union Public Service Commission finally has given the CDS II Recruitment 2019 OTA Final Result. Furthermore, We providing you with a link to help you make easy in reaching your UPSC CDS II Final Result 2019 below. However, candidates can directly download the UPSC CDS II OTA Final Result PDF from the link given in the table below. We advise visiting the official Website of UPSC for any Queries regarding the UPSC CDS II Final Result 2019.
UPSC CDS II Final Result marks are available now. The Name Wise UPSC CDS Marks is announced by the Board on 09th August 2019. Hence, the aspirant who is eligible can check the UPSC CDS II Final Marks from the Pdf attached below. Hence, click on the UPSC CDS Marks Download link and check the UPSC Marks 2019.
The UPSC CDS Result 2019: Individuals who had dreamed of joining the Defence Service in the country have applied for the Combined Defence Service Exam. The UPSC will be conducting the exams for Indian Army, Navy and Air Force. Online applications were available from 08th August 2018 to 03rd September 2018. Candidates who had applied before the last date have received UPSC CDS Admit Card on 25th October 2018. However, the UPSC CDS exam will be held on 18th November 2019. Candidates who had written the UPSC Exam in February, their results have been declared. Candidates can check the UPSC CDS Results in UPSC Official Website. However, we have provided a direct link for candidates to check their results. Hence, go through all the important details from the below table and download UPSC result 2019.
Union Public Service Commission has released the results of the Combined Defence Service Exam. UPSC CDS Notification details are given above. Furthermore, Candidates can go through all the details and check their results in UPSC Online or from the link given below. Also, Use the links we have provided in the article to download UPSC CDS Result 2019. Get a chance to serve the country. Subscribe to our newsletter for more Sarkari results. Follow us on facebook, twitter and google+ and get regular updates. Information about the latest Government Jobs is available here. Also, find Study material for Competitive Exams here. Therefore, kindly visit our websitefor more Govt jobs in India.
Indian Navy Admit Card 2019 for Sailor (SSR, AR, MR) are available here. Aspirants who applied for the Indian Navy Sailor vacancies for August 2019 and October 2019 batches can download the admit card. Also, check the exam dates announced by Indian Navy recruitment board for sailor vacancies.
Indian Navy Admit Card
Indian Navy has given the notification for sailor vacancies. A huge number of aspirants has been applied for recruitment. Hence, the Indian Navy is now allowing the applicants of Sailor (SSR, AR, MR) to download the admit card. Aspirants can find the links in the tabular sections below.
The Indian has given the exam dates for Sailor SSR Aug 2019 batch. Sailor AA Aug 2019 batch and Sailor MR Oct 2019 batch. Find the exam dates and direct links for Indian Navy Sailor Admit Card below. To make it easy for the aspirants we have given the separate links in the table below.
Aspirants can find the Indian navy Syllabus and Previous Question Paper for Sailor exam in our recruitment guru syllabus and previous papers pages.
Indian Navy MR Admit Card 2019
Indian Navy is yet to release the admit card for the post of Stewards, Chefs, and Hygienists. Indian Navy April 2019-20 Batch Exam Date has been tentatively declared in the month of September 2019. Thus, the admit card link will be activated in the below table.
Indian Navy Force is yet to update the admit card for the post of Senior Secondary Recruits. Hence, candidates who have applied for the respective post can download the admit card from the below section. Moreover, the exam will be scheduled in September 2019.
Contenders who have applied for the post of Chargeman in Indian Navy Recruitment can get the Admit Card in soon. The recruitment is for 172 Chargeman posts. Moreover, the Admit Card will be released soon on our webpage. So, Aspirants can download the Indian Navy Chargeman Hall Ticket 2019 from the direct link given below.
Aspirants applied for the Sailor SSR recruitment can find the admit card link in this section. Join Indian Navy has given the 2500 vacancies under Sailor SSR August 2019 batch. Hence, all the applicants can download the hall ticket below and note the written exam date 2019.
Applied for 500 Indian Navy sailor AA vacancies 2019. Then download the hall ticket for the written exam going to held from 23rd Feb to 28th Feb 2019. Find the link for Indian Navy Sailor AA Admit Card in the tabular section below.
Join Indian Navy is allowing the applicants of MR (sailor) vacancies to download the admit card online. Applicants can download the sailor MR admit card online from 15th February 2019. However, find the exam date and admit card link from the table below.
West Bengal Police Recruitment 2019 – Apply Online for 668 Sub Inspector Vacancies. Latest Job Notification for the Sub Inspector Vacancies is advertised by West Bengal Police Board. Job seekers looking for Police Jobs can use this opportunity released under WB Police Recruitment. Aspirants can start to register for the West Bengal Police Subinspector Jobs from 10th August 2019. Interested can check their eligibility for the WBP Jobs.
The last date to submit the online application is 09th September 2019. Candidates shortlisted in preliminary exam and screening exam will have Physical Measurement and Efficiency tests. Interested graduates under 27 years can apply for the WBP Recruitment 2019. Selected candidates will have a salary based on Pay Band-3 with grade pay and other allowances. This article is fully loaded with the West Bengal Police Recruitment 2019. Go through before register for the WBP Careers @ wbpolice.gov.in
West Bengal Police Recruitment 2019 – Apply Offline for 40 Driver Jobs. Good News for all West Bengal Govt Job Seekers!! West Bengal Police authorities announced a recruitment notification for Driver Posts. Interested Job Aspirants can start to apply for wbp.recruitment from 30th July 2019. West Bengal Police Recruitment Board invites application from Indian Nationals.
Eligible candidates can apply for the Driver Post in Bidhannagar Police Commisionarate. The Last date to drop your application form is 16th August 2019. Applicants will be recruited on a temporarily contractual basis. Individuals under 40 having good experience in driving can apply for the WBP driver vacancies. For further details go through the below section and apply as soon as possible before the due date ends.
West Bengal Police Driver Recruitment 2019 – Highlights
Eligibility Criteria for West Bengal Police Recruitment 2019
Aspirants those wish to apply for the West Bengal Police Vacancy can check the eligibility details such as educational qualifications, age limit and other complete details in the below section of this page. Make sure of your eligibility criteria and then apply for the post. Check the official notification of the West Bengal Police Recruitment Board to know the terms and conditions in detail.
Educational Qualification
Candidates applying for Driver Post under WBP Recruitment 2019 should have the basic qualification as
Passed 8th Class or above
Knowledge in Bengali (Reading, Writing)
Hold a valid Driving License
Experience – Minimum of 3 Years
Age Limit:
Minimum Age Limit – 21 Years
Maximum Age Limit – 40 Years
Salary details:
Candidates selected for Driver post will get a good salary as per the West Bengal Police Salary Pay Matrix level as
Rs. 11, 500/-
Application Fee:
Kindly refers to West Bengal Police Recruitment Official Notification.
Selection Process:
Interview
Driving Test
Medical Test
How to Apply Offline for (WBP) West Bengal Police Recruitment 2019?
Candidates who satisfy the eligibility conditions provided by West Bengal Police Recruitment Board must apply for West Bengal Police Career Notification 2019 through Offline mode.
Download an Official Notification given below
Go through it completely and check with the eligibility conditions
Ensure if you are eligible for the vacancies
Eligible can send the application form to the concerned address
Attach the following listed documents with the application form.
Documents to be attached
Mark sheet (Educational qualification certificate).
Age Proof (Birth certificate)
Driving License Copy
Address Proof
Extra Curriculum Certificate (Optional)
Recent passport size photo ( 1 copy)
NOTE
Applicants should bring the Originals of the documents attached to the application form during the interview.
The application form can send through post to the address mentioned below or drop in the DropBox in M.T Section at Bidhannagar Police Commisionarate
Postal Address
Bidhannagar Police Commisionarate Salt Lake Stadium, Kokota – 700106.
The West Bengal Police is one of the two police forces in the Indian state of West Bengal. (The other is the Kolkata Police, which has a separate jurisdiction). The West Bengal Police Force was reorganized under the provisions of the Police Act of 1861 during the British Raj. It is run by an officer designated as the director-general of the police, who reports to the state government through the Police Department (Home). Shri Virendra, an IPS official since 1985, is the DG and IGP of the West Bengal Police since June 1, 2018.
The West Bengal Police has concurrent jurisdiction with the eighteen state fiscal districts (excluding the metropolitan city of Calcutta), which includes one of the two districts of the West Bengal General Police, under the Police Act of 1861. The other district of General Police consists of important parts of the Calcutta metropolitan area and has a separate police force (Calcutta Police) incorporated and administered under the 1866 Act on the Calcutta Police and the Calcutta Suburban Police Act, 1866. This device, unique in India, was designed in the colonial era. Calcutta was the capital of British India. The city police remained independent of the state police.
Andhra Bank Recruitment 2019 Notification – Apply Offline for 15 Sub Staff Vacancies. Bank Jobs Alert!! Andhra Bank recruits 15 Candidates through Andhra Bank Recruitment 2019. Candidates who have passed 10th Class can submit your application forms soon. Aspirants are willing to apply for Bank Jobs can Submit the Application Form directly at the Zonal Office. Interested can begin to submit the application form for the Andhra Bank Recruitment from 09th August 2019.
The Closing Date to apply for Sub Staff Post is 31st August 2019. Selected candidates will have a salary and other allowances permissible under the Bipartite Settlement. Individuals applying for Andhra Bank Recruitment must be between 18 to 25 Years. Individuals are willing to apply for the Sub Staff Jobs have to submit the application form directly to the zonal office on or before the last date. Scroll down to know more details about Andhra Bank Jobs 2019 Notification.
Overview of Andhra Bank Sub Staff Recruitment 2019
Eligibility Criteria for AP Bank Sub Staff Recruitment 2019
Here is the complete list of Andhra Bank Recruitment eligibility conditions. Applicants should make sure about the fulfillment of these eligibility conditions before applying for the Sub Staff Jobs in Andhra Bank.
Educational Qualification
Passed in 10th with local language as one of the subjects/ equivalent Examination from a recognized board.
Ability to read and write English and local language of the concerned state.
Should not have passed graduation or equivalent.
Age Limit:
Minimum Age Limit – 18 Years
Maximum Age Limit – 25 Years
Age Relaxation:
SC/ ST Candidates – 5 years
OBC Candidates – 3 years
PWD Candidates – 10 years
Ex-Serviceman Candidates – 3 years
Widows/ Divorced Women/ Women legally separated from their husbands who are not remarried – 9 years
NOTE – Candidates under more than one category will have cumulative age relaxation
Application Fee:
Refer to Andhra Bank Recruitment Notification 2019.
Salary Structure:
Candidates selected for the Sub Staff Andhra Bank Recruitment will have a scale of pay as Rs.9560-325/4-10860-410/5-12910-490/4-14870-570/3- 16580 655/3-18545 with dearness allowance and other allowances permissible under the Bipartite Settlement.
Selection Process:
Interview
How to Apply Offline for Andhra Bank Recruitment 2019?
Candidates willing to apply for Sub Staff Andhra Bank Jobs should submit their application with essential document copies form directly at the zonal office.
Documents to be attached:
Age Proof Certificate
Educational Certificate
Transfer/ School leaving Certificate
Caste Certificate
Place of Domicile
Category Certificate
Address:
The Zonal Manager, Andhra Bank, HR Department, Zonal office
Andhra Bank (BSE: 532418, NSE: ANDHRABANK) is a medium-sized open area bank (PSB) of India, with a system of 2885 branches, 4 augmentation counters, 38 satellite workplaces, and 3798 computerized teller machines (ATMs) starting at 31 March 2019. During 2011–12, the bank entered the conditions of Tripura and Himachal Pradesh. The bank presently works in 25 states and three Union Territories. Andhra Bank has its base camp in Hyderabad, Telangana, India. The Government of India claims 90.85% of its offer capital as on 31 March 2019. The state claimed Life Insurance Corporation of India holds 7.66% of the offers. The bank has completed an absolute business of ₹3,106 billion (US$45 billion) and has earned a net benefit of ₹5.40 billion (US$78 million) for the Financial Year 2015-16.
Bhogaraju Pattabhi Sitaramayya established Andhra Bank in 1923 in Machilipatnam, Andhra Pradesh. The bank was enlisted on 20 November 1923 and initiated business on 28 November 1923 with a paid-up capital of ₹100,000 (US$1,400) and an approved capital of ₹1 million (US$14,000) In 1956, etymological division of States was declared and Hyderabad was made the capital of Andhra Pradesh. The enlisted office of the bank was accordingly moved to Andhra Bank Buildings, Sultan Bazar, Hyderabad. In the second period of nationalization of business banks started in April 1980, the bank turned into a completely claimed Government bank. In 1964, the bank converged with Bharat Lakshmi Bank and further solidified its situation in Andhra Pradesh.
TNPSC Group 4 Hall Ticket 2019 will be released by the Last week of August 2019. The admit card is releasing for Group 4 Combined Civil Services Examination. Hence, Candidates who are preparing for the examination can download the TNPSC Group 4 Hall Ticket on the official website. Get ready to download the TNPSC CCSE Hall Ticket before the exam date. However, the TNPSC CCSE Group 4 Exam Date has been scheduled on 01st September 2019.
TNPSC Group 4 Hall Ticket 2019
Tamil Nadu Public Service Commission has planned to conduct Written Exam for Combined Civil Services Examination-IV 2019 for selection of suitable aspirants for VAO, Jr. Assistant, Bill Collector, Field Surveyor, Draftsman, Typist & Steno-TypistPosts. Candidates who have applied for the examination can download the TNPSC CCSE Group 4 Admit Card. Download the admit card by entering the login credentials. Exam Center details can be viewed in the printed TNPSC CCSE Admit Card 2019.
TNPSC CCSE 4 Admit Card 2019 – Overview
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Details
Name of the Board
Tamil Nadu Public Service Commission
Name of the Exam
CCSE Group 4
Name of the Post
Village Administrative Officer, Junior Assistant (Non – Security), Junior Assistant (Security), Bill Collector Grade I, Field Surveyor, Draftsman, Typist, Steno-Typist (Grade – III)
All the candidates who applied for an examination must download the admit card. TNPSC Group 4 Hall Ticket Download should be downloaded by each and every individual through Online mode. TNPSC CCSE Hall Ticket contains the following particulars. So, check with the details in the admit card once you entered.
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Date of Birth
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Date of examinations
TNPSC CCSE Group 4 Examination 2019
Tamil Nadu PSC Board has announced the group 4 exam date on 01st September 2019. Get the exam pattern for group 4 exam, syllabus pdf and also the previous year papers. Utilize all the information from this webpage and make your preparation well for the exam. Candidates are suggested to download the syllabus pdf attached in this session.
TNPSC Group 4 Exam Pattern 2019:
Exam Duration: 3 Hours
No of Questions: 200 questions (each question carry 1.5 marks)
Important Things to Download TNPSC CCSE 4 Admit Card 2019
Along with TNPSC Group 4 Admit Card carry any of the original document to the exam hall. Identity proof will be asked at the doorstep verification. So, Participants make sure to carry the documents.
Original Photograph
Voter Card
Pan Card
Employee ID
College ID
PAN Card
Passport
Driving License
Any other ID proof issued by a Gazetted Officer
Bank Pass Book with the photograph
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Enter all the valid details in that.
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Take a photocopy of it.
TNPSC Group 4 Hall Ticket Download 2019 – Important Links
KOLKATA: Facing headwinds amid a slowdown in the economy, Tata Steel Ltd on Saturday said it is likely to revise the planned capital expenditure for the 2019-20 fiscal to Rs 8,000 crore from Rs 12,000 crore.The steel sector is expected to see a pick up in the second half of the year, a top company official said."We have given a guidance that the capex will be 20-25 per cent lower than the original plan between Europe and India (operations)... our original estimate was Rs 12,000 crore for the Tata Steel Group... it will now be around Rs 8,000 crore," Tata Steel CEO and MD T V Narendran said.Of the Rs 12,000 crore, the steel major had initially planned to spend around Rs 8,000 crore on India operations."Both sides (India and Europe) will take a cut," Narendran told reporters here after the launch of the company's steel retail store -- 'steeljunction'.He said the capex for India will largely be deployed on its Kalinganagar plant in Odisha."We do believe that things should improve in the second half of the year," Narendran said.The top Tata Steel official said in order to insulate the steel industry from its cyclical nature, the company is focusing on strengthening the branded consumer business & downstream product portfolio."Today the B2C business is about 15 per cent of our revenue. We have set a target that the B2C, services and solutions business should contribute 30 per cent (in the next five years)," he said.On the South-East Asia business, he said the company has signed an MoU with the Synergy Group, which is "interested in our Thailand assets"."We should come to a conclusion in the next two-three months," Narendran said.Following the termination of the definitive agreement with the HBIS Group to divest 70 per cent stake in its South- East Asia business, Tata Steel had executed a Memorandum of Understanding to offload the stake in Tata Steel Thailand to Synergy Metals and Mining Fund."We have a lot of subsidiaries in Europe and many of them were created over a period of time. At one point of time, we had 200-300 legal entities and subsidiaries of Tata Steel Europe."We have reduced them significantly and are paring another 100-120 this year... In India, it is all about bringing operating subsidiaries together," Narendran said.
MUMBAI: The lenders of Jet Airways have received only three EoIs for sale of the grounded airline's stake, with equity partner Etihad Airways not submitting bid on the last day of the extended bidding process on Saturday.Etihad Airways holds 24 per cent stake in Jet Airways.Sources told PTI that the banksreceived Expressions of Interest (EoIs) from three entities, of which two are financial players and another is a player in the global aviation space.Saturday was the last day for submitting EoIs, after the time was extended for a week on August 3."Three bids have been received...but Etihad Airways did not submit bids this time around," a bank source said.Industry sources said the deep-pocketed Hinduja group which had shown interest earlier also did not turn up this time.Panama-based fund Avantulo Group is one of the three entities which have submitted EoIs, said another source.The three EoIs will be reviewed by resolution professional (RP) Ashish Chhawchharia to ascertain their eligibility.Late last month, the RP had floated EoIs for selling stake in the airline that stopped flying mid-April.The lead banker to the airline State Bank of India has approved Rs 10 crore interim funding & other banks are also in the process of approving the same, bankers had said.The lenders, who had been owning the airline since March 25 with 51 per cent stake, had on June 17 decided to take the airline, which stopped flying on April 17, to the NCLT as they could not find a buyer.Early July, the RP had said he had received claims worth over Rs 25,500 crore as of July 4, including over Rs 200 crore from founder Naresh Goyal, submitted by the holding company of the airline JetAir, but was rejected.State Bank has made a claim of Rs 1,644 crore, including cash credit inclusive of interest, term loans and bank guarantees.Yes Bank has claimed Rs 1,084 crore, followed by PNB's Rs 963 crore and IDBI Bank's Rs 594 crore.Operational creditors excluding workmen and employees have made a claim of Rs 12,372 crore, with the entire amount being under verification, while the workmen and employees have made a claim of Rs 443 crore which is also under verification.Apart from this, authorized representatives of workmen and employees have made 11,965 claims of Rs 735 crore, the RP said, adding other creditors, including other financial creditors and operational creditors, have made 121 claims amounting to Rs 1,105 crore.
Congress has chosen Sonia Gandhi as its interim president after a late night meeting of the Congress Working Committee (CWC).The announcement was made after CWC accepted Rahul Gandhi's resignation during its second meeting of the day.The CWC also passed three resolutions on Rahul Gandhi's contribution as party chief, Sonia Gandhi being appointed interim chief till the AICC elects a regular president, & on the situation in Jammu and Kashmir.The first resolution said that the CWC places on record its profound sense of appreciation and gratitude for the exceptional leadership provided by Rahul Gandhi as Congress president."Rahul Gandhi led the party with unbounded drive, fierce determination and dedication," another resolution said."Rahul Gandhi's instinctive moral compass is evident from the manner in which he has taken personal responsibility for the disappointing performance of the party in the 2019 Lok Sabha election, thereby setting new standards of accountability in public life," it said.A third resolution on the situation in Jammu and Kashmir was also adopted by the Congress' top decision-making body, Congress general secretary organisation K C Venugopal and party's chief spokesperson Randeep Surjewala announced.The CWC met for the second time on Saturday evening to take a final call on the new party president after a number of leaders, including state chiefs and MPs, backed Rahul Gandhi to continue on the post despite his refusal to reconsider his resignation.At the crucial meeting, the report of five regional groups formed for wider consultation on the issue will be placed, with sources saying there was a consensus on Rahul Gandhi continuing as party chief.During the wider consultation process involving state PCC chiefs, Congress legislature party leaders, AICC secretaries and party MPs, only a few suggested other names while a majority of them said the party will face desertions if Rahul Gandhi does not remain the leader. Some even told Priyanka Gandhi Vadra to prevail upon Rahul to reconsider his May 25 resignation, the sources said.UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi had earlier recused themselves from the consultation process saying they they could not be part of it as they have been Congress presidents in the past and would not like the opinion of the party leaders to be influenced in any manner.The CWC decided to have consultations with leaders from across the country and it was divided into five groups for different regions -- northeast, east, north, west and south.The CWC group for the northeast region included top party leaders such as Ahmed Patel, Ambika Soni and former Uttarakhand chief minister Harish Rawat. The group for eastern region included AICC general secretary (organisation) K C Venugopal, ex-Assam chief minister Tarun Gogoi and former Union minister Kumari Selja.The northern region group included Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, Jyotiraditya Scindia and P Chidambaram. The western region group was has leaders such as Ghulam Nabi Azad, Mallikarjun Kharge, A K Antony and Motilal Vora.The group for the southern region included Manmohan Singh, Anand Sharma and Mukul Wasnik.Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot, his deputy Sachin Pilot, Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel and Puducherry CM V Narayanasamy were also part of the consultation process.Congress chief spokesperson Randeep Surjewala said several leaders who could not make it to New Delhi were consulted over phone.Inputs from PTI
Sangharsh Nagar looks like a rural pocket trapped in the urban sprawl of Mumbai. A herd of goats roam around the main Khairani Road, blocking auto-rickshaws already jostling for space with mini-trucks. As it starts to rain, a furniture-shop owner quickly pulls the goats into the store. A little hillock with hutments on the east adds to the out-of-city feel. Only the high-rises on the western horizon remind you that the tony neighbourhoods of Chandivali and Powai are barely a kilometre away.There are many pockets like Sangharsh Nagar even in India's financial capital where the need for financial inclusion cries out loud. The locality has some shops offering money-transfer facility. No banks or ATMs are in sight though, save for a branch of Fino Payments Bank. However, a solution to the lack of access to banking and insurance is playing out in a narrow lane.The little kirana shop run by Raj Kumar Gupta, 30, doubles up as a Fino Payments Bank merchant outlet. It services at least a hundred banking customers a day who come to deposit or withdraw cash or to transfer money to other banks. On good days, Gupta even opens half a dozen new bank accounts and hands over instant debit cards to the new account holders.Such initiatives have helped people like Mahendra Thakur, 28, a barber from the village of Mokamo near Giridih in Jharkhand. Thakur, who opened his Fino Payments Bank account in his village, is happy he can operate it from Mumbai. Bhikaji Balwant, a manual labourer with roots in Maharashtra's Jalna, comes to Gupta's kirana store to check his account balance. But he decides not to dip into the Rs 2,900 in the account. An elderly woman in a red salwar-kameez asks if she can come back at night to make a transaction. A new customer asks if the bank account comes with a cheque book. It does not, Gupta replies, but Fino is considering adding the facility. Outlets like Gupta's get more banking customers in a day than the Fino Payments Bank branch on the main road. Often the store and the banking outlet feed off each other's clientele, adds Gupta. 70621604 This is one of a dozen merchant outlets that Fino has set up in this area under the supervision of its Khairani Road branch. A similar hub-and-spoke model has helped Fino expand across India. Sometimes its representatives visit homes with authentication equipment to help senior citizens make transactions. Two merchant outlets are coming up on top of the hillock so residents there can have easier access to the banking system.These initiatives might indicate a robust model in the payments bank space. But not all is hunky-dory. The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) had in 2015 issued 11 licences to entities to start payments banks. Today, there are only three serious players left in the market. Therefore, some questions have been raised if the model can succeed. Many have blamed RBI's restrictions for the payments bank model not taking off. 70621630 Chief economist of State Bank of India Soumya Kanti Ghosh said in a recent report: "Due to strict regulatory guidelines, payments banks' business operations are restricted to only mobilising deposits and investing in government securities. This has led to substantial losses in their operations." However, three players — Fino Payments Bank, Airtel Payments Bank and Paytm Payments Bank — seem to have cracked the business model. They also have big backers. Airtel Payments Bank has investments from Kotak Mahindra Bank; ICICI Bank, BPCL, IFC, Blackstone and Intel Capital have invested in Fino; Paytm Payments Bank's promoter has the backing of Softbank and Alibaba. Among the other players, India Posts Payments Bank was upgraded to a scheduled commercial bank in July. Jio Payments Bank, a joint venture between Reliance Industries and State Bank of India, is still in the pilot stage. The combined firepower of the giants could disrupt the field. NSDL Payments Bank had made a start in September 2018.Those who have backed out from the payments bank space include Tech Mahindra, Cholamandalam Finance and a consortium of IDFC Bank, Telenor and Sun Pharma. In late July, Aditya Birla Payments Bank said it would close operations by October 2019 due to "unanticipated developments" that rendered the "economic model unviable". This came as a surprise. The Aditya Birla Group had two payments bank licences but had to give up the permit for the Vodafone m-Pesa platform when the Vodafone-Idea merger happened.On the heels of Aditya Birla Payments Bank declaring its intent to shut down, SBI's Ghosh painted a grim picture for the sector in a report dated July 22, 2019. His report, A Case of Near yet Too Far, pointed out that five payments banks posted a combined net loss of Rs 516 crore in 2017-18, even though they reported a positive net interest income (difference between interest earned and interest paid) of `151 crore. While most of the loss can be attributed to expenditure related to expansion, the positive net interest income suggests the payments bank model is inherently safe.Commenting on the limitations in the model, Ghosh wrote: "Payments banks emerging as a real competitor to banks is not a nearterm possibility." There are various RBI restrictions on the sector, he said. Deposit collection for payments banks is capped at Rs 1 lakh per customer, and they are not allowed to lend. The money collected as deposits has to be parked in government securities and larger banks. "Payments banks are turning out to be working merely as an aggregator." The steep capital requirement for payments banks — at 15% of risk-weighted assets against 8% according to Basel III norms and 9% mandated by RBI for scheduled commercial banks — would keep it free of credit risk and ensure low market risk, Ghosh said. But it would expose PBs to operational and liquidity risks. The experiment has failed as only so few were still operational and they can succeed only if they cross-sold services such as insurance and loans from other banks and have deep tie-ups with universal banks and telecom companies, he added. 70621642 Active payments banks already follow what Ghosh has advocated. They are, in fact, champions of these tenets. Anubrata Biswas, MD & CEO of Airtel Payments Banks, which is backed by the telecom major, says they already use 5 lakh neighbourhood banking points to allow cash withdrawals and deposits. "We are excited about the payments bank model, which is anchored in the context of serving a very large underbanked and unbanked population of our country."Fino has also capitalised on the tie-up route. Apart from selling insurance products of ICICI Lombard, it also helps generate leads for loans for ICICI Bank, which is one of its key promoters. It has also worked with ICICI Lombard to create a cashless hospitalisation medical insurance product (at government hospitals) at an annual premium of Rs 600. In a tie-up with Suryoday Small Finance Bank, Fino seems to have also worked around the Rs 1 lakh limit on deposits. If the deposit in a customer's account crosses Rs 1 lakh, it is automatically transferred into a bank account in the customer's name at Suryoday.A payments bank can take banking to the masses but it cannot aspire to be a regular bank, says managing director of Fino Rishi Gupta. It has to find its own business model. It must earn from transaction charges and fees, and not from the spread between interest rates for deposits and advances, he says. "Every service of ours is charged; nothing is free." Fino had recorded revenues of Rs 375 crore in 2018-19 and expects to break even in 2019-20.A Paytm spokesperson says their payments bank became profitable in the first year of its operation and earned a net profit of Rs 19 crore in 2018-19. "Paytm Payments Bank focuses more on transactions than balances in the account," he adds. Paytm started off as an e-wallet business but invested in converting its customers into bank account holders. Today it operates 27 crore wallets and 4.7 crore savings bank accounts.There is ample indication that some players got the model right and some did not. Adaptability seems to be the key. Payments banks have already requested the RBI to increase their deposit limit.An indicator of differentiation in the sector is how the banks responded to the 2018-19 target of 30 billion digital transactions that was set by the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology. While Airtel and Fino were able to reach more than double the target, Paytm clocked 122% of the target number, Jio scored 15%, Indiapost was at 0.15% and Aditya Birla barely opened its account.Rules for payments banks were announced back in 2015 and payments banks should explore the possibilities around current accounts to make the most of them, says Naveen Surya, the chairman of the Fintech Convergence Council of India. This will help them reach and serve small businesses. "You have to think differently, your banking hours need to change. Even businesses can face financial exclusion, and you have to address that need," adds Surya, a former managing director of ItzCash.Lessons in adaptability from Sangharsh Nagar can also help — like how a kirana store can double up as a banking counter, how a customer can use a Fino Payments Bank's outlet to deposit cash in his Union Bank account, or like how a goatherd can also sell furniture.
NEW DELHI: State-run oil marketing companies IndianOil, Bharat Petroleum and Hindustan Petroleum on Saturday launched a programme to procure biodiesel made from used cooking oil in 100 cities across the country.The programme was formally launched by Petroleum and Natural Gas Minister Dharmendra Pradhan, under which the three OMCs would invite expression of interest from private entities for setting up plants to produce biodiesel from used cooking oil.Initially, the biodiesel would be procured by the OMCs at an assured rate of Rs 51 per litre, which would be increased to Rs 52.7 in the second year and Rs 54.5 per litre in the third year.The minister also launched Repurpose Used Cooking Oil (RUCO) sticker and a mobile phone application for collection of used cooking oil (UCO) to ensure that it does not come back to ecosystem.The sticker would affixed by the food joints, hotels and restaurants in their premises to show that they supply UCO for producing biodiesel.Addressing an event to mark 'World Biofuel Day' here, Pradhan said, "Biodiesel is available in many forms other than used cooking oil. It is waste to wealth. We will celebrate World Biofuel Day as alternative energy day.""Like Amul, where milk is collected from households and then converted into a commercial product, there will be RUCO movement. The biggest issue (with biofuels like compressed bio gas) was offtake guarantee. More than 300 firms have got letter of intent for compressed bio gas. Its implementation is a challenge. But we are targetting 5,000 such units till 2024."He also said, "China has a larger population but its (energy) distribution is not that organised as compared to our three oil marketing companies. That includes city gas distribution firms also."Under the Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Scheme, we would achieve the target of providing 8 crore LPG connections by September end. Already, there is 20 per cent reduction in chest congestion disease reported in India due to the clean fuel movement."Regarding ethanol blending, he said,"We would also make ethanol from surplus food stock. At present we produce ethanol from sugarcane molasses. Non-subsidised bio mass would be converted into energy.""About four-five years ago, we had decided to increase ethanol blending with petrol. It has increased from 1.5 per cent to 7 to 8 per cent. It will soon be 10 per cent. Our ultimate goal is to achieve 20 per cent ethanol blending with petrol," the minister added.At present, 850 crore litres of diesel is consumed every month in India. The government aims to blend 5 per cent of biodiesel in diesel by 2030. Thus, 500 crore litres of biodiesel is required in a year.In India, 2,700 crore litres of cooking oil is used, out which 140 crore UCO can be collected from bulk consumer such as hotels, restaurants and canteens for conversion, which will give around 110 crore litres of biodiesel every year.At present, there is no established chain of collection for UCO, which presents a huge opportunity.Speaking on the occasion, Health Minister Harsh Vardhan lauded the efforts of the oil ministry for converting USO into biodiesel.He said the repeated use of UCO can cause diseases like hypertension, atherosclerosis, Alzheimer's and liver ailments, among others.
About a year after introduction of the Ayushman Bharat scheme — the Union government's programme for providing health protection cover to around 10 crore vulnerable families — truant doctors and hospitals in the tiny Himalayan state of Uttarakhand have come up with some of the most innovative ways of scamming the ambitious plan for a quick buck. Not that they haven't been caught. But the string of frauds has put officials on a state of perpetual alert.Private hospitals have been accused of siphoning almost Rs 1.20 crore of public funds in just a few months. And they seem to have done it in bizarre ways — from showing surgeries being conducted on patients who had actually been discharged days ago, to dialysis shown as having been performed in a facility where there was no kidney specialist.In fact, quite a few hospitals in the hill state showed patients to be afflicted with deadly diseases while they were later found to have been suffering from common cold. Some hospitals showed operations done on patients whose surgeries had already been completed elsewhere. Yet others claimed money by submitting records of surgeries done on patients who were perfectly healthy.Sample this. When a team of the National Health Authority (NHA), which visited Uttarakhand in May for a physical verification of beneficiaries, met a patient, they were in for a surprise. The man was listed as someone who needed emergency hip replacement surgery. But he was merrily driving around on a scooty."How can a person who needs emergency hip replacement drive a two-wheeler? The hospital had claimed Rs 90,000 for the surgery which was declined by us," said Abhishek Tripathi, director, Atal Ayushman Yojana (Uttarakhand).Vinod Ortho Clinic in Dehradun, the medical facility which had recommended the surgery, was allegedly also involved in another dubious case.A patient whose limbs had already been amputated was shown as having undergone a similar surgery in the clinic though it was later found he had been admitted there only after a minor infection. The clinic has since been deempanelled.When TOI spoke to the clinic's owner, Dr Prasoon Maheshwari, he said he hadn't done anything wrong. "I'm planning to move court to challenge the action taken by Atal Ayushman authorities," he said and added that he was targeted because "many renowned doctors were having a problem with the fact that patients had started coming to me instead of them".Uttarakhand has over 150 hospitals empanelled under the scheme. Although it started out last year in September as Ayushman Bharat covering around 5.37 lakh beneficiaries, its scope was extended by the BJP government to bring more people under its umbrella. Chief minister Trivendra Singh Rawat announced in December last year that the scheme would be named Atal Ayushman Yojana in Uttarakhand and will cover around 18 lakh more beneficiaries besides the ones identified earlier under the central plan. The state is footing the bill for the additional beneficiaries, each of whom is entitled to medical cover of Rs 5 lakh.Perhaps it is this blanket extension of the scope of the scheme, although well-intended, that has led to it being open to fraud. During screening of claims that started in March this year, officials came across case after case of alleged swindling. It led to seven hospitals being de-empanelled for forgery; FIRs were filed against four and 12 others were issued show-cause notices for "gross irregularities".A member of the probe team said, "A 30-bed hospital in Kashipur claimed to have 24x7 emergency facility. But it was manned by just one doctor who was also the owner. The hospital had made medical claims of Rs 2,72,600 which were cancelled after scrutiny."In a primary health centre in Udham Singh Nagar, a pharmacist was referring patients to private nursing homes. One of the nursing homes had employed an Ayurvedic doctor and showed him as an MBBS degree-holder. The nursing home was also found showing common fever patients as suffering from fatal diseases.Investigators found that hospitals had devised another method to get more money. A hospital in Haridwar, for instance, filed a claim for performing 38 cataract surgeries in 45 days, all of which were done after 9.30 pm and classified as "emergency". The claim was rejected as cataract is not an emergency surgery.Another Haridwar-based hospital had forged patients' medical history in 152 cases. The hospital, officials said, had got empanelled in the Atal Ayushman scheme by showing itself as a medical college but failed to provide accreditation of Medical Council of India. The hospital showed patients with common diseases like enteric fever, recurrent vomiting and dehydration and gastroenteritis as suffering from serious illnesses."They fraudulently converted general diseases into fatal ones and siphoned over Rs 10 lakh. The hospital also discharged 12 patients directly from the ICU which is not possible because patients have to be kept under observation after shifting from ICU. This hospital also filed claims of 12 surgeries done in 14 hours which were all attributed to the same doctor which again is not possible," Tripathi said.Although TOI contacted all the hospitals whose cases are mentioned in this report, no response was forthcoming. One of the hospitals that responded said speaking to media will be "violation of MoU signed under the scheme". Elaborating, Dr Santosh Srivastava of MP Memorial Hospital, Kashipur, under the scanner for performing dialysis on over 1,000 patients over six months without any nephrologist, said the MoU signed between Atal Ayushman Society and the hospital has a clause that no party can speak to the media unless the process of de-empanelment is done."If the Atal Ayushman authorities are speaking to the media and disclosing the names of hospitals to whom notices were served, this is a gross violation of the MoU," he alleged.
It looks like a bear market in earnings. It was not a bear market in stock prices but now it looks as if we are in a bear market because people are accepting that earnings have not come through, says Hiren Ved, Director & CIO, Alchemy Capital. Excerpts from an interview with Nikunj Dalmia of ETNOW. I guess you are the only bull who has decided to talk on this bearish market. I welcome that.We are all so used to these bull and bear market cycles. You have to take this in your stride. Is it just a bull market fall or this is a beginning of a bear market?I believe this is an interruption in the bull market. It looks like a bear market in earnings. It was not a bear market in stock prices but now it looks as if we are in a bear market because finally people are giving up that earnings have not come through. Also we have seen so much of policy level and economic disruption and that I think has caused this earnings recession. Then there were these few events where unnecessarily in budget they put a surcharge on FPIs, increased tax rates when globally tax rates are going down. It does not leave a very good taste for economic participants. They get a feeling why am I working so hard if 50%…How to deal with selloff & where to find value Everything has to be taxed.I do not think anybody is complaining about paying taxes and that money going for the benefit of the entire bottom of the society. Nobody denies that and everybody is happy to do it. But if you want animal spirits to come, you need to cut rates and that is how you will revive investments. When you have these rates, you have a counterproductive cycle where people tend to take their capital offshore and that is not what you want. India is a capital scarce economy and you want capital to flow in. So by putting a surcharge on ultra rich or the super rich as they call it and then putting a tax on FPIs, you basically gave out a wrong message saying that we do not care about your capital and I do not think that was really something that people expected. Is it the tax which is spooking the market? Is it economy which is spooking the market or is it the slowdown which is spooking the market?Actually it is the slowdown and then on top of that, it was these tax issues which really spooked people. The tremors of the IL&FS crisis are still being felt. The knock-on effect of IL&FS and then DHFL and then we thought only the corporate deleveraging cycle is playing out but the crisis in the fixed income markets and because of IL&FS and DHFL, now the promoter deleveraging cycle is also playing out. This in a way is good because somewhere, discipline will come in where serious promoters are realising that both leverage at the corporate level and leverage at the personal level need to be managed within limits. Otherwise, you can lose your company. What is the good news right now? Everybody is talking about only bad news, what is the good news?The good news is that a large part of the disruption and regulatory changes hopefully are behind us and a base has been built. Simultaneously, we are seeing deleveraging happening and I see a silver lining because today there are some good assets available at distress valuations. So for example, I am not aware whether the Yes Bank QIP has gone through or not… It has gone through that is what they have informed exchanges.So if that has gone through, what it tells you is that at a price there is institutional money or there is some money that is stepping in. If the Zee deal has happened, you know that there is some investor that is stepping in. We have now come to a situation where there are certain good assets where capital is willing to come in and take that risk. That is the first indication. That things have become cheap?That things have become cheap and somebody is willing to risk money because he believes that at this price his probability of making money, if things go right, is substantial. Otherwise why would people come in and put money? So that is one silver lining that I see that there are buyers for good quality assets and there are some smart money or institutional money, which is willing to step in at some point in the market carnage. We are beginning to see some elements of that begin to happen. Secondly, in every sector, there is a massive consolidation that is happening like real estate for example. I was talking to somebody in Delhi and they said that other than DLF, there is no developer which is surviving. Now what does that mean? Yes, the real estate market is down but you have taken out suppliers, you have taken out so much of supply from the market and whoever is standing today has a great opportunity to take away market share over the next two-three years. The last man standing will gain a disproportionate amount of money.Exactly. What is going to happen is that the opportunity is two fold – one, if you can find quality distressed assets and put money where your risk reward is favourable; and second, you play the last man standing in every sector because that guy has a once in a lifetime opportunity to take market share away from people who are distressed. We have heard about private banks taking away market share from public sector banks. We have looked at large organised players in consumer or retail sector taking away market share from everybody else and this is playing out in every sector. Who thought that CCD will not be there? Now, Tata Starbucks has a great opportunity to clean up the market. If you look at it, that is where I think this market is giving you an opportunity, that amidst all this gloom and doom either you find good quality assets available at distressed prices and you back some of the leaders who have a great chance to gain over the next couple of years because of the disruption and so many players getting out of this investment. These are some of the structural changes that are happening. That's how periodically the weak players get flushed out, strong players survive and become larger. Where do you think the big picture or the earnings trajectory is intact and more than actual business decline, it is a sentiment and liquidity and technicals which are punishing those stocks?Yes, in every cycle this has repeated every couple of years where weak companies or companies with issues of leverage and governance go through very deep correction cycle. When that happens, there is also a collateral damage because even good companies tend to get smashed, especially in the small and midcap space. We have all been complaining about how bipolar the market is, that very few companies have driven the Sensex and the Nifty, but the fact is that it is reflective of the economic reality as well. Very few companies have been able to protect and grow earnings. HDFC Bank is still growing earnings at 21%. Bajaj Finance is still growing earnings at 35-40%. Those who are able to grow earnings and where there is scale and governance, that's where the money has gone. For the rest of the market, you need to see a serious upturn in the economy and that can only come if the wheels of credit start to move again. It is very good to say there are a few companies which do not need the money to expand because they are free cash flow generating, but that cannot be true of the whole economy. A consumer needs money to consume. Somebody needs money to buy trucks and businesses need working capital. They need capital to expand. If you look at it, the best years of earnings growth and markets have been when both capital markets have done well and credit growth has been fantastic. That is a dream era, that is not coming back.Releveraging, not deleveraging but releveraging. Today we have a situation where we have been deleveraging on the debt side as well as the equity markets. In last 12-18 months, people have found it difficult to raise equity capital. IPOs have dried up.IPOs have dried up and all of that has happened. But at least in equities, I see a silver lining. Slowly and steadily, buyers are going there for good quality distressed assets and usually the cycle starts from there. It is a few instances of resolution. If we see two, three, four things getting resolved in the markets now, some confidence will come back and ability of people to take a little more risk will come back. Obviously we have now reached a stage where this so called slowdown which seemed very temporary gathered a snowball effect and now we cannot just leave it and say it will heal on its own. You need very strong intervention and after the budget, whether it is industry associations, whether it is investors, or people, enough messaging has gone out to the government to say hey we need you, if we do not get this oxygen, then we are going to die. If things do not improve, say by festival season, what could be the downside?Unfortunately I believe that while we may all wish that demand will bounce back in this festive season, my assessment is, it is going to take a little bit longer for real demand to revive. First we have to stop the de-growth, we have to flat line and then we can think about growth. My view is that it is going to take six-nine months before real growth can pick up.
By DK AggarwalFinancial trading floors are experiencing a huge transition from innovative technologies. It has given traders more powers to do fast execution of trades with discipline in a rapidly changing market scenario by reducing human errors, as computer-programmed software remains unaffected by human psychology.In today's era, where more and more traditional traders follow technical charting for their trading calls, an algo trader finds it risky to depend merely on the findings gathered from an examination of charts and, thus, tries to reply on pure arithmetic.Ten years ago, a financial institution would take a big trade on to its books, and would have a large number of traders try and execute deals in small chunks without moving the market. Today, many big trades are fed into computers running algo programmes, which then execute them automatically in small packets. The biggest advantage of programmed trades is their capability of spotting arbitrage opportunities between prices in split seconds and executing trades to make a profit even before a human trader blinks.Algos have also been created to trade upon news, using special programmes to scan incoming agency reports for key words relating to, say, a change in interest rates and enact deals based on market responses to similar past events. Furthermore algos can analyse every quote and trade in the stock market, identify liquidity opportunities and turn such information into intelligent trading decisions. Here rules are pre-defined, back-tested and trades are placed at pre-defined levels.In India, algo trading arrived in the financial markets when Sebi allowed exchange members to offer DMA (direct market access) to their institutional clients. Basically, investment banks and hedge funds with billions of dollars in AUMs (assets under management) are using algo trade to manage their portfolios in a more strategic manner. In India, they account for 35-40 per cent of total turnover on the exchanges. Renaissance Technologies, a US-based hedge fund, has created a benchmark in this field for traditional asset managers and traders to turn towards algo trading.Algorithmic trading has ushered in a new era for markets, whose benefits are yet to be fully realised. Adapting to this new means of trading can ensure better results. Algo trading is now a 'prerequisite' for surviving in tomorrow's financial markets, because the future of trading and dealing is in automation.Industry reports suggest global algorithmic trading market size is expected to grow from $11.1 billion in 2019 to $18.8 billion by 2024, expanding at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 11.1 per cent. Although algo trading outperforms traditional styles of trading on many counts, human intervention is still required to some extent for better market making with prudent thoughts to ensure stability in financial markets.
AIIMS: Arun Jaitley is stable, responding to treatment Arun Jaitley was admitted to AIIMS on Friday morning and is currently undergoing treatment in the intensive care unit (ICU) under the supervision of a multidisciplinary team of doctors.
Pakistan mum on Kartarpur, India sends reminder India had earlier sought another technical level meeting with Pakistan on Kartarpur Corridor in the first week of August - the fourth this year.
NSA Ajit Doval takes Delhi's goodwill to Kashmir Valley NSA Doval's visit to J&K's Anantnag town holds significance as it is considered to be the hotbed of several Pakistan-backed terrorists.
10,000 evacuated in Gujarat, rain toll at 19 Incessant heavy rains across Gujarat forced the administration to evacuate over 10,000 people in the state, even as 19 people were reported killed in various rain-related incidents.
Driver allowed narco test in Unnao case The UP Police filed a case of murder against expelled BJP leader Kuldeep Singh Sengar and nine others in connection with the accident.
Valley gives up 370, gets industries, hospitals, jobs...& growth: Ram Madhav Speaking exclusively to Zee Media, the senior leader outlined his party's vision for the region post abrogation of Articles 370 and 35A.
Congress elects Sonia Gandhi as interim president The decision comes as a surprise to everyone, as Rahul Gandhi who resigned from the party leadership after Lok Sabha elections debacle, had earlier said that no member from the Gandhi family will become President.
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