Navy Cmdr. Leslie Mintz, executive officer of the "Blacklions" of Strike Fighter Squadron (VFA) 213, climbs into an F/A-18F Super Hornet at Naval Air Station Oceana, February 8, 2019. US Navy/MCS 3rd Class Mark Thomas Mahmod
* Physiology and flight suits originally designed for male aviators make it hard for female pilots to relieve themselves during missions. * But the Navy is working on an initiative to introduce a more practical way for both women and men to urinate in flight.
The Navy has invested $1 million in devices and uniforms that help pilots relieve themselves in-flight — and it wants to spend $2 million more to complete the effort.
One of the goals of the initiative was to provide female jet pilots with a practical way to urinate on missions that can stretch on for hours with limited mobility, officials said.
"They're flying long missions overseas," Cmdr. Eddie Park, director of diversity and inclusion at Naval Air Forces, told the Defense Advisory Committee on Women in the Services earlier this month. "Who wants to hold their pee for four hours?"
* Lai Yijun has a major in missiles and a reputation for stepping up when it counts * English is an important requirement as the PLA Navy strives to be considered an international force
The captain of China's newly commissioned aircraft carrier first made his international mark more than a decade ago.
Lai Yijun stepped in to take command of the guided-missile frigate Lianyungang during a multilateral live-fire naval exercise in Pakistan in 2007 when the vessel's top officer fell sick.
It was the first exercise of its kind for the People's Liberation Army Navy and involved warships from nine countries, including the United States, Britain, France and Italy.
Under Lai's command, the Chinese frigate was one of the best performers in a competition to hit a surface target.
He was later promoted to commander of a frigate division in the East Sea Fleet.
Now Lai, who graduated from the PLA's Dalian Naval Academy with a major in missiles, is at the helm of the Shandong, the first aircraft carrier built in China.
WNU Editor: Not surprised that he speaks English, The adoption of English by many Chinese is a cultural and language shift that is under-reported in the West.
Marines fire at targets during a mock platoon-supported attack as part of Exercise Bougainville II at PÅhakuloa Training Area, Hawaii, May 9, 2019. Marine Corps Cpl. Brendan Custer
Maybe the T-90 should have stayed out of the desert.
Key point: TOW missiles used by Syrian rebels blew holes through Russia's armored tanks.
The interconnected conflicts raging across the Middle East today have amounted to a dreadful human catastrophe with spiraling global consequence. One of their lesser effects has been to deflate the reputations of Western main battle tanks mistakenly thought to be night-invulnerable in the popular imagination.
Iraqi M1 Abrams tanks not only failed to prevent he capture of Mosul in 2014, but they were captured and turned against their owners. In Yemen, numerous Saudi M1s were knocked out by Houthi rebels. Turkey, which had lost a number of M60 Pattons and upgrade M60T Sabra tanks to Kurdish and ISIS fighters eventually deployed its fearsome German-built Leopard 2A4 tanks. ISIS destroyed eight to ten in a matter of days.
BEIRUT (Reuters) - Russian-backed Syrian forces have gained ground after a week-long renewed assault against the last opposition enclave in Syria's northwest, the biggest such push in more than three months that has prompted a large civilian exodus, witnesses and residents said on Sunday.
The wide-scale offensive led by intense aerial strikes on civilian areas in rural southeastern Idlib province broke months of stalemate on the frontlines, where rebels had been holding back the army from major advances, they said.
Russian and Syrian jets have stepped up strikes on villages and towns around Maarat al-Numan, from which thousands of people have fled to the relative safety of the Turkish border fearing an imminent assault.
It appears that there has been at least some success, as the latest J-20 prototypes are powered by upgraded WS-10 engines that are supposedly stealthier and more powerful than the AL-31. Credit: Military Watch Magazine.
Ongoing difficulty in producing a high-quality indigenous jet engine remains a major issue for the PLAAF, for now
The Chinese defense industrial base is infamous for its tendency to "borrow" from foreign designs, particularly in the aerospace industry.
Almost the entirety of China's modern fighter fleet have either borrowed liberally from or directly copied foreign models.
The J-10 was reputedly based on the Israeli IAI Lavi and by extension the United States' General Dynamics F-16; the J-11 is a clone of the Russian Su-27; the JF-17 is a modern development of the Soviet MiG-21; the J-20 bears an uncanny resemblance to the F-22, and finally, the J-31 is widely believed to rely heavily on technology appropriated from the F-35.
Afghan President Ashraf Ghani appears set to win a second term, after preliminary election results showed he was on course to win a narrow majority.
He secured 50.64% of the vote in the September 28 election, officials said. The initial results were delayed amid protests and allegations of fraud.
Mr Ghani's main rival, Dr Abdullah Abdullah, won 39.52% of the vote.
But he has rejected the result and is expected to file an appeal before the final result is announced.
"We would like to make it clear once again... that our team will not accept the result of this fraudulent vote unless our legitimate demands are addressed," a statement from Dr Abdullah's team said on Sunday.
Long-time tourism minister Manuel Marrero Cruz is set to be the first person in decades to take up the post. His power of authority, however, won't match that of his prime ministerial peers abroad.
Manuel Marrero Cruz was named Cuba's new prime minister on Saturday, the first person to take up the post since it was abolished in 1976 when Fidel Castro became president.
Marrero, who has served as tourism minister for 16 years and is an architect by trade, helped boost Cuba's economy by making tourism one of the engines of growth.
The military-run Gaviota tourism corporation, which he ran as minister, has survived despite sanctions imposed by the United States.
Miguel Diaz-Canel, the current president of Cuba, reportedly cited Marrero's experience working with foreign investors and building Cuba's tourism industry as one of his most prominent qualifications to receive the prime ministerial nomination.
WNU editor: His term of office is five years, and he is suppose to coordinate the different ministries. I do not expect much from this new Prime Minister. He does not have the power to change the country's economic policies, and he will certainly not change the rigid control that the country has over the economy.
2019 was a transformative year for the U.S. news media industry, but it was also one of the most turbulent points in its history.
The big picture: There were enormous business challenges, which resulted in an unprecedented number of layoffs, desperate product maneuvers and fire-sale deals.
Driving the news: The impeachment of President Trump by the House of Representatives on Thursday was prompted by a whistleblower's complaint, but the stage was set by the dogged reporting of many journalists across the country.
* But despite those efforts, the economic outlook of the news industry is still grim heading into 2020. * The impeachment process has proven that voters are starting to tune out political coverage, which for the past few years has been the news industry's biggest money-maker. That reality, coupled with an anticipated recession, has newsrooms on edge.
WNU Editor: Media is losing its audience. There are now so many alternatives to getting the news that the old ways of reading a newspaper or watching the news on TV just no longer hold. Twenty-five years ago I would easily go through six major news papers a day and watch the evening news every night. Today .... I get all of my news from the web, and from sources that I trust.
China is on the cusp of keeping a big promise — a vow to double its GDP and income in a decade and take the country to the forefront of the global economic power structure.
The nation now faces the challenge of keeping the momentum going in the face of mounting challenges.
The ascension began in the late 1970s with a move to more open markets. It continued through aggressive central planning, utilizing the advantages of cheap labor, a devalued currency and a robust factory system to spread its products around the world.
All of that changed the economy from slumbering rural decay to a prospering diverse superpower. The country now seems on a inexorable path to No. 1.
WNU Editor: I am no longer sure China will be the world's number one economy in ten years. Or even twenty years. They do not have the trade advantages that they had in the past, and they have a lot of debt and fiscal problems. And then there are the multiple internal political differences and disputes that are now gripping parts of the country. Is China's leadership up to solving these problems? My gut says no.
In combat, they are essential to the survivability of the aircraft that carry them, but they don't come as cheap as one may think.
Flares can make any aircraft, no matter how big and lumbering, look dynamic and even beautiful. In reality, they are an essential countermeasure used to confuse enemy heat-seeking missiles. So, how much do these fiery things being pumped out the back of military aircraft actually cost?
Countermeasure flares burn at thousands of degrees and there is a wide variety of types, the vast majority of which ignite when their volatile compound mix is exposed to the air itself. These are can be referred to as pyrophoric flares. Beyond their use in actual combat, even in training, helicopters and ground attack aircraft will practice firing flares off when entering into high-risk areas of their flight envelope and mission where shoulder-fired surface-to-air missiles could be present. Fighters will also pop flares during training dogfights when the adversary is within the firing envelope of their short-range missiles. Sometimes fighters will even thank a tanker boom operator by popping flares. These pyrotechnics also often evoke oohs and ahhs from air show crowds as they ripple off military aircraft performing flying displays.
Little of this made the news, because good news is no news.
Let nobody tell you that the second decade of the 21st century has been a bad time. We are living through the greatest improvement in human living standards in history. Extreme poverty has fallen below 10 percent of the world's population for the first time. It was 60 percent when I was born. Global inequality has been plunging as Africa and Asia experience faster economic growth than Europe and North America; child mortality has fallen to record low levels; famine virtually went extinct; malaria, polio and heart disease are all in decline.
Little of this made the news, because good news is no news. But I've been watching it all closely. Ever since I wrote The Rational Optimist in 2010, I've been faced with 'what about…' questions: what about the great recession, the euro crisis, Syria, Ukraine, Donald Trump? How can I possibly say that things are getting better, given all that? The answer is: because bad things happen while the world still gets better. Yet get better it does, and it has done so over the course of this decade at a rate that has astonished even starry-eyed me.
WNU Editor: The above post is from a British prospective. But looking at it from a global vantage spot, there are still many trouble spots, conflicts, widespread poverty, and social upheavals. BUT .... IMHO the world is in a better place today than what it was a decade ago. The reason being is the expansion and availability of education, economic efficiencies, and the benefits of new technologies.
* CCTV footage indicates that the vessel might have just 24 J-15s on board rather than the 36 previously expected * The carrier also needs more time to get up to minimum operational speed, observers say
China's new aircraft carrier, the Shandong, will have fewer fighter jets on board than expected and needs more time to hone its operations to meet minimum deployment standards, according to military observers.
About 30 carrier-based fighter jet pilots were present on Tuesday when President Xi Jinping commissioned the Shandong in Sanya, Hainan province, according to footage aired by state broadcaster CCTV.
The turnout suggested that there were only enough pilots for two squadrons, or 24 J-15 fighter jets, instead of 36 as previously suggested by state media.
* The Shandong is expected to operate alongside the Liaoning to form a dual-carrier battle group to cut off access to independence forces on the island * Beijing considers Taiwan a wayward province that must be unified with the mainland by force, if necessary
China's new aircraft carrier is likely to team up with its sister ship to form a dual-carrier battle group to cut off foreign military access to Taiwan during a war, according to a military magazine and defence specialists.
Instead of fighting alone, the Shandong, which was commissioned on Tuesday, would work with the Liaoning, a refitted Soviet Kuznetsov-class vessel, to create a more powerful combination to block US or Japanese vessels from reaching the island if they went to the aid independence-leaning forces on Taiwan, the Beijing-based Naval and Merchant Ships monthly magazine reported on Tuesday.
The belly-flopping bomber is just the latest in a string of accidents involving Russian military hardware.
* A Russian Backfire bomber performed an emergency belly landing in southern Russia. * The bomber is nuclear-capable but was not carrying nuclear weapons at the time. * It's the second crash landing for Backfire bombers in a year, and the second major incident involving Russian military equipment in one week.
A Russian bomber crew successfully landed their stricken aircraft in a field after the one of the airplane's engines failed. The Tu-22M3 bomber was put down away from populated areas and Russia's air force is now trying to figure out how to recover it for repairs. The incident is just the latest in a long line of disasters—big and small—plaguing the Russian military as it tries to wring as much use out of old, outdated equipment.
The incident, according to Russian state media outlet TASS, took place in southern Russia at the Chkalov State Flight Testing Center. The two-man crew, discovering that an engine had failed, guided the airplane away from populated areas and performed a belly landing. Neither of the crew members were injured but the aircraft itself reportedly sustained some damage.
French forces have killed 33 militants in an operation in Mali, according to President Emmanuel Macron.
Mr Macron made the announcement on a visit to Ivory Coast, where he reiterated France's commitment to fighting jihadists in the region.
It comes weeks after 13 French troops died in a helicopter collision in Mali in the biggest single-day loss of life for its military since the 1980s.
Thousands of French troops have been deployed in Mali since 2013.
Its involvement came after Islamist militants overran parts of the north. With the help of France, Mali's army has recaptured the territory, but insecurity continues and violence has spread to neighbouring countries.
WNU Editor: France is currently plagued with massive strikes and unrest, but French President Macron is in Western Africa pledging more war .... Macron vows to keep fighting extremism in West Africa (Washington Post). Is it me, or are President Macron's priorities all mixed up?
More News On French President Macron Saying That Dozens Of Jihadists Were Killed In Mali By French Troops
* California Democrat Maxine Waters claimed Donald Trump will invite Vladimir Putin to the White House if he is not removed from office * Waters was responding to reports that White House officials feared Putin influenced the president's views on Ukraine and 2016 campaign * In a tweet, Waters claimed: 'Revelation by former WH officials proves what we've known all along: Trump is #PutinsPuppet' * Trump seemingly believed an argument from Putin that Ukraine, not Russia, meddled in the 2016 election, according to reports
California Democrat Maxine Waters claimed Donald Trump will invite Vladimir Putin to the White House next year if he is not removed from office.
Waters was responding to reports that White House officials feared the Russian president had heavily influenced Trump's views on Ukraine, specifically a conspiracy theory that Kiev had meddled in the 2016 US presidential election.
In a tweet, Waters, who is a vocal critic of Trump, claimed: 'Revelation by former WH officials proves what we've known all along: Trump is #PutinsPuppet.
'Trump repeated Putin's talking point that Ukraine, not Russia, interfered in the '16 election. Mark my words. If the Senate doesn't remove him, Trump will invite Putin to the WH next yr.'
WNU editor: I do not agree on almost everything that Maxime Waters says. But on this one she is right, with the exception that this invite will be in President Trump's second term.
Islamist groups have recruited dozens of former French soldiers, a troubling new report has revealed less than three months after a terrorist attack by a staff member at police headquarters in Paris shocked the nation.
More than a third of the ex-servicemen are converts to Islam and nearly half served in elite Foreign Legion, parachute, commando or marine units where they acquired expertise in combat and handling weapons and explosives.
The conservative newspaper Le Figaro published excerpts on Wednesday from the forthcoming report by the Centre for the Analysis of Terrorism, a Paris-based think tank.
The report says the French army "constitutes a strategic recruitment target for terrorist groups… and former soldiers represent tremendous assets for these groups."
The report, "Soldiers and Jihad", profiles 23 ex-servicemen "identified within terrorist organisations [mainly Isil] or implicated in plotting terrorist attacks".
The trade war with the Americans has prompted China to accelerate its plan to eliminate dependence on American technology. This includes abandoning the U.S. dominated SWIFT bank transfer system, computer operating systems and the Internet. China is also hustling to replace all the American computer hardware (mainly key components) and software. This won't happen quickly and may cost the economy more than expected.
China has already created its own version of SWIFT, called CIPS (Cross-Border Interbank Payment System) and is planning to link with the Russian counterpart, SPFS (System for Transfer of Financial Message.). Currently SWIFT has about 10,000 member organizations (banks and other financial institutions). Created in 1974 as a restricted and secure messaging (email) system, it is used mainly to arrange money transfers between members. Chinese and Russian competitors have fewer than 500 members. India is considering joining the China/Russia combined network. China is creating or expanding technologies in all these areas and seeking to become the dominant source of those technologies in the world market. Despite announcements of agreements, the trade war continues.
The new evidence comes as U.S. military and intelligence officials are increasingly concerned that North Korea is poised to conduct a long-range missile test in the next few days or weeks.
North Korea has expanded a factory linked to the production of long-range nuclear missiles, according to a new analysis of satellite photos provided to NBC News that bolsters a growing expectation the country soon will resume testing a capability that threatens the United States.
Commercial satellite images from Planet Labs show a temporary structure at the site to accommodate the raising of a launcher arm, according to Jeffrey Lewis, director of the East Asia Nonproliferation Program at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies.
Air Force officials on Friday told reporters that people are clamoring for information on how to join the military's latest branch. The short answer is, they're going to have to wait a while.
President Trump officially signed the Space Force into law Friday, but for now, all that means is everyone at Air Force Space Command will now be assigned to Space Force. Over the next 18 months, officials said, the finer details of manning and training the new branch will be hammered out and set in motion.
VIDEO: Hong Kong riot police break up a solidarity rally for China's Uighurs -- with one officer drawing a pistol -- as the city's pro-democracy movement liken their plight to that of the oppressed Muslim minority pic.twitter.com/LBbKiEgUey
I have been relentlessly banging this drum for nearly a decade. Now the powers that be are waking up, finally, to the sixth gen fighter myth and realizing it needs UCAVs & soon. Amazing how poor this decade's Navy leadership has been when it comes to vision & adapting to change https://t.co/HCStuzIqpD
-Fred buys a donkey for $100 -Donkey dies - Farmer won't refund the money -Fred decides to raffle the dead donkey at $2 a ticket. - Farmer asks Fred how the raffle went - Made $998 said Fred -Everyone happy asked farmer -Yep. Except the winner so I gave his money back
CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — Tour operator Alejandro Palacios joined hundreds of thousands of Venezuelans protesting in the streets early this year, wanting to believe that things would finally change in the country as upstart opposition leader Juan Guaidó rallied international support and promised a swift end to President Nicolás Maduro’s rule.
To Palacios, Guaidó seemed different from the string of past opposition leaders who had challenged Maduro and his predecessor, the late Hugo Chavez, over 20 years of increasingly authoritarian socialist rule.
The United States and dozens of nations had thrown their support behind the youthful congressional leader, recognizing him as the country’s legitimate president, arguing that Maduro’s re-election was invalidated by fraud and a ban on most opponents.
And there seemed to be signs that the military might heed Guaidó’s repeated calls for soldiers to abandon Maduro. A few joined him in the streets in a quickly quelled uprising. The U.S. and other nations sent caravans of aid to Venezuela’s borders to be distributed by Guaidó’s backers, and they were put in charge of many Venezuelan embassies and assets abroad.
Then February turned to March, and the months marched by. No international aid made it through Maduro’s blockade. The military stayed loyal. Even the nation’s catastrophic economy began to improve slightly. Maduro remains in power.
“Here we are today, like nothing ever happened,” said a disillusioned Palacios, 26, who has watched many relatives pack up and leave in desperation while he stayed behind to care for his parents living on a government pension constantly shrinking under the world’s highest inflation.
Palacios no longer answers the opposition leader’s call to protest, nor do most of the others who once filled the streets.
Cracks have even appeared in Guaidó’s base of support in the National Assembly, the only major institution controlled by the opposition. His re-election as congressional president is no longer assured and legislators’ official terms expire in a few months.
Throughout, the 36-year-old Guaidó has admitted no mistakes, and neither he nor his backers in Washington have offered a fresh strategy to rescue their floundering battle to unseat Maduro. The Trump administration has continued to pile economic and travel sanctions onto members of Maduro’s inner circle, but so far with little effect.
“We’re up against a dictatorship,” Guaidó said in an interview with The Associated Press. “I think that is central.”
Guaidó said he remains focused on winning over the military, the linchpin of support for Maduro, and he dismissed the idea of further negotiations with the socialist administration — talks his side says Maduro has used to defuse protests without making concessions.
He also said he favors boycotting legislative elections in 2020 as long as the electoral board running the vote remains packed with Maduro loyalists.
Still, Guaidó insists his domestic and international support will only grow.
Guaidó, the hand-picked successor to then-detained opposition leader Leopoldo López, leaped onto the stage last January at a dark moment in the once-wealthy nation’s history. Despite sitting atop the world’s largest proven oil reserves, gasoline shortages plague the nation, most homes don’t have reliable drinking water or electricity and there are shortages of food, medicine and spare parts.
Roughly 4.5 million people have left the country, figures that rival mass migration from war-torn Syria.
Seizing on the nation’s desperation, Guaidó drew masses into the streets 11 months ago when he claimed to be Venezuela’s legitimate interim president after congress declared Maduro’s re-election illegal.
The bold move overnight turned Guaidó into the nation’s most-popular politician since Chavez burst onto the political scene in the early 1990s. More than 60% of Venezuelans viewed him favorably in February, according to Caracas-based polling firm Datanalisis, with many believing he would rid them of Maduro within three months.
“Guaido became the outsider that people were looking for to face Maduro,” said Datanalisis’ president Luis Vicente Leon. “A kind of hope formed around him.”
Today that support has sunk by 20 percentage points, said Leon, a sign that Venezuelans are starting to think that removing Maduro from power may be impossible.
Maduro, whose approval ratings in the other polls have dipped closer to 10%, has proven more resilient than many expected.
Venezuela’s oil production has inched up for the second consecutive month after crashing to a seven-decade low under U.S. sanctions, and shoppers are increasingly pulling U.S. dollars from their wallets — a sign the economy is bouncing back, or at least stabilizing, due in part to an easing of currency controls that the government had earlier resisted.
Maduro also appeals to many Venezuelans who still mistrust an opposition seen as corrupt and elitist and who honor the memory of Chavez, who died before the economic collapse hit home.
Vice President Delcy Rodriguez declared the “attempted coup d’etat” led by President Donald Trump a failure as she spoke last week to the National Constituent Assembly, a body the government created to bypass the opposition-dominated congress.
“They don’t understand what’s happening within Venezuela,” Rodriguez said. “They follow Hollywood scripts but don’t have an ending our political project.”
Maduro has agreed to several rounds of negotiations over the years, including some sponsored by the Vatican and the government of Norway that raised hopes of a breakthrough to the political crisis, only to have them fall apart.
Accelerating the opposition’s downfall have been revelations of corruption.
The National Assembly that Guaidó heads has suspended seven opposition lawmakers — three of them from Guaido’s Popular Will party — who are accused of lobbying on behalf of businessmen who were under investigation both in Venezuela and the U.S. for allegedly defrauding Maduro’s landmark food subsidy program.
In January, the National Assembly must decide whether to extend Guaidó’s tenure, and he said he is confident he has the backing to be re-elected as assembly president. Analysts say appointing any alternative would be devastating for the opposition.
Adding to his obstacles, Maduro’s government has stepped up its campaign to undermine the opposition, offering large bribes to lawmakers to vote against Guaido, Elliott Abrams, the U.S. special envoy to Venezuela, told reporters in Washington on Friday.
Maduro’s government also recently charged four opposition lawmakers with treason and rebellion, bringing to roughly 32 the number of legislators who have been detained, forced into exile or had their constitutional immunity from prosecution revoked. Opposition leaders said a special police force on Friday detained lawmaker Gilber Caro, in what Guaidó called a ¨kidnapping.”
U.S. diplomats say Guaidó continues to have their full support, and they plan to further increase diplomatic and economic pressure on Maduro to hold new elections. They are urging European leaders to follow the U.S. example.
“The Maduro regime fears free elections,” Abrams said. “So pressure is needed to get the free elections that can bring Venezuela out of the repression and poverty that have been the hallmark of the Maduro for years.”
Palacios, whose faith in Guaidó has long since faded, said he hopes somebody steps forward to lead Venezuela out of its crisis.
He has turned his back on Guaido’s call for more street protests and instead has buried himself in running his business, which caters to the few remaining adventure tourists. He is also caring for his parents and ailing grandmother, who suffers Parkinson’s disease and struggles to find medicine she needs.
“Sadly, you can’t make any plans for the future because there’s no economic stability,” said Palacios, dismayed by the opposition’s fading show of strength. “I’m annoyed. It’s just more of the same.”
(TOKYO) — Japan’s economy and industry ministry has proposed gradually releasing or allowing to evaporate massive amounts of treated but still radioactive water at the tsunami-wrecked Fukushima nuclear plant.
The proposal made Monday to a body of experts is the first time the ministry has narrowed down the options available to just releasing the water. It is meant to tackle a huge headache for the plant’s operator as storage space runs out, despite fears of a backlash from the public.
Nearly nine years after the 2011 triple meltdowns at Fukushima Dai-ichi, the radioactive water is still accumulating as the water is needed to keep the cores cooled and minimize leaks from the damaged reactors.
For years, a government panel has been discussing ways to handle the crisis and to reassure fishermen and residents who fear potential health impacts from releasing the radioactive water as well as harm to the region’s image.
In Monday’s draft proposal, the ministry suggests a controlled release of the water into the Pacific, allowing the water to evaporate, or a combination of the two methods.
The ministry said a controlled release into the sea was the best option because it would “stably dilute and disperse” the water from the plant using a method endorsed by the United Nations’ Scientific Committee on the Effects of Atomic Radiation. It also would facilitate monitoring of radiation levels in the environment.
Releasing the entire amount of water over one year would only increase radiation levels to thousands of times less than the impact humans usually get from the natural environment.
In the proposal, the ministry noted that evaporation has been a tested and proven method following the 1979 core meltdown at Three Mile Island, where it took two years to get rid of 87,000 tons of tritium water.
The government and the plant operator, Tokyo Electric Power Co., have been unable to get rid of the more than 1 million tons of radioactive water that has been treated and stored due to opposition from local fishermen and residents fearing further damage to Fukushima’s reputation and recovery. The utility has managed to cut down the volume of water by pumping up groundwater from upstream and installing a costly underground “ice wall” around the reactor buildings to keep the water from running into the area.
TEPCO says it has space to store only up to 1.37 million tons and only until the summer of 2022, raising speculation that the water may be released after the Tokyo Olympics next summer. TEPCO and experts say the tanks get in the way of decommissioning work and that they need to free up the space to build storage for debris removed and other radioactive materials. The tanks also could spill out their contents in a major earthquake, tsunami or flood.
Experts, including those at the International Atomic Energy Agency who have inspected the Fukushima plant, say the controlled release of the water into the ocean is the only realistic option, though it will take decades.
A government panel earlier compiled a report that listed five options, including releasing the water into the sea and evaporation. The three others included underground burial and an injection into offshore deep geological layers.
The panel has also discussed possibly storing the radioactive water in large industrial tanks outside the plant, but the ministry proposal ruled that out, citing risks of leakage in case of corrosion, tsunamis or other disasters and accidents, as well as the technical challenge of transporting the water elsewhere.
(DIRIYAH, Saudi Arabia) — Supermodels and social media mavens, their makeup artists and hair stylists in tow, posed at a concert in leather pants, chunky sweaters and trendy black combat boots. What was unusual about these Instagram posts was that they were all deliberately tagged in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
The bevy of Instagram stars, former Victoria’s Secret models, including Alessandra Ambrosio, and Hollywood actors like Ryan Phillipe, Ed Westwick and Wilmer Valderrama were invited to Saudi Arabia over the weekend to promote the kingdom’s most eye-popping effort yet at showcasing the dramatic changes taking hold in this country, where more than half of its 20 million citizens are under 25 years old.
The efforts are aimed at boosting the economy while polishing Saudi Arabia’s image abroad and appealing to the young. It’s a staggering pivot from just three years ago, when religious police would storm restaurants playing music and harass women in malls for showing their face or wearing red nail polish.
Now, the kingdom has movie theaters and concerts. Women are allowed to drive and travel without male permission, and they can sit with men, unsegregated at restaurants. The kingdom began issuing tourist visas this year. Female visitors are not required to wear the conservative black-flowing robe known as the abaya and headscarves in public.
At Riyadh airport, a booth welcomes tourists with pamphlets on etiquette in Saudi Arabia, labeled “Our Code of Conduct.”
“Both men and women are asked to dress modestly in public, avoiding tight fitting clothing,” it explains. “Women should cover their shoulders and knees in public.”
The blast of glossy social media posts helped draw attention to the visit’s purpose — to promote MDL Beast, a three-day musical extravaganza in Riyadh that drew more than 130,000 visitors on its first day alone, according to the General Entertainment Authority. Ticket prices started at just 75 riyals ($20), but organizers were eager to ensure a big turnout so tickets were also handed out for free to some government employees.
More than 70 world-renowned DJs were invited to perform across five stages to the backdrop of surrealist performances — including one with a woman in a skintight sky blue leotard writhing from a hot air balloon over a crowd of young Saudi men.
Men and women cut loose and danced at the unprecedented rave-like event. Thousands waited for hours to get in.
A popular social media account, Diet Prada, named and shamed some of the celebrities present, accusing them of allegedly accepting six-figure sums for attendance and geo-tagged posts to “rehabilitate the image of Saudi Arabia.”
Earlier this year, hip-hop star Nicki Minaj pulled out of performing in the kingdom over concerns about women’s rights, gay rights and freedom of expression.
When asked by The Associated Press, the entertainment authority that licensed MDL Beast said some people had been compensated for promoting the event, but denied such high sums were paid to individuals.
While the social changes ushered in by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman have been sweeping, so too is his crackdown on criticism and political expression. The prince has overseen the country’s war in Yemen, which has led to the world’s worst humanitarian crisis, and the arrest of women’s rights activists, clerics and writers.
He’s also drawn international condemnation for the killing of Saudi writer and Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi in Turkey, slaughtered by Saudi agents inside the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul last year.
The incident tarnished Prince Mohammed’s international image though his popularity is undeniable at home.
“The changes are really incredible and, God willing, we are heading toward even more,” said Mona Hassan, a mother out with her grown daughters at a family-friendly carnival in Diriyah, near Riyadh. “We are with Mohammed bin Salman wherever he takes us and whatever happens.”
The fully veiled Hassan said she wasn’t raised on this kind of entertainment, but has no problem with her kids enjoying it.
Saad al-Otaibi, who traveled 300 kilometers (186 miles) from al-Duwaidmi to attend the Diriyah festival, wanted to ensure it was family-friendly and affordable before bringing his wife and kids.
“All the changes are positive, not negative,” he said. “But one comment is that the prices are expensive,” he said, repeating a refrain others have quipped about on Twitter.
Families skated on an ice-rink, ziplined across the park, ride on a Ferris wheel and played galactic bowling. At the other end of the site, a younger crowd of Saudi elites smoked shisha — the bubbling waterpipe — and dined at pop-up restaurants where prices range from $100 to $1,200 a person for a meal.
Couples sat on park benches under the stars, listening to a Saudi musician playing the oud, a stringed instrument popular in the Middle East.
“No one could have imagined everything that’s happening,” said Abdullah Abulkheir, a 28-year-old Saudi visiting Diriyah. “We never thought we could reach this point in 30 years’ time. It’s been a huge transformation in a short period of time.”
Not all are happy with the crown prince’s style of governance or the changes. Yet Saudi clerics, many of whom had spoken out in the past against these changes, appear unwilling or unable to publicly criticize the moves. Those who dared have been detained and their social media accounts shuttered. In this absolute monarchy, the king holds final say on major decisions.
Only one major incident has so far marred the festivities. Last month, a Yemeni man stabbed two Spanish dancers and a guard at a live show in Riyadh. State media reported this week that he had allegedly acted on the orders of a senior al-Qaida leader in Yemen, according to evidence submitted during his trial.
Still, it’s clear most Saudis are ready for the changes.
“I don’t feel like I need to travel abroad like before because everything is here now,” Sarah Muteiri, 28, said. “We want these things and more.”
(BETHLEHEM, West Bank) — The mysterious street artist known as Banksy has displayed a politically charged Nativity scene in Bethlehem, the town revered as Jesus’ birthplace, just in time for the busy Christmas season.
The artwork, named “Scar of Bethlehem,” depicts the birth of Jesus under Israel’s West Bank separation barrier with a bullet hole shaped like a star. The piece is displayed at the “Walled Off Hotel,” a Palestinian guesthouse in Bethlehem that was designed by Banksy and is filled with his artwork.
Wisam Salsaa, the hotel manager, said the British artist recently sent the new piece to the hotel.
“We see there is a scar,” he said. “A hole on the wall marks the wall and the life in Bethlehem.”
The hotel, which overlooks the separation barrier, sarcastically boasts “the worst view in the world.” Since its opening in 2017, it has become a popular tourist draw.
“Banksy is trying to remind the world that people of Bethlehem, where Christmas was started, are not celebrating Christmas like the rest of the world,” he said.
Israel built the barrier in the early 2000s in what it said was a move to prevent Palestinian suicide bombers in the West Bank from reaching Israel. The Palestinians consider the barrier illegal and call it an Israeli land grab, noting that it has engulfed large chunks of the West Bank onto the Israeli “side.”
Bethlehem has been affected especially hard by the barrier, which surrounds large parts of the city.
Tourists flocked to the hotel Sunday to see the Nativity scene and other works by Banksy as part of their visit to the city during the peak Christmas season.
Rafael Edelmuller, a 37-year-old tourist from London, said he was looking forward to seeing the art after seeing most of Banksy’s work in Amsterdam and London.
“So we saw the Church of Nativity and then the second thing that we wanted to see was the wall with the Banksy hotel and the artwork,” Edelmuller said.
The British street artist, who carefully protects his anonymity, is believed to have made several past appearances in the Palestinian territories.
In one work, a mural of a girl pulled upward by balloons was painted on the separation barrier facing the hotel. Banksy also is believed to have sneaked into the Gaza Strip to draw four murals there. One was painted on a remaining piece of a building destroyed during the 2014 war between Israel and Gaza’s ruling Hamas militant group and featured the Greek goddess Niobe cowering against the rubble of a destroyed house.
(PERTH, Australia) — Australia’s embattled Prime Minister defended his government’s climate policy Monday, as authorities warned the wildfires crisis ravaging the country’s most populous state could fester for months.
Around 200 wildfires were burning in four states, with New South Wales accounting for more than half of them, including 60 fires not contained.
The disaster has led to renewed criticism that Prime Minister Scott Morrison’s conservative government has not taken enough action on climate change.
Morrison rejected calls to downsize Australia’s lucrative coal industry. Australia is the world’s largest exporter of coal and liquefied natural gas.
“I am not going to write off the jobs of thousands of Australians by walking away from traditional industries,” he told Channel Seven.
Morrison made the rounds on several Australian television networks Monday morning in the aftermath of his much criticized family vacation to Hawaii during the wildfires crisis.
He eventually cut short his holiday and returned to Sydney over the weekend before visiting evacuation and emergency control centers and the families of two firefighters killed battling blazes last Thursday southwest of Sydney.
“We all make decisions. You do as a parent, I do as a parent. We’ll seek to balance our work life responsibilities and we all try to get that right,” Morrison told Channel Seven.
More than 3 million hectares (7.4 million acres) of land has burned nationwide during a torrid past few months, with nine people killed and more than 900 homes destroyed. Almost 800 homes have burned in New South Wales, which last week was paralyzed by a seven-day state of emergency amid catastrophic conditions.
There will be desperately needed relief this week for New South Wales, with cooler conditions forecast.
New South Wales Rural Fire Service commissioner Shane Fitzsimmons, however, painted a bleak long-term picture.
“We’ve got to keep in mind that we’re not expecting any rainfall to make any meaningful difference to these fires until January or February,” he said.
“That’s still a way to go. We’re still talking four to six weeks at best before we start to see a meaningful reprieve in the weather.”
Morrison’s coalition government won a surprise third term in May. Among its pledges was to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 26% to 28% by 2030 — a modest figure compared to the center-left opposition’s pledge of 45%.
Morrison on Monday insisted Australia would meet its emission targets.
“I’m going to maintain the course of responsible management, responsibly addressing the changes of climate change and responsibly ensuring that we can grow our economy in what is a very tough climate at the moment,” he said.
CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — Venezuela’s defense minister said that “extremist opposition sectors” attacked a military outpost near the border with Brazil early Sunday, killing at least one soldier before being chased down.
Gen. Vladimir Padrino López said via Twitter that the attackers took a batch of weapons from the post, but that all the arms were recovered.
He said at least some of those involved in what he called a “terrorist attack” were detained and being questioned, while the army and other security forces were pursuing the rest.
The communications minister, Jorge Rodriguez, later tweeted that six people had been arrested in the incident.
Without offering any evidence, Rodriguez claimed that those involved in the attack “were trained in fully identified paramilitary camps in Colombia” and that they collaborated with Brazil’s far-right government.
Foreign Minister Jorge Arreaza, meanwhile, accused Peruvian authorities had allowed the attackers to organize. Colombia, Brazil and Peru are working “to produce violence, death and political destabilization in Venezuela,” he wrote on Twitter.
The governments of those three nations have joined with the United States and about four dozen other countries in deeming Venezuela’s socialist president, Nicolas Maduro, to hold power illegitimately. They contend he won re-election in an unfair ballot that excluded strong opposition figures.
Peru’s foreign minister, Gustavo Meza-Cuadra, rejected Arreaza’s allegations. He said on Twitter that Arreaza was using “false expressions” to try to link critics of Maduro’s government to “incidents of violence occurring in Venezuela”
Since February, several hundred Venezuelan soldiers have defected and fled to Colombia, Peru and Brazil. They have expressed support for opposition leader Juan Guaidó and sought to feed discontent within Venezuela’s armed forces.
Maduro, who faced down a small military uprising at the end of April, continues to have the support of the military high command.
(SYDNEY) — Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison apologized Sunday for taking a family vacation in Hawaii as deadly bushfires raged across several states, destroying homes and claiming the lives of two volunteer firefighters.
Morrison cut short a vacation with his wife and adult children amid public anger at his absence during a national crisis, and arrived home Saturday night. He spoke to reporters Sunday morning while visiting the headquarters of the Rural Fire Service in Sydney.
“If you had your time over again and you had the benefit of hindsight, we would have made different decisions,” Morrison said. “I am sure Australians are fair-minded and understand that when you make a promise to your kids you try and keep it.”
“But as prime minister, you have other responsibilities, and I accept that and I accept the criticism,” he added.
Morrison said this was not a time for political point-scoring, but a “time to be kind to each other.” He said that while he is not a trained firefighter, “I’m comforted by the fact that Australians would like me to be here just simply so I can be here, alongside them, as they are going through this terrible time.”
Morrison also answered critics who say his government has not done enough to fight climate change, which has been cited as a major factor in the spate of fires burning across the states of New South Wales, Victoria and South Australia. He said there were also “many other factors” responsible for the unprecedented number of fires during a record-breaking heat wave.
“There is no argument … about the links between broader issues of global climate change and weather events around the world,” he said. “But I’m sure people equally would acknowledge that the direct connection to any single fire event — it’s not a credible suggestion to make that link.”
Rural Fire Service Commissioner Shane Fizsimmons described Saturday as an “awful day” for firefighters as strong southerly winds fanned more than 100 fires in New South Wales alone.
The fast-moving fires scorched trees, cars, outbuildings and everything else in its path, leaving residents scrambling to find shelter.
“When it came, it came in like three or four minutes, just a big plume of black smoke and then ember fallout,” recalled Steve Harrison, a resident of the village of Balmoral. In an interview with ABC, Harrison described how he frantically tried to turn on the sprinklers on buildings in his property on Saturday but within minutes he found himself trapped, unable to escape.
“My garden was already on fire here. And the driveway was on fire, and the road was on fire. So I realized I couldn’t evacuate,” Harrison said. He said he had to turn to his plan B: Hiding in a small kiln, just the size of a coffin, that he had built the day before. It was just big enough for him to crawl inside, he said.
“I hid in there for half an hour while the firestorm went over,” he said.
The village of Balmoral, southwest of Sydney, has been all but wiped out by the Green Wattle Creek firestorm that roared through the area twice in three days.
Dozens of homes have been lost since Thursday in massive wildfires, including the Gospers Mountain blaze, which covered more than 460,000 hectares (1.1 million acres).
Thirty firefighters from Canada and nine from the United States were among fresh crews set to join the battle against the fires on Sunday.
___
Associated Press writer Steve McMorran in Wellington, New Zealand, contributed to this report.
(LONDON) — Britain’s Queen Elizabeth II attended church near her country estate while her husband of 72 years, Prince Philip, remained in a London hospital Sunday.
Palace officials have not provided an update on the 98-year-old prince’s condition following the announcement Friday that he was being admitted to King Edward VII Hospital as a precaution due to a preexisting condition.
It is not clear if Philip will be released in time to join the rest of the royal family for Christmas at Sandringham, the queen’s country estate in Norfolk.
The queen has not altered her holiday routine and went to church Sunday as normal. The royal family is expected to attend another service on Christmas morning.
Buckingham Palace released a special holiday photo showing the queen making Christmas desserts with her son, Prince Charles, her grandson Prince William and her great-grandson Prince George.
The three princes are, respectively, the first, second and third in line for the British throne.
Russia is blaming the World Anti-Doping Agency’s star witness for modifying key laboratory data. His lawyer says that’s nonsense.
The Russian Investigative Committee, a major law enforcement agency, alleges that former Moscow anti-doping laboratory director Grigory Rodchenkov remotely changed test results from abroad after fleeing to the United States in 2015.
“All the evidence obtained by the investigation shows that Rodchenkov and unidentified persons intentionally made changes in the electronic database to distort the parameters and indicators of Russian athletes’ doping samples,” Russian Investigative Committee (IC) spokeswoman Svetlana Petrenko said in a statement Saturday.
Since leaving Russia, Rodchenkov has become a key witness for WADA, which ruled this month that the doping data — known as the LIMS database — was doctored to protect Russian athletes who failed drug tests while the data was in the custody of the IC.
Handing over the files in January was meant to be a Russian peace offering which could uncover past doping offenses involving star Russian athletes. It’s turned into another legal battleground in the saga nearly six years on from Russia hosting the Winter Olympics in Sochi.
Rodchenkov’s lawyer told the AP the new allegation against his client is a “farce.”
“Rodchenkov could not and did not log into the LIMS database,” Jim Walden told The Associated Press. “We are not aware of anyone else that logged in. The point is that this is all a charade.”
WADA this month banned Russia from next year’s Tokyo Olympics over the data manipulation, though Russian athletes can still compete as neutrals.
The IC alleges the data was edited from abroad in 2015 and 2016, but hasn’t fully explained WADA’s allegation that there were thousands of changes made in the weeks before Russia handed over the data archive in January 2019. WADA says the changes were aimed at removing incriminating evidence against Russia. The IC’s Petrenko said that “access to this data by laboratory staff could not have been restricted due to the ongoing operation of the laboratory.”
Her statement also doesn’t address another key WADA claim, that false messages implicating Rodchenkov in corruption were spliced into the data archive.
Before the handover, WADA had its own copy of the database for comparison, provided in secret by an unnamed whistleblower. Russia says the source was Rodchenkov, something his lawyer denies.
Petrenko protested that “foreign partners” hadn’t made Rodchenkov available for questioning.
“This is just another Russian lie,” Walden told the AP. “They know where I am. I haven’t received a single request for an interview.”
With Russia planning a legal challenge to WADA’s sporting sanctions, the next step for Rodchenkov could be testifying at the Court of Arbitration for Sport in the spring. His lawyer said he’s ready.
“If WADA or any other agency needs Grigory to testify, Grigory will uphold his promise to cooperate fully to help atone for his role,” Walden said.
(PARIS) — It took a blaze that nearly destroyed Paris’ most famous cathedral to reveal a gap in global safety regulations for lead, a toxic building material found across many historic cities.
After the Notre Dame fire in April spewed dozens of tons of toxic lead-dust into the atmosphere in just a few hours, Paris authorities discovered a problem with the city’s public safety regulations: There was no threshold for them to gauge how dangerous the potentially-deadly pollution was from the dust that settled on the ground.
Since then, The Associated Press has found this regulatory gap extends far beyond France. Officials in other historic European capitals such as Rome and London, as well as the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the World Health Organization also have no such outdoor lead dust hazard guidelines.
The reason, they say, is that although there are lead regulations, no one contemplated a conflagration on a lead-laden building the scale of Notre Dame — whose spire towered nearly 100 meters (330 feet) high.
Poisoning from lead dust can cause permanent loss to cognitive ability, seizures, coma, or death — and exposure is of greatest risk to pregnant mothers and to young children, who can easily transfer toxic dust into their mouths.
After 250 tons of lead on Notre Dame’s spire and roof was engulfed in flames in central Paris on April 15 and authorities alerted Parisians to an environmental health risk, they were forced to cobble together disparate and incomplete research to set a makeshift safety level in an attempt reassure the public.
“When the Notre Dame fire happened, we didn’t have any threshold for what represented dangerous lead levels outdoors,” Anne Souyris, the Paris City Hall deputy mayor in charge of public health, told the AP. “It was a wake-up call … the amount of lead that was burned in Notre Dame was unprecedented.”
Officials were surprised to discover that while safety guidelines exist in France for lead levels inside buildings and schools, as well as in paint, soil and air pollution, there were zero hazard guidelines for lead accumulations in public spaces, such as dust on the ground.
The inherent danger and the regulatory gap for lead dust became impossible to ignore for French officials as it collected as a toxic film on the cobblestones of Paris’ Ile-de-la-Cite following the fire.
“The authorities basically tried to create safety guidelines after the fire by piecing together a mixture of old fragments of data and reports,” Souyris said. “But there was really nothing official … we simply didn’t realize that lead outside might be a problem.”
On July 18 — three months after the inferno — Paris’ Regional Health Agency (ARS) said it designated 5,000 micrograms per square meter (4,180 mg per square yard) as a concerning level for lead dust in public spaces. It also acknowledged there was an “absence of regulatory thresholds … regarding the presence of lead in dust deposited on roads.”
AP learned from health officials that this figure was compiled by using incomplete data, including a French Culture Ministry report assessing lead levels in Paris monuments.
Some media outlets reported that registered levels of lead contamination in locations surrounding the fire-damaged cathedral ranged between 500 and 800 times the official safe levels.
But health officials told the AP that Paris still does not have any official regulatory threshold.
The World Health Organization told AP it also has no outdoor safety guidelines for lead dust and has no “immediate” intention to create any.
New legislation for hazard safety in Britain following the 2017 Grenfell Tower fire also did not cover lead-dust hazards. The U.K. Environment Ministry told AP it doesn’t “have a specific threshold for unsafe lead dust levels in the U.K. in public places.” It said the hazard focus after Grenfell, an apartment building constructed in the 1970s, “was more on asbestos than lead due to the age of the building.”
In the U.S., where many buildings were constructed after lead hazards were widely recognized, the Environmental Protection Agency has no lead dust hazard standards for outdoor public spaces.
Lead is ubiquitous in Paris’ 19th-century architecture — in roofs, gilded balconies, floors and terraces — and not just in its most famous cathedral. In 1853, Napoleon III chose Baron Haussmann to carry out a near-total renovation of Parisian boulevards and parks in an era that used lead prolifically — designs that still dominate the city.
French officials say there are so few guidelines on lead dust levels because it was not a problem they had to confront until the unprecedented Notre Dame fire.
It took four months for the city to complete a deep-clean operation of the sidewalks even as tourists, residents and merchants walked streets around the cathedral daily.
Paris City Hall issued a new action plan this fall to address lead — including cleaning and testing in places that host children, increased monitoring of children with high levels of lead in their blood and an independent epidemiological study of lead health impacts in a city that has used the toxic element since the Middle Ages.
“Paris is a beautifully preserved city,” Souyris said. “But we realize we have also beautifully preserved its lead.”
Experts say Paris’ rare status as a highly conserved historic city makes it a particular danger spot for lead.
“Preservation does make Paris unusual,” said Neil M. Donahue, a chemistry professor at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburg. “Incineration of one of the most famous roofs in the world may be especially dramatic, but there is no alchemy in this world. Lead will remain lead forever.”
The fire in Paris’ spiritual heart increased awareness among authorities and the public to the dangers of lead.
In June, Paris’ Regional Health Agency advised that all pregnant women and children under 7 years old living near the site take a test for lead levels.
The agency said 12 children in the surrounding areas tested positive for elevated lead levels in their blood since the fire. None have been hospitalized or prescribed medication, but officials said it was impossible to predict the long-term health consequences of the fire.
One child’s lead exposure came from a source other than the cathedral: the lead balcony of his family’s apartment. But it illustrates how the fire awakened Parisians to the dangers of lead. It’s unlikely the child would have been tested at all without the catastrophe.
Despite the lead fallout from the fire, experts say tourists should not alter travel plans to one of the most visited cities in the world.
But toxic lead dust remains a problem inside the burned-out cathedral, after tons of molten and airborne lead contaminated its interior. The inside clean-up is a delicate and painstaking process, complicated by French President Emmanuel Macron’s five-year timeline for the restoration to be completed — a deadline many experts say is unrealistic.
Aline Magnien, director of the Historic Monuments Research Laboratory, recently dispatched her team of scientists to figure out how to remove the toxic lead from inside the UNESCO world heritage site, which is over 850 years old, without damaging it.
“It’s a race against the clock,” she said. “The lead is a real problem. The cathedral is exceptionally precious. And we don’t have the luxury of time.”
___
Associated Press writers Giada Zampano in Rome, Ciaran Giles in Madrid, Frank Jordans in Berlin, David Caruso in New York and Daria Litvinova in Moscow contributed to this report.
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ARCHAEOLOGISTS were left "terrified" after making a "lifelike" discovery in the Pyramid of Meidum, that is helping to piece together one region of this astonishing ancient civilisation.
DONALD Trump has sent a pointed message to Kim Jong-Un by staging a joint military drill with South Korea - just days before the expiration of a deadline set by the North Korean leader for the US to make concessions in stalled nuclear talks.
GERMANY and Russia are on a collision course with the US after President Donald Trump approved sanctions against a controversial gas pipeline between the two European nations.
EMMANUEL MACRON caused "serious damage to European democracy" with his controversial intervention to block Manfred Weber's bid to become President of the European Commission, the German politician has complained in a bitter rant.
A TOP Kurdish intelligence official has told the BBC that the terrorist group ISIS is regrouping in Iraq and poses an increasing threat to the region once again.
ICFRE Recruitment 2019 – Apply Offline for 41 Deputy Conservator, Conservator Vacancy. Indian Council of Forestry Research and Education is looking for candidates who completed Any Graduate, Any Post Graduate candidates to fill up the 41 vacancies of Deputy Conservator, Conservator Posts. Interested applicants can apply for the ICFRE Job Vacancies through Offline mode. From now on the Aspirants can submit your ICFRE Job Application Form to the Registered address.
There are 41 openings are left for Deputy Conservator of Forests (18), Conservator of Forests (23) Posts. The last date to submit your application for the ICFRE Recruitment 2019 is 31st January 2020.
ICFRE Recruitment 2019 Notification For 64 Vacancies
Name of the Organization
Indian Council of Forestry Research and Education (ICFRE)
No. of Vacancies
41 Posts
Name of the Post
Deputy Conservator of Forests (DCF), Conservator of Forests (CF)
Forest Research Centre for Eco-Rehabilitation, Prayagraj
1
2
Tropical Forest Research Institute, Jabalpur
1
3
Forest Research Centre for Skill Development, Chhindwara
1
2
Arid Forest Research Institute, Jodhpur
2
1
Institute of Wood Science and Technology, Bengaluru
–
1
Rain Forest Research Institute, Jorhat
2
3
Forest Research Centre for Bamboo & Rattan, Aizawl
1
1
Forest Research Centre for Coastal Ecosystem, Vishakapatnam
–
1
Institute of Forest Productivity, Ranchi
1
1
23
18
Total
41 Posts
Eligibility Criteria for Deputy Conservator, Conservator ICFRE Jobs 2019
Educational Qualification:
Deputy Conservator – Applicants should complete any Graduate or any Post Graduate Degree from a Government recognized institute.
Conservator – Candidates must possess any Graduate or any Post Graduate Degree from a Government recognized institute.
Age Limit:
Applicants can refer to the official notification for more information.
Salary Details:
Conservator of Forests (CF) – Level 13 and 13A of Pay Matrix of 7th CPC
Deputy Conservator of Forests (DCF) – Levels 10, 11, 12 and 13 of the Pay Matrix of 7th CPC.
Note: The Chief Conservator of Forests (CCF) in level 14 of the Pay Matrix may also apply for the Posts
Application Fee for ICFRE Recruitment:
Pay the Non-refundable application fee through Demand Draft in favor of "Accounts Officer, ICFRE and Payabls at Dehra Dun".
All Candidates – Rs. 500/-
ICFRE Recruitment 2019 – Selection Process:
Written Examination.
Interview.
Other Important ICFRE Job Details:
The IFS/SFS Officers who are willing to be considered for appointment on deputation against these vacancies with liability to serve anywhere in India under the Council are requested to send their applications through the following Registered Postal address.
How to Apply Offline for ICFRE Recruitment 2019?
Download the Official Notification given below.
Read the given details completely and ensure the eligibility level.
Download the ICFRE Recruitment Application form given below.
Start filling the application form with all the necessary details.
Paste your photograph and attach essential document copies.
Submit the application to the ICFRE Dehradun address given below before the last date.
NOTE: Mention that “Application for the Post of _______ “on the envelope.
Postal Address:
Secretary, Indian Council of Forestry Research and Education, P.O, New Forest Dehra Dun – 248006.
ICFRE Recruitment 2019-20 – Apply Offline for 23 MTS, Technician & Technical Assistant Vacancy. Indian Council of Forestry Research and Education is looking for qualified and experienced candidates to fill up the 23 vacancies. Interested can apply for the ICFRE Job Vacancies through Offline mode. Aspirants can submit your ICFRE Job Application Form from 21st October 2019.
There are 23 openings are left for MTS, Technician & Technical Assistant Post. The final date to submit your application for the ICFRE Recruitment 2019 is 16th December 2019. Application from Andaman & Nicobar, Lakshadweep Islands should deliver on or before the 31st December 2019.
ICFRE Recruitment 2020 Notification Details
Name of the Organization
Indian Council of Forestry Research and Education (ICFRE)
123 – Health Investigator, Field Investigator & Supervisors
[11-11-2019]
About Indian Council of Forestry Research and Education (ICFRE)
The Indian Council of Forestry Research and Education degreed Education (ICFRE) is an autonomous organization or governmental agency below the Ministry of surroundings and Forests, Government of India. Headquartered in Dehradun, its functions are to conduct biology research; transfer the technologies developed to the states of India and alternative user agencies, and to impart biology education. The council has nine analysis institutes and four advanced centers to cater to the analysis wants of various bio-geographical regions. These are set at Dehradun, Shimla, Ranchi, Jorhat, Jabalpur, Jodhpur, Bangalore, Coimbatore, Allahabad, Chhindwara, Aizawl, Hyderabad, and Agartala.ICFRE is that the largest organization chargeable for biology analysis in India.
ICFRE became associate degree autonomous council below the Ministry in 1991The The journey of ICFRE was initiated approach back towards the tip of the nineteenth century with the arrival of scientific biology in India and therefore the institution of the Forest college in Dehradun in 1878. In 1986 the Indian Council of biology analysis associate degreed Education or ICFRE was shaped like an umbrella organization for taking care of biology analysis, education and extension wants of the country. The Council contains a pan India presence with its nine Regional analysis Institutes and five Centers in several bio-geographical regions of the country. every Institute contains a history of its own and below the umbrella of ICFRE ar directive and managing analysis, extension and education in the biology sector within the states below their jurisdiction.
Bank of Maharashtra Recruitment 2019 @ bankofmaharashtra.in || 300 Generalist Officer || 50 Specialist Officers Vacancy in BOM Careers.Bank of Maharashtra has recently announced the Latest Job Notification to fill 350 Vacancies for Generalist Officers & Specialist Officers Posts. This is a great opportunity for the candidates who are looking for Bank Jobs. Aspirants who have Interested in this Bank of Maharashtra Generalist Officers Recruitment can apply for the Posts through Online Process. The last date to submit the application form is 31st December 2019. Interested can check with BOM Official Notification and apply for the vacancies.
Bank of Maharashtra Recruitment 2019-20
Bank of Maharashtra is looking for talented individuals with winning attitude to be partners in the growth journey of the Bank through shouldering responsibility, as Scale- II and Scale- III in the above Generalist officer cadre. Candidates having a suitable qualification and eligibility for the vacancies can apply for Bank of Maharashtra Careers. Individuals willing to apply for the Bank of Maharashtra Jobs can get detailed information about the BOM Recruitment for Specialist Officers below. Candidates can get the Bank of Maharashtra Recruitment 2019 Apply Online steps from the below sections.
Bank of Maharashtra Generalist Officers Recruitment 2019 – 350 Openings
Bank of Maharashtra Generalist Officers Vacancies 2019 – Category Wise
Post Name
Categories
SC
ST
OBC
EWS
UR
Total
Generalist Officers II
30
15
54
20
81
200
Generalist Officers III
15
07
27
10
41
100
Total
300
Eligibility Criteria for Bank of Maharashtra Recruitment 2019-20
Bank of Maharashtra is providing job opportunities through Bank of Maharashtra Department Jobs 2019 Notification, which has 300 Vacancies for Generalist Officers posts. Accordingly, interested job aspirants should meet following eligibility conditions in order to be a part of BOM Vacancy 2019. Below listed are the complete details of BOM Recruitment 2019.
Educational Qualification for Bank of Maharashtra Jobs 2019
Bachelor's Degree in any discipline with knowledge of Computers.
Passing of JAIIB and CAIIB is desirable
A professional qualification like MBA (Finance) /CA/ICWA/CFA/FRM/ from a recognized University/ Institution/ Board recognized by Govt. of India / approved by Govt. Regulatory bodies are desirable.
Experience:
Generalist Officers II (MMGS Scale – II) – Post qualification Work Experience of 2 years as an officer in any Scheduled Commercial Bank. Experience in Credit-related areas / Branch Head / Incharge is desirable.
Generalist Officers III (MMGS Scale – III) – Post qualification Work Experience of 5 years as an officer in any Scheduled Commercial Bank. He / She should have worked in processing credit proposals, Branch Head, Incharge of functional departments, Forex, etc.
Age Limit for Bank of Maharashtra Bharti 2019:
Generalist Officers II (MMGS Scale – II) – Maximum 35 years
Generalist Officers III (MMGS Scale – III) – Maximum 35 years
Specialist Officers – Maximum 35 years
Age Relaxation for reserved categories will be applicable as per Government guidelines.
SC/ST – 5 Years
OBC – 3 Years
(SC/ ST) – 15 Years (PWBD)
(OBC) – 13 Years (PWBD)
(GEN/ EWS) – 10 Years (PWBD)
Ex-Servicemen – 5 Years
Persons Ordinarily domiciled of the state of Jammu & Kashmir during the period 01.01.1980 to 31.12.1989 – 5 Years
Selection Process for Bank of Maharashtra Careers 2019:
The selection procedure includes the following steps
Written Examination (Online)
Interview
The candidates should secure minimum marks in the online examination as mentioned below to qualify for interview / GD.
SC / ST/ PWBD – 45% (Minimum Marks to be obtained in Online Examination)
UNRESERVED / EWS / OBC – 50% (Minimum Marks to be obtained in Online Examination)
Pay Scale for BOM Recruitment 2019
Salary for selected aspirants is as follows
Name of the Post
Pay Matrix Level
Generalist Officers II
Rs. 31705 -1145/1-32850 -1310/10 – 45950 (Subject to revision)
107 – Nursing Officer, Medical Laboratory Technologist & Other
[20-01-2020]
Frequently Asked Questions About Bank of Maharashtra Recruitment 2019:
1. What is the mode of application form Bank of Maharashtra Recruitment 2019? A. Applications for Bank of Maharashtra Recruitment 2019 will be accepted only in the Online mode. Candidates can apply for Generalist Officer & Specialist Officer posts by following the steps given above
2. Where will the candidates be placed after selection? A. The selected candidates can be placed anywhere in any state of India which has an office of Bank of Maharashtra.
3. What are the important dates I must know for Bank of Maharashtra Jobs? A. Candidates must make note of the following date
Starting Date of Application – 11th December 2019
Last Date To Apply Online – 31st December 2019
Date of Online Examination – Tentatively in February / March 2020
Date of GD/Interview – Update Soon
4. What are the eligibility criteria for Bank of Maharashtra Recruitment? A. Candidate must have completed their Bachelor's Degree in any discipline with knowledge of Computers to be eligible for BOM jobs. The candidate must be below 35 years of age.
5. What is the selection process for Bank of Maharashtra Vacancies? A. Candidates will be selected based on their performance in the Written Examination and Interview. All the candidates who pass the Online examination will then be called for an interview.
6. How much will I be paid for Bank of Maharashtra Jobs? A. Candidates will be paid Rs. 31705 -1145/1-32850 -1310/10 – 45950 (Subject to revision) for Generalist Officer II. For Generalist Officer III candidates, the salary paid will be Rs. 42020 – 1310/5 – 48570 – 1460/2 – 51490 (Subject to revision).
7. What is the application fee that I will have to pay for Bank of Maharashtra Recruitment? A. UR / EWS / OBC Candidates will have to pay Rs. 1,180/- as application fee Candidates belonging to SC/ ST categories Rs.118/- and PWD do not have to pay any application fee.
About Bank of Maharashtra
Bank of Maharashtra is a noteworthy open segment bank in India. The administration of India holds 87.74% of the complete shares. The bank has 15 million clients over the length and expansiveness of the nation served through 1897 branches starting on 5 April 2016. It has the biggest system of branches by any open part bank in the province of Maharashtra. The bank was established by V. G. Kale and D. K. Sathe and enrolled as a financial organization on 16 September 1935 at Pune. The bank accomplished a self-sufficient status in 1998. Accordingly, the bank has restricted obstruction of Government administration in its basic leadership process and inside issues.
The bank was enlisted on 16 September 1935 with an approved capital of ₹ 1 million and started a business on 8 February 1936. Bank’s money related help to little units has brought forth a large number of the present modern houses. After nationalization in 1969, the bank extended quickly. Narendra Singh who had accepted the workplace of Chairman and Managing Director from 1 February 2012, left his office on 30 September 2013 on accomplishing superannuation.
Dear Students !!! RGUHS Results 2019Released by the Rajiv Gandhi University of Health Science. As that the RGUHS Examination Results for all the UG, PG Medical Courses should be checked through the Online process. We have gathered the respective RGUHS EMS Results 2019 link and attached it under this article. Once the entrance examination or the semester examination RGUHS Results Date are released officially in the RGUHS Board can check out for the EMS Results 2019 on this recruitment.guru page. We people from recruitment.guru will help you get the RGUHS Results 2019 for the respective courses.
Rajiv Gandhi University of Health Science – Overview
The Rajiv Gandhi University of Health Science, Karnataka conducts the examination for several Under Graduate and Post Graduate Semester as per year wise. All the Students can check the RGUHS Results MBBS from this article. We have provided all the latest information about the Rajiv Gandhi University of Health Science Board from the Official Website to make your search much easier. Here, we are provided the detailed information that will direct you to the respective RGUHS Results 2019 page on the official website. Candidates can also download the RGUHS Exam Results 2019 through the below-given links and get all the details about the Rajiv Gandhi University of Health Science Results 2019 under one roof.
RGUHS is considered one of the top universities offering the best medical education in India with initiatives to make its syllabi for different courses of world-class quality taking it to the forefront of medical education in India. Rajiv Gandhi University of Health Sciences was established on 1st June 1996 at Bangalore by the Govt. of Karnataka through its implementation of the Rajiv Gandhi University of Health Sciences, Karnataka Act 1994 to encompass all existing health science colleges and institutions which were previously associated with the conventional universities in Karnataka with a purpose of ensuring proper and systematic instruction, teaching, training, research in modern and Indian systems of medicine.
The phenomenal increase in the number of institutions and students admitted to various courses of medical and allied health sciences warranted the need to regulate, monitor and standardize the curriculum as well as the evaluation systems. The product of medical and health science professionals was to meet the social needs for better healthcare. Hence, RGUHS had the vision to bring in uniformity in the standards of teaching and have a common curriculum for the various courses offered in different colleges across Karnataka. The Rajiv Gandhi University of Health Sciences instruction of the medium is English only.
RGUHS EMS Results for Regular/ Supplementary
Those students who have attended the regular examination under the Rajiv Gandhi University of Health Science and failed in the first attempt. Here comes one more opportunity to clear the semester examination. Even students can increase their scoring for the low score examination. Here comes a great chance for the students who have failed in the current semester and wish to overcome again. RGUHS Revaluation Results will help you out in such cases. For each & every semester Students, those who wish to take one more chance can apply for the RGUHS Revaluation. All these candidates need to stay updated with the RGUHS university main page ie. @rguhs.ac.in to get the latest RGUHS Revaluation Results.
Lucknow University Result 2019 Declared:Dear Folks !!! It’s time to check your results now. The University of Lucknow has published Examination results for various Courses. According to the recent notice, the University has released the results for all the Courses of Annual and Semester Wise. Students who have done with the exam in there streams like Ph.D., B.A, B.Sc, B.Com & others are eagerly waiting for the result. Here, aspirants can get all the regular as well supplementary exam results of Lucknow University. Go through the below sections and download the Lucknow University Result 2019 of your respective examination. Get the updated Lucknow University Results from our webpage.
Here on this page, Lucknow University Result 2019 is available now for the various courses that are provided under the university i.e. Undergraduate, Postgraduate, Management Programs, Diploma, Ph.D. and also Other Courses. Students those who have appeared for one of these course examinations can check their annual as well as semester wise results. So, download the exam results from the below links. Apart from this, we will be updating the Upcoming Lucknow University Results 2019 Name Wise, it will work once the University will release it officially. Moreover, we will update the latest information about Lucknow University Results, Exam Schedule, Admit Card, Previous Paper, Syllabus, and others.
University of Lucknow or Lucknow University is a government-owned University that is situated in Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh. Its old campus is situated in Badshah Bagh, University Road area of the city with the new campus at Jankipuram. The university was founded in 1867 and was established in the year 1921. It is considered as one of the oldest government-owned institutions of Indian Higher Education. Lucknow University has around 146 Affiliated colleges and institutes that are located throughout the City. The university provides various courses like Undergraduate, Postgraduate, Management Programs, Diploma, Ph.D. & Other. The main motto of the university is Light and Learning.
Lucknow University Supply/Revaluation Results
Students who score good marks in the current semester can move on with the next semester. But if they will not get more marks they can apply for the Lucknow University Revaluation Results. Once they applied for the Examination, the higher level Examiner will check the paper again. They can get the revaluation results within the time. Also if they still get fail marks, they can apply for the supplementary examination. For each and every semester Students can apply for the revaluation after the announcement of the main examination results. Lucknow University will take a week or more to process the exam papers to announce the Lucknow University Revaluation Results. Do stay updated with the University to know about the Revaluation Exam Results. Get to know all exam result details of the University @ www.lkouniv.ac.in
TN MRB Results 2019 – Get Physiotherapist Grade II Cut Off Marks here @ mrb.tn.gov.in. Download TN Auxiliary Nurse Midwife Result from the below sections. The Tamil Nadu Medical Recruitment Board has conducted the Examination for various Posts like Physiotherapist Grade II, Village Health Nurse, and Auxiliary Nurse Midwife on various Centers. All the candidates who had participated in the Online Test must check the Results from the direct link provided below in the table. Applicants can keep track of this page to get regular updates and more details. As per the latest news, the Physiotherapist Grade-II will be announced in the month of December 2019 (Tentatively).
TN MRB Village Health Nurse Result 2019Released– The higher authority of the Tamil Nadu Medical Recruitment Board announced the TN MRB Village Health Nurse Exam Result 2019. Tamil Nadu Medical Recruitment Board has announced this recruitment is to fill 1234 vacancies of Village Health Nurse or Auxiliary Nurse Midwife on a temporary basis. In this, the selection process is completely based on the marks scored in academics. Moreover, the candidates can check the TN MRB Results from this site. And also, the aspirants can also get TN MRB Village Health Nurse Cut off marks and Merit List 2019 from this page.
TN MRB Village Health Nurse Result 2019
Organization Name
Tamil Nadu Medical Recruitment Board
Post Name
Village Health Nurse/ Auxiliary Nurse Midwife (Temporary Basis)
TN MRB Village Health Nurse Result 2019 – Click Here
TN MRB Nurse Result 2019 – The higher authority of the Tamil Nadu Medical Recruitment Board announced the TN MRB Nurse (SNCU) Exam Results 2019. This recruitment is to fill 2345 of Nurse Vacancies. Therefore know the status of Tamil Nadu Nurse Result 2019. And also know the information of TN MRB Nurse Cut Off Marks 2019 and TN MRB Nurse Merit List 2019 details.
TN MRB Lab Technician Grade 2 Result 2019 (Released) @ mrb.tn.gov.in: The higher authority of Tamil Nadu Medical Recruitment Board announced the TN MRB Lab Technician Grade 2 Marks List 2019. And the document verification is going to be conducted on 15th, 18th, 19th November 2019. Therefore know the status of Tamil Nadu MRB Lab Technician Grade 2 Result 2019. And also know the information of TN MRB Lab Technician Grade 2 Cut Off Marks, Merit List 2019 details from this article.
Academic and Technical Qualification, Document Verification
Job Location
Tamil Nadu
Official Website
mrb.tn.gov.in
TN MRB Lab Technician Grade 2 Result 2019 – Click Here
TN MRB Physiotherapist Result 2019 @ mrb.tn.gov.in: The Tamil Nadu Medical Recruitment Board has declared the TN MRB Physiotherapist Grade-II Result 2019 in online. Candidates who have successfully completed the written exam on the 3rd November 2019 check here for TN MRB Result 2019 from here. As the higher authority has released the Tamil Nadu MRB Physiotherapist Grade-II Result 2019 on 21st November 2019.
TN MRB Physiotherapist Result 2019 – Click Here TN MRB Physiotherapist Result 2019 – Click Here
TN MRB Village Health Nurse Result 2019 – The Tamil Nadu Medical Recruitment Board had released a notification for the recruitment of 1234 women candidates on a temporary basis to the post of Village Health Nurse and Auxiliary Nurse Midwife. And the Candidates who will successfully complete the written exam can check here for TN MRB Village Health Nurse Result 2019 from here.
MRB TN Village Health Nurse Merit List 2019 – Click Here
Candidates can get ready to check the TN MRB Nurse Results here. All the candidates can check the www.mrb.tn.gov.in results from this page. And that is through the direct link given at the bottom of the article. The TN MRB officials will conduct the Online Test in various exam centers. Also, candidates, who will clear all rounds of the selection process will get hired for the Physiotherapist Grade II, Village Health Nurse, and Auxiliary Nurse Midwife Posts.
Candidates can check the TN MRB Nurse Merit List 2019 from the below table. Besides, the TN MRB Nurse Merit List contains the Names, Marks, Rank of the top or high marks scored candidates. Moreover, the TN MRB Nurse Merit List is to shortlist the candidates. Candidates who are qualified in the Online Test must attend the further rounds of the selections process.
TN MRB Nurse Cutoff Marks 2019
In order to qualify the online test, the candidates have to obtain the TN MRB Nurse Cut Off Marks 2019. The higher authority of the TN MRB reveals the TN MRB Physiotherapist Grade II Cut Off Marks 2019. As the minimum qualifying marks will be given to the categories of SC, ST, BC, OC. So that applicants can check the TN MRB Physiotherapist Grade II Cut Off Marks 2019 according to the categories.
How to check the TN MRB Results 2019?
Visit the Tamil Nadu Medical Recruitment Board official portal at mrb.tn.gov.in
On the home page, applicants can view the Results section, click on it.
A new page will open with various Results, and search for the TN MRB ANM Score Card
The TN MRB VHN Selected Candidate List will open with pdf file
Download or take a print out of the Result for further reference.
UKPSC Syllabus 2019 is available now for the various posts like Assistant Conservator of Forest, Civil Judge, Naib Tehsildar, Veterinary Officer and Forest Range Officer. Candidates can get here the complete syllabus details along with Exam Pattern. So go through the below sections for post wise Syllabus details on our page. Also, download the UKPSC Syllabus Pdf from the below links and start your preparation as soon as possible.
Candidates can get the syllabus details of all the posts like ACF, Civil Judge, Naib Tehsildar, Veterinary Officer, Forest Ranger, Assistant Professor and other in the above-mentioned links. Also, know more details about the eligibility criteria, vacancy details, and other necessary information by going through the UKPSC Recruitment 2019
Also, download the previous year question papers to make your exam preparation better by getting an idea of the exam papers UKPSC Previous Year Question Paper
UKPSC Civil Judge Syllabus 2020
UKPSC Civil Judge Syllabus 2020 is available now for the Civil Judge (Junior Division) posts. Candidates can get here the complete Uttarakhand PSC Civil Judge Exam Syllabus here. Also, get the complete exam pattern details from the below section.
The Uttarakhand Public Service Commission (UKPSC) has recently released 30 vacancies for the Civil Judge posts. Interested candidates can go through the UKPSC Recruitment 2019 for further details. To grab the opportunity for Civil Judge under UKPSC aspirants need to go through various stages of selection process i.e. Prelims, Mains and Interview. The Mains examination is going to be conducted on 06th to 11th January 2020. Go through the below information to start your UKPSC Exam Preparation –
UKPSC Asst Conservator of Forest (ACF) Syllabus 2019 Pdf
Uttarakhand PSC Asst Conservator of Forest Recruitment 2019 Notification released to recruit 45 ACF Posts vacancies. The applicants who have applied for UKPSC ACF Exam 2019 can download the latest UKPSC ACF Syllabus & Exam Pattern Pdf on this page. For many more details refer to the official website of the Uttarakhand Public Service Commission i.e. ukpsc.gov.in.
UKPSC Asst Conservator of Forest Selection Process
Prelims Exam
Mains Exam
Personal Interview
Uttarakhand PSC ACF Exam Pattern 2019 Pdf
UKPSC Assistant Conservator of Forest Prelims Exam Pattern 2019
Subjects
Max Marks
Exam Duration
General Studies & General Aptitude
150
2 Hours
Uttarakhand PSC ACF Mains Exam Pattern 2019 Pdf
Subject Name
Max Marks
Exam Duration
General Hindi
100
3 Hours
English
100
3 Hours
General Knowledge
100
3 Hours
First Optional Subject
150
3 Hours
Second Optional Subject
150
3 Hours
Interview
75 Marks
Total Marks
775 Marks
Download UKPSC Asst Conservator Forest Syllabus 2019 Pdf
General Hindi
Verb.
Grammar.
Unseen Passages.
Synonyms.
Tenses.
Articles.
Fill in the Blanks.
Idioms & Phrases.
Error Correction.
Adverb.
Comprehension.
Subject-Verb Agreement.
Vocabulary.
Sentence Rearrangement.
Antonyms etc.
General Studies
Current Events – National & International.
Culture & Heritage – India & UP.
Geography – India & UP.
History – India & UP.
Science & Technology.
Countries & Capitals
Important Days.
Environmental Studies.
Current Affairs – National & International.
Sports.
Economy – India.
Awards and Honors.
Abbreviations.
Books and Authors.
Science – Inventions & Discoveries.
Budget and Five Year Plans.
General Polity.
Important Financial & Economic News.
International & National Organizations etc.
UK PSC Veterinary Officer Syllabus 2019
Uttarakhand PSC Veterinary Officer Syllabus 2019 is available now for download. Candidates who have applied for the given posts can get here the complete syllabus details along with exam pattern. Go through the below sections for complete syllabus details along with exam pattern for the Veterinary Officer posts.
The UKPSC Veterinary Officer Recruitment 2019 is out now for 92 posts. Interested candidates can go through the full notification and apply for the job accordingly. Below is the detailed UKPSC Veterinary Officer Exam Pattern. Also, download the syllabus pdf here.
UKPSC Veterinary Officer Exam Pattern
Subjects
No. of Questions
Marks
Duration
General Studies
70
70
2hrs
General Knowledge Related to Uttarakhand State
20
20
Intelligence Test
30
30
General Hindi
20
20
General English
10
10
Total
150
150
The written examination will consist of Objective Type Questions
UKPSC Forest Ranger Syllabus 2019 is updated here. Candidates can get here the complete UKPSC Forest Ranger Syllabus details along with exam pattern. Download the Syllabus Pdf from the below links and start your exam preparation.
The total vacancies released by the Uttarakhand Public Service Commission (UKPSC) is 62 posts. Candidates who are applying for the Forest Ranger posts can get here the complete details. So go through the below exam pattern details along with the syllabus pdf.
UKPSC Syllabus 2019 Pdf is available here. All the willing candidates can easily avail the Uttarakhand PSC Syllabus 2019 and Exam Pattern on our page. With the help of the Uttarakhand Public Service Commission Exam Syllabus 2019, you can absolutely know on which topics to concentrate on. You can also check the ukpsc.gov.in to be clear about the UK Public Service Commission Syllabus 2019 & Test Pattern.
Download Uttarakhand PSC Syllabus 2019 Pdf
We are aware that lots of applicants are applied for the UKPSC Exam with great hopes. And, those candidates are now eager to know the Uttarakhand Public Service Commission Syllabus 2019 and Exam Pattern to judge how to prepare for the exam. So, we have understood your issues and gathered the detailed syllabus of the UKPSC Assistant Professor Syllabus 2019 and Test Pattern listed below. In the below-mentioned Uttarakhand PSC Exam Syllabus 2019, you can find the topics for every subject concerning exam. Go through the UKPSC Syllabus 2019 Pdf and prepare for all the topics. Furthermore, if you read this full page, you can get the exam pattern as well. Consider both the UKPSC Assistant Professor Exam Syllabus 2019 and Test Pattern before preparing for the written exam.
Okay! Let’s not keep you much waited. The Uttarakhand Public Service Commission decided to hire candidates who are in search of Sarkari Naukri. This UKPSC Recruitment 2019 is for Assistant Professor Posts. So, candidates who own Post Graduate degree can apply for this post. Therefore, hurry up and do not make a delay in referring to the UKPSC Exam Syllabus 2019 and Test Pattern on this page. Reading the topics in the Uttarakhand PSC Syllabus 2019 Pdf will give infer your ideas about the exam. So, there may be a possibility to score high marks. Hence, you also can work as an Assistant Professor in Uttarakhand itself.
Indian History, National Movement, Social & Culture
200
3 hour
3
Indian Administration, Social Justice & International Relations
200
3 hour
4
India & World Geography
200
3 hour
5
Economic & Social Development
200
3 hour
6
General Science & Technology
200
3 hour
7
General Interest & Conduct Science
200
3 hour
Interview
200
Total Marks
1700
This Exam Pattern is only for reference. The candidates who are selected in prelims are further shortlisted to attend the Mains Exam. Hence, read the UKPSC Exam Syllabus 2019 and Test Pattern once before the exam here.
Download Uttarakhand PSC Exam Syllabus 2019
Before appearing for the exam, it is important to check the Uttarakhand Public Service Commission Syllabus 2019 Pdf. If you check the UKPSC Exam Syllabus 2019, you can prepare well for the exam in a short time. Refer to the below-mentioned section.
Hindi
Transformation of Sentences
Fill in the Blanks
Idioms & Phrases
Comprehension
Vocabulary
Tenses
Active & Passive Voice
Antonyms
Direct & Indirect Speech
One Word Substitution
Synonyms, etc.
General Studies
The reform movement
Tourism
Historical background, Uttarakhand
Welfare and developmental schemes
Contemporary History of the Uttarakhand State
Commerce and Trade
Political background
Administrative setup
Geography of India and the World
Natural disasters and disaster management
Rajya Nirman Andolan
Economic and Natural Resources
Agriculture
Industry, etc.
Education, Culture, and Lifestyle
Specific Information regarding Social practices
Governmental and Non-Governmental
Current events of Uttarakhand State importance
Sports, Entertainment
General Intelligence
Missing numbers
Characters
Sequences
Space visualization
Problem-solving
Nonverbal
Differences
Arithmetical number series
Abstract ideas
Visual memory
Discrimination
Analysis
Decision making
Observation, etc.
Coding –decoding
Facts and figures
Direction Sense
Analytical
Mathematical and quantitative functions
Syllogism
Similarities
Analytical
Analogies
Questions of verbal
Arithmetical reasoning
Relationship concepts
Verbal and figure classification
Data representation and analysis
Computer Knowledge
Working knowledge of preparation of presentations
Linux operating system platforms on desktops and laptops
Conversant in the use of world wide web and popular websites
Working knowledge of Spread Sheets
Working knowledge of E-mailing
Basic knowledge of working on windows
Working knowledge of Word processing packages
General English
One word substitutions
Subject-Verb Agreement
Idioms & Phrases
Vocabulary
Sentence Rearrangement
Grammar and Usage
Shuffling of sentence parts
Antonyms
Unseen Passages
Fill in the Blanks
Comprehension
Sentence structure
Synonyms
Error Correction
Direct Links To Download UKPSC Syllabus & Previous Papers
In this section, you can easily find the direct links for downloading the UK Public Service Commission Assistant Professor Syllabus 2019 and Test Pattern Pdf. So, download all those and attend the exam without any issue.
KSRTC Jobs 2019-20 Notification released!! Walk-in for 926 Technical Assistant, Security Guard Vacancies. Karnataka State Road Transport Corporation which is abbreviated as KSRTC is now inviting candidates to walk-in for 926 Technical Assistant & Security Guard posts through KSRTC Recruitment 2019 Notification. Candidates who wish to be a part of Karnataka Government Jobs can walk-in for these KSRTC Technical Assistant Jobs on 2nd February 2020.Please take a quick look at the below sections to know more about eligibility criteria, salary, Examination fee, KSRTC Exam Date and others related to KSRTC Karnataka. Additionally, visit www.ksrtc.in (or) to know more details about KSRTC Recruitment 2019-20 Notification.
KSRTC Jobs 2019-20 Notification released!! Apply Online for 2814 Whip Vacancies. North Western Karnataka Road Transport Corporation which is under KSRTC is now invitingOnline applications for 2814 Driver posts through KSRTC Recruitment 2019 Notification. Candidates who wish to be a part of Karnataka Government Jobs can apply Online for these MWKRTC KSRTC Driver Jobs from 10th December 2019. However, KSRTC Online application link is available below. Last date to submit your application forms is 8th January 2019. Please take a quick look at the below sections to know more about eligibility criteria, salary, Examination fee, KSRTC Exam Date and others related to KSRTC Karnataka. Additionally, visit www.nwkrtc.in (or) www.ksrtc.in (or) to know more details about KSRTC Recruitment 2019-20 Notification.
KSRTC Jobs 2019-20 Notification released for 155 Apprentice Vacancies – Apply Online Now!!. Govt Jobs KSRTC!!Karnataka State Road Transport Corporation Limited invites Online applications for 155 Apprentice posts through KSRTC Recruitment 2019 Notification. Official Notification was released by KSRTC now. Candidates who wish to be a part of Karnataka Government Jobs can apply Online for these KSRTC Driver Job Vacancies. However, KSRTC Online application Starting Date is 10th December 2019 and the Last date is 4th January 2019. Please take a quick look at the below sections to know more about eligibility criteria, salary, Examination fee, KSRTC Exam Date and others related to KSRTC Karnataka. Additionally, visit www.ksrtc.in (or) www.ksrtcjobs.com (or) www.apprenticeship.gov.in to know more details about KSRTC Recruitment 2019-20 Notification.
KSRTC Recruitment 2019
Organization Name: Karnataka State Road Transport Corporation Limited (KSRTC)
KSRTC Jobs 2019-20 Notification – Apply Online for 726 Technical Assistant Vacancies. Karnataka State Road Transport Corporation Limited invites Online applications for 726 Technical Assistant Posts through KSRTC Recruitment 2019 Notification. Official Notification was released by KSRTC on 17th March 2019. Candidates who wish to be a part of Karnataka Government Jobs can apply Online for these Vacancies. However, KSRTC Online application starts from 20th March 2019 and ends on 25th April 2019. Please take a quick look at below sections to know more about eligibility criteria, salary, Examination fee, and others. Additionally, visit www.ksrtc.in or www.ksrtcjobs.com to know more details about KSRTC Recruitment 2019-20.
KSRTC Jobs 2019-20 Details
Name of the Board: Karnataka State Road Transport Corporation Limited (KSRTC) Name of the Post: Technical Assistant No. of Vacancies: 726 Apply Mode: Online Job Category: Karnataka Govt Jobs Job Location: Karnataka Starting Date: Updated Soon Last Date: Updated Soon KSRTC Exam Date: Updated Soon
Get the all other details of KSRTC Notification 2019 Apply Online steps in the below table.
Posted on: May/June 2019
Karnataka State Road Transport Corporation Limited (KSRTC) 726 Technical Assistant Vacancies 2019 WWW.RECRUITMENT.GURU
Karnataka State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC Karnataka Jobs) has issued a notification to fill Assistant Traffic Manager, Assistant Mechanical Engineer, Labour and Welfare Officer, and other posts. However, the KSRTC Jobs 2019 was announced to recruit 59 KSRTC Scale II Officer Jobs. Applications will be accepted for the KSRTC Class II posts through Online mode only. So, eligible and interested candidates can check & apply to the Karnataka State RTC recruitment 2019 on or before 31 January 2019. However, candidates can check further details like category wise KSRTC vacancies, Eligibility criteria, Selection process, the application fee in the below sections.
Karnataka KSRTC Recruitment 2019 – 20
Are you in a search of the Karnataka State govt jobs? then here comes the good news for all the job seekers in the form of the Karnataka state RTC Recruitment 2019.
Karnataka State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC) has recently announced a notification for filling Scale -II officer posts. However, candidates who are interested in the above KSRTC Scale II Officer Recruitment Notification can apply through the official website. As the last date for the application is very nearer, Candidates must apply to these jobs before the due date i.e., 31.01.2019. So, Aspirants must go through the detailed notification and apply for the KSRTC Scale II Officer Jobs at earliest to avoid server errors. Moreover, you can download the KSRTC Traffic Manager syllabus, KSRTC Mechanical Engg Previous Papers on our site.
KSRTC Scale II Officer Vacancy 2019
In this article, we have provided detailed KSRTC Recruitment notification for Class – II Officer posts. We have also provided a direct link to download the notification and also the application form. Hence, it will be very easier for the candidates who are searching for the KSRTC Jobs 2019 application form. Stay tuned with our recruitment.guru website for more information related to the latest job openings.
KSRTC Scale II Officer Jobs – KSRTC Jobs @ ksrtcjobs.com
Karnataka State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC)
Name of the posts
Officer Scale-II
No. of posts
59 posts
Job location
Karnataka
Application mode
Online only
Job Category
State Govt Jobs
Application Starting Date
Updated Soon
Ending date for online application
Updated Soon
Last Date to pay the Fee
Updated Soon
Official Website
www.ksrtc.in
Karnataka State Road Transport Corporation Class -II Officer Vacancy Details – KSRTC Jobs 2019
Name of the Post
No. Of Vacancies
Assistant Traffic Manager
24
Assistant Stores Officer
04
Assistant Administrative Officer
2
Assistant Mechanical Engineer
11
Assistant System Manager
2
Assistant Accountant
5
Security and Vigilance Officer
4
Assistant Law Officer
4
Labour and Welfare Officer
2
Total Karnataka RTC Vacancies
59 Posts
Eligibility Criteria for KSRTC Assistant Traffic Manager Engineer Jobs
Candidates who are eligible for the latest KSRTC Recruitment 2019 must satisfy below eligibility conditions
Educational Qualification for KSRTC Class – II Officer posts:
Candidates who are applying for the KSRTC Jobs 2019 must qualify Degree, Diploma, MBA, M.COM or B.COM, PG Diploma, PG, MCA, LLB from the recognized board or university.
Age Limit for KSRTC Scale II Officer Recruitment 2019:
Candidates who are applying for the KSRTC Assistant Traffic Manager Engineer Jobs must possess following age criteria.
Upper age limit – 35 years
Lower age limit – 19 years
Age relaxation will be applicable as per the Karnataka Govt norms.
Physical Standard for KSRTC Assistant Mechanical Engineer Recruitment:
Women
Height – 153 cm
Weight – 50 Kg
Men
Weight – 55 Kg
Height – 163 cm
Selection Process for KSRTC Assistant Administrative Officer Recruitment
The candidates are shortlisted for the KSRTC Scale II Officer Jobs based on the performance in the
Written Test &
Personal Interview.
Karnataka KSRTC Jobs Salary/ Pay Scale:
The candidates shortlisted for the KSRTC Recruitment 2019 will get a pay scale of Rs.26580/- to Rs.46760/-.
Application Fee for KSRTC Assistant Accountant jobs:
Applicants must deposit the below-mentioned fee for applying KSRTC Recruitment 2019
General & OBC Candidates: Rs. 800/-.
For SC/ST & PWD candidates: Rs. 400/-.
How to apply for KSRTC Class – II officer posts? @ www.ksrtc.in
Candidates who satisfy the above eligibility criteria must fill the application form. In this article, we are providing a stepwise detailed procedure for downloading from the official website. We also provided a direct link to download official KSRTC Mechanical Engineer Notification and also application form. Hence, If you follow below steps, you can easily fill the Karnataka RTC Officers application form in the official website.
First of all, log on to the KSRTC official website i.e., www.ksrtcjobs.com
Click on the Notification tab.
Click on Notification 02-2019 Direct.
Download the KSRTC 59 Scale II Officer, Assistant Traffic Manager Engineer notification
Read the instructions carefully given in the KSRTC Scale II Officer notification.
Fill the application form with necessary & accurate information.
After filling all columns, click on the submit button.
Finally, Take a printout of the submitted KSRTC Mechanical Engineer Recruitment Application & preserve it for future reference.
Important Dates of KSRTC Assistant Traffic Manager Engineer Jobs:
Starting date for Online application registration of Karnataka RTC jobs – Updated Soon
Closing Date for the Online Registration -Updated Soon
The Karnataka State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC) is a state-owned road transportation company in the state of Karnataka in India. KSRTC has the largest fleet of Volvo buses among state owned transport companies. It is purely Government owned Transport Corporation. It is wholly owned by the Government of Karnataka. In August 1997, KSRTC was divided to form Bengaluru Metropolitan Transport Corporation (BMTC). KSRTC services cover 92% of villages in Karnataka.[7] KSRTC operates with a total fleet of 17368 buses (KSRTC-8348, NEKRTC-4300, NWKRTC-4720). It transports, on an average, 74.57 lakh passengers per day.
Why recruitment.guru for KSRTC Recruitment 2019?
KSRTC Jobs 2019 gives the opportunity to all graduate through KSRTC Vacancy. The selection process, job role, requirement, and other criteria may differ according to the job role. This is where recruitment.guru appears into the display. As we provide and keep updating you guys with the latest job vacancy on our page. We are here to help aspirants save their time as candidates need not switch over all the pages to get collect information for a particular post. We are here to provide regular updates about the vacancy, age limit, selection process and much more regarding KSRTC Jobs 2019. So guys stay connected on our page to get information about the latest job openings at KSRTC Jobs 2019.
MUMBAI: Hundreds of taxpayers are believed to have received notices from the income tax (I-T) department whose systems are unable to process the tax returns correctly. This has led to bloated tax liability on capital gains and denial of credit for tax deducted at source (TDS), among other discrepancies.Senior accountants have drawn the attention of Pramod Chandra Mody, chairman of Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT), regarding the errors at the department's Central Processing Zone (CPC) in Bengaluru, sources told ET.After years, Indians will be taxed on their long-term capital gains at 10% if such gains are more than Rs 1 lakh. In grandfathering the tax rule, the government had pegged the price of a stock on February 1, 2018, or the actual purchase price, whichever is higher, as the cost in computing the gain. For instance, if a stock is purchased at Rs 500 in 2016 and sold at Rs 900 in March 2019, while the share closed at Rs 800 on February 1, 2018, the gain is Rs 100, not Rs 400. The department's software system is failing to compute the long-term capital gains (LTCG), particularly gains involving multiple stocks.Another error in LTCG computation relates to shares acquired between February 1, 2018, and March 31, 2018.Problem after Software TinkeringFor such trades, the whole sale consideration is considered by the system as gain. For instance, if shares allotted in an IPO after February 1, 2018 for Rs 2,000 are sold for Rs 4,000 on March 15, 2018, the system is considering the entire Rs 4,000 as LTCG. 72931519 "The I-T return form and the computer system processing the returns are not compatible with the provisions of the law as well as the legal positions on some of the matters. Not only is this causing hardship, but the objective to minimise litigation may also suffer a setback," said senior chartered accountant Dilip Lakhani.In July, many tax payers had faced problems while filing their returns as the I-T department tinkered with the software for I-T return forms on the e-filing website. This forced the government to extend the July 31 deadline for filing of returns.According to Ameet Patel, chairman, Taxation Committee, of the Bombay Chartered Accountants' Society, "Returns filed by thousands of tax payers using different versions of the government utility at different points of time are being processed by the CPC and to their shock, they are getting notices from CPC stating that the CPC proposes to make adjustments to the long-term capital gains shown in the return. This is happening in many cases, causing unnecessary hardship."Many companies which filed their returns in November are grappling with another issue. "They are getting notices stating that the return is defective because tax audit report has not been filed. This is happening despite the fact that tax audit report have been filed in time," said Patel.The Bombay Chartered Accountants' Society is pursuing the matter with the apex authority CBDT.Such cases relate to matters on transfer pricing which arises when there are international transactions between the assesse company and its associates.However, the biggest problem, said Patel, revolves around processing I-T return for assessment year 2019-20 where there is longterm capital gains from sale of listed shares and units of equity-oriented mutual funds.
NEW DELHI: Roadshows in Singapore and London, held to ascertain investor interest for the debt-laden national carrier Air India, received a lukewarm response from potential bidders, three top government officials aware of the development told ET. However, that's not likely to disrupt the government's privatisation plan schedule."The response to the roadshow in Singapore was tepid and it was similar in London, where only a couple of interested parties attended. Definitely, there are concerns about the interest the airline will receive from potential buyers," said one of the three.Regardless of this, India is likely to finalise initial bidding documents for the carrier by next month. According to the current timeline, New Delhi is likely to issue the Expression of Interest (EoI) documents after the holiday season to ensure greater participation by foreign buyers, another official told ET."We plan to release the EoI documents in January," the official said. Another official maintained that investor interest in the Mumbai roadshow had been more encouraging while the exercise didn't get many inquiries overseas."Given the response at these roadshows, there is not much hope of bids coming in for the national carrier. Even on the domestic front, there are not many takers for Air India," said the third government official, who did not want to be named. Air India CMD Ashwani Lohani and aviation secretary Pradeep Singh Kharola didn't respond to queries.
By Dhirendra KumarFlying blind is a commonly used phrase for doing something without having any idea of where one is going. Of course, in case of actual flying it's okay because aircraft have instruments that enable pilots to fly when nothing is visible outside. Investors don't have access to such instruments. Or perhaps they do, but more on that later. I find that because my general interaction is mostly with people who have at least some awareness of savings and investing, interactions with others sometimes come as a shock.Recently, an acquaintance who is in his early 50s years came to meet me. Like many people, his career, which is in the hospitality industry, has taken a negative turn and he is earning a lot less than he used to. He wants to retire at some point not too far into the future. Most years in the past, he has saved money by making at least the tax saving investments. Generally, this has been in PPF. He has also made some mutual fund investments, always driven by some agent or the other whom he came across in his profession. In recent years, he had also made a beginning with the National Pension System (NPS).Overall, apart from his PPF deposits and NPS, he has investments in about 70 funds. This is a shocking number of funds to have invested in. Unfortunately, it's not all that uncommon. People whose fund investments have been driven by salespeople for many years commonly have investments in a lot of funds. In the years past, salespeople got high commission when the saver put his money into a fund, but much lower later. The incentive was to keep talking the saver into investing in newer and newer funds under the garb of diversification.Investors think that the way to achieve diversification is to invest in lots of funds. However, the truth is that no additional diversification is provided by investing in more funds beyond a point. Mutual funds are not an investment by themselves. They are a way of holding the underlying investments which, for equity funds, are stocks. The reason why too much diversification is pointless is that the stocks held by similar funds tend to be a similar set. Beyond a small number like five or six, when you add more funds, you are generally adding more stocks that are similar or identical to what you already have.You are also flying blind. My friend had no sane way of monitoring 70 funds, or even having a clear idea of their returns and weightages in his investment portfolios. Upon my exhortations, he entered all his investments into the 'My Investments' tracking system. The mutual funds, he was just able to import at one shot from the combined account statement that can be obtained from the CAMS website. Entering NPS and PPF was also simple. Now, he was no longer flying blind. On a consolidated basis, he had about Rs 75 lakh in all, out of which about half was in PPF, about Rs 3 lakh in NPS and the rest in that huge pile of 70 funds. However, the toolset on Value Research Online also helped him make sense of all these things. Not only did he get a clear idea of which of these to sell off, but also the tax liability he would face on selling. He was also able to see how much better or worse his investments could have done when compared to standards like bank FDs, major equity indices and others.Now, Rs 75 lakh is not much of a retirement kitty for a middle class family nowadays. My friend will make do because he is lucky to have some inherited property. However, the fact is that if he had stopped flying a decade ago, he would have been in a much, much better position today. With the tools and information available today (mostly for free), ignorance of one's own finances has no excuse.(The writer is CEO, Value Research)
NEW DELHI: The government is looking at introducing methanol-blended fuel pan India — a move that can potentially reduce one's fuel bill by at least 10%, lower vehicular pollution levels by over 30%, and save the exchequer Rs 5,000 crore in annual import bill.Road transport and highways minister Nitin Gadkari has written to petroleum minister Dharmendra Pradhan, asking him to "make all efforts" to make methanol widely available for commercial use at fuel stations, officials told ET.Currently, vehicles in India use up to 10% ethanol-blended fuel. But the cost of ethanol production is comparatively high at Rs 42 a litre. Methonol, or methyl alcohol, is estimated to cost less than Rs 20 a litre. Indian Oil Corporation is already making M15 blended fuel — with 15% methanol and 85% petrol — available for commercial use."The ministry of road transport and highways has put the regulatory framework in place, and it is now the petroleum ministry's job to make the fuel available," a road ministry official said. The ministry has notified regulatory standards for methanol blends M15, M85 and M100, or neat methanol. The industry is backing the move. "Multi-fuel option is definitely worth exploring from energy security point of view," said Rajesh Menon, director general at industry body Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (Siam). "We are in talks with Niti Aayog on a possible road map."72930027 SUPPLY PLAN IN PLACENiti Aayog member VK Saraswat, who has been helming the methanol economy project since its inception two years ago, confirmed to ET that 65,000 km of trial run on M15 blended fuel has been successfully completed and there is no tweaking required in vehicles to run on methanol blended fuel. The think tank had projected annual reduction of $100 billion in crude imports by 2030 if the country moves to 15% blended fuel both for transportation and cooking.India is the third-biggest oil importer globally. Our crude oil import stands at close to Rs 5 lakh crore annually with 2,900 crore litre petrol and 9,000 crore litre diesel consumed.Methanol is currently being manufactured at Assam Petrochemicals where the current production capacity is 100 tonnes per day and the company hopes to ramp up its production six-fold to 600 tonnes per day by April 2020.Commercial production of methanol from coal will soon be started in West Bengal and Jharkhand with state governments having allotted a dedicated coal mine each for this.The plan is to have an installed capacity of 3-4 million tonnes in the next five to eight years to help replace 50% of fossil fuel requirement.
NEW DELHI: The government is looking at introducing methanol-blended fuel pan India — a move that can potentially reduce one's fuel bill by at least 10%, lower vehicular pollution levels by over 30%, and save the exchequer Rs 5,000 crore in annual import bill.Road transport and highways minister Nitin Gadkari has written to petroleum minister Dharmendra Pradhan, asking him to "make all efforts" to make methanol widely available for commercial use at fuel stations, officials told ET.Currently, vehicles in India use up to 10% ethanol-blended fuel. But the cost of ethanol production is comparatively high at Rs 42 a litre. Methonol, or methyl alcohol, is estimated to cost less than Rs 20 a litre. Indian Oil Corporation is already making M15 blended fuel — with 15% methanol and 85% petrol — available for commercial use."The ministry of road transport and highways has put the regulatory framework in place, and it is now the petroleum ministry's job to make the fuel available," a road ministry official said. The ministry has notified regulatory standards for methanol blends M15, M85 and M100, or neat methanol. The industry is backing the move. "Multi-fuel option is definitely worth exploring from energy security point of view," said Rajesh Menon, director general at industry body Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (Siam). "We are in talks with Niti Aayog on a possible road map."72930027 SUPPLY PLAN IN PLACENiti Aayog member VK Saraswat, who has been helming the methanol economy project since its inception two years ago, confirmed to ET that 65,000 km of trial run on M15 blended fuel has been successfully completed and there is no tweaking required in vehicles to run on methanol blended fuel. The think tank had projected annual reduction of $100 billion in crude imports by 2030 if the country moves to 15% blended fuel both for transportation and cooking.India is the third-biggest oil importer globally. Our crude oil import stands at close to Rs 5 lakh crore annually with 2,900 crore litre petrol and 9,000 crore litre diesel consumed.Methanol is currently being manufactured at Assam Petrochemicals where the current production capacity is 100 tonnes per day and the company hopes to ramp up its production six-fold to 600 tonnes per day by April 2020.Commercial production of methanol from coal will soon be started in West Bengal and Jharkhand with state governments having allotted a dedicated coal mine each for this.The plan is to have an installed capacity of 3-4 million tonnes in the next five to eight years to help replace 50% of fossil fuel requirement.
NEW DELHI: LIC-controlled IDBI Bank expected to come out of the Prompt Corrective Action (PCA) framework in the last quarter of the current fiscal with the support of capital infusion and recovery from large IBC cases. According to sources, some of the restrictions with regard to lending by the bank have been eased recently. With money coming from resolution on Essar Steel and expected flow from resolution of Bhushan Power and Steel and Alok Industries, sources said the bank is likely to be posting profit during the third quarter and the subsequent quarter. The bank has already come below net NPA threshold of 6 per cent, one of the three parameters for triggering PCA framework. The net NPA of the bank reduced to below 6 per cent in the second quarter ended September 2019. Recently, Parliament approved Rs 9,300 crore capital infusion in IDBI Bank. The department of financial services got an additional Rs 4,557 crore for infusion into IDBI Bank through recap bonds for their share of 47.11 per cent in IDBI Bank. State-owned LIC, which is the promoter of the debt-ridden lender with 51 per cent stake, will pump in an additional Rs 4,743 crore to improve the bank's capital position. With this kind of capital infusion coupled with write back from the recoveries from large NPA cases, the bank is expected to come out from the weak bank watch list by the end of the current fiscal, sources said. The PCA framework kicks in when banks breach any of the three key regulatory trigger points namely capital to risk weighted assets ratio, net non-performing assets (NPA) and return on assets (RoA). Earlier this month, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharam said the recapitalisation was done by the government by infusing Rs 21,157 crore into IDBI Bank since 2015 after we came back to power and LIC infused Rs 21,624 crore. "So both put together have given Rs 42,781 crore to the bank. This has help reduce the net NPAs from a peak of 17.3 per cent in September, 2018 to 5.97 per cent in September, 2019. It has come below RBI's 6 per cent net NPA threshold level," she had said. Earlier this year, the RBI removed five banks - Bank of India, Bank of Maharashtra, Oriental Bank of Commerce, Allahabad Bank and Corporation Bank - from the PCA framework in two phases after capital support from the government that resulted in improvement in their financial parameters. The capital infusion helped these lenders meet requisite capital thresholds and reduced their net NPA levels to below 6 per cent.
ET Intelligence Group: Systematic investment plan or SIP has emerged as the most significant investment mode for retail investors over the past few years and helped domestic mutual funds gain heft in the local equity market. Their holding in the BSE 200 companies reached a record high of 14.4 per cent in September 2019 thanks to more than $1 billion of net inflows from domestic investors since March 2018. This also helped fill the liquidity void created every time foreign investors reduce allocations to emerging markets. Recently, though, voices of scepticism have got louder over whether fund flows through the SIP route have peaked and whether they would continue to support the domestic equity market amid slowing economic growth in India and around the world. ETIG delved deeper into SIP trends to find out the answers. The good news is that the SIP mode remains the most preferred and any abatement in fund flows through this route over the long term looks remote given increasing awareness among investors, not only in metros but also in tier II and III cities. SIPs' contribution rose to Rs 92,963 crore in 2018-19 from Rs43,921 crore in 2016-17, according to the Association of Mutual Funds in India. The number of SIP accounts grew to 29.4 million in November. Barring a few occasions of net outflows, inflows have been positive every month in the past five years. SIP assets under management (AUM) increased to Rs3.12 lakh crore in November from Rs2.7 lakh crore in March. The share of SIPs in the total industry AUM increased to 12 per cent from about 8 per cent two years ago. The AUM of the MF industry grew 21 per cent between March 2013 and September 2019, while bank deposits increased 11 per cent, reflecting the growing popularity of mutual funds. Retail investors' AUM comprises 37.5 per cent of the total equity AUM of Rs12.5 lakh crore.Despite the doubts and scepticism about the future of SIP investing, this mode is likely to remain relevant to the MF sector in the coming years due to several reasons. First, the gross household financial savings rate has remained 10-13 per cent in the past five years even though total saving as a percentage of GDP dropped to 17.2 per cent in 2018 from 23.1 per cent in 2011. India's annual household savings totalled around $467 billion in 2018, the third-largest among large economies globally. Even a moderate GDP growth therefore will continue to drive financial savings as long as individual borrowings do not become unbearable. Bhushan Kedar, director-funds research, CRISIL, said that there is increasing awareness about mutual funds and penetration of SIPs in tier II and III cities. India's MF AUM as a percentage of GDP is 13 per cent compared with the global average of 60 per cent, he said. This leaves ample room for growth. Thanks to the increasing preference for SIPs, the share of equity in total household assets increased to 4.6 per cent in 2018-19, the highest since 2008. After dropping to 2.2 per cent in 2014, it has been on the rise since then. Another factor that is conducive to increase of financial assets is the higher real interest rate of above 4 per cent in India, which is the inflation adjusted interest rate for an investor. In other emerging markets, including Mexico, Indonesia, Russia, Brazil, South Africa and China, it is 0.9-3.9 per cent. When the real rate is low and close to zero, there is not much incentive to save and people tend to spend more. A higher real interest rate, on the other hand, often encourages savings. The stickiness of investments is another feature of SIP that augurs well for its growth. An analysis of CRISIL-AMFI Equity Fund Performance Index over the past 15 years to June 2019 shows that instances of negative returns declined as the investment horizon increased. This calls for a long-term approach to investment. Of the total retail investment, nearly 47 per cent belongs to those having a holding period of more than 24 months. The stickiness of SIPs is higher in non-metro areas, which are identified as B-30 places since these investors are predominantly retail who are investing with a long-term view and guided by investment advisors, said Mrinal Singh, deputy CIO at ICICI Pru AMC. "While the SIP amount maybe smaller, it is observed that average investment holding period of investors in B-30 places is longer and they are not prone to SIP discontinuation."
NEW DELHI: Pacific Mall in West Delhi figured out through algorithms that 65% of the customers at its food-court preferred vegetarian food. That prompted the mall to add a Halidram outlet and sales at the food-court went up by Rs 50 lakh a month.In Bengaluru, Orion Mall found that most of its customers are "trendier" young crowds who mostly purchased fashion and electronics, prompting it to ramp up those verticals.Taking a leaf out of the ecommerce textbook, malls have started, albeit in a small way, mining customers data and using algorithms to drive sales. Prominent malls in India for years had revenue-sharing agreements with retailers and the shopping centres would receive daily or real-time sales data from brands through a common technological platform. Now such platforms are evolving to capture various other information on buying patterns and preferences of consumers to help malls drive sales and footfalls."We have built a platform which gives them insights into what are the areas they need to concentrate. We have an AI (artificial intelligence) platform and through data science we forecast their revenue and trends, and we tell them the buying habits of the consumers," said AM Navail, an assistant vice president at tech firm Pathfinder. According to the company, it offers technology services to more than 100 malls and is helping dozens of them in mining consumer data to drive sales and footfalls. 72931296 Malls these days have a host of tech at their disposal to help them not only drive sales but also enhance the overall consumer experiences.For example, high-definition CCTV cameras not only capture pictures but also generates heatmap of visitors around the mall that helps mall owners to assign facilities and manpower.Such cameras are also used to analyses gender and age brackets of customers and the stores they are entering. "If the customers are thronging to the sports area, we can figure out with the heatmap technology and tally with the conversion rates with those retailers and realise we need more brands in that category," said Deepak Zutshi, the centre head at New Delhi's Select Citywalk Mall.West Delhi's Pacific Mall has installed a technology that can track the duration of cars parked in the parking lot. "That way we are getting average three hours of dwell time of cars that are coming into the mall," said Abhishek Bansal, its executive director.Rajneesh Mahajan, the CEO InOrbit Malls that operates shopping centres in several cities, said churning consumer data was in its infancy in India due to limited and non-uninform data available from retailers to mall owners."We are still at an initial stage and this will evolve and people will get unified platforms to get the data," he said. "Unless everybody comes on board and data in a certain manner and the KPIs (key performance indicators) are defined, it won't be that meaningful."
South Korea's December 1-20 exports fall 2.0% y/y on weak chip sales; China shipments improve Overseas sales of semiconductors, the country's major export, fell 16.7% in the Dec. 1-20 period versus a year ago.
Jharkhand Election Results 2019 LIVE: Counting today; exit polls give JMM-Congress the edge Live updates of the Jharkhand Vidhan Sabha election results 2019. BJP is facing a challenge from the Congress-JMM-RJD alliance
ICFRE Recruitment 2019 – Apply Offline for 41 Deputy Conservator, Conservator Vacancy. Indian Council of Forestry Research and Education is looking for candidates who completed Any Graduate, Any Post Graduate candidates to fill up the 41 vacancies of Deputy Conservator, Conservator Posts. Interested applicants can apply for the ICFRE Job Vacancies through Offline mode. From now on the Aspirants can submit your ICFRE Job Application Form to the Registered address.
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Live updates of the Jharkhand Vidhan Sabha election results 2019. BJP is facing a challenge from the Congress-JMM-RJD alliance
