Saudi Aramco raised $25.6 billion from the world’s biggest initial public offering, closing a deal that became synonymous with the kingdom’s controversial crown prince and his plans to reshape the nation.
The state-owned oil giant set the final price of its shares at 32 riyals ($8.53), valuing the world’s most profitable company at $1.7 trillion. It received total bids of $119 billion.
For Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman, pulling off the sale could help get his ambitious plan to overhaul the economy back on track. It’s been derailed by problems at home, including the backlash against his purge of the elite, and abroad by the outrage over the murder of Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi and the war in Yemen.
But the deal ended up being very different from what the prince had envisaged when he first floated the idea in 2016 with an ambition to raise as much as $100 billion. Aramco offered just 1.5% of its shares and opted for a local listing after global investors balked at its hopes of valuing the company at $2 trillion.
Instead, Aramco relied heavily on local investors and funds from neighboring Gulf Arab monarchies. In the offering for individuals, almost 5 million people applied for shares. The institutional tranche closed on Wednesday and attracted bids totaling 397 billion riyals.
The kingdom’s richest families, some of whom had members detained in Riyadh’s Ritz-Carlton hotel during a so-called corruption crackdown in 2017, are expected to have made significant contributions. Global banks working on the deal were sidelined after Saudi Arabia decided to focus on selling the shares to local and regional investors.
Still, Aramco will become the world’s most valuable publicly traded company once it starts trading, overtaking Microsoft Corp. and Apple Inc.
The deal opens up one of the world’s most secretive companies, whose profits helped bankroll the kingdom and its ruling family for decades, to investors and Saudi individuals. Until this year, Aramco had never published financial statements or borrowed in international debt markets.
It will also mean the company now has shareholders other than the Saudi government for the first time since it was nationalized in the late 1970s.
Saudi Arabia had been pulling out all the stops to ensure the IPO is a success. It cut the tax rate for Aramco three times, promised the world’s largest dividend and offered bonus shares for retail investors who keep hold of the stock.
Goldman Sachs Group Inc., acting as share stabilizing manager, has the right to exercise a so-called greenshoe option of 450 million shares. The purchase option can be executed in whole or in part at any time on or before 30 calendar days after the trading debut. It could raise the IPO proceeds to $29.4 billion.
Funds from the sale will be transferred to the Public Investment Fund, which has been making a number of bold investments, plowing $45 billion into SoftBank Corp.’s Vision Fund, taking a $3.5 billion stake in Uber Technologies Inc. and planning a $500 billion futuristic city.
The sale is the first major disposal of state assets since Prince Mohammed launched a much-touted plan to reduce the economy’s addiction to oil revenue in 2016.
The last major government privatization, the 2014 IPO of National Commercial Bank, received $83 billion in subscriptions from investors.
–– With assistance from Nour Al Ali, Claudia Maedler, Bruce Stanley and Archana Narayanan.
(KYIV, Ukraine) — President Donald Trump’s personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani was in Ukraine on Thursday, reviving the efforts that landed him and Trump in the impeachment inquiry now roiling Washington.
The inquiry was triggered by a July 25 phone call in which Trump pressured Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to investigate Democratic rival Joe Biden and his son and also a discredited conspiracy theory that Ukraine interfered in the 2016 U.S. election. Trump denies wrongdoing.
Giuliani was at the center of those efforts, conducting shadow diplomacy throughout the spring and summer.
On Thursday, he met in Kyiv with Andrii Derkach, a member of Ukraine’s parliament who has promoted unsubstantiated claims against the Bidens.
Derkach posted photos on Facebook with Giuliani and said the two had had a meeting to form a new group, Friends of Ukraine Stop Corruption.
Giuliani’s visit to Kyiv came as House Speaker Nancy Pelosi announced in Washington on Thursday that the House is pressing forward to draft articles of impeachment against Trump, saying the president left Democrats with no choice because the country’s democracy is at stake. The vote to charge the president with crimes could come before Christmas.
Before arriving in Kyiv, Giuliani stopped in the Hungarian capital.
Larisa Sargan, a spokeswoman for Ukraine’s former Prosecutor General Yuri Lutsenko, confirmed that Lutsenko met with Giuliani in Budapest on Wednesday. She said they were filmed for a documentary for the One America News Network produced by Giuliani.
(WASHINGTON) — The Pentagon is considering sending several thousand additional troops to the Middle East to help deter Iranian aggression, amid reports of escalating violence in Iran and continued meddling by Tehran in Iraq, Syria and other parts of the region.
John Rood, defense undersecretary for policy, told senators Thursday that Defense Secretary Mark Esper “intends to make changes” to the number of troops deployed in the region. Other officials said options under consideration could send between 5,000 and 7,000 troops to the Middle East, but they all stressed that there have been no final decisions yet. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss internal deliberations.
The troop deliberations follow several decisions since spring to beef up the U.S. presence in the Middle East because of a series of maritime attacks and bombings in Saudi Arabia that the U.S. and others have blamed on Iran.
President Donald Trump has approved those increases, even though he also routinely insists that he is pulling U.S. troops out of the Middle East and withdrawing from what he calls “endless wars” against extremists. In October, Trump told his supporters that despite the sacrificing of U.S. lives in Iraq and other parts of the Middle East, the region is less safe and stable today. “The single greatest mistake our country made in its history,” he said, “was going into the quicksand of the Middle East.”
Asked about a possible troop increase, Trump told reporters Thursday: ”We’ll announce whether we will or not. Certainly there might be a threat. And if there is a threat, it will be met very strongly. But we will be announcing what we may be doing — may or may not be doing.”
Later Thursday, Trump’s national security adviser Robert O’Brien said the president was open to sending more troops to the Middle East. “If the troops are needed to deter Iran, we have the capacity to move them into the region — although I don’t think that’s happening right now,” O’Brien said on Fox News Channel’s “Special Report with Bret Baier.”
Military leaders have argued that the U.S. needs to increase its presence in the region in order to deter Iran from conducting more and broader attacks. Rood provided no details to back up why the additional troops are needed, but said the U.S. is concerned about recent intelligence indications suggesting an increased threat from Iran.
Rood was asked several times about reports that 14,000 more troops could be sent to the region. He repeatedly said Esper hasn’t made a decision yet, but didn’t specifically confirm or deny the number, so his answers appeared only to confuse senators. Shortly after the hearing, Pentagon press secretary Alyssa Farah sent out a statement flatly denying the 14,000 number, saying Esper told the Senate committee chairman Thursday morning that “we are not considering sending 14,000 additional troops” to the region.
The troop discussions came as the Trump administration on Thursday accused Iranian security forces of killing more than 1,000 people in crackdowns against recent protests that have swept the country.
The estimated death toll is significantly higher than previously estimates from human rights groups and others, and the administration did not present documentary evidence to back up the claim. But Brian Hook, the U.S. special representative for Iran, told reporters the tally was based on a variety of reports coming out of Iran as well as intelligence analyses.
Speaking at the State Department, Hook said the U.S. had received and reviewed video of one specific incident of repression in the city of Mahshahr in which the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps had mowed down at least 100 protesters with machine-gun fire.
He said the video was one of tens of thousands of submissions the U.S. has gotten since Secretary of State Mike Pompeo appealed last month for Iranians to submit evidence of atrocities by the authorities in putting down the protests. In it, he said IRGC forces can be seen opening fire on protesters blocking a road and then surrounding those who fled to nearby marshlands where they were sprayed with bullets.
“In this one incident alone the regime murdered as many as 100 Iranians and possibly more,” Hook told reporters at the State Department. He did not display the video but said the actions it depicted corresponded to accounts of a brutal nationwide crackdown on the demonstrations, which started in response to gasoline price increases and rationing.
“We have seen reports of many hundreds more killed in and around Tehran,” he said. “And, as the truth is trickling out of Iran, it appears the regime could have murdered over 1,000 Iranian citizens since the protests began.” The dead include 13- and 14-year-old children, he said.
Speaking at the White House, Trump said Iran had “killed hundreds and hundreds of people in a very short period of time” and called for international pressure to be applied. “They are killing protesters. They turned off their internet system. People aren’t hearing what’s going on,” he told reporters while hosting a lunch for the ambassadors of U.N. Security Council members.
Alireza Miryousefi, a spokesman for Iran’s mission at the United Nations, again disputed any casualty figures from abroad as “purely speculative and highly inaccurate.” However, Iran’s government has so far refused to release any of its own.
“Mr. Hook has already said in public that he is very pleased with the suffering of ordinary Iranians, and that the U.S. has had arrangements in the past two years to maximize what occurred with the recent violence and damages in Iran,” Miryousefi told The Associated Press.
There was no known public video that supported Hooks’ allegation of a massacre in Mahshahr, although he said the State Department had gotten more than 32,000 responses to Pompeo’s appeal for videos and other evidence using the encrypted messaging app Telegram, which is popular in Iran.
Nor has there been any widely accepted claim matching Hook’s death toll of more than 1,000. Amnesty International believes at least 208 people have been killed and that the number could be higher. Iran has disputed that figure, but has refused to offer any nationwide statistics of the number of injuries, arrests or deaths from the unrest.
However, Hook’s numbers appear to match a figure put out late Wednesday by the Iranian exile group called the Mujahedeen-e-Khalq, which has paid Trump’s personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani for speeches at its events in the past.
The MeK alleged late Wednesday that more than 1,000 people had been killed. It published a list of 320 people it said it had identified so far as having been killed but did not provide proof.
Iran has alleged MeK supporters and those backing exiled Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi, the son of the country’s late shah, of being behind the unrest alongside foreign powers. It has not offered evidence to support those allegations.
In addition to the deaths, Hook said more than 7,000 protesters had been detained, with many sent to two prisons. Hook said that Pompeo had notified Congress on Thursday that both prisons would be hit with U.S. sanctions for gross human rights abuses. It was not immediately clear when those designations would occur.
Hook’s comments come as the U.S. steps up its “maximum pressure campaign” on Iran that it began after withdrawing from the landmark 2015 nuclear deal last year. That campaign has been highlighted by the imposition of increasingly tough sanctions and an increase in rhetoric critical of Tehran and its leadership.
As part of the pressure campaign, Hook announced that the U.S. is offering a reward of up to $15 million for information leading to the whereabouts of a top IRGC commander now believed to be supporting rebels in Yemen. He said Abdul Reza Shahalai was responsible for numerous attacks against U.S. forces in Iraq and had been behind a foiled plot to murder the Saudi ambassador to the United States in a Washington restaurant.
(SEOUL, South Korea) — North Korea threatened Thursday to resume insults of U.S. President Donald Trump and consider him a “dotard” if he keeps using provocative language, such as referring to its leader as “rocket man.”
Choe Son Hui, the first vice foreign minister, issued the warning via state media days after Trump spoke of possible military action toward the North and revived his “rocket man” nickname for North Korean ruler Kim Jong Un.
The comments came as prospects dim for a resumption of nuclear diplomacy between the two countries. In recent months, North Korea has hinted at lifting its moratorium on nuclear and long-range missile tests if the Trump administration fails to make substantial concessions in nuclear diplomacy before the end of the year.
Choe said Trump’s remarks “prompted the waves of hatred of our people against the U.S.” because they showed “no courtesy when referring to the supreme leadership of dignity” of North Korea.
She said North Korea will respond with its own harsh language if Trump again uses similar phrases and shows that he is intentionally provoking North Korea.
“If any language and expressions stoking the atmosphere of confrontation are used once again … that must really be diagnosed as the relapse of the dotage of a dotard,” Choe said.
On Wednesday, the North’s military chief, Pak Jong Chon, also warned that the use of force against the North would cause a “horrible” consequence for the U.S. He said North Korea would take unspecified “prompt corresponding actions at any level” if the U.S. takes any military action.
During a visit to London on Tuesday, Trump said his relationship with Kim was “really good” but also called for him to follow up on a commitment to denuclearize.
“We have the most powerful military we ever had, and we are by far the most powerful country in the world and hopefully we don’t have to use it. But if we do, we will use it,” Trump said.
Kim, Trump added, “likes sending rockets up, doesn’t he? That’s why I call him rocket man.”
In 2017, Trump and Kim traded threats of destruction as North Korea carried out a slew of high-profile weapons tests aimed at acquiring an ability to launch nuclear strikes on the U.S. mainland. Trump said he would rain “fire and fury” on North Korea and derided Kim as “little rocket man,” while Kim questioned Trump’s sanity and said he would “tame the mentally deranged U.S. dotard with fire.”
The two leaders have avoided such words and developed better relations after North Korea entered nuclear negotiations with the U.S. last year. Trump even said he and Kim “fell in love.”
Kim and Trump have met three times, starting with a summit in Singapore in June 2018. But their nuclear diplomacy has remained largely deadlocked since their second meeting in Vietnam in February ended without any deal due to disputes over U.S.-led sanctions on North Korea.
(CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla.) — SpaceX launched a 3-ton shipment to the International Space Station on Thursday, including “mighty mice” for a muscle study, a robot sensitive to astronauts’ emotions and a miniature version of a brewery’s malt house.
The Dragon capsule also is delivering holiday goodies for the six station residents. NASA’s Kenny Todd isn’t giving any hints, but said, “Santa’s sleigh, I think, is certified for the vacuum of space.”
The recycled capsule should arrive Sunday.
The Falcon rocket blasted off from Cape Canaveral a day late because of high winds. SpaceX recovered the new booster on a barge just off the coast in the Atlantic several minutes following liftoff so it could be reused. SpaceX employees in Southern California cheered when the booster landed, and again a few minutes later when the capsule reached orbit.
This is SpaceX’s 19th supply run for NASA.
Forty mice are aboard, all adolescent females with black fur. Eight are “mighty mice,” with twice the muscle mass of ordinary mice, according to the experiment’s chief scientist, Se-Jin Lee of the University of Connecticut and Jackson Laboratory in Farmington, Connecticut.
Researchers plan to bulk up some of the non-mighty space mice during or after their month-long flight in an attempt to build up muscle and bone. This therapy could one day help astronauts stay fit on lengthy space trips, Lee said.
In addition, there are barley grains for a beer-malting experiment by Anheuser-Busch.
The shipment also includes a large, plastic 3-D printed robot head with artificial intelligence, according to its German creators. It’s named Cimon, pronounced Simon, the same as the prototype that flew up last year. This upgraded version is designed to show empathy to its human colleagues in orbit.
Cimon will spend up to three years at the space station, three times longer than its recently returned predecessor. The goal, said IBM’s Matthias Biniok, is to provide astronauts with constantly updated robotic helpers, especially at the moon and Mars.
The space station currently is home to three Americans, two Russians and one Italian.
Russia plans to launch its own cargo ship to the outpost Friday.
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The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Department of Science Education. The AP is solely responsible for all content.
In less than a week, Britain will hold its third general election since 2015 and the welfare state, national security and even Scottish independence are all high on the agenda.
But disagreements over Britain’s departure from the E.U. are looming largest over the campaign. Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s Conservative Party has promised in its official campaign slogan to “Get Brexit Done” if it wins, playing off widespread frustrations among people who voted to leave the E.U. in 2016 that, three and a half years on, Britain has still not left the European Union.
But that effort is facing a challenge from Jeremy Corbyn’s opposition Labour Party, which is promising a raft of transformational, progressive policies like pouring money into public services, nationalizing railways, providing all homes with free broadband, and investing in a “green industrial revolution” — as well as holding a second referendum on Brexit.
With Brexit now scheduled to happen by the end of January, the winner will have the responsibility to deliver it, reshape it, delay it, or cancel it altogether.
Here’s what to know about the U.K.’s upcoming election.
When is the election?
The election will be held on Thursday, Dec. 12.
It’s Britain’s first December election since 1923. Elections are normally held in May or June, when the days are longer and the weather is better. But polling experts are playing down the effect the winter will have on people voting: after all, both right and left are saying this election is the most important for a generation.
Why is there an election happening now?
Elections in Britain are meant to happen once every five years, but next Thursday’s will be the third since 2015.
Johnson, who leads a minority government, called for a snap election because lawmakers refused to ratify his Brexit legislation in October. Enough lawmakers then agreed that the impasse could only be solved by holding an early vote.
It follows the snap vote called by Prime Minister Theresa May in 2017, in which she sought a bigger mandate to deliver Brexit but ended up losing her majority.
How does a U.K. election work?
Britain is a parliamentary democracy, meaning that, unlike in the U.S., voters don’t directly elect the leader of the country. Instead, Brits elect Members of Parliament (MPs), at the constituency level. Those MPs belong to parties. The party that holds a majority of seats after the election is considered the winner, and its leader becomes Prime Minister.
If no party has a majority after the election, then the one with the largest share of the vote usually holds coalition talks to see whether they can reach a majority by teaming up with another party. Legislation can only pass the House of Commons with support from a majority of lawmakers.
Who’s running?
There are several parties running in England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland, but the five main players are the right-wing Conservatives or “Tories”, left-wing Labour, the centrist Liberal Democrats or “Lib Dems”, the single-issue Brexit Party and, in Scotland, the Scottish National Party or SNP, which wants Scottish independence.
In the summer of 2019, before the election was called, it looked like Britain’s traditional two-party system was dead. The dominance of the Conservatives and Labour appeared eroded by Brexit, and the Lib Dems and newly-founded Brexit Party had risen in the polls, leaving all four parties polling at around 20%.
Billy Perrigo/TIME
But public support for the Tories has more than doubled since June, after the party replaced Prime Minister May with Johnson. Labour’s support has risen since then too, largely at the expense of the Liberal Democrats, who had temporarily attracted some remain-leaning Labour voters by promising to cancel Brexit altogether, but whose support has steadily declined during campaigning.
How will the election affect Brexit?
If Boris Johnson gets a majority, he has promised that Brexit will happen in January 2020.
If Labour win, they have promised to renegotiate Johnson’s “hard” Brexit deal to something “softer,” resulting in a closer trading and regulatory relationship between the U.K. and the E.U. Labour have also promised to hold a second Brexit referendum after that renegotiation, where leaving and remaining in the E.U. are on the ballot. Corbyn has not said which side he would support in that referendum.
If no party wins a majority, which is still possible, there is a chance the election could change very little — especially if the new contingent of lawmakers are as divided on the issue of Brexit as the last one was.
What are the big issues in the election?
The election was called because of Brexit, but a terror attack at London Bridge and arguments over the future of Britain’s publicly funded National Health Service (NHS), along with other public services, have also received significant airtime.
Terror attack
On Nov. 29, a convicted terrorist who had been released from prison stabbed two people and injured three others before being shot dead by armed officers.
The stabbing had echoes of the June 3, 2017, terror attack at the same location, which came days before the last election. In the wake of that attack, then-Prime Minister Theresa May was criticized by Labour for her austerity policies that had reduced the number of police on the streets — and she subsequently lost her majority when voters went to the polls.
Keen to avoid a similar outcome, Johnson went on the offensive shortly after the attacks, blaming Labour for the terrorist’s early release—ignoring that it had happened under a Conservative government—and calling for tougher sentences for terrorists. His language dominated headlines in the right-leaning tabloid newspapers, but drew criticism from others, including victim Jack Merritt’s family, who called for their son’s death not to be exploited for political gain.
After a weekend of media appearances by Johnson and cabinet members attacking Labour on the issue, Merritt’s father published an article in which he said his son “would be seething at his death, and his life, being used to perpetuate an agenda of hate that he gave his everything fighting against.”
The attack dominated headlines for several days, but was bumped off the news agenda by Trump’s visit for the NATO summit without having much of a visible impact on the Conservatives’ lead in opinion polls.
National Health Service (NHS)
The Labour Party have capitalized on Trump’s previous comments indicating that Britain’s beloved NHS, which is publicly funded and provides free-to-access healthcare to anyone in the country, could be bought up by U.S. pharmaceutical firms after Brexit.
“When you’re dealing in trade everything is on the table, so NHS or anything else… everything will be on the table, absolutely,” Trump told reporters at a press conference in London in June.
Trump has since said his administration has no interest in the NHS, but the Labour Party is still raising the alarm about the prospect. “With a No Deal Brexit, your family’s medicine costs could skyrocket to unaffordable USA prices once Boris Johnson strikes a trade deal with Donald Trump,” says one Labour Facebook advert.
Labour insiders tell TIME that, while they are struggling to cut through to voters on Brexit, internal polling shows that their emphasis on the NHS and Johnson’s links to Trump has had an effect.
Trump’s visit
When President Trump was asked by reporters about the upcoming British election while visiting London on Tuesday, he was on his best behavior. “I don’t want to complicate it,” he said. “I’ll stay out of the election.”
It was a change of tack from just six months ago when, on his previous visit to the U.K., he had waded into British politics, criticizing then-Prime Minister May’s approach to Brexit negotiations and landing her in hot water electorally by saying Britain’s beloved National Health Service could be up for grabs in a post-Brexit U.S.-U.K. trade deal.
But May has since been replaced by Johnson, with whom Trump says he has a personal rapport. “We have a really good man who’s going to be the prime minister of the U.K. now,” Trump said when Johnson was appointed Prime Minister. “They call him Britain Trump, and that’s a good thing. They like me over there.”
The only problem for Johnson is that Brits actually don’t like Trump much at all. U.S. officials know that, and briefed the President to steer clear of British politics. In multiple press conferences across two days in London, Trump succeeded in not saying much that would damage Johnson’s chances.
For the most part, that is. Speaking at the U.S. Ambassador’s residence on Tuesday, Trump didn’t manage to stay away completely. “I think Boris is very capable,” he said, “and he will do a good job.”
Overall, however, when the wheels of Air Force One lifted off from the tarmac at London’s Stansted Airport late Wednesday, Johnson’s Conservative Party officials breathed a sigh of relief. They had acknowledged the Presidential visit would be a wildcard in an election campaign that had so far been kind to them. With just a week to go until Brits go to the polls, the Conservatives have a roughly 10 point lead and pollsters say they are on course to win a majority.
(BANGKOK) — The Mekong River has recently acquired an aquamarine color that may beguile tourists but also indicates a problem caused by upstream dams, experts in Thailand say.
The river usually has a yellowish-brown shade due to the sediment it normally carries downstream. But lately it has been running clear, taking on a blue-green hue that is a reflection of the sky. The water levels have also become unusually low, exposing sandbanks that allow the curious to stand in the middle of the river.
Low water levels pose an obvious problem for fishermen and farmers, but experts say the decline in sediment exposes a different danger that can result in greater erosion of the river’s banks and bed.
The experts and people living along the river blame a large hydroelectric dam upstream in Laos that began operating in October for contributing to both problems, though rainfall has also been sparse.
Around 70 million people depend on the Mekong River for water, food, commerce, irrigation and transportation. Critics charge that large-scale development projects such as the Xayaburi dam dangerously disrupt the region’s ecology.
The dam blocks much sediment from moving further downstream, which accounts for the water becoming clear, said Pravit Kanthaduang, chief of the fishery office at Bueng Khong Long, a district in Thailand’s Bueng Kan province. Less sediment means less nutrition for plants and fish in the river, threatening the ecological balance, he said.
With less sediment, the water also has more stream power, a phenomenon known as “hungry water,” said Chainarong Setthachau of the Faculty of Humanities and Social Science at Mahasarakham University in Thailand’s northeast who has studied changes in the Mekong’s ecology for the past two decades.
“The current has less sediment, which unleashes energy onto the river banks downstream. This so-called ‘hungry water’ will cause much more erosion to the banks, uprooting trees and damaging engineering structures in the river,” Chainarong said.
The dam’s developers have denied that they were responsible for low water levels that some critics tied to trial runs of the generators that began in March. In October, the Xayaburi Power Co. Ltd. said the project has spent more than 19.4 billion baht ($640 million) to mitigate negative impacts on the environment, including the building of outlets for sediment passage and flow and facilities to allow the passage of fish. The plant’s total cost was $4.47 billion.
Daeng Pongpim, from a farming family that used to fish in Ta Mui village in Ubon Ratchathani province, lives 800 kilometers (500 miles) downstream from the Xayaburi dam, but said she still believes it is responsible for the river’s recent unusual condition.
“I am 67 years old and have never seen anything like it before. What makes me concerned the most is the low level of the water. Now, we are in early winter, the water level should not be this low. I can’t imagine how hard it could be for us at the height of the dry season, in March and April.”
Chaiwat Parakun, who lives 200 kilometers (125 miles) downstream from the dam, said he abandoned his fishing gear several years ago because of the declining amount of fish available to catch. He now has a tourism business.
“The Mekong has gradually lost its abundance. People who depend on the river like us could sense it many years ago. But that was nothing like the effects from Xayaburi. We cannot figure out how we can live with this degraded environment,” he said.
The world is full of amazing destinations. But which ones do kids actually want to visit?
To assemble our first annual list of the World’s 50 Coolest Places, TIME for Kids sought input from trusted experts—kids. We gathered nominations from our network of TFK Kid Reporters and from young readers around the world. Then we considered each one based on several factors, including quality, originality, sustainability, and accessibility.
The result: a list of 50 exciting, innovative, and iconic destinations around the world—from a Michelin-starred restaurant in Singapore with a gourmet kids’ menu to America’s tallest sand dunes, which are perfect for sledding.
Long enough in the case of Volodymyr Zelensky, the comedian elected President of Ukraine, to go from the set of his sitcom in Kyiv to the biggest political drama in the world, the one in which an American President may wind up getting impeached.
The Democrats have cast Zelensky as the victim of President Donald Trump’s abuse of power, even as Republicans treat him as the witness key to proving Trump’s innocence. Neither role is anywhere close to what Zelensky imagined for himself when he announced his run for the presidency on New Year’s Eve, although he knew the job would be tough if he won, and often very unpleasant. Ukraine has been at war with Russia for the past five years, and his priority as President would be to stop that war from taking any more lives–a toll that is now more than 13,000 and counting.
Photograph by Paolo Pellegrin—Magnum Photos for TIME
That task would mean confronting Vladimir Putin, the Russian President who first ordered his troops into Ukraine in 2014. But Zelensky also wondered early on about Trump and the challenges of working with him. “What’s he like?” he asked me when we first met in March, backstage at his comedy show, which he was using to promote his run for Ukraine’s highest office. “Normal guy?” Wedged between the mirror and the costume rack inside his dressing room, the 41-year-old seemed confident, even cocky, in planning to win Trump over with little more than a wisecrack and a smile. “We’ll figure it out,” he told me. “I’m sure we’ll get along.”
Things have turned out rather differently. At the point in its history when Ukraine needs American support the most, Trump has gone out of his way to paint the nation as corrupt, unreliable and opposed to his Administration. Russia has rejoiced at these characterizations. And Ukraine’s key allies in Europe have put on a mask of cool neutrality, voicing support for Zelensky while also seeking deals with Putin. Zelensky cannot even count on outspoken support from the U.S. diplomats and officials who testified so ardently about his country’s strategic and moral import in front of the House Intelligence Committee. Several have quit amid the impeachment saga, others will soon retire, and one tells TIME he is “laying low,” at least until the issue of Ukraine becomes a bit less toxic in Washington.
Zelensky has come to accept that. When we met again in November, he had aged and changed far more than one might expect in the span of eight months. He was not just more tired or more of a realist but seemed to have caught a strain of the political disease he once detested and wanted to cure: cynicism. “I live here,” he said as we sat down in the presidential chambers, looking around at the gilt and the imposing furniture, “like in a fortress that I just want to escape.” One of his closest aides, Serhiy Shefir, who also spent his career in comedy before his friend became the President, could barely remember the time we had met in March at their variety show. “That was a different lifetime,” he told me.
Paolo Verzone—Agence VU for TIMEAndriy Yermak, a top adviser to Zelensky, at his office in Kyiv on Dec. 4
Like many people in Ukraine, Zelensky has followed coverage of the impeachment inquiry unfold in the U.S. Congress. Not closely, he says, but enough to know what the Democratic majority has accused Trump of doing. Nearly every witness who testified before the inquiry confirmed that Trump blocked about $400 million in aid to Ukraine this summer as a way to pressure Zelensky’s government. Trump’s aim, according to these witnesses, was to get Ukraine’s help in his re-election campaign by launching spurious investigations into Trump’s political rivals–in particular, his chief opponent in the 2020 race, former Vice President Joe Biden, whose son Hunter served on the board of a Ukrainian energy company. Several key witnesses called this a “quid pro quo,” or a favor for a favor. The Democrats said it was tantamount to bribery. Trump and his allies dismissed the hearings as a witch hunt intent on destroying his presidency.
Zelensky and his aides kept quiet about the hearings, not wanting to get dragged even deeper into the political brawls of their most important ally. So in a roundtable interview with TIME and three other publications on Nov. 30, he addressed not the question at the heart of impeachment–what Trump wanted–but only his own motivations. “Look, I never talked to the President from the position of a quid pro quo. That’s not my thing,” he said. “I don’t want us to look like beggars. But you have to understand. We’re at war. If you’re our strategic partner, then you can’t go blocking anything for us. I think that’s just about fairness. It’s not about a quid pro quo.”
From the start of his tenure, the man Zelensky entrusted to deal with the Americans was Andriy Yermak, who had previously worked for years as a lawyer for the President’s comedy troupe. Tall and imposing, with a booming voice and a habit of pounding the table for emphasis, Yermak had to manage the stream of requests to investigate Trump’s political rivals. At first they came up this spring from Trump’s personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani and later from various U.S. officials and diplomats drawn into the pressure campaign.
Doug Mills—The New York Times/ReduxThe presidency has changed Zelensky, aides say; his comedy career “was a different lifetime,” says one
For Yermak it meant months of debating these investigations, whether to open them and how to announce them in public. The entire time, he says, he stuck to one principle: “Zelensky and his team will never get mixed up in the internal politics of the United States of America, under any circumstances.” They managed to hold that line long enough for a whistle-blower to raise the alarm about Trump and Giuliani’s conduct over Ukraine. By early September, as news of that complaint made its way to Congress, the package of aid to Ukraine was finally released.
Yermak’s relief did not last long. With the start of the impeachment inquiry in September, his country was again dragged into the center of a partisan brawl in Washington; only this time it was televised. “To be honest, we’re tired of these discussions,” he told me in his office on Dec. 4, the day the House Judiciary Committee took up the inquiry for a fresh round of witness testimony and debate. “The entire time you’ve spent talking about this, we’ve had people dying in the war out east.”
That war began as a Russian response to Ukraine’s revolution, which put the country on a path toward closer alignment with Europe in 2014 and forced the leaders of the old regime to seek refuge among their patrons in Moscow. The Kremlin struck back that February by sending troops to occupy Ukraine’s Crimean Peninsula. By the spring, the Russian forces had sparked a bigger conflict in the region known as the Donbass, part of Ukraine’s industrial heartland in the east. Millions of people have since fled the fighting. Separatists armed by Moscow have seized control of two major cities in the Donbass. But even as Putin began this year to hand out Russian passports to the locals, he has shown no interest in absorbing these lands into Russia, apparently content to let the conflict fester, a permanent drag on the success of his neighbor, its economy and its chance of integrating with the West.
That’s the main drama Zelensky has tried to focus on, especially as Ukraine gets closer to another chance at peace. On Dec. 9 at the Élysée Palace in Paris, he is due to sit down for the first time with Putin. The encounter pits a onetime TV star barely six months into the job against a KGB veteran in power for two decades, who has fought brutal wars before and won them.
Away from the battlefield, things are also going Russia’s way. The impeachment inquiry has thrown American policy toward Europe into confusion. A handful of the U.S. diplomats with the most clout in the region have quit in protest at Trump’s treatment of Ukraine, given damning testimony against Trump in Congress, or both.
Meanwhile, Trump and his defenders have taken to repeating Putin’s deflective claims that it was Ukrainian politicians rather than Russian spies who meddled in the 2016 U.S. presidential election. This was in flat contradiction to U.S. intelligence, which had concluded long before that Putin ordered his agents to steal and spread the secrets of the Hillary Clinton campaign. But Trump persisted in blaming Ukraine. Putin was elated. “Thank God,” he told a business conference about two weeks before the peace talks in Paris. “Nobody is accusing us anymore of interfering in the U.S. elections. Now they’re accusing Ukraine.”
Zelensky has been left with no choice but to put his faith in the diplomats from Germany and France, who will serve as mediators at the talks in Paris. In an effort to reach these nations, he invited two of their best publications to the roundtable interview on Nov. 30, as well as a reporter from Poland, Ukraine’s most ardent ally in the European Union.
One of them posed a seemingly straightforward question: Do you trust Putin? For Zelensky, it was a perfect chance to vent at his nation’s tormentor and score some easy points at home. But he took it differently. “I don’t trust anyone at all,” he said. “Politics is not an exact science. That’s why in school I loved mathematics. Everything in mathematics was clear to me. You can solve an equation with a variable, with one variable. But here we have all variables.” Even among allies, Zelensky suggested, “Nobody can have any trust. Everybody just has their interests.”
It was hard to fault Zelensky for feeling alone. Two days earlier he had spoken on the phone with German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who had long held the line when it came to Ukraine, demanding discipline among the Europeans even as some of them called for an end to the sanctions imposed against Russia for its attack against Ukraine. But the German wall around Zelensky thins where German business interests come in.
Even as Merkel prepared for the talks in Paris and called on Putin to participate, she was rushing to complete an energy project with Russia that could potentially cripple Ukraine’s economy next year. Known as Nord Stream 2, the new pipeline would bypass Ukraine by carrying Russian fuel under the Baltic Sea to Germany. The estimated loss for Zelensky’s government would be about $3 billion per year in revenues from the transport of gas to Europe, a sum that dwarfs the $400 million in aid that Trump held up this summer and early fall. “If it’s built, then Ukraine will suffer enormously,” Andriy Kobolyev, the head of Ukraine’s state gas company, tells TIME. “The only way to stop this is U.S. sanctions.”
But that does not seem likely, at least not before the pipeline is due to become operational at the start of 2020. Many of the U.S. officials who led the push against this project–chief among them John Bolton, Trump’s most recently departed National Security Adviser–have left the Administration, and the impeachment inquiry has pushed the issue down on the U.S. agenda in Ukraine. “With the departure of those officials,” says Kobolyev, “we see significantly less people in U.S. who are willing to discuss with us that matter. And that bothers me a lot right now.”
It bothers Zelensky too. But there is not much he can do about it unless the U.S. has his back. Despite a death toll that climbs by the week, with nightly shelling near civilian areas and the persistent threat of sniper fire, the only active war in Europe seldom tops the evening news in Paris, Berlin or London. The Dec. 9 talks will be the first major peace summit in more than three years, a lull in negotiations that saw thousands of Ukrainians killed in their own homeland. Before that, there were hardly any breakthroughs in the conflict, and peace talks would go in circles as if that were their only goal. “People came to these meetings intending for nothing to happen,” Zelensky says.
He doubts this time will be much different. The host of the summit, French President Emmanuel Macron, made some remarks in November that worried the Ukrainians. Russia is no longer an enemy of NATO, Macron said, and should be treated as a partner. In an interview with the Economist, the French leader also suggested that the NATO military alliance, which has guaranteed the security of Europe since the end of World War II, was “experiencing brain death” and may no longer be willing to defend its member states from an attack.
The remarks, which officials in Moscow celebrated, caused a rare clash between Merkel and Macron. During a private dinner in November, the German Chancellor is reported to have told Macron that she was tired of “picking up the pieces” after his disruptive statements. “Over and over, I have to glue together the cups you have broken so that we can then sit down and have a cup of tea together,” Merkel said, according to the New York Times.
Asked about these remarks during our interview, Zelensky looked surprised. “He really said that?” the President marveled, referring to Macron. Zelensky had not been paying much attention to the European squabbles; he has had enough problems to deal with at home. As the peace talks approached, hard-liners and militants inside Ukraine had accused him of capitulating to Russia, and his popularity ratings had gone into free fall. But he refused to yield to their demands to retake the Donbass by force.
“I won’t do it,” he told us. “I cannot send them there. How? How many of them will die? Hundreds of thousands, and then an all-out war will start, an all-out war in Ukraine, and then across Europe.”
As the interview wound down, there was a final chance to ask him about the impeachment inquiry, though the topic suddenly seemed petty compared with the fires Zelensky was fighting. He didn’t brush the issue aside, though he clearly understood how dangerous it was, how high the risk of angering either side in the internal struggles of a superpower. “But I’m not afraid of the impeachment questions,” he said, forcing a smile.
The message he had for the U.S. and other “empires,” he said, was a plea to remember that Ukraine is a nation in its own right, not merely a tool in the games of foreigners. “I would never want Ukraine to be a piece on the map, on the chessboard of big global players, so that someone could toss us around, use us as cover, as part of some bargain.” But if these first six months of his tenure have taught Zelensky anything about the world, it’s that alliances can change as fast as the whims of the world’s decisionmakers. “That’s why,” he said as we stood to say goodbye, “on the question of who I trust, I told you honestly: no one.”
President Donald Trump had barely been in Afghanistan for a few hours on Nov. 28 when he made three bold declarations. In coming days, Trump said, the Taliban would stop their attacks and stalled peace talks would resume. But, he also told Afghan officials, the U.S. would keep a small number of troops there indefinitely. “They didn’t want to do a cease-fire, but now they do want to do a cease-fire,” Trump said of the Taliban, during a press conference at Bagram Airfield, north of Kabul, roughly 13 hours after flying from Maryland under the cover of darkness for a surprise Thanksgiving visit to the troops. “It will probably work out that way.”
Unfortunately, that’s not how the Taliban see it. The combination of notions Trump floated is a deal breaker for the militants who have been waging war against the Afghan government and foreign troops for nearly two decades. For starters, the Taliban aren’t laying down their weapons before brokering a full withdrawal of U.S. troops. Leaving any American forces in the country is also likely to stymie talks. “The cease-fire will start only after the signing of the peace agreement,” Taliban spokesman Suhail Shaheen tells TIME.
Any compromise must come from Trump, Shaheen adds, since it was he who canceled a planned peace summit at Camp David, via Twitter on Sept. 7. “In our view, the ball is in the U.S. court,” Shaheen says. “They called off the talks. It is up to them to come to the table if they want peaceful solution of the issue.”
So it’s hard to say who Trump was trying to reach with these new messages. In their delivery, he muddied his 2019 State of the Union pledge to end U.S. involvement in “endless wars.” And aides have surely told him that even though he did give the Taliban half of what they want—a public declaration from the U.S. President that he is serious about resuming talks—negotiations are unlikely to move forward under the conditions he set out. That leaves any hope of a peace deal where it was when Trump came to office: nowhere. As talks drag on, the delays can be measured in lives: in the first nine months of 2019, there were more than 8,200 civilian casualties, according to the U.N.
This mess now falls to U.S. peace envoy Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad to clean up. Khalilzad, who was in Kabul on Dec. 4, must try to talk the Taliban into reducing attacks on U.S. and Afghan forces without calling it a cease-fire, while convincing Trump and the Afghan government that he’s achieved a cease-fire in all but name.
His job will be complicated by Trump’s alleged assurances to Afghan President Ashraf Ghani. Current and former Afghan officials briefed on the leaders’ conversations during Trump’s visit said Trump promised the Afghan government a greater say in future discussions, an idea the Taliban have long rejected. They also said Trump told the Afghan government he’d maintain some U.S. troop presence in the country, echoing comments he made earlier this year. “We’re going to keep a presence there. We’re reducing that presence very substantially, and we’re going to always have a presence,” Trump told Fox News Radio in August.
Both points constitute a major reversal of the earlier draft deal between the U.S. and the Taliban, which took nearly a year to negotiate. It included a complete withdrawal of U.S. troops as well as special operations and intelligence operatives, Taliban spokesman Shaheen told TIME in October. On that condition, the Taliban would agree to stop targeting U.S. forces as they withdrew, though it would continue to fight Afghan forces while the militants and a delegation of Afghan leaders separately hammered out a way forward in later talks to be held in Oslo.
Trump abruptly walked away from that deal in a blistering September tweetstorm, just after canceling the secret summit at Camp David. The plan had been to try to broker an agreement between the militants and Afghan President Ghani, who’d accepted the invitation, in the style of the 1978 Camp David accords. Trump blamed the talks’ collapse on a Taliban bombing in Kabul that killed 12 people, including an American soldier, but Shaheen said it was the Taliban that balked at traveling to Washington without having a deal and cease-fire already in place.
One thing to emerge in the post-Thanksgiving haze is that Trump’s position toward the Taliban seems to have hardened, perhaps because of criticism from retired generals and lawmakers like Senator Lindsey Graham. “I don’t know why in the world we would restart talks with the Taliban unless they renounce violence,” Graham tells TIME.
The Taliban delegation in Doha has always insisted there is no cease-fire without a deal, and no deal without a full withdrawal. But they too are also facing a weary and impatient fighting force that was disappointed by the derailing of talks in September.
U.S. negotiators are seeking a “reduction in violence” against both U.S. and Afghan forces, a senior administration official told TIME on Thursday, conceding that push goes beyond what the Taliban agreed to before talks fell apart. “The reduction in violence discussion has definitely widened and it does involve the Afghans as well,” she said, speaking anonymously to discuss the sensitive negotiations.
She also confirmed Afghan officials’ assertions that Trump wants the Afghan government to be more involved in the peace process, but would not comment directly on whether Trump had pledged to keep U.S. troops in Afghanistan. “We are constantly evaluating our troop force levels,” she said. “President Trump has been clear (that) he would like to bring it down…but he’s also not going to do something that is going to threaten the American people or the American homeland.” When asked if the Taliban would accept keeping a small number of U.S. forces in the country, she replied: “We think the Taliban also would like a peace agreement.”
So would most people in Afghanistan. “One of the real frustrations in the last year is that the talks have been going on, but for many in the countryside, it feels like the fighting has escalated,” says Kate Clark, co-director of the Kabul-based Afghanistan Analysts Network. “From the Taliban or the Afghan government and U.S. side … from airstrikes and night raids. And there’s no accountability for any of it.”
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CG Fisheries Department Recruitment 2019 – Apply Offline | 30 Fisheries Inspector Vacancies. Chhattisgarh Fisheries Department has announced a CG Fisheries Inspector Job Notification for 30 Vacancies. Candidates who are looking for Inspector Jobs in CG Fisheries Department can apply for this Posts through Offline Process. Candidates can start downloading the application form and sent it to the Registered Posts address on or before the last date by 26th December 2019.
CG Fisheries Department is looking for the bright and result oriented candidates for the CG Fisheries Inspector Vacancies. Candidates those who want to get enrolled for this Fisheries Inspector posting should be under the age limit of 35 years. Here we have furnished all the details regarding the Eligibility details of CG Fisheries Inspector Recruitment 2019 Notification. Applicants can make note of the information and start applying for the Vacancies.
Generally, a fishery is an entity engaged in raising or harvesting fish which is determined by some authority to be a fishery. According to the FAO, a fishery is typically defined in terms of the “people involved, species or type of fish, area of water or seabed, method of fishing, class of boats, the purpose of the activities or a combination of the foregoing features”. The definition often includes a combination of fish and fishers in a region, the latter fishing for similar species with similar gear types.
A fishery may involve the capture of wild fish or raising fish through fish farming or aquaculture. Directly or indirectly, the livelihood of over 500 million people in developing countries depends on fisheries and aquaculture. Overfishing, including the taking of fish beyond sustainable levels, is reducing fish stocks and employment in many world regions. A report by Prince Charles’ International Sustainability Unit, the New York-based Environmental Defence Fund and 50in10 published in July 2014 estimated global fisheries were adding $270 billion a year to global GDP, but by full implementation of sustainable fishing, that figure could rise by as much as $50 billion
SPPU Result 2019 ReleasedStudents who have undergone the UG, PG Programme, Diploma, Ph.D. other courses semester examination under the Savitribai Phule Pune University, check it out here. Its time to know your performance in the last conducted semester examination. Get the Direct links for the SPPU Exam Result 2019-20. Along with this, We have attached the SPPU Result Summary. Students who have applied for the Revaluation can also check out the revaluation results separately. Candidates do get down the article completely to know brief details about the Savitribai Phule Pune University Result.
SPPU Result 2019 – Download Here
This article is a complete list out of the Pune University Result 2019 Online Mode. Students who are waiting for the Pune University Results of Savitribai Phule Pune University can check out the examination results released date on the official website. As soon as the Savitribai Phule Pune University Releases the SPPU Degree Result in the Official Website, students can get it here. Annual and Semester wise results are updated on this page. On the Official site, the Pune University has declared SPPU Result for a few courses. So do have regular touch with the University Website to get the remaining course Results.
Savitribai Phule Pune University, one of the chief colleges in India, is situated in the North-western piece of Pune city. It possesses a territory of around 411 sections of land. It was set up on tenth February 1949 under the Poona University Act. The college houses 46 scholarly divisions. It is prominently known as the ‘Oxford of the East’. It has around 307 perceived research establishments and 612 partnered schools offering graduate and college classes. The college draws in numerous outside students because of its brilliant offices. It offers a great settlement office. There is a well-loaded library containing a lot of books in regards to different subjects. There is an arrangement of lodging for the students. The college offers various grants to the students. The college conducts workshops and meetings for the students.
SPPU Revaluation Result
Students who have attended the regular semester examination under the Savitribai Phule Pune University and got failed. Here comes one more opportunity is known as Revaluation for those who have failed in the regular semester examination. This Revaluation is not only meant for those failure students but also candidates who wish to increase your scoring or the grade can also use this chance. Savitribai Phule Pune University releases the revaluation results option as soon as the regular examination results are released. For every semester Students can take this opportunity and make your scores increase. To know more about the Revaluation Results stay updated with our page and the official website @unipune.ac.in
Gujarat University Results 2019 Declared !!! Gujarat University conducted the UG, PG Programme, M.Phil/Ph.D. Programmes Courses Semester Examination. Participants who have appeared for the written exam check your Gujarat University Exam Result 2019 here. Candidates can also check the results for all the examination courses conducted by the Gujarat University Ahmedabad i.e., @gujaratuniversity.ac.in
Gujarat University Results 2019-20
The Gujarat University Released for all kinds of UG, PG Programme, M.Phil/Ph.D. Programmes. Examiners who have attended the semester examination and waiting for the examination results, then its time to check it out. Get all the updated Gujarat University Ahmedabad Results. This is one of the best universities in Gujarat which has affiliated more than 350 colleges. The University has declared the semester exam results for all the students who are pursuing their degree in Gujarat University. Scroll down the entire section to gather more and interesting details about Gujarat University Results 2019.
Gujarat University was established in the year 1949. In fact, the university was evolved in 1949 but the initial movement started by the many leaders of India like Mahatma Gandhi, Sardar Patel, Anand Shankar Dhruv, Ganesh Vasudev Mavalankar and Kasturibhai Lal Bhai eas recommended to start this university in 1920 later it built after Independence. The Gujarat University started with the name of Ahmedabad Education Society later it converted to Gujarat University by the Gujarat University Act.
The university named to be Undergraduate level and a teaching one at the Post Graduate level. Nearly 3 lakhs students are studying at the university in various courses. When comes to its strength, The university equipped with 285 colleges out of this 35 approved institution and 20 recognized institution, as in 2014. The Governor of Gujarat will act as the Chancellor of the university. while Mr.Himanshu Pandya is the Vice-Chancellor and Piyush Patel acts as the Registrar of the Gujarat University.
Gujarat University Revaluation/ Supplementary Results
Students, those who have not cleared or got low marks the University examinations can apply for the Revaluation. This is is a chance for the students to increase their marks in subjects in which they have scored low marks. If students have written the main exam well and still got a low score or having doubts in the correction of the exam paper it is a choice to increase their marks. Currently, the University has released the revaluation results for UG, PG with all-region Students. So Students can check the Revaluation results from here. We have provided a direct link to get the Gujarat University Revaluation Results.
Uniraj Result 2019 declared for B.A. PART I, II, B.A. LL.B., B.P.Ed., DUAL DEGREE, M.A. and M.P.Ed. Courses on o5th December 2019. This is good news for the candidates who are looking for the Uniraj Result. Here we are providing direct Rajasthan University Result link for B.A. L.L.B, M.Sc, M.A, MBA, MCA, Dual Degree, etc. Candidates can download the Uniraj Result from here and can attain their respective marks. Rajasthan University had declared Uniraj Result on 31st October 2019. The University of Rajasthan released Uniraj PG IV Semester Results for all courses are released. Candidates who are seeking for the Uniraj UG and PG Result can get the result from here.
Rajasthan University – Uniraj Result 2019-20
Rajasthan University or Uniraj had recently declared the result of B.Sc, B.A, M.A Semester exams. Also, it had earlier declared M.A. M.Sc., B.Ed. M.Sc. B.A., LLM exam result. Candidates who had appeared for these courses can check their result/qualifying status as well as marks from below given link. We will update with recently released Uniraj University Semester Result 2019 with a direct link. Just by clicking the Results link you will get the direct updated Uniraj Result New from this webpage. Check out the below section and get to know the recently Updated Uniraj Rajasthan University Exam Results 2019.
College of Rajasthan (Uniraj) is probably the most established college situated in Jaipur, Rajasthan. It is an open and state college associated with the University Grants Commission (UGC). Uniraj was once known as the University of Rajputana. Uniraj University offers different courses at UG, PG and Ph.D. level. There are numerous orders like Arts, Science, Commerce, Education, Fine expressions, Law, Management and so on. Competitors who are intrigued to think about Rajasthan University can wait for the confirmation warning. And then you can apply through online mode. Understudies who are intrigued to ponder in Rajasthan can pick this college for higher examinations. Applicants can allude to the notice and different subtleties in the legitimate site of the University of Rajasthan. The official site of Rajasthan University is www.uniraj.ac.in.
Raj University Results 2019 for Revaluation/ Supplementary
Those students who have attended the regular examination under the University of Rajasthan and still failed. Here comes one more opportunity to clear the examination. To increase your scoring along with that students to fail in the previous examination will get a chance to clear through Revaluation Exams Uniraj Results. For each and every semester Students can apply for the revaluation after the announcement of the main examination results. The University of Rajasthan will take possibly more than seven days to process the test papers. Once the process gets completed the Rajasthan University Revaluation Results will be declared. Do stay updated with the University to know about the Revaluation Exam Results.
Rajasthan Patwari Previous Papers are here to download for free. The candidates who are preparing for Rajasthan Subordinate and Ministerial Services Selection Board Patwari Exam are may be in search for preparation tips & pattern to prepare for the written exam. Those applicants can get RSMSSB Patwari Previous Year Question Papers & Rajasthan Patwari Exam Pattern, Rajasthan Patwari Syllabus from our recruitment.guru website. You can also download the Rajasthan Patwari Sample Questions with answers for free. We have provided the RSMSSB Patwari Solved Papers to give proper guidance for the aspirants who are preparing for Rajasthan Patwari written exam. These Rajasthan Patwari Old Papers are very helpful for the candidates during their written exam Preparation. RSMSSB Patwari Practice Papers pdf links are provided below.
The Rajasthan Subordinate and Ministerial Services Selection Board has released the recruitment notification for the various Posts. Many of the interested candidates who are willing to do Govt job will apply for this notification. So, the competition for the post is also tough. In order to get the good score in the written exam candidates have to prepare well for the exam. To obtain merit list in written exam proper preparation for the exam is necessary. For the sake of those aspirants, we have updated the Rajasthan Patwari Solved Papers along with answers to give proper guidance for the candidates.
RSMSSB Patwari Question Papers – Details
Name of the Organization: Rajasthan Subordinate and Ministerial Services Selection Board.
Name of the Posts: Patwari.
Number of Vacancies: 3538.
Category: Previous Papers.
Job Location: Rajasthan.
Official Website: rsmssb.rajasthan.gov.in
Rajasthan Patwari Exam Question Paper Pattern
The candidates who had applied for Rajasthan Patwari Exam have to check the exam pattern to know the pattern of Question Paper and duration of time and marks allotted for each subject and type of the test. Check the following table for RSMSSB Patwari Exam Pattern.
RSMSSB Patwari Prelims Exam Pattern
Subject
Marks
Duration
General Knowledge
100
3 Hours
Mathematics
100
Computer
50
General Hindi
50
Total
300
RSMSSB Patwari Mains Test Pattern Pdf
Subject
Marks
Questions
Duration
General Knowledge
100
50
3 Hours
Mathematics
100
50
Computer
50
25
General Hindi
50
25
Total
300
150
RSMSSB – rsmssb.rajasthan.gov.in
Rajasthan Subordinate and Ministerial Services Selection Board is an authorized organization working under the state government of Rajasthan The RSMSSB does all the necessary procedures for recruitment of skilled and capable candidates into various posts. The RSMSSB recruits highly competent candidates by conducting various exams and interviews. Candidates will be selected based upon their performance in the exams conducted by RSMSSB. The RSMSSB releases notifications every year for recruiting candidates into various departments in Rajasthan Government. Eligible candidates who are interested in Government Jobs in Rajasthan can apply to this posts in online mode after the release of notification. Applicants can visit the official website for further details. The legitimate site of RSMSSB is rsmssb.rajasthan.gov.in
RSMSSB Patwari Model Question Papers – General English
Click on the below links to get Rajasthan Patwari Previous Papers for General English.
DAVV Result 2019 Released for B.A, B.Com, B.Sc, M.B.B.S and Other Exam on the Official Website. Aspirants those who are interested in downloading the DAVV UG Results 2019 can check out the below section. Get the complete UG PG Semester exam marks through www.dauniv.ac.in result 2019. We advise the students to take the complete details regarding the DAVV online Result 2019 from our webpage. Students make use of this page to know all the Devi Ahilya Vishwavidyala DAVV Results 2019. Go through the entire article to get all the latest updates of DAVV University Result 2019.
DAVV Result 2019 @ dauniv.ac.in
देवी अहिल्या विश्वविधालय डीएवीवी परिणाम 2019 Announced. Therefore, students of Devi Ahilya Vishwavidyalaya University its time to check out your DAVV Result 2019. Aspirants those who attend the Annual and Semester Examination conducted by the Devi Ahilya Vishwavidyalaya can check out here to know the B.A, B.Com, B.Sc, M.B.B.S Result 2019. Here, we have updated the recently released DAVV Results 2019 on this webpage along with the Revaluation Result. DAVV UG/PG Exams are conducted successfully and now candidates who have attended the DAVV Exam can check out the Result through Online mode. Also, we have provided the direct link to check the DAVV Result List 2019 from the below section.
Latest DAVV Result List 2019
Examination Name
Result Release Date
Result Link
B.COM.PART II 3 YDC EXAM. (MARK LIST) / (PASS LIST)
Devi Ahilya Vishwavidyalaya is a State University whose jurisdiction was initially restricted to Indore city. Devi Ahilya Vishwavidyalaya formerly the University of Indore was established in 1964 by an Act of Legislature of Madhya Pradesh. The University regulates all the schools within the three campuses. There are many other colleges affiliated to the university in Indore. The university has more than 300 affiliated colleges imparting education at undergraduate and post-graduate levels in basic and professional disciplines. It has 9000 students on campus and a total of over 300,000 students in affiliated colleges.
DAVV Supply/Revaluation Result
Students have a chance to apply for the revaluation, if the students may get low marks in the examination, they can apply for the Revaluation results. So again the head of the Examiner will review the answer paper. After revaluation, students may get high marks. Still, if anyone got low marks, they can apply for the Supplementary Examinations. For Revaluation/Supplementary, students should pay the fee. Students can get all the results from this page Regular, Revaluation and Supplementary Results. Moreover, Students of Devi Ahilya Vishwavidyala University, Indore can also get the MBA Results Also. Just we are advising the Students to frequently visit this page to get the latest updates of all DAVV Result 2019.
ICDS Question Paper for Anganwadi Supervisor, Nutritious Meal Organiser, Cooking Assistant, Anganwadi Workers & Assistant, Anganwadi Helper posts is available here. Candidates who applied for ICDS recruitment can find the Anganwadi Supervisor previous year question papers, interview question & answers pdf. Aspirants can download ICDS previous papers, interview questions pdf for free of cost on our page. Find the exam pattern and personal interview date 2019 in the sections below.
ICDS Exam Question Paper Download Pdf
Integrated Child Developer Services (ICDS) has released the notification for Anganwadi Supervisor, Nutritious Meal Organiser, Cooking Assistant, Anganwadi Workers & Assistant, Anganwadi Helper posts. Since ICDS West Bengal had announced various Supervisor recruitment. Keep checking as we will update the details soon the board releases the notification. However, the applicants of ICDS Anganwadi supervisor, assistant and helper post can find the interview question paper with answers in the section below.
Have you applied for Integrated Child Developer Service (ICDS) Anganwadi Supervisor, Accountant, Assistant & Helper exam 2019? Searching for ICDS Supervisor previous year question papers West Bengal And didn’t find them yet? If your answer is yes, then you are in the right place to get the ICDS Anganwadi exam question paper download. These previous papers are very useful while preparing for any kind of competitive or entrance exam. Individuals can download the previous papers from this page at free of cost. Get more similar jobs like ICDS Recruitment in Central Government Jobs
The ICDS will conduct the personal interview round for the applicants of Anganwadi asst and helper vacancies. However, applicants can keep checking our page for more updates. Find the details regarding the selection process and interview rounds in the section below.
West Bengal ICDS Supervisor Previous Year Question Papers Pdf
West Bengal Integrated Child Developer Services (WB ICDS) has released recruitment notification for various posts. However, the candidates who are appearing for Supervisor Prelims exam can check the exam date, exam pattern, and model papers in the below sections of the article. Later download the WB ICDS Model exam question papers with answers pdf from the direct links given in the below table.
ICDS Supervisor Solved Practice Papers | Exam Paper Pattern 2019
Part – I: Preliminary Screening Test Pattern 2019
Exam Type
No. of Questions
Marks
Objective Type Questions
100
100
Each question carries 1 mark.
Duration of Exam is 1 Hour.
Negative marking will be there for the exam.
Part – II: Mains Written Examination Pattern 2019
Paper Name
Subject
Marks
Paper I
English
100
Paper II
Bengali/Urdu/Nepali/Santali
100
Paper III
General Studies & Current Affair
100
Paper IV
Arithmetic
100
Each Paper exam duration will be 90 Minutes.
There will be Descriptive/Conventional type of questions.
The candidates who qualify on the basis of merit in prelims will only be called for the written exam.
Part – III: Viva-Voce Test
The applicants who are qualified in both Prelims & Mains will be called for Viva-Voce Test which is of 50 marks.
Direct Links to Download ICDS Supervisor Exam Previous Question Papers Pdf – Click Here
ICDS Exam Model Question Paper Pattern 2019
Integrated Child Developer Services (ICDS) – Jammu & Kashmir, West Bengal, Bihar, and other states generally conduct the interview for the applicants. If they receive more applications, then the respective state ICDS boards will shortlist the candidates for interview based on their performance in basic objective type written the test. However, find the complete selection process and marks for each section details in our ICDS Syllabus page.
Find the expected exam pattern details for the ICDS basic objective written test 2019. The below details are not official and will be updated if the board announces any official details. Hence, go through the details and find the ICDS West Bengal & other question paper below. Aspirants can download the ICDS Anganwadi Supervisor, Assistant & helper interview question & answer pdf in the section following.
Aspirants who are going to appear for the written test and personal interview rounds of ICDS recruitment can find the exam question paper with answers here. ICDS question paper download given below is only for reference purpose. Hence, aspirants can download the pdf for free of cost and start your preparation.
Refer all the papers for better understanding and prepare well. Find the FAQ about ICDS and general ICDS interview question paper pdf for आंगनवाड़ी सेविका और आंगनवाड़ी सहायिका & other posts below. Hope these help you in the preparation. Aspirants can comment in the section below regarding the update over ICDS exam 2019.
Integrated Child Developer Services Exam Old Question Papers Pdf
Shivaji University Results 2019 – Dear Students of Shivaji University, Kolhapur its time for you people to check out the exam result details. The University has released the examination results for the Re-verification of Engg. Exam to be held in May 2019. Those who are waiting for the exam results can check it through the Online process. This article will let you know about the University and the details of the results along with that candidates can also get the revaluation result details. Check out how to download the process and get your Shivaji University Kolhapur Results correctly.
Shivaji University, Kolhapur (SUK) has declared the Annual and Semester exam results on the official website. Those candidates who have undergone the semester examination can check out here to know your performance in the examination. As that the students studying under the Shivaji University, Kolhapur can check the semester exam results for the UG and PG Courses through Online Mode. And here we have attached the direct links which leads to the official website without any blackguards. As soon as the website releases the Examination Results we will update it on our page. So candidates are requested to keep touch with our site ie. recruitment.guru
Latest Shivaji University Exam Results 2019
Latest Declared Result 2019
Released Date
Download Link
M.A. (Home Sci.) Sem-I EXAMINATION HELD IN Oct-2019
Here in this section, you will get a small description of the Shivaji University, Kolhapur. Check it out!!
The Shivaji University was established in 1962 and located at Kolhapur, Maharashtra. Kolhapur is a city named especially for education. The university has a strength of 3,00,000 students and 271 colleges which is affiliated to Shivaji University, Kolhapur. The university offers all kinds of UG/PG courses like B.Com, B.A, B.Sc, BBM, MBA, MCA, M.Tech, Diploma, and other certification programs. Hence, check out more details of Shivaji University from the official website i.e, www.unishivaji.ac.in
Shivaji University Regular & Supplementary Results 2019-20
Those students who have attended the regular examination under Shivaji University, Kolhapur and still failed. Here comes one more opportunity to clear the examination. To increase your scoring along with that students to fail in the previous examination will get a chance to clear through Revaluation Exams Shivaji University Results. For each and every semester Students can apply for the revaluation after the announcement of the main examination results. Shivaji University, Kolhapur will take a week or more to process the exam papers to announce the Revaluation results. Do stay updated with the University to know about the Revaluation Exam Results.
NPSC Result 2019 will announce at the official website of npsc.co.in. As the Nagaland Public Service Commission (NPSC) department has conducted the Preliminary Examination on 30th November 2019. Therefore, the higher officials announced this recruitment to fill 45 Secretariat Assistant and other posts. A huge number of Candidates appeared for the Examination. Moreover, the authority is planning to release the NPSC Secretariat Assistant Result 2019 in the month of December 2019 (Tentatively). So, all the Aspirants can download the Results using this site. And also can download the NPSC Secretariat Assistant, ARO, Inspector, Other Posts Cut Off Marks, Merit List 2019 here.
NPSC Secretariat Assistant Result 2019 – Download here
The Nagaland Public Service Commission Conducted the Preliminary Examination for various posts like Deputy Superintendent of Police, Assistant Election Officer, Employment Officer, Assistant Research Officer, Inspector, Station Superintendent/ Enforcement Officer, Secretariat Assistant, Supply Inspector, Labour Inspector. All the Contenders Completed the Prelims Examination Successfully. The Candidates are searching for the Results. To know the status of the Nagaland PSC Result 219 continues reading this article. We will update the direct link to download the Results and it will activate at the time of the official announcement.
Nagaland PSC Result 2019 – Overview
Description
Details
Organization Name
Nagaland Public Service Commission (NPSC)
Post Name
Assistant Research Officer, Inspector, Secretariat Assistant, & other Posts
While Checking Results, Candidates must have login credentials like Candidates roll number and password along with them. NPSC Selection process consists of two rounds. they are Preliminary Exam and the Main Examination. Therefore, the Authority will release the NPSC Secretariat Assistant, ARO, Inspector, Other Posts Prelims Result 2019 based on the performance of the Candidates in the Nagaland Public Service Commission Prelims Examination.
NPSC Secretariat Assistant, ARO, Inspector, Other Posts Cut Off Marks 2019
Above all the information will help you to check your Results. However, the officials of Nagaland Public Service Commission (NPSC) will release the NPSC Secretariat Assistant Cut Off Marks 2019 after the result announcement. The Aspirants should score minimum qualifying cut off marks to get selected for the next round. Most importantly, the Board will shortlist the candidates according to the categories of BC, ST, OC, SC. Contenders should concentrate on NPSC Secretariat Assistant, ARO, Inspector, Other Posts Cut Off Marks 2019.
Nagaland Secretariat Assistant Merit List 2019 @ npsc.co.in
Once completing the NPSC Prelims and Mains Examination. The Nagaland Department will reveal the NPSC Secretariat Assistant, ARO, Inspector, Other Posts Merit List 2019. Candidates who score high marks in both the Nagaland preliminary and Mains Exam will get shortlisted in the NPSC Merit List 2019. So, Check the Merit List with respect to names and roll numbers of Aspirants. Further, we can see the stepwise procedure to download the Nagaland Result 2019.
How to check the Nagaland Public Service Commission Result 2019?
Firstly, Candidates can visit the official website @ npsc.co.in.
Secondly, the Homepage of the Nagaland Public Service Commission (NPSC) will open on the Screen.
On left corner various sections are available.
Then search for the Results in it and click on the link.
And find for Check for the NPSC Secretariat Assistant, ARO, Other Post Result 2019 with respect to the Advertisement number NPSC-2/2019 dt. 14.10.2019.
Rajasthan Cooperative Bank Admit Card 2019 OUT | Hello Guys !! Here is good news for the aspirants who have applied to Rajasthan Cooperative Bank Recruitment. The Bank has released the admit card for the eligible applicants on 03rd December 2019. Moreover, the cooperative bank has decided to conduct the examination from 16th December to 19th December 2019. Hence, the hall ticket is now available at the below table.
Rajasthan Cooperative Bank Admit Card 2019 – Overview
The Rajasthan State Bank Cooperative Bank has issued the admit card for the various Manager & Assistant Posts. Those applicants can now download the Rajasthan State Cooperative Bank Admit Card 2019. However, the admit card will be available until 16th December 2019. Candidates who have applied for the Rajasthan State Govt Jobs must download the admit card to take down the examination.
Candidates Name
Name of the Candidate's Father
The venue of the Exam Centre
Date & Time of the Test
Reporting Time to the Exam Hall
Gender (Male/ Female)
Roll Number
Duration of the Online Test
Space for Invigilator's Signature
Registration Number
Name of the Test Centre
Category of the candidates
Space for Applicant's Signature
Name of the Exam Conducting Board
Photograph of the Candidate
Applicant's Date of Birth
Name of the Written Test
Important Guidelines for the Exam Takers
Full Name of the Applicant
Examination Centre Code
Signature of the Board Counselor
RSCB Bank Exam Date 2019
We have discussed the Rajasthan State Cooperative Bank has decided to conduct the examination from 16th December to 19th December 2019. Make sure with the exam date and download the Rajasthan Cooperative Bank Admit Card 2019 before the exam date. Along with the admit card, there are some important documents that have to be carried for the exam hall. Get such important details from the upcoming section of the webpage. Candidates may also check for other Bank Jobs from this page.
{Rajasthan Cooperative Bank Previous Papers – Get Here}
{Rajasthan Cooperative Bank Exam Date Notice – Check Here}
Things along with Rajasthan Cooperative Exam Admit Card 2019
The bank advises the candidates to get the original identity proofs along with the Rajasthan Cooperative Bank Admit Card 2019. Thus, All exam appearing candidates must be at the scheduled time to the exam hall.
Original Photograph
Voter Card
Pan Card
Employee ID
College ID
PAN Card
Passport
Driving License
Any other ID proof issued by a Gazetted Officer
Bank Pass Book with the photograph
Rajasthan Cooperative Bank Admit Card 2019 Download Steps
Click on the Rajasthan State Cooperative Bank Admit Card.
Enter the Registration Number, Password & Mobile Number to get the admit card page.
Enter the Captcha shown on the page.
Now the RSCB Admit Card will appear on the screen.
Fill all the valid details in the hall ticket page.
Check the details before submitting it.
After the clear glance Submit the Admit Card.
Finally, Download the Call Letter.
Take a print out of the admit card and carry it for the Manager Examination.
NEW DELHI : Indian industrialists looking to tighten their belts amid the economic slowdown are giving up business jets as they cut the flab.Anil Ambani's Reliance Transport and Travels has leased one of its three business jets, a 13-seater Global 5000, to a global charter company that has stationed the aircraft in Bengaluru. "This is the same aircraft that Anil Ambani used to fly in for his travels," said a person with knowledge of the matter. The company has two more fixed-wing planes and a helicopter in its fleet, according to a regulatory filing.Others such as actor and entrepreneur Sachiin Joshi-promoted Viiking Aviation, Indiabulls-promoted Airmid Aviation and Religare-promoted Ligare Aviation are said to be facing financial stress and looking at selling their planes or have already done so.The trend is reflected in the numbers: India had 99 nonscheduled operators (NSOPs) in September, down from 130 in a little over a year, according to Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) data."The decline has not stopped as there are a number of them who are in distress and may be looking to shut their business," said a person aware of the matter.Reliance Transport, Viiking, Indiabulls and Ligare did not respond to queries.Joshi, who owns Goa Kings Beer and bought Vijay Mallya's Kingfisher Villa in the western state in 2017, owns Viiking Aviation, which doesn't have enough funds to service its two aircraft, according to people with knowledge of the matter. One aircraft is parked at Mumbai airport and the other at Nanded. The company hasn't paid salaries in the past four months, the person said.The cost of ownership is steep and includes pilots, crew and other support staff apart from parking and servicing. It's cheaper to rent a private jet or a helicopter at about Rs 2.5 lakh per hour, depending on the size of the aircraft, experts said.Indiabulls-promoted Airmid Aviation, which once had three business jets and one helicopter, now just has the latter."While they have returned the three aircraft, the helicopter is left with them because it is on lease to a state government and, hence, cannot be returned," said the person cited above.Ligare Aviation is said to be looking at selling the one aircraft that it has left.General aviation aircraft movement fell 5.7% in September and 12.8% in October. That's despite a number of flights under the regional connectivity scheme being included in general aviation movement numbers.
NEW DELHI: Political circles were left amused by former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's comment that the 1984 anti-Sikh riots could have been avoided had then home minister PV Narasimha Rao acted on the advice of IK Gujral. Singh has often described Rao as his 'guru' for ushering him into politics, by making him the finance minister in 1991. Why did Singh, deliberately or inadvertently, say his 'guru' was the man who failed to prevent the riots 15 years after his death? Many politicians recalled, privately, how Singh has positioned himself when it came to his mentors, be it Rao, Sitaram Kesri or Sonia Gandhi.Referring to Singh's statement a senior Congress leader said, "this is baffling. Even when the Congress leadership had distanced itself from Raoji, Manmohan Singhji had publicised his love and respect for Raoji by visiting him, and later, attending his anniversaries. This comment is a classic Shakespearian 'unkindest cut'. Raoji is not alive to say, 'Et tu, Brute?'"Even when Singh and Sonia Gandhi apologised for the anti-Sikh riots they never blamed Rao for 'inaction', like most Congress leaders. Interestingly, Rao as prime minister always backed Singh when as finance minister he carried out economic reforms and shielded Singh from Opposition attacks. He rejected Singh's resignation after the stock market scam too.Politicians feel Singh's comment on Rao on the anti-Sikh riots may have be an attempt to provide a buffer for prime minister Rajiv Gandhi, and by extension his family, who BJP and others have blamed for the riots. It may not change the narrative but many MPs recall a remark of a senior Congress leader who once said, "Manmohan Singh is an overestimated economist and underestimated politician."Many senior Congress leaders are witness to Singh's positioning, vis-à-vis his mentors, in difficult times.Instance 1: Sitaram Kesri, who succeeded Rao as Congress chief, made Singh a leader by inducting him in the Congress Working Committee. Kesri assuaged his worries and gave him a second Rajya Sabha term after Singh's defeat in the 1996 Lok Sabha polls. However, that did not stop Singh from joining all but one CWC members in asking Kesri to quit before they sacked him and chose Sonia Gandhi as the party chief. A Congress leader recalled Kesri saying, "I didn't expect Manmohanji to join them." Politicians also recalled how Singh, prior to his political stint, ensured that his appointment as UGC chairman was cleared by the Chandra Shekhar government just before it quit.Instance 2: While Sonia Gandhi backed Singh for 10 years, shielding him from several aspiring 'Congress sharks', Singh remained intriguingly silent after his former media advisor's book, Accidental Prime Minister, made waves. The book projected Singh as a hapless PM under an interfering Gandhi and Congress establishment. For weeks, Congress leaders expected Singh to reject the contents of the book. But it never happened. Only his daughter issued a rejoinder.The proud Singh, however, chose to live with Rahul Gandhi's humiliation when he junked an ordinance his Cabinet had cleared. However, Congress leaders were in a for bigger surprise when at 87, Singh 'accepted' his sixth Rajya Sabha term. "Manmohan Singhji is a trained bureaucrat and experienced politician, who knows the art of surviving. We hope to see it till the next LS polls, at least," said a senior parliamentarian.
MUMBAI: The indirect tax department has asked banks to reverse input tax credit claimed on insurance paid to Deposit Insurance and Credit Guarantee Corporation (DICGC), a step that will escalate costs for the lenders.Banks insure Rs. 1 lakh of customer fixed deposits with DICGC. This means that if the bank goes bust or faces any other problem, the customers could recover Rs. 1 lakh from their total fixed deposits. On the insurance premium paid by the banks to DICGC a service tax was levied, which was then considered cost and was added to input tax credit.The indirect tax department contends that the service tax paid on the insurance amount is not towards the banks' core function, and hence credit cannot be availed. For top banks, reversal of credit would lead to an increase in cost by anywhere between Rs. 200 to Rs. 500 crore.Most banks have either approached or are looking to approach tax tribunals to challenge the taxman's position, said several persons in the know. "The controversy has picked up substantially due to the difference of opinion of various tribunals. The Bombay High Court referred the matter to a larger bench of the tribunal," said Abhishek A Rastogi, partner at Khaitan and Co.Input tax credit is a mechanism whereby companies and banks are allowed to set off taxes paid on raw materials or certain services against future tax liabilities. For most banks the reversal of tax credit would also mean this could go back to at least seven years. Most banks have taken a position that the insurance premium paid is an input cost and hence should be added to input tax credit.The controversy pertains to the erstwhile tax regime but industry trackers said banks could face similar demands under the Goods and Services Tax (GST) regime as well. While the tax department has not issued any notices under the GST regime, most banks seem to have stuck to their position around input tax credit. This could lead to litigation if banks are issued notices in the coming months, tax experts said.Banks have had their own share of tiffs with the indirect tax department. The indirect tax department is scrutinising and want to tax banks for allowing their subsidiaries to use logos for free. The tax department has issued notices to banks that allow subsidiaries, such as mutual fund and insurance units, to use their logos for free. The tax department wants the banks to pay 18% GST on the "deemed" value of such transactions and has even calculated how much these are worth.Subsidiaries use logos for the promotion of related products with the understanding that no fees have to be paid.
NEW DELHI: Reliance Jio stands to gain the most in the latest round of price hikes by service providers and its plans indicate that the company is moving away from deep discounting, which bodes well for the sector, according to analysts.The Mukesh Ambani-owned telco on Wednesday unveiled revised tariffs, which were as much as 40% costlier. The analysts expect that it would push up its earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) by 33% or $1.5 billion for FY 2020-21, propelled by a 28-29% increase in the average revenue per user (ARPU) to Rs 157."Jio has also introduced a new 56-day category — offering more voice calling benefits (IUC minutes) vs. the 28-day category — that comes at a higher cost per GB pricing for the consumer, which suggests that Jio no longer intends to incentivise deep discounting," SBICap Securities said in a note to its clients.They said that the reduction in premium between older telcos and Jio from 35% to 25% in the 28-days-1.5GB/ day plan category and from 15% to 8% in the 84-days-1.5GB/day plan category would come as a respite for the rivals as it may help reduce churn. A lot will, however, depend on the Airtel and Vodafone Idea's capex plans.The firm estimated Jio's customer additions to continue at 9 million a month till March 2020, and 4 million a month in FY 2020-21, adding that the carrier is expected to get the most benefit from the tariff hike.Reliance Jio's 40% higher tariffs will come into effect from Friday, but some of its plans are almost 25% cheaper than those of Bharti Airtel's and Vodafone Idea's. The older telcos have raised tariffs by as much as 50% in some cases from Tuesday."Jio to gain most from this sectoral uplift," SBICap said.Analysts at CLSA expect a further upside in Jio's profits as they await an increase in JioPhone tariffs – about 20% of its customer base comes from JioPhone – and said users may prefer 28-day plans over the longer duration plans which may lead to higher ARPU, besides falling interconnect costs owing to the carrier charging 6 paise a minute for off-net calls. "(This) could potentially raise Jio's FY21 revenue and ARPU by 6% and EBITDA by 11%... We continue to assume another 10% tariff hike in April 2021," the analysts said."Jio is likely to see the highest increase in ARPU/revenue from the recent tariff hikes. We estimate about Rs 37 incremental ARPU for Jio vs Rs 24-27 for Vodafone Idea or Bharti Airtel," said a Goldman Sachs analyst.Morgan Stanley analysts, however, flagged that recommendations from the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India on floor tariffs and interconnect usage charge rate, along with the review petition by the incumbents against the verdict on AGR (adjusted gross revenue) dues, may have an impact on the industry, and therefore must be watched out.
MUMBAI: British motorcycle marque Triumph has registered a 10% year-on-year growth in retail sales in India during the September to November period, even as its wholesale numbers fell marginally.Shoeb Farooq, general manager at Triumph Motorcycles India, told ET that the company expects to close its July-June fiscal cycle with a marginal growth over last year, with retail sales of 1,000-1100 units. Automakers in India have been struggling with sales of two-wheelers and four-wheelers for some time now.Farooq said, "The good part is that the whole momentum did not phase out immediately after Diwali. November is also looking good for us."While the slowdown hasn't shown a significant impact on Triumph's sales, weak consumer sentiment did result in the motorcycle maker deferring its dealership expansion plan by six months. The company plans to have 20 dealerships in the country in the next 18 months. It has identified Guwahati, Goa and two unspecified locations in the northeast and the south for the upcoming dealerships. On Thursday, the company launched its flagship motorcycle 'Triumph Rocket 3' in India.
NEW DELHI : Indian industrialists looking to tighten their belts amid the economic slowdown are giving up business jets as they cut the flab.Anil Ambani's Reliance Transport and Travels has leased one of its three business jets, a 13-seater Global 5000, to a global charter company that has stationed the aircraft in Bengaluru. "This is the same aircraft that Anil Ambani used to fly in for his travels," said a person with knowledge of the matter. The company has two more fixed-wing planes and a helicopter in its fleet, according to a regulatory filing.Others such as actor and entrepreneur Sachiin Joshi-promoted Viiking Aviation, Indiabulls-promoted Airmid Aviation and Religare-promoted Ligare Aviation are said to be facing financial stress and looking at selling their planes or have already done so.The trend is reflected in the numbers: India had 99 nonscheduled operators (NSOPs) in September, down from 130 in a little over a year, according to Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) data."The decline has not stopped as there are a number of them who are in distress and may be looking to shut their business," said a person aware of the matter.Reliance Transport, Viiking, Indiabulls and Ligare did not respond to queries.Joshi, who owns Goa Kings Beer and bought Vijay Mallya's Kingfisher Villa in the western state in 2017, owns Viiking Aviation, which doesn't have enough funds to service its two aircraft, according to people with knowledge of the matter. One aircraft is parked at Mumbai airport and the other at Nanded. The company hasn't paid salaries in the past four months, the person said.The cost of ownership is steep and includes pilots, crew and other support staff apart from parking and servicing. It's cheaper to rent a private jet or a helicopter at about Rs 2.5 lakh per hour, depending on the size of the aircraft, experts said.Indiabulls-promoted Airmid Aviation, which once had three business jets and one helicopter, now just has the latter."While they have returned the three aircraft, the helicopter is left with them because it is on lease to a state government and, hence, cannot be returned," said the person cited above.Ligare Aviation is said to be looking at selling the one aircraft that it has left.General aviation aircraft movement fell 5.7% in September and 12.8% in October. That's despite a number of flights under the regional connectivity scheme being included in general aviation movement numbers.
ET Intelligence Group: India's top stocks are fetching record valuations, but the biggest engineering company in Asia's third-largest economy is trading at levels investors would consider the most reasonable in at least five years.Larsen & Toubro is trading at 15.75 times based on one-year projected earnings, 29 per cent lower than its five-year average, according to data compiled from Bloomberg.L&T's stock has underperformed 12 per cent compared with the Nifty 50 in the last three months.Slippages in its FY20 order guidance, due to slower decision-making on orders and delays in megaprojects, have caused valuations to drift. The company management has guided for order inflow growth of 10-12 per cent for the current fiscal year. It needs to achieve order inflow worth Rs 1 lakh crore in the second half to meet its annual order inflow guidance.But the Street is turning rather conservative, given the company's pronounced reliance on state government orders. This segment of order inflows has turned wobbly following local elections in Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra. State government orders have been contributing nearly 40 per cent of the total orders in the past two fiscal years.72393605 The contribution of state government orders dropped by 43 per cent to Rs 15,500 crore in the first half of the current fiscal. In the first half, the order inflow grew 16 per cent to Rs 87,000 crore despite the drop in the state government orders, offset largely by incremental orders from hydrocarbon and power.That may not continue, given the lumpy nature of these orders. According to Credit Suisse, the state government capital expenditure could slow to 8 per cent in FY20 compared with 18 per cent between FY15 and FY18. The Street has so far worked on the assumption of sustainable state government orders.Typically, the Street ascribes premium P/E multiples to long-term averages in times of robust order inflows, while the reverse is true in periods of slack. In the third quarter so far, the company won three large orders (worth Rs 1,000-2,000 crore) and one mega order (worth Rs 7,000 crore).
DUBAI/RIYADH: State-owned oil giant Saudi Aramco's initial public offering (IPO) will be the biggest in history, but will still fall significantly short of the towering $2 trillion valuation long sought by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.Aramco priced its IPO at 32 riyals ($8.53) per share, the top of its indicative range, according to three sources familiar with the decision, raising $25.6 billion and beating Alibaba's record $25 billion listing in 2014.At that level, Aramco has a market valuation of $1.7 trillion, comfortably overtaking Apple as the world's most valuable listed firm. But the listing, expected later this month on the Riyadh stock exchange, is a far cry from the blockbuster debut originally envisaged by the Crown Prince.Saudi Arabia relied on domestic and regional investors to sell a 1.5% stake after lukewarm interest from abroad, even at the reduced valuation of $1.7 trillion.Sources told Reuters earlier that Aramco may also exercise a 15% "greenshoe" option, allowing it to increase the size of the deal to a maximum of $29.4 billion.Aramco has declined to comment on the IPO pricing. A formal announcement is expected later on Thursday, the sources said.The pricing comes as the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) is gearing up to deepen oil supply cuts to support prices, provided it can strike a deal later this week with allies such as Russia.For a timeline on the IPO's progress please click on:Climate change concerns, political risk and a lack of corporate transparency put foreign investors off the offering, forcing the kingdom to ditch ambitions to raise as much as $100 billion via an international and domestic listing of a 5% stake.Even at a $1.7 trillion valuation, international institutions baulked, prompting Aramco to scrap roadshows in New York and London and focus instead on marketing a 1.5% stake to Saudi investors and wealthy Gulf Arab allies. Saudi banks offered citizens cheap credit to bid for shares.Riyadh has gone quiet on when or where Aramco could list abroad.DIVERSIFY FROM OILThe IPO is the culmination of a years-long effort to sell a portion of the world's most profitable company and raise funds to help diversify the kingdom away from oil and create jobs for a growing population."The amount raised by the IPO itself is relatively contained given the size of the economy and medium-term funding requirement of the transformation plan," said Monica Malik, chief economist at Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank."Nevertheless, combined with other areas of funding, we believe that there is meaningful capital in place to progress with the investment plans aimed at diversifying the economy."The government promoted the investment as a patriotic duty, particularly after Aramco's oil facilities were attacked in September, temporarily halving the kingdom's oil output.Despite the official push and offer of loans to fund share purchases, interest was relatively muted compared with other emerging market IPOs, including the listing of a top Saudi bank in 2014 which was oversubscribed many times over.Alibaba's listing in Hong Kong this month had bids for 40 times the number of shares on offer.Sources have said the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority (ADIA) and Kuwait Investment Authority (KIA), sovereign wealth funds of two of Saudi Arabia's Gulf allies, planned to invest in the deal. ADIA declined to comment, while KIA did not respond to requests for comment.Saudi citizens were offered 0.5% of the company or about a third of the offering, an unprecedented retail offering compared with previous Saudi IPOs.Aramco has planned a dividend of $75 billion for 2020, more than five times larger than Apple's payout, which is already among the biggest of any S&P 500 company.But investing in Aramco is also a bet on the price of oil and growth in global demand for crude, which is expected to slow from 2025 as steps to cut greenhouse gas emissions are rolled out and the use of electric vehicles increases.The IPO also carries political risk as the Saudi government, which relies on Aramco for the bulk of revenues, controls the company.Saudi Arabia has faced international criticism after the murder of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi last year in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul and for its role in a war in Yemen.Attacks on Aramco's oil plants in September also exposed their vulnerability. Riyadh and Washington blamed Iran for the attacks, although Tehran has denied the charge.Sunni Muslim Saudi Arabia has a long-running feud with Shi'ite Muslim Iran, which lies across the Gulf.
India's proposed new privacy bill may require large social media platforms to offer an identify-verification option, a potentially precedent-setting effort to rein in the spread of "fake news", two government sources told Reuters on Thursday.The requirement would likely raise a host of technical and policy issues for companies including Facebook and its WhatsApp and Instagram units, Twitter and Chinese app TikTok, all of which have millions of users in India.Companies would have to offer a mechanism for users to prove their identities and display that verification publicly, akin to the blue check-mark that Twitter has used to confirm the authenticity of some high-profile accounts, including those belonging to celebrities and politicians.Verification would be optional for users, the sources said.The Personal Data Protection bill, whose first draft was made public last year, is keenly awaited by top technology companies and industry stakeholders as it could alter the way all major internet companies process, store and transfer Indian consumers' data.The identity verification requirement, introduced in the latest draft of the bill, would be one of the most ambitious efforts globally to battle disinformation and fake news, which is often spread by pseudonymous or fake accounts."The idea was to reduce the spread of fake news and online trolling," said one of the sources, a federal IT ministry official.The privacy bill was cleared by cabinet on Wednesday and will be presented to parliament soon, officials said. But passage is not imminent, one of the sources said, as the legislation will likely be referred to a parliamentary expert committee or a panel for further review.Since 2017, fake news and rumour-mongering on social media in India has led to more than 30 deaths, data portal IndiaSpend said last year.The companies have taken some measures to combat the problem -- including a move by WhatsApp to limit group-forwarding of messages.But Facebook and other companies have resisted the idea that they should verify the identify of their users, partly on the grounds that people in many countries would struggle to provide sufficient documentation.The voluntary verification scheme would give users more confidence in the validity of information on the verified accounts, though it would not eliminate fake accounts.
MHA seeks suggestions for criminal laws overhaul The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) has written to all States and Union Territories seeking suggestions for an overhaul of the IPC and CrPC.The new st
In 2017, Uber received 2,936 reports pertaining to sexual assault, and received 3,045 in 2018. Despite the increase in raw numbers, Uber saw a 16% decrease in the average incident rate, which it suggests may correlate with the company’s increased focus on safety as of late.
Uber categorizes sexual assaults into five subcategories: non-consensual kissing of a non-sexual body part, attempted non-consensual sexual penetration, non-consenual touching of a sexual body part, non-consensual kissing of a sexual body part, and non-consensual sexual penetration.
Regarding the last subcategory, which is rape, Uber received 229 reports of rape in 2017 and 235 reports of rape in 2018. Throughout 2017 and 2018, the reported incidents occurred on 0.00002% of trips, according to Uber.
“While these reports are rare, every report represents an individual who came forward to share an intensely painful experience,” Uber wrote in its report. “Even one report is one too many.”
To be clear, these reported assaults happened to both riders and drivers. Though, Uber found riders account for nearly half of the accused parties across those five most serious sexual assault categories.
“Voluntarily publishing a report that discusses these difficult safety issues is not easy,” Uber Chief Legal Officer Tony West wrote in a blog post. “Most companies don't talk about issues like sexual violence because doing so risks inviting negative headlines and public criticism. But we feel it's time for a new approach. As someone who has prosecuted sex crimes and worked on these issues for more than 25 years, I can tell you that a new approach is sorely needed.”
Over the years, Uber has implemented a number of safety measures designed to help prevent situations like those. In May 2018, Uber added an in-app 911 calling feature. Later that year, Uber added a feature called Ride Check, which will activate if the GPS sensor in the driver's phone notices there's an abnormally long or unexpected stop during the trip.
“Confronting sexual violence requires honesty, and it's only by shining a light on these issues that we can begin to provide clarity on something that touches every corner of society,” West wrote. “And, most importantly, by bringing hard data to bear, we can make every trip safer for drivers and riders alike.”
Earlier this week, AWS launched DeepComposer, a set of web-based tools for learning about AI to make music and a $99 MIDI keyboard for inputting melodies. That launch created a fair bit of confusion, though, so we sat down with Mike Miller, the director of AWS’s AI Devices group, to talk about where DeepComposer fits into the company’s lineup of AI devices, which includes the DeepLens camera and the DeepRacer AI car, both of which are meant to teach developers about specific AI concepts, too.
The first thing that’s important to remember here is that DeepComposer is a learning tool. It’s not meant for musicians — it’s meant for engineers who want to learn about generative AI. But AWS didn’t help itself by calling this “the world's first machine learning-enabled musical keyboard for developers.” The keyboard itself, after all, is just a standard, basic MIDI keyboard. There’s no intelligence in it. All of the AI work is happening in the cloud.
“The goal here is to teach generative AI as one of the most interesting trends in machine learning in the last 10 years,” Miller told us. “We specifically told GANs, generative adversarial networks, where there are two networks that are trained together. The reason that’s interesting from our perspective for developers is that it’s very complicated and a lot of the things that developers learn about training machine learning models get jumbled up when you’re training two together.”
With DeepComposer, the developer steps through a process of learning the basics. With the keyboard, you can input a basic melody — but if you don’t have it, you also can use an on-screen keyboard to get started or use a few default melodies (think Ode to Joy). From a practical perspective, the system then goes out and generates a background track for that melody based on a musical style you choose. To keep things simple, the system ignores some values from the keyboard, though, including velocity (just in case you needed more evidence that this is not a keyboard for musicians). But more importantly, developers can then also dig into the actual models the system generated — and even export them to a Jupyter notebook.
For the purpose of DeepComposer, the MIDI data is just another data source to teach developers about GANs and SageMaker, AWS’s machine learning platform that powers DeepComposer behind the scenes.
“The advantage of using MIDI files and basing out training on MIDI is that the representation of the data that goes into the training is in a format that is actually the same representation of data in an image, for example,” explained Miller. “And so it’s actually very applicable and analogous, so as a developer look at that SageMaker notebook and understands the data formatting and how we pass the data in, that’s applicable to other domains as well.”
That’s why the tools expose all of the raw data, too, including loss functions, analytics and the results of the various models as they try to get to an acceptable result, etc. Because this is obviously a tool for generating music, it’ll also expose some of the data about the music, like pitch and empty bars.
“We believe that as developers get into the SageMaker models, they’ll see that, hey, I can apply this to other domains and I can take this and make it my own and see what I can generate,” said Miller.
Having heard the results so far, I think it’s safe to say that DeepComposer won’t produce any hits soon. It seems pretty good at creating a drum track, but bass lines seem a bit erratic. Still, it’s a cool demo of this machine learning technique, even though my guess is that its success will be a bit more limited than DeepRacer, which is a concept that is a bit easier to understand for most since the majority of developers will look at it, think they need to be able to play an instrument to use it, and move on.
A network of scammers used a ring of established right-wing Facebook pages to stoke Islamophobia and make a quick buck in the process, a new report from the Guardian reveals. But it’s less a vast international conspiracy and more simply that Facebook is unable to police its platform to prevent even the most elementary scams — with serious consequences.
The Guardian’s multi-part report depicts the events like a scheme of grand proportions executed for the express purpose of harassing Representatives Ilhan Omar (D-MI), Rashida Tlaib (D-MN) and other prominent Muslims. But the facts it uncovered point towards this being a run-of-the-mill money-making operation that used tawdry, hateful clickbait and evaded Facebook’s apparently negligible protections against this kind of thing.
The scam basically went like this: an administrator of a popular right-wing Facebook page would get a message from a person claiming to share their values that asked if they could be made an editor. Once granted access, this person would publish clickbait stories — frequently targeting Muslims, and often Rep. Omar, since they reliably led to high engagement. The stories appeared on a handful of ad-saturated websites that were presumably owned by the scammers.
That appears to be the extent of the vast conspiracy, or at least its operations — duping credulous conservatives into clicking through to an ad farm.
Its human cost, however, whether incidental or deliberate, is something else entirely. Rep. Omar is already the target of many coordinated attacks, some from self-proclaimed patriots within this country; just last month, an Islamophobic Trump supporter pleaded guilty in federal court to making death threats against her.
Social media is asymmetric warfare in that a single person can be the focal point for the firepower — figurative but often with the threat of literal — of thousands or millions. That a Member of Congress can be the target of such continuous abuse makes one question the utility of the platform on which that abuse is enabled.
In a searing statement offered to the Guardian, Rep. Omar took Facebook to task:
I've said it before and I'll say it again: Facebook's complacency is a threat to our democracy. It has become clear that they do not take seriously the degree to which they provide a platform for white nationalist hate and dangerous misinformation in this country and around the world. And there is a clear reason for this: they profit off it. I believe their inaction is a grave threat to people's lives, to our democracy and to democracy around the world.
Despite the scale of its effect on Rep. Omar and other targets, it’s possible and even likely that this entire thing was carried out by a handful of people. The operation was based in Israel, the report repeatedly mentions, but it isn’t a room of state-sponsored hackers feverishly tapping their keyboards — the guy they tracked down is a jewelry retailer and amateur SEO hustler living in a suburb of Tel Aviv who answered the door in sweatpants and nonchalantly denied all involvement.
The funny thing is that, in a way, this does amount to a vast international conspiracy. On one hand, it’s a guy in sweatpants worming his way into some trashy Facebook pages and mass-posting links to his bunk news sites. But on the other, it’s a coordinated effort to promote Islamophobic, right-wing content that produced millions of interactions and doubtless further fanned the flames of hatred.
Why not both? After all, they represent different ways that Facebook fails as a platform to protect its users. “We don't allow people to misrepresent themselves on Facebook,” the company wrote in a statement to the Guardian. Obviously, that isn’t true. Or rather, perhaps it’s true in the way that running at the pool isn’t allowed. People just do it anyway, because the lifeguards and Facebook don’t do their job.
This feat of engineering and design isn’t allowed on public roads. It’s built for the track, but prohibited from competing in motorsports. And yet, the GTR is no outlier at McLaren. It’s part of their Ultimate Series, a portfolio of extreme and distinct hypercars that now serve as the foundation of the company’s identity and an integral part of their business model.
The P1, introduced in 2012, was McLaren Automotive’s opening act on the hypercar stage and was an instant success for both the brand and its business. McLaren followed it up with the P1 GTR, then went on to chart a course toward the Ultimate Series of today and beyond.
Since 2017, the automaker has added the Senna, Speedtail, Senna GTR and now the open-cockpit Elva to the Ultimate Series portfolio. While the GTR is certainly the most extreme and limited in how and where it can be used, it follows a larger pattern of the Ultimate Series as being provocatively designed with obsessive intent.
Automotive takes the wheel
Purpose-built race cars that call on every modern tool of engineering and design have historically been produced for one purpose: winning. This objective, nourished by billions of dollars of investment from the motorsports industry, has led to technological and performance breakthroughs that have eventually trickled down to automotive.
The pipeline that has produced a century of motorsports-driven innovation is narrowing as racing regulations become more restrictive. Now, a new dynamic is taking shape. Automotive is taking the technological lead.
Take the McLaren Senna road car, the predecessor to the GTR. McLaren had to constrain the design of the Senna to make it road legal. But the automaker loaded it with active aerodynamics and chassis control systems that racing engineers could only dream about.
McLaren wasn’t finished. It pushed the bounds further and produced a strictly track-focused and unconstrained race car that expands upon the Senna’s lack of conformity. The Senna GTR might be too advanced and too fast for any racing championship, but McLaren said to hell with it and made the vehicle anyway.
The bet paid off. All 75 Senna GTR hypercars, which start at $1.65 million, sold before the first one was even produced.
The Senna GTR is the symbol of a new reality — a hypercar market that thrives on the ever-more-extreme, homologation standards be damned.
Two weeks ago, I had a chance to get behind the wheel of the Senna GTR at the Snetterton Circuit in the U.K. to find out how McLaren went about developing this wholly unconstrained machine.
Behind the wheel
Rr-rr-rr-kra-PAH! The deafening backfire of the GTR’s 814-horsepower 4.0-liter twin-turbo V8 engine snapped me to attention and instantly transported me to the moment earlier in the day that provided the first hints of what my drive might be like.
Rob Bell, the McLaren factory driver who did track development for the GTR, was on hand to get the car warmed up. Shortly after he set out, the car ripped down the front-straight, climbing through RPMs with an ear-protection-worthy scream that reverberated off every nearby surface, an audible reminder of how unshackled it is.
As Bell approached Turn 1, the rear wing quickly dropped back to its standard setting from the straightaway DRS (drag reduction system) position, then to an even more aggressive airbrake as he went hard to the brakes from 6th gear down to 5th to 4th. The vehicle responded with the signature kra-PAH! kra-PAH! and then promptly discharged huge flames out the exhaust as the anti-lag settings keep a bit of fuel flowing off-throttle.
I thought to myself, ‘Holy sh*t! This thing is no joke!’
Sliding into the driver’s seat, I feel at home. The cockpit is purposeful. The track was cold with some damp spots, and the GTR is a stiff, lightweight race car with immense power on giant slick tires. Conventional wisdom would suggest the driver — me in this case — should slowly work up to speed in these otherwise treacherous conditions. However, the best way to get the car to work is to get temperature in the tires by leaning on it a bit right away. Bell sent me out in full “Race” settings for both the engine and electronic traction and stability controls. Within a few corners — and before the end of the lap — I had a good feel for the tuning of the ABS, TC and ESC, which were all intuitive and minimally invasive.
As a racing driver, it’s rare to feel a tinge of excitement just to go for a drive. As professionals, driving is a clinical exercise. But the GTR triggered that feeling.
I started by pushing hard in slower corners and before long worked my way up the ladder to the fast, high-commitment sections. The car violently accelerated up through the gears, leaving streaks of rubber at the exit of every corner.
Once the car is straight, drivers can push the DRS button to reduce drag and increase speed for an extra haptic kick. The DRS button is now a manual function on the upper left of the steering wheel to give the driver more control over when it’s deployed. After hitting the DRS, the car dares you to keep your right foot planted on the throttle, then instantly hunkers down under braking with a stability I’ve rarely experienced.
The active rear wing adds angle while the active front flaps take it out to counterbalance the effect of the car’s weight shifting forward onto the front axle, letting you drive deeper and deeper into each corner. It’s sharply reactive; the GTR stuck to the road, but still required a bit of driving with my fingertips out at the limit on that cold day. I soon discovered that the faster I went, the more downforce the car generated, and the more speed I was able to extract from it.
Tip to tail
In almost any other environment, the Senna road car is the most shocking car you’ve ever seen. Its cockpit shape is reminiscent of a sci-fi spaceship capsule. The enormous swan neck-mounted rear wing is one highlight in a long list of standout features. The Senna road car looks downright pedestrian next to the GTR.
The rear wing stretches off the back of the car with sculpted carbon fiber endplates and seamlessly connects to the rear fender bodywork. The diffuser that emerges from the car’s underbody — creating low pressure by accelerating the airflow under the car for added downforce — is massive. The giant 325/705-19 Pirelli slicks are slightly exposed from behind, giving you the full sense of just how much rubber is on the ground, and the sharp edges of the center exit exhaust tips are already a bluish-purple tint.
The cockpit shape and dihedral doors are instantly recognizable from the road car. But inside, the GTR is all business. The steering wheel is derived from McLaren’s 720S GT3 racing wheel, a butterfly shape with buttons and rotary switches aplenty. The dash is an electronic display straight out of a race car; six-point belts and proper racing seats complete the aesthetic.
Arriving at the front of the car, the active front wing-flaps are as prominent as ever, while the splitter extends several inches farther out in front of the car and is profiled with a raised area in the center to reduce pitch sensitivity given the car’s much lower dynamic ride-height. In fact, nearly the entire front end of the car has been tweaked; there are additional dive-planes, the forward facing bodywork at the sides of the car have been squared-off and reshaped, and an array of vortex generators have been carved into the outer edge of the wider, bigger splitter surface.
All of these design choices in the front point to the primary area of development from the Senna road-car to the GTR: maximizing its l/d or ratio of lift (in this case the inverse of lift, downforce) to drag.
McLaren pulled two of its F1 aerodynamicists into the GTR project to take the car’s aero to a new level. The upshot: a 20% increase in the car’s total downforce compared to the Senna road car, while increasing aero efficiency — the ratio of downforce to drag — by an incredible 50%. The car is wider, lower and longer than its road-going counterpart, and somehow looks more properly proportioned with its road-legal restrictions stripped away to take full advantage of its design freedom.
This was the car the Senna always wanted to be.
The development process of the GTR was short and to the point. When you have F1 aerodynamicists and a GT3 motorsport program in-house attacking what is already the most high-performing production track car in the industry, it can be. There were areas they could instantly improve by freeing themselves of road-car constraints — the interior of the car could be more spartan; the overall vehicle dimensions and track width could increase; the car would no longer need electronically variable ride heights for different road surfaces so the suspension system could be more purposeful for track use; the car would have larger, slick tires.
All this provided a cohesive mechanical platform upon which to release the aerodynamic assault of guided simulation and CFD.
The GTR benefits from the work of talented humans and amazing computer programs working together with a holistic design approach. What was once a sort of invisible magic, aerodynamics has become a well-understood means of generating performance. But you still have to know what you’re seeking to accomplish; the priorities for a car racing at Pikes Peak are much different than those of a streamliner at Bonneville.
The development team for the GTR sought to maximize the total level of downforce that the tires could sustain, then really kicked their efforts into gear to clean up airflow around the car as much as possible. Many of the aggressive-looking design elements that differentiate the GTR from the Senna are not just for additional downforce but to move air around the car with less turbulence — less turbulent air means less drag. You can’t see it or feel it, but it certainly shows up on the stopwatch, and is often the difference between a car that just looks fast and one that actually is.
I hadn’t asked how fast the car was relative to other GT race cars before I drove it. I think a part of me was fearful that despite its appearance and specs it might be wholly tuned down to be sure it was approachable for an amateur on a track day. And that would make sense, as that’s the likely use-case this car will have. After driving the GTR, I didn’t hesitate for a second to ask, to which they humbly said that it’s seconds faster than their own McLaren 720S GT3 car, and still had some headroom.The Senna GTR is another exercise in exploring the limits of technology, engineering and performance for McLaren, enabled by a market of enthusiasts with the means to support it. And this trend is likely to continue unless motorsports changes the rules to allow hypercars.
McLaren’s next move
The Automobile Club de l’Ouest, organizers of the FIA World Endurance Championship, which includes the 24 Hours of Le Mans, has been working for years to develop regulations that could include them. While these discussions are gaining momentum, it remains to be seen whether motorsport can provide a legitimate platform for the hypercar in the modern era.
The last time this kind of exercise was embarked on was more than 20 years ago during the incredible but short-lived GT1-era at Le Mans that spanned from 1995 to 1998. It saw McLaren, Porsche, Mercedes and others pull out all the stops to create the original hypercars — in most cases comically unroadworthy homologation specials like the Porsche 911 GT1 Strassenversion (literally “street version”) and Mercedes CLK GTR — for the sole purpose of becoming the underpinnings of a winning race car on the world’s stage.
At that time, the race cars made sense to people; the streetcars were misfits of which only the necessary minimum of 25 units were produced in most cases, and the whole thing collapsed due to loopholes, cost, politics and the lack of any real endgame.
Today, the ACO benefits from a road-going hypercar market that McLaren played a key role in developing. Considering McLaren's success with hyper-specific specialized vehicles in recent years, I’d bet the automaker could produce a vehicle custom-tailored to a worthy set of hypercar regulations. Even if not, McLaren will continue to develop and sell vehicles under its Ultimate Series banner.
And there's already evidence that McLaren is doubling down.
McLaren shows off the open cockpit Elva.
McLaren’s Track 25 business plan targets $1.6 billion in investment toward 18 new vehicles between 2018 and 2025. The company’s entire portfolio will use performance-focused hybrid powertrains by 2025.
The paint had barely dried on the Senna GTR before McLaren introduced another new vehicle, the Elva. And more are coming. McLaren is already promising a successor to the mighty P1. I, for one, am looking forward to what else they have in store.
A key ask from gig workers this year has been the right to unionize. Now, Senator (and presidential candidate) Elizabeth Warren is reportedly drafting a bill that would enable gig workers to do just that, CNBC reports.
In collaboration with Congressperson David Cicilline, the legislation would also ban “mega mergers” between companies where one has more than $40 billion in annual revenue or both have at least $15 billion in annual revenue.
Leading up to the legalization of California Assembly Bill 5, gig workers demanded better pay, basic workplace protections and the right to organize through unions. Now that AB-5 has been signed into law, it will legally be harder for companies to classify gig workers as 1099 independent contractors if challenged in court. However, gig workers still want the right to form unions.
Following the passage of AB-5, rideshare driver and Gig Workers Rising member Edan Alva said unions are critical. AB-5, he said, is only the beginning. On top of that, AB-5 is only specific to California. What Warren is reportedly proposing would cover the entire nation.
TechCrunch has reached out to Warren and will update this story if we hear back.
We’ve known for a while that Pokémon GO creator Niantic feels a bit limited in what it can do with augmented reality today.
Between the latency limitations of 4G cellular networks and the need for players to wave a smartphone around to do anything in AR, the tech just isn’t where Niantic wants it to be. As I wrote in a profile of Niantic back in April, the company has been focusing a ton of its efforts on what’s possible as things like 5G and AR glasses become more readily available. Niantic CEO John Hanke is betting on AR glasses being the thing after smartphones.
It makes sense, then, that Niantic is working with Qualcomm to build 5G-ready AR glasses.
Early this morning, Qualcomm announced XR2, a new chipset platform built specifically to power augmented reality and virtual reality devices.
Shortly thereafter, Niantic CTO Phil Keslin took the stage to announce that they’ve joined Qualcomm in a “multi-year collaboration” on this project.
So what does that actually mean?
Immediately, not a ton. You’re not going to be booting up Pokémon GO on a pair of Qualcomm/Niantic AR glasses this Christmas.
Moving forward, though, it means that Niantic will be working with Qualcomm to flesh out the reference hardware for augmented reality glasses, helping them figure out exactly what it needs to do.
Meanwhile, Niantic will be tuning its Real World Platform (the architecture that powers all of its existing games, and which they’re slowly opening up to third parties) to make it play friendly with XR2. Niantic has quietly been designing any architecture it has built over the last few years to ultimately be compatible with AR glasses — now they’re committing to compatibility with a specific chip, making things a bit more real. Once the tech is ready, says Keslin, it’ll all be rolled into the Real World Platform and made available to anyone in the Niantic Creator Program (which the company says should launch sometime in 2020).
Qualcomm is a pretty solid company to partner with; they’re by no means strangers to the world of AR. They’ve been working on chips purpose-built for AR/VR for well over a year now, beginning with the introduction of the XR1 platform back in May of last year. They were amongst the first to really go deep on building a development platform for augmented reality with the launch of the Vuforia SDK… though they sold that project in 2015 to focus on chips like these.
Today at AWS re:Invent in Las Vegas, NFL commissioner Roger Goodell joined AWS CEO Andy Jassy onstage to announce a new partnership to use machine learning to help reduce head injuries in professional football.
“We’re excited to announce a new strategic partnership together, which is going to combine cloud computing, machine learning and data science to work on transforming player health and safety,” Jassy said today.
NFL football is a fast and violent sport involving large men. Injuries are a part of the game, but the NFL is hoping to reduce head injuries in particular, a huge problem for the sport. A 2017 study found that 110 out of 111 deceased NFL players had chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE).
The NFL has a head start in machine learning due to the sheer amount of data it collects on its players. The sport also has decades of video. That means they should be able to create meaningful simulations that can help improve helmet design and also lead to rule changes that could reduce the concussion risk that is endemic in the sport.
Goodell recognizes that the sport has all this data, but lacks the expertise to put it to work. That’s where the partnership comes in. “I think what’s most exciting to me is that there are very few relationships that we get involved with where the partner and the NFL can change the game,” he said.
Jeff Miller, executive VP for Health and safety innovation for the NFL, says this partnership is part of a broader initiative the NFL has taken over the last few years to find ways to reduce head injuries in the game. “About three and a half years ago the NFL started a project called ‘The Engineering Roadmap’, which was a multibillion-dollar effort supported by our owners to better understand the impact of concussions on the field, then design ways to mitigate those injuries and move the helmet industry forward,” Miller said today.
Jeff Crandall, chairman of the NFL engineering committee, says this involves three main pieces. The first is understanding what happens on the field, particularly who is getting injured and why. Secondly, it involves taking that data and sharing it with the helmet industry to help them build better helmets. The final piece is incentivizing the helmet industry to build better helmets, and to that end the league established the $3 million helmet challenge.
The way AWS helps is of course putting all this data to work with its machine learning toolset. AWS’s VP of artificial intelligence, Matt Wood, says that having all this data is a huge advantage and allows them to put it to work in a data lake, and then use the AWS SageMaker toolset to help make sense of it and produce safer outcomes.
The hope is to help understand, not only how head injuries occur, and to prevent them to the extent possible in a violent sport, but also design better equipment and rule changes to reduce the number of injuries overall. Putting data to work and combining it with machine learning tools could help.
Welcome to TechCrunch's 2019 Holiday Gift Guide! Need help with gift ideas? We're here to help! We'll be rolling out gift guides from now through the end of December. You can find our other guides right here.
Spotify reportedly spent nearly $500 million on podcasts in 2019. The good news is that the rest of us can get into that world for considerably less. In fact, the low barrier of entry has always been one of podcasting's primary selling points.
Before we go any further, I'd recommend everyone check out our on-going series "How I Podcast," in which top podcasters give a peek behind the curtain at their podcasting rigs. The standard disclaimer applies here, as ever: there's no one size fits all solution to any of this. One's needs will vary greatly depending on how much you're willing to spend and what the recording setup is (remote vs. in-person, the number of guests you usually have, etc.)
If you’re just getting started, just start. You don’t need high end mics or mixing boards — even if you’re just recording into your iPhone, it’s better to get the ball rolling than to worry about perfect fidelity right off the bat.
But for you or anyone on your list who’s looking to get a bit more serious about podcasting in 2020, this should be a good place to start. It’s easier than ever to make a show sound professional, one upgrade at a time. What follows is a selection of software and gear for anyone looking to step up their game.
(Oh, and while we’re talking about podcasts… check out my weekly interview show, RiYL)
Zencastr Subscription $20/month
There are a ton of different compelling software choices for today's podcaster, including Spotify's Anchor for real beginners, up to Adobe's Premier for the pros. For remote recorders, I recommend Zencastr. Our own Original Content podcast uses the software, and I've had pretty good experiences with its real-time audio levels and cloud-based recording. Gone are the days of hacking something together out of Skype calls.
Rodecaster Pro $599
Introduced last year, the Rodecaster Pro is the most expensive item on the list, but it also just might be the most indispensable for anyone looking to set up an at-home studio. It's a brilliant little multitrack board, and quite frankly, I'm surprised there isn't more competition in this space yet. For the beginning podcaster up through everyone who's ready to sign a contract with NPR, the Rodecaster is a terrific, user-friendly solution for recording more than two people face-to-face.
Zoom H4N PRO Digital Multitrack Recorder $200
When my Tascam finally gave up the ghost earlier this year, I decided to try something new. I'm glad I did. While it's true that most of these multitrack records haven't changed much in the past decade, Zoom offers a couple of key advantages. Most notable is far better real-time level tracking. I produce my podcast on the fly as I'm recording, and the ability to quickly monitor volume at a glance is paramount. I take the H4N with me wherever I travel, along with a pair of external mics.
AKG Lyra $149
Logitech's Blue has had the USB market cornered for some time now, but Samsung-owned AKG offers compelling alternatives at an even more compelling price. The $149 Lyra is certainly the best looking of the bunch. It's got a USB-C input, real-time monitoring and far clearer settings for a variety of different recording methods. I've been playing around with the mic a bit and will offer a more thorough writeup soon, but in the meantime, I can attest that it's a great sounding mic for remote recordings.
Blue Raspberry $149
The Lyra's biggest drawback, however, is its size. Blue's Raspberry can't compete on the sound front, but it's far more portable. More than once I've found myself sticking it in a backpack and a suitcase. Blue also offers up a mini-version of the Yeti at a fraction of the price, but this older Blue mic simply sounds better.
Shure SM7B $399
At about twice the price, the Shure SM7B is a bigger commitment than the previous options. But as the choice of pro-level podcasters all over, Shure's mics are a studio gold standard. The more portable SM-57s are also a terrific (and lower cost) option for more portable rigs. You'll get a great sounding show either way.
Sennheiser Momentum $190
Whether it’s for editing or just minimizing echoes during interviews, you’ll want a good pair of headphones. There's no shortage of over/on-ear options, but I'm partial to these Sennheisers for their combination of sound, price and classic good looks.
"Airbnb’s unit economics are quite legendary — the S-1 is going to be MOST disrupted FASTEST in the next 3 YEARS? Caps for effect."
Who tweeted that? Initialized Capital’s Garry Tan? Homebrew's Hunter Walk? Y Combinator co-founder Paul Graham? Or perhaps one of the dozens of other venture capitalists active on Twitter .
No, it was Parrot.VC, a new Twitter account and website dedicated to making light of VC Twitter. Brother-sister duo Samantha and Nick Loui, the creators of the new tool, fed 65,000 tweets written by some 50 venture capitalists to a machine learning bot. The result is an automated tweet generator ready to spew somewhat nonsensical (or entirely nonsensical) <280-character statements.
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According to Hacker News, where co-creator Nick Loui shared information about their project, the bot uses predictive text to generate "amazing, new startup advice,” adding “Gavin Belson – hit me up, this is the perfect acquisition for Hooli,” referencing the popular satirical TV show, “Silicon Valley.”
This isn’t the first time someone has leveraged artificial intelligence to make fun of the tech community. One of my personal favorites, BodegaBot, inspired by the Bodega fiasco of late 2017, satirizes Silicon Valley’s unhinged desire to replace domestic service with technology.
Google’s AI-powered voice recorder app introduced at Google’s October hardware event was one of the company’s more impressive demos. The new app taps into advances in AI, speech processing and speech recognition in order to automatically transcribe a voice recording with few mistakes, in real time as the person is speaking. Unfortunately, Google’s Recorder app was locked to Pixel 4 devices at launch. That has now changed.
As first spotted by Android Police, the Recorder app is available to Android users with older Pixel devices, including Pixel 2, Pixel 3 and Pixel 3a. The updated support was added to the app today, Sensor Tower also confirmed. But the lack of publicity around the launch has led it to see fewer than 1,000 downloads so far.
Google had previously announced its intention to make the app more widely available. In a recent Reddit thread, a company representative said the app would become available to more Pixel users in the future via a software update. They didn’t say when that update would arrive, though.
While there are many voice recorder apps on today’s market, there are few that offer real-time transcriptions. And of those that do — like Otter.ai, for example — the resulting text is often half-garbled. While these services can still be useful as a way to quickly find a section of a recording to then play back and manually transcribe, the lack of accuracy can limit adoption.
Google’s Recorder app was demonstrated at Google’s fall event as capable of taking a far more accurate transcription. Of course, the app was being not put to real-world use at the time — with different types of voices, accents and background noise, it may not be as accurate. In addition, the app lacks the ability to identify and label different speakers, which could make it more difficult to use in situations like meetings or interviews.
That being said, the app held up well in initial tests in a review by The Wall St. Journal’s Joanna Stern, though it stumbled with accents. Other reviewers found the app to be fairly powerful, too, if a little basic in its overall design. TechCrunch’s review said the transcription was pretty good, but noted also it lacked some features other apps have.
However, Recorder does have an advantage over some of its rivals: it doesn’t require an internet connection to work. Instead, all the recording and transcription capabilities take place directly on the device. That means you could even use the app while in airplane mode.
In addition, a built-in advanced search feature lets you search for sounds, words and phrases and then see a visual depiction of where the search term was spoken in the playback bar so you can go to the recording you need.
Google has put its real-time speech transcription technology to work in a number of ways, besides Recorder. It also introduced live caption technology for Android devices, for example, which brings transcriptions to things like video or audio saved on your device, or video playback outside of YouTube.
We’ve reached out to Google for any update on its plans to make Recorder more broadly available across Android . The company hasn’t responded to our questions at this time.
Although the 2008 global financial crisis sparked the fintech movement, in Latin America, the rise of ecommerce was responsible for the first wave of fintech startups.
Because digital payments were key to enabling the growth of ecommerce, investors funded companies like Braspag, PagSeguro, PayU, Mercado Pago and Moip in the early 2000s to take advantage of this opportunity.
Payment is still the most relevant segment, with successful cases like Stone and PagSeguro, but after the financial crisis, we started to see the rise of financial technology in lending and neobanking, generating impressive cases like Nubank, Neon, Creditas, Credijusto and Ualá.
As the ecosystem evolves and expands, let’s take a closer look at emerging trends in Latin America that might give us a hint about where to expect its next fintech unicorns.
Financial services for the gig economy
Latin America has seen explosive growth in ride-hailing and food delivery platforms such as Uber, Didi, Rappi and iFood, creating a totally new market opportunity — many gig economy workers can’t access basic financial services such as bank accounts, personal loans and insurance. Even those who have access often struggle with financial products that that don’t suit their needs because they were designed for full-time workers.
Spotting this opportunity, Uber Money launched at Money 2020, focusing on providing drivers with financial services. As 50% of the population in Latin America is unbanked where Uber has more than 1 million drivers, the region is definitely a ripe market. Cabify is going even farther by spinning off Lana, its company that provides financial services, so it can expand its market beyond Cabify drivers to include other gig economy professionals.
Although established players in this sector have a clear advantage, they aren’t the only ones looking to explore this opportunity; Brazilian YC alumni Zippi is offering personal loans to ride-hailing drivers based on their driving earnings. As the gig economy tends to keep growing in the region, I believe we will start to see more solutions for those professionals.
Rethinking insurance
As the banking world has been shaken by fintechs, insurance companies are growing aware that high regulatory barriers won’t protect their industry from disruption.
Insurance penetration in Latin America has been historically low compared to developed markets — 3.1%, compared to 8% — but the insurance market is growing well and tends to close this gap. Adding this to bad services and complex products that insurances provide, insurtech has an immense opportunity to grow.
Because purchasing insurance is historically a complicated and painful experience, the first insurtechs in the region focused on providing a better experience by digitizing the process and using online channels to acquire customers. Those insurtechs worked together with the insurance companies and operating as online broker, but now, we’re starting to see startups providing new insurance products, as well as traditional insurances in different models.
Some are partnering with insurance companies while others are competing directly with them; Think Seg and Miituo partnered with larger players to provide a pay-as-you-go model for car insurance, while Mango Life and Kakau are offering a better purchasing experience. On the other end, Crabi and Pier are rethinking the insurance model from the ground up.
As insurtechs emerge as a potential threat, incumbents are more willing to work with startups that can improve their services to enable them to compete on better grounds, which is exactly what companies such as Bdeo, Lisa, and HelloZum are doing.
Although penetrating the insurance industry is more complicated than other financial services due to high regulatory demands and steep initial operating costs, insurtechs fueled by VC investment will without any doubt try to do it. And, if we’ve learned anything from other fintech segments, it’s that entrepreneurs will find ways to overcome initial challenges.
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Melee, the company's first app beyond its flagship product, lets users subscribe to the games from which they love to get memes and gameplay clips. You also can scroll through a popular post’s feed if you're curious about unfamiliar games.
If you’re worried about the risk that gaming communities might turn toxic, Imgur says Melee has multiple layers of community and staff moderation, will remove obscene content and won't tolerate bullying.
SpaceX is keeping relatively close to schedule on one of the bold timelines pronounced by its CEO Elon Musk. Specifically, the company notes that it has now completed seven system tests of the latest, upgraded version of the parachutes it plans to use with its Crew Dragon capsule when it launches with astronauts on-board.
Shadowfax operates a business-to-business logistics network in more than 300 cities in India. The startup works with neighborhood stores to use their real estate to store inventory, and with a large network of freelancers for delivery.
A contractor working for cell giant Sprint stored hundreds of thousands of cell phone bills for AT&T, Verizon (which owns TechCrunch) and T-Mobile subscribers on an unprotected cloud server.
Qualified Small Business Stock (QSBS) presents a significant tax savings opportunity for people who create and invest in small businesses. (Extra Crunch membership required.)
Apex.AI is working on developing a robotic operating system qualified for use in production automobiles. Its offerings include a set of simple-to-integrate APIs that can give automakers and others access to fully certified autonomous mobility technology.
At its Snapdragon Boondoggle Summit in sunny Maui, Hawaii, Qualcomm today announced the launch of its XR2 platform, which it describes as the “world's first 5G-supported extended reality (XR) platform.” The company’s older XR1 platform, which already powers a number of VR and AR devices, will remain in the market and is now branded as Qualcomm’s XR platform for mainstream users, while XR2 is meant to show off “next-level features for never before experiences.”
XR2 brings together the company’s 5G modem and AI advances to, for example, support up to seven cameras for pass-through HoloLens-style mixed reality and smoother standalone VR experiences. Using this setup, the XR2 features 26-point skeletal hand tracking and, of course, accurate environmental mapping.
The XR2 supports display panels with a 3K by 3K resolution at 90 frames per second and supports up to 8K 360-degree videos at 60 frames per second, all using custom silicon to keep the latency of these panels very low.
While I think the value of AR/VR still remains somewhat debatable, Qualcomm believes that AR and VR had a good 2019 and started breaking out of the consumer gaming space. “I think when the hype started back in 2014/15, it was a lot about these consumer gaming experiences, but we see more and more enterprise applications coming to market. […] I think 2019 was a key year where we saw this transformation take place, with many, many proof points in both consumer and in enterprise,” said Hugo Swart, the company’s VP and Head of XR.
For the longest time now, we’ve heard how important 5G will be for this market, because it will allow you to stream high-quality video at the kind of low latencies that make AR/VR immersive. “5G is going to be crucial for XR. We’ve spoken about this in the past, that XRS video is the killer use case for 5G,” said Hiren Bhinde, director of product Management at Qualcomm. “Next year […], given that this is the world’s first 5G access platform, we are excited to see how different content developers, as well as different video streaming services with high-resolution videos, may be able to provide their high-bandwidth content on devices built on XR2.”
Autonomous robotic road-riding cargo pod startup Einride has signed a new partner for a commercial pilot on Sweden’s roads, which should be a great test of the company’s electric driverless transportation pods. Einride will be providing service for Coca-Cola European Partners, which is the official authorized bottler, distributor, sales and marketing company for Coca-Cola branded products in Sweden.
The partnership will see Einride commercially operating its transportation system between Coca-Cola European Partners’ warehouse in Jordbro outside Stockholm, and retailer Axfood’s own distribution hub, transporting Coca-Cola brand products to the retailer ahead of sending them off to local retail locations in Sweden.
Coca-Cola European Partners is looking to this partnership as part of its goal to continue to reduce emissions, since Einride’s system could potentially cut CO2 output by as much as 90% compared to current in-use solutions. This pilot is set to take place over the next few years, according to the two companies, and Einride says it hopes that it’ll be able to be on the road as early as some time next year, pending approval from the authorities since it’s a trial that will take place on public roads.
Einride announced $25 million in new funding in October, and has been running trials of the Einride Pod electric transport vehicle it created on public roads since May.
Airbnb will provide a "clear and actionable enforcement framework" for scenarios, including excessive noise, major cleanliness concerns, as well as unauthorized guests, parking and smoking. The company, expected to go public next year, is also banning all "open-invite" parties and events from locations booked on its platform.
Unauthorized parties have long been banned from Airbnb homes. The new policy seeks to halt certain guests from hosting events not approved by hosts, such as a recent Halloween party hosted at a California Airbnb rental in which five people were killed.
Finally, Airbnb is launching a new hotline for mayors and city officials to discuss Airbnb's new policies with the company.
"While home sharing is a time-honored tradition in many cultures around the world, the rise of digital platforms like Airbnb has brought it within reach of more people than ever before," Airbnb's vice president of trust Margaret Richardson writes in today's announcement. "In turn, Airbnb has worked to collaborate with cities around the world and with our host and guest communities to ensure we are creating a framework that allows millions of people to trust one another."
Airbnb, founded in 2008, has long avoided verifying listings and incorporating stricter guest standards, instead looking to its thousands of hosts to devise individual house rules. As the company matures and crafts its pitch to Wall Street, we can expect to see additional updates to its policy to protect hosts, guests and communities.
Early last month, Airbnb said all properties would soon be verified for accuracy of photos, addresses, listing details, cleanliness, safety and basic home amenities. All rentals that meet the company's new standards will be "clearly labeled" by December 15, 2020, Airbnb chief executive Brian Chesky noted in a company-wide email last month. Beginning this month, Airbnb will rebook or refund guests who check into rentals that do not meet the new accuracy standards.
The company last month also outlined plans to launch a 24/7 Neighbor Hotline to give guests access to a real Airbnb employee from any location at any time. The company will fully roll-out the service next year.
Airbnb’s Richardson developed the above changes alongside Charles Ramsey, a retired police commissioner and co-chair of President Obama's Task Force on 21st Century Policing, and Ronald Davis, the former director of the U.S. Department of Justice Office of Community Oriented Policing's Services.
Here's a little early Christmas present for you. Apple analyst extraordinaire Ming-Chi Kuo is out with his latest Apple opus. Per usual, it's got a lot of fascinating nuggets, this time projecting as far as 2021 in its look at iPhones to come.
Let's skip right to that bit, shall we? It seems that 2021 may be the year Apple finally drops the Lightning cable. That would, of course, be good news, given that the port is…how to put this nicely…pretty objectively terrible. Apple, of course, already swapped it out on the iPad Pro for the far-more-ubiquitous-and-generally-better-in-every-way USB C.
What's even more interesting here, however, is the suggestion that it won't be USB C there to pick up the pace. 9to5Mac notes that the report suggests a 2021 iPhone would "provide the completely wireless experience." The implication here being that the charging port drops altogether on the high-end device (like the iPad, it would be more of a gradual sunsetting across the line, starting with the premium model).
Meizu, notably, tried something similar this year with the very gimmicky (and pricey) Zero. The handset completely dropped ports, speakers and buttons from the equation, as a sort of logical conclusion of broader smartphone trends. For a majority of users, however, I suspect wireless charging is going to have to get some serious speed gains before they're ready to ditch wired charging altogether.
Interesting tidbits for 2020 include the arrival of several iPhones, arriving in 5.4, 6.1 (x2) and 6.7-inch varieties. All of the above will reportedly sport 5G, with cameras and size being the primary differentiation. The OLED devices will reportedly adopt a similar form factor as the now-ancient iPhone 4, per the report.
Chirp, a Twitter client preferred by hundreds of thousands of Apple Watch users, is getting its biggest upgrade since its arrival last year. Now redesigned for watchOS 6, the new version of Chirp includes a rebuilt timeline feature that allows you to endlessly scroll through tweets much more quickly than before, along with other enhancements, like support for iOS 13’s dark mode and a way to add colors to your Twitter username.
The app was first introduced to fill the void created when Twitter pulled its own Apple Watch app back in 2017 in favor of using Apple Watch’s notifications platform instead.
Chirp, meanwhile, lets users access a real Twitter client from their Watch’s small screen, which included a way to view your Home Timeline, Twitter Trends, @ Mentions, Direct Messages and more. Some features — like the ability to Direct Message or compose tweets from your Apple Watch — are only available to Chirp Pro paying users, though.
Chirp Pro is a user-friendly “pay what you want” feature that lets you chip in at either $4.99, $5.99 or $7.99 to upgrade the app and doesn’t require a subscription. To date, Chirp has around 200,000 installs, according to data from Sensor Tower. Conversions are much smaller.
The new version, Chirp 2.0, hopes to encourage more upgrades as it enhances the Twitter-on-your-wrist experience with a redesigned timeline that endlessly scrolls faster and more reliably than before, and includes an improved video player, image grids and more.
“The inspiration for rewriting the timeline came from when I was fortunate enough to attend WWDC 2019 as a scholar,” explains Chirp developer Will Bishop. “During the keynote, Apple announced SwiftUI, a new framework that allowed developers to develop their user interfaces much faster than ever before. However, not only did it increase the speed, it opened up a whole new way to create apps for the Apple Watch,” he explains.
“Prior to SwiftUI, all user interface on Apple Watch was drag-and-drop, which, while convenient, has some major drawbacks. So feeling inspired from this announcement, I left the keynote hall and immediately began working on reimplementing the timeline with SwiftUI,” he says.
Direct messages were updated, too, and now include images and tweets that were shared through the private messaging feature.
Chirp 2.0 also introduces support for live complications on Apple Watch. That means you can see recent tweets right on the watch face, and tap on them to be redirected back to the Chirp app to reply, like or retweet. This feature is also available only to Pro users.
Another enhancement lets you add a little flair to your Twitter username by making it colorful — a feature that was inspired by a user’s request. Included as a one-off in-app purchase, it’s $1 for Pro users or $2 for non-Pro users to take advantage of this option. Bishop attributes the pricing decision to the backend work required to implement the feature on his part. It also makes for an additional revenue stream, by being available to those who don’t want to pay for the Pro version of the app.
However, Bishop notes that the option will be available for free during Pride month (June) so everyone can make their username rainbow-colored, if they choose.
In addition, Chirp 2.0 is now available in a number of languages, besides English, including Chinese (simplified), Danish, German, Hungarian, Italian, Japanese, Portuguese, Russian and Spanish (Latin America).
The Crew Interactive Mobile Companion (or CIMON, for short) recorded a number of firsts on its initial mission to the International Space Station, which took place last November, including becoming the first-ever autonomous free-floating robot to operate aboard the station, and the first-ever smart astronaut assistant. But CIMON is much more than an Alexa for space, and CIMON-2, which launched aboard today’s SpaceX ISS resupply mission, will demonstrate a number of ways the astronaut support robot can help those working in space — from both a practical and an emotional angle.
CIMON is the product of a collaboration between IBM, the German Aerospace Center (DLR) and Airbus, and its aim is to design and develop a robotic assistant for use in space that can serve a number of functions, including things as mundane as helping to retrieve information and keep track of tasks astronauts are doing on board the station, and as wild as potentially helping to alleviate or curb the effects of social issues that might arise from settings in which a small team works in close quarters over a long period.
“The goal of mission one was really to commission CIMON and to really understand if he can actually work with the astronauts — if there are experiments that he can support,” explained IBM’s Matthias Biniok, project manager on the Watson AI aspects of the mission. “So that was very successful — the astronauts really liked working with CIMON.”
“Now, we are looking at the next version: CIMON-2,” Biniok continued. “That has more capability. For example, it has better software and better hardware that has been improved based on the outcomes that we had with mission one — and we have also some new features. So for example, on the artificial intelligence side, we have something called emotional intelligence, based on our IBM Watson Tone Analyzer, with we’re trying to understand and analyze the emotions during a conversation between CIMON and the astronauts to see how they’re feeling — if they’re feeling joyful, if something makes them angry, and so on.”
That, Biniok says, could help evolve CIMON into a robotic countermeasure for something called “groupthink,” a phenomenon wherein a group of people who work closely together gradually have all their opinions migrate toward consensus or similarity. A CIMON with proper emotional intelligence could detect when this might be occurring, and react by either providing an objective, neutral view — or even potentially taking on a contrarian or “Devil’s advocate” perspective, Biniok says.
That’s a future aim, but in the near-term CIMON can have a lot of practical benefit simply by freeing up time spent on certain tasks by astronauts themselves.
“Time is super expensive on the International Space Station,” Biniok said. “And it’s very limited, so if we could save some crew time with planning, that would be super helpful to the astronauts. CIMON can also support experiments — imagine that you’re an astronaut up there, you have complex research experiments going on, and there’s a huge amount of documentation for that. And if you are missing some information, or you have a question about it, then you have to look up in this documentation, and that takes time. Instead of doing that, you could actually just ask CIMON — so for example, ‘what’s the next step CIMON?,’ or ‘why am I using Teflon and not any other materials?’ ”
CIMON can also act as a mobile documentarian, using its onboard video camera to record experiments and other activities on the Space Station. It’s able to do so autonomously, too, Biniok notes, so that an astronaut can theoretically ask it to navigate to a specific location, take a photo, then return and show that photo to the astronaut.
This time around, CIMON will be looking to stay on the ISS for a much longer span than version one; up to three years, in fact. Biniok had nothing specific to share on plans beyond that, but did say that long-term, the plan is absolutely to extend CIMON’s mission to include the Moon, Mars and beyond.
Long before Instagram toyed with removing “likes,” VSCO, an Oakland-based photo-sharing and editing app, built a community devoid of likes, comments and follower counts. Perhaps known to many only because of this year’s “VSCO girl” meme explosion, the company has long been coaxing the creative community to its freemium platform. Turns out, if you can provide the disillusioned teens of Gen Z respite from the horrors of social media — they’ll pay for it.
VSCO is on pace to surpass 4 million paying users in 2020, up from 2 million paying users in late 2018, the company said. Approaching $80 million in annual revenue, VSCO charges an annual subscription fee of $19.99 for access to a full-suite of mobile photo-editing tools, exclusive photo filters, tutorials and more. For no cost, users can access a handful of basic VSCO filters, standard editing tools and loads of content published by other users in VSCO’s photo feed.
In recent months, the company’s Oakland headquarters has swelled to 150 employees, an increase of 50% from 2018, with a new office in Chicago expected to fit several dozen more. The company, which counts 100 million registered users to date, has also recently inked a partnership with Snap. Together, they’ve launched Analog, VSCO's first-ever Snapchat lens, in a deal that hints at a future acquisition. Needless to say, VSCO co-founder and chief executive officer Joel Flory is feeling pretty optimistic ahead of his company’s eighth birthday.
“When you walk into a museum, you don’t see the net worth of the artist,” Flory tells TechCrunch. “You don’t see how many people have walked through the museum. There’s not a space for people to write comments and leave stickers. It’s a moment. It’s for you. You get to sit in front of a piece of work, a piece of art. And does it move you? Does it speak to you? Are you able to learn something from it? Does it inspire you to go do something? How can we create a space in which you could do that online? That was our initial insight.”
Flory, a 40-year-old former wedding photographer, wears a grey Oakland Roots sweatshirt and a black Oakland Athletics hat when I meet him at VSCO’s offices on Oakland’s Broadway Avenue in November. He doesn’t look like the Gen Z whisperer I expected to meet, and his responses to my questions about the “VSCO girl” meme paint a picture of a CEO who’s inadvertently connected with a generation 20 years his junior. “It’s a sense of caring about the environment and kind of caring about causes that have a meaning and impact,” Flory said of “VSCO girls,” who have more-oft been described as 21st century valley girls or “annoying, white hopeless romantics.”
On one hand, we were ahead of the curve. But I think we were just being true to who we are. VSCO CEO Joel Flory
Regardless of Flory’s ability to decode Gen Z, VSCO continues to be beloved by millions of teenagers and young adults worldwide. Without selling ads or customer data, VSCO has developed a sustainable subscription-based business and written a new playbook for social media businesses in a world where Facebook’s advertising-based model is king. For those fed up with platforms that have facilitated bullying and failed to prioritize privacy, VSCO may be a protective corner of the internet.
“The creator always wins, the community always wins, who’s paying us wins and VSCO wins,” Flory said. “It sounds simple, but this creates a business model in which our business is not extracting value from any one group to give to someone else. It’s this direct relationship with who’s paying us.”
VSCO CEO Joel Flory speaks to attendees while teaching phone photography class during The Wall Street Journal Tech Live conference in Laguna Beach, California, U.S., on Tuesday, Oct. 22, 2019. Photographer: Martina Albertazzi/Bloomberg via Getty Images
A sense of belonging
Hot off the heels of a rare moment in the spotlight, VSCO, reportedly valued at $550 million, is ripe for a new round of funding. Flory, naturally, remained mum on any plans to sell the company or raise additional capital. But he was ready and willing to speak to the company’s untraditional path and the unique connection it has fostered with its users.
Flory tells me 75% of VSCO’s registered users and 55% of its paying subscribers are younger than 25, giving the company a small foothold into the most coveted demographic. On top of that, the hashtag #VSCO has been viewed 4 billion times on the immensely popular video sharing app Tik Tok, again according to the company’s own statistics, and another 450 million times on Instagram. With 40 million monthly active users — Facebook had 2.45 billion monthly active users as of September, for context — VSCO is by no means a competitor to Facebook, Facebook-owned Instagram, Snap or Twitter. What it is, however, is a leader in the new era of social media, in which users demand more transparent, equitable relationships with social platforms.
“[Gen Z] knows what each platform is good for and what the downfalls of each are,” Flory said. “They are actively making investments in creativity and in their mental health, and they are seeking out a space where they can be who they are. And the fact that they’re even talking about mental health, anxiety, depression and compare culture — it took me so long in life to be able to articulate what I was feeling … They’re putting their money and time in brands and causes that they care about. And so for us, that’s why I think we’ve seen a lot of our growth.”
Flory and VSCO co-founder Greg Lutze, a long-time creative director-turned-chief experience officer, began building VSCO, an acronym for Visual Supply Co., in 2011. Facebook was more than six years old and mere months from hitting the 1 billion monthly active user milestone when VSCO launched its first product, a photo-editing plug-in for Adobe Lightroom and Photoshop. Instagram, for its part, was a burgeoning photo-based social network that had launched the year before to “ignite communication through images.” Unlike Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg, who famously created Facebook in his Harvard dorm room, or Instagram’s founding CEO Kevin Systrom, a former Google employee, Flory and Lutze had absolutely no experience in the tech or startup world. The pair banded together to build something focused around the creative community — not to construct a venture-backed startup.
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“We wanted to provide the tools for you to express yourself and then a space for you to do that, one that was void of the pressures around likes and comments that create this compare culture, which wasn’t even prevalent yet,” Flory said. “Now we’re seeing this played out on a large scale. So on one hand, we were ahead of the curve. But I think we were just being true to who we are.”
The business is growing in a way that we’ve never seen before. VSCO CEO Joel Flory
After launching VSCO as an Adobe plug-in, improved camera capabilities on smartphones motivated the business to change course. In the spring of 2013, the business launched its mobile app, a free photo-editing tool with in-app purchases and an affiliated community. The app reached 1 million downloads one week later and would eventually adopt a freemium model to earn money from its power users. Since its app launch, VSCO has remained a top-five grossing photo app on Apple’s App Store.
VSCO’s Oakland offices.
New opportunities
Though seldom mentioned on the venture capital and startup blogs, VSCO is indeed supported by VC dollars. Before its subscription revenue could sustain the business, the company brought in $90 million in VC funding from Accel, Glynn Capital Management, Obvious Ventures and Goldcrest Investments, closing its most recent round in 2015.
Flory and Lutze never sought venture funding. The former photographer and creative director didn’t have connections to venture capitalists or an in at a particular firm. Instead, Accel partners Vas Natarajan and Ryan Sweeney approached VSCO with “a thesis around the importance of design and creativity in the future,” Flory said, and quickly formed an alliance. Today, VSCO isn’t profitable, though it has been in the past, Flory said. It did, however, operate at “near break-even” last year — an accomplishment today as startups often lose hundreds of millions of dollars on an annual basis. With a valuation of $550 million, which Flory would neither confirm or deny, VSCO plans to invest heavily in growth next year.
As for the “VSCO girl” meme explosion, largely a mockery of white middle-class, social-media-savvy teenagers, it provided a jolt of publicity for a nearly decade-old company lost in the shadow of the giants. Though the meme entered the internet’s zeitgeist many months ago, the company is still riding a wave of press (and likely downloads) tied to its popularity. For many, the VSCO girl was their first encounter with VSCO, while for others, the photo-editing and sharing tool has been a fixture of their home screen for years.
As Instagram explores hiding likes in a bid to promote user health and other social media companies realize the importance of safety, security and mental wellness, VSCO may see its unique identity fade. Regardless, Flory says he wants other platforms to realize the impact of likes: “I honestly hope everyone thinks about what’s good for people’s mental health and builds more products that have a positive impact than a negative impact.”
Instagram’s experiments aside, VSCO is gearing up for another banner year, packed with plans for new features and products entirely. In our chat last month, Flory mentioned video design, publishing and editing, as well as illustration, as areas of interest for the now established photo-editing tool.
“The business is growing in a way that we’ve never seen before,” Flory said. “And what it’s doing is opening all of these new areas of opportunity. We’re focused on not only how you create content and how you edit content, but ultimately, how you tell a story with that content.”
Homeland Security has confirmed it will not expand face recognition scans to U.S. citizens arriving and departing the country, days after it emerged the agency proposed making the scans for citizens mandatory.
The department, whose responsibility is border protection and immigration checks, said in a government filing that it wanted to “amend the regulations to provide that all travelers, including U.S. citizens, may be required to be photographed upon entry and/or departure.”
The American Civil Liberties Union criticized the move, saying it had “profound privacy concerns” despite promises from the government that it had no plans to expand the face recognition checks to Americans.
Currently, U.S. citizens are allowed to opt-out of face recognition scans at the airport, but foreign nationals and visitors are required to have their faces scanned when arriving or leaving the U.S., where the systems are installed.
Homeland Security says the scans are to help crack down on illegal immigration and visa overstays.
A spokesperson for Customs and Border Protection, which filed the proposal, said the agency has “no current plans to require U.S. citizens to provide photographs upon entry and exit from the United States,” and that it “intends to have the planned regulatory action regarding U.S. citizens removed from the unified agenda next time it is published."
The agency spokesperson said CBP “initially considered” including U.S. citizens in its face recognition checks at airports and other ports of entry “because having separate processes for foreign nationals and U.S. citizens at ports of entry creates logistical and operational challenges that impact security, wait times and the traveler experience.”
“Upon consultation with Congress and privacy experts, however, CBP determined that the best course of action is to continue to allow U.S. citizens to voluntarily participate in the biometric entry-exit program,” the spokesperson noted.
Just yesterday, CBP said it met with privacy experts and that it was “committed to keeping the public informed about our use of facial comparison technology,” said CBP’s John Wagner.
A source with knowledge of the meeting said privacy advocates warned the government against expanding face recognition scans for U.S. citizens, citing privacy risks.
Jay Stanley, a senior policy analyst at the American Civil Liberties Union, said: "This proposal never should have been issued, and it is positive that government is withdrawing it after growing opposition from the public and lawmakers.”
“But the fact remains that the agency attempted to renege on what was already an insufficient promise, and has not yet committed to ensuring that immigrants will not be forced to submit to this surveillance. Homeland Security's plans to spread face recognition surveillance nationwide remain alarming, especially given the lack of congressional authorization and sufficient safeguards, the government’s past security failures, and unanswered questions about the technology’s effectiveness, bias, and broader societal implications,” he said.
“The government cannot be trusted with this surveillance technology, and Congress should put the brakes on its use,” said Stanley.
Chestnuts are an excellent snack that can be prepared in under 30 minutes. The two most common methods involve using an oven or stovetop to roast the chestnuts after giving them a quick boil. Once cooked, they can be used in a variety of dishes and recipes. However you choose to prepare and use them, you need to make sure that you fully remove them from their outer shell before taking a bite.
Check to make sure your chestnuts are safe before eating them. There are two types of chestnut—regular chestnuts and horse chestnuts. Horse chestnuts are dangerous, as they can cause nausea and vomiting if consumed. To make sure that you have an edible chestnut, inspect the shell. If the shell is prickly and rough, it's a standard chestnut. If it's smooth and easy to handle, it's probably a horse chestnut.[1]
Another way to check for horse chestnuts is to smell them. Horse chestnuts have a bitter odor, while a regular chestnut smells sweet and nutty.
Take the shell off before you eat a chestnut. If you haven't cut them with a knife before baking them, use a nutcracker to rupture the outer shell of a chestnut. Then, put it in your hand and find the opening where you cut it or split it with a nut cracker. While holding it between both hands, use your two thumbs to pull the edges of each half of the shell. Pull each shell away from one another until the shell cracks in half.
If you're removing the shell immediately after cooking them, your chestnuts will still be hot. Hold each individual chestnut in a clean towel with both hands and then crack it, using the towel to keep your hands from getting burned.
Cook your chestnuts based on how you plan to use them. If you're going to be adding seasonings, oils, or vegetables while you're cooking chestnuts, you probably want to use a stovetop. For the classic roasted chestnut, you'll want to opt for the oven.
You can boil your chestnuts all the way through instead of transferring them to the oven or stove, but doing so removes most of the flavor and nutrients.[2]
Buy prepackaged chestnuts if you want to snack on them. You can purchase pre-cooked chestnuts if you just want a small snack without all of the hassle that comes with cooking them. They come in jars, cans, or vacuum-sealed packages, and they're available online or in grocery stores.[3]
Always read the packaging carefully to ensure that you're about to eat pre-cooked chestnuts.
Pair chestnuts with other dishes to add flavor or texture. Chestnuts work well as an ingredient or garnish. They have a soft flavor, but strong texture, which means that they are excellent for adding a bit of crunch to a dish. You can crush, grind, or dice cooked chestnuts to add them to a recipe that might work with a nutty flavor.[4]
Create a spinach chestnut salad. In a mixing bowl, add of spinach, of asparagus, a ½ head of radicchio, a ½ cucumber, and 2 shallots with your vinaigrette dressing. Mix these together, and add of pomegranate and 10 diced chestnuts. Continue to mix gently and serve as a main dish or simple side salad.[5]
You can make your own vinaigrette by whisking olive oil and white wine vinegar together in a bowl with garlic, salt, and pepper.
Add chestnuts to a traditional stuffing. Fry 1 sliced onion and 2 strips of bacon together in of butter. Heat until they're fully cooked, then add your 2 garlic cloves and fry for another 1-2 minutes. Let your bacon and onion cool, then add your of chopped chestnuts and additional ingredients in a glass baking dish. Bind the ingredients together with 1 beaten egg. Bake in a baking dish at for 40 minutes.[6]
You can roll stuffing into small balls and bake them that way if you're interested in spicing up the serving presentation! To do this, cup a small amount of stuffing in both hands and press it together repeatedly like you're making a snowball.[7]
Mix some chestnuts into an Italian pasta. Add of oil to a large frying pan and heat 1 diced onion for 5 minutes. Once it starts to soften, add of sausage meat and of chestnuts; fry them for 10-12 minutes on high heat. Add your 2 cloves of garlic, of rosemary, and of fennel and cook for an additional 2 minutes. Add of tomato puree and cover for 10 minutes while boiling of pasta. Once your pasta is boiled, mix it with the sauce and top with any garnishes.[8]
Break up the meat with a spatula or spoon while you're frying it.
Add a glass of red wine to the sauce if you'd like it to be a little tart.
Consider garnishing your pasta with parsley and parmesan cheese.
Experiment with chestnuts in other recipes. If you want to play around with chestnuts in the kitchen, consider their ability to add texture to a recipe. Sweeter dishes that benefit from a salty profile, like brownies or ice cream, pair well with chestnuts.[9] They can also be used as an ingredient in waffles or brussels sprouts. Whether you're using it as a garnish or key ingredient, always remember that chestnuts must be cooked and peeled before you throw them in a dish.
Wash your chestnuts with water to clean them. You're going to be touching the shell quite frequently during your preparation, so make sure that they're clean by rinsing them with water. Wash your hands with soap and water as well. You don't want any bad germs or bacteria hanging out on your chestnuts![10]
Use a serrated knife to cut openings into each chestnut. Lay each nut on a cutting board, lengthwise. Pinch each chestnut against the cutting board using your nondominant hand. To do this, place a chestnut between your thumb and forefinger, and hold it firmly in place. Use a small serrated knife to make incisions in each chestnut.[11]
Each incision should be the entire length of the chestnut, but only cut one side. To figure out which side needs to be cut, let the chestnut lay flat and see how it settles. Cut whichever side faces up.
You're splitting the chestnuts to ensure that steam will escape as the nut heats. If they aren't split, the pressure can make chestnuts explode in the oven.
The outer shells of chestnuts are slippery, so be careful while you're cutting them. Go carefully and stay focused on each cut.
Boil your chestnuts before cooking them if you'd like. Add your chestnuts to a pot with cold water Turn your heat to the highest setting and wait a few minutes for the water to boil. As soon as the pot starts bubbling, turn the heat off. Use a slotted spoon to remove your chestnuts.[12]
Boiling your chestnuts before roasting them will ensure that each entire nut gets fully coated in warm water, which will make cooking and cracking them a lot easier.
Roast your chestnuts in the oven for a classic flavor. Bake your chestnuts on a sheet pan at for 15-20 minutes. If your chestnuts are on the smaller side, opt for a shorter cooking time. If they're of the larger variety, you'll want to cook them a little longer. Open the oven after 5-10 minutes and give your baking pan a little shake. This will shake loose any excess water and relieve any building pressure.[13]
Check on your chestnuts around the 13 minute mark. If they're steaming and browning, they're close to done. If they aren't, they'll probably need to cook for the full 20 minutes.
Always remember to remove the shell before enjoying your chestnuts.
Try cooking your chestnuts on the stovetop with a cast iron skillet. Heat a cast iron pan over medium heat for 3-5 minutes. Drop your chestnuts into the pan and turn them. Use a fork, spatula, or your slotted spoon to turn each chestnut so that the cuts you made are facing away from the skillet. Cook your chestnuts for 15-20 minutes while stirring them periodically.[14]
Your chestnuts should darken in color while they cook, but if they start turning black and smoking, you're burning them and should stop immediately.
If you're adding any oils or spices, feel free to layer them on top of your chestnuts and then shake the pan after a few minutes. Butter, olive oil, salt, and pepper all make excellent additions to chestnuts.
While every state has its own specific definition of the term, a lobbyist is usually defined as someone who attempts to influence government decisions on behalf of a person or organization.[1] If you're a persuasive person with a passion for making a difference, a lobbying career might be right for you! While there are no specific educational requirements to become a lobbyist, you can benefit from having a strong background in the law or political science. You'll also need to register with your local government to work as a lobbyist. From there, you can start looking for lobbyist careers!
Take courses in political science or related fields. You don't have to have a degree in a specific field to become a lobbyist.[2] However, studying political science or other relevant subjects can give you the skills and knowledge you need to be successful. Specific lobbying jobs may also require you to have a minimum level of education (e.g., a bachelor's degree).
For example, many lobbyists have degrees in political science, communications, economics, or law.
Build strong communication skills. Being able to communicate clearly and persuasively is key to being a successful lobbyist.[3] If you're in school or college, sign up for courses in writing and public speaking to build up your written and verbal communication abilities.
Signing up for your school's debate team or mock trial club can be a great way to hone your argumentative skills!
You can also take writing and speaking classes online through websites like Udemy, Coursera, and edX.
Pursue an advanced degree to get a competitive edge. You don't need an advanced or specialized degree to be a lobbyist, but getting one of these degrees can make you look more impressive to employers. This is also a useful approach if you want to lobby in a particular area of interest.
For example, if you want to work as a health care lobbyist, you may find it helpful to pursue an advanced healthcare degree, such as DNP (Doctor of Nursing Practice).[4]
A law degree can also give you a competitive advantage in the lobbying field.[5]
Learn about basic legislative rules and procedures. Understanding how the legislative process works can help you become a much more effective lobbyist. Take time to research how the system works so that you have a strong understanding of how measures are introduced and how bills are passed.[6]
Robert's Rules of Order is a very useful guide to the basic rules of legislative procedure.
Many state government websites offer specific information about local legislative process. Try doing an online search using terms such as "legislative process Illinois" or "how a bill becomes law Texas."
Read up on current issues in your area of interest. If you're interested in lobbying in a particular field, stay on top of current events and legislative issues in that field, especially in your local area. Staying informed on what the issues are—and where your local lawmakers stand—will help you figure out which legislators to target and how to build the most persuasive arguments.[7]
Take time getting to know your local politicians, their histories, and where they stand on the issues you're interested in.
You may find it helpful to talk to other lobbyists in your area and get their perspective on how the system works.
Spend time in a government job to gain experience. A lot of people break into the lobbying field after working in a government office. Doing so can help you gain expertise in local policy making procedures and will also make you look more impressive to prospective employers or clients. You might try:[8]
Running for elected office in the legislative or executive branches of your local government. This will give you direct experience with the legislative process.
If you can't run for office, getting a staff position with the legislature is another great way to get your foot in the door. For example, you might apply to be a legislative assistant for your local congressperson.
Look into your state's lobbying registration laws. All states in the U.S. require lobbyists to register with the state before doing any lobbying activities.[9] Before you start working as a lobbyist, check with your Secretary of State's office to find out what information you need to provide and whether you need to pay a registration fee.
You may need to supply information such as what kind of compensation you are receiving for your lobbying work, who your clients or employers are, and which subject(s) you'll be lobbying about.
Take any required lobbying courses before registering. Some states require lobbyists to take training courses or seminars before doing any lobbying work. These courses typically focus on ethics training. Check with your Secretary of State's office to find out if you need any special training before you begin work.
For example, lobbyists in California are required to take a Lobbyist Ethics Course and certify the completion of this course with the Secretary of State's office by a specific deadline.[10]
Keep up with your lobbying reports. Most states require lobbyists to file regular disclosure reports about their activities. Inquire with your Secretary of State's office about how often you need to file reports and what kind of information you have to provide. You can find a summary of activity report requirements for each state here: http://www.ncsl.org/research/ethics/50-state-chart-lobbyist-report-requirements.aspx.
These reports are available to the public and they usually contain information about how much money you or your client are spending on lobbying and which issues you are lobbying about.
Your employer or client may also need to file reports about your activities.
Familiarize yourself with the types of lobbying jobs. There are a variety of different ways to approach being a lobbyist. You can work as a contracted lobbyist for an organization such as a company or trade association, or you can work in-house as a full time government relations employee for a business. Local government administrations also hire lobbyists to communicate with the legislature on their behalf.[11]
For example, a drug company might hire a health care lobbyist full time in a government relations position.[12]
Check lobbyist-specific job boards. When you're ready to look for lobbyist jobs, dedicated job boards or sites devoted to lobbying-related jobs are a good place to start. For example, you might look for jobs in your area on websites such as:
Lobbyingjobs.com, a website dedicated to posting lobbyist and government relations positions.
Workforgood.org, which posts jobs with nonprofits and mission-driven organizations, including advocacy/lobbying jobs.
The PAC.org job board, which lists job opportunities for public affairs professionals.
Look for lobbyist jobs on general job sites. In addition to using dedicated job boards, you can also find lobbyist jobs on general job sites such as Indeed and Monster.com. Use these sites to search for lobbyist jobs in your area.
In addition to "lobbyist," use search terms such as "advocacy" and "government relations."
Reach out to your professional network about job opportunities. Many lobbyists find jobs through networking and word of mouth. If you've had a chance to make some contacts in your community, let them know that you are in the market for a lobbying job. Someone may be able to put in a good word for you with a colleague who's looking to hire![13]
Talking to other lobbyists can be a good way to find out about potential job openings.
Apply for jobs that align with your interests and experience. You'll be most happy and successful as a lobbyist if you do work in an area that you're passionate and knowledgeable about.[14] Look for positions that are a good fit for your strengths and interests, but that also align well with your personal moral and ethical standards.
For example, if you're interested in health issues, a job with a public health organization might be a good fit for you. On the other hand, you might not be happy lobbying for a tobacco company that's pushing for fewer restrictions on advertising.
You may think it's too hard to keep looking stylish when the temperature dips during the winter months. It takes a little bit more thought and effort to remain stylish in the cold weather, but it is very possible once you get the hang of it. As long as you keep focused on practicality, you can get a lot of use out of a variety of clothing and styles. While layering your clothes is the key to keeping most of your body warm, you can add pieces to your wardrobe that will help you stand out as fashionable, while still providing extra warmth.
Start with a thin layer underneath. You'll generally want clothes that are a bit looser on your body. These layers should help wick away any sweat or other moisture on the inside, which will keep you dry and warmer. If they are tight, they can get soaked in sweat, making them heavier.[1]
Longjohns and thermal underwear are good investments for areas that are harder to layer, like your legs, especially if the weather is going to be very cold.[2] Plus, since they are all the way under your clothes, no one will ever have to see what they look like. Just make sure they fit well and aren't too bulky.
Put on thin, tight clothes. This will be the first layer that people see, so look for a nice shirt or blouse in a professional environment, or other item that you would be comfortable having people look at you in. Just remember, the thinner and better fitting your clothes, the more you can potentially layer on.
You can also consider layering in reverse, that is putting thicker layers on first with loose thinner clothing on top. Wearing a t-shirt over a long-sleeve shirt or a skirt over pants can give some extra life to your warm-weather clothing.
Tights are a nice thin layer to wear closer to your skin, and they can generally fit under anything. They can also give extra life to clothes you might not be able to wear otherwise, like ripped jeans.[3]
Add a vest or sweater. The main job of this layer is to help provide further insulation and trap heat. This will likely be a visible layer, so look for something that matches your shirts and other wardrobe. A wool sweater can also be a nice addition for a more professional environment.[4]
These layers should be made of natural fibers like goose down and wool. This includes nicer wool fabrics like cashmere and angora. These are thicker materials that provide heat while not being too heavy.
Vests help cover and keep your torso warm, and can be a nice layer underneath a peacoat or other cold weather jacket. Because they don't have any sleeves, you'll also be able to move your arms around more easily.[5]
Get a good winter coat. This is the one article of clothing you'll always want to have in colder weather, no matter how many layers you wear, so it's worth making an investment. There are many different types of winter coats out there, so you'll have plenty of options to find something that suits you. Look for something thick, but also roomy enough that you'll be able to layer underneath it.[6]
Look for different colors. If you are looking to stand out from the crowd, don't stick with a more traditional black. Instead, find something bright and colorful, which will stand out from the drab crowd.[7]
You can even layer coats. Make sure that the inner jacket is slimmer and tighter fitting to prevent bulk. The outer coat should be larger and roomier, to account for the extra layers underneath.[8]
Wear a hat. You lose a good deal of heat out of your head. Plus, it is also a sensitive part of the body, so you will really feel it when the temperature dips. Make sure you have something to keep your head warm and protect from the wind.
One good piece of headgear for style is a beanie. It covers your ears and the top of your head, while also keeping your face open for people to see. It's hard to feel stylish when no one can see your face.[9]
Keep your hands warm. You don't want to keep your hands stuffed into your pockets at the only way to keep warm. Instead, keep them out by covering them with gloves or mittens. Either one can work, but are better for different situations. Mittens will keep your hands warmer because they hold your fingers together in a single pouch. On the other hand, gloves give you more freedom to move and use your fingers.[10]
Whichever you chose, you can always give your hands an extra boost with small hand warmers.
Like other outer layers, waterproof mittens or gloves are best, especially if you will be dealing with rain or snow. Dry hands are easier to keep warm.
Cover up the obvious holes in your wardrobe. Don't just think about large areas of exposed skin like your arms, legs, or neck. Consider the parts of your body where your regular layers end, like your neck and wrists. Look for clothing that is a bit longer to cover up more exposed areas.[11]
Wearing a scarf is a great and stylish way to keep your neck warm. A colorful or interesting pattern can help you stand out, and it doesn't need to match the rest of your wardrobe in the same way. Don't forget that there are a variety of ways to tie your scarf to vary your look, even with the same scarf.[12]
Get the right shoes. Your footwear should have some kind of tread. Winter is the season for ice, snow, and slush, and there is nothing stylish about slipping as you walk along. Boots are also thicker, and will help trap heat around your feet and ankles.[13]
For women, consider higher boots that come further up your legs. The extra coverage will give you the freedom to consider a shorter skirt, and provide a slightly different look than rain or snow boots.[14]
If you won't be trudging through snow, you could still wear flats in winter as long as they have a good bottom grip. You should also protect your legs by pairing them with tights, tall socks, or jeans.
Warmth is the most important thing. People will be willing to make excuses for slightly unstylish clothes, but you can't explain away shivering.
Before you begin piling on the layers, do some simple exercises to get moving. The extra blood flow will keep you warmer a little longer. If you don't have the space to move around much, or are wearing nicer clothes that you can't really exercise in, putting your coat on for a few minutes before going out into the cold will help trap extra heat.
People with a Type A personality are thought of as competitive and urgent, and as people who tend to crave perfection. Some psychologists consider the Type A/Type B dichotomy to be less of a personality trait and more of a way to describe strategies for handling stress. If you are someone who knows you tend toward Type A stress management, it can be difficult to find a way out of negative patterns. By taking a hint from some Type B strategies and finding ways to calm yourself down under pressure and in your daily life, you can relieve some of the stress that weighs you down.
Put failures and anxieties into context. As a Type A personality, it can be easy to get stuck on momentary feelings of failure, regret, and worry about the future. When these feelings start to overcome you, try to think of them on a bigger scale by thinking about how there are always factors that are outside of your control.[1]
One of the defining features of a Type A personality is a focus on details at the expense of the bigger picture, which can put a lot of stress on you.
For stressors that seem all-consuming, like being stuck in traffic on the way to a meeting or losing a big project at work, try putting them on a scale of time, asking yourself if the issue will seem so important in a week, in a year, or even in a decade or two.
Redefine what success looks like in terms of your tasks and goals. Many Type A personalities have a sense of perfectionism that tries to quarantine their work into two boxes of strictly "Success" and "Failure." Instead of getting stuck on worrying about failure, focus on new ideas of what success can mean in your life and work, on both a small and large scale.[2]
Try to think of situations in the context of your life right now. Ask yourself if something is the best you could do here and now, in the situation that you are in, rather than imagining a perfect world.
For example, if you feel like you can't finish a task as well as you want to, ask yourself if the work you've done is acceptable for the resources and time you have available.
Think positive thoughts about yourself. In order to avoid spiraling into negative thought patterns, you'll need to rephrase your internal monologue when you get down on yourself. For Type A personalities, drowning out your inner critic can be a challenge, but try repeating affirmations about yourself that reinforce your self-worth.[3]
Some ways to try positive self-talk include focusing on your accomplishments, praising yourself for your strengths, and forgiving yourself for your mistakes.
Examples of things you can say to yourself include, "I am capable of doing this," "My worth isn't defined by my ability to do this," and "I'm not a bad person for messing that up, I'll try again and get better."
Build a growth mindset by believing in your ability to improve. One way to move past stress is to change your perspective from the ground up. Try to build one that doesn't get held back by labels or past mistakes, often called a "growth mindset." Start to view yourself as someone capable of improving and growing, rather than "a failure" or "a success."[4]
As you build up a growth mindset, you may find yourself feeling better about the challenges life throws at you.
You might try responding to your own black-and-white thinking with phrases like, "No, I'm not a failure, but I'm not a success either. I am me, and I can always get better."
Focus on your breath. If you find yourself in a particularly stressful situation, one of the best ways to address it is to pay attention to your breathing and try to slow it down. One technique that is used by professionals like paramedics and firefighters is to breathe in for 4 seconds, hold your breath for 4 seconds, and then hold your exhale for 4 seconds.[5]
This breathing method will kickstart your body's natural relaxation response.
Ground yourself in your body by tensing and relaxing muscle groups. Starting with your shoulders, feel any discomfort in your body and tense up your muscles, releasing them after about 5 seconds. As you move through your body, tensing and releasing muscles, you will be simultaneously releasing tension and helping ground your mind in your body.[6]
Walk around the office or the block. Going for a walk will relax you as it shifts your attention from a stressful situation. Walks also make good opportunities to focus on breathing and your body. If you are stressed by an interaction with someone, a walk allows you to take a break and come back feeling refreshed.[7]
A walk is also a great time to check in with yourself about your priorities and to identify what is causing you the most stress.
Repeat a calming word or phrase out loud or in your head. Quiet repetition is often soothing, and by repeating an uplifting or reassuring thought, you may start to feel more capable and strong. Find a word or phrase that is simple and clear, but still inspires you to feel confident, like "I can do this," or "this feeling will pass."[8]
Practice a relaxing activity like yoga, tai chi, qigong, or meditation. Starting a regular practice that helps you center yourself and focus on calming racing thoughts can make it easier to cope with the stresses of perfectionism and deadlines. Try using meditation videos or apps to get the hang of quieting your mind, and consider attending classes on yoga, tai chi, or qigong.[9]
Grounding yourself in your body is a good way to help reduce the stress of getting caught up in your head.
Set aside time to do something you love without distraction. Spend 30 minutes or an hour each day reading, exercising, gardening, or anything else that brings you joy with anything that stresses you out turned off or put away. Taking time to enjoy an activity without anything getting in the way will help create quality time with yourself that will relieve stress and help keep it away..[10]
Some examples of things to put away are devices that can give you notifications, especially work gadgets and smartphones, and keeping things like school materials out of sight.
You might also start to grow more confident that you can take breaks without the world crashing down.
Keep a journal to feel more in control of your emotions. Filling a journal full of daily entries, drawings, and scribblings can give you an opportunity to feel more control over your emotions and your reactions to things in your daily life. Writing is a powerful way to change your perspective too, since you can catch yourself writing negative thoughts and try to reframe them.[11]
Trying to express your feelings in a creative way will also help you gain insight into the thoughts and feelings you have, which can make you more in touch throughout the day.
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B.Sc.(BIOTECHNOLOGY) (2008) EXAM.- OCTOBER 2019
