About the authorCarlos VolcanoShare the loveHave your say Marchisio backing Juventus to win Champions Leagueby Carlos Volcano9 months agoSend to a friendShare the loveClaudio Marchisio is backing Juventus to win the Champions League this season.The midfielder left Juve for Zenit St Petersburg earlier this term.Marchisio said, “I hope this is Juve’s year for the Champions League because it would mark the end of an unstoppable cycle for them, especially for those who have been there since the first Scudetto but also for the great work everyone’s doing, from the club to the staff.“I think they deserve it, but they know that, even if they have a better chance now than in previous seasons, it’s always very difficult.“Racism is a big problem and I understand foreign players playing in Italy very well, but I’d try to be even stronger and keep playing so the idiots aren’t given any attention.” 
9 months agoMarchisio backing Juventus to win Champions League9 months agoMarchisio backing Juventus to win Champions League
October 28, 2019October 28, 2019
EAST LANSING, MI – SEPTEMBER 23: Head coach Brian Kelly of the Notre Dame Fighting Irish watches the warm ups prior to the start of the game against the Michigan State Spartans at Spartan Stadium on September 23, 2017 in East Lansing, Michigan. (Photo by Leon Halip/Getty Images)ESPN and the ACC are launching the ACC Network ahead of next football season, and the league is ready to leverage its Notre Dame affiliation to aid the new channel.Notre Dame is on ESPN right now, facing Clemson in the College Football Playoff semifinal at the Cotton Bowl.Any Notre Dame game is certain to draw a strong rating. There’s a reason for the team’s lucrative deal with NBC for its home games.As part of its arrangement with the ACC, Notre Dame plays five league opponents per year, while maintaining its technical football independence.Next year, the Fighting Irish open at Louisville, and host Virginia, Virginia Tech, and rival Boston College.On November 9, Brian Kelly’s club travels down to Duke.Moments before the Notre Dame football game against Clemson, ESPN announced that the game at Duke will be on ACC Network.From the ACCN Twitter account:Mark your calendars! On November 9, @NDFootball vs. @DukeFOOTBALL will air exclusively on ACC Network. pic.twitter.com/vROGdf2OSJ— ACCN (@accnetwork) December 29, 2018Conference networks have been something of a mixed bag for college leagues. The Big Ten and SEC have done well, but the Pac-12 Network is a disaster, and ESPN’s Longhorn Network partnership with Texas is barely relevant.There are concerns about the ACC Network, as many of the fan bases aren’t as die hard as those in the Big Ten and SEC, but landing even one Notre Dame road game per year will be huge if the ACCN can do it consistently.
The Jamaica Fire Brigade (JFB) has resuscitated the ‘Adopt a Fire Hydrant’ programme, which seeks to involve citizens in the care and maintenance of hydrants within their communities.Public Relations Officer for the JFB, Emilio Ebanks, told JIS News that the programme was instituted in 2003, however, not enough communities, clubs, or groups took up the challenge.According to Mr. Ebanks, “it is everyone’s responsibility to make sure that the fire hydrants are kept in working condition and that they are not abused, by making reports to the Jamaica Fire Brigade as soon as an incident occurs.”He also said that persons have abused hydrants by knocking them down, parking in front of them, and by even inserting garbage into the hydrant pillars.“We sometimes have a task of clearing the fire hydrants of garbage that is stuck in the hydrants, from juice and food boxes to bun and cheese wrappers, name it, we have seen it in fire hydrants,” Mr. Ebanks shared.He is also reminding motorists that vehicles must be at least 10 metres clear of a hydrant. He said that fire fighters have responded to emergencies in communities and have been unable to access the hydrants because vehicles are parked in front of them.Mr. Ebanks told JIS News that each fire hydrant cost at least $100,000 in addition to costs associated with maintaining them.“That is a chunk out of tax-payers money, so it is very important for us to take care of them,” he said. Persons have abused hydrants by knocking them down JFB has resuscitated the ‘Adopt a Fire Hydrant’ programme The programme was instituted in 2003 but was undersuscribed Story Highlights
TORONTO – There’s growing chatter in North America about adopting right-to-disconnect laws to free workers from being tethered to their phones around the clock, but some labour experts say that while the digital demands of work in the 21st century need to be openly discussed, rigid regulations and fines may not be the solution.Last week, a New York councilman proposed making it illegal to force employees to access “work-related electronic communications” from home, with some exceptions including emergency situations. Companies would have to draft written policies spelling out the hours of work and time off, and employers would not be allowed to threaten penalties against anyone who refused to check their email or work-related social networks off-hours.Quebec Solidaire’s Gabriel Nadeau-Dubois also tabled a private member’s bill in the Quebec national assembly last week that aims to “ensure that employee rest periods are respected by requiring employers to adopt an after-hours disconnection policy.” The proposal calls for fines between $1,000 to $30,000 for companies that refuse to draft a proper policy, or reassess it annually to ensure it remains up to date and effective.“For my parents’ generation, when you were leaving the office, you were actually leaving the office,” Nadeau-Dubois, 27, said last week. “It’s not true for my generation anymore. When you leave work, you still have to work because you have emails from your boss or colleague. The separation between professional life and private life is disappearing.”The federal government has also signalled its interest in exploring the right-to-disconnect trend, which made headlines last year when France enacted its own legislation to help protect the free time of its workforce.As part of its public consultation earlier this year on how “labour standards should be updated to better reflect and respond to the new reality” of evolving workplaces, Employment and Social Development Canada released an online survey that included several questions about right-to-disconnect policies. One of the questions asked whether right-to-disconnect regulations should be one of the government’s “most important” labour issues.“It’s always a good thing for parties to discuss their working conditions together,” says labour and employment lawyer Katherine Poirier, but she cautions that “over-regulating and imposing fines for employers is not always the right way to solve a situation.”“The problem is there is no cookie-cutter solution in this area,” says Poirier, a partner with Borden Ladner Gervais LLP.“Implementing a policy and having to respect it is good, because both parties will be able to discuss what’s agreeable according to their own area of activity. Whereas trying to implement legislation that will govern (all workers) single-handedly could lead to a nightmare.”In addition to the demands of their ever-growing email inbox, many employees are now also communicating within Slack, a social network for businesses that now boasts nine million weekly active users across 100 countries. It eschews the formality of email in favour of a looser instant-messaging style approach, a strategy that has not surprisingly also been pushed by Facebook with its fee-based Workplace service, used by corporate giants including Walmart, Starbucks and Heineken.Poirier expects many companies would argue that existing labour laws and court rulings already adequately protect employees from getting forced into working outside the office. She points to a 2005 Quebec Court of Appeal case that made “a very strong statement” that employees could not be compelled to extend their work day into their home.“(The court found) the human right to privacy and to the sanctity of the home may not allow an employer to force you to work from there,” Poirier says, “so the employer could contact you to schedule you, for example, but to force you to work from there would be an invasion of privacy.“That was before the social media and cellphone use we see now. We have seen a lot of grievances since then but not as precise as this. It’s going to be a very challenging issue in the future.”There are many business leaders who are cognizant of the “benefits of disconnecting” and aren’t opposed to discouraging emailing from home, says Julie McCarthy, a professor of organizational behaviour at the University of Toronto’s Rotman School of Management.“For many people they’re in a state of what we call ‘continuous partial attention’ where there’s so many things going on and we’re responding to so many things that we’re never completely just focused on one thing. This could be really detrimental to our well-being, our physical and emotional well-being, but also to our performance on the job,” says McCarthy.“If we have people who are at work but they’re experiencing exhaustion and potentially burnout, then they’re not really performing at levels that we might want to see. So it’s only in the organization’s best interests that they ensure that people are rejuvenated.”Social psychologist Elizabeth Dunn conducted a small-scale exploratory study out of the University of British Columbia that found people were less stressed when they were asked to check their email a few times a day versus being told to do so frequently.While she emphasized that more strenuous research would be needed to make any conclusive findings, she says “it does suggest that being constantly tethered to our technology during times when we’re trying to be with our friends and family does undermine some of the benefits we would otherwise derive from that sort of quality time.”But she’s also cautious about declaring that emailing outside work hours leads to a quantifiable amount of personal harm.“There’s not as much good rigorous research yet as one would ideally like to see documenting the extent of the sort of psychological and physical health consequences of using this technology.”
One of the more heated disputes between two mining companies in the past year has ended with a whisper as Barrick Gold and NovaGold decided it was time to bury the hatchet and work together to develop the Donlin Creek project in Alaska, according to a Mineweb report.A little more than a year ago, the two companies were slugging it out in dueling news conferences, takeover battles, in court and before Canadian regulators. On Thursday last week, however, NovaGold and Barrick announced they will form a 50-50 limited liability company to convert Donlin Creek into a project, the report said. While NovaGold has insisted for quite some time that Barrick would be unable to complete a feasibility study on Donlin Creek by a November 12 deadline, in reality, Barrick completed its work on the feasibility study last month.Barrick CEO Greg Wilkins told analysts during a conference call in August 2007 that the world’s largest gold miner wasn’t interested in boosting its former 30% interest in Donlin Creek if the project was not a decent project. NovaGold Vice President Doug Nicholson has been appointed the initial general manager of the Donlin Creek project until December 31, 2009. Wilkins said “Barrick and NovaGold will work together in a constructive manner, focusing on what’s best for the project. Resolving these disputes is in the best interests of all our stakeholders.”
Greek Orthodox Archdiocese Colleges from all over Australia converged on St George College in Adelaide last week to take part in the National Schools Event. The event saw over 380 students participate in not only sporting activities but also celebrate Greek language and culture. The students – from the colleges: St George, SA; Oakleigh Grammar, VIC; St Johns, VIC; St Euphemia, NSW; St Spyridon, NSW; St Andrew, WA; and St John, VIC – all gathered in this annual event that saw them showcase their Hellenism through all aspects of their education. On Thursday night, St George College held a special dinner in honour of all the participants who expressed their Greek culture on the night through poetry, song, dance and theatre. On Friday, an award ceremony was held for all participants, and medals were presented to all winners for their sporting prowess. Facebook Twitter: @NeosKosmos Instagram
A man was injured Monday evening when authorities said he left the scene of a rear-end accident and was hit by a car on Highway 99 at Northeast 99th Street, in front of the Walgreens. At 5:09 p.m., a Ford Ranger driven by Jose Funes Ramos, 30, of Vancouver collided with the back of a Chevy Suburban in the northbound lane, said Sgt. Chad Rothenberger of the Clark County Sheriff’s Office. Ramos’ passenger, Oscar Cruz-Ramirez, 29, of Vancouver went across the street into southbound traffic and was hit by a car. “He just walked right into a vehicle going southbound,” Rothenberger said. Cruz-Ramirez was transported to PeaceHealth Southwest Medical Center for what were described as non-life-threatening injuries. Funes Ramos was arrested on suspicion of driving while intoxicated.No one else was hurt in the accident, Rothenberger said.
Second Lady of the United States Karen Pence addressed the 2019 Defense Communities National Summit Tuesday afternoon with a speech that praised the contributions of military spouses and highlighted their employment challenges as they frequently move for service assignments.Below are a few highlighted quotes from Mrs. Pence’s speech:“First, I want to thank ADC for your support and commitment to our military families. You recognize the importance of coming along in support of our service members and their families. I’m also proud to be a new member of Blue Star Families, and as many of you know, our son now serves in the Marine Corps as a pilot and our daughter-in-law is now also a military spouse.”“Our appreciation of our military comes from spouses and families who make tremendous sacrifices without asking for much in return, all while exhibiting tremendous pride and determination. Military spouses are the backbone of our military services.”“According to a DOD study, military spouses experience an unemployment rate of 24%. Military spouses are loyal, hard-working and talented. If spouses aren’t happy, then we know service members will leave early. We want spouses to be fulfilled.”“We are seeing momentum building to hire military spouses, and there is now a national call to action to hire 100,000 spouses. Our spouses are ready, eager and willing to come alongside business to contribute and increase military spouse employment opportunities.”ADC photo by Will Noonan ADC AUTHOR
Mobile Phones 1:58 Now playing: Watch this: Comments Tags AT&T will double customers’ data when they activate a new line on its prepaid plan and sign up for auto-pay. Roberto Machado Noa/LightRocket via Getty Images) AT&T’s latest deal aims to entice new customers with double the data. Starting Friday, the mobile carrier will increase customers’ high-speed data from 8GB to 16GB when they activate a new line on AT&T’s monthly $50 prepaid plan and sign up for auto-pay, which drops the price to $40 a month. The plan also includes unlimited talk, text and data usage in Mexico and Canada, AT&T said, as well as unlimited calling from the US to Mexico and Canada. The offer ends July 11. It’s the carrier’s latest promotion as it races with rivals to launch 5G networks in the US. Earlier this week, AT&T expanded its 5G service to seven more cities. For now, it only works with the Netgear Nighthawk 5G mobile hotspot, since AT&T doesn’t offer 5G phones yet. AT&T says it’ll offer more 5G devices later this year, including the Samsung Galaxy S10 5G this spring.
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As you watch a video, have you ever wondered what’s happening beyond the camera frame? If you could jump inside the video and look around, you would have a 360-degree view of the world in your TV screen or computer monitor. Explore further Using virtual reality could make you a better person in real life A company based in Calgary, Alberta, called Immersive Media Corp. is trying to achieve exactly this type of immersive experience with a new camera and software technology. When watching a video filmed with the Immersive Viewer (IMViewer) system, users can control the scene, seamlessly moving the perspective up, down, sideways, or even behind the original frame. The technology is based on a Dodeca 2360 camera, which can record eleven image streams that are arranged in a geodesic geometry. The camera captures images at a resolution of more than 100 million pixels per second – significantly more than HDTV. The 20-pound camera also has four built-in microphones for simultaneous omni-directional audio recording. When recording, camera operators can check each individual lens to see what´s being recorded at every angle. Immersive Media’s software then turns the video files into “telemersion” files. A processor compresses, records, and synchronizes up to 12 channels at once. Then, the videos can be viewed on computer monitors, video screens, head-mounted displays, or projected onto a dome screen. When watching video on a computer monitor, viewers use the mouse to turn the viewing in any 360-degree direction (demos available at Immersive Media’s Web site). The viewing engine essentially blends camera image streams together in real time to make a movable window. With a head-mounted display, a viewer can see different angles simply by turning their head.To enhance the immersion experience, viewers can also “direct” the video by rewinding, pausing, speeding up, slowing down, or zooming in on certain areas. The technology is also compatible with GPS or other metadata, enabling viewers to determine the location they´e viewing.The software can also blend the entire 360-degree scene onto a single 2D screen, called a “sphere movie.” These sphere movies show the whole environment in motion at once, without having to direct the field of view. Sphere movies can be watched on standard software such as Quicktime or Windows Media Player, or recorded on DVDs. They’re also compatible with MPEG-2 and MPEG-4, and can be broadcast using HDTV-resolution channels.With another feature, viewers can watch three frames on a single screen: the controllable video, the full sphere movie (with crosshairs that correspond to where you are looking in the controllable frame), and a GPS frame telling you your location as you move. While Immersive’s camera technology was developed three years ago, it was originally used by the FBI to study street routes of visiting dignitaries for security purposes. More recently, Google Earth has used the technology to create its StreetView videos. Immersive also hopes to use the technology for applications such as urban planning, oil and gas resource management, emergency response and first responder operations, and commercial media.One notable company taking advantage of the technology is Adidas, which has featured videos incorporating the immersion capability on its Web site. Viewers can zoom in on their favorite basketball players and replay scenes to see reaction shots – in short, experiencing the event with a personal perspective.More information: Immersive Media Demos Citation: Jump into the screen with 360-degree immersive video (2008, February 27) retrieved 18 August 2019 from https://phys.org/news/2008-02-screen-degree-immersive-video.html Immersive Media´s Dodeca 2360 camera. This document is subject to copyright. Apart from any fair dealing for the purpose of private study or research, no part may be reproduced without the written permission. The content is provided for information purposes only.
Travelweek Group Five new preferred partners join Ensemble’s growing network NEW YORK — Ensemble Travel Group has announced a new round of preferred partners in two key land categories: On Location and Specialty Supplier.The Group formally welcomes four On Location partners to its portfolio: Family Twist, Leonidas Travel, Revealed America, and Reykjavik Excursions. Specialty supplier Shore Excursions Group has also been added.“One of the ways we strengthen our members’ book of business is through ongoing partner evaluation and expansion, not just in terms of destination but also in area of specialty,” said Suzanne Hall, senior director, supplier partnerships-Luxury Hotels & Resorts, DMC and Tour Operations. “It is extremely important to provide our agency members with the right balance of experience-based experts within our portfolio, whether for land- or cruise-based programs.”Here is a brief introduction of each of the new partners:Family TwistSpecializes in private luxury family vacations and activities in 11 European destinations. It organizes accommodations, transportation and activities for families, as well as offers more than 40 à la carte activities for all ages. Other services include skip-the-line tickets for city attractions, recommendations for family-friendly restaurants, English-speaking babysitters, and cars fitted with necessary safety equipment for families.More news: Universal enhances popular Harry Potter vacation package with new perksLeonidas TravelSpecializes in Croatia and the surrounding countries of Slovenia, Montenegro and Hercegovina. The On Location partner offers FITs, shore excursions, villa renting and yacht chartering. Cellphones are provided to all clients as an added support feature.Revealed AmericaDesigns and operates upscale custom tours in and around more than 50 national parks, monuments and sightseeing adventures in the western United States. Services include: upscale best-in-class accommodations; privately guided activities by air, 4-wheel vehicle, raft/kayak, balloon, horseback and on foot; local experts in geology, wildlife, art and more; and special access to historical, archaeological and Native American sites. Moreover, 1% of all revenues are donated to youth in National Parks programs.Reykjavik ExcursionsOffers a range of motorcoach tours and services for individuals and groups, focusing on budget travellers. Services include day excursions, ‘Iceland on Your Own’ for the FIT market, and hop-on/hop-off sightseeing bus service. The company celebrates its 50th anniversary in 2018.More news: Apply now for AQSC’s agent cruise ratesShore Excursions GroupThis popular independent excursion provider caters to individual, small group and large group cruise passengers in port destinations around the world. Clients can choose from numerous options, including scenic, cultural, active and city tours.For more information go to joinensemble.com. Posted by Tags: Ensemble Travel Group
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The woman charged with corralling the world’s leaders to come up with a clear plan for saving the planet took to the popular social network Reddit on Wednesday to answer questions about climate change and the upcomingParis climate talks.Christiana Figueres, daughter of Costa Rica’s revolutionary leader and three-time president, José “Pepe” Figueres, is executive secretary of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. She has spent the last five years trying to get U.N. member states closer to an agreement on averting climate disaster.Before that, she was part of Costa Rica’s climate negotiating team before the U.N.Her diplomatic work has gone into overdrive this past year in the run-up to the Paris climate conference in December, known as COP21. The U.N. has set a goal of preventing global temperatures from rising by more than 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 Fahrenheit). But Figueres has already said that goal will not be met based on the pledges offered thus far, called Intended Nationally Determined Contributions, or INDCs, by the U.N. climate change convention’s 196 parties.Still, she said Wednesday that she’s optimistic about success at the Paris summit.“We have so much momentum going into this conference from the past 5 years of progress in the negotiations and from the businesses, investors, cities and regions that are already engaged in climate action,” she wrote on Reddit during her Ask Me Anything session. “The greatest barrier to success will be in the details – how the interests of all countries will be reflected in the final text and decisions. Also, finance and technical support for the transition in developing countries will be a big challenge.”Here’s how Figueres answered other questions posed by Reddit users, including The Tico Times (some questions have been shortened for brevity and edited for spelling and style): What role can/should Latin America, and esp. your home country Costa Rica, play in fighting climate change?Given its extremely clean energy generation, Costa Rica is one of the world’s lowest emitters. However, that has not stopped Costa Rica from assuming its responsibility to identify the mitigation contribution it can make in addition to identifying the urgent adaptation measures it must take. What can Latin America do? Do you want 5 pages on that? But bottom line, every country can and must contribute in the way that makes the most sense to them given their natural resource base, geographic location, emission reduction potential and vulnerability.More and more the world is recognizing that maybe the 2 degree goal is not something that’s going to be achieved out of the Paris agreement. Given the purpose of Paris and previous COP [Conference of the Parties] meetings was to achieve this 2 degree goal to prevent catastrophic climate change, what hope do you see in the world?I have been pellucidly clear that the agreement in Paris is not going to reach a 2 degree limit on temperature rise as though that were something we can take off a magical shelf and put on the table. I have been equally clear that getting us on to the 2 degree pathway is entirely possible. This is why the Paris agreement will have two very important components with regard to emission reductions: First, it will harness all the national climate change plans which as a group, if fully implemented, already substantially reduce the BAU [business-as-usual] growth in emissions. Second, in recognition that this first set of INDCs is a departure point and not a destination, the Paris agreement will construct a path of ever-increasing emission reductions with periodic checkpoints of progress until we get to the 2 degree pathway. Despite the ocean’s critical role in regulating climate — and providing food security and livelihoods for millions of people — international climate negotiations have only minimally considered impacts on the ocean. Will fisheries and the ocean take a back seat to forestry and overall emissions in Paris?The Climate Change Convention is structured based on emissions of greenhouse gasses within national territories. Despite the fact that oceans are being directly affected by rising temperatures, they are not included in the Convention or in the negotiations due to their trans-boundary nature. This does not mean we can forget about the oceans. I permanently carry a blue marble with me everywhere I go to remind me of the oceans. In your opinion, what are the chances that the upcoming deal legally recognizes climate refugees?If we do not do our job properly, we will have painful situations of forced migration. Perhaps to a scale we cannot even imagine. That is precisely why it is so urgent that we agree on a path to reduce global emissions within the boundaries of science.See also: The Guardian names Costa Rican journalist among ‘young climate campaigners to watch’ ahead of Paris 2015 Costa Rica’s Christiana Figueres: “I permanently carry a blue marble with me everywhere I go to remind me of the oceans.” (Courtesy Avi Kapfer/MarViva Foundation)Based on your experience speaking with representatives of other nations, what kinds of public actions tend to influence their decisions? Do they cite public opinion as a pretext for inaction or the necessity of more aggressive action?As an individual you can first be aware of your own climate footprint, reduce as much as possible and then offset emissions so you can be an example of climate neutrality now. You can also use the power of your vote to support political leaders who are on the right side of history. And finally, you can use your wallet to send clear messages that the goods and services you want have to be low-carbon.What are your opinions on the presence and role of civil society observers at the COP? What will the secretariat be doing in Paris to ensure transparency and inclusion of observers in the negotiations?The role of civil society in continuing to encourage ambition expressed in both environmental integrity and social fairness is critical to all our negotiations. At the same time, the UNFCCC is an intergovernmental treaty body designed for the purpose of governments reaching common ground with each other. Over the past 5 years, we have consistently increased the transparency of the intergovernmental process by providing constant and timely information about the proceedings on our website and by encouraging frequent and open stocktaking plenaries. We have also not only allowed but frankly even supported actions on the part of civil society representatives as long as they stay within the agreed rules of conduct.The U.N. seems to have put a lot of emphasis on the presence of youth, but once at the negotiations, the youth are pretty universally ignored in the process. What can the international community do in Paris to include youth as more than just tokens?In my experience, the most powerful influence of young people or any other member of civil society takes place on a 1-to-1 basis in direct conversations with government delegates. Furthermore, that voice is more listened to when it is deeply informed of the issues at hand, when it is well reasoned and when it reaches beyond current comfort but does not venture into the unattainable. Do you consider the agreement of France, UK and China of last week to cooperate in nuclear energy a favorable development, given that it cuts back renewable energies in the UK and locks in a nuclear energy future?The use of nuclear energy is a decision that is and remains a sovereign responsibility of each country. It is clearly a non-GHG emitting source, however in its use every country will have to consider the other potential consequences as well as the rising cost of additional safety measures that have now been proven to be necessary. Can you comment on the role of cities in leading climate change adaptation and mitigation? Where should urban planning focus in the future?The expansion of urbanization and growth of cities in the future is well known. What is less understood is how we can plan and develop cities that are more organically grown and lived in than built and operated. If we look at future cities from the atmosphere’s perspective lived-in gardens, not expansive Lego-scapes.What advice would you give to young people who want to in the future work towards building a greener tomorrow? I am a physics student who is currently performing my undergraduate research which is on concentrated solar power, but it’s hard to know what else I can be doing to further the cause for renewable energy.You are totally in the right field! CSP is very promising, but as you know still needs a way to go to bring down costs and expand deployment. Please do continue your research and take a leadership role in increasing renewable energy around the world. Do you ever get depressed about our collective failure thus far to take serious measures to halt and/or reverse climate change? If so, what do you do to cheer yourself up?I don’t get depressed but I do get frustrated with the pace of progress. I stay focused because of my daughters and all the sons and daughters to come.Do you struggle with your lifestyle knowing that you are a contributor to climate change? What about your colleagues, how does this affect your ability to work?Yes I am very conscious that I am personally a high emitter given the air travel that I have to do for my job. It does seem in congruous to be fully aware of the need to reduce emissions and yet for the time being be such a high emitter myself. As long as I have the responsibilities that I do, I have to incur these emissions but that will not be my lifestyle forever. In the meantime, in order to be climate neutral and support mitigation and adaptation projects in developing countries, I have purchased Certified Emissions Reductions from the Adaptation Fund using the Climate Neutral Now program and I encourage everyone to do the same, as well as making low-emission lifestyle choices.—Here are some questions Figueres didn’t answer:For you what is the ultimate success point of COP21? And if the parties fail to meet that point, what will be the political and economic impacts of this failure on future of climate politics?Do you have a mantra you say to yourself before you are scheduled to speak to a denier so that you remain calm and professional and not say to them what you really want to say (or scream!)?Ocean warming, acidification, sea-level rise, and the expansion of oxygen minimum zones will continue to have distinct impacts on marine communities and ecosystems, how can the fishing industry make strides to reduce their carbon footprint?What safeguards for indigenous peoples’ territories and ways of life are being considered in the upcoming negotiations?You highlight population as a leading issue for tackling climate change. And you go on to say we should “make every effort to change those numbers.” What does it mean to “make every effort to change those numbers”? How would you suggest the U.N. curtail the growth of population? How would you plan to reduce the current population of the world? What are “acceptable” numbers of humans in your eyes? Related posts:Mexico sets greenhouse gas target for UN climate talks A Paris climate change talks primer for Costa Rica Whales under threat as climate change impacts migration Costa Rica’s Christiana Figueres honored for UN climate work Facebook Comments
SAO PAULO (AP) – Brazil is celebrating its own version of Valentine’s Day, and in Sao Paulo that means flowers, chocolates and candle-lit dinners surrounded by police.Sao Paulo has seen a rash of armed stick-ups of high-end restaurants in rich neighborhoods, during which diners are robbed en masse. There have been at least 18 such robberies this year in the richest areas of the city.They’ve happened in some of the best-known establishments, including Carlota, a favorite restaurant of former President Henrique Cardoso. Quick workouts for men A group of restaurant owners met with Sao Paulo state Governor Geraldo Alckmin to plead for increased patrols on Tuesday, when Brazil celebrates its Valentine’s Day.The result: Nearly 400 police are on patrol near chic eateries to protect lovers from cash-hungry bandits.(Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.) Sponsored Stories Meghan McCain to release audiobook on conservatism, family Think Tank analyzes the second round of Democratic debates More Valley freeways to be closed this weekend for improvements
Comments Share Top holiday drink recipes 3 international destinations to visit in 2019 New high school in Mesa lets students pick career paths Top Stories 
by Lindsey Bahr, The Associated Press Posted Jun 5, 2019 6:19 am PDT Q&A: ‘Late Night’ power duo Emma Thompson and Mindy Kaling This image released by Amazon Studios shows Mindy Kaling in a scene from “Late Night.” (Emily Aragones/Amazon Studios via AP) AddThis Sharing ButtonsShare to TwitterTwitterShare to FacebookFacebookShare to RedditRedditShare to 電子郵件Email LOS ANGELES — “Late Night ,” a new comedy from Mindy Kaling, establishes itself as a fantasy from the outset. It’s about a veteran late night talk show host who is a woman, after all.Emma Thompson plays said host, Katherine Newbury, who decides to allow the hire of a very green, but very eager newcomer, Molly (Kaling) to her all white and male writing staff. It scored a record acquisition at the Sundance Film Festival earlier this year and opens in select theatres Friday and nationwide June 14.The Associated Press spoke to Kaling and Thompson about the film, which explores serious issues like gender bias, “diversity hires” and the grueling demands of late night with enjoyable comedy drawn from real-life stories of difficult TV bosses. Remarks have been edited for clarity and brevity.AP: Why did you choose the setting of late night talk shows?KALING: I’ve always been intrigued by late night TV. I write for scripted half hour shows which you’d think would be so similar that I would know this world, but it really is its own beast. It’s very tied to New York City, it’s a very masculine environment and the level of hyper competition in these shows both between the different hosts but also between writers on staff is so different than what I’m used to. I loved shining a light on a world that has historically not employed women. It was very easy to research because almost all of my friends have been fired from a late night talk show. There are so many great disgruntled stories of impossible hosts and mean bosses.AP: And you wrote the part of Katherine specifically for Emma, having never met her.KALING: It must be strange to be approached by someone who lives half the world away and is thinking about you to the degree that they created a story for you to star in.THOMPSON: It’s not strange to write with someone in mind. I write with people in mind.KALING: But it is a bad idea to write when there is only one person who can play the part. That is the worst thing to do. I didn’t even know. You could be in the throes of an acrimonious divorce. You could be an alcoholic. You could have been unable to leave England legally to act for some drug-related reason.AP: Is it difficult to believe when someone says that they’ve written something for you?THOMPSON: It doesn’t happen very often. The only other times it’s happened I’ve always been an elderly archaeologist or geography teacher or someone developing dementia or Alzheimer’s or someone whose spouse has died horribly and I’ve got to deal with it. So interestingly, yeah, this is the first time someone has said I’ve wrote you something, and not only is it funny but also incredibly smart and irresistible.AP: Mindy, you’ve been both the boss and the newcomer in your career. Did you draw on that while writing?KALING: This movie was so enjoyable because I identify so much with both of the characters. I remember vividly what it’s like to be the new person in the room, the only minority, like it was yesterday, even though it was 15 years ago. I also remember distinctly being the star and the showrunner of a show that I’ve been doing for 117 episodes and I’m impatient and grouchy and I’m paid a little bit too much and everyone is telling me yes all the time and I myself have a temper.AP: Katherine is not a stock villain who hates other women. It just seems like it’s never occurred to her that she might benefit from a diverse staff.THOMPSON: It hasn’t occurred to her because she’s followed the patriarchy mould like the rest of us. You know, she’s a normal human being. What choice did she have? She wasn’t brought up in an unusual matriarchy on a small island off of America and then (said), “Hang on a minute, why are there no women in positions of power? This isn’t like this where I’m from.” She has grown up the way I did seeing everything through men’s eyes.AP: Why do you think there is still that bias against women in late night?KALING: I think there’s historically been a feeling that late night is based on hard jokes: Set up, punchline, of daily news. And I think there’s been a bias that women can’t write those kinds of jokes. The truth is there are fewer women who are interested in it because there are almost no women who do it. So now, little by little on shows like Colbert and Jimmy Fallon, they are hiring more women. And that’s great but they need to be trained and younger women need to see that these women can succeed in these jobs.THOMPSON: And have you noticed on almost all late night talk shows, the band is almost exclusively male.KALING: REALLY?AP: This was going to be a studio movie but ultimately went the independent route with a Sundance premiere and everything. Why did you choose that path?KALING: Because Fox2000 gave me the movie back, they didn’t want to make it. And now they’re not a company. I’m not saying there’s a correlation, but that’s the truth. It was supposed to be a big, glossy New York City movie, and then the company who was going to make it like that gave it back to me. They lost faith in it. And so it was an indie movie. To make a movie like this in 25 days with $11 million is extremely hard.___Follow AP Film Writer Lindsey Bahr on Twitter: www.twitter.com/ldbahrLindsey Bahr, The Associated Press
A new Eurostat report shows 44.6 per cent of farm managers in Cyprus are 65 years and older. Just 3.3 per cent are under 40. The country also has an extremely high number of small farms under five hectares, 89.6 per cent.The legislative proposal for the common agricultural policy (CAP) from 2021 to 2027 will bring changes for all Europeans, including Cypriots, and though the European Commission says the changes are for the better, it remains to be seen if this is true for all countries.European Commissioner for Agriculture and Rural Development Phil Hogan is planning to sit down with ministers of island nations Cyprus and Malta to discuss the legislative proposal for the new common agricultural policy for 2021 to 2027, as they are special cases because of their small farm size, and simpler procedures than in other countries can be implemented.EU farmers have long complained about heavy paperwork and complexities that prevent them from implementing the actual objectives of the policy. Hogan said the new delivery model was a significant step in the continued pursuit of greater simplification.The new common agricultural policy after 2020 gives member states a greater flexibility on how to use their funding allocation, allowing them to design programmes tailored to their specific situation, rather than the European Commission deciding what should be done, Hogan explained.Instead of policing, the commission will give members more freedom, a solution which is more modern and less complex, he said.Not everybody agrees. BirdLife Cyprus believes such an approach is a disaster for Cyprus’.“This is more relaxed, which it shouldn’t be,” Martin Hellicar from the NGO said. “The top down approach is a good one. The commission should insist that the nature directive is followed.”BirdLife Europe agrees. “The reform pins all its hopes to achieve EU objectives on wishful thinking, assuming that the member states will pursue public over vested interests. The last 20 years of CAP implementation suggests that when given the option, agricultural ministers tend to cave into the powerful intensive farming lobby,” they said.However, it is not a carte blanche, the commissioner said. “It allows for partial implementation approval and the commission can intervene.”Instead of policing, the commission will help the farmers to simplify, for example by helping to fill in application forms for funding and negotiating with banks to give them loans with low interest rates. The farmers will have ten days to check the documents.An increasing use of technology is meant to help. The commission is encouraging member states to use big data and new technologies for controls and monitoring (for example, verifying farm sizes for direct payment claims using satellite data), thus significantly reducing the need for on-the-spot controls.The rules so far have been too rigid, Hogan insists.A level playing-field amongst member states will be ensured through strategic plans covering the whole period, setting out how each member state intends to meet nine EU-wide economic, environmental and social objectives, using both direct payments and rural development. The commission will approve each plan to ensure consistency and the protection of the single market and will closely follow each country’s performance and progress towards the agreed targets.Each objective has three conditions which the farmers need to comply with. The economic part is to increase competitiveness, ensure fair income and rebalance the power in the food chain. Under the second condition, farmers should take climate change action, care for the environment and preserve landscapes and biodiversity. The social section includes support of a generational renewal, vibrant rural areas and the protection of food and health quality.The new rules place the ball firmly in the court of the member states. “They will not get money if they don’t meet the nine objectives,” the commissioner said.“The CAP remains at heart a policy designed to support European farmers and ensure Europe’s food security, while guaranteeing a resilient, sustainable and competitive agricultural sector, “ as they put it.BirdLife Cyprus does not agree with the economic objective, saying that the commission needs to concentrate solely on environment and social aspects.“What we need is radical reform: a clean break from the social and environmental disaster that is the old CAP and a shift to effective support for small farmers and an ‘ecological transition’ that rewards farmers for environmental delivery in the form of sustainable production and sustainable land management,” they said.“With evidence of ecological collapse in farmland mounting and as the biodiversity and climate crisis deepens, the need for today’s decision-makers to wake up to the environmental challenge staring them in the face has never been greater.”This may be more urgent than ever this year.In the short run, Cyprus will have to seek the support of the EU to find ways and means to help farmers in Cyprus who are struggling with water shortages to prevent them from abandoning the sector, Agriculture Minister Costas Kadis said on Sunday.The current drought means farmers will have extremely little water this year, but water from desalination plants mean households will be spared cuts.A priority is to save trees such as orange and olive trees and to supply water to greenhouses.Water for seasonal crops such as potatoes and other vegetables was only to be available until the start of the summer, after which no water from the reservoirs could be used for those crops.It remains to be seen how far Cyprus can come up with satisfying nine objectives under such conditions in future, whether they are environmental, economic or social, when the vital question of water overshadows everything and is likely to not only force young farmers to give up their work but most farmers.It has been suggested that the only way to keep them from abandoning farming is not to farm for the next year or two, but to just pay the farmers an amount to keep them on their land.“I do more for smaller farmers than ever,” Hogan stressed.But will it be enough for Cyprus under the new rules or will the nine objectives get in the way of receiving the support the country really needs? 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Northern Cyprus’ ‘foreign ministry’ on Monday lambasted Archbishop Chrysostomos for his ‘racist’ remarks when he admonished Greek Cypriots for crossing to the north to shop and to fly using Ercan (Tymbou) airport.In his Easter message, which might have been expected to be one of unity and concord coming from a church figure, Chrysostomos instead censured those Greek Cypriots who go to the north “not to visit churches and the graves of their ancestors, but to transact with the occupation, for fun, and to use the illegal airport.”The archbishop stopped short of calling these Greek Cypriots traitors.Reacting via a statement, the north’s ‘foreign ministry’ said such commentary smacks of “a mediaeval approach and mentality.”It urged the Greek Cypriot ‘administration’ to condemn remarks that tend to increase mistrust.The statement went on to express grief that the archbishop’s references “indicate clearly that there has not been the slightest improvement in the racist and primitive stance of the church.”In reality, the statement added, traffic and trade between the two communities are precisely what will serve to boost relations and cooperation, as well as economic interdependence, which is what Cyprus needs.Other than his commentary on politics, Chrysostomos also railed against what he sees as degenerate mores. He cited the introduction of legislation on abortions, gender choice and the cohabitation of same sex-persons.“It is obvious that these laws aim at destroying not only the religious but also the national component of our people,” the prelate said.On social media, Chrysostomos took flak for his views, as well as for the fact he omitted to make any mention of the number one issue on people’s minds these days – the Mitsero mine murders. You May LikePopularEverythingColorado Mom Adopted Two Children, Months Later She Learned Who They Really ArePopularEverythingUndoLivestlyChip And Joanna’s $18M Mansion Is Perfect, But It’s The Backyard Everyone Is Talking AboutLivestlyUndoModernizeIf Your Home Has Old Roofing, Read ThisModernizeUndo Concern over falling tourism numbersUndoPensioner dies after crash on Paphos-Polis roadUndoCypriot tycoon launches ‘Bank of Cannabis’Undoby Taboolaby Taboola