TORONTO – While stabilizing oil prices helped Canadian equities break out of their doldrums in the second half of 2017, investors expecting the Toronto Stock Exchange to catch up with its outperforming global peers in the new year should instead anticipate more modest returns with the add-on of greater market volatility.“Despite being flat in the early part of the year and then posting some gains here in the back half of the year, the swings in equity prices on the S&P/TSX composite index have been incredibly small by historical standards,” said Craig Fehr, a Canadian markets strategist with Edward Jones. “And so I think the first thing we can expect from the TSX is much bigger swings in prices, much more volatility on a daily and weekly basis.”“All that said, I think there’s still more gas left in the tank for this bull market,” he added, referencing the eight-plus years of global gains since the dark days of 2009 in the wake of the last recession. “I think we can see positive returns again in 2018. I would expect them to be relatively muted so … Canadian equities, domestic equities, still underperform international markets.”After hitting a record high of 15,922.67 on Feb. 21, the TSX steadily declined to a low of 14,951.88 by Aug. 21, down 2.2 per cent on the year at the time. A resurgence in oil — which saw crude prices rally from a 2017 low of US$42.53 per barrel on June 21 to a barrier-breaking high of US$60.42 on the final trading day of the year — sparked a surge in energy shares that saw the TSX complete its first of many record closes in the latter half of 2017. By Dec. 27 and Dec. 28, the TSX closed at consecutive record highs of 16,203.13 and 16,221.95, respectively. It finished 2017 at 16,209.13, ahead 921.54 points or about six per cent on the year.By comparison, Wall Street’s S&P 500 index — the American equivalent to the TSX — gained 434.78 points or about 19 per cent in 2017. The Dow Jones industrial average added 4,956.62 points or about 25 per cent, and the Nasdaq composite index gained 1,520.27 points or about 28 per cent.One the most dominant themes in equity markets in 2017 was the trend toward stability from cyclicality in an otherwise uncertain political and geopolitical backdrop, said Candice Bangsund, vice president and portfolio manager at Fiera Capital. This saw the more defensive U.S. equity markets, which are heavily weighted towards technological growth, thrive last year. Meanwhile, the cyclically-based Canadian equity markets made up primarily of financial, energy and materials sectors were largely underappreciated.While oil is a key influence on the commodity-heavy TSX, economist Todd Mattina of Mackenzie Investments said he expects it to remain range-bound around its current level of US$50 to US$60 a barrel going into the new year — a level that will not really help the index in a meaningful way.“The TSX has benefited in recent months because of the strong rally in oil prices. But there’s a number of uncertainties going into 2018 that also cloud the outlook,” he said. “One of them is how much further can oil prices rally? … To the extent that higher oil prices since September have supported gains in the TSX, a risk factor in 2018 is that oil prices could run into resistance if U.S. shale producers increase production at today’s higher price levels.”Still, oil only touches upon one of several possible risks for the TSX in 2018, Mattina added. “The oil price outlook is not the driver of our bearish view of Canadian stocks. We are underweight the Canadian stock market because valuations are not highly attractive relative to other major stock markets and our indicators of investor sentiment look bearish.”He said that in addition to the policy uncertainty around ongoing NAFTA renegotiations, another factor weighing on the TSX is the perennial concern about very high levels of Canadian household debt and how that will affect consumer spending in the forthcoming years. Statistics Canada reported in December that household credit market debt as a proportion of household disposable income increased to 171.1 per cent in the third quarter of 2017, up from 170.1 per cent in the second quarter. That means there was $1.71 in credit market debt, which includes consumer credit and mortgage and non-mortgage loans, for every dollar of household disposable income.While consumers were the dominant engine behind growth last year amid solid employment gains, Bangsund said she expects trade and business development to take the baton in 2018 as earlier fears of a U.S. and global economic slowdown have proven unfounded in 2017. That could see the cyclical segments of the market that favour Canadian equities regain leadership performance.“The TSX will be the main beneficiary if that scenario of stronger growth and rising commodity prices does continue into 2018 due to that cyclicality of the Canadian stock market,” she said.A 2018 global market outlook report by Russell Investments Canada Ltd. also supports higher Canadian equity prices due to late-cycle tailwinds while still cautioning that it also expects volatility to be higher over 2018 versus 2017 as markets start to consider the timing of the next recession. Given this uncertainty around the domestic equities, the Russell report concluded it’s “modestly positive on Canadian equities with a price target of 16,900 for year-end 2018 for the S&P/TSX composite index.”Should Canadian equity returns in 2018 mirror those of the prior 12 months, Fehr said investors should keep in mind that while that doesn’t stack up well against the juggernaut momentum seen in other global markets, they are still relatively healthy gains.“For the Canadian market by historical standards it’s certainly solid,” he said. “It’s underperformance but it’s positive performance, so it’s not terrible.”Follow @DaveHTO on Twitter.
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Tehran: Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif on Wednesday condemned the silence of US President Donald Trump’s administration on Saudi Arabia’s mass execution of 37 people convicted of terrorism. “After a wink at the dismembering of a journalist, not a whisper from the Trump administration when Saudi Arabia beheads 37 men in one day — even crucifying one two days after Easter,” Zarif said on Twitter. He was referring to the murder of prominent Saudi journalist and regime critic Jamal Khashoggi last year in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul. Also Read – Saudi Crown Prince ‘snubbed’ Pak PM, recalled jet from USThe 37 Saudi nationals were executed on Tuesday “for adopting terrorist and extremist thinking and for forming terrorist cells to corrupt and destabilise security”, according to the official Saudi Press Agency (SPA). It said one person was crucified after his execution, a punishment reserved for particularly serious crimes. Executions in the ultra-conservative oil-rich kingdom are usually carried out by beheading. Rights group Amnesty International, in a statement, said most of those executed were Shiite men “convicted after sham trials that violated international fair trial standards (and) which relied on confessions extracted through torture”. The rights watchdog said 11 of those executed were convicted of spying for Shiite majority Iran, while at least 14 others were sentenced in connection with anti-government protests between 2011 and 2012 in the Eastern Province where most of Saudi Arabia’s Shiite minority live. At least 100 people have been executed in Sunni-dominated Saudi Arabia since the start of the year, according to data released by SPA.
28 March 2008The United Nations’ top envoy for Chad and the Central African Republic (CAR) has consulted with CAR President François Bozizé on deployment of an innovative peacekeeping mission in the two countries, a UN spokesperson said today. The UN mission, known as MINURCAT, was set up by the Security Council last September to help protect civilians and facilitate humanitarian aid to thousands of people uprooted due to insecurity in the northeast of the CAR and eastern Chad and in the neighbouring Darfur region of Sudan.It is a multidimensional operation supported by European Union military forces and comprising 300 police and 50 military liaison officers, as well as civilian staff, focusing on the areas of civil affairs, human rights and the rule of law. Visiting CAR’s capital, Bangui, yesterday, Victor Da Silva Angelo, Special Representative of Secretary-General in Chad and the CAR, told President Bozizé that MINURCAT and the EU force are “twin sisters that are intimately linked by the nature of their work and are, in fact, complementary.” While the EU Force provides a security umbrella, he said, the UN Mission trains those tasked with protecting refugees and the internally displaced inside UN-run camps.Earlier this week, Mr. Angelo signed a status of mission agreement, setting up the legal basis for MINURCAT’s operations, with authorities in Chad.
Police were called to Woodhill road between 4th Concession and Highway 5.Police say that a car wound up in the ditch and that the driver was pronounced dead at the scene.Woodhill road was closed as the collision reconstruction unit investigated.No word on the cause of the crash.
Some 1,500 delegates from UN Member States, intergovernmental organizations, civil society, the private sector and the media are expected to attend the preparatory committee meeting for the two-phase World Summit on the Information Society – to be held in Geneva from 10 to 12 December and in Tunisia in 2005.Delegations will continue work on a draft Declaration of Principles and Plan of Action in order to harness the power of information and communication technologies as a tool for development and to create an information society that benefits all of humanity. Those two texts will be submitted for the approval of Heads of State attending the Summit in December.Issues under discussion during the preparatory process and at the Summit include global cyber-security, spam, universal and affordable access to new technologies, open source software, and information and communication technologies applications for e-health, e-learning, e-business, e-employment, e-environment and e-government.Meanwhile, delegations at the fifth meeting of the UN Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) Task Force recognized that education is key to achieving development, and endorsed its Global e-School and Community Initiative, aimed at bringing ICT solutions to secondary schools, as well as communities in the developing world.The UN’s key task force on technology and development ended its two-day session on Saturday at the Geneva headquarters of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO). Sarbuland Khan, the head of the Task Force secretariat, said “education unlocks the door to development, and is a prerequisite for achieving the other Millennium Development Goals.”
TORONTO – Toronto’s scorching real estate market continued to heat up last month, with sales hitting a record high even as prices continued to soar, the Toronto Real Estate Board said Thursday.“It just really seems to be a continuation of the entire year that we’ve seen,” said Shawn Zigelstein, a sales representative with Royal LePage Your Community Realty.“We’re not seeing a sign of any slowdown at this point.”There were 9,768 properties sold in October, up 11.5 per cent from the same month last year, according to the latest figures from the real estate board.That came as the average selling price for all types of homes rose to $762,975, a 21.1 per cent increase from a year ago.“From what we’re seeing from the lack of supply, it doesn’t shock me that average prices have jumped once again,” Zigelstein said.Rock-bottom interest rates have encouraged more buyers to step into the market and fight over the limited number of homes up for sale, Zigelstein said.Even though the number of new listings grew last month to 13,377 — up 0.9 per cent compared with October last year — the increase was not high enough to offset the rise in sales volume, according to TREB’s director of market analysis Jason Mercer.That made for an intensely competitive marketplace, said Zigelstein.“You’ve got a group of pent-up buyers that are sitting there waiting and waiting and waiting,” Zigelstein said.“Right now we’ve got a list of them. And basically as soon as something pops out in an area they go, ‘Okay, let’s go! We’re ready to go! We gotta go get this house.’”The growth in home sales and prices came the same month Finance Minister Bill Morneau announced stricter rules for mortgage lenders and foreign buyers in an effort to stabilize hot housing markets such as Toronto and Vancouver.The new measures require a stress test for all insured mortgages to ensure borrowers can still repay their loans in the event interest rates rise or their personal financial situations change. Before the change, stress tests had not been required for fixed-rate mortgages with terms of at least five years.“As we move through November and December, we will be watching the sales and listings trends closely, in light of the recent policy changes,” Toronto Real Estate Board president Larry Cerqua said in a statement.However, it could be several months before the full impact of the new rules is felt, Zigelstein said.The record-high sales were in contrast to Vancouver, where home sales dropped 38.8 per cent last month compared with a year ago, according to the Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver.The composite benchmark price for all residential properties in Metro Vancouver was $919,300 last month, down 0.8 per cent from September.Vancouver board president Dan Morrison said government interventions were partly behind the declines.In August, the B.C. government implemented a 15 per cent tax on foreigners buying homes in Metro Vancouver.Follow @alexposadzki on Twitter.Note to readers: This is a corrected story. An earlier version incorrectly stated that stress tests were not required for fixed-rate mortgages longer than five years. by Alexandra Posadzki, The Canadian Press Posted Nov 3, 2016 5:13 am MDT Last Updated Nov 3, 2016 at 2:20 pm MDT AddThis Sharing ButtonsShare to TwitterTwitterShare to FacebookFacebookShare to RedditRedditShare to 電子郵件Email A new townhouse complex is under construction in Toronto on Thursday, November 3, 2016. Home sales in the Greater Toronto Area hit a record high last month even as prices continued to soar, the Toronto Real Estate Board said Thursday.THE CANADIAN PRESS/Nathan Denette Home sales in Greater Toronto Area smash record, even as prices soar
It would have been close. Alex Gordon might have scored, particularly if he’d been in the mindset to do so all along. Or maybe not. I’m sure there will be Zapruder-film-type breakdowns, and I’ll look forward to seeing them. It would have been one hell of a moment: Gordon, 220 pounds, who looks like he could have been a strong safety at the University of Nebraska, bearing down on Buster Posey, the catcher whose season-ending injury in 2011 helped inspire baseball’s home-plate collisions rule.Your browser does not support iframes.Game 7 will leave us with that sense of what might have been. Partly because it involved the Kansas City Royals, who were making their first World Series appearance since 1985. But mostly I’m referring to that penultimate play: When Gordon hit what was officially scored as a single and wound up on third base because of defensive miscues by San Francisco Giants outfielders Gregor Blanco and Juan Perez. It seemed to take an eternity — it was actually just 13 seconds — but I was surprised that Gordon wasn’t rounding third base by the time the TV cameras returned to the infield.Here’s what I know: Gordon should have tried to score even if he was a heavy underdog to make it. It would have been the right move if he was safe even 30 percent of the time.Between 1969 and 1992 — I’m using this period because it better approximates baseball’s current run-scoring environment than the offensive bubble of the 1990s and aughts — a runner scored from third base with two outs about 27 percent of the time, according to the tables at Tangotiger.com. We should probably round that down a bit in this example. The Royals had Salvador Perez at the plate — a league-average hitter — and the light-hitting Mike Moustakas due up after that.More importantly, they were facing Madison Bumgarner. That Bumgarner had been so dominant in the World Series is not as relevant as you might think. There’s extremely little evidence for a “hot hand” in pitching: In-game performance tells you next to nothing about how the pitcher will fare in future at-bats. Instead, you should look toward longer-term averages. Still, I feel comfortable asserting that Bumgarner was an above-average pitcher at that moment: Certainly not the first guy you’d want to have on the mound if you were the opponent. So let’s round that 27 percent down to 25 percent.So, Gordon should have tried to score if he had even a 25 percent chance of being safe?It’s just a touch more complicated than that. With the Royals down 3-2, Gordon represented the tying run rather than the winning run. If he’s thrown out at home, the game’s over; it forecloses on the possibility of Perez scoring as the winning run, like with a walk-off homer. What was the probability of that? Perez homered in about 3 percent of his plate appearances this season, but he could also have scored in other ways — by doubling, for example, and then scoring on a base hit by Moustakas. We can turn to Tangotiger’s tables again, which suggest that a league-average batter has about a 6 percent chance (I’m rounding down slightly) of eventually scoring from home with two outs.So, after Gordon holds at third, he has a 25 percent chance of scoring. Six percent of the time, Perez (or pinch-runner Jarrod Dyson?) also scores, and the Royals win outright. The other 19 percent of the time, Gordon is the only Royal to score in the ninth and the game goes to extra innings. If we assume the Royals are even money to prevail in an extra-inning game, their chances of winning at that point are:6% + (19% * 50%)That works out to 15.5 percent. Not coincidentally, this matches FanGraphs’ in-game win probability for the Royals (after Gordon held at third) almost exactly.What if Gordon rounds third and tries to score? If he’s successful even 30 percent of the time, the Royals’ win probability is at least 15 percent — a 30 percent chance of Gordon scoring, multiplied by a 50 percent chance of the Royals winning in extra innings. But it’s slightly higher than that. The 30 percent of the time that Gordon scores, Perez still has his 6 percent chance of scoring the winning run in the ninth. That brings the Royals’ overall win probability up to about 16 percent.We’re splitting hairs. The point is that if even Gordon had been a 2-to-1 underdog to score, he should have tried.These decisions can be counterintuitive. Sometimes a strategy that’s successful less than 50 percent of the time — like splitting eights in blackjack — is still the right move because the alternative is even worse. In this case, the alternative involved trying to score against Bumgarner with your catcher at the plate and two outs, and then having to prevail in extra innings.It would have made for one of the best plays in baseball history. We’re talking about the tying run with two outs in the bottom of the ninth inning in Game 7 of the World Series: Even a sacrifice fly can be thrilling under those circumstances. But this would have been in a league with Bill Mazeroski and Kirk Gibson and Bill Buckner: under serious consideration for the greatest play of all-time. (The play already had a little Buckner in it, with Blanco’s and Perez’s misplays in the outfield.)Unlike any of those moments, it would have involved an incredibly gutsy decision. It’s an extraordinary play if Gordon scores. It’s an extraordinary play if there’s a collision at home plate — and baseball needs to decide whether to invoke the “Buster Posey Rule.”And if Gordon were thrown out, it would have been the most extraordinary way to lose a game in the history of baseball.CORRECTION (Oct. 30, 11:14 a.m.): A previous version of this article misstated the first name of a Kansas City Royals catcher. He is Salvador Perez, not Santiago Perez.
OSU redshirt junior Sean Melton prepares for his parallel bars routine, chalking up the bars for better grip. Melton and the Buckeyes competed against the Michigan Wolverines at the St. John Arena on Feb. 4. Credit: Aaron Tomich | For The LanternFour Buckeyes will compete in the 2017 Winter Cup, including former gymnast and current director of operations Drew Moling, redshirt junior Sean Melton, sophomore Alec Yoder and future Buckeye and high-school senior Max Andryushchenko. The competition will take place on Thursday with finals on Saturday in the Westgate Las Vegas Resort and Casino.The scheduled times of the Winter Cup vary per athlete. Andryushchenko will compete at 4 p.m. ET while Melton, Yoder and Moling compete at 9:30 p.m. ET on Thursday. Finals will take place on Saturday at 10:15 p.m. ET.Performances at the Winter Cup will determine which 15 athletes, country-wide, will join the U.S. Men’s Senior National Team. Following the two-day competition, the top-four ranked all-around athletes will automatically qualify.The Men’s Program Committee selects up to 11 more gymnasts participating in the Winter Cup and members of the 2016 US Olympic team, including alternates, to keep their spot on the national team provided they earn qualifying national scores both days of the competition.After the 2016 Winter Cup, Melton was placed in U.S. Senior National Team following his third-place performance in all-around. Melton posted an overall score of 174.500, finishing behind three-time U.S. all-around champion Sam Mikulak (177.450) and 2015 NCAA all-around champion Akash Modi (175.300) from Stanford.Although he is still recovering from a wrist injury sustained during the 2016 preseason, Melton has not backed down and is ready to hit the floor again.“I’m going out there and showing all the USA committee that I’m back and I’m recovering. I’m not 100 percent back, but I’m getting there and I’ve improved on events that I’m doing,” Melton said. “I’m in good shape, and they could use me on Team USA to compete and help represent our country. I’m just excited to show what I’ve been working on since trial — and that I never gave up.”Yoder finished ninth overall in the 2016 Winter Cup, with a score of 170.700. He was placed in the all-around top-10 at the competition in the past two seasons — an eighth-place performance in 2015 placed him on the U.S. Senior National Team.“I’m looking forward to just getting out there again and competing,” Yoder said. “That’s why I do this sport. I do it because it’s fun and I do it because it’s what I love.”Moling, the current director of operations for the team, was 23rd overall with a combined all-around total of 162.750. Moling finished 16th on both rings (28.550) and high bar (27.850) at the 2016 Winter Cup.“After this meet, I’ll be done as this is the last one of my career,” Moling said. “I competed at this competition last year … and I did pretty well here; it qualified me to compete at the P&G Championship which is in the summer. Since I competed at the P&G, that pre-qualified me to compete at the Winter Cup this week. I figured I might as well come out and have one last competition.”According to the all-around placements and Men’s Program Committee’s points ranking system, the top 42 gymnasts will advance to the final competition along with the top-three gymnasts of each event. The all-around and individual event champions will be determined by their combined two-day score.OSU enters the week ranked No. 3 in the College Gymnastics Association (CGA) National Rankings, with the No. 3 average all-around score in the nation and a No. 1 ranking on pommel horse with an average score of 69.575.
Blackberry Playbook : RIM dévoile sa nouvelle tablette 7 poucesCanada – RIM a présenté cette nuit sa nouvelle tablette internet. La PlayBook présente un affichage 7 pouces et sera disponible lors du premier trimestre 2011.Comme promis, le Canadien RIM a présenté hier lundi sa tablette internet 7 pouces, baptisée PlayBook. Le constructeur se repositionne sur ce marché avec un nouveau système d’exploitation, le BlackBerry System OS de la société QNX. À lire aussiBlackBerry 10 : le smartphone de développement en image ?L’appareil est doté d’un processeur double cœur de 1 GHz, de 1 Go de RAM et de deux webcams de 3 et 5 millions de pixels. Le système d’exploitation propose le multitâche et supporte Flash 10.1, HTML 5 et Adobe Air. Malgré tout ce matériel, la 3G n’est pas disponible pour le moment. Internet est cependant accessible via le Wi-Fi ou en tethering. Le Playbook sera disponible en Europe début 2011.Découvrir la présentation du Playbook en vidéo : https://www.maxisciences.com/playbook/playbook-sa-presentation-officielle-par-rim_art9412.htmlLe 28 septembre 2010 à 11:53 • Emmanuel Perrin
Japan is rife with so many awesome treats that it’s hard to remember what’s out there. That’s why it’s such a boon that there’s a new treat, from Lotte, the very same company that brings us deliciously delicate chocolate treats, that can help improve your memory. I know I’ve forgotten several important things here and there that this tasty little morsel could have helped me remember time and time again, but alas — it didn’t exist. Now that Lotte has come to my rescue, how will my life change for the better now that I’m not so forgetful anymore?The gum is called Ha ni Tsukinikui Gum — Kioku Ryoku o Ijisuru Type (Gum which Doesn’t Stick to Teeth — Memory Maintaining Type) and is incredibly difficult to remember the title of, but maybe that’s the point. It’s supposed to have a distinct minty flavor and comes in stick and pellet pieces so you can chew on whatever makes you happy. It features ginkgo biloba extract, which is the real point of the gum’s existence, after all. It’s an herb that’s always been said to improve the brain’s power of recollection. Since you’re absorbing the ginkgo biloba via the gum as you chew it, it could help you improve your memory and recall issues.via facebook.com/lin.linBut you’d probably have to chew a whole heck of a lot of gum to help with that, so if you’re going to rely on gum to do all that, you probably have more problems than something gum can help with. Remember to always check with your doctor if you’re going to start any sort of regimen like this, even if it doesn’t seem like a big deal. The gum is on sale for about 140 yen a pack around Japan, but honestly you could always just start ginkgo biloba supplements instead.Let us know what you like about Geek by taking our survey. Recycled Chewing Gum Gives These Shoes Serious SolePut gum in your head to get songs out of it Stay on target
By Ousman SillahA veteran broadcaster, with more than three decades of service in the public media, was laid to rest yesterday, Thursday, 28 July 2016, at the Old Jeshwang Cemetry before a large crowd of sympathisers, comprising relatives, colleagues, friends and neighbours from the Greater Banjul Area.Mr. Ebrima Cole, the former Director of Information and Broadcasting, passed away on Tuesday, 26 July, in Dakar, Senegal, after he was evacuated from the Bafrow hospital in Serekunda for further treatment the previous day. He was escorted by Modou Joof, one of his in laws, but could not finally make it.Ebrima Cole was born at 7 Long Street in Banjul on 5 August 1948 to the late Alhaji Widew Abdoulie Cole and the late Aja Amina Cole. He was, however, given to one of his aunts, the late Aja Maimuna Rahman of 69 Dobson Street in Banjul, who gave him a good upbringing of service and respect to others. He is the eldest among his surviving siblings of two brothers and five sisters.He started his primary schooling at St. Joseph (Roman) and then St. Augustine’s High School from where he proceeded to sixth form at Gambia High School, all in Banjul.He started his professional career at Radio Gambia after leaving school in 1969. He received his training at the Australia Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) and Deutsch Welle (Germany) among other professional trainings around the world.Ebrima Cole rose through the ranks and became the head of Radio Gambia. He was working with veteran media colleagues such as the late Baboucar Gaye, proprietor of Citizen FM and Citizen Newspaper, who was also one of his close friends. He was later appointed as the Director of Information and Broadcasting, a position in which he served until he retired from active service in 2003.Describing the character and professionalism of Ebrima Cole, Alhaji Serigne Faye, the retired Director of Radio Programmes at the Gambia Radio and Television Services (GRTS), said “to say he was a good man is an understatement.”He said Mr. Cole was one of his mentors when he joined Radio Gambia in 1975. “I can say that it was because of Ebrima Cole that I continued with journalism as a profession as he was giving me all the encouragement and support which made me to change my mind at a time when I wanted to quit for something else as it was very easy at the time to change jobs,” he told symphatisers in the crowded Pipeline Mosque.Mr. Abdoulie Gassama, the current head of Radio Gambia, also attested to this fact. He also described him as a very good head of department who was concerned about the welfare of his staff. During his tenure as director, he pioneered certain transformations at the public broadcaster and recommended for the training of some members of staff. He had also served in many national bodies by virtue of his media expertise.His fellow worshippers at the mosque also vouched for his good character.Alhaji Musa Sissoho, one of his in laws, said he has missed a good friend.Ebrima Cole was married to a veteran broadcaster, Amie Joof, who is the Executive Director of FAMEDEV, a Dakar based regional organisation for gender and media in Africa, and they had three children namely Abdou (based in the US), Widew and Maimuna as well as four other step daughters Fatou Joof, Nyansarang Joof, Sukai Secka, Maimuna Secka and Awa Secka.
Letter to the Editor Calls for Dr. Rosie to be Named Nat’l Hero Facebook Twitter Google+LinkedInPinterestWhatsApp Recommendation for National Hero, Dr. Rosita named as ideal Recommended for you Related Items:Dr. Rosita Butterfield, state funeral Facebook Twitter Google+LinkedInPinterestWhatsAppProvidenciales, 22 Jan 2015 – It will be a national public holiday on the day that Dr. Rosita Butterfield is given a State Funeral; determined today by Cabinet that Thursday February 5th, the country will have the day off to mourn the loss and celebrate the life of the first woman to be elected to the honourable House of Assembly. Dr. Rosie, who has delivered over 100 babies in these islands during her years as a midwife, will lie in state in both Grand Turk at the House of Assembly, on Tuesday February 3rd and on Wednesday February 4th at her church, Faith Tabernacle in Providenciales. Final plans are still being arranged explained the Premier today in a post Cabinet press conference; the House of Assembly is working with Dr. Rosie’s family to firm up plans. Humble beginnings remember for Hon. Dr Rosita Butterfield
Facebook Twitter Google+LinkedInPinterestWhatsAppUnited States, October 19, 2017 – Washington, DC – Minister of Finance and the Public Service, Hon. Audley Shaw, says Jamaica will see an injection of more than US$20 billion of new investments that will help to drive the economy and increase job creation.Addressing an International Monetary Fund (IMF)/World Bank Small States Forum at the headquarters of the World Bank on Saturday (October 14), Minister Shaw noted that this large investment is not a loan from the Bank or the IMF but a direct investment in Jamaica from the private sector and overseas investors.“The Government is on a drive to move Jamaica forward by attracting large investments into the country, which is one engine to spur the economy,” he pointed out.He told the participants that the Government has targeted a series of infrastructure development projects that will drive the economy towards growth. These include reopening of the Alpart alumina plant with an investment of more than US$3 billion to expand the facility, divestment of the country’s main container terminal, construction of the north-south highway, and the redevelopment of downtown Kingston.The Minister pointed out that there is an aggressive programme to reduce the country’s debt-to-gross domestic product (GDP) ratio from 116 per cent to 108 per cent by the end of the fiscal year and down to 96 per cent by year 2020.He said that Jamaica intends to work with the World Bank and other multinational agencies to develop the country’s human capacities and capital to grow the economy.Release: JIS Facebook Twitter Google+LinkedInPinterestWhatsApp Related Items:
More than two-fifths (44%) of employer respondents believe that the gender pay gap reporting requirements will not lead to organisations taking action to close the gender pay gap, according to research by the Young Women’s Trust.Its survey of 800 HR professionals also found that 10% of respondents are aware of women in their workplace who are being paid less than men for jobs at the same level.The research also found:51% of female respondents think that the gender pay gap reporting requirements will not cause employers to take action to close their organisation’s gender pay gap, compared to 40% of male respondents who think this.18% of respondents feel that women’s average earnings will never be as high as men’s, and 10% believe it will take more than 25 years to achieve parity.13% of respondents who work in the public sector are aware of female colleagues who are being paid less in their workplace for jobs at the same level, compared to 10% of private sector respondents.13% of respondents at large organisations are aware of women being paid less than men for jobs at the same level within their organisation.Dr Carole Easton OBE (pictured), chief executive officer at the Young Women’s Trust, said: “We need urgent action to close the gap. Gender pay gap reporting is a great step forward but does not go far enough to close the gap.“The new legislation will only be effective if the government puts in place and enforces penalties for [organisations] that fail to report their pay gaps accurately. Where pay gaps do exist, like at the BBC, Young Women’s Trust would like to see that [organisations] are obliged to put in place plans to reduce them.”
Employee Benefits Poll: More than half (55%) of respondents think that more employers will follow the example set by postal organisation Royal Mail and implement collective defined contribution (DC) pension schemes.A straw poll of www.employeebenefits.co.uk readers, which received 44 responses, also found that 20% of respondents do not think organisations will start introducing collective DC pension arrangements, while 25% do not know whether collective DC pension schemes will increase in popularity or remain static.Last month, Royal Mail confirmed that it will proceed with its new pay and pensions structure after approximately 110,000 of those employees who are members of the Communication Workers Union (CWU) voted in favour of the agreement.Pension changes as part of the new deal included closing the Royal Mail Pension Plan (RMPP) to future accrual in its current form on 31 March 2018. This is to be replaced by a new collective defined contribution (DC) scheme, subject to the required legislative changes, which will run alongside a defined benefit (DB) cash balance scheme. Under these arrangements, Royal Mail will contribute 13.6% of a member’s pensionable pay.Transitional pension arrangements have been implemented from 1 April 2018. This includes the introduction of a defined benefit cash balance scheme for RMPP members, with Royal Mail contributing 13.6% of pensionable pay towards members’ retirement lump sums, and a further 2% for all other member benefits, including death in service and ill health. RMPP members will continue to contribute 6% of their pensionable pay towards their retirement lump sums.Members of Royal Mail’s defined contribution plan who have a minimum of five years’ service will also have the option to join the DB cash balance scheme. In addition, Royal Mail will increase its contributions to its DC scheme at each standard contribution tier by one percentage point, and all future and current DC pension scheme members in the standard section of the plan will be moved to the top tier of contributions, receiving a 10% contribution from the organisation, and contributing 6% themselves.The pension changes have been designed to provide a similar level of member benefit as the previous DB provision, while significantly reducing risk for the organisation.Do you think shared parental leave should be paid at the same rate as enhanced maternity leave? Have your say in our latest poll…
HOLLYWOOD, FLA. (WSVN) – A car slammed into a Goodwill Superstore in Hollywood, Monday morning.According to Hollywood Fire Rescue, a vehicle crashed into a Goodwill store, located at 6819 Taft St.Hollywood Fire Rescue officials said a female who was driving the vehicle mistook the gas for the brakes and crashed into the front entrance.While the vehicle did go through the store, the building suffered minor damages. There were no injuries reported.A tow truck later arrived to the scene to tow the vehicle out of the store.Copyright 2019 Sunbeam Television Corp. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
00:00 /03:35 Listen Share X UT-GSBSScientist Michael McGuire practices explaining his research as an “elevator speech.”If you’re trying to get ahead in your career, or just sell an idea, you’ve probably been told to craft an “elevator speech.” That’s a clear, brief message about yourself and your work. Or a tiny talk you can memorize and use during interviews or meetings. Or when you get that proverbial chance encounter in the elevator with your company’s president.Entrepreneurs have been using them forever. Now the idea is gaining traction among scientists.They know how to talk about their research, but they’re usually speaking to other scientists, according to Carrie Cameron, an assistant professor at the UT Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences at Houston.Cameron organized the school’s first-ever elevator speech competition, which forced graduate students to pull back from the data and the details of their research, and figure out how to explain their work to almost anyone.“It has to be intelligible, it has to be 90 seconds, and it has to be fun,” Cameron said. Cameron herself trained as a linguist.“I like to see how I can work with the students to kind of unleash their own creativity, and get them in touch with the linguistic side of their science, and not just the technical side,” she said.The final round took place on June 30. One by one, 10 Ph.D. candidates approached the microphone and turned to face an auditorium filled with their teachers, lab partners, and friends. The crowd was friendly and forgiving.“The different effects on – uh, can produce different quality wines…I forgot,” one competitor said. “Can I start over? Can I do that?”She could, and she did. She compared variations in the micro-environments of tumors to the variations in vineyard soils, which can change how grapes grow and taste.Other speakers also used metaphors from everyday life to help non-scientists visualize and relate to their work. Michael McGuire, who studies ovarian cancer, said cancer cells know how to adjust the thermostat.“Just like people turning on air-conditioning, cancer likes to adjust its surrounding to just the right amount, but it needs help from surrounding cells to do so,” McGuire said.Now, he has to explain the goal of the research.“By studying what happens when cancer’s cellular neighbor uptake its mutations, we hope to explain how cancer so perfectly calibrates its environmental thermostat,” McGuire added.Another contestant, Kimiya Memarzadeh, began this way: “I work on saposin proteins. So, what are saposin proteins and why should you care?”Memarzadeh explained that mutations in those proteins can cause disorders such as Tay-Sachs disease and Gaucher disease.Having explained why it matters, she then introduced two new characters, lysosomes and endosomes, and began to build her metaphor.“Now, I want you to think of the cell as a city,” Memarzadeh said. “If the nucleus is the city hall, and the mitochondria are the power plants, I want you to think of the lysosome as the cell’s waste plant and the endosome as the trash trucks that transport waste to the waste plant.”She went on: “Now in the context of our city, saposin proteins are the waste-plant workers, and if they don’t function properly, there’s a build-up of waste in the waste-plant. It makes sense, right?”The judges liked her speech, awarding Memarzadeh second place in her category.Kimiya won $350, but says the reason she entered the contest was to force herself to practice public speaking.“I think talking and writing are a scientist’s two biggest weapons in their artillery as far as being able to get funding, being able to convince people that your research is significant and important,” she said.Carrie Cameron, the contest organizer, agreed that communication skills could help scientists compete at a time when funding for basic research has declined.But she said the skills can also help scientists do better science.“As we move into large, inter-disciplinary ‘team science,’ the scientists themselves do not know how to communicate with one another,” Cameron said. “The scientists on a team are doing so many different kinds of science that it’s hard for them to understand what each other is doing, and how they fit into the team. That’s one of the most important goals of this kind of communication.”Some of the graduate students confided there had been another, unexpected benefit: they had finally found a better way to explain to their relatives and friends what exactly they do all day in the lab. To embed this piece of audio in your site, please use this code:
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No related posts. Everybody knows that the Four Seasons Resort on the Papagayo Peninsula in the northwestern province of Guanacaste is the spot for golf. After all, the Arnold Palmer Signature Golf Course – yes, Arnold Palmer designed it himself – undulates over the slender but curvaceous peninsula, offering sick views and a pretty challenging game of golf, too.Fewer people are aware of a recent addition to the resort involving the other country club sport: a shiny new grass tennis court. On Jan. 1, the first Four Seasons Resort guests donned their tennis whites and stepped onto the mysterious green surface. It’s been thrilling vacationers ever since. “A lot of people have wanted to play on one of these for their entire lives,” said Director of Operations Jay Miller. “They get very excited about it.”Located beside the posh Golf Clubhouse designed by famous architect Ronald Zürcher and set back from four Har-Tru tennis courts, the grass court is maintained just like a putting green, Miller said. That involves frequent watering and daily “moisture probes” to ensure the grass is healthy. It’s the only grass court in the entire chain of Four Seasons properties worldwide, and as far as anybody knows, it’s the only well-maintained grass court in all of Costa Rica.Most often associated with the grand slam tournament, Wimbledon, the grass surface is the least common type of court in the sport of tennis. Fewer than one percent of tennis courts in the world are said to be of the grass variety, and they come with their own special quirks. Balls bounce low, fast and sometimes irregularly, rendering a serve-and-volley game a good bet. That’s why tennis powerhouses like Pete Sampras and Serena Williams do so well on grass.As somebody who grew up playing tennis but had never even seen a grass court, I was pretty pumped to check it out. One of the Four Seasons Club pros, Carlos Calvo, took me out to the court on a Saturday morning around 11 a.m. and equipped me with some complimentary tennis shoes, a hat, a good racket and a whole lot of water. (Late mornings on the peninsula can be sweltering, but luckily we had some cloud cover.)As I took to the court, it felt like I was tiptoeing over an oversized sponge. It was hard to believe the ball would bounce at all, but some early rallying close to the net proved that it did. Carlos and I hit for a while, and when I became accustomed to the surface and the timing, we moved back to the baseline.For a while, Carlos had me work on emphasizing my follow through, and he ran me from side to side until I was damp and panting. Then he suggested we play a tiebreaker, during which I was forced to sprint and dive to stay in nearly every point. “Tennis is a game of emergencies,” he said before easily dispatching me.I will say this – hitting the ground on a grass court is not nearly as painful or dirty as it is on a hard court. But even if it had been a dirty affair, the Four Seasons was prepared. When the lesson concluded, an employee brought Carlos and I a couple of cool, grapefruit scented towels, which felt totally amazing. Facebook Comments
TravelNevada (Nevada Division of Tourism) has launched its new Fall/Winter integrated marketing campaign, which continues its successful outreach to millennial and adventure travellers.The new campaign features an enhanced digital experience on TravelNevada.com, new photography and videography featuring genuine Nevada characters, creative executions in key markets such as Los Angeles, and a new email marketing program that offers personalised content.TravelNevada, since 2013, has been using a ‘Don’t Fence Me In’ integrated PR and advertising campaign, featuring a custom rendition of the famous cowboy song recorded by The Killers, to market tourism.As per Claudia Vecchio, director of the Department of Tourism and Cultural Affairs, the approach continues to drive results for Nevada’s economy.“We use research to inform our strategy and test our approach, and we know that the younger audience doesn’t want ads, they want stories,” Vecchio said. “Our studies demonstrate that the more we focus on real characters that embrace freedom and individuality in travel, the more our campaign resonates with our audience.” According to Nevada’s flagship study on integrated marketing return, TravelNevada’s goal for the current Fall/Winter campaign is to exceed the FY16 campaign return of 63 to one, which means that for every dollar spent on tourism marketing, approximately $63 is returned to the state through state and local taxes.