TORONTO — The Toronto Stock Exchange closed higher as the materials sector strengthened, though there was a further decline in oil prices.The S&P/TSX composite index gained 85.66 points to close at 14,468.44.In the U.S., the Dow Jones industrial average dropped 56.12 points to 17,689.86, while the Nasdaq edged back 0.50 points to 5,128.28 and the S&P 500 fell 4.79 points to 2,103.84.The September contract for crude oil fell $1.40 to settle at US$47.12, ending its worse monthly decline since 2008.The December gold contract gained US$6.40 to $1,095.10 an ounce.The loonie lost 0.41 of a cent to 76.45 cents U.S.
TSX pares July loss as gold rallies Wall Street mixed on oil
October 8, 2019
CILLIAN O’CONNOR HAS spoken out about how the disappointment of Mayo’s All Ireland final loss ‘still eats away’ and he admits he would have gone for goal at the end of the game if he had known time was up.O’Connor pointed a late free to cut Dublin’s advantage to 2-12 to 1-14 in September’s game in Croke Park but referee Joe McQuillan blew the full-time whistle from the restart.But the Mayo attacker had not realised that time was rolling as he lined up that late kick.“I just said how long was left and his answer was 30 seconds. Then Barry (Moran) shouted how long was left and he said 30 (seconds) and Donal Vaughan came running in and he said 30 (seconds).“It was obviously rolling all the time with people in the way, me moving, steadying, taking my time and doing my routine obviously. He was including all of that, I wasn’t.“If I could go back now knowing that the game would be blown from the restart, obviously I would have thrown caution to the wind and tried to go for the goal.“But I thought there might be a passage of play. My understanding was that there would be another little bit of time. If we had maybe won the kickout and scored an equaliser, it would have looked like a good decision.”O’Connor is refusing to blame anyone for the incident.“Joe, he didn’t do anything wrong either. There’s no point dwelling on it and I wouldn’t be pointing the finger at anyone and I wouldn’t be in any way sour or bitter.“At the same time you have to remember that there were 13 or 14 people on the line. The game wasn’t lost in the last passage.”The end result was the same as Mayo suffered dejection for the second successive September.“Just blown off your feet really with the disappointment. It’s kind of hard to put into words. It hits you very hard and it eats away at you for a long time and it doesn’t really go away. It takes a long time to get over and we’re still dealing with it.” Diarmuid O’Connor of Mayo celebrates at the final whistlePic: INPHO/Donall FarmerThere was a silver lining on that September day as O’Connor’s younger brother did bag an All-Ireland medal with Mayo.“Diarmuid was midfield for the minors that day. It was great to get that bit of news going out, someone just told me that the minors had won.“That was a nice little boost. Ah jeez, I was delighted for them. I know a good few of the minor lads, they’re hot on our tails at the moment. It won’t be long until we see a few coming into the senior team. That’s a good thing.”Castlebar topple All-Ireland club champions St Brigid’s in Connacht finalThe 33 managers who will be bidding to land Sam Maguire in 2014
https://jrnl.ie/3296104 32,745 Views Share105 Tweet Email5 Mar 19th 2017, 7:30 PM “If we can go to clients and say we have set a new record, it will give them confidence in the design and improve the reputation of the company.” Source: Safehaven MarineIncreasing productionFor now, there are no confirmed orders for the Thunderchild, but Kowalski said he expected the record attempt will shine a spotlight on the project.“There is a lot of interest in Thunderchild. The existing contacts we have made are all watching us carefully to see how it goes.“But we have to be realistic about what you can achieve, because any contract you do sign is going to involve bankrupting penalty clauses. So you have to be careful you don’t take on more than you can deliver.”However, if the firm is successful in securing a large buyer, Kowalski added that it likely to significantly increase its current staff.“We employ 25 to 30 people and, I suppose, if we were only focused on Thunderchild, we could produce seven or eight of them a year. So if we do get a large contract, we will have to expand by 100% really.“All the existing work is forecast to stay on because it has proven very successful as a mainstay, so we could hopefully double our production.”Written by Killian Woods and posted on Fora.ie NESTLED AWAY IN Youghal, a company with a disarmingly placid name is earning a growing global reputation for producing military-grade ‘stealth’ and gun boats.Safehaven Marine, which has been trading for nearly two decades, builds specialist high-performance craft from start to finish in its Co Cork factory.The company currently has one ‘stealth boat’, the Barracuda, on the market, but after 18 months in the factory and €1 million in investment it has a new, high-performance stablemate to show off – the Thunderchild.Last year, Safehaven Marine made use of Storm Barbara’s testing conditions to prove the 18m-long high-speed boat’s resilience. Next, the craft, which is designed for military and law enforcement use, will be demonstrating its speed.Frank Kowalski, the Thunderchild’s developer and head of Safehaven Marine, said the company plans to circumnavigate Ireland in 30 hours via the North Atlantic islet of Rockall in the vessel to attract the attention of potential clients.Equipped with two, 1,000-horsepower engines, the boat is capable of reaching speeds of around 60 knots (111 km/hr).“For any new design like this, you need to build a prototype, but then you need to start thinking how I can make the best use of this investment. That has led us on to setting a new record, which will prove the capabilities of the boat,” he said. By Fora Staff Get Fora’s NEW daily digest of the morning’s key business news: In Youghal, one businessman prays for storms to test his high-speed ‘stealth boats’ Cork firm Safehaven Marine sells its vessels as far afield as the Middle East and Asia. Frank Kowalski Source: Safehaven MarineHumble beginningsWhile Safehaven Marine has found itself a lucrative niche – the firm recorded a profit of more than €400,000 in 2015 and employs around 30 staff – the former fisherman’s business had humble beginnings.“I was a commercial skipper and had a charter angling business,” Kowalski said. “I had a small boat with limited seating and decided I needed a larger boat, and the only way I could get one was by building it.”The company began developing vessels for specialised tasks, such as pilot and patrol boats for harbour authorities.However, the market for these pilot boats, which ferry harbour-based captains out to vessels to guide them to shore, was very small.So Kowalski gambled on military hardware – investing €1 million into the development of the first stealth boat, the Barracuda.The vessel’s shape and materials give it a low ‘radar cross section’ – meaning it is much harder to detect using radar than a traditional patrol boat.“It was a natural progression … We had built a couple of normal commercial boats for a navy and were turning over around €5 million a year,” Kowalski said.“But we couldn’t really see that increasing unless we broke into another market. So we decided to branch out into the military sector.“We took a gamble that there would be a requirement for something like Baracuda. With anything like that, you can’t go along to an organisation and say this is an idea. You need to build a prototype to prove the design.” The Thunderchild Source: Safehaven MarineBig dealSince it was first set up, the company has developed 125 boats at its factory in Cork for clients from 26 countries spanning the Middle East, Asia, Europe and North America.While Kowalski closely guards the identities of the organisations that purchase his boats, he confirmed that a big deal with a major European nation was on the near horizon.“It’s a difficult and protracted process. We have taken off nearly three years to be able to generate a good military contract and now we’re on the cusp of signing a large naval contract,” he said.But Kowalski added there was the possibility Safehaven Marine’s boats could also make their way into the hands of the general public with non-military specifications – although the vessels don’t come cheap, at around €1 million apiece.“The design of Thunderchild means it can be built in any format – it could be a pleasure boat with nice accommodation.“So potentially a rich Arab could come along and order these as a pleasure boat, but we don’t see that as a target market for us. Our aim is to make these for law enforcement agencies and navies.” Short URL Take me to Fora Sunday 19 Mar 2017, 7:30 PM 39 Comments Tweet thisShare on FacebookEmail this article
North Wicklow gardaí probe operations of senior gang members as tensions escalate Gardaí will continue to disrupt the drug gangs operating in the area. GARDA CRIME UNITS have received information that a row between two drug gangs in the North Wicklow area has escalated, leading to calls for extra resources.According to sources, one trafficker has been running north Wicklow’s drug business for the past five years using Kinahan supply chains.In recent months, his younger associates have been branching out on their own, setting up brothels, money lending outfits and drug dealing businesses. It is believed the main trafficker profits from a proportion of their sales.Despite having the initial blessing of this deal, the young associates have now started to move into areas which they were told were off-limits, including pockets of South Dublin.Gardaí fear that violence could be forthcoming because of the Kinahan link. As the main dealer buys his drugs through the international cartel’s supply lines, any interruption to a lucrative flow of cash is usually dealt with swiftly.Gardaí based in the district headquarters in Bray, Wicklow, know the main players in the drug scene but they are never in possession of drugs.Instead, young men who either owe money for drugs or otherwise, are used to ferry cocaine and heroin around the seaside town and into Shankill, Killiney and other areas.Drug debtsThe enforcers used by the drug trafficker have also started to cause problems in the county.A small number of people are earning money collecting drug debts. There were orders to “rough these [debtors] up”, according to people with knowledge of the developing situation, but in recent weeks one particular enforcer has increased the level of violence used when carrying out such orders.It is believed one man was hospitalised after an incident involving the debt collector, who is now working for the area’s main drug trafficker.No official complaint has been made to gardaí relating to this attack, which is understood to have occurred on the Dargle Road in the town late last month.Gardaí are working to disrupt the workings of these gangs and are aware of the problems with the enforcer. Last September, the main drugs unit based out of Bray Garda Station was disbanded and replaced with a crime prevention unit. Many in the station believe that reforming the unit could help keep a lid on the criminal gangs supplying drugs to the region.The debt collector also helps run a protection businesses for the trafficker’s brothels and so-called cut rooms – where large amounts of cocaine and heroin are cut with other substances to increase their profit margin. These rooms are routinely targeted by potential thieves – making security essential.The tensions in north Wicklow had originally been played down by local garda informants as a squabble between two different groups of dissident republicans in the area. However, gardaí now believe that the drug gangs were attempting to distract attention from them and that rumours of disquiet within republican circles was fabricated. Monday 18 Jun 2018, 12:05 AM 38,228 Views By Garreth MacNamee Jun 18th 2018, 12:06 AM Image: Leah Farrell via RollingNews.ie http://jrnl.ie/4068516 Image: Leah Farrell via RollingNews.ie Share9 Tweet Email1 Tweet thisShare on FacebookEmail this article Short URL No Comments 
MOSCOW — An 18-year student strode into his vocational school in Crimea, a hoodie covering his blond hair, then pulled out a shotgun and opened fire on Wednesday, killing 19 students and wounding more than 50 others before killing himself.It wasn’t clear what prompted Vladislav Roslyakov, described as a shy loner, to go on the rampage. A security camera image carried by Russian media showed him calmly walking down the stairs of the school in the Black Sea city of Kerch, the shotgun in his gloved hand.“He was walking around and shooting students and teachers in cold blood,” said Sergei Aksyonov, the regional leader in Crimea.Officials said the fourth-year student killed himself in the library of the Kerch Polytechnic College after the attack. His mother, a nurse, was helping to treat victims at a local hospital after the shootings, unaware yet that her son was accused of the rampage and was already dead.Such school shootings are rare, and Wednesday’s attack was by far the worst by a disgruntled student in Russia, which annexed the Crimean Peninsula from Ukraine in 2014. The bloodbath raised questions about school security in the country; the Kerch Polytechnic College had only a front desk with no security guards.By the end of the day, Crimean authorities said the death toll stood at 19, apparently not including the shooter. Fifty-three people were wounded, including 12 in serious condition.
QUESTION OF THE DAYEngineering works are complex. Foroyaa is concerned that only small vehicles are allowed to ply the bridge. Heavy duty trucks are not allowed. The media is informed that work is in progress and once completed the heavy duty vehicles will also be able to ply the bridge. Engineering work requires supervision and haste could lead to destabilization of the structures before they are properly consolidated to fit purpose.Senegambia BridgeForoyaa will interview the engineers to find out what is left to be done to make it possible for heavy duty trucks to cross and how it will affect the bridge if they are allowed to cross now and why the smaller vehicles will not have the same impact if a given number of them cross at the same time.
Just after he signed a five-year deal at Camp Nou, Umtiti has now turned his head to Russia and the performance of the France international team there.Samuel Umtiti is now relaxed as he has already done everything he can for the near future – he is a part of the France team, he just signed a five-year contract extension with Barcelona, despite being linked with a move to Manchester United earlier this season, and is now in a relaxed mood.Winning the La Liga and Copa del Rey with the Catalan side, Umtiti will certainly play a key part in France’s participation in the tournament in Russia.
Barca’s Umtiti out for weeks with broken bone George Patchias – September 13, 2019 Barcelona’s Samuel Umtiti has been ruled out for up to six weeks with a broken bone in his foot.Last week, Samuel Umtiti withdrew from…“Since my extension, I feel light, I can concentrate only on the field. I had already gone through that [transfers] in the European Championships. It was better to do so [in this way],” Umtiti said, according to Goal.“In this team, there are quite a few young players but some with experience. We must not force leadership. What makes the strength of this group is unity,” Umtiti added, addressing the international team.“We must play seriously but without pressure. We’re looking for landmarks, automatism. This is the purpose of the preparation.”
Facebook Twitter Google+LinkedInPinterestWhatsAppProvidenciales, 06 Oct 2015 – It is National Heritage month and there are new dates for some activities according to the department.This weekend residents are encouraged to head to South Caicos for a taste of the island on October 10; In Salt Cay on October 11th there will be a Gospel Concert and on the holiday, which is Monday October 12 – there is an all islands flag parade, featuring the Turks and Caicos Islands flag. This is the second year for National Heritage Month. Recommended for you Facebook Twitter Google+LinkedInPinterestWhatsApp Related Items:national heritage month National Heritage Month ends National Heritage Month Events featured in all islands Heritage month packed with culture
A transient man convicted of trying to run over a sheriff’s deputy in a stolen patrol car pleaded guilty Friday to unrelated identity theft charges.Raymond H. Hall agreed to plead guilty and accept a combined 23-year prison sentence in both cases to avoid further prosecution in Multnomah County, Ore. He’s facing several identity theft charges there, and Oregon prosecutors agreed to not seek more prison time if he resolved his Clark County cases.“I didn’t see it ending up like this,” defense attorney Jeff Sowder said. But “Mr. Hall thinks it advantageous” to accept the plea deal.Sentencing before Clark County Superior Court Judge John Wulle was set for Aug. 23.Hall, 30, who has an extensive criminal record, was convicted by a jury April 22 of second-degree assault, third-degree assault and unlawful possession of a firearm. The charges concerned an incident Dec. 26, when Hall’s pickup was stopped by a patrol deputy in Hazel Dell for having defective brake lights.After running from the truck, Hall climbed inside Deputy Rob Ternus’ patrol car. As Ternus stood in front of the car, commanding Hall to exit, the defendant sped toward him.
Sunday’s Vancouver USA Marathon will prevent several C-Tran bus routes from accessing downtown for most of the day, the agency announced. At least seven routes, plus the C-Van paratransit service, will be on detours or limited routes from 6 a.m. and 4 p.m. Sunday, C-Tran said.The marathon will affect routes 2, 3, 4, 25, 30, 32 and 37. Vehicles won’t be able to reach downtown south of Fourth Plain Boulevard and west of Fort Vancouver Way, according to C-Tran.The No. 4 route will still provide limited access to Jantzen Beach via Interstate 5, but riders will have to transfer onto the bus at the Vancouver Division of the Portland Veterans Affairs Medical Center off Fourth Plain. Access to Seventh and Washington streets will be maintained by a shuttle connecting with Jantzen Beach, but no other stops will be served in downtown during the marathon, according to C-Tran.Details and detour maps are at http://www.c-tran.com. Passengers can also call C-Tran’s passenger service line at 360-695-0123.The event’s three races — the marathon, a half-marathon and a 5,000-meter run — start and finish at Esther Short Park.
The top 10 most read stories on www.employeebenefits.co.uk between 11 and 17 July 2019 were:DWP opens consultation into statutory sick pay for staff on minimum wageMultivitamin subscription organisation to pay vitamin testers £5,000 eachTelstra offers 16 weeks of paid parental leave for 30,000 employeesBarclays and Vodafone among top global employers for LGBTQ inclusionSouth Central Service NHS Trust launches new cycle scheme for 3,300 employeesNHBC equalises paid parental leave for 1,260 staffAmazon, LinkedIn, Adidas and Twitter to deliver keynotes at Employee Benefits LiveEXCLUSIVE: A fifth of organisations do not measure employee engagementMenzies Aviation settles Heathrow pay and terms dispute with additional leave policiesAccordance VAT pilots four-day working week
Kintzer, who says she’s wanted to change the company’s name since she took over in April 2014, jumped on the opportunity to expand the project into a full rebranding. From there, Starfish developed the new logo and redesigned the corporate website. As content publishers jockey for the attention of advertisers and investors, the last thing they want to do is explain how their corporate branding relates to their asset portfolio. That’s why, after 93 years, Reader’s Digest Association is announcing today that it’s changing its name to Trusted Media Brands Inc. The new name gives equal weight to the company’s full suite of brands, which expanded dramatically when RDA bought Reiman Publications for $760 million back in 2002. Chief among those brands was Taste of Home. “The name should have changed when Reader’s Digest bought Reiman,” says Kintzer. “At that point it became a very broad-based portfolio. I look at this as a long overdue change.” The full digital platform attracts 53 million monthly uniques, says the company, and in the last couple of years TMBI has built out an online education platform, called EnrichU, that spans its Taste of Home, Family Handyman and Reader’s Digest brands. 
“I look at this as the fact that we have all these brands and we’re always in the position of having to explain ourselves,” says Trusted Media Brands CEO Bonnie Kintzer. “That’s not the position you want to be in.” RDA hired creative agency Starfish, which was originally hired to work on an advertising positioning project. During that process, Starfish came up with six building-block terms to describe a common theme that ran through all of RDA’s products (uplifting, enduring, wholesome, trusted, empowering, amplified engagement). “It shows that we are a modern, current company with many brands, and what really runs through our brands is trust,” says Kintzer. “Our customers are trusting us to give them a recipe, health advice and craft ideas. Part of the genesis of this really started before the name change. How do you go to market to position the company with advertisers? What’s the common thread?”
Tim Cook will on Wednesday inaugurate a development centre for digital maps in Hyderabad and introduce an accelerator programme for iOS developers in Bengaluru, a source privy to the Apple CEO’s first official multiday visit to India told Bloomberg.Indications weren’t clear if any talk on opening Apple’s first retail store in the country is scheduled. Another source said Cook’s widely-reported meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi wasn’t finalised yet, as the week will also witness results from five state Assembly elections. CNN Money noted that Modi had met Cook during his visit to Silicon Valley in the U.S. in September 2015.Bloomberg Intelligence analyst Simon Chan noted that Apple isn’t even among the top 10 in terms of smartphone market share in India. Samsung, Micromax and Lenovo are the top three.The $234-billion company’s market share in India is a mere 2 percent. However, in the first three months of the year, India registered a record 56 percent rise in iPhone sales, while globally the company saw its first ever fall in the same period, said Reuters. “I’m encouraged by the results that we’re beginning to see there, and believe there’s a lot, lot more. I view India as where China was maybe seven to 10 years ago from that point of view, and I think there’s a really great opportunity there,” Bloomberg quoted Cook as saying in a latest earnings call.While the rest of the smartphone markets in the world are saturated and seeing decline in new phone sales, India remains the world’s second-largest market by volume, and under-penetrated, said the news agency. Incidentally, Apple is the world’s second-biggest smartphone-maker, said CNN.However, Apple’s pricing of phones in India may be a big deterrent, noted IDC, the research firm. It told Bloomberg that while Apple’s cheapest iPhone, the SE, is priced Rs. 26,600, predictions for the average cost of phones in India in 2018 was expected to slump to Rs. 6,800 — half of the world average.Smartphone sales in India rose by 5.2 percent in a year’s time to reach 23.5 million units in the last financial year. Market estimates say the country will clock 1 billion smartphone sales in next five years.India retail entry apart, Apple wants the key issue of India accepting its import of refurbished iPhones in the country to be sorted out. While it also wants to know the benefits Apple could get by bringing assembly and manufacturing to the country selling its Make in India initiative.
Katherine Streeter for NPREditor’s Note:This story was originally published in November 2016 and has been republished with updates.It’s the sixth annual #GivingTuesday — a holiday marketing tradition inspired by Black Friday, Small Business Saturday and Cyber Monday, but with a twist. Today thousands of charities are asking us to open our wallets. But how can we be sure the group we donate to is effective — that we’re getting the most bang for our charity buck?That question was vexing Elie Hassenfeld several years ago. He worked at a hedge fund, and he and a colleague wanted to give money to charity. Since they are numbers-oriented finance types, they wanted to maximize the results from their donation by finding groups that could offer the biggest impact per dollar.“We were shocked by how little useful information was available,” says Hassenfeld.Sure there were the rating sites that show how much a given charity spends on overhead and point up any red flags suggesting possible mismanagement.But that’s not what Hassenfeld wanted to know: There was “nothing that said, ‘this is how much a charity can accomplish with the donation that you give.’ “And so in 2007, Hassenfeld and his friend, Holden Karnofsky, decided to start a nonprofit called GiveWell. The mission: Come up with an annual short list of charities they can recommend based on hard evidence. But it turns out this data-driven approach has its own set of issues.First off, it means GiveWell has to limit itself to recommending charities for which there is scientific proof of effectiveness.“Randomized controlled trials [by academics and health organizations] of, for example, distributing malaria nets in Africa to see how consistently and how effectively that reduces cases of malaria and saves lives,” says Hassenfeld.According to GiveWell’s analysis, passing out $5 bed nets against malaria-carrying mosquitoes saves a lot of lives. And that puts Against Malaria Foundation at the top of the group’s nine picks for the 2017 giving season — just unveiled on its website.The organization’s data-driven approach leads to a list that may not sit well with all donors. For instance, many people feel particularly moved to help others who are close to home – say, by donating to a local homeless shelter or a youth arts program. But though GiveWell is based in the United States, the organization does not recommend donating to any charities that serve Americans.“The needs are just so great overseas that a dollar goes a lot further there,” explains Hassenfeld. For instance, he says, “donating something like $3,500 to Against Malaria Foundation saves the life of a child who would otherwise die of malaria. The equivalent amount [in the United States] would do something like pay for a couple months of schooling for one child.”A second challenge is the dearth of reliable data for many programs that focus on the world’s poorest. While academics and international health organizations have done rigorous studies of health interventions, it’s only in the last decade that economic development and empowerment programs have started being subjected to similar scrutiny.So says Hassenfeld, “there might be outstanding programs and organizations that we would recommend if only there were more evidence assessing their impact. The fact that we don’t recommend something doesn’t mean we think it’s ineffective.” It may just mean that no one has studied it.That had been the case with one of two new charities on GiveWell’s 2017 list: Evidence Action’s No Lean Season. The group provides no-interest loans to help farmers in Bangladesh migrate to the city for better paid work during the “lean season” when they’re waiting to harvest their crops. Hassenfeld says GiveWell had been intrigued by the charity’s work for several years but it’s only this year that he feels there is sufficient data to support a recommendation.Also, the charities that make GiveWell’s cut aren’t exactly household names. Take the Schistosomiasis Control Initiative.“Yes, schistosomiasis — it’s an intestinal worm,” says Hassenfeld.He’s very passionate on the subject. The worm is common among children in sub-Saharan Africa, causing cognitive and physical development delays, he notes. And according to GiveWell’s analysis, Schistosomiasis Control Initiative can de-worm a kid for just 50 cents.“When the worms are treated children may grow up to earn significantly more money in adulthood,” says Hassenfeld. “So a very small amount of money may have really, really large long-term effects.”But Hassenfeld’s argument for supporting schistosomiasis work points up a third issue with a data-driven approach to donation decisions. Social science research suggests rational, statistics-based appeals are not what motivate most people. Tell us about one child who needs our help and we’re sold. Rattle off numbers about an obscure disease in a faraway place and a lot of us start to feel overwhelmed and turned off.Hassenfeld doesn’t disagree. “If my goal were to try to maximize the amount of money that I was able to raise for charity I wouldn’t do it via numbers and analysis,” he says. “I would do it via pictures and stories.”But he says GiveWell is trying to appeal to a narrower slice of the donor pool, “a particular type of person who’s just thinking about their charitable giving in a very different way.” For them, the very obscurity of schistosomiasis is a draw. “They say, ‘This is not sexy, I haven’t heard about this and here’s a group that’s done the analysis and they say this is one of the best ways I can donate and accomplish a ton of good.’ “In just nine years GiveWell has convinced about 14,000 people — largely technology and finance professionals under age 40, like the group’s founders, to donate a total of more $100 million dollars to the charities it has selected.Still, at least one of the charities on GiveWell’s list is starting re-think the data-based pitch for donations.It’s a fairly new group called GiveDirectly, launched in 2009. (We ran an in-depth story on their work that you can read here.) And basically, it wants to take your cash and just hand it over to an extremely poor person. No strings attached. The beneficiary can spend the money however he or she sees fit.That idea can be a tough case to make, says Ian Bassin, who manages donor relations for GiveDirectly among other duties.“I mean we are asking people to do something that I think most people instinctively psychologically are resistant to.”But he adds that GiveDirectly is motivated by cold hard facts: “It turns out that rigorous scientific evidence over the last ten to fifteen years has shown that actually giving people the power of choice to decide what their priorities are is one of the most effective ways to help the poor.”Maybe they end up spending the money on school tuition for a school. Maybe they decide to install a new roof that saves them expensive continual repairs. The point is, studies show that extremely poor people often know their needs best, and when you just give them the cash, over the long haul incomes rise, hunger goes down, there’s even more gender equality.Give Directly was founded by four economists who were inspired by those findings. At first they wanted to make their case to donors just on the numbers. They were determined to avoid what Bassin calls “poverty porn — people putting a picture of a starving child on a video [or] infomercial.”In just a few years they’ve raised more than $130 million dollars.But last fall they unveiled a new feature on their website: a running list of photos and profiles of the beneficiaries. To expand further, they’ve concluded that they need to reach a broader audience.“There’s a limit to how many of the sort of wonky evidence-type based donors that we could have,” Bassin explains.Copyright 2017 NPR. To see more, visit http://www.npr.org/. Share
Everyone is dreaming of becoming a successful entrepreneur, so you need to execute a great startup strategy to excel. Starting a new business is not a piece of cake. Apart from a great idea and business plan, it requires many other things in order to make it successful. For instance, you need to raise the required capital for your new business, which can either be from your personal savings or from investors. With these things, every entrepreneur starts their new business in the market and hopes to be successful in what they do. Also Read – Add new books to your shelfSteve Jobs rightly said “Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do.” Most of the flourishing entrepreneurs of today have a secret behind their success, which they have revealed. The secret is that they begin their startup backwards. So, let us look at the 5 ways through which you can ensure that your startup is a big success. Also Read – Over 2 hours screen time daily will make your kids impulsiveBegin with a plan- Not all home businesses need an official business plan, but every home business owner must spend some time planning. Before you put out your shingle, sit down and determine how much money you need to invest (and in what), your goals (short- and long-term), your marketing plan and all those pesky details. When starting a new venture in an emerging market or with an untested model, it’s important to keep costs as close to zero as possible. Those who’ve bootstrapped their company know this better than anyone. When you do bootstrapped business, you tend to work from your own house initially for few months. You play smartly with finance, and it should be very, very carefully spent. Instead of hiring developers or bringing on a technical co-founder, the entire system and workflow should be built in Google Docs — the “personal” version. Use smart and cost-effective business tools- There are a number of tools available which assist you in achieving the best possible results with minimum expenditure. These tools also assist you in defining your business and your vision and give you a reality check on the viability of your business ideas. The use of these tools means that you do not have to use your scarce money and resources in employing experts who may be useful. Improving Business Model over time – Financial services is a competitive market that could be saturated by financial institutions in a few years. The important thing is that how one can articulate a clear, logical view on how CommonBond will achieve market share in the short term as well as many ideas on how it will invest in sales and marketing efforts to enhance its competitive advantage over time. Identify the needs of your customers- For any business customers service is the most essential part. Ideally, you should identify customer needs which your business can satisfy better than your existing competitors, because of the competitive advantages of your business, which distinguish you from the rest. Most of the companies just guess about the type of products or services their customers wish for. This is why many startups fail, as they do not understand their customers’ needs and guess it wrong. Speak to your clients- When you have recognized your ideal consumers, you have two options, either you can speculate about the services or products they want or you can just go and talk to them about what type of products or services they wish for. In order to have an edge over other businesses and be successful in your business, you must talk to your clients. Ask them questions so that you can know the problem they are facing. Then, you can work on this problem, which is shared by many people, and then you can take the leap. Keep Track on everything- Make sure that you manage your business through numbers and keep track of everything. You must do it in writing and produce written documents for everything, since you will get advantages from these in the future. This way you can retain consistency and train your employees too. Identify the numbers and verify them regularly. Plus, you must make all your decisions depending on these numbers. Among these, one of the most significant estimates is the cash flow document. There are several other things to consider when it comes to set a startup, but the few tips above are highly important. When you get them right, you’re mostly on your way to establishing a strong and successful startup business. (Author is Mr. Pradeep Shukla- CEO & CO-Founder- OOFFRR App)
South Korean K-Pop group VAV is all set to begin their debut India tour from today with a two-hour concert in Delhi of their biggest hits, including their latest ‘Thrilla Killa’. The boy group, which debuted in 2015, announced their tour in the beginning of May on social media, finally giving in to “requests from their Indian fans”, they told reporters at the Korean Cultural Centre (KCC), Delhi. They will perform at the Siri Fort Auditorium in New Delhi today, and in Manipur’s Imphal on June 2. Also Read – Add new books to your shelfThe band members – Ziu, Ace, Lou, Ayno, Baron and St Van – said they were nervous but excited to meet their fans, and that India had been on their list since quite some time. “India is very big in terms of population and size. When you see Indian movies, Indians are always dancing in sync. “Indians are full of passion and always like to sing and dance,” the members said in response to a question, inviting their fans to sing and dance with them at the concert. Also Read – Over 2 hours screen time daily will make your kids impulsiveBaron added that India has been a mysterious country in his mind, and he hopes that the concert will set the base for Indo-Korean cultural exchanges. Much to the delight of the students of the KCC, many of whom learn the Korean language and are immersed in the East Asian country’s culture, VAV members greeted them with a ‘Namastey’ gesture. K-Pop, a popular musical genre of South Korea, has many avid followers in India, which also saw ‘Gangnam Style’, a famous 2012 K-Pop song going viral. The concert has been arranged by Kiwa India, an organisation promoting Indo-Korean ties. “This is a collaboration between India and Korea to promote cultural ties and break language barriers. We did much research and found VAV is the best K-Pop group to hold a concert in India,” Eunjoo Lim, Kiwa CEO, said. The boy group signed off with listing the words they instantly connect with India – ‘Hindi’, ‘Bollywood’, ‘3 Idiots’, and ‘Namastey’ – were some of the popular terms.
France and America have a long history of fraternity and alliance, most famously France gifted the Statue of Liberty to America in 1886. Like every relationship, there are periods of conflict, but in the late 18th Century, France was the biggest supporter of American Independence which sparked a wave of pro-French sentiment across the newly forming country.The French were expelled from their American colonies in 1763 after losing the Seven Years War (French and Indian War) to the British.In the decade that followed, the British were taxing their newly acquired colonies unfairly, and the call for independent rule could be heard echoing across the land.Downtown Marietta in July 2007, including the Muskingum River (foreground) and the Ohio River (background right). Photo by Tim Kiser CC BY-SA 2.5By the time of the Boston Tea Party in 1773, America was in open revolt against its British rulers and the French were secretly forging a special relationship with the rebellion.The Thirteen Colonies declared war on the British in 1775, in what would become known as the American War for Independence.Boston Tea Party.The French officially allied itself with the Thirteen Colonies in 1778 but it is generally agreed that the French were supplying arms, tactical assistance and military support even before this date.The 1778 alliance between the newly formed American Congress and the French government proved pivotal in the defeat of the English and in 1782 peace negotiations were opened in Paris.These talks were a convoluted affair, and in the end, the French were frozen out when the Americans reached a private agreement with the British. In the agreement, the British recognized America as a sovereign nation and agreed to a trade pact with the new continent.Campus Martius fort at Marietta, with the conical Great Mound visible in background.Post-war America was a place of wild frontiers and possibilities; Congress had made it easier to buy large pieces of land and being short of cash, they paid their soldiers in warrants which could be used against the purchase of land.The Ohio Company of Associates was a group of industrious revolutionary war officers who formed together and used their warrants to buy up a large tract of land in Ohio on the banks of the Muskingum river.The site was not chosen at random but had been surveyed by the future president George Washington in 1770 who discussed plans to settle the area with a fellow officer by the name of Rufus Putnam, a founding member of the Ohio Company.George Washington statue erected outside The National Gallery in Trafalgar Square, London, England, UK, presented by ‘The Commonwealth Of Virginia’ in 1921, this is a duplicate, the original being in Richmond, Virginia.Of the settlement, George Washington later said: “No colony in America was ever settled under such favorable auspices as that which has just commenced at the Muskingum.”The site has become famous as the first permanent settlement of the new United States and was originally named Adelphia, meaning brotherhood, in 1788.The town name was changed the same year to Marietta in honor of Marie Antoinette of France to recognize the contribution of the French in the fight for independence.Marie Antoinette in a court dress.Legend has it that Marie Antoinette was flattered by the gesture and sent a commemorative bell to honor the town. Unfortunately, the gift was lost at sea and never made it to Marietta.During the unrest of the French Revolution, the city of Marietta offered land and shelter to the beleaguered monarch, the offer was declined, and the site is now home to the Mound Cemetery of Marietta.Due to its location along the banks of the Muskingum river, Marietta was a strategic port during the first half of the 19th century.Read another story from us: Karl Marx was a Foreign Correspondent for one of America’s Largest NewspapersThe Marietta town council had hopes of being named the central city of Ohio, but with the advent of new forms of transportation, such as the railway, the city became less important but has maintained its position as the country seat. There are now eighteen cities called Marietta situated in the United States, the largest of these being in Cobb County, Georgia.