text:
亚洲 自拍 偷拍 综合图区
time:2021-01-15 23:32:22 author:九九热线有精品视频6app Views:35081
【亚洲 自拍 偷拍 综合图区】Do not go forward, do not know the way; do not study hard, do not understand the truth.The whole poem is purely a work of historical expressionBooks are ships that cross the sea in time.It is a genius who creates a great cause, and it is hard work that accomplishes a great cause. The period of reluctance is not limited, and you can get more power.,See Fig
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A real man of good character
Don't play life now, life will play you in the future, don't work hard now, the future doesn't give force -- to yourself.
Faye Wong is ill
The secret of success lies in sticking to your own goals and beliefs.....
They really love each other.
On April 13, the second new car of the Changan New Energy E family, Benben E-Star, was officially launched online. The new car launched a total of two models of the heart version and heart Yue version, the official guide price of 69,800-74,800 yuan.....
Also did not hear Li Yapeng slander Wang Fei
Habit determines performance, and details determine fate.....
They didn't tear each other
A few people need wisdom and diligence, while most people really depend on loyalty and diligence.....
To those who have loved
It's very popular in the area.....
Hundreds of messages are sent every day
Those who are afraid of suffering suffer for a lifetime, those who are not afraid of suffering suffer for a while.....
Take good care of
The reporter learned from Beijing on the 23rd that the 71st meeting of the Beijing New Coronary Pneumonia Outbreak Prevention and Control Leading Group held on the afternoon of June 22 and the 32nd meeting of the capital's strict management of the joint prevention and control coordination mechanism in Beijing, Anyone who has been to the Xinfadi wholesale market or had contact with its related personnel must conduct a comprehensive nucleic acid test. Various types of farmers' markets, restaurants, canteens, takeaways, express delivery, logistics and other personnel must be fully tested. Medium and high-risk streets, medical staff, The frontline personnel for epidemic prevention and those in service fields such as transportation, supermarkets, and banks must be fully tested.....
Only in this season can I listen to sad music and indulge in silent time, so I can't help but feel pain and nostalgia.....
Li Yapeng wrote: "I hope you are happy now
Thailand's National Tourism Administration Director Yu Tasha said on the 14th that Thailand is still working hard to prevent and control the new crown epidemic, and it will be open to Chinese tourists as soon as possible or around October this year.....
Men of good character are not only warm to strangers
It's his character.
My colleagues
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Q: What characters are grouped with Array.from? I've been playing around with JS and can't figure out how JS decides which elements to add to the created array when using Array.from(). For example, the following emoji  has a length of 2, as it is made of two code points, but, Array.from() treats these two code points as one, giving an array with one element:

const emoji = '';
console.log(Array.from(emoji)); // Output: [""]

However, some other characters also have two code points such as this character षि (also has a .length of 2). However, Array.from doesn't "group" this character and instead produces two elements:

const str = 'षि';
console.log(Array.from(str)); // Output: ["ष", "ि"]

My question is: What determines whether the character is broken up (like in example two) or treated as one single element (like in example one) when the character consists of two code points?

A: It's all about the code behind the characters. Some are coded in two bytes (UTF-16) and are interpreted by Array.from as two characters. Gotta check the list of the characters :
http://www.fileformat.info/info/charset/UTF-8/list.htm
http://www.fileformat.info/info/charset/UTF-16/list.htm

function displayHexUnicode(s) {
  console.log(s.split("").reduce((hex,c)=>hex+=c.charCodeAt(0).toString(16).padStart(4,"0"),""));
}

displayHexUnicode('षि');

console.log(Array.from('षि').forEach(x => displayHexUnicode(x)));

function displayHexUnicode(s) {
  console.log(s.split("").reduce((hex,c)=>hex+=c.charCodeAt(0).toString(16).padStart(4,"0"),""));
}

displayHexUnicode('');

console.log(Array.from('').forEach(x => displayHexUnicode(x)));

For the function that displays the hex code :
Javascript: Unicode string to hex

A: Array.from first tries to invoke the iterator of the argument if it has one, and strings do have iterators, so it invokes String.prototype[Symbol.iterator], so let's look up how the prototype method works. It's described in the specification here:

*

*Let O be ? RequireObjectCoercible(this value).

*Let S be ? ToString(O).

*Return CreateStringIterator(S).

Looking up CreateStringIterator eventually takes you to 21.1.5.2.1 %StringIteratorPrototype%.next ( ), which does:

*Let cp be ! CodePointAt(s, position).

*Let resultString be the String value containing cp.[[CodeUnitCount]] consecutive code units from s beginning with the code unit at index position.

*Set O.[[StringNextIndex]] to position + cp.[[CodeUnitCount]].

*Return CreateIterResultObject(resultString, false).

The CodeUnitCount is what you're interested in. This number comes from CodePointAt :

*Let first be the code unit at index position within string.

*Let cp be the code point whose numeric value is that of first.

*If first is not a leading surrogate or trailing surrogate, then
a. Return the Record { [[CodePoint]]: cp, [[CodeUnitCount]]: 1, [[IsUnpairedSurrogate]]: false }.

*If first is a trailing surrogate or position + 1 = size, then
a.Return the Record { [[CodePoint]]: cp, [[CodeUnitCount]]: 1, [[IsUnpairedSurrogate]]: true }.

*Let second be the code unit at index position + 1 within string.

*If second is not a trailing surrogate, then
a. Return the Record { [[CodePoint]]: cp, [[CodeUnitCount]]: 1, [[IsUnpairedSurrogate]]: true }.

*Set cp to ! UTF16DecodeSurrogatePair(first, second).

*Return the Record { [[CodePoint]]: cp, [[CodeUnitCount]]: 2, [[IsUnpairedSurrogate]]: false }.

So, when iterating over a string with Array.from, it returns a CodeUnitCount of 2 only when the character in question is the start of a surrogate pair. Characters that are interpreted as surrogate pairs are described here:

Such operations apply special treatment to every code unit with a numeric value in the inclusive range 0xD800 to 0xDBFF (defined by the Unicode Standard as a leading surrogate, or more formally as a high-surrogate code unit) and every code unit with a numeric value in the inclusive range 0xDC00 to 0xDFFF (defined as a trailing surrogate, or more formally as a low-surrogate code unit) using the following rules..:

षि is not a surrogate pair:

console.log('षि'.charCodeAt()); // First character code: 2359, or 0x937
console.log('षि'.charCodeAt(1)); // Second character code: 2367, or 0x93F

But 's characters are:

console.log(''.charCodeAt()); // 55357, or 0xD83D
console.log(''.charCodeAt(1)); // 56397, or 0xDC4D

The first character code of '' is, in hex, D83D, which is within the range of 0xD800 to 0xDBFF of leading surrogates. In contrast, the first character code of 'षि' is much lower, and is not. So the 'षि' gets split apart, but '' doesn't.
षि is composed of two separate characters: ष, Devanagari Letter Ssa, and ि, Devanagari Vowel Sign I. When next to each other in this order, they get graphically combined into a single character visually, despite being composed of two separate characters.
In contrast, the character codes of  only make sense when together as a single glyph. If you try to use a string with either code point without the other, you'll get a nonsense symbol:

console.log(''[0]);
console.log(''[1]);

A: UTF-16 (the encoding used for strings in js) uses 16bit units. So every unicode that can be represented using 15 bit is represented as one code point, everything else as two, known as surrogate pairs. The iterator of strings iterates over code points.
UTF-16 on Wikipedia

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Biden: Mubarak Resignation 'Pivotal Moment' in History
February 11, 2011 VOA 0 Comments
U.S. Vice President Joe Biden says Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak's resignation is a "pivotal moment" in history.
He spoke in the U.S. state of Kentucky, ahead of an expected statement in Washington by President Barack Obama.
Biden said the U.S. has said from the beginning of the political unrest that the future of Egypt will be determined by the Egyptian people.
He said the U.S. has stood for a set of core principles during the uprising, including deeming violence against demonstrators "unacceptable" and calling for the respect of Egyptians' rights. He said the U.S. has also urged that Egypt's political transition be an "irreversible change" and a negotiated path toward democracy.
Biden added that Democrats and Republicans have largely spoken with one voice on the issue, and said that unity will be even more important in the "delicate" days ahead.
The White House said President Obama was informed of Mr. Mubarak's decision to step down during a meeting in the Oval Office. He then watched television coverage of the scene in Cairo for several minutes.
The Obama administration has repeatedly said that it is looking for an orderly transition that leads to free and fair elections.
In a statement late Thursday, Mr. Obama said the Egyptian government must put forward a credible, concrete, and unequivocal path toward genuine democracy.
The United States provides more than $1.3 billion in military aid to Egypt each year.
Some U.S. lawmakers had called for cutting that aid if the governmental transition in Egypt did not happen soon.
← India, Pakistan Return to Negotiating Table
Swiss freeze assets as Mubarak steps down →
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William C. Placher and Derek R. Nelson compile significant passages written by the most important Christian thinkers, from the early church through the Middle Ages, and up to the beginning of the sixteenth century. Illustrating the major theologians, controversies, and schools of thought, Readings in the History of Christian Theology is an essential companion to the study of church history and historical theology. Excerpts are preceded by the editors' introductions, allowing the book to stand alone as a coherent history. This revised edition expands the work's scope with the addition of many new texts, especially those from the voices of women and others who have been marginalized from the theological tradition. This valuable resource brings together the writings of major theologians from the church's history for a new generation of students.
"This thoughtful collection of works from the Early Church to the Late Middle ages provides an excellent introduction to the history of Christianity. This diverse anthology includes selections from normative and non-normative authors, from well-known and lesser known writers, from men and women, from theologians and mystics. The insightful chapter introductions and brief summaries of each reading make this a reliable guide for the student and teacher alike."


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Ready-made, powdered refreshments and powdered foods.


text:
{ "item_title" : "Rurouni Kenshin (3-In-1 Edition), Vol. 6, 6", "item_author" : [" Nobuhiro Watsuki "], "item_description" : "The beloved landmark tale of a Meiji-era swordsman's quest for redemption. Action, romance and historical intrigue help make Nobuhiro Watsuki's Rurouni Kenshin, the tale of a wandering swordsman set against the backdrop of the Meiji Restoration, one of the most popular manga titles of all timeAfter a series of hard-won battles, Kenshin finally confronts Shishio, the twisted mastermind behind the plot to overthrow the government. The fate of Japan hangs in the balance as the two greatest swordsmen of the age face off. To survive, Kenshin must fight at full strength, which means breaking his vow never to kill again. If he wins Japan, he loses his soul...", "item_img_path" : "https://covers4.booksamillion.com/covers/bam/1/42/159/250/1421592509_b.jpg", "price_data" : { "retail_price" : "14.99", "online_price" : "14.99", "our_price" : "14.99", "club_price" : "14.99", "savings_pct" : "0", "savings_amt" : "0.00", "club_savings_pct" : "0", "club_savings_amt" : "0.00", "discount_pct" : "10", "store_price" : "" } }
Rurouni Kenshin (3-In-1 Edition), Vol. 6, 6 : Includes Vols. 16, 17 & 18
by Nobuhiro Watsuki
Earliest ship date: February 2, 2023
9 copies from $12.56
The beloved landmark tale of a Meiji-era swordsman's quest for redemption.
Action, romance and historical intrigue help make Nobuhiro Watsuki's Rurouni Kenshin, the tale of a wandering swordsman set against the backdrop of the Meiji Restoration, one of the most popular manga titles of all time
After a series of hard-won battles, Kenshin finally confronts Shishio, the twisted mastermind behind the plot to overthrow the government. The fate of Japan hangs in the balance as the two greatest swordsmen of the age face off. To survive, Kenshin must fight at full strength, which means breaking his vow never to kill again. If he wins Japan, he loses his soul...
Publish Date: April 2018
Reading Level: Ages 15-17
 x
Rurouni Kenshin (3-In-1 Edition), Vol. 2, 2
Nobuhiro Watsuki
$14.99 Paperback


text:
Arts and Culture, Eats, Englewood
Making a Home in Englewood
by Jamison Pfeifer • March 9, 2013
In Englewood, where vacancies and foreclosures are common and neighborhood hangouts are scarce, one space, a kind of brick loft on the corner of 69th and Green, may end up as what its owner calls "a true neighborhood spot." Kusanya Café is a forthcoming espresso bar and nonprofit in Englewood that will also serve as a community arts venue. Behind the café is Phil Sipka, a five-year resident of Englewood, who came up with the idea for the cafe about three years ago and acts as the project's executive director and coordinator. The idea grew from what Sipka saw as the desperate lack of any communal gathering space or venue for the arts in the neighborhood. "Art dies when there's no outlet for it," he says. Most of all, he wants the place to have the feel of an Englewood establishment. "If we got a lot of customers and none of them were Englewood residents, I would consider that a failure."
When Phil was looking for a building to house the café, he faced the mounting problem of what he calls the "infrastructural decimation" of Englewood. Not only was there a lack of leasable buildings, but also few owners were even willing to lease, especially on such an aberrant project as his. "A lot of building owners seemed to have bought property around 2008 thinking that the Olympics were coming, and then were left with a building that was worth less than what they paid for." The severe infrastructural gap in Englewood has made rare the kinds of spaces like his cafe. True communal spaces–even just sit-down restaurants, he adds–are scant.
Whatever the stigma that often surrounds Englewood–a force Sipka readily acknowledges–there is an unscathed optimistic sincerity in his words, which stem from a committed belief in the potential of the neighborhood. The last thing he wants is for the neighborhood to get blamed, and instead he speaks to the city's damaging policies that he argues have eliminated the kinds of social mechanisms that might allow change. Sipka believes in "living and fighting in places where injustice occurs." Despite his view that Englewood fits this description, he can trace his optimism to an earlier job working with By The Hands, an after-school program in the neighborhood that brought together a diverse group of people. These people, he realized, wouldn't otherwise find a place to engage with each other. Sipka believes the neighborhood's diversity, like the neighborhood's character is portrayed too simply. "Englewood is far more diverse than people give it credit for," he adds. This diversity, he contends, can be turned into a strength.
Phil and his team finally settled with the building on 69th and Green, a block removed from Halsted. They had originally signed a lease with the building's previous owner, but after some logistical strain, board member Lauren Duffy acquired the building last fall, giving the café a permanent place to call home. Duffy, a real-estate agent who quit her day job to take on the task of the project, was recently featured in an interview with the Huffington Post article detailing her work with the project.
In hosting poetry slams, art showings, or workshops with the urban farm group Growing Home, Sipka envisages an open environment and an opportunity for what he calls "community empowerment." The café is currently slated to be open in June, though that date is subject to contingency. Since living in Englewood, he's found that "there are so many people that completely surprise you," which is where the cafe comes in. Fittingly, Kusanya is the Swahili word for "to gather."
Tags: Kusanya Café Phil Sipka
← Feel Like Going Home
Voices of Chicago Public Housing →
2 comments for "Making a Home in Englewood"
Benjamin Boyajian
Isn't Kusanya Cafe at 69th and Green? I think the address is 825 W 69th Street.
Good catch, Benjamin. We've made the changes to the story and regret the error.


text:
Je n'arrive pas à m'y faire
Thread starter LivvyC
LivvyC
England and English!!
I have another question about the meaning of a phrase within Harry Potter à l'École des Sorciers! I'm a couple of pages on from last time - Hagrid has just given baby Harry to Dumbledore to be left with his horrible uncle after surviving Voldemort's attack and Hagrid starts sobbing, saying: je n'arrive pas à m'y faire
I think I've worked out that je n'arrive pas à faire means that I didn't manage to do it but it's the m'y that is confusing me!! Does it mean that he didn't manage to do it to himself there (which doesn't make a lot of sense...), ie that he couldn't save Harry's parents who were killed, or does it have another meaning that eludes me?!
I'm confused because he did succeed in getting Harry so I can't fit it into the context of the story!! Unless it's a similar phrase to the English 'I can't make myself to do it' (having just read in my dictionary that se faire is to make oneself) ie, leave the baby with his non-wizard family!
Sorry, this has turned into a very long winded question!!
se faire à = to get used to. The "y" replaces the "à" along with what is understood to come after ("à l'idée que ses parents son morts").
I think here it means "I just can't stand it / I can't get used to the idea (that Harry's parents are dead)."
The original in the book is: But I just c-c-c-can't stand it...
pitchou
it means he can't get used to the idea that James and Lily are dead and that Harry is going to be left "alone" in a Muggle family
"je ne parviens pas à m'y faire" = se faire à l'idée que... = to accept, believe,...


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Is the term ''object'' misleading in the world of OOP? Should it be considered something more akin to ''messaging''? It depends on which level you're working on.
From time to time, someone asks me what I think about what Alan Kay, the father of OOP, the designer of Smalltalk (the first object-oriented language), said in 1998 about OOP. He literally said that the very term "object" was misleading, and that a more appropriate one would be "messaging." Here is what I think.
The problem with messaging is that it keeps objects on the same level of abstraction. They communicate as equal and independent "modules," sending data messages to each other. Even though they look object-oriented, the entire communication pattern is very procedural. We try to encapsulate as much as we can inside a single object, but we inevitably still have to expose a lot of its data in order to be able to "connect" it with other objects.
We turn objects into "little computers," as some books refer to them. They expect data to come it, process the data, and return back some new data. The maintainability problem is not really solved with this approach — we still have to deal with a lot of data, remembering its semantic outside of the objects. In other words, there is no true encapsulation.
Every time we need objects to communicate, we create a bigger object that encapsulates more primitive ones, letting them interact inside. Of course, the data will also go from object to object, but that will happen inside a bigger object. We can even make the encapsulator and the encapsulatee "friends", as I suggested before, to make that interaction more transparent and avoid data exposure through getters or even printers.
It seems to me that he means modules, which are not objects. These are different things. Modules are elements of architecture, while objects are elements of design. These are two different levels. At the architecture level, we obviously need messages, and Kay's statement is perfectly correct. However, at the design level, we need composable structures to increase maintainability — and messaging is not what can help us achieve this goal.
Thus, I believe Alan Kay was right when he invented objects, called them objects, and gave their programming style the "object-oriented" title.


text:
An 1818 painting by French artist Jean-Auguste Dominique Ingres shows Leonardo da Vinci breathing his last in the arms of his patron, France's King Francis I. The Ingres painting hangs at the Petit Palais in Paris The scene was inspired by an account in "Lives of the Artists" by Giorgio…
A woman is often inconstant He who trusts her is a fool indeed. --Francis I, according to Victor Hugo Francis I, who reigned from 1515 to 1547, has an outsized place in France's history. The swashbuckling king with a legendary appetite for life reveled in earthly delights as well…
Leonardo the anatomist
The gory truth about Leonardo's mastery of human anatomy is that his insatiable curiosity and desire to represent living beings accurately led him to dissect not only animals, but humans as well, including at least one woman who died with an unborn baby in her womb. He obtained his specimens--usually…
Leonardo, lover of birds, and flight
A story about Leonardo speaks to both his love of nature and fascination with flight. When at a market, Da Vinci would often pity the cooped-up birds that were on sale, plunk down the asking price for them, then release them into the air. Leonardo had a legendary obsession with…
Getting virtually intimate with Mona Lisa at the Louvre's Leonardo retrospective
Da vinci / News
Viewers put on a headset and get intimate with Lisa The Mona Lisa is conspicuously absent from the Louvre's retrospective of Leonardo da Vinci, but the world-famous Florentine makes up for it by holding court in a virtual reality experience. Organizers of the blockbuster show featuring 10 of the Renaissance…
Leonardo extravaganza kicks off at the Louvre
The Louvre museum has kicked off its blockbuster retrospective of Leonardo da Vinci to mark 500 years since the death of the Renaissance master. Some 240,000 people have already reserved their place in line for the four-month exhibition, the biggest ever organized to showcase the Tuscan polymath's indelible contributions to…
Leonardo's bones: lost and found?
Leonardo's "presumed" remains lie under a tombstone in the small Flamboyant Gothic chapel of Saint Hubert on the grounds of the royal chateau in Amboise on the banks of the Loire. The tale of how the bones were lost and possibly found winds through French history from the…
Did Leonardo have 'claw hand'?
Two Italian doctors have advanced arguments to counter the widely accepted conclusion that Leonardo da Vinci suffered a stroke, paralyzing his right arm, some five years before his death in 1519. Davide Lazzeri, a plastic surgeon at the Villa Salaria Clinic in Rome, and Carlo Rossi, a neurologist at the…
Keep smiling: Mona Lisa's umpteenth move
In her 500 years of existence, Mona Lisa has been around, and she has taken some knocks. Since 1516 when she traversed the Alps in a mule caravan with her creator as he travelled to France, she has been twice stolen and twice vandalized, and her enigmatic face has been…
Some 10.2 million people visited the Louvre last year
Get your tickets now for the Louvre's blockbuster Leonardo show
The Louvre has kicked off reservations for a blockbuster exhibition in October of most of Leonardo da Vinci's paintings to mark the quincentennial of the Renaissance master's death. Tickets to the show opening on October 24 will not be available at the box office, but only on the website www.ticketlouvre.fr…


Thomson Reuters shares traded in New York have crossed above the critical 50-day moving average of $36.51.
The location of a stock price when analyzed against the moving average can aid in predicting future short term momentum, the website Market Intellisearch reported. Trading activity for the shares may indicate that TRI may head higher assuming that the moving average continues upward direction. The volume of shares exchanging hands is less than average daily volume of 1,236,350 of shares.


Since you will have to trust this company to deliver the product or services for your business, you need to set a standard to identify which of your options are qualified. With the absence of permit to operate in the particular area, a tech startup company can't do the job in your area legally so check out for one. Awareness of the track record is vital when looking for this kind of companies because this will give you an assurance that over the years, they were spontaneous in doing great service.


Today's professing Christians are walking but a step behind the world, concerned about being too "different" or standing out too much. Plainly they are still walking "according to the course [direction] of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air," albeit a few steps behind. Unless this worldly course or path is abandoned, their direction changed, and the strait and narrow way gained, they will undoubtedly share the fate of all those travelling the broad way.
Quotes beginning shortly after the death of the apostle John, show us that from the days of the early church, truth and holiness were on a collision course with the world. Contrary to our mental picture of modest, long flowing gowns, a study of the ancient "modest" world reveals a picture of worldly attire, immodesty and extravagance.
Early Christians who chose to walk with Christ, chose to "stand out" against the popular, mainstream ideas of their day, presenting no less striking a picture than those who will walk the narrow way today. Thankfully, then as now, true prophets are willing to wield the sword of truth in all its practicalities, dress no exception.
Adam Clarke (1762-1832): "If Paul saw the manner in which Christian women now dress and appear in the ordinances of religion, what would he think? What would he say? How could he ever distinguish the Christian from the infidel?


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Roasted duck spring roll with leek and fried taro and served with a Hoi Sin sauce.
Crispy battered long green bean with our chef's homemade fresh green apple salad (Cold) in cashew nuts, red onion, spring onion and chilli, garlic and lemon juice dressing.
Stir friedbeef with a red curry paste, coconut milk, young Thai pepper corn, krachai (rhizome), kaffir lime leaves, red pepper, sweet basil and fine beans.
Deep fried mushrooms in a light batter with a Thai Three flavoured sauce ( sour, sweet and salty), dried chilli, peppers, onion and basil leaves. Garnished with crispy sweet basil leaves.
Stir fried king prawns with a Thai chilli oil, garlic, peppers, onion and sweet basil.


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The snow that fell all melted and it's been warm and wet, and then cool and wet, and now cool and dry.
It's a week until Christmas. Winter Solstice is Sunday.
I want my snow, dammit.
I want a white holiday season.


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HomeBreakingUNESCO experts ready to assist reconstruction of iconic Notre Dame, following devastating blaze
UNESCO experts ready to assist reconstruction of iconic Notre Dame, following devastating blaze
April 16, 2019 KDN Breaking, International 0
UNESCO/George Papagiannis:Notre-Dame cathedral after the fire in Paris. Sections of the cathedral were under scaffolding as part of extensive renovations. (16 April 2019)
Two-thirds of the largely medieval roof of Notre Dame cathedral in Paris have "gone" after the devastating fire in Paris on Monday evening, but UN cultural experts are standing by to offer help where it is needed in rebuilding the iconic structure.
That's what UNESCO World Heritage Centre Director Mechtild Rössler told UN News after visiting the site on Tuesday.
It's a universal symbol, and it's the centre of France…I think this is really shocking people profoundly – UNESCO heritage chief, Mechtild Rössler
She described seeing people praying outside the stricken symbol of the city and the nation, still trying to take in the scale of the disaster:
"I saw many, many people going from the Metro, to the site of Notre Dame, and I have to say many are still in a state of shock, because it's not only the Christian community, it's a building for all of us", she said. "Really, it's a universal symbol and it's the centre of France …I think this is really shocking people profoundly and they lost something that is part of their identity."
Dr Rössler said that a team of UNESCO experts is on hand to investigate the stability of the stonework and potential damage to stained glass windows, echoing a statement by the UNESCO Director-General, Audrey Azoulay, in which she announced that a "rapid damage assessment" would be carried out as soon as possible with the authorities.
After visiting the site of Notre Dame on Monday night Ms. Azoulay said "we are all heartbroken." The Cathedral is part of the World Heritage site officially known as "Paris, Banks of the Seine", inscribed on the World Heritage List, in 1991.


California-born Alireza Courdee, known to his friends as Rez, is fourteen when this story starts and nineteen when it finishes. The son of wealthy and successful first-generation immigrants (his father is a Kurd from Iran and his mother is from Syria) he has so far lived a privileged life, never knowing what it is to go without or to live in fear. Although he occasionally feels torn between two cultures, essentially he appears to be living the American dream, a dream and freedom his parents fled the Islamic Revolution to find. They have worked hard to achieve this and want Rez to appreciate his good fortune. His father is strict and unrelenting in the high standards he sets for his son, physically venting his rage on him when Rez gets a B in a school history test. Although Rez wants to do well and to eventually go to university, for now he just loves hanging-out with a group of white school-friends who have, apparently, accepted him into their tight-knit clique. Surfing, getting stoned and, hopefully, losing his virginity, now become more important priorities than constantly striving to excel at school, inevitably leading to increasing conflicts with his parents, particularly his father.
However, in post-9/11 America and as the child of middle-eastern immigrants, a true sense of identity is hard to come by. A sudden falling-out with his white friends, the Boston Marathon bombing and then a terrorist attack on a shopping mall closer to home, all combine to expose how superficial his acceptance into the white community has been. He discovers that the colour of his skin, his religion, even though he is not a practising Muslim, and the fact that his parents are immigrants all lead to him being seen as a potential terrorist. This open hostility makes him feel rejected, confused, lost and isolated but new friends, Arash, a Muslim student, and the beautiful Fatima, draw him into a new circle which offers the promise of comfort and acceptance. However, it is a circle which will prove to be as disturbing as it is consoling.
Through the eyes of Rez, Laleh Khadivi powerfully captures the struggles of a young adolescent whose sudden realisation that his acceptance in the community of his birth is so fragile, leaving him feeling very isolated and aimless, makes him look for alternative sources of acceptance, support and comfort. In a sensitive and insightful way, she drew me into Rez's world. I could feel how his hurt, his anger, his confusion, all contributed to what felt like an inevitable journey towards radicalisation. Her thought-provoking observations about this process really brought home how a vulnerable, but idealistic, young person can be persuaded by promises of a truer, a better, a more worthwhile life. Rez had grown up with his father extolling America, and the opportunities it had offered him and his family, as "a good country". However, when this was no longer Rez's experience, he felt forced to seek an alternative "good country" and to go in search of his roots.
In the early stages of the story I found it easy to identify with its exploration of the world of young people, with their mixture of careless hedonism, idealism, false bravado and underlying anxieties. I thought that she captured this journey towards an eventual coming of age in a convincing and evocative way, using the vernacular of this age group to very good effect. Her descriptions of the surfing, recreational use of drugs and almost frantic need for sexual exploration were equally convincing as a reflection of the increasingly fast-moving world adolescents are trying to negotiate.
When the story became much more disturbing was when I felt thrust into the very different world Rez was starting to occupy, one where the conflicts he was facing were extreme and very disturbing. I had become so fond of him by this point that I wanted nothing more than to be able to protect him from people who were willing to exploit his confusion, innocence, idealism and naïvety. I wanted to stop him hurtling towards a point of no return. I wanted to "buy him time" on his journey towards adulthood and maturity. I think that the author captured this transition from idealism to fundamentalism in a way which felt psychologically convincing, and therefore deeply disturbing. Her descriptions of Rez's experiences made me reflect on the sense of security you get by feeling that you belong absolutely in your community/country and whether, as an immigrant, or even the child of an immigrant, this absolute certainty is ever possible. If it isn't, what are the possible ramifications of this feeling of rejection and marginalisation?
I enjoyed Laleh Khadivi's writing style, it is lyrical, almost poetic at times. However, her acute observations of a darker reality give it an edgy quality and it is this, combined with her unrelenting examination of the effects of alienation, which at times makes for an uncomfortable and disturbing reading experience. There is something very precise, yet nuanced, in her use of language which, for me, is encapsulated in her three epitaphs, which offer three definitions of the word "radical". As soon as I read these I realised that the precision and complexity of language is probably very important to her in her search for authenticity in her story-telling. I enjoyed her vivid and convincing characterisations, with every single one of her characters seeming to leap off the page, demanding to be listened to. One thing which I initially found to be a bit confusing was the lack of punctuation for dialogue but once I had adjusted to this, I found that it in fact enabled me to feel much more intimately engaged with Rez's thought-processes.
This is the third book in a trilogy, with the first two being about the struggles faced by Rez's grandfather and father, struggles which led to his father emigrating to America. Although this book can very easily be read as an unforgettable, stand-alone story, I think that I would have got even more from it had I read about the personal and historical influences which had shaped Rez's family. However, A Good Country has made such an impression on me, with its examination of such a contemporary dilemma, that I will now read the first two books. I know that I will then welcome the opportunity to reread this one, thereby gaining a new, and deeper, perspective and understanding.


She "burned with the inhumanity of segregation" in her country, she writes. "I felt that civil rights was my fight." At 13, she might have been too young to travel to the South to march or demonstrate, but not too young to deface the statues of black men in jockey uniforms and caps on the lawns of the homes of some neighbours – ornaments that deeply offended her.
When the family dog had to be put down, it fell to Gildiner, still in high school, to take him to the vet. Her father was ill with a brain tumour by then. "It was too much for my mother, so I didn't say anything to her," she writes.
Those of us who read her first memoir, Too Close to the Falls, published a decade ago, know that Gildiner was the only child of parents who were in their 40s when she was born. Her mother's parenting style was laissez-faire; Gildiner worked side by side with her father for years in his drugstore, McClure's Drugs, in Niagara Falls, N.Y., from the age of 4 – at her pediatrician's suggestion. He said everyone had an internal metronome, that hers ticked faster than most, and that burning energy by working was a good idea.
After the Falls picks up where the first memoir left off. When Gildiner was 12, life changed profoundly: her father sold the pharmacy and took a job with a drug company; the family moved from their historic colonial home to a tiny tract house in suburban Buffalo – a house she loathed.
Gildiner, now 62, is a born raconteur. Her writing style is lively and conversational; dialogue, which figures strongly, comes easily to her, "but I used it only if the character was part of my soul," she said.
She knew, for instance, "what Roy would say." Roy, who figures in the book, was the driver at her dad's pharmacy; the two had worked together for years and in After the Falls, she goes to him for counsel, if only in her imagination.
She knew also what her parents would say. "They're people who live in my heart," she said.
Details are camouflaged to protect the privacy of the people she describes, but as Gildiner observes in an author's note, she made every effort "to be as true as possible to my memories about the personalities and the incidents." Her goal, she tells us, was to convey the emotional truth of her experience.
A reader may have minor quibbles, with tortured syntax and lazy fact-checking: John F. Kennedy was married in St. Mary's Church in Newport, R.I., not St. Patrick's Cathedral in New York City.
But Gildiner does not waver from her goal, which was to depict her flawed and somewhat eccentric parents with love and affection. In the book, she thanks them "for being the best parents a child could ever imagine," and frets that she didn't tell them so while they were alive.


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The 2015 Zabadani ceasefire agreement between Syrian opposition forces and the Syrian Armed Forces was achieved on 24 September 2015, with mediation from the United Nations, following the Battle of Zabadani (2015). The agreement was fulfilled in April 2017.

Agreement
On 24 September 2015, more than 2 months after the Battle of Zabadani (2015) began, the UN announced that an agreement between the warring parties had finally been reached after repeated mediation efforts. Per the agreement, the remaining entrenched rebels are to withdraw from the Syrian government-besieged Zabadani and control of the town to the Syrian government while surrendering all weapons, save for light handguns, and withdrawing to the Idlib Governorate. Conversely, civilians (approximately 10,000 people) still remaining inside the rebel-besieged Shia villages of Fu'ah and Kefriya are to be evacuated. Control of the villages would not be surrendered to the rebels; however, as approximately 4,000 pro-government troops would remain in the villages. The plan was expected to take 6 months to be fully implemented, during which time extended ceasefires are expected to be upheld in each respective area. Evacuation of wounded from both sides was expected to begin as early as 25 September 2015. An additional stipulation denotes the release of 500 rebel captives from Syrian government-held prisons. The agreement would be overseen by the United Nations office in Damascus.

Implementation timeline

On 26 September 2015, the first bus transport evacuating the rebel combatants to Idlib began leaving al-Zabadani.

After the implementation of the ceasefire, the besieging Hezbollah and the Syrian Army troops redirected their attention towards the remaining parts of the Qalamoun Mountains still under rebel control, namely a smaller area in the Jaroud Rankous, located in southern Qalamoun, and larger area located in Jaroud Qarah, in northern Qalamoun. The Hezbollah also set itself out to recapture the Lebanese border-district of Arsal, from where the al-Nusra Front and ISIL have been receiving much of its reinforcement into the Qalamoun Mountains. However, on 10 October, the truce was jeopardized by rebel groups, claiming the truce had been made "irrelevant" following the Russian military intervention in the Syrian Civil War.

On 28 December, 120 rebels and civilians from Zabadani were transported to Lebanon in return for the evacuation of 300 pro-government troops and civilians from Fuah and Kefraya to Turkey. According to the ceasefire agreement, those from Zabadani will proceed to Turkey through Lebanon while those from Fuah and Kefraya will arrive in government-held Syria through Lebanon and Turkey.

A year later on 25 September 2016, 52 aid trucks went to Zabadani and Madaya and 19 arrived in Fuah and Kefraya. A week before on 18 September, Hezbollah and the Syrian Army destroyed a rebel smuggling tunnel near Zabadani containing rockets, mortar shells, and other weapons and ammunition.

On 23 November 2016, government forces launched mortar shells and sniper fire into Zabadani and Madaya, which killed 2 civilians.

On February 21, 2017, Rebel forces evacuated from the town of Serghaya.

On 28 March 2017, an agreement was brokered by Qatar and Iran for the evacuation of those living in Fu'ah and Kafriya in exchange for the evacuation of residents and rebels in Zabadani and Madaya. The agreement came under effect beginning on 12 April and buses and ambulances arrived in the four towns with the assistance of the Syrian Arab Red Crescent to begin the evacuations. On 14 April, 60 buses transported 2,350 people, including 400 rebels, from Madaya and Zabadani to Idlib. After being suspended for several days following a suicide bombing of buses carrying refugees, the first phase of the evacuations was completed on 19 April, with further transports planned for June. A total of 30,000 people are to be relocated by the end of the operation.

See also

Battle of Zabadani (2012)
Qalamoun offensive (May–June 2015)
Siege of al-Fu'ah and Kafriya
Siege of Darayya and Muadamiyat
 Geneva II Conference on Syria
 Syrian conflict peace proposals
 International reactions to the Syrian Civil War

References

Zabadani cease-fire 2015
Zabadani cease-fire 2015
International reactions to the Syrian civil war
2015 in Syria
Middle East peace efforts
Syrian peace process
September 2015 events in Syria

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


What is on your altar, disir stone, hearth or horg? What tools do you have and which ones-be honest!- do you actually USE? Does your altar/stone/hearth/horg change with the seasons or is it a permanent set-up? Is your altar/stone/hearth/ horg a meeting place or honoring place for the Old Ones/Ancestors/Gods/Goddesses or is it a place to work magick-or both? What does the altar, stone, hearth/horg mean or represent to YOU?
I'm fortunate enough to have a permanent altar situated in my garage. I've modified a former drafting table by carving a pentacle in its center (the protecive circle has runes at the cardinal directions). From floor to ceiling on the wall behind the altar, I've glued a collage from photos from the National Geographic: sea scenes on the bottom, people directly over the altar, and the universe above. Beside the usual candals and incense holder, at the left rear is a large flat stone on which I've painted the Venus of Wollendorf; aat the right rear is an upright phallic shaped stone. Directly behind the altar proper is "Yggdrasil", a small brass tree with spangly leaves. To the left of the altar is propped a besom; to the right, a magnificent 6' tall stong (staff)that I found in a creek bed, and simply stained. Above and behind the altar is a large pentagram fashioned from weathered fence posts.
Other than my candles and incense, I generally use only my stong for "circling" (and then, only on Sabbats). My altar principally serves me as a focus for prayer. Increasingly, I find I'm substiting concentration for ritual; paradoxically, the more elaborate my altar becomes, the simpler are my rituals--and tools.
My altar is a field. I don't use artifices like tables and the like. Well, okay so I have a branch staff, but that's besides the point :) My "altar" is a grassy plain, a tiny opening in a forest, the coast of a lake or pond, even a space locked away in my home. The only tool I have is a wooden staff, and I use it to carry herbs about in a pouch. I rarely use my staff to channel. But, I basically perform honoring rites, and sometimes a magickal working or two. But I do more honorary rites than workings.
...just me, the Gods, and the Earth - and that's what makes it *REAL*.
My altar is a permanent set up. I have a statue of the goddess in the center of it. A box with my prayer beads in it ( my own creation ;) ), my tambourine, a small white candle, censer, and my wand at the back. It's cover with a purple scarf with multi-colored flowers on it. I use it to honor diety. I have another altar which is very plain. It's one I made with some help ;) It's low to the ground, painted black with a single candle on it. This altar I use for meditation and such. I also have a stang which was given to me as a gift from one of my good friends. She made it for me. I decorated it with different sized and different colored beads and a tiny bell at the crook. I use it as focal point for outdoor prayer and such.
A bookshelf houses my altar (no great surprise right?) On top is a small potted violet, a hand potted cup, a hand made stone knife, a labradorite cat figurine, a jade totem pole, a bronze image of Vishnu, sopestone jar of incense, a rose quartz crystal ball, an oil lamp and a large piece of aragonite. As for using them? LoL not fair! You caught me - this is almost like my treasure box. Many of these items were gifts and I just enjoy looking at them. I really don't use many tools in my spells and rituals, and seeing them generates happiness from the thought behind each.
My altar was a small TV/VCR cabinet in a former incarnation. My altar is set up on top and the cabinet underneath provides ample storage for my books and other supplies. It's set up in the corner of my bedroom and most of the items on it are there all the time. Permanent "fixtures" include a number of brass and wrought iron candle holders of various design and from all over the world. My pewter chalice is currently holding a couple of Ostara eggs, as well as my immran (Celtic prayer beads). An incense holder presently houses an Irish punt coin (it has a picture of a stag on one side). Other items include a deer antler, my ancestors bundle, a braid of sweetgrass, A fan made from blue jay feathers, and several altar stones with words carved into them ("Goddess", "L'chaim", "Dreams", and "Spirituality"). Underneath it all is a sarong printed with Celtic designs.
Of all of these, I use the feather fan, the chalice, the beads, and one of the candles the most. Some items are seasonal, like the Ostara eggs currently decorating the top. Fall foliage decorates the top around Samhuinn. I have what I consider to be a "portable" altar as well (good for camping trips), which is a basket with various stones, feathers, shells, a smudge stick, small candle and an altar cloth I hand quilted.
My whole bedroom winds up being a meeting place for the Spirits, especially after doing a ritual - I usually have powerful dreams that night. My altar is a physical manifestation of my spirituality and as I grow and continue along my path, items come and go.
Well, I have two altars in my home, and one in the garden, that is under construction.
My path is ancestral, Celtic, Slavic and Germanic, so I honro the deities of these paths.
The first altar is in the kitchen, and it is dedicated to my Matrone, or Disir if you will. My female ancestors.
I sculpted an image of three seated women, each one represents the three strains of ancestors I know of in my family. Celtic, Slavic and Germanic.
One the firstis a warrior woman, a Celt. The middle is a mature woman, a Ukrainian, the last is a Germanic woman. They are made so I can place offerings in their arms or laps. Not very tall, only 10 inches.
I surround them with flowers, shells, rocks I take an interest in, glasses of mead or ale, they also get tea and coffee. Candles too, and whatever bread or food offering from the feast.
The second altar is to the Vanic Gods. Freya and Frey, and also Thor. It is also used by husband, and he has donated a large, heavy wood and steel table for the altar itself. It is covered with a deep red cloth, the Germanic and Slavic color of life and vitality, in the center sits a wild boars skull.
The skull was found on my friends California property, a mountain lioness had eaten the boar, and left her dinner bones about. He brought it to me as a gift.
It is festooned with strings of amber. There are antlers from a buck that I found while walkng in the woods on my birthday, I had asked Frey for antlers as a token of His might. Best birthday present ever!
Two iron candle sticks my mate gave to me that he forged.
Chunks of red ocher, amber, a bronze torc, my drinking horn made of blown glass, and other small items found in nature.
This altar is where we hold our blots, or offering rituals, to the Gods, where i sit to meditate and talk to Freya, and where the cats like to sit and look out the window. They are Her little minions, so who amI to tell them to scoot?
Behind the altar stands a large oak tree branch, it is a stang with two branches, or prongs, and third in the middle carved to look, well phallic. It is Freys stang, and has antlers on it, hair from two stallions tails, one clipped from a living stallion ( a buddy of mine), one the old fiddle bow strings of a friend. There are also charms and other magical geegaws hanging from it. Bells, May day ribbons, a horse shoe..
The outdoor altar is a horg, of large river rocks. we are stil arranging them, so we have not started using it for blots and ritual yet. But soon!
Have a grand Beltain all!
As an Asatru gothi, my personal altar is set up with a Wooden Blot Bowl, Thor's Hammer, candles, A Set of Runes made of Ash, a Drinking Horn made from a Bull's horn, and various candles, I am currently looking for an oath ring. My personal altar doesn't change except for an image of the god or goddess that I am honoring and the tree sprig that goes with them, usually pine and I use all of my tools. I use my altar for personal honoring of the gods and I use it for performing magic. My altar is my daily reminder of my ties with the gods and my troth to the Aesir and Vanir.
My wife and I lead a group of men and women of various traditions and have a pernament altar set up outside in our circle, the actual altar tools change, depending on the circumstance, the reason for the ritual, and who is leading the ceremony. This altar is also used for honoring and shamanic magic work.
Both of my altars remind me of my ties with the gods, my outside altar s also a representation of the family that our group has become and our ties that have grown through the year that we've been practicing. We call it our altar of kirth and kin.
Air: A beautiful bird's nest found dislodged from a tree - with two robin's eggs which miraculously survived the fall, feathers found on walking trips, spring flowers, jewelry of birds, feathers, pegasus, etc.
Water: A constantly filled bowl of water, plenty of shells, my scrying crystal, lots of silver and abalone jewelry, esp. turtles, fish, and starfish. I intend to replace the bowl of water with a small fountain, eventually.
I occasionally add and subtract items as the spirit moves me, and have plans to eventually make each altar more interactive and animated, with living plants and animals, as well as a permanent central altar - but that's for someday when I have a temple room with a door and much more space.
It's against the north wall, mostly because that's the place that had a convenient nook for the shelves and no baseboard heater.
On the east side, I have a candleholder which was a gift from a friend, with a plain white taper in it (the candleholder is Egyptian in style, but nothing even vaguely authentic - turquoise color and with assorted figures and heiroglyphs). That represents the light of knowledge and intellect. To the south I have a very small knife blade (it stays sheathed when not in use. I have a cat) to represent action. To the west, an electric pump fountain with ledges covered in sea glass and a few rocks for contemplation and meditation. Finally, there's a leather mask (acquired at the local Ren Fest) which is for mystery and the ideas of levels of depth at the north.
I usually have a few specific stones there (for use in charging if I want to use same) and an occaisional small candle or two for illumination. I keep lighters, a spare old candle to light the other ones with (so I don't need to singe my fingers trying to light the candles in glass jars) and a candle snuffer on the first shelf of the bookshelf side. I keep at least one of my Tarot decks nearby, usually on the floor next to the shelves, and a notebook and pen for any notes.
I don't use incense (this is my bedroom, and I'm sufficiently asthmatic that I don't want to risk causing problems in the place I sleep), nor do I use anyhting to represent the God or Goddess on my altar. Behind it, now, I have three pictures cut from the book of collected cover art for the Neil Gaiman _Sandman_ series (they all have green leaves as part of their design) and I have a just-acquired necklace (beautiful cobalt blue glass and amber pieces) hanging on a hook between two of the pictures.
The overall effect is quite simple but effective, and everything *feels* like it's in the right place to me, even though the candle in the east isn't very conventional, nor is the lack of a direct representation for three of the elements (rather, there are indirect ones).
I don't use tools much in my magical or ritual workings (the knife, for example, rarely gets actually picked up) and what I've been doing recently is libations of some kind (the cups and bowl for that usually live in the kitchen, though) so everything is more meditative than anything practical.
Right now my cats are maintaining the altar. I put some statues of Bast on it, which they periodically rearrange, but never knock over. Sometimes they sit on the altar in perfect Bast pose, blending in with the statues. A few photos of this found their way into my Yule cards last year.
(I think it was meant to be the biblical Eve, but who cares?) I plan to treat the wood and then sew a black velvet cloth, but I'm not sure how to use it. My current Goddess representation is a stone with a hole in it that a friend gave me; my God is a humongous trilobite that just looks God-like. Basically, my altar will accumulate fossils and other cool things I can find, but I think most of them will live on the mantle- I have a puppy tooth from my dog, and the collar of my cat who was killed by a car.


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British Steel falls into liquidation after failing to secure funding, 25,000 jobs at risk
British Steel, the country's second largest steel producer, has collapsed after failing to secure emergency government funding, jeopardising some 25,000 jobs.
British Steel's Scunthorpe plant in northern England. The steel producer has collapsed after failing to secure emergency government funding. PHOTO: AFP
https://str.sg/oj43
LONDON (REUTERS) - British Steel, the country's second largest steel producer, has collapsed after failing to secure emergency government funding, jeopardising some 25,000 jobs, Britain's Official Receiver said on Wednesday (May 22).
The High Court ordered the compulsory liquidation of the company, adding its staff will continue to be employed as the liquidator oversees the continuing operation of the main site in Scunthorpe, northern England.
Owned by investment firm Greybull Capital, British Steel employs around 5,000 people, mostly in Scunthorpe, while 20,000 more depend on its supply chain.
Greybull Capital, which specialises in trying to turn around distressed businesses, said it had tried to keep British Steel alive but the challenges of Britain's looming exit from the European Union proved insurmountable.
Business Minister Greg Clark said British Steel was open to new buyers, while the opposition Labour Party called on the government to bring British Steel into public ownership.
Graybull paid Tata Steel a nominal one pound for the business three years ago. After making a profit in 2017, British Steel cut around 400 jobs last year, blaming factors such as the weak pound and uncertainties surrounding Brexit, which it said hammered its order book.
EU steel company shares are currently trading at their lowest in nearly three years, driven down by weak demand, high raw materials costs and cheap imports that can no longer reach the United States due to trade tariffs.
Turning a profit in steel is especially difficult in Britain, where steelmakers pay some of the highest green taxes and energy costs in the world and are saddled with high labour costs and business rates.
Mr Jeff Kabel, chairman emeritus of the International Steel Trade Association (ISTA), said the government was paralysed by Brexit and unable to address the steel sector's challenges.
The collapse of British Steel comes after Germany's Thyssenkrupp and India's Tata Steel ditched a plan this month to merge their European steel assets to create the EU's second largest steelmaker after ArcelorMittal.
That failed merger left the wider EU steel sector fragmented and vulnerable to economic downturns. It also called into question the fate of Britain's largest steelworks in Port Talbot, Wales, owned by Tata Steel.
SEEKING A LOAN
Signs of the ripple effect of British Steel's collapse are already beginning to emerge.
Hargreaves Services, a company based in Durham, northern England, which supplies materials handling and other services, said earlier if the steelmaker ceases to trade, this could reduce its profit before tax in the next full year by about 1.3 million.
British Steel had asked the government for a £75 million (S$131 million) loan, later reducing its demand to £30 million after Greybull agreed to put up more money, according to a source close to the negotiations.
It had already secured a government loan of around £120 million this month to enable it to comply with the European Union's Emissions Trading System (ETS) rules.
Britain's business minister said it would have been unlawful to provide a loan to British Steel on the terms the company or any other party had made.
Greybull had been negotiating with the government for the loan, a source said, adding the government wanted Greybull out of the picture before putting more money into the business for fear those funds will eventually end up in Greybull's hands.
Greybull are British Steel's only creditor at the holding company level and have secured their loans against its assets.
British Steel also operates a business in France producing rail, and a wire and processing unit in the Netherlands.
The UK government has a chequered history with Greybull, after the collapse of the firm's airline Monarch in 2017 forced the government to repatriate more than 100,000 stranded tourists at a cost of about £60 million.
Greybull also provided backing for the buyout of British high street electronics chain Comet before its collapse in 2012.
"In light of events over the past few weeks, it is clear Greybull needs to do the right thing by getting out of the road and let those who are committed to our industry work to save the business," the union Community said in a statement.
It called on the government to use all options to secure the assets and rebuild the business, adding clean-up costs for the industrial site could end up costing taxpayers more than a billion pounds.
Bankruptcy/Liquidation


Two town hall meetings SPACES FOR CHANGE | S4C convened in Abia and Imo States brought together parents, pupils, head-teachers, class teachers, food vendors, community leaders, state coordinators and other grass-root managers involved in the implementation of the Home Grown School-Feeding Programme (HGSFP) in the two states. The town halls held on February 9th and 16th, 2019, respectively, had two primary objectives. First, they aimed at deepening community understanding and participation in the HGSFP in their states. Secondly, the meetings afforded a no-holds-barred platform for community stakeholders to discuss the findings of S4C's extensive assessment of HGSFP's programme performance in both states, with a view to identifying where best practice needs to be consolidated and also, where gaps in implementation needs to be bridged.
The Abia town hall took place in Ikwuano local government area (LGA) of Abia State while that of Imo was held in Njaba LGA, with over a hundred persons attending both events. The town halls kicked off with the presentation of S4C's research findings from the field, highlighting the strengths, gaps and challenges the HGSFP initiative is facing across the two states. The assessment involved extensive review of secondary data sourced from internal and external sources. To fill the gap in the reporting and analysis of publicly-available data, the organization carried out a combination of targeted surveys, key informant interviews and focus group discussions during which 8, 315 pupils, 669 parents, 88 public primary schools in urban and rural areas, 55 head and assistant-head teachers and 43 female food vendors were engaged directly, totaling 9,082 persons across the two states.
In terms of what is working well, survey findings disclosed a spike in school enrolment. School authorities—head-teachers and classroom teachers—confirmed that overall student population figures have surged in their schools since the feeding initiative started. In one Abia school, student population increased from 305 to 406, and jumped from 300 to 402 pupils in another. Incidents of pupils moving from private schools to government-owned primary schools were recorded, especially in Abia State. The research established that school feeding motivated the children to come to school, much earlier than before. Pupils were also happy to stay in school, and to play, thanks to the major uptake in their physical wellbeing and strength. Ultimately, the programme has been successful in checking truancy in the schools. However, 92.3% of pupils in the two states indicate they would continue to attend school if the HGSFP is discontinued.
schools, which has negative effects on child welfare and development.
The above findings provoked robust debates about aspects of the programme that need adjustment and new priorities that need to be set. One issue that dominated the discussions relates to hygiene standards and the associated complaints of diarrhea rampant in the schools where the programme is active. The vendors shared that some of the diarrhea cases result from unhygienic practices among pupils and not due to the way the potatoes are prepared. As part of the recommendations, parents were charged to improve their children's hygiene by regularly providing them with clean plates and drinking water.
Another issue dwelt on parental dereliction of duties. Survey findings showed that some parents stopped giving their children breakfast and lunch as a result of the feeding programme. Again parents were urged to adequately feed their children regardless of the government's feeding programme. This was necessary to check the frequency of fainting in class recorded in some of the schools. Children also needed to be well fed at home considering that the feeding programme is irregular in some of the schools. On the other hand, head teachers were urged to institute effective monitoring mechanisms in their schools to ensure efficient supervision of the meal preparation, meal distribution and meal servings. This is bolstered by the direct participation of head teachers, local governments and key line ministries such as ministries of education, agriculture and health. Project implementers can schedule surprise visits to schools to monitor progress, receive feedback from school authorities and correct anomalies noticed.
The next session focused on the importance of community participation and inclusion in the implementation of the programme to enhance efficiency. Imo and Abia States need to develop a robust communication and community engagement strategy in order to strengthen program acceptance from locals, douse public distrust and enlist community participation in program delivery. Information about HGSF activities should be properly communicated to parents, community leaders, and small-scale farmers in every locality the project is being implemented. States can clear doubts and dispel public distrust through awareness creation and periodically publishing reports of public spending on school feeding. Not only that, communication and grievance procedures should be in place in every school for eliciting feedback that can be used to assess progress and improve results.
Another issue that stakeholders wanted the government to look into is the yardstick for recruiting and posting food vendors to schools. Parents argued that some vendors were not trained or tested before recruitment as some still lacked basic cooking skills. Teachers on the other hand complained that some schools with few students had many vendors, while some schools with many students had very few vendors. This informed the recommendation to states to define a clear eligibility criteria, including coherent selection and recruitment procedures for vendors. They should conduct periodic training for vendors to continuously upgrade their skills and learn best and safe practices. States also need to develop reward and disciplinary systems for deserving and erring program vendors. Bureaucratic bottlenecks that cause payment delays must be removed to prevent irregularities in the delivery of meals.
For the vendors, their primary concern is to see the meal budget of N70 per meal per child is reviewed. The review is necessary to attain healthy nutrition for pupils, and enrich meal quality. Children desire to see additional foods on the menu such as fruits, more vegetables and protein to increase nutritional value of meals. Meal budget review can help to make these wishes come true for school children. The vendors were also encouraged to set up food banks where they could store food items in large quantities. Buying and storing food items in large quantities would be an effective way to maximize resources.
School pupils were not left out in the conversation. They expressed excitement about the feeding programme, but want potatoes removed from the menu and replaced with spaghetti. At that point, the pupils learned that spaghetti is not a home-grown food and therefore cannot be included in the menu. Nonetheless, their concerns about potatoes causing diarrhea among pupils would be appropriately addressed.
The sessions ended with delighted participants expressing joy about the efforts to include them in the program delivery and decision-making processes. Not only did the town halls deepen stakeholders' understanding of the HGSFP programme, SPACES FOR CHANGE also promised to channel the feedback received from diverse stakeholders to the appropriate authorities to support the continuous performance of the programme in both states.


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Copyright © 2017 Han Pan et al. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
The removal of mixed Gaussian-impulse noise plays an important role in many areas, such as remote sensing. However, traditional methods may be unaware of promoting the degree of the sparsity adaptively after decomposing into low rank component and sparse component. In this paper, a new problem formulation with regular spectral -support norm and regular -support norm is proposed. A unified framework is developed to capture the intrinsic sparsity structure of all two components. To address the resulting problem, an efficient minimization scheme within the framework of accelerated proximal gradient is proposed. This scheme is achieved by alternating regular -shrinkage thresholding operator. Experimental comparison with the other state-of-the-art methods demonstrates the efficacy of the proposed method.
Image restoration [1–4] attempts to recover a clear image from the observations of real scenes. As a fundamental procedure, it has been applied to various application areas, such as image fusion  and action recognition . However, typically, the noise characteristics of imaging camera is completely or partially unknown. Among these, the removal of mixed noise has not been investigated because the noise model is not easy to establish accurately.
Recently, a patch based method  for video restoration has attracted much attention [8–10]. This method also is extended to video in-painting for archived films. However, the mechanisms of modeling the sparsity level of the grouping patches remain unclear.
To deal with the lack of adaptivity in sparsity level , a robust video restoration algorithm is proposed. The main idea of the proposed method is to model the sparsity levels of the low rank component by regular spectral -support norm and sparse component by regular -support norm. Specially, a new problem formulation is presented, where the objective function is minimized under an upper bound constraint on the regularization term. However, it is not easy to solve the resulting problem. Some recent progress  in the theory of optimization on iterative shrinkage thresholding method is considered. And, an efficient alternating minimization scheme is proposed to solve the new objective.
Recently, the problem of denoising image corrupted by mixed Gaussian-impulse noise has been studied in many different contexts [8–10, 12, 13]. These methods fall into three categories: variational methods [9, 12], sparse representation [8, 10], and patch based method .
Variational methods are a new class of the solutions to promote edge-preservation, such as total variation . These methods first utilized some spatial filters to detect and remove the corrupted pixels, for example, adaptive center-weighted median filter  (ACWMF) or rank order absolute differences  (ROAD) detector. In , Cai et al. employed Mumford-Shah regularization term to encourage sparsity in gradient domain. In , Rodríguez et al. presented a novel optimization method for the generalized total variation regularization method. It can be seen that the denoised performance of these methods relies on the detection for the damaged candidates. The adaptivity of sparsity level of the regularization terms has not been investigated carefully.
Sparse representation based methods have been extended to this problem. In the main idea of this scheme, it is assumed that the signal can be described by linear combination of a spare number of elements or atoms of an overcomplete dictionary. In , an efficient image reconstruction method by posing norm on the error, and norm on image patches in learned dictionary, was proposed. In , Filipovic and Jukic reformulated a new problem formulation by enforcing - sparsity constraints. The resulting problem is solved by a mixed soft-hard thresholding method. However, it should be noted that these methods are time-consuming.
Patch based method is proven to be a state-of-the-art denoising scheme. In , Ji et al. approximated the patch stack by reformulating the problem as a low rank matrix completion problem. Despite its efficacy, one of the limitations of patch based method in  is that the degree of sparsity has not been considered carefully. When the underlying sparsity level is unknown, we may obtain a bias estimate, considerably. To alleviate these issues in a unified formulation, a new problem formulation is proposed.
The main idea of this paper is to deal with the weakness of the approach in . Existing methods, such as norm and trace norm, can not promote the sparsity level of all two components adaptively. The details or local fine content can not be represented and described well. To deal with these issues, a new problem formulation incorporating correlated and adaptive sparsity is proposed.
Our contributions can be summarized as follows.(1)A new problem formulation to model the sparsity level of the patches is proposed. A new norm extended from -support norm and ordered norm is presented.(2)An efficient minimization scheme with regular -shrinkage thresholding operator is proposed, which is based on the optimization framework of accelerated proximal gradient (APG) method.(3)Numerical experiments, compared to other state-of-the-art methods, demonstrate that the proposed method outperforms the related restoration methods.
The remainder of this paper is presented as follows. In Section 2, some basic notations are provided. In Section 3, a detailed description about the proposed objective function is given. In Section 4, an efficient minimization scheme within the framework of APG is proposed. Then, some experiments are conducted to validate the effectiveness of the proposed method in Section 5. Finally, we conclude the paper in Section 6.
There are some notations presented for the simplicity of discussions. Frobenius norm and norm of a matrix are defined by and , respectively. For a scalar , the shrinkage operator  for norm minimization problem is defined as follows: where is a signum function; calculates the absolute value.
Assuming that is of rank , the singular value decomposition (SVD) of with nonnegative singular values is defined by , where denotes a diagonal matrix with the singular values. Based on the SVD computation, the nuclear norm is defined in the following way:where is the th largest singular value of . A solution with shrinkage operator to the nuclear norm is singular value shrinkage operator  , which can be expressed as follows:where is defined as follows:However, it should be noted that the shrinkage operator for norm is different from singular value shrinkage operator for nuclear norm. There operators play an important role in joint sparse and low rank matrix approximation.
In this paper, ordered -norm  is provided as follows:where is sorted in decreasing order. denotes the th largest element of the magnitude vector . is a trade-off vector in nonincreasing order. When is a constant vector, (5) reduces to norm. When and , then (5) reduces to -norm.
-support norm  is defined as follows:where denotes the bound of the sparsity level of , which is a positive integer. The details of -support norm are in traduced in [20, 21]. It has been extended to the case of matrix, which named by regular spectral -support norm. Although this norm provides the number of elements of the sparsity level, it lacks of efficient mechanism to promote the sparsity adaptively.
After taking advantage of both ordered norm and -support norm, regular -support norm is defined as follows:where is a positive regularization vector in nonincreasing order. And , where is the size of vector .
For the case of matrix, regular spectral -support norm is proposed, which can be expressed as follows:where . It can be noted that the singular values are arranged in nonincreasing order.
This section introduces the objective function in detail. For each reference patch , similar patches in the spatial- and temporal-domain are obtained by utilizing the patch matching algorithm. The matched patches are denoted as , where stands for the size. It can be noted that each patch is rearranged as a vector with size through concatenating all columns into a column vector. At last, a matrix is generated after considering all the patches, which can be represented as follows:In this paper, we assumed that the observed patch matrix can be decomposed into three components:where stands for low rank component, is sparse component, and is additive noise. There are some regularization methods for (10), such as with nuclear norm (also known as the trace norm) and with norm. The problem formulation in  can be expressed as follows:where is nuclear norm, and for norm.
However, these norms may lead to a large estimation bias  but can not promote the sparsity level adaptively. For example, the limitations of norm have been investigated in [22, 23]. Similarly, some alternative cases, such as the quasinorm, also have been discussed in [24–26]. Thus, a suitable solution is required to recover these components.
To alleviate these limitations, a new problem formulation is proposed to model the sparsity levels both on and . Moreover, a unified formulation to describe the correlated variables is considered. To estimate the underlying structures of and , we focus on the following minimization function:where and are two positive regularization vectors in a nondecreasing order. stands for regular spectral -support norm on . denotes regular -support norm on . And is the standard deviation of noise .
The above formulation amounts to the constraint , which is considered more natural than usual formulation because it stands for the tolerance on the error.
After choosing a suitable , (12) can be reformulated as follows:where is a suitable positive value. It can be seen that these are some challenges to solve (13). First, regular -support -norm is posed on sparse component . Second, the low rank component is penalized by regular spectral -support norm.
There are several properties of our problem formulation in (13). First, the proposed regular spectral -support norm on and regular -support norm on aim to reconstruct the local structures clearly. It should be noted that these modeling strategies can adaptively promote the sparsity level with an upper bound. Second, to the best of our knowledge, this is the first time of combining the advantages of both ordered norm and -support norm to yield a robust subspaces estimation against noise. Third, although the optimization method in  is very similar to the proposed method, the proposed method can deal with more complex situations. Moreover, the proposed method can adopt the more challenging situations, such as the removal of mixed Gaussian, salt-and-pepper noise, and random value impulse noise. It should be noted that this noisy situation has not been explored in .
In this section, an optimization framework using regular -shrinkage thresholding operator is presented. First, accelerated proximal gradient method (APG) is applied to the resulting problem because of its simplicity and popularity in imaging applications [28, 29]. Second, the proposed regular -shrinkage thresholding operator is applied to the two resulting subproblems. As showed in [22, 23], nonconvex regularization functions have been shown both theoretically and experimentally to provide better results than norm. Then, some explicit proximal mappings are developed.
APG based scheme aims to solve an unconstrained minimization problem bywhere is assumed to be a nonsmooth function and for a smooth function. Here, denotes the Lipschitz constant of the gradient of .
Applying the framework of APG to problem (13), we have the following expressions:Setting , then we have the following objective function:where the proximal points and in the framework of APG are defined in Algorithm 1. It can be noted that both the variables and are separable. Thus, there are two subproblems, which can be represented as follows:It can be seen that (17) is a minimization problem with regular spectral -support norm and (18) with regular -support -norm. To deal with these problems, regular -shrinkage thresholding operator (RK) is defined as follows:where denotes an operation of direct minus in nonincreasing order. denotes the sparsity level of the input vector. also is a vector in a nonincreasing order.
Algorithm 1: An efficient minimization scheme with regular -shrinkage thresholding operator.
Remark 1. There are some differences between regular -shrinkage thresholding operator and shrinkage operator . First, the proposed operator models the sparsity level by the procedure of regular shrinkage adaptively. Second, the introduction of -support constraint can bound the degree of the sparsity. Third, the combination of regular shrinkage and -support leads to the modeling of the correlated variables robustly.
When applying the proposed operator to and , we havewhere denotes the eigenvalues of . It should be noted that the solution to can be viewed as a generalization of singular value shrinkage operator. Based on the framework of APG, an optimization framework for the objective function (16) is presented in Algorithm 1. The detailed procedures for the two subproblems are provided in Algorithm 1.
In our implementation, the sampled image patches with overlapping regions are considered. Then, each frame of the restored video may be replaced by the recovered patches. For the synthesis process, the outcome of each selected pixel is accomplished by calculating the average of multiple estimates from the related patches. This procedure could deal with the artifacts along the boundaries of patches and restore fine details locally.
To demonstrate the effectiveness and efficacy of the proposed method, some experiments are conducted. We focus on the removal of mixed Gaussian-impulse noise. Two types of noisy situations, including mixed Gaussian and random value impulse noise (GRV) denoted by and mixed Gaussian, salt-and-pepper noise, and random value impulse noise (GSPRV) by , are tested. Some samples of three videos (http://trace.eas.asu.edu/yuv/) are displayed in Figure 1. The sizes of coastguard, flower, and news in our experiments are , , and , respectively. The parameter of the proposed method for the coastguard is set to 1000. For the other videos, that is, flower and news, is set to 2000. All experiments are performed in MATLAB R2014 running on a desktop with Intel Core i7 at 3.2 GHz.
Figure 1: Two samples used in the experiments ((a) sample for flower, (b) sample for news).
Three related methods are compared with the proposed method, including VBM3D , RPCA based method , and - based method . VBM3D based method is not originally designed for the removal of mixed Gaussian-impulse noise. To remedy this problem, adaptive center-weighted median filter  (ACWMF) is used to detect and remove the impulse noise firstly. Two indexes are taken for assessing the denoised performance of all competing methods, that is, peak-signal-to-noise ratio (PSNR) and feature-similarity (FSIM) index .
In this subsection, the denoising results for three different scenarios are presented, including , and . Numerical results on three videos are presented in Table 1. It can be observed that the proposed method outperforms all the competing methods with respect to FSIM and PSNR. Visual outcomes are demonstrated in Figure 2. The recovered result of proposed method is presented in Figure 2(f). To examine the recovered details, the selected parts in the visual results are enlarged. It can be noted that the proposed method can reconstruct more local details.
Table 1: Numerical results by the removal of MGRV, measured by PSNR and FSIM.
Figure 2: Visual comparison of denoising results on flower by noise level . (a) Original sample (flower), (b) noisy image, (c) VBM3D based method (), (d) RPCA based method (), (e) - based method (), and (f) the proposed method (, ).
In this subsection, the experimental results by the removal of Gaussian, salt-and-pepper, and random value impulse noise are demonstrated. Two noisy levels are assessed. The numerical results are presented in Table 2. It can be noted that the proposed method outperforms other methods. A visual assessment of the reconstruction performance of both algorithms is shown in Figure 3. As shown in the enlarged parts, the proposed method presented in Figure 3(f) recovers more local details than other methods.
Table 2: Numerical results by the removal of GSPRV, measured by PSNR and FSIM.
Figure 3: Visual comparison of denoising results by noise level . (a) Original sample (news), (b) noisy image, (c) VBM3D based method (), (d) RPCA based method (), (e) - based method (), and (f) the proposed method (, ).
In this paper, an efficient image restoration scheme for hybrid Gaussian-impulse noise is proposed. The denoising performance of our method is examined in various noisy scenarios. When the strength of noisy levels increased, our method performed more efficiently than other methods. The outcomes of all experiments verified the effectiveness of the proposed method. The difference may be related to the modeling method and optimization strategy we taken. Moreover, the intrinsic sparsity structure of each decomposition component is explored. It should be noted that some limitations may be observed, such as being oversmooth on the local region.
In this paper, an alternating minimization method with regular -shrinkage thresholding operator is proposed. Specially, a universal modeling strategy by exploiting the adaptivity of sparsity structure leads to higher quality reconstructions. The proposed method may provide a new class of denoising methods to deal with mixed Gaussian-impulse noise. The numerical results from various experiments validated the effectiveness of the proposed method again.
In this paper, an efficient video restoration scheme is proposed for the removal of mixed Gaussian-impulse noise. Unlike traditional norm based methods, which treat all the values equally, the proposed method tries to explore the additional structure by regular spectral -support norm on low rank component and regular -support norm on sparse component. Then, the special structure can be promoted on the sparsity level of the decomposition matrices adaptively. To overcome the nonconvex problem, a solution with alternating regular -shrinkage thresholding operator is proposed. The proposed method has good practical performance with appropriate structures. The numerical results, compared to some state-of-the-art methods, demonstrate the advantages of the proposed method.
This work is jointly supported by National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grants nos. 61603249 and 61673262) and key project of Science and Technology Commission of Shanghai Municipality (Grant no. 16JC1401100).
M. Filipovic and A. Jukic, "Restoration of images corrupted by mixed gaussian-impulse noise by iterative soft-hard thresholding," in Proceedings of the 22nd European Signal Processing Conference (EUSIPCO), pp. 1637–1641, IEEE, 2014.
K. Dabov, A. Foi, and K. Egiazarian, "Video denoising by sparse 3d transform-domain collaborative filtering," in Proceedings of the 15th European Signal Processing Conference, vol. 1, p. 7, 2007.


Sandia National Laboratories, a research arm for the Department of Energy, has created a tool to help federal agencies fight cyber-crooks.
The new web-based tool, a visualization tool called DNSViz, creates maps of various web addresses corresponding to agency websites. The visual display is intended to help government IT staff comply with security standards that have been in place since 2008 but that have proved difficult to implement.
via The Wall Street Journal, continued here.


text:
Il doppio del torneo di tennis Aberto de Tênis de Santa Catarina 2008, facente parte dell'ATP Challenger Series, ha avuto come vincitori Adrián García e Leonardo Mayer che hanno battuto in finale Thomaz Bellucci e Bruno Soares 6-2, 6-0.

Teste di serie

 Thomaz Bellucci /  Bruno Soares (finale)
 Adrián García /  Leonardo Mayer (Campioni)

 Franco Ferreiro /  André Ghem (semifinali)
 Brian Dabul /  Marcel Felder (semifinali)

Tabellone

Collegamenti esterni

Aberto de Tênis de Santa Catarina 2008