text:
Research Saturday
Ep 262 | 12.17.22
Hijacking holiday spirit with phishing scams.
Dave Bittner: Hello, everyone, and welcome to the CyberWire's "Research Saturday." I'm Dave Bittner, and this is our weekly conversation with researchers and analysts tracking down the threats and vulnerabilities, solving some of the hard problems of protecting ourselves in a rapidly evolving cyberspace. Thanks for joining us.
Or Katz: So basically this campaign is saying the following thing - and it's not that unique in that sense - saying, hey, there is some free-of-charge gift or prize or coupon, something in that nature. It's very compelling. It's very engaging in many ways. And it leads for victims to, you know, press on that relevant link, go through a website and from there, you know, be more engaged with the scamming and as a result, lose some of their personal information.
Dave Bittner: That's Or Katz. He's a security executive for thought leadership and research at Akamai. The research we're discussing today is titled "Highly Sophisticated Phishing Scams Are Abusing Holiday Sentiment."
Dave Bittner: And it is good-looking. I mean, they've taken the effort here to really make it look like the brands that they're impersonating.
Or Katz: Yes, definitely. And they're doing really good job, right? We don't want to admit that. But in a sense, they're doing good job for them to create something that's very trustworthy, looks very appealing, looks, like, legit, and as a result of that, create much more engagement from potential victims, which is something that, you know, we need to address, right? That's something that keep me awake at night - right? - being able to track those things and making sure that, you know, we know how to mitigate those kinds of scams.
Dave Bittner: And, I mean, this is using some of the standard social-engineering schemes that we track here. I mean, there is sort of a call to action with some urgency. They even have some fake user forums.
Or Katz: And that's the story behind the scenes, which is - right? - it's not just one campaign being activated. There's a bunch of those campaigns being activated at the same time, and they are using the same phishing toolkit in that sense, like, it's - toolkits would be the software being used by adversaries to launch those kind of campaigns. And what they're doing is that they are creating those, as you mentioned, fake users that looks as if they're, like, social-networks kind of users that are trying to say, hey, this campaign really - like, this kind of offer really works. It's not a scam. I got some free, you know, gift and etc. And they are doing that, and they're using the same fake users for different kind of campaigns, different kind of merchandise being offered to the victims. And that's part of the - you know, the scale of that kind of campaign.
Dave Bittner: Well, let's go through some of the technical things that they're doing here as well. They're taking advantage of some URL shorteners?
Or Katz: Yes. So overall, they're using a variety of techniques. The first one, as you mentioned - it's URL shorteners. And in a sense, they're creating, like, a nest of, you know, links that at the end of the day leads to the landing page, the actual phishing website. They're using that as part of their techniques and their ways to try to evade detection - using nested, kind of, links to lead to different or same scam, create a kind of agility, from their point of view, to be able to change one of those links and still being resilient to detection in that sense.
Dave Bittner: Yeah. I mean, looking through the research here, I mean, it really reads like a - it's practically a textbook example of some of the techniques that we see here. I mean, they're using legitimate web services like AWS or Google Cloud.
Or Katz: Exactly. It's - and I'm being asked about that a lot, right? I'm being asked, how come phishing is still working, right? And I'm struggling - sometimes I'm struggling to answer that, right? How come people are still falling into those scams or being victimized by those scams? And there's two aspects for that. First of all, it's the social engineering part of that, how you can, you know, engage people into those scams. And we talked about that. But the second part, as you mentioned - it's a variety of techniques being used to make sure that those scams work. And URL shorteners and being able to create, you know, those kinds of links that no one knows how to detect - that's part of the magic that they are creating in order to, you know, make sure their scams still work.
Dave Bittner: There's a technical element here that you all highlight, and this is the usage of URI fragment identifier redirection. Can you unpack that for us? What are they doing here?
Or Katz: That's like - it's the first time that I was able to see that kind of techniques being used, and we haven't seen no one report on that techniques in the wild. So we consider that as a novel kind of technique. And the interesting part here, and that's - like, before we go into the details, the issue is that adversaries are creating links that make sure that only those that press on the original link being sent to your email will be landing on the phishing scam. And in other words, if you will take the original link without some extra account information - the what we call URI fragmentation - of that kind of link and you will try to use that, you will not get into the landing page. If you will take that and use that from, like, something that is not a browser, like a script or something like that that scans a variety of URLs, you will not get to the landing page. And in that sense, it's one of those - you know, again, a variety of techniques being used to make sure that those scams will work and will postpone detection of that scam by creating all kind of barriers for us from defensive point of view. And that kind of link create that. Basically it's - in a way, it's that kind of techniques being used, making sure that only once we use our browser and using that original link that was sent to us, only then we will get to the landing page for the scam.
Dave Bittner: So help me understand here. Does that mean that, for example, if - I don't know - if this link was loaded in some kind of security package that pre-detonates links like this, that may not work for - it might not take them to the landing page, where it would for me if I clicked on it in my browser?
Or Katz: Exactly that. Like, in a sense, if you would try to reach out that link without using a browser or browser engine - right? - you can do that, like, automatically in a - sort of a simulation of a browser. If you will not do that, if you access that link, it will not work because that link is actually using some functionality of JavaScript on our browser to create a follow-up link, a link that - being generated by the browser, by the JavaScript running on our browser to redirect us to the next stage of that scam. And if you are not running a browser or browser engine, you will not be able to create that link, and as a result of that, you will not get to the phishing scam. And in a sense, that what motivated adversaries in a way, they are trying to make sure that those that are not legitimate victims - I said right there, legitimate victims - it's a bit...
Dave Bittner: (Laughter) That's an interesting turn of phrase, isn't it?
Or Katz: Exactly.
Or Katz: ...Will not get to the scam, right? I mean, I'm trying to create analogy for that from our - like, from Akamai point of view on things that we're doing to protect our customers when we are making sure that, you know, non - like, users that are not humans, meaning bots, are not being - like, will not reach our websites because we want to block that kind of traffic. Those kinds of adversary are using similar techniques in a sense, but on the other way around. They're making sure that only victims will reach out their scam and not something that is trying to scan some URLs and try to figure out if that's a scam or not.
Dave Bittner: You point out the use of randomly generated URLs, that they're really working hard to limit the access to the kit.
Or Katz: Yeah - so again, variety of techniques. One of the techniques that we're able to see is a technique that makes sure that only the person that was following the link - the original link - will have access to the scam website. It's a dynamic kind of generation of that link that can change between different original links being sent to end users - to the victims - and they make sure that once you take a given link - given to you, for example - and I will try to use that link from my browser, I will not get to that landing page. I need to follow the original link that was delivered for me on my email to be able to get to that scam. If you will give me the final link, the final URL that is exposed to you once you access the website and I will try to use it, it will not work. And again, think about it from an adversary point of view. They are trying to delay time for detection. They're trying to make sure that if you see something suspicious and you send it over for me to examine that, I will try to use that link, and it will not work. And I would say, hey, nothing works here. You know, I'm not good at getting into the scam. And as a result of that, detection times take longer because we need to do more investigation and more - you know, better understanding what really happened to you.
Dave Bittner: Who do you suppose they're targeting here? Is there any specificity there in terms of who they're - it seems like they're going after?
Or Katz: So the campaign that we tracked was mainly focused on North American victims. We noticed that there are some other campaigns that are targeting different geolocated kind of victims. But in our case, it was mostly North America, and the brands being abused in that sense were aligned with that. But basically, it's a consumer kind of campaign, a very basic one, trying to, you know, get to as many people as possible, lead them to the scam and at the end of the day try to get their credit card information.
Dave Bittner: Do you have any sense for the availability of this kit, where people are purchasing it and, you know, the degree to which the bad guys are using it out there?
Or Katz: That's a really great question. So the short answer is no. I don't have much visibility into the kit itself, how it's being sold and what's the market behind that. But I will say that we know that that kit and version - previous version, a very similar, if not the same kit - are being used over and over again for quite some time. And I think that in a sense help us to understand some of the scale and some of the motivation behind the scenes, meaning that this is someone that is - that's his work. His work is to create those phishing toolkits to take them each time to the next level, make them much more sophisticated for many reasons - right? - to not be detected. That's his motivation for sophistication of the toolkit or creating more engagement in that sense. And they're doing that for quite some time. They're doing that in high scale. We see a lot of those, and we know it's some sort of a business for them. And that's unfortunately, you know, what we are seeing out there.
Dave Bittner: Well, based on the information you've gathered here, then, what are your recommendations for folks to best protect themselves against this?
Or Katz: I think that at the end of the day, there is a recommendation for, you know, our colleagues, our friends, our neighbors, you know, people that we care about, and tell them, hey, if it's too good to be true, it probably is. Make sure that you are not falling into those scams. If someone offers you a gift, a very nice gift, and it doesn't cost anything but for you to provide your credit card number for a very, you know, limited amount of money for delivery, for example, for shipment, you know, think about it. It might be wrong. Right? Don't do that. And that's for, you know, looking at the victim from, you know, that point of view. For organizations, I would say it's all about layers. It's all about our ability to create a multilayered approach that will make sure that we reduce those kind of but reduce the potential of having victims from our organization to the minimum. It's not 100% bulletproof, right? But it's all about the risk and what we are doing to reduce that risk.
Dave Bittner: Our thanks to Or Katz from Akamai for joining us. The research is titled "Highly Sophisticated Phishing Scams Are Abusing Holiday Sentiment." We'll have a link in the show notes.
Rick Howard: Hey, everybody. Rick here, the N2K CSO and the chief analyst and senior fellow here at the CyberWire. This upcoming Thursday at 2 p.m. Eastern, join me and our VP and senior editor John Petrik as we review topics and events that have made the most significant impact in 2022. Normally, this quarterly show is a CyberWire Pro exclusive, but because of the holidays, we're letting all CyberWire readers and listeners in. You're welcome. Register today by visiting thecyberwire.com/analystcall. That's thecyberwire - all one word - .com/analystcall - all one word. And happy holidays to everybody.
Dave Bittner: The CyberWire podcast is proudly produced in Maryland out of the startup studios of DataTribe, where they're co-building the next generation of cybersecurity teams and technologies. Our amazing CyberWire team is Elliott Peltzman, Tre Hester, Brandon Karpf, Eliana White, Puru Prakash, Liz Irvin, Rachel Gelfand, Tim Nodar, Joe Carrigan, Carole Theriault, Maria Varmazis, Ben Yelin, Nick Veliky, Milly Lardy, Gina Johnson, Bennett Moe, Catherine Murphy, Janene Daly, Jim Hoshide (ph), Chris Russell, John Petrik, Jennifer Eiben, Rick Howard, Peter Kilpe, Simone Petrella, and I'm Dave Bittner. Thanks for listening. We'll see you back here next week.
Schedule: Saturdays
Sponsored by Juniper Networks
Juniper Networks challenges the status quo with products, solutions and services that transform the economics of networking. Our team co-innovates with our customers and partners to deliver automated, scalable and secure networks with agility, performance and value. Additional information can be found at Juniper Networks.
Sponsored by Strata Identity
Strata, the #1 platform for Identity Orchestration, integrates multi-cloud and hybrid identity infrastructure and allows enterprises to enforce consistent identity and access policies. Strata empowers IT and cybersecurity teams to architect identity that's forever modern and permanently flexible. Learn more.


text:
<img alt="dcsimg" id="dcsimg" width="1" height="1" src="//www.qsstats.com/dcs8krshw00000cpvecvkz0uc_4g4q/njs.gif?dcsuri=/index.php/blogs/were-paying-for-a-lack-of-security.html&WT.js=No&WT.tv=10.4.1&dcssip=www.baselinemag.com&WT.qs_dlk=XSz4uYrqbhP9JeE5VSCTHwAAAAI&">
Blogs / We're Paying for a Lack of Security
We're Paying for a Lack of Security
When nearly two-thirds of the public is back to using cash for purchases—even temporarily—something is incredibly wrong with our security systems and processes.
The constant drumbeat of security breaches is taking a toll on consumers, according to a new study conducted by NXP Semiconductors. The report, "Security Matters," found that after hearing about security breaches at large retailers, 64 percent of Americans are more likely to pay in cash than use credit or debit cards. Millennials are more likely than other age groups to use cash for purchases.
At first thought, this response may seem highly reactive, but I'm beginning to think it's actually quite rational. Over the last couple of years, online and electronic security has descended into a netherworld of frustration and aggravation. I've actually considered reverting to cash for most purchases and buying things only from physical stores. Things are that bad!
I was forced to change the account number for a credit card following the Target breach. That devoured about two hours of time, including updating Websites and autopay accounts. On two other occasions in the last year, the bank demanded that I change my card number, but I steadfastly refused because attempts at fraud were unsuccessful.
Remarkably, when I asked the rep if the bank, in this case Chase, would send out cards with a new CID (Card IDentification) code, I was told that isn't possible—even though the bank updates the codes every time the cards expire.
It's probably only a matter of days or weeks until the next incident occurs. I'm supposed to have confidence in this system?
Unfortunately, cash isn't a whole lot better. ATM skimmers are everywhere, thieves now attach pinhead cameras to ATMs to capture data, and it's mindlessly easy to steal PINs and passwords from dozens of feet away using specialized software or Google Glass.
Banks, casinos and other institutions have already started to ban smart glasses. But even a basic video with a standard smartphone or tablet is enough to capture a person's credentials.
Digital technology isn't going away. In fact, it will become even more powerful and pervasive over the next couple of decades. But if the emerging Internet of things is going to reach its potential, and IT is going to create a future that's more utopian than dystopian, we had better start thinking about how to address security problems now. And that requires much better password systems, antitheft detection, and chip and PIN cards. An erosion of trust doesn't benefit anyone, and it undermines marketing initiatives that involve loyalty programs and analytics.
Samuel Greengard is a contributing writer for Baseline.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


Lifeline is a gripping interactive story of survival against all odds.
In the aftermath of a crash landing on an alien moon Taylor is stranded, the rest of the crew are dead or missing, and Taylor's communicator can only reach YOU.
Help Taylor make life or death decisions, and face the consequences together.
Or see what happens when you make a different choice.
Simple actions can have a profound effect.
Lifeline is a deep, immersive story that plays out in real time with many possible outcomes.
Taylor is relying on YOU.
If you like Lifeline game, click to start Lifeline download.
Sign-up to get informed when the Lifeline series has new game released with BD Studio Games' FREE bi-weekly newsletter.


text:
Q: Binding model to view issue I have my own model classes, which are public, but when making a view, I cannot find the model itself in the list of models to bind to. Why is this? Can I bind the model to the view somehow afterwards?
Thanks

A: Add the following to the top of your View:
@model your.namespace.YourModelClass
Then your controllers' action method needs to return an appropriate instance of YourModelClass:
public ActionResult Index(){
    return View(new YourModelClass());
}

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


text:
Tag: Swansea City
Great Goals
Jonjo Shelvey – SWANSEA CITY vs. Aston Villa (April 2014)
Swansea City's Premier League survival was virtually secured in 2013-2014 by this special long-range effort from distance from the enigmatic Jonjo Shelvey. The opportunity was presented to the midfielder by…
Iconic Moments
The first Welsh Premier League Derby (November 2013)
The South Wales Derby between Cardiff City and Swansea City is a passionate rivalry which in recent years, hasn't been seen too often with Swansea a regular Premier League team…
Shock Results
Liverpool FC 2-3 Swansea City (January 2017)
6 May 2019 28 Jul 2019
Goalscorers: Fernando Llorente 48, 52, Roberto Firmino 55, 69, Gylfi Sigurdsson 74 Teams: Liverpool FC: Simon Mignolet, Nathaniel Clyne, Ragnar Klavan, Dejan Lovren, James Milner, Emre Can (Divock Origi 70),…
Premier League Files
Andre Ayew
9 Apr 2019 28 Jul 2019
Premier League Career: Swansea City (2015-2016), (2018), West Ham United (2016-2018) Andre Ayew is currently experiencing the Turkish top-flight as he strides to move Fenerbahce away from surprising relegation danger.…
The Managers
Premier League Clubs Managed: Swansea City (2011-2012), Liverpool FC (2012-2015), Leicester City (2019-PRESENT) Brendan Rodgers is back in the Premier League having just been confirmed as Claude Puel's successor at…
Queens Park Rangers 0-5 Swansea City (August 2012)
9 Jan 2019 28 Jul 2019
Goalscorers: Michu 8, 53, Nathan Dyer 63, 71, Scott Sinclair 81 Teams: Queens Park Rangers: Robert Green, Anton Ferdinand, Clint Hill (Shaun Wright-Phillips 64), Fabio, Nedum Onuoha, Samba Diakite (Shaun…
Saints survive at Swansea's expense (May 2018)
5 Nov 2018 2 Aug 2019
Going into the final week of the 2017-2018 Premier League season, the relegation battle was starting to take shape. The first team to be consigned to the drop were Stoke…
Kevin De Bruyne – MANCHESTER CITY vs. Swansea City (April 2018)
If it hadn't been for Mohamed Salah's sensational heroics, there's little doubt that Kevin De Bruyne would have swept all of the major individual awards in 2017-2018. De Bruyne was…
Swansea City 1-0 Liverpool FC (January 2018)
24 Sep 2018 2 Aug 2019
Goalscorer: Alfie Mawson 40 Teams: Swansea City: Lukasz Fabianski, Federico Fernandez, Alfie Mawson, Mike van der Hoorn, Kyle Naughton, Martin Olsson, Sam Clucas, Leroy Fer, Ki Sung-Yueng, Nathan Dyer (Tom…
Premier League Rewind
14th-16th January 2012
Results: Aston Villa 1-1 Everton, Blackburn Rovers 3-1 Fulham, Chelsea 1-0 Sunderland, Liverpool FC 0-0 Stoke City, Manchester United 3-0 Bolton Wanderers, Tottenham Hotspur 1-1 Wolverhampton Wanderers, West Bromwich Albion…
Swansea City 3-4 Norwich City (December 2012)
21 Apr 2018 2 Aug 2019
Goalscorers: Steven Whittaker 16, Sebastien Bassong 40, Grant Holt 44, Michu 51, 90, Jonathan de Guzman 59, Robert Snodgrass 77 Teams: Swansea City: Gerhard Tremmel, Chico Flores, Ben Davies, Angel…
3 Apr 2018 2 Aug 2019
All data correct upto 3rd April 2018 All-Time Premier League Record Played Won Drew Lost Scored Conceded Goal Difference Points No of Seasons 258 82 64 112 303 369 -66…


Published August 17, 2018 at 650 × 828 in Lollipop Coloring Page.
lollipop coloring page lollipop coloring pages lollipop coloring page cookie coloring pages lollipop coloring lollipop coloring page x pixels shopkins lollipop coloring pages.
shopkins lollipop coloring pages collectible save me swirl page,shopkins lollipop coloring pages save me swirl page,happy girl with lollipop coloring page free printable pages save me shopkins swirl,shopkins lollipop coloring pages save me page candy pictures fine picture free swirl,coloring picture of a lollipop page cotton candy swirl save me pages shopkins,save me lollipop coloring pages swirl page shopkins,swirl lollipop coloring page shopkins pages save me,save me lollipop coloring pages shopkins free page o kids s swirl,swirl lollipop coloring page shopkins pages large size of book and save me,swirl lollipop coloring page cotton candy pages best of images save me can shopkins.


text:
package it.unipi.di.acube.batframework.systemPlugins;

import java.io.File;
import java.io.FileInputStream;
import java.io.FileNotFoundException;
import java.io.FileOutputStream;
import java.io.IOException;
import java.io.ObjectInputStream;
import java.io.ObjectOutputStream;
import java.lang.invoke.MethodHandles;
import java.net.URI;
import java.util.HashMap;
import java.util.List;

import org.apache.commons.lang3.tuple.Pair;
import org.codehaus.jettison.json.JSONObject;
import org.slf4j.Logger;
import org.slf4j.LoggerFactory;

import it.unipi.di.acube.smaph.SmaphUtils;

public class CachedWAT2Annotator extends WAT2Annotator {
	private final static Logger LOG = LoggerFactory.getLogger(MethodHandles.lookup().lookupClass());

	private static HashMap<String, byte[]> url2jsonCache = new HashMap<>();
	private static long flushCounter = 0;
	private static final int FLUSH_EVERY = 200;
	private static String resultsCacheFilename = null;

	public static class CachedWAT2AnnotatorBuilder extends WAT2Annotator.WAT2AnnotatorBuilder {
		public static CachedWAT2AnnotatorBuilder builder() {
			return new CachedWAT2AnnotatorBuilder();
		}

		public CachedWAT2Annotator build() {
			return new CachedWAT2Annotator(baseUri, tokenizer, method, debug, gcubeToken);
		}
	}

	protected CachedWAT2Annotator(String uri, String tokenizer, String method, int debug, String gcubeToken) {
		super(uri, tokenizer, method, debug, gcubeToken);
	}

	private static synchronized void increaseFlushCounter() throws FileNotFoundException, IOException {
		flushCounter++;
		if ((flushCounter % FLUSH_EVERY) == 0)
			flush();
	}

	public static synchronized void flush() throws FileNotFoundException, IOException {
		if (flushCounter > 0 && resultsCacheFilename != null) {
			LOG.info("Flushing WAT cache... ");
			new File(resultsCacheFilename).createNewFile();
			ObjectOutputStream oos = new ObjectOutputStream(new FileOutputStream(resultsCacheFilename));
			oos.writeObject(url2jsonCache);
			oos.close();
			LOG.info("Flushing WAT cache Done.");
		}
	}

	public static void setCache(String cacheFilename) throws FileNotFoundException, IOException, ClassNotFoundException {
		if (resultsCacheFilename != null && resultsCacheFilename.equals(cacheFilename))
			return;
		LOG.info("Loading WAT2 cache...");
		resultsCacheFilename = cacheFilename;
		if (new File(resultsCacheFilename).exists()) {
			ObjectInputStream ois = new ObjectInputStream(new FileInputStream(resultsCacheFilename));
			url2jsonCache = (HashMap<String, byte[]>) ois.readObject();
			ois.close();
		}
	}

	public static void clearCache() {
		url2jsonCache = new HashMap<>();
		System.gc();
	}

	@Override
	protected JSONObject queryJson(String baseUrl, List<Pair<String, String>> getParameters) throws Exception {

		URI requestUri = getRequestUri(baseUrl, getParameters);

		String cacheKey = requestUri.toString();
		byte[] compressed = url2jsonCache.get(cacheKey);
		if (compressed != null) {
			try {
				String jsonString = SmaphUtils.decompress(compressed);
				return new JSONObject(jsonString);
			} catch (IOException e) {
				LOG.warn("Broken Gzip, re-downloading");
			}
		}

		increaseFlushCounter();
		JSONObject obj = super.queryJson(baseUrl, getParameters);
		url2jsonCache.put(cacheKey, SmaphUtils.compress(obj.toString()));
		return obj;

	}
}

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


text:
General News 10/22/2017 at 19:27:28 H3'ed 10/22/17
No, You Probably Don't Have Adult ADHD (sorry Pharma)
By Martha Rosenberg (Page 1 of 2 pages) (View How Many People Read This) 5 comments, In Series: Pharma
Adult ADHD has been a gold mine for Pharma. "Estimated to be twice the size of the pediatric ADHD population, the highly prevalent, yet largely untapped, adult ADHD population continues to represent an attractive niche to target," wrote the market research agency, Datamonitor, in 2008.
Taxpayers Should Be Reimbursed for the Latest Pharma Ruse
(Image by Martha Rosenberg) Details DMCA
Pharma promotion of Adult ADHD for no other reason than to sell drugs is aggressive and shameful. Adult ADHD "affects up to 5% of adults. However, fewer than 20% of adults with ADHD are currently diagnosed and treated," screamed a 2014 "medical" article in The Primary Care Companion for CNS Disorders. The authors not only had 11 financial conflicts of interests to Pharma, some were actual employees of Eli Lilly.
An ad from a website named consequencesofadhd.com tells doctors to "screen for ADHD" and warns that "adults with ADHD were 2X more likely to have been divorced." An ad from a website named depressionandadhd.com features a woman saying, "I'm depressed"" and proceeds to ask doctors, "Could it be ADHD? ADHD was found in 32% of adults with a depressive disorder. Look for ADHD in patients who present with depression."
In 2009, Shire, who makes the ADHD drugs Adderall, Vyvanse, the Daytrana patch and Intuniv launched a Nationwide Adult ADHD Mobile Awareness Tour, which included a "mobile screening initiative" called the RoADHD Trip. Get it? The caravan, anchored by "the RoADHD Trip Tractor Trailer," turned into a tented area with eight "self-screening stations."
For the screening campaign, Shire said it was partnering with the Attention Deficit Disorder Association (ADDA), "a leading adult ADHD patient advocacy organization, in an effort to assist up to 20,000 adults to self-screen for this disorder." Medical professionals could "learn" from Pharma salespeople too! A "field-based team of experienced psychiatric nurses" would "provide in-office education to physicians and their staff on ADHD in adults," promised Shire.
Screening for health conditions for which people have no symptoms but expensive treatments exist is widely seen as nothing but a marketing device that leads to overdiagnosis, overtreatment and overmedication and rising health care costs often on the taxpayers' dime.
And there was more Adult ADHD marketing----like McNeil's scheme in New York City for Concerta. "Pedestrians mulling around Times Square in New York City can learn more about ADHD by responding to an advertisement on the CBS jumbotron, via text message," reported an article in Medical Marketing & Media.
The 15-second ad--no attention problems there--read "Can't focus? Can't sit still? Could you or your child have ADHD?" and ran on a 26 x 20 foot screen four times per hour. When pedestrians texted "ADHD" to a certain number, they "received a near-instantaneous text message in return containing a link to the 'Concerta Mobile Web Experience,' a branded mobile-optimized platform for McNeil's ADHD drug,'" reported the article. Visitors to the McNeil website got a coupon for a 30-day free trial of Concerta.
Pharma, as it does with other "awareness" campaigns to drive expensive drugs, has funded "patient" groups to market awareness of adult ADHD. One front group known as CHADD (Children and Adults with Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder), receives payouts from Eli Lilly, Johnson & Johnson's McNeil division, Novartis, Shire US and UCB-----all ADHD drug manufacturers. Eli Lilly makes Strattera, Johnson & Johnson makes Concerta, Novartis makes Ritalin and Focalin and UCB makes Metadate CD.
And, as Pharma does with its most expensive drugs, it relies on U.S. taxpayers to pay its outrageous prices. In 2010, CHADD lobbied for recognition of adult ADHD with the Social Security Administration and "the inclusion of AD/HD and other neurobiological disorders in the definitions/eligibility categories for government benefits programs such as SSI, SSDI, Medicaid, developmental disability, and vocational rehabilitation programs."
CHADD even told a Social Security Administration Advisory Panel that: "A subset of adults with AD/HD is unable to be gainfully employed because of the chronic, substantial inattention and executive functioning challenges caused by the disorder."
Now comes the news that----surprise!----Adult ADHD is likely another marginal "disease" trumped up by Pharma for no other reason than profiteering. "A new study suggests that adult-onset A.D.H.D. is rare -- if it exists at all," says the New York Times this week. The study "all but ruled out adult-onset A.D.H.D. as a stand-alone diagnosis," and "Most apparent cases of adult-onset attention deficits are likely the result of substance abuse or mood problems."
Martha Rosenberg Social Media Pages:
Martha Rosenberg is an award-winning investigative public health reporter who covers the food, drug and gun industries. Her first book, Born With A Junk Food Deficiency: How Flaks, Quacks and Hacks Pimp The Public Health, is distributed by Random (more...)
Related Topic(s): Adhd; Adult Children; Attention; Deficit; Diagnosis; Doctors; Drug Companies- Marketing; Health, Add Tags
Series: "Pharma"
Why Should Taxpayers Pay for the Opioid Crisis When Pharma Caused it? (Article) ((View How Many People Read This)) 10/26/2017
Do You Have "Osteopenia"? Pharma Hopes So (Article) ((View How Many People Read This)) 10/10/2017
How Offensive Ads Sell Drugs For Pharma (Article) ((View How Many People Read This)) 09/30/2017
View All 7 Articles in "Pharma"
Grassley Investigates Lilly/WebMD link Reported by Washington Post
The Drug Store in Your Tap Water
It's the Cymbalta Stupid
Are You Sure You're Not Psychotic Asks Shameless Drug Company?
Another Poorly Regulated "Derivative"--the Antidepressant Pristiq
MRSA and More. Antibiotics Linked to Obesity and Allergies, Too
"The most effective ways to create a more inclusive, fair-for-all future will be from the bottom up. Rob Kall's book lays out how that would look with a hopeful, pragmatic vision that will change the way you see the world."
Dave Zirin, sports editor for The Nation, a columnist for The Progressive, and the author of eight books on the politics of sports, including What's My Name, Fool? Sports and Resistance in the United States and A People's History of Spo


The Enactus UK University Adviser Steering Group was established to represent the UK University Adviser network and to liaise with Enactus UK. It aims to create an engaged and supportive community of Enactus University Advisers (UAs) across the UK , who are equipped to work with their local Enactus team and promote Enactus at their institution. The group annually develops a series of events for UAs, including face to face training and online check-ins. It invites the network to submit topics for training and discussion and to suggest future resources which would help UAs in their role and help their team to improve their on campus programme.
The Steering Group is led by Bonnie Hacking, Enterprise Adviser within the Careers Centre at the University of St. Andrews. Bonnie was instrumental in establishing the programme at St. Andrews in 2014. She sees the UA role as being supportive, encouraging and a conduit to other people in the university and within her network. Read more about Bonnie and her work here.
To find out more contact Bonnie here: bonnie.hacking@st-andrews.ac.uk.
Roma Bhowmick is Senior Lecturer in Business Strategy at the University of Hertfordshire. Roma was instrumental in establishing Enactus at the University. Roma's career to date has involved supporting the growth of commercial and social Enterprise, so when she saw the Enactus opportunity arise at Hertfordshire, she says that she just had to go for it!
BSEEN Enterprise Consultant at Aston University.
Sandra believes in the Enactus mission of transforming lives using entrepreneurial action. Being involved in Enactus is a rewarding experience for Sandra and it has helped her develop her coaching skills which she now uses in 1:1 sessions with students.
Head of Student and Graduate Business Start-Up with the University of Huddersfield's Enterprise Team.


text:
/ Headlines / World News / Gold Should Be Performing Better (But It Might Not Until The Fed Does This First)
Gold Should Be Performing Better (But It Might Not Until The Fed Does This First)
With all the fundamentals lined up, gold should be bid right now, but investors might not hit the bid until this happens first…
Trey Reik interviewed by Maurice Jackson via Streetwise Reports
Maurice Jackson: Welcome to Proven and Probable. I'm your host Maurice Jackson. Joining us for a conversation is Trey Reik, senior portfolio manager with Sprott USA.
We're delighted to have you here today to discuss the Federal Reserve's impact on peripheral markets. Mr. Reik, the Fed is in the process of implementing a dual policy of rate hikes and balance sheet reduction, which appear to have a duplicitous effect on peripheral markets. What are your thoughts on this dual policy and what can we expect from Chairman Jerome Powell during his tenure?
Trey Reik: Do I have about two hours to answer that question? I'm just kidding. There's a lot of information there. I think that Mr. Powell is obviously very capable of monetary stewardship with an enormous amount of experience and great judgment, and I think he will do a great job. He's got some difficult parameters to deal with. There is a little bit of a similarity to when Alan Greenspan first took over his Fed stewardship in 1987; he actually ascended to the position in August and tried to show the world that the Fed was on the case and under control, and people may forget but about a month later on consecutive days, the Fed actually raised the Fed funds rate on 25 basis points on two consecutive days.
We had had a big backup in ten-year yields and the S&P had been doing extremely well and all things looked to be in really good shape, and, of course, we had the fall of 1987 very soon thereafter. We have a lot of similarities and so far as Mr. Powell has just taken over and the market has a tendency to test a new chairman, we've had this backup in ten-year yields and the S&P's doing well. We have a chairman who seems to be focused on showing the market that he is control and so we've had these rate increases, so a lot of similarities there to ponder.
As we have written in past communications that the history of Mr. Powell's public statements and now that the extended transcripts from a lot of these meetings are coming out, Mr. Powell since he ascended to the Fed has been a fairly reliable critic of QE programs especially towards the QE3 stage. He ended up voting for QE3 as a Fed governor and permanent voter because that vote came up in his freshman year and generally freshmen don't rock the boat too much, but his public statements and the ones that are coming out from these extended transcripts demonstrate he argued fairly vehemently against the benefit of QE3 asset purchase along his line of reasoning that the market would always expect more and that the Fed was starting to encourage risk-taking and the search for yield, etc.
Now that he has become the Fed chairman and we have these large amounts of debt outstanding, I really do believe that he will go as far as he possibly can along the telegraphed lines of the scheduled balance sheet reduction. The Fed announced last September that it would roll about $10 billion per month off the balance sheet in Q4 of 2017 and then that would increase by $10 billion per month each quarter thereafter, meaning the monthly total in Q1 would be $20 billion and the monthly total in Q2 would be $30 billion, $40 billion in the third quarter, and then theoretically by the end of this year, in the fourth quarter, $50 billion per month.
The $50 billion per month times three is about $150 billion per quarter or a run rate of $600 billion. Ben Bernanke was fond of saying that every $200 billion or so of QE was equivalent to about a 25 basis points rate cut when it was QE. One would assume that in reverse that equates to something on the order of about 25 basis points. Each $200 billion of rolling assets off the Fed balance sheet should equate to something like a 25 basis points rate hike.
If we are at a $600 billion annual run rate and balance sheet deduction by the end of the year, that would mean that there's 75 basis points of tightening just from the balance sheet reduction. I think everybody by now is fairly aware that the Fed's dot plot on average predicts about four rate cuts in the current year and plying two more for the balance of 2018 and another three or four next year, and believe it or not, another one or two in 2020. That's the telegraphed policy and, as I mentioned, I think Chairman Powell, given that he didn't support a lot of asset purchases originally, I think he will be as dedicated as possible to try to follow those policies.
Maurice Jackson: Let's discuss how the Fed is or will have an impact on the peripheral markets beginning with emerging markets, which I like to term as third world economies. Does the Fed fundamentally grasp the dynamics of the situation?
Trey Reik: Interestingly there was an IMF conference that was hosted in Switzerland a couple of months back at which Chairman Powell was invited to speak on the topic of the impact of Fed policy on other countries and how they can control their own fiscal economies in the environment of Fed monetary decisions. In other words can emerging markets and other countries still run their own fiscal policy when the Fed is involved in changing its monetary policies? It gets to the Triffin dilemma, etc., in terms of whether any country can issue the reserve currency for the world because it sets up a situation where internal demand per dollars is not always in sync with external demand for those dollars.
At this conference Mr. Powell raised a few eyebrows in the assertion that monetary policy of the Fed and its impact on the rest of the world is vastly overrated. I think having watched that tape it's interesting. It's on the Swiss national bank website. I would encourage everyone to take a peek because I've noticed discernible facial expressions of surprise by the other folks on that panel because quite frankly, Mr. Powell made a few statements that we felt were fairly wild claims in terms of the lack of impact of what the Fed has done recently on global monetary affairs.
What Mr. Powell is playing out is that since the late 1990s when emerging markets had one brand of challenges, such as being linked to the dollar and not having sufficient foreign exchange reserves, there have been changes and improvements on the governmental level in a lot of emerging markets in relaxing those pegs to the U.S. dollar and building up FX reserves to deal with currency pressures. But what this ignores is that outstanding debt in emerging markets has roughly quadrupled over the past decade, from about $5 trillion to $20 trillion.
While there have been some improvements on the governmental level, the actual dollar-denominated debts that are outstanding have continued to spiral upwards. Some of the things that Mr. Powell is stating as positive developments are more academic in nature. If we look at the percentage of debt to equity ratios for corporations in the MSI country indexes, the average is way above where it was in the late 1990s.
It's more broadly based, so Brazil, Turkey, China, India, Poland, Mexico, Chile, Argentina, South Korea, Taiwan. These are all environments or economies that have had an enormous increase in that outstanding debt. The dollar-denominated portion of that has recently been estimated by the BIS to be, believe it or not, $11.4 trillion. If we have $11.4 trillion of dollar-denominated debt overseas, about $3.7 trillion of that by the way in emerging markets, it is a mathematical certainty that when the Fed starts to tighten there is going to be direct deleterious effects on the economies of emerging markets.
I think the highest dollar-denominated debt to GDP economies are Chile, 33%; Turkey is about 22%; Mexico is 22%. Not an important trading partner is Argentina, about 20%. In those countries, Mr. Powell can say anything he wants or claim whatever he wishes, but as the Fed tightens liquidity for dollar funding around the globe, there's going to be pronounced pressure in those countries and I think we're starting to see that in recent months.
Maurice Jackson: Let's shift here to global financial institutions. My first thoughts are bailouts and derivatives. What concerns do you see here and what type of response can we expect from the Fed?
Trey Reik: It's interesting. The global financial institution issue with respect to Fed tightening has clearly been largely limited to the plight of Deutsche Bank. What's going on with Deutsche Bank right now is really very different than what's going on with any other global institution and obviously there are some unique mismanagement issues at Deutsche Bank so I think that most investors who don't own Deutsche Bank shares are prone to say, "Well, I don't own it so it doesn't affect me." It hasn't spread to other global financial institutions.
What is funny about that is even though you may not own shares of Deutsche Bank, that isn't going to help if Deutsche Bank further hits the skid because Deutsche Bank has a $157 trillion CDS book, which is two times global GDP, so whether you own the shares outright or not, everything that you do own is certainly going be affected by the status of that derivative book. That's just the CDS part of their derivative book.
The other thing that's interesting is if you broaden this analysis to what the Basel-based Financial Stability Board terms as systemically important banks, which is a fairly widely used term. The percentage of systemically important banks trading more than 20% below the recent peaks, which in essence placing them in a bear market, included 41% of the total, which include entities like the Agricultural Bank of China and Mitsubishi Bank of China, Credit Suisse, Prudential. The list is lengthening rapidly and once again, there's a bit of cognitive dissonance to assume that these types of dollar liquidity pressures aren't spreading because they are.
Maurice Jackson: Let's make the conversation here more U.S. centric, focusing on U.S. corporate credits. There's this sophism that corporate balance sheets are in great shape. Let's focus here on companies just listed on the S&P 500. How accurate is this statement?
Trey Reik: That's a great question. We are all aware vaguely of a thinning in market ranks. We happen to be talking in the middle of the FAANG reporting season and Apple is doing well and Amazon is doing well. Facebook not so much. We really have narrowed the focus on these massive companies that quite frankly do have a lot of cash.
There is this conclusion that all companies are in great shape. You ask to focus on the S&P itself. Corporate cash balances entirely in the United States measured according to the Fed's Q1 Z1 reported about $2.66 trillion and that is in fact a new all-time high, but total corporate debt also is hitting new all-time highs at $9 trillion. If we take the $2.66 trillion and we subtract the $9 trillion, actually corporate cash net of debt registered in the first quarter, once again, this is according to the Fed, not according to me. Hit an all-time low of negative $6.4 trillion.
That's a pretty simple equation. Just corporate cash, which everybody is focused on, $2.6 trillion minus total debt and the first quarter of this year registered a new all-time low of negative $6.4 trillion. When you narrow in on the S&P, the 500 S&P corporations have $1.9 trillion of that $2.66 trillion total that the Fed measures. If we look at who owns that $1.9 trillion, the top 25 companies in the S&P hold 56% of it and the top 50 hold 68% of it.
That's 50 of 500 of 70% of the cash and the bottom 250 hold next to no cash on the grand scheme of things. The cash is concentrated in a very small group of companies, which of course are the ones that everybody spends most of the time on in this FAANG-type environment that we're living in the last several quarters. What people aren't focusing on is there's about a $1.5 trillion corporate debt rated junk and another $3 trillion rated one rung above. Not to mention about $1 trillion in lever loans, which we're getting back to almost no covenant protection.
We are about $5.5 trillion of hot potato debt, which stands directly exposed to any deterioration in corporate credit trends. Of course, we haven't seen a huge surge yet in defaults but if you look at junk bond yields and any other sort of sensitive measure those are starting to hook back up pretty rapidly.
Maurice Jackson: Hearing you discuss the number of issuers in the S&P 500 that actually holds cash reminds me of Pareto's Law, which also ties in to my next question for you, which is U.S. consumer credits, does the automobile sector remind you of subprime?
Trey Reik: The automobile renaissance or at least the renaissance in sales and revenues and earnings of the past three years, I think this is fairly well documented to have been based on extending the lengths of loans and reaching further down the credit scale for borrowers. Larger and larger portions of auto loans are now seven years long, believe it or not, which is an amazing fact because obviously no matter what rate you're borrowing at or advertising after seven years, you're going to have a lot of upside down vehicles.
The trend in the most recent two years has been to take that negative equity in cars that are being traded in both the used car and the new car market. I don't have the numbers right in front of me. I think it's fair to say that somewhere in the 30%, 40% range of all new car purchases where there is a loan involved in the trade in are underwater and that equity is being tacked on to the new loan. Obviously when you had rates that were 0'ish percent, that type of behavior, while I think it's fairly reckless, is doable because frankly the payments remain low, but now that we're ratcheting up Fed funds from 0% to 2%, that's a really big difference, a big delta in this type of strategy being workable.
A lot of this credit has stopped being created and if you look at any of these subprime classes in the past two or three years, they haven't really matured. These credit pools haven't had a long time to mature but they're already facing default rates far higher than at the peak of financial crisis. Total auto credit is roughly $1–$2 trillion, obviously much less than the $10 trillion in total mortgage credit at the peak of the real estate boom into 2007–2008 period, so it's about a tenth as large and a lot of the bad credit is centered in even smaller areas of that total trillion-dollar pool.
This brings up another observation, which I think Stephanie Pomboy at MacroMavens first taught me, and that is that a lot of people take solace in the fact that debt service ratios remain low. Broadly speaking, the Fed's debt service ratios take disposable income and aggregate that and then they take the debt service required for revolving credit and car loans and different measures, even taking into account apartment, rent, leases, all these things.
We take debt service ratios aggregately and we look at disposable income and the ratio is very low. In fact, it's near historic lows because, A, there has been some growth in income and B, rates are very, very low. That problem with that is looking at the intersection of aggregate disposable income and aggregate debt service speaks to precisely no one because one group of Americans has most of the debt and the debt service obligations, and a fairly mutually exclusive group of Americans has most of the income, and they're not the same. Your stress levels of things like subprime auto loans, etc., are going to be much faster and much worse than anything that will ever be telegraphed by looking at things like the aggregate debt service ratios. I think that's really an important point.
Maurice Jackson: A correlation I see 10, 15 years ago, I was buying real estate and there was no income verification. I'm starting to see that now with auto loans; it's the same process that they were using 10, 15 years ago. It seems like we don't learn. History repeats itself and that's something I don't ever hear really mentioned. Again, I want to restate that here for our audience is you're actually now able to get loans, auto loans in particular, with just stating your income without verifying that you actually have the income there. That's really one of the reasons why we had that catastrophic bubble 10 years ago.
Trey Reik: Our anecdotal evidence suggests that's all hitting a wall. In other words the loose auto terms and in amount percent of autos that are going out in lease-type of arrangements. That's really plummeting because leasing again works really, really well in a low interest rate environment because the cost of money is really the only cost and it's that cheap. You can put cars out for lease at really, really attractive rates.
That's really hit a wall as well, and I think there's certainly a lot of evidence that the leasing pools that are coming due this year and next year are going to really take a hit at bank earnings because the used car market is very soft. I think the whole auto thing is literally hitting the wall this year.
Maurice Jackson: Regarding credit card debt, what can you share with us about U.S. personal interest payments?
Trey Reik: I think that people forget how quickly rising credit card interest rates affect consumer solvency here in the United States, so when the Fed starts to raise rates, sometimes we look at the Fed's funds rate as something that once again doesn't really affect us but it has had obviously an immediate impact on the interest rates charged by credit card companies, which are now up around 15.5% and there are very, very strong correlations between increasing this rate and personal interest payments.
There's an immediate connection to delinquencies of revolving credit. Once again, it's the peripheral type stuff that gets hit first. For example, the 60-day delinquency rate of subprime auto loans of all lenders in February this year hit 5.8%, significantly above the financial crisis peak, which was right around 5%. Personal interest payments non-mortgage are already at new all-time highs. I've even noticed and I put forth a fairly strong correlation to when the Fed started raising interest rates and what's happened with the personal savings rate, which has collapsed in the past six months.
As these rate hikes start to take hold, and things like rising interest rates charged on credit cards, it puts a severe cramp on the peripheral credit scores of a U.S. consumer and I think you've already seen that in a lot of different spots. For Chairman Powell to continue to increase the Fed's fund rate, he is going to have to endure knowledge of the fact that he is causing an enormous amount of stress in the more challenged portions of the U.S. consumer population.
Maurice Jackson: It would be interesting to see how that comes to fruition in what his response will actually be. I'd be remiss if I didn't ask you this, but how will tariffs and a trade war affect the Fed and the peripherals? Can you provide us with an example?
Trey Reik: That is the most frequent question I have been receiving lately, "Why isn't gold doing better?" Because keep in mind that's what I focus on most of the time but there's been this dispute that given the fact that tariffs are bad, that gold should be doing better. I think that frequently with gold at least, people have a tendency to fall into knee-jerk reasoning and while it is true that tariffs are bad for global GDP and potentially inflation area in the long run, the immediate impact of tariffs at least in this iteration has been commodities have really gotten walloped.
Really beginning June 1 with the imposition of the steel and aluminum tariffs by the Trump administration, a commodity complex started to underperform dramatically and then I believe it was on July 10th in the evening when the Trump administration announced its plans for another $200 billion worth of Chinese goods to have 10% tariffs, which in the last 48 hours, President Trump seems to be telegraphing a willingness to put 25% tariffs on those $200 billion worth of goods. The commodity complex has really rolled right off the map on the 11th of July, the morning after the announcement of those $200 billion in incremental 10% tariffs.
That was the worst day for the Bloomberg commodity index since 2014. Gold is involved on almost every commodity index. In fact, it's the largest single component of the Bloomberg commodity index at 9.2%. There is a tractor beam pull on gold when the commodity complex is performing as poorly as it has. On that day, the 11th after the evening of the 10th announcement, the average metal in the Bloomberg commodity index zinc, etc., was down. Copper was down in excess of 3%. Oil was down five. On that day gold was down 1.09%.
One could make the case that gold in fact is acting as a store of value precisely as it should by being a little bit less volatile than some of the other commodity components. The way that a lot of this can work back to affect the general markets a lot quicker than people realize. A good example would be that in President Trump's efforts to show he can and will be tough on Russia, there were a group of tariffs introduced on certain Russian oligarchs back in April.
The firm that took the biggest brunt of the sanctions that were announced in early April were on Rusal and its leader, Oleg Deripaska, who's a close Putin ally. Rusal happens to be the world's largest aluminum producer with about a 7% global market share, and I'm sure that President Trump's advisers pointed out that this would be a good company to target because by taking 7% of global aluminum out of dollar-denominated markets, that would be a double-whammy to help the impact on domestic producers of aluminum and steel in concert with the tariffs that he already imposed.
Rusal was chosen. I'm not going into all the details but bonds promptly went no bid and the equity in Rusal Hong Kong listed shares collapsed about 72% in a period of a few weeks. This is an event that clearly didn't get on the radar screen of most domestic investors who are going home every day excited about Google and Amazon's new heights. However, Mr. Putin seemed to take offense to the fact that one of Russia's most important corporations and one of his close friends was being targeted, and it turns out that we know that in April Russia sold a little over half its total treasury holding, $47.5 billion in the month, and we now know that most of the rest of the holding was sold the next month in May.
Russia pretty much liquidated $100 million worth of treasuries in a two-month period in April. Of course that was the first time the ten-year yield poked its head above the 3% barrier since December of 2013, and it's just interesting that in retrospect that 35 basis point jump in ten-year treasury yields in April may have had as much to do with perhaps some ill-advised measures, because the Treasury Department is certainly in the process of reconsidering how draconian it wants the result sanctions to be, but it's certainly possible that the resulting sanctions had as much to do with that eye-popping jump in ten-year treasury yields as expectations for economic growth or inflation. We're definitely getting to the point where some of these peripheral events are starting to have blowback to very large and important asset classes.
Maurice Jackson: If I'm not mistaken, Russia, when it dumped those treasuries, did it not go out into the market and share that it was going to purchase gold?
Trey Reik: There were some stories that pointed out that the reduction in the treasury holdings, especially the $47.5 billion a month in comparison to Russia's gold holding, made gold a larger portion of foreign exchange reserves than treasuries. The reason I don't focus on that too much is that anyone who has followed Russia closely is aware of the fact that Russia has methodically and meticulously added to its gold reserves pretty much every month for the last, oh gosh, 10 years and certainly in the last three years. I just read a story this week that Russian gold holdings are starting to rival Soviet era holdings in gold.
It's such a methodical increase in its gold holdings. I think it's a little unfair to say what that $47.5 billion went to purchase gold. The portion that Russia has been directing towards gold accumulation each month remained roughly the same. It's just that the accumulative total of the amount of gold on the Russian Central Bank balance sheet exceeded the treasury total for the first time in a very long time because of the big decline in treasury holdings. Where did the rest of the $47.5 billion go? My guess is that it went into a Russian version of QE to stabilize bonds of not only Rusal but some of the big Russian banks that render a lot of pressure as well with the threat that their results are going to be locked.
Anyone who did business with Rusal and U.S. dollars was going to be sanctioned so that put a lot of pressure on the banks too, and I would bet the lion's share of that $47.5 billion went to a Russian version of QE. The Fed printed money and directed it at a very toxic amounts of Bear Stearns, etc., balance sheets in our first example of QE.
First of all, we have the advantage of being able to print dollars when we buy toxic assets for the Bear Stearns balance sheet; Russia obviously doesn't have the latitude to print dollars so it had to find them to buy and stabilize dollar-denominated obligations of these banks.
Keep in mind aluminum is priced in dollars, so there was an order book before it was sold but all of a sudden was threatening in terms of where dollars were going to come from. Russia had to find the dollars somewhere and very clearly the treasury holdings were the biggest pile of dollars. I believe that's why they were liquidated and I think the proceeds went to stabilize the dollar-denominated obligations of banks and Rusal itself.
Maurice Jackson: Trey, what keeps you up at night that we don't know about?
Trey Reik: Boy, asking a gold guy that question, you're likely to get a tidal wave. I really think that the biggest thing that is being missed by consensus and by markets and by the financial media is the amazing degree of inflation that the Fed has miraculously been able to foster in financial assets at least to date without causing CPI-type inflation. I will go to my grave really never understanding how the Fed has been so successful in channeling inflation; keep in mind QE is deliberately designed to inflate the prices of treasuries and MBS and bring those rates down.
That was the intention of the programs so when folks say that QE didn't cause any inflation, they're looking in the wrong place because it was designed to inflate financial asset prices and it was remarkably successful. I think when stocks reach highs of the past two to three years a common refrain or explanation is that expanded valuations are rational because of why? Because we have low rates. Now that the Fed is raising rates and on the long end, we seem to be flirting with the breakout of this 35-year down channel, as you know equity investors are nothing if not flexible and so for several years they would cite low interest rates as the reason to justify premium valuations.
Now that rates are rising, the common refrain is usually, well, it won't matter that much. At some point, both the short end for what the Fed is doing and at the long end of what the ten year has been doing, this is going to have probably in a very short period of time a big impact on financial asset prices. The measure that we look at which really is an eye-popping measure is the Fed's own measure of household net worth.
In the Z1 report, which comes out quarterly, one of the things that the Fed measures is household net worth and it usually gets mentioned with GDP and total debt household net worth. If we look at the first quarter of 2009, household net worth was at $54.5 trillion and GDP was at $14.1 trillion. If we fast forward nine years to the first quarter of 2018, GDP had increased $6 trillion from $14 to $20 trillion and household net worth had increased $46 trillion from 54 to a little over $100 trillion, 500% of GDP for the first time in the history of the United States.
What that means is that for the past nine years, household net worth or wealth, if you will, in the United States has been increasing eight times faster than output for GDP. There's a lot of things that I don't know or can't predict but one thing I know for certain is you can't keep increasing wealth eight times faster than output in any society forever.
I think that household net worth number, which is really stocks and bonds and real estate, is a number to really focus on because the increase in short-term rates and flirting with this 3% level on the ten year, they are going to have a very, very out-sized impact on this incredible generation of household net worth or inflated prices of financial asset prices. I really think it will surprise people how quickly those levels can adjust on the downside.
Maurice Jackson: It's already surprising to hear that right now.
Trey Reik: How does gold fit into that just as a last footnote? Well, when financial assets are falling, obviously that's a time that gold is a good store of value or people desire to get a little money out of the financial system. When that starts to happen, the Fed, as it did with QE1, QE2, Operation Twist, QE3, is very likely to respond maybe not with a QE decision but with some policy, as it says sometimes it's the medicine and not the disease; that will be very gold bullish as well.
Both in terms of downward reevaluation of enthusiasm for U.S. financial assets and the result and rationalization of debt that that will entail having something that can't default or be the base like gold outside the financial system will all of a sudden look a lot more palatable than it may today.
Maurice Jackson: What did I forget to ask?
Trey Reik: Well, we didn't focus as much on gold as I think sometimes you and I like to chat about. The question in my mind quite frankly is with gold here at $1225 (U.S. Currency), what is going to change between now and the end of the year that has the potential to put a little bit more spunk back in gold markets? I think the answer is recognition that the Fed is going to change its telegraphed balance sheet policy in terms of that scheduled uptick in balance sheet reduction $10 billion per month.
It's one thing for me to cite credit stress and peripheral stress and emerging markets, but it's very different when the Fed starts to send signals that it's concerned about the impacts of its dual policy objectives as well, and at the June FOMC, the Fed increased the rate or the pays on excess commercial reserves. It's commonly referred to as the IOER, which is essentially the excess reserve interest rate. The Fed increased that only 20 basis points during an FOMC meeting when it increased Fed funds 25 basis points, which doesn't sound like much but the reason that it did that is there's already such a growing pressure for commercial banks to find and fund their reserves at the Fed.
Keep in mind when the Fed prints money and buys treasuries from Jamie Dimon and Lloyd Blankfein, that money stays on the Fed's balance sheet as excess commercial reserves and everybody is happy, but when we start reducing the Fed's balance sheet there is, believe it or not, an outsize effect about 1.5 on a decline in commercial banking reserves, which are required, and those don't grow on trees so we're starting to see commercial banks bid up the Fed funds rate, which is essentially the cost of reserves what they pay their Fed for borrowing money at a faster clip than the Fed intends them to do.
For example, the way the Fed controls the Fed funds rate these days is it has a target range. We used to have a specific rate and the Fed would intervene every day. Now, there's a target range, which is a 25 basis points spread, and the Fed likes the effective Fed funds rate to be right at the midpoint of the target range. A couple of times in early June, because of the pressure on commercial bank reserves on funding, the required reserves were increasing.
The U.S. commercial banks bid up Fed funds within five basis points of the top end of the Fed's targeted range. If Fed funds trade above the targeted range that the Fed sets, that is somewhere between an embarrassment and a credibility hit to the Fed. You can choose which way you want to look at it. It's certainly nothing less than an embarrassment and certainly as much as a credibility shot that the Fed really doesn't have control of Fed funds.
The Fed lowered, or introduced for the first time ever, a gap between the interest paid on the excess commercial reserves and the Fed fund itself to try to induce banks to compete less for that funding source for reserves. It sounds wonky. It is wonky but it's important because it demonstrates that the Fed is cognizant of the fact that by reducing its balance sheet, it is already impacting liquidity and in ways that it perhaps didn't perceive.
To me, it's pretty obvious that the Fed is not going get anywhere near the $2 trillion or so that people think that the balance sheet is heading towards and I've started to read things in recent weeks by noted economists who suggest the Fed may not get that balance sheet below $4 trillion before it abandons balance sheet reduction. Balance sheet reduction, by the way, to date since October is $179 billion. It'll be interesting to watch between now and the end of the year if the Fed is able to stay on track with that telegraphed balance sheet reduction.
That is the type of event that I think will start to sway consensus back to our view that it is not likely that rate increase and balance sheet reduction program that has been telegraphed is going to transpire as advertised. I think that will start to put a bid back in the gold market.
Maurice Jackson: These are certainly going to be some interesting times under of the tenure of Chairman Powell. Mr. Reik, tell us about your services at Sprott and please share the contact details.
Trey Reik: Sprott has, I would say without a doubt, the most investor friendly bullion vehicles in the marketplace, the Sprott physical bullion products, largely gold, but silver and platinum and palladium, have a redemption feature that permits investors to turn in their shares individually for the underlying metal. The other thing that's different about the Sprott bullion products is that they are eligible to U.S. investors for long-term capital gain tax treatment. Some of the competing and leading market leaders there do not have a redemption feature and are not eligible for long-term capital gain tax rates and instead are taxed that the 28% collectible rate for bullion and collectibles and coins.
I think that's a great way for anybody to get started with a bullion investment. We have some products at Sprott that are, I think, smarter ways to look at equity ETF opportunities in both the large and small cap arena. Then what I'm focused in on is the individually managed separate accounts of gold miners and we'd be interested in speaking with anyone about a separately managed, actively managed equity account if anyone has the interest. My email is [email protected] Anybody can give me a ring if they want to talk about gold equities generally or some companies in particular. My phone number is 203-656-2400.
Maurice Jackson: Please put in subject line, Proven and Probable. And last but not least, please visit our website, www.provenandprobable.com, where we interview the most respected names in the natural resource space. You may reach us at [email protected]
Trey Reik of Sprott USA, thank you for joining us today on Proven and Probable.
Maurice Jackson is the founder of Proven and Probable, a site that aims to enrich its subscribers through education in precious metals and junior mining companies that will enrich the world.
Tags: auto bubble, emerging markets, Fed Interest Rate Policy, Gold, household savings, junk bond yields, Maurice Jackson, Quantitative Tightening, Russia dumps treasury bonds, stock market bubble, store of value, subprime


Leo Halliwell established a medical-missionary boat ministry among the Indians of the Amazon with the Luzeiro in 1931; since then there have been 25 Luzeiro boats, as well as a number of smaller boats.
The large city of Manaus [mah-NOWS] lies along the Amazon. [Locate Manaus west of Belem, on the coast.] Outside the city on a quiet inlet rests a boat called the Luzeiro [Lu-ZAY-roh], which is the Portuguese word for "light bearer."* This boat and others like it sail along the Amazon, bringing medical care and the good news about Jesus to the people who live along the river.
The boats take doctors, dentists, nurses, and other missionaries to the people living in the rain forest. They take teachers and preachers to their new workplaces in riverside villages too. The man who built the first Luzeiro mission boat was Leo Halliwell.
Pastor Halliwell steered the Luzeiro along the river. The jungle trees formed a green canopy overhead. Jack, Pastor Halliwell's 15-year-old son, stared into the jungle hoping to see a jaguar, the "jungle leopard." Overhead a brilliant red, blue, green, and yellow macaw flew by, squawking loudly. In the distance a woolly monkey howled. Then the boat's engine slowed, and Jack noticed three well-dressed men waving at the Luzeiro from a canoe.
Pastor Halliwell knew it was dangerous to give hitchhikers a ride. But something impressed him to stop. "Throw them a line, Jack," he called to his son. Jack threw the men the rope, and the men attached it to their boat.
Two men climbed aboard and stood beside Pastor Halliwell as he steered the boat up the river. Suddenly one of the men grabbed the wheel and turned the boat around. The boat shuddered and moved suddenly away from the riverbank and out into the middle of the river. The sudden movement nearly threw Jack overboard!
Pastor Halliwell stared at the waters they had just crossed. Not 20 feet from where they had been heading, the jagged points of hundreds of rocks lay just beneath the surface of the water. If the boat had hit those rocks, it would have been ripped apart. The missionaries might have lost their lives that day!
This is strange! thought Pastor Halliwell. There are no signs of a village nearby. Nevertheless, he stopped the boat, and the two men climbed back into their canoe and pushed off into the current.
"Watch where they go," Leo called to Jack.
"Dad, they've disappeared!" Jack called.
Leo turned from the wheel. The river was empty. There was no bend in the river, no ripples in the water. The three men and their boat had disappeared.
They must have been angels! Pastor Halliwell thought as he steered the Luzeiro. Thank you Lord for sending your angels to protect us today! What a wonderful God you are!
The Halliwells served for many years along the Amazon River, caring for the health of the people and sharing the good news of Jesus. Our mission offerings supported their work and continue to support the work among the people living in isolated villages and large cities along the Amazon River.


text:
Аппер-Фредерік Тауншип () — селище () в США, в окрузі Монтгомері штату Пенсільванія. Населення —  особи (2010).

Демографія

Згідно з переписом 2010 року, у селищі мешкали  особи в  домогосподарствах у складі 953 родин. Було 1450 помешкань

Расовий склад населення:

До двох чи більше рас належало 1,0 %. Частка іспаномовних становила 2,0 % від усіх жителів.

За віковим діапазоном населення розподілялося таким чином: 23,8 % — особи молодші 18 років, 59,4 % — особи у віці 18—64 років, 16,8 % — особи у віці 65 років та старші. Медіана віку мешканця становила 40,7 року. На 100 осіб жіночої статі у селищі припадало 94,4 чоловіків;  на 100 жінок у віці від 18 років та старших — 91,6 чоловіків також старших 18 років.

Середній дохід на одне домашнє господарство  становив  доларів США (медіана — ), а середній дохід на одну сім'ю —  доларів (медіана — ). Медіана доходів становила  долар для чоловіків та  долари для жінок. За межею бідності перебувало 2,5 % осіб, у тому числі 1,5 % дітей у віці до 18 років та 6,3 % осіб у віці 65 років та старших.

Цивільне працевлаштоване населення становило  осіб. Основні галузі зайнятості: освіта, охорона здоров'я та соціальна допомога — 22,6 %, виробництво — 13,7 %, науковці, спеціалісти, менеджери — 13,0 %.

Примітки

Джерела

Селища Пенсільванії
Населені пункти округу Монтгомері (Пенсільванія)

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


Space travel is well known for being an extremely dangerous line of work. You only need to watch 'Gravity' to see how astronauts constantly face extreme stress and high risk of immediate danger and death. Beyond immediate catastrophe, NASA is now focusing on the negative health effects of long duration space flights on human health with a year-long studyaboard the International Space Station. Even though astronauts are required to be in prime physical and mental shape before being cleared for takeoff, they are often left weakened, sick, and even depressed upon their return to Earth.
A space launch entails great acceleration as G-forces build, this can cause astronauts to lose consciousness as their blood supply travels downward from their brain. Current spacecrafts like the Russian Soyuz have dealt with this by orienting astronauts so that they experience most pressure in their chests. However, astronauts still sometimes "grey out" due to losing blood pressure in their head.
About 10 minutes after launch, some astronauts begin to suffer from what's known as "space sickness" due to the lack of gravity pressure on the inner ear. They often complain of a loss of balance and coordination, nausea, and vomiting.
After a week in space, the lack of gravity begins to start muscle and bone deterioration. The weakness caused by this may not become fully apparent while in space, but when astronauts arrive back on earth, they may experience such significant bone loss (sometimes up to 1-2% on load bearing parts of the body) that it's a struggle to even walk once they're back on Earth's terrain.
And that's just the physical dangers. Psychologically, space travelers are likely to suffer consequences from the isolation and deprivation they often experience on long-term space missions. Space agencies have attempted to alleviate these mental health risks by providing their astronauts with behavioral health training and improving communication technology so that they can communicate with people on Earth more effectively.
Sleep disorders, immune system damage, and cosmic radiation exposure are just a few of the other detrimental impacts of spending a prolonged amount of time in space.
Kevin Fong, founder of the Center for Altitude, Space, and Extreme Environment Medicine at University College London describes how space travel pushes a person's body to its limits and takes its toll on health by writing "Space isn't an environment we've evolved to survive in. It's wrong to conceive space travel as this long haul flight with some floating around thrown in - it's an expedition, like any other expedition.
With NASA hoping to send humans to Mars, conquering such space-borne ailments has become more than a curiosity, it's a full-blown necessity.


Are You Ready to Implement Your Cap Table Software?
Do You Need an Audit for Your Financial Statements?
What is an audit? This is a review of your books. An accounting firm that offers services like the audit of financial statements in Orange County have licensed and certified accountants to look over your records. They check for discrepancies and errors. Why do you need one?


His voice may be familiar to you already, an anchor in customer relations, David Hambling, Pod Group's Business Development Director in Europe is very much more than a voice at the other end of the line.
Since joining Pod Group in 2014, David has put his own stamp on the direction business is taking and has demonstrated not only enormous empathy with our customer base but an acute sense of perspective in an ever-evolving market. Coming to us from a telecoms company run under a different philosophy, he felt limited by being merely a cog in the machine. Passionate about progress but not at the expense of reliability, he has assumed the mantle of his role with aplomb.
His priority is to ensure that each client is provided with a service that suits their specific need and he excels in grasping the concepts of a huge range of applications across a variety of sectors. A dynamic and quick thinker, his forte is assembling a solution that is individually tailored while giving the best possible value.
His interest in tailoring is not limited to his work. David is famed in the office for his dress sense and he could be accused of being an operative of the style police. He may hail from the leafy countryside of central England but David thrives on the buzz of city life too. He does however miss the rolling fields and does get back to the village whenever he can to spend time with his Jack Russell, Philippa.
His interest in travel is complicated by the fact that he isn't very happy in an airplane, anyone sitting in his immediate vicinity may be alarmed by the eagerness with which he clutches the safety card and his readiness to adopt the brace position at the slightest irregularity of motion. Thankfully there is a simple, failsafe answer to his predicament. Administering a good dose of gin and tonic will swiftly settle his nerves and restore calm to the adjacent seating rows.
David Hambling will be representing Pod Group at a variety of events over the next few months, ready to help you find the ideal solution to your connectivity dilemma. He is also regularly on tour across Europe, meeting with customers. Click on the link below if you would like to arrange a meeting. David's not one to forget old friends and is always ready to hear from people who haven't been in touch for a while too.
Should you not be able to get to see him in person, you can still benefit from his wisdom by contacting him.


text:
Showing 54 results for 2016-04-08
Icelandic government survives no-confidence vote as protesters continue call for government to resign
Iceland's government survived a no confidence vote on Friday. It was put forward by the opposition after revelations from the leaked "Panama Papers"
Belgium arrests key suspects in Brussels attacks
Paris attacks suspect Mohamed Abrini was arrested on Friday along with four others, the Belgian federal prosecutors have confirmed. They are working to determine whether he is also the man wanted in c
Red Sea bridge to be built linking Egypt and Saudi Arabia
Saudi Arabia and Egypt have announced a bridge is to be built across the Red Sea linking the two countries – as well as the continents of Africa and
Italy recalls ambassador to Egypt over Giulio Regeni murder
"We want the truth about what happened to Giulio Regeni". Tweets from Italy's Prime Minister Matteo Renzi and Foreign Minister Paolo Gentiloni come
Gay hairdressers can legally be called "faggots" in France
Industrial tribunal in Paris rules the word is insulting but not discriminatory
Ukrainian activists protest against police corruption
Ukrainian activists burned tyres and confronted police outside a presidential office in Kyiv to protest against corruption in the justice system
The Kurdish Peshmerga women soldiers who are fighting on the frontline
North of Iraq, on the frontline with the female soldiers. In their sights the jihadist fighters from the so-called Islamic State. The troop of women
Dozens of political prisoners released in Myanmar
It marks the first such wave of releases pledged by Aung San Suu Kyi as a top priority for the new government.
Flydubai crash could have been pilot error - investigators
Russian investigators have said pilot error could be to blame for the crash of a Flydubai passenger flight in March, but added the conditions and
China stands firm after US trade report slams 'Great Firewall'
China's standing firm against the US, saying it will not change its policies on foreign investment in the country. It comes after an American report
Brussels 'not discriminating against German language'
Brussel's watchdog has taken two years to reach a decision on whether the EU has discriminated against the German language, it's emerged. The
Fearless Foxes edging closer to fairytale Premier League title
This time last year Leicester were seven points into the relegation zone, fighting for Premier League survival. Twelve months on and following a
Hashim Thaci sworn in as president of Kosovo
Protesters tried to disrupt the ceremony in Pristina by letting off tear gas canisters
Kerry salutes Iraq's progress in retaking ground from ISIL
The US Secretary of State John Kerry has been in Baghdad to show support for Iraq especially over its battle against the so-called Islamic State
Aarhus presented his program for European Capital of Culture in 2017
Every year two EU countries are appointed as host countries for the European Capital of Culture. For 2017 Aarhus and Paphos, Cyprus have been nominated as ECOC. Copenhagen was the first Danish city to
Panama Papers lessons
Panama is at the centre of a global hurricane sparked by the leak of a huge list of documents which have become known as the "Panama Papers"
Paris terror suspect Mohamed Abrini 'arrested' in Belgium
Reports from Belgium say Mohamed Abrini, wanted over November's terror attacks in Paris, has been arrested. The information comes from Belgian
David Cameron: a question of trust
Iceland's prime minister was the first head to roll after the Panama Papers leak, David Cameron must now be wondering if he can weather the media storm and win back the public's trust.
Brent crude oil surges five percent
Brent crude oil is up five percent, at more than 41 dollars a barrel. The surge is raising hopes that top producers will will agree to freeze
Fighting rages along Syria's northern front
No news on the whereabouts of scores of workers seized from a cement works by ISIL
Uber agrees $25m lawsuit over driver vetting and fees
The taxi-hailing service Uber has agreed a 25 million dollar settlement to end a lawsuit in California. It has been accused of misleading customers
Pope Francis urges more compassion towards 'imperfect' Catholics in family life
New guidelines issued by the pope on family life call for the church to be less strict and more compassionate to those he describes as being in
Hawks break Toronto curse
The Atlanta Hawks kept their composure to edge out the Toronto Raptors 95-87 on home soil on Thursday. The win snapped a five-game losing streak
And also... Russian Communists want their star back, Sweden's new phone number, Gay slur 'not homophobic' - French ruling
Every Friday journalists from euronews' various language teams choose a selection of stories from Europe and beyond which did not reach the
Kento Momota admits to gambling at an illegal casino
Japanese badminton sensation Kento Momota is set to miss the Rio de Janeiro Olympics after admitting to gambling at an illegal casino. The World
Pakistan Fashion in Karachi
Clothing and accessories label 'Gulabo' showed off its new collection on the opening day of Fashion Pakistan Week in Karachi. Founded in 2005 by the
'The Man Who Knew Infinity'
'The Man Who Knew Infinity' is based on the true story of Indian mathematical genius Srinivasa Ramanujan. An autodidact, he earned admittance to
John Kerry visits Iraq at key moment of struggle against ISIL
The US Secretary of State John Kerry arrived in Baghdad on Friday to show his support for Iraq, whose government is embroiled in domestic problems as
Italy's Mediaset sells pay-TV unit to Vivendi and agrees share swap
Italian broadcaster Mediaset has agreed to sell its pay-TV unit to French media group Vivendi. The deal also includes a 3.5 percent share swap
Germany registers 112% jump in asylum applications
Officials say the year-on-year from 2015 is due to a backlog in paperwork and the number of arrivals is going down.


text:
Pragmatic Play offers a large selection of slots that have a three-dimensional feel and striking graphics. They are mostly classic titles with a few innovative features that include progressive jackpots and bonus features. These games are also designed to meet the needs of non-gamblers. For example, they have intro screens, battery saving mode, and sound effects. Some of their titles also offer fixed jackpots.
As an online gambling provider, Pragmatic offers more than a few hits, including the Peking Luck and Peaky Blinders slot. The company has acquired the Megaways license, which means it now has an engine that can produce a number of innovative slots. This technology is used for both adaptations of older hits and for new titles.
While the name may not be a household name, the fact of the matter is that the company is one of the most prolific producers of video slots on the internet. With more than 150 titles, Pragmatic has a wide variety of titles to choose from. Their portfolio is impressive, and they do their best to keep their titles fresh and exciting. Although they don't produce as many high-paying titles as some competitors, they do produce some hits that players will appreciate.
If you are looking for the best place to play Pragmatic slots, Las Atlantis is the place to be. Not only does the casino offer some of the best slots available, but it also offers a good variety of table games and specialty titles. Moreover, the company does an excellent job of promoting its products through promotional campaigns, streamers, and traditional affiliates.
Another notable Pragmatic Play slot is the Wolf Gold Power Jackpot. It's a medium volatility slot that offers standard symbol payouts of up to 2,500x your base wager. You can also win two or three progressive jackpots during the game. Its special money respin feature allows you to get even more rewards.
The slot also deserves a mention is the Sweet Bonanza slot. It has a fun feature, which is the Hold&Spin, which awards credits for symbols landing on the screen while you are in the feature. When you are lucky enough to land a wild symbol on the reels, you can activate a bonus free spin.
In addition to its impressive selection of slots, Pragmatic also offers a large selection of poker and blackjack titles. Players can also check out the Live Casino, which is a great way to play a live version of the slot without the hassle of traveling.
To see what else Pragmatic has to offer, try out the demo slots. While the demo titles do not feature the full range of gameplay, they are a good introduction to the company's offerings. Most of the titles on the demo website use the same technology and have the same game play, though some of them have been tweaked slightly.
One thing to note about Pragmatic is that they do not offer any US-based slots. However, there are hundreds of safe alternative games from other providers.
Advantages of Playing at Live Casinos


text:
AIWO's Philosophy
Aiwo-French West Africa
Second World Conference of Indigenous Women(2WCIW)
[vc_row][vc_column width="1/2″][vc_column_text]
The African Indigenous Women's Organization is a continental-wide NGO, whose members are composed of African Indigenous Women representing NGOs and CBOs from all over the continent. We work towards the promotion of women's rights and indigenous rights throughout Africa.
African Indigenous Women's Organization (AIWO) was formed on 24th April, 1998, in Agadir, Morrocco. This was after the first African Indigenous Conference held on 20th to 24th the same year. The conference was initiated by Netherlands Center for Indigenous Peoples and hosted by Tamaynut of Morocco. The Theme of the conference was to "Clarify the role of the Indigenous Women as supporters of the Community and strengthen the Indigenous Cultures' chances for persistence". The organization was started by a number of Indigenous Women attending the conference, in response to the lack of recognition of Indigenous Women's rights in Africa. Those who started AIWO are all members of Indigenous and/or women's rights-focused NGOs and CBOs throughout Africa.
AIWO is a regional organization. We work in all regions of the Africa. AIWO has elected officials to represent Northern, Western, Eastern, Central and Southern Africa. We are connected with NGOs and CBOs throughout the continent, and carries out activities in each region.
Our target group is all African Indigenous Women throughout the continent, as well as non-governmental and community-based organizations run by and for the benefit of African Indigenous Women.
[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][vc_column width="1/2″][vc_images_carousel images="164,162,148,147,146,145″ img_size="560 BY 450″ autoplay="yes" hide_pagination_control="yes"][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row _parallax_="false" show_title="false" parallax="true"][/vc_row]
Subscribe & Social
Copyright © 2022 indigenous women .Design by Edna Kiplagat
Powered by indigenous women


text:
Shannara Chronicles Season 2 Premiere Recap: 'A New Darkness Is Coming'
By Andy Swift / October 11 2017, 8:00 PM PDT
Courtesy of Spike TV
Major changes are sweeping the Four Lands in The Shannara Chronicles' second season — and I'm not just talking about Wil Ohmsford's fresh haircut.
Picking up one year after the events of Season 1, Wednesday's premiere finds the former hero working as a healer in a remote village, where he spends his free time shrugging off questions like "Why do you dedicate your life to medicine when you have a far greater gift?"
But Wil's quiet, short-haired life is rocked when he meets Mareth (The Vampire Diaries' Malese Jow), a magical — not to mention mysterious — young woman who helps him fend off a pair of bounty hunters. You see, a particularly nasty baddie named General Riga is attempting to rid the Four Lands of magic users, making Wil a high-priority target.
Mareth comes to Wil's rescue a second time when he's attacked by the Warlock Lord — recently revived by Bandon — at which points she finally reveals why she's so interested in him: She's Allanon's daughter! (Allanon, meanwhile, has failed in his attempt to stop Bandon's plan.)
Elsewhere, Eretria is also enjoying a quiet new life, as well as a new girlfriend named Lyria (Finding Carter's Vanessa Morgan). But when Eretria is visited by Amberle in a vision ("A new darkness is coming!"), she and Lyria take off in search of Wil… only to be kidnapped by rovers.
Can't these kids ever catch a break?
Your thoughts on Shannara 2.0? Grade the premiere below, then drop a comment with your full review.
TAGS: Spike TV, The Shannara Chronicles
GET MORE: Polls, Premieres, Recaps
Box Office: Liam Neeson's 'The Marksman' Ends 'Wonder Woman…
Protect Your Investment and Keep It Charged With the Best Apple…


text:
A strong start. For every child.
Every parent wants their child to have the best start in life. But many struggle to provide good food and clean water for their children. Join us to make this possible.
Love Food StreatFest, London
Love Food StreatFest is a festival where you can eat well and do good at the same time.
A festival where you can eat well and do good at the same time. Get your early bird tickets now.
A strong start for Bhumika
After visiting an Action Against Hunger treatment centre, Bhumika from Baran, India, is now recovering from malnutrition.
After visiting one of our malnutrition treatment centres, Bhumika has the chance to live free from hunger.
Yemen Hunger Crisis Appeal
Rafi, a young child visiting an Action Against Hunger treatment centre in Yemen.
As violence in Yemen nears fourth year, the country is facing the world's worst humanitarian crisis.
In 2017, we helped 20.2 million people around the world.
Our teams work in nearly 50 countries worldwide to carry out innovative, life-saving programmes
Peter is our Man of Steel
By Action Against Hunger
The magic of mushrooms
World Refugee Day: "Where there is life, there is hope"
Is there a solution to desertification?
Drought in East Africa fuels worsening hunger crisis
Tweets by @ACF_UK
Emergency Countries
From catastrophic natural disasters, to conflict, to spikes in malnutrition rates, we deliver immediate lifesaving services to families in distress all around the world
How your money helps
Action Against Hunger will always use the funds it raises responsibly. In 2017, 91 pence in every £1 went towards our charitable activities.
Make a monthly donation so we can continue our work to help malnourished children around the world.
Join the fight against hunger
Join our mailing list: Email address
Our UK office
International HQs
Emergencies around the world
Campaigning & influencing
Innovation & learning
© Action Against Hunger UK. Registered charity in England and Wales (1047501) and Scotland (SC048317). Registered address: Action Against Hunger UK, 4th floor, 6 Mitre Passage, London, SE10 0ER.


Earlier this month, Sven Stammberger was selected as a U Sports Top 8 Academic All-Canadian for the 2017-2018 season.
The former captain of the Dalhousie Tigers men's basketball team, Stammberger is the 14th student-athlete from Dalhousie University to be honoured in this way since 1993. Only McGill University has generated more Top 8 Academic All-Canadians.
Stammberger believes Dal student-athletes have been this successful because the university is so accommodating.
U Sports student-athletes are recognized as Academic All-Canadians by maintaining an average of 80 per cent or higher while competing on a varsity team. 3,600 student-athletes across the country, including 97 at Dal, achieved this during the 2017-18 season. Out of those recipients, one female and one male from each of the four U Sports conferences were selected for the Top 8. Those eight will be honoured on Jan. 29 at Rideau Hall in Ottawa.
"To be recognized as U Sports Top 8 Academic All-Canadian is an honour for me and it just shows the work I've done," said Stammberger.
In his first year at Dal, Stammberger practiced with the Tigers, but got no playing time. Once on the team, he played only 30 minutes in his first year of eligibility as his season was cut short by a broken wrist. He worked his way up from there to a dominant role. He was the leading scorer for Dal in 2017-2018, with 18.4 points per game, and led the team in rebounds, getting 8.2 per game. Last year, he was named an AUS First Team All-Star and a U Sports Second Team All-Canadian.
Not only a force on the court, Stammberger was also named the 2018 U Sports Ken Shields Award winner for Men's Basketball Student-Athlete Community Service.
The women's basketball coach Anna Stammberger is also Sven's mom.
"What we always wanted and expected from our children is that they have integrity, that they work hard at whatever they do and that they help others," says Anna Stammberger.
She also gives credit to Sven's high school and university coaches, teammates, and Dal athletics to help Sven succeed.
After five years of playing varsity basketball, Stammberger is now completing his Masters in Business Administration in Corporate Residency. He says his education was always a priority, regardless of how well he performed on the court, because he knew his athletic career would eventually come to an end.
"Once we are done with school we have to look forward to do new things," said Stammberger.
He's taken the work ethic and dedication he put into basketball and applied it to other areas of his life. Last year, Stammberger earned a spot in an exchange program at the Copenhagen Business School in Denmark, which took the top four students out of the 45 in his class.
After completing his MBA this year, Stammberger hopes to play basketball in Germany for a few years.
As a student-athlete, Stammberger was a student first and an athlete second, and he believes that is a key part of being successful.