text:
Facebook 2FA phish arrives just 28 minutes after scam domain created
01 Jul 2022 7 Data loss, Facebook, Phishing, Privacy
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We'll tell this story primarily through the medium of images, because a picture is worth 1024 words.
This cybercrime is a visual reminder of three things:
It's easy to fall for a phishing scam if you're in a hurry.
Cybercriminals don't waste any time getting new scams going.
2FA isn't a cybersecurity panacea, so you still need your wits about you.
It was 19 minutes past…
At 19 minutes after 3 o'clock UK time today [2022-07-01T14:19:00.00Z], the criminals behind this scam registered a generic and unexceptionable domain name of the form contact-XXXXX.com, where XXXXX was a random-looking string of digits, looking like a sequence number or a server ID:
28 minutes later, at 15:47 UK time, we received an email, linking to a server called facebook.contact-XXXXX.com, telling us that there might be a problem with one of the Facebook Pages we look after:
As you can see, the link in the email, highlighted in blue by our Oulook email client, appears to go directly and correctly to the facebook.com domain.
But that email isn't a plaintext email, and that link isn't a plaintext string that directly represents a URL.
Instead, it's an HTML email containing an HTML link where the text of the link looks like a URL, but where the actual link (known as an href, short for hypertext reference) goes off to the crook's imposter page:
As a result, clicking on a link that looked like a Facebook URL took us to the scammer's bogus site instead:
Apart from the incorrect URL, which is disguised by the fact that it starts with the text facebook.contact, so it might pass muster if you're in a hurry, there aren't any obvious spelling or grammatical errors here.
Facebook's experience and attention to detail means that the company probably wouldn't have left out the space before the words "If you think", and wouldn't have used the unusual text ex to abbreviate the word "example".
But we're willing to bet that some of you might not have noticed those glitches anyway, if we hadn't mentioned them here.
If you were to scroll down (or had more space than we did for the screenshots), you might have spotted a typo further along, in the content that the crooks added to try to make the page look helpful.
Or you might not – we highlighted the spelling mistake to help you find it:
Next, the crooks asked for our password, which wouldn't usually be part of this sort of website workflow, but asking us to authenticate isn't totally unreasonable:
We've highlighted the error message "Password incorrect", which comes up whatever you type in, followed by a repeat of the password page, which then accepts whatever you type in.
This is a common trick used these days, and we assume it's because there's a tired old piece of cybersecurity advice still knocking around that says, "Deliberately put in the wrong password first time, which will instantly expose scam sites because they don't know your real password and therefore they'll be forced to accept the fake one."
To be clear, this has NEVER been good advice, not least when you're in a hurry, because it's easy to type in a "wrong" password that is needlessly similar to your real one, such as replacing pa55word! with a string such as pa55pass! instead of thinking up some unrelated stuff such as 2dqRRpe9b.
Also, as this simple trick makes clear, if your "precaution" involves watching out for apparent failure followed by apparent success, the crooks have just trivially lulled you into into a false sense of security.
We also highlighted that the crooks also deliberately added a slightly annoying consent checkbox, just to give the experience a veneer of official formality.
Now you've handed the crooks your account name and password…
…they immediately ask for the 2FA code displayed by your authenticator app, which theoretically gives the criminals anywhere between 30 seconds and a few minutes to use the one-time code in a fraudulent Facebook login attempt of their own:
Even if you don't use an authenticator app, but prefer to receive 2FA codes via text messages, the crooks can provoke an SMS to your phone simply by starting to login with your password and then clicking the button to send you a code.
Finally, in another common trick these days, the criminals soften the dismount, as it were, by casually redirecting you to a legitimate Faceook page at the end.
This gives the impression that the process finished without any problems to worry about:
Don't fall for scams like this.
Don't use links in emails to reach official "appeal" pages on social media sites. Learn where to go yourself, and keep a local record (on paper or in your bookmarks), so that you never need to use email web links, whether they're genuine or not.
Check email URLs carefully. A link with text that itself looks like a URL isn't necessarily the URL that the link directs you to. To find the true destination link, hover over the link with your mouse (or touch-and-hold the link on your mobile phone).
Check website domain names carefully. Every character matters, and the business part of any server name is at the end (the right-hand side in European languages that go from left-to-right), not at the beginning. If I own the domain dodgy.example then I can put any brand name I like at the start, such as visa.dodgy.example or whitehouse.gov.dodgy.example. Those are simply subdomains of my fraudulent domain, and just as untrustworthy as any other part of dodgy.example.
If the domain name isn't clearly visible on your mobile phone, consider waiting until you can use a regular desktop browser, which typically has a lot more screen space to reveal the true location of a URL.
Consider a password manager. Password managers associate usernames and login passwords with specific services and URLs. If you end up on an imposter site, no matter how convincing it looks, your password manager won't be fooled because it recognises the site by its URL, not by its appearance.
Don't be in a hurry to put in your 2FA code. Use the disruption in your workflow (e.g. the fact that you need to unlock your phone to access the code generator app) as a reason to check that URL a second time, just to be sure, to be sure.
Remember that phishing crooks move really fast these days in order to milk new domain names as quickly as they can.
Fight back against their haste by taking your time.
Remember those two handy sayings: Stop. Think. Connect.
And after you've stopped and thought: If in doubt, don't give it out.
7 comments on "Facebook 2FA phish arrives just 28 minutes after scam domain created"
ElbowNi says:
Why would a scammer go to the bother of creating a fake page when EvilGnx will just proxy the real page and automatically steal the MFA cookie? No typos, no grammatical issues, and as its a proxy it will only accept the correct credentials.
Paul Ducklin says:
Setting up a proxy for a facebook.com domain would require you to have a web certificate [a] that claims to be Facebook's and [b] that the user's browser will accept.
The first part (making the fake certificate) is easy. The second part (getting the fake certificate digitally signed by a trusted authority) is hard.
Thus the crooks use fake sites instead, based on domain names for which they can acquire signed certificates.
Actually not so, if you look at how EvilGinx2 works (on Github) as mitm proxy, it requires the attacker to setup a look-like domain to front the victim for which he will obtain Let'sEncrypt certificate). Attacker does not need to obtain facebook.com certificate nor need to trick users browser to trust that certificat.
Going back to the original question from ElbowNi, I think Evilginx2 is whole new advanced level of phishing attack that "ordinary" attacker has not aquired their skills to use yet.
Perhaps I should have been more precise and said "setting up an invisible proxy", or "setting up a true MiTM proxy that presents itself as facebook.com".
Evilgnx (which used nginx) and Evilgnx2 (which is self-contained) would still present itself in the same way as this scam did, using a URL pointing at a domain that is *not* facebook.com, with an HTTPS certificate that was not issued to facebook.com. (Most phishing scams these days use HTTPS. Either they use Let's Encrypt, like Evilgnx does if you want it to, or they use a cheap hosting service that provides domain+certificate+web server that's ready to go.)
This is the point that @jeret made. The phishing attempt would still require a fake domain name, just as you see here, which is visible to the victim. The Evilgnx proxy doesn't act as a full MiTM proxy like (say) a web filtering firewall, which generates fake certificates for the domains that it proxies, and therefore requires the user to trust a non-standard certificate authority first.
I take the point of the OP that Evilgnx2 effectively fetches the "fake pages" on demand, which avoids typos and so on…
…but I suspect that one reason the crooks tend to use their own fake site content is that it makes it easy for them to build their own non-standard workflow to lure you to a fake password prompt in the first place.
jeret says:
Well, with evilginx you still need a domain registered. You can easily identify the page by just looking at the spoofed domain!
Laurence Marks says:
Text refers to "control=XXXXX" in two places. The images all display "contact-XXXXX".
Fixed, thanks!
S3 Ep115: True crime stories – A day in the life of a cybercrime fighter [Audio + Text]
Log4Shell-like code execution hole in popular Backstage dev tool


The BEST homemade, double-layer Lemon Cake has a delicious Lemon Buttercream Frosting. A cake lovers' dream!
Don't miss all of my favorite cake recipes, including my popular Coconut Cake with Pineapple Filling and German Chocolate Cake.
Hooray for Friday, and hooray for CAKE! I use weekends as an excuse for baking something delicious. If we're having friends or family over for a meal I like to make something special, like a beautiful cake. It's just as easy as any other dessert, and super impressive.
When baking cakes I usually bake the cake a few days in advance. I let it cool completely, then wrap it well in plastic wrap and place it in a freezer ziplock bag. Freeze until the day it will be served. I like to make my frosting fresh, the day of serving, but you can also make it in advance and refrigerate it for a few days.
By preparing the two parts of the cake this way it makes it super easy and stress-free to put together a beautiful cake!
I've provided two recipes for this cake for you guys, and I gotta tell you–BOTH are awesome!
The BEST homemade, double-layer Lemon Cake has a delicious Lemon Buttercream Frosting. A cake lovers' dream!
Grease and flour two 9'' round baking pans. Set aside.
Sift all-purpose flour and cake flour into a mixing bowl. Add baking powder, baking soda and salt and stir to combine.
In a separate mixing bowl add the butter, sugar and lemon zest and mix with an electric mixer until pale and fluffy, about 3-4 minutes.
Add the whole eggs and mix well.
Add the egg whites one at a time, mixing after each. Stir in the vanilla.
Alternately add in a little bit of the flour mixture and then the buttermilk stirring between each addition.
Divide batter evenly between the two prepared round cake pans.
Bake in preheated oven until toothpick inserted into center of the cakes comes out clean, about 24-29 minutes.
Remove from oven and allow to cool several minutes in the pans, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.
Add the cake mix and pudding mix to a large bowl and stir to combine.
Add Greek yogurt, water, oil, and eggs and mix with an electric mixer on medium speed until well combined, about 2 minutes.
Pour evenly into prepared round pans.
Bake in preheated oven for 24-29 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean. Don't overbake or the cake will be dry!
Place the butter in a large mixing bowl and beat with electric mixers for 1 minute.
Add 4 cups of powdered sugar, half of the lemon juice and the lemon zest.
Beat well until smooth and creamy, about 3 minutes.
Gradually add the remaining sugar, 1 cup at a time, and the remaining lemon juice until you reach your desired frosting consistency.
Frost cake once the cake is completely cool.
Lauren, this cake is top-notch to me because it's LEMON!!
Anything baked with lemons is so delicious….so beautiful and ever so fresh tasting, I LOVE LEMON!
I do bake from scratch 90% of the time, but a good box recipe, like this one, doesn't bother me a bit.
I plan on making the "from scratch" one first.
I also freeze some cake layers in my freezer for future use.
It's quick and easy for those last minute invites to friends homes for dinner.
I really like your finishing touch on top of your cake, it's so cute.
Did you say cake? This Lemon Cake looks yummy.
Can either be covered iin fondant- or does it lack sturdiness?
Have you tried baking this in a bundt cake pan?
Please help! I made this recipe using the cake mix but in one one sheet cake pan. It looked fine when I took it out but 15 min. later it fell!!!! I needed this for a birthday party Friday and want to try again but it's to feed a large group and a sheet cake would be so much easier. I have NO idea what I did wrong! Help – please respond the sooner the better! Thank you in advance.
Hi Cynthia, what size pan did you make it in? What is your elevation? I would suggest making it in a 9×13 pan and add a few tablespoons of flour to the batter.
Your from scratch recipe sounds good to me. I have been looking for a new one to try. Question: As I like to make tall layer cakes, do you think doubling to get 4 6″ layers? And, have you replaced the vanilla with lemon extract? Thank you.
It makes sense that that should work and I think it will be great to replace the vanilla with lemon extract!
Hi Lauren, and thank you for responding. I did use a 9 x 13 pan. I tasted it (after it fell) and the lemon flavor was absolutely phenomenal! Thank you for suggesting adding some more flour. A friend thought I had not baked it long enough although it seemed fine when I first removed it from the oven. I will try again and report back! I have no idea as to my elevation, but live near Fredericksburg, VA, just about an hour from our nation's capital of DC.
Yes, that should be fine. I'd guess cooking time will be around 50-55 minutes. Enjoy!
This is now my favorite lemon cake. Made it for a friends birthday and I had to make it again and again and again. Perfect recipe. Thank you!
That's so nice to hear! Thanks Jenn!


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Related Post "77 Edu Kids Room – Bedroom Interior Design Ideas"


Utah has a special place in my heart. So much so that this blog post is two years in the making.
I first visited the beehive state in 2016, only one short year after I graduated from high school, as part of an epic three week long road trip with my best friends. Then, in 2018, I returned in a different car with different friends for 10 days over spring break.
The two trips were wildly different in so many ways, but are ultimately grounded in the same awe and amazement of Utah and all of its wonders. I learned a lot about experiencing what are referred to as the "Mighty 5" National Parks, and want to share what I know so that you can also enjoy the greatest state in America.
When I visited Utah in 2016 we started in the Southwestern corner and worked our way North, East, and then back down South. This post will be organized following that itinerary, although it is possible to do the trip in reverse (which is what we did in 2018).
Zion National Park is, in my opinion, the grandest and most inspiring park in Utah. I guess you can say it is the mightiest of the Mighty 5. With its towering red walls, winding river, serpentine roads, and grassy plains, Zion consistently took my breath away. The park is also home to some of the most adventurous hikes in Utah: Angles Landing and the Narrows.
Angels Landing is a strenuous 4.8 mile hike that isn't for the faint of heart. The easiest part of the trail consists of grueling switchbacks all the way to Scout's Lookout, and from there the remainder of the trail turns into a scramble over slick rocks with 1,000 foot drops on either side of you. You can read more about Angels Landing in one of my earlier blog posts.
If heights aren't your thing, then consider hiking the Narrows. Unlike Angels Landing, the Narrows hike is as easy or difficult as you make it; you can hike 2-4 miles before turning around or get a permit to do the full 16 miles. The trail takes you through the canyon via the Virgin River, so plan on sloshing through water up to your ankles with the possibility of it getting waist-deep.
While those are the two most popular hikes in Zion, there is definitely more to do in the park. Zion's shuttle system allows you to hop on and off wherever you please, making it easy to explore every inch of the park.
Ah, Bryce Canyon. The park that looks like it belongs on Mars more than Earth.
There are so many ways to enjoy this amazing park: you can take a hike amongst the hoodoos, drive the scenic loop, or travel on horseback. The Peek-A-Boo loop is a 6 mile trail that takes you down into the canyon. Peek-A-Boo is marked as strenuous due to the elevation change, but isn't difficult if you come prepared with proper shoes and plenty of water. While the trail was fun, nothing beats the view of the park from on top of a horse (or a mule, in my case).
Check out Canyon Trail Rides or Ruby's Horseback Adventure to learn more about how to book a ride through the canyon.
If you're lucky enough to visit Bryce Canyon during the winter or spring, you might see some snow on the ground. While it made the hiking a bit difficult, seeing the red clay covered in snow is something I'll never forget.
Capitol Reef National Park can be a pleasant break between the other more adventurous parks. I'm sure there are difficult trails and exciting things to do in the park, but my friends and I decided to take the scenic route and use Capitol Reef as a resting point during our road trip.
The park is famous for its petroglyphs, or human-like figures painted onto the rock in approximately 600 AD. The paintings are a must see attraction in the park and most of them can be seen from the road. If you get hungry after hunting down petroglyphs, stop by Gifford Homestead. The restored farmhouse features a Natural History Association sales outlet stocked with handmade items from local artisans, but most importantly they also sell homemade ice cream and freshly baked pies.
Looking at rock art and eating comfort food is a great way to enjoy the park, but if you're looking for more exciting things to do then consider hiking out to Cassidy Arch. The 3.5 mile moderate trail takes you to a spot where you can gaze down on an impressive arch, which will get you in the mood for the next National Park on the list.
When you think of national parks in Utah, you're probably thinking of Arches National Park. More specifically, you probably have a picture in your mind of Delicate Arch. Ya know, the really beautiful arch that is on most Utah license plates.
The 3 mile hike to see Delicate Arch is a piece of cake and gives you an opportunity to explore the various terrains of the park. The first time I went to Arches my friends and I slept in the parking lot in order to watch the sunrise behind the rock formation, and while it was a truly memorable experience, I wouldn't recommend it if you value your sleep.
Arches is home to a lot of other hikes that are just as beautiful and far less crowded than Delicate Arch. I've visited Double Arch, the Windows, Tapestry Arch, and Broken Arch, and they were all worthwhile.
You can also do a ton of awesome climbs in Arches National Park, but I'll talk more about that in another blog post.
Canyonlands National Park is exactly what it sounds like: a huge expanse of land full of magnificent canyons and buttes.
Two quick and easy hikes that will show you the magnitude of the park are Pothole Point and Cave Spring. Pothole Point is a 0.6 mile trail that showcases a slickrock area that is full of natural "potholes." Cave Spring hike is a small 0.6 mile loop complete with safety ladders, cairns, and an ancient cowboy hideout.
The most popular section of the park is The Needles, an area in the southeast corner of Canyonlands that is full of tall and colorful spires.
No matter which park (or parks!) you go to, definitely try to catch a glimpse of the night sky while you're out there. After all, half the park is after dark.
So there you have it. A comprehensive guide to Utah's Mighty 5 National Parks.
Since Utah is so amazing, there are plenty of other National Parks begging to be explored, but these 5 are the biggest and raddest. I'd love to hear about your experiences in the comments below and hope this post encourages you to head west.
As always, keep exploring. And if you ever need a friend to show you around the beehive state, give me a shout. I'm always looking for a reason to go back.
Was this helpful? Have feedback for me? Let me know in the comments, or shoot me an email at indiaclaire.ft@gmail.com. All photos in this post were taken by me, John Miller, Paige Charlick, and Brooke Neal, and are used with permission.
Thanks for sharing! Reading your post and seeing the amazing pictures make me want to book a trip. Maybe over the holidays when it is not so hot.


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Jim Stacy's popular Pallookaville Fine Foods will soon have a sibling operation limited to take-out in the Little Five Points area. A former hair salon yields to the newest Pallookaville at 1107 Euclid Ave. NE, and is anticipated to open in April or May 2015.
David Garcia and Abigail Quinn, teaming up with Billy Allin and Kristin Allin of Decatur's Cakes & Ale, will open Proof Bakeshop in Inman Park in May 2015. Garcia and Quinn currently head the bread and pastry programs for Cakes & Ale and the adjacent The Café at Cakes & Ale. Proof will offer counter service as a coffee shop and bakery while at the same time serving as the central kitchen and bakery for the Allins' growing organization, which will include Bread & Butterfly, slated to open in the fall of 2015, also in Inman Park. Proof Bakeshop, 100 Hurt St. NE, Atlanta, GA 30307, no phone.
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When Joe Truex departed Watershed for Dubai, he started a chain reaction that has reached all the way to Charleston, S.C. Parish's Zeb Stevenson took over from Truex at Watershed, leaving an opening there. And to fill it, here comes Stuart Tracy, longtime chef at the Butcher & Bee in Charleston. Tracy, who as a high schooler worked at Harry's Farmers Market, now Whole Foods, turned in his toque March 7 at B & B, and will be replaced by longtime staffer Chelsey Conrad. The Brasserie & Neighborhood Cafe at Parish, The Shops at N. Highland Steel, 240 N. Highland Ave. NE, Atlanta, GA 30307, 404-681-4434.
Ford Fry's Rocket Farm Restaurants is an organization on the move, with seven restaurants already rolling and here comes the eighth. Fry will take over the space abandoned by Abattoir, which owner Anne Quatrano closed on March 28. Fry is said to be preparing to open a steakhouse there. Well-established in the Westside, Fry has JCT. Kitchen & Bar in the same building that houses Quatrano's Bacchanalia, Quinones at Bacchanalia and Star Provisions. Also in the area is his seafood operation, The Optimist, which will get a sister restaurant in Inman Park later this year. Hyper-busy Fry has just launched Superica, a Tex-Mex joint in Krog Street Market, and The El Felix in Alpharetta's Avalon development. Abattoir, White Provision Building, 1170 Howell Mill Rd. NW, Atlanta, GA 30318, 404-892-3335.


Can the Advent of Custom Publishing Bridge the Gap between Traditional and Self-Publishing?
This paper aims to look at the advent of custom publishing, and its distinction from vanity publishing, and self-publishing in 21st century Britain and America. Its birth will be evaluated as a means for publishers to bridge the gap between traditional publishing, and self-publishing, due predominantly to the technological communications shift of 1980-1990, and the influence of academia. The conflicting definition of the varying fields will be outlined, and vindicated by using Robert Darnton's communication circuit, together with Thomas R. Adams & Nicolas Barker's new model for the study of the book. The modification of the communication's circuit can then be gauged, by looking at the effect custom publishing has had, and the implications that this modification has for the publisher-author relationship.


Dump the labels: Instead of splitting hairs between eco-travel, sustainable travel, responsible travel, ethical travel and so on, leave "eco" in the economy�since the economy is a subsidiary of the environment.
When appropriate, go virtual: Some consumers may choose to experience places in a virtual way; but don't see that�or telepresence�as a threat. It may be your biggest ally.


text:
Ian Kennedy has in one way or another been involved in the health and wellness field even before he was aware that this would be his life path. His first meaningful employment just out of high school was working in a residential facility for the mentally and physically challenged. Patience, persistence, and caring seemed to come naturally for him at an early age. His pursuit in the martial arts lead him to teach for his first Karate instructor and latter open his own Martial Arts school. In that setting he found great satisfaction helping his students go beyond their perceived mental boundaries and physical limitations. Throughout those years Ian continued his own studies and received black belts in several classical Martial Arts.
Later, Ian looked for even greater challenges and joined the U.S. Army and successfully completed his training as a combat medic. Upon his honorable discharge from the service he joined an ambulance squad, worked as a doctors assistant in a private practice and then worked as an understudy with an acupuncturist for nine years. This is where he was introduced to the many modalities of Chinese medicine, muscle response testing, energetic and esoteric therapies. After leaving that practice he found himself in his first of many class in European Biological Medicine under Dr. Thomas Rau. He completed a two year training in 2008 culminating with an internship at the Paracelsus clinic in Switzerland. He has continued to explore the use of homeopathy, nutrition, and anthroposophical approaches in assisting the health and wellbeing of his clients.
Ian founded The True Wellness Center with his wife Kelly Kennedy and continues to guide people in restoring, maintaining, and advancing their optimal health. He is on the advisory board for B.R.M.I. (Bioregulatory Medicine Institute) and is a frequent contributor to their newsletter. He has been a presenter at a B.R.M.I. conference sharing his unique approach to health and wellness with other doctors and practitioners.
Today, his multi level approach goes beyond the health of the body for those seeking a deeper wholistic lifestyle with what he has termed a Bioregulatory Lifestyle that encompasses the emotional and spiritual dimensions of wellness. He is currently working on his first comprehensive book --focused on living a Bioregulatory Lifestyle called The Abundance Syndrome that will be available in both hardcopy and auto book in the near future.
Ian Kennedy, Founder, The True Wellness Center
Ian's foundational medical training is in emergency medicine through the US Army - as a former combat medic.
BRMI

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


It is believed that Amakhosi, Bucs and Masandawana have all made inquiries about the skillful player, who joined Stars from Mbombela United last year. Reported Kaizer Chiefs, Mamelodi Sundowns and Orlando Pirates Sinethemba Jantjie is only focused on helping Free StateStars survive relegation.
The 28-year-old midfielder is believed to have attracted interest from the biggest clubs in the country in his debut season in the PSL.
Jantjie recently sealed Stars' 3-1 victory over PSL title contenders Bidvest Wits and the dribbling wizard discussed their chances of surviving relegation.
The boy is very good and quick similar to Neymar Junior do we really need him?


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Copyright © "30"" Swivel Top Bar Stool" By Ibolili in Small Patio All right reserved.


text:
\section{INTRODUCTION}

\begin{figure}[t]
 \label{fig:di-hadron}
 \centering
 \includegraphics[scale=0.270]{di-hadron-process.pdf}
 \caption{Inclusive dihadron production process in multi-Regge kinematics.}
\end{figure}
The ampleness of data being produced at the Large Hadron Collider
(LHC) offers us a faultless chance to study the dynamics
of strong interactions in the high-energy limit.
In this kinematical regime,
the Balitsky-Fadin-Kuraev-Lipatov
(BFKL) approach~\cite{Fadin:1975cbKuraev:1976geKuraev:1977fsBalitsky:1978ic}
represents the most effective tool
to perform the resummation to all orders of the leading (LLA)
and the next-to-leading terms (NLA) of the QCD perturbative series
which are heightened by powers of large energy logarithms.
The inclusive production of two jets with high transverse momenta
and well separated in rapidity,
known as Mueller--Navelet reaction~\cite{Mueller:1986ey},
has been one of the most studied processes in the last years.
For this reaction, the BFKL resummation with NLA accuracy
relies  on the combination of two ingredients: the NLA Green's function
of the BFKL equation~\cite{Fadin:1998py,Ciafaloni:1998gs} and the NLA jet
vertices~\cite{Bartels:2001ge,Bartels:2002yj,Caporale:2011cc,
               Ivanov:2012ms,Colferai:2015zfa}.
In~\cite{Colferai:2010wu,Angioni:2011wj,Caporale:2012ih,
         Ducloue:2013hia,Ducloue:2013bva,Caporale:2013uva,
         Ducloue:2014koa,Caporale:2014gpa,Ducloue:2015jba,
         Celiberto:2015yba,Celiberto:2016ygs,Chachamis:2015crx}
NLA BFKL predictions of cross sections and azimuthal angle correlations
for the Mueller-Navelet jet process, observables earlier proposed
in~\cite{DelDuca:1993mn,Stirling:1994he,Vera:2006un,Vera:2007kn},
were given, showing a very good agreement
with experimental data at the LHC~\cite{Khachatryan:2016udy}.
In order to further and deeply probe the dynamical mechanisms behind
partonic interactions in the Regge limit, $s\gg |t|$, some other
observables, sensitive to the BFKL dynamics,
should be considered in the context of the LHC physics program.
An interesting option, the detection of three and four jets,
well separated in rapidity from each other, was recently
suggested in~\cite{Caporale:2015vya,Caporale:2015int} and investigated
in~\cite{Caporale:2016soq,Caporale:2016zkc,Caporale:2016xku,Celiberto:2016vhn}.
In this paper a novel possibility, {\it i.e.}
the inclusive production of two charged light hadrons:
$\pi^{\pm}$, $K^{\pm}$, $p$, $\bar p$
featuring high transverse momenta and separated by a large rapidity interval,
together with an undetected gluon radiation emission
is proposed~(see Figure~\ref{fig:di-hadron}).
For this process, similarly to the Mueller-Navelet reaction,
the BFKL resummation in the NLA is viable, since NLA expression for
the vertex describing the production of an identified hadron,
was obtained in~\cite{hadrons}.
On one side, hadrons can be detected at the LHC
at much smaller values of the transverse
momentum than jets, allowing us to explore an additional kinematic range,
supplementary to the one studied with Mueller--Navelet jets.
On the other side, this process makes it possible to constrain
not only the parton densities (PDFs)
for the initial proton, but also
the parton fragmentation functions (FFs)
describing the detected hadron in the final state.
It is known that the inclusion of NLA terms makes a very large effect on the
theory predictions for the Mueller--Navelet jet cross sections and the jet
azimuthal angle distributions. Similar features are expected also for our case
of inclusive dihadron production. This results in a large dependence of
predictions on the choice of the renormalization scale $\mu_R$
and the factorization scale $\mu_F$. Here we will take
$\mu_R=\mu_F$ and adopt the Brodsky-Lepage-Mackenzie (BLM)
scheme~\cite{Brodsky:1982gc} for the renormalization scale setting
as derived in its ``exact'' version in~\cite{Caporale:2015uva}.

\section{DIHADRON PRODUCTION AT THE LHC}

The process under investigation is the hadroproduction
of a pair of identified hadrons in proton-proton collisions
\begin{eqnarray}
\label{eq:process}
{\rm p}(p_1) + {\rm p}(p_2) \to {\rm h}(k_1, y_1, \phi_1)
                              + {\rm h}(k_2, y_2, \phi_2)
                              + {\rm X} \;,
\end{eqnarray}
where the two hadrons are characterized by high transverse momenta,
$\vec k_1^2\sim \vec k_2^2 \gg \Lambda^2_{\rm QCD}$
and large separation in rapidity $Y=y_1-y_2$,
with $p_1$ and $p_2$ taken as Sudakov vectors.
The differential cross section of the process can be presented as
\begin{equation}
\label{eq:dcs}
\frac{d\sigma}{dy_1dy_2\, d|\vec k_1| \, d|\vec k_2|d\phi_1 d\phi_2}
=
\frac{1}{(2\pi)^2}
\left[
{\cal C}_0+\sum_{n=1}^\infty  2\cos (n\phi ) \, {\cal C}_n \right] \;,
\end{equation}
where $\phi=\phi_1-\phi_2-\pi$, with $\phi_{1,2}$ the two hadrons'
azimuthal angles, while ${\cal C}_0$ gives the total
cross section and the other coefficients ${\cal C}_n$ determine
the azimuthal angle distribution of the two hadrons.
In order to match the kinematic cuts
used by the CMS collaboration, we consider
the \emph{integrated coefficients}
given by
\begin{equation}
\label{eq:Cm_int}
C_n=
\int_{y_{1,\rm min}}^{y_{1,\rm max}}dy_1
\int_{y_{2,\rm min}}^{y_{2,\rm max}}dy_2
\int_{k_{1,\rm min}}^{\infty}dk_1
\int_{k_{2,\rm min}}^{\infty}dk_2
\, \delta\left(y_1-y_2-Y\right)
\, {\cal C}_n \left(y_1,y_1,k_1,k_2 \right)
\end{equation}
and their ratios $R_{nm}\equiv C_n/C_m$.
For the integrations over rapidities and transverse momenta
we use the limits,
$y_{1,\rm min}=-y_{2,\rm max}=-2.4$,
$y_{1,\rm max}=-y_{2,\rm min}=2.4$,
$k_{1,\rm min}=k_{2,\rm min}=5$ GeV,
which are realistic values
for the identified hadron detection at LHC.
We use the PDF set MSTW 2008 NLO~\cite{Martin:2009iq}
with two different NLO parameterizations for hadron FFs:
AKK~\cite{Albino:2008fy} and HKNS~\cite{Hirai:2007cx}.
Pursuing the goal to stress the potential relevance of
the process we are proposing, rather than to give a high-precision
prediction,
we present our first results neglecting the NLA parts of hadron
vertices and planning their inclusion as the mail goal
of a later, more technical publication.
In Figure~\ref{fig:hadrons} the dependence on the
final state rapidity interval $Y$, of the $\phi$-averaged cross section
$C_0$ and of the ratios $R_{10}$, $R_{20}$, and $R_{30}$
at the center-of-mass energy $\sqrt{s} = 13$ TeV is shown.
\begin{figure}[h]
\label{fig:hadrons}
\begin{minipage}{.5\textwidth}
\centering
\includegraphics[scale=0.4]{./dh-C0_13TeV.pdf}
\includegraphics[scale=0.4]{./dh-C2C0_13TeV.pdf}
\end{minipage}
\begin{minipage}{.5\textwidth}
\centering
\includegraphics[scale=0.4]{./dh-C1C0_13TeV.pdf}
\includegraphics[scale=0.4]{./dh-C3C0_13TeV.pdf}
\end{minipage}
\caption{$Y$ dependence of cross section,
$R_{10} \equiv \langle \cos \phi \rangle$,
$R_{20} \equiv \langle \cos 2\phi \rangle$, and
$R_{30} \equiv \langle \cos 3\phi \rangle$
for dihadron production at $\sqrt{s}=13$ TeV.
See Ref.~\cite{Celiberto:2016hae}
for predictions of $C_0$ and $R_{10}$ given at larger values of $Y$,
similar to the ones used in the CMS Mueller--Navelet jets analysis.}
\end{figure}
Our predictions with the AKK FFs give bigger cross sections,
whereas the difference between AKK and HKNS
in the azimuthal correlation momenta is small,
since the FFs uncertainties are largely canceled out
when we take the ratios $R_{n0}$.
The general features of our predictions are rather
similar to the respective ones of the Mueller--Navelet jet process.
Although the BFKL resummation predicts a growth with energy of the partonic
cross section, the convolution of the latter with proton PDFs
leads to a decrease with $Y$ of $C_0$.
The decreasing behavior with $Y$ of the $R_{n0}$ azimuthal ratios
is due to the increasing amount of undetected parton radiation $\rm X$
(see Equation~(\ref{eq:process}))
in the final state allowed by the growth of the partonic subprocess energy.
We present our NLA BLM predictions together with the results we
obtained in LLA, using both BLM and natural scale setting
($\mu_R^2=\mu_F^2=|\vec k_{1}||\vec k_{2}|$,
always smaller than the BLM one).
Plots of Figure~\ref{fig:hadrons} show that LLA results
at BLM scales lie closer to the NLA BLM ones than LLA results at
natural scales.

\section{CONCLUSIONS AND OUTLOOK}

In this paper we investigated the dihadron production
process at the LHC at the center-of-mass energy of $13$~TeV,
giving the first theoretical predictions for cross sections
and azimuthal angle correlations in the LLA and partial NLA BFKL approach.
We implemented the exact version of the BLM optimization procedure
in order to make completely vanish the~$\beta_0$-dependence
in our observables and minimize the size of the NLA corrections.
We found that our NLA BLM predictions are close
to the LLA BLM ones, while the LLA calculations at natural scales
overestimate the total cross section $C_0$
and predict a stronger decorrelation for the azimuthal ratios $R_{n0}$.
The good agreement between LLA and NLA at BLM scales is a direct consequence
of the small size of the higher-order corrections,
representing so a clear signal of the reliability of the BLM method.
However, more accurate analyses are still needed:
full NLA calculations including next-to-leading order hadron vertices,
together with the study of larger rapidity intervals in the final state
and considering the effect of a different choice
for the factorization scale $\mu_F$
with respect to the renormalization scale $\mu_R$,
are underway~\cite{Celiberto:2017ptm}.
In view of all these considerations, we encourage experimental collaborations
to include the study of the dihadron production
in the program of future analyses at the LHC,
making use of a new suitable channel to improve our knowledge
about the dynamics of strong interactions in the Regge limit.

\section{ACKNOWLEDGMENTS}

We thank G.~Safronov and I.~Khmelevskoi for stimulating
and helpful discussions.
This work was supported in part by the RFBR-15-02-05868.

\nocite{*}
\bibliographystyle{aipnum-cp}%

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaArXiv


Following an immersive tour of the castle, afternoon tea at the Harte and Garter Hotel provides a tasty bite to eat and some well-earned relaxation in a setting fit for royalty. If you fancy something a little more adventurous, why not have your afternoon tea on a cruise, down the River Thames? Price on application.


text:
Emerging Socio-Economic, Geo-Political and Geo-Strategic Centers of Power and Associates Policies for Pakistan: A Research Study
by Dr. Mehmood Ul-Hassan Khan
By Mehmood-Ul-Hassan Khan
Socio-economic serious problems are gearing to bring changes in the status quo around the world. Tunisia, Egypt, Libya and Yemen are passing through difficult times for their national histories. Syria and Bahrain have been selected for proxy wars. Saudi Arabia is confronting with new troublesome events in some tiny parts/factions.
New bitter geo-political realities are emerging fast. New geo-political grouping and regrouping are making headlines in the international media. Struggle for socio-economic lion sharing, geo-political domination and the last but not the least, geo-strategic expansions are being fought on many visible, disguised and invisible fronts.
Power politics chessboard shapes new power of centers around the world. Things are not simple and straightforward looking rather things are complicated and complex but the countries which desire to avail opportunities from it must be socio-economically vigilant, geo-politically vibrant and geo-strategically visionary.
It is hoped that new bright prospects may change the fate of a country by increasing bilateral trade volumes and initiating joint ventures. It may protect a country's territorial sovereignty by mutual security arrangements and closed political association. It would also protect a country's strategic assets by having geo-strategic alliances. So, national survival, production process, societal development, soft power perception, commercial conformability may be guaranteed in the safe heavens of emerging centers of power in the world.
This research paper will examine the emerging socio-economic power houses around the world with special reference to Pakistan's vested interests. China, Turkey, Uzbekistan, UAE, Qatar and Saudi Arabia are included for this comparative research study. Recommendations/suggestions will also be given to policy makers in the country to take maximum benefits from the emerging socio-economic, geo-political and geo-strategic scenarios.
This research may be useful for the students and teachers of economics, political science, international relation, and development journalism. It may also be beneficial for policy makers, think-tanks, and researchers.
It seems that world is slowly but gradually moving from uni-polar to multi-polar system. Imperialism is fading and collective wisdom is prevailing around the globe. Financially dollar is at its lowest ebbs. Economically Euro is losing its strong grip. Yuan is making its inroads in the regional and international financial markets and monetary agencies as well.
Red dragon (China) is taking-off for universal socio-economic supremacy, geo-political clout and geo-strategic mileage. It sustained macro-economic indicators, vivacious society, judicious statesmanship and industrious middleclass are opening new fields of cooperation and collaboration. It foreign direct investments and joint ventures in Central Asia, African Sahara, Latin America, and Asia has labeled it centre of socio-economic gravity. Its active role in SCO, BRIC and G-7 is getting appreciation among the regional countries.
Crescent (Turkey) is becoming brighter and bigger in the regional socio-economic integration, geo-political alignment and the last but not the least international geo-strategic conflict resolution missions. It strong and stable macro-economy, dynamic society, harmonious political thoughts and counterproductive geo-strategic integrated policies have succeeded to win hearts and souls of many regional countries and confidence of international power brokers.
Eagle's (United Arab Emirates) is flying above seven skies and has already achieved news standards of economic growth, efficacy, service and soft image in the region as well as world. Its economic onward march, societal liberalization and tolerant policies, geo-political insightfulness and rigorous persuasion in the conflict and peace judgments at international forums and organizations have given upper hand in the affairs of Gulf Cooperation Countries (GCC) and MENA (Middle East and Africa).
Galaxy of shinning stars (Uzbekistan) has become hope for many regional and developing countries. The success story of it reflects the importance of self-reliance, scrupulous commercial diplomacy and self-restraint. It shows the power of indigenous talent, collective wisdom, strong political commitment and above all conflict resolution. It verifies the strength of gradualism, rationalism and holistic approach in achieving robust socio-economic development and resolving conflicting realities of regional and international power politics.
Ancient Zubara (Qatar) has surpassed all faulty lines, barriers and succeeded to revolutionize its society, civility and economy. Diversified national economy, positive role in the settlement of regional contradictory issues relating to natural reservoirs, politics, and economy and the last but not the least balanced approach in the international affairs has strengthened its position.
Sword (Saudi Arabia) is ready to sway, preeminence and ever-ready to play a crucial deliberation in the regional as well as international power politics. It unified social fabrics, socio-economic prosperity, huge energy reservoirs and above all it sacred stature has made it ideal destination for cooperation, coordination and collaboration.
(a) People's Republic China and Pakistan
Hu Jintao, Chinese President
It is the famous saying of Napoleon Bonaparte that when China awakes, it will shake the world. Henry Kissinger also shares that once China becomes strong enough to stand alone, it might discard us. Both the statements were given long time ago which proved true afterwards.
Years GDP %
Source: The Economist (2010)
According to Chinese officials its economy grew 10.3 percent in 2010, marking the fastest annual pace since the onset of the global crisis. Gross domestic product rose by 9.8 percent in the fourth quarter, accelerating from the previous quarter and exceeding analysts' expectations, cementing China's position as the world's second-largest economy.
According to recent official figures of the Japanese government and the IMF (2011), China has surpassed Japan and succeeded to become world second largest economy after the US. The country of 1.4 billion souls has achieved it after three decades of spectacular socio-economic growth. During this period despite global economics recessions and financial crunches, China's economy stood firm, stable and sustainable.
It verifies that China has been eclipsing Japan economically and now its GDP stand at US$5.879 trillion which is grater than Japan's GDP US$5.474 trillion. Many international economists around the globe are forecasting that China will pass the United States as the world's biggest economy as early as 2030. America's gross domestic product was about $14 trillion in 2009.
Reshaping of Global Economic Order
In recent years, China has started to reshape the existing global economic order and system by virtue of its growing dominance of international trade, its huge deposits of foreign exchange reserves and United States government debt and its voracious appetite for oil, coal, iron ore and other natural resources.
The above given diagram indicates China's leading trade partnership with many countries around the globe. China is already a major driver of global growth. China the new economic superpower has begun to assert greater influence in Asia, Africa and Latin America by promoting bilateral trade, investments and joint ventures of multibillion dollars.
Beijing's Global Dominance
Beijing has also determination to shape global dialogues on a range of issues and it asserts that the dollar must be phased out as the world's primary reserve currency. And while the United States and the European Union are struggling to grow in the wake of the worst economic crisis in decades, China has continued to climb up the economic league tables by investing heavily in infrastructure and backing a $586 billion stimulus plan in 2009-2010. According to the latest data of the World Bank (January, 2011), China's economy is forecast to expand about 10 percent in 2011 continuing a remarkable three-decade streak of double-digit growth.
Washington-based institute Fair Assessment
According to the Washington-based institute for international economics in terms of purchasing power, China overtook the U.S. as the world's largest economy in 2010. It further elaborated that in purchasing power parity (PPP) terms the size of China's economy was U.S. $14.8 trillion in 2010, compared to the U.S. economy's $14.6 trillion. It is now the world's biggest auto market and the largest energy consumer.
Vast opportunities for Pakistan
Pakistan and China have jointly declared 2011 as "Pak-China friendship year" in recognition of 60 years of exemplary, all-weather friendship that has stood the test of time. Being the second largest economy of the world offers vast opportunities for the government and private sector in the country in the fields of energy, construction, agriculture and science and technology etc. China has already become the second leading economic partner of Pakistan and its entrepreneurs are making huge investments in the country. The Chashma power plants, heavy mechanical and electrical complexes and Gwadar deep sea port are the prime examples of Chinese huge investments in Pakistan.
Chinese Purposeful Engagements in Pakistan
Many Chinese companies were already involved in various projects in Pakistan. There were possibilities of active co-operation in the sectors of financing and banking, infrastructure, energy, information technology and telecom, chemicals, fertilizer, glass, polymers, textile manufacturing, engineering goods, textile machinery, automotives, agricultural implements, agriculture and agro based industry, food and fruits processing and packaging, livestock and dairy farming and pesticides. Similarly, relocation/mergers in a large number of complementary units are also possible.
Immediate Areas of Mutual Cooperation
Textiles and garments, leather and leather products, food processing, pharmaceutical, chemicals, capital, finance and insurance sector and tourism
Expected Cooperation
Defence production, Reko-Diq Copper Mining project in Balochistan, energy generation, technology development, industrial base and software park building and communications infrastructure to promote ICT sector, including e-government, e-commerce and e-enterprise.
China's Immediate Relief Package
It is strongly suggested that Beijing should relax non-tariff barriers and technical barriers to trade like standards and procedures need to be simplified for especially for Pakistan. Chinese private sector and enterprises should continuously conduct exchange and cooperation with Pakistan in the areas like project contracting out, labour, technology transfer, tourism, transportation sectors.
Pakistan's Response
Government and private sector of Pakistan should pay more attention to the preparation work of investment projects, strengthen communication and exchange with chambers of commerce and industry and enterprises of relevant provinces of China. It must continuously improve the investment environment and give Chinese enterprises an equal treatment practically to protect the legal rights of Chinese enterprises and Chinese citizen.
Immediate Huge Projects
Areas Potential
Energy (Coal) The Chinese are keen to invest $10 to $15 billion for the development of power sector in Pakistan. Chinese companies could avail investment opportunities in Pakistan. Pakistan has around 175 billion tonnes of coal deposits in Thar.
Energy (Hydro) The projects of hydropower i.e. Kohala Hydro Power (1100 MW), Bhunji (7100 MW), Bhasha, Dashu in Upper Indus Valley, and other Hydro Power projects in lower Indus valley were thoroughly discussed most recently. China Three Gorges Project Corporation (CTGPC) signed an agreement with a private Pakistani firm, Associate Technologies (Private) Limited to invest $1.2 billion in 720 MW Karot Hydropower Project. The Karot project would be completed in four years and help Pakistan to overcome load-shedding problem.
Energy (Wind) China is all set to start construction of 50 MW wind power project in Jhampir (Sindh) and will complete in 2012. Furthermore it has also planned to install 2000 MW wind power.
Energy (Solar) China has also planned to invest in the 300 MW solar power projects in Pakistan.
Infrastructure Some Chinese companies have already shown interest in infrastructure development in Pakistan including construction of Karakorum Motorway and the Railways.
Bilateral Trade Volumes
The bilateral trade between the two countries was $6.8 billion in 2008, which was higher by 30 per cent as compared to the 2007. Bilateral trade volume in the first five months of 2010 increased by 31 percent and Pakistan's exports to China grew by 72 percent, as compared to the same period 2009. It is expected that trade between Pakistan and China is likely to surge to $18 billion in the next 5 years.
($US million)
Year Exports Imports
2001-01 228.63 575.37
2003-04 288.259 1,153.514
2007-08 684.739 4691.813
Source: Federal board of statistics and WTO (2009).
According to the central bank of China (January, 2011) rose by $199 billion to $2.85 trillion, the biggest quarterly gain since 1996. Pakistan and China agreed to start currency swap which could be win-win situation for both the countries. Pakistan and China are strategic friends and now being the second largest economy of the world prospects are very bright to further strengthening of bilateral trade relations between the two countries in the days to come. The government of Pakistan must protect the Chinese interests as well as investments in the country. Joint ventures with China hold the key of success for Pakistan.
(b) The Republic of Turkey and Pakistan
Abdullah Gül, President of Turkey
Indicators 2010 2011 2012
GDP % 6.8 4.5 4.2
Inflation 8.8 7.0 5.6
Exports 6.7 7.3 6.3
Imports 26.0 6.7 5.6
Islamabad and Ankara has established trustworthy relations. Nevertheless, the close ties between both the countries do not reflect in economic and trade sectors and it is the need of the hour that the two countries increased their cooperation in many integrated sectors to enhance trade volumes.
In recent times it has been decided to increase the bilateral trade volumes up to 1 billion U.S. dollars which was around 690 million USD in 2010. The government of Punjab has succeeded to make good connections with many private Turkish companies and now mutual cooperation in power and infrastructure sectors is being discussed.
Expected Mutual Cooperation/Sectors
Energy, Railways, heavy industry, manufacturing, agriculture, food and construction.
Huge potential for Turkish investments
Punjab: Energy, different power projects. 300 places has been identified for hydel-power on 28 thousand kilometre long irrigation channels in Punjab where small projects of 10 to 20 megawatt could be started whereas Bahawalpur and DG Khan Divisions are most suitable for solar energy.
Dera Ghazi Khan: A project of 200 megawatt power to be generated through coal in Dera Ghazi Khan
Sindh: Different energy projects coal
Balochistan: Different energy projects coal
(c) Uzbekistan and Pakistan
Islam Karimov, President of Uzbekistan
Uzbekistan is the largest populated country in the Central Independent States (CIS). It is also one of the fastest growing economies in the region. It succeeded to cope with the bad implications of the global economic meltdown and financial crunch by implementing its own rigorous macro-economic policies with a human face. It preferred economics over politics, national pride over personal taboos, liberalization over isolation and the last but not the least tolerance over prejudice in its diversified but integrated national policies, regional engagements and international commitments.
Selected Economic Indicators (2005-2009)
Economic Indicators 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009
GDP (%) 7.0 7.2 9.5 9.0 8.1
CPI Inflation (%) 10.0 14.2 12.3 12.7 12.5
Fiscal Balance (%) 1.2 5.2 5.1 10.5 9.4
Exports (%) 11.6 18.0 42.9 44.9 41.7
Imports (%) 8.1 16.0 49.2 31.0 25.8
Current a/c balance 14.3 17.2 19.1 16.7 12.0
Source: ADB & IMF (2010)
Since its independence the President of Uzbekistan Islam Karimov initiated more than 400 reforms/laws relating to free market's development and economic liberalization and succeeded to achieve high rates of economic growth by pursuing its own unique model of economic development.
The salient features of its economic development model remained evolution, rationalism, gradualism and state-led transition. It avoided revolution and shock therapy due to which its economy mitigated the ills of emerging economies. The strong and stable macro-economic indicators guaranteed its territorial sovereignty, protected national hood survival, promoted political stability and facilitated societal sustainability of Uzbekistan.
Role Model for Developing Countries
The success of Uzbekistan's economic model paves the way for many other developing countries to cope with the ongoing global economic recession and financial crunch. The purposeful accomplishment of market reforms, in-depth structural reforms of the economy, renewal and technical re-equipping of sectors and enterprises, establishment of new competitive export-bound industries, as well as development of business and private entrepreneurship paved the way of economic self-reliance in the region.
Socio-Economic Prosperity
Right from the beginning the government decided Uzbekistan not to follow the obsolete totalitarian, administrative-command and planning-distributive system and stick to phased and well planned transition and transformation of the socio-economy sphere of the country. Its GDP increased 3.5 times, per capita ratio grew 2.5 times, real incomes of population accounted 3.8 times, state expenses for social security grew 5 times, child and maternal mortality rates fell three and two-fold respectively, life expectancy of men climbed to 73 from 67 years, and to 75 years among women.
Social development remained one of the main focuses of the government which ultimately increased the quality of life and encouraged gender equality. It rigorously institutionalized structural reforms which increased the economy's competitiveness in the region. The constant policy of liberalisation supported the national economy and strengthened the banking and financial sector too.
Uzbekistan's government initiated a multi-pronged strategy. It secured sustainable economic growth through increased employment opportunities and through improved income generation capacity of its people. It encouraged private investments by introducing many meaningful incentives and invested in important sectors. It introduced and followed a holistic approach to achieve comprehensive regional development and reduced societal and regional disparities throughout the country.
Effectiveness of Anti-crisis program
Anti-crisis program succeeded to mitigate bad effects of ongoing global economic crisis and financial crunch and achieved desired goals of socio-economic development. Uzbekistan achieved GDP growth rate 9 percent, 8.1 percent in 2009. It is further estimated to be 8.3 percent in 2011. Industrial production registered 9 percent, total investments increased 26 percent and the last but not the least, and foreign direct investments reached up to 68 percent. Foreign trade turnover increased more than 2.3 billion US dollars, the growth of average salary made-up 40 percent and real income 26.5 percent. Moreover, comparative study of the statistics of the last five years strong indicated that the annual GDP growth rate has been exceeding seven percent.
Rational Privatization
Uzbekistan's government adopted a result-oriented privatisation policy which enhanced its macro-economy output. It did not offer its strategic assets in the privatisation process and followed the ancient philosophy of survival that promotes the principle of keeping your old assets until you have new ones. In this connection, the Law "On denationalization and privatization" will definitely attract potential foreigner buyers which could open the way of joint ventures, and inflows of FDI and FPI in the country. It will also improve the levels of services, profitability, production patterns and above all generate such needed employment. In Uzbekistan, through the rigorous implementation of the market reforms it now allows free and fair competition under a free market mechanism and continuity of economic policies.
Unique System of Domestic Investments
Uzbekistan has its own unique workable system of domestic investments. The government has instructed all the corporations, factories, institutions and other related organs to make compulsory investments out of their profits on regular bases. This system is now paying the dividends. The vast network of small and medium industries and industrial projects are being established on the public-private partnership basis. In Pakistan, the business tycoons are heavily involved in capital flight and are not ready to reinvest in the country.
Domestic Savings
Domestic savings play a very important role in the socio-economy of any country and Uzbekistan is not any exemption. The government introduced many reforms and incentives for the mobilization of local savings. 100 percent guarantee has been given to the all population's deposits in commercial banks. For 2008 the volume of the involved money resources of the population in bank contributions has increased for 50.7 percent and for January, 1st, 2009 has made 5771.6 billion Soums. The bank contributions of the population have grown up to 69 percent and for January, 1st, 2009 have reached 17238 billion Soums. Cumulative current liquidity of banking system is worth of US$1.5 billion which is ten times greater than on the account of non-state foreign account payments.
Potential Areas of Mutual Cooperation
Petro-Chemical, fish and food processing, heavy engineering, metal work, steel products, garments, steel products, industrial complex, agriculture, transportation, telecommunication, construction, public health, tourism, mineral exploration, oil & gas
(d) United Arab Emirates and Pakistan
His Highness Shaikh Khalifa Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, President of UAE
In the times of global economic recession and financial crunch the government of the UAE stood firm and strong and initiated long term policies to mitigate the bad spillovers of it. Now due to constant policy persuasion it economy has become more resilient and diversified.
The United Arab Emirates GDP crossed Dh1 trillion mark in 2010 due to rigorous diversification of macro-economy, rapid industrialization, small and medium enterprises contributory role, infrastructure, trade, service sector and tourism. The IMF predicts that the UAE's economy will grow at a pace of around 4 percent in 2011 and next on the back of big infrastructure projects.
The UAE is the world's third-largest oil exporter. According to the central bank of the UAE its banking system had weathered the financial crisis well as total assets to liabilities grew 4.2 percent to AED1.5 trillion. Moreover, assets and liabilities of Islamic banks in the UAE grew 6.5 percent in 2009, deposits grew 9.5 percent, while loans and advances rose about 5.5 percent. In 2011, the non-oil sector is projected to recover by nearly 3.7 per cent and accelerate by about 4.1 per cent in 2012.
Pakistan and the United Arab Emirates enjoy privileged relations at all political, economic and social levels. According to the UAE Foreign Aid Report (2009), the UAE government and Emirati donor organisations gave about Dh 9 billion (US$2.45bn ) in foreign aid in 2009.
Trade Volumes
The UAE is Pakistan's second largest global trading partner and it is also the second largest source of home remittances from Pakistani expatriates.
($ million)
Year/ Period Imports Exports
1999-2000 907,588 492,710
2000-01 1,336,902 625,905
2002-03 1,509,635 1,039,168
Change % 42.5 11.50
2003-04 942,913 1,708,688
Change % 13.19 9.26
Change % 16.18 10.33
Change % 5.51 18.69
Change % 29.02 43
Source: State Bank of Pakistan & Board of Investment
Imports-Exports commodities
According to the Federation of Pakistan Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FPCCI), the increase in overall exports from Pakistan has come primarily from non-traditional exports items accounting for 67 percent of the increase followed by 35 percent from textile manufacturers and four percent from other manufacturers.
Country Exports to Pakistan
UAE Petroleum, petrochemical products, iron ore, scrap-plastics, chemical products, non-ferrous metals-machines, spare parts of cars ships and boats
Imports from UAE
Nylon textiles, silk & wool, rice, cotton, crochet-dye, textile-treatment requirements of fabrics and clothes, towels, marble and surgical instruments
Source: FPCCI (August, 2010)
Foreign Direct Investments
According to the data of SBP and BOI, the UAE is also one of the biggest investor in Pakistan. Pakistan has tremendous opportunities for investment in the core infrastructure development; electricity generation, or water desalination, technology for agricultural sector.
The comparative statistical analysis, shows that inflows of FDIs is going higher and higher with the passage of every year. It was $228.6 million in 2008-2009 which reached to $248.6 million in the fiscal year 2009-2010. The portion of private sector's investment is on the decline which needs to be revised. Respective chambers of commerce, Pak-UAE Business Council and person-to-person contact could be useful to boost further the trade volumes.
2009-2010 (July-June)
Country Direct Private Public Total
UAE 243.1 5.5 – 248.6
2008-2009(July-June)
UAE 178.1 49.9 – 228.0
Source: SBP
The year-wise comparison indicates that pace and scope of UAE's FDIs is on the rise which should be tapped for the stability and sustainability of Pakistan's macro-economy. More business, people and investment's friendly policies would be instrumental to achieve greater inflows of FDIs from UAE.
Year/Period Amount
2000-01 5.2
2001-02 21.5
2002-03 119.7
2005-06 1,424.5
2009-2010 243.1
Source: SBP & BOI
Country Potential sectors of investments
UAE Energy, construction, telecommunication, oil & gas exploration, insurance, banking, aviation, food packaging, hotels and agricultural equipment
According to the latest figures of the BOI, the total investment so far has reached $20 billion dollars. The Government of Pakistan has invited UAE's public and private sectors to invest in energy sector, airline and infrastructure. Investments in agriculture, agro-based industries and hydro-power generation may also be beneficial to both the countries.
UAE Private Companies in Pakistan
The following table indicates that many big private companies of UAE are working in Pakistan and contributing good things in many sectors of the macro-economy.
Sectors Names of the companies
Telecommunication Etisalat, Warid, Wateen and U-phone
Banking Bank Al Falah under Abu Dhabi Group, Dubai Islamic Bank, Emirates Global Islamic Bank
Real Estate Emaar Properties Group, Al-Ghurair Giga and Al Habtour Trading Enterprises, Bahria Emirates, DAMAC and Al-Ghuran
Airlines Etihad Airways , Emirates Airlines and FlyDubai
Insurance Al-Falah Insurance Company, Emirates Investments Group, which owns Emirates Global Islamic Bank have plans to invest in the insurance sector namely Takaful Pakistan Limited and in the real estate project of Karachi Financial Towers.
Petroleum and petroleum products, aluminum products, agriculture (horticulture, corporate agricultural farming, dairy farming and livestock), financial sector, housing (prefabricated houses and affordable low income houses) and power.
It is strongly recommended that the two countries can consider cooperation in the fields of education, alternative energy resources i.e. solar, wind, and geothermal, /alternative energy resources i.e. solar, wind, geothermal, food security, dairy development and agro-based industries.
(e) Qatar and Pakistan
Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani Emir of Qatar
Qatar was the fastest growing economy in the 2009. It is performing extraordinary in 2010-11 too. Bolstered by rising production of LNG and associated natural gas liquids, the Qatari economy has been able to ride out the global economic storm and post real GDP growth of an estimated 9.4 percent in 2009. This is projected to accelerate to 18 percent and 13 percent in 2010-11.
With increasing revenue flows from hydrocarbon exports and immediate access to around $10 billion in funds raised through sovereign bond issues during 2009, the government is well placed to advance its development and diversification agenda during 2010-11. The current account balance is expected to record a similar trend with surpluses rising back to over 20 percent of GDP in 2010-11.
Selected economic indicators
Indicators 2009 2010 FY 2011 FY
Nominal GDP ($ bn) 85.0 115.9 134.6
Real GDP (% change) 9.4 18.1 13.3
Hydrocarbon GDP 12.8 25.6 16.8
Non- Hydrocarbon GDP 6.1 10.0 9.1
CPI Inflation -4.0 3.5 6.0
Hydrocarbon Exports 44.2 64.3 80.8
Current a/c balance % 9.7 21.8 27.4
Source: IIF, Central Bank Samba
According to IMF estimates Qatar is expected to continue posting double digit growth in 2010 and 2011 Nominal GDP of 29 per cent and 25 per cent, respectively, It is expected to post the highest growth rate in the GCC region supported by the 5 year QAR 100 bn ($27.5bn) government stimulus plan which will maintain high levels of capital spending on education, health and transport.
Economic fundamentals for Qatar seem promising placing it at the highest ranking among its GCC peers in terms of growth levels in 2010-2011. Looking forward, solid hydrocarbon prices coupled with the robust growth in the credit market will help sustain positive growth levels and provide momentum to the economy in the medium term. It is predicted that the banking sector will remain profitable and well capitalized, and will show resilience to further financial turbulence that might happen in the medium term, supported by the regulatory authorities' prudent policies and commitment to provide banks with liquidity to contain potential financial risks and maintain the stability of the financial system. The Capital Adequacy Ratio (CAR) for the Qatari banks improved to 16.1 per cent in 2009 up from 15.5 per cent in 2008.
Qatar Liquefied natural gas and crude oil, petrochemical products
Exports to Qatar
Pakistan Rice, fish, cotton, fabrics, leather garments, fruits and vegetables
(f) Saudi Arabia and Pakistan
King Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz Al Saud, King of Saudi Arabia
Saudi Arabia is interested in investing in Pakistan's energy and agriculture sectors. Pakistan has very close and longstanding relationship with Saudi Arabia.
According to the official reports Saudi Arabia's economy rebounded by nearly 3.8 per cent in real terms last year following an improvement in crude prices and massive government spending as part of counter-crisis fiscal measures. The nominal economy jumped by around 16.6 per cent following a contraction of more than 20 per cent in 2009.
Now Saudi Arabia's nominal GDP stand at SR1,630 billion in 2010, the largest Arab economy, accounting for more than a fifth of the combined GDP of the 21 Arab nations. It projected nominal GDP to gain around SR107bn to reach SR1,737bn in 2011 and continue its climb to peak at nearly SR1,864bn in 2012. The report expected real GDP to pick up by around 4.2 per cent in 2011 and 4.5 per cent in 2012.
Saudi Arabia Petroleum, petrochemical products, spare parts of cars ships and boats
Exports to Saudi Arabia
Pakistan Raw cotton, cotton yarn, cotton cloth, readymade garments, knitwear (hosiery), bed linen, towels, tents and canvas, art silk and synthetic textiles, leather garments, furniture, carpets and rugs, footwear, sports goods and surgical goods, rice, fish, fruits, vegetables, spices, biscuits, jams, juices
Saudi Arabian Investments in Pakistan
Country Sectors
Saudi Arabia Steel & real estate projects, banking, welfare projects of health, education
Recommendations/Suggestions
(a) Chinese rigorous commercial diplomacy at SCO, DAVOS, BRIC, G-7 OR G-20 may be useful for Pakistan in order to achieve its desired socio-economic goals. It is strongly recommended that Pakistan and China must further strengthen its bilateral socio-economic relations and initiate massive energy cooperation for the benefits of both the countries. Both the countries should also enhance defence cooperation and meaningful security pacts must also be concluded. Banking and financial cooperation is the need of the hour between the two countries.
(b) Turkey's emerging regional power stature in the Middle East and mediator in many serious geo-political and geo-strategic issues of Iranian nuclear program and peace in Afghanistan would be beneficial for Pakistan to achieve and protect its vested interests in Afghanistan MEAN. Pakistan and Turkey should increase bilateral trade volumes and start purposeful joint ventures in many wind, solar and infrastructure projects.
(c) Being the largest populated country in the CIS, Uzbekistan's proactive role in conflict resolution in the region especially towards bringing peace in Afghanistan i.e. 6+3 Formula and its huge reservoirs of gas, minerals must be tapped by the government and private sector of Pakistan. Uzbekistan would be useful for Pakistan for its trade and economic and energy cooperation with the rest of CIS.
(d) United Arab Emirates has become icon of production, re-exports, tourism, FDI, corporate sector. Its active engagements and commitments to uphold peace in the Middle East, and other parts of the world are appreciable. Its tremendous socio-economic development, huge renewable energy projects, real estate programs, mega infrastructure plans and above all humanitarian activities are providing ideal opportunities for Pakistan to excel and avail. Keeping in view the rapidly changing geo-political and geo-strategic scenarios it would be better for both the countries to enhance its defence, security and administrative law department's cooperation and collaboration. Extended cooperation in the fields of education, renewable energy, science and technology and corporate sector is urgently needed.
(e) Qatar being one of the fastest developing economies in the world, its continued equalizer participation in many regional and international geo-political and geo-strategic issues, its huge oil & gas reservoirs, LPG and financial surplus stress the need to have closer relations with Pakistan. Pakistan would be useful for its security apparatus and ongoing socio-economic prosperity. Energy and security cooperation is the need of the hour.
(f) Saudi Arabia being the largest exports of energy reservoirs with having lots of financial surplus and strong commitments towards humanitarian projects in Pakistan must need proactive bilateral relations with Pakistan in defence, security, energy, construction and HRM.
A Great International Conference "Global Strategic Developments: A Futuristic Vision".
16th Annual Conference GLOBAL STRATEGIC DEVELOPMENTS: A FUTURISTIC VISION
AFGHANISTAN: A HUB OF REGIONAL GEO-POLITICS COMPULSIONS AND INTERNATIONAL GEO-STRATEGIC APPARATUS


If you're a Strava runner, you should consider joining our little Runivore club. We'll have some custom challenges coming up, but for now you can see how you stack up against some other Runivores including some real badasses.
Just search for Runivore on your Strava app to get started.
Go to www.strava.com if you're not on Strava yet.


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Home » News » U.S. Team Wins First Place at European Girls' Mathematical Olympiad
U.S. Team Wins First Place at European Girls' Mathematical Olympiad
WASHINGTON, DC - The U.S. team took first place at the European Girls' Mathematical Olympiad (EGMO) held April 6-12, 2017 in Zürich, Switzerland. In addition to the top team honors, each member of the four-person team was awarded a gold medal for their individual performance on the challenging mathematics exam.
The EGMO is an international mathematics competition for female high school students. This year's competition had 168 students from 44 teams. The U.S. team is organized by the Mathematical Association of America and has consistently placed in the top four teams with a second place team finish in 2016.
The 2017 EGMO U.S. team members are Angela Deng, Siye Zhu, Qi Qi, and Wanlin Li. Sherry Gong served as team leader and Jenny Iglesias as deputy leader.
The exam is made up of six proof-style problems given over two days. The U.S. team score was 148 out of a possible 168 points. Qi was one of only two overall contestants to receive a perfect score of 42 points on the exam.
"We are proud of the students on our team who have worked very hard to prepare for this competition," said Sherry Gong, leader of the U.S. EGMO team. "This was a challenging exam so we are especially honored to have all four students take home individual gold medals."
"The Mathematical Association of America is excited to sponsor this team of America's top math students and on behalf of the mathematical community we congratulate you on your first place finish," said Michael Pearson, the executive director of the Mathematical Association of America. "The problem-solving skills you demonstrated at this year's EGMO point to a bright future for you and mathematics."
For complete scores, visit the EGMO.
The Mathematical Association of America is the world's largest community of mathematicians, students, and enthusiasts. We accelerate the understanding of our world through mathematics because mathematics drives society and shapes our lives.
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A selection of photographs from Brighton & Hove Albion's FA Women's Super League match against West Ham United at the Broadfield Stadium.
Jane Ross's second-half strike gave the Hammers a 1-0 victory.
The game was the club's dedicated women's Rainbow Laces fixture, working in partnership with Stonewall, Kick It Out, Fans for Diversity and Crawley Town to promote the club's equality work and combined commitment to promoting equality, diversity and inclusion for all.


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I am wearing beautiful hair from Runaway @ We Love Role-Play. There are four sizes included. The top and dress are from Asteria. There are lots of wonderful colors available. They're made for Belleza and Maitreya.
Today I am featuring Runaway @ We Love Role-play, Indulge Temptation @ Marvelous Monthly and The Old Fair, Tashi and Kaerri @ Swank, Serenity Style @ 6 Republic, Ionic and a freebie from Lushish Catz.
I am wearing beautiful new hair from Runaway @ We Love Role-play. The eye shadow and lipstick, for CatWa mesh heads are both from Indulge Temptation. The eye shadow can be found @ Marvelous Monthly and the lipstick can be found @ The Old Fair. The dress and scarf are from Tashi @ Swank. They come with a color HUD. Lastly, the thigh tattoo is a free gift for SL F&O group members @ Lushish Catz.
I am pictured with a number of items from the Serenity Style – Senzation's Bakery @ 6 Republic from November 6. There are so many amazing, tasty and fun items to be won, including the rare bakery building. For a full list of items, see below. For a large gacha key, see the Flickr post here.
I'm also pictured with a number of items from the Dreamers gacha @ Ionic. All the items used are listed below. For a large gacha key, see the Flickr post here. Lastly I have used three hanging plants from Kaerri @ Swank. You get a small and large version of each. There are six sets available.
I hope you enjoy today's bakery look.


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Conspiracy theorists find Florida student activists too good to be true
Doug Stanglin Christal Hayes
In some far-flung conspiracy quarters, the articulate, determined Florida high school students leading a gun-control movement are literally too good to be true. They are "crisis actors."
The assertion, which has rocketed around the Internet, has even cost an aide to a Florida state representative his job.
Benjamin Kelly, district secretary for Rep. Shawn Harrison, emailed a reporter for the Tampa Bay Times that several students who appeared on television criticizing lawmakers on gun-control laws actually travel to different incidents when they happen.
"Both kids in the picture are not students here but actors that travel to various crisis when they happen," he told reporter Alex Leary.
Harrison said he was "appalled" by Kelly's "insensitive and inappropriate" allegation and fired him.
More:Florida school shooting hoax: Doctored tweets and Russian bots spread false news
"I do not share his opinion and he did so without my knowledge," he said on Twitter.
Kelly also posted an apology.
To the wilder conspiracy critics, the fact that the students are well-spoken and articulate seems to be evidence that all is not right.
In fact, at least two of the more outspoken students, David Hoggs and Cameron, Kasky have had some experience in the public eye. Hogg is news director of the school TV station, and Kasky is a drama student once considered the class clown.
Asked about the charge that the protesters were not really students from the school but actors, Kasky told CNN that anyone who had seen him in the school's production of "Fiddler on the Roof" knows that "nobody would pay me to act for anything."
Delaney Tarr, who road a bus for eight hours to get to a rally at the Florida state capitol, said she decided to address the crowd to demonstrate her sincere concerns over gun violence.
"I figured, why not stand in front of these cameras and show them exactly how I feel?" she said from the podium. "Show them that I am not a 'crisis actor' … Because speaking from the heart is what we do best."
Hogg, who has been interviewed numerous times by national networks, has been a particular target of critics as the students' gun-control efforts have gained traction. He has proved to be cool in stressful situations, even interviewing fellow students with his phone during the shooting as the gunman roamed the halls.
"I'm not a crisis actor," Hogg told CNN's Anderson Cooper on AC360. "I'm someone who had to witness this and live through this, and I continue to be having to do that.
"I'm not acting on anybody's behalf," he said.
Conspiracy theorists, however, see a plot afoot in the fact that Hogg's father has retired from the FBI, which has come under attack by pro-Trump outlets for its role in the Russia investigation.
Infowars, which is headed by conspiracy king Alex Jones and has claimed the Sandy Hook massacre was staged, notes that Hogg has become an "overnight celebrity." Infowars quotes a former Navy SEAL as saying it is "very significant" that Hogg's father once worked for the FBI, since the bureau, he says, has been hiring "SJWs" for years — a reference to "Social Justice Warriors."
The site also accused Hogg of "not remembering his lines" and posted a video of him making statements and stumbling over his words before a taped interview.
Snopes, which debunks Internet rumors, looked into claims that Hogg is not really a Parkland student as claimed by a website that posted a page from a purported classmates.com yearbook from Redondo Shores HIgh School in California claiming to show Hogg as a student in L.A. and a quote from a classmate who said he "always wanted to work for CNN and be an actor."
Snopes, however, notes that the source code on the classmates.com entry was created on Feb. 20, 2018.
A former student at Parkland's Marjory Stoneman Douglas high school, where the shooting occurred, notes that the "Redondo" page is actually from a Douglas yearbook, which explains why many in the photo are wearing a Douglas shirt.
The Gateway Pundit, another fringe website, reports that the leaders of the movement are all members of the same drama club. It said the students "are being used as political tools by the far left to further anti-Conservative rhetoric and an anti-gun agenda."
Conspiracy theories:Here's what drives people to them, no matter how wacky
"Behind the teenagers, working as the string-pullers, are the same people behind the Women's March. They are vehemently anti-gun, anti-American, and anti-Trump – this is part of their sales pitch," it says. The headline on the article refers to the Women's March as "Soros-linked," a reference to investor, philanthropist and political activist George Soros, who often finances liberal causes, but the article itself does not mention his name.
"By co-opting theater-trained youth and turning them into celebrities, the left is attempting to brainwash the countless kids who aren't politically based on their fear of being implicated in a school shooting," The Gateway Pundit says. "There is a lot of heartlessness behind their work."
Radio commentator Rush Limbaugh has stayed away from the "child actors" meme but does argue that the students are being used: "Everything they're doing is right out of the Democrat Party's various playbooks. It has the same enemies: the NRA and guns."