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By Ciarán Johnson, Head of CISO Services on January 17, 2019
Organisations See Blueprint for Compliance with First GDPR Fines
Compliance & Regulation
The first fines issued under GDPR will hardly become storylines for the next blockbuster movie, however they could make an appearance in a Netflix or Prime original documentary - provided that they're spiced up a bit. OK - quite a lot.
The first official fines issued under GDPR, which came in to force across Europe in May 2018, have been issued in Germany and Portugal. Initial predictions were that we would not see fines under GDPR until midway through or late 2019 due to length of time investigations can take and the process involved. However, it appears the Data Protection Authority (DPA) of the German state of Baden-Württemberg and the Portuguese authority (CNPD) acted promptly.
Both fines have a common theme – user access governance. It's one of the basic components of any good security programme and a core element of any information security framework, like ISO 27001 or Cyber Essentials.
It's a problem that an alarming number of organisations face. A recent study by Thycotic has highlighted that, "7 out of 10 companies would fail access control audits." The report sums up what many in information security already knew: Companies are not developing effective internal policies, processes and controls.
Other findings in Thycotic's 2018 report on privileged access management include:
64 percent of companies fail to include privileged accounts and passwords in access control policies.
73 percent fail to audit and remove test or modify default accounts before moving applications to production.
70 percent of organisations fail to fully discover privileged accounts and 40 percent do nothing at all to identify privileged accounts.
55 percent fail to revoke access after an employee is terminated.
70 percent fail to limit third-party access to privileged accounts.
What can be done? What can you do? It can all seem overwhelming, especially if your organisation doesn't have a dedicated security team or individual.
First GDPR fines imposed on two companies
Taking a closer look at the GDPR fines levied in Germany and Portugal can help you learn how to reduce the risk of a breach in your organisation.
The personal information of over 330,000 users of the Knuddel chat platform was made publicly available after hackers compromised the website in September of 2018.
The platform provider in their breach notification stated that the users' passwords were stored in an unencrypted format. The Authority deemed this to be a violation of the obligation to implement adequate security measures - Article 32 GDPR. The €20,000 fine imposed took into consideration that the provider:
notified the breach to the DPA and to the data subjects in due time.
cooperated fully with the DPA.
promptly followed the DPA' s recommendations for how to increase the implemented level of data security.
An article by Dr. Ana Menezes Monteiro for the IAPP News feed reports that the Portuguese hospital, Centro Hospitalar Barreiro Montijo has been fined €400,000 for:
Article 5(1)(c), a minimisation principle, by allowing indiscriminate access to an excessive number of users, and a violation of Article 83(5)(a) a violation of the processing basic principles. (Fine: €150,000)
A violation of integrity and confidentiality as a result of non-application of technical and organisational measures to prevent unlawful access to personal data under Article 5(1)(f), and also of Article 83(5)(a), a violation of the processing basic principles. (Fine: €150,000)
Article 32(1)(b), the incapacity of the defendant to ensure the continued confidentiality, integrity, availability and resilience of treatment systems and services as well as the non-implementation of the technical and organisational measures to ensure a level of security adequate to the risk, including a process to regularly testing, assessing and evaluating the technical and organisational measures to ensure the security of the processing. (Fine: €100,000)
The factors contributing to the violations were:
There was no documented definition of the rules for creating users of the systems.
Nine technical employees were assigned access rights reserved for medical staff which created the risk of these users being able to consult the clinical process.
Significant excess user accounts compared to the number on HR systems (985 accounts compared to 296 on record).
Existence of access credentials that allowed any doctor access to any data at any time regardless of their speciality that was deemed to have violated the "need to know" principle and the data minimisation principle.
Lack of maintenance of unused profiles for doctors who no longer provide services to the hospital.
There were only 18 user accounts that were inactive and the last one was deactivated in November 2016.
The striking fact about this fine is that the CNPD acted upon a newspaper article and not on a complaint.
The challenge: A better approach
Both of these security incidents highlight the need for basic security controls that are clearly documented and then followed. Access Governance is a fundamental security requirement – whether physical or logical.
The more sensitive the data is to customers or staff, the more care an organisation should take in protecting it. Users should be clearly identified, the access or activities surrounding key data should be tracked and user process needs to be followed (Starters/Movers/Leavers).
Basic security activities that will address the fundamental security requirements expected by Data Protection Authorities include:
User Accounts: Do not use or strictly limit the use of generic accounts such as 'test', 'admin' or 'helpdesk'. These accounts do not clearly identify the individual accessing the data. This can make it impossible to assign appropriate access levels appropriate to the individual's role. It can also prove very unhelpful if/when an incident occurs in tracing the event.
Passwords: Never record or store passwords in clear text. Never. We have seen too many security incidents and data breaches in recent years where this control would have reduced the impact of the breach.
Suitable Authorisation: Users should only be granted access to data that they need to perform their job duties. The principle of "need to know". This will require you to a) understand the roles in your organisation and b) understand the various types of your data and risks associated with each type.
Documentation: Decide how you are going to approach your user access governance strategy, draft your policy, your minimum standards and your procedures. And once you have them written, approve and implement them.
Implement Access Controls: Train your IT team to follow the clear procedures that you documented. Explain why it's important that they do so and demonstrate when and how to handle exceptions to predetermined controls.
Review, Review, Review: Some organisations' employees remain in their roles a long time while others change regularly. Either way, you should at least annually review the access all users have. If you have a high number of privileged users (those with a higher then normal access such as the IT Admin Team) you should review their access at least every six months.
Movers and Leavers: Employees change role or, sadly, leave the organisation. Make sure the move and departure process ensures that access to data, both physical and logical, is amended or deleted.
Get started and keep it simple
Experienced information security professionals can relay countless stories of overly complicated or sloppy user access governance. Thankfully, though, they will also have a collection of organisations where access governance was done simply, efficiently and with great effect. We have now seen that Data Protection Authorities will start with security basics when assessing an organisation's compliance with Article 32 of GDPR. They have demonstrated how they look at security practices that "ensure a level of security appropriate to the risk" (A.32.1)
Thankfully, less than a year in, the message is now becoming clearer than ever. Start with basic security practices, keep them simple, keep them relevant and follow through on your actions.
This blog and its content is provided as a general guide to the subject matter. You should always seek specialist advice about your specific situation – no two organisations are alike.


Calvin Coolidge Key, 87, of Cullman, passed away on Saturday, Dec. 1, 2018. Mr. Key grew up in Arley.
Visitation with the family will be Thursday, December 6, 2018 at Moss Service Funeral Home from 10 a.m. until 12 p.m. The funeral will follow in the chapel of the funeral home at 12 p.m. Burial will be held at Cullman Memory Gardens.


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Home News Mayor happy successful cannabis retailers from Saskatchewan
Mayor happy successful cannabis retailers from Saskatchewan
Prince Albert Mayor Greg Dionne addresses city council during a meeting on Monday, Aug. 28. -- Jason Kerr/Daily Herald
Remarking that at least Prince Albert didn't get stuck with out-of-province retailers, Dionne said he would have preferred if businesses owned a lease prior to bidding.
Prince Albert Mayor Greg Dionne is looking on the bright side when it comes to the province's cannabis retail license lottery.
The June 1 lottery revealed that both of Prince Albert's allotted retail permits would go towards business owners from Saskatoon.
However, Dionne, who was in Halifax for the 2018 Federation of Canadian Municipalities conference when the results were announced, said things could have been a lot worse.
"Would I have liked to have seen them go to P.A.? Absolutely, but I'm happy with the process." Dionne said.
"At least our two went to Saskatoon. I was worried that we were going to get a B.C. company or a Quebec company or a U.S. company or an Ontario company that was just here to take the money and take it out of our province. At least I can say our two vendors will be keeping the money in the province of Saskatchewan and I'm proud of that fact."
Applicants were required to put down a non-refundable $1,000 fee just to apply for the lottery. Successful candidates would then have to pay another $3,000 fee to receive their license.
Dionne said it's true the entire legalization process could have been smoother, but added that for the most part, he's happy with it. His biggest concerns are the lack of a set legalization date from the federal government, and that out of province businesses were allowed to bid for Saskatchewan cannabis permits.
The provincial government has defended the process, saying banning those businesses would be illegal under the country's free trade agreement. However, Dionne said there are ways to work around the agreement, and he wished they would have been in place.
"We did it the best way we thought it would work," he said. "Would we do it differently next time? I probably would have a little bit more say about who should have the right to bid. I have no issue (with) bids from any other province, as long as we got the right to bid on theirs."
Some provinces, like Ontario, are selling cannabis through their liquor board stores, which prevented out-of-province businesses from applying for permits. Other provinces like Alberta are going for a combination between the liquor board stores and private sales.
Dionne said he would have preferred Alberta's approach, which required applicants to have a signed lease or certificate of title to make a bid.
"The rules should have been more similar, I think, across the country, certainly some of the basic ones, and I believe that the provinces that were closed shouldn't have had the right to bid in our province," he explained. "Free trade is free trade. Free trade is not, well, you're open we'll bid. We're closed, you can't bid. That's not free trade, so I would have done it a little different, but I'm happy the way it went, especially our community."
Despite his displeasure with the process, Dionne said he's focusing more on the social and legal ramifications of legalization, with no plans to revisit the application process.
Previous articleProvince vows to fix gaps in corrections medical care
Next articleTeen found with homemade taser
Jason Kerr is a reporter with the Prince Albert Daily Herald. You can reach him at 306-764-4276 ext. 248, by email at jason.kerr@paherald.sk.ca or on Twitter @kerr_jas.
No smoking zones – where you can and can't light up a joint in Canada
Second P.A. cannabis store to open in November
Questions abound as cannabis becomes legal

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Just in time for Father's Day, new research into dads' attitudes about juggling kids and jobs
Filed under Commentary at Jun 2018
Alieza Durana, Contributor
Connect with Alieza Durana
Achieving gender equality is as much a matter of changing and expanding roles for men as it is about advancing women in the workplace. New research out in time for Father's Day suggests insufficient paid leave as well as social expectations prevent fathers from caring for their children as much as they'd like.
Promundo and Dove Men+Care surveyed 1,714 men and women ages 25 to 45 in the U.S. and found no difference across gender about how involved they want to be in their kids' lives. Beyond worrying about their ability to pay for basic costs such as food and housing while on leave, fathers reported wanting to be involved. But at the same time they also "worry what others will think if they prioritize their children over work."
In 2017, the Pew Research Center similarly found that two-thirds of men wished they'd had more time after the birth of their child. That's unsurprising, given that of the small subset of men who took paid leave, seven in 10 men took less than two weeks. Most cited pay as the main barrier.
According to the new study, social and work environments determine whether men feel comfortable taking leave and fully embracing caregiving responsibilities. For example, do they feel in control over their work lives? Have access to flexible work arrangements? Perceive that their workplace and parents would support them in taking on more caregiving responsibilities?
We'd have fewer #MeToos if more men followed Mr. Rogers' example
The key to men taking leave and providing child care is not individual choice but rather a matter of providing adequate paid leave, changing workplace policies and altering social norms to value care work by all genders. That's the assessment of Promundo, founded in Brazil in 1997 to promote gender justice.
The pressure for women to exit the workforce and to focus on caregiving when they become mothers works in the opposite direction for men. Men in the study reported feeling more pressure to prioritize work over their home lives than women.
This might be due to the fact that women have more practice juggling work and care, or because they're often pushed out of the full-time workforce when they have kids. However, both men and women who reported being "satisfied with their child care involvement" also reported being more satisfied with their personal, work and sex life.
Interestingly, the study also found that both men and women still perceive women to be better caregivers — in terms of daily planning, emotional care and physical care — and men better earners, despite evidence that caregiving is a learned, socialized behavior.
Why Texas' new effort to fight maternal mortality with checklists is a smart idea
The study builds off other research on masculinity by Promundo, which describes the types of behaviors and roles men feel comfortable taking on, depending on how firmly they believe in being a traditional "man's man." That is defined, for example, by feelings of self-sufficiency, attractiveness, acting tough, aggression and traditional gender roles. They find a strong belief in these qualities is correlated with increased risk of depression, suicide, sexual harassment, alcohol abuse, bullying and a host of other factors.
Getting more men to take paid leave may guard against all those negative outcomes. So Promundo's study adds even more information to the debate around inclusive paid leave and freeing up families to make real decisions about caregiving in their lives.
Gary Barker, founder and CEO of Promundo, says the study suggests getting men more involved in caregiving is possible, but for now, "Dads need that extra nudge."
Alieza Durana is a senior policy analyst in the Better Life Lab at New America, where she researches and writes about barriers to social and income equality.
Father's Day: Why it's so meaningful to so many
At Dallas bar, son's artful mission bears father's brushstrokes
How my son's home run became my favorite Father's Day gift
Ahead of Father's Day, Michael Chabon and Jamie Bernstein dive into the gaps between dads and their kids


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redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


It is needless to say that Russian contemporary art is becoming extremely popular, attracting more and more attention from both Russian and international collectors with each passing year. As a professional fine art packing and shipping company, we are very lucky to work with many talented Russian artists, shipping their artworks across the world. Besides, we also help young and emerging artists organize exhibitions of their works in the United States, which allows us to get acquainted with many new talents from around Russia. In our previous blog post, we wrote about Olga Akulina, an amazing Moscow-based artist who creates true masterpieces in her own unique style. Now we want to tell you about Michael Novokshchennyy, another great Russian artist whose outstanding works have impressed our team of fine art packing and shipping specialists.
Michael Novokshchennyy was born in 1967 in Severouralsk, Sverdlovsk region. After graduating from the Russian Academy of Arts in St. Petersburg in 1995, he moved to Moscow where he has been living ever since. For today, Michael Novokshchennyy's works distinguished by the artist's original approach to painting are exhibited at galleries and art shows worldwide, presenting innovative Russian contemporary art to a wide public. Here are several paintings and sketches by this talented artist for your enjoyment!
Michael Novokshchennyy is indeed a gifted artist whose works are definitely worthy of your time and attention. As for our fine art packing and shipping company, we look forward to working with this amazing person in the future!


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Home › Mobile Casino News › Betable's New Software Tools Improve Outlook for Mobile App Developers
Betable's New Software Tools Improve Outlook for Mobile App Developers
There is a brand new surge of mobile games set to hit the market soon. This is largely due to a London-based start-up called Betable, a team of software developers who provide gambling tools for app developers. The tools are mainly geared towards Android and Apple devices and their future is certainly looking bright after they managed to source $18.5 million during its 2nd round of fund sourcing, led by Venture51. Their total funding has now reached a total of $23 million when you take previous fund sourcing into account from Founders Fund and Greylock Partners.
Real Money Software
The company's core competence comes from their injecting code into a game, which allows betting. This allows developers to focus their minds on creating an optimised look and feel just right and then easily integrate a betting facility. By doing this, developers are completely free from concerns about the wagering aspect of the app.
The wagering code that developers can integrate includes code for payments, detection of fraud, regulatory compliance as well as the complex algorithm requited for real-money gambling. Betable's CEO, Christopher Griffin, launched the company in 2011 after explaining that the industry is lacking innovation. He went on to say that mobile casinos are simply copies of online casino games and there is little effort being made to add real-money gambling to players who play various different games on their mobiles, not including slots, roulette and blackjack.
Already Active
30AK Gaming from Quebec is already utilising Betable tools to provide a range of real-money games, which includes a variation of Battleship. In this game, players can win cash by directly hitting their opponent and lose cash when taking a hit. "Because we are in such early stages of this real-money wave there's no need to build large-scale, multimillion-dollar games," explained the director of 30AK Gaming Mikael Lefebre. "We can just push out fun, small, real-money games."
The new Battleship game, titled Battle Keno, cost almost £100,000 to produce. Despite the big cost, it might play a huge role in experimenting in bringing real money cash to the wider mobile gaming market, outwith simply casino players.
Managing partner of Venture51 Ryan Swagar compared Betable to PayPal and Skype in describing the major change it could bring to the industry and the company certainly has the vision required.


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in: Canon articles, Articles in need of updating, Articles to be expanded,
Coruscanti
Danger Squadron personnel
Imperial defectors
Imperial Navy pilots of the Galactic Empire
Inferno Squad personnel
Partisan members
Scarif Deployment members
Sharpshooters and snipers
Stormtroopers of the Galactic Empire
Del Meeko
For other uses, see Del.
Content approaching. Battlefront II: Inferno Squad–class.
Parts of this article have been identified as no longer being up to date.
Please update the article to reflect recent events, and remove this template when finished.
Master Qui-Gon, more to say, have you?
It is requested that this article, or a section of this article, be expanded.
See the request on the listing or on this article's talk page. Once the improvements have been completed, you may remove this notice and the page's listing.
Coruscant[1]
Ten years before Iden Versio[2]
c. 34 ABY,[3] Corvus, Pillio[4]
Human[4] (Coruscanti)[1]
Male[2]
Brown[4]
Hazel[2]
Light[4]
Scarif Deployment[2]
Imperial Starfighter Corps[2]
Dreamers (as a spy)[2]
Danger Squadron (briefly)[4]
"Del Meeko. You worked your way up through the ranks, first as a stormtrooper, then a shoretrooper, then a TIE pilot. You have received several commendations for courage under fire. Your commanders have made notations that you excel at whatever you turn your hand to, but you seem to be particularly gifted with repairing everything—from armor to droids to engines."
―Garrick Versio[src]
Del Meeko was a human male native of Coruscant, the capital world of the Galactic Empire during the Imperial Era. During the reign of Emperor Sheev Palpatine, Meeko served in the Imperial Military as a stormtrooper, a shoretrooper with the military rank of sergeant, an Imperial Starfighter Pilot, and subsequently as the chief engineer of a Star Destroyer when holding the rank of Lieutenant Commander. Following the Rebel Alliance's theft of the plans to the Death Star in the year 0 BBY, Meeko became an agent of Inferno Squad, a special forces unit led by Captain Iden Versio.
The Emperor's death in 4 ABY resulted in the activation of Operation: Cinder; as part of the overall Contingency, its purpose was to ensure the annihilation of both the Empire and its enemies. Inferno Squad was dispatched to Fondor with orders to retrieve satellites that were critical to the execution of Operation: Cinder. After completing their mission, Meeko was ordered to destroy the Emperor's Observatory on Pillio. In the course of his mission, he encountered the Jedi Knight Luke Skywalker. Despite their different allegiances, Meeko and Skywalker worked together by fighting off many scritters—indigenous lifeforms that were hostile to the offworlders—in order to reach the observatory.
After parting ways with Skywalker, Meeko rejoined Inferno Squad at Vardos where the team learned that Versio's homeworld was one of the targets under Operation: Cinder. Unwilling to participate in the ruin of a planet noted for its loyalty to the Empire, Meeko and Versio rebelled against the military in an effort to save civilians. Having severed their ties with the Empire, they surrendered to the Alliance, but were given a chance to fight alongside the Rebels at the Battle of Theed. By saving Naboo, another planet targeted by Operation: Cinder, Meeko and Versio were both welcomed into the ranks of the newly-formed New Republic by Princess Leia Organa.
In 5 ABY, approximately one year after the Battle of Endor, the new Inferno Squad was among the Republic forces that defeated the Imperial forces led by Counselor Gallius Rax at the Battle of Jakku. In the years that followed the Empire's defeat and the conclusion of the Galactic Civil War, Meeko and Versio raised a daughter named Zay Versio. Decades after the war, Meeko was captured by the First Order and interrogated by Kylo Ren, a dark side warrior tasked with hunting the last Jedi. With no further use for Meeko, Ren turned the veteran soldier over to Commander Gideon Hask—a First Order officer who once served with Meeko as an agent of Inferno Squad—who personally executed his former comrade.
1.1 Early life
1.2 Joining Inferno Squad
1.2.1 Mission to Pillio
1.3 Defecting to the Rebel Alliance
1.4 Serving the New Republic
1.5 Later years
1.6 Legacy
2 Personality and traits
Biography[]
Early life[]
A native of Coruscant, Del Meeko grew up during the time of the Jedi Order,[1] although the stories he heard about the Jedi caused him to fear them.[4] He had two brothers. Meeko worked his way through the ranks of the Imperial Military, starting as a stormtrooper, then as a shoretrooper on Scarif[2] with the military rank of sergeant,[5] as a TIE fighter pilot, and finally as a chief engineer aboard a Star Destroyer with the rank of lieutenant commander.[2]
Joining Inferno Squad[]
Sometime after the Battle of Yavin, Meeko, along with Senior Lieutenant Iden Versio, Gideon Hask and Seyn Marana, was drafted into Inferno Squad, a Special Forces unit in the Imperial Military, by Admiral Garrick Versio. Meeko participated in Inferno's first mission: to infiltrate and destroy the Dreamers, which was successful, though Marana died.[2]
Meeko continued serving as an elite agent in Inferno Squad, conducting special operations for the Empire throughout the Galactic Civil War against the Rebel Alliance. He fought at the Battle of Endor in 4 ABY, which saw the death of Emperor Palpatine and destruction of the second Death Star. Meeko held the Corvus during the attack on Fondor, where Inferno fought against a Rebel attack on Moff Raythe's Star Destroyer Dauntless, which was transporting satellites to be used as part of Operation: Cinder.
Mission to Pillio[]
Del Meeko and Luke Skywalker inside the Emperor's observatory on Pillio.
Meeko later took part in the mission to Pillio as the sole Inferno agent with orders to destroy the Emperor's Observatory. Despite being on opposite sides of the war and once fearing the Jedi, Meeko agreed to a temporary truce with new age Jedi Knight Luke Skywalker to find the Observatory while fighting off Pillio's native bugs, ultimately allowing the Jedi to keep a special compass from the facility.[4]
Defecting to the Rebel Alliance[]
Del, Iden and Shriv meeting with Leia Organa.
When the climate disruption arrays from the Dauntless targeted the Versio homeworld of Vardos, Meeko remained loyal to Iden as both went rogue. Hask however insisted that they remain loyal. After being unable to get Hask to join them, they helped a group of civilians and their crew escape aboard the Corvus, narrowly evading the Eviscerator and Admiral Versio. They decided to surrender to the Rebel Alliance, and provided key intelligence on Operation: Cinder to Danger Leader Shriv Suurgav and General Lando Calrissian. Meeko and Iden both fought at the Battle of Theed in an effort to combat Operation: Cinder, and ultimately defected to the New Republic as Princess Leia Organa welcomed them in.[4]
Serving the New Republic[]
Del Meeko and Iden Versio kiss following the Battle of Jakku.
Meeko continued to serve in Inferno Squad as it was integrated into the New Republic under the command of Iden Versio, making attempts to capture Hask and Admiral Versio as they fought against the Imperial remnants in the final year of the Galactic Civil War. Meeko piloted the Corvus at the Battle of Jakku while Iden shot down Hask and attempted to rescue her father from the crashing Eviscerator. Iden narrowly escaped aboard an escape pod, and reunited with Meeko at the end of the battle, which saw a victory for the Republic and the final defeat of the Empire.[4]
Later years[]
Del Meeko's final moments.
Del and Iden went on to marry and have a daughter, Zay Versio. Del used the Corvus to haul cargo in his newfound life of peace, and found faith in the Force. However, about thirty years after the Battle of Jakku, Del and his crew were captured by Protectorate Gleb and Jinata Security on Pillio, where he was interrogated by Kylo Ren for information on where Lor San Tekka took the map to Skywalker. Afterwards, he was confronted by a living Hask, now an officer in the First Order. In his final words, he addressed Hask by his first name and implored him not to go after Iden, warning Hask it would not end well for him before being shot four times to death by his former squad mate. Hask then ordered Gleb to bury the corpses of Meeko and his crew in order to leave the Corvus alone with the intention of luring Iden into a trap.[4]
Legacy[]
Shortly afterwards, Iden, Zay and Shriv tracked down Hask to Vardos, where Hask told them about Del's fate. However, Iden, Shriv and Zay managed to sneak into the Retribution and during a struggle to kill Zay, Hask ended up losing his life when a fatally wounded Iden shot him to save her daughter, avenging her husband and demonstrating that Del's last words were right: going after Iden would not end well for Hask.[4]
Zay repeated the advice Skywalker had given to her father years prior.
Around 34 ABY[6] and sometime after the Battle of Crait, Commander Poe Dameron gave a speech to the Resistance about how they all had a choice but struggled to explain what that choice was. Zay assured that it was the choice to be better,[7] the same thing that Luke Skywalker,[4] who had recently died on Crait,[7] told her father when they met on Pillio.[4]
Personality and traits[]
Meeko piloting a TIE fighter
Despite his Imperial background and loyalty to Inferno Squad, Del Meeko was deeply conflicted, and often uncertain about the Empire's methods. Del was horrified after watching Hask kill all the dreamers. He was much more open minded then his squadmates which allowed him to work with Luke on Pillio despite being on opposite sides and believing him to be a terrorist. Growing up on Coruscant, he heard only frightening stories about the Jedi until being saved by Luke Skywalker, who encouraged him to follow his own path. He also liked wildlife and often studied a planets wildlife before visiting.[4]
Del Meeko was created for the 2017 video game Star Wars Battlefront II,[4] where he was portrayed by TJ Ramini.[8]
Star Wars: Starfighter Missions
Battlefront II: Inferno Squad (First appearance)
Battlefront II: Inferno Squad audiobook
Alphabet Squadron (Indirect mention only)
Alphabet Squadron audiobook (Indirect mention only)
Resistance Reborn (Mentioned only)
Resistance Reborn audiobook (Mentioned only)
The Empire's Elite Strikes Team Rises in Battlefront II: Inferno Squad - Exclusive Excerpt on StarWars.com (backup link) (First mentioned)
Join Inferno Squad on Electronic Arts' official website (backup link)
"Heading into Battle"—Star Wars Insider 177
Star Wars: X-Wing Second Edition – Galactic Empire Conversion Kit (Card: Del Meeko) (Reissued in TIE/ln Fighter Expansion Pack)
Star Wars Helmet Collection 61 (Weapons & Uniforms: Bespin's Cloud City)
Agent Del Meeko in the Databank (backup link)
↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Star Wars Battlefront II: Behind The Story on the official Electronic Arts Star Wars YouTube channel (backup link)
↑ 2.00 2.01 2.02 2.03 2.04 2.05 2.06 2.07 2.08 2.09 2.10 Battlefront II: Inferno Squad
↑ The Mission to Athulla takes place shortly before or during the events of Star Wars: Episode VII The Force Awakens, which the reference book Star Wars: Galactic Atlas places in 34 ABY. Per Star Wars Battlefront II, Del Meeko was supposed to return from Pillio several days after the mission to Athulla, so his mission must have occurred shortly before that mission.
↑ 4.00 4.01 4.02 4.03 4.04 4.05 4.06 4.07 4.08 4.09 4.10 4.11 4.12 4.13 4.14 4.15 4.16 4.17 Star Wars Battlefront II
↑ "Imperial Troops" – Star Wars Encyclopedia states that in order to be a coastal defender stormtrooper the individual had to hold the rank of sergeant.
↑ Resistance Reborn takes place days after the events of Star Wars: Episode VIII The Last Jedi, which in turn are set directly after Star Wars: Episode VII The Force Awakens. Since Star Wars: Galactic Atlas dates the events of The Force Awakens to 34 ABY, both The Last Jedi and Resistance Reborn must also take place around the same year, which also includes Poe Dameron's speech and Zay Versio's response..
↑ 7.0 7.1 Resistance Reborn
↑ Battlefront II's T.J. Ramini, Star Wars: Galactic Nights News, and More! on the official Star Wars YouTube channel (backup link)
Articles in need of updating
Articles to be expanded


This darling Park Mead home offers 3 spacious bedrooms, 2 full bathrooms and so much more. Cozy kitchen w/oak cabinetry, tile counter tops & breakfast bar. Not one, but two cozy wood burning fireplaces, in the living room and family room. Dual pane windows throughout. Nicely landscaped front and rear yards to enjoy a nice summer day under the shade of the covered patio. Garage door with auto opener. Walking distance to local park and post office.


In the previous verse, it was mentioned that whenever someone brings any news, we have to verify it before accepting it. In this verse, we are being informed about an exception. If Prophet Muhammad (sa) brings any news, those around him had to accept it without any process of verification. Likewise, if he did not practice something, then it was not supposed to be done either. 'Among you' in the above verse refers to the Sahabah, who were around the Prophet (sa).
Sometimes, the Sahabah wanted to perform extra worship. For instance, once in Ramadan, the Prophet (sa) prayed Qiyam-ul-Lail with the Sahabah. He prayed for a part of the night and then stopped. The Sahabah wanted to perform some more, so they went to the Prophet (sa) and asked, if it was possible to continue the prayer for the whole night. The Prophet (sa) informed them that the one, who has prayed the full prayer behind the Imam, will be rewarded for standing the entire night in prayer. This was his way of saying no to the Sahabah's request. If he followed every suggestion that those around him gave, it would surely be troublesome and difficult for them. The Prophet (sa) was very kind. He could have heeded the suggestion given to him, but he did not.
This Hadeeth instructs us to do what the Prophet (sa) did, and to leave what the Prophet (sa) did not do. One should not think that they can do anything more than the Prophet (sa) – it is not possible. Remember that the chains of narration of Ahadeeth were verified and scrutinized before being accepted. If an individual in the chain of narration was discovered to be a liar, no more Ahadeeth from him were accepted. This is again because no one was supposed to add anything or delete anything from the sayings of the Prophet (sa).
Now that we no longer have the Prophet (sa) among us, this command applies to us in terms of accepting Ahadeeth and Sunnah. We cannot give our own opinion on the Ahadeeth.
Note the reaction of the Sahabah, when the Prophet (sa) did not accept their suggestion. What did they do? Did the Prophet's (sa) rejection of their suggestion turn them away from Islam? Of course not! It did not affect them in any way, because faith was firmly entrenched in their hearts. They were happy and content with Islam itself, and they accepted anything and everything that was done by the Prophet (sa). Their hearts were stable upon firm faith.
"…Allah has endeared the faith to you and has beautified it in your hearts…" (Al-Hujurat 49:7) The Arabic word for endearment or love is Hubb. The following diagram explains the meaning of Hubb.
Essentially, it means that Allah (swt) puts faith in your heart and gradually enables you to love it. You cannot force your heart to love Islam or the faith. It's only from Allah (swt), Who makes you love the faith!
Love in your heart is like a seed. You plant a small seed in your heart. Then Allah (swt) nurtures it and enables it to grow gradually, till it becomes big and beautiful with fruits and flowers. One needs to take good care of faith in the heart, similar to the way we take care of seeds in the garden. Our hearts need to be watered with the rain of knowledge and guidance, so that they can blossom into a fruit-bearing tree. One should also supplicate: "O Allah, make my heart love the faith." Ameen!
Acceptance or belief in the heart plus good deeds based on the five pillars of Islam highlight the extent of one's faith. Faith grows and nurtures inside the heart, but is manifested through one's actions. One should worry, first and foremost, about one's heart. Once the heart is on track and the love in one heart's is well-nourished, the rest (in terms of action) will follow.
What urges the believer (because all verses of this Surah are addressed to the believers) to follow all the rules given by Allah (swt) in this Surah?
• Beautifying the faith in the heart.
Faith is a bird with a head and two wings. When you have all three, you can fly to Allah (swt). Your worship can fly to Allah (swt). When Allah (swt) plants the seed of love for something in your heart, He also plants the seed of dislike for the opposite of the same. For example, music is not allowed, so you slowly begin to love listening to the Quran and beneficial lectures. At the same time, Allah (swt) plants the seed of hatred of music in your heart. Gradually, your love for music will turn into hate and become love for the good words!
• Disobedience (in terms of actions).
The opposite of faith is not one word. It consists of three words. Those who love faith hate disbelief + wickedness + disobedience. "…These! They are the rightly guided ones." (Al-Hujurat 49:7) Allah (swt) magnifies and honours them by referring to them as the only ones, who are taking the path of the rightly-guided. They love their faith, acquire knowledge and then act upon this knowledge. This entire Surah highlights deeds and acts of worship, along with behaviour and mannerisms to be implemented in the society. Its instructions are meant to be understood and implemented.
'Favour' means blessings, bonuses, bounties and favours. This should make a believer humble. One should not feel proud. Everything we do is a favour from Allah (swt). Some blessings for the believers include even the material things in life that will help them achieve Paradise, like children and money. Believers use these things to attain success in the Hereafter.
The last part of the verse specifies some of Allah's (swt) names. He is All-Knowing. He knows who deserves what. Also, because He is the most Wise, He does everything according to perfect knowledge and wisdom.


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The apogee of capitalism and our political malaise
Social Europe, by Branko Milan
At the heart of the crisis of trust in politics lies the corrosion of public service by the ethos of private gain.
There is little doubt that the western world is going through a serious political crisis, which can be best described as a crisis of trust in its political institutions and governments.
Two things often seem, though, to be overlooked. First, the crisis of trust in institutions is not limited to the west—it is general. The crisis in the west just receives more attention because western media are dominant and because it was assumed that economically more advanced liberal societies should not suffer such a disconnect between rulers and ruled.
Secondly, the crisis is longstanding: it goes further back in time than the 2008 financial crash and the malaise created by globalisation. Arguably, its source is the impressive and somewhat unexpected success of introducing capitalist relations into all domains of life—including into our private lives and, importantly, into politics.
The neoliberal revolutions of the early 1980s, associated with the then US president, Ronald Reagan, and the UK premier, Margaret Thatcher—not forgetting the Chinese 'paramount leader', Deng Xiaoping—were supported by revolutions in economic thinking, such as public-choice theory and libertarianism, which explicitly began to treat the political space as an extension of everyday economics. Politicians were seen as just another set of entrepreneurs who, instead of taking their skills and risk-taking preferences to banking or software development, moved into politics. It was thought normal that goal-directed, self-interested rational behaviour need not be limited to the economic sphere—it was more general and embraced politics as well.
Vindicated
This view of the world was amazingly vindicated. Not only did politicians often behave in a self-serving manner (which perhaps they had often done in the past too), but such behaviour began to be expected of them. Not necessarily approved of, but expected in the sense that it was not considered odd or unusual that politicians would first and foremost think of their own financial interests.
They could cash out on the connection and power they had acquired in office by finding lucrative jobs in the private sector (José Manuel Barroso, Tony Blair, Jim Kim from the World Bank). They could give multi-million-dollar speeches to corporate moguls (Barrack Obama, Bill Clinton, Hillary Clinton). They could sit on a plethora of company boards.
Or, some, coming from the private sector (Silvio Berlusconi, Thaksin Shinawatra), would openly advertise their political parties as just clientilistic organisations: if you have a problem and want it solved, join the party. I remember seeing in the streets of Milan such an advertisement by Berlusconi's Forza Italia—a movement whose lack of ideology, aside from economic self-interest, was reflected in its banal name, borrowed from football fans supporting Italy's national team.
The list of politicians who took their own (and their supporters') money-making to be the normal function of homo economicus once in office is long. We know some of its most prominent members, often by failure—when their activities went a bit too far or when they were unable fully to hide them. We know them through financial scandals and at times jail terms. For example, two out of the last three Brazilian presidents are in prison for bribery. All five former Peruvian presidents have been jailed for corruption, are under investigation or are fugitives from justice. The daughter of Uzbekistan's late president has been imprisoned for multi-billion dollar embezzlement schemes. The shadow of prosecution hangs over the former Angolan president's daughter, and chair of its state oil company, the richest woman in Africa, were she to return to the country.
In Europe, the former French president Nicolas Sarkozy has been subject to investigation in connection with a number of financial scandals, the most serious arising from reportsof illicit financial support for his 2007 election campaign by the late Libyan dictator Muammar Gadhafi. The former German chancellor Helmut Kohl had to resign as honorary chair of the Christian Democratic Union in 2000 after revelations of secret party bank accounts over which he presided.
The US president, Donald Trump, has refused to disclose his multi-year tax returns and failed to put his business dealings into a blind trust to insulate him from external inducements. His Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, has been able to parlay political power into wealth way beyond his income.
Politicians, east and west, north and south, have thus fully confirmed to neoliberal 'economic imperialism'—the idea that all human activities are driven by the desire for material success, that success in money-making is the indicator of our social worth and that politics is just another line of business.
The problem with this approach, applied to the political space, is that it breeds cynicism among the population, because the official lingo of politicians has to be centred on public interest and public service—yet the reality, and the ideological justification for that reality, are entirely different. The discrepancy is moreover easy to spot. Every government official then becomes seen as a hypocrite who is telling us that he is there because he is interested in the public good, whereas it is clear that he is in politics to line his pockets now or in the future—or, if already rich, to make sure no adverse political decisions are taken against his 'empire'.
Is it then strange that no trust will be evinced regarding anything politicians say? Is it strange that their every action would be seen as having been motivated by personal interest or dictated by lobbyists? Actually, both the market revolution of the 1980s and the dominant economic paradigm tell us that it should be precisely so. And that that is for the best.
No easy solution
The mistrust of governing elites is thus due to the extremely successful projection of the capitalist mode of behaviour and operations into all spheres of human activity, including politics. It just happens that, if one does so, one can no longer expect that people will believe that policies are driven by the ideal of public service.
The problem has no easy solution. To regain trust, politics needs to be subtracted from the fields where normal capitalist rules hold. But to do so requires that politicians reject the standard set of values implicit in the capitalist system—maximisation of financial interest. How and where are we to find such people? Should we, like Tibetans, look for the new leaders in faraway places untainted #by hyper-commercialisation? Since this does not seem even remotely likely, I think we need to get adjusted to the idea of continued mistrust, and a wide chasm between the political elite and most of the population.
This could make politics very bumpy for a long time. It is the apogee of capitalism that is responsible for the bumpiness, and for our—inevitable—political malaise.
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COMMENT: Things I learned about the Muslim Brotherhood (MB) over the years
There's this scary creature in Egypt that has spread its testi ... woops ... tentacles across the world. It's a huge conspiracy that wants to transform each and every part of the planet into one huge bearded caliphate. Soon each nation will covered in a massive black burqa. At this time, no man will be allowed to lodge a develop application at their local council unless it makes provisions for a huge dome and at least 5 minarets surrounding each building.
Okay, now that I got that Murdochian bullshit out of my system, here are some things I've learned recently about Egypt's largest and most organised opposition movement:
[01] Here are some excerpts of what one Israeli neo-Con writes about the MB. I think he is surprisingly accurate in his assessment. Then again, I cannot read the original Arabic sources on the MB.
[02] One of the main ideologues of the MB during the 1950's was Syed Qutb. He was imprisoned by the military regime led by Neguib and then Nasser. Qutb was not a trained religious scholar but rather more of an intellectual. In prison he underwent severe forms of torture and was eventually executed. Qutb was one of numerous MB figures imprisoned by Nasser after the latter just dodged an assassination in Alexandria by an MB person. Nasser was a rather paranoid chap who assumed the entire MB was involved in some huge conspiracy to kill him. Believe it or not, Qutb did go to the United States, but found the experience extremely troubling.
[03] Qutb's books are widely available in the West and have been since the 1970's when the Saudis started spending petrodollars on spreading various forms of Islam they found friendly. The Saudis have always been big sponsors of MB.
[04] Among the most popular works of Qutb is his commentary of the Qur'an which has been translated as In the Shade of the Qur'an. Its English translation is widely available in bookshops across the Western world. Also widely available are other Qutb books such as Milestones which is also easily available on the internet.
[05] Qutb's works became especially popular during Ronald Reagan's Afghan jihad against the Soviet Union. MB activists took an active role in that conflict, and their literature was widely available.
[06] It is commonly claimed that Qutb was the founder of, if not the inspiration for, al-Qaida and other like-minded violent terror outfits. In a sense this is true. Bin Ladin and his colleagues do refer to Qutb. However, many peaceful political Muslim movements also make reference to Qutb.
[07] It is also claimed that Qutb is a founder or ideologue of the Salafi sect. I'm not sure what denomination of Sunni Islam Qutb belonged to or whether he subscribed to some form of Salafi/Wahhabi thinking. But I do know that many Wahhabis have attacked him for being akin to a Marxist.
[08] The MB have been active in Egypt since the 1950's. They gained a large following and infiltrated the Egyptian army. They were known to be a conservative rightwing party and were supported by both the Saudis and the British due to their strong anti-Communist stance.
Posted by Irf at 11:49 pm
Labels: comment, Egypt, Islam, politics
COMMENT: Things I learned about asylum seekers today
Here is a summary of learnings I gained from various smart, important and influential people today on the subject of asylum seekers today:
[01] If you pay for the funeral of a dead asylum seeker, it just encourages more of them to jump on boats.
[02] If an asylum seeker wants to bury their 9 month child at taxpayers' expense, s/he needs to come up with a decent policy proposal.
[03] Funerals cost so much money, and we should all be angry. They explains why Scotty Morrison remarked on Macquarie Radio:
I know probably more than anyone how strongly people feel about this issue, how angry they get about the costs that are involved. I share that anger, and I want to see that changed ...
Funeral directors can look forward to tough times ahead.
[04] Both compassion and sex are not beyond budgetary constraints. As Barnaby Joyce correctly remarked, the price of compassion is ...
... not limitless. You can't do it with a completely open cheque book.
I'd hate to do it with a chequebook fullstop!
[05] We need to have an asylum policy that favours Christians over Muslims. We don't have that at the moment. Hence you have this kind of thing happening:
At Castlebrook Cemetery in Rouse Hill, five more coffins were lowered into the ground; a husband and wife, their young son and daughter and an aunt. A little girl in a purple dress and leggings stood out against eight weeping family members and friends dressed in black.
The victims were Protestants from Iran. "They had dreams of a better life and they came to our country searching for something,'' said the Reverend David Misztal from St Jude's Anglican Church, Dural. ''They desperately wanted a place to call home."
This would never have happened if we had a pro-Christian asylum policy. But we still shouldn't pay for the funerals.
Labels: comment, conservatives, Liberal Party, politics, refugees
OPINION: Prejudice among our pollies is alive and well
Tony Abbott doesn't have much talent to choose from, IRFAN YUSUF writes
It's official. Liberal Senator Cory Bernardi doesn't like halal meat. He argues halal slaughter contradicts his values and he doesn't see why he should have to put up with it.
I too am a victim of halal slaughter. My first experience with it left me severely traumatised. It was 1977 and I was a wee lad of seven. It was the festival of Eid al-Adha, a time each year when Muslims celebrate Abraham's preparedness to sacrifice his son. (Seriously, what kind of value system is that? Middle Eastern people prepared to kill their own kids should be locked up and deported!)
Our family were invited to the farm of a Pakistani doctor in Newcastle for what I was told would be a nice barbecue and a chance to play with some animals. After a four-hour drive along the long and winding Pacific Highway, we finally reached the farm. There was no barbecue in sight. One of the Indian uncles asked:
"Where is lunch, Doctor Sahib?"
"Lunch is out there on the paddock. There are enough animals for each family."
Within minutes, I saw my parents and a host of uncles in their safari suits and aunties in their saris running in the general direction of the lambs and goats. The poor animals recognised the nefarious intentions of these men and women, and ran for their lives. The little lambs looked rather skinny; if anything, there was more meat visibly hanging from between the sari cloth of the aunties!
One or two lambs were finally caught. Their throats were cut in my presence. I cried, not just for the poor lambs but also because, instead of barbecue, the meat was placed into large pots and mixed with chilli and spice to make traditional Indian casseroles. No fair dinkum seven-year-old Aussie kid can stomach that!
By now, I felt like vomiting instead of eating. To make matters worse, the remaining animals were too afraid to play.
The experience wasn't enough to make me a vegetarian, though eating meat from an animal I had seen slaughtered was now out of the question.
Still, someone has to slaughter the animal. Meat doesn't grow on trees.
So when I read Bernardi's recent comments in the Herald Sun, I couldn't help but wonder if he too was at that pseudo-barbecue in Newcastle. He told the Herald Sun that halal slaughtering ...
... is anathema to my own values.
And what values are they?
Cory isn't terribly good at declaring what he is. A look at his website shows he's much better at telling us what he isn't. He is one of numerous Liberals who have followed the Tea Party line, replacing political correctness with political erectness, a kind of macho ideology in which people work themselves into an ideological frenzy.
Most conservative politicians (and ideologues, editors and columnists) think that the only way to prove you are really conservative is to reach positions on all issues that are completely opposite to what anyone they deem "the Left" would come up with.
Bernardi waxes unlyrical about people he describes as "Islamists". Among their characteristics is their "insistence of consuming Halal food". Those Bernardi describes as "moderate Muslims" don't share this fixation with cutting throats.
I wonder what Bernardi makes of "Judaists", who share this fixation with an identical form of slaughter. Indeed, "Judaists" go much further, as anyone who has kept a kosher kitchen would know.
A good friend of mine is a "Judaist", and everywhere he goes he carries plastic utensils and refuses to eat meat offered to him. Apparently these "Judaists" don't believe in our legal system. They prefer to have their disputes handled by the Beth Din, a special tribunal of "Judaist" jurists who make decisions in accordance with "Judaist" laws that are around two to three thousand years old.
In fact, it would be fair to say that if Bernardi were holding public office in a European parliament during the 1930s, he would almost certainly be writing the same remarks about Jews. But it isn't just Bernardi talking sects.
Kevin Andrews, John Howard's bumbling former immigration minister, told the Herald Sun that there is ...
... a risk [of enclaves] in Australia. What actually concerns me the most is that we can't have a discussion about it.
Now this statement really confused me. Let's face it. Almost every time Kevin Andrews opens his mouth in front of a TV camera, it's to talk about ghettoes and enclaves and immigrants not integrating. It's true that what he says rarely makes much sense. Perhaps what he should have told the Herald Sun reporter was that he is incapable of having a sensible discussion about it.
Andrews has a strange view of ethnic enclaves. Back in 2007, Andrews declared that
... some groups don't seem to be settling and adjusting into the Australian way of life.
His comment was triggered by the murder of 18-year-old Sudanese man Liep Gony. Clearly migrants should adopt Australian values by ensuring they are not murdered so readily.
So this is the kind of "talent" Tony Abbott must work with in his parliamentary party. Ah well. Shit happens.
Irfan Yusuf is a lawyer and author of Once Were Radicals: My Years As A Teenage Islamo-fascist. This article was first published in the Canberra Times on Wednesday 16 February 2011.
Labels: Canberra Times, Liberal Party, Opinion, politics, prejudice
COMMENT: Things I learned about the Muslim Brother...
COMMENT: Things I learned about asylum seekers tod...
OPINION: Prejudice among our pollies is alive and ...


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October 25, 2013 McKenna Ross
Class of 2015 to Take PSAT After Last Year's Success
The ACT, the SAT, AP tests, the Michigan Merit Exam- but wait, there's more!
On October 16, 2013, juniors will be taking the PSAT.
Counselor Toby Loukmas says this is only the second year of the mandatory testing. Originally, students heard about it on the announcements and signed up in the office and paid to take it. Now, the district is paying for all the juniors to take the exam.
"The SAT is a very different kind of test," Loukmas said. "It's actually a really good thing."
According to Loukmas, the SAT differs from the ACT because of its format. It tests the student on critical reading. She believes one of the best reasons to take the test is because it is the qualifying test for the National Merit Scholarship. This year, the school has seven seniors who are semi-finalists for the scholarship this year.
According to nationalmerit.org, once a student becomes a semi-finalist, they have to fill out an application and take the SAT. If they meet the standard for the score, then the student becomes a National Merit Finalist.
Senior National Merit Semi-Finalists in the courtyard. Top row: Ian O'Rourke, Russel Ladd, John Greenburger, Andrew Geller Bottom row: Kendall Hitch, Olivia Darany, Rachel Mucha/ Photo By Seaholm High School
Many students, however, are unaware of the scholarship program. Senior semi-finalist Olivia Darany said she was one of them.
"Honestly, I had no idea the program even existed," Darany said. "I just wanted to score well because they told us some scholarships were involved."
Darany plans on taking the SAT on November 2, and is preparing by studying and getting a tutor. She believes she is a good test taker, and scored a 33 on the ACT and is not worried about the scholarship process.
"It was just like another college app," Darany said. We had to fill out an essay."
According to Loukmas, many colleges will give scholarships to National Merit Finalists. Kim Lakocy, a Seaholm graduate of the class of 2013 and one of two National Merit Finalists from her class, received a full ride to University of Kentucky.
"I hadn't really studied a ton for the PSAT and my score was pretty much at the cutoff from the previous year so I didn't think I had much of a chance," Lakocy said.
After finding out about being a semi-finalist, Lakocy realized the gravity of the scholarship program.
"After I found out I was a finalist I put a lot of work into my application, finding recommendations and into studying for the SAT," Lakocy said.
Now, Lakocy is studying in the nursing program at UK and is glad the National Merit program influenced her decision. According to Lakocy, she had not considered UK deeply before she was recruited by them.
"When I found out, it went from barely on my radar to one of my top 4 schools," Lakocy said.
Loukmas believes taking the PSAT is a great opportunity for students to learn about the SAT and to see if they qualify for the National Merit Scholarship.
"We want as many people to move through the competition as possible," Loukmas said. "It only benefits the students."
Published by McKenna Ross
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There has been a recent insurgent of young talented British musicians especially when it came to singer songwriters, one of which saw the whole world take in so well and instantly became a fan favourite, Walsall native Jorja Smith. The 19-year-old soulful singer has decided to give released a 5 track EP Titled Project 11.
In a recent interview Jorja mentioned that 'singing has been part of her life since the tender age of 8′, not only does Jorja sing but she also writes music, giving her the edge and making her stand out amongst the ones that can just hold a note. To peruse her music career and develop, Jorja chose to move away from Walsall and is now located in London, where dreams can come true if you work hard for it!
At only 19 she has her first Mobo Nomination and been shown loves from so many fellow artist both great and on the rise and now released her Debut EP, an eclectic and amazing body of work, the 5 track EP include songs Something In The Way, So Lonely, Carry Me Home (Interlude) featuring Thea Gajic, Carry Me Home featuring Maverick Sabre and Imperfect Circle.
Project 11 is extremely breath-taking, lyrically Jorja Smith shows intense depth and maturity within her story telling, lyrical content, her descriptions and the metaphors she uses. Her voice is mesmerising, sung beautifully over sensual beats, with the sounds of the piano whilst she sings distinctively acoustically on top of soothing yet slightly soulful pop beats.
Carry Me Home featuring the Irish crooner and talent Maverick Sabre, who she previously collaborated with on the song A Prince earlier this year. Carry Me Home is a beautiful song, both singers have amazing vocals which complement each other with extreme ease as they harmonise and graceful sing together with absolute class. The song is emotive, thought provoking and a great listen.
Project 11 is a great showcase of what Jorja Smith has on offer as a talent with an amazing future ahead, a beautiful soulful voice, songs with meaning that will challenge your thought process, her sultry classy sense of style and beauty, equally her songs give you a great sense of comfort whilst you listen to it.


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U.S. Justice Department okays Florida early voting plan for five counties
The Justice Department backs eight 12-hour voting days, likely ending a legal battle.
By Steve Bousquet
TALLAHASSEE — The U.S. Department of Justice on Wednesday endorsed eight 12-hour days of early voting in five key Florida counties, including Hillsborough and Monroe, all but ending a long-running legal battle that threatened to disrupt the November election.
Attorney General Eric Holder filed a motion with a panel of three judges in Washington, D.C., saying that the government supports judicial approval of Florida's shorter early voting schedule, as long as the five counties offer the maximum possible hours of early voting: 96 over eight days, from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.
"The United States does not oppose judicial preclearance of the early voting plans submitted for the covered counties," the government said.
Pending the judges' approval, early voting in Florida will begin Oct. 27 and end Nov. 3 and will be held on one Sunday, Oct. 28. The new law prohibits early voting on the Sunday just prior to the election.
Democrats and voter advocacy groups had criticized the shortened early voting schedule, calling it part of a broader Republican strategy to suppress turnout in Florida. The issue of early voting is highly charged because statistics show it is most popular among black voters, a crucial voting bloc in the presidential election in Florida.
Gov. Rick Scott's chief elections official, Secretary of State Ken Detzner, called the latest federal action "the most significant sign to date that Florida's new early voting laws are fair and can be implemented statewide."
The judges themselves had suggested the timetable as a way of resolving a legal confrontation that has dragged on for more than a year. Anything less than 96 hours, they ruled last month, would disenfranchise African-American voters in the nation's largest battleground state.
Hillsborough, Monroe, Collier, Hardee and Hendry counties are under federal oversight to ensure that changes to voting laws do not discriminate based on race. They had been operating under the old law, which allowed up to 14 days of early voting.
What broke the legal logjam was Monroe County's statement to the court that it would offer the full 96 hours of early voting in the Florida Keys if the judges approved that timetable.
Monroe County Supervisor of Elections Harry Sawyer Jr. insisted that the reduction of early voting days would have a "retrogressive impact on minority voters." But he added: "If the court pre-clears the early voting change for Florida, I will follow the requirements of the law, as I have for nearly two-and-a-half decades."
Sawyer said he prepared his statement with the help of Julie Ebenstein, an attorney with the American Civil Liberties Union in Miami.
Sawyer, a Republican who's not running for re-election, drew Scott's wrath for refusing to join the other four counties in agreeing to eight 12-hour early voting days.
Sawyer insisted that more days of early voting and for fewer hours better serves the voters in the elongated Keys. He said he resented Scott and state elections officials interfering in the handling of an election, which he called a local responsibility.
"I don't think the governor has any business sticking his nose in elections," Sawyer said.
The state Legislature, which is controlled by Republicans, rewrote Florida's voting laws last year and reduced the days of early voting from 14 to eight.
When the state asked the three judges to approve the change, the Justice Department, backed by the ACLU and other groups, formally objected.
In their ruling last month, the judges noted that under the new law, county supervisors of election could legally offer as few as 48 hours of early voting, or six hours a day for eight days.
"This dramatic reduction in a form of voting disproportionately used by African-Americans would be analogous to (although certainly not the same as) closing polling places in disproportionately African-American precincts," the judges wrote.
State officials have insisted that all 67 counties operate under the same early voting schedule to minimize confusion and avoid potential legal problems due to a lack of uniformity in voting procedures.
Steve Bousquet can be reached at bousquet@tampabay.com or (850) 224-7263.
Steve Bousquet
Times/Herald Tallahassee Bureau
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Trending in this section:Hillsborough trash pick-up could go from twice a week to just once
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Trending in this section:Pinellas Juvenile Welfare Board selects new CEO


Location information for Chroma Salon in Edmonds, including hours, phone number, email address, and team member bios. Chroma Salon and Spa has five Aveda Elite/Concept salons in the greater Seattle area.
Chroma Salon and Spa opened its doors to the Edmonds neighborhood in January 2015. We are located just a few blocks south of the downtown center, along 5th Ave and neighboring Giardi's Italian Restaurant. There is a private parking lot available directly in front of the salon. We aim to offer an incredible, downtown-like salon experience to the Edmonds community. We offer hair care services at this location.
*We now offer online booking for our Edmonds location! If you have any questions about the services offered, don't hesitate to give us a call at (425) 776-5055. You may also reach us here.


Playlists for The Clear Spot going back to 2010 are here at Radioactivity!
The Clear Spot is freeform music for voracious consumers of sound. No rules, no agenda, just quality music for open-minded listeners. Everything from obscure underground oldies to brand new releases: experimental rock, classic soul, crime jazz, latin boogaloo, country murder ballads, local demos and more share the airwaves for an hour of aural exploration. Airs every Saturday evening at 7pm on KOOP Radio: 91.7 FM in Austin, & streaming online via KOOP.org, RadioFreeAmerica.com, & the TuneIn app.


text:
Q: Joomla JToolbarhelper buttons dont work I'm creating a custom component, but I can't get my toolbar to work.
view.html.php:
protected function addToolbar() {
    JToolBarHelper::title( JText::_('COM_CYCLIST_TITLE_CATEGORIES'), 'generic.png' );
    $bar = & JToolBar::getInstance('toolbar');
    $bar->appendButton( 'Link', 'new', 'JTOOLBAR_NEW', '/administrator/index.php?option=com_project&view=project&layout=edit');

    JToolbarHelper::addNew( 'project.add');
    JToolBarHelper::editList('project.edit');
    JToolBarHelper::deleteList('', 'projects.delete');

//        $bar->appendButton( 'Link', 'custom', 'Custom', '../index.php?option=com_mycomponent&format=raw' );

    }

Controller project.php:
<?php

// No direct access.
defined('_JEXEC') or die;

jimport('joomla.application.component.controlleradmin');

class ProjectControllerProject extends JControllerForm {

    public function __construct() {
        parent::__construct();
    }

}
?>

It doesn't matter what I provide as task for a toolbar button. When I press te button it opens the component url but it shows a 404. When I copy/paste the url in a new tab the overview will be shown.
http://localhostproject/administrator/index.php?option=com_project&view=projects
What am I missing?
Administrator component:
https://bitbucket.org/LightPhoenix/com_project/src

A: Try to change your addToolbar function to this
protected function addToolbar() {
    JToolBarHelper::title( JText::_('COM_CYCLIST_TITLE_CATEGORIES'), 'generic.png' );
    $app = JFactory::getApplication();

    // Run in backend
    if ($app->isAdmin() === true)
    {
        $bar = JToolBar::getInstance('toolbar');
        $url = JRoute::_('index.php?option=com_project&view=project&layout=edit');
        $bar->appendButton( 'Link', 'new', 'JTOOLBAR_NEW', $url);
    }

    JToolbarHelper::addNew( 'project.add');
    JToolBarHelper::editList('project.edit');
    JToolBarHelper::deleteList('', 'projects.delete');

    //$bar->appendButton( 'Link', 'custom', 'Custom', '../index.php?option=com_mycomponent&format=raw' );

}

Probabbly your url is incorrect so you are getting 404 error. If you use JRoute it will fix the url for you, if you are using sef url. $app->isAdmin() is to check if you are in Administrator Mode.

A: It seems that url is not correct of that popup. You should use joomla methods for Urls or start with index.php . If I am getting correctly, below code will work for you -
$bar->appendButton( 'Link', 'new', 'JTOOLBAR_NEW', Juri::base(true) . '/index.php?option=com_project&view=project&layout=edit');

OR
$bar->appendButton( 'Link', 'new', 'JTOOLBAR_NEW', 'index.php?option=com_project&view=project&layout=edit');

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


It was a day some thought might never come.
1. Sidney Crosby. It was a day some thought might never come. Canada's Sid the Kid, out since early January with post-concussion syndrome, returned to the ice Monday night for his Penguins at home — with even CBC choosing to do a special broadcast. He was simply amazing, scoring two goals and two assists in a 5-0 storybook win over the Islanders. Yes, the best player in the world isn't just back — he's better than ever.
2. Feds and social media. Ottawa has rolled out formal guidelines for how their departments should use Twitter and Facebook, recognizing that "Web 2.0 is increasingly becoming a primary channel for sending, receiving and generating information." The guidelines also say public servants should be aware of the risks of operating in social media circles. In other words, look for tweets of political correctness.
3. Occupy camps. Occupy protest camps in Vancouver, Ottawa and Toronto were dismantled this week after eviction notices went out. The message(s) had been delivered, and the time had come for them to come down. The Toronto camp at St. James Park had taken on a life of its own: As Coun. Giorgio Mammoliti said, "We have Robin Hoods and makeshift Jesuses walking around, pretending that the park is theirs." Now it'll be Dog Park again.
4. Password. Hackers love those who choose "password" as their online password. And there are lots of you, according to Internet security firm SplashData, which released the top password name rankings based on millions of stolen passwords. The Top 5: 1. password 2. 123456 3. 12345678 4. qwerty 5. abc123. And you'd better be more creative than going with "monkey," you monkeys. That's No. 6 on the list.
5. Fox News. According to a new study, there is "something about watching Fox News that leads people to do worse on (news) questions than those who don't watch any news at all." The most informed respondents: People who listen to NPR, those who watch Sunday morning news programs and — best of all — viewers of The Daily Show with Jon Stewart.
6. ABA. With the NBA season a virtual wipeout due to the lockout, maybe the American Basketball Association will catch on. The calibre of play may not be up to NBA standards, but teams like the Los Angeles SLAM and Gulf Coast Flash could become household names if national TV chooses to broadcast some games. The legendary Dr. J got his start in the original ABA. There could be another legend waiting in the wings.
7. Watch your gadgets. A new poll by polling/social media company Poll Position found that more than 60 per cent of us spend between one to six hours a day watching electronic devices like TV, computer screen, e-reader, PDA or cellphone. So what the heck is the other 40 per cent doing?


You might have seen the news Tuesday that emergency funding has been approved to dredge Moriches Inlet. Having no idea that news was going to break, I visited Moriches Inlet Monday evening to see how the latest storm effected the new shoal building up on the east side of the inlet. The higher than normal tide was above the new sand but it still created some chaotic seas as the waves broke over the shoal and bounced back across the inlet. Knowing how dangerous the inlet can be in normal conditions, this new sand will make navigation even more difficult with random waves moving in all directions.
The good news regarding the funding is the dredging will happen, unfortunately bids, permits, and equipment all need to be positioned so nobody is sure when relief will come. There was no mention of dredging the channels that lead to the inlet so caution is still advised and this may not happen as quickly as many would like.
Fire Island and Beyond has done a number of features with video and images of Moriches Inlet, click here for more.


Numerous new functions have been added and most others have been updated and enhanced to provide additional ways of displaying results and of selecting data by column headers.
Please note that this new version is restricted to working under Microsoft Windows only; it will not work on a Mac. This is because it uses Windows-specific program code to speed up calculations.
New "start XLSTAT" and "Close XLSTAT" buttons in the Excel toolbar.
Improved icons in the toolbars.
The linear regression, ANOVA, ANCOVA and logistic regression tools have been fully redesigned to perform quicker and new options have been added.
To ease the analysis of sensory data, the ANOVA tool allows the user to input several dependant variables at the same time.


text:
Nigeria: COVID-19 Emergencies - 4 New Cases Emerge - Buhari's Daughter in Self-Isolation
FrankundFrei/Pixabay
Coronavirus graphic
Vanguard (Lagos)
By Sola Ogundipe, Dayo Johnson, Chioma Obinna, Henry Umoru and Sam Eyoboka
Twenty four hours after five persons tested positive to coronavirus, otherwise known as COVID-19, four new cases were confirmed in Lagos yesterday, with the state government tracing no fewer than 1,300 persons.
Also, one of the daughters of President Muhammadu Buhari is currently in self-isolation, shortly after returning from the United Kingdom.
Ondo State also yesterday recorded a suspected case of the virus, with the state House of Assembly directing the executive arm of government to close all schools and ban gatherings at all high-density places
These came on a day the 36 state governors, under the aegis of Nigerian Governors' Forum, NGF, said they would work in collaboration with the Federal Ministry of Health, to ensure functional testing and isolation centres for the disease are established in every state of the federation.
The governors also set up a committee to review the $57 oil benchmark, falling oil prices, among others.
This is even as some major religious denominations and groups, including the Redeemed Christian Church of God, RCCG, Pentecostal Fellowship of Nigeria, PFN, Ansar-ud-Deen Society of Nigeria and the National Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs, NSCIA, yesterday pledged to abide by the ban placed by Lagos and Ogun state governments on public gatherings.
Both governments had declared on Wednesday that they would not tolerate gatherings of more than 50 persons in a place, saying the measure is geared towards stemming the spread of the disease.
With the latest addition of four new cases in Lagos, the country now has 12 infected persons.
Addressing journalists yesterday in Lagos, Commissioner for Health, Professor Akin Abayomi, who also disclosed that the Italian Index case had tested negative to the virus for the first time, explained that a second test would also be conducted on him.
He said: "19 people were tested for COVID-19 yesterday (Wednesday) in Lagos and four out of them tested positive to the virus and had been isolated for treatment at the Infectious Disease Hospital, Yaba area of Lagos."
He said the first of the four new cases who tested positive to the disease was a contact of the third case, the woman who returned from the UK some days ago and tested positive, adding that the second new case is a female who returned from France on March 14 aboard Turkish Airline's flight TK 1830.
The third case, he said, is a Nigerian male in his 50s who had not travelled anywhere, but tested positive to the disease.
Abayomi stated that the fourth new case was a Nigerian male who arrived the country on March 13 from Frankfurt, Germany on Lufthansa Airline's flight LH568.
He said more tests were still being conducted, adding that it was clear that "we have combination of imported cases and local transmission."
The commissioner appealed to those who were on the two flights to start self-isolation and call the emergency numbers if they had any symptoms of COVID-19.
He added that the Index case had tested negative but insisted that he would be put through another test to ascertain if the virus had cleared from his body.
Ondo gets first case
Ondo State has also reported a suspected case of the virus, prompting the House of Assembly to prevail on the state government to shut schools and ban all gatherings at high density places in the state.
High density gatherings, according to the lawmakers at an emergency plenary, include all religious centres.
The lawmakers had invited the Health Commissioner, Dr Wahab Adegbenro, to explain to the people of the state the case of the suspected coronavirus victim in the government hospital.
Adegbenro told the lawmakers that there was one person suspected to have contracted the virus in the state on Wednesday. According to him, the person's blood samples has been taken and the results would be out in three days.
The commissioner stated that issues of coronavirus was no longer news because of high spread of the virus in the world, noting that the state is worried because Ekiti recently recorded two cases of the decease.
He said: "Yesterday evening, the news came from the University of Medical Sciences, UNIMEDTH, that they had a suspect and the person has been placed under supervision.
"His blood sample has been taken and the results are being expected in two days time. We have started his contact tracing, but we must be very careful in Ondo State because of occurrence of the disease in Ekiti.
"We are appealing to FG to assist Ondo State because this virus can wipe out human race if not tackled. For now, there is no cure and it is airborne, causing difficulty in breathing."
The commissioner said the state government is proactive, adding that some funds had been approved for the disease control centre in Akure.
Buhari's daughter
Similarly, one of the daughters of President Muhammadu Buhari is currently in self-isolation. Hajiya Aisha Buhari, wife of the President who disclosed this in a series of tweets, said although her daughter did not show any symptoms of the virus, she went into self-isolation after returning from the UK.
Mrs Buhari, who did not name the daughter in isolation, tweeted: "Good afternoon Nigerians, earlier today (yesterday) my daughter returned from the UK, being among the high-burden listed countries of COVID-19.
"Based on the advice of the Minister of Health, Presidential Task force on COVID-19, and that of NCDC, she is on self-isolation, not because she displayed any symptoms of the COVID-19.
"Please, I urge all parents to do the same if possible as prevention is better than cure. Similarly, I have shut down my office for two weeks with immediate effect, while essential staff can work from home as a result of some staff who recently returned from the UK .
"Let's keep following the advice of the Federal Ministry of Health and the NCDC, which encourages maintaining social distancing, high hygiene culture through regular washing of hands with soaps and sanitizers.
"Let's adopt preventive measures and ensure the safety of our families and that of the general public. We will overcome the COVID-19 pandemic if we all take the necessary precautions at the same time."
Govs on testing centres
In a similar development, governors of the 36 states of the federation rose from a meeting early yesterday in Abuja, stressing the need for testing and isolation centres to be established in every state to contain spread of coronavirus.
The governors, acting under the aegis of Nigerian Governors; Forum, NGF, also set up a committee to comprehensively review the trend of the ravaging disease on the economy.
The committee, chaired by Governor Nasir el-Rufai of Kaduna State, has Edo, Jigawa, Kebbi, Ebonyi, Ogun and Nasarawa states' governors as members, and it is to advise state governments on the set of actions required to address challenges in economy.
They also drilled the Minister of Health, Dr. Osagie Ehanire for over one hour on the impact of the disease in Nigeria.
Reading a communique issued at the end of the meeting, chairman of the NGF and governor of Ekiti State, Kayode Fayemi, said governors pledged to work with the Ministry of Health to set up functional test and isolation centres in every state in the country.
He said: "We, members of the Nigeria Governors' Forum, NGF, at our meeting held today (yesterday) at the NGF Secretariat Abuja, deliberated on several issues and resolved as follows: The Forum welcomes the govemor of Imo State, His Excellency Hope Uzodinma to his first NGF meeting since his resumption (assumption) as Govemor of Imo State.
"The Forum received an update on the COVID-19 pandemic from the Minister of Health, Dr. E. Osagie Ehanire. Goverors pledged to work with the Ministry of Health to set up functional test and isolation centres in every state in the country.
"After an extensive discussion of the impact of the COVID-l 9 pandemic and falling oil prices in the Nigerian economy and the revenues of states governments, the Forum constituted a sub-committee consisting of the govemors of Kaduna (Chair), Kebbi, Ebonyi, Ogun, Nasarawa, Edo and Jigawa."
RCCG, PFN comply with Lagos, Ogun directives
Also yesterday, the Pentecostal Fellowship of Nigeria, PFN and the Redeemed Christian Church of God, RCCG, endorsed the ban order placed by Lagos and Ogun states governments on public gathering in their domains.
Both governments had on Wednesday, banned the gathering of more than 50 persons in any place, including churches and mosques. National President of PFN, Rev. Felix Omobude, told Vanguard on telephone that the measure was a welcome development.
"If this government is taking measures for the benefit of the people, I am for it. The health of Nigerians is paramount to everyone of us and we must endeavour to be supportive of any move in that direction," Omobude stated.
In a similar development, the Redeemed Christian Church of God, RCCG, also issued a new guideline for seamless Sunday worship in the affected two states.
In a memo titled "Slight alteration in the mode of service for parishes in Lagos and Ogun states" Assistant General Overseer (Admin & Personnel), Pastor Johnson Folorunsho Odesola, addressed to pastors-in-charge of regions and provinces in Lagos, dated March 18, 2020, the church outlined the changes.
According to the letter made available to Vanguard, Pastor Odesola said: "We refer to the directive from Lagos and Ogun state governments placing a ban on all religious meetings and gatherings of more than 50 worshipers in Lagos, as part of precautionary steps towards managing the further spread of the coronavirus disease.
"In line with this directive from the government, the mission authority has instructed as follows: Parishes that have an average attendance of 50 members or less can hold their services without any alteration or changes.
"Parishes that have average attendance above 50 members are directed to make use of their House Fellowship centres to run simultaneous services with the main church.
"Parishes that have the facility to run more than one service can also do so, under the strict directive that worshipers won't exceed 50 people per service.
"One supervising minister and an usher could be seconded to each centre for collation of necessary reports (attendance, New converts, New comers, etc)
"All centers are requested to connect to Dove Television to join the live broadcast from the General Overseer during the period."
Pastor Odesola informed the senior pastors that the arrangement would remain in operation for the next few weeks, based on the position of the government.
"You are, therefore, requested to convey the assurances of the continued prayer of the General Overseer to members, while also encouraging them not to panic in the face of ongoing crisis because God promised us victory over every battle at the start of this year," he added.
Similarly, Ansar-ud-Deen Society of Nigeria has suspended mosque activities involving more than 50 people.
"The National Executive Council, The Trustees and the National Council of Missioners, with heavy hearts and a deep sense of responsibility, hereby announce the suspension of all mosque activities, particularly weekly Asalatu, Jum'ah prayers and any gathering of up to fifty people.
"The suspension of activities shall take effect immediately until further notice. This decision was informed by the menacing spread of the novel coronavirus(COVID-19) and Fatwa by World Islamic bodies taking cognisance of the Islamic principles of 'preservation of life', 'prevention of harm', and 'proactive response to impending danger'.
"The society shall abide by government's recommendations and update members and mosque users of any change in the suspension decision. We acknowledge that many of our members and mosque users might find this unprecedented decision very uncomfortable.
"We should please be reassured that this is for the good of the community and it is in compliance with the Islamic response to epidemic pandemic," spokesman of the group, Muhammed Hassan, said.
In a similar vein, National Supreme Council on Islamic Affairs, NSCIA, said any person with the symptoms of coronavirus should not be allowed inside the mosque.
Briefing journalists in Abuja yesterday, Deputy Secretary-General of NSCIA, Professor Salisu Shehu, said measures need to be taken to stop the spread of the virus. He advised Muslims to adhere to the advice of authorities on the best ways to prevent the spread of the virus.
He, therefore, called on Imans and other Islamic leaders to ensure that no person with symptoms of coronavirus or suspected cases of the virus was allowed into mosques.
Anglican Church makes modifications to its mode of worship
In its reaction, the Lagos West Diocese of the Church of Nigeria (Anglican Communion) decided to make some modifications to its mode of worship.
In a memo by The Ven. Abiade Adeniji, the Administration Assistant. to the Bishop on behalf of the diocesan, the church said: "The relationship between the State and the Church must be maintained, at all times.
"In view of the above, I have been directed by the lord Bishop, to inform you of the need for all priests in the Diocese, to adhere strictly to the following, with immediate effect: "Parishes must provide water and soap for the washing of hands; sanitizer should be provided, and all members should be encouraged to maintain high standard of personal hygiene.
"One hour services must be conducted for members, not exceeding 50 in multiple sanctuary/chapel hall.
"Individual cups should be encouraged for use during Holy Communion Services.; individuals should clap their hands (instead of hand shaking or hugging) during the time for Peace at Holy Communion Services.
"Compliance with the above listed is the wisest thing to do at a time like this. The steps are not to hinder any faithful from worshipping the Almighty God. May our cry for mercy be heard by Him in Jesus name. Yours in His service."
Methodist Church holds services with increased precautions
Reacting to the ban, *Prelate of The Methodist Church, His Eminence Samuel Emeka Kanu Uche, acknowledged that the coronavirus was not only a threat to the existence of humanity but also a brutal challenge to the nation's corporate existence.
"As a leader of the people called Methodists in Nigeria, I, therefore, direct as follows: That services in all our churches will continue unrestricted as sanitisers shall be provided at the entrance of our churches.
"That all our local churches must be fumigated with immediate effect and preferably on a regular basis. That the use of the Chalice is suspended for the next four weeks. Single cups should be used for the administration of the sacrament of Holy Communion and sterilized after use.
"That all conveniences, especially toilets should be thoroughly cleaned and disinfected at least two times on a daily basis."
Senate closes gallery
Meanwhile, the Senate yesterday announced a partial closure of its gallery and suspension of public hearing from next Tuesday, following the impact of COVID-19 on the economy and society.
Disclosing this after a closed door session of senators, President of the Senate, Senator Ahmad Lawan, said it was the decision of the Senate to suspend public hearings and restrict access to its chamber over growing concerns of COVID-19 spread in the country.
According to him, there will no longer be excursion to the Senate by students and other persons.
Lawan said: "The Senate resolves to suspend all public hearings till further notice as a result of coronavirus (COVID-19).
Top Headlines Nigeria Coronavirus
"In addition, the Senate gallery will remain closed to the public till further notice, including excursions from schools and organisations from Tuesday, March 24, 2020," Lawan said.
The Senate also asked senators who just returned from foreign trip to subject themselves to compulsory medical test to ascertain whether they had been infected with the deadly coronavirus.
COVID-19: Nigeria failing on testing
Federal and state authorities in Nigeria have come under fire in recent times for not ensuring enough test centres are available and widely distributed across the six geopolitical zones of the country.
With a total of 12 confirmed cases of COVID-19, all the tests are being carried out at the five available test centers in the country.
The centers are the NCDC National Reference Laboratory, Abuja, FCT, Irrua Specialist Teaching Hospital, Edo state, the Virology laboratory of the Lagos University Teaching Hospital, LUTH; the Nigeria Institute for Medical Research, NIMR, and the African Centre of Excellence for Genomics of Infectious Disease, Ede, in Osun state.
There are worries that with the number of people screened so far, Nigeria may not be detecting more cases because it may be carrying out fewer tests than required.
Testing in Nigeria has been an issue. There are no test centres in the South South, North West and North East zones of the country. All the available test centres are concentrated in the South West, North Central and South South zones.
"Nigeria is failing in testing," said Dr Casmir Ifeanyi, a Public Health Consultant and Medical Scientist/researcher. Ifeanyi, who is National PRO of the Association of Medical Laboratory Scientists of Nigeria, AMLSN, called for adoption of global standards.
"In the passing years, I have made appeals to the Governor of Enugu State, to set up a public health reference laboratory in his state. I have led a team to the Governor and he sent the Deputy Governor to interface with us. These were the issues we raised with him, but two or three years down the line, he has not done anything about it. The state keeps having a record of Lassa fever, now it has a record of coronavirus.
"The same thing is applicable to Ebonyi state which is also endemic for Lassa fever. We also made overtures to the Governor of the state directly and through the media that a reference laboratory be put in place because these states are vulnerable.
"The same thing applies to other states in the South West, particularly Ondo State that is at the border with Edo State that is also endemic for Lassa fever."
"The states in the South East are not ready for COVID-19 and nothing can be further than that. They are ill-prepared. The highest hospital in Enugu is the Federal University Teaching Hospital and the state- owned Enugu Sate Teaching Hospital. If you take a tour of the hospital, you will not in anyway pass it for a Teaching Hospital. I don't know what the state government is doing to relocate that hospital to a proper place where it can function as a teaching hospital. I also think that the capacities of the laboratories in the two hospitals I have mentioned is nothing to write home about."
Ifeanyi said strengthening and expansion of COVID-19 laboratory diagnostic capacity should be uppermost as part of the response and preparedness measures put in place by the Federal government against the pandemic in Nigeria.
"In this particular time that we are bedevilled with this outbreak, what we need to do is to develop an emergency crack medical laboratory workforce. Again, as a professional group in the coming week, we shall be assembling to train service leaders from the rank of Director to Assistant Directors in Teaching Hospitals and Federal Medical Centres on what they have to do and know at this point in time.
"We need government to toe that kind of part. We need the NCDC to go beyond training their staff to begin to engage medical lab practitioners and medical laboratory scientists in Teaching Hospitals and FMCs and train them on how to carry out work now in the lab and how to carry out diagnosis of this disease."
Read the original article on Vanguard.
Who Will Explain Coronavirus to Buhari?
Copyright © 2020 Vanguard. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com). To contact the copyright holder directly for corrections — or for permission to republish or make other authorized use of this material, click here.