Tours to the border truce village of Panmunjom could resume as early as next month.Unification Minister Kim Yeon-chul told reporters Thursday that improved security measures will ensure that tours can resume on a trial basis after they were suspended last October as a preventive measure against Afri...

Korea saw the biggest drop in private consumption on record last year even before the coronavirus epidemic struck.According to Statistics Korea on Thursday, the average monthly spending of households fell 3.2 percent to W2.46 million in 2019 (US$1=W1,226). That was the biggest decline since the gove...

More than two months after a black man was shot to death while jogging on a Sunday afternoon, Georgia investigators conceded that the facts show enough evidence to jail a white father and son on charges of felony murder and aggravated assault.  The investigation appeared stalled by local author...

An exquisite estate in Cherry Hills Village that finished as a finalist for the 2019 Home of the Year in Colorado Homes & Lifestyles Magazine was recently listed for sale at $7.75 million.

Colorado Springs is the beachhead. But it's always been clear In-N-Out Burger planned to feed its fanatical following along the Front Range by building more than just the one restaurant coming to that city in 2020.

Islamabad : The coronavirus pandemic has increased the transgender persons' socioeconomic vulnerability and isolation, so short and long-term measures, especially by the government, are imperative to support them and ensure alternate means of livelihood in the changing environment.This was the...

Islamabad : President Arif Alvi on Friday directed that social distancing should be maintained in the upcoming session of the National Assembly for the safety of the parliamentarians and staff against the threat of coronavirus.During a visit to the National Assembly, the president was apprised by...

The Special Investigation Unit of the Criminal Investigation Agency busted on Friday three suspected criminals running a gang. In a separate raid, they apprehended analleged robber.According to SIU police chief SSP Irfan Bahadur, three gang members were involved in various criminal cases,...

Microchip Solves Interoperability Challenges of Delivering up to 90 Watts of Power Over Ethernet Wiring

Microchip Smart Storage Adapters Now Interoperate Seamlessly with MegaRAC® SP-X Management Firmware from AMI for At-Scale Secure Storage Management

Next-Generation Miniaturized Rubidium Atomic Clock Improves Performance and adds Features without Increasing Size

Enabling Cloud Connectivity to All MCUs and MPUs, Microchip Launches a Range of Embedded IoT Solutions for Rapid Prototyping

Safeguards due diligence reports are prepared as part of safeguard due diligence and review to ensure compliance with ADB safeguard policy due diligence requirements. This document dated May 2020 is provided for the ADB project 51039-002 in Afghanistan.

Safeguards due diligence reports are prepared as part of safeguard due diligence and review to ensure compliance with ADB safeguard policy due diligence requirements. This document dated May 2020 is provided for the ADB project 2020-05-07 in Afghanistan.

Grant agreements outline the terms of an agreement for a grant. This document dated 7 May 2020 is provided for the ADB project 54229-001 in Fiji.

ADB has a vacancy for the position of Senior IT Officer (Project Management) (3 Vacancies) in the Information Technology Department . The deadline for submitting applications is on 22 May 2020.

ADB has a vacancy for the position of Associate Facilities Planning and Management Officer (Project Management) in the Office of Administrative Services. The deadline for submitting applications is on 22 May 2020.

ADB has a vacancy for the position of Budget and Management Services Analyst in the Budget, Personnel, and Management Systems Department. The deadline for submitting applications is on 22 May 2020.

ADBI, CCAF, and the JBSEEL are offering an 8-week Online Course on Fintech & Regulatory Innovation and related scholarships for select policy makers from Asian Development Bank developing member countries.

ADB invites papers for the Asian Development Conference 2020 to be held 16-17 July 2020 in Seoul, Korea.

radeep Sharma Tribune News Service Chandigarh, January 23 The group-housing societies, residential colonies of employers and commercial-cum-residential complexes of developers will be supplied power on single-point (bulk supply) system by the electricity department from April 1. While the electricity bills for February/March would be issued as per the existing practice, the bills from April onwards would be issued as per the single-point metering system, according to an order issued by the Chief General Manager (Commercial), Uttar Haryana Bijli Vitran Nigam (UHBVN). The new system would be implemented in housing colonies having 20 or more houses. The order said on the basis of the reading of April 1, the bills of […]

NOIDA: The Noida Authority is set to start work on a six-lane bridge, parallel to the existing Okhla Barrage, this month bringing a sigh of relief to thousands of commuters who travel between Delhi, Noida and Faridabad. Technical bids for the project are to be finalized on February 3, while financial bids will be decided a week later. According to the officials, the construction of the Rs 150 crore bridge is expected to be ready in two years. Officials further revealed that the Central Water & Power Research Station (CWPRS), Pune, Yamuna Action Plan (YAP) and IIT-Delhi have already approved the proposed project last year and it is being fast […]

Speaker Nabih Berri said it was necessary and urgent to implement measures to halt Lebanon’s economic collapse, local newspaper Al-Joumhouria reported Saturday.

Getting Started Guide: Microchip PIC-IoT WA (Wireless for Amazon Web Services) Application

MPLAB PICkit4 In-Circuit Debugger User's Guide

MPLAB PICkit 4 In-Circuit Debugger Quick Start Guide

How To Select or Change myMICROCHIP Preferences

dsPIC33CK64MC105 General Purpose Plug-In Module (PIM) Information Sheet

A white former police officer and his son were arrested on Thursday in Georgia, United States of America, and charged with murder in the shooting death of an unarmed black man, an incident that touched off a furore in the community and among civil rights activists nationwide.

Gregory McMichael, 64, and his son Travis, 34, were taken into custody by the Georgia Bureau of Investigation and charged with aggravated assault as well as murder in the killing of Ahmaud Arbery in the town of Brunswick, the agency said in a statement.

The Feb 23 shooting death of Arbery, 25, as he ran unarmed through the small town was captured on video by an unnamed witness in a vehicle near the scene. The video’s wide broadcast in recent days ignited outrage among activists, politicians and celebrities who saw the incident as the latest case of white perpetrators killing a black man and going unpunished.

It was not immediately clear on Thursday if the two men had retained attorneys.

A district attorney appointed to handle the high-profile case after two other prosecutors recused themselves said on Wednesday he would ask a county grand jury to decide if the two men should face charges.

The men’s arrest by the GBI, one day after the agency opened an investigation into the case, appears to have sidelined any grand jury probe.

Three shots

The video footage shows Arbery jogging down a narrow two-lane road and around the McMichaels’ white pickup truck, which had stopped in the right lane with its driver’s door open.

As Arbery crosses back in front of the truck, a gunshot is fired. Arbery is then seen struggling with a man holding a long gun as a second man stands in the bed of the truck brandishing a revolver. Two more shots are heard before Arbery stumbles and falls face down onto the asphalt. The GBI said it was Travis McMichael who fired the fatal round.

According to a police report obtained by the New York Times, Gregory McMichael, a former Glynn County police officer and district attorney’s investigator, told detectives the incident began when he spotted Arbery from his front yard “hauling ass” down the street.

McMichael told police that, because he suspected Arbery in a string of recent neighborhood break-ins, he and his son gave chase in the truck, with Gregory McMichael carrying a .357 Magnum revolver and Travis armed with a shotgun.

Gregory McMichael said Arbery began to “violently attack” his son, fighting him for the shotgun, prompting Travis to open fire.

According to a letter obtained by the Times, the prosecutor in Brunswick argued there was not probable cause to arrest the McMichaels because they were legally carrying firearms, had a right to pursue a burglary suspect and use deadly force to protect themselves.

NEW DELHI: India’s top medical research body has turned down a proposal by the Modi government to test water from the Ganges river as a cure for coronavirus, ThePrint news portal said on Thursday.

It said the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) turned down the government’s “request” to conduct research on a theory that Gangajal, or water from Ganges river, could possibly cure Covid-19.

Speaking to ThePrint, a source in the ICMR said the agency has refused to get involved as it is focussing on the Covid-19 battle and doesn’t want to waste time on other research amid the pandemic.

The move came after the country’s apex medical research body received a “request” from the Ministry of Jal Shakti to conduct “further research” on a proposal by an NGO, Atulya Ganga, said an ICMR official, who didn’t wish to be named.

In its letter last month, Mr Atulya had cited the presence of a “ninja virus”, called bacteriophage, in Ganges water that could cure Covid-19, the disease caused by the new coronavirus. Bacteriophage is a special type of virus that eats harmful bacteria, the letter said.

According ThePrint, the NGO asked the government on April 3 to conduct a study on the possibility of this virus acting as a cure. It sent a copy each to the ministry and the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO). The ministry’s National Mission for Clean Ganga, the department administering the Modi government’s ambitious Namami Gange programme, then wrote to ICMR on April 30 requesting a clinical trial.

The ICMR then held a meeting to discuss the idea, but refused to proceed, offering only its “help” to the NGO, ThePrint said. “We had indeed received a letter from the Ministry of Jal Shakti for such research. The experts at ICMR also held a meeting on this matter. Then we asked those proposing this research that you should tell us about hospitals and doctors that are ready and willing to conduct some research on it. We will certainly help them in this regard,” said the ICMR official.

“As of now we are still treating plasma therapy as a trial for treatment for corona (Covid-19), then how can we so quickly accept a virus called bacteriophage, found in the water of Ganges, as a cure? Right now, there is no logic in the argument that the virus found in Ganga’s water can indeed fight the coronavirus disease,” added the official.

However, he added that if the ministry takes an initiative into the matter then ICMR will extend its assistance to it.

Speaking to ThePrint, Dr Rajnikant Srivastava, ICMR’s head of the Department of Research Management, Policy Planning and Communication, in Delhi and Director of Regional Medical Research Centre, Gorakhpur, said: “A presentation was made after the Jal Shakti ministry’s proposal. The matter is at a very preliminary stage. Nothing has been decided on the future course of action. We will support the Jal Shakti ministry in all the work it does on this front.”

A senior official of the Ministry of Jal Shakti, meanwhile, said there are several special properties in the river and many people were demanding research on them.

Published in Dawn, May 8th, 2020

ISLAMABAD: The Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Friday reserved its judgement on a petition filed against the National Database and Registration Authority’s (Nadra) notification of revoking the citizenship of Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) leader Hafiz Hamdullah.

Nadra in its written reply referred to intelligence reports claiming that Mr Hamdullah is not a Pakistani national.

On Oct 11 last year, Mr Hamdullah lost his citizenship when Nadra declared him an ‘alien’.

Subsequently, the Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (Pemra) banned his appearance on TV channels.

As per the Oct 26 Pemra directive, Nadra had in a letter dated Oct 11 conveyed that “Hafiz Hamdullah Saboor is ‘confirmed alien’ as he is not a citizen of Pakistan”.

It further said Nadra had “cancelled and digitally impounded” the CNIC [computerised national identity card] issued to Mr Hamdullah.

“Since it is established that the said person is an ‘alien’, all the TV channels (news and current affairs) are directed to refrain from inviting and projecting Mr Hafiz Hamdullah Saboor in their programmes/talk shows, news, etc,” the authority said in its letter.

In October, JUI-F leader lost his citizenship when Nadra declared him an ‘alien’

Nadra took the stance before the IHC that the intelligence agencies claimed that Mr Hamdullah’s credentials were also fake and subsequently his computerised national identity card had been cancelled.

Mr Hamdullah, who was a senator from Balochistan between March 2012 and March 2018, frequently makes appearances in evening talk shows on different news channels.

The directive banning his TV appearances came at a time when the JUI-F’s Azadi March was about to start.

Advocate Kamran Murtaza, who filed a petition on behalf of Mr Hamdullah, informed the court that the petitioner was born in the province of Balochistan and that his father, children and other family members also held CNICs. One of Mr Hamdullah’s children is serving in the armed forces of the country as a commissioned officer.

According to the petition, Mr Hamdullah has also remained member of the Balochistan Assembly and “Nadra is not vested with jurisdiction to adjudicate upon the citizenship of citizen which otherwise has to be dealt with the Pakistan Citizenship Act, 1951. It shows that Nadra’s order was issued without any lawful authority,” the petition said.

IHC Chief Justice Athar Minallah, after hearing the arguments of petitioner’s counsel and other respondents, reserved the judgement.

Published in Dawn, May 9th, 2020

CHANDIGARH/GURGAON: There is a ray of hope for real estate projects awaiting change of land use (CLU) licences from the state government. The department of town and country planning on Tuesday submitted a revised sub-regional plan to the NCR Planning Board (NCRPB). The builders, however, will have to wait till the board approves the revised plan. Last month, the Punjab and Haryana high court had barred the state government from issuing CLU licences to developers or government agencies in NCR because of the same reason. Earlier, the NCRPB had highlighted loopholes in Haryana’s draft of the sub-regional plan, but the government failed to incorporate the changes. After a rap from […]

CHANDIGARH: TDI Investors Association, which includes 70 member investors from Chandigarh, on Wednesday created a row, alleging that the owners had cheated them of Rs 150 crore. The association, in a press conference, alleged that a legal agreement was signed between the company and the members in 2005 after which they paid 80% of the cost for showrooms in the mall and were promised possession by 2008. The members blamed the company of not giving them possession till date and neither paying them the returns. The project includes 70 shops varying from 400 sq ft to 1,000 sq ft. TDI chairman Ravinder Taneja, however, trashed the allegations, blaming the authorities […]

Quick, what’s the square root of -1? Okay, I know. That’s an easy one. But how about the square root of i? If it’s been a while since you took complex analysis, you might have to scratch your head a little bit. Fortunately, MATLAB can just tell us. ... read more >>

A language reclamation activist confronts linguistic imperialism and the dehumanisation of two South African first languages through digital inclusion advocacy.

"The COVID-19 pandemic is not an excuse for human rights violations. Excessive force and brutality are unacceptable from any of our enforcement or security forces."

The Chinese government policy of racial and religious profiling has forced young Uyghurs to leave China and remain in exile.

"Nigeria is a secular state and freedom of speech is one of the fundamental characteristics of a modern democratic state. Criticizing a religion is not a criminal offence."

The government has advised people to make homemade masks using capulanas – a traditional Mozambican cloth generally worn by women – and other readily available materials.

A unanimous Supreme Court on Thursday threw out the convictions of two political insiders involved in the “Bridgegate” scandal that ultimately derailed the 2016 presidential bid of then-New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie. The justices found evidence of deception, corruption and abuse of power in the scheme, but said “not every corrupt act by state or local officials is a federal crime.”

ADB has approved a $100 million loan to help supply renewable energy to Mongolia by installing its first large-scale advanced battery energy storage system.

ADB has provided several targeted interventions to support its developing member countries in combating the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic from its early stages. In support of ADB’s effort, the Government of Japan is...

ADB has approved $50 million in loan and grant financing to help the Government of the Kyrgyz Republic mitigate the significant negative health, social, and economic impacts of the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic.

ADB and the Government of Mongolia today signed $40 million in loans and a $2 million Japan Fund for Poverty Reduction grant to support the modernization of government-owned irrigation networks and vegetable production in Mongolia.

Alastair Hughes, CEO (Asia Pacific) of Jones Lang LaSalle (JLL), who was in Bangalore to hold a board meeting of the Asia Pacific region comprising China, Japan, Australia, South East Asia and India, spoke to BusinessLine to share the real estate market sentiment and key issues on corporate leasing. How is the realty market in India as compared to other countries in Asia Pacific ? India has seen a dramatic recovery. The hangover did not last very long as it had in 2010-2011. The market is very dynamic here right now. While Asia-Pacific began to recover in 2012-2013, India went through a lull, largely due to lack of business confidence, […]

Hackers linked to Iran have targeted staff at U.S. drugmaker Gilead Sciences Inc in recent weeks, according to publicly-available web archives reviewed by Reuters and three cybersecurity researchers, as the company races to deploy a treatment for the COVID-19 virus.

The government of Indonesia wanted to improve land and water management in the Citarum River Basin, and requested assistance from the Asian Development Bank (ADB) to develop a long-term integrated water resources management (IWRM) investment program as part of its strategic road map. In December 2008, ADB approved a multitranche financing facility (MFF) for the Integrated Citarum Water Resources Management Investment Program to support the implementation of the IWRM road map in the basin. A periodic financing request was formulated to implement priority activities from the road map.

ONGOING EVALUATION. This evaluation will assess whether the Climate Change Fund (CCF) has been successful in facilitating greater investments in member countries to address climate change and provide recommendations for future directions of the fund. 

This report evaluates the performance of three technical assistance (TA) projects in Viet Nam for the resilience of rural development and climate change, approved by the Asian Development Bank over 2009–2013: (i) TA 7377: Climate Change Impact and Adaptation Study in the Mekong Delta; (ii) TA 8102: Promoting Climate Resilient Rural Infrastructure in the Northern Mountain Provinces; and (iii) TA 8592: Improving Payment for Forest Ecosystem Service Implementation.

The project’s key objective was to demonstrate an innovative integrated ecosystem and water resources management that will improve the environmental conditions in the Baiyangdian Basin in Hebei province, southwest of Beijing. It focused on the need to conserve Baiyangdian Lake—one of the most important and vulnerable ecosystems in the People’s Republic of China (PRC). It would also contribute to achieving the goals of the Baoding municipality’s Eleventh Five-Year Environmental Protection Plan.