A group of rogue killer whales has been attacking boats off the coast of Spain and Portugal, and it is getting worse and worse, experts said. Since summer, the sailors have reported that orcas are ramming their boats and sometimes for hours on end. This year, there have been 49 incidents of killer whales attacking the boats recorded, a behavior that was not previously reported.Scientists are still baffled why these orcas are attacking the boats. Fortunately, no humans have been killed by these unusual interactions with the whales. Spanish authorities have already prohibited boats that are smaller than 49ft from sailing where the reported attacks happened.
The number of international students in the U.S. fell 1.8% in 2019-20, the third biggest drop since records began over 70 years ago, after 2003-04 (-2.4%) and 1971-72 (-3.2%). This decline took place before the pandemic hit and has been attributed to immigration policy uncertainty. American universities are braced for an even bigger slide in the current year. New international student enrollment in the U.S. and online outside the U.S. decreased by 43% in Fall 2020, according to the latest IIE report. We’ll have a complete picture of 2020-21 next fall.
The bankrupt owner of the Tulsequah Chief mine in northwest B.C. has been discharged from receivership, paving the way for B.C. to finally clean up an infamous site that has been polluting the Taku River watershed for more than 60 years.The story of the acid-leaching mine, abandoned in the 1950s by its first owner, Cominco, later bought by Teck Resources, has been a sore spot for B.C., which has been criticized for its failure to adequately account for long-term mine liabilities in its permitting process.
THIS IMPOSING BRONZE STATUE ON the Montreux promenade features Freddie Mercury striking his iconic pose.The statue is the work of a British-based Czech sculptor Irena Sedlecka, famous for British public figures, but also for oversized Communist statues dedicated to the working man. Sedlecka first saw Mercury perform at the Live Aid concert at Wembley Stadium in London in 1985. He was truly one of her favorite musicians and performers.The statue was initially intended for London, but negotiations with the authorities proved difficult. The sculpture was then sent to Montreux, a place very close to Mercury as he maintained a home in the city. The band also recorded several albums in Montreux, including, Made in Heaven.On a rainy November day in 1996, Queen guitarist Brian May unveiled the nearly 10-foot (three meters) tall bronze sculpture in the presence of Mercury’s parents Jer and Bomi Bulsara, his sister Kashmira and her husband Roger Cook, his former personal assistant Peter Freestone, Queen drummer Roger Taylor, and Sedlecka. There were also several other notable artists present at the unveiling. Located by the water, the bronze surface of the sculpture was exposed to various elements over time and was also the victim of vandalism. The City of Montreux thoroughly restored the sculpture to its former glory around 2010.
That’s the combined GDP of the 15 countries set to sign the world’s biggest free trade deal via video conference this Sunday. Known as the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP), the agreement took eight years of negotiations and will include the 10 members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), along with Australia, China, Japan, Korea, and New Zealand. These countries together account for about a third of both the world’s GDP and population.
India withdrew in November last year over fears of being flooded with cheap consumer goods from China, but it is being granted special permission to join whenever it chooses to under a clause.
The timing of the China-led RCEP being sealed just before the next U.S. administration is no coincidence. An expert who advises the Chinese government on trade told the South China Morning Post the Biden Administration is likely to rejoin the CPTPP, and “if the RCEP negotiations are not handled well, that would provide incentive for a lot of countries to shift to CPTPP.” Too many abbreviations? The chart below should help.
CPTPP or the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) is a free trade agreement between 11 countries that emerged after the U.S. rejected the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) in 2017. President Obama had promoted TPP as a means to limit China’s influence in global trade and it is possibly still seen as a threat to the Asian economy’s interests.
Elite athletes like World Cup skier Mikaela Shiffrin, champion climber Kai Lightner, and ultrarunner Sabrina Stanley are used to letting their performance do the talking. But, as with so many of us, 2020 challenged them in new ways, pushing each out of their respective comfort zone. From taking a stand on social issues to having the courage to talk openly about stigmatized topics to believing in themselves in the face of skeptics, here’s how each found voice and purpose through adversity this year.Mikaela Shiffrin: “You wanna unfollow? I’ll see you to the door.”Last February, Mikaela Shiffrin was in Europe when she got the call: Her father had suffered an accident back home in Colorado and was clinging to life. Shiffrin flew home immediately, buying herself a few short hours to say an impossible goodbye. Jeff Shiffrin died on February 2, 2020, at the age of 65.
The Toronto-Dominion Bank is coming in for a mix of kudos and mockery after announcing a 2050 net-zero target and declaring that it will no longer finance some oil and gas-related activities in the Arctic, but failing to issue a broader statement on fossil fuel divestment, as a growing number of European financial institutions are doing.In a release yesterday, TD Bank Group said it had also “established dedicated teams to advise and support clients as they work to capture the opportunities of the low-carbon economy. The ambitious actions outlined today support the Bank’s Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) strategy, which leverages TD’s business, people, and financial resources to help deliver sustainable economic prosperity.”
Supermarket aisles filled with fresh produce are probably not where you would expect to discover some of the first benefits of quantum computing.SPECIAL FEATURESpecial Report: The CIO’s guide to Quantum computing (free PDF)Quantum computers offer great promise for cryptography and optimization problems. ZDNet explores what quantum computers will and won’t be able to do, and the challenges we still face.Read MoreBut Canadian grocery chain Save-On-Foods has become an unlikely pioneer, using quantum technology to improve the management of in-store logistics. In collaboration with quantum computing company D-Wave, Save-On-Foods is using a new type of computing, which is based on the downright weird behaviour of matter at the quantum level. And it’s already seeing promising results.The company’s engineers approached D-Wave with a logistics problem that classical computers were incapable of solving. Within two months, the concept had translated into a hybrid quantum algorithm that was running in one of the supermarket stores, reducing the computing time for some tasks from 25 hours per week down to mere seconds.
Mumbai Travel Guide – Interactive Guide in Indian, English and ChineseInteractive City Guides search using the power of the internet, continuously updated in multiple languages. All 2nd editions using the power of the internet with 8 search engines and 9900 links using your browser in over 10 different languages; point and click that’s it! You can now avoid spelling mistakes and language difficulties making this guide simple enough for everybody to use. One thumb required, simply click the icon and your search is done. Read everything you want to know and it is never out of date. Don’t want to read, watch it all searching YouTube!These guides have extensive hotel and restaurant search; not to mention real estate, shopping, job and employment opportunities available in the guides. Sit in the coffee shop and start searching away on their WiFi and start using our interactive city search guides and brochures with multiple languages! For PC, Mac, Pad, iPhone or mobile IOS and Android phone enabled search tool with multi-search engine capability built right in.This guide searches for food, hotels, real estate, historical sites, sports, concerts, even public toilets and water closets and everything that’s fun to do; with travel planning, maps and transportation. Good for tourists, travellers, vacationers, people who have just moved to town, and even long term residents who want to stay on top of what’s new and current in their area or city.These guides are great for those with disabilities; pick and click with one thumb!New updated Interactive Notes and Glossaries for Economics, Financial, Markets, Money and Banking for students and professionals. Financial literacy is the ability to understand and effectively apply various financial skills, including personal financial management, budgeting, and investing. Financial literacy helps individuals become self-sufficient so that they can achieve financial stability.All guides rolling out in 2020 searching in all languages in Chinese, French, German, Spanish, Russian, Arabic, Indian, Portuguese and Japanese!Updated April 2020. R.G. Richardson City Guides using the power of the internet. Available in 190 countries worldwide.
Purdue Pharma will plead guilty to three federal criminal charges as part of a settlement of more than $8 billion, Justice Department officials announced Wednesday.The company makes OxyContin, the powerful prescription painkiller that experts say helped touch off an opioid epidemic.The deal does not release any of the company’s executives or owners — members of the wealthy Sackler family — from criminal liability, and a criminal investigation is ongoing
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