Innovation. Innovation in its modern meaning is a "new idea, creative thoughts, new imaginations in form of device or method". Innovation is often also viewed as the application of better solutions that meet new requirements, unarticulated needs, or existing market needs. innovation meaning in english innovation meaning what is innovation renovation meaning in hindi invention meaning in hindi innovative meaning in english innovation meaning in marathi
Saturday, 30 November 2019
Quotation of the Day: Iraqi Leader Says He’ll Step Down as Unrest Builds
By Unknown Author from NYT Today’s Paper https://ift.tt/2R5KzbG
London Bridge Knife Attack Suspect Was Former Terror Convict: UK Police
https://za.gl/rdaZ4S from NDTV News - Latest https://ift.tt/2OVkzNy
2 Killed, Many Injured After 'Terror-Related' Stabbing Near London Bridge
https://za.gl/rdaZ4S from NDTV News - Latest https://ift.tt/37Pgmnd
British PM Boris Johnson Refuses To Reveal How Many Children He Has
https://za.gl/rdaZ4S from NDTV News - Latest https://ift.tt/37ObAq4
On Thanksgiving, US Cop Gets Starbucks Order With "Pig" Written On Cup
https://za.gl/rdaZ4S from NDTV News - Latest https://ift.tt/2XZgWKJ
Voting Begins For First Phase Of Jharkhand Elections
https://za.gl/rdaZ4S from NDTV News - Latest https://ift.tt/33Ar3qi
Malta PM Expected To Resign In Crisis Over Journalist Murder: Report
https://za.gl/rdaZ4S from NDTV News - Latest https://ift.tt/2Y7PzOI
Panel Checking Delhi's "Shop-like Schools" Only Has "Yes Men": High Court
https://za.gl/rdaZ4S from NDTV News - Latest https://ift.tt/2DyyO5u
Seymour Siwoff, Master of Sports Statistics, Is Dead at 99
By BY RICHARD GOLDSTEIN from NYT Sports https://ift.tt/2q4R8jP
Kashmir Students Won't Be Harassed Over Fees, Attendance: Amarinder Singh
https://za.gl/rdaZ4S from NDTV News - Latest https://ift.tt/2L8evjD
IndiGo Pilots Revving Engines Too Hard Led To Engine Problems: Report
https://za.gl/rdaZ4S from NDTV News - Latest https://ift.tt/2L8We5N
13 Constituencies Vote In Phase 1 Of Jharkhand Assembly Elections Today
https://za.gl/rdaZ4S from NDTV News - Latest https://ift.tt/35Kamu8
Drunk Man Kills Two Daughters After Argument With Wife In Noida: Cops
https://za.gl/rdaZ4S from NDTV News - Latest https://ift.tt/2rHrEJS
Best If US Keeps Out Of UK Election, Boris Johnson Tells Donald Trump
https://za.gl/rdaZ4S from NDTV News - Latest https://ift.tt/33zK4cB
Brazil President Accuses Leonardo DiCaprio Of Paying "To Torch" Amazon
https://za.gl/rdaZ4S from NDTV News - Latest https://ift.tt/2OwQjcY
China Reporter Convicted After Slapping UK Activist Over Hong Kong Debate
https://za.gl/rdaZ4S from NDTV News - Latest https://ift.tt/2R4pb6B
New top story from Time: Why the LDS Church Joined LGBTQ Advocates in Supporting Utah’s Conversion Therapy Ban
When Utah Gov. Gary Herbert proposed a new rule banning licensed therapists from practicing LGBTQ conversion therapy on minors this week, it was supported not only by LGBTQ advocates, but also the Church of Latter-day Saints (LDS).
The support of the LDS church, formerly known as the Mormon church, didn’t come easily. The process of banning conversion therapy has taken months of back-and-forth between church leaders, the LGBTQ community and state policy makers. As recently as a month ago, the church opposed the governor’s rule change.
Troy Williams, the executive director of LGBTQ advocacy group Equality Utah, tells TIME that the ban is significant because Utah is “ground zero” for conversion therapy. The idea that sexuality could be changed has pervaded among LDS members since at least the 1960s, when LDS apostles published Miracle of Forgiveness, which described gay sex as a “crime against nature” and said that sexual orientation could be changed through prayer. Researchers at Brigham Young University, which is owned by the church, allegedly used electric shock therapy to attempt to cure homosexuality in the 1970s.
“We are pleased that the new rule will mirror the legislation that was drafted and introduced earlier this year. We have no doubt the adoption of this rule will send a life-saving message to LGBTQ+ youth across our state,” Williams said in a statement released after the announcement.
When the rule goes into effect, as early as January 2020, Utah will be the 19th state to ban the practice.
While the LDS church has repeatedly affirmed that it does not condone or implement conversion therapy—which GLAAD defines as “any attempt to change a person’s sexual orientation, gender identity or gender expression”—LDS teachings are still regarded as largely conservative on LGBTQ issues. The church has described same-sex couples who marry as apostates; until this year, their children could not be baptized without approval from church leadership. Last month, LDS President and Apostle Dallin H. Oaks described gender as “biological sex at birth”—a definition which excludes people who do not identify with the gender they were assigned at birth.
Asked for comment, the LDS church pointed TIME to its statement in support of the governor’s proposed ban.
LGBTQ advocates strongly tied the ban to efforts to address the rising suicide rate in Utah and prominent youth suicides. In the last three years, the church has invested in suicide prevention resources and campaigns.
Bryan Schott, the managing editor of UtahPolicy.com who has spent two decades covering politics in Utah, says that two major factors may have led the church to change its mind. Schott says that there’s growing concern about suicide in Utah, which has the sixth-highest suicide rate in the nation, and the LGBTQ advocates raised compelling evidence that attempts to change sexual orientation harms LGBTQ youth. Additionally, the rule now explicitly leaves room for discussions of morality.
“When they are presented with evidence, they can be very reasonable,” Schott says of the LDS church.
It was not always clear that Utah would ban conversion therapy. A first attempt to ban the practice appeared as a bill in the Utah legislature in winter 2019, but stalled after it was radically limited by social conservatives on the state House Judiciary Committee. With the alterations, the legislation would only place narrow limitations on healthcare practitioners, banning them from promising to change sexual orientation, or administering painful treatments—such as electric shock therapy. Negotiations between the governor’s office, LGBTQ advocates and the LDS church continued until the governor proposed a new solution: He offered to amend the state’s professional licensing rules to bar conversion therapy by licensed counselors, a move that would not require legislators’ approval.
The LDS church had chosen to neither oppose nor support the legislative bill banning the practice earlier this year. However church leaders at first opposed Herbert’s proposed rule change. In October, the church said that it is “ambiguous in key areas and overreaches in others.” It sent a letter to the state Division of Occupational and Professional Licensing, which was obtained by the Salt Lake Tribune. The letter argued that the ban’s definition of gender identity change was too broad and that it could curb what it describes as legitimate therapeutic practices.
It became clear that the church had reversed it position on Tuesday when it endorsed the rule change after the governor added language that made clear that patients could continue to discuss “moral or religious beliefs or practices” with a healthcare provider. A press release from the governor’s office announcing the conversion therapy ban included a statement from Marty Stephens, director of government relations for the LDS church. Stephens thanked the governor, his staff and the Division of Occupational and Professional Licensing for “finding a good solution which will work for all concerned.”
Williams says that part of the effort to pass the enact the ban in Utah was maintaining an an “active dialogue” with representatives from the LDS church. Williams says that while there are still religious conservatives in Utah who strongly support conversion therapy, he felt encouraged by the outpouring of support he received from LDS families.
“The most powerful protective factor we have to prevent suicide are strong family bonds. And when those family bonds are fractured by these kind of culture wars, then young people are at risk,” says Williams.
When asked if he felt the rule changes went far enough to limit conversion therapy, Williams insists that it went far as legally possible without infringing on individual rights.
“They’re not exceptions, they’re clarifications. That’s the important part,” Williams says of the passage. “And yeah, clergy are exempt. Life coaches are also exempt. Because the state doesn’t regulate churches, the state doesn’t regulate life coaches… right now, the state only regulates state licensed therapists. Right now, a lot of people are coming to me and saying that’s not enough. That’s what’s consistent with the first amendment and the Constitution of the United States.”
Williams says that the inclusion of the provision clarifying that that the rule likely was the reason the LDS church was willing to approve of the ban. However, he says that it does not impact the effectiveness of the ban, noting that LGBTQ rights advocates had worked with the Human Rights Campaign to ensure the language was “consistent with the national LGBTQ movement.”
Video Shows Chicago Cop Slamming Man Into Pavement, Sparks Outrage
https://za.gl/rdaZ4S from NDTV News - Latest https://ift.tt/2R3wUBX
3 Young People Stabbed on Busy Hague Street, Setting Off Alarm in Dutch City
By BY CHRISTOPHER F. SCHUETZE from NYT World https://ift.tt/2OUYS04
Shmoo Cake, Persians and Spudnuts: Touring Canada’s Regional Cuisine
By BY IAN AUSTEN from NYT World https://ift.tt/35P2Y0q
Friday, 29 November 2019
Small And Fast, Strange Alien Comet From Another Star In Solar System
https://za.gl/rdaZ4S from NDTV News - Latest https://ift.tt/2QYHdqT
Truck That Spilled Chemical In Delhi, Killing 3, Found In Rajasthan: Cops
https://za.gl/rdaZ4S from NDTV News - Latest https://ift.tt/2ssxpeH
Advertisers Pull Out Of Spanish TV Show Over Handling Of Alleged Rape
https://za.gl/rdaZ4S from NDTV News - Latest https://ift.tt/2Drflnt
New top story from Time: ‘Stop Overproduction!’ French Climate Activists and Lawmakers Want to Ban Black Friday
(PARIS) — Dozens of French activists blocked an Amazon warehouse south of Paris in a Black Friday-inspired protest, amid increased opposition to the post-Thanksgiving sales phenomenon that has seen a group of French lawmakers push to ban it altogether.
Protesters from climate group Amis de la terre (Friends of the Earth) spread hay and old refrigerators and microwaves on the driveway leading to the warehouse in Bretigny-sur-Orge on Thursday. They held signs in front of the gates reading “Amazon: For the climate, for jobs, stop expansion, stop over-production!”
The activists were later dislodged by police.
More demonstrations are expected as Black Friday looms into view. French climate groups are planning “Block Friday” demonstrations Friday.
Their objections are garnering some support within France’s National Assembly. Some French lawmakers want to ban Black Friday, which has morphed into a global phenomenon even though it stems from a specifically U.S. holiday: Thanksgiving Thursday.
A French legislative committee passed an amendment Monday that proposes prohibiting Black Friday since it causes “resource waste” and “overconsumption.”
The amendment, which was put forward by France’s former environment minister, Delphine Batho, will be debated next month. France’s e-commerce union has condemned it.
On Europe 1 radio Thursday, France’s ecological transition minister, Elisabeth Borne, criticized Black Friday for creating “traffic jams, pollution, and gas emissions.”
She added that she would support Black Friday if it helped small French businesses, but said it mostly benefits large online retailers.
New top story from Time: Forty Iraqi Protesters Slain in 24 Hours as Violence Spirals
(BAGHDAD) — Security forces shot dead 40 anti-government protesters during 24 hours of bloodshed amid spiraling violence in the capital and Iraq’s south, security and medical officials said Thursday, one day after an Iranian consulate was torched.
Iran condemned the burning of its consulate in the holy city of Najaf as violence continued into the night across southern Iraq, where security forces had killed 36 protesters and wounded 245 since Wednesday evening, the officials said. Another four protesters were shot dead in the capital. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity in line with regulations.
Police and military forces were deployed across key oil-rich provinces to re-open roads closed off by demonstrations.
The escalating violence and heavy response against demonstrators by a largely Iran-backed government threatened to intensify tensions, especially if efforts to implement electoral and anti-corruption reforms fail to placate protesters.
Crisis committees were created to enhance coordination between Prime Minister Adil Abdul-Mahdi and governors in provinces affected by the protests “for the importance of controlling security and enforcing the law,” said a statement from the joint operations command.
Security forces shot four protesters dead in Baghdad and wounded 22 when they tried to cross the important Ahrar Bridge leading to the nearby Green Zone, the heavily fortified seat of Iraq’s government. Protesters occupy parts of the Jumhuriya, Sinak and Ahrar bridges, all of which lead to or near the fortified area.
In Najaf, five protesters were fatally shot and 32 wounded when security forces opened fire to prevent them from torching a central mosque named after the father of a prominent political leader, officials said.
The deaths came after a day after protesters burned the Iranian consulate in Najaf. It was one of the worst attacks targeting Iranian interests in the country since the anti-government protests erupted two months ago.
The unrest in Iraq began on Oct. 1, when thousands took to the streets in Baghdad and the predominantly Shiite south. The largely leaderless movement accuses the government of being hopelessly corrupt and has also decried Iran’s growing influence in Iraqi state affairs.
At least 350 people have been killed by security forces, which routinely use live ammunition and tear gas to disperse crowds.
Iran has called for a “responsible, strong and effective” response to the burning of its consulate, Abbas Mousavi, a Foreign Ministry spokesman, said in statements to Iran’s official IRNA news agency.
Iraq’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs condemned the attack, saying it was perpetrated by “people outside of the genuine protesters” seeking to harm relations between the countries.
One demonstrator was killed and 35 wounded when police fired live ammunition in a failed effort to prevent protesters entering the consulate building. Once inside, the demonstrators removed the Iranian flag and replaced it with an Iraqi one, said a police official who spoke on condition of anonymity in line with regulations.
A curfew was imposed in Najaf after the attack on the consulate. Security forces were heavily deployed around main government buildings and religious institutions Thursday morning.
Najaf province is the headquarters of the country’s Shiite religious authority headed by Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani. He has been largely supportive of protester demands, siding with them by repeatedly calling on political parties to implement serious reforms.
Influential Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr called on Iraq’s government to resign “immediately to stop the bloodletting,” while imploring protesters to maintain the peace.
“If the government does not resign, this will be the beginning of the end of Iraq,” he warned.
Al-Sadr, who has supported the protests, also categorically denied that his supporters were involved in the attack on the Iranian consulate in Najaf.
In addition to using sit-ins and burning tires to close main avenues, protesters have lately targeted Iraqi economic interests in the south by blocking key ports and roads to oil fields.
In the oil-rich city of Nasiriyah, 31 protesters were killed overnight and 215 wounded by security forces who fired to drive them away them from key bridges, security and medical officials said Thursday. Demonstrators had been blocking Nasr and Zaitoun bridges leading to the city center for several days. Security forces moved in late Wednesday to open the main thoroughfare.
By Thursday afternoon, special forces were transferred from neighboring Najaf and Diwanieh provinces to Nasiriyah to contain the violence, security officials said.
Amnesty International denounced the violence, calling it a bloodbath that “must stop now.”
“The scenes from Nasiriyah this morning more closely resemble a warzone than city streets and bridges. This brutal onslaught is just the latest in a long series of deadly events where Iraqi security forces meted out appalling violence against largely peaceful protesters,” said Lynn Maalouf, Middle East research director for the rights groups.
In Basra, security forces were deployed in the city’s main roads to prevent protesters from staging sit-ins on important avenues.
Basra’s streets were open as of Thursday morning, but highways leading to the two main Gulf commodities ports in Umm Qasr and Khor al-Zubair remained closed. Schools and official public institutions were also closed.
Separately, the U.S. Embassy denounced a recent decision by Iraq’s media regulator to suspend nine television channels, calling for the Communications and Media Commission to reverse its decision. The embassy’s Thursday statement also condemned attacks and harassment against journalists.
Local channel Dijla TV had its license suspended Tuesday for its coverage of the protests, and its office was closed and equipment confiscated, according an official from one of the channels under threat. Other channels have been asked by the regulatory commission to sign a pledge “agreeing to adhere to its rules,” said the official, who requested anonymity out of fear of reprisal.
The Islamic State extremist group, meanwhile, claimed responsibility for Tuesday’s coordinated bombings in three Baghdad neighborhoods that killed five people. The bombings, which occurred far from Tahrir square where demonstrators are camped, was the first apparent coordinated attack since anti-government protests began.
New top story from Time: A Judge Has Upheld Charges That Could Put Harvey Weinstein Away for Life
NEW YORK (AP) — A New York judge has rejected Harvey Weinstein’s bid to throw out the most serious charges in his sexual assault case, dealing a big blow to the disgraced movie mogul as he sought to limit the scope of his looming trial and any potential punishment.
The ruling made public Wednesday clears the way for prosecutors to bolster their case with testimony from actress Anabella Sciorra who says Weinstein raped her in 1993 or 1994. It also leaves open the possibility of a life sentence if he is convicted at his trial, set to begin Jan. 6.
Weinstein’s spokesman said his lawyers didn’t have an immediate comment.
Weinstein, 67, has pleaded not guilty to charges he raped a woman in a Manhattan hotel room in 2013 and performed a forcible sex act on a different woman in 2006. He is free on $1 million bail and maintains that any sexual activity was consensual.
In recent court filings, Weinstein’s lawyers objected to two of the five counts against him — both stemming from a charge called predatory sexual assault, which carries a maximum life sentence and requires prosecutors to show a pattern of misconduct.
Weinstein’s lawyers argued those counts should be thrown out because prosecutors are choosing to use Sciorra’s allegation to show he’s a sexual predator who committed sex crimes against multiple women, even though that alleged attack predates the charge being enacted into law in 2006.
Burke, however, ruled that such a strategy is allowed under state law. While Sciorra’s allegation is too old to be the basis for criminal charges, prosecutors can use it as part of showing a pattern of alleged predatory behavior, Burke wrote.
Weinstein’s lawyers also argued that prosecutors failed to provide enough information for him to defend himself against Sciorra’s allegation. On a disclosure form, prosecutors listed the approximate date of the alleged incident as “the winter season spanning 1993-1994,” and said it happened at “nighttime” in “a location in New York City.”
Burke rejected that, too, saying that prosecutors have shown they made diligent efforts to narrow down the date of the alleged rape and that Weinstein’s lawyers were previously provided with the specific location.
Sciorra, known for her work on “The Sopranos,” alleges Weinstein forced himself inside her Manhattan apartment, threw her on the bed and raped her after she starred in a film for his movie studio.
Sciorra did not go to the authorities because she feared reprisal from Weinstein, prosecutors said. She told the story to The New Yorker in October 2017, but prosecutors said she didn’t speak with them until after Weinstein’s arrest in May 2018.
Burke also ruled against Weinstein on several other fronts.
The judge rejected Weinstein’s claim that emails obtained with a search warrant from two movie studio accounts and one private account are privileged and can’t be used as evidence at trial.
Burke denied Weinstein’s demand for access to the personnel file of a police detective whose alleged witness coaching led prosecutors to drop a charge last year.
He denied the defense’s request to unseal the identities of the two women whose allegations led to charges against Weinstein.
And he reiterated a previous ruling that psychiatrist Dr. Barbara Ziv can take the stand as a prosecution expert in the field of sexual assault and rape trauma syndrome.
Suburban Philadelphia prosecutors called Ziv as their first witness at Bill Cosby’s April 2018 trial. She told jurors that it is common for victims to be reluctant to go to police and normal for them to maintain contact with perpetrators.
She said the use of drugs and alcohol can lead to clouded memories and prevent victims from giving a clear account of what happened to them.
In a win for Weinstein, Burke said the defense could call two experts of its own dealing in the subject of human memory.
N Korea Launches 2 Projectiles In Thanksgiving Message To Trump
https://za.gl/rdaZ4S from NDTV News - Latest https://ift.tt/37GKrFD
Haryana Farm Fires Down By 45%, Complete Prevention In 2 Years: Official
https://za.gl/rdaZ4S from NDTV News - Latest https://ift.tt/2OUvWVZ
She Invited Him For Thanksgiving By Accident. This Is Now Their Fourth
https://za.gl/rdaZ4S from NDTV News - Latest https://ift.tt/2ORG55T
UK PM Skips TV Debate On Climate, Gets Replaced By Melting Ice Sculpture
https://za.gl/rdaZ4S from NDTV News - Latest https://ift.tt/2qU9Lr1
TikTok, Huawei Helping China's Campaign To Repress Uighur Muslims: Report
https://za.gl/rdaZ4S from NDTV News - Latest https://ift.tt/2Ot2Qhq
Water Pipes Stolen From Outside Rashtrapati Bhavan Gates; 4 Arrested
https://za.gl/rdaZ4S from NDTV News - Latest https://ift.tt/2QXdWgp
Nepal PM Undergoes Appendicitis Surgery, President Visits Him At Hospital
https://za.gl/rdaZ4S from NDTV News - Latest https://ift.tt/34wIJV4
5 Dead After Small Plane Crashes In Canada
https://za.gl/rdaZ4S from NDTV News - Latest https://ift.tt/2OuPBgs
Climate Change "Tipping Points" Too Close For Comfort
https://za.gl/rdaZ4S from NDTV News - Latest https://ift.tt/2XXMb8I
Italy MP Pulls Out Ring, Proposes To Girlfriend During Parliament Speech
https://za.gl/rdaZ4S from NDTV News - Latest https://ift.tt/34uUUBZ
British Sikh Candidate Accuses Poll Rival Of Insulting His Turban
https://za.gl/rdaZ4S from NDTV News - Latest https://ift.tt/2OvAfIz
Confident That India Will Become Permanent UNSC Member: S Jaishankar
https://za.gl/rdaZ4S from NDTV News - Latest https://ift.tt/33sGpNQ
Andhra Man Kills Wife For Posting TikTok Videos, Arrested: Police
https://za.gl/rdaZ4S from NDTV News - Latest https://ift.tt/33rnNgT
Maltese Businessman Accuses Top Government Officials in Murder of Journalist
By BY REUTERS from NYT World https://ift.tt/2XXpdie
Ice Sculpture Steals Show at U.K. Climate Debate That Boris Johnson Skips
By BY ALAN YUHAS from NYT World https://ift.tt/33raJbC
Thursday, 28 November 2019
Live Updates: Results For West Bengal, Uttarakhand Assembly Bypolls Today
https://za.gl/rdaZ4S from NDTV News - Latest https://ift.tt/35DMBnx
UPS Employees Are Arrested in Scheme to Ship Drugs and Cash
By BY ABDI LATIF DAHIR from NYT Business https://ift.tt/34rDPZN
Air India Pilot Allegedly Forced To Remove Turban At Spain Airport
https://za.gl/rdaZ4S from NDTV News - Latest https://ift.tt/35HaTNy
Posters In Pune Project Ajit Pawar As Maharashtra's Future Chief Minister
https://za.gl/rdaZ4S from NDTV News - Latest https://ift.tt/33xyYVG
New top story from Time: Massachusetts Becomes the First State to Ban Flavored Tobacco and Vaping Products
BOSTON (AP) — Massachusetts became the first state to ban flavored tobacco and nicotine vaping products, including menthol cigarettes, after Republican Gov. Charlie Baker signed into law on Wednesday a bill that’s meant to reduce the appeal of the products to young people amid a rash of illnesses and deaths linked to vaping.
Anti-smoking groups hailed the ban, which restricts sale and consumption of flavored vaping products immediately and does the same for menthol cigarettes starting June 1, 2020.
“The Massachusetts law is a major milestone in the fight to reverse the worsening e-cigarette epidemic and stop tobacco companies from targeting and addicting kids with flavored products,” said Matthew Myers, president of the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids.
But the New England Convenience Store and Energy Marketers Association, which opposed the legislation, said it’s exploring challenging the new law in court, or seeking other ways to change it.
“Public health and safety has been dealt a blow by anti-tobacco crusaders exploiting a youth vaping crisis, and by lawmakers bypassing prudent policy-making,” the group said in a statement.
In recent months, Massachusetts and other states, including Michigan, Montana, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island, Utah and Washington, have temporarily banned or restricted the sale of vaping products. But Massachusetts is now the first with a broad, permanent ban in place on all flavored tobacco or nicotine vaping products, anti-smoking groups say.
The new law specifically restricts sale of the products to licensed smoking bars such as cigar bars and hookah lounges, where they’ll only be allowed to be consumed on-site. The restriction extends to menthol cigarettes and flavored e-cigarettes, cigars, pipe tobacco and chewing tobacco.
It also places a 75% excise tax on nicotine vaping products, gives public health officials new authority to regulate the products and requires health insurers cover tobacco cessation counseling.
Baker said he hopes other states adopt similar restrictions but argued that the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Food and Drug Administration are the only ones that can address the issue comprehensively for the nation.
“Sometimes someone has to go first,” he said. “It’s pretty clear there isn’t going to be a federal policy on this anytime soon. So, in the absence of that, we had to act.”
President Donald Trump has promised for months to approve a national ban on most flavored e-cigarettes. But in recent weeks his administration has walked back that promise, cancelling a planned announcement of a ban in favor of private meetings with the vaping industry and medical professionals.
Massachusetts’ decision to extend the ban to menthols is unique. The mint flavor has typically been exempt from such restrictions because it’s long been one of the most popular flavors.
Menthols were omitted from legislation passed by the New York City Council on Tuesday after advocates, including the Rev. Al Sharpton, argued their inclusion could lead to harsh police enforcement in the black community.
Studies have shown menthol cigarettes are consumed disproportionately by young people and minorities, and anti-tobacco groups and health experts have argued menthol has been marketed to African Americans.
But there have been recent signs that reluctance to address menthols is waning.
Boston health officials earlier this week prohibited the sale of menthols in convenience stores, and dozens of other communities in Massachusetts and California have taken steps to restrict menthols and other flavored cigarettes.
State Attorney General Maura Healey and other supporters said that restricting menthols and other flavored tobacco products is critical because they’ve contributed to growth in the traditional smoking market, which in turn prompted the creation of flavored vaping products targeted at youths.
The American Cancer Society’s Cancer Action Network said it hoped the new law sends a message to the industry.
“More than 80% of teens who have ever used a tobacco product started with a flavored product, and the tobacco industry knows this,” the organization said in an emailed statement.
The legislation responds to growing concern about the health effects of vaping products, including deaths whose exact cause is still being investigated.
Massachusetts health officials say there have been more than 200 suspected cases of vaping-related lung injury and three confirmed deaths in the state.
In September, Baker declared a public health emergency and ordered a temporary ban on the sale of all vaping products — flavored and unflavored.
Baker said Wednesday he’ll lift that ban a few weeks early on Dec. 11, when state health officials are expected to roll out additional regulations.
The Tobacco Merchants Association, an industry group, didn’t respond to an email seeking comment.
But the Vapor Technology Association, which has challenged Massachusetts’ temporary vaping ban in state court, said a better strategy than the ban would be raising the age to purchase tobacco and nicotine vapor products to 21 and to impose stricter marketing standards on companies.
“A ban will drive people back to combustible cigarettes, the leading cause of preventable death and disease in the U.S., or lead to illegal sales with a new and larger black market,” the organization said in a statement.
__
Associated Press editor William J. Kole contributed to this report.
Trump Tweets Photoshopped Picture Of Him As Boxer Amid Health Rumours
https://za.gl/rdaZ4S from NDTV News - Latest https://ift.tt/2KZXVCA
Complaint Against Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister For Giving Cash To Voter
https://za.gl/rdaZ4S from NDTV News - Latest https://ift.tt/35H9ExL
Kamala Harris, Mindy Kaling Cook Masala Dosa In Viral Video
https://za.gl/rdaZ4S from NDTV News - Latest https://ift.tt/2XUEwbs
Submarine Carrying Cocaine Worth $110 Million Seized Off Spain's Coast
https://za.gl/rdaZ4S from NDTV News - Latest https://ift.tt/2DkfxoB
4 Killed, At Least 30 Injured In Bus Accident On UP Expressway
https://za.gl/rdaZ4S from NDTV News - Latest https://ift.tt/2OUyTWw
Australian Writer, Broadcaster, TV Critic Clive James Dies At 80
https://za.gl/rdaZ4S from NDTV News - Latest https://ift.tt/2QYT5tg
Three Women Accuse Gordon Sondland of Sexual Misconduct, Report Says
By BY NEIL VIGDOR AND ALEX TRAUB from NYT U.S. https://ift.tt/37JVOfX
Messi Leads Barcelona, but Liverpool and Chelsea Settle for Ties
By BY THE ASSOCIATED PRESS from NYT Sports https://ift.tt/2QVwo91
University of North Carolina Gives ‘Silent Sam’ Statue to Confederate Group
By BY NICHOLAS BOGEL-BURROUGHS AND MIHIR ZAVERI from NYT U.S. https://ift.tt/2Dq8lag
Navy Drops Effort to Expel From SEALs 3 Officers Linked to Gallagher
By BY DAVE PHILIPPS from NYT U.S. https://ift.tt/35JRjAj
More Accusations Emerge Against Flames Coach Bill Peters
By BY THE ASSOCIATED PRESS from NYT Sports https://ift.tt/2OrFFUY
PM Modi Avoids Hotels, Stays At Airports In Foreign Transit: Amit Shah
https://za.gl/rdaZ4S from NDTV News - Latest https://ift.tt/37IMh8X
Asthma Control Is Critical During Pregnancy
By BY NICHOLAS BAKALAR from NYT Well https://ift.tt/2pYykTl
Trump Signs Law Supporting Hong Kong Protesters Despite China's Objection
https://za.gl/rdaZ4S from NDTV News - Latest https://ift.tt/33suP5g
Delhi-Mumbai Expressway On Fast Track, Says Nitin Gadkari
https://za.gl/rdaZ4S from NDTV News - Latest https://ift.tt/33rJ0HI
Wednesday, 27 November 2019
In A Special Assembly Session, Maharashtra MLAs To Take Oath Today
https://za.gl/rdaZ4S from NDTV News - Latest https://ift.tt/2KY6ZI7
Restrictions Remain On Foreign Journalists Covering Assam After NRC: RTI
https://za.gl/rdaZ4S from NDTV News - Latest https://ift.tt/37E7b96
Melania Trump Booed By School Students During Speech On Drug Addiction
https://za.gl/rdaZ4S from NDTV News - Latest https://ift.tt/2XU7Kaj
Giuliani Represented Venezuelan Investor in Discussion With Justice Dept.
By BY KENNETH P. VOGEL from NYT U.S. https://ift.tt/35H7SwJ
Keylor Navas Stifles His Old Teammates in P.S.G.’s Draw With Real Madrid
By BY THE ASSOCIATED PRESS from NYT Sports https://ift.tt/2qEGDnJ
Russia’s Doping Violations Are Cheating Its Own Athletes
By BY THE EDITORIAL BOARD from NYT Opinion https://ift.tt/34sMPO8
Trump Says U.S. Will Designate Drug Cartels in Mexico as Terrorist Groups
By BY LIAM STACK from NYT U.S. https://ift.tt/35FeV8S
It’s Not Just Poor White People Driving a Decline in Life Expectancy
By BY GINA KOLATA AND SABRINA TAVERNISE from NYT Health https://ift.tt/2KRWBBJ
"Huge Fraud": AAP On Bill Regularising Unauthorised Colonies In Delhi
https://za.gl/rdaZ4S from NDTV News - Latest https://ift.tt/2rqWOF4
Over 5,000 Flee As Wildfire Rages In California's Resort City
https://za.gl/rdaZ4S from NDTV News - Latest https://ift.tt/2QPyaZs
C.D.C. Reports More E. Coli Illnesses Linked to Romaine Lettuce
By BY ABDI LATIF DAHIR from NYT Health https://ift.tt/2QUqeWX
Top Court Proposes Introduction Of Artificial Intelligence In Judiciary
https://za.gl/rdaZ4S from NDTV News - Latest https://ift.tt/2LceJ9J
In White House Turkey Ceremony, President’s Impeachment Jokes Hit Close to the Bone
By BY MARK LEIBOVICH AND ANNIE KARNI from NYT U.S. https://ift.tt/2KXLxms
The World-Shaking News That You’re Missing
By BY THOMAS L. FRIEDMAN from NYT Opinion https://ift.tt/2OQglGO
Death of Colombian Teenager Drives Protesters Back to Streets
By BY ALAN YUHAS from NYT World https://ift.tt/33pHgyu
Iran Strengthens Response to Protests
By BY FARNAZ FASSIHI AND RICK GLADSTONE from NYT World https://ift.tt/34qgJCB
New top story from Time: How Russian President Vladimir Putin Emerged as a Winner in President Donald Trump’s Impeachment Hearings
After weeks of partisan heckling in a whirl of overheard phone calls and conspiracy theories, the former top Russia expert on the National Security Council had had enough. By the time Fiona Hill gave her public testimony before the House Intelligence Committee last week, she had a clear message for the country: this is precisely what the Kremlin wants.
“I would ask that you please not promote politically driven falsehoods that so clearly advance Russian interests,” Hill said in her Nov. 21 opening statement to lawmakers, some of whom had questioned witnesses about a widely debunked theory that Trump had pressed Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to investigate. “Some of you on this committee appear to believe that Russia and its security services did not conduct a campaign against our country — and that perhaps, somehow, for some reason, Ukraine did…This is a fictional narrative that has been perpetrated and propagated by the Russian security services themselves.”
If there is any winner in the Democrats’ impeachment inquiry so far, it is Russian President Vladimir Putin. Experts say the Trump administration’s advancement of Russia’s disinformation campaign that it was Ukraine — not Russia — that interfered in 2016 elections has both succeeded in creating friction between Ukraine and the U.S., a key backer in Ukraine’s long-running conflict with Russia, and has taken the heat off Russia as Americans get ready to vote again next year.
Hill was not the only witness who told the Committee that the politicization of U.S. support for Ukraine was playing right into Russia’s hands. On Nov. 20, Gordon Sondland, the U.S. ambassador to the European Union, testified that the delay in military aid and absence of Zelensky’s requested White House meeting “could be looked at” as benefitting Russia.
The same day, Putin took a wry victory lap. “Thank God,” he told an economic forum in Moscow, “no one is accusing us of interfering in the U.S. elections anymore. Now they’re accusing Ukraine.”
The “fictional narrative” Hill spoke of started spreading in far-right corners of the Internet in 2017. It maintains that it was Ukraine, not Russia, that interfered in the 2016 election and that it was Hillary Clinton, not President Donald Trump, who was the beneficiary of the interference. The theory contends that Crowdstrike, a cybersecurity technology company that helped the Democratic National Committee investigate Russia’s hacking attempts in 2016, covered up Ukraine’s role and framed Russia.
Trump provided new fuel for this claim when his now-infamous call with Zelensky was made public. “I would like you to do us a favor,” Trump told the newly-elected President on July 25. “They say Crowdstrike… The server, they say Ukraine has it… I would like you to get to the bottom of it.”
Experts have long said that the idea of a single DNC server being hidden somewhere isn’t sensical, and the DNC, for its part, has never claimed any of its technology had gone missing. In fact, there was no single DNC server Ukraine could have absconded with; the DNC reported in lawsuits against Russia that they operated over 140 servers, most of which were cloud-based. To investigate the DNC hack, Crowdstrike created forensic copies of all the DNC’s 140-plus servers in order to review them, instead of deactivating and analyzing the bunch.
As Thomas Rid, a professor at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies explained to TIME in September, Crowdstrike’s method of evidence gathering was superior to investigating the original DNC servers themselves. “When you make a digital image from a server, that image is actually often better than having access to the physical device, because it contains information that gets lost when a device gets unplugged and disconnected,” he said.
The U.S. intelligence community has also firmly established it was Russia, not Ukraine, that infiltrated America’s democratic processes in the last presidential election. “We assess Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered an influence campaign in 2016 aimed at the US presidential election. Russia’s goals were to undermine public faith in the US democratic process, denigrate Secretary Clinton, and harm her electability and potential presidency,” the Office of the Director of National Intelligence wrote in its January 2017 report. “We further assess Putin and the Russian Government developed a clear preference for President-elect Trump.”
None of this stopped Republican Rep. Devin Nunes from continuing to circulate the unfounded Ukraine theory during the televised impeachment inquiry hearings last week.The ranking Republican on the Committee repeatedly used his time to give oxygen to the theory during the hearings as a justification for Trump’s request for the probes.. “Once you understand that Ukrainian officials were cooperating directly with President Trump’s political opponents to undermine his candidacy, it’s easy to understand why the president would want to learn the full truth about these operations and why he would be skeptical of Ukraine,” Nunes said.
Nunes did not claim Russia had no role in the attempts to undermine America’s 2016 elections. “It is entirely possible for two separate nations to engage in election meddling at the same time,” he argued. Rep. Elise Stefanik, a New York Republican whom Trump recently celebrated as a “new Republican star,” later reiterated that point: “I just wanted to say to my Democratic colleagues, not a single Republican member of this committee has said that Russia did not meddle in the 2016 elections.”
Whether Republicans directly excused Russia’s 2016 involvement or not, Putin comes out victorious, says Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi. “All of this helps Russia, big time. Because their number one objective in Europe is to divide countries like Ukraine from countries like the United States,” the Illinois Democrat told reporters during a break in Hill’s hearing last week. “It creates a chilling effect with all other countries that might want to come closer to the United States.”
And from the first minutes of her televised testimony, Hill made it clear that the insinuations some lawmakers made about Ukraine — which has been fending off Russian military advances since 2014 — not only bolstered the false narrative that Russia didn’t attempt to interfere in the 2016 election, but could strengthen its ability to do it again. “Right now, Russia’s security services and their proxies have geared up to repeat their interference in the 2020 election,” she warned. “We are running out of time to stop them.”
Six weeks before her testimony, Michael McFaul, who served as U.S. ambassador to Moscow from 2012 to 2014, also predicted that efforts to back up Trump and Giuliani’s conspiracy theory would be a win for Russia. “Ukraine is going to become the focus of the 2020 elections,” he told TIME. “And that means Russia is off the hook.”
—With reporting from Alana Abramson in Washington
TikTok Blocks Teen Who Posted About China’s Detention Camps
By BY RAYMOND ZHONG from NYT Technology https://ift.tt/2XQVtUa
Pete Buttigieg Responds to Uproar Over Past Comments on Minority Students
By BY REID J. EPSTEIN AND SYDNEY EMBER from NYT U.S. https://ift.tt/34qlpZd
Manoj Tiwari Counters Arvind Kejriwal With Test Of Delhi's Water Quality
https://za.gl/rdaZ4S from NDTV News - Latest https://ift.tt/35DSNvW
Tuesday, 26 November 2019
Google Fires 4 Employees. Workers Allege Freewheeling Culture Stifled
https://za.gl/rdaZ4S from NDTV News - Latest https://ift.tt/37z5gm9
Alibaba Raises Billions of Dollars in Hong Kong, Despite Protests
By BY ALEXANDRA STEVENSON from NYT Business https://ift.tt/2OiBCtK
Karan Johar Tweets 'Game Of Thrones' Moment From International Emmys
https://za.gl/rdaZ4S from NDTV News - Latest https://ift.tt/2ru1V7f
2 Priests Convicted in Argentina of Sexual Abuse of Deaf Children
By BY DANIEL POLITI AND KAREN ZRAICK from NYT World https://ift.tt/33imhxF
Republicans’ Big Lie About Trump and Russia
By BY MICHELLE GOLDBERG from NYT Opinion https://ift.tt/2QXb56W
Over 40 Years In Jail For Priests Who Abused Deaf Children In Argentina
https://za.gl/rdaZ4S from NDTV News - Latest https://ift.tt/2XMLPlj
Hero Dog Who Chased Baghdadi In Raid Makes White House Appearance
https://za.gl/rdaZ4S from NDTV News - Latest https://ift.tt/2OnsGnf
Moroccan Rapper, 31, Jailed Over Song About Injustice, Corruption
https://za.gl/rdaZ4S from NDTV News - Latest https://ift.tt/37BR7Vf
Hong Kong Voted. Is Beijing Listening?
By BY THE EDITORIAL BOARD from NYT Opinion https://ift.tt/37AN5wt
Son of Deputy from Neighboring County Accused of Killing Sheriff
By BY SANDRA E. GARCIA from NYT U.S. https://ift.tt/37Dazkz
Seedless Lemons Make Squeezing a Breeze
By BY FLORENCE FABRICANT from NYT Food https://ift.tt/37C559R
Rabbi Henry Sobel, 75, Dies; Defied Brazil’s Military Rulers
By BY MATT SANDY from NYT World https://ift.tt/2OhIbNf
Report Details Interactions Between F.B.I. and Dossier Author
By BY SCOTT SHANE from NYT U.S. https://ift.tt/36h67GK
-
Hundreds of thousands of Colombians took to the streets across the country on Thursday, in protest against President Iván Duque an...
-
When compared with participants who never used statins, those who used statins tend to have higher concentrations of serum fasting insulin a...
-
The UPSSSC answer key will be available for download on the official website (upsssc.gov.in) till December 10, 2018. https://za.gl/rdaZ4S ...