Tag: Online

  • Antique

    Antique

    An antique (Latin: antiquus; "old", "ancient") is an old collectable item. It is collected or desirable because of its age, beauty, rarity, condition, utility, personal emotional connection, and/or other unique features. It is an object that represents a previous era or time period in human society.

    It is common practice to define "antique" as applying to objects at least 100 years old.

    Antiques are usually objects that show some degree of craftsmanship—or a certain attention to design, such as a desk or an early automobile. They are bought at antique shops, estate sales, auction houses, online auctions, and other venues, or estate inherited. Antique dealers often belong to national trade associations, many of which belong to CINOA, a confederation of art and antique associations across 21 countries that represents 5,000 dealers.

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  • COVID-19: Media Group Calls For Increased Welfare For Journalists

    COVID-19: Media Group Calls For Increased Welfare For Journalists

    Journalists
    Journalists

    Media/civil society groups have demanded increased welfare of journalists during the outbreak of COVID-19.

    The groups also called for special protection and support for journalists covering the outbreak of the virus in Nigeria.

    The groups made the demand following a survey to assess the support available to journalists for their safety in covering the COVID-19 pandemic. 

    COVID-19: Media Group Calls For Increased Welfare For Journalists 1Journalists


    The Wole Soyinka Centre for Investigative Journalism, Enough is Enough, International Press Centre, the International Centre for Investigative Reporting, and Premium Times Centre for Investigative Journalism, commissioned the survey following perceptions that journalists were being exposed to danger in the course of covering the pandemic.

    The survey, filed by 463 journalists — correspondents, reporters, editors, freelancers and presenters from 73 print, broadcast and online media across 33 states and the Federal Capital Territory – revealed that there has been a poor attention to the needs, safety and welfare of journalists covering the pandemic.

    Drawing from responses from the survey, the media/civil society groups have urged media proprietors to ensure that reporters on the field are adequately insured and financially empowered as they urged media outfits owing salaries to immediately pay their journalists.

    They also demanded that media organisations should, “Establish workplace policy and follow the same to equip their journalists with specialised and personal protective equipment including for observation of social distancing while on the field.

    “Provide training to journalists on how to crowd source information for their stories without having to necessarily go to the field; and explore technological options for interviews while in-house infrastructure should be put in place to ensure the safety of employees and guests (particularly for broadcast media) in line with the safety advisory of the government and health authorities.”

    They also enjoined freelance journalists to take advantage of reporting grants and other opportunities to procure personal protective equipment while covering the pandemic.

    Following the outbreak, media outfits are beginning to introduce reduction in salaries, with organisations citing economic importance as reason for the deduction.

     

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  • No Evidence That Shekau Received €5m Foreign Fund From An NGO

    No Evidence That Shekau Received €5m Foreign Fund From An NGO

    Boko Haram Terrorists
    Boko Haram Terrorists

    Fact-checkers at HumAngle online newspaper have described a news report published on Opera News that Abubakar Shekau’s faction of Boko Haram was in disarray after it received a donation of five mIllion euros from an “unidentified” international non-governmental organisation as false.

    The publication claimed that senior members of the group have also turned against each other over how the fund should be shared within the group.

    The story claimed that a military source said “Shekau is getting blind as such only the very close ones of his aides have access to him. The issue of €5m is causing serious disaffection in their camps.

    “Shekau has been receiving such funding in the past and he was never able to build his terror infrastructure beyond what is currently being dismantled. Our commanders are not concerned that he is still defrauding those sponsoring him, if there is any concern it is that we should be able to capture him before his own fighters kill him,” the military source said as claimed by the news report.

    No Evidence That Shekau Received €5m Foreign Fund From An NGO 2Boko Haram Terrorists


    But according to HumAngle newspaper, the Director of Nigerian Army Public Relations, Sagir Musa, when contacted to verify the claim said he was not aware of either the “verified intelligence reports” or the claim that Shekau received five million euros foreign fund through an NGO in the North-East.

    The newspaper also said it searched autogist.com, the blog that the news was attributed to but could not find the story published on the blog.

    “Fact-checkers at HumAngle contacted the Director of Nigerian Army Public Relations, Sagir Musa, to confirm the veracity of the claim and he said he was not aware of either the “verified intelligence reports” or the claim that Shekau received five million euros foreign fund through an NGO in the North-East.

    “We searched autogist.com, the blog that the news was attributed to but could not find the story published on the blog. Also, no reliable medium reporting terrorism published the story. Other conflict and insurgency reporters were contacted by HumAngle but none was aware of the “verified intelligence report”.

    “As the name of the NGO was not disclosed, it became difficult to trace its operation history. 

    “However, Nigeria’s military had suspended several NGOs from operating in the North-East following allegations of collaborating with the terrorist organisation. But no NGO has ever been charged to court by the authorities and the suspended NGOs were later allowed to resume operations in the region.

    “Scholars and experts on Boko Haram have suggested different methods of terrorism financing, from state sponsorship to external support by other terror groups like ISIS and Alqa’eda. But Shekau’s faction of Boko Haram relies on self-funding streams through fishing, farming, crowdfunding, extortion, taxation, raids and ransom taking to finance its operations,” the newspaper published.

    Quoting a report on Boko Haram sources of funding, it continued, “Much of Boko Haram’s funds are transported through human cash couriers, which are able to move rather easily between the porous borders of Nigeria, Niger, Cameroon and Chad… very little evidence of either Gulf or other foreign funding exists,” a report on Boko Haram sources of funding concluded.

    “Due to the strict surveillance of monetary operations to avoid terrorist financing in Nigeria, financial regulations have forced Boko Haram to avoid remittances of funds online. Such a huge amount is not possible to be transferred without its being intercepted by international and local intelligence platforms.”

    The newspaper further said Nigeria Financial Intelligence Unit follows any suspicious transaction with the aim of curbing terrorism financing.

    “It collates information of all beneficiaries of humanitarian assistance to avert financing of terrorism through covert operations, thus making it impossible for any NGO to follow “previous channels and beneficiaries’ templates” of funding terrorism as claimed by the report.

    “Humanitarian organisations work hand in hand with EFFC Department of Special Control against Money Laundering (SCUML) to checkmate their activities to curb terrorism financing, according to Abdurrashid Ibrahim a worker at the financial unit of an NGO in the North-East.

    “Any transaction from five million naira must pass through a special control unit against money laundering (SCUML) clearance process be it for individual or corporate organisation,” he said.

    Furthermore, there is no evidence that an NGO was allowed to operate after the military discovered that “Shekau has been receiving such funding in the past” as claimed by the news.

    According to HumAngle findings, Abubakar Shekau does not operate or rely on an advisory council (Shura). 

    He is reported to be ruthless and brutal to any opposition within the group, making it unlikely for any Boko Haram commander to disagree with the leader.

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  • 2011 Trends in Mobile Marketing

    ASM’s 2011 Mobile Marketing Trends Survey was conducted online, launched on August 15, 2011. Over 800 marketing professionals responded to the survey providing insight into the current and future mobile marketing world. This report provides perspective on several mobile strategies, including email and website optimization, texting and QR Codes®. Additionally, we report on unique instances that stand out by comparing industry sizes and target markets.

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  • Free psychological help extended to May 15

    Free psychological help extended to May 15

    Free psychological help extended to May 15 3

    GEORGE TOWN: The free psychological first aid offered by Wawasan Open University (WOU) in partnership with the International College of Clinical Hypnotherapy Practitioners (ICCHP) Asia will now be extended until May 15 owing to the overwhelming response received.

    The aid comes in view of the mental challenges that the people, especially families, are experiencing during the movement control order (MCO), which has now entered its 52nd day.

    A total of 223 people had reached out for help in relation to the Covid- 19 pandemic from April 1 to 25.

    The programme is scheduled to continue past the anticipated relaxation of the MCO to handle post-traumatic stress from the prolonged lockdown.

    The team from ICCHP Asia assisted callers with tips and skills to better manage their challenging emotions.

    Although the free psychological service was set up mainly for the frontliners, there were many calls from the people due to various losses and the restrictions, WOU said in a statement.

    Suicidal cases were referred to the team’s on-call psychiatrists for clinical assessment, advanced help and close monitoring.

    The team helped to calm distressed callers and enabled them to better cope with the current uncertainties and make informed decisions.

    Where practical assistance was needed, they worked with the Members of Parliament in the areas concerned to provide urgent assistance, such as medical emergencies, ambulance services and food aid.

    Sixteen professionals from ICCHP Asia, including six psychiatrists, are offering support over the telephone.

    All conversations are private and confidential.

    Students who are doing complete online learning remotely from their homes or elsewhere are also encouraged to call in if they are feeling stressed during the MCO period.

    Feel free to call ICCHP Asia from 9am to 9pm daily from now until May 15 as per below, or email icchpcovid19@gmail.com to arrange a convenient time to chat: 0124447032 / 0169271240/ 0124856404 (9am-12pm);

    0123021262 / 0124080675/ 0123741558 (12pm-3pm);

    0174777746 / 0124736830 / 0164979876 (3pm-6pm);

    0122212906 / 0195645868 / 0124252962 (6pm-9pm)

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  • New estimates highlight need to step up the response to hepatitis D

    Lyon, France, 29 April 2020 – In a study published in the Journal of Hepatology, 1 Professor Anna Maria Geretti and Dr Alexander Stockdale from the University of Liverpool (United Kingdom), in collaboration with researchers
    from the World Health Organization (WHO) and the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), estimate that worldwide, hepatitis D virus (HDV) affects nearly 5% of people who have a chronic infection with hepatitis B virus (HBV) and that HDV
    co-infection could explain about 1 in 5 cases of liver disease and liver cancer in people with HBV infection..

    To map the epidemiology of HDV infection in the world, Professor Geretti and Dr Stockdale joined forces with the WHO Global Hepatitis Programme and IARC, alongside investigators in Germany, Malawi, and the United Kingdom. “Infection with HDV occurs
    in about 1 in 22 cases of chronic HBV infection in the world,” Dr Stockdale says. “More high-quality data are needed, but we have identified several geographical hotspots of high prevalence of HDV infection: in Mongolia, the Republic of
    Moldova, and countries in Western and Middle Africa.”

    “Although it is less common than hepatitis B, hepatitis D is a serious disease that often affects underprivileged and vulnerable populations,” says Dr Meg Doherty, Director of the WHO Global Hepatitis Programme. Those who are more likely to
    have HBV and HDV co-infection include people who inject drugs and people with hepatitis C virus or HIV infection. The risk of co-infection also appears to be higher in recipients of haemodialysis, men who have sex with men, and commercial sex workers.
    Dr Doherty points out, “This information helps in identifying the groups with HBV among whom we should be looking for HDV.”

    HDV (formerly known as the Delta agent) is a small virus – one of the smallest that is known to cause disease in humans – and can replicate only in the presence of HBV, from which HDV borrows some of its structures. Compared with people with
    HBV infection alone, those who have a chronic infection with both HBV and HDV have a much higher risk of developing disease in the form of cirrhosis and liver cancer. “HDV is a significant contributor to severe liver disease and liver cancer,”
    says IARC scientist Dr Catherine de Martel. “The findings from this study inform our work on the association between viral infections and cancer, which is focused on developing improved prevention strategies.”

    Professor Geretti concludes, “HDV has long been neglected, because for decades the prevalence of infection remained uncertain and effective treatment was lacking. Mapping the epidemiology of the infection is just the first step. More efforts are
    needed to reduce the global burden of chronic hepatitis B and develop medicines that are safe and effective against hepatitis D and are affordable enough to be deployed on a large scale to those who are most in need.”

    1 Stockdale AJ, Kreuels B, Henrion MYR, Giorgi E, Kyomuhangi I, de Martel C, Hutin Y, Geretti AM (2020). The global prevalence of hepatitis D virus infection: systematic review and meta-analysis. J Hepatol. Published online 23 April 2020;
    https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhep.2020.04.008

    For more information, please contact

    Véronique Terrasse, Communications Group, at +33 (0)6 45 28 49 52 or terrassev@iarc.fr or IARC Communications, at com@iarc.fr

    The International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) is part of the World Health Organization. Its mission is to coordinate and conduct research on the causes of human cancer, the mechanisms of carcinogenesis, and to develop scientific strategies for
    cancer control. The Agency is involved in both epidemiological and laboratory research and disseminates scientific information through publications, meetings, courses, and fellowships. If you wish your name to be removed from our press release emailing
    list, please write to com@iarc.fr. 

    About University of Liverpool

    Founded in 1881 as the original ‘red brick’, the University of Liverpool is one of the UK’s leading research-intensive higher education institutions. Consistently ranked in the top 200 universities worldwide, we are a member of the prestigious
    Russell Group and have a global reach and influence that reflects our academic heritage as one of the country’s largest civic institutions. For more information please visit us at www.liverpool.ac.uk

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  • WHO reports fivefold increase in cyber attacks, urges vigilance

    WHO reports fivefold increase in cyber attacks, urges vigilance

    Since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, WHO has seen a dramatic increase in the number of cyber attacks directed at its staff, and email scams targeting the public at large. 

    This week, some 450 active WHO email addresses and passwords were leaked online along with thousands belonging to others working on the novel coronavirus response. 

    The leaked credentials did not put WHO systems at risk because the data was not recent. However, the attack did impact an older extranet system, used by current and retired staff as well as partners. 

    WHO is now migrating affected systems to a more secure authentication system. 

    Scammers impersonating WHO in emails have also increasingly targeted the general public in order to channel donations to a fictitious fund and not the authentic COVID-19 Solidary Response Fund. The number of cyber attacks is now more than five times the number directed at the Organization in the same period last year. 

    “Ensuring the security of health information for Member States and the privacy of users interacting with us a priority for WHO at all times, but also particularly during the COVID-19 pandemic. We are grateful for the alerts we receive from Member States and the private sector. We are all in this fight together,” said Bernardo Mariano, WHO’s Chief Information Officer. 

    WHO is working with the private sector to establish more robust internal systems and to strengthen security measures and is educating staff on cybersecurity risks. 

    WHO asks the public to remain vigilant against fraudulent emails and recommends the use of reliable sources to obtain factual information about COVID-19 and other health issues. 

    For more information, please visit: www.who.int/covid-19.

     

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  • INFOSAN Quarterly Summary, 2020 #1

    Food safety incidents

    During the first quarter of 2020, the INFOSAN Secretariat was involved in 38 food safety incidents involving 109 WHO Member States and 9 territories of WHO Member States. There were 25 incidents involving a biological hazard (Salmonella spp. [8], Listeria monocytogenes [5], Norovirus [3] Shiga-toxin producing Escherichia coli [2], Clostridium botulinum [2] Bacillus cereus [2], Cronobacter spp. [1], Shigella sonnei [1], unspecified biological hazard [1]), 6 involving an undeclared allergen (milk [3], peanut (1), egg [1], gluten [1]), 5 involving a physical hazard (undetermined foreign matter [2], glass [1], metal [1], plastic [1]), one involving a chemical/toxin hazard (histamine), and one linked to an unspecified hazard.

    The food categories that were most commonly involved in the 38 incidents during the first quarter of 2020 involved fish and other seafood (8), herbs and spices (4), legumes and pulses (4), milk and dairy products (3), nuts and oilseeds (3), snacks, desserts and other foods (3), cereals and cereal-based products (2), composite food (2), fruit and fruit products (2), meat and meat products (2), vegetables and vegetable products (2), products of special nutritional use (1), and food for infants and small children (1). One incident involved an unknown food source.

    During such international food safety incidents, the INFOSAN Secretariat relies on the swift action of national INFOSAN Emergency Contact Points to respond to requests for information. Rapid sharing of information through INFOSAN enables members to implement appropriate risk management measures to prevent illness in their respective countries.

    Geographic scope

    The outlined incidents involved Member States from all WHO regions: Europe (39), followed by the Americas (24), Africa (24), the Western Pacific (18), the Eastern Mediterranean (8) and South-East Asia (6).

    Recall in several countries of frozen spring roll sheets from Singapore due to the presence of an undeclared allergen

    In February 2020, the INFOSAN Secretariat was notified by the European Rapid Alert System for Food and Feed (RASFF) and INFOSAN colleagues in Australia of a recall in Australia and several European countries of frozen spring roll sheets due to the detection of an undeclared allergen (milk), imported from Singapore. In collaboration with RASFF, the INFOSAN Secretariat was informed that the implicated frozen spring roll sheets were distributed internationally to 46 Member States from four WHO regions and 4 territories in Europe and the Western Pacific. Moreover, through engagement with the INFOSAN Emergency Contact Point (ECP) in Singapore, the INFOSAN Secretariat also received details of further distribution of implicated products to additional WHO Member States from all WHO regions, taking the total number of Member States involved to 65. It was also reported that the products involved had been redistributed by some countries to Europe, the Americas and Africa. Consequently, several countries recalled the implicated products to relabel them and investigated the issue to identify illnesses related to the consumption of the implicated frozen spring roll sheets. No illnesses were reported to the INFOSAN Secretariat.

    This incident has highlighted undeclared allergens as an important category of hazards that can result in a largescale international response to implement risk management measures and prevent illness. In addition, it exemplified efficient communication among INFOSAN members and the Secretariat.

    Outbreak of Listeriosis in the United States of America linked to enoki mushrooms imported from the Republic of Korea

    In March 2020, the INFOSAN Secretariat was made aware by the United States (US) Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) of an outbreak of Listeriosis in the US linked to the consumption of enoki mushrooms, imported from the Republic of Korea. In total, 36 cases including 4 deaths have been reported in the US. Following investigations in Canada, carried out in collaboration with the US, the INFOSAN Secretariat was informed of 6 cases of Listeriosis between 2017 and 2019 in Canada potentially related by whole genome sequencing (WGS) to the ongoing outbreak in the USA. In addition, food isolates (from enoki mushrooms from the Republic of Korea) genetically associated with the cluster of cases have been collected in 2019 by authorities in Canada. The WGS information pertaining to the cases and food isolates were shared on the INFOSAN Community Website to assist the identification of cases in other countries.

    The INFOSAN Secretariat engaged the INFOSAN Emergency Contact Point (ECP) in the Republic of Korea to seek details on any further international distribution of the implicated enoki mushrooms. Investigations are ongoing. 

    News & activities

    Food Sector and the COVID-19 outbreak

    On 31 December 2019, WHO was alerted to several cases of pneumonia of unknown origin in the city of Wuhan, Hubei Province, China. The virus, a previously unknown coronavirus has been named SARS-CoV-2 and is the cause of the COVID-19 disease.

    The WHO Epidemic Information Network (EPI-WIN) aims to share information tailored to specific sectors, including food and agriculture. The INFOSAN Secretariat has recently developed a guidance document for food businesses with regards to COVID-19 and food safety which is now available online. The guidance has also been disseminated through EPI-WIN and presented during two webinars.

    Call for applicants: INFOSAN Train-the-Trainer Workshop

    In February, the INFOSAN Secretariat issued a call for applications for the INFOSAN Train-the-Trainer workshop. With the constant growth of the network, and the increased need for training that this entails, the INFOSAN Secretariat, in collaboration with the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA), has announced this workshop which aims to increase the human resources available to train INFOSAN members on a range of INFOSAN-related topics, online or in-person. As a result, it is expected that the understanding of the roles and responsibilities of INFOSAN members will be improved, resulting in greater participation that will enhance speed and efficiency during the response to food safety emergencies at the global level. The INFOSAN Secretariat, together with CFIA, look forward to hosting this important workshop later this year.

    Developing the new INFOSAN Community Website

    The INFOSAN Community Website (ICW) continues to be an effective tool for the network to disseminate information during food safety emergencies. Over the past year, through the INFOSAN member survey, the Secretariat has gained a better understanding of how members use the ICW and how it can be improved to enhance information sharing. The information collected, together with the experience of members of the Secretariat, has provided numerous innovative ideas to guide the development of the new ICW. The Secretariat is pleased to announce that the competitive process to select the vendor that will develop the new INFOSAN Community Website has concluded and the work on the creation of the new ICW has begun. 

    Voice of an active network member

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  • Steps to Starting an Online Business

    I have seen too many people attempt an online business without a well-researched plan. The results have been disastrous–major investments lost and business failures.

    As a veteran of online marketing, I have witnessed both failures and successes online. For any of you who are considering a business online, the following article has been developed to help you avoid major pitfalls and navigate the best online opportunities for your business.

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  • Ten Steps to Effective Email Marketing

    A successful email marketing campaign requires a diligent and thoughtful approach to the entire email marketing process. This white paper contains strategies and actionable steps to help B2B and B2C marketers deliver integrated and measurable email marketing campaigns in today’s quickly changing online landscape.

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    http://www.associationofmarketing.org/whitepapers/view.php?whitepaper_id=80

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