fishing game

To the older residents of Gah Begal, a nondescript village 80km south of Pakistan’s capital Islamabad, he was “Mohna”, the bright and industrious kid who studied in the local Urdu-medium primary school before moving to Peshawar. It was in Gah Begal, now part of Chakwal district in Pakistan’s Punjab province, that former premier Manmohan Singh was born on September 26, 1932. His father, Gurmukh Singh Kohli, worked as a clerk for a dry fruits trader and his mother, Amrit Kaur, died when he was five months old, leaving him to be raised by his paternal grandmother Jamna Devi. In 2009, when India was holding general elections, this writer travelled to Gah Begal as a young journalist for Dawn News Television, then Pakistan’s only English news channel, since we were assigned to get as much exclusive content as we could. I’d recently gone to a friend’s farm in Chakwal, where he told me stories about a small village that was once home to Hindus and Sikhs, who fled during Partition. My friend also mentioned the name “Manmohan Singh”. Muhammad Ashraf was 81 when I met him, with a toothless smile and holding on to his hookah as he sat on a charpoy, gazing at the motorway near his ancestral village of Gah Begal. “If every man was as fortunate as my Mohna, the world would be a better place,” Ashraf, who died in 2010, said at the time. His eyes, clouded yet filled with the past, followed the cars rushing by but his heart was somewhere else – in the golden days of childhood. “Mohna”, Ashraf said, was his best friend in school. “Sixty-five years ago, the land was divided...and so were we,” Ashraf said, his voice trailing off. “But friendships like ours, they can’t be partitioned.” Muhammad Zaman, Ashraf’s son, recalled the day they learned of Singh’s rise to the post of prime minister: “My father ran to me and said, ‘Oye, apna Mohna Hindustan da wazeer ho gaya!’ (Our Mohna has become India’s prime minister!).” Zaman said, “The entire village danced that night. Even those who had never met Singh, felt proud... Father used to tell me bedtime stories of Mohna. He made him sound like a hero from our village folk tales. ‘He studied under candlelight,’ my father used to say. ‘While I played in the fields, Mohna was preparing for exams.’” Ashraf’s wrinkled face lit up as he recounted tales from his childhood, when he and Manmohan Singh would walk to school every day. “Once, after school, we found a berry tree on our way home. Mohna picked stones and threw them at the berries. I ate the ones that fell. He scolded me, ‘I throw the stones and you eat all the berries!’. That tree still stands. When they tried to cut it for the road, I stopped them. I said, ‘This tree belongs to Manmohan Singh,” he said. Ghulam Mustafa, then the village school’s headmaster, had a treasure kept away in a dusty, faded, glass cabinet – Singh’s school record. “We still show this to our students. We tell them that one of them could be like him. I tell them, ‘Manmohan Singh studied right here, in these classrooms,’” Mustafa said. The years passed, but the bond between Gah Begal and Singh endured. When Singh became prime minister, he didn’t forget his roots. He helped fund the village school’s renovation, built a hospital, and played a role in bringing solar lights to the village, the local residents said. India’s The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI) set up two power micro grids in the village that included 51 solar-based domestic lighting systems, 16 solar street lighting systems, and solar heaters in three mosques. Ashraf recalled at the time: “Raja Muhammad Ali, who was also our friend, became the deputy mayor of Gah. He met Mohna in Delhi in 2008. He took shawls and shoes for him. I sent him Chakwali ‘rawori.’ Raja asked him to visit Gah, but the Mumbai attacks happened, and everything changed.” India-Pakistan relations never fully recovered from the fallout of the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks, and ties have been at an all-time low since then. Singh remained in the village school till he was 10, when he moved to Peshawar to live with his father and continue his studies. The family moved to Amritsar in 1947, when Singh appeared for the matriculation examination. Most of the people from Singh’s generation in Gah Begal, including Ashraf, Ali and Ghulam Muhammad Khan, have since died. In the heart of Gah Begal, Manmohan Singh’s legacy was never measured in policies or political achievements. It lives in the glowing solar lights that brighten village lanes, the schoolchildren who study under his name, and the stories passed down from fathers to sons. (The author is an award-winning journalist based in Islamabad, Pakistan)By Michelle Marchante, Miami Herald (TNS) MIAMI — As her students finished their online exam, Arlet Lara got up to make a cafe con leche . Her 16-year-old son found her on the kitchen floor. First, he called Dad in a panic. Then 911. “I had a stroke and my life made a 180-degree turn,” Lara told the Miami Herald, recalling the medical scare she experienced in May 2020 in the early months of the COVID pandemic. “The stroke affected my left side of the body,” the North Miami woman and former high school math teacher said. Lara, an avid runner and gym goer, couldn’t even walk. “It was hard,” the 50-year-old mom said. After years of rehabilitation therapy and a foot surgery, Lara can walk again. But she still struggles with moving. This summer, she became the first patient in South Florida to get an implant of a new and only FDA-approved nerve stimulation device designed to help ischemic stroke survivors regain movement in their arms and hands. This first procedure was at Jackson Memorial Hospital in Miami. Lara’s rehab was at at the Christine E. Lynn Rehabilitation Center for The Miami Project to Cure Paralysis, part of a partnership between Jackson Health System and UHealth. Every year, thousands in the United States have a stroke , with one occurring every 40 seconds, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The majority of strokes are ischemic, often caused by blood clots that obstruct blood flow to the brain. For survivors, most of whom are left with some level of disability, the Vivistim Paired VNS System, the device implanted in Lara’s chest, could be a game changer in recovery, said Dr. Robert Starke, a UHealth neurosurgeon and interventional neuroradiologist. He also serves as co-director of endovascular neurosurgery at Jackson Memorial Hospital, part of Miami-Dade’s public hospital system. Arlet Lara, the first patient in South Florida to get an FDA-approved nerve stimulation implant, right, runs into her rehabilitation neurology physician Dr. Gemayaret Alvarez, before her physical therapy appointment on Monday, Sept. 9, 2024, at Lynn Rehabilitation Center at Jackson Memorial Hospital. The implant is designed to help stroke survivors regain function in their arms. (Alie Skowronski/Miami Herald/TNS) Arlet Lara, the first patient in South Florida to get an FDA-approved nerve stimulation implant designed to help stroke survivors regain function in their arms, goes through exercises while her therapist activates the device during her physical therapy appointment on Monday, Sept. 9, 2024, at Lynn Rehabilitation Center at Jackson Memorial Hospital. The activation works as positive reinforcement to her muscles when she completes the exercise correctly. (Alie Skowronski/Miami Herald/TNS) Arlet Lara, the first patient in South Florida to get an FDA-approved nerve stimulation implant, does an exercise while Neil Batungbakal, rehabilitation therapist, activates the implant with the black trigger during her physical therapy appointment on Monday, Sept. 9, 2024, at Lynn Rehabilitation Center at Jackson Memorial Hospital. The implant is designed to help stroke survivors regain function in their arms. The activation works as positive reinforcement to her muscles when she completes the exercise correctly. (Alie Skowronski/Miami Herald/TNS) Arlet Lara, the first patient in South Florida to get an FDA- approved nerve stimulation implant, does an exercise while Neil Batungbakal, rehabilitation therapist, activates the implant with the black trigger during her physical therapy appointment on Monday, Sept. 9, 2024, at Lynn Rehabilitation Center at Jackson Memorial Hospital. Arlet Lara, the first patient in South Florida to get an FDA-approved nerve stimulation implant, right, runs into her rehabilitation neurology physician Dr. Gemayaret Alvarez, before her physical therapy appointment on Monday, Sept. 9, 2024, at Lynn Rehabilitation Center at Jackson Memorial Hospital. The implant is designed to help stroke survivors regain function in their arms. (Alie Skowronski/Miami Herald/TNS) What to know about the stroke device The Vivistim Paired VNS System is a small pacemaker-like device implanted in the upper chest and neck area. Patients can go home the same day. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved the stroke rehabilitation system in 2021 to be used alongside post-ischemic stroke rehabilitation therapy to treat moderate to severe mobility issues in hands and arms. Lara’s occupational therapist can activate the device during rehabilitation sessions to electrically stimulate the vagus nerve, which runs from the brain down to the abdomen and regulates various parts of the body’s nervous system. The electrical stimulation rewires the brain to improve a stroke survivor’s ability to move their arms and hands. How it worked on the first Jackson patient Lara also has a magnet she can use to activate the device when she wants to practice at home. Her therapy consists of repetitive tasks, including coloring, pinching cubes and grabbing and releasing cylindrical shapes. After several weeks of rehabilitation therapy with the device, Lara has seen improvement. “Little by little, I’m noticing that my hand is getting stronger. I am already able to brush my teeth with the left hand,” she told the Miami Herald in September. Since then, Lara has finished the initial six-week Vivitism therapy program, and is continuing to use the device in her rehabilitation therapy. She continues to improve and can now eat better with her left hand and can brush her hair with less difficulty, according to her occupational therapist, Neil Batungbakal. Lara learned about the device through an online group for stroke survivors and contacted the company to inquire. She then connected them with her Jackson medical team. Now a year later, the device is available to Jackson patients. So far, four patients have received the implant at Jackson. Related Articles Health | Washington power has shifted. Here’s how the ACA may shift, too Health | CDC chief urges focus on health threats as agency confronts political changes Health | New rule allows HIV-positive organ transplants Health | Biden proposes Medicare and Medicaid cover costly weight-loss drugs for millions of obese Americans Health | Do not wash your turkey and other Thanksgiving tips to keep your food safe Starke sees the device as an opportunity to help bring survivors one step closer to regaining full mobility. Strokes are a leading cause of disability worldwide. While most stroke survivors can usually recover some function through treatment and rehabilitation, they tend to hit a “major plateau” after the first six months of recovery, he said. Vivistim, when paired with rehabilitation therapy, could change that. Jackson Health said results of a clinical trial published in the peer-reviewed medical journal The Lancet in 2021 showed that the device, “when paired with high-repetition, task-specific occupational or physical therapy, helps generate two to three times more hand and arm function for stroke survivors than rehabilitation therapy alone.” The device has even shown to benefit patients 20 years from their original stroke, according to Starke. “So now a lot of these patients that had strokes 10-15 years ago that thought that they would never be able to use their arm in any sort of real functional way are now able to have a real meaningful function, which is pretty tremendous,” Starke said. More about the device Vivistim’s vagus-nerve stimulation technology was developed by researchers at the University of Texas at Dallas’ Texas Biomedical Device Center and is being sold commercially by Austin-based MicroTransponder, a company started by university graduates. Similar devices are used to treat epilepsy and depression . For Lara, the device is a new tool to help her recovery journey. “Everything becomes a challenge so we are working with small things every day because I want to get back as many functions as possible,” Lara said. Patients interested in Vivistim should speak with their doctor to check their eligibility. The FDA said patients should make sure to discuss any prior medical history, including concurrent forms of brain stimulation, current diathermy treatment, previous brain surgery, depression, respiratory diseases and disorders such as asthma, and cardiac abnormalities. “Adverse events included but were not limited to dysphonia (difficulty speaking), bruising, falling, general hoarseness, general pain, hoarseness after surgery, low mood, muscle pain, fracture, headache, rash, dizziness, throat irritation, urinary tract infection and fatigue,” the FDA said. MicroTransponder says the device is “covered by Medicare, Medicaid, and private insurance with prior authorization on a case-by-case basis.” To learn more about the device, visit vivistim.com. ©2024 Miami Herald. Visit at miamiherald.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

There are still barriers that are preventing fathers from taking up , even with progressive changes to legislation that was set to improve men’s access. Monash University’s Business School recently a study in the , exploring and analysing barriers to gender-equal access to paid parental leave. Led by Dr Amanda Selvarajah, the study drew up data from the Workplace Gender Equality Agency (WGEA), interviews with human resources professionals and analysis of legislation. Dr Selvarajah found that while some progress has been made, fathers and partners are still running into obstacles when it comes to accessing paid parental leave. “Despite a professed intention to improve fathers’ parental leave usage, the PPL Act maintains several barriers that may compromise its gender equal utilisation,” Dr Selvarajah said. “This is largely because the PPL Act continues to require parents in coupled households to share their payments between them to have an equal entitlement.” In July 2023, changes to the Paid Parental Leave Act (PPL Act) came into effect that removed gendered assumptions on who, in a parenting couple, is the primary and the secondary carer of a child, which therefore determines the amount of paid parental leave they are eligible for. Before those changes took effect, it was usually the birth mother who was automatically assigned the primary carer, who received 18 weeks of payments at the national minimum wage, and the father or partner that was the secondary carer, who received two weeks of payments. The legislation changes in 2023 scrapped this practice. However, the study found parents are still expected to share all but two weeks of payments, as just two weeks of parental leave is non-transferrable. This finding reveals a disregard of the social, financial and biological reasons that birth parents take parental leave first and for longer periods. Further, in practice, there is still a “primary carer” requirement for parents in workplaces, even with the changes to legislation. And with payments only set to minimum wage, it discourages fathers from taking parental leave, and instead almost incentivises them to go back to work. According to data from WGEA, only about 68 per cent of organisations with more than 100 employees offer their own paid parental leave policies, meaning they receive full compensation, as opposed to minimum wage. What’s more, in workplaces that do offer their own policies, only 17 per cent of parental leave use was taken up by men, the WGEA data shows. The Monash Business School study also interviewed HR professionals, and these interviews found that organisations still define primary and secondary carers in their own workplace policies. Time limits on the use of parental leave were commonly at a maximum of 12 months, and the average length of employer-provided paid parental leave for primary carers was 12 weeks. The interviews revealed that there was rarely any flexibility from workplaces on how paid parental leave was used, and there is still a strong, cultural resistance from fathers and partners from taking up leave. “In the short term,” Dr Selvarajah said, “these findings emphasise the need for organisations to consider the structural and cultural barriers that may be preventing fathers from taking on more caregiving responsibilities. “If left unaddressed, these barriers will continue to perpetuate gender inequality in the workplace and at home. “The study reveals how the industry relies on legislation to take the lead in parental leave policy design. Further legislative reforms are crucial to help normalise equal caregiving by both parents, reducing the gender divide in unpaid labor. “This could lead to broader societal benefits, including improved gender equality in career opportunities and economic outcomes for women.”

Former Trump attorney lashes out at 'lawfare' after court appearance in Wisconsin fake electors caseShaoxing Doctor's Seven Questions for Africa 12-27-2024 06:32 PM CET | Business, Economy, Finances, Banking & Insurance Press release from: Getnews / PR Agency: Stones_PR Video: https://www.youtube.com/embed/FgNQIdPVDEEVideo Link: https://www.youtube.com/embed/FgNQIdPVDEE Shen Dingmao is a pharmacist at Shaoxing Seventh People's Hospital. Last November, he joined the China Medical Aid Team to assist Mali for the second time. During his two missions to Africa, what can Shen Dingmao do for Mali? Image: https://www.globalnewslines.com/uploads/2024/12/912649cb28afad360de6297e4143c9d8.jpg At Mali Hospital, the Chinese pharmacy provides medicines for free. Shen Dingmao distributes medications based on the patients' conditions and the available stock. In his spare time, he also tries to learn the local language from his Mali colleagues. Each time when he distributes medicines, he uses French or Bambara to clearly explain the usage, dosage, and precautions to the patients, and he has no trouble communicating with the local people. Image: https://www.globalnewslines.com/uploads/2024/12/da5c943123d5768e9e93926ef04112b9.jpg Of course, Shen Dingmao's family fully supports his decision to go to Africa for the second time, allowing him to focus on his mission at ease. They are the backup guarantee for him to assist Africa again. With 28 years of professional experience and 3 years of service in Africa, every day in Mali Shen Dingmao feels the warmth and gratitude from the local people. Shen Dingmao says that in Mali, they are not just doctors, but also envoys of China-Africa friendship. He believes that this unforgettable experience in a foreign land will become the most precious treasure of his life. Image: https://www.globalnewslines.com/uploads/2024/12/8eb94d594b828c724c69b8280e9cf48c.jpg Join us in watching the short video "Shaoxing Doctor's Seven Questions for Africa3: What Can I Do for Mali in My Two Missions to Africa?" to learn about Shen Dingmao's experiences in Africa. Media Contact Company Name: Shaoxing News Contact Person: Shi Yanjing Email: Send Email [ http://www.universalpressrelease.com/?pr=shaoxing-doctors-seven-questions-for-africa ] Country: China Website: https://www.shaoxing.com.cn/ This release was published on openPR.

TikTok's future in the U.S. appeared uncertain on Friday after a federal appeals court rejected a legal challenge to a law that requires the social media platform to cut ties with its China-based parent company or be banned by mid-January. A panel of three judges on The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit ruled unanimously that the law withstood constitutional scrutiny, rebuffing arguments from the two companies that the statute violated their rights and the rights of TikTok users in the U.S. The government has said it wants ByteDance to divest its stakes in TikTok. But if it doesn't and the platform goes away, it would have a seismic impact on the lives of content creators who rely on the platform for income as well as users who use it for entertainment and connection. Here are some details on the ruling and what could happen next: What does the ruling say? In their lawsuit, TikTok and ByteDance, which is also a plaintiff in the case, had challenged the law on various fronts, arguing in part that the statute ran afoul of the First Amendment and was an unconstitutional bill of attainder that unfairly targeted the two companies. But the court sided with attorneys for the Justice Department who said that the government was attempting to address national security concerns and the way in which it chose to do so did not violate the constitution. The Justice Department has argued in court that TikTok poses a national security risk due to its connections to China. Officials say that Chinese authorities can compel ByteDance to hand over information on TikTok's U.S. patrons or use the platform to spread, or suppress, information. However, the U.S. hasn't publicly provided examples of that happening. The appeals court ruling, written by Judge Douglas Ginsburg, said the law was “carefully crafted to deal only with control by a foreign adversary." The judges also rejected the claim that the statute was an unlawful bill of attainder or a taking of property in violation of the Fifth Amendment. Furthermore, Ginsburg wrote the law did not violate the First Amendment because the government is not looking to “suppress content or require a certain mix of content” on TikTok. What happens next? TikTok and ByteDance are expected to appeal the case to the Supreme Court, but it's unclear whether the court will take up the case. TikTok indicated in a statement on Friday the two companies are preparing to take their case to high court, saying the Supreme Court has “an established historical record of protecting Americans’ right to free speech." "We expect they will do just that on this important constitutional issue,” a company spokesperson said. Alan Morrison, a professor at The George Washington University Law School, said he expects the Supreme Court to take up the case because of the novelty of the issues raised in the lawsuit. If that happens, attorneys for the two companies still have to convince the court to grant them an emergency stay that will prevent the government from enforcing the Jan. 19 divestiture deadline stipulated in the law, Morrison said. Such a move could drag out the process until the Justices make a ruling. Tiffany Cianci, a TikTok content creator who has supported the platform, said she was not shocked about the outcome of the court's ruling on Friday because lower courts typically defer to the executive branch on these types of cases. She believes the company will have a stronger case at the Supreme Court. “I believe that the next stages are more likely to produce a victory for TikTokers and for TikTok as a whole,” Cianci said. What about Trump? Another wild card is President-elect Donald Trump, who tried to ban TikTok during his first term but said during the recent presidential campaign that he is now against such action . The Trump transition team has not offered details on how Trump plans to carry out his pledge to “save TikTok." But spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt said in a statement last month that he plans to “deliver” on his campaign promises. After Trump takes office on Jan. 20th, it would fall on his Justice Department to enforce the law and punish any potential violators. Penalties would apply to any app stores that would violate a prohibition on TikTok and to internet hosting services which would be barred from supporting it. Some have speculated that Trump could ask his Justice Department to abstain from enforcing the law. But tech companies like Apple and Google, which offer TikTok's app on their app stores, would then have to trust that the administration would not come after them for any violations. Craig Singleton, senior director of the China program at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, said enforcement discretion — or executive orders — can not override existing law, leaving Trump with “limited room for unilateral action." There are other things Trump could potentially do. It's possible he could invoke provisions of the law that allow the president to determine whether a sale or a similar transaction frees TikTok from “foreign adversary” control. Another option is to urge Congress to repeal the law. But that too would require support from congressional Republicans who have overwhelmingly supported the prospect of getting TikTok out of the hands of a Chinese company. In a statement issued Friday, Republican Rep. John Moolenaar of Michigan, chairman of the House Select Committee on China, said he was “optimistic that President Trump will facilitate an American takeover of TikTok” and allow its continued use in the United States. Is anyone trying to buy TikTok? ByteDance has said it won't sell TikTok . And even if it wanted to, a sale of the proprietary algorithm that powers TikTok is likely to get blocked under Chinese export controls that the country issued in 2020. That means if TikTok is sold without the algorithm, its likely that the buyer would only purchase a shell of the platform that doesn't contain the technology that made the app a cultural powerhouse. Still, some investors, including Trump’s former Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and billionaire Frank McCourt, have expressed interest in buying it. This week, a spokesperson for McCourt’s Project Liberty initiative, which aims to protect online privacy, said participants in their bid have made informal commitments of more than $20 billion in capital. The spokesperson did not disclose the identity of the participants. Haleluya Hadero, The Associated Press

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