(Photo by Skitterphoto via Pexels) By Stephen Beech via SWNS Cleaning surfaces every two hours at airports cuts potentially deadly norovirus infections by 83%, according to a new study. Researchers found that airport restaurants had the highest risk of norovirus transmission . But frequently disinfecting surfaces, mask-wearing and antimicrobial surface coatings at the transport hubs can all help prevent the highly contagious illness - also known as the winter vomiting bug - from spreading, say scientists. Study author Professor Nan Zhang, of the Beijing University of Technology in China, said: "Norovirus causes severe vomiting and diarrhea and is responsible for about 685 million cases and 200,000 deaths each year. "The virus is primarily transmitted through surfaces and outbreaks during air travel are especially common, due to the large number of public surfaces in airports." (PLOS Computational Biology via SWNS) To investigate the risk of norovirus infection from surfaces among passengers in different zones of the airport, the research team collected real touch data from 21.3 hours of video, which captured almost 26,000 touches. They developed a model of surface transmission and simulated the risk of infection from norovirus and the effectiveness of various interventions in different airport areas. Zhang said: "The touch data showed that, without any interventions, restaurants at airports had the highest risk of norovirus transmission, with approximately 4.6 out of 51,494 travelers infected. "Disinfecting public surfaces every two hours reduced the risk of norovirus infection per visit to the airport by 83.2%. "In contrast, handwashing every two hours reduced the risk by only 2%, and mask-wearing 50% of the time reduced risk by 48.0%, because masks stop people from touching their face. CDC "Furthermore, using antimicrobial copper or copper-nickel alloy coatings for most public surfaces lowered the infection risk by 15.9% to 99.2%." He says the study, published in the journal PLOS Computational Biology , provides "crucial" insights for developing infection prevention and control strategies specifically tailored for norovirus within airport environments. Zhang noted that the data for the study was collected during the COVID-19 pandemic , so surface-touching behaviors may have been different from normal. But he said that, overall, the simulated results indicated that public surface disinfection, mask-wearing wearing and the use of antimicrobial surfaces are effective ways of controlling the spread of norovirus via surfaces. Zhang added: "Regular surface infection is much more effective than regular handwashing for blocking norovirus transmission via fomite route in airports."
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CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — Known across the globe as the stuck astronauts, Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams hit the six-month mark in space Thursday with two more to go. The pair rocketed into orbit on June 5, the first to ride Boeing’s new Starliner crew capsule on what was supposed to be a weeklong test flight. They arrived at the International Space Station the next day, only after overcoming a cascade of thruster failures and helium leaks . NASA deemed the capsule too risky for a return flight, so it will be February before their long and trying mission comes to a close. While NASA managers bristle at calling them stuck or stranded, the two retired Navy captains shrug off the description of their plight. They insist they’re fine and accepting of their fate. Wilmore views it as a detour of sorts: “We’re just on a different path.” “I like everything about being up here,” Williams told students Wednesday from an elementary school named for her in Needham, Massachusetts, her hometown. "Just living in space is super fun.” Both astronauts have lived up there before so they quickly became full-fledged members of the crew, helping with science experiments and chores like fixing a broken toilet, vacuuming the air vents and watering the plants. Williams took over as station commander in September. “Mindset does go a long way,” Wilmore said in response to a question from Nashville first-graders in October. He’s from Mount Juliet, Tennessee. “I don’t look at these situations in life as being downers.” Boeing flew its Starliner capsule home empty in September, and NASA moved Wilmore and Williams to a SpaceX flight not due back until late February. Two other astronauts were bumped to make room and to keep to a six-month schedule for crew rotations. Like other station crews, Wilmore and Williams trained for spacewalks and any unexpected situations that might arise. “When the crews go up, they know they could be there for up to a year,” said NASA Associate Administrator Jim Free. NASA astronaut Frank Rubio found that out the hard way when the Russian Space Agency had to rush up a replacement capsule for him and two cosmonauts in 2023, pushing their six-month mission to just past a year. Boeing said this week that input from Wilmore and Williams has been “invaluable" in the ongoing inquiry of what went wrong. The company said in a statement that it is preparing for Starliner's next flight but declined comment on when it might launch again. NASA also has high praise for the pair. “Whether it was luck or whether it was selection, they were great folks to have for this mission,” NASA's chief health and medical officer, Dr. JD Polk, said during an interview with The Associated Press. On top of everything else, Williams, 59, has had to deal with “rumors,” as she calls them, of serious weight loss. She insists her weight is the same as it was on launch day, which Polk confirms. During Wednesday's student chat, Williams said she didn't have much of an appetite when she first arrived in space. But now she's “super hungry” and eating three meals a day plus snacks, while logging the required two hours of daily exercise. Williams, a distance runner, uses the space station treadmill to support races in her home state. She competed in Cape Cod’s 7-mile Falmouth Road Race in August. She ran the 2007 Boston Marathon up there as well. She has a New England Patriots shirt with her for game days, as well as a Red Sox spring training shirt. “Hopefully I’ll be home before that happens -- but you never know,” she said in November. Husband Michael Williams, a retired federal marshal and former Navy aviator, is caring for their dogs back home in Houston. As for Wilmore, 61, he's missing his younger daughter's senior year in high school and his older daughter's theater productions in college. “We can’t deny that being unexpectedly separated, especially during the holidays when the entire family gets together, brings increased yearnings to share the time and events together,” his wife, Deanna Wilmore, told the AP in a text this week. Her husband “has it worse than us” since he's confined to the space station and can only connect via video for short periods. “We are certainly looking forward to February!!” she wrote. The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Science and Educational Media Group. The AP is solely responsible for all content.
President-elect Trump appointed RFK Jr. as Secretary of Health and Human Services. RFK Jr. is a vaccine skeptic and a conspiracy theorist who’s against fluoride in our water and a certifiable nut case. However, RFK Jr. has one great idea. He wants to go after the food industry for pushing garbage foods on Americans with way too much salt (sodium), sugar (carbohydrates) and fats (oils and butter). While I applaud RFK Jr. for bringing this issue up, you don’t go against a $2 trillion (with a “T”) industry and not expect elbows to the face. One of the best lines from HBO’s “Succession” was when Roman Roy did something stupid and Gerri, the veteran Waystar Royco executive tells him, “What did you do, Roman? You don’t go against the money. You never go against the money!” RFK Jr. is going against the huge money. Back in April 1999, executives from processed food companies Kraft, Nabisco, General Mills, Procter & Gamble, Coca-Cola and Mars met at the Pillsbury’s Minneapolis headquarters to discuss America’s growing weight and obesity problems and the associated health issues, such as high blood pressure, Type 2 diabetes, liver, kidney and heart disease, stroke and shortened life expectancy. The first speaker from Pillsbury gave a 114-deck PowerPoint slideshow detailing the fact that over 50% of Americans were now overweight, with 25% of Americans being clinically defined as obese. He spoke about the tobacco industry and how they lied to the American people for decades until the 7 Dwarfs (seven tobacco CEOs) lied to Congress on national TV. He said they would have to lower the amounts of salt, sugar and fats they put in their foods. The next speaker was General Mills CEO Stephen Sanger who said, “Consumers are fickle. They buy what they like and they like what tastes good.” That year General Mills came out with Yoplait yogurt and Go-Gurt (Yoplait in a squeezable tube) that added $600 million in annual sales for yogurt with extra sugar that was marketed as being healthy. In the end, million-dollar salaries, bonuses, stock options, private jets and chauffeured limos won out over healthy nutrition. And that was that for the processed food industry making their products healthier. Flash forward 25 years... the New York Times just came out with an article last week stating that almost 75% of Americans are overweight. Even more frightening is that 33% of children and almost 50% of young adults ages 15-24 are now overweight or obese. Think of Oscar Mayer’s Lunchables, a huge seller that was mass-marketed directly to youth via Saturday morning cartoons. The pre-packaged bologna, cheese and crackers was high in salt, sugar and fat. Coke, Pepsi, Dr. Pepper and Mountain Dew are sugar bombs with 10-11 teaspoons of sugar in each serving. Orange and cranberry juice are sugar bombs with 6 teaspoons of sugar. Hey moms, those juice boxes you give your kids are 5 teaspoons of sugar. What sane person would take a glass of water and add high-fructose corn syrup (chemical sugar), caffeine, phosphoric acid and caramel color? Those are the ingredients for Coca-Cola. Next time you’re going through the grocery store, take a glance at the person’s cart next to you. Is it filled with fresh fruits and vegetables, chicken and fish? Or is it filled with packaged, canned and jarred foods. Garbage in, garbage out. While being cheap, most of these foods taste good because they are loaded with salt, sugar and fats. Campbells’ Prego spaghetti sauce ingredients are water, sugar, sunflower seed oil, vinegar, garlic puree, modified starch, lactic acid, sodium lactate, citric acid, sodium diacetate, onion powder and salt. Salt, sugar, fats and chemicals. Take the time to look at the labels of the foods you purchase. If the second ingredient is salt, sugar or fats, you may want to think twice about buying a product that will make you unhealthy. The five Cs of chips, cakes, cookies, crackers and candy will slowly kill you. These high-processed food companies are doing more damage to the average American than the tobacco industry and making billions while doing so. My prediction is long before this comes anywhere near the processed food executives testifying at Congressional hearings, someone will send RFK Jr. a photo of JFK in the back seat of his convertible on that infamous day on Nov. 22, 1963. That will be his last warning to drop any threats of Congressional testimonies, warning labels on processed foods or sugar taxes on sodas. Matthew Owen resides in Eureka and believes the First Amendment allows for free speech. He can be reached at mowen707@gmail.com.Sportscaster Greg Gumbel dies from cancer at age 78
CATHOLIC EDUCATION The Holy Angel Academy, founded by Juan and Teresa Nepomuceno in 1933 for their son, Javier Jesus, evolved into the Holy Angel University, the country’s first Catholic university founded by laypersons. —Tonette T. Orejas ANGELES CITY, PAMPANGA, Philippines — Two universities in this city in Pampanga—one with a 91-year legacy, the other spanning 62 years—have flourished over time. The third-generation heirs leading the Holy Angel University (HAU) and Angeles University Foundation (AUF) believed they became good, if not the best, in what they do in their field because their institutions adhere to the values passed down by their founders, using these as guideposts in meeting today’s challenges. “All for the glory of God,” the motto of HAU founder Don Juan Nepomuceno, is not only etched on his gravestone. It is in the HAU mission statement, his grandson Leopoldo Jaime Valdes, the current university president, said. The maxim that his grandmother Doña Teresa Nepomuceno lived by—“Do it well or not at all”—has become the quality statement that is seen on campus. “Our grandparents were, in a way, servant-leaders. They didn’t bring attention to themselves; they just served. They’re philanthropists,” Valdes said, referring to the couple’s commercial and social enterprises that helped grow Angeles City, then Barrio Kuliat, that Juan’s great grandfather, Don Angel Pantaleon de Miranda, founded. The couple started the Angeles Electric Light and Power Plant in 1923 because the Holy Rosary Church needed electricity. They opened the Holy Angel Academy for their firstborn, Javier Jesus (Jave) and other youth who wanted to finish high school without studying in the capital Manila. Teresa handled the operations and Juan, the accounting and bookkeeping side. The children learned honest labor and discipline by working in the businesses and made sacrifices because their two houses accommodated the relatives. Valdes, a son of Aurora, the seventh among the 10 Nepomuceno children, had what he called the “extraordinary privilege” of growing and learning from his grandparents. At one time when businesses slumped, the elders ditched tinsels and glued instead “papel de Hapon” for a Christmas tree on the wall. From this, Valdes learned that the so-called old money from the wedding gifts of lands and gold coins was fleeting. “Industriousness, working hard, doing things for others— these are more important than the wealth you currently have. We never thought that we were rich. We kept thinking we had a lot of work to do,” he added. So beginning with 78 students in 1933, the enrollees grew to 14,026 this 2024, with 5,779 of them as scholars. HAU evolved as the first Catholic school in the Philippines that was founded and managed by laypersons. It is the first co-ed Catholic high school that produced government officials, business leaders, trailblazers in the private sector, artists, religious persons and rebels. It received the Philippine Quality Award among higher education institutions accredited by the Philippine Accrediting Association of Schools, Colleges and Universities (Paascu). On account of his bloodline, background and work in HAU since 2016 in learning systems, Valdes was chosen by the board to head HAU in 2021 after the death of Dr. Luis Maria Calingo from complications of COVID-19 that year. Choosing Valdes was in line with the results of a 2015 survey that showed a strong clamor to have a family member lead the school. “Every president of the university has contributed to where it is right now. There are no right or wrong presidents,” Valdes said. Following its founders’ lead, HAU is not driven by profit. “It’s motivated by family and God and their values. In crises like World War II and Mt. Pinatubo’s eruptions, the [family] kept steadfast. The family comes in to rebuild. We always look around in our community and to society in general to see what we can do to support. And all the other family businesses are meant to do that,” he said. “We live these every day,” Valdes further said, adding, “We return to the vision-mission cycle and try to connect everything back to the founders as much as possible while looking forward.” He noted that there was clarification of roles at times. “Are we here to direct or are we here to serve? It is the service that is most important.” “The organization is like an upside-down pyramid, where the head, I myself, is at the bottom, and I serve all people above me, and they serve all the people above them. The goal is to be a servant first, a leader second. The goal is to serve the priority needs of the people who work with us. In this, the students and their parents are at the very top,” Valdes said. At least 680 of the close to 1,000 employees of HAU are teachers who are helped to imbibe the values and believe in the vision-mission. Valdes tells the story and values of Juan and Teresa to new employees. A cartoon character was made of Juan to inspire enthusiasm among the youth. “Laus deo semper” (Praise God always) is the battlecry cascaded by being a good model,” he said. PRAISE, PERSISTENCE Leopoldo Jaime Valdes is the third generation Nepomuceno heir leading the Holy Angel University’s educational battlecry “Laus Deo Semper” (Praise God always). Another Pampanga university, the Angeles University Foundation (right), is a story of persistence by the founder, Barbara Yap-Angeles; her son, Emmanuel, who turned it into a foundation; and her grandson, Joseph Emmanuel (below), who is leading it to prepare students for the modern challenges of education. —Tonette T. Orejas Some courses are offered for their importance rather than for money, like cybersecurity or a Green MBA for sustainability. It sustains the Center for Kapampangan Studies to help preserve the language and culture. It looks at the success of students and graduates. “Where are our graduates today? What did we do to get them there?” Valdes said. Based on the 2022-2023 tracer study, HAU graduates posted an 87-percent employability rate. The School of Arts and Sciences registered a rate of 88 percent; the School of Business and Accountancy, 88 percent; the School of Engineering and Architecture, 63 percent; the School of Hospitality and Tourism Management, 93 percent; the School of Computing, 100 percent; the College of Criminal Justice Education and Forensic, 87 percent; the School of Nursing and Allied Medical Sciences, 64 percent; and the School of Education, 94 percent. It offers less than 90 programs. “We knew we were different because of the way we were founded and how we were resilient over the years,” Valdes said. He added: “The important measure of a university that’s supposed to be cared [for] is that we did not leave anyone behind. And because we have to think in that respect, we have to think about those who failed. We are looking at failure as not a negative but something that actually leads to strength. Barbara Yap-Angeles closed the Angeles Academy three years after she opened it in 1933. Many endeavors, including motherhood, got her away from her dream of reviving the school. She picked up the dream again in 1962 by establishing the Angeles Institute of Technology (AIT) on proceeds of sold or pawned jewelry. Her eldest son, former Commission on Higher Education head Dr. Emmanuel Yap Angeles, recovered some of his mother’s jewelry and paid all her loans in 1975, or 13 years later. He also gave up his law practice to help her grow AIT. “Nobody should be deprived of education because of poverty,” was what she often told him. The Department of Education granted AIT university status in 1971. Emmanuel converted the school into a foundation and a Catholic university in 1975. He inaugurated the AUF Medical Center in 1990 and established centers of excellence at AUF, mostly on grants and tie-ups with more than 200 universities and benefactors from all over the world. Lawyer Joseph Emmanuel Angeles, the second of three children of Emmanuel and Dr. Cornelia Pabico Lukban, assumed the position of university president in 2009. “AUF was already well-known, especially for our nursing and medicine courses, when I assumed at the prodding of Tatang [Emmanuel], then AUF president Dr. Ricardo Pama and the AUF Trustees. I knew I had large shoes to fill. Tatang was the driving force behind the reestablishment of AUF, and the architect of AUF’s achieving university status within nine years, its conversion to a nonprofit foundation and recognition as a Catholic university,” Angeles said. “Cognizant of this legacy, I built upon this foundation to ensure the AUF founders’ enduring contribution to Philippine education,” he added. His focus, he said, is to attain the highest quality Catholic education and make it accessible to Filipinos. “In doing so, we bring to life AUF’s mission of ‘Total Development of Man for God and Humanity,” Angeles shared. According to him, the fulfillment of that mission can be seen from the overall board examination passing rate of 70.87 percent in 2009 and 86.98 percent in 2023; and Paascu accreditation of 19 programs in 2009 and 70 in 2023. Joseph Emmanuel Angeles, AUF president Its Commission on Higher Education (CHEd) Centers of Excellence (COEs)/Development (CODs) totaled one COE in Information Technology in 2009 and five centers in 2023 (COE in Information Technology, COE in Teacher Education, COE in Criminology, COD in Computer Engineering and COD in Nursing). AUF has also been recently included in the 2025 QS Asian Ranking (QSAR 2025). In Asia, it was ranked 901+; and in Southeast Asia, 169. AUF is the only private university in Central Luzon that was ranked in QSAR 2025. In The Impact Rankings, he said AUF was ranked as one of the top universities in the country along with the University of Santo Tomas, University of the Philippines and Ateneo de Manila University. In the Student Mobility and Openness Category of The World University Rankings for Innovation, AUF was ranked 57th in the world and 3ed in the Philippines. Angeles said it was important to share the narrative. “Lola Barang passed away before I was born, but her values were passed on through Tatang’s anecdotes over the dinner table. Tatang would similarly pass on his values and experiences through his own anecdotes and example.” He said he learned from her charity and concern for the disadvantaged. “Tatang attested to Lola Barang’s remarkable generosity, exemplified by her pawning jewelry to help others. From Tatang, that virtue of charity was reinforced, and to that he added the virtues of grit, hard work, discipline, and the ability to walk with kings, but not lose the common touch,” Angeles said. That generosity, he added, has continued through AUF’s scholarship programs that have benefited more than 78,000 students at a cost of over P1.36 billion from 1975 to 2023. His leadership introduced pillars of quality and accessibility. “Without quality and accessibility, AUF has no reason for being. Only with these foundations can AUF properly assume the mantle of a world-class Catholic university,” Angeles said. With these, new programs and institutes came. Among them are the AUF School of Law, headed by retired Supreme Court Associate Justice Jose Vitug, which has been recognized by the Legal Education Board and Supreme Court for its bar examination performance. The Confucius Institute at AUF was awarded multiple times as Confucius Institute of the Year in 2011, 2013 and 2017. Subscribe to our daily newsletter By providing an email address. I agree to the Terms of Use and acknowledge that I have read the Privacy Policy . The AUF Senior High School has been recognized by the Department of Science and Technology for their innovative research. The recently launched BS Human Biology program would allow exceptional students to complete their medicine studies at AUF within six years.NoneLuke Humphries defeats Luke Littler to retain Players Championship Finals title
McDonald’s ( MCD ) is switching gears during a time when an alarming consumer trend is hurting its pockets. An increasing number of consumers, convinced inflation at fast-food restaurants is out of control, are opting instead to cook cheaper meals at home. 💰💸 Don’t miss the move: SIGN UP for TheStreet’s FREE Daily newsletter 💰💸 According to a recent survey from LendingTree, roughly 78% of consumers view fast-food as a luxury. Another 62% of Americans said they eat less fast food due to high prices, and 56% said they choose to make food at home when they want an easy and cheap meal. Related: McDonald’s makes a desperate move to win back fleeing customers To be sure, the cost of eating out has jumped. It was up 7.5% in 2022, and it was still up 4.8% year-over-year, according to the October Consumer Price Index report. And that's even as inflation overall has fallen below 3%. Consumer resistance has contributed to McDonald’s facing declines in its sales and revenue all year, and it has been on a shaky road to recovery. During the third quarter of 2024, McDonald’s revealed that its U.S. comparable sales increased by a measly 0.3% year-over-year, while its net income only shrunk by 3%. To make matters worse, the company faced an E.coli outbreak last month, which sickened more than 100 people, hospitalized 34, and even killed one person. As a result, McDonald’s sales and visits took an extra tumble. McDonald's makes a major menu adjustment Now, McDonald’s is making a bold move designed to attract consumers back into its restaurants, and it appears to be a response to recent complaints about high prices. picture alliance/Getty Images The company just unveiled its new “McValue” menu, which is set to go into effect on Jan. 7, 2025. It contains the fast-food chain’s current $5 Meal Deal, which offers a meal that consists of a McChicken sandwich, four-piece chicken nuggets or a McDouble, along with fries and a drink for $5. The meal deal was expected to expire sometime during the late summer, but it was recently extended after analysts claimed that the deal was struggling to significantly boost traffic in restaurants shortly after it debuted. The new McValue menu also includes a brand-new deal called “Buy One, Add One for $1,” where customers can buy a “full-priced” menu item from the McValue menu and add one more item of their choice for $1, according to a new press release. More Food + Dining: The McValue menu contains breakfast, lunch and dinner items such as hash browns, 6-pc. Chicken McNuggets, Sausage McMuffin, a double cheeseburger, etc. "When it comes to value, we know there's no one-size-fits-all. We've worked closely with our franchisees to create a new platform that will let our customers define value on their own terms," said McDonald's USA President Joe Erlinger in the press release. McDonald's responds to complaints about price increases The move from McDonald’s comes after Erlinger said in an open letter in May that the average price of a McDonald’s menu item has increased by roughly 40% since 2019, hitting back at consumers who alleged that prices have been hiked up by over 100% during that time period. “Recently, we have seen viral social posts and poorly sourced reports that McDonald’s has raised prices significantly beyond inflationary rates,” said Erlinger in the letter. “This is inaccurate.” Related: McDonald’s pulls beloved menu items due to major issue According to a recent report from the Roosevelt Institute, the fast-food industry is notorious for charging prices that are higher than their marginal costs (an additional cost incurred to produce a good/service). The institute found that in 2023, McDonald’s raised its prices 85% above its marginal costs. Amid the recent criticism, it appears that McDonald’s is letting consumers know it hears them loud and clear. During an earnings call last month, McDonald’s Chief Financial Officer Ian Borden said that the company will be heavily focusing on “value and affordability” going forward. “I think certainly lower-income consumers and families are consumers that are under more acute kind of pressures,” said Borden. “I think on disposable income, obviously, two really important parts of our consumer base. I think for all of those reasons, that's why obviously we have such a heightened focus on value and affordability and making sure we get that right for the context we're in each and every one of our markets.” Related: Veteran fund manager sees world of pain coming for stocksLittler, who won the Grand Slam of Darts last week, hit checkouts of 170, 164 and 136 as he threatened to overturn an early deficit, but Humphries held his nerve to win the last three legs. “I’m really, really proud of that one to be honest,” Humphries told Sky Sports. “I didn’t feel myself this week playing-wise, I felt like I was a dart behind in a lot of the scenarios but there’s something that Luke does to you. He really drives me, makes me want to be a better player and I enjoy playing him. “He let me in really early in that first session to go 4-1 up, I never looked back and I’m proud that I didn’t take my foot off the gas. These big games are what I live for. “Luke is a special talent and he was right – I said to him I’ve got to get these (titles) early before he wins them all. “I’d love to be up here and hitting 105 averages like Luke is all the time but he’s a different calibre, he’s probably the best player in the world right now but there’s something about me that never gives up. “This is a great way to go into the worlds.” Littler, who lost the world championship final to Humphries last year, said: “It was tough, missed a few doubles and if you don’t take chances early on, it’s a lot to come back. “I hit the 170 and the 164 but just didn’t have enough in the end. “It’s been a good past two weeks. I just can’t wait to go home, chill out, obviously practice at home for the worlds. That’s it now, leading up to the big one.”
Fruit Pomace Global Market Report 2024: Exploring Prominent Trends and High-Growth Market Segments
The meeting of Provincial Development Working Party (PDWP) chaired by Additional Chief Secretary Planning and Development Department, Ikramullah Khan here Friday approved various development projects of improving infrastructure, education, health and social welfare sector. The approved projects include approval of Rs. 3 billion for Ehsaas Hunar Program, Rs. 2.9 billion for reconstruction and rehabilitation of a 26-kilometer road from Arandu to Kalkatak Lowari in Chitral district, improvement of flood protection structures in Swat and adjacent rivers, rehabilitation of CRBC and Paharpur Canal System in Dera Ismail Khan and feasibility studies for solar lift irrigation schemes across the province. The forum also approved Establishment of a Government College of Commerce in Duggar, Buner, reconstruction of the Agriculture Research Institute (ARI) in Mingora, Swat, upgrading of Hayasrai Primary Health Center to a Category-D Hospital in Lower Dir and construction of a Thalassemia Department at District Headquarters Hospital, Batkhela. The meeting also approved construction and rehabilitation of roads in South Waziristan, Tank, Batkhela and Upper Chitral, purchase of land for cemeteries and construction of model religious schools and computer labs in registered religious schools. The PDWP also approved projects to enhance governance and research capacity, including establishment of a Chief Minister’s Policy Office, Sector Reforms Unit in Public Health Engineering Department and Monitoring and Evaluation System for development projects. The meeting was attended by PDWP members and officers from various departments.
A 9th telecoms firm has been hit by a massive Chinese espionage campaign, the White House says