Four-year-old Princess Charlotte has started
school in London.
She was “very excited” about starting
school, Prince William said as he dropped her off for her first day.
Walking across the playground with both parents and Prince George, Princess Charlotte
smiled as she met the head of the lower school at Thomas’s Battersea.
Prince George has attended the private school in south west London since
2017.
He began his first day of year two – his final year in the lower school
before he moves to the middle school.
Princess Charlotte was photographed meeting Helen Haslem at the side
entrance of the school.
Her uniform includes a navy pleated skirt and cardigan, white socks and
black shoes.
Kate Middleton carried her daughter’s backpack, which was decorated with a
pink key-ring in the shape of a pony’s head. She smiled as she greeted Helen
Haslem and asked about her summer holidays.
Helen Haslem bent down to shake hands with both Prince George and Princess Charlotte,
who is fourth in line to throne.
Prince William and Kate Middleton accompanied Princess Charlotte to her
classroom before saying their goodbyes.
The Duke of Cambridge, who drove the family to the school, said: “First day – she’s very excited.”
Prince George was also photographed on his first day at Thomas’s Battersea,
a preparatory school located a few miles from the family residence in
Kensington Palace, in September 2017.
He, too, was greeted by Helen Haslem, after Prince William drove him through
the school gates. Kate Middleton missed the occasion as she was not well enough
to take him.
The school has around 560 pupils between the ages of four and 13. According to its website, the school charges £6,429 ($7,921) per term for a family’s eldest child and £6,305 ($7,768) for their second eldest child throughout reception, year one and year two.
You’ll need attractive and engaging content that draws people in straight away. If you’re not sure how to get there, don’t worry. In this post, we’ll give you some inspiration.
Read on for some outstanding landing page copy examples.
5 Examples of Landing Page Copy to Learn From
If you need some inspiration for your landing page copywriting, check out these sites.
This is the where users arrive when they click a link or ad to your site. It should include clear and engaging content that both tells the user about you, and prompts them to take action.
TransferWise’s landing page does just that. It gives concise information about why their international transfer service is so safe, widely-used, and affordable. Then, it includes boxes for users to fill to make a transfer.
Everything you need is right there on that first page.
2. Pinterest
Pinterest is afirst-class website with content that users find almost addictive.
The landing page doesn’t just ask you to sign up. It tells you exactly how many seconds it will take, and how many pins will be available to you when you do.
3. Evernote
Evernote is one of thebest note-taking apps out there, and its landing page tells you why.
It invites you to ‘remember everything’ by downloading the app, and provides a short description of how it will make your life more manageable.
Then, there’s a ‘sign up’ button. What more do you need?
4. AirBnB
The goal of AirBnB’s landing page is to convert customers into hosts, and it does a great job.
The first thing they see is a picture of a happy host, next to the words ‘earn money as an AirBnB host’. A ‘start hosting’ button provides a quick call to action, but if that’s not enough, there’s also personalized information to make the prospect more enticing.
The page uses your location to tell you how much you can expect to earn as a host in your area.
5. Shopify
You’ll need toimprove your writing skills to great content, but that doesn’t mean your landing page has to be full of text.
Sometimes, less is more.
Shopify’s landing page proves that. It tells you how many other businesses are using Shopify, invites you to start a free trial, and tells you the benefits, all in two sentences.
The call to action is a box to enter your email address and get started.
Keep them Coming Back
Great landing page copy can have a huge impact on your conversion rates.
But once you’ve got your customers, it’s going to take more than that to get them to stay with you. To retain them, you’ll have to implement strategies to keep them satisfied.
Read more of our business news for some tips on how to take your business to the next level.
Sometimes
you work hard night and days promoting your website, but nothing happens. Even
worse – sales go down all the time, and it seems like whatever you do, it will
not help. If that happens to you, chances are your hosting provider is to
blame. The speed of the website heavily relies on the server where it is
hosted. If the server processes data slowly, the site, consequently, will take
longer to load. And there are two reasons why the speed impacts the revenue of
your business.
How to choose a provider?
There
are many criteria to consider choosing the provider. Different businesses have
different needs, and the hosting must fit them perfectly. Besides that, you
have to make sure that the vendor offers impeccable safety along with the high
bandwidth of its servers.
The issue is that each provider will advertise as the best one. And if you’re new to the world of servers, it is hard to pick the right one.
Slow websites never reach top positions in
search engines
The
search engine (Google, for example) wants users to get the best options. Thus,
the system will fetch search results that match the entered keyword and the
location of the user. But also it will list the fastest websites first because
it cares about the convenience of users. And if your site loads slowly, it
simply can’t appear on top positions.
How
does the engine understand your website is slow? The search engine sends
dedicated bots to each site and each page to index them. As these bots check
the pages, they can also detect how long does it take for the site to load and
show the data. And the longer it takes, the lower position the website gets.
Users have no patience
Statistics
show that the average user will wait for a maximum of 6 seconds for the website
to load. If it doesn’t, the person leaves the site. It decreases the revenue of
the business because of two reasons. Obviously, you won’t get that customer
anymore, and now you have fewer chances that people will trust your site.
But
also, if users leave the website, the search engine thinks that it is not
relevant for them. Therefore, it will lower the position of the site.
What should the loading time be?
Ideally,
the site should load within 3 seconds. It is okay for the page to load for
around 6 seconds. But if it takes longer, you start losing visitors, and,
therefore, traffic and revenue.
You
should also remember that if your website is overloaded with heavy items, and
it works slowly because of the poorly implemented design, you must fix the
issues that lower the loading speed. And if the design of your site is
well-optimized and lightweight, but the pages still load slowly, you should
change your hosting provider.
Before the internet, most businesses kept data on servers in their local network. The only threats to data security were those that employees brought into the office. However, today the internet connects your network to the rest of the world, increasing productivity but also increasing threats to your client information. If hackers can get into your servers, they can not only steal sensitive data, but they can also install viruses to reroute data or malware to block service. Taking advantage of cloud computing platforms is one way that businesses can keep their data safe and secure.
Protection from Denial of Service Attacks
Using cloud servers for data storage is a bit like renting out a safe deposit box for your valuables. Rather than keeping your data onsite where you are responsible for its protection, you pay the cloud computing platform to maintain your security. They are professionals in protecting data against threats. For example, a growing number of cyber-attacks are distributed denial of service attacks. A DDoS involves hackers using a network of computers to swamp your system, crowding out legitimate users. Cloud computing platforms can detect unusual activity and direct traffic in a different direction, keeping your system running smoothly.
Data Preservation
Especially with growing climate concerns, storing data in a single location carries significant risk. If all of your data is kept onsite, a building fire or natural disaster can lead to lost and unrecoverable data. Cloud computing platforms preserve your data by storing it on servers in several physical locations. You will have access to your data even in the midst of power failures and other unforeseen issues. Your client data is extremely valuable to your business. Investing in cloud computing for data storage is a wise investment in data safety.
Regulatory Compliance
Many businesses that deal with sensitive information are required to meet data security regulation standards. When you work with a cloud computing platform, they will already have those standards in place. Your IT department will not be responsible for maintaining the system or making sure it is in compliance. The third-party provider will have already done it. This is both a benefit to you and your customers. You can maintain regulatory compliance without a great investment of time and effort. Your customers can have peace of mind knowing that their data is kept under strict standards of security.
Third-party support
One of the challenges of technology is the amount of change that happens in a short period of time. Most programs need regular updates and patches to maintain safety. Working in the cloud computing world means that your provider is responsible for keeping things up-to-date. They close any detected gaps faster than your in-house IT department can get to them. This kind of preparation will prevent some of the most common hacking attacks from sneaking into your system. Defending your data against hackers is a constant battle and the sides are not always clear. For example, thehacker arrested for developing the Kronos program that attacks banking information is the same hacker credited for stopping the WannaCry malware attack. Partnering with a cloud computing platform is like hiring an extra IT department dedicated to protecting your data from attack.
Data Security for Mobile Employees
The internet has provided your employees with a great deal of mobile flexibility. You may have employees that work from home or access company data on the road. While these kinds of connections are convenient, they are often much less secure than connections made directly to your local network. Fortunately, cloud computing providers understand the need for data security in mobile connections. With most platforms, the connection to the cloud platform involves a high level of encryption. Only the people who need to see your data have access to it. So long as the device your employee is using is secure, the connection and the data traveling along it will be secure. It is important to instruct your mobile employees on basic security measures to keep their devices safe.
Cloud computing is a smart way to let your business take advantage of the expertise of computer professionals. Your sensitive data will be protected by trained and experienced experts dedicated to data security.
Hong Kong police have violently tackled suspected protesters with batons and
using pepper spray on a train in the city’s subway after thousands of people
marched on the street in defiance of a ban.
Police say they were called to the scene amid violence against citizens by
“radical protesters”.
However, it is unclear if all those injured and arrested in the subway
system were involved in demonstrations.
Protesters took to the streets on August 31 to mark the fifth anniversary of
China’s government banning fully democratic elections in Hong Kong.
They lit fires, threw petrol bombs
and attacked the parliament building.
In response, riot police used tear
gas, rubber bullets and water cannon to disperse crowds, and fired live warning
shots as they tried to clear the streets.
The latest protests came just a day
after the arrest of several key pro-democracy activists and lawmakers in
China’s special administrative region.
Hong Kong has now seen 13 successive
weeks of demonstrations.
The movement grew out of rallies
against a controversial extradition bill – now suspended – which would have
allowed criminal suspects to be sent to mainland China for trial.
It has since become a broader
pro-democracy movement in which clashes have grown more violent.
During protests, crowds gathered by Prince Edward and Mong Kok stations in
Hong Kong’s Kowloon neighborhood.
Police said in a tweet they had responded at both sites after reports of
“radical protesters” assaulting citizens and damaging property.
In a statement, Hong Kong’s government also said some protesters had
“committed arson and “hurled miscellaneous objects and iron
railings” on to railway tracks, “completely disregarding the safety
of other passengers”.
Forty people were subsequently arrested for unlawful assembly, criminal
damage and the assault of police officers, police spokesperson Yolanda Yu told
reporters.
However, several people complained of excessive force used by the
authorities.
MTR, which operates the city’s subway line, told local media that three
stations – Prince Edward, Mongkok and Kowloon Bay – had been closed as a result
of the incident.
Protesters took to the streets in the Wan Chai district, many joining a Christian march, while others demonstrated in the Causeway Bay shopping district in the pouring rain. Many carried umbrellas and wore face masks.
Five people have been killed and 21 injured in the second mass shooting in Texas in a month.
First to be shot was a policeman who
stopped the gunman’s car between the cities of Midland and Odessa.
The gunman went on to shoot at
numerous motorists and passers-by.
At one point, he abandoned his car
and stole a postal truck before continuing his spree.
The gunman was shot dead by police
at a cinema complex.
The motive of the gunman, who was
white and in his mid-30s, is unclear.
Four weeks ago, 22 people were
killed in a mass shooting in El Paso.
About 20 people were injured – three
of them police officers – in this latest incident of gun violence in the US,
although the police say not all of them were shot. Some may have been cut by
glass when their car windows were hit by bullets and shattered.
Odessa’s Medical Center Hospital
said a child under the age of two was among those being treated there. Seven
other patients are in a serious condition.
Police said August 31 incident began
at just after 15:00 local time after two Texas Department of Public Safety
officers pulled over a vehicle on a Midland highway.
The driver then opened fire on the
officers and, after driving away, began shooting at other people in several
locations.
In a statement, Texas Governor Greg
Abbott said: “We will not allow the
Lone Star State to be overrun by hatred and violence. We will unite, as Texans
always do, to respond to this tragedy.”
In a tweet, President Donald Trump
said he was being kept informed about the shootings in Texas.
Later, VP Mike Pence said he and the Trump administration “remain absolutely determined to work with leaders in both parties in Congress to take steps that we can address and confront this scourge of mass atrocity in our country”.
Five people have been killed and
many others injured in the second mass shooting in Texas in a month.
First to be shot was a policeman who
stopped the gunman’s car between the cities of Midland and Odessa.
The gunman went on to shoot at
numerous motorists and passers-by.
At one point, he abandoned his car
and stole a postal truck before continuing his spree.
The gunman was shot dead by police
at a cinema complex.
The motive of the gunman, who was
white and in his mid-30s, is unclear.
Four weeks ago, 22 people were
killed in a mass shooting in El Paso.
About 20 people were injured – three
of them police officers – in this latest incident of gun violence in the US,
although the police say not all of them were shot. Some may have been cut by
glass when their car windows were hit by bullets and shattered.
Odessa’s Medical Center Hospital
said a child under the age of two was among those being treated there. Seven
other patients are in a serious condition.
Police said August 31 incident began
at just after 15:00 local time after two Texas Department of Public Safety
officers pulled over a vehicle on a Midland highway.
The driver then opened fire on the
officers and, after driving away, began shooting at other people in several
locations.
In a statement, Texas Governor Greg
Abbott said: “We will not allow the
Lone Star State to be overrun by hatred and violence. We will unite, as Texans
always do, to respond to this tragedy.”
In a tweet, President Donald Trump
said he was being kept informed about the shootings in Texas.
Later, VP Mike Pence said he and the Trump administration
“remain absolutely determined to work with leaders in both parties in
Congress to take steps that we can address and confront this scourge of mass
atrocity in our country”.
Tear gas, rubber bullets and water cannon have
been used by Hong Kong riot police to disperse crowds as tens of thousands
marched in the city, defying a ban.
Protesters lit fires, threw petrol bombs at riot police and attacked the
parliament building.
An event to mark five years since Beijing ruled out fully democratic
elections was banned in Hong Kong, a special administrative region of China.
On August 30, several key pro-democracy activists and lawmakers were
arrested.
The protest movement grew out of rallies against a controversial extradition
bill – now suspended – which would have allowed criminal suspects to be sent to
mainland China for trial.
It has since become a broader pro-democracy movement in which clashes have
grown more violent.
Demonstrators took to the streets in the Wan Chai district, many joining a
Christian march, while others protested in the Causeway Bay shopping district
in the pouring rain. Many carried umbrellas and wore face masks.
On the 13th weekend of protests, demonstrators – chanting “stand with
Hong Kong” and “fight for freedom” – gathered outside government
offices, the local headquarters of China’s People’s Liberation Army and the
city’s parliament, known as the Legislative Council.
In the Admiralty district, some demonstrators threw fire bombs towards
officers. Earlier, protesters marched near the official residence of embattled
leader Carrie Lam, who is the focal point of much of the anger.
Police had erected barriers around key buildings and road blocks, and fired
tear gas and jets of blue-dyed water from the water cannon. The colored liquid
is traditionally used to make it easier for police to identify protesters.
The recent demonstrations have been characterized as leaderless.
On August 30, police had appealed to members of the public to cut ties with
“violent protesters” and had warned people not to take part in the
banned march.
Police made a number of arrests on August 31.
During a 24-hour police crackdown, at least three activists – including
prominent 23-year-old campaigner Joshua Wong – and three lawmakers were
detained.
Joshua Wong, who first rose to prominence as the poster boy of a protest
movement that swept Hong Kong in 2014, was released on bail after being charged
over the protests which have rocked the territory since June.
Hong Kong is part of China, but enjoys “special freedoms”. Those
are set to expire in 2047, and many in Hong Kong do not want to become
“another Chinese city”.
Beijing has repeatedly condemned the protesters and described their actions
as “close to terrorism”. The protests have frequently escalated into
violence between police and activists, with injuries on both sides.
Activists are increasingly concerned that China might use military force to
intervene.
On August 29, Beijing moved a new batch of troops into Hong Kong, a move Chinese state media described as a routine annual rotation.
Sirhan Sirhan was convicted of
murdering presidential hopeful Robert F. Kennedy, who he shot three times at
the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles on June 5, 1968.
Robert F. Kennedy was shot in the
kitchen of the hotel, shortly after declaring victory in California’s
Democratic presidential primary to cheering crowds.
The New York senator, brother of former Democratic president John F.
Kennedy, died in hospital 24 hours later.
Robert F. Kennedy was later buried at Arlington Cemetery, near his brother
John, who was assassinated in 1963.
At his trial in 1969, Sirhan Sirhan was originally sentenced to death. Three
years later, however, his sentence was commuted to life in prison when
California briefly outlawed capital punishment.
A Palestinian with Jordanian citizenship, Sirhan Sirhan has claimed he has
no recollection of shooting Robert F. Kennedy.
In a TV interview, Sirhan Sirhan said he felt betrayed by Robert F. Kennedy’s support for Israel in the 1967 Six-Day War.
Authorities in Nevada are treating the
death of a man at the Burning Man festival as suspicious.
Shane Billingham, 33, was found
unresponsive in his car at around 18:30 local time on August 29.
According to police, the New Zealand
national had “poisonous” levels of carbon monoxide in his blood.
Bystanders reportedly attempted CPR
on Shane Billingham before paramedics arrived.
The man was taken to a medical tent,
where he was later pronounced dead.
Pershing County Sheriff’s Office
said it was investigating the death as suspicious.
A post-mortem examination found
Shane Billingham had “a concentration of carbon monoxide in his blood
which would be considered poisonous to human life”.
The Washoe County medical examiner’s
office said: “Preliminary toxicology
showed the presence of controlled substances to be an exacerbating factor.”
A makeshift memorial for Shane Billingham has been set up at
Beats Boutique, the camp where he was staying at the festival.
One of his friends, Steve MacWithey, told the Reno Gazette Journal he had been “one of the best people” he had ever known.
Shane Billingham’s sister has launched an online fundraising page to help
with the costs of bringing his body home.
Burning Man is a music and arts festival held annually in the Black Rock
Desert of northwest Nevada, approximately 100 miles away from Reno.
Taking place between 25 August and September 2, the Burning Man festival –
attended by tens of thousands of people – describes itself as “a temporary
metropolis dedicated to community, art, self-expression, and
self-reliance”.
Hurricane Dorian threatening the Bahamas and the
US south-eastern coast has strengthened to category four, the US National
Hurricane Center (NHC) says.
Dorian has maximum sustained winds of nearly 145mph.
The hurricane is expected to grow even stronger, its center potentially
crossing the Bahamas before skirting Florida’s east coast early next week.
Reports from the Bahamas described tourists scrambling to leave before the
closure of the international airport.
In Florida, Governor Ron DeSantis has declared state of emergency for the
whole state and urged residents to stock enough food, water and medicine to
last at least a week.
According to forecasters, Dorian could be the region’s worst storm since
category five Hurricane Andrew killed 65 people and destroyed 63,000 homes in
1992.
President Donald Trump said he was monitoring Dorian, which he described as
“an extremely dangerous storm” on Twitter.
Hurricanes, whose strength can range
from category 1 to 5 on the Saffir-Simpson scale, tend to get stronger as they
move over warm waters like those off Florida.
By the middle of next week,
forecasters expect the hurricane to shift eastwards, putting the coasts of
Georgia and South Carolina at risk.
“Dorian is anticipated to remain an extremely dangerous
major hurricane while it moves near the north-western Bahamas and approaches
the Florida peninsula into early next week,” the NHC said.
The NHC warned that Dorian could cause “incredibly catastrophic
damage”.
In an advisory on August 31, the NHC said Dorian was not expected to make
landfall in Florida but the possibility that it will cannot be ruled out.
“Life-threatening storm surge and
devastating hurricane-force winds are still possible along portions of the
Florida east coast by the early to middle part of next week,” the NHC
said.
Residents of Georgia and South Carolina have been told to keep an eye on the
forecast as Dorian churns towards the US coast.
Dorian’s exact path toward Florida remains uncertain but millions of people
could be affected, as well as holiday attractions such as Walt Disney World and
President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort.
Dorian is expected to drop up to 12in of rain on the coastal US, with some
areas getting as much as 18in. Tides in the region are already at some of their
highest levels of the year, owing to a naturally occurring event.
A new moon, combined with the coming autumn equinox, has created what are
known in Florida as “king tides”. These are likely to exacerbate
dangerous levels of flooding, forecasters warn.
Florida governor has activated 2,500 National Guard troops, with another
1,500 on standby.
Shoppers in Florida have been queuing around the block to snap up supplies
such as medication and fuel. Some petrol stations reported fuel shortages,
while a few shops had run out of bottled water.
The coastal city of Miami ordered the removal of electric rental scooters
from the streets to avoid any potential hazards.
Officials fear the rental scooters, operated by firms such as Lime, Lyft and
Uber’s Jump, could be swept away by strong winds, turning them into
projectiles.
No immediate mass evacuations have been ordered by state authorities but
President Trump, who had warned that Dorian “could be an absolute
monster”, said a decision could be made on Sunday.
People have been asked to bring their pets with them in case of evacuation.
On social media, the names of hotels that accept pets are being shared.
Orlando International Airport announced it was halting commercial flights
from 02:00 on September 2 “out of an abundance of caution”. Tourist
resorts in the city remained open, however.
President Trump canceled a planned trip to Poland because of the storm, sending Vice-President Mike Pence instead.
A simple side hustle can turn into a full-blown career if you invest in it the right way. Right now, more than 44 million people in the United States have some type of side hustle, but there is always room for success. It doesn’t matter whether you sell cosmetics to family and friends or you spend your evenings and weekends selling houses, you just have to know how to run and grow your business.
The following tips may ignite your side hustle into a full-time gig:
Organization of Efforts
The first step is to get organized. Ideally, you need a place and a system to get your ideas in order and track your efforts. Start with listing everything out and dividing those concepts and activities by status and timeline. This way, you can spot any deadlines and identify follow-up opportunities. Getting organized in your business efforts also helps you establish a calendar for your efforts and prioritize your tasks more effectively.
Establish Your Personal Brand
Next, work toward establishing your personal brand. If you sell for a company, they may have their own branding efforts and systems that will help would-be customers know that you exist. From websites that list real estate agents to yoga instructor databases and shopping websites that let people look for a rep in their areas, these bits of marketing are an excellent first step, but they should not be the entirety of your branding efforts.
You also need to consider your personal brand. The customers you attract are going to need to choose you over someone else in your area or another provider. Make that decision easy for them by developing your personal brand. Get on social media and start posting about things that matter to your future customers and establish yourself as a personality in that field. Also, build a website and work toward creating an email list. Make people care about what you have to say within your field. Just make sure you remain authentic in the process.
Build a Team
You can make things easier on yourself by building a team. While you could hire help, there are other ways to minimize your workload. You can outsource many tasks using technology or set up automated efforts, such as scheduled social media posts or reminders about following up with your clients.
Marketing Matters
Whether you sell a service or product, knowing ways to market your business can make a big difference in your level of success. While you can acquire this knowledge by studying a class or reading blogs, there is another way. Consider direct selling. Companies such as Amway invest in creating training videos to help their salespeople succeed. If you sign up, you will have access to all of those tools and resources. Check out this video on how Amway works to learn more. You may even want to start selling Amway!
Conclusion
Turning your side hustle into a full-time career is not impossible. You could shape an entirely new future for yourself by organizing your efforts, building a personal brand, outsourcing where possible, and improving your marketing. Even small efforts in the right direction can have big rewards.
SIP trunks are a great way of managing the flow of calls coming in and out of your business. Long gone are the days of expensive hardware and physical phones, SIP trunks allow your employees to communicate via the cloud, monitor their calls and talk to customers in a way that greatly improves the levels of customer service you can offer. SIP trunks are essentially communication systems that operate over an internet connection and IP rather than using a physical phone. If all this sounds a bit complicated for your liking, trust me it’s not, switching to the SIP Trunk Call Manager by Gamma is a great way to improve the cost-effectivity and grow your business through positive communication.
What is SIP trunking?
For years our communication systems have been based on the telephone poles and cross-ocean wires that stretch across the globe. Although we’ve developed a complex and reasonably efficient global communication service it’s time to embrace new technology and innovations. SIP trunking connects your business with potential clients and customers by opening up your communication space to clients from further afield with the same call quality as someone within your own town. This all works by connecting your business’ communications services to your IP address and channelling all your calls through an online rather than physical system.
How can it help seasonal business?
There are many different ways the SIP trunk manager can help you improve the success of your small business, with improved cost-effectivity and greater client scope among the benefits. Let’s say you’re a business that sells a service or product that’s primarily used in summer. When it comes around to winter, you’re going to be worse off than during the busy summer months. With that in mind it makes sense to opt for the SIP trunking manager to streamline your calls and open your up to different markets and territories where there may be a more necessary and immediate decision for you products. It’ll be summer in Australia during the UK winter, is this an opportunity to seize the market.
What is SIP trunk call manager?
SIP trunk call manager from Gamma provides the answers to all those connectivity issues that you’ve been suffering with, allowing you to enjoy greater contact with customers new and old while also opening up your communication systems and internal strategies to a broader client base in the seasonal months. The Gamma call manager allows you to manage all aspects of your inbound calls, consolidating all your numbers into a single, connected platform. This not only improves cost-effectivity and productivity but can also be tailored to the specific requirements of your brand or business.
While to many of you, the SIP Trunk manager may seem like a costly expense or a piece of industry jargon, the importance that rests behind this sort of technology is one that can’t be ignored. Hardware systems are now a thing of the past, and you don’t want your business left in the dark ages, do you? Give Gamma a call today to find out more about the finer details of your Gamma communications set-up and fast-paced online delivery. There’s no need to miss a call ever again.
Are you looking to improve user experience for your customers? If so, check out this guide to learn how to improve user experience.
Today’s internet plays host to 1.7 billion websites and 4.5 billion internet users. By that standard, every website is entitled to about 2 visitors…
Unless you’re selling products that retail for hundreds of thousands of dollars, 2 visitors to your website aren’t going to cut it. To increase your “fair share” of web traffic, you have to optimize your website to make it more useful to online consumers than competing websites.
That optimization process is called improving user experience.
Companies invest thousands of dollars to improve user experience on their web products every year. Save yourself that money and instead, follow these simple tips to achieve the same result.
1. Understand the Power of Blank Space
In today’s media landscape, people are inundated with information. You’ve got hundreds of thousands of new web pages landing online every day and millions of hours of video content being published on YouTube and competing video platforms. This inundation of information has led to people wanting to scan content rather than going through it with a fine-tooth comb.
Blank space (or white space) on websites break up text enough that users can scan successfully. This is in contrast to websites that try to fill in any white space with information, images or ads.
Websites that fill in all available space come off as endless blocks of content and intimidate many to the point that they quickly hit the back button on their web browser.
2. Speed Your Site Up
Today’s consumer has very little patience for slow websites. There are just too many fast sites out there for people to waste their time with one that’s going to take 5+ seconds to load.
While you might not think that asking users to wait 5-seconds to access your content is a big deal, data says otherwise. On average, a website that takes 5-seconds or longer to load sees 20% higher bounce rates than sites that load up in under 4-seconds.
If you’re using the research paper skills that you picked up in college to craft your web content, there’s no way that your site is getting traction right now. Writing for the web is an art and learning what that art embodies is paramount to making sure that you don’t negatively violate your online visitor’s expectations.
The subject of web-writing is too extensive to cover off in our post but a few things to make sure that your writing implements are:
Headings that break up your text’s sections
Short paragraphs (between 1 to 3 sentences)
Use bullet points to break out lists of information
Effective titles for headings and sub-headings within your content
The Yahoo! Style Guide is a fabulous resource to take your web writing savvy further.
4. Get Visual
People process images tens of thousands of times faster than they do text. Therefore, your improve user experience efforts should include taking the time to roll out images within your web content.
Be tasteful in your use of imagery online. While there’s no hard and fast rule, some usability experts have stated that using a photo every 300 to 400 words is a good benchmark to shoot for.
5. Double Check Your Copy
Nothing crushes consumer confidence quite like spelling and grammar errors. While online readers will forgive the occasional typo, if your work is absolutely filled with problems, consumers are not going to engage with you.
Doing simple things like reading your copy out loud before publishing and checking it with free tools like Grammarly can do wonders when it comes to reducing text errors. You can also spell/grammar check your website with site-wide scanning tools that you can find online.
6. Use Helpful 404 Pages
When people navigate to a page on your website that doesn’t exist, they get redirected to a 404-error page. By default, this page will simply tell people that the page they’re trying to access doesn’t exist. As a user, that’s a dead-end that almost always leads to clicking away from a website.
To improve that outcome, you could design a 404 page that’s entertaining and suggests alternative pages that your searcher might enjoy.
A 404-error page refresh could reduce the number of people that click away from your site after inputting the wrong link and only takes a few minutes.
7. Make Your Website Mobile-Friendly
It’s 2019. If your website doesn’t have a responsive infrastructure and isn’t prepared for mobile then it can’t survive.
There’s no excuse today to not implement a mobile-friendly design. Just build your website on any popular content management system (WordPress, Joomla!, Squarespace, etc.) and any of those system’s templates will come pre-built to scale to any screen size that users are tuning in from.
8. Learn More About Your Customer
Knowing why it is that your customers come to your website should drive all of your improve user experience endeavors.
Do you cater to business to business clients? If you do, you’re going to want to learn everything that you can about B2B user experience principals.
Do you operate in the business to consumer space? Then you’re going to want to understand what makes B2C sites successful.
The better you can narrow down who your customer is and what they want from you, the better you can optimize your website to get your customers what they need, quickly.
Wrapping Up How to Improve User Experience
If you take the time to improve user experience on your website, you’ll see upticks in web traffic, page retention and sales. If that sounds good to you, leverage the tips that we just hit you with and enjoy your increased online traction!
For more killer business tips, check out additional free and informative content right here on our blog!
Iran’s foreign minister Mohammad Javad Zarif made
a surprise visit to the G7 summit in France on August 25.
He attended side-line talks in the seaside town of Biarritz where world
leaders, including President Donald Trump, have gathered.
Reports suggest the US delegation was surprised by Mohammad Javad Zarif’s
visit, which comes at a time of high tension with Iran.
The Iranian official said on Twitter that he held “constructive”
talks with his French counterpart and President Emmanuel Macron, adding he gave
a joint briefing to German and British officials.
Mohammad Javad Zarif also met President Emmanuel Macron in Paris on August
23 on the eve of the summit.
Relations between Iran and the US have deteriorated since Washington
withdrew from a 2015 deal to limit Iran’s nuclear activities in 2018.
Five other nations – including France – remain committed to the deal, but
Iran has started to ratchet up its nuclear activity in response to the US
reinstating and tightening economic sanctions against them.
President Macron has taken an active role in trying to
diffuse tensions and save the accord – but Iran’s relations with the West have
strained further in recent months over a series of confrontations and oil
tanker seizures in and around the Gulf.
Mohammad Javad Zarif was himself singled out for US sanctions last month,
with US officials accusing him of implementing “the reckless agenda”
of Iran’s leader.
Reports about the circumstances of his visit on Sunday are conflicting.
French officials told reporters the foreign minister was invited in agreement
with the US delegation, but White House officials have suggested they were
taken by surprise.
They were also conflicting comments by President Macron and President Trump
during the weekend as to whether G7 leaders had agreed a joint approach to
easing tensions with Tehran.
On August 25, President Trump appeared to dismiss French mediation efforts.
He said: “We’ll do our own
outreach, but, you know, I can’t stop people from talking. If they want to
talk, they can talk.”
Leaders from the G7 – Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and the
US – have been attending the group’s 45th summit all weekend.
A range of topics, including the nuclear deal and Brexit, have been on the talks agenda.
NASA is investigating a claim that
an astronaut accessed the bank account of her estranged spouse from the
International Space Station (ISS), in what may be the first allegation of a
crime committed in space.
The New York Times
reports that Anne McClain acknowledges accessing the account from the ISS but
denies any wrongdoing.
Her estranged spouse, Summer Worden,
reportedly filed a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission.
Anne McClain has since returned to
Earth.
She told the New York Times through a lawyer that she was merely making sure
that the family’s finances were in order and there was enough money to pay
bills and care for Summer Worden’s son – who they had been raising together
prior to the split.
Her lawyer, Rusty Hardin, said: “She strenuously denies that she did
anything improper,” adding that Ms McClain was “totally
co-operating”.
Anne McClain and Summer Worden, who
is an Air Force intelligence officer, married in 2014 and Worden filed for
divorce in 2018.
Investigators from NASA’s Office of
Inspector General have contacted both over the allegation, the New York Times reported.
Anne McClain graduated from the
prestigious West Point military academy and flew more than 800 combat hours
over Iraq as an Army pilot. She went on to qualify as a test pilot and was
chosen to fly for NASA in 2013.
The astronaut spent six months
aboard the ISS and had been due to feature in the first all-female spacewalk,
but her role was canceled at the last minute over what NASA said was a problem
with availability of correct suit sizes.
There are five national or
international space agencies involved in the ISS – from the US, Canada, Japan,
Russia and several European countries – and a legal framework sets out that
national law applies to any people and possessions in space.
So, if a Canadian national were to
commit a crime in space, they would be subject to Canadian law, and a Russian
citizen to Russian law.
Space law also sets out provisions
for extradition back on Earth, should a nation decide it wishes to prosecute a
citizen of another nation for misconduct in space.
As space tourism becomes a reality,
so might the need to prosecute space crime, but for now the legal framework
remains untested.
NASA officials told the New York Times that they were not aware of any crimes committed on the space station.
Prince Andrew has opened up for the first time
to defend his former friendship with US financier Jeffrey Epstein, saying
“at no stage” did he “see or suspect” any criminal behavior.
Jeffrey Epstein, 66, took his own life in a jail cell this month while
awaiting trial on trafficking charges.
In a statement, Prince Andrew said he wanted to “clarify the
facts” around his “former association or friendship” with
Epstein.
The Duke of York, 59, said it was a “mistake” to meet Epstein
after he left prison in 2010.
He said: “During the time I knew
him, I saw him infrequently and probably no more than only once or twice a year.
“I have stayed in a number of his
residences. At no stage during the limited time I spent with him did I see,
witness or suspect any behavior of the sort that subsequently led to his arrest
and conviction.”
Prince Andrew – who said he first met Jeffrey Epstein in 1999 – added that
he had “tremendous sympathy” for all those affected by Epstein’s
behavior.
The duke said: “His suicide has
left many unanswered questions and I acknowledge and sympathize with everyone
who has been affected and wants some form of closure.”
Allegations against Jeffrey Epstein
began to surface in 2005 when the parents of a 14-year-old girl told police in
Florida he had molested their daughter at his Palm Beach home.
The financier was accused of paying
underage girls to perform s** acts at his Manhattan and Florida mansions
between 2002 and 2005.
A controversial secret plea deal saw
Jeffrey Eptstein plead guilty to a lesser charge of soliciting a minor for
prostitution. The tycoon received an 18-month prison sentence and was released
on probation in 2010.
Prince Andrew was photographed with Jeffrey
Epstein in New York’s Central Park in late 2010 – after the financier was
released from jail.
Footage has also emerged reportedly
showing Prince Andrew at Epstein’s mansion in Manhattan in 2010.
In the statement, released on August 24, the prince added: “I have said previously that it was a
mistake and an error to see him after his release in 2010 and I can only
reiterate my regret that I was mistaken to think that what I thought I knew of
him was evidently not the real person, given what we now know.
“This is a difficult time for everyone
involved and I am at a loss to be able to understand or explain Mr. Epstein’s
lifestyle.
“I deplore the exploitation of
any human being and would not condone, participate in, or encourage any such
behavior.”
In July 2019, Jeffrey Epstein was charged in New York with further
allegations of trafficking and conspiracy and was due to face trial next year.
Jeffrey pleaded not guilty to all the charges but if convicted, was facing up to 45 years in prison.
There’s something about the long, hot days of summer that have
us hankering for a sense of lightness and peace in our homes. When it’s 95
degrees outside and the sun hasn’t set by 8 p.m., we don’t want to see heavy
plaid comforters on our beds or dark colors on our walls, nor do we want to sit
on formal-feeling furniture.
While you understandably don’t have the money in your budget to
remodel each room of your home from top to bottom for each new season, there
are plenty of affordable ways to bring summertime décor trends into your
home.
For example, check out these three easy ideas:
1. Become a Minimalist — At Least for Now
During the summer months, store away as many unneeded and unused items as possible. According to Better Homes and Gardens, think of your casa as a summer vacation home and thereby go about storing away the wintry throws, dozens of knickknacks and other items that are cluttering up the room.
Then, pull the curtains open to bring in plenty of natural light
and, if it’s not too hot outside, open some windows or doors to let in some
cool morning air. You can bring all the warm and heavy items back out once fall
comes, but for now, pare down each room to the essentials.
2. Add Splashes of Bright and Cheerful Colors
While you might associate fall and winter with deep tones like
burgundy, rich reds, evergreen and browns, summer is all about light and cheery
colors. To celebrate this trend, you could paint an accent wall a vivid blue,
yellow or lime green; after all, a gallon of paint is pretty easy on the
wallet. Similarly, if you’re in need of a new sofa, skip the neutral tan or
grey model for one that has a cheerier color.
For instance, the Dahlia sofa from Jerome’s Furniture is covered with a turquoise fabric, along with a couple of accent pillows that complement the color of the sofa. The turquoise color is perfect for the summer months and can be “warmed up” a bit in the fall and winter with the addition of cream-colored fleece blankets and maybe a few extra pillows with autumn leaf or snowflake motifs.
3. Channel Your Inner Museum Curator
If you’ve had the same pieces of art hanging on your walls for years, summer is the ideal time to brighten up your space with some new choices. Indeed, you could switch out framed prints every season for a super-fast and easy way to change the look and feel of your home. Simply store the unused prints in the back of a closet.
Now, if you still love your posters, sculptures and framed
artwork, you certainly don’t have to trash them; just consider temporarily
replacing a few of the old pieces with cheerful floral prints or an abstract
painting with lots of bright colors. Then, when the weather turns cool again,
put the summer pieces away and bring out the more formal paintings.
Make Your Home Sing “Summer”
Before you know it, the days will get shorter and the mercury in
the thermometer will begin to drop. Until then, celebrate summer in and around
your home by embracing the minimalist lifestyle, adding in lots of color and
bringing in some new artwork. Your home — and your mood — will feel lighter and brighter.
Did you know that only32 percent of Americans have a household budget in place? Failing to focus on your finances can lead to several problems in the future. If you have a limited amount of money in your savings account, dealing with financial emergencies will be very difficult.
Instead of letting a financial disaster overwhelm you, finding a way to get money in a hurry is a must. People who need money today have a lot of options on the market. Finding the right financial tools to get out of a bad situation will take some time and effort.
The following are some of the things you can do to secure cash in a hurry if you are in a financial bind.
Sell a Structured Settlement for One Lump Sum
Disputes involving personal injuries, defective products, and medical malpractice usually get settled out of court. In most cases, people who are seeking compensation in cases like this will receive a structured settlement. This type of settlement pays the victim monthly instead of giving them a lump sum.
If you have a structured settlement, selling it for a lump sum can help you get a quick influx of cash. Finding companies that buystructured settlements will require some research. By calling a few different companies, you can quickly figure out which one can provide the best deal.
Need Money Today? Sell Unwanted Items
If you need cash now, the first thing you should do is take a look around your home. Most people have a lot of unused or unwanted items laying around. Selling these items can help you get money in a hurry without having to do a lot of work.
People will buy everything from clothes to old electronics. The key to having success with this venture is choosing the right platform to sell your goods on. Forums like Facebook Marketplace allow you to post items for sale without having to pay a fee.
Before you put your items up for sale, make sure you offer a competitive price. With a bit of online research, you should have no problem finding information about what the items in question have sold for in the past.
Using Personal Loans is a Good Idea
Do you have a job and a handful of previous paycheck stubs? If so, you should be able to get a personal loan. Generally, the lenders that offer these loans have very lax approval standards.
Instead of rushing through the personal loan selection process, take the time to weigh all your options. Doing this can help you avoid paying high-interest rates.
Where There’s a Will, There’s a Way!
Giving up too soon on your search for quick cash will only make your problems worse. If you need money today, by working hard you can find a way to get the money you need.
Are you looking for more personal finance advice? If so, check out the rest of our blog.
While Canada has traditionally ranked quite well in sustainable development areas like quality of urban life and education compared with other wealthy nations, some areas, like greenhouse gas emissions, have presented more of a challenge.
But from gold mining that actually helps to restore the environment, to private companies providing electric vehicle charging stations for their employees, and government funding to provide cleaner energy to remote communities, some truly inspirational work is taking place. We take a look at just a few recent Canadian sustainable initiatives that are looking to move the needle further in the right direction!
Many remote indigenous communities in Canada rely on diesel fuel as their main source of electricity. Now, thanks to an $11 million grant from the government, Hydro-Quebec will be working with 13 communities in northern Quebec to change that. The funds will go towards a smart-grid project, the implementation of more sources of renewable energy, and new battery storage systems. By 2030, the project hopes to reduce the communities’ use of diesel by 800,000 liters per year, and lower carbon emissions by 7,500 tons.
Apple and Tiffany & Co partner with RESOLVE to source sustainable Salmon Gold from Canada’s Yukon
While gold mining and environmental conservation have never quite gone hand in hand, a fascinating initiative by non-profit RESOLVE is giving companies the chance to obtain this precious metal while helping to restore the environment.
By combining sustainable re-mining with the restoration of
salmon spawning runs in Alaska, British Columbia and the Yukon, the idea is to
allow nature to reintroduce itself and for indigenous fish species like salmon
and grayling to return.
Jewelry giant Tiffany & Co, and Apple (which uses small
amounts of gold in some of their electrical components) have already jumped
onboard, and RESOLVE expects to source over 1,000 ounces of Salmon Gold this
year. Apple will also be making use of blockchain technology to track the gold
through their supply chain, all the way back to the source mine and refiner.
More durable roads through cellular confinement systems (geocells)
Many regions in Canada have vast areas of soft peat soil,
which makes the construction of roads -especially durable and long-lasting
roads- difficult. In addition, traditional construction techniques call for
large volumes of high-quality aggregate to be hauled in
for use as infill when local soil is unsuitable. This increases both the cost
and carbon footprint of the project.
Now, geocell road design in Canada is allowing the process of building new roads to become more sustainable both during and after construction. Through the use of these honeycomb-like geocell layers, lower quantities and qualities of infill (such as locally available sand, soil, or even recycled asphalt paving) can be used in the soil stabilization process – lowering cost, fuel use, pollution and the carbon footprint of the project while extending the road’s lifespan and reducing the need for future maintenance and repairs.
Bell Canada adds over 40 electric vehicle charging stations for employees
Sustainable initiatives aren’t just a way for large companies to play their part in the fight against climate change, they’re a good way to attract and retain top talent too. In an effort to support electric vehicle adoption and improve employee satisfaction, Bell Canada has installed 24 EV charging stations at their Nun’s Island, Montreal headquarters, as well as several others across their network of branches. And it’s worked – since installing the charging stations, the number of Bell employees driving electric vehicles has more than quadrupled.
In 1994, employees and volunteers at the Vancouver Aquarium
embarked on a beach cleanup in Stanley Park. The word has spread in a big way –
and since then, some 800,000 volunteers have collected a whopping 1.3 million
kilograms of trash in 21,300 cleanups from coastal and freshwater shorelines
across the country.
Now running in partnership with WWF Canada, tens of thousands of Canadians now participate, demonstrating the public’s eagerness to get on board with sustainability initiatives, get their hands dirty, and play their part in promoting awareness of the global plastic crisis. The Great Canadian Shoreline Cleanup is now recognized as one of the largest direct action conservation programs in Canada.
Farm Fresh Food Hub (FFFH) aims to create a more sustainable food system in Manitoba
The South Osborne Farmers’ Market, led by Farm Fresh Food Hub, returned for its fourth run earlier this year, providing a space for the community to engage with ecologically sustainable food producers and each other. Since 2016, the SOFM has grown from 8 vendors to over 40, offers several eco-friendly initiatives, and also hosts a bi-weekly speaker series, “Chew on this!” which explores important issues around food production, from better utilization of indigenous foods to food justice.
President Donald Trump has called Danish PM Mette
Frederiksen “nasty” after she rebuffed his idea of buying Greenland.
He lashed out hours after PM Mette Frederiksen said she was “sorry”
that President Trump had abruptly called off a state visit to Denmark.
The Danish prime minister has dismissed the suggestion of such a land deal
as “absurd”.
Denmark’s Queen Margrethe II invited President Trump to visit the country on
September 2, and the manner of his cancelation has stunned the Scandinavian
nation.
Speaking to reporters on the White House lawn on August 21, President Trump
took umbrage at Mette Frederiksen’s remarks.
He said: “I thought that the
prime minister’s statement that it was absurd, that it was an absurd idea was
nasty.
“I thought it was an
inappropriate statement. All she had to do is say no, we wouldn’t be
interested.”
The president added: “She’s not
talking to me. She’s talking to the United States of America. You don’t talk to
the United States that way, at least under me.”
President Trump pointed out that President Harry Truman once considered
making an offer for Greenland, which is an autonomous Danish territory.
He continued to make digs at Denmark online.
Earlier on Wednesday, Mette Frederiksen reiterated that Greenland could not
be bought.
She told reporters the idea of selling the resource-rich Arctic island had
“clearly been rejected” by its leader, Kim Kielsen, “a position
I share of course”.
Mette Frederiksen also said President Trump’s visit would have been an
“opportunity to celebrate Denmark’s close relationship to the US”.
“This does not change the character of our good
relations and we will continue our dialogue on how we can deal with challenges
we are facing,” she said, adding that the
invitation to President Trump “remains open”.
Mette Frederiksen has said
President Trump’s no-show was a matter of regret because “our preparations
were well under way”.
While praising Denmark as a
“very special country”, President Trump said in a tweet on August 20
that his planned visit would no longer go ahead because Mette Frederiksen had
“no interest in discussing the purchase of Greenland”.
President Trump had earlier
confirmed reports that he was interested in buying Greenland. When asked on August
18 if he would consider trading a US territory for the island, he replied: “Well, a lot of things could be
done.”
“Essentially it’s a large real estate deal,” he said.
On August 19, President Trump tweeted
a jokey image showing a tall golden skyscraper among the homes of a small
village on the island.
The cancelation was described as a “farce” by the leader of the
populist Danish People’s Party, Kristian Thulesen Dahl.
He tweeted: “What is this man
thinking of though? And with grounds that are worthy of an April Fools’ joke.”
Danish Conservative MP Rasmus Jarlov accused President Trump of lacking
respect for his country.
Former foreign minister Kristian
Jensen said President Trump’s move had resulted in “total chaos”.
A spokeswoman for the leftist
Red-Green Alliance, Pernille Skipper, said: “Trump
lives on another planet.”
Pia Kjaersgaard, the populist former
speaker of the Danish parliament, said it showed “rude behavior to the
Danish people and the Queen, who invited him.”
President Trump has reportedly taken
an interest in Greenland, in part, because of its resources, such as coal,
zinc, copper and iron ore.
However, while Greenland may be rich
in minerals, it relies on Denmark for two-thirds of its budget revenue. It has
high rates of suicide, alcoholism and unemployment.
The US has long seen Greenland, which sits along a direct route from Europe
to North America, as being strategically important. It established the Thule
air force and radar base there at the start of the Cold War, which now covers
space surveillance and forms the northernmost part of the US ballistic missile
early warning system.
Meanwhile, new Arctic sea routes are opening up as climate change is blamed
for the accelerating thaw of ice in the region.
China has recently been taking an interest in the area, too.
President Donald Trump has accused Jewish
Americans who vote for the Democratic Party of “either a total lack of
knowledge or great disloyalty”.
The remark drew sharp criticism that President Trump had used an anti-Semitic
trope accusing Jews of dual loyalty.
The Jewish Democratic Council of America said the president was trying to
“weaponize and politicize anti-Semitism” for political gain.
The remark followed attacks by President Trump on two Muslim Democratic
congresswomen.
He has repeatedly accused Democratic representatives Ilhan Omar and Rashida
Tlaib of anti-Semitism.
Under pressure from President Trump, Israel last week blocked Ilhan Omar and
Rashida Tlaib from entering the country. The two women, who are vocal critics
of the Israeli government, had been due to visit the occupied West Bank and
East Jerusalem.
Israel later agreed to let Rashida Tlaib make a “humanitarian”
visit to her grandmother in the occupied West Bank, but she declined, saying
she could not comply with the “oppressive conditions” being imposed.
Speaking to reporters on August 20,
President Trump said: “I think any
Jewish people that vote for a Democrat, I think it shows either a total lack of
knowledge or great disloyalty.”
On August 21, the president denied
his comments were racist and told reporters: “If you vote for a Democrat, you’re being disloyal to Jewish
people and you’re being very disloyal to Israel.”
Earlier in the day, President Trump
quoted a conservative commentator’s praise on Twitter who said “the Jewish
people in Israel love him like he’s the King of Israel”.
“They love him like he is the second coming of
God,” President Trump’s tweet continued.
The remark was denounced by a number
of Jewish American groups, which said it played on an anti-Semitic canard that
accuses Jews of being more devoted to Israel or their faith than to their own
countries.
The same notion of dual loyalty has
landed Ilhan Omar, a Minnesota congresswoman, in hot water.
Ilhan Omar has apologized after claiming
that Israel had “hypnotized” the world. She was also rebuked by the
Democratic-controlled House of Representatives comments targeting lobbying
firms that support Israel.
Ahead of the vote, which condemned
“hateful expressions of intolerance”, Ilhan Omar pushed back by
questioning what she termed “the political influence in this country that
says it is OK for people to push for allegiance to a foreign country”.
The comment sparked fresh complaints
of anti-Semitism.
Recent polls show that roughly 75% of Jewish Americans identify as Democrats.
Venezuela’s President Nicolás Maduro revealed
he had been in talks with the Trump administration for months, even as the US
ramped up its sanctions.
The US is one of more than 50 nations which do not recognize Nicolás Maduro
as Venezuela’s legitimate leader.
On August 20, President Maduro said that talks with the Trump administration
had been going on for months.
However, US National Security Adviser John Bolton said the only thing being
discussed was Nicolás Maduro’s departure.
Speaking on TV, President Maduro said: “Just
as I have sought dialogue in Venezuela, I have sought a way in which President
Trump really listens to Venezuela.”
President Donald Trump confirmed on August 20 that his administration was
“talking to various representatives of Venezuela”.
He said: “I don’t want to say
who, but we are talking at a very high level.”
President Maduro had suggested that he authorized the back-channel
discussions.
However, John Bolton cast those contacts in a very different light, tweeting:
“As the President has repeatedly stated,
to end the pilfering of the Venezuelan people’s resources and continued
repression, Maduro must go. The only items discussed by those who are reaching
out behind Maduro’s back are his departure and free and fair elections.”
John Bolton said President Trump’s
aim was to “to end the pilfering of the Venezuelan people’s resources and
continued repression” and that to that end, President Maduro “must
go”.
The US imposed sweeping sanctions
earlier this month aimed at increasing pressure on President Maduro to step
down.
Venezuela has been caught up in a
struggle for power between President Maduro and the leader of the country’s
National Assembly, Juan Guaidó.
Juan Guaidó declared himself interim
president in January, claiming that the elections which brought Nicolás Maduro to power for a second term were fraudulent.
While Juan Guaidó has gained the
backing of over 50 countries he has so far failed to remove Nicolás Maduro from power.
Talks between the two sides hosted
by Barbados and mediated by Norway recently stalled after President Maduro
denounced the opposition for backing the sweeping sanctions imposed by the US.
According to the UN, Venezuela is
suffering one of the worst economic crises in history with a quarter of its 30
million population in need of aid.
More than four million Venezuelans
have left the country over the past years.
Nicolás Maduro’s government has come under
fire by the international community for a number of reasons.
When opposition parties gained a
majority in Venezuela’s National Assembly, the president created a rival body
stacked with his supporters which assumed many of its powers. His 2018
re-election was controversial, and labeled as rigged by his critics, after many
rivals were barred from running or fled the country.
Protests and demonstrations erupted
into violence and were met with a crackdown by authorities which saw civilians
killed.
The US has been a frequent target of
Nicolás Maduro’s anger.
President Maduro has accused the US,
and John Bolton in particular, of trying to kill him, without supplying any
evidence. He claims that his opposition is backed by foreign powers, rather
than a domestic resistance to his authority.
Government officials were the first
target of US sanctions against Nicolás
Maduro’s government – but earlier this year, it brought new restrictions
forward on the state oil company, which is a major player in the national
economy.
That was followed in August by sweeping sanctions that froze all property of the government in the US, and blocks American companies doing business with Venezuela.
The
Matrix will return for its fourth installment, with Keanu Reeves reprising
his lead role as hacker Neo.
Matrix co-creator Lana Wachowski will write, direct and produce the film, a
third sequel to the original 1999 hit.
Lana Wachowski celebrated The Matrix‘s return, saying many of the ideas it explores are “even more relevant now”.
The first three films in the sci-fi franchise earned more than $1.6 billion at
the global box office.
Warner Bros Pictures Group chairman Toby Emmerich announced the fourth film
on August 20, saying the studio “could not be more excited” about its
return.
He said: “Lana is a true
visionary – a singular and original creative filmmaker – and we are thrilled
that she is writing, directing and producing this new chapter.”
The original film was released in 1999 and told the story of Neo and his discovery
that humanity was trapped in a simulated reality. It proved a major hit and
spawned two sequels – The Matrix Reloaded
and The Matrix Revolutions.
The third installment, The Matrix
Revolutions, was the first film ever to be released simultaneously around
the world at the same hour.
Rumors of a fourth chapter have been circulating since two years ago, with
reports at the time stating that Warner Bros was “in the early stages of
developing a re-launch”.
In a statement on August 20, Lana Wachowski said she was “very happy to have these characters back in my life and grateful for another chance to work with my brilliant friends”.
Mesothelioma is a type of
cancer that is caused by inhaled asbestos fibers and forms in the lining of the
lungs, abdomen or heart.
The disease is most often diagnosed after a
person goes to a doctor because of symptoms. If there is a reason to suspect
you might have mesothelioma, your doctor will use one or more tests to find
out. Symptoms might suggest that the problem could be mesothelioma, but tests
will be needed to confirm the diagnosis.
Medical history and physical exam
If you have any signs or symptoms that suggest you might have mesothelioma, your doctor will want to take a complete medical history to learn about your symptoms and possible risk factors, especially asbestos exposure. You will also be asked about your general health.
A physical exam can provide
information about possible signs of mesothelioma and other health problems.
Pleural mesothelioma can cause fluid to build up around the lungs in the chest
(called a pleural effusion). In cases of peritoneal mesothelioma, fluid
can build up in the abdomen (called ascites). In pericardial
mesothelioma, fluid builds up in the sac around the heart (called a pericardial
effusion). Rarely, mesothelioma can develop in the groin and look like a
hernia. All of these might be found during a physical exam, such as when the
doctor listens to these areas with a stethoscope.
Imaging tests use x-rays,
radioactive particles, or magnetic fields to create pictures of the inside of
your body. Imaging tests may be done for a number of reasons, including to help
find a suspicious area that might be cancerous, to learn how far cancer may
have spread, and to help determine if treatment has been effective.
Chest X-Ray
This is often the first test
done if someone has symptoms such as a constant cough or shortness of breath.
It may show an abnormal thickening of the pleura, calcium deposits on the
pleura, fluid in the space between the lungs and the chest wall, or changes in
the lungs themselves as a result of asbestos exposure. These findings could
suggest a mesothelioma.
Computed tomography (CT) scan
The CT scan is an x-ray test
that produces detailed cross-sectional images of your body. Instead of taking
one picture, like a regular x-ray, a CT scanner takes many pictures as it
rotates around you while you are lying on a narrow table. A computer then
combines these into images of slices of the body. Unlike a regular x-ray, a CT
scan creates detailed images of the soft tissues in the body.
CT scans are often used to help
look for mesothelioma and to determine the exact location of the cancer. They
can also help stage the cancer (determine the extent of its spread). For
example, they can show whether the cancer has spread to other organs. This can
help to determine if surgery might be a treatment option. Finally, CT scans can
be used to learn whether treatment such as chemotherapy has been helpful in
shrinking or slowing the growth of the cancer.
Echocardiogram
This test uses sound waves to
look at the heart. It may be done if your doctor suspects that you have fluid
around your heart (a pericardial effusion). It can also tell how well the heart
is working. For the most common version of this test, you lie on a table while
a technician moves an instrument called a transducer over the skin on
your chest. A gel is often put on the skin first.
Positron emission tomography
(PET) scan
For a PET scan, a radioactive
substance (usually a type of sugar related to glucose, known as FDG) is
injected into the blood. The amount of radioactivity used is very low. Because
cancer cells in the body grow quickly, they absorb more of the sugar than most
other cells. After waiting about an hour, you lie on a table in the PET scanner
for about 30 minutes while a special camera creates a picture of areas of radioactivity
in the body.
The picture from a PET scan is
not finely detailed like a CT or MRI scan, but it can provide helpful
information about whether abnormal areas seen on these tests are likely to be
cancerous or not. For example, it can give the doctor a better idea of whether
a thickening of the pleura or peritoneum seen on a CT scan is more likely
cancer or merely scar tissue. If you have been diagnosed with cancer, your
doctor may use this test to see if the cancer has spread to lymph nodes or
other parts of the body. A PET scan can also be useful if your doctor thinks
the cancer may have spread but doesn’t know where.
Magnetic resonance imaging
(MRI) scan
Like CT scans, MRI scans make
detailed images of soft tissues in the body. But MRI scans use radio waves and
strong magnets instead of x-rays. The energy from the radio waves is absorbed
and then released in a pattern formed by the type of body tissue and by certain
diseases. A computer translates the pattern into very detailed images of parts
of the body. A contrast material called gadolinium is often injected
into a vein before the scan to better show details. This contrast is different
than the one used for CT scans, so being allergic to one doesn’t mean you are
allergic to the other.
MRI scans can sometimes help
show the exact location and extent of a tumor since they provide very detailed
images of soft tissues. For mesotheliomas, they may be useful in looking at the
diaphragm (the thin band of muscle below the lungs that helps us breathe), a
possible site of cancer spread.
Blood levels of certain
substances are often higher in people with mesothelioma:
Osteopontin
Soluble
mesothelin-related peptides (SMRPs), detected with the MesoMark® test
Blood tests for these
substances are not used to diagnose mesothelioma, but high levels may make the
diagnosis more likely.
If you have been diagnosed with
mesothelioma, other blood tests will be done to check your blood cell counts
and levels of certain chemicals in the blood. These tests can give the doctor
an idea of how extensive the disease may be, and how well organs such as the
liver and kidneys are working.
Tests of fluid and tissue samples
Symptoms and test results may
strongly suggest that a person has mesothelioma, but the actual diagnosis is
made by removing cells from an abnormal area and looking at them under a
microscope. This is known as a biopsy. It may be done in different ways,
depending on the situation.
Removing fluid for testing
If mesothelioma might be
causing a buildup of fluid in the body, a sample of this fluid can be removed
by inserting a thin, hollow needle through the skin and into the fluid to
remove it. Numbing medicine is used on the skin before the needle is inserted.
This may be done in a doctor’s office or in the hospital. Sometimes ultrasound
(or an echocardiogram) is used to guide the needle (these use sound waves to
take pictures of parts of the body).
This procedure has different
names depending on where the fluid is:
Thoracentesis removes fluid from the chest.
Paracentesis removes fluid from the abdomen.
Pericardiocentesis removes fluid from the sac around the heart.
The fluid is then tested to
check its chemical makeup and is looked at under a microscope to see if it
contains cancer cells. If cancer cells are found, special tests might be able
to tell whether the cancer is a mesothelioma, a lung cancer, or another type of
cancer.
Even if no cancer cells are
found in the fluid, cancer may still be present. In many cases, doctors need to
get an actual sample of the mesothelium (the pleura, peritoneum, or
pericardium) to determine if a person has mesothelioma.
Needle biopsies
Suspected tumors in the chest
are sometimes sampled by needle biopsy. A long, hollow needle is passed through
the skin in the chest between the ribs and into the pleura. Imaging tests such
as CT scans are used to guide the needle into the tumor so that small samples
can be removed to be looked at under the microscope. This is often done using
just numbing medicine.
Needle biopsy can also be used
to get samples of the lymph nodes in the space between the lungs to see if the
cancer has spread there.
Endoscopic biopsies
An endoscope is a thin,
tube-like instrument used to look inside the body. It has a light and a lens
(or tiny video camera) on the end for viewing and often has a tool to remove
tissue samples.
Cancers in the lung often
spread to lymph nodes, but mesotheliomas do this less often. Testing the lymph
nodes can help show whether a cancer is still localized or if it has started to
spread, which might affect treatment options. It can also sometimes help
distinguish lung cancer from mesothelioma.
Open surgical biopsy
Sometimes, endoscopic biopsies
aren’t enough to make a diagnosis and more invasive procedures are needed. By
making an incision in the chest (thoracotomy) or an incision in the abdomen
(laparotomy) the surgeon can remove a larger sample of tumor or, sometimes,
remove the entire tumor.
Testing the samples in the lab
No matter how they were
obtained, all biopsy and fluid samples are sent to the pathology lab. There, a
doctor will look at them under a microscope and test them to find out if they
contain cancer cells (and if so, what type of cancer it is).
It is often hard to diagnose mesothelioma by looking at cells from fluid around the lungs, abdomen, or heart. It can even be hard to diagnose mesothelioma with tissue from small needle biopsies. Under the microscope, mesothelioma can often look like other types of cancer. For example, pleural mesothelioma may resemble some types of lung cancer, and peritoneal mesothelioma in women may look like some cancers of the ovaries.
For this reason, special lab
tests are often done to help tell mesothelioma from some other cancers.
Immunohistochemistry: This
test looks for different proteins on the surface of the cells or inside them.
It can be used to tell if the cancer is a mesothelioma or a lung cancer, which
can sometimes appear to start in the inner lining of the chest.
If mesothelioma is diagnosed,
the doctor will also determine what type of mesothelioma it is, based on the
patterns of cells seen in the microscope. Most mesotheliomas are classified as
either epithelioid, sarcomatoid, or mixed/biphasic.
Pulmonary function tests
If mesothelioma has been diagnosed, pulmonary function tests (PFTs) may be done to see how well your lungs are working. This is especially important if surgery may be an option to treat the cancer. Surgery often requires removing part or all of a lung, so it’s important to know how well the lungs are working to start with. These tests can give the surgeon an idea of whether surgery may be an option, and if so, how much lung can safely be removed.
In this day and age, we’re all trying to keep our spending habits in check in order to save money. Unfortunately, many of us are unsure where to spend money on a more expensive brand and where we should opt for a more budget option.
Well, worry not, as
here’s our guide to where you should save and where you should spend when it
comes to fashion:
SAVE – Wrist Jewelry
We all love
accessories. No matter if you’re adding some sophisticated jewelry to a work
suit or something bold and fun for a date. However, with so many different
outfits and current trends, you can easily spend a small fortune on jewelry
trying to keep up.
Instead, save yourself
money by opting for costume jewelry from cheaper brands. Since this jewelry
will be far cheaper than designer, you’ll have room to buy more, so your outfit
will always have the best accessories.
SPEND – Sunglasses
While you may want to
save money on your wrist jewelry, there is one accessory that you should never
scrimp on – your sunglasses! As, when it comes to your sunglasses, you need a
pair that will adequately protect your eyes from the harmful UV lights that the
sun gives off. Which is why you should pay a bit more for your sunglasses and
opt for a reputable brand.
Not only will respected brands like Ray-Ban give you the best in protection for your eyes, this brand will also let you customize your lenses and even add a personal touch like engraving. Even better, by buying designer, you’ll have a quality pair of sunglasses that will last you years, which means you won’t waste money replacing them frequently.
SAVE – Basic Tees
Every wardrobe needs
some basic tees. Not only does a t-shirt look great with a nice pair of jeans
for a casual look, your tee can be dressed up with accessories and a skirt for
a night out. The problem is, as our t-shirts get so much wear, they also get
washed a lot. So, whether you bought a cheap or more expensive t-shirt, there
isn’t that much difference in the level of quality, which means they both
become washed-out, bobbly and in need of replacement quickly.
Which means, rather than wasting your money on an expensive t-shirt, you should save money and just buy a cheaper tee. As long as it’s comfy and it’s a color you like, that’s all that really matters.
SPEND – Blazer
Unlike a t-shirt,
which tends to get hidden under other clothing and accessories, your blazer is
there to make or break an outfit. Which is why you should always invest in a
quality brand, such as a real tweed blazer, with an impeccable fit. As, if you
scrimp on your blazer, it’s both unlikely to fit you well and the poor quality
will be very obvious.
SAVE – Running Shoes
While in the past it
might have been a good idea to invest in running shoes from a designer brand, in
the last few years gym clothing has become a massive market, meaning that more
budget-friendly shops are now making running shoes that are both affordable and
high-quality. While you shouldn’t buy the cheapest pair, you can see, before
you waste hundreds of dollars on one pair of trainers, instead try something a
little cheaper – they’ll do the same job for so much less!
SPEND – Work Shoes
It doesn’t matter if
you work in an office or you’re a personal trainer in the gym, when it comes to
your work shoes, it’s essential that you spend a little more. As, when you buy
more expensive footwear, you’re far more likely to have a pair of shoes that
will keep you comfortable all day – even if you’re on your feet a lot. Plus,
pricier shoes will look more professional, particularly in an office
environment.
SAVE – Pyjamas
While designer brands
might try to tell you that their nightwear is softer, silkier and will help you
sleep better – in reality, our pyjamas shouldn’t be something that you spend
too much on. For one, hardly anyone is ever going to see them as you only wear
them to bed, so there really isn’t any need to show off a brand name. Nor are
these expensive brands actually any comfier, with very little difference to how
they feel when worn.
SPEND – Bathrobe
The problem with cheaper bathrobes is that they aren’t typically as soft as more expensive brands. Which becomes a problem when you want a bathrobe to keep you warm and cozy during those chilly winter months. So, rather than scrimp, treat yourself to a quality bathrobe that you can snuggle up in on a rainy day.
