Thousands of students across the island, along with their teachers, welcomed their second day back in the classroom in months due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Face-to-face instruction began Monday, 25th October for King Nagatana's grade six and forms four and five secondary school students. Hon. Sean Edward, who visited a number of schools Monday, is pleased with the phased reopening of the academic year. Somebody Mark has more. The Government of Sindhu Shah, in an effort to ensure the safety of students and staff of schools on the island, visited several educational institutions on Monday. A contingent from the Ministry of Education, Sustainable Development, Innovation, Science, Technology and Vocational Training, including Education Minister Hon. Sean Edward, Permanent Secretary and Deputy Permanent Secretary, School Safety Officer and the Chief Educational Officer, visited several schools to garner firsthand information on the welfare of staff and students as schools reopened on a phased basis. Students of critical grade levels such as kindergarten and grade six in primary school and forms four and five in secondary school return to classroom instruction. Hon. Edward indicated that based on guidance from the Ministry of Health, the Ministry of Education hopes to reintegrate other grade levels in the weeks ahead. The school is the safest place for our children to be and this is a point that I have made repeatedly. Children have been at home for weeks and in some cases months and for a lot of them it has been a struggle, it has been a challenge, they found themselves engaging a lot of on-save reactivities and I believe that the sooner we can have all our children back in school, the better it will be for us, not just as a ministry but as a country. So it's very important. Our children have been deprived of a lot of instruction time ever since the pandemic visited our shores. So as we continue to make progress and as we continue to emerge out of the pandemic I think it is critical that we assess the situation to have our children back in school. The minister indicated that teachers and students were excited to return to the classroom. They do appreciate the amount of time that has been lost due to the pandemic. So the faster we can have everybody back in school, as I said, the better it will be for us as a country. Our children have lost a lot of time and moving forward we have to play catch-up, we have to ensure that we give them the most comfortable environment for them to live. Honourable Jean-Edward applauded parents for their patience and contribution towards students' education and applaud that they continue to support the students throughout their educational journeys. From the Government Information Service, Helma Dimak reporting.


The Department of Petroleum Resources is now called Nigerian Alpstrum Petroleum Regulatory Commission NUPRC. The Commission decides its investigations reveal that petroleum products still as a diverting petroleum products to unknown destinations. This is following the recent lingering panic buying of petroleum products in the state. Coupe able to eat have been sealed. We have sealed those stations. We can count the number of three of them that have been sealed. And we have continued to engage in such surveillance until nomads say return to the petrol stations. Government has not increased the pump price. Government has no intention of scarcity. There is no scarcity at all. So the products are available. I can state categorically that as such today the sufficiency level of the petroleum product are more than 20 days. Meanwhile, one of the petroleum marketers however disagreed with the NUPRC for sealing his fuel station. Some residents shared their experiences getting petroleum products in the past few days. The first experience I had that was last year. I was coming here to buy fuel when I came in and saw a queue. The queue was not much anyway. I was so surprised. Why should we have scarcity of fuel? Nigeria is not a country that is supposed to have this kind of experience. It is a country that is blessed by God. Understand? They always talk about subsidy. Every time we look around somebody is talking about subsidy. At the end of it there is another round of subsidy, agitation and all that. So I am fed up. I have given up.


In this video, we're going to go through three reasons why Durge could still reach one dollar. So we're going to go through Durgecoin and why I do believe that this could still reach one dollar and some of the reasons for that in this video. I've got to say, I'm not a financial advisor, I'm a business teacher, but I'm by no means an expert on cryptocurrencies or the stock market. This is going to be a nice short and sweet video to get right straight to the point. So if you do appreciate that approach, then do smash that like button, it does really help support out the channel. So thanks for all the support that everybody's been giving on the channel, I really do appreciate it. Let's get into the information for today's video. So of course, Durgecoin is an open source peer to peer digital currency. And we all know that by now, but just as an introduction, and you can get started with Durge by choosing a particular wallet, configuring the wallet, getting some Durgecoin in terms of numerous ways of ways to get it. You can buy it, trade for them, get tipped, mine them and more. So there's different ways you can actually get Durge and we'll go into the three reasons as to why I think Durgecoin could actually reach one dollars still. And you know, we have seen it move up and I've been covering this one for months. I covered this in, I think the first time covering about sort of December, early, early January, around that time. And you know, we've been talking about this one on the run up. Okay. And I do still think that this has got the potential to reach that one dollar range. It has moved up a lot since January, but I still think it could go a bit further. Okay. In terms of that range. So we're going to go through this information today. And if you do enjoy it, then do smash that like button. Let me know in the comments section down below if you'd like to me to cover more Durgecoin videos, or if you've got any of the cryptos you would like me to cover also, let's get into the reasons. So first of all, it's brand awareness, right? We've talked about this before, but again, going into this, it's brand awareness. We everybody knows what Durgecoin is. Okay. Everybody has heard of it. It's probably one of the most known coins out there, other than the big ones that are out there. The Bitcoin, et cetera. So it is incredibly well known. So it's got massive amount of brand awareness that's in relation to this coin. Okay. Reason for this partly is because you've got the consistent tweets from Elon Musk talking about Durgecoin and he's continuing to do that. And you have to think about this. This was not just over a one week period. This was over months and months he's been tweeting about Durgecoin. Okay. And he's continuing to do so. So that tells me that this could be a long-term trend that is going to be talking about in the longer term. And I think when that settles in, when that settles in in the fact that Elon Musk is tweeting about it in the longer term and not just the short term, I think that that is going to add some value to the coin itself as well, even further than it already has. And also the overall marketability of the coin. You know, we've seen memes on Twitter go viral. We've seen all sorts of stuff. And for it did start as part of a joke coin, cryptocurrency. And because of that, there was able to create a lot of memes, a lot of viral content which was getting shared about by the thousands, hundreds of thousands and getting millions of reach in terms of people actually seeing this content. So what we're seeing is is that the overall marketability is actually impacting the brand awareness of the coin, right? Because this is interlinked. The coin is highly marketable, which means that more people are knowing about the coin, which is then creating brand awareness. And of course, Elon Musk and others who have tweeted about this coin only seek to turbo charge that. Okay, the next point to mention is in terms of the listings as well. So this is the second reason why Durge could actually still reach up to that $1 framework because there is still some listings that need to be done on certain platforms where it's not yet fully available. Okay, so as we see more of these listings of Durgecoin in some of these platforms, I do see that as a potential catalyst that will also have an impact on the price of the coin. So first off, we've got the coin based listing that should be coming soon within the next few weeks. Okay, so as you can see a Coinbase to enable Durgecoin trading in six to eight weeks. Okay, Coinbase Global plans to offer Durgecoin on its trading platform in six to eight weeks the company's chief executive officer has said on Thursday. Okay, so it looks like it's going to be on Coinbase, Durgecoin is going to be on Coinbase according to the chief executive officer here. So we're going to see that happen. Okay, and that means it's going to have more access to more people to buy this coin and much more freely. So that could then also bring new retail investors into the coin that are then going to buy it and then will actually move the price up even further. And the fact that Coinbase is getting involved in the fact of allowing this to happen. What that does also have is an element of credibility to the coin because Coinbase offers some very credible cryptocurrencies on the large with that in mind, that adds credibility to this coin to be finally accepted on Coinbase. And again, we could see other listings coming down the future as well. So that is a catalyst. That is a reason, another reason as to why it could reach $1 as well. Remember to like the video if you're enjoying this. We're going to go through the third reason as to why Durgecoin could still reach $1. Now that leads on to transitioning from the point I mentioned on the second point there, which is that credibility factor. So we're having a large amount of credibility that are associated with Durgecoin. So we've got this interesting quote here, so will Durgecoin continue to rise? So finance professor of the University of Sussex Business School in England said she expects Durgecoin to keep rising, especially celebrities such as Tesla CEO Elon Musk and Dallas Mavericks owner Matt Cuban continue to talk about it. It helps too that the trading at eToro recently added Durgecoin to its cryptocurrencies for trade because of high client demand. So that's what we're seeing. We're seeing that as this continues to get talked about by credible individuals, then this is going to add an impact on the coin itself, I do believe. So that's the third reason as to why Durgecoin could potentially still reach $1. Now what I would like you to do down below for us as we've gone through these reasons, let me know in the comments section down below if you've got any favor reasons that you think Durgecoin could reach $1. But also I want you to consider some of these questions for me and then put them in the comments section down below. Which crypto would you like me to cover next? If you've got any ones that you would like me to cover then do leave them down below. Would you like more Durge presentation style videos? Would you like more of these videos? Let me know in terms of the presentation style where we go through it step by step. And also remember to like and subscribe if you're new to the channel. We cover a lot of more cryptos lately but we are also covering stocks as well. So we have a balance between crypto currencies and stocks and of course you know if you're not that interested in crypto you can watch the stock videos, if you're not that interested in the stock videos you can watch the crypto ones so it's totally up to you what you do there. But if you can leave the like and subscribe I really would appreciate that because it helps get this video up into that YouTube search results and that YouTube algorithm by doing that and I really do appreciate all the support that everybody's been giving on the channel. I'll see everybody in the next one.


Animals make all kinds of noise, but what does it mean? What they're telling the females, I'm free of parasites. Can we crack these mysterious codes? The gesture means travel with me. His vocabulary was like a two-and-a-half-year-old human child. This is stuck to do a little stream. Nova wonders, what are animals saying?


Internal revenue service IRS tax news $1.2 billion in IRS penalty relief refunds coming for certain 2019 and 2020 tax returns. Thank you so much for the relief IRS. What are you talking about? Taxpayers says the IRS this relief isn't for you. This release for the penalties as clearly stated in the name, penalty relief.  Penalty needs relief too, you know. Power to the penalties. Made this respite result in them returning stronger than ever. Hopefully one day they'll be well enough to once again hold a whip. The president's administration explained that you can lead a horse to water, but you can't make them drink.  It's like, well, hold on a second here.  This is an art. This isn't even entertainment. This blows.  See, this is exactly the kind of thing I was talking about.  I vote that we let the horse lead. You can lead a horse to water, but you can't make him party. That way we're at least 10 times more likely to find some water. Unless you have beer water, beer water, quench your sober. COVID tax tip 2022-139, September 12, 2022. To help struggling taxpayers affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, the IRS recently issued notice 2022-36. There's a link to that here, which provides penalty relief to most people and businesses who filed certain 2019 or 2020 returns late.  It's penalty of relief. You might say who cares as long as they're sending money out. But it seems to me that they keep on doing these kind of things that incentivize people not to comply with the tax code because you only get the benefit if you didn't comply with the tax code. That seems kind of backwards in terms of the incentives that you'd want to be doing. Yeah, I mean, you would think that they'd say, well, you had a tough time and you filed anyways, and therefore we're going to give you relief or at least not penalize you by not giving you idle anyways. In any case, to qualify for this relief, any eligible income tax return not already filed must be filed on or before September 30, 2022. The agency is also taking an additional step to help those who paid these penalties already. Nearly 1.6 million taxpayers will automatically receive more than $1.2 billion in refunds and credits. And I think this is kind of what they were going for here to be able to send out those checks personally. I kind of skeptical on this, but because that looks like it's a stimulus check and so on and stimulus checks are popular. In any case, many of these payments will go out by the end of September. So if you already paid the payment on the penalty and now they're removing the penalty, then they're going to have to refund the payments. So which returns are eligible? The relief applies to the failure to file penalty. So people that didn't file on time, right? The penalty is typically assessed at a rate of 5% a month, up to 25% of the unpaid tax when a federal income tax return is filed late. And again, you could have some justification this time because you might have more people that said, I can't pay my taxes. I don't know what to do. So they just panicked and didn't file. But again, you would think that you wouldn't penalize the people that did file because that's an avoidable tax if you filed the tax return, even if you owed money. But in any case, it applies to forms in both the 1040 and 1120 series as well as other lists listed in the notice. Small business employers and other businesses may also be eligible. In addition, the IRS providing penalty relief to small businesses. Employers and other businesses required to file various information returns such as those in the 1099 series to qualify for relief eligible 2019 returns must have been filed by August 1, 2020. And eligible 2020 returns must have been filed by August 1, 2021. A 2019 return will be considered timely for purposes of relief if it was filed by August 3, 2020 and a 2020 return if it was filed by August 2, 2021. Taxpayers should review notice 2022-36 for full details on the information returns that are eligible for relief. The notice also provides details on relief for certain international information return penalties that are assessed systematically or during return processing. To qualify any eligible tax return must be filed on or before September 30, 2022. However, this relief does not apply if the penalty was assessed as part of an examination, which tax returns are not eligible. Penalty relief is not available in all situations such as where a fraudulent return was filed. So obviously fraud usually is good. They're not going to waive the penalty. Where the penalties are part of an accepted offer in compromise or a closing agreement or where the penalties were finally determined by a court. For complete details, taxpayers should read notice 2022-36 available on IRS.gov. Other penalties such as failure to pay penalties are not eligible. So again, it seems kind of funny because you would think that the penalty that would be avoidable would be the penalty to file. You can still file even if you can't pay and the penalty that you can't avoid if you had an issue with money during the pandemic would be the payment being able to pay. You got plenty of time to file, you don't have the time. So again, something just seems a little unusual in terms of how they came up with that. But in any case, however, taxpayers may use existing penalty relief procedures for penalties not eligible under notice 2022-36. More information about existing procedures is available on the penalty relief page of IRS.gov. There's a link to this stuff here. There'll be a link to this in the description.


All right. It is my honor and privilege to welcome Ice Cube into the zone, man. This is, I've interviewed a lot of great people here, but it's, uh, I'm truly honored to have you here, man. Well, it's great to be here. You know, let's talk some basketball. All right. Let's do it. Let's, well, before we get to basketball, though, I heard, I know somebody that went to high school with you played football and he said you were a really good football player running back. He said you made like all league as a freshman. Yeah. Yeah. I played full back. You know, I played outside linebacker too. And yeah, you know, try to do my thing. I thought, you know, that was the direction I was going to go in, you know, until I started hanging really with Dr. Dre a lot. Okay. And then from there, I said, I want to get into music. So I just quit the team. So you stopped playing. Well, I just didn't play the next year. I played the full season, but just didn't play the next year. It was like, you know, be up at the school playing football all day or go hang when it's time to hang and try to, you know, double and double in music. And I wanted to, I wanted to pursue music. Okay. So, you know, I quit the team. Who would you run like running back? Who would you compare yourself to?  You know what I'm saying? I didn't really think about that. You know, I just thought about when they gave it to me, just get as many yards as I could. I used to like playing defense the most. Okay. You know, outside linebacker. I used to like to hit people more than getting hit. What kind of basketball player were you? Did you play on the basketball team or anything? I tried out for the team, but I think the coach was hating on me because, you know, by playing football, you're always late to everything basketball. So, but, you know, I just tried to play point guard.  And, you know, once again, realize, y'all, this is not my calling. I need to go do something that I'm really good at. And I got a shot at.  So you want to talk, let's talk a little bit of basketball. NBA Finals, Golden State, Cleveland. Yeah. Who you, it looks like Cleveland's in trouble. What you think? Well, it was always in trouble. And not about how to play. They got one great player. Yeah. Not about, like, the player skill. I think each player they have has certain skills that can work, but they just haven't been together long enough to win a championship, you know. And when you think about it, they shouldn't win because when you just throw a team together like that, how could you win a championship? How could we trust the, you know, the process, so to speak, when you're just throwing teams together and you can go win a championship? So, you know, Golden State should win because they have a better, more cohesive team. So, you know, if the game lord is correct, that team should win. How many games you got? You know, maybe four or one. Four, that's what I'm thinking. I know you a Laker fan, so I assume you want LeBron here next year. Yeah. I mean, if that's the piece that's going to move us forward, you know, LeBron, I don't think LeBron gets us to the championship, you know, not in the West. What about LeBron and Paul George? Because that's, I don't think he'd come by himself. I think it'd be LeBron and Paul George. I mean, who would turn that down? I think, you know, that could work. I'm still not sure what kind of, what kind of player as far as cerebral player that Paul George is, you know, is he. But you'd have LeBron for that. Yeah, you know, so that may work unless Paul is hiding his ego we don't really see. And then it don't work when, because some people just don't want to take a back seat to nobody. That's how Kobe was. So, you never know, you know, LeBron and Clay, you know, I think that dynamic. I'd rather have Clay. I just, I think he's going to stay in Golden State though.  In Golden State, he's cruise control, you know what I mean?  But his numbers are suffering and, you know, he's going to want another contract sooner later. So is that going to bother him to the point where he say, look, I got three rings, might as well cash out now and go somewhere and get them numbers and cash out again. You know what I'm saying? So I think the Lakers is a great spot. I think he knows the organization. I don't know why, you know, I'm going to, I need to call Mitch Kupchak and say, what's up, man? How did, how did he slip through your fingers, man? What's up? I know he was around the facility shooting a couple jumpers that Michael, you know, it's like, I know Michael said, Hey, man, peep out my son. What happened? You know, so I got some issues with why we don't have Clay time.  I get it. Now, if magic called you and said, look, we want you to come and talk to LeBron. He's thinking about Philadelphia. He's thinking about Houston. We want him here. We want you to sell him on the Lakers. What would you say? Nope. That ain't my job, magic. Do your job, baby.  No, because I don't want to have nothing to do with whether he comes or not. You know, I don't want people to be like, damn, cute. You couldn't deliver. What's up, man? What you say to me? You know, I want, I'd rather magic do his job. He's getting paid the big bucks.  And, you know, I'm happy with the leadership. So whatever decision they make, it's prior decision they have to make for whatever reason. I'll be more upset if they get rid of Randall. I mean, I love, really. It'll be interesting to see if they can keep him. He's a walking double-double. Yeah. Yeah. On a bad team, though. Let's see. I think he could play like that on the good. I think he's really learning what he can do on the court and that when he's, when he's going, nobody want to guard him.   Oh, you do? Yeah. Because I mean, greatest of all times is just silly. It is. Oh, so you don't even like having the conversation? Nah, because we haven't seen all time. All time is a long time. So we don't know what's coming down the pipe. And to call somebody greatest of all time is just insulting to the unborn hoopsters in the world who could turn up greater than all of them. Okay. Okay. So you don't have any goat in your mind. There's no goat. There's no goat. There's just, you know, kings of eras. Okay. So it's similar to rapping, right? In a way. It's hard to pick the, I mean, nobody. There is no goat rapper. Everybody got their own opinions. Yeah. Yeah. And how, you know, can the goat be the goat? If he the student and he learned from a teacher, you know, LeBron wouldn't know how to play like that without Jordan. But people like me need something to do though. So that's cool. It's cool. I mean, talking about which player I would rather have on my team, you know, without a question is Michael Jordan.  But it's another thing to have to reach down inside and use whatever talent God gave you to conquer. It's just a different mentality. And that's why I get an edge to Jordan. Now that's interesting. You say that because I think LeBron is second best of all time to Jordan. But most ex-players I talk to, they always like, why ain't Kobe in the conversation? You know, because we just make it Jordan LeBron. You a Lakers fan, do you have Kobe? Would you rather Kobe than LeBron? Yes. Okay. So tell me the same kind of thing? Same reason. You know, it's all between the ears. And, you know, I just feel like, to me, Kobe and LeBron are two different players, you know.  But, you know, Kobe is like an assassin. You know, he's like, would you compare Kobe? Would he be more gangster rap than LeBron? If you had to put it in hip hop genres? Because he got that more. Attitude-wise, yeah, yeah. Attitude-wise, yeah. But if LeBron could get gangster, he got bully ball. You know, he can do bully ball. Kobe can take your heart, you know what I mean? So, yeah. I want to get to a little some of your story, too, but first I want to hit you with a little rapid-fire question. All right. All right. Your favorite rapper, obviously, other than yourself? Um, 20 Chuck D and Melly Mel. Melly Mel, okay. Going way back. Yeah, because they are trendsetters and they change the trajectory of the music with their music.  It was like a child that was born with no state of mind, blind to the ways of mankind. So, that changed the trajectory of rap. So, the Chuck D, you know, showing that it wasn't all about us as individuals, but all about us as a union. So, those are my two favorite rappers. Who do you think changed it on the West? I remember the first West Coast rapper I think I remember was Egyptian Lover. You know? Yeah, he was Egyptian Lover. He got the LA Dream team. He got a world-class Wrecking Crew. You know, Ice T. Ice T seems like he changed. He's the, you know, the pioneer Pied Piper of what we call gangster rap.  I mean, not publicant me, but Karras won with Criminal Mind. So, it's been, you know, if you, if you change the game, you got to be one of the best to me. I was going to ask you about the gangster, the way NWA changed it. Obviously, you guys are viewed as the pioneers of gangster rap. And you mentioned some of the ones that, you know, they have some songs here and there that were like that, but you guys just went straight, you know, y'all took it to another level. What made you guys do that?  What made y'all go that hard when we really hadn't seen anybody do it consistently like that? Um, we just felt like that was our path. We didn't think that we would ever get radio play or that, you know, a group like ours would ever hit the national stage. So, we just started doing records that we felt were working our neighborhood and that was our path. That's what we felt. Yeah, yeah. Okay, okay. Favorite rap group other than NWA, I guess would it be Public Enemy? You mentioned? It would be Run DMC because they showed us how to be pros. I mean, Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five is there and Public Enemy is there, but Run DMC really took it and made it, I think, worldwide music. You got a favorite rap song other than One Young? I'll probably say The Message or Rebel Without a Pause or Fight the Power, One Girl Songs. What's your favorite Ice Cube song? I don't really have a favorite one. You know, I never like, I think about them as my kids. So, you know, they all got their own place in my heart, but I don't have a favorite. Do you have a favorite R&B group? I guess it would be, you know, between Ozzy Brothers, Parliament Funkadelic, which has funk and maybe Jackson's, you know. Favorite movie? Wow. My favorite movie is Jaws. Really? Yeah, it's my favorite movie. Wow. You were young when that came out, too. Yeah, I was. You know, it's just to me, a movie that is, it's the reason why you go to the movies. It's perfect on all levels. Storytelling. You know, Fear, Adventure. Yeah, I think it's perfect movie. Favorite sports movie of all time? My favorite sports movie of all time. Wow.  I wouldn't call my favorite of all time. It's hard to say, but Draft Day was great. Moneyball was a great movie. But, you know, I go back to movies like All the Right Moves, which is a great movie. Tom Cruise did it years ago. You know, it's been a few great ones. All right. Favorite Laker of all time? Magic Johnson. Okay, okay. Favorite food? I guess steak. I guess that's what I get most excited to eat. Favorite sneaker? Chuck Taylor's. Really? Yeah. Okay. You got a ton of those? I got so many pairs of Chuck Taylor's. It's crazy. Better actor, you or your son? It seems like he's better. Yeah, it seems like he's better.   Yeah, and all those movies, football movie. Yeah, yeah. It was long shots. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So they remember you, they know you from that. And I'm always like, man, this was one of the hardest rappers. Even the innovators are gangsta rap. Yeah. When you started doing those types of family, friendly movies, did you ever think, sit down and say, you know what, okay, this doesn't fit my image. Could, how could this affect my image and hip hop or anything like that? Or what was that process like if there was any to it? I don't really care about no image. You know what I mean? I just be myself.  And, you know, I don't, I don't want them saying, that's Ice Cube. He's a rapper.  I'd rather do something and they know who I am. So that's when I decided movies like, you know, started off really with Barbershop.  So I was like, yo, can we push it to PG? That's what I did over there yet. Long shots.  So it was just a calculated decision to make sure that I stay relevant in the same households as I was relevant before and by connecting with the youth in those households.  You know what I mean? So it's really, that's really what it's all about. Now you also doing, of course, the owner of the Big Three, creator of the Big Three, of all the retired players ever, if they all could play, who would your ideal Big Three team be? Oh man, I would go with, I mean, Magic, Kareem, and Jordan. I don't think you can beat that team. Yeah, that's a pretty good team. I can't beat that. That's pretty simple. Yeah. In five years from now, where would you like to see the Big Three? Um, I'd like to see it as, I would like to see people looking forward to our season, like they look forward to the NBA coming on the NFL. I would like people to be like, man, here we go with Big Three basketball. So I would like to get the fan base up and get people excited. I would like for us to be, you know, on the world stage. We're trying to create, you know, on the under, you know, a world cup of three on three basketball. So we're, you know, we go to China this, this month and we're trying to start Big Three China. No, we're trying to start a Big Three China. Just players from China? Yeah. Well, Asia, China, try to get players a league going there where maybe their champion is good enough to come play in our summer league here. Same with Brazil, same with other countries. Just make this a worldwide thing because, you know, three on three is in the Olympics. Everybody's going to have to step up the game and, and, you know, Big Three, you know, is the standard for professional three on three basketball. You know, FIBA got their thing going, but, you know, their, theirs to me is a more amateur game. This here is a more professional version. So we think people can, can really cut their teeth in our league and get ready for the Olympics. Do you ever think about a Big Three league in America, you know, just regular dudes that didn't play in the NBA? Have you thought about that? Well, you know, we were always looking to see, you know, the natural progression of the league and, you know, it could get to that point where we're just saying, yo, you can ball, come ball. But we're not there yet. You know, we're still trying to turn people on to the sport and what it can be. And so, you know, we feel like this formula is the best formula for now, but you never know. Now, T.O. last year, Terrell Owens, he wanted to play any thought to letting nine, you know, like other pros that weren't in the NBA, NFL, baseball, anything like that.   So I don't know, but, but, you know, I promise the guys that they'll play against their peers, I think we have to be careful to not look like a gimmick, but look like a actual pro league. And these guys are getting paid. They're not playing for free. So it's really all about maintaining integrity of the league and making sure that three on three basketball grows in a healthy manner. And it doesn't turn into, you know, some sideshow stuff. That's good. That's smart. A couple of quick questions about your rapping. I read on the internet, you started rapping. You wrote your first rapping typing class? Yeah. That's how it started. Typing.  Yeah, you know, we would get these assignments to do, and I started to actually be able to type pretty fast, you know, so I would finish fast and be just sitting there. And one of my homies named Kitto was like, we was talking about, actually talking about L.L. Newt record, because we was trying to get a hold of it because we heard he was going around on bootleg. Was that radio? No, it was a bigger endeavor. Okay. He kept saying he knew somebody had it. I didn't believe him because back then, you know, bootleg stuff wasn't just everywhere when it came to music. So anyway, he was like, we just got off. He said, you ever write a rap before? I was like, no, I never wrote a rap or even tried to rap. He said, you write one and I'll write one. We'll see which one's the best. Wow. And I just started typing out a rap. So you hadn't thought about rap, even though you was big in the hip hop, I guess. I was a fan. I was just a fan. I just thought we were going to be, you know, the Wrecking Crew were DJs. So you were down with them already before you start writing? Yeah, I was real cool with Dre. I wouldn't say down. They weren't letting us hang with them. But we were cool. But they were just DJs. So I thought that was the extent, because all I saw was DJ crews like Uncle James' Army, which Egyptian lover came in front was a DJ crew. Wrecking Crew was a DJ crew.  So who came up with the name NWA? I want to get a credit to Easy, but it's between Easy and Dre, because they just came to pick me up one day and they had that name like, like they had been talking about it all day.  What does that mean?  I like that. And so I was with it. But not at first. I was like, that's, that's just letters. Nobody was doing that as much back then.  Last time you were here, you told me that you wrote that, or I don't know if you wrote it, but you on a fishing trip, or you were fishing, you decided to do it. Well, the owner of the label, one of the owners had kept telling me he wanted to take me on, take me on his boat.  And he just was like, yo, you can't duck me no more. We got to go out. I got, I got something to tell you. So we went out on the boat, you know, we're fishing. I'm really like bored, like ready to go anyway. But I'm entertaining it.  So he played it. So I was hot. I was mad. I'm ready to go now. So at that point, though, you thinking y'all, you didn't have any beef with them at that point? Well, I didn't diss them on America's most wanted. So I felt like, you know, there's no reason for them to diss me. It was a business decision. So when they did, I felt like, okay, they taking it there. And that's when I really just waited for the trip to be over. But when I got home, I like wrote it in like 90 minutes. And then just went to the studio. And I held it for a minute. I was just trying to figure out what's the perfect track. And when I when I found the perfect track, I was like, yo, I mean, that's one of the best, maybe the best, this record of all time. So you deal with a lot of police brutality in your lyrics, NWA with NWA and after that. And to see it still happening, obviously. We've seen town halls with athletes and the president and police commissioners and all that. What do you think needs to be done to just end this? I mean, it's it's that's 20 years ago, you were writing about it. And it's still going on. I think it's got to be a lot of retraining going on. I think I think police should should have to do mandatory psycho evaluation. It should be mandatory. It shouldn't be if I got a problem, I got to go talk to somebody. It's like, no, you scheduled to talk to somebody every Wednesday at this time about what's going on. And it should be off the record. So it's not going to go in your files, not going to go in this. It's just somebody to talk to somebody to let to help you dissect all the stuff that's going on with you. You know, those type of things need to happen. But, you know, the police changing the way they do things is not going to happen because their objectives are different than our objectives. Our objectives is civil rights. Our objectives is treat people fair. Their objective is make it home tonight. Period. Win and make it home tonight. So it's two different objectives going on here. So they're trained to win. Confrontation, situation, make it home tonight. And sometimes rights, sometimes humanity gets in the way of that.  I mean, because you're right.  Do you understand I guess the tension there? Because like you said, there's tension because both sides got different objectives. I understand the tension, but I don't understand the bullying.     Kid going to the prime, he gets choked out.  It's enough people doing bad. You know, it's like, that's the part I don't understand.  So it just becomes simple, good old American bullying. Do they ever like have police commissioners or the police in general ever asked your opinion because of your history dealing with this, you know, lyrically and stuff like, you know, because that's, I think that's a great idea that I really haven't heard from any people. I think, you know, I don't know if they would care about my opinion. You know, I think they, you know, they have to change the way they look at the public and understand the job that they've chosen under oath to accept.  If you don't want to deal with this stuff, you shouldn't deal with it. But if you decide to, you've got to take them all to the restraint that the job entails because you're supposed to serve the public, not prey on the public. What's your feeling on the Kaepernick, the way he's dealt with it and obviously the repercussions that he suffered because of it? You know, I felt, you know, of course I feel for Kaepernick and, you know, I always felt that there was never a good outcome to this because you're taking a knee because of something that has to do with the outside world. You're taking a knee on the football field with something that has to do with the outside world, that the people that control this game can't fix that. So what's the end game? What was ever the end game to that? So it was always going to be a place where it never, it was never a solution to that problem. So I always felt like, you know, bringing awareness to the situation is cool. Falling on your, falling on the sword or being a martyr for the situation. I don't know if that solves the problem or gets us any closer to solving the problem. So that's why I feel for him, you know, because he's in that situation. Last thing before you go, I know we got to wrap up. What's one thing about Ice Cube that would surprise people? People don't know. I don't know, you know, because I don't really know everybody's perception of me.  And I try to be the same exact person I was before this music and before all this.  Man, I appreciate it, brother. Great stuff. And thank you for everything, man. You know, letting me come on here and do this. No, this was good. This was good. Pumping the big three in any kind of way. Oh, yeah. We're looking forward to the big three. And I know that I've been talking to the players. They all into it now. My man, Olden Palanese was on. He's had one of our best podcasts and he got cut. By the way, he was killing the big men. Well, he came out there. I wouldn't say killing it. He came out there, you know, and we gave him a shot. You know what I'm saying? What was cool is the players pick who they want to play with. So, I had nothing to do with it.


This is a redrawn figure from Saxon Warner, a famous paper from back in 2001. Each dot on here is a country, and what we have at the bottom is how much of the economy of that country was exports of natural resources in the year 1970. So the countries that exported a lot of natural resources are out here. The countries with very little natural resources as a fraction of the total economy are down there, and then what's shown here is how much did that economy grow over the next 20 years. What you'll notice is that all of the countries that really relied on exporting natural resources in 1970 had very slow or actually negative growth over the next 20 years. Some countries that did not have many natural resources also had slow growth, but all of the countries with fast growth did not rely on natural resources. Now, ecorrelation does not tell you what caused it, but there are enough reasons to believe that when you rely really heavily on natural resources, there may be a tendency to work hard to control the natural resource rather than to building a wonderful place for everyone to live, and if that's true, then there may be some relationship in here that is meaningful and reliance on natural resources may not be a good thing for having a big healthy economy.


Good evening aspirants welcome to the Hindu news analysis by Shankara Ace Academy for the date 17th September 2019 These are the list of articles chosen for today's analysis It has been given along with the page numbers of Chennai, Bengaluru, Delhi, Tiruvananthapuram and Hyderabad editions The link for the handwritten notes and the timestamping for the displayed articles is provided in the description box below and For the benefit of smartphone users the timestamping is also provided in the comment section Let's move on to the first article analysis. This article is about the Retention of former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister The syllabus relevant to the analysis of this news article is given here for your reference The news article states that the home department of Jammu and Kashmir has issued orders To detain former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Farooq Khabdullah. According to the news article He will be detained for 12 days. He has been detained under the Jammu and Kashmir Public Safety Act of 1978 Here detention or detaining someone means keeping a person in official custody and it is for questioning about a crime or due to a Politically sensitive situation in the state or in the country now in this Jammu and Kashmir scenario It is the politically sensitive situation because recently the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganization Act was enacted which bifurcated the state into two union territories The news article also states that as per the latest order by Jammu and Kashmir home department under this public safety act His residence has been declared a Subsidery jail now know that subsidiary jail is used for the custody of persons who are ordered to be detained under any law It is any place which has been declared by the state government by any General order or special order for the detention of a person So in this case his residence has been declared as the subsidiary jail the news article further adds that it is Expected that the period of detention could be extended for a maximum of three months So now in this context, let us discuss about the Jammu and Kashmir Public Safety Act of 1978 this is a state act which was applicable to the Jammu and Kashmir state only this act was enacted in the interest of security of the state and public order if you see under seventh schedule of Indian constitution laws with respect to preventive detention for reasons connected with the security of state and Maintenance of public order comes under the concurrent list now here preventive detention is the Imprisonment of a person with the aim of preventing them from committing any offenses or imprisoning them for maintaining the public order Now this subject comes under the concurrent list, which means the state legislature can also enact law under this subject Now this provision is provided under article 246 clause 2 of Indian constitution this article states that the legislature of any state Can also have the power to make laws with respect to any of the matters Enumerated in the list 3 in the seventh schedule, and we know that list 3 is the concurrent list So this means whatever the subjects are given under concurrent list under these subjects laws can be enacted Both by the parliament and also by the state legislatures But if you see one another subject comes under union list, which is pertaining to preventive detention It is the preventive detention for reasons connected with defense foreign affairs or the security of India and Persons who are subjected to such detention because of it now this subject comes under union list This means only parliament has the power to make legislation for the subject mentioned in this list Now this provision is provided by article 246 clause 1 it states that parliament has Exclusive power to make laws with respect to any of the matters Enumerated in list 1 of the seventh schedule and list 1 is the union list Now coming back to the Jammu and Kashmir Public Safety Act This act contains provision for designating protected areas and prohibited areas in the state It also has the provisions for the prevention of circulation of documents in the interest of communal harmony, etc Now today's article discussion is based on detention of persons So this provision comes under section 8 of this act It deals with the powers of authorities to detain persons under this act This act states that the government may make an order Directing that a person be detained and the government can make an order if the government is satisfied That it can detain a person with a view to preventing him from acting in any manner Which is prejudicial to the security of the state or which is prejudicial to the maintenance of public order Prejudicial means harmful So if any person is acting harmful to the security of the state or is harmful to maintain the public order Then that person can be detained by the state government So what are the actions which come under this particular provision? That is what are the actions which means prejudicial to the maintenance of public order The actions which are promoting, propagating or attempting to create The feelings of enmity or hatred or disharmony on grounds of religion, race, caste, community or region Is the act which is prejudicial to the maintenance of public order Along with this if a person is making preparations for using a force Or attempting to use a force or is instigating or inciting or abetting the use of a force Which either disturbs or is likely to disturb public order is also an action Which is prejudicial to the maintenance of public order Instigating or inciting means either starting up or encouraging someone to do the action And abetting also means encouraging someone to do action or even assisting a person to do something wrong And the actions which attempt to commit or instigate or incite or even provoke or even abet the commission of a mischief Is also an action which is prejudicial to the maintenance of public order If it either disturbs or is likely to disturb the public order Then also the actions which is attempting to commit or instigate or incite or provoke or abet the commission of an offense Which is punishable with death or which is punishable with imprisonment for life or with punishment or which is punishable with imprisonment for a term extending to 7 years or more Is deemed as an action which is prejudicial to the maintenance of public order Because the commission of such offense disturbs or is likely to disturb the public order So, these are the actions which leads to the detention of a person under this act According to this act, the detention is ordered by the divisional commissioners or even by the district magistrates But the news article says that this authority is also given to the home department of Jammu and Kashmir and it was given by a special order Now, when such detention order is made, the official has to report the fact to the government And this fact should be given along with the grounds on which the order has been made And also know that this order remains in force for only 12 days This provision is given by section 8 clause 4 of this act It states that no such order shall remain in force for more than 12 days And if it is to be extended, then it has to be approved by the government That is why the former chief minister Farooq Abdullah has been initially detained for 12 days only If it has to be extended, then it is to be approved by the state government of Jammu and Kashmir Now, after this, in every case where a detention order has been made under this act The government shall place the details about the order before a advisory board And it has to be placed within 4 weeks from the date of detention order And the details about the order includes the grounds on which the order has been made And the representation made by the person who is affected by the order And also the report by the officer who made the order under subsection 4 of section 8 All these things should be placed before the advisory board Now, this advisory board is constituted under section 14 of this act This board consists of a chairman who is or who has been a judge of the high court That is who is presently a judge of high court or who is a former judge of high court And this advisory board also consists of two other members Who are or who have been or who are qualified to be appointed as judges of high court The chairman and the other members of the board shall be appointed by the government in consultation with the chief justice of the high court Now, this advisory board has to submit its report to the government within 6 weeks from the date of detention This report of the advisory board has to specify whether there is sufficient cause for the detention of the person Or whether there is no sufficient cause for the detention of that person So, if in any case where the advisory board has reported that there is sufficient cause for the detention of a person Then the government may confirm the detention order And the government can continue the detention of the person who is concerned for a period as the government may think as fit Now, this does not mean that the government can order for detention for an unlimited time period Now, this is because the section 18 of the act provides for the maximum period of detention The maximum period for which any person may be detained If the person is acting in any manner prejudicial to the maintenance of public order Is three months in the first instance and this can be extended to 12 months that is one year Then if a person is acting in any manner which is prejudicial to the security of the state Then that person shall be detained for six months in the first instance And it can be extended to two years to the maximum So, with this we have come to the end of this news article analysis The respite practice question will be discussed in the last session This news article is regarding national center for clean coal research and development The syllabus relevant to the analysis of this news article is given here for your reference The department of science and technology which comes under the ministry of science and technology Has launched the national center for clean coal research and development It has been launched at the Indian Institute of Science That is at the IASC Bengaluru This institute has been launched to address the opportunities and challenges in the development of clean coal technology So, this national center will perform the research and development activities in clean coal technologies It will act as a national consortium on clean coal research and development which will be led by IASC Bengaluru Here consortium means association of different institutions So, many institutes will collaborate with this newly set up national center for clean coal research and development This consortium will work on identifying existing gaps in the clean coal technology So, before knowing about clean coal technologies, let us see about coal Coal is the major source of energy coal is used in the thermal power plants to generate power The domestically available coal is transported from the coal mines And the imported coal is transported from the seaports to the thermal power plants In the power plants the coal is ground then they are burnt When they are burnt steam will be generated and this steam will run the turbines which will generate electricity This is the conventional combustion method of generating electricity But there are two major problems that the Indian thermal power plants are facing using the conventional method One is the high level of pollutants from the coal and second is the low thermal efficiency Here thermal efficiency is nothing but the efficiency of the heat engine Here the turbine converts the heat energy to electricity So, the thermal efficiency is measured by the ratio of the work done by the turbine to the heat supplied to it This thermal efficiency depends on the purity of the coal that is supplied So, if the coal is more impure then the level of pollutants that are emitted will be high So, we saw the conventional combustion method There is one another method which is called as coal gasification This technique is said to have greater efficiency than conventional coal burning It is because it can effectively use the gases twice The coal gases are first cleansed to remove impurities And then they are fired in the turbine to generate electricity We saw that when the coal is burnt several gases and pollutants will be emitted These gases are sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxides, particulate matter, carbon dioxide, fly ash And also mercury and certain other heavy metals And the emission of these gases and pollutants will lead to air pollution So, we can see that there are operational challenges in generating power from coal And there are also challenges because it creates pollution So, that is why we are moving towards clean coal technology is any technology that will make the functioning of coal power plants more efficient Mostly the research and development is carried out in new combustion and gasification technologies So, this new center will also work on addressing these challenges Like the development of low emission combustion and gasification This will be done so that high cycle efficiencies are achieved with reduced pollutants So, that we can achieve high efficiency and low emission Hence the ultimate aim of this national center is the development of clean coal technologies in order to reduce carbon emissions From coal based power plants This center was inaugurated by union minister of science and technology He has said that this center would enable the achievement of an Affordable efficient and compact to reliable clean energy system He also added that this center would help India in achieving the international targets on climate change The international target with which he has mentioned is the nationally determined contributions We know the 2015 Paris climate agreement This Paris agreement requires each country which is parted to the agreement to outline and communicate their post 2020 climate actions This is known as the country's NDCs or the nationally determined contributions This news article mentions two NDCs of India One NDC is that by the year 2030 India plans to achieve at least 40 percentage of the total requirement of energy From clean energy sources With respect to this the union minister has noted that India has already achieved around 34 to 35 percentage and this is a significant progress The next NDC is reducing the emissions of greenhouse gases by 33 percentage to 35 percentage below the 2005 levels And this has to be done by the year 2030 With respect to this the union minister has noted that India has already achieved 20 to 21 percentage reduction of emissions of greenhouse gases So by this the union minister has intended to convey that centers like these National center for clean cold research and development will help us to achieve more NDC targets He has also emphasized on the need for coordination and cooperation between institutions and individuals Those who are working in science and technology with this we have come to the end of this article discussion The displayed practice question will be discussed in the last session This discussion is based on uranium mining the syllabus relevant for the analysis of this news article is given here for your reference The news article states that the state legislative assembly of Telangana has passed an unanimous resolution In this resolution the state of Telangana has requested the central government To not to permit the mining of uranium ore which is present in Nallamala forest and the adjoining areas in the state of Telangana So, let us see a short background about this issue in December 2016 The atomic minerals direct rate for exploration and research got approval for an exploration proposal From the Telangana state board of wildlife this atomic minerals direct rate for exploration and research comes under the department of This approval was to explore the uranium deposits in the state and especially in the Nallamala forest and the adjoining areas in the state The Telangana state board of wildlife approved this proposal and gave permission for an exploratory survey in the 83 square kilometers of forest area In the tiger reserve this tiger reserve is in Amrabad and Udimilla of Nagakarnul district And is in Narayanpur of Nalgunda district. It is together called as the Amrabad tiger reserve Now know that Amrabad tiger reserve was earlier part of the Nagarjuna sagar Shreesailam tiger reserve The northern part of the Nagarjuna sagar Shreesailam tiger reserve came under the state of Telangana After the bifurcation of Andhra Pradesh state. So this northern part was renamed as Amrabad tiger reserve Also know that the Nagakarnul district was initially known as Mahabub Nagar district After this permission the uranium corporation of Inja limiter did not find the minerals of desired quality In the particular area. So in February 2017 the Telangana state board of wildlife met for a meeting In this meeting it was made clear that there was no proposal to mine uranium But again the atomic minerals directed for exploration and research came up with a proposal to the ministry of environment forests and climate change The proposal was to seek permission to explore the uranium over 83 square kilometer area in Amrabad tiger reserve But the forest advisory committee observed that there are certain deficiencies in the proposal However considering the fact that the proposal is of critical importance from national perspective it recommended for in-principle approval So the forest advisory committee gave in-principle approval to explore uranium. This happened in May 2019 Here in-principle approval means the concerned authority has agreed to the proposal Generally and without getting into the details of other required statutory Compliances or legal compliances Also know that the forest advisory committee which is mentioned here is a statutory body It was formed under the section 3 of forest conservation act of 1980 Now this in-principle approval by the central government has created huge opposition in the state of Telangana Protests are being carried out by environmentalists the people who live in Amrabad Mandal and also by the political parties And now the news is that the Telangana state assembly has unanimously passed a resolution requesting the central government To not to permit the mining of uranium ore which is present in Nallamala forest and the adjoining areas in the state of Telangana this Nallamala forest is spread in both Telangana and Andhra Pradesh states The Nallamala forest area has a rich biodiversity It has many endangered species of flora and fauna most of the area is hilly terrain with plateaus Ridges gorges deep valleys and they support tropical dry deciduous and moist deciduous forests Several tribes like Chenchus and other forest dwellers are dependent on this Nallamala forest for their livelihood And this Nallamala forests also serve as one of the catchment area for the Krishna river Catchment area is the area from which rainfall flows into a river So this means the Nallamala forest area is rich in biodiversity So taking up any mining operations for uranium will damage its ecological balance. Let us see how uranium is a radioactive element That occurs naturally in varying but small amounts in soil, rocks, etc It is naturally radioactive which means that the atoms of uranium are unstable and they decay by emitting particles and energy But if you see this uranium itself is barely radioactive But the ore which is mined is regarded as potentially hazardous due to uranium's decay products Especially if it is high grade ore and the mining operations will also require deforestation of the forest lands So once the land is exposed to radioactivity then the chances for the plants to survive or to grow will become less So the entire area will be a wasteland if mining is allowed and the entire biodiversity of the forest will be affected And we saw that Nallamala forest also serve as a catchment area for the Krishna river So the uranium exploration will expose and pollute the surface water Ground water and it will leach the minerals and dangerous chemicals into the river course Here leaching means a particular substance like in this case uranium will drain away from the soil to the water So the entire population which is living downstream of river Krishna would be affected in the long run And apart from this the livelihood of the forest dwellers and the tribals including the Chenchu tribes will also be severely affected Because of the uranium mining. So what does this uranium used for? Uranium is the raw material which is used to produce fuel for nuclear power plants That generate significant amounts of electricity But we saw that the ores of uranium are radioactive So mining for uranium leads to many health safety and environmental risks And these need to be managed well. Firstly if we see it causes risk to the workers health and safety So it has to be made sure that the radiation exposures of workers Should be minimum because the workers will have the long lasting impacts on health as they are directly exposed to Uranium the next if we see the public and health safety the nearby populations Where the uranium is mined is more likely to be exposed to radioactive emissions So the health of the nearby populations will be affected. So we can see that the exposure to uranium will cause health effects So what kind of health effects are they likely to cause? They are likely to cause chemical toxicity and radiological toxicity in humans The main chemical effect associated with exposure to uranium and its compounds is kidney toxicity This toxicity can be caused by breathing air that contains uranium dusts or by eating substances That contain uranium this uranium will enter the bloodstream once uranium is in the bloodstream Then the uranium compounds are filtered by the kidneys So they will cause damage to the kidney cells and the very high uranium levels can cause acute kidney failure and death Next is the radiological toxicity radiological toxicity is the effect on humans and their body because of the radiation from the uranium The radiation usually weakens or breaks up the DNA which is the genetic material of the human body So either it damages the cells in the human body or it will mutate the cell Mutation means altering the basic structure of the cell So finally radiation will lead to cancer The probability of developing a radiation induced cancer increases with increasing exposure to uranium So if there is a uranium mining definitely people will be exposed to uranium Continuously so they will be affected by radiation induced cancer This is the reason why we are telling that the livelihood of the forest dwellers and the tribals including the chenchus Will also be severely affected because of uranium mining Because it will have an impact on their health and also on the forest resources that they depend on There is one another problem with Uranium mining it is that the tailings of uranium mining must be managed properly Here tailings are nothing but the residues that are left after mining the ore So this means these tailings will also be radioactive So if they are not managed properly and if any person is exposed to such tailing Then they are likely to have the health effects that we just now discussed With this we have come to the end of this article discussion The displayed practice question will be discussed in the last session Moving on to the next discussion which is based on this editorial In this editorial the author speaks about the prospects of israel- pakistan ties Then also about the india-israel relationship and why the diplomatic ties between israel and pakistan will not happen now The syllabus relevant to the analysis of this news article is given here for your reference In this editorial the author says that recently there is a speculation among the israeli and pakistani scholars This speculation is about the possibility of diplomatic ties between pakistan and israel At present pakistan does not recognize the state of israel and it has no diplomatic missions or embassies in israel So the author believes that this speculation is a result of a changing political dynamics of the region It also shows israel's growing diplomatic reach and success especially among the islamic countries So first let us understand the brief history about the formation of israel The present day israel was a part of palestine in the ottoman empire till 1917 During world war one Britain sees the territory of palestine from ottoman empire in 1917 So a balfour declaration was declared in 1917 by the then foreign secretary of britain arthur balfour This declaration showed the support of british government to form national home for jewish people in palestine the independence of the state of israel was proclaimed in 1948 With the end of the mandate of british rule the formation of israel from palestine made the middle east politically volatile It means the middle east countries were not happy with the formation of israel This resulted in many wars among israel and the arab nations After these wars israel was isolated by its Arab neighbors And even today the situation is volatile in the region. So ever since its formation Israel is trying to overcome this isolation And it is trying to enhance the diplomatic ties with as many countries as possible So turkey was the first muslim majority country to recognize israel in 1949 then in the year 1979 egypt recognized israel then in the year 1994 another muslim majority country that is jordan recognized israel as a separate country But even now majority of the arab countries have not recognized israel So the organization of islamic corporation that is the oic Which is known as the collective voice of the islamic world Has criticized israel many times for its occupation of palestinian lands And if you see most recently oic even convened An emergency meeting to discuss a statement made by the israel prime minister The israel prime minister said that if he was reelected He would definitely annex the jordan valley in the west bank And the northern dead sea These areas now have mixed settlements of palestinian and jewish people So this is the background about israel in this editorial the author is discussing about the india israel relationship also India established full diplomatic ties with israel in the year 1992 It was done by opening indian embassy in tel aviv which is a city in israel The author says that there were many factors that brought the two democracies that is the india and israel together The most important factor is that both have successfully tackled state centric threats That is they have tackled the wars led by countries throughout their history For example israel have successfully dealt with confrontation with the arab opposition many times Like during the arab israel war of 1948 Or in the six-day war India 1967 or during the yom kippur war or ramadan war india 1973 Like this india has also successfully tackled several hostilities or opposition from pakistan since partition Another factor is that both israel and india are victims of asymmetric warfare such as terrorism till this date Here asymmetric warfare is war between opposing forces which differ greatly in military power and it Involves the use of unconventional weapons and tactics such as guerrilla warfare and terrorist attacks So these are the factors which brought these two democracies together Then the author also says that the dynamism in india's foreign policy Helped the india to improve its interactions with the countries of the gulf cooperation council This means we were able to cooperate with two adversaries or between two rivals that is israel and the arab nations Because we saw that arab nations have showed historical enmity with israel So india was able to cooperate with these adversaries without compromising our own interests Even though israel was isolated within the islamic world Israel was successful in expanding its diplomatic relationship beyond its neighborhood Author is saying that because israel has established diplomatic relations with 162 countries Which means israel has a diplomatic relation with the majority of the 193 uan member states and the author believes that The indo-pacific region is emerging as the prime focus of israel then if you talk about israel's china relationship china and israel established diplomatic relationship in the year 1992 But their relationship is limited to the economic sphere because they are maintaining their relationship with respect to trade Investment education exchanges and tourism between the two countries But if you see israel is a leading sophisticated arms seller in the world But israel does not sell its arms to china This is because of usa because usa is an all-weather ally of israel when we say all-weather ally It means someone who will stay with us whatever may be the situation So the author is calling usa as an all-weather ally of israel And usa has embargoed or banned arms deal with china So that is why israel is not selling arms to china and israel has limited its relationship with china to the economic sphere only But however israel was able to expand its arms sales to india and countries to in the southeast asia such as vietnam Myanmar philippines etc Then the author is saying that israel is also looking to increase its diplomatic relations in south asia and beyond This is because if israel can make closer ties with muslim populist countries in asia such as it can maintain a diplomatic relation with bangladesh indonesia and pakistan Then its legitimacy in the islamic world will increase. So now based on this let us discuss the prospects of israel pakistan As we saw in the beginning some scholars believe that there is a possibility of diplomatic ties between pakistan and israel And some even believe that pakistan's national interest would be served better if pakistan establishes ties with israel They believe that the close ties between israel and the us can be used to alleviate or reduce the repeated tensions between us and pakistan Then one another reason they are saying this because They have almost the same concern with respect to iran. So what is pakistan's concern with respect to iran? It is that pakistan virtually supports the sunni terrorist organization of taliban Which was always a threat to the shia majority in iran and pakistan is also an ally of south arabia And south arabia is the biggest adversary or rival of iran Then if you see with respect to israel israel often accuses iran of sponsoring the Hezbollah which attacks israel from the west bank It is said that iran helped to create the terrorist group hezbollah in lebanon in the early 1980s In order to expand its influence in the region and israel is against this So as we say enemy of our enemy is our friend like that israel is the enemy of iran And pakistan is also an enemy of iran So some believe that israel and pakistan can maintain diplomatic relationships Because they have common enmity with iran But if you see the author believes that a rapprochement between israel and pakistan is unlikely rapprochement means establishing harmonious relations So establishing harmonious relation between israel and pakistan is very unlikely according to the author The first reason for this which the author gives is that pakistan and the sunni arab countries have close relationships And these arab countries are against israel and pakistan has also deployed its military units in countries such as south arabia and jordan To promote internal stability and for training their military etc And the arab countries have rescued pakistan many times during its financial crisis So the author is saying pakistan would not compromise its relations with the muslim countries for israel Then another reason is oic that is organization of islamic countries This platform was used by pakistan to raise the kashmir issue and pakistan accused india as the perpetrator And the same platform that is organization of islamic countries was used to criticize israel also They criticized israel for using its forces and military on palestinian people That means israel was accused of oppressing the palestinian people in a similar way India was accused for oppressing kashmiris as claimed by pakistan So the author is saying that establishing diplomatic ties with israel might weaken the support for the pakistan within oic So this means it will especially affect the pakistan side on the kashmir issue Along with this pakistan has a large number of influential conservative islamic groups So they will also oppose the move of israel pakistan ties because they still see israel as an intruder in palestine Even recently the military spokesperson of pakistan refuted or denied the possibility of pakistan's recognition of israel as a state He even called it as a propaganda war to turn the pakistani people against the military So the author is saying that though pakistan has differing opinion with iran It might not fight iran for maintaining ties with israel because if it fights with iran Then such a move will escalate the sectarian conflict that is the sunni shia conflict in pakistan Because 20 percent of pakistan's population are shia muslims And the author also gives one another example to show that pakistan will not go against iran Author is saying that in the year 2015 pakistan turned down a request by saudi arabia to join military intervention in yemen And this intervention was to fight the rebels who were supported by iran, but pakistan did not join it So this shows that pakistan will not go against iran So finally the author is saying that india was able to maintain a successful relationship between israel and palestine So israel may hope to do so between india and pakistan But the author feels that israel might not want to have diplomatic ties with pakistan Because pakistan is considered as a state that sponsors terrorism So the author concludes by saying that maintaining diplomatic relations is a sovereign right of a state or a country But the idea of diplomatic ties between israel and pakistan remains a pie in the sky Which means it is an unlikely idea for the time being With this we have come to the end of this article discussion This news article is about these steps taken by the union government to revive the export sector The discussion can be linked with the syllabus that is given here for your reference The news article states that the commerce minister has launched a common digital platform For the issuance of certificates of origin and he has also launched a platform for the steel import monitoring system The minister also gave more details about the enhanced export credit insurance scheme for banks that lend working capital to exporters This is in continuation with the recent announcement by the finance minister to revive the export sector So first let us discuss about the steel import monitoring system or in short SIMS SIMS will provide advance information about steel import to government and other stakeholders such as It will give information to the producers and to the consumers also This will help to frame effective policy interventions in this system The importers of specified steel products will have to register in advance on the web portal of SIMS By providing necessary information the commerce minister has noted that the registration will be online And automatic and no human intervention will be required The information about the steel imports, which is provided by the importers on SIMS will be monitored by the ministry of steel With respect to SIMS the commerce minister has said that SIMS will not act as a licensing system Which means it will not stop anyone from importing steel, rather it is just a tool to capture information about steel imports This will help to gather information such as the grades of imported steel The domestic market potential of steel and from where it is imported etc So this is with respect to SIMS Now let us discuss about the launch of common digital platform for the issuance of electronic certificates of origin Certificate of origin is a document which declares the detail of in which country the commodity or good was manufactured The exporters have to show the certificates that the consignment has originated from India for the exports to countries Which are having free trade agreements or preferential trade agreements with India Only then they will be able to avail benefits such as reduced import tariffs So the certificate of origin is used to verify that the export products are produced in India At present it is issued manually by various agencies according to the rules of origin criteria Which is based on the respective free trade agreements and preferential trade agreements But now the common digital platform has been launched So from now on these certificates can be obtained online All the issuing authorities will be on the same portal And this portal is aimed to ease the regulatory burden on exports from India The article also says that India is speaking to its trading partners and the countries with which it has FTAs That is free trade agreements This is to ensure that they accept digital certificates So this is with respect to the common digital platform Now let us discuss about the new export credit insurance scheme This new export credit insurance scheme will be called NIRVIC NIRVIC scheme was introduced by the Export Credit Guarantee Corporation Which in short is known as ECGC This scheme is aimed to ease the lending process and to enhance loan availability for exporters Now also know that the ECGC was established in the year 1957 It was established to provide export credit insurance support to Indian exporters The ECGC works under the Ministry of Commerce and Industry It provides the export credit insurance to protect the banks Which provides export for exporters This insurance by ECGC will protect the banks from losses These are the losses that occur due to risks of insolvency or default by the borrower Now here insolvency is a situation in which an individual or organization cannot pay their bills and debts So this insurance will cover this risk of insolvency If you see at present the ECGC covers 60% of the loss to the banks Now this new scheme will cover 90% of the principal and also of the interests And half of these amount will be provided in 30 days The scheme also mandates inspection of bank documents and records by ECGC officials This inspection is for losses that is exceeding rupees 10 crore At present the limit for inspection is rupees 1 crore The minister also said that the existing premium rates will be lowered Also the loans given by the banks would be categorized into two broad categories One is for the loans below 80 crore rupees and the other is for above 80 crore rupees And these loans above 80 crore rupees will be further divided into two One is the loans which are for gold jewelry and diamonds And the second is for the loans which are not for gold jewelry and diamonds So the banks will benefit from this enhanced credit coverage The article also says that the rating for bank loans to exporters will become AA rating It is because of the enhanced insurance cover See normally rating organizations evaluate the credit worthiness of an issuer with respect to the debt instruments Or its general ability to pay back debt over a specified period of time And the instruments with AA rating are considered to have high degree of safety regarding timely servicing of financial obligations This means the debt will be paid back at the appropriate time So we can say that the instruments with AA rating carry very low credit risk So this means the credit given will not be lost and the banks will be on the safer side With this we have come to the end of this article discussion The displayed practice question will be discussed in the last session We have come to the final session for the day which is the practice questions discussion session In this question two statements have been given and we have to choose the correct statement First statement states Regulations with respect to preventive detention for reasons connected with The security of a state and the maintenance of public order comes under the union list of the constitution During discussion we saw that preventive detention is mentioned in union list and also in concurrent lists But in two different categories the one which deals with the union list states that Preventive detention for reasons connected with defense foreign affairs or the security of India And the persons who are subjected to detention because of these reasons So only these conditions comes under union list So this means this statement is wrong because it talks about the security of a state and the maintenance of public order This comes under the concurrent list and not the union list So this statement is wrong If you see the second statement you can divide this statement into two parts in this list one We know that it means the union list and it comes under the seventh schedule So this part is correct And we know that union list consists of the subjects in which the parliament has exclusive power to make laws So this part is correct But now we have to know whether this comes under article 246 clause one or not If you see the seventh schedule is totally based on article 246 only it provides for three lists One is list one that is union list and the second is list two which is state list and the third is list three Which is concurrent list And among this clause one talks about the union list So this means this statement is correct and also remember that article 246 clause two talks about the concurrent list It states that along with parliament the legislature of any state Also has the power to make laws with respect to any of the matters enumerated in list three In the seventh schedule so list three is the concurrent list We know that so don't confuse clause one is about union list clause Two is about concurrent list and clause three is about state list The question asks for the correct statements here statement two is the correct statement So the final correct answer to this question is option b two only if you look at this next question It asks which of the following pollutants are emitted on combustion of coal four pollutants have been given sulphur dioxide carbon dioxide fly ash mercury during discussion We saw that the combustion of coal releases many pollutants and among them were sulphur dioxide nitrogen oxides particulate matter carbon dioxide fly ash Mercury and certain other heavy metals So this means all the pollutants which are given here are emitted by the combustion of coal So here the correct answer to this question is Option c all the above in this next question pairs have been given one is with respect to tiger reserves and the other is state So we have to choose the incorrect pairs today's discussion was based on amrabad and nagarjunasagar Srisailam tiger reserves and we saw the discussion based on a resolution made by the telangana state government So from the discussion you can say that amrabad isn't telangana not in chattisgarh. So this means this is a incorrect pair Now the second pair says nagarjunasagar Srisailam isn't telangana state now before bifurcation of the andhra pradesh state Amrabad was one of the nagarjunasagar srisailam tiger reserve But after the bifurcation it was carved out of nagarjunasagar srisailam So you can say by this lines that amrabad is in telangana and it has been carved out That means nagarjunasagar srisailam is still in andhra pradesh So remember this tactic as telangana was carved out of andhra pradesh amrabad was also carved out So in this these two are incorrect and the third pair is given as bandipur karnataka Now this pair is correct bandipur tiger reserve is located in the state of karnataka Now while answering this question you have to be very careful Because in a hurry you should not mark option c3 only because here the third pair is the correct pair But the question asks for the incorrect pairs here 1 and 2 are the incorrect pair So the correct answer to this question is option b1 and 2 only Now in this question two statements are given we have to choose the correct statement First statement is with respect to nirvik scheme It states the scheme is aimed to ease the lending process and enhance loan availability for exporters Now this statement is correct This scheme was introduced by the export credit guarantee corporation Now the second statement states the export credit guarantee corporation works under ministry of commerce and industry Now this statement is also correct This corporation works under ministry of commerce and industry And it provides the export credit insurance to protect the banks which provides export credit for exporters So in this both the statements are correct and the question also asks for the correct statement So the final correct answer to this question is option c both 1 and 2


you. My name is Miss Pauline and I am a children's librarian with the San Francisco Public Library and I would like to share this song with you. This song it's called My Bonnie Lies Over the Ocean. Ready? Let's sing it. Here we go. My Bonnie Lies Over the Ocean. My Bonnie Lies Over the Sea. My Bonnie Lies Over the Ocean. Oh, bring back my Bonnie to me.  What if we sing My Doggy Lies Over the Ocean? Let's try that. Ready? Here we go. My doggy lies over the ocean. My doggy lies over the sea. My doggy lies over the ocean.  Thank you for singing with me. See you later.