A very good evening aspirants. Let us start today with an announcement. As you all know, Shankarai's Academy has launched free all India mock test for prelims. It will be conducted both online and offline modes and it will be conducted across 13 centres. And if you are someone who is wondering when it will be conducted, here's the dates for you. It will be conducted on 15th May, 22nd May and 29th May 2022. See, attending mock test, it is a way of analysing yourself. You can evaluate where you are standing. So, please don't miss this golden opportunity. I'll give you the link in the description. And with this announcement, now let us get into the Hindu Daily News Analysis for the date 8th May 2022. Displayed here are the list of articles that we are going to discuss today. Now, without any delay, let's start our discussion with the previous year prelims question discussion. And after that, we'll continue with the article discussion. And finally, as usual, we'll discuss some of the prelims question and I'll give you a main question for your practice. And we'll start the session with this previous year prelims question which was asked in the year 2019. See, this question is one such question where only if you know about the topic, you can answer it. See, for you to answer this question, you should know what is New World and what is World World. See, World World is that part of the world that was known before the discovery of the Americas. So, the World World comprises of Europe, Asia and Africa which is collectively called the Eastern Hemisphere. Now, the New World, it refers to the Americas and it is inclusive of North America, South America and Central America. The term New World was developed in the year 1492 when Christopher Columbus, an Italian explorer, arrived in the Americas. So, with this information, now let us look at the question. What does the question say? It says which of the following groups of the plants was domesticated in the New World and introduced into the Old World. So, the question is about the introduction of plants that are grown in the New World to Old World. So, the introduction of plants from America to Europe, Asia and Africa. So, our job is here to find out the plants which were new to the Old World, that is, which were not grown in the Old World before. So, here it is crucial that we know about the term Columbian Exchange. See, Columbian Exchange refers to exchange of diseases, ideas, food crops and populations between the New World and the Old World following the voyage to the Americas by Christopher Columbus in the year 1492. See, the Eastern Hemisphere gained a lot from this Columbian Exchange. Discoveries of new supplies of metals are perhaps the best known. But also, the Old World gained new staple crops such as potatoes, sweet potatoes, maize and cassava. And less calorie intensive foods such as tomatoes, chili peppers, peanuts and pineapples were also introduced. And they are now the culinary centerpieces in many Old World countries. See, in Italy, Greece and other Mediterranean countries, tomatoes are famous. And in India and Korea, chili peppers are famous. In Hungary, paprika made from chili peppers are famous. And in Malaysia and Thailand, chili peppers, peanuts and pineapples are famous. See, apart from this, Tobacco, another New World crop, was so universally adopted that it came to be used as a substitute for currency in many parts of the world. The exchange also drastically increased the availability of many Old World crops such as sugar and coffee. See, how is this possible? See, this is because it is found that these crops are well suited for the soils of New World. So, it is cultivated in large scales in the New World. See, the Old World came to know about Tobacco after 1492, that is after Columbus discovered America. So, Tobacco is one such crop which was domesticated in the New World and introduced in the Old World. So, since we found that, we have narrowed it to option A and option B because both the options have Tobacco in the answer. See, historical records indicate that Columbus first brought back specimens of cocoa pots to King Ferdinand I after his second voyage to the New World. Outside of the Americas, Coco was first cultivated in the 1590s by the Spanish off the coast of Africa on the island of Fernando Po. At first, it was used in expensive chocolate drinks mainly confined to aristocratic quotes. So, after knowing this information, we can safely say that option A is the right answer because it has cocoa in it. See, this is one way to approach this question. You can solve it in ways whichever you are comfortable in. So, don't stick to one way. Use this as an example of solving such questions. And with this, we'll proceed into the news article discussion. See this article here. This FAQ article is suggesting that India might be at the verge of a wheat crisis. That is low availability of wheat for domestic distribution and usage and for export purposes. And based on this assertion, let us analyze the extent of impending wheat crisis and reasons behind it and also a few facts about wheat production. But before that, the syllabus relevant to the article is given here for your reference. Please go through it. Now, let's start with knowing about wheat production. See, wheat is a fine grain and falls under the category of cereals. It is a temperate and subtropical crop. So, it requires cool growing conditions like moderate temperature and annual rainfall of 50 to 75 centimeter evenly distributed over the growing season. But during ripening, it needs bright sunshine. And therefore, wheat is cultivated in the Rabi season in India. That is, its cultivation starts in the month of October, November with the onset of winter and is ready for harvest in March, April. See, this season provides the required low temperature conditions and there is also availability of precipitation or rain during winter months due to the western temperate cyclones. And also remember that wheat is mostly grown under irrigated conditions and sometimes under rain-fit conditions also. The soil type required is well-drained loamy soil and from exam perspective, know that the major wheat producing countries include USA, Canada, Argentina, Russia, Ukraine, Australia and India. In India, according to the NCRT, about 85 percentage of the total area in this crop is concentrated in the northern, central regions of the country. This includes Indo-Gangetic Plain, Malwa Plateau and Himalayas up to 2700 meter altitude. That means states in these regions will be the lead wheat producing states of India. Yes, it includes Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Punjab, Haryana and Rajasthan. Among these states, high yield is from Punjab and Haryana and UP, Rajasthan and Bihar have moderate yields. Plus wheat is grown under rain-fit conditions in the Himalayan highlands and parts of the Malwa Plateau. So they have low yield here and this includes states like Madhya Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh and Jammu Kashmir region. Now you should know that wheat is important for India and why is that? See it is because wheat is India's second most important cereal crop after rice and about 14 percentage of the total cropped area of India is under wheat cultivation. And India accounts for about 12-13 percentage of the total wheat production of the world and for these reasons wheat is important for India. And with these basic facts about wheat, let us see the FAQ article. See it mentions that India is nearing a wheat crisis. This is said because recently the government lowered its wheat production estimates and many other factors are also suggesting so. The production estimates have been lowered by 5.7 percentage for the crop year ending in June. Earlier it was projected to be 111.32 million tonnes. Now the estimates have been downgraded to 105 million tonnes. So let us see the reasons behind lowering estimates and also the factors suggesting a wheat crisis. The first reason is the lower production of wheat. This happened due to the persistence of unusually warm weather conditions during the month of March to April. As per the data, in March and April 2022, India witnessed a record-breaking heat. In March the monthly average stood at 33.1 degree Celsius which was the highest in 122 years since 1901. It was worse for April as the average stood at 35.05 degree Celsius which was 1.12 degree above normal. This was the fourth highest in 122 years since 1900 and these weather conditions transmitted into high number of severe heat wave conditions. But why this affected wheat production? It is because high temperatures severely limit the wheat yield. As we saw March, April are the harvesting months. It includes the crucial growth stages of wheat like heading and flowering and ripening and maturity. See heading and flowering is the pollination stage. That is when the head will fully emerge from the stem and reproductive growth or the flowering starts. So pollination determines the number of kernel per head. Number of kernel is an important component that influences the yield. But the issue is high temperatures and wrought stress during heading and flowering can reduce the kernel numbers and the yield. And flowering is followed by the grain filling period and during this period grains swell due to the water uptake by the plant and then the starch and protein deposition happens. See these determine the kernel size and weight and thereby determines the final dry grain weight of the yield. So grain filling period is critical for producing high yields. But temperatures above 25 degree Celsius during this period tend to depress the grain weight. Because when temperatures are high too much energy is lost and the reduced residual energy results in poorer grain formation and lower yields. And then comes the ripening stage. See here moisture loss happens and continues till the grain is dry enough to harvest. As we saw earlier ripening needs bright sunshine but it does not need a scorching climate that is hard and hard climate. It only requires about 14 to 15 degree Celsius optimum average temperature but when there is high temperature it leads to shriveling of wheat kernels. See shriveling means the kernels wrinkle due to the loss of moisture so it results in low wheat size and weight and this ultimately results in lower yields. So did the required temperature conditions prevail during March April 2022 in key wheat producing states? As we saw the answer is no. Temperature was above 30 degree Celsius it resulted in shriveling. Official estimates say that 20% of the wheat grain shriveled but actual estimates say that a whopping 80% of the crop purchased by the government shriveled. So ultimately the early summer of 2022 affected the yield. Now the second factor is higher market prices offered by the private traders. Due to the lower yield and higher demand private traders are exploiting the situation. They are offering higher prices for the produce which is higher than the minimum support price provided by the government. So rather than selling to the government at MSP, farmers are selling it to the private traders for higher remuneration. This resulted in low procurement of wheat by the government. And thirdly due to the above factor the traders bought a large quantity of wheat and they are storing it. They suspect that the yield will decrease further and the demand will increase and at that time they can sell the wheat for much higher prices. Even some farmers are storing wheat expecting this to happen. So this is one of the reasons behind lowering estimates. And the next factor is the price of wheat at the international level increased. See the cause for this is the ongoing conflict between Russia and Ukraine. In the beginning we saw that both these countries are major wheat producing countries. So export of wheat from these countries have been affected resulting in international high demand and low supply. This has substantially increased the price of wheat internationally. So this is encouraging domestic traders to provide high prices for the produce resulting in low procurement. And these are the reasons behind low wheat production and procurement by the government. See the fact to remember is there will be certain notable impacts. One notable positive impact is the opening of new wheat export markets for India due to Russia-Ukraine war. According to the FAQ article here India has promising export opportunity in Israel, Egypt, Turkey European Union, Tanzania and Mozambique. Now in contrast to the first impact lower procurement by the government will affect the implementation of government run programs like public distribution system that is the PDS and Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Anayojina. So based on this what we know the poor will get majorly affected. And it will also affect the stability of prices including wheat price domestically and this will lead to inflation in general and food inflation in specific. And finally it also results in the lower availability of grain for the internal consumption. See even though this might be the situation as usual the government is dismissing these councils saying that India is in a comfortable situation and has higher availability of grains in stocks in the next one year. Now let us hope that government is not hallucinating and it is well informed of the situation so that it will be prepared to take necessary step to avert any crisis. And with this we have come to the end of the discussion. In today's discussion we saw some basics about the wheat production. It is a fine grain which falls under the category of cereals. It is a temperate and subtropical crop. It requires cool growing conditions like mid-temperature annual rainfall of 50 to 70 cm and during harvesting it needs bright sunshine. It is grown under irrigated conditions and sometimes under rain-fit conditions. The soil type required is well drained loamy soil. Major wheat producing countries include USA, Canada, Argentina, Russia, Ukraine, Australia and India. And we saw some details about major wheat producing states in India and after that we saw why wheat is important for India. See it is important because India's second most important cereal after rice is wheat and about 14% of the total cropped area of India is under wheat cultivation India accounts for 12 to 13% of total wheat production of the world. And after that we saw the reasons behind lowering estimates and the factors suggesting wheat crisis. The first one is lower production of wheat and the second one is the higher market prices offered by the traders and the third one is hoarding and the final reason is the increase of price of wheat at the international level. And after this we moved on to see about the notable impacts of lower wheat production. We saw one positive impact which is the opening of new wheat export markets for India due to the Russia-Ukraine war and we also saw some of the negative impacts. See it will affect the implementation of government-run programs who will get majorly affected. It will affect the prices including wheat price domestically. It will lead to inflation. It results in the lower availability of grain for the internal consumption. And with these points in mind now let us move on to the next article discussion. See this news article here. It talks about a pangolin. Recently a pangolin was rescued from Rathambore National Park and this pangolin is now kept in captivity in Nahrgarh biological park near Jaipur. See the issue here is that this rescued pangolin is not eating any food and is mostly spending time in a burrow which it has dug out for itself. Does this sound familiar? Yeah it is acting like UPS aspirin right? See jokes apart it is not eating any food and this is serious and the forest officials have contacted experts from around the world for help. They tried feeding it with worms specially brought from Ahmedabad and wild eggs but without sexes. They are also trying to specially bring red ants from Odisha. See this is one lucky pangolin right? It is getting all pampered for throwing a tantrum. But don't expect we are going to discuss in deep about this tantrum because we are going to revise facts about pangolin from the Prillim's perspective. See pangolins are actually mammals but many people think they are reptiles. See in fact they are the only mammals fully covered in scales look at this image here you will understand. See they use the scales to protect themselves from predators in the wild that is if under threat pangolins will immediately curl into a tight ball and will use their sharp scaled tails to defend themselves and this is how they survive from their predators. See pangolins they eat ants, termites and larvae and are often known as the scaly ant eaters. They have no teeth and they pick up food with their sticky tongue. Know that their tongue can sometimes reach lengths greater than the animal's body. See most of the pangolins they are nocturnal mammals as nocturnal animals pangolins spend their days sleeping and they are nights searching for food and digging their burrows. I told you it's like UPS aspirins right? See some of the UPS aspirins are also nocturnal. We spend our days sleeping and at night we search for food but instead of digging burrows we read books for civil service examination. Now coming back there are 8 types of pangolins these are 4 species of Asian and 4 species of African pangolins. Asian pangolins include Chinese Sunda, Indian and Philippine pangolins. African pangolins include Cape or Temmix ground pangolin, white bellied or tree pangolin, giant ground pangolin and black bellied or long-tailed pangolin. And with this information now we'll see how many species of pangolins are found in India. Note that in India 2 species of pangolin can be found. They are the Indian pangolin and the Chinese pangolin. The Indian pangolin occurs sporadically throughout the plains from the Himalayan foothills to southern India. In the northeast it is replaced by Chinese pangolin and its range extends to Southeast Asia. See both these species they are listed under schedule 1 of the Wildlife Protection Act of 1972. The IUCN status of Indian pangolin is endangered and the IUCN status of Chinese pangolin is critically endangered. Note the difference here Indian pangolin endangered and Chinese pangolin critically endangered. And next both the Chinese and Indian pangolins are placed in the appendix 1 of the convention on international trade in endangered species that are shortly called as sites. Here appendix 1 includes species threatened with extension and trade in specimens of these species is permitted only in exceptional circumstances. See before concluding this discussion know that pangolins are the most trafficked mammals in the world. Why? See pangolin meat and scales are consumed and they are used in traditional medicines in countries like China, Vietnam and other Southeast Asian countries. So there is a huge demand for pangolin in the international black market and this makes it the most trafficked mammal in the world and with this we have come to the end of the discussion. In this discussion we saw a brief about pangolins, they are mammals and they are fully covered in scales. They use their scales to protect themselves from the predators and their diet include ants, termites and larvae and they are often known as the scaly anteaters. They pick their food with their sticky tongue and they are nocturnal mammals. And after that we saw different types of pangolins Asian and African. In Asian there are 4 types Chinese, Sunda, Indian and Philippines In African pangolin there are also 4 types Cape or Temmings ground pangolin, white bellied or tree pangolin, jain ground pangolin black bellied or long tailed pangolin. And after that we saw the species of pangolin that are found in India which includes Indian pangolin and Chinese pangolin. Indian pangolin it occurs throughout the plains from the Himalayan foothills to southern India but in the north it is replaced by the Chinese pangolin and it is strange extents to Southeast Asia. And after that we saw the conservation status of pangolin see the Iusian status of Indian pangolin is endangered Chinese pangolin is critically endangered Both are protected under schedule 1 of the Wildlife Protection Act of 1972. Both are placed in appendix 1 of the sites. And after that we saw the reason why it is the most trafficked mammal in the world because meat and scales are consumed and they are used in traditional places in countries like China, Vietnam and other Saudi station countries. And with these points in mind now let us move on to the next article discussion. See look at this news article. This article talks about the impacts of La Nina on Indian summers. To understand this article better first let us brush our basics about El Nino and La Nina and then we will see about the article. Now what is El Nino? Look at this map here this is the ocean current pattern during the normal years. Here you can notice a cold current near the Peru coast. This is called Peru current. So in normal year the sea surface temperature in the eastern pacific is cold. In an El Nino event the sea surface temperature in the central and eastern tropical pacific ocean becomes substantially higher than normal. In other words a warm ocean current temporarily replaces the cold Peruvian current. And this warm current starts flowing during Christmas. Therefore baby Christ was the name given to this event. See El Nino is a Spanish word meaning child and it refers to the baby Christ. See this oceanic event is associated with changes in pressure patterns in the southern oceans. And the change in the pressure pattern is called southern oscillation. See El Nino and the associated southern oscillation is shortly called as ENSO. Because of the changes in the pressure pattern and the atmospheric acerculation, several regions experience swings in their normal rainfall pattern. Some regions receive lesser or no rainfall and some regions receive extreme rainfall. See both have extreme consequences such as drought in one place and flood in another place. See whenever it is El Nino it affects the Indian monsoon from June to September. This is because El Nino is associated with weakening of trade winds which are driving the Indian monsoon winds. That is abnormally warm equatorial Pacific waters pull the moisture laden clouds away from the Indian subcontinent. In that sense El Nino is associated with droughts like conditions in India. And then there is La Nina event. See La Nina in Spanish means the girl. In a La Nina event the sea surface temperature in the eastern tropical Pacific ocean becomes lower than normal. This results in the intensifying of trade winds that brings monsoon to India. So whenever it is La Nina, India experiences more rainfall and the associated floods in some places. So El Nino means drought in India La Nina means rainfall in India. And having understood the basics about El Nino and La Nina now let us come to the article. As we already saw during La Nina years the summer monsoon in India becomes wetter and winters become colder. But this year scientists believe that La Nina conditions may be the reason for long spells of heat waves in India. Normally from March the land temperature in India starts rising. This rise in temperature is moderated by the arrival of the western disturbances. Western disturbances are low pressure systems that originate in the Mediterranean region. They are moisture laden and when they reach India they bring rain. For the western disturbances to travel from the Mediterranean region to India there needs to be a significant difference in temperature between Europe and the latitudes over India. But due to the presence of La Nina conditions this temperature difference was absent this year. So the western disturbances did not bring much rain to India this year. And this is one of the reasons for harsh summer conditions this year according to the article. And with this we have come to the end. In this discussion we saw about El Nino in which the sea surface temperature in the central and eastern tropical Pacific region will become higher than normal. A warm ocean current will replace the cold Peruvian current. And this event is associated with changes in the pressure patterns in southern oceans. And this is called southern oscillation. El Nino and the associated southern oscillation together is called as ENSO. See what is the impact of it? The changes in the pressure pattern and the atmospheric air circulation result in swings in the normal rainfall pattern. Some regions receive lesser or no rainfall. Some regions receive extreme rainfall. In India El Nino means drought like conditions. And after that we saw about La Nina event which means the sea surface temperature in the central and eastern tropical Pacific ocean becomes lower than normal. So when it is La Nina, India experiences more rainfall. And after that we ended our discussion by seeing the points that are mentioned in the article. See the article says that La Nina is the reason India experienced long spells of heat waves. And with these points in mind now let us move on to the next article discussion. Look at this final article here. See on 5th May we saw about foot poisoning incident in Kerala. And this news article is an extension of that. See the news article says that from the food samples accessed by the officials it is found that there was presence of Salmonella and Shigella bacteria. The fact that both Shigella and Salmonella bacteria were detected in the food samples indicates that contamination has happened at multiple levels. And this is about the news article given here. See on our 5th May daily news analysis session we saw about Shigella bacteria. So today we will cover Salmonella and Salmonellosis. See Salmonella or a diverse group rod shaped gram negative bacteria of the family Entero Bacteria CA. They were first discovered by an American scientist named Dr. Daniel E. Salman in 1885. We all know about the disease typhoid right. Its causative agent is a type of Salmonella bacteria called Salmonella typhi. Now let us see what Salmonellosis is. See Salmonella bacteria resides in animals. But when it enters a human body it causes Salmonellosis which is an infection that attacks the intestine and cause diarrhea, abdominal pain, fever, vomiting, bleeding and stool and nausea. See the symptoms of the infection last anywhere between two and seven days. However the bowel function could sometimes take months before returning to normalcy. In some cases it spreads the infection from intestine to the bloodstream also. See the infection fits children below the age of five and senior citizens the worst. The good news is less than one percentage of the infected people died due to infection. See Salmonella can transmit to humans through contaminated water or food. In this case health officials pointed out that the mayonnaise served with Shawarma could be the culprit in transmitting Salmonella. Now let us see the treatment available for this infection. See most people with Salmonella recover in four to seven days and do not need any treatment. But during the illness the person should drink plenty of fluids to replace the fluid lost by diarrhea. See a person with a severe diarrhea or is sick for longer than a week may need to be hospitalised. In hospital he or she will be treated with intravenous fluids and antibiotics may be used to treat infants, people over age 65 and people with a weak immune system. See with this basic understanding now let us know about the preventive steps that can be taken to avoid Salmonellosis. The first one is wash your hands regularly with soap and the next one is wash fresh vegetables and fruit thoroughly before eating and the next one is cook foods at recommended safe temperatures and finally as prelims is nearing avoid street foods as much as possible if at all there is no other option try eating from safe sources and more importantly take care of your health. And that is all about this article. In this discussion we saw about Salmonella bacteria, rot shaped gram into bacteria of family entero bacteria C.A. discovered by American scientist Dr. Daniel E. Salman in the year 1885 a type of Salmonella bacteria which is Salmonella typhi is the causative agent of typhoid and after that we saw about Salmonellosis which is an infection that attacks the intestine and it causes diarrhea, abdominal pain, fever, vomiting, bleeding in stool and nausea. We saw about the transmission of Salmonella and we transmitted to humans through contaminated food and water and the treatment for this infection is to drink plenty of fluids to replace the fluid lost by diarrhea. If the infection is lasting more than a week the person should be treated with intravenous fluids and antibiotics should be taken. And finally we ended our discussion by seeing some of the preventive steps which includes washing hands regularly with soap, washing fresh vegetables and fruits thoroughly before eating and cooking foods at recommended safe temperatures. And with these points in mind now let us move on to the next part of our discussion that is the practice prelims question discussion. Today we have three prelims questions and as usual one of them is a quiz question for you. Let us solve the first question consider the following statements about pangolins. Statement one World pangolin day is celebrated on the third Saturday in February every year. See this statement is correct because pangolin day is celebrated on third Saturday in February every year and it is an international attempt to raise awareness about pangolins and bring together stakeholders to help protect these species from extension. Now coming to the second statement Chinese pangolins have smaller scales than the Indian pangolins. See this statement it is also correct. See the Chinese pangolin is distinguished from other Asian pangolins by its helmeted appearance smaller scales than the Indian pangolin, a larger air pinna and a post anal depression in the skin and a narrowing near the distal end of the tail. So these are the characteristics from which the Chinese pangolin is distinguished from other Asian pangolins. So among these one such feature is smaller scales than the Indian pangolin. So from this we know that statement two is also correct. So the correct answer for the question will be option C both one and two. Now moving on to the second question this is a quiz question for you. See consider the following statements about El Nino. Statement one El Nino event increases rainfall in South Africa. Statement two El Nino event causes drought condition in Australia and Indonesia. See you have to be very careful here because you have to find out the incorrect statements. So attempt this question carefully try to recall the points post your answer in the comment section. Now moving on to the final question consider the following statements about Rotavirus. Statement one Rotavirus is a leading cause of severe diarrhea and death among children less than 5 years of age. This statement is correct actually Rotavirus infection is responsible for around 10% of total child mortality every year. This is why government has introduced Rotavirus vaccine as a part of Mission Indra Danush program. Now coming to the second statement Rotavirus is transmitted by fecal oral root via contact with contaminated hands, surfaces and objects and possibly by the respiratory root. See the statement this is also correct Rotavirus is a highly contagious disease. It is transmitted by fecal oral root via contact with the contaminated hands, surfaces and objects and note that in some cases it is also transmitted by a respiratory root. So the correct answer for this question will be option C both 1 and 2. I have given a main question for your practice so interested aspirants write it and post it in the comment section and if you have any queries related to the articles that we discussed today post that also in the comment section and with this we have come to the end. If you find the video useful like share and comment and do subscribe to Shankar A.S. Academy's YouTube channel for further updates. Thank you.


Affordability without compromise. Meet IQ Hub, the most affordable all-in-one panel that has everything you want without compromising the quality you expect from the IQ platform. With an 8-core processor and LTE and Wi-Fi dual-path, IQ Hub is lightning fast. The elegant 7-inch touchscreen looks good on the wall of your home, apartment, or small business. Whether upgrading or installing a new system, there's an IQ Hub for you. Choose from PowerG only, 319 MHz, 345 MHz, or 433 MHz. Built-in Z-Wave Plus controls locks, lights, and thermostats, enabling alarm.com scenes and automation. View all cameras and answer your video doorbell through the IQ Hub or your mobile app. Connect up to 5 smartphones through Bluetooth for touchless disarming and music streaming. The Smart Mount installation system provides easy wall or table stand mounting options. IQ Hub, the most affordable all-in-one touchscreen for your security, life safety, and smart device needs. This product, similar how-to videos, and our low-cost, no-contract alarm monitoring services.


Guys? Okay, well it's okay, because sometimes people don't show up to party, and it's okay, it's gonna be good, because some of these games are online party games too.


What does it mean to be a Muslim? Around the world today, we are seeing fellow brothers and sisters suffering. Take a look at the events in Gaza, a sorrowful sight. Innocent people being killed just for being human. Ibrahim, a fellow revert, could not tolerate the oppression of Muslims around the world, especially in the social media world. So he decided to create his own halal social media company called Dawagram. However, two months into his journey, he was arrested by local officers. Ibrahim now, more than ever, needs support of the Ummah to keep Dawagram been running. Every small donation helps. Link in the description box. All right guys, welcome back to the channel. If you're new, my name's Bobby Guy. Super interesting video today. We're going to check out Rabbi Bek, which is an Orthodox Jew, with his stance on Islam. As always, I'm trying to stay as objective as possible here on this channel. I like to believe that I always give everybody an equal footing and everybody a fair chance to express their worldview, no matter if it is Christians, Jews or Muslims. So they have a very excited today to hear the Jewish Orthodox perspective on Islam. Guys, before we start the video, as always, take the second, leave me a thumbs up if you enjoyed my work, subscribe to the channel if you haven't already and check out the links in the description box to further support. And now, with no further ado, let's have a look. Jews have a golden history in the Muslim countries. For centuries. You're going to love that excellent one. Muslim countries. Sorry, try not to hear. Much better than in the other countries. It's true. Yeah, we apparently do. We believe much better in the Muslim. Everybody knows the history, knows them. Not everybody knows that, yeah.  Yes. Any Muslim country, they are welcoming Jews. Any Muslim country, Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Iraq, Iran, Yemen, everywhere you go, they're welcoming Jews. I myself, I was in Morocco. I must tell you, I didn't believe what I saw. I just passing the border from Spain into Morocco. Straight are going over the border. Muslim people come to me, rabbi, please bless my children. I couldn't believe it. After 70 years of bloodshed, what's going on there? What's going on here? They're completely not hatred. How can that be? This is unbelievable, unbelievable. But this is a fact, what I saw with my eyes. Everybody can see that. Jews have a golden history in the Muslim countries. Yes, absolutely. And for this, I want to refer you to the article again. So what did the Muslims do for the Jews? Islam saved Jewry. You can find this article on the Jewish Chronicle. This is the world's oldest Jewish newspaper. So this is not some Muslim propaganda. This comes from Jews. Islam saved Jewry. This is an unpopular, discomforting claim in the modern world. Yes, they're absolutely right here in the modern world. Nobody knows that.  But it is a historical truth. The argument for it is double. First, in 570 CE, when the Prophet Muhammad was born, the Jews and Judaism were on the way to oblivion. So first and foremost, it's nice that they recognize Prophet Muhammad. Salah alayhi wa sallam. And second, the coming of Islam saved them, providing a new context in which they not only survived, but flourished laying foundations for subsequent Jewish cultural prosperity, also in Christendom, through the medieval period into the modern world. By the 4th century, Christianity had become the dominant religion in the Roman Empire. One aspect of this success was opposition to rival faiths, including Judaism, along with massive conversion of members of such faiths, sometimes by force, to Christianity. Much of our testimony about Jewish existence in the Roman Empire from this time on consists of accounts of conversions. Great and permanent reductions in numbers through conversion between the 4th and the 7th centuries brought with them a gradual but relentless whittling away of the status, rights, social and economic existence, and religious and cultural life of Jews all over the Roman Empire. A long series of enactments deprived Jewish people of their rights as citizens, prevented them from fulfilling their religious obligations, and excluded them from the society of their fellows. This went along with the centuries-long military and political struggle with Persia. As a tiny element in the Christian world, the Jews not have been affected much by this broad political issue. Yet it affected them critically because the Persian Empire at this time included Babylon, now Iraq, at the time home to the world's greatest concentration of Jews. Here also were the greatest centers of Jewish intellectual life. The most important single work of Jewish cultural creativity in over 3,000 years apart from the Bible itself, the Talmud, came into being in Babylon. The struggle between Persia and Byzantium in our period led increasingly to a separation between Jews under Byzantine, Christian rule and Jews under Persian rule. For people that don't know, the Byzantine Empire was essentially the Greek-Roman Empire under the author of Christianity. This is my background. Anyways, it continues here and when we scroll down we read had Islam not come along, the conflict with Persia would have continued. The separation between Western Judaism, that of Christendom and Babylonian Judaism, that of Mesopotamia would have intensified. Jewry in the West would have declined to disappearance in many years and Jewry in the East would have become just another Oriental cult. But this was all prevented by the rise of Islam. The Islamic conquest of the 7th century changed the world and did so with dramatic, white-ranging and permanent effects for the Jews. Within a century of the death of Muhammad in 632, Muslim armies had conquered almost the whole of the world where the Jews lived. From Spain, Casperts across North Africa and the Middle East, as far as the Eastern frontier of Iran and beyond. Almost all the Jews in the world were now ruled by Islam. This new situation transformed Jewish existence. Their fortunes changed in legal, demographic, social, religious, political, geographical, economic, linguistic and cultural terms. All for the better. So the article continues. Of course, I'm going to link it in the description box below, guys, so you can check it out for yourself. This is the history that Rabbi Beck talks about. However, this history has been suppressed and most people do not know it. The Zionist rhetoric will of course talk against this and therefore justifying the existence of Israel. History in the Muslim countries. The problem is not between Islam and Judaism. It can't be. The problem is occupation. No difference if there are Jews, if there are Japanese, Chinese, right, no difference. The accent is amazing. The problem is occupation. And I see that many times I come in Muslim communities. I speak in many mosques, in many universities, in Muslim communities. I'm always welcome. Always. I never see even any hatred from Muslims to Jews because there is no problem within Jews in Muslims. We have very good life in the Muslim lands. It's, I must say, I'm shaming myself. Even I'm not consider myself a Zionist. But I know that a Zionist coming from the Jewish origins, I'm shaming myself instead to be so thankful for the Muslim people. For the so good hospitality in all the Muslim countries. What are they doing for the Muslims? They're killing them. They're robbering away the land from them. It's so shameful. It's really shameful. But I hope and I'm sure it will come today that the State of Israel will come to an end and it will go back to the Muslim people. Insha'Allah. And then Jews and Muslim can live together in harmony and peace in Palestine. Yes, and this is very important to understand because the mainstream narrative wants you to believe that you are anti-Semite and people want the destruction of Israel. They want to kill every Israeli. That is, of course, not correct at all. Nobody wants to kill civilians. This is only about the illegitimate government of Israel. Nobody wants destruction. Nobody wants bombing. Nobody wants to expel the Jews. This is simply about a change in government. So everybody in Palestine has equal rights. That's it. And I must say, Rabbi has visited many times already the leaders of Hatach and the leaders of Hamas. In the bones to declare, we have no problem with Jewish loyal citizens. It's literally having got aspirations to take over the land. You are welcome here in our land in Palestine. And we know that it's true. We know that it's true. And I saw that in my eyes that even today's day, our Jewish people going to Morocco, he is welcome there. It's unbelievable. In Iran, there is a beautiful Jewish community of 30,000 Jews. Yeah, it runs to us Christians as well. Even in Iran, the rate of to have an MP is a half of million. But the Jews have their own MP in the parliament. There are Jewish institutes. I myself, I didn't vote in Iran, but my father was in other areas. My colleagues vote in Iran. They told me how beautiful Jewish life. There is no hatred for Jews. This is complete false Zionist propaganda.  They want to throw all the Jews into the sea. Something like that. They're just making a big propaganda to bring in the Jewish people into the agenda. That even you are against Zionism, but if you are not siding with us, you will be killed by the Muslims. They want to kill all the Jews. This is completely untrue. This is why this is so important. Events like that, to speak a Jewish rabbi with a Muslim imam together to show this is not the problem of the religion. This is a problem of occupation. All right, this is it for today's video. It's absolutely beautiful to hear it from a Jewish rabbi, of course, to hear it from the different side. This was objective. Objectivity is what we need. Truth is what we need. Fact, statistics, numbers. The Zionist narrative is simply false. Here you can see a graph of the death toll and the injuries over the years from 2008 to 2020. So yes, this is obviously before the current conflict. However, it is very important to see how many deaths and injuries were on the Palestinian side so nobody can claim this an unprovoked terrorist attack. So the deaths are in dark blue and the injuries are in red. However, they counted as one number. 2008. You can see we have 3,202 Palestinian casualties. On the other hand, we have 853 Israelis. However, if you zoom into this now, you can see that even though we do not have a number, we do have deaths, of course, on the Palestinian side. However, on the Israeli side, we have no deaths whatsoever. If you go further down, you see 2009, 7,460 incidents. And here you see again the dark blue bar of Palestinian deaths. In comparison, you have 123 injuries on the Israeli side. So when you scroll through here, you can see there's always thousands versus hundreds. And moreover, you see actual deaths on the Palestinian side, of course, and no deaths whatsoever on the Israeli side. And now we come to 2014. 2014. We have almost 20,000 people either injured or killed on the Israeli side. This time we have a substantial amount of 2,796. This is not even 10% in comparison to the Palestinian side. And moreover, yet again, no deaths whatsoever on the Israeli side. And if this wasn't enough, we fast forward to 2018. And here we see 31,558 Palestinians either injured or killed. And on the other hand, 130 Israelis. So where is the objectivity here, man? Where is the truth? Just look at the numbers. The Palestinian people have been massacred for years. You have a few hundred Israelis dying in conflict. On the other hand, you have thousands and thousands of Palestinians. It's absolutely amazing, yet again, to see a Jewish person speak out on this. I truly hope, inshallah, that the narrative will turn. All right, guys. And this is it for today's video. If you liked it, leave me a thumbs up. Subscribe to the channel if you haven't already, and check out the links in the description box below to further support my work. And now, as always, guys, may God bless you all. Much love and peace.


Hi, are you starting a business or trying to get finances or day-to-day operations under control? Do you need help finding customers? Score can help you get on the right path quickly and give you the confidence to take the right steps toward profitable growth. Or perhaps you are an entrepreneur yourself or have other business experience and would like to give back to the community. Score offers you the opportunity to help us grow small businesses and create jobs in Santa Cruz County. You will have a unique opportunity to work with and learn from like-minded volunteers. Hi, I'm Pat Webb, a business counselor with Santa Cruz County Score. We are part of a nationwide volunteer organization of 11,000 people with over 300 local chapters across the country. Score offers free practical advice for small business owners and experienced business people. We also offer workshops, panel discussions, and business tools to help educate entrepreneurs. We've counseled over 500 business clients in Santa Cruz County in the past three years. You can find an experience mentor for your business as well as information about becoming a Score volunteer at SantaCruiseCounty.score.org or by calling<PHONE_NUMBER>. Thank you for your time.


To be a car is becoming a computer with wheels. As a fully autonomous you can only get that when you have artificial intelligence inside the car. Fundamentally there are four pillars of change that are transforming the automotive industry. One is around connected vehicles, the second is around autonomous driving, the third is around shared mobility and then the fourth is around electric vehicles. We are very thrilled to have this specialist engineer professor talking about the future of the mobility. Much of the innovation and technologies that we are discussing today have the potential to change and redefine our future transportation systems for the better. The big problems that we're trying to solve are congestion, emissions and millions of fatalities. Cyber security of the vehicle becomes an important element as we go forward. We try to include all these new technologies, these new opportunities in our regulatory framework. We are keen to develop a standard to help these data is more useful and a valuable asset for everyone. By joining the ITU's activities they are helping to shape international standards that protect and encourage key investments. Technology definitely will advance and we need to harness it to satisfy the needs of our societies. 5G Technologies, we can contribute to this discussion with the automotive industry for next generation smart and intelligent transportation system. We've got a completely new connected future coming.


to V or not to V. That is the question. What is the answer? In English, when do you use to V, to verb, and when do you use to verb ING? We'll break it down into four sections. One, modal expressions, to V or to verb. Two, infinitives and gerunds, to verb versus verb ING. Prepositional expressions, to verb versus to verb ING. Four, special phrasing, to verb versus to verb ING. Five, common contrast, to verb versus to verb ING. Some people use to say the word to is always followed by the simple form of the verb. For example, to go, to sleep, to have, to be. Now, people are used to saying that that is not always the case. In some situations we can say to going, to sleeping, to having, to being. What are those situations and when are they used? In this video, we'll look at this concept more carefully. Number one, let's start with to V. To verb is often used as part of a modal expression and cannot be separated from its partner modal. Modals are words like can, should, may and could. Modal expressions or phrasal modals are as follows. ought to, be going to, have to, have got to, used to, be supposed to, be to, be able to. Here are some examples. I really ought to go. She used to live in France. We have to leave now. I have got to be there on time. He is able to play the guitar. I'm going to be late. You are to be here at nine o'clock. They are supposed to hurry. To verb is part of these expressions. We cannot change that. For example, we don't say he ought to do it. We say he ought to do it. We don't say they are able to do it. We say they are able to do it. We don't say we have to going. We say we have to go. To, more about to verb. Sometimes the form to be is called the infinitive and it is used in many ways. For example, to know me is to love me. Infinitives are not real verbs. In some cases they are actually used as nouns. For example, to ski is the highest form of recreation. Notice that to ski is the subject of this sentence and thus it is a noun. For example, we can also say skiing is the highest form of recreation. In this case, the subject of the sentence is skiing which is a gerund form, which is the verb ing form. Actually this sentence is much more common and skydiving is higher. Back to to v. A more common usage of the infinitive to v is as an object. For example, I like to swim to v. I like swimming verb ing. The point is I like something. Something is a noun. For example, I like raspberries. I like soccer the game. I like an action. I like to play soccer. The focus here is on the action or activity or on doing something. For some strange reason, in English grammar, actions can be divided into categories depending on the main verb that they follow. For example, I like to ski. I like skiing. Certain main verbs require the infinitive, for example, to ski. Certain main verbs require the gerund form, verb ing, skiing. Let's look at some examples. Main verb plus to v. I want to ski. I need to ski. I plan to ski. I wish to ski. Decide to verb. Agree to verb. Expect to verb. Hope to verb. Main verb plus verb ing. Enjoy skiing. Go skiing. Keep skiing. Quit skiing. Suggest verb ing. Consider verb ing. Avoid verb ing. Practice verb ing. Some verbs like start, like, and love can be used interchangeably. That is, it's okay to use either the to verb form or the verb ing form. But that's the topic of another video. Gerund usage here is verb ing, not to verb ing. We'll save that for later. What about verb ing? Now it gets a little tricky. Prepositions can be followed by the verb ing gerund form of the verb. Little words like in, on, up, of, for, to, after, before, and so on carry a lot of power. They can determine what follows them. And usually it's the ing form. For example, I am tired of walking. I am interested in playing football. After playing, I went to sleep. George had to give up smoking. Remember to use verb ing after prepositions. For example, after the words in, on, up, of, for, to, after, before, and so on. Uh-oh. Do you see what I see? Two is sometimes used as a preposition. Three, here's where it becomes confusing. Sometimes the word to is used as a preposition and sometimes it is used as part of an infinitive. For example, I would like to see you again. I look forward to seeing you again. Note the differences among these. To verb is the infinitive form. To verb ing is a preposition to plus a gerund verb ing form. Verb ing is just a simple gerund. How do we distinguish these forms? How do we tell the difference? One way is to think in terms of action and activity. I'm interested in an activity. The activity is playing football. I want to do an action. I want to play football. I look forward to an activity. To playing football. Another way is to take out the verb or substitute a noun. In place of it. For example, if we take out the verb play and say I want to football, that doesn't work. It's incorrect. So, to verb is necessary here. I want to play football. Now look at the next two sentences. If we take out the verb I'm interested in football, it's okay. We can substitute the word I'm interested in playing or I'm interested in playing football. Both of those sentences are okay. Next, I look forward to football. If we take out the word play and put something else in, it works. Example, I look forward to playing or I look forward to playing football. So, if we take out the word, which is a verb, and substitute it with a noun, then it makes the difference here. If you can't take out the verb, I want to football, then you have to keep the infinitive form. If you can take out the verb and it still works, then you can use the ing form. Another way is to learn certain prepositional expressions with 2v. For example, these expressions are followed by 2verb. Think action. Need to verb, want to verb, hope to verb, wish to verb, would like to verb, mean to verb, care to verb, tend to verb, happen to verb, know how to verb. The next two columns use the word be at the beginning of the expression. Be willing to verb, be allowed to verb, be reluctant to verb, be inclined to verb, be delighted to verb, be happy to verb, be glad to verb, be afraid to verb, be required to verb, be compelled to verb. These prepositional expressions are followed by 2 plus verb ing. Think of activities. Be allowed that many of the expressions with be incorporate verbs used like adjectives. We'll look at the first two columns without be. Admit to verb ing. Submit to verb ing. Confess to verb ing. Look forward to verb ing. Resort to verb ing. Give into verb ing. With regards to verb ing. We in four use the word be in the expression. Be can be something like is, are, am, was, or were at the beginning of the expression. For example, be used to verb ing. Be limited to verb ing. Be opposed to verb ing. Be dedicated to verb ing. Be accustomed to verb ing. Be addicted to verb ing. Be committed to verb ing. Be restricted to verb ing. Four special expressions. Let's look at some examples. Can you see what is happening here? I am tired of running. Gerund is used as an object of the preposition of. I'm too tired to run. Infinitive is used to indicate action. Also the word to has an influence on how this expression is used. When we see to and enough, we use the expression to verb. I'm interested in playing. The gerund is used after the preposition. This is an activity. It's interesting to play. This is infinitive usage. It's talking about an action. Here's some additional information. You may use the infinitive form to plus verb after simple adjectives. Also use it in to and enough expressions. For example, it's important to find good friends. It is difficult to stay in line. He is old enough to ride on that. Let's look at this sample sentence structure. It is adjective to verb. This structure enables us to move the action to the end of the sentence and put the commentary, which is your personal opinion or interpretation at the beginning of the sentence. For example, here we have the commentary first and the action second. It is important to be here on time. Important is what you think or your opinion. Being here on time is the action. Let's see what happens when we reverse the order. To be here on time is important. Or being here on time is important. That's better and more common when we use the ing form at the beginning of a sentence. Let's look at some other examples. It's great to meet you. It's great meeting you. This is much more common because we're talking about how great and wonderful the experience is. Look at the other side. To meet you is great. That sounds quite strange. Meeting you is great. That one's okay. It's a little bit more common. We want to focus on the experience, which is meeting you. So sometimes we want to put that at the beginning. It's great. It's a great experience to meet you. Let's look at the third example. It isn't necessary to fix the pipe. To fix the pipe isn't necessary. Fixing the pipe isn't necessary. That one's better and much more common when we start the sentence with an ing form. Common contrasts. Here are a few contrasting sentences to help you remember. With to verb. With to verb ing. I used to live in Utah. This is a modal expression. Used to verb. It's talking about a past experience or a past habit. I don't live there anymore. I am used to living in Utah. This is a form of be accustomed to, which means I'm still living there. What's the difference here? Between used to and be used to. Can you see how the word be is used in the sentence? In the second one. I am used to living in Utah. Next. I am opposed to, I am supposed to go. This is a modal expression. That means I have to go or I must go. On the other side. I am opposed to going. That means I do not want to do the activity. I am supposed to go. Must go. I am opposed to going. I don't want to go. The next one. I hope to see you. Hope here is the main verb. And the main verb requires that the infinitive follows. I look forward to seeing you. I look forward to something. I look forward to seeing you. This is a prepositional expression that requires the verb ing to follow it. You can think of it like this. I used to live in Utah. Two verb is glued to the modal or the main verb. I used to live in Utah. We have to leave right away. I am used to living in Utah. The verb ing can be separated from the preposition. Remember that be is important here at the beginning of the expression. I am used to. He is used to. They are used to. I am used to something. What? I am used to living in Utah. I look forward to something. I look forward to seeing you soon. Ready for some practice? Fill in the blanks with two verb, verb ing, or two verb ing. For example, I look forward to meeting you. I look forward to meeting you. Take some time and do the exercises. Feel free to pause the video if you'd like more time to complete this. Answer key. I look forward to meeting you. I would like to see you again. The Henderson's really enjoy fishing. We have got to get out of here. I am not used to working so late. He was too tired to feed the dog. Sarah is addicted to shopping. It is essential to wash the dishes. Cleaning the sink is not so important. We can also say to clean the sink is not so important, but cleaning the sink is much more common. I am not interested in hearing gossip. Did you happen to buy paper towels? Hope that was helpful. If you liked this video, please give it a thumbs up in the comment section. Also, don't forget to subscribe to our channel. Thanks for watching. If you have an idea for our next video, please send us an email at the link below. This video was brought to you by the following English learning websites ESLGold.com and FreeEnglishStudy.com


Dulux is Australia's leading manufacturer of decorative, powder, texture, protective and woodcoating products. The company's world-class technology and innovation centre at Clayton employs R&D specialists with expertise in new product development. In 2018, Dulux opened its state-of-the-art Merrifield facility, which is larger than the MCG and allows for greener, safer and more efficient production. It is now over 100 years since Dulux was founded in Australia and its investment in science, innovation and skills development ensures that it will continue to grow.


Good morning, everyone. Good morning and welcome. Good. Thank you all for coming, particularly on such a wonderful summer's day. And I'm sure Lymec people, thanks also for coming. There may have been a three in a row of you, three in a row parties last night. So a particular thanks for coming. To start, could I thank Professor Kirsten May of the University of Lymec president of this glorious campus. It's looking particularly glorious on a summer morning like this. This is the second in a series of events. Europe is our future. Looking at the huge opportunities there are in continental European markets for companies based in Ireland. My name is Daniel Bryan. I'm the chief economist at the Institute of International European Affairs, one of the two organizations hosting this event. The other, I'll hand over to Leo Clancy, the CEO of Enterprise Ireland in a minute. But we have a packed agenda starting off with our keynote speaker. And a particular thanks to Commissioner Murray McGinnis for joining us. But I let our co-host CEO, Leo Clancy, do that introduction. Thank you all again. Thank you, Dan. I think this must be the only full room in Lymec this morning. Is that right? So you're all very welcome here. And I'd like to also thank Dan and the IEA for a wonderful partnership. It's crucially important to us. I'd also like to thank Professor May for University of Lymec hosting us today. And I'd like to compliment Anne Lannigan, our head of Europe, and her team at Enterprise Ireland for all being here this morning and bringing Europe to Lymec this morning. I think it's wonderful to see all my colleagues. And I'm just over a year in this job. So I'm meeting a number of colleagues to my eternal shame for the very first time given the pandemic. So it is great to have people back together again. I'd especially like to welcome to all our clients here this morning. We do believe that Europe is our future. I believe personally that Europe has been underdone by Enterprise Ireland's clients very much compared to my last role where I led on a lot of foreign direct investment for Ireland and companies would come to Ireland and use it as their base for all of Europe. And I think that represents a massive opportunity for Irish companies. I hope it's something you will all engage with and I hope today will help. It's our special privilege though this morning that a great leader for Europe and a great leader for Ireland has consented to be here this morning and to give a keynote stress and participation Q&A. Maureen McGuinness is the European commissioner for financial services, financial stability and the capital markets union. And I think it's fair to say commissioner that your impact has been felt here in Ireland but across Europe and your role has never been more important than it is now. So it's our great privilege to have you here this morning and we look forward to hearing from you. Thank you very much. Okay, before I do my formal start I would like to hand up those of you who are actually from Limerick. Well, I just think that you are to be praised and rewarded but well done yesterday. I know that hands up those of you who are from Kilkenny. Well, all I can say is buy them a drink afterwards or be nice to them. I suppose we all, even if you're not interested in sport you are interested in sport in Ireland and GA is just amazing. So thank you to all the Limerick people who turned up so they didn't want to. It was lovely to drive in this morning not just the weather and the greenery but the congratulations signs are up. So certainly for SMEs in Limerick you are powered and charged now so you can go forth. And I think Leo you made a very valid point in terms of companies come to Ireland to get to Europe and yet Irish companies here perhaps haven't fully, if you like, gone into Europe and looked at all of the opportunities. So it is good to be here this morning. We had a lovely drive down. Thank you, Dan O'Brien. And thank you to your team at the IIEA. We've worked together before. And I think it's good because you lead thought on Europe in Ireland and that's important. And Landagen gets a special mention from my team in Brussels. So thank you Anne and indeed the entire Enterprise Ireland team for today's event. And I think that it's good that two organizations are working together and for the full house. And can I thank the president for the use of the hall? And what I really liked when we sat down and had a brief chat is that you're claimed to be the most European of Irish universities because you have the most students who use the Erasmus program. So that deserves a round of applause in my book. I was just reflecting on 50 years and I know the university is reflecting on 50 years. And I recall because I'm old enough to do that my parents going out to vote in May of 1972. Sadly, they're no longer with us. But I just think back to those people who made a decision, a very decisive decision not for themselves, but perhaps for future generations. So they were among 83% of citizens who gave the resounding yes to Europe. And as I mentioned, Limerick was also forming at the university and it's also celebrating. I think it's fair to say Ireland has come a long way in those 50 years. We've helped shape the European Union. I think the European Union has also shaped us as a society and as a country. We're now a strong and growing economy. We're export focused. We're home to global companies, experts in technology, medical devices, finance, food and much more. And indeed, I think universities like Limerick have been part of the reason why we have made those leaps forward. Not just because of the connections with Europe but the general research, innovation and learning that takes place. We all know that Europe responds really well in crisis. I think that was what we saw during COVID. A very shaky start but a very strong finish. We weathered that public health pandemic but of course it hasn't gone completely away so we have to be mindful that it is still with us. But I do remember January of this year and it seems like almost decades ago when we had emerging from the previous year and the pandemic and hopes were very high because the economic growth projections were very strong, our resilience was up and we felt we would go forward into 2022 without too many complications because none of us predicted the war on European soil on February 24th. So to some extent everything that is happening is against now this backdrop of war on European soils. Having said that, some of the trends that have deepened were starting to emerge even before February. So we were seeing the rising energy costs. Inflation was already a feature in January but of course the war has exacerbated those trends and the economic outlook is challenging and less certain. And I think uncertainty is also something that we need to manage and not become the victims of. I mentioned the word resilience and resilient and I think Europe has shown that in COVID we were resilient and I think resilience really matters and unity of purpose and action at EU level helped us in the pandemic and indeed to face crisis that may emerge in the future. I think we need to build on that resilience. I know that what's fascinating for me is that the message from COVID is supply chains need to be looked at very forensically. If you looked at the pharmaceutical supply chain I was looking at this while I was still in the European Parliament on the Environment Committee before COVID we were looking in the office at how vulnerable we were for some product lines and then that vulnerability really emerged when the pandemic hit. So I do think that we need to be resilient. I think what the Irish government did after the Brexit vote where it said to companies examine your supply chain from end to end see whether our Brexit vulnerabilities and take action. And I think we need that same thought process and resilience when it comes to looking to the future because growth will continue throughout Europe this year. It will be at a lower rate because of the uncertainties that I've just spoken about. So today we're talking about SMEs and the single market. And what I want to do is to urge you to take full advantage of the opportunities that the EU single market has to offer Irish businesses. And one of the things that prevents us I think from thinking about opportunities is we think across border as opposed to single market. I'm actually trying to get my own colleagues to stop using the word across border because the European Union is a single market. And I think that does define how you think about working across the single market. And it's true also of the area of finance which is my particular area of responsibility. So we've gotten to the past 50 years and we look to the present and what about the future? And I think this title Europe is our future is true because we are part we're strong in Europe. And I think Brexit has perhaps strengthened the Irish identity in the European Union. Everything is absolutely overshadowed by Russia's illegal invasion of Ukraine because it goes against everything we stand for in Europe and I think here in Ireland. And in my role as financial services commissioner, I get to implement all of these sanctions that we have put proposed and they've been adopted by the member states. Six packages, very deep, very impactful on the Russian economy. But we're also being very open and saying that there are impacts for the European Union as well. But these are the choices and challenges we make to defend the right of a sovereign country, to defend their territory and to maintain their independence. The sanctions on Russia will deepen over time. And I think particularly when it comes to the sanctioning of technologies that they will need to reinvest in their areas. This will have an impact. And indeed these sanctions on finance are also impactful. There's been huge demand on the financial sector and indeed all sectors to make sure they comply. What's been interesting from my side is that there is an element where companies are making their own decisions about de-risking. So even where they're not sanctioned, they're deciding themselves to move away from Russia for moral and ethical reasons. And I'm impressed by that, but also I'm very impressed by the commitment of member states to fully implement the sanctions that we have passed through. Inflation is a reality. We know energy and food prices are increasing and commodity markets are extremely volatile. So this global picture is less clear than the skies outside the university today. Fascinating what has happened in the labor market. And I'm sure in this room you are aware of the labor market. I think the expectation was that there would be unemployment after COVID. Whereas now we have companies from Ireland to Germany saying we actually have full order books and we have problems with finding labor and we have problems with finding raw materials and supply chains. So different problems have emerged and perhaps we would have anticipated. And of course, when there's a loss of purchasing power for consumers and higher costs for businesses, that impacts confidence both amongst consumers and indeed businesses. And I've mentioned Brexit and it is still prevails and maybe we will mention that in our conversation. So if you look to where we are for the future, I think crisis strength in Europe, COVID has proved that other things have as well. If you look at how we will prevail here in Ireland, the economy is expected to keep going. So by 5.4% this year and 4.4% next year, our exports are expected to remain good and help drive growth. We know the sectors involved, pharmaceuticals, medical devices, ICT, there have been done very well since the pandemic and overall the outlook remains bright for Irish businesses and the economy. When I focus then on Irish SMEs, in my view, you are all in a very good place with strong fundamentals. Ireland scores highly in international rankings for its regulatory environment for businesses and we have good research capacity and strong capability in innovation. And I think on that point, that's where universities and research centers come in. There are strong links between business and research universities like Limerick, who are hosting us today and of course IAEA and Enterprise Ireland. And SMEs benefit from the government support for improving skills. Now that's not to say that I overlook the difficulties and I'm sure many of you in the room would be able to point to some of those because many of the sectors that are in the SME cluster were the worst affected by the pandemic and I'm thinking of tourism and hospitality. The Central Bank of Ireland found that a quarter of SMEs continue to experience supply chain issues. But in the recovery, we should look at the huge amount of untapped potential in European trade for Irish SMEs. And there is a figure that sticks out in my mind because according to the OECD, only about 6% of Irish SMEs directly trade, the word is across border, but directly trade in the single market. And this is much less than in other EU member states. So that's a challenge. But it also means that there is an opportunity for Irish SMEs in Europe's single market. Because what it means is that across the 27 member states you trade freely, no customs checks, no tariffs, no different standards, businesses of all sizes including SMEs can access a massive market of more than 440 million people. And it goes far beyond what a free trade agreement can offer. So I'm sure some of you here will have become familiar sadly with the cost, hassle and paperwork involved in trade with the United Kingdom because they chose to leave the single market and the customs unit. And while I find it hard to find any Brexit bonuses, the one thing that I think it did was remind us of what the single market is and how important it is that we are part of it. But it also should tell us what we have been part of for the past 50 years and we helped to create that single market. Now the UK is still an important market, but the population is six and a half times in Europe the size of the UK's population. So there is a lot of potential for diversification for Irish businesses towards the single market. And there's an opportunity from any Irish SMEs that haven't yet looked at tapping into the market which is right on our doorstep. And then if you look at the Eurozone which is 19 countries, we share a common currency and indeed next January Croatia will join so there will be 20. And that also makes it easier to trade because you don't have costs involved in currency exchange. Some companies and indeed many based in Ireland have already reached the benefits of the single market. And to this point Leo, you preempted my comment that multinationals who see the benefits of Ireland and the educated workforce and the business friendly environment base themselves here to access the rest of the single market. So we need that same focus within our SME community. And again, Enterprise Ireland is doing really important and valuable work in this area. A wide range of supports and offer to Irish businesses and SMEs who want to export to the rest of the world. But if I can also mention Joe Hennigan I'm not sure if he's in the room with us but I just did a small hydro. This is one of the young entrepreneurs that I had the opportunity to meet who came up with an interesting and really good idea around receipts and how you get rid of them. I said to Joe, but I don't think he might be saying it again that he's even younger looking than I thought he was which I think is absolutely fantastic that we have so many young able citizens of this country. I meet them when they come to me on interns and I say to them hand on heart I would never have got to where they are. I wouldn't get in the door when I was their age but we really have a fantastic cohort of students and interns and I applaud them for the work you do. So best of luck Joe to you and your business and please do as your mother said, finish your course. As a mother I'm allowed to say that so I hope you don't mind me doing that. But I think your idea speaks to the reality of what we're talking about. The whole vision of Europe is around digital and green. And I think your project speaks to that. So good luck with it. So look, I'm also aware that companies it isn't just about taking a big leap forward and looking at the opportunities that are on offer. The truth is Europe has some work to do to make the single market work as well as it can for all types of businesses. One thing I'm acutely aware of is that in my area of finance we don't have a single market for capital yet. It's part of the treaty and we will get there and my job over the next whatever's left of my mandate is to make sure that that happens. So it's incremental but it will happen. But if you look at policies like innovation. So here we need entrepreneurs and innovative companies in Europe that just speaks to reality especially around the transition that I've just mentioned. So that answer, if you like the innovation should answer questions that are there like what you do with all the paper and receipts. Is there a better way to handle that more efficient and how do you answer that with technology? We're doing very well when it comes to startups in Europe. About a third of global capital invested in early funding rounds goes to European startups and that's about the same as happens in the United States. Sometimes we don't appreciate that. Now however, and this is where we run into challenges when it comes to scaling up for companies that want to grow and expand we do lag behind the US and China on funding. The commission has just released a new European innovation agenda and this is about making sure that Europe is at the forefront of the new wave of innovation so-called deep tech. And that's about using science and research to develop tangible solutions to the big global challenges that we face. And here we want to help talented people develop those solutions, bring them to market and to expand their business.  My area of responsibility but access for all sizes of companies at all stages of growth. So Capital Markets Union is a really big piece of my work here. We're deepening and developing a single market for capital. We know that the flow of capital around the single market is not complete and we know what we need to do to get there. And what we're trying to achieve is that companies have opportunities to access finance from different sources and not just bank finance. European Capital Markets would benefit from being more transparent and allowing information to flow so that companies wherever you're located can have access to finance. So one of our proposals and it's in play already is to create a European single access point. So we want to gather together in a single point financial and sustainability related information about companies in one place online and easy to access. So this one stop shop gives more visibility both to investors and companies who need investments. And once this is up and running it will help I believe put Irish SMEs on the radar of EU and international investors. Another issue we are tackling is making sure that the right type of finance is available to companies again regardless of their size and particularly at the scale up part of their development. If we look at equity like venture capital and corporate bonds these play only a minor role compared to what's happening in other international economies. And yet these other sources of financing are vital to help companies face specific financial needs and challenges. Equity is better placed than debt to finance innovation innovative companies particularly startups and SMEs. It's better for the long-term investments that we need for this transition to a more sustainable economy and society. And the broad financing by bank loans makes companies more vulnerable to shocks. So really important that we have these alternative forms of financing and that they become more readily available. I've mentioned some of the work we're doing in the commission around this. Another piece of work is to address the tax bias that disadvantages equity financing. So right now the interest that companies pay on debt is tax deductible but their costs on equity are not. And this makes the cost of equity higher than the cost of debt. So just in May we made a proposal around an EUI debt equity bias reduction allowance which will address that. And we will also later this year propose a listing act and essentially this is to make it easier and cheaper for companies particularly smaller ones to access public markets. The listing act will simplify requirements, listing requirements, reduce costs and increase legal certainty for issuers. It will streamline the process of listing and make requirements and companies more proportionate to their size. So that should mean that small companies will have less demanding requirements if they want to list. And finally just a mention of our SME IPO fund which the commission is developing together with the European Investment Fund. And this fund is to help companies on their way to a public listing. It's a work in progress but I believe it will be an important part of our overall work around financing. So just let me conclude with where I started really think single market, not across border. I think that's really important. There are vast opportunities. I know that Enterprise Ireland is part of helping you on that journey and really to see what those opportunities are. I think the fact that the room is full today is really great because it means you are all interested in seizing the chances and opportunities that are there and using the expertise of Enterprise Ireland including Enterprise Ireland's market advisors. And I think they'll be sitting on the sexual panels which will be quite forensic in terms of what is available. So the breakout sessions is where the real work will start. My presence here today was I think important. I'm flying to Brussels later. But I think it's really important that I hear as well what SMEs are thinking and talking about. This is a challenging time for the European Union but we've dealt with other challenges. Later this week we will unveil more work on the energy insecurity reality that we face. And I think it's been a wake up call for us. A bit like the pharmaceutical supply chain. I think for all our development and our strength and we are a strong Union of 27, partly built on foundations that are not that strong. But we can strengthen those foundations around energy by looking elsewhere, by saving energy and don't underestimate that by energy efficiency. But particularly, and this country has an advantage when it comes to wind energy, particularly by investing in renewables. And that's not just about access to finance to fund all of those, but making sure that we remove the blockages in our planning systems across Europe which hinder much needed development not least in the renewable energy sector. So I look forward now to a chat with Dan and thank you for your attention, particularly the Limerick people. I looked in your eyes and you stayed awake. So really appreciate that. Thank you. Great. Thank you, Commissioner. So look, we've time for some Q&A. If you could just put your hand up to indicate an interest. Let me know. But let me kick off, Commissioner. You mentioned this issue of supply chains. For decades, European companies have been facing more competition from places further revealed. But companies now are really worried about these long supply chains. We've seen what happened with Russia during the pandemic and deteriorating relations with China. Countries, companies are more and more worried about these long supply chains. Does that mean that Irish companies could look to Europe and say, where are those companies that are looking to shorten supply chains? Like, could that be a small opportunity? Could it be a big opportunity for Irish companies? Well, on that point, the answer is yes, because that's what the opportunities are. But I really want to stress one thing that I didn't mention in my opening remarks. We talk in Europe about open strategic autonomy. And I think for the Irish economy, the open piece is really important because we trade and have always done so small economy, big traders. But a bit like I mentioned in relation to Brexit, sometimes the obvious is not seen because you're just on a roll as a company or a business. And how many of us have the time to stand back and say, now, just check everything here from A to Z and backwards. Does it function well? And if something went wrong with one component or one location, how would your company be fixed? And I think what companies are finding is that their trust in the system, the supply chains, the just-in-time delivery, was fragmented and fractured because of COVID, but now also because of energy and security, raw material supplies, and also political stability in some regions. So I would imagine, and maybe the room can enlighten me, that companies are looking not only internally, but perhaps to the point that Dan makes, looking in Europe to see what sectors. So if you start with a sectoral approach first, what sectors are looking to diversify their suppliers? And could your company be part of that? Because more and more, I don't think any company will go back to having one source only. It will be a diversified supply chain. So in case there are problems with specific regions. So that's a factor on the strategic autonomy piece because some would say, well, Europe should wrap itself around each other. And that to me is not the future. I think the future of Europe is open strategic autonomy, where we're no longer naive around certain elements, which are core, energy is core. And maybe a last point, unless we don't get a chance to speak about it, we either get ourselves weighed down by the challenges of today, or we see the opportunities and energy opportunities are there, renewables. We have to, anyway, because of climate change that we're now sweltering under today, we have to change our energy mix. We need to get away from fossil fuels. We may well be forced to get away from Russian fossil fuels more quickly. It just means we have to adapt and react more rapidly. Europe is often accused of being slow. And I've been through the process since my time in the European Parliament. But you know, when it comes to a point where you need rapid action, Europe can be very fast too. I think maybe a lot of people might have been partying or drowning their sorrows last night. The questions are a bit slow to come, but let me ask you another one, in terms of funding for SMEs, obviously that's something very much part of your remit. Has there been much progress in terms of lowering costs of borrowing for small companies, getting access to finance that people here are looking for often to get into exploit the single market to a greater extent? Well, I have to say, when I speak to Irish businesses and citizens, they wonder why the interest rates are slightly higher in Ireland than across Europe. And of course, that is a legacy of the horror of the financial crash. And there's a lot of discussion around that. It isn't something that I control, that's a central bank issue. When I mentioned equity markets and access to, and listing, I think that's also a mindset change because many SMEs don't want to do that. They want to keep the business, and that's fine if you can get access through banks. I would be interested in hearing, because I gather that there's now because of the uncertainty and confidence, maybe a little bit dented because of the circumstance that we find ourselves, that there's a reluctance maybe to borrow. One of the things that has fascinated me since during COVID, we had anticipated a higher rate of non-performing loans. We were preparing for that, and we haven't seen that. And I think that speaks to maybe the fact that member states and the ECB reacted appropriately to what was a seismic shock to the system by making sure we hadn't collapsed. So supports were properly done. We have the rollout of the next generation EU funds. So on SME financing, we are doing some work. I've mentioned parts of it, but there may well be a hesitancy as well around uncertainty. I think this week there will be, the ECB will be making some announcements. So it's how people, I suppose if your markets are strong, you can afford to invest. Where I think confidence matters. And I think that's why this event is important, that you could become weighed down with all that is wrong, but the world keeps turning. And there are opportunities there for resilient companies who know and are focused and are looking to have a future. A last comment around sustainability. I'm doing an awful lot of work on sustainable finance. And sometimes SMEs feel they're not part of that conversation. So two messages, what I've said to the large corporates who have the resources to do all this transition towards this more green and sustainable future. They have a duty of care for the SMEs and their supply chain to help, not force or not make it difficult. I think that's very important. And to say that a lot of our work is quite focused on trying to define what is sustainable through taxonomies and other elements, because the financial industry want it. But companies, regardless of your size, if you're not looking at those issues around green and sustainable, then there isn't a future. Because the future of Europe, which is what we're discussing here, is very much focused around sustainability and digital. Although having said that, this war in Ukraine has seen some member states reopen coal power plants out of concerns around energy insecurity. Maybe this energy issue will pull us back from ideology around what we need to do and focus on pragmatism and reality. So we don't want to go back to coal. It's the worst. But we see our other countries who are doing that out of, they say, necessity, which means we need to ramp up all the work around renewables. Great, we've got a couple of questions here, but I would say the commissioners, she mentioned as a flight back to Brussels. So if you want to get a question in, we do have time, gentlemen here. Thanks so much. Tom O'Callaghan here. I'm a pat finder for Enterprise Ireland in Ukraine until a few months ago. And I'm also working on USAID projects in Ukraine. There's, specifically with Ukraine, there's going to be a lot of focus on rebuilding and construction projects, and particularly on supply chain at the moment. But one area that's maybe overlooked commissioner is the whole area of technology. So everyone's looking at these kind of big bricks and mortar infrastructure projects. There's probably a role for SMEs and technology to provide a lot of the solutions needed. But a big issue at the moment is risk management, insurance, and underwriting that risk. Is there anything that can be done from a European Union perspective to facilitate what I would say innovative SMEs who, through a technology solution, can solve many of the issues we're facing at the moment for a fraction of the cost and in a fraction of that time? Well, please. Okay, the answer, I don't have one directly now, but you've given me food for thought, because then we are going to have to look at... It almost seems counterintuitive to talk about rebuilding Ukraine when we're still seeing the horrors, the death and the destruction, but it will come. So I certainly will bring that back around, what could we do to support SMEs who could get involved? On technology, generally, I know that some of the banks who are in Ukraine managed to get all their information on the cloud before the worst happened. And their employees are working from wherever they are now located and providing banking and financial services still. So, Tom, I'll take up that thought, and I have a colleague with me, Paul, if you would exchange cards, that would help. Thank you. One here. Hi there. So, Daniel Ford, Atlanta Therapeutics, we're a growing medical device company. I was reading an interesting report lately by another company with a number of connections and Stripe who surveyed their customers in Europe about the challenges that they saw selling across the single market. And what really came out from that study and that resonated very closely with ourselves is that the regulatory framework in Europe can be quite a challenge, particularly for small and growing organizations that have finite resources, as you say, improving access to capital, but at the same time, finite resources. And I suppose that the question is really, how do we make sure that we're balancing that regulatory framework with the needs of industry along with the needs of consumers and engineers? Okay, I was involved in the legislation on medical devices, which came out of a crisis. And then I think there are some concerns now around implementation. So I still follow that quite closely. So I take on board your comment. So two things. First of all, we hear this regularly. And yet it's interesting that the rest of the world tends to follow European standards, whether it's in food security or medical devices or insurance. And even the UK will still have solvency too. They might modify, but not dramatically. How do we do that? I suppose the only way we can be aware of where regulation is a problem is feedback. So that comes from these rooms. Equally, some people talk about a problem, but don't communicate it at a time when it's best communicated. I try and bring issues that are problematic to colleagues who are responsible for them. So if there are specific points around that, we can certainly direct you towards. But regulation, for example, medical devices is a regulation, it's pan-European. SMEs maybe in the startup phase, but I'm sure there can be help through Enterprise Ireland so that you can, if I cut through some of this. But compliance and having strong regulation is also part of a strong business community. So when I look to what the UK are doing, I know there's a Minister for Brexit opportunities and they're going to tear up rules and whatever, but no society or economy can operate without strong rules. The process of legislation in Europe is complex. So I used to always say when I was still in the European Parliament, people would come to me when the final vote has been taken, like maybe a year or a year and a half after we started the process. So to the organizations and indeed to your representatives, get in there early and stick with it so that you follow the process. But effective regulation matters. We've done something, for example, on crypto recently, we're the first to do it. Unsustainable finance, we're leading as well. People globally would say you're doing too much, you're doing it too fast, but they generally want to know what we're doing, how we're doing it. And to some extent, being leaders in this area is not without its problems because we can make the mistakes as well as get the success story. So if there are specific issues, again, I could feed them into our process and be happy to do that around your sector. We've gone over time, but we have to take the exploit, the opportunity of having your commission and while we're here. So we'll take one more if that's okay with you. Well, I think I'm meeting the President next. So I'm in the President's hands, so. Really short one. Thank you very much. Saver Slavin, Magnus Monitors, or IOT Startup Company in Galway. Commissioner, the question I have is, and I think you may have a lot of influence over this, is to do with SEPA. Cashflow is the lifeblood of small and medium-sized companies. And SEPA has been successfully implemented throughout the EU's since 2008, so not too. But the one thing is our two big pillar banks here have refused to implement what I call instant SEPA. So I can deal with a company in France and they can trade or send 100,000 euros in 10 seconds if I have a SEPA, extended SEPA account or accelerated one in France. But I have to wait two days, three days, to get the money here in Ireland. And within Ireland, I'm also waiting two or three days to get money transferred from one Irish bank account to another, typically between BOI and back of Ireland. And given this is really, really critical, like last year, the two banks tried to create a system with the central bank where they were gonna invent their own extended SEPA. And I think it got pushed back. But I was just wondering, is there anything you have influence over to change this because we're one of the few core EU zone or euro zone countries that doesn't have instant SEPA capability in Europe to the best of my knowledge? Well, on this, I can be very definite. We will have to legislate on this because we don't have instant payments. So other enterprise across Europe would have problems. And I hadn't realized, but I'm glad of the information you provided me with in great detail here. Paul, I don't know whether it's the end of this year or early next year. We are doing something on, is it early next year on instant payments? Because they should, we should have it by now. The technology it provides for it. And if we wait, we predicted that if we were to wait and do nothing to let it happen organically, it would take over 10 years. And cash flow matters to businesses. So I think it's a good note to end on is that we are doing something on it and we've taken good note of the points that you've made. Great, really great, great one to end on. So a round of applause for the commissioner, please. Thank you. Thank you.