● [Tech] Tomorrow's Cities: Will the bike become an urban must-have?. ︴ ︴

▼ Cities around the world are turning to the bicycle to help solve congestion and pollution issues, as urbanisation increasingly puts pressure on traditional infrastructure. Fifteen years ago there were just four bike-sharing schemes in cities around the world, but now there are close to 1,000. Most require you to pick up and leave a bike at a designated area, but new "dockless" schemes from China are coming to cities around the world - and proving controversial. The first public bike-sharing scheme, Velib, launched in Paris in 2007, attracted 20 million users in its first year. As well as the obvious environmental benefits, it brought considerable health advantages too - Velib users were estimated to have burned more than 19 billion calories in the first six years of the scheme. Now, new schemes such as ofo, dubbed the Uber for bikes, want a slice of the action. Ofo is China's largest bike-sharing operator, with an estimated three million daily users across 34 cities in the country. It is in a further 150 cities worldwide. Users click on the app to locate the nearest bike and receive a four-digit code to unlock it. They can use it for as long as they want, for a fee of about 50p per half hour. When they have finished, they can leave the bike wherever they want, although they are encouraged to drop it near existing cycling parking. On your bike (▪ ▪ ▪)

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● [Tech] Facebook cuts out gun-accessory ads for children. ︴ ︴

▼ Children will stop seeing adverts for gun accessories on Facebook as it updates its policy from 21 June. Currently, ads for scopes, holsters, gun-mounted lights, slings, sights, belt extras, safes and many other items can be seen by anyone using Facebook. Facebook said the decision followed a "regular review" of its policies. (▪ ▪ ▪)

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● [Tech] Digital skills gap opens up in English schools. ︴ ︴

▼ There is new evidence that the revolution in computing education in English schools is faltering - and that fewer children are getting the digital skills that employers and the government say are vital. It comes in the annual computing education report from the University of Roehampton which looks at how many pupils achieved GCSE and A-level computing qualifications in 2017. ICT (Information and Communication Technology) - which was widely derided as being no more than a course in Microsoft Office skills - is being phased out of the curriculum and disappears after this summer as an exam subject. But its replacement at GCSE and A-level is the far more challenging computer science. The report says this subject is proving very hard - both for the students and for the schools which need to find the staff to teach it. (▪ ▪ ▪)

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● [Tech] Huawei rejects Australia security concerns. ︴ ︴

▼ Chinese telecoms company Huawei has sharply criticised Australian government comments about its policies and products. In an open letter, it says the comments were "ill informed and not based on facts". The letter comes as the Australian government is expected to ban Huawei from bidding in a 5G mobile auction. The ban is prompted by fears that China would have de facto control over the network if Huawei successfully bid. Island link In its public letter, written by Huawei Australia chairman John Lord and board members John Brumby and Lance Hockridge, the company denies allegations that it is under the control of the Chinese government and says it is a private company owned by its "employees, with no other shareholders". (▪ ▪ ▪)

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● [Tech] Gaming becomes the latest addiction. ︴ ︴

▼ The World Health Organisation's classification of gaming disorder as a condition which is capable of debilitating addiction is an important moment in the shifting relationship between technology and society. Concern among parents about the impact of smartphones in particular, and the response of technology firms to those concerns, has become a staple of the news agenda. Apple's much covered Digital Health initiativewas derided in some quarters, with analysts and punters alike sceptical about the desire of that company to in any way reduce smartphone usage, given its still heavy reliance on smartphones for revenue. And yet the remarks of Tim Cookabout his own excessive use of a smartphone shows that the world's richest company, whose value will soon cross $1trn, is alert to the potential harm from smartphone usage. (▪ ▪ ▪)

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● [Science] Rare 1,000-Year-Old Amulet with Arabic Blessing Found in Jerusalem. ︴ ︴

▼ Tiny 1,000-year-old Islamic prayer amulet Credit: Eliyahu Yanai/City of David Archives Archaeologists discovered a 1,000-year-old clay amulet about the size of a dime at one of the oldest historical sites in Jerusalem. The tiny amulet belonged to a man named Kareem and is inscribed with a personal prayer, "Kareem trusts in Allah. Lord of the Worlds is Allah." Teams from the Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA) and Tel Aviv University unearthed the rare ornamental piece beneath the Givati Parking Lot in the City of David, in Jerusalem Walls National Park. In the past decade, archaeologists have uncovered numerous artifacts, including precious stones and gold coins, beneath the Givati Parking Lot — the largest excavation site in Jerusalem. The amulet is a symbol of everyday life in early Jerusalem. Its religious inscription suggests the amulet was meant to bring blessings to its owner. "The purpose of an amulet like this is to gain personal protection," Yiftah Shalev of the IAA told Haaretz. "Since time immemorial, the purpose of amulets like these is to seek protection from the evil eye," Shalev added. (▪ ▪ ▪)

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● [Science] Inside the controversial new surgery to transplant human wombs Pioneering surgeons have made it possible to transplant a human uterus that can bear children, offering hope to millions of women who never thought they could give birth. ︴ ︴

▼ On September 4, 2014, in Gothenburg, Sweden, his 36-year-old expectant mother lay on an operating table, suffering from preeclampsia—a pregnancy complication associated with high blood pressure. The baby’s heartbeat showed signs of stress. Normally the woman’s doctors might have taken a wait-and-see approach, treating her with medication and hoping to give the nearly 32-week-old fetus time to grow to full term of about 40 weeks. But this was no normal gestation. This was the world’s first human nurtured inside a transplanted uterus. He was the product of more than a decade of research. For years, no one had been sure he could exist in that womb—let alone be born. This was not a wait-and-see situation. As gynecologist and surgeon Liza Johannesson prepped to deliver the child via cesarean section, she was nervous. Not for the baby—she was used to delivering those—but for the uterus. It was 62 years old. A family friend of the patient, who had been born without her own womb, had donated it. The last time it had sustained a life was nearly three decades earlier. “We didn’t know what to expect,” Johannesson says. “We didn’t know if we were going to see [scar tissue] from the transplant surgery or how the new vessels would look, and how they would be positioned.” But as she cut into the woman’s abdomen, her scalpel revealed a uterus that, she says, “looked like it was 20. It reacted the same way it would if it were super young and super healthy. You couldn’t tell it was an old uterus.” The baby and the mother too both turned out healthy. It would be a month before the journal article announcing the birth would appear, allowing the ­Swedish-​led medical team to tell the world: Uterus transplants are possible. And they can bear life. (▪ ▪ ▪)

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● [Science] The Oldest DNA from Giant Pandas Was Just Discovered in a Cave in China. ︴ ︴

▼ This is a picture provided by the researchers of the ancient panda fossil. Credit: Yingqi Zhang and Yong Xu Scientists in China found a fossil from a giant panda that lived 22,000 years ago. Until they excavated the fossil, reassembled it and analyzed its mitochondrial DNA, biologists had no idea this panda lineage even existed. It's now considered the oldest DNA from giant pandas to date, the researchers said. The panda fossil turned up in Cizhutuo Cave in the Guangxi region of China. No pandas live there today, the researchers from the Chinese Academy of Sciences wrote in a paper published today (June 18) in the journal Current Biology. An unexpected giant-panda fossil find was exciting, they wrote, because researchers don't have a good sense of the history of the 2,500 giant pandas alive in the world today. Researchers know that 20 million years ago, the current batch of living giant pandas split from all other bears. They don't know much about their lineage since. This fossil, the researchers showed, came from a creature that separated from living giant pandasmuch more recently: about 183,000 years ago. (▪ ▪ ▪)

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● [Science] Animals with 'night vision goggles'. ︴ ︴

▼ A tarsier is known for its big, beady eyes, but it's only when you look at a skull of this diminutive South East Asian primate that you realise just how big they are. Each one is the same size as its brain. They can't move their eyeballs; if they want to look to the right or left they have to turn their whole head. But the mere fact that tarsiers have these monster organs tells you one thing: vision is very important to them. The animal is a master in the dark, able to see and snaffle insects and small birds even when it seems impossibly dark. "Theirs is a monochrome world; the back of their eyes are packed with photoreceptor rods, not cones, so they can gather every last photon of light," explains Prof Geoff Boxshall from London's Natural History Museum. "Their eyes are the animal world's equivalent of night-vision goggles." Geoff is the science lead on a new exhibition opening at the NHM in July that will celebrate Life In The Dark. There is an amazing diversity of creatures out there with some incredible tricks, to not only survive but also thrive in the absence of light. The museum has pulled the best of them from its collections. Some you'll know but hadn't perhaps considered the genius of their adaptations - such as bats. Some creatures will definitely be new to you because they've only recently been discovered. There's some truly bizarre stuff living in caves and in the deep ocean, for example. (▪ ▪ ▪)

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● [Science] The President just called for a new branch of the military called the Space Force It's not clear how this will fit into existing exploration efforts. ︴ ︴

▼ Trump addresses the National Space Council at the White House on June 18, 2018. YouTube/White House Today, at a meeting of the National Space Council at the White House, President Trump announced that he was directing the Department of Defense to create a “Space Force” as a sixth branch of the military. Initially scheduled for 11:30 a.m. EDT, the meeting started 45 minutes late and opened with remarks from President Trump. After first discussing employment numbers, immigration, and other varied topics, Trump announced that he was directing the Pentagon to create a sixth branch of the military, a “Space Force.” Currently, many space launches in the United States are overseen in part by the Air Force Space Command. The military has been involved in American space ventures since the early days of the space race, helping develop many early rockets. The first astronauts were also pulled from military pilots, and many modern members of NASA still get their start as pilots and engineers in the military. Trump spoke earlier this yearabout the creation of a Space Force, without many details as to what that would look like. (▪ ▪ ▪)

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● [International News] Fugitive Indian billionaire Nirav Modi last seen in Britain in March Modi fled India in February after he was accused of being at the centre of a $1.8bn fraud. ︴ ︴

▼ Nirav Modi with actor Nimrat Kaur in New York in 2015 Photograph: Jamie McCarthy/Getty Images The fugitive billionaire jeweller Nirav Modi was last seen in Britain in March, Indian federal investigators have said. The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) is probing a multi-billion dollar scam allegedly involving Modi, who is worth $1.73bn according to Forbes, placing him 85th on India’s rich list. “Request letters were written to six countries, namely USA, France, Singapore, Brussels, UAE and UK. Only UK replied to request letter stating Nirav Modi was last seen on March 31 there,” said CBI spokesman Abhishek Dayal. Media reports in Indiaand Britain in the last few days have said that the jeweller sought asylum in Britain for what he called “political persecution”. Local reports said Modi managed to travel even after his passport was revoked. Modi’s high-end eponymous brand has stores in several major world cities and boasts celebrity customers including actresses Naomi Watts and Kate Winslet and Bollywood megastar Priyanka Chopra. (▪ ▪ ▪)

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● [International News] Trump migrant separation policy: Children 'in cages' in Texas. ︴ ︴

▼ US Customs and Border Protection Reporters and Democratic lawmakers have been allowed inside a detention centre that lies at the heart of a growing storm over a new US policy separating migrant children from their parents. Authorities did not allow photos or videos to be taken inside the centre, but US Customs and Border Protection later released several images. Former First Lady Laura Bush has compared it to the internment camps used for Japanese-Americans during World War Two. A Democratic congressman who visited the site said it was "nothing short of a prison". The Texas facility is known as Ursula, though immigrants are reportedly calling it La Perrera - dog kennel in Spanish - in reference to the cages used to hold children and adults who have ended up there after crossing the border from Mexico illegally. "One cage had 20 children inside. Scattered about are bottles of water, bags of chips [crisps] and large foil sheets intended to serve as blankets," the Associated Press reports. Democratic Senator Jeff Merkley led the team of lawmakers to the site in the town of McAllen on Sunday. (▪ ▪ ▪)

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● [International News] Trump says US will not be a migrant camp. ︴ ︴

▼ President Donald Trump has said he will not allow the US to become a "migrant camp", as he stood by his administration's immigration crackdown. "The United States will not be a migrant camp," he said at the White House. "And it will not be a refugee-holding facility - it won't be." Photos over the weekend showed undocumented children being held in fenced enclosures at a Texas facility. The UN human rights chief has condemned the policy as "unconscionable". (▪ ▪ ▪)

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<HINDI FILMS> Surprisingly, ‘Lust Stories’ Actually Delivers Nuance Not Sleaze: **[attach]58000[/attach] **

In the last year, we have seen two films – Lipstick Under My Burkha and Veere Di Wedding – that have focused on female desire, and either by coincidence or design, we see that the protagonists in all the four shorts in Lust Stories are women. The first, and also the weakest film is Kashyap’s. We meet Kalindi (Radhika Apte) and Tejas (Akash Thosar of Sairat fame) who are in an older woman-younger man equation, where she is also his college professor. What begins as a non-emotional affair for Kalindi, soon turns her into an obsessive-possessive stalker, slowly getting consumed by the affair. Apte is fantastic as the woman losing control, but the film is let down by its length and repetitiveness. ** ** **[attach]58002[/attach] ** ** ** What is most wonderful though is that none of the directors translate lust into sleaze, but in fact showcase desire very maturely, and realistically. for more reading go to: https://livewire.thewire.in/out-and-about/surprisingly-lust-stories-actually-delivers-nuance-not-sleaze/