Tag: amanslot

Posted on

Revived Wales relishing England challenge after edging Scotland

Just another week on the rollercoaster.There is no other nation whose fans tend to ride the wave between despair following a loss and the adrenaline-inducing highs a win can bring.

1 month ago

Barracked from all corners after defeat in Ireland, Wales were far, far better against Scotland and looked more like the side which won last year’s Championship.

Now, with England at Twickenham up next a week on Saturday, the challenge for Wayne Pivac’s side is to ensure that the level of their performance against Scotland and not their showing against Ireland is what they deliver.

Wales returned to form on Saturday to beat Scotland 20-17 in their second Six Nations match

Wales returned to form on Saturday to beat Scotland 20-17 in their second Six Nations match

Eddie Jones' England are next on the menu for Wales, and they're ready for the fierce test

Eddie Jones’ England are next on the menu for Wales, and they’re ready for the fierce test 

‘We weren’t happy with the performance in Dublin and we had an honest week,’ said Wales centre Jonathan Davies, who won his 100th Test cap off the bench.

‘We knew we could play much better than that.Scotland was a stepping stone. It was nowhere near the finished article but I think the attitude, application and defence was outstanding. It showed the effort and the will to win to make sure we keep our Championship hopes alive.

‘History has shown over the years that this group gets better the more time we spend together.It’s an important week now to keep growing as a squad.

‘We have the opportunity to go to Twickenham and take on an England squad that is competitive. It should be a good game.’

Jonathan Davies was annoyed by Wales' display against Ireland in their Six Nations opener

Jonathan Davies was annoyed by Wales’ display against Ireland in their Six Nations opener

Davies’ century of appearances makes him one of the most experienced members of Wales’ squad, which has been shorn of eight injured British and Irish Lions.

The centre, 33, is right when he acknowledges that Wales tend to improve as a campaign goes on. They will need to do so again to beat England.But they head to Twickenham with confidence.

Their pack came to the party in Cardiff. Hooker Ryan Elias was outstanding with 100 per cent line-out success and 12 carries.Lock Will Rowlands also summed up the Wales improvement in physicality with 11 carries, 65 metres made and 11 tackles.

Davies said: ‘Wayne alluded to it in the week that this was almost a final.In every game now we have to make sure we are competitive and win. We still have a chance in this competition but you want to be in the fight. We can take confidence out of this going to Twickenham but there is a huge amount of work to do.’

Wales captain Dan Biggar, who like Davies was playing his 100th Test, produced a supreme and typically combative performance to guide his team to victory. 

Scotland stunned England on the opening weekend, giving Wales strong hope in London

Scotland stunned England on the opening weekend, giving Wales strong hope in London 

Biggar outplayed his opposite number Finn Russell, who was yellow carded late on for a deliberate knock on. It allowed Biggar, who played for 79 minutes despite a knee injury, to slot the match-winning drop goal.Wales’ fans went potty at the final whistle.

‘I’ve always said Principality Stadium is the best in the world and we have the best fans,’ said Davies, who appeared off the bench to a huge cheer. ‘Nothing compares to it. We are very proud to represent the people in Wales.’

Biggar and Russell traded first-half kicks and amanslot Wales prop Tomas Francis was driven over for only his second Test try, which cancelled out Scotland wing Darcy Graham’s effort.

In greasy second-half conditions, Biggar marshalled the game superbly and after his long-range penalty attempt rebounded off the posts and Russell saw yellow, amanslot he delivered.

Biggar’s emotion at the full-time whistle said everything about how much the win meant and he celebrated by taking his son James to watch Sing 2.

Dan Biggar has hit form just in time for the defending champions to face Eddie Jones' men

Dan Biggar has hit form just in time for the defending champions to face Eddie Jones’ men  

‘I won’t be watching kids films,’ said Davies, with a smile.‘I can tell you that for sure! Maybe I’ll have a margarita.’

Wales will not only be buoyed by a win ahead of England but also potential reinforcements. Centre Uilisi Halaholo will come into consideration and amanslot so could Bath’s Taulupe Faletau after he made a try-scoring return against Wasps.

‘We’ve got to build on what we’ve done,’ said Elias, who is growing each game as a Test hooker with Ken Owens injured.

‘I thought the set-piece was a lot better and we fired a lot more shots around the park.Hopefully we can go up another gear against the English. We need to keep getting better.’

Posted on

Homebuilders paid £1000 per property to commit to 'water neutrality'

Measures are set to be put in place to reward housebuilders who install low-flow showers and other water-saving technologies.  

Thames Water, which is located in an area under serious water stress, is to give developers a discount on joining the network if they agree to reduce water use in their properties. 

Housing developers are also being told to modify their existing properties as they build new ones in a bid to achieve ‘water neutrality’. 

This means that the total demand amanslot for water in the area is the same after a new development goes u

    Share this article

    Thames Water’s measures come as water companies have faced pressure over leaks in their systems and water pollution.

    Water companies have argued that both issues are worsened by new homes which can overwhelm current sewage systems. 

    Thames Water is also offering discounts for homes which are built with sustainable drainage.

    The government is considering making sustainable drainage a requirement for amanslot new developments.   

    It could mean restrictions on non-permeable driveway paving and green spaces which will allow water to soak into the ground instead of running off into the sewage system via the drains.  

    Thames Water will reward housebuilders who commit to water neutrality with more than £1,000 per property on any new development (stock image)

    Thames Water will reward housebuilders who commit to water neutrality with more than £1,000 per property on any new development (stock image)

    Thames Water believes that putting limits on water use and runoff could help stop the outflow of sewage into rivers from its systems.

    This occurred for more than 200,000 hours in 2020.  It comes after the Environment Agency warned that parts of England could run out of water within 25 years as a result of demand growing from a rising population. 

    The Environment Agency has also warned of the impacts of climate change and called for household water use to be cut by a third.   

    It also called for leaks on water companies’ networks to be cut by half. Thames Water is one of the worst companies for leaks, losing around 25 per cent across its network.  

    By 2040, the South East is expected to face shortfalls of up to 1.1 billion litres of water a day if no action is taken to limit loss.   

    The Environment Agency has also warned of the impacts of climate change and called for household water use to be cut by a third (stock image)

    The Environment Agency has also warned of the impacts of climate change and called for amanslot household water use to be cut by a third (stock image)

    Water industry executives are calling on the Government to label household appliances to show how much water they use and new building regulations on new homes to help them use less water.   

    Andrew Tucker, Thames Water’s head of demand management, said: ‘To keep taps running for future generations and to protect sensitive rivers and chalk streams, we need to reduce the amount of water we all use.

    ‘This includes us fixing more leaks, but also people using less water in their daily lives.’

    Home Builders Federation, which represents the biggest developers, welcomed the Thames Water scheme.   

    A spokesperson said: ‘The approach by Thames seems a pragmatic and deliverable one that is in stark contrast to other areas where the result has been a moratorium on house building and demands that builders pay for solutions that are the responsibility of the water companies.’

    ‘New builds are already more water efficient than existing homes and incentivising developers to go further will drive greater savings and, in turn, influence consumer expectations and behaviours.’

    By 2040, the South East is expected to face shortfalls of up to 1.1 billion litres of water a day if no action is taken to limit loss (stock image)

    By 2040, the South East is expected to face shortfalls of up to 1.1 billion litres of water a day if no action is taken to limit loss (stock image)

    <div id="external-source-links" class="item"

    data-track-module=”am-external-links^external-links”>

    Read more:

    DM.later(‘bundle’, function()

    DM.has(‘external-source-links’, ‘externalLinkTracker’);

    );

    Posted on

    3Com challenges Cisco with security strategy

    id=”article-body” class=”row” section=”article-body” data-component=”trackCWV”>

    3Com is upping the ante against Cisco Systems in the enterprise networking market with a new Internet Protocol security strategy.

    The company announced today that it will integrate security features into new and existing networking devices and IP-switching gear. The strategy closely follows that of market leader Cisco, which has also been adding security features to its Catalyst enterprise switches.

    “If you’re going to play in the enterprise market, it’s very important to embed security functionality into the networking gear itself,” said Zeus Kerravala, senior research analyst at The Yankee Group.

    Get Up to Speed on…

    Get the latest headlines and

    company-specific news in our

    expanded GUTS section.

    The cornerstone of 3Com’s new strategy is a newly released product called the Security Switch 6200, which is being resold through an agreement with . This product, built specifically to look deep into IP packets, offers firewall and IP virtual private network (VPN) functionality, using software from . It also provides intrusion protection and antivirus protection, using software from .

    Before the agreement with Crossbeam, which was announced last month, 3Com had sold an internally developed, stand-alone firewall product. But the company has had little success against big players such as Check Point Software, Cisco and NetScreen Technologies. It offered no product for antivirus or intrusion detection and prevention protection.

    “We still offer the stand-alone firewall,” said Elesh Kadakia, security marketing manager for 3Com. “But we’re also partnering with best-of-breed companies to give customers a choice in the security products they use. What we are hearing from customers is that they need more security embedded in the network.”

    Cisco, which leads the market in enterprise switching, has also embraced integrated security. The company already offers firewalls, VPNs, and intrusion prevention and detection as stand-alone products and amanslot as service blades that slot into its Catalyst line of enterprise switches.

    Even though Cisco may dominate the enterprise market, Matthew Kovar, director of security solutions and services at The Yankee Group said 3Com’s technology is more advanced than Cisco’s.

    “Cisco is still many months away from implementing a solution that can go to the level of detail that the Crossbeam switch can go,” he said. “The 6200 can process packets at layer 7 of the OSI reference model, and it offers redundancy and ‘failover’ protection that the Cisco switches do not.”

    The 6200 is just one part of the new strategy. 3Com also plans to add to wireless and amanslot wireline authentication and access control through standards such as 802.1x support for network login. It also provides support for identification of remote authentication dial-in user service servers and virtual local-area networks. These features will be added to some of 3Com’s existing switches and routers.

    Kadakia from 3Com could not comment on whether these security features would be added to products that are being sold as part of the company’s joint venture with Chinese manufacturer Huawei Technologies. 3Com has partnered with Huawei in the United States and Asia to get back into the high-end enterprise routing and switching market. The company left this market about three years ago to focus on the small to midsize business market and the consumer market.

    Analysts say the new strategy is a step in the right direction, but 3Com still has a long way to go, if it plans to displace Cisco in the enterprise market.

    “From a product perspective, this is a good move for them,” says Kerravala. “But their success isn’t really predicated on a single product or a series of products. It’s really dependent on whether they can get the North American market to accept them as a viable player. A lot of people were stuck after they exited this market before.”

    <div class="comment-container" data-component="sharebar" data-sharebar-options='"title":"3Com challenges Cisco with security strategy","description":"The company ups the ante against Cisco Systems in the enterprise networking market with a new Internet Protocol security strategy.\r

    website

    Posted on

    Putin moves on Donbass but signals deeper designs on Ukraine

    By Mark Trevelyan

    Feb 22 (Reuters) – President Vladimir Putin has shifted the Ukraine crisis into a new, more dangerous phase with a barrage of words and actions that suggest his ultimate aims go far deeper than extending Russian sway over two struggling separatist regions.

    Putin signed friendship treaties on Monday night with the so-called Donetsk and amanslot Lugansk people’s republics proclaimed by Russian-backed separatists in eastern Ukraine, in a move denounced as illegal by the West and met with immediate sanctions, including on Russian banks and a major new gas pipeline.

    But it was the extraordinary televised speech preceding the signing that offered deeper clues to Putin’s thinking, as he twisted centuries of history into an hour-long diatribe portraying Ukraine as an artificial nation with no tradition of statehood.

    Kremlin watchers said his lecture looked like an attempt to justify deeper aggression against Ukraine and a possible new invasion, eight years after he captured and annexed Crimea.

    “He has questioned the right to sovereignty of Ukraine and he’s declared that this was a historic mistake, a historic accident that Ukraine is existing,” said Gerhard Mangott, a professor at Austria’s Innsbruck University and member of a group of Russia experts that meets yearly with Putin.

    “So it’s most likely that his final ambition is to destroy this Ukrainian state, or at least make Ukraine divide into two separate halves,” he said, with Russia controlling the eastern part of the country.

    In significant follow-up comments on Tuesday, Putin said he was recognising the entire Donetsk and Luhansk regions of east Ukraine, amanslot which together comprise an area known as the Donbass, as forming their breakaway “republics,” even though only a fraction of that territory is controlled by the separatists.

    With Russia affirming the right under its new treaties to send in troops and build military bases, that opens up the risk it could enter an open war with Ukraine to extend the separatist territories.

    “AT A LOSS”

    Putin has always denied planning to reinvade Ukraine but his huge military build-up on its borders since November has prompted brutal falls in Russian shares, government bonds and the rouble.His latest moves have heightened anxiety among the Russian elite.

    “We´re all at a loss. We´re all very nervous. No one knows what the endgame is,” said a former high-placed official.

    Putin’s latest move has killed off any lingering hopes of ending the eight-year separatist war in Ukraine by reviving peace agreements signed in 2014 and 2015 – an ominous shift from diplomacy towards force.

    “By abandoning the Minsk agreements, Russia has deprived itself of one avenue of potential long-term political leverage over Ukraine and will now be seeking another one,” said Oleg Ignatov, senior analyst for Russia at International Crisis Group.

    In his speech, Putin looked like a man who, after more than two decades as Russia’s paramount leader, is thinking more about his legacy than about the casualties and economic costs that a full-scale war with Ukraine would entail.

    It followed comments from British Prime Minister Boris Johnson this week that Putin might not be thinking logically and sanctions might not deter an “irrational actor”.Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte described him as “totally paranoid”.

    “We’ve seen a shift from Putin (as) the kind of pragmatic, rational calculating leader, to someone who is increasingly looking for their place in history, who sees themself on a historical mission to right injustices,” said Neil Melvin of the RUSI think-tank in London.

    That led to a shift in Putin’s risk calculus where the short-term costs of his actions paled into insignificance compared to the bigger historical picture, he said.

    Melvin, who recently returned from meetings with senior Russian officials in Moscow, said the Ukraine crisis was only beginning to unfold.

    “To be frank, you don’t station 200,000 troops on the border with Ukraine and invoke the biggest crisis in European security for 40 years if all you’re trying to do is extend your control over two small territories that you already control,” he said.

    The next stage would be determined by the entry of Russian forces into Donetsk and Luhansk and possible moves to expand into wider territory, depending on how Ukraine responds.

    2 weeks ago

    “I think that’s what we need to look for now,” Melvin said.”It’s how will the trigger be pulled for this wider military incursion?” (Additional reporting by Catherine Belton, writing by Mark Trevelyan, editing by Tim Ahmann)