["Tips for making academic meetings valuable and productive" (insidehighered.com)] With such impositions on their time, faculty members would have meager time left for research and academic-related endeavors such as service-learning and community engagement. Were those meetings productive? ["Making Meetings Productive: Adding 'Meeting Skills' To Your Leadership Credentials" (corporate learning network. Productive meetings ensure accurate information dispersal to move the organization toward its vision and mission. In these pandemic times, "remote workforce realities need productive meetings."

BEFORE taking up a workable strategy for banishing officious stock phrases from our written and spoken English, I am first presenting a chart of the most irksome 33 stock phrases that creep into our memos and reports, with us not even realizing it. In 2013, while running a series of columns discouraging the use of very officious stock phrases in English, I received a very illuminating response from a Tanzania-based Forum member, Mwita Chacha:He wrote:"I agree that the best way to effectively get our ideas across is by making our sentences as precise as possible. In degree of formality, the English language register has six categories: very formal, rigid, bureaucratic language; formal, ceremonious, carefully precise language; neutral, objective, impartial language; informal, casual language; very informal, very casual language; and intimate, very personal and private language. It just so happens that over the centuries, the legal profession has developed a variety of English that's pejoratively called legalese, an officious language that can be roughly classified between very formal and formal language. Read this essay and listen to its voice recording in The Manila Times: "Avoiding very officious stock phrases in our English – 2"Next, Oct. 19, 2023: Using appositives for texture and depthVisit Jose Carillo's English Forum, http://josecarilloforum.com.

THE Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) on Wednesday said it is ready to evacuate Filipinos who were affected by the ongoing war between Israel and Palestinian Islamist group, Hamas. At a Palace press conference, AFP Spokesman Medel Aguilar said two C-130 and one C-295 aircraft were placed on standby and ready for deployment should the Philippine government need the military to bring home distressed overseas Filipinos in the conflict area. Aguilar said the AFP will send the aircraft to two identified "airports of embarkation" where the overseas Filipinos could gather and be fetched. Authorities confirmed that at least two Filipinos have been killed amid the ongoing conflict between Israeli forces and the Hamas group. Data from the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) said that there were more than 30,000 Filipinos in Israel and over 100 in the Gaza Strip.

Seventeen-year-old boy Matthew Tsang Hin-chit from Diocesan Boys’ School was completely naked when he was found in a bush near Lo Shu Tin in Shatin, according to rescuers. It was learned that there was no response from Tsang when rescuers shouted his name before they located him. Rescuers then asked why he stayed near a stream, and Tsang replied, "Because I have water to drink here." The Fire Services said they faced enormous challenges during the rescue operation due to the uncertainty of Tsang's route and the extreme weather including the typhoon. (Updated at 7.41 pm)Also read: Diocesan Boys' School student missing for 7 days found alive in Shatin

Stacy ShiVolunteers handed out green ribbons in Central yesterday to mark World Mental Health Day after four-years' absence due to the pandemic. The campaign, organized by Obsessive Compulsive Disorder and Anxiety Support HK, aims to foster awareness for people struggling with mental health. People were encouraged to don a touch of green or simply wear the green ribbons to show their support of the cause. According to Mental Health Hong Kong, one in every seven people experiences a common mental disorder at any given time. Meanwhile, the Department of Health yesterday encouraged the public to support World Mental Health Day by understanding mental health issues, accepting people with mental health needs and building an inclusive society.

PHOTO FROM THE ASSOCIATED PRESSParis has hosted the Summer Olympic Games twice in 1900 and 1924. Paris' first hosting of the Olympic Games in 1900 was part of the Exposition Universelle (World's Fair). An Olympic documentary, "Olympic Century," described the first Paris Olympics as being "in shambles" and is only notable for the inclusion of women to the program for the first time. Paris bid for the Olympic Games in 1992, 2008 and 2012, but lost out to Barcelona, Beijing and London, respectively. In 2015 Paris bid again to host the Olympic Games.

A 58-minute delay for a blood transfusion severely damaged her brain from oxygen deprivation, leading to her vegetative state. "This is a civil case and the settlement means that the authority will compensate for clinical liabilities in this medical blunder," the father said. When asked if he was satisfied with the settlement, he said: "No amount of money would ever make me satisfied. He noted that the settlement could probably fund Chau's future medical expenses but he was more concerned that Chau's daily life and after-life arrangements would be left unattended. I don't know if I can hug Tin-yu eight or 10 years from now," the teary father said.

Flower prices seen to go upVendors prepare bouquets and other flower arrangements at the Dangwa Flower Market in Manila on Oct. 26, 2021 for people who will visit their departed loved ones at various cemeteries before All Souls' Day. Ela-Mar Flower Shop manager Alvin Esteban and Joji’s Flower Shop owner Jinky Berdin told The STAR that many farmers were affected by typhoons, resulting in the wholesale price of flowers declining. Esteban explained that the prices of flowers and flower arrangements will depend on the supply from Baguio City, where flower plantations were destroyed. “We are just starting to recover (after the COVID-19 pandemic), but recently, the flowers (prices) went up after flower plantations (in Baguio City) were destroyed,” he said, noting that ready-made flower arrangements are currently sold for as low as P100 to P400. If there is big demand but the supply is limited, that’s the time there is an increase in the prices,” she explained.

State of warAt least once in your lifetime, you must visit Israel, according to a tourism marketing slogan of the country. There’s also the fascinating history of the Jewish state – how people fleeing centuries of murderous persecution culminating in the Holocaust carved a prosperous nation out of forbidding desert. Being aware of the history of the Palestinians, I also sympathize with their aspiration for their own state. For those with no emotional attachment to the conflict, the bigger concern is the impact of the war on already elevated fuel prices. “Stop the war” and “war is hell” may seem like melodramatic slogans mouthed by pot-smoking peaceniks, but not in this case.

VICE President Sara Duterte paid a courtesy visit to the executive minister of the Iglesia ni Cristo, Bro. Eduardo Manalo, last October 2 at the INC Central Temple in Quezon City. The visit was reported by INC-run television station NET 25 in its primetime news program on Monday, October 9. PHOTO FROM PNAAccording to the report, Duterte was "warmly received" by Manalo in his office and congratulated her for her work as vice president and secretary of Education. Meanwhile, Manalo also received Deputy Speaker and Pampanga 2nd District Rep. Gloria Macapagal Arroyo last October 6 also at the INC Central Temple.

THE National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) sought the issuance of a precautionary hold departure order (PHDO) against the leader and members of an alleged religious cult in Surigao del Norte on charges filed against them before the Department of Justice (DoJ). They were accused of "violation of Section 4 in relation to Section 6 of Republic Act No. But Justice Secretary Jesus Crispin Remulla ordered them transferred to the DoJ for preliminary investigation for security reasons. Clavano said the NBI "adopted the investigation initially conducted by the Commission on Human Rights (CHR). Once a criminal case is filed against the accused, a subsequent hold departure order (HDO) will be issued.

A construction worker was killed after falling off a 4-meter height while working on scaffolding in Yau Ma Tei. The incident happened at around 2 pm at a construction site at To Wah Road, with the worker said to be on cabling work. He sustained head injuries and was rushed to Queen Elizabeth Hospital, where he was later certified dead. Police and the Labour Department is currently investigating the incident.

(UPDATE) WITH the historic Asian Games gold medal run in the just-concluded men's basketball tournament, the next question now is will the San Miguel Corp. (SMC) bloc continue supporting the Gilas Pilipinas team in future international competitions? Gilas team manager Alfrancis Chua, who serves as SMC sports director, shared that the first thing all basketball stakeholders will have to do at this point is go back to the drawing board and check their respective schedules. Tim Cone celebrates with members of GIlas Pilipinas AFP PHOTOFor one, the PBA, according to Chua, already made its own sacrifices by taking a five-month break from competition to give way to Gilas' participation in the 2023 FIBA World Cup and the Asian Games in Hangzhou, China. The other windows will be held in November 2024, and February 2025 in a home-and-away format. Chua stressed that asking the PBA again to lend its players won't work since the pro league's own tournament will be ongoing at that point.

Xi Jinping and Chuck Schumer agree on the need to improve relations. AFP Xi Jinping attends a bilateral meeting with the US delegation in Beijing. AP Previous NextPresident Xi Jinping said China-US ties would impact the "destiny of mankind," as he met with a group of American senators in Beijing yesterday. Senate majority leader Chuck Schumer is the latest high-level American official to visit China amid tensions between the two countries, leading a six-person delegation. "We have 1,000 reasons to improve China-US relations, but not one reason to ruin them," he added, describing China-US ties as "the most important bilateral relationship in the world."

THE government of Uttar Pradesh, a state in northern India, recently organized the first edition of the Uttar Pradesh International Trade Show (Upits) at the India Expo Centre in Greater Noida from September 20 to 25. The Philippine delegation poses at the Uttar Pradesh International Trade Show at the India Expo Centre in Greater Noida. Upits was the brainchild of Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Shri Yogi Adityanath, who said the local government had always been campaigning for economic prosperity. Adityanath added that Uttar Pradesh ranked second in terms of ease of doing business. "I hope the [Uttar Pradesh] International Trade Show, which is co-organized by the government of Uttar Pradesh and the world-famous India Exposition Mart Ltd., will provide a great business platform to all levels of enterprises in Uttar Pradesh and help them prosper business-wise while also contributing to the state's goal of achieving a US$1-trillion economy in upcoming years," Adityanath said.