Palestinian media say Israeli strikes on the Gaza Strip killed 24 people, including children and a paramedic, on Wednesday. They cited local sources as saying that one of the Israeli attacks targeted tents sheltering displaced people in the Khan Younis area. The Israeli military said on the same day that it carried out a strike targeting the Islamic group Hamas in response to what it called a blatant violation of a ceasefire agreement. The military said Hamas militants opened fire at Israeli troops in northern Gaza and severely injured a reserve officer. The ceasefire between Israel and Hamas went into effect last October as the first phase of a peace plan. But Israel has carried out strikes intermittently, accusing Hamas of violating the agreement. Health authorities in Gaza said on Wednesday that the death toll since the start of the ceasefire had reached 556. Hamas said in a statement that the ongoing Israeli strikes constitute a "deliberate sabotage of efforts to solidify the ceasefire." It called for international pressure to halt the attacks. There has been some progress in the Gaza peace plan as the Rafah border crossing with Egypt partially reopened earlier this week. But the number of deaths in the enclave is on the rise amid continuing Israeli strikes.
Quiz 1: According to Palestinian media, what did Israeli strikes on the Gaza Strip target on Wednesday? A. Hamas militants directly B. Tents sheltering displaced people in the Khan Younis area C. The Rafah border crossing with Egypt D. Israeli troops in northern Gaza
Quiz 2: Why did the Israeli military say they carried out a strike in Gaza? A. To solidify the ceasefire agreement B. To partially reopen the Rafah border crossing C. In response to Hamas militants opening fire and severely injuring a reserve officer D. To deliberately sabotage efforts to maintain peace
Quiz 3: What is the reported death toll in Gaza since the start of the ceasefire, according to health authorities? A. 556 B. 24 C. 1000 D. 100
[Answer block] Answers: Quiz 1: B Quiz 2: C Quiz 3: A
The US administration of President Donald Trump has announced the withdrawal of 700 federal officers, including those from Immigration and Customs Enforcement, from the state of Minnesota. The Trump administration sent the officers to the Midwestern state to crack down on illegal immigrants. But two fatal shootings by federal agents, one of a woman on January 7 and another of a man on January 24, have triggered protests. As criticism mounted, the Trump-appointed border czar who is in charge of the enforcement operation, Tom Homan, announced on Wednesday that 700 personnel would immediately be withdrawn, citing increased collaboration with local officials. Homan said they "took a lot of public safety threats off the street," and that he is optimistic they will achieve even more in the coming days to make the city safer. But he said around 2,000 officers will remain until the operation is complete. Minnesota Governor Tim Walz posted on social media: "Operation Metro Surge is not making Minnesota safer. Today's announcement is a step in the right direction, but we need a faster and larger drawdown of forces."
Okay, here are three four-choice quizzes based on the provided article, strictly following your specified format.
Quiz 1: Why did the Trump administration initially send federal officers to Minnesota? A. To provide disaster relief following a natural disaster. B. To crack down on illegal immigrants. C. To assist local law enforcement with traffic control. D. To offer job training programs to unemployed citizens.
Quiz 2: What prompted the announcement of the withdrawal of federal officers from Minnesota? A. A decrease in illegal immigration. B. A successful collaborative effort with local officials. C. Two fatal shootings by federal agents triggering protests. D. A request from Minnesota's federal representatives.
Quiz 3: According to Tom Homan, what did the officers accomplish during their operation in Minnesota? A. They removed significant public safety threats. B. They successfully reduced the state's population. C. They increased collaboration with state legislators. D. They facilitated a larger influx of legal immigrants.
[Answer block] Answers: Quiz 1: B Quiz 2: C Quiz 3: A
Employee accused of not being devoted enough to his work.
The punctuality of trains in Japan is famous all over the world, but that level of efficiency doesn’t just happen by chance. It’s the result of a lot of hard work under very strict conditions that some would consider unbearable. Case in point is the matter of a train driver for JR Hokkaido for “not devoting himself to his work,” as the railway put it. At about 5 p.m. on 7 October, a train was stopped at Otaru Station, when a passenger spotted the driver reading a book and reported it to the company. This was a “local” train, meaning a train that stops at all stations along a line, as opposed to an “express” train, which only stops at major stations. Because of this system, sometimes local trains will stop for extended periods of time at lesser-used stations while express trains get the right of way to zoom through. In this case, the train was scheduled to wait at Otaru Station for eight minutes before setting off again, so the driver decided to kill some time with a book. ▼ They say you haven’t truly lived in Japan until you’ve been late for something because you got on the wrong kind of train.
Not only that, but the book he brought in to read was about railways. The driver admitted that he had done so before in the past too, and that he takes the opportunity to relax for a moment when he has the time. No incidents or delays occurred as a result, but JR Hokkaido apologized for the concern it caused among passengers. Readers of the news online were largely defending the driver in their comments and condemning the person who tipped off JR Hokkaido about the reading. However, there were a few who felt what the driver did was inappropriate for a workplace. “Let him do what he wants when the train is stopped. Why would someone rat on him?” “People who report every little thing like that are really annoying.” “There’s no safety issue, so let him read a book.” “You’re not supposed to read at work.” “What’s wrong with a train driver reading about trains in his spare time?” “Nobody cares.” “He loves trains so much he reads about them while driving them.” “Does everyone think reading at work is a joke? Do you read books at work?” It’s probably safe to say a lot of people read books during their downtime while on the job. It seems better that he was engaged in something during that time as well, rather than just staring at his console to make sure it doesn’t fly away. That being said, in addition to the foibles of certain drivers, JR Hokkaido was hit with an “enhanced safety inspection system” audit by the national transport ministry and Hokkaido Transport Bureau earlier this year. This is a polite way of saying the leash has been tightened on the railway after a string of problems regarding insufficient track maintenance and safety measures were found. Knowing that, it should be no surprise they aren’t taking even the slightest inconsistencies lightly. Source: HTB News, YouTube/STVニュース北海道 Top image: Pakutaso Insert image: Pakutaso ● Want to hear about SoraNews24’s latest articles as soon as they’re published? Follow us on Facebook and Twitter!
A unique way to see some very different Tokyo neighborhoods. Tokyo Big Sight is Tokyo’s premier convention center, and as such you might expect it to be located in the middle of downtown Tokyo. The reality, though, is that Big Sight is located out on an island in Tokyo Bay. It’s still within the Tokyo city limits, though, which had us wondering, how long would it take to walk from Tokyo Station, which is in the city center, to Tokyo Big Sight? Before we get started, we should clarify that Big Sight does have rail stations close to the venue, two of them, in fact (Tokyo Big Sight Station on the Yurikamome Line and Kokusai Tenjijo Station on the Rinkai Line), so this walk isn’t a mandatory part of visiting Big Sight to attend Comiket, the Japan Mobility Show/Tokyo Motor Show, or any of the other events Big Sight hosts. But if the trains happen to be shut down, or if you just find yourself in the mood for some urban exploring, how doable is it?
To find out, we started by exiting Tokyo Station via the Yaesu Central Exit, at 10:37 in the morning. From here we needed to head southeast until we got to Tokyo Bay, then cross over part of its waters to get to the Ariake neighborhood, where Big Sight is located.
Despite the distance we were going to be walking, it’s actually pretty easy to navigate from Tokyo Station to Big Sight, as Tokyo Metropolitan Road Route 304 will take you almost the entire way, with just a few turns to make at the beginning and end. The closest place from Tokyo Station to pick up Tokyo Metropolitan Road Route 304 is near Yurakucho Station, so that’s our first en-route destination.
“Yurakucho” might not be a name that international travelers are all that familiar with, but the Yurakucho neighborhood blends into Ginza, one of Japan’s swankiest fashion and shopping districts, so you’ll start spotting fancy department stores and brand-name luxury designer shops as you get closer to Yurakucho Station, which is about a 12-minute walk from Tokyo Station. ▼ From Tokyo Station to Urakucho Station
The Yurakucho subway station is underground, but you can spot the stylized “M” mark of the Tokyo Metro at the top of the entrance stairs.
For our purpose of walking to Big Sight, though, we don’t need to go down into Yurakucho Station. Instead, this is where we can start following Route 304, in the direction towards the Toyosu and Harumi neighborhoods.
We’re going to be on Route 304 for quite a while, which means a pretty big transition in the vibe about 14 minutes later…
…when we get to the Tsukiji neighborhood. Although Tsukiji is no longer the home of Tokyo’s central fish market, many of the vendors that make up the “outer market” are still in business, as are dozens of fantastic sushi and seafood restaurants, so this is still a major attraction for local and traveling foodies alike. ▼ From Yurakucho Station to Tsukiji
From here, we’re just a couple of blocks away from Tokyo Bay, so we’re going to stay on Route 304 and cross over Kachidoki Brige.
Once you get past Tsukiji, you enter into a part of the city that doesn’t get a lot of tourist traffic, and you also get some clear lines of sight across the water that make for cool photo spots.
Look up, and you’ll see plenty of high-rise offices and condominium towers,
We’ve got a few more bridges to cross on our way to Big Sight, with the largest of which is called Harumi Ohashi, or the “Great Harumi Bridge.”
We’re now about 20 minutes past Tsukiji, and from up on the bridge we can indulge in a little plane-spotting, since we’re not far from the flight path for Haneda Airport…
…and we can also take in the view of the Rainbow Bridge, which connects central Tokyo with the Odaiba neighborhood, which is also on an island in Tokyo Bay.
▼ From Tsukiji to the Harumi Ohashi bridge
Once on the other side of bridge, we’re finally in Koto, the ward of Tokyo that Big Sight is located in!
Now it’s time to get off Route 304, as we hang a right and walk along the sidewalk that parallels the elevated Yurikamome Line. At the next intersection we’ll come to Shijomae Station, the closest stop to the Toyosu fish market that replaced Tsukiji’s, and here we turn left.
After making this turn, we keep walking and can see Ariake Arena off to our left…
…and pass right by the Ariake Garden shopping center.
After crossing the pedestrian overpass that goes over the expressway, we get to the Doubletree by Hilton Tokyo Ariake hotel…
…and heading back down to the surface street, we’re only another eight minutes away…
…from Big Sight!
▼ From Harumi Ohashi bridge to Big Sight
Checking or watch, we saw that it was now 12:07 p.m., meaning that we’d been walking for a total of exactly 1 hour and 30 minutes. That’s obviously not a quick little stroll, and with the trip by train from Tokyo Station to Big Sight only taking 20 minutes, we wouldn’t recommend making the journey on foot if you’re in a hurry, or if you’re laden down with all sorts of merch or memorabilia from whatever convention you just got done attending.
Our ace reporter learns that the fried balls of octopus in Kansai are not quite what he expected.
Many people associate the Kansai region of Japan with takoyaki, the quintessential savory street-food snack of Osaka. Balls of batter are filled with chunks of octopus and cooked on a special indented griddle. They’re then served pipping hot, often with a variety of toppings such as sauce and bonito flakes. Now, our Japanese-language reporter Mr. Sato grew up in Shimane Prefecture, which may seem close to Osaka to people from Tokyo, but it’s actually quite far. The food culture is also nothing alike between the regions. Thinking back on it, Mr. Sato can count on one hand the number of takoyaki specialty shops in the city where he grew up. The snack was usually something that he purchased from food stands during summer festivals. Recently, on his way back from a work trip in Wakayama Prefecture, he decided to make a quick stop in Osaka’s Namba district. Before long he found himself inside of the Namba NamNam underground shopping complex, and an intriguing sign suddenly came into his view. ▼ “Aizuya: The birthplace of takoyaki”
Yes, it turns out that this restaurant, Aizuya, claims to have invented one of Japan’s most beloved snacks. It has even been featured in a Michelin Guide as a “B-Class Gourmet” food recommendation for Osaka. A steady stream of customers was going in and out of the restaurant despite it being after lunchtime, so Mr. Sato took that as a good sign. He walked inside and was greeted by a menu that showed the different size options for Aizuya’s original takoyaki, ranging from 8 pieces for 500 yen (US$3.30) to 20 pieces for 1,150 yen.
You might think that a restaurant specializing in one dish would make it easy for him to decide on his order, but he was wavering because there was actually than just takoyaki on the menu. For instance, he would probably enjoy the combo meal that came with octopus sashimi, or the one that came with oeuf mayo (simply put, a small dish of egg and mayo). There was also a set with salted yakisoba and another that came with Osaka craft beer.
But wait, because there were also four types of specialty takoyaki and five octopus-less types dubbed “radioyaki” filled with other meats and seafood that were cooked to order. Radioyaki is said to be the precursor to takoyaki that was also invented by Aizuya.
Another featured menu item was a series of akashiyaki, round balls made of egg and flour with various fillings that originated in nearby Akashi, Hyogo Prefecture.
Mr. Sato was completely lost at this point and stared at the menu for about 10 minutes in desperation. Eventually, his brain’s gears swung into action and he decided the smartest choice would be to order one of the three variety course offerings to compare and contrast more than one menu item. He decided to spring for the B course, which came with six small dishes for 1,800 yen.
While waiting for the takoyaki to cook, he quenched his thirst by ordering a mixed fruit juice for 450 yen. This juice is said to have originated at Sennariya Coffee in Osaka’s Shinsekai district and is now considered to be another local specialty.
The first batch of his food arrived! It was eight pieces of the original takoyaki. While takoyaki usually comes with some sauce and other toppings, it was clear that Aizuya wanted to showcase the premium taste and texture of its dish by serving it unadorned.
Taking a bite, Mr. Sato noted the seasoning incorporated throughout the dough. It was curious because this version was a little different than the mental image and taste of takoyaki that he knows–which, to him, should be slightly bigger, more doughy balls like the kind served at popular takoyaki chain Gindaco. If these truly were the original takoyaki, though, his eyes and taste buds would have to stand corrected. They were crispy on the outside, fluffy on the inside, and had a airy overall quality–nothing like a lump of flour.
It was a good thing they were light, since he had five more dishes coming as part of his course meal. Each of the remaining dishes was from the radioyaki section of the menu and came as four pieces each. In other words, he had 28 pieces of food in total. Maybe the courses weren’t meant for only one person–but thankfully, Mr. Sato is no ordinary person when his stomach is concerned.
From left to right going clockwise, the remaining types were Aizuya’s original radioyaki (filled with beef sinew, konnyaku, and green onions), fatty pork radioyaki, chicken radioyaki, pork asparagus radioyaki, and buttered scallop radioyaki. Mr. Sato had had no idea that this older cousin of takoyaki could be filled with so many things other than octopus, and they were all really good. Ultimately, however, he still liked octopus the best, and decided that it was inevitable that radioyaki had evolved into takoyaki about 90 years ago.
If you were to prioritize different automated testing initiatives, unit testing would be in the top five spots. It is a central component of modern digital application QA initiatives. Unit testing ensures granular stability and resilience for any large digital application by validating the performance of its component modules.
However, over the years, software testing teams have adopted several different approaches. The diversity in approaches may prove to be confusing and challenging for enterprises when they decide on a unit testing strategy today.
Hence, it is important to know in detail about the best practices for unit testing in detail. But before going into the best practices, it is important to have a clear understanding of itself and ensure that all stakeholders within the enterprise are on the same page while discussing and agreeing upon the best practices.
What is Unit Testing? In simple terms, unit testing refers to the testing of modular or functional units of a larger software application, done in isolation from other modules.
It tests the resilience, performance, and capacity of individual functional units in real-life conditions. The primary aim of unit testing is to ensure that their actual behavior aligns with their expected behavior.
QA teams conduct this testing without connecting the module to other external entities like databases, libraries, and file systems. In other words, each module is considered a small program that can run on its own and exhibits a diverse set of behavior for every operational scenario. With unit testing, developers get a clear idea of how their individual code blocks perform. It allows them to make quick adjustments in the event of any unexpected behavior.
Why is Unit Testing Important? As the digital economy expands, the traditional focus on software testing and quality assurance is no longer an acceptable standard for enabling the best customer experience.
Every strategic approach in software testing needs to be given its due share of importance and allocated resources, both manpower, and tools, to facilitate seamless execution. While many leaders may stress giving more priority to areas like acceptance testing, the reality is that every test approach deserves a special focus as any let-downs may impact overall application quality.
Since more businesses are opt for cloud-based microservices architecture for their applications, there is an increased focus on the granular stability of the application. Testing cloud-based apps with microservices architecture are important, and unit testing finds a very crucial role in this regard.
With unit testing, developers can have more control over their individual code block quality before integrating different components and then sent for regression testing. Also, it is easier to identify and rectify mistakes or defects at the code level. This helps enterprises save costs significantly when compared to discovering defects later in the development cycle.
What Are the Best Practices for ServiceNow Test Management? 6 Best Practices for Unit Testing-ACCELQ Now that you have a clear idea of what is unit testing and why enterprises need to focus on implementation, it is time to learn about the best practices.
We have outlined six major best practices for unit testing that will guarantee better results and ensure profitable and sustainable testing coverage for your application development projects.
Create reliable and clear unit tests The first step to building a great unit testing practice is to write reliable unit tests. The test suite must be able to report the unexpected or suspicious behavior observed during testing. It should not be considered to simply report the stage at which the these test succeeds in delivering an expected output or outcome.
Mandate automation in unit testing Manual bias may often create unsatisfactory test results. It can lead to future complications if defects detection isn’t in the early stages. It is important to mandate automated testing strategies in your technology operations to prevent this situation. Automated unit testing delivers faster feedback and provides significantly higher code coverage and controlled parallel processing of test cases. It allows test engineers to work more efficiently with less time.
Prioritize attention to use cases One of the critical aims of unit testing is to ensure that the code is easily maintainable. Moreover, ensure that new developers can understand it without any issues. By focusing on a single use case at a time and prioritizing the rest in sequence, it is easier to validate outcomes against expected results.
Speed up tests with better isolation You should carry out Unit tests should in isolation without depending on other tests and mocking external dependencies. Making them simpler and independent modules can help in faster code coverage. Automation can boost it further. All these measures help to speed up the test activity. This is a critical factor that makes unit testing more appealing for developers. If it consume too much time, it will be tough to convince developers to wait long to push their code into the next stage.
Integrate unit testing into the build process While developers following a Test Driven Development (TDD) model will provide sufficient coverage for unit testing, it is always best to make it a part of the build process for additional safety. While going in for end-to-end test automation,the build process will ensure that all unit tests are executed. And will also notify the respective stakeholders about any failure when any test fails.
Follow distinguishable and simple test nomenclature Test activities are also a stage for documentation of process workflows. If every unit test is named in a standard convention that explains the scenario being tested, it will be easier to document. The further use of these cases across the organization when different stakeholders are trained on applications also becomes easy. The naming convention also enables better identification of defect causes for other test approaches like integration testing, acceptance testing, etc.
Conclusion Unit testing will be a critical component of modern application quality assurance initiatives. Facilitating a seamless execution of unit testing is what many enterprises will find hard to achieve. This is where automation of test activities can be a lifesaver.
Book a demo to know how ACCELQ can help you automate your end-to-end test initiatives.
