BRATISLAVA Cheap Nike Air Max 2017 Outlet , May 24 (Xinhua) -- Slovak pupils are below the average in OECD countries in terms of financial literacy, according to the results of the 2015 PISA financial literacy assessment of 15-year-old students, the Slovak Education, Science, Research and Sport Ministry said on Wednesday.
Slovakia scored 445 points, while the OECD average was 489. Chinese pupils topped the list by scoring 566 points. Of the 15 participating countries Cheap Nike Air Max Outlet , only pupils from Chile, Peru and Brazil posted worse performances than Slovak students.
The 2015 PISA study further revealed that more than one third (34.7 percent) of Slovak pupils are low performers in financial literacy and thus belong to the so-called risk group.
"This means that 34.7 percent of our pupils aren't able to solve and apply in practice issues and problems concerning financial matters. Moreover, the proportion of Slovak pupils in the risk group is 12.4-percent higher than the OECD average," stated the Slovak ministry.
Slovakia took part in the OECD's PISA financial literacy assessment for the second time by testing a selected sample of 1,540 15-year-old from 292 schools across the country.
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WASHINGTON, Feb. 11 (Xinhua) -- In her first testimony to the Congress, U.S. Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen reiterated central bank's plan to taper its stimulus exit despite recent weakness in the economy.
The current economic situation and outlook, as well as the monetary policy, were the main focus of the hearing held twice a year.
Yellen told lawmakers she expected "a great deal of continuity" in the central bank's monetary policy, saying that she served on the Fed policy-setting committee as the bank formulated its current policy strategy and she strongly supported that strategy.
Yellen Cheap Air Max 2018 Outlet , 67, took the oath of office to lead the Federal Reserve System on Feb. 3, succeeding Ben Bernanke, who stepped down after eight turbulent years. She was previously the Fed's vice Chair.
In the public debut in her new role, Yellen said while the economy gained steam at the end of 2013, recovery in the U.S. labor market was "far from complete Cheap Air Max 2017 Outlet ," underscoring the importance of considering more than just the unemployment rate when evaluating the conditions of the labor market.
Her point of keeping an eye on wider range of labor indicators is particularly important as the unemployment rate, now at 6.6 percent, is near the 6.5 percent threshold the Fed once identified as the level that would need to be reached before officials would consider a hike in the interest rates.
"If coming information broadly supports the Committee's expectation of ongoing improvement in labor market conditions and inflation moving back toward its long-run objective, the Committee will likely reduce the pace of asset purchases in further measured steps at future meetings," Yellen indicated steady pullback in Fed stimulus, referring to the Federal Open Market Committee Cheap Air Max Outlet , which sets monetary policy.
While admitting she was "surprised" by the two recent jobs reports that showed the pace of job creation running under what she had expected, Yellen cautioned against jumping to conclusions of the longer trend. She told the Congress that the Fed needs to see a "notable change" in the economic outlook to consider pausing its withdrawal of stimulus.
The Fed trimmed its monthly purchases of Treasury and mortgage- backed securities by a total of 10 billion dollars in both December and January, citing strengthening economy and continued improvement in the labor market.
The Fed policymakers have suggested they would continue to reduce the bond buying, which now totals 65 billion dollars a month, at a similar pace at each Fed meeting and end it by the end of 2014, provided the economy develops generally in line with expectations.
Yellen also highlighted the Fed's financial regulatory role Cheap Nike Air Max Vapormax Mens , saying that the work of making the financial system more robust " has not yet been completed."
by Hamada Hattab, Omer Othmani
GAZA, Feb. 25 (Xinhua) -- Palestinian Nermine Dimiati, 28-year-old fashion designer of Gaza, was wholly engaged in her little atelier in the city, scissoring colorful pieces of cloths and fabrics trying to turn it into fashionable garments and women's dresses and gowns.
Almost every day Cheap Nike Air Max 2018 Mens , the smart woman receives her customers at her humble atelier in a Gaza apartment she has recently rented for her small project, which has always been her dream since she was a child. There are six other workers in the small atelier, and all of them are university graduates in the Gaza Strip.
"The idea has been always in my mind since I was a kid. I always like very much scissoring clothes and dream to change the models and fashions of my clothes," she said as she was measuring the size of one of her customers, who came to the atelier to design a new dress.
The professional fashion designer went on saying that "when I grew up, the idea of fashion designing developed by looking at so many pictures and images on the Internet and various worldwide fashion design websites."
Dimiati Cheap Nike Air Max 2017 Mens , who earned her bachelor's degree in history from one of the Gaza universities, held two exhibitions for her products and she really wanted to market them abroad. She said that she has her own Facebook page on which she publishes pictures of her dresses.