The Edge of Climate Change
|James Brooke||December 3rd 2012|
Could climate change turn the Russian Arctic into a northern alternative to the Suez Canal ?Some Russians think so, as they add up the results from their Arctic summer shipping season, which closed on November 28. There were a record 47 crossings by ships moving cargo between Asia and Europe -- almost 12 times the number of two years ago.
The difference? Melting Arctic ice. In September, American satellites recorded the greatest shrinkage of Arctic ice since record-keeping started 33 years ago. This summer, ice retreated to 3.4 million square kilometers -- about half the average levels recorded in the 1980s and 1990s.
With more open water, U.S. hydrologists predict that cargo volumes will increase this decade by 50 times from this year's level. For northern Europe, the Russian Arctic route can cut 7,000 kilometers off the standard trip to Asia through Egypt's Suez Canal. Read more ..
Obama's Second Term
|R. Jeffrey Smith||December 3rd 2012|
The Center for Public Integrity
Read more ..
The Pentagon’s budget is almost assuredly going down in coming years, under heavy pressure from those who wish to trim the federal deficit and see the agency – whose budget increased by two-thirds over the last decade – as a ripe target. But it also looks like a specific weapon system, the nation’s stockpile of nuclear warheads, is also headed down, with Barack Obama’s reelection.
This is not a great surprise. Obama promised in a 2009 speech in Prague, after all, that the U.S.-Russian arms control treaty he was then negotiating “will set the stage for further cuts.” But the administration’s planning was not detailed publicly before the election to avoid creating controversy.
Now that the voting is past, a group of independent advisers to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has publicly urged her to consider pursuing an informal accord with Russia aimed at lowering the number of nuclear weapons the two countries might deploy under existing treaties. Its report, issued Nov. 27, has also acknowledged official support for deeper cuts inside the administration.
The Edge of Terrorism
|Raymond Ibrahim||December 2nd 2012|
Around 1985, current al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri fled his homeland of Egypt, presumably never to return. From his early beginnings as a teenage leader of a small jihadi cell devoted to overthrowing Egyptian regimes (first Nasser’s then Sadat’s) until he merged forces with Osama bin Laden, expanding his objectives to include targeting the United States of America, Zawahiri never forgot his original objective: transforming Egypt into an Islamist state that upholds and enforces the totality of Sharia law, and that works towards the resurrection of a global caliphate.
This vision is on its way to being fulfilled. With Islamist political victories, culminating with a Muslim Brotherhood president, Muhammad Morsi, Egypt is taking the first major steps to becoming the sort of state Zawahiri wished to see. Zawahiri regularly congratulates Egypt’s Islamists—most recently the attacks on the U.S. embassy in Cairo—urging them to continue Islamizing the Middle East’s most strategic nation. Read more ..
The Edge of the Universe
|Barbara K. Kennedy||December 2nd 2012|
Eberly College of Science
A new paradigm for understanding the earliest eras in the history of the universe has been developed by scientists at Penn State University. Using techniques from an area of modern physics called loop quantum cosmology, developed at Penn State, the scientists now have extended analyses that include quantum physics farther back in time than ever before -- all the way to the beginning. The new paradigm of loop quantum origins shows, for the first time, that the large-scale structures we now see in the universe evolved from fundamental fluctuations in the essential quantum nature of "space-time," which existed even at the very beginning of the universe over 14 billion years ago. The achievement also provides new opportunities for testing competing theories of modern cosmology against breakthrough observations expected from next-generation telescopes. The research will be published on 11 December 2012 as an "Editor's Suggestion" paper in the scientific journal Physical Review Letters. Read more ..
The Way We Are
|Becky Linderman||December 2nd 2012|
Elsevier Health Services
Rates of childhood obesity have tripled in the past 30 years, and food marketing has been implicated as one factor contributing to this trend. Every year, companies spend more than $10 billion in the US marketing their food and beverages to children; 98 percent of the food products advertised to children on television are high in fat, sugar, or sodium. In a new study scheduled for publication in The Journal of Pediatrics, researchers used neuroimaging to study the effects of food logos on obese and healthy weight children.
Amanda S. Bruce, PhD, and colleagues from the University of Missouri-Kansas City and the University of Kansas Medical Center assessed 10 healthy weight and 10 obese children, ages 10-14 years, using both self-reported measures of self-control and functional magnetic resonance imaging, which uses blood flow as a measure of brain activity. Dr. Bruce states, "We were interested in how brain responses to food logos would differ between obese and healthy weight children." The children were shown 60 food logos and 60 nonfood logos, and functional magnetic resonance imaging scans indicated which sections of the brain reacted to the familiar logos being shown. Read more ..
The Afghanistan War
|Jim Kouri||December 2nd 2012|
Members of the al-Qaeda terror network are continuing to make a U.S. pullout from Afghanistan less likely as Defense Secretary Leon Panetta told the American press on Friday that battling the group would be a national priority well past President Barack Obama's second-term.
Secretary Panetta said that U.S. military commanders are now analyzing the number of the troops to leave in Afghanistan after the NATO combat forces leave in 2014, technically ending the war on terrorism that's lasted more than 12 years. Presently there are about 66,000 American combat troops in Afghanistan, but once the 2014 date arrives the U.S. force may drop to about 10,000. Panetta noted that Obama would decide in the coming weeks as to how many troops would remain and what their mission will be once coalition troops leave that war-torn and chaotic nation. Read more ..
The Agricultural Edge
|Steve Baragona||November 30th 2012|
The most complete map ever of wheat's genetic blueprint could provide plant breeders with new clues to improving one of the world’s most important food crops. The new map includes tens of thousands of genetic signposts on wheat's DNA molecules. These markers will help guide researchers and breeders who are working to better understand how the plant copes with salty soil or drought, for example.
Such insights, theoretically, will allow them to create better varieties of wheat much more quickly than in the past. “We knew this was a necessary thing because breeders and researchers who were working on wheat were crying out for this sort of resource,” says Mike Bevan at the U.K. research institute, the John Innes Centre. Wheat is among the world’s most widely consumed grains. And with the global population expected to reach nine billion by 2050, Bevan says efforts to improve the crop are essential. Read more ..
|Katie Natie||November 29th 2012|
For over 150 years, geologists have debated how and when one of the most dramatic features on our planet—the Grand Canyon—was formed. New data unearthed by researchers at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) builds support for the idea that conventional models, which say the enormous ravine is 5 to 6 million years old, are way off.
In fact, the Caltech research points to a Grand Canyon that is many millions of years older than previously thought, says Kenneth A. Farley, Keck Foundation Professor of Geochemistry at Caltech and coauthor of the study. "Rather than being formed within the last few million years, our measurements suggest that a deep canyon existed more than 70 million years ago," he says.
Building upon previous research by Farley's lab that showed that parts of the eastern canyon are likely to be at least 55 million years old, the team used a new method to test ancient rocks found at the bottom of the canyon's western section. Past experiments used the amount of helium produced by radioactive decay in apatite—a mineral found in the canyon's walls—to date the samples. This time around, Farley and Flowers took a closer look at the apatite grains by analyzing not only the amount but also the spatial distribution of helium atoms that were trapped within the crystals of the mineral as they moved closer to the surface of the earth during the massive erosion that caused the Grand Canyon to form. Read more ..
Destination the World
|Hannah McNeish||November 29th 2012|
A British man, Graham Hughes, says he has broken a world record by traveling to every sovereign state in the world without flying. He recently entered South Sudan; the world’s newest country and the last on the list for Hughes. Brandishing an overstuffed passport from all the visas he collected while making what he calls his “Odyssey", Graham Hughes celebrated his self-proclaimed record for being the first person to travel to 201 sovereign states.
The 33-year-old Briton, who hails from Liverpool, has been on the road for almost four years. Remarkably, he made the journey strictly by land transportation and by sea. “Today is the 1,426th day of the Odyssey expedition, which is my world-record-breaking attempt, which is to be the first person to visit every country in the world without flying," he said. Read more ..
Poland on Edge
|Ben West||November 29th 2012|
Poland's Internal Security Agency announced Nov. 20 that it had arrested "Brunon K," a chemistry professor at the Agricultural University in Krakow who allegedly planned to attack the lower house of the Polish parliament. The arrest came Nov. 9, just two days before Warsaw's annual Independence Day parade, which authorities believe could have been another target. During the arrest, authorities seized ammonium nitrate fertilizer, high-powered, military-grade explosive RDX and other bomb-making equipment. They also seized several hundred rounds of ammunition, a bulletproof vest and a pistol.
Presumably, the suspect in question is Dr. Brunon Kwiecien, who has published multiple chemistry papers at the Agricultural University in Krakow, according to a Polish academic directory. Kwiecien openly espoused anti-government views and accused the Polish government and the European Commission of tyranny. Specifically, he condemned the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement, which has angered Internet freedom activists in Europe. Read more ..
The Edge of Health
|Carol Pearson||November 27th 2012|
Most doctors tell asthma patients to stick to a regimen when taking medicine that helps control this disease. Asthma is a chronic and sometimes life-threatening lung disease that affects people around the world. There is no cure, but there are treatments. And now, global treatment guidelines for asthma could change as a result of a study led by a researcher at the University of Texas Medical Branch.
Most adults who have mild or moderate asthma are told to use their inhalers twice daily, even if they don't have symptoms. The medicine in those compressed-air inhalers are corticosteroids, which open a person's airways and decrease mucus so it's easier to breathe. Inhaled corticosteroids are the most common and the most effective form of therapy for asthma sufferers.
In an asthma attack, the airways of the lungs become inflamed and swollen. That can be triggered by a wide range of factors, some genetic, some environmental. Dust, air pollution or smoke can set off an asthma attack. Falling autumn leaves and other seasonal changes that put fine debris in the air can also trigger an attack.
Frank Grizzaffi knows this routine well. “There was a regime that I was supposed to follow, it was two puffs in the morning and two puffs in the evening,” Grizzaffi said. That was before Grizzaffi participated in a study that involved ten academic centers and more than 300 adults with mild to moderate asthma. Read more ..
|Elizabeth Tandy Shermer||November 27th 2012|
During the 2012 election, journalists and historians noted the symbolic political torch being passed from American Motors Corporation executive and Michigan governor George Romney to his son Mitt. The younger Romney was also a businessman but had forged his career as an executive and moderate Republican far outside the Motor City. And pundits generally used the pair as an illustrative example of how far the Republican center had shifted to the right since the elder Romney’s 1968 primary run. But his son’s business credentials should have given scholars more pause. Father and son dramatically symbolize the momentous shift from factories to finance, as Judith Stein recently put it.
Historians have been slow to recognize the coming of postindustrial America; probably because they have almost reflexively asserted that General Motor’s was the icon of American manufacturing. Three generations of scholars have scrutinized Detroit and its unionized, regulated auto industry, assuming them to be a microcosm of American labor, business, and politics. Yet from the vantage point of 2012, GM, Michigan, and the United Auto Workers hardly seem like templates to understand postwar capitalism. For that story, academics should be reconsidering General Electric, whose metamorphosis from Schenectady-based electronics producer to captain of global finance offers a much better lens to explore the fate of American unionism, manufacturing, and moderate Republicanism. Read more ..
|Justin Sink||November 26th 2012|
President Obama and congressional Republicans appear to be itching for a fight over U.N. Ambassador Susan Rice’s possible nomination as secretary of State. The ensuing political battle, however, comes with high risks and uncertain rewards for both sides. So far, President Obama has aggressively defended Rice from attacks by leading GOP lawmakers over her handling of the September attack on the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi, Libya.
Challenging his critics to "go after me" at his first press conference following reelection, the president has looked to display his loyalty — and a willingness to engage the GOP in his second term — in his passionate defense of a top administration official. But in doing so, Obama risks wasting his reelection political capital on a fight that might not be worth winning.
Republicans have already cautioned the president that Rice would face sharp opposition if she is tapped to replace Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in the second term, with nearly 100 House Republicans last week signing a letter questioning “her credibility both at home and around the world.” Sens. John McCain (R-Ariz.) and Lindsey Graham (R-S.C) have signaled opposition to her possible nomination, though McCain said Sunday that he would be open to considering her for the top diplomatic post.
A major battle over Rice's nomination could easily distract from the president’s other priorities, beginning with the negotiations over the looming “fiscal cliff.” Moreover, nominating Rice could alienate top Republicans, including McCain and Graham or House Homeland Security Committee Chairman Pete King (R-N.Y.), who will play pivotal roles in negotiating defense cuts that the White House is seeking as part of a grand bargain. Read more ..
Latin America on Edge
|Kate Hayden||November 25th 2012|
“People say you can’t go back. So, well what happens if you get to the cliff and you take one step forward? Do you do a 180-degree turn and take one step forward? Which way are you going? Which is progress?” –Douglas Tompkins, 180 Degrees South Documentary
Latin America has had a tumultuous history plagued by the exploitation of natural resources and foreign political intervention. Western imperialistic practices have created a sense of resentment among native communities in the Southern Cone, which has been amplified through controversial cases, such as American Douglas Tompkins’s nature conservation campaign that began in 1991. Although Tompkins’s motives may be well intentioned, his territorial projects have proven to be politically and culturally problematic. This self-proclaimed philanthropist is the former CEO of the North Face and Espirit companies and, as such, spent a lifetime meticulously building his empire off the spoils of capitalism. He sold these U.S. businesses in 1990 for an estimated $150 million after deciding he no longer wanted to be a part of cyclical materialism, and subsequently used the funds to purchase land in Patagonia, Chile. Today, he owns a total of 826,386 hectares of land in both Chile and Argentina. The controversy surrounding his actions involves questions of national sovereignty and cultural integrity, which inspires further questions of legal regulations in Latin America to limit foreign purchases of real estate given painful colonial legacy. Read more ..
China on Edge
|Kate Woodsome||November 25th 2012|
Whenever a country issues new passports, someone almost always complains about the new design. But China's latest edition of travel logs is drawing formal criticism from countries across Asia. The passports feature a map of China that includes areas of the South China Sea claimed by other countries, as well as territory claimed by India. Taiwan's government objected to the passports Friday, following similar protests by the Philippines and Vietnam. Officials at the Indian Embassy in Beijing are protesting in their own way, stamping Chinese visas with a map showing the disputed territory belonging to India, according to The Press Trust of India.
John Blaxland, with the Strategic and Defense Studies Center at Australian National University, called China's move "pretty clever." "It basically forces everyone who's a claimant of South China Sea elements to acknowledge it by stamping it," he said. Read more ..
Operation Pillar of Defense
|Noam Bedein||November 24th 2012|
Isreal Behind the News
Since the last day of Operation Cast Lead (January 18, 2009) until the 1st day of Operation Pillar of Defense, The Gaza Hamas regime launched 2,000 aerial attacks against Israel. That was the third ‘ceasefire’ between Israel and Hamas.
There is talk about 'an opportunity to reach an understanding with Hamas,' relying on the notion that Israel must 'give Hamas a chance for a ceasefire with Israel.' How many people remember two failed ‘ceasefires' were reached with The Gaza Hamas regime over the past 6 years? How many people remember what occurred? during those 'ceasefires'? The people of Sderot and the western Negev remember all too well.
Let us refresh our memories. From November 26, 2006, until May 15, 2007, the first 'ceasefire' between Hamas and Israel lasted for six months. Here is the statement made by Hamas five days before agreeing to that cease fire: 'Hamas's military wing will stop rocket fire when residents evacuate the city of Sderot.' (from November 21, 2006) Read more ..
Afganistan on Edge
|Isobel Coleman||November 24th 2012|
Council on Foreign Relations
As the international military presence in Afghanistan winds down, fears of unrest, civil war, and backsliding on fragile gains loom large. An October 2012 International Crisis Group (ICG) report states that “Afghanistan is far from ready to assume responsibility for security when U.S. and NATO forces withdraw in 2014,” arguing that “…steps toward a stable transition must begin now to prevent a precipitous slide toward state collapse. Time is running out.” The increase of green-on-blue attacks and green-on-green attacks—Afghan soldiers and police attacking international forces colleagues and one another—raises serious questions about the state of the Afghan forces. Mohammad Ismail Khan, a former mujahadeen member who was ousted from his position as governor of Herat by President Hamid Karzai in 2004, recently called on his supporters to rearm, another ominous sign that former warlords are once again preparing for war. Read more ..
Russia on Edge
|Sam Orez||November 24th 2012|
from RFE and agencies
Russian scientist Valentin Danilov has walked free after serving eight years of a controversial prison sentence on charges of spying for China. After his release on parole in the Siberian city of Krasnoyarsk on November 24, Danilov, 66, said that he regarded himself as a political prisoner because the information he passed on was declassified.
Danilov smiled, joked, and laughed with reporters upon being set free. "I would really appreciate it if somebody finally told me what state secret I sold," he said.
Danilov criticized his sentence, which he maintained was based on false charges. He claimed that he had received official clearance to collaborate with a Chinese firm on building equipment designed to model the impact of the space environment on satellites. Read more ..
After the Election
|Meghashayam Mali||November 23rd 2012|
President Obama’s “Runway to Win” collection of clothing and accessories designed by top celebrity-designers helped raise over $40 million for his reelection bid. The total haul from the sales of designer merchandise was revealed by campaign manager Jim Messina in an interview with Bloomberg Businessweek. “That ended up bringing in just north of $40 million,” said Messina, touting the decision to sell high-priced Obama-branded items on the campaign website.
The line which included items ranging from t-shirts and handbags to scarves was the idea of Vogue editor and Obama supporter Anna Wintour. Wintour hosted several fundraising dinners for the president and helped pull in fashion industry luminaries, including Vera Wang and Tory Burch, to contribute the work to the campaign shop. Read more ..
|Keith Lang||November 22nd 2012|
House Republicans will hold new hearings next week on Amtrak, which Transportation Committee Chairman John Mica (R-Fla.) is targeting for funding cuts despite recent record ridership numbers. The hearings are part of a year-long effort by Mica designed to prove Amtrak’s nearly $1 billion federal subsidy is a waste of taxpayer dollars.
The latest GOP hearings will come after a Thanksgiving holiday that is usually Amtrak's busiest weekend of the year, and after the national rail passenger carrier has earned good reviews in New York and New Jersey for its response to Hurricane Sandy. Amtrak supporters believe Amtrak has boosted its political standing.
“There is a strong majority view on Capitol Hill in favor of Amtrak moving forward and keeping the enterprise funded,” AFL-CIO Transportation Trades Department President Ed Wytkind said in an interview. He noted that Republicans on Mica’s own committee were divided over a GOP effort to privatize Amtrak’s most profitable routes in the Northeast. Read more ..
Operation Pillar of Defense
|Anav Silverman||November 22nd 2012|
Tapzit News Agency
As photographs of a triumphant US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton made international headline news following her mediation role in the Israel and Hamas truce–which had already seen 12 Gaza rockets fired at Israel within the first two hours–Tel Aviv was not in the mood to celebrate.
Shortly before the ceasefire went into effect at 9 pm Israel time, the corner of Shaul Hamelech and Henrietta Szold streets in central Tel Aviv where a bus bombing took place earlier today, was still teeming with press and people. The bombing which left 28 people wounded, mostly young people in their 20′s and 30′s as well as teenagers, was praised by a Hamas spokesperson as a “blessing.” Other Gaza terror groups like Islamic Jihad and the Popular Resistance Committee also celebrated the terror attack in press interviews, with Islamic Jihad saying “this is a victory for the blood of shahids.”
For Gadi, an older security officer standing outside a Tel Aviv office building close to where the bomb went off, the bus bombing was terrifying. “It was terrible to see,” he told Tazpit News Agency. “There was blood everywhere. I saw a young woman with her hand blown off, and another man whose foot was severed.” Read more ..
Operation Pillar of Fire
|Anav Silverman||November 21st 2012|
Tazpit News Agency
|Anav Silverman, Tazpit News Agency - Ethiopian Children in Israel|
Almost half of Sderot’s preteens suffer from signs of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) according to a study that was published this November in the Journal of Adolescent Health. Based on a questionnaire answered by 154 seventh and eighth grade students, it was found that 43.5 percent of the children demonstrated clinical signs of PTSD.
The survey, which was conducted in 2007-2008 during a time period when thousands of rockets had been fired towards Sderot, was directed by a team led by Dr. Rony Berger, a clinical psychologist at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev. Dr. Berger is also the community services director of NATAL, the Israel Trauma Center for Victims of Terror and War, which released a report in 2011 that 70% of all Sderot children suffer from at least one symptom of post-traumatic stress, and that 50% continue to relive rocket trauma.
Idan Bitton, a 25-year-old student at Sapir college, spoke with Tazpit News Agency this week, relating how life had changed for him when the rockets from Gaza began striking Sderot 10 years ago. “Suddenly, in the middle of class, we would hear a rocket explosion,” he explained. “There was no Code Red[ rocket alarm system] then, so we had no idea when the rockets would land in our city.”
“I remember as a student in school, hearing an explosion, and then continuing on in class as if nothing happened. This was a mistake,” emphasized Bitton. “In a way, our passive reaction gave legitimacy that those rocket attacks against us were OK, even acceptable.” Read more ..
Mauritania on Edge
|Geoff Porter||November 20th 2012|
Council on Foreign Relations
One month ago, Mauritanian President Mohamed Ould Abdelaziz was shot and evacuated to Paris. He has not returned.
At the best of times, the president’s absence is not good, but this timing is especially troublesome because of the uncertainty next door in Mali. Almost half the country is clumsily controlled by non-state actors, some of whom have links to al-Qaeda. Is Mauritania the next shoe to drop in the Sahara/Sahel crisis?
A month on, it is still not clear how President Abdelaziz was shot. The official version is well known: the president was returning late at night from his farm outside the capital; security around the capital was high because of unspecified threats; the president was traveling off road, ahead of his security detail; jittery soldiers fired on a speeding car.
Other interpretations have since flourished, ranging from the plausible to the salacious. The shooting was a coup attempt by disgruntled officers. It was an assassination attempt by al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM). It didn’t take place on the road at all, but was at the hands of a cuckolded officer at the president’s farmhouse. And it goes on. Read more ..
America on Edge
|Justin Sink||November 20th 2012|
The People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) sent a letter to the White House on Tuesday demanding President Obama skip the annual Thanksgiving turkey pardon. While Obama will be preventing a turkey from being carved up, PETA called the ceremony outdated and accused the president of being in partnership with the "turkey-killing industry."
In a letter, the animal rights group argues the annual White House ceremony "makes light of the mass slaughter of some 46 million gentle, intelligent birds." It also says the annual event "portrays the United States president as being in some sort of business partnership with the turkey-killing industry."
"You understand so well that African-Americans, women, and members of the LGBT community have been poorly served throughout history, and now I am asking you to consider other living beings who are ridiculed, belittled, and treated as if their sentience, feelings, and very natures count for nothing," wrote PETA President Ingrid Newkirk in the letter. Read more ..
Operation Pillar of Defense
|Barry Rubin||November 19th 2012|
This being the age of social media, people insisted that something must have happened because somebody in California said so. Some people said with certainty that a rocket hit in this or that place; one claimed he saw the smoke from a building that had been struck. In the end, it was announced that a rocket from the Gaza Strip had been shot down far to the south. The atmosphere was reminiscent of 1991 when three dozen Iraqi rockets did hit Israel, one of them a few blocks from my home, and anti-missile batteries could be heard nightly firing at incoming missiles from Iraq.
Of course, there’s nothing funny about a war. Less than an hour’s drive to the south people are under fire. There are casualties on both sides, including civilians. This is a serious matter, made no less so by its relative familiarity. Yet there is a difference between the horrors of war and imagining away a conflict, an inescapable situation, because one wants to do so. Only by confronting the reality can there be the best possible response to a crisis. Wishful thinking or ignoring real conflicts makes things worse. Read more ..
Operation Pillar of Defense
|Aryeh Savir||November 19th 2012|
Alongside the Israeli Defense Force's primary battle in the field, a new evolving battle has developed over the past years, the war of public relations, the battle for the world's awareness and opinion. Facebook, blogs and Youtube have become the main weapons. Many civilians have taken up arms and have joined in the foray, especially after the commencing of Operation 'Pillar of Cloud'.
Students at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem established an information center, working to provide a clear, updated and accurate picture of the state of affairs on Facebook, on various internet sites, in ten languages.
Their primary objective is to counter anti-Israel and Hamas online propaganda. Students work around the clock, in coordination with the Prime Minister's Office and the Foreign Ministry. Read more ..
Iran on Edge
|Mehdi Khalaji||November 18th 2012|
The Washington Institute
If the Supreme Leader decides to get serious about nuclear negotiations, he will likely take a more public role in the process than before, if only to maintain control of Iran's increasingly turbulent domestic politics.
In light of continuing pressure from abroad and mounting economic and political problems at home, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei is preparing for the possibility of a generous compromise offer from President Obama that would allow Iran to end the risk of military strikes on its nuclear facilities. The Supreme Leader seems to have realized that there is little difference between America's two main political parties when it comes to the prospect of Iranian nuclear weapons -- as both candidates made clear during their last debate, U.S. policy is prevention. Tehran understands that further lack of significant progress in negotiations may justify an attack.
Yet Khamenei also faces a serious domestic dilemma. If the economic crisis becomes bad enough, he might feel compelled to make a deal before Iran's next presidential election, scheduled for June 2013. At the same time, however, he does not want either the outgoing Mahmoud Ahmadinejad or his replacement to get credit for an agreement that reduces international sanctions, since that would enhance the popularity and power of the presidency at the Supreme Leader's expense. And most important of all, he does not want to harm his image at home and throughout the Muslim world by seemingly capitulating to foreign pressure if he can avoid it.
Read more ..
The Petraeus Scandal
|David Heath||November 17th 2012|
Center for Public Integrity
Fred Humphries does not fit the stereotype of an FBI agent as cool and unemotional. In person, the man who helped initiate the investigation of CIA Director David Petraeus comes across as a passionate and empathetic person.
Until this week, Humphries was best known as the FBI agent who gleaned critical intelligence from an al-Qaida trained bomber in months of interrogations before the World Trade Center attack. Both a federal prosecutor and defense lawyer praised Humphries for the rapport he developed with Ahmed Ressam, the man convicted of a plot to detonate a bomb in the Los Angeles International Airport.
Humphries interrogations are credited with saving lives, most notably in helping authorities defuse the shoe bomb smuggled onto a commercial jet by Richard Reid. But Humphries raised a few eyebrows when he was called by defense lawyers to testify at sentencing that Ressam provided useful information. Read more ..
Croatia on Edge
|Susan St. Claire||November 17th 2012|
Two Croatian generals have returned home to a hero's welcome after a UN court in The Hague cleared them of war crimes against Serbs during the bloody 1990s breakup of Yugoslavia. The dramatic acquittal of Ante Gotovina and Mladen Markac on Friday by the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) was met with tears of joy in Croatia and outrage in bitter foe Serbia. Within hours, they were being cheered by tens of thousands of people waving Croatian flags and singing nationalist songs in Zagreb's main square.
"We are happy to be with you tonight, this is our joint victory. The war belongs to history, let's turn to the future all together," Gotovina told the crowd after flying back from the Netherlands.
Earlier, cheers and applause erupted in a packed public gallery at the UN court as judge Theodor Meron acquitted the men.
But Serbia, which still has military and political leaders including Radovan Karadzic and Ratko Mladic on trial at the court, was furious at the acquittal and said it would scale back its co-operation with The Hague in protest. Read more ..
After the Holocaust
|Zach Pontz||November 16th 2012|
The home in Austria where Hitler was born has become somewhat of a hot property. Located in the town of Braunau-am-Inn, it has become the center of a debate about what, exactly, should be done with it.
A Russian politician, Frantz Klintsevich has said he’d like to collect money from supporters of his United Russia party in order to buy the property, which is on the market for about $2.8 million.
“I would buy this property in the blink of an eye if I had that kind of money myself, but I do not. If I were to receive financial help, I would buy the house and destroy it demonstratively,” he said according to an article in the UK’s Daily Mail.
Since 1972 Austria’s interior ministry has rented the apartment from a woman who refuses to be publicly identified. Read more ..
Edge of Faith
|Martin Barillas||November 16th 2012|
Cutting Edge Senior Correspondent
|Archbishop of Canterbury-designate Justin Welby|
The newly appointed Archbishop of Canterbury, the spiritual leader of the global Anglican Communion, faces major challenges in uniting the faith’s increasingly divided church. For church members in Africa - where more than half of Anglicans live - opinions vary about how Justin Welby will weather the storm.
Welby will take up his new position as the Archbishop of Canterbury in March 2013. His extraordinary career has led him from work in the petroleum industry to work as a cleric in the Church of England. He has been a bishop of the Anglican Church for only one year, having served as bishop of the historic see of Durham.
South African theologian Barney Pityana said many African Anglicans in his region do not know anything about Welby. “There is a little bit of apprehension over the appointment of somebody with so little episcopal experience,” said Pityana.
Read more ..
Operation Pillar of Defense
|Anav Silverman||November 15th 2012|
Tazpit News Agency
It’s Thursday evening in Kiryat Malachi and the city of nearly 21,000 residents is strangely quiet. The usually busy city center is empty of people—most of the stores and restaurants have been shut down. There are no high school students loitering around, and no elderly folks smoking hooka or drinking black coffee in the kiosks. No music blasting anywhere. Signs that indicate a recent rocket attack has occurred.
Earlier in the morning, a Gaza rocket slammed into the city, hitting an apartment building and killing three civilians fleeing for cover in the stairwell of their building.
The effects of that rocket strike on the city were felt hours later. A pregnant woman with her husband could be seen sitting outside of their apartment building, listening to news on their car radio. “I’m not going to be able to run down three flights of stairs every time the rocket siren goes off,” she said. “I told my husband that we’re sitting outside near the shelter for the rest of the evening.” Read more ..
Europe on Edge
|Al Pessin||November 15th 2012|
Workers in several European countries went on strike Wednesday to protest austerity measures designed to help their governments get out of debt, but which cut their salaries, pensions and benefits.
Angry workers chanted "strike, strike" inside Madrid’s main train station as they scuffled with police. Outside, workers blew whistles and set off firecrackers, as commuters rode by, many on bicycles for the day.
Commuter and inter-city trains were canceled in several countries, along with flights and other forms of transport, while government services and some businesses also went idle. “They are taking all our rights away," complained a Spanish union member who spoke for many of his co-workers. "The banks and other business people are bringing us onto the streets, they are stealing our salaries. We do not have any rights anymore.” Read more ..
The Urban Edge
|Abigail Klein Leichman||November 14th 2012|
Developer of NASA-designed skyTran chose Israel as the perfect place to pilot the software-guided personal transport pods that glide on a cushion of air.
If all goes as planned, within two years Israelis will be the first people to try out a futuristic rapid transport system designed by NASA’s Ames Research Center in Silicon Valley, California.
The skyTran uses two-person modules that drive along a guide rail suspended from existing power lines. Magnets in the vehicle create a magnetic field around the metal coil inside the rail, causing the vehicle to lift up and glide 60 miles per hour on a cushion of air. The system uses very little energy and potentially could be powered entirely by solar panels. Read more ..
America After Sandy
|Joe DeCapua||November 13th 2012|
Hurricane Sandy was the latest severe storm to batter the northeastern United States, disrupting power, communication and transportation and causing billions of dollars in damage. Sandy renewed debate about whether climate change is behind changing weather patterns. One scientist says those changes are being seen worldwide.
Elwyn Grainger-Jones calls it the never-ending question: is climate change responsible for storms becoming bigger and stronger?
“Scientists are pretty clear that the physics is such that if the world is warming, there’s a very strong likelihood that as the seas get warmer, storm intensity will increase. We may have the same number of storms as the past. They’ll get more powerful. That actually is what we've seen over the last 40 years – that the number of tropical storms, of hurricanes, has remained about the same in numbers, but they become a lot more powerful,” he said. Read more ..
The Environment on Edge
|Jenifer Walsh||November 12th 2012|
The National Academies
At least 126,000 sites across the U.S. have contaminated groundwater that requires remediation, and about 10 percent of these sites are considered "complex," meaning restoration is unlikely to be achieved in the next 50 to 100 years due to technological limitations, says a new report from the National Research Council. The report adds that the estimated cost of complete cleanup at these sites ranges from $110 billion to $127 billion, but the figures for both the number of sites and costs are likely underestimates.
Several national and state groundwater cleanup programs developed over the last three decades under various federal and state agencies aim to mitigate the human health and ecological risks posed by underground contamination. These programs include cleanup at Superfund sites; facilities that treat, store, and dispose of hazardous wastes; leaking underground storage tanks; and federal facilities, such as military installations. Read more ..
Palestine on Edge
|Asaf Romirowsky||November 11th 2012|
Israel Behind the News
General Assembly resolution 194 of December 11, 1948, offers two options, repatriation and resettlement, to achieve the reintegration of the Palestinian Arab refugees "into the economic life of the Near East." Yet, U.S. Department of State documents from 1949 through the early 1950s reveal that despite the lip service paid to repatriation, Washington and its allies effectively equated reintegration with the resettlement of the refugees in the neighboring Arab states.
Economic development has been viewed by successive U.S. administrations as the key to integrating regions and peoples, and since the 1930s, their vision of this endeavor was largely modeled on the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) project.
Created by an act of the U.S. Congress in 1933, the TVA was conceived as a regional economic development agency. It was tasked with responsibilities for flood control, electrification, reforestation, fertilizer production, agricultural education, and river navigation throughout the Tennessee Valley, an area that includes the state of Tennessee, parts of Kentucky, Mississippi, and Alabama, and smaller portions of Georgia, North Carolina, and Virginia. Read more ..
Kenya on Edge
|Roopa Gogineni||November 10th 2012|
This week, nearly 1,000 Kenyan election commission officials received training in the use of new biometric voter registration kits. Biometric voter registration uses fingerprints and facial features to uniquely identify each voter. With only four months until elections, officials must work quickly. They face additional pressure in Coast Province, where a secessionist group has threatened to disrupt the voter registration effort.
In a beachside hotel north of Mombasa, 80 officers with the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) spent one week learning to use the kits. Similar workshops were held around the country. The kits were scheduled to arrive months ago from France but were delivered just last week. The delay has raised concern that there is not enough time to register Kenya's 22 million eligible voters.
Annahstacia Mutua, a regional elections coordinator in Coast Province, is undaunted. "Of course there is enough time. When we start the registration, we are going to do it within only one month, then after that we'll do verification. We don't know yet how much time will be allocated for verification of the register, but we believe we have ample time," said she. Next week, the newly trained officers will return home and share their knowledge with nearly 30,000 electoral clerks. Voter registration will begin after this final stage of training. Kenyan law requires that registration must conclude 60 days before the election, now scheduled for March 4th. Read more ..
Education on Edge
|Cléa Desjardins||November 9th 2012|
“It was the hardest thing I ever had to do, emotionally and mentally.” These are not the words we generally associate with a university student who is undergoing teacher training, yet Concordia researcher Anita Sinner has heard similar statements from many such individuals. Every year thousands of students make the transition from student to teacher and the stories of those who struggle are often missing from our conversations.
“Pre-service teachers who experience varying degrees of struggle have few stories against which to compare their experiences when entering the teaching profession,” Sinner explains. This magnifies a sense of dislocation in the very profession they seek to dedicate their working lives.” By examining the challenges faced by one person transitioning from student to teacher, she hopes to “raise awareness about the stresses of the teaching occupation and works to establish, within teacher culture, alternative perspectives about the profession.” Read more ..
America After Sandy
|Anav Silverman||November 8th 2012|
An Israeli delegation of trained rescue volunteers will depart to New York on Friday, November 9 to assist victims devastated by Hurricane Sandy. The delegation is headed by the Shahar Zahavi, the CEO of IsraAID, The Israel Forum for International Humanitarian Aid, an Israeli non-governmental organization (NGO) that has facilitated aid and relief program across the world, including in Haiti, Japan, Turkey, Kenya and South Sudan.
The 12-person delegation will be offering rescue, rehabilitation, and communal resource services to New York residents of Far Rockaway and Long Beach as well as the Atlantic City-Margate area of the Jersey Shore. They will also be identifying areas with vulnerable populations and allocating resources to older people and families with young children who have suffered significant damages to their homes and have no power. Read more ..
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Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta is overjoyed that Thomas Partey has returned to training.
The 30-year-old has missed some crucial Arsenal games due to a groyne injury, but he returned to training on Monday.
The Ghana international trained with his teammates ahead of their Champions League match against RC Lens later tonight.
“He has progressed really well in the last two weeks, and he has managed to train with the team in the last two or three days, which is obviously great news for us,” Arteta said.
“I believe his progress in the last week has been very good.” Depending on how the game goes, he might get some playing time tomorrow.
“He is a big player, and we know what he brings to the team,” he continued. He understands exactly what we require, and with the injuries to other players in midfield and at the back, he complements us well and provides us with options. So it is wonderful to have him back.”
The Ghanaian midfielder will be in contention for Sunday’s crucial match against Manchester City at the Emirates.


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HIT UP THE 'HOODS
For a morning, afternoon or full summer day of treasure hunting, look no further than several neighborhood pockets throughout Spokane and in Coeur d'Alene. Experienced local thrifters are surely familiar with these hot spots, but even if you've been before — even recently — keep in mind that vendors and shop owners are always restocking their inventory with fabulous new finds. After all, the best part about these outings is not knowing what you'll stumble across.
In recent years, one of the best local spots to thrift, antique and hunt for unexpected finds has become Spokane's North Monroe Business District.
Don't let this summer's big road construction project keep you from hitting up the flat stretch of Monroe between Northwest Boulevard/Indiana Avenue and the hill up to Garland. Getting to the best shops along Monroe is easier than it sounds thanks to efforts by the city to mitigate impact, including signage posted along the main detour route of Post Street directing drivers to the best cross street access to specific businesses. (Also check out the Meet on Monroe Facebook page for the latest construction updates and special events in the neighborhood.)
OK, so now where to shop? All the shops in this neighborhood are worth your while — we suggest starting at one end and working your way down. A great first stop is Boulevard Mercantile, located inside a prominent, historic brick building at 1905 N. Monroe. Boulevard is home to numerous local vendors of vintage, antique and repurposed salvaged home goods on its main floor and in the building's basement. Vintage clothing galore, from cut-off Levis and funky graphic tees to jackets, shoes and Western-style button ups can also be found in a corner of the basement from vendor Vagabond Soundtrack.
Continue working your way north and stop at the following shops along the way. Blossom's Antiques & Gifts (2415 N. Monroe) is in a quaint, lilac purple-painted building. Two blocks down from here is Tossed & Found (2607 N. Monroe), one of the larger stores in the district, and packed with goodies from all eras and styles; get a sneak peak of what's in stock on the shop's Facebook. Across the street in the old Hedge House restaurant building is Ross's Memories on Monroe (2606 N. Monroe), which frequently boasts in-store sales on sidewalk boards. Keep moving another two blocks north to another local favorite, 1889 Salvage Co. (2824 N. Monroe). Owner Gina Campbell is also constantly posting social media updates on the store's latest inventory if you have specific pieces in mind, or want to get first dibs. Nearby, D & L's Rustic Treasures (2910 N. Monroe) is a hotspot if the shabby chic, rusty farmhouse style is your jam. Finish off your hunt at Paint in My Hair (3036 N. Monroe), which features a mix of new and repurposed inventory from its many vendors, along with shelves of the popular furniture chalk paint brand Annie Sloan.
Another pocket to scope out in Spokane is the Hillyard Business District along north Market. While there are many longtime and more recently opened antique stores along this stretch, my top two personal picks are Chic & Shab Vintage Boutique (4801 N. Market) and Market Street Antiques (4912 N. Market), the latter of which is packed to the brim on two floors with vendor spaces displaying treasures from every era. The shop is also, notably, home to three store cats!
In North Idaho, make a point this summer to spend a day exploring Coeur d'Alene's Midtown neighborhood, home to the locally renowned treasure trove called JUNK (811 N. Fourth St.). Keep heading north on Fourth to check out fellow antique/vintage goods purveyors Paris Antiques, Looking Glass Antiques, the Way Back and Forget Me Not Shop.
There's so much more to be found across the Inland Northwest when it comes to vintage and antique goodies. Beyond the three neighborhoods suggested above, take a gander at the dozens of shops listed by area in the locally published and free 2018 Vintage Directory, which can be picked up at most of its featured vendors. Find out more at facebook.com/VintageDirectoryUSA and then start planning a day on the hunt in Sandpoint, Cheney, Pullman or beyond.
Seasoned junkers and vintage lovers already hit up the region's biggest kickoff to summer hunting at the Farm Chicks Show earlier in June, and another worthy, large-scale summer market is fast approaching. The Rebel Junk Vintage Market hosts several events throughout the year around the country, and the next up locally is Rebel Junk Market Idaho, in Coeur d'Alene on July 6-7 at the Kootenai County Fairgrounds. The two-day event features dozens of curated vendors offering the usual line-up of fun finds: repurposed and antique/vintage home decor, farmhouse and industrial salvage goods and more. Though it's expanded with traveling shows held across the U.S., Rebel Junk was founded and is based right here in the Inland Northwest. For tickets and details about the Coeur d'Alene show, visit rebeljunk.com.
Plan a quick road trip south to Lewiston, Idaho, for the annual Pink Farmtiques Vintage Market the weekend of July 13-14. Held at the Nez Perce County Fairgrounds, the two-day juried market is a celebration of country living, quality retro pieces for the home and the shabby chic trend. Think vintage Pyrex, sparkly old costume jewelry, midcentury modern furniture, chippy painted wood, antique linens and more. Starting this year, the Pink Farmtiques market will always be held the second weekend of July, which means you can count on the annual tradition for years to come. More details are at facebook.com/pinkfarmtiques.
Last year, Past Blessings Farm relocated its popular Pickin' on the Prairie vintage market to Joe Albi Stadium because the event quickly outpaced an original site at its founders' 1898 farmstead outside of Spokane. Starting this year, the show has been renamed Pickin' Spokane, since it's no longer held on the prairie it sprung from. Like a few other regional vintage markets, Pickin' Spokane also features sister shows in nearby cities: Tri-Cities, Post Falls, Boise and Nampa, Idaho. Pickin' Spokane is next, though, on the weekend of Aug. 18-19, and again celebrates being the biggest outdoor antique show in Eastern Washington and North Idaho. Find more details at pastblessingsfarm.com.
I've been bit by the midcentury modern bug. Currently, I'm on the hunt for a few pretty specific pieces, which has led me to some amazing local midcentury modern (aka MCM) vendors in Spokane. I know I'm not the only one obsessing over the clean lines and quality of materials found in furniture and decor pieces made in the 1950s and '60s, so fellow MCM lovers will definitely want to add these local shops to their shopping list circuit.
You've gotta check out Metro Eclectic just north of downtown and the Monroe Street Bridge (604 N. Monroe). The locally owned shop is a MCM lover's dream, filled with both vintage and some contemporary pieces in the era's classic style. We're talking Danish-made, solid teak pieces galore: lounge chairs, lamps, headboards, bedroom sets, dining tables and more. The showroom has limited hours (Wed-Sat from noon-5 pm), however, so plan ahead before stopping by.
In the newly renamed Sprague Union District (aka East Sprague, or the International District), a corner shop called Era Vintage Home (1802 E. Sprague) may also blow your MCM mind. Owner Shanna Storey is constantly bringing in new pieces from her massive collection to stock the small storefront and is happy to chat with customers stopping by looking for a specific piece to see if it's something she might have in her off-site inventory. Era Vintage is open Tue-Sat from noon to 5 pm. ♦

domain: hobby


A U.S. senator from Indiana Tuesday called for an end to a ``political deadlock`` over the location of a third regional airport for Chicago by appointing former U.S. Transportation Secretary William Coleman to head the site selection effort.
Sen. Dan Coats (R-Ind.) proposed to the current transportation secretary, Samuel Skinner, that Coleman be appointed chairman of the policy committee of a bistate airport panel that has been studying airport locations.
The committee had been evaluating four ``finalist`` sites, all of them south of Chicago, when Mayor Richard Daley in February proposed construction on a site near Lake Calumet on the city`s Southeast Side.
Daley has agreed to have the Lake Calumet site considered along with the four others, but only if changes are made on the committee to guarantee an impartial assessment.
Negotiations between representatives of Skinner, Indiana and Illinois have dragged on for weeks on the issue, but so far without a compromise.
Coleman, 69, a Pennsylvania native, was transportation secretary from 1975 to 1977.
A spokesman for Skinner said ``we welcome his suggestion,`` but added that no decision has been made.
Robert Repel, a Daley aide on the airport issue, said an impartial chairman has been discussed, but said that alone would not settle the issue.


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Elsa pregnant belly tattoo is one of the newest games Princess Elsa that will test the skill and creativity. Give of your best to resist challenges in this game, so you finish and have a chance to enter one of the best players. Elsa is pregnant and give birth before she wants to do a tattoo on belly. Elsa chose a very nice model, because he wants to make his belly tattoo with snowman Olaf. Tattooing is already done and have it colored to look as real and very nice. Although it seems simple do not rush to judge because you have to pay attention to how colorful. In this game you need only mouse with which you must use tattoo machine. You must be very careful and you strive to complete the game so to prove that you can bypass any challenge. On the left side of the screen you have the colors you need to color tattoo. You can color as you wish, but if you have no idea you can press the hint button on the right side of the screen to see a colorful tattoo done. In the center of the screen will be the beautiful princess Elsa, who eagerly await the tattoo to be ready. Pay us a like if you enjoyed our game Princess Elsa.
How to play?
use the mouse

domain: entertainment


Police thank Derbyshire specials for dedication
New figures show Derbyshire Police Special Constables volunteered 52,387 hours of their time in one year.
As part of National Volunteers Week Derbyshire Polcie has released the 2017 figures which show just how much time people gave up to help others.
In 2017 Special Constables volunteered made 401 arrests, attended 1,041 domestic incidents, 362 collisions and made 311 missing people inquiries.
A force spokesman said: “Thank you to our Derbys Specials.”
The Special Constabulary is the part-time volunteer section of statutory police forces in the United Kingdom. Its officers are known as special constables - all hold the office of constable no matter what their grade - or informally as specials and are not paid for their time.


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Crazy Lace Silver Plated Wire Wrapped Pendant
Regular price $61.00
Shipping calculated at checkout.
Wire wrapped in silver plated wire, this teardrop shaped crazy lace stone has elegant swirls and silver beads on it. Comes with a free chain. Pendant is approximately 1.5 inches tall and 1 inch wide.

domain: artistic


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Syntéza emulzních polymerů na bázi polyvinylacetátu a ᴅ-glukosy a hodnocení jejich biologické rozložitelnosti
Klíčová slova:polyvinylacetát, ᴅ-glukosa, latex, biologická rozložitelnost
The paper deals with the synthesis of aqueous polymer dispersions based on polyvinyl acetate and ᴅ-glucose by emulsion polymerization and with the evaluation of the aerobic biodegradability of the prepared polymers in waste water by means of biochemical oxygen demand for 5 days (BOD5) and chemical oxygen demand (COD). The resulting BOD5 to COD ratio was used to evaluate the biodegradability rate which was shown to be significantly superior to conventional polyvinyl alcohol. Using FTIR, the covalent attachment of ᴅ-glucose molecules to the polymeric chain has been confirmed. These latexes can be used in the field of controlled release fertilizer encapsulation or as ecological paper adhesives with subsequent biological degradation.


xetexfontinfo – Report font features in XeTeX
A pair of documents to reveal the font features supported by fonts usable in XeTeX.
Use OpenType-info.tex for OpenType fonts, and AAT-info.tex for AAT fonts (Mac OS X only).
|Licenses||Apache License, version 2.0|
|Contained in||TeX Live as xetexfontinfo|
MiKTeX as xetexfontinfo
Download the contents of this package in one zip archive (3.0k).
Maybe you are interested in the following packages as well.
- fontwrap: Bind fonts to specific unicode blocks
- xetex-itrans: Itrans input maps for use with XeLaTeX
- do-it-yourself-tex: Back to Plain XeTeX
- fontsetup-nonfree: A front-end to fontspec, for selected non-free fonts


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Posted: Wednesday, 25 July 2012 5:36AM
WTA Offers Free Bus Rides Thursday, Friday
BELLINGHAM, Wash. -- Whatcom Transportation Authority is offering free rides on all buses tomorrow through Friday in support of Bellingham Whatcom Project Homeless Connect.
PHC is an event that provides homeless people throughout Whatcom County access to medical, legal, educational and employment services.
Maureen McCarthy with WTA says they wanted to ensure homeless members of the community could attend the event, however she says the homeless aren’t the only one’s benefitting from the no-fare days.
McCarthy says the only buses excluded are those serving route 80X to Mount Vernon.
Food and child care will be provided at the Project Homeless Connect event.

domain: sociology


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Credit Card Cancellation
There is no hard and fast rule on how many credit cards you should have.
If you’re in possession of all the payments, as it appears you are, here’s what you should think about before canceling any of them.
According to Debra Ohstrom, a chartered financial analyst and financial educator, if you wanted to close one or two cards, you should assess the duration of your credit history, the payment history of the card, and the credit limit.
You don’t want to lose that steady payment and long credit history if it’s an old card that you used in the past but aren’t using anymore, she added.
As per her opinion, reliable payment history accounts for at least 30% of your credit score, so it’s critical. “Creditors prefer to see a consistent payment history, and the longer the better since it demonstrates your responsibility and stability.”
Another item to think about is your credit limit.
According to Ohstrom Even if you don’t use the card, having a large limit might help your credit score.
“Having a lot of credit available but not utilising it indicates you have low credit utilisation, which is a big element of your credit score,” she explained. “It’s excellent if you can maintain your credit use around 30%.”
If you cancel a lot of cards, you’ll lose your credit history and your available credit will decrease, lowering your credit score.
Having three cards is ideal, but having five isn’t a problem, especially if you don’t utilise them excessively.
As per Ohstrom’s opinion “It’s also a good idea to check your recent credit report to see if there are any remarks about your credit score,”
If there are any complaints on your credit report about significant amounts of revolving credit or your payment history, it can help you decide what is the best course of action for you.
If you have too many credit cards or have a credit card balance that is too high, you should think about closing one. While doing so may make your life easier, there are some complications to consider.
Credit Card Cancellation entails more than simply cutting the physical card in half and throwing it away. Furthermore, it may harm your credit score by affecting your credit history length and credit utilisation rate. We’ll show you how to cancel a credit card without ruining your credit and how to determine credit card cancellation is the best option in order to credit card cancellation.
Why canceling a credit card usually has a negative impact on your credit score
Closing credit card accounts usually hurts your credit in two ways: it shortens your credit history and lowers your credit utilisation rate, both of which are important factors in determining your credit score.
It distorts the duration of your credit history
Your credit history length accounts for 15% of your credit score and includes the age of your oldest card, your newest card, and the average age of all your cards. Your credit score may improve if you have a longer credit history in order to credit card cancellation.
The decision to close your oldest card may reduce your average and lower your score. However, the impact will not be felt right away. A closed credit card in great condition will typically remain on your credit file for ten years, so it may be some time before closing an older card account lowers your credit score.
It has the potential to increase your credit utilisation ratio
Simply split the balance on your cards by the total credit limit on all of your cards to calculate your credit utilisation. For example, suppose you have a $500 balance on all of your cards and the total limit on all of them is $5,000. Your credit utilisation rate is 10% ($500 divided by $5,000 equals 0.10, or 10%). If you close a card with a $1,500 credit limit and no balance, your credit utilisation rate will increase to 14% ($500 divided by $3,500).
The more credit you use, the riskier you appear to creditors and lenders. That’s because it could be a sign that you’re in financial trouble or having difficulty keeping up with your bills, so you’re resorting to plastic. So, where should your credit utilisation be positioned? The general rule of thumb is to keep it under 30%. Credit utilization accounts for 30% of your credit score, so it’s critical to keep your utilisation low if you want to keep your score high in order to credit card cancellation.
When is it appropriate to close a credit card?
- APR is high. If you have a high balance and are only making the minimum transactions on your card, and the amount of interest you’re paying on that card is becoming significant, it may be time to close that card in order to credit card cancellation.
- Expensive fees. If there are high fees, such as late payment fees, annual fees, cash advance fees, or fees for exceeding your credit limit, it may make sense to cancel a credit card.
- Overspending is a habit. If your balance keeps increasing and accruing interest, in order to credit card cancellation may be the best way to avoid getting into debt.
- Separation or divorce. If you’ve a joint credit card with a spouse or partner someone else and are going through a divorce, closing your credit card could help you keep your finances in order and prevent your soon-to-be ex from making unwanted purchases on a joint card.
- Delayed payment. This may be unavoidable if you have outstanding debt that you are having difficulty paying down, or if you are starting a debt management plan that requires you to cancel your credit card accounts. While your credit will most likely suffer as a result, closing these accounts to focus on other debt payments may set you up for long-term success.
How to Close a Credit Card Correctly
1. Pay off your debt.
To cancel your card, you must pay off your entire balance. If you don’t, you’ll have to keep it open until the balance is zero.
2. Redeem any previously earned rewards
Any rewards points you earned while using your card are frequently lost when you close a card. You may be able to transfer your points to another card or cash back rewards programme depending on the card. So, before you cancel, take advantage of those reward points.
3. Contact your credit card company.
In order to credit card cancellation officially, call the number on the back of your card and speak with someone from the credit card company or bank that issued the card. The customer service representative will most likely try to persuade you to keep your card open by making appealing offers. Maintain your composure and recall your reasons for closing your account.
4. For added security, send a letter of cancellation.
While it is not required, you should send a certified letter to the credit card company informing them that you have cancelled your card. Ask the customer service representative for the best address to send such a letter to while you’re on the phone. Also, request confirmation from the issuer that your account has been paid in full in order to credit card cancellation.
5. Analyze your credit report
Check your credit report for any errors before closing your card. AnnualCreditReport.com allows you to order a free report from each of the three credit bureaus – Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion – once every 12 months.
If you notice any errors in your account history, such as payments that were incorrectly reported as late or overlooked, or payments that were reported to the wrong account, you can file a dispute. The credit bureau has 30 days to investigate and respond to your complaint.
After you’ve closed your account, go over your credit report again and look for errors. Common errors that may occur in order to credit card cancellation include an account remaining open and active even after you’ve closed it and your credit report missing the “closed by grantor” notation. It should be clear that the creditor closed the account in order to credit card cancellation.
6. Discard your card in a secure manner.
After you’ve properly closed your account, you can safely discard the card. Shred your card and make sure the number sequence is unrecognisable.
Alternative options to think about
If you don’t want to cancel your credit card and risk damaging your credit score, consider the following alternatives:
- Negotiate for a lower rate. If a high APR is an impetus for closing your account, reach out to someone from the card issuer and try to negotiate a lower interest rate. You’ll have a stronger chance if you’re in good standing.
- Reduce your annual fee by switching to a no-fee card. Consider a card with the same issuer that has no annual fee. You could also try to negotiate a no-fee card with no annual fee.
- Transferring to a card with a 0% introductory APR. To save money on interest, consider transferring the balance to a card with a zero-percentage-point intro rate. If you can pay off the balance even before intro rate expires and the standard rate takes effect, it may be a good idea to make the transfer. It’s important to note that there’s usually a balance transfer fee, which is a percentage of the amount you owe on the card. So you’ll need to do some basic math and research the fees to see if it’s worthwhile.
- Maintain the card, but use it sparingly. If you want to keep it open, give it a specific purpose and only use it on occasion. Set a limit on how much of a balance you can keep on it, or aim to pay it off completely each month. If you want to keep a credit card active but don’t intend to use it, the credit card company can close inactive accounts. To keep your account active, make a small purchase and pay off the balance on a regular basis in order to credit card cancellation.
Is it a good idea to cancel your credit card?
When a credit card is costing you too much money or negatively impacting your credit score in other ways, it may be a good idea to cancel it. However, because credit card cancellation usually dings your credit, if you must close your card, you can do so in a way that minimises the damage to your credit file. Weighing the benefits and drawbacks can help you make the best decision for your financial situation.
For more info, visit here: credit calculator

domain: economics


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Posted on :Friday , 3rd November 2023
An agreement has been signed by the County Government of Nyeri and a local contractor for the building of an aggregate and industrial park in the Kieni constituency, valued at Sh500 million.
In the next 24 months, the park a collaborative effort between the national and county governments will be operational, according to Chief Officer in Charge of Trade George Mwangi. Each of the two tiers of government would put in Sh250 million for the project.
Situated on 30 acres of land in Naro Moru, the multi-million dollar complex will provide Agriculture Mechanization Services. According to Mwangi, the park's primary goals are to draw in investors for the agro-processing sector and provide both skilled and unskilled jobs for the local population.
According to him, the park would focus on offering sorting, warehousing, and value-added services for local farmers and other agricultural producers. A few of the important sub sectors that have been designated are the value chains for coffee, avocados, dairy, and potatoes. The park will have logistics zones, warehouses, cooling facilities, aggregation centers for various agricultural goods, and a sophisticated road network linking the industrial park.
Produce will be preserved for longer and be sold for more money thanks to the park's gathering, sorting, and value-adding processes. He stated, "We have opened up shop based on the raw materials we will be dealing with as an invitation to other stakeholders to come and invest."
Mwangi pointed out that the department was eager to promote inter-county trade, which is why the park was built close to the Nyeri-Isiolo route and the Chaka Railway Station. Mwangi added that plans were in place to take advantage of the export market for some horticulture items, including coffee, which are known to sell for higher prices abroad.
The Lappset Corridor's close proximity to the site made it a viable choice. With roads and railroads offering sufficient infrastructure and connection, the corridor advances in a tripartite LPG. "We hope to be working with other counties to not only boost trade but also see which other value chains we can add," Mwangi stated.

domain: news


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Luscious, exquisite, and bursting with flavor, NY Spice Shop’s Golden Jumbo Raisins are fancy fruit treats for any occasion. Large and endlessly appealing, these rich raisins come from the finest of grapes. Golden and wrinkled, they emit a sweet aroma that is instantly mouthwatering. When consumed, they will set your mouth awash in the sugary rush of fruit that is signature to delicious raisins.
They contain a wealth of nutrition, with a plentiful amount of iron and fiber to entice any health-conscious individual. Endlessly versatile, these raisins are excellent for snacking at home or at social events. Along with this, they can also, be used in salads or as toppings! Enjoy a delectable bowl of flavor with our Golden Jumbo Raisins.
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domain: food


Spitfire - Frontline Fighter
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The Daily Inspection of a Spitfire:
Made in 1940, this extraordinary film essentially provides a technical walkround of the Spitfire MkI, covering every conceivable aspect of the aircraft from the interior cockpit to the engine and guns.
Made in 1940, this short film shows the rapid re-fuelling and re-arming of a flight of Spitfires, essential given the number of combat sorties being flown.
Narrated by Air-Marshal Sir Philip Joubert in 1940, this short film perfectly captures the life of a Spitfire pilot at the height of the Battle of Britain.
Made in 1944, this aircraft recognition film is packed with great footage of the fighter, and concentrates on the Mark I, V, XIV and XXI, as well as covering the Naval variant, the Seafire.
Main Language: English


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The procession is dedicated to Saint-Corneille and supported by the brotherhood with the same name. Among the participating groups, there are many knights, there are floats evoking the local past, there is the reliquary of Saint-Corneille as well as the brassbands of Hamme-Mille, Tourinnes-la-Grosse and Beauvechain.
This procession takes place on the 4th Sunday after Easter.
Departure after the high mass of 10 a.m. (Saint-Corneille chapel).
- tel. : +32 (0) 10 86 02 65
Tourist information on the town BEAUVECHAIN
Visit our partners' webpages
- The Brussels Vintage Market
- The Tour & Taxis E-Experience
- Biennial Art Nouveau Exhibition: See & Tell Brussels
- The paleoLAB at the Museum of natural Sciences
- Sundays with the Family at the BELvue

domain: travel


text: Connecticut was the first state to establish a green bank pursuant to SB 1243, Pub. Act No. 11-80 (2011). Since its inception, the Connecticut Green Bank and its private investment partners have deployed over a $1 billion in capital for clean energy projects across the state. Projects recorded through FY 2016 show that for every $1 of public funds committed by the Green Bank that an additional $6 in private investment occurred in the economy.

domain: finance


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Tackling Inequalities Fund
The Tackling Inequalities Fund (TIF) was set up in April 2020 as part of Sport England’s support package to help the sport and physical activity sector through the coronavirus (Covid-19) crisis. The funding was launched as a direct response to the pandemic, which disproportionately affected a number of under-represented groups across the county, significantly impacting their ability to be physically active. As a result, both their physical and mental health decreased, requiring an immediate response to help reduce this negative impact on their lives.
Sport England appointed Active Lancashire to invest a total of £352,000 in Lancashire as part of the Tackling Inequalities Fund (TIF), to help reduce the negative impact of COVID-19 causing the widening of inequalities in sport and physical activity.
As the Active Partnership for Lancashire, we were enlisted to allocate the funding to those most in need across the County, as well as offering advice and training support to help increase the resilience, capacity and capability of delivering partners.
Our current phase saw us receive £132,000 which we invested in to our grassroots culturally diverse communities, a large project working with Lancashire libraries and a focus on supporting sufferers of long covid and isolation.


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MLB Postseason GameThreads
The Dodgers try to win it all while the Rays try to force a Game 7.
The Dodgers have a 2-1 lead in the series.
Chat about the third game of the World Series, which is tied a one game apiece, here.
The Dodgers have a 1-0 lead in the series.
Chat about Game 1 of the World Series here.
It all comes down to this, as Max Scherzer and the Nationals take on Zack Greinke and the Astros in game 7 of the world series tonight.
It’s Stephen Strasburg versus Justin Verlander as the Astros try to secure their second World Series title in three years.
With the series tied at two games apiece, the Astros and Nationals attempt to gain a 3-2 advantage.
The Astros have a shot at evening the series tonight in D.C.—if they can win the bullpen game vs. Corbin matchup.
Thus far, the Astros have spent the week losing in every possible sense.
Justin Verlander and the Astros look to even the series against Stephen Strasburg and the Nationals tonight in Game 2 of the World Series.
Max Scherzer and the Nationals take on Gerrit Cole and the Astros in game 1 of the World Series tonight in Houston.
Houston hopes to tie up the series this evening.
The National League has a pair of elimination games as the Braves play the Cardinals and the Nationals play the Dodgers.
Come chat about the NL games here.
Both the Yankees and Astros look to sweep.
The Cardinals and Nationals host at home as both series are tied.
The Twins and Rays try to bounce back from Game 1 losses today.

domain: game


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Whole Wheat Gingerbread Waffles have been on my “to make” list for two years. That’s a pretty long time to dream about a recipe, but for some reason, I just never got around to making them. The gingerbread is a great way to add a little festive flavour to your breakfast. Can you believe that we’re less than 2 weeks away from Christmas? I can’t – I also haven’t done any Christmas shopping yet, but what else is new. Instead, I’m avoiding the crowds and baking cookies and watching Paris When It Sizzles (I know, I know I should be watching a Christmas movie, but this one was calling me this morning). It’s one of those weekends. For the first time since May, I don’t have any work or homework to do, so this weekend is spent making waffles, cookies, watching movies and just relaxing with a glass of wine or two.
This recipe is a simple way to make waffles, I usually make Belgian Waffles which includes beating egg whites separately and folding them into the batter. This recipe requires none of that!


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|Promulgation of new regulation banning concealed firearms in executive branch agency offices
|Ended on 1/27/2016
Criminals routinely target gun free zones around the country to do as much harm to innocent, unprotected Americans all the time. Creating more gun free zones will only increase the likely hood of attacks by people who choose to not follow any laws in this great state. Most mass shootings are in gun free zones, schools, areas of Chicago, government buildings. Do not disarm the law abiding citizens of Virginia to allow armed criminals to do damage.


Request a speaker for your event
You can request Department of Cannabis Control (DCC) staff to participate in your upcoming event by emailing firstname.lastname@example.org.
We participate in events throughout the year, including as:
- Guest speakers
We prioritize events that:
- Help licensees understand rules and processes
- Support equity applicants and licensees
- Engage government and law enforcement partners
- Support researchers studying cannabis
DCC does not provide financial support for events.


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The 2002 Gamecube version of Resident Evil is still the gold standard when it comes to video game remakes in my opinion. The game retained the essential core and personality of Resident Evil while polishing, expanding and deepening the game in almost every aspect. To this day the game stands up as a beautiful survival horror game, not to mention the scariest entry in the Resident Evil series by a long shot.
Capcom seems to agree the game has held up well, because today they announced that the Resident Evil remake will be remastered and released on both current and last-gen systems. The game’s stunning pre-rendered backgrounds will be upscaled, the character models will be re-done and a new, somewhat less rigid control scheme will be included — aside from that, Capcom is promising not to tamper with a good thing.
Here’s a couple Capcom producers chatting about the project…
And here’s a few screenshots.
Dammit — just when I swear I’m done with the remastering thing, they announce another project I can’t ignore.


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Embedded boards by VIA offer one of the smallest form factors combined with high performance. They provide low profile and power efficiency can be combined with a rich entertainment experience.
The tiny form factors of VIA embedded boards are designed to inspire system innovation, with VIA Mini-ITX embedded boards
measuring 17cm x 17cm, VIA Nano-ITX embedded boards only 12cm x 12cm and VIA Pico-ITX embedded boards a tiny 10cm x 7.2cm.
All VIA embedded boards are based on the industry-standard x86 architecture and feature a complete platform of VIA silicon,
including an embedded VIA processor, advanced digital media core logic chipset, and a host of connectivity, multimedia and
storage options, and are compatible with leading operating systems.

domain: design


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Outgoing superintendent Raj Manhas, of whom I have been rather critical, has a guest column in the Seattle Times today defending Seattle Public Schools.
According to Manhas, scores have improved for seven straight years, and the district now outperforms the state average on standardized tests, matching or exceeding many of our neighboring districts. Over the past few years the district has also managed to turn a $34 million shortfall into a $20 million reserve. Hardly an argument for a state or city takeover.
Given all the talk about a district in crisis, I think many people would be surprised by the reality. Take a tour of the city’s elementary schools and you’ll mostly find well maintained, recently constructed or renovated buildings with orderly, well behaved classrooms and a dedicated teaching staff. These are not the inner city schools of Detroit or Philadelphia — many would be virtually indistinguishable from their nearby suburban counterparts. There’s a reason why communities fought so hard to save our local schools from closure… we love them.
That’s not to say there aren’t problems. Seattle is an urban district with all that entails, but the image propagated through hyperbolic editorials only makes matters worse. At least at the elementary school level I believe it is often a complete waste of money in Seattle to send your child to private schools, but way too many families now do exactly that. This removes from the district the children of many of our most affluent and best educated parents — the children who are typically the easiest and least expensive to teach — leaving behind a disproportionate number of students who face additional educational and life challenges.
As Manhas points out, our schools have these children for only six hours a day, nine months a year:
For us to make true strides in academic achievement, we need to pay much more attention to basic quality-of-life issues for our children. Research confirms what test scores also reveal: Childhood poverty and racism are the biggest factors keeping our kids down.
Yes, hands-on parental involvement is perhaps the most accurate indicator of academic success, but some of our parents are simply unwilling or unable to participate in their children’s education. You cannot blame an immigrant parent who works ten hours a day and who has no formal education nor competency with the English language, for not helping his children with their homework. And you cannot blame a child growing up in an unstable household for being unprepared to learn. What you can do is attempt to intervene as early as possible. Headstart, pre-school, and full day kindergarten are all solutions that are proven to work, and the only thing preventing us from implementing these programs for all our needy children is the political will.
It is critical to recognize that all that has occurred in Seattle Public Schools over the past decade — both the successes and the failures — has occurred in the context of systemic underfunding. Washington state’s public education funding now ranks in the bottom ten nationwide, and Seattle’s teachers are amongst the lowest paid of any major city when adjusted for local cost of living. To hear many of the district’s right-wing critics tell it, our schools already waste the resources they have, so any increase in spending would only be throwing good money after bad. But as Manhas poignantly asks, “How can we demand that our children reach for the stars when the grownups have them in the nation’s basement in terms of education funding?”
Of course money is not the only answer, but not a single educational reform being touted from the right or the left or anywhere in between can possibly have a hope of succeeding unless we adequately fund it. Our educators, editorialists, elected officials and yes, even us citizens have given way too much lip service to the ideal of educating all our children. Now it is time for us to put our money where our mouth is.


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The Helix® minimizes part setup time with a single, advanced quick-change tooling fixture designed for both cylinder or tapered parts. Prepress and screen making are eliminated by this all-digital process. Simply import the image, choose the quantity for production and print directly to the product with user-friendly software. The Helix® rotary inkjet printer achieves a superior balance between speed and image quality due to its patented Helix software which places 7 picoliter drops of ink precisely along the cylinder at extremely high speed.
The Helix® is a heavy-duty state-of-the-art machine designed and built by the Inkcups Now team in the U.S.A.
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Features of the Helix® Rotary Inkjet Printer:
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Print straight-walled and tapered cylinders
Servo-driven, quick-change tooling fixture
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Speed: 4 parts per minute**
Helix™ software package
**image/product size and quality settings dependant
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1200 x 1200dpi
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Flame treatment is common with certain substrates in order to enhance ink adhesion through the manipulation of surface tension. This industrial machine boasts 8 palettes each with its own vacuum for securely suctioning bottles. Once the bottle reaches the flame, the palette turns 360 degrees allowing the flame to evenly treat the whole bottle. Control the flame height up to 20 inches, slow down or speed up the rotation of the palette and turn suction on and off all from the control panel. To ensure the bottle does not pass the flame more than once, the machine uses a hydraulic system to lightly tap the bottle into a box or bin.
Features of the AutoFlame360:
8” burner head (standard)
(8) 6” diameter platens (152 mm)
Adjustable Burner height with scale – up to 20”(508mm)
Adjustable flame length slide in burner head
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Automatic unload with transfer chute
Air/gas mixing valve
Positive ignition proof of flame sensor
8 station Geneva drive
Number of stations:
Rotary dial diameter:
Natural Gas or Propane
(80 psi) required for automatic unloader
Standard burner length:
- Enables Inkjet Printing on Metal, including Nameplates!
DigiBond is a specialized primer that allows UV inks to adhere to metal. For the nameplate industry, this primer finally makes inkjet printing a viable alternative to screen printing!
To use DigiBond, wipe it on the surface and flash cure it prior to applying UV inks.
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Weak performances among special education students on the Maryland School Assessment tests continues to be a challenge for Howard County school officials.
This week's release of preliminary data indicating whether schools met state standards in reading and math showed that special education pupils at three schools - Phelps Luck Elementary, Cradlerock School and Patuxent Valley Middle School - did not perform well enough on the high-stakes exam to make adequate progress this year.
"We're going to look at the data and find out what we need to do differently and get the job done," said Sterlind S. Burke, principal at Patuxent Valley.
At a fourth school, Wilde Lake Middle, pupils with limited English skills failed to make sufficient strides on the reading test; two of 13 pupils passed.
Meanwhile, special education pupils at two middle schools - Murray Hill and Elkridge Landing - who did not make adequate progress in reading last year met targets this year.
Schools that do not meet academic standards for two consecutive years are added to the state's list of failing schools.
State education officials added Homewood School, an alternative learning program for middle and high school students who have difficulty in traditional classroom settings, to the list for the second year - a mistake Howard administrators attributed to coding errors.
Homewood students who are at the center temporarily should have been accountable to their home schools, Howard officials say. An appeal was filed last week, and state officials said it likely will be accepted.
In suburban school systems around the Baltimore region, the poor performance among special education students was the culprit in many schools not making adequate progress.
Terry Alban, Howard's director of student assessment and program evaluation, said students with disabilities are making strides, though not as quickly as the state exam demands under the federal No Child Left Behind law.
Newly relaxed federal rules regarding disabled children will allow the state to introduce a modified version of the Maryland School Assessment, which state officials say will be simpler and shorter. Two percent of disabled students statewide can take the modified exam, starting next year.
As a result, "schools won't be missing adequate yearly progress ... when in fact, that kid is growing and improving," Alban said. "We don't have an assessment tool to see that or to validate that [now]."
Based on the potential impact of the modified MSA, had some students taken it this year, Howard school officials plan to appeal the state's ruling on Phelps Luck, Cradlerock and Patuxent Valley, Alban said.
"I hate to see teachers so disheartened and saying, 'We've failed,'" she said. "They did make improvements."
An appeal is also planned for Wilde Lake Middle because pupils with limited English skills who should have been exempt mistakenly took the exam this year, Alban said.
A closer look at the schools' raw data show that a handful of pupils passing the test would have made the difference in whether the school hit or missed the mark, she said.
For example, three of 21 special education pupils at Phelps Luck Elementary passed the math test. Two additional pupils making the mark would have deemed the school as making "adequate yearly progress," Alban said.
At Patuxent Valley, special education pupils did not meet standards in reading with 28 of 81 pupils passing the test.
Burke, the principal, said reading intervention programs will continue to target pupils who need extra support.
"The scores, though they don't reflect well in meeting the state standards, I believe we're getting the best we can from our students," Burke said. "We have enough reading programs here to reach the whole spectrum of kids."
About 10 percent of the Howard's 47,000-student population receive special education services.
Robert Glascock, assistant superintendent for curriculum and instruction, said the school system uses "multilayer" approaches to help disabled children, including a co-teaching model in which classes are taught by a special educator and a regular teacher.
Moreover, school administrators and teachers are working to make intervention programs inclusive, meaning children with disabilities get extra help in classes with nondisabled students and vice versa, Glascock said.
"It is making sure we provide the least restrictive model for students," he said.
At Murray Hill - where disabled pupils made the mark this year after failing to meet adequate progress last year - special education team leader Kristol Taylor attributed the improvements to the inclusive approach.
"We looked at students who were struggling and didn't limit it to special education students," Taylor said. "It was an effort to not only help special education students meet [adequate yearly progress], but all students."
Howard County schools that did not make adequate progress this year:
Patuxent Valley Middle School
Phelps Luck Elementary School
Wilde Lake Middle School
Schools that did not meet standards last year but met them in 2005:
Elkridge Landing Middle School
Murray Hill Middle School
Source: Howard County public schools


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After the sudden death of his mother, a taciturn boy heads for the hills in "The Cold Lands," the sophomore feature of director Tom Gilroy ("Spring Forward"). The film is essentially composed of an…
Boyd van Hoeij
Three Teuton siblings go on a physical trip as well as a jaunt down memory lane in "My Sisters," helmer Lars Kraume's thankfully uncloying but still somewhat predictable meller.
An intimate portrait of one of Gaul's first, and classiest, transsexuals.
After "Leonard Cohen: I'm Your Man," Los Angeles-based Aussie helmer Lian Lunson tackles another of Montreal's great songwriters in the concert-film-with-extras format in "Sing Me the Songs That Say…
Ups and downs are constantly juxtaposed in "The Broken Circle Breakdown," a bluegrass-infused Flemish meller about two lovers who lose their little daughter to cancer.
A middle-aged former Miss Brittany needs more than a cigarette break in "On My Way," a road movie from actress and occasional helmer Emmanuelle Bercot that's constructed entirely around a tender…
A terrific docu from Gallic nonfiction filmmaker Nicolas Philibert, "La Maison de la radio" adds revealing images to sounds that will be familiar to millions of French public-radio listeners.
Though not quite a train wreck (the tech package is pedestrian rather than bad), Bille August's "Night Train to Lisbon" feels like a relic of the good ol' Europudding days.
Auds for this extended pre-coital conversation and subsequent collection of money shots will be confined to sprocket operas or Internet downloads.
A Greek Weird Wave entry of sorts that makes up for its formally less striking execution with a more accessible story, "The Eternal Return of Antonis Paraskevas" follows an aging morning talkshow…
Two ex-convicts and lovers try to get back to normal in the Canuck backwoods in the oddball offering "Vic + Flo ont vu un ours."
2016-2017 Oscar Predictions