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9 years, 8 months ago
In Operation Alljah and the Marines of 2nd Battalion, 6th Regiment, we interviewed Lt. Col. William F. Mullen who gave us a realistic but positive report on the accomplishments of the Marines in Fallujah. As expected, we received e-mail from detractors (is Fallujah really this much better off?). There are also reports that take the same facts and turn them into a completely different interpretation than the one we published.
We have also published extensively on the calamity in Basra, the British having essentially lost the military struggle for Basra and surrounding areas. True to form, this assessment has also been questioned by detractors. But even the British are finally managing to turn their gaze towards just how bad the situation is in Basra.
Like Donald Rumsfeld, the man British commentators love to hate, we never sent enough troops to Iraq. At first we were pretty condescending to the Americans, insisting that our light touch, learned in Northern Ireland, was far more effective than their alleged heavy-handedness. We were wrong. Basra is not Londonderry. Our ever-lower profile was seen by local militias — and the public — as weakness. As a result the militia grewstronger and stronger, and now Basra is a town of warring gangs. We never committed enough — and we reduced our numbers much too soon. We now have only 5,000 men and women in Basra. That small force must protect itself, must continue training the 10th Iraqi Division.
The U.S. has also begun to divulge the sensitivity of the situation.
“This is less an insurgency issue than it is criminal, a borderline Mafia kind of situation. You’ve got competing criminal interests looking for territory down there,” said Geoff Morrell, the Pentagon’s press secretary.
“So that has certainly complicated matters for the Brits down there, and it certainly remains a concern for us,” he told reporters.
Britain has 5,500 troops in Basra but almost all have been pulled back to the airport where they are training Iraqi forces.
This admission may be gratuitous. Beyond criminal activity, three strong, competing Shi’a factions are at war with one another and openly demanding protection money from the population: Jaish al Mahdi, the Fadhila Party, and SIIC (Badr).
So what is the relationship between Basra and Anbar, and is there any acendotal evidence to back up these analyses? The best on-the-scene evidence comes from Omar Fadhil of Iraq the Model, who assesses the reversal of roles between the Shi’a south and the Sunni West in Crossing Anbar.
We’ve been getting some reports about the improvement in security in Anbar in the last few months but little was said about the highway that runs across the province.
The several hundred kilometer western section of the international highway is technically Iraq’s second “port” in a way as it connects Iraq with Syria and Jordan and was for years the only window to the world when all airports and the southern ports in Basra were closed to traffic in the 1990s.
For most of the time between 2004 and 2007 taking this road was considered suicidal behavior as the chance someone would be robbed or killed was too high.
But with the tribal awakening in Anbar that cleared large parts of the province from al-Qaeda the highway is expected to be safer, but how much safer?
My family returned yesterday from a vacation in Syria and they have used this road twice in six weeks. I had tried hard to convince them not to do that and take a flight instead but now after hearing their story I’m convinced that my fear was not justified; the road is safe…
This is good not only for Iraq’s economy and traveling but also for the American troops who can use this road as an alternative supply route in case the British troops withdraw and leave the strategic southern highway between Kuwait and Baghdad unguarded.
Back to the story; there are two travel plans for passenger SUV’s and buses from Damascus to Baghdad; one includes leaving Damascus between 10 pm and midnight, reaching the Syrian border control before dawn, entering the Iraqi border control at 8 am and arriving in Baghdad around sunset. A total of approximately 20 hours with 6 to 7 hours lost in waiting and passport control.
The second plan includes leaving Damascus at noon and here convoys carrying the passengers continue to move all the way until a short distance northwest of Ramadi. At this point the time would be between midnight and 2 am and since that’s within curfew hours in Baghdad, the drivers park their vehicles and everyone gets to sleep 3 or 4 hours and wait for the sun to rise and then the journey would continue.
Now the first plan sounds predictable, safe and well planned given the distance and necessary stops. But look at the second one carefully and try to picture the scene; dozens of passenger SUV’s (GMC trucks mostly) and buses parking in he middle of nowhere in a zone that was until recently the heart of al-Qaeda’s Islamic state! Obviously the drivers and families feel safe enough that they know they won’t be robbed and slaughtered by cold-blooded terrorists. Even more interesting, this parking and resting zone was not designated nor protected by the Iraqi or American forces but simply an arrangement the drivers managed on their own perhaps with cooperation from the local tribes.
I still laugh every time I think of this incredible change and I honestly wouldn’t have believed it if the story teller wasn’t my father.
This sign of positive progress brings to my mind a sad irony. Back in 2004 when taking the Anbar highway was out of question for me, the Sunni dentist, I made the trip back and fourth between Baghdad and Basra countless times without any fear.
Now, I’m ready to try the trip through the west, but going south through the militia infested land is something I’d never dare do at this stage.
The reports on the pacification of Anbar are indeed correct, and sadly, the British failure in Basra has made Operation Iraqi Freedom much more complicated.


Ephémère November 2016
Roberta Štěpánková & Amund J. Røe – The Crossroads
Roberta Štěpánková (Slovakia) and Amund Røe (Norway) common work began in autumn 2014. In their collaboration till now, they have been focusing on their experience of space in the process of music and dance composition and in the act of performance. The common question has been ´how do we experience the (inner/outer) space in composition and how does considering this informs the work process´.
Amund J. Røe was born into a Norwegian-Dutch family in 1985, and grew up in a small rural village in the Norwegian mountains. He finished a bachelor in piano at the University of Agder in Kristiansand, before further studies in composition, church organ and pedagogy at the Academy of Music in Oslo. Since 2012 Amund has been a studying composition at Codarts University for Arts in Rotterdam, under the guidance of Jan-Bas Bollen, René Uijlenhoet and Peter-Jan Wagemans. Besides being a composer he is a performing musician and improviser.
Eric Zinman / Onno Govaerts / John Dikeman – Free improv
Eric’s statement: Music is empathy in action. We learn together. From the city I grew up in, music made life more livable, more beautiful and less violent. The ensemble is the lifeblood of our choices. “Hey baby your band is so cool, they play so far oooooouuuutt, no in no in all very out. What got you into the music scene when it was clean, you dig and now you’re all dirty and jive?” “ It was all because of that flying saucer, they picked us up and got us a gig on Mars, called us head generals and booked us in the stars. The moons were dripping down like sliced melons, what a little moonlight can do’’” “that’s strange speech you make on that thing.” “My five year old daughter can play better than that. Where are you guys from?” They say we will never play here so we go there like children. “Why don’t you just stay in church and sing gospel?” Cuz all I ask of living is to feel a little life in you baby. Romeo pouncing on Juliet (and they both come from good families) those hot wet teenage seals, their bodies crashing like the sea, in the rapture of wind, trees, forests and animals surviving by their wit. with their vision looking out like spirit guides, playing in the sand along the shore..”
Born Eric Green Zinman, 1963. Began the study of piano and voice as a small child. Interest in classic music, Broadway, R&B and Rock and Roll. As an adolescent discovered Black Music :jazz, blues, gospel , the music of the strip clubs and hotels and modified his approach. This followed with composition studies with Bill Dixon, George Russell and Jimmy Giuffre. Since 1987 he produced a number of ensembles with Laurence Cook, Syd Smart, and Glynis Lomon. In the mid 2000’s he began to tour Europe with Mario Rechtern and met and played with many musicians. His activity and collaboration extends to theater, dance, film and poetry. Music is empathy in action, two souls rubbing together, the significant human story. Since 2000 he has recorded 18 albums and has been reviewed in 9 languages.
Onno Govaert, drums, born 1987 in Kaatsheuvel (Efteling), lives in Amsterdam and is a member of different jazz, free jazz and improvised music groups such as Cactus Truck, Govaert/deJoode/Stadhouders trio, RIO, Trialectics, duo Vatcher/Govaert among others. He has played with musicians Arthur Doyle, Joe McPhee, Terrie Ex, Ab Baars, Chris Corsano, Roy Campbell, Jeb Bishop, Wolter Wierbos, Han Bennink, Michael Moore, Ken Vandermark, Peter Evans, Matts Gustafsson and many more.
John Dikeman is an American saxophonist currently residing in Amsterdam. Drawing inspiration from a wide range of sources, John’s playing runs the gamut of improvised music and technique, ranging from reductionist extended technique based improvisation to full throttle free jazz. The underlying characteristic of his music is an unnerving commitment, a total abandonment to sound. John was born in Nebraska in 1983 and grew up in Kemmerer, Wyoming. Thanks to the extreme isolation of his hometown, he spent most of his free time practicing and studying music. He quickly discovered the music of John Coltrane, Cecil Taylor, John Zorn, and Albert Ayler and instantly connected to the unmatched expressive power of free jazz. He moved to Amsterdam in December of 2007, after a brief stay in Budapest, Hungary. Since arriving in Amsterdam, John has jumped at the chance to re-enter the world of improvised music.
Graham Flett & Nicole De Brabandere – ‘Hearing on the verge: cuing and aligning with the movement of the audible’
In ‘Hearing on the verge: cuing and aligning with the movement of the audible’, we engage the sonic landscape by recording and listening in movement. This is a cueing and aligning with the audible in our respective urban ecologies, in a counterpoint of moving and listening. We relay and exchange these recorded sounds, write and compose with them while expanding modes of listening across space-time and across situated milieu of hearing. As hearing in movement intensifies the verge of the audible, it multiplies, stretches and concentrates the otherwise indistinct noise of urban ecologies into new intensities, contours and articulations. In the process of moving with hearing, listening becomes a technique of gathering audible rhythms, refrains and qualities within and with an inhabited body. What’s more, the pathways of roads and corridors that habitually map and prescribe trajectories through space lose their force of extensive continuity, or the authority with which they delineate space and script, direction or position, within it — places become viscous in the attunement with their sonic consistency, in the dynamics with which it is stirred, swallowed and waded through.
Nicole De Brabandere is a PhD candidate in artistic research at Zurich University of the Arts (ZHdK) under the supervision of Giaco Schiesser and Erin Manning. De Brabandere develops techniques to generate affective attunements across media and material milieu, including clay modelling, drawing, video, audio, choreography and discursive practice.
Graham Flett is presently a PhD candidate in Music Composition at Brunel University (U.K), under direction of Christopher Fox and Michael Finnissy, Flett’s artistic research aims at articulating how composed music and organized sound as an act of culturally mimetic behavior, can reveal new ways of creative expression.


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Credit card delinquencies hit the lowest level on record in the second quarter of last year, just as the pandemic was settling in, according to a report from the American Bankers Association.
Delinquencies stayed low during the third quarter, too. The report found that they fell, in part, because people used government relief funds to pay off their bills.
Rob Strand, senior economist with the American Bankers Association, said it also helped that credit card balances were already falling.
“Consumers have become much more careful about their spending,” he said.
According to the New York Federal Reserve, that trend started at the beginning of 2020.
“That is what you kind of want to see in the context of a healthy consumer sector,” said Tim Quinlan, senior economist with Wells Fargo Securities.
The thing is, Quinlan said, we shouldn’t get too excited when fewer people are delinquent on their credit card bills. That’s because credit card balances are a relatively small part of overall household debt.
“It’s the smallest overall category, much smaller than mortgages, and a little bit smaller than auto loans and even student loans,” Quinlan said.
And the people paying off their bills last year don’t represent the entire economy, said Teresa Ghilarducci, an economist at the New School for Social Research.
“Having debt on your credit card is a middle-class phenomenon,” she said.
People with high incomes, she said, tend to have low balances.
On the other hand, “poor people have a hard time getting access to a credit card. So they’re not fully banked,” Ghilarducci said.
Some of the most troubling forms of debt right now, she said, are student loans and the debt many renters owe their landlords. The government has deferred those payments for now, but “those arrears are mounting.”
“So we are seeing a situation where poor people have a lot more accumulated debt that’s just been built up,” Ghilarducci said, adding that in the long run, student loans and rent will be much bigger hurdles than the country’s credit card debt.

domain: news


Police are hunting a woman from West London who is suspected of posing as a travel agent and taking money from holidaymakers.
Detectives are appealing for the public’s help to trace Hayley King, 34, who had previously been living in the Feltham area.
King is described as 5ft 10ins of medium build with a scar on her left arm.
The appeal follows allegations that King was taking bookings as an ‘Internet Travel Agent’ using a company called ‘Around The World Travel’.
It is alleged that King was taking money from victims and informing them that their holidays were booked.
However, victims subsequently found out that none, or only a small amount of the holiday had actually been paid for.
At this time officers have identified 56 victims of fraud from across the country, with the loss to victims in the region of £125,000.
Police have information that King left the UK and travelled to Fuerteventura, Canary Isles, on March 24, 2019 and it appears she has not returned.
Detective Constable Ryan Maginnes of the Met’s Economic Crime Command, said: “We urgently want to trace King and would ask anyone with information to contact police. If she is abroad you can contact the local force and give them your information.
“We would also ask anyone else who thinks they may have been a victim of this fraud to contact police. It is my fear that there may be other victims who are not yet aware that their holidays have not been paid for. Anyone with information should contact police or Crimestoppers.”
Any witnesses or anyone with any information is asked to call police on 101 or contact via Twitter @MetCC. Please quote CAD 2225/13JAN
To give information anonymously contact Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111 or online at crimestoppers-uk.org
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Have you ever wondered the role of Artificial Intelligence (AI), Robotics and Big Data in today’s society? What are their implications on leadership and management? Do you think we are using such technological capabilities to their maximum potential?
A promotion of science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) in Cambodia, the Inaugural Robotics Conference was a celebration of robotics in the Kingdom.
The first robotics conference is happening in Cambodia and you’re invited!
EmTech Singapore took place on 27 and 28 January at Marina Bay Sands in Singapore, and it certainly ended with a bang. Find out what went down in this article!
Learn about the Liger Learning Center as well as the many tech innovation projects that their young students undertake.


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Background and header created with products from NBK Design and Lili Wee
Saturday, April 17, 2010
the work week is over.It's been a long one. There is something pretty sweet about a tall, dark, and handsome man with a bulletproof vest and a gun, but Oh, never mind. I'm just glad it's over. The original artwork for this came from the Sum of All Crafts. Good night.

domain: design


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However, accessions with desirable agronomic or nutritional traits in a MCC are rare, owing to the need to include as many accessions as possible with various traits while preserving appropriate sample sizes. For this reason, accessions with
specific traits identified in MCCs could be used only as indicators for directional identification of more elite accessions from CCs or FCs. For example, click here for studying disease resistance, stress tolerance and other traits, soybean accessions in MCC can first be used to characterize the distribution of different traits, and then a large number of accessions may be evaluated based on these distributions. This strategy http://www.selleckchem.com/products/fg-4592.html has been used to identify elite accessions in previous studies of salt tolerance and soybean cyst nematode (SCN) resistance  and . In the present study, we developed an integrated applied core collection (IACC) for soybean that consists of accessions with cold tolerance, drought tolerance, salt tolerance, SCN resistance, soybean mosaic virus (SMV) resistance, high protein content and high fat content. Here, IACC was defined as a core collection of accessions with different desirable agronomic and nutritional traits fulfilled
with interest to genetic research and breeding programs. The diversity of this newly formed IACC was compared with that of the established
MCC of soybean. IACC of soybean developed in this study lays a foundation for selection of crossing parents fulfilling various breeding goals in different eco-regions. Soybean accessions were obtained from the Chinese National Soybean GeneBank (CNSGB) at the Institute of Crop Science, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences. A large-scale evaluation of agronomic traits of the conserved accessions of cultivated soybeans was performed. A total of 159 soybean accessions, including 18 from the MCC and 141 from the FC of soybean, were selected. These 159 accessions accounted for about 10% of accessions in the FC carrying at least one of seven desirable agronomic or nutritional traits of particular interest to genetic research and breeding programs. Protein kinase N1 This selection strategy was aimed at obtaining similar proportions of accessions with each desirable trait from the FC based on the phenotypic data. The seven traits included cold tolerance (rank 0 or 1), drought tolerance (rank 0 or 1), salt tolerance (high tolerance, relative salt injury index less than 20 in bud or/and injured leaf area less than 10% in seedling stage), SCN resistance (rank 0 or 1 to race 1, 2, 3, 4 and/or 5), SMV resistance (rank 1), high seed protein content (at least 50.0%), and high seed oil content (at least 23.0%).

domain: agronomy


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Efficacy of Propafenone Hydrochloride in Preventing Postoperative Atrial Fibrillation after Coronary Artery Bypass Grafting
Background: Atrial fibrillation (AF) is one of the most common complications after coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG), and the incidence of postoperative AF (PAF) is estimated to range from 10% to 40%. PAF is a serious complication that is related to unstable hemodynamics, development of embolisms, patient discomfort, and increased medical costs associated with the prolongation of hospital stay. Sometimes, immediate attention is also necessary. In this study, we assessed the efficacy of treatment with the antiarrhythmic drug propafenone hydrochloride, which was administered in the early postoperative period, in preventing the development of PAF, and we attempted to identify risk factors for PAF.
Materials and Methods: The subjects were 78 patients who underwent isolated off-pump CABG between July 2007 and October 2008. We conducted the study by dividing the patients into 2 groups, a group of 26 patients who received propafenone hydrochloride (P group) and a control group of 52 patients who did not receive this drug (C group). The patients in the P group were given propafenone hydrochloride (150-450 mg/day orally) for 10 days, starting on the day after surgery, and were observed for the development of AF by means of continuous 12-lead electrocardiographic monitoring. Development of AF was defined as AF that lasted ?30 minutes or as supraventricular arrhythmia that required new treatment even though it did not persist for 30 minutes.
Results: The background factors of the patients in the P and C groups were similar. The operation times and the numbers of distal anastomoses in the 2 groups were similar, and there were no particular differences between the 2 groups with respect to postoperative factors. The incidence of PAF was 35% in the C group and significantly lower in the P group (12%, P = .0337). Moreover, multiple logistic regression analysis showed that propafenone hydrochloride was the sole factor that prevented the development of PAF (odds ratio, 0.207; 95% confidence interval, 0.053-0.804; P = .0229).
Conclusion: Cases must be carefully considered before administering propafenone hydrochloride, but the results of this study indicate that propafenone hydrochloride may prevent the development of PAF.
Almassi GH, Schowalter T, Nicolosi AC, et al. 1997. Atrial fibrillation after cardiac surgery: a major morbid event? Ann Surg 226:501-11; discussion 511-3.nAndrews TC, Reimold SC, Berlin JA, Antman EM. 1991. Prevention of supraventricular arrhythmias after coronary artery bypass surgery. A meta-analysis of randomized control trials. Circulation 84(suppl):III236-44.nAranki SF, Shaw DP, Adams DH, et al. 1996. Predictors of atrial fibrillation after coronary artery surgery. Current trends and impact on hospital resources. Circulation 94:390-7.nCahill SA, Kirshenbaum LA, Gross GJ. 2001. Transient outward current inhibition by propafenone and 5-hydroxypropafenone in cultured neonatal rat ventricular myocytes. J Cardiovasc Pharmacol 38:460-7.nChidambaram M, Akhtar MJ, al-Nozha M, al-Saddique A. 1992. Relationship of atrial fibrillation to significant pericardial effusion in valve-replacement patients. Thorac Cardiovasc Surg 40:70-3.nCohn WE, Sirois CA, Johnson RG. 1999. Atrial fibrillation after minimally invasive coronary artery bypass grafting: a retrospective, matched study. J Thorac Cardiovasc Surg 117:298-301.nCoumel P. 1994. Autonomic arrhythmogenic factors in paroxysmal atrial fibrillation. In: Olsson SB, Allessie MA, Campbell RWF, eds. Atrial fibrillation: mechanisms and therapeutics strategies. Armonk, NY: Futura Publishing Co. p 171-85.nEagle KA, Guyton RA, Davidoff R, et al. 1999. ACC/AHA guidelines for coronary artery bypass graft surgery: executive summary and recommendations: a report of the American College of Cardiology/American Heart Association Task Force on Practice Guidelines (Committee to Revise the 1991 Guidelines for Coronary Artery Bypass Graft Surgery). Circulation 100:1464-80.nEngelmann MD, Svendsen JH. 2005. Inflammation in the genesis and perpetuation of atrial fibrillation. Eur Heart J 26:2083-92.nHogue CW Jr, Hyder ML. 2000. Atrial fibrillation after cardiac operation: risks, mechanisms, and treatment. Ann Thorac Surg 69:300-6.nJahangiri M, Weir G, Mandal K, Savelieva I, Camm J. 2006. Current strategies in the management of atrial fibrillation. Ann Thorac Surg 82:357-64.nJidéus L, Blomström P, Nilsson L, Stridsberg M, Hansell P, Blomström-Lundqvist C. 2000. Tachyarrhythmias and triggering factors for atrial fibrillation after coronary artery bypass operations. Ann Thorac Surg 69:1064-9.nKowey PR, Yannicelli D, Amsterdam E. 2004. Effectiveness of oral propafenone for the prevention of atrial fibrillation after coronary artery bypass grafting. Am J Cardiol 94:663-5.nLeitch JW, Thomson D, Baird DK, Harris PJ. 1990. The importance of age as a predictor of atrial fibrillation and flutter after coronary artery bypass grafting. J Thorac Cardiovasc Surg 100:338-42.nLikosky DS, Caplan LR, Weintraub RM, et al., Northern New England Cardiovascular Disease Study Group, Lebanon, New Hampshire. 2004. Intraoperative and postoperative variables associated with strokes following cardiac surgery. Heart Surg Forum #1522-6662 7:E271-6.nMaisel WH, Rawn JD, Stevenson WG. 2001. Atrial fibrillation after cardiac surgery. Ann Intern Med 135:1061-73.nMarín F, Pascual DA, Roldán V, et al. 2006. Statins and postoperative risk of atrial fibrillation following coronary artery bypass grafting. Am J Cardiol 97:55-60.nMathew JP, Parks R, Savino JS, et al. 1996. Atrial fibrillation following coronary artery bypass graft surgery: predictors, outcomes, and resource utilization. MultiCenter Study of Perioperative Ischemia Research Group. JAMA 276:300-6.nMcLeod AA, Stiles GL, Shand DG. 1984. Demonstration of beta adrenoceptor blockade by propafenone hydrochloride: clinical pharmacologic, radioligand binding and adenylate cyclase activation studies. J Pharmacol Exp Ther 228:461-6.nMerrick AF, Odom NJ, Keenan DJ, Grotte GJ. 1995. Comparison of propafenone to atenolol for the prophylaxis of postcardiotomy supraventricular tachyarrhythmias: a prospective trial. Eur J Cardiothorac Surg 9:146-9.nOlshansky B. 1996. Management of atrial fibrillation after coronary artery bypass graft. Am J Cardiol 78:27-34.nRaja SG, Dreyfus GD. 2004. Incidence of atrial fibrillation after offpump and on-pump coronary artery surgery. Internet J Thorac Cardiovasc Surg 6(2).nSiebert J, Anisimowicz L, Lango R, et al. 2001. Atrial fibrillation after coronary artery bypass grafting: does the type of procedure influence the early postoperative incidence? Eur J Cardiothorac Surg 19:455-9.nZaman AG, Archbold RA, Helft G, Paul EA, Curzen NP, Mills PG. 2000. Atrial fibrillation after coronary artery bypass surgery: a model for preoperative risk stratification. Circulation 101:1403-8.nZebis LR, Christensen TD, Kristiansen IS, Hjortdal VE. 2008. Amiodarone cost effectiveness in preventing atrial fibrillation after coronary artery bypass graft surgery. Ann Thorac Surg 85:28-32.n

domain: medical


Gov't may resume informal talks with NDF-CPP
Manila (19 November) -- The Arroyo administration may soon hold informal talks with the Communist Party of the Philippines – National Democratic Front (CPP-NDF) and its armed group, the New People's Army (NPA), in another attempt to reach a common ground on how to restart formal talks on ending the decades-old communist insurgency in the country.
Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process Hermogenes Esperon, in a press briefing in Malacanang this afternoon, said the government is "indeed considering allowing our panel to go to Norway" upon the proposal of the government of Oslo for a third informal meeting after formal peace talks between the government and the NDF-CPP-NPA collapsed in Aug. 2004.
Esperon said an agenda of the informal talks will have to be put in place before the government panel headed by former Labor Secretary Nieves Confesor proceeds to Oslo.
Among the key topics the government would like to take up during the informal meeting, according to Esperon, are those on different modes of ceasefire taking into account models from other peace processes in other countries, and discussions on putting a stop to the NPA's illegal taxation and recruitment of children for combat.
He also said the NPA's violent activities on the ground must be discussed. Among the crimes committed by the NPA during the last 10 months were 34 rape cases, 104 liquidations of which 94 were civilian victims; 14 kidnappings, five robbery/holdups, and 66 arson cases.
Esperon also said NPAs must stop attacking mining and construction companies and cell sites.
Likewise, they must put a stop to using landmines, and the killings in the countryside, he added.
Esperon also said the government panel will put forward the Arroyo administration's new paradigm of peace based on disarmament, demobilization and reintegration (DDR), and seek a more efficient implementation of the Joint Agreement on Security and Immunity Guarantees or JASIG.
"We will await the response of the other side," he said.
Esperon said that the government remains open to negotiating peace with the NDF even as he stressed that the informal talks will only be "exploratory, no commitments."
The government has insisted on a ceasefire before the holding of the peace talks so that the rebels can prove that they are not terrorists, after all, he said.
He pointed out that removing the rebel group from the list of terrorist organizations is something the government cannot do because it cannot dictate on other countries like the members of the European Union (EU), which have blacklisted the NPA as a foreign terrorist organization.
The Oslo-brokered talks between the government and the CPP-NDF-NPA collapsed after members of the NDF panel walked out of the negotiations in 2004 in protest over the groups' inclusion in the EU terror list. (PIA) [top]


The meeting, co-organized by the Congo Basin Forest Partnership (CBFP), aims to find common and sustainable solutions for surviving the Congo Basin forests. There are many promises of funding for these forests, but these are not necessarily on the way to the right place, according to the participants.
as reported from Libreville, Yves-Laurent Goma
Central African Forestry Commission (Comifac), which monitors the region’s forest policy, found that the majority of available funding is captured by the Amazon. A misunderstanding, condemns Françoise Van de Ven, president of the International Technical Association of Tropical Timber (ATIBT): “The observation that has been made now is that it is no longer the Amazon that is the first lung because the forest has become too crowded. It is now Congo The Basin forest, which is the world’s first lung ”.
“Real competition” Non-governmental organizations, for their part, claim that the few resources available are captured by international organizations. “It’s the competition of reality,” explains environmentalist Nicaise Moulombi. And to add: “Almost all funds go to studies. Who studies? It is the international organizations, it is these experts, that is, themselves and not us ”.
During COP 26 in Glasgowdonors have pledged a sum of $ 1.7 billion to indigenous peoples. Joseph Itogwa, Coordinator of the Network for Indigenous Peoples and Locals for the Sustainable Management of Forest Ecosystems in Central Africa (REPALEAC), proposes that the money go directly to the recipients. To “avoid these intermediaries in the funds dedicated to indigenous peoples, which go through a bureaucracy, a large administration, and that only the crumbs reach the societies”.
Sustainable use The funding requested by the countries of Central Africa aims to guarantee the sustainable use of forests.
► Also listening: It’s not wind – The difficult protection of the forests in Africa


New Northern Ireland manager Tanya Oxtoby has suggested that her side could benefit from the current turmoil in the Ireland set-up when the two sides meet in the first international women’s fixture in Lansdowne Road later this month.
The first game of the inaugural Women’s Nations League will be the Australian’s first time in the dug-out for the North after the IFA concluded its long search for Kenny Shiels’ successor last month and she said that she is looking forward to working with the players.
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‘It could be,’ said the 41-year-old when asked if Northern Ireland could benefit from the departure of Vera Pauw.
‘But we are probably just more focused on what we are looking to do. We have got a lot of work to do in a short space of time, so we will try not to get drawn too much into that.
‘Obviously, it is never nice when a coach or a manager loses their job, but we have steps and processes that we need to have in place for that game. It is going to be a really good challenge for us, first game up, and it will give us a good indication of where we are at.’
Oxtoby’s most recent job was as assistant to Emma Hayes at Chelsea. She has previously managed at WSL side Bristol City while she has also coached England Youths and was Scotland assistant manager, so she arrives in the North with a wealth of experience.
The IFA has tied her down to a four-year deal and she has said the aims are qualification for Euro 2025 and the 2027 World Cup – although she admitted that the short window of preparation ahead of the September 23rd showdown in Dublin was not ideal.
‘My time in my previous environment gave me a really good platform working in short spaces and having to prepare teams quickly. I know what we’re going after. We have really good people around us who know the players really well and have been involved with the squad and that’s going to be really integral to make sure we hit the ground running.
‘I’ve got every faith that we’re in a really good place to start to put those foundations in to be successful.’


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Curbside clothing recycling program saves Coventry hundreds in first month
COVENTRY, R.I. (WPRI) — In the first month of its partnership with a for-profit textile recycling company, Coventry saved hundreds of dollars in trash disposal costs, Call 12 for Action has learned.
Melissa Soares from Coventry’s Department of Public Works said in April, Coventry residents recycled almost five tons of clothing and other textiles through Simple Recycling, which picks up items at the curb.
“There are pink bags out every single day,” Soares said. “If you drive through Coventry streets you can actually see them lining the streets.”
Simple Recycling will accept any unwanted clothes, shoes, purses, towels, sheets and even some small kitchen appliances.
“We were paying to dispose of the clothing in our solid waste stream $47 a ton,” Soares added. “If every person in Coventry threw out a pair of sneakers, that’s a lot of money because that’s a lot of weight.”
In April, Coventry saved $224.66 in disposal fees from the 4.78 tons of clothing diverted from the landfill, according to data provided by the town. Simple Recycling paid the town an extra $95.57 for items that were collected.
According to Simple Recycling, the average person throws away 68 pounds of clothing per year. Only about 15% of textiles are recycled, according to the EPA.
The company collects its pink recycling bags on residents’ regular collection days.

domain: economics


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In fact, many people who already have a long exercise will agree some day want to exercise you and also there are days in which not. According to idan ofer, who has experience with these questions. If you are trying to lose weight and want to make a habit of exercise, you will be surprised that there is not much difference between you and the people who exercise regularly. There is a magic pill that will bring us discipline and motivation to our workouts. Then, do they have something that you don’t have? Everything is in the way that you think. The slippages with some of my clients have experienced that after the initial stage of excitement about starting an exercise program something happens.
First, the excitement decays. Idan ofer may also support this cause. Second, many do not give to your exercise program long enough to see significant results (partly because of the needs of our current society instant gratification). And the combination can be devastating. In fact, many are leaving at this time. What is really frustrating is that many people abandoned meters before achieving success both in the habit of exercising and see the fat disappear from their bodies. These are some common mistakes that are committed and contribute to that exercise does not yield its fruits:. Concentrate on the scale: losing weight is not something that will happen instantly. For some, it takes months to see significant changes.
When a program begins to change the body or lose weight, it is best to set reasonable targets both to lose weight or exercise. For example, a realistic objective would make a certain amount of training sessions in a week, or lift a certain weight. Working too hard: Many beginners often face their new exercise program as if they were veterans. It starts easy and your way! This way will you give your body time to adjust to the exercise and do that sessions are more pleasing.

domain: health


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2017 has been a fantastic year for music, with the ‘surprise release’ being the theme of the year. Be it bands dropping albums out of nowhere with no warning, or announcing audacious plans to release five albums in a year (I’m looking at you, King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard), in 2017 you’ve never quite known what’s coming next. Here’s what I thought were the ten finest albums of the year.
2017 is nearly coming to an end, and there’s still so many albums left to review. So many in fact, that here Indiecisive is trying a brand new format – the mini review. In one paragraph each, here’s my thoughts on 20 albums released in the latter months of 2017, in alphabetical order by artist. Let’s go.
The quest for Indiecisive to catch up on all the albums we haven’t reviewed yet in 2017 is nearly over – here’s five more to chew on…
Five more album reviews are here as Indiecisive’s gradual catch-up to the now continues – this time it’s another real mixed back with alt-J, Lorde, Marika Hackman, Pixx and Royal Blood.
One year on from their ninth full-length album ‘A Moon Shaped Pool’ and 20 years on from the seminal ‘OK Computer’, Radiohead are back on tour again, stopping off in Manchester for their only UK (non-festival) date of 2017. Originally intended to be 2 gigs at the Manchester Arena, the concerts were combined into one at Emirates Old Trafford, a massive venue with a 50,000 capacity. Perhaps not the most natural of venues for a concert, but the band made it shine.

domain: entertainment


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2016 Mazda MX-5 Miata engine specs revealed
Mazda has confirmed details on one of their engines that will be available in the all-new 2016 MX-5.
The 1.5-litre SKYACTIV-G 4-cylinder engine will produce 129 hp and 150 Nm of torque. It will largely be for markets such as Japan and Europe.
Exact details have not been revealed for the 2.0-litre engine that will be on offer as well. Reports suggest that it will produce about 155 hp and 200 Nm of torque, which means it will be less powerful than the previous generation model which produced about 167 hp. The idea is that less power is required since the new model is lighter.
It should arrive in the UAE and other GCC countries sometime next year.
Keep track of the latest prices and updates in the Mazda MX-5 buyer guide.


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Insurance excess repurchase
24/7 breakdown assistance
From wild mountains to beautiful beaches, the UK is full of wonderful scenery that’s just calling out to be explored on a road trip. Hire a campervan in the UK and soak in the best that British countryside has to offer.
On an epic road trip in the UK you can expect to encounter fields of wildflowers, quaint British villages, seaside towns, urban centres such as London, England’s capital, and UNESCO Heritage Sites. Campervan hire in the UK is a great way to visit these amazing locations in comfort. Explore the UK’s ancient heritage by taking your campervan to visit Stonehenge, one of Europe’s best known prehistoric monuments.
On your campervan hire in the UK check out everything London has to offer and visit the Tower of London and the British Museum. If you want to escape the city life on your UK campervan hire head to the Lake District National Park. The Lake District National Park is a must-see destination on a campervan hire in the UK. It boasts 12 of the UK’s largest lakes and more than 2,000 miles to be explored.
If you want to head even further into the wilderness on your UK campervan hire, travel up to stunning Scotland. Scotland is a fantastic place for a campervan hire as you can easily visit Edinburgh (Scotland's capital) and travel to the highlands, visiting Loch Lomond and the famous Loch Ness.
With Yescapa you can hire a campervan in the UK. All rentals have insurance and 24 hour roadside assistance.

domain: geography


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Attending Church with Friends
With our journey of visiting fifty-two churches over, I can reflect more on the complete experience. Today, I’ll add to my thoughts about Church #44.
We revisited this church, which we attended some fifteen years ago. Though many of the people we knew then had scattered to other churches or just dropped out, a good number remained.
I anticipated a time to reconnect with long-ago friends. Also, the congregation had grown, and there was a different minister. I wondered how much has changed.
Before and after the service, we didn’t put forth any effort to talk with anyone. We didn’t have to.
People came to us in droves. They came to embrace us as longtime friends. We enjoyed their celebration of our presence, even though they came close to overwhelming us.
Although some churches embraced us well as visitors, none came close to the welcome this church gave us as longtime friends. This gives me pause.
Do I give visitors the same attention and enthusiasm as I give to my friends? I don’t, but I should.
May we welcome visitors to our church as we would embrace longtime friends.
My wife and I visited a different Christian Church every Sunday for a year. This is our story. Get your copy of 52 Churches today, available in ebook, paperback, hardcover, and audiobook.
Peter DeHaan writes about biblical Christianity to confront status quo religion and live a life that matters. He seeks a fresh approach to following Jesus through the lens of Scripture, without the baggage of made-up traditions and meaningless practices.

domain: literature


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Why should you join a church? Becoming a member of a church is an important, and often neglected, part of the Christian life. Yet the trend these days is one of shunning the practice of organized religion and showing a distaste or fear of commitment, especially of institutions. Jonathan Leeman addresses these issues with a straightforward explanation of what church membership is and why it's important. Giving the local church its proper due, Leeman has built a compelling case for committing to the local body.
Jonathan Leeman helps us face the endless variety of circumstances and sins for which no scriptural case study exists, sins that don't show up on any list and need a biblical framework to be corrected appropriately in love. Here is a contemporary and concise how-to guide that provides a theological framework for understanding and implementing disciplinary measures in the local church, along with several examples of real-life situations and the corresponding responses.
Should we actually practice church discipline today? Is it unloving? Once an ordinary part of church life, churches gradually stopped practicing church discipline in the 20th century. But Jesus commands it. Paul practiced it. And churches benefit from it. Why practice church discipline? It shows love for the individual caught in sin, love for the whole church, love for non-Christian neighbors, and love for the glory of Christ.

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How much do things cost in Albuquerque and Darlington?
- Domestic Beer (0.5 litre bottle) on average £3.00 in Darlington and £1.07 in Albuquerque
- Loaf of Fresh White Bread (500g) on average £1.10 in Darlington and £1.75 in Albuquerque
- Coke/Pepsi (0.33 litre bottle) on average £1.02 in Darlington and £0.92 in Albuquerque
- 1 Pair of Jeans (Levis 501 Or Similar) on average £62.50 in Darlington and £19.85 in Albuquerque
- Taxi 1 mile (Normal Tariff) on average £4.02 in Darlington and £1.34 in Albuquerque

domain: travel


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Secretary of State Hillary Clinton stated Wednesday that Mexico and Central America were facing an “insurgency” that requires the equivalent of a Plan Colombia in the region. Her comments immediately raised the ire of the Mexican government and sparked fears of expanded U.S. military intervention.
“…we face an increasing threat from a well-organized network drug trafficking threat that is, in some cases, morphing into or making common cause with what we would consider an insurgency in Mexico and in Central America,” Clinton said. She added that “these drug cartels are now showing more and more indices of insurgency; all of a sudden, car bombs show up which weren’t there before.”
Ironically, Clinton was responding to a question on what the United States was doing regarding its “responsibility for drugs coming north and guns going south.” Instead of answering the question, Clinton compared Mexico to Colombia and made the boldest statement to date about U.S. intervention, including military support, in Mexico’s drug war.
“[I]t’s looking more and more like Colombia looked 20 years ago,” Clinton said. And Colombia – it got to the point where more than a third of the country, nearly 40 percent of the country at one time or another was controlled by the insurgents, by FARC. But it’s going to take a combination of improved institutional capacity and better law enforcement and, where appropriate, military support for that law enforcement married to political will to be able to prevent this from spreading and to try to beat it back..” Clinton maintained that Plan Colombia worked and added “we need to figure out what are the equivalents for Central America, Mexico, and the Caribbean.”
It took no time at all for members of Mexico’s Congress to respond with indignation. In session to analyze President Felipe Calderón’s fourth state of the union report, one representative noted that the U.S. government was “good at criticizing other countries and not recognizing that they are an important part of this dark chain of drug trafficking and organized crime. The Mexican people should reject any interventionist attitude on the part of the U.S. government.” Some members of the Mexican Congress demanded that the secretary of foreign relations send a formal note of protest to the Obama administration.
Secretary Patricia Espinosa stated that she did not “share the judgment” of her northern counterpart and cabinet spokesperson Alejandro Poire rejected the comparison with Colombia.
In Washington, Obama officials rushed in to do damage control. Assistant-Secretary of State Arturo Valenzuela corrected his boss, saying that the use of “the term insurgency should not be viewed in the same way we would refer to a Colombian insurgency. Not an insurgency of a militarized group within a society that is attempting to take over the state for political reasons.” Later President Obama discarded the comparison in remarks to La Opinion.
The comment set off a small whirlwind within the Obama cabinet and in U.S.-Mexico diplomatic relations.
The Colombian Comparison
The only thing surprising about Clinton’s concept is that she said it out loud. The Merida Initiative was initially floated as “Plan Mexico,” until the moniker was scrapped. The direct comparison with Plan Colombia was considered a liability. In Mexico, the thought of U.S. military presence riles nationalist sentiment. In the United States, meanwhile, the negligent impact on drug trafficking and the rise in human rights violations of the $7.3 billion Plan Colombia spark concerns about copying it on the border.
By whatever name, the Bush plan for Mexico and Central America has always borne a close relationship to its southern predecessor. Plan Colombia began as a counter-narcotics plan built along the drug war model of enforcement and interdiction and use of the army, with close U.S. participation. Plan Mexico does not include U.S. Army presence but relies on the same model.
Clinton’s willful conflation of insurgency and drug trafficking arises from one of two possible sources—ignorance or malicious misinformation. An insurgency seeks to take over territory to bring about a profound change in the structure of society and, usually, take over the government. Drug traffickers, despite Calderón’s statements to the contrary, do not launch offensives against the state to replace the government. They’re all about protecting and expanding their very lucrative business. In part, the seemingly purposeful misunderstanding of this distinction is at the root of the failed drug war policy.
If this were understood, the obvious strategy should be to attack the business–not its operatives. Hiring cartel replacements is extremely easy in Mexico. The cartels are flexible in structure, with new leaders or rival gangs replacing displaced or weakened ones. There is an inexhaustible pool of young men with few prospects in life in a country where the government has failed to provide adequate educational or employment opportunities.
Attacking the business means going after the transnational financial structures that support it. Both governments have seemed reluctant to do that forcefully since drug money flows through powerful mainstream financial institutions, adds liquidity, and funds outwardly legitimate businesses.
Shortly before Clinton’s remarks, the U.S. Congress appropriated an additional $175 million for the Mexican drug war with no comprehensive review or strategy analysis of the terrible results the model has had to date. Drug-related violence has exploded south of the border, with nearly 30,000 dead since the launch of the drug war in late 2006. Human rights violations charged against the army had gone up sixfold by last year, and just in the past months Army forces have shot and killed several civilians.
Elected representatives should appropriate our tax dollars based on a careful analysis of how the resources will effectively attain goals related to the public good. When it comes to defense appropriations in general, and Plan Mexico as an extreme example, the modus operandi is spend now, and deal with the disastrous results later—by spending more. A recent report from the General Accounting Office reported that the Merida Initiative does not even contain benchmarks by which to evaluate it.
The supplemental appropriation to Mexico states that the provisions under the heading “International Narcotics Control and Law Enforcement” require a report from the State Department showing compliance with the requirements of Section 7045(e). These “human rights conditions,” which some legislators and Washington groups pushed reflected serious concerns that funds would be flowing to notoriously corrupt and abusive security forces in Mexico.
In practice, however, Congress watered down the conditions so that they provided a smokescreen to hide deeper concerns about the strategy. Congress ignored criticisms of the Merida Initiative from the AFL-CIO and scores of faith-based organizations and approved five separate appropriations totaling nearly $1.5 billion dollars. The initiative, morphed from a three-year commitment to permanent engagement.
On September. 5, Sec of State Clinton announced that the US government was withholding 15% of the new supplemental based on the human rights conditions. The Mexican government complained loudly and publicly but quietly celebrated. The math is pretty straightforward—we’ll give you $175 million in extra funds but hold back $26 million, for a net gain of $149 million. Both governments made sanctimonious statements. The United States criticized Mexico while ignoring the fact that transnational crime couldn’t function without corruption within its own borders. The Calderón administration protested its neighbor’s fuss over human rights when it has a war to fight. Even the mainstream press noted the contradictions of the numbers game.
By now it would seem that the conditioning strategy for a kinder and gentler drug war would be thoroughly discredited. The most generous interpretation is that it was a strategy on the part of groups and Congressional members that misread the situation in Mexico and the nature of the new Pentagon-led binational relationship that was being forged through the Plan. Immediate rectification should be in order. Instead, the Obama administration plans to request even more public funds for the failed policy while paying lip service to human rights.
The latest controversy over drug-trafficking policy in Mexico comes in the midst of doubts on both sides of the border. Mexican senators of political parties except Calderón’s sharply criticized the “failure” of the president’s war drug war in a review of the administration’s annual report. The Revolutionary Institutional Party noted that the yearly report submitted by President Calderon showed fewer interdictions and no notable rise in arrests from historic levels, with only 1.5 million pesos allotted to prevention of addiction. A member of the Party of the Democratic Revolution decried the equation of “more resources, more deaths,” as the drug war has cost the depleted Mexican budget nearly $7 billion dollars to date.
In the United States, doubts have also grown over the effectiveness of the strategy. Deputy director of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Alonzo R. Peña complained that the Mexican government often does not act on U.S. intelligence. Peña noted that at times the reason could be caution but at others “it is completely corruption.” In Washington, the rise in negative consequences have led to concerns over the lack of an exit strategy or a clearly defined path to success.
Particularly with the severe deterioration in the situation in Mexico, no magic formulas present themselves. Nonetheless, Congress should not ignore the violence that has been unleashed under the current policy and cannot accept the murders as collateral damage. Experts in Mexico calculate that at this rate drug-related deaths will reach over 70,000 by the end of Calderón’s presidency, with a rate of some 50 deaths a day throughout the country.
The United States must start by recognizing shared responsibility for the growth of organized crime in Mexico. The United States also faces major challenges within its own borders and shares responsibility for supporting a drug war strategy that has so evidently increased the brutality of drug cartels. There is a dearth of information on the anti-corruption activities in the United States that have failed to prevent, and indeed have facilitated, the transfer of illegal substances across the border for distribution to cities coast to coast. Addiction treatment and drug abuse prevention programs are woefully under-funded. Measures like California’s marijuana regulation referendum could eliminate a huge chunk of cartel income by removing the drug from the black market.
Clinton’s comments reveal the strong currents within government that seek to deepen U.S. involvement in the Mexican drug war. It is never easy to admit a policy failure of this magnitude, or turn back plans like Plan Mexico that involve the powerful lobbies of defense contractors and private security companies. But President Obama has shown the courage to admit errors in the past and seek to rectify them. Both the administration and Congress must show that kind of courage now to profoundly re-orient the out-of-control drug war on the border.
Laura Carlsen is director of the CIP Americas Program at www.americas.org
This article originally appeared in Laura Carlsen’s column for Foreign Policy in Focus.
It is striking that they have no shame to use this comparison. Does it reflect fear on their part that grass-roots is having and impact or strong confidence in the ability to dupe Americans?
See this video denouncing both Plan Colombia and Plan Mexico two years ago:
Thanks for the consistent research and commentary. Would be good to know more.
I’ve consistently seen the situation in Mexico much more akin to a non-state supported narco-paramilitary as in Colombia, and it’s interesting that Colombian NGO’s are finally pointing out that narco-trafficking in Colombia is vastly controlled by the former US-supported and Uribe-expanded right wing death squad paramilitaries.
Who else would you expect to take over most of the nation’s drug trades.
Given that an increasing amount of drugs flowing into Mexico arrive via Venezuela, where Colombian paramilitaries can cross over no matter how many border police Venezuela sends, and by sea (including home-made submarines) to Mexico’s Southwestern coast (i.e., Acapulco ports), it would be no surprise that Mexican narco-gangs would learn from the experts in heavily armed, area-controlling Colombian narco-paramilitaries (demobilized or not).
Friends… As a progressive North American who lives half the year in southern Mexico, and who lived in Colombia during the worst of the narco-violence there, I find myself encouraged by Ms. Clinton’s comments. Mexicans everywhere are asking what can possibly be done to end the scourge of narco-violence!
The total corruption of all forces other than the army, leaves a military solution as the only one to which Mexicans can turn, despite the human rights implications. And even the army is often out-gunned and overpowered by the narco-mafia.
Yes, the US must turn to the “third-rail” issue of weapons flows to the narco-mafia. Yes, there will be pointless commentary from Mexican politicians, But no one has proposed a set of solutions that will reduce the violence as it spreads from the Northern border toward central and southern Mexico… as it has permeated most of Central America.
It should be incumbent upon those who criticize Ms. Clinton’s comments to offer a viable alternative. MEC
Dr. Robert J. Bunker
I’m going to have to take issue with this paragraph:
“Clinton’s willful conflation of insurgency and drug trafficking arises from one of two possible sources—ignorance or malicious misinformation. An insurgency seeks to take over territory to bring about a profound change in the structure of society and, usually, take over the government. Drug traffickers, despite Calderón’s statements to the contrary, do not launch offensives against the state to replace the government. They’re all about protecting and expanding their very lucrative business. In part, the seemingly purposeful misunderstanding of this distinction is at the root of the failed drug war policy.”
As a non-state threats scholar and someone who has written extensively on epochal warfare and post-modern insurgency I think the author is missing the point. Drug traffickers which
are evolving into 3rd phase cartels and gangs which are evolving into 3rd generational forms do indeed launch offensives against the state to replace the government. That is the threat we are facing in Mexico– the rise of criminal para-states. Clinton does not engage in off the cuff statements– she is smart, articulate, and chooses her words very carefully– think of it as a “trial balloon” response to the question asked. Warfare is shifting from Westphalian (state-on-state) to wars over social and political organization– non-state entities challenging the modern state form. So ignorance or maliciousness have nothing to do with Clinton’s statement.
For background info see some of my edited works– Narcos Over the Border and Criminal-States and Criminal-Soldiers. I can provide more references as an extensive body
of literature exists concerning this topical area. email@example.com
Michael, Thanks for writing. There are a number of alternatives listed in the article. They are not fully elaborated, in part due to limitations of space and in part because this must be a collective effort on both sides of the border, once our leaders are forced to recognize the bloody folly of the current approach and seriously consider alternatives.
I mention that the United States has done very little to confront the corruption within its own borders that “facilitate the transfer of illegal substances across the border for distribution to cities coast to coast. Addiction treatment and drug abuse prevention programs are woefully under-funded. Measures like California’s marijuana regulation referendum could eliminate a huge chunk of cartel income by removing the drug from the black market.” I also mention the need to get serious about going after financial structures and money-laundering. All these actions–within the United States–would be far more helpful and far less incendiary than the current military approach aimed at Mexico.
The main point is that arming both sides in Mexico’s war with military/police equipment and training does exactly what one might expect–increases violence. It is not “helping” Mexico in the least. The poignant editorial from El Diario in Cd. Juarez states very clearly that Calderon’s drug war has caused the explosion in violence and citizens are demanding new policy. http://www.diario.com.mx/notas.php?f=2010/09/19&id=ce557112f34b187454d7b6d117a76cb5
Washington is dead-wrong to blindly support Calderon when the terrible results of his ill-advised drug war have led groups in the US and Mexico to demand at least a thorough review of the policy because it is not working and human rights and civilian murder can never be considered “collateral damage”.
Dear Laura Carlsen,
Excellent article and yes the U.S. of A is part of what fuels the current bellicose conflict in Mexico. I would think your assessment regarding funding treating addicts to alleviate the problems is an over simplified view of the criminal networks. The criminal enterprise of the cartels involves not only drug trafficking, but also human trafficking and a litany of other illicit money making schemes. What I feel your article maybe glossed over is what the Mexican people outside the ruling class feel about the violence, terrorism (yes even the Calderon government doesn’t want to admit it), and how the people throughout Mexico might feel about their government. This is what I would call the nitty gritty of journalism and reporting what Mexicans on the street really feel about their situation.
The editorial from Juarez poignantly expressed how the paper feels (the nitty gritty) and how many Mexicans may feel that are in harms way:
“Como si los atropellos, atentados y demás intimidaciones en contra de los medios de comunicación no fueran suficientes, ayer la secretaria de Educación y Cultura del Gobierno estatal, Guadalupe Chacón Monárrez, vino a ponerle más sal a la herida al declarar que somos los culpables del terrorismo psicológico que se vive en la ciudad”
The editor of the paper clearly feels the government thinks the press is guilty of psychological terrorism. Thanks for the link to the editorial, it was eye opening.
Disclaimer: by no means am I a journalist, expert on any aspect of practically anything, and or going to gain or lose anything by expressing my opinion.
Background: I have drove through Mexico to Central and South America a few times and most recently in July of this year. Reading the local papers and some police stops later made rethink driving through Mexico in the near future.
Many places are quite safe, but there is a lot of police and army presence as militarization continues. I agree that the El Diario editorial was extraordinary. You might be interested in this article I wrote on it on our blog. http://americasmexico.blogspot.com/2010/09/in-ciudad-juarez-newspaper-lashes-out.html
There has been a notable change in what the people think about the drug war, with the tide turning against it because of the violence and lack of results. Thanks for writing. Laura
Dear Dr. Bunker, Thanks for the comment and references would be most welcome. I certainly agree with you that this was a trial balloon, as seen by the subsequent use of the term insurgency in Washington, within the administration and notably by Richard Lugar. Where we differ is on the point of whether DTOs and gangs are trying to take over the government. I am unconvinced that that is the case and believe that equating the two is a prelude to greater militarization under the guise of national security. It is imperative to have a clear understanding of the particular (and distinct) characteristics of insurgencies and criminal activity in order to define effective policies in response. One thing that is very clear in Mexico is that the drug war is not an effective policy and taking it up a level to a counter-insurgency war will only make it worse.
There is no need for a heavily armed, thriving paramilitary force to take over the functions of the state, when it can exist profitably on its own without legal restriction (and of course without the burdens of actually having to govern) — and when they can purchase or threaten their way to what they want from local or national governments.
Colombia’s narco-paramilitaries aren’t interested in direct state power: they just helped Uribe’s coalition get elected by violently intervening in the countryside to make sure the coalition’s candidates got elected. (Several Senate elections were thrown out for this very reason.)
I see no reason why it would be in the Mexican narco-paramilitary cartels to interest themselves directly in the capture of state power; they seem to be doing pretty well in combating legal state forces and in buying off officials at all levels of power in government, police, and the military.
Comments are closed.


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Thank you so much to Absolutely Lucy (Check out her blog) for my nomination for the Liebster award!!! Only started my blog a month ago so very pleased to get an award already! Here are my answers and nominations.
The Liebster award is given to up and coming bloggers with less than 200 followers. Its aim is to spread the word about new blogs and build up the blogging community.
Here are the rules:
– You must link back to the person who nominated you.
– You must answer the 11 questions given by the person who nominated you.
– You pick 5-11 nominees with under 200 followers to answer your questions.
– You cannot nominate the person who nominated you.
– You must tell the nominees that they have been nominated by you.
- What has been your favourite blog post to write and why?
Moab, Utah Post
My favourite blog post that I have written so far has to be Moab, Utah simply because of the incredible memories I have of that trip. Moab has two incredible national parks to visit Canyonlands and the Arches neither can be missed it is an amazing part of the world that I hope to get a chance to explore further in the future.
Read More >>
Haytor Rocks are located on Dartmoor National Park about 30 minutes drive from Exeter city centre. It’s a great place to visit on a sunny day with panoramic views of the moor. There are also short walks in all directions, we took one heading down to a small stream and an old quarry a beautiful spot. It would be a great place to take small children as it is all easily accessible with steps carved into the side of the rocks so that anyone can climb to the top and grazing Dartmoor ponies roaming around the whole area. If you’re into rock climbing you can also climb the rocks which I hope to go back and do myself. The only downside was that there were too many people surprising for a crisp day in February. Still another highly recommended spot to visit.
I love this book! Every time I read it or even see the movie adaptation, I just wanted to throw everything aside and head off on another adventure. The Beach by Alex Garland follows a young man’s experience, travelling in Thailand. He comes across a crazy man in Bangkok who lets him in on a secret. A traveller community hidden away on a remote island, living the good life surrounding by incredible natural beauty. Though as it turns out it’s not quite all it’s cracked up to be. Highly recommended read.
I briefly visited the Blue Mountains during my travels around Australia in 2012 but can’t wait to explore them further during my trip in four months time! An incredible place to go hiking, canyoning and sightseeing. Just a few hours from Sydney, a great place for a day trip if you can’t stay longer.
Things to do in the Blue Mountains http://www.bluemts.com.au/things-to-do/tourist-attractions/
More about Australia? Click here to see my page
Here are some photoshop manipulations I created for a photography project, using images taken around the world.
Arriving into Sydney, New South Wales in June.
Top 10 things to do:
- Blue Mountains
- Sydney Opera House
- Taronga Zoo
- Harbour Boat Trip
- Royal Botanic Gardens
- Palm Beach Light House Walk
- Bondi Beach
- Skiing Jindabyne
- Sydney’s new Wet’n’Wild Waterpark


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Quorum doesn’t specifically cover the World Series of Poker, but several references are made to it throughout the show. My hope is that we’ve explained things sufficiently enough for listeners to follow along to the degree necessary (without over-explaining), but some of you may enjoy a bit more background.
The World Series of Poker started out as a private-invitation event in 1970, when casino owner (and mob boss) Benny Binion invited seven of the best-known poker players in the industry to the Horseshoe Casino for a private tournament — a timed cash-game event with multiple game variations, after which the players voted on the overall winner: Johnny Moss. Moss was awarded a silver cup and proclaimed the first “World Champion of Poker.” The following year, a set buy-in ($5,000 originally, but raised to $10,000 the following year) and freeze-out format was introduced — and the game was limited to a single variation of Texas Hold ’Em — and the World Series as we know it was born. It has continued as an annual tradition ever since (sponsored by Caesar’s Entertainment since 2005).
Though the no-limit Texas Hold ’Em “Main Event” — which still retains its $10,000 buy-in price — remains the signature tournament, there are currently 74 different events taking place, representing an array of different poker styles and play levels. Winners of each individual tournament win a “bracelet” and a monetary prize based on the number of entrants and buy-in amounts. Entrants in the World Series, held each year in June or July in Las Vegas, number in the thousands, a far cry from the original seven players at that inaugural event.
But it’s the Main Event that remains the biggest draw, and it is the winner of that event’s bracelet that is crowned the World Champion of Poker (and is expected to serve as an ambassador for the game across their championship year, a “duty” that winners have achieved with varying degrees of success). Though the tournament is open to anyone who can produce the buy-in amount (or gain an entry slot by winning a separate “satellite” tournament), winners were traditionally professional players — a logical expectation, given that these were the people most likely to develop the skills to beat such a large pool of opponents.
That all changed in 2003, when an unknown amateur player named Chris Moneymaker (a man with a name that would be considered too on-the-nose in the world of narrative fiction) took home the top prize. Not only was he not a professional player, but he had earned his seat by winning a $39 satellite poker tournament in an online game room. Suddenly, the floodgates were opened — amateur players the world over saw not only that an amateur could take on the best in the business and win, but that online poker was a viable way to play. The number of players in the main event jumped from 839 that year to 2,576 in 2004, 5,619 in 2005, and a whopping 8,773 in 2006 — a tenfold increase in just three years. (The number of entrants has since stabilized, now typically hovering around the 6,500–7,500 level.)
As an interesting side note, the Main Event tournament that Jimmy Harmon mentions as the first he saw on television was mine as well — the 2005 tournament in which Joe Hachem beat out Steve Dannenmann, and in which Hachem’s signature call-and-response to the crowd (“Aussie, Aussie, Aussie!” “Oi, oi, oi!”) became immortalized.

domain: hobby


When asked whether he was surprised by his family’s latest addition at the New York City premiere of his new film About My Father, De Niro simply told Page Six, “No,” noting that the pregnancy was a “planned” one. “How you could not plan that kind of thing?” he added on Tuesday, May 9.
One day earlier, De Niro revealed that he had become a father of seven in an ET Canada interview. He corrected a reporter who asked about his “six kids” by stating, “Seven, actually. I just had a baby.” The mother appears to be his girlfriend, Tiffany Chen.
The Raging Bull star shared more insight about welcoming his new bundle of joy on the About My Father red carpet. The film, which hits theaters May 26, stars De Niro as the fictionalized version of comedian Sebastian Maniscalco’s dad. The father-son duo grow closer while spending a wild and wacky weekend with Maniscalco’s fiancée’s (played by Leslie Bibb) family.
“I’m OK with it. I’m good with it,” the Godfather Part II star told Extra of becoming a dad again, before noting that the job “never gets easier.” He also told Entertainment Tonight that life with his child has been “great” so far.
De Niro welcomed his first child, son Raphael, now 46, in 1976 with his ex-wife Diahnne Abbott. At the time, he also adopted her daughter Drena, now 51, from a previous relationship. He and ex Toukie Smith later welcomed twins Julian and Aaron, 27, in 1988. The Irishman actor also shares son Elliot, 25, and daughter Helen, 11, with ex-wife Grace Hightower.
The Taxi Driver star is a grandfather too. Drena welcomed her son Leo, 19, in 2005, while Raphael shares son Nicholas and daughters Ella and Alexandria with his ex-wife, Claudine DeMatos.
The role of a parent is one De Niro loves to play in real life. “I love my children, just being with them,” the Cape Fear actor exclusively told Us Weekly in April 2019. “It’s not easy. Sometimes it’s fun and you love your kids, and sometimes you want to kill them! Then, when you have the good moments, you forget about the ones that weren’t good.”
As for whether he thinks he’s a “cool” dad, he told ET Canada on Monday, “I’m OK.”
He continued: “You know, my kids disagree with me at times, and they’re respectful. My daughter, she’s 11, she gives me grief sometimes and I argue with her. I adore her, but, you know. And my youngest now, that’ll be more to come. But, that’s what it is.”


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JAMMU, Dec 20: Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha has declared open the All India Inter University Fencing Championship 2022-23 (Men & Women) at University of Jammu today.
More than 1000 fencers from more than 100 universities across the country are participating in this major competition.
During the event, the Lt. Governor released the Tournament mascot and departmental calendar of the Department of Physical Education and Sports, University of Jammu.
The vice-chairman also addressed fencers participating in the national championship.
This unique and unusual championship is truly inspiring. This will enable and encourage multi-sport events and lead to identification of future talent and sustainable sports movement in J&K UT, said the vice-chancellor.
Competing in a match is a victory in itself, he added, and allows fencers to learn discipline, balance, speed, mental agility and confidence.
As a soft power, sport plays an important role in bringing regions, nations and diverse cultures together. The deputy governor noted that sports, as a social enterprise, give special importance to equality and economic development that benefits the entire society.
Emphasizing the vital importance of sports in a globalized world, he said, “Sports can be a vehicle for global change, and change starts with accepting challenges.”
My mantra for budding athletes is to stop doubting yourself and go after what you really want in life. The vice-governor added that with determination, hard work and belief, players can shape their own future.
Talking about the changes taking place in the sports ecosystem, the Lt. Governor said that under the leadership of Hon’ble Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi ji, India is emerging as a sports powerhouse. We are focusing on the sustainable development of sports, added the vice governor.
“Improved sports infrastructure has significantly boosted sports activities in J&K. Sportsman-oriented policies and schemes, promotion of sports at the grassroots level, world-class coaching and training facilities are creating new hopes and dreams among budding sportspersons,” said the Lt. Governor.
The governor also spoke about the reforms being carried out in the field of sports development in educational institutions and the measures being taken to support sports for the comprehensive development of young people.
The national education policy has made sports an integral part of the curriculum. It is also emphasized that the curriculum should focus on the comprehensive education of science, society, art, humanities, and sports to improve material and human efficiency.
The aspirations of the country are embedded in the ambitions of the youth. The Deputy Governor said that various sports disciplines have been a source of new goals, character building and team spirit values.
The University of Jammu has introduced a provision to increase the marks of the students based on their performance in sports.
Vice Chairman Jammu and Kashmir Board of Higher Education and former Vice Chancellor of Delhi University Prof. Dinesh Singh also attended the gathering and shared his deep thoughts and inspirational thoughts on sports and congratulated the organizers of this mega event.
Prof. Dinesh Singh pointed out that the UB administration has taken several initiatives for the promotion and development of sports, especially in higher education institutions, and asked the sportspersons to make optimal use of modern resources to improve their skills.
Jammu University Vice-Chancellor Professor Umesh Rai said that sports and sportspeople are gaining more prominence in J&K than ever before, led by the UT Governor. He added that a new culture of night sports under floodlights is being developed across UT
Earlier, Dr. Daud Iqbal Baba, Head, Department of Physical Education and Sports, University of Jammu, presented the official welcome and detailed report on the championship.
All India Inter University Fencing Championship organized by Sports and Physical Education Department, University of Jammu. The participants also took a Sports Pledge to play with true sportsmanship for the glory of the sport.
J&K Sports Council Secretary Nujat Gul; The event was attended by deans, teachers, senior officials, famous sports figures, a large number of people and young people.


Ikat: The Building Blocks and Beyond
October 13, 2019 – October 19, 2019
Useful to weavers at all skill levels, ikat is a knot-tying technique that’s wonderful for adding complexity and vibrancy to your woven work. During this workshop, students will design and weave a single ikat warp, and weft and combine it into a double ikat. Starting with a basic design, you leave with an understanding of how to use this technique to further design your own work. Come prepared to tie a lot of knots and bring rubber gloves for dyeing with indigo and other natural dyes. And come to weave! Open to all skill levels.
COURSE FEE: $600
Polly Barton is a nationally recognized artist who was born in New York City. Besides her daily studio practice, she enjoys lecturing and teaching workshops around the country. Formative for the young artist was working as a personal assistant to Helen Frankenthaler. In 1981, she moved to Kameoka, Japan to study with master weaver, Tomohiko Inoue. Barton continues to weave on her Japanese tsumugi silk kimono looms and shows her woven ikat paintings on both coasts.
In order to complete your registration, a $300 deposit is required.
Registration is closed for this event.
For more information or questions, please call 865-436-5860


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No, you cannot use those batteries to power that motor. Nothing bad will happen if you try, but the safety cutoffs will engage the first time you try to turn it on and it just won't work.
If your requirement demands more energy density and energy per kilogram than lead-acid can provide, your only option is to use high discharge rate LiPo cells.
By 'full load', I assume you are referring to some sort of information placard on the motor itself that provides this information, and perhaps it is a motor specific to some sort of more or less fixed mechanical load?
DC motors do not draw a fixed current, but rather draw current inversely proportional to their rotation speed. The motor's rotor coils spin relative to the stator magnets, which means from the coils perspective, there is a constantly changing magnetic field. This of course induces a voltage in the coil - one that is opposite the voltage being applied to it by an external power source. The motor will spin faster and faster until the induced EMF nearly cancels out the voltage from, say, a battery. The rotor coils in an unloaded motor might have 200V applied externally, but draw far less current than the coil impedance could account for alone at that voltage. This is because the rotor coils don't have 200V across them. They might have as little as 1V across them, or less, or more (totally depends on the motor, just illustrating my point), because it is spinning vast enough that 199V of EMF is induced in the coils, 199V always in the opposing polarity to the power source.
This also means the torque is very low as well, as it is entirely generated magnetic fields, which in turn are generated by the magnetomotive force (MMF), current. When you load the shaft however, several things happen. The shaft will not have the torque to counter the turning resistance to the shaft, so the shaft slows down. It will slow, the induced EMF will fall, and the true voltage across the rotor coils will increase, and so too will the current drawn by the coils. The additional current drawn results in stronger magnetic fields which increase the torque the motor can push back with. Indeed, it will slow until the current necessary to perfectly counter the shaft resistance is being produced. Or, if the load is simply too much for the motor to overpower, the shaft will stop entirely, and no counter EMF is induced in the coils at all. The full brunt of the driving voltage is felt, and in general, a massive amount of current will be drawn by the motor. This will continue until something gives. Either the shaft begins turning, the motor's windings melt, or power is removed (many larger motors have a thermal cut off switch which does this by cutting power if the motor gets to hot).
The takeaway here is that motors are neither simple nor well-behaved loads. The only mechanism controlling current draw is the counter EMF. When a motor first turns on, there is none, as it is not spinning. The motor will draw its stall current which is both typically many many times its no load current, and still a multiple of it's 'loaded' current.
So you need to find out what you really mean by 'full load'. Often, if the motor is meant for a specific purpose, or is continuous duty, 'full load' means the maximum continuous current consumption that is allowable for that motor so it doesn't over heat. Motors generally specify other currents, specifically stall current, which is the current drawn when the shaft is not moving ('stalled') and no load current, which is the current drawn when there is nothing but friction/air resistance/etc loading an uncoupled bare shaft. No motor is designed (or probably able) to be used stalled, so it's fairly certain 'full load' is not referring to the stall current, but the current drawn at some point of shaft loading that the motor can manage indefinitely.
So no, you can't power your motor with those batteries, regardless of configuration.
The motor will not draw 21A maximum. It will draw 21A at it the maximum load it can operate it continuously. It will several times this current when first started up because, initially, the shaft is not moving and the motor is at stall. This current will be brief, but not nearly brief enough. The LiIon's protection circuits will cut power, and it will only take one battery doing this to cause an overload cascade that makes them all cut power. And they should - those protection circuits are in place and operate as fast as they do because drawing such a load can cause localized spot heating of the battery anode which could potentially make a hotspot above 80 °C in the adjacent solid electrolyte interphase (SEI) layer. Once that happens, a LiIon cell generally goes into thermal runaway and the battery converts itself to fire. Lots and lots of fire.
Don't worry, the protection circuits are very good at preventing that, to the point the LiIon cells have the lowest incident rate of any chemistry (as the other chemistries do not have protection circuits generally).
But they will certainly be overloaded by that motor, upon start at the least, and any time the motor has some transient load that makes it draw a bit too much current.
If you must power such a beast from batteries and lead-acid isn't energy dense enough for your application, your options are pretty much limited to high discharge rated LiPo cells. Thanks to the RC/quadrotor popularity, which require very high drain rates (because, well, that's what motors do), there is an abundance of such batteries readily available and it very reasonable cost. Just make sure to use a reputable vendor, many of the RC batteries give ...optimistic... numbers for their max continuous discharge rate.
These batteries still have protection circuits, but ones paired to the cells, and will only cut off if the maximum discharge current is exceeded, just like your camera batteries. But, that maximum can be in the hundreds of amps, depending on cell size.
Regardless, your application is a high-drain motor application, and you must use batteries that are designed for such a load, which by definition camera batteries are not. Mostly because cameras are not 4200W motors.
Additionally, it is not acceptable to put unmatched cells in series like that. The cells have lead different lives, are at different stages of wear and capacity, and with so many cells in series, it the are all sorts of other mechanisms that will cause the protection circuits to engage when the weakest cell in the weakest pack has discharged too much, even if there is plenty of capacity left in the rest of the pack.
You need to buy new, matched cells when putting them in series. Be sure to use a proper protection circuit for each. In general, it is good to avoid paralleling cells as well, though it can be done if needed. In your case, it is not, there are a plethora of LiPo cells able to handle the current demands of that motor, even at stall, but they still must be matched. And you'll need about 48 of them in series, which is certainly not an impractical stack. You will also need to a cell balancer and fairly advanced charger to maintain these cells.
If you create the pack by combining many smaller packs in series, which is probably the cheapest option (using hobby lipos with high enough discharge ratings), you will still need to actively balance the entire pack at once, so no charging them separately. You need a 200V charger/balancer. These too are readily available, as EV chargers. This one for example.
None of this is cheap, but your options are spending less money by buying new cells of the right ratings and the correct charging/balancing equipment for a 48S stack, or you can spend a fair bit more money doing it the wrong way, and when that doesn't work, also spending the money to do it the right way as well. So don't misunderstand, the option where you buy a $250 balancer and who knows how many dollars of new, prime high C rate lipo cells is the cheap option. The option that seems cheaper at first is the much more expensive option.
Go with the cheap option.


Adele Releases Full Version of ‘When We Were Young’
We are a few days away from the world being blessed with Adele’s third album, 25. The British songbird’s “Hello” has certainly given us the feels and her second single, “When We Were Young,” will do the same -- if not more.
Adele shared the soaring ballad on her YouTube account. The video showcases the singer performing live at the Church Studios in the U.K. On the song, the 27-year-old reflects on a former lover she spots in a crowded room. “You look like a movie / You sound like a song / My god this reminds me of when we were young,” she sings.
"It was based on us being older, and being at a party at this house, and seeing everyone that you've ever fallen out with, everyone that you've ever loved, everyone that you've never loved, and stuff like that, where you can't find the time to be in each other's lives," Adele told SiriusXM of the track, which was co-written by Tobias Jesso Jr.
The 25 creator is currently on her promotional run for her new album this week in the U.S. On Tuesday night (Nov. 17), she will tape her NBC concert special, Adele: Live in New York City, which will air on Dec. 14. In addition, she will be the musical guest on Saturday Night Live this weekend.
Listen to Adele's tender ballad above.


Sorry! This item Is out of stock. ( The North Face - Suave Oso Hooded FZ Jacket )
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Service quality has become an important area for competition among Chinese carriers. This paper focuses on studying the relationship between customer satisfaction measured by customer complaints and their expectation of the on-time performance of Chinese carriers. By using a monthly balanced panel data set covering nine large and medium carriers, the empirical results show that an increase in actual on-time performance reduces customer complaints. However, an increase in expected on-time performance significantly raises customer complaints. In addition, although customer complaints are negatively related to the deviations between actual and expected on-time performance, our Wald tests do not support the model of the deviations between actual and expected on-time performance. Listed carriers receive significantly lower customer complaints compared with non-listed carriers. Furthermore, poor weather also affects customer complaints as an increase in rainfall or a decrease in temperature raises customer complaints.
- Customer complaints
- Customer expectation of service quality
- On-time performance of scheduled flights


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MUMBAI, March 31 (Reuters) - India imported no gold for the second month in a row in March as high prices dented consumer demand in the world’s biggest market for the metal, the head of a trade body said on Tuesday. “Our records are showing zero so far,” Suresh Hundia, president of the Bombay Bullion Association (BBA) told Reuters. “Scrap sales have reduced, but demand is not there either.”
Imports in February and March last year were 23 tonnes and 21 tonnes respectively.
As local prices of gold climbed to a record high of 16,040 rupees ($315) per 10 grams MAUc1 on Feb. 20, people sold old ornaments raising supply of scrap and keeping imports at bay.
Prices have since eased, but at 15,138 rupees on Tuesday is still seen as too expensive with an economic slowdown further dampening sentiment, Hundia said.
Exports of gold coins slowed down in March as the gap between foreign and local prices narrowed from February, he said.
India has been the world’s biggest buyer of gold for years, but imports slumped 48 percent in 2008 to 396 tonnes.
The falling trend has continued this year with imports in January plunging 89 percent from the same month last year to 1.9 tonnes.
For a graphic showing India's monthly gold imports, double click on: here ($1=50.9 rupees) (Reporting by Ruchira Singh; Editing by Ranjit Gangadharan)
Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.