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Jackson is slated to be on hand for a march in Jena this Thursday. The Rev. Al Sharpton, Martin Luther King III, and hip-hop artist Mos Def are also expected to be on hand.
Obama formally released a statement on the case Friday evening after one of the teen's charges was thrown out, saying, "I am pleased that the Louisiana state appeals court recognized that the aggravated battery charge brought in this case was inappropriate."
"I hope that today's decision will lead the prosecutor to reconsider the excessive charges brought against all the teenagers in this case," he added. "And I hope that the judicial process will move deliberately to ensure that all of the defendants will receive a fair trial and equal justice under the law."
He also said in a separate statement last week, "When nooses are being hung in high schools in the 21st century, it's a tragedy. It shows that we still have a lot of work to do as a nation to heal our racial tensions. This isn't just Jena's problem; it's America's problem."
CNN Senior Political Analyst Bill Schneider said Obama is under special pressure because he is the only African-American running for president.
But Obama is not of the same generation of black leaders, such as Jackson, who came out of the civil rights moment, Schneider said.
"I think that gives him a special position," Schneider said. "He is running on his appeal -- to white voters as well as to African-American voters -- as a uniter."
"He doesn't want to be a divider in this case," Schneider said.
Meanwhile, Obama's chief rivals for the Democratic nomination, Clinton and former North Carolina Sen. John Edwards, have also recently condemned the Jena case.
Sen. Clinton said the controversy surrounding the "Jena 6" court case is a "teachable moment for America."
"People need to understand that we cannot let this kind of inequality and injustice happen anywhere in America," the Democratic presidential hopeful told the Rev. Al Sharpton when she called into his nationally syndicated radio program Tuesday afternoon.
At last Saturday's NAACP Freedom Fund Dinner in Charleston South Carolina, Clinton said, "There is no excuse for the way the legal system treated those young people. ... This case reminds us that the scales of justice are seriously out of balance when it comes to charging, sentencing, and punishing African-Americans."
"It cries out for a full investigation from the Department of Justice's Civil Rights division."
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) A day after a riot erupted outside a Donald Trump rally, Albuquerque officials concluded that the mayhem had less to do with political protest than with an unruly group determined to use the event to sow disorder.
Some participants openly admitted that they set out to cause disruption. Many in the crowd were seen with gang tattoos and at one point chanted to Trump supporters that they controlled the streets.
“I woke up all hung over and stuff,” said Chelsea Rae Gray, a 24-year-old musician. “And then I said, ”Let”s see what kind of chaos we can get into.”” She said she came to the protest in her pajamas and stole some Trump T-shirts from vendors during the confusion.
“Then I burned them,” she said.
Cleanup crews spent Wednesday clearing away broken glass and charred debris in the largest city in the nation”s largest Hispanic state. The mayor and police were tallying up the damage that spread to several blocks near historic Route 66.
The violence unfolded close to the site of tumultuous anti-police protests two years ago that were sparked by claims that officers used excessive force.
Tuesday”s demonstration quickly turned from peaceful political opposition to chaos. Demonstrators stomped on patrol cars and shattered windows with rocks, authorities said.
Six officers were hurt after being hit with fist-sized rocks. They were treated at the scene, a police spokeswoman said.
“It was a riot that was the result of a mob trying to cause damage and injury to public property and innocent citizens exercising their constitutional right to peaceably assemble,” City Council member Dan Lewis said.
The protest originally organized by advocacy groups known for nonviolent tactics began with demonstrators gathering across the street from the rally at the Albuquerque Convention Center. They had a voter-registration booth, and some activists brought children who waved anti-Trump signs at pro-Trump people making their way to listen to the presumptive Republican presidential nominee. Others waved Mexican and American flags. One held a Trump piñata.
Just as Trump”s evening speech was to begin, some protesters tossed water bottles at Trump supporters, even hitting Dereck Scott, a 37-year-old man in a wheelchair. “I have the right to support who I want,” said Scott, whose head was red where he got hit. He did not require medical treatment.
By nightfall, the family atmosphere gave way to protesters with tattoos of the Sureños 13 gang, a loosely organized collection of Latino gangs that pay tribute to the Mexican mafia.
As police tried to move the crowd away, officers ducked rocks and burning shirts and then used smoke canisters and pepper spray to move the demonstrators.
From block to block, shirtless men with sticks and other weapons roamed nearby streets until police pushed the crowd out of downtown.
Javier Benavidez, executive director of the advocacy group Southwest Organizing Project, was carried out of the convention center for disrupting Trump”s speech. He said organizers tried to keep the demonstration peaceful.
The riot came as Albuquerque is trying to make law-enforcement reforms ordered by the Justice Department. Two former officers involved in the 2014 shooting of a homeless man caught on camera are also preparing to stand trial.
Albuquerque Mayor Richard Berry said the city was thankful for first responders who protected residents.
“We will work diligently to hold accountable those few individuals who came to perpetrate violence, endanger others and damage property,” Berry said.
Follow Russell Contreras on Twitter at http://twitter.com/russcontreras. His work can be found at http://bigstory.ap.org/content/russell-contreras .
Alistair Darling is this week expected to give the Bank of England formal approval to effectively print more money to kick-start the British economy.
The Bank will be able to spend up to £150 billion in the coming months to buy-up company and Government debts.
The policy, known as quantitative easing, will be used to inject more money into the economy. It is now deemed necessary as interest rates rapidly approach zero.
The Chancellor is expected to sanction the scheme on Thursday in a formal exchange of letters with Mervyn King, the Governor of the Bank of England.
The Bank's Monetary Policy Committee is this week also expected to cut interest rates from one percent to a new record low of 0.5 percent. They may be cut even further to a nominal rate of 0.1 percent.
Many mortgage lenders are unlikely to pass on any reduction to borrowers. Just a third of lenders reduced their standard variable rates in line with last month's cuts. However, fears are growing that savers will again suffer and a further reduction will mean there is virtually no financial incentive to put money aside.
If rates are cut this week, the Bank will have little scope for further reductions prompting the need for quantitative easing to be introduced. However, economists warn that the unprecedented action is risky as inflation could be fuelled in future.
Michael Saunders, chief UK economist at Citigroup said: "If done on a large enough scale, [quantitative easing] is a powerful form of stimulus.
"It is likely to ultimately stabilise the economy and buy time for the financial system to heal - unless the stimulus has to be withdrawn because of signs that inflation expectations are ramping higher - for instance, a collapse in the pound, a surge in survey measures of inflation expectations or sharply higher gilt yields.
"It may be a long and uncertain road back to normal monetary policy."
In an interview yesterday, Sir John Gieve, the outgoing deputy governor of the Bank of England, warned that the decision about when to begin increasing rates to stop inflation rising as recession ends would be "very difficult".
Interest rates impact economic activity several months ahead and therefore the Bank may have to increase rates while recession is still ongoing. Sir John said: "We've got to hold on to the fact that inflation will be kept low.
"That will require some very difficult decisions because it will require the Bank to start raising rates before it is obvious on the street that the economy is getting better."
However, the outgoing deputy governor said he was now optimistic that the worst of the financial crisis was over. "I hope we've reached the bottom," he said. "Confidence in the banking sector should improve. This asset protection scheme they have announced for RBS and will announce for Lloyds in the next few days is a convincing scheme."
Mr Darling is also expected to announce plans this week for a new Government-backed "bank" to fund major infrastructure projects. Finance from banks for the schemes has virtually stopped in the wake of the global credit crisis.
A BJP delegation which went to review the situation in controversial Kairana village said that apart the 346 families who have already migrated from the village, many more are willing to do the same.
Submitting a memorandum to Uttar Pradesh Governor Ram Naik on the Kairana ‘migration’ issue, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Friday sought a CBI inquiry into the matter.
On Wednesday, a nine-member BJP delegation which went to review the situation in controversial Kairana village, targeted the Uttar Pradesh government over the deteriorating law and order condition and said that apart the 346 families who have already migrated from the village, many more are willing to do the same.
However, the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) has alleged that the BJP and Samajwadi Party (SP) are hand-in-glove and stated that Sardhana MLA Sangeet Som’s “Paidal Nirbhay Yatra” is a desperate attempt on part of the ruling dispensation at the Centre to spoil the communal harmony of Uttar Pradesh.
Earlier today, Som embarked on a week-long “Paidal Nirbhay Yatra” across Uttar Pradesh, but was stopped from entering Kairana. He suspended his yatra and gave a 15-day ultimatum to the SP government, demanding that those who migrated from Kairana must be brought back or else “nobody can stop BJP worker from entering the village”.
“To the people who are migrating from Kirana, I just want to give them a message that they are safe in Uttar Pradesh. And we will not let Uttar Pradesh turn into Kashmir,” Som said.
“I want to tell them that they should stay here and not migrate. The people, who have already migrated, should realize that the atmosphere in the state is becoming better,” he added.
Som further assured that he would not do anything against the law.
A WOMAN has been sexually assaulted after she was picked up in the city centre by a man pretending to be a private hire cabbie.
The 31-year-old entered her assailant’s vehicle in Candlemaker Row, next to the Greyfriars Bobby statue, at around 3.30am yesterday.
She was driven to a lay-by – just past Hillend Ski Slope and close to Boghall Farm in Midlothian – where she was assaulted.
Police said the victim was then taken to the city bypass and left the car at a location near Sheriffhall roundabout.
It is not known exactly how the woman was tricked into entering her attacker’s vehicle as all private hire cabs in Edinburgh are required to display signs stating they are for pre-booking only.
Senior figures in the taxi trade said it was likely the victim had negotiated her trip without contacting a genuine private hire firm beforehand.
Tony Kenmuir, director of Central Taxis, said: “I can only speculate that [the assailant] was in a private car and gave the impression that he was from a bona fide private hire company and she has negotiated with him directly, which you should never do.
The suspect is described as a man of South Asian appearance, aged between 35 and 40, and with an Edinburgh accent.
His height is estimated to be between 5ft 5in and 5ft 6in.
He is also said to have a slim build, with dark cropped hair, and is described as clean-shaven.
The car he used was described as a five-door saloon, which was possibly navy blue in colour.
Political leaders today expressed shock at news of the attack and said it highlighted the importance of initiatives such as the SafeZone bus.
Anyone with information is asked to contact police on 101.
Carrington Hall was a fitting venue for Kenny Ortega’s return to Sequoia High School.
After all, the Emmy-winning director and choreographer of the “High School Musical” television series honed his performance skills on the auditorium’s stage when he was a student in the 1960s.
To the delight of hundreds of students, Ortega did a little jig on Carrington’s stage before accepting his induction into the newly created Sequoia High School Community Hall of Fame, one of eight accomplished Sequoia alumni who were honored as the hall’s inaugural class at a ceremony on Friday.
The other honorees included two famous businessmen — Ray Dolby, the founder of Dolby Laboratories, and Gordon Moore, the co-founder of Intel Corp. — two former Sequoia educators, a real estate developer, a mathematician and a child advocate.
While the school has had an athletics hall of fame for years, Principal Morgan Marchbanks said there was a need to feature students who have gone on to great things outside the sports world.
Two others were inducted posthumously: Arnold Argo, who served as principal of the high school and superintendent of the Sequoia High School District from 1921 to 1948; and Robert Powell, class of 1949, a prominent real estate developer who died in 2007.
The ceremony was actually conducted twice on Friday so all of Sequoia’s students had a chance to cheer for some of the 114-year-old school’s famous alumni.
Each honoree was given a wooden plaque and a boxed pen that Sequoia woodshop students handcrafted from a fallen tree that had been on campus for more than 100 years.
Only two of the inductees were in attendance — Ortega, who flew up from Los Angeles for the event, and Janis Baker Ferre, an advocate for disabled children who graduated in 1965 and traveled from her home in Utah. “You too can make a positive difference in someone’s life,” Ferre told the students.
Others were represented by family members, including Ray Dolby, class of 1951, whose company developed the digital sound technology for modern movies, and Steven Krantz, class of 1967, a mathematics professor in St. Louis who has authored more than 50 books.
In the video, Intel founder Moore said his teachers at Sequoia gave him the skills to pursue a college degrees at UC-Berkeley and the California Institute of Technology, culminating with his doctorate in physics and chemistry. He later founded Fairchild Semiconductors, which invented the computer chip, and Intel, the world’s largest semiconductor company.
“I really credit Sequoia with giving me a good start,” Moore said.
It's easy to hear the enthusiasm in the voice of John Bates, director of product marketing at Adobe Analytics Cloud, when talking about blockchain technology. Blockchain technology aims to automated the entire media supply chain, from creatives to contracts. Bates spoke with Data & Programmatic Insider about some of the changes and challenges the advertising industry should expect to see in 2018.
Data & Programmatic Insider: What does blockchain mean for analytics, mobile and desktop?
John Bates: An opportunity to have new sources of data and information by tracking transactions that take place from machine to machine. For example, the type of blockchain interactions companies like IOTA measure and transact between internet of things devices. It also means an increase of privacy and transparency. The downstream effect is being able to create more personalized experiences.
D&PI: Why do you have this passion for blockchain technology?
Bates: To me it represents a new type of protocol, a new way for individuals to connect and have a higher degree of transparency through data. It's an opportunity for companies to facilitate a higher level of efficiency.
I read an article about how UPS will take about 30 manual steps out of their supply chain and shipping processes using blockchain. I look at this and think about how to apply it to advertising and media to reduce click fraud, and how you could apply it to government and voting.
D&PI: Where are the inefficiencies in advertising blockchain can reduce other than click fraud?
Bates: Anywhere there's a manual process. There are many inefficiencies in the media supply chain because it involves many manual processes across many companies and agencies.
We are far from thinking that blockchain will replace the entire process, from building the creatives to serving and monitoring the clicks on ads. That won't happen anytime soon. I do think there are small pieces it can replace. One is on the outbound end, like monitoring the number of times a real person clicks on the ad because that has a real impact on attribution.
It all comes down to the network effect. Every company participating in the process must use the same technology.
D&PI: What are some of the challenges of automation?
Bates: There will be, especially in advertising, pushback from vendors in the media supply chain. In some cases automation will lead to companies not getting paid as much. That's not going to be as big of a challenge as some of the others. Blockchain will open huge opportunities for companies to transact with others that have not done business together in the past, creating business challenges.
Another challenge is the applications of smart contracts. They are extremely innovative, but they're not very forgiving. The smart contract guarantees the execution of predetermined terms. It resides on the blockchain. When those terms are met the actions are taken, but when they are not met they are not taken. Business decisions are not always black and white. If some term isn't totally met, but there's an intent to meet it, smart contracts will guarantee the execution or the termination of the agreement over an ad campaign.
Not having a forgiveness clause built into the smart contract, since it is automated, will be a challenge.
The entire company can run on a blockchain through a smart contract, because we're talking about automation and artificial intelligence. There may not be much of a human interaction in the terms of execution of that deal. The degree to which a company is open to those types of relationships in the advertising world will impact adoption.
NEW DELHI: Wipro BPO is planning to start a new center in Vietnam, making the company the latest to join a long list of companies exploring cheaper destinations to cut costs.
After Romania, this is the second global destination that the Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) provider will be setting up operations in. While the company angles for large outsourcing projects, it believes a global footprint will help it achieve this.
"When you talk about an overall package, India is still the most cost-effective but we would like to be a full service provider with a global footprint," Wipro BPO chief financial officer Manish Dugar said.
Companies that have already taken the Wipro route, include ICICI OneSource, announcing its decision to explore China and Vietnam, IBM Daksh, having a presence in the Philippines, Genpact setting up a base in China and similarly, two BPOs, WNS, Quatrro and Office Tiger having a center each in Sri Lanka.
Wipro BPO plans to introduce its existing clients to the new site in Vietnam and then attract new customers there as well.

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