Split (1)

train · 2.59M rows

text stringlengths 12 102k
The other part of the problem is that there is a large pool of 6 million out-of-work adults who have become discouraged and stopped looking for work and are therefore not counted as unemployed. As employers start hiring again, many of those will flood back into the labor force .That will drive up the unemployment rate.
Gad Lavanon, associate director of macroeconomic research for the Conference Board said he is looking for unemployment at or above 10% all the way through 2010. He doesn't expect unemployment to return to pre-recession levels of under 5% anytime in the next six years.
"Our forecast is for a very mild jobs recovery probably throughout 2010," he said. He said low consumer confidence and tight credit will keep consumer spending in check, which in turn will stop employers from adding staff in significant numbers.
"If you look at previous expansions, consumer confidence was at a much higher level than it is now at this point in the cycle," he said.
At best, years to recover lost jobs. Even most economists who believe the economy will eventually recoup all the lost jobs say it will take at least several years to get back to pre-recession employment levels.
A survey of top economists in November by the National Association of Business Economics found 60% don't expect payrolls to return to pre-recession levels until 2012, and another 35% say it will take even longer than that.
Mark Zandi, chief economist of Moody's Economy.com, expects that the economy could be adding more than 200,000 jobs a month by March or April, helped by a boost caused by the government hiring census takers.
And while those jobs will be only temporary, Zandi is hoping Congress passes additional stimulus measures early this year that will encourage private sector employers to pick up their hiring.
"Hiring is going to be slow to get going, but once it gets going, I think we'll see much better growth than many people are expecting," he said.
Still, Zandi thinks unemployment will peak at 10.8% late this year before gradually starting to decline -- and that it will still be nearly 7% at the end of 2012.
Even bullish economists are not predicting an explosive job recovery. Brian Wesbury of First Trust Advisors argued that pent-up demand for cars and new homes, coupled with depleted inventories and tight staffs, will drive unemployment down to 8.5% by the end of this year.
Wesbury added that while the 7 million lost jobs could be recovered as quickly as three years, that will not be enough to make up for population growth since the recession started in late 2007. So the unemployment rate may still be in the 7% to 8% range, he estimates.
And while the Obama administration argues for more government spending to spur job growth, Wesbury worries that all the spending in response to the economic crisis will prevent a full jobs recovery. He thinks the increase in spending will result on a bigger tax burden on businesses and consumers that will slow economic growth.
"Unless there is a huge shift in government policy to cutting spending, we will not get back to 5% unemployment anytime in the foreseeable future," he said.
BOCA RATON — Perhaps in light of Florida Atlantic’s recent success on the baseball field, first-year men’s basketball coach Dusty May borrowed a term from the diamond to describe his inaugural signing class.
Just over three months after being hired on March 23, May’s first class features four incoming freshmen, three junior college transfers, two undergraduate transfers and a graduate transfer. Former Mississippi State small forward Xavier Stapleton – who previously played under May at Louisiana Tech – and Blanche Ely High School star guard Michael Forrest headline the class, which features four players from Florida.
Immediately eligible to play as a fifth-year senior, Stapleton will need to provide an instant impact on offense after leading scorer Ronald Delph’s graduation. While Stapleton only averaged 6.7 points and 2.7 rebounds in his two years with the Bulldogs, May is optimistic the stretch four can become a star at FAU.
Guard Cedric Jackson (Indian River State) and forward Aleksander Zecevic (San Jacinto, Tx.) are also able to play this season as JUCO transfers. Former Ole Miss center Karlis Silins is currently ineligible to play, though an FAU spokesperson said Silins is applying for a waiver.
Although Forrest is the only player from Palm Beach, Broward, or Miami-Dade County in this year’s class, the Owls are rightfully excited about Broward County’s Athlete of the Year. Forrest helped the Tigers to their fifth state title in seven years while averaging 26 points, five rebounds, four assists and three steals per game this season.
FAU returns four players from last year’s roster, including starting point guard Anthony Adger and forward Jailyn Ingram.
Here is FAU’s full 2018-19 signing class, with ineligible players for this season bolded.
All-Owls: Who’s the best quarterback in Florida Atlantic history?
Britney Campbell, not getting Botox injections.
The outrage was immediate. I mean, no matter what your political view or background, we can all agree that this is not good child raising, correct? So it's no surprise that someone called child services on Kerry, only to find out she didn't exist.
After the story ran in The Sun, Upton says she was approached by "Good Morning America" and "Inside Edition," and claims she was offered "a large fee" to appear on camera. She went on both shows and re-told her story.
After the interview, child welfare officials took Upton's daughter away.
Finally realizing that maybe being the face of the world's worst mother wasn't worth the cash, Upton told her case to the child welfare agency, who took her daughter (whose name might not even be Britney, who knows) to a hospital to check to see if she'd actually had her body modified in any way.
"After my daughter received a full medical exam, the results indicated that she has not ever received treatments including Botox or other such injections."
Upton claims to have been offered $10K for "Good Morning America," which is a hell of a lot more than what the Sun paid her. If that's true, it's hard to decide what's worse: that a sleazy newspaper would put out a call for a sensationalist fake story and pay so little, or that "Good Morning America" would pay so much to Upton, under the assumption that she actually did inject her child with a neurotoxin for the sake of beauty.
26 years have passed since the tragic days in 1989 when thousands of peaceful pro-democracy protesters were brutally repressed in and around Beijing’s Tiananmen Square.
But even though the tanks have long left the city’s infamous square, President Xi Jinping, appears as determined to quash anyone perceived as challenging the Communist Party’s hegemony.
We are witnessing one of the darkest periods for freedom of expression in China since the bloodshed of 1989.
When President Xi took office in late 2012, he declared power would be put “in a cage”, but it is the independently minded academics, journalists, lawyers, and rights activists that have been thrown in jail.
Gao Yu, a veteran Chinese journalist currently languishing in a Beijing jail, is one of the many dissenting voices who has suffered the arbitrary power of the Chinese state for decades.
She was first declared a “public enemy” by Communist Party officials in the late 1980s, when she was deputy editor-in-chief of pro-reform newspaper Economics Weekly.
In the spring of 1989, when hundreds of thousands of students and workers took to the streets in Beijing and across China, in one of the largest pro-democracy movements in history, Economics Weekly ran a series of articles urging the government to heed the protesters’ calls for reform.
The powers that be did not take kindly to such stories, and swiftly shut the paper down. Gao Yu was detained by police on 3 June 1989.
Later that evening, the tanks rolled into Tiananmen Square. Hundreds, perhaps thousands of people, were killed or injured as the army brutally quashed the pro-democracy protests.
Today, China’s leaders persist with playing politics with the past, attempting to whitewash the truth of the 4 June 1989 bloodshed.
The authorities still prevent the relatives of those killed during the Tiananmen crackdown from grieving publicly. Parents’ calls for truth, compensation, and accountability fall on deaf ears.
Gao Yu, spent 15 months in prison following the Tiananmen crackdown. In the 1990s, she spent a further six years in jail, again after being convicted of disclosing “state secrets”. Then, like now, Amnesty declared her a prisoner of conscience and called for her immediate and unconditional release.
The authorities fear the power of her pen. She is repeatedly punished for her commitment to report the facts and disclose the truth.
This time, Gao Yu is accused of leaking an internal Communist Party ideological paper, known as Document No. 9, a charge she vehemently denies.
Freedom of the press and “universal values”, such as democracy and human rights, come under severe attack in Document No. 9. It lays out an Orwellian vision for the control of history, with any interpretation that differs from the Communist Party’s, including what happened in June 1989, deemed to be a threat to the Party’s legitimacy.
This is the chilling reality. Anyone that dares to deviate from the Communist Party script is severely punished.
Far from relenting, the government has introduced a whole swathe of regressive and vaguely worded “national security” legislation, in a further attempt to consolidate control.
Pu Zhiqiang, an eminent human rights lawyers, faces up to 10 years in jail on charges of “inciting ethnic hatred” and “picking quarrels and provoking troubles”. He has defended individuals in some of the most sensitive human rights cases, and his prosecution reeks of political persecution. He was detained last May, after attending a seminar calling for an investigation into the bloody suppression of the 1989 protests.
Pu Zhiqiang was a law student back in the spring of 1989, and like so many of his peers, was on the streets of Beijing calling for reform.
There is a direct link from the calls made by protesters in Tiananmen Square in 1989 and those being made today. Most want to see incremental change within the current political system based on rights enshrined in China’s constitution.
China is unrecognizable compared to when the students took to the streets in 1989, with an economic transformation and remarkable progress in tackling poverty. Yet, when it comes to freely expressing views that may differ to the Communist Party, President Xi has turned back the clock.
On 4 June, as we remember and demand justice for, the victims of the 1989 Tiananmen crackdown, let us also demand freedom for Gao Yu and Pu Zhiqang, and the hundreds of other courageous activists that in the face of today’s repressive rule, refuse to let the Chinese Communist Party’s assault on human rights go unchallenged.
Last night, Olympic gold medalist Dana Vollmer was honored by Plymouth Meeting-based 'Simon's Fund' as the first recipient of the Fund's Protect This Heart Award.
Simon's Fund was founded by Darren and Phyllis Sudman, who lost their son Simon due to Long QT Syndrome—the same condition Dana Vollmer was diagnosed with in 2003. The Award honors an individual whose authentic commitment to raising awareness about sudden cardiac arrest (SCA) saves the lives of students.
"I'm honored to be the recipient of the Protect this Heart Award," Vollmer said before the event known as 'Simon's Soiree' at the ACE Center in Lafayette Hill. "I have been in touch with the Sudman family for years now, since before the Olympic Games, and their story and passion has inspired me. Finding out about my heart condition as a child was a shock and it threatened to derail my dreams, but in the end, it gave us the information to keep me safe while I pursued and achieved these dreams."
After her diagnosis with Long QT Syndrome, Vollmer competed—and won gold—at the 2004 Summer Olympic Games in Athens for swimming while her mother Cathy sat in the stands, holding an automated external defibrillator (AED), to be used if Dana's heart stopped during an event. The device went unused, and at a follow-up appointment, Vollmer was pronounced free of symptoms of Long QT. Armed with a clean bill of health, she won gold again at the 2012 Summer Olympic Games in London.
Vollmer's story inspired the Sudmans, whose lives had also been changed by Long QT Syndrome.
Simon Sudman never got to pursue his dreams. At just 14 weeks old, Simon passed away due to Long QT Syndrome. His grieving parents founded Simon's Fund to raise awareness about SCA—the leading killer of student athletes in America.
"When Simon first passed away, we knew we wanted to do something," said Phyllis Sudman. "Ultimately, we decided to create a foundation that would raise awareness. No family should ever have to bury a child."
Parents of student-athletes in Pennsylvania public schools to review and sign an information sheet about the warning signs and conditions of SCA.
Coaches to take an annual online training course about SCA.
Medical professionals to clear players who have been removed from competition after exhibiting symptoms of SCA.
To date, Simon's Fund has funded over 5,500 screenings for students in Philadelphia area, uncovering 49 conditions that went previously undetected. Each condition discovered is a life potentially saved. While the Sudmans made it clear that their focus is in the Philadelphia area, opportunities have presented themselves nationwide to raise awareness. Last year, the Fund went to Darren's hometown of Cincinnati to perform a screening after a student from Darren's high school passed away due to an undetected heart condition.
"This year, it looks like we're going to do a screening on Final Four weekend in Atlanta," Darren continues. "There's a community down there that's lost two students to SCA in the past year."
The Sudmans would like to see other states follow Pennsylvania's legislative lead—as Indiana, Illinois, New Jersey and Oklahoma have done already. Is it possible that someday, all students will be required to pass a heart screening before playing competitive sports? A study released late last year attempted to answer that question by looking at the financial impact of such an idea.
Combining the cost of mandatory screenings with the low occurrence of undetected heart disease in student-athletes, the study from Tel Aviv Medical Center in Israel suggested that such a plan would cost in excess of $10 million per life saved.
However, the study was accompanied by a commentary from Dr. Antonio Pelliccia of Italy, who suggested that an electrocardiogram—the best medical practice to screen young athletes for cardiac conditions—can be performed as part of a comprehensive health examination for a fraction of the cost the study suggests. In Italy, wrote Dr. Pelliccia, the tests themselves are not performed by cardiologists—although they can be called in if needed.
Enter David Shipon, M.D., F.A.C.C., Chief Medical Officer for Simon's Fund. Dr. Shipon is a preventive cardiologist and co-founder of The Heart Center of Philadelphia, which is affiliated with Thomas Jefferson University Hospitals.
"There's a low incidence of sudden cardiac arrest in children," allows Dr. Shipon. "But in identifying that one kid who could experience that tragedy, we're also finding many kids with hypertension, obesity—risk factors that would lead to heart disease further down the road."
Dr. Shipon calls the $10 million figure per life saved 'grossly overestimated.' More importantly, he adds that with uniform screening, better education and development of guideline-driven standards, organizations like Simon's Fund will make it possible to save the lives of student-athletes at essentially no cost to the consumer—remarkable when compared to the immeasurable cost of a life lost to something that may be preventable.
"When you meet people like Darren and Phyllis who've suffered a tragedy like this, you want to help them create the best model possible to prevent this from happening to another family," says Dr. Shipon. "That's what's needed. That's my passion."
That passion, along with Dana Vollmer's and everyone associated with Simon's Fund, keeps Simon Sudman alive in millions of young hearts. ""Simon's Fund, in my eyes, has become more about the lives we're changing or saving than it has about that tragic night in 2005 when he passed away," says Darren Sudman.
"The impact that our three-month-old son has had is more than most people will have in a lifetime," summarizes Phyllis Sudman. "People say your pride in your kids takes you through every stage of their lives. And I'm so proud."
The Industrial Development Corporation (IDC) has laid criminal charges against businessperson Lorraine Masipa following allegations that she squandered a whopping R60-million loan in less than a year. Perhaps more troubling, however, are claims that the deputy minister of public enterprises and former energy minister, Ben Martins, was instrumental in the IDC awarding the loan to Masipa.
Masipa, the director of Semona Eco, is said to be linked to Martins, and the couple have a four-year-old child together. The Mail & Guardian has seen a copy of the child’s unabridged birth certificate, which lists Martins as the father.
Both Martins and Masipa have refused to comment on their relationship, with Martins saying he would not discuss his private life with the M&G.
In an SMS, Masipa, like Martins, said her personal life “and children are a private matter and not up for public discussion”.
Defaulters on IDC loans have reached historic levels, prompting speculation that process is routinely flouted to secure funding for politically connected businesspeople.
Former associates have red-flagged Masipa’s relationship with Martins as being a possible factor in the awarding of the R60‑million loan. IDC spokesperson Mandla Mpangase insisted, however, that a rigorous process was followed before granting funding to Semona Eco, including conducting an initial screening, basic assessment and due diligence tests.
“Funding is approved by the relevant delegated approval committees … Clients enter into a formal legal agreement post the approval and before any money is disbursed,” he said.
The IDC said it was not aware of any relationship between Masipa and Martins, and is “therefore, not in a position to comment on it”, suggesting that such details were not disclosed to the funding entity.
According to the IDC’s 2014-2015 financial report, Semona Eco was funded to establish manufacturing facilities in Midrand. The project would manufacture “compressed biomass logs mainly for the braai and fireplace market”.
Mpangase confirmed that Masipa had failed to make repayments on the R58-million loan since December 2014. Documents seen by the M&G indicate the loan was to be repaid in 71 instalments of R320 000 a month. The IDC has since opened a criminal case against Masipa and launched liquidation and sequestration proceedings to recoup the funds. The hearing is set for later this month.
“The firm action taken by the IDC so far to recover its money does not support the narrative of a soft loan resulting from the existence of a ‘political relationship’,” Mpangase said.
The IDC has been praised for ensuring better transparency in state-owned enterprises by publishing a list of businesses it lends to, and highlighting those deemed to be politically exposed persons. This follows scrutiny of the IDC’s relations with the Gupta family’s Oakbay Resources and Energy.
Thanks to a debt-to-equity conversion deal struck in 2014, the IDC owns 3.57% of Oakbay. The IDC has lost 36% on that investment to date.
Masipa, however, blames her failure to honour the IDC loan on the downturn in the global economy.
“Unfortunately, it has been a difficult few years for the manufacturing industry globally and domestically,” she said, adding that Semona and the IDC were involved in a legal process.
Meanwhile, questions remain over whether Martins influenced the process of granting the IDC loan.
Mpangase rejected claims that Martins had influenced the process through his close ties with IDC chief executive Geoffrey Qhena, saying Qhena did not have a personal relationship with Martins and had only dealt with him in Martins’s former capacity as energy minister.
Semona Eco is a subsidiary of the Semona Group, which describes itself on its website as a “100% black- and female-owned conglomerate” that has “dynamic, innovative and effective solutions” in the global oil, gas, energy and information technology industries.
Several default judgments have been granted against Semona Eco after it failed to honour debt repayments. A draft order, dated February 27 2017, brought by Standard Bank, was for the return of a 2015 Range Rover worth R1.2‑million. A May 8 judgment was for unpaid rent of R2.6‑million on the company’s Sandton warehouse.
Masipa denies that the IDC loan was used to fund a lavish lifestyle.
“My Standard Bank matter is a private one. I bought a [car] via vehicle finance and the company got into trouble. It affected everything, including me personally, and therefore I sold the car and have paid up the outstanding debt,” she said in response to questions from the M&G.
But the rate at which the R60‑million loan appears to have been spent is staggering. Former Semona Eco employees, who spoke to the M&G on condition of anonymity, said the company began a process of dismissing and retrenching staff in mid-2015, just months after the IDC loan was granted.
The company was struggling to make contributions towards staff medical aids, salaries and pension funds. Momentum, the underwriter of Semona’s FundsAtWork Umbrella Provident Fund, liquidated the scheme in February this year. Giant Leap Workspace Specialists, an interior design company, filed its own application in the same month.
“During the financial difficulties, we did default on certain contributions and/or payments,” Masipa said.
But those close to Masipa allege that she had been “reckless in her spending” and squandered the loan on an elaborate lifestyle.
“It was ridiculous. She hired incompetent people, some of whom were her family members. She hired more people than she needed. Overseas vacations and trips became a norm,” a source close to Masipa said.
Another former employee said Masipa also splurged on a mansion in Bryanston in 2014. The house was sold for R10-million late last year. Before this, Masipa is believed to have rented an apartment at the exclusive The Regent MCC complex in Sandton in Johannesburg.
By AGENCE FRANCE PRESSE, Seoul, Korea, Republic of, Jul 9 – North Korea on Sunday lashed out at a live-fire drill the US and South Korea staged in a show of force against Pyongyang, accusing Washington of pushing the peninsula to the “tipping point” of nuclear war.

Subsets and Splits

No community queries yet

The top public SQL queries from the community will appear here once available.