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Kirklees Federation of Tenants and Residents Association launch petition over government’s planned tenancy changes
A PETITION has been launched hitting out against proposals announced by the Prime Minister.
David Cameron has said people should not expect a council house for life.
He suggested that new tenancies should be reviewed after five years – meaning many tenants could have to move to a different home.
Now the Kirklees Federation of Tenants and Residents Association (KFTRA) has slammed plans saying it removes security for tenants.
Launching the petition, Cora Carter, chairman of KFTRA, said: “Removing the security of tenure for all new tenants would have a major impact on the future of our homes, our estates and our communities.”
Currently all council tenants have secure tenancies which means that as long as they do not break the conditions of their tenancy agreement they will be able to live in their homes for the rest of their lives.
But KFTRA says that under the new suggestions, all new tenancies would be reviewed after five or 10 years with those tenants who have successfully improved their financial situation being told that they have to move on.
The Federation say it sends the wrong message out to tenants who look after their homes.
A petition is being passed round by KFTRA representatives to all Kirklees tenants to gauge the views of tenants living in the town.
David Cameron announced earlier this month that council houses should be allocated on fixed-term deals rather than being granted automatically for life.
He said that if people got jobs which were better paid, they should be encouraged into the private sector.
He added that the changes would apply to future tenants rather than current ones, but added that he was prepared for ‘big arguments’ over the issue.
Throughout the UK there are 1.8 million households on social housing lists.
Statistics show that a total of 234,000 households in the social tenant sector are overcrowded while 456,000 are under-occupied, meaning people have more than one extra spare room.
And the government’s changes to housing benefit have been slammed by the charity Shelter.
The Government plans to cap the local housing allowance at 30% of average local rents, with future increases linked to the Consumer Price Index rather than the Retail Price Index, which tends to be higher.
But Shelter believes it could lead to a surge in homelessness, warning that an estimated 134,000 households would either be evicted or forced to move home when the cuts come in, because they would be unable to negotiate cheaper rents with their landlord.
The group said councils would also face additional administrative costs from having to process the thousands of homelessness applications they are likely to receive.
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Falkirk District
Larbert
Stenhousemuir
Denny & Dunipace
Bo'ness
Braes
Shopping centre reportedly sold for just over £1 million
James Trimble
Falkirk’s Callendar Square Shopping Centre was reportedly sold yesterday for just over £1 million.
It seems the building which has been owned by London-based Ellandi, the firm which owns Falkirk’s Howgate Centre, since 2015 has now changed hands, although the new owners, thought to be another London-based company called Cygnet Properties and Leisure PLC, have not yet come forward to confirm this.
The Falkirk Herald contacted Glasgow-based Vine Property Management to get confirmation on the sale and find out who purchased the three-storey centre, located in Callendar Riggs at the east end of Falkirk town centre, but was told by a senior property manager there would no comment on the matter at this time.
The shopping centre has had a troubled history since it was built by Central Regional Council back in the late 1980s.
Designed to replace the Callender Centre built in the 1960s and demolished in the late 1980s, construction work, which began in 1989, had to be halted when contractors Rush and Tompkins went into receivership.
For over two years the half-built centre was an eyesore before a rescue package was put together.
The regional council underwrote the deal to the tune of £13 million and the centre eventually opened in November 1993 by which time building costs had reached £22 million.
It was bought from the council by Guernsey-registered Callendar Property Holdings Limited in 2005 and was subsequently taken over and run Propinvest before it was sold to Ellandi.
Falkirk hostel slasher jailed
Falkirk Property: Five bedroom detached home for sale in Falkirk
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Max Vadukul
Hailey Baldwin Gets Caught Between Tye Sheridan and John Pearson
By Natasha Zarinsky
Malick gave him his first big break, and Spielberg is about to introduce him to true Hollywood stardom. Meanwhile, we offered Tye Sheridan a real acting challenge: a shoot in the desert with two great costars, a choice summer wardrobe, and a briefcase full of something everyone wants.
Plucked from obscurity at the age of 10, after a casting director visited his public school in Elkhart, Texas (population 1,475), Sheridan made his acting debut in 2011 as Brad Pitt's youngest son in Terrence Malick's The Tree of Life. The confident first-timer, big-eyed and lanky, quickly earned the nickname "Torpedo" from Malick himself for his ability to infuse vibrant energy into even the quietest of scenes. Now 19, Sheridan is poised for a breakout year. First up he'll play a young Cyclops in the big-budget X-Men: Apocalypse spectacular, and he'll follow it with a part in a gritty adaptation of Kevin Powers's acclaimed war memoir, The Yellow Birds. Then it's on to his biggest role yet: the lead in Steven Spielberg's Ready Player One, the highly anticipated adaptation of Ernest Cline's best-selling science-fiction novel. "I can't express my excitement," Sheridan says. "Spielberg's like, The One, you know?" Currently living out of a suitcase, Sheridan calls Austin home, and it's not far from the 80 acres of land where he grew up hunting and fishing instead of watching television. (He claims to have watched only two series ever: Eastbound & Down and The Jinx.) He's more familiar with the classics—but smart enough not to get overly enamored. "I think if you're trying to be the next James Dean or Marlon Brando," he says, "you're already failing."
Baldwin … how do we know that name? Ah, yes. The Baldwins. Nineteen-year-old Hailey is one of them (uncle is Alec, dad is Stephen), and with campaigns for Topshop, Tommy Hilfiger, and H&M, and 5.5 million Instagram followers (to say nothing of friendships with all the preferred Jenners and Hadids), she is also a top model in the making.
Dress ($3,690), Saint Laurent by Hedi Slimane; pumps ($1,350) by Christian Louboutin; earrings ($5,500) by Maxior. On John Pearson: Two-button jacket ($2,590) and trousers ($800) by Prada; shirt ($375) and belt ($375) by Ermenegildo Zegna; boots ($250) by Wolverine.
JOHN PEARSON
You think about the 1990's most famous faces and the names just come flooding right back: Naomi, Linda, Cindy … and John? John Pearson, that is. The guy in those iconic Drakkar Noir ads, and the Ralph Lauren and Perry Ellis ads, and George Michael's "Freedom" video. He's been modeling steadily ever since, most recently for Baume & Mercier and Kenneth Cole, and one thing's for sure: The guy's still got it.
Double-breasted jacket ($3,325), T-shirt ($365), and jeans ($545) by Brunello Cucinelli; boots ($420) by Grenson.
On John: Jacket ($1,295) and henley ($99) by Polo Ralph Lauren. On Hailey: Jacket ($3,425) by Haider Ackermann; leggings ($2,825) by Thomas Wylde; pumps ($1,095) by Christian Louboutin; diamond ring (price upon request) by Le Vian; black-diamond ring (price upon request) by Lydia Courteille. On Tye: Field jacket ($1,995) by Burberry.
On Tye: Two-button suit ($1,300) and shirt ($695) by Calvin Klein Collection; shoes ($900) by Dior Homme.
On John: Jacket ($1,900) and shirt ($510) by Louis Vuitton; jeans ($175) by Boss; shoes ($270) by Cole Haan & Todd Snyder; WW2 Regulateur Heritage watch ($6,600) by Bell & Ross.
On Tye: Three-button jacket ($525) and shirt ($225) by Rag & Bone; jeans ($525) by Dolce & Gabbana; boots ($450) by To Boot New York. On Hailey: Dress ($1,685) by Balenciaga; pumps ($450) by Kurt Geiger London; diamond earrings ($1,800) by Bavna; attaché case ($595) by Zero Halliburton. On John: Jacket ($895) by Burberry; jeans ($495) by Ralph Lauren; boots (price upon request) by Bottega Veneta.
LEAD IMAGE On Tye: Two-button jacquard suit ($2,770) and T-shirt ($430) by Gucci; shoes ($1,250) by Ralph Lauren; belt ($70) by Tommy Hilfiger; attaché case ($595) by Zero Halliburton. On Hailey: Dress ($3,690), Saint Laurent by Hedi Slimane; pumps ($1,350) by Christian Louboutin; earrings ($5,500) by Maxior. On John: Two-button jacket ($2,590) and trousers ($800) by Prada; shirt ($375) and belt ($375) by Ermenegildo Zegna; boots ($250) by Wolverine.
CENTER IMAGE On Tye: Two-button jacket ($1,980) and jeans (price upon request) by Bottega Veneta; boots ($450) by To Boot New York. On John: Double-breasted jacket ($1,475) by Emporio Armani; shirt ($875) by Giorgio Armani; trousers ($550) by Louis Vuitton.On Hailey: Dress ($3,690), Saint Laurent by Hedi Slimane; pumps ($1,350) by Christian Louboutin; earrings ($5,500) by Maxior. Car: Vintage 1957 Porsche Speedster.
The Fashionable Wisdom ofAlec Baldwin
You Should Steal This Style Move from John Legend
A Modest Proposal for Alec Baldwin
An All-American Sneaker Collaboration
John Lennon's Stylish Birthday Message
Turns Out John Malkovich Is a Menswear Designer
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EU Neighbours south Stories EU in action Stories The Egyptian…
The Egyptian winds, a clean energy source
Dalia Chams
The European Union has provided a 30 million Euro grant to the Gabal El-Zayat wind farm, in Egypt, which costs a total of 340 million Euros. Several European donors, including the German Development Bank, have also contributed to this ambitious project on the shores of the Red Sea, with the aim of generating clean energy.
In the Gabal El-Zayt area, around 350 km from Cairo in the direction of Hurghada, you can literally turn wind into money. Located between the Gulf of Suez and the Red Sea mountains, the topography of the site causes the wind to blow at an average of 10.5 metres per second, faster than in the neighbouring town of Zaafarana, on the shores of the Red Sea, where wind speeds are around 8.5 metres per second. Evidently, Egypt has great potential in terms of wind power. It is therefore attempting to accelerate its transition to this clean energy source, by building wind farms along the Eastern shore of the Red Sea.
The country, a producer of gas, has long relied on fossil fuels, but since the 1990s a shift to wind power has begun, in an effort to generate low-pollution electricity. One example of this is the Gabal El-Zayt wind farm, co-financed by the European Union, the German Development Bank (KFW) and the European Investment Bank (EIB), in cooperation with the Egyptian government. This wind farm, which covers an area of 43 km2, is part of a complex spanning 600 km2. It is expected to reduce CO2 emissions to 400,000 tonnes per year, and therefore represents an ideal area for energy investment.
The Gabal El-Zayt windfarm in Egypt is co-financed by the EU, which has granted…
The Gabal El-Zayt windfarm, which covers an area of 43 km2
The topography of the site causes winds to blow at an average of 10.5 metres…
Two MW per turbine
On the expanse of sands stand 120 turbines, known on the ground as the KFW project. This bank essentially oversees the work and coordinates the various partners.
The engineers and those responsible for the implementation of the project are thrilled to see the turbines in this new expansion phase up and running: “They are going to give us a breath of fresh air, after so much hard work! ”, they rejoice. After all, despite the blazing sun and relatively high temperatures, there is more wind in summer than winter.
The engineers and technicians have even grown a small vegetable plot. Right here, in the middle of the desert, they have planted beans, olive trees, watermelons and mint in front of their accommodation. It’s their favourite hobby!
Several nationalities mingle on a site that brings together Egyptians with temporary experts from countries including Morocco, Algeria, Spain, India and Turkey. “The Bedouins and locals help us keep the site safe and the rest of the workforce come from all over Egypt. We rely on the Egyptian Renewable Energy Agency (NREA) ”, explains engineer Akmal Mohamed, who has been in charge of the operation of the site since 2014.
Like the majority of the workforce, Mohamed previously worked at Zaafarana wind farm. As a result, he and his colleagues often compare the two sites. “The 120 turbines here are far more modern and powerful. Altogether, they supply 240 Mega Watts,” explains engineer Mahmoud Hamed Abdel-Hamid, who managed the extension of the KFW project. As he walks along the dirt track, he points to the oil fields that line the road, to the right of the turbines.
In total, the Gabal El-Zayt project generates 580 MW, each turbine producing 2000 kilos of electricity, compared to 850 kilos per turbine at Zaafarana. Each turbine is cleaned every two years and undergoes maintenance every six months.
In order to protect birds from danger, a special radar system has been installed
Despite the blazing sun and relatively high temperatures, there is more wind in…
At twilight, the Gabal El-Zayt windfarm takes on an enchanting atmosphere
Night descends serenely over Gabal El-Zayt
The black eagle radar
Nothing disturbs the calm of the site except the call of birds of prey, like the black eagle soaring above the turbine blades. These are marked with three red lines to alert birds to their presence, as the wind farm is located on the migratory route of several avian species. To avoid exposing them to danger, a special radar system has been installed, in collaboration between the Egyptian army and a Portuguese company.
Observers and monitors are present on site every day, and work together with ornithologists from the Ministry of the Environment, who also patrol the site from morning to night. You can find them scrutinising a flock of white storks through their binoculars, counting the number of migratory birds or calculating the altitude of their flight. “If the lives of the birds are in danger, the radar detects this and provides details. Sometimes we have to stop the turbines in less than one minute to prevent carnage. This radar system has been in use since last Spring”, says Mahmoud Hamed Abdel-Hamid. The birds have also become a hobby for the experts: Mahmoud and his colleagues enjoy fascinating conversations with the ornithologists, who often have a copy of the Collins guide to birds to hand or downloaded on their mobile phones.
Sometimes, a black kite or a falcon crosses the sky, and sometimes hundreds or even thousands of birds pass overhead. The engineers enjoy spotting and identifying them, as does German technical expert Wesly Urena Vargas, who visits the site at least two or three times per year. The latter, hired by KFW, has often helped overcome difficulties related to the climatic conditions of the desert, such as sand and dew.
From the point of view of the European Union Delegation in Cairo, Ahmed El-Beltagui, director of the programme concerning energy and transport project,s confirms that this project will be followed by another similar one, this time in partnership with the French Development Agency (AFD): “The formula remains unchanged. The EU awards a 30 million Euro grant to a project with total costs of 340 million Euros. This financial contribution makes it easier to obtain a loan from local investment funds. At the same time, the amount provided by the EU reduces the interest rate that Egypt must repay”. On a visit to Cairo from 22 to 24 March 2018, Miguel Arias Canete, the European Commissioner for energy and climate, signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Egyptian authorities concerning the strategic partnership between Egypt and the EU on the subject of energy. As a result, these projects remain on track. Egypt, rich in natural gas and renewable energy resources, is already preparing to become an energy corridor between the Middle East and Europe.
Egypt Energy Energy, transport and environment Region South South
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AAMF: Kill Paris
by Asteria Music & Arts Festival
Wed, Jul 31, 2019, 9:00 PM – Thu, Aug 1, 2019, 2:00 AM EDT
Kill Paris
Wed, Jul 31, 2019, 9:00 PM –
Thu, Aug 1, 2019, 2:00 AM EDT
14 W Washington St
Asteria Arts & Music Festival x Aero Present....
Kill Paris:
Corey Baker, professionally known as Kill Paris, is a multi-instrumental producer from a quiet town in Indiana, USA. Picking up guitar at the age of 15, the musical journey began and soon enough Corey’s life was devoted to the art of sound. From there, he took on learning piano, bass and percussion to soon call himself a well-rounded musician. Over the next decade, the Kill Paris project came to fruition naturally – the world of electronic music always sparked something in him. Corey got certified in Ableton Training, where he would teach one on one production lessons and hold seminars while simultaneously working on his artistry. A righteous move to Los Angeles sealed the deal, launching his career in 2012 under Skrillex’s wing with free projects available and officially under the name Kill Paris. And just like that — a signature sound was created — effortlessly and tastefully done. Corey’s unforgettable keytar makes his live performances an extraordinary experience. His sense of humor and genuine attention to his fans coin him as “the world’s friendliest DJ,” and his objective to bring a sense of well-being and security to the dance music community has made a deep-rooted impact. Kill Paris is set to release his sophomore album in Q1 of 2018 via Monstercat.
https://soundcloud.com/killparis
http://instagram.com/killparismusic
https://twitter.com/killparis
!!!ARTIST!!!
Participate in our Open Decks night to qualify to perform at one of our future events.
Participate in our production contest!
Bring your USB and obtain our pre-selected sample ;)
United States Events Florida Events Things to do in Orlando, FL Orlando Performances Orlando Music Performances
AAMF: Kill Paris at The Patio
14 W Washington St, Orlando, FL 32801
Browse Orlando Events
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What Are The Congresspeople Whose Districts Will Be Underwater Doing To Stop Climate Change?
This unofficial caucus of the soon-to-be-drowned isn’t displaying the sense of urgency needed, given that all of their constituents face climate catastrophe in the next century.
All Images: via NASA Earth Observatory
By Jessica Leber 8 minute Read
Climate change was once an abstract global issue, easy for locally elected politicians to ignore or question. But scientific forecasts are far more specific today. It’s not just the world or a country or a particular state facing unprecedented floods, droughts, or heat waves–climate change is happening right in our backyards.
Scientists have come out lately with a string of dire of sea level rise forecasts. Six feet of sea level rise by the end of the century has been thought to be an extremely unlikely scenario–yet new estimates of melting rates in Antarctica now show it’s possible. Importantly, new research has also focused on localizing how different sea level rise scenarios will translate at a very local level, down to the county or even zip code.
Due to geography, geology, and population, these are the places that will have large masses of land disappear, endangering property, roads and bridges, wildlife, causing havoc on people’s lives.
Co.Exist has examined recent studies that show how specific U.S. coastal cities and towns will be damaged with rising seas. From New York City to Maryland, many coastlines in the nation are at risk, but two stick out as supremely vulnerable–southeast Florida and the Louisiana Gulf. Due to geography, geology, and population, these are the places that will have large masses of land disappear, endangering property, roads and bridges, wildlife, causing havoc on people’s lives, and making storms more deadly and destructive. The first sea level rise relocation in the United States is now planned in southern Louisiana, for example. In Miami Beach, homeowners expect their property values may start to decrease fairly soon (already, getting flood insurance is all but impossible). Given that the scientific consensus is that much of these districts will be underwater, do the statements and positions from politicians in southeast Florida and the Louisiana Gulf match up with the level of threat to their constituents?
All politics is local, the saying goes. It should now include climate politics. So we looked at these districts representatives in Congress, since these politicians are elected by very specific localities, yet they also have a key role in deciding national policies to rein in greenhouse gas emissions and adapt to warming impacts. It’s clear that even in the extremely partisan environment of Congress, the realities of climate change are starting to hit home in at least some of the Congressional districts that are under the greatest threat–even if that means bucking Republican orthodoxy to start trying to save these districts.
This region is at the forefront of climate change. Miami-Dade and Broward Counties have the two highest populations in the United States that could be displaced by rising sea levels by 2100, according to a recent study in the journal Nature. In addition, a report by Climate Central, a nonpartisan research organization, found that of all zip codes in Florida, Key West comes in third place for the highest number of people, housing units, and property value within three feet of the high tide line (behind Miami Beach and Palm Beach). Frequent floods rising to this level are “near certain” this century, the report says. After only 14 inches of sea level rise, it says, a flood to 2.2 feet in Key West would be an annual event–considering most of the islands are less than 6 feet above sea level, huge swaths of the islands would be wiped out and the rest would be so frequently flooded that living there could be miserable.
In the face of this reality, a fear of flooding has sunk into the psyche of many Florida legislators in Congress, from both parties.
Curbelo was one of 10 Republicans to vote against his party in its resolution to gut President Obama’s rules to regulate emissions from new power plants.
Freshman Republican Congressman Carlos Curbelo, whose District 26 encompasses the entire southern tip of Florida, including much of the Everglades and all of the Florida Keys, has been a rare voice among House Republicans who accepts the science of climate change and calls for action to address it. Last year, Curbelo–also one of the youngest members of Congress–formed the bipartisan Climate Solutions Caucus with a fellow Florida Democrat, and in December, he was one of 10 Republicans to vote against his party in its resolution to gut President Obama’s rules to regulate emissions from new power plants. He noted at the time that sea level rise was a “clear and present threat” to Florida’s way of life and that 40% of the state’s population was at risk. (He did, however, vote with his party to oppose regulating emissions from existing power plants.)
As far as concrete actions, the Climate Solutions Caucus hasn’t done much yet, though it only just had its first meeting. Curbelo highlights his own efforts to increase funding for Everglades restoration, create more affordable flood insurance, and reform the existing National Flood Insurance Program–which is currently in deep debt and unable to keep up with claims payouts.
Democrats in southeast Florida are also vocal about climate change, though none have taken significant leadership on the issue.
In many ways, because of the dynamics of the House–where Republicans have blocked all climate change action, Republicans who break with their party have much more power to make change. Southeast Florida’s Republican Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, a senior House member whose district includes large parts of Miami-Dade county, has also gone that route, becoming the second Republican to join the bipartisan Climate Solutions Caucus. (She has also signed on to a resolution introduced in September by New York Republican Chris Gibson that declares climate change could have an “adverse” impact on the nation and Congress should work on remedies. This seems like a bare minimum kind of statement, but so far only 12 Republicans have signed on.)
Democrats in southeast Florida’s Miami-Dade and Broward counties are also vocal about climate change and act with their party to support climate change actions, though none have taken significant leadership on the issue. Democrats Debbie Wasserman Schultz, Frederica Wilson, and Lois Frankel represent some of the most districts with the most potential damage from sea level rise. Large parts of Wasserman Schultz’s Miami Beach, for example, could be underwater in less than 50 years–and property values will be affected much sooner than that. At least she can talk about sea level rise statistics like a scientist.
Louisiana Gulf
New Orleans and the entire Mississippi Delta region are doomed locales–the first climate refugees in the lower 48 states, who are being evacuated now, hail from this zone. An October 2015 study in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences found that no matter what is done to curb climate change today, virtually all of New Orleans will be flooded eventually (unless it is saved by improved flood control systems). Under a three-foot-sea-level-rise scenario, a study in Nature Climate Change ranked Orleans Parish as the fourth county in the nation in terms of total population at risk from floods by 2100, just after nearby Jefferson Parish, which came in third. About 18% of the projected population of each was at risk of being displaced, the study found.
Even though climate change isn’t a cause these politicians love to discuss, they do have to deal with its effects.
Like southeast Florida, the region is doomed if we continue business as usual. The big difference here is that the region’s economy is centered on oil and gas drilling, making climate change-friendly policies harder, politically. Officials of both parties are, therefore, interested in protecting the fossil fuel industry to varying extents. But even though climate change isn’t a cause these politicians love to discuss, they do have to deal with its effects, such as skyrocketing flood insurance rates and sinking state highways. And that reality means that in southern Louisiana, there is one more rare Republican willing to acknowledge climate science.
In flood-prone District 6, which covers an area from Baton Rouge to the Gulf, first-time Republican Congressman Garret Graves believes climate change is real. As former state coastal restoration commissioner, he had previously grappled directly with sea level rise. He has been one of the few great hopes in his party for environmentalists. But that hasn’t quite panned out, as the region’s oil interests (and his Koch Brothers’ donations) have taken precedence in his voting record. He still will acknowledge climate change–which is more than many of his colleagues–but he has blocked the Obama administration’s efforts to regulate emissions from power plants, calling them too expensive.
Although Scalise has lobbied for funding to raise the elevation of the flood-prone state roadway LA-1, he has long decried “global warming alarmism.”
On the other hand, we have District 1, which includes Jefferson Parish, the shores of Lake Pontchartrain, and the petroleum center Port Fourchon. The district is represented by Steve Scalise, the third-ranked Republican in the House. Scalise is heavily funded by the oil industry. Although he has lobbied for funding to raise the elevation of the flood-prone state roadway LA-1, and recently posted on Instagram about “historic flooding events” in his district, he has long decried “global warming alarmism” and questioned the science of man-made climate change. In his role as House whip, he has led Republican efforts in the House to block the Obama administration’s climate rules.
Meanwhile, Democrat Cedric Richmond, who represents New Orleans’s District 2, is a lot better, though he is far from a climate change leader. Yes, he has a pretty good record voting for measures to address climate change (he has also voted to support oil and gas interests). But considering the threat his city faces, he has not been vocal or exhibited much leadership on the issue. A search of his website reveals that even in his efforts to reform and expand flood insurance and disaster assistance, he has not made any effort to talk about climate change or sea level rise impacts.
What’s clear is that, in at-risk coastal areas, climate change can’t be ignored, even by partisan ideologues (unless you’re Rep. Scalise). But the rest of the country that isn’t living under the threat of immediate flooding also needs to come to understand the gravity of the situation if Congress is ever to take the actions to curb greenhouse gas emissions that are needed to lead the world to a safer future. With open Senate seats in both Florida and Louisiana, the 2016 election should reveal whether climate change can become an election issue that matters in the states that could be flooded by the century’s end.
Related Video: The Cop21 Climate Talks And How They’ll Affect Your Business
Jessica Leber is a staff editor and writer for Fast Company's Co.Exist. Previously, she was a business reporter for MIT’s Technology Review and an environmental reporter at ClimateWire
Ideas Newsletter
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Ernesto Valverde happy to give squad playing time
The Barça coach underlined the importance of the workout against Nàstic with regards to dividing up the minutes for his team
07:45PM Friday 04 Aug
“It was a game in which we defended well and competed well. That will be good because we will have games like this in the future. The objective was for players to pick up minutes.” That was how Ernesto Valverde summed up the game against Nàstic in the Nou Estadi in Tarragona.
Aside from the result, the Barça boss explained how the early goal caught his team cold but went on to say he was happy with the amount of chances created in the second half. Valverde also touched on the departure of Neymar, admitting “everyone is free to follow their own path. We would like him to be here but we wish him all the best.”
On the day of his debut following his return to the Club, Gerard Deulofeu said he was ready to face new challenges. “I am feeling good after training hard for the last three weeks in Barcelona,” revealed the winger before adding that he is looking forward to stepping out on the Camp Nou turf on Monday for the Gamper game against Chapecoense.
Former Nástic Tarragona player also spoke after facing the club where he spent a season in 2008/09. “I am really happy to have come back here to play again,” said the Barça full back.
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National Research Strategy for the President's Roadmap To Empower Veterans and End the National Tragedy of Suicide (PREVENTS)
A Notice by the Science and Technology Policy Office on 07/03/2019
Office of Science and Technology Policy
Response Deadline: August 5, 2019.
Questions To Inform Development of the National Research Strategy
A. How can we improve our ability to identify individual veterans and groups of veterans at greater risk of suicide?
B. How can we develop and improve individual interventions that increase overall veteran quality of life and decrease the veteran suicide rate?
C. How can we develop strategies to better ensure the latest research discoveries are translated into practical applications and implemented quickly?
D. How best to establish relevant data-sharing protocols across Federal partners that align with community partners?
E. How should we draw upon technology to capture and use health data from non-clinical settings to advance behavioral and mental health research to the extent practicable?
F. How can we improve coordination among research efforts, prevent unnecessarily duplicative efforts, identify barriers to or gaps in research, and facilitate opportunities for improved consolidation, integration, and alignment?
G. How can we develop a public-private collaboration model to foster innovative and effective research that accelerates these efforts?
H. Please provide any additional information not addressed by previous questions that is crucial to the creation, implementation, and success of a National Research Strategy to improve the coordination, monitoring, benchmarking, and execution of public- and private-sector research related to the factors that contribute to service member and veteran suicide.
Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP), Executive Office of the President.
Request for information.
To advance the President's vision of a National Roadmap to Empower Veterans and End Suicide, OSTP and VA will lead development of a National Research Strategy to improve the coordination, monitoring, benchmarking, and execution of public- and private-sector research related to the factors that contribute to veteran suicide. Through this RFI, we seek input on ways to increase knowledge about factors influencing suicidal behaviors and ways to prevent suicide; inform the development of a robust and forward looking research agenda; coordinate relevant research efforts across the Nation; and measure progress on these efforts. The public input provided in response to this RFI will inform the Veteran Wellness, Empowerment, and Suicide Prevention Task Force, who will develop and implement the National Research Strategy.
Responses may be submitted online at https://www.research.va.gov/PREVENTS/ or via email to RFIresearchresponse@va.gov.
Tracie Lattimore at 202-456-4444. Emails may be addressed to RFIresearchresponse@va.gov. Questions, comments or RFI submissions via email should include “RFI Response: National Research Strategy for the President's Roadmap to Empower Veterans and End the National Tragedy of Suicide (PREVENTS)” in the subject line of the message. Please designate the question(s) you are answering by providing the letter and number of the specific question(s) below prior to providing your answer(s).
On March 5, 2019, President Trump signed Executive Order (E.O.) 13861 mandating the development of the President's Roadmap to Empower Veterans and End the National Tragedy of Suicide (PREVENTS). The Roadmap will include a National Research Strategy to advance efforts to improve quality of life and reduce the rate of suicide among veterans by better coordinating research within and beyond the Federal government, and enhancing the integration of research across the social, behavioral, and biological determinants of wellness and brain health.
We aim to understand the full spectrum of factors influencing veteran suicide. Efforts are needed that would allow early detection of trauma in the brains of living people and improve our understanding and ability to prevent conditions or factors that contribute to suicide. We aim to incorporate public health approaches that target prevention strategies and address intervention for individuals, communities, and the broader population.
Reducing the rate of suicide in the veteran population will require an innovative, concerted approach to public health, with wide stakeholder input. The Federal government alone cannot address these challenges; therefore, we seek to involve the Nation's full research and development (R&D) ecosystem, and collaborate with state, local, territorial, and tribal governments, as well as community members, industry, non-profit organizations, and academic institutions to ensure that veterans have access to effective suicide prevention services. Our collective efforts begin with the common understanding that suicide is preventable, and that prevention requires ongoing support prior to and beyond intervention at the point of crisis. To end veteran suicide, we must develop a holistic understanding of the underlying factors that determine the overall health and well-being of our Nation's veterans.
The National Research Strategy shall include milestones and metrics designed to:
i. Improve our ability to identify individual veterans and groups of veterans at greater risk of suicide;
ii. Develop and improve individual interventions that increase overall veteran quality of life and decrease the veteran suicide rate;
iii. Develop strategies to better ensure the latest research discoveries are translated into practical applications and implemented quickly;
iv. Establish relevant data-sharing protocols across Federal agencies that align with community collaborators;
v. Draw upon technology to capture and use health data from non-clinical settings to advance behavioral and mental health research to the extent practicable;
vi. Improve coordination among research efforts, prevent unnecessarily duplicative efforts, identify barriers to or gaps in research, and facilitate opportunities for improved consolidation, integration, and alignment; and
vii. Develop public-private collaboration models to foster innovative and effective research that accelerates these efforts.
Further Instructions: All public comments are welcome and should be submitted by August 5, 2019 in order to ensure they are considered in the National Research Strategy. Responses may be submitted online at https://www.research.va.gov/PREVENTS/.
Response to this RFI is voluntary, and respondents need not reply to all questions. Each individual or institution is requested to submit only one response, and to indicate whether it is an individual or organizational response. Comments containing references, studies, research, and other empirical data that are not widely published should include copies or electronic links of the referenced materials. Comments containing profanity, vulgarity, threats, or other inappropriate language or content will not be considered.
All submissions, including attachments and other supporting materials, will become part of the public record and are subject to public disclosure. Responses to this RFI, without change, may be posted on a Federal website. Therefore, no business proprietary information, copyrighted information, or personally identifiable information should be submitted in response to this RFI. Please note that the U.S. Government will not pay for Start Printed Page 31934response preparation, or for the use of any information contained in the response.
1. What are the most critical near-term and long-term areas for research into factors influencing veteran suicide and methods to assess an individual's risk of suicide?
2. What are the biggest gaps in capability to identify and address the social, behavioral, and biological determinants of health leading to suicidal behavior in veterans? Consider associated conditions such as mental illness, traumatic brain injury (TBI), chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE), posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and depression, as well as social determinants of health and research in intervention and post-intervention strategies.
3. How can various disciplines (e.g., neurology, endocrinology, psychology) work together to better understand and address individual risk factors that lead to veteran suicide? How can different disciplines work together to develop individual intervention strategies?
4. How might we better understand the progression of veterans as they transition from military to civilian life in a way that supports identification of suicide risk factors, protective factors, and opportunities for intervention that addresses veterans at various stages of transition, before the point of crisis?
5. What are currently known effective and promising or emerging practices for suicide prevention? What factors make these practices effective? What additional research is needed to demonstrate the effectiveness of promising practices?
6. What tools, platforms, methods, or technologies are needed to advance:
Understanding of suicide risk factors
Assessment of individuals most likely to be at risk of suicide
Evaluation of protective factors leading to the prevention of suicide
Improvements in social connection and community engagement of veterans
Identification of opportunities for intervention far before the point of crisis
7. What are barriers to the adoption of existing tools, platforms, methods, or technologies that identify suicide risk factors or provide effective interventions?
8. What types of organizations should be engaged in developing and implementing the National Research Strategy? Which existing consortia or partnerships should be involved, and why? Are there existing organizations that have been effective in identifying and mitigating veteran suicide risks? Are there programs and resources within communities that have been successful? What factors made these programs successful?
9. How can the Federal government strengthen the public health system, including mental health and crisis intervention education and training programs, to ensure an adequate, well-trained medical workforce that is well-equipped to respond to the challenge of veteran suicide?
10. What are the primary barriers to adoption of current best practices for the assessment, evaluation and implementation of public health approaches targeting suicide prevention?
11. What are effective methods to quickly transition promising practices into clinical and community practice? Where have these methods been demonstrated to work previously?
12. What are methods and models to evaluate and measure outcomes and effectiveness of interventions?
13. What are the key elements in building a robust and forward looking research agenda, in addition to translating research outcomes?
14. How can Federal data, such as that from the Federal Interagency Traumatic Brain Injury Research (FITBIR) informatics system, be best leveraged in combination with local or regional data to provide new insights into trauma or the progression of disease? Are there technological limitations that prevent use of Federal data from generating information to predict outcomes?
15. What data or types of data are required to advance research efforts? Are there existing sources of data or validated datasets related to veteran suicide, mental health, risk determination, brain injury, or other relevant areas that have been previously underutilized in Federal efforts?
16. How can both clinical and non-clinical data be better used to inform research efforts, and enhance current models of predictive analytics?
17. Are social determinants or risk factors being used to target services or provide outreach? If so, how? How are the beneficiaries with social risk identified?
18. Are there especially promising strategies for improving care of patients with social risk?
19. How are costs for targeting and providing those services evaluated? What are the additional costs to services, such as case management, and to provide additional services (e.g., transportation)? What is the return on investment in improved outcomes or reduced healthcare concern?
Thank you sincerely for contributing to efforts to end Veteran suicide.
Stacy Murphy,
Operations Manager.
BILLING CODE 3270-F9-P
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Pet Shop Boys The Pop Kids
Pet Shop Boys will release 'The Pop Kids", the first single from their forthcoming album, 'Super", on March 18th. From today, 'The Pop Kids" will be available on iTunes to anyone who has pre-ordered the album and the track will be serviced to radio and streaming services.
On March 18th, the digital bundle will be released with the following track-listing:
1. The Pop Kids (radio edit)
2. In bits
3. One-hit wonder
4. The Pop Kids (PSB deep dub)
5. The Pop Kids (The full story)
'The Pop Kids" was produced and mixed by Stuart Price. The -PSB deep dub' and -The full story' versions are remixes by Pet Shop Boys including additional vocals and, in the case of 'The full story", an extra verse which brings the story of The Pop Kids up to the present. 'In bits" was produced and mixed by Stuart Price. 'One-hit wonder" was produced by Pet Shop Boys and mixed by Pete Gleadall and is a new version of an instrumental track Tennant and Lowe originally wrote in late 1981.
They remade it in 2014 as the theme for a Berlin online TV music show, 'The One-Hit Parade", and this is the first time the full track has been released.
A remix of 'The Pop Kids" by MK (Marc Kinchen) will also be released on digital only on March 18th with a vinyl 12" single following later in March.
'Pet Shop Boys Documentary", a four-part series of hour-long programmes, will be broadcast in the UK on BBC Radio 2 next month, 30 years after the release of Pet Shop Boys' first album, Please. The series will feature specially recorded in-depth interviews with Neil Tennant and Chris Lowe, plus contributions from key collaborators, commentators and admirers. Part One will be narrated by Graham Norton and will focus on the Please, Actually, Introspective, Behaviour, Very and Bilingual album eras.
The second part will be devoted to Nightlife, Release, Fundamental, Yes and Elysium. The third and fourth parts of the series will focus on PSB's many creative collaborations and finally on the creation of their new album, 'Super".
'Super" will be released worldwide on April 1st and can be pre-ordered now.
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No Netflix again, but the Cannes film festival has more women directors this year
By: Faizal Khan |
Published: April 28, 2019 12:09:06 AM
The good news this time is that four women-directed films are in the competition.
The highlight of the red carpet this year will be singer Elton John and football great Diego Maradona. English actor-director Dexter Fletcher’s biopic on Elton John, Rocketman, is part of the out-of-competition section.
The 72nd Cannes film festival will open next month with a zombie movie reflecting the uncertain times we live in. American independent filmmaker Jim Jarmusch’s genre film The Dead Don’t Die will kick off the festival in the French Riviera town on May 14. Part of the official competition for the prestigious Palme d’Or, the movie is about a sleepy town suddenly waking up to find its dead rising from the graves to feast on the living.
Jarmusch, who brought the vampire film Only Lovers Left Alive to Cannes in 2013, assembles a cast of Adam Driver, Bill Murray, Tilda Swinton, Danny Glover, Selena Gomez and Iggy Pop in his 13th feature film. Having won the Short Film Palme d’Or for Coffee and Cigarettes: Somewhere in California in 1993 and the Camera d’Or for the first feature film of a director for Stranger Than Paradise in 1984, the director-screenwriter will be aiming for the top honour this year.
Also read: From Google to Railways, Avengers Endgame fever grips all as brands come up with innovative ideas
At a news conference in Paris on April 18, Cannes festival president Pierre Lescure and general delegate Thierry Fremaux unveiled 19 films from around the world in the competition section. The illustrious field includes Spanish director Pedro Almodovar with his new film Pain and Glory, the story of an ageing filmmaker. The list also has two-time Palme d’or-winning Belgian brothers Jean-Pierre Dardenne and Luc Dardenne, who will be presenting Young Ahmed, about a radicalised Muslim boy.
The long wait for an Indian film in the competition still continues a quarter-century after Malayalam director Shaji N Karun’s Swaham, which vied for the Palme d’Or in 2014. The good news this time is that four women-directed films are in the competition. These female filmmakers are Austrian Jessica Hausner, American Ira Sachs, French Celine Sciamma and Senegalese Mati Diop. The main competition had three female filmmakers last year.
Female filmmakers
“There are 13 female directors in the official selection this year,” says Fremaux. Un Certain Regard section of the fest, which showcases new trends in world cinema, has seven women directors— Canadian Monia Chokri, Americans Annie Silverstein and Danielle Lessovitz, Algerian Mounia Meddour, Moroccan Maryam Touzani and French filmmakers Zabou Breitman and Elea Gobbe-Mevellec. The special screenings section has American director Pippa Bianco’s Share, a feature-length adaptation of her short film with the same title. The list of women directors also has Syrian filmmaker Waad Al Kateab, who has co-directed the documentary Sama.
The highlight of the red carpet this year will be singer Elton John and football great Diego Maradona. English actor-director Dexter Fletcher’s biopic on Elton John, Rocketman, is part of the out-of-competition section. “Elton John will be present,” beams Fremaux. “We will put a hidden piano backstage if he wants to play something for us.” Indian-origin British filmmaker Asif Kapadia’s biopic on Maradona, Diego Maradona, is finally ready and will also be screened in the out-of-competition section.
No Netflix
Both Lescure and Fremaux have once again ruled out the selection of Netflix films. “Three years ago, we selected two Netflix films—Okja and Meyerowitz Stories—one a Netflix production and the other a Netflix acquisition. Netflix has a business model, which means the films won’t be released in theatres. The rule (of Cannes festival) is that for the competition, a film must be released in theatres,” explains Fremaux. “We are not ready to select films that won’t be seen by audiences in theatres,” adds Lescure. There were no Netflix films in Cannes last year.
The competition jury will be headed by Oscar-winning Mexican director Alejandro Iñárritu. “It is very rare for Iñárritu to agree to be on a jury, and this is the first time that the Festival de Cannes Jury is to be chaired by a Mexican artist,” says Lescure. The festival will run up to May 25.
The author is a freelancer
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'Dunkirk' conquers 'Emoji,' 'Atomic Blonde' at box office
By LINDSEY BAHR Published July 30, 2017 MarketsAssociated Press
"The Emoji Movie" survived negative reviews but couldn't conquer "Dunkirk," which had enough fight left to conquer the box office for a second weekend in a row.
Down only 44 percent from its first weekend, director Christopher Nolan's World War II film earned $28.1 million to take first place, according to studio estimates on Sunday. "Dunkirk" has grossed $102.8 million domestically to date.
Sony Pictures Animation's "The Emoji Movie" finished second with $25.7 million. The film featuring the voices of T.J. Miller and Anna Faris as anthropomorphized emojis got pummeled by critics. It's currently resting at a dismal 8 percent on Rotten Tomatoes, but audiences still turned out.
"It's great when the critics and audiences are in sync but in the end it comes down to: Has the film reached the intended audience?" said Adrian Smith, Sony's president of domestic distribution. "Seeing these results, it clearly has."
Sony is expecting the film, which cost an estimated $50 million to produce, to play well for the rest of the summer.
The divide between reviews and a film's success has been a continuing topic this summer, as some films, such as "Baywatch," capsized under poor reviews, and others like "The Emoji Movie" seemed immune.
"Kids don't care about reviews, and there is a severe lack of family films in the marketplace," said Paul Dergarabedian, a senior media analyst for comScore.
But "The Emoji Movie" also fell at the box office throughout the weekend after a strong Friday when it placed No. 1, which Dergarabedian thinks could be due to negative word of mouth on social media. By contrast, the extremely well-reviewed "Dunkirk" rose throughout the weekend.
Also holding on quite well is Universal Pictures R-rated comedy "Girls Trip," which fell a miniscule 36 percent from its debut weekend to take third place with $20.1 million.
Even in weekend two, "Girls Trip" beat out the splashy new Charlize Theron actioner "Atomic Blonde," distributed by Universal's boutique label Focus Features. "Atomic Blonde" opened in fourth with $18.6 million.
"We think it's a really solid opening for the movie and think that the film is going to have a nice long life at the box office for the summer," said Lisa Bunnell, president of distribution for Focus Features.
Theron produced and stars in the film about a British spy on a mission in Berlin near the end of the Cold War. It cost an estimated $30 million to produce. While reviews were generally positive, audiences gave the film a middling B CinemaScore, which could affect its word-of-mouth potential.
In fifth place was "Spider-Man: Homecoming" now in its fourth weekend in theater. The new web-slinger added $13.5 million which bumped its domestic total to $278.4 million.
"Homecoming" has now officially passed both "Amazing Spider-Man" movies at the North American box office, although it is still lagging significantly behind the Tobey Maguire "Spider-Man" films.
While the summer box office remains down from last year, audiences are still turning out for some of the buzzier specialty releases. Annapurna Pictures rolled out the Kathryn Bigelow film "Detroit," about an incident during the 1967 riots, a week before its nationwide launch in 20 theaters in 10 markets including Detroit, New York, Los Angeles, Baltimore and Atlanta.
"We were doing early word of mouth screenings, and they were very strong. People were hanging in the lobby of theaters after talking and talking. We decided to kick-start the conversation early," Annapurna distribution president Erik Lomis said. "We're really excited to launch this picture."
"Detroit" earned a strong $365,455 from the limited launch.
Also playing well in limited release is the Al Gore-led climate change documentary "An Inconvenient Sequel: Truth to Power," which took in $130,000 from four locations.
Estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at U.S. and Canadian theaters, according to comScore. Where available, the latest international numbers for Friday through Sunday are also included. Final domestic figures will be released Monday.
1."Dunkirk," $28.1 million ($45.6 million international).
2."The Emoji Movie," $25.7 million.
3."Girls Trip," $20.1 million ($2 million international).
4."Atomic Blonde," $18.6 million ($3 million international).
5."Spider-Man: Homecoming: $13.5 million ($19.7 million international).
6."War for the Planet of the Apes," $10.4 million ($20.5 million international).
7."Despicable Me 3," $7.7 million ($36.1 million international).
8."Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets," $6.8 million ($13.7 million international).
9."Baby Driver," $4.1 million ($8.4 million international).
10."Wonder Woman," $3.5 million.
Estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at international theaters (excluding the U.S. and Canada), according to comScore:
1. "Wolf Warrior 2," $125.5 million.
2. "Dunkirk," $45.6 million.
3. "Despicable Me 3," $36.1 million.
4. "The Founding of an Army," $24 million.
5. "The Battleship Island," $22.5 million.
6. "War for the Planet of the Apes," $20.5 million.
7. "Spider-Man: Homecoming: $19.7 million.
8. "Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets," $13.7 million.
9. "Transformers: The last Knight," $9.8 million.
10. "Baby Driver," $8.4 million.
Universal and Focus are owned by NBC Universal, a unit of Comcast Corp.; Sony, Columbia, Sony Screen Gems and Sony Pictures Classics are units of Sony Corp.; Paramount is owned by Viacom Inc.; Disney, Pixar and Marvel are owned by The Walt Disney Co.; Miramax is owned by Filmyard Holdings LLC; 20th Century Fox and Fox Searchlight are owned by 21st Century Fox; Warner Bros. and New Line are units of Time Warner Inc.; MGM is owned by a group of former creditors including Highland Capital, Anchorage Advisors and Carl Icahn; Lionsgate is owned by Lions Gate Entertainment Corp.; IFC is owned by AMC Networks Inc.; Rogue is owned by Relativity Media LLC.
Follow AP Film Writer Lindsey Bahr on Twitter at: http://twitter.com/ldbahr
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Is Spider-Man: Homecoming 2 bringing together its own anti-Avengers for Marvel’s Phase 4?
By Bradley Russell 2018-05-22T11:08:11.141Z News
Spider-Man: Homecoming, all told, was a pretty intimate, small-scope story of Peter Parker getting to grips with webs, wall-crawling, and what it’s like to suffer through high school. But its sequel, Spider-Man: Homecoming 2, might be going in another direction – and could be setting up a villainous team so bad Spidey might need some backup from Earth’s Mightiest Heroes…
Here’s what we know for sure: Variety is reporting that Mysterio is all-but-confirmed for the sequel, as is the returning Michael Keaton as Vulture. When coupled with the post-credits scene in Homecoming (y’know: the one with Scorpion in prison with Vulture) that adds up to one thing and one thing only: the Sinister Six.
First, a history lesson. The Sinister Six, if you know your comics, have many different forms. Essentially, they boil down to a great big supervillain group united in their goal to rid the Big Apple from everyone’s favourite neighbourhood Spider-Man. All of the villains mentioned so far – Scorpion, Vulture, Mysterio – have all played a role in the iconic, terrifying team.
So, a lot of the puzzle pieces are falling into place. That may only be just the beginning. My math isn’t always great, but there’s still three spots to potentially fill (if the MCU is going down that road). That route would surely lead to a big set-up not too dissimilar to the one we saw leading up to The Avengers in 2012, just with a nefarious twist. Expect the likes of Doctor Octopus, Electro, and Sandman to come knocking sooner rather than later.
Homecoming 2 bringing half of the Sinister Six together with the remaining half being hoovered up across other Homecoming and MCU movies to form a supergroup the likes of which hasn’t been seen on the silver screen? Yes, please. Heck, I’d be happy with the Sinister Six forming the crux of a possible Avengers 5 movie – now that Spidey is an official Avenger, of course. It looks like Spider-Man’s Homecoming roadmap has been charted for the next decade. Excited? You should be.
For now, that's a pipe dream. Here's all of the (real) new Marvel movies set up for the next few years.
Spider-Man: Homecoming 2
News ents
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Bill Gates regains world’s richest title with net worth of $76B
by Taylor Soper on March 3, 2014 at 9:04 am March 8, 2014 at 9:50 am
Forbes today released its annual rankings of the world’s richest, and there’s a familiar face back on top.
After a four-year hiatus, Bill Gates is once again the world’s richest with a net worth of $76 billion — up from $67 billion last year.
Gates ousted fellow multibillionaire Carlos Slim, who held the top spot for the past four years but saw his net worth fall to $72 billion in 2013. The Microsoft co-founder has been No. 1 on this list for 15 of the past 20 years.
Amazon.com founder Jeff Bezos moved up one spot — to #18 — after seeing his fortune grow by $6.8 billion in 2013 to $32 billion. Other tech moguls to make the list include Oracle’s Larry Ellison (5th) and Google’s Larry Page (17th) and Sergey Brin (19th).
Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg, meanwhile, had the biggest growth ($15.2 billion) of any billionaire last year and pushed his net worth to $28.5 billion.
All in all, the 1,645 billionaires on the list combined for a total net worth of $6.4 trillion, up from $5.4 trillion last year. There were 172 women to make the list, up from 138 last year. The U.S. has the most billionaires, with 492, followed by China (152) and Russia (111).
Check out the full list and methodology here.
Taylor Soper is GeekWire's managing editor, responsible for coordinating the newsroom, planning coverage, and editing stories. A native of Portland, Ore., and graduate of the University of Washington, he was previously a GeekWire staff reporter, covering beats including startups and sports technology. Follow him @taylor_soper and email taylor@geekwire.com.
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With $150B net worth, Jeff Bezos is the richest person in modern history as Amazon stock approaches $2K
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HomeHollywoodThe Legend of Tarzan (2016)
The Legend of Tarzan (2016) The Legend of Tarzan (2016) – latest movies streaming The Legend of Tarzan is a 2016 American action adventure film based on the fictional character created by Edgar Rice Burroughs. Directed by David Yates and written by Adam Cozad and Craig Brewer, its cast comprises Alexander Skarsgård as the title character, Samuel L. Jackson, Margot […]
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The Legend of Tarzan (2016) – latest movies streaming
The Legend of Tarzan is a 2016 American action adventure film based on the fictional character created by Edgar Rice Burroughs. Directed by David Yates and written by Adam Cozad and Craig Brewer, its cast comprises Alexander Skarsgård as the title character, Samuel L. Jackson, Margot Robbie, Djimon Hounsou, Jim Broadbent and Christoph Waltz.
Principal photography began on June 30, 2014, at Warner Bros. Leavesden Studios in the United Kingdom, and wrapped four months later on October 3. Warner Bros. Pictures and Village Roadshow Pictures in Cooperation with Dark Horse Entertainment and Jerry Weintraub Productions co-produced the film.
The film premiered at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles on June 27, 2016 and was released in the United States on July 1, 2016 in 2D, 3D, IMAX and IMAX 3D. The film has grossed over $65 million.
Cast: Alexander Skarsgård, Samuel L. Jackson, Margot Robbie, Djimon Hounsou, Jim Broadbent, Christoph Waltz,
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Alexander SkarsgårdChristoph WaltzDjimon HounsouJim BroadbentMargot RobbieSamuel L. Jackson
Seeking a Friend For The End of The World (2012)
Asian School Girls (2014)
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FIVB Women's Club World Championship Preview
View Full 2018 FIVB Women's Club World Championship Coverage
Dec 3, 2018Megan Kaplon
If you thought your chance to watch elite women’s professional volleyball ended for the year when Serbia won the 2018 FIVB Women’s World Championship, think again.
The FIVB Women’s Club World Championships brings together the top professional teams from Europe, South America, and Asia, to Shaoxing, China, for a six-day tournament (December 4-9) to definitively crown the top women’s professional team in the world.
Watch the FIVB Women's Club World Championships LIVE on FloVolleyball
Tune in right here on FloVolleyball to watch every match of the event live and see your favorite Team USA stars in action with their pro teams. This is also an excellent opportunity to get to know the top players from around the world, whom you may or may not have ever seen in action with their national teams.
Here’s what you need to know about the teams competing and when to watch.
Minas Tenis Clube | Belo Horizonte, Brazil
With a five-set defeat of Rexona-Sesc Rio de Janeiro in the final of the 2018 South America Club Championship, Minas Tenis Clube earned a spot in the World Club Championship for the first time in 26 years.
Minas’ roster features all Brazilian players, including Olympic gold medalist Natalia Pereira, who returned to her home country after playing for Turkish club Fenerbahce the last two seasons.
Keep an eye out also for outside Gabriela Braga Guimaraes. The 24-year-old was the second-highest points scorer for Brazil during Volleyball Nations League earlier this year.
Minas has had a wonderful start to the new season, boasting a 4-0 record in Brazil’s SuperLiga.
VakifBank Istanbul | Istanbul, Turkey
Four of the top performers from the 2018 FIVB World Championship appear on VakifBank’s 2018-19 roster. Ting Zhu led China with 227 total points at Worlds, while Lonneke Sloetjes had 276 points for the Netherlands. Kelsey Robinson played libero for the USA, which finished fifth at the event, and Milena Rasic finished Worlds as the top blocker for gold medalist Serbia and the third-best blocker in the Final Six.
The reigning champ of the FIVB Club World Championship also won CEV Champions League and the Turkish League during the 2017-18 season. With an unblemished 8-0 record so far in Turkish League competition so far this season, VakifBank is back to its usual winning ways.
VakifBank’s head coach Guidetti Giovanni also serves as head coach of Turkey’s women’s national team and previously coached the national teams of Bulgaria, Netherland, and Germany.
Volero Le Cannet | Le Cannet, France
A relatively new club, Volero Le Cannet is the result of the merger of Volero Zurich and Volleyball Le Cannet-Rocheville. Twenty-five year old Swiss outside hitter Laura Unternährer serves as captain, and the team, which qualified for the Club Worlds via wildcard, is coached by Avital Selinger, the son of Hall of Fame Israeli coach Arie Selinger.
Le Cannet, which won the French Cup in 2015, currently leads the Ligue A standings with seven wins and just one loss. Key players, in addition to Unternährer, include Ana Bjelica, a Serbian opposite who contributed to her national team’s World Championship gold medal this summer; French libero Amandine Giardino; Bulgarian outside hitter Gergana Dimitrova; and Cuban opposite Heidy Casanova Alvarez.
Zhejiang Women’s Volleyball Club | Zhejiang, China
Zhejiang Women's Volleyball Club of the China Volleyball Super League scored its first-ever berth into the FIVB Club World Championship by virtue of being the host team of the 2018 tournament.
The team has seen significant success in the CVL since the league was founded in 1996, winning the title in 2014 and finishing runner-up in 1999 and 2017. Last season, in its 70th-anniversary since being founded in 1958, Zhejiang finished the season ranked sixth in the CVL, and in 2015, the team took home a bronze medal at the Asian Women’s Club Volleyball Championship.
Three Zhejiang players appeared on China’s World Championship roster this summer — Hanyu Yang, Yanhan Liu, and Mengjie Wang — however, none of the three got any significant playing time. Yang, a 19-year-old middle blocker, was named MVP of the 2017 U20 World Championships.
Altay Volleyball Club | Kazakastan
Six-time Kazakhstan champion Altay Volleyball Club has won the last four national titles in a row, however, a medal has eluded this squad at the Asian Club Championship, where it has lost in the third-place match three years in a row, and this marks the team’s first appearance in Club Worlds.
Head coach Iurii Panchenko played for the USSR, winning an Olympic gold medal in 1980 and silver in 1988. In his coaching career, Panchenko led Dinamo Moscow to two Russian league titles before taking over the Altay program this year.
The 2018-19 Altay roster includes two Puerto Ricans — middle blocker Ana Sofia Jusino, who played at the University of Arkansas from 2012 to 2016, and 22-year-old Julymar Lorelys Otero Perez — both of whom played for Puerto Rico during this summer’s World Championship. Altay will also benefit from the talents of Serbia national team starting libero Silvija Popovic.
Eczacibasi Vitra Istanbul | Istanbul, Turkey
Eczacibasi Vitra, VakifBank’s toughest competition in this year’s Turkish league, won back-to-back Club World Championship titles in 2016 and 2017, but finished fourth in last year’s event. Eczacibasi also won the CEV Champions League in 2015 and claimed bronze in 2017.
Although Eczacibasi has won the Turkish league 28 times, either VakifBank or Fenerbahçe has won every year since 2012.
A star-studded Eczacibasi roster includes U.S. National Team members Jordan Larson and Lauren Gibbemeyer, as well as Serbia all-star Tijana Boskovic and top Korean outside hitter Yeon Koung Kim.
In Eczacibasi’s first Champions League match of the season, the Turkish team defeated Uralochka-NTMK Ekaterinburg in four, with Kim contributing a match-high 19 points and Boskovia added 17.
Praia Clube | Uberlandia, Brazil
Fans of former Penn State outside hitter and 2008 AVCA National Player of the Year Nicole Fawcett will want to tune in anytime Praia Clube takes the floor at Club Worlds. Fawcett joined Praia in 2017 and helped the team win its first Brazilian league title earlier this year.
This fall, Fawcett’s fellow American Carli Lloyd also joined the team, arriving in Brazil after finishing a busy summer as the starting setter for Team USA.
With Brazil national team starting libero Suelen Pinto running the back court, expect Praia’s passing and defense to be on point. The Praia roster also includes Pinto’s follow Brazilian national teamers middle Ana Carolina Da Silva and outside Rosamaria Montibeller.
A fantastic start to the 2018-19 Brazil SuperLiga season has seen Praia win five matches in a row to top the standings with 14 points.
Supreme Chonburi | Thailand
Supreme Chonburi won the 2018 Asian Club Championship to punch its ticket to the 2018 FIVB Women’s Club World Championship. In fact, Chonburi has won the Asian Club Championship the past two years, in addition to winning the title in Thailand’s top league twice in the same time span.
So far, the 2018-19 season has not gone so smoothly, however, as Supreme Chonburi has a 2-2 record and ranks fifth in the Thai league standings.
The team’s roster includes 10 Thai national team members including Pleumjit Thinkaow, who serves as captain of Thailand’s national team.
Pool Play Schedule
Supreme Chonburi vs. Praia Clube, 8 PM CT (Pool B)
Eczacibasi Vitra Istanbul vs. Altay Volleyball, 3 AM CT (Pool B)
Zhejiang vs. VakifBank Istanbul, 6 AM CT (Pool A)
Praia Clube vs. Altay Volleyball, 8 PM CT (Pool B)
VakifBank Istanbul vs. Volero Le Cannet, 12 AM CT (Pool A)
Supreme Chonburi vs. Eczacibasi Vitra Istanbul, 3 AM CT (Pool B)
Zhejiang vs. Minas Tenis Clube, 6 AM CT (Pool A)
Supreme Chonburi vs. Altay Volleyball, 8 PM CT (Pool B)
Praia Clube vs. Eczacibasi Vitra, 12 AM CT (Pool B)
VakifBank Istanbul vs. Minas Tenis Clube, 3 AM CT (Pool A)
Zhejiang vs. Volero Le Cannet, 6 AM CT (Pool A)
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Magnussen ‘proud’ as Haas secure best-ever grid slot
Kevin Magnussen will commence Sunday’s Australian Grand Prix from fifth on the grid – the best ever starting slot for American squad Haas, the youngest team in the Formula 1 field.
It follows a superb qualifying performance from Magnussen and team mate Romain Grosjean, who finished Saturday in Melbourne sixth and seventh respectively. Both will move up a place thanks to Daniel Ricciardo’s grid penalty.
I’m incredibly proud of the team for the job they've done over the winter
“It's a great way to start,” said the delighted Dane, who knew from pre-season testing that the VF-18 had real potential. “We have a good package here this weekend.
“We were anxious to see after Barcelona how it would be on a different track – different conditions, different temperature etc – and again the car delivered. It was very, very good – very consistent and fast.”
Haas, eighth in last year’s constructor’s championship, only entered Formula 1 in 2016 and Saturday marks the first time Magnussen has made Q3 since joining the fledgling team last season.
“I’m incredibly proud of the team for the job they've done over the winter,” he continued. “With so little resources and people and budget, it's an amazing job.
“We know we have a car that can do this job, so we need to keep it consistent and make sure we can get the performance there is out of the car at every race, not only this one or at one or two a year like last year.
“Last year we had a strong package as well on occasions, but we weren't able to get the performance out very often, so hopefully this car is going to be there a little bit more consistent. So far I'm just really proud of the team and really pleased with today.”
Asked about his hopes for Sunday’s race around Albert Park, Magnussen admitted that holding on to fifth will be tough, but insisted a double top-ten finish for the team should be realistic.
“Probably not P5, but we have the pace to be seventh or eighth. I think today in qualifying if Bottas hadn't hit the wall and Ricciardo hadn't had the penalty, we'd have been seventh and eighth and my smile would have been as big as it is now – it wouldn't have changed.
“But I think that's realistically where we are and where we should aim for tomorrow – and if we get that home seventh and eighth we'll be thrilled.”
Grosjean’s fifth place in Bahrain 2016 is Haas’s best F1 race result to date.
Sainz: McLaren need low-speed performance gains to keep Renault at bay
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Frontiers in Chemistry
Soumyajit Roy
Indian Institute of Science Education and Research Kolkata, India
Muhammad Hanif
The University of Auckland, New Zealand
Riccardo Salvio
The editor and reviewers' affiliations are the latest provided on their Loop research profiles and may not reflect their situation at the time of review.
Front. Chem., 03 July 2019 | https://doi.org/10.3389/fchem.2019.00469
The Zn(II)-1,4,7-Trimethyl-1,4,7-Triazacyclononane Complex: A Monometallic Catalyst Active in Two Protonation States
Marta Diez-Castellnou1*, Giovanni Salassa2, Fabrizio Mancin3 and Paolo Scrimin3
1EaStCHEM School of Chemistry, University of St Andrews, St. Andrews, United Kingdom
2Département de Chimie Physique, Université de Genève, Genève, Switzerland
3Dipartimento di Scienze Chimiche, Università di Padova, Padova, Italy
In this paper, the unusual reactivity of the complex Zn(II)-1,4,7-trimethyl-1, 4,7-triazacyclononane (2) in the transesterification of the RNA-model substrate, HPNP (3), is reported. The dependence of the reactivity (k2) with pH does not follow the characteristic bell-shape profile typical of complexes with penta-coordinated metal centers. By the contrary, two reactive species, featuring different deprotonation states, are present, with the tri-aqua complex being more reactive than the mono-hydroxy-diaqua one. Apparently, such a difference arises from the total complex charge which plays an important role in the stability of the transition state/s of the reactions. Relevant insight on the reaction mechanism were hence obtained.
Phosphate diesters have a fundamental importance in the chemistry of life in particular because they constitute the backbone of essential biomolecules as DNA and RNA. Their hydrolytic stability is very high. When the sole P-O cleavage by water is considered, the half-life of DNA is estimated to be in the order of magnitude of millions of years, at 25°C and pH 7, and that of RNA is around a hundred years (Wolfenden et al., 1998; Schroeder et al., 2006). Still, the hydrolytic processing of nucleic acids occurs in living organism in few milliseconds, thanks to the enzymes devoted to this task, as nucleases and phosphatases (Westheimer, 1987; Kamerlin et al., 2013). Most of them contain metal ions, as Mg(II), Ca(II), and Zn(II), in their active sites.
In the attempt to reproduce the activity, and possibly the proficiency of enzymes, chemists have focused their attention on the creation of artificial nucleases (Morrow et al., 2008; Aiba et al., 2011; Lassila et al., 2011; Lönnberg, 2011; Mancin et al., 2012; Diez-Castellnou et al., 2017a). Despite the significant effort invested in understanding the mechanism of the enzyme catalyzed reaction (Korhonen et al., 2013; Erxleben, 2019) and, therefore, in creating efficient artificial hydrolytic agents, the enzyme reactivity is still unrivaled and several questions remain to be addressed.
A better understanding of the roles played by the metal ion in promoting the hydrolytic cleavage of phosphate esters could be achieved using simple mono- or bi-metallic complexes as models. In particular Zn(II), while not being Nature's first choice, is likely the metal ion most widely employed in artificial systems (Mancin and Tecilla, 2007). This is due to several reasons: (i) the possibility to produce well defined and relatively stable complexes with neutral ligands; (ii) the absence of a relevant redox chemistry; (iii) a good Lewis acid acidity; (iv) a modest field effect that allow the easy reorganization of the ligand shell to match the ligand or reaction requirements.
Design and investigation of bimetallic systems is often difficult since the possible formation of μ-hydroxo bridges may affect and even cancel their reactivity (Mancin and Tecilla, 2007). Mono-metallic Zn(II) complexes, on the other hand, produce usually modest rate accelerations when compared to the corresponding bimetallic ones. Still, they allow more detailed investigations of the cleavage reaction providing a simple and better defined model (Bonfá et al., 2003).
In this perspective, we report here a detailed investigation of the reactivity of the Zn(II) complexes of 1,4,7-triazacyclononane (1) and of its methyl derivative 1,4,7-trimethyl-1,4,7-triazacyclo-nonane (2) toward the hydrolysis of the RNA model 2-hydroxypropyl-p-nitrophenylphosphate (HPNP, 3) (see Scheme 1). We found that the reactivity of 2 follows an unprecedented behavior featuring three pH dependent reactivity breaks, providing new insight on the reactivity of these systems.
Scheme 1. Zn(II) metal complexes used in this work and RNA-model substrate, HPNP.
HPNP cleavage rate in the presence of the two Zn(II) complexes was measured at 40°C. Kinetic experiments were performed in pseudo-first order conditions (i.e., in the presence of an excess of metal complex over the substrate, whose concentration was fixed at 20 μM) by monitoring the formation of 4-nitrophenolate by its UV-Vis absorption at 400 nm.
The complexes were prepared in situ by mixing a solution of Zn(NO3)2 with the corresponding ligand, in buffer. TACN and his derivatives have a high affinity for Zn(II). Indeed, the values reported in literature for the complex formation constants assure that, in the experimental condition here used, the complexes are fully formed (Yang and Zompa, 1976).
With both the complexes 1 and 2, the pseudo-firsts order rate constants (kobs) measured increase linearly with the Zn(II) complex concentration in the interval investigated (0–0.4 mM). Apparent second order rate constants (i.e., k2 = kcat/KM in the Michaelis-Menten formalism) can be obtained by linear regression fitting of the kobs vs. [complex] data.
Figure 1 reports the pH dependence of the apparent second order rate constants measured for the two complexes. As expected, the pH has a strong influence on the reaction rates suggesting, as generally observed with similar systems, that the deprotonation of metal bound-species has a relevant role in the reaction.
Figure 1. pH dependence of the second order rate constants (k2) for the transesterification of HPNP catalyzed by complex 1 (•) and 2 (□) at 40°C.
At a first sight, both the profiles show the bell-shape characteristic of metal complexes with two metal bound water molecules. Indeed, kinetic data for complex 1 were fitted with Equation (1), which accounts for the reactivity of a species with three protonation states where only the second one is active (Supplementary Material). The fit provides the pKa values of 8.13 and 11.28, respectively for the first and second deprotonation. The second order rate constant (kZn) for the reaction of the active mono-deprotonated catalyst's species with the substrate is 0.064 M−1 s−1.
The values of pKa1 and kZn obtained are in line with those reported in literature for complex 1 (Bonfá et al., 2003). The formation of the bis-deprotonated species and the consequent drop of the catalysts reactivity at higher pH have never been reported for 1, but a similar behavior is well-known for similar complexes of tridentate ligands, as 1,5,9-triazacyclododecane (Livieri et al., 2007).
The fitting of the kinetic data for complex 2 with Equation (1) gives very poor results (see Supplementary Information). A closer inspection of the profile of complex 2 reveals that it does not follow exactly a bell-shape. Indeed, k2 smoothly increases from pH 8 to pH 9.5, with a reactivity similar to that of complex 1, suggesting that the first deprotonation is occurring in this range. When the pH reaches the value of 9.5, a stronger, reactivity increase is observed and k2 reaches values 4-fold larger than the maximum one reached by complex 1. Eventually, the reactivity starts to drop above pH 11.0. A good fit of the data was obtained by using Equation (2), which was written for a reactivity model that involves a species with four protonation states and with two of them, the second and the third, reactive (Supplementary Material). Note, one of the referees pointed out that highly correlated parameters are obtained in the case of 5 variables fitting. As discussed, reliability of the reactivity and acidity parameters obtained is however supported by the comparison with the pH reactivity profile of complex 1.
The results of the fittings are reported in Table 1. The three pKa values obtained (7.7, 10.2, and 11.6) are separated respectively by 2.5 and 1.4 pKa units, with the first pKa value quite close to the corresponding one measured for 1. Also the kZn value for the mono-deprotonated species is on the same order of magnitude to that measured for 1 (0.025 M−1 sec−1) but that of the bis-deprotonated species (k'Zn) is considerably larger (0.27 M−1 sec−1).
Table 1. Kinetic parameters from pH rate profiles.
The presence of a third metal bound water molecule in complex 2 is confirmed by the crystal structure obtained by Trogler and coworkers (Silver et al., 1995) for the complex [Zn(Me3tacn)(H2O)3]2+ (2·3H2O)2+ where the Zn(II) ion adopts an octahedral environment, coordinated to three nitrogens of the macrocycle and also to three aqua ligands. In addition, Spiccia and coworkers (Fry et al., 2003) reported the crystal structure for the related complex [Zn2(Me3tacn)2(H2O)4(PhOPO3)]2+(22 ·4H2O·PhPO4)2+ where the Zn(II) ion is coordinated to three nitrogen atoms from N,N,N-trimethyl-1,4,7,-triazacyclononane, two water molecules and one oxygen from phenyl phosphate. These structures support our hypothesis that in complex 2, formed by Zn(II) with the ligand 1,4,7-trimethyl-1,4,7-triazacyclononane, the coordination number of the metal ion is 6, as the accessible surface of the metal ion is large enough to allow coordination of two water molecules and of the substrate simultaneously. Unfortunately, no crystal structures are available for complex 1 to confirm its preference for the coordination number 5 at the metal ion, as suggested by kinetic experiments. The flexibility of the Zn(II) ion, which does not have a defined coordination geometry, is well-known (Sigel and Bruce Martin, 1994).
Potentiometric titration data available are also quite scarce. In the case of complex 1, precipitation above pH 8 prevented the determination of the acidity of the metal bound water molecules. Kinetic experiments, as already mentioned, confirm a pKa value around 8 for the first water molecule (Bonfá et al., 2003). In the case of complex 2, Trogler and coworkers reported the values of 10.9 and 12.3 (Silver et al., 1995). Such values appear surprisingly high when compared with complex 1 and with other Zn(II) complexes of macrocyclic polyamides (Kimura et al., 1990; Koike et al., 1990, 1991, 1992; Kimura and Koike, 1991). Indeed, one would expect that electron-donating methyl group will lower the acidity of the substituted metallic complex with respect to the unsubstituted one (Canary et al., 1995). Interestingly, the similarity of these values with those here reported for the second and third pKa is clear (Fry et al., 2005).
Focusing the attention on the hydrolytic reactivity of the two complexes, it is relevant to note that the pH profiles obtained confirm the coordination of the substrate to the complex. No other possible mechanism, as general base catalysis or nucleophile catalysis, would account for the reactivity decrease observed at high pH values. There are three kinetically equivalent mechanisms that have been proposed to explain the pH dependence observed for the metal catalyzed HPNP transesterification (Korhonen et al., 2013; Diez-Castellnou et al., 2017a). In the first, the reaction involves the deprotonation of the substrate's hydroxyl group by a metal bound hydroxide, which acts as a general base, simultaneously to the nucleophilic attack on the phosphorus atom (Scheme 2A). In the second, the substrate alcoholic group is bound to the metal ion and deprotonates before the nucleophilic attack (Scheme 2B). This mechanism is indistinguishable from the others because the pKa values of metal bound water molecules and alcoholic hydroxyls are similar (Kimura et al., 1995; Livieri et al., 2007). In the third mechanism (Scheme 2C) the substrate deprotonation occurs before metal coordination and the deprotonation of a metal bound water molecules decreases (or hamper) the interaction of the metal with the substrate.
Scheme 2. Proposed mechanisms for the metal catalyzed HPNP transesterification reaction: (A) the substrate deprotonation by a metal bound hydroxide occurs simultaneously to the nucleophilic attack on the phosphorus atom; (B) the substrate alcoholic group is bound to the metal ion and deprotonates before the nucleophilic attack; (C) the substrate deprotonation occurs before metal coordination and the deprotonation of a metal bound water molecule decreases the interaction of metal with the substrate.
Several experimental evidences strongly support the last mechanism (2C) in the case of catalysts that have coordination sites available on the metal ion to accommodate only the substrate (Morrow et al., 2008; Korhonen et al., 2013; Diez-Castellnou et al., 2017a). On the other hand, it is quite likely that when the catalyst have more coordination sites, the substrate alkoxide will bind to the metal ion, turning the reaction mechanism into path 2B (Livieri et al., 2007). In this mechanism, the metal ion plays two opposite roles: (i) it increases the reactivity of the substrate toward the nucleophilic attack, acting as a Lewis acid, (ii) it decreases the reactivity of the nucleophile, by decreasing its pKa.
A few years ago, we calculated the kZn values for the HPNP cleavage promoted by several mononuclear Zn(II) complexes of polyamine ligands (Figure 2) (Bonfá et al., 2003; Bonomi et al., 2013). In the case of triamine complexes, we found a positive correlation of the reactivity with the pKa of the first deprotonation of a metal bound species. Such a behavior suggested that, among the two concomitant and counterbalancing effects active, the loss of reactivity of the nucleophile prevails over the Lewis acid activation of the substrate.
Figure 2. Plot of log kZn vs. pKa for the transesterification of HPNP catalyzed by Zn(II) complexes in water. Red triangles represent the reactivity of complexes 1 and 2, circles (○) are cyclic triamine ligands (a-f), squares (□) linear triamine ligands (g-i), see ref Bonfá et al. (2003) and Bonomi et al. (2013). The dashed line shows the linear fit of the reactivity data for the complexes of cyclic triamines (slope = 0.80). The reactivity of 1 and 2 was corrected to account for the temperature difference by matching the reactivity of 1 with the reported data (ref. Bonfá et al., 2003).
When the reactivity of complexes 1 and 2 is analyzed in this perspective, interesting insight is provided. The reactivity of complexes 1 and 2a (Scheme 3) is in line with that of other triamine complexes (Figure 2). On the other hand, the reactivity of mono-deprotonated complex 2b is about 10 times smaller than that expected for a complex of a triamine ligand with that pKa. This suggest that a further effect is at play in this case besides substrate Lewis acid activation and nucleophile reactivity modulation. Significant modifications of the coordination geometries in the two complexes 2a and 2b, which could justify their different reactivity, are unlikely as confirmed by DFT optimization of the complex geometries (see Supplementary Material). The other relevant differences between the reactive protonation states of complex 2 are essentially two. First, in complex 2a there is a metal bound water molecule, which could provide intramolecular H-bonds or acid catalysis. Since this water molecule is turned into an hydroxide in 2b, its positive effect on reactivity would be canceled. If this was the case (or if a general base catalysis mechanism was active), however, reactivity of 2a would be greater than that of 1 and of the other triamine complexes. The second difference is in the total charge of the reactive species, which is 0 in the ternary complex of 2a with HPNP and−1 in the case of 2b. Upon the nucleophilic attack of the substrate alkoxide, additional negative charge builds up in the phosphoryl group and this is electrostatically disfavored by the overall complex charge, resulting into a lower reactivity. Indeed, we earlier reported as the insertion of an additional positive charge in the ligand structure, located in close proximity to the reaction site, can increase the reactivity of a mononuclear Zn(II) complex up to one order of magnitude. This is in good agreement with the 10-fold rate decrease estimated for complex 2b (Bonomi et al., 2009).
Scheme 3. Proposed structure of the pre-reactive complexes of 1 and 2 with HPNP.
In conclusion, in this paper we have demonstrated as even small modifications in the structure of the ligands, as the insertion of methyl groups in the nitrogen atoms of triazacyclononane, may have a relevant effect on the ability of the corresponding Zn(II) complex in promoting the phosphoryl transfer reaction. The complex 2 is, at the best of our knowledge, the only monometallic Zn(II) catalyst of HPNP cleavage that is active in two different protonation states. Such a reactivity is due to the peculiar ability of 1,4,7-trimethyl-1,4,7-triazacyclononane to increase the number of coordination sites to 6 on the metal ion with respect of other similar ligands. The most relevant result of this study is however the mechanistic information obtained. The reactivity of complex 2 further supports mechanism 2B as the most likely in the case of complexes where enough solvent-occupied coordination sites on the metal are available. It also confirms that hydrolytic reactivity of these systems is the result of a delicate counterbalance between Lewis acid and electrostatic activation of the substrate (and stabilization of the transition state) and the decrease of the nucleophile reactivity. Several evidences obtained with model systems, and confirmed by our results, suggest that optimum reactivity should be obtained when the nucleophile is not bound to the metal ion and the overall complex charge is as great as possible (Tirel et al., 2014; Tirel and Williams, 2015). This explains also the greater reactivity usually observed with trivalent cations, as well as the detrimental effect of negatively charged ligands (Mancin et al., 2012). Metal ion coordination of the nucleophile may however be necessary to increase the fraction of nucleophile available at physiological pH and to provide a better preorganization of the latter for the attack to the phosphorous atom. The need to consider of all these factors explains the difficulties in reproducing enzymes' proficiency with simple models. Indeed only a precise spatial organization of multiple active species can optimize the positive effects while minimizing the detrimental one. It is hence not surprising the fact that only by using sophisticated supramolecular architectures, where several beneficial factors can be implemented, remarkable reactivities were obtained (Manea et al., 2004; Feng et al., 2006; Bonomi et al., 2008; Gruber et al., 2011; Diez-Castellnou et al., 2014).
All datasets generated for this study are included in the manuscript and/or the Supplementary Files.
MD-C contributed conception and design of the present work, collected and analyzed the kinetic data, and wrote the manuscript. GS performed the DFT calculations. FM and PS supervised this project. All authors contributed to manuscript revision, read, and approved the submitted version.
Funded by the EU-FP7 Marie Curie-ITN Project PhosChemRec (MD-C and PS Grant 238679), by the ERC Starting Grants Project MOSAIC (GS and FM Grant 259014) and by H2020 MSCA-ITN MMBio (PS and FM Grant 721613).
MD-C thanks the PhosChemRec for a fellowship.
The Supplementary Material for this article can be found online at: https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fchem.2019.00469/full#supplementary-material
DFT calculations and additional kinetic experiments.
HPNP, 2-hydroxypropyl-p-nitrophenylphosphate.
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Keywords: RNA, monometallic Zn(II)-complexes, azacrown, phosphate cleavage, phosphoesterase models, kinetics
Citation: Diez-Castellnou M, Salassa G, Mancin F and Scrimin P (2019) The Zn(II)-1,4,7-Trimethyl-1,4,7-Triazacyclononane Complex: A Monometallic Catalyst Active in Two Protonation States. Front. Chem. 7:469. doi: 10.3389/fchem.2019.00469
Received: 07 April 2019; Accepted: 19 June 2019;
Published: 03 July 2019.
Soumyajit Roy, Indian Institute of Science Education and Research Kolkata, India
Riccardo Salvio, Sapienza University of Rome, Italy
Muhammad Hanif, The University of Auckland, New Zealand
Copyright © 2019 Diez-Castellnou, Salassa, Mancin and Scrimin. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
*Correspondence: Marta Diez-Castellnou, mdc7@st-andrews.ac.uk
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Here is a rundown of who is running for president in 2020
The 2020 field is likely about to become crowded in the coming weeks. Here's a look at who has declared their intention to seek the presidency.
Here is a rundown of who is running for president in 2020 The 2020 field is likely about to become crowded in the coming weeks. Here's a look at who has declared their intention to seek the presidency. Check out this story on fsunews.com: https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/elections/2019/01/07/election-2020-candidates-who-running-white-house/2470716002/
William Cummings, USA TODAY Published 1:42 p.m. ET Jan. 7, 2019 | Updated 2:38 p.m. ET Jan. 17, 2019
Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) officially kicked off a potential 2020 White House bid by forming an exploratory committee for the campaign. USA TODAY
A supporter of President Donald Trump wears a cap inscribed with 'Trump 2020' at the National Electrical Contractors Convention, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on Oct. 2, 2018.(Photo: Bastiaan Slabbers, EPA-EFE)
Corrections and clarifications: An earlier version of this story incorrectly identified the first American-Samoan elected to Congress.
The Iowa caucuses are about a year away, which means those planning to join what promises to be a crowded 2020 presidential campaign field are beginning to formally announce their candidacies.
From former Vice President Joe Biden to failed 2018 Texas Senate candidate Rep. Beto O'Rourke, speculation abounds about the wide field of potential Democratic candidates.
And there's always the chance of a Republican emerging to challenge President Donald Trump in the primary or a third party candidate emerging in the general election. John Kasich, a former Ohio governor and fierce critic of Trump, has hinted he is considering both of those options.
Here's a breakdown of the people who have taken steps toward or officially announced their candidacies.
Kirsten Gillibrand, a New York Democrat, launched her campaign for the nation's highest office Tuesday night, January 15, on CBS' Late Show with Stephen Colbert, telling the late-night comedian she would file to create an exploratory 2020 committee later Tuesday night.
In a clip released by CBS, Gillibrand said she would run a campaign that emphasizes health care as a human right, improving public schools and improving job-training programs.
“I’m going to run for president of the United States because as a young mom, I’m going to fight for other people’s kids as hard as I fight for my own," she told Colbert.
The two-term Massachusetts senator announced in December she was forming an exploratory committee, the first step a presidential hopeful takes before formally declaring.
Warren, 69, came into the national spotlight for her passionate criticism of Wall Street, the banking industry and large corporations after the 2008 financial crisis hit. Then-Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid appointed her the chair on a panel to oversee the federal bailout in response to the crisis.
Warren won her Senate seat in 2012, defeating incumbent Republican Scott Brown and handily won re-election in 2018. A leader of her party's liberal wing, she has advocated for progressive policies such as "Medicare for all."
Sen. Elizabeth Warren announces run for the White House in 2020
Democratic United States Senator Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts announces her candidacy for the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination at Everett Mills in Lawrence, Mass. on Feb. 9, 2019. Cj Gunther, EPA-EFE
Democratic United States Senator Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts arrives to announce her candidacy for the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination at Everett Mills in Lawrence, Mass. on Feb. 9, 2019. Cj Gunther, EPA-EFE
Democratic United States Senator Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts looks out a window with some of her grandchildren after arriving to Everett Mills where she will announce her candidacy for the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination in Lawrence, Mass. on Feb. 9, 2019. Cj Gunther, EPA-EFE
Democratic United States Senator Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts arrives with her husband Bruce Mann to Everett Mills where she will announce her candidacy for the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination in Lawrence, Mass. on Feb. 9, 2019. Cj Gunther, EPA-EFE
Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) speaks to guests during an organizing event at the Orpheum Theater on Jan. 5, 2019 in Sioux City, Iowa. Warren announced on December 31 that she was forming an exploratory committee for the 2020 presidential race. Scott Olson, Getty Images
Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) greets guests during an organizing event at the Orpheum Theater on January 5, 2019 in Sioux City, Iowa. Scott Olson, Getty Images
Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) speaks to the overflow crowd during an event on her first trip through Iowa as a possible 2020 presidential candidate on Friday, Jan. 4, 2019, in Council Bluffs. Brian Powers, The Register via USA TODAY Network
Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) speaks during an event on her first trip through Iowa as a possible 2020 presidential candidate on Friday, Jan. 4, 2019, in Council Bluffs. Brian Powers, The Register via USA TODAY Network
Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) speaks with members of the press during an event in Council Bluffs. Brian Powers, The Register via USA TODAY Network
Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) waves to the crowd following speaking to the WOMEN RISE UP protest against Brett Kavanaugh. Jack Gruber, USA TODAY
Vice President Mike Pence, right, officiates ceremonial swearing of Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) in the Old Senate Chambers at the U.S. Capitol. Jack Gruber, USA TODAY
Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), addresses the media outside of her home after announcing she formed an exploratory committee for a 2020 Presidential run on Dece. 31, 2018 in Cambridge, Mass. Scott Eisen/Getty Images
Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), leaves her home with her husband Bruce Mann and dog Bailey to address the media after announcing a potential Presidential run for 2020. Scott Eisen/Getty Images
Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), addresses the media outside of her home in Cambridge, Mass. She is one of the earliest potential candidates to make an official announcement in what is expected to be a very large Democratic field. Scott Eisen/Getty Images
Neighbors watch as Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., speaks outside her home, on Monday. Bill Sikes, AP
Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) took the first major step toward launching a widely anticipated campaign for the presidency, hoping her reputation as a populist fighter can help her navigate a Democratic field that could include nearly two dozen candidates. Scott Eisen/Getty Images
Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), her husband Bruce Mann and their dog Bailey walk back to their home after Warren addressed the media following her announcement that she formed an exploratory committee for a 2020 Presidential run. Scott Eisen/Getty Images
Julian Castro
The former San Antonio mayor, who also served as secretary of the Department of Housing and Urban Development in the Obama administration, threw his hat into the ring early, announcing the formation of an exploratory committee in mid-December and formally declaring his candidacy on Jan. 12.
Castro, 44, made a splash six years ago as the keynote speaker at the Democratic National Convention in 2012. The grandson of a Mexican immigrant and son of a Latina activist, he would be among the youngest candidates in the field and the most prominent Latino. His twin brother, Joaquin Castro, is a Democratic congressman from Texas.
Julian Castro announces 2020 bid for president
Former United States Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Julian Castro announces his candidacy for President of the United States in his hometown of San Antonio, Texas on Jan. 12, 2019. Suzanne Cordeiro, AFP/Getty Images
Supporters hold up signs as Julian Castro announces his candidacy for president of the United States in his hometown of San Antonio, Texas on Jan. 12, 2019. Suzanne Cordeiro, AFP/Getty Images
Supporters hold up signs as Julian Castro announces his candidacy for president. Suzanne Cordeiro, AFP/Getty Images
Former San Antonio Mayor and Housing and Urban Development Secretary Julian Castro speaks during an event where he announced his decision to seek the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination, Saturday, Jan. 12, 2019, in San Antonio. Eric Gay, AP
Julian Castro, center right, is embraced by his twin brother U.S. Rep. Joaquin Castro (D-San Antonio), center left, during an event where Julian Castro announced his decision to seek the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination. Eric Gay, AP
A young boy peeks under a banner as he watches Julian Castro make his announcement. Eric Gay, AP
Julian Castro speaks during an event where he announced his decision to seek the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination. Eric Gay, AP
Julian Castro, center, greets supporters. Eric Gay, AP
Julian Castro, front left, waves as he arrives with his family. Eric Gay, AP
Supporters cheer for former San Antonio Mayor and Housing and Urban Development Secretary Julian Castro. Eric Gay, AP
Rep. Tulsi said on CNN that has decided to run for president and will be making a formal announcement soon.
The Hawaii congresswoman was elected in 2012. An Iraq veteran, Gabbard, 37, serves on the House Armed Services Committee and House Foreign Affairs Committee.
The congresswoman from Hawaii is joining a growing pool of Democrats ready to take on President Trump. Here are 5 things to know about Rep. Tulsi Gabbard. USA TODAY
You may not have heard of Maryland Rep. John Delaney, but he's been a 2020 presidential candidate since July 2017.
Delaney, who founded two publicly traded companies, joined the House in 2013. He said his campaign will be focused on building up infrastructure to keep the U.S. globally competitive, along with international tax reform and a greater embrace of immigration.
Richard Ojeda
Former West Virginia state Sen. Richard Ojeda, a retired Army paratrooper who served tours in Iraq and Afghanistan, announced his candidacy after a failed campaign for a U.S. House seat in the 2018 midterm election. Ojeda says he will defend working-class Americans and end Washington corruption.
He first gained national attention when he was attacked and badly beaten at a campaign barbeque during his successful run for the state Senate in 2016.
Retired Army paratrooper Richard Ojeda chose Veterans Day to unveil his bid for the presidency in 2020. The Democratic state senator from West Virginia made the announcement Monday at the Korean War Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C. (Nov. 12) AP
Trump filed for re-election the day he was inaugurated, and his campaign already has raised $100 million and begun airing TV and digital ads. He has said he intends to keep Vice President Mike Pence on the ticket. So far, no Republicans have emerged to challenge the president in the primary.
If the 2020 presidential election season was in full swing, the Washington Post reports that President Trump would have an historic amount of cash in his campaign war chest. Veuer's Nick Cardona has that story. Buzz60
Contributing: Susan Page, Christal Hayes and Emma Kinery, USA TODAY; The Associated Press
Read or Share this story: https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/elections/2019/01/07/election-2020-candidates-who-running-white-house/2470716002/
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Why real estate investors should follow global population trends
Changing demographics offer unusual opportunities for those prepared to think long-term
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Kate Allen
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The best real estate investment in the world today? Beachfront huts in Somalia. That is according to Hans Rosling, a Swedish public health professor and data visualisation pioneer. A statistical geek is an unlikely source of property investment advice but Rosling’s rationale is convincing — and it is one that professional property developers such as Barratt and Klépierre are already putting into practice.
The explanation lies in demographics. All of the world’s forecast 3bn population growth through to 2100 will be urban, Rosling points out; a third will be in Asia, while two-thirds will be in Africa. In economic terms the developed west will grow at 1 to 2 per cent a year through until 2100, while the rest of the world will grow at 4 to 6 per cent. This amounts to a startling global shift in the pattern of trade.
“The Indian Ocean will be the Atlantic of the next generations,” predicts Rosling. As a result, the surf-beaten golden sands that stretch north from Mogadishu will make excellent holidaying territory for the Asian middle classes, several decades hence.
Somalia is a colourful example of an unlikely long-term real estate investment, but it is not the only one. As the world urbanises, it is throwing up a series of new opportunities for those willing to think a little more creatively about where to place their money.
“Particularly in Asia and the Middle East, cities are growing massively and investors are looking for alternatives to invest in,” says Mark Haefele, global chief investment officer at UBS Wealth Management. He references urban infrastructure, housing, food, water and sanitation as all being in great need of investors’ cash. As one example, he cites Asian investors who have begun to buy up Australian dairy farms.
“A lot of new cities need to be built and a lot of transport needs to be fixed and a lot of energy needs to be created,” says Rosling. He sees the greatest opportunities in people’s everyday lives. “The classic source of wealth is to fulfil the needs of ordinary families — housing, education, transport, entertainment — and that need is great in emerging markets,” he adds.
Perhaps the best example is Nigeria, which will be the world’s fastest growing country over the rest of this century, according to projections by the UN. By 2100 its population will have rocketed to nearly 1bn people, from less than 38m in 1950 and 184m today. This will make it the world’s third most populous country after India and China.
Property investment is not just about sheer numbers of people, though. Income levels are also important. The greatest growth in the middle classes is taking place in Asia. By 2030 there will be more than 3bn middle-class people in Asia, according to forecasts by the Brookings Institution, up from 525m today. India will be the world’s biggest consumer, with its middle class spending $12.8tn a year, the Brookings Institution forecasts.
Mogadishu, Somalia
Yolande Barnes, director of world research at Savills, tips Asian holiday resorts as a growth area for investors. “The wealth created in Asia has hit the cities but it hasn’t yet hit the leisure property industry, with the possible exception of Japanese ski resorts,” she says. Yet she cautions about inferring future performance from past history. “Just because Europeans enjoy lying on the beach doesn’t mean that the Chinese middle class will.”
In contrast with Asia, the number of middle-class North Americans is forecast to shrink by 16m, while those in Europe will grow by just 16m. US middle-class consumption is set to fall from $4.4tn annually in 2009 to $4tn in 2030, according to the Brookings Institution. This dramatic shift is partly driven by a general reduction in population levels. China will be the world’s biggest loser; as a result of its one-child policy, its population will shrink by 316m people over the coming eight decades — a fall equivalent in size to the whole of eastern Europe today.
Most of the world’s other shrinking populations are in developed nations. Japan is set to lose 42m people while Germany will see its population shrink by almost 26m, according to UN forecasts — a fall of almost a third. Much of this is due to declining birth rates: the number of young people is dropping in many developed economies.
Europe will see its population of 20- and 30-somethings shrink by a fifth between 2010 and 2020, a 2012 report by Deutsche Bank found. But even in nations whose population is declining, demographic analysis can highlight investment opportunities. Despite shrinking populations and static incomes, opportunities remain in the developed world.
Europe’s shrinking numbers of young people mean there will be less demand for student accommodation, fashion retail outlets, starter homes and gyms, the Deutsche Bank researchers suggest. Meanwhile the continent’s older age groups will create sustained demand for retirement homes, second homes, golf courses, nursing homes and medical facilities, they argue.
Property companies are already acting on this trend. British housebuilder Barratt Developments is refocusing its business plan away from the traditional first-time buyers — young families — and towards older people who want to downsize after their children move out.
Glen Ivy, an ‘active adult community’ in California
It is following in the footsteps of US retirement home developers, who have pioneered “active adult communities” and are now moving into multi-generational living — creating semi-independent space within a larger home to accommodate either grown-up children or grandparents.
Nation-level population trends hide a great deal of local variation, however. “Property is by definition located in one place,” says Yolande Barnes. “There is a world of difference between buying in London and buying in Hull — you might as well be buying in different countries.”
According to the Deutsche Bank researchers, younger people in mature economies are becoming more concentrated in cities, while older people stay in towns and villages.
Klépierre, Europe’s second-biggest listed property company, which specialises in shopping malls, uses demographic analysis to work out where to focus its expansion ambitions and where to sell off assets.
Just because Europeans enjoy lying on the beach doesn’t mean that the Chinese middle class will
“Demographic growth produces economic growth in a much shorter period of time — both from people moving to the place and people being born there,” says Laurent Morel, chairman of Klépierre.
As an example, he uses Madrid, now Europe’s third-largest city mostly due to a tide of immigration from Latin America and north Africa since the turn of the 21st century, although that trend has begun to reverse since the financial crisis plunged Spain and other eurozone economies into deep recessions.
Despite the ailing economy in its home market, France, Morel’s company is bullish about a handful of areas within the country, particularly eastern Paris, Toulouse and Montpellier. In the latter two, the population is increasing by about 100,000 people every five to six years, he says.
“You can afford to build a new shopping centre every time you get another 100,000 people,” adds Morel. “There are six major malls in Toulouse and we own four, and we’ll continue to build our presence in such areas.”
A shopping mall in Toulouse is a long way from a beach hut in Somalia but, as property investors around the world are finding out, the investment rationale is just the same.
Kate Allen is the FT’s property correspondent
Photographs: Petterik Wiggers/Panos; 55Places.com
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Outstanding Projects in Basic Research: 72nd Meeting of the FWF Board Approves Around EUR 47.5 Million
Publishing Date: 19. March 2019
At its first meeting in the new year, held from 11 to 12 March 2019, the FWF Board approved around EUR 47.5 million out of an application volume of EUR 180.7 million, resulting in an approval rate of 26.3 percent across all programmes. This year 145 outstanding projects were chosen out of an overall field of 493 applications.
doc.funds strengthen young talent
Six projects were selected in what is now the second doc.funds call. The FWF received a total of 28 applications with a volume of EUR 45 million. Thirteen consortia were invited to a hearing before the doc.funds jury made up of leading international experts, who in turn submitted their funding recommendations to the FWF Board. In the end, six projects with a funding volume of around EUR 11 million were approved (approval rate 23.7%), enabling 56 doctoral positions to be funded for a period of four years.
FWF Board meeting in detail
Stand-Alone Projects once again accounted for the bulk of the approvals, forming the backbone of FWF funding. The board approved EUR 27.5 million out of a total of EUR 101.8 million in requested funding (including clinical research), corresponding to an approval rate of 27 percent.
Total funding requested for International Programmes, which are implemented jointly with international partner funding organisations, came to EUR 19.8 million, of which EUR 4.7 million was conditionally approved (approval rate 23.9%). In some cases, the partner organisations have yet to issue their decisions.
Career programmes play a central role in the FWF’s funding portfolio. In the “Schrödinger” outgoing programme, 40.7 percent of the submissions were successfully chosen with total of EUR 1.9 million approved. In the “Meitner” incoming programme, EUR 2.3 million was approved, corresponding to a rate of 27.7 percent.
Quality, Fairness, Transparency
Apart from aspiring to the highest level of scientific quality, internationality and fairness, the FWF also stands for maximum transparency. For this reason, all approved research projects are presented in detail on the FWF website, which can be found at: https://pf.fwf.ac.at/en/research-in-practice/project-finder.
Moreover, statistics are provided for each Board meeting, which can be found at: https://www.fwf.ac.at/en/about-the-fwf/funding-statistics/.
The FWF Board
The FWF Board is composed of the Executive Board of the Austrian Science Fund (FWF), as well as expert reporters. The term of office of the current Board runs until October 2020; the primary task of the Board is to issue research funding decisions. The members of the FWF Board can be found at: https://www.fwf.ac.at/en/about-the-fwf/organisation/board/.
Austrian Science Fund FWF
The Austrian Science Fund (FWF) is Austria's central funding organisation for the promotion of basic research and arts-based research. Applying international quality benchmarks, the FWF provides funding for outstanding research projects and excellent researchers who work to generate, broaden and deepen scientific knowledge.
Head of Public Relations and Science Communication
scilog.fwf.ac.at | @FWF_at | @FWFOpenAccess
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Eggebrecht: Factor 5 Working On Turrican Concepts
April 24, 2007 | By Brandon Sheffield, Staff
More: Console/PC
As part of an in-depth interview with Gamasutra published today, Factor 5 (Lair) president Julian Eggebrecht has revealed that the firm is working on concepts for the return of the Turrican franchise.
When asked about the much-rumored return of the action game series, which started on the Commodore 64 in 1990, and appeared in several side-scrolling 2D iterations for consoles, but never spawned a 3D version, Eggebrecht commented:
"We've been concepting quite a bit internally. That's another universe creation thing. I was looking at Metroid Prime's reinventing of a franchise that had been out there for quite awhile, and we're facing the same thing with Turrican.
There's aspects of the old games where people will feel betrayed if we don't transform them into the next generation. On the other hand, there's other stuff which is simply cheesy, let's face it. I don't think gamers will accept those things anymore. It's a fine line to balance."
When asked how the 2D gameplay would transition to 3D, the Factor 5 president added: "Yeah, 2D was all about world exploration in our games, but also about scale. That is one of the things we've transformed into our 3D games, where it's all about scale from macro to micro. I think some of these elements actually do apply, and they're quite different from what you've seen, say, in Metroid, which has a very rigid design."
In the in-depth interview debuting today, Eggebrecht, whose company has also been responsible for the Star Wars: Rogue Squadron franchise for LucasArts, discusses their upcoming PS3 title Lair, design considerations for the Sixaxis, and exactly how his firm is using the PS3�s SPUs and RSX GPU.
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4 Reasons Programmatic TV Is Over-Hyped
By James G. Brooks Jr., Founder and CEO of GlassView
Technology has forced even the most egregious laggards to embrace reality. In 2015, the Internet’s reach is so pervasive that it has even penetrated segments like utilities and luxury goods, two notable holdouts.
Add TV to that list. Despite the explosion in digital media over the past few years, which has completely redefined advertising, TV remains an oasis in which the buying and selling hasn’t really changed much since the Mad Men days.
Finally, that’s changing. In particular, there’s been a lot of talk lately about programmatic TV buying. That is, instead of salesmen making deals over three-martini lunches, some TV is starting to be bought and sold dynamically in a bidding process that reaches consumers in real time, while they’re theoretically in the best position to receive an ad message.
While TV’s late embrace of programmatic reaffirms the fact that the buying process works well, there are lots of reasons to be skeptical about claims that TV finally has gotten its act together and will fend off digital’s inevitable dominance. In particular, I can name four reasons why programmatic TV is over-hyped:
1. TV is Losing Viewers in Droves. TV may finally be ready for millennial viewers, but millennials are tuning out. In 2011, 21.7 million young adults watched TV. In January 2015, the figure was 17.8 million, according to Nielsen. “The change in behavior is stunning,” Alan Wurtzel, NBCUniversal’s audience research chief, told the New York Post.
“The use of streaming and smartphones just year-on-year is double-digit increases. I’ve never seen that kind of change in behavior.” That follows a 50% drop in TV viewership from 2002 to 2013. This upends the argument that ads shown on a TV are more effective. That may be true, but if your audience is tuning out, it’s also irrelevant.
Now, instead of searching channels, you browse Netflix’s catalog. The upshot is that you’re watching fewer TV ads. As Netflix grows, ad-supported TV will make up less and less of the pie. At the same time, standalone options like HBO Now will make consumers question the wisdom of subscribing to cable in the first place.
3. Perversely, This Makes TV Ads More Expensive. Supply and demand governs most businesses, but not TV advertising. In the 1972-1973 TV season, before cable and way before Netflix, the top-rated show got an estimated audience of 21.6 million households. In the 2014-2015 season, being a top show meant you got 7 million to 8 million households to tune in.
Despite the falloff in average viewership, TV advertising prices rise every year. A 30-second ad during “Monday Night Football,” the top-rated show, costs around $400,000 per Variety. A TV ad seller’s supporting argument here might be “Where else will you get 8 million people to tune in at the same time?” That brings us to our final point:
4. The TV Ad Model is Irrelevant and Inefficient. If you want to reach 8 million people at the same time, you don’t need to do it via TV. In fact, that’s a wildly inefficient way to get your video ad in front of an audience of that size. That’s because TV ads are sold based on demographics – your age, sex, etc. – rather than interests.
Would you rather reach 8 million people who are likely to be between 18 and 49 years old or would you prefer it if those people had all indicated – via their online activity – that they are likely to be interested in what you’re selling?
Change takes a while to sink in. Advertising has advanced much just over the last decade. The TV industry is scrambling to catch up, but it’s too little, too late.
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Dionne: Health-care summit crucial to all
E.J.Dionne
This week will determine the shape of American politics for the next three years.
No, that's not one of those journalistic exaggerations intended to catch your attention, although I hope it did. It's an accurate description of the stakes at the health-care summit President Obama has called for Thursday.
The issue is whether the summit proves to be the turning point in a political year that, at the moment, is moving decisively in the Republicans' direction. If the summit fails to shake things up and does not lead to the passage of a comprehensive health care bill, Democrats and Obama are in for a miserable time for the rest of his term.
Republicans know this and are doing all they can to undermine, discount, discredit and back away from the encounter.
They are insisting, as House Minority Leader John Boehner has said, that the only test of Democratic seriousness is whether they are willing to "scrap" the health-care bills that have already passed and "start over." Doing anything else is dismissed as a "backroom deal."
Of course it's absurd to say that the House and the Senate, having worked for a year to pass quite similar bills, should now give up. But Boehner knows what he's doing: He wants the Democrats to give up on health care because doing so would be the surest way to prove that they lack the guts and competence to govern.
Republicans hate this summit because if it works, it will keep this from happening, and also because it calls many bluffs at once.
Above all, Obama is trying to force the Republicans to put their own health-care ideas on the table. As soon as this happens, the debate is no longer about the flaws, real and imagined, in the Democratic proposals. It becomes a choice between what the Democrats want to do and what the Republicans want to do. That's a fair fight.
Obama also wants to cut through the shibboleths and clich�s of conventional Washington punditry. There is much establishment mourning over the failure of "bipartisanship" and the rise of political "polarization."
Obama is saying: Look -- he always says "look" when he's impatient -- Democrats have already included a lot of Republican suggestions in these health-reform bills, and here they are. What more do you want? If the only way to get Republican votes is for moderate and liberal Democrats to enact conservative Republican ideas into law, that's not bipartisanship. That's capitulation. Can't you see that?
You want transparency? Let's do this all out in the open. I'll post our plan, you post yours. Everyone can have a look. No wonder Republican leaders are grumpy. The summit will call attention to the elephant in the room that the most insipid commentary on the loss of bipartisanship pretends isn't there: There is no bipartisanship because Republicans have become an almost uniformly conservative party.
The GOP opposes -- yes, on principle -- many of the forms of government action that earlier generations of moderate and liberal Republicans were willing to support. The current crop of Republicans would never give as many votes to Medicare as the Republican Party of the 1960s was willing to throw Lyndon Johnson's way.
To say that the one legitimate way to pass bills is to get a lot of Republicans to vote for them is to insist that election results don't matter and that only conservative legislation will ever get through Congress. All the Republicans have to do is be stubborn and yell a lot about being "excluded."
I don't blame the Republicans for any of this. They have a right to be as conservative as they want to be. They have both substantive and political reasons for blocking health-care reform. So far, the strategy has worked. Why should they do anything differently? But I do blame those who pretend to be nonpartisan or "objective" for falling for this ploy.
And that's whose bluff Obama is really calling with this summit. He's saying: Please, establishment media, look honestly at what the Republicans are doing. Instead of offering lectures about bipartisanship or nostalgia for some peaceable Washington kingdom, look at the substance of our respective proposals and how they match up against the problems we're trying to solve.
Oh, and there's also this: He's telling Democrats they can get things done, or they can crawl away timidly into the darkness of self-defeat.
E.J. DIONNE is a Washington Post columnist (ejdionne@washpost.com).
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Zurich ClassicApril 26, 2017
Justin Rose on Masters loss: 'Really, I sleep well every night'
Brian Wacker
Harry How
Justin Rose reacts to his missed birdie putt on the 18th hole during the final round of the 2017 Masters. (Photo by Harry How/Getty Images)
AVONDALE, La. -- Jordan Spieth decompressed with a trip to the Bahamas for SB2K17, where he played golf sans shirt and chilled out with Rickie Fowler, Justin Thomas and Smylie Kaufman.
Justin Rose, 36 years old and nearly 10 years older than the eldest member of that quartet, got over the Masters a little differently, with family time at home in the Bahamas and hanging out with pop star Niall Horan to discuss their next charitable endeavor.
Losing in a playoff to Sergio Garcia two weeks ago at Augusta National still hurts, but the Englishman has moved on for now and filed it away.
“It’s an opportunity that I feel that -- certainly one that got away,” Rose said Wednesday from the Zurich Classic of New Orleans, where he’s making his first start since the Masters and partnering with Henrik Stenson. “I felt that it was mine at points on the back nine.
“But really, I sleep well every night. I'm absolutely fine. I feel like Augusta is the one major where the fact that we go back there year on year, you can build on that performance and you can build on that experience.”
Rose led by two over Garcia with six holes to play but failed to extend the margin when he missed a six-footer for birdie at the par-5 13th, then bogeyed 17 to fall even with the Spaniard.
On the final hole of regulation, Rose missed another birdie attempt from seven feet. Garcia followed suit and the two went to a playoff, won by Garcia with a birdie on the first extra hole.
RELATED: Super teams of Jason Day/Rickie Fowler, Justin Rose/Henrik Stenson listed as favorites
It marked the second time Rose, whose only major came at the 2013 U.S. Open at Merion, has finished second in the tournament, the other being in 2015. He also has three other finishes in the top 10 at Augusta National.
“I feel that the Masters is one that I can keep coming back to and keep creating those chances,” he said. “From that point of view I'm incredibly positive.
“Also I think it’s only really analyzing at the end of the season. A major championship year is a career year when you win one. I might have the opportunity to win a couple more yet, so I'm not even willing to look back at this with any sort of regret until the season is done, and then we can reevaluate and assess actually what it meant.”
The Best Damn Stuff To Wear
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Samsung Galaxy Note 9 Release Date Tips
Adam Mills
If you’re thinking about waiting for the Samsung Galaxy Note 9 release date, there are some things you should start doing ahead of its launch in August.
Samsung’s confirmed that its working on a successor to the Galaxy Note 8. The company hasn’t showcased the Samsung Galaxy Note 9 yet, that’ll happen on August 9th, but we expect the device to hit shelves in August to do battle with the likes of the iPhone 11, Google Pixel 3, and Samsung’s own Galaxy S9.
All signs currently point to a Galaxy Note 9 release date landing ahead of Apple’s iPhone 11 release date. The Galaxy Note 9 is expected in late August, the iPhone 11 in September.
Rumors, benchmarks and Samsung itself have outlined Galaxy Note 9 features including S Pen upgrades, a larger battery, and more RAM. The Galaxy Note series has always delivered a ton of horsepower and you can expect the same from the next version of the Galaxy Note.
It’ll take a few more days for Galaxy Note 9 rumors to firm up and for Samsung executives to take the stage and rundown the official specs. If you can’t wait until August, you might want to start looking at Galaxy Note 9 alternatives.
While some of you might want to buy your new phone right now or in the near future, there are also some good reasons to hang around and wait for the Galaxy Note 9.
If you decide to wait for the Samsung Galaxy Note 9, you’ll want to do some prep work as we get closer to the phone’s launch date next month.
Our guide will lead you through some of the steps we think prospective Galaxy Note 9 buyers should take right now and in the weeks ahead.
Check Out Galaxy Note 9 Alternatives
While you wait for the Samsung Galaxy Note 9 to arrive make sure you take a look at the rumored device's competition.
First, check out the Samsung Galaxy Note 8 and the Samsung Galaxy S9 and Galaxy S9+. The Galaxy S9 is Samsung's current flagship and the Galaxy Note 8 recently got upgraded to Android Oreo.
Next, make sure you check out the Pixel 2 and Pixel 2 XL from Google. They're two of our favorite phones from last year and two of the best Samsung alternatives on the market.
Other top Galaxy Note 9 alternatives include the OnePlus 6, OnePlus 5T, LG G7, the LG V30, the HTC U11+, and the Huawei P20 Pro.
If you aren't married to Android, you'll want to take a look at Apple's iPhone X, iPhone 8, and the iPhone 8 Plus.
When we say check out we don't mean read about their specs online. You'll want to read reviews, but you'll also want to try all of these phones out in person before the Note 9 arrives.
Related Topics:AndroidGalaxy Note 9Galaxy Note 9 release dateSamsungSamsung Galaxy Note 9Technology
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REACHING OUT: South Side Mission program focuses on elderly poor
Clare Howard
Peoria's South Side Mission is trying to help out a group that is often overlooked -- the elderly poor.
PEORIA - Shirley Knell, 83, loves coffee, but, no, she never tasted Starbucks. Never heard of Starbucks.
"I'm going to bring you some of that fancy-schmancy coffee," said Robin Winfrey, who was visiting Knell in her room at Bel-Wood Nursing Home as part of a new elderly outreach program started by South Side Mission.
The glimmer of a smile flitted across Knell's face.
"I like my coffee," she said.
Rather than expecting elderly residents of the South Side to reach out to food banks, clinics, warming stations and other social service agencies, the mission's new program is structured around visiting people in their own homes, apartments and rooms, listening to them with a discerning ear.
The voices of America's elderly poor are largely unheard, drowned out by the clamor of community, regional, national and global issues. Philip Newton, executive director of South Side Mission, conceived of this new outreach program based on his own observation of needs that are often seen but unseen.
His concept began to jell while vacationing and eating at a Taco Bell with his family. An elderly man came into the restaurant and sat quietly at a table in the back of the dining room. A number of people saw him.
"I knew he was hungry," Newton said. "When my family finished eating, there was still a wrapped, untouched taco on our table."
Newton picked up the wrapped taco, walked over and offered it to the man, who accepted it and immediately left the restaurant.
When Newton was driving away, he saw the man standing in the restaurant parking lot eating the taco.
"He was too proud to ask for help," Newton said. "We see a lot of people who won't ask for help. When we look carefully, we will see people in our community who are eating dog food for dinner. People who can't afford to pay electric bills and medications. It's shameful what the elderly are going through in our community."
Hunger and need often are out in the open but unrecognized, Newton said. His new program is designed to bring more eyes and ears to the problem.
The South Side Mission's elderly outreach program will help with substandard housing, loneliness, family reconciliation, inadequate food and medical care.
The mission has adopted blocks within the 61605 ZIP code where gross average household income in 2005 was $20,000, placing the area in the nation's poorest 3 percentile. About 20 percent of residents in the 61605 ZIP code are seniors.
Meg Newell, spokeswoman for the mission, said gross average household income in the 61615 ZIP code that includes Dunlap is $81,000, placing it in the top 93rd percentile in the nation.
"Less than 10 miles apart, and there is a startling contrast between people with such great need living so close to people doing well," Newell said. "We think of South American countries where people with such need live in the shadow of great wealth, but that is the contrast in our own community."
Winfrey, a registered nurse, began in January as director of the mission's new outreach program. She is still in the start-up stage, scheduling visits, seeking input and recruiting volunteers.
Recently, Winfrey met Nadine and Chuck Palmer, who usually eat at the Mission's Lighthouse Diner. Each day, there is a cross section of people for the mission's noon meal. Some come for food, some for camaraderie.
"You can't figure out all of someone's needs from a phone call," said Winfrey after arranging to visit the Palmers in their small home several blocks from the mission. Nadine Palmer was in the doorway waiting when Winfrey arrived.
Sitting in the living room of the small house, the conversation ranged from food, activities and medications to others in the neighborhood who might need help.
"We keep the heat set at 63. That might sound cool, but you get used to it. We can pull out that extra heater," said Chuck Palmer, 77. "We have no house payments, no car payments. If we did, we couldn't make it. We run out of money before the end of the month."
They live on Social Security from his job as a truck driver and her job as a hospital nurse. They try to stay physically active and play in a musical ensemble called Charlie's Angels that performs in area nursing homes.
"But we're not really angels," Chuck Palmer said.
Nadine Palmer, 75, said their kitchen is too small for a stove and oven, so they eat their noon meal at the mission and use a hot plate and microwave to heat supper. They often get clothing from the mission's Benevolence Center, 2919 W. Garden St.
Winfrey asked about other people in the neighborhood who might benefit from an outreach visit.
"There are a lot of people in this neighborhood who have to walk because they don't have a car. They have to walk even on days when it's too cold to walk," Chuck Palmer said.
His wife said, "A lot of people have trouble clearing snow from the sidewalks. Mowing the lawn is a problem for older folks. Laundry, ironing and cooking can be difficult."
Newell said, "When people seek help from the government, there are often requirements and hoops to jump through. The big difference with us is, we may not have all the answers, but we'll figure out how to help."
Winfrey's final stop of the morning on a recent Thursday was Gloria Cosgrove, 67, a resident at South Side Manor.
Cosgrove had worked as a nurse's aide until injuring her back. She's on disability and often calls her doctor's office and the mission office repeatedly over the course of a day.
"I just don't socialize with people. Held back for years. Don't know why," Cosgrove said.
At the end of the visit, Winfrey said she'd return soon.
"People become so needy. Gloria sometimes calls 10 times a day. Some of the people she calls become overwhelmed and tell her not to call again," Winfrey said, noting that loneliness is often one of the most pressing needs of people on the South Side.
Nadine Palmer said, "One of the important things about being old is that everyone needs the Lord. It's good to be able to ask for help."
Nearly every day, Chuck Palmer walks around the neighborhood picking up cans. He gives what he collects to the Peoria Area Blind People's Center. Nadine Palmer said sometimes the best way to help yourself is to help others.
Clare Howard can be reached at (309) 686-3250 or choward@pjstar.com.
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Reacted to this
NEWS | Agusta AB212 in Österreichische Luftstreitkräfte
US and Austrian Military Training in Germany
An Austrian AB.212 helicopter drops off Soldiers of the 1st Battalion, 182nd Infantry Regiment, Massachusetts National Guard, for an air assault exercise performed during Combined Resolve II at the Joint Multinational Training Command s Grafenwoehr and Hohenfels Training areas, May 15 - June 30, 2014. The exercise includes more than 4,000 participants from 15 allied and partner countries.
US Army, May 23, 2014 - HOHENFELS, Germany by Sgt Bethany McMeans - U.S. and Austrian Soldiers jumped out of Army UH-60 Black Hawks and Austrian helicopters to begin an air assault mission to attack and defend an operating base during Combined Resolve II.
This was just the beginning of the training exercise for the 1st Battalion, 182nd Infantry Regiment, Massachusetts National Guard, and Soldiers of the Austrian Armed Forces.
“Everyone’s excited to be here and working with multinational forces,” said 1st Lt. Benjamin Welch, of Charlie Company, 182nd Infantry Regiment.
Combined Resolve II is a U.S. Army Europe-directed multinational exercise at the Joint Multinational Training Command’s Grafenwoehr and Hohenfels Training Areas, May 15 – June 30, 2014. The exercise includes more than 4,000 participants and will train the U.S. Army’s European Rotational Force alongside allies and partners from 14 European countries.
The training provided the U.S. and Austrian troops with an opportunity to become a smart, adaptable and capable unified unit.
“There’s always challenges because you obviously have your language barrier and they [NATO and partner-nation forces] operate on a slightly different standard,” said Welch.
Staff Sgt. David Duhart, of Charlie Company, agreed by saying, “This [training] broadens your views on how other armies and other cultures handle situations.”
Combined Resolve II helps to develop technical and tactical interoperability among U.S., NATO and partner-nation forces which was displayed when Austrian and U.S. aircraft dropped the Soldiers off at the beginning of the mission, and when the Austrians provided communications to call in air and other types of support during the mock battle.
“It’s quite awesome working with other countries because you learn so much,” said Sgt. Robert Krassnig, of the Austrian forces.
Krassnig added that the need for training events such as the one they did are essential because of the uncertainty of situations in today’s world; and, when the time comes, all of the forces will have to work together to accomplish the mission.
Although there are differences between the different countries that are participating in the Combined Resolve II exercise, the more training the forces do together, the more beneficial.
Cpl. Daniel Rothedeutsch of the Austrian forces reinforced that benefit of this training by mentioning the language barrier during the training improves over time as the various countries spend more time with each other.
This article is listed in :
Agusta AB212 in Österreichische Luftstreitkräfte
Joint Multinational Readiness Center JMRC US Army Aviation
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Symbol in Frost, Welty Symbol of Journey Essay
Total Length: 2868 words ( 10 double-spaced pages)
Symbol in Frost, Welty
Symbol of Journey in Frost and Welty
Welty's Journey is Transcendental/Social
Frost's Journey is Satirical/Inspirational
Both Frost and Welty Use Satire in a Gentle Way
Welty's Style Moves From Satire Towards Compassion
Frost's Style Moves From Satire Towards Self-Awareness
Thematic Structure
Welty Reflects all of life in her Thematic Structure
Frost Reflects a simple event, losing one's way
Form and Content
Frost's poetry
Allows for many interpretations
The content can be read in varying ways
Welty's short story
Allows a more intimate connection with characters
The story can be read as allegory, social commentary, or realism
Welty and Frost use the same symbol to reflect different facets of life
B. They initiate a journey for the reader, but the reader's destination is of his own choosing
An Analysis of the Symbol of the Journey in Welty's "Worn Path" and Frost's
"Road Not Taken"
Eudora Welty's "A Worn Path" and Robert Frost's "The Road Not Taken" use the symbol of the Journey to produce separate effects: the former a representation of the transcendent value of love and sacrifice, the latter a representation of the folly of human reason. Although both employ the Journey symbol, Frost's poem is rooted in a spirit of misadventure and fun, while Welty's short story is rooted in a spirit of elevation. Ironically, Frost's poem has taken on a much wider and grander significance than it was originally intended to convey. Commonly viewed as a poem in praise of individuality and self-discovery, Frost's "Road Not Taken" has become a banner of liberality. Welty's short story has also been viewed in varying ways, from a condemnation of racial inequality to a reflection of the journey of the human spirit through a kind of Purgatory on Earth. This paper will compare and contrast the two works in terms of style, content and form, showing how both use the Journey symbol, which can be read with varying degrees of gravity, seriousness, and thematic consequence.
Even though the two works are of a vastly different structure, Frost's poem and Welty's short story share more than the ability to symbolize the Journey in their works. They also share the ability to satirize the human experience in terms of style. Nina Baym (1998), for example, notes how "like Robert Frost, Welty loves gossip in all its actuality and intimacy" (p. 1784). This characterization of the writers is telling for two reasons: first, it shows that both Welty and Frost take inspiration from one of the most common forms of human communication and narrative -- gossip; second, it shows that the two writers are grounded in the familiar human experience.
Yet, both writers approach their subject (the human condition) from a different perspective. Frost tends towards gentle satire and subtle mockery. His poems often provide a needling of another's idea, but in good fun. "The Road Not Taken," for example, was meant to poke fun at Frost's friend Edward, who always failed to choose the correct path when taking walks through the forest (Pritchard, 1993, p. 128). Welty, on the other hand, even though she had a natural flare for satire, her writings are composed not so much in a spirit of derision but rather in a spirit of compassion and love. "A Worn Path" contains elements of humor, but overall it is dedicated to illustrating the virtues of perseverance and the efficacy of a grandmother's love. Baym concurs when she states that "although [Welty's] attitude toward human folly is satiric, it is satire devoid of the wish to undermine and make mockery of her characters" (p. 1784).
One Journey, Two Themes
The maturity that Welty displays in "A Worn Path" is a kind that embraces life and its experiences in their entirety, not shying away from the tawdriness, but never failing to see through the bitter to the good. The Journey may be the central symbol of "A Worn Path," but the central theme is concerned with the goodness that can be found in the human heart, despite all obstacles that try to weigh it down. Welty's "Path" represents movement in the direction of the Eternal -- a place neither here nor there -- but somewhere above, removed from the endless repetition found in Frost's poetry of mischief and folly. Life is a journey, and as Welty herself states, the writer is himself somewhere in that same journey and all he can do "is simply [write] about life" (Baym p. 1785). The content of "A Worn Path" is a depiction of real life and real transcendence. It is so realistic, in fact, that it can even be read as a condemnation of social injustice rather than as an admiring portrait of one woman's journey to help her grandson.
Frost, on the other hand, is engaged in exploring a much different theme in the content of "A Road Not Taken." His Journey is not of one from point A to point B, as Welty's is in "Path." His Journey is meandering, deviating, and confounding. It is both puzzling in construction and in interpretation. Described by Frost as a poem in which he was "fooling [his] way along" (Pritchard, p. 128), "Road" was literally meant to be about Frost's friend Edward Thomas, who when they walked together always castigated himself for not having taken another path than the one they took. When Frost sent "The Road Not Taken" to Thomas he was disappointed that Thomas failed to understand it as a poem about himself, but Thomas in return insisted to Frost that "I doubt if you can get anybody to see the fun of the thing without showing them and advising them which kind of laugh they are to turn on" (Pritchard, p. 128).
Thomas' remark was in one sense prophetic: rather than being read as the simple jest it was meant to be, the poem has become a kind of marching creed of youthful exploration: an ode to deviating from the beaten path. It generates thoughts of liberality and individuality and for readers of Romantic literature, it reaches back to the Romantic/Enlightenment doctrine of Rousseau whose only law was nature itself -- and the fact that one's individual nature and choice was not to be tampered with or repressed.
An analysis of the form of the poem shows why it has been able to take on a life of its own. One of the biggest reasons for the popular interpretation may be found in the pregnant pause at the end in the last stanza: "and I -- / I took the one less traveled by." As Pritchard observes, however, the significance of the poem is largely viewed to be in the following final line: "And that has made all the difference." Such a sense of exhilaration and satisfaction is read into the line that, for Pritchard, readers tend to forget the rest of the poem. Indeed, to Pritchard, the poem is misread by many, including the president (Alexander Meiklejohn) of Amherst college, where Frost was invited to stay. Meiklejohn viewed "Road" was a rallying cry of liberal education (Pritchard, p. 128). Yet the poem was conceived as that at all. As Frost himself indicated: "You have to be careful of that one; it's a tricky poem -- very tricky," for it is a poem in which Frost is "gently teasing" his friend Thomas (Kearns, 1994, p. 160).
Journey of Being Lost
Pritchard attempts to maneuver the poem's "trickiness" by returning the reader to it's beginning, where, in fact, the two roads are nearly indistinguishable from one another: "The two roads [are] in appearance 'really about the same,'…they 'equally lay / In leaves no step had trodden black,' and…choosing one rather than the other [is] a matter of impulse, impossible to speak about any more clearly than to say that the road taken [has] 'perhaps the better claim'" (p. 129). It is clear to Pritchard that what Frost intended was nothing more than a gentle mockery of his friend's inability to stick to the correct path, always taking "the wrong" one -- and that what impressed Meiklejohn was merely Meiklejohn's interpretation of the poem -- or perhaps a projection of his own beliefs onto the poem. Yet, such is understandable, for Frost himself puts the poem on such an ambiguous footing with the last line being uttered in a tone that does not match the rest of the work. The tone may be understood to be one of whimsy and shrugging shoulders -- or it may be understood to be one of solemn pride and satisfaction.
"Road" is a small, satirical poem that became a great, big poem, latching onto a popular kind of youthful ambition and sincerity (the Huck Finn kind -- embracing the wide open; rejecting confinement, rules, tradition). Frost himself seems to have embraced the second reading, taking joy in the poem's effect on individuals who saw it not as man's ineptitude to make his way.....
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VIDEO: Nation pauses to remember 7/7 atrocity 10 years on
Britain will pause this morning to remember the July 7 attacks amid warnings about the enduring and changing threat from terrorism a decade on.
The country will fall silent to mark the 10th anniversary of the atrocity in which 52 people were murdered and hundreds more injured when four suicide bombers attacked London’s transport network.
Ten years on a minute's silence will be held to remember the victims of the London 7/7 bombings
David Cameron said the Tunisian beach massacre showed the danger remains 10 years on but vowed the nation would not be cowed by violent extremists.
The Prime Minister said: “Today the country comes together to remember the victims of one of the deadliest terrorist atrocities on mainland Britain.
“Ten years on from the 7/7 London attacks, the threat from terrorism continues to be as real as it is deadly - the murder of 30 innocent Britons whilst holidaying in Tunisia is a brutal reminder of that fact. But we will never be cowed by terrorism.
“We will keep on doing all that we can to keep the British public safe, protecting vulnerable young minds from others’ extremist beliefs and promoting the shared values of tolerance, love and respect that make Britain so great.”
The anniversary falls at a time of heightened alert after the rise of Islamic State (IS).
Metropolitan Police Assistant Commissioner Mark Rowley, the country’s most senior counter-terrorism officer, said security services are tackling a “very different” threat 10 years later.
In an interview with the Press Association, he called on communities to “step forward” in the fight against radicalisation, saying their help is more crucial than ever to security services’ efforts to prevent fresh attacks.
Andrew Parker, the head of MI5, said the “continuing fact” that some British citizens are prepared to target their own country presents a “serious societal and security challenge”.
He described the “disgusting” murders 10 years ago as an “enduring reminder” of what his organisation “is striving every day to prevent”.
Tony Blair, who was prime minister at the time of the attacks, said his first response was to try to “bring people together” and deal with the “huge trauma” suffered by the capital.
Mr Blair denied that the terrorist attacks could be portrayed as a response to his foreign policy, telling LBC: “This is a global problem... and the only way of dealing with it ultimately is for people to come together whatever their faith background and say we are united against this terrorism, and to say we are not going to allow anyone to excuse themselves by saying the slaughter of totally innocent people is somehow a response to any decision by any government.”
Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir Bernard Hogan-Howe said it is a “day to remember and reflect”.
He added: “We will never, ever be complacent. Whilst I hope that we will never need to deliver such a response again, if we do we will be ready.
“My thoughts today are with those taken from us, those who were affected, remain affected and with my own men and women who, day-in day-out are here for London.”
Mayor of London Boris Johnson said today’s remembrance is intended to show the bereaved, survivors and the emergency services that they have the support of all those across the city.
“Our priority today is to allow the families and friends of the 52 innocent victims of 7/7 to pay tribute to the memory of their loved ones,” he said. “And for the survivors and the many hundreds of members of our emergency services who were affected by these atrocities to know that they have the support of every Londoner.
“On the tenth anniversary of the attacks we honour the victims, we remember the sufferings of their families and we pay tribute to the actions of our emergency services on that appalling day.”
Events are being held to mark the anniversary, including a national minute’s silence at 11.30am.
The period of quiet will take place during a service at St Paul’s Cathedral - attended by the Duke of York, Mr Cameron, Mr Johnson, Mr Blair and Ken Livingstone, who was Mayor of London at the time of the attacks - and will be observed across the capital’s public transport network.
Announcements will be halted and bus drivers asked to bring vehicles to a stop if they can do so safely.
Tube services will run as normal but passengers will be asked to observe the silence and announcements will be halted for the duration, Transport for London said.
Survivors, relatives of the dead and members of the emergency services have been invited to the event.
Wreaths will be laid beforehand at the permanent Hyde Park memorial, which Mr Cameron will attend, and a second service, to be attended by the Duke of Cambridge, will take place there later, featuring music, a series of readings and the laying of flowers.
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Govt launches Transitional Stabilisation Programme
05 Oct, 2018 - 16:10 2018-10-05T23:31:27+00:00 2018-10-05T16:19:23+00:00 0 Views
Minister of Finance and Economic Development Prof Mthuli Ncube and permanent secretary Mr George Guvamatanga
Tawanda Musarurwa Business Reporter
Government has launched a transitional stabilisation programme in a bid to set the economy on a recovery path after years of stagnation.
The programme, which runs from October 2018 to December 2020, was announced by Finance and Economic Development Minister Mthuli Ncube this afternoon.
“The Transitional Sabilisation Programme seeks to operationalise Vision2030,” he said.
“The vision will see Zimbabwe becoming a middle income country with a per capita income of US$3500 per person.”
The Transitional Stabilisation Programme acknowledges policy reform initiatives of the new dispensation to stimulate domestic production, exports, rebuilding and transforming the economy to an upper middle income status by 2030.
The reform initiatives have been outlined in various policy pronouncements by President Emmerson Mnangagawa, from his inaugural address on November 24, 2017, as well as the 2018 National Budget Statement.
According to the policy document, the Transitional Stabilisation Programme will focus on the following factors: stabilising the macro-economy, and the financial sector; introducing necessary policy and institutional reforms to translate to a private sector-led economy; addressing infrastructure gaps, and launching quick-wins to stimulate growth.
The short-term programme will be superseded by two 5-year Development Strategies, with the first one running from 2021-2025, and the second covering 2026-2030.
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How to Assess Human Trafficking in Asia
Report Crime and Justice
May 8, 2015 5 min read Download Report
Olivia Enos
Senior Policy Analyst, Asian Studies Center
Olivia specializes in human rights and national security challenges in Asia.
The State Department’s Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons will release its annual Trafficking in Person (TIP) report in June. Ahead of final deliberations, the House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on Africa, Global Health, Global Human Rights, and International Organizations held a hearing to discuss the significance of the seminal TIP report’s rankings.[1]
The committee hearing emphasized the important work of the State Department and significance of the TIP report but questioned whether the State Department was accurately applying TIP methodology.
That human trafficking exists is unquestionable, but its prevalence, the success of current anti-trafficking programs, and the long-term impact of these programs are another matter altogether. Addressing these issues and determining best practices will require U.S. commitment to investigating and implementing empirical measurements of not only the rate of trafficking, but the effectiveness of anti-trafficking programming.
The Methodology Behind the Tier Rankings
The TIP office originated from the passage of the Trafficking Victims Protections Act (TVPA) of 2000 and led to the State Department’s first release of the TIP report in 2001. Countries are ranked in four tiers: Tier 1, Tier 2, Tier 2 Watch List, and Tier 3.
Countries that comply with anti–human trafficking standards are placed on Tier 1, while countries that fail to meet the minimum standards, but are taking adequate steps to achieve compliance are placed on Tier 2. Countries that consistently fail to meet minimum standards, but make promises for future compliance are placed on the Tier 2 Watch List. Finally, countries that fail to meet minimum standards and demonstrate limited movement toward compliance are placed on Tier 3, where they can be sanctioned on non-trade and non-humanitarian aid.[2]
Tier rankings are based primarily on government efforts in the areas of prosecution, prevention, protection, and more recently “partnerships”—shorthand for “minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking in persons.”[3]
Tier rankings are not issued on the basis of the prevalence of human trafficking. Because prevalence is so difficult to measure, rankings only tangentially take into account reduction in numbers of trafficking victims. In fact, only the ranking for Tier 2 Watch List takes the prevalence of trafficking in a country into account.
The TIP report is intended to measure compliance with the above-mentioned “minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking in persons.” The TVPA provides guidelines for measuring whether a government is taking “serious and sustained efforts” to combat trafficking. One requirement is: “Whether the government of the country achieves appreciable progress in eliminating severe forms of trafficking when compared to the assessment the previous year.”[4] Accurate prevalence studies could help inform the TIP office’s country analysis of progress, where reductions are linked to government action, as well as inform regional best practices for future government programming. However, prevalence studies are not part of evaluating individual countries’ anti-trafficking efforts. To its credit, the TIP office collects law enforcement data on prosecutions and convictions of traffickers, the number of victims identified and assisted during a year, whether victims are being repatriated, how much funding a country is committing to fight human trafficking, and whether the government is prosecuting corrupt officials. The TIP office also investigates trafficking initiatives through in-country meetings and analysis, monitors news and nongovernmental organization (NGO) reports, and relies on reporting from embassies to determine tier rankings.[5]
Evaluating Human Trafficking: The Challenges
At a recent meeting at The Heritage Foundation on human trafficking in Asia, renowned Thai anti-trafficking expert Saisuree Chutikul and demographer Courtland Robinson noted the lack of empirical resources for evaluating the effectiveness of anti-trafficking efforts.
While many attempts have been undertaken to quantify human trafficking, there is reasonable disagreement on the number of trafficking victims that exist worldwide. A Department of Labor number, 21 million, is the figure most commonly cited.[6] However, studies conducted by The Global Slavery Index suggest that figure may be close to 36 million.[7]
Even more important than determining the precise number of trafficking victims is verifying the effectiveness of anti-trafficking programming. Many NGOs, including the renowned International Justice Mission (IJM), have conducted prevalence studies documenting the impact of their programs. During its projects in the Philippines and Cambodia, IJM documented a marked reduction in the availability of minors for child sex trafficking.[8] In the Philippines, the number of minors used for sex in commercial establishments dropped by 79 percent.[9]
However, there have been no major known attempts at quantifying the long-term impacts of the State Department’s programming; nor are clear empirical measurements applied to the evaluations of individual country’s efforts to combat trafficking. Since the U.S. has not developed a method for quantifying the human-trafficking problem and cannot critically evaluate the effectiveness of programs, it has no ability to demonstrate whether current methods for combatting trafficking are significantly reducing trafficking.
This situation is further complicated, explains Mark Lagon, former TIP director, when political considerations impact rankings, as in the case of China’s upgrade from Tier 3 to Tier 2 Watch List in 2014.[10] Often, the U.S. will choose not to demote certain countries to Tier 3 in order to maintain positive political relationships. But as Representative Chris Smith (R–NJ) pointed out during the hearing, some of America’s closest allies, South Korea and Israel, were once Tier 3 countries. During this time, the U.S. maintained positive relations with both countries, and, due to concerted efforts, both Israel and South Korea, are now on Tier 1.[11]
Smith’s point is that demotion of a country to Tier 3 status does not automatically translate into a deterioration in U.S. relations with that country. But it is also crucial for the U.S. to present verifiable information to back up its designation decisions.
What the U.S. Should Do
It has now been nearly 15 years since the passage of the original TVPA. With significant weight behind it, the U.S. should begin to empirically evaluate the effectiveness of counter-trafficking programming. Tier rankings will carry more weight if they directly measure the effectiveness of programming, critically evaluate the long-term impacts of such programming, and verify compliance with laws. The U.S. should:
Clarify the definition of human trafficking. One of the challenges in quantifying human trafficking is that there is disagreement over its definition. While the State Department and the United Nations Palermo Protocol largely agree on definitions of human trafficking, different countries and NGOs disagree on what constitutes human trafficking. From the legal age of prostitution, to various forms of human trafficking, many organizations adopt different definitions. By applying the State Department definition in a uniform metric of measurement of compliance, reductions and increases in human trafficking would be easier to track. The State Department defines human trafficking as “the act of recruiting, harboring, transporting, providing, or obtaining a person for compelled labor or commercial sex acts through the use of force, fraud, or coercion.”[12]
Develop quantitative, empirical methodologies to document not only the prevalence of human trafficking, but also the effectiveness of anti-trafficking programs. The U.S. should collaborate with academic institutions and human-trafficking NGOs to develop a methodology for tracking the implementation, successes and failures, and long-term impacts of U.S. anti-trafficking programs. Once developed, the methodology should be integrated into the TIP report as one of many determining factors in assigning tier rankings.
Work with partners in Asia to standardize data collection and evaluation of human-trafficking programming. The State Department relies in part on foreign governments to truthfully report the status of anti-trafficking efforts. By working with local and regional organizations, such as the Association of Southeast Asian Nations or the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation, the U.S. may be able to create a unified means of collecting data on human trafficking in the region.[13] After solidifying the methodology, the U.S. should cooperate with other NGOs, regional organizations, and governments to standardize data collection and reporting on human trafficking.
As a global leader on human rights, the United States has a responsibility to ensure that the State Department’s current programming is reducing international human trafficking.
—Olivia Enos is a Research Assistant in the Asian Studies Center, of the Kathryn and Shelby Cullom Davis Institute for National Security and Foreign Policy, at The Heritage Foundation.
[1] Hearing, Accountability and Transformation: Tier Rankings in the Fight Against Human Trafficking, Subcommittee on Africa, Global Health, Global Human Rights, and International Organizations, Foreign Affairs Committee, U.S. House of Representatives, April 22, 2015, http://foreignaffairs.house.gov/hearing/subcommittee-hearing-accountability-and-transformation-tier-rankings-fight-against-human (accessed April 27, 2015).
[2] U.S. Department of State, Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons, “Trafficking in Persons Report 2014: Tier Placements,” June 2014, http://www.state.gov/j/tip/rls/tiprpt/2014/226649.htm (accessed April 27, 2015).
[3] U.S. Department of State, Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons, “Trafficking in Persons Report 2014: Trafficking Victims Protection Act: Minimum Standards for the Elimination of Trafficking in Persons.”
[5] U.S. Department of State, Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons, “Trafficking in Persons Report 2014: Definitions and Methodology.”
[6] U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of International Labor Affairs, “Child Labor, Forced Labor, and Human Trafficking,” http://www.dol.gov/ilab/issues/child-forced-labor-trafficking/ (accessed April 27, 2015).
[7] Walk Free Foundation, The Global Slavery Index 2014 (Australia: Hope for Children Organization Australia, 2014), pp. 17 and 33, http://www.globalslaveryindex.org/download/ (accessed December 31, 2014).
[8] Holly Burkhalter, “Sex Trafficking, Law Enforcement and Perpetrator Accountability,” Anti-Trafficking Review, No. 1 (June 2012), https://www.ijm.org/sites/default/files/download/resources/Sex-Trafficking-Law-Enforcment-and-Perpetrator-Accountability.pdf (accessed January 26, 2015), and David Shaw, “Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Children in Cambodia: A Venue-Based Application of Time Space Sampling to Measure Prevalence in Phnom Penh, Siem Reap and Sihanoukville,” International Justice Mission, 2013, https://www.ijm.org/sites/default/files/resources/CSEC%20Prevalence%20-%20Cambodia%20-%20FINAL%20-%2012%20Sept%202013%20(1).pdf (accessed May 7, 2015).
[9] Burkhalter, “Sex Trafficking, Law Enforcement and Perpetrator Accountability.”
[10] Mark Lagon, “Trafficking Trends and Key Rankings: Say No to Grade Inflation,” testimony before the Subcommittee on Africa, Global Health, Global Human Rights, and International Organizations, Foreign Affairs Committee, U.S. House of Representatives, April 22, 2015, http://docs.house.gov/meetings/FA/FA16/20150422/103357/HHRG-114-FA16-Wstate-LagonM-20150422.pdf (accessed April 27, 2015).
[11] Hearing, Accountability and Transformation: Tier Rankings in the Fight Against Human Trafficking, Subcommittee on Africa, Global Health, Global Human Rights, and International Organizations.
[12] U.S. Department of State, Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons, “Trafficking in Persons Report 2013,” June 2013, p. 29, http://www.state.gov/j/tip/rls/tiprpt/2013/210543.htm (accessed November 19, 2013).
[13] Lisa Curtis and Olivia Enos, “Combating Human Trafficking in Asia Requires U.S. Leadership,” Heritage Foundation Backgrounder No. 2995, February 26, 2015, http://www.heritage.org/research/reports/2015/02/combating-human-trafficking-in-asia-requires-us-leadership.
Is Texas Dem Exploiting Loophole by Coaching Migrants to Lie?
The Opioid Epidemic and the Overcriminalization Impulse
Antifa Is Dangerous and It’s Time for the Feds to Step In
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Battle of Bosworth Field
In the last major battle of the War of the Roses, King Richard III is defeated and killed at the Battle of Bosworth Field by Henry Tudor, the earl of Richmond. After the battle, the royal crown, which Richard had worn into the fray, was picked out of a bush and placed on Henry’s head. His crowning as King Henry VII inaugurated the rule of the house of Tudor over England, a dynasty that would last until Queen Elizabeth’s death in 1603.
In the 1450s, English failures in the Hundred Years War with France, coupled with periodic fits of insanity suffered by King Henry VI, led to a power struggle between the two royal houses whose badges were the Red Rose of Lancaster and the White Rose of York. The War of the Roses left little mark on the common English people but severely thinned the ranks of the English nobility. Among the royalty who perished were Richard of York; Richard Neville; the earl of Warwick; and kings Henry VI and Richard III. In 1486, King Henry VII’s marriage to Elizabeth, the daughter of Edward IV, united the houses of Lancaster and York and formally ended the bloody War of the Roses.
https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/battle-of-bosworth-field
Michael Collins assassinated
Irish revolutionary and Sinn Fein politician Michael Collins is killed in an ambush in west County Cork, Ireland. In the early part of the century, Collins joined Sinn Fein, an Irish political party dedicated to achieving independence for all Ireland. From its inception, the ...read more
Zager and Evans end a six-week run at #1 with their smash-hit “In The Year 2525 (Exordium & Terminus)"
Of the ponderously titled single hit that first entered the charts back in June of ’69, Time Zager and Evans never returned to the pop charts after their triumphant debut in the summer of ’69. Nor did they ever explain what “Exordium and Terminus” meant. In their very brief ...read more
U.S. wins first America’s Cup
On August 22, 1851, the U.S.-built schooner America bests a fleet of Britain’s finest ships in a race around England’s Isle of Wight. The ornate silver trophy won by the America was later donated to the New York Yacht Club on condition that it be forever placed in international ...read more
International Red Cross founded
The Geneva Convention of 1864 for the Amelioration of the Condition of the Wounded and Sick of Armies in the Field is adopted by 12 nations meeting in Geneva. The agreement, advocated by Swiss humanitarian Jean-Henri Dunant, called for nonpartisan care to the sick and wounded in ...read more
Shootings at Ruby Ridge
In the second day of a standoff at Randy Weaver’s remote northern Idaho cabin atop Ruby Ridge, FBI sharpshooter Lon Horiuchi wounds Randy Weaver and Kevin Harris, and then kills Weaver’s wife, Vicki. Randy Weaver, an alleged white supremacist, had been targeted by the federal ...read more
Althea Gibson becomes first African-American on U.S. tennis tour
On this day in 1950, officials of the United States Lawn Tennis Association (USLTA) accept Althea Gibson into their annual championship at Forest Hills, New York, making her the first African-American player to compete in a U.S. national tennis competition. Growing up in Harlem, ...read more
Demonstrators disrupt Republican National Convention in Miami Beach
Delegates entering the Republican National Convention in Miami Beach are harassed by 3,000 antiwar demonstrators, many painted with death masks. The rest of the convention is marked by demonstrations outside the meeting hall; hundreds of protestors are arrested and many are ...read more
Nolan Ryan registers 5,000th strikeout
On this day in 1989, Nolan Ryan of the Texas Rangers becomes the first pitcher in major league history to register 5,000 career strikeouts. Ryan would go on to rack up a total of 5,714 strikeouts, over 1,500 more than his closest competition. Lynn Nolan Ryan, Jr. was born January ...read more
Pulitzer Prize-winning author E. Annie Proulx is born
Annie Proulx, author of The Shipping News, is born on this day in 1935 in Norwich, Connecticut. Her mother was a painter and her father a self-made executive in a textile company. Annie lived in various towns in New England and in North Carolina during her childhood, and wrote ...read more
The Barker clan kills an officer in their fruitless robbery
The notorious Barker gang robs a Federal Reserve mail truck in Chicago, Illinois, and kills Officer Miles Cunningham. Netting only a bunch of worthless checks, the Barkers soon returned to a crime with which they had more success—kidnapping. A few months later, the Barkers ...read more
Czechs protest against Soviet invasion
In the streets of Prague and in the United Nations headquarters in New York City, Czechs protest against the Soviet invasion of their nation. The protests served to highlight the brutality of the Soviet action and to rally worldwide condemnation of the Soviet Union. On August ...read more
Lincoln replies to Horace Greeley
President Abraham Lincoln writes a carefully worded letter in response to an abolitionist editorial by Horace Greeley, the editor of the influential New York Tribune, and hints at a change in his policy concerning slavery. From the outset of the Civil War, Lincoln proclaimed the ...read more
Citroen helps De Gaulle survive assassination attempt
On August 22, 1962, President Charles De Gaulle of France survives one of several assassination attempts against him thanks to the superior performance of the presidential automobile: The sleek, aerodynamic Citroen DS 19, known as “La Deesse” (The Goddess). When the Citroen DS ...read more
Redcoats land at Long Island
On this day in 1776, the British arrive at Long Island, between Gravesend and New Utrecht, with “near twenty four thousand men ready to land in a moment,” according to one observer. General William Howe’s large army came to Long Island hoping to capture New York City and gain ...read more
Romania captured by the Soviet Union
On this day in 1944, Soviet forces break through to Jassy, in northeastern Romania, convincing Romania’s king to sign an armistice with the Allies and concede control of his country to the USSR. As early as 1937, Romania had come under control of a fascist government that bore ...read more
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Vaccination claims: Has Europe opened the floodgates?
HJA
The history of UK vaccine litigation is a sorry tale but a careful reading of a new CJEU decision might give claimants grounds for more optimism, advises Peter Todd.
The European Court of Justice’s judgment in W v Sanofi Pasteur MSD caused an outcry in certain sections of the media. It was claimed the CJEU had “opened the floodgates for spurious vaccination claims”. But what is the legal significance of the decision?
W had been given three doses of Sanofi’s hepatitis B vaccine between December 1998 and July 1999. Shortly after, W’s health deteriorated, he became incapacitated, and needed substantial care. He was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis and died on 30 October 2011. An action was brought by his family after his death seeking damages on the basis the vaccine was the cause of his illness and death. Causation was vigorously disputed. The referring court said that the scientific evidence neither proved nor ruled out a causal link.
The CJEU decided that the EU Product Liability Directive did not contain any definition of what is a “causal relationship”, and that while the directive aims to harmonise laws on product liability, it does not seek to harmonise the entire legal regimen around defective products. It was for the national courts to decide on the ways in which evidence was to be elicited, admitted, and assessed, and the level of proof required. The court therefore decided the French evidential rules were not ousted by the directive.
Implications for the UK
The government’s view is that the CJEU’s decision would have little impact on the UK. On 6 July 2017 the parliamentary under-secretary of state for health, Lord O’Shaughnessy, said the court’s decision “does not impact on the UK. This case relates to specific circumstances and law in France.” As such, the media talk about “floodgates being opened” was (unless you are French) overblown.
The history of vaccine litigation in the UK is a sorry tale where many attempts at claims have failed. In Loveday v Renton & Wellcome Foundation [1986] the claims regarding the old whole-cell whooping cough vaccine failed to demonstrate generic causation and were dismissed. The MMR vaccine litigation of 1998-2003 was a notable disaster.
In O’Byrne v Aventis Pasteur (2001-10) the claim had two visits to the House of Lords and to the CJEU before failing on a limitation point. And in Thompson v Bradford a GP escaped liability for clinical negligence on a successful appeal to the Court of Appeal against a High Court decision that had found negligence in the administration of a live polio vaccine to a sick child which resulted in poliomyelitis. Successful claims are few and far between indeed.
However, a careful reading of the CJEU’s decision might give grounds for some more optimism for claimants. The requirements of the directive are that consumers are to have rights of redress where they have been injured by products which are “defective” – i.e. where the products are not as safe as they are reasonably entitled to expect. Given that a vaccine is administered to a healthy individual as a prophylactic, it is arguable any serious adverse reaction resulting in permanent disablement renders the vaccine “defective” as consumers reasonably expect absolute safety.
So the court’s decision could perhaps be read as a warning that the purpose of the directive would be undermined if evidential rules are set too high, preventing consumers from obtaining redress. This possibly has implications for the UK, where so many claims have foundered because the courts expect a high level of scientific and epidemiological proof as to causation in vaccine cases. It will be interesting to see whether this decision is cited in future UK cases as authority that standards of proof must not be set too high, or will be struck down by the application of the directive.
The article first appeared in Solicitors Journal, August 2017.
By Peter Todd | Partner
Nature of enquiry*Asbestos and MesotheliomaCivil libertiesCourt of ProtectionCriminal defenseDispute ResolutionEmploymentFamily LawLife PlanningMedical NegligenceMilitary ClaimsPersonal InjurySerious FraudSocial Housing
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Freeman's Battery, Forrest's Artillery
1. Freeman's Battery, Forrest's Artillery Marker
Freeman's Battery, Forrest's Artillery. . Front: Dedicated to Freeman’s Battery, Forrest’s Artillery and Samuel L. Freeman, Gen. Nathan Bedford Forrest’s first artillery captain. The battery was captured on the Lewisburg Pike near Franklin, TN, April 10, 1863 . . Rear: While advancing toward Franklin, TN on the Lewisburg Pike, April 10, 1863, General N.B. Forrest’s command was attacked by the 4th U.S. Regulars. Forrest’s regiments were widely separated and Captain Samuel L. Freeman’s isolated battery was the focus of the charge. Freeman ordered the battery into action, injuring his knee while placing the guns. A primer failed and the enemy captured the battery and 31 men. Hearing the gunfire, Forrest rushed towards the battery’s position. After cutting the guns down, the Federals, fearing Forrest’s vengeance, ordered the captured artillerymen to run or be shot. The battery doctor could not keep up with the retreating Yankees and was shot in the hand as he tried to protect his face. Unable to run, the unarmed and injured Freeman was shot in the mouth, killing him instantly. The promising young teacher, law student, and Forrest’s first artillery captain had been murdered. Captain Freeman was buried in Springhill, TN April 11, 1863. Gen. Forrest never gave quarter to the 4th U.S. Cavalry in future engagements. . Of Capt. Freeman, Forrest said, Brave man, none braver. Years after the war, one of the battery’s cannoneers stated, We always held to the name of Freeman. . . Erected by Freeman’s Battery, Forrest’s Artillery Camp 1939, Sons of Confederate Veterans . November 30, 2003 . This historical marker was erected in 2003 by Freeman’s Battery, Forrest’s Artillery Camp 1939, Sons of Confederate Veterans. It is in Franklin in Williamson County Tennessee
Front: Dedicated to Freeman’s Battery, Forrest’s Artillery and Samuel L. Freeman, Gen. Nathan Bedford Forrest’s first artillery captain. The battery was captured on the Lewisburg Pike near Franklin, TN, April 10, 1863
Rear: While advancing toward Franklin, TN on the Lewisburg Pike, April 10, 1863, General N.B. Forrest’s command was attacked by the 4th U.S. Regulars. Forrest’s regiments were widely separated and Captain Samuel L. Freeman’s isolated battery was the focus of the charge. Freeman ordered the battery into action, injuring his knee while placing the guns. A primer failed and the enemy captured the battery and 31 men. Hearing the gunfire, Forrest rushed towards the battery’s position. After cutting the guns down, the Federals, fearing Forrest’s vengeance, ordered the captured artillerymen to run or be shot. The battery doctor could not keep up with the retreating Yankees and was shot in the hand as he tried to protect his face. Unable to run, the unarmed and injured Freeman was shot in the mouth, killing him instantly. The promising young teacher, law student, and Forrest’s first artillery captain had been murdered. Captain
Freeman was buried in Springhill, TN April 11, 1863. Gen. Forrest never gave quarter to the 4th U.S. Cavalry in future engagements.
Of Capt. Freeman, Forrest said, Brave man, none braver. Years after the war, one of the battery’s cannoneers stated, We always held to the name of Freeman.
Erected by Freeman’s Battery, Forrest’s Artillery Camp 1939, Sons of Confederate Veterans
Erected 2003 by Freeman’s Battery, Forrest’s Artillery Camp 1939, Sons of Confederate Veterans.
Location. 35° 53.317′ N, 86° 52.674′ W. Marker is in Franklin, Tennessee, in Williamson County. Marker is on Columbia Avenue (U.S. 31) 0.2 miles south of Mack C. Hatcher Memorial Parkway (Tennessee Route 397), on the right when traveling south. Touch for map. One of several memorial/commemorative markers within Winstead Hill Park. Marker is at or near this postal address: 4023 Columbia Ave, Franklin TN 37064, United States of America. Touch for directions.
Other nearby markers. At least 8 other markers are within walking distance of this marker. Tennessee, A Grave or a Free Home (a few steps from this marker); Hood and Schofield (a few steps from this marker); Mississippi (a few steps from this marker); Brigadier's Walk (within shouting distance of this marker); Cockrell's Missouri Brigade CSA
3. 3" Ordinance Rifle
A nearby artillery piece.
(within shouting distance of this marker); Winstead Hill (within shouting distance of this marker); Major General Patrick R. Cleburne CSA (within shouting distance of this marker); 3" Ordinance Gun (within shouting distance of this marker). Touch for a list and map of all markers in Franklin.
More. Search the internet for Freeman's Battery, Forrest's Artillery.
Credits. This page was last revised on July 11, 2019. This page originally submitted on May 22, 2017, by Larry Gertner of New York, New York. This page has been viewed 178 times since then and 43 times this year. Last updated on June 26, 2019, by Larry Gertner of New York, New York. Photos: 1. submitted on May 22, 2017, by Larry Gertner of New York, New York. 2. submitted on June 28, 2019, by Larry Gertner of New York, New York. 3. submitted on May 22, 2017, by Larry Gertner of New York, New York. • Bernard Fisher was the editor who published this page.
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Out-of-state payday lender may get socked for $230,000
May 30, 2007 at 12:01 AM May 30, 2007 at 12:47 AM
CHICAGO — The state’s financial-regulation agency wants to fine an Internet-based “payday” lender $234,000 for making a $300 loan to an Illinois woman.
By MIKE RAMSEY
The Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation on Wednesday filed an order against Global Payday Loan LLC demanding that the out-of-state enterprise stop issuing loans to state residents. Department spokeswoman Sue Hofer said Global Payday Loan does not have a license to do business here and violated a 2005 law under the terms of a $300 loan it made to a Chicago-area consumer last year.
That loan’s six-day repayment deadline was shorter than the mandatory minimum of 13 days, Hofer said. Also, she said, fees on the loan exceeded the limit of $15.50 per $100 that is allowed in Illinois.
Even though the consumer paid the loan back, representatives for the lender harassed her and told her she owed hundreds of dollars more, Hofer said. The agency did not identify the woman by name but quoted her in a news release as saying, “These people are sharks, and I don’t owe them any more money and don’t deserve to be harassed by them.”
The woman triggered the department’s action by filing a complaint, Hofer said.
Hofer said the state’s proposed fine of $234,000 is the largest sought against a lender since lawmakers and Gov. Rod Blagojevich approved the Payday Loan Reform Act two years ago. The new law set requirements for payday loans, which consumers typically secure with a forthcoming paycheck.
A phone message was left Wednesday with an employee of Global Payday Loan, which has offices in Jenkintown, Pa.; the company shut down its Salt Lake City operation earlier this year, according to a Utah state regulatory official who had no further information.
The firm, which does business online as Payday-Loan-Yes, can request a legal hearing to contest the Illinois order and proposed fine.
For more information about payday loan regulations or to file a complaint, go to the state Department of Financial and Professional Regulation Web site at www.idfpr.com.
Mike Ramsey can be reached at (312) 857-2323 or ghns-ramsey@sbcglobal.net.
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Exec Suite
January 31, 2012 5:58pm PT by Matthew Belloni
'The Reader' Author Bernard Schlink Sues the Weinstein Co. Over Movie Profits (Exclusive)
The Weinstein Co.
Schlink claims he hasn't been paid at all from the profits of the hit 2008 drama.
Bernard Schlink, who authored the novel that formed the basis of the acclaimed drama The Reader, has sued distributor The Weinstein Co claiming he has been cheated out of millions in profits from the Oscar-winning film.
Schlink, who filed suit in Los Angeles Superior Court on Tuesday, claims he is entitled to between 2.5 percent and 5 percent of gross receipts from the film, which won Kate Winslet an Oscar for best actress, based on a $1.5 million option deal he signed in 1998 with the Weinsteins' former company Miramax. Harvey and Bob Weinstein took the Reader project with them when they left Miramax to form TWC, but Schlink claims he has received nothing from TWC and has been sent only one profit participation statement, in violation of his rights.
"The statement is false in that it greatly under-states the receipts, overstates the costs and expenses, and does not correctly follow the terms of their deal with Miramax," the lawsuit alleges.
We've reached out to TWC for comment.
Schlink, a German law professor and judge, published The Reader novel in 1995. The story, which deals with the impact of the Holocaust, was translated to English and in 1998 became the first German book to top the New York Times bestseller list.
The movie version, directed by Stephen Daldry and released in late 2008, garnered five Oscar nominations, including best picture. The film went on to ride awards buzz to gross about $108.9 million worldwide.
The suit, filed by L.A. attorney Joseph Hart, alleges causes of action for breach of contract, fraudulent concealment, money had and received, breach of implied contract, and accounting. Schlink claims he's owed at least $1 million but likely more than that amount.
Email: Matthew.Belloni@thr.com
Twitter: @THRMattBelloni
Matthew Belloni
THRnews@thr.com THRMattBelloni
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M.P.H. (Man Praisin Hard)
M.P.H. (Man Praisin Hard) » Image Galleries » Man Praisin Hard » IMG_7512 (2)
Performing LIVE
About M.P.H. (Man Praisin Hard)
Few artists are willing to promote themselves in an unpopular fashion such as gospel hip hop artists. With the immense amount of love shown to the arts which promotes violence and sexual promiscuity, the role of "Christian rapper" is very unappealing and even unpopular. But 19 year old Marcellius Hamilton, also known as M.P.H, is not afraid. Inspired at the tender age of eight, M.P.H. began writing his own music. He creatively formed a group called "Jesus In Our Hearts," which consisted of two of his best friends. This naïve experimentation proved to be only the beginning of a career for the young M.P.H.
At age 11, M.P.H. began experimenting with musical production while writing and co-producing what would be known as his first single "Honesty" released on his first album "Life 101, 14 year strong." His love for music continued to grow and his exceptional writing abilities sparkled within his music. M.P.H.'s song "Gospel Rollas" changed the way people viewed him forever. He no longer was viewed as the young child who sang in church. He now was viewed as the new face of "today's gospel hip hop music."M.P.H. changed the name of his crew to the Gospel Rollas and went on recording songs in hopes of finishing his first album followed by a mix tape, "Unclaimed Fame."
It is apparent that artist M.P.H is a producer, writer, and artist, but what is most striking, is his demand to be heard. Artist, M. P. H has shared the stage with well known artists such as John Legend, Patti Labelle, Yolanda Adams, Hezekiah Walker, Kirk Franklin, DA Truth, and Canton Jones, just to name a few.
His ability to create music and songs that all people can relate to is far more than amazing! In 2009, M.P.H. released "Universal Disturbance" and is set to release "Cold Sweat" in July 26, 2011. He continues to work hard, keeping Christ first and addressing issues other Christian artists refuse to address. His music is appreciated by people who have no church background, and proves to be exactly what the world needs. "If people won't go to church, then he will bring the church to them," said MPH.
Kanye West, Lupe Fiasco, Fabolous, R. Kelly, Canton Jones, Lecrae, Trip Lee
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11/06/2012 11:24 pm ET Updated Nov 20, 2012
Amendment 64 Passes: Colorado Legalizes Marijuana For Recreational Use
By Matt Ferner
The Rocky Mountain High just got a whole lot higher. On Tuesday night, Amendment 64 -- the measure seeking the legalization of marijuana for recreational use by adults -- was passed by Colorado voters, making Colorado the first state to end marijuana prohibition in the United States.
Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper, a vocal opponent to the measure, reacted to the passage of A64 in a statement late Tuesday night:
The voters have spoken and we have to respect their will. This will be a complicated process, but we intend to follow through. That said, federal law still says marijuana is an illegal drug so don’t break out the Cheetos or gold fish too quickly.
The passage of the state measure is without historical precedent and the consequences will likely be closely-watched around the world. In an interview with The Huffington Post, the authors/researchers behind the book "Marijuana Legalization: What Everyone Needs To Know" pointed out that the measure in Colorado is truly groundbreaking, comparing it to the legalization that Amsterdam enjoys:
A common error is to believe that the Netherlands has already legalized cannabis (the preferred term for marijuana in Europe). What has been de facto legalized is only the retail sale of 5 grams (about a sixth of an ounce) or less. Production and wholesale distribution is still illegal, and that prohibition is enforced, which is largely why the price of sinsemilla in the “coffee shops” isn’t much different than the price in American dispensaries.
A64 will allow adults 21 and older to purchase up to one ounce of marijuana from specialty marijuana dispensaries and grow up to six marijuana plants in their homes. Possession is limited to up to an ounce for personal use, but selling marijuana without a license, purchasing marijuana from a party who is not licensed as well as public use of marijuana will remain illegal.
Although Colorado "legalized it," it will be several months, perhaps as long as a year, before Colorado adults 21-and-over can enjoy the legal sale of marijuana. However, the parts of the amendment related to individual behavior will go into effect as soon as Governor Hickenlooper certifies the results of the vote, a proclamation he is obligated to do within 30 days of the election, The Colorado Independent reported.
It's a huge victory for the Campaign To Regulate Marijuana Like Alcohol, the pro-pot group behind Amendment 64. "Over the past eight years in Colorado, we have argued that it is irrational to punish adults for choosing to use a product that is far less harmful than alcohol," Mason Tvert, co-director of the campaign, said in a statement. "Today, the voters agreed. Colorado will no longer have laws that steer people toward using alcohol, and adults will be free to use marijuana instead if that is what they prefer. And we will be better off as a society because of it."
This is the second time Colorado voted on legal weed, in 2006 Coloradans voted the measure down, but not in 2012. Tvert told The Huffington Post in an August interview why he thought this year might be different:
The 2006 initiative would have simply removed the penalties for the possession of marijuana legal for individuals 21 years of age or older. The current initiative proposes a fully regulated system of cultivation and sales, which will eliminate the underground marijuana market and generate tens of millions of dollars per year in new revenue and criminal justice savings. It also directs the legislature to regulate the cultivation of industrial hemp, a versatile, popular, and environmentally friendly agricultural crop.
More importantly, voters are more informed about marijuana than ever before. They have also experienced the emergence of a state-regulated medical marijuana system that has not produced any serious problems, but has provided a number of benefits. We now know that marijuana cultivation and sales can be regulated, and that medical marijuana businesses do not contribute to increased crime. We have also seen marijuana use among high school students decrease since the state began implementing regulations, whereas it has increased nationwide where there are no regulations. And, of course, localities and the state have seen how much revenue can be generated through the legal sale of marijuana that would have otherwise gone into the underground market. Voters in Colorado no longer need to imagine what a legal and regulated system of marijuana sales would look like; they have seen it.
It's also worth noting that 2012 is a presidential election year, so we will benefit from increased voter turnout compared to an off-year election like 2006. Historically, the more people who vote, the more support marijuana reform initiatives receive.
On the same night that Colorado passed Amendment 64, Washington state passed Initiative 502 which regulates and taxes sales of small amounts of marijuana for adults, The Associated Press reports. Oregon also had a similar recreational marijuana measure on the ballot, but as of publishing and with 47 percent of precincts reporting, it looked as if it would not pass.
Under Amendment 64, marijuana is taxed and regulated similar to alcohol and tobacco. It gives state and local governments the ability to control and tax the sale of small amounts of marijuana to adults age 21 and older. According to the Associated Press, analysts project that that tax revenue could generate somewhere between $5 million and $22 million a year in the state. An economist whose study was funded by a pro-pot group projects as much as a $60 million boost by 2017.
"Today, the people of Colorado have rejected the failed policy of marijuana prohibition," Brian Vicente, also a co-director of the Campaign to Regulate Marijuana, said in a statement. "Thanks to their votes, we will now reap the benefits of regulation. We will create new jobs, generation million of dollars in tax revenue, and allow law enforcement to focus on serious crimes. It would certainly be a travesty if the Obama administration used its power to impose marijuana prohibition upon a state whose people have declared, through the democratic process, that they want it to end."
The big unknown still is if the federal government will allow a regulated marijuana market to take shape. Attorney General Eric Holder, who was a vocal opponent of California's legalization initiative in 2010 saying he would "vigorously enforce" federal marijuana prohibition, has continued to remain silent on the issue this year.
In September, Holder was urged by nine former heads of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration to take a stand against marijuana legalization again. "To continue to remain silent conveys to the American public and the global community a tacit acceptance of these dangerous initiatives," the nine said in the letter to holder obtained by Reuters.
In October, those same DEA drug warriors joined by former directors of the Office of National Drug Control Policy on a teleconference call to put additional pressure on Holder to speak out against Colorado's marijuana measure as well as similar initiatives on the ballot in Washington state and Oregon.
The drug warriors say that states that legalize marijuana for recreational use will trigger a "Constitutional showdown" with the federal government.
In a report published Sunday by NBC News, President Obama's former senior drug policy advisor said that if the marijuana initiatives pass, a war will be incited between the federal government and the states that pass them. "Once these states actually try to implement these laws, we will see an effort by the feds to shut it down," Sabet said.
But proponents of the legislation say they don't foresee federal agents interfering in states that have legalized cannabis, citing the federal government's silence on the issue this election cycle.
The DOJ has yet to formally announce its enforcement intentions, however, the clearest statement from the DOJ came from Deputy Attorney General James Cole, who said his office's stance on the issue would be "the same as it's always been." During a recent appearance on "60 Minutes" Cole elaborated, "We're going to take a look at whether or not there are dangers to the community from the sale of marijuana and we're going to go after those dangers," Reuters reported.
16 Facts About Marijuana And The U.S. Economy
Matt Ferner
Senior Reporter, HuffPost
420 Marijuana Colorado Smoking Denver
$13.7 Billion Saved On Prohibition Enforcement Costs
The government would save an estimated $13.7 billion on prohibition enforcement costs and tax revenue by legalizing marijuana, <a href="https://www.huffpost.com/entry/economists-marijuana-legalization_n_1431840" target="_hplink">according to a paper endorsed by 300 economists</a>.
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Inquiry into the incident at the Manus Island Detention Centre from 16 February to 18 February 2014
The Australian Human Rights Commission makes this submission to the Senate Legal and Constitutional Affairs References Committee in its inquiry into the incident at the Manus Island Detention Centre (MIDC) from 16 February to 18 February 2014.
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Australian Human Rights Commission Submission to the Senate Legal And Constitutional Affairs References Committee
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3 Australia’s responsibility under international law
3.1 Australia is responsible if it exercises ‘effective control’ over asylum seekers or the MIDC
3.2 Factors supporting a conclusion of ‘effective control’
4 International human rights obligations regarding treatment of people in detention
4.1 Obligation to protect life and prevent death (article 6)
4.2 Obligation to protect the dignity and physical and mental integrity of persons in detention (articles 7 and 10)
4.3 Obligation not to detain persons arbitrarily (article 9)
4.4 Obligation to closely monitor the situation within the MIDC
4.5 Obligation to undertake an effective investigation and (in the case of violations) to provide an effective remedy (articles 2(3), 6 and 7)
4.6 Obligation to prevent future violations
The Commission is established by the Australian Human Rights Commission Act 1986 (Cth) and is Australia’s national human rights institution.
The Commission notes that the Committee’s inquiry is essentially an investigation into the sequence of events at the MIDC in Papua New Guinea (PNG) from 16 February 2014 to 18 February 2014 which led to the death of one asylum seeker who was detained in the centre, Reza Berati, and the injury of 62 other asylum seekers.[1] The Committee is also inquiring into the relevant actions and responsibility of the Department of Immigration and Border Protection, its contractors, subcontractors and service providers, and the Minister for Immigration and Border Protection.
The Commission’s submission is confined to the inquiry’s Term of Reference (k) ‘the Australian Government’s duty of care obligations and responsibilities’, in light of Australia’s human rights obligations.
The Commission’s submission will set out the circumstances in which the Australian Government’s international human rights obligations will extend to the treatment of asylum seekers transferred to and detained in the MIDC, and the content of those obligations most relevant to the incident on Manus Island. The Commission’s submission will not provide information about or include commentary on the events at the MIDC from 16 to 18 February 2014, or the involvement of the different parties.
Under international law, Australia remains bound to ensure the human rights of asylum seekers if it has ‘effective control’ over asylum seekers it has transferred to another country, or over a regional processing centre to which they have been transferred. The Commission considers that there are a number of factors which would support the conclusion that Australia is exercising effective control over the asylum seekers transferred to and detained on Manus Island.
The most important human rights obligations regarding those detained in the MIDC include obligations:
(1) to protect the lives and prevent the deaths of the asylum seekers (including at the hands of third parties)
(2) to protect the dignity and physical and mental integrity of the asylum seekers (including protecting them from assaults and injuries by others)
(3) to refrain from detaining the asylum seekers arbitrarily
(4) to monitor closely the situation with the MIDC
(5) to account for the cause and circumstances of Reza Berati’s death, and to that end to conduct an effective investigation into the events which led to his death
(6) to provide an effective remedy in the event that the above investigation reveals that violations of human rights occurred
(7) to act to prevent future violations from occurring in similar circumstances, including, if necessary, changing laws and practices regarding the transfer of asylum seekers to PNG.
The Commission has repeatedly emphasised that Australia cannot avoid its human rights obligations under international law by transferring asylum seekers to a third country.[2] If Australia has ‘effective control’ over asylum seekers whom it has transferred to another country, or over a regional processing centre to which they have been transferred, then it is bound to continue to treat them consistently with human rights treaties to which Australia is a party.[3]
Australia’s obligations under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights[4] (ICCPR) extend to all individuals ‘within its territory and subject to its jurisdiction’.[5] These obligations include those who are outside Australian territory but subject to Australia’s jurisdiction.[6] In order for a person outside the territory of a State to be regarded as ‘subject to its jurisdiction’, it is necessary to establish that the person is within the power or effective control of that State.[7]
It will be only in exceptional cases that persons outside the territory of a State will be regarded as subject to its jurisdiction.[8] However, the European Court of Human Rights has said that one circumstance in which a State will be found to have extraterritorial jurisdiction arises where:
through the consent, invitation or acquiescence of the Government of that territory, it exercises all or some of the public powers normally to be exercised by that Government ... Thus where, in accordance with custom, treaty or other agreement, authorities of the Contracting State carry out executive or judicial functions on the territory of another State, the Contracting State may be responsible for breaches of the Convention thereby incurred, as long as the acts in question are attributable to it rather than to the territorial State.[9]
This submission does not purport to provide a comprehensive analysis of the legal and factual situation surrounding the establishment and operation of the MIDC in order to determine whether Australia is exercising effective control of the facility or the detainees. However, the Commission notes that there are a number of factors that would support the conclusion that Australia is exercising effective control over the MIDC, including the facts that:
In August 2012 the Australian Government reinstated a system of third country processing for asylum seekers who arrived by boat without authorisation.
On 8 September 2012 the Australian Government signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Government of PNG ‘relating to the transfer and assessment’ of asylum seekers in PNG (the 2012 MOU).[10]
In November 2012 the Australian Government began transferring asylum seekers to Manus Island.
On 19 July 2013 the Australian Government announced a Regional Resettlement Arrangement with the Government of PNG, and on 6 August 2013 it entered into a new Memorandum of Understanding with PNG to support the Arrangement (the 2013 MOU).[11] The 2013 MOU replaced the 2012 MOU.
Both the 2012 MOU and the 2013 MOU:
provided that the Australian Government would bear all costs incurred under those MOUs
contained a ‘commitment’ that both governments would ‘treat Transferees’ or ‘ensure that Transferees are treated’ ‘with dignity and respect and in accordance with relevant human rights standards’
provided for the establishment of a Joint Committee, jointly chaired by Australian and PNG officials, which would have ‘responsibility for the oversight of practical arrangements required to implement this MOU’.
It appears that the MIDC is being operated by contractors pursuant to arrangements with Australia, and that those contractors report to Australia about the performance of those contracts.
The Parliamentary Joint Committee on Human Rights (PJCHR) considered detailed submissions and evidence in relation to this issue in the course of its examination of the legislation underpinning Australia’s ‘regional processing’ regime. In its 2013 report the PJCHR noted that:
Australia’s involvement in the arrangements relating to the detention, upkeep and provision of services to persons transferred from Australia for the processing of asylum claims in Manus Island and Nauru is significant.[12]
The PJCHR concluded that ‘the evidence demonstrates that Australia could be viewed as exercising “effective control” of the arrangements relating to the treatment of persons transferred to Manus Island or Nauru’.[13]
The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) has come to a similar conclusion to that of the PJCHR regarding Australia’s responsibility for the treatment of asylum seekers in PNG. In its report following its mission to Manus Island in January 2013, UNHCR stated that:
The terms under which transfers have taken place and will continue to take place as well as the significant de facto control exercised by Australian officials and contractors on Manus Island reinforce UNHCR’s view that legal responsibility under international law for the care and protection of all transferees from Australia to PNG remains with both contracting States.[14]
The Australian Government’s duty of care obligations and responsibilities regarding those detained in the MIDC must be considered in light of the following human rights:
right to life (article 6(1) of the ICCPR)
right not to be subjected to torture or cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment (article 7 of the ICCPR)
right to be treated with humanity and respect while in detention (article 10 of the ICCPR)
right to be free from arbitrary detention (article 9(1) of the ICCPR)
right to an effective remedy in the case of a violation of rights, which, in the case of an alleged violation of articles 6 or 7, includes an effective investigation (articles 2(3), 6 and 7 of the ICCPR).
The Commission has consistently and repeatedly raised concerns that the ‘regional processing’ regime may lead to breaches of Australia’s obligations under international law.[15] The Commission has stated that the detention of individuals in the MIDC raises serious concerns, including because:
their detention, for long periods of time, without individualised assessments of the need to detain (or to continue to detain) them, may be contrary to the obligation under article 9(1) of the ICCPR, and
their detention in the MIDC may expose them to conditions and treatment which may breach Australia’s obligations under articles 10 and 7 of the ICCPR.[16]
The right to life is provided for by article 6(1) of the ICCPR as follows:
Every human being has the inherent right to life. This right shall be protected by law. No one shall be arbitrarily deprived of his life.
The right to life creates an obligation on the part of the State to take positive steps to protect life.[17] A particular duty is owed to persons in detention. The UN Human Rights Committee (HRC) has stated that pursuant to their obligations under article 6(1) of the ICCPR ‘it is incumbent on States to ensure the right of life of detainees’, as ‘the essential fact’ is that ‘the State party by...detaining individuals takes the responsibility to care for their life.’[18]
This responsibility includes protecting detainees from fatal violence at the hands of others (or themselves), because the act of detaining a person impairs or removes that person’s ability to protect themselves from threats to their physical safety. In Barbato v Uruguay the HRC recognized that the State has a duty under article 6(1) to take adequate measures to protect the life of a prisoner against suicide, forced suicide and killing by others while in custody.[19]
This obligation is particularly relevant in the circumstances, given that the Minster for Immigration and Border Protection has stated that the majority of the events which occurred on 16-18 February, including, information suggests, those which resulted in Mr Berati’s death, occurred within the MIDC.[20]
Given that the incident at the MIDC in February resulted not only in the death of Reza Berati but also the injury of 62 other transferees, it is relevant to consider the Australian Government’s obligations under articles 7 and 10 of the ICCPR, as well as article 6.
Article 7 of the ICCPR provides that ‘[n]o one shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.’ The prohibition under article 7 has been further articulated under the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CAT),[21] to which Australia is also a party.
Article 7 of the ICCPR protects the dignity and the physical and mental integrity of the individual.[22] The HRC has stated that it is implicit in article 7 that ‘States Parties have to take positive measures to ensure that private persons or entities do not inflict torture or cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment on others within their power.’[23]
Article 10(1) of the ICCPR imposes further positive obligations which are directed specifically at the rights of detained persons. Article 10(1) provides that ‘[a]ll persons deprived of their liberty shall be treated with humanity and with respect for the inherent dignity of the human person.’
The HRC has stated that article 10(1) imposes on States a positive obligation towards persons who are particularly vulnerable because of their status as persons deprived of liberty.[24] As mentioned above, thisvulnerability includes detainees’ general inability to take the steps a free person could to protect themselves.
The HRC has considered that the positive duty under article 10(1) extends to taking adequate measures to protect detainees from being assaulted by others.[25]
As referred to above, the human rights obligations under article 6 and 7 are heightened (and in the case of article 10, only arise) because of the fact that asylum seekers who are sent to Manus Island are held in a closed detention facility, where they have no freedom of movement.
The fact of their detention raises issues under article 9(1) of the ICCPR, which provides that no one should be subjected to arbitrary detention. The HRC has held that detention will be arbitrary when it continues beyond the period for which the State Party can provide appropriate justification.[26]
The Commission has repeatedly raised concerns that the mandatory and indefinite detention of asylum seekers on Manus Island may violate article 9(1).[27] Similarly, the PJCHR in June 2013 concluded that the delays in processing and continued detention of asylum seekers in PNG (and Nauru) ‘appear[ed] to constitute arbitrary detention’.[28]
Following its visit to Manus Island in October 2013, UNHCR also concluded that the practice of detaining all asylum seekers in the closed centre, on a mandatory and open-ended basis and without an assessment of the need for such detention, amounted to arbitrary detention in breach of international law.[29]
Australia’s duty under international law to provide adequate care to persons deprived of their liberty is non-delegable,[30] as it is under the Australian common law.[31] This extends to an obligation to monitor and review the activities of contractors engaged in the running of regional processing centres over which Australia has effective control. The purpose of this monitoring is to ensure that transferees’ human rights are being respected and protected. Regular independent monitoring of detention facilities is an important safeguard against human rights abuses.[32]
However, during the period of Reza Berati’s detention in the MIDC there was no independent body in place to monitor the conditions in that centre and the treatment of detainees. In fact, as at the date of this submission, the Joint Committee with responsibility for oversight of the ‘regional processing’ arrangements on Manus Island (for which both the 2012 and the 2013 MOUs had expressly provided) had still not been established.
Despite the absence of an independent monitoring or advisory body with responsibility for oversight of the MIDC, the Commission considers that the Australian Government was ‘on notice’ as to the risks to the safety of the asylum seekers being detained on Manus Island.
In November 2013 and December 2013, UNHCR and Amnesty International respectively published reports following their visits to Manus Island. Both reports raised concerns about safety and security in the MIDC.
UNHCR and Amnesty both described reports from asylum seekers about an altercation on 18 October 2013 between PNG police and the PNG army outside of the MIDC (but in view of the detainees), which caused the asylum seekers to fear for their safety.[33] Amnesty International reported that ‘[m]any detainees interviewed believed that members of the local community were attacking the facility and the asylum seekers.’[34] The UNHCR concluded that the arrangements in place on Manus Island at the time of its visit (October 2013) did ‘not provide safe and humane conditions of treatment in detention’.[35]
The ICCPR places an obligation on States Parties to provide an effective remedy to persons whose human rights are violated.[36] The HRC has stated that in order to ensure that individuals have accessible and effective remedies, the ICCPR places on States Parties a ‘general obligation to investigate allegations of violations promptly, thoroughly and effectively through independent and impartial bodies.’[37]
In the event of a death in detention, the duty to investigate forms part of the State’s obligations under article 6(1), such that a failure to take appropriate measures or to exercise due diligence to investigate the death and punish those responsible (including private persons or entities) may result in a violation by the State of the right to life.[38]
Article 7 (in conjunction with article 2(3)) of the ICCPR similarly requires allegations of ill-treatment which may violate the article to be investigated ‘promptly and impartially by competent authorities’.[39]
Given that it appears Reza Berati sustained his fatal injuries inside the MIDC, there is a strong onus on those responsible for his detention to account for how he died. In relation to the equivalent right to life under article 2(1) of the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms,[40] the European Court of Human Rights has repeatedly emphasised that:
in the case of persons within [authorities’] control in detention, strong presumptions of fact will arise in respect of injuries and death occurring during that detention. Indeed, the burden of proof may be regarded as resting on the authorities to provide a satisfactory and convincing explanation.[41]
The reason for this is because of the duty authorities assume when they detain a person. As the European Court of Human Rights has explained:
Persons in custody are in a vulnerable position and the authorities are under a duty to protect them. Consequently, where an individual is taken into police custody in good health and is found to be injured on release, it is incumbent on the State to provide a plausible explanation of how those injuries were caused. The obligation on the authorities to account for the treatment of an individual in custody is particularly stringent where that individual dies.[42]
The House of Lords has explained that the purposes of an investigation where a person dies in state custody are:
to ensure so far as possible that the full facts are brought to light; that culpable and discreditable conduct is exposed and brought to public notice; that suspicion of deliberate wrong-doing (if justified) is allayed; that dangerous practices and procedures are rectified; and that those who have lost their relative may at least have the satisfaction of knowing that lessons learned from his death may save the lives of others.[43]
The European Court of Human Rights has stated that the minimum requirements for an ‘effective’ investigation under article 2(1) include:
The investigation should be carried out by persons who are independent from those who are implicated in the death.
The authorities must take all reasonable steps available to secure the evidence concerning the incident, including eye witness testimony, forensic evidence and, where appropriate, an autopsy which provides a complete and accurate record of injury and an objective analysis of clinical findings, including the cause of death.
The investigation should be carried out promptly and with reasonable expedition.
There must be a sufficient element of public scrutiny of the investigation or its results to secure accountability.[44]
Following an effective investigation into allegations of breaches of articles 6 or 7, article 2(3) of the ICCPR places an obligation on States Parties to prosecute those suspected of involvement in the breaches. The HRC has stated that:
Where the investigations...reveal violations of certain Covenant rights, States Parties must ensure that those responsible are brought to justice. As with failure to investigate, failure to bring to justice perpetrators of such violations could in and of itself give rise to a separate breach of the Covenant.[45]
The obligation to provide an effective remedy also, according to the HRC, requires reparation to the person whose rights have been violated (or, in the event of death, their family). Reparations can ‘involve restitution, rehabilitation and measures of satisfaction, such as public apologies, public memorials, guarantees of non-repetition and changes in relevant laws and practices’.[46]
In relation to the last-mentioned aspects of reparations, it is important to note that the HRC views the positive obligations under article 2 as including a duty to take steps to ensure that further breaches of the rights in the ICCPR do not occur in similar circumstances. The HRC has stated that:
In general, the purposes of the Covenant would be defeated without an obligation integral to article 2 to take measures to prevent a recurrence of a violation of the Covenant. Accordingly, it has been a frequent practice of the Committee...to include in its Views the need for measures, beyond a victim-specific remedy, to be taken to avoid recurrence of the type of violation in question. Such measures may require changes in the State Party’s laws or practices.[47]
Therefore, the obligation to investigate the incident on Manus Island and, in the event that a violation of articles 6 and/or 7 (and/or 10) has occurred, to provide an effective remedy, would include an obligation to review those laws and practices which created an environment in which the violations occurred.
In terms of Australia’s legal responsibility, the relevant laws and practices are those which comprise Australia’s ‘regional processing’ regime. This regime requires the transfer to PNG of asylum seekers who come by boat to Australia without authorisation.
In the event that the investigation into the incident on Manus Island, and specifically into Reza Berati’s death, reveals that the conditions and treatment of asylum seekers in the MIDC contributed to violations of the ICCPR, the Australian Government would be under an obligation under article 2 to review the practice of detaining asylum seekers in the MIDC.
[1] Minister for Immigration and Border Protection, ‘Manus Island incident, Operation Sovereign Borders, joint review’ (Press Conference, 21 February 2014). At http://www.minister.immi.gov.au/media/sm/2014/sm212027.htm (viewed 16 May 2014).
[2] See for example Australian Human Rights Commission, Submission to the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Human Rights’ Examination of the Migration (Regional Processing) package of legislation (January 2013), section 5. At http://www.humanrights.gov.au/submissions/examination-migration-regional-processing-package-legislation#Heading273 (viewed 16 May 2014); Australian Human Rights Commission, Asylum seekers, refugees and human rights: snapshot report 2013 (October 2013), section 3. At http://www.humanrights.gov.au/publications/asylum-seekers-refugees-and-human-rights-snapshot-report (viewed 16 May 2014).
[3] See the decision of the European Court of Human Rights in Al-Skeini v United Kingdom [GC] [2011] ECHR 1093.
[4]International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, 1966. At http://www.austlii.edu.au/au/other/dfat/treaties/1980/23.html (viewed 16 May 2014).
[5] ICCPR, article 2.
[6]Legal Consequences of the Construction of a Wall in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, Advisory Opinion [2004] ICJ Rep 136, [109]; UN Human Rights Committee, General Comment No. 31: The Nature of the General Legal Obligation Imposed on States Parties to the Covenant, UN Doc CCPR/C/21/Rev.1/Add.13 (2004), para [10]. At http://www.refworld.org/docid/478b26ae2.html (viewed 16 May 2014).
[7] See, for example, Report of the Chairperson-Rapporteur of the Working Group on Arbitrary Detention, Leila Zerrougui; the Special Rapporteur on the independence of judges and lawyers, Leandro Despouy; the Special Rapporteur on torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, Manfred Nowak; the Special Rapporteur on freedom of religion or belief, Asma Jahangir; and the Special Rapporteur on the right of everyone to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health, Paul Hunt, Situation of detainees at Guantánamo Bay, UN Doc E/CN.4/2006/120 at [11].At http://www.refworld.org/docid/45377b0b0.html (viewed 16 May 2014).
[8]Al-Skeini v United Kingdom [GC] [2011] ECHR 1093, [131].
[10] A copy of the Memorandum of Understanding was included in the group of documents tabled with the designation of PNG as a ‘regional processing country’ on 9 October 2012. A copy of this set of documents is available at http://www.humanrights.gov.au/transfer-asylum-seekers-third-countries (viewed 16 May 2014).
[11] A copy of the 2013 Memorandum of Understanding with PNG is available at http://www.dfat.gov.au/geo/png/joint-mou-20130806.html (viewed 16 May 2014).
[12] Parliamentary Joint Committee on Human Rights, Parliament of Australia, Ninth Report of 2013: Migration Legislation Amendment (Regional Processing and Other Measures) Act 2012 and related legislation (2013), para [2.54]. At http://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Committees/Joint/Human_Rights/Completed_inquiries/2013/2013/92013/index (viewed 16 May 2014).
[13] Parliamentary Joint Committee on Human Rights, above, para [2.55].
[14] United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), UNHCR Mission to Manus Island, Papua New Guinea, 15-17 January 2013 (2013), pp 7-8. At http://unhcr.org.au/unhcr/images/2013-02-04%20Manus%20Island%20Report%20Final.pdf (viewed 16 May 2014). UNHCR reiterated this position following its visit to Manus Island in October 2013: see UNHCR, UNHCR monitoring visit to Manus Island, Papua New Guinea, 23-25 October 2013 (2013), p 6. At http://unhcr.org.au/unhcr/images/2013-11-26%20Report%20of%20UNHCR%20Visit%20to%20Manus%20Island%20PNG%2023-25%20October%202013.pdf (viewed 16 May 2014).
[15] See for example, Australian Human Rights Commission, Submission, note 2; Australian Human Rights Commission, Asylum seekers, refugees and human rights, note 2, section 3.
[16] See Australian Human Rights Commission, Asylum seekers, refugees and human rights, above, sections 3(b) and (c).
[17] Human Rights Committee, General Comment 6, Article 6: The Right to Life (1982), UN Doc HRI/GEN/1/Rev.1 at 6 (1994), [5]. At http://www.refworld.org/docid/45388400a.html (viewed 16 May 2014).
[18] Human Rights Committee, Lantsova v Russian Federation, Communication No 763/1999, UN Doc CCPR/C/74/D/763/1997(2002), para [9.2]. At http://www.bayefsky.com/docs.php/area/jurisprudence/treaty/ccpr/state/143/node/4/filename/russia_t5_iccpr_763_1997 (viewed 16 May 2014). See also Human Rights Committee, Fabrikant v Canada, Communication No 970/2001, UN Doc CCPR/C/79/D/970/2001 (2003), para [9.3], wherein the Committee stated that ‘the State party remains responsible for the life and well-being of its detainees.’ At http://www.bayefsky.com/docs.php/area/jurisprudence/treaty/ccpr/node/4/filename/canada_t5_iccpr_970_2001 (viewed 16 May 2014).
[19] Human Rights Committee, Barbato v Uruguay, Communication No. 84/1981, UN Doc CCPR/C/OP/ at 112 (1990), paras [9.2] and [10(a)]. At http://www.bayefsky.com/docs.php/area/jurisprudence/treaty/ccpr/node/4/filename/124_uruguay84vws (viewed 16 May 2014). See also P H van Kempen, ‘Positive Obligations to Ensure the Human Rights of Prisoners: Safety, Healthcare, Conjugal Visits and the Possibility of Founding a Family under the ICCPR, the ECHR, the ACHR and the AfChHPR’ in P J P Tak and M Jendly (eds), Prisoners Policy and Prisoners Rights: Protection of Fundamental Rights of Prisoners in International and Domestic Law (2008), p 26.
[20] Minister for Immigration and Border Protection, note 1.
[21]Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, 1984. At http://www.humanrights.gov.au/convention-against-torture-and-other-cruel-inhuman-or-degrading-treatment-or-punishment-human-rights (viewed 16 May 2014).
[22] Human Rights Committee, General Comment No. 20: Article 7 (Prohibition of Torture, or Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment), UN Doc HRI/GEN/1/Rev.1 at 30 (1994), para [2]. At http://www.refworld.org/docid/453883fb0.html (viewed 16 May 2014).
[23] Human Rights Committee, General Comment No. 31, note 6, para [8].
[24] Human Rights Committee, General Comment No. 21: Article 10 (Humane Treatment of Persons Deprived of Their Liberty), UN Doc HRI/GEN/1/Rev.1 at 33 (1994), para [3]. At http://www.refworld.org/docid/453883fb11.html (viewed 16 May 2014).
[25] Human Rights Committee, Daley v Jamaica, Communication No 750/1997, UN Doc CCPR/C/63/D/750/1997 (1998), para [7.6], at http://www.bayefsky.com/docs.php/area/jurisprudence/treaty/ccpr/state/86/node/4/filename/243_jamaicaview750 (viewed 16 May 2014); Wilson v Philippines, Communication No 868/1999, UN Doc CCPR/C/79/D/868/1999 (2003), para [7.3], at http://www.bayefsky.com/docs.php/area/jurisprudence/node/4/filename/philippines_t5_iccpr_868_1999 (viewed 16 May 2014).
[26] Human Rights Committee, A v Australia, Communication No. 560/1993, UN Doc CCPR/C/59/D/560/1993 (1997), para [9.4], at http://www.unhcr.org/refworld/docid/3ae6b71a0.html (viewed 16 May 2014); Human Rights Committee, C v Australia, Communication No. 900/1999, UN Doc CCPR/C/76/D/900/1999 (2002), para [8.2], at http://www.unhcr.org/refworld/docid/3f588ef00.html (viewed 16 May 2014).
[27] See Australian Human Rights Commission, Submission, note 2,section 11; Australian Human Rights Commission, Asylum seekers, refugees and human rights: snapshot report 2013, note 2, section 3(b).
[28] Parliamentary Joint Committee on Human Rights, note 12, para [2.196].
[29] UNHCR, UNHCR monitoring visit to Manus Island, Papua New Guinea, 23-25 October 2013, note 14, para 80.
[30] See, for example, Cabal and Bertran v Australia, Communication No 1020/2001, UN Doc. CCPR/C/78/D/1020/2001, (2003), para 7.2: ‘The Committee considers that the contracting out to the private sector of core State activities which involve the use of force and the detention of persons does not absolve a State party of its obligations under the Covenant, notably under articles 7 and 10. At http://www.refworld.org/docid/4282279b7.html (viewed 16 May 2014).
[31] See, for example, New South Wales v Bujdoso (2005) 227 CLR 1, esp at 13-4 [44] (Gleeson CJ, Gummow, Kirby, Hayne, Callinan and Heydon JJ). See also Findings in the Inquests into the Deaths of Joseph Rauluni, Ahmed Obeid Al-Akabi and David Saunders at Villawood Detention Centre, New South Wales, in 2010, Magistrate M Jerram, NSW State Coroner, 19 December 2011, p 10, in which Magistrate Jerram held ‘that DIAC owes a non-delegable duty of care to immigration detainees is indisputable’.
[32] See Human Rights Committee, General Comment No. 21, note 24, para [6]; Human Rights Committee, General Comment No. 20, note 22, para [11].
[33] UNHCR, UNHCR monitoring visit to Manus Island, Papua New Guinea, 23-25 October 2013, note 14, p 22; Amnesty International, This is Breaking People: Human Rights Violations at Australia’s Asylum Seeker Processing Centre on Manus Island, Papua New Guinea (11 December 2013), pp 48-9. At http://www.amnesty.org.au/images/uploads/about/Amnesty_International_Manus_Island_report.pdf (viewed 16 May 2014).
[34] Amnesty International, above, p 49.
[35] UNHCR, UNHCR monitoring visit to Manus Island, Papua New Guinea, 23-25 October 2013, note 14, p 1.
[36] ICCPR, 1966, art 2(3).
[37] Human Rights Committee, General Comment No. 31, note 6, para [15].
[38] See Human Rights Committee, General Comment No. 31, above, para [8].
[39] Human Rights Committee, General Comment No. 20, note 22, para 14. See also Blanco v Nicaragua, Communication No 328/1988, UN Doc CCPR/C/51/D/328/1988 (1994), para 10.6. At http://www.bayefsky.com/docs.php/area/jurisprudence/node/4/filename/100_nicaraguavws328 (viewed 16 May 2014).
[40]Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms, 1950. At http://conventions.coe.int/treaty/en/treaties/html/005.htm (viewed 16 May 2014).
[41]Orhan v Turkey, App No 25656/94, 18 June 2002, [327] (see also the cases cited therein).
[42] Salman v Turkey (2002) 34 EHRR 425, 482 [99] (footnotes omitted).
[43] R (Amin) v Secretary of State [2003] 4 All ER 1264, 1281 [31] (Ld Bingham).
[44]Slimani v France, App. No 57671/00, 27 July 2004, [32].
[46] Human Rights Committee, General Comment No. 31, above, para [16].
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Senate inquiry into the Copyright Amendment (Online Infringement) Bill 2015 (Cth)
Committees submitted to
64KB (DOC)
85KB (PDF)
Committee Secretary
Canberra ACT 2600
By email: legcon.sen@aph.gov.au
Dear Committee Secretary,
Thank you for providing the opportunity to make a submission in relation to the Copyright Amendment (Online Infringement) Bill 2015 (Cth).
The Commission is aware that the intention of this Bill is to "introduce a key reform to reduce online copyright infringement" by providing for court injunctions requiring Carriage Service Providers (CSPs) to block foreign online locations that facilitate copyright infringement.
The Commission is mindful that attempts to stop copyright infringement are consistent with advancing human rights. Property rights are human rights. People have the right to own property, whether intellectual or physical, and these rights should be preserved and protected.
However, the justifications to stop copyright infringement are not unlimited. Respecting intellectual property rights, including copyright can unreasonably restrict freedom of expression without proper 'fair use' exceptions in copyright law. Similarly, without a sufficiently high threshold to justify a court injunction such a Bill could quickly become a de facto internet filter.
The Bill attempts to be prescriptive by establishing a 'test' for courts to assess whether an injunction can be granted and setting out a number of factors that the Court must take into account when applying this test. The factors informing this test include:
the flagrancy of the infringement or its facilitation
whether disabling access to the online location is a proportionate response in the circumstances
the impact on any person likely to be affected by the grant of the injunction, and
whether it is in the public interest to disable access to the online location.
While these factors do ensure that there is a threshold to inform the granting of an injunction, they are not sufficient.
Australia's copyright law is in need of serious reform. While the Copyright Act contains a number of ‘fair dealing’ provisions for particular purposes, a key problem with Australia's copyright regime is the absence of a reasonable 'fair use' provision that accommodates both freedom of expression and the protection of property rights. Under the regime proposed in the Bill there remains an outside risk a website that carries content that would be covered by another country's 'fair use' exception may be blocked because of the absence of a sufficiently broad 'fair use' exception in Australian law.
In response the Australian Human Rights Commission recommends that:
An additional 'factor' that assesses the extent of the infringement as a share of the total copyrighted work (i.e., only ten seconds of a two-hour long movie), and
The introduction of a 'fair use' exception, or new 'fair dealing' exception, in the Copyright Act 1968 (Cth).
The Commission notes that an extensive discussion about the introduction of a "flexible fair use exception" and "a new fair dealing exception" were extensively considered in the Australian Law Reform Commission's 2013 report, Copyright and the Digital Economy.
I hope this submission assists in your consideration of the Bill.
Human Rights Commissioner
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Canada’s Target to Welcome Almost One Million New Immigrants By 2020
Between 2018 and 2020, nearly one million new immigrants will come to settle in Canada. According to Immigration Minister Ahmed Hussen, this target is the most ambitious immigration levels in recent Canadian history.
These numbers are being set in the federal government’s new multi-year Immigration Levels Plan, which was formally presented on November 1 in the House of Commons.
The majority of newly admitted permanent residents will be economic migrants. Most of these economic newcomers would immigrate through the Express Entry immigration selection system. The targets in the economic categories will generally increase year until 2020.
The table below shows the target admission for Express Entry from 2017 to 2020.
Year Target Target Increase
2017 71,700*
2018 74,900 3,200 (4%)
*This number does not include the target number for the Atlantic Immigration Pilot Program.
In 2017, Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) have made itself clear that the Express Entry program is currently the main driver of economic immigration. This has been shown through an increased number of issued Invitations to Apply this year, more than the last two years together.
The increased target for 2017 Express Entry candidates was contributed as a result of a decrease in the Comprehensive Ranking System (CRS) cut-off thresholds this year. This is because an increased intake places downward pressure on the CRS cut-off thresholds.
Between 2011 and 2016, the percentage of recent immigrants to Canada by category looked like the following:
Economic immigrants – 60.3%
Family Class immigrants – 26.8%
Refugees – 11.6%
Other – 1.3%
Another important highlight from Canada’s multi-year Immigration Levels Plan includes a target to reunite spouses, parents, common-law partners, grandparents and dependent children of permanent residents and Canadian residents through the Family Class programs, including sponsorship. There will be a slight increase in the Family Class target admissions year over year, as seen in the table below.
Year Low High Target Target Increase
2018 81,000 89,000 86,000 2,000 (2.4%)
2019 82,000 91,000 88,500 2,500 (3%)
Canada’s Progression Over the Years
It is targets like the proposed that has grown the percentage of immigrants to Canada. According to Statistics Canada, nearly 22 percent of Canada’s population is currently made up of first-generation immigrants, whom all settled as permanent residents and many have gone on to become naturalized citizens. There are many more residents in Canada on a temporary status, such as on a work permit or student visa.
By 2026, it’s projected that the share of Canada’s population made up by immigrants will reach as high as 30 percent of the overall population.
This is a significant number in comparison to that in the past 30 years, which is shown in the graphic below.
The immigration process is not an easy task. That is why working with the Immigration Law Office of Ronen Kurzfeld is your best chance at an approved application. Are you looking to immigrate to Canada? Get in touch with us today to see how we can help.
← Effective Oct. 24: Age of Dependent Children Raises to Under 22 Years of Age
What Does an Immigration Lawyer Do? →
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Berlin 2012: Melissa Leo On Life After Oscar and Portraying the Craziest Cat Lady in ‘Francine’
Berlin 2012: Melissa Leo On Life After Oscar and Portraying the Craziest Cat Lady in 'Francine'
Peter Knegt
In “Francine,” Melissa Leo offers her first lead performance since winning an Oscar last February for “The Fighter.” Quietly striking, the film gives Leo quite a bit to work with. As a troubled, unbalanced woman recently released from prison, her titular Francine copes with her demons through forming unhealthy bonds with a group of cats and dogs she starts collecting from around her rural home (and stealing from her workplace at a pet store).
Premiering in the Forum section at the Berlin International Film Festival this week, the film also marks the directorial debut of Brian M. Cassidy and Melanie Shatzky.
“Brian and I have always been interested in stories about desperation and people’s sense of desperation — women in particular,” Shatzky told Indiewire. “We wanted to create a story about this women who finds family in these animals. She has the best of intentions, but she’s clearly a flawed person.”
Leo said the film offered a unique opportunity to develop a character very much on her own terms, as the script was largely formed from an outline as the month-long shoot went on.
“I think building Francine was trying as best I could ascertain from the filmmakers who they needed her to be to tell the story.” Leo said. “And that then coupled with my imagination as how I might land that as truthful. That builds the character.”
Leo also noted there was another “secret ingredient” to her experience on the set.
“Which is a silly above-the-line sort of thing,” she explained. “But I did my own hair and makeup. I’ve been an actor for 30 years. And makeup trailers have gotten to be more and more of an impediment to the art of acting. Makeup has a place in the world and in my industry. It’s a tool of my industry. It gets used in a very by rote sort of way that by and large filmmakers big and small have little to do with.”
In both “Francine” and previously in “Frozen River,” Leo took on this role herself.
“I understand continuity and what is necessary for an editor to make a story believeable,” she said. “And I the actor am following not only the internal beats of the character but externally the appearance of the character. It’s in my hands. And that’s a golden opportunity I’m not often afforded.”
Another opportunity that Leo has not often been given is that of working with dozens of animals as her co-stars, an experience she called “delightful.”
“They got in the best animals in the Hudson Valley,” Leo said excitedly. “They weren’t trained animals in a sense. I bring up ‘The Artist’ because there’s that little dog in it. How did they possible doing that? Well, the film was shot MOS so the commands could constantly be barked at the dog. And that’s how they shot ‘The Artist.'”
In “Francine,” it wasn’t quite so simple. People offered their animals and time to the film, including a real-life veternarian who is featured in the film as a fictional character that hires Francine.
“So we were just there and he’d allow Francine to be in the room with him and even participate in what he was doing,” she said. “There was also a family that had a rescue in their own home and most of the cats and dogs inside Francine’s house lived in that rescue together. So there was no trained animals.”
Compared to “The Fighter,” “Francine” is a remarkably tiny movie with a very little budget. But for Leo, the difference between working on films big and small doesn’t really affect her process as an actress.
“That doesn’t matter as far as the work is concerned,” she said. “The convienience and comfortableness and the trailer and the makeup people… There’s as much of an impediment in the big machine as there is in the small one. It’s just different impediments. But the joy is equally the same. It’s different ways of working.”
As for the future of that joy, Leo said that things haven’t actually changed much since she won the big prize a year ago.
“It’s not in my hands how I progress as an artist,” she said. “I’ve had an amazing 30 years working. I hope for things in my future. We’ll see what the future brings. This past year has not seemed incredibly different. I think that the truth of the matter is that nothing ever happens overnight. But there was one little thing that happened over night, and to take that golden statue home meant things inside of me that I could never find the words to explain. The sense of self and belonging and inclusion by my peers. It was extrordinary. My outer life, not so different. You might find me at the Berlin aiport lugging my own suitcases in my sweatpants.”
You might find her doing the same in Austin next month when the film has its US premiere at the SXSW Film Festival, and you also catch Leo back on that Oscar stage when she presents the best supporting actor award on February 26.
This Article is related to: Features and tagged Berlin International Film Festival, Interviews
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‘The Best Of Enemies’ Delivers A ‘BlacKkKlansman’-Like Team Up That’s ‘Better Than Green Book’
Jamie McCarthy / Getty Images
Shah Shahid
One of the weekend’s theatrical releases is The Best Of Enemies, a film based on a true story that deals with the friendship between a black civil rights activist, and a white supremacist. Many reviews for the film have been released, and the critical reception seems divided at best. Rounding up the latest reviews, The Best Of Enemies seems to be a movie whose premise is similar to the recent Oscar-winning BlackKklansman, but apparently a better telling of an unlikely friendship, than the Academy Award-winner of the Best Picture in 2019, Green Book.
The Best Of Enemies sees a civil rights activist Ann Atwater (Taraji P. Henson), a single mom and black rights advocate, clash with a KKK member, and self-proclaimed white supremacist, C.P. Ellis (Sam Rockwell). The two characters end up having to work together on a committee for school integration in their city in 1971. The story seemingly focuses on how their influence on one another wears down the racist mentality of Ellis, transforming him into being a believer for civil rights and integration.
While the film’s story seems similar to Green Book, also about a Caucasian man (Viggo Mortensen) and a Black man (Mahershala Ali) having to spend time together, and their experiences eventually ridding the Caucasian of his prejudices, an Indie Wire review claims it to be better than that Oscar-winning film.
Dia Dipasupil / Getty Images
In its review, IndieWire discusses how The Best Of Enemies improves upon dynamics similar to that of Green Book.
“This is still a soft and naïve slice of kumbaya pageantry that’s more compelled by the white hero’s transformation than it is by the black co-lead’s courage and integrity, but there’s an undercurrent of honesty to the story that it tells, even if there’s something a bit skewed about how that story is told.”
While The Hollywood Reporter provides a more mild criticism of The Best Of Enemies, pointing out similar problems to Green Book, and also how the lack of portrayal of the black character in the film, underserves its story.
“The movie does not completely avoid white savior territory because, in the end, it is more C.P’s story than Ann’s. It’s true that he has a dramatic change of heart, but the film too often takes her generous personality for granted.”
While this is interestingly new territory for Henson, adorning body prosthetics and a wig, looking completely unlike herself, this wouldn’t be Rockwell’s first time playing a racist. The Oscar-nominated actor was previously nominated for his turn as the racist police officer of a small town in Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri.
The Best Of Enemies releases everywhere on April 5.
Kendall Jenner’s Topless Pic Sparks Outrage: Woeful Vibes Infuriate Fans July 18, 2019
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Solicitor wins Society award
Defence solicitor Joe Beltrami is being given honorary membership of the Law Society of Scotland.
The award will be given at a special general meeting later this month.
Ian Smart, president of the Society, said: "He is among a very select band to have been given this honour and it will be my privilege to present it to him at the start of the SGM. Joe knows what it means to shape the law and change its future."
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Insight 08 January 2019
Insights establishes business in South Africa
Insights has agreed to establish a business in South Africa in a joint venture with Connemara Consulting. This exciting development will enable further expansion in the African continent in line with our global sales strategy.
It follows Insights expansion into Asia. Based in Singapore, this operation has grown from strength to strength over the last 30 months, with profitable year-on-year growth in excess of 65%. Growing demand across the region has resulted in Insights establishing new entities in India and Australia also.
Finance and Sales Director Jackie Kipps said:
I’m delighted to confirm we’re expanding our footprint in Africa under the direction of Head of New Markets Mark Leisegang. We know there is massive potential in Africa and we’ve been keen to unlock this for some time in a way that works for our customers, our people, for Insights Learning and Development, and for Connemara Consulting.
Insights Learning and Development Africa (ILDA) was established on 1 October 2018 and will operate in a joint venture arrangement with Connemara Consulting until 31 March 2021, at which time ILDA will become wholly owned by Insights Learning and Development (ILD).
Chief Executive Fiona Logan said:
This is a hugely exciting development that evidences the growth and success we’re experiencing.
Insight 03/02/2016
Insights sets sights on Asia
Insights goes from strength to strength in Western Canada
Insights launches its Insights Discovery Accreditation programme in Asia
New Year, same you
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Appraisal in Barbados
I got called on Dec. 17th with an intriguing appraisal assignment--the valuation of about 250 upland acres in Barbados with entitlements for a 5-star golf resort and 124 luxury villas.
Normally, such a project in a tropical upland location would be a long shot (in terms of feasibility), but this project had secured a hospitality contract with Banyan Tree Hotels and Resorts, known for their 5-star resorts in Asia, Mexico and the Middle East.
One of the international development trends of the last few years has been to pair luxury residential development with a 5-star hotel, a pairing that creates a value-enhancing synergy. The developer plans to use Banyan Tree's management to provide services to the villa owners, such as housekeeping and room service, so that they are not burdened with having to hire their own staff. Such a concept has great appeal to the rich, such as Simon Cowell and Sir Andrew Lloyd Webber, who have pre-purchased villas each worth over $20 million (USD) in another Barbados project to be managed by Ritz Carlton.
The photo shows the raised foundation of the hotel-to-be and pools for private villas which are carved out of calcified coral bedrock, which is much like limestone.
I found real estate prices in Barbados to be higher than in any other Caribbean destination I've been to. There is a reason for that which goes back at least three decades. Barbados was the only Caribbean island to receive Concorde flights (the supersonic Lockheed SST). The flight from London took only 3.5hours, and for the busy, accomplished, British multi-millionaire, Barbados became the most convenient and preferred vacation destination. Since then, the Island has built an impressive industry catering to the super-rich, with world class golf courses, fine dining and luxury shopping. The week I was there, the following celebs were in town: Simon Cowell, Siena Miller and Gerard Butler.
There are two successful inland luxury residential developments in Barbados: the Royal Westmoreland, which has a world class golf course, and Sugar Hill, where Tony Blair resides, and which has a world class tennis resort. Both are not far from the beach, and Royal Westmoreland also has impressive ocean views from its upland location. Apes Hill is a new project farther inland and has recently completed a magnificent golf course and claims to have sold out lots in its first phase (not quite evident in my personal visit). One of the residents will be pop star Rihanna, who was given a free lot. No homes have been built yet, though, and there are rumors that the first phase has not actually sold out, with further development temporarily halted.
Barbados has not been isolated from the world's economic troubles, and has felt an impact from a decline in tourism of more than 10%. The leading source of tourists is the United Kingdom, which has suffered from an almost 25% decline in the value of the Pound relative to the Barbadian Dollar over the last two years. Whereas luxury residential development was considered a sure thing in Barbados not long ago, projects are now getting suspended. The Ritz Carlton project, for instance, shut down last February but is said to be reopening soon as a result of new ownership and a partnership with the Barbados government.
Other appraisers might ask how one goes about finding comparable sales data in a situation like this when Government offices were closed Christmas week. The appraiser profession in Barbados seems to be focused on individual residential properties, and the brokers on the big deals, such as Knight Frank and Saville's, seem more likely to be located in London than in Barbados.
I used journalists and bloggers, who are in abundant supply in Barbados and write in English. Moreover, the press is more likely to write about high profile comparable sales than about run-of-the-mill properties. I also perused real estate listings of large, entitled, resort-quality parcels.
In any event, it appeared that entitled resort-quality land was being marked down close to about $100,000 USD per entitled unit (hotel or residence), although the most recent listing to hit the market, the shuttered North Point Surf Resort, is listed at $71,875 per unit, suggesting a free-falling market for resort development land.
Suggestions To Infuse Our Tourism Model
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By John Ortved
Photography Stas May
“I got laid off.” So began 29-year-old Yahya Abdul-Mateen II’s foray into acting. After graduating from the University of California, Berkeley, where he majored in architecture, Abdul-Mateen was employed by the San Francisco Mayor’s Office of Housing and Community Development in the early 2010s when his job suddenly ended. He decided to give himself three years to make “significant progress” as an actor. “The idea was that I’d move to L.A. and get a McDonald’s commercial,” says the Oakland-raised Abdul-Mateen. Instead, he found work as Antonio in a local production of Twelfth Night, and then enrolled at Yale School of Drama. He spent summers onstage at the Williamstown Theatre Festival, and with the Public Theater’s Shakespeare in the Park production of King Lear. “I was Spear Carrier No. 2. I died,” he recalls. “Most people don’t know that production was about Spear Carrier No. 2, who was desperately trying to protect the king and watching his whole world crumble before him.”
Next he landed in the sights of director Baz Luhrmann, who was casting the role of Cadillac, a club owner and underworld figure in The Get Down, the new Netflix series about the era of disco and the beginnings of hip-hop in the South Bronx in the late 1970s. “The first thing that changed was my posture—vertical,” the actor says about the dance classes he took in preparation for the role. “And my shoulders became broader. The whole attitude is ‘Everyone, look at me.’ ” Abdul-Mateen also took workshops with Kurtis Blow and DJ classes from Grandmaster Flash, both pillars of hip-hop’s foundation. Is he at all concerned about an Australian director portraying the history of a quintessentially black American art form? “I feel so safe,” he says. “His vision is crystal clear.” In fact, he sees that period as ideal for Luhrmann’s visual storytelling. “If you look at the elements—movement, sound, fashion, skin, sweat, sex—and put those things in his hands, he makes a dynamic explosion.” For Abdul-Mateen-who will follow The Get Down with a role in the upcoming Baywatch movie—his attraction to the project came from something personal. “I’m from a place where young people traditionally do not have resources,” he says. “This is the same story. We see young people turning that situation into possibility. They move the rubble and that becomes a space to dance. I love how rebellious it is, creating something out of nothing.”
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By Michael Sheen
Photography Mikael Jansson
In the Twilight movies, Ashley Greene plays the saga’s resident good-girl vampire, Alice Cullen—all pixie haircut and motherly touch, not a hint of bloodlust in her earnest high-school demeanor. Greene’s career—and her life—has changed dramatically since she was cast in the blockbuster series. For one thing, teenage girls shake uncontrollably and burst into tears when they see her on the street. For another, it was just a couple of years ago that the 22-year-old Greene was struggling to land guest spots with no dialogue, and almost had to leave Los Angeles and return to her hometown of Jacksonville, Florida, where she’d originally planned to study psychology and law. But now, she’s booking movies faster than she can make them—including her first big lead, in the upcoming supernatural thriller, The Apparition. Michael Sheen, Greene’s co-star in Twilight and New Moon, recently caught up with the actress.
MICHAEL SHEEN: Okay. This is my first question. This is the only really serious one, and then the rest are quite funny. The first one is: As an elf, raised by humans, have you found a lot of discrimination against the fairy folk here in Hollywood?
ASHLEY GREENE: Well, I think they’re just jealous that I sparkle and speak elfin and have cute little pointy ears.
SHEEN: It’s true.
GREENE: So, yes, there’s discrimination. But I really don’t care.
SHEEN: You do get described as pixie-like a lot. In my younger days, I used to get described as sort of elf-like. I think it’s probably a lot easier to deal with that if you’re a pretty girl, rather than a sort of average-looking boy.
GREENE: I’m sorry about your adolescence.
SHEEN: Thank you. Well, look, let’s take a second and go back to the beginning, Ashley Greene. You grew up in Jacksonville, Florida. Is that correct?
GREENE: That is correct.
SHEEN: Now tell me about Jacksonville. What’s it like? And could you please sprinkle it with some alligator stories?
GREENE: I’ve only eaten fried alligator tail once.
SHEEN: How was it growing up there? Was school good? Or was it a bit of a trial?
GREENE: It was great. I mean, it was great until I realized that there was more out there. I went to a public high school with a magnet program for law and psychology. But right before my junior year, I decided that I wanted to leave and become an actress, so I graduated early and moved out to L.A. Now that I’m here, I can’t imagine living there.
SHEEN: What happened? You were doing law and psychology?
GREENE: Yeah. And I loved the classes. Everything was kind of set up to go on this course, which my parents absolutely loved; they were like, “Our daughter’s going to go to law school or become a psychologist!” And then out of nowhere, I pulled the acting card on them.
SHEEN: Was it out of nowhere? What was it that started you thinking along those lines?
GREENE: I just, for lack of a better term, fell into it—which I’m sure everyone’s going to hate me for saying. SHEEN: School plays?
GREENE: No, not even. I always liked performing. I always liked being in front of people. That’s one of the things I loved about law; we had mock trials, and I got to go up and state my case. But I took an acting class, and after my first class, I was hooked. By the time I finished the class, I had a manager, and then I went on a trip to New York City and got an agent, at which point my manager and agent told my mom, “She needs to move to L.A.” I think they were crazy for saying that but I’m so glad that they did.
SHEEN: Well, to go from Jacksonville, Florida, to L.A. at 17 . . . That’s very young. Was that not a scary thing? Were your mum and dad concerned about that?
GREENE: It was more frightening for my mother and father than it was for me. I have a certain way of thinking where I see something, and I know that I want it and I make up my mind—and that’s pretty much all there is to it. It was like, This is what I want to do, and I’m going, and everything’s going to work out. I’m going to be an actress. There was no way around it. My parents, on the other hand . . . Obviously, they had a lot of long talks and sleepless nights. I was always a good kid, so they went out on a limb. But they did say, “If you go out to L.A. and start becoming this wild child, then you have to come back home and go to college.”
SHEEN: And they haven’t called you back yet?
GREENE: Well, there was a time or two where they were like, “You probably need to come back to Florida.” But it just so happened that every time they told me to come home I would coincidentally book some type of role. I don’t know if it was fate or luck, and it was just happening at the right time, or if it was that they would say, “You are coming home,” and I would immediately go into survival-of-the-fittest mode and book something. But, whatever the case, it happened. And I did struggle. I definitely struggled. And I’m always grateful to my parents for letting me struggle, because you really don’t appreciate it as much, I don’t think, if you don’t realize what you’re gaining. But they paid my rent for the first year.
SHEEN: So, you turn up in L.A. with your bus ticket in your hand and a year’s rent in your pocket, and then what happened? What were the first auditions like?
GREENE: The first audition I went on was Days of Our Lives.
SHEEN: Did you see Joey Tribbiani on there?
GREENE: No, unfortunately not.
SHEEN: Dr. Drake Ramoray?
GREENE: I auditioned five times for it, and I met the producers—it was that thing where the first audition just went really well. I mean, I had a manager in Florida and I got my agent before I moved to California—I came out to L.A. all set up, and then I did extremely well in my first audition, so I had this kind of false hope in my mind. You know, everyone says it’s really hard, but then you come out and do extremely well the first go. And then reality hits, and it’s like nothing, nothing, nothing for a long time. Of course, I didn’t actually get the part on Days of Our Lives. They just toyed with me for a little bit.
SHEEN: How did Twilight come about? Do you remember how it all went down?
GREENE: It was just another audition. My managers were like, “You’re going into a great casting office. They cast great projects. They’re sticklers. If you suck, they won’t call you back in.” So I was like, Okay, I’ll pay extra attention. Then I figured out there wasn’t a script or a breakdown, but there was a book. So I got the series and fell in love with it. Then that determination kicked in and I was like, Okay, I’m going to book this part is what’s going to happen. I worked my butt off for it.
SHEEN: Now there’s so much more to this whole Twilight thing than just the films, isn’t there? There’s everything that goes with it—it’s a huge sort of phenomenon. What’s it like being right at the epicenter of that whole thing?
GREENE: [sighs] It’s a really hard thing to wrap your head around. I was working at a restaurant, I booked the role in Twilight, put in my two weeks’ notice, got fitted, flew to Portland, filmed, and then it started getting hype. That helped me get my foot into certain doors before the movie even came out. I did four independent films during the break between Twilight [2008] and New Moon. I haven’t even really had time to sit back and process it all. But when you do finally sit back and think about it, it’s incredible.
SHEEN: You’re what, 22?
GREENE: Yes.
It’s a really hard thing to wrap your head around. I was working at a restaurant, I booked the role in Twilight, put in my two weeks’ notice, got fitted, flew to Portland, filmed, and then it started getting hype. Ashley Greene
SHEEN: I’ve been in L.A. and around Hollywood for maybe six or seven years off and on, and that’s as sort of an older guy. I don’t know how I would’ve coped if I had the kind of success you’ve had at your age, because people do react to you incredibly differently if success is associated with you. How do you cope with that?
GREENE: I think if it was fame for another reason, then it would be a little different. But, with this film in particular, people have become very passionate about it—about my character, but also about me, really relating to me and wanting to be my best friend. And so they cry, and they get so nervous.
SHEEN: Do people actually cry in front of you?
GREENE: Yes. Oh, yes. Fans shake and cry. You kind of don’t know what to do. I give them a hug or whatever. People ask if I get annoyed, but you can’t really get annoyed at something like that.
SHEEN: Are you sure they’re not crying after you hug them? Maybe they don’t want to be hugged.
GREENE: I will look at it the way that I want to, even if it’s not true. I’m an actor.
SHEEN: All right.
GREENE: But, you know, most of my fans are really respectful and great. It’s too early for me to be jaded. Ask me in 10 years or something. . . . I just booked a lead in a Warner Brothers film, and probably part of it was because they know that there are all these fans. I mean, hopefully it’s because of my talent, too.
SHEEN: This is The Apparition?
GREENE: Yeah. The great thing about this film is that it’s really serious. It’s more of a thriller. And, for once, I got cast first. They consulted me on the lead male, and we’re talking back and forth about this character, so it’s sort of a new stepping stone in my career.
SHEEN: When I was on the set of the Twilight films, I could see that Kristen [Stewart] and Rob [Pattinson] have a lot of clout. They have a lot of power within the franchise now, it seems—and rightfully so. They’re asked their opinion, and for actors who are so young, they seemed to have a lot of say in what was going on. You say that now, with this film, you’re getting to be more involved. Is that something that you relish? Or is that responsibility quite frightening as well?
GREENE: For whatever reason, I relish it. Part of it might be that I did get to work so closely with these people, and see close up how they handle things. But I’m really excited. One of the coolest feelings was when I was reading with people for a part, and this guy came in, and I was just like, That’s the guy. You just know.
SHEEN: That’s not just because you fancied him?
GREENE: No. I actually know his girlfriend.
SHEEN: I’ve heard that you are very attracted to pretty boys.
GREENE: Oh . . . um, no . . . He’s not a . . . I mean, all guys in Hollywood are kind of pretty.
SHEEN: Well, you’ve seen me, so you know that’s not true. This is just a fairly random question: When you met Adam Lambert, who was wearing more makeup, you or him?
GREENE: I think that he was, actually.
SHEEN: Yeah, I’ve seen the pictures. Twilight has obviously opened quite a few doors. Did I not see you as a fashion correspondent on the VMAs this year?
I was kind of having this mini-breakdown because it was all new . . . and I was going, “Why are people reporting on this? Why do people care what I’m wearing . . . and looking down on me because I’m not wearing high heels?” That’s the downside to being in the public eye.Ashley Greene
GREENE: I was, yeah.
SHEEN: So obviously you’ve developed an interest in fashion since the last time I saw you.
GREENE: You’re a jerk.
SHEEN: [laughs] Don’t say that. I’m the interviewer, and you can’t call the person who’s interviewing you a jerk. That’s the reason why I agreed to do this: I can do whatever I want. So tell me about fashion. Do you feel pressure every time you go out because you know that there’s a high chance that someone’s going to take a picture of you walking down the street? Do you feel a pressure to not dress in jean shorts and flip-flops?
GREENE: There was a moment in time where I was kind of having this mini-breakdown because it was all very new, and it was all being thrown at me really quickly, and I was going, “Why are people reporting on this? Why do people care what I’m wearing or what I’m eating, and why are people looking down on me because I’m not wearing high heels?” That’s the downside to being in the public eye. When girls come up and say, “You’re my role model,” it’s really flattering, but it’s also really scary because I’m not perfect and I’m going to make mistakes. I’ve just decided that I have to continue to live my life and do what I do. Hopefully, people love me because of who I am, not who I pretend to be.
SHEEN: Is it true that you always ask for a male body double because you have both sets of sexual organs?
GREENE: I might ask for a male body double because I have broad shoulders, but definitely not because I have two sets of organs, no.
SHEEN: Is it true that your Twitter name is HotForRob23?
GREENE: That’s absolutely not true.
SHEEN: Okay, last question: In exactly 10 years’ time, what would you like to be doing?
GREENE: I’ll be 32. Maybe having a baby?
SHEEN: You’d like to be in hideous pain on this day in 10 years’ time?
GREENE: I have a high tolerance for pain. No, I think something along the lines of doing a really incredible, inspiring film with a strong female character. I think when I’m around 32, I’ll be up for things like that.
SHEEN: What are a couple of female performances in films that you watched that have inspired you?
GREENE: Charlize Theron in Monster [2003]. She’s one of the most incredibly beautiful people alive, and when I was watching that movie, she scared the shit out of me. I thought she did a fantastic job.
SHEEN: I watched 500 Days of Summer [2009] the other day. I thought Zooey Deschanel was fantastic.
GREENE: She’s the queen of indies. And, Joseph Gordon-Levitt transitioned really well, too.
SHEEN: You make it sound like he’s an alien. “He transitions.”
GREENE: No, I’m just saying that I might have a mini-crush on him. That’s all I’m saying.
SHEEN: Well, this is an interview, not a dating agency. I’m not here to hook you up. But, on that note, I think we’ve taken up enough of your time. You can get back to your much more important life that you’ve got going on in the background.
GREENE: Like eating dinner.
SHEEN: By the way, you got the answer to the 10 years’ time question wrong. The correct answer is: working with me.
GREENE: Oh, of course. Doing a fantastic film with Michael Sheen. Where he plays an elf.
Michael Sheen is a Welsh actor best known for his memorable performances as David Frost in Frost/Nixon and Lucian in Underworld. Sheen is set to play the White Rabbit in the much-anticipated Tim Burton film Alice in Wonderland and will also appear inHBO’s The Special Relationship.
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North Florida food banks suffering from peanut butter deficiency
Beth Reese Cravey
At food pantries in North Florida and across the country, peanut butter has changed from a regularly-stocked staple to a hard-to-find delicacy.
Though still one of the most requested items at pantries, peanut butter is no longer one of the most donated items because of its rising cost, area pantry managers said.
"It's a pleasant but rare occurrence to get peanut butter these days," said Bruce Ganger, executive director of Second Harvest North Florida, a Jacksonville food bank that distributes to 450 pantries and feeding sites in 18 counties.
The local pantry shortage echoes a national trend, according to an Associated Press report. Peanut butter prices have risen at least 30 percent, largely because hot weather hurt this year's peanut crop, according to the report.
The higher cost led individuals and families who donate to pantries to bypass peanut butter in favor of less expensive items, Ganger said. That's unfortunate because peanut butter is nutritious and goes a long way for families with little food, he said.
Peanut butter is also missing from the Beaches Emergency Assistance Ministry, which provides a food pantry and financial assistance to people in need in the Beaches area and the Mandarin Food Bank at St. Joseph's Catholic Church.
"Donations are way down. We kind of horde it," said Susan King, executive director of the Beaches ministry. "For some people, it is a necessity."
Kenny Kaminsky, a representative of the Mandarin nonprofit, agreed.
"It is one of our staples," he said, adding that peanut butter is a go-to food item for families with children and vegetarians who do not eat meat but need protein.
At Pie in the Sky, a food distribution program in Hastings in St. Johns County, peanut butter and canned goods are at the top of the wish list because they are easy for the needy and the homeless to consume, said director Malea Guiriba.
"Start with peanut butter and jelly. Anybody can use it. … The homeless, people living out of their cars, under bridges," she said. "We need things that are accessible to anybody."
beth.cravey@jacksonville.com, (904) 359-4109
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Nature’s Metropolis
Alyssa Battistoni
Experiments in design promise a better future for everyone, but only if they come with emancipatory politics to boot.
This summer, an unusual structure grew outside the MoMA PS1 in Queens. The building is called Hy-Fi. Designed by architectural firm The Living, it consists of three circular towers a few stories tall. It resembles a lumpy set of industrial chimneys, or maybe a giant aorta — a little strange, in other words, if not particularly remarkable. Hy-Fi didn’t win the coveted MoMA spot for its looks, but for its substance: it’s made of mushrooms.
A video explaining the project imports historic significance to the apparently unassuming building in text overlaying a field of mushrooms growing in time-lapse: “If the 20th century was the century of physics … then the 21st century is widely seen to be the century of biology.” The Living, the video goes on to announce, is building a structure from “biological technologies” with the aim of creating a “new paradigm for design” — one that is self-assembling, industrial, and compostable.
Elsewhere, The Living proclaims itself to be “creating the architecture of the future” — in and of itself not a particularly noteworthy statement for a New York architectural firm straining for recognition. The particular future The Living envisions, however, is striking. Declaring its belief that cities and buildings are living, breathing organisms, The Living aims to create “living, breathing design ecosystems.” It’s not a metaphor.
Hy-Fi, and the vision of the city of the future it represents, sits at the intersection of two powerful fields — sustainable urbanism and biotechnology — with ambitions of reshaping not only cities, but the world.
Hy-Fi is composed of two kinds of bricks: organic ones grown from a combination of corn husks and mycelium, and reflective ones coated with a mirror film produced by the mega-manufacturer 3M. The organic bricks are supplied by a company called Ecovative, which produces what it describes as “disruptive material technologies” made from organic waste and mycelium, primarily for use in packaging materials and insulation designed to replace petroleum-based foams.
In — what else — a TED talk, cofounder Eben Bayer asks, “Are mushrooms the new plastic?” He touts the possibilities of combining mycelium with local materials — rice hulls in China, buckwheat hulls in Europe — and the vastly reduced energy and waste that come with using “nature’s recycling system.” Bayer goes on to explain that “the manufacturing process is our organism”: in Ecovative’s warehouse, trays of mushrooms sit in the dark, “quietly self-assembling materials.” After a few days, voilà: bricks.
The end result is a building that claims to be almost entirely compostable. When Hy-Fi is dismantled in September, the reflective bricks will be returned to 3M for more research, while the organic ones will be composted in a Queens community garden. Thus David Benjamin, the principal architect of Hy-Fi and The Living’s main visionary, describes the project as a “radical experiment” utilizing almost no energy and producing almost no carbon. Instead of extracting raw materials to build, it seeks to divert “the Earth’s natural carbon circle of growth, decay, and regrowth” into a structure that can eventually “be returned to its natural cycle.”
The Living’s ideas about the architecture of the future are thus tightly bound up with ideas about the future of the economy: as buildings and their cities become living things integrated into a “natural cycle,” the economy can become a continuously regenerating, self-sustaining loop rather than a unidirectional drain. Yet in crucial ways, this vision of the future economy doesn’t look so different from the old one. The parts that make up living buildings aren’t necessarily any less commodified than “dead” forms like lumber and coal.
Just as the scope of the metropolis stretches beyond city limits, urban politics are bound up not only in struggles over zoning or development, but in the resources that fuel city life and definitions of property and ownership that have evolved in the context of corporate labs and factory farms.
The question before us in the twenty-first century is: how to extend the much-touted right to the city to everyone — human and nonhuman inhabitants alike? Hy-Fi offers a glimpse, but the architecture of the future can’t do it alone. Reclaiming the city while simultaneously reinventing it will require challenges not only to the privatization of public space and rising real estate values, but to the privatization of life and protection of intellectual property rights.
Living Buildings
The Living is not, of course, alone in striving for a sustainable new architectural paradigm. Green building design has been warmly embraced by the private and public sectors, architecture high and low. New York’s Bank of America Tower is platinum LEED-certified, while a growing number of state and federal agencies require new buildings to meet LEED standards. Living greenery itself is creeping beyond rooftops and backyards as “vertical gardens” become increasingly popular: London’s Edgware Road tube station, for example, features a “living wall” of fourteen thousand plants, claiming to both beautify the city and reduce particulate matter pollution produced by traffic fumes.
Though the capacity of living things to build complex structures has long been marveled at, biomimicry, in which artists and engineers purport to learn from nature, has become increasingly sophisticated in recent years. Architectural algorithms mimic the patterns of bone growth and silkworm cocoons; termite mounds and cacti provide models for internal cooling and circulation.
London’s Gherkin, designed by Norman Foster, takes its distinctive exterior pattern from the skin of a sea sponge, while the self-proclaimed “iconic” design for a building aiming to be the world’s tallest, to be located in Wuhan, China, is based on the root structure of a mangrove tree. The latter building will boast solar panels, rainwater harvesting, and filtration systems for cleaning local air and water, among other environmentally oriented features.
Nature is inspiring not only new kinds of buildings, but new building methods: engineers at Harvard, for example, have developed a team of building robots inspired by termites, in a method known as swarm construction. “Robotic construction crew needs no foreman,” proclaims one headline — as opposed to human workers, who presumably still need a boss.
Some are going still further, seeking to incorporate the biological itself into their structures. The Living’s David Benjamin has elsewhere described his architectural practice as reliant on “human-cell collaboration”: rather than providing inspiration, muselike, nature here provides tools, materials, and even something like labor. In merging architecture and the burgeoning field of synthetic biology, Benjamin and other bioarchitects seek to drastically upend conventional ideas of what construction entails.
Self-proclaimed sustainability innovator Rachel Armstrong, for example, describes blueprints, industrial manufacturing, and construction using teams of workers as “Victorian technologies.” In place of such outdated practices, she proposes the use of “bottom-up construction methods” that replace inert materials with living ones. In her version of the architecture of the future, buildings would have the physiological capabilities to process nutrients, break down waste, self-repair, and interact with their environments.
Mitchell Joachim, a professor of architecture at New York University and copresident of the architecture design group Terreform ONE, has proposed constructing buildings via a venerable process known as pleaching, in which vines are grafted together into living structures. More fantastically, he’s also grown a prototype of an “in vitro meat habitat” from 3-D printed pig cells.
Such visions are about as far as can be imagined from the archetypal gray Soviet housing block, evoking instead the kind of enchanted world found in Hayao Miyazaki’s films, where engines rumble like beasts and buildings trundle across the landscape. At their best, these urban fantasies are spectacular in their otherworldliness, experimenting with forms of societal organization in which not only human populations are recognized.
Benjamin, for example, is collaborating with the artist Natalie Jeremijenko on a project called Amphibious Architecture, which uses lighting to turn New York’s East River into an interactive public space reflecting fish activity and water quality, tracked using mussels as “bio-sensors.” He’s constructed a pavilion in Seoul that maps air quality through a spectacular display of LEDs; when people text the pavilion, it texts back with current air quality.
Such experiments may seem irrelevant or frivolous next to the daily struggles of so many to pay rent and stay alive in cities that are increasingly hostile to the working class. And indeed, they could amount to little more than fleeting moments of whimsy that do little to alleviate the struggles of city life, contributing instead to the continued gentrification of city centers as places for the rich to enjoy cultural and technological wonders while feeling secure in their eco-mindedness.
But biomimicry aspires to much more. The Living and others seek to transform systems that extend far beyond the level of the individual, the neighborhood, or even the city itself.
City planners have long sought to bring order to the teeming life of the city. But new invocations of the “living city” take this even more literally, aiming not only to tame the traffic and crowds but to rationalize life itself in service of a more ecologically viable world. As Benjamin told Metropolis magazine, “our design involves working at vastly different scales simultaneously — from cultivating microscopic root structures that bind the bricks together, to redefining global supply chains of building materials.”
Supply chains, in particular, have long proved vexing for cities. Since at least the nineteenth century, modern cities have been seen as voracious consumers of resources drained from the ever-expanding hinterland, transforming the world beyond their limits to meet their needs, and heaving out waste in the process of converting resources into products for use elsewhere.
It’s only recently that city living has acquired an environmentally virtuous sheen. But of course, however walkable their neighborhood or local their produce, urban-dwellers continue to depend on a vast array of products sourced from what by now is a global hinterland.
It’s in recognition of this classic urban predicament that some are trying to figure out how the city can not only reduce its use of resources, but perhaps even generate some of its own. LEED certification and similar programs amount to little more than expensive greenwashing: like buses powered by natural gas instead of petroleum, they might be less bad than business as usual — although some LEED-certified buildings actually perform worse on sustainability measures than uncertified ones — but they still use huge quantities of material and energy.
Thus The Living and similarly-minded architects seek not simply to shrink their buildings’ ecological footprints, but to upend such measures of resource use by integrating their structures into ecosystems themselves. Joachim, for example, proclaims the “biological supremacy” of growing materials “from scratch”: instead of simply using sustainable or renewable materials, he asserts that his projects are “inventing a new material and fully integrating it into nature’s metabolism.”
The idea that buildings and other seemingly inert objects can be integrated into the metabolism of the living world is part of a broader hope that human economies can be made less ecologically destructive. The concept of metabolism has become increasingly prominent in sustainable design in recent years; while it’s unlikely that many of those using the term are followers of the Marxist sociologist John Bellamy Foster, their concerns echo Foster’s emphasis on the “metabolic rift” driven between human society and nature by industrial production. Where Foster specifically pinpoints capitalism as the source of ecologically destructive practices, however, others think capitalism can be made sustainable if the metabolism problem can be overcome through technology and design.
In this view, cities should be situated not at the end of a linear flow of resources, but as nodes within a self-sustaining loop of recycling and renewing, wherein wastes emanating from one site can act as inputs for production in another. Industrial ecologists seek to close this loop by measuring resource flows and designing technological systems accordingly. The new crop of bio-urbanists seek to do something similar by modifying living organisms and designing living systems.
In another video produced by The Living, inspired by the famous film Powers of Ten , the camera zooms in on a tiny bacteria and out again to the pale blue dot of the Earth, explaining that contemporary designers work at “multiple scales simultaneously, from bacteria at a hundred-thousandth of a meter to the Earth at ten million meters.”
By engineering bacteria, it proclaims, we can engineer a “glucose-based economy” to replace our petroleum-based one. By this account, energy systems depend not on politics but on configurations of bacterial DNA. The architecture, the city, and the economy of the future will be made sustainable through biological tinkering — in particular, the kind done by synthetic biologists.
Building Life
The field of synthetic biology considers itself a construction industry: rather than design living buildings, its participants build living things. Synthetic biologists envision life as a technology that can be engineered like any other, arguing that biological functions are equivalent to mechanical ones. Thus cells become “nano-factories” and DNA a programming language; Stanford professor Drew Endy, a star of the field, describes the world as a “distributed manufacturing platform.”
Yet like any other working parts, biological functions need to be identified and standardized if they are to be used widely. The mainstream of the field emphasizes that DNA fragments — the building blocks of life — must be modularized and standardized so that they can be used widely to create new organisms and systems.
Synthetic biologists have christened these core components BioBricks; they are the equivalents of mechanical widgets. And as such, they are potentially subject to the same kinds of property regimes that govern other forms of technology. Indeed, almost by definition, the most fundamental elements of living things are understood by synthetic biologists as parts — parts that, like other technological components, might be patented and privatized.
To their credit, many synthetic biologists have recognized this as a potential problem. They explicitly state their rejection of the monopolistic model of biotech pioneered by the likes of Monsanto; they aim to pioneer not only scientific innovations, but social ones. In particular, Endy’s BioBricks Foundation promotes what he describes as open-source biology via the standardization of biological parts.
Other core institutions in the field, like the Registry of Standard Biological Parts and the International Open Facility Advancing Biotechnology (BIOFAB) likewise proclaim themselves to be open source. Thus historian of science Sophia Roosth describes the current system as a “‘moral economy’ of researchers dedicated to building, modifying, and exchanging these parts.” Benjamin, meanwhile, is working to develop principles and processes for open-source design.
Yet the existence of a moral economy doesn’t necessarily mean the absence of a commercial one. Whether applied to software, biology, or design, the open-source ethos doesn’t evince antagonism to private ownership. Most synthetic biologists, even those who support a scientific commons of open-access registries of parts, believe that any products or designs developed from these pieces can be privately owned. Indeed, champions of open-source biology tend to be more concerned with the effects of overly restrictive licensing — a phenomenon sometimes referred to as the tragedy of the anti-commons — on the development of new technologies than with the accessibility of end products to users.
The efforts of synthetic biologists to move toward a more sharing-oriented system should be taken seriously: the anthropologist Chris Kelty observes that open-source projects often operate as a form of political critique, one that expresses dissatisfaction with capitalism in its more rapacious forms. Yet as Kelty notes, “it is simply impossible to rely on a moral economy within a project of the scale of global biotechnology” — particularly given the past four decades of privatization and commercialization of intellectual property and scientific research, often driven specifically by the biotech industry.
Indeed, the rise of the contemporary American biotech industry is inseparable from the rise of neoliberalism. A biological century isn’t necessarily a neoliberal one — the dream of creating and modifying life forms for the benefit of humanity has a long history, spanning national borders and political persuasions. Yet the existing legal and political framework for biotech innovation and use was constructed in tandem with the drive to privatization of the seventies and eighties.
In 1980, the landmark US legal case Diamond v. Chakrabarty recognized intellectual property rights to living organisms, effectively opening the door to the modern biotech industry. Basic and applied research, public and private institutions, while never so distinct as those typologies suggest, have been increasingly intertwined in the wake of legislation like the 1980 Bayh-Dole Act, which effectively incentivizes the commercialization of academic research. As a result, individual researchers often have less control over what happens to their work than university technology licensing offices.
And while much of the field’s groundwork has been laid in university settings, the private sector is beginning to get involved. Some DIY “bio-hackers” have funded their projects via Kickstarter, while venture capitalists are exploring opportunities for investment in a growing number of synthetic bio startups.
And of course, where there are novel scientific developments, there’s the US military: DARPA’s Living Foundries program, which has funded Endy and others, states that its goal is to “leverage the unparalleled synthetic and functional capabilities of biology to create a revolutionary, biologically-based manufacturing platform to provide access to new materials, capabilities and manufacturing paradigms for the DoD and the Nation.”
In the face of such economic might, open-source projects, for all their righteous rhetoric and genuine good intentions, tend to run into difficulty in their efforts to create alternative regimes with the legal force to protect a reconstructed commons. And left unprotected, the scientific commons may simply serve to provide private companies with early-stage research.
However well-intentioned many of the scientists working in this arena may be, the plea to create an open-source biology for the benefit of all is largely an ethical one with little political or legal force. That doesn’t mean it’s impossible to build a biology that’s truly for everyone — just that it will require a more concerted political effort, one that goes beyond the alternative economies of small groups to transform the political economy of contemporary biotechnology and the forms of property that underpin it.
Much of the current bio-enthusiasm, however, appears eager to eschew politics in favor of design, vague allusions to “raising awareness” notwithstanding. By this account, the future of the city — and, by extension, the world — will be determined not in the streets, but in the studio and the lab. Armstrong, for example, holds that “the real response to climate change is to create buildings that can heal the environment,” while Endy suggests that in response to problems like climate change, “maybe we should get really good at engineering matter.”
Joachim thinks that the US consumerist lifestyle is responsible for overconsumption of resources, but states that “we have to accept that we can’t change the American value system. Everyone wants to own property and have a sovereign or autonomous lifestyle. We have to react by innovating.”
Reinventing the Future City
Admittedly, current political prospects don’t exactly suggest that we’re on the way to dealing with overconsumption by transforming the American (read: capitalist) value system. But we still need design and politics rather than design as politics.
As always, the potential of synthetic biology, 3-D printing, and other new technologies to liberate us from labor, prevent catastrophic climate change, and deliver on a host of other promised social benefits will only be realized, banishing scarcity and drudgery, if social relations change accordingly.
In fact, these technologies have the potential to make things worse for working people: they suggest shifts in human labor and compensation ever more toward the forms designated intellectual, like design and engineering, and away from the traditionally working-class occupations of construction, building, and manufacturing — or, as some architects now call it, fabrication.
Decisions about these technologies — about how to organize the patterns of work and life they seek to disrupt, about which kinds of natures to preserve and create, about how to build future cities and economies — should be made publicly and democratically, rather than by small groups of scientists or corporations with an eye on a new space of accumulation.
And the potential for accumulation is vast.
The biotech industry is positioning itself to be the passage point for an ecologically sustainable future: the replacement of clunky old mechanical technologies with biological ones is proposed as a solution to everything from fossil-fuel use to food shortages. As the political theorist Melinda Cooper writes, “neoliberalism and the biotech industry share a common ambition to overcome the ecological and economic limits to growth associated with the end of industrial production, through a speculative reinvention of the future.”
Of course, it’s not the speculative reinvention of the future itself that’s the problem — it’s that only capitalists seem to be engaging in it. Some, perhaps most, of these architectural and biological dreams amount to little more than cutting-edge one-upmanship, vacuous hype, and good old-fashioned hucksterism coasting on the present wave of ecological concern and technological optimism. But to dismiss them as only the latest greenwashing fad or TED-talk fodder would be a shame — they present genuinely exciting possibilities.
The profusion of liberal and libertarian techno-utopianism in recent years can make it easy to forget that utopian socialist projects have long imagined a better world built from the combined abilities of humans, nature, and technology. We should imagine how visions of the city as a liberatory, lively, cosmopolitan space for people can be extended to include greater interaction with nonhuman nature. And we should insist that those relationships can have the same creative, playful elements that we prize so much in our human ones.
But without attention to social relations between humans as well, the ongoing stratification of the urban experience will continue unabated, as will the ecological damage wrought by modern cities.
Hy-Fi and its counterparts show that another city is possible, one built for the collective good of the many living things, both human and not, that call it home — but only if “radical experiments” in design come with the politics to match.
Alyssa Battistoni is an editor at Jacobin and a PhD student in political science at Yale University.
Bio-engineering
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Chinese citizens and students hurl stones at troops during rioting following the proclamation of martial law in the city of Chengdu, the capital of China's Sichuan province, on June 4, 1989. | AFP-JIJI
Asia Pacific | FOCUS
The 'other' Tiananmen: 30 years ago, protests engulfed China
CHENGDU, CHINA - Karl Hutterer stood on the rooftop of his hotel and watched as Chinese police fired tear gas into the square and truncheon-wielding security forces moved in under the cover of night in June 1989.
He was not anywhere near Tiananmen Square. Hutterer was more than 1,800 kilometers (1,100 miles) away in the southwestern city of Chengdu, one of many where thousands of citizens took to the streets during the tumultuous spring that shook China three decades ago.
Beijing was the epicenter of student-led protests, with hundreds or possibly more than 1,000 killed by soldiers on June 4, 1989.
But Hutterer’s testimony is a reminder that large-scale demonstrations had erupted all around China.
“I saw bodies taken, wounded or dead possibly, out of the hospital down the street from the monument,” said Hutterer, then a 49-year-old anthropology professor from the U.S.
One person gestured to a spot where someone was beaten to death, he said.
According to The Tiananmen Papers, a set of leaked documents that allegedly cover internal Communist Party meetings and reports, protests ignited across more than 100 cities in China at the end of May.
“This was a nationwide mass movement — this was a people’s movement — where everyone shared, at a bare minimum, a desire for more freedoms and more rights,” said Andrea Worden, who taught English at the Hunan Medical College in 1989 and witnessed mass protests in central Hunan province.
But in part due to the lack of foreign media outside the capital, many stories from the provinces have been lost as Chinese authorities systematically erase and rewrite history, and punish those who question it.
“It’s a matter of time before it completely disappears,” Worden said.
Between April and June of 1989, citizens from Lanzhou city in northwestern China to southern Guangdong province called for freedom of speech and railed against corruption — galvanized by economic anxiety, government interference in their personal lives, and desire for democracy.
But many also reacted to the events transpiring in Tiananmen Square.
In Changsha, the capital of Hunan, Worden estimates at least 20,000 students demonstrated on May 17, carrying posters saying “Support the Beijing hunger-strikers.”
A few days later in Changchun, northeastern Jilin province, several thousand factory workers marched to support the fasting students in the capital, said Tang Yuanjun, then an engineer at First Automotive Works (FAW) Group who participated in protests.
As word spread about troops opening fire in Beijing, people across China braved the streets in solidarity and anger.
“It is because of their (the government’s) cruelty that we were not afraid,” said Ding Mao, one of the student leaders at Lanzhou University.
“We felt an implacable hatred toward the government for going back on their word with students,” he explained.
On the night of June 4, Ding said he led other students to a bridge crossing the Yellow River, where they staged a quiet sit-in.
“That night, the whole student body did not sleep,” said another student protester from Lanzhou University, who requested anonymity.
“When we heard the news that they had opened fire, we were furious,” he said, estimating that at least several thousand people went out to block roads, bridges, and the railway tracks from troops.
Many protesters and residents in the provinces paid a heavy price for their participation in the 1989 demonstrations.
Tang, the automobile engineer, was sentenced to 20 years in prison for “counter-revolutionary” activities.
“It felt like the Cultural Revolution, as if that had returned again,” said the 62-year-old, who was released after eight years and later fled to the U.S. by way of Taiwan.
In Chengdu, death toll estimates vary from 10 to 300, according to “The People’s Republic of Amnesia,” a book on the Tiananmen protests by Louisa Lim, who drew from leaked U.S. diplomatic cables, a whistleblowing Communist Party member, and eyewitnesses.
More than 100 students were taken to the hospital with head injuries, according to The Tiananmen Papers, which found that police had beaten many people with electric prods.
Security forces worked on demonstrators “with truncheons and knives until they were motionless,” wrote Hutterer in notes dated June 10, 1989, that combine his own experience and secondhand accounts from friends.
“Even people who lay on the ground and pleaded for mercy were clubbed,” he wrote.
Thirty years later, Chinese authorities regularly scrub online posts about the Tiananmen protests, or punish efforts to memorialize them.
In April, four Chengdu-based activists were handed prison sentences of between three and three-and-a-half years for advertising and selling alcohol with labels commemorating June 4.
For the government, June 4 is “a scar it can never reveal,” said the protester from Lanzhou University.
While the Tiananmen protests may feel “very distant” for the younger generation, it has left a deep impression on those who experienced it, he said.
“No matter what career they have now, or what perspective they hold, or whether or not they still bring it up,” he said, “for our generation, this has left a deep mark in our minds.”
China, history, rights, protests, Tiananmen Square
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Charles Boudet
Chief Executive Officer, JLL France
Charles is responsible for the overall strategy and operations in the French business.
Based in Paris, Charles is back in the country of his birth following an 18-year professional career working in Russia and Germany.
He has experience both inside and outside real estate, and was Supply Chain Director at global food company Danone before joining JLL in Moscow in 2006 as Head of Office and Industrial Agency. He became head of the Russian business three years later.
Charles moved back to Paris to become CEO in 2015, with his wife and four children. Aside from his France responsibilities, he oversees the Logistics & Industrial and Office Agency & Tenant Representation businesses across EMEA – so his earlier career roles come in handy.
Charles’ personal passion for technology is reflected professionally, and he is focussed on reinventing JLL’s services by putting data and technology at the heart of the business. And as senior sponsor for the digital products strategy, he sits on the Board of a proptech partnership JLL co-founded.
At this point in time however, JLL have yet to set-up professional partnerships for his other passions, namely skiing and football.
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JLL Completes Acquisition of Leading Capital Markets Firm HFF
Acquisition significantly strengthens JLL’s Capital Markets business
JLL Investor Relations
Gayle Kantro
Azar Boehm
CHICAGO, July 1, 2019 – Jones Lang LaSalle Incorporated (NYSE: JLL) announced today that it closed its acquisition of HFF, greatly expanding JLL’s ability to provide world-class capital markets services and expertise to its clients.
HFF, regarded as one of the premier capital markets advisors in the industry, had more than $650 million in revenue in 2018 and approximately 1,050 employees with long-term client relationships, first-class skills and deep knowledge of U.S. as well as global markets. JLL’s acquisition of this exceptional firm aligns with one of the key priorities of JLL’s Beyond strategic vision, which is to grow its Capital Markets business. The combination of JLL and HFF enables greatly enhanced capital markets services and significantly expanded client reach. Clients will benefit from a global team of more than 3,700 capital markets professionals across 47 countries, delivering new expertise and scale, more extensive market coverage and greater deal flow.
With the acquisition complete, Mark Gibson, former CEO of HFF, joins JLL as CEO, Capital Markets, Americas and Co-Chair of its Global Capital Markets Board.
“We are delighted to bring together JLL and HFF to create one of the most strategic, connected and creative capital advisors in the world,” said Christian Ulbrich, Global CEO of JLL. “By combining the impressive capabilities, talent and expertise that distinguish both organizations, we will deliver exciting new growth opportunities and ensure we are best positioned to achieve ambitions for our clients and all our stakeholders. We warmly welcome our new HFF colleagues to the JLL family.”
“The response from our clients, brokers and shareholders has been overwhelmingly positive,” said Gibson. “Joining JLL marks an exciting new chapter in our history. It provides our team a tremendous opportunity to join a full-service real estate firm with a global presence and a client-centric, collaborative culture that closely aligns with our own. We look forward to working together to grow JLL’s Capital Markets business and bring expanded services to our clients.”
This acquisition was first announced and unanimously approved by each company's Board of Directors in March 2019 and received approval from HFF’s shareholders earlier today.
HFF is now wholly owned by JLL and certain of its subsidiaries and will do business as JLL. HFF’s common stock, which previously traded under the ticker symbol "HF,” has ceased trading and was delisted from the NYSE effective today.
The purchase price for the acquisition was approximately $1.8 billion, consisting of a combination of cash and JLL stock. JLL funded the cash portion of the purchase price consideration with a combination of cash reserves and its existing syndicated credit facility. The combination is expected to deliver significant run-rate synergies, estimated at approximately $60 million over two to three years.
This communication may contain certain statements that predict or forecast future events or results, or intentions, beliefs and expectations or predictions for the future of JLL (the “Company”), which are forward-looking statements as that term is defined in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, including statements with respect to the anticipated effects of the transaction, expectations with respect to synergies, the transaction’s anticipated benefits to stockholders and plans with respect to the leadership of the combined company. Words such as “believes,” “expects,” “anticipates,” “estimates,” “intends,” “plans,” “seeks,” “projects” or words of similar meaning, or future or conditional verbs, such as “will,” “should,” “would,” “could,” “may” or variations of such words and similar expressions are intended to identify such forward-looking statements, which are not statements of historical fact or guarantees or assurances of future performance. However, the absence of these words or similar expressions does not mean that a statement is not forward-looking.
Actual results could differ materially from those projected or forecast in the forward-looking statements. The factors that could cause actual results to differ materially include, without limitation, the following risks, uncertainties or assumptions: unanticipated difficulties or expenditures relating to the transaction, including, without limitation, difficulties that result in the failure to realize expected synergies, efficiencies and cost savings from the transaction within the expected time period (if at all); potential difficulties in the Company’s ability to hire, retain and motivate employees as a result of the transaction, including those experienced with post-transaction integration efforts; the Company’s ability to obtain and maintain an investment grade credit rating and obtain financing on the anticipated terms and schedule; disruptions of the Company’s current plans, operations and relationships with customers caused by the transaction; the outcome of legal proceedings related to the transaction; and other factors described in the Company’s annual report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2018, which was filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”) on February 26, 2019, and other filings, including quarterly reports, made by the Company from time to time with the SEC. The factors described in such SEC filings include, without limitation: the effect of political, economic and market conditions and geopolitical events; the logistical and other challenges inherent in operating in numerous different countries; the actions and initiatives of current and potential competitors; the level and volatility of real estate prices, interest rates, currency values and other market indices; the outcome of pending litigation; and the impact of current, pending and future legislation and regulation.
The Company does not undertake, and expressly disclaims, any duty to update any forward-looking statement whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required by law. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date hereof.
JLL (NYSE: JLL) is a leading professional services firm that specializes in real estate and investment management. Our vision is to reimagine the world of real estate, creating rewarding opportunities and amazing spaces where people can achieve their ambitions. In doing so, we will build a better tomorrow for our clients, our people and our communities. JLL is a Fortune 500 company with annual revenue of $16.3 billion, operations in over 80 countries and a global workforce of over 91,000 as of March 31, 2019. JLL is the brand name, and a registered trademark, of Jones Lang LaSalle Incorporated. For further information, visit jll.com.
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Terpene Station
Home / Press Releases (Page 2)
Lineage Announces Termination of Agreements With Mt. Baker and Quinsam
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by lishai
Lineage Announces Option Grant, Executive Bonuses And Special Shareholder Meeting Cancellation
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Harborside Inc. is one of the oldest, largest and most respected cannabis retailers in the world, operating two of the major dispensaries in the San Francisco Bay Area.
Harborside has played an instrumental role in making cannabis safe and accessible to a broad and diverse community of California consumers. Co-founded by Steve DeAngelo and dress wedding in 2006, Harborside was awarded one of the first six medical cannabis licenses granted in the United States.
In May 2019, Harborside completed a reverse takeover with Lineage Grow Company, and is currently a publicly listed company on the Canadian Securities Exchange trading under the ticker symbol “HBOR.”
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Foster meets Lord Mandelson in Belfast
Enterprise Minister Arlene Foster has met with Lord Mandelson to discuss ways to overcome the difficulties faced in the current economic climate.
The visit began this morning with a tour of Bombardier, where Arlene Foster and Lord Mandelson met with senior management.
Following yesterday’s announcement that Bombardier is set to reduce employment by 300 temporary workers across its four Northern Ireland sites, Arlene Foster said: "This is very regrettable news which has come about as a result of a reduced demand for Learjet and Challenger aircraft, in which Northern Ireland has significant involvement. I understand that Northern Ireland will be less affected than the Canadian or US operations.
"Invest NI and the Department for Business, Enterprise & Regulatory Reform (BERR) in London are working closely with Bombardier to identify further business development opportunities."
Lord Mandelson and Arlene Foster also discussed the importance of the CSeries project to Bombardier’s future, and the wider benefits this will bring to the economy.
Arlene Foster said: "Bombardier is continuing to recruit new staff for the CSeries and I understand there are approximately 100 new positions on this programme to be filled in Belfast.
“The CSeries project is vitally important to the Northern Ireland economy and has the potential to provide economic benefits over the next 20 years. The significant supply-chain opportunities associated with such a major programme offer benefits for the wider economy in Northern Ireland, the UK and Europe.”
Following the Bombardier visit, Arlene Foster and Lord Mandelson held a meeting to discuss issues of interest to the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Investment (DETI) and the Department for Business Enterprise and Regulatory Reform (BERR).
They discussed the current economic climate and the need for the UK government and the Northern Ireland administration to work together to assist local businesses overcome the difficulties currently faced.
Welcoming the fact that the package of finance measures announced by BERR on 14 January extends to Northern Ireland, Arlene Foster said: “The UK Government has taken a series of measures nationally, aimed at reducing the impact of the recession. The Bank of England’s decision to cut the interest rate to 1% should go some way to help stimulate the Northern Ireland economy.
“I am fully committed to helping our local companies through this recession. This week’s announcement by Ulster Bank to provide financial support to help local businesses manage their capital and cashflow in the current downturn, is a very welcome move.
“I will continue to encourage all banks here to participate in the loan guarantee schemes and the UK Government’s new Enterprise Fund, to provide companies with a wider range of funding options to inject a boost of much needed confidence at this difficult time.”
Business Secretary Lord Mandelson said: “It is good to be back and to see the progress that has been made in Northern Ireland since I was last here. These positive changes are down to the hope and determination of the people of Northern Ireland and their politicians to achieve a peaceful, more prosperous future. The UK Government is committed to do everything it can to work with the Northern Ireland Assembly and others to give you the help you need, now and in the future.”
Arlene Foster and Lord Mandelson also attended a business lunch, hosted by the Northern Ireland Chamber of Commerce, where they met with business representatives to discuss the impact of the current economic situation.
The Ministers then visited Audio Processing Technology (APT) in Belfast. Established in 1988, APT specialises in the manufacture and worldwide distribution of digital audio compression technology for use in a range of electronics and software industries including the music recording, telecommunications and broadcasting sectors.
The Minister said: “APT is a quality employer of new software and electronics graduates. The highly skilled workforce in Northern Ireland is crucial to the success of high-tech businesses here and pioneering companies, such as APT, play a significant role in raising the profile of our economy worldwide as a centre of excellence.”
Arlene Foster ended the day by attending a Northern Ireland Assembly and Business Trust dinner, where Lord Mandelson was guest speaker.
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Juka d'Or
Active principle
Online social media presence
We maintain online presences on social networks and platforms in order to communicate with active customers, interested parties as well as users and to inform them about our services.
We would like to point out that this might cause user data to be processed outside of the European Union, which can pose risks for users because this might, for example, hinder the enforcement of users' rights. With regard to US providers certified under the Privacy Shield, we would like to point out that these have committed to comply with EU data protection standards.
Furthermore, user data are generally processed for market research and advertising purposes. Thus, for example, user usage profiles can be created from the user behaviour and the associated user interests. Usage profiles can in turn be used, for example, to display advertisements that presumably correspond to the interests of the users both within platforms and external to them. For these purposes, cookies are usually stored on the user's computer, which stores user's usage behaviour and interests. Furthermore, data can also be stored in user profiles separate from the devices used by the users (especially if the users are members of the respective platforms and are logged in).
The processing of users' personal data is carried out on the basis of our legitimate interests to effectively offer users information and communicate with users pursuant to Art. 6, para. (1), letter (f) of the GDPR. If users are asked by the respective providers for consent to data processing (i.e. give their consent, e.g. by ticking a box or clicking a button), the legal basis of the processing is Art.
6, para. (1), letter (a) and Art. 7 of the GDPR.
For a detailed description of the respective processing and the possibilities of objection (opt-out), we refer to the information provided by the provider links below.
We would like to point out that requests for information and the assertion of user rights are also directed most effectively to the providers. Only the providers have access to the user data and can directly take appropriate measures as well as provide information. If you still need further assistance, you can contact us.
Facebook (Facebook Ireland Ltd., 4 Grand Canal Square, Grand Canal Harbour, Dublin 2, Ireland) – privacy policy: https://www.facebook.com/about/privacy/
Google (Google LLC, 1600 Amphitheatre Parkway, Mountain View, CA 94043, US) – privacy policy: https://policies.google.com/privacy
Instagram (Instagram Inc., 1601 Willow Road, Menlo Park, CA, 94025, US) – privacy policy: http://instagram.com/about/legal/privacy/
Juka Cosmetic AG
Kapellenstraße 39
76698 Ubstadt-Weiher
Phone: 07253/802 109-0
E-Mail: info(at)juka-cosmetic.de
If there has been a breach of data protection legislation, the person affected may file a complaint with the competent regulatory authorities. The competent regulatory authority for matters related to data protection legislation is the data protection officer of the German state in which our company is headquartered. A list of data protection officers and their contact details can be found at the following link: https://www.bfdi.bund.de/DE/Infothek/Anschriften_Links/anschriften_links-node.html.
If you enter into a contract which requires you to send us your payment information (e.g. account number for direct debits), we will require this data to process your payment.
Payment transactions using common means of payment (Visa/MasterCard, direct debit) are only made via encrypted SSL or TLS connections. You can recognize an encrypted connection in your browser's address line when it changes from "http://" to "https://" and the lock icon in your browser line is visible.
In the case of encrypted communication, any payment details you submit to us cannot be read by third parties.
You can register on our website in order to access additional functions offered here. The input data will only be used for the purpose of using the respective site or service for which you have registered. The mandatory information requested during registration must be provided in full. Otherwise, we will reject your registration.
To inform you about important changes such as those within the scope of our site or technical changes, we will use the email address specified during registration.
We will process the data provided during registration only based on your consent per Art. 6 (1)(a) DSGVO. You may revoke your consent at any time with future effect. An informal email making this request is sufficient. The data processed before we receive your request may still be legally processed.
We will continue to store the data collected during registration for as long as you remain registered on our website. Statutory retention periods remain unaffected.
Data transmitted when entering into a contract with online shops, retailers, and mail order
We transmit personally identifiable data to third parties only to the extent required to fulfill the terms of your contract, for example, to companies entrusted to deliver goods to your location or banks entrusted to process your payments. Your data will not be transmitted for any other purpose unless you have given your express permission to do so. Your data will not be disclosed to third parties for advertising purposes without your express consent.
The use of Facebook social plugins
Based on our legitimate interests (i.e. interest in the analysis, optimisation and economical operation of our online offer within the meaning of Art. 6, para. (1), letter (f) of the GDPR), we use social plugins ("plugins") by the social network facebook.com, which is operated by Facebook Ireland Ltd., 4 Grand Canal Square, Grand Canal Harbour, Dublin 2, Ireland.
This may include content such as images, videos or texts and buttons that users can use to share content from this online offer within Facebook. The list and the appearance of Facebook social plugins can be viewed here: https://developers.facebook.com/docs/plugins/.
Facebook is certified under the Privacy Shield agreement, thereby offering a guarantee of compliance with European data protection law (https://www.privacyshield.gov/participant?id=a2zt0000000GnywAAC&status=Active).
When users access a feature of this online offer that contains such a plugin, their device establishes a direct connection to the Facebook servers. The content of the plugin is transmitted by Facebook directly to the user's device to be integrated into the online offer. Pseudonymous usage profiles of users may be created from the processed data; therefore, we have no influence over the scope of the data which Facebook collects using this plugin and inform you based on our knowledge.
By including the plugin, Facebook receives the information that a user has accessed the corresponding page of the online offer. If you are logged in to Facebook, Facebook can assign the visit to your Facebook account. If you interact with the plugins, for example by clicking the “Like” button or writing a comment, the corresponding information is directly transmitted from your browser to Facebook to be stored there. If a user is not a member of Facebook, there is still the possibility that Facebook will gain knowledge of their IP address and store it. According to Facebook, only anonymised IP addresses are stored in Germany.
For the purpose and scope of data collection and further processing and use of data by Facebook, as well as the related rights and settings options to protect the privacy of users, please refer to Facebook's privacy policy: https://www.facebook.com/about/privacy/.
If users are members of Facebook and do not want Facebook to collect data about their visit to our online offer and link it to their membership data stored on Facebook, they need to log out of Facebook before using our online offer and delete their cookies. Further settings and ways to revoke permission to use data for advertising purposes are available in the Facebook profile settings: https://www.facebook.com/settings?tab=ads or via the US page http://www.aboutads.info/choices/ or the EU page http://www.youronlinechoices.com/. The settings apply across platforms, i.e. they are applied to all devices, such as desktop computers or mobile devices.
Within our online offer, functions and contents of the Instagram service, offered by Instagram Inc, 1601 Willow Road, Menlo Park, CA, 94025, US, can be integrated. This may include, for example, content such as images, videos or texts and buttons that users can use to share content from this online offer within Instagram. If the users are members of the Instagram platform, Instagram can assign the calling up of the above content and functions to the users' profiles there. Instagram privacy policy: http://instagram.com/about/legal/privacy/.
This site uses so-called web fonts, provided by Google, for the uniform representation of fonts. When you call up a page, your browser loads the required web fonts into your browser cache to display texts and fonts correctly.
To do this, the browser you use must connect to Google's servers. As a result, Google learns that our website has been accessed via your IP address. The use of Google Web Fonts is in the interest of a consistent and attractive presentation of our online services. This constitutes a legitimate interest within the meaning of Art. 6, para. (1) letter (f) GDPR.
If your browser does not support web fonts, a default font will be used by your computer.
More information about Google Web Fonts can be found at https://developers.google.com/fonts/faq and in Google's Privacy Policy: https://www.google.com/policies/privacy/.
Integration of the Trusted Shops Trustbadge
To display our Trusted Shops seal of approval and any collected reviews as well as to offer the Trusted Shops products for buyers after placing an order, the Trusted Shops Trust Badge is included on this website.
This serves to safeguard our legitimate interests, which predominate in the context of a weighing up of interests, in the optimal marketing of our offer. The Trustbadge and the services advertised are an offer of Trusted Shops GmbH, Subbelrather Str. 15C, 50823 Cologne.
When the Trustbadge is called, the Web server automatically stores a so-called server log file, which can contain, for example, your IP address, date and time of the retrieval, transferred amount of data and the requesting provider (access data) and document the call. These access data will not be evaluated and automatically overwritten within seven days after the end of your page visit.
Further personal data are only transferred to Trusted Shops, as far as you decide after the conclusion of an order for the use of Trusted Shops products or have already registered for the use. In this case, the contractual agreement between you and Trusted Shops applies.
Source: eRecht24
**Aktion gültig bis 31.07.2019. Nicht mit anderen Aktionen kombinierbar und keine Barauszahlung möglich.
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The Philosophy of Achieving ‘Above Average’
April 03 — 2018
Sarah’s New Life As A Mountain Biker
I spent a lot of time training when I was racing the Enduro World Series. I realize now that it was the thing I loved most about the sport. I tended to crumble on race days and in practice and I found myself consumed with negativity and fear at events – I was a pro at getting in my own way, and it showed in my results. But training every day…now that was something I could process. Weekly training programs around work and real life gave me the focus I needed to stay happy and the purpose I needed to deal with everyday life.
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Duncan Philpott
Duncan Philpott photo from EWS #1 in Corral, Chile, March 2016. It's been a while since I survived my last proper season of racing.
Fast forward from my last successful EWS race in 2016 (almost two years ago!) to today: now that I’m not racing and I have a real job that requires more than 40 hours of work every week, who am I? I am fortunate to live in a community that values athleticism and achievements, but the flip side of that is that I struggle to have a lot to say about myself in conversations if my life isn’t entrenched in trying to be awesome at sport all the time. Turns out, real life is actually really boring if you’re not focused on trying really hard at something.
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Robin O'Neill
Trying really hard at this climb in Burns Lake, BC for Robin O’Neill’s camera.
My philosophy has changed since I raced. Like, a lot, and because it had to. Most athletes will tell you how hard it is to transition from high performance sport to real life, and it’s completely true. It’s kind of like part of you dies. It’s amazing how humbling it is to go from constant self-improvement as an athlete when you’re training full time to just being average at the sport you’ve been honing for years…suddenly, you’re just like everyone else. I think it’s largely why a lot of pro athletes switch to another sport to do at a high level once they retire – the narrative of being the best at something is really hard to let go of. Who doesn’t want to be among the best in the world? And once you are, why would you ever want to be anything less than that?
Britt Phelan (in front) pushes me and teaches me every time we ride together. This photo was taken in Smithers, BC last year. Britt has since won a silver medal at the 2018 Winter Olympics and was 3rd in the World in Ski Cross this year, so she’s at a different stage of her sport than I am (and than most people in the world, including me, ever will be). She and I are similar in that we will always want to work hard at something for the rest of our lives to stay happy.
This winter, I spent about 6 weeks in Santa Cruz with the ol’ ball and chain and quite a bit of time training at the Crossfit gym down the street. While training with Monika Marx at Marx Conditioning for these past few years gave me the structure and discipline I needed to overcome a gnarly injury and build a base for racing at the elite level, I finished the end of last season feeling really flat. I got back into training at Crossfit in Whistler in the fall – it was something that I loved to do before I focused on racing enduro, and I missed the high intensity efforts with weight and the community that comes from spending time at a great facility like Opus Athletics. Even though I was in sunny California for all of December, I really got excited about focusing my energy off the bike at the gym. It was cool to have something new to get better at and I needed a change of pace after another busy summer on my bike.
Sarah Leishman
Just another regular day of being crushed by the Average Joes of Whistler, BC.
As I’ve treaded the waters of offering up “I don’t race anymore” in casual conversation and explaining why I came to that decision, I’ve had to come to terms with the death of the ‘elite athlete’ who was Sarah. I’ve started to learn from the qualities in people I admire while remaining focused on being an interesting, relevant and engaged human being without hanging my hat on the story of “racing” or “being pro” (whatever that means as a woman, especially). This is especially interesting when you consider the dopamine response loop that is social media. Quite frankly, I now find the notion of brag-booking or “look at me!” type conversations on social really tough to genuinely take seriously – most of it just isn’t even real.
Hiding from the 90km/h wind gusts on Cronin Pass, BC, just outside of Smithers. I have had more fun enduring type 2 days like this than I ever did with a race plate on my bike.
The vast majority of people in my community could be elite athletes if they wanted to, but they just don’t. Like most mountain or outdoor-focused towns, Whistler locals live out their normal lives having kids, jobs, families, dogs…whatever. These quiet crushers are faster than me, and faster than a lot of athletes who get paid to ride their bikes, but you’ll never hear about them on Instagram or Pinkbike. I’ve found out the hard way on several rides that weren’t about training, as several of these individuals have systematically ripped my legs off and humbled me on trails I’ve been riding for years. My trips to Crossfit in Whistler are no different.
I arranged an entire trip to Northern BC in August of 2017 specifically to find this corner and re-shoot it. I have an old, out of focus image of this same section of trail in Burns Lake from 7 years ago, but this one means more to me than the old one ever did. It took a lot to get here – as a mountain biker and as a human.
That’s the person I’ve decided to become, now that racing Sarah is officially gone (no one who knows me is sad about that, trust me). Sure, there are still interesting, genuine stories to tell from the trails that I plan to examine, but I am embracing the philosophy of being above average (which is surprisingly difficult!). Instead of being the ‘sponsored rider’ who races around the world and trains at the Olympic Training Facility for hours and hours and hours alone every day, I am someone else. I’m the disorganized, often tired, kind of broken from old injuries lady who tries real hard at the sports she loves and trains to keep up with her well-above-average buddies from a mountain town. I also have a job that I really love and I have really cool experiences to share about the places I’ve been and the things I’ve learned along the way. Turns out that’s something too.
Britt and me on Cronin Pass.
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Current Region: United Kingdom
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Justia Lawyer Directory North Carolina Claremont Attorneys
Claremont, North Carolina Lawyers
Find Claremont, North Carolina Lawyers by Practice Area
Melanie Stewart Cranford
Claremont, NC Lawyer
3381 White Oak Ct
Claremont, NC 28610
M. Anthony Burts II
Newton, NC Attorney with 3 years experience
(888) 314-7127 22 South Main Avenue
Newton, NC 28658
Criminal and Personal Injury
Walter Patterson II
Statesville, NC Lawyer with 47 years experience
(855) 860-2150 301 N. Center St.
Free ConsultationSocial Security Disability
Walter joined the Law Office of Patton Brown Law in July 2013 following the merger of this Law Office and his existing disability practice. Prior to the merger, he was in practice with the firm of Lewis & Patterson in Statesville, having joined the predecessor of that firm after graduation from UNC Law School in August 1971. Walter earned a BA degree in History in 1962. Walter served in the US Marine Corps and US Navy. He served 6 years with INS (Border Patrol) throughout the United States. Walter’s first exposure to Social Security disability...
Dustin S. McCrary
Hickory, NC Lawyer with 9 years experience
(828) 495-6464 520 8th Street NE
Criminal, DWI, Divorce and Family
Divorce is tough. There’s no way around it. Divorce is stressful, intensely emotional, and overwhelming. It is the perfect storm of problems, from determining child custody arrangements, divvying up assets, and untangling previously tangled lives.
There’s where I come in. I’m Dustin McCrary, a divorce lawyer focusing on the needs of divorce and separation, child custody, child support, alimony and spousal support, property distribution, and domestic violence. And I’m here to help.
My clients would tell you that I have the natural ability to put them at ease. I have a calming presence and genuinely care about every person I meet. I’m...
Joel C. Harbinson
Taylorsville, NC Attorney with 39 years experience
(828) 632-4264 70 East Main Avenue
Free ConsultationCriminal, DWI, Divorce and Family
Joel C. Harbinson attended the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and graduated in 1977 with an A.B. degree and from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Law in 1979 with a J.D. degree. He has been self-employed since 1979 as a criminal, domestic, and personal injury attorney in Taylorsville. In addition, Joel is a certified mediator in Superior Court cases, receiving accreditation from the N.C. Dispute Resolution Commission in 1998, and is a certified arbitrator in District Court cases. Joel is the former President of the 22nd Judicial District Bar Association (1987-1988, 1999-2000) and a...
Jason E. Taylor
Hickory, NC Attorney with 25 years experience
(800) 351-3008 120 3rd St NE
Free ConsultationConstruction, Nursing Home, Personal Injury and Workers' Comp
Henry Samuel Morphis
HICKORY, NC Lawyer with 12 years experience
(828) 328-5297 845 Second Street NE
Business, Elder, Estate Planning and Tax
Campbell University
Henry took a delayed path to entering the practice of law. After college Henry worked in the furniture industry for almost nine years. During that time he worked progressively as a staff engineer, plant manager, and head of engineering. In his final position prior to leaving the furniture industry Henry was a member of the Steering Committee for a corporation with over 250 employees and was responsible for overseeing the corporation’s IT Department, Product Development Department, and continuous efficiency improvement initiative. Henry decided in 2003 to pursue a different career as an attorney and joined Young,...
Clark D Tew
Statesville, NC Attorney with 8 years experience
Agricultural, Business, Civil Rights and Employment
Clark is dedicated to providing his clients with the highest quality representation in civil litigation, employment matters, and appeals without losing sight of small town values or the bottom line.
After earning his juris doctor from Wake Forest University School of Law in 2010, Clark started working in Iredell County. He handles a variety of complex civil litigation cases, including business disputes, real property conflicts, insurance and subrogation claims, contract lawsuits, and employment matters. Throughout his career, Clark has represented clients in the trial and appellate courts of North Carolina, in Federal court, and before Administrative Law Judges, the United States...
Liz McCurry Johnson
(704) 873-7233 239 E Broad St
Free ConsultationElder, Estate Planning and Probate
North Carolina Central University School of Law
Brian C. Gambrell
Free ConsultationMedical Malpractice, Nursing Home, Personal Injury and Workers' Comp
Brian is a graduate of the University of South Carolina. He obtained his Juris Doctorate degree from the University of South Carolina School of Law in 2000. He is a member of the South Carolina Bar, and he has served on numerous committees including the Ethics Advisory Committee, Professional Responsibility Committee, and the Unauthorized Practice of Law Committee.
Brian and his wife, Amy, have two sons. Brian has served as a volunteer youth soccer coach for more than 10 years. He is also an avid band parent and enjoys playing computer/video/board games with his boys in his spare time.
Robyn Buckley
Free ConsultationPersonal Injury
Matthew D. Byerley
Taylorsville, NC Lawyer with 8 years experience
(828) 635-0098 171 Main Ave Dr
Criminal, DWI, Family and Traffic Tickets
Matthew Damon Byerley was born and raised in Alexander County, graduating from Alexander Central High School in 2003. Matthew is a 2007 graduate of The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, with a Bachelor’s degree in Sociology. He obtained his law degree from Elon University School of Law in 2011. While at Elon Law, Matthew concentrated his studies in general practice and litigation. He became a licensed attorney in North Carolina in August 2011, and has been practicing in Alexander and the surrounding counties since that time. Matthew and his wife, Catherine, also an attorney, reside in Conover, North...
Robert N. Crosswhite
Statesville, NC Lawyer
Free ConsultationElder, Estate Planning and Real Estate
Regent University School of Law
Free ConsultationPersonal Injury and Social Security Disability
Chad joined Partin, Patton & Brown in July 2004 and became a Partner in January 2009. His practice focuses in the areas of Social Security Disability and personal injury. Chad is a North Carolina Board Certified Specialist in Social Security Disability Law. Chad attended law school at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (1999) where he was an Articles and Notes Editor for the North Carolina Banking Law Institute and Journal. Following law school, he clerked for the Honorable Robert F. Orr on the N.C. Supreme Court and served as an Assistant District Attorney...
Edward Lawrence Hedrick V
Taylorsville, NC Lawyer
(828) 228-2398 22 W. Main Ave.
Free ConsultationCriminal, DWI, Divorce and Domestic Violence
Edward, a Taylorsville native, knew from a young age that his calling in life was to be an attorney. Some of his earliest memories involve watching his father at his law office. Over the years, his desire to help others through legal work has only grown stronger. Edward is a third-generation lawyer, and it brings him immense pride to practice in the same building as both his father and grandfather before him.
An avid Tar Heel fan, Edward attended UNC Chapel Hill for his undergraduate studies. He received degrees in both economics and public policy.
For his legal education, Edward...
Jonathan Dean Griffin
Statesville, NC Attorney with 17 years experience
(704) 873-5500 400 East Broad Street
Free ConsultationCriminal, Divorce, Family and Traffic Tickets
For all your Family Law and Criminal Defense needs, Call Jonathan! - (704) 873-5500
Since earning his law degree with honors in 2001, Statesville, North Carolina, attorney Jonathan D. Griffin has dedicated his professional energies to advocating vigorously for clients in Iredell County and the surrounding area. Today, our extremely active, thriving practice at Griffin Law, PLLC, is focused on divorce, child custody, criminal defense, DWI, and traffic law.
Timothy Burch
Free ConsultationMedical Malpractice, Personal Injury and Workers' Comp
Tim is a Trial Lawyer that you can trust when you or a family member has been injured. He has dedicated his career to representing individuals and families facing the uncertainty of how to navigate the process of filing and successfully pursuing a claim against the at-fault party and their insurance company when an injury occurs. Tim is grateful to be able to work with the professional staff and attorneys who make up the Law Offices of Jason E. Taylor, P.C. as they demonstrate daily their commitment to excellence in law. The firm has locations in multiple...
Mooresville, NC Lawyer with 29 years experience
(704) 663-1600 514 Williamson Rd
Business, Personal Injury, Real Estate and Workers' Comp
Louisiana State University - Baton Rouge and Paul M. Hebert Law Center, Louisiana State University
Larry Serbin
10.0 (1 Peer Review)
Free ConsultationHickory, NC Attorney with 10 years experience
Consumer and Personal Injury
Capital University Law School
Free ConsultationPersonal Injury and Workers' Comp
Bryan Alan Corbett
Statesville, NC Attorney
(704) 253-4866 258 E. Broad Street
Free ConsultationCriminal, DWI, Family and Traffic Tickets
Bryan is the Managing Partner at Harbinson, Brzykcy & Corbett, LLP, located in his hometown of Statesville, North Carolina, and serves citizens in an around Iredell and Alexander counties. Bryan's areas of practice include traffic violations, DWI arrests, criminal defense, family law, personal injury, estate planning, and business/civil litigation. Bryan takes enormous pride in his community and looks forward to continuing to enrich the lives of friends and neighbors in the months and years ahead.
Tanya M. Powers
Powers Immigration Law
Powers Immigration Law is dedicated to the practices of United States immigration and naturalization law. Tanya represents individuals and businesses in all aspects of immigration and nationality law, including applications for adjustment of status, employment authorizations, deferred action for parental accountability (DAPA), deferred action for childhood arrivals (DACA), investor's visas, work and family based petitions, asylum petitions, K-1 visa petitions for the fiancé(e)s of U.S. citizens, adjustments of status based on marriage to a U.S. citizen, naturalization, and assistance in preparing for immigration interviews.
Anthony Scott Privette
(704) 872-8125 307 Davie Ave
Mr. Privette has developed a diversified law practice and is capable of handling your legal needs. He is experienced in business and civil litigation, advising clients with respect to establishing business corporations, limited liability companies and partnerships as well as buying or selling a business, assisting clients with employment issues such as wrongful denial of benefits (unemployment, disability, or workers compensation), discrimination and sexual harassment. Mr. Privette represents individuals who have suffered the effects of personal or workplace injuries and represents clients zealously to ensure that they attain the compensation they deserve. He offers clients real estate services including but not...
Seth J. Johnson
Free ConsultationCriminal, DWI and Workers' Comp
C. Jason Ralston
(704) 253-4365 117 N. Kelly Street
Criminal, Divorce, Family and Real Estate
Cumberland School of Law, Samford University
Jason is a 1993 graduate of Oak Ridge Military Academy. From there, he attended The Citadel, the military college of South Carolina. He earned his Bachelor of Arts in business administration in 1997. Jason attended Cumberland School of Law, at Samford University, in Birmingham, Alabama where he received his Juris Doctorate in 2000. He has been a member of the North Carolina State Bar since 2001. Jason has practiced law full time in the Iredell County and surrounding areas since 2001 and joined the firm of Gottholm, Ralston and Benton, PLLC in 2014. Jason practices primarily in...
Mike Godley
Divorce and Family
Campbell Law School
Mike Godley has practiced family law in Mooresville, North Carolina for 31 years. Family law deals with issues concerning the break up of a marriage such as divorce, custody of children, child support, spousal support and division of property. Family law also involves issues prior to marriage such as prenuptial agreements and issues after marriage such as separation agreements.
Mike serves his clients as an educator, adviser and advocate through the legal system, which can often be very confusing, frustrating, and time-consuming without a guide to help through the process.
Mike Godley is also a mediator who helps parties and their...
Hon. Martin J. Gottholm
Criminal, DWI, Domestic Violence and Traffic Tickets
Martin is a partner at Gottholm, Ralston and Benton, PLLC. In almost 20 years of practicing law, his experience includes roles as an assistant District Attorney and District Court Judge. Martin practices primarily in the area of criminal defense. He has represented clients on charges ranging from speeding tickets to first degree murder. Having been a former Judge and Prosecutor has brought Martin a varied perspective and wealth of experience as a criminal defense Attorney. That experience is both recognized by his peers and appreciated by his clients. You will find no one more zealous and committed to advocating on...
Christina Clodfelter
Free ConsultationCriminal, Divorce, Family and Personal Injury
Christina Clodfelter was raised in Statesville, NC, and is a graduate of Statesville High School. She received a B.A. degree in Political Science and English from the University of South Carolina in 2007. She then returned to North Carolina where she received her Juris Doctorate from the University of North Carolina School of Law. Ms. Clodfelter lives in Statesville and practices in the Statesville office. Ms. Clodfelter is excited to be practicing law in her hometown. She enjoys spending time with her family, who has strong ties to the Statesville community, and is an active South Carolina Gamecock fan.
Kevin McIntosh
HICKORY, NC Attorney
(828) 322-4663 400 Second Avenue, NW
Elder, Health Care and Real Estate
Kevin's practice consists of transactional law involving corporations, partnerships, and secured transactions, as well as real estate transactions, contract law, and elder law. He joined the firm in 1993. Since then, Kevin has helped hundreds of businesses and individuals throughout Catawba County and western North Carolina form corporate entities that are right for their needs and to successfully navigate through various legal and business issues. Kevin has extensive experience with drafting corporate and business agreements for small businesses and expansive corporate entities. Kevin also has extensive experience in representing healthcare entities including nursing homes and medical...
Matthew L. Benton
Business, Criminal, Estate Planning and Family
Matthew attended North Carolina State University and graduated Magna Cum Laude in 2002 with a Bachelor of Arts in History and from the University of Alabama School of Law in 2006 with a Juris Doctorate. He is a partner at Gottholm, Ralston and Benton, PLLC since the firm’s inception in 2014, and was a partner at The Law Offices of Benton & Welborn, PLLC from 2006 until 2011, and The Law Offices of Gottholm, Welborn and Benton, PLLC from 2012-2013. Matthew’s practice primarily focuses on family law, criminal law and civil litigation. Matthew is an experienced litigator, and tries...
Rufus Walker Jr
Business, Construction, Consumer and Elder
Mr. Walker has been practicing primarily in the Unifour Area (Alexander, Burke, Caldwell and Catawba counties) and provides competent and practical legal representation at a fair and reasonable cost. He has earned an excellent reputation for providing a reasonable, cost effective and common sense approach to planning, advising or resolving your legal matter.
W. Sloan Goforth
(704) 495-3371 234 W. Broad St.
Consumer, Criminal, DWI and Divorce
University of South Carolina - Columbia
Born in Shelby, NC July 18, 1978. I grew up in Kings Mountain, NC. Appalachian State University, 2002; University of South Carolina School of Law, 2008. Member: North Carolina Bar Association; Iredell County Bar Association Bio: I taught US History for three years at Hunter Huss High School in Gastonia North Carolina. During my time as a teacher, I also coached the boys and girls soccer teams and participated in other school activities. I am an avid Appalachian State football fan and enjoy traveling to Boone, NC for the games. ...
Jared E. Stone
Free ConsultationLandlord Tenant, Personal Injury and Traffic Tickets
Mr. Christopher L. Main Esq.
549 Eastside Drive
Criminal, Estate Planning, Family and Juvenile
Peter W. Simon
(704) 380-4893 1835 Davie Avenue
Business, Estate Planning, Probate and Tax
University of Miami School of Law and Florida State University College of Law
Carol Anne Armstrong
(877) 700-2970 211A Hwy 127
Ms. Armstrong earned her juris doctorate from the North Carolina Central University School of Law Evening Division and her bachelor of arts in journalism from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. During her eighteen years of practicing law, Ms. Armstrong has served on the staff of two U.S. Senators as Immigration Counsel. In her private immigration law practice, Ms. Armstrong has represented numerous families, employers, and employees. She has successfully submitted nonimmigrant visa petitions for H-1B, H-2A, H-2B, L-1, O-1, P-1, and R-1 temporary workers, immigrant visa applications in the EB-1, EB-2, EB-3, and EB-4...
Susannah Lynn Brown
(828) 323-1281 208 Union Square
Mercer Univ-W.George L.S
D. Todd Wulfhorst
Denver, NC Attorney with 26 years experience
(704) 483-3415 3758 Highway 16 N
Business, Collections, Criminal and Estate Planning
Matthew Poteet
Hickory, NC Lawyer
(828) 324-4111 327 3rd Avenue North West
Criminal, DWI and Workers' Comp
Brian F. Chapman
(855) 260-0547 113 North Center Street
Bankruptcy, Consumer and Estate Planning
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The Justia Lawyer Directory is a listing of lawyers, legal aid organizations, and pro bono legal service organizations. Whether you were injured, are accused of a crime, or are merely engaging in everyday affairs that affect your legal rights or property, an attorney can help you resolve problems or prevent new ones from arising.
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Best Health Care Stocks to Buy for 2019
The 10 Best Health Care Stocks to Buy for 2019
By Will Ashworth | January 8, 2019
Health care stocks were the best sector in the Standard & Poor’s 500-stock index in 2018, according to Yardeni Research. The sector’s 4.7% gain last year isn’t exactly eye-popping. But consider that utilities (+0.5%) were the only sector in the black, and that the index itself lost 6.2% … and you realize just how impressive health care actually was.
As we look ahead to 2019, economic storm clouds appear to be gathering. Although a recession is unlikely in the year ahead, UCLA economists estimate that GDP growth will shrink from 3% in 2018 to 2% in 2019 and finally 1% in 2020.
Thus, in the potential absence of a good offense, it makes sense for investors to buy some defense in 2019. The best health care stocks can fit that bill. “Health care is a defensive growth sector that we think should have a growth upturn over the next five years or so,” Saira Malik, head of global equities at Nuveen, told Fortune in November.
With that in mind, here are 10 health care stocks to buy for 2019.
SEE ALSO: 101 Best Dividend Stocks to Buy for 2019 and Beyond
Data is as of Jan. 7, 2019. Dividend yields are calculated by annualizing the most recent quarterly payout and dividing by the share price. Analysts ratings from Wall Street Journal. Stocks listed in alphabetical order.
Best Health Care Stocks to Buy for 2019 | Slide 2 of 11
Market value: $65.2 billion
Dividend yield: N/A
Forward P/E: 11.5
Analysts’ opinion: 20 buy, 2 overweight, 8 hold, 0 underweight, 0 sell
If you’re going to go defensive, it makes sense to own stocks that perform well late in an economic cycle, PNC Financial co-chief investment strategist Jeff Mills told CNBC. He believes health care stocks provide investors with growth and safety in any economic cycle.
Two areas of health care that analysts favor are pharmaceuticals and biotechnology.
They like pharma stocks because they possess attractive valuations, are fundamentally sound, and pay healthy dividends. Biotechnology stocks are appealing because of the M&A factor. Smaller biotechs that are growing will continue to be acquired by companies such as Biogen (BIIB, $322.40), the third-largest S&P 500 biotech company by market cap.
Biogen is a leader in neuroscience with a portfolio of multiple sclerosis (MS) drug therapies that are among the best in the industry. It also has a promising pipeline of potential Alzheimer treatments.
But most importantly, Biogen generates strong cash flow. In the third quarter ended Sept. 30, 2018, BIIB generated $1.7 billion in operating cash flow from $3.4 billion in revenue (65% from MS) and $1.5 billion in non-GAAP net income. BIIB generated $3.7 billion in free cash flow through the first nine months of 2018, giving it the financial chops to withstand any economic downturn.
SEE ALSO: 6 Genome Sequencing Stocks to Buy for Big Health Care Profits
Dividend yield: 3.4%
Analysts’ opinion: 6 buy, 1 overweight, 10 hold, 0 underweight, 1 sell
Pharmaceutical companies such as Bristol-Myers Squibb (BMY, $52.58) are in the business of developing new drugs. That means taking risks. Some work, some don’t.
Just three days into 2019, for instance, Bristol-Myers made a tremendous splash, announcing that it was acquiring Celgene (CELG) for $74 billion in a deal that sees Celgene shareholders receive $50 in cash and one Bristol-Myers share for every CELG share held.
The acquisition creates a very competitive biopharma company in four key areas: oncology, immunology, inflammation and cardiovascular disease. Bristol-Myers expects to achieve run-rate cost synergies of $2.5 billion by 2021 while generating free cash flow of $45 billion over the next three years.
Just go in understanding that risk goes both ways. BMY also announced in late November that its cancer drug combination – which brings Optivo, its immunotherapy drug, together with Yervoy, an older cancer drug – failed its late-stage trial. A test to see if the combination would extend the lives of small cell lung cancer patients, whose odds of living two years from diagnosis is low, did not achieve meaningful success. BMY shares fell on the news.
If you’re a BMY shareholder, don’t lose any sleep over it. The company’s expected to make at least $3.80 per share in fiscal 2018 and $4.10 in 2019, excluding the Celgene acquisition.
SEE ALSO: 10 Blockbuster Drugs of the Future
Elanco Animal Health
Analysts’ opinion: 5 buy, 0 overweight, 5 hold, 0 underweight, 0 sell
Elanco Animal Health (ELAN, $32.65) – the former animal health division of Eli Lilly (LLY) – went public in September 2018, selling 62.9 million shares of its stock at $24 a share. Despite a massive downturn with the rest of the market in the final quarter of 2019, shares are still well above that point. And it’s running on all cylinders as 2019 kicks off.
Everyone and their dog (pardon the pun) seems to be spinning off their animal health divisions these days. And why not, given the investor appetite for pet-related investments, not to mention how well they’ve performed out of the gate? Pfizer (PFE) took Zoetis (ZTS) public in February 2013 at $26 a share; ZTS shares now stand at more than $85.
Elanco and companies like it are staring at steady growth opportunities. In the first nine months of 2018, ELAN posted revenues of $884 million from companion animal therapies and vaccines – an improvement of 7.5% from a year earlier.
SEE ALSO: 10 Small-Cap Stocks to Buy for 2019 and Beyond
First, you had the CVS Health (CVS) $70 billion merger with Aetna. Now, Walgreens Boots Alliance (WBA) and Humana (HUM, $276.58) are holding hands and playing nice.
Walgreens and Humana already have an early-stage joint venture in place to develop senior health clinics. As a result of this partnership, they’re exploring taking small ownership positions in each other to motivate both sides to make the partnership work.
There is a possibility that this turns into full-blown merger discussions, but it’s just that – a possibility. They’re not close to this stage right now.
“We believe the existing joint venture structure provides sufficient financial incentives for both companies to pilot the program and to expand it, should the results warrant a bigger footprint/commitment,” Goldman Sachs wrote in a note to clients in November.
Still, analysts believe Humana, which is a big player in Medicare Advantage – the privately operated government health insurance for those over 65 with more than 3 million members that is growing by 350,000 annually – would gain access to a massive cohort of seniors served by Walgreens. Even on its own, Humana is operating a steady, attractive ship.
SEE ALSO: 5 Hot-Running Health Insurance Stocks to Buy
Intuitive Surgical
©2017 Intuitive Surgical, Inc.
The research team at Morgan Stanley released a list of 25 secular growth stocks that it feels can do well in the future regardless of the state of the economy or where interest rates are headed.
Intuitive Surgical (ISRG, $478.44), the manufacturer of the da Vinci robotic surgical system, is one of the companies to make the list. ISRG boasts estimated four-year (2017-20) revenue and earnings per share growth of 31% and 35%, respectively. Of course, it trades at 37 times future earnings estimates, so it will need every bit of that growth to justify its lofty valuation. But analysts are optimistic.
“(Intuitive Surgical) has gained significant adoption within urology and gynecology and is still in the relatively early stages of penetration internationally and within broader procedures,” Morgan Stanley’s analysts wrote.
A decade ago, surgeons likely wondered if they would ever need robotic systems like da Vinci to get the job done. Today, these systems are becoming as interwoven with health care as smartphones are with our daily lives.
SEE ALSO: 19 Best Stocks to Buy for 2019 (And 5 to Sell)
Invesco S&P 500 Equal Weight Health Care ETF
Market value: $647.9 million
Forward P/E: N/A
Analysts’ opinion: N/A
Whether you simply don’t like picking stocks or love the diversification offered by funds, the Invesco S&P 500 Equal Weight Health Care ETF (RYH, $180.12) is the play on health care stocks as we enter 2019.
Before you run out and buy Invesco’s ETF, it’s important to understand that equal-weighted funds tend to outperform over the long haul, though they sometimes suffer short-term underperformance.
Veteran financial commentator Howard Gold recently examined some equal-weighted sector ETFs with their cap-weighted Sector SPDR equivalents. He found that over 10 years through Sept. 20, the equal-weighted ETFs outperformed their cap-weighted peers by 1.5 to 2.8 percentage points annually.
“The trouble with market-cap-weighted (indices) longer term is you ride the momentum up,” Gold stated in September. “But there is no mechanism to kick those stocks out again. So, you ride them down.”
RYH itself is a basket of 61 holdings across several health care sectors, including equipment & supplies, providers & services, pharmaceuticals, biotechnology, life sciences tools & services, and health care technology. Top holdings include the likes of Celgene, Incyte (INCY) and Dentsply Sirona (XRAY), and the fund charges 0.4% annually – or $40 for every $10,000 invested – to hold it.
SEE ALSO: 7 Low-Volatility ETFs for This Roller-Coaster Market
Market value: $345.8 billion
When most people think of Johnson & Johnson (JNJ, $127.01), the first thing that probably comes to mind is baby powder.
A California jury ruled in November against claims by a California woman that the company’s talc products, including its baby powder, caused her mesothelioma cancer. That seemed like good news for the company. However, JNJ is nowhere near in the clear. On Dec. 14, a Reuters report surfaced alleging the company knew for decades that its baby powder contained asbestos, which can cause cancer. Although the company vehemently denied the accusation, the markets swiftly knocked $50 billion off its market cap in just two days of trading.
To limit the damage to its share price, the company approved a $5 billion share repurchase.
Thankfully, Johnson & Johnson is so much more than baby powder. In fact, its consumer products business is the smallest of its three operating segments. In the most recent quarter ended Sept. 30, consumer products accounted for 17% of its $20.3 billion in revenue; pharmaceuticals accounted for 51%, and medical devices made up 32%.
Also, don’t count out the consumer-products division. In August, JNJ relaunched its baby care line, resulting in 20% revenue growth in the third quarter. Also, it announced in October that it was paying $2.1 billion to acquire the remaining 80% of Ci:z Holdings – the Japanese cosmetics firm whose brands include Dr.Ci:Labo – it didn’t already own. This should take its international growth to a new level.
Johnson & Johnson might be reeling now, but it remains a foundational health care stock.
SEE ALSO: The 25 Best Blue-Chip Stocks for 2019 (According to Hedge Funds)
Courtesy U.S. Embassy Kyiv Ukraine via Flickr
Analysts’ opinion: 16 buy, 3 overweight, 11 hold, 0 underweight, 0 sell
Medtronic (MDT, $82.45) CEO Omar Ishrak jumped on a plane to Israel on Dec. 2 to check out some of its investments. In November of this year, the company paid an undisclosed amount to buy Nutrino, an Israeli company specializing in nutrition-related artificial intelligence.
Medtronic has been partnering with Nutrino since 2016 as part of its fight against diabetes. One of the AI-powered tools that Nutrino has developed is a glycemic response algorithm that tells users of its app how they might react to certain meals.
“Bringing Nutrino and their nutrition-related expertise into our organization will give us a substantial differentiator in the diabetes industry and accelerate our progress to help people with diabetes live with greater freedom and better health,” Hooman Hakami, executive vice president and president of the Diabetes Group at Medtronic, said in a statement.
However, Medtronic may not be done with its Israeli acquisitions. Ishrak is said to have met with Isreal Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the country’s minister of economy and industry while visiting.
Medtronic’s diabetes business is on a roll as we head into 2019, as are the rest of the company’s operating segments. In November, Medtronic announced second-quarter results that included organic revenue growth of 7.5% year-over-year – 150 basis points higher than analyst expectations. That included a 26% revenue increase in MDT’s diabetes business.
SEE ALSO: The 9 Best Dividend Growth Stocks in the Dow Jones
Best Health Care Stocks to Buy for 2019 | Slide 10 of 11
Investors familiar with ResMed (RMD, $111.12) probably know the California company because of the masks you see people wearing on TV to help with sleep apnea. However, ResMed also makes products to help people living with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD).
In early December, ResMed spent $225 million to acquire Propeller Health, a Wisconsin-based company that provides people living with asthma with a digital medicine platform to monitor their inhalers to ensure they’re adhering to their physician’s instructions. The combination of Propeller’s connected health solutions with ResMed’s existing COPD products brings it that much closer to becoming a global leader in digital health for COPD.
In the company’s first quarter ended Sept. 30, 2018, ResMed generated $47.5 million from its software as a service platform (SaaS). That’s 25% higher than a year earlier. Currently, this area makes up less than 10% of overall revenue, but it is ResMed’s fastest-growing revenue stream.
Combine this SaaS platform with acquisitions such as Propeller Health, and ResMed look like one of the most promising health care stocks for 2019 and beyond.
SEE ALSO: The Best Vanguard Funds for 401(k) Retirement Savers
USANA Health Sciences
Market value: $2.8 billion
It’s difficult to believe – given some of the bad press that Herbalife (HLF) has received from Bill Ackman in recent years – that direct-selling company USANA Health Sciences (USNA, $116.25) would land on any list of top health care stocks.
USANA is the 20th largest direct-selling company in the world, with operations in 24 countries including the U.S. and Canada. However, it is China that’s leading the company’s growth; the country makes up 55% of USANA’s trailing-12-month revenue. In the third quarter ended Sept. 28, Greater China, North Asia and Southeast Asia Pacific saw net sales increase by 22.6%, 26.7% and 12.3%, respectively.
Through the first nine months of fiscal 2018, USANA grew the top line by 15% to $774.2 million. Profits expanded by 37% to $93.9 million, or 10.6% of sales. Both are very healthy increases.
USANA expects 2018 earnings per share to be at least $5.00, which is 23.5% higher than its guidance at the beginning of the year. That could be a sign that 2019 might see more of the same.
SEE ALSO: The 27 Best Mutual Funds in 401(k) Retirement Plans
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New Ruling may remove a Commissioner's discretion to grant legal representation at CCMA
by Cowan- Harper- Mazikizela Attorneys
According to Rule 25 of the Rules for the Conduct of Proceedings before the CCMA, a legal representative is not permitted to represent a party at proceedings if the dispute concerns a dismissal which relates to misconduct or incapacity. In these circumstances the party wishing to engage a legal representative must obtain the consent of the Commissioner and the other party or they must apply to do so by way of a formal application. The application must satisfy the Commissioner that legal representation should be permitted, taking into account the complexity of the dispute, the nature of the questions of law raised, the comparative ability of the parties to deal with the dispute and public interest considerations.
This issue has always been controversial because Rule 25 limits the rights of legal representatives (and effectively their clients) in a Constitutional democracy and has led to injustices on occasions because a party may not have the skills to represent itself.
The Legal Practice Act 28 of 2014 ("the LPA") came into effect on 1 November 2018. Section 25(2) of the LPA states:- “A legal practitioner, whether practising as an advocate or an attorney, has the right to appear on behalf of any person in any court in the Republic or before any board, tribunal or similar institution.” This appears to be in conflict with Rule 25 of the Rules of the CCMA.
In the recent matter of Coetzee v Autohaus Centurion (Case No: MIPT27810, 18 February 2019) before the DRC of the Metal and Engineering Industries Bargaining Council, the Commissioner found that due to the fact that the Legal Practice Act is primary legislation, it prevails over the Rules of the CCMA and the DRC, as the Rules only enjoy the status of subordinate legislation. The Commissioner also found that section 25 of the Act has effectively nullified Rule 25 of the CCMA Rules and similar Rules in Bargaining Councils. The Commissioner concluded that legal representatives thus no longer need apply to be permitted to represent parties at proceedings before the CCMA or bargaining councils since legal representation is permitted by the Legal Practice Act.
The Ruling is controversial and is the subject of some debate, particularly as it theoretically permits legal representatives to appear at conciliation. Furthermore, the CCMA Rules excluded legal representatives from misconduct and incapacity disputes in order to ensure that the LRA’s objectives of speedy and cost-effective dispute resolution were achieved. That reasoning appears to be a rationalisation and cannot apply generally but it nevertheless underpinned the policy.
The CCMA may approach the Labour Court to clarify the apparent conflict between the CCMA Rules and section 25 of the Act. On 5 June 2019 the Director of the CCMA issued a directive stating that the LPA has not changed the rights of legal representatives to appear in CCMA. The Directive equates section 8 of the (now repealed) Attorneys Act 53 of 1979 with section 25 of the LPA and is of the view that there is no practical difference between the two sections.
Employers should take note of this important development as it may impact on their strategy when employees utilize legal representatives at the CCMA or Bargaining Councils.
Please contact the Employment Law, Benefits, Industrial Relations & Discrimination Department of Cowan-Harper-Madikizela Attorneys for more information.
You may contact Cowen- Harper- Madikizela attorneys at 011 048 3000 or
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Goonhilly Earth Station Gets £24m Investment From Billionaire
15 May 14:00 by Pete Burden
Peter Hargreaves, founder of financial services company Hargreaves Lansdowne, has taken a controlling interest in Goonhilly Earth Station for £24m. The company will use the investment for working capital to expand the business internationally and provide 24 hour coverage of the Moon and Mars.
Goonhilly, once the world’s largest satellite station, has a long and storied history, including a claim to fame as the site of the first antennas to receive live television pictures from the U.S. The site was acquired from BT in 2014 by entrepreneur Ian Jones and his company Goonhilly Earth Station Ltd.(GES) which has since invested £5m to allow the company to provide spacecraft tracking and monitoring services to operators of satellites.
The company recently announced a contract with the European Space Agency (ESA) worth £8.4m that will allow GES to become the first private operator of a Deep Space communications network. In addition, GES has its sights set on a privately funded mission to the Moon alongside the ESA and Surrey Satellite Technology.
Ian Jones said “Peter’s involvement is perfect timing as it allows us to realise our plans to grow parallel, but highly connected, revenue streams. We are breaking new ground in developing a private global deep space network at the same time as pushing the technology and service boundaries in other parts of the business.
“The ‘new space’ entrepreneurs are all about changing the model of how the space industry works, shattering previously entrenched practices and replacing them with new models of high productivity, workforce energy and embracing technology. This leads to much better solutions for our customers. Peter’s strategic thinking coupled with his financial backing will help to propel Goonhilly to new heights,” Jones added.
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Home > News > Incidents
Kent Fire and Rescue Service attends a range of incidents including fires, road crashes, flooding, rescues from height, mud or confined spaces. It also supports other agencies including Kent Police, South East Coast Ambulance Service and the Martime and Coastguard Agency on a regular basis.
The incidents shown on this page are just a sample of those which may be of interest to the public and media.
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Lorry fire - M20 J8 London-bound Update 3.20pm - Firefighters are still at the scene and are currently carrying out salvage work. A Red Cross Vehicle is also in attendance. Fire crews used two hose reels to extinguish a fire in... 16/11/2014 05:30 16/11/2014 07:10 2
Margate bedroom fire Firefighters wearing breathing apparatus used a hose reel and positive pressure ventilation fan to tackle the blaze in a ground floor bedroom of a two-storey property. There are no reports of any... 16/11/2014 11:25 16/11/2014 12:15 2
Log burner sparks fire in Southborough Fire crews in breathing apparatus used a hose reel to extinguish a fire in a living room. It is believed to have started by radiated heat from a log burning stove, which ignited timber stored around... 16/11/2014 15:30 16/11/2014 16:10 2
Car fire - M26 London-bound Fire crews dealt with a car that was alight on the M26 London-bound this evening. Kent Police and the Highways Agency were also in attendance for traffic control. 16/11/2014 17:45 16/11/2014 18:20 2
Crews provide first aid to motorists - Aldington Firefighters were called to reports that two people were trapped in a car in a ditch in marshland this evening. Both people were out of the vehicle when crews arrived but KFRS administered first aid... 16/11/2014 19:10 16/11/2014 19:25 0
Road crash rescue - Hildenborough near Crews used hydraulic rescue equipment to free a man, believed to be about 18 years old from his car after it left the roadway and went into a ditch. 17/11/2014 11:00 17/11/2014 11:35 2
Road crash rescue - Bethersden near Ashford A man thought to be in his late 50s had to be cut free from his car after a crash in the early hours. The vehicle landed on its side after hitting a telegraph pole. The man was assessed and given... 18/11/2014 00:35 18/11/2014 01:20 2
Caravan fire - Swanley Fire crews were called to reports of a caravan fire. The blaze has destroyed the caravan and a man, thought to be in his fifties is suffering from burns and the effects of breathing in smoke. The man... 18/11/2014 03:50 18/11/2014 05:05 2
Industrial clothes dryer fire - River near Dover Fire crews in breathing apparatus used a hose reel to extinguish a small fire in an industrial clothes dryer in a three-storey, detached property. A positive pressure ventilation fan was then used to... 18/11/2014 11:00 18/11/2014 11:30 2
Thatched roof fire - Wilmington near Dartford Update: 8.30am Fire crews successfully contained the blaze to the front section of the roof of the two-storey property, after fire broke out. The property was safely evacuated and there were no... 18/11/2014 21:35 18/11/2014 23:20 6
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Sweeping changes in the domestic sector in South Africa: inclusion of domestic workers under COIDA
By Prencess Mohlahlo, Associate and Naledi Raseote, Employment, ENSafrica
When the tide of democracy and constitutionalism swept through labour legislation in South Africa from the early ‘90s onwards, domestic workers, for the first time, gained access to important labour rights. However, they remained excluded from two important statutes, the Unemployment Insurance Act, 2001 (the “UI Act”) and the Compensation for Occupational Injuries and Diseases Act, 1993 (“COIDA”). The exclusion from the UI Act was remedied in 2003, but the exclusion from COIDA remained. This meant that domestic workers were not entitled to compensation for disablement caused by occupational injuries or diseases sustained or contracted by them in the course of their employment and dependants of domestic workers who died as a result of such injuries and diseases were also not entitled to compensation in terms of COIDA.
In 2011, the International Labour Organisation recognised that domestic work (mainly performed by women) continued to be undervalued and invisible and was often performed by migrants or members of disadvantaged communities who were particularly vulnerable to discrimination. As such, it adopted the Decent Work for Domestic Workers Convention, 2011. South Africa ratified this convention in 2013. This was an indication that the South African government recognised the plight of domestic workers, who constitute a significant 6.2% of the entire South African workforce as reported by Statistics South Africa. For domestic workers, trade unions and non-profit organisations that were lobbying for the full inclusion of domestic workers in labour legislation, there was the expectation that change would swiftly follow. However, this did not materialise.
In 2015, Sylvia Mahlangu, with the backing of the Socio-Economic Rights Institute and the South African Domestic Service and Allied Workers Union, decided to take the fight to the Department of Labour by seeking the inclusion of domestic workers under COIDA. Ms Mahlangu’s mother had been a domestic worker for 22 years, earning ZAR2 500 per month, and had met her untimely demise when she drowned in a pool at her workplace in 2012. She was partially blind and had allegedly been washing the windows of a bedroom located next to the pool when she slipped from the ladder on which she was standing; fell into an uncovered and unfenced pool, and unfortunately drowned. Her employers offered Ms Mahlangu less than ZAR5 000 as compensation. She attempted to claim benefits under COIDA as a dependent, and was informed that domestic workers were excluded from COIDA. As a result, she launched an application in the North Gauteng Division of the High Court seeking to declare the provisions of COIDA that exclude domestic workers from its ambit unconstitutional and that the declaration of unconstitutionality apply retrospectively.
In response to Ms Mahlangu’s claim, the Acting Compensation Commissioner filed an answering affidavit on behalf of the Minister of Labour and the director-general, in which he indicated that the Department of Labour intended to introduce a bill amending COIDA to include domestic workers within its scope. The commissioner further stated that the reason for the delay in extending coverage to domestic workers was due to the fact that the Department of Labour was in the process of developing its institutional capacity to administer the coverage of domestic workers in terms of COIDA. Following its successful application of the UI Act to domestic workers, the department was confident of its capacity to successfully administer COIDA in the domestic sector.
While Ms Mahlangu’s case was pending before the court, on 23 October 2018, the Minister of Labour published the COIDA Amendment Bill, 2018 and the proposed regulations on the compensation fund new assessment model, for public comment. The COIDA Amendment Bill seeks to amend COIDA to extend coverage to domestic workers and thereby address the challenge to COIDA brought by Ms Mahlangu. Despite the proposed amendments to COIDA, she nevertheless proceeded with her application and, on 23 May 2019, Molopa J granted an order, by consent, declaring section1(xix)(v) of COIDA unconstitutional and invalid to the extent that it excludes domestic workers employed in private households from the definition of “employee” and further directed that the section be severed from COIDA. The High Court postponed the question of whether the declaration of unconstitutionality should apply retrospectively. The question of retrospectivity was argued on 12 June 2019. We await the order in this regard.
A declaration of constitutional invalidity issued by the High Court has no force and effect until it is confirmed by the Constitutional Court. Effectively, pending the confirmation of the High Court’s order by the Constitutional Court, or pending any interim order granted by the High Court, the exclusion of domestic workers from COIDA remains in force. This affords the Department of Labour more time to get its house in order. There is no doubt that, with the inclusion of domestic workers under COIDA, the Department of Labour will need to have a firm administrative framework in place. If the COIDA Amendment Bill is adopted in its current form, employers of domestic workers will be required to register with the compensation commissioner; furnish the commissioner with the full particulars of their business; keep a record of the earnings of their domestic worker/s, furnish returns of earnings to the commissioner and pay an assessment to the compensation fund. The Department of Labour will have to be prepared to manage the administrative load that this will bring about.
The COIDA Amendment Bill does not define which workers fall within the term “domestic worker”. However, domestic workers are defined in the National Minimum Wage Act, 2013, as any worker who performs domestic work in a private household and who receives or is entitled to receive a wage and includes a gardener, a person employed by a household as a driver of a vehicle, a person who takes care of children, the aged, the sick, the frail or the disabled, and also includes domestic workers employed or supplied by employment services. This definition may serve as guidance in interpreting the term “domestic worker” when applying and administering the amended COIDA.
The legal successes achieved by Ms Mahlangu and the organisations that supported her will act as a spur to the Department of Labour to push ahead with the introduction of the COIDA Amendment Bill to Parliament. However, the legislative wheels do turn slowly, but what this does offer is hope that a new dawn is on the horizon for the domestic sector.
For more information kindly contact Prencess Mohlahlo at
Article published with the kind courtesy of ENSafrica for more information please visit www.ensafrica.com
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Joseph S. Littenberg
E: jlittenberg@lernerdavid.com
Joseph S. Littenberg, Of Counsel, was one of the Firm's founding partners. He has been involved in all phases of patent prosecution, litigation, licensing, and all related aspects for over 50 years. He has been listed in "The Best Lawyers in America" (Woodward/White) since its inception and has been recognized by Chambers USA directory as one of America’s Leading Lawyers in the field of intellectual property for over 13 years.
Mr. Littenberg concentrates his practice in patent licensing and litigation. He has extensive experience in formulating strategies for interrelated intellectual property and business matters, including complex technical and legal issues, and related business matters. He also advises clients on maximizing patent portfolio value, and has extensive experience in licensing of patents, trademarks, and other intellectual property rights.
Mr. Littenberg has advised and chaired groups of major companies in formulating defenses to third-party patents, and implementing such defenses, such as litigation, reexaminations, negotiating favorable licenses, etc. He has also conducted hearings with patent examiners in substantially all of the major countries, and has assisted a Barrister in a British trial.
Mr. Littenberg is admitted to practice before the United States Patent and Trademark Office and is licensed in New York and New Jersey.
Licensing, Consulting and Other Agreements
1966, New York
Rutgers University (B.S., Industrial Engineering, 1960)
Seton Hall University Law School (J.D., 1964)
Lerner David Ranked Top Tier Intellectual Property Law Firm
Lerner David Ranked by IAM Patent 1000 — The World's Leading Patent Professionals
Chambers USA Ranks Lerner David Top New Jersey IP Firm
IAM Patent 1000 — The World's Leading Patent Professionals — Ranks Lerner David
Lerner David's Partners Named By Best Lawyers
Littenberg, Mentlik and David hit Best Lawyers Milestone
Chambers USA Ranks Lerner David Top New Jersey IP Firm 2011
LDLK&M Ranked as the Only 'Top Band' IP Law Firm in New Jersey
Essex County Bar Association
New Jersey Intellectual Property Law Association
International Association for the Protection of Industrial Property
Licensing Executives' Society
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41. Conspiracy, Conspiracy Theories and Conspiracy Research [Lobster #19 (May 1990)]
... many groups in society who all have some power. The interesting questions begin where pluralism stops. 'Pluralist' analysts in British universities are still wrestling with the discovery (sic) of 'interest groups' and 'pressure groups'. The parapolitical perspective, on the other hand, the conspiracy perspective, takes for granted that there are likely to be hidden influences at work because there is a mountain of historical evidence which shows hidden influences at work: not giant world-conquering conspiracies by the Masons or some such nonsense, but more mundane things likes intelligence agencies tinkering with the political process, faking reality in the media etc.. It became absurd to deny the existence of large- ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 16 - 01 May 1990 - URL: http://www.lobster-magazine.co.uk/online/issue19/lob19-09.htm
42. Jonestown. The secret life of Jim Jones: a parapolitical fugue [Lobster #37 (Summer 1999)]
... examples should suffice. In 'The Black Hole of Guyana', Judge writes that 'Jones' friend', Mitrione, 'worked as chief of police (in a town where Jones preached as a child), and kept (Jones) from being arrested or run out of town. ' This information is attributed to A. J. Langguth's Hidden Terrors, which does, in fact, tell us that Dan Mitrione was a police chief in Richmond, Ind. But this is well known. What's interesting and important about the statement is not that Mitrione was a police chief, but that he was Jones's 'friend', and that he intervened to keep Jones 'from being arrested or ...
43. RE: [Lobster #53 (Summer 2007)]
... not be suicide, ' Baker claimed that ' medical evidence does not support it and David Kelly's state of mind and personality suggests otherwise. ' He questioned the cause of death (a haemorrhage caused by cuts to the ulnar artery in the wrist), pointing out that'.... such wounds were "matchstick thick" and hidden, difficult to get to, as well as rarely leading to death. ' The knife alleged to have been used was an old and blunt garden pruner – an unlikely and ineffective implement. The paramedics who found Kelly's body were reported as saying that he had ' lost little blood and was "incredibly unlikely" to have died from ...
44. Defending the Realm: Inside MI5 and the War on Terrorism (Book Review) [Lobster #46 (Winter 2003)]
... updated and expanded version of Defending the Realm: MI5 and the Shayler Affair which was reviewed in Lobster 38 , this account of MI5's adjustment to the post Cold War world is one of the best books on the UK's intelligence services, up there with Stephen Dorril's MI6 book, Paul Lashmar and James Oliver's book on IRD and Richard Aldrich's The Hidden Hand. Rereading it, I was struck by the following. Although we now know quite a lot about MI5's recent history, almost none of it has come from MI5 itself, despite the talk of openness and its Web site. A good deal of the key information has come from David Shayler who is at the centre of this ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 15 - 01 Dec 2003 - URL: http://www.lobster-magazine.co.uk/online/issue46/lob46-41a.htm
45. Lockerbie, the octopus and the Maltese double cross [Lobster #27 (Jun 1994)]
... was to be the half-expected 'balanced revenge' (from the Islamic code of Intekam) for the shooting down by the USS Vincennes of an Iranian civil airliner, killing all 290 Moslems aboard, in Islamic airspace earlier in the year. A warning went out to European airports in early December, 1988, to watch out for bombs hidden in cassette recorders. The American embassy in Helsinki received a message on 5 December, 1988, that 'within the next few weeks' there would be an attack on a Pan-Flight from Frankfurt to New York. This was confirmed by the Israeli army who, three days later, found planning papers following a successful assault on a ...
46. Anglo-America and the Third Reich [Lobster #52 (Winter 2006/7)]
... inevitably, academics wishing to preserve conventional interpretations may heavily dispute this work: the more so as the issue and history of Hitler and the last great war of 1939 to 1945 still touch many raw nerves. A skilful researcher, intrepid denizen of dusty Bank of England archives, and polyglot scholar of the oblique, of economic history normally left hidden, Preparata is also a consummate stylist, a quality that makes his work eminently readable and unusually compelling. This feature is clearest in Conjuring Hitler but also in Preparata's journal articles, such as 'Hitler's Money: The Bills of Exchange of Schacht and Rearmament in the Third Reich' (American Review of Political Economy, Vol. 1, ...
47. Deep Black: the secrets of space espionage (Book Review) & Journals [Lobster #16 (Jun 1988)]
... whence issues a magazine called Counterpoint, devoted to the exposure and analysis of Soviet disinformation. The trail began with the defection of Stanislas Levchenko, a Major in the KGB. He went over to the Americans in 1979, spent a year working with the Readers' Digest's John Barron, during which he briefed Barron for his KGB: The Hidden Hand Today. (International Herald Tribune 8 June 1983). Levchenko told tales of Soviet disinformation and so-called 'active measures'. His revelations lead to a briefing document in July 1981 on 'Soviet Active Measures', a sanitised version of which was widely distributed to the media and various authors close to the Agency. Since then ...
48. Mind Control and the American Government [Lobster #23 (Jun 1992)]
... perfectly with findings of professional hypnotists. (66) Schapitz' work was funded by the Department of Defence. Despite Freedom of Information Act requests, the results have never been revealed. (67) Final thoughts on 'the wave'I must again offer a caveat about possible disparities between the 'official' record of electromagnetism's psychological effects and the hidden history. Once more we face a question of timing. How long ago did this research really begin? In the early years of this century, Nikola Tesla seems to have stumbled upon certain of the behavioural effects of electromagnetic exposure. (68) Cazamelli, mentioned above, conducted his studies in the 1930s. In 1934 E. ...
49. An Act of State: The Execution of Martin Luther King (Book Review) [Lobster #45 (Summer 2003)]
... one of the conspirators after a protracted legal struggle. Pepper's thesis starts by demonstrating that there was a conspiracy involving personnel from Memphis Police Department, the US Army and local organised crime. King was shot by a Memphis policeman, in a conspiracy with the mob. Cash from the local mob concealed under vegetables, guns being moved about and hidden in a small diner - this feels small-time, local. But the provision of various false identities for Ray and his control in the months before the assassination were not the work of a redneck gang in Mississippi: this was the federal state. And it appears that the state did not trust the Memphis cop-mob job ...
50. Blair Inc (Book review) (Winter 2015) [Lobster #70 (Winter 2015) (free)] [Free Article]
... been up since he left No. 10 in 2007. With few exceptions, those who have worked or currently work for Blair did not respond to their inquiries. Most of his former colleagues follow the same pattern of omerta, former Home Secretary Charles Clarke aggressively so. The Blairs' financial interests seem to be arranged to defy scrutiny, hidden in part behind the pious façade of the Tony Blair Faith Foundation (TBBF). In its own self-description, 'TBBF is a "think-do" tank, meaning that all of our entire intellectual content is supported by practical delivery on the ground and that all our practical delivery is supported by a robust and intellectually grounded ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 15 - 06 Jun 2015 - URL: http://www.lobster-magazine.co.uk/free/lobster70/lob70-blair-inc.pdf
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Rainbow Six Siege censored worldwide
'Rainbow Six Siege' will have all references to violence, gambling and sex removed to comply with China.
'Rainbow Six Siege' is set to be censored worldwide.
Ubisoft has confirmed they are running updates which will see any references to violence, gambling and sex removed the first person shooter game to comply with Chinese laws.
In a blog post, Ubisoft said: "By maintaining a single build, we are able to reduce the duplication of work on the development side.
"This will allow us to be more agile as a development team, and address issues more quickly."
The censoring plans come after it was announced the popular gaming title will not be coming to Nintendo Switch.
Brand director Alexandre Remy said: "[It's] not possible with the technical constraint and especially the frame rate of the game; 60 frames per second plus destruction is a bit CPU heavy and Switch is not yet the Nintendo console where it'll be. But overall it's true Rainbow Six is very much a game where we just want to expand the player base, because the more player's we do have the better the whole game and services. So if at one point that is a possibility that we have new platforms or new hardware, we'll likely get there. That said, we have been having in the past year a huge focus on PC, not only on esports but also on the development side of things, so that's where we believe the growth is going to be the fastest and the strongest."
Whilst game director, Leroy Athanassoff, added: "I don't think they consider it for now. It might come from another studio but I would be really surprised because this game without the 60 FPS is not exactly the same game. 60 FPS on Switch with procedural destruction? Good luck. But maybe because it's starting to be an old game, maybe they might. But I don't think it'll be us anyway, it'll be another studio."
Division 2 could get single player spin-off
PUBG reveals how it catches cheaters
Assassin's Creed Odyssey takes action on XP farming
A company wants to pay a person £5,000 to...
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Manuscript/Mixed Material Image 28 of [MS SUPPL2]. Mt. Sinai Local Catalogue of MSS
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[MS SUPPL2]. Mt. Sinai Local Catalogue of MSS
Contributor Names
Archimandrite Antonin Kapustin
- Manuscripts, Greek
- Saint Catherine (Monastery : Mount Sinai)
- Illumination of Books and Manuscripts
- Manuscripts
- Handwritten catalog of 1,310 Greek manuscripts at St. Catherine's. The manuscript was not listed in Clark's "Checklist of Manuscripts" (1952). The Library of Congress assigned it MS number SUPPL2 when it was discovered during the digitization process.
Call Number/Physical Location
series: Microfilm 5010: Greek
Manuscripts in St. Catherine's Monastery, Mount Sinai
IIIF Presentation Manifest
Manifest (JSON/LD)
Manuscripts in St. Catherine's Monastery, Mount Sinai: MicrofiLM-5010: Greek (1,078)
Manuscripts in St. Catherine's Monastery, Mount Sinai (1,694)
Manuscripts, Greek
Saint Catherine (Monastery : Mount Sinai)
Rights & Access
This Collection is in the public domain. We suggest the following credit line in any resulting publication: "Library of Congress Collection of Manuscripts in St. Catherine's Monastery, Mt. Sinai"
Cite This Item
Citations are generated automatically from bibliographic data as a convenience, and may not be complete or accurate.
Chicago citation style:
Archimandrite Antonin Kapustin. MS SUPPL2. Mt. Sinai Local Catalogue of MSS . 1870. Manuscript/Mixed Material. https://www.loc.gov/item/00271070044-ms/.
APA citation style:
Archimandrite Antonin Kapustin. (1870) MS SUPPL2. Mt. Sinai Local Catalogue of MSS . [Manuscript/Mixed Material] Retrieved from the Library of Congress, https://www.loc.gov/item/00271070044-ms/.
MLA citation style:
Archimandrite Antonin Kapustin. MS SUPPL2. Mt. Sinai Local Catalogue of MSS . 1870. Manuscript/Mixed Material. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, <www.loc.gov/item/00271070044-ms/>.
More Manuscripts/Mixed Material like this
Greek Manuscripts 2042. Prophetologion.
Greek Manuscripts 2038. Four Gospels.
Greek Manuscripts 2037. Liturgy, Apostolo -Evangelion
Greek Manuscripts 2036. Horologion.
Greek Manuscripts 2035. Horologion, Menologion.
Checklist of manuscripts in St. Catherine's monastery, MicRR guide no.: 58.
Contributor: Clark, Kenneth Willis - Saint Catherine (Monastery : Mount Sinai) - Library of Congress
De codicibus Hesiodeis nonnullis in anglia asservatis Inaugural diss.--Heidelberg. Also available in digital form.
Contributor: Kinkel, Gottfried
Codex alexandrinus. Ē Kainē Diathēkē. Novum Testamentum graece ex antiquissimo codice alexandrino Also available in digital form.
Contributor: Woide, Charles Godfrey - Cowper, Harris (Benjamin Harris)
Checklist of manuscripts in the libraries of the Greek and Armenian Patriarchates in Jerusalem, Also available in digital form on the Library of Congress Web site. MicRR guide no. 58.
Contributor: Clark, Kenneth Willis - Jerusalem (Orthodox Patriarchate) - Armenian Church. Erusaghēmi Patriarkʻutʻiwn - Library of Congress
Poplios Petrōn[ios] legei tois apo tōn epan[ō] [chronōn] geōrgois ... Ms. (fragment). Title from lines 2-5 (romanized). At head of title: [hypo]keitai Phaō[phi]. Fragment of a contemporary copy of an otherwise unknown edict issued by P. Petronius as prefect of Egypt. The...
Contributor: Petronius, Publius - Rosenwald, Lessing J. (Lessing Julius) - Lessing J. Rosenwald Collection (Library of Congress)
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Matilda at 30: World Traveller
Matilda at 30: World Traveller Synopsis
___________ The original, magical story with a brand new cover from Quentin Blake! October 2018 marks 30 years since Matilda was published! This brand new jacket comes with a never-before-seen illustration of Matilda as a world traveller - one of the careers that Quentin Blake himself has imagined that Matilda might have at 30 years old. ___________ Reunite with some of the greatest (and most ghastly) characters in history! Matilda Wormwood A remarkable child with a magical mind. Miss Honey The kindest, cleverest and most caring teacher. Mr and Mrs Wormwood Matilda's parents - liars, swindlers and TV addicts. Miss Trunchbull Headmistress of Crunchem Hall and the world's biggest bully. Bruce Bogtrotter Chocolate-cake-eating extraordinaire! These are just some of the unforgettable characters from this classic story by the world's number one storyteller - now with a brand-new cover design from Quentin Blake to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the publication of Matilda. Also available: Matilda at 30: Chief Executive of the British Library Matilda at 30: Astrophysicist
Publication date: 4th October 2018
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Midlake: Denton-based throwback band not interested in originality
Tim Smith, singer and songwriter for Denton folkies Midlake, isn't tweeting about his band opening for former Granddaddy frontman Jason Lytle tonight. He keeps the Internet at a distance - that's where the critics are - but he doesn't think it makes him special.
He knows that for every cardigan-sporting Apple fanboy there's a flannel-draped beardster affluent enough to adopt minimalism as a hobby.
To wit: Smith barely has a cell phone ("though I can maybe see myself getting an iPhone ... one day") and to this day refuses an e-mail account.
"Yeah, somebody in the band signed me up for my own e-mail as a joke," he laughs. "I actually got kind of upset about it. I cancelled it but the label sent me all these e-mails like 'oh great, we can finally talk to you' and I was just like, no, we can't. I don't want to check that every day."
He swears his quasi-Luddite lifestyle, like his band's straight-from-the-Shire aesthetic and admittedly retro sound isn't intended as a social statement or an attempt to turn up their collective nose to flavor-of-the-month indie-rock.
It's just that for every mostly positive review of their spacey Euro-folk meets '70s soft-rock, like the A- that the AV Club gave their breakthrough album "The Trials of Van Occupanther," there is a mostly depressing review, like the 3.6 (out of 10) Pitchfork gave their latest album "The Courage of Others."
"The other guys aren't as affected by that stuff, but I try to steer clear," he says. "It's not that we're out of that [indie-rock blog] scene, either. I mean, we're in it. I would look like a clich indie-rocker if you saw me walking the street. The hair is getting longer, I've got a beard, plaid shirts. We're not trying to escape that, we just do what we like to do."
What the former North Texas University jazz students like to do, says Smith, is to be completely unoriginal. And to be honest about it.
"I don't know man, it's tough, but I just feel like everything has pretty much been done and that the canvas is pretty well messed up by this point," he says. "To be original is virtually impossible nowadays. I can't tell bands apart these days. Everyone sounds the same. I don't fault striving to be original, but it's hard. We don't claim to be original ... We just flat-out tell people who our influences are and what we love and that we're just trying to make that kind of music to the best of our abilities."
In 2006, the so-old-it's-new hooks of "Roscoe" fit in with enough of what people were into to make it one of that year's most blogged-about songs.
"Yeah, before ["The Trials of Van Occupanther"] came out, some reviewer got a hold of it and leaked it online," Smith says. "I think it had 80,000 downloads before the album even came out. It didn't make any money. It was passed out for free, I guess. But that was really what did it for us. Without that song, I wouldn't be here tonight. That was really huge for us. I'm really thankful for it."
So that's one good thing about the Internet, right?
"Yeah," he says. "I guess."
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ALAN VEGA - Boo-Hooray, Ney York, États-Unis
Thursday, June 20, 2019 12:00 PM 12:00
Tuesday, July 9, 2019 6:00 PM 18:00
Boo-Hooray 277 Grand Street, 3rd Floor New York, New York 10002 USA (map)
The Alan Vega Archive
Alan Vega (June 23, 1938 – July 16, 2016), best known for being half of the legendary proto-punk duo Suicide, was also a prolific poet and visual artist. From his groundbreaking presence fronting Suicide in the early 1970s, to his solo music career from the 1980s up until his death, Vega’s mark on music was indelible and inspiring. Suicide’s debut self-titled album released in 1977 is widely considered one of the most influential ever made. His on-stage presence was marked by audience interrogation to the point of inciting riots, self-harm, and an unerring aura of coolness – perpetually smoking cigarettes in sequined blazers. Incredibly ahead of their time, Suicide’s influence on punk and electronic music is still being heard today, their stage presence and sound often copied but never duplicated.
Throughout his life, Vega was a visual artist, although not widely recognized as one professionally until much later in life. Working across mediums producing sculpture, painting, collage, and drawing; music and performance came to Vega as an extension of his creative process. He attended Brooklyn College in the late 1950s, studying fine art and psychics. Suicide was germinated at the Project of Living Artists in Soho, which Vega co-founded, and where he lived and worked in the 1960s; meeting Martin Rev there. Suicide’s first shows took place there, as well as other art galleries, such as OK Harris, along with punk venues such as Mercer Arts Center and CBGB’s. Vega always maintained his work as a visual artist throughout his life and presented here in his archive are a trove of drawings, collages, and works never exhibited before. In 1983, the Gladstone Gallery was inaugurated with a collection of his light sculptures. In 2002, he exhibited Collision Drive at Deitch Projects, the first major retrospective of his drawing and sculpture works from the 1970s. In 2009, The Museum of Contemporary Art in Lyon, France held a major retrospective of Vega’s drawings and sculptures entitled Infinite Mercy. Represented by Invisible Exports, a major exhibition of new Vega works entitled Keep It Alive was exhibited at their Lower East Side gallery in 2017, followed by a memorial retrospective exhibition of his works entitled Dream Baby Dream at Deitch Projects. In 2018, Galerie Laurent Godin held an exhibition of his final paintings, as well as drawings and light sculptures, entitled Universe.
The Alan Vega Archive, collected by his widow and long-time collaborator Liz Lamere, consists of audio and video, tour documentation, flyers, and ephemera, as well as photographs and press pertaining to his music career. Also collected are his personal notebooks and sketchbooks in which he wrote lyrics, poetry, and notes. His sketchbooks contain original drawings and designs. In addition to his sketchbooks, small collages and hundreds of pen and ink drawings on paper spanning the 1970s up until his death in 2016 chart his growth and evolution as an artist in conjunction with his musical output.
The Alan Vega Archive will be the second exhibition at Boo-Hooray’s Chinatown gallery space, located at 277 Grand St, 3rd Floor. Please join us for an opening reception on Thursday June 20th , 2019, from 6-8 pm. This exbibition is open 7 days a week, 12 – 6 pm. The exhibition will close Tuesday, July 9, 2019.
BOO-HOORAY exhibits both at home in New York City as well as internationally. We also stage collaborative exhibitions with the Hayward Gallery and Rough Trade in London, Tsutaya Daikanyama, Hysteric Glamour, and United Arrows in Tokyo, Galleri Operatingplace in Stockholm, Colette in Paris, PopMontreal in Montreal, Mishka Los Angeles, Printed Matter at both MOCA/LA and PS1/NYC, and Gavin Brown’s Enterprise, the New York Public Library, the Grolier Club, and Milk Gallery in New York.
Boo-Hooray exhibitions have included shows featuring Larry Clark, The Velvet Underground, Ray Johnson, Afrika Bambaataa, Jonas Mekas, Ed Sanders, Linder Sterling and Jon Savage, Spencer Sweeney, Houston Rap, private press vinyl, Wallace Berman, anarcho-punk group Crass, Jason Polan, Jack Smith, cult-filmmaker Ed Wood, and Situationist Times editor Jacqueline de Jong.
The exhibitions are drawn from cultural archives that Boo-Hooray excavates, organizes, and places in institutions such as Columbia University’s Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Cornell University’s Division of Rare Manuscript Collections, Yale University’s Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, and the University of Oxford’s Bodleian Library.
Source:: https://www.boo-hooray.com/pages/exhibits/111/the-alan-vega-archive
Tagged Alan Vega, Boo-Hooray, New York, USA, Archive
GERARD TRAQUANDI - La cité du design, Saint Etienne, France
CLAUDE CLOSKY - Hamburger Bahnhof, Berlin, Germany
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RUSSIAN VOLUNTEER FLEET v. UNITED STATES.
282 U.S. 481 (51 S.Ct. 229, 75 L.Ed. 473)
Decided: Feb. 24, 1931.
opinion, HUGHES [HTML]
Messrs. William L. Rawls, of Baltimore, Md., Charles Recht, of New York City, and Horace S. Whitman, of Washington, D. C., for petitioner.
Mr. Claude R. Branch, of Providence, R. I., for the United States.
Argument of Counsel from page 485 intentionally omitted
Mr. Chief Justice HUGHES delivered the opinion of the Court.
The petitioner brought this suit against the United States in the Court of Claims to recover just compensation for the requisitioning by the United States Shipping Board Emergency Fleet Corporation, under authority delegated to it by the President, of contracts for the construction of two vessels. The Court of Claims dismissed the petition for the want of jurisdiction. 68 Ct. Cl. 32. This Court granted a writ of certiorari. 281 U. S. 711, 50 S. Ct. 346, 74 L. Ed. 1133.
The petition, filed in October, 1924, alleged that the petitioner 'is a corporation duly organized under, and by virtue of, the Laws of Russia'; that in January, 1917, the petitioner became the assignee for value of certain contracts for the construction of two vessels by the Standard Shipbuilding Corporation of New York; that in August, 1917, the United States Shipping Board Emergency Fleet Corporation, acting under the authority conferred by the Act of June 15, 1917 (c. 29, 40 Stat. 183) and by the Executive Order of the President of the United States made on July 11, 1917, requisitioned these contracts, and the vessels being constructed thereunder, for the use of the United States; that the United States thereby became liable to the petitioner for the payment of just compensation; that in August, 1919, the petitioner submitted its affidavit of claim, and vouchers in support; that in March, 1920, the United States Shipping Board Emergency Fleet Corporation fixed the just compensation of the petitioner at a total amount of $1,412,532.35; that the value of the contracts taken from the petitioner was $4,000,000, to which the petitioner was entitled after allowing all proper credits and offsets; and that 'citizens of the United States are and at the time of and since the commencement of this suit have been accorded the right to prosecute claims against the Russian Government in the Court of that Government.'
In May, 1927, the petitioner filed motions to issue commissions to take testimony in Germany and France; the defendant objected, and the motions were overruled. The petitioner then gave notice of the taking of testimony in Washington, D. C., whereupon the defendant moved to quash the notice upon the ground that the court was without jurisdiction of the subject-matter of the proceeding. On the submission of that motion, the petition was dismissed. The Court of Claims held that, as the United States government had not recognized the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics in Russia, the petitioner was not entitled to maintain its suit in view of section 155 of the Judicial Code (U. S. C., tit. 28, § 261 (28 USCA § 261)). That section is as follows: 'Sec. 155. Aliens who are citizens or subjects of any Government which accords to citizens of the United States the right to prosecute claims against such Government in its courts, shall have the privilege of prosecuting claims against the United States in the Court of Claims, whereof such court, by reason of their subject matter and character, might take jurisdiction.' The court said that the reference to citizens or subjects of 'any government' meant such governments as were recognized by the proper authorities of the United States.
The government in its argument here, while submitting the case on theopi nion of the Court of Claims and not confessing error, presents the view that section 155 of the Judicial Code does not apply to this suit which was brought under the provisions of the Act of June 15, 1917. With respect to the matter of recognition, the government appends to its brief a letter of the Secretary of State of the United States, under date of December 5, 1930, stating that 'the Provisional Government of Russia, the successor of the Imperial Government of Russia, was recognized by the Government of the United States on March 22, 1917'; that, 'according to the Department's information, the Provisional Government of Russia was overthrown by an armed uprising which took place in the early part of November, 1917', and that 'the Government of the United States has not extended recognition to any re gime established in Russia subsequent to the overthrow of the Provisional Government.' As the facts alleged in the petition were admitted by the motion to dismiss, the allegation that the petitioner is a corporation duly organized under the laws of Russia stands unchallenged on the record. There was no legislation which prevented it from acquiring and holding the property in question. The petitioner was an alien friend, and as such was entitled to the protection of the Fifth Amendment of the Federal Constitution. Wong Wing v. United States, 163 U. S. 228, 238, 16 S. Ct. 977, 41 L. Ed. 140; compare Yick Wo v. Hopkins, 118 U. S. 356, 369, 6 S. Ct. 1064, 30 L. Ed. 220; Santa Clara County v. Southern Pacific Railroad Co., 118 U. S. 394, 396, 6 S. Ct. 1132, 30 L. Ed. 118; Truax v. Raich, 239 U. S. 39, 36 S. Ct. 7, 60 L. Ed. 131, L. R. A. 1916D, 545, Ann. Cas. 1917B, 283; Terrace v. Thompson, 263 U. S. 197, 216, 44 S. Ct. 15, 68 L. Ed. 255; Home Insurance Co. v. Dick, 281 U. S. 397, 411, 50 S. Ct. 338, 74 L. Ed. 926. Exerting by its authorized agent the power of eminent domain in taking the petitioner's property, the United States became bound to pay just compensation. United States v. Great Falls Manufacturing Co., 112 U. S. 645, 656, 5 S. Ct. 306, 28 L. Ed. 846; United States v. North American Transportation & Trading Co., 253 U. S. 330, 333, 40 S. Ct. 518, 64 L. Ed. 935; Campbell v. United States, 266 U. S. 368, 370, 371, 45 S. Ct. 115, 69 L. Ed. 328; Phelps v. United States, 274 U. S. 341, 343, 344, 47 S. Ct. 611, 612, 71 L. Ed. 1083; International Paper Co. v. United States, 282 U. S. 399, 51 S. Ct. 176, 75 L. Ed. 410. And this obligation was to pay to the petitioner the equivalent of the full value of the property contemporaneously with the taking. Phelps v. United States, supra; Brooks-Scanlon Corporation v. United States, 265 U. S. 106, 123, 44 S. Ct. 471, 68 L. Ed. 934.
The Congress recognized this duty in authorizing the expropriation. The Act of June 15, 1917, under which the requisition was made, provided for the payment of just compensation. The Congress did not attempt to give to any officer or administrative tribunal the final authority to determine the amount of such compensation 1 , and recovery by suit against the United States was made an integral part of the legislative plan of fulfilling the constitutional requirement. The act provided as follows: 'Whenever the United States shall * * * requisition any contract, * * * requisition, acquire or take over * * * any ship, * * * in accordance with the provisions hereof, it shall make just compensation therefor, to be determined by the President; and if the amount thereof, so determined by the President, is unsatisfactory to the person entitled to receive the same, such person shall be paid seventy-five per centum of the amount so determined by the President and shall be entitled to sue the United States to recover such further sum as, added to said seventy-five per centum, will make up such amount as will be just compensation therefor, in the manner provided for by section twenty-four, paragraph twenty, and section one hundred and forty-five of the Judicial Code.' Section 24, paragraph 20, of the Judicial Code (U. . C ., tit. 28, § 41, subd. (20), 28 USCA § 41(20), gives jurisdiction to the District Courts of the United States, concurrent with the Court of Claims, of claims against the United States not exceeding $10,000, founded upon the Constitution, or any law of Congress, or upon any contract, express or implied, with the government of the United States, when the claimant would be entitled to redress against the United States in a court of law, equity, or admiralty, if the United States were suable. The case of an alien friend is not excepted. Section 145 of the Judicial Code (U. S. C., tit. 28, § 250 (28 USCA § 250)) gives to the Court of Claims jurisdiction of suits on similar claims against the United States without limit of amount. The authority conferred upon the President by the Act of June 15, 1917, was exercised by him through the United States Shipping Board Emergency Fleet Corporation, and as the compensation fixed by that corporation was not satisfactory to the petitioner, it became entitled under the express terms of the act to bring suit against the United States to recover the amount justly payable by reason of the requisition.
The Act of June 15, 1917, makes no reference to section 155 of the Judicial Code (28 USCA § 261) with respect to alien suitors, and the question is whether that provision should be implied as establishing a condition precedent and the recovery thus be defeated. It is at once apparent that such an implication would lead to anomalous results. It would mean that, although the United States had actually taken possession of the property and was enjoying the advantages of its use, and the alien owner was unquestionably entitled to compensation at the time of the taking, it was the intention of the Congress that recovery should be denied, or at least be indefinitely postponed until the Congress made some other provision for the determination of the amount payable, if it appeared that citizens of the United States were not entitled to prosecute claims against the government of the alien's country in its courts, or that the United States did not recognize the re gime which was functioning in that country.
We find no warrant for imputing to the Congress such an intention. 'Acts of Congress are to be construed and applied in harmony with and not to thwart the purpose of the Constitution.' Phelps v. United States, supra. The Fifth Amendment gives to each owner of property his individual right. The constitutional right of owner A to compensation when his property is taken is irrespective of what may be done somewhere else with the property of owner B. As alien friends are embraced within the terms of the Fifth Amendment, it cannot be said that their property is subject to confiscation here because the property of our citizens may be confiscated in the alien's country. The provision that private property shall not be taken for public use without just compensation establishes a standard for our government which the Constitution does not make dependent upon the standards of other governments. The act of Congress should be interpreted in the light of its manifest purpose to give effect to the constitutional guaant y.
Nor do we regard it as an admissible construction of the Act of June 15, 1917, to hold that the Congress intended that the right of an alien friend to recover just compensation should be defeated or postponed because of the lack of recognition by the government of the United States of the re gime in his country. A fortiori, as the right to compensation for which the act provided sprang into existence at the time of the taking, there is no ground for saying that the statute was not to apply, if at a later date, and before compensation was actually made, there should be a revolution in the country of the owner and the ensuing re gime should not be recognized. The question as presented here is not one of a claim advanced by or on behalf of a foreign government or re gime, but is simply one of compensating an owner of property taken by the United States.
The Act of June 15, 1917, if read according to its terms, presents no difficulty. A condition should not be implied which, to say the least, would raise a grave question as to the constitutional validity of the act. Federal Trade Commission v. American Tobacco Co., 264 U. S. 298, 307, 44 S. Ct. 336, 68 L. Ed. 696, 32 A. L. R. 786; Missouri Pacific Railroad Co. v. Boone, 270 U. S. 466, 471, 472, 46 S. Ct. 341, 70 L. Ed. 688; Blodgett v. Holden. 275 U. S. 142, 148, 48 S. Ct. 105, 72 L. Ed. 206; Richmond Screw Anchor Co. v. United States, 275 U. S. 331, 346, 48 S. Ct. 194, 72 L. Ed. 303; Lucas v. Alexander, 270 U. S. 573, 577, 49 S. Ct. 426, 73 L. Ed. 851, 61 A. L. R. 906.
Judgment reversed.
See United States v. Jones, 109 U. S. 513, 519, 3 S. Ct. 346, 27 L. Ed. 1015; Monongahela Navigation Co. v. United States, 148 U. S. 312, 327, 13 S. Ct. 622, 37 L. Ed. 463; Long Island Water-Supply Co. v. Brooklyn, 166 U. S. 685, 695, 17 S. Ct. 718, 41 L. Ed. 1165; Backus v. Fort Street Union Depot Co. 169 U. S. 557, 559, 18 S. Ct. 445, 42 L. Ed. 853; United States v. Babcock, 250 U. S. 328, 331, 39 S. Ct. 464, 63 L. Ed. 1011; Bragg v. Weaver, 251 U. S. 57, 59, 40 S. Ct. 62, 64 L. Ed. 135; Seaboard Air Line Railway Co. v. United States, 261 U. S. 299, 304, 43 S. Ct. 354, 67 L. Ed. 664; North Laramie Land Co. v. Hoffman, 268 U. S. 276, 285, 286, 45 S. Ct. 491, 69 L. Ed. 953; Great Northern Railway Co. v. United States, 277 U. S. 172, 182, 48 S. Ct. 466, 72 L. Ed. 838; Dohany v. Rogers, 281 U. S. 362, 369, 50 S. Ct. 299, 74 L. Ed. 904, 68 A. L. R. 434.
Marie Lucie JEAN, et al., Petitioners v. Alan NELSON, Commissioner, Immigration and Naturalization Service, et al.
UNITED STATES, Petitioner v. Rene Martin VERDUGO-URQUIDEZ.
N. V. HANDELSBUREAU LA MOLA, petitioner, v. Robert F. KENNEDY, Attorney General of the United States, etc.
BURNET, Commissioner of Internal Revenue, v. BROOKS et al.
LOUIS K. LIGGETT CO. et al. v. LEE, Comptroller of State of Florida, et al.
INTERSTATE COMMERCE COMMISSION et al. v. OREGON-WASHINGTON R. & NAV. CO. et al.
UNITED STATES v. BELMONT et al.
CURRY, State Tax Com'r of Alabama, et al. v. McCANLESS, Com'r of Finance and Taxation of Tennessee.
UNITED STATES v. PINK, Superintendent of Insurance of State of New York, et al.
BECKER STEEL CO. OF AMERICA v. CUMMINGS, Attorney General, et al.
SILESIAN AMERICAN CORPORATION et al. v. CLARK, Atty. Gen.
SOCIETE INTERNATIONALE POUR PARTICIPATIONS INDUSTRIELLES ET COMMERCIALES, S. A., etc., Petitioner, v. William P. ROGERS, Attorney General of the United States, and Ivy Baker Priest, Treasurer of the United States.
GUESSEFELDT v. McGRATH, Attorney General as Successor to Alien Property Custodian.
HARISIADES v. SHAUGHNESSY, District Director of Immigration & Naturalization of Port of NewYork. MASCITTI v. McGRATH, Atty. Gen. of United States. COLEMAN v. McGRATH, Atty. Gen. of United States, et al.
UNITED STATES v. SPECTOR.
F. David MATHEWS, Secretary of the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare, Appellant, v. Santiago DIAZ et al.
PHILLIPS et al. v. COMMISSIONER OF INTERNAL REVENUE.
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Title 7. AGRICULTURE
Chapter 35. AGRICULTURAL ADJUSTMENT ACT OF 1938
Subchapter II. LOANS, PARITY PAYMENTS, CONSUMER SAFEGUARDS, MARKETING QUOTAS, AND MARKETING CERTIFICATES
Part A. Definitions, Loans, Parity Payments, and Consumer Safeguards
Section 1303. Parity payments
7 U.S. Code § 1303. Parity payments
If and when appropriations are made therefor, the Secretary is authorized and directed to make payments to producers of corn, wheat, cotton, or rice, on their normal production of such commodities in amounts which, together with the proceeds thereof, will provide a return to such producers which is as nearly equal to parity price as the funds so made available will permit. All funds available for such payments with respect to these commodities shall unless otherwise provided by law, be apportioned to these commodities in proportion to the amount by which each fails to reach the parity income. Such payments shall be in addition to and not in substitution for any other payments authorized by law.
(Feb. 16, 1938, ch. 30, title III, § 303, 52 Stat. 45; Pub. L. 108–357, title VI, § 611(g), Oct. 22, 2004, 118 Stat. 1522.)
2004—Pub. L. 108–357 substituted “or rice,” for “rice, or tobacco,”.
Effective Date of 2004 Amendment
Amendment by Pub. L. 108–357 applicable to the 2005 and subsequent crops of tobacco, see section 643 of Pub. L. 108–357, set out as an Effective Date note under section 518 of this title.
Savings Provision
Amendment by sections 611 to 614 of Pub. L. 108–357 not to affect the liability of any person under any provision of law so amended with respect to the 2004 or an earlier crop of tobacco, see section 614 of Pub. L. 108–357, set out as a note under section 515 of this title.
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Stare decisis
Stare decisis is Latin for “to stand by things decided.” In short, it is the doctrine of precedent.
Courts cite to stare decisis when an issue has been previously brought to the court and a ruling already issued. According to the Supreme Court, stare decisis “promotes the evenhanded, predictable, and consistent development of legal principles, fosters reliance on judicial decisions, and contributes to the actual and perceived integrity of the judicial process.” In practice, the Supreme Court will usually defer to its previous decisions even if the soundness of the decision is in doubt. A benefit of this rigidity is that a court need not continuously reevaluate the legal underpinnings of past decisions and accepted doctrines. Moreover, proponents argue that the predictability afforded by the doctrine helps clarify constitutional rights for the public. Other commentators point out that courts and society only realize these benefits when decisions are published and made available. Thus, some scholars assert that stare decisis is harder to justify in cases involving secret opinions.
The doctrine operates both horizontally and vertically. Horizontal stare decisis refers to a court adhering to its own precedent. A court engages in vertical stare decisis when it applies precedent from a higher court. Consequently, stare decisis discourages litigating established precedents, and thus, reduces spending.
Despite the legal stability afforded by stare decisis, it is not without negative externalities. Critics argue that the doctrine occasionally permits erroneous decisions to continue influencing the law and encumbers the legal system’s ability to quickly adapt to change.
Although courts seldom overrule precedent, Justice Rehnquist explained that stare decisis is not an “inexorable command.” On occasion, the Court will decide not to apply the doctrine if a prior decision is deemed unworkable. In addition, significant societal changes may also prompt the Court to overrule precedent; however, any decision to overrule precedent is exercised cautiously.
For a recent example of the application of stare decisis by the US Supreme Court, see Kimble v. Marvel Entertainment. Our Preview of that case contains further discussion of the doctrine.
Courts, however, need not always adhere to precedent of prior courts. Courts are typically bound by decisions either they, or their superior courts, have made. For example, a federal district court (which would be a trial-level court) in New York is in the Second Federal District. That district court needs to adhere to a decision in a case made by a Second District Circuit Court of Appeals. Conversely, that same federal district court need not adhere to a decision made by any district or appellate court in any other district. The Second Circuit District Court may find that precedent to be persuasive, but the trial court in this example is not bound by that other districts' precedent. Although the precedent may not be binding, it may be extraordinarily persuasive, especially if the facts of the precedent case and the original court's rationale for its decision are very similar to the current case.
Stare decisis is typically used by common law legal systems. Civil law legal systems, however, place a stronger reliance upon statutes and ordinances for precedent. Every state in the United States use a common law system (which means they rely upon stare decisis), except for Louisiana, which retains a civil law legal system. Therefore, while Louisiana courts may rely upon previous caselaw, the reliance is much weaker than that of every other states' court systems.
Authored by Timothy Oyen.
Last update in March, 2017 by LII Staff.
judicial administration
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George Wolfe comes to the AOS with 30+ years of teaching and curriculum writing experience. His teaching career started in <?xml:namespace prefix = st1 ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" />Zaire, Africa where he taught Biology, Chemistry, Political Economics and Physical Education in the Peace Corps. Since then, he taught in the Western NY region, spending the last 20 years in the Rochester City School District.
Besides his teaching career, Mr. Wolfe has also been an Emmy winning television host, fielding live questions for the PBS/WXXI production of Homework Hotline as well as writing and performing in “Football Physics” segments for the Buffalo Bills and the Discover Channel.
His contributions to education have been extensive, serving on multiple advisory boards including the Cornell Institute of Physics Teachers, the Cornell Institute of Biology Teachers and the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics SportSmarts curriculum project. He has authored several publications including “The Nasonia Project”, a lab series built around the genetics and behaviors of a parasitic wasp, as well as “Thinkwell’s Biology”, a CD lecture series used in freshman biology courses in many colleges throughout the US.
He has received numerous awards throughout his teaching career including the NSTA Presidential Excellence Award, The National Association of Biology Teachers Outstanding Biology Teacher Award for New York State, The Shell Award for Outstanding Science Educator, and was recently inducted into the National Teaching Hall of Fame.
Last year, Mr. Wolfe completed and was awarded National Board Certification by the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards.
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On the Wrong Side of the Patent Law
Patents are there to protect innovations and inventions so that the person or the company holding the patent has exclusive rights to enjoy the profits. In broader terms, we need to understand that there is “Intellectual Property” (IP) which refers to any creation of the mind and it can be tangible or intangible in form. It was in 1883 that the concept of protecting creations of the mind came to be addressed in the “Paris Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property” and it is still under the administration of WIPO (World Intellectual Property Organization). However, it is only in recent years that we are seeing so many infringement issues related to IP.
You can see IP laws and regulations being enforced on all corners of the globe and certainly all across the country. You can see companies in Oregon warring against companies in Orlando over patent issues and this has become a full time job for some companies. You find many companies constantly making headlines, for all the wrong reasons, such as the recent issue of Apple losing an infringement case to a company in China.
The Shanghai-based company, Zhizhen noticed that Apple was using a voice recognition technology called Siri, very similar to its own and filed a suit in 2012. The First Intermediate Court in Beijing ruled in favor of Zhizhen’s patent. The patent involves the way in which voice is recognized and analyzed though the technology may differ.
In Apple’s Defense
Apple, however, claims that it had no idea about the patent held by Zhizhen and therefore, had no way of knowing that there could be infringement issues. Apple is no stranger to lawsuits and the very same Siri has locked horns with several other companies, namely Samsung and many others. However, we still see Siri going on strong and Apple has still not left the battlefield. The company informed Reuters that it will take the case to a higher court and at the same time, is willing to come to a peaceful agreement with Zhizhen out of court.
Back to the Basics
Now will be a good time to remind companies the reason why patent law was created in the first place, was to protect companies from having their innovations and creations stolen. For example, a patent law can prevent a company in Orlando from making and selling similar products and has the exclusive rights to the product. However, the term for a patent is 20 years and patent owners have to keep a sharp eye on the expiry date.
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MaRS CEO Dr. Ilse Treurnicht named one of Canada’s Most Powerful Women
Toronto, December 4, 2012 – MaRS Discovery District congratulates Dr. Ilse Treurnicht on receiving the prestigious 2012 Canada’s Most Powerful Women: Top 100™ Award.
The award, in the “Xstrata Nickel Trailblazers and Trendsetters” category, is Dr. Treurnicht’s third Top 100 recognition; she was previously honoured in 2009 and 2011.
Created by the Women’s Executive Network (WXN) in 2003, the Top 100 Awards celebrate the professional achievements of women across the country in the private, public and not-for-profit sectors. The Awards are co-presented by Scotiabank and KPMG.
“I am delighted that Ilse’s significant contribution to innovation in our country is being recognized and celebrated for the third time since 2009,” said Gordon Nixon, president and CEO, RBC. “This award shines a light on a visionary woman whose work will generate economic and social benefits in Canada for years to come.”
Dr. Treurnicht joins a community of 653 women who have received the Top 100™ Award over the last decade, recognizing the highest achieving female leaders in the private, public and not-for-profit sectors in Canada. Winners are selected based on their strategic vision and leadership, their organization’s financial performance, and their commitment to their communities.
A former entrepreneur with senior management roles in a number of emerging technology companies, Dr. Treurnicht joined MaRS as CEO in 2005, overseeing both the development and operations of the MaRS Centre and its broad suite of entrepreneurship and innovation programs. She is an active member of Canada’s innovation community and has served on the boards of private companies, industry associations and research organizations. Dr. Treurnicht holds a DPhil in chemistry from Oxford University, which she attended as a Rhodes scholar.
“On behalf of the WXN community of 18,000 women, we congratulate each of this year’s winners who we honour as part of the 10th year of the Top 100 Awards,” said Pamela Jeffery, Founder, Women’s Executive Network. “This is an extraordinary group of female leaders who join our community, and they truly embody the qualities WXN strives to recognize; they are dynamic, inspiring and engaging leaders blazing new trails for the next generation.”
Dr. Treurnicht will be celebrated on December 5 at the Sheraton Centre Toronto, where the Top 100 Award Winners will lead WXN’s afternoon leadership summit.
The complete list of 2012 Top 100 Award Winners and partners can be found at top100women.ca.
About the Women’s Executive Network (WXN)
At WXN, we inspire smart women to lead. WXN creates and delivers innovative networking, mentoring, professional and personal development to inform, inspire, connect and recognize our community of 18,000 smart women and their organizations in the pursuit of excellence. WXN enables our partners and corporate members to become and to be recognized as employers of choice and leaders in the advancement of women. Founded in 1997, WXN is Canada’s leading organization dedicated to the advancement and recognition of women in management, executive, professional and board roles. WXN is a Founding Member of the Canadian Board Diversity Council, dedicated to increasing the diversity of Canada’s corporate boards. In the fall of 2008, WXN launched in Ireland, a first step in creating an international community of female leaders.
MaRS Discovery District (Twitter: @MaRSDD) is a mission-driven innovation centre located in Toronto. MaRS works with partners to catalyze, accelerate and amplify innovation. MaRS supports entrepreneurs building Canada’s next generation of growth companies.
Melissa Hughes
Manager, Media & Community Relations
(416) 673-8200 ext. 2710
mhughes@marsdd.com
Jennifer Britton
North Strategic (for WXN)
jennifer.britton@northstrategic.com
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A Review of Breaking The Silence -Truth and Lies in the War on Terror
It is rare, these days, to see the bloodhound like features of John Pilger on television - rare, but welcome. John Pilger made his name as a crusading, left journalist, exposing the truth from the perspective of the poor, the oppressed, and the exploited, especially focussing on the victims of American imperialism such as Vietnam and Cambodia.
It is rare, these days, to see the bloodhound like features of John Pilger on television - rare, but welcome. Occasionally ITV let him out of his kennel and nervously let him off the leash for a short run. For John Pilger made his name as a crusading, left journalist, exposing the truth from the perspective of the poor, the oppressed, and the exploited, especially focussing on the victims of American imperialism such as Vietnam and Cambodia.
In the 1970s and 1980s, when it was trendy to be on the left, a Pilger documentary merited a prime time slot, and would be well trailed in advance so that everyone could tune in to the main event. Now, it's difficult to sees who can watch them - students will probably be in the pub, and if you work (unless you've just come in from an afternoon shift) you'll be nodding off at such a late hour. If you're in school, these kinds of documentaries are screened opposite comedies on BBC2, that have lots of swear words - tough competition. Nonetheless it is worth the effort to find them.
This programme began in classic Pilger style; black and white stills of crying, injured, women and children, charred bodies in bleached, dusty streets among sad ruins, accompanied by the chilling words of "freedom" and "liberation" from Blair and Bush. So, even before you see those baleful Pilger eyes, you're already angry. It's not just his face that is like a bloodhound - his journalism sniffs out and exposes those embarrassing facts which give the lie to the hypocrisy of the imperialists.
His opening statement accused the US of being "a rapacious imperial power", and that the US and UK were responsible for "the terrorism that dare not speak it's name, because it's our terrorism". Next they screened an interview with a mother who showed cherished photographs of her entire family - they had all been killed in the bombing of Kabul after a 500-pound US bomb hit her house. After graphically describing the injuries they suffered, she said that while some spoke of the joy of freedom, "for us day and night are all the same, full of sorrow".
Pilger bombarded us with facts - more than 3000 people were bombed to death in Afghanistan, more than were killed on September 11.And as for all the empty promises of recreating "civilisation", of the $10 million spent in Afghanistan since the invasion, only 3% of international aid has been spent on reconstruction. Cluster bombs remain, unexploded, like litter, amongst the rubble of bombed out buildings used by children as playgrounds. An Afghan government spokesman gave an ironic smile to the camera and confirmed that of the £300 million budget they had, there was NO money for reconstruction. Bush's much-lauded Minister for Women (in the so-called Afghan government), after her international heralding as an example of how the west was building women's rights with spent shells, was almost immediately pushed out of office. She was forced out by the warlords who now run Afghanistan, who Pilger chronicled as being just as bad as the Taliban. She is now confined to a house surrounded by bodyguards to protect her from the very people the US helped to come to power, the warlords of the "Northern Alliance".
These have now re-established the opium trade, which accounts for a major proportion of all the heroin sold on British and American streets. In truth most of the damage caused to Kabul was caused by these ruthless terrorists armed and bribed by the US. And what about the women who are supposed to be enjoying new-found freedom? They have no access to healthcare or education. They are subject to mass rapes and being stopped and arrested if they are found to be accompanied by a man other than their husband or close relative - even if he's a taxi driver. If they are found to be with a man who is none of these then they are subjected to "chastity checks" by the warlords' gunmen!
All of this served as the first chapter in Pilger's attack on the "war against terror". He linked the invasion of Afghanistan with the US's original arming and training of the Mujahadin, when Jimmy Carter authorised $500 million for support of Islamic extremists there. The excuse the US administration has given for this was that it was to support the Mujahadin in their "war of liberation" against the Russians. But this doesn't fit with the facts, for, as Pilger explained, the money was handed over to the Islamic fundamentalists 6 months before the Soviet invasion.
He then went on to chronicle the US's real role as sponsor of international terror for decades. The School of the Americas was a US special training camp where terrorists (or should we call them army officers?) from Panama, Guatemala, Honduras and so on were "educated" in the finer arts of torture, interrogation and so on. Included among the "scholars" were, of course, Al Qaeda and Osama Bin Laden.
Pilger showed old newsreel of Donald Rumsfeld warmly shaking Saddam Hussein by the hand in 1986, and also detailed US government records of the supply of chemical, biological and conventional weapons to Iraq.
Then he questioned the author of the now infamous, Project for an American 21st Century, William Kristol. A George Bush Senior aid is also interviewed where he describes Kristol as one of "the Crazies", together with Wolfowitz, Rumsfeld and the rest of the gang that now are in the US administration. The "crazies" were to be kept at arms length even under Bush Senior. Bush Junior surrounds himself with these ultra-reactionaries. Pilger put it to Kristol that the US had intervened in 72 countries since 1945, and when Kristol denied this, he produced the list. Of course it should have come as no surprise to the man who has argued that in this century the US should "fight multiple wars simultaneously" to establish global domination. Nonetheless he barefacedly denied what are well-documented facts.
What really touched a nerve, was Pilger's questioning of a US government official on the amount of civilian deaths in Iraq during the recent war. Pilger pointed out to him that an estimated 10,000 civilians had died. The official denies this, trying to cover his tracks by saying the US doesn't "target civilians"! The official was becoming more and more nervous as he was clearly lying. At that point a Colonel from behind the scenes stepped in and ordered Pilger to stop filming. The screen goes blank but the voice of the Colonel can be heard. This little scene reveals that even top US government officials are censored by military personnel that decide what is good for us.
In another interview, another equally shifty US government official found Pilger's questioning too much. At the end of the interview, with the camera still filming, he asked Pilger first whether he was a member of the Labour Party, then he went further and asked, "Are you a member of the Communist Party?" This goes a long way to exposing what obtuse, ignorant and downright reactionary elements are in key positions of the Bush administration. Anything that does not fit in to their narrow money grabbing mentality is seen as subversive, as "communist".
This was the side of the coin we don't normally see on TV news. Pilger's journalism is counter-propaganda; it exposes the lies of the official media. And we are none the worse for it - we need more of this! But this kind of campaigning journalism causes too much fear in the independent capitalist TV companies, and that explains why it is so rare. Even the BBC fights shy of such controversy. We only have to look at the way a bland journalist like Andrew Gilligan has been treated to see why.
Pilger's case is one which Socialist Appeal would support. Even the ex-Labour Environment Minister, Michael Meacher, has rightly stated that the "war against terror" is a smokescreen for a pre-determined, aggressively imperialist US foreign policy, designed to protect American capitalism's oil supply and strategic interests and also, that September 11 has been used as an excuse for these entirely hypocritical "simultaneous, multiple wars". We would entirely agree.
However, in spite of his very good investigative journalism and exposure of the powers that be, there is a down side to John Pilger's documentaries. They have the effect of depressing you with the accumulation of horrific facts and figures. His hangdog features and monotone commentary match his usual implied message - that "they" are so powerful and "there's nothing we can do - we're all doooomed!"
In this documentary he inches towards the class perspective he sorely needs, but unfortunately falls short, rather like Michael Moore, in the actual solutions. "There are only two world powers, the US and public opinion, which is growing stronger as it sees through the lies and hypocrisy." This is more or less his conclusion. How this "public opinion" is to be harnessed and directed against the imperialists and the whole massive apparatus of the capitalist class is not explained.
Ultimately, only the working class internationally, can defeat the might of the imperialists, and overthrow the system which makes such "horror without end" a necessity. That is the message Marxists would deliver to the workers if they had a chance to transmit a one-hour documentary on one of the main TV channels. Nonetheless we should recognise the role a John Pilger can play in at least exposing the contradictions in the propaganda of Bush, Blair and their rich backers. We should give the bloodhound a pat on the head for this concise, moving and agitational documentary, before they lock him away again, and we have to wait for his next outing.
Leonardo Da Vinci: artist, thinker and revolutionary 2 May 2019
Capitalism and art: Alan Woods' introduction for Farsi magazine 9 Apr 2018
Alan Woods’ ‘Capitalist fetishism and the decay of art’ translated into Farsi! 19 Mar 2018
Tears for Nicolas the Bloody: The Netflix Russian Revolution Documentary 18 Oct 2017
In Defence of Soviet Art: A Reply to Jonathan Jones 6 Feb 2017
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About Us Terms Contact Optional box #1
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Letter: GOP dismayed Trump won’t condemn racist…
Letter: GOP dismayed Trump won’t condemn racist alt-right?
Thiessen glosses over his actions, so those pulling the strings in the GOP can continue looking out for elite few.
Jason Kessler, center, who organized the rally, speaks as white supremacists, neo-Nazis, members of the Ku Klux Klan and other hate groups gather for the Unite the Right rally in Lafayette Park across from the White House August 12, 2018 in Washington, DC. Thousands of protesters are expected to demonstrate against the “white civil rights” rally, which was planned by the organizer of last years deadly rally in Charlottesville, Virginia.
By Letters To The Editor |
GOP dismayed Trump won’t
condemn racist alt-right?
Re: “Thiessen: We survived Nixon. We’ll survive Trump.” (Opinion section, Nov. 4)
In his column, Thiessen states, “Many conservatives are dismayed with Trump’s failure to condemn the racist alt-right.”
Raise taxes on the middle class while cutting taxes for the top 1 percent, betray American values with both allies and enemies, dump trade deals that promote open markets but slap on tariffs that hurt American business and ultimately consumers, gut protections for clean air and water, deny science, blow a trillion-dollar hole in the budget then blame it on Social Security and Medicare, pretend to care about protecting Americans with pre-existing conditions while doing the opposite, undermine a free press, incite hatred of those with opposing views, jail families seeking political asylum after first separating them from their children, refuse to call out white nationalists, call for changing the U.S. Constitution by executive order and for jailing political opponents…. Thiessen glosses over this and more, so those pulling the strings in the Republican Party can continue looking out for the elite few — just with a different fanfare.
Lisa Lampros
Submit your letter to the editor via this form
Attorney: Royal family protected Andrew in Epstein scandal
Photos: Tom Cruise steals the show at Comic-Con Day 1
Tom Cruise surprised the audience at Comic-Con's Hall H by dropping by the tail end of the "Terminator: Dark Fate" panel to release the "Top Gun: Maverick" trailer. The movie holds a special place in San Diego. "Top Gun" was partially filmed in the city, which is home to the former Naval Air Station Miramar. It was the flight school...
TOKYO (AP) — A man screaming "You die!" burst into an animation studio in Kyoto, doused it with a flammable liquid and set it on fire Thursday, killing 33 people in an attack that shocked the country and brought an outpouring of grief from anime fans.
Correction: Misidentification of A’s baseball player
A photograph from Tuesday's A's game, July 16, 2019, against the Seattle Mariners misidentified A's second baseman Franklin Barreto as A's catcher Nick Hundley. The error has been corrected.
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New Deftones album postponed to November
Deftones postponed the release date of new album to late November. Frontman Chino Moreno said to WSOU: "As of today, we are rushing to get our 'thank-you's,' our credits, and all that stuff turned in. Once the music's turned in, which should be hopefully in the next couple of weeks…. There is still some mixing and mastering to be done. But the recording's all done, the songs are there, they're written and recorded, and they're awesome. We're excited about it. We're just dealing with the stuff now, putting all the artwork and everything together. And then, it will take a few months for them, the powers that be, to prepare it to be released."
About the new album's musical direction, Moreno said: "Every time we make a record, our main focus, with anything, is to try different things, and try things maybe outside our comfort zone a little bit. But this time, this record, one thing that's really cool, sonically, is that our bass player Sergio Vega is really not so much playing… He does play bass on some of the record, but on a lot of the record he plays a Bass VI, which is a six-string bass, which is more like a baritone guitar, sort of. So the way his frequency works with my guitar frequency and Stephen's Carpenter guitar frequency, it kind of gave it a different sound."
About the songwriting process for the new album, Moreno said: "It's never easy, I don't think. I think we found better ways to work nowadays. We used to have our own studio in Sacramento, and we didn't have set hours or anything like that. We would show up at the studio at eight o'clock at night, and we'd get there, and we'd have no focus. I mean, we'd sit there for two hours watching 'Lost'… Seriously, we would just waste a lot of time, and by the time we'd start playing our instruments, it was midnight or one o'clock in the morning. We were taking three years sometimes to make records. And I attribute that to a lot of different things, but that was one of the main things. A couple of records back, we adopted this routine of going in at this hour, we start at noon and we end at five. And the room that we actually write in is pretty small, so while we're in there, we wanna be actually doing something productive. We just need to create, create, so we can get out of here for the day, and then listen to whatever we did the next morning, come back in, and do it again. We did, like, ten days, two weeks of writing sessions, going in and spending six days a week just doing that. We all live apart now, a couple of guys live in Sacramento, I live in Oregon, one guy lives in New York, and one guy lives in L.A. So, yeah, we all kind of fly in to meet at a certain spot and just work. And we all kind of go back to our little hideouts and come back and meet again. So it's kind of cool."
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Sunday Night Concert Series
Lake St. Clair Metropark – Thomas Welsh Activity Center
6:30 p.m. – 9 p.m.
Spend your Sunday evening with us enjoying music from different metro Detroit bands. The perfect way to extend your weekend and enjoy a concert is at Lake St. Clair Metorpark’s Activity Center. From big band swing to country or top 40 to rock and blues, we will have the sounds to get your feet tapping or have you dancing the night away. We invite you to join us this summer!
May 26, 2019 - Alcon Starlight Orchestra - (Big Band Swing)
The Alcon Starlite Orchestra (ASO) is an amazing collection of musicians including two vocalist, Dolores Aquino and Peter Tocco. They entertain an audience rather than just play songs. ASO is comprised of the most talented musicians in the Metro Detroit area!
June 2, 2019 - Weekend Comeback - (Rock and Variety)
Weekend ComeBack is a high-energy variety band who perform a variety of covers from the 60s through today. The four-piece full band features four vocalists accompanied by saxophone, bass, guitar, drums and keyboard. Their music will get your feet tappin’!
June 9, 2019 - Sun Messengers - (Variety, Swing and Horns)
The Sun Messengers have been one of the most popular groups in the Detroit area since forming in 1980. They have played venues as diverse as the legendary rock club CBGBs in New York, followed the very next night by a Rockefeller wedding reception in Oyster Bay. They were the Detroit Pistons house band; backed up the likes of Martha Reeves and The Drifters and opened for Jay Leno. Come have some fun in the sun with the Sun Messengers.
June 16, 2019 - The George Brothers - (Classic Rock and Oldies)
The George Brothers Band takes tremendous pride in keeping the spirit of live music, as it was laid down by their heroes, alive and well. They perform a great mix of Classic Rock, R&B, and Standards.
June 23, 2019 - The AnTekes - (50’s, 60’s and 70's Classics)
Enjoy hits from the 50’s and 60’s from the Beatles and Rolling Stones to Eagles and Chuck Berry. The AnTekes band consists of six friends that originally had a band together in college and got back together many years later to recreate the sounds of their youth. Their music brings back memories of an earlier time in many lives and make an older generation young again, while introducing a younger generation to classic rock and roll sounds.
June 30, 2019 - Sonic Freeway - (Variety/Rock)
The Sonic Freeway band was founded in 2014 by husband and wife duo, Bing and Linda Burris, for a one time show at the Howell Opera House. It was a magical night of music and they quickly realized that the band would have more wonderful performances ahead of them. Joined by veteran musicians, Jim LeFevre, George Wietecha, and John Marker, Sonic Freeway creates an unforgettable, uplifting, and fun-filled time for audiences of all ages. You can expect to hear hit music from the 60’s to the new music of today. Pop, Motown, classic rock, beautiful ballads, and country music are delivered by five talented musicians that love performing. It will be hard to stay in your seat with the moving and grooving sounds of one of metro Detroit’s hottest bands!
July 7, 2019 - Randy Brock - (Rock/Blues)
The Randy Brock Group was formed in 1996. Since then the band has been a staple of the Detroit live music scene. They have developed their style and talent and gained a reputation as one of the hardest working bands in Detroit. In addition to local venues, Randy and the band have played all over the country and opened for acts at the DTE Energy Music Theater for some of the most legendary names in music such as Journey, Ted Nugent, Eddie Money and CCR.
July 14, 2019 - Rich Eddy's Rockin' Oldies - (50s and Oldies)
Rich Eddy’s Rockin’ Oldies Band has been performing since 1986, touring the Midwest doing hundreds of shows with some of the greatest names in rock and roll. All ages will enjoy listening and dancing to the exciting rock and roll music of the 50s and 60s.
July 21, 2019 - The Chris Canas Band - (Rock/Blues)
The Chris Canas Band (CCB) serves up some Bangin’ Blues, Fierce Funk, & Smooth Soul! Their high-energy show and clever original music will get you shaking your money maker all night long.
July 28, 2019 - Mainstream Drive - (Top 40)
Mainstream Drive is a high-energy dance cover band formed in 2008. The band performs popular or “Mainstream” songs from many genres of music, which are sure to please everyone in the audience. The six-member band includes both male and female lead vocalist and backing vocals from other members. Using today’s music technology, there is no limit to what instruments can be heard live throughout a show. This gives Mainstream Drive the ability to play current Top 40 hits through Motown favorites. Mainstream Drive enjoys playing at events all over southeast Michigan and beyond.
August 4, 2019 - Full Circle Project - (Classic Rock)
The Full Circle Band was formed over 12 years ago by local musician Jerry Gravina who thought to start a band of other musicians from the Detroit music scene he had played with during a 30+ year career. They gained a reputation as one of Detroit’s hottest classic and modern rock bands.
August 11, 2019 - Tony Camiletti Quartet - (American Jazz, Swing and Standards)
Tony Camilletti is a native Detroiter whose vocals were influenced by stylish jazz masters such as Tony Bennett. His velvety, soulful style has been compared to Mathis, Vandross, Torme, Cole, Darin and Sinatra. Tony’s musical tastes are fully based in the American Songbook, as he is determined to keep the classics alive. He has co-headlined the jazz-duets group Cheek to Cheek, leads the Tony Camilletti Quartet and the vintage-rock group, Blackbird, and has entertained audiences in Washington DC, San Francisco and throughout the metro Detroit area.
August 18, 2019 - The Kroon Band - (Variety/Jazz/Swing)
Bandleader David Kroon was raised in Hawaii but moved to Michigan and has performed for 12 years all around Michigan from Detroit to Traverse City. The KROON Band showcases a variety of music genres, including Jazz, Motown, Pop, Top 40, R&B, Rock, Reggae, Blues, Country and Hawaiian. Motor City Casino’s SoundBoard, The Detroit Grand Prix, Infinity & Ovation Yacht Charters, and The North American International Auto Show are just a few of the notable events and venues they have rocked!
August 25, 2019 - Sinjon Smith - (Variety/Rock)
Sinjon Smith is a top regional cover band awarded “Best Of” for the last six years running. They offer a great variety of music from all popular genres and feature both male and female vocals. The energy and accuracy they deliver is guaranteed to leave a smile on the face of any audience. If you’re ready to sing, dance and smile, then you’re ready for Sinjon Smith.
September 1, 2019 - Jeff Trudell Band - (Swing and Standards)
The Jeff Trudell Band is a swinging seven-piece band that will bring back the memories and have you dancing! This dynamic group is headed by drum sensation Jeff Trudell and features some of the Detroit area’s finest musicians. Little big band music at its finest.
Friday Night Concert Series
Stony Creek Metropark – Eastwood Beach
Spend your Friday evening with us enjoying music from different metro Detroit bands. Each Friday evening, in the summer, Eastwood Beach becomes a concert venue. From rock to country to oldies, there is a concert for everyone. Lounge in a lawn chair or get on your feet and dance. We invite you to join us this summer!
June 7, 2019 - Collision Six - (Rock, Variety, Funk, Top 40)
Collision Six is a fun, energetic and versatile cover band serving Metro Detroit and the Midwest. They are passionate about being the best at creating an unforgettable experience for their audiences. Collision Six’s performance builds as they transition smoothly from song to song, feeding off the audience. They mix and mash up songs spanning the generations, and do it all with 100% live music — no tracks — so we can interact with our audience and play the right songs at the right time. Add some interactive lighting and their high-energy stage performance, and you get the right atmosphere for a packed dance floor and memories that will last a lifetime.
July 12, 2019 - Mainstream Drive - (Top 40 high energy cover band)
Mainstream Drive is a high-energy dance cover band formed in 2008. The band performs popular or “Mainstream” songs from many genres of music, which are sure to please all everyone in the audience. The six member band includes both male and female lead vocalist and backing vocals from other members. Using today’s music technology, there is no limit to what instruments can be heard live throughout a show. This gives Mainstream Drive the ability to play current Top 40 hits through Motown favorites. Mainstream Drive enjoys playing at events all over southeast Michigan and beyond.
July 19, 2019 - KGB Motown - (Motown Tribute)
“Motown is forever,” says Gerald Foster keyboardist for KGB, one of the best Motown tribute bands working in metro Detroit. The music is straight-up Motown with an electronic base. Dotson, McFarland and Sims produce three-part harmonies effortlessly and with a lot of love. You’ll hear a healthy sampling of Motown hits and other pop songs. It’s the show stopping Temps-n-Tops medley, though, that knocks ’em out every time.
July 26, 2019 - Joey Vee - (Country/Rock)
Joey Vee is an American Country Music artist. He has traveled to Nashville and performed at the CMA Festival for five consecutive years. He has opened for National Artists including Joe Nichols, Montgomery Gentry, Josh Gracin, Aaron Lewis, Lorrie Morgan, Ty Stone, and Lover Boy. He has been nominated for Detroit Music Awards for “Outstanding Country Vocalist” and “Outstanding Country Recording” and has also performed at the WYCD Downtown Hoedown.
August 9, 2019 - Rich Eddy's Rockin' Oldies - (50s and Oldies)
August 16, 2019 - The George Brothers - (Classic Rock and Oldies)
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“It’s a show, within the show, within the show because all the people will recognize the faces that they love to watch on TV – on their favorite dance shows,” Maksim added.
Sway: A Dance Trilogy, is a theatrical production owned by Dance With Me Studios. The show, will be presenting its fourth installment starting Dec 3., with this being their first time in Miami.
The Dancing with the Stars members will be joined by Olympic Gold Champion, Meryl Davis, as well as Rumer Willis and other guests, to create a musical performance that includes salsa, ballet, Argentine tango, hip-hop, modern and jazz within other genres.
The three-part-performance lasts two hours, and each session represents the personalities of the lead dancers: Dovolani, Valentin and Maksim.
It begins with Dovolani leading a production that transports the audience to the 1940s and 1950s Manhattan nightclub scene.
Valentin then takes over for the second part, with a session that emphasizes on urban and hip-hop influences.
The show closes with Maksim’s performance; a production that mimics South Beach, by transmitting a fusion of Miami’s salsa scene with mixed tunes of various Latin melodies.
“I just want people to come and literally donate to the cause and in return, we’re gonna put on a show for you so you don’t feel like you’re just being taken money from,” Maksim said. “In return we’re gonna give you an amazing time.”
Sway will feature five shows running from Dec. 3-6.
Fifty percent of the ticket sales will be donated to Alfalit International, a non-profit organization that was founded in 1961, and provides 120,000 people in 24 countries, with literacy, education, community development and health services within other forms of assistance.
Throughout the dates, a fundraising gala, a golf tournament and an educational dance camp will also be done to help raise funds for Alfalit International.
“I think Sway is an amazing opportunity to draw attention to Alfalit,” said Maksim. “I think people underestimate the power that you have when you can read and the absolute despair you’re in when you can’t. I am very happy and very proud that we are part of this.”
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What is the Upton Amendment? This last-minute add may have saved Trumpcare in the House.
By Taylor Wofford
By the thinnest of margins, Republicans managed to pass the American Health Care Act through the House of Representatives on Thursday.
The bill passed 217-213 Thursday afternoon. Next, it will head to the Senate and, if the Senate approves, to President Donald Trump's desk.
After failing to get enough support even to reach the floor before being yanked by Speaker of the House Paul Ryan previously, the GOP's answer to the Affordable Care Act was likely saved by an amendment from Congressman Fred Upton, a Michigan Republican.
The amendment convinced moderate Republicans, who were worried that the bill would strip too many Americans with pre-existing conditions of health insurance, to get on board with conservatives in the House Freedom Caucus, who backed the bill's efforts to strip away much of the regulations put into place by the ACA.
$8 billion in subsidies
Under the AHCA, states would be able to opt out of rules put in place by the ACA that prevent insurance companies from denying coverage to those with pre-existing conditions or charging them more for health insurance. The Upton Amendment would seek to remedy that by giving $8 billion in "assistance to reduce premiums or other out-of-pocket costs" for individuals whose premiums would increase or who would lose health insurance under the AHCA.
The problem with the amendment, some experts say, is that it doesn't go far enough. By letting states seek waivers from the ACA's pricing rules, premiums are likely to rise by $500 billion, not $8 billion, as Matthew Fielder, a fellow at the Brooking Institute, told Axios. The Upton Amendment would be "a drop in the bucket," Fielder said.
"A pittance"
"The amendment at hand focuses on high-risk pools, but the $8 billion amount is a pittance," Robert Graboyes, a fellow at George Mason's Mercatus Center, to the Hill. "Spread over five years, it's a fifth of a pittance."
Larry Levitt of the Kaiser Family Foundation estimated $8 billion would help 160,000 people with their premiums, while Karen Politz, also of Kaiser, pegged that number at 220,000. The liberal Center for American Progress put that number at 76,000.
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College Republicans welcome gubernatorial candidate
State Sen. Patrick Colbeck presented and took questions during an event Wednesday in the Union. Buy this photo
Courtesy of Patrick Colbeck
Ishi Mori
Pitching his political platform, State Sen. Patrick Colbeck, gubernatorial candidate, R-Canton, spoke to members of the University of Michigan’s chapter of College Republicans on Wednesday at the Michigan Union.
The students in attendance gathered to question the second-term state senator, who is known to be among the most conservative members of the chamber on issues ranging from Obamacare to road maintenance — in 2015, 56 percent of non-federally funded roads were in poor condition, according to the Michigan Transportation Asset Management Council.
LSA senior Enrique Zalamea, president of College Republicans, said he invited Colbeck before frontrunner Bill Schuette because an internal straw poll of College Republicans indicated that he was the most popular of the Republican candidates. He said he was excited to give students a variety of views before the state Republican primary, which will be held on Aug. 7, 2018.
“It’s a really great thing when you see these gubernatorial candidates, people running for different offices, to really want to engage with the students,” Zalamea said. “We’re really looking forward to hearing about his policies and his plans for running for governor and his plans for implementing those policies.”
In his opening remarks, Colbeck spoke against bureaucrats in Lansing and Washington, D.C., for setting unrealistic policy goals and urged the audience to retake control of their right to make decisions on a local level.
“There are a lot of people up in Lansing, a lot of people up in D.C., that think they know better how to run your lives than you do,” Colbeck said. “I run into them on a regular basis and I’m sick and tired of them.”
Colbeck then opened the floor to questions. When asked how he plans to fund the government after he eliminates the income tax, as stated in his platform, Colbeck delineated a plan to slash unnecessary expenses. He explained economic development and reduction in welfare recipients would pay for a large part of the $9.7 billion budget hole his plan would leave. Colbeck also listed eliminating Obamacare, Medicaid grants from the government and stepping up enforcement against sales tax fraud as other measures.
Colbeck argued he can do all of this without cutting essential services like police, fire and education, and rallied against politicians who would rather spend and grab newspaper headlines than tackle the difficult issues head-on.
“I think we’re always chasing shiny objects sometimes in state government,” Colbeck said. “You’ve heard of ambulance chasers, there you’ve got your headline chasers.”
When asked about free speech on campus, Colbeck pointed to Senate bills 349 and 350, pieces of legislation he co-wrote that punishes those who block speeches or protests on campus. He argued against those who shut down controversial speakers and emphasized the importance of civil dialogue in a democracy.
“I want to have civil dialogue, because we don’t have dialogue in the universities where we’re supposed to have good, fair, balanced, open-minded discussions on this stuff here,” Colbeck said in an interview before the event. “We can’t allow people to shout down conversations, so I want to make sure we got an open dialogue, and if people want to engage, engage, but be respectful.”
LSA senior Benjamin Decatur, co-chair of the American Enterprise Institute Executive Council at the University of Michigan, agreed with Colbeck, adding he feels uncomfortable sharing his opinions in class because he perceives a closed-minded liberal wall surrounding him.
This past month, Decatur’s group brought controversial political scientist Charles Murray to campus, stirring protests and demonstrations across campus that culminated in some students disrupting Murray mid-speech.
“I think it’s definitely a problem,” Decatur said. “Speakers who differ from liberal orthodoxy get shut down or aren’t given the opportunities to speak, so it’s very important that we have protections in place so this doesn’t happen.”
Colbeck later moved on to a question about federal versus local control of education. He criticized what he saw as the education establishment trying to wrest control of education away from students and their parents. He praised initiatives like the Michigan Education Savings Program, which gives students and parents control over their accounts.
“These student student-specific accounts would actually be controlled by the parents and the students, not by some educrat or bureaucrat up the line,” Colbeck said. “And (the education establishment) opposed that. That took power away from them. So it’s literally a discussion of control versus funding, and they chose control.”
In discussions about immigration, Colbeck explained government’s first imperative is to secure the rights of the governed and said he was weary of allowing Syrian refugees in without stricter standards.
“I actually authored a resolution encouraging Governor Snyder to keep his finger on the pause button in regards to Syrian refugees,” Colbeck said. “Because I was briefed on how we actually screen incoming immigrants into the country, and there was no attention to the security in that process at all.”
In an interview before the event, Colbeck described the difference between him and his competitor Schuette as one of “bold colors versus pale pastels” to paraphrase Ronald Reagan.
“I swing for the fences,” Colbeck said. “Case in point of our differences is I’m talking about eliminating the state income tax. He’s talking about reducing it 0.35 percent. There’s a difference in approaches there.”
Regarding his recent expulsion from four committees in the Senate, Colbeck disputed the narrative of state Senate Majority Leader Arlan Meekhof, R-West Olive. Colbeck disputed the majority leader’s claim that he was angry about Colbeck campaigning in Meekhof’s district without asking him first, as is the norm in the Senate.
“Ultimately, the issue was that I was out there speaking about policy issues the Senate majority leader didn’t want me to talk about, that’s at least his perception,” Colbeck said. “All I was doing was I was saying hi to people.”
LSA junior Amanda Delekta, vice chair of College Republicans, said she thought the event was successful and a great opportunity for students to ask questions that cut deep into issues.
“I think it’s important to keep an open mind to go through the election process and the campaign process, see what the candidates are saying, bounce that off each other, compare and contrast and find the candidate that’s going to support the issues that are important to me,” Delekta said.
State Senator behind free speech legislation launches campaign for governor
Michigan gubernatorial finance reports raise concern about price tag of elections
Republican candidates talk Michigan's future in final debate
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Chapelton developers launch legal challenge
Chapelton of Elsick
Published: 07:49 Friday 14 August 2015
The developers behind the new town of Chapelton have launched a legal bid in an effort to reduce an £8 million council bill towards transport and infrastructure in the area.
Elsick Development Company (EDC), who are behind the 4,000 home development, have lodged a legal appeal in the Court of Session in Edinburgh, as they say that Aberdeenshire Council are asking them to contribute too much money - £8 million - for projects “not directly related” to the new town.
The EDC argue that Scottish Government policy states that they should only contribute to projects directly related to their own development, and they figure should be reduced to £287,000.
Aberdeenshire Council said that the bill is based on the impact that 4,000 new homes will have on traffic.
Elaine Farquharson-Black, partner at Burness Paull acting for EDC, said: ““The Supplementary Guidance fails to comply with the requirements that any contributions must relate directly to the particular development and must be used to offset the effects of the development making those contributions. ““It is important to note that EDC is absolutely committed to investing in infrastructure that is affected by the increased traffic generated by the development of Chapelton.”
Head of Planning and Building Standards, Robert Gray, said: “We are aware of the submission of a legal challenge against the SDPA’s Supplementary Guidance on the Strategic Transport Fund. The council is always proportionate in the contribution it asks for and this been accepted by developers for three years.”
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Britons can meet 2050 zero-carbon target by eating less meat
Report by Committee on Climate Change spells out path to cutting emissions
The government’s official adviser on climate change has said that Britons should eat less meat to help the UK become zero-carbon by 2050. The ambitious new target follows a commitment signed at the Paris climate talks in 2016 that the UK would drastically reduce its carbon emissions.
As part of its advice on how individuals and the country as a whole can help cut greenhouse gas emissions, the Committee on Climate Change said it was important to consume less meat and animal products, and more plant-based foods. That’s because raising livestock for human consumption creates vast amounts of harmful greenhouse gases.
A move from a high-meat to a low-meat diet could help people cut food-related emissions by 35 per cent, the committee said. However, while the report made it clear that many are already cutting back on their intake, at current trends we’ll only be eating 20 per cent less meat by 2050, it said. Meat taxes have been mooted in the past, so that the price of meat better reflects its cost to the planet.
Campaigns such as Meat Free Monday have a massive role to play in educating people around the world about the joys of meat reducing and meat free eating, highlighting the fact that cutting back on meat consumption has health and environmental benefits across the board, and that eating more plant-based food opens up a whole new world of taste, flavour and nutrition. The committee’s chairman, Lord Deben, the former Tory MP John Gummer, echoed those sentiments at the launch of the report, saying: “We are not asking people to lead a miserable life. We are looking to having as fulfilled, as different, as various a life as we have today and to do it in a way in which we take respect for the future.”
The publication of the 277-page report comes at a time of heightened awareness about the damage being wrought on the natural world by humans. Last year, the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change warned the world had only 12 years to act toprevent catastrophic climate change. Demonstrations by the Extinction Rebellion over recent months have moved the issue up the political agenda and forced MPs and the media to take notice, and there have been a series of “school strikes” that saw pupils across the UK and the world downing pens in order to protest about political inaction over climate change.
Putting a price on the steps that would need to be taken to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050, the report said it would cost the UK about 1.3 per cent of GDP every year – a fraction of the cost of dealing with the consequences of runaway climate change after the fact. In April, the governor of the Bank of England, Mark Carney, said banks had a duty to act on climate change as it poses an existential threat to the global financial system.
It remains to be seen whether the government will adopt all of the proposed measures, but business secretary Greg Clark sounded a positive if equivocal note. “This report now sets us on a path to become the first major economy to legislate to end our contribution to global warming,” he said in a statement – which is not the same thing as saying the government would legislate to ensure the UK followed that path.
As well as eating less meat, other measures recommended in the report include turning thermostats down to 19C; phasing out petrol cars in favour of electric ones by 2035; phasing out coal power by 2020; doubling the rate of tree planting, to 116 square miles a year; cutting food waste; taking fewer flights, and applying carbon limits for the aviation and shipping industries.
Read the Committee on Climate Change report
Posted on May 7, 2019 Categories:
← Aussie burger company goes meat free for a day
Win a COOK veggie meal box! →
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Twelve years to safeguard the planet
IPCC warns world only has limited time to keep global temperature rises to 1.5C
Scientists from the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) have sounded a “clarion call” to act on climate change, and put a timeframe on keeping global temperature rises to within 1.5C: 12 years. A figure between 1.5C and 2C was agreed by all 195 countries at landmark climate talks in Paris in 2016, but if global warming reaches the higher number, then a catalogue of disastrous effects await.
The UN body is now warning that time is running out to make the vital and unprecedented changes required to prevent global warming crossing the 1.5C threshold. Climate change is already happening, it says, but 2030 – just 12 years, or 144 months from now – is the point at which risks begin to grow of catastrophic consequences for the environment and for us. If work to address the situation begins then, rather than now, then the effort required to keep rises to 1.5C would be astronomical.
In a report commissioned after Paris and published last week, the IPCC says it is possible for countries to meet the ambitious target set in the French capital, because the technology to do so is already in existence, but swift and far-reaching action must be taken now. Measures would include encouraging citizens to cut down on their meat intake, thereby reducing the number of feed animals in the world; less livestock would mean less harmful greenhouse gases, and would free up more land to grow crops for human consumption.
“It’s a line in the sand and what it says to our species is that this is the moment and we must act now,” said Debra Roberts, who co-chaired the working group on impacts. “This is the largest clarion bell from the science community, and I hope it mobilises people and dents the mood of complacency.”
If the target is missed by just half a percentage point – that is, if temperatures rise to 2C – insects and plants would be likely to lose half their habitat; 99 per cent of corals would die off; the Arctic would be ice-free in summer every 10 years (rather than every century at 1.5C); and extreme weather events would be more likely, leading to food scarcity, flooding, heat-related deaths and forest fires; sea level rises would increase by an extra 10cm, affecting 10 million more people by the end of the century.
The IPCC report sets out four ways in which the 1.5C threshold could be met, using both technology and changes to the way we use land. Carbon pollution needs to be cut by 45 per cent, and hit zero by 2050, and key to each of the four plans is planting more trees. The report makes it clear that deforestation caused by agriculture is destroying vast tracts of forest, which are vital carbon sinks. A study last week also said people should be eating meat less than once a week if climate targets are to be met.
“I hope this can change the world,” said one of the authors, Jiang Kejun, of China’s semi-governmental Energy Research Institute. “Two years ago, even I didn’t believe 1.5C was possible but when I look at the options I have confidence it can be done. I want to use this report to do something big in China.”
Jim Skea, who co-chairs the working group on mitigation added: “We have presented governments with pretty hard choices. We have pointed out the enormous benefits of keeping to 1.5C, and also the unprecedented shift in energy systems and transport that would be needed to achieve that. We show it can be done within laws of physics and chemistry. Then the final tick box is political will. We cannot answer that. Only our audience can – and that is the governments that receive [the report].”
Posted on October 22, 2018 Categories:
← Scientists: Eat less meat to save the planet
Japanese meat reducers win tickets to Paul McCartney gigs →
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NEWS: Thank You Manchester City Football Club
After what was an amazing 17-day UK tour, the Club would like to thank Manchester City FC for their warm hospitality.
The tour saw Melbourne City FC travel to Manchester thanks to the Club's major sponsor Etihad Airways, with the team based at the Marriot in Worsley for the whole trip.
With two draws against League Two outfit Bury FC and League One side Oldham Athletic, the Club finished its tour with an impressive 5-1 win against a developmental Bolton Wanderers side, which capped off a successful three weeks.
The trip also allowed the team to meet up with new signing Damien Duff. The Republic of Ireland international trained for the first time with the squad at Carrington in what was a landmark moment for the Club.
Foundation team member Jason Hoffman said the tour was an incredible experience for all involved.
“It was an experience that the whole Club I’m sure will never forget; it was a pre-season that only a player could dream of,” Hoffman said.
“To train at Carrington and play the matches we played and obviously for those new players to the group, they got a lot out of it and hopefully it is a good building platform for the season to come.”
Head Coach John van’t Schip felt the trip will pay dividends coming into the Hyundai A-League 2014/15 season.
“It’s been great, I think we would have liked to stay longer. I think everyone has been spoiled in every aspect; the pitches, the equipment, the food, the gym, the people,” van’t Schip said.
“The people have been really fantastic in helping us and giving us all of the support that we needed, so I think for sure we are going to miss Carrington and Manchester.”
Once again, the Club would like to show its gratitude towards Manchester City FC for the use of their facility and their hospitality during our pre-season trip.
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Ashish Sureka
Ashoka University
12h-indexImpact measure calculated using publication and citation counts. Updated daily.
622CitationsNumber of citations received by Ashish's publications. Updated daily.
An Empirical Analysis on Web Service Anti-Pattern Detection using a Machine Learning Framework
Kumar L
Sureka A
IEEE Computer Society Signature Conference on Computers, Software and Applications (COMPSAC 2018) (2018)
Teaching Requirements Engineering Concepts using Case-Based Learning
Tiwari S
Ameta D
Second International Workshop on Software Engineering Education for Millennials (SEEM) co-located to 40th International Conference on SoftwareEngineering (ICSE 2018) (2018)
August 2017 - Present
Founder and Director
Robo Paathshaala
Principal Researcher
August 2015 - August 2017(2 years)
Visiting Researcher (1 Year Contractual Position)
Siemens Ltd India
July 2014 - July 2015(a year)
Indraprastha Institute of Information Technology
July 2009 - October 2014(5 years)
Visiting Researcher (3 Months Contractual Position)
Tata Research Development and Design Center
May 2014 - August 2014(3 months)
Senior Research Associate (Infosys Labs)
Infosys Technologies Ltd
June 2005 - June 2009(4 years)
Graduate Student Teaching and Research Assistant
August 1999 - May 2005(6 years)
Research Intern (Graduate Student)
IBM Thomas J. Watson Research Center
May 2004 - July 2004(2 months)
IBM (North Carolina)
January 2003 - August 2003(7 months)
Software Developer Intern (Graduate Student)
SilverMark Inc.
May 2001 - December 2001(7 months)
Robotics ProgrammingSocial Media AnalyticsMining User Generated ContentAutomated Software Engineering (ASE)Mining Software Repositories (MSR)
Ashish Sureka is an Associate Professor (Computer Science) at Ashoka University. He is also the founder and director of Robo Paathshaala (start-up) which is a robotics education service provider for school students. He was a Principal Researcher at ABB Corporate Research Center (India) for two years from 2015-2017. He was a Faculty Member (at IIIT-Delhi) from July 2009 to October 2014 and a visiting researcher at Siemens Corporate Research from August 2014 - July 2015. His current research interests are in the area of Mining Software Repositories, Software Analytics, and Social Media Analytics. He graduated with an MS and PhD degree in Computer Science from North Carolina State University (NCSU) in May 2002 and May 2005 respectively. He has worked at IBM Research Labs in USA, Siemens Research Lab (India) and was a Senior Research Associate at the R&D Unit of Infosys Technologies Limited before joining IIIT-D as a Faculty Member in July 2009. He has received research grants from Department of Information Technology (DIT, Government of India), Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) and Department of Science and Technology (DST, Government of India). He has published several research papers in international conferences and journals, graduated several PhD and MTech students, organized workshops co-located with conferences, and received best paper awards. He was selected for ACM India Eminent Speaker Program. He holds seven granted US patents.
Explore network
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What You Need To Know About Lyme Disease + A Natural Approach To Healing
Lyme disease: We've been hearing about it a lot lately, on the news, online, and from friends.
That's because the disease has spread rapidly across the country in recent years. The number of counties in the U.S. reporting a high incidence of Lyme has surged by 320 percent since the '90s. And the CDC suggests that the number of Lyme disease cases may be 10 times higher than the officially reported number, with an estimated 300,000 incidences each year in America.
Lyme is often called "The Great Imitator" because its symptoms can mimic many other diseases, including fibromyalgia, chronic fatigue syndrome, multiple sclerosis, and dementia. (In fact, some researchers have questioned whether Lyme could actually be a trigger for some of those diseases.)
Sadly, partly for this reason, people with Lyme are frequently misdiagnosed. And those struggling with chronic Lyme are often told that it's all in their head, or that they're simply "just depressed."
As a functional medicine practitioner, here's what I wish more people knew about Lyme disease:
What Is Lyme Disease?
Lyme disease is the most common tickborne infectious disease in the U.S., according to the National Institutes of Health.
It's a bacterial infection: the Borrelia burgdorferi bacteria is transmitted to humans when they're bitten by an infected tick. These parasites are often so tiny that most people don't see them or even notice the bite. Depending on where you live it could be:
An infected blacklegged tick or deer tick, in the northeastern and central U.S.
An infected western blacklegged tick, on the West Coast of the U.S.
An infected sheep tick, in parts of Europe.
In acute Lyme, within about a month of a bite, the symptoms may include:
Flu-like symptoms including fever, hot flashes, and chills
A red "bull's-eye" rash may appear
In mainstream medicine, a patient who exhibits these symptoms will likely have lab work done to confirm the diagnosis. The standard treatment is then antibiotics, and it's believed that most of those infected will recover within a few weeks.
But in some cases, symptoms can persist. In mainstream medicine, the idea that these symptoms are due to a persistent infection is controversial, and "chronic Lyme syndrome" is largely unrecognized. Still, some functional medicine doctors and organizations, such as the International Lyme and Associated Diseases Society (ILADS), insist that chronic Lyme is a growing problem, and one that should be recognized. Some of the recurring symptoms post-treatment might include:
Muscle and joint pain that moves around the body
Severe brain fog
Anxiety attacks
So why might Lyme be so hard to detect and recover from, even after antibiotics? Here are three main theories:
Problem 1: Lyme is one smart bug.
Research suggests some surprising reasons why Lyme is so hard to detect and kill off. Lyme bacteria actually suppresses our immune system, which allows it to hide and grow stronger. Lyme also seems to have the ability to "cloak" itself, making itself invisible to our immune system.
Borrelia is so smart that some research suggests that when it senses it's being attacked it can change to a dormant state, allowing it to live and survive antibiotics. Other studies suggest that Borrelia can undergo gene mutations that make it resistant to various antibiotics.
Problem 2: Diagnosis is difficult.
Only about half of all Lyme patients actually remember getting a tick bite. Plus, the classic "bull's-eye" rash that people associate with Lyme may not appear in all cases. And some research suggests that conventional Lyme tests may not be sensitive enough for diagnosis, especially during the later stages of disease. False-negative results can also be common.
Problem 3: Conventional treatment may not be enough.
The conventional approach to Lyme typically includes 10 to 28 days of antibiotics. Then what? Well, nothing. The problem with this is that some research suggests that as many as 25 percent of patients with Lyme disease still have some symptoms long after antibiotic therapy.
A Functional Medicine Approach to Lyme
As a functional medicine practitioner, my approach to Lyme is different. Here's what I recommend:
1. A careful health history.
I start by asking a lot of questions about your health history. In fact, so much so that one patient asked me if I was in the KGB. No, ma'am, just want to get to the root issues of what you're experiencing! Consider a free webcam or phone evaluation with my health center to get the conversation started.
2. Comprehensive labs.
It's important to catch Lyme as early as possible so it doesn't become chronic. In addition to using the two conventional tests accepted by the CDC, Elisa and Western Blot labs, I also often screen clients with these labs:
CD57+/CD8-Absolute count: At this point, we believe that only Lyme bacteria will depress the CD-57. So someone with a high CD-57 is probably sick with something other than Lyme.
C4a: This is another blood test to assess the immune system. Chronic Lyme disease could be associated with increased levels of C4a.
We might also consider other tests to dig a little deeper.
3. Support healthy biofilms.
Biofilm is a thin, slimy film of bacteria that adheres to a surface. Biofilms are not bad in themselves. Biofilms are just a way that bacteria colonize. It's the composition of the biofilm that makes it probiotic or pathogenic. Functional medicine's goal is to promote a healthy biofilm through foods, lifestyle changes, and natural medicines. Some natural biofilm-modifying tools I might recommend include:
Colostrum/Lactoferrin supplements: Lactoferrin inhibits pathogens and promotes healthy biofilms.
Probiotics and prebiotics: These promote probiotic balance.
Enzymes: These break down biofilm.
Xylitol: This is a natural anti-biofilm.
EDTA: This is a strong anti-biofilm.
I recommend talking to your health care practitioner about what might help support your health.
4. Address microbiome issues.
At least 70 percent of our immune system is in our GI tract, and the microbiome is a foundational part of immune health. Addressing any underlying gut dysfunctions, such as candida overgrowth, could help to strengthen the immune system to fight off infections.
5. Integrate natural medicines.
I typically suggest blends of immunity support, such as Siberian ginseng, samento, sarsaparilla, guaiacum, astragalus, resveratrol, and cat’s claw. One study also suggests that stevia could be as effective as antibiotics in treating Lyme disease.
6. Consider antibiotics.
Some functional medicine practitioners will suggest conventional antibiotics to reduce total bacterial load. For example, ILADS recommends 100 to 200 mg of doxycycline twice daily for a minimum of 20 days for all tick bites where there is evidence of tick feeding.
7. Address any co-infections.
I also test my patients for viruses such as EBV (Epstein-Barr virus), HSV 1&2 (Herpes simplex viruses 1&2), HHV-6 (Human Herpes virus), as well as CMV (Cytomegalovirus). These viruses can put more stress on the immune system. In my clinic, I find that olive leaf, larrea tridentata, bee propolis, Melissa officinalis, L-lysine, zinc, and vitamin C can be good antiviral support options.
8. Support gene weaknesses.
There are genes that could predispose certain people to chronic infections. I recommend looking for methylation gene changes like MTHFR mutations and supporting the body’s methylation and detoxification pathways.
Related reads:
10 Things You Need To Know About Lyme disease
I've Lived With Lyme disease For 17 Years. Here's What My Life Is Really Like
Can't Get Better? 6 Signs Your Aches & Pains Could Be Lyme disease
#disease #healing #health
https://www.mindbodygreen.com/0-23983/what-you-need-to-know-about-lyme-disease-a-natural-approach-to-healing.html
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The Natural Remedy for Chronic Prostatitis
The 21 Day Prostate Fix
By Wilbur Mitch on Fri, 12 Jul 2019
21 Day Prostate Fix written by Radu Belasco is a healthier alternative to drugs and invasive medical procedures. Radu Belasco is an early prostate problem sufferer, with a family history of prostate pain, problems and cancer. Using a unique system of natural remedies, he fixed his prostate problems and wrote them in his smash hit eBook The 21 Day Prostate Fix. It is about miraculous herbs and fruits from all over the world. These unique foods have the power to cure your prostates inflammation in record time and shrink it to a healthier size. Also, you will learn how to concoct the miracle elixir that will not just cleanse your prostate, but also burn body fat. Aside from these, youll get topnotch information on nutrition, so you can keep your prostate healthy and your sex drive at its peak. Plus, youll learn other health conditions that might be contributing to your prostate issues, so you can also remedy them and get your body in its best shape ever.
The 21 Day Prostate Fix Summary
4.6 stars out of 11 votes
Contents: Ebook
Author: Radu Belasco
My The 21 Day Prostate Fix Review
This is one of the best ebooks I have read on this field. The writing style was simple and engaging. Content included was worth reading spending my precious time.
When compared to other ebooks and paper publications I have read, I consider this to be the bible for this topic. Get this and you will never regret the decision.
Androgen receptor function and prostate disease
Last Updated on Fri, 27 Feb 2015 | Testosterone
The human prostate is a major site of disease, especially in elderly men. An increasing number is affected by prostate cancer and orbenign prostate hyperplasia (BPH). Established risk factors are the presence of androgens and age (Cook and Watson 1968). In addition, genetic factors and environmental influences such as high saturated fat, low fruit vegetable diet and decreased sunlight exposure (vitamin D production) and life style also influence the risk for prostate disease (Stanford et al. 1999). In benign prostate hyperplasia, the presence of the androgen DHT that stimulates prostate growth through androgen receptor activation seems to be critical and reduction of DHT levels by inhibition of 5a-reductase is a successful therapy (Bartsch et al. 2000). In addition, alterations of the AR signaling, function and structure are associated with the progression of prostate cancer from a hormone-sensitive to a therapy-refractory state.
What does a TRUS guided prostate biopsy involve
Last Updated on Mon, 29 May 2017 | Erectile Dysfunction
Is in place and completely goes away when the probe is removed. Men who have had prior rectal surgery, who have active hemorrhoids, or who are very anxious and cannot relax the external sphincter muscle may have more discomfort. Once the probe is in a good position, the prostate will be evaluated to make sure that there are no suspicious areas on the ultrasound. Ultrasound looks at tissues by sound waves. The probe emits the sound waves, and the waves hit the prostate and are bounced off the prostate and surrounding tissue. The waves then return to the ultrasound probe, and a picture is developed on the screen. The sound waves do not cause any discomfort. Prostate cancer tends to cause less reflection of the sound waves, a trait referred to as hypoechoic, so the area often looks different in an ultrasound image than the normal prostate tissue. After the prostate has been evaluated, biopsies are obtained. The transrectal ultrasound allows the urologist to visualize the location for the...
Prostate development and malignancy
The prostate is an androgen-regulated organ and androgen receptor co-activators such as ARA24 and p160 are expressed in prostate tissue (see Chapter 12). Binding of these co-activators to the CAG repeat tract, which represents the androgen receptor's co-activator binding site, is reduced with increasing length of triplet numbers. Hence, the prostate should be an organ, in which effects of the CAG repeat polymorphism are visible. In general, there is a substantial difference in the incidence of prostate cancer between ethnic groups, with African Americans having a 20-to 30-fold higher incidence than East Asians (Hsing et al. 2000b). Such disparity cannot be explained entirely by screening bias in different populations. Also after multiple adjustments for ethnic and screening differences a significant contrast in incidence rates between African Americans, Caucasians and Asians is found (Platz etal. 2000 Ross etal. 1998). It can be assumed that a polymorphism of the AR with the capacity...
Premature Ejaculation Treatments
Last Updated on Mon, 15 Feb 2016 | Family Medicine
Prostate-specific antigen (PSA) is a glycoprotein protease enzyme produced by the epithelial cells of the prostate. This protein circulates in the serum and can become elevated because of benign and malignant conditions of the prostate. From 50 to 90 of PSA is protein bound and the remainder is free. PSA is used as a tumor maker for the screening, diagnosis, and management of prostate cancer. PSA lacks specificity for cancer, however, because it can be elevated in benign conditions such as benign prostatic hypertrophy (BPH). Estimates suggest that a PSA higher than 4 ng mL has sensitivity of 70 to 80 and specificity of 60 to 70 for prostate cancer. Factors other than prostate cancer can affect the PSA level (Table 15-21). Controversy surrounds the effect of the digital rectal examination (DRE) on PSA. Theoretically, digitally palpating the prostate gland should elevate the serum PSA. However, it appears that PSA elevations after DRE are probably not significant, so there is no...
What is a radical prostatectomyAre there different types
Last Updated on Sat, 06 Apr 2019 | Erectile Dysfunction
It has been 10 years since my radical prostatectomy, and I feel great. I am doing all of the things that I had done before the surgery and more. So far, my PSA has remained unde-tectable, and it is very reassuring to hear this at my urology clinic visits. Radical prostatectomy is the surgical procedure whereby the entire prostate is removed, as well as the seminal vesicles, the section of the urethra that passes through the prostate, the ends of the vas deferens, and a portion of the bladder neck. After the prostate and surrounding structures are removed, the bladder is then reattached to the remaining urethra. A catheter, which is a hollow tube, is placed through the penis into the bladder before the stitches that attach the bladder to the urethra are tied down. The catheter allows urine to drain while the bladder and urethra heal together. In open radical prostatectomy a small drain is often placed through the skin of the abdomen into the pelvis. This drain allows for drainage of...
What is a transurethral prostatectomy TURP
Last Updated on Fri, 27 Feb 2015 | Erectile Dysfunction
A transurethral prostatectomy (TURP) is an operation designed to remove the prostate through the urethra no external incision is made. A TURP is performed using a resectoscope, which scrapes out the center of the prostate by using an electrical current to cut out the tissue with a loop. This procedure is ideal for men with small to moderate size prostate glands. It is difficult to perform in men with extremely large prostates, i.e. those 100 grams or larger, due to the duration of time that it takes to resect the prostate tissue and the risks incurred with the lengthy resection. Lengthy resections pose the risk of absorbing too much of the irrigation fluid and lowering the salt level in the blood stream (hyponatremia) In severe cases, hyponatremia can cause neurologic symptoms, including seizures. Fortunately, these complications occur vary rarely. TURPs are usually limited to prostate glands of 100 grams or smaller.
Prostatespecific Membrane Antigen
Last Updated on Fri, 27 Feb 2015 | Aptamer
Prostate cancer cells overexpress a well-characterized surface antigen, prostate-specific membrane antigen (PSMA) (Tasch et al., 2001). An RNA selection was conducted against the extracellular component of PSMA called sPSM (Lupold et al., 2002). After six rounds of SELEX, two aptamers were identified. The two aptamers named xPSM-9 and xPSM-10 inhibited xPSM with a Kj of 2.1 and 11.9 nmol L respectively. Aptamer xPSM-10 was truncated (xPSM-10-3) and fluor-escently end-labeled to evaluate its ability to bind PSMA-expressing cancer cells. Using PSMA-positive LNCaP and a PSMA-negative PC-3 prostate cancer cell line, xPSM-10-3 bound to LNCaP cells but not PC-3, showing specificity for PSMA and its potential in therapeutic development for this target.
What is laser therapy of the prostate
Since the 1980s, several generations of lasers have been used to treat obstructive prostate symptoms. LASER is an acronym for light-amplification stimulated emission resonance. In practical terms, this means that the light energy is very focused and allows powerful and precise application of the light energy to tissue.
Role of testosterone in the development and maintenance of the prostate
Last Updated on Thu, 14 Apr 2016 | Testosterone
The urogenital sinus is the embryonic anlagen from which the prostate develops in utero. For the prostate to develop normally, a critical level of androgenic stimulation is required at specific times during its development in utero (Wilson 1984). In the developing male, the fetal testis secretes testosterone into the fetal circulation at sufficient levels to stimulate the differentiation and growth of a portion of the urogenital sinus tissue, producing the definitive prostate gland. This usually begins during the first three months of fetal growth. If sufficient serum testosterone is not present at this critical state of intrauterine development, the prostate does not develop (Wilson 1984). After birth, serum testosterone levels decrease to a low baseline value until puberty, when they rise to the adult range (Frasier et al. 1969) (Fig. 12.2). Until puberty, the prostate remains small (approximately 1-2 g) (Isaacs 1984a). During puberty, the prostate grows to its adult size of...
Testosterone metabolism in the prostate
Last Updated on Mon, 10 Dec 2018 | Testosterone
Quantitatively, the major circulating androgen in the blood is testosterone. Within the prostate, however, testosterone is enzymatically converted to 5a-dihydrotestosterone (DHT) (Wilson 1984). The class of enzymes responsible for the irreversible conversion of testosterone to DHT are the membrane-bound NADPH-dependent A4-3-ketosteroid 5a-oxidoreductases (i.e., 5a-reductases) (Bruchovsky and Wilson 1968). Biochemical studies have demonstrated that the irreversible conversion of testosterone to DHT by 5a-reductase (Fig. 12.1), involves a sequential series of steps (Levy et al. 1990). Initially, reduced nicotinamide-adenine din-ucleotide phosphate (NADPH) cofactor binds to the 5a-reductase enzyme to form a 5a-reductase-NADPH complex. Once formed, testosterone binds to this 5a-reductase-NADPH complex. Electrons are stereospecifically transferred from NADPH to reduce the A4 double bond of testosterone, producing a 5a-reductase-oxidized NADP+-5a-DHT complex. After 5a-DHT is produced, it...
Paracrine androgen axis in the normal prostate
In contrast to the regulation of transcription of the prostate differentiation marker proteins, AR in the nuclei of the secretory luminal cells does not directly regulate the survival of these cells nor does it positively regulate the proliferation and survival of the prostatic epithelial stem and transit amplifying cells. Instead, survival of the secretory luminal cells and the proliferation of the transit amplifying cells requires the androgen-dependent production of peptide growth factors by the prostatic stromal cells (Cunha etal. 1987 Hayward etal. 1992 Kurita etal. 2001). These processes are initiated by testosterone diffusing from the capillary bed in the stromal compartment of the normal prostate across the basement membrane (BM) to enter the basal epithelial cells. These basal cells express 5a-reductase type I and II proteins which enzymatically convert testosterone to 5a-dihydrotestosterone (Bonkhoff etal. 1996). Once formed, DHT diffuses both into the secretory luminal...
Androgen in benign prostatic hyperplasia
One explanation is that AR signaling in the nuclei of the prostatic secretory lumi-nal cells and the subset of AR expressing transit amplifying cells actively inhibits proliferation of these cells even in the presence of continuous andromedin stimulation (Geck etal. 1997 Ling etal. 2001 Whitacre etal. 2002). This mechanism has been documented experimentally using both human (Ling et al. 2001) and rodent (Whitacre et al. 2002) prostate epithelial cells. These latter studies have demonstrated that when AR negative prostatic epithelial cells are transgenically induced to express AR, and are then exposed to physiological levels of androgen, their in vitro proliferation is profoundly inhibited even in the presence of andromedins with no effect upon cell survival (Ling et al. 2001 Whitacre et al. 2002). These results demonstrate that for non-malignant prostatic epithelial cells, the ligand-occupied AR functions as a growth suppressor via its ability to inhibit andromedin-induced...
How To Stop Hair Loss And Regrow It The Natural Way
How is prostatitis treated
The treatment of bacterial prostatitis is with antibiotics. Patients with acute bacterial prostatitis may require a short stay in the hospital for intravenous antibiotics and then continue on antibiotics for 2 to 4 weeks. Men with chronic bacterial prostatitis may require a longer course of antibiotics. In those men with recurrent chronic bacterial prostatitis, the doctor may prescribe a low dose of antibioctics for 6 months to prevent recurrent infections. Often bacterial prostatitis is treated with a class of antibiotics called quinolones (for example, ciprofloxacin, norfloxacin, ofloxacin). For men who are allergic to quinolones alternative antibiotics may be used, depending on the sensitivity results of the urine culture. Such alternative antibiotics include doxycycline, minocycline, trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole, and trimethoprim. If there is an increase in the number of bacterial colonies seen in either EPS or VB3, a diagnosis ofbacterial prostatitis is made, and treatment is...
Laparoscopic Radical Prostatectomy Current Status
Last Updated on Fri, 27 Feb 2015 | Laparoscopic Urology
Department of Urology, Sidney Kimmel Center for Prostate and Urologie Cancers, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, New York, New York, U.S.A. PROSTATE SURGERY Since its first description 12 years ago, laparoscopic radical prostatectomy has gained increasing importance in the laparoscopic urologic oncology field and became an established treatment for organ-confined prostate cancer.
Last Updated on Mon, 13 Apr 2015 | Family Medicine
Acute bacterial prostatitis should be suspected in men presenting with symptoms of UTI. Age and immunodeficiency contribute to men having UTIs, so prostatitis is more likely in otherwise healthy men with these symptoms (Lipsky, 1999). Patients may have UTI symptoms (e.g., dysuria, frequency, urgency) and typically systemic symptoms of acute illness, such as fever, chills, and myalgias. Local discomfort in the form of pelvic or back pain is also typical. Examination reveals a tender, boggy prostate. Most experts have recommended against prostate massage in acute prostatitis because it would be very uncomfortable and theoretically could disseminate the infection (Benway and Moon, 2008 Wagenlehner and Naber, 2003).
Chronic Bacterial Prostatitis
Chronic bacterial prostatitis may manifest with irritative voiding symptoms, prostatitic obstruction, or recurrent UTIs (Lipsky, 1999). Patients may have microscopic pyuria but negative cultures. Other symptoms include hemospermia, penile discharge, and systemic symptoms. Longer courses of antibiotics are generally considered standard practice. Options include TMP-SMX and fluoroquinolones for 4 to 6 weeks (Lipsky, 1999). Alpha-adren-ergic blockers have limited evidence of benefit when added to antimicrobials for category II prostatitis (Erickson et al., 2008). Patients with recurrent symptoms may need longer antibiotic courses, urologic consultation, or reconsideration of their diagnosis.
Oxidative Stress in Benign Prostate Hyperplasia
Last Updated on Fri, 27 Feb 2015 | Health and Fertility
Abstract The greatest risk factor for developing benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) is advanced age. Potential molecular and physiologic contributors to the frequency of BPH occurrence in older individuals include the oxidative stress, chronic inflammation, and alterations in tissue microenvironment. As BPH and aberrant changes in reactive oxygen species become more common with aging, oxygen species signaling may play an important role in the development and progression of this disease. Increased oxidative stress is a result of either increased reactive oxygen species generation or a loss of antioxidant defense mechanisms. Oxidative stress is associated with several pathological conditions including inflammation and infection. Oxygen species are byproducts of normal cellular metabolism and play vital roles in stimulation of signaling pathways in response to changing intra and extracellular environmental conditions. This review is aimed to explore the mechanism of oxidative stress in...
Aging Oxidative Stress and Prostate
Last Updated on Mon, 10 Dec 2018 | Health and Fertility
Aging is associated with many metabolic disorders and with increased incidence of various cancers 50, 51 . Prostate cancer is a major age-related malignancy. Many theories have been formulated to explain the molecular and biochemical aspect of aging, but Harman in 1956 proposed free radical theory of aging in which the author suggested that the accumulation of damage to biomolecules caused by free radicals plays a major role in human aging 52, 53 . It is also believed that cellular oxidative stress increases with age and the increase in mitochondrial mutations can lead to further increase in ROS generation due to defective oxidative phosphorylation and electron transport 54 . Thus, it is possible that the increase in ROS leads to a self-perpetuating cycle with an ever-increasing oxidative challenge placed on the cells. Moreover, most of the cells in the prostate tumor express the androgen receptor and respond to androgens at an early stage, to facilitate their growth. Age-related...
What is a transurethral incision of the prostate TUIP
Thu, 28 May 2015 | Erectile Dysfunction
A transurethral incision of the prostate (TUIP) is exactly that an incision rather than a resection of the prostate. Using a special knife-like instrument, a Colling's knife that is placed through the same resectoscope sheath used for TURPs two incisions are made at 5 o'clock and 7 o'clock through the bladder neck and prostate to the verumontanum where the ejaculatory ducts exit. A TUIP is a quicker, easier procedure than a TURP. TUIPs tend to be used in younger men with smaller prostate glands. The incidence of retrograde ejaculation after TURP ranges from 50 to 95 , whereas the incidence is from 0 to 37 with TUIP. In properly selected patients, those with small glands, the rate of symptom relief with TUIP approaches that of TURP.
What is the prostate gland and what does it do
Last Updated on Wed, 29 Aug 2018 | Erectile Dysfunction
The prostate gland is actually not a single gland. It is comprised of a collection of glands that are covered by a capsule. A gland is a structure or organ that produces a substance used in another part of the body. The prostate gland lies below the bladder, encircles the urethra, and lies in front of the rectum. Because it lies just in front of the rectum, the posterior aspect of the prostate can be assessed during a rectal examination. The normal size of the prostate gland is about the size of a walnut (Figures 1 and 2). The prostate gland is divided into several zones, or areas. The prostate gland is divided into several zones, or areas. These divisions are based on locations of the tissue, but they also have some significance with respect Prostate Urethra Prostate Urethra From Prostate and Cancer by Sheldon H.F. Marks. Copyright 1995 by Sheldon Marks. Reprinted with permission of Perseus Books Publishers, a member of Perseus Books, LLC. From Prostate and Cancer by Sheldon H.F....
Evaluation of Books About Prostate Cancer
Last Updated on Wed, 19 Jun 2019 | Prostate Cancer
The following, listed alphabetically by author, are assessments of forty-seven books about prostate cancer published in the past seven years (asterisks indicate those I have found most valuable). Also included are a few volumes published earlier that are of special interest. Books on prostate health in general are not included. Alterowitz, Ralph, and Alterowitz, Barbara. The Lovin' Ain't Over The Couples Guide to Better Sex After Prostate Disease. Westbury, N.Y. Health Education Literary Publisher, 1999. Written by a man who has had prostate cancer and his wife, this book focuses exclusively on impotence. It explains the complexities of erections and orgasms and outlines options for couples faced with varying degrees of impotence. Baggish, Jeff. Making the Prostate Therapy Decision (rev. ed.). Los Angeles Lowell House, 1998. Originally published in 1995, this book was said to have been revised in 1998. The changes, however, appear to have been minimal and the book is now outdated....
Prostate Cancer Support
Last Updated on Mon, 15 Jul 2019 | Erectile Dysfunction
Prostate Cancer Support Group Prostate Cancer Survivor's Support Group The Prostate Forum, Fullerton Prostate Cancer Support Group Palo Alto VA Prostate Support Group San Jose Prostate Cancer Support Group Santa Clara County African American Prostate Cancer Support Group Santa Cruz County Prostate Cancer Support Group Silicon Valley Prostate Cancer Support Simi Valley US TOO Prostate Cancer Support Group Prostate Support Association VFW Prostate Cancer Support Group of DelMarVa Prostate Support Group Prostate Cancer Support Association of New Mexico, Inc. (PCSA of NM) Prostate Cancer Support of Lee County US TOO Prostate Cancer Support Group of Wake County US TOO Prostate Support Group Wake County Prostate Cancer Support Group A support group for gay men dealing with prostate cancer in the Prostate Cancer Support Action (PSA) Group Affiliation National Cancer Association of South Africa Southern Cross Hospital, First Floor Seminar Room (021) 788-6280
Diagnostic and Staging and Classification Systems Worktip ior Prostate Cancer
Sun, 28 Feb 2016 | Pharmacotherapy
Prostate-specific antigen (PSA) The prognosis for patients with prostate cancer depends on the histologic grade, tumor size, and local extent of the primary tumor. The most important prognostic criterion appears to be the histologic grade because the degree of differentiation ultimately determines the stage of disease. Poorly differentiated tumors Table 92-4 Staging and Classification Systems for Prostate Cancer The desired outcome in early stage prostate cancer is to minimize morbidity and mortality due to prostate cancer. The most appropriate therapy of early stage prostate cancer is a matter of debate. Early stage disease may be treated with surgery, radiation, or watchful waiting. While surgery and radiation are curative, they are associated with significant morbidity and mortality. Since the overall goal is to minimize morbidity and mortality associated with the disease, watchful waiting is appropriate in selected individuals. Advanced prostate cancer (stage D) is not currently...
Benign Neoplasia Benign Prostatic Hyperplasia
Mon, 21 Mar 2016 | Family Medicine
Benign prostatic hyperplasia is a common problem for men. More than 50 of men older than 60 years have BPH, and this reaches 80 by 80 years of age (Dull et al., 2002 Thorpe and Neal, 2003). The exact pathogenesis of BPH is uncertain, but it is characterized by epithelial and stromal cell proliferation in the periurethral prostate tissue. The LUTS syndrome (see earlier) overlaps with BPH because up to 30 of men have lower urinary tract symptoms (Thorpe and Neal, 2003). The symptoms defining LUTS were once thought to be solely indicative of BPH. However, LUTS may arise from other disorders (e.g., detrusor dysfunction), and there is a lack of symptomatic correlation with prostate size. However, outflow obstruction from an enlarged prostate may contribute to the development of detrusor dysfunction and urinary retention, referred to as LUTS-BPH. Diagnosis focuses on patient history, rectal examination, and impact on quality of life. Symptoms can vary over time, even without treatment...
Hormonal Regulation Prostate
Last Updated on Tue, 11 Jun 2019 | Pharmacotherapy
The prostate gland is a solid, rounded, heart-shaped organ positioned between the neck of the bladder and the urogenital diaphragm (Fig. 92-1). The normal prostate is composed of acinar secretory cells arranged in a radial shape and surrounded by a foundation of supporting tissue. The size, shape, or presence of acini is almost always altered in the gland that has been invaded by prostatic carcinoma. Adenocarcinoma, the major pathologic cell type, accounts for more than 95 of prostate cancer cases. ' Much rarer tumor types include small-cell neuroendocrine cancers, sarcomas, and transitional cell carcinomas. Prostate cancer can be graded systematically according to the histologic appearance of the malignant cell and then grouped into well, moderately, or poorly differen-23 24 FIGURE 92-1. The prostate gland. (From DiPiro JT, Talbert RL, Yee GC, et al, eds. Pharmacotherapy A Pathophysiologic Approach, 6th ed. New York McGraw-Hill, 2005 1856.) FIGURE 92-1. The prostate gland. (From...
Palpate the Prostate Gland
Last Updated on Sat, 05 Jan 2019 | Physical Diagnosis | 4 comments
The prostate gland lies anterior to the wall of the rectum. The size, surface, consistency, sensitivity, and shape of the prostate gland should be assessed. The prostate is a bilobed, heart-shaped structure approximately 1.5 inches (4 cm) in diameter. It is normally smooth and firm and has the consistency of a hard rubber ball. The apex of the heart shape points toward the anus. Identify the median sulcus and the lateral lobes. Note any masses, tenderness, and nodules. Only the lower apex portion of the gland is palpable. The superior margin is usually too high to reach. The examination of the prostate is illustrated in Figure 17-37. The size of the prostate in relation to the examiner's finger is illustrated in Figure 17-38. A hard, irregular nodule produces asymmetry of the prostate gland and is suggestive of cancer. Carcinoma of the prostate frequently involves the posterior lobe, which can easily be identified during the DRE. Carcinoma of the prostate is the third leading cause of...
Transurethral Resection of the Prostate Skills A Potential Training Crisis
Last Updated on Sun, 19 Aug 2018 | Laparoscopic Urology
Transurethral resection of the prostate remains the gold standard surgical procedure for successfully treating medically refractory lower-urinary tract symptoms of benign prostatic hyperplasia or benign enlargement of the prostate (50,51), a chronic and potentially Transurethral resection of the prostate outcomes vary widely in the community and are probably technically dependent. Transurethral resection of the prostate is challenging to teach and learn. Performing this procedure involves the ability to work in a small three-dimensional space while receiving two-dimensional visual feedback requiring the operator to have or develop unique visual-spatial abilities. It also requires that the operator have adept psy-chomotor abilities, as one has to continuously and simultaneously navigate the scope and the loop while managing the electrical current with the use of both hands and a foot pedal. Additionally, the procedure is performed in a fluid environment and the field is often visually...
Rectal Injury During Radical Prostatectomy
Last Updated on Mon, 29 May 2017 | Laparoscopic Urology
Rectal injury during radical prostatectomy converts the case from a clean contaminated to a contaminated procedure and may increase the risk of septic complications, such as wound infection, pelvic abscess, peritonitis, rectourethral fistula, and death. The reported incidence of rectal injury during open radical prostatectomy ranges from 0 to 9 . The average incidence of rectal injuries reported in the larger series of laparoscopic radical prostatectomies is 1.7 (28 1647 procedures) (42). Guillonneau et al. reported 13 rectal injuries (1.3 ) in their first 1000 laparoscopic transperitoneal radical prostatectomies (42). None of these patients had previous prostatic surgery, or had received preoperative radiotherapy or hormonal therapy. Of the 13 rectal injuries, 11 were diagnosed intraoperatively and primarily repaired. Of the 11 intraoperative rectal repairs, nine healed primarily without colostomy. Two patients who had intraoperative rectal repair by a single-layer closure developed...
The Anatomy and Function of the Prostate Gland
Last Updated on Sun, 13 Aug 2017 | Prostate Cancer | 1 comment
Sitting in the center of this anatomical assemblage is the prostate, a reddish-brown organ approximately an inch and a half in diameter. It lies at the bottom of the pelvis, with the penis below, the bladder above, the pelvic bone in front, and the rectum behind (Figure 3). This last juxtaposition is especially important, because feeling the prostate through the rectal wall the much-maligned digital rectal exam is the only way a physician can physically assess this organ. Fortunately, the majority of cancers develop in the posterior portion of the prostate, thereby making them detectable to a skilled examining finger. The prostate has been variously described as looking like a walnut, a chestnut, or a small plum. In a young man, it weighs approximately 20 gm, then increases in size as the man ages. It contains muscles and glands, the latter secreting fluid that assists and protects male sperm. One component of the prostate fluid is prostate specific antigen (PSA), described in Chapter...
What is microwave therapy of the prostate
Fri, 02 Jun 2017 | Erectile Dysfunction
Microwave energy has been used to treat BPH using both transrectal and transurethral approaches, but most modern machines use the transurethral route. Current machines deliver microwave energy to the prostate via a transurethral catheter, and a transrectal balloon monitors rectal temperature simultaneously.
Zonal and cellular organization of the prostate
Thu, 08 Jun 2017 | Testosterone
Fig. 12.5 Cellular heterogeneity within the normal prostate Histological architecture of the prostate is comprised of blood vessels that provide nutrients, including androgen, to the fibrous stromal layer which consists primarily of fibroblasts and smooth muscle cells, and to the epithelial layer. Epithelium can be subdivided into a basal epithelium, which contains AR negative proliferating cells, and secretory luminal epithelium, which consists of fully differentiated AR and p27Kip1 positive, nonproliferating cells. Fig. 12.5 Cellular heterogeneity within the normal prostate Histological architecture of the prostate is comprised of blood vessels that provide nutrients, including androgen, to the fibrous stromal layer which consists primarily of fibroblasts and smooth muscle cells, and to the epithelial layer. Epithelium can be subdivided into a basal epithelium, which contains AR negative proliferating cells, and secretory luminal epithelium, which consists of fully differentiated AR...
Chronic Nonbacterial Prostatitis
Tue, 13 Jun 2017 | Family Medicine
The term prostatitis means prostate inflammation but often also implies infection (infectious causes are discussed later). However, prostatitis encompasses many different clinical entities (Table 40-7). Chronic nonbacterial prostatitis, also Table 40-7 NIH and NIDDK Classification System for Prostatitis Acute bacterial prostatitis Acute prostate infection Chronic bacterial prostatitis Recurrent prostate infection Chronic nonbacterial prostatitis inflammatory chronic pelvic pain syndrome Chronic nonbacterial prostatitis noninflammatory chronic pelvic pain syndrome Asymptomatic inflammatory prostatitis No subjective symptoms white cells in prostatic secretions or prostate tissue From McNaughton-Collins M, Joyce GF, Wise M, Pontari MA. Prostatitis. In Litwin MS, Saigal CS (eds). Urologie Diseases in America. US Department of Health and Human Services, Public Health Service, National Institutes of Health (NIH), National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK)....
Clinical studies with finasteride in men with benign prostatic hyperplasia
Mon, 03 Jul 2017 | Testosterone
Early studies with finasteride in men with benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) were designed to confirm the biochemical efficacy of the drug. Prior studies had identified the predominance of DHT, compared to testosterone, within the prostate due to intraprostatic type 2 5aR activity (Bruchovsky and Wilson 1968). In several studies evaluating the ability of finasteride to reduce DHT formation within the prostate, suppression of intraprostatic DHT levels up to 95 , exceeding the maximal suppression of serum DHT ( 70 ), were demonstrated in a dose-dependent manner (Geller 1990 McConnell etal. 1992 Norman etal. 1993). 18.4.1 Efficacy based on prostate volume and symptoms Several controlled studies have established the utility of finasteride 5 mg in the treatment of men with benign prostatic hyperplasia. Early clinical efficacy studies with finasteride in men with BPH demonstrated that the biochemical efficacy of the drug, defined by reductions in serum and intraprostatic DHT levels, were...
The History Of Laparoscopic Radical Prostatectomy
Thu, 27 Jul 2017 | Laparoscopic Urology
The goals of laparoscopic radical prostatectomy, as in retropubic radical prostatectomy, are lifelong oncologic control of localized prostate carcinoma while maintaining continence and potency functions with minimizing of operative morbidity that contribute to a global quality of life. Transperitoneal laparoscopic radical prostatectomy with ascending approach was first performed by Schuessler et al. (1) and presented in 1992. However, the technical difficulties did not allow widespread application of this procedure. An initial series with nine patients was published in 1997 by the same authors, but they concluded that the procedure was not feasible due to the excessive operation time and multiple technical difficulties (2). The authors stated laparoscopic radical prostatectomy is not efficacious alternative to open radical prostatectomy as curative treatment of clinically localized prostate cancer. Subsequently, Rabboy et al. (3) successfully performed laparoscopic radical...
What is electrovaporization of the prostate
Thu, 31 Aug 2017 | Erectile Dysfunction
Electrovaporization of the prostate (TUVP) is, similar to a TURP. Rather than a resecting loop, the urologist uses a roller ball to heat and desiccate the prostate instead of actually resecting tissue (Figure 24). Electrovaporization of the prostate has been used in patients with a history of bleeding disorders or in cases in which it is desired to minimize blood loss. Electrova-porization of the prostate tends to be used in patients with small- and medium-sized glands. Like TUIP, in properly selected patients, it is an alternative to TURP.
How is prostatitis diagnosed
Fri, 08 Sep 2017 | Erectile Dysfunction
The patient's clinical history, general appearance, and uri-nalysis are often suggestive of acute bacterial prostatitis. A urine culture is commonly positive for a urinary tract infection. A digital rectal examination will usually identify a very tender prostate. In rare cases, fluctuance may be palpable in the prostate, if there is a prostatic abscess. In men who appear toxic or who fail to improve with antibiotic therapy, a transrectal ultrasound may be obtained to rule out a prostatic abscess. An assessment of postvoid residual is performed. The classic diagnostic maneuver for bacterial prostatitis is the three-glass test. The patient is asked to void and collect his first 10 ml of urine. This is sent for culture and is known as VB1. Then the patient is asked to collect a midstream urine sample after he voids about 200 ml. This urine sample is sent for culture and is known as VB2. Then the urologist performs a digital rectal exam and massages the patient's prostate in an attempt to...
How common is prostate cancer
Thu, 29 Mar 2018 | Erectile Dysfunction
There are more than 100 different types of cancer. In the United States, a man has a 50 chance of developing some type of cancer in his lifetime. In American men, (excluding skin cancer) prostate cancer is the most common cancer. Prostate cancer accounts for about 33 (234,460) of cases of cancer (Table 2). More than 75 of the cases of prostate cancer are diagnosed in men older than 65 years. Based on cases diagnosed between 1995 and 2001, it is estimated that 91 of the new cases of prostate cancer are expected to be diagnosed at local or regional stages (see staging of prostate cancer), for which 5-year survival is nearly 100 . It is estimated that prostate cancer will be the cause of death in 9 of men, 27,350 prostate cancer related deaths. In the United States, deaths from prostate cancer have decreased significantly by 4.1 per year from 1994 to 2004. Most notably, the death rate for African American men in the United States has decreased by 6 . Prostate
Prostate and seminal vesicles
The prostate and seminal vesicles are androgen-sensitive organs and are small in hypogonadal patients. Their volumes increase under testosterone therapy. Testosterone induces their normal functions, as indicated by the appearance of seminal fluid. Well-substituted patients should have ejaculate volumes in the normal range (i.e. > 2 ml). There is much concern about the effects oftestosterone with regard to the development of benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) and carcinoma of the prostate and this issue is specifically dealt with in Chapters 2 and 21. A widely accepted theory on the pathogenesis of BPH suggests that prostatic enlargement is mediated through the action of 5a-DHT and that these alterations are related to intraprostatic events rather than to increases in serum concentrations of testosterone or 5a-DHT (Meikle et al. 1997 Morgentaler et al. 1996 Nomura et al. 1988). Furthermore, estrogens may be involved in hormonal regulation of prostatic tissue (Thomas and Keeman 1994)....
Transurethral Resection of Prostate
Fri, 30 Mar 2018 | Laparoscopic Urology
In 1988, Davies demonstrated the feasibility of the robotic transurethral resection of the prostate using the PUMA 560 (9). The Surgeon-Assistant Robot for Prostatectomy, consisting of a small cutting blade rotating at 40,000 r.p.m., was derived from a six-axis PUMA robot to perform transurethral resection of the prostate. After further development at the Imperial College from 1993 to 1995, the Surgeon-Assistant Robot for Prostatectomy was renamed PROBOT (a robot for prostatectomy) and specifically designed to perform transurethral resection of the prostate. Studies showed that the entire resection could be successfully completed with good hemostasis (10). The major limitation of this technique was the inaccuracy in determining prostatic dimensions using transrectal ultrasound (10).
Oxidative Stress and Chronic Bacterial Prostatitis
Last Updated on Sun, 16 Sep 2018 | Health and Fertility
Bacteria responsible for prostate infection may originate from the urinary tract or can be sexually transmitted 28, 29 . The OS observed during chronic bacterial prostatitis is the result of elevated ROS production and or reduced total antioxidant capacity 20, 30 . Indeed, infecting microorganisms trigger an inflammatory defense reaction in the prostate with a resulting OS due to ROS overproduction Shahed and Shoskes 36 showed that sperm OS in symptomatic patients with chronic bacterial prostatitis related to both ROS overproduction (especially with positive cultures) and reduced antioxidant capacity in men with category III prosta-titis. Furthermore, the observed increased levels of OS markers and their decrease after treatment with antimicrobials (category II) or with the antioxidant dietary supplement (category III) suggested that Gram-positive bacteria in the EPS of some men with chronic pelvic pain syndrome may represent true pathogens on the basis of the clinical response to...
Detrimental Effects of ROS in Patients with Prostatitis
Fri, 30 Mar 2018 | Health and Fertility
In patients suffering from prostatitis, a negative association with sperm motility and morphology has repeatedly been shown because this condition is also associated with increased leukocyte infiltration in semen. 109, 110 . Accordingly, significantly increased seminal oxidative stress has been observed in patients with prostatitis categories NIH I, NIH II, NIH IIIA and NIH IV 111, 112 . However, even in prostatitis categories NIH III (chronic abacterial prostatitis) and NIH IIIB (non-inflammatory chronic pelvic pain syndrome), elevated ROS concentrations accompanied by decreased anti-oxidant levels are present in the semen causing oxidative stress irrespective of the presence of leukocytes 113 . This oxidative stress could be triggered by cytokines 26 and is thought to prompt acrosomal dysfunction in terms of significantly reduced inducibility of the acrosome reaction 59 , possibly via destabilization of the sperm plasma membrane by LPO.
Step 5 Apical Dissection of the Prostate
Incision of venous complex is performed following additional bipolar coagulation and then incising tangentially to avoid incision of the anterior surface of the prostate. An avascular plane of dissection separating the urethra from the venous complex must be found underneath the venous complex. This plane allows complete identification of the prostate limits and urethra. Rectourethral muscle appears relatively attenuated with this approach and represents the final attachment of the prostate. Division of the rectourethral muscle close to the prostate completely frees the specimen. The excised prostate is entrapped immediately in an endobag, which is temporarily positioned in the upper abdomen.
Prostate Sparing Laparoscopic Radical Cystectomy
Prostate- and seminal-sparing cystectomy may be an option in young patients whose preservation of urinary continence and sexual potency are fundamental (26). In carefully selected patients, this procedure was proposed in open surgically resulting in more than 90 of patients being potent, while nearly all are totally continent, with no additional oncologic risk. In 2003, Guazzoni et al. reported the initial three cases of laparoscopic nerve- and seminal-sparing cystectomy with extracorporeally created orthotopic ileal neobladder (27). The operative time was 410 to 480 minutes, blood loss was 150-300 mL, and hospital stay was eight to nine days. All three patients were fully continent and had normal sexual functions at three months after surgery. Cathelineau et al. reported the largest experience with laparoscopic radical cystectomy in 84 patients, including cystoprostatectomy in 31, and prostate-sparing cystectomy in 40 (28).
Laparoscopic Prostatectomy
Radical prostatectomy is the most common therapy for patients with prostate cancer and accounts for approximately half of the 1.7 billion cost of prostate cancer treatment (30). In evaluating the cost of radical retropubic prostatectomy as compared to laparo-scopic and robot-assisted prostatectomy, we found that radical retropubic prostatectomy was the least expensive approach with a cost advantage of 487 and 1726 over laparoscopic radical prostatectomy and robot-assisted prostatectomy, respectively (Table 2) (7). Even if the initial cost of purchasing a robot is excluded, the cost difference between radical retropubic prostatectomy and robot-assisted prostatectomy is 1155. TABLE2 Individual and Overall Costs for Radial Retropubic Prostatectomy, Laparoscopic Radical Prostatectomy, and Robot-Assisted Prostatectomy Abbreviations RRR radical retropubic prostatectomy LRR laparoscopic radical prostatectomy RAR robot-assisted prostatectomy NA, not applicable. Source From Ref. 7. Radical...
Indications Of Laparoscopic Radical Prostatectomy
The indications for the radical laparoscopic prostatectomy are the same as that for the open procedures including treatment of men with localized prostate carcinoma and a life expectancy of 10 years or more. TABLE 1 History and Technical Modifications of Laparoscopic Radical Prostatectomy The first reported case underwent laparoscopic radical prostatectomy Laparoscopic approach to seminal vesicles for its diseases and perineal radical prostatectomy with dissection of these structures Laparoscopic radical prostatectomy is not alternative to open counterpart due to technical difficulty and longer operation time Feasible to perform extraperitoneal laparoscopic radical prostatectomy with 2 cases As a feasible alternative, Transperitoneal laparoscopic radical prostatectomy was promoted as the Montsouris technique based on the same principle previously described by Gaston At another center in Paris, the Creteil technique committed to a similar technique of transperitoneal laparoscopic...
Michael Milkens Prostate Cancer Foundation
Last Updated on Sun, 02 Sep 2018 | Prostate Cancer
Ironically, both Giuliani and Milken were subsequently diagnosed with prostate cancer and became friends and national advocates for prostate cancer sufferers. Milken was diagnosed with prostate cancer in 1993, shortly after his release from prison. Just 46 years old, he had a Gleason score of 9, a PSA of 24, and the cancer had already spread to his lymph nodes. He was treated with beam radiation and hormones and began a very strict diet thirteen years later he remains in remission. Milken approached prostate cancer in the same manner he had approached Wall Street securities. ''I decided that I had to change the course of history,'' he recalls, and proposed ''a Manhattan Project'' for prostate cancer to discover the causes and better treatments.5 He pledged 25 million of his own funds and in 1993 began CaPCURE (cancer of the prostate cure), a foundation that in 2003 was renamed the Prostate Cancer Foundation (PCF). Milken has accomplished a remarkable...
The Prostate Cancer Research Program
Fri, 30 Mar 2018 | Prostate Cancer
The Prostate Cancer Research Program is run by the U.S. Army under the Department of Defense. Its origins are a classic Washington tale. Observing the success of the breast cancer lobby, advocates for prostate cancer research decided to follow suit. A dinner was arranged to which, according to one participant, ''several members of Congress were invited who just happened to have prostate cancer.'' In 1997 Congress allocated 45 million to the Department of Defense for what became known as the Prostate Cancer Research Program (PCRP). Since 1997 Congress has continued to fund this research in 2006, the allocation was 80 million. Through 2005, a total of over 600 million had been spent on more than fourteen hundred research projects. A prominent part of the program is the Center for Prostate Disease Research, an excellent clinical program for military veterans with prostate cancer directed by Col. David E. McLeod, M.D., at the Walter Reed National Medical Center. Another important...
Role of androgen in prostate cancer
In order to appreciate the therapeutic relevance of these mechanistic distinctions, an understanding of the cellular heterogeneity and responsiveness of prostate cancer cellular subtypes is required. Androgen ablation therapy, whether by surgical or medical means, induces the elimination of only testosterone-dependent prostate cancer cells since these cells require a critical level of physiological androgen for their continuous proliferation and survival (Gao and Isaacs 1998 Gao etal. 2001 Kyprianou etal. 1990). Unfortunately, androgen ablation is not curative because, once clinically detected, prostate cancers are heterogeneously composed of clones of androgen-dependent cancer cells and also malignant clones which are androgen-independent (Isaacs 1999). These latter cells are androgen-independent since androgen occupancy of their nuclear AR is not required for their survival (Isaacs 1999). There are two basic subtypes of such androgen-independent prostate cancer cells. One subtype...
What options do I have for treatment of my prostate cancer
Fri, 30 Mar 2018 | Erectile Dysfunction
After finally realizing that, despite feeling great, I did indeed have prostate cancer, I had to figure out what the best treatment for me was. When faced with the option of leaving my prostate in place or removing it, I knew that, even though I was petrified of surgery, it would be the best thing for me in the long run. I knew that I could not live with my prostate gland and the continuous question of whether there were any viable cancer cells remaining in my prostate after interstitial seeds or radiation therapy. An alternative to immediate treatment for men with presumed low-risk prostate cancer. Involves close monitoring and withholding active treatment unless there is a significant change in the patient's symptoms or PSA. Various treatment options are available for prostate cancer, each with its own risks and benefits (Table 7). The options available may vary with the grade of tumor, the extent of tumor spread, your overall medical health and life expectancy and your personal...
What is prostate cancer staging
Last Updated on Tue, 18 Dec 2018 | Erectile Dysfunction
By staging your cancer, your doctor is trying to assess, based on your prostate biopsy results, your physical examination, your PSA, and other tests and X-rays (if obtained), whether your prostate cancer is confined to the prostate, and if it is not, to what extent it has spread. Studies of large numbers of men who have undergone radical prostatectomy and pelvic lymph node dissections have provided for the development of nomograms predicting the pathologic stage of CaP based on clinical stage (TNM), PSA, and Gleason score (Table 5). It was initially thought that magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) would be very helpful in determining whether capsular penetration and extracapsular disease were present however, it has only proved to be useful in centers that perform large numbers of MRIs. Similarly, the use of computed tomographic (CT) scanning in assessing whether or not the cancer has spread to the pelvic lymph nodes has been disappointing. Knowing the stage (the size and the extent of...
Are all prostate cancers the sameAre there different grades
Not all prostate cancers are the same. Prostate cancers may vary in the grade of the cancer and the stage of the cancer. The grade of a cancer is a term used to describe how the cancer cells look. That is, whether the cells look aggressive and not very similar to normal cells (high grade) or whether they look very similar to normal cells (low grade). The grade of the cancer is an important factor in predicting long-term results of treatment, response to treatment, and survival. With prostate cancer, the most commonly used grading system is the Gleason scale. In this grading system, cells are examined by a pathologist under the microscope and assigned a number based on how the cancer cells look and how they are arranged together (Figure 7). Because prostate cancer may be composed of cancer cells of different grades, the pathologist assigns numbers to the two predominant grades present. The numbers range from 1 (low grade) to 5 (high grade). Typically, the Gleason score is the total of...
What is prostate cancer screening
Last Updated on Tue, 11 Jun 2019 | Erectile Dysfunction
The goal of any screening is to evaluate populations of people in an effort to diagnose the disease early. Thus, the goal of prostate cancer screening is the early detection of prostate cancer, ideally at the curable stage. Prostate cancer screening includes both a digital rectal examination and a serum PSA. Each of these is important in the screening process, and an abnormality in either warrants further evaluation. Only about 25 of prostate cancers are revealed by rectal examination most are detected by an abnormal PSA. Some studies suggest that even with PSA-based prostate cancer screening, up to 15 of men will have undetected prostate cancer. Newer screening tools, such as EPCA and EPCA-2, are being investigated (see Question 6). Because the prostate gland lies in front of the rectum, the back wall of the prostate gland can be felt by putting a gloved, lubricated finger into the rectum and feeling the prostate by pressing on the anterior wall of the rectum (Figure 6). The rectal...
Where does prostate cancer spread
As the prostate cancer grows, it grows through the prostate, the prostate capsule, and the fat that surrounds the prostate capsule. Because the prostate gland lies below the bladder and attaches to it, the prostate cancer can also grow up into the base of the bladder. Prostate cancer can also grow into the seminal vesicles, which are located adjacent to the prostate. It may continue to grow locally in the pelvis into muscles within the pelvis into the rectum, which lies behind the prostate or into the sidewall of the pelvis. The spread of cancer to other sites is called metastasis. When prostate cancer spreads outside of the capsule and the fatty tissue, it usually goes to two main areas in the body the lymph nodes that drain the prostate and the bones. The more commonly involved lymph nodes are those in the pelvis (Figure 5), and bones that are more Glandular structures that are located above and behind the prostate. They produce fluid that is part of the ejaculate. Figure 5 Lymph...
What causes prostate cancer What causes prostate cancer to grow
The exact causes of prostate cancer are not known. Prostate cancer may develop because of changes in genes. Alterations in androgen (male hormone) related genes have been associated with an increased risk of cancer. Alterations in genes may be caused by environmental factors, such as diet. The more abnormal the gene, the higher is the likelihood of developing prostate cancer. In rare cases, prostate cancer may be inherited. In such cases, 88 of the individuals will have prostate cancer by the age of 85 years. Males who have a particular gene, the breast cancer mutation (BRCA1), have a threefold higher risk of developing prostate cancer than do other men. Changes in a certain chromosome, p53, in prostate cancer are associated with high-grade aggressive prostate cancer. Table 4 Common Symptom-Directed Treatment Strategies in Advanced Prostate Cancer Table 4 Common Symptom-Directed Treatment Strategies in Advanced Prostate Cancer Hormonal treatment Transurethral prostatectomy Repeated...
Androgen receptor as a therapy target in hormoneresistant prostate cancer
Fri, 30 Mar 2018 | Testosterone
Currently there is no efficient method available to treat patients who relapse during androgen ablation therapy and develop an androgen-independently growing tumor. Based on an improved understanding of AR signaling in therapy-refractory prostate cancer, novel therapies are being developed that target AR in advanced tumor cells. Specific antisense AR oligonucleotides were identified that inhibit AR expression. Treatment of such prostate cancer cells resulted in reduced androgen receptor levels, growth inhibition and reduced PSA production in vitro and in vivo (Eder etal. 2000 2001). Another approach is the use of derivatives of the antibiotic geldanamycin that Table 2.1 Promiscuous mutant androgen receptors in prostate cancer Table 2.1 Promiscuous mutant androgen receptors in prostate cancer Of the about eighty androgen receptor gene mutations detected in prostate cancer specimens only some have been analyzed in terms of their functional consequences. Most of these mutations result in...
What are the warning signs of prostate cancer
Prostate cancer gives no typical warning signs that it is present in your body. It often grows very slowly, and some of the symptoms related to enlargement of the prostate are typical of noncancerous enlargement of the prostate, known as benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH). When the disease has spread to the bones, it may cause pain in the area. Bone pain may present in different ways. In some men, it may cause continuous pain, while in others, the pain may be intermittent. It may be confined to a particular area of the body or move around the body it may be variable during the day and respond differently to rest and activity. If there is significant weakening of the bone(s), fractures may occur. More common sites of bone metastases include the hips, back, ribs, and shoulders. Some of these sites are also common locations for arthritis, so the presence of pain in any of these areas is not definitive for prostate cancer. If prostate cancer spreads locally to the lymph nodes, it often...
Androgen ablation therapy of prostate cancer
Androgen withdrawal induces programmed cell death (apoptosis) in prostate cells resulting in prostate tissue involution and, after some time, only a rudimentary prostate is left that is composed mainly of stromal cells (Kyprianou and Isaacs 1988 English et al. 1989). This process is reversible. Re-stimulation with androgens results in rapid proliferation and growth of the gland to its adult size. When rats are castrated one can observe massive induction of programmed cell death starting about 24-48 hours later and continuing 7-10 days (Denmeade etal. 1996). Associated with androgen withdrawal is a rapid increase in expression of transforming growth factor-S (TGF-S), an inhibitor of prostate cell proliferation, and of testosterone-repressed message-2 (Kyprianou and Isaacs 1989). The latter encodes a glycoprotein also known as clusterin or sulphated glycoprotein-2 (SGP-2) that acts as a chaperone and has antiapoptotic properties in prostate tumor cells (Sensibar et al. 1995 Humphreys et...
What are the riskfactors for prostate cancer and who is at riskIs there anything that decreases the risk of developing
Last Updated on Sat, 23 Feb 2019 | Erectile Dysfunction
Theoretically, all men are at risk for developing prostate cancer. The prevalence of prostate cancer increases with age, and the increase with age is greater for prostate cancer than for any other cancer. Theoretically, all men are at risk for developing prostate cancer. Basically, every 10 years after the age of 40 years, the incidence of prostate cancer nearly doubles, with a risk of 10 for men in their 50s increasing to 70 for those in their 80s. However, in most older men, the prostate cancer does not grow and many die of other causes and are not identified as having prostate cancer before their death. Prostate cancer is 66 more common among African Americans, and it is twice as likely to be fatal in African Americans as in Caucasians. However, blacks in Africa have one of the lowest rates of prostate cancer in the world. Males of Asian descent living in the United States have lower rates of prostate cancer than Caucasians, but higher rates than Asian males in their native...
What is prostate cancer
Prostate cancer is a malignant growth of the glandular cells of the prostate. Our body is composed of billions of cells they are the smallest unit in the body. Normally, each cell functions for a while, then dies and is replaced in an organized manner. This results in the appropriate number of cells being present to carry out necessary cell functions. Sometimes there can be an uncontrolled replacement of cells, leaving the cells unable to organize as they did before. Such abnormal growth of cells is called a tumor. Tumors may be benign (noncancerous) Prostate malignant growth of the glandular cells ofthe prostate. As with most cancers, prostate cancer is not contagious.
Are there any other blood tests to check for prostate cancer
Early Prostate Cancer Antigen (EPCA) and EPCA-2 have been demonstrated to be plasma-based markers for prostate cancer. EPCA is found throughout the prostate and represents a field effect associated with prostate cancer, whereas, EPCA-2 is found only in the prostate cancer tissue. However, EPCA-2 is able to get into the plasma, the liquid part of the blood, allowing for it to be detected by a blood test. In preliminary studies, EPCA-2 has been able to identify men with prostate cancer who had normal PSA levels. This data, however, is preliminary and further studies are needed to validate the sensitivity and specificity of these markers. Others are investigating the ability for urinary markers to detect prostate cancer, specifically alpha-methyl-acyl-CoA racemase (AMACR) and prostate cancer antigen 3 (PCA 3) urinary transcript levels obtained from urine sediments following digital rectal examination and pro-static massage.
What are the signs and symptoms of an enlarged prostate either cancer related or benign
The prostate gland in the adult male is normally about 20 to 25 cm3 in size. Over time, the prostate gland may grow as a result of benign enlargement of the prostate, known as benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH), or as a result of prostate cancer. Enlargement of the prostate gland may cause changes in urinary symptoms however, the severity of urinary symptoms does not correlate with the size of the prostate. In fact, some men with mildly enlarged prostates (for example, 40 cm3) may be more symptomatic than men with greatly enlarged (> 100 cm3) prostate glands. The symptoms of an enlarged prostate are caused by the prostate's resistance to the outflow of urine and the bladder's response to this resistance. Common symptoms include
What is an open prostatectomy
Last Updated on Mon, 15 Apr 2019 | Erectile Dysfunction
An open prostatectomy is the removal of the obstructing portion of a benign prostate through a surgical incision. Open prostatectomies are usually reserved for large prostates that weigh more than 100 grams. The open prostatectomy allows for the greatest amount of prostate tissue to be removed, but the morbidity is greater than less invasive options because it is an open surgical procedure. The most common approach to performing an open prostatectomy is through a lower abdominal incision that extends from the symphysis pubis to the umbilicus (belly button) (Figure 23). Figure 23 Types of surgical incisions for simple prostatectomy suprapubic or retropubic approach and perineal approach. After the surgeon enters the abdomen through this incision, he or she has two surgical choices. The first is to make an incision in the front wall of the bladder to approach the prostate. This is called a suprapubic prostatectomy. After the surgeon has entered the bladder, he or she can enucleate, or...
Steroid Hormones Oxidative Stress and Prostate
Mon, 28 Jan 2019 | Health and Fertility
Prostate development, maturation, and normal function depends on the activity of the androgens testosterone and its derivative dihydrotestosterone (DHT). DHT, synthesized from testosterone in the prostate by 5a-reductase, has a more potent effect due to its higher affinity to the androgen receptor (AR) 81 . The AR in turn binds to androgen receptor elements (ARE) present in the promoter regions of many genes involved in cellular proliferation 82 . Traditionally, the initial stages of prostate cancer are controlled by androgen deprivation therapy however, aberrant AR activity in prostate tumors finally leads to the development of a highly malignant state of disease unresponsive to androgen control 83 . Many studies have dwelt on the increased oxidative damage in cells due to ROS as a result of abnormal and increased androgen stimulation of androgen-sensitive prostate cancer cells 84, 85 . Though studies have not pointed out a potential mechanism for the increased levels of ROS after...
What is prostatitis
Prostatitis refers to an inflammation of the prostate gland that can be manifested in a variety of ways. Symptoms of acute bacterial prostatitis include urinary frequency, urgency dysuria or painful urination, nocturia, perineal pain, low back pain, fever, and or chills. Some men with acute bacterial prostatitis may present with inability to urinate and will require a catheter or supra-pubic tube placement until the inflammation and pain have resolved. Some men with acute prostatitis may develop a prostatic abscess that will require drainage. Chronic bacterial prostatitis may present in a similar manner, but men are typically less toxic in appearance. Prostatitis normally does not occur in children or adolescents, but can occur in adult men of any age. The diagnosis can be elusive and treatment is often empiric. What types of prostatitis are there The National Institutes of Health (NIH) has recently defined the different prostatitis syndromes Prostatitis syndromes NIH classification...
Last Updated on Thu, 16 Apr 2015 | Family Medicine
Prostate cancer is the most common cancer diagnosed in men and is the second most common cause of cancer death in men after lung cancer. The gap between the annual numbers of diagnoses (217,730) and deaths (32,050) is wide (ACS, 2010). Major risk factors include age, African American race, and family history. Most cases occur in men older than 65. African Americans have a 60 higher incidence compared with whites and experience a disproportionate share of prostate cancer deaths (Harris and Lohr, 2002). Dietary factors may play a role, including the proandro-genic effects of dietary fat, carcinogenic compounds in grilled meats, and antioxidants in vegetables (Nelson et al., 2003). Dietary antioxidants such as lycopene show epi-demiologic links (mostly related to tomato consumption) supporting a preventive effect, with possible mechanisms including androgen inhibition (Wertz et al., 2004). However, an RCT using vitamin E and selenium, alone or in combination, failed to show any...
Prostate development
Thu, 29 Mar 2018 | Testosterone
The prostate is the prototype of a hormone-dependent organ. During embryogenesis dihydrotestosterone triggers its development from the urogenital sinus. In this process, the interaction of the stromal and the epithelial compartments of the prostate gland are of crucial importance. The AR is first expressed in the stromal cells, which makes the cells responsive to dihydrotestosterone to stimulate proliferation and determine differentiation of the epithelial cells in a paracrine manner through the secretion of growth factors (Cunha 1984 1992 Kratochwil 1986). Later, the AR is expressed in the epithelial cells and androgens can directly stimulate the growth of this cell type as well. The prostate finally grows to the normal size of about 20 cm3 coupled with the rise of serum levels of androgen that occurs during puberty with a prostatic weight doubling time of 2.8 years (Coffey and Isaacs 1981). Growth and function of the prostate are critically dependent on the presence of androgens and...
During laparoscopic radical prostatectomy, precise intraoperative identification of the neu-rovascular bundle, the prostate apex, and location of cancer nodule may potentially enhance postoperative functional outcomes and surgical margin status. Transrectal ultra-sonography is currently one of the most precise imaging modalities for the prostate. Ukimura and Gill investigated the technical feasibility and utility of intraoperative realtime transrectal ultrasonography guidance during laparoscopic radical prostatectomy (50-52). The potential advantages of real-time transrectal ultrasonography guided laparo-scopic radical prostatectomy were noted to be as follows (i) visualization of the anatomical course of neurovascular bundle with special reference to its dimension and distance from the edge of the prostate, (ii) objective measurement of the physical adequacy of neurovascular bundle preservation during laparoscopic radical prostatectomy, in terms of preoperative and postoperative...
An image-guided robot system has been developed and employed for transperineal prostate biopsies. Two alternative robotic projects enabling automated harvesting of prostate biopsy samples have been recently developed. Certain urologic procedures are very challenging for conventional laparoscopic surgeons due to either complex anatomy or the need for extensive intracorporeal suturing. Examples include radical prostatectomy, radical cystectomy, and pyeloplasty. Two alternative robotic projects enabling automated harvesting of prostate biopsy samples have been recently developed. In the projects proposed by the group at Johns Hopkins University, prostate biopsies are taken using a modified Percutaneous Access of the Kidney robot. In fact, current Percutaneous Access of the Kidney drive system is not strong enough to drive the needle into prostatic tissue, and also requires instrumentation to provide feedback regarding the needle position. In the modified Percutaneous Access of the Kidney...
Fri, 30 Mar 2018 | Family Medicine
A common complication of UTI in men is prostatitis. Bacterial prostatitis is usually caused by the same gram-negative bacilli that cause UTI in female patients 80 or more of such infections are caused by Escherichia coli. The pathogenesis of this condition is poorly understood. Antibacterial substances in prostatic secretions probably protect against such infections. A National Institutes of Health (NIH) expert consensus panel has recommended classifying prostatitis into three syndromes acute bacterial prostatitis, chronic bacterial pros-tatitis, and chronic pelvic pain syndrome (CPPS). Acute bacterial prostatitis is a febrile illness characterized by chills, dysuria, urinary frequency and urgency and pain in the perineum, back, or pelvis. The bladder outlet can be obstructed. On physical examination, the prostate is found to be enlarged, tender, and indurated. Pyuria is present, and urine cultures generally grow E. coli or another typical uropathogen. Chronic bacterial prostatitis is...
Additional Predictors Of Severity
Last Updated on Fri, 27 Feb 2015 | Prostate Cancer
It would be helpful if we had more accurate indicators of severity for men with newly diagnosed prostate cancers. Our treatment decisions, and even whether to pursue treatment at all, are currently based on inadequate data. If we were better able to predict which cancers are likely to remain quiescent and which are likely to progress, many men would not have to undergo treatment and could thereby avoid complications such as incontinence and impotence. The fact that we do not have valid indicators of severity results from the failure of prostate cancer research (see Chapter 14). Additional predictors of severity are available from prostate biopsies but are underutilized. These include information on the number of specimens (cores) positive for cancer, the percentage of each positive core occupied by cancer, and the percentage of Gleason grade 4 or 5 cells in each core. For example, my own biopsy included 9 probes, 5 on the right side (where the cancer had been felt) and 4 on the left...
The Procedure Seed Therapy
Compared to other treatments for prostate cancer, seed therapy is convenient a major reason for its increasing popularity. Usually, only two outpatient visits are required. On the first visit, the radiation oncologist places an ultrasound probe, similar to that used in prostate biopsies, in the rectum and then carefully maps the prostate. This allows for a calculation of exactly where seeds should be placed and how many usually fifty to one hundred will be needed. On the second visit, the man is given a regional block (spinal or epidural) or general anesthesia for a procedure that lasts approximately an hour. While he is on his back with his legs elevated and spread, long needles are inserted into the prostate through the perineum, the area between the back of the scrotum and the anus. The radioactive seeds, which are smaller than grains of rice, are inserted into the prostate through the needles. It is vital that the seeds be placed evenly, so that no areas of cancer are left...
Alternative and Experimental Therapies
Last Updated on Thu, 31 Mar 2016 | Prostate Cancer
Alternative therapies for medical disorders have become increasingly popular in the United States, with 42 percent of adults reporting having used one or more.1 The increasing popularity of alternative therapies has been fueled in part by rapid distribution of information on the Internet and in part by dissatisfaction with an increasingly dysfunctional traditional medical care system. Men with prostate cancer are especially susceptible to claims made for alternative therapies, since existing treatments produce a plethora of unfortunate complications. Alternative medicine covers a broad spectrum of therapies, ranging from special diets, vitamin and mineral supplements, and herbal therapies to hyperthermia, ultrasound, light therapy, gene therapy, magnets, acupuncture, moxibustion, yoga, massage therapy, relaxation exercises, and prayer. There is some evidence that specific dietary factors may be useful in preventing or slowing the growth of prostate cancer these factors, along with...
Last Updated on Mon, 29 May 2017 | Prostate Cancer
A variety of alternative therapies for the primary treatment of prostate cancer are in the experimental stages. One such therapy is hyperthermia, in which the prostate gland is warmed this treatment is thought to improve the effectiveness of radiation therapy. The warming may be done by inserting small tubes (interstitial radio-frequency) or small seeds (thermoseeds) directly into the prostate. A form of light therapy is also being studied. A chemical derived from plant chlorophyll is injected intravenously. A laser light source is then beamed into the prostate, causing the chemical to destroy the cancer cells. Gene therapy is being developed to treat both primary and recurrent prostate cancers. A virus injected into the body goes to the cancer cells, where it delivers a specific gene. This gene makes the cancer cells more susceptible to drugs, which are then administered to the patient. In addition, various drugs are being examined for possible use against prostate cancer. Included...
Advantages And Disadvantages Of Treatment Options
In Seeds of Hope, Michael Dorso decried the contradictory and confusing advice he found in the medical literature on prostate cancer treatments. Urologists advocated surgery, radiologists advocated radiation treatment, and ''cancer specialists who were neither surgeons nor radiation therapists were split between the two treatment modalities.'' Moreover, a panel of experts in the American Urological Association tried to objectively settle the treatment issues but ''found the data inadequate for valid comparisons of treatment. . . . Basically they gave up '' Dorso, himself a physician with prostate cancer, concluded in a note of exasperation ''What's a mother to do ''31 That is a very reasonable question. If a physician with prostate cancer has difficulty sorting out the treatment options, how can a layman be expected to do so And yet that is the message given by most prostate cancer specialists ''In the final analysis, Mr. Smith, the decision is up to you.''
Beam Radiation Therapy
Last Updated on Tue, 05 May 2015 | Prostate Cancer
Candidates Any man of any age, even if he is not in good health, has a life expectancy of less than ten years, or has cancer that has spread beyond the prostate. Not appropriate for very large prostates unless initially shrunk by hormone therapy, nor for men with chronic bowel disease. Chance of cure Good, if cancer has not spread beyond the prostate. Unknown Chances of residual prostate cancer in remaining prostate cells likelihood of another form of cancer secondary to radiation effects chances that the cancer has already spread beyond the prostate.
How I Made My Decisions
Last Updated on Mon, 15 Jul 2019 | Prostate Cancer
By talking to my wife and medical colleagues, I developed a plan of attack. I read two of the most widely used books on prostate cancer and checked a few websites, but was disappointed with what I found. Much of the information seemed biased toward one treatment or another, and some of the websites were openly commercial. In discussing the cancer with my family and friends, I realized that I had a strong support system already in place. I next assessed the severity of my cancer. Having a Gleason score of 7 was not advantageous, but the fact that it was 3+4 and not 4+3 was helpful. Three of my nine biopsy cores contained cancer cells, which occupied 20 percent of the core in two cases and 5 percent in the third. Gleason grade 4 cells constituted 40 percent of the cancer cells in one core and 20 percent in the second, and there were no grade 4 cells in the third. The fact that all three positive cores were in the right half of my prostate seemed to confirm the impression of my urologist...
Major Complications and Their Treatment
Last Updated on Sun, 16 Jun 2019 | Prostate Cancer
Incontinence and impotence are the two most-feared complications of prostate cancer treatment. They are the Scylla and Charybdis of prostate voyagers, and rare is the man who successfully sails by both without being affected by one or the other. Even men who elect watchful waiting as their option may experience them as their cancer increases in size. Although incontinence and impotence have been briefly discussed in preceding chapters, their importance for men with prostate cancer merits a chapter of their own. It is vital, however, to place incontinence and impotence in proper perspective. For men whose cancer has grown beyond the prostate or spread to other organs, incontinence and impotence do not loom so large. As Anatole Broyard noted ''In my own case, after a brush with death, I feel that just to be alive is a permanent orgasm.''1 Arguments abound about which is worse, incontinence or impotence. Walsh and Worthington, in their book Dr. Patrick Walsh's Guide to Surviving Prostate...
Urinary Incontinence The Problem
Incontinence is a problem because the male urethra, which carries urine from the bladder to outside the body, runs directly through the prostate. Thus, when the prostate is being destroyed by surgery, radiation, or cryotherapy, the urethra is inevitably affected. As detailed in Appendix A, urine flow in males is controlled by two sphincters an internal one immediately above the prostate, where the urethra exits the bladder, and an external one just below the prostate. During surgery for prostate cancer, the internal sphincter is destroyed, because it is anatomically contiguous to the prostate to preserve the internal sphincter risks leaving behind some cancer cells. That effectively leaves one working sphincter to do a job previously done by two. The average daily urine flow is approximately one-half gallon, so the task is demanding. Further, radiation and cryotherapy treatment may damage either or both sphincters. A Revolutionary Approach to Prostate Cancer Urge incontinence occurs...
Will It Kill Me And If So When
Last Updated on Tue, 11 Jun 2019 | Prostate Cancer
The recurrence and spread of prostate cancer usually follow certain pathways. If the cancer was removed surgically, microscopic bits of cancer may have been left behind where the prostate lay (called the bed of the prostate). If the cancer was treated with radiation, it may recur in portions of the prostate that did not receive enough radiation to kill all the cancer cells. At any point, the cancer may spread beyond the prostate to the seminal vesicles, adjacent lymph nodes, or bladder this is called local spread. It may also spread more distantly, called metastasis. Bones, especially the spine, are favorite sites for prostate cancer metastases, but late in its course the cancer may also metastasize to the kidneys or virtually anywhere in the body. The predictors of prostate cancer spread include the same factors I try not to think about the number but I can't help doing it. PSA is like a clerk in a great court sitting in judgment on me, on my health or illness, my life or death. What...
Weighing Quantity Versus Quality Of Life
Prostate cancer has the reputation of being a slow-growing and indolent form of cancer. An oft-repeated saying is that many more men die with prostate cancer than die from prostate cancer. For every hundred men diagnosed with prostate cancer this year, only thirteen will die. We are lulled into thinking of prostate cancer as a rather benign male rite of passage into old age. Fortunately, for the majority of men, it is. But for a minority of men who get prostate cancer, it is anything but a benign rite. In 2005 it killed more than thirty thousand men in the United States, accounting for 10 percent of all male cancer deaths (second only to lung cancer). Prostate cancer deaths are usually not pleasant deaths. Metastases of the cancer to bones can cause bone pain that may become severe and is often worse at night. Fractures of bones secondary to the metastases are not uncommon if the fractured bone is a vertebra, it may cause compression of the spinal cord, a true medical emergency. The...
What Is Known About the Causes
Last Updated on Sat, 18 Nov 2017 | Prostate Cancer
Once a man has been diagnosed with prostate cancer, he inevitably asks himself What caused it Personally, I very much wanted to know. Saying that I had a disease that strikes randomly, like a bolt of lightning, was not very satisfying. It would be better if I could understand its antecedents, even if my own behavior had somehow contributed to its cause. Yet when I began searching the medical literature for answers, I was disappointed. A 2003 review of the subject stated that ''the etiology cause of prostate cancer remains virtually unknown.''1 Given that a federal ''war on cancer'' had been declared in 1971, this assessment was disquieting. Here we are, thirty-five years later, knowing little more than we knew then about the most common cancer to affect American men. In searching for causes of prostate cancer, scientists have major clues to work with. Seven of the most important are the following Prostate cancer is the most age-dependent of all human cancers. It is very uncommon in...
Viruses And Other Infectious Agents
The infectious theory of prostate cancer was fashionable twenty years ago, but most contemporary books do not even mention it. The neglect of this line of research is surprising, since approximately 15 percent of all cancers worldwide are caused by infectious agents. For example, Helicobacter pylori bacteria is associated with stomach cancer, hepatitis B virus with liver cancer, human papillomavirus with cervical cancer, Epstein-Barr virus with nasopharyngeal cancer, and human T-lymphocyte virus with some leukemias and lymphomas. Prostate cancer is also a type of cancer that increases in incidence in individuals whose immune system is suppressed this correlation is consistent with an infectious process. Furthermore, when biopsies of prostatic tissue are examined under the microscope, inflammation is frequently present, consistent with infection. For all these reasons, infectious agents should be seriously considered as possible causes of prostate cancer. The 1970s saw much interest in...
Factors That May Prevent Emergence or Recurrence
Last Updated on Mon, 15 Feb 2016 | Prostate Cancer
Given that one in every six American men is expected to be diagnosed with prostate cancer during his lifetime, we might anticipate that major research would have been undertaken to prevent its emergence or recurrence. The National Cancer Institute and other research groups neglected prevention research for so many years that today we know remarkably little. Most prostate cancer prevention trials were initiated only within the past five years and will therefore not yield useful data for many years to come. For example, trials of selenium and vitamin E (the SELECT trial) beta-carotene and vitamins C and E (Physicians Health Study II) and the anti-inflammatory drug rofecoxib will not be completed until 2012 or later. Theories about the prevention of prostate cancer and its recurrence fall into four categories they are based on dietary factors, vitamins and minerals, medications, and lifestyle changes. Except for the first of these, remarkably few hard data are available to help men make...
Vitamins and minerals have attracted much attention as possible preventive factors for prostate cancer, with many websites featuring them prominently. But anecdotes heavily outweigh facts. The vitamins and minerals that have been most studied in relation to the prevention of prostate cancer are selenium, vitamin E, vitamin A, beta-carotene, and vitamin D. Selenium. Selenium is a trace metal and a necessary component of several enzymes, especially one (glutathione peroxidase) thought to prevent free-radical damage to cell structures. Selenium is thought to work closely with vitamin E and is theorized to have antioxidant properties, enhance immune function, and decrease testosterone. A longitudinal study of aging men in Baltimore reported that men with lower levels of blood selenium were more likely than others to develop prostate cancer. In contradiction, however, the area of the world where men are most likely to be selenium deficient is China, where the incidence of prostate cancer...
Choose foods that help maintain a healthful weight
Last Updated on Wed, 24 Oct 2018 | Prostate Cancer
When diet and lifestyle changes are combined and adhered to faithfully, there is evidence that they may slow the progression of prostate cancer. A controlled study, published in 2005, randomized into two groups ninety-three men who had early-stage prostate cancer and who had elected watchful waiting. The men in one group
So What Should You Do
Last Updated on Tue, 31 Mar 2015 | Prostate Cancer
Taking into consideration everything that is known about the emergence and recurrence of prostate cancer, what should you do Most important, realize that remarkably little is known with certainty, and what is unknown far outweighs what is known. Weigh quantity of life against quality of life. Making some dietary or lifestyle changes after being diagnosed with prostate cancer may not be difficult, whereas you may find making other changes to be quite hard. I have modified my own diet modestly but not radically. I eat tomatoes in one form or another with each dinner, and I drink tomato juice with lunch. Red grapes are now a staple snack item in our home, always available. I have not given up red meat altogether but have continued to decrease my consumption of it, a trend I had begun several years before being diagnosed with prostate cancer. I increasingly drink green tea and may, if I live long enough, come to like it. I am exploring red wines and have been surprised to discover that...
Who Are Good Candidates
Sat, 09 May 2015 | Prostate Cancer
The best candidates for hormone therapy are men whose prostate is large or whose cancer has spread locally, beyond the prostate. This treatment is also used for men whose cancer has spread distantly to bones (see Chapter 11). Hormones are routinely used for men whose cancer has spread locally to lymph nodes near the prostate, and they are being used increasingly often, together with radiation, for men Michael Milken's Prostate Cancer In 1993, Michael Milken, a forty-six-year-old former Wall Street financier, was diagnosed with prostate cancer. His PSA was 24, and cancer had already spread to his lymph nodes but not to his bones. He was immediately started on combined hormone therapy, consisting of both an antiandrogen and an LHRH agonist. Within six months, his PSA had fallen to 3, and he was given radiation treatment. Using continuing hormone treatment and strict dietary control, Milken's cancer has continued to remain in remission. In men who have very large prostates, hormone...
Urinary Incontinence The Solutions
Last Updated on Fri, 12 Jul 2019 | Prostate Cancer
The good news about urinary incontinence caused by treatment for prostate cancer is that in most cases the problem improves over time. This is especially true of incontinence due to surgery, which initially may be a serious difficulty. Most studies suggest that incontinence continues to be a long-term major problem for approximately 5 to 10 percent of men treated for prostate cancer but can be improved with help. Table 6. UCLA Prostate Cancer Index for Urinary Function Most urologists encourage patients undergoing prostate cancer treatment to do Kegel exercises to increase continence. These exercises were developed by Arnold Kegel in the 1940s for use by women who wanted to strengthen the muscles in the pelvis after childbirth. The difficulty is locating the correct muscles to be exercised. One set is used to stop urine flow halting the flow in midstream and holding it for several seconds is the recommended way to identify these muscles. The other set is used to tighten the buttocks....
Subtract 2 if you had addon adjuvant radiation treatment
Thu, 26 Nov 2015 | Prostate Cancer
There are three main stages in the recurrence and spread of prostate cancer 2. Progression from PSA rise to metastasis The single best predictor of the continuing progression of recurrent prostate cancer is the PSA doubling time. As the name implies, this is the time it takes for the PSA level to go, for example, from 1.1 to 2.2 or 4.2 to 8.4. The shorter the doubling time, the worse the prognosis for men treated by either surgery or radiation. If the PSA doubles in less than six months, it is likely that the cancer has already metastasized to bones or other organs if it doubles in more than twelve months, the cancer is probably still localized near the prostate bed. Charles Pound and his colleagues at Johns Hopkins University developed predictions of how long it takes recurrent prostate cancer to metastasize once the PSA has risen, based on the PSA doubling time, Gleason score, and whether the initial PSA rise occurred sooner than two years after surgery (see Table 8).7 Having a...
Pcspes A Cautionary Tale
Sat, 30 Apr 2016 | Prostate Cancer
The most popular herbal treatment for prostate cancer has been PC-SPES, the name being an abbreviation of prostate cancer and the Latin word for hope. It was commercially available from 1996 until 2002, when its manufacturer, BotanicLab in Brea, California, abruptly shut down. At the time, it was estimated that approximately ten thousand men with prostate cancer were taking PC-SPES and a bottle of sixty capsules was selling for 108. The recommended dose ranged from six to twelve capsules per day, depending on the severity of the man's cancer.8 If all the men had been taking six capsules a day, sales would have totaled 3.2 million each month. PC-SPES was formulated by Sophie Chen, a Taiwanese immigrant who trained in chemistry and initially worked at several large drug companies. She also held an adjunct faculty position at New York Medical College. Her principal collaborator was Xuhui Allan Wang, an herbalist who claimed that his great-grandfather had been court physician to a Chinese...
Treatment Options For Recurrent Cancer
There are two goals in treating prostate cancer that has spread (1) improve the quantity of the man's life, and (2) improve the quality of the man's life. The dilemmas in treatment arise when attempts to improve quantity make the quality worse, not better. Honest assessments of treatment options are crucial to resolving these dilemmas. The mainstay for treating recurrent prostate cancer is hormone therapy, as described in Chapter 5. Prostate cancers use testosterone to grow, so blocking testosterone slows the growth. Prostate cancers contain cells that are sensitive to testosterone and other cells that are not sensitive. Over time the testosterone-insensitive cells become predominant and hormone therapy becomes ineffective. The cancer is then called androgen independent. The average duration of effectiveness for hormone therapy for a prostate cancer that has already metastasized is approximately two years,10 but during that time men often have comfortable remissions. One of the two...
What Happens if the Cancer Spreads or Comes Back
Living with prostate cancer, said one man, is ''like being trapped inside a cage with a baby lion.'' In the beginning, the lion is small and nonthreatening, but you know that the lion will grow and may eventually devour you. This man's cancer did spread and in the end did ''devour'' him.1 Prior to the PSA era, by the time of diagnosis the prostate cancer would have already spread beyond the prostate in the majority of cases. By the 1990s, this number had been reduced to one third, and by now it is presumably significantly lower than that. Prostate cancers that have spread at the time of diagnosis present many of the same treatment problems as cancers that recur after the initial treatment. In some cases, the recurrence is expected because of a Gleason score of 8 to 10, a PSA over 20, or other indicators of a large and serious cancer. In other cases, the recurrence of the cancer is unexpected, as when a man has a low Gleason score, a low PSA, and a small tumor. Some of these men are...
How Serious Is Your Cancer
Several questions immediately came to mind on the day I was diagnosed with prostate cancer. How serious is it Is it likely to kill me If so, when This chapter provides information you need to begin answering such questions. Those who wish to skip the more technical discussions will find a summary at the end of the chapter. Prostate cancer is cancer. It affects the walnut-sized gland that sits beneath the bladder and contributes some of the fluid making up the semen a detailed description of the prostate can be found in Appendix A. Prostate cancer should not be confused with benign prostatic hypertrophy (BPH), the other common indeed, almost universal prostate affliction of older men. For benign prostatic hypertrophy, the operant word is benign. It is an enlargement of the prostate that can cause symptoms such as frequency (having to urinate often), urgency (difficulty in holding your urine), a weak flow, and starting and stopping of the flow. Benign prostatic hypertrophy can be...
Seed plus beam radiation Surgery plus beam radiation
For men under the age of 65 who do not have health insurance, Medicaid is the best means of coverage. Qualifications differ widely by state. Medicaid coverage is roughly similar to that of Medicare, and you must use physicians who accept Medicaid, which many do not. A useful analysis of payment systems for covering prostate cancer treatment can be found in Prostate Cancer A Survivor's Guide, by Don Kaltenbach and Tim Richards (Seneca House Press, 2003). Once these ten factors have been considered, many men look for a definitive treatment trial to tell them what to do. Unfortunately, the definitive treatment trial is a myth. Because the treatment of prostate cancer is constantly changing and because prostate cancer progresses so slowly, the information provided by most treatment trials is out of date by the time it becomes available. In my case, I wished that twenty years ago researchers had started a comparison of surgical versus beam radiation treatment so that I would know the...
Red Wine and Red Grapes
Sun, 20 May 2018 | Prostate Cancer
There are suggestions that red wine and red grapes may provide some protection against prostate cancer. A study conducted in Seattle compared 753 men with prostate cancer to 703 matched controls. In an extensive dietary survey, the controls were found to have consumed more red wine but not white wine, beer, or liquor. For each glass of red wine consumed per week, there was a 6 percent reduction in risk for prostate cancer. According to the researchers, ''consumption of 8 glasses or more of red wine per week significantly reduced the relative risk of more aggressive prostate cancer by 61 .''5 Like soy, red wine contains flavonoids that may exert an anticancer effect through their estrogen-like properties. Red grapes contain resvera-trol, a compound closely related to flavonoids that also has anti-oxidant and anti-inflammatory properties. These studies should be confirmed before men make major changes in their alcohol intake. Michael Milken was a prominent Wall Street financier who was...
The surgical removal of prostate cancer has for many years been the most common treatment of the disease. It has been controversial, with proponents arguing that surgery is the only real hope for permanently curing the cancer, and opponents claiming that the main effect of surgery is to produce incontinence and impotence without any clear evidence, compared to other forms of treatment, that it actually lengthens men's lives. The surgical removal of enlarged prostates, both those caused by benign prostatic hypertrophy and those resulting from cancer, has a long history. Until the middle of the twentieth century, the operation was carried out through an incision in the perineum, the area between the back of the scrotum and the anus. During the past halfcentury it has become more popular to surgically remove cancerous prostates through an abdominal incision, an operation referred to as a radical retropubic prostatectomy. The term radical is used because lymph nodes and other tissues...
Surgical removal of the prostate carries the same risk of complications as does all major surgery. These include infection, post-op bleeding, and the ultimate complication, death. The death rate in the first thirty days following prostatectomy, according to a 2005 Canadian study, is less than 2 in 1,000 for men under age 60, and 6 in 1,000 for men 60 to 79.11 The most important cause of death is thrombosis (clots) of the veins in the legs, which often causes tenderness in the calf or leg swelling when clots break free, they may travel to the lungs and heart as emboli and cause shortness of breath, chest pain, and sometimes sudden death. The best prevention is to get patients up and walking soon after surgery and to maintain regular walking and leg exercises for several weeks. The three most common complications of all treatments for prostate cancer are urinary incontinence, impotence, and bowel dysfunction. Incontinence rates after surgical removal of the prostate vary widely and are...
Many men believe that if their prostate cancer is removed surgically and if there are no signs that the cancer has spread, then they are cured. This belief has been fostered by enthusiasts for prostate cancer surgery and by media presentations. The author of a 1996 Time magazine article about prostate cancer claimed that surgical treatment is ''the only one that can virtually guarantee a cure if the cancer has not metastasized. . . . If the cancer has not spread beyond the prostate wall and the gland is removed, the cancer is gone. Period.''20 Unfortunately, that is not always true. Recurrence of prostate cancer following surgery is not a rare event. Two factors strongly influence the chance of recurrence the age of the man and the stage of the cancer. The younger the man is at the time of surgery, the better his chances that the cancer will be curable. In one study of The stage of prostate cancer is determined by the Gleason score and other pathological features, as described in...
The procedure is carried out in a hospital, and the patient usually remains overnight. It is performed under local (spinal or epidural) or general anesthesia, with techniques similar to those used in implanting seeds in radiation seed therapy. Long needles are inserted into the prostate through the perineum. A freezing substance (liquid nitrogen was utilized in the past, but argon gas is now used) is inserted through the needles and the prostate is frozen into what is memorably referred to as an ice ball. An ultrasound probe is inserted into the rectum so that the urologist can carefully place the needles and ensure that tissue outside the prostate is not frozen. Because the urethra runs directly through the prostate, a catheter carrying warm, circulating water is inserted through it so that the urethra will not also be frozen. Following the procedure, a urinary catheter is left in place for approximately two weeks, during which time most men do not go back to work. The complications...
Treatment Decisions
Thomas Stamey, a prostate cancer researcher at Stanford University, wrote that when people are ''faced with a serious illness beyond their comprehension, each of us becomes childlike, afraid, and looking for someone to tell us what to do.''1 In the case of prostate cancer, men are frequently advised by different physicians to do entirely different things and then told ''But in the end, it is up to you to decide.'' There is probably no other major disease in which the burden of treatment decisions is placed so fully on the shoulders of the patients. In addition to having to make the treatment decisions, men are warned that these decisions must be made in a timely manner. Some studies have shown that delays in initiating treatment, especially for men with advanced stages of cancer, increase the chances of cancer recurrence. Judd Moul, a prostate cancer specialist at Duke University, counsels ''I have a referral academic practice in which a lot of patients are getting second and third...
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Reform law challenge may hinge on Supreme Court's interpretation doctrine
Lisa Schencker
How the U.S. Supreme Court rules in a major challenge to the healthcare reform law could come down to one word: Chevron.
Experts agree that the justices will have to consider the high court's oft-cited precedent in the 1984 case Chevron USA v. Natural Resources Defense Council in deciding whether to rule in favor of the government or the challengers in King v. Burwell. The pending case, to be decided next spring, centers on the question of whether the language of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act allows federal premium tax credits for consumers in states that have not “established” their own insurance exchanges and are relying on the federal exchange.
One part of the law says the tax credits are available only to Americans who enrolled through an “exchange established by the state.” But the Obama administration argues that the law's clear intention was to offer subsidies and expand coverage to Americans in every state, and that other provisions in the law support the payment of subsidies in all the states. The IRS issued a rule interpreting the law to mean that subsidies should be allowed in all states; the plaintiffs have challenged that IRS rule.
If the tax credits are held illegal in the 34 states using the federal exchange, it's likely that millions of Americans receiving the credits in those states would no longer be able to afford their insurance, severely disrupting the law's coverage expansion and insurance reforms. The justices will be reviewing a unanimous decision by a 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals panel in July upholding the legality of the subsidies.
The Supreme Court in its landmark decision in Chevron held that federal agencies must follow the letter of the law where the law is clear. But if courts using the Chevron analysis conclude that a law is ambiguous, then they must defer to an agency's reasonable interpretation of the law.
Many experts say that if the justices apply Chevron, it would mean a win for the government. “I think the justices who want to affirm the 4th Circuit will invoke the Chevron deference, and those who want to reverse the 4th Circuit will ignore it,” said Erwin Chemerinsky, dean of the University of California Irvine School of Law. “There's no doubt the Chevron deference works in favor of the IRS.”
Tim Jost, a law professor at Washington and Lee University and an expert on the ACA, said he believes the law is clear in allowing subsidies in all states. “You don't just pick four words out of it and throw the rest away,” Jost said. “The main legal doctrine that's in play is you read the statute as a whole.”
But even if the justices think the law is ambiguous, they should still rule in favor of the government under Chevron, Jost said. Indeed, the 4th Circuit panel said it found the law ambiguous in upholding the IRS rule. “If it's not clear one way or another, Chevron is clear and it says you refer to the administrative agency,” Jost said.
On the other hand, Michael Cannon, director of health policy studies for the libertarian Cato Institute and a key mover behind the legal challenge, argued that the government would lose under Chevron. “If you apply the Chevron doctrine, then the plaintiffs win because for the courts to defer to the IRS in this case the statute would have to be ambiguous, which it is not,” he said. “Congress would have had to delegate to the IRS the authority to resolve that ambiguity. Even if you assume there's ambiguity, there's no such delegation.”
Abbe Gluck, a professor at Yale Law School, argued the law is clear in allowing subsidies in all the states, regardless of whether a state launched its own exchange. She said the ACA is clear when read in context.
Gluck noted that for years, Justice Antonin Scalia and others have argued for a contextual, holistic reading of statutes. In a ruling in a separate case (PDF) earlier this year, Scalia wrote that “the fundamental canon of statutory construction (is) that the words of a statute must be read in their context and with a view to their place in the overall statutory scheme.”
Gluck said the challengers in King v. Burwell “are asking the court to put a lot of pressure on four words in isolation from the rest of the statute. The government is asking them to read those four words in the context of a 900-page law.”
So the real issue for the justices, she argued, is how to interpret the text of the law—not whether to choose between the text and the intended purpose of the law to expand coverage as broadly as possible, as the challengers argue.
“There's a bigger question here about how the court is going to interpret statutes in the modern era,” Gluck said. “I wouldn't want to see those doctrines polluted because of the particular politics of Obamacare.” She added, “I think if this case was about anything other than Obamacare, it would be a very clear Chevron case. Or maybe the court would just say the text is clear” that subsidies are authorized in all states.
She finds it ironic that the court is weighing in, because the whole point of the Chevron doctrine is to leave interpretation of ambiguous statutes up to agencies and keep courts out of political issues.
Legal scholars say there's no way of separating the crackling politics of Obamacare from the legal questions surrounding it. Noah Feldman, a Harvard law professor, said the justices' potential decision this term on the politically explosive issue of same-sex marriage might unconsciously influence their decision in King v. Burwell.
If the court rules in favor of same-sex marriage, that might give Chief Justice John Roberts—who is widely expected to be the swing vote in King v. Burwell—the political cover he needs to vote down the premium subsidies, Feldman said. It would be difficult to accuse the court of being overtly political and overly conservative if it votes in favor of gay marriage and against the ACA in the same term.
“Consciously, the justices don't think in terms of linkage,” Feldman said. “Nevertheless, there is some hydraulic effect from one case to another. It doesn't happen every term but it happens in certain terms where there are very big cases in play.”
Chemerinsky disagreed, saying he doesn't believe that's how the justices make their decisions. “They've been there a long time now, they're going to be there a long time in the future,” he said. “They know their public approval doesn't depend on the decisions of one term.”
Feldman said the outcome of King v. Burwell may rest with Roberts, who was the swing vote in 2012 in the court's bitterly split decision upholding the constitutionality of the healthcare law. “Roberts “saved the ACA the last time, which was remarkable and surprising,” Feldman said. “But that was on a constitutional issue and this is on a statutory issue. So this would be a much easier vote for him. He could say the statute says what it says.”
Follow Lisa Schencker on Twitter: @lschencker
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Minicars let youngsters drive themselves to Texas OR
Medical schools overhaul curriculum to better prepare future docs
InDepth: The problem with IRS Form 990 Schedule H
Overuse of psych meds hotly debated in BMJ exchange
Sabriya Rice
Psychiatric medications are commonly prescribed to treat serious issues such as attention disorders, major depression and schizophrenia. But the benefits of long-term use are "exaggerated" and would need “to be colossal” to counter the known harms associated with their use, suggests a Danish researcher in a candid debate posted Wednesday on the website of the BMJ, the journal of the British Medical Association.
Dr. Peter Gøtzsche, director of the Nordic Cochrane Centre—a group that provides systematic reviews of research—offered rather controversial suggestions about how the drugs should be handled. “Given their lack of benefit, I estimate we could stop almost all psychotropic drugs without causing harm,” he opined.
Short-term relief is eventually replaced by long term harm, he added. The medications “should almost exclusively be used in acute situations and always with a firm plan for tapering off.”
The overuse of psychiatric drugs has continued to be a widely debated topic in the United States, with many researchers suggesting the drugs are overprescribed. A 2012 study in JAMA Psychiatry found the rates of patients visiting their doctors for a prescription for antipsychotics more than doubled for most age groups between 1993 and 2009.
Use of the medications for the elderly in nursing homes has become the topic of much concern. Both federal health officials and trade groups have boosted efforts to curtail a practice in which the drugs are commonly used, off-label, to manage challenging behaviors in elderly dementia patients.
Last month, Medicare unleashed new data on drug spending within its prescription drug plan, Medicare Part D.
Notably among the top drugs by cost were the antidepressants Cymbalta (duloxetine) and Abilify (aripiprazole), also used to treat bipolar disorder and schizophrenia. Spending on Cymbalta topped $1.9 billion and accounted for nearly 7 million claims; Abilify topped $2.1 billion for nearly 3 million claims.
The data sources included physicians and healthcare organizations who submitted drug claims to Medicare's prescription drug plan in fiscal 2013.
A March report from the Government Accountability Office found the problem with overuse among the elderly is not exclusive to nursing homes. Internists, family medicine physicians, psychiatrists and neurologists wrote more than 80% of the prescriptions for antipsychotics for older adults with dementia in 2012.
The GAO report also estimated that the Medicare prescription drug program paid roughly $363 million in 2012 for antipsychotic drugs in elderly patients with dementia.
The BMJ debate included comments about the benefits of psychiatric drugs from Allan Young, director of the Centre for Affective Disorders at King's College London, and British journalist John Crace. They argue there is a clear need to treat psychiatric disorders to reduce the dangers patients may pose to themselves and others. They counter arguments about the harms, saying, “Over time, many of the concerns have been found to be over-inflated.”
In response to the debate, Dr. Doug Brown, director of research and development for the Alzheimer's Society in the U.K. said, "We welcome a debate on drugs, but we need to ensure that those drugs working well for people with dementia remain available to all who so desperately need them."
Still, reports have noted that long-term use of typical antipsychotic medications may lead to the development of a condition marked by uncontrollable muscle movements.
And a study released in September in JAMA Psychiatry found an estimated 90,000 emergency department visits annually result from adverse events such as overdose, excessive sleepiness and head injuries. About 19% of the visits resulted in the patient being hospitalized.
Among the elderly, specifically, the high rates of the drugs being used off-label prompted additional precautions. A 2005 alert from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration warned about the increased risk of heart failure, sudden death and pneumonia among elderly patients taking the drugs.
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HHS official wants states to know the risks of pot legalization
Jupiterimages via Getty Images
The top HHS official in charge of preventing substance abuse called for a grassroots effort to inform states of the long-term health risks of marijuana as more states pursue legalization.
Dr. Elinore McCance-Katz, assistance secretary for mental health and substance use within HHS, implored attendees at the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration's Prevention Day event to work with states on the health risks of marijuana. Katz, who heads up SAMHSA, said that marijuana today has a higher count of THC, the psychoactive ingredient in marijuana that creates its mind-altering effect, compared to 20 years ago.
"It is taking time to get attention to the issue, but you all can help with that," McCance-Katz told the audience of addition prevention advocates and community leaders. "There has to be a huge sea change in order for this to be altered at this point."
The THC count for marijuana in the 1990s was 4%, but it had increased to 12% in 2014, McCance-Katz said, citing a 2015 study.
"There are risks and adverse outcomes with marijuana, which are downplayed by the industry and ignored by our states," she said. "There include low-birth weight babies, pulmonary systems, car crashes … and addiction."
A recent study in Colorado found that after a nursing woman smokes marijuana once then her baby will consume traces of the drug through her breast milk for up to six weeks.
So far 33 states have approved laws to allow medical marijuana and nine states and the District of Columbia have legalized recreational use. Marijuana remains illegal under federal law, but neither the Trump nor Obama administrations enforced the law in states that legalized the drug for recreational use.
More states are considering legalization, with New York's Legislature the latest to consider the issue.
An attendee asked McCance-Katz if the Trump administration was going to do anything to combat the rise of marijuana use and enforce federal laws. McCance-Katz responded that would be an issue for the Justice Department to consider.
"Marijuana is so incredibly prevalent now that from the perspective of a healthcare provider I am trying to help reduce the harm by informing people about the risk," she said. "That is about as much as I can really say about it."
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David J. Curtin
With more than 35 years’ experience, David Curtin counsels on all aspects of federal tax controversy and litigation matters. Particularly recognized for his work on large cases, David also tries both civil and criminal tax matters. While focused in the tax area, David additionally counsels on non-tax cases in both federal and state courts. He is a fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers.
David also works in Internal Revenue Service (IRS) summons matters, including John Doe and designated summonses. He has considerable experience in foreign discovery procedures, including letters rogatory and depositions taken abroad.
Chambers USA notes that David “stands out for his solid advice on the most complex controversy and litigation matters” and is a “superb litigator with a fantastic courtroom presence.” A frequent speaker, David teaches federal tax litigation as an adjunct professor at Georgetown University Law Center, and he previously served as a lecturer on trial practice in both regional and national programs for the National Institute of Trial Advocacy. David also occasionally lectures at the Attorney General’s Advocacy Institute.
David began his legal career when he entered the Attorney General’s Honors Program at the US Department of Justice as a trial lawyer in the Department’s Tax Division, where he was awarded the Tax Division’s Outstanding Attorney Award. He has been in private practice in Washington, DC, since 1979.
selected representations
While most of his cases are resolved at the administrative level or settled before trial, David has led trial teams in a number of large tax cases. Recent trials are:
TIFD III-E v. United States, 342 F. Supp. 2d 94 (D. Conn. 2004), rev’d and remanded 459 F.3d 220 (2d Cir. 2006) (“Castle Harbour”), on remand, 660 F. Supp 2d 367 (D. Conn. 2009).
Fidelity International Currency Advisor A Fund, L.L.C. v. United States, No. 05-40151 & 06-40130 (D. Mass.); Fidelity High Tech Advisor A Fund, L.L.C. v. United States, Nos. 06-40243 & 06-40244 (D. Mass.) (45-day trial in 2008)
Additional cases he has tried include:
Merrill Lynch v. Comm’r, 120 T.C. 12; (2003), aff’d in part and remanded in part by 386 F.3d 464 (2d Cir. 2004), on remand to 131 T.C. No. 19 (Dec. 30, 2008) (tax)
Trigon Ins. Co. v. United States, 234 F. Supp. 2d 592 (E.D. Va. 2002) (tax)
Long Term Capital Holdings vs. United States, 330 F. Supp. 2d 122 (D. Conn. 2004), aff’d 150 Fed. Appx. 40 (2005) (tax)
Hercules Inc. v. Aetna Casualty & Surety Co., 1998 WL 962089 (Del. Super. 1998) (non-tax jury – 3 ½ months)
Zand v. Comm’r, T.C. Memo. 1996-19 (1996), aff’d 143 F.3d 1393 (1998) (tax)
Machesney v. Bruni, 905 F. Supp. 1122 (D.D.C. 1995) (non-tax jury)
United States v. Chapel (N.D. Ill. 1990) (unpublished) (non-tax criminal)
United States v. Pittsburg Trade Exchange Inc., 46 A.F.T.R. 2d 80-5932 (W.D. Pa. 1980), aff’d 644 F.2d 302 (3d Cir. 1981) (summons enforcement)
Hope School v. United States (D.C. S.D. Ill. 1979) (unpublished) (tax jury), rev’d, 612 F.2d 298 (7th Cir. 1980) (tax jury)
The types of tax and non-tax cases David has handled include:
Jury and non-jury refund trials in federal district courts
Tax Court cases and trials
IRS summons enforcement trials in federal district courts arising out of both civil audits and criminal investigations, and appeals
Tax cases before the US Court of Federal Claims
Criminal tax investigations and trials
Complex insurance coverage cases, including a three-month jury trial in state court on behalf of a large chemical company
Jury verdict of $4.1 million for an individual in federal court in an HIV misdiagnosis case
Representation of foreign corporate officials residing in South Africa in a major US arms export control investigation
Representation of corporations and individuals in alleged foreign payment cases and procurement investigations
St. Louis University, 1969, Bachelor of Arts, With Honors
St. Louis University School of Law, 1972, Juris Doctor, With Honors
Supreme Court of Missouri
US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit
US Court of Appeals for the First Circuit
US Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit
US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit
US Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit
US Court of Federal Claims
Member, Practice Group of the Year, Tax, Law360 (2017)
Ranked, Tax Controversy, Chambers USA (2011–2014)
Recommended, Tax Controversy, The Legal 500 US (2014–2016)
david.curtin@morganlewis.com
1111 Pennsylvania Ave. NW
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Kerry Soper: Mormon Artist
From MormonWiki
(Redirected from Kerry Soper)
Kerry Soper is a landscape painter and associate professor of comparative arts and letters. He received his Bachelor of Fine Art from Utah State University. He earned his master’s and PhD degrees in American Studies from Emory University. While in graduate school, he worked as an illustrator, doing political cartoons and illustrations for humor magazines.
Soper teaches in the Interdisciplinary Humanities and American Studies programs at Brigham Young University. His research fields include satire, comedy, American art history, popular film, and comic strips. He is the author of Garry Trudeau: The Aesthetics of Satire and We Go Pogo: Walt Kelly, Politics and American Satire. He also publishes cartoons and short satiric pieces in The Chronicle of Higher Education.
He was raised in Farmington, Utah. After high school his family moved to the small town of Spring City, Utah. After completing his PhD, he moved his wife, Lisa, and their children back to Spring City—they have four children. Although he now lives in Utah County, he returns to Spring City once a week to work in his studio.
He is a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and served a full-time mission to France.
Fields South of Florence Courtesy Kerry Soper DO NOT COPY
Horses at Covered Bridge Canyon Courtesy Kerry Soper DO NOT COPY
Retrieved from "https://www.mormonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=Kerry_Soper:_Mormon_Artist&oldid=42456"
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Battle of Villiere Canal
December 23-24, 1814 Villiere Canal, Louisiana
Gen. Andrew Jackson
2,100 24 115 74
Col. William Thorton
Conclusion: Inconclusive
New Orleans Campaign
It was broad daylight when the British point reached the head of Bayou Mazant. Maj. Gen. John Keane had accompanied the advance, and now he decided to get to the river road by way of the Villere Canal. The canal's length was 8 miles, the first quarter of which rerquired a bridge of boats in some places. by 10:00 A.M., the entire advanced party had landed and was toiling toward the river road through the heavy swampy terrain. Loitering around the Villere Canal was 30 American militiamen when a detachment of British soldiers surprised and captured them. Maj. Gabriel Villere, their commander, jumped out of a window, and made his way through the swamp to carry the alarm to Gen. Andrew Jackson.
After leaving the canal, ?? Thorton advanced for about 1/2 mile toward New Orleans and stopped. He had only 1,600 men. Certain officers recommended to Keane that the column stay in the tall reeds until the advance. Thorton, in contrast, wanted to push on without delay as far as possible. Informants told him that the city had only 5,000 American defenders, and that a swift thrust would be able to capture it. Keane, however, believed Joseph Ducros, a prisoner who inflated the number to 10,000 men.he ordered Thornton to put his brigade into bivouac and wait for reinforcements.
A rumor of British presence reached Jackson at noon, and Villere soon confirmed it. He ordered the town ransacked for firearms, and every able-bodied man, enrolled in some military unit, called out. By sunset, jackson had accumulated a force of about 2,100 men. These men advanced to the LaRonde plantation, undetected by the British, and took a position concealed by an avenue of trees. Seperating them from the British force was a cultivated area about 1,200 yards wide, bounded on the north by a swamp, and on the south by the Mississippi River, here 1,000 yards across.
The American schooner, USS Carolina, carrying 14 guns and 95 men, slipped unoticed in the gloaming into position to enfilade the British camp, now brightly illuminated by campfires. Jackson had agreed with Commodore Daniel Patterson that the ship's first gunfire would start the battle. At 7:30 P.M. on December 23, she fired a shot. They threw the British camp into confusion. Half an hor later, Jackson moved forward to the attack. In the total darkness, friends were indistinguishable from foes. and fired into each other. the fight lasted for hours.
In spite of the losses, Thornton wanted to move out toward the city the next day, but Keane decided to wait for the rest of his army.
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Ambassadors Dinner 2018
You are here: Home Services Events Ambassadors dinner 2018
**********WE HAVE REACHED MAXIMUM CAPACITY FOR THE EVENT, NO REGISTRATION WILL TAKE PLACE ON THE SPOT *********
The Annual Ambassadors Dinner of the NABC has become a tradition of growing importance and prominence. Once a year, NABC invites all African Ambassadors accredited to the Benelux and all of NABC’s members for an afternoon and evening full of networking and inspiration. With an average of over 25 participating Ambassadors, this event is unique in its ability to connect African Ambassadors with Dutch multinationals, SMEs and start-ups.
We are pleased to announce that the annual African Ambassadors Dinner will be hosted on Friday, November 30th at the Rabobank Headquarters, Utrecht. During the event, NABC will present the "Doing Business in Africa" Award to one of its prominent members.
This year's attending embassies: ( Please note the embassies attending are subject to change accordingly to the registrations)
*********WE HAVE REACHED MAXIMUM CAPACITY FOR THE EVENT, NO REGISTRATION WILL TAKE PLACE ON THE SPOT *********
Tentative program:
14:00 - 14:45 Arrival and Registration
14:55 - 15:10 Opening Remarks
15:15 - 17:35 Tailor Made Matchmaking with African Ambassadors and Dutch Private Sector
17:40 - 19:10 Plenary Session: Doing Business Award, Nominees pitching are: Kountable, JobNet Africa & Delft Imaging Systems
19:20 - 21:45 Cocktails, Dinner and Networking
Jimmy Nelson, Photographer
Jimmy’s dream has always been to create awareness about our world’s indigenous cultures through his photography.
Since his first internationally acclaimed exploration through Tibet almost 30 years ago, Jimmy Nelson has travelled to the world’s most hidden corners to photograph indigenous peoples. In 2013 he published his first book Before They Pass Away, with which his lifelong dream, to create awareness about the world’s unimaginable diversity, became reality.
On his journeys he is continuously witnessing the speed with which the amazing communities are embracing the future. He has come to realize, after a life spent traveling, that his camera is the perfect tool for making contact and building intimate and unique connections.
Learn more about Jimmy Nelson and his work by clicking here.
www.jimmynelson.com
Patricia Monthe, Founder & CEO, MEDx eHealth Center
Innovation and excellence defines me. I am the promoter of the digital hospital in frontier countries.
I take pride in being a challenger of status quo. I am an ambidectrous thinker with good ability to match strategic with operational thinking, technical with managerial knowledge, as well as rational with intuitive insights. People describe me as entrepreneurial and energizing, for the enthusiasm I exhibit towards situations that require new knowledge and innovative thinking.
I strongly believe that "emerging countrie's leaders must think without a box and today's lack of infrastructure in Africa is the greatest asset to win the fourth Industrail Revolution. "
www.medx.care
Marianne Schoemaker, Head of Banking for Food Partnership - CEO Rabo Development, Rabobank
Marianne Schoemaker is an experienced banker with a strong focus on connecting and growing people, teams and businesses. In April 2017 she was appointed Managing Director at Rabo Partnerships B.V. a legal entity within Rabobank Group focussed on partnerships with a mission to further financial inclusion in developing countries and outreach to rural environments. The activities comprise investments and advisory services to financial institutions and development of food & agribusiness value chains in emerging countries in Latin America, Africa and South East Asia. Alliances and networks that support this mission are actively explored.
Marianne started her carrier with Rabobank in 1993 within the Food & Agribusiness Research Department and fulfilled various positions in front-office, risk, HR and research departments. She worked as a product professional in Equity Capital Markets, Corporate Banking, Leveraged Finance, Global Learning and Talent Development. She led teams in Credit Risk Management, HR Talent Development and was Regional Head Agribusiness Research for Africa and Europe from 2014 to April 2017. She holds a Board position at BoPInc. a social enterprise that support start-ups, SMEs and multinationals in creating commercially and socially viable business models and activities that include the people in the Base of the Pyramid (BoP) as consumers, producers and entrepreneurs.
Marianne graduated as an agricultural economist at Wageningen University & Research with a focus on Consumer & Marketing Research and Development Economics.
Peter de Ruiter, Managing Director, NABC
Peter has over 30 years of professional experience as Tax Professional in PwC and EY. With this experience he built up an outstanding track record of successful high profile client engagements. Peter worked and lived in a number of countries. He gained tax and business expertise in emerging/developing markets such as Central Eastern Europe, Nigeria and West-Africa.
He is a fiscal lawyer with a passion for the technical aspects of international and national tax rules. And he knows how to use this legal framework to achieve the business objectives of his clients. As senior partner in PwC Peter has led larger (up to 300 staff) teams operating in a number of different jurisdictions. Over the years he has achieved impressive revenue and profit growth with his teams in these countries.
Marina Diboma, Deputy Managing Director, NABC
Born and raised in Cameroon, Marina Diboma is a graduate from the University of Amsterdam with degrees in Communication Science and Business Studies.
She has proven experience in establishing and strengthening both South–South and North–South cooperation through trade, investment and development. Marina has a passion in building bridges between people and organization, and vice versa. She is fluent in four languages: Dutch, French, English and Spanish.
Her areas of expertise include: Economic Diplomacy, Development Cooperation, Media and Public Relations, Entrepreneurship, Private Sector Development and Trade & Investment with Africa. Within the framework of her professional activities, Marina has already led more than 30 business missions to/from the African continent. During these missions, she has always played the role of the head of mission and spokeswoman for both the public and private authorities.
PDate: Friday, November 30th
Time: 14:00-21:45
Location: Rabobank Head Quarters, Nederland
Address: Croeselaan 18, 3521 CB Utrecht
Train: The Rabobank Head Quarters is within walking distance of Utrecht Centraal
Parking at location (Limited Space): After the new building, follow the signs ‘Parkeren bezoekers’ (visitors’ parking). You will need to drive around the building to the car park entrance at the back. Please report at the reception, where you will be given directions to the venue.
(Paid) Parking Adress: If the main parking is full you can try, in order of distance from the venue: Jaarbeurs Parking or Moreelsepark, Spoorstraat 22.
Dress code: Formal/Chic: Dress to impress
The ''Doing Business in Africa'' Award
Every year during the Ambassadors Dinner, a prestigious award is presented to one of our notable members. The ''Doing Business in Africa'' (DBA) Award aims to reward, with recognition, company's contribution to the sustainable and inclusive economic development within Africa. Apart from being an active member in the NABC community, the criteria include working in an informative, inclusive and sustainable manner, and having a clear strategy and an active engagement in the African market that has proven a business success.
The following four companies have been pre-selected as nominees for the DBA awards are the following: Jobnet Africa, Delft Imaging Systems B.V., Kountable, and Tunga! The top three companies with the most votes will be given the floor during the Ambassadors Dinner to pitch their successful business stories and the audience will get a chance to vote for the winner at the event.
Now we ask for your help - vote for the three companies you believe should battle for the DBA award, and you could possibly win two tickets to the Ambassadors Dinner!
Nominee Overview:
Jobnet Africa
JobNet Africa builds the international recruitment brand JobnetAfrica and expanded its team to 10 colleagues with 6 different nationalities working from Ghana, Côte d'Ivoire, Kenya, Ethiopia, South Africa and the Netherlands. Over the past 5 years they have placed more than 100 international, regional and local candidates in 24 different countries with their international clients active in Africa.
Want to know more? Visit www.jobnetafrica.com
Why should Jobnet Africa win the award?
One of the most important ways to help Africa grow is through education. However, to provide education for the offsprings, it is crucial that parents have sustainable income which is driven by economic growth. Jobnet Africa plays a notable part in developing a platform where parents have the opportunity to send their children to schools. This is done through working together with companies and organizations that work towards the economic growth and job creation in Africa. By doing so, Jobnet Africa ensures that the next generation is more educated and empowered than the last.
Delft Imaging Systems B.V.
Delft believes that everyone should benefit from innovations in the field of healthcare. Delft Imaging Systems provide diagnostic imaging devices and artificial intelligence software to people worldwide. In 2016, Delft installed X-Ray systems with CAD4TB software in 52 hospitals and clinics across Ghana. All X-Ray systems are interlinked to a central e-health platform, making it possible for hospitals to exchange medical information, and strenghten the Ghanian healthcare system. Over the last 5 years, Delft Imaging Systems' innovations helped to screen over 2 million people for tuberculosis. They have implemented over 40 projects in more than 33 countries, supported by their two local offices in Africa.
Want to know more? Visit www.delft.care
Why should Delft Imaging Systems B.V. win the award?
Delft Imaging Systems project in Ghana is a great example of their way of work. The clinics all have solar panels on the roof and can go without power for 4-6 hours, making it an excellent combination of sustainability and resilience in remote environments. Local doctors and physicians were trained in reading and reporting on chest X-Rays and tuberculosis. In addition, all technical maintenance to the equipment is carried out by local engineers of Universal Delft, their local office in Accra. Furthermore, to involve the local population, Ghanaian artists were asked to decorate all the clinics, making it a trully Ghanaian project.
Kountable
Kountable is a global trade facilitation platform that works with SMEs across Africa who supply big organizations like government agencies, non-profits and corporates with first quality, globally sourced ICT, medical supplies and industrial equipment. Kountable partners with SMEs to buy the goods they need on their behalf, eliminating the need for collateral, and providing an alternative to loans which is often faster and less costly.
Want to know more? Visit www.kountable.com
Why should Kountable win the award?
Kountable lowers the barriers of African trade with funding, technology and management; therefore, provides an opportunity for African entrepreneurs to access the global markets. Furthermore, with Kountable, African buyers can expect nothing less but transparency, particularly within the supply chain. Laslty, existing global market leaders have not created solutions and without the right solution, these leaders have limited access to the African marketplace. Meanwhile, Kountable helps to build, develop, nurture and grow African middle class economies in a sustainable way through entrepreneurship and technology.
Eager to hear more? These 3 companies will pitch during the plenary session during the event.
zhane.conteh@nabc.nl
+31(0)70 30436122
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New Grenfell Tower expert advisory panel first meeting
The new Grenfell Tower expert advisory panel on safety has used their first meeting to set out the scope of vital work to ensure people living in high rise buildings are safe.
The expert panel will provide independent advice to the Secretary of State on any immediate measures that may need to be put in place to make buildings safe for residents following the Grenfell Tower fire.
The panel agreed the most immediate issues they will address and confirmed they will call upon other experts from a wide range of professions and services as required to ensure a responsive and dynamic approach, as developments arise.
The panel also recognised the importance of this work being carried out without duplicating or prejudging the outcomes of the public inquiry and police investigation.
To provide advice to the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government the panel will:
Focus on providing advice relating to fire and building safety, and in particular how to ensure the public are safe in high rise buildings.
Consider whether there are any immediate additional actions that should be taken to ensure the safety of existing high rise buildings.
Consider whether there are any changes or clarifications required to existing regulations, and provide advice on possible changes, including making recommendations on the use of specific materials.
Consider whether the current processes for checking building safety are fit for purpose, and whether any changes are required.
The Expert Advisory Panel has said:
"The tests that are currently being conducted are a screening test to identify which Aluminium Composite Material (ACM) panels are of concern. It tests the filler - the core of the panel - to check if it is of limited combustability (category 1) or not (category 2 or 3). This is in line with the requirements of the Building Regulations guidance. the filler is one element of the overall cladding system.
If the panel core fails the test we would expect the landlord to take the recommended interim safety measures issued on 22 June 2017.
The Panel will engage with experts across the country to consider whether these panels can be used safely as part of a wider building external wall system, and therefore could remain on a building under certain circumstances. If, in the meantime, the repsonsible person for the building chooses to take down and replace cladding, care should be taken to consider the impact that removal may have on the other wall elements, especially insulation, and therefore on the overall fire integrity of the building as well as other Building Regulation requirements. The advice of a competent professional who specialises in the fire performance of cladding assemblies should be sought to assist in these considerations. "
Initially the expert advisory panel is established for 3 months after which it will be reviewed.
The appointment of the Expert Panel was announced on 27 June 2017.
The panel of building and fire safety experts is chaired by Sir Ken Knight. The other core members of the panel are:
Dr Peter Bonfield, Chief Executive of the Building Research Establishment
Amanda Clack, President of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors and a Partner at EY
Roy Wilsher, Chair of the National Fire Chiefs Council
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