England riots: What's the meaning of the words behind the chaos?

From shot 29-year-old Mark Duggan referring to the police as "feds" to the nuanced use of the word "community", the language of the riots and the response can tell us something.

It may have been England that was shaken by violence, looting and disorder.

But many of the terms used by its perpetrators came from a very different place altogether - and, due to coverage of the rioting, they have found a wider audience than ever before.

"If you see a fed... SHOOT!" read one message circulated on BlackBerry Messenger, imploring readers to riot.

Another, widely reported in the aftermath of the chaos, urged everyone to "up and roll to Tottenham [expletive] the 5-0". There were myriad references as well to the "po po".

Mark Duggan, whose fatal shooting by police sparked the violence, himself sent a text message shortly before his death which read: "The feds are following me."

All these terms used to express antipathy towards the police share a common feature - all are derived from the inner cities of the US, not of the UK.

To outsiders, it appeared incongruous that these terms were commonly used by youngsters who were straight out of comprehensive, not Compton.

But when politicians and pundits used such terms to argue that the pernicious influence of hip hop and rap was responsible for fuelling the riots, they themselves ended up using vernacular gleaned from their box sets of The Wire.

When Michael Gove, the education secretary, discussed the possible causes of the disorder, he attacked the instant gratification of "gangsta" culture. Reporters transcribed the word as it might appear on the lyric sheet of a Dr Dre CD, instead of "gangster", as once would have been expected when deployed by an Aberdonian Tory MP who represents a constituency in Surrey.

However, Jennifer Blake, a youth worker who runs the Safe and Sound anti-gang project in Peckham, south London, says such commentators miss the point.

"When kids talk about the feds, it's obvious that they're not talking about the FBI," she says. "They know that's not how things work over here. It's like a code - politicians and the media don't understand."

She highlights home-grown phrases like "bully van", meaning police van, and "shank", meaning knife, as evidence that UK street culture is not just passively replicating the language of the US inner cities.

Indeed, Jonathon Green, author of the Chambers Slang Dictionary, points out that many of the messages which circulated during the riots included non-US phrases.

These included exhortations to defend one's "yard" - used in its Jamaican-derived sense, meaning home - or one's "end", a home-grown term referring to an area of a city.

Exclusive blend

All, he says, are examples of Multicultural London English (MLE), a dialect identified among young people in the capital which blends the phonetics and vocabulary of such diverse influences as West Indian, south Asian and traditional cockney.

He says the use of "feds" to mean the UK constabulary dates back no further than 1997, and the English deployment of "po po" - which originated in Los Angeles during the 1980s - is even more recent. Such Americanisms, Green says, have to be understood in this context, at least within London where the riots began.

NEWS BY:http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-14506159

UN Human Rights Chief Is Said to Favor Syria War Crimes Probe

The Syrian government’s crackdown on dissent is so deadly that it merits investigation by the International Criminal Court, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights is prepared to tell the Security Council tomorrow, a UN diplomat said.

The Security Council will be told by High Commissioner Navi Pillay that there is evidence Syria has violated international law, according to a UN diplomat briefed on the findings who wasn’t authorized to discuss them Faced with the most serious threat to his family’s 40-year rule, Bashar al-Assad has deployed tanks, armored vehicles, artillery and helicopters.

The U.S. State Department alleged the authorities detained more than 30,000 people, some in cages. Human-rights activists say Syrian forces have killed more than 2,400 since anti-government demonstrations began in March.

The latest UN report, combined with growing international indignation, may add momentum to a European-led push at the UN to overcome Russian resistance to firmer action against Assad.

The International Criminal Court, based in The Hague, seeks to try despots charged with war crimes, genocide and crimes against humanity.

It issued an arrest warrant for Libyan dictator Muammar Qaddafi in June.

U.S. President Barack Obama is close to asking Assad to leave office, an explicit demand that would come more than a month after the administration said Assad had lost legitimacy, said a U.S. official, who asked not to be identified because the timing of the announcement is still being discussed. 

NEWS BY:http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-08-17/un-human-rights-chief-is-said-to-favor-syria-war-crimes-probe.html

Africa dictators, their sons, mothers, and war…

As I wrote this column Monday night, Libyan rebels were battling troops loyal to the country’s eccentric strongman Col. Muammar Gaddafi for control of Tripoli. The rebels, had control of over 80 per cent of the Libyan capital after launching attacks on it from several directions on Sunday.

Like DR Congo’s dictator Mobutu Sese Seko’s son Kongolo who took over the war effort from his ailing and embattled father in 1997, Gaddafi’s son Saif al-Islam, who was expected to succeed his father, had increasingly taken the place of his father who hasn’t been seen in public since May.

Gaddafi’s only presence was bellicose recordings in which he vowed death against the “rats” (rebels) and their imperialist supporters. His rhetoric was colourful and bombastic, and he threatened that millions of Libyans will arm themselves with guns, kitchen knives, and even use bare fists, to defend him.

We were shown matronly women clad in bui-bui wielding Kalashnikovs. Then that sweet moment in African politics where fantasy runs against the hard metal of realty arrived. As rebels closed in on Tripoli, thousands of people turned out as Gaddafi had predicted – but it was to hug and kiss the rebels, not to fight them.

Gaddafi himself was missing in action (MIA), the great warrior too afraid to ride to the rescue of his own children. His own presidential guard, the equivalent of our Presidential Guard Brigade (PGB), just dropped their guns and melted away into the night. We have seen this over and over again, including most recently in Ivory Coast where rebels ignominiously smoked out vote-stealing “president” Laurent Gbagbo from the basement of State House in Abidjan where he was hiding with his wife and son.

Today, we examine this relationship between dictators and their sons. Let’s first tell an old story. When I was an editor at The Monitor years ago, one time a friend who was quite rich came to my office in the evening and asked me for a copy of the paper.

I told him he was surely rich enough to afford newspapers for the rest of his life. Yes, he agreed, but he had just spent his last pennies for the day sending money to his kids who had just finished school in the UK and started working there. He then explained to me how the children were his “pension and retirement policies”.

In other words, should he somehow lose his wealth, he hoped his children would send him money for food and fuel, so it was important that he helps them settle down quickly.

African presidents have a very different approach toward risk assessment and using their children as pension vehicles. Because most of them are corrupt, anyway, they don’t want their children for their money. They steal it from the taxpayer.

Therefore an African First Child can never really be his president father’s retirement package. That is for ordinary parents. However, while the corrupt president doesn’t want his son’s money, he can use him for something else which he needs and tends to be in short supply – undying loyalty.

True, history is full of sons killing their fathers and taking power for themselves, but that is extremely rare in Africa today. While other officials might abandon the Big Man as several of Gaddafi’s ministers have done, a son will hesitate to stick a knife in his father’s side – even if he hates him. The exigencies of despotic power in Africa, therefore, first and foremost distort the parenting market place – a subject no one has bothered to study yet.. But it also partly explains why many of our leaders tend to be oppressive. Take one of Gaddafi’s sons, Saif.

Saif al-Islam studied at the prestigious London School of Economics, where he obtained both a Master of Science degree and a doctorate (not surprisingly, it has now emerged that he used a ghost writer, and copied sections of his PhD thesis).

Saif returned home, and got deeply involved in business and politics. Any other parent whose son gets a PhD from LSE, would encourage the chap to go work for the World Bank. Africa’s Big Men bring their sons home and insert them in the army, corrupt business, or politics.

In Africa, when a mother with grown up children gets fed up with the husband, she often takes off to be with her children because it has a destabilising effect on the man. For example, when Zimbabwe’s First Lady Grace Mugabe went to Hong Kong to visit daughter Bona after a domestic “misunderstanding” with Uncle Bob and stayed there for long, Mugabe packed his suitcase and went looking for her – just like a husband in the village. 

NEWS BY:http://www.monitor.co.ug/OpEd/OpEdColumnists/CharlesOnyangoObbo/-/878504/1224112/-/hoglq7/-/

French degree course guide

A degree in French will give you skills prized by employers and the chance to gain deep knowledge of one of the world's most influential cultures along the way.

What qualification do you leave with?

Typically a BA Hons. Some courses, often offering joint honours, lead to a BSc Hons. Some Scottish universities offer MAs.

How long is the degree?

Usually four years, including one year studying or working in a French-speaking country. Some institutions offer three-year degrees with reduced or no periods of foreign study. Some Scottish universities offer five-year degrees.

What does it cover?

Studying French at university is an inviting prospect for anyone with an aptitude for languages and an interest in French culture, combining as it does a potentially rich learning experience during the course with seemingly wide-ranging career opportunities afterwards.

Most undergraduates on four-year degrees will spend the first year focusing firstly on building their language skills, followed by a second in which a range of options will come to the fore. Options tend to give students the chance to focus on aspects of the francophone world ranging from literature (embracing medieval and modern) to film and visual culture, history, politics, business and science. Linguistics options are also widely offered.

The third year is usually spent abroad, either studying at a university in a French-speaking country, working as a teaching assistant in a school or on work placement. Taking this year in France is a popular option, but many courses also offer the chance to spend the time further afield, with destinations ranging from the French island territories of Martinique and Reunion to Belgium, Switzerland, French-speaking Canada, Tunisia and Senegal.

The fourth year will be spent back in the UK, with specialisation to the fore. Among the options on offer in some universities are those building specialist linguistic skills such as interpretation.

What to expect

A wide-ranging, intellectually-stimulating experience. Some courses offer the chance to combine French with a subject from another discipline. A range of joint honours courses, giving students the opportunity to combine French with, for example, another language or with subjects including business and finance, are also available.

What are the usual A-levels you need?

Most, though not all, require French to A-level. A minority, including courses at the universities of East Anglia and Kent, offer French from beginner level, whereby only a GCSE in a language is required and the course begins with intensive language study. Some courses insist on specific GCSE passes at C or higher, including in English and maths.

Will you be interviewed?

Oxford and Cambridge interview all students. Other universities tend only to interview a selected sample of candidates.

Career prospects

Workplace opportunities for languages graduates are wide-ranging, with the analytic and communications skills needed within a French degree, added to the core linguistic skills, widely prized by employers. Recent reductions in language graduate numbers, combined with corporate globalisation, have added to demand for linguists. French graduates go on to work in education (teaching both French in English-speaking countries and English abroad), and to use their linguistic skills in fields including the diplomatic service, the security service, journalism, law, accountancy, business, industry and finance.

Is further study needed?

No, but some go on to take, for example, master's degrees in translating and interpreting.

Top places to study

The Complete University Guide (published April 2011) rates Oxford, St Andrews, Durham, Cambridge and University College London as the top five universities for this subject according to an index based on student satisfaction; entry standards; an assessment of the quality of the university's research; and graduate prospects.

NEWS BY:http://www.telegraph.co.uk/education/universityeducation/degree-courses/8547336/French-degree-course-guide.html

'World's' U.S. reporter arrested in London

LONDON, Aug. 18 (UPI) -- A former "News of the World" reporter in Hollywood has been arrested in London in connection with the telephone hacking scandal there, officials said.

James Desborough was arrested Thursday when he arrived at a south London police station to answer questions about his alleged involvement in the telephone hacking investigation that forced "World" owner Rupert Murdoch to cease publication of the newspaper, The Guardian reported.

Desborough was promoted to be the newspaper's Los Angeles-based U.S. editor in 2009. He was given the post less than a month after winning the British Press Award for show business reporter of the year.

Desborough's arrest is the 13th in connection with Britain's phone hacking investigation. It also raises the question of whether Desborough used telephone hacking to obtain information for stories he wrote in the United States, The Guardian said.

The British reporter continued to win accolades for his work in the United States.

Desborough "never gets his facts wrong. He's a rock-solid reporter," said Hollywood author Ian Halperin.

The online site Hollyscope also praised Desborough for "seem[ing] to have information that not even close family members … know."

NEWS BY:http://www.upi.com/Top_News/World-News/2011/08/18/Worlds-US-reporter-arrested-in-London/UPI-21381313675095/

Clearing 2011: A-level results day live Q & A with David Willetts

Worried about missing your A-level grades and losing your place at university? Thinking about applying for clearing?

Interested in finding out more about options other than degree courses? Can you afford to reapply next year when fees rise to £9k?

David Willetts, Minister for Universities and Science, will be answering your questions live at 11am on A-level results day on Thursday.As applications hit a record high, some institutions are banning students from taking resits to boost their scores. Are you considering resits?

Perhaps you'd like to know more about how to research the best courses for you? Or maybe you'd like to know more about vocational alternatives such as apprenticeships?

In light of the news that one-in-10 final year students are dissatisfied with the quality of their university degree, maybe you would like to know what you can do to ensure you get the most out of your time as an undergraduate?

Or perhaps your children are waiting for their results and you want to know how you can help?  

NEWS BY:http://www.telegraph.co.uk/education/universityeducation/8704087/Clearing-2011-A-level-results-day-live-Q-and-A-with-David-Willetts.html?utm_source=tmg&utm_medium=TD_8704087&utm_campaign=education1808

And, how California’s education policy was hijacked to mandate teaching “gay history” in public schools

Texas Insider Report: WASHINGTON, D.C. – House Speaker John Boehner twice walked out of the negotiations because, as he stated, he felt like he was trying to nail Jell-O to the wall. We are learning more about how the debt limit deal got done. One thing is clear – presidential leadership did not prevent a default. In fact, a report yesterday hints that the White House nearly caused one. 

In retaliation, Nancy Pelosi was instructed by the White House to not participate in a scheduled conference call with Boehner and Senate leaders Reid and McConnell.

Without Pelosi’s participation, Reid backed out and the call was eventually canceled. Thus, at the same time the president was demanding action, administration officials blew up the negotiations.

Congressional leaders evidently got tired of being played by the White House. Consider this excerpt:

    “Later that day, the four leaders met with Obama at the White House. At one point … the Democratic and Republican leaders asked Obama and his aides to leave the room to let them negotiate. A tentative deal was subsequently struck, but Obama privately threatened to veto it…”

According to The Hill, Speaker John Boehner asked the networks to broadcast his response to Obama’s address to the nation on July 25th. The request
reportedly “infuriated the White House.”

For example, on the morning of Monday, July 25th, Obama endorsed a plan by Senate Democrat Leader Harry Reid that did not have any tax increases.

But in his address to the nation later that night, Obama demanded that tax hikes be part of any deal. That led one liberal pundit at CNN to comment, “nobody today is talking about tax increases, except Barack Obama.”

Rollback Job-Killing Regulations

Kudos to Senator John Barrasso (R-WY), who is leading the fight in Congress to roll back job-killing regulations.

This week, the senator released a report noting that the federal bureaucracy had issued more than 600 new rules and regulations with an estimated cost of nearly $10 billion — in the past month alone!

Let me give you one example.

Dendreon is a Seattle-based pharmaceutical company that spent 15 years developing a promising treatment for prostate cancer.

So promising, in fact, that JP Morgan labeled the company “our top pick for 2011.” But after years of clinical trials and years of jumping FDA hoops, the company is “on the ropes.” 

NEWS BY:http://www.texasinsider.org/?p=50315

Americans' views of Congress reach historic lows

As bad a stretch as President Obama has had of late -- and there's no denying it's been bad -- the recent debt-ceiling hike has managed to draw an already unpopular Congress to new depths, according to a series of new polls.

Consider these findings:

    * A CNN/Opinion Research poll shows just 14% of voters approve of Congress's job performance, while 84% disapprove -- both records.
    * A CBS/New York Times poll has similar numbers -- 14% approve and 82% disapprove of Congress' job performance, the latter an all-time high.
    * A Fox News/Opinion Dynamics poll puts Congress' approval even lower -- 10%. That's a drop from 20% in late June.
    * Just 18% of registered voters in a Washington Post survey said they were inclined to vote to re-elect their representative in Congress -- the lowest number in more than two decades (only once before had it ever dipped below 30%).

    * A CNN/Opinion Research poll shows just 14% of voters approve of Congress's job performance, while 84% disapprove -- both records.
    * A CBS/New York Times poll has similar numbers -- 14% approve and 82% disapprove of Congress' job performance, the latter an all-time high.
    * A Fox News/Opinion Dynamics poll puts Congress' approval even lower -- 10%. That's a drop from 20% in late June.
    * Just 18% of registered voters in a Washington Post survey said they were inclined to vote to re-elect their representative in Congress -- the lowest number in more than two decades (only once before had it ever dipped below 30%).

Congress has rarely polled very well. But as Arizona Sen. John McCain joked during the 2008 primaries, polling this low means we're down to just close relatives and paid staff in the approval camp.

Republicans, in particular are drawing voter ire. In the CNN poll, only 33% view the Republican Party favorably, down from 41% in July, and 59% view the party unfavorably, the highest-ever recorded. Meanwhile, Americans' view of the Democratic Party actually improved -- from 45% in July to 47% in August.

Speaker John Boehner's favorable rating dropped 10% from July to August, to 33%. It's the first time since he became speaker that more voters view him unfavorably than favorably.

And a Gallup survey released Friday show that if the elections for Congress were being held today, 51% of respondents would choose the Democratic Party candidate while 44% would choose the Republican -- the best showing for Democrats in about two years.

Obama's own ratings have slipped to near all-time lows, but he's managed to stay at worst in the low 40% range -- Gallup's daily tracking poll shows him steady at 41% through Thursday.

So it's no wonder why Obama is mounting a campaign against Congress as he seeks to revive his personal brand.

On Thursday in Michigan, Obama said he wanted to "enlist" the public to make their grievances known to their representatives about the gridlock in Congress.

"People are frustrated.  Maybe you hear it in my voice -- that's why I'm frustrated. Because you deserve better," Obama said.

Democrats have been circulating reports of the angry reception some Republicans have been facing at town hall meetings during the recess so far.

"Playing games with America's crediting rating, voting to end Medicare while protecting tax breaks for Big Oil and billionaires, and kowtowing to the "tea party" have cost Republicans' support among critically important independent voters," the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee said in a memo to reporters Friday.

NEWS BY:http://www.latimes.com/news/politics/la-pn-congress-polls-20110812,0,4415193.story?track=rss

DeVry University in Fremont hosts "Bringing Home the Wall"

For four days this week, DeVry University hosted a memorial for its students, U.S. military veterans and family members as an educational tool to open its national open house week.

A traveling Vietnam War Memorial known as "Bringing Home the Wall" was set up on the southwest corner of the university's campus Wednesday. The memorial's last day in town will be tomorrow (Saturday), before creators Dee and Tom Twigg pack up and take the creation to Phoenix.

The 46-foot long, 8-foot tall replica of the Vietnam War Memorial in Washington, D.C. includes all 58,129 names of veterans who died during that conflict.

The Twiggs created the replica in 1993 in St. Cloud, Fla., as an alternative for veterans, their relatives and loved ones of fallen soldiers who wanted to honor their memory but could not make the journey to the nation's capitol.

The Twiggs have been long supported by DeVry, bringing the wall to campuses across the country. Wednesday was the first time the wall had been set up west of the Rockies.

Dozens of veterans, DeVry students, residents, and their friends and family attended an opening ceremony at the university.

"It's unique for the university to have something like this on its campus," Garrett Yee said. "It really speaks to the spirit of the institution."

Yee, a colonel in the U.S. Army Reserve and a member of the Ohlone College Board of Trustees, was the keynote speaker at the opening ceremonies.

Yee has been deployed several times over the years to both Iraq and Afghanistan.

Yee said while the nation's current conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan have recorded some 6,000 casualties, it is important to note that the Vietnam war had 10 times that number.

Yee also suggested those in attendance remember veterans who died from a result of what is now known as post traumatic stress disorder.

"While we think of those who were killed in combat, there are also those who are still missing," Yee said. "And that's something to think about. There are also those who came back from combat, but died as a result of the war after making it home. Today we remember those who didn't return home, and also those who returned home but took their own lives."

He added today the nation is still at war, and while it may not be Vietnam, Korea or both world wars, the United States has thousands of young men and women bravely serving the country to protect its freedoms.

"Whether or not you agree with the politics, one thing is for sure," Yee said. "We are a great nation with brave young men and women."

Wayne Anthony, director of public outreach at DeVry's Fremont campus and a Vietnam War veteran, said the Twiggs are very special people.

He reached out to the Twiggs earlier this year and helped them bring the moving wall to California.

"(Tom and Dee Twigg) believe in their cause," Anthony said. "They believe very deeply in the many brave men and women who lost their lives and who are listed on this wall."

Dee Twigg, 64, recalled how the wall was created in 1995.

The exhibit had originally started out as a coffee table Dee Twigg created in 1993, traditionally known as "The Missing Man" table. The "Missing Man" ceremony is conducted at formal dinners and other occasions.

Dee Twigg said the mother of a missing Vietnam veteran approached her at one of their "Missing Man" ceremonies in 1995.

The woman handed her a manila envelope containing her son's medals earned during the war two Bronze Stars for bravery and a Purple Heart for being killed during service.

The disabled woman told the Twiggs she didn't think she'd ever make it to Washington to honor her son or his fellow soldiers. So she asked the Twiggs if her son's medals could be placed on the table instead.

Dee Twigg promised the woman she would bring the wall to her, and she kept that promise in 1996 when the memorial was first presented in Ocala, Fla. Dee Twigg said the woman was in attendance that day.

NEWS BY:http://www.mercurynews.com/fremont/ci_18668919

What the heck is the consumer protection bureau?

The new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is having a tough time reaching the very people it is aiming to protect -- consumers.

Even though Democrats and Republicans have taken passionate -- and opposing -- positions on the new agency and its powers, consumers don't really know what to make of it.

In a CNN/ORC International poll of 1,009 adult Americans, 80% of respondents said they didn't know enough about the bureau to form a negative or positive opinion about the agency.

Of those who did have an opinion, 11% said their view was generally positive, while 9% held a negative view.

The bureau, which officially launched last week, has been trying to get its message out to the public for the past year. It has an active Twitter feed, Facebook page, Flickr channel as well as an interactive web site with YouTube videos, a blog and places for visitors to post comments and suggestions for the agency.

"One of the CFPB's top priorities is to communicate substantively and frequently across a wide range of industry and consumer group sectors," the agency said in a recent progress report. "Elizabeth Warren and agency staff have traveled across the country to listen to and learn from the hopes, fears, and concerns of industry and consumer groups."

However, it's difficult to determine just how much the new bureau will actually be able to do. Republicans have been actively trying to limit the bureau's power by advocating deep cuts in funding and blocking a director from being confirmed.
Meet the new consumer watchdog

Republicans like Sen. Richard Shelby of Alabama argues that the bureau will ban certain financial products and provide so many restrictions that lenders will be unable to price in the risks of less creditworthy customers, and therefore won't extend any credit to them at all.

Democrats say it's time for the little guy to have an advocate, and that the bureau has been put into place to help consumers make better decisions and avoid getting duped by predatory lenders.

But so far, the bureau hasn't been able to propose any concrete rules to crack down on these lenders, making it difficult for consumers to understand just what form this "protection" will take.

"I do not understand this," one CNNMoney reader wrote. "Why do you need an organization and dump millions just to keep up with the overhead if they have limited power[?]"

The lack of understanding by the public could pose a problem for the bureau, which plans to rely heavily on consumer feedback to make important decisions. The new mortgage disclosure form it is creating, for example, is being modified and finalized based on comments from consumers who visit the agency's web site.

But if the majority of consumers don't understand what the bureau even is -- and don't know enough to think of it as a positive development -- the feedback could be limited.

"The Bureau aims to actively engage all stakeholders that could potentially be affected by the agency, with the understanding that there is much insight to be gained from varied perspectives that represent many distinct points of view," the bureau said in its progress report.

At a time when the government can't even come to an agreement to keep from defaulting on its massive debt, some consumers wonder why the government should spend money on an agency that's powers may become so watered down that it is ineffective

.

"Great, another government bureau we can't afford. Keep'em coming," one CNNMoney reader commented, while another said, "Some watchdog. The Republicans have already pulled its teeth and neutered it."

But others remain hopeful that the new bureau will make a difference.

"If you can experience the 2008 financial meltdown and respond by saying, 'we really don't need more protection from the financial sector,' then you are truly, truly lost," another reader wrote

NEWS BY:http://money.cnn.com/2011/07/25/pf/consumer_bureau_opinion/

Education crucial in ending poverty: Ban

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon Wednesday stressed the importance of education in addressing global poverty at an international academic conference in Seoul.

In his keynote address to the United Nations Academic Impact (UNAI) forum at the Shilla Hotel in Seoul, Ban said that the academic community’s role is crucial in saving and improving the lives of the poor.

“It is clear to me that academic institutions around the world have placed significant importance on supporting the United Nations. The question now is how we translate these deepening ties into a life-saving and life-improving progress for the world’s poor,” said Ban.

His speech was followed by congratulatory speeches by Prime Minister Kim Hwang-sik and Education Minister Lee Ju-ho.

Ban, a former South Korean foreign minister, arrived here Tuesday, his first visit to Korea since he was elected to a second five-year term as U.N. chief in June.

He has said sustainable development will be his top priority during his second term, which starts on Jan. 1 next year.

The three issues that are of utmost urgency are “nutrition security, sustainable development and tolerance,” said Ban.

He added that Korea’s hosting of the forum was significant in the sense that this year is the 20th anniversary of Korea joining the United Nations.

Participants of the conference, which continues until Friday, will discuss ways to solve various global challenges. More than 350 people, including presidents of the 10 UNAI hub universities and Korean university presidents, took part in the forum.

The conference, held for the first time in Asia, was first founded by Ban in 2008 with the purpose of helping developing nations not only through providing material aid, but to teach them ways in which they can stand on their own.

The forum aims to solve global challenges, such as poverty, through education, specifically focusing on building a higher educational capacity for sustainable development to realize the eight millennium development goals set by the global body.

Kim Young-gil, chairman of the Korean Council for University Education, said in his welcoming speech that the country’s rise from a poverty-stricken nation is significant in its hosting of the event.

“From a major recipient of aid to a donor country, Korea’s success story could help bridge the gap between the developed and the developing worlds,” he said.

In confronting global challenges, it is difficult to solve these issues without the help of universities, he added.

There are 675 universities from 104 countries currently registered as members of UNAI and 47 of them are from Korea.

The forum is co-hosted by the Korean Council for University Education, the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade. 

NEWS BY: http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/nation/2011/08/113_92555.html

News International’s William Lewis, BBC’s Robert Peston, and the alleged act of theft which aimed to bring down Vince Cable

Rewind to December 2010, and you will recall the furore which greeted the revelation by the BBC’s Robert Peston that Lib Dem business secretary Vince Cable had been secretly taped by undercover Telegraph hacks “declaring war” on Rupert Murdoch and his bid for BSkyB.

Vince was almost forced to resign, responsibility for handling the bid was handed over to a Murdoch-friendly Tory, and the Telegraph was embarrassed by the implication that they had censored the story in order to avoid assisting media rival News International.

A report in today’s New York Times sheds a new and extraordinary light on that sequence of events, and suggests that:

    * The Telegraph was not sitting on the Cable/BSkyB scoop, but was all set to run it as a follow-up to the paper’s initial story focusing on Vince’s forthright views on the Coalition;

    * Telegraph executives were so furious that their exclusive had been stolen by the BBC from under their noses that they hired security firm Kroll to investigate the source of the leak;
    * Kroll, according to the Telegraph, “concluded that the removal of the recording was, in all probability, an act of theft orchestrated by an external organization”;
    * The NYT reports carefully that ‘Kroll found circumstantial evidence that Mr. [William] Lewis and Mr. [Jim] Robinson were behind the episode, according to a summary of its work, though it stressed in its report that investigators had not found direct proof of the link.’
    * William Lewis (pictured right, with Robert Peston) is a former Telegraph editor who left the Group acrimoniously and subsequently joined News International as general manager; Mr Robinson was head of the technical support desk at the Telegraph, and was hired by News International the month after the Cable scoop on ‘unusually favourable terms’, according to Kroll: ‘The two celebrated the appointment over pints at a pub.
’
    * William Lewis has known the BBC’s business editor Robert Peston for two decades, and was hired by him for the Financial Times in 1994. Their close friendship has already attracted significant controversy about whether Mr Peston’s insider track stories in recent weeks have been crafted to shift attention away from News International.


NEWS BY:http://www.libdemvoice.org/news-internationals-william-lewis-bbcs-robert-peston-and-the-alleged-act-of-theft-which-aimed-to-bring-down-vince-cable-24823.html

Nick Robinson highlights Robert Peston's Vanity

Nick Robinson is forced to rein in Robert Peston over his boasts about his role in breaking the latest allegations in the News of the World voicemail hacking scandal.

Nick Robinson, the BBC’s political editor, and Robert Peston, its business editor, have an on-screen chemistry these days that rivals Bette Davis and Joan Crawford's in the film Whatever Happened to Baby Jane?

Pesto appeared on the 10 0’Clock News, boasting that he had a big disclosure to make. “The latest extraordinary twist is that I’ve learnt – ,“ he began, before announcing that News International had passed on evidence to the police that Andy Coulson had allegedly authorised payments to police officers while he was editor of The News of the World.

Robinson subsequently took to the airwaves to point out that it was actually Vanity Fair which broke the story. Put on the back foot, Peston, whose inky black hair has been the subject of some comment, qualified how he had obtained his “scoop” on his website.

“I obtained this story in a circuitous route, when I heard that Vanity Fair was planning to publish a story on alleged payments to police. As it happens, Vanity Fair hadn’t published by the time I went live on the 10 O’Clock News.”

Robinson tells me that I must have a “vivid imagination” when I inquire if it pleased him to have got one over on Peston. Robinson may recall how he was put in his place by his rival, who is often said to covet his job, on the Today programme in February. 

NEWS BY:http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/celebritynews/8621020/Nick-Robinson-highlights-Robert-Pestons-Vanity.html

Ex-New York Governors Spitzer, Paterson Close Campaign Accounts

New York governors Eliot Spitzer and David Paterson have closed their campaign accounts, signaling no quick returns to politics.

Spitzer, whose CNN show “In The Arena” was recently canceled, turned over much of his remaining $182,305 to education foundations. The foundations include his alma maters, with $25,000 going to Harvard Law School, $50,000 to Harvard College and $25,000 to Horace Mann School.

Paterson, who succeeded Spitzer in 2008 following his resignation amid a prostitution scandal, spent much of his remaining $218,166 to pay off campaign bills.

Paterson spent $105,600 to pay off the remaining lease on campaign space in Manhattan. He also paid $86,000 in legal fees to defend himself against ethics charges over free New York Yankees tickets he obtained for the 2009 World Series.

Do You Think Spitzer Or Paterson Will Return To Politics At Some Point?  Share Your Thoughts In The Comments Section…

(TM and Copyright 2011 CBS Radio Inc. and its relevant subsidiaries. CBS RADIO and EYE Logo TM and Copyright 2011 CBS Broadcasting Inc. Used under license. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)


NEWS BY:http://newyork.cbslocal.com/2011/07/15/ex-new-york-governors-spitzer-paterson-close-campaign-accounts/

On jobs and safety net, lawmakers must focus on hard-hit minorities

Editor's note: Angela Glover Blackwell is founder and CEO of PolicyLink, a national research and advocacy organization that aims to advance economic and social equity. She is also a member of the White House Council on Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships, and co-author of "Uncommon Common Ground: Race and America's Future" (W.W. Norton and Co.)

(CNN) -- Last month, the Center for American Progress highlighted the stark and disproportionate impact of the ongoing jobs crisis on people of color, with unemployment among blacks reaching more than 16%, compared with more than 11% for Latinos and more than 8% for whites.

Simultaneously, poverty rates in communities of color remain at an all-time high, especially among children. More than one third of today's African-American and Latino youth under the age of 18 are growing up in poverty.

When combined with the projected loss of more than a quarter of $1 trillion in black and Latino wealth between 2009 and 2012 due to the foreclosure crisis, what we're left with is an entire generation of Americans living without the security of a decent living wage, quality education, affordable health care or home ownership.

This is a crisis level that calls for comprehensive strategies concentrated on creating jobs now and making smart, sustainable investments that will stimulate growth and secure our nation's economic future.

Yet the Budget Control Act of 2011, signed into law this week after a lengthy, divisive debate in Congress, missed an important opportunity to address jobs and unemployment. Instead it focused on cuts that would erode funding for critical public investments and safety-net programs that offer much-needed support to America's poor and working-class families.

Share on video your thoughts on the economy and U.S. credit rating

The bill specifically failed to mention two vital programs that will expire by year's end: unemployment insurance and the 2% payroll holiday tax for the middle class. According to the Economic Policy Institute, failure to make these crucial extensions could:

• Cost our economy close to 1 million jobs next year.

NEWS BY:http://edition.cnn.com/2011/OPINION/08/05/blackwell.jobs.minority/

Fall sports are back at the Vo-Tech schools

A week after students came to the Capitol to protest budget cuts that would have eliminated sports at the state's vocational-technical schools, the state department of education announced that the programs will be restored.

But, as Courant education writer Vanessa de la Torre notes, it's not a permanent reprieve. The programs could still be scrapped if a concession agreement designed to save the state $1.6 billion over two years is not ratified by unionized employees.

Gov. Dannel P. Malloy's office worked with the department of education to find money to restore the programs for the fall because the union's decision won't be known until after Aug. 18, which is after the deadline by which schools have to commit to the state athletic conference.

And it doesn't mean the sports programs will be permanently restored if the unions reject the concession agreement. "To be clear, this money will need to be found elsewhere in [the state department of education's] budget, and this is not an indication that future seasons of sports programs at the vo-tech schools will be funded, should the agreement not be ratified,'' said a statement issued by the department.

Colleen Flanagan, spokeswoman for the governor's office, said it was a question of timing. "If ultimately the [agreement] is ratified, the money for the sports programs would be in place, but it would be too late for the vo-tech schools to participate for the fall season,'' she said this morning. "As you'll note in DOE's statement, this is not an indication that winter and spring sports would be funded should the agreement be voted down."

NEWS BY:http://blogs.courant.com/capitol_watch/2011/08/fall-sports-are-back-at-the-vo.html

Scholarships Awarded In Greater New Britain

The organization managers scholarship funds created by individuals, non-profits and businesses. This summer, it divided a total of more than $124,000 among the 51 winners.

Recipients will be attending the University of Connecticut, Central Connecticut State University, Penn State University, Hofstra and MIT among others.

“Education truly is a gateway to opportunity,” said James Jones, chair of the scholarship committee.

The winners included 13 Berlin High School students: Mallory Brochu, Carley Calafiore, Kristen E. Cavaliere, Nicholas Couceiro, Nicole Dean, Paulina Drozdzrowski , Shannon Jedrzejczyk, James Kissane, Paulina Mielicka, Andrea Pomponio, Jaclyn Rubin, Michael Scheyd and Sara Zukowski.

New Britain High School had 22 winners including were Husein Becirovic, Christine Bouaphone, Krystian Charubin, Kian Downes, Angela Giove, Katherine M. Gorecki, DaShaun Hightower, Heidi Holt, Hebo Ismail, Matthew Martinez, Heather O’Bright, Jonathan Pena, Nicholas Pettinelli, Oscar Romero, Marisol Rosol, Pawal Rybka, Faras Sadig, Shaun Smith, Marlievelisse Sotomayor, Brandon Tkac, Katherine Varga and Elijah Yopp

Newington High School’s five winners were Crystal Connery, Molly V. Kluba, Allyson Longchamps, Harshil Patel and Xingyi Shi.

Plainville High School’s four winners were Gary Dominique, Jacqueline Nimro, Hector E. Rivas and Kelsey Schrey.

Southington High School’s four winners were Shawn Lada, Zachary Niles, Emily Sherwill and Jillian St. John.

In addition, Rebecca Crawford of Waterford, N.Y. received a scholarship.

The Community Foundation of Greater New Britain has been operating for 70 years. Anyone wanting to learn about cosponsoring a scholarship may visit www.cfgnb.org and click the “donate now” button for details, Jones said. Students or parents interested in learning about future scholarships should contact the guidance department of their high schools.


NEWS BY:http://www.courant.com/community/new-britain/hc-scholarships-awarded-in-greater-new-britain-20110731,0,552374.story