It's no surprise, but now it's official: Shell oil announced that it will not be drilling for oil north of the Alaska coast in 2013. The company bored preliminary holes in the fall of 2012 in preparation for drilling a series of exploratory wells this summer. The idea was to become the first company to find significant oil in America's slice of the Arctic Ocean, and open up a whole new energy frontier. That plan will have to wait.
The company's Kulluk oil rig, which ran aground in the Gulf of Alaska on New Year's Eve, still needs to be transported to Dutch Harbor in the Aleutian Islands before it can begin its journey to an Asian shipyard for repairs. The Noble Discoverer drillship, Shell's second rig, is even more troubled. A few days ago, the Coast Guard referred its investigation into violations onboard the ship to the Department of Justice for potential prosecution.
It's been a rough week for the oil industry, overall. The energy news is all about the BP oil spill trial, opposition to the Keystone XL pipeline, and investigations into Shell's drilling program. The stories share some DNA. In recent years, we've seen increasing focus on hard-to-get oil, crude that you can't extract from shallow water or from easy-to-access wells in the desert. That's why we have deep-water drilling, rising output from the oil sands of Alberta, and exploration in the Arctic Ocean: The age of easy oil is waning. These alternative sources of oil are resulting in growing production and even faster-rising estimates of domestic fossil fuel reserves. They are a big part of the future. But the technical difficulties and environmental impacts are becoming increasingly clear.
Of all those case studies of hard-to-get oil, Shell's may be the most surprising. It's simply astonishing that one of the biggest companies in the world could spend nearly $5 billion and the better part of a decade working in the region without completing a single exploratory well. Industry advocates have voiced legitimate complaints about the sometimes byzantine regulatory process, but none of that explains Shell's missteps in 2012, after its permits were essentially all in place. To cite just the most memorable problems: A barge meant to carry oil-spill response equipment had trouble passing CoastGuard inspections, and the equipment itself buckled during testing in the calm waters of Puget Sound. The Kulluk ran aground south of Anchorage once the season had ended. And then there's the Discoverer.
Last fall, when I was on the North Slope to visit the Kulluk for several days, I met a Discoverer worker who said that exploring the drillship's engine room, with its 1960s Mitsubishi engine that they dubbed Big Green, was like going into a museum. A number of the problems cited by the Coast Guard relate to the engine room and the exhaust system. The list includes such seemingly elementary mistakes as exposed wiring and this:
6. Exhaust system back-fires on regular basis. Chief engineer suspects this is due to change to exhaust system in order to accommodate helicopter deck installation. As a result of back-fires (one of which resulted in a stack fire recently),main propulsion machinery and all auxiliary machinery essential to the propulsion and safety of the unit may be compromised. (IMO MODU Code 1979 7.1.3)
Massachusetts Rep. Ed Markey, who sits on the House Natural Resources Committee, and a number of environmental groups have been calling for a review of Arctic Ocean oil exploration rules. Meanwhile, several other companies, including ConocoPhillips and Statoil, hold offshore leases in the region and have been planning to drill in the next three years. And the Department of the Interior has made public its intention to hold more lease sales in the Arctic Ocean. In light of the multiple investigations going on right now, at least some of those plans seem likely to change.
Washington - Beginning this week, major ISPs will start spying on US Internet users. With the new program, its a case of "six strikes and you are out" if they think you are pirating copyright-protected content. After months of discussion on the controversial program to be imposed by the largest ISPs in the US, the Copyright Alert System (CAS) confirmed on Monday this week that the "six-strike" program has now officially gone live. If you have an Internet connection via AT&T, Cablevision Systems, Comcast, Time Warner Cable or Verizon, its a case of six strikes, and you are quite literally out.
Opposed and critiqued by privacy advocates and Internet freedom activists alike, this program will allow ISPs to take six steps, of increasing severity, when handling incidents where their customers are believed to be illegally sharing online content.
Customers would receive a series of warnings, through a "graduate response" approach, for illegally downloading copyright protected material.
When CAS releases the first strike, a customer could be issued a warning. However, should the customer continue to violate policies, other mitigation measures will be introduced, including connection speed throttling right up to and including the possibility of final termination of service.
According to Wired, the various measures include ?temporary reductions of Internet speeds, redirection to a landing page until the subscriber contacts the ISP to discuss the matter or reviews and responds to some educational information about copyright, or other measures (as specified in published policies) that the ISP may deem necessary to help resolve the matter.? Ending with complete disconnection if the customer doesn't comply.
Apparently the plan does not just stop there. The Copyright Act also allows the user to be sued for damages of up to $150,000 per infringement.
Jill Lesser of the Center for Copyright Information explained the situation in a blog post on Monday. ?Practically speaking, this means our content partners will begin sending notices of alleged P2P [peer-to-peer] copyright infringement to ISPs, and the ISPs will begin forwarding those notices in the form of Copyright Alerts to consumers.?
?Consumers whose accounts have been used to share copyrighted content over P2P networks illegally (or without authority) will receive Alerts that are meant to educate rather than punish, and direct them to legal alternatives. And for those consumers who believe they received Alerts in error, an easy to use process will be in place for them to seek independent review of the Alerts they received,? she adds.
What she neglected to mention is that this appeals process costs customers $35 a pop.
CAS tried to get this going in July 2012. Gigi Sohn, president of digital rights group Public Knowledge, told Wired last year that originally ISPs hoped to roll out the program earlier, but major protests against other restrictive Web policies, including attempts to pass certain legislation, caused them to have to wait.
?SOPA and PIPA definitely had an impact. There was some concern, if they moved ahead too quickly, public opinion would be so raw, this would be caught in the whirlwind of bad PR,? Sohn told Wired.
According to the Electronic Frontier Foundation, the official six-strikes website allows users to learn more about the history of copyright. It does this by apparently re-directing them to a web page managed by the Copyright Alliance, which is the same group who advocated for last year's "Stop Online Piracy Act," more commonly known as SOPA.
Reportedly the White House has issued an official statement saying that the six-strikes program should ?have a significant impact on reducing online piracy.?
Demand Progress is running a petition where you can tell your ISPs "No 'Six Strikes' Plan - Or We'll Take Our Business Elsewhere." Smaller Internet service providers could find an increase in new business in the very near future.
Vice President Joe Biden told hunters Wednesday there's no bear too big, no varmint too small that requires the use of a semiautomatic rifle when hunting.
"If you have to go up into the Poconos and go bear hunting or deer hunting with that weapon, and you need a clip that has 30 rounds in it, then you shouldn't be hunting," Biden said in an interview with Field & Stream magazine released Wednesday. "You're a danger to yourself. If you can't get the bear or the deer in four or five shots, you've got a problem."
Earlier in the day, Biden delivered a similar comment when he spoke to the National Association of Attorneys General, but that time mentioned varmints.
"I was told, 'No, we need it for those little varmints.' OK, I got it. More muskrat and mice might be alive. OK. I think we can put up with that," Biden said at the luncheon. "Guys, these arguments!"
Biden shared a bit of advice on self defense last week when he suggested people should "Buy a shotgun!" if they want to protect themselves in the home.
In the administration's latest push to take its gun proposals to the public, the vice president answered questions submitted by hunters in the interview with Field & Stream magazine. Last week, he took questions during an online forum with Parents magazine.
Biden's interview was the first in Field & Stream's series of interviews on gun control. The next interview will feature Wayne LaPierre, executive vice president and CEO of the National Rifle Association.
In this Oct. 29, 2012 photo University of Iowa professor Jeff Murray talks about his genetic profile during his honors seminar on personal genetics in which students had the option of sending saliva samples so a testing company could use DNA to unlock some of their most personal health and family secrets. The class, taught at Iowa for the first time, is part of a growing movement in higher education to tackle the rapidly advancing field of personal genetics, which is revolutionizing medicine and raising difficult ethical and privacy questions. (AP Photo/Brian Ray)
In this Oct. 29, 2012 photo University of Iowa professor Jeff Murray talks about his genetic profile during his honors seminar on personal genetics in which students had the option of sending saliva samples so a testing company could use DNA to unlock some of their most personal health and family secrets. The class, taught at Iowa for the first time, is part of a growing movement in higher education to tackle the rapidly advancing field of personal genetics, which is revolutionizing medicine and raising difficult ethical and privacy questions. (AP Photo/Brian Ray)
In this Oct. 29, 2012 photo professor Jeff Murray talks to University of Iowa students in his personal genetics class in which students had the option of sending saliva samples so a testing company could use DNA to unlock some of their most personal health and family secrets. The class, taught at Iowa for the first time, is part of a growing movement in higher education to tackle the rapidly advancing field of personal genetics, which is revolutionizing medicine and raising difficult ethical and privacy questions. (AP Photo/Brian Ray)
In this Oct. 29, 2012 photo professor Jeff Murray teaches a personal genetics class at the University of Iowa in which students had the option of sending saliva samples so a testing company could use DNA to unlock some of their most personal health and family secrets. The class, taught at Iowa for the first time, is part of a growing movement in higher education to tackle the rapidly advancing field of personal genetics, which is revolutionizing medicine and raising difficult ethical and privacy questions. (AP Photo/Brian Ray)
IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) ? Bakir Hajdarevic didn't have to study for the most important test in a class last fall. He just had to spit ? a lot.
The 19-year-old freshman at the University of Iowa took an honors seminar on personal genetics in which students had the option of sending saliva samples so a testing company could use DNA to unlock some of their most personal health and family secrets. The results would tell them how likely they were to get some forms of cancer, whether they were carriers for genetic diseases, where their ancestors came from, and a trove of other information.
The class, taught at Iowa for the first time, is part of a growing movement in higher education to tackle the rapidly advancing field of personal genetics, which is revolutionizing medicine and raising difficult ethical and privacy questions. The classes are forcing students to decide whether it is better to be ignorant or informed about possible health problems ? a decision more Americans will confront as the price of genetic testing plummets and it becomes more popular.
Hajdarevic said he was eager to "find out about all the little mysteries" lurking in his DNA. Sure he was nervous that he might get bad news about cancer risks. But he said the curiosity to learn about himself ? and whether he needed to take steps to improve his health ? outweighed those concerns.
And so, one day last fall, he found himself in his dorm room struggling to spit into a test tube that he would mail to 23andMe, the Mountain View, Calif., testing company.
"It was like 10 minutes of spitting, literally," he recalled, laughing. "I ran out of spit really quickly. I was spitting for like 15 seconds and then I'd run out of juice."
Such episodes have become more common as similar classes have popped up on college campuses over the past three years with backing from 23andMe, which tests for about one million genetic variants possibly linked to tens of thousands of conditions and traits. The company announced in December it had raised $50 million from investors, and was cutting its price for its personal genotype testing from $299 to $99.
23andMe has offered universities discounts on the testing for the classes, along with course materials, and has partnered with dozens of universities and high schools. Stanford University, University of Illinois, the University of Texas and Duke University are some of the schools featuring courses on personal genetics this year, according to its website.
Some of the classes are geared toward medical, nursing and pharmacy students whose careers could be shaped by genetics, while others are for undergraduates hoping to learn more about a field often noted in popular culture. Most of the courses are electives, and students can opt out of the testing if they're uncomfortable. For students whose DNA is tested, the knowledge they glean is intensely personal and wide-ranging, from whether they are a carrier for cystic fibrosis to whether they are likely to be good sprinters.
This is a generation that grew up sharing details of their lives on Facebook, and these students said they were eager to know more about themselves.
"I thought the coolest thing about the whole class was that you would be able to test your own genetics to find out things about yourself. That's what drew me in," said University of Iowa freshman Morgan Weis, who plans a career in nursing. When her results came back, "I told my friends, 'Come look at this, it's so cool'. I was pretty excited about it."
This semester, Stanford professor Stuart Kim is teaching a class for medical students and graduate students in genetics and computer science for a fourth time. He says his students will never forget the class when they learn whether they are sensitive to the blood-thinner Warfarin; that knowledge could be critical if they ever suffer a stroke, because too large or small a dose could kill them. But he dreads the day when testing informs a student: That man who raised you? He's not your biological father.
"That will happen one of these days," he said.
He said 90 percent of the students have opted to test their own DNA rather than a random person's, and a class survey found that students who did so retained more information.
University of Iowa professor Jeff Murray has been teaching human genetics for 25 years, and developed last fall's class after reading about similar ones elsewhere. He talked through the pros and cons of testing with students, and spent two class periods examining 23andMe's consent form. Murray encouraged students to consult with their parents, through their consent was not required ? students were all 18 or older. Only a few opted out of the testing after they or their parents raised concerns.
"Some people just didn't want to know if they are going to get breast cancer or Alzheimer's," said one of Murray's students, Alexis Boothe, 18. "Personally, I wanted to know."
She said she was not surprised when she learned she's seven times more likely than the average person to develop Crohn's disease, a bowel disorder, since it runs in her family. But now she said she can make sure not to smoke and watch her stress, two triggers. Boothe said she was amused when she learned that she shares northern European ancestors with the singer Jimmy Buffett, and when a third cousin she doesn't know sent her a message through the company.
For Hajdarevic, one surprising result was that he may be lactose intolerant. Although he's eaten dairy without issue his whole life, he can now monitor for symptoms that could develop later. He also learned he's a carrier for the mild form of a rare genetic disease, Alpha 1-antitrypsin deficiency.
But overall, he says, he was relieved.
"I was kind of scared going in, like, 'Oh my God, I might have a high risk factor for some kind of cancer'," he said. "But knock on wood, according to the test, I don't really have much to worry about."
The lead detective in the Oscar Pistorius murder case has been replaced. But can the South African police force recover from the mistakes made to date?
By Staff,?CSMonitor.com / February 21, 2013
Detective Hilton Botha sits inside the court witness box during the Oscar Pistorius bail hearing in Pretoria, South Africa. Botha is off the case, and now faces attempted murder charges himself over a 2011 shooting, police said Thursday, Feb. 21, 2013,
AP Photo/Themba Hadebe
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The lead investigator in the Oscar Pistorius murder case has been replaced. Why? Detective Hilton Botha himself now faces charges of attempted murder.
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Hilton Botha, the lead investigator in the Oscar Pistorius case was replaced Thursday. Botha faces attempted murder charges.
Yes, the detective investigating the murder of Reeve Steenkamp had attempted murder charges reinstated on Feb. 4 ? some 10 days before the Pistorius case. Botha and two other police officers face seven counts of attempted murder in a 2011 shooting incident. The drunk policemen allegedly fired at a minibus they were trying to stop.
In an attempt to rebound from this setback, South Africa's National Police Commission Riah Phiyega said Thursday that a team of "highly skilled and experienced' detectives will now take over the investigation. South African Olympic runner Pistorius faces a premeditated murder charge for the killing of his girlfriend Reeva SteenKamp.
But this sudden removal of Botha, in addition to his testimony during three days of bail hearings, is raising questions not only about the quality of the prosecution's case but the effectiveness of South Africa's judicial system.
During Thursday's bail hearing, Pistorius's defense attorney Barry Roux cast doubt on the version of events given by Botha on previous days.? Prosecutors claimed Steenkamp had fled to the bathroom after a fight, fearing an enraged Pistorius. But Pistorius's version of events was that she had gone to the bathroom to relieve herself, and he didn't know it was her behind the door when he fired the gun four times. He thought she was an intruder.
On Thursday, Botha conceded that the angle of the shots was consistent with Pistorius's version of events.
As The Guardian live blog on the case reported:
"Defence lawyer Barry Roux said that Steenkamp?s bladder was empty when she died, indicating she had indeed got up to use the toilet. Usually at 3am you would not find an empty bladder, Roux said. Roux said Steenkamp?s autopsy showed no sign of defensive wounds or an assault. Botha said that was correct. Roux said that Steenkamp might have locked the toilet door to protect herself when she heard Pistorius shouting that there was a burglar. And he said that Botha could not say for sure that the shots were fired from 1.5m away and at the angle he described ? and Botha admitted he couldn?t be sure about that. Roux also criticised Botha?s handling of the crime scene, saying the police had failed to find a bullet cartridge and that Botha had walked in to the house without protective feet covers on, contaminating the scene."
And there were other mistakes that came to light on Wednesday, as The Christian Science Monitor reported, "Police ... left a 9 mm slug from the barrage that killed Reeva Steenkamp inside a toilet and lost track of illegal ammunition found inside the house."
"Unfortunately there are too many instances of poor police work," Gerhard Kemp, a professor of criminal law at the University of Stellenbosch, told Reuters. "It's absolutely not CSI. It's a totally different world."
On Thursday, Desmond Nair, the magistrate in charge of the bail hearing, also raised questions about the competence of Botha's work, asking why the police hadn't acquired Steenkamp's phone records yet.
"Do you agree that [if] the deceased received SMSs or Phonecalls at 3 a.m., would it change the position of case?" the judge asked.
Pistorius's attroney, Roux pressed his advantage Thursday. "The poor quality of the evidence offered by investigative officer Botha exposed the disastrous shortcomings of the state's case," Roux said. "We cannot sit back and take comfort that he [Botha] is telling the truth."
Asked about Botha's court performance and handling of the investigation, National Police Commission Phiyega said South Africa's police force "can stand on its own" compared to others around the world, according to The Associated Press.
And Reuters reports:
With huge international media interest in the case against a global celebrity, many South Africans feel that apparent initial slip-ups by the police are hurting the country's image.
"Bring someone from outside to sort out this mess," said businessman Godfrey Baloyi. "The whole justice system needs an overhaul."
The bail hearing in Pretoria is scheduled to continue on Friday.
Curious what Max Levchin's been up to ever since he left Google in 2011? Well, wonder no more. Today, PayPal's co-founder revealed his return to the payment world with a new company called Affirm. Like many startups, Affirm is looking to make online payments quicker and easier, but the real question is whether you'll be willing to come along for the ride. AllThingsD managed to catch Levchin for an interview, in which he revealed that Affirm will issue credit to consumers and guarantee payment to merchants for all online transactions. Curiously, Affirm will use Facebook to verify a user's identity, and it'll also use a wide range of social and location-based data to determine an individual's credit worthiness. The payment startup will launch in beta with 1-800-Flowers as its partner, and it's said that consumers will be given 30 days to settle the resulting bill with Affirm. There's no word of what fees or interest rates will be assessed for late payments, but we imagine you'll find strong incentive to pay for that flower arrangement.
* Global markets shaken by fears of new euro zone instability * Vote is stunning success for populist movement * Berlusconi stages comeback but cannot govern alone * Centre-left big losers although will try to form government By Barry Moody and James Mackenzie ROME, Feb 25 (Reuters) - A huge protest vote by Italians enraged by economic hardship and political corruption left the euro zone's third-largest economy facing a dangerous vacuum on Monday after an election in which no group won enough votes to form a government. The result, in which anti-euro parties took more than 50 percent of the vote and a novice populist movement scored a stunning success, rocked global markets with fears of a new euro zone crisis. Europe's common currency slumped against the dollar and yen and U.S. stocks suffered their biggest one-day drop since November. With more than 99 percent of returns in from polling stations, results showed the centre-left had taken a slim victory of around 130,000 votes in the lower house of parliament, enough to give it comfortable control thanks to a big winner's bonus. But no party or likely coalition won enough seats to form a majority in the upper house, creating a deadlocked parliament - the opposite of the stable result that Italy desperately needs to tackle a deep recession, rising unemployment and a massive public debt. The outcome fanned fears of a new European financial crisis, with prospects of a long period of paralysis and uncertainty in Italy. "This is the worst possible outcome from the market's point of view ... It seems inevitable that there will be a new election," said Alessandro Tentori, Citigroup head of global rates. The result was an extraordinary success for Genoese comic Beppe Grillo, leader of the populist 5-Star Movement, who toured the country in his first national election campaign hurling obscenity-laced insults against a discredited political class. He was set to become the biggest single party in the lower house, riding a potent wave of anger against rampant waste and corruption by ageing political leaders. His success fulfilled the predictions of some analysts that the most uncertain and closely watched election in years would herald a political revolution. "This is the end of a system, not a government," respected commentator Massimo Franco told Reuters before the vote. Grillo polled more around a quarter of the vote in a meteoric rise from the 1.8 percent he garnered in his movement's first local political test in 2010. The result was a humiliating slap in the face for colourless centre-left leader Pier Luigi Bersani, who threw away a 10-point opinion-poll lead less than two months ago against Silvio Berlusconi's centre right. He failed to turn up for a press conference after the result became clear. His deputy, Enrico Letta, as well as outgoing technocrat premier Mario Monti, said responsible forces must form a government and avoid another election. But the result raised a big question over whether that would be possible. Billionaire media magnate Berlusconi, 76, who staged an extraordinary comeback from sex and corruption scandals since diving into the campaign in December, came in a close second in the Senate race, with an estimated 117 seats. With almost all results in, the centre-left was set to take 121 seats in the upper house, Grillo 54, and Monti languishing on only 22 after a campaign which never took off. The Senate majority is 158. Berlusconi, a master politician and communicator, wooed voters with a blitz of television appearances and promises to refund Monti's hated housing tax despite accusations from opponents that this was an impossible vote buying trick. Grillo has attacked all sides in the campaign and ruled out a formal alliance with any group although it was not immediately known how he would react to his stunning success or how his supporters would behave in parliament. The next move to solve the crisis will be when head of state Giorgio Napolitano calls in political leaders to discuss how to form a government. But this is not expected until March 10 after the election result is formally confirmed and parliament convened. Letta said the centre-left, as biggest party in the lower house, had the right to be the first to try to form a government.
DANGER OF NEW ELECTION Investors fear a return of the kind of debt crisis that took the euro zone close to disaster and brought the technocrat Monti to office, replacing Berlusconi, in 2011. The results showed more than half of Italians had voted for the anti-euro platforms of Berlusconi and Grillo. A centre-left government either alone or ruling with Monti had been seen by investors as the best guarantee of measures to combat a deep recession and stagnant growth in Italy, which is pivotal to stability in the currency union. But the failure of Monti to gain traction at the head of a centrist force, despite support from business leaders and foreign governments, and the weak showing by the centre-left meant they do not have nearly enough Senators to do this. The upper and lower houses have equal law-making power. The benchmark spread between Italian 10-year bonds and their German equivalent widened from below 260 basis points to above 300 and the Italian share index lost all its previous gains after projections of the Senate result.
Monti helped save Italy from a debt crisis when Rome's borrowing costs were spiralling out of control in November 2011, but few Italians now see him as the saviour of the country, which is reeling under its longest recession for 20 years. Grillo's movement rode a wave of voter anger about both the pain of Monti's austerity programme and a string of political and corporate scandals. It had particular appeal for a frustrated younger generation shut out of full-time jobs. "I'm sick of the scandals and the stealing," said Paolo Gentile, a 49-year-old Rome lawyer who voted for 5-Star. "We need some young, new people in parliament, not the old parties that are totally discredited." Berlusconi, a billionaire media tycoon, exploited anger against Monti's austerity programme, accusing him of being a puppet of German Chancellor Angela Merkel, but in many areas Grillo was a bigger beneficiary of public discontent. Italians wrung their hands at prospects of an inconclusive result that will mean more delays to essential reforms. "It's a classic result. Typically Italian. It means the country is not united. It is an expression of a country that does not work. I knew this would happen," said 36-year-old Rome office worker Roberta Federica. Another office worker, Elisabetta Carlotta, 46, shook her head in disbelief. "We can't go on like this," she said.
Sunday night's Oscar pool tallies got complicated with the announcement of the sound editing category winners: There was a tie.
"No BS," said presenter Mark Wahlberg, with a grin. Wahlberg wasn't fazed, though, reading the award for "Zero Dark Thirty" first, letting those filmmakers accept their trophy, and then returning to the podium to announce that the second honor went to "Skyfall."
Ties are not unheard of at the Oscars, but they're extremely rare. In 1968, Katharine Hepburn and Barbra Streisand each received 3,030 votes as best actress. It was the first time a principal Oscar category had been divided perfectly.
In 1932, Fredric March and Wallace Beery split the best actor award, even though Beery had one more vote than March. The Oscar rules at the time said that a solo winner could only be declared if an individual earned three more votes than the runner-up, according to History.com.?
Today, dual awards are only awarded for exact vote number matches.
One other memorable Oscar tie was for best documentary: In 1986, "Artie Shaw: Time Is All You've Got" and "Down and Out in America" shared the prize.
You Are Here: Home ? Politics ? Political corruption sullying African democracies ? Dr Okonjo-Iweala
Page last updated at Monday, February 25, 2013 7:07 AM //
Dr Okonjo-Iweala
Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Nigerian Finance Minister, has called on leaders in Africa to muster the political will to tackle the bane of political corruption infecting neophyte democracies on the continent.
She acknowledged that there are problems with organising elections in Africa; nonetheless, the democratic processes are being strengthened in many parts of the continent.
?But the key issue which is not discussed is how to minimise political corruption from infecting our democracies,? she noted.
Dr Okonjo-Iweala, who is also the Nigerian Coordinating Minister of the Economy, made the call during a lecture on: ?What Africa should do to claim the 21?st Century,? at the 2nd John A. Kufuor Global Development Series 2013 in Accra on Friday.
She said leaders in Africa need to do a lot of work to tackle corruption in government procurement, to develop transparent judicial systems, and to build a vibrant civil society.
?The continent has come a long way from the turbulence of the 1980s and 1990s and today, many African countries are now multi-party democracies, but without accountable governments and strong institutions, the continent will not claim this 21st century.?
She observed that said the problem to the Africans fledgling democracies is political corruption, pondering: ?No one wants to discuss this big problem of how we finance the democratic process? How do we finance election campaigns and political parties? And where do the resources come from??
She said in many developing countries, what people are beginning to observe is that there is close relationship between politics and business.
Dr Okonjo-Iweala noted that businesses provide financial support to get their politicians elected and then in turn, they get substantial favours which help them to recoup some of their investments.
Some of these favours, she observed that could be very ?distortionary? for the economy; it can mean granting tariff protection to a few friends, but which can be to the detriment of the majority of the population.
The one time World Bank Managing Director said the problem of businesses financing political parties is not unique to Africa, but also a live issue in Western democracies, such as in the United Kingdom (UK).
She quoted Transparency International recently completed national opinion survey in the UK as saying ?political parties were judged the most corrupt among a list of key sectors of UK public life?.
For the UK, they also found that 60 per cent of donations to political parties came from wealthy individuals, businesses or unions, ?there was also concern that a few wealthy individuals and groups may be able to buy influence by making large donations,? she said.
The Finance Minister pointed out that leaders of the continent really needs an urgent review of the approach to financing democratic elections which is cleaner and more transparent.
She expressed wonder why the continent could not spearhead the crusade having witnessed and learnt the mistakes of the western world, adding: ?Why can?t Africa lead the way in this endeavour and avoid the mistakes of the Western countries??
The John A. Kufuor Foundation aims at fashioning out measures to promote good governance on the continent through electoral monitoring, strengthening electoral systems, conflict mediation and resolution, promoting accountability and transparency and deepening democratic structures.
The focus is on economic and social development bringing the expertise of international leaders in areas such as economic diversification, debt relief, public private partnerships and the provision of social safety nets, to provide the critical tools needed to ensure sustainable development for countries and businesses across Africa.
The Foundation is premised on three inter-related pillars; Leadership, Governance and Development and will collaborate with state institutions, civil society organisations, the private sector, the media and development partners in order to achieve its vision of effective leadership, democratic governance and sustainable development in Africa.
Chomping at Bits comes stocked with the best Florida Gators links and news we can find. Got a link we should check out? Email us at AlligatorArmy@gmail.com, subject line CAB.
Florida loses series opener to Florida Gulf Coast: The Gators have now lost to Duke and FGCU with Jonathon Crawford starting on the mound, and he turned in 5.1 innings of no-hit ball last night before Florida relievers yielded eight runs, including two inherited from Crawford. No, this does not inspire confidence. (GatorZone)
Gators men still No. 1 at SEC Swimming and Diving Championships: Florida's women sit third, and well back of Georgia and Texas A&M. (GatorZone)
Softball drops first game in program's longest: After a morning victory over Syracuse, Florida lost to No. 7 Missouri in 12 innings on...
Zendesk, the email and contact support client used by Tumblr, Twitter, and Pinterest, has been compromised, and user?s email addresses have been stolen during the breach. Tumblr is sending out emails informing users of the situation, but Twitter and Pinterest are also seeing the same ill effects.
If you?ve never emailed support for any of the three social networks, then your email address is safe. Those who have sent an email to Tumblr in the last 2.5 years, which is when the blogging service started using Zendesk, your email address is likely compromised.
The silver lining to all this is that passwords are safe, so all the attackers have access to is email?addresses? They may be able to send you spam or phishing messages, but that?s about it. For Tumblr, some emails may contain the link to a user?s blog in the subject, so the hackers may be able to associate an email with a blog, but there is still little that can be done with that information.
Zendesk is quick to point out that the breach has been fixed, but obviously, any damage the hackers were looking to do has already taken place.
Twitter uses a technology called Domain-based Message Authentication or DMARC. This makes it difficult for people running phishing scams to fake an email from Twitter. Regardless, if you?ve emailed support for any of these three websites, you should be extra careful about what emails you open, as your email address is likely in the hands of the wrong people. Of course, you should be cautious with emails at all times, but right now it is extra important.
The National Weather Service has now confirmed that 13 tornadoes touched down in East Texas on Monday.
The tornadoes touched down in the following locations:
-?(NEW) Timpson along HWY 59 & CR 4916 - Seven miles southeast of Kilgore - Nine miles east southeast of Kilgore - Nine miles west of Tatum - 11 miles east northeast of New Summerfield - Six miles northwest of Mount Enterprise (EF1) 90 MPH - Four miles north northeast of Beckville - Four miles north northeast of Mount Enterprise - Nine miles north of Carthage - Five miles east northeast of Mount Enterprise - 10 miles north northeast of Carthage - Nine miles northeast of Carthage - Seven miles north northwest of Garrison (EF1) 90 MPH
11 of these tornadoes were EF0s on the Enhanced Fujita Scale. Winds in these tornadoes were between 70 and 75 MPH. The other 2 are indicated above.
"We saw several pictures on KLTV's website. None of the pictures we saw had the tornado on the ground, but due to some of the trees it could have been on the ground, but we just couldn't see it. Of course our radar were indicating that could definitely be the case," said Meteorologist Brandi Richardson with the National Weather Service.
So, Richardson and her co-worker packed their radar data and headed out early to survey the damage.
"It kind of helps us go back and do a little post-mortem analysis of what we saw and how we did and how we did on our warnings," Richardson explained.
They came to the conclusion that at least?three tornadoes touched down. One of them in an East Texans' front yard near Beckville.
"This is the most severe that we've seen. Just a few limbs and trees snapped here and there. Very, very light damage. Looks like a very weak EF0. That's what we've seen so far. We're not to the end of the track yet, but that's what we've seen so far," Richardson said.
Richardson said when she saw this storm coming she had a few personal warnings to send out.
No injuries were reported and the damage surveyed from Monday's tornadoes did not leave any major damage.
The National Weather Service said the surveying they do will help East Texans when it comes to working with their insurance companies.
From 15 April to 6 May, Regent Street London W1 will be showcasing a number of inspiring architectural installations created by cutting edge architects in partnership with RIBA
(Royal Institute of British Architects). Now in its fourth year, the Regent Street Windows Project matches a diverse range of RIBA architects with international fashion brands to create innovative window displays.
This initiative is in line with The Crown Estate?s ?750m investment plan to maintain Regent Street as one of the leading shopping destinations in the world. As part of this long-term strategy, Regent Street has recently seen the revival of iconic landmarks in the area balancing original architecture with contemporary restoration. This restoration of vast architectural buildings has recently welcomed to the street the largest Burberry in the world, restaurants Brasserie Z?del and MASH and the re-opening of Caf? Royal after being restored to its former golden-age glory.
Brands participating in the Regent Street Windows Project 2013 include: Topshop working with NEON, Esprit working with naganJohnson architects, Jack Spade working with Carl Turner Architects, Ferrari Store working with Gensler, Karen Millen with Mamou-Mani and Moss Bros with AY Architects.
Annie Walker, Director of the Regent Street Association, said: ?The RIBA Regent Street Project, now in its fourth year, is getting more and more recognition. Each time I look forward to seeing the designs and marvel at the result of the collaboration between the architects and the retailers; it definitely adds to the visitor experience.?
regentstreetonline.com???????????????
twitter.com/regentstonline ?????
facebook.com/RegentStreetOfficial
youtube.com/regentstreettv
For further information and images please contact Lucia Ruz and Verity Ramsay. Tel: +44 (0)20 7287 9601 Email: ? or ?
Notes to Editors
Concept images showcasing the designs of the installations will be available for press use from 4 March.
Photographs of the completed installations will be available from 16 April.
A viral film of last year?s Regent Street Windows Project 2012 can be seen on the Regent Street YouTube channel: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cCHRx7wiKME
For more information about RIBA London, please contact Antonia Faust in RIBA London on 020 7307 3624 or email ?
Regent Street Windows Project is an initiative of RIBA London and Regent Street, London W1. The project started in 2010 as part of the London Festival of Architecture and is now established as a stand-alone annual event.
RIBA London supports RIBA membership in the capital by providing high quality support services, organising regular activities and training. It seeks to increase the political and professional influence of the RIBA in London and work to raise public awareness of architecture as a profession. It encourages improvement in the built environment by delivering cultural activities and by encouraging architectural debate in the public arena.
regentstreetonline.com???????????????
twitter.com/regentstonline ?????
facebook.com/RegentStreetOfficial
youtube.com/regentstreettv
For further information and images please contact Lucia Ruz and Verity Ramsay. Tel: +44 (0)20 7287 9601 Email: ? or ?
For further information please contact Verity Ramsay or Susie Howard
T: 44 (0)20 7287 9601 ? ? ? ?
Email: ??or Email:?
Sister, a creative multi-platform communications agency that strategically integrates public relations with marketing, advertising, social media, digital design, web development and film production.
In our efforts to minimise our impact on the environment, please consider whether you need to print out this information. ? This communication and all information contained are confidential and may be legally privileged. The content is intended solely for the use of the individual or entity to whom it is addressed and others authorised to receive it. If you are not the intended recipient it is hereby brought to your notice that any disclosure, copying, distribution, or dissemination, or alternatively the taking of any action in reliance on it, is strictly prohibited and may constitute grounds for legal action, either civil or criminal.
Many CIOs are caught in the middle ? stuck between competing demands from the CFO to reduce costs and from the CEO to increase innovation. In fact this is a topic which often comes up in our strategic planning workshops with clients.
The challenge is to find a means to achieve both goals simultaneously. Here are?four steps you can take to achieve just that.
1. Get agreement on your business capabilities.
Business capability maps are a great way to gain clarity on what's important to your business. A good business capability map for strategy work is one which is organizationally agnostic; i.e., when you look at the boxes on the map, you don't see department names. The reason this is important is that you don't want to put anyone in the position of having to defend "their box" on the capability map. By the way, this is much harder to achieve than you might think! Once you have a draft map, you can?share it with business leaders to get their input. This is an important step, as the capability map must be owned by all business leaders ? the process of refining the map encourages leaders to take ownership.
Tip: Remember, not all your capabilities are inside your organization. Many firms leverage business partners to deliver key capabilities. For example, some firms will use FedEx or UPS to provide their distribution capabilities.
2. Identify your strategic capabilities.
Every organization has strategic capabilities. In a for-profit business, these are the three or four business capabilities which differentiate the organization in the marketplace. These capabilities are the ones the company uses most effectively to compete. Apple will define its strategic capabilities very differently from Wal-Mart. At Apple, the strategic capabilities could be "design," "customer experience" and "innovation" ? the means by which Apple commands intense brand loyalty and the ability to charge premium prices for its products and services; whereas at Wal-Mart, the strategic capabilities might be "vendor management" and "distribution" ? the means by which it is able to achieve "always low prices" and maintain its position as the lowest-price retailer. (You may decide for yourselves what you think the actual strategic capabilities are for these companies ? I use these for illustration purposes only.) You need to get agreement among your leadership team on which of your capabilities are truly strategic.
Tip: One challenge you will face is a tendency for people to want to describe everything as strategic. While all capabilities are important ? you can't remove them and have the business survive ? they are most certainly not all strategic. You need to try to limit the number of strategic capabilities to two, three or maybe four. What really is different from everyone else in the market?
3. Focus on developing strategic capabilities.
Once you have narrowed down your strategic capabilities, you can begin to explore how to enhance these capabilities in particular to get to your business goals. By definition, you are most likely to have an impact on business outcomes by changing these strategic capabilities. That doesn't mean you should ignore generic capabilities; it just means the early focus is on the strategic. Sometimes you can make great progress toward goals by fixing defective generic capabilities, so you always need to assess how well all your capabilities are meeting the needs of the business.
Tip: If you failed to make your capability map organizationally agnostic, you will see executives tending toward wanting to make "their capabilities" strategic as this reinforces their importance in the organization. Make sure your defined capabilities span multiple departments.
4. Simplify generic capabilities.
By definition, everything which is not strategic is generic. Your organization shares these generic capabilities with many of your competitors; these capabilities are not the reason a customer will choose your brand over your competitor's. Because these capabilities are generic, most executives immediately see that, in a zero-sum game (which is what IT investing is), it is better to place investments in support of strategic capabilities and at the same time, simplify the underlying technology behind the generic capabilities. This is a big deal because now you have the basis for rationalization and commoditization of technology services in support of generic capabilities. These capabilities can be more easily supported by cloud-based services which are not heavily customized by IT. By reducing the complexity behind generic services, IT is able to free up more investment for innovation in strategic capabilities.
Tip: The trade-off between strategic and generic capabilities is an important one. Too many strategic capabilities and you are back to square one, with no ability to differentiate what's important from what's generic. Over years of growth, organizations take on more and more capabilities as a means to reduce costs. The downside of this expansion in capability is the increasing complexity of the technology underpinning the enterprise. Over time the cost of maintaining the technology, and the inertia it creates in the organization, costs more than the company saves by having a highly tailored capability. Remember KISS ? if it's not differentiating, keep it simple, stupid.
These design principles come from work with many firms in developing strategic planning for technology and are covered in more depth in our strategic planning workshops. (If you are interested in attending one the upcoming workshops on BT strategic planning in New York or San Francisco, you can find info using these links: [March 12 NYC] [March 13 NYC] [April 23 San Fran] [April 24 San Fran]).
For more information on our strategic planning playbook, click here.
What tips do you have for using capability maps in strategic planning?
The All About Entrepreneurs (AAE) Show with host Coach Lilisa J. Willimas is designed to help you get motivated to reach your personal, professional and entrepreneurial Success. Guest on the show have been selected to bring you up to date info on how to make a success of your business and your life. Tune in Monday thru Friday for strategies that will help you stay empowered, inspired and motivated as an entrepreneur, professional, community leader and individual. The show is brought to you by PSUI and hosted and produced by Coach Lilisa J. Williams.
The Associated Press Posted : Friday Feb 22, 2013 8:40:15 EST
WASHINGTON ? President Obama says about 100 U.S. military personnel have been deployed to the African nation of Niger.
In a letter to Congress, Obama says the forces will focus on ?intelligence sharing? with French troops fighting Islamist militants in neighboring Mali. He says the American forces have been deployed with weapons ?for the purpose of providing their own force protection and security.?
The U.S. and Niger signed an agreement last month spelling out legal protections and obligations of Americans who might operate from the African nation. But U.S. officials declined at the time to discuss specific plans for a military presence in Niger.
The Pentagon is also considering plans to base unarmed spy drones in Niger to boost its ability to see what is happening in the region.
Does anyone know of a link to some official documentation on the new Google Maps iOS SDK? I can only find whats here: https://developers.google.com/maps/documentation/ios/ and it is very minimal at best. I was looking for more information, for example a list of all the class/instance methods, properties, tasks etc. Thanks.
Montreal Mayor Michael Applebaum speaks to reporters outside City Hall in Montreal, Tuesday, Februray 19, 2013, following a raid by UPAC on the premises. (Graham Hughes /THE CANADIAN PRESS)
Student loans help women more than men in reaching graduationPublic release date: 21-Feb-2013 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Rachel Dwyer Dwyer.46@osu.edu 614-247-6682 Ohio State University
Women need college degree more to get good job
COLUMBUS, Ohio Student loans provide more help to women than they do for men in encouraging graduation from college, a new nationwide study reveals.
Findings showed that, on average, taking out loans actually makes graduation more likely for all students. But at a certain point which is about $2,000 lower for men than for women debt has diminishing returns and becomes less effective at boosting chances of graduation.
One reason loans help women more may be tied to job prospects for college dropouts which are much better for men than for women.
"At least early in their careers, women suffer more than men if they don't have a college degree," said Rachel Dwyer, co-author of the study and associate professor of sociology at Ohio State University.
"Women will go deeper in debt to finance college because they need the degree more than men if they want to earn a good living. Men will drop out at lower levels of debt."
Dwyer conducted the study with Randy Hodson, professor of sociology at Ohio State University, and Laura McCloud, assistant professor of sociology at Pacific Lutheran University. Their results appear in the February 2013 issue of the journal Gender & Society.
Data for the study came from 3,676 young Americans who participated in the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1997. The NLSY97 interviewed people between the ages of 13 and 17 in 1997 and then talked to the same people each year up to 2010-2011. At that time, the young adults in this study were 25 to 31 years old.
The NLSY is conducted by Ohio State's Center for Human Resource Research for the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
For this study, the researchers examined student loans taken out each year the participants were enrolled in college, and how much they still owed overall on their loans.
Women were more likely to take out loans than men, with 40 percent of women and 34 percent of men taking out loans on average each year.
"Clearly, educational debt was part of the college experience for many students in the 2000s," Dwyer said.
While college debt was associated with higher rates of graduation, there came a point when adding more debt no longer increased the probability of graduation.
For men, debt started having diminishing returns on the probability of graduation at a lower level ($12,711) than for women ($14,682). This was true even after the researchers took into account many other factors that influence graduation rates, including parental household income, race and ethnicity, high school grade point average, whether the student were married or had children, whether they attended a private or public college, and other factors.
Further analysis by the researchers suggested that the different job prospects for men and women may play a big role in how much debt students are willing to carry to graduate.
Results showed that men who dropped out of college had earnings similar to male college graduates, at least early in their careers. But women who dropped out earned about $6,500 a year less than women who graduated even after taking into account a variety of demographic factors that influence income.
"Men may drop out at lower levels of debt than women because they have better job prospects than women do without a college degree," Dwyer said.
For example, some men can still receive good pay in the construction industry and, to a lesser extent, in manufacturing. Women have less access to these types of jobs.
Of course, most men who drop out may be making a short-sighted decision, Dwyer said. By midlife, college-graduate men's salaries are on average $20,000 higher than those who did not complete college.
In addition, many construction and manufacturing jobs favored by high school graduates are cyclical, subject to loss during recessions, and more easily moved overseas, she said.
Some people are surprised that this study, and others, finds that student loans actually make graduation more likely, Dwyer said. While loans help boost graduation chances, she noted that graduation is only the first step young people must make sure they will be able to pay off the loans, an issue this study does not address.
###
This research was funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development.
Contact: Rachel Dwyer, (614) 247-6682; Dwyer.46@osu.edu
Written by Jeff Grabmeier, (614) 292-8457; Grabmeier.1@osu.edu
[ | E-mail | Share ]
?
AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
Student loans help women more than men in reaching graduationPublic release date: 21-Feb-2013 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Rachel Dwyer Dwyer.46@osu.edu 614-247-6682 Ohio State University
Women need college degree more to get good job
COLUMBUS, Ohio Student loans provide more help to women than they do for men in encouraging graduation from college, a new nationwide study reveals.
Findings showed that, on average, taking out loans actually makes graduation more likely for all students. But at a certain point which is about $2,000 lower for men than for women debt has diminishing returns and becomes less effective at boosting chances of graduation.
One reason loans help women more may be tied to job prospects for college dropouts which are much better for men than for women.
"At least early in their careers, women suffer more than men if they don't have a college degree," said Rachel Dwyer, co-author of the study and associate professor of sociology at Ohio State University.
"Women will go deeper in debt to finance college because they need the degree more than men if they want to earn a good living. Men will drop out at lower levels of debt."
Dwyer conducted the study with Randy Hodson, professor of sociology at Ohio State University, and Laura McCloud, assistant professor of sociology at Pacific Lutheran University. Their results appear in the February 2013 issue of the journal Gender & Society.
Data for the study came from 3,676 young Americans who participated in the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1997. The NLSY97 interviewed people between the ages of 13 and 17 in 1997 and then talked to the same people each year up to 2010-2011. At that time, the young adults in this study were 25 to 31 years old.
The NLSY is conducted by Ohio State's Center for Human Resource Research for the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
For this study, the researchers examined student loans taken out each year the participants were enrolled in college, and how much they still owed overall on their loans.
Women were more likely to take out loans than men, with 40 percent of women and 34 percent of men taking out loans on average each year.
"Clearly, educational debt was part of the college experience for many students in the 2000s," Dwyer said.
While college debt was associated with higher rates of graduation, there came a point when adding more debt no longer increased the probability of graduation.
For men, debt started having diminishing returns on the probability of graduation at a lower level ($12,711) than for women ($14,682). This was true even after the researchers took into account many other factors that influence graduation rates, including parental household income, race and ethnicity, high school grade point average, whether the student were married or had children, whether they attended a private or public college, and other factors.
Further analysis by the researchers suggested that the different job prospects for men and women may play a big role in how much debt students are willing to carry to graduate.
Results showed that men who dropped out of college had earnings similar to male college graduates, at least early in their careers. But women who dropped out earned about $6,500 a year less than women who graduated even after taking into account a variety of demographic factors that influence income.
"Men may drop out at lower levels of debt than women because they have better job prospects than women do without a college degree," Dwyer said.
For example, some men can still receive good pay in the construction industry and, to a lesser extent, in manufacturing. Women have less access to these types of jobs.
Of course, most men who drop out may be making a short-sighted decision, Dwyer said. By midlife, college-graduate men's salaries are on average $20,000 higher than those who did not complete college.
In addition, many construction and manufacturing jobs favored by high school graduates are cyclical, subject to loss during recessions, and more easily moved overseas, she said.
Some people are surprised that this study, and others, finds that student loans actually make graduation more likely, Dwyer said. While loans help boost graduation chances, she noted that graduation is only the first step young people must make sure they will be able to pay off the loans, an issue this study does not address.
###
This research was funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development.
Contact: Rachel Dwyer, (614) 247-6682; Dwyer.46@osu.edu
Written by Jeff Grabmeier, (614) 292-8457; Grabmeier.1@osu.edu
[ | E-mail | Share ]
?
AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
Zendesk, the email and contact support client used by Tumblr, Twitter, and Pinterest, has been compromised, and user?s email addresses have been stolen during the breach. Tumblr is sending out emails informing users of the situation, but Twitter and Pinterest are also seeing the same ill effects.
Many CIOs are caught in the middle ? stuck between competing demands from the CFO to reduce costs and from the CEO to increase innovation. In fact this is a topic which often comes up in our strategic planning workshops with clients.![[ Back to EurekAlert! ]](http://www.eurekalert.org/images/back2e.gif){kind=small}
Public release date: 21-Feb-2013
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