hospital ship will be deployed to the Port of Los Angeles within the next few days according to President Trump. FEMA Administrator Pete Gaynor said that while there are more deaths from coronavirus in the state of Washington, California's health care and hospitals may become overwhelmed without the help of the San Diego based hospital ship at the Port of L-A.

National Guard Authorized in California.

FEMA administrator Pete Gaynor announced Sunday that the President has authorized the use of National Guard troops to California, the state of Washington and New York to assist in efforts to slow the spread of the virus. Trump said, "Through FEMA, the federal government will be funding 100% of the cost of deploying national guard units to carry out approved missions to stop the2014 are increasingly setting the tone in the pro-Western regime led by oligarch Petro Poroshenko. They are needed to continue fighting pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine and suppressing protests against the unpopular war and austerity policies of the regime in western Ukraine.

The program of the Right Sector, which regards itself as a successor to the fascist Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists (OUN), is well known. It is right wing and nationalist, recalling in many respects the fascist ideology of the Nazis with whom the OUN collaborated during World War II. Like the Nazis, Yarosh and the Right Sector regard communists, liberals, homosexuals, Jews, Russians and the working class as their enemy.

A few weeks after the Maidan coup of February 2014, Yarosh gave an interview to Spiegel Online in which


Cerebral processing of words and the development of chronic pain.
The processing of pain-related, body-related, and neutral words was assessed in individuals with prechronic pain and matched healthy controls. Integrated surface electromyogram, heart rate, skin conductance level, and visual event-related potentials from 11 electrode sites were recorded during the presentation of three word types at perception threshold. Startle responses were recorded from words presented above perception threshold. The patient and control groups did not differ in recognition performance. Pain-related words evoked an enhanced early component (N100) of the visual event-related potential only in the prechronic pain group. In both groups the late slow wave and the startle response were enhanced for body- and pain-related words compared with those for neutral words. All word types elicited larger late positivities inSandy Hook truthers, are a unique product of our time: self-righteous fools full of misplaced intellectual certitude, bolstered by digital misinformation and the confederacy of like-minded lunatics social media can provide to them.

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It was one of these truthers, these conspiracy theorists to whom notions like logic and reason are meaningless, who stole a sign placed at a memorial playground honoring Grace McDonnell in Mystic, Conn. last week. This same person then called Lynn McDonnell, Grace's still-grieving mother, and told her that he was on to her -- that her child had never been real and was merely part of the elaborate hoax that was Sandy Hook. When news of this began making the rounds, most decent people responded as you would expect them


and that this relative told him that a stranger had just shown up at his doorstep demanding to see Bob. The man apparently was hoping to talk to Bob in an effort to contact me. He claimed to be the person who had stolen the sign from Grace McDonnell's memorial playground. He gave Bob's relative a local public phone number and asked him to get in contact with Bob who would then get in contact with me and tell me to give him a call. My first thought upon hearing this, after being concerned for the safety of Bob's family, was that whoever had appeared out of the blue in Northern Virginia looking for me wasn't really anyone I wanted to speak to. He may have made ahelp but smile," I said. "You would too if you were a member of the Illuminati."

"Exactly!" he responded.

Obviously, I took very little of this conversation seriously, mostly because, as I said to him at the very beginning, until I saw proof that he was who he claimed to be, he was just some random crazy person. I told him that if he wanted to prove himself he would have to send me pictures of the stolen signs. Yes, signs. He claimed to have taken not only the Grace McDonnell placard but one honoring another Sandy Hook victim, Chase Kowalski. He said that this one had simply gone unreported, as had the fact that he also called Chase's mother, Rebecca Kowalski, to taunt her in the same way he


entirely with the images above. Also, the "sun" panel shown above is the reverse view of the Grace McDonnell "peace sign" panel.

The first two are images of the bolts that I removed when I stole the sign from the Chase Kowalski playground in Mantoloking, New Jersey. Like I said on the phone, I stole his sign first a few weeks before I stole the one in Mystic. I had to take pictures of the bolts connecting the sign to the posts so I could go to home depot and buy the proper tool (once i found out what tool I needed)... You see images of the Chase Kowalski playground sign sitting in my house. I tried to take pictures of it that provide a sense of atmosphere, angle,as independently investigating the e-mail address this came from -- he's everything you would expect from an Alex Jonesian conspiracy theorist: He's a ferocious combination of ignorance and arrogance, convinced of his own intellectual elitism while in reality spouting accusations that are ludicrous at face value and for which he has no proof whatsoever anyway. It's precisely the fact that he's not a raving lunatic, but rather a very methodical and seemingly level-headed one, that makes him so difficult to wrap your head around. He's functional, not some classic schizophrenic who's off his meds and talking to telephone poles about Jesus.

With that in mind, however, it's his functionality that's going to be his undoing. He has a car and used it to drive into the area where Bob


of those still mourning the children they lost at Sandy Hook.

This afternoon I spoke to Bill Lavin, the founder of the "Sandy Ground" project which built the memorial playgrounds this person has apparently been vandalizing and stealing from. He said that the signs in the pictures sent to us appear to be legitimate and while he wasn't aware of anything missing from the Chase Kowalski playground, he had a contractor check it out while I was speaking to him and was able to confirm that the Kowalski panel was gone. "You want to forgive someone like this, but it's not easy," he told me. "Mostly, I just want to see him go to jail."

I think that's now all but a certainty.

In the open letter I wrote last week,Mar 18, 2011

Lady Gaga, James Franco, TV's GLEE and The Human Rights Campaign Among Winners of EDGE Best of 2010 Awards

For Immediate Release Mar 18, 2011

New York, NY - EDGE Media Network, today announced the official unveiling of the prestigious EDGE Best of 2010 Awards. Since 2007, EDGE's editorial team nominates potential winners in the fields of nightlife, entertainment, technology, fitness, activism and more. The 2010 EDGE Awards represented a record 65 categories across 5 major channels of content.

About the AwardsNominees are required to be related to the LGBT community; however, "LGBT" in this context does not mean for example that a business need be gay-owned, nor that a motion picture include specifically gay characters. Instead, EDGE's nominees are organizations, individuals and creative endeavors worthy of celebration in


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Can anyone tell that these guys (except for Lamb) are already in their 50s?

The 90-minute-long movie is packed with action scenes such as shootouts and car chases, filmed in locations such as Hungary, Montenegro, Japan, China, Taiwan, and Inner Mongolia.

Photo: Weibo

Golden Job is directed by acclaimed choreographer Chin and produced by Tsang.

The suave-looking cast members made an appearance at the 4th annual international Jackie Chan action movie week on Wednesday (July 18), and performed the movie's theme song on stage.

Photo: Weibo

Action star Jackie Chan, who funded the film, said: "The spirit of brotherhood that these five actors share, both on screen and in real life, is a positive energy that our society needs."

Photo: Weibo

minlee@sph.com.sg


The man who was sentenced Friday for punching a San Diego Police Department officer in the face during an altercation has died, NBC 7 has learned.

Frederick Jefferson, 39, was sentenced to seven years in prison for one count of assault with force likely to produce great bodily injury and two counts of resisting an executive officer.

The Medical Examiner's Office confirmed to NBC 7 that Jefferson's body was in their possession but did not confirm how or when he died.

A jury convicted Jefferson in early August for the charges stemming from the dramatic altercation, which was recorded by another officer’s body-worn camera.

The video shows officers confronting Jefferson as he walks down the middle of Logan Avenue, about a block away from a tense protest underway at Chicano Park.

The videohelp at least four more officers, Ruggiero was able to wrestle Jefferson to the ground. In the closing seconds of the video, blood spatter can be seen pooling on the concrete near Jefferson’s head, but SDPD said the blood belonged to Ruggiero.

Ruggiero suffered a broken nose, jaw and other facial fractures, according to the department.

At a preliminary hearing in April, Jefferson showed no reaction when the video was played. His public defense attorney argued that Jefferson was only reacting to the officers' attempt to grab him.

The officer whose body cam video was shown in court, said he was concerned because Jefferson was wearing clothing that matched colors worn by one of the nearby protest groups known to be violent.

A man suspected of punching an SDPD officer in the


                                   BACKGROUND
       1. The evidence adduced at trial.
       On the evening of July 25, 2011, Duncan Tasevski drove fellow gang
members Smith, Gary Sanders and another individual to Smith‟s home on East 87th
Place in Los Angeles. Tasevski had known Smith for a few years but was best
friends with Sanders. Smith had a bag of clothes when he entered the car. Upon
arrival at Smith‟s residence, Smith and Sanders exited the car. Tasevski remained
in the car texting on his phone. He heard two or threegunshots and saw muzzle
flash, then saw Smith returning to the car with a dark object in his hand. Smith
appeared “frantic” and “wired up.” In fear for his life, Tasevski drove from the
scene as Smith arrived at the car.
       At the time of the shooting, Smith‟s mother, Annette Saxton, Smith‟s
12-year-old daughter Keynia Smith, and Keynia‟s mother Kalita Lucas, were in
Smith‟s residence. They went outside and saw Sanders slumped against a fence.
Saxton testified she has known Sanders “for a long time” and considered him
“like my son.” Sanders asked for help, repeatedly said he was dying and told
Saxton, “ „Your son shot me.‟ ” While Sanders remained in the front of the
residence, Keynia and Lucas saw Smith come from the rear of the building and


                                          2
enter the residence. Keynia saw him leave shortly thereafter. The .38-caliber
revolver used in the shooting and a bag of clothing were found in a trash can on the
side of the building from which Smith emerged after the shooting.
       Keynia testified she opened the door during the shooting. She did not see the
shooter‟s face but described the shooter as light-skinned, tall, slender male with
short, wavy hair, which described Tasevski.
       Sanders was taken to California Hospitalwhere he died of gunshot wounds.
       Jose Ramirez lives across the street from California Hospital. In the early
morning hours after the shooting, Ramirez was awakened by screaming. Ramirez
looked outside and saw three men hitting, kicking and stomping Smith while
several others watched. The men punched Smith more than 15 times, knocked him
to the ground and stomped him with their feet. They ceased the attack and went to
the entrance of the hospital but returned and “continued punching him.” Smith was
hospitalized as a result of the attack but refused to discuss the assault with police
officers.
       Tasevski testified he alone attacked Smith outside the hospital.
       Two DNA samples were obtained from the weapon used


13.) Argument may be vigorous as long as it amounts to
fair comment on the evidence, which can include reasonable inferences or
deductions drawn from the evidence. (Ibid.)
       Here, the prosecutor‟s argument was based on inferences drawn from the
evidence. Tasevski knew Smith was with Sanders at the time of the shooting and
Smith returned to Tasevski‟s car immediately after the shooting holding a dark
object and looking frantic. As a result of these observations, Tasevski drove from
the scene in fear for his life. Later that night, a group of males beat Smith in the
parking lot of the hospital where Sanders died. Tasevski admitted beating Smith
just hours after the shooting. Ramirez, an unbiased eyewitness, testified several
people participated in the beating.
       TheHABITAT

LOWER EAST SIDE

In 2014, more than 10,000 plug-in cars were on the road in New York State. That number is projected to triple by 2018 and reach 1 million by 2025. It would be natural for an enterprising co-op or condo board to sense an opportunity. After all, someone has to charge all those cars.

Chinese money keeps pouring into New York City real estate. The latest infusion comes from China Vanke, the largest residential developer in China, which has partnered with Adam America Real Estate and Slate Property Group to pay an eye-popping $116 million for a former Lower East Side AIDS nursing facility that was originally built as a schoolhouse in the late 19th century. The developers plan to turn the vacant, 150,000-square-foot building at 45 Rivington


Street into luxury condo apartments.

“We will continue to commit to the U.S.,” Vanke’s Kai-Yan Lee tells the Wall Street Journal. “We will continue to seek out good opportunities and good partners.”

China Vanke is also developing properties in midtown Manhattan, and in Park Slope and downtown Brooklyn.

The Rivington Street building was sold to the developers by the Allure Group, a private nursing home operator, which paid $28 million for the building last year and closed its 219-bed AIDS nursing facility last December, citing failure to obtain state Medicaid reimbursements. The sale to China Vanke was finalized only after the city made the controversial decision to lift a restriction on the deed, which required the building to remain a nonprofit nursing home in perpetuity.

Before the sale was finalized, Community Boardhit the sweet spot, right?

The Department of Buildings has given its blessing to the demolition of one of the oldest and quirkiest buildings on the Lower East Side – a 200-year-old Federal row house at the corner of Grand and Essex Streets, The Lo-Downreports.The building’s owner, Jennie Lai, plans to erect a 6,500-square-foot mixed commercial and residential building on the site, which recently housed a pizza parlor and flower shop on street level. The building is not landmarked because it had undergone too many alterations over the years, and so it was not protected by the Landmarks Preservation Commission.

The DOB rejected Lai’s original development plans earlier this month. She paid $4 million for the building, which will soon enter the graveyard of forgotten olde New York.

When I applied


13 units plus a private roof deck, and that amenities will include a cellar gym and bike storage. ODA Architecture has released a rendering showing us what 173 Chrystie will look like, pending the DOB's approval, of course.

Almost one month ago, Lower East Side residents voiced serious concerns about the construction site for a new luxury condo tower after parts of Cherry Street — located behind the site — began to crack and sink. Now locals have learned that the building "on the East River waterfront could rise up to 800 feet — almost three times taller than the neighboring Manhattan Bridge [as well as] the tallest buildings in the area," according to DNAinfo. Talk about sticking out like a sore thumb. Curiously enough, DNAinfo reports that "[Extelllocated at 82 Rutgers Slip."

Speaking of super-tall condo towers that are causing people a lot of grief, get a load of this one. Parts of Cherry Street, located behind an active construction site, have cracked and sunk a few inches, locals say. Trever Holland, president of the tenants' association at Two Bridges Tower, told DNAinfo that residents of the affordable housing high-rise building — located adjacent to the construction site — are nervous: "if the land is sinking on Cherry [Street]," they wonder, "what is the land doing under [our building]?" What's being constructed at 250 South Street? Curbed reports that documents dated May 29, 2015 confirm the luxury tower will be condos. Those condos. Holland also told DNAinfo that "the roadway was just one of a number


month." These issues also include cracks in the walls of their apartments as well as misaligned doors and mailboxes, which the developer has reportedly promised to fix.

It was only a matter of time, really. The gritty Lower East Side was already changing by the nineties. But revitalization tends to mean gentrification and, today, condo prices are starting to soar as high as those in historically pricier neighborhoods, such as SoHo, NoLIta, and NoHo. The New York Times reports that "one of the newest condo developments to be marketed on the Lower East Side — stretching from Houston Street to the Brooklyn Bridge, and the Bowery to the East River — is 50 Clinton. Demolition to make way for the seven-story masonry building, which replaces a row of one-storyBellamy with Wales team-mate Ashley Williams during a Cardiff-Swansea game

Liverpool forward Craig Bellamy says he is proud of how Swansea City have begun life in the Premier League - despite his loyalty to Cardiff City.

Brendan Rodgers's side, containing several of Bellamy's Wales team-mates, play Liverpool at Anfield on Saturday.

And Bellamy says Swansea have proved they belong in the top flight.

"The only doubters would probably be from people outside of Wales... not knowing what Swansea's about as a football club," Bellamy said.

"They are out [of] the way and they don't get the coverage - nowhere near what other clubs get, that's clear.

"But anyone who has followed Swansea and followed their progression would know the Premiership will suit them.

"The Premiership will suit them probably more than the Championship would because


(CNN) A photo appearing to show actress and #MeToo movement leader Asia Argento lying down with young actor Jimmy Bennett has surfaced.

The photo, published by TMZ , shows Argento and Bennett posing for a "selfie."

Earlier this week, The New York Times reported it had received a photo from 2013 of the two lying in bed among documents sent to the newspaper through encrypted emails by an unidentified party. Bennett and Argento would at that time have been 17 and 37 respectively. In California, the age of consent is 18.

The newspaper reported that, months after publicly accusing Harvey Weinstein of rape, Argento agreed to make payments to Bennett after he accused her of sexual assault.

Argento denied the allegations in the newspaper in a statement first reported Tuesday by theit in private with the person who wronged me. My trauma resurfaced as she came out as a victim herself," Bennett's statement read in part. "I was underage when the event took place, and I tried to seek justice in a way that made sense to me at the time because I was not ready to deal with the ramifications of my story becoming public. At the time I believed there was still a stigma to being in the situation as a male in our society."

Argento and Bennett starred in the 2004 movie, "The Heart Is Deceitful Above All Things." Bennett played her son.

Argento has been at the forefront of the #MeToo movement and is one of the women to accuse Harvey Weinstein of rape.

Weinstein has pleaded not


guilty to six felony sex crimes -- two counts of predatory sexual assault, two counts of rape, one first-degree criminal sex act charge and one criminal sex act.

The charges stem from allegations from three women, according to court documents. None of the charges currently against Weinstein stem from Argento's accusations.

Weinstein has denied all allegations of "nonconsensual sexual activity," and he's remained free after posting $1 million bail in cash.

The charges against Weinstein came nine months after The New Yorker and The New York Times published accounts from several women accusing him of various forms of sexual misconduct.and services will cost the school budget an estimated $1.4 million. These goods and services include textbooks for social studies, chemistry, biology and world languages.

Elementary math curriculum, science lab materials, instructional technology and resources for mental health professionals are also among the goods and services the schools hope to provide, according to the Committee’s presentation.

In the past year, there has been a sharp increase in students being diagnosed with mental health issues. Students in Watertown are suffering PTSD because of the marathon bombing.

"It happened in their safe place, their backyard," one Committee member said.

Elevations data management software for English language learners is another important request considering 32 percent, or roughly one third, of Watertown students’ first language is not English, the Committee explained.

"How we will meet these [district


has repeatedly seen the US and its local proxies facilitate the flight of ISIS from besieged cities. The most notorious incident was in Raqqa, where a column of vehicles carried 4,000 ISIS fighters and family members, along with their weapons, ammunition and explosives, into the eastern Syrian desert.

The goal was to turn these fighters against government troops and aid in the US operation to deprive Damascus of control over Syria’s oil and gas fields, which are vital for the reconstruction of the war-ravaged country. The US aims in Syria are bound up with wider preparations for war not only against Iran, but against Russia as well.

Finally, in regard to Afghanistan, where the US has waged war for nearly 17 years, the New York Times published an article Sundaygreatest of all “fake news” stories, the “global war on terrorism.”

Al Qaeda, the original supposed arch enemy in this unending war, was the direct product of CIA and US support for the Islamist mujahideen in Afghanistan against the Soviet-backed government in the 1980s. Since then, these elements have had a dual use for US imperialism, serving at one stage as proxy forces in wars for regime change, and at another as a pretext for US interventions in the name of fighting terror.

Under the mantle of the “war on terrorism,” successive US governments, Democratic and Republican alike, have not only conducted wars whose victims number in the millions, but also carried out an unrelenting attack on democratic rights, from domestic spying to censoring the Internet.

The emerging international alliance between


the Trump administration has been flirting with the idea of a new, big federal entitlement program called “paid family leave,” and Democrats are showing strong support for single-payer medical care;

b) the Republican tax reform is founded on unrealistically high GDP growth expectations.

In fact, more, new government entitlements will depress economic growth — government spending over 40 percent of GDP permanently slows down GDP growth — thus widening the gap between reality and projections in the Republican tax reform.

In the past century, the industrialized world has seen many “mild” examples of debt crises, where countries have gone through varying forms of austerity in an attempt to curtail deficits and repair an urgent loss of credibility on international financial markets. Those episodes, which mostly took place in European welfare states,came and went without much fanfare. However, three more serious debt crises have left footprints in recent memory: Sweden in the 1990s, and Argentina, Puerto Rico, and Greece in the past 10 years.

Of these crises, the one in Greece has earned global notoriety, and for good reasons. An advanced nation, economically marred by debt, plunged from the global heights of prosperity into a shadowland in stagnation and industrial poverty. The decline and fall of the Greek nation, which lost one quarter of its economy in the process, is reminiscent of what happened in Germany in the 1920s.

While the Weimar Republic has become known for its hyperinflation, the common denominator between them is really the unforgiving application of fiscal austerity as a means to control deficits and debt. In


the German example, the reason was external in the form of punitive reparations due to World War I.

In Greece, however, the debt crisis had entirely domestic causes. In fact, a closer look at the downfall of the Greek economy can give us a good idea of what could happen here in the United States. There are some important differences, of course — for example, the Greek economy has never been bigger than a mid-size US state, and it is subject to a supra-national currency — but the similarities are also strong.

To begin with, the Greek debt crisis was not caused by poor economic performance. As Figure 1 explains, in nine of the 10 years preceding the 2008 start of the crisis, the Greek economy grew at more than3 percent (blue line). The problem was instead an unrelenting streak of deficit spending (columns):

Source: Eurostat.

The deficits in the Greek government budget were driven by relentlessly growing entitlement spending. The growth, in turn, took place over a long period of time. From 1988 to 2008 (the red column) entitlement spending grew from 13.9 percent of GDP to 21.4 percent:

Source: Eurostat social-expenditures database.

Looking directly at the Greek government budget, the relentless growth in government spending stands out even further as the driver of deficits. In a scenario that is eerily reminiscent of US government finances, tax revenue in Greece kept growing at rates comparable to spending, just not at a rate that caught up with government spending. Looking again at the 10 years immediately before the crisis outbreak, tax


Gibson Area Hospital & Health Services

Lindsy Slade Awarded GAHHS Employee of the Month

February 3, 2011

Lindsy Slade of Paxton was awarded the Gibson Area Hospital & Helath Services (GAHHS) employee of the month for January 2011. She was raised in Fisher then moved to Paxton during her junior year in high school. Lindsy has worked as a CNA on the Medical/Surgical floor since April of 2010. Lindsy enjoys working at the hospital because everyone is so friendly and work together as a team. She said, “I like caring for people and showing them kindness.” In Lindsy’s spare time she enjoys playing Bingo and spending time with her four children, Jasmine, Logan, Kelsea, Averyonna, and fiancé Chris Crandall

Links

Not all physicians are employees or agents of Gibson Area Hospital and Healthto reopen the case and to investigate an alleged sham marriage that petitioners allege allowed Sun to settle in the US more than a decade ago.

Analysts say the petition to a foreign government to intervene in a domestic affair underscores the level of public distrust in the country's judiciary and police, and frustration with its opaque political system.

The petition also unleashed a torrent of discussion in mainland media last week about Zhu's plight and the social and political implications of her case.

Zhu returned to the public spotlight in April when, in a similar but unconnected case, Shanghai police arrested a Fudan University postgraduate medical student in connection with the death of his roommate, who was also poisoned.

That was in stark contrast to the way police handled Zhu's case


Tzampop is charged with murder and is being held on $1 million bond. He is due to appear Monday in New London Superior Court. Both men are from the village of Chocojan, Guatemala, police said.

The chief medical examiner's office conducted an autopsy Friday and concluded Chajon died as the result of a "compression of the neck with blunt injuries of head and trunk" and declared his death a homicide.

In September, Tzampop was charged by New London police for driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs and several other motor vehicle charges. He is due in New London Superior Court on Jan. 23 for that incident, according to state court records.

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Digital access or digital and print delivery.This subproject is one of many research subprojects utilizing the resources provided by a Center grant funded by NIH/NCRR. Primary support for the subproject and the subproject's principal investigator may have been provided by other sources, including other NIH sources. The Total Cost listed for the subproject likely represents the estimated amount of Center infrastructure utilized by the subproject, not direct funding provided by the NCRR grant to the subproject or subproject staff. In mammals, the central circadian pacemaker resides in the hypothalamic suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN), but circadian oscillators also exist in peripheral tissues


It is well known in motor vehicles to provide a car seat design having a height adjustable head rest and wherein the head rest is coordinated with a safety belt arrangement. The safety belt typically includes a lap and shoulder belt, whereby the shoulder belt is guided obliquely downward from an upper deflection or linkage point associated with the motor vehicle interior wall, to the head rest and then diagonally across the front side of the seat back to terminally connect with a buckle assembly. In such an arrangement, the head rest can be moved to a desired height position by hand or by a provided electric motor.
It is also known from the prior art that most users of these types of motor vehicle seats do not correctlyhumor and his quick wit."

Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner, whose office works closely with Fannie and Freddie, also offered condolences.

"On behalf of the Treasury family, we are deeply saddened by the news this morning of David Kellermann's death," Geithner said. "Our deepest sympathies are with his family and his colleagues at Freddie Mac during this difficult time."

Kellermann, 41, who also served as a senior vice president, had been with Freddie Mac (FRE, Fortune 500) for more than 16 years.

He was named to acting CFO and senior vice president positions in September 2008, and was responsible for the company's financial controls. This included overseeing financial reporting, compliance with tax requirements and regulations, and annual budgeting and financial planning.

Before assuming his current posts, Kellermann was corporate controller and principal accounting officer.

Kellermann


held a master's degree in finance from George Washington University and a bachelor's in political science and accounting from the University of Michigan. He has served as a volunteer board member of the District of Columbia Coalition for the Homeless.

Freddie Mac was established by Congress in 1970 to provide liquidity, stability and affordability to the nation's residential mortgage markets. Freddie Mac supports communities across the nation by providing mortgage capital to lenders.

The government took over Freddie Mac last year, as the nationwide subprime-loan crisis escalated. In September, Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae were placed under conservatorship by its regulator, the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA).

"We at FHFA are very saddened by the death of David Kellermann," the government agency said in a statement. "As the acting chief financialofficer of Freddie Mac during particularly challenging times, David was an inspiration to his staff and many others who were privileged to work with him."

Both companies back mortgages held by private homeowners, and have received massive cash infusions from the government to keep them afloat.

According to a March 11 company filing, Freddie Mac was being investigated by U.S. Attorney's Offices in New York and Virginia. It subsequently was notified that the Securities and Exchange Commission was also launching an inquiry -- which has since evolved into a "formal investigation."

The company was subpoenaed for documents relating to accounting, disclosure and corporate governance matters in September 2008, October 2008, January 2009 and February 2009. The filing also says that SEC staff was interviewing company employees.

In a statement, Freddie said that


Former LAPD Chief William Bratton Returns to NYPD Commissioner Post

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This is an archived article and the information in the article may be outdated. Please look at the time stamp on the story to see when it was last updated.

New York City Mayor-elect Bill de Blasio named William J. Bratton to return as the city’s police commissioner Thursday, selecting the former LAPD police chief to head a department praised for overseeing a drop in crime but criticized for its use of racially charged stop-and-frisk tactics.

Bratton had been expected to get the job, which has been held since 2002 by Raymond Kelly. De Blasio, who will take office in January at the end of Michael Bloomberg’s third and final term, was a harsh critic of Kelly and vowed toa family would have to sit up at night to keep a fire while others occupied the scanty bedding and slept.
The labors of the colonists had scarcely begun when some misunderstanding arose with the Indians. The settlers, in order to avoid serious trouble, returned to Parowan about the last of February. A council was held with the Indians and the difficulty satisfactorily settled. Most of the colonists returned with reinforcements. The Babbit contingent arrived from the North in April and no furthur difficulties occured in respect to Indians at that time.
The land that was surveyed, sixteen ten-acre lots, was awarded by casting lots. The southeast corner ten-acres fell to Ross R. Rogers. He seeded part of it to wheat and soon as possible made a small ditch to


the river, taking out the water about where the Parkinson house now stands. This land, however, was superceded the year previous (1855) by Thompson and Tyler who came from Fillmore and seeded a few acres to wheat on the ground now owned by J. H. Cartwright. The water was taken from the south bank directly onto the land, in July of that year. This was experimental but suggested because of the distruction of the crops in Fillmore by the grasshoppers. They had passed through this valley and reached the Parowan field in the fall of 1854, and deposited their eggs there. The new crop of pests destroyed the fields in 1855. From about twelve hundred acres, only 19 bushels of wheat survived the ravages.

so far completed as tobe suitable for the occasion. The earth floor, spread with a blanket, sufficed for a table and the seats were of oriental style.
The year of 1855 had been a year of calamity, famine and distress. The crops in this part of the territory had for two seasons been destroyed by the ravages of the grasshoppers. Many families were short of bread. Children and parents alike were poorly fed. Clothing was exceedingly scarce, so much so, that in some instances part of a family would have to sit up at night to keep a fire while others occupied the scanty bedding and slept.
The labors of the colonists had scarcely begun when some misunderstanding arose with the Indians. The settlers, in order to avoid serious trouble, returned to Parowan about


the last of February. A council was held with the Indians and the difficulty satisfactorily settled. Most of the colonists returned with reinforcements. The Babbit contingent arrived from the North in April and no furthur difficulties occured in respect to Indians at that time.
The land that was surveyed, sixteen ten-acre lots, was awarded by casting lots. The southeast corner ten-acres fell to Ross R. Rogers. He seeded part of it to wheat and soon as possible made a small ditch to the river, taking out the water about where the Parkinson house now stands. This land, however, was superceded the year previous (1855) by Thompson and Tyler who came from Fillmore and seeded a few acres to wheat on the ground now owned by J. H. Cartwright. Thewater was taken from the south bank directly onto the land, in July of that year. This was experimental but suggested because of the distruction of the crops in Fillmore by the grasshoppers. They had passed through this valley and reached the Parowan field in the fall of 1854, and deposited their eggs there. The new crop of pests destroyed the fields in 1855. From about twelve hundred acres, only 19 bushels of wheat survived the ravages.


For such a small country, the Netherlands has an incredible number of whisky festivals. From September to April, barely a weekend goes by without one taking place, ranging from big events such as the International Whisky Festival in The Hague to countless smaller festivals, and a very relaxed one (Maltstock) too. But there’s always room for one more.

Rotterdam was named one of Lonely Planet’s Top 10 Cities in 2016. After being bombed to smithereens in the Second World War, The Netherlands’ second biggest city became a blank canvas for visionary architects. Now it is a modern, bustling, metropolitan city with the largest port in Europe. Curiously, however, Rotterdam was one of the few big cities in the country without its own whisky festival.

The city is also the homeof Whiskybase, a crowd-sourced whisky database founded about eight years ago by Menno Bijmolt and Cees-Jan van Dijk. In 2011, the Whiskybase Shop was opened in Zwaanshals, Rotterdam, where it is now part of an up-and-coming neighbourhood with countless boutique retail outlets and eateries.

In recent years the company’s founders have hosted numerous anniversary tastings for their shop, but for the fifth anniversary they went all out and the Whiskybase Gathering was born: a festival to celebrate independent bottlers and collectors.

Their chosen venue was perfect for a whisky festival in Rotterdam. The Maassilo is a 100-year-old grain silo in the harbour district, converted at the turn of the millennium into an events space. A wonderful nod both to whisky and to Rotterdam’s deeply ingrained (no pun intended) history as


Whiskybase Gathering came around, that is.

Musical experience: As well as countless drams to taste, the show also provided musical entertainment

Kintra whisky is another one of those lesser-known indies. Erik Molenaar started his company in 2009 and he bottles a handful of casks every year. Earlier this year he took the plunge and started distilling in his own distillery in Deventer, the Netherlands. He introduced his latest gem – a Glenturret 1977 – at the show, which turned out to be one of the big hits of the Gathering.

Also among the exhibitors was Phil Thompson from Dornoch distillery. He brought along an array of impressive whiskies from the Dornoch Castle Hotel and whisky bar, including the extremely rare Bowmore 1964 for the 30th anniversary of the Scottish Licensed TradeLast updated on .From the section European Football

Falcao scored one of his four goals for Man Utd against Leicester

Monaco have a number of "great clubs" interested in signing their £50m striker Falcao should Manchester United decide against making his loan deal permanent at the end of the season.

The Premier League club signed the Colombian, 29, on a season-long loan last September and have the option of paying £43.2m for him in the summer.

In an interview to run on Football Focus on BBC One on Saturday (12:10 GMT), Monaco vice-president Vadim Vasilyev says: "I'm not worried for Falcao, he is a world-class striker."

Falcao has scored only four goals in 19 appearances for United.

Vasilyev adds: "If Manchester United decide not take up the option at the end of the season,


claim quick revenge over City rivals

Casey Stoney's WSL newcomers - promoted as Championship winners last season - moved level on points with City in Group C, despite having played a game fewer, but both are three points behind leaders Birmingham.

As well as casting doubt over which two teams will progress from the group, United's win was also a measure of swift revenge for their 1-0 defeat by City in their first WSL game in September.

The victory was fully deserved, with both of United's goals coming before Walsh's dismissal, and only Ellie Roebuck's fingertip save from Hanson prevented the margin of victory being greater.

Keira Walsh's dismissal left Manchester City to play the final 25 minutes with 10 players

City fielded close to the same side that drew 1-1 with AtleticoMadrid in the Women's Champions League on Wednesday, making only two changes - and one of those was enforced after defender Aoife Mannion damaged knee ligaments in that midweek match.

But despite clearly taking the competition seriously, City failed to produce an effort of note to test United keeper Mary Earps as they tamely slipped to a first defeat of the season.

In the next round of matches in a fortnight's time, Nick Cushing's City host Birmingham, who top the group after doubles from Lucy Staniforth and Rachel Williams helped them to a 5-1 win at Leicester.

Williams and Linnett hat-trick heroines

Championship side Lewes threatened an upset in Group D when they led 2-1 at WSL side Reading but England's most-capped player Fara Williams completed a hat-trick as the Royals recovered


Gin Blossoms to rock Apple Store SoHo tonight

An alternative rock band popular in the 1990s has recently reunited and will swing by Apple Computer's retail store in downtown Manhattan this evening to play a one hour set.

Apple's flagship store in SoHo will be closing its second-floor Genius Bar at 7:00 p.m. to prepare for a special performance by the Gin Blossom, which is due to take place between 8:00 to 9:00 pm.

The Tempe, Arizona-based band released three albums and had several Billboard Top 25 hits, including "Hey Jealousy," "Found Out About You," and "Til I Hear It From You," before breaking up in 1997.

After reuniting in 2002, the group began work on their fourth album, "Major Lodge Victory", which was released about three weeks ago.

Apple's flagship location onFifth Avenue, just a few minutes north of the SoHo store, is also a frequent host of music events. The 24-hour store earlier this month hosted a live Midnight Mix by Ali Shaheed, a popular DJ from the musical group A Tribe Called Quest.


they do not cry for help.
NIV 13
"The godless in heart harbor resentment; even when he fetters them, they do not cry for help.
NIV 14
They die in their youth, among male prostitutes of the shrines.
NIV 14
They die in their youth, among male prostitutes of the shrines.
NIV 15
But those who suffer he delivers in their suffering; he speaks to them in their affliction.
NIV 15
But those who suffer he delivers in their suffering; he speaks to them in their affliction.
NIV 16
"He is wooing you from the jaws of distress to a spacious place free from restriction, to the comfort of your table laden with choice food.
NIV 16
"He is wooing you from the jaws of distress to a spacious place free from restriction, to the comfort of your table laden with choicethe night, to drag people away from their homes.

New International Version

Job 36:10-20

NIV 10
He makes them listen to correction and commands them to repent of their evil.
NIV 11
If they obey and serve him, they will spend the rest of their days in prosperity and their years in contentment.
NIV 12
But if they do not listen, they will perish by the sword and die without knowledge.
NIV 13
"The godless in heart harbor resentment; even when he fetters them, they do not cry for help.
NIV 14
They die in their youth, among male prostitutes of the shrines.
NIV 15
But those who suffer he delivers in their suffering; he speaks to them in their affliction.
NIV 16
"He is wooing you from the jaws of distress to a spacious place free from restriction, to the comfort of your


July 23, 2016:
As of July 2016 India’s locally designed and built LCA (Light Combat Aircraft or "Tejas") jet fighter had still not received its FOC (Final Operational Clearance), Meanwhile LCA received its IOC (Initial Operational Certificate) in 2013 and an FOC should have quickly followed. Despite repeated delays in receiving the FOC the government insists FOC will come through by early 2017. Moreover the government insisted on recently delivering the first two LCA fighters to the air force MiG-21 squadron that desperately needs new aircraft but doesn’t want the LCA. What is going on here?

For the Indian procurement bureaucracy it is business as usual. That despite a growing number of reasons the Indian Air Force is openly pleading with the government not to force them to accept andoperate the LCA. The air force has already agreed to accept (and pay for out of their budget) twenty LCAs but is defiantly resisting government suggestions that another hundred LCAs be purchased. Air force commanders point out that the LCA development has been a long list of failures. Moreover the current LCA design is very expensive to maintain and performs poorly in the air.

The air force has ample reasons to fear the LCA. In late 2013 the LCA finally, after many delays, was issued an IOC. This allowed LCA to be flown by military pilots, not just certified test pilots. The next goal was to upgrade LCA a bit so that it could earn an FOC. That would confirm that the aircraft was combat ready and that all


its systems (electronics, fire control, weapons handling and so on) were operating to the satisfaction of the air force or foreign customers. In late 2013 it was announced that the LCA should earn an FOC by the end of 2014. But to move things along in the meantime the first LCA squadron (20 aircraft) was ordered built to IOC standards with plans to upgrade to FOC standards later if needed. This first LCA squadron was to be based in the southern tip of India (near Sri Lanka) and far from any likelihood of combat. It will be years, if ever, before India is confident enough in LCA to station any of them on the Pakistani or Chinese border.

In 2012 the government admitted an inability to get the LCAinto mass production and quietly delayed that goal for at least two more years. Production was originally to begin at the end of 2012 but the number of technical problems with the LCA was too great to clear up in time for production to start on schedule. Many essential electronic items were not functioning properly or reliably. The prototypes were maintenance nightmares and after each test flight it took several days to get the aircraft in shape to fly again. The managers of this government financed project tried to keep the problems quiet while problems were quickly and quietly fixed. The bureaucrats failed at both these tasks. The failures continue because the plan to earn the FOC in 2015 was missed for the usual reasons (equipment failures and


poor performance). In 2015 the government said the FOC would be achieved in 2016 but no one was certain about that, or anything else having to do the LCA.

This IOC/FOC mess was not the first major failure for the LCA. In early 2013 India admitted defeat and dropped plans to use the locally developed Kaveri engine in the LCA. After 24 years and over $600 million the Kaveri was unable to achieve the necessary performance or reliability goals. The government plans to try and adapt the Kaveri for use in a combat UAV that is being developed locally but that aircraft is not expected to fly until the end of the decade.

The LCA developers saw this Kaveri disaster coming in 2012 and several years earlier ordered 99 AmericanA student and member of a Tri Delta sorority chapter at the University of Oklahoma was expelled from the group after a video showing a woman participating in blackface was uploaded to social media.

In the video, a woman can be seen covering her face with black paint. The same woman can also be heard saying a racial slur while the person filming the video, who the Tri Delta group confirmed to The Independent was its member, can be seen laughing.

On Saturday, after the video was shared widely online, the sorority’s collegiate chapter president London Moore released a statement in which she said: “Our chapter condemns the racist, offensive and disgraceful conduct of the two women involved in the video posted yesterday.

“More specifically, we are deeply disappointed in the


592 F.3d 749 (2010)
UNITED STATES of America, Plaintiff-Appellee,
v.
Willie Earl JOHNSON, Defendant-Appellant.
No. 09-1912.
United States Court of Appeals, Seventh Circuit.
Argued December 2, 2009.
Decided January 19, 2010.
*752 Matthew Getter (argued), Office of the United States Attorney, Chicago, IL, for Plaintiff-Appellee.
Brian H. Potts (argued), Foley & Lardner, Madison, WI, Thomas L. Shriner, Jr., Foley & Lardner, Milwaukee, WI, for Defendant-Appellant.
Before POSNER, FLAUM, and SYKES, Circuit Judges.
SYKES, Circuit Judge.
We are called upon to articulate once again the distinction between a drug-distribution conspiracy and nonconspiratorial drug dealing. Willie Earl Johnson was convicted on several drug charges, including one count of conspiracy to possess and distribute crack cocaine. The government's case was based on wiretapped phone calls that captured conversations in which Johnson asked to purchase resale quantities of drugs from his supplier Craig Vensonfor distributing copious quantities of crack cocaine and heroin in and around Aurora, Illinois, from approximately 2002 until 2005. In mid-2003 the FBI began investigating Venson's operation, and by 2004 the FBI had intercepted approximately 11,000 telephone conversations occurring on two of Venson's telephones. These telephone calls revealed significant drug trafficking and led to the arrests of Venson, Willie Johnson, and seven other individuals the government alleged were part of a conspiracy to distribute drugs.
The government indicted Johnson and the others on conspiracy and other drug charges, and seven of the alleged coconspirators, including Venson, pleaded guilty. This left only Johnson and Ismael Garza, *753 two lower-level targets, to go to trial. Johnson and Garza were tried jointly as coconspirators, and a jury found both men guilty on


can be evidence of conspiracy). In short, the July 2 conversation is insufficient to establish that Johnson and Venson had an agreement to distribute drugs that was distinct from the agreement to complete the underlying drug deal.
The government's third and final contention is that Johnson warned Venson of a police presence in the neighborhood and that this is distinguishing evidence of a conspiracy. On August 31, 2004, Johnson called Venson and ordered a "quarter pounder with cheese." While Venson was en route to deliver the drugs, Johnson again called Venson and told him the police were in the area. Like the one-time discount, this singular warning is insufficient to establish the existence of a conspiracy. Johnson warned Venson because he was waiting for Venson to deliver the drugsp.m., Johnson called Venson back and complained about the delay in delivery. During this call, Johnson interrupted his conversation with Venson to speak to the unidentified male. Johnson asked the man what he wanted, and the man responded, "a basketball." Johnson then ordered a "basketball" from Venson, and Venson said he would deliver it in 15 minutes.
A third phone call about an hour later is circumstantial evidence that Johnson actually received the requested cocaine. At 12:19 a.m. Johnson called Venson and told him the drugs were "phat"that is, they were of high quality. This supports an inference that Johnson receivedand therefore possessedthe crack he had previously ordered. Other wiretaps corroborated the inference that Johnson intended to distribute the drugs he purchased from Venson. For instance, on August 14,


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Newsline - April 30, 2008

GREECE JOINS SOUTH STREAM PIPELINE PROJECTGreece on April 29 formally signed a deal to join Gazprom's South Stream project, a 10 billion-euro ($15.6 billion) pipeline that will bring 31 billion cubic meters of Russian gas to Southern Europe per year after it is commissioned in 2013, Reuters reported. "The signing of the agreement to construct the Greek part of the South Stream pipeline has become the most important result [of the talks]," President VladimirPutin said after meeting with Greek Prime Minister Costas Karamanlis at the Kremlin. The agreement concerning Greece's participation in South Stream was signed by Russian Energy Minister Viktor Khristenko and Greek Minister of Development Christos Folias, "The Moscow Times" reported on April 30. As Reuters noted, South Stream is widely seen as a major challenge to the rival U.S.- and EU-backed Nabucco pipeline scheme, and agreements earlier this year to route the South Stream pipeline through Bulgaria, Serbia, and Hungary were widely seen as Russian victories in a "pipeline war" with the EU. Putin, however, denied such a war is taking place. "Implementation of the South Stream project does not mean we are fighting with any alternative projects," ITAR-TASS quoted him as saying. "Please, if anyone is in


April 20, progress on an agreement remains stalled after calls for more conditions to be imposed on Russia from Lithuania, which wants assurances from Russia over issues including energy supply and involvement in regional conflicts in Georgia and Moldova. "Russia is prepared to wait as long as the European Union is not ready for negotiations over a new agreement on cooperation between Russia and the EU," newsru.com on April 30 quoted Lavrov as saying. JB

PRESIDENT-ELECT VISITS OFFICES OF WEEKLYPresident-elect Dmitry Medvedev held a question-and-answer session with journalists at the offices of "Argumenty i fakty," the renowned glasnost-era weekly, on April 29. According to Reuters, Medvedev said the Russian press has become "more technologically sophisticated and perhaps a bit boring because of that," adding: "It has become less sensationalbillion lawsuit against his erstwhile business partner, Roman Abramovich, the Chukotka Autonomous Okrug governor and owner of London's Chelsea soccer club, claim that Abramovich was an undeclared member of President Putin's regime when he bought Chelsea in 2003, "The Times" of London reported on April 29. According to the British daily, affidavits signed by Berezovsky and submitted to the Commercial Court in London in his case against Abramovich over assets he claims he was forced to surrender portray Abramovich as an "enforcer" who passed on "alleged threats so that the Kremlin could get its way over media and business." The documents state that in August 2000, after ORT -- the Russian television channel that was 51 percent state-owned, with the remaining shares controlled by Berezovsky and his business


partner Badri Patarkatsishvili -- criticized Putin's handling of the sinking of the submarine "Kursk," Putin told Berezovsky that he would be imprisoned unless he sold his ORT shares and told Patarkatsishvili that they "were friends," but that he would become an enemy if he remained in television. According to "The Times," the documents also allege that by the time another Berezovsky associate, former Aeroflot General Director Nikolai Glushkov, was arrested in December 2000, Berezovsky and Patarkatsishvili knew that Abramovich "was close to President Putin and part of his regime." Abramovich met with Berezovsky and Patarkatsishvili on the French Riviera, telling them he had come on Putin's orders and that if they sold their television interests, Glushkov would be freed. They sold their ORT shares but Glushkov was keptin prison, the court papers allege. Gazeta.ru reported on April 29 that Berezovsky is claiming that, in addition to his ORT shares, he was "illegally forced to sell under the threat of force" his stakes in the Sibneft oil company and the Rusal aluminum giant. JB

ABRAMOVICH TO BUILD WORLD'S PRICIEST HOMEBritain's "The Daily Mail" reported on February 28 that Chelsea owner Abramovich has submitted plans to build the world's most expensive private residence. Spread across two stucco-fronted properties in London's exclusive Lowndes Square, the home will be worth 150 million pounds ($295.5 million) when completed, the British newspaper reported. The planned eight-story dwelling (with five above ground and three basement levels) will consist of six family bedrooms, two guest rooms, a cinema/entertainment room, an indoor pool, steam room,


and sauna, as well as a children's study and entertainment room. Abramovich's building plans must now be approved by the Kensington and Chelsea councils, "The Daily Mail" reported. JB

PRIME MINISTER WILL BE IN CHARGE OF RATING GOVERNORS"Tvoi den" reported on April 30 that President Putin has amended a decree he signed in 2007 so that the cabinet headed by the prime minister, not the Kremlin administration, will now be in charge of developing and approving a list of indicators of the effectiveness of Russia's regional leaders (see "RFE/RL Newsline," April 1, 11 and 15, 2008). In addition, the paper reported that he signed a decree requiring municipal authorities to report what they have accomplished to the governors of their regions. "Tvoi den" quoted political analyst Aleksei Mukhin assaying that with these decrees Putin has created "a regional vertical of power" under the prime minister and thereby strengthened that position, which he is expected to take up after vacating the presidency. JB

SEARCH WARRANT ISSUED FOR BROTHER OF RENEGADE CHECHEN COMMANDERThe Chechen division of the Investigation Administration of the Russian Prosecutor-General's Office has reopened, in light of unspecified new information, a criminal case of abduction against Badrudi Yamadayev, the younger brother of Sulim Yamadayev, commander of the Vostok battalion subordinate to the Russian Defense Ministry, according to "Kommersant" on April 29. A nationwide search for him has been launched, kavkaz-uzel.ru reported on April 29. Badrudi Yamadayev was implicated in a fight at the Samson meat plant in St. Petersburg in September 2006 with its director, Khamzat Arsamakov,


which resulted in charges of grievous bodily harm being brought against him in February 2007. The Yamadayevs were the prime suspects in the abduction, also in February 2007, of two of Arsamakov's relatives, and a case was opened against Badrudi Yamadayev on charges of grievous bodily harm and abduction, but the two men were subsequently released and the criminal case against Badrudi Yamadayev was closed. Badrudi Yamadayev reportedly played a key role in the standoff earlier this month following a traffic accident in Gudermes between Vostok servicemen and members of Chechen Republic head Ramzan Kadyrov's bodyguard (see "RFE/RL Newsline," April 15, 16, 18, and 21 April 2008). LF

ARMENIAN PARLIAMENT CALLS FOR 'PROACTIVE' KARABAKH POLICYThe National Assembly approved on April 29 by a vote of 96 in favor andthree against with two abstentions a resolution calling on the government to pursue a more "proactive policy" on Nagorno-Karabakh that would boost the prospects for the republic's international recognition as an independent state, Noyan Tapan and RFE/RL's Armenian Service reported. The resolution stressed that the right of the Karabakh Armenians to self-determination is non-negotiable. It further accused Azerbaijan of sabotaging the efforts of the OSCE Minsk Group to mediate a peaceful solution to the conflict. The three parliamentarians who voted against the resolution all represent the opposition Zharangutiun (Heritage) party, whose leader, Raffi Hovannisian, told journalists he considers it "feeble" and an inappropriate substitute for formal recognition of Karabakh's independence by Armenia, Noyan Tapan reported. LF

CONFUSION SURROUNDS ARMENIANS' DETENTION IN AZERBAIJANAzerbaijan's National Security Ministry announced on April 29


that four young Armenians whose arrest in the Azerbaijani exclave of Naxcivan was reported the previous day were army commandos on a sabotage mission, day.az reported. Armenian Defense Ministry spokesman Colonel Seyran Shahsuvarian, however, said in an April 29 statement that the four men strayed onto Azerbaijani territory by accident from an Armenian military base at Vayots Dzor, close to the Armenian border with Naxcivan, RFE/RL's Armenian Service reported. LF

AZERBAIJANI OFFICIAL REJECTS U.S. CRITICISMAzerbaijani Foreign Ministry spokesman Xazar Ibrahim took issue on April 29 with comments made the previous day at a meeting in Washington with Peace Corps country directors by U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, day.az reported. According to a transcript posted on state.gov, Rice said, "there is important work to be done" to bring thethe opposition Azadliq bloc released a statement criticizing proposed amendments to the law on freedom of assembly that the bloc claims do nothing to relax the current restrictions on public gatherings, day.az and zerkalo.az reported on April 29 and 30, respectively. LF

GEORGIA, RUSSIA EXCHANGE NEW ACCUSATIONSThe Georgian Foreign Ministry on April 29 released a statement in response to the announcement by its Russian counterpart earlier that day that the number of Russian peacekeeping troops deployed under the CIS aegis in the Abkhaz conflict zone will be increased within the maximum envisaged in the August 22, 1994, CIS agreement formalizing their presence there, Caucasus Press reported. According to Georgian Prime Minister Lado Gurgenidze, the maximum ceiling is 3,000 troops; the current troop strength is approximately 2,000, according to de


facto Abkhaz Foreign Minister Sergei Shamba. The Russian Foreign Ministry argued that the increase is necessary in light of reports that Georgia has deployed additional forces to the Kodori Gorge, and is intended "to prevent any possibility of new bloodshed in the Transcaucasus" and to counter efforts to sabotage the prospects for a peaceful solution to the Abkhaz conflict. But Georgian Interior Ministry spokesman Shota Utiasahvili rejected the reports of a Georgian troop buildup in Kodori as "disinformation," Caucasus Press reported on April 29. The Georgian statement denounced the planned Russian troop increase as "aggression" and "a provocation." Speaking in Luxembourg on April 29, EU High Representative for Common Foreign and Security Policy Javier Solana said the deployment of additional Russian troops to Abkhazia is unwise, even ifit does not exceed the maximum permitted number, an RFE/RL correspondent reported. The Georgian television channel Rustavi-2 quoted U.S. Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Matthew Bryza as similarly describing the Russian move as unwise and more likely to exacerbate political and military tensions than to contribute to defusing them. LF

ABKHAZIA, SOUTH OSSETIA REJECT NEW GEORGIAN OVERTUREIn a televised address on April 29, Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili appealed to the populations of Abkhaz and South Ossetia, addressing them as "brothers and sisters," to "stand together" in order to prevent an "outrageous and irresponsible force" (meaning Russia) from unleashing new bloodshed, civil.ge reported. He said Georgia offers "calm and protection" and "a better life" without corruption and crime, and again listed the key points of his recent peace proposal for


Abkhazia, which include the creation of a free economic zone and the appointment of an Abkhaz as vice president (see "RFE/RL Caucasus Report," April 2, 2008). Interfax on April 30 quoted the leaders of both unrecognized republics as rejecting Saakashvili's offer out of hand. De facto Abkhaz President Sergei Bagapsh said "the existence of Abkhazia and Georgia in a unified state is impossible," while his South Ossetian counterpart Eduard Kokoity accused Georgia of conducting a policy of genocide against the Ossetians and stressed that "the Ossetian people have made their choice in favor of an independent state." LF

COURT REJECTS GEORGIAN OPPOSITIONISTS' APPEALThe Georgian Appeals Court on April 29 upheld the sentences handed down in August 2007 by the Tbilisi city court on 12 supporters of fugitive former security-servicecost increases for public utilities, according to Interfax-Kazakhstan. The party also urged the government to increase pensions for retirees and salaries for teachers, medical workers, and civil servants, warning that the situation may spark social unrest. The Kazakh government's response to the food crisis was also criticized as ineffective and its effort to tackle corruption was rejected as insufficient. The party congress also voted to reelect Maksut Narikbaev as chairman and named Tolegen Sydykov as the first deputy chairman, as well as Sergei Udartsev and Amandyk Kulakhmet as the party's deputy chairmen. Although it has been largely a nominally pro-government party in recent years, Adilet has moved to the center of Kazakh politics more recently, seeking to distance itself from the government and declaring itself a "constructive opposition"


extremism in the country's penal institutions" (see "RFE/RL Newsline," March 20, 2008). In separate comments, Shabdarbaev denied recent allegations that the KNB is helping the Kazakh president's fugitive former son-in-law, Rakhat Aliev, with a sensational book reportedly planning to disclose cases of state corruption within the Kazakh elite. RG

RESIDENTS OF KAZAKH CAPITAL PROTEST CONSTRUCTION OF NEW SPORTS STADIUMDuring Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbaev's visit to a construction site for a planned massive new sports stadium, an unspecified number of local residents demonstrated on April 28 against the planned stadium for unnecessarily disrupting the area and forcing some residents from their homes on the outskirts of Astana, Kazakh Television reported. The stadium, which is to be large enough to hold over 30,000 people, is set to open on July 6,and will be used for the Asian Winter Games in early 2011. RG

FORMER KYRGYZ SECURITY OFFICER SENTENCED FOR SPYING FOR RUSSIAA former senior official of the Kyrgyz National Security Committee, Valery Patsula, was sentenced on April 28 to 14 years in prison after being convicted of spying for Russian intelligence, the 24.kg website reported. Bishkek military court Judge Abdurazak Borombaev also sentenced a co-defendant, Vladimir Berezhnov, to 13 years in prison after he was found guilty of espionage. Patsula and Berezhnov were convicted of treason after a closed trial at the Bishkek army garrison last month that included several other co-defendants from the National Security Committee and Defense Ministry (see "RFE/RL Newsline," March 11, 2008). The men were arrested in June 2007 after an internal investigation by the


National Security Committee reportedly uncovered evidence of espionage. Patsula's defense lawyer, Cholponbek Aytbaev, told reporters that his client did not pass any confidential information to the Russians and he vowed to appeal the sentence. RG

TAJIK EXPERT EXPRESSES CONCERN OVER INFORMATION SECURITYSpeaking at a roundtable media discussion in Dushanbe, Tajik political analyst Saymuddin Dustov warned on April 26 of the country's lack of information security, criticizing the Tajik government for failing to recognize the need for online Internet security, Asia-Plus reported on April 29. According to Dustov, who is the head of the local Indem Foundation and the founder of the "Nigoh" newspaper, the number of Internet users in Tajikistan remains low, with the "monthly audience" or users of the Tajik Internet provider Tajnet totaling only between 15,000-20,000, ora mere 0.28 percent of the Tajik population. His figures were confirmed by the International Telecommunications Union, which reported that as of April 2007, there was a national total of 19,500 Internet users, or about a 0.3 percent penetration rate. Dustov also said that the government "probably did not pay attention to the development of the Internet media in the country." RG

TAJIKISTAN FORMS GROUP TO WORK WITH AFGHAN, IRANIAN COUNTERPARTS TO LAUNCH NEW TV CHANNELSpeaking to reporters on April 29 in Dushanbe, Tajik Television and Radio Broadcasting Committee Chairman Asadullo Rahmonov announced the formation of a special working group to coordinate with its Afghan and Iranian counterparts on preparations for the launch of a new Persian-language television channel, according to Asia-Plus. He explained that the working group will


also welcomed Uzbekistan's recent move to abolish the death penalty and its release of some human rights activists from detention. An EU foreign-ministerial meeting in October 2007 resolved to significantly weaken EU sanctions against Uzbekistan, arguing at that time that some strict measures remained in place, including the extension of a one-year arms embargo (see "RFE/RL Newsline," October 17, 2007). The EU sanctions were initially imposed after the Uzbek authorities refused to allow an international investigation into the violent events in the eastern city of Andijon in May 2005, when government troops opened fire on a crowd of mostly peaceful protesters, resulting in hundreds of deaths, according to human rights groups and witnesses. Prominent human rights groups, including Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International, have consistently urged theEU to maintain the sanctions on Uzbekistan, arguing that human rights must be prioritized ahead of "economic concerns." RG

PRESIDENT SAYS BELARUS IS ON RIGHT PATH...During his annual speech to a joint session of the House of Representatives and the Council of the Republic on April 29, President Alyaksandr Lukashenka said that Belarus is on the right path and it has already achieved much, Belapan reported. Lukashenka said that Belarus has created the basis for "energetic and efficient" development in all spheres. "We were making up for what was missed and lost in the late 1980s and early 1990s. Our main task was to overcome chronic ailments that could lead to a lethal outcome," Lukashenka said. "We must do our utmost to ensure that Belarus leaves the group of


those who pursue and becomes a member of the group of those who lead, keeping its chosen and time-tested economic course, the social protection of our people," he said. Lukashenka also praised the performance of the current legislature. "I am sure that your constituents will be grateful to you. Maybe, not all of them realize this now. They will do in a year or a year and a half," he said. Lukashenka said that the legislature's powers could even be extended "one day in the future." Lukashenka ordered the government to create a new tax payment system. "It should stimulate payers' interest in legal payments of taxes and duties, not make them invent gray schemes," he suggested. Lukashenka also warned that the government must complete its work topresidential candidate Alyaksandr Kazulin, who still remains in prison. Lukashenka said of Kazulin that the West "found a lousy oppositionist, who received 1.5 percent in a presidential election, and made a great political prisoner of him." According to Lukashenka, Kazulin refused to leave prison because the proper moment has not yet come. "He wanted the entire world to come out for his release and the entire government to collapse in Belarus under pressure from the entire world," Lukashenka added. AM

...AND HE LAMBASTES BELARUSIAN OPPOSITIONIn his April 29 speech, President Lukashenka severely criticized the Belarusian opposition, Belapan reported. "The interests of the country and citizens surely are not among the focuses of their activity. Sorry for being rude, but they simply use people," Lukashenka said. He said that participants


in opposition demonstrations "beat drivers and passersby who appear by accident nearby, block roads, and walk around with colored flags and the EU flag." He continued: "I feel sincerely sorry for these children playing revolution fighters because...they are being put on the front lines as fodder. And behind the young shoulders, those seeking to satisfy their personal political ends are hiding -- though their political interest has transformed into financial over the years." Lukashenka said that "dynasties of professional oppositionists, people working nowhere for years and reserving the plum job for their sons and daughters" have emerged in Belarus. "Have a look at how these people live," Lukashenka added, addressing Zyanon Lomats, the chairman of the State Monitoring Committee. AM

TYMOSHENKO BLOC FIGHTS TO OUST UKRAINE'S PROSECUTOR-GENERALThe Yulia TymoshenkoBloc (BYuT) has started collecting signatures in support of the dismissal of Prosecutor-General Oleksandr Medvedko, RFE/RL's Ukrainian Service reported on April 29. Valeriy Pysarenko of the BYuT said that the initiative was prompted by the situation that emerged in the State Property Fund. According to Pysarenko, the BYuT faction will insist that the issue of Medvedko's dismissal be included into the agenda of the Verkhovna Rada on its first session after the Orthodox Easter holiday. Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko on April 25 attempted for the second time to replace the head of the State Property Fund, Valentyna Semenyuk, with Andriy Portnov. The government's dismissal of Semenyuk was once again overturned by presidential decree (see "RFE/RL Newsline," April 28, 2008). At the same time, the government's decision was opposed


by the Prosecutor-General's Office, which, according to legislation, suspended it. However, the government immediately overruled the objection of the Prosecutor-General's Office. AM

UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT DECLARES DAY OF MOURNINGViktor Yushchenko has declared April 30 a day of national mourning in Ukraine, RFE/RL's Ukrainian Service reported. Yushchenko issued a decree stating that in connection with accidents that resulted in numerous human victims -- the crash of a helicopter in the Black Sea and the sinking of a Ukrainian tugboat near Hong-Kong -- state flags should be lowered and entertainment events should be canceled all around Ukraine. Twenty people were killed in the helicopter crash (see "RFE/RL Newsline," April 29, 2008) and 18 died in the collision of a Ukrainian tugboat with a Chinese ship (see "RFE/RL Newsline," March 25, 2008). AM

SERBIASIGNS ASSOCIATION DEAL WITH EU...Serbian Deputy Prime Minister Bozidar Djelic signed a Stabilization and Association Agreement (SAA) with the EU in Luxembourg on April 29 on behalf of the Serbian government, news agencies reported. The two sides also signed an interim agreement in the presence of Serbia's President Boris Tadic and Foreign Minister Vuk Jeremic regulating the SAA's implementation . The signature followed weeks of intense diplomacy and a last-minute about-face by Belgium and the Netherlands, which had previously ruled out signing an SAA, a first step toward membership, unless Serbia arrested and extradited fugitives indicted by the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) in The Hague. The breakthrough came at the monthly meeting of EU foreign ministers, during which the Dutch and Belgian governments caved


in to massive pressure from other countries and gave the green light to the signing. In contrast with past practice, however, the SAA's provisions will not enter into force until EU member states agree unanimously that Belgrade is fully cooperating with the ICTY, which gives the Dutch and Belgians a further opportunity to block Serbia's progress toward joining the EU. The SAA is Serbia's first contractual link with the EU and is generally considered a first step on the way to membership. Tadic told a press conference after the signing ceremony that he hopes his country will be a membership candidate by the end of the year. The EU hopes the move will boost Serbia's pro-European forces, who are facing an uphill struggle in the parliamentary elections setfor May 11. TV

...AGAINST WARNINGS BY SERBIAN NATIONALIST PARTIES...The Democratic Party of Serbia (DSS) of Prime Minister Kostunica warned politicians from the Democratic Party (DS) of President Tadic ahead of the ceremony in Luxembourg not to sign the SAA offered by the EU, local media reported on April 29. The coalition of DSS and DS has fallen apart, an event which triggered the elections on May 11, but the two parties are still represented in the caretaker government. Ahead of the signing, a DSS spokesman told RFE/RL's South Slavic and Albanian Languages Service that the party will initiate proceedings against Tadic to determine whether he violated the constitution. The DSS maintains that signing the SAA implies Serbian acquiescence in the recognition of Kosova by all but a handful


of EU member states. The Radical Party (SRS), which is widely expected to do well in the elections, also said that it will start impeachment proceedings against Tadic as soon as parliament reconvenes after the election, according to local media. TV

...WHILE BOSNIA IS MADE TO WAIT. At their meeting in Luxembourg on April 29, the EU foreign ministers also welcomed Bosnia-Herzegovina's reform progress and expressed their readiness to sign an SAA, the text of which was agreed already in December (see "RFE/RL Newsline," December 5, 2007). However, "technical preparations" still need to be concluded before the SAA can be signed, according to Slovenian Foreign Minister Dimitrij Rupel, whose country currently holds the EU Presidency. Rupel explained that these include "legal checking" and translation of the document into theEU's official languages and the languages of Bosnia. Rupel said that the EU now plans to sign the SAA with Bosnia at the next monthly meeting of EU foreign ministers, scheduled for May 26 in Brussels, and that it will be signed by all the foreign ministers into whose languages the document has been translated by then. It was not immediately clear why the translation has not been completed in the months since the text was initialed, however, nor why Serbia's SAA -- the bulk of which is identical to Bosnia's SAA -- was ready for signature on April 29. Bosnia is now the only country of former Yugoslavia not to have contractual ties with the EU except for Kosova, which is not recognized by all EU member


states. The Bosnian Muslim representative on Bosnia's three-member presidency, Haris Silajdzic, issued a statement saying that the EU's move shows that "Serbia enjoys privileges as no other country" and that the EU is applying "double standards." The country's foreign minister, Sven Alkalaj (who is a member of Silajdzic's party), said that Serbia's signing ahead of Bosnia will send a bad signal because it means that the EU has deviated from its policy that each country progresses toward the EU as it meets the conditions, RFE/RL's South Slavic and Albanian Languages Service reported. TV

HOW VULNERABLE ARE COUNTRIES TO CYBERATTACKS? ASK ESTONIAJust over a year ago, Estonia became the first country in the world to come under a broad and sustained attack from the Internet. Beginning on April 27, andcontinuing for several weeks, anonymous foreign networks of hundreds of thousands of computers repeatedly disabled Estonia's Internet servers used by the government, banks, media, and other organizations by bombarding them with information requests.

Life in the Internet-saturated country was severely disrupted. The Estonian government accused the Kremlin of launchng the attacks in retaliation for the removal of a Soviet World War II memorial from central Tallinn on April 26. NATO became alarmed, and Estonia now spearheads efforts within the alliance to cope with the threat of what have become known as "cyberattacks."

Hillar Aarelaid, the director of Estonia's Computer Emergency Response Team, later said that during the two peaks in the attacks -- on May 10 and May 15, 2007 -- Estonia first lost 50 percent of its "bread, milk,


no wonder that when Estonia came under cyberattack it decided to take the matter to NATO, of which it has been a member since 2004. Defense Minister Jaak Aaviksoo said at the time that the cyberattacks were a threat to Estonia's national security and likened their effect to a blockade of a country's sea ports.

From the start, Estonia sought to implicate the Russian government in orchestrating if not ordering the onslaught. However, the nature of such attacks makes it virtually impossible to track the real culprits, as the computers used in them participate as "zombies," controlled by means of malicious software installed illicitly unbeknownst to their owners.

Given the difficulty of knowing who is behind cyberattacks, NATO has responded coolly to Estonian pressure to qualify cyberattacks as something thatcould trigger the alliance's collective defense clause. NATO made its position clearer this year, at its April 2-4 summit in Bucharest, where the alliance committed itself to provide assistance to members under cyberattack, but said the member states themselves remain responsible for protection of their critical infrastructure.

One senior civilian NATO official dealing with the issue told RFE/RL in March that Estonia's response to the 2007 attacks was so effective as to preclude the need for drastic NATO action. He said NATO experts summoned by Estonia during the weeks of the attacks had learned "at least as much" as they had contributed in terms of advice.

He has also indicated NATO would welcome an Estonian lead role in cyberdefense. This role is shortly likely to be formalized, as Estonia is


about to win NATO accreditation for a path-breaking Cyber Defense Center based in Tallinn.

Even before the 2007 attacks, Estonia had started work on the center and had applied to NATO to have it recognized as a "NATO Center of Excellence." Although such "centers of excellence" are not part of the alliance's command structure, they can and do play an important role in shaping alliance policy and capabilities. Officials in Tallinn say NATO will formally give the Estonian Cyber Defense Center its imprimatur on May 15.

It seems likely that NATO has not said its last word on cyberattacks yet. Although the debate within the alliance has, for the time being, subsided, officials acknowledge the seriousness of the threat: De Hoop Scheffer, for one, has described cyberattacks as a "21st-centurythreat" for the entire alliance.

A NATO general working with cyberdefense policy noted in a briefing in March that the alliance is committed by its statutes to protect the stability, prosperity, freedom, and shared values of its allies, as well as civilization itself. "A massive cyberattack could be a threat to them all," he said.

(Ahto Lobjakas is an RFE/RL correspondent based in Brussels.)

AFGHAN PRESIDENT KNEW OF ASSASSINATION PLOTAfghan intelligence chief Amrullah Saleh said on April 29 that President Hamid Karzai was warned of an assassination plot against him ahead of the attack on April 27 in which three people were killed, AP reported. Saleh said that the Taliban attackers had rented a hotel room from which to launch the attack 45 days in advance. "We had technical information...that this...would


happen," Saleh told a National Assembly session broadcast live on national television. "We passed this information to the national security [adviser] and to the president of Afghanistan," Saleh said, but he added that the security services failed to prevent an attack during the Independence Day ceremony in spite of rigorous security measures. He did not elaborate. Afghan lawmakers summoned Saleh, Defense Minister Abdur Rahim Wardak, and Interior Minister Zarar Ahmad Moqbel to explain the failure to provide security. All three lost no-confidence votes against them by the lawmakers on April 29, but not by a sufficiently high margin to press for their resignation. Several members of the police, the intelligence services, and the president's security forces are also being questioned for negligence. Saleh noted that one police officerhas been arrested on suspicion of involvement. The attack in Kabul underlined the fragility of the stability in the capital. In Washington, White House press secretary Dana Perino said, "When it comes to dealing with terrorists like the Taliban or Al-Qaeda, they just have to have even...a little bit of an impact for everyone to say that they had a big victory," news agencies reported AT

ATTACK KILLS 18 AFGHANS ON OPIUM-ERADICATION TEAMThe Afghan Interior Ministry announced that 18 people, including seven civilians, were killed and 31 wounded in an attack in eastern Afghanistan on April 29, Reuters reported. The attack targeted a poppy-eradication team led by the district chief, tribal elders, and police officers. Gunmen opened fire on the team with small arms and grenades, then sent a


suicide bomber into the group, the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) said. "The event proves that...cultivation and production of narcotics in Afghanistan is inseparably related to terrorist forces," the Interior Ministry said in a statement. Although drug production is high in areas where the Taliban is strongest, the Afghan government has made progress in eliminating poppy crops in some areas. AT

U.S. MARINES, BRITISH FORCES LAUNCH MAJOR NEW AFGHAN OPERATIONThe U.S. Marines and British soldiers based in the southern province of Helmand have launched an operation to "enhance security" in the district of Garmser, ISAF announced on April 29. The Marines were airlifted from Kandahar into forward bases in the area last week, ISAF said. Taliban reinforcements and weapons are thought to be trafficked through Garmser district, whichborders Pakistan, and the town of Garmser, about 200 kilometers from the Pakistani border, is only partly under government control. The district is also heavily involved in Afghanistan's narcotics trade. The operation, dubbed Azada Wosa, or "be free" in Pashto, is taking place in an area known to have strong Taliban influence, British Lieutenant Colonel Robin Mathews told AFP. AT

AFGHANISTAN, TURKMENISTAN SIGN ENERGY, TRANSPORT DEALSThe Turkmen and Afghan presidents signed agreements on energy, transport, and culture on April 28 in Kabul, AFP reported. Afghan President Karzai and his counterpart Gurbanguly Berdymukhammedov discussed the extension of a Turkmen railway line through Afghanistan, as well as plans for Turkmenistan to help provide fuel to Afghanistan and cooperate on transport and cultural projects. The two countries, along with Pakistan and India,


last week agreed on plans to build a pipeline from Turkmenistan to Pakistan and India via Afghanistan, AFP reported. The plan projects that work will start in 2010 and take five years to complete, according to Mines Ministry spokesman Kohzaman Ulumi. "It's a very major project. Afghanistan will benefit from it significantly," Ulumi said. AT

IRANIAN PRESIDENT ARRIVES IN INDIA FOR TALKS ON GAS PIPELINEPresident Mahmud Ahmadinejad arrived in India on April 29, to discuss among other topics the delayed plans to build a natural-gas pipeline from Iran to India through Pakistan, news agencies reported. Ahmadinejad briefly discussed Iran's nuclear program with Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, AFP reported. Indian Foreign Secretary Shiv Shankar Menon said in New Delhi on April 29 that India believes Iran has a rightagreed on, AP reported. VS

IRANIAN WRITER RELEASED FROM JAILHushang Mazaheri, a writer based in Isfahan, central Iran, who faces charges of antistate activities, was recently released after five months in jail, Radio Farda reported on April 28. He told Radio Farda that he was first arrested in 2005-06, and accused, among other charges, of making false statements in some of his writings, meeting with dissidents or liberals, engaging in antistate propaganda, and inciting minorities against the Iranian state. He was convicted of some of the charges but the local revolutionary court has yet to prosecute him for the last two, more serious charges. Mazaheri said his personal archive was confiscated about two years ago when he first ran afoul of the authorities, and his books were taken off


shop shelves the following year. While detained, he was interrogated by people he described as rude and barely literate; he said he refused after a third interrogation session to speak to interrogators unless he was formally questioned by judiciary officials in court, Radio Farda reported. VS

IRANIAN STUDENTS STRIKE OVER 'ABUSIVE' STAFFHundreds of students began a sit-in and then a hunger strike at the Sahand Industrial University in Tabriz, northwestern Iran, on April 23 to protest "the attempted abuse" of a girl student by a member of the university staff, Radio Farda reported. The sit-in reportedly took place in shifts, by some 500 students during the day and about 100 at night, while the hunger strike began on April 25, though it was not immediately clear how many studentswere refusing food. An unidentified student told Radio Farda on April 28 that 20 of the students on hunger strike have been taken to hospital for treatment. The student added that university authorities have so far not talked directly to the protesters, but that the resignations of a university security chief and a deputy head of the university for cultural affairs corroborated the students' allegations. The students had a number of demands, including the resignations, an official apology to the girl in question, an end to gender-segregated classes, and the cancellation of disciplinary rulings against certain students, Radio Farda reported. VS

IRANIANS DEMONSTRATE OVER GULF NAMEAbout 200 people demonstrated on April 29 in front of the embassy of the United Arab Emirates (U.A.E.) in Tehran to denounce the failure


of Arabs to call the Persian Gulf by that name, as well as the U.A.E.'s claims to three Persian Gulf islands occupied by Iran, Radio Farda reported. Iran and the U.A.E. dispute the Greater and Lesser Tunbs and Abu Musa islands. Iran has declared April 29 National Persian Gulf Day. Tehran-based journalist and protester Alireza Rohani told Radio Farda the protest was prompted by what he said is a recent trend by some Arab media, but also google.com, to call the gulf the Arabian Gulf. He said the name issue is of national importance, "and if the government gives its backing, parties and national forces will stand with the government, because effectively this threatens our national interests." Some 600,000 Iranians across the world have signed a petition onthe Internet against the move by google.com last January to include the term Arabian Gulf on its satellite-photo map of the world, Radio Farda reported. VS

IRAQI AWAKENING ADVISER SAYS IRAN TARGETS COUNCILSThamir al-Tamimi, the general adviser to the Sunni awakening councils in Iraq, told Al-Sharqiyah television in an April 29 interview that Iran continues to interfere in Iraq, and that it is now targeting leaders of the awakening councils. "A number of Iranians who were found near the residences of leaders of awakening councils have been arrested. They are now in U.S. [custody]; some were arrested in Al-Adhamiyah and others in Al-Karkh," al-Tamimi said, referring to two Baghdad neighborhoods. "Iran supports armed forces that now fight the state, the people, and everyone. Iranian-made weapons have been found in


waged a four-hour gun battle against militants of Shi'ite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr's Imam Al-Mahdi Army in the Al-Sadr City neighborhood of Baghdad on April 29, Iraqi media reported. Residents said dozens of civilians were caught in the crossfire, and that some were buried in the rubble of homes bombed by U.S. forces. The U.S. military said it killed at least 28 militiamen in the battle, while residents told Western news agencies that at least 50 people died, many of them women and children, and another 130 were injured. Pro-Sadr parliamentarian Falah Shanshal said that at least five houses were demolished in the air strikes, killing 29 people and leaving families trapped. The driver of a bulldozer sent to clear the rubble was shot by a sniper, the "WashingtonPost" reported on April 30. A spokesman for the Multi-National Division - Baghdad and the 4th Infantry Division, Lieutenant Colonel Steve Stover, told the "Los Angeles Times" in an email that coalition forces did not target civilians in the fighting. "The rockets struck militants firing from buildings, alleyways, and rooftops," Stover said. "We are NOT targeting law-abiding civilians. Those targeted were firing weapons at U.S. soldiers." AP published photographs from Al-Sadr City on April 29 showing a child being pulled from the rubble of a bombed house. Meanwhile, al-Sadr aide Hazim al-A'raji demanded that the Iraqi government investigate the alleged burning of 12 Sadrists in Dhi Qar Governorate by the Interior Ministry's Al-Ahwar Brigade, Al-Sharqiyah television reported on April 29. Photographs of the 12 were posted to the


cleric's websites this week. Al-A'raji claimed that the so-called Al-Sadr Trend will publish what Al-Sharqiyah called "other and more brutal" photographs of attacks on Sadrists by security forces in the coming days. KR

TRIAL OF FORMER IRAQI OFFICIALS POSTPONED FOR THREE WEEKSThe Iraqi High Tribunal has postponed the trial of eight former regime officials for three weeks because one of the defendants, Ali Hasan al-Majid, has fallen ill (see "RFE/RL Newsline," April 29, 2008). Judge Ra'uf Rashid Abd al-Rahman, who is overseeing the trial, made the announcement during the April 29 opening session after al-Majid failed to appear in court. Judge Arif Shahin told Al-Iraqiyah television on April 29 that a doctor has ordered al-Majid to rest for two weeks. He suffered a heart attack earlier this month. Al-Majidis awaiting execution after being convicted of genocide in the Al-Anfal case. The trial is now slated to resume on May 20. KR

ANOTHER 1,600 IRAQIS RELEASED UNDER AMNESTY LAWAbd al-Sattar al-Bayraqdar, the official spokesman for Iraq's Supreme Judicial Council, announced on April 29 that another 1,613 Iraqis were released from detention in the preceding 24 hours under the amnesty law, Iraqi media reported. "The total number of detainees freed according to the law reached 50,535" across Iraq, al-Bayraqdar said. The Iraqi parliament passed the general amnesty law in February. It does not apply to Iraqis in coalition custody. KR

JOURNALISTS' SYNDICATE IN SOUTHERN IRAQ SUSPENDS ACTIVITIESThe Iraqi Journalists' Syndicate in Al-Basrah announced on April 30 that it will suspend its activities until further notice in protest against attacks on


syndicate members by Iraqi security forces, the "Aswat al-Iraq" website reported. Iraqi army and police personnel reportedly attacked the head of the local syndicate, Haidar al-Mansuri, and his colleague Ahmad Abd al-Samad on April 28 while the two were covering security operations in the city. "This irresponsible act and insult against the head of the Syndicate's subsidiary and his colleague in the governorate is a dangerous new move that the syndicate is not used to," said Jabbar Tarad al-Shimmari, the national head of the syndicate, in an April 29 press release. "This act comes at a time when the Iraqi parliament is holding discussions about the Journalists' Protection Bill, on the way to enacting it, to protect journalists from the brutal attacks that target them and the freedomNato supply lorry in Pakistan hit by blast Published duration 5 October 2010

image caption There have been up to five ambushes on Nato supply convoys in the past week

A bomb has damaged an oil tanker carrying fuel for Nato vehicles in Afghanistan in the latest such attack in north-west Pakistan.

There have been up to five ambushes on tankers in the past week since one of the main border routes into Afghanistan was shut by the Pakistani authorities.

The Torkham crossing was closed after three Pakistani soldiers were killed in a Nato helicopter strike in Pakistan.

Islamabad has not yet said when the border post will be reopened.

No-one died in Monday's bombing in the Khyber tribal region, which happened while the tanker was parked alongside more than 100 other trucks waiting