(en) Libertarian Initiative of Thessaloniki: Open assembly against the upcoming anti-labor bill [machine translation]
Date Sat, 15 May 2021 09:59:23 +0300
On Monday, May 10, at 5.30 pm in STHE we call for the creation of an open assembly for the organization of counter-information excursions and actions against the forthcoming unemployment bill. ---- A bill, which after 10 years of capitalist crisis, the greatest burdens of which were lifted on the backs of the working class and the lower social strata with reductions in wages and pensions, increases in retirement limits, increase in the cost of living, introduction of flexible working relationships, privatizations and mass unemployment comes to: ---- Essentially abolish the 8 o'clock leaving the door open for 10 hours of work, to more than double and formalize the unpaid overtime and the Sunday work for more sectors. An essential point and core of thought of the bill, is the consolidation of the individual negotiation for the schedule between employer and employee. There are no classes except individuals and so no collective bargaining / contract will come in front of the individual agreements of bosses and workers who "as equals" will discuss and decide whether and how much the latter will work for needs and profits. of the first.
-To give the final blow to the trade union freedoms, with ND taking the baton from SYRIZA by perfecting the digital file of the unions and the establishment of electronic voting, something that in combination with the order of the previous government is required to double the number of employees. , essentially abolishes it as a means of claiming and fighting the workers. At the same time, it is stipulated that at least 40% of the employees of companies and institutions whose operation is considered critical for society as a whole must work even in the event of a strike.
Employers are also given the opportunity to invoke psychological or physical violence during the strike guarding, which automatically leads to dismissal and criminal prosecution, while the strike will be deemed illegal and the company will be able to claim compensation.
At the same time, through the assembly, the aim is to highlight the lack of protection measures in the workplace that cost the health and lives of many employees. This concerns both the pandemic during which no measures have been taken in factories, shopping malls, schools with workers moving to and from work stacked on buses, but also the wider working conditions intensified with the capitalists they are constantly putting their profits from our lives higher on the scales.
The need to rally the base against this bill is imperative, it comes in as the main tip, but it stands for us as another touch, perhaps the final one, in the frame of the cycle of the current history we are experiencing.
A new cycle of intensification of the capitalist crisis accelerated by the pandemic, a cycle of even more massive unemployment and poverty, a cycle of even more violent restructuring of labor relations, a cycle of intensive privatizations, a cycle where within a year of quarantine bills have passed billions to prepare the country for war and repression; A cycle where immigrants live in a perpetual hell from the borders to the detention centers and are not given the opportunity to work, to be educated,
The struggle against wage labor, the struggle against the state and capitalist organization of society itself, the struggle for a transition to a world without oppression and exploitation, presupposes and dialectically links with the struggle we must give as part of the working class, as part of the oppressed, through the unions but also through political and social formations, against the specific bill.
Against the bureaucratic and contractual logics that led the working class and society to the degeneration of both the unions and the mass struggles of 2010-2012, with the first stop the interventions next week in the context of the nationwide campaign and in order to create a group who will be able to stand in the small and big events of the coming weeks by opening the issue in neighborhoods and workplaces, we invite to an open meeting on Monday 10 May at 17.30 in STH.
Anarchist Group of Pyranthos
Pueblo Anarchist Collectivity
Libertarian Initiative of Thessaloniki
Occupation Terra Incognita
Thessaloniki Counterattack (group of anarchists and communists)
https://libertasalonica.wordpress.com/2021/05/11/
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Coronavirus Update Preventive Measures
With the upcoming Olympic Games in Tokyo, coaches and swimmers are very concerned about the Coronavirus spread in Asia, and rightfully so. An upper respiratory infection caused by this virus can not only take a swimmer out of competition, but it can also be life-threatening.
While the total numbers of Coronavirus infection cases in China have been reported at 15,000, no one knows the true numbers. As of March 4, we no longer know the exact numbers of confirmed cases of Coronavirus infection diagnosed in the United States, according to the Center for Disease Control. Cases are being reported on a state-by-state basis. The virus does spread from human to human contact, so some schools are closing temporarily. We won’t know the outcome of this virus for some time, but the World Health Organization has already declared it as a Global Emergency.
As a physician, here are five recommendations I offer as preventive measures for Coronavirus or other viral illnesses.
Do not travel to China, South Korea, Iran, Japan, Hong Kong and Italy in the near future (or other parts of Asia). Avoid contact as much as possible with other humans with upper respiratory infections. Wash hands after coming into contact with any ill human beings. Stay warm, well-hydrated, well-nourished and avoid sleep deprivation. Take Platinum Immune Support (two capsules) daily as a preventive measure Platinum Immune Support contains Bovine Colostrum.
Colostrum is the early-formed breast milk than contains a very high percentage of protein and antibodies, which have strong antiviral and antibacterial properties. Bovine means it comes from cows (not humans) but has been shown to contain similar quantities of antibodies as human Colostrum. Colostrum has not been listed as a banned substance by WADA. Anecdotally, we have a very positive experience using Platinum Immune Support. We sent 17 Race Club swimmers to Beijing for the Olympic Games in 2008. All were taking Platinum Immune Support daily and none of our Race Club swimmers got sick.
Whenever I feel a viral illness coming on, I immediately take two capsules of Platinum Immune Support. Typically, by the next morning, the viral infection is completely eradicated. It seems to be much more effective than taking Vitamin C, Echinacea or any other products known for cold or flu prevention.
For all of our Race Club members, to help avoid getting ill near major competition, we recommend taking two capsules of the Platinum Immune Support daily from 6 weeks out of the championship meet. Then continue taking the supplement through the competition. After the competition, we recommend going off of the supplement until 6 weeks before the next big meet. It can be taken at any age. However, it seems to work better if the swimmer does not continue taking it all of the time.
As we get through the winter flu season, try taking Platinum Immune Support, stay healthy and swim fast!
Categories: Lane 1, Lane 2, Lane 3, Lane 4


ISIS Militants Execute British Aid Worker David Haines: Video
Posted: Sep 13, 2014 / 10:23 AM PDT / Updated: Sep 13, 2014 / 07:24 PM PDT
British aid worker David Haines has been executed by ISIS militants, according to a video posted Saturday to a website associated with the group, making him the third Western captive to be killed by the Islamist extremist group in recent weeks.
A video released on Saturday, Sept. 13, 2014, shows an ISIS militant executing British aid worker David Haines.
The ISIS video post showing Haines’ beheading called his execution “a message to the allies of America.”
It is produced very similarly to the videos that showed the executions of American journalists James Foley and Steven Sotloff, the last of which included Haines and the threat that he’d be killed next.
The new video pictures a masked ISIS militant placing his hand on another captive, whom he identified as Alan Henning, a British citizen.
In a tweet, British Prime Minister David Cameron called “the murder of David Haines” an “act of pure evil.”
Cameron added, “We will do everything in our power to hunt down these murderers and ensure they face justice, however long it takes.”
Haines offers brief scripted comments on the video, as does the man who kills him.
Directing his remarks at Britain, the executioner — who sounds like the man who killed Foley and Sotloff — says, “Your evil alliance with America, which continues to strike the Muslims of Iraq and most recently bombed the Haditha dam, will only accelerate your destruction and claim the role of the obedient lap dog.
“Cameron will only drag you and your people into another bloody and unwinnable war.”
Retired Lt. Col. Rick Francona — an Air Force veteran intelligence officer and CNN military analyst — surmised that if ISIS planned to dissuade Britain for teaming up with the United States, the group will be disappointed.
“ISIS has just guaranteed British cooperation with the Americans on all phases of what we’re going to be doing,” Francona said. “… I think this is now a Western fight; it’s not just a U.S. fight.”
Brother: Haines ‘just another bloke’ who lived to help others
News of the gruesome killing came the same day that the 44-year-old Haines’ family released a brief message to his captors through the British foreign office.
In it, the family says, “We have sent messages to you to which we have not received a reply. We are asking those holding David to make contact with us.”
Haines’ face became known to the world in the ISIS video, released September 2, in which he looks forward and kneels as a masked ISIS militant stands behind him.
The militant says in that video, “We take this opportunity to warn those governments who’ve entered this evil alliance of America against the Islamic State to back off and leave our people alone.”
British officials said after the video’s release that they had sent troops to try to rescue an unidentified British citizen “some time ago,” but failed. They released no other details.
Mike Haines, in a statement early Sunday, through the British Foreign Office, noted that his brother leaves behind two children and his wife Dragana. He described his brother as “just another bloke” whose “childhood was centered around our family” and who was “brought up to know right from wrong.”
David Haines worked for the Royal Mail, then joined the Royal Air Force. He later worked with the United Nations in the Balkans, where “he helped whoever needed help, regardless of race, creed or religion,” according to his brother.
“During this time, David began to decide that humanitarian work was the field he wanted to work in,” Mike Haines said. “… David was most alive and enthusiastic in his humanitarian roles.”
After working for ScotRail, David Haines went on to get a job as a logistics and security manager for the Paris-based humanitarian Agency for Technical Cooperation and Development.
He was abducted in March 2013 near a refugee camp in Atmeh, Syria, where he was working to arrange for the delivery of humanitarian aid to people staying at the camp. He had previously worked on aid operations for victims of conflict in the Balkans, African and other parts of the Middle East, according to an ACTED spokesman.
“His joy and anticipation for the work he (did) in Syria is, for myself and family, the most important element of this whole sad affair,” Mike Haines said. “He was and is loved by all his family and will be missed terribly.”
Obama: U.S. ‘stands shoulder-to-shoulder’ with Britain
Another hostage has been publicly killed by ISIS. Another one’s life has been threatened. And fighters for ISIS — which calls itself the Islamic State, in a nod to its efforts to establish a vast caliphate in the Middle East under its strict version of Sharia law — are continuing to kill innocent civilians in Iraq and Syria.
The threat from ISIS has been brewing for some time. Having begun a decade ago as al Qaeda in Iraq — only to be disowned earlier this year by al Qaeda, the group behind the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, for its heavy-handed tactics — ISIS has taken advantage of instability in Syria and Iraq to become one of the most prominent and feared groups in the Middle East.
ISIS, which is also known as the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant or ISIL, managed to become one of the most successful rebel groups working to overthrow Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. It also rampaged through much of Iraq, thwarting seemingly overmatched Iraqi troops and massacring those who did not subscribe to its extreme version of Islam.
It wasn’t until last month — albeit before Foley’s killing — that the American military jumped into the fray.
“It’s a bit like trying to predict an earthquake: You can see pressure building up on the fault lines but not knowing when it’s going to materialize (or how) quickly it can disintegrate,” Rep. Adam Schiff, a California Democrat, said Saturday night. “Those things are very hard to predict.”
Partnering with the Iraqi military and Kurdish fighters, U.S. warplanes have been striking ISIS targets in Iraq regularly since August 8.
Earlier this week, President Barack Obama announced that U.S. airstrikes would go after the extremist group in Syria, and perhaps beyond.
“We will hunt down terrorists who threaten our country, wherever they are,” said Obama, who insisted American troops wouldn’t fight “on foreign soil,” though they will play support roles. “That means I will not hesitate to take action against ISIL in Syria, as well as Iraq. This is a core principle of my presidency: if you threaten America, you will find no safe haven.”
The President vowed the United States won’t do it alone. To this end, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry was in Egypt on Saturday seeking that country’s help in the fight against ISIS.
Britain is one country, at least, that has stepped up — even before Haines’ killing.
That includes providing “urgent military support” at the Iraqi government’s request, including heavy machine guns, body armor and nearly half a million rounds of ammunition to Kurdish fighters known as the Peshmerga.
The scale of that support, though, could ramp up now with one Briton executed and Henning’s life in limbo.
To this end, 10 Downing Street announced early Sunday that Cameron will convene an emergency meeting of his top security officials to discuss what Britain will do next.
Obama released a statement late Saturday after what he called Haines’ “barbaric murder,” offering his support for the aid worker’s family and his native Britain.
“The United States stands shoulder-to-shoulder tonight with our close friend and ally in grief and resolve,” the President said.
“We will work with the United Kingdom and a broad coalition of nations from the region and around the world to bring the perpetrators of this outrageous act to justice, and to degrade and destroy this threat to the people of our countries, the region and the world.”
The murder of David Haines is an act of pure evil. My heart goes out to his family who have shown extraordinary courage and fortitude.
— David Cameron (@David_Cameron) September 13, 2014
We will do everything in our power to hunt down these murderers and ensure they face justice, however long it takes.


Sports stars of future rise to their awards
Newcastle's reputation for developing and supporting top-class sporting talent will be further enhanced at a glittering awards ceremony on Monday.
Fourteen of the city's Rising Stars are due to be honoured at Sport Newcastle's 25th anniversary dinner as the Civic Centre plays host to an array of local and national sporting celebrities.
Although the coveted Sports Personality of the Year forms the centrepiece of next week's event, the dinner has always placed a strong emphasis on those taking first steps towards acclaim.
Previous recipients of Rising Stars awards have included Olympic triple jump gold medallist Jonathan Edwards and Newcastle United's highly-rated England Under-21 international Shola Ameobi.
In keeping with past dinners, Monday's guest list reads like a Who's Who of emerging sporting talent representing a diverse range of events. Over the next two days we look at all 14 winners, with first reports and pictures from the Sport Newcastle dinner to follow on Tuesday.
MICHAELA HUNTER
THE 14-year-old judo enthusiast attends Walbottle High School and is a key member of the Newburn club. Michaela won 12 medals in 2001, including six golds, and has represented Great Britain. She clinched gold for her country in Holland last year and her coaches predict even greater success in the future.
IAN GRAHAM
WESTERHOPE Tae Kwon Do Club produced this 17-year-old master of one of the world's fastest growing martial arts. Ian achieved Black Belt 1st Dan in 1999 and has dominated the British junior scene since 1996. In five years the Walbottle Campus student clinched successive British 13-18 age group championships and was crowned Under-18 World Champion in Detroit last year.
CHARIS YOUNGER
BASKETBALL is Britain's fastest growing youth sport and Charis is one of the country's most exciting emerging talents. The 13-year-old is a regular in the Tyne and Wear Cadette (Under-16) side and claimed a silver during her time with England's Under-14 squad last year. The Central Newcastle High School pupil will represent her country at Under-14 and Under-16 level in 2002.
NEWCASTLE KBS Diamonds won the Premier League title last summer and Rob was a first-team regular as the city's speedway club enjoyed long-awaited success at Brough Park. Rob made his debut as a professional on his 16th birthday and has never looked back since - at 17 he is one of the country's most highly-rated riders.
KELLY FROGGATT
NEWBURN Judo Club coach Joe Laws has consistently produced top-class teenage competitors and Kelly is the latest in a long line of future stars. With three international golds under her belt - and a further 21 medals from domestic competition - few 14-year-olds can hope to match her incredible success.
HARRY GRIGG
DAME Allan's Boys School is fast forging a reputation as one of the region's weight-lifting powerhouses under the expert guidance of Liam Friel.
Harry is the cream of the Fenham school's crop and the dedicated power lifter broke four British records in November 2001 in the Under-18 125kg category.
SARAH COOK
THE Apollo Club is home to a number of rising trampolining stars. Kelly claimed first place in last June's National Qualifiers but broke her arm in two places later that month. With two metal plates inserted, the 16-year-old Kenton School pupil bounced back to take silver at the 2001 National Championships.


The Heart-Wrenching Death Of Ed Asner
Michael Tullberg/Getty Images
By Richard Milner/Updated: Aug. 29, 2021 8:24 pm EST
Beloved TV actor Ed Asner died on August 29, 2021 at the age of 91 (via Deadline). Asner's official Twitter account posted a heartfelt statement about the much-loved icon's death. "We are sorry to say that our beloved patriarch passed away this morning peacefully. Words cannot express the sadness we feel. With a kiss on your head — Goodnight dad. We love you."
Tributes began to pour in almost immediately. "Oh Ed Asner Rest In Peace and power friend. what a truly good and honorable human you were .gratitude for all you did for the screen Actors Guild, when it was a true Union bless you," tweeted Rosanna Arquette.
Holly Robinson Peete wrote, "Oh this hurts. Rest In Peace Ed. Not only an iconic award winning actor but a humanitarian and someone who I worked closely with to support #Autism families. Just crushing. #EdAsner."
Ed Asner was a prolific actor
Asner came into the public spotlight through his stint as the gravely-voiced, yet teddy bear-like newspaper editor Lou Grant on "The Mary Tyler Moore Show" (1970-1977). He was so well-loved in this role that his character received its own spin-off series, "Lou Grant" (1977-1982), in total garnering Asner seven Emmys and five Golden Globes, per IMDb. After that, as Biography tells us, Asner worked in a number of roles in television as he turned to voice work, which culminated in his beloved turn as Carl Fredricksen, the elderly man who carried his house into the sky using balloons in Pixar's "Up" (2009). He was also president of the Screen Actor's Guild (SAG) from 1981-1985, per SAG AFTRA.
"Lou Grant," his character's self-titled television show, had a serious bend and tackled social issues such as gun control and child abuse. Sadly, Asner speculates, this led to the show's cancellation and adversely affected his career, per Deseret News. Asner said, "Well, you have to make a choice. If you want to get in trouble, then you'll open your mouth. But there's only so much you can do. And if you think you can do greater good by your acting, then stay that way."
Theater actor, veteran, and lifelong activist
Ella Hovsepian/Getty Images
Yitzhak Edward Asner was born in Kansas City, Missouri, in 1929, to a Russian, orthodox Jewish family, as the Jewish Virtual Library says, and was raised just over the state line in Kansas City, Kansas (via Kansaspedia). Asner showed an interest in acting during his time at the University of Chicago, per Biography, and once he finished serving in the U.S. Army's Signal Corps in the 1950s, moved to New York City to pursue a career in theater. In his own words, as he said in a 2016 interview with Variety, he "arrived in September, and by December... was doing that one-night show at the Phoenix." He also starred in Brecht's renowned play, "The Threepenny Opera," as well as Chekhov's "Ivanov." The transition to working in front of a live studio audience for "The Mary Tyler Moore Show," therefore, presented for him none of the problems it did his co-stars.
Asner, a member of the Democratic Socialists of America who developed his "worker first" ethics while employed at a General Motor's factory in his 20s, has received a lot of blowback for his activism over the years. In 1982, he sought to raise funds for medical aid for rebels against El Salvador's military-led government, as NNDB says, and this is when sponsors pulled out of "Lou Grant." He also sought a retrial for Black Panther member Mumia Abu-Jamal, a pardon for Native American activist Leonard Peltier, and helped fund Michael Moore's first film, "Roger & Me" (1989). Asner was so vocal, in fact, that some dubbed him "Lou Rant."
Voice actor, poker fan, and supporter of neurodivergent individuals
Albert L. Ortega/Getty Images
Of course, younger readers will recognize Asner's gruff voice from Pixar's "Up" (2009). Asner, who in a 2021 interview on YouTube said he "still cries at 'Up'," described on Syfy Wire how he saw himself in "Up's" protagonist, 78-year old widower Carl Fredricksen. Pixar called up Asner, specifically, and said they wanted to make a film "not about a toy, not about a car, not about a bug or a rat, but about a cranky 78-year-old man with a dream," to which Asner replied, "Sounds like me." Asner had also done voice work in the TV shows "Spider-Man," "Batman: The Animated Series," "Gargoyles," and "Freakazoid," as well as Bioware's classic "Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic" video game.
At age 90, as he said on Fabiosa, Asner advised "working, reading, and being with people that can excite you" to stay healthy and happy. He continued, "I can't reach beyond my head, but if I can scratch my head, I can still work." Asner was also a huge fan of poker, and, as PR Newswire shows, kicked off numerous celebrity charity poker events such as the annual "Ed Asner & Friends Celebrity Poker Tournament," the proceeds of which went to The Ed Asner Family Center (TEAFC). As their website says, they support neurodivergent individuals and their families. Asner himself, as he stated on Variety, was autistic.
Asner is survived by his four children from two marriages.


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Myrtle Beach Area Chamber Backs Export-Import (Ex-Im) Bank Reauthorization
Tate Zeigler (202-224-5972) or Kevin Bishop (864-250-1417)
WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham (R-South Carolina) today welcomed the support of the Myrtle Beach Area Chamber of Commerce for reauthorization of the Export-Import (Ex-Im) Bank.
“I encourage you to support the reauthorization of Ex-Im promptly and provide it with the adequate credit levels to meet the needs of U.S. exporters,” said Brad Dean, President and CEO of the Myrtle Beach Area Chamber of Commerce in a letter to Graham. “Failure to reauthorize Ex-Im will create an unfair disadvantage for American companies, ultimately causing American jobs to move overseas. We cannot afford to not reauthorize Ex-Im.”
The Export-Import Bank was established in 1934 and since Ex-Im was last reauthorized in 2006, the bank has returned $3.4 billion to the U.S. Treasury above and beyond the costs of its operations.
“I truly appreciate Brad Dean and the Myrtle Beach Area Chamber of Commerce for their support of the reauthorization of the Export-Import (Ex-Im) Bank,” said Graham, who has been leading Republican efforts in the Senate to reauthorize the bank as its charter expires May 31.
The South Carolina House of Representatives unanimously passed a resolution calling on Congress to reauthorize Ex-Im and encouraging the congressional delegation to vote in support. The South Carolina Senate overwhelmingly passed the resolution, 32-2.
Graham noted that both small and large businesses in South Carolina have benefitted from Ex-Im. One of the most prominent statewide examples is The Boeing Company which opened the 787 Dreamliner production facility in North Charleston. The facility employs more than 6,000 people in South Carolina and is responsible for thousands of associated jobs.
In a letter sent to Graham, Jim McNerney, President and CEO of Boeing, noted that eight out of every ten Boeing 787 Dreamliners now built in South Carolina are expected to be purchased by international customers who are eligible for and routinely seek export credit support from Ex-Im Bank. Without Ex-Im, many of these customers would purchase from Airbus, which is made in Europe and backed by multiple European export credit agencies.
“The reauthorization of Ex-Im will directly benefit South Carolina’s job creation efforts and manufacturing industries,” said Graham. “It is imperative we continue to grow our ability to export goods made in South Carolina around the world.”
“I wish we didn’t need an Ex-Im bank,” said Graham. “But other countries have far more aggressive financing regimes in place. The United States cannot and should not unilaterally disarm. However, it is my goal to do more than reauthorize Ex-Im, we should also work to improve its operations. I look forward to working with my Senate colleagues to achieve both goals of reauthorization and improvement of Ex-Im.”
“Last year, exports from South Carolina increased by 21 percent,” continued Graham. “We need to continue on that path, creating jobs and putting South Carolinians back to work. If Congress does not reauthorize Ex-Im, it will have a devastating impact to both our state and national economy.”
Click here to view the letter from the Myrtle Beach Chamber of Commerce.
South Carolina Economic Leaders Strongly Support Reauthorization of Export-Import (Ex-Im) Bank
“Eight out of every ten Boeing 787 Dreamliners now built in South Carolina are expected to be purchased by international customers who are eligible for and regularly seek export credit support from Ex-Im. Without this support, many of our customers would choose to purchase airplanes from Airbus, made in Europe, built by European labor, sold with the aggressive backing of multiple European export credit agencies. ..Jobs in South Carolina are at risk without an extended and robust reauthorization for Ex-Im.”
W. James McNerney, Jr.
Chairman of the Board, President and Chief Executive Officer
“Exports are particularly important to the South Carolina economy. If our manufacturing base is to grow, we must continue to expand our ability to export goods from South Carolina facilities. Given the key role the Bank plays in facilitating sales, failure to reauthorize it would be devastating to existing industry and to those we hope to create in the future.”
Lewis F. Gossett
South Carolina Manufacturers Alliance
“The Bank performs an important function for U.S. companies seeking markets for U.S. made products. The Bank provides credit insurance and export-financing products that fill gaps in trade financing and does not compete with private sector lenders.”
W. David Hastings
Mount Vernon Mills
“First, this issue is of critical importance to Boeing South Carolina and their ability to successfully compete with global aircraft manufacturers. Second, the Charleston Metro Chamber of Commerce recently re-established the World Trade Center Charleston. More than 80 percent of Ex-Im’s transactions support small businesses. The World Trade Center Charleston’s goal is to help our region’s small business community to help them expand by selling their products and services on the global marketplace. The Ex-Im is a vitally needed tool to help in expanding local businesses in our region.”
Bryan Derreberry
Charleston Metro Chamber of Commerce
“Over the last five years, Ex-Im has assisted more than 47 South Carolina companies from around the state export their products and services throughout the world. Ex-Im plays an important role in supporting South Carolina jobs and exports. …Support for the Ex-Im Bank means support for S.C. exports and S.C. jobs.”
F. Ben Haskew
Greenville Chamber of Commerce
“Last year alone, the Ex-Im supported more than $40 billion in U.S. exports that helped create or sustain 290,000 U.S. jobs at more than 3,600 companies. The Ex-Im is also self-sustaining. In the years since Ex-Im was last authorized in 2006, the bank has returned $3.4 billion to the U.S. Treasury above and beyond the cost of its operation.”
Otis Rawl
South Carolina Chamber of Commerce
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Creating creative organisations
Efforts to foster creativity in organisations often focus on superficial factors. But what does it mean to create a culture that really produces, filters, and implements new ideas?
Most organisations want to be more creative. Apart from its cultural cachet, creativity is seen as a useful way of coping with the increasing pace of change in an ever-more complex world. But most explorations of how to create creative organisations focus on either the superficial (keep your desk tidy!) or the cargo-culted (adopt your favourite design studio’s five-step process!). Is there anything to be learned from the underlying, ever-relevant dynamics of creativity itself?
The psychologist Donald T. Campbell, writing in 1960, suggested a model of how creative ideas spread. Inspired by Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution by natural selection, Campbell proposed three phases in which new ideas and concepts were developed and took root:
The variation phase, in which new ideas are generated
The selection phase, in which those ideas are put to the test – the weak ones rejected, the strong ones selected
The retention phase, in which selected ideas are absorbed by others and integrated into their work
In the messy real world, these phases are not a perfectly demarcated linear process. They’re constantly shifting and overlapping. Quirks of organisations’ cultures, staff, and processes lead to strengths and weaknesses in some areas more than others, too. For example, an organisation might have no trouble coming up with new ideas, producing a constant stream of variations, but then struggle to back the right horse or put ideas into practice. Another might have fantastic collaboration and knowledge-sharing, but struggle to diverge from their existing processes and be bound by inertia.
What does it look like to be effective in all three of these phases? Can individuals optimise their environments for one or all of them? Can organisations create an environment in which all three flourish?
The variation phase
The first crucial phase in the creative process is the variation phase, in which new ideas are suggested. “Variations” are departures from the status quo: changes, new ideas, new processes, new ways of doing things. Without variations, there can be no creativity. Indeed, creativity is often mistakenly thought to involve this stage alone, so focused are we on the “idea generation” aspects of it.
Variations can be intentional variations, the deliberate result of conscious action, or blind variations that are accidental or even unknown.
Blind variations occur constantly and without effort: they’re the inevitable side effect of people going about their daily business, making the occasional mistake and bringing their own idiosyncrasies to their work. In particular, a large source of blind variations is the hiring of new people into an organisation, who bring with them different perspectives and different ways of doing things. These variations can be stamped out or they can be nurtured, but it’s nearly impossible to stop them happening in the first place.
Another hugely important source of blind variations is the actions of competitors and forces outside the organisation. These behaviours change the situation within the organisation in ways that are unclear, unconscious, and unplanned; they force people to react to and contend with a new reality.
Intentional variations, on the other hand, are controlled to a great extent by the prevailing culture. Intentional variations occur when people in an organisation are:
empowered – encouraged to take courses of action that they think are appropriate, instead of always following the same processes and having their actions controlled by others
encouraged to fail – not punished for deviations that don’t succeed, but rather encouraged to learn and move on
explicitly encouraged to innovate – whether as part of their everyday job description, role, and responsibilities or as part of a formal programme of innovation
It’s possible to see these qualities through a single lens: variations flourish in cultures that deliberately dismantle the pressure to conform. Wherever there are humans, there are behavioural norms and a collective pressure to adhere to them. This dynamic exists in all kinds of organisations, but is often strongest in organisations with generally strong cultures – something that’s ordinarily considered a virtue. Businesses strive to have a definite sense of “our way of doing things”, to project a clear idea of their culture to the outside world, to attract employees to a specific way of thinking and set of values – but all of these positive traits also encourage conformity. It’s exactly this pressure from the group to conform, and desire on the part of individuals to conform, that acts to suppress variations. And so organisations that want to be creative must fight against it.
Having a healthy culture of variation is apparent in a number of ways: when employees challenge those further up the hierarchy, bringing forward new ideas and new processes; when processes evolve with changing circumstance, rather than being set in stone, and so don’t break quite so often; when new products or services emerge without prompting or forcing, bubbling up regularly rather than as the result of some sporadic, conscious, top-down innovation programme.
The selection phase
As we’ve seen, blind variation occurs constantly, whether we like it or not. Intentional variation can occur frequently too, especially in healthy organisational cultures that empower individuals and nurture healthy non-conformity. But what happens to those variations once they materialise? Which ones stick, and which ones fade away?
The clearest and most fundamental selection process comes from what the organisation chooses to explicitly and publicly prioritise and incentivise. The overall strategy set by the leaders of the business creates a cascading set of selection criteria that filters throughout the rest of the organisation.
What happens, though, when that selection criteria is wrong? One particularly common way for selection to become unmoored from reality is the so-called competency trap:
“The causes of competency traps are perhaps best understood by considering the two, sometimes opposing, forces that drive a company forward: the ‘exploitation’ of their existing products, and ‘exploration’ of future opportunities. Each will require its own resources and investments… A competency trap occurs when the exploitation arm comes to dominate the company’s workings so that it is no longer structurally ambidextrous.”
This dynamic is the cause of Clayton Christensen’s “Innovator’s Dilemma”, in which a business that listens to customers, uses data, and maximises their margins ends up blindsided by the disruption of a competitor precisely because they were “doing everything right”. This happens because the business’s selection criteria are wrong: they’re selecting for things that look like successes they’ve had in the past, and rejecting things that diverge from that proven pathway to success. That’s a sure-fire way to ignore a promising trend, a new technology, or an underserved customer segment.
A healthy culture of selection is open-minded, freed from the power dynamics of the wider business, and entertains ideas that challenge the status quo. It aligns its internal criteria for selection with the fundamental, environmental criteria of the market, the consumer, and the real world in general. It fights the gravitational pull of “exploitation” and consciously incentivises the easy-to-ignore “exploration” arm.
That means nurturing unconventional innovation and R&D projects, even ones that threaten the business’s cash cows. It means erasing problematic power hierarchies, where institutional power goes to those with past successes – rather than those with future potential. It means exposing ideas to real criteria as soon as possible – the criteria of the customer and the market, rather than internal opinion.
The retention phase
The final phase is perhaps the most important: how effectively are the variations that occur and are selected for incorporated into the behaviours of the organisation? Are the ideas actually implemented, or do they remain mere ideas? Are they built upon and evolved? Is there a feedback loop of further development and collaboration?
In the process of generating variations, conformity is, as we’ve seen, an obstacle. It can introduce a reluctance to deviate from the standard operating procedure. But a strong culture and a closely woven social fabric is essential for retaining and developing ideas further.
So many businesses take this social fabric too far. They have great, collaborative cultures and teams that work fantastically together. As a result, they have much latent potential in the retention phase, but tend to under-perform in the generation of variations – their collaborative culture produces conformity.
Others are the opposite. They’re constantly generating variations, but lack an effective culture to retain and develop them. Sometimes this happens because of a lack of sticking power: the ideas that they generate are flashes in the pan, here today and gone tomorrow. This often happens when a small number of people are disproportionately responsible for generating variations, but the wider culture is either unreceptive to them, unequipped to deal with them, or so focused on the day-to-day that they ignore them.
At other times, it’s because of an organisational inability to shift from a divergent mode of thinking – coming up with new variations – into an implementation mode. Ideas continue to be questioned indefinitely; decisions are never made, because new variations are always offered. A united front is never presented, and the team never works together to implement their ideas.
It’s rare, then, to find organisations that excel at all three phases of creative ideation and implementation. The main reason for that is that they are in some respects directly incompatible. The behaviours that encourage variation – divergent thinking, a disrespect for authority and conventional wisdom – can become obstacles to selection and retention. The behaviours that enhance retention – collaboration and knowledge-sharing – tend to encourage group-think and conformity, and thereby reduce the quantity of variations.
The ideal answer is to create a multi-modal organisation: one capable of thinking and behaving in different modes at different times. That means creating not just an extraordinarily flexible organisation, but one that has a level of self-awareness and perspective that’s rare to find – able to determine what situation it’s in and adopt different behaviours accordingly. But that’s not as easy as it sounds, and perhaps represents a far-off target more than a roadmap for change.
Looking at technology businesses, Simon Wardley has described such multi-modal organisations with his “Pioneers, Settlers, and Town Planners” model of aptitudes:
The three aptitudes of Pioneers, Settlers, and Town Planners.
(Image: Simon Wardley, CC BY-SA 4.0)
Pioneers are those who excel at variation, who are totally unconstrained by the status quo and who come up with ideas that fail more often than they succeed. Settlers are fantastic at selection, choosing which of the pioneers’ crazy ideas to develop further. And Town Planners are brilliant at seeding new ideas into the broadest possible culture, smoothing out any rough edges and accelerating the pace of change to an industrial scale.
Organisations that fail at one of the three phases of the creative process often do so because they fail to recruit or fail to recognise people across these three aptitudes. Their internal culture is only capable of functioning in a single mode; every problem is treated as one to be solved by the mode of thinking that the organisation finds most comfortable, whether that’s coming up with endless new ideas or vigorously doubling-down on the ones they have. Finding ways to incorporate other aptitudes and other ways of behaving into your culture might just be the key to unlocking the creative process.
D. T. Campbell. “Blind variation and selective retention in creative thought as in other knowledge processes” . Psychological Review 67:380-40067:380-400, November 1960
Dean Keith Simonton. “Creative thought as blind-variation and selective-retention: Combinatorial models of exceptional creativity” . Physics of Life Reviews 7:2:156–179, June 2010
“Evolutionary Epistemology” . Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, January 2020
Howard E. Aldrich and Martin Ruef. “Organisations Evolving” . SAGE Publications, 2006
Seth Kaplan, Luke Brooks-Shesler, Eden B. King and Steve Zaccaro. “Thinking inside the box: how conformity promotes creativity and innovation” . “Creativity in Groups”, pp. 229–266. Emerald Books, 2009
David Robson. “How to avoid the ‘competency trap’” . BBC Worklife, June 2020
Clayton Christensen. “The Innovator’s Dilemma” . Harvard Business Review Press, 2016.
Simon Wardley. “On Pioneers, Settlers, Town Planners and Theft” . March 2015
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Communal creativity
Informal, loosely coupled groups of people often produce a prolific burst of good ideas, changing the worlds of science, art, and music. But why is that? What conditions are necessary for this super-creativity to emerge, and when has it happened in the past?
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I. Complexity of Rate Scale
II. Surcharge on Property Income
III. Shape of Rate Scale
IV. Frequency of Adjustment
V. Income-Averaging
Chapter 14: Appendix A: Tax Payable Under Alternative Systems: 1974-75 Rates
35. Chapter 24: Appendix C: Situs of Assets
24.C1. The common law has various technical rules for determining the situs of an item of property. These rules are based largely on considerations of convenience. Some Australian taxing legislation has relied exclusively on the common law rules: the present Estate Duty Assessment Act, for example, contains no rules as to the situs of assets. Other Australian taxing legislation has modified the common law rules to some extent by introducing rules applying in particular situations: section 13 of the Gift Duty Assessment Act contains a number of rules of this sort.
24.C2. In the Committee's view the common law rules are not always appropriate in this context: in certain areas, including speciality debts and interests in trust estates, they have been used in the past to avoid tax. The modifications to the common law rules in the Gift Duty Assessment Act are inadequate in some instances and go too far in others. For example, the Act ignores the problem of determining the situs of a trust estate, yet treats shares in a company incorporated outside Australia as being situated in this country if the shares are listed on a branch register of a company in Australia. Shares in a company incorporated in Australia should be taxable under Australian law irrespective of where the register on which the shares are listed is kept, since the company is substantially dependent on Australian law for its existence and continuance. For the same reason, shares in a company incorporated outside Australia should not be treated as being situated in this country even where they are listed on a register in Australia. In the case of a trust estate, the common law rules, which depend on how far the administration of the trust estate has proceeded, should not be followed. An interest in a trust estate, fully administered or otherwise, ought to be treated as situated in Australia only in so far as any of the assets of the trust estate are, on the relevant date, situated in Australia. In determining the extent of the Australian assets, those liabilities of the trust estate not charged against particular assets should be apportioned over all the assets. The Committee can see no justification for imposing a tax on an asset merely because one or more of the trustees reside in Australia or for making the liability for tax depend on whether or not a trust estate has been fully administered.
24.C3. The rules contained in Article III of the estate duty convention between the United States and Australia provide a reasonable balance. The Committee therefore proposes the following rules, based on that convention:
(a) Immovable property (held otherwise than by way of security) should be deemed to be situated at the place where the land concerned is located.
(b) Tangible movable property (held otherwise than by way of security and other than property for which specific provision is made) and bank or currency notes and other forms of currency recognised as legal tender at the place of issue should be deemed to be situated at the place where that property or currency is located, or, if in transitu, at the place of destination.
(c) Debts (including bonds other than those referred to in (d), bills of exchange and promissory notes, whether negotiable or not), secured or unsecured and whether under seal or not, excluding the forms of indebtedness for which specific provision is made elsewhere in these recommendations, should be deemed to be situated at the place where the debtor is resident. However, if
the debtor, at the time when the debt is to be valued, has an established place of business in the country in which the owner of the debt was domiciled and the debts were incurred in carrying on the business of that establishment, the debts so incurred should be deemed to be situated in that country.
(d) Bonds, stocks, debentures, and other debts being securities, issued by any government, municipality or public authority should be deemed to be situated at the place where that government, municipality or public authority is located.
(e) Bank accounts should be deemed to be situated at the place where the bank or branch thereof, at which the account was kept, is located.
(f) Moneys, payable under a policy of insurance or under an annuity contract, whether under seal or not, should be deemed to be situated where the policy or annuity contract provides that the moneys are payable; or, if the policy or annuity contract does not provide where the moneys are payable:
(i) at the place of incorporation, in the case of a company; or
(ii) at the place of residence of the person by whom the moneys are payable, in any other case.
(g) A partnership should be deemed to be situated at the place where the business of the partnership is carried on, but only to the extent of the partnership business at that place.
(h) Ships and aircraft and shares thereof should be deemed to be situated at the place of registration of the ship or aircraft.
(i) Goodwill as a trade, business or professional asset should be deemed to be situated at the place where the trade, business or profession to which it pertains is carried on.
(j) Patents, trade-marks and designs should be deemed to be situated at the place where they are registered.
(k) Copyright, franchises, and rights or licences to use any copyrighted material, patent, trade-mark or design should be deemed to be situated at the place where the rights arising therefrom are exercisable.
(l) Rights or causes of action ex delicto surviving for the benefit of an estate of a deceased person should be deemed to be situated at the place where such rights or causes of action arose.
(m) Judgment debts should be deemed to be situated at the place where the judgment is obtained.
(n) Shares in a company should be deemed to be situated at the place where the company is incorporated.
(o) An interest in a trust estate, whether fully administered or otherwise, should be deemed to be situated in Australia only in so far as any of the trust assets are situated in Australia; provided that the liabilities of the trust estate which are not charged against any particular asset may, if the trustee so elects, be apportioned between the Australian and ex-Australian assets on the basis of their respective values but, if the trustee does not so elect, shall be treated as being charged against the ex-Australian assets.


Dozens urge Wisconsin Sen. Ron Johnson to support Merrick Garland vote
MILWAUKEE — Dozens of people are urging U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson to support confirmation hearings for Supreme Court nominee Merrick Garland.
The rally Monday, March 21st inside Milwaukee's City Hall was among about 50 scheduled around the nation with the theme "Do your job!" — which participants chanted several times.
Speakers came from several liberal groups, including those supporting immigrants' rights and criminal justice reform.
President Barack Obama recommended Garland to replace the late Justice Antonin Scalia, but Republicans have said they won't hold a hearing or vote in an election year.
Speakers at the rally said it's the Senate's constitutional duty to vote.
Johnson's spokesman said he was traveling and not available for comment. Johnson has said he's willing to meet with Garland, but notes he isn't in charge of the confirmation process.


ACE team’s TytoCare partnership in running for top technology award
BRADFORD Teaching Hospitals has made it to the finals of the Health Tech Newspaper Awards 2020, which celebrate great technology, partnerships, teams and innovations making a difference in healthcare.
Our Trust has been nominated for the Most Promising Pilot Award as we are the first provider in the UK to partner with TytoCare, the healthcare industry’s first all-in-one, handheld, modular device and AI-powered telehealth platform which provides remote, real-time and on-demand examinations for children and young people.
The device enables comprehensive and clinical grade physical exams of the heart, lungs, skin, ears and throat, and measures body temperature and heart rate, to enable remote assessment and management of patients.
The project is spearheaded by our outstanding Ambulatory Care Experience (ACE) team, which brings care to unwell children from the comfort of their own home, preventing unnecessary admissions.
The partnership between Tyto Care and ACE brings together two healthcare leaders and marks another milestone in the Trust’s journey of digital innovation.
Let’s keep everything crossed that we will be winners at the finals on October 22!
For more information about the ACE team’s partnership with TytoCare, see: https://www.bradfordhospitals.nhs.uk/2019/12/18/tytocare-and-bradford-hospitals-to-join-forces-in-nhs-first/


We are making on-device AI ubiquitous
[Editor's Note: This blog post was updated and can be found here: 2020: We are making on-device AI ubiquitous]
We envision a world where devices, machines, automobiles, and things are much more intelligent, simplifying and enriching our daily lives. They will be able to perceive, reason, and take intuitive actions based on awareness of the situation, improving just about any experience and solving problems that to this point we’ve either left to the user, or to more conventional algorithms.
Artificial intelligence (AI) is the technology driving this revolution. You may have heard this vision or may think that AI is really about big data and the cloud, and yet Qualcomm’s solutions already have the power, thermal, and processing efficiency to run powerful AI algorithms on the actual device — which brings several advantages.
AI is a pervasive trend that is rapidly accelerating thanks to vast amounts of data and progress in both algorithms and the processing capacity of modern devices. New technology can seem to appear out of nowhere, but oftentimes researchers and engineers have been toiling over it for many years before the timing is right and key progress is made.
At Qualcomm, we have a culture of innovation. We take pride in researching and developing fundamental technologies that will change the world at scale. AI is no different. We started fundamental research more than 10 years ago, and our current products now support many AI use cases, such as computer vision, natural language processing, and malware detection — both for smartphones and autos — and we are researching broader topics, such as AI for wireless connectivity, power management, and photography.
We have a deep machine learning heritage
We have a long history of investing in machine learning. In 2007, we started exploring spiking neuron approaches to machine learning for computer vision and motion control applications. We then expanded the scope of the research to look not just at biologically inspired approaches but artificial neural networks — primarily deep learning, which is a sub-category of machine learning. Time and time again, we saw deep learning-based networks demonstrating state-of-the-art results in pattern-matching tasks. A notable example was in 2012 when AlexNet won the prestigious ImageNet Challenge using deep learning techniques rather than traditional hand-crafted computer vision. We’ve also had our own success at the ImageNet Challenge using deep learning techniques, placing as a top-3 performer in challenges for object localization, object detection, and scene classification.
We have also expanded our own research and collaborated with the external AI community into other promising areas and applications of machine learning, like recurrent neural networks, object tracking, natural language processing, and handwriting recognition. In September 2014, we opened Qualcomm Research Netherlands in Amsterdam, a hotbed for machine learning research, and have continued to work closely with Ph.D. students working on forward-thinking ideas through our Qualcomm Innovation Fellowship program. In September 2015, we established a joint research lab with the University of Amsterdam (QUVA) focused on advancing the state-of-the-art in machine learning techniques for mobile computer vision. We further deepened our relationship with Amsterdam’s AI scene by acquiring Scyfer, a leading AI company in Amsterdam. Max Welling, a Scyfer founder, is a renowned professor at the University of Amsterdam, where he has focused on machine learning, computational statistics, and fundamental AI research. Scyfer focuses on applying a wide range of machine learning approaches to real-world problems. The Scyfer team will join Qualcomm Research’s machine learning group.
Superior power and performance for on-device machine learning
To make our vision of intelligent devices possible, we also knew that the machine learning-based solutions would need to run on the device — whether a smartphone, car, robot, drone, machine, or other thing. Running the AI algorithms — also known as inference — on the device versus in the cloud has various benefits such as immediate response, enhanced reliability, increased privacy, and efficient use of network bandwidth.
The cloud remains of course very important and will complement on-device processing. The cloud is necessary for pooling of big data and training (currently) that results in many of the AI inference algorithms that run on the device. However, in many cases, inference running entirely in the cloud will have issues for real-time applications that are latency-sensitive and mission-critical like autonomous driving. Such applications cannot afford the roundtrip time or rely on critical functions to operate when in variable wireless coverage. Further, on-device inference is inherently more private.
We are not limiting ourselves to only running inference on the device. We also research training AI on the device for targeted use cases such as gesture recognition, continuous authentication, personalized user interfaces, and precise mapping for autonomous driving — in a synergistic cooperation with the cloud. In fact, we have a unique ability to explore future architectures which can benefit from high-speed connectivity and high-performance local processing, resulting in the best overall system performance.
Running efficient on-device AI requires heterogeneous computing
For over a decade, Qualcomm has been focused on efficient processing of diverse compute workloads within the power, thermal, and size constraints of mobile devices. Qualcomm Snapdragon Mobile Platforms have been the SoC of choice for the highest performance mobile devices. AI workloads present another challenge in this regard. By running various machine learning tasks on the appropriate compute engines — such as the CPU, GPU, and DSP — already in our SoC, we offer the most efficient solution. A key example is the Qualcomm Hexagon DSP, which was originally designed for other vector math-intensive workloads but is being further enhanced to address AI workloads. In fact, the Hexagon DSP with Qualcomm Hexagon Vector eXtensions on Snapdragon 835 has been shown to offer a 25X improvement in energy efficiency and an 8X improvement in performance when compared against running the same workloads (GoogleNet Inception Network) on the Qualcomm Kryo CPU.
The diversity in architecture is essential and you can’t rely on just one type of engine for all workloads. We will continue to evolve our existing engines for machine learning workloads to maintain our lead in maximum performance per watt. Leveraging our research into emerging neural networks, we are well positioned to extend our heterogeneous computing capabilities to address future AI workloads with a focus on maximum performance per watt. In fact, we envisioned dedicated hardware for running AI efficiently back in 2012.
We are democratizing AI at scale
Making heterogeneous computing easy for developers is hard. It is not enough just to have great hardware. To bridge that gap, we have introduced the Snapdragon Neural Processing Engine (NPE) Software Developer Kit (SDK). This features an accelerated runtime for on-device execution of convolutional neural networks (CNN) and recurrent neural networks (RNN) — which are great for tasks like image recognition and natural language processing, respectively — on the appropriate Snapdragon engines, like the Kryo CPU, Qualcomm Adreno GPU, and Hexagon DSP. The same developer API provides access to each of our engines so developers can easily switch their AI tasks from one to another seamlessly.
The Neural Processing Engine also supports common deep learning model frameworks, such as Caffe/Caffe2 and TensorFlow. The SDK is a lightweight, flexible platform designed to deliver optimal performance and power consumption by leveraging Snapdragon technology. The SDK is designed to enable developers and OEMs in a broad range of industries, from health care to security, to run their own proprietary neural network models on portable devices. As an example, at this year’s F8 conference, Facebook and Qualcomm Technologies announced a collaboration to support the optimization of Caffe2, Facebook’s open source deep learning framework, and the NPE framework.
Continued research to expand our AI scope and bring increased efficiency
We are in the early days of machine learning journey and deep learning is just one of many machine learning technologies that has the potential to transform computing.
To pursue even more sophisticated applications, we continue to advance on multiple fronts:
Specialized hardware architectures: A continued focus on low-power hardware, whether enhanced, specialized, or custom, to handle these machine learning workloads
Advances in neural network approaches: Research related to training with semi-supervised approaches, unsupervised approaches like generative adversarial networks (GANs), distributed learning, and privacy protecting approaches
Network optimization for on-device applications: Research related to compression, inter-layer optimizations, optimizations for sparsity, and other techniques to take better advantage of memory and space/time complexity
The opportunities for always-on, intelligent devices that do all or most of their thinking on the device are enormous, and we look forward to advancing state-of-the-art machine learning through both research and productization. Today, the Qualcomm Artificial Intelligence Platform provides highly responsive, highly secure, and intuitive user experiences through efficient on-device machine learning. The future holds much more promise.
Stay tuned for future blog posts about our neural processing architecture research and applications of machine learning, such as enhanced connectivity, power management, and better photography. If you are excited about solving big problems with cutting-edge technology and improving the lives of billions of people, we’d like to hear from you.
Sign up for our newsletter to receive the latest information about mobile computing.
Qualcomm Adreno, Qualcomm Hexagon, Qualcomm Kryo and Qualcomm Snapdragon are products of Qualcomm Technologies, Inc. Qualcomm Research is a division of Qualcomm Technologies, Inc.
Artificial IntelligenceMachine LearningResearchHeterogeneous ComputingCognitive TechnologiesSnapdragon
Matt Grob
Executive Vice President, Technology Qualcomm Technologies, Inc.
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Two killers get life sentences
James Alexander
Willie Wilson Jr.
Cleveland – A pair of killers who fatally shot a 19-year-old mother as she lay in bed with her two-year-old child have each been sentenced to life in prison, Cuyahoga County Prosecutor Timothy J. McGinty announced.
A jury on February 12 convicted Willie Wilson Jr., 20, and James Alexander, 18, of Aggravated Murder, Murder, Attempted Murder, Aggravated Burglary, Felonious Assault and Kidnapping. Wilson was also found guilty by Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Court Judge Peter J. Corrigan on one count of Having Weapons Under Disability.
Today, Judge Corrigan sentenced both men to spend life in prison. The judge ordered that they will first be eligible for parole after 56 years behind bars.
Evidence at trial proved that on April 14, 2015, Wilson and Alexander broke into an apartment on East 99th Street in Cleveland and shot a 17-year-old male victim who was asleep on the floor. They then went to the rear of the apartment and shot Miyazhane Vance while she was asleep in bed with her two-year-old child. Her one-year-old baby was in a crib next to the bed.
After the killers left, a third adult in the apartment, who was not hurt, called 911.
Ms. Vance was transported to MetroHealth Medical Center where she died from nine gunshot wounds. Her brother, the 17-year-old victim, was also taken to MetroHealth where he was treated for critical injuries and remained in the hospital and rehab for nearly two months. Neither of Ms. Vance’s children was injured.
“These defendants have absolutely no regard for human life,” said Assistant Prosecuting Attorney Anna Faraglia, who represented the State of Ohio along with Assistant Prosecuting Attorneys Brian Kraft and Kelly Mason. “They showed that by their actions on April 14 of last year and again today by the smiles on their faces during the sentencing hearing.”
Contact: Joseph Frolik, Director of Communications and Public Policy. Phone: 216.443.7488 or 216.640.6186. Email: jfrolik@prosecutor.cuyahogacounty.us


Stillfront explores the conditions for conducting a directed share issue
INSIDE INFORMATION: Stillfront Group AB (publ) (“Stillfront” or “Company”) has appointed Carnegie Investment Bank AB (publ) as Sole Global Coordinator and Joint Bookrunner, and Swedbank AB (publ) and Nordea Bank Abp, filial i Sverige as Joint Bookrunners (jointly, the “Managers”), to explore the conditions for conducting directed share issues in the total amount of up to 3,424,129 shares (the “Share Issues”) through an accelerated bookbuilding procedure, (the “Bookbuilding”). The Share Issues are intended to be directed towards Swedish and international institutional investors and be carried out based on the authorisation granted by the extraordinary general meeting of shareholders held on 10 December 2019 and subject to the subsequent approval by the general meeting of shareholders of the Company.
Share Issues
The price of the shares in the Share Issues will be determined through the Bookbuilding procedure, which will begin today on 21 January 2020 following markets close and end before the commencement of trading on Nasdaq First North Premier Growth Market on 22 January 2020. The board of directors can at any time choose to cancel the Bookbuilding, close earlier or later and refrain from executing the Share Issue, in part or in full.
The Share Issues are, among other things, subject to a resolution by the board of directors of Stillfront to issue new shares, in part within the limit of Stillfront’s existing authorisation to issue shares from the Extraordinary General Meeting held on 10 December 2019 and in part subject to the approval of the Extraordinary General Meeting and a directed share issue to Laureus Capital GmbH, one of the shareholders of the Company, which is subject to the approval of the Extraordinary General Meeting, following the close of the Bookbuilding.
As previously announced a notice to an extraordinary general meeting will be published to resolve upon a set off share issue being part of the acquisition of Storm8, Inc. Provided that the board of directors resolve upon the Share Issues, such notice to the extraordinary general meeting will also include a proposal to approve the board of directors’ decision regarding the part of the Share Issues not resolved by the board of directors based on the authorization from the extraordinary general meeting dated 10 December 2019. A notice is expected to be published in connection to the announcement of the outcome of the Bookbuilding. The Company’s principal owner, Laureus Capital GmbH, which holds approximately 15.9 percent of the shares and votes in the Company, has committed itself to vote at the extraordinary general meeting in favour of the board of directors’ decision to issue new shares which requires the extraordinary general meeting’s approval.
The reasons for the deviation from the shareholders’ preferential rights are mainly to diversify the shareholder base among Swedish and international institutional investors and at the same time raise capital in a time efficient manner. The purpose of the Share Issues is to finance the acquisition of Storm8, Inc and to provide the Company with additional equity capital in a quick and efficient manner in order to further strengthen Stillfront’s future financial flexibility in line with the Company´s communicated financial targets.
In connection with the Share Issues, the Company has undertaken, with customary exceptions, not to issue additional shares for a period of 90 calendar days after the settlement date.
The Share Issues are intended to be carried out both based on the existing authorization granted to the board of directors on 10 December 2019 and subject to a subsequent approval of the extraordinary general meeting since the Company intends to use the proceeds of the Share Issues both to finance the acquisition of Storm8, Inc and to raise additional funds to the Company.
The Company’s board of directors and management have entered into customary lock-up undertakings of 90 days from settlement of the Bookbuilding in respect of the board of directors and 180 days from settlement of the Bookbuilding in respect of the management.
Carnegie Investment Bank AB (publ) has been appointed Sole Global Coordinator and Joint Bookrunner and Swedbank AB (publ) and Nordea Bank Abp, filial i Sverige have been appointed Joint Bookrunners. DLA Piper acts as legal counsel to the Company and Baker McKenzie acts as legal counsel to the Managers in connection with the Share Issue.
Jörgen Larsson, CEO, Stillfront Group
E-mail: jorgen@stillfront.com
Andreas Uddman, CFO, Stillfront Group
E-mail: andreas@stillfront.com
This information is information that Stillfront Group AB (publ) is obliged to make public pursuant to the EU Market Abuse Regulation. The information was submitted for publication, through the agency of the contact persons set out above, at 19:20 CET on 21 January 2020.
About Stillfront
Stillfront is a global group of gaming studios and a market leader in the free-to-play online games genre. Our diverse and exciting games portfolio has two common themes; loyal users and long lifecycle games. Organic growth and carefully selected and executed acquisitions embody our growth strategy and our 650 co-workers thrive in an organization that engenders the spirit of entrepreneurship. Our main markets are the US, Germany, MENA, France and UK. We are headquartered in Stockholm, Sweden and the company, is listed on Nasdaq First North Premier.
For further information, please visit: stillfront.com
Certified Adviser:
FNCA, Phone: +46 8 528 00 399 E-mail: info@fnca.se
The release, announcement or distribution of this press release may, in certain jurisdictions, be subject to restrictions. The recipients of this press release in such jurisdictions, in which this press release has been released, announced or distributed, should inform themselves of and follow such restrictions. The recipient of this press release is responsible for using this press release, and the information contained herein, in accordance with applicable rules in each jurisdiction. This press release does not constitute an offer, or a solicitation of any offer, to buy or subscribe for any securities in Stillfront in any jurisdiction, neither from Stillfront nor from someone else.
This press release does not identify or suggest, or purport to identify or suggest, the risks (direct or indirect) that may be associated with an investment in the new shares. Any investment decision in connection with the Share Issues must be made on the basis of all publicly available information relating to the Company and the Company’s shares. Such information has not been independently verified by the Managers. The information contained in this press release is for background purposes only and does not purport to be full or complete. No reliance may be placed for any purpose on the information contained in this press release or its accuracy or completeness. The Managers are acting for the Company in connection with the transaction and no one else and will not be responsible to anyone other than the Company for providing the protections afforded to its clients nor for giving advice in relation to the transaction or any other matter referred to herein.
This press release does not constitute a recommendation concerning any investor’s option with respect to the Share Issue. Each investor or prospective investor should conduct his, her or its own investigation, analysis and evaluation of the business and data described in this press release and publicly available information. The price and value of securities can go down as well as up. Past performance is not a guide to future performance.
This press release does not constitute or form part of an offer or solicitation to purchase or subscribe for securities in the United States. The securities referred to herein may not be sold in the United States absent registration or an exemption from registration under the US Securities Act of 1933 (the “Securities Act”), as amended, and may not be offered or sold within the United States absent registration or an applicable exemption from, or in a transaction not subject to, the registration requirements of the Securities Act. There is no intention to register any securities referred to herein in the United States or to make a public offering of the securities in the United States. The information in this press release may not be announced, published, copied, reproduced or distributed, directly or indirectly, in whole or in part, within or into, Australia, Canada , Japan, Hong Kong, New Zealand, Singapore, South Africa, Switzerland, the United States or in any other jurisdiction where such announcement, publication or distribution of the information would not comply with applicable laws and regulations or where such actions are subject to legal restrictions or would require additional registration or other measures than what is required under Swedish law. Actions taken in violation of this instruction may constitute a crime against applicable securities laws and regulations.
This announcement is not a prospectus for the purposes of Regulation (EU) 2017/1129 (the “Prospectus Regulation”) and has not been approved by any regulatory authority in any jurisdiction. Stillfront has not authorized any offer to the public of shares or rights in any member state of the EEA and no prospectus has been or will be prepared in connection with the Share Issue. In any EEA Member State, this communication is only addressed to and is only directed at qualified investors in that Member State within the meaning of the Prospectus Regulation.
In the United Kingdom, this press release and any other materials in relation to the securities described herein is only being distributed to, and is only directed at, and any investment or investment activity to which this document relates is available only to, and will be engaged in only with, “qualified investors” who are (i) persons having professional experience in matters relating to investments who fall within the definition of “investment professionals” in Article 19(5) of the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 (Financial Promotion) Order 2005 (the “Order”); or (ii) high net worth entities falling within Article 49(2)(a) to (d) of the Order (all such persons together being referred to as “relevant persons”). In the United Kingdom, any investment or investment activity to which this communication relates is available only to, and will be engaged in only with, relevant persons. Persons who are not relevant persons should not take any action on the basis of this press release and should not act or rely on it.
Information to distributors
Solely for the purposes of the product governance requirements contained within: (a) EU Directive 2014/65/EU on markets in financial instruments, as amended (“MiFID II”); (b) Articles 9 and 10 of Commission Delegated Directive (EU) 2017/593 supplementing MiFID II; and (c) local implementing measures (together, the “MiFID II Product Governance Requirements”), and disclaiming all and any liability, whether arising in tort, contract or otherwise, which any “manufacturer” (for the purposes of the MiFID II Product Governance Requirements) may otherwise have with respect thereto, the shares in Stillfront have been subject to a product approval process, which has determined that such shares are: (i) compatible with an end target market of retail investors and investors who meet the criteria of professional clients and eligible counterparties, each as defined in MiFID II; and (ii) eligible for distribution through all distribution channels as are permitted by MiFID II (the “Target Market Assessment”). Notwithstanding the Target Market Assessment, distributors should note that: the price of the shares in Stillfront may decline and investors could lose all or part of their investment; the shares in Stillfront offer no guaranteed income and no capital protection; and an investment in the shares in Stillfront is compatible only with investors who do not need a guaranteed income or capital protection, who (either alone or in conjunction with an appropriate financial or other adviser) are capable of evaluating the merits and risks of such an investment and who have sufficient resources to be able to bear any losses that may result therefrom. The Target Market Assessment is without prejudice to the requirements of any contractual, legal or regulatory selling restrictions in relation to the Share Issue.
For the avoidance of doubt, the Target Market Assessment does not constitute: (a) an assessment of suitability or appropriateness for the purposes of MiFID II; or (b) a recommendation to any investor or group of investors to invest in, or purchase, or take any other action whatsoever with respect to the shares in Stillfront.
Each distributor is responsible for undertaking its own target market assessment in respect of the shares in Stillfront and determining appropriate distribution channels.
Press release launch share issue
English January 21, 2020
Regulatory press release Published:


Director Biography – Laura O’Grady (UNDETECTABLE)
Laura O’Grady likes to keep busy. From national broadcasters to documentaries that have been screened around the world, Laura O’Grady has produced, coordinated, written or directed hundreds of hours of content. She has received many Canadian Screen Award nominations, provincial awards, and has had 2 films debut at the Hot Docs Film Festival. 2021 marks the release of the documentary Undetectable a project three years in the making.
Three years ago I met a young man who had never heard of AIDS, or the crisis of the 1980s. I was stunned that the history had been so easily lost, and that the remarkable scientific achievements that have transformed an HIV diagnosis from a death sentence to a manageable chronic condition are not widely known, let alone celebrated. Thanks to the work of countless scientists and frontline workers, we now have the tools to end HIV/AIDS in our lifetime. Treatment as Prevention and U=U are proven strategies that can end this global pandemic. To achieve this vital final step, stigma and prejudice, which was rooted into the earliest reports of GRID (HIV), must be eradicated.
Short Film: UNDETECTABLE, 42min., Canada, Documentary
Short Film: REMEMBERING MARTY CHERNOFF, 27min., Documentary


Judge allows video release in Black man's shooting death
Attorney Ben Crump speaks during a rally for Jason Walker at Good Hope Missionary Baptist Church on Thursday, Jan. 13, 2022, in Fayetteville, N.C. Jason Walker, 37, was shot and killed on Saturday by an off-duty deputy with the Cumberland County Sheriff's Office. (Andrew Craft/The Fayetteville Observer via AP) Associated Press
FILE - Pandora Harrington, right, cries as she holds a sign with an image of Jason Walker during a demonstration in front of the Fayetteville Police Department, Jan. 9, 2022, in Fayetteville, N.C. A judge has granted a North Carolina police chief's request to release body camera video recorded moments after last Saturday's fatal shooting of Walker by an off-duty sheriff's deputy. The Fayetteville Observer reports that Senior Resident Superior Court Judge Jim Ammons issued his ruling Thursday, Jan. 13, 2022, two days after Fayetteville Police Chief Gina Hawkins filed the request. (Andrew Craft/The Fayetteville Observer via AP, File) Associated Press
Anthony Walker speaks at a rally at Good Hope Missionary Baptist Church on Thursday, Jan. 13, 2022, in Fayetteville, N.C. Jason Walker, 37, was shot and killed on Saturday by an off-duty deputy with the Cumberland County Sheriff's Office. (Andrew Craft/The Fayetteville Observer via AP) Associated Press
A family member gets emotional during a rally for Jason Walker at Good Hope Missionary Baptist Church on Thursday, Jan. 13, 2022, in Fayetteville, N.C. Jason Walker, 37, was shot and killed on Saturday by an off-duty deputy with the Cumberland County Sheriff's Office. (Andrew Craft/The Fayetteville Observer via AP) Associated Press
Janice Walker, mother of Jason Walker speaks at a rally at Good Hope Missionary Baptist Church on Thursday, Jan. 13, 2022, in Fayetteville, N.C. Jason Walker, 37, was shot and killed on Saturday by an off-duty deputy with the Cumberland County Sheriff's Office. (Andrew Craft/The Fayetteville Observer via AP) Associated Press
Updated 1/14/2022 9:12 AM
FAYETTEVILLE, N.C. -- A judge on Thursday granted a request from the police chief of a North Carolina city to release body camera video recorded in the aftermath of the shooting death of a Black man by an off-duty sheriff's deputy.
Fayetteville Police Chief Gina Hawkins filed the petition with the courts on Tuesday. She wanted to publicly release footage that she says will show exchanges between Fayetteville police officers and three witnesses at the scene of last Saturday's fatal shooting of Jason Walker by off-duty Cumberland County Sheriff's Office Lt. Jeffrey Hash, The Fayetteville Observer reported. Hawkins told the newspaper that the video would likely be released next week after redactions are made.
Two witnesses have made comments on social media, released a video and spoken at a demonstration, creating 'œsignificant public attention,'� according to the petition.
Senior Resident Superior Court Judge Jim Ammons told the newspaper that he approved the release 'œin the interest of justice.'�
Under a North Carolina law passed in 2016, body and dash camera footage is not public record. Anyone can ask a court to order its release, however.
Fayetteville police said Monday that a preliminary investigation determined that Walker, 37, 'œran into traffic and jumped on a moving vehicle.'� Hash shot Walker and then called 911, police said. Walker was pronounced dead at the scene.
Ben Crump, the civil rights attorney who represented the family of George Floyd and has been retained by the Walker family, told a rally at a Fayetteville church that Walker was the single father of a 14-year-old son.
'œThere are a lot of reasons why Black children have to grow up without their fathers,'� Crump said. 'œBut this reason is unacceptable. This is unacceptable that we have to tell that young boy that his father was shot unnecessarily, unjustifiably and unconstitutionally by somebody who was supposed to protect and serve him.'�
Floyd, a Black man, was killed in 2020 by Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin, who pressed his knee against Floyd's neck for more than nine minutes as Floyd said he couldn't breathe and eventually went limp. Chauvin was sentenced to 22 1/2 years in prison on murder and manslaughter charges.
Walker's family attended the rally, as did Floyd's brother, Philonise, and a nephew.


Freddy H Hassler
April 2, 1964 - March 16, 2014
POTTSBORO- Freddy H. Hassler, 49, of Pottsboro passed away on Sunday, March 16, 2014 at his home. He was born on April 2, 1964 in Riverton, Wyoming to Herschel and Dorthy Thompson Hassler. He worked as a machinist. Freddy married Kimberly C. Stacy on May 4, 2012 in Sherman, TX. Survivors include his wife, Kimberly C. Hassler of Pottsboro; sons, Mark Cygyarowicz of Connecticut, Stephen Cygyarowicz and Gregory Cygyarowicz, both of Pittsburg, PA.; daughters, Heather Cygyarowicz and Samantha Cygyarowicz, both of Pittsburg, PA.; brothers Johnny Hassler of Pottsboro and Jim Hassler of Denison; sisters, Cheryl Hassler and Virginia Hassler, both of Marlow, OK.; and 8 grandchildren. He was preceded in death by his parents. A private memorial service will be held at a later date. Condolences may be registered to www.johnsonmoorefuneralhome.net Arrangements are under the direction of Johnson-Moore Funeral Home.
POTTSBORO- Freddy H. Hassler, 49, of Pottsboro passed away on Sunday, March 16, 2014 at his home. He was born on April 2, 1964 in Riverton, Wyoming to Herschel and Dorthy Thompson Hassler. He worked as a machinist. Freddy married Kimberly C.... View Obituary & Service Information
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Kamal Nath
Date of Birth: 18 November 1946
Political Party: 18 November 1946
Occupation: Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh
Residence: Khalasi Lines, McRobertganj, Kanpur
Education: Bachelor of Commerce from St. Xavier's College of the University of Calcutta.
Kamal Nath was born on November 18, 1946 in Kanpur, Uttar Pradesh. He studied at The Doon School and graduated with B.Com. from the St. Xavier’s College, University of Calcutta. He got married to Alka Nath on January 27, 1973.
Kamal Nath, an Indian politician from the Congress party, is the Ex Minister of Urban Development. Kamal Nath is one of the longest serving and senior most members of Lok Sabha; the lower house of India’s bicameral Parliament.He represents the Chhindwara constituency of Madhya Pradesh. He is a leader of the Indian National Congress (INC).Kamalnath was elected as the president of Madhya Pradesh Congress Committee in May, 2018to lead the party in upcoming assembly election of that year to be held in November-December 2018.
Nath was first elected to the 7th Lok Sabha in 1980.He was re-elected to the 8th Lok Sabha in 1985, the 9th Lok Sabha in 1989, and the 10th Lok Sabha in 1991. He was inducted into the Union Council of Ministers as Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) of Environment and Forests in June 1991. From 1995 to 1996 he served as Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) of Textiles.
Nath was elected to the 12th Lok Sabha in 1998 and the 13th Lok Sabha in 1999. From 2001 to 2004, he was the General Secretary of the Indian National Congress (INC). He was re-elected to the 14th Lok Sabha in the 2004 elections and served as Union Cabinet Minister of Commerce and Industry from 2004 to 2009.
On 16 May 2009 he again won the elections from his constituency for the 15th Lok Sabha and re-entered the Cabinet, this time as Union Minister of Road Transport and Highways. In 2011, as a result of a cabinet reshuffle, Nath replaced Jaipal Reddy to take on the role of Minister of Urban Development.
In October 2012 Nath was confirmed to the Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs in addition to his current role as Minister of Urban Development.
In late 2012 Nath replaced Pranab Mukherjee to help the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government win a crucial debate on foreign direct investment in India (FDI).Nath also replaced Minister of Rural Development Jairam Ramesh as an ex officio member of the Planning Commission in December 2012.
From 4 June to 5 June 2014 Kamal Nath was the only member to have taken the official oath as a member of the newly-elected 16th Lok Sabha, and was made the Pro Tem Speaker. The first day of the Lok Sabha, on which the Pro Tem Speaker normally administers the oath to all other elected members, was interrupted by the death of Union Cabinet Minister of Rural Development Gopinath Munde. The House was adjourned after paying tribute to Munde and observing a two-minute silence. Since no other elected member had taken the oath that day, they were not officially members of parliament.[citation needed]
On 13th December 2018, Kamal Nath was elected as the Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh after the INC emerged as the single largest party with 114 seats.
“All of the 4 lakh vacancies as on 1 April 2019 in the Central Government, Central Public Sector Enterprises, Judiciary and Parliament will be filled before the end of March 2020. Congress will request State Governments to fill all vacancies, estimated at 20 lakhs, in the 2 sectors and in local bodies.”
NYAY
“Poorest 20% of families to be guaranteed a cash transfer of Rs. 72,000 a year each; money to be transferred to the account of a woman of the family; estimated cost will be <1% of GDP in Year 1 and <2% of GDP in Year 2 and thereafter.
“Congress promises to enact the Direct Taxes Code in the first year of government; review and replace the current GST laws with the GST 2.0 regime based on a single, moderate, standard rate of tax; abolish the e-way bill.”
“Will scrap the opaque Electoral Bond Scheme that was designed to favor the ruling party; set up a National Election Fund to which any person may make a contribution; promise that 50% of EVMs will be matched against VVPATs.”
Laws, rules and regulations
“Congress promises to decriminalize defamation and sedition; amend laws that allow detention without trial; pass Prevention of Torture Act; amend ASFPA; institute comprehensive prison reforms.”
“Will enforce anti-corruption laws without discrimination; will investigate several deals entered into by the BJP Government in the last 5 years and, in particular, the Rafale deal.”
“Will scrap Niti Aayog and constitute a Planning Commission with re-defined responsibilities.”
Agriculture and farm labour
“Congress promises to waive the outstanding farm loans: introduce a separate ‘Kisan Budget’; re-design the BJP government’s failed FasalBima Yojana (Crop Insurance Scheme); double the funding in 5 years for teaching, R&D, agriculture-related pure sciences and applied science and technology in the agricultural sector; restore the original Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act, 2013 and the Forest Rights Act.”
“Congress promises to launch MGNREGA 3.0, which will increase the guaranteed days of employment up to 150 days; connect all villages and habitations with a population of 250 with a road under the Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana; pass the Right to Homestead Act to provide a homestead for every household that does not own a home or own land.”
“Will provide for reservation of 33% of seats in the Lok Sabha and State Legislative Assemblies. Equal Remuneration Act, 1976 to be enforced effectively; repeal any provision of law that prohibits night shifts for women; comprehensive review of the Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplaces Act, 2013; establish a separate investigative agency to investigate heinous crimes against women and children.”
“Congress promises to achieve the target of 3% of GDP by 2020-21 and remain under that limit; achieve a savings level of 40% of GDP and a Gross Capital Formation level of 35% of GDP; bring every Fortune 500 company to set up a business in India; withdraw Angel Tax.
“Congress promises to increase the share of India’s manufacturing sector from the current level of 16%of GDP to 25% within a period of 5 years and to make India a manufacturing hub for the world.”
Public infrastructure and urban policy
“Congress promises to modernize all outdated railway infrastructure; formulate a comprehensive policy on Urbanization; Right to Housing for the urban poor and protection from arbitrary eviction; introduce a new model of governance for towns and cities through a directly elected mayor with a fixed term of 5 years, an elected Council and a separate administrative structure for each urban body.”
“Will ensure defense spending is increased to meet requirements of the Armed Forces; evolve suitable policies to address data security, cyber security, financial security, communication security; rapidly expand domestic capacity to manufacture defense and security equipment.
“Congress promises to establish a National Council on Foreign Policy; re-double the efforts to win for permanent membership India in the UNSC and the Nuclear Suppliers Group; significantly increase the size of the Foreign Service.”
2006: Honorary Doctorate given by Jabalpur’s Rani Durgavati University.
2007: Entitled as the FDI Personality of the Year by the FDI magazine and the Financial Times Business.
2008: Honored with the title “Business Reformer of the Year” by The Economic Times.
2011: The richest cabinet minister in India, possessing assets worth INR 2.73 billion.
In November 2012, he received the “ABLF Statesman Award” at the Asian Business Leadership Forum Awards 2012.


Categories: Charles Smith, Media, Politicians, Sen. Ribicoff, Washington area life
The Charles E. Smith family built the giant Crystal City complex near Ronald Reagan National Airport and donated hundreds of millions to good causes, most of them probably in and near Washington.
Names from the family went on the Charles E. Smith Athletic Center at George Washington University, the Robert H. Smith School of Business at the University of Maryland, American University’s Kogod School of Business and the Charles E. Smith Jewish Day School. Charles Smith’s grandson, David Bruce Smith, paid tribute to him in a folksy and readable little book called Conversations with Papa Charlie.
So what happened when, on the Washingtonian Magazine’s 45th anniversary, the October 2010 issue listed 45 Who Shaped Washingtonian (subtitled “From 1965 to 2010, these people helped make our region what it is today”)?
Well, the magazine saw fit to mention worthy but minor celebrities like Maya Lin, who, as a 21-year-old Yalie, designed the Vietnam Veterans Memorial. Not a word appeared, however, about the Charles E. Smith family despite praise for other developers. Granted, family businesses merged years ago with large, out-of-town real estate conglomerates, lowering the Smiths’ profile. But the Washingtonian was looking back over the past 45 years. The Smiths if nothing else have been to D.C.-area Jewish philanthropies what Colonel Sanders was to Kentucky Fried Chicken.
During the four and a half decades, not all the news about the Smiths was positive. Crystal City exacerbated Northern Virginia’s overdevelopment, further befouling the air in our lungs and clogging our highways despite the Metro. And for the Connecticut newspapers, I myself disclosed Sen. Abraham Ribicoff’s secret and illegal stake in a CIA-occupied building that the Smiths rented to the feds. Among the lease’s co-signers was none other than Robert H. Smith, the family member most responsible for Crystal City. No quid pro quo claimed here—this is one for historians to untangle, just like the blame for the collapse of a Smith building at Skyline Plaza where 14 workers died.
But without doubt the Smiths were among the most generous of local philanthropists, maybe the most generous; and, objectively, with Crystal City offices alone housing perhaps 60,000 office workers, should the Washingtonian have printed a Smithless list of present and past movers and shakers?
In Robert Smith’s obituary and a follow-up editorial, the Washington Post skipped over the negatives and made him out to be a flawless god. The Washingtonian sinned in the opposite direction and failed to recognize the Smiths and their ubiquitous good works. My guess is that the magazine’s omission of the Smiths was an innocent oversight by Denise Kersten Wills, a features editor who apparently has lived most of her life outside the Washington area. As a fellow, fallible journalist, I can well understand what might have happened. Still, as a D.C.-area history buff, I can’t help but look beyond the ironies and see at least an accidental injustice to the Smiths here. Hundreds of millions and not a syllable? Although the headline read “45” rather than “top 45,” I’d hope that commonsense would prevail. Perhaps Ms. Wills can append a clarification to the online version of the list and maybe even write a very brief item for the printed magazine. I’ll shoot her an e-mail.
Update, 9 p.m.: I did send a message via Facebook but have not yet received a reply.
Update, 8:56 a.m., Oct. 29: I notice that the Washington Post obit, source of the several hundred million figure, doesn’t specifically say that the contributions were for the D.C. region. So I’ve inserted “probably” in the first paragraph, based, among other things, on the fact that Robert Smith gave almost $100 million just to the University of Maryland.
Tags:Abraham Ribcoff, Arlene R. Kogod, Charles E. Smith Athletic Center, Charles E. Smith family, Charles E. Smith Jewish Day School, Conversations with Papa Charlie, Crystal City, D.C., D.C. metropolitan area, David Bruce Smith, DC area, Kogod School of Business, Robert H. Smith School of Business, Robert P. Kogod, University of Maryland, Washingtonian, Washingtonian Magazine