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Friday, April 9, 2010

A Michigan College Offers Money-Back Guarantee for Jobs

Money-back guarantees hardly seem to go with higher education. And offering them to prospective applicants during a recession sounds downright insane. But that's the sweetheart deal a community college in Michigan has started dangling to try to increase its enrollment. Beginning in May, people who take six-week courses in certain subjects will be guaranteed a job within a year - or else they'll be refunded their tuition money.
It's a radical idea, particularly for a school located in Lansing, Mich., where unemployment sits at 11.7%. Lansing Community College, the third largest community college in the state, has 30,000 students a year but is looking for more. The new money-back guarantee will apply to the four most in-demand technical jobs in the area: call-center specialists, pharmacy technicians, quality inspectors and computer machinists. The average pay for these jobs in 2008 ranged from $12.10 an hour (call-center specialists) to $15.72 (computer machinists). (See pictures of the college dorm's evolution.)
The cost for one of these six-week training courses - which don't come with a degree but rather a certificate granting qualification in a specific area - averages about $2,400.
The money-back guarantee is only open to a total of 61 students in Lansing's pilot program. And the applicants are expected to be Élite and competitive, says Ellen Jones, the college's director of public affairs. (All must have a high school degree.) Those who are accepted can't miss any class or assignments. They have to go through employability skill training and attend job fairs, and after they complete one of the six-week training courses, they must prove that they're actively applying for jobs.
Though the college hasn't partnered with any companies to hire the newly minted trainees, Jones says she wouldn't be surprised if such arrangements come together down the road. "We've had employers who've heard about this call us," she says. "They want these people." (Comment on this story.)
Russ Whitehurst, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, says that while some schools have been promising to refund money if credit hours don't transfer to another school or if tuition increases after the first semester, he believes Lansing's get-a-job-or-your-money-back offer is a first. "If every community college in America did something like that, they'd all be broke," he says. "They'd be refunding all their tuition." (See pictures of college mascots.)
Whitehurst says he would rather see community colleges and technical institutions providing more information about program-completion rates among students and their employment outcomes. This kind of transparency would allow prospective applicants to make more informed decisions instead of gambling their futures away. "Currently we just don't have that in post-secondary education," he says.
There's plenty of outrage these days over how much people are paying for college and what they're getting - or not getting - out of it. Last August, for example, a graduate of Monroe College in New York City sued the for-profit school for the $70,000 she spent on tuition because she felt the school didn't equip her with the vocational skills to land a job.
But for Lansing Community College, this new and very targeted money-back guarantee may be a stroke of marketing genius. The school will get to pick from qualified applicants, and may induce some people who never thought of themselves as college material to sign up for classes at Lansing.
"What we really want ... is [for] them to get comfortable with higher education," Jones says. "And maybe they'd like to continue."

David Mikael Taclino
Inyu Web Development and Design
Creative Writer

Nepal, China recognise two heights of Mount Everest

Nepal and China have agreed to recognise the snow and rock heights of Mount Everest, ending a long-standing debate about the height of the world's tallest mountain, officials said on Thursday.
More than 4,000 climbers have scaled the mountain that straddles the Nepal-China border since it was first summited by New Zealander Sir Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay Sherpa in May 1953.
But its exact height has remained a matter of debate.
The official Everest snow height of 8,848 metres (29,028 feet) was measured by the Survey of India in 1954.
Chinese mountaineers and researchers climbed Mount Everest in May 2005 to determine its height afresh and concluded that the rock height of the peak was about 3.7 metres (11 feet) less than the estimates made in 1954, or the summit was 8,844.43 metres (29,017 feet), with a margin of error of about 0.21 metres.
Officials from China and Nepal who met this week said both heights were accurate.
"Both are correct heights. No measurement is absolute. This is a problem of scientific research," said Raja Ram Chhatkuli, director general of Nepal's survey department, and a delegate.
Eight of the world's 14 tallest peaks including Mount Everest are in Nepal or on its borders with China and India.
In 1999, an expedition by the National Geographic Society and Boston's Museum of Science used satellite-based technology to measure the height of the snow covered peak, and determined the mountain stood 8,850 metres (29,035 feet) high.
They said they were unsure about the height of the rock peak.
Nepal has stuck to the snow height determined in 1954.
Some recent climbers say the mountain's glaciers are shrinking and portions of the trail leading to the summit are losing snow and turning rocky due to climate change.

David Mikael Taclino
Inyu Web Development and Design
Creative Writer

Woods shoots 68 in rousing Masters return

Tiger Woods shot a 4-under-par 68 in the opening round of the Masters, his best score ever on the tournament's first day.
Woods made eagles at the eighth and 15th holes — the first time he's had multiple eagles in a Masters round. Also, he had never started with a score lower than 70 until Thursday. That's when he returned from a sex scandal and five-month layoff to put himself just two strokes behind leader Fred Couples.
THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP's earlier story is below.
AUGUSTA, Ga. (AP) — The shots. The fist pumps. The roaring galleries at Augusta National.
Tiger Woods played as though he'd never been away.
Returning from a five-month layoff and trying to rebuild his reputation after a sex scandal, Woods quickly showed his game was still in good shape Thursday at the Masters.
Even with 50-year-old Fred Couples putting up the best score of his Masters career for the lead and 60-year-old Tom Watson posting another turn-back-the-clock round in a major, all eyes were on the world's best player during one of the most scrutinized opening rounds in golf history.
No one was sure what to expect from Woods, a four-time Masters champion competing for the first time since a Thanksgiving night car wreck led to revelations of numerous extramarital affairs. But eagles at the eighth and 15th holes certainly answered the question on everyone's mind: How would he play?
When he rolled in an 8-foot putt at the 15th, it was the first time in his 16-year Masters career that he's ever had a pair of eagles in the same round. It also left him just two strokes behind Couples' 6-under 66.
No longer sporting the goatee he had worn during practice, Woods bounced back from his first bogey with two precise shots that set up a 10-footer for eagle at the par-5 eighth. When the ball dropped in the cup, patrons rose in unison to salute the disgraced golfer, who delivered his first fist pump of the day.
But this round likely will be remembered for a shot Woods pulled off at the next hole. He yanked his drive left of the fairway, leaving him with a treacherous 5-iron that had to be hooked around the pine trees to reach an uphill green he could barely see.
Woods ripped into the ball with a powerful swing, then ran out into the fairway to get a look as it skidded onto the green, pulling to a stop about 12 feet above the hole. He rolled in the birdie putt, which put him on the leaderboard for the first time, just two strokes behind.
The gallery around the first tee was sparse a half-hour before Woods was scheduled to start. By the time he arrived, it had swelled to 10 deep all the way round. Woods smiled and touched the brim of his cap, acknowledging the cheers when his name was announced.
"Make us proud!" a fan yelled.
Not that he totally escaped his personal troubles inside the gates of Augusta National.
A small plane flew over the course pulling a banner that jabbed the golfer: "Tiger: Did you mean bootyism?" — a reference to Woods' claim that part of the reason for his troubles was that he left his faith, Buddhism. Some people in the stands laughed and pulled out binoculars to get a closer look. Later, another banner said: "Sex Addict? Yeah. Right. Sure. Me Too!"
Woods largely lived up to his vow to be more responsive to the crowd and try to keep his emotions in check. He doffed his cap to the fans several times, and they were appreciative.
"I think the way he's reacting with the crowd is amazing," said Jim Moehring, who cheered on Woods in Amen Corner. "He seems to be more relaxed."
Until he got to No. 14. Woods' explosive temper let loose there after an errant iron shot. He slung down his club and let out a scream as he turned away, unwilling to even watch the flight of the ball.
Couples has won three straight times on the 50-and-over Champions Tour, and that success carried over to Augusta. He had only one bogey the entire day and shot a 32 on the back side.
"I'm driving it very long and fairly straight, and I'm putting ridiculously well out there," he said. "Today I made a bunch of 6- and 7-footers on the front nine. That was just a huge boost."
Watson, who nearly became the oldest major winner in golf history at last year's British Open, showed it wasn't a fluke. He held the lead for a while after shooting 67, tying his best round at Augusta.
The last time he did it was 20 years ago. Watson closed with a 5-foot birdie putt at the tough 18th hole, set up by a brilliant iron shot that skipped along the right side of the green, caught the ridge and turned back toward the flag.
Phil Mickelson was among four players who matched Watson's 67, joined by reigning PGA Championship winner Y.E. Yang and England's Lee Westwood, seeking his first major title.
Mickelson had a blistering eagle-birdie-birdie stretch starting at the par-5 13th, and his score could have been even lower. He missed birdie tries of about 10 feet at No. 16 and a 5-footer at the 18th, but this was still an encouraging start for a two-time Masters winner who has struggled this year.
"I do love this place," Mickelson said. "I don't have to be perfect. I can miss a shot and still recover. It relaxes me when I go down Magnolia Lane."
Woods was in the next-to-last group, playing with K.J. Choi and Matt Kuchar. It looked as though there might be a rain delay as skies darkened and the wind gusted up to 22 mph ahead of an approaching storm. There were scattered sprinkles, but the front broke up as it passed over Augusta.
Anthony Kim endured a wild back side on his way to a 68. He started with three straight bogeys, made an eagle at 13, another bogey at the 14th, then closed with three straight birdies. His only par after the turn came at No. 16. Nick Watney also shot a 68.
David Toms, who failed to qualify for the Masters a year ago, returned with a 69. Defending Masters champion Angel Cabrera got off to a strong start with a 3-under 33 at the turn, but a double-bogey 7 at the 13th sent him tumbling to a 73.
Tocha Cunningham waited along the first fairway with her 15-year-old son, Jordan Salley, who is a huge fans of Woods and was attending his first Masters
"I'm ready to watch him. He's always been my favorite player. He's always been an inspiration," Jordan said.
The mother tried to discuss the scandal with her son.
"He understood, but Jordan did not want to talk about it because Tiger is his hero," she said. "He wanted to look beyond the personal and just focus on the golf."
Officials at Augusta National insisted that no one player — not even when it's the world's best embroiled in a scandal — would overshadow their tournament. And for a few moments, at least, that was the case as Jack Nicklaus joined Arnold Palmer at the first tee shortly after sunrise for the opening shots.
"I've never been up this early at Augusta," cracked the 70-year-old Nicklaus, who won a record six green jackets and agreed to return this year to join Palmer in a ceremonial role.
Sentimentality aside, most patrons were eager to get a look at Woods in comeback mode.
Bill Campbell set up his chair along the second fairway, hoping to catch one of the golfer's early shots.
"I'm expecting him to be wild off the tee," Campbell said, "but I won't be surprised if he pulls off a great round."
Mark Felt stationed himself along the third tee, which also afforded a view of the seventh green.
"He's going to come back sometime," Felt said. "Might as well be here."

David Mikael Taclino
Inyu Web Development and Design
Creative Writer

Netanyahu cancels trip to Obama's nuclear summit

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has canceled a planned trip to Washington next week to take part in President Barack Obama's 47-country nuclear security summit conference.
He made the decision after learning that Egypt and Turkey intended to raise the issue of Israel's presumed nuclear arsenal at the conference, a senior government official said on Friday.
Israel is believed to be the only nuclear-armed power in the Middle East but has never confirmed or denied that it possesses atomic weapons. It has not signed the nuclear non-proliferation treaty (NPT).
Netanyahu saw Obama at the White House late last month for talks on the stalled Middle East peace process with the Palestinians, but they failed to see eye to eye and relations between the two leaders remain at a low ebb.
"The prime minister has decided to cancel his trip to Washington to attend the nuclear conference next week, after learning that some countries including Egypt and Turkey plan to say Israel must sign the NPT," the official said.
Israeli media said Netanyahu feared that Islamic countries attending the summit would try to shift its focus from nuclear terrorism to a concerted attack on his country's presumed nuclear weapons capacity.
UP TO 200 WARHEADS?
Foreign analysts believe Israel has been a secret nuclear power for the past 40 years and may possess a sizeable arsenal.
Based on estimates of the plutonium production capacity of its Dimona reactor in the southern Negev desert, experts say it could have 100-200 advanced nuclear explosive devices.
Dozens of world leaders are due in Washington next week for the unprecedented conference, with Obama hoping they can agree on how to keep atomic bombs out of the hands of terrorists.
A second official said Israel would be represented at the gathering by Dan Meridor, who is a deputy prime minister responsible for atomic energy.
The summit will not focus on individual nations, but the nuclear programs of Iran and North Korea -- and possible new U.N. sanctions against Tehran -- are expected to come up.
Both countries are excluded from the meeting.
Israel considers Iran's suspected drive to build nuclear warheads a threat to its existence, but it hopes that diplomatic persuasion and sanctions will be sufficient to make the Islamic Republic drop its nuclear weapons aspirations, without resorting to the use of military force.

David Mikael Taclino
Inyu Web Development and Design
Creative Writer

Nuke treaty signed, but menacing arms issues lurk

The nuclear weapons cuts President Barack Obama and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev signed on Thursday would shrink the Cold War superpowers' arsenals to the lowest point since the frightening arms race of the 1960s. But they won't touch the "loose nukes" and suitcase bombs seen as the real menace in today's age of terrorism.
"This ceremony is a testament to the truth that old adversaries can forge new partnerships," Obama declared. "It is just one step on a longer journey."
The warheads covered by the treaty are lethal relics of the Cold War, and even with the planned reductions there will be enough firepower on each side to devastate the world many times over. And of more immediate concern are attempts by terrorist groups such as al-Qaida and nations such as Iran and North Korea to acquire or use nuclear weapons.
Obama and Medvedev showed solidarity for a spring showdown with Iran. And, beginning Monday, leaders of 47 countries will gather in Washington in an effort to prevent the spread of nuclear weapons, crack down on illicit nuclear trafficking and lock down vulnerable nuclear materials around the world.
Introduced Thursday with trumpet fanfare, the two grinning presidents sat at an ornate table in Prague's hilltop presidential castle and put their signatures to a landmark successor to the 1991 Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty. Nearly a year in the making, the "New START" signaled a bold opening in previously soured U.S.-Russia relations. If ratified by both nations' legislatures, it will shrink the limit of nuclear warheads to 1,550 each over seven years, down about a third from the current ceiling of 2,200.
Ratification in the U.S. Senate will hardly be automatic, requiring 67 votes in the 100-member chamber during a congressional election year when cooperation can be hard to come by.
Beyond that, urgent international nuclear tasks still face the two leaders.
For example, they are trying to forge agreement among themselves and four other nations — China, France, Britain, and Germany — on how to tackle Iran's continued defiance of United Nations demands that it cease enriching uranium. The West insists Tehran seeks to develop nuclear weapons; Tehran says it is after peaceful nuclear power.
At Obama's side, Medvedev made Russia's support for considering a fourth round of U.N. sanctions on Iran clearer than ever. "We cannot turn a blind eye to this," he said of Tehran's intransigence.
But that was not the main question heading into the leaders' talks, which ran overtime to about two hours. At issue, as representatives from the six partners prepare for what Obama called "ramped-up" discussions in New York, is how weak any new sanctions regime would need to be to get Moscow on board — not to mention China, an even more stubborn holdout.
Medvedev said sanctions should be "smart" — designed to change behavior, not to bring down the hardline Iranian government or impose hardship on Iran's people. The Russian leader said he had outlined for Obama "our limits for such sanctions," and Obama Russia expert Mike McFaul said those discussions got very specific.
"In all negotiations, people talk about their red lines and their bottom lines and we negotiate," McFaul said. White House officials would not reveal details of the private conversation, concerned that it could threaten progress. But Russia's deputy foreign minister, Sergei Ryabkov, said that a total embargo on refined petroleum products into Iran, which depends heavily on such imports, was out of the question for Moscow.
There is talk of hitting refined petroleum product deliveries some other way, but sanctions on Iran's energy sector may be jettisoned altogether as too tough for Russia or China.
Obama repeated his flat declaration that "strong tough sanctions" will be agreed to this spring. He said "we will not tolerate" any actions by Iran that risk a new arms race in the Middle East or threaten the security of the international community.
The president faces another key test in that drive when he meets Chinese President Hu Jintao in Washington on the sidelines of Monday's 47-nation summit.
Even as the U.S.-Russia deal was signed in Prague, the White House was deeply engaged in the uncertain Senate ratification fight in Washington.
With Obama needing to cajole at least eight Republicans into supporting the treaty to win the required 67 votes, Brian McKeon, a senior foreign policy adviser to Vice President Joe Biden, was named to head the effort. Administration negotiators also began fanning out to lobby senators, in person and via videoconference from Prague.
Fearing potential trouble, Medvedev said Russian lawmakers will synchronize their moves to ratify the deal on the U.S. timeframe.
Both leaders expressed optimism, and Obama emphasized the history of Senate bipartisanship on arms control matters. But that could be wishful thinking this year.
The GOP could well see an irresistible opening to criticize the broader security policies of Obama and his Democratic allies. Even if Republicans don't reject the treaty, they could seek to postpone its ratification to deny Obama a victory ahead of the November midterm elections.
One potential GOP backer, Richard Lugar of Indiana, a moderate Republican steeped in nonproliferation issues and the top GOP lawmaker on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, has been curiously quiet.
But Republicans are expected to eventually swing behind the treaty if Obama can promise it won't undercut the nation's ability to set up missile defenses to protect against an attack from Iran or North Korea. Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell said the GOP also wants assurances that the agreement will preserve the nuclear triad, a reference to the three tiers of the nation's nuclear defense.
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., issued a statement welcoming the treaty and warning Republicans not to "play politics with something as important as this to our national security." He said he was confident the agreement would be ratified.
Obama said the U.S. wants to get started on more arms-control negotiations with Russia, seeking larger cuts and ones that target short-range nuclear weapons as well as those held in reserve and in storage. None of those are affected by New START.
There are many reasons that any follow-on arms reductions will be much more difficult to achieve, including the missile defense dispute, the Russians' larger reliance on nuclear weapons in their overall security strategy and the need to draw in third powers.
Asked about the prospects, Konstantin Kosachev, the Kremlin-connected chief of the foreign affairs committee in the lower house of Russia's parliament, said it is a nonstarter until the U.S. withdraws its tactical nuclear weapons from five countries in Europe.

David Mikael Taclino
Inyu Web Development and Design
Creative Writer

Diplomat was to meet jailed terrorist

A Qatari diplomat was on his way to meet an imprisoned al-Qaida agent when he touched off a bomb scare by slipping into an airline bathroom for a smoke, officials said Thursday as they announced plans to send the diplomat home.
A State Department official and another person close to the matter say Mohammed Al-Madadi was going to meet Ali Al-Marri in prison. Consular officials frequently visit foreigners held in the United States to make sure they are being treated well.
Al-Marri, a citizen of Qatar, is serving eight years in prison after pleading guilty last year to conspiring to support terrorism. He was arrested after the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, accusing him of being a sleeper agent researching poisonous gases and plotting a cyberattack.
The visit with such a high-profile prisoner suggests that Al-Madadi would have been very aware of terrorism concerns when he sneaked into the plane's bathroom for a smoke and, according to authorities, joked about lighting his shoe on fire.
The people who discussed the case did so on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the matter.
No explosives were found on the plane and authorities said they don't think Al-Madidi was trying to hurt anyone during Wednesday's scare. He enjoys diplomatic immunity from U.S. prosecution and will not be criminally charged, authorities said. The State Department official said Qatar had not yet informed the administration how they will handle the case.
Wednesday's scare came three months after the attempted terror attack on Christmas Day when a Nigerian man allegedly tried to blow up a Detroit-bound airliner. The Nigerian, Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, went to the bathroom just before he allegedly tried to ignite his bomb in his seat. Since then, law enforcement, flight crews and passengers have been on high alert for suspicious activity on airplanes. That scare exposed major holes in the country's national security and prompted immediate changes in terror-screening policies.

David Mikael Taclino
Inyu Web Development and Design
Creative Writer

Kyrgyz opposition says it will rule for 6 months

Consolidating their victory after a bloody uprising, opposition leaders declared Thursday they would hold power in Kyrgyzstan for six months and assured the U.S. it can keep a strategic air base here — at least for now.
There were signs of instability, though, as deposed President Kurmanbek Bakiyev refused to relinquish power after the revolt, which left at least 75 people dead and hundreds wounded. As he spoke, gunfire broke out after nightfall in the capital, Bishkek.
With darkness descending, roving bands of armed marauders trawled the streets of the capital, despite warnings from the opposition leadership that looters would be shot.
Crowds gathering at the ransacked government headquarters earlier in the day angrily shouted anti-Bakiyev slogans. Still, the mood was subdued as residents came to terms with the scale of the violence unleashed against the mostly unarmed protesters by government troops a day earlier.
Newly appointed Kyrgyz security officials warned they would use every means to restore calm and bring an end to the nighttime lawlessness that terrorized Bishkek after Wednesday's clashes.
The former Soviet nation is home to a key U.S. military base supporting the fighting in Afghanistan that opposition figures have in the past said they wanted to see shut down. Kyrgyzstan also hosts a Russian military base and is the only nation where both Cold War foes have bases.
Roza Otunbayeva, a former foreign minister now heading the interim government, said there were no plans yet to review the lease agreement for the Manas air base, which runs out in July. She said her government would meet U.S. diplomats for talks in Bishkek.
"Give us time, it will take time for us to understand and fix the situation," Otunbayeva said.
U.S. military officials said Kyrgyzstan halted flights for 12 hours Wednesday, confining troops to the air base; they did not say if flights had resumed. Some 1,100 troops are stationed there, including contingents from Spain and France, in support of NATO operations in Afghanistan.
President Barack Obama and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev discussed Kyrgyzstan before signing an arms treaty in Prague on Thursday.
Michael McFaul, Obama's senior director for Russian affairs, emphasized that the U.S. did not view the conflict as any kind of proxy struggle between the U.S. and Russia.
"The people that are allegedly running Kyrgyzstan ... these are all people we've had contact with for many years," McFaul said. "This is not some anti-American coup, that we know for sure. And this is not some sponsored-by-the-Russians coup, there's just no evidence of that."
Kyrgyzstan shares a 533-mile (858-kilometer) border with China and is a gateway to energy-rich Central Asian countries where the U.S., China and Russia are competing for dominance. China said it was "deeply concerned" about the violent uprising in its small western neighbor, echoing comments by the United States and Russia.
Otunbayeva said parliament had been dissolved and that she would head an interim government for six months before elections are called. She said the new government controlled four of the country's seven regions and called for Bakiyev to admit defeat.
"His business in Kyrgyzstan is finished," she said.
In a sign that Russia may lend its support to the opposition, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin called Otunbayeva on Thursday. Any suggestion that Russia is backing the new leadership would add to the pressure on Bakiyev to step down.
Russia sent in 150 paratroopers to its base to ensure the safety of the 400 military personnel and their families there, Russian state media reported.
Bakiyev, who fled the northern capital for his stronghold in the south, told a Russian radio station that "I don't admit defeat in any way." But he also said he recognized that "even though I am president, I don't have any real levers of power."
"What has taken place is a veritable orgy carried out by armed groups and I do not believe this is a defeat for me," Bakiyev said.
He spoke from southern Jalal-Abad region, where Bakiyev's popularity is said to remain high — raising concerns he might try to secure his survival by exploiting the split between the more urban north and rural south.
It was unclear if Bakiyev has any armed forces under his command. However, Koshbai Masirov, a government loyalist and former governor of Jalal-Abad, said Bakiyev had addressed people in the region and he expected him to retain their support.
Meanwhile, the newly appointed interim defense minister, Ismail Isakov, said the armed forces had joined the opposition and would not be used against protesters.
"Special forces and the military were used against civilians in Bishkek, Talas and other places," Isakov said. "This will not happen in the future."
Since coming to power in 2005 amid street protests known as the Tulip Revolution, Bakiyev had ensured a measure of stability. But the opposition said it came at the expense of democratic standards and accused Bakiyev of enriching himself and his family.
Piles of ash and smoldering debris filled the street Thursday outside the monolithic government headquarters, known as the White House, where marauders set fire to ransacked goods and trash overnight.
Jubilant young men stood atop gutted vehicles outside the building. Nearby, youths piled onto an armored personnel carrier, victoriously holding their arms aloft.
Fading bloodstains were still visible outside the White House, where dozens were killed by armed troops a day earlier. Young boys scurried in and out of the building, carrying away looted carpets.
As afternoon approached, the crowds swelled. But a somber mood hung in the air as one-minute tributes for those killed in the violence punctuated speeches by politicians and opposition supporters.
As night fell, gunshots rang out around Bishkek, where rumors spread of an attempt by armed Bakiyev loyalists to sow panic. The city of 1 million was plunged into darkness, with hotels and homeowners afraid to turn on their lights for fear of attracting attention.
Throughout the day, many expressed a sense of uneasy wariness about the future.
"We have kicked out Bakiyev, the people have taken power into their own hands, but we have no plans for the future," said Abdykerim Sadykov, a 42-year-old teacher in the crowd outside the White House. "We will wait until the opposition hatches a plan."
On Thursday, details emerged of the composition of the interim Cabinet, which has been drawn from a broad spectrum of opposition leaders, whose differences in the past have undermined attempts to weaken Bakiyev.
One area of consensus was on the decision to repeal sharp increases in heating and electricity bills that provoked widespread anger and helped precipitate this week's violence.
Otunbayeva's announcement at a packed briefing that cheap utilities would be restored and the recent privatization of a power company annulled elicited cheers and clapping from supporters crowding the hall.
But beyond the issue of utilities, the new team of ministers may have trouble forging a united platform.
Azimbek Beknazarov, a populist taking over a broad justice portfolio, vowed that the incoming authorities would hunt down those responsible for Wednesday's deaths.
"We are looking for those people that gave the order to open fire on demonstrators," he said. "We must find these criminals, we will not allow anybody to open fire on their own people."

David Mikael Taclino
Inyu Web Development and Design
Creative Writer

Sex Pistols' former manager McLaren has died at 64

The former manager of the Sex Pistols and one of the seminal figures of the punk rock era, Malcolm McLaren, died Thursday, his son said. He was 64.
Joe Corre his father died of an aggressive form of cancer in Switzerland, declining to give the exact location.
"He was the original punk rocker and revolutionized the world," Corre told The Associated Press in a telephone interview. "He's somebody I'm incredibly proud of. He's a real beacon of a man for people to look up to."
McLaren is best known for his work with the Pistols, whose violence, swearing, and antiestablishment antics shocked Britain and revolutionized the music scene. The band's chaotic career owed much to their manager's talent for self-promotion.
"Without Malcolm McLaren there would not have been any British punk," said music journalist Jon Savage, who wrote "England's Dreaming" — which chronicles the history of the group.
But McLaren, an art school dropout, was first known for his fashion, and the infamous clothes shop he opened on London's King's Road with his girlfriend Vivienne Westwood in 1971.
The shop changed its name and focus several times, operating as "SEX" and "World's End" and "Seditionaries" before Westwood and McLaren split, but its offbeat brand of clothing — alternating between Teddy Boy-style clothes and bondage gear — gave him a window on to the emergent punk music scene.
It was McLaren who gave the name Sex Pistols to the group of young men hanging out at his store and helped pick out front man John Lydon (soon known as "Johnny Rotten.") McLaren signed the group with EMI, and their first single, "Anarchy in the UK" came out in 1976.
The group would aggressively court controversy, becoming a household name after an expletive-packed appearance in a British television interview which drew a ban on the group's live performances in the U.K.
After being dropped by EMI for bad behavior, the group later signed with Virgin. Their second single, "God Save The Queen," whose title lyrics are rhymed with "fascist regime," was released during Elizabeth II's Silver Jubilee celebrations — was an auditory assault on the monarchy which sparked widespread outrage and saw members of the band attacked in the street.
The controversy was no impediment to the groups' success, but the Sex Pistols fell apart during their U.S. tour, descending into acrimony and legal action. Their bassist, Sid Vicious, died of a heroin overdose in 1979 after he was accused of killing his girlfriend, Nancy Spungen, in New York City in 1978.
Although the group had broken up after only one album, 1977's "Never Mind the Bollocks," their rebellious antics and raucous music would set the bar for the bands to come.
McLaren professed a certain indifference to the talent of the band he managed, saying it never occurred to him that the group could ever be any good.
"What occurred to me was that it didn't matter if they were bad," he told the Times of London last year.
Sylvain Sylvain, whose group proto-punk group the New York Dolls McLaren managed before the Sex Pistols, told the AP that McLaren knew how to anticipate a trend.
"He had that vision — maybe it came from the clothing," Sylvain said. "In the rag business you've got to be five to 10 years ahead of everybody."
Like Westwood, his former partner, who was knighted and is whose clothes have graced the Royal Courts of Justice and Buckingham Palace, McLaren eventually became a firmly entrenched part of the cultural establishment.
He helped create advertising campaigns for British Airways, went to Hollywood to make films alongside directors such as Steven Spielberg, and worked on shows with the BBC — the broadcaster which in the 70s had refused to play his group's songs. He even wrote for the New Yorker.
But McLaren still nurtured his rebellious edge. He made a stab at running for mayor of London, promising to set up a legalized brothel outside parliament. His son by Westwood, Corre, would continue the family tradition of blending shock with success, co-founding the lingerie chain Agent Provocateur, which sells its risque, high-end wares across the world.
And while McLaren also worked with Adam and the Ants and helped create the group Bow Wow Wow, his music career wasn't limited to management. He had a regarded solo career in which he blended genres and acted as a kind of music curator. In the early 1980s, he had key songs in hip-hop, including the hit "Buffalo Gals," and bringing different textures to the developing genre; in his career, he worked in electronica, pop — even opera.
McLaren is survived by Corre and his longtime partner Young Kim. In an e-mail, she wrote that the fashion, the movies — and the Pistols — were "all expressions of his art."
"McLaren will be sorely missed," she said. "He was a great artist who changed the world."
Corre said that while funeral arrangements have yet to be made, McLaren had wanted to be buried in north London's stately Highgate cemetery, near where he was born.

David Mikael Taclino
Inyu Web Development and Design
Creative Writer

Slum disappears in Rio mudslide; 200 feared dead

They are all gone. The Evangelical church where worshippers were praying. A daycare center where kids were playing. The pizza parlor where a family was eating.
All were buried under a mountain of mud, garbage and stone when yet another landslide hit metropolitan Rio de Janeiro late Wednesday. This one swept through the Morro Bumba slum, engulfing as many as 200 people and 60 homes. Nothing was left behind but a massive crater of blackened, sodden earth and the remnants of flimsy brick shacks.
"I had just picked up my 10-year-old son from the day care. We walked down the hill to the street, and within 10 minutes, my community collapsed," said Patricia Faria, 28, crying as she watched heavy machinery dump the remains of her life into a waiting truck. "All I have left is what you see on me — and my son. Thank God, I have my son."
Rio state health secretary Sergio Cortes said it was hard to say how many people were buried in the latest slide. "A worse-case scenario is 200," he told The Associated Press. "We know that about 60 houses were buried."
Already 161 people have been confirmed dead in the heavy rains that began Monday in Rio, most of them swept away in landslides that roared through city slums built on steep, unstable hillsides.
The death toll surpasses that of flooding and mudslides in the southern state of Santa Catarina in 2008, which killed nearly 130 people and displaced about 80,000.
"In our experience, it's an instant death," Pedro Machado, undersecretary of Rio state's Civil Defense department, said of the victims buried by landslides.
Faria said she was certain people were buried inside the Morro Bumba slum's Assembly of God church, which collapsed during nightly services.
Clesio Araujo, 39, said he narrowly escaped the slide, leaving a pizza parlor just a few minutes before the earth gave way. He said a family was still inside.
The destruction was compounded because the slum is largely built atop an old garbage dump, making it especially unstable and vulnerable to the heavy rains, said Agostinho Guerreiro, president of Rio's main association of engineers and architects.
"It is very fragile soil. It couldn't hold. The houses came down, destroying the ones below them," Guerreiro told Globo TV. "It was a tragedy foretold."
The federal government announced an emergency fund of $114 million to help Rio state, where the slum is located, to deal with the mudslides and flooding.
But the money will be of little help to people who have no choice but to live in such precarious sections of the city, said Rosana Fernandes, 43, whose sister, brother-in-law and two young nieces were buried under the mud.
Holding a faded photo of the smiling family, she didn't bother holding back the tears as she explained what it is that leads families to live atop a landfill formed by decades of accumulated garbage.
"Yes, it was a dump. But people are desperate to have a home anywhere," she said. "What else were they going to do? Where else were they supposed to go? This is our reality. They knew the risks, but when you have no money, you have no choice," she said.
Rio officials said they are going to step up forced evictions of slum residents living in at-risk areas. Mayor Eduardo Paes announced that 1,500 families are going to be removed from their homes in at least two Rio slums, and that more evictions are likely.
Officials from Rio state's Civil Defense department said that at least 14,000 people were forced from their homes by the mudslides and that potential slides threatened at least 10,000 other houses in the city.
On Thursday, scores of rescue workers poked at the massive mountain of earth that slid down the hills of the Morro Bumba slum toward a paved road in Niteroi, Rio's sister city of 500,000 people across the Guanabara Bay.
Mounds of soil and garbage rose 40 feet (12 meters) high. A dozen dump trucks were lined up to carry off the debris. Hundreds of onlookers watched as firefighters carried at least four coffins out of the crater created by the slide.
Homeless residents sought shelter in two Evangelical churches just down the road from the slum, where water, food and clothing were handed out. Small children played and slept on dozens of mattresses laid out on church floors.
Niteroi recovery operations were moving slowly: The wet, steep terrain posed a continued threat to anyone trapped in the wreckage and to emergency crews as well, said lead firefighter Alves Souza.
"The work is very intense, given the fact that the volume of material we have here is very large," Souza said.
While it rained only lightly Thursday, the forecast was for heavier rains later in the day and throughout the weekend.

David Mikael Taclino
Inyu Web Development and Design
Creative Writer

Emaciated children signal crisis in southern Sudan

Three-day-old Odong Obong lay in the hospital bed, his pencil-thin arms almost motionless and his shriveled, gaunt face resembling that of an elderly man.
Emaciated babies and young children throughout the ward bore the signs of hunger: exposed ribs and distended stomachs. Outside, old villagers reclined motionless in the shade, too frail to walk.
The U.N. calls this the "hungriest place on Earth" after years of drought and conflict, with aid agencies already feeding 80,000 people here. A doctor says the worst is yet to come.
Two years of failed rains and tribal clashes have laid the foundation for Africa's newest humanitarian crisis. The World Food Program quadrupled its assistance levels from January to March in the Akobo region of southeastern Sudan.
International aid agencies are bracing for the worst. Even if spring rains materialize this year, the harvest won't come in until fall.
"And if there is no rain, it will get worse," said Dr. Galiek Galou, one of three doctors at the hospital in this town on the border with Ethiopia.
"If you stay here for a week you'll have problems, even if you have money," he said. "There is nothing to buy."
Southern Sudan lies in a drought-prone belt of Africa, but the situation has been exacerbated by rising intertribal violence that claimed more than 2,000 lives in 2009. Because of the global financial meltdown, the government has fewer available resources.
The food crisis is also a legacy of a devastating north-south civil war of more than 21 years that left 2 million people dead and many more displaced. That conflict is separate from the war in the western Sudanese region of Darfur, which began in 2003 and has killed 300,000.
The aid groups Save the Children and Medair have canvassed the Akobo community for the past week, searching for the hungriest children. They found 253 who they classified as severely malnourished, meaning they will die without immediate intervention. The children are enrolled in a feeding program that relies primarily on fortified peanut butter.
Another 200 severely malnourished children are being fed in a separate program, said the U.N.'s Dr. Natalie Lewin.
At the hospital, one toddler who appears to be in the worst shape is 2-year-old Dhoah Thoan, whose skin hangs off his body in an alarming way. He has skinny arms and an oversize stomach but bright brown eyes. Two beds over is Nyagod Kuel, also 2. If he had not been brought in for treatment, he would have died, Galou said.
Nearby, Odong lies on colorful blankets under mosquito netting with his triplet brothers Opiew and Ochan. Their mother hovers at the side of the bed.
"The hunger situation is really bad," said Goi Juoyul Yol, 37, the town's top official, who graduated from the University of Kentucky. "You'll have a cup of grain for a family of five for two days."
A recent survey by Save the Children and Medair found that almost 46 percent of children in the region are malnourished. Lise Grande, the top U.N. official in southern Sudan, labeled the Akobo region as the "hungriest place on Earth." She noted that most humanitarian agencies regard a malnutrition rate of 15 percent to be an emergency threshold.
"This year 4.3 million people in southern Sudan will need some sort of food assistance," Grande said. "That could be as much as nearly half of the population in the south. When you have that many people who need food, you can see the dimensions of the crisis."
Sitting outside one of the hundreds of grass huts that have popped up in recent months as people flee violence and search for food was Kalang Nyot, 32. The mother of five said she walks for 12 hours three times a week to gather a small orange fruit called lalif. A grandmother stays behind and watches the children, but because she is so weak she can barely move.
Mohamed Nuh, an emergency program manager with Save the Children, said aid agencies will need to shift food out of Akobo because families are moving into the town center and away from farmland where they could plant crops, a situation that could begin a cycle of unending need.
"While they're here they just sleep and wait for the food distribution," he said. "The current strategy is not working."
But Akobo's town center showed one of the dangers of moving food away from a central area of accountability.
Among the wooden shops, one salesman had 60 bags of sorghum — a type of grain — for sale donated by the United States. The American flag and "USAID" are stamped on the bags, along with the words "Not to be sold or exchanged." But Deng Bichiaki was indeed selling them — food aid that was likely stolen for the black market.
"Our governments do not intend this to be sold. I must say I've never seen so many bags on one occasion," said Morten Petersen, a technical assistant to the European Commission who was visiting Akobo to see how much aid was needed.
Despite the apparent fraud, Petersen said he would report back that Akobo was suffering "a very severe problem that we will have to confront in coming weeks."
The town is part of an isolated region suffering from tribal warfare that has displaced almost 400,000 people.
Sudan's elections start April 13 and will include local as well as parliamentary and presidential polls in a three-day balloting. The vote is a crucial step in Sudan's 2005 north-south peace deal that ended the civil war and paves the way for a referendum that will allow southerners to decide whether to secede from the Muslim-dominated north.

David Mikael Taclino
Inyu Web Development and Design
Creative Writer

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