Some quotes on life.
Monday, December 19, 2016
Russian ambassador Andrey Karlov shot in Ankara
 |
|
Russia's ambassador to Ankara has been shot and wounded in a gun attack in the Turkish capital, according to Turkish media.
Andrey Karlov was speaking at an exhibition when he was shot in the back multiple times on Monday evening, Turkish media said.
The attacker let the guests out of the exhibition venue after he shot the diplomat, according to the reports.
Turkish media reported that a gun fight ensued after Karlov was shot.
Interior minister Suleyman Soylu has reached the location of the attack.
"There are at least three wounded people who were taken to the hospital," Turkey's NTV television said.
A witness talking to Turkey's CNNTurk television said that the attacker was acting alone.
"He said that I will not leave this place alive," the attacker said, according to the witness.
The attacker reportedly talked about the situation in Aleppo after he shot the ambassador multiple times.
______
Source: Al Jazeera and news agencies
Wednesday, December 14, 2016
Apple's new wireless AirPods available now
Apple's new wireless AirPods are finally available.
At the iPhone 7 launch in September, Apple Senior Vice President of Worldwide Marketing Phil Schiller said the AirPods would be available in October, but the company missed that target time frame due to unexplained delays.
Missing the deadline for release of any hot product is bad news for a company, but what made the AirPods miss worse was that the they were supposed to offset some of the sting consumers felt over Apple's decision to omit the traditional headphone jack in the iPhone 7.
"Someone clearly dropped the ball, because without something like this with the iPhone 7 the attached sales for the earbuds were stalled, and it made it harder to sell iPhone 7s," noted Rob Enderle, principal analyst at the Enderle Group.
"Both products should have shown up at the same time," he told TechNewsWorld.
Missed Opportunity
However, the absence of AirPods doesn't seem to have affected iPhone 7 sales that much.
"Sales of the iPhone 7 seem to be doing well," said Ross Rubin, principal analyst at Reticle Research.
"The absence of AirPods hasn't been a deal breaker for consumers interested in the phone," he told TechNewsWorld.
On the other hand, the late release certainly will impact sales of the AirPods.
"Apple missed an attractive cross-sell opportunity when the new iPhones were released," Rubin noted, "and they missed the Black Friday opportunity, when there would have been increased traffic going through stores."
AirPods still could be a popular item this Christmas, though.
"It's a relatively small product, easy to pick up online, easy to ship," Rubin pointed out. "It could still wind up in stockings or under trees."
Chip Trouble
Apple is being mum about what caused the delay in bringing the AirPods to market, but several reports link it to the new W1 wireless chip in the headphones.
"There's definitely been a problem with the supply chain, and the best I can figure it was related to the custom Apple W1," said Kevin Krewell, a principal analyst at Tirias Research.
If that's the case, though, it wouldn't explain why Apple could ship the Beats Solo 3 and Powerbeat 3 headphones, which also use the chip. Another Beats model, however, the X BT, also is experiencing delays and may not reach retail shelves until next year.
"It could be that Apple needed more time fine-tuning the chip for rated battery life," Krewell told TechNewsWorld.
Battery life is one of several drawbacks that have dampened demand for products similar to the AirPods.
"There aren't a lot of products like this in this segment, largely because they are expensive, easy to lose, have poor battery life, and the sound quality isn't in line with their cost," Enderle said. "Most folks in this price band prefer headphones, because they provide a much better experience at the same price and they are harder to lose."
Sync Challenges
Some reports have blamed sync problems for the delay.
"It's rumored that the AirPods were receiving signals slightly out of sync," said Jeff Orr, senior practice director for mobile devices at ABI Research. "The stereo effect was not working right."
In most Bluetooth earbuds, the signal from a device is transmitted to one of the buds and transmitted to the other via some kind of wired connection between them.
AirPods don't have any wires so the signal is sent to each bud separately and must be received by them simultaneously. If not, the signal is out of sync, which scotches the audio experience.
If there were sync problems with the AirPods, though, those problems didn't appear in the demo units, noted Orr, who attended the Apple event when the earphones were announced.
"It's hard to know what caused the delay, and I don't know if we'll ever know what the cause was," he told TechNewsWorld.
More Than Music Buds
The AirPods offer more than just a new way to listen to music, which is why Apple had to make sure it made the product right from the time it left the starting gate, observed Ian Fogg, a senior director at IHS Markit.
"AirPods is part of Apple's vision for mobile," he told TechNewsWorld.
"It isn't just a Bluetooth headset that you listen to music on or answer phone calls. It's a voice interface for not only listening but for also speaking so you can interact with your watch or phone seamlessly without having to pair or reconnect them," Fogg explained. "It's an extension of the Apple Watch and iPhone experience."
One of Apple's historic strengths has been perceiving when and how to nudge the consumer market to accept new user interfaces, said Brad Russell, a research analyst at Parks Associates.
"AirPods are major move forward for hearables, wireless audio technology and voice control interfaces," he told TechNewsWorld.
"They don't have to be great -- just good enough to add value to the smartphone," Russell continued.
"Apple EarPods were never the best earbud on the market, but their stylish design, comfortable fit and inline remote added significant value at the time to become an iconic symbol of the iPhone brand."
_By John P. Mello Jr.
_________
John Mello is a freelance technology writer and contributor to Chief Security Officer magazine. You can connect with him on Google+.
Source: TECH NEWS WORLD
Monday, December 12, 2016
The 37 best websites for learning a new skill
 |
| When you can learn a new skill at your own pace in the comfort of your own home, there's no excuse not to.Francisco Osorio/Flickr |
Forget overpriced schools, long days in a crowded classroom, and pitifully poor results.
These websites and apps cover myriads of science, art, and technology topics.
They will teach you practically anything, from making hummus to building apps in node.js, most of them for free.
There is absolutely no excuse for you not to master a new skill, expand your knowledge, or eventually boost your career.
You can learn interactively at your own
pace and in the comfort of your own home. It’s hard to imagine how much
easier it can possibly be.
Honestly, what are you waiting for?
Take an online course
edX — Take online courses from the world’s best universities.
Coursera — Take the world’s best courses, online, for free.
Coursmos — Take a micro-course anytime you want, on any device.
Highbrow — Get bite-sized daily courses to your inbox.
Skillshare — Online classes and projects that unlock your creativity.
Curious — Grow your skills with online video lessons.
lynda.com — Learn technology, creative and business skills.
CreativeLive — Take free creative classes from the world’s top experts.
Udemy — Learn real world skills online.
Learn how to code
Codecademy — Learn to code interactively, for free.
Stuk.io — Learn how to code from scratch.
Udacity — Earn a Nanodegree recognized by industry leaders.
Platzi — Live streaming classes on design, marketing and code.
Learnable — The best way to learn web development.
Code School — Learn to code by doing.
Thinkful — Advance your career with 1-on-1 mentorship.
Code.org — Start learning today with easy tutorials.
BaseRails — Master Ruby on Rails and other web technologies.
Treehouse — Learn HTML, CSS, iPhone apps & more.
One Month — Learn to code and build web applications in one month.
Dash — Learn to make awesome websites.
Learn to work with data
DataCamp — Online R tutorials and data science courses.
DataQuest — Learn data science in your browser.
DataMonkey — Develop your analytical skills in a simple, yet fun way.
Learn new languages
Duolingo — Learn a language for free.
Lingvist — Learn a language in 200 hours.
Busuu — The free language learning community.
Memrise — Use flashcards to learn vocabulary.
Expand your knowledge
TED-Ed — Find carefully curated educational videos
Khan Academy — Access an extensive library of interactive content.
Guides.co — Search the largest collection of online guides.
Squareknot — Browse beautiful, step-by-step guides.
Learnist — Learn from expertly curated web, print and video content.
Prismatic — Learn interesting things based on social recommendation.
Bonus
Chesscademy — Learn how to play chess for free.
Pianu — A new way to learn piano online, interactively.
Yousician— Your personal guitar tutor for the digital age.
By Kristyna Zapletalova
Written by @kristynazdot, founder and CEO of maqtoob.com
— app discovery platform for inspiring entrepreneurs. At the moment,
it features 1,500+ handpicked tools for startups, small businesses, and
freelancers.
Read the original article on Medium. Copyright 2015.
________
Source: Business Insider
Wednesday, December 7, 2016
Donald Trump is Time’s person of the year for 2016
Donald Trump is Time’s person of the year for 2016, the magazine’s editor announced Wednesday morning on NBC’s “Today” show.
“When have we ever seen a single individual who has so defied expectations, broken the rules, violated norms, beaten not one but two political parties on the way to winning an election that he entered with 100-1 odds against him,” Time managing editor Nancy Gibbs said. “I don't think we have ever seen one person operating in such an unconventional way have an impact on the events of the year quite like this.”
"When you say divided states of America, I didn't divide them. They're divided now. I mean, there's a lot of division," he said. "And we're going to put it back together and we’re going to have a country that's very well healed and we’re going to be a great economic force and we’re going to build up our military and safety and we’re going to do a lot of great things. And it’s going to be something very special."
"I think putting divided is snarky. But again, it’s divided. I'm not president yet. So I didn't do anything to divide," he added later.
Trump complained last year that he had not been selected as Time's person of the year for 2015, when he finished in third place behind German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi. The Manhattan billionaire took to Twitter upon the announcement, writing that "I told you @TIME magazine would never pick me as person of the year despite being the big favorite. They picked person who is ruining Germany."
On Wednesday, Trump told NBC that winning the 2016 person of the year award was "a tremendous honor."
Gibbs said 2016 “may have been one of the more straightforward years” in terms of selecting a person of the year, with Trump the obvious choice. Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton, the first female presidential nominee of a major political party and the likely winner of the popular vote, was the magazine’s runner-up person of the year. Hackers, taken as a group, came in third after an election cycle in which cyberattacks played an outsize role.
“The person of the year, as we always remind people, is the person who has had the greatest influence on events, for better or for worse,” Gibbs said. “The fascinating thing this year is, I’ve never seen so much agreement over who had the most influence or the most disagreement over whether it was for better or for worse.”
______
Source: POLITICO
Monday, December 5, 2016
Ban Ki-moon apologizes to Haiti for cholera outbreak
UN chief apologises for the international organisation's part in the 2010 outbreak blamed on Nepalese UN peacekeepers. |
| The UN chief formally presented a 'new approach' to the cholera epidemic in Haiti [AP] |
UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has apologised for the first time to the people of Haiti for the international organisation's role in a deadly cholera outbreak that has killed more than 9,300 people and infected more than 800,000.
"On behalf of the United Nations, I want to say very clearly
we apologise to the Haitian people," he said three times, in Haitian
Creole, French and English, to the UN General Assembly on Thursday.
"We simply did not do enough with regards to the cholera outbreak and its spread in Haiti ... We are profoundly sorry for our role," Ban said.
According to numerous independent experts, cholera was
introduced to Haiti by infected Nepalese UN peacekeepers sent to the
Caribbean country after the massive 2010 earthquake.
Cholera, a disease that is transmitted through contaminated
drinking water and causes acute diarrhoea, is a major challenge in a
country with poor sanitary conditions.
The UN reiterated its rejection of claims that it is also legally responsible for the damages from the health emergency.
"We do not change our basic legal position," UN Deputy Secretary General Jan Eliasson told reporters on Thursday.
The UN chief also formally presented the 193-nation General
Assembly with a "new approach", a two-pronged programme to help the
families of the cholera victims and support the battle against the
disease.
The UN hopes the new proposal will raise $400m over two years, but funding for prior UN assistance to Haiti has been slow to arrive.
Aid to victims
Ban urged donors to finance the programme and confirmed on Thursday that two programmes were planned, each costing $200m.
One will strengthen the fight against the epidemic, which
resurged after Hurricane Matthew devastated the country in early
October, and improve the country's sanitary infrastructure.
Some 72 percent of Haitians have no toilets at home and 42 percent still lack access to drinking water, the UN says.
________
Source: ALJAZEERA
Thursday, December 1, 2016
Relevant news this week
 |
FREDERIC J. BROWN/AFP/Getty Images
|
1. Trump starts 'thank you' tour through states he won
President-elect Donald Trump, most of his Cabinet picks in place, kicks off his "Trump USA Thank You Tour 2016"
on Thursday with a massive rally at the U.S. Bank Arena in Cincinnati.
Earlier in the day, Trump and Vice President-elect Mike Pence, the
governor of Indiana, will hold an event in Indianapolis with Carrier
Corp, the heating and air-conditioning company that agreed this week to
keep at least 800 jobs in Indiana that it had planned to move to Mexico.
No details have yet been released on the price of keeping those jobs in
Indiana, and hundreds of workers at the plant could still lose their
jobs. Trump's victory tour will focus on states where he beat his
Democratic rival, Hillary Clinton, in the election. [Politico, The Salt Lake Tribune]
2. Colombian Congress approves new peace deal with FARC rebels
Colombia's Congress ratified a revised peace deal
with the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, known by its Spanish
acronym FARC, on Wednesday night, marking a major step toward ending
five decades of civil war. Voters in October narrowly rejected the first
version of the accord, which opponents said was too lenient on the
rebels. The new deal exposes more rebels to criminal prosecution, but
critics accused President Juan Manuel Santos of ramming the agreement
through and sidestepping the will of the people by seeking lawmakers'
approval instead of holding another referendum. [USA Today, The New York Times]
3. Pelosi reelected as House Democratic leader
Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) won another term as House Democratic leader
on Wednesday, surviving a challenge from Rep. Tim Ryan (D-Ohio) in a
closed-door vote. Ryan received 63 votes, while Pelosi got almost
exactly the two-thirds she predicted, with 134 votes. Although the vote
was far from close, it amounted to the largest defection against Pelosi
since she took over the party's House leadership in 2002. Still, the
victory demonstrated that Pelosi's influence within the party remained
solid despite the Republicans' win in the November elections, in which
they retained control of the House and Senate and put Donald Trump in
the White House. [The Hill, The Associated Press]
4. Death toll reaches 7 in eastern Tennessee wildfires
The death toll from wildfires eastern Tennessee
rose to seven on Wednesday, with at least 53 other people treated for
injuries at hospitals. The fires have engulfed two tourist towns —
Gatlinburg and Pigeon Forge — near Great Smoky Mountains National Park.
More than 700 homes and businesses have been destroyed, nearly half of
them in Gatlinburg. Park Superintendent Cassius Cash said the fire that
swept through the park and nearby areas was "likely to be human-caused."
The fires, which had burned 16,000 acres by late Wednesday, spread so
quickly that many of the thousands forced to evacuate left with only the
clothes on their backs. One woman at a shelter said it was like "hell
opened up." Rainfall finally arrived in the drought-stricken area,
helping firefighters douse the blaze, but brought new threats —
mudslides, floods, and tornadoes. [The Washington Post, Los Angeles Times]
5. OPEC agrees to first output cut since 2008
OPEC
agreed to its first production cut since 2008 on Wednesday, sending oil
prices surging by more than 9 percent. The deal came after Saudi
Arabia, the world's largest producer, agreed to what Saudi Energy
Minister Khalid al-Falih described as "a big hit," shouldering the
largest of the 1.2 million barrels a day in cuts. Iran had been
resisting cuts, insisting it should be allowed to regain market share it
lost under recently lifted Western sanctions. Under a compromise, Iran
will be allowed to boost production slightly from its October level.
Traders said the oil rally might quickly fizzle, as the cuts won't be enough to end a global glut. [Reuters]
6. Veterans head to North Dakota to protect pipeline protesters
Two
thousand U.S. military veterans plan to form a human shield around
protesters against the Dakota Access oil pipeline project on the edge of
the Standing Rock Sioux reservation in North Dakota, protest organizers
said Wednesday. The veterans are expected to arrive in time for next
week's deadline the federal government has set for the protesters to
leave their camp near the construction site. The state this week backed
away from a threat to cut off supplies to the camp. Protesters vow to
stay and continue rallying for a change in the route of the $3.8 billion
pipeline project, which they say threatens the reservation's water
supply and sacred Native American sites. [Reuters, The New York Times]
7. Officer who fatally shot Keith Lamont Scott won't be charged
A
Charlotte, North Carolina, prosecutor said Wednesday that Brentley
Vinson, the police officer who fatally shot Keith Lamont Scott in
September, will not face charges. Vinson is black, as was Scott. Police
said Scott had a handgun when he was shot in a confrontation outside his
apartment building, but the killing sparked demonstrations calling for
police to release dashboard and body camera footage. Mecklenburg County
District Attorney R. Andrew Murray said in a news conference that
Vinson's use of deadly force was justified because he feared for his own
life and the safety of his fellow officers. [The Charlotte Observer]
8. Ohio State attack suspect possibly inspired by al Qaeda, ISIS
The
student who injured 11 people at Ohio State University this week might
have been inspired by al Qaeda propagandist Anwar al-Awlaki, who was
killed in a 2011 drone strike in Yemen, and the Islamic State,
investigators said Wednesday. The suspect, Abdul Razak Ali Artan, was
shot and killed by a campus police officer shortly after witnesses say
he plowed his car into pedestrians, then got out and slashed people with
a butcher knife. Angela Byers, the F.B.I. special agent in charge of
the agency's Cincinnati office, said investigators have found no
evidence anyone else was involved directly in the attack, although ISIS
claims Artan was a "soldier" of the extremist group. Awlaki and ISIS
both have called on Muslims to launch independent attacks on the U.S. [The New York Times]
9. Crew said plane ran out of fuel before Colombia crash
Minutes
before a plane crashed in Colombia on Monday, killing 71 people, the
pilot reportedly informed air traffic controllers that he had "run out
of fuel," The Associated Press reported Wednesday. Bolivian
flight attendant Ximena Sanchez, one of six people who survived the
crash, told a rescuer the same story. "We ran out of fuel. The airplane
turned off." The pilot also said in a leaked recording that he was
requesting permission to land because the plane had suffered a "total
electric failure." The aircraft crashed about eight miles from the
MedellÃn airport. Investigators still have not said what they believe
caused the plane, which was carrying a Brazilian soccer team and
journalists, to crash. [The Associated Press, USA Today]
10. Big Mac inventor Jim Delligatti dies at 98
Jim Delligatti, inventor of the McDonald's Big Mac,
has died at his home in a Pittsburgh suburb. He was 98. Delligatti
first served the now-iconic sandwich — two beef patties, special sauce,
lettuce, cheese, pickles, and onions on a three-layer sesame-seed bun —
at his Uniontown, Pennsylvania, McDonald's outlet in 1967. The chain
started serving it nationwide the following year. Delligatti said he was
just improvising his own version of double-decker sandwiches served
elsewhere. "I would never have dreamed that my creation would turn into a
piece of Americana," he once said, according to McDonald's. [CNN]_______
Source: THE WEEK
How neglect and bad decision can kill and make people cry
Colombian authorities say evidence
is growing that a plane carrying a Brazilian football team crashed
because it ran out of fuel as it tried to land.
The capital Bogota was mentioned on the flight plan as a possible refuelling stop, but the plane did not land there.
The plane plunged into a mountainside near Medellin late on Monday.
Only six of the 81 people on board the plane survived.
"Having been able to do an inspection of all of the remains and parts of the plane, we can affirm clearly that the aircraft did not have fuel at the moment of impact," civil aviation chief Alfredo Bocanegra told a news conference.
Freddy Bonilla, another aviation official, said regulations stipulated that aircraft must have 30 minutes of fuel in reserve to reach an alternative airport in an emergency, but "in this case the plane did not have" it.
"The engines are the electrical source... but without fuel, obviously the electrical source would have been completely lost," he added.
In a leaked tape, the pilot can be heard warning of a "total electric failure" and "lack of fuel". Just before the tape ends, he says he is flying at an altitude of 9,000ft (2,745m).
The plane was carrying the Brazilian football team Chapecoense, who had been due to play a cup final against Atletico Nacional in Medellin on Wednesday evening.
 |
| Fans gathered at the Atletico Nacional stadium in Medellin on the evening the match was due to be playe -- copyright Reuters |
Refuelling stops
The team flew from Sao Paulo to Santa Cruz on a commercial flight, then switched to the chartered aircraft.Brazil's O Globo reported that because of a delayed departure, a refuelling stop in Cobija, on the border between Brazil and Bolivia, was abandoned because the airport did not operate at night.
The pilot had the option to refuel in Bogota, but headed straight to Medellin.
"The pilot was the one who took the decision," Gustavo Vargas, a representative of Lamia, which operated the plane, was quoted as saying in Bolivian newspaper Pagina Siete. "He thought the fuel would last."
Approaching Medellin, the pilot asked for permission to land because of fuel problems, without making a formal distress call.
But another plane from airline VivaColombia had priority because it had already reported mechanical problems, the co-pilot of another plane in the air at the time said.
The pilot of the crashed plane is heard asking urgently for directions to the airport before the audio recording ends.
Officials say the plane's "black boxes", which record flight details, will be sent to the UK to be opened by investigators. A full investigation into the crash is expected to take months.
On Wednesday night, when the match had been due to take place, tens of thousands of fans gathered at the Medellin stadium - and at Chapecoense's home ground in Chapeco - to pay tearful tributes.
Many wore white and carried candles as a mark of respect. Chapecoense lost 19 players in the crash. Twenty journalists were also killed.
Of the survivors, Chapecoense said that two players remained in a critical but stable condition, while the club's goalkeeper had had one leg amputated and might still lose his other foot.
An injured journalist also remained in critical condition, the club said.
________
Source: BBC
Tuesday, November 29, 2016
Sad day for Brasilian and World Football
RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — The Brazilian soccer team aboard the plane that crashed in Colombia was gaining respect and support from across Brazil even though it was a small club with a short history.
Chapecoense, founded in 1973, was preparing to play in the Copa Sudamericana final, South America’s second biggest club competition after the Copa Libertadores. The team was flying to Medellin to face Atletico Nacional on Wednesday in the first leg of the final.
Members of the Chapecoense team were among the 81 people on board the chartered aircraft that crashed on its way to Medellin’s international airport. Colombian police said there were some survivors.
“This is a very, very sad day for football,” FIFA President Gianni Infantino said in a statement. “At this difficult time our thoughts are with the victims, their families and friends. FIFA would like to extend its most heartfelt condolences to the fans of Chapecoense, the football community and media organizations concerned in Brazil.”
Chapecoense reached Brazil’s first division in 2014 and was in ninth place ahead of this weekend’s last round of games. On its way to the continental final, the team known as Chape beat major clubs such as Argentina’s San Lorenzo and Independiente.
Chape strikers Bruno Rangel and Kempes, both 34 years old, are among the top scorers in the Brazilian league, with 10 and nine goals, respectively. One of the team’s top players is 35-year-old midfielder Cleber Santana, who played for Atletico Madrid from 2007-10.
Another team leader was defender Helio Hermito Zampier Neto — commonly known as Net.
Among the passengers on the flight was Mario Sergio Pontes de Paiva, a former soccer player who worked as commentator for Fox Sports.
Known as Mario Sergio, he played briefly for Brazil’s national team in the early 1980s and had a long career as a midfielder and coach with many Brazilian clubs. He last coached Brazilian club Internacional in 2009 and Ceara in 2010.
In the wake of the crash, the Brazilian Football Confederation called off the Brazilian Cup final between Gremio and Atletico Mineiro, which set for Wednesday. A new date has not been set.
Chapecoense is based in Chapeco, a city of about 200,000 that is known for its poultry industry and is located about 800 miles (1,300 kilometers) south of Rio de Janeiro.
The club, which doesn’t have any players in Brazil’s national team or in the under-20 team, plays its home matches at the 22,000-seat Arena Conda. But it had been scheduled to play the second leg of the Copa Sudamericana final at the Couto Pereira Stadium, a 40,000-seat venue in Curitiba, a city 300 miles (480 kilometers) north of Chapeco.
A group of rival fans, however, became so impressed with Chapecoense’s amazing run in the competition that they started a campaign on social media to move the final to the iconic Maracana Stadium in Rio de Janeiro.
The team was due to host fourth-place Atletico Mineiro at the Arena Conda on Sunday and then face Atletico Nacional in the second leg of the Copa Sudamericana final on Tuesday.
_______
Source: USATODAY
Wednesday, November 23, 2016
Obama’s final medals and the ‘Michael Jordan of Greatness’
 |
| President Barack Obama awards the Presidential Medal of Freedom to National Basketball Association Hall of Fame member and legendary athlete Michael Jordan during a ceremony in the East Room of the White House November 22, 2016 in Washington, DC.(Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images) |
WASHINGTON – In this season of “lasts” in President Barack Obama’s White House, Tuesday marked an extraordinary gathering of 21 people – superstars all– who received Obama’s final batch of Presidential Medals of Freedom.
“We’ve got innovators and artists. Public servants, rabble rousers, athletes, renowned character actors — like the guy from Space Jam,” said Obama, taking an affectionate poke at Chicago Bulls legend Michael Jordan.
“I am the President, he is the Boss,” said Obama, hanging a medal around the neck of rocker Bruce Springsteen, who closed out Obama’s 2008 and 2012 presidential campaign rallies.
Jordan, who owns the Charlotte Hornets was teary; so was Ellen Degeneres when they got their medals. Obama, pretty tall himself, had to stretch to attach the medal to another NBA giant, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.
OPINION
Obama kidded a former University of Chicago physicist, Dick Garwin, who helped create the hydrogen bomb – and then worked to reduce the nuclear threat – for also getting a patent on a “mussel washer” for shellfish.
Chicago’s Newton Minow, hugged the president — who he met as a young law student — as his wife, Jo, and three adult daughters beamed. Everyone laughed when Obama had to call Robert DeNiro twice to the podium. Tom Hanks turned towards the announcer to give an approving nod when he said, “Reach for the sky,” with relish, Hank’s signature line from “Toy Story.”
First lady Michelle Obama was in an aisle seat in the front row, sitting next to Vice President Joe Biden. The row included senior adviser Valerie Jarrett, Attorney General Loretta Lynch and former AG Eric Holder. Mrs. Obama’s chief of staff Tina Tchen greeted Secretary of State John Kerry with a hug. National Security Advisor Susan Rice, an early 2008 Obama backer, was in the House.
In a few weeks, they will all be gone.
Donald Trump will be the president.
Obama did not say Trump’s name when he rebuked his divisive campaign and his “make America great again” slogan.
Ending “on a personal note,” Obama said, “it’s useful when you think about this incredible collection of people to realize that this is what makes us the greatest nation on Earth. … Not because of our differences, but because, in our difference, we find something common to share. And what a glorious thing that is. What a great gift that is to America.”
THE MICHAEL JORDAN OF GREATNESS
Jordan, said Obama, a basketball fanatic, is “more than just the best player on the two greatest teams of all time — the Dream Team and the Chicago ’96 Bulls. He’s more than a logo, more than just an Internet meme. More than just a charitable donor or a business owner committed to diversity.
“There is a reason you call someone ‘the Michael Jordan of’ — Michael Jordan of neurosurgery, or the Michael Jordan of rabbis, or the Michael Jordan of outrigger canoeing — and they know what you’re talking about. Because Michael Jordan is the Michael Jordan of greatness. He is the definition of somebody so good at what they do that everybody recognizes them. That’s pretty rare.”
NEWT MINOW AND THE PUBLIC INTEREST
Minow’s ‘vast wasteland’ line from his 1961 speech about television is famous; Obama of course used it. Obama added, the “public interest” has been “the heartbeat” of Minow’s life’s work, “advocating for residents of public housing, advising a governor and Supreme Court justice, cementing presidential debates as our national institution, leading the FCC.
“…As far as I know, he’s the only one of today’s honorees who was present on my first date with Michelle. Imagine our surprise when we saw Newt, one of our bosses that summer, at the movie theater – “Do the Right Thing.” So he’s been vital to my personal interests.’’
COURAGE
Said Obama about Ellen DeGeneres, “It’s easy to forget now, when we’ve come so far, where now marriage is equal under the law — just how much courage was required for Ellen to come out on the most public of stages almost 20 years ago.”
 |
| Comedian and talk show host Ellen DeGeneres wipes tears during a Presidential Medal of Freedom presentation ceremony at the White House November 22, 2016 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images) |
 |
| President Barack Obama (C) pretends to ‘skyhook’ over National Basketball Association all-time leading scorer and social justice advocate Kareem Abdul-Jabbar before awarding him the Presidential Medal of Freedom to during a ceremony in the East Room of the White House November 22, 2016 in Washington, DC.(Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images) |
Microsoft’s Bill and Melinda Gates; architects Maya Lin and Frank Gehry; Saturday Night Live founder Lorne Michaels; software engine pioneer Margaret Heafield Hamilton; actor Robert Redford; sports announcer Vin Scully, actress Cicely Tyson; educator Eduardo J. Padrón.
________
Source: Chicago Suntimes
Thursday, October 27, 2016
Russia warships: Kuznetsov battle group 'refuels off North Africa'
 |
| Russia's only aircraft carrier, the Admiral Kuznetsov, will join Russian vessels already off the Syrian coast |
A group of warships including
Russia's only aircraft carrier, the Admiral Kuznetsov, is reportedly
refuelling at sea off North Africa en route to Syria.
Nato is concerned planes from the carrier could be used to attack civilians in the Syrian city of Aleppo.
President Vladimir Putin also hinted that an aerial bombardment of rebel-held east Aleppo could resume.
Russia and its ally, the Syrian government, had said earlier that they would continue a moratorium on the bombing.
At an international conference in the Russian city of Sochi on Thursday, Mr Putin said other parties to the conflict had not been keeping their promises.
"Where is the disengagement of terrorists from the healthy part of the opposition?" Mr Putin asked.
"So far we have been restrained, and we have not been rude to our partners, but everything has its limits. We could respond."
The Admiral Kuznetsov can carry dozens of fighter bombers and helicopters. It has been sailing for the past week from Russia to the Mediterranean.
The BBC's Jonathan Marcus reports from Brussels that the battle group is currently at anchor off the North African coast and taking on fuel.
The group has two "oilers" (tankers) with it and it is not clear which of the vessels is actually refuelling, he adds.
The Russian embassy in Madrid formally withdrew a request to Spain for refuelling after being approached by the Spanish foreign ministry.
"Given the information which appeared on the possibility that these ships would participate in supporting military action in the Syrian city of Aleppo, the ministry of foreign affairs requested clarification from the embassy of the Russian Federation in Madrid," the Spanish foreign ministry had said on Wednesday in a statement to the BBC.
It added that permission had been granted in September for three Russian ships to dock in the port of Ceuta between 28 October and 2 November. It said such stops for Russian naval vessels had taken place for years in Spanish ports.
"We are concerned and I have expressed that very clearly about the potential use of this battle group to increase Russia's ability and to be a platform for air strikes against Syria," Nato's Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg told journalists on Tuesday.
 |
| The warships came down the Channel |
The naval group also includes a nuclear-powered battle cruiser, two anti-submarine warships and four support vessels, probably escorted by submarines.
The battle group is expected to join about 10 other Russian vessels already off the Syrian coast.
Some 2,700 people have been killed or injured since the Russian-backed Syrian offensive started last month, according to activists.
Western leaders have said Russian and Syrian air strikes on Aleppo could amount to war crimes, an accusation rejected by Russia.
About 250,000 civilians who live in Aleppo have been trapped by the fighting. Moscow announced last week a "humanitarian pause" in attacks as part of a plan to allow civilians and fighters to leave the area.
________
Source: BBC
Why are so many doctors fleeing Puerto Rico?
 |
| In this Oct. 24, 2016 photo, patients wait
their turn at one of the Medical Center external clinics in San Juan,
Puerto Rico. A steady departure of medical specialists from Puerto Rico
has turned into a stampede amid the island's ongoing economic crisis
leaving patients with few doctors to take care of their ills.
Carlos Giusti
-- AP Photo |
SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico -- Wanda Serrano arrived at Puerto Rico's largest public hospital before dawn to take her 17-year-old son to an appointment. Six hours later, they were still in the packed waiting room hoping to see a doctor.
They had gone to San Juan's Centro Medico to see one of the many kinds of specialists the teen needs for treatment of a genetic disease called tuberous sclerosis, which can cause tumors to grow on his brain, kidneys and other organs. But specialized medical expertise is increasingly difficult to find in the economically troubled U.S. island territory.
Six hours in a waiting room is no longer the exception, but the norm. A pediatric neurologist recently told Serrano that her son, Cedrik, needed to wait 10 months for an appointment.
"I live terrified every single day," Serrano said one recent morning as she clutched his medical records and peered anxiously down a fluorescent-lit hallway for a nurse or doctor. "You feel powerless. You can't do anything except wait for that date to arrive."
Doctors have gradually left Puerto Rico during a decade-long recession that has gripped the island and driven more than 200,000 people to the U.S. mainland seeking better opportunities.
Now, the steady departure of pediatricians, surgeons, orthopedists, neurologists and others has become a stampede as the economy shows no sign of improving and financial problems in the territorial health insurance program make it nearly impossible for doctors to stay in business.
Up to 700 doctors are expected to leave Puerto Rico this year, double the number from two years ago, said Dr. Victor Ramos, president of the island's Association of Surgeons. The territory's number of doctors has dropped from 14,000 to 9,000 in the past decade, the majority leaving for higher salaries and lower living costs on the U.S. mainland.
The island of 3.5 million people now has only two pediatric urologists, one orthopedist specializing in ankle and feet, one pediatric cardiologist, and a handful of geneticists and endocrinologists. It can take a year to see a specialist, Ramos said.
"People are waiting much longer for appointments, including one that could be a matter of life or death because there is simply no room," he said.
Dr. Hiram Luigi, an orthopedic surgeon, said he has to realign the bones of patients a couple of times each month because they did not see a specialist in time.
"I have spent 30 years in orthopedics, and I have never seen something like this," Luigi said.
The lack of specialists has adversely affected patients, whose health conditions often worsen before a doctor sees them.
Many people like Serrano have moved to the U.S. specifically to get medical care. "I'm searching for quality of life," she said.
Puerto Rico's financial woes are largely to blame. The government is behind on insurance payments as it scrambles to make payments on debts that have ballooned in recent years to nearly $70 billion. Doctors not only struggle with delayed reimbursements for services but receive less money through the government's Medicare and Medicaid programs as well as private health insurance than they would for the same services on the U.S. mainland.
Many specialists no longer accept patients with Medicaid, which covers roughly half of Puerto Rico's population. The great majority of patients like Serrano's son now seek specialists at Puerto Rico's largest public hospital, lining up as early as 1 a.m. daily for medical care.
"It's truly the final stop for many people," said Edgar Colon, dean of the University of Puerto Rico's School of Medicine. "We can't keep up."
The hospital is buckling under a surge of patients as it operates with a dwindling budget, unable to buy certain medical supplies like it used to when the government could still borrow money.
Jorge Vidal, president-elect of Puerto Rico's Radiology Association, said he cannot perform some procedures because he can't obtain two types of specialized needles.
"There's a very simple reason they haven't bought them," he said. "They cost $300."
Such problems pushed pediatrician Dr. Hector Nieves to move to Florida in February 2015. In his new office, the answering machine offers same-day appointments.
"I don't regret leaving," Nieves said. "Puerto Rico's problems are much bigger than people think."
Those who have stayed say it will only get worse.
More than 20 percent of the island population is 60 years and older, and that percentage is expected to spike as not only doctors but all types of Puerto Ricans leave for the U.S. mainland.
Serrano and her son will move soon to Orlando to join her husband, who found a job there. She is optimistic about finding specialists to provide the checkups her son needs every six months.
"I'm leaving in peace," she said. "I feel like I've been born again."
__________
Wednesday, September 28, 2016
U.S. to Step Up Deportations of Haitians Amid Surge at Border
 |
| Migrants, including Haitians, waited in May to enter the United States at the San Ysidro crossing that links Tijuana, Mexico, with San Diego. Guillermo Arias/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images |
MEXICO CITY — The Obama administration, responding to an extraordinary wave of Haitian migrants seeking to enter the United States, said on Thursday that it would fully resume deportations of undocumented Haitian immigrants.
After an earthquake devastated parts of Haiti in 2010, the United States suspended deportations, saying that sending Haitians back to the country at a time of great instability would put their lives at risk. About a year later, officials partly resumed deportations, focusing on people convicted of serious crimes or those considered a threat to national security.
But since last spring, thousands of Haitian migrants who had moved to Brazil in search of work have been streaming north, mostly by land, winding up at American border crossings that lead to Southern California.
Few have arrived with American visas, but nearly all have been allowed to enter the United States because immigration officials were prohibited, under the modified deportation policy, from using the so-called fast-track removal process often employed at the border for new, undocumented arrivals.
Instead, the migrants were placed in a slower deportation process and released, with an appointment to appear in immigration court at a later date, officials said. Since early summer, most have been given permission to remain in the country for as long as three years under a humanitarian parole provision, immigrant advocates said.
With the full resumption of deportations, which took effect on Thursday morning, Haitians who arrive at the border without visas will be put into expedited removal proceedings.
Jeh Johnson, the secretary of Homeland Security, said in a statement that conditions in Haiti had “improved sufficiently to permit the U.S. government to remove Haitian nationals on a more regular basis.”
While Mr. Johnson’s statement did not mention the recent influx of Haitians along the southwestern border, Homeland Security officials, during a conference call with reporters, cited the migrant wave as the other major factor in the administration’s decision.
Since last October, officials said, more than 5,000 Haitians without visas have shown up at the San Ysidro crossing that links Tijuana, Mexico, with San Diego. By comparison, 339 Haitians without visas arrived at the San Ysidro crossing in the 2015 fiscal year.
An additional 4,000 to 6,000 Haitians were thought to be making their way from Brazil, immigrant advocates in San Diego and Tijuana said, based on estimates from shelters along the Brazil-to-Mexico migration route.
The message to those Haitians from the Obama administration, however, seems clear: Turn around or go elsewhere.
An uptick in deportations might not occur immediately. Removals require the cooperation of and paperwork from the receiving country, and Homeland Security officials said they were still in talks with the Haitian government about the policy shift.
In the meantime, officials said, nearly all Haitians stopped at the border and scheduled for accelerated deportations will be put into detention centers.
Officials clarified, however, that asylum law would continue to apply to newly arriving Haitians. A migrant who feared returning to Haiti because of the threat of persecution or torture would be interviewed to determine whether that fear was credible. If an immigration officer determined it was, the immigrant could apply for asylum.
Haitian immigrants covered by temporary protected status would be unaffected by the change in policy.
Over the summer, the unusual surge in Haitian migrants was accompanied by an equally unusual surge in migrants from more than two dozen other countries, nearly all traveling along the same arduous routes from South America, across as many as 10 borders.
The migratory wave has overwhelmed shelters along the way, particularly in Tijuana, where the shelters have been at or over capacity for much of the past four months, while also struggling with language and cultural barriers. Some migrants, because they were unable to find accommodations or wanted to avoid shelter living, have chosen to sleep on the streets.
Haitians started migrating to Brazil in large numbers after the earthquake. Haiti was reeling, but Brazil was ascendant, and it had a need for cheap labor, especially with the World Cup and the Olympics approaching. Haitians, with few prospects at home, were happy to oblige.
Thousands of them made their way to Brazil, where many were granted humanitarian visas that allowed them to work.
But amid Brazil’s economic and political convulsions over the last two years, many Haitians lost their jobs or sank deeper into poverty.
The migration north began in earnest during the spring, with a large influx in Tijuana in late May, and the surge has continued.
The Haitian migrant population has mainly consisted of men, though many women have made the trek, too, as have children and even newborns. They have mainly taken an elaborate series of bus rides, though migrants also had to travel at times by foot, truck and boat, and have hired smugglers to help sneak them across certain borders or avoid law enforcement officials.
They have told of highway robberies, frightening encounters with armed gangs and beatings. Some migrants have died during the trip, many being swept away while trying to ford swift-moving rivers.
The shift in American policy caught advocates in San Diego and Tijuana by surprise.
“It was a complete and utter shock,” said Ginger Jacobs, an immigration lawyer and the chairwoman of the San Diego Immigrant Rights Consortium. “We are pretty baffled by what appears to be a complete 180 in terms of policy.”
She added, “We object to a policy change that doesn’t appear to reflect any actual change in reality.”
Margarita Andonaegui, the coordinator of a main migrant shelter in Tijuana, said that on Wednesday afternoon she had received what sounded like heartening news: The American authorities were going to increase their processing capacity for the Haitians, to 150 per day from 50.
But in light of the new deportation policy, that piece of information took on another meaning.
“They’re going to receive them to deport them,” Ms. Andonaegui said. “That’s bad news.”
By
A version of this article appears in print on September 23, 2016, on page A4 of the New York edition with the headline: U.S., Shifting Policy, Will Step Up Deportations of Haitians.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)