By Gordon Brown, Former prime Minister of the United Kingdom

The world is currently at risk of falling woefully short of the Millennium Development Goal of universal primary education by 2015. If we are to avoid this fate, a game-changing reform is needed. I believe that a Global Fund for Education is that game-changing initiative.

As you’ll see in the report below, I propose that World Bank’s Global Partnership for Education (formerly, the Fast Track Initiative) should be converted into an independent Global Fund for Education (GFE) that draws on the experience of the global funds in health, and that serves as a focal point for a renewed drive toward getting another 68 million children into school by 2015. The GFE would engage the business sector, and have the flexibility to make grants to NGOs and private companies, as well as national governments and multinational agencies.

It is time for governments around the world to take urgent action on behalf of the millions of children in need of a decent primary education. A Global Fund for Education would be a bold step in the right direction.

Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

Photo: Marcus Benigno/IRIN A girl drinks from a public tap installed last year in Nepal's Nawalparasi District

27 January 2012 (IRIN) – After the discovery of unsafe levels of arsenic in Nepal’s groundwater more than a decade ago, government officials and aid groups are finally taking a critical look at whether their efforts have made a difference. 

“We didn’t raise money for broken filters,” said US-based geologist Linda Smith, expressing frustration during a recent visit to Nawalparasi District in the southern Terai region, one of Nepal’s hardest-hit areas by arsenic-contaminated groundwater, when she came across abandoned water filters. 

At one home, two broken cement water filters were being used as planters, while another filter distributed by the NGO she heads, Filters for Families (FFF), sat dismantled in the yard. 

At a neighbouring home, parts were missing from a two-bucket filtration system from Bangladesh known as a Sono. The filter stand had been converted to a clothes-drying rack. 

Smith retrieved unused filters and reimbursed families for the US$5 they had paid per filter, which has an actual cost of $70. 

“There are people who need filters, and they need to realize this,” she said. 

Some 2.7 million people in Nepal – nearly 10 percent of the population – are drinking water with arsenic concentrations above the World Health Organization (WHO) recommended 10 parts per billion (ppb), according to 2011 government estimates. 

In Nawalparasi District alone, a 2008 government survey of tube wells (shallow wells 14-24m deep controlled by hand pumps) found almost 4,000 wells had arsenic that exceeded national standards (50ppb). 

Another 4,418 met national standards, but not the international 10ppb threshold – altogether affecting nearly 140,000 people who depend on those tube wells for drinking water. 

Not a priority?

More than half of the country’s 33,000 tube wells that contain unsafe levels of arsenic have been addressed with the distribution of filters, but it does not mean the filters are used or maintained properly, said Madhav Pahari, water and sanitation specialist for the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) in Kathmandu, which supports the government with arsenic containment. 

“We have been providing temporary solutions through filters, but that requires changing behaviour, [which does not] occur overnight.” 

A 2007 UNICEF-funded study of 1,000 tube wells in Nawalparasi found that while the filters technically worked, people were not maintaining them properly, which then rendered them faulty and then, ultimately, useless. 

Little has been done to address the problem, in part because arsenic is not seen as a high priority for the government, said Pahari.

Photo: Shamsuddin Ahmed/IRIN

Hands of an arsenicosis patient in southern Bangladesh

“Microbial parasites are more important,” says Pahari. “Because if your kids have diarrhoea today, they’ll die tomorrow. But arsenic, of course, will take 10 years. It’s dangerous, but slow.” 

Prolonged exposure to unsafe levels of the metal arsenic in drinking water can lead to poisoning, or arsenicosis. 

Symptoms include skin problems, cancers of the skin, bladder, kidneys and lungs; diseases of the blood vessels of the legs and feet; and possibly, diabetes, high blood pressure and reproductive disorders – but the cancer can lay dormant without spreading for years, even decades, notes WHO. 

According to a senior engineer in the government’s Department of Water Supply and Sewerage (DWSS), Dan Ratna Shakya, arsenic is indeed a priority, but the government has lacked funding and the right technology to figure out what works best. 

What works?

Pahari as well as Shakya said UNICEF and the government have both lagged in evaluating the filters, used for the past six years. 

DWSS has never conducted a comprehensive water quality testing programme before, said Shakya. 

“It’s not a one-time business. It should be periodical. But this is also linked to funding. There are so many… districts that are affected by arsenic and to go to each household for monitoring would be expensive.” 

Pahari said there is a plan to compare the efficacy of Sono filters produced in Bangladesh with locally produced Kanchan arsenic filters. 

Today, the Sono filter remains one of six technologies certified for sale in Bangladesh – one of the most affected countries worldwide in terms of arsenic-tainted drinking water, according to WHO; the Kanchan one failed local certification. 

Until there are scientific tests, Pahari said, he cannot pass judgment on the best way to contain the arsenic crisis, but those tests have languished, as has the government committee in charge of water quality. 

Deeper wells

The government’s recently reconfigured National Water Quality Steering Committee has only in recent months started “thinking about” permanent solutions to solve arsenic contamination, said Ram Lakhan Mandal, the head of water quality at DWSS. 

“We thought the arsenic problem had been solved because of all these organizations that have implemented temporary mitigation measures like filters.” 

The committee, which includes 19 government and civil society members, has been “passive” and has not met in the past three years, said the government engineer Shakya. 

But things will change soon pledged Mandal. 

“In the past, everyone came for mitigation and they did as they wished. But there was no set distribution of responsibilities. Now we are defining what we must do: tube wells and piped deep boring.” 

Photo: Marcus Benigno/IRIN

A 29-year-old man in Nawalparasi District shows his blotched chest, a symptom of arsenic poisoning

The government is investing in a pilot project of “deep boring” wells that go at least 100m deep, below the arsenic threshold, estimated to be at most 55m deep in Nepal, according to Smith. 

An entire deep boring (up to 150m) and water tank (25,000 litres capacity) construction can cost $16,000, of which 20 percent is paid by the community, which is also responsible for building the water tank which funnels the water to village public taps. 

At one water tank construction site IRIN visited in a section of Nawalparasi known as Kunwar-Ward 13, villagers complained that without cash incentives, volunteers who were supposed to be building the tank were, instead, in their fields harvesting sugar cane. 

As permanent solutions still prove elusive, families continue to line up for subsidized filters, said Smith. 

“At the moment we have a waiting list of 700 [requests for] Sono filters,” said Smith. 

Since 2007, FFF has assembled and delivered up to 1,000 filters to households and schools in villages across the district, replacing Kanchan filters previously installed by FFF and DWSS – an example of how a solution can become part of a greater problem, noted Pahari from UNICEF. 

Poor coordination

Pahari said the number of agencies working to fight arsenic is unclear – as well as the total aid invested in arsenic containment – and the government has little oversight. 

Mandal told IRIN a law in place for the past 20 years requires that any agency or NGO working in the water sector report its activities to the district office, which then informs DWSS. 

“But this is not happening,” he said, while his colleagues cited stumbling on a Japanese International Cooperation Agency (JICA)-funded project of which they were not aware that is raising awareness about arsenic contamination in Nawalparasi. 

“The government is not aware of how this money comes and how it goes. There are no reporting channels… JICA and ENPHO [local NGO, Environment and Public Health Organization] have a mutual understanding, but they don’t pass on the information.” 

But a senior programme manager with ENPHO, which is implementing a 28-month $400,000 local capacity building project for arsenic mitigation, said government officials at both the national and local levels had signed off on the project and have been apprised at every step. 

Photo: Marcus Benigno/IRIN

An abandoned arsenic water filter stand- turned-planter

“We had informed [the water quality improvement and monitoring section at DWSS] about our project to responsible personnel there. As far as I know, the chief [of the section] has changed a few months back. At DWSS there are many staff, so it is important whom you had contact with.” 

Meanwhile, in Manari village in Nawalparasi, Smith and her NGO’s technicians visited the family of Ramesh Chaudhary, who died last November from stomach cancer at age 32, six months after his brother Ram Chaudhary, 40, died from similar causes. 

In 2011, arsenic levels in tube-wells in Manari were 600 ppb, 60 times the limit WHO deems safe to drink. 

FFF tested the water filter in use in front of surviving family members to quell their doubts as to its efficacy. Ramesh’s mother, widowed wife and son stood by as a technician tested the water. 

A slip of paper sensitive to arsenic fumes alters in colour to measure the metal in parts per billion. The result was clean, indicating arsenic at less than 10 ppb. 

As the group left the village, a 29-year-old man approached Smith and showed her what has become an image far too familiar in the district: dark spots blotting his chest, a visible symptom of arsenicosis. 

In an August 2011 survey by ENPHO in three sections of Nawalparasi, including Manari, 25 percent of those surveyed had similar symptoms. 

DWSS estimates solving the arsenic crisis here and elsewhere in the country, including the health fallout, will cost an estimated $18.6 million. 

IRIN Asia | Analysis: When aid meets arsenic in Nepal | Bangladesh | Nepal | Aid Policy | Environment | Health & Nutrition.

TEHRAN, Iran — Iran is ready to revive talks with the U.S. and other world powers, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said Thursday, but suggested that Tehran’s foes will have to make compromises to prevent negotiations from again collapsing in stalemate.

Iran’s insistence that it will never give up uranium enrichment – the process that makes material for reactors as well as weapons – scuttled negotiations a year ago and still looms as a potential deal breaker even as tougher Western sanctions target Iran’s critical oil exports.

Ahmadinejad added his voice to proposals by Iranian officials to return to talks Thursday at a rally in the southeastern city of Kerman, saying a nation that is in the “right” should not be worried about holding dialogue.

Iran indicated earlier this week that it was ready for a new round of talks with the five permanent U.N. Security Council members plus Germany. Ahmadinejad – the highest-ranking official so far to make the offer – gave no further details about a potential timetable or venue.

The European Union’s foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton had welcomed the proposals to restart talks – possibly in Turkey – but urged Tehran to bring “some concrete issues to talk about.”

“It is very important that it is not just about words. A meeting is not an excuse, a meeting is an opportunity and I hope that they will seize it,” she said Monday in Brussels as the 27-nation bloc adopted its toughest measures yet on Iran with an oil embargo and freeze of the country’s central bank assets.

That followed U.S. action also aimed at limiting Iran’s ability to sell oil, which accounts for 80 percent of its foreign revenue.

In the past, Iran has angered Western officials by appearing to buy time through opening talks and weighing proposals even while pressing ahead with its nuclear program.

Britain’s Foreign Office said that the six world powers were awaiting a response to a letter sent to Tehran by Ashton in October.

“The door is open, if Iran is willing to talk about its nuclear program in a serious and meaningful manner, without preconditions. The ball is in Iran’s court,” a spokesman for the ministry said, speaking on condition of anonymity in line with policy.

The United States and its allies want Iran to halt uranium enrichment, which they worry could eventually lead to weapons-grade material and the production of nuclear weapons. Iran says its program is for peaceful purposes – generating electricity and producing medical radioisotopes to treat cancer patients.

Negotiations between Iran and the international envoys fell apart in January 2011, and Iran later rejected a plan to send its stockpile of low-enriched uranium abroad in exchange for reactor-ready fuel rods.

Ahmadinejad tried to turn the tables, accusing the West of claiming to seek talks but preferring failure as a way to further punish Iran with what the Islamic Republic has called “economic warfare.”

“It is you who come up with excuses each time and issue resolutions on the verge of talks so that negotiations collapse,” Ahmadinejad said. “It is evident that those who resort to coercion are opposed to talks and always bring pretexts and blame us instead.”

A U.N. nuclear agency team is expected to visit Tehran on Saturday, the first such mission since a report in November that alleged Iran had conducted secret weapons-related tests and that Tehran was on the brink of developing a nuclear weapon.

The delegation from the International Atomic Energy Agency will be led by Deputy Director General Herman Nackaerts, who is in charge of the Iran nuclear file.

Iran began uranium enrichment at a new underground site built to withstand possible airstrikes earlier this month, in another show of defiance against Western pressure.

Centrifuges at the bunker-like Fordo facility near the holy city of Qom are churning out uranium enriched to 20 percent. That level is higher than the 3.5 percent being made at Iran’s main enrichment plant at Natanz, central Iran, and can be turned into warhead material faster and with less work.

Iran says it won’t give up its right to enrich uranium and produce nuclear fuel, but it has offered to allow IAEA inspectors to visit its nuclear sites to ensure that the program won’t be weaponized.

Ahmadinejad also claimed the sanctions and oil embargo will backfire because it has minimum trade with the EU.

“Americans have not purchased Iranian oil for 30 years. Our central bank has had no dealings with them … our (total) foreign trade is about $200 billion. Between $23 billion to $24 billion of our trade is with Europeans, making up about 10 percent of our total trade … Iran won’t suffer,” Ahmadinejad said in comments posted on state TV’s website.

The EU had been importing about 450,000 barrels of oil a day from Iran, making up 18 percent of Iran’s oil exports.

In China, a major buyer of Iranian oil, the official Xinhua News Agency quoted the Foreign Ministry as opposing the latest EU measures on Iran.

“To blindly pressure and impose sanctions on Iran are not constructive approaches,” the statement said.

Beijing has pressed for the nuclear standoff to be resolved through dialogue and consultation.

Oil prices – which rose about $100 a barrel Thursday – have been nudged higher this week on Western naval buildups in the Gulf and Iran’s threats to close the oil tanker lanes through the Strait of Hormuz, the route for about one-fifth the world’s crude.

On Iran’s southern coast, a fighter jet crashed after a technical malfunction, the semiofficial Fars news agency reported. The U.S.-made F-14 went down outside Bushehr, a port city that is also the site of Iran’s first nuclear power plant. Iran has an aging warplane fleet that includes many American-made aircraft, including F-14s, purchased before the 1979 Islamic Revolution.

Meanwhile, a 22-year-old Afghan man has been sentenced to 16 years in prison for spying on his country for neighboring Iran, an Afghan official in Herat said Thursday. The two countries have significant cultural and economic ties, and Iran maintains a consulate in the western city.

Photographs of foreign and Afghan military installations and notebooks containing the phone numbers of Iranian intelligence officials were seized when Mahmood, who uses only one name, was arrested four months ago in his native Herat, according to the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the sensitive case.

Mahmood, who shouted his innocence during an hour-long trial Tuesday in Herat, has said that he plans to appeal his sentence to a higher court, the official said.

___

Murphy reported from Dubai, United Arab Emirates. Associated Press writers Deb Riechmann in Kabul, Afghanistan, and David Stringer in London contributed to this report.

Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

About 30 percent of China’s millionaires are women,according to Reuters. And with a growing number of celebrities and entrepreneurs asking for female protection, one training camp is focusing on teaching women how to effectively fend off attackers and keep their clients safe.

A full-time female bodyguard can make about $15,000 per year, and one trainee said she views the nontraditional occupation as an opportunity to “break stereotype.”

@Huffington Post

The 100 most critical threats faced by the UK as a result of climate change have been identified in a government risk assessment.

Higher temperatures could see up to 5,900 more people dying as a result of hot summers, but thousands of cold-related deaths – between 3,900 and 24,000 – are likely to be avoided in winter by the 2050s, the research shows.

The costs to the UK of flooding could rise to billions of pounds a year in the coming decades, according to the first national assessment of the risks of climate change.

The UK will also face threats including water shortages, more droughts and diseases such as red band needle blight which could hit the timber industry in the next century, the assessment conducted for the Government showed.

MORE INFORMATION: Some of the top risks and opportunities facing the UK

However the changing climate will bring some opportunities to the UK, including the chance to grow new crops and even the possibility of more tourism as temperatures get milder.

The study looked at the implications of the kind of changes the UK is likely to see to its weather, from hotter summers to more extreme weather events.

Threats were assessed against three scenarios for potential climate change, ranging from low temperature rises if significant cuts are made to emissions to large rises if little action is taken – the trajectory the world is currently on.

It estimated the magnitude of each threat and how that might change over the coming century, and also the confidence in the assessment based on the amount of evidence available.

The report will feed into a national programme to adapt to climate change – some of which is already inevitable – which will be published next year.

The existing climate already makes the UK vulnerable to extreme weather, such as the 2007 summer floods which cost £3 billion in England alone.

The £2.8 million project, a legal requirement under the Climate Change Act, revealed the high risk flooding poses, with the costs of floods potentially rising from current levels of £1.2 billion a year to between £1.5 billion and £3.5 billion by the 2020s, and £2.1 billion to £12 billion by the 2080s for England and Wales.

Insurance and the provision of mortgages could come under threat from more frequent floods, while the risk of significant flooding to homes and even people’s mental health will be an increasingly serious issue.

Other risks include increasing demand for irrigation of crops, more invasive species, damage to nature, the loss of agricultural land to coastal erosion, and a loss of staff hours due to overheated office buildings.

Environment Secretary Caroline Spelman said: “This world class research provides the most comprehensive case yet on why we need to take action to adapt the UK and our economy to the impacts of climate change.

“It shows what life would be like if we stopped our preparations now, and the consequences such a decision would mean for our economic stability.”

She said the assessment would be vital in understanding what needed to be done to stop potential threats becoming a reality, and provided opportunities for British firms to develop innovative products and services to tackle the risks.

Lord Krebs, chairman of the group which advises the Government on adapting to climate change, said: “Without an effective plan to prepare for the risks from climate change the country may sleep walk into disaster.

“This report represents an important step in the process and demonstrates why the UK needs to take action to adapt now.”

Responding to the report, the Government outlined existing policies it already has in place to tackle present and future climate issues, including £2.1 billion spending on flood defences and coastal erosion over the next four years, although it has reduced spending on flooding, and the England heatwave plan.

In addition to setting out the impacts of climate change on the UK, the report warns the threats will be greater in other parts of the world, with implications here for supply chains, migration and international political stability.

But there could also be some opportunities for British businesses to provide services such as insurance to other countries.

Climate change charities said that the report demonstrated the serious impact climate change will make on the UK, but said that the government should not forget the harsher impact it will make on the developing world.

Dr Doug Parr Chief Scientist at Greenpeace said:

“This report demonstrates that not only will Britain’s infrastructure and wildlife be impacted by climate change, but we will feel the consequences of political and economic of instability in other parts of the world.

“Whilst we must now plan to be more resilient, UK must also keep pushing the EU and international processes to deliver the emissions cuts that will limit the long-term consequences”.

The top risks include:

• Flooding costs could rise from the current £1.2 billion a year to between £2.1 billion and £12 billion a year by the 2080s.

• People hit by storms and floods may suffer mental health problems such as depression.

• Water shortages could increase, with a potential deficit of between 773 and 2,570 million litres of water a day in the Thames river.

• Farmers could experience crop losses due to flooding and the forestry industry could see timber yield and quality reduced by drier weather.

• Timber production could be hit by the spread of pests and diseases such as red band needle blight.

• Rising sea levels could hit natural assets such as beaches and buildings including tourist attractions and historical monuments, with knock-on impacts for businesses that rely on them.
•  Higher temperatures could see around 580 to 5,900 more people dying as a result of hot summers and heatwaves by the 2050s.

• The number of days a year when temperatures rise above 26C is predicted to increase from 18 in London to between 27 and 121 in the 2080s.

• Hot days will see buildings too hot to work in and a greater demand for air conditioning. But between 3,900 and 24,000 cold-related deaths could be avoided in winter by the 2050s.

• Increased summer temperatures could also lead to heat-related damage and disruption to energy networks and transport infrastructure, such as buckling of rail tracks.

• Increased subsidence and landslips could hit transport and buildings, and milder winters may reduce cold weather-related damage, delays and disruption.

• Fish species could shift north, reducing the UK’s cod fishery but potentially increasing plaice stocks. Invasive species could also spread north within the UK.

• Native species, particularly those which depend on special habitats rather than the general countryside, may struggle to move to keep up with a changing climate, while wildlife and habitats are likely to be at increasing risk from drier soils.

• Wildfires are likely to become more of a serious issue.

• The melting of Arctic ice could open up new container shipping routes through the region, improving trade links with Asia and the Pacific.

Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

CANBERRA, Australia — Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard stumbled and was caught by a security guard as riot police helped her force a path through a crowd of rowdy protesters following a ceremony to mark Australia’s national day Thursday.

She appeared distressed as she was pulled away from the protesters but was unharmed. She later remarked that she was made of “pretty tough stuff” and commended police for their actions.

Some 200 supporters of indigenous rights had surrounded a Canberra restaurant and banged its windows while Gillard and opposition leader Tony Abbott were inside officiating at an award ceremony.

Around 50 police escorted the political leaders from a side door to a car. Gillard stumbled, losing a shoe. Her personal security guard wrapped his arms around her and supported her to the waiting car, shielding her from the angry crowd.

The protesters had been demonstrating for indigenous rights nearby at the so-called Aboriginal Tent Embassy, a ramshackle collection of tents and temporary shelters in the national capital that is a center point of protests against Australia Day.

Australia Day marks the arrival of the first fleet of British colonists in Sydney on Jan. 26, 1788. Many Aborigines call it Invasion Day because the land was settled without a treaty with traditional owners.

Abbott appeared to be the target of protesters, who chanted “shame” and “racist” outside the restaurant.

The Tent Embassy celebrated its 40th anniversary on Thursday. Abbott had earlier angered indigenous activists by saying it was time the embassy “moved on.”

Gillard was unharmed and later hosted another Australia Day function for foreign ambassadors at her official residence.

“The only thing that angers me is that it distracted from such a wonderful event,” Gillard told reporters.

“I am made of pretty tough stuff and the police did a great job,” she added.

Reaction from protesters afterward was mixed, with some saying police assaulted them and that Gillard and Abbott were never in danger. They also made conflicting claims over who had Gillard’s shoe – a Midas high-heeled blue suede – and if it would be returned.

Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

KABUL, Afghanistan — A suicide car bomber targeting a NATO-sponsored reconstruction team killed four Afghan civilians, including a child, and wounded 31 on Thursday in southern Afghanistan, officials said.

Three civilian international members of the aid team – two men and one woman – were among the wounded, said Daud Ahmadi, a spokesman for the provincial governor. He said their injuries were not life threatening and did not know their nationalities.

The bomber detonated his explosives-laden vehicle Thursday morning as a convoy of a NATO Provincial Reconstruction Team passed by in Lashkar Gah, capital of Helmand province, Ahmadi said.

The blast ripped through the convoy of armored vehicles, knocking at least one over and charring others. The explosion also shredded nearby storefronts and damaged at least 17 civilian cars nearby, a provincial statement said.

Provincial Reconstruction Teams are joint international military-civilian units dedicated to aid projects to boost support for the Afghan government of President Hamid Karzai. They are sponsored by the NATO military coalition and there are 27 now operating in Afghanistan.

Afghan National Army soldier Dad Mohammad witnessed the attack while on patrol in the town.

“A car passed our vehicle and parked down the road,” he said. “When the foreigners’ vehicle was passing this road, it was targeted and there was an explosion.”

A spokesman for NATO declined to comment on the attack, referring all questions to the Afghan provincial government.

A statement from the Ministry of Interior said the attack took place near an Education Department building, though Ahmadi initially described it as an aid office. The Ministry said the vehicles in the convoy were about 70 percent destroyed.

No one claimed responsibility for the car bomb, but Helmand has been one of the most volatile areas in the Taliban insurgency’s pushback against a U.S.-led initiative to bring southern Afghanistan under greater control of the central Afghan government.

Karzai, who is on a trip meeting European leaders, condemned the attack. A statement from his office Thursday blamed “the enemy of the Afghan people” for the violence, which it called “un-Islamic and against humanity.”

Elsewhere, officials said a rocket fired by Taliban insurgents killed a woman and her child in eastern Afghanistan.

Insurgents fired the mortar round during a battle Wednesday with Afghan army soldiers trying to clear militants from a stronghold in Kapisa province’s Alasay district, said the provincial governor’s chief of staff, Abdul Sabor Wafa.

Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

Jada Pinkett-Smith is launching a new TV talent show with American Idol star Simon Cowell.

The pair will set out on a hunt for the world’s best DJs.

Speaking about the new venture, Matrix Reloadedstar Pinkett-Smith says: “This show will comb the world to find a new breed of talent.”

And reality show veteran Cowell, who has been developing the series for over a year with his production team at SYCO Entertainment, admits he’s thrilled to work with the multi-talented beauty: “As soon as I met Jada and Miguel (her associate)… I knew they would be our ideal partners… DJs are the new rock stars. It feels like the right time to make this show.”

The programme has yet to be given a name or premiere date, but will air in both the US and the UK.

Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

Some of the first dramatic images depicting the last moments of the Costa Concordia have been caught on film, showing the stricken liner and lifeboats scattered in the black water.

Since the ship struck rocks off the island of Giglio,pictures of the sinking ship the Costa Concordia have been seen on news sites around the world, showing the liner semi-submerged in the surrounding sea.

However these are among the first pictures to show the cruise liner in the early hours of the tragedy.

In the images the Costa Concordia is still brightly lit, showing the ship as she looked before the disaster.

The illumination and its slight list show the extent of the disastrous crash, and how far it has tilted since rocks pierced the hull of the ship and began to let in water.

The Costa Concordia just hours after it struck rocks off the Italian island of Giglio

The events leading up to the collision are still a matter of confusion, while Francesco Schettino, Captain of the Costa Concordia, remains under house arrest at his home in Naples.

He claims that captains were encouraged to diverge from the approved course, and sail close to the islands to give passengers the ‘complete experience’. Secret police tapes revealed his phone conversation to a friend, made less than 24 hours after the crash. He was reported to have said:

“Management was always saying ‘pass by there, pass by there’. Someone else in my position might not have been so amenable to pass so close but they busted my balls, pass by there, pass by there, and now I’m paying for it.”

Schettino’s wife spoke to Italian weekly magazine Oggi on 25 January to defend her husband, saying that the media was wrong to portray him as a “monster.”

“My husband is at the centre of an unprecedented global media storm,” Rossi told Oggi.

“Who is at sea sails, who is on soil judges.

“I cannot think of any other naval or air tragedy in which the responsible party was treated with such violence… This is a manhunt, people are looking for a scapegoat, a monster. It’s shameful.”

An estimated 4,200 people had to be evacuated from the cruise ship when it ran into trouble. There are 16 people still missing, and 16 have been confirmed dead.

Authorities are to begin pumping oil out of the vessel at the weekend, in an operation that is expected to last around four weeks.

The cruise liner continues to list at a sharper angle, as more water enters the boat

Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

Thousands of teenagers are being let down by under-performing schools, despite tough government targets introduced to raise standards, new league tables have revealed.

More than 100 secondaries in England did not meet the targets while young people are still failing to get good GCSE results.

Ministers took a tougher stance toward education institutions in 2010, saying schools failing to meet the strict thresholds face closure or being taken over if they do not improve.

Schools Minister Nick Gibb commented on the tables, saying: “We should have high expectations for all children regardless of their circumstances. Today’s figures reveal a shocking waste of talent in many schools across the country.

The tables show 107 secondary schools were below the Government’s target in 2011.

This means that less than 35% of their pupils got at least five C grades at GCSE, including English and maths, and fewer youngsters made two levels of progress between 11 and 16 than the national average in these two core subjects.

The tables also suggest hundreds of secondaries are failing their poorest pupils.

A mere third (33.9%) of teenagers from disadvantaged homes gained at least five Cs in their GCSEs last summer, including English and maths, compared to 58.2% of all pupils attending state schools.

And while nearly one in six pupils nationally achieved the Government’s new English Baccalaureate, the same was true for only one in 25 poor youngsters, the Department for Education (DfE) admitted.

To gain the EBacc, pupils must score at least a C in English, maths, science, history or geography and a language at GCSE.

Gibb added: “All too often, pupils from disadvantaged backgrounds aren’t given the same opportunities as their peers. But there are great examples of schools achieving the best for their disadvantaged pupils. If they can get it right, then so can all schools.”

The minister insisted the introduction of the controversial Ebacc ”opened up opportunities for all pupils”. The Ebacc was introduced in late 2010 to encourage students to study the “core academic subjects employers and universities demand”. Concerns have recently been raised by employers over the maths and English skills of school leavers, something which the government hopes to tackle with the new qualification.

Thursday’s league tables are based on GCSE, as well as A-level results, for 2011.

Selective schools dominated the top of the tables again this year.

For a second year running, Lawrence Sheriff School in Rugby held the top spot in the GCSE league table.

The boys’ grammar school, which also topped the table in 2008, entered 111 GCSE students this year, each of whom achieved at least five qualifications at grades C and above.

Headteacher Dr Peter Kent said: “It is good to know that the positive things we continue to do from year-to-year are having such an effect in helping the boys to achieve their full potential.

“We have a common sense approach, with a strong focus on high-quality teaching and learning and there is also a very positive attitude from the boys.”

The news is bound to silence some protestations over the grammar school system, such as those ofeducation campaigner Melissa Benn, who describes the 11 plus exams required to gain entry to the schools as “killing your love of learning”. Earlier this month, Kent Council announced they would be considering a bid to open a new grammar school in the county.

But the grammar school success does not end there.

In the EBacc league tables, St Michael’s Catholic Grammar School in North Finchley, London, was the top state school. Of the 96 pupils eligible, 97% took the qualification and 97% of those achieved the Baccalaureate.

Despite this, associate head Julian Ward said he believed the qualification was not yet a fair measure of comparison between schools and denied the school was doing “anything special”.

“It reflects our historical choice within the school of the subjects we teach. It’s good that our students are credited with an extra qualification and it endorses the choice we made in our curriculum, but we don’t see it as a measure of comparison with lots of schools who put emphasis on different subjects.”

He added other schools had not yet had time to adjust to the EBacc scheme and added: “It may be that in four or five years time you can compare schools in a more meaningful way.”

2011′s bottom school was one of the conservative’s much touted academy breeds: St Aldhelm’s Academy in Poole, Dorset, which saw just 3% of the 115 candidates gain five GCSEs at grades C and above.

The school opened as an academy in September 2010, sponsored by the Diocese of Salisbury and Bournemouth University.

The Borough of Poole has no direct role in the management of the school but Councillor Janet Walton, cabinet portfolio holder for Children, Families and Youth Services at the council, said the decision to pursue academy status was endorsed by the council.

“We felt the aims of the academy programme and the sponsors would provide the best route to achieving the further improvements required to address the long-standing issues of underachievement at the school and raising students’ aspirations.

“The council was very concerned to learn of the academy’s GCSE results for 2011 and shares the sponsors’ disappointment with this outcome. It has offered its support to work with the principal and governing body of the Academy to ensure all necessary action is taken to improve the situation.”

The most improved school was Fyndoune Community College in Sacriston, Durham. In 2011, 80% of its pupils achieved five or more GCSEs at grade C and above, compared to just 26% in 2008.

Principal Trevor Dunn said of the school’s success: “We’re delighted. The staff in the school, the students and parents in the community, are all thrilled that we’ve gone from a low point in 2008 – when really, things weren’t as they should be – to a point in 2011 where they have obviously been really strong.

“The school was also rated as outstanding by Ofsted in November, so it’s been a good year. We were very pleased to get that rating as an official stamp of approval that we’re doing well.”

Stephen Twigg, Labour’s shadow education secretary, said the government should stop promoting “pet projects”.

“If the government wants to promote English and maths across the education system, it cannot simply focus its attention on the minority of academies and free schools, or the Ebacc which is only taken by around one in eight pupils.”

The Nation Union of Teacher’s general secretary Christine Blower said the league tables did not give a “genuine reflection” of teacher or pupil achievement.

“What they do show is that league tables, by their very nature, will always put some schools at the top and some at the bottom. The new system will simply swap one crude measure for another.

“The league table system is still flawed and will still create a situation in which schools are concentrating on results rather than on providing the broad and balanced education to which every child is entitled.”

Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

एसियामा केन्द्रित भूमण्डलीय सामरिक सोचको रणनीतिक-उल्झन जेलिँदै गएको छ । यसैले एसियाको भूराजनीतिक र आर्थिक राडारमा तात्कालिक र दूरगामी महत्त्व राख्ने परिदृश्यहरू देखापर्न थालेका हुन् । अवधारणा फेरिने, गठबन्धन भत्किने र नयाँ बन्ने क्रममा आएको वेगले भूराजनीतिक पक्षको चरित्र परिवर्तनको संघारतिर घचेटिएको छ । भूमण्डलीय गाउँमा रूपान्तरण भइरहेको आजको विश्व घटनाक्रमलाई प्रभाव पार्ने सामथ्र्य भए वा नभए पनि प्रभाव त सबैले भोग्नैपर्छ । यसैले घटनाक्रमको झुकावलाई बुझेर आफ्नो सामथ्र्यअनुसार सामरिक सोच बनाउन अथवा कमजोरी बुझेर सम्बन्धको समायोजन गर्न शक्तिशाली र कमजोर दुवै किसिमका देशहरू सक्रिय भएका छन् ।

अमेरिकाले आफ्नो सुरक्षा रणनीतिलाई पहिलोपटक एसिया केन्दि्रत बनाउने दस्तावेज सार्वजनिक गरेको छ । तीनवटै शक्तिहरू चीन, भारत र अमेरिका एकअर्कोलाई सतर्कतापूर्वक मूल्याङ्कन गर्न, सहयोग र प्रतिस्पर्धा कायम राख्न तर संकीर्ण रूपमा परिभाषित राष्ट्रिय स्वार्थ र निर्माणाधीन विश्व व्यवस्थामा आफ्नो अग्राधिकार कायम गर्न समर्पित भएका छन् । नयाँ परिस्थितिसित आफ्नो तादात्म्य कायम गर्ने सामथ्र्य शक्तिशाली देशहरूसँग हुन्छ । तर बाहिरी छलनीति र आन्तरिक अलमलले कमजोर भएका साना देशहरूसँग यस्तो हैसियत हूँदैन । झन् समयको चाप बुझ्न र सम्हालिन पनि नसक्ने कमजोर देशमाथि त विपत्तिको पहाड नै खस्ने खतरा हुन्छ ।

अमेरिकाले चीन र भारतजस्ता उदीयमान शक्तिहरूको चुनौती भोग्न थालेको उद्घोष पछिल्ला दुई महिनाभित्र अमेरिकी रक्षामन्त्रीले दुईपटक गरेपछि एसियाको सामरिक राडारमा दृश्य परिवर्तनको क्रम अघि बढेको थियो । हालै सार्वजनिक भएको अमेरिकी सुरक्षा रणनीतिक योजनाले एसियालाई उच्च प्राथमिकतामा राखेको छ । राष्ट्रपति ओबामाले सुरक्षा नीतिमा आफ्नो छाप स्थापित गर्दै दिएको दिशा-निर्देशको मुख्य पक्ष ‘एसियामा अमेरिकी शक्तिलाई रोक्न तम्सिएको चीनको बढ्दो सामथ्र्यलाई प्रतिकार गर्दै एसियामा अमेरिकी क्षमता वृद्धि गर्ने सुरक्षा रणनीति’ नै  हो । आठ पृष्ठको यो महत्त्वपूर्ण दस्तावेजका दुइटा बुँदा नेपालका लागि सामरिक महत्त्वका छन्:

-१) क्षेत्रीय शक्तिको रूपमा चीनको उदयले दीर्घकालीन रूपमा अमेरिकाको आर्थिक र सुरक्षामा विविध ढङ्गमा प्रभाव पार्न सक्छ । -२) क्षेत्रीय आर्थिक स्थायित्वको लङ्गर बन्ने र हिन्द महासागरको व्यापक सुरक्षा दिने सामथ्र्य हासिल गर्न भारतमा लगानी तथा दीर्घकालीन सामरिक हिस्सेदारी बनाइनेछ ।

यसरी एसिया र प्रशान्त महासागर क्षेत्र विश्व आर्थिक र सुरक्षा गुरुत्वाकर्षण केन्द्र बनेको पुष्टि भएको छ । न्युयोर्क टाइम्सका अनुसार ‘ओबामा प्रशासनले चीनलाई खतरा र भारतलाई हिस्सेदारको रूपमा परिभाषित गर्दै एसियालाई आफ्नो सुरक्षा नीतिको प्राथमिकता तोक्नु सम्भाव्य द्वन्द्व एसियामा स्थानान्तरण हुनथालेको जनाउ हो ।’ यसबाट भारत र चीनको वैदेशिक स्थिति र सामरिक नीतिमा पेचिलो अन्तरण आउनेमात्रै होइन, दक्षिण एसिया अमेरिकी, चिनियाँ र भारतीय शक्तिहरूको रणनीतिक त्रिकोणमा पनि पर्नेछ । परिणाममा यहाँको सुरक्षास्थितिमा नयाँ तरङ्ग आउनेछ । नेपालको लागि यो सामरिक बेचैनी ल्याउने घटनाक्रम हो । अमेरिकी सामरिक अर्जुनदृष्टि उदीयमान यी दुई शक्तिहरूमा केन्दि्रत भएकै अवस्थामा नेपालमा अहिले भारत र चीनको सुरक्षा चासो तीव्र गतिमा चिन्तामा विकास भइरहेको छ । यसैले नेपालको राष्ट्रिय हितको व्यापक फाँटमा गम्भीर चुनौती प्रस्तुत हुनथालेको निष्कर्ष निस्किएको हो । छिमेकीहरूको सुरक्षा चिन्ता र अमेरिकाको सामारिक रुचिलाई बुझ्ने र राष्ट्रियहितको लक्ष्मणरेखाभित्र बसेर प्रभावकारी ढङ्गमा सम्बोधन गर्ने क्षमता नेपालको शासकीय नेतृत्व र राज्यका प्रमुख संयन्त्रमा विकास गर्न निकै ढिलो भइसकेको छ ।

तीन शक्तिहरूको यो रणनीतिक त्रिकोण शक्ति सन्तुलन र कूटनीतिक संलग्नताको जटिल ढाँचा भूमण्डलीय रंगमञ्चका अन्य खेलाडीहरूका लागि रुचिको र भारत-चीनका छिमेकीहरूका लागि चासोको मामिला बनेको छ । विश्व इतिहासको यो संक्रमणकाल हो । अहिले विश्वकै सामरिक वातावरण अनिश्चित अवस्थामा छ । दोस्रो विश्वयुद्धपछि स्थापित भएका बहुराष्ट्रिय आर्थिक, मौदि्रक र राजनीतिक संस्थाहरू यसैलाई पछ्याएर चोला फेर्ने अवस्थाबाट गुजि्रन थालेका छन् । यस्तो अवस्थामा आफ्नो श्रेष्ठता बनाउन अथवा तादात्म्य कायम गर्न शक्तिशाली देशहरू आपसको सम्बन्धलाई समायोजन गर्ने, अपि्रय घटनामा पनि संयम र परिस्थितिसित तालमेल कायम गर्ने परिमार्जित कूटनीतिको अभ्यासमा लागेका छन् । उदाहरणका लागि भारतले तीन हप्ताअघि आफ्नो सैनिक प्रतिनिधिमण्डलको चीन भ्रमणमा तेर्सिएको छेकबार हटाउन र चीनले दुई भारतीय व्यापारीसम्बन्धी झमेलालाई सुल्झ्याउन देखाएका तदारुकता र संयम उल्लेखनीय थिए । अतीतमा यस्ता घटनाले वाक्युद्ध नै सुरु गरेको सम्झँदा यी दुई उदीयमान महाशक्तिहरू अब आपसी सम्बन्धलाई स्थायित्व दिने पक्षमा उभिएको प्रस्ट हुन्छ ।

भारतीय प्रधानमन्त्रीका सुरक्षा सल्लाहकारले चिनियाँ दूतावासमा आयोजित समारोहमा बोल्दै ‘भारत चीनलाई एकअर्कोको सामरिक वैरी ठान्नु सही होइन’ (टाइम्स अफ इन्डिया, पुस २७) भन्नु र चिनियाँ विदेशमन्त्रीले ‘भारत-चीन सम्बन्धमा स्थायित्व आइरहेको’ बताउँदै ‘एकअर्काको सामरिक सोच बुझ्न, एकअर्कोबाट सिक्न र सहयोग गर्नसक्ने’ आशा व्यक्त गर्नु (ग्लोबल टाइम्स, पुस २५) यी शक्तिहरू नयाँ परिस्थितिसित तादात्म्य मिलाउन तत्पर भएको पुष्टि हो ।

अमेरिकी दबाब विपरीत इरानबाट तेल आयात गर्नेे अडानले पनि भारत र चीन आफ्नो हैसियत स्थापित गर्न अग्रसर भएका पुष्टि गरेको छ । वास्तवमा मतभेद व्यवस्थापन, शङ्का निवारण र साझा हितको क्षेत्र फराकिलो पार्न भारत र चीनले देखाइरहेको इच्छाशक्ति उत्कृष्ट छ । यसै सिलसिलामा हालै काठमाडौंको ‘छोटो भ्रमण’मा चिनियाँ प्रधानमन्त्रीले भारतसँग राम्रो सम्बन्ध राख्न र चीनसँग राम्रो सम्बन्ध राख्न भारतका प्रधानमन्त्रीले हाम्रा गृहमन्त्रीलाई दिनुभएको भनिएको सल्लाहलाई बढी बुझ्ने अथवा न्युनीकरण गर्ने दुवै प्रवृत्ति गलत हुन्छ । यो सल्लाहमा कुन सन्दर्भ र कसको अग्रसरतामा आएको थियो भन्ने प्रस्ट छैन । सतर्कतापूर्वक छानिएका शब्दहरूबाट बनेको वाक्यांशमार्फत विदेशी नेताहरूले दिने कूटनीतिक अभिव्यक्तिलाई सही रूपमा अथ्र्याउन समान तहको परिपक्वता र अनुभव आवश्यक हुन्छ । युरोपबाट एसियामा सरेको विश्व शक्ति-राजनीतिको गुरुत्वाकर्षण र आफ्नो हैसियतमा आएको उल्लेखनीय वृद्धिप्रति चीन र भारत जानिफकार छन् । यसै अनुकूल उनीहरू तात्कालिक खतराको स्रोतको पुनःमूल्याङ्कन र साझा खतराको पहिचान गरेपछि आपसी हितमा आपसी सम्बन्धको पुनःसन्तुलनमा संलग्न भएका हुनुपर्छ । नेपालले बुझ्नैपर्ने तथ्य के हो भने भारत, चीन वा अमेरिका सबै शक्तिहरू आफ्नै राष्ट्रिय स्वार्थबाट सञ्चालित हुन्छन् । मित्र र प्रतिद्वन्द्वी, सहयोग र जोखिमको मूल्याङ्कन आफ्नै आवश्यकता, अनुभव र लक्ष्यअनुसार गर्छन् । नेपालमा यी तीनवटै देशहरूको चाहना र सामरिक सोचमा मेल छैन ।

भारत र चीन बीचको सम्बन्ध अहिले नयाँ चरणबाट गुजि्ररहेको छ । समझदारी र सहकार्य बढिरहेको छ, तर अविश्वास घटेको छैन । कूटनीतिको शैली फेरिएको छ, विश्व मामिलामा साझा हितमा संयुक्त अडान लिने दृढता देखिएको छ, संवेदनशील क्षेत्रमा समेत हिस्सेदारी पनि जोडिँदै गएको छ । सँगसँगै  सुरक्षा चासो फराकिलो, आशङ्का बाक्लो र सामरिक प्रतिद्वन्द्विता पनि बढिरहेको छ । उदाहरणका लागि भारत र चीन संयुक्त लगानीमा ८१ अर्ब रुपैयाँको लागतमा विश्वको सबैभन्दा लामो टेलिस्कोप बनाउन थालेका छन्् । अर्कोतिर २२ अर्ब डलरको लागतमा विश्वको उच्चतम उचाइको विमानस्थल निर्माण लगायत तिब्बतको आधारभूत ढाँँचा र सामरिक संरचना विकासमा चीन संलग्न भएको जानकारी सिन्ह्वाले दिएको छ । भारतले पनि ६५ हजार करोड रुपैयाँको सैनिक शक्ति वृद्धि योजना बनाएको छ ।

राष्ट्रिय सुरक्षा र आत्मपरीक्षणको लागि परिपक्व कूटनीति अनिवार्य हुन्छ । व्यवहारशील परराष्ट्र नीति र प्रभावकारी कूटनीतिका लागि लहड वा आवेग वर्जित छ । तर छिमेकीहरूसितको सम्बन्धमा पटक-पटक हन्डर भोग्दा पनि नचेतेको नेपाल आफ्नो ढोकैमा उभिएको अमेरिकी, चिनियाँ र भारतीय शक्तिहरूको सामरिक त्रिकोणको जटिलता बुझ्न तत्पर भएको छैन । छिमेकीहरूसँगको सम्बन्धमा सक्रिय हुन छाडेर नेपाल प्रतिक्रियात्मक हँुदै पहलकदमीको हैसियत नै गुमाएको अवस्थामा निचोरिएको छ । अन्तर्राष्ट्रिय मोर्चामा भइरहेको फेरबदलप्रति सतर्क रहेर आफ्नो अवस्था, कमजोरी र जोखिम बुझेर वैदेशिक मामिला सञ्चालन गर्ने आवश्यकता त आकासको फल नै भएको छ । तर एसियाको शक्ति सन्तुलनमा भइरहेको उल्लेखनीय परिवर्तन, दक्षिण एसियाको सुरक्षा स्थितिमा थप जटिलतासँगै आफ्नो अपरिवर्तनीय भौगोलिक स्थापनका कारण नेपालको सामरिक प्रासङ्गकिता अमेरिका, चीन र भारतका लागि ह्वात्तै बढेको छ । यस्तो धारिलो अवस्था बुझेर आफ्नो कमजोरी सच्याउन र सामथ्र्य बढाउन अब समय थोरै छ भन्ने हामीले बिर्सिनु हुँदैन ।

हाम्रा नेताहरूलाई विदेशीसमक्ष पनि एकअर्का विरुद्ध कुरा गर्ने बानी लागेको छ । यो कुलतले नेपाली जनतामात्रै होइन, विदेशीलाई पनि पत्यारिलो नेतृत्वको अभाव खट्किएको छ । यता केही वर्षदेखि  अन्तर्राष्ट्रिय मामिलामा आवेगमा बगेर राष्ट्रिय हितमा अनावश्यक तथा आफ्नो हैसियत नसुहाउने अडान लिने प्रवृत्ति पनि देखिन थालेको छ । दुवै छिमेकीले विरोध गरेको लिबियामा ‘नेटो’को सैनिक कारबाहीलाई समर्थन गर्ने, राष्ट्रसंघीय महासभाको पछिल्लो अधिवेशनमा प्यालेस्टाइनको सदस्यताको प्रस्ताव आउँदैन भन्ने सामान्य अनुमान पनि गर्न नसकेर समर्थनको विवादास्पद घोषणा गर्ने जस्ता अन्तर्राष्ट्रिय मामिलामा उत्ताउलो देखिने अथवा छिमेकीहरूको मनमा शङ्का उब्जिने गल्ती भएका छन् ।

दुवै छिमेकीको पत्यार चिन्तापूर्ण गतिमा घट्दै गएको छ । चिनियाँ प्रधानमन्त्रीको चार घन्टाको भ्रमण सम्पन्न गर्न सुरक्षाको कारण बताएर, अघोषित कफ्र्यु लगाउँदै सेना लगायत ४,४०० सुरक्षाशक्तिको घेरामा राखेर अतिथिलाई स्वागत गर्नबाट जनतालाई बञ्चित गर्नुपर्‍यो । यो तीतो, अपि्रय अनुभवपछि आफ्नो सुरक्षा चासो सम्बोधन गर्ने ल्याकत नेपाल सरकारमा छ भन्ने अनुभूति पनि चीन र भारत दुवैलाई हुनै सक्दैन ।

यसैगरी नेपालमा आफ्नो सुरक्षा चिन्ता बढ्दै गएकोमा भारतले प्रधानमन्त्रीकै ध्यान आकषिर्त गराएको तीन महिनापछि गृहसचिव स्तरमा पछिल्लो साता भएको दिल्ली बैठकमा नेपाली भूमि भारतको हितविरुद्ध दुरुपयोग भएका बुँदागत विवरणमात्र होइन, सुरक्षामा आघात पार्ने क्षेत्र थपिँदै गएको सिकायत पनि गरेको छ । दुवै छिमेकीको चासो चिन्तामा रूपान्तरण हुनु र वचन पालन गर्ने पत्यार नेपालले जोगाउन नसक्नु अनिष्टकारी हुनसक्छ । आफ्नो हित हेर्न छिमेकीहरू आफैं क्रियाशील हुने अवस्था सुरु भयो भने नेपालको भविष्य अँध्यारो हुनेछ ।

चीन, भारत र अमेरिकी त्रिकोणमा नेपाल | विचार/विश्‍लेषण | ekantipur.com.

As the US presidential race picks up pace ahead of November’s vote, Barack Obama is trying to ratchet up support for re-election. In his third State of the Union speech, he pledged another program for change.

President Obama’s Tuesday night address to Congress was his final State of the Union speech before he runs for re-election. It was crafted by the White House to set the tone for the 2012 congressional session, and for the re-election campaign. Obama’s goal was to highlight his achievements, and lay out his promises.

The president started his address praising those who fought in Iraq, “generation of heroes” who “have made the United States safer and more respected around the world.”

Indeed, the speech was full of success stories.

“For the first time in nine years, there are no Americans fighting in Iraq. For the first time in two decades, Osama bin Laden is not a threat to this country. Most of al-Qaeda’s top lieutenants have been defeated. The Taliban’s momentum has been broken, and some troops in Afghanistan have begun to come home,” the president said. 

With the US economy still on the ropes, the president pledged a new plan for change, promising tax reforms through increasing taxes for richer Americans.

“It’s time to apply the same rules from top to bottom: No bailouts, no handouts and no copouts. An America built to last insists on responsibility from everybody,” Obama said.

Although unemployment in the country remains high at 8.5 per cent, the president said the economy was recovering from the two-year recession.

“I intend to fight obstruction with action, and I will oppose any effort to return to the very same policies that brought on this economic crisis in the first place,” Obama said.

Many experts say social inequality in America is currently at a level unseen since the Great Depression. The top one per cent of the wealthiest in the country is making a killing, while the middle class is shrinking dramatically. And that gap is getting wider.

Obama pledged no tax increase for those earning under $250,000, but said that those who make more than $1 million a year, should not pay less than 30% in taxes.

The speech was highly motivational, and full of good intentions. Yet in the past, almost all the US president’s major economic initiatives, such as last year’s Jobs Act, have got bogged down in Congress. Which perhaps led some to say that he might be saying all the right words, but they may not be necessarily be followed by deeds.

“Every time they raise taxes on the wealthy, they also give incentives to big corporations, which are often owned by the same wealthy people or supported and financed by these big banks. So, they may raise taxes, but then they put loopholes in, giving incentives [for business]. It’s the opposite to what we should be doing. We should be cutting taxes across the board, but also cutting incentives for business,” Libertarian Party activist Wes Benedict told RT.

Another of Obama’s economic plans is strengthening the position of US manufacturers on the world market, where the dominant position has long been occupied by companies from the Asia-Pacific region, mainly from China.

“It’s not right when another country lets our movies, music, and software be pirated. It’s not fair when foreign manufacturers have a leg up on ours, only because they’re heavily subsidized,” Obama said.

According to the president, over a thousand Americans have their jobs today because the US “stopped a surge in Chinese tires”.

“We’ve brought trade cases against China at nearly twice the rate as the last administration,” he said, pointing out that it had “made a difference.”

“But we need to do more,” Obama said.

“I’m announcing the creation of a Trade Enforcement Unit that will be charged with investigating unfair trading practices in countries like China. There will be more inspections,” he stated.

Obama called US workers “the most productive on Earth”, saying Congress should make sure that “no foreign company has an advantage over American manufacturing when it comes to accessing financing or new markets like Russia.”

US out of Iraq only to start another war?

On the foreign policy front, Obama built his previous campaign on promises to end wars, but while he pulled troops out of Iraq and started scaling down the war with Afghanistan with a pledge to bring all troops home by 2014, America’s wars have not stopped.

The US got involved and played a key role in the war in Libya last year with the stated aim of bringing democracy.

With Syria, Americans once again appear to be struggling for justice and democracy in the Middle East. As Western powers look for solutions to the crisis in Syria, Obama says that while it is up to the people of the Middle East to decide their own fate, the United States will oppose “violence and intimidation” and stand for the “rights and dignity of all human beings.”

“I have no doubt that the Assad regime will soon discover that the forces of change cannot be reversed, and that human dignity cannot be denied.”

The US may also be on the verge of an all-out confrontation with Iran.

“Ending the Iraq war has allowed us to strike decisive blows against our enemies,” Obama said.

And Iran sounds pretty much like the next target for US blows, with Barack Obama warning that all possibilities will be considered.

“America is determined to prevent Iran from getting a nuclear weapon, and I will take no options off the table to achieve that goal,” Obama said.

Washington is actively building up its military presence in the Persian Gulf.

Obama says a peaceful resolution of the tension around Iran is still possible, but there are some conditions required:“If Iran changes course and meets its obligations, it can rejoin the community of nations.”

But experts say further military involvement is beyond America’s means.

“The military adventurism – we can’t afford it,” Wes Benedict says.

Professor Paul Sheldon Foote from California State University says the president’s pledge is at odds with Washington’s foreign policy goals.

“He said we killed Gaddafi, Syria is next and if Iran does not behave, they are there after that.
So, it is totally contradictory to say that he is going to be able to pay down the American debt and expand government spending programs domestically with saving from bringing home soldiers from wars, but in fact he has plans to expand,” he told RT.

Google to track users... like never before!

In a move that has triggered outrage, Google has announced plans to bring all data collected from users’ separate accounts on its sites into a combined profile. Besides raising dubious questions about privacy, this offer is one you… cannot refuse.

The changes will take effect on March 1. Before that date, Google will notify its hundreds of millions of users about the new rules of the game. In preparation, the company is boosting its privacy policy and terms of service. Users will have to decide whether to agree with the new terms – or lose access to some of their favorite sites. There is no way of opting out of the changes.

Some say Google’s privacy announcement is frustrating and a little frightening.”Even if the company believes that tracking users across all platforms improves their services, consumers should still have the option to opt out,” said Common Sense Media chief executive James Steyer, as cited by the Washington Post.

Google says the new policy reflects a “desire to create a simple product experience” that does what one needs, when one needs it. The changes, apparently, will also allow Google to offer more new services and other “cool things.”

Google is consolidating more than 60 separate legal notes into a single main Privacy Policy, which will make it easier for consumers to comprehend – or, at least, read – the terms of service in full.

But these changes come with an unprecedented boost to Google’s right to collect and combine your personal data in ways you could never have imagined when you were registering for Gmail or Picasa.

“Our new Privacy Policy makes clear that, if you’re signed in [to your Google account], we may combine information you’ve provided from one service with information from other services,” Google’s Director of Privacy Alma Whitten wrote in her official blog.

“In short, we’ll treat you as a single user across all our products, which will mean a simpler, more intuitive Google experience,” she said.

And it’s not like Google doesn’t already collect a lot of information about its customers. When you are using Android mobile phones, Google can access your contacts and location. If you are searching for something on the internet, Google remembers all the search terms. When you sign into your Google account, it can track the sites you visit.

The only Google projects which – for now – are not affected by this extensive data collecting operation are the Google Wallet, Google Books and Chrome internet browser.

Google claims it is committed to protecting your privacy, and that the only person it will share your personal information with, is you.

“Our recently launched personal search feature is a good example of the cool things Google can do when we combine information across products,” Google says.

But this personal search feature has already raised a lot of skepticism. Google is facing an anti-trust probe over the latest changes to its search engine. The Washington Post says the Federal Trade Commission is privately checking whether Google’s decision to promote its Google+ social network on the search result pages is an act of unfair competition.

Now, the new changes have opened up yet more debate about Google’s stance on privacy, and the protection of personal data.

@RT