Saturday, August 11, 2012

?Fat Cat Bankers? Are Swinging Their Support and ... - Yahoo! Finance

It's being called an "unheard of shift in party preference." A swing of support - and financial backing - that dwarfs anything seen in nearly a quarter of a century. According to the latest campaign finance analysis from the Center for Responsive Politics OpenSecrets.org, a majority of the nation's top corporate donors have turned from blue to red, so to speak, and are now contributing more to Republicans than Democrats. That's the exact opposite of what they did in 2008, and as the Bloomberg story points out, nowhere is the trend more pronounced than on Wall Street.

While Mitt Romney's campaign has won the fundraising derby on a national level for the past 3 months, the change of sentiment among big business begs closer scrutiny. As my co-host Jeff Macke and I discuss in the attached video, if you had to boil the issue down, one overriding theme or reason jumps to the fore, uncertainty.

Whether it's uncertainty over regulation, uncertainty over taxes and the budget, or uncertainty over healthcare, it's not only eroding corporate confidence but the cash outlays that normally go with it.

Let's use Goldman Sachs (GS) as an example. Data shows in 2008, Goldman employees topped all other corporate donors by contributing $6.1 million dollars, three-quarters of which went to Democrats. Today, 70% of their giving is going to Republicans. And they're not alone, party swings have also happened at JPMorgan (JPM), Citigroup (C), Morgan Stanley (MS) and UBS (UBS).

Given the low public opinion of banks and Wall Street right now, this may not be such a bad thing politically, but it all seems obvious. Whether it's being openly criticized by the President as "fat cats", endlessly re-regulated under the still evolving tome known as the Dodd-Frank act, or fined and prodded by the dubiously created Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, none of these issues hardly suggest that the President has "got the back" of the financial industry.

Add in a 3-month assault on Mitt Romney's career in private equity at Bain Capital, as well as some curious comments like "you didn't build that" to business owners, and you've got yourself more than enough uncertainty to douse enthusiasm for writing the incumbent a big fat check.

That said, as compelling as the funding-shift story is, you cannot lose sight of the fact that the race itself is, and will continue to be, very close. While jobs, the economy, and earning the confidence of business are seminal themes of this election, most accounts suggest that the actual deciding factor will be a small slice of still undecided voters from a handful of states. Of course swaying those voters will require lots of money, and the reversal of big business backers could prove to be very costly once the race gets into the home stretch.

Source: http://finance.yahoo.com/blogs/breakout/why-fat-cat-bankers-swinging-support-money-republicans-163022837.html

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Thursday, August 9, 2012

China hopes to get back on track after diving loss

Ilya Zakharov of Russia dives during the men's 3-meter springboard diving final at the Aquatics Centre in the Olympic Park during the 2012 Summer Olympics in London, Tuesday, Aug. 7, 2012. Zakharov won the gold medal in the event. (AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill)

Ilya Zakharov of Russia dives during the men's 3-meter springboard diving final at the Aquatics Centre in the Olympic Park during the 2012 Summer Olympics in London, Tuesday, Aug. 7, 2012. Zakharov won the gold medal in the event. (AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill)

Silver medalist Qin Kai from China competes during the men's 3-meter springboard diving final at the Aquatics Centre in the Olympic Park during the 2012 Summer Olympics in London, Tuesday, Aug. 7, 2012. (AP Photo/Michael Sohn)

He Chong of China dives during the men's 3-meter springboard diving final at the Aquatics Centre in the Olympic Park during the 2012 Summer Olympics in London, Tuesday, Aug. 7, 2012. He took the bronze medal in the event. (AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill)

Troy Dumais from the US competes during the men's 3-meter springboard diving semifinal at the Aquatics Centre in the Olympic Park during the 2012 Summer Olympics in London, Tuesday, Aug. 7, 2012. (AP Photo/Michael Sohn)

(AP) ? China wants to get back on track. Paola Espinosa Sanchez wants to pick up right where Ilya Zakharov left off.

The women's 10-meter platform event at the London Olympics begins with the preliminary round on Wednesday, one day after Zakharov stopped China's quest for a sweep of diving gold with a strong performance in the men's 3-meter springboard.

Now Mexico's Sanchez is hoping to build on her podium finish in 10-meter synchro last week, but the platform is still China's event to lose.

Chen Ruolin already paired with Wang Hao to win the 10-meter synchro event and also won both titles before her home fans at the 2008 Beijing Games as a 15-year-old. She then swept both events at last year's world championships in Shanghai, too.

On her 26th birthday, Espinosa Sanchez took silver with Alejandra Orozco in 10-meter synchro last week.

But if the crowd inside the Olympic Aquatics Centre is anything like it was for Zakharov's victory Tuesday, anything could happen.

Fans cheered loudly when Zakharov nailed his final dive. The Russian pumped his left arm as he swam toward the edge of the pool.

With the top two separated by a mere 1.25 points, the gold medal all came down to the final round.

Diving one spot ahead of Zakharov with the lead, China's Qin Kai scored 89.10 points for a reverse 2? somersault with 1? twists pike. Zakharov hit a much tougher dive, a forward 4? somersault tuck, for 104.50 points, and snapped China's streak of five straight diving golds at these games.

In 2008, China had won seven straight golds until Matthew Mitcham of Australia broke that streak in the very last diving event of the games, the men's 10-meter platform.

"I'm so pleased that I have managed to take away at least one medal from China," Zakharov said through a translator. "After the last dive when I came up to the surface and I heard the noise that's when the happiness swept over me."

He totaled 555.90 points in the six-round final for Russia's first diving gold since 2000, when Dmitri Sautin and Igor Lukashin won the men's 10-meter synchro in Sydney.

"When I started and still now my idol was Dmitri Sautin," Zakharov said, in awe of his countryman's seven Olympic medals. "He's a legend in our sport and I can't even start to compare myself to him."

A 21-year-old from St. Petersburg, Zakharov was runner-up in 3-meter synchro in London, and in both 3-meter synchro and individual at last year's worlds. He also finished second three times on individual 3-meter during this year's World Series events.

Qin settled for silver at 541.75. He Chong, the defending champion and Qin's teammate, earned the bronze at 524.15 in front of a crowd that included Sammy Lee, the first man to win consecutive golds in platform. The 92-year-old American won his first title in London in 1948 and repeated in 1952.

"He did really wonderful today and this is what the Olympics is all about," Qin said. "I want to congratulate him even if I feel a little bit sorry. He did so well today."

Zakharov lost to Qin and his partner Luo Yutong in 3-meter synchro.

"I understood that the Chinese are reachable during my synchronized 3-meter springboard dive," Zakharov said. "The last dive (Tuesday) was most difficult for me because during the previous competition a mistake at that stage cost me a medal."

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/347875155d53465d95cec892aeb06419/Article_2012-08-08-OLY-DIV-Diving/id-b771dca1714140cdae707a3123f17878

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Wednesday, August 8, 2012

DVB Group posts a marked increase in consolidated net income ...

Banking, Finance, Shipfinance ? By admin on August 8, 2012 at 7:19 AM

Wolfgang Driese

DVB increased its consolidated net income before taxes (and excluding net result from financial instruments in accordance with IAS 39) by 36.6%, to ?91.1 million (H1 2011: ?66.7 million).

Wolfgang F. Driese, CEO and Chairman of the Board of Managing Directors, commented on DVB?s consolidated results for the first half of 2012:

?We have picked up speed nicely during the second quarter, bringing the various items of our income statement (excluding net income from financial instruments in accordance with IAS 39) into our target range for the first half of the year.

The general risk situation remains a challenge, as existing excess capacity and the high number of new deliveries coincide with falling demand in some transport sectors. The absence of any convincing and sustainable political measures to tackle the sovereign debt crisis is a major burden to the economic environment.

We are very satisfied with DVB?s achievements. The six-month financial statements show that we are straight on course for reaching our target of generating results that are comparable to the previous year.?

At ?183.9 million, total income for the first six months of 2012 (comprising net interest income after allowance for credit losses, net fee and commission income, results from investments in companies accounted for using the equity method, and net other operating income/expenses), was up by 19.6% year-on-year (H1 2011: ?153.8 million).

Interest income rose by a marked 16.3%, from ?419.5 million to ?487.8 million. DVB maintained its business policy ? one that is both risk-aware and committed. DVB originated 63 new transactions, with an aggregate volume of ?2.2 billion (H1 2011: 75 new transactions with a total volume of ?2.4 billion). The average interest margin on new business originated by the three Transport Finance divisions rose to 356 basis points (H1 2011: 327 basis points). Interest expenses rose by 22.1%, mainly on account of higher funding costs. At ?112.5 million, net interest income for the first half of 2012 increased slightly year-on-year (H1 2011: ?112.2 million). Allowance for credit losses amounted to ?27.3 million in the first half of 2012 (H1 2011: ?18.4 million). Net interest income after allowance for credit losses declined by 9.2%, from ?93.8 million to ?85.2 million.

Net fee and commission income, which primarily includes fees and commissions from new Transport Finance business, and asset management as well as advisory fees, grew to ?54.6 million, up 2.1% year-on-year (H1 2011: ?53.5 million).

Net other operating income/expenses rose from ?6.2 million to ?43.9 million. Specifically, this figure also includes the proceeds from the sale of shareholdings. On 14 June 2012, the Bank sold a 60% stake in TES Holdings Ltd, the British aero engine specialist headquartered in Bridgend, Wales, to two Japanese investors. The two new partners ? Mitsubishi Corporation, and Development Bank of Japan, Inc. ? acquired 35% and 25%, respectively. DVB remains the largest shareholder, with 40%.

General administrative expenses rose by 6.5% to ?92.8 million. Major expense items included a 10.1% increase in staff expenses, to ? 52.3 million. Higher bank levy charges and contributions to the deposit insurance scheme, meant that non-staff expenses (including depreciation, amortisation and write-downs) increased slightly by ?0.9 million, to ?40.5 million.

Net result from financial instruments in accordance with IAS 39 (comprising net trading income, the hedge result, the result from the application of the fair value option, the result from derivatives entered into without intention to trade, and net result from investment securities) once again especially reflected the high volatility levels on foreign exchange and interest rate markets: during the first half of 2012, the net figure was negative, at ?20.3 million, after a positive balance of ?8.2 million during the same period of 2011.

Consolidated net income before taxes was down 5.5% year-on-year, to ?70.8 million (H1 2011: ?74.9 million), whilst consolidated net income after taxes was up 15.8%, to ?65.3 million (H1 2011: ?56.4 million).

DVB reported a 10.0% increase in total assets to ?24.2 billion on the reporting date of 30 June 2012 (31 Dec 2011: ?22.0 billion). The nominal volume of customer lending (the aggregate of loans and advances to customers, guarantees and indemnities, irrevocable loan commitments, and derivatives) increased by 4.6%, to ?22.7 billion. In US dollar terms, customer lending was up by 1.4%, to US$28.5 billion. As at 30 June 2012, 96.0% of DVB?s assets were backed by long-term funding.

DVB?s key financial indicators developed as follows:

Return on equity before taxes was 12.8% ? down 1.6 percentage points (H1 2011: 14.4%). Accordingly, the cost/income ratio rose by 0.3 percentage points, to 48.6% (H1 2011: 48.3%).

Calculated in accordance with Basel II, DVB?s tier 1 ratio declined slightly, to 18.8% (31 December 2011: 19.7%), due to the stronger US dollar exchange rate. Reflecting the issue of subordinated funds, the total capital ratio in accordance with Basel II increased to 22.3% (31 December 2011: 21.8%).

Viewers? can find a video commentary on the six-month results by Wolfgang F. Driese, CEO and Chairman of the Board of Managing Directors of DVB Bank SE,?at?the bank?s website: www.dvbbank.com

About DVB Bank SE

Note to editors: DVB Bank SE, headquartered in Frankfurt/Main, Germany, is the leading specialist in the international Transport Finance business. The Bank offers integrated financing solutions and advisory services in respect of Shipping Finance, Aviation Finance, and Land Transport Finance. DVB is present at key international financial centres and transport hubs: at its Frankfurt/Main head office, as well as various European locations (Athens, Bergen, Hamburg, London, Oslo, Rotterdam and Zurich), plus offices in the Americas (New York City and Cura?ao) and in Asia (Singapore and Tokyo). DVB Bank SE is listed at the Frankfurt Stock Exchange (ISIN: DE0008045501). www.dvbbank.com

Source: http://www.allaboutshipping.co.uk/2012/08/08/dvb-group-posts-a-marked-increase-in-consolidated-net-income-before-ias-39-and-taxes-for-the-first-half-of-2012/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=dvb-group-posts-a-marked-increase-in-consolidated-net-income-before-ias-39-and-taxes-for-the-first-half-of-2012

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Ben Cleary Interview | BlueCat Screenplay Competition

Short Screenplay Competition Winner (2012)

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Trumpet is?
In his small, isolated cottage, Alexander finds a very unusual trumpet that will turn his lonely existence upside down. ? ? ?

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Tell us a little bit about yourself.

I grew up in Dublin, Ireland but I?m now based in London. I?ve been a writer of sorts for as long as I can remember and have been in love with movies since I was very young. After school, I completed a law degree then worked in music but two years ago I decided to pursue my passion for film. I applied and was accepted into The London Film School where I completed an MA in Screenwriting. LFS opened up a new world for me. I met and learned from some great screenwriters and filmmakers there and began to learn how to better transform the stories in my head into screenplay form.

Just before graduating from LFS I was hired by Ireland?s national broadcaster, RTE, to write 7 mini episodes for a children?s TV show, currently airing. Earlier this year, I won a competition in Ireland run by an organisation called Filmbase. For the shortlist interviews I joined forces with a great young production company called Tidal (tidal.ie) and the talented up and coming director Stevie Russell. My script ?So It Is? was awarded ?10,000 in funding. Filming of this project is due to begin shortly in Ireland.

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What made you want to get into screenwriting?

I?ve been dreaming up stories of all kinds since my parents gave us carte blanche to write and draw on our bedroom walls as kids. That freedom and encouragement to pick up a pencil or a crayon or whatever and just create was a huge thing for me. Books were a massive influence too. We were read to all the time when we were younger, and I became an avid reader early on of authors like Roald Dahl and C.S. Lewis.??????

My love for film began with all the old Disney movies. I remember watching movies like Peter Pan and 101 Dalmatians as a kid over and over again, sitting there, completely glued to the screen. I was hooked from a very early age.

My parents say now that they always knew writing was the thing I?d end up doing. It took me a while to fully realize that but I think they?re right. I have stories inside my head and a fascination and love for cinema. A merging of the two just seemed right.

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Give us a quick rundown of your short.

Trumpet is a fantasy drama about a lonely man called Alexander who finds an old trumpet hidden in his isolated cottage. He soon discovers that whenever he plays a note on the trumpet, amazingly, a ?visitor? appears in the room with him. The visitors are an eclectic mix of all sorts of characters from all time periods etc. But there?s a catch. As soon as each visitor has uttered a sentence, they vanish.?

Initially, Alexander is enthused by some brief human contact and intrigued by some of the unusual things they say. He begins to take Polaroid?s of the transient visitors and sticks them on his wall. He tries his best to get the visitors to refrain from speaking so that they don?t vanish immediately but this turns out to be an impossible task.

As the months pass by and the Polaroids cover the walls, Alexander begins to grow bored and disillusioned, until one day, when everything changes. Alexander blows the trumpet and a girl called Anna appears. And for once, she doesn?t say anything.

After lots of initial confusion, Alexander works out that the reason Anna doesn?t talk is that she is mute. Thus, unlike the others, she cannot talk and thus, does not disappear.

Following a nervy start, Alexander gets to know Anna and over the weeks, gains her trust. They fall in love and everything is better than it has ever been. Then one day, disaster strikes. Alexander and Anna make love and just as Anna climaxes, overcome with pleasure, she shouts out, ?speaking? for the first time, and of course, vanishes.

Suddenly, Alexander is plunged back into his lonely, depressed world. He runs around desperately screaming Anna?s name. He stands there for weeks on end blowing the trumpet over and over, trying to summon his love back to him. But she never reappears.

Broken hearted and driven to despair, eventually Alexander decides to end it all. He stands on a chair with a noose around his neck. Before he topples the chair, he takes out the Polaroid of Anna from when she first appeared for one last look. He brings the photo to his lips and just as he topples the chair, suddenly, he himself vanishes.

Moments later we are in another room. Just then, Alexander appears. Startled, he looks across the room. His eyes widen as he sees Anna sitting in the far corner. She has a trumpet of her own. With tears in her eyes she has her finger up to her lips to say ?shhhh?.

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How did you think of the idea that when the characters were done speaking, they disappeared?

Trumpet is largely about real human connection and communication for me. The characters in Trumpet disappear like the girl you see on the Underground but never say anything to. As you pass through stations, sharing flirtatious glances with one another, you start to imagine what she might be like. You dream up what it would be like if you approached her and you hit it off. You picture telling your kids how a chance meeting on the Underground led to everything. But in the end you don?t say anything to her. She hops off at the next stop, disappears into the crowd and you never see her again.

I wanted Alexander to experience a taste of human contact, something he had been without for so long that he had probably forgotten what it feels like. With the transient visitors I wanted him to feel that forgotten sense of human connection but without a real interaction forming. Before long, merely being around these visitors for short moments was not enough. He needed more, some meaningful human connection.

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You chose the trumpet to be the center of the screenplay, have you ever played the trumpet?

I have attempted and failed to play the trumpet. I used to work in a recording studio so I had the chance to try to play a beautiful trumpet once. It?s a lot tougher than it looks!

To me, the trumpet is one of the most beautiful instruments. When it?s played just right, it has this incredible ability to be so expressive. It?s like it?s really talking to you. I love players like Miles Davis, Dizzy Gillespie and Louis Armstrong. Those guys could play a trumpet and it would just sing and sound like they were really saying something to you.

So the selection of the trumpet was loosely symbolic of one of the underlying thoughts in the film, the idea that true communication does not necessarily require words.?

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Was Anna deaf from the beginning? Or did she not want to speak so she would not disappear from Alexander?

For me, Anna speaks for the first time in her life as she makes love to Alexander. When she reaches that climactic moment, she is relaxed and there?s a big element of trust present. When she speaks maybe it is the first time in her life that she has let go of whatever it was that was keeping her from speaking.

This is only my take on it. None of this is explicitly in the script so it?s open to interpretation. I hope if Trumpet ever gets made there are things in the film that I have left ambiguous enough so that the audience will think about certain aspects after they have left the cinema. That would be great.?

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If you were to continue Alexander and Anna?s story, how do you see it unfolding?

In its current form, Trumpet leaves it up to the audience to ponder how life might turn out for Alexander and Anna. Potentially though, all sorts of interesting things could happen to them if the story were to continue. Maybe I?ll look at writing that script some day!

I think the end sets up an interesting new scenario. Alexander has been reunited with Anna but in the new place neither of them can ever speak again. Hopefully this is thought provoking in some way. It harks back to the ideas about human communication.

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What do you hope to pursue next?

Since I graduated from LFS in December, I?ve been working hard to finish drafts of numerous shorts. I?ve begun entering these into competitions to try to secure funding to get them made. I?m really keen to direct my own films but for now, I?m writing some really short, micro budget stuff so I can get behind a camera and give directing a go. I?ve got numerous feature film ideas too but I?ve had to put them on hold for the time being while I concentrate on getting some of my shorts made.

Something else that I?m just beginning is an exciting project with a talented photographer in London. An interesting synthesis of photography and short storytelling.

Other than that, I?ve been writing some short animations lately. A few months ago, an animator friend of mine approached me to write something for him and it started from there. Animation is a very exciting prospect for me. I love the freedom of being less restricted by things like locations, casting issues and other budgetary constraints. Suddenly a whole realm of possibilities opens up and that suits my writing style. I like letting the imagination run wild. I think people enjoy being taken on an unexpected journey.?

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? Back to Interviews

Source: http://www.bluecatscreenplay.com/interviews/ben-cleary-interview/

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Sudan's struggling government offers to go '100 percent Islamic'

After 23 years at the helm in Sudan, President Omar Hassan al-Bashir is sending up a new rallying cry for a "100 percent Islamic" constitution to shift public attention away from Sudan's crippling problems.

"We want to present a constitution that serves as a template to those around us," Mr. Bashir told religious leaders in early July. "And our template is clear, a 100 percent Islamic constitution, without communism or secularism or Western [influences]."

Even by Sudan's standard of chronic crises, Bashir's rule is facing problems that individually could have buried a less resilient regime.

The secession of South Sudan a year ago deprived Sudan of vast swaths of territory and wealth, and 75 percent of its income. Strict austerity measures announced in June by the president ? who is charged with genocide by the International Criminal Court (ICC) ? have sparked modest Arab Spring-style antiregime street protests. Inflation has hit an annual rate of 37 percent, the value of the currency has fallen, and wars and tension continue on multiple fronts to the south and west.

SEE ALSO: Five reasons to care about the Sudan - South Sudan conflict

For many, the "new" push for an Islamic constitution is not new at all, only an opportunistic retrenchment of the Islamic militarism that first brought Bashir to power in a coup in 1989, with roots in Sudan that date from the late 1960s.

The interim constitution agreed to in 2005 to end the north-south civil war was an inclusive reflection of Sudan's religious and ethnic diversity. But the breaking off of South Sudan, the economic crisis, and conflicts opened the way for a return of Islamic rhetoric.

"So Omar al-Bashir looked to his left, and to his right, and saw he had no way to bring people around to him except with Islam," says Adil Abdelghani, a legal expert in Khartoum, the capital. "[Bashir] forgot that all these years he called on people to die in the south for an Islamic state, a jihad," Mr. Abdelghani says. "Unfortunately, he started with Islam 23 years ago. And [for] all these years he says, 'We apply Islam; we are Islamic.' So what Islam does he mean now?"

A QURAN AND AN AK

For years in the 1990s, the government's war against the Christian and animist southern rebels was portrayed in Khartoum as a religious jihad, a holy war for God against infidels, with its martyrs venerated.

Soon after taking power, Bashir held a rally in Khartoum, where he held aloft a Quran and an AK-47 assault rifle ? the proverbial "book and the sword" that has so defined his decades of rule.

"I vow here before you to purge from our ranks the renegades, the hirelings, enemies of the people and enemies of the armed forces," Bashir declared. "Anyone who betrays this nation does not deserve the honor of living...."

Soon after, a religious fatwa declared a jihad against southern Sudan. The war had been incited by "Zionists, crusaders, and arrogant persons," the fatwa read. It concluded that "those Muslims who deal with dissidents and rebels and raise doubts about the legality of jihad are hypocrites and dissenters and apostates for the Islamic religion."

Sharia (Islamic) laws were also made more sweeping, with maximum sentences including "death and crucifixion," the punishment for armed robbery, and execution by stoning for adultery ? a sentence handed down twice in the last two months, though not likely to be carried out. Flogging is a more typical sentence these days.

"It is about politics, about trading in people's emotions and beliefs, and using them as an instrument of politics, so Islam is a commodity in the political market," lawyer Abdelghani says.

There is another motive behind the Islamic push, he adds. "When things deteriorate, we will have a constitution shaped by the president's view, but not by what Islam is," Abdelghani adds. "When he feels he needs a tool to suppress his opponents, or sees a use for religion, then he will [use] it."

REASSURANCES TO MINORITIES

When Bashir spoke earlier this month, he sought to reassure the public and said the new Islamic constitution would protect the rights of all and be formed with wide input.

"And we tell non-Muslims, nothing will preserve your rights except for Islamic sharia because it is just," the Sudanese president said. A drafting committee would include "all parties, religious sects, and Sufis."

Despite those words, Sudanese politicians know the way the political wind is blowing. The head of parliament's legislation, justice, and human rights committee, Al-Fadil Haj Suleiman, was quoted in the local media saying that "any constitution outside of values and religious conventions will be met with fierce resistance from the society."

He added that an Islamic constitution "may not apply Islamic laws," but was taken to task by the editor of the Sudan Vision newspaper who noted wryly in print that Sudanese citizens already had "experience in the past Islamic laws and how they were implemented."

Among the most aware of the progress ? and drawbacks ? of Sudan's perpetual Islamist project is Hassan al-Turabi, the erudite Islamist leader who is widely seen as the man who engineered Bashir's rise to power but has since fallen out and spent years in prison as a staunch opponent of the regime.

"This is just another slogan ... all dictators have slogans to dupe the common, innocent people," says Mr. Turabi about the push for an Islamic constitution. "If [Bashir] really now returns to Islam, [if] he is a reborn Muslim, then (a) he should go to the [ICC] immediately, because he killed not one person but thousands, and raped thousands; (b) he should immediately drop out because we don't have dictators at all," he says during an interview at his Khartoum home, which is closely monitored by security forces.

Think you know Africa? Take our geography quiz.

As attorney general in 1983, Turabi, a Sorbonne- and Oxford-educated lawyer, was the architect of President Jaafar Nimeiri's embrace of Islamic law in the 1980s.

Turabi was the ?minence grise of Sudan's Islamic transformation starting in 1989 with Bashir, and told this reporter 20 years ago how happy he was because his "work of all these years is finally coming true."

"Yes, we're fighting a jihad, and we've always been fighting a jihad in the Sudan," Turabi said at the time. He cited the French Revolution to justify bloodshed and asked if the West had developed democracy "without violence." Religion, he conceded to this reporter at another meeting in 1998, was also useful "just to sell your cause."

That was also the conclusion of the family of Al-Fateh Omar Hussein, who was determined to die a martyr in 1993. His family was proud, they told this reporter that year in Khartoum, that God had chosen him. "[God] selects who He wants near Him," said Mr. Hussein's mother, Zeinab.

"The aim is not to bring Islam to the people of the south, but to use religion [to fight] the war," acknowledged Hussein's sister, Amel. Before the Islamic regime had reenergized the war, generals ordered to the south would take off their epaulets and refuse to go.

But in the first years of the Bashir regime, officials volunteered to take part themselves, to boost their careers with a stint in the militia at the front. Bashir's brother, a medical doctor, was seen in action on state television. Turabi's youngest brother ? a recent college graduate ? was killed in the war.

"Religion in this war is not the core subject," said Amel Hussein in 1993. "But when they say it is a jihad to defend your family, your government, and your people, fighters will be motivated by the religious reward."

'A BAD DICTATORSHIP'

Thus the regime is trying to reinvigorate such sentiment today with talk of an Islamic constitution, Turabi says. But it will be harder this time. "[Bashir] set a very bad example. Islam has produced a most corrupt government," he says. "It's a bad dictatorship, most cruel, no freedom of the press [or] of political parties; no equality for women or non-Muslims, [which] breaks up the country and disunites people."

Sudan's "Islamic" transformation was the first of its kind, meant to be a model in the Sunni Arab word, discounting the 1979 Islamic revolution in Shiite Iran, Turabi says. Yet it has failed, he says ? and no amount of repackaging can change that.

Turabi's current opposition has failed to persuade many of Sudan's antiregime activists that he is really with them. They blame him for using Islam to justify violence in the first years of Bashir's reign, including torture.

Turabi knows it.

"When you walk on a path that has never been walked before," he says, "you come to problems that nobody knows, that nobody told you, 'Watch out!' "

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Source: http://news.yahoo.com/sudans-struggling-government-offers-100-percent-islamic-173715548.html

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Tuesday, August 7, 2012

A Hearing Center Helps Patients Maintain Auditory Health | General ...


Health and Fitness | General health | * Written by Abraham Avotina | Monday, 06 August 2012 12:23 | Word Count: 450

The ability to hear clearly is something that should never be taken for granted. There are many people have trouble picking up sounds. For these individuals there is a solution. A hearing center has devices and aids that can solve auditory problems. Thankfully, these implements come in a variety of shapes and sizes, in order to fit individual hearing and lifestyle requirements. Those who cannot properly hear can develop difficulties in communication as well as create misunderstanding and frustration in those around them. It decreases the overall quality of life. The good news is that those with impairments can improve their auditory abilities. This will restore confidence and improve interaction skills and wellness.

The luxuries of activities like talking to friends or listening to music depends on the ability to process sound. Unfortunately, some people have problems with their ears or have developed loss of hearing over the years. But the wonders and advancements in technology have delivered relief to so many people. There are a variety of sound aids to choose from. First the patient must be tested. Proper testing assesses the need of the individual patient. One particular test is called the audiometric test. Professionals investigate what levels of sound the person can process and how much speech is understood.

Many people don't realize the importance of good sound perception until it is taken away from them. In today's world, those who have problems hearing may find their job performance and interpersonal communication have been affected. No one wants these negative traits. Even the inability to hear oneself is a problem. It causes problems with speech.

This type of facility has the equipment that can positively change lives. Each person will receive specific care and attention so that the perfect aid for his or her lifestyle and condition can be determined. Professionals understand the different problems that each of their patients may face. Hearing devices are usually placed on the ear to increase the person's perception of sound. Most are placed either behind the ear or inside of the ear. They are designed to be as invisible as they can possibly be.

Many people can be seen walk around listening to music through ear buds or headphones. Those who listen too loudly may someday face loss of hearing or other ear problems. This is unfortunate but the situation is very common. Fortunately patients can turn to a hearing center to seek correction for their impairment.

A white plains, ny hearing center may be able to address your hearing problems. For more information, go to http://www.miracle-ear-whiteplains.com.

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Monday, August 6, 2012

Health insurance in utah - HEALTH, BEAUTY & FITNESS

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