The UN Secretary General seeks additional peacekeepers for the Central African Republic.

1:45 AM Saturday Feb 22, 2014

 

ATHENS, Greece (AP) European Union (click here) defense ministers say EU peacekeepers are expected to arrive in the Central African Republic in early March to help stop the sectarian violence that has claimed more than 1,000 lives and forced nearly 1 million people to flee.
Greek Defense Minister Dimitris Avramopoulos says the EU peacekeeping force's command center will be in Larissa, Greece. The 28-nation bloc plans to send at least 500 troops.
Avramopoulos spoke Friday after a two-day meeting of EU defense ministers in Athens.
About 1,600 French troops and 6,000 African peacekeepers already are deployed to deter bloodshed between the Muslim minority and Christian majority in the Central African Republic, a country of 4.6 million people that's roughly the size of Texas. France says it plans to deploy 400 more soldiers soon.

The BBC's Kassim Kayira joins 2,000 escapees on the dangerous journey to safety

20 February 2014 Last updated at 13:13 ET
 

Families wanting to escape Christian militias (click here) bent on wiping out the Central African Republic's Muslim community have been braving lynch mobs at road blocks to journey 650km (400 miles) to Cameroon.

They join a monthly convoy that snakes to and from Cameroon's border from the capital, Bangui - guarded by African Union peacekeepers.

“Start Quote Should I stay to see my children and husband or myself get killed?”  

Mariama Muslim woman fleeing Bangui

It is a form of ethnic cleansing in motion.

"I feel so sad leaving. I have never left this country before, says Mariama, a Muslim woman, before she boarded one of the vehicles as it prepared to leave Bangui.
"But four of my relatives were killed last week."
The old and the young were all rushing about her towards the vehicles - a mix of private cars and big trucks - to find a space to take them to safety....

News Corp CEO obsessed with display of wealth.

February 21, 2014 - 2:07PM

News Corporation (click here) chairman Rupert Murdoch has agreed to buy the top four floors of a condominium tower near Manhattan's Madison Square Park for $US57.3 million ($63.7 million).
Murdoch, 82, went into contract to purchase two units at One Madison, a triplex penthouse spanning the 58th to 60th storeys and another full-floor apartment beneath it, his spokesman, Steven Rubenstein, said....

Adelina Sotnikova out performed the other competition in Women's Figure Skating. No comparison.

The defending champion put in a beautiful performance, but, took no risks.

Who gets the killing Wall Street or the US Pentagon?

Privatizing Bandwidth has to be for peaceful purposes ONLY!

By David Alexander and Phil Stewart

WASHINGTON Thu Feb 20, 2014 7:46pm GMT
 

(Reuters) - The Pentagon (click here) said on Thursday it was working to find ways to share more of its reserved airwaves with commercial wireless companies that need greater bandwidth for smartphone and tablet users, but it declined to elaborate on how much it might vacate.

The Pentagon's communications chief, Teri Takai, said the department was working "very closely" with key federal agencies to reach President Barack Obama's goal of making 500 megahertz of airwaves reserved for federal agencies available to telecommunications companies over the next decade.


Air Force Major General Robert Wheeler said the Pentagon believed the "best plan for the future" would be a combination of the military vacating parts of the spectrum, sharing other parts with industry and compressing communications in some cases to make more space available.

"That's how we're going forward with it," he told a Pentagon news conference. "It also depends on what industry needs. ... So there's basically a combination."

The remarks by Takai and Wheeler came as they unveiled a strategy to help the data-hungry U.S. military adapt to increasing commercial and national security demands for airwaves as the government seeks to reach Obama's goal....

Norway is holding on to first place in earning Gold Medals. However, there was a far greater shake up yesterday as Germany has been passed by Canada and the USA.

The Woman's Ice Hockey was an incredible come back by Canada. The last minute goal by Canada toward the end of the Gold Medal event returned moment to the team and they dominated overtime. 

The ice skating events have proven to the youth of most of the competitors. There are many skaters on the ice at the level of the Olympics for the first time. This years ice skaters will prove to be well matured by the time 2018 rolls around.

The Women's Bobsled event was a wonderful surprise for the USA taking both silver and bronze. 

France swept the medals in Men's Ski Cross. World champion Jean-Frederic Chapuis took gold, Arnaud Bovolenta won silver and Jonathan Midol captured bronze in one of the most exciting events on the Olympic calendar. A single country sweep of medals hasn't occurred since the Summer games of 1924 in men's gymnastics.

A photo finish was necessary with incredible competition in Nordic combined. Norway put in a heroic effort that closed a 25 second gap at the finish line.

Jack de Menezes
February 21, 2014

Ukrainian skier Bogdana Matsotska (click here) has announced that she has withdrawn from the Winter Olympics in Sochi in order to protest against the violence in her home country after the International Olympic Committee banned athletes from wearing a black armband ion tribute.

The 24-year-old, who has already finished 27th in the women’s super-G and 43rd in the giant slalom, was expected to compete in Friday’s slalom competition, but Matsotska has confirmed that she will not compete due to the IOC’s ruling following the violent and tragic clashes in Kiev.

 “We wanted to wear black armbands to mourn the people who have died in Kiev, but the IOC told us it was not allowed,” Bogdana Matsotska said. “In these conditions it is simply not possible to compete. We don't feel comfortable here and we can't compete.”...

The best of curling occurred yesterday with Sweden and Canada. The tough competitors battled to the end, but, Canada walked away with a 6-3 victory for the Olympic Gold.

The Half-Pipe still belongs to an American in the women's competition where Maddie Bowman won gold, France's Marie Martinod took silver and Ayana Onozuka of Japan won bronze. This new competition has been embraced internationally.

A joint government has to follow, it is up to Europe to it's success.

Europe is going to have a long term involvement in the Ukraine. It won't prohibit investment by other nations, but, the Ukraine needs stability and it is Europe that can most provide it. All parties need recognition and a short term peace won't last without a sustained European involvement. There has been too much political turbulence over the past decade. 

 Ukraine protest LIVE 11:59:59 (click here)

05:19
Friday
February 21, 2014

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry (click here) urges to call to account those who are responsible for violence in Ukraine
Ukrainian News learned this from his statement.
"The violence must stop. We unequivocally condemn the use of force against civilians by security forces... The people of Ukraine and the international community will hold to account those who are responsible for what has occurred," Kerry says.
He reminds that the United States has already begun implementing sanctions through travel bans on Ukrainians responsible for the violence.
As Ukrainian News earlier reported, the Presidential Administration's head Andrii Kliuev consider that imposition of sanctions against Ukrainian officials will escalate the conflict. 

If there is an agreement that doesn't return the former Prime Minister for early elections I have my doubts about the outcome of any such agreement. Former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko has been leading the resistance from her Russian prison cell. She has been calling for the return of the 2004 Ukraine Constitution. If she is not a part of the agreement, the peril of the people will most likely continue.

Yulia Tymoshenko

Last updated: February 21, 2014 9:08 am
By Neil Buckley and Roman Olearchyk in Kiev and Peter Spiegel in Brussels

High quality global journalism (click here) requires investment. Please share this article with others using the link below, do not cut & paste the article. See our Ts&Cs and Copyright Policy for more detail.

Ukraine’s embattled president Viktor Yanukovich claimed on Friday to have reached a compromise deal to end the country’s violent political crisis – but EU ministers immediately raised questions and it was unclear that anti-government protesters would accept it.

The announcement followed a massacre in Kiev on Thursday in which as many as 70 Ukrainians were killed as unidentified snipers fired on protesters in the capital’s central square....

The problem is not Russia's, it is Europe's, simply because Europe cannot possibly enter into a war. A civil war within the Ukraine is an outrageous idea. It would destabilize Eastern Europe and heavily impact the economy of Western Europe. The location of the Ukraine invites instability in relation to the region.

Europe needs to compliment the settlement with realistic outcomes at this point. Europe cannot take a hard line simply because it is ideologically best. The Ukraine needs compromise, transparency and joint government. Right now those lead by the former Prime Minister see the concentrated attention as an opportunity to achieve their goals. They are correct to the extent the global community has their attention, but, it cannot lead to armed conflict. 

Tymoshenko and Chancellor Angela Merkel at a March 2011 European People's Party summit in Brussels.

David Francis

The Fiscal Times 
February 20, 2014

David Francis

The Fiscal Times

February 20, 2014

Yulia Tymoshenko (click here) - If there is one person who could calm the opposition, it’s Tymoshenko. European human rights groups have been pushing hard for her release since she was jailed in 2011. It’s not impossible to imagine that if she were freed, it would calm protestors.
As prime minister, Tymoshenko was a vocal advocate of increasing ties with the West and was a constant thorn in Russian President Vladimir Putin’s side. This led to gas pricing disputes in which Gazprom shut off the flow of natural gas through Ukraine, causing a series of energy crises in Europe.
Tymoshenko is loved by Europe, but she’s a divisive figure inside Ukraine. Beginning in 2005, she served as prime minister for five years and was a key part of the Orange Revolution, which brought democratic reforms to Ukraine. But she was always dogged by allegations of corruption in her energy business dealings; Yanukovych used these suspicions to defeat her in the 2010 president election, and then trumped up charges based on those decisions after it. She’s currently serving the second year of a seven-year sentence for embezzlement and tax fraud charges.

There needs to be a European Envoy to regularly visit the former Prime Minister. Europe cannot step away from the brink of success in ending the conflict. But, Europe needs to stay actively involved in promoting a government that will work for the people.

By Martin Santa and Marc Jones
BRUSSELS/LONDON Feb 19 (Reuters) - The European InvestmentBank (EIB) (click here) said on Wednesday it had frozen its activities in Ukraine after at least 26 people died in the worst violence since the former Soviet republic gained independence.
The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), the largest financial investor in Ukraine, said it had already scaled back its dealings with Kiev but had not suspended operations.
Ukraine has been gripped by renewed political turmoil since November, when President Viktor Yanukovich spurned a trade pact with the European Union and opted instead for closer economic ties with former Soviet master Russia.
The EIB's recent activities in Ukraine include the extension of a metro line, modernisation of air traffic control facilities and a 220 million euro ($302.52 million)credit line designed to finance small- and medium-scale projects....

The current Ukrainian leadership has discouraged interest in the country. There will be more emigration from the Ukraine.

Raiddeisen Bank Aval CEO Volodymyr Lavrenchuk said his personal contract is signed with the Ukrainian unit, meaning hw will keep managing the bank if changes ownership. 

22/01/2014 10:56

The FINANCIAL -- CEOof Raiffeisen Bank (click here) Aval VoVolodymyr Lavrenchuk, Chairman of Raiffeisen Bank Aval, won the first position in the rating of Ukrainian bankers as the most open top manager for communications with journalists and customers, according to Raiffeisen Bank Aval.... 

Since 1982, (click here) various positions in banking, including with Savings Bank of Ukraine, Ukrinbank and Raiffeisenbank Ukraine.... 

Volodymyr Lavrenchuk is the person to promote the ability of Ukraine to move forward as a growing economy. The country needs focus and stability, he would have the insight to provide that.

Feb. 21, 2014, 2:53 a.m.
Busines
by Ivan Verstyuk

Although Raiffeisen Bank (click here) has had success in Ukraine, the Austrian company still wants to unload its subsidiary in the nation and exit the market. Its 2013 net profit of $88.5 million and developed retail banking system are evidently not enough to convince the parent company to stay put.
The impending exit has dampened the mood of customers and investors alike whose pessimism only increased with the news of yet another Western bank leaving. Not surprisingly, foreign direct investments to Ukraine last year shrank to a paltry $2.9 billion, down 31 percent from the previous year.
Official confirmation of the move came on Feb. 10, when Raiffeisen Bank International chief executive officer Karl Sevelda told Austrian newspaper Die Press that the bank had selected a number of interested parties to conduct due diligence of its Ukrainian unit, which does business as Raiffeisen Bank Aval.
A key reason to sell relates to the European Central Bank’s financial health measures of raising capital requirements, meaning that Raiffeisen and others have had to keep more money at home. On top of that, the bank has to reimburse $2.4 billion to Austria’s central bank for the bailout package it received during the financial crisis of 2008-2009....

Yulia Tymoshenko - If there is one person who could calm the opposition, it’s Tymoshenko. European human rights groups have been pushing hard for her release since she was jailed in 2011. It’s not impossible to imagine that if she were freed, it would calm protestors.
As prime minister, Tymoshenko was a vocal advocate of increasing ties with the West and was a constant thorn in Russian President Vladimir Putin’s side. This led to gas pricing disputes in which Gazprom shut off the flow of natural gas through Ukraine, causing a series of energy crises in Europe.
Tymoshenko is loved by Europe, but she’s a divisive figure inside Ukraine. Beginning in 2005, she served as prime minister for five years and was a key part of the Orange Revolution, which brought democratic reforms to Ukraine. But she was always dogged by allegations of corruption in her energy business dealings; Yanukovych used these suspicions to defeat her in the 2010 president election, and then trumped up charges based on those decisions after it. She’s currently serving the second year of a seven-year sentence for embezzlement and tax fraud charges.
- See more at: http://www.thefiscaltimes.com/Articles/2014/02/20/One-Woman-Could-End-Violence-Ukraine#sthash.lja74Ik4.dpuf

Gold Medal Game Women's Hockey 

US vs Canada

Tied 3 - 3 

Now in overtime.

US had it won with 3 minutes and 30 seconds to go when Canada scored and tied it.

Canada Gold.

The Eurasian Economic Union is due to be finalized in a constitution in 2015. Currently, the permanent participants are Belarus, Russia and Kazakstan. The other nations here are expected to be a part of of the economic cooperative.

The people of the Ukraine believe the chance of having their 2004 constitution is mostly gone and the chances of it returning to a democracy they wanted is disappearing quickly. It is why the violence is nearly intractable at this point.

The Ukrainian constitution of 2004 is not a threat to the ambitions of the Eurasian Economic Union. When the EU formed no country had to compromise their own constitutions or sovereign status in order to find cooperation with other nations in developing their own currency and stability. 

The Ukrainian people wanted to be a part of Europe and they believe it is being taken away from them. I fear for them. I believe they have reached a tipping point.

Belarus - Ukraine Trains are on schedule

MINSK, 20 February (BelTA) - Trains (click here) from Ukraine to Belarus run as scheduled on 20 February, BelTA learnt from the press service of Belarusian Railways.
“There have been no delays in the departure of trains heading for Kyiv,” the company said answering BelTA’s question on possible changes in the timetable in connection with mass riots in Kyiv.
Currently 11 pairs of Belarusian Railways’ international trains are used to service the Belarus-Ukraine line. These trains link Belarus with Kyiv and major administrative and regional centers in Ukraine. Transit trains from Chisinau, Kyiv, Odessa and Dnepropetrovsk run through Belarus to St. Petersburg.
On 20 February the Belarusian Embassy recommended that Belarusians in Ukraine abstain from visiting places where protests are being staged. 

20 February 2014
The system of finished product control (click here) is running at full capacity in Belarus. This has been announced at today's press conference by Minister of Agriculture and Food Leonid Zayats. In his opinion, the agricultural industry lacks highly skilled professionals; however, there are educational institutions aimed at raising professional skill levels. It is planned to use new approaches in milk production to reach 10 million tons of milk per year by 2015.
According to the Minister, agro-industrial complex development is a very promising area. Dairy products and meat sold abroad bring tens of percent profit margins.

20.02.14
MINSK, 20 February (BelTA) – Belarus (click here) intends to contact the Eurasian Economic Community Court in view of Russia’s claims concerning the poor quality of Belarusian meat and dairy products, BelTA learned from Belarusian Agriculture and Food Minister Leonid Zayats on 20 February.

Russia’s complaints about the quality of Belarusian agricultural products have been quite frequent in mass media recently. Belarus has repeatedly stated and the Agriculture and Food Minister underlined it one more time on 19 February that Russia’s concerns had been caused by attempts to falsify Belarusian foods. In particular, attempts to falsify tinned meat made by the agricultural company Agrokombinat Snov have been registered. Unprincipled manufacturers make well-known Belarusian brands suffer, discrediting the latter and negatively influencing the trust in Belarus. “We are forced to go to court to protect our manufacturers,” said the Minister....

By EDDIE PELLS 
AP National Writer
KRASNAYA POLYANA, Russia 
February 17, 2014 (AP) 

This was a high five Anton Kushnir will never forget. (click here)

Five spins into the frosty night air followed by a near-perfect landing gave Kushnir the gold medal Monday and wrapped up a sweep of aerials gold at the Sochi Olympics for Belarus.

He won it three nights after Alla Tsuper, who recently moved to Belarus from Ukraine, took the women's gold.

"We managed to repeat the success," Kushnir said. "I don't know actually how this happened but I got the gold medal."

Kushnir won with the biggest trick going in the game right now — the "back double full-full-double full," which is five twists packed into three head-over-heels flips while he soars 50 feet (15 meters) off the ramp.

He earned a score of 134.5 for the trick to beat David Morris of Australia by more than 24 points....

From the Associated Press

February 14, 2014, 11:34 a.m.

SOCHI, Russia — Alla Tsuper of Belarus (click here) pulled off a stunning Olympic gold-medal win in women's aerials.

Tsuper drilled 98.01 in the finals to beat a field that included defending Olympic champion Lydia Lassila of Australia and two-time Olympic medalist Li Nina of China.

Xu Mengtao of China won silver while Lassila earned bronze.

The 34-year-old Tsuper had never finished higher than fifth in four previous Olympics. She plans on retiring after the Games to spend more time with her young daughter and hoped to go out “on a high.” 

Tsuper went first during the four-skier final round and drilled her acrobatic leap. Nina and Lassila both botched their landings and when Mengtao struggled to hold on at the end of her jump, Tsuper began celebratin.


 

By DAVID PACE
ASSOCIATED PRESS
February 17, 2014, 11:28 AM

SOCHI, Russia — It was Belarus (click here) day Monday at the Sochi Olympics.
A Belarussian woman made Olympic history by becoming the first female ever to win three biathlon titles at the same games, and one of her teammates captured the men's freestyle skiing aerials competition to complete a gold-medal sweep on the event.
Anton Kushnir nailed a near-perfect landing after a "back double full-full-double full" jump — five twists packed into three head-over-heels flips while soaring 50 feet off the ramp and into the night sky.


MINSK, 20 February (BelTA) – The registration (click here) of local election candidates is finishing in Belarus on 20 February, BelTA has learnt.
A total of 22,784 candidates have joined the race for 18,816 seats at the local councils of deputies. The candidates were nominated by political parties, labor collectives and by means of signature collection. The average competition in a constituency is 1.2. The competition for the seats in the Minsk City Council of Deputies will be the toughest with the average of 4.7 potential candidates seeking a seat there.
Candidates will be able to start campaigning from the moment of registration up to 22 March. The early elections will take place on 18-22 March. The election day is scheduled for 23 March. 

MINSK, 20 February (BelTA) – Belarus (click here) is expanding the network of emergency or temporary accommodation for people whose personal safety is threatened (like domestic violence victims or human trafficking victims), BelTA learnt from the Labor and Social Security Ministry of Belarus.
 
There are 148 regional social services centers in Belarus, including two municipal social support centers for families and children in Minsk and Gomel. As of 1 January 2014, these centers operated 133 social adaptation and rehabilitation facilities and 74 shelters. There were 31 shelters in Belarus as of 1 January 2011, 41 shelters as of 1 January 2012 and 50 shelters as of 1 January 2013. Thus, the number of shelters is increasing year to year. As for the regional distribution of shelters, Mogilev Oblast used to have the biggest number of temporary housing. Now Vitebsk Oblast has as many temporary and emergency accommodation facilities. Shelters were opened in all the districts (25 in each region). Last year 150 people approached these facilities for assistance (124 people in 2012)....

MINSK, 20 February (BelTA) – In January 2014 (click here) Belarus’ GDP totaled Br49,851.7 billion, 1.1% down from January 2013, BelTA learned from the National Statistics Committee of Belarus.
In January 2014 the industrial output dropped by 7.1% to Br52.23 trillion. The share of innovative products in the total volume of shipped products amounted to 15.1%.
In January 2014 the fixed-capital investments stood at Br9.17 trillion, 99.6% as against January 2013.
In 2013 Belarus’ GDP reached Br636.8 trillion, 0.9% up from 2012.
As of 1 February 2014 the finished goods inventory amounted to Br31.84 trillion, 78.2% of the average monthly industrial output.
In January 2014 Belarus’ agricultural output lost 2.8% in comparison with January 2013 to land at Br5.16 trillion.
In January 2014 the wholesale trade turnover rose by 3.4% to Br36.8 trillion. The retail trade turnover gained 13.6% to reach Br21.6 trillion. 

MINSK, 19 February (BelTA) – It is important to prepare (click here) the Eurasian Economic Union Treaty on time. Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko made the statement as he met with members of the Council of the Eurasian Economic Commission and the Chairman of the EEC Board on 19 February, BelTA has learned.

In line with the agreement reached by the presidents of the Customs Union member states the Eurasian Economic Union Treaty is supposed to be ready by 1 May 2014. The Union itself should become operational as from 1 January 2015. “Concrete deadlines have been set and I wouldn’t like breaking them,” noted the Belarusian head of state.

“It is very important because once due to the work to establish the Union State of Belarus and Russia, even more so, the Commonwealth of Independent States our peoples had inflated expectations or maybe normal ones but we failed to meet these expectations. Therefore, people are now concerned about the possibility of our failing of the project. If we shift the timeframe, if we fail to meet the deadlines, the people will not be happy about it,” said the Belarus President....

Hungary prepares for Ukraine refugees.

February 19th, 2014

Members of the Visegrad Four grouping, (click here) including Hungarian authorities, are monitoring the situation in Ukraine, with special regard to the Hungarian minority living in Transcarpathia, Andras Giro-Szasz, the government spokesman, told MTI on Wednesday.

Hungary is prepared both in terms of health-care and refugee services, to deal with a potential inflow of refugees in light of the violence in Ukraine, he said.
At least 25 people died and hundreds were injured in clashes between the police and anti-government demonstrators in Kiev by Wednesday morning.

The Ukrainian people know, understand and seek a return of the democracy they established in 2004. It is too late for old world oppression. The Ukraine government has to realize they do not have the support of the people of their nation. The government troops are Ukrainian, too. They can't possibly be expected to continuously kill their fellow citizens. The people want government, they don't want oppression. There is no going back for many of them and carnage is nothing more than killing innocent people that believe their lives are over in profound ways if oppression were to return to them.

By: Anna-Lysa Gayle
Updated: Thu 12:19 AM, Feb 20, 2014

The protests in the Ukraine (click here) is just one example of how refugees end up in the United States and for Viktor Sokolyuk it brings back sad memories.
"You do whatever you're told, you can't say anything against the regime," said Sokolyuk, who entered the United States as a refugee, during the time the Ukraine was under the Soviet Union's control.
He said it seems little has changed in the country.
He describes today's leaders in the Ukraine like this.
"They still have that old Soviet society mentality. It's either my way or there is no way," said Sokolyuk.
Under the soviet regime he was persecuted for being a Christian.
Now a citizen of the United States, he works to help refugees coming to America, who were once like him....

Lee Young-sil, 87, right, (click here) and her sister Ri Jeong-sil, 84, now living in North Korea, shed tears as they met each other during inter-Korean family reunions held at the Geumgangsan Hotel in North Korea, Thursday./ Yonhap

By Kim Kwang-tae
Joint Press Corps

MOUNT KUMGANG, North Korea, Feb. 20 (Yonhap) -- Kang Neung-hwan, (click here) a 93-year-old South Korean, wept and hugged his son from North Korea on Thursday as they reunited at a North Korean mountain resort along with dozens of other families, in an emotional event that underscored the painful separation of people after the Korean War.

Kang did not knew that his wife -- with whom he had been married for less than four months -- was pregnant when he fled to South Korea during the chaotic days of the 1950-1953 war. The war ended in a cease-fire, not a peace treaty, keeping ordinary people from the rival Koreas from contacting each other for decades....

They ever have training at FOX? Seriously. The American people are used to tabloid journalism to promote power.

Egypt needs to deport them, remove their visas or tell them to find another country or island to live on.

Why do through a trail, it will only upset everyone. Tell them to get out of the country and if they come back it is at their own risk. Look, you know China once told Nick Kristof not to ever enter the country where his in-laws live. It happens. 

This is not that big of a deal. Countries do this all the time, the journalists are used to it. Tell them there is more news in Beirut. News gets that way. Everyone fighting for the next headline and it reads really lousy when one realizes it is the same story as the next one only with a twist. All those journalists trying to cover different sides of the mess get confused themselves.

This stuff is not worth the time of the Egyptian government. It just isn't. Put them out of the country. Something tells me these journalists are not bringing people together. That is the issue here. They are doing a really lousy job in Egypt and the government wants it to end. They need reassignment, that is all this is.
 
Ahram Online
Thursday 20 Feb 2014

The trial of 20 journalists (click here) working for Al Jazeera, including four foreigners, has been adjourned until 5 March.

Representatives from the Australian and Canadian embassies were in court to support their citizens.
There was a heavy presence of foreign media outlets in the courtroom.

The 16 Egyptians are charged with joining a terrorist organisation – a reference to the Muslim Brotherhood, officially designated a terrorist group in December – harming national unity and social peace.
The foreigners – an Australian, two Britons and one Dutch – are accused of "airing false news" in order to "undermine the state's status and disrupt public security."...

Germany finds humility as Norway takes the lead with the USA hot on both heels.

The ski slopes are rough. It is amazing how these slopes carve out the expertise of the athletes. They allow for very little mistakes. Exactly when I thought the slopes were simply impossible along would come the one athlete putting in a perfect run.  

This Olympics is finding a focus on women, too. It is refreshing. They are great athletes.

By TIM REYNOLDS
AP Sports Writer

...They shared a coach. (click here) They shared philosophies. They shared knowledge.
They could not share the Olympic gold medal.
It belongs to Humphries.
Canada's team of Humphries and Heather Moyse are again queens of Olympic women's bobsledding, rallying past the U.S. duo of Meyers and Lauryn Williams on Wednesday night to win gold at the Sochi Games.
It's the second straight Olympic title for Humphries and Moyse, and it wasn't decided until the final moment of the competition — then only by a tenth of a second.
"We knew it was going to be this way," Humphries said after becoming the first women's bobsledder to drive to back-to-back Olympic golds....

In winning a silver in the Bobsled, Lauryn Williams was the seventh American to win medals in both Summer and Winter Olympics. Lauryn missed being the first athlete to win Gold in both summer and winter olympics by 0.23 seconds. It was heartbreaking, but, she took it in stride as any great athlete does. Perhaps she many try again.

8:09 PM, February 19, 2014 
KRASNAYA POLYANA, RUSSIA — As the last few teams (click here) competed in the bobsled on Wednesday — and former Detroiter Lauryn Williams tried to make Olympic history by becoming the first woman to win gold medals in the Winter and Summer Games — fireworks shot into the air....

Ted Ligety takes the Gold.

The USA CBO are a bunch of wackos.

The President needs to clean house over there. Let me show you. I am sure Goldman has a place for everyone of them even if in the mail room where their brains can be picked at minimum wage.

By Zachary A. Goldfarb  
Published: February 18

...The higher wages (click here) would lift about 900,000 people out of poverty, the report said.

But the CBO warned that raising the minimum wage could also cause employers to lay off low-wage workers or hire fewer of them, reducing overall employment by about 500,000 jobs, or about 0.3 percent of the labor force. The CBO acknowledged that its calculation is an estimate and said actual job losses could range from “very slight” to as many as 1 million positions....

So, according to the CBO, The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act will drop the number of people in the labor force. Now, that is not correct. All the people currently will remain in the labor force but won't be working one to two additional jobs to pay for their health care.

So according to the CBO there will be many jobs left vacant because the nation has good health care now. THAT IS WHAT THEY SAID. No going back on that. 

Now, the increase in minimum wage will cost the economy jobs. That is what the CBO is stating. If the minimum wage goes up and raises 900,000 out of poverty, then the economy will lose 500,000 jobs. CAN'T GO BACK ON THAT. It is in writing.

It seems to me that very much straights out the entire mess the CBO has so generously written as if the country has to be confused about what a Middle Class looks like.

The CBO is victimizing the people of this country by putting report after report into print to try to advise the country to reject it's own success in moving out of poverty.

So, here is the equation:

Loss of Labor + Loss of Jobs = 0 loss of quality of life for the Middle Class, balanced books for Wall Street with reductions in the need for food stamps, medicaid and welfare for the USA Treasury and a federal budget coming in line with it's income.

I'LL BE DARN.

But, wait. The CBO will now come out with a report stating the loss of jobs won't align with the drop in labor and will result in a drop in GDP. 

OMG!!!!!!!!!!!!

I have a cure for that, when the INEVITABLE happens and some labor is misaligned with jobs that remain, they are retrained to fill in the gap. SOUND LIKE A PLAN?  

The magnificent change anticipated by the CBO has a name. It is called President Obama. 

The dye is cast. The people of the Ukraine will not consent now that so many have perished.

She needs to be returned to the Ukraine. Jailing her isn't going to stop this. She is willing to run for President in the Ukraine from her jail cell.

Commentators (click here) in Ukraine and the wider region are appalled by the use of force against protesters in Kiev's main protest camp. Front pages carry harrowing pictures from the Maidan, with headlines speaking of "rivers of blood".

...In Ukraine, the main headline in independent broadsheet Den is a quote from a poem by Vasyl Symonenko: "There is no more room for graves at the cemetery of killed illusions." The daily also publishes a gallery of harrowing images from last night's clashes, headlined "Dictatorship of hatred".
"Shattered truce" is the front-page headline in the popular daily Segodnya, which is of the opinion that "Ukraine is on fire again". Speaking about chances for a peaceful parliamentary solution to the crisis, political expert Vadym Karasyov tells Segodnya that "they are melting away fast"....

Ultimately the former Prime Minister must be freed to return to her country. No army is going to stop this. They believe the future of their children is more important than their own lives. Widows are not a good idea by any government. 

14 February, 15:44
...In October 2011 (click here) she was sentenced to seven years in prison for abuse of power during the signing of the gas supply contracts with Russia. But Tymoshenko is not planning to give up her position....

President Yanukovych is destroying his own economy. The loans from Russia will never be enough if this continues. If the Ukraine remains in chaos it's fiscal condition will deteriorate. The current path President Yanukovych has chosen will never be tolerated. A day of mourning? Really? He calls out the troops and 25 people are dead and he calls for a day of mourning. I don't think that is going to elevate his status among the people.

President Viktor Yanukovych has declared February 20 a day of mourning for those perished in the clashes between the anti-government protesters and law-enforcers, reads decree No.82 of February 19.

By Brendan Hoffman (GETTY)

KIEV, UKRAINE - FEBRUARY 19: A hotel clerk looks out the lobby window at a barricade that was constructed on an adjacent street overnight near the perimeter of Independence Square, known as Maidan, on February 19, 2014 in Kiev, Ukraine. After several weeks of calm, violence has again flared between police and anti-government protesters, who are calling for the ouster of President Viktor Yanukovych over corruption and an abandoned trade agreement with the European Union. (Photo by Brendan Hoffman/Getty Images)

Germany can't be dethroned. Every time it looks as though there will be a change in status Germany wins another gold medal.

The Curling competition is becoming more and more interesting. I still haven't decided it is a good idea to stack the stones the way they do. I know I am probably dead wrong about this, but, would it not be just has good if they were lined up across the entire target as in a straight to the house?

It is incredible how accurate the placement of the stones are on ice.

18/02/2014 

Ever wondered (click here) how the Olympic medals are stored at an Olympic Games? Who keeps an eye on them? How they’re transported to the Medals Plaza? Or what goes on backstage to ensure the medals look their shiny best before being presented to the athletes?

Rachel Axon
USA TODAY Sports  
8:50 p.m. EST 
February 18, 2014
 
KRASNAYA POLYANA, Russia -- If Sarah Burke (click here) were here, she and Roz Groenewoud would stand at the top of the Olympic halfpipe and say 1-2, 1-2.
The Canadian teammates always supported each other in that way, even if each saw herself on top.
A pioneer in her sport, the Canadian was a driving force behind getting the sport into the Olympics. It has been two years since her death after a training crash, and yet her dream will live on as halfpipe makes its debut for female skiers Thursday....