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Russia's Media Regulator Blocks Two More Independent Websites
MOSCOW -- Russia's media regulator, Roskomnadzor, has blocked two more independent media websites amid a crackdown over coverage of Moscow's unprovoked invasion of Ukraine.
The Diskurs and Kholod online newspapers said on April 9 that their websites had been blocked at the request of the Prosecutor-General's Office.
The editors of Diskurs said they were not warned about the move and did not know why exactly their site was blocked.
Kholod said it received two warnings from Roskomnadzor in the last two weeks demanding that the newspaper delete its reports about the ongoing war in Ukraine.
"We are not going to obey censorship, especially military censorship in the country that even does not accept that it started a war," Kholod said in a statement.
After Russia launched the invasion of Ukraine on February 24, Roskomnadzor ordered all media outlets to use only information provided by official Russian sources when covering events in Ukraine. It also directed media to describe events there as a "special military operation" and not a "war" or an "invasion."
The Prosecutor-General's Office then demanded websites of many media outlets be blocked, saying they distributed "false information about the Russian Army" in their reports about the developments in Ukraine.
On March 5, President Vladimir Putin signed a new law that calls for sentences of up to 15 years in prison for people who "deliberately distribute false news" about the Russian military.
Several Russian media outlets have chosen to suspend operations rather than face heavy restrictions on what they can report. The Kremlin has also blocked multiple foreign news outlets.
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Russian General Denied Release Pending Trial On Fraud Charge
A Moscow court on May 24 rejected investigators' recommendation to transfer jailed Russian Major General Ivan Popov from pretrial detention to house arrest. The 49-year-old Popov, the former commander of Russia's 58th Army who once complained about his forces' lack of support from Moscow, was arrested recently on fraud charges. He is one of several top military officials and Defense Ministry officials who have been arrested on corruption charges before and after President Vladimir Putin dismissed close ally Sergei Shoigu as defense minister and appointed former First Deputy Prime Minister Andrei Belousov to the post. To read the original story by RFE/RL's Russian Service, click here.
Romania Declares Russian Diplomat Persona Non Grata
The Romanian Foreign Ministry said on May 24 it had declared a Russian diplomat persona non grata after a Romanian citizen was accused of spying for Russia. Romania's Organized Crime Investigation Directorate said the suspect was collecting military information and sending it to a diplomat at the Russian Embassy in Bucharest. The Russian Foreign Ministry said it would "give an appropriate response" to Bucharest's move. To read the original story by RFE/RL's Romanian Service, click here.
Zelenskiy Hopes To See Central Asian Leaders At Swiss Peace Summit
KHARKIV, Ukraine -- Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has challenged Central Asian leaders to put aside concerns of angering Russia, which considers the region part of its sphere of influence, and attend a summit in Switzerland next month aimed at achieving peace in Ukraine.
Speaking to Central Asian journalists during a visit on May 24 to Kharkiv, just a few kilometers away from raging front-line battles with Russian troops, Zelenskiy said fear of Moscow's wrath should not deter Central Asian leaders from attending the June 15-16 summit.
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"I think they are mostly choosing the Russian side because of the fear of the Kremlin," Zelenskiy said, adding that he had invited all the Central Asian presidents to the summit in Switzerland and "wants to see them at the summit."
"We are now on the most difficult path of fight for our independence.... I advise you to start moving on that path now so that not to fight for it as painfully as Ukrainians are doing it now.... If you were in our position, how would you feel about the countries that did not join [the peace process]? " he added.
The aim of the summit is to create a broad front to oblige Russia to agree to a peace settlement under the terms of the UN Charter.
Zelenskiy's peace plan calls for the withdrawal of all Russian forces and the restoration of Ukraine's 1991 borders. Russia, which rejects the plan, has not been invited to the summit and has dismissed any discussion of the conflict without its participation as pointless.
Since the beginning of Russia's full-scale aggression against Ukraine in February 2022, all Central Asian leaders, excluding officials from Turkmenistan, have expressed a neutral stance to the ongoing invasion, calling on both sides to resolve "the conflict" via peaceful means.
Zelenskiy also told the Central Asian reporters at the meeting in Kharkiv that not even countries that are rich in mineral resources and energy supplies need to avoid being dependent on other countries.
The Kharkiv region has been a point of intense fighting in recent weeks, with Russia saying it is trying to establish a "buffer zone" to prevent Ukrainian cross-border attacks.
A day before Zelenskiy arrived in Kharkiv, at least eight people were killed in a wave of Russian strikes that he called "extremely brutal."
- By RFE/RL
Top UN Court Orders Israel To 'Immediately Halt' Its Offensive In Rafah
The United Nation's highest court has ruled that due to the deteriorating situation in the Gaza Strip, Israel must "immediately halt" its military offensive in the city of Rafah and take urgent steps to address the humanitarian crisis in the region.
Reading out a ruling by the International Court of Justice on May 24, the body's president, Nawaf Salam, said measures should include the reopening of the Rafah border crossing with Egypt to allow aid to flow into Gaza.
Israel must "immediately halt its military offensive, and any other action in the Rafah Governorate, which may inflict on the Palestinian group in Gaza conditions of life that could bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part," Salam said.
The order is part of a case brought by South Africa accusing Israel of genocide and asking the court to rule that Israel must stop its offensive in the southern Gaza city.
In a ruling on January 26, the 15-judge panel ruled that Israel must do everything to prevent genocide during its offensive in response to an attack in October by Hamas -- which has been designated a terrorist organization by the United States and the EU -- but stopped short of ordering a cease-fire.
WATCH: The International Criminal Court (ICC) prosecutor is seeking arrest warrants for Israel and Hamas leaders for war crimes. How likely is it to happen? What happens next? And what does it mean for the conflict in Gaza?
On March 28, it ordered Israel to take all necessary and effective action to ensure basic food supplies to Gaza's Palestinian population.
Though the court's rulings are legally binding, it has no way to enforce them.
Still, the 13-2 vote ordering Israel to halt its Rafah offensive, and to report on its progress in easing the humanitarian crisis within one month, increases pressure on Israel and further isolates it.
Israel had denied the accusation it is committing genocide in Gaza in the hostilities, touched off by an attack by Hamas on Israel on October 7 that killed some 1,200 people -- mainly civilians -- and saw around 240 more taken hostage.
The Hamas-run Health Ministry in Gaza says more than 35,000 Palestinians have been killed in the campaign, the majority of whom were women and children.
Bosnian Serbs' Move Toward Secession 'Dangerous, Irresponsible,' U.S. Envoy Warns
A proposal by the leaders of Republika Srpska to separate the Serbian entity from Bosnia-Herzegovina is "secession by another name" and "based upon a set of lies" that would mean the end of the entity, the U.S. envoy to Sarajevo has warned.
"Yesterday, Mr. Dodik (Bosnian Serb leader Milorad Dodik) announced that the Republika Srpska government took a formal decision to propose Republika Srpska's 'disassociation' from Bosnia-Herzegovina," Murphy said in a statement posted on X, formerly Twitter, on May 24.
"This is...secession by another name, and it is dangerous, irresponsible, anti-Dayton, and puts the territorial integrity, sovereignty, and multiethnic character of Bosnia at risk.... Republika Srpska can only exist inside Bosnia-Herzegovina. [It's] secession or 'disassociation' does not mean Republika Srpska's independence or the end of Bosnia-Herzegovina, it means the end of the Republika Srpska," Murphy wrote.
The government of Republika Srpska on May 23 announced that a document about what it called the "peaceful separation" from Bosnia would be sent to the other Bosnian entity -- the Bosniak-Croat federation -- in the next 30 days.
The announcement made by Prime Minister Radovan Viskovic came at a special government meeting chaired by Dodik and called ahead of the UN General Assembly's approval of a nonbinding resolution to commemorate the 1995 Srebrenica genocide in Bosnia over strong opposition from Serbs.
Russia-friendly Dodik, who has been sanctioned by the United States and Britain over his efforts to undermine the Dayton peace accords, has regularly reiterated his denial of the Srebrenica genocide.
He has repeatedly threatened that if the resolution is adopted, the entity "will withdraw from the decision-making process in Bosnia."
The vote on May 23 in the 193-member UN General Assembly was 84-19, with 68 abstentions, in favor of the resolution designating July 11 as the International Day of Reflection and Commemoration of the 1995 Genocide in Srebrenica.
The document, which has sparked protests and a lobbying campaign by Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic and the Bosnian Serb leadership to block its adoption, establishes an annual day of commemoration for the massacre of 8,000 Bosnian Muslim men and boys in Srebrenica at the height of the Bosnian War.
The war that pitched ethnic Serbs against Bosnian Muslims and Croats ended with the Dayton peace accords that established a Bosnian state made up of two entities -- Republika Srpska and the Bosniak-Croat federation -- under a weak central government.
Murphy said Dodik and his government have "tried to justify this decision based upon a set of lies and disinformation designed to frighten the Republika Srpska public into following them down this dangerous path."
"The facts are simple and straightforward. There is no international conspiracy to abolish the Republika Srpska, and Mr. Dodik cannot point to a single statement by an American official calling for the abolition of the Republika Srpska," he said.
"As the Dayton Peace Agreement and the Bosnian Constitution explicitly state, Bosnia-Herzegovina is the successor state of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Its constitution does not provide entities or any other sub-state unit with the right of secession or 'disassociation,'" Murphy added.
Kazakh Woman Shouts 'Glory To Ukraine!' After Sentencing For Inciting Ethnic Hatred
A Kazakh woman, Qalima Zhaparova, shouted "Glory to Ukraine!" in a courtroom on May 24 after a judge in Kazakhstan's southern city of Shymkent found her guilty of inciting ethnic hatred and handed her a two-year parole-like sentence. The 63-year-old was arrested in November after an ethnic Russian woman filed a complaint accusing Zhaparova of insulting her and her ethnicity while on public transport. Zhaparova rejected the accusation, saying she was reacting to the woman's viewpoint regarding the war in Ukraine when she openly condemned Russia's full-scale invasion. To read the original story by RFE/RL's Kazakh Service, click here.
Activists Promoting Tatar Language, Culture Detained In Tatarstan
Activists in Russia's Republic of Tatarstan said on May 24 that police had detained Rafik Karimullin, the leader of the Azatliq (Liberty) youth organization, and the former leader of the banned All-Tatar Public Center (TIU), Zinnur Agliullin, after searching their homes. The two organizations are known for promoting the Tatar language and culture. The TIU was banned and labeled as extremist in 2022. Also on May 24, police in Tatarstan searched the homes of several other activists and relatives of self-exiled opposition politicians, Azatliq said. To read the original story by RFE/RL's Tatar-Bashkir Service, click here.
Kazakh Activist's Request For Early Prison Release Rejected
ALMATY, Kazakhstan -- A court in Kazakhstan on May 23 rejected a request for the early release of opposition activist Qairat Qylyshev, who was sentenced to five years in prison in October 2021 on extremism-related charges that he and his supporters have rejected.
Qairat Qylyshev's lawyer, Zhanar Balghabaeva, said on May 24 that she will appeal the decision by the Qapshaghai city court.
According to Balghabaeva, her client, who has seven months and six days remaining on his sentence, does not pose a danger to society and deserves an early release.
Qylyshev and three other opposition activists were sentenced to five years in prison after a court found them guilty of having links with the banned Democratic Choice of Kazakhstan (DVK) movement and the Koshe (Street) party.
During their trial, the defendants claimed they only participated in peaceful protests and exercised their constitutionally protected rights.
Many activists across the Central Asian nation have been handed lengthy prison terms or parole-like restricted freedom sentences in recent years for their involvement in the activities of DVK and Koshe and for taking part in the rallies organized by the two groups.
DVK is led by Mukhtar Ablyazov, the fugitive former head of Kazakhstan's BTA Bank and an outspoken critic of the Kazakh government. Kazakh authorities labeled DVK extremist and banned the group in March 2018.
In spring 2022, Qylyshev was released on parole, but last year he was rearrested for what police called a "parole violation" and sent to a correctional colony again.
Human Rights Watch (HRW) has criticized the Kazakh government for using anti-extremism laws as a tool to persecute critics and civic activists. In all, several hundred people have been prosecuted for membership in the Koshe party.
The Kazakh authorities have shrugged off the accusations, insisting that there are no political prisoners in the tightly controlled former Soviet republic.
Estonia Summons Russian Diplomat Over Light Buoys Incident
Russian Charge d'Affaires in Estonia Lenar Salimullin was summoned to the Estonian Foreign Ministry on May 24 over an incident a day earlier on the Narva River that divides the two nations. Estonian officials said the Russian border service "unilaterally removed light buoys installed by Estonia to demarcate the border with Russia on the Narva River." Estonia's Foreign Ministry called the situation a "provocative border incident" that "fits well into a broader pattern of provocative behavior by Russia, including on its borders with its neighbors." To read the original story by RFE/RL's Russian Service, click here.
Georgian Parliament To Begin Procedure To Override Veto Of 'Foreign Agent' Law On May 27
Georgia's parliament will begin the procedure to override a presidential veto of the controversial "foreign agent" law on May 27, according to the legislature's website. The move to overrule President Salome Zurabishvili's veto of the legislation targeting media and NGOs that are funded by foreign governments was widely expected. Zurabishvili vetoed the controversial bill on May 18 following weeks of mass protests by Georgians who see the legislation as a way for the government to stifle civil society -- a similar law in Russia has been used to crack down on dissent -- and believe it endangers the country's path toward EU integration.
Nearly 550 Children Confirmed Killed In Ukraine Since Start Of Russian Invasion
Ukraine's General Prosecutor's Office says 547 children have been confirmed killed and 1,348 wounded to various degrees of severity since the start of Russia's unprovoked full-scale invasion. A 4-year-old girl who died on May 23 after being seriously wounded by Russian shelling in Odesa on April 29 is the latest confirmed victim, the office said on Telegram. On May 13, UNICEF, the UN children's fund, said at least 1,993 children in Ukraine have been killed or injured since the start of the invasion. UNICEF said the figure is of documented casualties, but the true number is likely much higher. To read the original story by RFE/RL's Ukrainian Service, click here.
Azerbaijan Regains Control Over 4 Villages Near Armenian Border
Azerbaijan assumed control over four villages near the Armenian border on May 24 as part of a new agreement between the two nations on the delimitation and demarcation of the border. The villages of Baganis Ayrim, Asagi Askipara, Xeyrimli, and Qizilhacili were taken under control as part of Azerbaijan's Qazax district. Baku and Yerevan called the move a step toward the normalization of relations between the two South Caucasus nations. The deal on returning the villages to Baku's control was reached in April, with both sides calling it a landmark decision toward a peace agreement. However, the deal has been met with massive opposition rallies in Armenia, with protesters calling for Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian's resignation. To read the original stories by RFE/RL's Azerbaijani and Armenian services, click here and here.
2 Killed In Missile Strike On Occupied Crimea, Russian-Appointed Official Says
Sergei Aksyonov, the Moscow-appointed head of Ukraine's occupied Crimea, says two people were killed on May 24 in a Ukrainian missile strike on the peninsula. "As a result of a missile attack by the enemy in the Simferopol region, two bystanders were killed," Aksyonov wrote, adding that a business facility was also hit in the city of Alushta, in the southeastern part of Crimea. Ukrainian Telegram channel Crimean Bridge published a video purportedly showing explosions near Alushta, while the Atesh channel said a Russian military communications center was hit near Alushta. The claims could not be independently verified immediately. To read the original story by RFE/RL's Russian Service, click here.
U.S. To Review Relations With Georgia, Slaps Visa Bans On Officials Over 'Foreign Agent' Law
The United States has announced visa restrictions on Georgian government officials and a comprehensive review of bilateral relations with Tbilisi over a "foreign agent" law recently pushed forward by the ruling Georgian Dream party despite weeks of mass protests.
The legislation -- formally called the Law On Transparency Of Foreign Influence -- is seen as mirroring a similar repressive measure introduced by the Kremlin in Russia, endangering the country's path toward EU integration and bring it closer to Moscow. It has been condemned by the United States and the European Union, which has said it is "incompatible" with Georgia's long-standing bid for membership.
"The Department of State is implementing a new visa restriction policy for Georgia that will apply to individuals who are responsible for or complicit in undermining democracy in Georgia, as well as their family members," U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a statement, adding that the restrictions would also apply to those responsible for "suppressing civil society and freedom of peaceful assembly in Georgia through a campaign of violence or intimidation."
Critics have said the legislation was introduced by the ruling Georgia Dream party, founded by Russian-friendly Georgian tycoon Bidzina Ivanishvili, in order to cement the party's grip on power ahead of elections later this year seen as crucial for Georgia's Euro-Atlantic path.
"Anyone who undermines democratic processes or institutions in Georgia -- including in the lead-up to, during, and following Georgia's October 2024 elections -- may be found ineligible for U.S. visas under this policy and precluded from travel to the United States. Immediate family members of such persons may also be subject to these restrictions," Blinken said.
The statement did not mention by name any individual who could be sanctioned under the new restrictions.
Washington has been a steady supporter of Georgia's Western integration, and Blinken said he was launching "a comprehensive review of bilateral cooperation between the United States and Georgia."
"U.S. support for Georgia's democracy is longstanding and foundational to our bilateral relationship," Blinken said, warning that the United States will continue to monitor the Georgian government's moves.
"As we review the relationship between our two countries, we will take into account Georgia's actions in deciding our own," he said, adding, "It remains our hope that Georgia's leaders will reconsider the draft law and take steps to move forward with their nation's democratic and Euro-Atlantic aspirations."
Under the measure that prompted weeks of protests violently repressed by authorities, media and NGOs will have to register as "pursuing the interests of a foreign power" if they receive more than 20 percent of their funding from abroad.
Georgia was given EU candidate status on December 14, but has yet to start the accession negotiations, which can last for years. Georgians have also been given green light for visa-free travel in the Schengen zone in March 2017.
The ruling Georgian Dream party has insisted that it remains committed to joining Western institutions and the law was only meant to increase transparency on NGO funding.
President Salome Zurabishvili, who has been at odds with the government, on May 18 vetoed the law but the Georgian Dream-controlled parliament has enough votes to override her.
Key Iranian Assembly Elects 93-Year-Old Conservative As Its Leader
Mohammad Movahedi Kermani, 93, has been elected the head of Iran's Assembly of Experts, marking a continuation of traditional conservative leadership in a key institution responsible for selecting the nation's supreme leader.
The decision came during the Assembly's first session of its sixth term and follows the deaths of President Ebrahim Raisi and other officials in a helicopter crash last weekend.
The Assembly of Experts is a clerical body with significant power within the Islamic republic's constitution.
Comprising 88 members, all of whom are male Islamic scholars, the Assembly not only elects the supreme leader but also theoretically oversees and could dismiss him, although this power has never been exercised.
Members are elected to eight-year terms from a list approved by the Guardian Council, ensuring that all candidates align closely with the conservative religious and political establishment.
Movahedi Kermani won the leadership with 55 votes out of 83 present members. His election underlines the notable age gap between the assembly's members and the general population, a point of frequent criticism by reformist opponents who argue there is a disconnect between Iran's leadership and the issues that contemporary society are concerned about.
In addition to Movahedi Kermani's election, Hashem Hosseini Bushehri and Alireza Arafi were elected as first and second vice-presidents, respectively.
The leadership election comes at a critical time for Iran.
With Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, 85, facing questions about his health and the future direction of the country, the role of the Assembly of Experts is poised to take a more prominent role.
Speculation has been rife about potential successors for Khamenei, with some expecting that the assembly might soon need to undertake its constitutional duty to appoint a new leader.
According to a Reuters report dated May 20, the assembly recently had removed Raisi, who died in a May 19 helicopter crash in northwestern Iran, from the list of potential successors to Ali Khamenei six months prior.
The report quoted two sources familiar with the matter as saying the Assembly of Experts had taken Raisi off the list about six months ago "because of his sagging popularity, reflecting economic hardship caused by U.S. sanctions and mismanagement."
However, the sources also indicated that there had since been significant lobbying by influential clerics and Raisi's supporters to get him back on the list.
For years, there also has been ongoing speculation regarding the potential selection of Mojtaba Khamenei, the son of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, as the future leader of the Islamic republic.
Written by Ardeshir Tayebi based on an original story in Persian by RFE/RL's Radio Farda
Slain Iranian Protester's Father Sentenced To 6 Years In Prison
Iran's judiciary has sentenced Mashallah Karami, the father of executed protester Mohammad Mehdi Karami, to six years in prison on charges of endangering national security and "propaganda against the regime."
The human rights groups HRANA and Hengaw reported the verdict, which was handed down by the Karaj Revolutionary Court.
His lawyer, Ali Sharifzadeh Ardakani, said Karami has yet to receive the court's decision officially.
Additionally, he rejected accusations of fraud against his client on social media platforms, noting that related charges of money laundering and acquiring illicit wealth are still under review with no verdicts rendered so far.
Mohammad Mehdi Karami was one of nine individuals executed by the Islamic republic in relation to the protests of 2022, which saw widespread unrest over governmental policies.
His execution in January 2023, which was tied to the alleged murder of a Basij militia member during the nationwide upheaval, drew international condemnation and highlighted the Iranian government's strict crackdown on dissent.
The sentence handed to Mashallah Karami also appears to be part of a pressure campaign on families of executed protesters.
Mashallah Karami has been a vocal figure in the protest movement, often seen at his son's grave in acts of remembrance that have symbolized the broader struggle for justice in Iran.
The government has been accused of stepping up the pressure on the victims' families through collective arrests and the summoning of grieving families by security agencies with the aim of keeping them from commemorating the lives of their loved ones, which the government fears will trigger further unrest.
Karami's arrest and subsequent sentencing also underline the risks faced by those who continue to oppose the regime.
Many Iranians took to the streets in 2022 to protest against declining living standards and a lack of freedoms.
The unrest grew after the death of Mahsa Amini in September of that year. The 22-year-old died under mysterious circumstances while she was in police custody for an alleged head-scarf violation.
The clampdown has resulted in the deaths of approximately 600 demonstrators, as reported by human rights groups, and thousands of arrests.
The Iranian judiciary has also executed several protesters, further inflaming public outcry against the regime's harsh tactics.
Written by Ardeshir Tayebi based on an original story in Persian by RFE/RL's Radio Farda
Popular Iranian Rapper Tataloo Sentenced To Prison On Undisclosed Charges
Amirhossein Maghsoudloo, a popular Iranian rapper known by his stage name Tataloo, has been sentenced to prison, his lawyer and Iranian judiciary media reported, although specific details about the length of his sentence remain undisclosed.
Tataloo's attorney, Elham Rahimifar, informed the semiofficial ISNA news agency that the rapper faces both short and long-term imprisonment based on a recent verdict, which is still subject to appeal.
The charges and the details of the conviction have not been disclosed by the judiciary media or his lawyer.
The proceedings against Tataloo were overseen by Judge Iman Afshari and took place over three sessions.
According to the Mizan news agency, which is affiliated with Iran's judiciary, the rapper was sentenced to three years in jail in relation to an older case of "insulting the sacred," a charge that can encompass a range of perceived offenses, from blasphemy to disrespecting Iran's Islamic values.
Mizan also noted that no private individuals have filed complaints against Tataloo in this particular case, although the agency had earlier claimed that there were "multiple complaints" against him, including from minors and their families.
Tataloo's trial began in March on charges of promoting "obscenity," publishing "propaganda against the Islamic Republic of Iran," and disseminating "obscene content."
In a statement last month, the case investigator mentioned Tataloo's expression of "regret," stating that the rapper had written a repentance letter while also expressing his desire to marry, start a family, and pursue music in a more accepted manner.
The rapper, known for blending rap, pop, and R&B, and for his distinctive tattoos, has been a polarizing figure in Iran.
He previously released a song in support of Iran's nuclear rights, which coincided with the breakdown of a nuclear deal between Tehran and world powers.
Tataloo, 36, had been living in Istanbul since 2018 but was extradited to Iran by Turkish authorities in December 2024. He has been detained in Iran since his extradition.
Written by Ardeshir Tayebi based on an original story in Persian by RFE/RL's Radio Farda
- By RFE/RL
Georgian PM Says Threatened By EU Commissioner, Who Says His Comments Taken Out Of Context
TBILISI -- Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze said he was warned by a European commissioner that if his government goes ahead with a controversial "foreign agent" law, he should be "very careful" in light of the recent assassination attempt of Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico.
Kobakhidze did not name the EU commissioner who made what he said was a "threat," but later on May 23 EU Enlargement Commissioner Oliver Varhelyi said he spoke with the Georgian prime minister by phone about the "foreign agent" bill and Kobakhidze took his comments out of context in his summary of the call.
According to Kobakhidze, "While listing these measures, [the commissioner] mentioned, 'You've seen what happened to Fico and you should be very careful."
Fico was shot four times while greeting citizens last week in the central Slovakian town of Handlova. He is recuperating, and his condition was described on May 20 as stable.
In Varhelyi's statement, he said that he told Kobakhidze that adopting the law "could lead to further polarization and to possible uncontrolled situations on the streets of Tbilisi."
"In this regard, the latest tragic event in Slovakia was made as an example and as a reference to where such a high level of polarization can lead in a society even in Europe," the enlargement commissioner said.
"Once again, I regret that one part of my phone call was not just fully taken out of context but was also presented to the public in a way which could give rise to a complete misinterpretation of the originally intended aim of my phone call," he said.
He emphasized that he was still urging the Georgian authorities not to adopt the law and that he continues "to support Georgians working toward a European future."
Over the past few weeks, tens of thousands of Georgians have taken to the streets to protest the "foreign agent" law, amid fears it could be used to restrict civil society and free media. Under the proposed law, media outlets and NGOs that get more than 20 percent of their money from outside the country would have to register as "pursuing the interests of a foreign power."
The United States, the European Union, and rights watchdogs have all condemned the law and criticized the often violent crackdown by the authorities.
In his statement accusing the commissioner of threatening him, the Georgian prime minister said that "several high-ranking foreign politicians are not hesitating to use open blackmail against the Georgian people and their elected government."
In recent weeks, the EU and the United States have linked their relations with Georgia to the passing of the law.
In a May 15 statement, EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell and Varhelyi said that "the adoption of this law negatively impacts Georgia's progress on the EU path."
A bill that expected to be unveiled this week by U.S. lawmakers is aimed at convincing Georgia's government to repeal the contentious law. Under the proposed Mobilizing and Enhancing Georgia's Options for Building Accountability, Resilience, and Independence (MEGOBARI) Act, the United States would give Georgia more economic aid, lower trade barriers, and grant more access to U.S. visas if the law were to be repealed.
But if the "foreign agent" bill becomes law, the MEGOBARI Act would require the U.S. administration to impose sanctions on Georgian officials responsible for the legislation.
In his statement Kobakhidze said he felt obliged to inform Georgians about the "threat" and said the parallel drawn with the attempted assassination of Fico "reminds us that the Global War Party is an extremely dangerous force willing to do anything to bring chaos to Georgia."
In recent weeks, Georgian Dream leaders have ramped up their populist and conspiratorial rhetoric with increasing mention of the "global war party." Although it is not clear what or whom they are referring to, they have said the mysterious party is responsible for many of the country's ills.
British Police Charge Man With National Security Offenses Linked To Russia
British police have charged a 64-year-old man with suspected offenses under the National Security Act (NSA) following a counterterrorism investigation. A police statement on May 23 identified the suspect as Howard Michael Phillips and said the charge related to Russia. Phillips was arrested in central London and charged with violating a section of the NSA that relates to assisting a foreign intelligence service. The case was not connected to any other recent charges or investigations linked to NSA offences, police said. To read the original story on RFE/RL's Russian Service, click here.
UN Approves Srebrenica Genocide Resolution, As Some Serbs Remain Defiant
The UN has approved a resolution to commemorate the 1995 Srebrenica genocide in Bosnia-Herzegovina annually, over strong opposition from Serbs.
The vote on May 23 in the 193-member UN General Assembly was 84-19, with 68 abstentions.
The resolution designates July 11 as the International Day of Reflection and Commemoration of the 1995 Genocide in Srebrenica, thus establishing an annual day of commemoration for the massacre of more than 8,000 local Bosnian Muslim men and boys almost 30 years ago.
The resolution had sparked protests and a lobbying campaign by Serbia's president and the Bosnian Serb leadership to block the adoption of the resolution, which was sponsored by Germany and Rwanda with 32 co-sponsors, including the United States, France, Britain, and Italy.
The nonbinding resolution condemns "without reservation any denial of the Srebrenica genocide as a historical event." It also "condemns without reservation actions that glorify those convicted of war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide by international courts, including those responsible for the Srebrenica genocide."
"Our initiative is about honoring the memory of the victims and supporting the survivors who continue to live with the scars of that fateful time," said German Ambassador to the UN Antje Leendertse.
Leendertse had noted earlier that there is an official official UN commemoration of the 1994 Rwanda genocide every year on April 7, and the Srebrenica resolution aims to do the same for Bosnia ahead of the 30th anniversary of the start of the genocide in 2025.
The July 1995 massacre, which was carried out by Bosnian Serb forces, has been ruled an act of genocide by the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY). So far, more than 50 individuals have been sentenced to some 700 years in prison for their roles in the massacre.
Radovan Karadzic, the first president (1992-1995) of Republika Srpska, one of the two entities that make up Bosnia-Herzegovina, was sentenced to life in prison by the ICTY for the Srebrenica genocide and crimes against humanity. Ratko Mladic, the Bosnian Serbs' military commander, was also sentenced to life by the same court for the part he played in the genocide
'We Are Not A Genocidal Nation'
Ahead of the General Assembly vote, the government of Republika Srpska planned to hold a special session in Srebrenica amid heightened security measures. Ethnic Serbs make up around 80 percent of the population of Republika Srpska.
About a dozen police vans and a police transporter were parked outside Srebrenica's local police station. A billboard leading into the town reads: "We are not a genocidal nation," a slogan that has become popular among Serb nationalists. The same poster featured prominently on a billboard in Belgrade as well.
Srebrenica's local government has welcomed the delegation, which includes Republika Srpska's pro-Russian president, Milorad Dodik, and urged residents to raise the entity's flag "as a sign of opposition" to the UN resolution. Dodik is under U.S. and U.K. sanctions for his alleged obstruction of the Dayton agreement and violating the legitimacy of Bosnia.
Dodik later repeated his threat that Republika Srpska would secede if the resolution was passed. He has repeatedly threatened secession.
Serbia's nationalist president, Aleksandar Vucic, and the Republika Srpska leadership vehemently opposed the adoption of the resolution, saying it brands Serbia as a "genocidal nation."
He also warned that if a day of remembrance for the genocide was created it would "open old wounds and that will create complete political havoc."
Vucic said the resolution should be subjected to a vote in the UN Security Council, not the General Assembly. Resolutions put to a vote in the Security Council can be vetoed by any of its five members.
Addressing the UN General Assembly ahead of the May 23 vote, Vucic asked, "Why is the resolution being adopted if we are talking about individual legal responsibility?"
Leendertse said the resolution was not directed against Serbia. She added that Montenegro's amendments that the crime of genocide is individualized and cannot be attributed to any specific group were included in the resolution to offset concern from Serbia.
Except for Serbia, all of the former Yugoslav republics voted for the resolution, while several EU nations, including Greece, Cyprus, and Slovakia, abstained.
On May 22, Vucic met with Russian UN Ambassador Vasily Nebenzya in New York, saying afterward on Instagram that he had "asked the friendly Russian Federation to, this time, stand in defense of the pride and dignity of the Serbian people."
In 2015, Russia vetoed the adoption of a UN Security Council resolution on the Srebrenica genocide, which was proposed by the United Kingdom and supported by the United States and European Union countries.
Russia on May 23 rejected the UN General Assembly resolution, with Nebenzya predicting afterward that it would push Bosnia "towards confrontation," according to Russia's state-run TASS news agency.
As expected, China also voted no. Fu Cong, China's ambassador to the UN, said the resolution "does not serve reconciliation within Bosnia and Herzegovina, but also the countries of the region that want peace and stability in the Western Balkans."
The families of victims of the genocide welcomed the result.
Nura Begovic of the Srebrenica Women's Association lost her brother and 18 family members in the Srebrenica genocide.
She and other families of the victims gathered to watch the UN proceedings at the Srebrenica-Potocari Memorial Center, where more than 6,700 of the estimated 8,000 victims have been buried.
Reacting to the vote, Begovic said she was grateful that some satisfaction had been given to survivors but expressed disappointment with Vuvic's speech at the UN General Assembly.
As expected, China also voted no. Fu Cong, China's ambassador to the UN, said the resolution "does not serve reconciliation within Bosnia and Herzegovina, but also the countries of the region that want peace and stability in the Western Balkans."
The families of victims of the genocide welcomed the result.
Nura Begovic of the Srebrenica Women's Association lost her brother and 18 family members in the Srebrenica genocide.
She and other families of the victims gathered to watch the UN proceedings at the Srebrenica-Potocari Memorial Center in Potocari, where more than 6,700 of the estimated 8,000 victims have been buried.
Reacting to the vote, Begovic said she was grateful that some satisfaction had been given to survivors but expressed disappointment with Vucc's speech at the UN General Assembly.
Kurt Bassuener, co-founder and senior associate of the Democratization Policy Council, a Berlin-based think tank, has said that Serbia should pay a price for lobbying against the resolution but doubted the West would take any punitive steps.
"I'm just not sure that there will be any, because the West's policy toward Serbia was very lenient, specifically towards Vucic, and he is taking full advantage of that. If he had expected serious consequences, he might not have done what he is doing," Bassuener told RFE/RL's Balkan Service.
James Ker-Lindsay, a professor at the London School of Economics and an expert on the Western Balkans, said the tragedy of Srebrenica was being politicized. "Everyone is using this policy to score their own political points, instead of acknowledging that this is a truly horrific event that has been classified as genocide," Kerr-Lindsay told RFE/RL.
According to Ker-Lindsay, Serbia needs to do more to tell Western countries, "Look, we accept what happened, and we can show it because that's what we teach our children in school now."
Natasa Kandic of the Belgrade-based Fund for Humanitarian Law argued that Serbia's denial that genocide occurred at Srebrenica has fueled nationalism and extremism in the country.
Kandic said Serbia's opposition to the UN resolution is putting it on the wrong side of history.
"After World War II, nothing this terrible has ever happened. It must be acknowledged, and this memorial day for the victims of genocide is the least that can be done," Kandic told RFE/RL's Balkan Service.
- By Current Time
Putin Signs Decree Allowing For Use Of U.S. Assets To Compensate For Russian Property Seized By Washington
In an apparent reciprocal move, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a decree on May 23 allowing the seizure of assets, securities, and property belonging to the United States or to U.S. citizens in Russia to compensate for damages caused by the confiscation of assets and property belonging to Russian tycoons and the Russian central bank in the United States. Last month, U.S. President Joe Biden signed into law the Rebuilding Economic Prosperity and Opportunity for Ukrainians Act, which allows Washington to seize about $5 billion in Russian state assets located in the United States. The legislation was included in the U.S. aid package for Ukraine, Israel, and Taiwan. To read the original story by Current Time, click here.
- By Reuters
Russia Says Main Power Line To Zaporizhzhya Nuclear Plant Goes Down
Russia said on May 23 that the main power line supplying the Russian-controlled Zaporizhzhya nuclear power plant in Ukraine had gone down, but that there was no threat to safety and the plant was being supplied by a backup line. The six reactors at the Zaporizhzhya plant, held by Russia and located close to the front line of the conflict in Ukraine, are not in operation but the facility relies on external power to keep its nuclear material cool. The plant's Russian management said on Telegram that the reasons for the outage, which had not caused any change in the radiation level, were being investigated.
Belarusian Police Search Home Of Parents Of Athlete Who Defected To Poland
Belarusian sprinter Krystsina Tsimanouskaya, who defected to Poland after coaches attempted to force her to return home during the Tokyo Olympics in 2021, said on May 23 that police in Belarus searched her parents' home. Tsimanouskaya condemned the search, calling it "retaliation for my actions and decisions" and called on the Belarusian police to leave her parents alone. Tsimanouskaya, who now competes for Poland, told Belarusian authorities to come "to my new home for searches and talks." To read the original story by RFE/RL's Belarus Service, click here.
- By RFE/RL
Kremlin Denies Contact With Trump After Claim About Journalist's Release
Former U.S. President Donald Trump, expected to be the Republican candidate in November's presidential election, claimed Russian leader Vladimir Putin would release detained Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich "almost immediately" after the vote if Trump wins. In a social media post, Trump gave no details on how he would facilitate Gershkovich's release, saying only that Putin would "do that for me." After the post, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Trump and Putin have had no contact and that "complete silence" is needed "to achieve results" in any prisoner swap talks. Gershkovich has been held in detention since March last year on spying charges both he and the newspaper vehemently deny, saying the 32-year-old was merely doing his job as an accredited reporter when he was arrested.
Kyrgyz Activist On Trial Says He Was Tortured While In Detention
Kyrgyz activist Askat Jetigen, who is on trial on a charge of calling for mass unrest which he rejects as politically motivated, said in a courtroom on May 23 that police tortured him with an electric shocker for one hour after his arrest on March 20. The chief of the State Center To Prevent Torture, Bakyt Rysbekov, confirmed that his entity is investigating a claim filed by Jetigen with the agency in early April. Jetigen, who is known for his criticism of Kyrgyzstan's government, was arrested days after his last video criticizing reforms by the Culture Ministry was posted online. To read the original story by RFE/RL's Kyrgyz Service, click here.
RFE/RL has been declared an "undesirable organization" by the Russian government.
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A driver restore disk works with a windows disk to return your Panasonic Toughbook CF-74 Windows 7 back to the original factory setup. Once windows has installed you put this disk into the drive as soon as windows gives you a found new hardware dialog box. Once inserted the Panasonic Toughbook CF-74 Windows 7 will automatically find all the drivers and also install most of the original factory software. BEWARE OF GENERIC DISKS ! All Drivers and factory software are operating system specific so you must have the correct software and drivers for your Panasonic Toughbook CF-74Windows 7. Some of the drivers you would find on this Panasonic Toughbook CF-74 Windows 7 Restore Disk are listed below. Not all will be applicable to your system as this list is for information only for Panasonic Toughbook CF-74 Windows 7 Restore Disk. THIS DISK DOES NOT CONTAIN AN OPERATING SYSTEM! YOU WILL NEED TO INSTAL Windows 7 FIRST OR USE AN EXISTING INSTALL. * All Panasonic Toughbook CF-74 Windows 7 device driver driver restore disk treiber * Panasonic Sound Video and game controller driver* All the drivers for your Travelmate * Keyboard Drivers * Disk drive drivers * nVidia geForce nForce graphics drivers * Motherboard system device drivers * Sound drivers * Universal Serial Bus Controller drivers * Mice and other pointing device drivers * USB drivers * Sound audio card drivers * Panasonic Toughbook CF-74 Windows 7 driver restore disk system device drivers * Display drivers * Human Interface drivers * HID drivers * PCI And PCI express drivers * Windows Panasonic Toughbook CF-74 Windows 7 driver restore disk Driver driver restore disk * Panasonic Download sound drivers * Chipset drivers * Aspi drivers * Travelmate Video Card drivers * Panasonic VIA drivers * Panasonic SIS drivers * VGA drivers * Panasonic video drivers * Panasonic USB drivers * Device drivers * Panasonic Network drivers WLAN LAN * Card Bus drivers * Panasonic Chipset drivers * Wireless Network drivers * Most factory setup software * Panasonic Toughbook CF-74 Windows 7 driver restore disk System Restore Driver Disk * WAN & LAN drivers * Repairs every Panasonic Toughbook CF-74
COPYRIGHT (C) 2005 - 2015 , Gdosoft Associates . ALL RIGHT RESERVED

subset: commoncrawl


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There are many things we do in private that we hope others never see. Installing a car seat is up there for me. Having just moved from New York City, where I rarely drove anywhere, to the country, where I rarely walk anywhere, car seats have suddenly become part of my daily life, and even though I know they may one day save my son's life, I do not get along with them. When I'm fighting to install one into my car by myself, the process invariably involves instruction manuals (for my car seat and my car), YouTube installation videos (necessary since my manuals seem to be written in Pirahã), ample cursing, and me punching the car seat. Whoever said violence is never justified clearly never owned a Britax.
Most parents will agree car seats are a pain to install; worse, the stats suggest that three out of four times, we're doing it wrong. But the angst surrounding car seats does not end with installation — pretty much everything about them is ridiculously confusing. The American Academy of Pediatrics recently changed its recommendations on when to use which types of seats, but chances are, your state law disagrees. Rumor has it that next year, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration will tell parents to stop using the Lower Anchors and Tethers for Children system (LATCH) to secure car seats once the combined weight of your car seat and your child exceeds 65 pounds, which begs the question — do you know how much your car seat weighs? I don't even know how much my kid weighs. Then there is the "Freakonomics" claim that car seats are in fact useless, the Consumer Reports debacle in which the organization apparently had to recall some reviews after screwing up its safety tests, and, oh yeah, the fact that some car seats simply do not fit in some cars. But hey, guess what? Your kid should be in a car seat until she's 8 years old and don't even think about letting her ride in the front seat until she's 13. K?
First, the very basics: Why these insufferable plastic contraptions are well worth the hassle. Car seats can be life-saving, and to understand why, we have to go back to high school physics. When your car flies down the highway at 70 mph, you go this fast, too. This means you and your car have a heck of a lot of momentum, a figure that reflects speed and mass. When you come to a rapid halt in a collision, your car's momentum has to drop quickly, which requires force — a force that deforms your car, among other things. Your own momentum must drop, too; you have the choice of flying through the windshield and letting the force of hard pavement stop your momentum, or you can use a seat belt, which does the same thing but a little more amiably.
Seat belts do more than just keep you from becoming a projectile; they are also slightly elastic, so they lengthen the time over which your momentum slows (as opposed to if you'd slammed into the pavement), which ultimately reduces the total force on your body at any one time. That's good. Seat belts also ensure that this force hits two of the strongest parts of your body — your pelvis and your shoulders — and that your more delicate tissues, such as your genitals, abdomen and neck, remain unscathed (unless your car gets crushed to the point of crushing you, too). So: Seat belts are awesome.
Car seats, however, are better — which is important because car crash injuries are more dangerous to children than adults. Motor vehicle accidents are the No. 1 cause of death in children; more than one-third of kids who died in accidents in 2011 were unrestrained. "For a kid, things can come apart much more easily. When we sustain whiplash, they can break their necks," says Ben Hoffman, a pediatrician and car seat specialist at the Oregon Health and Science University in Portland. Forward-facing car seats, which the American Academy of Pediatrics now recommends kids use from ages 2 to at least 4, have five-point harnesses. They distribute the force associated with impact across an even larger area — there are more straps coming into contact with your kid's body — which means less force being applied to any single point. According to Partners for Child Passenger Safety, a long-standing research partnership between the State Farm Insurance Company, the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia and the University of Pennsylvania, forward-facing car seats really do save lives: When these car seats are not seriously misused — i.e. when parents actually strap their kids in and attach car seats to their cars (apparently some don't even try?) — car seats of all types reduce a 2- to 6-year-old child's risk of death in a serious crash by an average of 28 percent compared with seat belts.
But it's the rear-facing seats that are the real life-savers for kids under 4. Most crashes are frontal, which means that the force applied to riders typically comes from the front. Rear-facing seats distribute the force of impact along the entirety of the backside of your child's body. Again: same force, but it's distributed across a much greater area still, which means, yes, less damage. Rear-facing seats also prevent kids' heads from flying forward as happens to forward-facing passengers. Head-flying is bad for neck muscles and bones, as they have to snap the head back in place (would you want to use your neck as a bungee cord?). One recent study reported that newborns to 2-year-olds were 76 percent more likely to be seriously injured in a car crash when they were in forward-facing car seats compared to rear-facing car seats. Seventy-six percent is a lot. In 2011, the American Academy of Pediatrics changed its recommendations to say that kids should remain in rear-facing car seats until at least the age of 2 (they used to say age 1); many state laws are not this strict — they are still, I guess, catching up with the science — but I'd do what the doctors say.
What about booster seats, which the AAP says you're supposed to use for 4 to 7-year-olds who have outgrown their forward-facing harness seats? They don't protect quite as well as the harnessed seats and not nearly as well as rear-facing seats, because they use only the seat belt as a restraint. They are, however, important to ensure that seat belts actually sit where they are supposed to. When kids under 8 wear seat belts without booster seats, the belts can cut across their necks and abdomens, which is precisely where you do not want a massive amount of force to hit your kid. A 2009 study conducted as part of Partners for Child Passenger Safety found that kids between 4 and 8 were 45 percent less likely to sustain moderate to serious injuries in crashes when they were restrained in high-back or backless booster seats to lap-and-shoulder seat belts alone — and this reduction in injury risk went up to 67 percent for kids in post-1998 car models.
What's important to keep in mind, though, when considering all these studies is that parents who use car seats may differ from parents who don't use car seats in many important ways. They may drive safer cars and drive more slowly, for instance, both of which could also influence injury risk. Researchers attempt to control for these confounding factors to isolate the effects of car seats themselves, but these controls are never perfect.
In fact, a small body of research downright contradicts many of the studies I have just mentioned. In 2005, University of Chicago economist Steven Levitt and journalist Stephen Dubner, co-authors of the bestselling "Freakonomics," published a controversial piece in the New York Times Magazine arguing that "there is no evidence that car seats do a better job than seat belts in saving the lives of children older than 2." Their assertions were based on several studies Levitt conducted. One mined data from a federal database called FARS, which records the details of U.S. crashes that kill at least one passenger, and found that kids over 2 were no less likely to die in crashes while in car seats than were kids wearing lap-and-shoulder belts. Another Levitt study using crash data from a national database and those of several states found that for kids aged 2 to 6, car seats did not prevent serious injuries any better than lap-and-shoulder belts did. Car seats did, however, reduce the risk of minor injuries by 25 percent.
What gives? Levitt says his results differ from those of earlier studies because data collection in the latter may have been flawed. Information about car seat use and seat belt use in the studies conducted as part of Partners for Child Passenger Safety came from telephone interviews conducted by State Farm Insurance, and "if you were a parent involved in a crash in which your child was injured, and a researcher with your insurance company called you, what would you say if your child was not restrained (i.e., wasn't even wearing a seat belt)?" Levitt asked when we corresponded over email. "You tell the person the kid was using an adult seat belt." It's seems like a fair point — if people lied and said their kids were in seat belts when they were really not in seat belts, it would make car seats seem more life-saving than they really are. But when the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia researchers designed their experiments, they considered this possibility. Because some crashes were subject to onsite investigations, the researchers were able to compare parent responses with what the investigators actually found — and yes, it's possible to tell when seat belts have been used in a crash, because the belt fabric gets frayed or the buckles get bent. Most of the time, they found, parents told the truth.
The Philly researchers have problems with Levitt's studies, too: The crashes from the FARS database, which he used to calculate fatality risks, may not be representative of the average car crash, because FARS collects data only from crashes that kill at least one passenger. Drivers who get into deadly crashes, the researchers say, are often different from drivers who get into nonfatal crashes-they drive older cars or drive more recklessly, for instance, and reckless drivers may also be more likely to install car seats incorrectly. These facts might explain why, in Levitt's studies, car seats didn't seem to work very well.
It's hard to tease out who's right, but in a way it doesn't matter: Levitt admitted to me that most parents should use car seats. "My own research suggests a slight benefit in car seats reducing injuries, so it probably makes sense for parents to keep using them," he says. Levitt uses them for his own kids, he says, at least when it's convenient. Ultimately, he says that his goal was never to encourage parents to stop using car seats, but rather to nudge the government into investing in research on better child restraint technologies.
Right now, though, what is the best technology? All car seats have to adhere to federal regulations, so don't worry about buying a dud. I said "buying," because you shouldn't accept hand-me-downs; most car seats expire after about six years, in part because the plastic and harness webbing degrade from heat and cold. As far as I could find out, there are no comprehensive online databases matching best and worst car seats to various car models, but the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration does rank many popular car seat models for "ease of use," which includes whether they are compatible with most cars and whether their installation manuals are actually decipherable. (Most aren't: One study reported that car seat manual instructions "exceed the reading skills of most American consumers." Yes, scientists actually study these kinds of things.)
If you're a safety-conquers-all kind of parent, remember this simple rule: Don't graduate your kid to the next type of safety seat until you absolutely have to, because "every time you transition, you're going to lose a little bit of protection," Hoffman, the Oregon pediatrician and car seat specialist, says. So if you're in the market for an infant car seat, consider one that has a high rear-facing weight limit — there are a bunch now that go up to 40 pounds, the average weight of a 4-and-a-half-year-old boy — because the longer your kid can sit facing backward, the safer he will be. (And don't worry about his scrunched-up legs getting hurt in an accident: more leg injuries occur when kids are in forward-facing car seats. That said, height does matter, because your kid's head needs to rest at least one inch below the top of a rear-facing seat.) It may sound crazy to you to keep your 3-and-a-half-year-old rear facing, not to mention it being a pain in the ass when it comes to passing back snacks. But in Sweden, most kids are rear-facing until age 4, and when Volvo's insurance company analyzed the data from Swedish car crashes from 1976 to 1996, they concluded that kids up to age 4 in rear-facing seats are 20 percent less likely to be injured than kids in forward-facing seats. (Likewise, try to keep your toddler in a forward-facing harness seat as long as possible before moving to a booster seat.)
But if you, like me, are the parent of a 2- or 3-year-old who currently sits in a forward-facing harness seat, don't go out right now and buy a new seat that will let your child "regress" back to the last stage. I floated this possibility by one of my sources and he basically told me to chill out: Although rear-facing seats are safer, dangerous accidents are uncommon, and forward-facing seats aren't unsafe.
Once you've got your car seat, there's the question of where and how you should install it. I'm not going to give installation pointers — you really don't want to get them from me — but here are some general thoughts. The middle rear seat is actually the safest: Kids who ride there are 43 percent less likely to sustain injuries in a crash compared to kids riding on either side. But keep in mind that you'll have to secure a middle seat using a seat belt, not LATCH, because middle seats don't have LATCH anchors. (Rest assured, experts say: Seat belts work just as well as LATCH.) Speaking of LATCH, though, recommendations are changing. You should either weigh your car seat or contact your seat manufacturer to find out how much your model weighs; once your kid's weight plus the weight of the seat exceeds 65 pounds, start securing the car seat with seat belts instead of LATCH. And if you do use a seat belt to secure your seat, you should still attach the top tether on your car seat to the rear LATCH anchor, as this keeps the seat top from flying forward during a crash. But never, ever attach a car seat using the side LATCH clamps and the seat belt. Is your head spinning yet?
I lied. I am going to give you one pointer on installation. If you have any trouble with it, or even if you don't, there are more than 4,000 locations around the U.S. that will check and fix your car seat installation for free. Confident that you did it right? Don't be. When Mark Zonfrillo — the leader of Child Road Traffic Safety Research at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia Center for Child Injury Research and Prevention — needed to install a car seat for his daughter, he didn't trust himself. You read that right: A man who studies car seats for a living was not confident enough to install his daughter's car seat. (Why do car seats have to be so intractable? Part of the problem is that back seat designs vary — so there is no "one size fits all" way to install them, and manuals have to cover all the bases. Sometimes, apparently, you even need to use pool noodles to get the angles right.) "This is how challenging the process is," Zonfrillo says. "Despite having the vehicle manual, the car seat manual and being in the business, I still wanted to have someone else — who has done this many more times than I have, and who knows the nuances and details — do it." Kids trump pride. Always.


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Marine pleads guilty to urinating on Afghan corpse
CAMP LEJEUNE - The Associated Press
AP photo
A Marine who pleaded guilty to urinating on the corpse of a Taliban fighter in Afghanistan will likely be demoted one rank under a plea agreement, although a military judge called for a much harsher sentence.Staff Sgt. Edward W. Deptola pleaded guilty Wednesday to multiple charges at court-martial, including that of violating orders by desecrating remains and posing for photographs with the corpses; and dereliction of duty by failing to properly supervise junior Marines.
The judge, Lt. Col. Nicole Hudspeth, said she would have sentenced him to six months confinement, a $5,000 fine, demotion to private and a bad-conduct discharge. But she is bound by terms of the plea agreement the sergeant reached with military prosecutors. A general will review the sentence and could choose to lower it.
Deptola and another Marine based at Camp LeJeune were charged last year after a video surfaced showing four Marines in full combat gear urinating on the bodies of three Afghans in July 2011. In the video, one of the Marines looked down at the bodies and quipped, "Have a good day, buddy."
Deptola was sergeant for a scout sniper platoon. Though he had been previously deployed overseas, he was on his only combat deployment at the time. The Southold, New York, native is married with two children, but military officials declined to give his age.
The sergeant admitted to the judge that he urinated on one of the three corpses and posed in the "trophy photographs." He said he failed to supervise the Marines under him when the desecration began, even though he had been briefed that such behavior violated a Marine Corps general order.
"I was in a position to stop it and I did not. ... I should have spoken up on the spot," he said.
When asked by the judge why he did it, Deptola replied, "I have no excuse, no reason, ma'am. ... It was not the correct way to handle a human casualty."
The sergeant said that on the day the urination video was shot, the platoon had seen heavy action and had 11 confirmed kills, including the three Taliban men whose bodies were shown in the recording. Deptola said another sergeant in the platoon had been killed earlier that day by an IED, and the Marines believed the heavily armed Taliban fighters they killed could have been responsible for it.
Deptola's defense attorney, Maj. Tracey Holtshirley, called the case a "lynching" by the news media and general public for an isolated mistake by a well-regarded Marine. He argued Deptola had already been punished enough by the attention and being removed from his platoon. He said he should be demoted two ranks to corporal.
Other Marines involved have received lesser sentences. Staff Sgt. Joseph W. Chamblin pleaded guilty to similar charges last month. Under a deal reached before his court-martial, he lost $500 in pay and was reduced in rank to sergeant. Three other Marines were given administrative punishments for their roles.
The urination video surfaced on YouTube around the same time as other incidents that infuriated many Afghans. American troops were caught up in controversies over burning Muslim holy books, posing for photos with insurgents' bloodied remains and an alleged massacre of 16 Afghan villagers by a soldier.
The Marine Corps said the urination took place during a counterinsurgency operation in the Musa Qala district of Helmand province, located in the south of the country.
The United States now has 66,000 troops in Afghanistan. The U.S. and its NATO allies agreed in November 2010 that they would withdraw all their combat troops by the end of 2014, but they haven't decided on the scope of future missions in the country and the size of any residual force remaining after that.


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Our marathon man of trivia is A.J. Jacobs, who once read the entire Encyclopedia Britannica to learn more and get a book contract. Why didn't he just write 50 Shades of Knowledge? A.J. joins us now to talk about Olympic facts, some of which may actually be true.
A.J., thanks for being with us.
A.J. JACOBS: And thank you for having me.
SIMON: Let's start with the marathon, A.J. Apparently, one of your favorite athletes in history was Spiridon Louis, who was the winner of the first modern marathon back in 1896.
JACOBS: He's a hero of mine. This was the Olympic Games in Athens. And why he's heroic is that in the middle of the race he stopped at a tavern and had a glass of cognac, or wine. Some people - there's a bit of a debate. But there's booze, nonetheless. So he sort of combined the marathon and a pub crawl, which I think is a lovely idea if there's an entrepreneur out there who wants to take advantage of that.
SIMON: Lots of attention these Olympics to Oscar Pistorius, the great South African runner who'll be competing in the 400 meters using carbon fiber prosthetic legs. You say he's not the first person to compete in the games with an artificial limb.
JACOBS: No. Back in 1904, there was an American gymnast named George Eyser, and he won three gold medals for the vault, parallel bars and rope climbing, which they don't have anymore. But he lost his leg when he was a kid in a train accident, but it didn't stop him. And the only mystery to me is why this has not been made into a movie. I mean, this is like "Chariots of Fire," but, you know, times three.
SIMON: Boy. You found out something about a Japanese pole vaulter who was in the 1936 Olympics.
JACOBS: Right. This is a heartwarming story. There were two Japanese pole vaulters who tied for second place, but they refused to participate in a tiebreaker. So instead, they cut their medals in half and they fused them together. So they were half silver, half bronze. So brilver or sonze or whatever you call that. I'm not sure.
SIMON: Excuse me. Let me mark the date. I actually learned something talking to you.
SIMON: A fact a gather that you're on to. Dr. Benjamin Spock, the great child care expert, who was responsible for ruining the lives of both of our parents - considering what we became - he was an Olympic gold medalist.
JACOBS: That's right. I didn't know this. But in the 1924 Olympics he was on the American rowing team, and he won the gold medal. And it turned out he loved boats. He lived for about 20 years on a houseboat later in his life. Not on the actual boat that you row. That would be a little tight.
SIMON: A.J., thank you very much once again.
JACOBS: Thank you for having me.
SIMON: A.J. Jacobs, editor at large at Esquire magazine and the author most recently of "Drop Dead Healthy: One Man's Humble Quest for Bodily Perfection." Are you there yet, A.J.?
JACOBS: I was there and then I sort of drifted off. But always working.
SIMON: This is NPR News. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.


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It is contest time again. I love these!
General Mills offers over 300 gluten-free products and you will get a chance to win some of the fun ones through a giveaway with MyBlogSpark and LiveGlutenFreely.com. Live Gluten Freely is an online community created by General Mills which discusses gluten-free living and eating.


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FBI issues photos of 2 suspects in Boston bombing
BOSTON — The FBI released photos and video Thursday of two suspects in the Boston Marathon bombing and asked for the public's help in identifying them, zeroing in on the two men on surveillance-camera footage less than three days after the deadly attack.
FBI agent Richard DesLauriers said the photos of the two men came from surveillance cameras near the explosion sites. One man is seen wearing a light-colored baseball cap, the other a dark cap. The man in the dark cap set down a backpack at the site of one of the blasts, DesLauriers said.
Within moments of the announcement, the FBI website crashed, perhaps because of a crush of visitors.
The images were released hours after President Barack Obama and first lady Michelle Obama attended an interfaith service at a Roman Catholic cathedral in Boston to remember the three people killed and more than 180 wounded in the twin blasts Monday at the marathon finish line.
The break in the investigation came just days after the attack that tore off limbs, shattered windows and raised the specter of another terrorist attack on U.S. soil.
The suspects are considered armed and extremely dangerous, DesLauriers said, and people who see them should not approach them.
"Do not take any action on your own," he warned.
Generally, law enforcement agencies release photos of suspects only as a last resort, when they need the public's help in identifying or capturing someone.
Releasing photos can be a mixed bag: It can tip off a suspect and deny police the element of surprise. It can also trigger an avalanche of tips, forcing police to waste valuable time chasing them down.
At the Cathedral of the Holy Cross earlier in the day, Obama declared to the people of Boston: "Your resolve is the greatest rebuke to whoever committed this heinous act." He spoke in almost mocking terms of those who commit such violence.
"We finish the race, and we do that because of who we are," the president said to applause. "And that's what the perpetrators of such senseless violence — these small, stunted individuals who would destroy instead of build and think somehow that makes them important — that's what they don't understand."
"We will find you," he warned those behind the attack.
Seven victims remained in critical condition. Killed were 8-year-old Martin Richard of Boston, 29-year-old restaurant manager Krystle Campbell of Medford, Mass., and Lu Lingzi, a 23-year-old Boston University graduate student from China.
Video and photos recovered in the investigation are being examined and enhanced by an FBI unit called the Operational Technologies Division, said Joe DiZinno, former director of the FBI lab in Quantico, Va.
Investigators are looking at video frame by frame — a laborious process, though one aided by far more sophisticated facial recognition technology than is commercially available, forensic specialists said.
"When you have something that is this high-profile, they are going to use every available resource that they have," said former Miami federal prosecutor Melissa Damian Visconti.
The investigation will probably collect about a million hours of videotape from fixed security cameras and cellphones and cameras used by spectators, said Gene Grindstaff, a scientist at Intergraph Corp., a Huntsville, Ala., company that makes video analysis software used by the FBI and other law enforcement agencies.
But after years of investigating terrorist incidents and other crimes, the FBI is practiced at cataloging, categorizing and analyzing such evidence and will winnow it down dramatically, he said.
"Back in the days of 20 years ago, you were lucky if you had video and it was probably of poor quality and it took a tremendous amount of enhancement. Today you have a completely different issue," Grindstaff said.
Investigators can set the video analysis software so that it automatically searches for certain types of objects or people matching a height and weight description. The software can also spot patterns that analysts might not notice, such as a certain car that turns up in different places, Grindstaff said.
DiZinno, who ran the FBI lab from 2007 to 2010, said any retrieved bomb components such as the pressure cookers, shrapnel and pieces of timers or wire will be closely examined for fingerprints, DNA, hairs and fibers.
The bomb components would be traced by figuring out the item's maker, where each piece is typically purchased and whether the device resembles any bombs the FBI has seen in past attacks. The FBI lab keeps a detailed file on past bombings, including many overseas attacks.
"Let's say there was a timer," DiZinno said. "Was there a serial number? Who was the manufacturer? That can provide leads for investigators."
One pressure cooker maker, the Fagor Group in Spain, said that it has been contacted by U.S. investigators and that company officials are extending full cooperation. The company sells 250,000 pressure cookers a year in the U.S. and 1 million worldwide.
Links to videos of the suspects are available at http://bit.ly/115ZcIq and on YouTube at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M80DXI932OE&feature=youtu.be.


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B. Aphrodite on Amazon
Welcome to my Amazon store! As you probably know, I strongly encourage buying secondhand. If you can find these items used elsewhere, you have my blessing! But sometimes new is needed, and for those times I hope this serves as an easy way to find the products that I wholeheartedly endorse.


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Calling it the "most promising lead" so far, the leader of the search for a missing Malaysia Airlines jetliner says ships have again detected a signal on the same frequency used by "black box" emergency beacons. But Angus Houston also reiterated that it's too early to draw conclusions.
Houston, a retired Australian Air Chief Marshal who is heading the search effort based in Perth, says the signal "sounds to me just like an emergency locator beacon," according to Australia's ABC news agency.
The signal was picked up by Australian navy ship the Ocean Shield, which was investigating an "acoustic event" it detected over the weekend in the southern Indian Ocean. The ship is about 370 miles away from where a Chinese patrol ship reported a similar signal over the weekend. Officials say they aren't sure whether the signals are from the same source.
The Australian ship is using a towed pinger locator that's on loan from the U.S. Navy. A British ship, the HMS Echo, which CNN says "has state-of-the-art sonar and is capable of mapping the ocean floor," is investigating the area where the Chinese ship reported a signal.
While the signal detected by the Chinese ship lasted less than two minutes, the Ocean Shield picked up the signal twice, monitoring it for more than two hours in one span, and about 13 minutes in another.
Houston said ships are still searching for debris in the ocean that could help confirm the signal's potential import. In explaining his new optimism, he also said the pings heard clearly came from two sources.
"On this occasion, two distinct pinger returns were audible," Houston said. "Significantly, this would be consistent with transmissions from both the flight data recorder and the cockpit voice recorder,"
The ultrasonic signals detected over the weekend have a reported frequency of 37.5 kHz, the same used by emergency beacons. But it's also used by other marine equipment, as experts said when the first detections were reported over the weekend. And that's one reason officials are urging people not to jump to conclusions about the new report.
Adding a sense of urgency to the current search is the belief that the jetliner's emergency beacons would only have enough battery power to transmit their location for around 30 days.
It has now been more than four weeks since 239 people boarded flight MH370 in Kuala Lampur, hoping to travel to Beijing; the Boeing 777 disappeared from air traffic control systems shortly after takeoff. The search for the plane has been marked by confusion, adding to the anguish felt by the families of those aboard.
Australian officials warn that any recovery effort of the black boxes or any other parts of the plane would likely be a prolonged and difficult affair. The waters where the signal has been picked up are extremely deep — 4,500 meters, or 2.8 miles.
And the water itself can also make it hard to pinpoint a signal's location. Commodore Peter Levy, who leads Australia's military task force, explains that issue to ABC:
"Unlike in air, where sound travels in a straight line, acoustic energy, sound, through the water is greatly affected by temperature, pressure, and salinity. That has the effect of attenuating, bending, sometimes through 90 degrees, soundwaves."
Copyright 2021 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.


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Pakistan: 23 killed in Taliban attack on army post
PESHAWAR: Militants attacked an army post in northwestern Pakistan with automatic weapons, rocket-propelled grenades and suicide vests before dawn on Saturday, killing 23 people including 10 civilians, officials said. Twelve attackers were also reported killed in the assault.
The raid followed a suicide bombing at a Shiite Muslim mosque elsewhere in the northwest on Friday that killed 24 people, police said. It was the latest in a rising number of sectarian attacks in the country.
The Pakistani Taliban claimed responsibility for both attacks. The group has been waging a bloody insurgency against the government for years and also has sometimes targeted country's minority Shiite sect.
The raid on the army post in Serai Naurang town of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province began around 3:45 a.m. local time and lasted for several hours, said senior police officer Arif Khan Wazir. The militants were armed with automatic weapons and rocket-propelled grenades, he said.
Nine soldiers and four members of the Frontier Constabulary, a force that polices parts of northwestern Pakistan, died during the battle, two security officials said. They said 12 attackers were also killed. Both officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to the media.
They say militants killed 10 civilians in a nearby house, including three women and three children.
Pakistani Taliban spokesman Ahsanullah Ahsan claimed responsibility for the attack in a telephone call to The Associated Press from an undisclosed location. He said four suicide bombers were involved in the attack. He said that three of them were killed and the fourth was still resisting as of his call at around 9:20 a.m. local time (4:20 a.m. GMT).
Ahsan said the attack was retaliation for the recent deaths of two Taliban commanders in U.S. drone strikes. He accused the Pakistani army of helping with the attacks. Pakistani officials often criticize drone operations as a violation of the country's sovereignty, but are known to have assisted some U.S. strikes in the past.
A police official, speaking on condition of anonymity because of sensitivity of the matter, said he saw the bodies of three attackers with their suicide vests intact. Their features suggested they belonged to a group of Uzbek militants allied with the Taliban, he said.
He said other attackers detonated their explosives during the battle with the security forces — one inside the house where civilians were the killed. He did not say if this caused the civilian deaths.
The attack on the mosque Friday took place in Hangu town, also in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province. The town has experienced previous clashes between the Sunni and Shiite communities that live there.
Shiites in Pakistan have increasingly been targeted by radical Sunnis who consider them heretics, and 2012 was the bloodiest year for the minority sect in the country's history. According to Human Rights Watch, more than 400 Shiites were killed in targeted attacks in Pakistan in 2012.


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CHICAGO—Calling the NCAA a dictatorship, Northwestern's quarterback and the United Steelworkers announced plans Tuesday to form the first labor union for college athletes—the latest salvo in the bruising fight over whether amateur players should be paid.
Quarterback Kain Colter detailed the College Athletes Players Association at a news conference in Chicago, flanked by leaders of the Steelworkers union that has agreed to pay legal bills for the effort. The NCAA and the Big Ten Conference both criticized the move and insisted that college athletes cannot be considered employees.
Colter said the NCAA dictates terms to its hundreds of member schools and tens of thousands of college athletes, leaving players with little or no say about financial compensation questions or how to improve their own safety. That college football generates hundreds of millions of dollars in revenue only bolstered the argument for a union, he said.
"How can they call this amateur athletics when our jerseys are sold in stores and the money we generate turns coaches and commissioners into multimillionaires?" Colter asked.
"The current model represents a dictatorship," added Colter, who just finished his senior year with the Wildcats. "We just want a seat at the table."
Colter said "nearly 100 percent" of his teammates backed the drive to unionize. But only he spoke publicly, saying the others wanted to keep a low profile.
CAPA's president, former UCLA football player Ramogi Huma, said a union would help ensure that scholarships, at minimum, cover all living expenses as well as tuition. Currently, he said, scholarship athletes come up thousands of dollars short each year. A union would also push for full medical coverage that could carry over past college.
While the effort to form a union among college athletes appears without precedent, there is recent a case that may help their cause. More than 600 graduate teaching and research assistants at New York University voted to form a union in December and to affiliate with the United Auto Workers. It was the first such union in the country to win recognition by a private university.
For now, the push is to unionize college athletes is focused only on private schools like Northwestern – though large public universities, which are subject to different sets of regulations, could follow, said Huma, who is also the head of the National College Players Association he founded in 2001 to lobby for the interests of college athletes.
"This will be the first domino," Huma said.
If the players succeed, a union could fundamentally change college sports, said Brian Rauch, a New York-based labor attorney. He said it could raise the prospect of strike by disgruntled players or lockouts by schools.
The NCAA has been under increasing scrutiny over its amateurism rules and is currently in court, fighting a class-action federal lawsuit filed by former players seeking a cut of the billions of dollars earned from live broadcasts and memorabilia sales, along with video games, and multiple lawsuits filed by players who say the organization failed to adequately protect them from debilitating head injuries.
NCAA President Mark Emmert and others have pushed for a $2,000-per-player stipend to help athletes defray some of their expenses, but critics say that isn't nearly enough and insults players who help bring in millions of dollars to their schools and conferences.
Last season, Colter and football players from Georgia and Georgia Tech had the letters APU—All Players United—written on their gear during games as a show of solidarity in an effort organized by the NCPA. At the time, the NCAA said it welcomed an "open and civil debate regarding all aspects of college athletics."
The NCAA issued a statement Tuesday making clear where it stands on the athletes' quest to form a union.
"Student-athletes are not employees," NCAA chief legal officer Donald Remy said. "We are confident the National Labor Relations Board will find in our favor, as there is no right to organize student-athletes."
He added: "This union-backed attempt to turn student-athletes into employees undermines the purpose of college: an education."
A statement from the Big Ten Conference echoed that, saying it "does not believe that full-time students participating in intercollegiate athletics are employees."
"That said, the Big Ten Conference has the utmost respect for both the legal system and the rights of students to pursue their beliefs through that system," the league said.
NLRB spokesman Gregory King confirmed that a petition by the players to form a union was filed at the board on Tuesday. King said the board would likely conduct a hearing within the next 10 days.
The key issue the board must resolve is whether the football players are employees as defined by federal labor law, said United Steelworkers official Tim Waters. If they're deemed employees, he said, they would have the legal right to organize.
"It's crystal clear that college football players are employees," he said, arguing most put in a 40-hour work week and create revenue, though not for themselves. He and the Steelworkers president, Leo W. Gerard, said the relationship between colleges and athletes amounted to "pay for play."
William B. Gould IV, a Stanford Law School professor emeritus and former NLRB chairman, predicted the board will rule for the players.
"The major obstacle is the Brown University decision of a decade ago," he said, referring to a 2004 decision under a George W. Bush-era board that removed the right of graduate students at private universities to unionize.
The NLRB said in 2012 that it will reconsider Brown, and Gould thinks it will be reversed.
"I think these guys are employees because their compensation is unrelated to education, unlike the teaching assistants in Brown University, and they are supervised not by faculty, but by coaches," Gould said. "Their program for which they receive compensation does not have a fundamentally component. So given the direction and control that supervisory authorities have over them, I think they are easily employees within the meaning of the act."
Rauch, the labor attorney, said he thought union-minded athletes will have a tough time demonstrating they are employees, and he thought their chances of prevailing were slim.
"They have high hurdles to jump," he said.
AP writers Ron Blum and Sam Hananel contributed to this report.


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- Fonds
- Nov. 1968 - 1975
Fonds consists of negative images of petroglyphs largely from the Pacific west coast of North America. Most of the images are from sites located in British Columbia, but there are also images from sites in Washington State, New Mexico, and other areas of the United States and Mexico. There are also images of artifacts, masks, totem poles, wood carvings, and graveyards. Images of family travels, landscapes, wild animals, and house cats are interspersed within the collection.
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Millions of Americans are buying tickets for Wednesday's $500 million Powerball lottery, and you'd think that would mean a big economic boost for the 43 states participating.
That's not a sure bet.
Americans spent $65.5 billion on lottery tickets in the last fiscal year, up almost 10% from the year before. And lottery ticket sales have increased every year since the first state lottery in 1965 -- even during the Great Recession, when the sale of most other items declined.
About 25% of the money taken in by lotteries goes to state governments, funding everything from schools to construction and even programs to help problem gamblers.
That's a big infusion for state coffers. But some experts wonder if state economies would get more of a boost if consumers bought goods and services instead of lottery tickets. The research makes it pretty clear that the answer to that question is a resounding "yes," according to Victor Matheson, economics professor at College of the Holy Cross.
"People spend disposable income on lottery tickets rather than buying a coffee at Starbucks or some gizmo at Best Buy," he said.
Related: Powerball jackpot hits $425 million
Matheson argues that spending money with businesses helps spur much more economic activity than gambling on the lottery. While a quarter of Powerball revenue goes to the 43 states plus Washington D.C. that participate in it, about 60% of the money spent on tickets is paid out in the form of winnings. The retailers who sell the tickets get about 5% to 6% of ticket sales as commission, meaning they get only $10 to $12 for every 100 Powerball chances they sell. The remaining 9% or so goes toward administrative costs and advertising spending.
Lottery tickets have become a significant source of funds for states, with just over $16 billion flowing through to state coffers in the most recent year. That's about 2% to 3% of their total budgets, said Matheson, which doesn't sound like much. But he said that given the difficulty states have raising tax revenue in the current economic and political environment, those funds would be difficult to replace.
"[There's] an aversion to raising taxes," said Matheson. "It's difficult to see how you would eliminate that much of state budgets and be able to come up with money elsewhere."
Related: New hit to state budgets
A big jackpot like this week's Powerball jackpot can be a mixed blessing for retailers selling tickets said Jeff Lenard, spokesman for National Association of Convenience Stores. While the retailers appreciate the extra traffic the lottery brings in, it can also chase away their regular customers who might have otherwise have been spending money on products with better profit margins.
"Convenience stores sell convenience," he said. "You don't want to chase away someone from buying a cup of coffee."
Still, Lenard said many shop owners are happy for the chance to reach new customers. He said the busiest days on record for convenience stores were back in March of this year, when the competing Mega Millions lottery had a record $656 million jackpot.


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No Deal Yet In Market Basket Feud
The family feud that has brought the Market Basket supermarket chain to its knees may be nearing its end.
Ousted CEO Arthur T. Demoulas has reportedly made a $1.5 billion offer to buy out the part of the company controlled by his rival cousin, Arthur S. Demoulas, and his allies on the board.
The board was scheduled to meet Sunday but the meeting was called off due to disagreements over some terms of the sale.
Arthur T. Demoulas' ouster earlier this summer prompted an employee walkout and customer boycott that has led to empty shelves and a mere trickle of business at the private company's 71 stores in Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Maine.
Store managers and employees expressed confidence over the weekend that a deal was imminent.