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Dividends And Buybacks: The Last Hurrah?
Rising interest rates show no sign of dampening dividend payouts or stock buybacks. Not yet, at least.
Global news and insight for corporate financial professionals
Rising interest rates show no sign of dampening dividend payouts or stock buybacks. Not yet, at least.
Companies worldwide struggle to measure and report how well they are "doing good" as they do well for their stakeholders.
Changes in technology, regulation and the distribution of wealth are reshaping private banking throughout the Americas.
Tensie Whelan, director of the Center for Sustainable Business at New York University's Stern School of Business, talks about the growing bottom-line case for sustainable practices.
Private-sector entities are getting involved in providing aid, education and even jobs to refugees in order to mitigate the crisis.
The cost of producing solar power has fallen sharply in the past five years—so much that in some cases it can be half the price, or even less, of conventional power. Experts predict solar's cost will continue to plummet.
US: Heather Bresch, the CEO of Mylan, an American pharmaceuticals company, finds herself at the center of one of the biggest pharma controversies in recent years: price-gouging.
In potentially the biggest foreign corporate takeover ever by a German company, Bayer seeks to buy Monsanto for 62 billion. Werner Bauman gets into agribusiness.
Aung San Suu Kyi, Myanmar's de facto leader and a Nobel Peace Prize winner, has a change of heart regarding US sanctions against her country.
Mexico | Mexican billionaire Carlos Slim is advocating a massive shift to a three-day workweek, particularly for older employees.
Highly compensated Israeli bank executives feel harried by a new law placing limits on their salaries.
The country has been a stellar performer in Latin America, but now a worldwide scandal about its massive offshore financial industry is putting Panama's economic growth at risk.
Management | Corporate Culture
Several recent financial and corruption scandals have forced multinationals to develop comprehensive corporate conduct and compliance programs.
Management | Corruption
At the anticorruption summit held in London last month, world leaders pledged to fight tax dodging, boost transparency and redouble efforts to confiscate and repatriate stolen assets to many of the world's poorest countries.
Corporate leaders can be forgiven for not thinking too far ahead. The length of time that investors hold stock has fallen. Share-holders want fast rewards—and quick fixes when performance flags. Moreover, given the upheavals and macroeconomic uncertainties of the past decade, many CEOs and CFOs have been preoccupied with firefighting.
Corporate Charity | Trends
Billionaire philanthropy may be growing, but it is also giving rise to a new trend that could change the face of charitable giving.
Management | Corporate Governance
With the enactment of the Modern Slavery Act in October, the United Kingdom has made a new addition to the growing body of compliance regulations sprouting up globally.
Management | Corporate Boards
Led by investors such as Carl Icahn, Bill Ackman and Jeff Smith, and targeting companies from DuPont to PepsiCo, campaigns by activist investors have become a common occurrence in the United States in the past few decades.
Thomas Gass, assistant secretary-general for policy coordination and interagency affairs in the Department of Economic and Social Affairs at the United Nations, talked with Global Finance about the UN's new Sustainable Development Goals and how the private sector can help.
Management | Auto Manufacturers
The Volkswagen emissions scandal, which saw the company fudge emissions tests to make its cars appear less polluting, has resulted in a new CEO appointment, the suspension of key executives and a proposed group restructure.


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TechRadar Verdict
This is more than just the biggest and most costly Monitor Audio loudspeaker yet. It's a tribute to the skills of the design team, which hasn't previously shown much interest in the high end. It's also well priced
- +
Refined, detailed system
Makes the most of high-performance sources and amplifiers
Images unusually well in large spaces
- -
High resolution means special care is needed with system-matching - it'll show what's wrong with your system, as well as its strong points
Why you can trust TechRadar We spend hours testing every product or service we review, so you can be sure you're buying the best. Find out more about how we test.
There was a time when much of the very best loudspeaker technology emanated from the UK - but sadly, for the most part, those days are over.
With the singular exception of B&W, most truly interesting and high-class loudspeaker design now comes from North America, the Far East and elsewhere in Europe. Of course, some companies design their products here and have them built over there - in the Far East, mainly - KEF being a prominent example.
Monitor Audio is also associated with Far Eastern manufacture, albeit for cost reasons. Since Mo Iqbal relinquished the company's reins a decade or so ago, the brand has been principally involved with technologically conservative low- to mid-range loudspeakers, which might be described as 'mainstream affordable'.
In the main we're talking about loudspeakers that don't sap amplifier resources unduly, and which are mostly reasonably compact and affordable, if sometimes a bit too sharply dressed to blend in with many domestic surroundings.
But here's a new departure for Monitor Audio - an unashamedly luxurious, technically ambitious loudspeaker that's the result of a 'blue sky' project, where decisions about materials and construction techniques have been made with a purist focus, and largely without regard to cost or technical difficulty. This marks the entry of the long-established brand into the high-end market.
The voice-matched Platinum range includes a smaller two-way derivative - which could be used either as a stereo speaker or as a rear speaker in a multichannel system - a centre-channel speaker that, technically speaking, is very closely related to the model tested here, plus the obligatory subwoofer, of course.
The aim for these models was to marry traditional British craftsmanship with what Monitor Audio describes as "benchmark" performance.
This would appear to refer to consistent sound across the range, with greater refinement and musical integrity than with previous efforts, as well as very low distortion and a considerably broader frequency coverage (>50kHz), appropriate to the bandwidths ushered in by media such as DVD-A, SACD, HD-DVD and Blu-ray.
Responsibility for this ambitious project was assumed by a recently expanded team of acoustical engineers and industrial designers, led by technical director Dean Hartley and based in Rayleigh in Essex.
Monitor Audio has also introduced in its own 3D modelling, finite-element simulation and a Klippel distortion-analysis system supported by an in-house anechoic chamber. This investment is clearly intended to pay further dividends with future projects.
The PL300 is an imposing loudspeaker, standing as it does at over 1.1 metres tall and set against broad shoulders and a deep cabinet.
The side panels are alternatively bowed inwards (at the back) and outwards (at the sides) for resonance-control purposes. It's a three-way, four-driver design, with two identical 200mm bass drivers, a 100mm mid unit and - in a complete break with Monitor Audio practice, which has always previously favoured metal domes - a proprietary ribbon tweeter.
Bass loading is via two rear-facing, rifled HiVe II high-speed vents. Front baffles, plinths and the midrange housings are cast from an anti-resonance composite (ARC) material, a thermoset polymer that's loaded with minerals to provide very inert, optimally damped assemblies.
The ARC material is cast to form a tapered line enclosure for the Platinum's midrange driver. The main enclosure's front and rear panels have additional reinforcement from long steel support struts that are tightened to a specific torque as an additional resonance-control method.
They're barely needed, however; the internal construction of the PL300 and the build of the main chassis itself shows a great deal of attention has been paid to this major parameter.
The standard of fit and finish on the model is nothing less then exquisite, and this includes the quality of the adjustable spiked feet, the WBT Platinum Signature bi-wire terminals and the 11 layers of clear-gloss piano lacquer that highlight the wood grain.
To add a little extra touch of luxury to the package, along with some additional damping (though this isn't its primary purpose), the baffle is upholstered in Strathspey leather, which is said to be superior to other leathers sometimes employed in similar applications. The woods used are Santos rosewood and natural ebony veneers.
The drive units clearly aren't from the standard Monitor Audio parts bin. All driver surfaces employ ceramic-coated aluminium/magnesium (C-CAM). On the bass and midrange units, the cones consist of cores of Nomex honeycomb resins sandwiched between thin C-CAM layers, the concave cone profiles shaped with the aid of FEA analysis.
High frequencies are generated by a short and not excessively directional C-CAM alloy sandwich ribbon, with a neodymium rare-earth magnet.
The ribbon doubles as the voice coil, and weighs just 18mg (less than half the weight of a typical high-performance dome), which helps account for the impressive 100kHz tweeter frequency-response limit, key to the speaker's ability to complement the new broad-bandwidth formats.
The ribbon is also very narrow, which means a wider then usual lateral dispersion, the limited height causing a more than usually curtailed vertical dispersion too.
This review was carried out shortly after moving to new premises, which of course meant a new listening room, with completely different acoustics to those this particular reviewer is accustomed to.
The room is tall, moderately wide and about 12 metres long, so there's plenty of air to stir. We were told in advance that our review speakers were well travelled, having been used as demonstration models in other countries. In any event, we could detect no warm-up or running-in traumas that weren't directly attributable to the other components in the system.
In fact, there were no traumas of any kind, which compares favourably with most of the high-end speakers we've used in the recent past - though we suspect the Focal-JMlab Utopia Be would have been an interesting match, as well as offering even greater low-frequency bandwidth and maximum volume capability.
Not that the PL300 is particularly limited in either department. The bass is well extended and very clean and agile.
It's more than capable of sustaining fortissimo orchestral playing with real power and authority, and its speed and agility are even more impressive than its sheer depth, though having said that, a smaller room would probably have thrown the spotlight more firmly on the low-frequency 'presence' end of the spectrum.
But with the right music, performed properly, the PL300 can mount a musical picture of devastating authority and weight, without any noticeable overhang or excess.
However, it's in two other areas that this speaker is most impressive. First, there's the almost complete absence of coloration, and the model's corresponding transparency. The only speakers that come close in this area are top-end electrostatics.
The sound possesses a sharpness, clarity and precision, but with absolutely no detectable overhang. This is certainly linked to the very subtle discrimination the PL300 provides to high-frequency musical content, and the airiness that's often heard from top-class wide-bandwidth tweeters.
In many ways it's suggestive of the performance of the Focal beryllium tweeter and the B&W diamond tweeter, which are certainly the best domes currently available.
The sounds of individual instruments are particularly well served, with a very subtle, tactile quality where the music demands it. For example, the individual strings on an acoustic guitar and glissandi from a harp - which, with poor reproduction quality, may be masked in orchestral recordings - are incredibly striking.
The effect is nothing short of breathtaking, providing some real spine-tingling moments, in a way that you often hear in a live music event, but rarely encounter in the reproduced article.
There's similar quality with one of this month's featured recordings, the Natalie Clein recording of Elgar's Cello Concerto, which from the first note brings the solo instrument to life in a remarkable and thoroughly tactile way. The electrostatic-like quality of this speaker, despite having no electrostatic transducer built in, was noted explicitly by a number of visitors.
The second area where the PL300 truly excels - even outshining other speakers with ribbon tweeters - is its dispersion. The tweeter has a broad lateral radiation pattern, which makes it more usable than expected - even well off the tweeter's main firing axis.
There's some roll-off when listening from either side, as the PL300 can't repeal the laws of physics, but the change in voicing is remarkably modest with changes in incident angle, and there certainly isn't the marked 'hot seat' effect characteristic of ultra-wide-bandwidth domes.
Unsurprisingly, there's more variation on the vertical axis, although it's not excessive, so that standing up and moving around the listening room while listening casually at least, doesn't result in any disproportionate change in voicing.
There is a positive side effect here, which is that floor and ceiling reflections are effectively damped down. We noticed that a point in the room that tends to sound rather bright, apparently associated with a projecting RSJ strut running across the room, was less affected than usual using this Monitor Audio speaker.
Earlier on, we described the Platinum series as unashamedly luxurious, with the clear implication that they're also unashamedly expensive. Well, they're not cheap, but £5K for a pair of speakers of this complexity, build quality and, above all, musical performance is far from extravagant.
The overall musical effect is very expressive, airy and natural, with a clearly well-extended response, especially in the high treble.
Tech.co.uk was the former name of TechRadar.com. Its staff were at the forefront of the digital publishing revolution, and spearheaded the move to bring consumer technology journalism to its natural home – online. Many of the current TechRadar staff started life a Tech.co.uk staff writer, covering everything from the emerging smartphone market to the evolving market of personal computers. Think of it as the building blocks of the TechRadar you love today.
Plucky CPU maker beats AMD and Intel to become first to offer 320 cores per server — with even bigger models in the pipeline
How much more data can Meta collect? Probably a lot, thanks to the Meta Quest 3 and Ray-Ban smart glasses
Counter-Strike 2 has finally released on PC - players can dive in now

subset: commoncrawl


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I'll give my parents everything, because they deserve the best! There's so much choices in the market, but I realized how they appreciate receiving gadgets for Christmas. A new phone or tablet for them is very useful, and also something that they can enjoy whole year round!
Holiday gifting is made easier and more joyful with the cutting-edge multifunction device offerings from Lenovo Philippines. Designed for ultimate portability, optimal entertainment, and premium performance, these devices will give the gift recipient a great head start for a fun and organized New Year!
Holiday gifting is made easier and more joyful with the cutting-edge multifunction device offerings from Lenovo Philippines. Designed for ultimate portability, optimal entertainment, and premium performance, these devices will give the gift recipient a great head start for a fun and organized New Year!
Lenovo PHAB Plus and YOGA 900: On-the-go Hybrid Powerhouses
These days, mobile computing is the only way to go, whether for business or for pleasure. The Lenovo PHAB Plus and YOGA 900 are the ideal next-level mobile devices for people who demand their tech to be perfectly portable without compromising style and performance.
The PHAB Plus boasts of all the amazing features of a Lenovo smartphone in a bigger yet definitely handy package—the perfect combination of phone + tablet. Don't let their big screens, which are relatively larger than other smartphones in the market, intimidate you; these beauties are optimized for one-handed usage and made with premium craftsmanship to ensure a slim profile and light body.
Super love the elegant style of the Lenovo PHAB Plus:
Brought it during my Boracay trip for internet browsing:
The PHAB Plus ensures that users have all they need for all they do in a single hybrid device. With a 6.80inch 1080p HD display, Octa-core 64-bit Snapdragon 615 processor, Android 5.0 Lollipop OS, and 2GB RAM, the PHAB Plus delivers a truly fabulous performance. Ultra-fast and responsive, it elevates users' multimedia experience with a 326 ppi resolution display for crisp, larger-than-life viewing along with Dolby® Atmos for immersive sound. With a 3500mAh battery that can last up to 24 hours on a single charge, users can enjoy games, apps, and movies all day. Take the mobile experience to the next level with the PHAB Plus for only Php 14,999.
Hailed as the thinnest convertible laptop with a powerful Intel Core i Processor in the world, the YOGA 900 boasts of multiple modes primed for portability. The very lucky gift receivers can enjoy the Yoga 900 in laptop, tent, stand, and tablet modes to fit whatever purpose they require at any moment. This multimode feature is enabled with a revolutionary watchband hinge for a smooth and sturdy transition between multiple modes.
This laptop-tablet also boasts of a 13.0-inch QHD screen with In-Plane Switching, JBL speakers and Dolby Home Theater for an impressive sound experience through headphones and speakers, and a Samsung SSD for improved memory capacity and higher reliability. The YOGA 900 is a convertible that users will never tire of; good thing it has an improved cooling system with a unique vent structure that allows for quieter, cleaner, and more efficient cooling no matter how long you use it. This amazing hybrid comes with Windows 10 Home 64 and an affordable price tag of P78,995.
ideapad 100 and ideapad 500: Far from your ordinary laptops
Far from being just an ordinary entry-level laptop, the Lenovo ideapad 100 is packed with the most essential features for playing games, surfing the web and creating content. It features an Intel® Pentium 3528u processor, 500 GB HDD storage and dedicated Nvidia Geforce® Graphics, giving users a fast processor, ample storage, and solid display. The Lenovo ideapad 100 runs up to 4 hours without plugging in so users can work, browse online, watch videos, and do more with minimal interruption. Measuring at just 20.2 mm for the 14-inch variant, the thin and sleek Lenovo IdeaPad 100 ups the standard in entry-level laptops, with its classic ebony black finish.
The Lenovo ideapad 500 has more than what meets the eye. It is powered by Intel's 6th Generation Intel® Core i-series CPU for serious horsepower that makes switching to any task faster and efficient. Video chatting will be a breeze and one of a kind with its JBL Speakers with Dolby Advanced Audio certification and Intel RealSense 3D Camera that sees more, understands, and responds to natural movement in three dimensions making it the next-generation video chat. Make the most out of the Lenovo ideapad 500 with its dedicated graphics card to edit photos, render home movies, or play games.
YOGA Tab 3 Pro: Mobile Entertainment 24/7
Staying connected 24/7 isn't the only task for mobile devices nowadays, as users demand 24/7 entertainment. Enter the Yoga Tab 3 Pro, a highly innovative tablet with built-in entertainment features that will blow users away.
The Yoga Tab 3 Pro takes all the wonderful features of the Yoga Tab 3 and amps them up. Powered by a Quad-core Intel Atom X5-Z8500 1.44 to 2.24 GHz processor, 2GB RAM, and Android 5.1, this ultimate video tablet delivers superb performance and more. It boasts a revolutionary built-in 70" projector—that's like having a theater system you can set up anywhere, anytime. It also boasts four front-facing JBL speakers that produce high-octane sound. Completing the best-in-class multimedia experience is the powerfully immersive sound from the Dolby Atmos audio system, preloaded Netflix app for on-demand content and personalized recommendations along with a high-quality optimized HD display, The Yoga Tab 3 Pro is available in all Lenovo stores and resellers nationwide for PHP 29,999.
With all these amazing gift choices from Lenovo, it will definitely be a happier holiday season for everyone!
For the latest Lenovo news, subscribe to Lenovo RSS feeds or follow Lenovo on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook


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MINNEAPOLIS -- The Minnesota Timberwolves have long been interested in Pau Gasol.
Now that Gasol is having trouble fitting in with new Lakers coach Mike D'Antoni's offense, the time would seem natural for the teams to renew trade talks. But that's not the case.
"There's absolutely nothing imminent that we're working on," Timberwolves president David Kahn said Friday.
Kahn called an impromptu news conference after a shootaround leading to Minnesota's game against the Cleveland Cavaliers. He addressed a report that said the Wolves have built a package around Derrick Williams and Nikola Pekovic to offer the Lakers for Gasol.
The Associated Press reported in June the Wolves did dangle Williams in an effort to land Gasol, but Kahn said Friday that was the last time the teams talked about it.
"I can assure you there have been absolutely no discussions with that team since last June," Kahn said.
Kahn has considered speaking with Williams and Pekovic to reassure them. But he acknowledged that can be "a slippery slope" because while there is no immediate deal, one or both of them could be on the move in the future.
Pekovic said he pays no attention to the talk, hearing of it only when friends contact him to see if there is truth to it.
"I just never think about it," Pekovic said.
What does appear clear is that Kahn wants to see how the team responds to point guard Ricky Rubio's return to the lineup. Rubio has been out since March with a torn ligament in his left knee. But he has been practicing and could play in a game as early as next week, though there is no firm timetable.
"My main concern right now is that the team simply regain its health and then maintain its health," Kahn said. "That's the No. 1 concern I have because this has been, since really the night Ricky got hurt last March, it's really been difficult for us to become healthy again. Hopefully sooner rather than later the team will become healthy again."
Kevin Love, Chase Budinger, Brandon Roy, Andrei Kirilenko, J.J. Barea and Pekovic all have missed time with injuries this season. The Wolves, though, have not fallen too far behind. They were 8-9 heading into the game against the Cavaliers.
"I'm very admiring of the players and the coaching staff," Kahn said. "I'm admiring and proud. If you really think about it, if we'd been at full health, we might've had a pretty nice record right now because they've been competitive, I think, in every game."
The Lakers maintain they don't plan on any moves until Steve Nash returns from a leg injury. But Gasol, who is earning more than $19 million this year and next, has struggled to find a place in D'Antoni's up-tempo system. He is averaging just 12.8 points and 8.8 rebounds, and has missed the past two games and is out indefinitely with tendinitis in his knees.


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Better Than Normal: How What Makes You Different Can Make You Exceptional (Unabridged)
- $12.99
- $12.99
Publisher Description
A New York Times Bestseller
A groundbreaking new view of human psychology that shows how eight key traits of human behavior—long perceived as liabilities—can be important hidden strengths.
What if the inattentiveness that makes school or work a challenge holds the secret to your future as an entrepreneur? What if the shyness in groups that you hate is the source of deep compassion for others? What if the anxiety and nervousness you often feel can actually help energize you? What if the mood swings you sometimes experience can
be the source of tremendous creativity?
Renowned psychiatrist and popular on-air personality Dr. Dale Archer believes that labels for behavior like "ADHD," "bipolar," and "OCD" are normal human qualities—and contends that we all experience these and other psychological traits to some extent, yet fail to leverage the significant advantages they can offer. Worse, we stigmatize one another for these prevalent, widely shared aspects of our personalities.
In Better Than Normal, Dr. Archer offers an empowering framework for redefining what constitutes mental health. Drawing on his twenty years of clinical experience, he describes eight traits of human behavior—heretofore known
only as psychiatric diagnoses. Each of these occurs along a continuum rather than as a simple on-off switch (where "off " means we're fine, and "on" means we've got a problem). These are the aspects of our personality that we worry about the most, but these are also the very things that make us distinctive and different.
According to Dr. Archer, each of us has a unique personality that emerges from our hardwired genetics and individual life experiences. With Better Than Normal, you can map your individual characteristics by taking the eight trait
self-assessment quiz and see how what makes you different can indeed make you exceptional. Filled with engaging anecdotes and practical tools to help you capitalize on your unique characteristics, Better Than Normal offers a new and liberating way to look at ourselves and others.
Includes a bonus PDF with worksheets from the book


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The new owner of the Hampton Inn & Suites Memphis-Beale Street at 175 Peabody Place Downtown, has filed a $22.5 million loan on the property after acquiring the 144-room hotel.
CWI Beale Street Hotel LLC – an affiliate of Lake Forest, Ill.-based Carey Watermark Investors Inc. – filed the leasehold deed of trust, assignment of leases and rents, security agreement and fixture filing Feb. 14 through Wells Fargo NA.
The company on Tuesday, Feb. 19, announced it had bought five hotels in the Hilton Worldwide portfolio from entities related to Fairwood Capital LLC.
In addition to buying the Hampton Inn Beale, Carey Watermark Investors bought hotels in Georgia, Louisiana, Alabama and Texas.
CWI's total investment in the properties is "approximately $104 million, including acquisition-related costs and $64.5 million of debt," according to a press release.
"The portfolio represents an opportunity to invest in five Hilton branded hotels that have been recently renovated and offer strong in-place cash flow," Michael Medzigian, chief executive officer of CWI, said in a statement. "The Memphis and Atlanta properties are high quality urban assets … ."
Built in 1999, the 88,528-square-foot Hampton sits at the southwest corner of Peabody Place and South Third Street. The Shelby County Assessor's 2012 appraisal was $12.5 million.
The transaction also includes a neighboring parking garage.
The previous owner, operating as Fairwood Investors, leased the hotel from Memphis City Center Revenue Corp. through a payment-in-lieu-of-taxes agreement.
Source: The Daily News Online & Chandler Reports
– Daily News staff
Memphis Mayor A C Wharton Jr. shows up to meetings of the local economic development body that grants tax incentives to businesses pretty predictably.
That's not to say on a regular basis, rather his appearances are predictable because they tend to coincide with votes on tax deals for businesses moving into or expanding in the core city.
And that's what he did this week. The mayor showed up at both meetings of the Economic Development Growth Engine Board this week, at one of them praising Smucker's decision to stay put in Memphis in exchange for a tax incentive, a deal that Wharton said shows Memphis' commitment to essentially the heart of Memphis and its infrastructure.
On Wednesday, Feb. 20, the EDGE board approved a four-year tax freeze for Container Maintenance Corp., which is boosting employment in Memphis (where it provides intermodal-related services) by 96 workers and investing almost $4 million to expand.
Wharton praised the company for making that push, in addition to praising (along with Shelby County Mayor Mark Luttrell, also present) another project up for a tax freeze: International Paper Co.
Memphis-based International Paper got a 15-year tax freeze to help the company pursue a nearly $116 million expansion of its Memphis presence, which includes keeping 2,274 jobs here, creating 101 new jobs, keeping its headquarters here and building a new 235,000-square-foot, 10-story building along with a new 470-car garage and two pedestrian bridges.
On Monday, the EDGE board granted a 12-year tax freeze to the J.M. Smucker Co. so that the company would stay in Memphis and pursue a $55 million expansion.
That would save the company several million dollars in taxes, and in return the company would keep 125 jobs in Memphis.
The company's PILOT application explains the project will retrain the company's current remaining workforce to produce products using new machinery and technologies.
– Andy Meek
Funeral services for Shelby County Criminal Court Judge and Memphis mayoral contender Otis Higgs will be Friday, Feb. 22, at 3:30 p.m. at Mississippi Boulevard Christian Church.
Higgs died suddenly Friday, Feb. 15, after leaving the Criminal Justice Center early because he wasn't feeling well. He died that same evening.
Higgs was 75 and was serving his second tenure as a Criminal Court judge. He was appointed by Gov. Buford Ellington to the court in 1970 and left the bench in 1975 to make the first of three bids for Memphis mayor.
Higgs was elected Criminal Court judge again in 1998 and was re-elected to a second eight-year term of office in 2006.
He also served as interim Shelby County Sheriff in 1990 following the death of Sheriff Jack Owens.
– Bill Dries
Boyle Investment Co. has sold 10 lots at Spring Creek Ranch to a newly formed builder group.
Construction soon will commence on the next phase of development at The Village at Spring Creek Ranch, an upscale, master-planned community off Raleigh-LaGrange Road.
The new builder group for the Village at Spring Creek Ranch includes: Marty Smith, Artisan Custom Homes; Mark McGuire and John Worley, Celtic Manor Homes; Chris Dickens, Dickens & Associates; Ryan Anderson, RKA Investments; and Ron Sklar and Scott Klazmer, Klazmer/Sklar Homes.
Boyle anticipates five to six starts in March, and the homes should be ready for occupancy by mid-summer. The lots are located within the reserve area of Collierville on the 168 acres purchased by Boyle in November from the Meyer family, which owns Spring Creek Ranch Golf Course.
The new homes will be priced from $385,000 to $425,000 and the builders are pre-selling now, with two homes already sold.
Gary Thompson, vice president of Boyle, said the 10 lots in The Village at Spring Creek Ranch represent the first group of new lots to come online in quite some time.
Boyle hopes to develop a total of 340 lots in phases over the next decade.
In addition, Boyle has 10 lots in the gated Grand Manor, which provides residents with estate-sized lots available for custom homebuilding with views of the golf course and Chinquapin Lake. Home prices in The Grand Manor range from the high $600,000s to more than $1 million.
– Sarah Baker
A Raymond James Equity Research analyst wrote in a note to clients this week that he's maintaining a strong buy rating on shares of AutoZone Inc. ahead of the Memphis-based auto parts retailer reporting its quarterly earnings next week.
"AutoZone possesses the headroom to achieve the fastest commercial sales growth in the sector," wrote Raymond James analyst Dan Wewer. "Further, AZO is poised to benefit from a sector wide sales recovery that could materialize as soon as the second half of 2013.
"In our view, Zone's quarterly results will be driven by a continuation of the gross margin expansion cycle, but partially offset by tepid sales growth and subsequent deleveraging in expense rate. As a reminder, we anticipate headwinds for the auto parts retailers to persist until 2Q13 when comparisons ease and the impact from unseasonal weather seen a year ago is diminished."
The Senate has approved a proposed constitutional amendment to give lawmakers the power to refuse the governor's appointments to appeals courts in Tennessee.
The chamber voted 29-2 on Thursday in favor of the measure sponsored by Republican Sen. Brian Kelsey of Germantown. If the resolution passes the House by a two-thirds margin, it will go on the ballot in next year's general election.
The measure would maintain the current system for holding yes-no retention elections for Supreme Court justices and appeals judges. But it would do away with an independent nomination commission that narrows down the list of candidates for the governor to choose from.
Republican Sens. Stacey Campfield of Knoxville and Frank Niceley of Strawberry Plains voted against the measure, arguing for contested judicial elections.
– The Associated Press
Copyright 1995 -
by The Daily News Publishing Co. Inc. - All Rights Reserved


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1 It is necessary to bring an umbrella when ...
2 It will be necessary to bring an umbrella when ...
From my interpretation, #1 is a definite requirement. The speaker is probably some authoritative person i.e. experienced or has some knowledge of the situation to offer that advice.
In #2, the speaker is trying to be tactful when imparting the advice. Rather than forcing the issue; the speaker leaves it up to the recipient to decide whether or not to bring an umbrella.
Your comments on my comments ?
Civet Cat
H5N1 virus carrier


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I recently purchased a qualifying item for the Wired mag subscription, too! I just disregarded it. Thanks for the tip!
Last week I ordered a GPS on Amazon.com. There was a "special offer" for a free Wired magazine subscrption and a couple bucks worth of free mp3s
I was happy to take advantage of the MP3 credit, but a Wired magazine subscription? Not something I would necessarily take advantage of.
Fast forward a few days. I get an email from Amazon about taking advantage of the Wired subscription. Guess what was in the fine print of the email:
Terms and Conditions:
This subscription is included as part of the qualifying purchase(s) you made in the last 1-2 weeks in the Amazon.com Consumer Electronics Store.
If you do not wish to receive the subscription, you may receive a refund for the stated value ($10.00) [emphasis added]. To obtain this refund, please print and send a completed copy of the Online Form with a copy of your Amazon.com order confirmation to the address noted on the form. Please mail within 4 weeks from the date you received this e-mail.
Further, check out some of the conditions of the offer:
If you have opted out of receiving marketing emails from Amazon, you will not get the email notification for this offer. If you still want to take advantage of this offer, please update your communication settings located in "Your Account".
Not only do you have to read the fine print of the email; but to get the email in the first place you need to be signed up for the marketing emails from Amazon.
What are the lessons learned here?
First, if you buy $75 worth of electronics from Amazon.com right now you can $10 back (includes most GPS systems, many cameras, computers, and home theater systems).
But more importantly —
If you ever see an offer:
Read the fine print
And consider signing up for promotional emails. As annoying as they may save you a lot of money.
Disclaimer: The links and mentions on this site may be affiliate links. But they do not affect the actual opinions and recommendations of the authors.
Wise Bread is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to amazon.com.
I recently purchased a qualifying item for the Wired mag subscription, too! I just disregarded it. Thanks for the tip!
HSN does this too. I got two "rebates" back from them after I ordered items that came with subscriptions. The link to get the from to send in was right on the product page in very tiny print. I just completed the form and mailed it to the address on it with a copy of the order confirmation I got in my e-mail.
Wow, the "fine print" is usually where you find every different way that a company can screw you if you're not careful.
Its shocking to know that the fine print actually had something beneficial in it.
Guess I need to start reading that stuff with a more open mind.
They were recently running this promotion in toys on Amazon, but for a Parenting magazine subscription, which I already get. I spent $25 on toys, printed out my rebate form, and sent it in. They also did this last year and it took a little while, but I did get my rebate!
I don't understand how you can be happy about getting back money for a product you did not order, which is essentially what happened.
There are a lot of sneaky offers and subscriptions buried in the fines print these days, especially on supposedly free things.
John DeFlumeri Jr.
There is no such thing as a free lunch.
I never follow those "offers." Discounts for opening a credit care, etc. are bait. The trap is there. Those folks spend tons of time and money figuring out how to manipulate and get an angle on customers. Of course we all know that "I'm too smart for them.. all those other suckers are taken, but *I* make out." Yep, and you'll live on residual income from your airline miles too, right? [funny]
In the Spring Kitchen-aid had a similar deal. I bought mine and printed out the paperwork for a rebate plus a magazine subscription. Submitted the paperwork and like you submitted the additional request to opt out of the magazine, netting another $10 off the mixer. My only wish was that you could opt out of the magazine with a checkbox on the initial form - you had to submit the rebate and then a separate request to cancel the subscription.
Spend $25 in the Amazon Toy Store, get a subscription to Parenting or a $10 refund. I just sent in my paperwork Friday.
Amazon does this often--for over a month from Nov to the beg of Dec there was a similar deal in the Toys Dept. Any purchase (as long as it was thru Amazon and not a third-party seller) and you could request the refund of $9.99 from whatever magazine. Saves you another $10! Keep an eye on the "Special Offers" section when you're on a product page.
Spend $25 in the Amazon Toy Store, get a subscription to Parenting or a $10 refund.Recently I came to know that there is a website named AmazingWatcher.Com which is a free website that will "watch" items for you on Amazon and let you know when amazon has them in stock at regular retail price.It got so awesome!
Good luck everybody!


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The CIA and CNN Want Us To Believe That 2 + 2 = 5.
State-created myths that justify tyranny, war, and corruption take a long time to die, but when they finally do, they die hard. Eventually, after much debunking and vocal pressure from committed reformers, public resistance to state myths reaches a tipping point. The change in public perception is gradual, steady, and irreversible because the facts of history and individual conscience turn against the tyrannical myth-makers of the totalitarian state.
In our time, the collective myths created by the totalitarian states in America, Israel, and England are collapsing. The international public is being informed of the reality-twisting events on September 11, 2001, by 9/11 truth activists, researchers, scholars, scientists, educators, psychologists, architects, whistleblowers, military veterans, and former government officials.
Dr. Steve Pieczenik, a former State Department official and counter-terrorism expert, hammered another nail in the coffin of the myth of Osama Bin Laden on Tuesday, March 27, on the Alex Jones show. Dr. Pieczenik is using his expertise and authority to educate the American people and counter the psychological raid against reality and the global public mind by the USraeli war criminals who did the 9/11 attacks and their media partners.
The myth of Osama Bin Laden as an anti-American holy Muslim warrior who pulled off the biggest terrorist attack in American history is absurd and ludicrous when you really think about it for longer than ten seconds. A lot of people are still so transfixed by the mythic image of Bin Laden that they can't even begin to think about all the lies they were told by U.S. and Israeli government officials, and by CIA and Mossad spies in the mainstream media, following the attacks on September 11, 2001.
Three reasons the myth of Osama Bin Laden has prevailed for as long as it has against the forces of reality and science are 1) the nature of America's absolutist authority and its god-like position vis-à-vis the rest of the world, 2) the power of the mythic archetype of the Eastern villain in the Western mind, and 3) the psychological sway that a long-held belief has over a person's ability to look at reality anew and judge facts objectively.
Totalitarian political authority, at its core, is about shaping our fundamental beliefs about our everyday waking life, our view of other countries and the larger world, and our conception of the movement of history. In Washington, successive administrations, regardless of party, have added bricks to the totalitarian pyramid and given the shadow state secret powers to remold American society based on an authoritarian fascist model, and remove voices of dissent.
The radical and anti-democratic changes that are being forced on the American people are only possible because there is a cult-like leader in the White House who has more secrets in his past than any other president in American history.
In his article, "The Death-Dealing "Divinity" in the White House," author and blogger William Norman Grigg wrote about the cult-like aura surrounding Obama, and its grave implications for American society. He also said that the lionization of American presidents is nothing new, but is in fact a well-established cultural and political tradition. "Every U.S. President since the abhorrent Woodrow Wilson," wrote Grigg, "has used the media to create a sense of "institutionalized awe.""
The question of legitimacy about President Obama's birth certificate is instinctively dismissed as a loony conspiracy theory by the political establishment, the media, and the brainwashed left, each for their own different reasons.
The political establishment and media do not want the truth that Obama is a CIA agent who was not born in America to be widely known because the entire political structure would come crashing down, destroying their secret fascist plan for America and the world.
The brainwashed members of the left cannot wrap their minds around the fact that Barack Obama and the financial thieves who put him in power are perpetuating an epic fraud against the American people and humanity. They refuse to look at the evidence that shows 9/11 was an inside job and Barack Obama's birth certificate is a forgery because their confidence in the current political system would completely collapse, and they are not psychologically ready for that.
Author and scholar Robert Anton Wilson said that in the West, especially in the media and academia, individuals frequently repeat the Hindu-like mantra, "It was only a coincidence," in order to suppress evidence and viewpoints that do not fit into their established worldview. Wilson said that a mantra "quiets anxieties, it stills the restless mind, it ends the perpetual inquiring and questioning and wondering, and eventually it stops thought entirely."
I think that many 9/11 truth-deniers subconsciously know that the War on Terror and Barack Obama are both giant political frauds, but the label of "conspiracy theories" still holds an unbelievable power over their minds so they're not prepared to jump ship yet and be in league with the crazies on the fringe of society.
But a society does not remain static, especially one that offers a limited space for opposing viewpoints to be heard, and an open exchange of ideas and information. People's views and beliefs evolve as history unfolds and new ways of seeing the world gain ground in the popular psyche. As it is often pointed out, it was once a mainstream view that the Earth was the center of the universe. That is just one example of mainstream absurdity and stupidity. History shows that the mainstream is more insane, kooky, and mentally backward than the fringe.
Most of the time, no matter the era or the society, mainstream popular opinion is based on prejudice, ignorance, and psychological blindness. Anyone who blindly holds stock in mainstream thought and automatically dismisses opinions on the fringe of society as crazy is a fool. The mainstream is behind the curve on most issues, and not just on academic and scholarly issues, but on issues of the largest significance for the development of human understanding, human freedom, and human civilization.
In our dystopian age, in which secret state intelligence agencies have accumulated so much unaccountable power and wield it clandestinely for their own private aims, conspiracy is a normal part of politics. Nobody should be afraid to question the state because it is socially, politically, and culturally unpopular. Who cares if anti-intellectual labels like "crazy person," and "fringe conspiracy theorist," are given to those who reject official narratives and dispute fundamental orthodoxies. There are far worse things to be called.


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Editor's note: This column was first published in April 2006, about 10 months before the death of Dennis Johnson.
With Charles Barkley, Dominique Wilkins and Joe Dumars to be inducted, the Basketball Hall of Fame has elected three more NBA players than it did last year, when the Hall was criticized widely for leaving Wilkins and Dumars out in the cold. (Barkley was not yet eligible last year.)
But bringing in 'Nique and Joe D. won't right all the wrongs. The Hall of Fame continues to neglect many of the best players ever.
Here is an All-Star team of the greatest players still waiting for a call from the Hall.
Jo Jo White, Guard
Every year at this time, when the Basketball Hall of Fame announces its inductees to the Hall of Fame, White gets tense: "I really don't understand what the criteria are; you don't know who's doing the voting, and so you hold your breath. My gut hurts."
At this point, having been passed over for many years, Jo Jo White says he is "numb" to the results.
In White's case, the issue is consistency -- as in, the Hall should be more consistent in its considerations.
Compare White with 2006 selection Dumars. Like Dumars, White won a Finals MVP. In addition, White's career points per game (17.2), assists (4.9) and rebounds (4.0) in the regular season and the playoffs (21.5, 5.7, 4.5) exceed Dumars' totals across the board. (Dumars did register four appearances on the All-Defensive first team.)
But White deserves to be enshrined for two other reasons, reasons that have nothing to do with player comparisons.
The first is his individual slate, and the second is his teams' success.
With Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (then Lew Alcindor) boycotting the 1968 Mexico City Olympics and Elvin Hayes declining an invitation to try out, the United States had a challenge in maintaining its undefeated record in Olympic play.
Pete Maravich (43.8 points per game) and Calvin Murphy (38.2) were not selected for the United States. White was.
Against the taller, stronger squads of Yugoslavia and the Soviet Union, which had two 7-footers, White and Spencer Haywood spearheaded the attack, and the U.S. won the gold.
"He is probably as complete a player as you would want to run into in a university class," coach Hank Iba said in 1968. "His greatest assets are directing plays and an ability to shoot out on the floor. He is a great pro prospect."
In 1969, popular wisdom said Boston general manager Red Auerbach should be drafting a center to replace the great Bill Russell. And NBA teams shied away from White because he had a two-year military commitment.
Auerbach knew he needed to replace retiring playmaker Sam Jones, though, so he set out to pull some strings in Washington. Suddenly, White was in the Marine Reserves (which carried a June-December obligation) and missed only training camp and the first 12 games of the 1969-70 season. (The next year, Red got his man in the pivot, Dave Cowens.)
White had been used to a walk-the-ball-up pace at Kansas, but he adapted to Boston's fast-breaking style. A speedy wisp of a guard at 6-3 and 190 pounds, he could stutter-step and blow by defenders or pull up on a dime and fire his patented line-drive jumper. He climbed from 12 points a game to 21, then to 23 in three years.
A venomous New York-Boston rivalry flourished, with White going against Walt Frazier and the teams vying for preeminence of the East and meeting in the conference finals from 1972 to 1974.
After losing to New York in 1972 and 1973, the Celtics knocked off an aging Knicks team in '74. They won Game 7 against Milwaukee on the Bucks' court as John Havlicek won Finals MVP honors. The snide remark around the league -- "Let's see Boston win without Russell" -- was laid to rest.
Boston was back in the Finals against Phoenix in 1976. Cowens and Paul Silas punished the Suns off the boards and White dominated the scoring column, averaging 23 points and six assists for the series. He scored 33 points in the fabled Game 5, when Phoenix's Gar Heard hit a shot with a second left in the second overtime and Boston won in three overtimes, 128-126.
It has been called the greatest NBA game ever played, and White's MVP performance in the Finals thus was overshadowed. But in a decade of parity, Boston joined New York as the only other team with two titles in the 1970s. Later, the Celtics recognized White's contributions by retiring his number 10 and raising it to their populated rafters.
Has White slid through the cracks of history? Has he been forgotten by the Hall merely because his career ended 25 years ago?
It would seem so.
Dennis Johnson, Guard
An all-around performer, D.J. played in six NBA Finals and was on the winning side in three of them. He was a five-time All-Star who was named to the All-Defensive first team six times (1979-83 and 1987).
Johnson's deliberate, never frazzled, "What, me worry?" style lent itself to big-game performances. Although Boston's legendary front line of Bird-McHale-Parish is still celebrated, Johnson gets overlooked.
Playing for Seattle against Washington in the 1979 Finals, Johnson undressed the Bullets' guards, registering 25 points per game and blocking 14 shots. The Sonics won in five, and Johnson copped the MVP for the series.
Auerbach got Johnson from Phoenix for backup center Rick Robey and a couple of draft picks in 1983. Red's heist paid immediate dividends.
With Johnson directing traffic, Boston won 62 games and took Los Angeles in the Finals. In Game 4, Johnson contributed mightily with 22 points and 14 assists. In Games 5 and 7, he again scored 22 points.
In fact, as the NBA playoffs approached their historical apex in the 1980s, Johnson played in four consecutive Finals, from 1984 through 1987. Larry Bird said, "Johnson was the smartest player I ever played with."
The duo's in-sync quality was never more evident than when Bird stole Isiah Thomas' inbounds pass in Game 5 of the '87 Eastern Conference finals and found Johnson streaking to the basket for a layup. Two years before, in Game 4 of the 1985 Finals, Bird had been double-teamed and found Johnson for a game-winning 18-footer as time expired.
The only guards with more NBA All-Defensive awards are Michael Jordan (nine), Gary Payton (nine) and Frazier (seven). Like Frazier, Johnson will be recalled as a rounded, heady, clutch player who was essential to the championship teams on which he played.
Bernard King, Forward
At his rapid-fire peak -- three scorching years in New York from 1983 through 1985 -- King was an irrepressible offensive force.
"There has not been a better post-up 6-6 or 6-7 player in the league than Bernard King," says Hubie Brown, who coached him in New York from 1983 to 1985.
In a recent interview with ESPN.com, Brown recalled King's "complete book" of offensive moves, including a lightning quick catch-turn-release and an up-and-under -- not to mention his ability to finish on the fast break, where he was a no-frills blur swooping to the basket.
"In my lifetime of coaching, he is one of the two assassins that I have been fortunate to coach," Brown adds. "Neither pressure, defensive alignments nor game situations were going to prevent him from scoring or doing something sensational."
Brown continued: "He and Kareem [Abdul-Jabbar] were the two players I coached who demanded the ball with their eyes. King was never a vocal leader; he led by example -- in his practice habits and his focus during the game and his ability to execute under extreme pressure."
Anyone watching the Knicks from 1983 to 1985, more than a decade after their peak, was treated to a Kingly feast on a nightly basis. Easily the greatest offensive player in franchise history, King gifted his mates with 60 against New Jersey on Christmas Day 1984. Before King, New York could never boast a player who averaged 30 points per game, nor one who poured in 50 points in back-to-back games, as King did against San Antonio and Dallas in 1984. All told, in three seasons with New York, he scored 40 or more 23 times.
His playoff performances included a record-setting five-gamer against Detroit in 1984 in which he averaged 42.6 for the series (later bested by Jordan's 45.2 against Cleveland in 1988).
In March 1985, with the Knicks all but eliminated from the playoff hunt, King hustled back on a fast break and -- in an attempt to block a shot -- ruptured his anterior cruciate ligament. King led the league in scoring that year but didn't return until two seasons later.
Studying his own injury, and rehabilitating with the same tenacity with which he played, King reinvented himself with a face-the-basket attack. He averaged 28.4 points and made the All-Star team as a member of the Washington Bullets in 1991.
Adrian Dantley, Forward
Dantley has been nominated four times but has never received the welcome call from Springfield.
"I'm not surprised," Dantley said. "Someone called and said, 'Be patient.'"
"I know the ballplayers who I played against who are in the Hall of Fame. I know what I did against Clyde Drexler when he came to Utah and against James Worthy."
Just 6-5, Dantley was nonetheless a dominant low-post player.
He is one of the few basketball players in history to average 30 points a game for four straight seasons (1980-81 to 1983-84), and he led the league in scoring twice.
Noting that Dantley was "one of the most undersized power forwards ever to play the game," Brown nonetheless pointed out Dantley's post-up prowess: "He not only put up the points year in and year out but he got to the line and was such a great foul shooter."
Dantley's seven-year body of work in Utah was a marvel to behold. Before Karl Malone became Utah's iron man, Dantley put up consecutive scoring averages of 28, 31, 30, 31, 31, 27 and 30 on 54 percent shooting. He led the league in free throws five times and, in 1984, tied Wilt Chamberlain's record for 28 free throws in a game. In the 1984 playoffs, he scored 32 points per game.
He did it all with a simple formula.
"I took the bigger players outside, and the smaller ones inside," he says.
Several weeks before his 33rd birthday, Dantley, then playing for Detroit, was averaging 19 points per game but was shipped to Dallas for forward Mark Aguirre. Four months later, the Pistons were capturing their first of consecutive NBA titles without Dantley. Dantley blamed Thomas for going to management and engineering the trade for Aguirre, a longtime friend. "Everybody knows what went on there," Dantley says.
If nothing else, Dantley's career illustrates how chance plays a role, even in a great career. Had he not been traded from Detroit in February 1989, he likely would have played on one title team, maybe two, and his career might be perceived much differently.
Artis Gilmore, Center
Gilmore is the greatest eligible center not in the Hall of Fame.
"I have no idea why he's not in," said Brown, who coached Gilmore with Kentucky, including in 1975, when the Colonels won the ABA championship. "He's the most dominant center in the history of the ABA. He dominated college basketball at Gardner-Webb Junior College, then at Jacksonville, and was the Most Valuable Player in the 1975 playoffs. In the playoffs, he posted overpowering statistics, averaging 24 points and 18 rebounds. He was All-ABA first team five years in a row.
"In the NBA, he revitalized the Chicago franchise and played for a great team in San Antonio with [George] Gervin. But San Antonio couldn't get past the Lakers, who went to the Finals in eight of 10 years.
"He was extremely coachable, a hard worker, and got along with his peers. He played big in big games. So I don't understand why he is snubbed [by the Hall of Fame]. I have difficulty with that, because I don't know what else he could have done. I don't know what else to say, other than I don't know who is presenting his case. How your case is presented is important."
Could it be that he played so long in the ABA?
If so, we've had enough already of this canard that the ABA was some vastly inferior league.
If it was, why were eight former ABA players in the All-Star Game in 1977, the first year of the ABA-NBA merger?
"What can I say?" Gilmore says about his not being inducted. "I think everything has been said for quite a while. It's not the ABA and NBA Hall of Fame, it's the Basketball Hall of Fame. It would be a tremendous honor, but I'm insulated from the [voting] process. The statistics and accomplishments should stand up under that scrutiny."
No question.
One of the strongest men ever to set foot on a basketball court, Gilmore set records at every level. He averaged 38 points per game in high school, scoring 75 in one game. To this day, he holds the NCAA career record with 22.7 rebounds per game.
In 1970, he led the Jacksonville Dolphins to the NCAA championship game, where they lost to UCLA, 80-69. Gilmore posted 16 rebounds and 19 points, but UCLA harassed him into 9-of-29 shooting. He still was selected for the All-Tournament team.
His 16,330 rebounds are fourth all-time in pro ball, behind only Chamberlain, Russell and Abdul-Jabbar. He scored 24,041 points. The two totals combined are good enough for seventh place in history.
Gilmore is the game's all-time leader in field goal accuracy at .599.
He was one of three members of the 20,000-point, 10,000-rebound club who didn't make the NBA 50th Anniversary All-Time Team in 1996. The other two were Walt Bellamy and Dan Issel. Both of them have been elected to the Hall of Fame.
Jo Jo White, Dennis Johnson, Bernard King, Adrian Dantley and Artis Gilmore -- that's my quintet of snubbed Hall of Famers. I'll trot them out there against 'most anyone and take my chances.
Kenneth Shouler is the editor of and a writer for Total Basketball: The Ultimate Basketball Encyclopedia.


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Ed Donatell says it's fair to block him from interviewing
The 49ers blocked the Saints from interviewing secondary coach Ed Donatell for their defensive coordinator job, a right that teams hold over coaches under contract unless the opening is for a head coaching job.
Donatell addressed that possibility during Super Bowl week and his thoughts leave you with the conclusion that he's okay with missing out on the shot at running the defense in New Orleans. Donatell said the rule, which he dealt with when the Niners blocked the Bucs from interviewing him last year, because he signed a contract that he was under no obligation to sign and believes he should see it to its completion. It probably doesn't hurt that he also thinks that he's part of something worthwhile in San Francisco.
"Nothing is better than this. I'd give up the years of advancement to be a part of this. There is so much that goes along with it. This is the highest high. This is why you coach," Donatell said, via CSNBayArea.com.
People at all levels aren't always so keen on honoring the commitments of contracts that they enter into willingly, which makes Donatell's take on his own deal fairly refreshing.


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Morning Devotional by C.H. Spurgeon for September 22nd
A devotional by C.H. Spurgeon for reading on September 22nd
Psalms 149:2 2 Let Israel rejoice in him that made him: Let the children of Zion be joyful in their King.
BE glad of heart, O believer, but take care that thy gladness has its spring in the Lord. Thou hast much cause for gladness in thy God, for thou canst sing with David, "God, my exceeding joy." Be glad that the Lord reigneth, that Jehovah is King! Rejoice that He sits upon the throne, and ruleth all things! Every attribute of God should become a fresh ray in the sunlight of our gladness. That He is wise should make us glad, knowing as we do our own foolishness. That He is mighty, should cause us to rejoice who tremble at our weakness. That he is everlasting, should always be a theme of joy when we know that we wither as the grass. That He is unchanging, should perpetually yield us a song, since we change every hour. That He is full of grace, that He is overflowing with it, and that this grace in covenant He has given to us; that it is ours to cleanse us, ours to keep us, ours to sanctify us, ours to perfect us, ours to bring us to gloryall this should tend to make us glad in Him. This gladness in God is as a deep river; we have only as yet touched its brink, we know a little of its clear sweet, heavenly streams, but onward the depth is greater, and the current more impetuous in its joy. The Christian feels that he may delight himself not only in what God is, but also in all that God has done in the past. The Psalms show us that God's people in olden times were wont to think much of God's actions, and to have a song concerning each of them. So let God's people now rehearse the deeds of the Lord! Let them tell of His mighty acts, and "sing unto the Lord, for He hath triumphed gloriously." Nor let them ever cease to sing, for as new mercies flow to them day by day, so should their gladness in the Lord's loving acts in providence and in grace show itself in continued thanksgiving. Be glad ye children of Zion and rejoice in the Lord your God.
The content above belongs exclusively to Morning and Evening Devotionals by C.H.Spurgeon and is provided on HopeLife.org for purely non-profit purposes to help extend the reach of their ministry.


text: Country Profiles Country Profiles Country Profiles // Main Details Grenada - Main Details Show map Legend: CBD Party CBD & CPB Party Non Party Selected country Disclaimer: The designations employed and the presentation of material on this map do not imply the expression of any opinion whatsoever on the part of the Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity or the United Nations concerning the legal status of any country, territory, city or area or of its authorities, or concerning the delimitation of its frontiers or boundaries. Biodiversity Facts Status and trends of biodiversity, including benefits from biodiversity and ecosystem servicesThe content of this biodiversity profile is still draft. The text below has been prepared by SCBD and remains subject to final approval by the Party concerned. Grenada comprises three main islands: Grenada, Carriacou and Petit Martinique, totaling an area of approximately 348 km2. Grenada's coastline is 121 km long and consists of diverse marine and coastal ecosystems, including mangrove swamps, coral reefs, sea grass beds, beaches, lagoons, dry woodlands and cactus shrub. The country has 71 distinct watersheds, of which the largest watershed, the Great River catchment, comprises 159 km2 which is equal to about one-half of the country's area. There are 8 major watersheds on Carriacou and none in Petit Martinique; neither island has permanent streams or springs. The most recent survey of land use in Grenada was conducted in 1995 as part of the agricultural census. Land use categories from the census indicated that approximately 75% of the total land area is under some form of agriculture. Permanent crops account for 63.7% of the total land area, while about 7% of the land area is used for temporary cultivation and 4.5% is classified as permanent pasture areas. Forested areas represent 20.8% of the land area and about 4% of the land area is non-agricultural and non-forested. Much of the forest seen in Grenada today is the main secondary re-growth from the era of Hurricane Janet and conditioned by the impact of recent hurricanes. There are two endemic species of plants, the Grand Etang Fern (Danaea sp.) and the Cabbage Palm (Oxeodoxa oleracea), and one endemic tree species (Maythenus grenadensis). There is a general lack of information in regard to the statuses and trends of Grenada's forests. The forestry department estimated that the annual rate of forest loss since 1995 was 0.9%. Grenada's terrestrial wildlife consists of 4 amphibian species, 8 species of lizard and 5 species of snake, 150 species of birds (18 of which are thought to be threatened or endangered), 4 native species of terrestrial mammals and 11 native species of bats. Mangroves occupy about 3.4 km2 in Grenada. The main types of mangrove include red mangrove, black mangrove, white mangrove and buttonwood. Coral reefs surrounding Grenada are estimated to occupy an area of 12.5 km2. Grenada has 233 marine species, 69 marine/brackish water species, and several species of sea birds as well as 17 freshwater species on the main island. Currently, protection exists for only a few forest areas in Grenada. Grand Etang Forest Reserve is fully protected by legislation from any change in land use. There are national parks at Levera (123 ha) in the northeast, which are primarily mangrove, and at Mt. Hartman in the southwest and Perseverance Estate on the west coast which are dry forest. In Carriacou, an area of 136 ha is protected at High North. Work is currently being carried out by the Forestry Department and Forest Management Project regarding surveying areas for the creation of three more forest reserves at Morne Gazo, Annandale and Mt. St. Catherine. This will result in approximately one-third of the island's forests being protected. Main pressures on and drivers of change to biodiversity (direct and indirect)The content of this biodiversity profile is still draft. The text below has been prepared by SCBD and remains subject to final approval by the Party concerned. The main threats to forest biodiversity are the clearing of the land for agricultural production, animal tethering, housing settlement, infrastructure and commercial activities. Forest biodiversity is also threatened by natural disaster, including hurricanes, forest fires and pest infestation. The main threats to agricultural biodiversity are changing land use and loss of vegetated lands which signal a loss in habitat for wildlife and reduction in flora and fauna. This also creates conditions for soil erosion and siltation of rivers and coral reefs. Threats also include the impact of natural disasters, especially tropical storms and hurricanes, the increasing use of pesticides and insecticides, the introduction of invasive alien species and pest infestation. The major threats to many of Grenada's wildlife species include habitat destruction, unsustainable extraction and hunting practices, lack of institutional capacity for public education, enforcement and monitoring, lack of adequate legislation and invasive alien species. The main threats to Grenada's marine and coastal ecosystems are overexploitation of commercial species, overuse of ecosystem for agricultural, energy, tourism and construction purposes, beach sand mining, pollution through dumping of solid and liquid wastes, poaching and illegal extraction, unsustainable terrestrial agricultural farming practices, habitat destruction and disturbances in the food chain, spillage of oil-based substances and unsustainable fisheries practices. The main threats to the freshwater ecosystem are improper domestic solid waste and liquid disposal, overexploitation of species, unsustainable agricultural practices, including the use of weedicides and pesticides, saline intrusion, deforestation, introduction of alien invasive species and extensive use of freshwater for domestic and commercial purposes. Measures to Enhance Implementation of the Convention Implementation of the NBSAPThe content of this biodiversity profile is still draft. The text below has been prepared by SCBD and remains subject to final approval by the Party concerned. The Government of Grenada elaborated and published the National Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plan (NBSAP) in 2000. The NBSAP identified six priority objectives for the five-year period (2001-2005), as follows: 1) Provide broad-based support for conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity; 2) Protect key ecosystems from negative human-induced impacts; 3) Develop and encourage sustainable utilisation of biological resources that are essential to the livelihood of local communities; 4) Maintain, recover and promote genetic resources necessary for sustainable agriculture; 5) Ensure a fair and equitable sharing of the benefits arising out of the utilisation of genetic and ecosystem resources; and 6) Provide information on key ecosystems for incorporation into national accounts and decisions on national development projects. Grenada is currently in the process of revising its NBSAP. Actions taken to achieve the 2020 Aichi Biodiversity TargetsThe content of this biodiversity profile is still draft. The text below has been prepared by SCBD and remains subject to final approval by the Party concerned. Grenada joined forces with seven other Caribbean countries under the Caribbean Challenge Initiative (CCI) which seeks to expand and consolidate the Caribbean network of protected areas, both marine and terrestrial. The countries pledge to effectively conserve 20% of their resources by 2020. Six new protected areas have been designated and are awaiting formal adoption of the relevant legislation following a study on areas of particular importance to biodiversity. There is also legislation which prevents any form of hunting within the reserve. Sustainable Land Management Projects include the OECS Protected Areas and Associated Livelihoods (OPAAL) projects, Sustainable Land Management (SLM) project and the Integrated Water Resources and Coastal Area Management Plan which are serving to strengthen the management of key ecosystems. Moreover, disaster risk reduction strategies have been implemented, and the tourism master plan has been completed and implementation is ongoing. Additional ongoing projects deal with mangrove restoration, asbestos management, national forest management, among others. Support mechanisms for national implementation (legislation, funding, capacity-building, coordination, mainstreaming, etc.)The content of this biodiversity profile is still draft. The text below has been prepared by SCBD and remains subject to final approval by the Party concerned. The National Strategic Development Plan and the National Environment Policy and Management Strategy are the two foremost policy documents providing extensive treatment to the integration of environmental concerns in national development plans and programmes. The National Environmental Policy and Management Strategy is Grenada's formal expression and commitment to arrest and reverse trends of environmental degradation and to ensure that sound environmental management is fully integrated into the national development policy framework. In addition, several sectoral policies were developed and each included elements of environmental management concerns. The National Climate Change Policy, National Agricultural Policy, Tourism Master Plan, National Forest Policy, Poverty Eradication Strategy and the Energy Policy have included, albeit in rather broad terminology, the issue of environment management. The National Climate Change Policy, for example, includes a section on the direct linkages between climate change and biological diversity. The principal legislation for review was the Physical Planning and Development Control Act (2002) which focuses on the protection of natural and cultural heritage. The Act establishes the boundaries for physical planning and development control issues, including environment impact assessments, enforcement of development control, protection of the natural ecosystems and establishes the institutional framework for environmental management. However, biodiversity conservation is not directly featured in the legislation on environmental impact assessment. Grenada has established a Sustainable Development Council (SDC) comprising broad-based representation from the major sectors to constitute a forum for discussion, analysis and to advise policy makers on contemporary issues of national development. In fact, the SDC has functioned as a forum for ventilating several issues relating to environmental management. Grenada signed and ratified the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety and elaborated the National Biosafety Framework. Grenada also collaborates with other countries of the Caribbean on a range of biodiversity-related projects (e.g. OECS Protected Areas and Associated Livelihoods (OPAAL), Sustainable Land Management (SLM), Integrated Watershed and Coastal Areas Management (IWCAM), Caribbean Challenge Initiative (CCI)). Mechanisms for monitoring and reviewing implementationThe content of this biodiversity profile is still draft. The text below has been prepared by SCBD and remains subject to final approval by the Party concerned. The National Capacity Self Assessment (NCSA) was completed for the biodiversity sector, the climate change sector and land degradation area. The NCSA determined the management gaps and provided a roadmap for addressing the various concerns. The NCSA was complemented by the elaboration of the ecological gap assessment, a study on the management effectiveness of protected areas and a finance plan for protected areas.


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OregonLive : Stronger vocational education makes more sense than college for all
By Robert J. Samuelson
The college-for-all crusade has outlived its usefulness. It's time to ditch it. Like the crusade to make all Americans homeowners, it's now doing more harm than good. It looms as the largest mistake in educational policy since World War II, even though higher education's expansion also ranks as one of America's great postwar triumphs.
Consider: In 1940, fewer than 5 percent of Americans had a college degree. Going to college was "a privilege reserved for the brightest or the most affluent" high-school graduates, wrote Diane Ravitch in her history of U.S. education, "The Troubled Crusade." No more. At last count, roughly 40 percent of Americans had some sort of college degree — about 30 percent a bachelor's degree from a four-year institution; the rest, associate degrees from community colleges.
Starting with the GI Bill in 1944, governments at all levels promoted college. From 1947 to 1980, enrollments jumped from 2.3 million to 12.1 million. In the 1940s, private colleges and universities accounted for about half. By the 1980s, state schools — offering heavily subsidized tuitions — represented nearly four-fifths. Aside from a democratic impulse, the surge reflected "the shift in the occupational structure to professional, technical, clerical and managerial work," noted Ravitch. The economy demanded higher skills; college led to better-paying jobs.
College became the ticket to the middle class, the be-all-and-end-all of K-12 education. If you didn't go to college, you'd failed. Improving "access" — having more students go to college — drove public policy.
We overdid it. The obsessive faith in college has backfired.
For starters, we've dumbed down college. The easiest way to enroll and retain more students is to lower requirements. Even so, dropout rates are high; at four-year schools, fewer than 60 percent of freshmen graduate within six years. Many others aren't learning much.
In a recent book, "Academically Adrift," sociologists Richard Arum and Josipa Roksa report that 45 percent of college students hadn't significantly improved their critical thinking and writing skills after two years; after four years, the proportion was still 36 percent. Their study was based on a test taken by 2,400 students at 24 schools requiring them to synthesize and evaluate a block of facts. The authors blame the poor results on lax academic standards. Surveyed, one-third of the same students said that they studied alone five or fewer hours a week; half said they had no course the prior semester requiring 20 pages of writing.
Still, most of these students finished college, though many are debt-ridden. Persistence counts. The larger — and overlooked — consequence of the college obsession is to undermine high schools. The primacy of the college-prep track marginalizes millions of students for whom it's disconnected from "real life" and unrelated to their needs. School bores and bothers them. Teaching them is hard, because they're not motivated. But they also make teaching the rest harder. Their disaffection and periodic disruptions drain teachers' time and energy. The climate for learning is poisoned.
That's why college-for-all has been a major blunder. One size doesn't fit all, as sociologist James Rosenbaum of Northwestern University has argued. The need is to motivate the unmotivated. One way is to forge closer ties between high school and jobs. Yet, vocational education is de-emphasized and disparaged. Apprenticeship programs combining classroom and on-the-job training — programs successful in Europe — are sparse. In 2008, about 480,000 workers were apprentices, or 0.3 percent of the U.S. labor force, reports economist Robert Lerman of American University. Though not for everyone, more apprenticeships could help some students.
The rap against employment-oriented schooling is that it traps the poor and minorities in low-paying, dead-end jobs. Actually, an unrealistic expectation of college often traps them into low-paying, dead-end jobs — or no job. Learning styles differ. "Apprenticeship in other countries does a better job of engaging students," says Lerman. "We want to diversify the routes to rewarding careers." Downplaying these programs denies some students the pride and self-confidence of mastering difficult technical skills, while also fostering labor shortages.
There's much worrying these days that some countries (examples: South Korea, Norway, Japan) have higher college-attendance rates, including post-secondary-school technical training, than we do. This anxiety is misplaced. Most jobs — 69 percent in 2010, estimates the Labor Department — don't require a post-high school degree. They're truck drivers, store clerks, some technicians. On paper, we're turning out enough college graduates to meet our needs.
The real concern is the quality of graduates at all levels. The fixation on college-going, justified in the early postwar decades, stigmatizes those who don't go to college and minimizes their needs for more vocational skills. It cheapens the value of a college degree and spawns the delusion that only the degree — not the skills and knowledge behind it — matters. We need to rethink.
Robert J. Samuelson writes for the Washington Post Writers Group.
Paul Champion
📱: 07540 704920
Twitter: @blogapprentice
Skype: paulchampion31


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With Mitt Romney officially secured over Ron Paul (sorry Ronulans) as the Republican nominee, the 2012 U.S. Presidential Race is now in full swing.
So let's kick it off with a song, shall we?
The Race to Replace a Monkey with a Mormon
With Mitt Romney officially secured over Ron Paul (sorry Ronulans) as the Republican nominee, the 2012 U.S. Presidential Race is now in full swing.
Peas in a (highly armoured) Pod
Mark Steyn on Robert Kagan's new book:
Kagan would counter that America won what he calls "the war that never happened," the one with the Soviet Union, but, given the way the others turned out, it is perhaps just as well it never happened. A great scholar of the American way of war, he's fascinated with every aspect except victory. "The United States remains unmatched. It is far and away the most powerful nation the world has ever known. . . . The superior expenditures underestimate America's actual superiority in military capability. American land and air forces are equipped with the most advanced weaponry, are the most experienced in actual combat, and would defeat any competitor in a head-to-head battle."Loren Thompson, military analyst at the Lexington Institute on the U.S. Government's reducing the cost of military hardware:
But put 'em up against illiterate goatherds with string and fertilizer, and you'll be tied down for a decade.
However, as has been evident in Iraq and Afghanistan, U.S. enemies can blow up even the best armored vehicles with homemade bombs made from cheap fertilizer, Gen. Martin Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told an audience in an address at Harvard in April.
"The issue here is not whether it costs $10 million or $17 million," says Loren Thompson, a military analyst at the Lexington Institute and defense industry consultant. "When an enemy can destroy it for a couple hundred dollars, that's the worst cost-exchange ratio I've ever seen."
Thompson points out that the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan weren't fought against front-line foes.
"We need to understand that we have been fighting very under-resourced adversaries," Thompson says. "They nearly fought us to a standstill. What would a country with real capabilities do to us?"
Enjoy having these psychotic weirdos join your Union, Europe!
Now, farmers in southeast Turkey appear to have uncovered the latest Israeli plot against Turkey, one that turns tiny birds into flapping spies. As the Turkish daily HaberTurk first reported, a group of villagers near the city of Gaziantep discovered a small dead bird (from a breed known as the European Bee Eater) with a metal band around its leg that read "Israel." As if that wasn't suspicious enough, the bird had what seemed to be a very enlarged nostril, leading one local official to suggest that perhaps the bird had been implanted with some kind of microchip or spying device.
Feynman and Coulter's Love Child
6:12 am
Labels: International politics
Razzano def Williams
Just our luck that Serena Williams, one of the most prominent blights on the face of Women's Tennis, ends up losing in the first round (a first for her) to Virginie Razzano at Roland Garros.
Why is it an unlikely break? Because Razzano has managed to become the one female tennis star in the world today who's actually uglier than Serena (don't worry, I won't include a photo).
Instead, admire Quebec tennis player Stephanie Dubois, who lost to not-Serena-ugly-but-still ugly Shahar Peer in the first round:
Bring on President Palin
A Florida police shooting may be a sign of the zombie apocalypse.
Again, only one thing will save us all...
And you thought faggot marriages were stupid
Hey, didn't we just used to call this Spinster-hood?
Bonus The Onion style headline: "Area man consummates his self marriage up to 12 times per week".
Feynman and Coulter's Love Child
9:36 am
Labels: Race Religion and Sex
Amy Who?
The EuroTrip Drinking Game
You just know somebody'd had to make it
Slightly related: Don't even think of having a Hunt for Red October drinking game and not using vodka.
Coming up on a very special episode of Glee:
The school choir does a tribute to Edwin Starr:
War, huh, yeah
What is it good for
Keeping our fathers employed
Say it again, y'all
Feynman and Coulter's Love Child
11:41 am
Labels: #tcot, Entertainment
Super Morphing Outer Space Fucking Robots
You should probably be sitting down for the last five minutes of this episode of Half In the Bag:
It's a great big
universe landmass
Global Brief argues that Canada should be a country of 100 million people.
So, uh, what would they do? The article calls for a lot of them to be soldiers: presumably peacekeeping forces being pot-shotted at by tin-pot African dictators. But we've seen that they can't be involved in oilsands, or manufacturing, or financial services without incurring the wrath of the leftwing political elite.
What's left? 100,000,000 people watching CBC and waiting for treatment in hospitals?
Google understands even if you mistype fhwthjifj5uehtur
Yes that's right, if you type "Ednibtib Weather" into Google, it understands that you had your right hand one letter over for the entire word, and comes up with the correct answer:
Feynman and Coulter's Love Child
12:12 pm
Labels: #yeg, Investigation and Research


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Conservatives just hate Europe. They think the US should be less like Europe. Its a thing with them.
So following along with this there was a big headline over at the conservative website Drudge Report the other day: "Even Obama's New $100 bill looks European".
Here's the thing. The Americans that conservative outlets like Drudge and Fox News appeal to with this sort of nonsense more than likely haven't been to Europe, so they don't know what European money looks like. If they had been to Europe they would also know a few other things about Europe:
* Europe has high-speed rail connecting major cities, and good transportation when you get there.
* Workers get 5-6 weeks vacation.
* Workers get generous pensions.
* People receive great medical care often completely covered by the government.
* Many countries offer paid parental leave.
* And more, leave a comment with your own additions.
And if you ask any conservative they'll tell you why these are bad things. Go figure.
I suspect that conservatives hate Europe because by comparison it shows off how badly America's conservative policies have failed us over the last 30 or so years!
This post originally appeared at Campaign for America's Future (CAF) at their Blog for OurFuture as part of the Making It In America project. I am a Fellow with CAF. Sign up here for the CAF daily summary.
Conservative Failure – New $100 Bill "Looks European"
Conservatives just hate Europe. They think the US should be less like Europe. Its a thing with them.


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In Afghanistan, War Child Holland and War Child UK will integrate their programming, increasing effectiveness and operational efficiency. The programme will focus on the Kabul and Herat regions.
In Burundi, War Child's partnership with IRC to implement a joint project promoting the well-being and improve the protection of children in conflict affected communities (funded by the EC) will complement the firstname.lastname@example.com programme and strengthen our community-based approach in four provinces. Fundraising will be intensified to diversify funding sources.
In Colombia, War Child will work on expanding into the country's most conflict-affected departments such as Putumayo, Cauca and Chocó, and expand the use of War Child's DEALS methodology in most projects. A reduction of staff in the Bogota office will allow us to employee new staff in these regions.
In DR Congo, War Child will work to further expand its operations in Kalehe and start-up a new project in the Fizi area. We will look for additional partnerships in-country and also strengthen links and cooperation with the Burundi programme, facilitated by War Child's new Strategic Partnership for Protracted Crises with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Netherlands. The partnership will provide War Child with the opportunity to strengthen its community-based interventions and increase linkages with other actors in the region.
In the occupied Palestinian territory, War Child will continue its support to local organisations working with children in the areas most affected by the occupation and conflict. We will also continue implementing our joint project with Right To Play, funded by the Dutch Postcode Lottery.
War Child will continue to implement projects south of Beirut, in northern Lebanon, and in Palestinian refugee camps for Syrian refugees in response to the Syria crisis with funds from donors such as UNHCR and UNICEF. At the same time, we are exploring the possibilities to support children in Syria through local organisations. War Child will also work closely with War Child UK in the provision of support to Syrian children in Iraq and Jordan. In the Lebanon/Syria programme we will reach more than 100,000 children directly.
The conflict in South Sudan has forced us to review our plans for 2014 in areas particularly affected by recent conflict violence, such as Jonglei state. In 2014, War Child will start up a number of new projects and continue implementing on-going projects in partnership with other international actors, including War Child Canada, provided that the security situation allows.
In Sri Lanka, War Child will continue implementing its programme concentrated in the northern and eastern parts of the country. Additional funding from the European Commission will allow us to upscale our interventions.
In 2014, War Child will continue developing the e-Learning project in partnership with Ahfad University and UNICEF in Sudan. Our support to local partner organisations will be phased out, mainly due to accessibility constraints.
Budget constraints have led to the decision to phase out our operations in Thailand along the border with Myanmar. In 2014, we will focus on handing over our activities to other organisations where possible, and closing down the offices.
Although the implementation of our strategy for phasing out our operations in Uganda by 2016 has started, in 2014, we will continue implementing a number of projects focusing on conflict affected communities in the north. Our activities will include the continued implementation of two new DEALs modules (Risks of Alcohol Abuse, and Sexual and Reproductive Health), and the successful Building Skills; Changing Futures project, which combines life skills, vocational skills, business skills and apprenticeships.
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EU Sees Sharp Drop in Asylum Applications
The number of people seeking asylum in the European Union fell in 2003, reaching a level not seen since the mid-1990s, according to annual statistics published in February by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).
While in 2002 there were 369,550 asylum applications recorded, the number declined to 288,100 in 2003, a 22 percent drop. This was the lowest level since 1995, when 273,220 applications were recorded.
The newly released UNHCR data refer only to people seeking asylum for the first time; second or appeal applications are not included. In addition, the data does not include Italy, the only EU state whose 2003 figures were not yet available in February.
The most important sending country of asylum seekers to the EU was Iraq, as it had been in 2002. However, Iraqi applications dropped by 50 percent, from 40,550 (2002) to 20,090 (2003). Applications from Afghanistan also fell by 50 percent. Other important sending countries were Turkey with 19,950 applications, and Serbia and Montenegro with 18,700. The number of asylum seekers from Turkey and Serbia and Montenegro declined by 21 percent and 25 percent, respectively. In contrast, applications from citizens of the Russian Federation increased from 16,580 to 28,920, a jump of 34 percent.
UN High Commissioner for Refugees Ruud Lubbers welcomed the decrease in asylum seekers from Iraq, Serbia and Montenegro, and Afghanistan, which he said could be ascribed to changes in their home countries. At the same time he stressed in a press release that "improvements remain fragile in many countries, and there needs to be continued investment of aid and resources in the region of origin to ensure that the trend is not reversed."
Throughout the 1990s the major receiving country in the EU was Germany. This changed in 2000, when the figure for asylum applications in the United Kingdom reached 98,900, outnumbering applications to Germany by about 20,000. Since then, the UK has been the biggest receiver of asylum applications in the European Union. In 2003, however, the UK's 61,050 applications represented a 41 percent decline compared to 2002.
UNHCR's 2003 numbers also show that the number of asylum applications in Germany has decreased continuously since 1996 (with the exception of 2001), while simultaneously increasing in the UK (also with the exception of 2001) and France.
In 2003, France followed the UK as the top receiving country with 51,400 applications, and Germany ranked the third highest with 50,500. Portugal, as in previous years, ranked last with 110 applications.
While nearly all EU member states saw a decrease in applicants in the period 2002-2003, France, Greece, and Luxembourg were exceptions. The increase was only minimal in France (0.6 percent), and highest in Greece (44 percent).
Aspiring EU States See More Applications
The decrease in asylum applications in the EU was accompanied by an increase in those countries acceding to the EU in May 2004. In these 10 countries (Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Slovakia, Slovenia, Czech Republic, Hungary, Malta, and Cyprus), 37,300 people lodged asylum applications in 2003, compared to 32,100 the preceding year, a rise of 16 percent. However, this increase does not yet indicate a trend, since there was a sharp decrease in 2002, when the number of asylum applications was 27 percent below the number of 2001.
Nevertheless, the rising number of asylum seekers in states joining the EU "shows the importance of continuing to help the new EU member states build up their capacities. It also underlines the need to find common solutions in the form of burden-sharing at the European level," said Lubbers.
The top application-receiving countries in the countries slated for accession to the EU were the Czech Republic (11,400), Slovakia (10,300), and Poland (6,900). The Czech Republic and Poland both witnessed an increase of 34 percent compared to 2002. The rise was especially high in Cyprus: 4,410 applications represented an increase of 364 percent compared to 2002 (950).