Comment: Appointment of Supreme Court bench a ... - Minivan News

On 7 August 2010, the two-year Constitutional period for transition and the setting up of first-ever democratic State ended without a Supreme Court, Chief Justice or Civil Service Commission in place. The Human Rights Commission, too, was up for reappointment.

The Judicial Service Commission continued, technically, with some members still being valid, but remained in suspension without leadership or full membership. ?The JSC Secretariat, which often carried out functions of the Commission as directed by the Chair, without knowledge or advice of the Commission, carried on as usual. It was fashioned upon the dissolved Ministry of Justice by the first Chair of JSC and former Minister of Justice, Seena Ahmed Zahir, and continued to handle- the Courts and administration of justice much like it did prior to the 2008 Constitution.

The Secretary General at JSC, Muna Mohamed, had resigned on 2 August 2010. Muna left after it became known that she had, at the urging of JSC Chair Mujthaz Fahmy and members Criminal Court Judge Abdulla Didi and MP (DRP) Dr. Afraashim Ali, altered records on Article 285 proceedings at JSC forwarded to the Parliamentary oversight Committee.

Interim Supreme Court, which was to be dissolved with the appointment of the first Supreme Court remained in office, with no Supreme Court yet appointed. The nomination of Ahmed Faiz Hussain for Chief Justice remained pending in parliament, the Speaker refusing to table the matter as a stand alone appointment, and parliament majority insisting on full bench being approved?en masse.

The President was insisting on parliament deciding numbers on bench for nominations to be made. The Judicial Service Commission embroiled in the battle against Article 285, had not had time to discuss names for the Supreme Court despite the topic being frequently raised by the judges on the Commission. The judges had names they wanted to forward to the President.

Did locking the Supreme Court prevent a coup?

On 7 August 2010, President Mohamed Nasheed ordered the Maldives National Defence Force (MNDF) to lock up the Supreme Court. At 6pm, they did. There was no Supreme Court appointed.

I do not know on what information or what basis President Nasheed acted, and I have my own opinion on what ensued, but still I would defend the the lock up of the Supreme Court on 7 August 2010 was a pre-emptive act; and, I have good reason to believe, it successfully prevented the final act of the silent coup, at least for then.

If ?intelligence? I had from the inside is correct, the Interim Supreme Court had drafted a ruling, and the plan was for the bench to convene that evening to declare themselves permanent by the power of their self-declared permanency earlier and by virtue of sitting on the bench at the end of the Constitutional two-year period. Concurrently, I was informed, the newly self-appointed Supreme Court would also declare President Nasheed unconstitutional for his failure to appoint the Supreme Court in the period provided. I cannot explain the reasoning, nor confirm the information as 100 percent accurate. I can only relate here the information I had from sources I found reliable. What I know for a fact is the Interim Supreme Court had been busy, lights often burning well into early hours of the morning.

As with the ?lock up? of Abdulla Mohamed in January 2012, no one probed?why the Supreme Court was locked up.

The Prosecutor General (PG), having listened to interim Chief Justice Abdulla Saeed appealed to the Civil Court to order MNDF/President Nasheed to unlock the Supreme Court. My request to meet the PG was swept aside with an ?I will call you.? It did not happen. We were too familiar with each other as former colleagues and friends. Despite my constant reminders that I spoke to him as a sitting JSC member, he could not see me as any other but his ?friend Vel?.

The sleeping Law Society, too, roused itself. The Secretary, Dheena Hussain, issued a public statement condemning the ?president?s interference in the Judiciary?. Dheena Hussain had worked on the Constitution drafting Committee and is noted as the translator of the Constitution (2008) from Dhivehi to English. What schocked me is the fact that neither Dheena nor Law Society President Shaheen Hameed, who had been a member of the Constitutional Assembly, spoke up on JSC?s politics and high treason or the loss of an Independent Judiciary. I had personally shared all related documentation forwarded to President Nasheed with the Law Society, which has since been dissolved. It was the only professional organization of lawyers in existence.

The country was tense.

The international community, as wary as it is of domestic politics, urged a peaceful resolution through political talks. The fact that the Maldives was in a Constitutional crisis without a domestic remedy given that it was the judiciary in question; it was the the Judicial Service Commission ?committing acts against the Constitution and State; and it was the parliament that stood accused of a cover-up, all went unobserved, or was deliberately ignored.

The pressure was on for a quick resolution, and President Nasheed was in a corner.

Appointing the Supreme Court

On the morning of 10 August 2010, I received an SMS from the President?s Office. President Nasheed wanted to meet the Judicial Service Commission (JSC) at a meeting to be held in his office at 1:00pm. On the agenda was the Supreme Court.

Parliament, meanwhile, was at work, adopting the Judges Bill and Judicature Bill which had been left out of agenda for months of political bickering. That morning, it had adopted a proposal by DRP member Abdul Raheem to grant a 7-year period for judges not meeting required educational qualifications to get their degrees.

I was the first to arrive for the meeting with President Nasheed. As I sat down in the waiting lounge, Speaker Abdulla Shahid, who also doubles as ex-officio member of the JSC under Constitution Article 158(a) walked in. Shahid tensed upon seeing me and protested against my ?naming him? in an interview to Minivan News. I responded I couldn?t help who is named. Shahid then announced to me that the amendment proposed to the Judges? Act by MP Abdul Raheem that morning was a proposal he made.

I did not comment. Both he and I knew it contradicted a Constitutional provision and was in fact a political move to alter the Constitution and manipulate the courts without changing a single letter of the constitution. The same?modus operandi, majority by any means (with the majority decision standing above Constitution) had effectively nullified Article 285. Article 8 on the supremacy of the constitution leaves no room for majority decisions. When objections were raised, the majority drowned it in the collective claim that democracy works on majority. Respect of constitution, due procedure and rule of law were all to be by majority agreement.

The Judicial Service Commission: Who were they?

By 1:00pm, all sitting JSC members except for member elected by the lower Courts, Judge Abdulla Didi of Criminal Court, had arrived.? Member appointed from the general public, Sheikh Shuaib Abdul Rahman was on leave, gone on Umrah.

Seat of JSC Member 158(i), the Attorney General, was vacant. Husnu Al-Suood resigned on 8 August 2010 immediately after the ?end of transition?. Media reported Suood saying he?d resigned to take responsibility for State?s failure to take responsibility.

I resigned? There are a lot pending matters. I believe that all state bodies have failed (to take their responsibilities). So I believe that at least someone should take the responsibility,? Suood said in an interview with Haveeru. ?Suood said he resigned to take responsibility of the constitutional void triggered after the transition period deadline.?

Seats of Member 158(b) from Supreme Court and 158(g) President of the Civil Service Commission were vacant following the dissolution of both those bodies with the end of the interim period on 7 August 2010.

It can be argued that the JSC as a legal body, did not exist on 10 August 2010 for the President to consult. Neither had the JSC discussed the Supreme Court prior to it going defunct on 7 August 2010.

The JSC was bereft of a Chair or Vice Chair when interim Supreme Court judge Mujthaaz Fahmy lost his seat on 7 August 2010. Mujthaz, the Vice Chair, took over as Chair after High Court Chief Judge Abdul Ghani was stripped of his JSC membership in the High Court mutiny of 21 January 2010. Mujthaz had refused to agenda elections until 11 March 2010 when he elected himself Chair and refused to elect anyone to the Vice Chair post he had just vacated. From 11 March 2010 till Mujthaz Fahmy was forced to depart on 7 August 2010, he remained Chair, and never allowed the appointment of a Vice Chair thaty would have allowed for the Commission to continue.

Meeting President Nasheed were six individual members of the Commission, giving the 50 plus 1 majority quorum required for a JSC sitting:

1. Member? 158(a), Speaker Abdulla Shahid (DRP)
2. Member 158(c), Judge Adam Mohamed Abdulla of the High Court of Maldives
3. Member 158(d), Judge Abdulla Didi of the Criminal Court
4. Member 158(e), MP Dr. Afraasheem Ali (DRP)
5. Myself, Member 158(h) Aishath Velezinee, and
6. Member 158(j), Lawyer Ahmed Rasheed.

President Nasheed chaired. No one except for the six members of the Judicial Service Commission, the President and his Secretary, Rugiyya Ahmed Didi (who was taking notes) was present in the closed meeting. Before us was a dossier prepared by the JSC earlier for the selection of the Chief Justice, listing 17 names and giving their curriculum vitae and other records.

A name for the Chief Justice had been been decided by President Nasheed following a similar exercise carried out earlier in July. President Nasheed had invited the JSC, and in a meeting chaired by himself consulted the JSC, asking members to inform if there was any reason any one whose name was on the list must not sit on the Supreme Court bench. Much was told by JSC members, each member drawing upon their long-time and in-depth knowledge of the individuals to relate stories and anecdotes. ?Then Attorney General Husnu Al-Suood who knew the interim Chief Judge Abdulla Saeed, as well as having had the long experience of working with the Courts as a lawyer, was adamant Abdulla Saeed was not to continue.

A significant difference between these two meetings, the first to nominate a Chief Justice and this one to nominate full Supreme Court bench was, that unlike on 10 August 2010, the JSC was then a functional body with an elected Chair. Further, JSC had had a preparatory meeting before meeting with the President when selecting a Chief Justice.

The nomination of Ahmed Faiz Hussain for the post of Chief Justice was submitted for Parliamentary approval before the 7 August 2010 deadline but remained unattended, neglected in a parliamentary tug of war.? The Speaker refused to agenda approval of the Chief Justice in isolation, and Parliament majority demanded names for the full bench before tabling the matter.

Naming mames

President Nasheed began the meeting of 10 August 2010, explaining the purpose of the meeting was to consult the JSC on the appointment of the Supreme Court and requested names. He then invited JSC members to speak.

Article 148(a) of the Constitution states:

The President as the Head of State shall appoint the Judges of the Supreme Court, after consulting the Judicial Service Commission and confirmation of the appointees by a majority of the members of the People?s Majlis present and voting.

This was the first step.

If I recall correctly, Member 158(c) Adam Mohamed Abdulla of the High Court was the first to speak. He declared his concerns about being in the sitting?when his name is discussed. ?I cannot sit when you?re discussing my name, he raised his concern noting? the meeting would lose quorum were he to leave the room. No one had yet mentioned any names.

MP Dr. Afraashim Ali protested at President Nasheed chairing the meeting, but only for the record, as the same protests had been made and dismissed earlier, on the day a nominee for Chief Justice was discussed.

Member 158(a), Speaker Abdulla Shahid intervened, and inquired of Chair President Nasheed if names proposed were to be limited to the list. President Nasheed responded in the negative, and repeated it was up to the Commission.

Abdulla Shahid, having given the opening to name names, nominated Muththasim Adnan for the Supreme Court. It was a name included in the dossier before us.

Member 158(e) MP Dr. Afraashim Ali immediately followed with a list of names he recommended, some outside the dossier. They? included Parliament Secretary General Ahmed Mohamed; Parliament Legal Counsel Dr. Ahmed Abdulla Didi;? Interim Supreme Court Justice and former JSC Chair Mujuthaz Fahmy;? self-declared Chief Justice, head of interim Supreme Court, Abdulla Saeed; ?High Court Justices Ali Hameed and Adam Mohamed Abdulla and other ?old friends?.? I do not recall today the full list of names he proposed.

Dr. Afraashim immediately added an apology for having proposed two names from Parliament, and gave his reasons for their nomination.

They are good people. I know them both very well. Because I am in Parliament, and work very closely, I am very familiar with both Usthaaz Ahmed Mohamed and Usthaaz Dr. Ahmed Abdulla Didi; very suitable people for Supreme Court.

Afraashim also gave eloquent speeches praising former JSC Chair and interim Supreme Court Justice Mujthaz Fahmy, and urged his nomination to the Supreme Court.

In my turn, I noted the task before us was to appoint the Supreme Court of the country, and that it was important to include a woman on the bench as the Supreme Court bench would sit for life, and appointment of another Supreme Court judge may not happen for the next 30 years.

Further, I objected to JSC members nominating friends, colleagues and acquaintances to the bench just because the member is familiar with them and knows them to be ?perfect for the Supreme Court?. None of us knew all eligible candidates for the Supreme Court. In my opinion, it was abuse of office to give an unfair advantage to our friends by naming them for Supreme Court. Many, more worthy candidates, may miss out just because none of us sitting JSC members know them personally.? Then, I raised my objections to some names floated.

Mujuthaz Fahmy did not have the educational qualifications nor the good character required. Further, the Anti Corruption Board had found him guilty of embezzling State funds in 1998. And there were other allegations against him pending investigation. Mujthaz Fahmy was not fit to sit Judge.

Abdulla Saeed, though having the required educational qualifications, had lost all moral authority to sit.? He made a public spectacle of himself and in an interview on DhiTV following the lock-up of interim Supreme Court on 7 August 2010. He publicly demonstrated then that he does not possess the good character required of a Judge.? We all watched him scream, plea, threaten and cajole, calling for the return of ?Supreme Court powers?.

Earlier in the year, Abdulla Saeed had taken advantage of political fighting between the parliament and executive to declare himself Chief Justice, and the interim Supreme Court the permanent bench. He abused trust and attempted to usurp for himself the constitutional powers vested in the president and parliament to appoint the Supreme Court. While this was a silent coup in itself, a betrayal of trust, and an attempt by trusted caretakers at the interim Supreme Court to take over the Supreme Court, neither the parliament nor president held the interim Supreme Court to account.

The JSC, headed then by interim Supreme Court Justice Mujthaz Fahmy, ignored and denied repeated requests to agenda the matter of interim Supreme Court?s self declared permanency in the Commission as a matter of serious breach and misconduct. Media reported on Interim Chief Justice Abdulla Saeed?s letter but failed to do follow-ups, allowing the matter to remain buried. Neither State nor the law community noted anything amiss.

I also stated that Ali Hameed and Adam Mohamed Abdulla of the High Court were signatories to the High Court declaration of 21 Jan 2010 and that their misconduct was pending investigation in the JSC. So was the complaint of misconduct against Abdul Ghani Mohamed, Chief Judge of the High Court, based on allegations publicly raised by three of the five High Court justices on 21 January 2010.

While at the meeting I received information, via SMS, that Dr. Ahmed Abdulla Didi did not meet the qualifications required of a Supreme Court judge. I raised the concern, and noted no one had checked Dr. Ahmed Abdulla Didi?s qualifications. I, a member JSC, had never seen even a CV of his.

President Nasheed himself spoke of Abdulla Saeed as unfit, giving good reason why he was not fit to sit judge.? Former Attorney General, Husnu Al-Suood had earlier, on the day of deciding a nominee for Chief Justice, shared till then unknown information and anecdotes on Abdulla Saeed?s character. This included information about how he divorced his wife in a rage one Ramazan for not having his shirt ironed and ready when he wanted. All of this was known fully to the President and the Commission.

The meeting ended on the dot, at 1:00pm, without further happening. It was a one-hour meeting and President Nasheed is excellent at time management. JSC never finishes a sitting in the allotted one hour, thirty minutes. Often, sitting time has to be extended before the Commission even reaches items on the agenda.

As we stood up and were taking leave, I heard Shahid request a word with President Nasheed. As I walked out of the room, I saw President Nasheed in the corner of the room, Shahid before him.

Parliament approves full bench without question

Rumour round town was that Parliament would reconvene at 2:00pm the same day to approve the Supreme Court. People waited in anticipation but nothing happened at 2pm. Parliament was delayed as committees worked and parties talked behind closed doors. After another delay at 4:00pm the Majlis finally sat that evening.

The list of nominees for the Supreme Court, when it was announced in Parliament, came personally as a shock to me. I had heard President Nasheed?s objections to Abdulla Saeed?s name, with good reason. It was very clear that Saeed was not fit to sit on the bench. Yet, his name was on the list. Also included were Ali Hameed and Adam Mohamed Abdulla, both with serious misconduct allegations uninvestigated at JSC.

In another unusual development, perhaps unprecedented in parliamentary history anywhere in the world, Parliament amended the Judges? Act just before the names were approved. The amendment specified that the 7-years experience required to qualify for a judge may include legal experience outside the Maldives, a redundant change as nothing elsewhere prevented the interpretation of the clause to include outside experience. Clearly, it was meant to mislead the public and cover the fact that Dr. Ahmed Abdulla Didi did not meet required experience.

The Supreme Court bench was approved without question or query. No one noticed anything amiss.

I observed it all closely, from my seat on the Judicial service Commission, said what I must, and kept silent. This wasn?t just the Judicial Service Commission in breach. The President, Parliament and the proposed bench for the Supreme Court were all violating the Constitution, all in the name of peace and national security. The international community, ignorant of the realities or not interested in domestic politics, were urging political negotiations, ignoring the fact that negotiations between unequal parties invariably turns out skewed. Not only was MDP (Maldivian Democratic Party) the minority? in Parliament, MDP itself did not have agreement within the Party leadership on executing the Constitution and building a democratic State. Individual MPs had their own notions and interests which preceded the Constitution, an independent Judiciary, or democratic government. Of utmost importance to certain influential MPs was control. Control information. Control dissent. Control judges. Control verdicts.

Of course, for some, it is nothing but madness to suggest the whole State is entangled in a web of deception. But that is the fact of the matter.? Maldives lost an independent judiciary, and with it the constitution and democratic government, by the failure of us all to watch the politics and respect the Constitution.

Not even President Nasheed?s own announcement that the Supreme Court is in fact a political deal is taken note of.? Still, even today, the goal is a political deal to reorganise the bench when it is very clear that there is no legitimate Supreme Court. The politicians, Party leaders and MPs are, understandably reluctant to own up to a deal gone bad. At stake, is the Constitution, democracy and justice the people of Maldives? stood up for.

Maldives must respect the Constitution and re-appoint the judiciary across all three tiers if it is to free the judges of suspicion and begin anew on the path of constitutional democracy.

All comment pieces are the sole view of the author and do not reflect the editorial policy of Minivan News. If you would like to write an opinion piece, please send proposals to editorial@minivannews.com

Source: http://minivannews.com/politics/comment-appointment-of-supreme-court-bench-a-grave-blunder-55248

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Trees used to create recyclable, efficient solar cell

Mar. 26, 2013 ? Solar cells are just like leaves, capturing the sunlight and turning it into energy. It's fitting that they can now be made partially from trees.

Georgia Institute of Technology and Purdue University researchers have developed efficient solar cells using natural substrates derived from plants such as trees. Just as importantly, by fabricating them on cellulose nanocrystal (CNC) substrates, the solar cells can be quickly recycled in water at the end of their lifecycle.

The technology is published in the journal Scientific Reports, the latest open-access journal from the Nature Publishing Group.

The researchers report that the organic solar cells reach a power conversion efficiency of 2.7 percent, an unprecedented figure for cells on substrates derived from renewable raw materials. The CNC substrates on which the solar cells are fabricated are optically transparent, enabling light to pass through them before being absorbed by a very thin layer of an organic semiconductor. During the recycling process, the solar cells are simply immersed in water at room temperature. Within only minutes, the CNC substrate dissolves and the solar cell can be separated easily into its major components.

Georgia Tech College of Engineering Professor Bernard Kippelen led the study and says his team's project opens the door for a truly recyclable, sustainable and renewable solar cell technology.

"The development and performance of organic substrates in solar technology continues to improve, providing engineers with a good indication of future applications," said Kippelen, who is also the director of Georgia Tech's Center for Organic Photonics and Electronics (COPE). "But organic solar cells must be recyclable. Otherwise we are simply solving one problem, less dependence on fossil fuels, while creating another, a technology that produces energy from renewable sources but is not disposable at the end of its lifecycle."

To date, organic solar cells have been typically fabricated on glass or plastic. Neither is easily recyclable, and petroleum-based substrates are not very eco-friendly. For instance, if cells fabricated on glass were to break during manufacturing or installation, the useless materials would be difficult to dispose of. Paper substrates are better for the environment, but have shown limited performance because of high surface roughness or porosity. However, cellulose nanomaterials made from wood are green, renewable and sustainable. The substrates have a low surface roughness of only about two nanometers.

"Our next steps will be to work toward improving the power conversion efficiency over 10 percent, levels similar to solar cells fabricated on glass or petroleum-based substrates," said Kippelen. The group plans to achieve this by optimizing the optical properties of the solar cell's electrode.

Purdue School of Materials Engineering associate professor Jeffrey Youngblood collaborated with Kippelen on the research.

A provisional patent on the technology has been filed with the U.S. Patent Office.

There's also another positive impact of using natural products to create cellulose nanomaterials. The nation's forest product industry projects that tens of millions of tons of them could be produced once large-scale production begins, potentially in the next five years.

The research is the latest project by COPE, which studies the use and development of printed electronics. Last year the center created the first-ever completely plastic solar cell.

This research was funded in part through the Center for Interface Science: Solar Electric Materials, an Energy Frontier Research Center funded by the U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Science, Office of Basic Energy Sciences under Award Number DE-SC0001084 (Y.Z., J.S., C.F., A.D.), by the Air Force Office of Scientific Research (Grant No. FA9550-09-1-0418) (J. H.), by the Office of Naval Research (Grant No. N00014-04-1-0313) (T.K., B.K.), and the U.S. Department of Agriculture -Forest Service (Grant No. 12-JV-11111122-098). Funding for CNC substrate processing was provided by USDA-Forest Service (Grant No. 11-JV-11111129-118) (R.J.M., J.P.Y., J.L.). The authors thank Rick Reiner and Alan Rudie from the U.S. Forest Service- Forest Products Laboratory (FPL) for providing CNC materials.

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Story Source:

The above story is reprinted from materials provided by Georgia Institute of Technology.

Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.

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Journal Reference:

1. Yinhua Zhou, Canek Fuentes-Hernandez, Talha M. Khan, Jen-Chieh Liu, James Hsu, Jae Won Shim, Amir Dindar, Jeffrey P. Youngblood, Robert J. Moon, Bernard Kippelen. Recyclable organic solar cells on cellulose nanocrystal substrates. Scientific Reports, 2013; 3 DOI: 10.1038/srep01536

Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.

Disclaimer: Views expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/most_popular/~3/3eP5hoGrcgI/130326111958.htm

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An Ode to Hollywood's Obsession With Hacking the Mainframe

The term 'mainframe' doesn't get thrown around as much as buzzwords like 'cloud computing' these days; except in Hollywood. The movies are still obsessed with the idea of someone hacking into the mainframe. Or, to be more specific, "hacking the mainframe" is still a convenient but lazy plot device that lets characters discover vital expository backstory, or escape a seemingly inescapable situation. More »

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/zrv7TYs9Nf8/an-ode-to-hollywoods-obsession-with-hacking-the-mainframe

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AP sources: SD Sen. Johnson won't seek re-election

FILE - In this Oct. 14, 2009 file photo, Sen. Tim Johnson, D-S.D., is seen on Capitol Hill in Washington. Democratic officials say Johnson intends to announce his retirement on Tuesday, March 26, 2013, a decision that gives Republicans a prime opportunity to pick up a seat in 2014. (AP Photo/Haraz N. Ghanbari, File)

FILE - In this Oct. 14, 2009 file photo, Sen. Tim Johnson, D-S.D., is seen on Capitol Hill in Washington. Democratic officials say Johnson intends to announce his retirement on Tuesday, March 26, 2013, a decision that gives Republicans a prime opportunity to pick up a seat in 2014. (AP Photo/Haraz N. Ghanbari, File)

SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (AP) ? Democratic U.S. Sen. Tim Johnson of South Dakota plans to retire at the end of his term, party officials said Monday ? a departure that gives Republicans a prime opportunity to pick up a seat as they attempt to win back control of the chamber in 2014.

Johnson, the chairman of the Senate Banking Committee, suffered a brain hemorrhage in 2006 but later returned to the Senate and won re-election in 2008. He has recovered significantly, though sometimes uses a motorized scooter.

The Democratic officials who described Johnson's plans spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity. They said they were not authorized to pre-empt a formal announcement expected Tuesday at the University of South Dakota in Vermillion.

Johnson's retirement announcement is the fifth by Senate Democrats. Sens. Carl Levin of Michigan, Tom Harkin of Iowa, Jay Rockefeller of West Virginia and Frank Lautenberg of New Jersey also say they won't run for re-election in 2014. Two Republican senators have also said they plan to retire.

Republicans must gain six seats to win a majority in the Senate, and South Dakota now leaps to the top of the party's list of most favorable states. Republican Mike Rounds, a popular former two-term governor, has been campaigning for the seat since last year, though he declined to comment Monday on Johnson's retirement.

Johnson is viewed as independent minded and reserved, having voted against the resolution to allow military action in Iraq but supporting the Keystone XL Pipeline. He also has about $1.2 million in his campaign account, a healthy nest egg for a state where advertising is relatively inexpensive, and a deep-pocketed fundraising network.

While those votes and fundraising make the former congressman, who has never lost an election, a formidable opponent, South Dakota's GOP-trending electorate could complicate the next election. His last term also has been physically demanding for the 66-year-old Johnson, whose speech remains compromised.

But Democrats rejected the notion that Johnson's retirement opens the door for a GOP senator. In last November's election, some Republican Senate candidates who appeared to be the heavy favorites ended up losing to Democratic rivals ? including Rick Berg, who lost to Heidi Heitkamp in neighboring North Dakota.

South Dakota Democratic Chairman Ben Nesselhuf noted Democrats' successes over the past 30 years, including former Senate Democratic Leader Tom Daschle.

"I reject the idea that somehow the Republicans has a lock on this state," Nesselhuf said. "By no means is this an impossible task, or even improbable."

Attempts by The Associated Press to reach Johnson through his top Senate staff were unsuccessful. Johnson aides would not confirm the retirement but said the senator would hold a news conference on his political future at University of South Dakota in Vermillion Tuesday afternoon.

Aware that Johnson might decide to retire, Democrats in South Dakota and nationally have discussed possible successors on the ticket, including Johnson's son Brendan, South Dakota's U.S. attorney. The younger Johnson Monday said in an interview that he was unaware of his father's decision and declined to discuss whether he would seek the office.

Former U.S. Rep. Stephanie Herseth Sandlin, a contemporary of Brendan Johnson and another heir to a South Dakota Democratic legacy, also is looking at running. A granddaughter of former South Dakota Gov. Ralph Herseth, Herseth Sandlin served six years in the U.S. House before being defeated for re-election in 2010.

Action within Johnson's party is expected quickly. An open Senate seat is rare in South Dakota, and Republicans have gained an upper hand in the state, controlling the governorship, the Legislature, its other Senate seat and its lone U.S. House seat.

Brendan Johnson, appointed U.S. attorney in 2009, has never held elected office and faced questions about his father's involvement in the confirmation process. Assets for the younger Johnson include his father's advisers and donor base.

Herseth Sandlin also has an in-tact network and following in South Dakota, but she could face some problems in a potential primary with Johnson. She opposed to the 2010 Affordable Care Act, a position that is out of step with a majority of party loyalists.

___

Espo reported from Washington.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/89ae8247abe8493fae24405546e9a1aa/Article_2013-03-25-US-Senate-Retirement/id-5929c3ad99584c6f9d0379145426e774

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Experts: NKorea training teams of 'cyber warriors'

FILE - In this Jan. 9, 2013 file photo, North Koreans work at computer terminals inside the Grand People's Study House in Pyongyang, North Korea. Investigators have yet to pinpoint the culprit behind a synchronized cyberattack in South Korea last week. But in Seoul, the focus remains fixed on North Korea, where South Korean security experts say Pyongyang has been training a team of computer-savvy ?cyber warriors? as cyberspace becomes fertile battlegrounds in the standoff between the two Koreas. (AP Photo/David Guttenfelder, File)

FILE - In this Jan. 9, 2013 file photo, North Koreans work at computer terminals inside the Grand People's Study House in Pyongyang, North Korea. Investigators have yet to pinpoint the culprit behind a synchronized cyberattack in South Korea last week. But in Seoul, the focus remains fixed on North Korea, where South Korean security experts say Pyongyang has been training a team of computer-savvy ?cyber warriors? as cyberspace becomes fertile battlegrounds in the standoff between the two Koreas. (AP Photo/David Guttenfelder, File)

FILE - In this March 22, 2013 file photo, a South Korean police officer from Digital Forensic Investigation exits the Cyber Terror Response Center at the National Police Agency in Seoul, South Korea. Investigators have yet to pinpoint the culprit behind a synchronized cyberattack in South Korea last week. But in Seoul, the focus remains fixed on North Korea, where South Korean security experts say Pyongyang has been training a team of computer-savvy ?cyber warriors? as cyberspace becomes fertile battlegrounds in the standoff between the two Koreas. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon, File)

FILE - In this Jan. 8, 2013 file photo, a North Korean student surfs the Internet at a computer terminal inside a computer lab at Kim Il Sung University in Pyongyang, North Korea during a tour by Executive Chairman of Google, Eric Schmidt. Investigators have yet to pinpoint the culprit behind a synchronized cyberattack in South Korea last week. But in Seoul, the focus remains fixed on North Korea, where South Korean security experts say Pyongyang has been training a team of computer-savvy ?cyber warriors? as cyberspace becomes fertile battlegrounds in the standoff between the two Koreas. (AP Photo/David Guttenfelder, File)

FILE - In this March 21, 2013 file photo, South Korean computer researchers, left, check the computer servers of Korean Broadcasting System (KBS) as a South Korean police officer from Digital Forensic Investigation watches at the Cyber Terror Response Center at the National Police Agency in Seoul, South Korea. Investigators have yet to pinpoint the culprit behind a synchronized cyberattack in South Korea last week. But in Seoul, the focus remains fixed on North Korea, where South Korean security experts say Pyongyang has been training a team of computer-savvy ?cyber warriors? as cyberspace becomes fertile battlegrounds in the standoff between the two Koreas. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man, File)

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) ? Investigators have yet to pinpoint the culprit behind a synchronized cyberattack in South Korea last week. But in Seoul, the focus remains fixed on North Korea, where South Korean security experts say Pyongyang has been training a team of computer-savvy "cyber warriors" as cyberspace becomes a fertile battleground in the standoff between the two Koreas.

Malware shut down 32,000 computers and servers at three major South Korean TV networks and three banks last Wednesday, disrupting communications and banking businesses, officials said. The investigation into who planted the malware could take weeks or even months.

South Korean investigators have produced no proof yet that North Korea was behind the cyberattack, and on Friday said the malware was traced to a Seoul computer. But South Korea has pointed the finger at Pyongyang in six cyberattacks since 2009, even creating a cyber security command center in Seoul to protect the Internet-dependent country from hackers from the North.

It may seem unlikely that impoverished North Korea, with one of the most restrictive Internet policies in the world, would have the ability to threaten affluent South Korea, a country considered a global leader in telecommunications. The average yearly income in North Korea was just $1,190 per person in 2011 ? just a fraction of the average yearly income of $22,200 for South Koreans that same year, according to the Bank of Korea in Seoul.

But over the past several years, North Korea has poured money and resources into science and technology. In December, scientists succeeded in launching a satellite into space aboard a long-range rocket from its own soil. And in February, North Korea conducted an underground nuclear test, its third.

"IT" has become a buzzword in North Korea, which has developed its own operating system called Red Star. The regime also encouraged a passion for gadgets among its elite, introducing a Chinese-made tablet computer for the North Korean market. Teams of developers came up with software for everything from composing music to learning how to cook.

But South Korea and the U.S. believe North Korea also has thousands of hackers trained by the state to carry its warfare into cyberspace, and that their cyber offensive skills are as good as or better than their counterparts in China and South Korea.

"The newest addition to the North Korean asymmetric arsenal is a growing cyber warfare capability," James Thurman, commander of the U.S. forces in South Korea, told U.S. legislators in March 2012. "North Korea employs sophisticated computer hackers trained to launch cyber-infiltration and cyber-attacks" against South Korea and the U.S.

In 2010, Won Sei-hoon, then chief of South Korea's National Intelligence Service, put the number of professional hackers in North Korea's cyber warfare unit at 1,000.

North Korean students are recruited to the nation's top science schools to become "cyber warriors," said Kim Heung-kwang, who said he trained future hackers at a university in the industrial North Korean city of Hamhung for two decades before defecting in 2003. He said future hackers also are sent to study abroad in China and Russia.

In 2009, then-leader Kim Jong Il ordered Pyongyang's "cyber command" expanded to 3,000 hackers, he said, citing a North Korean government document that he said he obtained that year. The veracity of the document could not be independently confirmed.

Kim Heung-kwang, who has lived in Seoul since 2004, speculated that more have been recruited since then, and said some are based in China to infiltrate networks abroad.

What is clear is that "North Korea has a capacity to send malware to personal computers, servers or networks and to launch DDOS-type attacks," he said. "Their targets are the United States and South Korea."

Expanding its warfare into cyberspace by developing malicious computer codes is cheaper and faster for North Korean than building nuclear devices or other weapons of mass destructions. The online world allows for anonymity because it is easy to fabricate IP addresses and destroy the evidence leading back to the hackers, according to C. Matthew Curtin, founder of Interhack Corp.

Thurman said cyberattacks are "ideal" for North Korea because they can take place relatively anonymously. He said cyberattacks have been waged against military, governmental, educational and commercial institutions.

North Korean officials have not acknowledged allegations that computer experts are trained as hackers, and have refuted many of the cyberattack accusations. Pyongyang has not commented on the most recent widespread attack in South Korea.

In June 2012, a seven-month investigation into a hacking incident that disabled news production system at the South Korean newspaper JoongAng Ilbo led to North Korea's government telecommunications center, South Korean officials said.

In South Korea, the economy, commerce and every aspect of daily life is deeply dependent on the Internet, making it ripe grounds for a disruptive cyberattack.

In North Korea, in contrast, is just now getting online. Businesses are starting to use online banking services and debit cards have grown in popularity. But only a sliver of the population has access to the global Internet, meaning an Internet outage last week ? which Pyongyang blamed on hackers from Seoul and Washington ? had little bearing on most North Koreans.

"North Korea has nothing to lose in a cyber battle," said Kim Seeongjoo, a professor at Seoul-based Korea University's Department of Cyber Defense. "Even if North Korea turns out to be the attacker behind the broadcasters' hacking, there is no target for South Korean retaliation."

___

Associated Press writer Jean H. Lee contributed to this story with reporting from Pyongyang, North Korea; Hyung-jin Kim in Seoul also contributed to this report. Follow AP tech writer Youkyung Lee at www.twittter.com/YKLeeAP and AP Korea bureau chief Jean H. Lee at www.twitter.com/newsjean.

Associated Press

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'Amazing': Obama turns tourist in ancient city of Petra

Larry Downing / Reuters

U.S. President Barack Obama ended his Middle East trip with a visit to the ancient city of Petra, Jordan, Saturday.

By Steve Holland, Reuters

PETRA, Jordan -- President Barack Obama marveled at the sights of Jordan's ancient city of Petra on Saturday as he wrapped up a four-day Middle East tour by setting aside weighty diplomatic matters and playing tourist for a day.

The visit followed a trip to Israel and the Palestinian Territories that was capped by Obama's brokering of a rapprochement between Israel and Turkey, but which offered little more than symbolic gestures toward Middle East peacemaking.

Before heading to Petra, Obama used his stop in Jordan to ratchet up criticism of Syrian President Bashar Assad, but he stopped short of promising military aid to Syrian rebels to help end a two-year-old civil war that has claimed 70,000 lives.

President Obama receives applause from a crowd in Jerusalem Thursday by challenging groups that reject Israel.

U.S. officials privately voiced satisfaction with the results of Obama's first foreign trip of his second term, but the president's aides had set expectations so low that it was not hard to proclaim it a mission accomplished.

Shifting into sightseeing mode on Saturday, Obama flew by helicopter to Petra and took a walking tour of the restored ruins of a city more than 2,000 years old which is half-carved into sandstone cliffs.

Ordinary tourists had been cleared out for the president's visit, and guards with assault weapons dogged his every step.

"This is pretty spectacular," the president, wearing sunglasses, khaki trousers and a dark jacket, said as he craned his neck to look up at the Treasury, a towering rose-red fa?ade cut into a mountain. "It's amazing."

The U.S. president arrived in Jordan on Friday after an unexpected diplomatic triumph in Israel, where he announced a breakthrough in relations between Israel and Turkey after a telephone conversation between the countries' prime ministers.

President Barack Obama on Thursday urged the Israeli people to put themselves in the shoes of Palestinians and recognize their "right to self-determination, their right to justice." NBC's Chuck Todd reports.

Israeli premier Benjamin Netanyahu apologized on behalf of his country for the killing of nine Turkish citizens in a 2010 naval raid on a Gaza-bound flotilla, and the two feuding U.S. allies agreed to normalize ties.

The 30-minute call was made in a runway trailer at Tel Aviv airport, where Obama and Netanyahu huddled before the president boarded Air Force One for a flight to Jordan.

The rapprochement could help Washington marshal regional efforts to contain spillover from the Syrian civil war and ease Israel's diplomatic isolation in the Middle East as it faces challenges posed by Iran's nuclear program.

Larry Downing / Reuters

Obama, left, looks at the Treasury while he receives a tour of the ancient historic and archaeological site of Petra on Saturday.

During his visit, Obama appeared to have made some headway in easing Israelis' suspicions of him, calming their concerns about his commitment to confronting Iran and soothing his relationship with the hawkish Netanyahu.

Obama attempted to show Palestinians he had not forgotten their aspirations for statehood but he left many disappointed that he had backtracked from his previous demands for a halt to Israeli settlement building in the occupied West Bank.

The president offered no new peace proposals but he promised his administration would stay engaged while putting the onus on the two sides to set aside mutual distrust and restart long-dormant negotiations - a step the president failed to bring about in his first term.

Muhammad Hamed / Reuters

Members of the U.S. Secret Service Counter Assault Team survey a path after Obama walked through it during his tour of the ancient historic and archaeological site of Petra on Saturday.

After visiting both Israel and the West Bank, President Obama met with King Abdullah of Jordan, a country facing some very turbulent times of its own, post Arab Spring. But there may be no stronger Arab ally to the U.S. and Israel than Jordan. NBC's Chuck Todd reports.

As Obama's critics were complaining that his Middle East trip was heavy on symbolism and lacking in substance, the last-minute move toward Israeli-Turkish reconciliation gave his aides a chance to tout a tangible achievement.

On the last leg of his trip, Obama promised further humanitarian aid in talks with Jordan's King Abdullah, a close ally, as the economically strapped country grapples with a refugee crisis caused by Syria's civil war.

Obama also used the opportunity to underscore U.S. wariness about arming rebels fighting to overthrow Assad, despite pressure from Republican critics at home and from some European allies to do more.

He warned that a post-Assad Syria could become an "enclave" for Islamist extremism and insisted it was vital to help organize the Syrian opposition to avoid that, but he stopped short of announcing any new concrete steps.

Related:

Palestinian activists frustrated by lack of US action as Obama ends visit

Obama lays stone from MLK memorial on grave of Israeli PM slain for trying to make peace

Obama appeals to Israelis: Give justice to the Palestinians

Obama: 'Still time' for diplomatic solution to Iran nuke dispute

Copyright 2013 Thomson Reuters. Click for restrictions.

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Deaths in Pakistani refugee camp bombing up to 12

By Steve Keating ORLANDO, Florida, March 20 (Reuters) - Rory McIlroy's decision to skip the Arnold Palmer Invitational surprised the tournament host, who expressed his disappointment on Wednesday that the world number one was not at Bay Hill this week. The 83-year-old Palmer said he had jokingly suggested he might break McIlroy's arm if he did not show up but did not try to force the young Northern Irishman into making an appearance. "Frankly, I thought he was going to play, and I was as surprised as a lot of people when he decided he was not going to play," said Palmer. ...

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/deaths-pakistani-refugee-camp-bombing-12-074023133.html

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Medical marijuana facility partners with rapper

AAA??Mar. 20, 2013?12:03 PM ET
Medical marijuana facility partners with rapper
AP

Tony Butler, 28, of Flint, poses for a portrait on Tuesday, March 19, 2013, in his store "The Green Oasis", a medical marijuana dispensary, in Otisville, Mich. The Michigan medical marijuana facility is partnering with Stanley "Flesh-N-Bone" Howse , a member of the Grammy-winning rap group Bone Thugs-N-Harmony, to cultivate and distribute a new strain of medical marijuana. Michigan voters approved marijuana for some chronic medical conditions in 2008. (AP Photo/The Flint Journal, ) LOCAL TV OUT; LOCAL INTERNET OUT Sammy Jo Hester | MLive.com

Tony Butler, 28, of Flint, poses for a portrait on Tuesday, March 19, 2013, in his store "The Green Oasis", a medical marijuana dispensary, in Otisville, Mich. The Michigan medical marijuana facility is partnering with Stanley "Flesh-N-Bone" Howse , a member of the Grammy-winning rap group Bone Thugs-N-Harmony, to cultivate and distribute a new strain of medical marijuana. Michigan voters approved marijuana for some chronic medical conditions in 2008. (AP Photo/The Flint Journal, ) LOCAL TV OUT; LOCAL INTERNET OUT Sammy Jo Hester | MLive.com

A jar of "Lemon Sour Diesel," medical marijuana is displayed for photo purposes on Tuesday, March 19, 2013, at "The Green Oasis" a medical marijuana dispensary, in Otisville, Mich. The Michigan medical marijuana facility is partnering with Stanley "Flesh-N-Bone" Howse , a member of the Grammy-winning rap group Bone Thugs-N-Harmony, to cultivate and distribute a new strain of medical marijuana. Michigan voters approved marijuana for some chronic medical conditions in 2008. (AP Photo/The Flint Journal, ) LOCAL TV OUT; LOCAL INTERNET OUT Sammy Jo Hester | MLive.com

OTISVILLE, Mich. (AP) ? A Michigan medical marijuana facility is partnering with a member of the Grammy-winning rap group Bone Thugs-N-Harmony to cultivate and distribute a new strain of medical marijuana.

The Green Oasis and Stanley "Flesh-N-Bone" Howse have agreed to work together on "Phifty Caliber Kush," which they say has a noticeable floral taste and is an effective pain reliever.

The Flint-area dispensary's owner, Anthony Butler, calls the new pot strain "the best of the best."

Flesh-n-Bone Global executive Michael "Tony B." Bernardi tells The Flint Journal (http://bit.ly/14bKODM ) that Howse hopes the product can provide relief for any qualified, verified patient.

Besides distributing "Phifty Caliber Kush," The Green Oasis could begin selling merchandise and possibly host a visit from Howse.

Michigan voters approved marijuana for some chronic medical conditions in 2008.

Associated PressNews Topics: Arts and entertainment, General news, Oddities, Music, Entertainment, Medical marijuana, Cannabis, Health issues, Health, Medication, Diagnosis and treatment, Human welfare, Social issues, Social affairs, Plants, Living things

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/aa9398e6757a46fa93ed5dea7bd3729e/Article_2013-03-20-Rapper-Medical%20Marijuana/id-d48ee1bc82d8423da13301972af624b6

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Canadian Football League star Chad Owens to make MMA debut

Football players training in MMA is nothing new. NFLers including Aldon Smith, Jared Allen and Arthur Jones train with some of the sport's best fighters in the off-season.

Former players have gotten into MMA, as well. Herschel Walker had a storied career on the football field before he started with Strikeforce. Matt Mitrione played for several NFL teams before becoming a heavyweight in the UFC.

But a current pro football player in a fight? That's different. Chad Owens, who won the Canadian Football League's Most Outstanding Player last season and whose team won the Grey Cup, is debuting in a fight in Hawaii on Apr. 6. He will fight Junyva Tevaga at Destiny: Na Koa III, in the bout that is both men's MMA debut.

According to Owens, he's looking for a new challenge.

"I wanted to get into something new. A new challenge. Something to keep me hungry. I always wanted to get into it sometime and this off season I thought would be the perfect time," Owens said to Hawaii News Now.

According to the Toronto Star, Owens is not in danger of breaching his contract with the fight. Still, do you think it's a risk worth taking? Speak up in the comments, on Facebook or on Twitter.

Thanks to the 55-Yard Line.

Source: http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/mma-cagewriter/canadian-football-league-star-chad-owens-mma-debut-142612451--mma.html

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Obama's State of the Union Calls for Universal Preschool Education ...

In his State of the Union address, given in February, President Barack Obama called for universal early childhood education, citing studies that demonstrate that the ?sooner a child begins learning, the better he or she does down the road.? He then went on to say that less than 30% of four-year-olds are ?enrolled in a high-quality preschool program,? which he clearly believes to be problematic. He seeks to ?make sure none of our children start the race of life already behind,? which can only be understood as an admirable goal.

President Obama?s overall plan is to work with states to make high-quality preschool education available to every child in America. He estimates that every dollar invested ?can save more than seven dollars later on ? by boosting graduation rates, reducing teen pregnancy, [and] even reducing violent crime.? In his later released detailed plan for this proposal, he outlines three main components:

• A state-federal partnership to guarantee pre-K to all 4-year-olds in families at or below 200 percent of the poverty line, to be provided by school districts and other local partners, and to use instructors with the same level of education and training as K-12 instructions.
• A massively expanded Early Head Start program ? building on the existing program, which has proven very effective?in randomized controlled trials ? which provides early education, child care, parental education, and health services to vulnerable children ages 0 to 3.
• Expanding Nurse Family Partnerships, a program that has also earned top marks?in randomized trials, and which provides regular home visits from nurses to families from pregnancy through the child?s second birthday, intended to promote good health and parenting practices.

Professor James Heckman, Nobel Prize-winning economist at the University of Chicago, is presumed to be the author of the studies President Obama cited in his Address. His studies have concluded that preschool programs drastically affect children?s futures.

Two landmark studies demonstrate Heckman?s conclusions. The Perry Preschool Project in Ypsilanti, Michigan and the Abecedarian Project in North Carolina compared low-income children who attended preschool with their peers who did not attend preschool. Researchers studied the groups for decades, and found that the children who enrolled in preschool, ?scored higher on achievement tests, attained higher levels of education, required less special education, earned higher wages, were more likely to own a home, and were less likely to go on welfare or be incarcerated than controls.?

It is still uncertain when the President?s proposals might come into effect and the reaction toward his plan has been divided. Opponents to universal preschool education are likely not against the goal of education for our youth to help their future, but more likely are opposed to the idea of taxpayer?s dollars paying for it.

Source: http://childrenandthelawblog.com/?p=2059

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Live from Expand: Gaming's New Frontiers (video)

Join us for a conversation with three companies that are reshaping the future of gaming: Senior Associate Editor Ben Gilbert will sit down with Ujesh Desai, Vice President of Product Marketing at NVIDIA; Nate Mitchell, Vice President of Product at Oculus Rift and John Wilson, Vice President of Systems Product Group at Razer.

March 17, 2013 5:30 PM EDT

Follow all of Engadget's Expand coverage live from San Francisco right here!

Comments

Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/LI2g5XbPZlg/

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Suntech announces bond default, financing search

BEIJING (AP) ? One of the world's biggest solar panel manufacturers, Suntech, says it has defaulted on $541 million in payments to bondholders after a downturn battered the global industry.

The announcement Monday by Suntech Power Holdings Ltd. was a severe setback for one of the renewable energy industry's most successful companies.

Suntech CEO David King said in a statement the company was "exploring strategic alternatives with lenders and potential investors" but gave no details.

Suntech and other solar equipment manufacturers have been hit hard by a price-cutting war and a plunge in global demand.

Associated Press

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Rise of Latino population blurs US racial lines

WASHINGTON (AP) ? Welcome to the new off-white America.

A historic decline in the number of U.S. whites and the fast growth of Latinos are blurring traditional black-white color lines, testing the limits of civil rights laws and reshaping political alliances as "whiteness" begins to lose its numerical dominance.

Long in coming, the demographic shift was most vividly illustrated in last November's re-election of President Barack Obama, the first black president, despite a historically low percentage of white supporters.

It's now a potent backdrop to the immigration issue being debated in Congress that could offer a path to citizenship for 11 million mostly Hispanic illegal immigrants. Also, the Supreme Court is deciding cases this term on affirmative action and voting rights that could redefine race and equality in the U.S.

The latest census data and polling from The Associated Press highlight the historic change in a nation in which non-Hispanic whites will lose their majority in the next generation, somewhere around the year 2043.

Despite being a nation of immigrants, America's tip to a white minority has never occurred in its 237-year history and will be a first among the world's major post-industrial societies. Brazil, a developing nation, has crossed the threshold to "majority-minority" status; a few cities in France and England are near, if not past that point.

The international experience and recent U.S. events point to an uncertain future for American race relations.

In Brazil, where multiracialism is celebrated, social mobility remains among the world's lowest for blacks while wealth is concentrated among whites at the top. In France, race is not recorded on government census forms and people share a unified Gallic identity, yet high levels of racial discrimination persist.

"The American experience has always been a story of color. In the 20th century it was a story of the black-white line. In the 21st century we are moving into a new off-white moment," says Marcelo Suarez-Orozco, a global expert on immigration and dean of UCLA's Graduate School of Education & Information Studies.

"Numerically, the U.S. is being transformed. The question now is whether our institutions are being transformed," he said.

The shift is being driven by the modern wave of U.S. newcomers from Latin America and Asia. Their annual inflow of 650,000 people since 1965, at a rate that's grown in recent years, surpasses the pace of the last great immigration wave a century ago. That influx, from 1820 to 1920, brought in Irish, Germans, Italians and Jews from Europe and made the gateway of Ellis Island, N.Y., an immigrant landmark, symbolizing freedom, liberty and the American dream.

An equal factor is today's aging white population, mostly baby boomers, whose coming wave of retirements will create a need for first- and second-generation immigrants to help take their place in the workforce.

The numbers already demonstrate that being white is fading as a test of American-ness:

?More U.S. babies are now born to minorities than whites, a milestone reached last year.

?More than 45 percent of students in kindergarten through 12th grade are minorities. The Census Bureau projects that in five years the number of nonwhite children will surpass 50 percent.

?The District of Columbia, Hawaii, California, New Mexico and Texas have minority populations greater than 50 percent. By 2020, eight more states are projected to join the list: Arizona, Florida, Georgia, Maryland, Mississippi, Nevada, New Jersey and New York. Latinos already outnumber whites in New Mexico; California will tip to a Latino plurality next year.

?By 2039, racial and ethnic minorities will make up a majority of the U.S. working-age population, helping to support a disproportionately elderly white population through Social Security and other payroll taxes. More than 1 in 4 people ages 18-64 will be Latino.

?The white population, now at 197.8 million, is projected to peak at 200 million in 2024, before entering a steady decline in absolute numbers. Currently 63 percent of the U.S. population, the white share is expected to drop below 50 percent by 2043, when racial and ethnic minorities will collectively become a U.S. majority. Hispanics will drive most of the minority growth, due mostly to high birth rates, jumping in share from 17 percent to 26 percent.

The pace of assimilation for today's Latinos and Asian-Americans is often compared with that of the Poles, Irish, Italians and Jews who arrived around the turn of the 20th century and eventually merged into an American white mainstream.

There was a backlash. By the 1930s, an immigrant-weary America had imposed strict quotas and closed its borders. Those newly arrived were pushed to conform and blend in with a white mainstream, benefiting from New Deal economic programs that generally excluded blacks. The immigration quotas also cut off the supply of new workers to ethnic enclaves and reduced social and economic contacts between immigrants and their countries of origin.

"America of the Melting Pot comes to End," read a 1924 opinion headline in The New York Times. The author, a U.S. senator, pledged that strict new immigration quotas would "preserve racial type as it exists here today."

Today, data show that Latinos are embracing U.S. life but also maintaining strong ties to their heritage, aided by a new stream of foreign-born immigrants who arrive each year. Hispanics, officially an ethnic group, strive to learn English and 1 in 4 intermarry, taking a white spouse.

Nowadays, immigrants face less pressure to conform than did their counterparts from a century ago. Latinos are protected as a minority, benefiting from the 1950s civil rights movement pioneered by blacks. Nearly 40 percent of Latinos now resist a white identity on census forms, checking a box indicating "some other race" to establish a Hispanic race identity.

While growing diversity is often a step toward a post-racial U.S., sociologists caution that the politics of racial diversity could just as easily become more magnified.

A first-of-its-kind AP poll conducted in 2011 found that a slight majority of whites expressed racial bias against Hispanics and that their attitudes were similar to or even greater than the bias they held toward blacks. Hispanics also remained somewhat residentially segregated from whites in lower-income neighborhoods, hurt in part by the disappearance of good-paying, midskill manufacturing jobs that helped white ethnics rise into the middle class during most of the 20th century.

The AP survey was conducted with researchers from Stanford University, the University of Michigan and NORC at the University of Chicago.

Harvard economist George Borjas projects that by 2030, the children of today's immigrants will earn on average 10 percent to 15 percent less than nonimmigrant Americans, based on past trends, and that Latinos will particularly struggle because of high rates of poverty, lack of citizenship and lower rates of education. In 1940, the children of early 20th-century white ethnics fared much better on average, earning 21.4 percent more than nonimmigrants.

About 35 percent of Hispanic babies are currently born into poverty, compared with 41 percent of blacks and 20 percent for whites.

"How America responds now to the new challenges of racial and ethnic diversity will determine whether it becomes a more open and inclusive society in the future ? one that provides equal opportunities and justice for all," said Daniel Lichter, a Cornell sociologist and past president of the Population Association of America.

The demographic shift has spurred debate as to whether some civil-rights era programs, such as affirmative action in college admissions, should begin to focus on income level rather than race or ethnicity. The Supreme Court will rule on the issue by late June.

Following a racially lopsided re-election, Obama has spoken broadly about promoting social and economic opportunity. In his State of the Union speech, he said that rebuilding the middle class is "our generation's task." Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., a rising star of a mostly white Republican party now eager to attract Latino voters, is courting supporters in both English and Spanish in part by pledging programs that would boost "social mobility."

Left unclear is how much of a role government can or should play in lifting the disadvantaged, in an era of strapped federal budgets and rising debt.

The Latino immigrants include Irma Guereque, 60, of Las Vegas, who says enjoying a middle-class life is what's most important to her.

Things turned bad for the Mexico native in the recent recession after her work hours as a food server were cut at the Texas Station casino off the Strip. As a result, she couldn't make the mortgage payments on a spacious house she purchased and was forced to move into an apartment with her grandchildren.

While she's getting almost full-time hours now, money is often on her mind. Her finances mean retirement is hardly an option, even though she's got diabetes and is getting older.

Many politicians are "only thinking of the rich, and not the poor, and that's not right," Guereque said in Spanish. "We need opportunities for everyone."

___

Associated Press writers Elaine Ganley in Montfermeil, France, Jenny Barchfield in Rio de Janeiro and Michelle Rindels in Las Vegas contributed to this report.

___

Online:

Census Bureau: http://www.census.gov

EDITOR'S NOTE _ "America at the Tipping Point: The Changing Face of a Nation" is an occasional series examining the changing cultural mosaic of the U.S. and its historic shift to a majority-minority nation.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/rise-latino-population-blurs-us-racial-lines-114944593.html

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Troy University provides scholarships to military personnel in wake of tuition assistance cuts

TROY, AL- Troy University officials are announcing three new undergraduate scholarships designed to lessen the impact of
nationwide cuts to the military tuition assistance programs.?

The three scholarships will discount undergraduate
per-credit hour tuition to $250 for active duty, Reserve and National Guard
students who would otherwise be eligible for military tuition assistance.?

"The University recognizes the hardship the sequestration
has on service members, and this is our chance to make a difference," said Dr.
Lance Tatum, vice chancellor of the University's Global Campus. "We are
committed to supporting our military to the fullest extent possible.?
Using one of these scholarships, a member of the military taking a full
undergraduate course load of 12 semester hours will save up to $360."?

The Troy for Troops Active Duty Military Discount
Scholarship, Military Reserves Discount Scholarship and National Guard Discount
Scholarship will require service members to provide proof of eligibility on an
application form available on the University's website by clicking the Military
Tuition Assistance Information button. Once eligibility is verified, the
scholarships will discount any undergraduate tuition charges in excess of $250.?

The scholarships are available to both full- and part-time
undergraduate students through the final term of the 2013-2014 academic year,
and apply to both in-classroom and online courses.?

The University continues to research avenues to assist those
military students who are pursuing graduate degrees.?

TROY has a long-standing relationship with America's Armed
Services, with roots in a partnership program offered in the 1950s at Fort
Rucker. Founded in 1887 and headquartered in Troy, Alabama, today the
University operates four campuses in Alabama as well as sites in seven states
and six nations. In January 2013, the University established the Troy for Troops
Center that supports military and veteran students' academic and career
success.

INFORMATION SOURCE: Troy University?

Source: http://troy.wsfa.com/news/news/230311-troy-university-provides-scholarships-military-personnel-wake-tuition-assistance-cuts

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First lady: Priority is ensuring 'family is whole'

This cover image released by Vogue shows first lady Michelle Obama on the cover of the April 2013 issue of Vogue. The issue is available on newsstands on March 26. (AP Photo/Vogue, nnie Leibovitz)

This cover image released by Vogue shows first lady Michelle Obama on the cover of the April 2013 issue of Vogue. The issue is available on newsstands on March 26. (AP Photo/Vogue, nnie Leibovitz)

WASHINGTON (AP) ? Michelle Obama is pushing back against the notion that she and President Barack Obama don't socialize enough in Washington.

The first lady says in an interview in the April issue of Vogue magazine that she and the president were straightforward when they said ? before moving from Chicago to Washington in 2009 ? that their family, including two young daughters, would be their priority.

She said "the stresses and the pressures" of the White House are so real that they prefer to spend free time with their daughters, now 14 and 11.

"Our job is, first and foremost, to make sure our family is whole. You know, we have small kids; they're growing every day. But I think we were both pretty straightforward when we said, 'Our No. 1 priority is making sure that our family is whole,'" Mrs. Obama said in the interview, a copy of which was provided to The Associated Press before the magazine hits newsstands on March 26.

She noted that most of the couple's friends are parents, too, and that when she and the president go on vacation, usually with longtime friends or relatives, they are surrounded by children.

"The stresses and the pressures of this job are so real that when you get a minute, you want to give that extra energy to your 14- and 11-year-old," the first lady said.

The interview, conducted in January shortly after Obama began his second term, was released in the midst of his attempts to do more of what critics say he hasn't done enough of: reaching out to lawmakers, particularly Republicans, he needs to get his agenda through Congress. The list of action items includes legislation to limit access to firearms, overhaul the immigration system and make progress toward deficit reduction, among other issues.

Obama recently had dinner with a group of Republican senators at a hotel near the White House. He followed up by having lunch at the White House with the House Budget Committee chairman, Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Wis., and the panel's top Democrat, Rep. Chris Van Hollen of Maryland.

The president also has been making multiple trips to Capitol Hill this week to meet with the individual party caucuses in both chambers.

He joked in the Vogue interview that he and the first lady might start hitting the town, now that their daughters are older and have less time for them.

"As I joked at a press conference, now that they want less time with us, who knows? Maybe you'll see us out in the clubs," Obama said.

Mrs. Obama added that "90 percent" of what she and the president talk about has to do with the girls: what they're up to, who has practice, which one of their friends is having a birthday party and did they get that person a gift ? conversation she described as "endless" and "pretty exhausting."

She suggested that neither one of them wants to miss any of it. Obama grew up without his father and has talked publicly about his desire to be there for his kids.

"He's doing it while still dealing with Syria and health care. He's as up on every friend, every party, every relationship," the first lady said. "And if you're out to dinner every night, you miss those moments where you can check-in and just figure them out when they're ready to share with you."

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Follow Darlene Superville on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/dsupervilleap

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/4e67281c3f754d0696fbfdee0f3f1469/Article_2013-03-14-Michelle%20Obama/id-f65d21e2fa0449d1950d34937035ab08

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