Vol 40 No 43. Thursday April 28th, 2011

STUDY: POVERTY UP AMONG FAMILIES WITH KIDS - PG. 3 NATIONAL NEWSPAPER PUBLISHERS ASSOCIATION

THE NATION’S ONLY BLACK DAILY 35 Cents

Final

OBAMA RELEASES BIRTH CERTIFICATE

President Barack Obama discusses his birth certificate, seen in a reporter's hands, during a statement in the Brady Press Briefing Room of the White House in Washington, DC. A copy of the document was released by the White House and show Obama was born on August 4, 1961, in Honolulu.

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WWW.DAILYCHALLENGENEWS.COM

DAILY CHALLENGE THURSDAY, APRIL 28, 2011

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NEWS BRIEFS Mother sues over child’s picture in anti-abortion ad FORMER POLICE OFFICER GETS COMMUNITY SERVICE FOR GUILTY PLEA TO BEATING A former city police officer who pleaded guilty to assault in the beating of a man in the Bronx who was handcuffed was sentenced to 400 hours of community service Tuesday.

A judge sentenced John Cicero and issued an order of protection for the victim.

The beating was caught on tape.

Cicero admitted he punched Jonathan Baez in the head multiple times before slamming his head into the pavement.

Baez was handcuffed and lying on a Bronx sidewalk during an arrest in January 2010.

Three other police officers were suspended in connection with the beating.

BROOKLYN STUDENTS CELEBRATE OPENING OF NEW PLAYGROUND Students at PS 181 in Brooklyn celebrated the opening of their new playground yesterday.

It’s the 50th collaborative playground built under the Trust for Public Land.

Kids at the East Flatbush school helped design the $1 million play area, which was once a vacant lot.

In addition to jungle gyms and swing sets, there’s also a garden where people can plant vegetables.

“The great thing about all of these parks is that they’re open after school and on the weekends, so we’re not only creating a school park to be used during recess and during the physical education classes, but we’re also opening it to the community in a place that’s desperate of a safe playplace,” said Mary Alice Lee of the Trust for Public Land.

Students say they hope the playground will improve safety in the neighborhood.

NYPD IN HOT WATER OVER “P DIDDY” ESCORT Police are investigating after music mogul Sean “P Diddy” Combs got a police escort for one city block.

The New York City Police Department says a sergeant allowed the escort Friday night after a concert at Manhattan’s Hammerstein Ballroom.

A member of Combs’ entourage identified as his dry cleaner had asked several officers for assistance.

A sergeant reportedly agreed and a police van escorted Combs from the ballroom to the entrance of the Lincoln Tunnel.

Police say the escort was unauthorized and Mayor Michael Bloomberg says security is the only reason anyone should get one.

“The bottom line is we’re not in the...the police department should treat everybody exactly the same and if you don’t get a police escort, P.Diddy shouldn’t,” Bloomberg said.

Police are denying reports that several officers escorted Combs farther into New Jersey.

At least one city councilman is calling on Combs to reimburse the city.

By JENNIFER GOLSON Outraged that her daughter’s picture was used on anti-abortion billboards without her consent, a New Jersey woman is suing the group that organized the campaign.

The billboards featured a largerthan-life picture of Anissa Fraser, an African American child who was then 4, and the words: “The most dangerous place for an African American is in the womb.”

They also featured the Web address Thatsabortion.com.

The images were placed at the entrance to the Holland Tunnel in lower Manhattan and on Beach Boulevard in Jacksonville, Florida, in February 2011 and October 2010, respectively, the suit says.

In a complaint filed Tuesday in New York Supreme Court, Anissa’s mother Tricia Fraser said she was never warned about the controversial ads or the websites where her daughter’s picture also appeared.

The child’s visage became part of a “racist, controversial advertising campaign” organized by defendant Life Always and its affiliate Majella Cares, doing business as Heroic Media, the suit says.

The pictures were taken in April 2009 when the Frasers responded to an advertisement seeking models for family photos, the suit says.

ImageSource, a London-based company, made some of the photos

available for purchase on its website or the website of its parent company, Getty Images, and at some point the defendants purchased a license for Heroic Media to use them.

Fraser is suing for a violation of the New York Civil Rights Law and

for breach of contract. She is seeking unspecified damages and an order enjoining the defendants from using Anissa’s image in any way and ordering the defendants to hand over any funds raised using the child’s image.

Fed signals stimulus plan to end on schedule

By ANDREW BEATTY WASHINGTON — The Federal Reserve yesterday signaled it is ready to scale back support for the U.S. economy, despite what it called a “moderate” recovery.

Hinting at a second attempt to edge back from crisis-era policies, the Fed said it would complete hundreds of billions of dollars of crisis spending in June as planned.

In a statement, the Fed’s top interest-rate setting panel said it “will complete purchases of $600 billion of longer-term Treasury securities by the end of the current quarter.”

But it left wide open the possibility of further stimulus efforts if the economic outlook worsens.

“The committee will regularly review the size and composition of its securities holdings in light of incoming information and is prepared to adjust those holdings as needed to best foster maximum employment and price stability.”

Last November the central bank was forced to abort a previous attempt to normalize policies, restarting crisis-era spending as fears grew that the world’s largest economy could suffer a double-dip recession.

Amid high unemployment, a moribund housing market and still slow growth, yesterday’s move was far from a full-blown retreat.

The Fed kept ultra-low interest rates in place and left open the possibility of keeping recent bond investments steady at $600 billion,

rather than let the total value shrink as the assets mature.

“The statement does not rule in or rule out the continuation of QE Lite beyond June,” said Stephen Stanley of Pierpont Securities, referring to the plan by its jargon name “quantitative easing”.

Meanwhile the bank sounded a still-cautious tone on employment and growth.

“The economic recovery is proceeding at a moderate pace and overall conditions in the labor market are improving gradually,” it said.

In a separate statement the Fed said it expected growth to be slower than expected this year. Growth is now expected to hit 3.1 to 3.3 percent this year.

That is markedly lower than the 3.4 to 3.9 percent the Fed predicted in January.

The bank also said inflation would be sharply higher than expected and unemployment would be slightly lower.

The bank’s ambiguous policy stance on future stimulus is unlikely to dampen criticism that the Fed’s policies — along with rising oil and food costs — could result in a vicious spiral of rising prices that would serve like a tax on consumers.

Yet chairman Ben Bernanke has largely waved off price concerns, insisting that volatile oil and food prices are a poor gauge of long-term inflation.

The Fed statement acknowledged the pain Americans are feeling at the pump, but doubled down on its

chairman’s verdict.

“Inflation has picked up in recent months, but longer-term inflation expectations have remained stable and measures of underlying inflation are still subdued.”

That stance on inflation was quickly probed when Bernanke appeared before the press for the Fed’s first-ever post-meeting briefing.

“Higher gas prices are absolutely creating a great deal of financial hardship for a lot of people,” Bernanke acknowledged when pressed on what the Fed was doing to beat down inflation.

Markets were following closely every word he was saying in an unscripted response to reporters’ questions.

While Bernanke often comments on thorny and even politically charged topics, he usually does so via written statements, speeches delivered verbatim or carefully prepared congressional testimony.

“There is little room for error,” said Ryan Sweet of Moody’s Analytics. “Miscommunication could rattle financial markets and create additional uncertainty.”

The markets were subdued immediately after the Fed’s initial statement.

U.S. stocks rose slightly, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average gaining around 0.3 percent in the first hour after the statement was released.

The dollar fell against the euro, while the bond market was essentially unchanged.

DAILY CHALLENGE THURSDAY, APRIL 28, 2011

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Obama releases long-form birth certificate WASHINGTON — President Obama released his long-form birth certificate yesterday, saying it was time for the country to focus on huge issues and not “silliness.”

“We do not have time for this kind of silliness,” Obama said. “We’ve got better stuff to do. I’ve got better stuff to do. We got big problems to solve, and I’m confident we can solve them, but we’re gonna have to focus on them, not on this.”

In a blog posted on WhiteHouse.gov, White House Communications director Dan Pfeiffer wrote: “The president believed the distraction over his birth certificate wasn’t good for the country. It may have been good politics and good TV, but it was bad for the American people and distracting from the many challenges we face as a country.”

A vocal group of Americans questioned whether Obama was a U.S. citizen and called the certificate of live birth inadequate proof he was born in the United States. The certificate of live birth, which the Obama presidential campaign made public in 2008, is recognized in Hawaii and other states as valid documentation for proof of birth.

“I know that there’s going to be a segment of people for which, no matter what we put out, this issue will not be put to rest,” Obama said.

Because the issue of Obama’s place

of birth had become such an issue, Pfeiffer said the president asked the Hawaii State Health Department to release a copy of his long-form birth certificate, instead of the certificate of live birth that it usually issues.

U.S. business mogul Donald Trump, who’s mulling a presidential bid as a Republican candidate, has questioned Obama’s place of birth and wondered whether the president was hiding something by not releasing the long-form birth certificate.

Lawmakers in several states have introduced several so-called “birther” bills that would require a presidential candidate to offer proof of being born in the United States. Arizona Republican Gov. Jan Brewer vetoed such a bill.

Trump took credit for forcing Obama’s hand, CNN said.

“Today I’m very proud of myself because I’ve accomplished something” others failed to do,” Trump said in a visit to New Hampshire.

“Our president has finally released a birth certificate.”

Obama said he wouldn’t normally comment on such an issue but “there’s a lot of stuff swirling in the press at any given day and, you know, I’ve got other things to do.”

“But two weeks ago, when the Republican House had put forward a budget that will have huge consequences potentially to the country, and when I gave a speech about my budget and how I felt that we needed to invest in education and infrastructure and making sure that we had a strong safety net for our seniors even as we were closing the deficit, during that entire week, the dominant news story wasn’t about these huge, monumental choices that we’re gonna have to make as a nation, it was about my birth certificate.”

He said he was confident political leaders would come together in a bipartisan way to address the issues facing the United States, but “we’re not going be able to do it if we are distracted. We’re not going be able to do it if we spend time vilifying each other.”

“We’re not going be able to do it if we just make stuff up and pretend that facts are not facts,” Obama said.

“We’re not going be able to solve our problems if we get distracted by sideshows and carnival barkers.”

More deaths as storms and tornadoes pummel South

By PEGGY GARGIS BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — Emergency officials in Mississippi and Alabama confirmed more deaths yesterday as powerful storms pummeled the South, and forecasters said another round of severe weather was on the way.

The Mississippi Emergency Management Agency reported six stormrelated deaths since Tuesday from severe weather that damaged homes, downed trees and power lines and sparked flash flooding. At least 41 counties across the state reported weather-related damage.

One Mississippi death was a worker killed yesterday in Yazoo County while removing a tree from a roadway, said spokesman Jeff Rent.

Alabama officials reported four fatalities, and Governor Robert Bentley declared a state of emergency.

More than 20 people have died in weather-related incidents in the Unit-

ed States this week.

Winds of 100 miles per hour pounded central Alabama early yesterday, snapping trees across power lines, roads and buildings, said Mark Kelly, spokesman for the Jefferson County Emergency Management Office.

Approximately 245,000 customers were without power in the lower twothirds of the state, said Alabama Power spokesman Michael Sznajderman.

The central counties of Shelby and Jefferson, which includes the state’s most populous city of Birmingham, had almost 150,000 households and businesses with outages.

In one suburban Birmingham neighborhood, a family was briefly trapped inside their home by fallen trees.

“As I was grabbing my daughter and running to the closet, trees hit the house,” said Lisa Heby, who estimated 90 percent of the trees in her neighborhood were uprooted.

In Arkansas, the Department of Emergency Management reported another fatality from this week’s storms, bringing the number of deaths in that state to 11.

Several parts of north Texas, including areas which have been charred by the state’s massive wildfires, also were pounded by tornadoes and severe thunderstorms Tuesday night.

“Numerous homes have been damaged or destroyed,” said Lieutenant Chuck Allen, emergency management coordinator in Van Zandt County, located about halfway between Dallas and Tyler.

A state of emergency was declared in Tennessee, where residents are coping with flooding, power outages and blocked roads. Twenty-six county school systems were closed yesterday, and the airport in Murfreesboro sustained damage.

“We’ve got pockets of trees down and localized flooding from west to east Tennessee,” said Emergency

Study: Poverty up among families with kids WASHINGTON — The poverty rate is on the rise among households with children in the developing world, a report said.

The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development said families with children have replaced pensioners as the group most likely to be living in poverty.

The OECD report said the percentage of children worldwide living in economically poor homes rose to

12.7 percent in the last decade even though birth and marriage rates have declined. One in five children, 20 percent, in the United States, Mexico, Israel and Poland are considered to be living in poverty.

The group said in a written statement the findings are a warning to governments that their social safety nets need to take the needs of younger families into account.

“Family benefits need to be well

designed to maintain work incentives, but they (also) need to be effective in protecting the most vulnerable, otherwise we risk creating high, long-term social costs for future generations,” said OECD SecretaryGeneral Angel Gurría.

Among the recommendations for governments were fine-tuning family leave policies, expanding child care services and improving education.

Management Agency spokesman Dean Flener.

AccuWeather.com meteorologists said the Tennessee Valley will bear the brunt of tornadoes.

The worst of the storms are expected midday and into the evening. The corridor from northern Mississippi and northern Alabama to southeastern Kentucky is likely to be the hardest hit, AccuWeather.com reported.

A powerful storm system in that region could spawn large and longtracking tornadoes, meteorologists said.

“If strong tornadoes like this hit any populated area, they could result in complete destruction,” AccuWeather.com Meteorologist Heather Buchman said on the Web site.

Floods remain a big concern in several states, where days of rain and the melted snow from the winter’s heavy falls have caused rising rivers and saturated soils.

On Tuesday, the levee on the swollen Black River near Poplar Bluff in southeastern Missouri was breached south of the city, local officials said.

More than 1,000 people were evacuated on fears of flash flooding.

Emergency officials in Tennessee are bracing for floods expected along the Mississippi River early next week.

The storms and flooding are the latest in the violent weather that has pummeled much of the mid-South this month. Two weeks ago at least 47 people died as storms tore a wide path from Oklahoma all the way to North Carolina.

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DAILY CHALLENGE THURSDAY, APRIL 28, 2011

FORUM

Children’s health on the chopping block

THOMAS H. WATKINS

Malcolm X redux

By MARIAN WRIGHT EDELMAN

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Like many parents, California mother Anne-Marie Skinner knows “accidents happen.”

Her active, athletic teenagers Constance and Lucas - are both involved in a number of extracurricular activities, and both have unfortunately suffered sports-related injuries that required serious medical care. One of the worst accidents happened when a basketball hit Constance in the face, requiring an emergency room visit, an MRI, and follow-up care from multiple doctors, including a pediatric eye care specialist. Thankfully, both Constance and Lucas have been able to get the care they need

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relies on Healthy Families coverage for her three children.

With the Healthy Families coverage, Alexei is able to access preventive care including a machine to administer medication to help him breathe and multiple prescription drugs to prevent and treat his asthma.

Several times a year, Alexei still ends up in the emergency room. Last year, Alexei suffered an asthma attack and fell to the ground while running in gym class, and was rushed to the hospital in an ambulance.

Healthy Families has made it possible for Alicia to manage Alexei’s prescription drugs, doctor visits, and emergency room visits and helped AnneMarie through Constance’s eye Continued on page 5

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because they are enrolled in Healthy Families, California’s version of the State Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP)—low-cost health insurance for children, teenagers, and pregnant women. Healthy Families makes Constance and Lucas’s care affordable for their family. Anne-Marie has already cut her family’s budget back to bare bones in this economy, including spending less on buying food. “If it wasn’t for Healthy Families I would be buried in a blanket of medical debt,” she says.

Alicia Alferez faces a different challenge—keeping up with her child’s chronic health condition. Her oldest son, 14year-old Alexei, has severe asthma. Like Anne-Marie, Alicia is a California resident who

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DAILY CHALLENGE THURSDAY, APRIL 28, 2011

FORUM

Marriage is so 20th century!

By CHERYL PEARSON-MCNEIL I know I’m a lucky girl because I love my job (not everyone does you know). It gives me the privilege of keeping my finger on the pulse of consumer trends and purchasing behavior as my company, The Nielsen Company, measures what you watch and what you buy globally. I then have the pleasure of sharing that information with you because I so believe that knowledge is power.

Recently, Nielsen released a comprehensive report, The New Digital American Family, which highlights that the new family unit is more ethnically diverse than at any point in history. And, while I will certainly be sharing with you all of the eye-opening findings of the study in future columns, today I am focused on the one finding that sent a chill down my spine: “marriage is on the wane.”

Two trends impact the outlook for marriage: age at first marriage and opting out of marriage altogether. The proposed factors delaying marriage are many: an extended period of adolescence, an economy with few available jobs and the highly publicized single lifestyle modeled by celebrities. But it is cohabitation before marriage that appears to be the dominant, driving

force of the decline in marriage.

Now if you’re a woman, you’ve more than likely been warned by your mama, grandma or auntie that “there’s no point in buying the cow when you can get the milk for free.” And, while most of us decried being compared to a cow, we certainly understood the message behind the old adage: they didn’t want us shacking up, (mmm-hmm.

You know that’s what your mama and grandmamma called it.) or living together before marriage. I tried living with my then boyfriend before we got married, and I was so traumatized by the thought of my mother’s disapproval that the livein situation only lasted for three months (in retrospect the subsequent marriage didn’t last that much longer, but that’s another column) and that was in the 90’s. In 1980, only 16 percent of adults lived together before marriage. By 2000, those couples choosing to shack-up jumped to 41 percent.

Now, new census numbers expect to show that more than half – more than 50 percent – of all couples prefer to share a household without a marriage license. Wow. So much for taking mama and ‘dem’s advice.

Am I the only one who was raised on pure guilt?! And, for those who do get married, the median age at first marriage for men rose by six years since the middle of the Baby Boomer years.

Health on the chopping block Continued from page 4 injury. But, in recent years, changes in the state budget for Healthy Families and California’s Medicaid program, Medi-Cal— including significant premium and co-payment increases—have been making it harder for families to get critical health care services for their children. Another round of cost-sharing increases in the state’s 2011-2012 budget will cause real and lasting hardship for families like the Skinners and the Alferezes, including the difficult decisions they will face if the co-payment for an emergency room visit increases to $50 per visit.

These two families are among the millions across the country whose health coverage is “on the chopping block” twice over, once because of state budget cuts and a second time because of federal budget cuts. They all risk losing the affordable, comprehensive health coverage their children need to grow up healthy and strong. The U.S. House of Representatives approved an unfair and shortsighted budget that will assault vulnerable children and low income families. It would make deep cuts in Medicaid, shift more costs to states, and eliminate core protections for the 30 million chil-

dren served by the program. In 2013, it would de-fund the successful and cost effective Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) these and many thousands of California families need. All this at a time when 50 million Americans, including more than eight million children, are uninsured. The House budget would repeal health reform that would reach an additional 32 million people and 95 percent of all children during the next few years.

Children of color, who make up more than half of the children served by Medicaid, would fare worst and be placed at risk of preventable suffering, chronically poor health, and even death. And, for what purpose? To pay for more tax cuts to the wealthiest individuals and corporations in America?

President Obama said this last week about the House budget for 2012: “There’s nothing serious about a plan that claims to reduce the deficit by spending a trillion dollars on tax cuts for millionaires and billionaires. And I don’t think there’s anything courageous about asking for sacrifice from those who can least afford it and don’t have any clout on Capitol Hill. That’s not a vision of the America I know.” If this is not the America you want, stand up, and speak up and say no!

The second trend is to never marry. Almost three-fourths, or 72 percent, of Americans over age 18 were married in 1960, but only 52 percent are today. Young Americans are delaying marriage and the rates are plummeting among all ethnic groups.

To further confound the situation, sociologists are proposing a new way of thinking about marriage, summarized by the This phrase “alone together.” reflects more independent spouses who live separate lives with fewer shared activities than their married predecessors. (Can’t you just hear your grandmother’s uncensored response when you and your “boo” announce your “alone together” status: “Now what kind of nonsense mumble jumble is that?!” But. truth be told maybe my marriage would have lasted longer had we had such a non-traditional arrangement).

Statistically, both non-marriage and delayed marriage are equal opportunity realities encompassing all ethnic groups. And, statistics show that college educated adults have the highest marriage rates; while those with a high school education or less have the lowest rates.

So whether you thought marriage was in your plans or not, at least you know how you or even your adult children fare compared to the rest of America. I contend there really is something to be said about that “cow for free” adage; sometimes mama ain’t always wrong, no matter what the unmarried numbers say. Perhaps if more parents guilted their kids into not living together outside of marriage we could impact these climbing

numbers. You can rest assured that I absolutely plan to use the “guilt-method-of-parenting” on my son for as long as it works for me.

Anyone out there willing to join me?

Cheryl Pearson-McNeil is the senior vice president of Public Affairs and Government Relations for The Nielsen Company. For more information and studies go to www.nielsenwire.com About The Nielsen Company The Nielsen Company (NYSE: NLSN) is a global information and measurement company with leading market positions in marketing and consumer information, television and other media measurement, online intelligence, mobile measurement, trade shows and related assets. The company has a presence in approximately 100 countries, with headquarters in New York, USA. For more information on The Nielsen Company, visit www.nielsen.com.

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REOPENING OF HISTORIC EBENEZER BAPTIST CHURCH

The voice of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. again filled the halls of Ebenezer Baptist Church and a pipe organ triumphantly announced the reopening of the sacred sanctuary regarded as the birthplace of the civil rights icon’s vision of

justice, equality and a nonviolent society. Photo: Martin Luther King III speaks during a ceremony to mark the restoration of the sanctuary of the historic Ebenezer Baptist SEE PAGE 3.

Church where his father preached Atlanta.

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DAILY CHALLENGE THURSDAY, APRIL 28, 2011

Leaked Guantanamo files not seen hurting U.S. cases

By JAMES VICINI WASHINGTON — Classified U.S. military documents released by WikiLeaks that give intelligence assessments of Guantanamo prisoners will not affect any of their cases, Attorney General Eric Holder said on Tuesday.

“I certainly deplore the leaks,” Holder told reporters after news organizations on Sunday disclosed details from the documents on nearly all of the terrorism suspects who have been held at the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba.

Holder said releasing the

documents was harmful in a number of ways, including hurting U.S. relations with some U.S. allies. But he said he does not see any impact on the cases to be tried.

Holder announced earlier this month that the self-professed mastermind of the September 11, 2001, attacks, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, and four co-conspirators would be tried in a military tribunal at Guantanamo, where they are currently being held.

He said Congress made it impossible to try the suspects in a regular U.S. court in New York, as Holder had wanted.

“We pushed hard. Congress has made a determination,” Holder said, adding that the Obama administration had to accept the decision in December when Congress blocked funding for prosecuting any Guantanamo prisoners in U.S. courts.

Holder said his decision to shift the September 11 defendants back to military tribunals will not have any impact on prosecuting future terrorism cases in U.S. courts.

Besides the defendants accused in the September 11 attacks, a number of other Guantanamo prisoners are

expected to be tried in military tribunals.

The documents made available by WikiLeaks were largely silent about the use of the harsh interrogation tactics at Guantanamo that have drawn widespread condemnation and have created problems in prosecuting some cases.

Holder said the administration could not release its assessments of the Guantanamo prisoners because they were partly based on a wide range of sources, some classified, and to take that out would give incomplete information.

But lawyers for the Guan-

tanamo prisoners will likely use the WikiLeaks documents to defend their clients.

The Justice Department under Holder has launched a criminal investigation into WikiLeaks over previously leaked U.S. military documents about the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq and 250,000 State Department cables.

In other comments, Holder said he could not say whether al Qaeda was plotting any special attacks to coincide with the 10-year anniversary of the September 11 attacks. “The harsh reality is they are plotting every day,” he said.

WSI: U.S. may see several hurricane landfalls in 2011

By KEVIN GRAY MIAMI — The 2011 Atlantic hurricane season will be active with the energy-rich U.S. Gulf Coast facing a significant threat of a hurricane landfall, a leading private weather forecaster predicted on Tuesday.

The forecast by Weather Services International follows one of the busiest seasons on record last year that saw intense levels of storm and hurricane activity but no direct hit on the U.S. coastline.

WSI slightly lowered its December forecast, calling for 15 named storms and eight hurricanes. Four are expected to strengthen into major hurricanes of Category 3 or higher on the five-step Saffir-Simpson intensity scale, it said.

“While we expect less overall activity this year, we do expect a much more impactful season along the U.S.

coastline,” WSI’s chief meteorologist Todd Crawford said in a statement.

Other private forecasters have made similar predictions for the 2011 season set to begin June 1 and run through November 30.

The La Nina phenomenon, which fosters hurricane formation, is weakening faster than expected and prompted WSI to lower its prediction, Crawford said.

The 2010 season spawned 19 named storms, tying for the third most active season with 1887 and 1995, according to the U.S. National Hurricane Center. Twelve storms grew into hurricanes last year, making it the secondhighest season tied with the year 1969.

The U.S. coastline has been spared a direct hit since 2008.

Last year, Hurricane Earl, which grew into a Category 4 hurricane, came the closest by approaching to about 100 miles off North Carolina and

southern New England in September.

“Our recent good fortune in avoiding landfalling hurricanes is not likely to last,” Crawford said.

Projection models, he said, showed the western states on the U.S. coast of the Gulf of Mexico, where major oil and gas installations are located, facing “sharply increased” chances of a landfall this year.

Crawford predicted two or three hurricanes could come ashore.

“The U.S. has not had a three-year stretch without a hurricane landfall since the 1860s,” he added.

A change in weather conditions is also increasing chances of an hurricane making impact on the U.S. coastline, according to Crawford.

Pockets of low pressure in the Atlantic helped to shield the U.S. East Coast from direct hits last year, but are not expected to be present later this summer when

Dark clouds pass over downtown Miami, Florida. storm activity intensifies, he Gulf and the Caribbean are a said. much greater threat to make Warmer sea surface tem- landfall along the U.S. coast peratures in the Gulf of Mexi- than those that develop off the co and the Caribbean may also coast of Africa,” he said. help storms develop more easWSI said its forecast numily there instead of farther out bers were similar to the 2008 in the Atlantic, Crawford season when Hurricanes added.

Dolly, Gustav and Ike impact“Storms developing in the ed Louisiana and Texas.

Census: Working women better educated than men WASHINGTON — A higher percentage of U.S. working women have college degrees than working men, the Census Bureau said in a report on American educational attainment.

The study shows that 37 percent of women in the work force age 25 and older had attained a bachelor’s degree or more as of 2010, whereas 35 percent of their male peers had reached the same level.

For those in their late twenties, the gap is wider.

Thirty-six percent of women had a bachelor’s degree or

more, compared with 28 percent of men.

However, in the entire population over the age of 25, including those not working, 30.3 percent of men had bachelor’s degrees compared with 29.6 percent of women.

Thirty percent of all adults 25 and older had bachelor’s degrees in 2010, up from 26 percent in 2000.

The report also said that 52 percent of Asians 25 and older had a bachelor’s degree or more, against 33 percent of non-Hispanic whites, 20 percent of blacks and 14 percent of Hispanics.

DAILY D CHALLENGE THURSDAY, APRIL 28, 2011

COMMUNITY AFFAIRS

7

Barron calls for and end to handcuffs on students

Councilman Barron speaking at the Education Forum Councilman Charles Barron and Senator John Sampson present an award to Diane Shirley for her work with The Police Athletic League.

Muba Yarofulini PTA President of P.S. 218 Agatha Philips, Adrea Carte, Crystal King PTA President, Host of Forum Councilman Charles Barron, Scott Swaute, Jimmy Orr and State Senator John Sampson Parents and education activists are calling for the Department of Education to end the practice of putting handcuffs on unruly students.

The group, lead by East New York Councilmember Charles Barron and Assemblywoman Inez Barron, made its demand during a news conference on the steps of City Hall. The handcuffing issue came to light last week when the restraint was put on a seven-year-old special

education student.

“Our schools are not part of a police state,” Barron declared.

“The Department of Education must stop the cruel and emotionally traumatizing practice of handcuffing children.”

At another event focusing on the DOE, Barron awarded several schools in his district for actively opposing their closure. During an Education Forum he sponsored, Barron gave particular praise to officials and parents at PS 144, the Ryder

Elementary School, which was removed from the closure list last month.

There were active discussions during the forum on issues like having different schools share the same building, charter schools and school closures.

Also in attendance was State Sen. John Sampson, who praised parents for getting involved in their children’s education.

- Photos By Lem Peterkin

Pamela Parris explainig her education situation to the forum.

L awmake rs hope a gas t ax hol iday wi l l of f er r es i dents a l it tl e br eak

By C. ZAWADI MORRIS Gas prices in New

York City have spilled over the $4/gallon mark, sending gas taxes skyrocketing right along with them.

So lawmakers in Albany now are calling for gas tax holidays, hoping to offer customers a little break.

Assemblyman James Tedisco and state Senator Greg Ball are proposing measures that will drop the

state’s 8-cent excise tax, 8-cent sales tax and 17-cent Petroleum Business Tax during Memorial Day, Fourth

of July and Labor Day weekends, a move that they estimate would save motorists a total of $19 million.

AFRICAN SCENE

88

DAILY CHALLENGE THURSDAY, APRIL 28, 2011

AFRICAN SCENE

Ivory Coast forces attack renegade positions

By SERME LASSINA

f cuts tax on maize, Kenya wheat; 4 die from hunger NAIROBI, Kenya - Kenya’s government is removing the tax on maize and wheat imports in a bid to cushion citizens from the effects of rising global food prices.

Yesterday’s announcement came three days after the Kenya Red Cross reported that four people died of hunger in the country’s Kenya’s drought-stricken north.

Kenya Prime Minister Raila Odinga told parliament that the government also wants to remove all taxes on kerosene, the main fuel used for cooking in Kenya. Odinga said the high cost of petroleum products, due to the turmoil in parts of the Middle East and North Africa, has led to a high inflation rate in the country.

He asked parliament to urgently pass a motion his office will present to remove the taxes on kerosene.

South Africa photographer honored for Soweto photo PRETORIA, South Africa - A South African photographer is being honored for helping expose apartheid’s brutality to the world with a picture that ended his career.

South African photographer, Sam Nzima, poses with his iconic photo showing Hector Pieterson, a 13-year-old shot by police during the 1976 Soweto uprising, in Pretoria, South Africa.

Yesterday, President Jacob Zuma bestowed national honors on Sam Nzima for a photograph reminiscent of the “Pieta” he took 35 years ago showing a dying Hector Pieterson, a 13-year-old shot by police during the 1976 Soweto uprising.

Nzima says the photograph seen around the world “tells the story of what happened. You don’t even need a caption to see that something terrible has happened.”

In an interview yesterday, Nzima said police were so enraged by the attention his photograph drew, he feared they would kill him. He left Johannesburg and his newspaper to become a businessman in a small eastern South African town.

ABIDJAN, Ivory Coast Forces behind Ivory Coast’s President Alassane Ouattara attacked positions held by a warlord who helped fight to put him in power, the renegade’s chief aide said yesterday.

Felix Anoble said that Ibrahim “IB” Coulibaly’s forces were attacked early yesterday in the renegade’s stronghold in Abidjan’s Abobo neighborhood while they were waiting for the U.N. to come for disarmament.

Ouattara on Friday had ordered Coulibaly and his forces to disarm or expect to have weapons taken by force.

Coulibaly said that disarming would take time to organize. He pledged his allegiance to the new president in an interview with The Associated Press, but has not been received by him.

“Our positions were attacked this morning by Republican Forces (FRCI) while our soldiers had met to wait for disarmament overseen by the U.N.,” Anoble said.

Several residents in the PK-18 area of Abobo, Coulibaly’s stronghold, confirmed the shootings.

Brig. Gen. Michel Gueu, the military adviser to Ouattara’s Prime Minister Guillaume Soro, said Tuesday he met with a Coulibaly delegation to advise they disarm.

“We’re here to bring a verbal message from the president and the prime minister who ask that IB deposes his arms,” he said, adding that it was a prerequisite to meeting with the two leaders.

On Monday, Coulibaly’s aides accused Soro’s camp of attacking their forces. The two men have a years-old feud.

In 2004, Soro and Coulibaly waged bloody battles for leadership in the rebels’ stronghold in the central city of Bouake. Soro won and Coulibaly was forced into exile.

The rivalry between Soro and Coulibaly is the biggest challenge to confront Ouattara’s fledgling government since former strongman Laurent Gbagbo was arrested April 11.

Ouattara has little control over the former rebel forces that brought him to power and who will form the new Ivorian army by integrating with Gbagbo’s old forces. The former rebels are commanded by five different warlords.

Coulibaly re-emerged in Abidjan in January at the head of the “Invisible Commandos” to

Opposition leader in Uganda fr eed on bai l NAKSONGOLA, Uganda - An opposition leader in Uganda who has led four “walk to work” protests that have mobilized thousands of supporters has been granted bail.

A judge in Uganda yesterday freed Kizza Besigye until May 13, when he has another court appearance. He was arrested last Thursday after police broke up a crowd of his supporters with tear gas.

Besigye said yesterday he would continue to fight for Ugandans’ rights. Hundreds of supporters surrounded the court and escorted Besigye as he drove toward the capital, Kampala.

Prices for food and fuel have spiked in Uganda in recent months, fueling anti-government anger. Besigye has sponsored “walk to work” rallies to support Ugandans who can no longer afford public transportation.

start the battle against Gbagbo’s forces after soldiers fired mortar shells and rockets into Abobo, a neighborhood that voted en masse for Ouattara.

The Nov. 28 elections were supposed to reunite the country, but Gbagbo’s stubborn refusal to accept his defeat precipitated the most recent violence in a country in conflict for a decade. It is not known how many thousands have been killed and wounded.

Ouattara’s government has appealed for residents to return to their normal lives in the West African nation.

Late Tuesday, Ouattara’s government announced preliminary investigations into Gbagbo and his family.

“Procedures for preliminary investigations are underway for the crimes committed by Laurent Gbagbo and his entourage,” government spokesman Patrick Achi said on Ivory Coast’s TCI TV station. He said that nearly 120 people were arrested along with Gbagbo and his wife Simone on April 11. He said that some, including the household staff and minors, had been released.

Gbagbo and Simone are being held in separate towns in the country’s north.

New opera tells Winnie Madikizela-Mandela’s story PRETORIA, South Africa - The Soweto-born soprano who plays Winnie Madikizela-Mandela in a new opera says the story is deeply familiar.

In an interview ahead of Thursday’s premiere of “Winnie the Opera,” Tsakane Maswanganyi says, “It’s something that I grew up knowing. It’s part of my history.”

The opera depicts Madikizela-Mandela facing accusations she helped a gang of young men terrorize Soweto in the late 1980s, but it also lauds her for speaking out against apartheid and keeping her then husband Nelson Mandela’s struggle alive during his long years in prison.

Opera has been used to tell the stories of other complex contemporary figures. “Winnie” producer Mfundi Vundla says the woman known as the “mother of the nation” is “is reviled by many, hero-worshipped by many.”

D CHALLENGE THURSDAY, APRIL 28, 2011 DAILY

AFRICAN SCENE

9

Nigerian results trickle in after violence at polls

By AMINU ABUBAKAR KANO, Nigeria Nigerian results trickled in yesterday following state governor polls marred by bombs, ballot thefts and shootings as the country stumbled to the end of a landmark election period hit by deadly riots.

Police warned they would be ready in case of another outbreak of violence over results, with rioting after the April 16 presidential poll believed to have killed hundreds.

“For now, the police are on the alert and on ground in case we have a backlash like we had in the presidential election,” said spokesman Olusola Amore.

Police were also hunting a suspected Islamist sect member who opened fire at a polling station in the northeastern city of Maiduguri during voting on Tuesday, killing one person and wounding four, authorities said.

Ballot-box thefts were reported in a number of states in Africa’s most populous nation despite tight security and safeguards meant to stop such fraud.

Turnout appeared low in many areas either out of apathy or fears of further violence.

In Maiduguri, which has long been hit by violence blamed on the sect, seven suspected Islamists were arrested on allegations of seeking to plant a bomb on a busy street during the polls, the state police commissioner said.

Police in Borno state, where Maiduguri is the capital, also arrested more than 20 other suspects over election fraud allegations, including those accused of attempting to snatch ballot papers.

Three explosions went off on Tuesday morning in Maiduguri, but no casualties were reported. Bomb blasts there killed at least three people and wounded 15 on Sunday

and Monday.

There were reports of electoral workers in various parts of the country refusing to show up on Tuesday for fear of further attacks following last week’s riots, which a local rights group says killed more than 500 people.

Police in the southern oil state of Delta also found two bombs on Tuesday, one of them near the offices of the electoral agency, but they were safely defused.

Results began to emerge yesterday, with the ruling Peoples Democratic Party hanging on to Enugu state in the southeast and looking set to maintain control in Rivers in the oil-producing Niger Delta region — no surprise for either.

The vote reportedly had to be cancelled in one ward of Rivers state, however, due to ballot-box snatching.

The opposition Action Congress of Nigeria seemed secure in the economic capital

and initial Lagos, reports indicated it could take southwestern Ogun state from the ruling PDP. The rioting across the country’s mainly Muslim north after the presidential election won by southern incumbent Goodluck Jonathan displaced an estimated 74,000.

Unrest broke out despite what observers said appeared to be Nigeria’s cleanest vote for head of state since a return to civilian rule in 1999, with the country seeking to break from a history of deeply flawed polls.

Two states — Kaduna and Bauchi — had their polls postponed to Thursday due to the unrest.

An electoral commission spokesman said the governors’ vote appeared to have gone relatively well despite a series of incidents, while one commissioner spoke of a mixed turnout.

An opposition Action Congress of Nigeria

Nigerian voters wait to cast their ballots on April 26, at a station in Jos, the capital of Plateau state. governorship candidate ship and state assembly in southern Akwa Ibom polls. state alleged violence The ruling Peoples and rigging.

Democratic Party was “What we have here, projected to lose a numI don’t know how to ber of states and many describe it. The institu- races were expected to tion that is supposed to be closely fought, raisguarantee the system of ing concerns that desdemocracy has been perate politicians might used to rape democracy seek to rig the vote. openly,” said John Nigeria’s state goverAkpanudoedehe. nors wield significant Akpanudoedehe was power and preside over charged with treason large budgets thanks to ahead of the vote, revenue generated by charges that his lawyer the oil industry. The described as “trumped ruling party currently up”. controls some 27 state Most of Nigeria’s 36 governorships. states held governor-

Hard drives stolen from Zimbabwe independent daily Libyans brace for long

By ANGUS SHAW HARARE, Zimbabwe An independent daily newspaper critical of Zimbabwe’s president said yesterday thieves raided its offices and stole computer hard drives and the editor’s laptop.

Raphael Khumalo, chief executive at NewsDay said components and hard drives from 11 reporters’ computers were removed in the raid Monday night, along with the editor’s laptop used to write a weekly column “critical of political injustices and social ills.”

No other items were stolen. In large page headlines last week, the paper called on President Robert Mugabe, 87, to step down, declaring:”It’s time to rest.”

Khumalo stopped short of accusing security agents of carrying out the raid but said it aimed at crippling the paper’s operations ahead of World Press Freedom Day on May 3.

He described the raid as “devastating.”

“That again does not put Zimbabwe in a good light. It is going to be seen as a fight against the independence of the media,” he said.

After draconian media laws

were enforced in 2003, one independent daily was banned by the then ruling party of Mugabe. Its printing presses were also destroyed in a bombing using military-style explosives.

There have been no arrests in connection with that bombing.

Mugabe was forced to join a power sharing coalition with Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai, the former opposition leader, after disputed, violent elections in 2008. The coalition deal swept aside curbs on independent media organizations and three independent daily newspapers, including NewsDay, have been licensed since then.

Ivory Coast forces attack renegade positions

By SERME LASSINA ABIDJAN, Ivory Coast Forces behind Ivory Coast’s President Alassane Ouattara attacked positions held by a warlord who helped fight to put him in power, the renegade’s chief aide said yesterday.

Felix Anoble said that Ibrahim “IB” Coulibaly’s forces were attacked early yesterday in

the renegade’s stronghold in Abidjan’s Abobo neighborhood while they were waiting for the U.N. to come for disarmament.

Ouattara on Friday had ordered Coulibaly and his forces to disarm or expect to have weapons taken by force.

Coulibaly said that disarming would take time to organize. He pledged his allegiance to the new president in an interview

with The Associated Press, but has not been received by him.

“Our positions were attacked this morning by Republican Forces (FRCI) while our soldiers had met to wait for disarmament overseen by the U.N.,” Anoble said.

Several residents in the PK-18 area of Abobo, Coulibaly’s stronghold, confirmed the shootings.

wait at refugee shelter

By DEEPA BABINGTON BENGHAZI, Libya - When Abu Ibrahim fled fighting near the Libyan town of Ajdabiyah a month ago, he was sure he would be back home in a few days — after all, NATO had just begun to bomb Muammar Gaddafi’s forces.

A month later, Ibrahim finds himself still stuck at a temporary shelter for displaced Libyans in Benghazi, his hopes of going home dashed as fighting between Gaddafi loyalists and Libyan rebels stalls west of Ajdabiyah and both sides dig in for what could be a protracted war.

“I came here thinking I’ll be here only a day or two but it keeps getting longer,” Ibrahim, who declined to give his full name, said at a Benghazi university dormitory where about 950 displaced people have been put up in dreary cement blocks.

“All of us thought NATO would finish everything quickly but NATO has taken very long.”

Refugees say they were overcome by a generous welcome from Benghazi residents, but the gratitude is turning to frustration for many as the possibility of a months-long wait sinks in.

Among those increasingly desperate is Youssef Saeed, 51, who left Ajdabiyah last month with his family and the clothes on his back after a bomb exploded meters away from his young daughter.

Relief at shelter in the relative safety of Benghazi is now giving way to panic as Saeed grapples with the likelihood of running out of money in two weeks.

1 10

Jamaica’s capacity to reduce drug trafficking strengthened KINGSTON, Jamaica — The Jamaican government’s capacity to reduce the cultivation, production and trafficking of illicit drugs is to be improved this year, with funding support from the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs.

A sum of $202 million (US$2.38 million) has been allocated in the 2011/12 Estimates of Expenditure to achieve those objectives, under the Caribbean Basin Security Initiative.

The initiative also seeks to enhance the government’s capacity to disrupt and deter money laundering operations and other financial crimes; and to develop the government’s judicial capacity through special prosecutors and the establishment of a Financial Investment and Anti-Corruption Division.

Anticipated targets for 2011 to 2012 are: to provide specialised motor vehicles and ballistic vests to enhance the operational capability of the Jamaica Constabulary Force; training in the use of armoured vehicles; and training and commodity assistance to the Financial Investigation Division and the Revenue Protection Directorate of the Ministry of Finance and the Public Service.

Additionally, training, operational and technical assistance are to be provided to the Anti-Corruption Special Prosecutor, the Contractor General, Auditor General and the Commission for Prevention of Corruption.

- Alecia Smith

CARIBBEAN NEWS DAILY CHALLENGE THURSDAY, APRIL 28, 2011

Trinidad minister defends charter flight to Brazil PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad — Minister of Works and Transport Jack Warner said the chartering of a Caribbean Airlines 737 aircraft to take a 40-member State and private delegation led by Trinidad and Tobago Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar to the World Economic Forum in Brazil, “was far more financially prudent than a private jet”.

The prime minister too has also defended the decision, saying it was the most ‘economical thing to do”. The PM’s comment was made to reporters at the Piarco International Airport, shortly before her departure.

In a statement, Warner said, “While it may have been a habit of the past administration to deploy State resources for the use of private jets, this government sought, instead, to examine all

the options available to getting the national delegation to Brazil to promote the nation’s economic and trade interests. At this period, the leasing of additional aircraft makes it profitable while it meets the expectations and increased demand of the travelling public.”

“In this context, the special service flight will not be staying in Brazil for the duration of the government and trade delegation visit.

The aircraft is scheduled to return to Piarco while the official group conducts the affairs of the nation and the local business contingent pursues growth opportunities for improved local employment and development,” he said.

The minister pointed out that the return schedule of the aircraft has already been worked out, so it resumes regular scheduled commercial operation within hours of landing at Piarco International.

“It is exemplary that such an arrangement has been put in place to

Expatriates challenged to contribute more to St. Kitts-Nevis BASSETERRE, St. Kitts — Senior Minister and Minister of Trade Dr. Timothy Harris has called on the Diaspora community to play a greater role in the development and upliftment of St. Kitts and Nevis.

Harris cited the recent Taiwan Trade Show, which featured products from Taiwanese companies based in Miami, Florida, as a practical example, and urged expatriates to explore ways in which they can contribute to St Kitts and Nevis via investments, trading and other areas.

“If we can have our diasporic community ... play the role of distributors for a lot of our products, whether it is our rum, our crafts or whatever we have, then it would be extremely beneficial for local interests,” he stated.

The minister also mentioned local music as an area that can be easily tapped given its universal appeal.

Jamaica extends oil exploration deadline CALGARY, Canada — The Petroleum Corporation of Jamaica (PCJ) has approved a ninemonth extension of the initial exploration period of offshore blocks licensed to Sagres Energy Inc., an international oil and gas exploration company with interests in Guyana, Colombia and Jamaica.

The initial exploration period, Phase 1 will now end December 15, 2011, by which time Sagres must elect whether to enter Phase 2. Phase 2 of the initial exploration period for each block carries a one well commitment and now must be completed

by December 15, 2013.

Minister of works and transport, Jack Warner be able to meet the squandermania of the Brazil, the delegation needs of the State, with- past that it is difficult to would have had to be out compromising the believe that govern- split into separate needs of passengers nor ment could be conduct- flights and would have burdening the State ed any other way,” had to stop-over and with greater costs,” Warner said. overnight at Miami or Warner said.

Minister of Trade Panama. This, he said, He added, “Every and Industry, Stephen would have overall individual on the flight Cadiz said, “This is not increased costs by who is not a govern- a private jet. This is a incurring hotel expensment official is paying regular commercial air- es. their own way, unlike craft and by chartering And Minister of what might have it we will reduce costs Foreign Affairs Suruj occurred in the past.” and save in the vicinity Rambachan also “We are conducting of 12 man-hours by defended to charter the every official visit in a doing it this way. plane. fiscally responsible Netting off of airfares “It will work out to way, and perhaps that against the cost of the be much cheaper and it is what is being found charter shows this also keeps the team to be so remarkable exercise is worthwhile.” together. It will be a because we have become Cadiz noted that with much more efficient accustomed to the no direct flights to journey,” he said.

PM assures Vincentians in Taiwan about development projects

By KENTON X. CHANCE TAIPEI, Taiwan — Prime Minister Dr Ralph Gonsalves has assured Vincentians in Taiwan that the international airport being constructed on St. Vincent’s east coast will meet the 2013 completion target.

“Those who wish to have their doubts, there is nothing I can do about that save and except to speak to the truth of the issues,” he said at a meeting last Friday.

He also said that while the success of the Buccament Bay Resort was linked to the completion of the airport, investors knew that there would be a lag between the resort completion and arrival of large numbers of visitors.

However, former

Prime Minister Sir James Mitchell was quoted in the British press saying that the resort was too large.

One half of Buccament Bay has black sand — the natural colour — while white sand has been imported from Guyana for the resort side of the beach to meet the expectations of guests.

The resort, which was constructed on prime agricultural lands, sits at the mouth of the Buccament Valleys, one of St Vincent’s main agricultural districts.

It includes six restaurants, a spa and a galleon for sunset cruises, a Liverpool Football Club Soccer School, a Pat Cash Tennis Academy and a Performing Arts Academy with classes

led by West End professionals.

“I wish them luck, but Buccament is on too big a scale and misconstrued. It’s trying to market itself as a beach resort on St Vincent, whose appeal is all about nature,” Sir James, a hotelier and agronomist, told The Telegraph in a review of the resort on the heels of its official opening earlier this month.

Sir James also linked the fate of the resort to the international airport, which will have a runway that can take transatlantic jets.

The international airport is expected to increase visitor-arrival and eliminate the need for international visitors to fly to St Lucia or Barbados before taking a light aircraft on to St Vincent.

INTERNATIONAL

DAILY CHALLENGE THURSDAY, APRIL 28, 2011

11

Syrian army tightens control over protest hotspots

Fatah and Hamas agree to end feud, form government

By KHALED YACOUB OWEIS AMMAN - Syrian troops tightened control yesterday over flashpoints of protest against President Bashar alAssad, who faced growing international calls to end violence that a rights group said had killed over 450 people.

Tanks patrolled the southern city of Deraa, where the uprising against Assad erupted nearly six weeks ago, troops poured overnight into the Damascus suburb of Douma and security forces surrounded the restive coastal city of Banias.

Germany said yesterday it strongly supported European Union sanctions against the Syrian leadership, and the bloc’s executive body, the European Commission, said all options were on the table for punitive measures against Damascus.

France summoned Syria’s ambassador to protest at the violence and said Britain, Spain, Germany and Italy were doing the same. “Syrian authorities must meet the legitimate demands of their people with reforms, and not through the use of

force,” French Foreign spokesman Ministry Bernard Valero said.

The United States, which imposed a limited economic embargo against Syria in 2004, says it is considering further targeted sanctions in response to the “abhorrent and deplorable” violence by security forces deployed in the crackdown on protesters.

A m n e s t y International Tuesday called on the U.N. Security Council to refer the situation in Syria to the prosecutor of the International Criminal Court.

Secretary General Salil Shetty also said a comprehensive arms embargo should be imposed on Syria as well as an assets freeze on Assad and others involved in ordering or perpetrating serious human rights abuses.

A witness told Reuters that a convoy of at least 30 army tanks headed early yesterday from southwest of Damascus, near the Golan Heights front line with Israel, in a direction which could take them either to Douma or to Deraa.

Overnight, white buses had brought hundreds of soldiers in full combat gear into Douma, from where protesters have tried to march into the center of

the capital in the last two weeks, only to be stopped by bullets.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said it had names of at least 453 civilians killed during the protests across the country against Assad’s 11-year authoritarian rule.

Syria has been dominated by the Assad family since Bashar’s father, the late President Hafez alAssad, took power in a 1970 coup. The younger Assad kept intact the autocratic political system he inherited in 2000 while the family expanded its control over the country’s struggling economy.

The unrest could have serious regional repercussions because Syria straddles the fault lines of Middle East conflict.

Assad has strengthened Syria’s ties with Shi’ite Iran, and both countries back the Hezbollah and Hamas militant groups, although Damascus still seeks peace with Israel.

Syria and Israel are technically at war but the Golan frontier between them has been quiet since a 1974 ceasefire.

BODY “RUN OVER BY TANK” A resident in Deraa, where electricity, water and phone lines were

cut when the army rolled in at dawn Monday, said fresh food was running out and grocery stores were giving away their produce.

“It’s mostly tinned food they are distributing to us,” he said by telephone.

A relative said his neighbor saw a tank driving over the body of a young man in the main Tishrin square Tuesday.

“They are telling us: ‘You have to accept us and we will remain forever your rulers, whether you like it or not. And if you resist us, this is your fate’,” he said.

He said the army push into Deraa was also a warning to other cities of what they could expect if protests continued. “But God willing, we are steadfast and this only strengthens our resolve to get rid of them — not tomorrow, today,” he added.

Diplomats said the unit Assad sent into Deraa Monday was the ultra-loyal Fourth Mechanised Division, commanded by his brother Maher. Reports from opposition figures and some Deraa residents, which could not be confirmed, said that some soldiers from another unit had refused to fire on civilians.

Nine killed in Kabul attack Bomb kills two Algerian were Americans: Pentagon gendarmes: security source WASHINGTON - Eight troops and a civilian contractor killed in a Kabul airport shooting yesterday were all Americans, a Pentagon spokesman said.

“The current information we have from ISAF (International Security Assistance Force) is that eight service members and one civilian were killed in the attack. ... All U.S.,” said Colonel David Lapan, a Pentagon spokesman.

The troops and contractor were killed in a shooting incident involving an Afghan Air Force pilot at Kabul’s airport yesterday, NATO said. It was one of the deadliest incidents of “rogue” Afghans turning their weapons on foreign soldiers.

ALGIERS - Two Algerian paramilitary police were killed yesterday in a bomb attack in a traditional stronghold of al Qaeda’s north African wing, a security official said.

Islamist insurgents in Algeria appear to have resumed their activities after a lull. A total of 19 soldiers were killed in the same region over a 48-hour period earlier this month, in the deadliest attacks in months.

The security official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the two gendarmes were killed by a roadside bomb at about 3 p.m. (1400 GMT) near Bordj Menaiel, approximately 80 km (50 miles) east of the Algerian capital.

By MARWA AWAD CAIRO - Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas’s Fatah movement has struck an agreement with bitter rival Hamas on forming an interim government and fixing a date for a general election, officials said yesterday.

The surprise deal was brokered by Egypt and followed secret talks between the two sides, who fought a brief civil war in 2007 that left the Islamist Hamas in control of the Gaza Strip and the Western-backed Abbas in charge of the West Bank.

Forging Palestinian unity is regarded as crucial to reviving any prospect for an independent Palestinian state.

“We have agreed to form a government composed of independent figures that would start preparing for presidential and parliamentary elections,” said Azzam al-Ahmad, the head of Fatah’s negotiating team in Cairo. “Elections would be held in about eight months from now,” he added.

Ordinary Palestinians have repeatedly urged their leaders to resolve their deep divisions, but analysts had long argued that the differences between the two sides on issues such as security and diplomacy were too wide to bridge.

Mahmoud al-Zahar, a senior Hamas leader who participated in the talks, said the agreement covered five points, including elections, forming an interim unity government and combining security forces.

“We also discussed activating the Palestinian Legislative Council, the PLO (Palestine Liberation Organization) as well as forming a government consisting of nationalist figures to be agreed upon,” Zahar told Al Jazeera television in an interview.

He also said Hamas and Fatah agreed to free prisoners held by each side.

MORE SERIOUS INTENTIONS Pro-democracy tumult across the Arab world is likely to have revitalized the reconciliation talks, with a new leadership in Egypt eager to stamp its authority on the region.

“The intentions were more serious this time and have been coupled by the efforts of our Egyptian brothers,” said Taher al-Nono, the spokesman of the Hamas government in Gaza.

“Implementation will start following the official (signing) ceremony which could be within a week,” he added.

There was also no immediate word from Israel, which has long opposed any moves by Fatah to form a government with Hamas, whose founding charter calls for the destruction of Israel.

Peace talks between Israel and Abbas broke down last year and the Palestinian president has been pushing instead to obtain backing in the United Nations this September for an independent state on all the territory Israel occupied in a 1967 war.

While Fatah has supported the notion of a negotiated peace deal with Israel, Hamas has firmly rejected it and regularly fires missiles and mortars from Gaza into the Jewish state.

Some Palestinian analysts called for caution over news of the reconciliation deal.

“Previous experience has taught us not to rush into making a judgment,” said analyst Hani Habib, who is based in Gaza.

“We have had experiences in the past where agreements were fully signed, not just by initial letters, where governments were formed and then everything collapsed,” he added.

New American

The

12

DAILY CHALLENGE THURSDAY, APRIL 28, 2011

One Thought - One Humanity

Can MJ’s ‘Human Nature’ bring a SWV & Chris Brown collaboration?

For the conclusions of these stories check out the April 21st - April 27th, 2011 issue of The New American, which hits newsstands every Thursday Carol’s Daughter tapped Cassie, Solange Knowles and Selita Ebanks for a new multicultural ad campaign aimed at redefining what it means to be beautiful. The 3 ladies represent multiple ethnicities—Cassie as African-American and Filipina, Selita as Jamaican, Irish, Indian and African and Solange as AfricanAmerican and French Creole. Also, their hair textures range from sleek tresses to waves to natural curls; their skin tones from olive to brown. The company’s goal is to appeal to a “millennial generation, which is basically a colorless society,” said Steve Stoute. “They don’t see color anymore. They’ll say, ‘my father’s black, my mother’s white’…What we’re doing now is moving into a polyethnic space – women who are made up of several ethnicities. If you ask them what they are, they’re going to use a lot of different words to describe themselves.

That’s in line with the Census data coming out — people are checking much more than two boxes.”

Bobby Brown and his fiancee/manager Alicia Etheridge are expecting another baby. This will be child number 6 for Brown.

DAMN!!.Bobby and Alicia’s first child is named Cassius and Bobby is happy to be a dad again. “I try to keep my kids close,” Bobby said. The new baby will join siblings Landon (b.1986) with Melika Williams; LaPrincia (b.1990) and Bobby Brown Jr. (b.1991) with Kim Ward; Bobbi Kristina (b.1993) with his exwife Whitney Houston; and Cassius Brown (b.2009) with Alicia.

Word on the street is that Paula Patton & Robin Thicke’s mar-

riage may be in trouble.

Apparently the couple have been growing apart due to their busy work schedules which means that they hardly see each other, and, Paula is worried about Robin’s wandering eye and jumpoffs! The couple welcomed their first child, Julian Fuego a year ago. We hope this is just a bad rumor, they are one of my favorite couples!

Eric Benet’s camp is denying a New York Post Page Six item that claims the self-professed former sex addict was at Cheetah’s Gentleman’s Club in Times Square last week and gave lots of attention to a stripper who looked exactly like his ex-wife Halle Berry.

The dancer, “Jordan,” said that Benet initially said his name was “Edgar,” but soon after revealed his true identity: “I said, ‘You’re Halle Berry’s ex-husband,’ and he said, ‘Once upon a time,’ and smiled.” A rep for the R&B singer dismissed the story, shouting, “This is cheap gossip! We’re not going to answer these questions.” As previously reported, Benet announced his engagement to Prince’s exwife, Manuela Testolini, earlier this year.

Keke Wyatt plans on increasing her musical catalog by releasing a new album this summer. The set will be her third release since her debut album ‘Soul Sista’ in 2001. Wyatt, known for her duet with Avant on “My First Love” and “Nothing In This World,” has hopes of continuing her duet success formula by working with American Idol winner Ruben Studdard. She and Studdard have completed a rendition of Alexander O’Neal & Cherelle’s classic hit song “Saturday Love” as the first single for the album. The untitled

album will be Wyatt’s second release in the past year after her sophomore album was delayed for almost ten years due to record label conflicts. In related news, Wyatt tells UrbanBridgez.com that she and Avant are in works for their longawaited duets album.

Lil Wayne’s name became linked to a rape allegation last month after a woman accused producer Noel “Detail” Fisher of sexually assaulting her during a studio session where Weezy was present. But a month after the unnamed woman claimed that she was held against her will and sexually abused, the beatsmith is speaking out against her allegations. According to TMZ, Detail, who resides in Canyon Country, Calif., is shooting down her claims, labeling her lawsuit “baseless” and deeming her actions as acts of extortion. The producer’s lawyer, Josh Glotzer, says the woman is “unfortunately abusing the legal process to extort money from Mr. Fisher,” and that he plans to file a malicious prosecution claim after the civil suit is dismissed.

Mya says goodbye to the problems of yesterday on “Rear View Mirror” featuring Sean Paul, one of the tracks included on her new album K.I.S.S. (Keeping It Sexy & Simple), released in Japan on April 20. On the empowering record, the “Dancing With the Stars” alum looks toward the future by hopping in her whip and driving away from her past life. “In my rear view mirror I don’t see nothing but smoke/ Everything’s much clearer when I push that metal into the floor/ I’ve got to go,” she sings on the chorus.

What does the feel good vibe that “King of Pop” automatically Michael Jackson, makes you think of the “New Jack the best of Michael Swing Queens of Jackson. There is the 90’s” SWV and something in this the reigning beat that is thera“King of R&B” peutic and R&B Chris Brown have lovers seem to in common? The never get enough infectious song of it.

“Human Nature” 3. Party Starter: is the link between So far, every these great entertainers. remake of Michael Jackson’s Human This track has been twisted and Nature has had the potential to turned to create musical master- pump stereos from the BBQs to the pieces in multiple decades and we clubs. think a collaboration with Chris 4. Star Connection: The “Human Brown and SWV would definitely Nature” track has connected the foladd a unique flavor while bridging lowing artists: Michael Jackson, musical eras. Here is why…

SWV and Chris Brown. By connect1. Lyrics: The complexity of love ing these artists, this track has indiis expressed in both SWV’s “Right rectly connected three R&B/Pop eras Here” and Chris Brown’s “She Ain’t which are Michael Jackson’s 80’s, You.” SWV’s “Right Here” focuses SWV 90’s and Chris Brown’s new on reassuring their man that they millennium. Three decades of fans will have rough times but there is no are able to enjoy the magic of one where they would rather be. Chris track with a twist by their favorite Brown’s “She Ain’t You” focuses on artists. It doesn’t get better than having a love that could not be that. replaced despite moving on. Both 5. Michael’s Magic: Michael JackSWV and Chris Brown highlight the son was a genius and his music is strength and endurance of love in proof that his gift, which is conthe lyrics laid over the Michael Jack- stantly sampled, still has a power we son’s smooth “Human Nature” beat. cannot explain. Maybe one day they 2. Rhythmic Beat: You can’t help will discover that his sound has the but groove to the beat that has been healing power to help those with pimped by SWV and Chris Brown. cancer and other terminal diseases.

The beat gives off an unexplainable (Yes, his music is that serious) - Full Story In This Week’s New American Newspaper -

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DAILY CHALLENGE THURSDAY, APRIL 28, 2011

14

Drake, Wanda Sykes, Keke Palmer, J.Lo join ‘Ice Age 4’ Rapper Drake, comedian Wanda Sykes, Nickelodeon star Keke Palmer (right) and “American Idol” judge Jennifer Lopez are joining the voice cast of the fourth “Ice Age” cartoon, “Ice Age: Continental Drift.”

Actor Jeremy Renner and “Parks and Recreation” star Aziz Ansari have also been added to the Fox franchise, joining returning actors Ray Romano, Queen Lati-

fah, Denis Leary, John Leguizamo, Seann William Scott and Josh Peck.

The cast was revealed Tuesday during a meeting on the Fox lot with potential promotional partners, licensees and retail partners, according to the Hollywood Reporter. Romano and Queen Latifah took participants through the “Continental Drift” storyline.

Due in theaters on

July 13, 2012, Renner will portray Gutt, a self-styled master of the high seas. Lopez will play Shira, a sabertoothed tiger who melts the heart of Diego, by Leary. played Romano returns as Manny and Queen Latifah as Ellie, both mammoths. It was not known what roles the other new arrivals would play.

The first three “Ice Age” films have grossed nearly $2 bil-

lion at the worldwide box office, putting Fox and production partner Blue Sky Studios squarely in the animation game. Their winning streak continues with”Rio,” which has grossed nearly $300 million in less than three weeks.

“Ice Age” is becoming a year-round brand for Fox. A Christmas television special is being planned, along with a mobile game and online game.

Beyonce slapped 50 Cent expands empire with with $100M lawsuit launch of comedy website, show

By ALLEN STARBURY 50 Cent is planning some expansion to his empire ... into the world of comedy, says reports.

Following the successful launch of his website ThisIs50.com a few years ago, the hiphop mogul has launched a comedy arm of his digital property a t

ThisIs50Comedy.com.

Currently the site is live, but it’s more of a soft launch.

According to TheBoomBox.com, the new site’s official launch will take place today, and will feature the debut of 50’s comedy show, dubbed the “This Is 50 Comedy Show.”

The show will be taped in front of a live audience in the Times Square Arts Center in New York City, and will

be streamed live online.

The show will be hosted by ThisIs50 regular, comedian Jack Thriller, and will return on the last Thursday of each month, bringing the site’s subscribers “the cutting-edge humor of the nation’s funniest comedians,” according to the website.

50 is charging $2.99 for access to the show, which will benefit Japan’s relief fund.

Ice-T gets reality series treatment at E! It seems Mrs. Knowles-Carter has upset a video game maker. Software developer Gate Five filed a breach of contract suit against the R&B superstar in New York, claiming she backed out of a motion-sensing video game called “Starpower: Beyonce.”

According to TMZ, the company claims Beyonce “made an extortionate demand for entirely new compensation terms she wanted” after a negotiated deal was already in place. The documents also state that after the 29-year-old pulled the plug, “her maneuver backfired and drove away the financier, she pulled

out of the project in breach of the agreement.”

“In early December everything was still a go,” states Gate Five founder Greg Easley.

“And then the week of Christmas, she said that’s it, I don’t want to hear from you guys, go away, resulting in 70 people losing their jobs.”

He added: “We’d much rather make a game than litigate. But we want to recover damages that Gate Five suffered.”

Gate Five is seeking more than $100 million for “a bad faith breach of contract” in addition to the $6.7 million it invested into the project.

By LESLEY GOLDBERG LOS ANGELES — Rapper-actor Ice-T’s family life is going under the microscope with “Ice Loves Coco,” a new reality series at E! The eight-episode half-hour series will revolve around the “Law & Order: SVU” costar’s marriage to his model wife of 10 years, Coco. It premieres June 12 at 10:30 p.m.

Ice-T, 53, whose real name is Tracy Morrow, rose to fame as a pioneering gangsta rapper and branched out into hard rock with his band Body Count. Their song “Cop Killer” raised the establishment’s ire in 1992.

As an actor, he has played a thuggish sexcrimes cop on “Law & Order: Special Victims Unit” for 12 seasons.

He recently released his second book, “Ice: A Memoir of Gangster Life and Redemption — From South Central to

Hollywood.”

He married Coco in 2001. They live in New York, with homes in Miami and Arizona.

NEW JERSEY

DAILY CHALLENGE THURSDAY, APRIL 28, 2011

15

Lt. Gov. Guadagno rules Carl Lewis doesn’t meet residency requirement to run for N.J. Senate

By MATT FRIEDMAN TRENTON - In a ruling that outraged Democrats and prompted accusations of a conflict of interest, Lt. Gov. Kim Guadagno yesterday threw Olympic track-and-field champion Carl Lewis, a Democrat, off the ballot for the state Senate.

Guadagno, a Republican, said there was “substantial credible evidence” that he had not lived in New Jersey for the four years required under the state Constitution. “(Lewis) did not yet own his home in New

Jersey, did not otherwise live in New Jersey, did not file his taxes in New Jersey, was not registered to vote in New Jersey and did not have his business in New Jersey,” she wrote.

Guadagno’s decision overturned an order issued last week by an administrative law judge, who ruled that Lewis should remain on the ballot because Republicans had failed to prove their case.

An attorney for Lewis, William Tambussi, immediately filed a federal lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of the residency requirement and

Lil’ Wayne, Bruno Mars to take the stage at Bamboozle music festival this weekend

By TRIS MCCALL EAST RUTHERFORD - If you’re looking for the biggest music event on the East Coast you need to search no further than the unfashionable confines of the New Meadowlands parking lot.

Beginning tomorrow, the most formidable beast in Jersey music will once again roar from the East Rutherford swamps.

The annual pop music festival, which marks the beginning of the summer music season for tens of thousands of concertgoers, will be longer, bolder, and louder than it ever has been before. As the music business continues its contraction, the Bamboozle continues to gather steam.

“The Bamboozle is our premiere festival, and one of the biggest events on our calendar,” said Kevin Morrow, president of the New York operations of LiveNation,

Lil Wayne the concert promotion company that dominates bookings nationwide.

Rapper Lil Wayne, whose last two albums topped the Billboard 200, will be one of the eight high-profile headliners at Bamboozle 2011. Pop singer Bruno Mars, who co-authored CeeLo’s unspeakable smash and whose “Just the Way You Are” single has turned triple platinum, will be another. And this gathering isn’t just for kids: Heavy metal veterans Mötley Crüe are scheduled to scream from a Bamboozle stage, too. Last year, radio favorite Ke$ha and the power-pop heartthrobs in Paramore took their turns under the Bamboozle spotlights.

Nine-time Olympic Gold medalist Carl Lewis declares his candidacy for New Jersey State Senate in this April 11 photo. claiming Lewis’s civil rights were violated. He said he planned to appeal the decision yesterday in state court.

“It’s clear the administration will do anything to keep Carl Lewis off the ballot,” Tambussi said. “But it’s unconstitutional. So we’ll rectify that.”

The decision by Guadagno - who is the first to serve in the newly created position of lieutenant governor is likely to reignite the debate about whether Gov. Chris Christie should have given her the responsibilities of the secretary of state, which include overseeing the Division of Elections.

Senator Barbara Buono (D-Middlesex) the majority leader, issued a statement saying Guadagno, the number two Republican in the state, “should

have taken the common sense approach and recused herself from being involved in this controversial and seemingly partisan decision.”

Lewis, 49, who grew up in Willingboro and then lived in the West before returning to New Jersey, announced two weeks ago that he planned to challenge state Sen. Dawn Addiego (R-Burlington) in the Republican-leaning 8th Legislative District in South Jersey.

In recent days Lewis, a sports legend who won nine Olympic gold medals, accused the governor of trying to talk him out of running on the eve of his election announcement.

The nine-time Olympic gold-medal winner also accused Gov. Chris Christie of trying to dissuade him from running as a Democrat.

“Basically he called and it was pretty clear to me he did not want me to run, and the things he was talking about were to get me to not run,” Lewis said in a phone interview.

Senate President Stephen Sweeney (DGloucester), who stood

by Lewis’s side when he announced his candidacy, accused Guadagno of doing Christie’s bidding.

“The governor couldn’t bully Carl Lewis out of the race and the Republican Party couldn’t make a case stand up in court, so the lieutenant governor did their bidding for them,” he said.

Christie spokesman Michael Drewniak disputed Lewis’ account, saying, “It’s just completely false.”

“I don’t know why he’s inflating what was a friendly conversation, a casual conversation,” Drewniak added.

He also dismissed the notion that Christie influenced Guadagno’s decision to remove from the ballot.

Lewis grew up in Willingboro, then attended the University of Houston in Texas and later moved to Los Angeles to pursue an acting career.

He switched his voter registration to New Jersey on the day he declared his candidacy.

Republicans argued that Lewis could not

have lived in New Jersey long enough to fulfill the state’s residency requirements for seeking office, partly because he voted in California as recently as 2009 and paid income taxes there until at least 2008.

Democrats countered that Lewis bought his first home in New Jersey in 2005, has been a volunteer track coach at Willingboro High School since 2007 and has had a New Jersey driver’s license since 2006.

In making her decision, Guadagno said Lewis bought a home for his mother in New Jersey in 2005 in Mount Laurel, and did not buy one for himself, also in Mount Laurel, until November 2007 - “at least eight days after the constitutional cutoff.”

But Tambussi said Guadagno had her facts wrong.

“He purchased two condos in 2005, one for himself and one for his mother,” he said. “He lived in one, his mother lived in the other, This evidence is highlighted in Lewis’ closing brief.”

Property records indicate that two condominiums, both in Mount Laurel, were purchased in July 2005 - one by Lewis and one by a family trust. He bought another home in Medford in November 2007.

N.J. taxpayers head to the polls to vote for school board candidates, budgets

By JESSICA CALEFATI Taxpayers across the state voted yesterday on local school budgets and school board candidates in an unusual yesterday election.

Normally held on the third Tuesday in April, this year’s election got bumped to avoid a conflict with Passover, which ended Tuesday. Voters considered 538 budgets and elect 1,612 school board members from a pool of candidates three times as

large.

This year’s results are expected to be much less volatile compared to last year, when, for the first time in 40 years, fewer than half the school budgets received voter approval, said Frank Belluscio, a spokesman for the New Jersey School Boards Association.

Frustrated with the floundering economy, voters vented their anger at the polls. School budgets are the only budgets that voters in New Jersey have an opportunity to approve or oppose. The economy is still a factor this year, Belluscio said, but the number of approved

budgets should creep closer to normal, Belluscio said.

In 2009, 73.3 percent of school budgets received approval. One year ago, only 41.4 percent got a thumbs-up from voters.

Districts also saw record levels of voter turnout last year, Belluscio said, with turnout doubling compared to the prior year. Many attributed this increase and the record budget defeats to Gov. Chris Christie’s public call for voters to “say no” to school budgets in districts where teachers refused to take pay freezes.

DAILY CHALLENGE THURSDAY, APRIL 28, 2011

16

Meditation may help brain block out distractions New research suggests that mindfulness meditation can help relieve pain and improve memory by regulating a brain wave known as the alpha rhythm, which “turns down the volume” on distractions.

In a small study, researchers found that those participants using meditation were better able to modulate the waves — when they were told where to direct their attention — after they finished an eight-week course, compared to a control group that did no meditation.

“Mindfulness meditation has been reported to enhance numerous mental abilities, including rapid memory recall,” study co-author

Catherine Kerr, of the Martinos Center for Biomedical Imaging at Massachusetts General Hospital and the Osher Research Center at

Harvard Medical School, said in a news release provided by Massachusetts General.

“Our discovery that mindfulness meditators more quick-

ly adjusted the brain wave that screens out distraction could explain their superior ability to rapidly remember and incorporate new facts.”

The alpha rhythm plays a role in the cells that process senses like touch, sight and sound in the brain’s cortex.

It helps the brain ignore distractions, helping a person to focus while many things are going on, the study authors said.

The findings “may explain reports that mindfulness meditation decreases perception,” Kerr pain added. “Enhanced ability to turn the alpha rhythm up or down could give practitioners’ greater ability to regulate pain sensation.”

The new research may

also help explain how meditation might affect basic brain function, said study co-author Stephanie Jones, of the Martinos Center.

“Given what we know about how alpha waves arise from electrical currents in sensory cortical cells, these data suggest that mindfulness meditation practitioners can use the mind to enhance regulation of currents in targeted cortical The implications cells. extend far beyond meditation and give us clues about possible ways to help people better regulate a brain rhythm that is dysregulated in attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder and other conditions,” she said in the news release.

Anxiety’s on the menu for people with food allergies

By SERENA GORDON Every time her teenage daughter Jordyn leaves the house, Nancy Geller worries about the food her daughter might choose to eat. Jordyn has a severe peanut allergy, and exposure to even a small amount of a peanut-containing food could cause a lifethreatening allergic reaction.

“It’s a big worry, especially now that she’s a teenager and is eating out with her friends,” said Geller, who lives in Croton on Hudson, N.Y. Geller isn’t alone with her concerns. According to the Food Allergy and Anaphylaxis Network (FAAN), as many as 12 million Americans have a food allergy.

Milk, eggs, peanuts, tree nuts, shellfish, soy and wheat are responsible for most food allergies, according to FAAN. While it’s easy to control your environment at home to be sure you or your allergic children aren’t exposed to the offending food, many people choose to eat food prepared in restaurants, where the risk of being exposed to a food allergen is much greater.

Still, many feel if they let the waitstaff know about the allergy, they can be assured a safe meal. But new research indicates that that’s not always the case.

In a study that included managers, waiters and chefs at 90 restaurants in

Brighton, a popular British resort town, researchers found that just a third said they’d had specific food allergy training. However, 81 percent said they still felt confident they could provide a safe meal to a customer with food allergies.

When the researchers pressed for more specific information, they found that 38 percent of restaurant workers erroneously believed that people with food allergies could drink water to dilute the allergen and lessen the severity of the allergic reaction. Another 23 percent mistakenly thought that eating a small amount of a food allergen would be safe.

About one in eight restaurant workers didn’t realize that food allergies could cause death. Sixteen percent

believed that cooking food could prevent food allergies, and 21 percent mistakenly thought they could simply remove the food allergen from the finished meal and it would be safe.

Results of the study were published in the May issue of the journal Clinical and Experimental Allergy.

Christopher Weiss, vice president of advocacy and government relations for FAAN, said the U.K.’s study results are similar to those of a study done in the United States.

“I wasn’t overly surprised by the results. But, if you look at today versus five years ago, we’ve made significant advancements. Overall though, we’ve still got a way to go before the vast majority of restaurant workers understand food allergy,” he said.

There was some good news from the U.K. study: Almost half of those surveyed expressed an interest in learning more about food allergies. In the U.S. study, Weiss said that figure was 60 percent.

“So, we developed a training guide with the National Restaurant Association along with a video that’s easy to watch. The more restaurants that take advantage of these tools, the better,” said Weiss.

Sue Hensley, a spokesperson for the National Restaurant Association, echoed Weiss’ sentiments, and said her organization “is working diligently to address the issue of food allergic customers in restaurants by educating our restaurants and their employees on food allergens.”

Geller said that there has been a noticeable difference in food allergy awareness where she lives — the New York metro area — in the past few years. “In the past, many restaurants just wouldn’t take any responsibility. It was very tough to feel comfortable in a restaurant. Now, we definitely see more understanding,” she said.

For others dealing with food allergies, Geller advised talking to the waitstaff and letting them know what your specific needs are.

Weiss added that a lot of people with food allergies also call restaurants in advance, or go in and visit before they go to eat so that they can “gauge whether or not that facility would be able to serve them a safe meal.”

Some TV fans ‘distressed’ without favorite shows Some college students felt real distress when their favorite television shows went into reruns during the TV writers’ strike of 20072008, a new report suggests.

Most affected were those who said they use television for companionship — as opposed to simply for passing the time — and who developed emotional connections with characters on the tube, the study authors noted.

“We found that people who primarily watched television for companionship were the ones who felt the most dis-

tressed by temporarily losing their programs,” study coauthor Emily Moyer-Guse, an assistant professor of communication at Ohio State University, said in a university news release.

The study is published in the April issue of the journal Mass Communication and Society.

The investigators used online questionnaires to interview 403 college students in 2008 about their TV viewing habits.

Those who relied on TV to help them relax, find companionship or escape were

more upset about losing their favorite shows than those who just watch TV to pass the time, according to the results.

However, “while some participants felt real distress at the loss of their favorite TV shows, the distress is not comparable to the distress that comes from real breakups,” Moyer-Guse said.

“There are some aspects of relationships with TV characters that may be comparable to real relationships, but the intensity is generally much lower.”

Without new TV shows to

watch, the researchers found, many people turned to reruns and Internet use instead of spending more time with loved ones or getting exercise.

“Some people believe TV isolates people and takes them away from more social activities, but our results suggest that may not be the case,” Moyer-Guse added.

“Many viewers simply replaced their normal TV viewing with other media activities. They weren’t using the opportunity to start exercising or spend more time with friends or family.”

DAILY CHALLENGE THURSDAY, APRIL 28, 2011

17

New guidance for blood pressure control in elderly Elderly Americans are at high risk for high blood pressure and related health problems and death, but lifestyle changes and proper use of medicines can reduce these risks, says a clinical guidance statement released Monday by the American Heart Association and the American College of Cardiology.

“As we age, high blood pressure is often part of the process,” noted one expert, Dr. Suzanne Steinbaum, a preventive cardiologist at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York City. “In fact, 78 percent of women and 64 percent of men over the age of 65 have high blood pressure, which can potentially lead to devastating illnesses like heart attacks, strokes, heart failure, and atrial fibrillation,” she said.

According to the AHA, among those 80 and older, only one-third of men and one-quarter of women have adequate control of their blood pressure.

Controlling blood pressure in elderly patients is much more cost-effective than treating heart problems that result from uncontrolled hypertension. But many doctors don’t treat hypertension in these patients because they worry that doing so will increase the risk of death, explained American College Cardiology/American of Heart Association (ACC/AHA) writing committee co-chair Dr. Wilbert S. Aronow, clinical professor of medicine at York Medical New College/Westchester Medical Center.

“Treating hypertension in the elderly is particularly challenging because they usually have several health problems and a greater prevalence of cardiovascular risk factors and cardiac events,” Aronow said in an ACC/AHA news release. “There also needs to be greater vigilance to avoid treatment-related side effects such as electrolyte disturbances, renal dysfunc-

Study: Blacks with cancer more inclined to exhaust funds to prolong life White patients with lung or colorectal cancer are less willing than patients of other races or ethnicities to use up their personal financial resources to prolong their life, a new study finds.

U.S. researchers analyzed data from 4,214 participants in the Cancer Care Outcomes Research and Surveillance study of patients with newly diagnosed lung or colorectal cancer.

The patients were interviewed about various aspects of their care, including their willingness to deplete their personal financial resources for life-prolonging treatment rather than receive less costly treatment that would not extend their lives as long.

Those who said they would spend all their money to live longer included 80 percent of black patients, 72 percent of Asians, 69 percent of Hispanics and 54 percent of whites.

After researchers

accounted for factors such as income, disease stage, quality of life, patients’ age, patients’ perceived time left to live and other medical illnesses, the researchers determined that black patients were 2.4 times more likely than whites to say they’d exhaust their personal finances to extend life.

Hispanic and Asian patients were also less inclined to spend all of their money than blacks, but more likely than whites to do so.

The study appears online April 26 in the journal Cancer.

Further research is needed to determine the reasons for these differences among the races, said Michelle Martin of the University of Alabama at Birmingham and colleagues in a journal news release. Learning more about this issue may lead to cancer care that consistently reflects patient values and preferences, they added.

tion and excessive orthostatic blood pressure decline.”

The clinical guidance statement is meant to help doctors safely and effectively manage hypertension in elderly patients. The decision to develop the statement was prompted by results released in 2008 from the Hypertension in the Very Elderly Trial.

This large trial found that high blood pressure treatment in people 80 and older led to 30 percent fewer strokes, 23 percent fewer cardiac deaths, 64 percent fewer cases of heart failure, and a 21 percent drop in death from all causes.

Among the recommendations in the clinical guidance statement:

Routine monitoring of blood pressure, including taking blood pressure readings while a patient is standing.

The appropriate therapeutic targets are blood pressure levels of less than 140/90 mm Hg in people aged 65 to 79, and a systolic blood pressure (the top number in a blood pressure reading) between 140 and 145 mm Hg in people 80 and older if tolerated.

Use of medications, when appropriate, based on efficacy, tolerability, the presence of other health problems, and cost.

When beginning treatment with antihypertensive drugs, doctors should generally begin with the lowest dose and gradually increase the

dose as tolerated by the patient.

Patients should also be encouraged to make lifestyle changes to prevent and treat high blood pressure.

Steinbaum agreed with the last point, especially.

“Lifestyle management could be helpful in managing high blood pressure, with exercise, drinking in moderation, not smoking, and maintaining a low-salt diet,” she said.

The statement authors also noted that the high cost of antihypertensive drugs is a factor in low rates of blood pressure control among the elderly, and doctors should discuss this issue with patients.

Guidelines help prevent heart attack deaths

By GENEVRA PITTMAN When doctors follow guidelines for treating patients after a heart attack, more patients survive, according to a new study from Sweden published in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

The findings show that “things that we test in clinical trials do work in real life (and) make huge impacts on mortality,” said Dr. Debabrata Mukherjee, a cardiologist at the Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center in El Paso who wrote a commentary published with the study in JAMA. Despite better adherence to guidelines, there is still room for improvement in Sweden and abroad, researchers said — which should be accompanied by still better outcomes for patients.

In the current study, Dr. Tomas Jernberg of the Karolinska Institutet in Stockholm and his colleagues consulted a database of over 61,000 patients treated in Sweden between 1996 and 2007 for a certain kind of heart attack that damages a lot of heart muscle.

During that period, Sweden introduced new guidelines outlining the best way to treat patients who had just had a heart attack.

And over those 12 years, treatments that have been proven to help heart attack patients - including drugs to break up blood clots and procedures to open arteries became more common.

For example, statins were

prescribed to 23 percent of heart attack patients in 1996 and 1997, compared to 83 percent in 2006 and 2007.

Just 12 percent of patients had an angioplasty after a heart attack at the beginning of the study, compared to 61 percent by the end.

At the same time, fewer patients died after having a heart attack in the study’s later years. The chance of dying in the year following a heart attack dropped from 21 percent to 13 percent.

Jernberg and his colleagues calculated that patients who were treated in the mid-2000’s lived an average of 2.7 years longer after their heart attack than patients from the mid-1990’s.

But not all hospitals have been quick to make standard treatments the norm, Jernberg said.

“There are variations (in) how quickly they adopt new treatments,” he told Reuters Health in an email. “These variations are not as large as in previous years, but there is still room for improvement.”

Mukherjee said that the story is the same in the United States: positive changes, but not everyone fully on board.

“We’ve certainly gotten better, (but) we’re not at 100 percent. And even now, hospitals differ,” Mukherjee told Reuters Health.

He emphasized that patients can help ensure they get the best treatment after a heart attack by educating themselves on different procedures and medications, and by knowing that treatment doesn’t end when they leave the hospital.

For example, “We see a lot of problems with patients who stop taking their medication when they start feeling better,” Mukherjee said.

But those medications need to be taken long-term to prevent future heart problems.

That long-term mentality needs to apply to doctors as well, said Dr. Robert Yeh, a cardiologist at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston who was not involved in the study.

“Really, the episode of care...goes from when the patient presents with a heart attack and really extends for the years following to make sure they don’t develop complications,” Yeh told Reuters Health.

Researchers also proposed quicker feedback for doctors and “decision support” which requires doctors to answer questions about the treatment they are giving a patient as they give it - to improve adherence to guidelines.

And improvements in treatment need to happen faster, said Dr. Eric Peterson, a cardiologist at the Duke University Medical Center in Durham, North Carolina, who is also an editor at JAMA. “The bad news is that was a 12-year period of time to do something that we needed to do,” Peterson told Reuters Health of the new Swedish findings. “That’s way too long. Think about how many patients along the way ... didn’t get treated before we got to those high rates of adherence.”

Still, Yeh said, the study as a whole represents “a real success story.”

DAILY CHALLENGE THURSDAY, APRIL 28, 2011

18

Dollar near 3-year lows on Fed view, stocks rise

By SAIKAT CHATTERJEE HONG KONG — The U.S. dollar plumbed a near 3-year low against other major currencies yesterday before a Federal Reserve decision, which is expected to reinforce an ultra-easy policy stance and drive more capital to buoyant emerging Asian stock markets. "#( # ' ')$& ! #)&( " ' #)"(, '#)( + '( $ ( "* '(! "(' ' #+ #! ' " $6>1 @= ,"( & '( 0> -6 01>= 8/0B &DABD0=C C> 9D36<4=C >5 5>A42;>BDA4 0=3 B0;4 41 F8;; B4;; 0C ?D1;82 0D2C8>= 8= (>>< >= *7DAB30H #0H 0C >D=CH ? < 0C C74 !8=6B )D?A4<4 >DAC 30<B )C A>>:;H= $/ ?A4< : 0 -=> 8/ '> <9956C8 ", )083 ?A>?4ACH ;>20C43 >= C74 40BC4A;H B834 >5 0BC =3 )C 5C 8=274B B>DC74A;H 5A>< C74 2>A=4A 5>A<43 1H C74 8=C4AB42C8>= >5 C74 40BC4A;H B834 >5 0BC =3 )C 0=3 C74 B>DC74A;H B834 >5 -8=C7A>? )C 148=6 0 ?;>C 5C G 5C 8=27 4B ??A>G 0<C >5 9D36<4=C 8B ?;DB 2>BCB 0=3 8=C4A 4BC )>;3 BD1942C C> C4A<B 0=3 2>=38C8>=B >5 58;43 9D36<4=C 0=3 C4A<B >5 B0;4 ( (* (%* $ ( (454A44 /" ( & CCH >A &;C5 #>C>A &0A:F0H )C4 0D??0D64 $/ "#( # ' ')$& ! #)&( %) "' #)"(, ) ' " " ( #" ''# ( #" ' (&)'( )" & $## " " ' &* " & ! "( ( ' # ' $ ( ! & ! '(& '' ( ' )& ( ' (&)'( " !#&( $ '' ( &#) &( ( ' ' & ' " $6-48>411 = @= ) " &# ' 0> -6 0108/-8> = >>9<80C = 19< $6-48>411 = &#' &#' ''# ( ' $ '?774> 9?<> '?4>0 4=35466 ", &DABD0=C C> 9D36<4=C >5 5>A42;>BDA4 0=3 B0;4 6A0=C43 74A48= >= >A 01>DC #0A27 F8;; B4;; 0C &D1;82 D2 C8>= C> C74 78674BC 18334A 0C 'D44=B >D=CH )D?A4<4 >DAC ;>20C43 0C )DC?78= ;E3 0<0820 $4F />A: 8= >DAC A>>< %= #0H 0C # &A4<8B4B :=>F= 0B >3 '><00> -=> 673?<=> ", 69.5 9> "" C70C 24AC08= ?;>C ?8424 >A ?0A24; >5 ;0=3 B8CD 0C4 ;H8=6 0=3 148=6 8= 02:B>= 4867CB 8= C74 >A>D67 0=3 >D=CH >5 'D44=B 8CH 0=3 )C0C4 >5 $4F />A: B <>A4 ?0AC82D;0A ;H 34B2A8143 8= C74 9D36<4=C >5 5>A42;>BDA4 0=3 B0;4 )>;3 BD1 942C C> 0;; >5 C74 C4A<B 0=3 2>=38 C8>=B 2>=C08=43 8= B083 9D36<4=C 0=3 C4A<B >5 B0;4 ??A>G8<0C4 0<>D=C >5 9D36<4=C ?;DB 8=C4A4BC 0=3 2>BCB $ . $% 7A8BC8=0 ;8=4 B@ ( (

While Fed chairman Ben Bernanke is expected to paint a cautious picture on the world’s largest economy, Asian and Latin American central banks by contrast are still tightening monetary policy and some are using currency appreciation to check price pressures.

The European Central Bank raised its policy rate this month for the first time since mid2008 and is expected to raise rates at least once more this year.

That has given new legs to the “carry trade”, in which investors borrow in a low-yielding currency to invest in higheryielding assets or currencies.

Investors have been snapping up the highyielding Australian dollar and South Korean shares, while showing heavy interest in Indonesia’s upcoming dollar bond.

Market players also added to bearish dollar bets, especially against the euro and the Swiss Franc, on expectations the Fed will cling to a near-zero interest rate policy even as it lets a "#( # ' ')$& ! #)&( %) "' #)"(, ( , " $6-48>411 @ ?84.0 8>0<8->498-6 97:-8C 8.

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“Focus will be on the inaugural press conference and whether Bernanke is shifting along the dove-hawk scale,” said Michael Sneyd, analyst at Societe Generale.

“Attention will also be on comments for how the Fed may respond to U.S. fiscal tightening. All-in-all, the meeting is likely to give the green light for risk appetite and for dollar bears to continue to be bearish.”

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2008 at 73.483, before cutting some losses.

Asian shares rose after robust gains posted by U.S. indices overnight, driven by better-than-expected performances from U.S. corporate heavyweights. U.S. stock futures rose 0.1 percent, suggesting a higher open on Wall Street.

South Korea’s benchmark KOSPI index rose to a record high for the third consecutive session before giving back some gains as investors took profits on automaker shares. It ended flat. Hong Kong shares (.HSI) rose, boosted by a broad rally in financials ahead of results from Chinese "#( # ' ')$& ! #)&( %) "' #)"(, ')((#" )" " $6-48>411 = @= ! (( + ' ' #(( 0> -6 0108/-8> = >>9<80C = 19< $6-48>411 = &#' &#' ''# ( ' $ '?7 74> 9?<> '?4>0 4=35466 "0A ,9<5 &DABD0=C C> 9D36 <4=C >5 5>A42;>BDA4 0=3 B0;4 6A0=C43 74A48= >= >A 01>DC )4?

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banks.

MSCI’s index of Asia Pacific shares outside Japan rose to its highest level since January 2008, and was up 0.5 percent on the day.

Japan’s Nikkei closed up 1.4 percent, supported by rebounding shares of large exporters. But it could face downward pressure after ratings agency Standard & Poor’s revised its outlook on Japan’s sovereign debt to negative.

Offshore flows into non-developed Asian markets have picked up after a January slump, with both emerging markets equity and bond fund groups extending their longest inflow streaks since mid-January, according to fund tracker EPFR Global.

The order book for Indonesia’s eagerly awaited 10-year dollardenominated bond has grown to around $5 billion for an issue expected to be between $1 billion to $1.5 billion in size, IFR said. Indonesia’s markets have been a favorite among global investors because of the country’s relatively high yields, decent economic growth and demographics.

China let the yuan rise to a post-2005 revaluation high, triggering gains in emerging Asian currencies.

Helping the case of

carry trades, the Australian dollar shot to a new 29-year peak above the $1.0800 per U.S. dollar after higherthan-expected first quarter inflation suggested the central bank will eventually have to resume tightening.

The dollar’s woes have been further compounded by a recent drop in U.S. Treasury yields as rate traders bet that any Fed tightening would be a slow and gradual process.

In Asian time, the U.S. 10-year note yield was at 3.32 percent, just above a one-month low of 3.31 percent before the Fed decision.

Ten-year yields are down by about 30 basis points since this month’s highs.

In commodity markets, spot silver bounced 0.9 percent to around $46 per ounce level after falling by nearly 5 percent overnight. High volatility and the expiry of U.S. silver options added to the intensity of the decline of the precious metal.

Despite the sharp pullback in silver which rippled over into other commodities, Brent held above the $124 per barrel line, as Libya’s civil war and violence-tinged unrest Syria and Yemen helped limit bearish sentiment on a price slide.

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DAILY CHALLENGE THURSDAY, APRIL 28, 2011

19

Lost Japan sales hurt U.S. company profits

By PHIL WAHBA The Japan disaster and aftermath are cutting into the sales and profits of U.S. companies that serve Japanese consumers, from Coca Cola to Coach Inc. and 3M Co., even though shoppers are showing some resilience.

Japan, the world’s third-largest economy, was stagnating economically before the March 11 earthquake and tsunami, but it remains a major market for many companies, particularly consumer product makers and store chains.

Coach, known for its fancy leather handbags, generates nearly one-fifth of its sales in Japan. The aftermath of last month’s earthquake and the nuclear disaster could reduce

current-quarter earnings by 2 to 3 cents per share, or roughly 5 percent of Wall Street’s profit forecast.

Coke’s results disappointed Wall Street in part because of lost revenue in Japan. The softdrink maker said disruptions to its supply chain are hampering bottlers’ ability to produce beverages in time for the summer.

“Overall, I think the supply chain is still stressed in Japan in terms of being able to supply the market,” Coke Chief Executive Muhtar Kent told analysts on a conference call.

Coke said the events could cut earnings per share by another 2 to 4 cents this year. Wall Street is expecting Coke profit of $3.01 per share in the year’s three remaining quarters, according to Thomson

Reuters I/B/E/S. “I think there will be a period of time where I think people will have a higher demand for packaged beverages,” Kent told Reuters in an interview. He said he expects Coke’s sales in Japan to normalize in the fourth quarter after getting hit during the second and third quarters.

Other companies are seeing signs of a rebound, or have the benefit of growth elsewhere to offset any slump in Japan.

Sales of luxury goods in Japan are likely to recover to levels seen before the crisis, Christian Dior CEO Sidney Toledano told Reuters on Tuesday.

Amazon.com Chief Financial Officer Thomas Szkutak on Tuesday told reporters that the Japan disasters hit international sales

growth by 5 percentage points.

Szkutak said sales growth outside North America would have been 32 percent in the first quarter rather than 27 percent if it had not been for the Japanese earthquake. But he said, business there has stabilized.

Reaching out to shoppers early on may help boost sales in the long run. Wal-Mart Stores Inc (WMT.N) has imported water from Canada and shipped food and other goods from the United States to meet demand at more than 400 stores.

“That’s really helping the customer in Japan to recover at a time like this,” WalMart President and Chief Executive Mike Duke said at a Barclays conference on Tuesday.

Wal-Mart has reopened all but about

Apple denies tracking iPhone customers Apple Inc. denied it is tracking the movements of its iPhone customers, but said it will provide a software update that stores less location information on phones in response to public outcry over privacy issues.

“Apple is not tracking the location of your iPhone,” the company said in a statement on Wednesday. “Apple has never done so and has no plans to ever do so.”

Still, the company said its iPhones keep “a database of Wi-Fi hotspots and cell towers around your current locations... to help your iPhone rapidly and accurately calculate its location when requested.”

Some of that location information is stored on each iPhone, and is backed up in iTunes, meaning that it would be possible for someone with access to a person’s computer to retrieve information about their movements.

In response, Apple plans to release a new software update that would cut the size of the wireless hotspot location database

five of its Japanese stores and its distribution network is running. Wal-Mart’s efforts should translate into more strength in Japan on a longer-term basis, Duke said.

Companies that produce relatively few items sold directly to people in Japan are feeling the impact as Japanese manufacturing output has taken a hit.

Conglomerate 3M has a higher exposure to Japan than most of its industrial peers, with 9 percent of its sales generated there.

The company sells to auto and electronics businesses in Japan that have experienced production disruptions since the March disasters.

3M, the maker of Scotch tape, Post-It notes, industrial abrasives and healthcare and electronics products, said the Japan crisis cut first-quarter earnings by about 3

cents a share and will reduce full-year profit by 10 cents to 13 cents a share.

Wall Street analysts expect a full-year profit of $6.22 per share.

Delta Air Lines Inc. expects to lose about $75 million in Japanese business in the current quarter.

The reduced profit forecasts on Tuesday from Coach, Coke and 3M echoed those in recent weeks from jeweler Tiffany & Co. and clothing store chain Gap Inc., which still get the bulk of their Asian sales in Japan even as they eye fast-growing China.

Yet, for all the disruption, the damage has been relatively contained.

“We don’t see any long-term damage. In fact our business has rebounded in our fullprice locations,” Coach CEO Lew Frankfort told Reuters. “We believe Japan will return to normal.”

Contractors will be required to comply with EEO, D/M/WBE and other federal and state procurement laws, regulations and Executive Orders.

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stored on its iPhones, and stop backing up that information. The software will be released in the next few weeks, it said.

Concerns about tracking were raised earlier this month by a report by two computer programmers who presented research showing the iPhone was logging locations. Privacy advocates have sharply criticized Apple, while the Federal Communi-

cations Commission and Senator Al Franken have asked the company to explain its policy.

Google Inc, a fierce competitor of Apple in mobile computing, has also faced sharp criticism over reports that Android based phones track the locations of users.

In seeking to clarify its position, Apple said the data is anonymous and shows only the

location of Wi-Fi hotspots and cell towers surrounding the iPhone’s location. It said those geographic points could be more than 100 miles away from the actual location of the iPhone.

Separately, Apple also said a white version of the iPhone 4 will be available on Thursday after failing to deliver the model when it was introduced last year.

NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN that, pursuant to Title 5, Chapter 3, Subchapter 3 of the Administrative Code of the City of New York, a public hearing will be held at, 22 Reade Street, Borough of Manhattan on Wednesday May 11, 2011, at 10:00 a.m. on the following: REAL PROPERTY PUBLIC HEARING in the matter of the acquisition by the City of New York of fee simple (Fee) and conservation easement (CE) interests, and by the Watershed Agricultural Council (WAC) of conservation easement interests using funds provided by the City of New York, on the following real estate in the Counties of Delaware, Greene, Putnam, Schoharie, Ulster and Westchester for the purposes of preserving and preventing the contamination or pollution of the water supply of the City of New York: NYC ID County Municipality Type Tax Lot ID Acres (+/-) 7168 Delaware Andes Fee p/o 260.-1-13.12 27.17 4236 Bovina CE p/o 153.-1-5 80.70 2982 Delhi CE 171.8-1-3 & p/o 172.-1-1.1 106.00 2982 Delhi CE 150.-1-91 & 94 170.90 7728 Fleischmanns Fee 287.18-2-22.2 0.47 5116 Kortright Fee 85.-2-9 25.27 6164 Kortright WAC CE 84.-3-1 71.00 7728 Middletown Fee 287.-1-38 52.90 488 Roxbury CE 72.-1-22 33.00 1646 Roxbury Fee 180.-1-21 & 202.-1-28.3 128.12 1826 Roxbury Fee 222.-4-1, 222.-4-3.41 thru 3.46 33.07 1826 Roxbury Fee 222.-4-3.47 & 222.-4-road area 47.33 7623 Roxbury Fee 177.-1-9 & p/o 177.-1-7.3 72.64 7994 Stamford Fee p/o 131.-1-10.1 150.50 1765 Walton Fee 335.-2-14 201.00 2394 Greene Ashland Fee p/o 77.00-1-5.1 129.21 1646 Halcott Fee 124.00-1-1 200.00 1694 Hunter Fee p/o 182.00-5-4 41.50 1840 Hunter Fee 180.00-2-30 & 180.00-3-5 114.31 7376 Hunter Fee 196.00-5-38 thru 43 36.12 5437 Jewett Fee 129.00-4-3.11 32.30 4867 Lexington Fee p/o 128.00-2-1.2 29.00 2945 Windham Fee p/o 63.00-4-60 39.00 1516 Putnam Kent CE p/o 42.11-1-8 50.00 488 Schoharie Gilboa CE 207.-1-37 149.70 1173 Ulster Denning Fee 51.-2-16.112 23.60 4843 Olive Fee 45.4-2-8.100 5.60 919 Wawarsing Fee p/o 66.1-2-15 19.00 1508 Westchester North Castle CE p/o 107.02-1-5 20.81 A copy of the Mayor’s Preliminary Certificate of Adoption and maps of the real estate to be acquired are available for public inspection upon request. Please call (845) 340-7810.

Caswell F. Holloway Commissioner

Michael R. Bloomberg Mayor

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DAILY CHALLENGE THURSDAY, APRIL 28, 2011

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DAILY CHALLENGE THURSDAY, APRIL 28, 2011

Keith Smart out as Warriors coach

By ANTONIO GONZALEZ OAKLAND, Calif.

-The Golden State Warriors parted ways with coach Keith Smart yesterday, the first major fallout this offseason from a new ownership group that has promised sweeping changes to the perennial underachieving franchise.

Smart spent seven years as an assistant with Golden State before he replaced the ousted Don Nelson just before training camp. The Warriors went 36-46 under Smart, a 10-game improvement from the previous season but clearly not enough to appease owners Joe Lacob and Peter Guber.

They managed to hastily put Smart in place even before the NBA officially approved the sale of the Warriors last year. Smart was only given a one-year contract with a team option for next season, and nothing short of a

rare playoff appearance was likely to save his job.

The new owners have vowed to restore the franchise to past glory with splashy signings and playoff performances. The Warriors have made the postseason just once since 1994; yet fans in the basketball-crazy Bay Area remain some of the most loyal and vocal in a market saturated with sports teams.

Golden State already had decided to retain general manager Larry Riley. The team also hired longtime NBA agent Bob Myers a few weeks ago to be the assistant general manager and Riley’s eventual successor.

“It’s never easy to make difficult decisions, especially when it involves someone that we have a great deal of respect for like Keith Smart,” Lacob said.

“After meeting extensively with Larry Riley and Bob Myers, we came to the conclusion that a change was necessary at this particular time. I think Keith did an admirable job this sea-

son, and he should be commended for many of the positive things that transpired both on and off the floor.

“The team showed improvement, and their effort was never in question. However, we’ve elected to pursue a new path, and we wish Keith the very best. He’s a quality person, and we thank him for the time he invested with our organization.”

Smart had little time to deliver them a winner.

Smart, the former Indiana guard best known for hitting “The Shot” against Syracuse that won the Hoosiers the 1987 NCAA title, declared from the moment he began that he would put his own stamp on the bench no matter how long his tenure lasted. He walked around the locker room before training camp asking for a handshake from each player, signaling a pact that they would allow Smart to coach them and be involved in their lives.

In the end, all those efforts weren’t enough.

Smart was still left

with the same pitfall as so many of his predecessors: working with a flawed roster that, even at its best, was no playoff contender in the deep West Conference. Smart juggled the undersized guard combo of Monta Ellis and Stephen Curry with mixed results, and the lack of a true inside presence again left the Warriors exposed.

Smart often took a hardline approach with Curry, even benching the second-year starting point guard late in a few games. Their relationship was never perfect, but Smart was still well liked by players-including Curry-and frontoffice members until the end.

The Warriors were expected to formally announce the change at a news conference yesterday afternoon.

“I obviously have a great deal of admiration for Keith as both a professional and a friend,” Riley said in a statement. “He’s dedicated a lot of time, hard work and commitment to this job, not only over the course of the last year as

DAILY CHALLENGE

21

SPORTS

the head coach, but the previous seven years with our organization.

“We’re grateful for his contributions and have the utmost respect for him. From our standpoint, however, we feel it is in our best interest as we move as an organization and begin to focus and prepare for the future. At this time, we do not have a timetable for hiring a successor.

We’ll conduct our due diligence and make a good, sound decision when we’ve identified

that individual.”

The 46-year-old Smart kept the run-andfun offense Nelson once perfected, leading to some dazzling outputs and upsets, including a three-game winning streak in April over the Los Angeles Lakers, Dallas and Portland. But the defensive effort was never there, and a sixgame losing streak in late March that knocked the Warriors out of postseason contention spelled the end of Smart’s tenure.

Intense pr essur e follows Magic to At la nta

By ADRIAN WOJNAROWSKI ORLANDO - The pressure has been palpable on everyone: from the GM and coach, to the superstar and supporting cast. For every misstep of the Orlando Magic there comes calling a cataclysmic list of consequences. Everyone understands the unspoken burden: sidestep an opening-round playoff debacle, or further validate Dwight Howard’s inclination to leave town.

Night after night in halfway house for bad this series, it felt like contracts, broken down the Magic’s identity had ex-stars and mixedbeen stripped away. All matched parts. those 3-pointers Somehow, GM Otis clanked off rims, and Smith made it easier for all those passes and Howard to leave as a dribbles morphed into free agent in 2012. turnovers. The Magic Gilbert Arenas prihad stumbled to elimi- vately grumbled over nation’s brink, down 3- the coach’s absence of 1 to the Atlanta Hawks faith in him. J.J. Redick and unraveling with had missed five weeks every trip down the and struggled to make floor.

Somehow, a a shot. Hedo Turkoglu championship con- had never looked older tender had become a or less capable. The

Magic were fading fast, desperately trying to hold onto an article of faith, desperately trying to hold on.

Hours before a 10176 victory in Game 5, Howard delivered something of an impromptu, back-door guarantee: “If we get one win, we’re gonna win the whole thing.” His teammates needed to hear the confidence, needed to know that Howard still believed in them.

“For some reason, since I’ve been here, we’ve always put ourselves in situations like this,” Howard said.

“We’ve been down by a lot and have to fight our way back.”

Yes, the shots started to fall again, and the Atlanta Hawks became

the Hawks, unwilling to exert that staying power it takes to compete in - never mind close out - an elimination game on the road.

The Magic destroyed the Hawks and as resistance-free, noshows go, this was one of the greats for Atlanta.

“Now the pressure’s on them to close out at home,” the Magic’s Ryan Anderson said.

“They’ve got to be a little nervous for us coming in there.”

The pressure’s still on the Magic, because they’re the higher seed, and they gave away home court in Game 1 and they have Howard.

If the Hawks have proven to be nothing else over these past sev-

eral seasons, it’s this: They’re terrific frontrunners. The best chance for them to steal this series comes on tonight in Game 6.

Still, the Magic reclaimed themselves on Tuesday night, restated their intentions in this series.

They needed to win the game, but they needed to find themselves again. When it was over, coach Stan Van Gundy shrugged.

“We’re behind and what we did was cut the lead basically, like from 20 to 12. It’s like we’re in a game, and we’re behind ... “ They won with Howard on the bench with foul trouble, and won with Redick and Anderson and Jason

Gilbert Arenas Richardson. Redick had missed the final 17 games of the regular season with an injury, and practiced one time prior to the playoffs.

Finally, he started popping shots again. He hit five without a miss in the first quarter, and the Magic were never challenged. With so little trust in Arenas, who can barely get up and down the floor, and Turkoglu, Redick is one of the teammates that Howard can count upon to overtake the Hawks with him.

22

DAILY CHALLENGE THURSDAY, APRIL 28, 2011

SPORTS BRIEFS Draft uncertainty compounded by lockout

NEW YORK - The NFL draft always is a guessing game. Never has it been accompanied by so much uncertainty.

Not just who will go first overall - the betting favorite is Heisman Trophy winner Cam Newton - but who goes where and when beyond that? Will the Patriots trade down again and Cam again, as they always seem to Newton do? Or will the Jets trade up, as they normally do?

This year, the selection process has the added element of players being locked out by owners, and a judge temporarily blocking the lockout earlier this week. Should the league be forced to reopen for business before or during the draft, the result could be even more chaos.

- BARRY WILNER

For Bulls, focus turns toward Eastern semifinals CHICAGO - Derrick Rose and the rest of the Chicago Bulls are breathing a little easier after clearing one hurdle. Now they’re staring at another big obstacle.

That would be Atlanta or Orlando in the Eastern Conference semifinals that will get under way in earnest next week.

The Bulls disposed of Indiana in a tough first-round series Tuesday night.

The Pacers hung in until about midway through the third quarter, when the Bulls broke open a tight game and rolled to a 116-89 win in what turned into the first blowout of the series.

- ANDREW SELIGMAN

Broncos’ Jason Hunter stabbed DETROIT — Detroit police say Denver Broncos defensive end Jason Hunter has been stabbed and taken to a local hospital.

Officer Dan Donakowski says Hunter was stabbed yesterday, but didn’t have any additional information, including where the incident took place, who was responsible and Hunter’s condition. The hospital wasn’t disclosed.

The Broncos released a statement yesterday saying they were aware of the report of Hunter’s stabbing and were in the process of gathering more information.

“Our thoughts are with Jason, and we are hopeful he makes a quick recovery,” the team said. “Out of respect for his privacy, we will not have additional comment on the matter at this time.”

Hunter is a five-year pro who also has played for the Detroit Lions and Green Bay Packers.

The stabbing comes only days after police in Florida said Miami Dolphins wide receiver Brandon Marshall, a former Bronco, was stabbed with a kitchen knife by his wife.

DAILY CHALLENGE

SPORTS

Players answer NFL’s motion for stay MINNEAPOLIS — NFL players urged a federal judge yesterday to deny the league’s request to essentially restore the lockout, saying their careers were at stake.

Commissioner Roger Goodell, meanwhile, said owners were preparing for every contingency.

U.S. District Judge Susan Richard Nelson is weighing a request from the owners for a stay, which means the injunction she issued to stop the lockout would be frozen during the appeals process.

The waiting game was on.

“You have to react to the judgment and make sure it’s done in an orderly process,” Goodell said yesterday during a predraft event in New York.

The players dismissed the NFL’s argument that it risks either violating antitrust laws by coming up with new league rules without a collective bargaining system in place or harming the league’s competitive balance with a potential free agency free-for-all.

“If the NFL defendants are faced with a dilemma, they put themselves in that position by repeatedly imposing rules and restrictions that violate the antitrust laws,” the attorneys wrote. “Any alleged predicament is of their own making.”

The solution, the players argued, is to simply implement a system that does not violate

antitrust laws.

“There is no reason why the NFL defendants cannot devise a lawful player system, and their complaints about potential antitrust scrutiny are not wellfounded where such scrutiny is a reality of doing business,” they wrote.

If Nelson grants the league’s request, players want the NFL to post a $1 billion bond, roughly 25 percent of player compensation last year. An NFL attorney said the bond “raises significant issues” the league hasn’t yet addressed and received permission from Nelson to file a brief written response later yesterday.

“Some motions were filed this morning and some more motions filed later this afternoon,” Goodell said yesterday. “I don’t think we have any indication of when she’s going to rule.”

The league has said it needs the stay to make sure any rules it puts in place are fair, clear — and legal.

If Nelson denies the league’s expedited motion for a stay, the owners will ask the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in St. Louis for the same thing.

They’re also asking the appeals court, viewed as a more friendly venue to the league than the federal courts in Minnesota, to overturn Nelson’s decision.

In a “SportsCenter” interview with ESPN NFL Insider Adam Schefter on Tuesday, Goodell said he’s less concerned about the litigation than the future of

the league.

“I think there are a lot of things in the litigation that concern me about the future of the game,” he said. “And I’ve been very clear about that, I think the challenges to the draft, the challenges to free agency restriction.

All of those things threatening what we have built, that everybody loves.

“It’s why the NFL has become the most popular sport ... these things have made our game competitive, exciting and the fans love it.”

The NFL draft starts Thursday night, but it will be far from normal. The lockout has prevented teams from adding free agents and adjusting their rosters, so their strategy this year is more complicated, not knowing exactly when they’ll have a chance to sign or trade for veterans to stock various positions.

The players argued that the nonexistence of free agency this offseason has hurt them greatly.

“Players should be marketing their services to find the right team in which they have the best chance to make a roster, be a starter or otherwise advance their careers,” attorneys for the players wrote. “This process requires an extended period of time to play out in a fair manner for all players, and any elimination or compression of this free agency period will lead to a set of scrambled outcomes and harms to different players that cannot be undone.”

Albert Haynesworth offered plea deal WASHINGTON — Redskins defensive lineman Albert Haynesworth allegedly slid his credit card into the bra of a waitress and then touched her breast, according to court papers filed yesterday offering Haynesworth a plea deal in the sexual abuse case.

Prosecutors filed paperwork in Superior Court in Washington saying that if Haynesworth agrees to plead guilty to a charge of simple assault they would drop the misdemeanor sexual abuse charge. Both charges carry the same maximum penalty, however, up to six months in jail and a fine of up to $1,000. It is typical for prosecutors to offer a plea deal at the start of misdemeanor proceedings and to share details of their case at that time.

Haynesworth’s attorney, A. Scott Bolden, declined comment

in an email yesterday to The Associated Press. When his client was formally charged with sexual abuse on Tuesday, however, Bolden said that Haynesworth was innocent and that the case against him would be difficult for the government to prove.

An overview of the government’s case, filed with the plea offer in court documents, includes a fuller description of the alleged incident at The W Hotel in Washington in midFebruary. The eight-page document says that Haynesworth was attending a birthday party the night of Feb. 12-13 and was ready to pay the bill of more than $800 when his waitress was called over with her hands full of dishes.

Insisting he wanted to pay immediately and before she could drop off the dishes, Haynesworth

tapped the woman on her arm and shoulder with his card, according to the court papers.

The waitress “looked up and down at herself, as if wondering where (Haynesworth) expected her to put (the card),” when he slid the card down the center of her bra and began touching her breast, the documents allege. He said something to the effect of “Can I do that?,” the documents state.

One witness who saw the exchange believed that the waitress had agreed to let Haynesworth place the card in her bra, but reported that her tone turned stern and she asked him to remove his hand after he touched her, according to the documents. The card was ultimately declined, and another waitress took it back to Haynesworth, prosecutors say in the document.

DAILY CHALLENGE THURSDAY, APRIL 28, 2011

DAILY CHALLENGE

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Knicks bringing back Billups for next season

By BRIAN MAHONEY NEW YORK - The New York Knicks are bringing Chauncey Billups back for next season.

The Knicks announced yesterday that they are keeping the veteran point guard, deciding his leadership outweighs the savings they would have earned by waiving him this week.

The Knicks would have been obligated to pay Billups only $3.7 million if they cut him within five days after the season. Instead, he will be on the books for $14.2 million next season, when he will run a team in its first full season with Amare

Stoudemire and Carmelo Anthony together.

“Chauncey, Amare and Carmelo are a great nucleus, as we continue to look to improve our team going into the offseason,” team president Donnie Walsh said in a statement. “Chauncey is an extremely talented and experienced point guard - we are very happy to have him back.”

The Knicks acquired Billups along with Anthony from Denver in February. He averaged 17.5 points with the Knicks but battled a pair of injuries, missing six games with a bruised left quadriceps in March, then straining a tendon in his left knee during Game 1 of the playoffs and missing the final three games of New York’s loss to

Boston. Walsh said those injuries weren’t long-term concerns.

Billups will be 35 in September and said this week he hoped to return to New York for his 15th NBA season. After playing most of his career at 215 pounds, Billups said Monday he planned to come in at 210 next season to better handle the pace of Mike D’Antoni’s system. he insists he has plenty of basketball left.

“My body has been great,” Billups said. “I’m 34, not 39. My first five years I didn’t play that much anyway, unfortunately, but my body is fine.”

There wouldn’t be many point guard options this summer better than Billups, a former NBA finals MVP who is a top late-game performer. He didn’t

take long to prove it in New York, hitting a goahead 3-pointer with 1:01 left in a win at Miami on Feb. 27, just four days after his Knicks debut.

But the sweep by Boston was an unusual-

ly early exit for the fivetime All-Star, who reached the conference finals seven straight years with Detroit and Denver from 2003-09, and said he wanted to be around when the Knicks brought champi-

onship-caliber basketball back to New York.

“Getting swept in the first round, I don’t do this,” Billups said. “This is not fine with me, so I like to play later in the season, I want an opportunity.”

Andre Ethier extends hit streak Danny Granger rips Joakim Noah

By TONY JACKSON MIAMI — One day after breaking the record for longest April hitting streak, Los Angeles Dodgers right fielder Andre Ethier extended it to 24 games, the longest in the majors in two seasons.

Ethier stroked a oneout single to center field off Florida Marlins right-hander Anibal Sanchez in the fourth inning yesterday afternoon.

But he wasn’t done

by a long shot. Ethier added a 10th inning home run that won it for the Dodgers 5-4. He finished 2 for 5 with the RBI and scored two runs.

Ethier’s streak is now tied with that of former Dodgers center fielder John Shelby in 1988 for the fifth-

longest since the club moved to Los Angeles in 1958. The last Dodgers player to have a longer streak was Paul Lo Duca, who hit in 25 consecutive games in 2003.

Ethier’s streak is the longest in the majors since Victor Martinez, then with the Cleveland Indians, hit in 25 consecutive games from Aug. 28-Sept. 26, 2009.

Ethier broke the April mark of former Dodgers manager Joe Torre, who hit in 22 consecutive games for the St. Louis Cardinals on his way to winning the National League Most Valuable Player award in 1971.

By ROMAN MODROWSKI CHICAGO — Pacers forward Danny Granger said Chicago Bulls center Joakim Noah played “cowardly” at times Tuesday, accusing Noah of cheap-shotting his Indiana teammates.

The Bulls’ 116-89 victory eliminated the Pacers in five games and capped off a physical series that saw Pacers forward Josh McRoberts ejected after a skirmish with Noah on Tuesday. Indiana forward Tyler Hansbrough also tangled with the Bulls’

center.

“He pulled a cowardly move,” Granger said.

“He cheap-shotted a couple of my teammates, and one gets thrown out ...

“The refs never catch what he did ... it’s cowardly. And I’m going to say something about it.

I wanted to say something about it all the way to the game was over. I just don’t think the game should be played that way. You can play hard and fight and battle, but when you start cheap-shotting people it gets out of hand.”

Granger said he was going to talk to Noah after the game, but

Danny Granger Bulls coach Tom Thibodeau intervened.

“It’s just heat of the battle stuff,” Thibodeau said.

Granger praised the rest of the Bulls and said he hopes they win the NBA title.

Noah returned the praise, even after hearing of Granger’s frustration.

Over half of London Olympic events oversubscribed

By ROB HARRIS LONDON - Five sports events and the opening and closing ceremonies sold out in the first round of ticket sales for the 2012

London Olympics, with 1.8 million applicants making 20 million requests.

After a six-week online application period for the 6.6 million tickets on sale, Olympic organizers

said yesterday that more than half of the 650 competition sessions in 26 sports were oversubscribed.

While tickets remain for sports such as track and field, already sold out are track cycling,

rhythmic gymnastics, triathlon, modern pentathlon and the crosscountry equestrian competition.

Also no longer available are tickets for both ceremonies, with the opening on July 27,

2012, 10 times oversubscribed.

Tickets for those events will be allocated through a lottery system.

The London organizing committee, known as LOCOG, also said

the “majority” of the swimming and tennis sessions have sold out.

Organizers had hoped to sell 80 percent of the tickets by yesterday, leaving about 1.3 million available for sale in a later phase.

DAILY CHALLENGE

S SP PO OR RT TS S THURSDAY, APRIL 28, 2011

BILLUPS BACK WITH KNICKS

FOR BULLS, FOCUS TURNS TOWA RD EASTERN SEMIFINALS

SEE PAGE 23

S EE PA GE 22

ALBER T HAYNESW OR TH OFFERED PLEA S EE PA GE 22

WAR R IO R S FIRE KEITH SMAR T

S EE PA GE 21