Cyprus jobless turn to illegal songbird trapping

NICOSIA, Cyprus (AP) ? It's just before first light and the bird-catcher strings nets among the orange, pomegranate, fig and carob trees in his orchard. The sound of chirping emanates from inside a massive carob ? a trick sent from speakers to attract tiny songbirds. By mid-morning, the man disentangles about a half-dozen blackcaps, snaps their necks with his teeth and drops them in a bucket.

For centuries, the migratory songbirds have been a prized delicacy among Cypriots. They are also an illegal one, as entry into the European Union forced Cyprus to ban the tradition of catching the creatures, some endangered, in nets or on sticks slathered with a glue-like substance.

Now economic crisis is luring many out-of-work Cypriots back into the centuries-old trade. They risk stiff fines and even jail time by supplying an underground market for the tiny songbirds illicitly served up in the country's tavernas ? but they say it's their only way to make ends meet.

Served whole either boiled or pickled, the fatty birds are such an ugly sight on a plate that outsiders find it hard to fathom how there could be any profit to be made from them. For many Cypriots, however, the tangy-sweet taste of the birds is pure bliss.

Supporters of trapping 'ambelopoulia,' as the blackcaps, robins and other warblers are known locally, ruefully reminisce about how until recently the practice was widely considered an ingrained part of local culture, one so lucrative that it sustained entire livelihoods and put countless kids through college.

That changed when Cyprus joined the European Union in 2004 and authorities began cracking down. Trappers were cast as greedy villains out to line their pockets without regard for the ensnared birds. The threat of a maximum ?17,000 ($22,500) fine, a three-year jail term or both persuaded many to quit trapping.?

It's difficult to say how many have again turned to trapping because they've lost their jobs. Even discreet queries are met by a wall of silence. Trust must be earned, especially in villages in the country's southeast, where ambelopoulia trapping is most prevalent.

But Andreas Antoniou, the head of the special police anti-poaching unit, said songbirds, hares and protected mouflon sheep have been at the center of a surge in illegal hunting island-wide that he blames on the economic crisis. He conservatively estimates a 10 percent spike in recent months, although the number of nabbed trappers has remained steady.

Authorities are alarmed.

"We're concerned that in light of the economic crisis, there are signs of increased poaching and illegal trapping of ambelopoulia," said Cyprus Game and Fauna Service Director Pantelis Hadjiyerou.

Martin Hellicar, a spokesman for conservationist group BirdLife Cyprus, says locals have confirmed that trappers who had given up the practice have been drawn back because of money problems, noting a "dramatic rise" in bird-trapping using both nets and "lime sticks" since last autumn.

The country's southeast straddles well-worn routes for birds migrating in spring and fall from Europe, Africa and the Middle East. Coincidentally, it also has one of the island's highest unemployment rates, running as high as 50 percent, according to local officials, with most of the job losses in the construction business.

"With the crisis, people are turning to poaching," says Liopetri Hunting Association President Costas Michael, surrounded by a half-dozen fellow hunters in the Association's cramped headquarters, replete with maps and life-size photos of hares and partridges hanging on the walls. "People who can't find a job know that there's money to be made just in their orchard."

Stavros Neophytou, president of the pro-trapping advocacy group Friends of the Lime Stick, puts it this way: "If you can't eat, what are you supposed to do?"

In headier times, trappers would earn around ?40 ($54) for just a dozen birds, while restaurants would charge customers double that. But demand has dropped amid the crisis, says Game Fund Service official Petros Anayiotos, resulting in an ambelopoulia glut which, in turn, has meant prices at restaurants are down by as much as half.

Even with the plunge in prices, however, the cash enticement to trap birds remains high for those who have lost jobs. Trapping also gives the unemployed a way to fill their hours.

And for many Cypriots, bird-trapping is about more than the money.

Michael says it's about tradition that stretches back centuries. A book entitled "Xoverga" ("Lime Sticks") ? a kind of unofficial bible for trappers ? refers to a 16th-century English traveler named John Locke, who recounted how he witnessed hundreds of bottles of pickled ambelopoulia being exported to Italy during a visit to the then-Venetian ruled island in 1553.

Michael says his association strictly supports lime stick trapping because it's been passed down from father to son for centuries, but frowns upon the more modern and more indiscriminate mist nets.

"Like my father, I would wake up and go out to set traps and I would think of nothing else," says Michael. "Ambelopoulia aren't going to disappear, there's so many of them, how many can poachers possibly catch anyway? Birds are there to be eaten."

Michael says politicians let trappers down during the country's EU membership talks by not asking to allow lime stick trapping as a traditional form of hunting. EU officials say there's no going back to allow for such an exemption.

But for authorities and conservationists alike, the rhapsodizing about tradition simply rings hollow. Both lime sticks and mist nets are non-selective trapping methods that can ensnare threatened birds such as the cuckoo, golden oriole and nightingale.

Axel Hirschfeld, spokesman for The Committee against Bird Slaughter, a group that for several years has dispatched volunteers to the island to help stop trapping, scoffs at the idea that tradition justifies the culling of endangered birds.

"I come from any area in Germany where they used to burn witches," said Hirschfeld. "Maybe it's time for these traditions in Cyprus to go away as well."

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Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/cae69a7523db45408eeb2b3a98c0c9c5/Article_2013-01-31-Cyprus-Crisis%20Songbirds/id-a6a118e19eea4d05886d224b293416b8

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Don't Let the Tax Tail Wag the Dog: Client Concerns, Not the Estate ...

Washington?s negotiations about 2013 tax laws are getting lots of press. As estate planning professionals, we are often asked our opinions about what the 2013 estate tax laws might be and the resulting implications for our clients. But for the vast majority of Americans, what the estate and gift tax laws will be in 2013 is really irrelevant. Those who could make large gifts have probably done so in 2012, and the 2013 estate tax exemption is only relevant to those who have a 2013 death.

Yes, it is important for us to be aware of the state of the tax law. We can keep our ear to the ground for warnings of change emanating from Washington, but nobody has any kind of a handle on what the law will be in 5, 10, 15 or 20 years! What we all need to do is redirect our clients? inquiries to their real concerns: protecting their families and assets; preserving the family business; making sure their children are provided for, educated and motivated; seeing that their loved ones have enforceable rights where the law may not grant them; and making sure their plans do not self-destruct for lack of proper maintenance. These are the enduring issues that drive estate planning, regardless of what the estate tax law may be at any given time.

In this issue of The Wealth Counselor, we will take another look at one of those client concerns ? asset protection. With our increasingly litigious society, asset protection planning has become more important and is often a key motivator for clients who need other estate planning, too.

What is Asset Protection Planning?
Asset protection planning is not hiding or concealing assets. Rather, it is helping clients use existing laws appropriately to obtain the best possible level of protection for their assets against possible attack by creditors. The goal is to make planning decisions that are effective if and when needed because they have legitimate non-asset protection purposes and thus are defensible.

The best and most effective time to implement asset protection planning is before a claim arises, when the client is merely worried that someday there may be claims founded on possible events that have not yet happened. But even after a claim has been made, some opportunities (such as making a contribution to an ERISA qualified plan or doing a Roth conversion) may still be available to shield some assets.

Types of Client and Asset Risks
Almost every client would benefit from some asset protection planning, but like most things in life there is a cost to achieve the benefit. Asset protection planning is advanced planning and requires collaboration from a team of advisors, so sometimes the cost outweighs the benefit. Therefore it is important that each member of the advisory team be able to recognize the types of clients whose profile indicates they might be good prospects for asset protection planning. Here are a few of the main ones:

Professionals
The clients who are the best prospects for asset protection planning are those most likely to be sued. At the top of the list are physicians, surgeons, dentists and other health care professionals. Running a close second are lawyers, architects and accountants. A third category is clients involved with business enterprises that pertain to health care, such as skilled nursing facilities and assisted living facilities. Builders, developers and others in construction are also at risk. Those who have already gone through a lawsuit will be keen to avoid the fear of loss associated with another one.

Planning Tip: A professional is liable for the consequences of his or her own negligence and everyone makes mistakes. Therefore, a professional?s liability protection should begin with adequate malpractice or errors and omissions insurance coverage.

Partners
In a general partnership, each partner is liable for the negligent acts of every other partner and every employee. It is rare to encounter a general partnership of medical professionals, but much more common with lawyers and architects. Plus, partnerships can come into existence without any paperwork as a business is started and then the clean-up sometimes doesn?t get done as the business grows.

Entrepreneurs and Executives
Attacks on entrepreneurs could come from business deals that have gone bad or tort claims. Management level personnel are exposed to claims for alleged improper employment practices, employment discrimination, or sexual harassment.

Landlords
Clients who own residential rental properties have often acquired them one-by-one over time. Frequently they are owned in the landlord?s name. Every residential property exposes its owner to premises liability claims, such as for injuries from fires and slip-and-fall accidents. Legal structures can be set up that isolate a property from these risks associated with another property and separate the landlord from all the risks.

The Wealthy
The wealthy are exposed to more risk of lawsuits because they have the ability to pay and juries are often sympathetic to the plaintiff when the defendant is rich. Also, they often have staff, multiple properties and multiple vehicles and those impose claim risks, too.

Lifestyle-Based Candidates
Clients who have had more than one spouse are statistically at higher risk of divorce than those in first marriages. Many a business has collapsed as a result of an ex-spouse claiming an ownership interest in the business.

A client?s child who engages in risky or antisocial behavior creates a risk of future unnecessary dissipation of a family?s wealth; often leaving the child destitute with no one to turn to once the parents are gone.

Levels of Asset Protection
Every asset protection plan is a unique creation designed to meet the particular client?s needs, risks and concerns. Typically, an asset protection plan employs a combination of strategies. Because asset protection planning is a process that frequently takes months to fully implement (and because wisdom dictates building the foundation before starting on the roof) in general asset protection planning should be implemented by levels, starting at the lowest. The lower rungs on the ladder don?t get you very far off the ground, but they are dangerous to skip. Asset protection planning works the same way. A typical planning level strategy that would be presented to a highly compensated professional in a high risk profession would be:

Level 1: Exemptions
Level 2: Transmutation or Tenancy by the Entirety Agreements
Level 3: Professional Entity Formation (PA/PC/PLLC)
Level 4: FLP/FLLC to Own and Lease Practice Assets
Level 5: FLP/FLLC to Own Non-Practice Assets
Level 6: Domestic (U.S.-Based) Asset Protection Trusts
Level 7: Offshore Asset Protection Trusts

Below we discuss each of these seven levels.

Planning Tip: The plan presented should include levels above those that the client will probably choose. This gives the client appropriate control and decision making responsibility and also avoids the risk of the client legitimately complaining that particular strategies were not offered.

Level 1: Exemptions
Some assets are automatically protected by state or federal exemptions. State exemptions can include personal property, life insurance, annuities, IRAs, homestead, and property held in tenancy by the entirety. Each state protects its citizens? assets differently and the amounts of the exemptions will also vary greatly from state to state. For example, some states have an unlimited homestead exemption; many states protect all IRAs; and many non-community property states recognize tenancy by the entirety, which is sometimes a great way to shelter the interests of both the spouse who is at risk and the spouse who is not.

Federal exemptions include ERISA which covers 401(k) and 403(b) plan accounts, pensions, and profit-sharing plans. Creating and funding qualified retirement plans for clients can provide excellent shelters against creditors? claims. Typically these plans must also include one or more non-owner employee participants in order to be covered by ERISA. Skillful pension actuaries can be very helpful with this.

While the federal Pension Protection Act protects up to $1 million in IRAs and Roth IRAs for bankruptcy purposes, the level of non-bankruptcy protection afforded by the states to their citizens? IRAs varies widely.

For a client who lives in a state with weak IRA protection, it might be best to move unprotected IRA assets into an ERISA qualified retirement plan which is unreachable by third-party creditors during the pay-in period (some portion of required minimum distributions may be reachable by creditors). For the client who lives in a state with strong IRA protection or who has not used all of the IRA protection available in their state, converting a traditional or roll-over IRA into a Roth IRA and paying the taxes with non-IRA funds can be an excellent asset protection strategy that is easily and quickly implemented.

Planning Tip: With today?s low interest rates, defined benefit plans are becoming popular again. Instead of the required annual fixed contributions of the past, the IRS now allows almost as much flexibility with defined benefit plan contributions as it does with profit-sharing plans. Contributions can also be increased dramatically to allow for the use of life insurance within the plan. Life insurance can be an especially valuable asset because death benefits are not subject to income or capital gain tax, and if the policy ownership and control is done right, the death benefit is not part of the insured?s taxable estate.

Planning Tip: Sometimes it is possible to convert non-exempt assets into exempt assets. For example, cash (a non-exempt asset) can be used to pay down a homestead mortgage and increase exempt home equity. This is a strategy for clients who live in states with a large or unlimited homestead exemption.

Planning Tip: Because home mortgages and home equity lines of credit are currently hard to get, a qualified personal residence trust (QPRT), established as an ongoing trust to benefit younger family members, can also be used. However, because it is a self-settled irrevocable trust, some states have limitations that can reduce a QPRT?s effectiveness for asset protection. Also, putting an unprotected home asset into a QPRT when there is a known or anticipated claim could be held to be a fraudulent transfer.

Planning Tip: The exemption level asset protection strategies may even be available to the client who has already been sued.

Level 2: Transmutation or Tenancy by the Entirety Agreements
There are asset protection strategies for married clients that depend on how title is held to an asset. In most of the states, the available technique is converting jointly held property to tenancy by the entirety property. In the nine community property states, the technique of choice is the agreement to transmute community property into separate property. Both techniques have legal consequences beyond asset protection that must be explained to, understood and accepted by the client.

Converting jointly held property into tenancy by the entirety can make it inaccessible to an at-risk spouse?s creditors while the other spouse is living. Transmutation agreements allow clients to convert community property assets into the separate property of the spouse not at risk. Make sure the client is aware that property once transmuted stays separate property unless and until another transmutation agreement converts it back to community property. Separate counsel for each spouse may be needed to make a transmutation agreement binding. Plus, there may be enhanced risk of loss of property in case of a divorce.

Level 3: Professional Entity Formation (PA/PC/PLLC)
General partnerships and sole proprietorships under which a professional is conducting business should be restructured as a professional association or corporation (which depends on state law) or a professional limited liability company. By so doing, each professional will become protected from personal liability for the errors of other professionals and employees. Putting that protection in place is a good second step beyond having adequate malpractice insurance.

State laws will vary on this. If available, a PLLC is usually more desirable because of the charging order limitations that prevent a professional?s creditor from seizing any assets from the entity, limiting the creditor to only receiving distributions that would have been made to the affected debtor-member. In addition, the creditor may have to pay tax on any income that is distributed under a charging order. This is often enough to discourage a creditor from pursuing a claim or to make settlement on a favorable basis possible. Establishing the entity under the laws of a state that has the charging order as the sole creditor remedy, when that is possible, should also be considered.

Level 4: LP/LLC to Own and Lease Practice Assets
An LP or LLC can be created to own the specialized or valuable equipment and/or real estate that is used in the professional practice. ?Lease back? agreements can then be created between the professional practice and the property owning LLCs. This strategy allows the professional to isolate valuable real estate and equipment from malpractice exposure. In some cases, a factoring arrangement can put the value of the practice?s accounts receivable in the LP or LLC and thus beyond the reach of a malpractice creditor.

Planning Tip: Creating an LP or LLC to own practice assets also allows for good estate planning by providing the opportunity for gifting or sale of LLC/LP interests to irrevocable trusts established for the benefit of children or other family members.

Level 5: FLP/FLLC to Own Non-Practice Assets
Consider the formation of a family limited partnership or family LLC in a favorable jurisdiction that has the charging order as the sole remedy to own non-practice assets. This entity would hold personal use real estate, investment accounts, cash or bank accounts, and investment real estate. Having a multi-member LLC increases the charging order protection because a bankruptcy judge cannot collapse a multi-member LLC that was formed in a favorable jurisdiction.

Level 6: Domestic (U.S.-Based) Asset Protection Trusts
Historically, creditors were able to reach assets that their debtor had placed into an irrevocable trust for the debtor?s benefit. Such trusts are called ?self-settled.? Starting with Alaska in 1987, several states have adopted laws that allow the assets of certain self-settled trusts to be protected from the grantor/beneficiary?s creditors. These trusts are called asset protection trusts. Because they are formed under a state?s jurisdiction as opposed to the jurisdiction of another country (see Level 7, below) this kind of trust is commonly referred to as a Domestic Asset Protection Trust (DAPT).

The time between creating the DAPT or placing an asset in the DAPT and the DAPT affording protection to that or all DAPT assets varies from state to state, with the shortest time being two years. In like manner, the states have different lists of creditor or claim classes to which the DAPT?s asset protection does not apply. The most popular states for DAPT formation are, in alphabetical order, Alaska, Delaware, Nevada and Wyoming.

In Level 6 planning, the client establishes a DAPT in the selected jurisdiction and funds it with non-practice, non-leasing LLC assets.

Each DAPT state has its own rules that will need to be satisfied for a DAPT established under its laws to be effective. For example, the state?s DAPT law may require that a trustee have an office in that state or that some of the trust assets be held there. Associating local counsel in the chosen DAPT jurisdiction may be appropriate.

Planning Tip: Because clients today are often living into their 90s, it is wise to build flexibility into a DAPT or other irrevocable trust to accommodate changes in a client?s needs and family over several decades. To do this, the trust can be made changeable by an independent third party of the client?s choosing. This role is commonly referred to as the ?Trust Protector.?

Planning Tip: A trust can be designed so that transfers to it are, for gift and estate tax purposes, completed or incomplete gifts. Incomplete gifts are included in the grantor?s estate for estate tax purposes and get a basis adjustment at death. The opposite is true for completed gifts that are not brought back into the grantor?s estate under what are called the ?string? sections of the Internal Revenue Code (26 USC ?? 2035-38 and 2042). Be sure to determine what is best in each case.

Level 7: Offshore Asset Protection Trusts
The highest (and most expensive to establish and maintain) level of asset protection planning is founded on one or more asset protection trusts established under the laws of a foreign jurisdiction. (The Cook Islands, the Bahamas, Bermuda and the Channel Islands are all popular choices.) With an offshore trust, the assets are in the hands of a local trustee and are outside the reach of any U.S. court. However, there may be tax issues. Also, if the court orders the assets repatriated and they can?t be, the client could be cited for contempt and even jailed.

Planning Tip: An offshore asset protection trust should not hold assets in the United States over which a U.S. court could exert jurisdiction.

Implementing the Asset Protection Plan
The advisors independently and collectively will make a list of the client?s assets and determine what needs to be done with each one to implement the levels of planning selected by the client. It can easily take six months to a year to design, implement and fully fund a comprehensive asset protection plan, and it?s usually done in steps and pieces. During the process, it?s very important to keep the client informed and keep everyone on a timeline.

Protecting the Advisor Team
Asset protection planning can pose a risk to the advisor team members? assets. Those risks need to be avoided. One risk is the client who, when his or her assets are under attack, will forget that no advisor guaranteed the plan?s success. The other risk is that the client?s creditors, who just want money and don?t care who pays, may try to bring the asset protection planning team members into the fray under ?fraudulent transfer? allegations.

Tempering Expectations and Documenting the Agreement
To deal with the first risk, it is important to set some reasonable expectations for the client and for the client to be educated about what asset protection is, how the laws work, and what the client can reasonably expect to achieve. For example:
* Most people would like to have a high degree of certainty of the outcome. The advisors have to temper that expectation by explaining how the law works and that there may be circumstances that nobody can effectively control. Asset protection is time consuming, but worthwhile. The end result should be considerably better than if the client had done no planning at all.
* Many clients want to maintain control rather than shift assets to some unknown third party in a foreign land. The preferred approach is to maintain control or at least oversight over the assets.
* An effective plan will discourage lawsuits from the outset. We cannot make our client?s assets appear not to exist, but we can create a structure that will make it less attractive for a potential plaintiff to go after our client than to go after someone who has done no planning. And we can enhance our client?s ability to negotiate a favorable settlement if liability is established.

We very highly recommend that a detailed written asset protection engagement agreement be signed in all cases. The agreement should spell out the plan goals, limitations and potential risks and negate the idea of there being any guarantee of success.

Avoiding Fraudulent Transfer Exposure
The natural tendency of the debtor is to hide assets to frustrate the creditor who would seize them. To deal with that problem, there are ?fraudulent transfer? laws. Each state has one and there is one in the Bankruptcy Code. In general they allow a creditor to unwind certain transactions in which the debtor has transferred assets to another for anything short of full and fair consideration with the intent of hindering or defrauding creditors. These laws also impose personal liability on anyone who aids or abets the debtor in these activities. Therefore, the advisor team members all want to make sure that they have a good defense to any frustrated creditor?s claim that they took any action that was reasonably calculated to aid their client in implementing a fraudulent transfer.

The key to the advisor team members avoiding exposure to a claim of abetting fraudulent transfer is to make sure to gather financial and objective information and to build a relationship with the client before designing or implementing the asset protection planning. Once the facts are known, no matter how bad they are, some level of asset protection planning can probably be done. Without knowledge of the facts, the asset protection plan designed by the advisors is likely to fail.

Planning Tip: Because the natural tendency of many is to procrastinate, often the client who seeks asset protection planning already has a claim pending or impending against them.

Planning Tip: Because asset protection planning is most attractive to those who have a higher than average risk of being sued, it is critically important to determine early in the planning process how much information the client is willing to share and should share with various members of the advisor team. For example, it may be vital to preserve attorney/client privilege about some things and therefore not share specific risk information with non-attorney advisors who could be subpoenaed. Short of being sued, there is not much worse for an advisor than to be called to testify against a client!

Planning Tip: Clients may misrepresent their legal difficulties, and none of us wants to subsidize a plaintiff?s claim through the use of our own malpractice insurance because of not asking the right questions or doing a thorough discovery. An excellent practice is to have in your file a solvency certificate from your client in which the client represents to you in writing that their net worth is a positive number and that the planning they are going to do will not render them insolvent. In some instances it is useful to obtain permission from the client in order to do due diligence and independently investigate to make sure you know the information provided is accurate.

Conclusion
Asset protection planning is just one client concern that can be the impetus that gets the client to do estate planning. While it is highly important that the advisor team members know and understand the current estate tax laws, nobody knows what those laws will be in the future when the client?s planning ?matures.? Other than in very rare cases, the current tax laws themselves are irrelevant to, and are rarely the motivating factor for, our clients? planning. What our clients want and need is predictability coupled with flexibility. Members of the advisory team who are aware of the enduring concerns clients have will find many opportunities to work together for the benefit of the team members and their clients.

We hope this information was useful to you, your clients and their families.?To get more information regarding this or any related topic, please visit our website?www.TEPLG.com?or call us at 630-871-8778.

To comply with the U.S. Treasury regulations, we must inform you that (i) any U.S. federal tax advice contained in this newsletter was not intended or written to be used, and cannot be used, by any person for the purpose of avoiding U.S. federal tax penalties that may be imposed on such person and (ii) each taxpayer should seek advice from their tax adviser based on the taxpayer?s particular circumstances.

Source: http://illinoisestateplanninglawyerblog.com/?p=1498

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RIM faces its day of reckoning with BlackBerry 10 launch

NEW YORK (Reuters) - The innovative line of BlackBerry smartphones that Research In Motion Ltd will formally unveil on Wednesday has already succeeded on one crucial count - getting RIM back in the conversation.

The new BlackBerry 10 has created a buzz among technology watchers and financial analysts, thanks to nifty features that may set it apart in an overcrowded smartphone market. RIM stock has almost tripled over the past four months on hopes the devices can restore RIM to sustained prosperity.

Reviewers like the browser speed and the intuitive keyboard on RIM's new touchscreen. A feature called BlackBerry Balance, which keeps corporate and personal data separate, could help RIM rebuild its traditional base of big business customers.

It's a welcome start for RIM, the smartphone pioneer that has teetered on the brink of irrelevance. But success will come only if consumer and business customers embrace the new technology in the weeks and months after CEO Thorsten Heins takes the wraps off the phone at a glitzy New York launch.

RIM is gambling its survival on the much-delayed BlackBerry 10, hoping to claw its way back into an industry now dominated by Apple Inc's iPhone and Samsung Electronics Co Ltd's Galaxy.

The timing may be just right. The new phone hits the market just as the iPhone's remarkable run is showing some signs of slowing.

"I really do believe that the consumer market as a whole is ready for something new," said Kevin Burden, head of mobility at Strategy Analytics, an industry consulting firm.

"I have to believe that there is some level of user fatigue that plays into the longevity of some of these platforms," he added, referring to Google Inc's Android and Apple's iOS, which are both more than five years old. "RIM is probably timing it right."

U.S. BATTLEGROUND

To be sure, RIM shares are about 90 percent below a 2008 peak near $150 a share and the company still has a tough fight ahead. It may take investors some time to determine whether RIM's big gamble on an untested technology has paid off.

RIM's market share collapsed in the three years ahead of the launch. Strategy Analytics data shows RIM's global share of the smartphone market was about 3.4 percent in the fourth quarter, down from around 20 percent just three years ago.

While RIM has done well in developing markets, it has hemorrhaged customers in the United States, a market that sets technology trends. RIM's fourth-quarter North American market share fell to 2 percent from more than 40 percent three years ago.

Acknowledging that it is crucial to win back U.S. customers, RIM will hold its main BlackBerry 10 launch in New York, although there are simultaneous events in six cities across the globe.

Underscoring the point, RIM is splurging on a costly Super Bowl ad to tout its new devices and attempt to brighten its faded image in the U.S. market.

BIG QUESTIONS

Over 150 carriers already have tested the new devices and RIM has said the launch will be the largest ever global rollout of a new platform.

The two big questions the market expects RIM to answer on Wednesday are when the phones - a full touch-screen device and one with a traditional physical keyboard - will hit store shelves, and how much they will cost.

The company is expected to unveil specifics on pricing and availability in different regions at the launch.

"The Street is expecting mid-February for a launch. Anything earlier than that is a positive, anything later will be viewed as negative," said RBC Dominion Securities analyst Paul Treiber.

That said, there are few mysteries to be cleared up on Wednesday. Leaked photos and specifications of the devices have been splashed across the tech world.

"We've had the beta devices for a few weeks and in terms of the devices, they are right up there with the competition," said Andy Ambrozic, head of IT Infrastructure at Ricoh Canada. "The Balance feature is crucial for corporations that are becoming increasingly concerned about data security."

Scotiabank analyst Gus Papageorgiou feels RIM has a good chance of a comeback. He says the new BB10 operating system outpaces Apple's iOS platform and Google's market-leading Android system in every category except app selection and content.

"There is, we believe, huge potential for the platform and devices to bring people back to BlackBerry or draw entirely new users into the platform," said Papageorgiou, who has a "sector outperform" rating on the stock.

BlackBerry 10 will not be able to compete on the number of apps, but RIM says its operating system will have the largest application library for any new platform at launch, with more than 70,000 apps available.

It has already gathered big-name music and video partners for its BlackBerry 10 storefront, including Walt Disney Studios and Sony Pictures, Universal Music and Warner Music Group.

Wireless carriers already report strong demand for the new devices. Rogers Communications Inc, Canada's top wireless carrier and the first globally to take pre-orders for the new devices, said orders are already in the thousands.

"Our customers are excited," said John Boynton, Rogers' head of marketing, adding that some users are holding off on upgrades in anticipation of the BB10 launch.

(Additional reporting by Alastair Sharp and Allison Martell in Toronto; Editing by Frank McGurty, Janet Guttsman and Andre Grenon)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/rim-faces-day-reckoning-blackberry-10-launch-192309624.html

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PM to discuss Africa terror threat

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142Comments

Never mind swanning off to Algeria! get our country sorted out first you silly bastard!stay there you pretentious, self-centred, obnoxious, selfish, two faced BASTARD.

hope they use you for target practice.

Please get amnesia and think you are native to the country and refuse to come back to the UK !

i hope he gets taken hostage! and we don`t negotiate with hostages mwah ha ha ha lol. mind you if they shoot him in the head they`ll miss his brain by a good 6ft lol

lol@him and his "scary" face

what a knob head, pretending to fix everyone else's problems instead of ours.

the whole of europe is laughing at us and all he wants to do is run off-anywhere apart from this country, where his loyalties SHOULD lie.

Do the country a favour and go there alone, with any luck a terrorist cell will grab you and do Britain a favour and dispose of the Crap

He cannot run this Country so he's going over there to try and run theirs! Lets hope they keep him.

Hope he bloody stays there.

think youve caused enough trouble over there already david

mmmmmmmm... Algeria eh?....mmmmm... country where militant islamists are kidnapping and murdering westeners..mmmmmmm..?..

With only a one way ticket perhaps. I bloody hope so.

Is it me, or has anyone noticed that, the heads of government from Norway, Switzerland, Greece, Spain, Portugal, Belgium, Poland, Rumania, etc, etc, never seem to get themselves involved in this sort of issue! So why is this dangerous dictator Ca'Moron

Algeria, another former French colony with continued close ties to France..... where is the French president, nowhere to be seen.... he has more sense, and will happily let the stupid British stick their heads down the toilet!

David Cameron is travelling to Algeria as he steps up efforts to tackle the growing terrorist threat in northern Africa.

I feel sorry for north africa, if David goes over there to help them like he's helped Brittain they are ******ed.

Sort the country out? this moron couldn't sort the alphabet into its proper order.

I heard that this idiot has come up with a celebration for next year. He wants us to celebrate the start of the first world war and the start of the slaughter of millions. Yes he is that thick and stupid. First time I have ever heard of or found this act anything other than an absolute bloody disgrace. Then the pratt will no doubt think it is then ok to turn up on remembrance day. Only a nasty **** could come up with this one. I suggest that the useless dimwit stays away from all acts of remembrance and not make a mockery of the event.

I hope he is going to ask for some of their much larger army, than ours ever will be again, to help sort out AFRICA's problems. He cant sort out our problems?so **** chance does he have there!!

hope the ragheads get him no good here hes killing the poor and the weak

I put 3 comments on here last night they have mysteriously disappeared why I thought that?we were entitled to freedom of speech, or is it a case of only if you approve it first.msn.??

This man has a face I would never tire of slapping!

You mean we were stupid enough to pay for a return fare? What dumkoff passed this expense.

Source: http://news.uk.msn.com/uk/pm-to-discuss-africa-terror-threat-3

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Royal Rumble 2013 results

All WWE programming, talent names, images, likenesses, slogans, wrestling moves, trademarks, logos and copyrights are the exclusive property of WWE, Inc. and its subsidiaries. All other trademarks, logos and copyrights are the property of their respective owners. ? 2012 WWE, Inc. All Rights Reserved. This website is based in the United States. By submitting personal information to this website you consent to your information being maintained in the U.S., subject to applicable U.S. laws. U.S. law may be different than the law of your home country. WrestleMania XXIX (NY/NJ) logo TM & ? 2012 WWE. All Rights Reserved. The Empire State Building design is a registered trademark and used with permission by ESBC.

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Family Literacy Day: an "off-beat" list of ideas for families | clubmom

Okay so your kids have been read to since they were in the womb, you role-model positive reading behaviours at home (your kids see you read the news, for example), and you encourage all kinds of fun literacy activities at home.

So what?s left for you to celebrate the upcoming Family Literacy Day? Lots actually, and it doesn?t even have to include a book! (Not that I?m encouraging you not to read?)

1. ?Build your house from the ground up

I?m not talking about building a tower with Lego blocks. I?m talking about developing a strong oral language foundation. Oral language develops before writing and reading development. The simplest thing you can do with your family? Storytelling. If you go back far enough in your memories, you may remember some of those gems that were told to you. Some held lessons, (like traditional folktales often do), some told of a family member?s experience in a humorous way, others were spooky. Storytelling can be shared with many people at the same time making it perfect for a family. It can be done anywhere and people can start from scratch if there aren?t any stories in your memory bank.

2. ?Paint the town red, green and purple

The Pre-school/ Kindie set might appreciate some creativity on your part. Have them write in unusual places:

• in the snow with a water spritzer filled with water and some food colouring (or beet juice)
• with a paint brush and plain water on the side of a building (they love watching it dry up in the summer heat)
• in the bathtub with non-toxic bath crayons
• making words threaded on beaded necklaces with letter beads
• with their food (e.g. dough, pasta ? see an old post?of mine for ideas)

3. ?Be an Adbuster

Any definition of Literacy must include Media Literacy. Your kids are BOMBARDED with hundreds of images and media influences by the hour. It is up to us as parents ? though schools are doing an amazing job ? to deconstruct what our kids take in. It runs the gamut from body image stereotypes to understanding what we are being told we should buy. There are some pretty good sites?that deal with media awareness. Given its plenitude in our lives ? packaging, billboards on street corners, commercial jingles, backpacks with promotional material and product placement in movies ? there is no shortage of material to choose from when you want to chat with your kids about Media. A walk down any busy street with the kids and you can chat media for hours (if they let you). mediasmarts.ca?has some resources for teachers that parents should have a look at too.

4. ?Board games, duh.

Okay so this isn?t off-beat, just fun. But making one up is, so get the kids the materials they need and guide them if they wish. Or if you prefer,?skip the board-making and make up a game you can play on-the-go, like I did here.

5. ?Belt it out!?

Get out the karaoke machine (if you are cheesy enough to have one). Songs, lyrics?they are poems. ?My daughter loves to find her favourite singers on Youtube. Since I don?t yet let her watch videos, she finds the lyrics. She?s reading poems (lyrics) for enjoyment. Double-win. This is an all-family event, so get everyone together and celebrate your love of lyrics, song and poetry.

6. ?Make an infographic.

If you don?t know what infographics are, then consider this?your media education. Kids can pick a topic, generate data (they have to do some?research?mua ha ha says the evil teacher) and publish it. They can then be shared on all social media with family and friends. You can try making one at?http://visual.ly/ and view some ways that others have used information and data to get a message out.

7. ?Make cool how-to manuals on Snapguide

In school, we teach kids how to do procedural writing so many kids will have background knowledge about what goes into how-to guides. Snapguide?has a web-based, visual format, is easy to use, and can be shared through social media to friends and family. Kids can make anything based on their interests (how to make a Lego car, how to paint stripes on you nails, how to make coconut muffins, how to knit a hat, how to do a dance move, whatever?). ?You?ll need photos or video footage and the template makes it easy for you?to insert titles, materials and instructions.

This list could be as long a Canadian winter, but report cards are a-calling, so maybe YOU can post some of your favourite off-beat ideas here too!

Daniela

Source: http://clubmom.ca/family-literacy-day-an-off-beat-list-of-ideas-for-families/

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Murdoch apologizes for 'offensive' cartoon on Israel

LONDON (Reuters) - Rupert Murdoch apologised on Monday for a "grotesque" cartoon in his London-based Sunday Times newspaper depicting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu building a bloody wall trapping the bodies of Palestinians, after complaints from Jewish groups.

The image, which shows Netanyahu holding a trowel dripping blood, was published on Holocaust Memorial Day and carried the caption "Israeli elections. Will cementing peace continue?"

The Board of Deputies of British Jews said the cartoon was "shockingly reminiscent of the blood libel imagery more usually found in parts of the virulently anti-Semitic Arab press".

The so-called "blood libel" - accusations that Jewish peoples murder children and use their blood in rituals - go back centuries and have led to persecution and attacks.

The wall image by the weekly paper's cartoonist Gerald Scarfe was a reference to the barrier that Israel has been building for a decade on West Bank territory.

The project was launched at the height of a Palestinian uprising and was billed as a way to stop suicide bombers from penetrating the country.

The Sunday Times's acting editor was due to meet Jewish community leaders in Britain on Tuesday to express his regrets over the cartoon, said a spokesman for Murdoch's News International, the paper's publisher.

Murdoch said Scarfe had never reflected the opinions of the Sunday Times. "Nevertheless, we owe major apology for grotesque, offensive cartoon," he said in a Twitter message.

The Board of Deputies, representing Jewish communities in Britain, said it had lodged a complaint over the image with the Press Complaints Commission, an industry-run watchdog.

"Its use is all the more disgusting on Holocaust Memorial Day, given the similar tropes levelled against Jews by the Nazis," the board added.

The paper denied the cartoon was anti-Semitic, saying it was aimed at Netanyahu and not the Israeli people. It said the timing of its publication was linked to the victory of Netanyahu's party in last week's Israeli elections.

"The last thing I or anyone connected with the Sunday Times would countenance would be insulting the memory of the Shoah (the Holocaust) or invoking the blood libel," said Martin Ivens, who was appointed as the paper's acting editor earlier this month.

"We are however reminded of the sensitivities in this area by the reaction to the cartoon and I will of course bear them very carefully in mind in future," he added.

Ivens was expected to tell Jewish leaders that the cartoon was a case of "bad taste and extremely bad timing", the News International spokesman said.

Scarfe told Britain's Jewish Chronicle he had been unaware it was Holocaust Memorial Day on Sunday and regretted the timing of the cartoon's publication.

(Editing by Jon Hemming)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/murdoch-apologies-offensive-netanyahu-cartoon-075747154--finance.html

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Source: http://health-ful-hints.com/2013/01/27/14_day_eczema_cure_-_health_review_center/

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Fragile economy, other global woes dominated Davos

Participants listen a panel session in the Congress Hall the last day of the 43rd Annual Meeting of the World Economic Forum, WEF, in Davos, Switzerland, Saturday, Jan. 26, 2013. (AP Photo/Keystone/Laurent Gillieron)

Participants listen a panel session in the Congress Hall the last day of the 43rd Annual Meeting of the World Economic Forum, WEF, in Davos, Switzerland, Saturday, Jan. 26, 2013. (AP Photo/Keystone/Laurent Gillieron)

An activist of the Ukrainian feminist group FEMEN stands on a fence during a protest at the 43rd Annual Meeting of the World Economic Forum, WEF, in Davos, Switzerland, Saturday, Jan. 26, 2013. (AP Photo/Keystone/Jean-Christophe Bott)

DAVOS, Switzerland (AP) ? The fragile state of the world economy, along with the relentless turmoil in Syria and the rocky fallout from the Arab Spring, dominated discussions during this year's annual gathering of the global elite at Davos, leaving many participants uneasy about what lies ahead as they left for home Sunday.

Even broad agreement that there are some positive signs on the economic front, at least in emerging markets, was coupled with a warning from the head of the International Monetary Fund. "Do not relax," Christine Lagarde said. There's still a "risk of relapse."

More than 2,500 of the best and brightest in business, government, academia and civic life gathered for the five-day World Economic Forum at this Alpine resort. But much of the overt glitz and glamor that is a usual feature was toned down or absent this year, a decision founder Klaus Schwab said reflected the serious issues facing the world.

Political and economic issues vie for top billing each year at Davos, and this time, the economy had the edge, with a special focus on how to promote economic growth and jobs, especially for the youth among the world's 220 million jobless.

The IMF said that China, Africa, and other emerging markets could see significant growth, but Japan, eurozone nations and the U.S. are likely to struggle with negative to low growth. Ahead of the 43rd forum, the IMF downgraded its forecast for global economic growth this year by one-tenth of a percentage point to 3.5 percent.

While the U.S. avoided the so-called "fiscal cliff" of automatic tax increases and spending cuts, and fears have abated that the euro currency union will break up, there is growing concern that governments may ease up on measures to improve growth and reduce debt that the IMF and many other institutions are calling for.

IMF chief Lagarde said the "very fragile and timid recovery" depends on leaders in the 17-nation eurozone, the United States and Japan making "the right decisions." The eurozone in particular "is fragile because it is prone to political crisis" and slow decision-making, she said.

Davos participants' uneasiness about the world economy was matched by growing concern over the political turmoil in the Arab world, terrorism in North Africa, a spate of natural disasters that have highlighted the failure to tackle climate change, and the growing inequality between the world's "haves" and "have nots."

"Two years ago, gloom around the stalled economic recovery was leavened by euphoria at the outbreak of the Arab spring," Kenneth Roth, the executive director of Human Rights Watch, told The Associated Press at Saturday night's low-key final reception. "This year, relief at the improved economic outlook is tempered by despair at the unimpeded slaughter in Syria, uncertainty about the outlook in Egypt, and frustration over the Arab monarchies' resistance to reform."

The Arab Spring uprisings have ousted dictators in Tunisia, Yemen, Libya and Egypt over the past two years. But now Islamists and liberals are wrangling over power, with Islamists mainly gaining the upper hand. Democracy is far from certain, and economic woes have left hundreds of thousands of young people jobless and frustrated that their "revolutions" haven't produced any dividends.

Former Arab League Secretary-General Amr Moussa, a losing candidate in Egypt's presidential election last year, said there have been achievements, but warned that democracy isn't only about casting a vote.

"It is the respect of human rights, for rights of women, separation of powers, independence of the judiciary. This meaning of democracy we have not yet achieved," Moussa said.

Elsewhere in the Middle East, Israeli-Palestinian peace talks remain stalled, Arab monarchs remain entrenched, and the death toll from the escalating civil war in Syria has topped 60,000 with no end in sight.

Jordan's King Abdullah II, whose country is hosting almost 300,000 Syrian refugees, predicted that Syrian President Bashar Assad's regime will last at least another six months. He called for a transition plan involving all Syrians and the Syrian army.

He also urged stepped up international support to end the Syrian crisis, saying, "The weakest refugees are struggling now just to survive this year's harsh winter."

Abdullah told the forum that "unprecedented threats to regional and global stability and security" need international action now, not the "wait and see" response by some countries ? which he did not identify ? especially in helping governments emerge politically and financially from the Arab uprisings.

The king, considered one of the region's moderate leaders, also warned Israel to stop playing the "waiting game," and said President Barack Obama's second term offered the last opportunity to create two states ? Palestine and Israel ? that can live side-by-side in peace.

Angel Gurria, secretary-general of the Paris-based Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, said the focus on resolving the world's economic crisis has distracted leaders from many other important issues, including education, the social consequences of unemployment and promoting ways to deal with climate change.

Nonetheless, Gurria said, the world should be "very worried" because there aren't many "tools" left to fix the economy if things get worse.

Trevor Manuel, South Africa's National Planning Commission minister, told AP that the key message from Davos for him was a positive one ? that "many of the decisions that have been taken bring us closer to where we need to be." He warned that "a sense of an all-pervasive gloom ... frequently becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy."

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/f70471f764144b2fab526d39972d37b3/Article_2013-01-27-Davos%20Forum-Wrap-up/id-7136c8842c084375929515589b6d30d5

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Best friends influence when teenagers have first drink

Jan. 28, 2013 ? Chances are the only thing you remember about your first swig of alcohol is how bad the stuff tasted. What you didn't know is the person who gave you that first drink and when you had it says a lot about your predisposition to imbibe later in life.

A national study by a University of Iowa-led team has found that adolescents who get their first drink from a friend are more likely to drink sooner in life, which past studies show makes them more prone to abusing alcohol when they get older. The finding is intended to help specialists predict when adolescents are likely to first consume alcohol, with the aim of heading off problem drinking at the pass.

"When you start drinking, even with kids who come from alcoholic families, they don't get their first drinks from their family," says Samuel Kuperman, a child and adolescent psychiatrist at the UI. "They get their first drinks from their friends. They have to be able to get it. If they have friends who have alcohol, then it's easier for them to have that first drink."

The basis for the study, published this month in the journal Pediatrics, is compelling: One-third of eighth graders in the United States report they've tried alcohol, according to a 2011 study of 20,000 teenagers conducted by the University of Michigan and funded by the National Institutes of Health. By 10th grade, more than half say they've had a first drink, and that percentage shoots to 70 percent by their senior year.

"There's something driving kids to drink," explains Kuperman, corresponding author on the paper. "Maybe it's the coolness factor or some mystique about it. So, we're trying to educate kids about the risks associated with drinking and give them alternatives."

Kuperman and his team built their formula from two longstanding measures of adolescent drinking behavior -- the Semi-Structured Assessment for the Genetics and Alcoholism and the Achenbach Youth Self Report. From those measures of nearly two-dozen variables and a review of the literature, the UI-led team found five to be the most important predictors: two separate measures of disruptive behavior, a family history of alcohol dependence, a measure of poor social skills, and whether most best friends drink alcohol.

The researchers then looked at how the five variables worked in concert. Surprisingly, a best friend who drank and had access to alcohol was the most important predictor. In fact, adolescents whose best friend used alcohol were twice as likely to have a first drink, the researchers found. Moreover, if considered independently of the other variables, teenagers whose best friends drank are three times as likely to begin drinking themselves, the study found, underscoring the sway that friends have in adolescents' drinking behavior.

"Family history doesn't necessarily drive the age of first drink," notes Kuperman, who has studied teen drinking for more than a decade. "It's access. At that age (14 or 15), access trumps all. As they get older, then family history plays a larger role."

The current study drew from a pool of 820 adolescents at six sites across the country. The participants were 14 to 17 years old, with a median age of 15.5, nearly identical to the typical age of an adolescent's first drink found in previous studies. More than eight in 10 respondents came from what the researchers deemed high-risk families, but more than half of the teenagers had no alcohol-dependent parents. Tellingly, among those adolescents who reported having had drunk alcohol, nearly four in ten said their best friends also drank.

The result underscores previous findings that teenagers who have their first drink before 15 years of age are more likely to abuse alcohol or become dependent. It also supports the screening questions selected in the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism and the American Academy of Pediatrics initiative to identify and help youth at risk for alcohol use, the researchers write.

Kuperman, whose faculty appointment is in the Carver College of Medicine, says he hopes to use the study to delve into the genetics underpinning alcoholism, chiefly tracking adolescents who use alcohol and see whether they have genes that match up with their parents if they also are problem drinkers.

"We're trying to separate out those who experiment with alcohol to those who go on to problematic drinking," he says.

Contributing authors include John Kramer from the UI; Grace Chan and Victor Hesselbrock, University of Connecticut Health Center; Leah Wetherill, Indiana University School of Medicine; Kathleen Bucholz, Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis; Danielle Dick, Virginia Commonwealth University; Bernice Porjesz and Madhavi Rangaswamy, State University of New York Downstate Medical Center, Brooklyn; and Marc Schuckit (principal investigator on the grant), University of California San Diego School of Medicine.

The National Institutes of Health (grant number: 5 U10 AA008401), the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism and the National Institute on Drug Abuse funded the study.

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Story Source:

The above story is reprinted from materials provided by University of Iowa. The original article was written by Richard C. Lewis.

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

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Journal Reference:

1. S. Kuperman, G. Chan, J. R. Kramer, L. Wetherill, K. K. Bucholz, D. Dick, V. Hesselbrock, B. Porjesz, M. Rangaswamy, M. Schuckit. A Model to Determine the Likely Age of an Adolescent's First Drink of Alcohol. PEDIATRICS, 2013; DOI: 10.1542/peds.2012-0880

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

Disclaimer: This article is not intended to provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Views expressed here do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/top_news/top_health/~3/BlqvBqU0MNw/130128133136.htm

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Europe's emigrants face red tape in Latin America

SANTIAGO, Chile (AP) ? Geologist David Rodriguez and actress Cristina Pascual, two of the nearly six million Spaniards left jobless in the European recession, fled to Latin America last year, figuring their futures would be brighter in the booming economies on this side of the Atlantic.

Instead, they found themselves stuck, facing so many bureaucratic hurdles that their only option was to work illegally, for much lower wages. Without a work visa, they couldn't get a formal job. Without a job offer, no visa. And without a job and a visa, they had no way of securing an all-important tax-identification number, freezing them out of Chile's booming formal economy. Trying to bend the rules can result in deportation for the worker, and fines for the company.

Rodriguez and Pascual are among the many migrants watching this weekend as leaders from the European Union, Latin America and the Caribbean seek ways of eliminating the red tape that has made it so difficult for foreigners to bring their skills across borders.

The vast majority of migrants between the continents used to travel to Europe, but the trends flipped after 2010, when economic indicators began to improve in Spain and Portugal's former colonies. Now Spanish and Portuguese workers are arriving by the thousands each year, entering on tourist visas and job-hunting in Brazil, Chile, Mexico and Argentina. Spanish migrants with skills needed in the mining industry are particularly sought after in Chile.

But the bureaucracy is getting in the way.

Rodriguez, 32, graduated from college in Spain in 2010, and spent the next 28 months in a frustrating search for work in his field while he lived with his parents. Then a friend, architect Maria Moreira, posted a Facebook message saying she was migrating to Chile. He jumped at the chance to come along, but soon found himself stuck without authorization to work. Despite high demand for exactly the skills he could offer, it took four months of rejections before he found a low-paid internship that eventually led to a company's sponsorship for his paperwork.

Spain's national statistics service said more than 40,000 Spaniards abandoned the country in search of work during the first six months of last year, up sharply from the 28,000 during the same period in 2011. The same agency said this week that unemployment has reached a record 26 percent in Spain.

Reducing roadblocks is urgent for the leaders at this summit. The IMF forecasts the Latin American and Caribbean economies to grow 3.6 percent this year even as Europe retreats 0.2 percent. The continents' economies are inexorably tied to each other, with EU countries representing 43 percent of Latin America's international trade. Making it easier for workers to move to where the jobs are can help all these countries, in part by increasing the remittances people send home to their families.

Chile isn't unique in the demands it places on foreign workers. Brazil and Argentina are famous for their red tape, and lacking EU citizenship, many Latin Americans haven't been welcomed into Europe's job market, either.

The summit agenda includes fostering "best practices" for lowering barriers to work. One example: representatives of 400 universities on both sides of the Atlantic met in Santiago this week to create a "common space for higher education," with the goal of standardizing the degrees and certifications awarded throughout both regions.

The agenda also advocates equal treatment for citizens of all nations, a sore point in the former colonies of Europe. While EU citizens can enter any country in the region on tourist visas, Latin Americans have been humiliated in Europe's airports, interrogated and sent home even though they said they complied with the entry rules.

"Welcome to a better world," is how Chile's President Sebastian Pinera greeted his Spanish counterpart Mariano Rajoy, a tongue-in-cheek phrase that resonates on all sorts of levels for travelers between both regions.

Rodriguez and Pascual can testify that their welcome was difficult at best during their first months in Chile.

Without formal work and a visa, they couldn't get the Chilean identity numbers known as RUTs, which are vital for all aspects of life. Without a RUT, you can't get a telephone line, buy a cellphone, obtain a credit card, open a bank account, or make hundreds of other transactions in Chile.

Pascual, a 38-year-old actress, spent five months in low-paid, under-the-table jobs before she got help from the Spanish embassy, where she now works as a cultural representative.

"The bureaucracy here is terrible," Pascual says. But now she sounds contented, and spends much of her time supporting other Spaniards who keep arriving in Chile. "Many people are coming, so we help them a little, because it's very bureaucratic here, very complicated, and they get desperate."

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/europes-emigrants-face-red-tape-latin-america-061547415--finance.html

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French, Mali forces head toward Timbuktu

AAA??Jan. 27, 2013?3:55 AM ET
French, Mali forces head toward Timbuktu
AP

In this image taken during an official visit organized by the Malian army to the town of Konna, some 680 kilometers (430 miles) north of Mali's capital Bamako, Saturday, Jan. 26, 2013, a Malian army armored vehicle used by islamist rebels stands charred. One wing of Mali's Ansar Dine rebel group has split off to create its own movement, saying that they want to negotiate a solution to the crisis in Mali, in a declaration that indicates at least some of the members of the al-Qaida linked group are searching for a way out of the extremist movement in the wake of French air strikes. (AP Photo/Jerome Delay)

In this image taken during an official visit organized by the Malian army to the town of Konna, some 680 kilometers (430 miles) north of Mali's capital Bamako, Saturday, Jan. 26, 2013, a Malian army armored vehicle used by islamist rebels stands charred. One wing of Mali's Ansar Dine rebel group has split off to create its own movement, saying that they want to negotiate a solution to the crisis in Mali, in a declaration that indicates at least some of the members of the al-Qaida linked group are searching for a way out of the extremist movement in the wake of French air strikes. (AP Photo/Jerome Delay)

In this image taken during an official visit organized by the Malian army to the town of Konna, some 680 kilometers (430 miles) north of Mali's capital Bamako, Saturday, Jan. 26, 2013, a videographer films Malian soldiers walking through the rubbles of a former army based leveled during fighting with islamist rebels. One wing of Mali's Ansar Dine rebel group has split off to create its own movement, saying that they want to negotiate a solution to the crisis in Mali, in a declaration that indicates at least some of the members of the al-Qaida linked group are searching for a way out of the extremist movement in the wake of French air strikes. (AP Photo/Jerome Delay)

in this image taken during an official visit organized by the Malian army to the town of Konna, some 680 kilometers (430 miles) north of Mali's capital Bamako Saturday , Jan. 26, 2013, an ammunition belt lays on the ground of a destroyed base used by Islamist rebels. One wing of Mali's Ansar Dine rebel group has split off to create its own movement, saying that they want to negotiate a solution to the crisis in Mali, in a declaration that indicates at least some of the members of the al-Qaida-linked group are searching for a way out of the extremist movement in the wake of French airstrikes. (AP Photo/Jerome Delay)

In this image taken during an official visit organized by the Malian army to the town of Konna, some 680 kilometers (430 miles) north of Mali's capital Bamako, Saturday, Jan. 26, 2013, a charred flack jacket lays on the ground of a destroyed base used by islamist rebels. One wing of Mali's Ansar Dine rebel group has split off to create its own movement, saying that they want to negotiate a solution to the crisis in Mali, in a declaration that indicates at least some of the members of the al-Qaida linked group are searching for a way out of the extremist movement in the wake of French air strikes. (AP Photo/Jerome Delay)

In this image taken during an official visit organized by the Malian army to the town of Konna, some 680 kilometers (430 miles) north of Mali's capital Bamako, Saturday, Jan. 26, 2013, a jacket lays on the ground of a destroyed base used by islamist rebels. One wing of Mali's Ansar Dine rebel group has split off to create its own movement, saying that they want to negotiate a solution to the crisis in Mali, in a declaration that indicates at least some of the members of the al-Qaida linked group are searching for a way out of the extremist movement in the wake of French air strikes. (AP Photo/Jerome Delay)

SEVARE, Mali (AP) ? A Malian military spokesman says French and Malian troops are patrolling the critically important city of Gao in northern Mali.

Lt. Col. Diarran Kone, a spokesman for Mali's defense minister, said Sunday that the forces have maintained their hold over a key bridge as well as the airport.

The French military announced on Saturday that Gao had been liberated from radical Islamist rule, though other officials said the fight was still in progress late Saturday.

The taking of Gao's airport marked the biggest advance yet in the effort to retake the north. The Islamists also have controlled the towns of Timbuktu and Kidal since last April.

French and Malian forces were also advancing toward Timbuktu on Sunday.

Associated Press
People, Places and Companies: Mali

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/3d281c11a96b4ad082fe88aa0db04305/Article_2013-01-27-Mali%20Fighting/id-a43a3af2eb484d36ae81aa43c55b40ea

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North Korea makes furious threat to the South

? A daily summary of global reports on security issues.

North Korea today issued yet another verbal volley in response to the United Nations? condemnation of the launching of a satellite late last year, this time directing its threats at South Korea.

Pyongyang?s sharp words have exasperated the international community ? even China, its most critical ally, which voiced its frustration in an editorial today after backing punitive UN measures against the North earlier this week.

Pyongyang warned Seoul that if it signed on to the series of fresh international sanctions against the North, it would retaliate.

"Sanctions mean a war and a declaration of war against us,? the North's Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of Korea said today, according to Reuters. "If the puppet group of traitors takes a direct part in the UN 'sanctions,' the DPRK will take strong physical counter-measures against it.?

RECOMMENDED: Kim 101: How well do you know North Korea's leaders?

Earlier this week, the UN Security Council members unanimously condemned Pyongyang?s rocket launch in December and expanded current sanctions. The US followed up with sanctions of its own yesterday, prompting North Korea to threaten additional rocket launches and nuclear tests against the US, its ?sworn enemy.?

Whether there is any substance to these threats is unclear. As The Wall Street Journal notes, ?North Korea often threatens the South with attack without following through with action.?

But South Korean defense ministry officials said this week that they believe the North could follow through with its threat to detonate a nuclear explosive at any time, and US Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta said that even if there are no signs that a test is forthcoming, "They have the capability, frankly, to conduct these tests in a way that make it very difficult to determine whether or not they are doing it,? according to The Wall Street Journal.

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The Christian Science Monitor?s Peter Grier writes that US officials seem torn over how seriously to take the North?s threats. Mr. Panetta said earlier this month, referring to a North Korean satellite launch in December, that ?North Korea just fired a missile. It?s an intercontinental ballistic missile, for God sakes. That means they have the capability to strike the United States.? His predecessor, Secretary Robert Gates, warned the North could reach the US with a missile by 2015 or 2016.

But, Mr. Grier also writes, ?North Korean officials have long talked with bellicosity unmatched in geostrategic circles.?

Some say that when it comes to their nuclear missile programs, this chest thumping is largely a bluff ? pro wrestling drama translated for an international stage.

Their past missile tests have been maximized to give the appearance of performance, and they have never exploded an actual nuclear warhead design, according to RAND analyst Markus Schiller.

Thus concerns about their missile tests are overblown, wrote Mr. Schiller in a lengthy 2012 report on North Korea?s missile programs.

?Every launch further depletes the limited North Korean arsenals, and North Korea gains no real experience from these events. Since the purpose of the launches seems to be political, the United States and other nations should downplay or even ignore them,? he writes.

China, Pyongyang?s biggest trading partner and most critical ally, has appointed itself the unofficial mediator between the North and the international community. In an editorial, the Global Times asserts that China cannot take sides, nor will it ?stay aloof? from the dispute between the North and South and its international backers.

But in the editorial, Beijing voiced exasperation with Pyongyang?s recalcitrance and provocative actions.

It seems that North Korea does not appreciate China's efforts. It criticized China without explicitly naming it in its statement yesterday: "Those big countries, which are obliged to take the lead in building a fair world order, are abandoning without hesitation even elementary principles, under the influence of the US' arbitrary and high-handed practices, and failing to come to their senses."

?

China's role and position are clear when discussing North Korea issue in the UN Security Council. If North Korea engages in further nuclear tests, China will not hesitate to reduce its assistance to North Korea. If the US, Japan and South Korea promote extreme UN sanctions on North Korea, China will resolutely stop them and force them to amend these draft resolutions.

Just let North Korea be "angry." We can't sit by and do nothing just because we are worried it might impact the Sino-North Korean relationship. Just let the US, Japan and South Korea grumble about China. We have no obligation to soothe their feelings.

RECOMMENDED: Kim 101: How well do you know North Korea's leaders?

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Source: http://news.yahoo.com/threatening-us-north-korea-turns-ire-south-korea-140900935.html

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