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| − | == Spending cuts deadline looming but Obama ‘hopeful̵ ==
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| − | <div itemscope itemtype="/BlogPosting"><p>A fiscal deadline all but blown, President Barack Obama says he once again wants to seek a big fiscal deal that would raise taxes and trim billions from expensive and ever growing entitlement programs. But with automatic federal spending cuts ready to start taking their toll, the path toward that grand bargain Obama campaigned on last year has significantly narrowed.</p><p>The president has summoned the top bipartisan congressional leadership to the White House, a meeting designed to give all sides a chance to stake out their fiscal positions with a new threat of a government shutdown less than four weeks away. There were no expectations of a breakthrough.</p><p>But for Obama, Friday’s session would be his first opportunity to spell out his 10-year, $1.5 trillion deficit reduction plan in a face-to-face meeting with congressional allies and adversaries.</p><p>His chances are squeezed by anti-tax conservatives,christian louboutin uk, by liberals unwilling to cut into Medicare and Social Security, and by a Republican leadership that has dug in against any new revenue after ceding to Obama’s demands two months ago for a higher tax rate for top income earners.</p><p>On Thursday,karen millen sale, two ill-fated proposals aimed at blunting the blame over the cuts – one Democratic and the other Republican – failed to overcome procedural hurdles in the Senate. Obama placed the responsibility on Republicans.</p><p>“They voted to let the entire burden of deficit reduction fall squarely on the middle class,” he said.</p><p>The White House is still betting that once the public begins to experience the effects of the $85 billion in across-the-board cuts the pain will be unbearable enough to force lawmakers to reconsider and negotiate. But the consequences of the cuts -the so called sequester – will likely be a slow boil. Obama this week said the effect “is not a cliff, but it is a tumble downward.”,louboutin uk;</p><p>Indeed, much of the impact won’t be felt for weeks or more than a month; others, like possible teacher layoffs, wouldn’t take place until the new school year in the fall.</p><p>And yet, the next likely showdown – the expiration of a six-month spending bill on March 27, with its built-in threat of a government shutdown – will loom before that, meaning that the leverage the White House would hope to have won’t materialize until late.</p><p>Polls also show that the public is not as engaged in this showdown as it has been in past fiscal confrontations and an NBC-<em>Wall Street Journal Post</em> survey indicates that Obama has lost some ground with the public in his handling of the economy,karen millen uk.</p><p>Still, White House officials also say they believe Republicans will once again give way to additional tax revenue in part to avoid drastic cuts and in part to win reductions in Medicare and Social Security spending from Obama that they have been unable to get from Democrats before.</p><p>“I am prepared to make some tough decisions, some of which will garner some significant frustration on the part of members of my party,karen millen outlet, but I think it’s the right thing to do,Nova Scotia RCMP Ser,” Obama told top business executives this week.</p><p>Given Washington’s entrenched partisanship, Obama’s effort could be dismissed as either another failed attempt at negotiations or as simply an effort to lay blame on Republicans for blocking compromise.</p><p>The odds aren’t with the president.</p><p>Many conservatives are willing to accept the automatic cuts as the only way to reduce government spending, even though the budget knife cuts into cherished defense programs. Likewise, many liberals are beginning to embrace the cuts as a way to protect revered big benefit programs that have long been identified with the Democratic Party.</p><p>Moreover, many programs for low-income Americans are protected from the immediate cuts while the Pentagon – whose budget has long been a target of the left –,much larger As one; faces across the board cuts of 8 percent and up to 13 percent in some of its accounts.</p><p>More than 20 Democrats in Congress, including veteran Rep. Ed Markey, a candidates for the Senate from Massachusetts,everything happens, have signed a letter pledging not to cut Medicare,christian louboutin shoes, Medicaid or Social Security benefits in efforts to reduce the deficit.</p><blockquote class="pullquote"><p>They voted to let the entire burden of deficit reduction fall squarely on the middle class</p></blockquote><p>Obama’s plan calls for $580 billion in new revenue over 10 years by limiting the value of itemized deductions and certain tax exclusions to no more than 28 percent. That means taxpayers with a tax rate greater than 28 percent would face a tax increase.</p><p>While Obama also regularly talks about closing loopholes to gain more revenue, his tax plan would close many corporate loopholes to lower corporate tax rates, not to generate more revenue. He aims to drop corporate tax rates from 35 percent to 28 percent for most corporations and down to 25 percent for manufacturers.</p><p>In exchange for new tax revenue and a tax overhaul, Obama has offered to reduce spending in health care programs such as Medicare by $400 billion over 10 years, change an inflation formula for government benefits that would result in lower cost-of-living adjustments for Social Security and other programs, and reduce other spending for total reductions of $900 billion over 10 years.</p><p>Those cuts, together with about $2.5 trillion in deficit reduction already achieved over the last two years through spending cuts and a year-end tax increase on taxpayers making more than $400,000 would achieve a $4 trillion deficit reduction target.</p><p>Republicans though are unimpressed, and House Speaker John Boehner rejected it when Obama first offered it in December.</p><p>“Last year we proposed generating new revenue through tax reform,” Boehner said Thursday. “We did that as an alternative to the president’s demand for higher tax rates. Ultimately, the president got his revenues and he got it his way through higher rates,karen millen outlet. Given those facts, the revenue issue is now closed,louboutin uk.”</p><p>At the other end of the spectrum, liberals are seeking to silence White House talk about cutting entitlements.</p><p>“They’re almost on a daily basis talking about (reducing) Social Security benefits,louboutin shoes,” said Adam Green, founder of the liberal Progressive Change Campaign Committee. “There’,louboutin uk;s no rational or political reason to do so, except some ill-conceived idea that Americans would value a grand bargain, even one that robs their grandparents of thousands of dollars.”</p></div>
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| − | == Murder of Schoenborn children was preventable says B.C. chil ==
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| − | <div itemscope itemtype="/BlogPosting"><p><strong>By Lindsay Kines</strong></p><p>VICTORIA ― The murders of three young children at the hands of their father in Merritt, B.C,christian louboutin shoes. four years ago could have been prevented if the province’s child welfare, justice and mental health systems had worked properly, British Columbia’s child watch dog said in a report released Thursday.</p><p>Mary Ellen Turpel-Lafond, B.C,louboutin shoes.’s Representative for Children and Youth, says the province’s social safety net failed 10-year-old Kaitlynne Schoenborn and her brothers Max, 8, and Cordon, 5, who were killed by their mentally ill father, Allan Schoenborn in April 2008,christian louboutin heels.</p><p>He was later found not criminally responsible due to a mental disorder and sent to a psychiatric hospital for an indeterminate amount of time,The Moon is in Taur.</p><p>Turpel-Lafond found that police, social workers and corrections workers failed to investigate the severity of the father’s mental illness ― even though it was identified as an issue by child welfare workers as early as 1999.</p><p>The various agencies also neglected to collaborate and share information.</p><p>“The representative concludes that the answer to the question of whether the killing of these children was preventable is clearly ‘yes,’ ” the report says. “If the social safety net comprised of child protection, justice and mental health had worked appropriately and in partnership in this case,karen millen dresses, there is a high likelihood that the deaths of these three children would have been avoided.”</p><p>Nor have things improved since the children’s deaths,karen millen sale, Turpel-Lafond concludes,christian louboutin heels.</p><p>“Today, almost four years after the deaths of these three children, a collaborative,So the question that, systemic approach to complex cases across B.C.’s child-serving, mental health,louboutin shoes, and criminal and civil justice systems still does not exist,About 10 kilometres. More work and much change are urgently required to protect other children and families from injury and death.”</p><p>Turpel-Lafond said the B,christian louboutin sale.C,louboutin uk. government has failed to put a better system in place to help children living with domestic violence, as she recommended in her 2009 report on the death of Christian Lee in an Oak Bay murder-suicide.</p><p>“It is alarming and frustrating, in releasing today’s report focused on Kaitlynne, Cordon and Max,karen millen sale, to not be able to point to significant improvements since we released our Honouring Christian Lee report in 2009,” Turpel-Lafond said in a news release.</p><p>“Instead, today we still see unaddressed disconnects between systems that so urgently need to be working closely together in domestic violence situations ― child protection, income assistance, mental health, police and judicial systems.”</p><p>Turpel-Lafond called for the government to renew its commitment to protecting children living with domestic violence and put together a comprehensive plan by September.</p><p>She also recommended that the Ministry of Children and Family Development and the Ministry of Health act immediately to ensure their staff understand the risks to children from parents with serious untreated mental illness.</p></div>
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| − | == Hans Island New proposal would see isle split equally betwee ==
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| − | <div itemscope itemtype="/BlogPosting"><p>Canada and Denmark appear close to agreement in their festering territorial dispute over Hans Island,karen millen sale, with an amicable plan for both countries to split ownership of the tiny, barren rock in the Arctic being put forward.</p><p>A plan to divide the island — a 1.3 square kilometre rock between Canada’s Ellesmere Island and Greenland, a self-governing territory under the Danish crown — through the middle would give Canada a second foreign land border and settle a spat that captured international attention as much for its absurdity as its potential seriousness.</p><p>The position taken by bi-national negotiators is to connect the 1.2-kilometre gap in the existing maritime boundary across the landmass, sources say. The maritime boundary currently stops at the low-water mark on the island’s south side and starts again from the low-water mark on the north side, a cartographic decision made in 1973 that left the competing claims unresolved.</p><p>Connecting the dots would divide Hans Island almost precisely in half,with Mr that was ju.</p><p>But whether Ottawa and Copenhagen approve the settlement plan, and when it might be unveiled, may be a harder decision for politicians,christian louboutin uk.</p><p>“The political complexities of making an announcement are, in many ways, much more complicated than settling the actual territorial dispute,” said Whitney Lackenbauer, associate professor of history at St. Jerome’s University, part of the University of Waterloo, who studies Arctic sovereignty.</p><p>“Both governments publicly staked their sovereignty claims. The early messaging of ‘standing up for Canada’ puts our government in a difficult position,karen millen outlet.”</p><p>Rob Huebert, an Arctic security specialist at the University of Calgary’s Centre for Military and Strategic Studies, said: “Settling is not necessarily a bad thing — it gets the irritant out of the way,louboutin shoes. But it could have a political cost to stand up and say: ‘We’ve surrendered a little bit.’”</p><p>Despite word of a draft settlement, a spokesman for the Minister of Foreign Affairs said Ottawa has not yet accepted a plan,christian louboutin shoes.</p><p>“Canada and Denmark are cooperating in developing a mutually agreeable way forward with respect to Hans Island,christian louboutin uk,to mixed but growin,” said Joseph Lavoie.</p><p>“The dispute continues to be well-managed in accordance with the 2005 Joint Statement on Hans Island. Canada and Denmark have excellent relations and we are satisfied with how our current arrangement is working,” he said.</p><p>Jingoistic posturing over ownership of the frigid rock started in earnest in 2004, in response to the <em>National Post</em> highlighting the island as one of four boundary disputes causing concern over Canada’s ability to maintain sovereignty of its vast northern region.</p><p>News that Danish warships and naval personnel were visiting the island caused alarm.</p><p>Svend Roed Nielsen, the Danish government’s top representative in Canada at the time, told the <em>Post</em> his government was trying to “keep our ammunition dry” in the dispute.</p><p>Bill Graham, then Canada’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, retorted in Parliament: “I can assure this House, this government will not surrender any sovereignty of any of Canada’s lands in the Arctic or anywhere else in the world.”</p><p>The coverage prompted a rally in front of a Danish consulate by protesters declaring “We Eat Danish for Breakfast,” and a visit to the island by Canadian soldiers — who captured a Danish flag and erected a 12-foot pole, topped by a Canadian flag — in a military operation code-named Exercise Frozen Beaver.</p><p>Mr. Graham himself then visited the island to pose for photographs with the flag, an act that prompted Denmark to call in Canada’s envoy for an official protest.</p><p>The dispute between such symmetrically soft powers over a barren rock piqued the fancy of the international press, eliciting bemused articles and sarcastic cartoons.</p><p>Despite the rhetoric, it now appears it will be settled as it was always likely to be — in quiet compromise.</p><p>In 2005,louboutin uk, an agreement to negotiate a settlement was signed by Ottawa and Copenhagen and lawyers from the two foreign ministries have been working on it since.</p><p>“This is not a daunting task,” said Michael Byers, Canadian Research Chair in International Law and Politics at the University of British Columbia.</p><p>“The fact of the matter is,etc Prey drive issu, this is disputed territory; there are tenable arguments on either side and the two countries are very close allies. This is something that good friends can easily work out,” said Prof. Byers.</p><p>“An opportune time to do so is early in a majority government, because if there is any political flak to weather over this it will dissipate fairly quickly.”</p><p>Fallout there could be,karen millen uk.</p><p>A recent public opinion survey showed that the Canadian public took the hardest stance on Arctic sovereignty among all northern nations — including Russia and the United States.</p><p>Some 42% of Canadians wanted their government to “pursue a firm line” in defending the Arctic compared to 5% of Danes.</p><p>But there are benefits for Ottawa in agreeing to a compromised, analysts said.</p><p>“It may be the Harper government wants to give the trade talks with the European Union a little positive push by solving the longstanding and almost insignificant boundary dispute,” said Prof. Byers,karen millen uk.</p><p>A compromise could also enhance Canada’s reputation for maturity, responsibility and cooperation prior to submitting its claim on the Arctic seabed that is being prepared by all northern countries for submission next year to the United Nations for arbitration.</p><p>Prof. Lackenbauer said Canada having a second international land border wouldn’t make much difference in practical terms,christian louboutin heels.</p><p>“It might end up only being a fun Trivial Pursuit question, but it might get us thinking about the fact that we aren’t only neighbours with the Americans, that we are part of an Arctic community of nations as well,” he said.</p><p><em>National Post</em><br /><em> </em></p></div>
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| − | == Front-wheel-drive 2014 Mercedes CLA is a baby Benz Driving ==
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| − | <div itemscope itemtype="/BlogPosting"><p><strong>Preview: 2014 Mercedes-Benz CLA</strong></p><p>SAINT TROPEZ, FRANCE — You’ve seen this car before. In fact, a precious few of you might even be driving one to work this morning. Oh, you may not actually know you’re behind the wheel of the new CLA “Coupe Light A-Class,” seeing as the car you’re driving is a five-door hatchback,louboutin uk. Nonetheless, under its swoopy skin, the CLA is very much familiar territory,with occasional for.</p><p>Indeed, proving how versatile the modern automotive platform is, the CLA shares its basic chassis and running gear with the 2013 B250,karen millen dresses. Yes, that boxy little mini-minivan shares its underpinnings with this super sexy CLS-like sedan.</p><p>That shouldn’t be considered a bad thing, as the B-Class, with the exception of styling only a soccer mom could love, is a very competent little runabout. Underneath that ultra-orthodox skin, there’s an impressively powerful 208-horsepower 2.0-litre turbocharged four-cylinder engine, Mercedes’ 7G seven-speed automatic transmission and its latest front-wheel-drive chassis,christian louboutin shoes.</p><blockquote class="pullquote"><p>The engine, too, is a surprisingly willing participant, the turbocharged 2.0L four fairly emulating the performance of a small V6</p></blockquote><p>Yup, you read that right: The CLA is a front-driver, the first Mercedes sedan with this configuration. Like BMW, Mercedes-Benz is seeking to expand its model portfolio and, if not the very definition of what constitutes a premium luxury brand,karen millen outlet, the most efficient way to package a small sedan is with a transversely mounted four-cylinder engine driving the front wheels.</p><p>So, how does the front-wheel-drive, once-was-a-minivan CLA drive? Is there enough power? Does it provide the European handling that luxury import buyers demand,” said Delmore “Ther? Most importantly, does it feel like a Mercedes?</p><p>The short answer is, yes. The CLA feels very Mercedes-like. Thanks to completely recalibrated and lowered suspension (compared with the B250), blowing down the highway outside of Marseilles at a terribly illegal 160 kilometres an hour, the CLA is as imperturbable as any C, E or S-Class, the little sedan offering high-speed stability far beyond its approximately 1,500 kilogram curb weight. Minuscule or no, the CLA retains that very Mercedes-like calmness at speed that is the company’s calling card.</p><p>It is also no so bad when the road gets twisty, barely belying its front-wheel-drive roots even when chasing Alain Prost wannabes on twisty French mountain roads. Oh,karen millen uk, if push came to shove, the CLA will understeer, but there is much squealing of rubber and passenger by that time. Mercedes will offer a 4Matic all-wheel-drive version in early 2014, but, it is a permanent part-time system that is geared more toward inclement weather traction than blitzkrieg cornering. The lowered Sport (Mercedes will also offer a Comfort version) suspension and the optional P225/40R18 Continentals offer more than enough traction for dry roads.</p><p>The engine, too, is a surprisingly willing participant, the turbocharged 2.0L four fairly emulating the performance of a small V6. That’s because the turbo kicks in a crispy 258 pound-feet of torque as low as 1,200 rpm giving the CLA 250 sufficient urge as soon as you tip in the throttle. Pedal to the metal, Mercedes claims the CLA 250 will scoot to 100 kilometres an hour in just 6.7 seconds,000 rpmTransmission, commendable for something portending to be economical and sporty. An upcoming 365-hp CLA 45 AMG version is reputed to lower that time by a further two seconds.</p><p>Indeed, the main impediment to true sportiness is Mercedes’ 7G-DCT dual clutch transmission. Seemingly calibrated for fuel economy, the 7G strives mightily to keep revs low and downshifts both slowly and reluctantly. If you’re playing silly buggers, it will play havoc with your rhythm through apexes. Thankfully, salvation is but a paddle shift away, the manual mode providing crisp downshifts and more immediate throttle response. One also presumes that the AMG version will liberate the transmission as well as more power.</p><p>Inside, the CLA is reminiscent of the B250 that Mercedes recently started importing to Canada,christian louboutin uk. The centre console is all but identical, as is the 5.8-inch LCD navigation screen. That means that (a) the radio/information controls are easily deciphered, and (b) that the navigation system can be a little slow on the uptake,christian louboutin shoes. We missed numerous turns because the system blurted out its instructions too late.</p><p>On the other hand, the new instrument cluster is attractive and the steering wheel sportingly small. And, unlike some other markets, Canadian CLAs feature power driver and passenger front seats. Ditto for a driver’s side knee air bag to complement the front, side and side curtain supplemental restraints. Not bad for Mercedes-Benz Canada’s asking price of $33,christian louboutin sale,900.</p><p>I suspect that the biggest roadblock to CLA sales will be its rear seat accommodations. Simply put, while there’s (barely) sufficient rear seat legroom, that stylishly sloping rear roofline infringes on headroom for anyone over 5-foot-9. Those looking for economical transport for four from Mercedes will be better served by the CLA’s less stylish, but more pragmatic B-Class sibling. Nonetheless,karen millen dresses, I suspect that the CLA will find an eager clientele in Canada. It is, after all, a stylish Mercedes for under $34,christian louboutin heels,000.</p></div>
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| − | == Burma 12,000 displaced and 32 killed after ethnic unrest, ri ==
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| − | <div itemscope itemtype="/BlogPosting"><p>YANGON, Burma — Burma’s government warned Monday that religious violence could threaten democratic reforms after anti-Muslim mobs rampaged through three more towns in the country’s predominantly Buddhist heartland.</p><p>The mobs destroyed mosques and burned dozens of homes over the weekend despite attempts by the government to stem the nation’s latest outbreak of sectarian violence,karen millen sale.</p><p>In an announcement Monday night on state television, the government pledged to make “utmost efforts” to halt the violence and incitement of racial and religious unrest.</p><span class='embed-youtube' style='text-align:center; display: block;'><iframe class='youtube-player' type='text/html' width='920' height='500' src='/embed/63RrEass5jU?version=3&rel=1&fs=1&showsearch=0&showinfo=1&iv_load_policy=1&wmode=transparent' frameborder='0'></iframe></span><p>“We also urge the people to avoid religious extremes and violence which could jeopardize the country’s democratic reform and development,” it said.</p><p>President Thein Sein had declared an emergency in the affected areas of central Burma on Friday and deployed army troops to the worst-hit city, Meikhtila, where at least 32 people were killed. According to the U.N., more than 12,christian louboutin shoes,000 people were displaced. Monday’,christian louboutin sale;s announcement said the displaced people would be resettled as soon as calm was restored.</p><p>Muslims in Meikhtila, who make up about 30 percent of the city’s 100,000 inhabitants, appeared to have borne the brunt of the devastation. At least five mosques were set ablaze from Wednesday to Friday, and most homes and shops burned were Muslim-owned.</p><p>The authorities said they detained at least 35 people allegedly involved in arson and violence. But residents and activists said the police did little to stop the rioters or reacted too slowly, after a dispute Wednesday in Meikhtila between a Muslim gold shop owner and his Buddhist customers brought anti-Muslim mobs into the streets.</p><p>The upsurge in sectarian unrest casts a shadow over Thein Sein’s administration as it struggles to make democratic changes after half a century of army rule officially ended two years ago this month.</p><p>Similar violence that rocked western Rakhine state last year, pitting ethnic Rakhine Buddhists against Rohingya Muslims, killed hundreds and drove 100,000 from their homes.</p><p>The emergence of sectarian conflict beyond Rakhine state was an ominous development, one that indicates anti-Muslim sentiment has intensified nationwide since last year and, if left unchecked, could spread.</p><p>Muslims account for about 4 percent of the nation’,S Colombia ― Politic;s roughly 60 million people,christian louboutin sale, and during the long era of authoritarian rule, military governments twice drove out hundreds of thousands of Rohingya,christian louboutin shoes, while smaller clashes occurred elsewhere. About one third of the nation’s population consists of ethnic minority groups, and most have waged wars against the government for autonomy.</p><p>The latest bloodshed “shows that inter-communal tensions in Burma are not just limited to the Rakhine and Rohingya in northern Rakhine state,” said Jim Della-Giacoma of the International Crisis Group. “Burma is a country with dozens of localized fault lines and grievances that were papered over during the authoritarian years that we are just beginning to see and understand. It is a paradox of transitions that greater freedom does allow these local conflicts to resurface,karen millen outlet.”</p><p>Local authorities in the nation’s largest city,christian louboutin uk, Yangon, more than 500 kilometers (300 miles) south of Meikhtila, told shop owners to close by 8:30 p,christian louboutin uk.m,” is considerably mo. or 9 p.m. Monday night,said he only found. A police officer contacted by phone from the city’s Sanchuang township described the action as a precautionary measure. He declined to give his name.</p><p>Earlier Monday, Deputy Information Minister Ye Thut warned that instigators of violence were stoking rumors to heighten people’s anxieties and emotions.</p><p>For most of Monday, false rumors circulated that riots had broken out in parts of Yangon,christian louboutin sale, and that people were planning to burn down mosques and a busy market called Yuzana Plaza, where many shopkeepers hurriedly shut their stalls. Police were dispatched to Mingalartaungnyunt, an eastern suburb,louboutin shoes, to secure the area, although no violence occurred.</p><p>Ye Htut on his Facebook page warned people not to believe in rumors and to inform the authorities of any suspicious activity.</p></div>
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