“Southern Plains Indian Warrior,” 1894, by American artist Henry F. Farny (1847–1916), 16 inches by 11 inches. (Courtesy of Bonhams)

NEW YORK—At a regular estate sale, a couple who remain anonymous purchased what they thought was just a collectable print of the famous painting “Southern Plains Indian Warrior,” by Henry F. Farny. In fact, they bought the real thing.

The discovered 1894 painting headlined Bonham’s Western Paintings and Sculpture sale in California this month and sold for $362,500, more than three times its pre-sale estimate.

“The consignor walked into our monthly appraisal day in early 2012 at our Los Angeles office with what they thought was a print of a great painting,” said Scot Levitt, vice president and head of the Fine Arts Department, in a statement. 

“I had the pleasure of sharing the news with them that their newly discovered item was not a print at all but a painting worth six figures. They were shocked to find out that their item turned out to be a great work of art,” he said. 

Farny, who like other great American artists was trained in Europe, became infatuated with the Indians and their unique way of life. 

“He devoted almost his entire painting career to documenting their vanishing culture. Farny described with uncanny detail a nostalgic image of an exotic land and people,” according to Bonhams.

A security personnel guards a US Air Force F-22 fighter. The Department of Defense on Tuesday said there will be limits on F-22 Raptor flights over complaints regarding the fighter jet’s oxygen supply problems. (Paul Crock/AFP/Getty Images)

The Department of Defense on Tuesday said there will be limits on F-22 Raptor flights over complaints regarding the fighter jet’s oxygen supply problems.

Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said his agency will take measures to deal with reported safety problems with the jet, which came to prominence several weeks ago when two veteran Air Force pilots complained about the health situation of pilots who fly the F-22 on CBS News’ “60 Minutes.”

On the program, Maj. Jeremy Gordon and Capt. Josh Wilson said other pilots of the F-22, the most expensive fighter jet in use, complained of blackouts, dizziness, and other symptoms, and have said oxygen deprivation is likely the culprit.

Wilson claimed that the one fatal F-22 crash in Alaska was due to the oxygen deprivation pilots routinely experience. He said there will likely be more if nothing is done.

“Nobody is going to be surprised. It’s only a matter of time,” he said in the interview, which aired on May 6.

“Secretary Panetta believes the department must do everything possible to ensure pilot safety and minimize flight risks,” George Little, acting assistant secretary of defense for public affairs, said in a release.

Effective immediately, the Air Force will relegate F-22 flights to areas with nearby landing locations to mitigate the effects of potential oxygen deprivation, potentially leading to “unanticipated physiological conditions during flight,” a release from the Pentagon reads, citing Little.

This means that F-22 patrol flights over Alaska will be put to an end.

Secretary Little confirmed that the decision to limit using the F-22 was in part due to pilots’ complaints and their reluctance to fly it. There are no F-22s currently flying in Afghanistan or Pakistan, and are primarily deployed in the United States and southwestern Asia.

There have also been complaints in the past that the maintenance costs of the F-22, considered the most advanced fighter plane in the world and able to evade radar detection systems, are too high. The Air Force estimates that the planes cost $150 million each, but in a recent estimate, the Government Accountability Office has said each one really costs around $412 million.

The Defense Department said it would not entirely stop using the plane because flying it allows the agency to examine it for defects. The automatic backup oxygen system will be installed in the Raptors by November, with around 10 being upgraded each month.

“There’s a troubleshooting process going on right now,” Navy Capt. John Kirby, a spokesperson with the Pentagon, said. “So the aircraft being in operation assists that process. We believe we’ve mitigated the risks as much as possible.”

If Panetta thinks the problem is too severe, then all the jets will be grounded, Kirby added.

The Air Force has known about and has studied the pilots’ problems since 2008, according to the Defense Department news release.

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The virus-based piezoelectricity device. (Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory)

Converting mechanical energy to electricity is not a new concept, but Californian scientists do have a new approach: using viruses to harvest energy from everyday vibrations like walking.

Researchers from the U.S. Department of Energy’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory have created a generator by coating stamp-sized electrodes with piezoelectric viruses. Piezoelectricity is the buildup of an electric charge in certain materials due to mechanical stimulation.

The viruses—M13 bacteriophages—can convert finger pressure on the electrode to an electric charge, generating about a quarter the voltage of a triple A battery, which generates enough current to flash the number “1” on a small liquid-crystal display.

This demonstration illustrates a potentially new way to fabricate micro-electronic devices that could be powered by activities such as climbing stairs or shutting a door.

“More research is needed, but our work is a promising first step toward the development of personal power generators, actuators for use in nano-devices, and other devices based on viral electronics,” said Seung-Wuk Lee of the lab’s Physical Biosciences Division, in a press release.

The work could lead to a better way of making piezoelectric devices and even expand its range of applications.

Currently, the piezoelectric effect is used in a variety of applications, such as the automotive industry and medical imaging, including devices like air-bag sensors, keyless door entry systems, and MRI and CT scanners.

However, the toxicities and challenges posed by conventional piezoelectric device fabrication have limited their scope.

The advantage of M13 viruses is that they are rod-shaped and self-assemble into organized layers upon which the electrodes depend. The virus also replicates quickly, so supply would not be a concern.

“We’re now working on ways to improve on this proof-of-principle demonstration,” Lee said.

“Because the tools of biotechnology enable large-scale production of genetically modified viruses, piezoelectric materials based on viruses could offer a simple route to novel micro-electronics in the future.”

The work was detailed in the early online publication of Nature Nanotechnology on May 13.

The first part of the video shows how Berkeley Lab scientists harness the piezoelectric properties of the virus to convert the force of a finger tap into electricity. The second part reveals the “viral-electric” generators in action, first by pressing only one of the generators, then by pressing two at the same time, which produces more current. Credit: Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory

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Leader of the radical left Syriza party Alexis Tsipras leaves the presidential palace in Athens on May 15 after talks between party leaders collapse. (Louisa Gouliamaki /AFP/GettyImages)

After failing to form a unity government over how to deal with the European Union-mandated bailout package, Greece will have to hold a new round of general elections.

Greek President Karolos Papoulias on May 15 reached an impasse in his bid to convince the leaders of five parties to form a government. The two other parliamentary parties—the Communist Party and the far-right Golden Dawn party—were not included in the talks.

After he left the presidential palace following the talks, Democratic Left’s Fotis Kouvelis said, “It’s all over,” in reference to whether or not there will be talks on May 16, strongly suggesting that new elections will be in order, the Ekathimerini publication reported.

“There was no agreement between political forces,” he added.

“I assure Greeks that I did the best I could so we would not go to elections,” Kouvelis said, adding that several of the parties made a “political choice” for new elections “to serve their parties’ interests.”

After the talks fell apart, the markets reacted negatively. The Athens stock market dipped as much as 4.86 percent, then closed at 3.6 percent down on the day, the Ekathimerini reported.

The elections will be held next month, meaning that another month of political squabbling can be expected.

“Greece was heading to repeat elections in extremely unfavorable circumstances because party leaders cold-bloodedly put their own interests and those of their parties above the interests of the country,” PASOK leader Evangelos Venizelos was quoted as saying by the Athens News.

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Multiple forest fires sent smoke as far south as Phoenix, Ariz., on May 15. Of the four fires, none are contained, and no dates for containment have been announced. The National Weather Service issued a “Red Flag” warning of critical fire-weather conditions, which may continue through the week.

One of the fires, named The Gladiator Fire, started when a propane tank exploded from a fire at an unidentified man’s house on May 13. His wife fled the house while he stayed behind to successfully rescue his dogs, according to a report by the Arizona Republic-12 News Breaking News Team.

“He handed the dogs out and then crawled out. He almost didn’t make it,” neighbor Margaret Henningsen said, as quoted by the Arizona Republic.

Mandatory evacuation of the community of Crown King and the Horsethief Basin near the Gladiator fire started May 13, according to Inciweb, a joint government agency website. Though Gladiator is the smallest of the four fires, it poses the greatest threat to a populated area. All roads leading to the community are closed. Three structures have been destroyed. No deaths or injuries have been reported.

Tough terrain and dry, windy weather are making the firefighter’s work difficult. Ponderosa pines and chaparral are fueling the fire. Winds are gusting up to 35 mph from the south and southeast.

“Firefighters will focus on perimeter control when they can do so safely and effectively. In areas where direct attack is not feasible, they will focus on protecting individual structures ahead of the fire,” incident commander Joe Reinarz said in a statement. The land is steep and rocky, with mineshafts, heavy brush, and poisonous snakes.

The Southwest Coordination Center, an interagency support website, showed the four fires north and east of Phoenix. The winds from the south and southeast are likely to push the fires north.

As of May 15, eight new, smaller fires had started in the Southwest, according to the National Interagency Coordination Center Incident Management Situation Report. The Gladiator fire covers 1,600 acres in Prescott National Forest and is only 5 percent contained.

The largest fire at Bull Flat at the Fort Apache Agency of the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) spans 5,000 acres and is 35 percent contained. The next largest is the Sunflower fire in Tonto National Forest, affecting 4,600 acres and only 5 percent contained. The Elwood fire is the smallest. It covers 1,505 acres in San Carlos Agency, BIA, and is 5 percent contained.

The spring fires suggest 2012 may be another heavy fire season for the West. In 2011, 86 wildfires burned 365,000 acres of national lands in the arid region, according to the U.S. Forest Service. The Wallow Fire of 2011 was the largest in Arizona history. According to Inciweb, 538,049 acres total and 15,407 acres in New Mexico burned in 2011.

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Albert Einstein referred to quantum entanglement as “spooky action at a distance,” whereby although the objects are physically separate, factors that affect one also affect the other. (Ferdinand Schmutzer/Wikimedia Commons)

The potential for perfectly encrypted satellite-based telecommunications just moved a big step closer with a new quantum teleportation record set by Chinese physicists.

A team of researchers from Shanghai transferred information about photons (light particles) across a distance of 97 km (about 60 miles) using quantum entanglement, breaking their previous record of 16 km (nearly 10 miles) set in 2010.

In quantum entanglement, two objects or qubits are connected in a manner that prevents understanding what one object is experiencing without acknowledging the other one. Albert Einstein referred to this concept as “spooky action at a distance,” whereby although the objects are physically separate, factors that affect one also affect the other.

Quantum teleportation is different from classical teleportation. As the particles are connected but not actually transported, this means encrypted information can be relayed without it being intercepted.

“Long distance quantum teleportation is of particular interest and has been one of the holy grails of practical quantum communication,” wrote the researchers in their study abstract.

The scientists employed a technique called acquiring, pointing, and tracking (APT) to send the information across Qinghai Lake, the largest lake in China. The altitude there is above 3,000 meters (about 10,000 feet), hence reducing any atmospheric turbulence due to weather conditions.

Using a 1.3-watt laser and powerful optics to improve transmission, pairs of entangled photons appeared simultaneously at two separate locations.

Despite loss of qubits due to beam spreading, the researchers teleported 1,171 photons in four hours across a distance one order of magnitude greater than their 2010 experiment.

“Our results show that even with high-loss ground to satellite uplink channels, quantum teleportation can be realized,” concluded the researchers in their paper.

“Furthermore, our APT system can be used to track an arbitrarily moving object with high frequency and high accuracy, which is essential for future satellite-based ultra-long-distance quantum communication.”

The findings were published online in arXiv on May 9 and can be accessed here.

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Police officers inspect the wreckage of vehicles after a bomb attack on the motorcade of Colombia's former Interior and Justice Minister (2002-2004) Fernando Londono. The ex-minister was injured and two people were killed in the attack. (Guillermo Legaria/AFP/GettyImages)

BOGOTA, Colombia—Terrorists in Bogota, Colombia, attacked the motorcade of the former minister, seriously injuring him on Tuesday. Earlier the same day, a car bomb was found and safely detonated elsewhere in the city, which authorities believe was planted as a decoy to distract attention from the attempt to assassinate former Justice and Internal Affairs Minister Fernando Londono.

As the city was buzzing about the disabled car bomb, the explosion in an uptown commercial district created mass chaos with people running and screaming in a scene the Colombian capital has not witnessed in a decade. The driver and bodyguard were killed in the attack and about 30 others were injured.

A surveillance camera from a nearby hardware store caught the attack in action. The footage shows that as soon as the traffic light turned red, a man crosses the street passing behind the bus next to Londono’s black van. He then throws a package at the van, and immediately runs to the next intersection where he is picked up by a black motorcycle and heads south.

The suspect was described as a male wearing a wig, jeans, brown sweater, and white tennis shoes, about 5 feet 7 inches tall, with short black hair.

It has been confirmed that the van of the former minister had level five armor plating, which protected him from certain death. He was reported to be in stable condition after suffering cranioencephalic trauma, thorax trauma, and a ruptured middle ear.

One witnesses described a gruesome scene: “You could only see the legs of the bodyguard who was driving the former minister’s van, the rest of his body, was gone…”

The Marxist Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, guerrilla group is suspected of carrying out the attack.

Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos, on his way to Cartagena for a ceremony to mark the enactment of the Colombia-USA Free Trade Agreement, canceled the trip. In a televised address, Santos condemned the attacks saying they only seek to create panic, and asked citizens to be united against the terrorism. “We are working for the total elimination of the terrorism from the face of our beloved country,” he said.

Bogota Mayor Gustavo Petro, told citizens, “We truly believe this is part of a plan made for the entire city in an attempt to destabilize the citizens just the same day the Free Trade Agreement starts. Security is going to be taken to an extreme in order to avoid more incidents. It’s important to maintain calm everywhere in the city, but please report anything suspicious to the authorities.”

A range of security measures were announced by Bogota police and the government including, forbidding motorcycles to carry passengers, banning certain large vehicles, the installation of 19 control sites in the city, and suspending university classes and children’s activities.

“I ask the community to be calm and permit the progress of the investigations and the policemen work without any speculation,” said Police Gen. Rodolfo Palomino.

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16-year-old is all but unbeatable in his first full-time season in the Cooper Tire IMSA lites series. (prototypeslites.com)

Sixteen-year-old Tristan Nunez, driving the No. 16 Performance Tech Elan-Mazda, won both races at the Cooper Tires IMSA Prototype Lites Monterey event last weekend, tightening his hold on the series championship.

Nunez got his season off to an amazing start by winning the pole and his first two races as a full-time driver in the IMSA Lites series in March, becoming the youngest winner in series history. In April he took the pole, won once and retired once with a blown engine while firmly in the lead.

The young south Floridian returned to total domination at the next Lites event, at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca in Monterey, Calif. on May 11 and 12. The Performance Tech driver again won the pole, and led both races flag to flag.

“What an incredible weekend for the No. 16 ‘Dnt txt n DrV’ entry,” Nunez said in a press release. “I am so proud of the team and what were able to accomplish this weekend.

Two races were scheduled for the weekend, a 30-minute sprint on Friday and a 45-minute run Saturday morning, with qualifying Thursday afternoon.

Nunez not only qualified fastest, he used the least possible number of laps to do so. IMSA Lites mandates that drivers qualify and start the first race on the same set of tires and Laguna Seca’s 11-turn, 2.238-mile track is notoriously sandy. Nunez needed to go fast in a hurry, and he did, setting the best time in half-a-dozen laps.

Nunez was never passed all weekend. (prototypeslites.com)

This gave Nunez the pole for the first race and, as he has in every other race this year, he drove away from the field. His progress was impeded only by three caution periods—the only time the opposition got a chance at him was on the restarts.

Not that restarts were a big problem—the Performance Tech pilot managed each one perfectly. He opened a gap of 3.5 seconds over Antonio Downs in the two laps between the first two caution periods, seven seconds in the seven laps until the next yellow flag, and another 2.8 seconds in the final three laps of racing.

Eurosport Racing’s Antonio Downs finished second, 6.3 seconds ahead of Masters Class winner Charlie Shears of Comprent Motorsports

“The first race of the weekend was tough as there were several cautions and I was concerned that somebody was going to hook onto me and we would have a battle for the lead,” Nunez said. “But we were able to pull away and come out on top with each restart. What a fantastic race! I really enjoyed this race because it challenged me to stay focused on making the restarts perfect. One mistake could have cost us the win.”

The second race was 10 minutes longer than the first (shortened due to heavy fog at the start,) and had two fewer caution periods. Again, Nunez started from the pole, having set the fastest race lap in the first contest, and again was never passed. By the time Europsport Racing’s Jim Garrett went off at Turn Two on lap ten, Nunez had a opened a gap of seven seconds of Charlie Shears.

Daniel Mancini, in the second performance Tech car went into the gravel on lap 12, extending to caution period another two laps. When the race went green on lap 14, Nunez went back to work, opening a gap of three seconds within three laps and then maintaining it until the checkered flag waved on lap 26.

Charlie Shears held on to second and Mikhail Goikhberg of JDC Motorsports, who started 14th after a wreck and a penalty in the first race, worked his way up to third.

“I was glad that we were able to put down the fastest lap of the race to earn our sixth pole win and have a good start to the second race today,” the teen-age driver explained. “I was able to put my head down and run hard today without worrying about cautions and restarts. We ran a smooth race and I was so glad to be able to bring my car with all of the signatures on it to victory lane for a second time this event.”

Nunez doesn’t use his race car to advertise sponsors’ emblazoned on the side of the Performance Tech Elan-Mazda. In its place he has the words “Dnt txt n DrV,” reminding his peers about the dangers of distracted driving. At the Atlanta event, Nunez invited fans to seal their pledges not to text and drive by signing their names on his race car.

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Statues of the terracotta warriors buried with Emperor Qin, the first emperor of China, from 210-209 B.C., are on display at the Discovery Museum in Times Square, through Aug. 26. (Benjamin Chasteen/The Epoch Times)

NEW YORK—The curtain slowly lifts as the last note continues to hum from a video about China’s first emperor in the dark mini-theater of the Discovery Time Square Museum. A life-size, limestone-plated suit of one of the terracotta warriors is revealed.

The audience enters the terracotta exhibition, glimpsing into the mystery of Emperor Qin Shi Huang’s afterlife palace. It was not intended for mortal eyes.

The array of artifacts from the emperor’s tomb complex and various tombs of Qin Dynasty noblemen include bronze food steamers, deadly daggers, and a palace drainage pipe. The pipe features intricate designs left from the wrapping used during its manufacture.

“It’s magnificent,” said museum-goer Elaine Barone, from New Jersey, of the exhibit. “It’s amazing how it was discovered not too long ago. There’s so much that’s yet to be discovered.”

Qing Shi Huang Di was famous for his grand, yet baneful feats. He unified China, created the first part of the Great Wall, and buried Confucian scholars alive.

He used art to recreate his palace to take with him after death. His luxurious tomb complex includes 8,000 terracotta warriors, gardens, and swans, along with musicians and acrobats for entertainment.

He was obsessed with immortality, and claimed his empire will rule for 10,000 generations. He might have lived closer to that goal if it weren’t for his obsession with “longevity elixirs” that were often made of mercury. Some believe his longevity medicine was ironically the cause of his death.

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Statues of the terracotta warriors buried with Emperor Qin, the first emperor of China, from 210-209 B.C., are on display at the Discovery Museum in Times Square, through Aug. 26. (Benjamin Chasteen/The Epoch Times)

Statues of the terracotta warriors buried with Emperor Qin, the first emperor of China, from 210-209 B.C., are on display at the Discovery Museum in Times Square, through Aug. 26. (Benjamin Chasteen/The Epoch Times)

A drainage pipe used at the palace of China's first emperor to to siphon rainwater from 210-209 B.C. (Benjamin Chasteen/The Epoch Times)

Adam Charles in 2004. (Clearwisdom.net)

Adam Charles leads a life that is on the surface like most other peoples’. He is probably happier than most though, because he has a strong sense of purpose: he is a practitioner of 13 years of a Chinese spiritual discipline called Falun Dafa.

“I was intrigued by searching for a deeper meaning in life, and the idea that there is more to life and nature and people than meets the eye,” he said in a recent interview about how he started the discipline.

Charles is 40 years old and the founder of a marketing company in San Francisco.

He began practicing Falun Gong, another name for Falun Dafa, in 1999, a couple of days before the persecution of the practice began in China. He was living in San Francisco, working in advertising, and reading texts like the Taoist classic Tao Te Jing. He used to spend time with refugee monks from Tibet and Nepal.

“I had been casually studying mind-body medicine at the time. I came to understand that people and all living things have a system of energy circulating within them below the surface—a flow of ‘vital energy’ that sustains them,” he says.

The wish to “understand the human mind and body at a deeper level,” and to cultivate the body and the mind, led him to Falun Dafa. Charles defines cultivation as “a profound mind-body transformation, a process of personal elevation.”

This is what he found in Falun Dafa, a practice of five meditative exercises and the study of the moral precepts of truthfulness, compassion, and forbearance.

“This Teacher, whose name was new to me, was explaining topics related to a person’s spiritual transformation one after another. This is information that a monk might spend a lifetime to uncover,” he said.

The experience of reading the book of Falun Gong, Zhuan Falun, is an important part of the discipline, practitioners say. “It was like having a personal conversation with an extremely gifted teacher,” Charles said. “I could recognize the purity and the power of the words, and I could recognize the significance of the teacher even creating a book like this that teaches people cultivation.”

Along with this his body experienced “subtle sensations.” Was that energy he felt circulating? “I knew something was happening to me, that it wasn’t just reading a book. It was having a much deeper experience and more profound experience than that.”

The exercises of Falun Dafa are supposed to open the energy channels in the human body, promoting health and well being. Practitioners often report their body feeling lighter as a result of performing them.

Forms of “cultivation practice,” as it is otherwise known, are the basis of the philosophical and religious traditions of Eastern cultures. The concept encompasses Buddhism, Taoism, and forms of qigong. Tai Chi in its primal form is understood as a type of cultivation.

Chinese legends depict the process as solitary, or taught from one master to a disciple in a setting isolated from society. “To find a teacher who was both willing and able to do this on a large scale, people who have looked into this area of study would find that remarkable, very rare, and historically significant,” Charles said.

Having found a path for his cultivation and spiritual growth, Charles says he does not worry about anything. “People talk about ‘having belief.’ The truth is that belief is subjective, you can believe anything you want,” he said.

“To have knowledge of something, to have experience, is different from having belief. When one has real knowledge and experience and understands the true meaning of life, and can see divine presence within all living things, one naturally becomes free of many worries.”

Katusha’s Joaquim Rodriguez took the Stage 10 win and the race lead in the Giro d’Italia. (Katushateam.com)

Katusha’s Joaquim Rodriguez showed his climbing strength on the torturous double uphill finish of Stage 10 of the Giro d’Italia, attacking in the final few hundred meters to take both the stage win and the leader’s pink jersey.

Rabobank’s Thomas Slagter made a huge effort, leading much of the first climb and much of the second, while Katusha’s Daniel Moreno led Rodriguez up the second ascent, with Garmin’s Ryder Hesjedal and Sky’s Sergio Henao near the front.

Slagter attacked halfway up the final climb, with Rodriguez and NetApp’s Bartosz Huzarski in tow. Three hundred meters out, Rodriguez made his move, dropping Slagter while Movistar’s Giovanni Visconti made a late charge to take third.

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JPMorgan Chase & Co. chairman and CEO Jamie Dimon speaks at Simon Graduate School of Business at the University of Rochester’s New York City Conference on May 3. Dimon spoke with the company’s shareholders recently at the company’s annual shareholder meeting. (Mario Tama/Getty Images)

On May 15, JPMorgan Chase & Co. Chairman and CEO Jamie Dimon was face-to-face with the bank’s shareholders at its annual shareholder meeting.

At the meeting, Dimon retained his position as both the firm’s chairman and chief executive—a role that some large shareholders had wanted to split up for the checking and balancing of power. At the end of the meeting, Dimon shared that “we will do the right thing,” and that may “include claw backs,” presumably from the traders who caused the losses.

Dimon would have already had to face a challenging shareholders meeting, as JPMorgan’s stock had declined by more than 10 percent in the week leading up to the meeting, and Dimon’s pay package of $23 million is among the highest on the Street.

Shareholder meetings have become a forum for dissent and reform at many large banks. Recently, the shareholders of Citigroup Inc. rejected a proposed pay increase for CEO Vikram Pandit. The vote is part of the recent Dodd-Frank financial reform legislation, authorizing shareholders to have a “say on pay,” although the vote is nonbinding and the board ultimately determines executive pay.

But the stakes were raised as the meeting came a mere few days after May 10’s stunning disclosure of a massive $2.3 billion loss—which could increase to $4 billion by the end of the year—due to a trading position accumulated by the company’s chief investment office. The loss led to departure of the head of the department, along with two other executives.

“This should never have happened. I can’t justify it. Unfortunately these mistakes were self-inflicted,” Dimon said, apologizing to shareholders at the meeting.

The CEO reiterated that the bank would not reduce its dividend payout in light of the recent loss, and that JPMorgan has enough capital to withstand the financial hit.

Asked by one shareholder whether he is still opposed to the Volcker Rule given recent events at the bank, Dimon said that he supports “good, strong, simple regulation.” Leaders of other banks, who have argued that regulations are becoming more complex and divergent across jurisdictions, have echoed those sentiments.

Also on May 15, the FBI reportedly opened a preliminary investigation into the $2 billion trading loss. The FBI joins the Securities & Exchange Commission, the Federal Reserve, and the U.K. Financial Services Authority among the regulators looking into the situation.

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Cars fill a parking lot near Yosemite Falls (background) in Yosemite National Park, Calif. Members of the military will now be eligible for a pass providing free access to national parks and recreational sites across the United States. (David McNew/Newsmakers)

Members of the military will be eligible for an annual pass providing free access to national parks and recreational sites across the United States, the federal government announced Tuesday.

The pass is part of the Joining Forces initiative, founded by First Lady Michelle Obama and Dr. Jill Biden, to mobilize all sectors of American society in providing support for U.S. service members and their families.

“First Lady Michelle Obama and I started the Joining Forces initiative last year as a way to honor, recognize, and support our veterans and military families,” said Dr. Biden. “This effort is a wonderful way to give something back, giving our military men and women and their families a chance to reconnect with their loved ones, experience the beauty of this country, and simply have a little fun.”

The pass involves a number of U.S. government agencies, including the Fish and Wildlife Service, USDA Forest Service, and the National Park Service. It will grant free access to more than 2,000 national parks, wildlife refuges, national forests, and other public lands.

The program was announced at a ceremony in the Colonial National Historical Park in Yorktown, Va., on Tuesday.

“Our nation owes a debt of gratitude to our service men and women who make great sacrifices and put their lives on the lines to protect our country and preserve our freedom,” Department of the Interior (DOI) Secretary Ken Salazar said at the ceremony. “In recognition of their contributions and service, we are putting out a welcome mat for these brave men and women and their families at America’s most beautiful and storied sites.”

The annual pass—which has an extensively long official title—is better known as the America the Beautiful Military Pass, and is available to active duty service men and women in the Army, Air Force, Navy, Marines, and Coast Guard, as well as activated National Guard and Reserve members.

The pass was given out to service men and women attending the Virginia ceremony but will be nationally available Saturday, May 19, as part of Armed Forces Day.

The pass is not transferable but will be available to any active duty personnel and dependents, provided they have a current, valid military identification card.

The pass will cover not only the pass owner but any passengers in a private non-commercial vehicle, or the pass owner and up to 3 additional adults for sites that charge per person. Children under 15 are free.

“Our soldiers, sailors, and airmen give so much to this country. The federal family is honored to thank them for their service by offering them an opportunity to visit the natural resources that they defend,” said Assistant Secretary of the Army (Civil Works) Jo-Ellen Darcy.

Recognizing Service Members

First Lady Michelle Obama and Dr. Jill Biden have become a powerful team in supporting American service men and women. Last month Dr. Biden and Gen. Martin Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, announced the winners of the Joining Forces Community Challenge, which sought to encourage and highlight organizations that are helping military families.

Among the winners was Defending the Blue Line (DTBL), a hockey-focused program that facilitates everything from free tickets to matches, equipment, and holiday clinics for kids.

The organization recently donated hockey equipment to a 7-year-old boy whose father was killed during his deployment. They learned that the boy loved playing hockey, and that it was so important for him to get to the rink and bond with other kids.

His coaches formed a web of support for the boy while he was grieving, and they have become like father figures to him. The group says the equipment DTBL provided for him is helping him through his grief.

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New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo in a file photo May 2012 (MANDEL NGAN/AFP/GettyImages)

NEW YORK—Housing projects for the homeless across the state of New York will receive additional funding of almost $20 million to help in the creation of more than 160 units, Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced on Tuesday.

“All New Yorkers should have access to safe, stable, and adequate housing,” the governor said in a statement. “These new housing units will help break the cycle of chronic homelessness and allow individuals and families here in New York build a foundation for a better future.”

The Office of Temporary and Disability Assistance through its Homeless Housing and Assistance Program (HHAP) will provide grants in the sum of $19.6 million in support of five projects in four counties.

The goal of the projects is to build 163 housing units to help families and individuals to move out of homelessness, while paying attention to their special needs, like mental illness or chemical dependency.

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Branch CEO Josh Miller (3rd from L) at the release of a map showing tech companies and available tech positions in the city, with Mayor Michael Bloomberg, Chief Digital Officer Rachel Sterne (2nd from L), Seth Pinksky (2nd from R), and Internet Week New York Chairman David-Michel Davies (L). (Zachary Stieber/The Epoch Times)

NEW YORK—Tech companies are hiring in New York City, and the whole world should know about it.

That’s the gist behind a new “Made in NY” digital map, which charts the locations of digital companies, investors, and co-working and incubator spaces, and includes updated information about who’s hiring.

“We want to make sure everyone knows about these jobs,” said Mayor Michael Bloomberg on Tuesday at the headquarters for Internet Week New York. “Creative people want to be around other creative people.”

On the map, found on the Internet at MappedInNY.com, the greatest concentrations are in or around the Flatiron District, Union Square, NoLita, SoHo, and Little Italy. Almost all are in Manhattan.

“We wanted people who were thinking about becoming a startup entrepreneur, getting into the Internet business, becoming an Internet professional—whether they were engineers who were still in college or people who were living throughout the country—when they were thinking about that, we wanted them to think about New York as a great place to come and pursue that opportunity,” said Internet Week New York Chairman David-Michel Davies.

Katherine Oliver, commissioner of the Mayor’s Office of Media and Entertainment, conceived of the map, which uses data from a recent report by the Center for an Urban Future and will be regularly updated.

On the New York Tech Meetup’s local companies’ site, previously the top place to find tech jobs, 148 of 309 tech companies listed are currently hiring. The live feed on the new digital map shows 324 out of more than 500 listed companies are currently hiring. Rachel Sterne, the city’s chief digital officer, said this equals more than 1,000 jobs.

Branch CEO Josh Miller came to the release on Tuesday to tout New York City over San Francisco. The 21-year-old moved his tech company to San Francisco after starting it here last fall. Now, they’re back in New York City once again.

For Miller, the technology community in New York City, including events such as HackNY, the tech meetup, and General Assembly—a campus where people take classes and work close by other entrepreneurs—made moving back easy. After being questioned by a reporter, he admitted to moving to California specifically to be mentored by the Twitter co-founders, however, Miller added, one of them just came to New York with him.

Germany-based digital strategist Sven Laepple attended the map release. Laepple is in the process of developing a global mobile and social media investment business blocks away from 82 Mercer St., where the press conference was held. His partner already has the space, nearby on Broadway.

“For me, as a European, it is certainly the best place to be, because once you’re in California, you break up with all your friends and family and business contacts—the time shift is just too awful,” Laepple said. “I had an uncle doing business there and he had to go to sleep every day at 7:00—so that’s not life. Here from New York you just take a plane and in seven and a half hours you’re in Berlin or London.”

“I’m considering where my next career move will be, and thinking about how New York could be a place to go, and that helps outweigh some of the concern about moving to New York,” he said. “This definitely confirms in my mind that New York has that vibrant startup community.”

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People at the counter in a branch of the Banque de France in Paris on Feb. 16, to convert French old banknotes in francs to euros. The future of the euro is uncertain with the latest election results from France and Greece. (Thomas Samson/AFP/Getty Images)

Voices predicting the disappearance or at least partial breakup of the euro are getting louder, especially after the latest election results from France and Greece.

Countries that need to be bailed out are screaming at the top of their voices that austerity programs are a pipedream and not acceptable to their psyche. On the other hand, countries that are asked to provide the funds to prevent the possible bankruptcy of a country such as Greece refuse to support a lifestyle they have conscientiously put aside and have themselves accepted economic austerity.

“There is an attitude among some EU member states not in crisis, that it is simply unfair to bail out those states that have lived beyond their means for so many years,” according to a recent article on the Seeking Alpha website.

Reasoning Out the Reckoning

“In the case of the euro, you have a European Central Bank, but you don’t have a European treasury … The lack of a European treasury is the missing piece of the puzzle. Without it, the ECB is limited in the assistance it can provide to eurozone member states,” informed the Seeking Alpha article.

A partial or complete demise of the euro no longer seems to be implausible, given the structure of the European Union. America has a central bank, the Federal Reserve system, as well as the U.S. Department of Treasury, while there is no Treasury in the European Union (EU), but only a European Central Bank (ECB).

A treasury generally has responsibility for printing, receiving, holding and managing monies, as well as disbursing them.

Besides, the ECB has too many masters that have different objectives, so it is quite restricted in how much it can do to address the bailing out of EU countries.

“In theory, the ECB could bail out those member states burdened with excessive debt by printing more money. However, that would require the approval of all 27 member states (not just the 17 eurozone [countries] that use the euro as their national currency) that make up the EU,” said the Seeking Alpha article.

At present, 17 nations are using the euro, up from the 11 states that replaced their existing currency when the euro was launched in 1999. But, it is not necessary to accept the euro as currency when becoming a member in the EU.

“The euro is not the currency of all EU member states. Two countries (Denmark and the United Kingdom) agreed an ‘opt-out’ clause in the treaty exempting them from participation, while the remainder (many of the newest EU members plus Sweden) have yet to meet the conditions for adopting the single currency,” according to the European Commission website.

Fighting Austerity Programs

“It turns out that austerity is extremely unpopular. But if newly elected politicians all over Europe begin rejecting austerity, this puts Germany in a very difficult position. Should Germany be expected to indefinitely bail out all of the members of the eurozone that choose to live way beyond their means,” said Michael T. Snyder, an attorney, on his Economic Collapse website.

Angela Merkel, German chancellor, has made it abundantly clear that any changes in the austerity program required for further disbursements of funds by Germany are not negotiable. Just last month, Merkel had an ally in France’s Nicolas Sarkozy, the outgoing French president, who was voted out of office recently.

The incoming president won on a political platform that demands a new, less austere program be negotiated for receiving funds and thus put his foot in his mouth over something he truly has no control over.

“Francois Hollande, the new French president, has declared that the financial world is his “greatest enemy.” … He may regret making that statement,” said the Economic Collapse article.

According to Snyder, France is already in financial difficulty and thus would be unable to help any other European nation. Also, if France backs off the austerity route that was initiated under Sarkozy and can’t get its debt under control, there is a high probability of it going the same way as Greece.

“Germany is holding all of the cards, but much of the rest of the eurozone does not seem afraid to defy Germany at this point,” said Snyder.

But, if the austerity plan is not accepted, Snyder and other experts are certain that if Germany decides to unload the euro as its currency, the euro would breathe its last breath and the countries that are on the brink of default, such as Greece, Spain, and Portugal, would go bankrupt.

“If Germany pulled out of the euro tomorrow, the euro would absolutely collapse, bond yields for the rest of the eurozone would skyrocket to unprecedented heights, and without German bailout money troubled nations such as Greece would be headed directly for default,” said Snyder.

Preparing to Dump the Euro

“While the second Greek bailout may or may not be complete (depending on whether we get a credit event as a result of it), Germany can and will walk from the euro if it needs to. This is the unforeseen black swan everyone is ignoring,” said an article on the Zero Hedge website.

Snyder concurred and said, “There have been persistent rumors that Germany has been very quietly preparing to leave the euro,” said Snyder.

Germany’s top political team is fully aware that German voters will not agree to bailouts of any other country than Greece, such as Spain or Portugal, given that Germany already pays the largest portion of the bailout funds.

“This is why Germany has decided to play hardball with Greece. It’s also why Germany has put into place a contingency plan that would permit it to leave the euro if it had to,” said an article on the Zero Hedge website.

According to Zero Hedge and Snyder, Germany already has in place a plan that would facilitate the dumping of the euro.

In October 2011, starting with Dr. Philippa Malmgren, a former economics adviser to George W. Bush, the rumors that Germany’s Central Bank had ordered the printing presses to print the German Deutsche mark, the former currency, spread like wildfire. No denial or concurrence to that issue can be found inside or outside of Germany.

Also, during the past six months, Germany has put legislation into place that would allow it to opt out of the euro without losing its membership in the European Union. Then, German legislation allows German banks to get rid of any government bond based on the euro.

What has great importance is that Germany restructured the Special Financial Market Stabilization Fund (SOFFIN), which would be used if large banks, considered too big to fail, were on the verge of going bankrupt. SOFFIN will receive 400 billion euros ($521 billion), of which 80 billion euros ($104.2 billion) are to be used to recapitalize German banks if needed, something that might be necessary if Germany should dump the euro.

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Former International Monetary Fund (IMF) chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn and his wife Anne Sinclair in New York on July 1, 2011. (DON EMMERT/AFP/GettyImages)

NEW YORK—Dominique Strauss-Kahn filed a $1 million lawsuit against Nafissatou Diallo, the hotel housekeeper he allegedly raped a year ago at the New York City Sofitel Hotel. Strauss-Kahn says it was a consensual extra-marital encounter and that Diallo ruined his reputation.

The former French presidential hopeful was arrested last May by New York police, resigning from his position as head of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) four days after his arrest.

Strauss-Kahn’s recent claim for diplomatic immunity from civil lawsuits was rejected by the Bronx Supreme Court Justice Douglas McKeon on May 1.

Now, Stauss-Kahn has filed a $1 million lawsuit against Diallo for ruining his reputation with false claims.

Strauss-Kahn denies rape and his attorneys say Daillo made “malicious and wanton false accusations” that caused “substantial harm to his professional and personal reputation in the United States and throughout the world,” according to his Bronx court filing.

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A tractor-trailer hauling Chobani Yogurt crashed in upstate New York, spilling 18 tons of the creamy substance onto the highway. Crews were still cleaning the site as of Tuesday morning, according to reports.

The Broome County Sheriff’s Office told WBNG-TV that the trailer flipped onto its side in Chenango, located just north of Binghampton, while it was making a turn on Monday night. The yogurt spilled onto the shoulder of the road and down the hillside.

The driver, 24-year-old Oleksandr Brychka of Lincoln, Neb., was not injured in the incident. He was given a ticket for failing to reduce the trailer’s speed and for improper lane use.

Police said Brychka got on the ramp of Interstate 88 (I-88) too fast and when the trailer rounded a curve, it slid over the embankment.

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Police officials in Tate County, Miss., have warned that a man impersonating an officer could be behind a string of recent killings.

Two drivers were killed along roads in northern Mississippi within several days of one another, with officials suspecting the deaths are linked to the same killer.

Officials suspect that the killer may have dressed as a police officer and used lights to pull the cars over, then shot the drivers dead.

“We are not eliminating anything as a possibility on how they got on the side of the road,” said John Champion, a district attorney, according to WMC-TV.

Officials are urging drivers to use their best judgment.

“We urge everyone to be cautious while driving, especially at night,” the Tate County Sheriff’s Office said on its Facebook page. “If someone attempts to pull you over with flashing lights and you feel unsure of stopping, DON’T PULL OVER.”

The office added, “Our deputies have been told not to overreact if someone does not immediately pull over.”

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Bush’s endorsement was one of many recent endorsements from prominent Republicans.

Former President George H. W. Bush and his wife, Barbara, formally endorsed Romney in March, telling the GOP to unite around him to defeat incumbent President Barack Obama.

It seems Republicans are doing just that. Jeb Bush later endorsed Romney, as did former adversary Newt Gingrich.

Rick Santorum recently gave Romney a lukewarm endorsement in an email to his followers, after Romney defeated him in the GOP primary race.

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Counciliors (L to R) James Vacca, Melissa Mark-Viverito, Brad Lander, Al Vann, and Speaker Quinn on Tuesday. (Courtesy of William Alatriste New York City Council)

NEW YORK—The City Council passed a bill Tuesday that will increase wages for “building service employees” that receive financial assistance from the city. The council overrode a veto by Mayor Michael Bloomberg.

The bill will apply to workers of the building sector in certain city-leased or financially assisted facilities. It will require employers to pay $10 an hour with benefits ($11.50 without benefits) to their workers instead of the current state minimum wage of $7.25. The law will take effect in 180 days and does not apply to past contracts.

“I am proud to join with my colleagues today in reaffirming our commitment to the creation of quality jobs in our city,” Councilwoman Melissa Mark-Viverito said in a statement.

On Tuesday at an Internet Week event Mayor Bloomberg reiterated his opposition and announced that he would challenge the bill in court.

“This is not appropriate legislation if we want companies to come here and build this city,” the mayor said.

Bloomberg said the bill would be a disadvantage to one particular industry and expressed instead his support for an all-sector minimum wage increase.

“I am in favor of increasing the minimum wage, because that applies to everyone and it doesn’t single out one industry, or one location, or one union as a political favor, that’s not what good government should be all about,” he said.

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A rarely seen full-page dedication to discussion of political reform by People’s Daily (Internet screenshot)

Immediately following a Sunday news report that Zhou Yongkang had handed over authority of China’s massive public security apparatus and was being investigated, the People’s Daily, in a rare move, dedicated an entire page in Monday’s paper to an article on “political reform.”

An exclusive Epoch Times report had previously revealed that Premier Wen Jiabao declared war on Zhou Yongkang during a meeting of the Politburo. The Daily’s article seems to confirm that Zhou Yongkang has lost power.

According to a Sunday story from Britain’s “Financial Times” from Beijing, operational control of the regime’s massive public security apparatus was taken from Zhou Yongkang and given to Meng Jianzhu, the current minister of public security.

The report also stated that Zhou Yongkang was “forced to make a ‘confession’ to his colleagues on the standing committee” regarding Bo Xilai’s case.

The May 14 article in the People’s Daily was rife with slogans like “protect rights” and “restrain power.”

The article directly stated, “To actively and prudently promote political reform and to develop socialist democratic politics are the enduring and striving goal of the Party and the country.”

Restraining power and protecting rights ensure that people are the masters while enhancing the vitality of the party and mobilizing the “enthusiasm of the people,” read the article.

The article also suggested “self-government by the grass-roots masses” through the concept of “Three Committees in parallel.”

The Three Committees Authority, is composed of the supervisory committee of village affairs through election, the village Party branch, and the village committee.

In other words, levels of authority would help the people of China realize greater political autonomy.

“The full-page political reform article by People’s Daily is a clear indication for the first time that Hu Jintao gives a go to Wen Jiabao’s political reform,” said Washington, D.C.-based China affairs expert Shi Zangsan.

Click www.ept.ms/ccp-crisis to read about the most recent developments in the ongoing power struggle within the Chinese communist regime. In this special topic, we provide readers with the necessary context to understand the situation. Get the RSS feed. Get the new interactive Timeline of Events. Who are the Major Players?

The Epoch Times reported that Hu Jintao insisted in a meeting that an investigation against Zhou Yongkang would be necessary, and agreed that the investigation would be “fair,” but “secret.” This method of dealing with Zhou is known as “slowly boiling a frog.” The Epoch Times has been reporting Zhou’s expected fall for weeks.

Those predictions began when Wang Lijun sought asylum in February at the U.S. consulate in Chengdu. Wang’s attempted defection ensured the fall of his boss, former Party Secretary of Chongqing Bo Xilai and Bo’s protector Zhou Yongkang. Wang is believed to have revealed Bo and Zhou’s plan for coup to take down China’s expected next leader Xi Jinping and seize power within two years. Bo fell within weeks of the incident and is now under investigation.

Wang Lijuan’s dramatic defection attempt triggered rumors mainly from within the Communist Party that authorities were laying the groundwork for dealing with Zhou Yongkang.

On May 11, The Epoch Times exclusively reported on the showdown between Wen Jiabao and Zhou Yongkang during a Poliburo meeting. In the presence of Chinese Communist veterans, Premier Wen called for an investigation on Zhou Yongkang. When Zhou Yongkang responded by insisting that Wen Jiabao’s wife, Zhang Peili also be investigated, Wen Jiabao replied, “An investigation will not be a problem. If my family or I were involved in any embezzlement, I would immediately resign!”

Since then, Zhou Yongkang and Zeng Qinghong, the head of the National People’s Congress as well as Jiang Zemin’s close ally, have quieted down.

Read the original Chinese article. 

chinareports@epochtimes.com

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Pastor Bob Fu, Founder and President of the ChinaAid Association, translates Chen Guangcheng speaking live via speakerphone for Rep. Chris Smith, at the House Foreign Affairs subcommittee on Africa, Global Health and Human Rights, May 15. (Shar Adams/The Epoch Times)

Blind Chinese activist Chen Guangcheng has again spoken directly to the U.S. Congress from China, this time condemning Chinese authorities for the brutal treatment of his family.

“My elder brother was taken away by these thugs without any reasoning and then they came back and starting beating up my nephew,” Chen said in a phone call and speaking through an interpreter in Washington, “What has been done by these public security officers is a total violation against China’s own constitution and Chinese criminal law and those charges against my nephew is in contradiction of Chinese law as well.”

Chen was speaking to the House Foreign Affairs subcommittee on Africa, Global Health and Human Rights, Tuesday May 15.

Click www.ept.ms/ccp-crisis to read about the most recent developments in the ongoing power struggle within the Chinese communist regime. In this special topic, we provide readers with the necessary context to understand the situation. Get the RSS feed. Get the new interactive Timeline of Events. Who are the Major Players?

It is the second time Chen, a lawyer and outspoken opponent of China’s one child policy, has spoken to Congress after he called into a Congressional-Executive Commission on China hearing May 3.

Chen escaped house arrest last month and, injured, fled to the U.S. embassy in Beijing. After threats from Chinese authorities that his wife and children would be harmed, he agreed to leave the embassy and was taken to a hospital where he remains. While his immediate family are with him, his extended family have suffered violent retribution for his actions.

Pastor Bob Fu, founder of the ChinaAid association and the contact for Chen, told the hearing that plain clothes policemen had descended on Chen’s brother’s house, severely beating him and his wife. Their son attempted to defend his parents from what he assumed were thugs and attacked the police with a knife.

The nephew has now been charged with attempted murder and could face the death sentence if convicted, Fu said.

Chen, 41, said the violence by authorities was part of “a pattern against me and my family.”

There were sometimes between 40 to 80 officials and guards in and around his home, he said, and he and his wife were regularly beaten.

Chen said he and his wife were again surrounded by guards at the hospital and were unable to receive visitors nor leave the hospital accommodation. His children, however, thought hospital was “wonderful” as they were able to play outside under supervision of nurses.

“You can tell how terrible it has been back in their home town,” he said,”they were only allowed one outing in a day there.”

Chen thanked supporters overseas adding, “especially the American people who show their care about the quality of justice as a universal value.”

When told that he was a hero for his courage in standing up for human rights Chen said, “I am not a hero. I’m just doing what my conscience asks me to do. I cannot be silent when facing these evils against women and children.”

The chairman of the human rights subcommittee, Rep. Christopher Smith Smith, R-N.J., said he called the hearing not only to check on the well being of Chen and his family, but also to rally support from Congress and the White House for Chen’s extended family and friends.

“Eleven days later, Mr. Chen is still in the same hospital room, with his wife and two children under de facto house arrest,” Congressman Smith said.

“Although Mr. Chen is under the impression that his application for a passport was made last Sunday when he was visited by a Chinese official, and under Chinese law, blind persons are supposed to be able to apply orally for travel documents, he has not been notified of any further action on the application.”

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An armed fighter of the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) is seen in Southern Sudan. The group was dealt a major blow when a top LRA commander was captured May 12. (Stuart Price/AFP/Getty Images)

Just a few days after Uganda captured a top Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) commander, the United Nations urged officials to take action against him.

Caesar Acellam Otto was captured by the Ugandan army in the Central African Republic, one of the places where the rebel group’s leader, Joseph Kony, is believed to be hiding.

The U.N. envoy for children and armed conflict, Radhika Coomaraswamy, said in a statement that Acellam is responsible for some of the LRA’s most egregious crimes against humanity and is one of the “worst perpetrators of child rights violations” in the world.

Coomaraswamy urged the Ugandan government “not [to] apply amnesty but instead, bring him to justice,” referring to Uganda’s amnesty laws that provide protection for former LRA members, including war crimes and crimes against humanity.

“The arrest and subsequent prosecution of Acellam would send a strong message to the LRA leadership that they will be held accountable for their actions,” she added.

Acellam was captured along with his wife and child, as well as a 12-year-old girl from the Central African Republic.

Coomaraswamy called on the Ugandan army to give children who were enslaved by the LRA to relevant child protection services.

The LRA gained notoriety after the U.S.-based Invisible Children uploaded the “Kony 2012” video several months ago, which later went viral and accumulated more than 100 million hits.

The LRA and Kony are wanted for using child soldiers, rape, and mutilating their victims over the past 26 years. The group reportedly has been vastly weakened over the past several years, with Kony spending time between the Central African Republic and Sudan, and commanding only around 200 to 500 fighters.

Earlier this year, the United States deployed around 100 military advisers to help aid in Kony’s capture and other LRA officials. Kony and LRA leaders are wanted by the International Criminal Court for war crimes and other offenses.

Jacques Beres, French Doctor and co-founder of Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF, Doctors Without Borders), holds a press conference following his return from the besieged city of Homs February 27 in Paris. (Mehdi Fedouach/AFP/Getty Images)

Syrian forces are going after medical workers and patients who have been injured during the conflict, arresting them or subjecting them to torture, according to Doctors Without Borders (Médecins Sans Frontières, MSF).

“Being caught with patients is like being caught with a weapon,” a Syrian surgeon, who wished not to be identified, told MSF. “The atmosphere in most medical facilities is extremely tense; health care workers send wounded patients home and provide only first aid so that facilities can be evacuated quickly in the event of a military operation.”

Doctors have been forced to use makeshift clinics to treat people who have been wounded during the now 15-monthlong crackdown, MSF said.

The organization said it sent teams into the country secretly as it is not allowed to be there. Syria, it said, has not authorized MSF to operate in the country despite repeated requests in recent months.

MSF teams were able to operate briefly in the northwestern city of Idlib and central city of Homs, the hardest hit areas during the Syrian regime’s crackdown on dissent and rebel soldiers. Otherwise it is offering support by sending medical supplies from neighboring countries, to Idlib, Homs, and other places like Damascus, Daraa, and Hama.

The organization called on the regime and opposition fighters to respect the safety of wounded people, medical workers, and doctors.

“In one public hospital we worked as hard as we could for three days straight,” an MSF surgeon said. “We operated on 15 wounded people and then had to pack everything up in 10 minutes after being notified of an imminent attack. 

“Elsewhere in the Idlib region, an operating room was closed because it was simply too dangerous to perform surgery on wounded patients,” the surgeon added. “Doctors were threatened, and they discouraged us from setting up a medical facility because the situation was so risky.”

(L-R) Peter Sagan of Liquigas-Cannondale celebrates his win ahead of Heinrich Haussler and Tom Boonen in Stage Three of the Amgen Tour of California. (Doug Pensinger/Getty Images)

Peter Sagan of Liquigas once again proved the strongest man in the peloton, blasting past the competition in the final hundred meters of Stage Three of the Tour of California to take his third win and keep the leader’s yellow jersey.

The 22-year-old Slovakian champion easily stayed near the front of the peloton through the stage’s three categorized climb, and when all organization fell apart in the final kilometer, showed his skill at the right wheel to follow.

With the riders sprinting into a headwind, timing was everything, and Sagan times his run perfectly. Garmin rider Heinrich Haussler started the sprint, with Sagan third wheel and Omega’s Tom Boonen fourth.

Haussler went too soon, and faded slightly in the final few kilometers; Boonen waited a fraction of a second too long and finished third. Sagan used his competition as a leadout train, then came around the two riders in front of him and crossed the line just ahead of Haussler, completing his sweep of the Tour of California’s opening stages

Perfect Stage for a Power Rider

Stage Three was a perfect stage for a power rider. It featured three categorized climbs: Cat 4 Calaveras Road 8.4 km into the route; Cat 2 Mt. Diablo at 87.4 km and Cat. 3 Patterson Pass, 15 km from the finish line.

This last climb was a perfect launching platform for crazy breakaway attacks; a rider who got a small advantage on the climb could push hard on the descent and possibly spoil the day for the sprinters, either by forcing them to work too hard on the climb or winning the stage, making the sprinters fight for second place.

A strong man like Peter Sagan or Omegas Pharma-Quicktep’s Tom Boonen were well-suited to this stage. The final climb was ling but not steep, so the heavier riders could keep up with the pure climbers and still have legs left at the end.

A four-rider break developed just over the first Cat 3 climb, only 8.5 kilometers into the 185.5 km stage. These four riders— Sébastian Salas (Team Optum,) Jonathan Patrick McCarty (Spidertech,) Jeremy Vennell (Bissell Cycling,) Wilson Alexander Marentes (Colombia-Coldeportes,)—got a gap of about eight minutes before Jeremy Vennell decided they were slacking and attacked, 69 km from the finish line. Wilson Marentes latched on, and the pair stayed away until the 25-km mark.

Liquigas and Omega Pharma-Quickstep led the chase, Liquigas riding for race leader Peter Sagan, Omega for roleur Tom Boonen, who had wanted to challenge Sagan in the first stage but punctured 500 meters from the finish.

Next: Crosswinds, HeadwindsCrosswinds, Headwinds

Once the peloton was all together Garmin kicked up the pace, trying to split the peloton in the crosswinds. They succeeded, but only briefly, as the road turned and the 40 or so riders who had been dropped made it back.

Two riders attacked 19 km from the finish, six km from the final climb. Fabio Duarte (Colombia-Coldeportes) was the first to go, covered immediately by Nicolas Roche (Ag2R.) This pair held the lead all the way up the long Patterson pass climb, holding a gap of 18 seconds over the crest, and 20 seconds at ten km. This pair couldn’t stretch the gap, and at 8.3 km were caught.

Five riders attacked as soon as the catch was made, with three more chasing. This group got nowhere; within 500 meters the peloton was whole again.

Liquigas then moved to the front to raise the pace to 50 kph (31 mph,) tired of the silly attacks. Tim Duggan who had pulled most of the way up the climb, continued The sprinters, some of whom had suffered on the climb, now had to push to stay in position; power riders like Boonen and Sagan pushed to the front, ready to challenge the sprinters’ teams.

Tim Duggan of Liquigas pulled off at 3.5 km, letting Rabobank take the lead, riding for Michael Matthews. But Rabobank lacked the firepower; they ran out of riders 1300 meters from the finish and the field fell into disarray.

Peter Sagan barely beats beats Heinrich Haussler (R) across the line to win Stage Three. The Slovakian rider continues to show skills beyond his years in 2012 Tour of California. (Ezra Shaw/Getty Images)

It was every rider for himself around the final bend and onto the last straight run to the line. Sagan, who had been 20 riders back when Rabobank pulled off, immediately headed to the front, realizing he needed to find someone fast to follow.

Sagan settled on Heinrich Hassler, who had Optum’s Alex Candelario on his wheel. Sagan tucked in and let this pair get him close to the line. Boonen, seeing this, latched onto Sagan, but the Omega rider waited a fraction of a second too long and lost by a wheel-length.

Stage Four is the longest of the Tour at 209.5 km, with six categorized climbs, but they are early enough in the stage to allow everyone to come together in time for a sprint finish. Peter Sagan has a very good chance of winning this stage and continuing his complete domination of the 2012 Tour of California.

In a press conference held by the State Council Information Office on May 7, Civil Affair Minister Li Liguo said a new liberal policy to allow direct registration of social organizations with Minister of Civil Affairs has been in place since the second half of last year. (Ministry of Civil Affairs)

Political parties, human rights organizations, and other groups that are normally suppressed—often violently—in China, will now be allowed to register themselves under a major rule change.

The Chinese regime’s minister of civil affairs recently said that the ministry is pushing to reform the management of social organizations to allow their direct registration with the Minister of Civil Affairs (MCA). This may be part of measures Premier Wen Jiabao is pushing to advance political reform in communist China.

In a press conference held by the State Council Information Office on May 7, Civil Affair Minister Li Liguo said a new liberal policy to allow direct registration of social organizations with MCA has been in place since the second half of last year, reports Chinese state newspaper, People’s Daily.

According to another state media, Xinhua, current regulations on social organizations require that a non-governmental organization must find an administrative body to oversee its activities as a precondition before they can register with the civil affairs authorities. In other words, as things stand, all social organizations need to be monitored by the regime before they can register.

Under the new registering system, social organizations can register directly with MCA.

“Authorities will review such organizations from angles such as their founding conditions, necessity of establishment, activity objective and their roles in social and economic development,” said Li.

In addition, Li made it clear that all social organizations, including those involved with human rights and politics, will have “equal” status for registration and face the “same” supervisory review process.

MCA is a ministry under the State Council, and therefore under the leadership of Premier Wen Jiabao. Thus, opening the door to allow direct registration of “all social organizations including those involved with human rights and politics” must have been approved by Wen. Moreover, top leaders of the Party have a practice of acting collectively when making decisions on important issues, which means Wen is not the only senior Party leader who has approved this reform measure, according to Deutsche Welle.

Just over a year ago, during a meeting of the National People’s Congress on March 10, 2011, Chairman of National People’s Congress Standing Committee Wu Bangguo dismissed any notion of reform and proclaimed the Five NOs: “no multi-party election; no diversified guiding principles, no separation of powers, no federal system and no privatization.”

Wu also said that the Five NOs had been examined and approved by the Politburo Standing Committee, the regime’s nine-member ruling organ.

The next day, several Party top leaders said they “fully agreed” with Wu’s position on the Five NOs, reported Hong Kong’s Ming Pao. Among them were Jia Qinglin (Chairman and Party secretary of the National Committee of the People’s Political Consultative Conference), Li Keqiang (vice Premier), and Zhou Yongkang (head of domestic security apparatus, the Political and Legislative Affairs Committee). However, Wen Jiabao did not comment on Wu’s statements.

Continued on next page: China’s political climate has changed dramatically after a series of incidents …

Recently, China’s political climate has changed dramatically after a series of incidents, including former Chongqing police chief Wang Lijun’s failed attempt to defect at the U.S. Consulate in Chengdu on Feb. 6, the ouster of former Party Secretary of Chongqing Bo Xilai, and blind Chinese human rights lawyer Chen Guangcheng’s daring escape from extralegal house arrest and fleeing to U.S. Embassy in Beijing. These were all heavy blows to Zhou Yongkang, who on Sunday reportedly stepped down as the head of China’s public security apparatus.

Zhou is part of the hardline faction that includes Bo Xilai and former Party leader Jiang Zemin. They all have torture and genocide lawsuits against them for their roles in persecuting Falun Gong in China. To keep from being held legally accountable, these men have been contending for power with Hu Jintao’s faction. Hu is the leader of the Youth League faction

Zhou’s hardline faction is also the biggest obstacle for Wen Jiabao’s political reform, according to several China experts.

Recent events suggest that faction is in the process of being purged.

Zhang Tianliang, a commentator and professor of George Mason University said in an interview with New Tang Dynasty Television (NTD TV) that the domestic security apparatus headed by Zhou has destroyed public justice in China and has obstructed the transformation of China’s society.

Another commentator, Hong Jiang, told NTD TV that in order to push for political reform, Hu and Wen must take down Zhou Yongkang.

Click www.ept.ms/ccp-crisis to read about the most recent developments in the ongoing power struggle within the Chinese communist regime. In this special topic, we provide readers with the necessary context to understand the situation. Get the RSS feed. Get the new interactive Timeline of Events. Who are the Major Players?

Wen Jiabao has openly stressed the importance of political reform on many occasions in recent years.

In a press conference of the 5th session of the 11th Nation People Congress on March 14, 2012—the day before Bo Xilai was removed from his post as Party Secretary of Chongqing—Wen said, “Reform has reached a critical stage. Without the success of political reform, economic reforms cannot be carried out.”

He also said, “In my last year of office, I will be as committed as ever like an old skate and make my utmost efforts to serve the people, make up for the shortfall in my work with new achievements and win people’s understanding and forgiveness.”

With Zhou Yongkang reportedly losing power, the alliance of Hu Jintao, Wen Jiabao, and presumptive next Party head Xi Jinping has obviously taken the upper hand.

Chinese state media reported that Guangdong province is the first province to implement direct registration for social organizations. Wang Yang, a key player in Hu’s Youth League Faction, is the Party Secretary of Guangdong Province. The new policy has effectively overridden Wu Bangguo’s Five NO’s. This might be a sign that the Party is open to more possibilities and Wen Jiabao is paving the way for political reform.

Read the original Chinese article.

chinareports@epochtimes.com

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French President Francois Hollande and German Chancellor Angela Merkel (not pictured) speak to the media in Berlin, Germany following talks at the Chancellery hours after Hollande's inauguration in Paris on May 15. (Sean Gallup/Getty Images)

Francois Hollande was officially inaugurated as the new president of France, ending the Nicolas Sarkozy era on Tuesday.

Hollande, a Socialist, took the oath of office in a low-key inauguration ceremony and then headed to Germany to meet with Chancellor Angela Merkel, France24 reported.

“Europe needs plans. It needs solidarity. It needs growth,” he said in a televised speech.

As he flew to Germany, however, his plane was apparently hit by lightning, with no one hurt, the BBC reported. The plane turned around, and Hollande was forced to board another flight to Germany.

In their meeting, Hollande will likely press Merkel, who is pro-austerity, to promote growth throughout in the countries using the euro.

“To our partners I will propose a new pact that links a necessary reduction in public debt with indispensable economic stimulus,” he said on Tuesday. “And I will tell them of our continent’s need in such an unstable world to protect not only its values but its interests.”

Mitchell Guist, a cast member of History’s reality series “Swamp People,” died at age 48 after collapsing onboard his boat on the Belle River in Louisiana early Monday. The boat returned to a landing in St. Martin, La. 

Assumption Parish Sheriff Mike Waguespack told The Associated Press that Guist was pronounced dead at a Louisiana hospital. The cause of the death has yet to be determined. 

“We are extremely saddened to report that our friend and beloved member of the ‘Swamp People’ family, Mitchell Guist, passed away earlier today,” History said in a statement. “Mitchell passed on the swamp, doing what he loved. We appreciate your respect for the Guist family’s privacy and hope you join us in sending our thoughts and prayers to brother, Glenn, and the rest of the Guist family.” 

“Swamp People,” first broadcast on History in summer 2010, follows the day-to-day activities for a couple of Cajuns who live and hunt Alligators for a living in the Atchafalaya River Basin swamp in Louisiana. The show is now is in its third season. 

It’s the best and worst time of the year. It is time to say goodbye to some of the small screen favorites that you curled up on the couch to and say hello to new series that could end up being your new best friend. 

Even though after massive advertisement campaigns, some newcomers such as FOX’s thriller “Alcatraz” failed to make the cut, while others, including sitcom “Don’t Trust the B—- in Apartment 23,” “New Girl,” and “2 Broke Girls” successfully made it through. 

The next season will also see classics that have lasted seemingly forever, including “American Dad,” “Bones,” “Gossip Girl,” and “How I Met Your Mother,” while others, such as “House” and “CSI: Miami” don’t seem to have the same luck. 

Below is a full list of renewed, canceled, and pilot shows, courtesy to TV Guide: 

RENEWED
90210 (CW)
2 Broke Girls (CBS)
30 Rock (NBC)
The Amazing Race (CBS)
American Dad (Fox)
America’s Funniest Home Videos (ABC)
America’s Next Top Model (CW)
The Bachelor (ABC)
The Bachelorette (ABC)
The Big Bang Theory (CBS)
The Biggest Loser (NBC)
Blue Bloods (CBS)
Body of Proof (ABC)
Bones (Fox)
The Cleveland Show (Fox)
Castle (ABC)
Community (NBC)
Celebrity Apprentice (NBC)
Cougar Town (moving to TBS)
Criminal Minds (CBS)
CSI (CBS)
CSI: NY (CBS)
Dancing With the Stars (ABC)
Don’t Trust the B—- in Apartment 23 (ABC)
Family Guy (Fox)
Fashion Star (NBC)
Fringe (Fox)
Glee (Fox)
Gossip Girl (CW)
The Good Wife (CBS)
Grey’s Anatomy (ABC)
Grimm (NBC)
Happy Endings (ABC)
Hart of Dixie (CW)
Hawaii Five-0 (CBS)
How I Met Your Mother (CBS)
Kitchen Nightmares (Fox)
Last Man Standing (ABC)
Law & Order: SVU (NBC)
The Mentalist (CBS)
The Middle (ABC)
Mike & Molly (CBS)
Modern Family (ABC)
NCIS (CBS)
NCIS: Los Angeles (CBS)
New Girl (Fox)
Nikita (CW)
The Office (NBC)
Once Upon a Time (ABC)
Parenthood (NBC)
Parks and Recreation (NBC)
Person of Interest (CBS)
Private Practice (ABC)
Raising Hope (Fox)
Revenge (ABC)
Scandal (ABC)
Shark Tank (ABC)
Smash (NBC)
The Simpsons (Fox)
Suburgatory (ABC)
Supernatural (CW)
Survivor (CBS)
Touch (Fox)
Two and a Half Men (CBS)
Undercover Boss (CBS)
Up All Night (NBC)
The Vampire Diaries (CW)
The Voice (NBC)
Wife Swap (ABC)
Whitney (NBC)
The X Factor (Fox)

LIKELY IN
American Idol (Fox)
Bob’s Burgers (Fox)

LIKELY OUT
Rules of Engagement (CBS)

CANCELED/ENDING
Alcatraz (Fox)
Allen Gregory (Fox)
Are You There, Chelsea? (NBC)
Awake (NBC)
Best Friends Forever (NBC)
Bent (NBC)
Breaking In (Fox)
Charlie’s Angels (ABC)
Chuck (NBC)
CSI: Miami (CBS)
Desperate Housewives (ABC)
Extreme Makeover: Home Edition (ABC)
The Finder (Fox)
The Firm (NBC)
Free Agents (NBC)
GCB (ABC)
A Gifted Man (CBS)
H8R (CW)
Harry’s Law (NBC)
House (Fox)
I Hate My Teenage Daughter (Fox)
Man Up! (ABC)
Missing (ABC)
Napoleon Dynamite (Fox)
NYC 22 (CBS)
One Tree Hill (CW)
Pan Am (ABC)
The Playboy Club (NBC)
Prime Suspect (NBC)
Remodeled (CW)
Ringer (CW)
The River (ABC)
Rob (CBS) 
The Secret Circle (CW)
Terra Nova (Fox)
Unforgettable (CBS)
Work It (ABC)

PILOTS
666 Park Avenue (ABC)
1600 Penn (NBC)
Animal Practice (NBC)
Arrow (CW)
Beauty and the Beast (CW)
Ben & Kate (Fox)
The Carrie Diaries (CW)
Chicago Fire (NBC)
Cult (CW)
Do No Harm (NBC)
Elementary (CBS)
The Family Tools (ABC)
First Cut (CW)
The Following (Fox)
Friend Me (CBS)
Go On (NBC)
The Goodwin Games (Fox)
Golden Boy (CBS)
Guys With Kids (NBC)
How to Live with Your Parents for the Rest of Your Life (ABC)
It’s Messy (Fox)
Infamous (NBC)
Last Resort (ABC)
Made in Jersey (CBS)
Malibu Country (ABC)
The Mob Doctor (Fox)
The Neighbors (ABC)
The New Normal (NBC)
Nashville (ABC)
Next Caller (NBC)
Partners (CBS)
Red Widow (ABC)
Revolution (NBC)
Save Me (NBC)
Vegas (CBS)
Zero Hour (ABC)

Groupon Inc.’s stock surged as much as 27 percent to $14.93 on Tuesday. Pictured is the front page of Groupon for a New York user. (Helena Zhu/The Epoch Times)

A day after announcing narrowing loss for this year’s first quarter, Groupon Inc.’s stock surged as much as 27 percent to $14.93 on Tuesday. Along with Mondays 19 percent increase, the shares have rebounded by over a third so far this week. 

The Chicago-based company reported an 89 percent increase in revenue to $559.3 million from January to March, compared with $295.5 million in the same period last year. The company has sharply narrowed its net loss from $146.5 million in the first quarter last year, or $0.48 per share, to $11.7 million, or $0.02 per share, this year. 

“We are pleased to report a record quarter that demonstrates our progress in unlocking the opportunity in local commerce for merchants and customers worldwide,” Groupon CEO Andrew Mason said in a press release. 

The company’s surge surpassed Wall Street’s expectations and gave its investors hope that the company can turn its luck around. 

Groupon said that it is expecting between $550 million and $590 million in sales this quarter with its active customers expanding to 37 million as of the end of March, a 140 percent increase from a year ago. The company’s technological improvements in the mobile space have pushed sales to grow, to where nearly 30 percent of Groupon’s North American transactions in April were completed on mobile devices. 

Despite the recent surge, Groupon’s shares still remain below its $20 initial public offering on NASDAQ. 

Rebekah Brooks, former Chief Executive of News International, addresses the media outside a lawyer's office in London, on May 15. (Carl Court/AFP/GettyImages)

Rebekah Brooks, the former head of Rupert Murdoch’s British newspapers, and her husband, Charlie Brooks, were charged with conspiracy to obstruct justice during the phone-hacking inquiry, it was reported.

Brooks, who specifically served as the world editor and also the News International chief executive, was charged with three separate counts of conspiracy to obstruct justice, allegedly attempting to hide evidence of the hacking from investigators, The Guardian reported.

She allegedly removed seven boxes of material from the archives of News International, prosecutors said.

Charlie Brooks, a racehorse trainer, also faces similar charges, according to Alison Levitt, principal legal advisor to Britain’s Director of Public Prosecutions, the newspaper reported.

There are four other people who face charges, including former personal assistant Cheryl Carter, security worker Daryl Jorsling, chauffeur Paul Edwards, and News International head of security Mark Hanna.

Levitt said, “They are all due to answer their bail at police stations later today,” the London Telegraph reported.

Brooks and her husband released a statement on Tuesday, denying all charges. “We deplore this weak and unjust decision. After the further unprecedented posturing of the [Crown Prosecution Service] we will respond later today after our return from the police station,” it reads.

Police told the Aftenposten newspaper that the man was immediately rushed to a nearby hospital.

“He lit himself near the entrance, and the fire was extinguished by security guards and police who were on-site,” spokesperson Kjell Jan Kverme was quoted as saying. Officials said they are not sure why he set himself on fire or if it relates to Brevik’s trial.

His flame-engulfed clothing was torn off by police and security guards, but his injuries were described as serious, including severe burns on his chest, and he is now in a coma, the newspaper reported. He likely doused himself in a flammable liquid such as gasoline, officials said.

Other officials told the Dagbladet newspaper that the man appeared deranged and before he set himself on fire, claimed to be the victim of a conspiracy.

Breivik has admitted to setting off a car bomb that killed eight people in Oslo’s government district before heading to Utoya Island, where he launched a shooting spree that killed 69 people at a Labor Party summer youth camp last year.  

French soldiers sit alongside a cache of weapons seized from suspected Somali pirates as they arrive by launch at the French warship 'Le Nivose' on May 3, 2009, as part of EU's Atalante anti-piracy naval mission. (Pierre Verdy/AFP/Getty Images)

The European Union anti-piracy unit struck a Somali pirate base for the first time on Tuesday, using an attack helicopter to strike pirate-owned boats used to carry out kidnappings.

“The focused, precise, and proportionate action was conducted from the air and all forces returned safely to EU warships on completion,” a statement from the EU Naval Force reads. It added that no Somalis were injured or killed ashore in the raid.

No EU soldiers were deployed on land and the statement stressed that the action is meant to disrupt pirate activity along the coast.

“We believe this action by the EU Naval Force will further increase the pressure, and disrupt pirates’ efforts to get out to sea to attack merchant shipping and dhows,” Rear Adm. Duncan Potts with the EU said in the statement.

A dhow is a sailbout where the sail runs the length of the boat.

“The local Somali people and fishermen—many of whom have suffered so much because of piracy in the region, can be reassured that our focus was on known pirate supplies and will remain so in the future,” Potts added.

The operation was conducted under the authority of United Nations Security Council Resolution 1851 and was fully supported by the Transitional Federal Government of Somalia, according to the EU.

Somali pirate bases run the entire length of the coastline of the war-torn country that has gone without a stable, centralized government since 1991. According to a report last month from the International Maritime Bureau, piracy has gone down in the region in 2012; but pirates still pose a threat to vessels traveling though the Gulf of Aden and in the Indian Ocean.

The pirates have attacked ships as far away as 1,750 miles from the Somali coast.

NBC's "America's Got Talent" returned to 10.3 million viewers on Monday evening. (David McNew/Getty Images)

Despite its high-profile addition of radio personality Howard Stern as the show’s new judge, NBC’s “America’s Got Talent” premier on Monday received a rating of 3.6, down 16 percent from last year, according to Entertainment Weekly. 

The two-hour programming returned to 10.3 million viewers at 8 p.m. EDT in its seventh season, vying for viewers against CBS’s marathon of season finales, starting with an extended one-hour “How I met Your Mother” (8.5 million, 3.6) and two-hour finale of “Two and a Half Men” (11.3 million, 3.8). Its “Mike and Molly” (3.3) and “Hawaii Five-0” (2.7) also saw gains. The addition of Stern has stirred controversy for his profanity and sex talks. Watchdog group Parents Television Council has sent a letter to 91 companies that have purchased commercial space during “America’s Got Talent” in the past to advise them against advertising with the show again due to Stern’s “reputation for sleaze and misogyny.”

(Ethan Miller/Getty Images)

Wireless venture LightSquared Inc. announced Monday that it has filed for bankruptcy to buy itself “sufficient breathing room” to resolve the concerns of U.S. regulators who impeded the company’s plan to deliver high-speed internet from coast to coast. 

The filing provided a rare glimpse into the two-decade-old private Reston, Va.-based company’s operations, a range of unsecure creditors, and other financial backers connected to the mobile communication provider. In its Chapter 11 filing with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Manhattan, the company listed $4.48 billion in assets and $2.29 billion in debt as of Feb. 29. 

Although LightSquared’s creditors had requested that the company’s backer, hedge fund chief Philip Falcone, to step aside, the company said Falcone will stay with the company and that it still expects to continue normal operations under the same management team throughout the filing process. 

“The filing was necessary to preserve the value of our business and to ensure continued operations,” Marc Montagner, the company’s interim co-CEO and CFO said in a press release. “All of our efforts are focused on concluding this process in an efficient and successful manner.”

Without its venture fulfilled, the company would in the mean time continue to run a smaller business as a wholesale provider of spectrum and satellite services to about 300,000 customers. 

The firm is expected to file a recognition proceeding in the Superior Court of Justice in Toronto, Canada. 

A rally held in London on Dec. 30, 2003, protests the death of Liu Chengjun, part of the team who broke through the Chinese regime's propaganda by tapping into Changchun TV. Five of the team died in prison after suffering torture. (minghui.org)

Ten years ago, on the evening of March 5, 2002, an estimated 1 million citizens of the northeastern city of Changchun, China, were watching a prime time broadcast of the opening session of the National People’s Congress when the programming suddenly changed. The motionless officials sitting with teacups under a giant, red communist flag were replaced by programs called “Falun Dafa Around the World” and “Suicide, or Homicide Staged by the Government?”

For 50 minutes Sun Changjun, working with several other Falun Gong practitioners, managed to broadcast in the place of the regime’s propaganda accurate information about their banned spiritual practice. Since 2002, the Falun Gong website minghui.org has provided detailed accounts from participants and witnesses of this dramatic event, which are the source for this article.

A resident of Changchun who witnessed the program switch in her college dorm “was literally electrified” by what she saw. “Because it [hijacking the state media] was something that no one in Communist China’s history had done. In my view, it was something that no one had been capable of doing.”

Reign of Terror

As the Falun Gong programming aired, news spread through the city, and more people began turning on their TVs to witness what they thought was the rehabilitation of Falun Gong.

But there had been no rehabilitation and local Party officials were frantic. In some parts of the city, officials were so desperate that they cut off the electricity in order to stop people from watching.

In 2002, Falun Gong was the Party’s No. 1 enemy. Three years before, then head of the Chinese Communist Party Jiang Zemin vowed to “eradicate” Falun Gong, fearing its unprecedented popularity among Chinese citizens.

Changchun officials were scolded by Beijing: one more episode like this, and your easy days of living as Party cadres would be over.

A reign of terror descended on the city. Policemen in Changchun began carrying guns with them, knowing that they would rather kill than risk more pressure from Beijng. Five thousand Falun Gong practitioners were arrested in Changchun and interrogated about the whereabouts of the key members involved in the TV hijacking. At least seven practitioners were known to have been beaten or shot to death right on the spot of the arrest.

Devoted Son

At the age of 26, Sun Changjun was the youngest member of the crew that hijacked the state TV.

Sun grew up in China’s Korean region of Yanji, situated on China’s northeastern border and next to North Korea. Despite academic success in his younger days, he often wondered what the meaning of life was.

Before being banned in 1999, Falun Gong was the most popular qigong method in China. Sun found that the discipline’s teachings based on the principles of truthfulness, compassion, and tolerance answered his lifelong questions, and he strove to live by them.

People familiar with Sun describe him as a devoted son. After Sun graduated from college, he quickly got a position as the secretary of the head of a small town, and was recruited as a potential candidate for the next generation of the communist leadership in that region.

He moved out to go to work, but still visited his parents often. His mother’s feet had been bound in the old days, and ingrown nails made walking particularly painful for her. Sun would get down on his knees, soak her feet in warm water, and carefully remove the ingrown nails.

“Don’t do this. You now work in the government. How embarrassing it would be if people you know see this,” said Sun’s mother with a sense of guilt.

“You are my mother, and taking care of you is the most righteous and proper thing for a son to do” he answered.

Show Trial

Before 2002, Sun had gone to Beijing to explain to officials how he had benefited from practicing Falun Gong with the hope that they would remove the ban. He received a month of detention and was fired from his job.

Sun realized that in the face of a systematic persecution, reaching out to Beijing was useless. No public voice would be allowed to report positively on Falun Gong.

“If we can broadcast truthful information in a big city, more people will be able to see the truth,” Sun Changjun thought.

He then joined a few other practitioners in nearby cities who supported the idea. A crew was formed, and research was started. In the end, with a pair of wire cutters and a DVD player, they were ready to tap into the TV network in Changchun City and set March 5 to be the big day.

Five months later, in August 2002, Sun was captured. He was greeted with a torture method called the “tiger bench.” His hands were tied behind his back and his legs were stretched along a wood bench with his feet lifted up high by several bricks. Sitting in such a pose for two months caused bleeding in his legs and a severe muscle tear from over stretching.

On Sept.15 those involved were given a show trial. Practitioners in Changchun say that the group involved in the highjacking was larger, but because those captured did not break under torture, several escaped capture.

At the trial, the defendants were not allowed to speak. Sun shouted out anyway. The court responded with electric batons, and his skin was severely burnt.

Sun was given a sentence of 17 years. Upon his arrival at the Jilin Province Prison, he was beaten by prison guards and one of his ribs was broken.

Changchun Effect

Witnesses who were detained with Sun said that every once in a while Sun and other members of the crew would be blindfolded and taken by car to a place out of town. When they returned, their bodies would be bloody and full of bruises.

At the end of 2003, Sun was gone for about 70 days. When he came back, ill treatment had taken 50 pounds off him and he could barely walk. Still, he refused to sign papers renouncing Falun Gong.

In 2007, Sun’s leg bones were fractured by another severe beating. The prisoners ordered by guards to torture him were rewarded with reduced sentences. Sun, who was at his last gasp, was refused medical treatment.

Sun is still being detained at Jilin Province Prison and is in urgent need of medical care. He is reported to have late-term tuberculosis, peritonitis, and an accumulation of fluid in his abdomen. Sun still refuses to sign papers renouncing his belief in Falun Gong, and, even though he is said to be on the verge of death, the authorities refuse to release him.

Five members of the highjacking crew have died from torture, and Sun is the last one remaining in prison.

The Changchun incident would later inspire dozens of similar acts throughout and outside of China. More than a dozen incidents of China’s state-run broadcasts being hijacked happened in the following year.

Outside China, a group of Falun Gong engineers in the United States began working on software that could break through the Chinese regime’s Internet censorship. Later, this software would be used by citizens of Iran to fight their government in the 2011 uprising. The Changchun effect continues.

chinareports@epochtimes.com

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Katusha’s Joaquim Rodriguez took the Stage Ten win and the race lead in the Giro d’Italia. (Katushateam.com)

Katusha’s Joaquim Rodriguez showed his climbing strength on the torturous double uphill finish of Stage Ten of the Giro d’Italia, attacking in the final two hundred meters to take both the stage win and the leader’s pink jersey.

The final three-and-a-half kilometers of Stage Ten consisted of two tough climbs with a very short descent between, over very narrow roads through the town of Assissi. The first climb had ramps up to 15 percent, while the second started at nearly eleven percent, flattening slightly near the end.  

Rabobank’s Thomas Slagter made a huge effort, leading much of the first climb and much of the second, while Katusha’s Daniel Moreno led Rodriguez up the second ascent, with Garmin’s Ryder Hesjedal and Sky’s Sergio Henao near the front.

Slagter attacked halfway up the final climb, with Rodriguez and NetApp’s Bartosz Huzarski in tow. Two hundred meters out, Rodriguez made his move, dropping Slagter while Movistar’s Giovanni Visconti made a late charge to take third.

“Big thanks to Moreno for those last kilometers of the race,” Rodriguez told Eurosport. “That’s a great course for me. Today I knew we could try and go—it was going to be a spectacular finish. It’s so important for me to do what I can here for the stage victory and also for the bonuses.

“A journalist told me about the finish and now I know it was exactly my sort of thing. When you get to a finish like this you just have to take every advantage you can, do everything you can.”

Everything Focused on the Finish

A five-rider break—Guillaume Bonnafond (AG2R,) Francesco Failli (Farnese Vini,) Matthias Brandle (NetApp,) Martijn Keizer (Vacansoleil-DCM,) Miguel Minguez (Euskaltel)—but despite none of these riders being GC threats, the peloton never let the gap reach four minutes.

The catch could have been made fifty km out, but the peloton eased its pace; catching the break too soon would only invite further attacks, and the bunch didn’t want to exhaust itself chasing. There were too many riders who wanted a crack at the stage win or were within striking distance of the race leader. Everyone wanted their best for the decisive final climbs.

Thirty-two kilometers out from the finish, Rabobank’s Stef Cleemtn bridged up to the breakaway, which by this time had split in half. The two trailers, Matthias Brandle and Martijn Keizer, followed Clement all the way back to the leading trio of Bonnafond, Failli, and Minguez, cathng them 17 km from the finish.

By this time the peloton was flying, and ten kilometers after the leaders united, they were swallowed up. This kicked off a series of short attacks, none lasting more than a few hundred meters, as the roads got narrower and the teams started fighting hard for position.

Slagter led the charge into the first climb, with Lampre’s Michele Scarponi and Astana’s Roman Kreuziger, followed, with Rodriguez and race leader Ryder Hesjedal following. Colnago’s Domenico Pozzovivo then surged to the front, but Slagter fought back by him to reach the crest first.

Sky’s Rigoberto Uran and Ag2R’s John Gadret raced away from the rest on the short, narrow descent but once the road titled up again in the final 1200 meters this pair was overtaken.

Moreno led his teammate Rodriguez onto the next climb, with Henao and Hesjedal on his wheel. Halfway up, Astana’s Paolo Tiralongo attacked, Rodriguez followed. Slagter responded, catching up to and passing Rodriguez with NetApp’s Bartosz Huzarski clinging to him.

This trio gapped the rest in the final several hundred meters; the leaders hit the flatter section while the main bunch was still on the steeper part.

Rodriguez waited until the final few hundred meters to launch his attack. Slagter was done; he had pulled hard up both climbs and simply had no more. Huzarski trailed by an easy 15 meters at the line; Rodriguez excels on steep, short climbs and he proved it again here.

Ryder Hesjedal turned in a creditable ride to finish sixth; the young Canadian is still in the hunt for the overall. NetApp’s Batrosz Huzarski was a huge surprise, as was Rabobank;’s Thomas Slagter, who showed great climbing ability on both ascents.

Stage 11, 255 km from Assisi to Montecatini Terme, is a very long flat stage despite a Cat 3 and Cat 4 climb. The Cat 4 peaks 11 km from the finish, leading to a long shallow descent with an uphill kick in the final kilometer.[related right]

This stage will really test the sprinters, the few that are left. A good leadout could make the difference—with the incline, the sprinters’ final s will be shorter. Cavendish may be “The Fastest Man in the World,” but Matt Goss has the best leadout—assuming either makes it over the final climb in shape to sprint.

Coach Qi Moxiang (L) and director of China Heavyweight Yung Chang at the Krudar Muay Thai Boxing Studio in Toronto. (Evan Ning/The Epoch Times)

The title China Heavyweight in Chinese means “to be tried and tested a million times over,” said filmmaker and director Yung Chang at the premiere of China Heavyweight at the HOTDOCS festival in Toronto earlier this month.

China Heavyweight was one of the two films at HOTDOCS to get broadcasted to 35 Cineplex Entertainment theatres across Canada from the Toronto Bloor cinema on its opening night.

Montreal-based Chang, who directed the award-winning Up the Yangtze, was attracted to the history of boxing in China and wanted to tell another story about the modernization of China. Up the Yangtze followed a Chinese family just before the opening of the Three Gorges Dam whose home was flooded by the rising waters.

Before the Cultural Revolution in China, boxing was outlawed from 1959 until 1987.

“[Boxing] was considered too western, too capitalist, and too violent. When you take that idea and you put that onto the context of a Chinese story, I felt that that was almost becoming a very interesting commentary on the path itself of the modernization of China,” Chang explained in an interview.

China Heavyweight follows a state boxing coach Qi Moxiang, who searches for talent in a small town situated around tobacco farms in Sichuan province. The students are promised honour and glory and a chance to leave the rural life if they go to boxing school and train for the provincial championships.

Two competent male characters are followed closely as one enters the provincial championship while the other gives up his dream of becoming a professional boxer to find a job as a construction worker and support his hard-working parents.

Coach Qi Moxiang (L) and director of “China Heavyweight” Yung Chang at the Krudar Muay Thai Boxing Studio in Toronto. (Evan Ning/The Epoch Times)

Amidst years of doubting whether he can return to the ring, coupled with pressure from friends to settle down and get married, coach Qi, an ex-professional boxer, decides to enter an international championship for his final fight.

Although the film concludes with an unconventional resolution, in the last frame coach Qi reminds his students that it’s not about the end result, but about learning the value of perseverance.

“I find that in China right now there’s a real moral void—moral corruption across the board,” said Chang. “Coach Qi represents this character, this hero, the last Chinese hero who’s trying to instill certain moral character and values into a young generation.”

Although unaware of how events would turn out—or more importantly how the lives of these young adults as well as coach Qi would shape during the film—Chang stuck closely to the cinéma vérité style of documentary making, which portrays real events panning out with the intentional presence of the camera lens.

Coach Qi visited Canada for the first time to see the screening of his movie at HOTDOCS and was present at the opening night of the documentary. He praised the film for accurately reflecting who he truly is on the inside and how others view him.

“The sport, I did it for myself, but by the time I step into the ring it’s about my family’s support and the people behind me,” he said.

At the Deutsche Telekom stand the day before the CeBIT 2012 technology trade fair officially opened to the public on March 5, 2012, in Germany. Advances in cloud computing were a major feature this year. (Sean Gallup/Getty Images)

Worries of information falling into the wrong hands, whether in the case of a new film or important business data, are making companies wary of doing anything sensitive on the Internet. Hand deliveries used to be a way around this, but due to globalization, which has scattered employees across the globe, and fast turnaround times demanded by today’s market, this is rarely an option.

Companies are looking for new ways of sending data, and one, Rimage, may just have a solution with their new app, Signal.

The app works with most devices—Windows, Mac, iOS, and Android—and lets publishers control videos, documents, and other files even after they’re sent out by using cloud computing. The company sending out the files just needs to upload them, choose which devices they want to target, then anyone who has the right access will automatically get the files.

“You simply have the signal app on your device, and when the publisher sends it out, it goes out,” said Ann Fellman, product manager of Signal Online Publishing at Rimage.

Now, “cloud” is really just a fancy term meaning “based online,” but its possibilities go beyond what you’d see with just loading up a website. Netflix, for example, uses cloud services to stream video to its customers. Concepts like this are interesting to film companies since it means that an actual copy of the film is never sent out so that pirates are less likely to haul it off, and customers enjoy it because it means they don’t have to wait for files to download.

Apple takes another approach. If you use iTunes to download a video or song, for example, you have that file on your computer. But if you ever try to get crafty and move that file to another device, you’ll quickly find that it transforms into a useless heap of numbers and letters. This is because it uses digital rights management (DRM), which uses encryption and other technology to let companies control which devices the file can play on and how many times you can install or watch it.

Signal is a cloud-based DRM app, so it uses both of the technologies mentioned above. But it takes this yet another step further by allowing companies to edit and alter the files even after they’re sent out.

“The main thing is maintaining control,” Fellman said, “to give owners, the publishers, the ability to control the content ever after it’s downloaded to user devices.”

If a company uses Signal to send out a new employee handbook and realizes they have a huge number of spelling errors on the first few pages, for example, they can fix all the problems and the file will then update on all the associated devices.

Fellman said this isn’t just for fighting piracy and corporate espionage, but also for keeping documents up to date. Companies could use this to send out software updates or to have dynamic files that can change as they’re updated.

This also comes in handy for films—an industry that Rimage is currently speaking with about the service.

The film industry often sends out early releases of movies to a few select people. It usually protects these copies by giving each video its own signature so that if it gets out they know who leaked it. But this hasn’t always worked out. The 2009 film X-Men Origins: Wolverine is one of the better examples of this. The film was available as an illegal download before it even hit theaters.

If it decides to, the company can make it so that each film can only be viewed two times or for a week. And if someone decided to upload that file to a site for illegal downloads, it would turn it into a fine jumble of unusable code.

On the security side, Rimage assigns each device its own key to view the files without ever fully encrypting them. It encrypts each file as it is sent out, and keeps it that way even after it is on a device.

“The content is never in the clear,” Fellman said.

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New York’s offense may not be big enough for both Amar’e Stoudemire (L) and Carmelo Anthony’s shooting prowess. (Chris Trotman/Getty Images)

Now that another Knicks season has come and gone without a title, the question remains: how to fix these Knicks?

The good news is that they’re improving, as a whole. Former general manager Donnie Walsh did an incredible job in rescuing them from the salary-cap trap they were in under the previous regime. Now that former interim general manager Glen Grunwald has been given permanent status the Knicks seem like they’ll continue in good hands.

Under Grunwald’s watch they’ve made several good moves, including waiving point guard Chauncey Billups under the NBA’s amnesty rule so that they could then sign center Tyson Chandler. Chandler’s infectious energy on defense changed the team’s whole look on that end of the floor (especially when D’Antoni left) and led to him winning the NBA’s Defensive Player of the Year Award.

Signing Jeremy Lin was another great call by Grunwald. Every NBA team has had a chance to either draft or sign him over the last couple of years but few saw his potential as an above-average point guard that could be an All-Star starter in the near future.

Finally, naming Mike Woodson as interim head coach worked out well, maybe even better than Grunwald had imagined. After D’Antoni resigned following an 18–24 start to the season, Woodson won 18 of 24 regular season games, emphasizing defense first, and then became the first Knicks coach to win a playoff game since 2001.

So the point is, the Knicks look to be in good hands with Grunwald. Now, to the future. What about this offseason and what moves should they do?

1. Don’t wait too long on Phil Jackson.

Mike Woodson did a tremendous job after D’Antoni left. He saw a way to win with defense, as the Knicks just happen to have one of the NBA’s best defensive centers (Tyson Chandler) and guards (Iman Shumpert) in the league.

In addition, he has a good track record. He did a tremendous resurrection job in Atlanta going from 13–69 in his first season in 2005 to 53–29 in 2010, his final season, so his permanent hire would seem a no-brainer if it weren’t for the rumored-possibility of hiring coaching legend Phil Jackson.

Jackson, a former Knick who learned his craft from Knicks’ coaching great Red Holzman, takes a back seat to no one. The 66-year-old’s resume is well-known—11 titles in 19 seasons as head coach—and has no problems with high expectations that come with coaching at Madison Square Garden in New York.

This may be the only job he would come out of retirement for, but there’s no guarantee he would take it.

The Knicks will have to set a cutoff date soon to have either Jackson or Woodson as head coach. If they wait until after the playoffs end it may be too late and both might be out as options.

The rest of the NBA witnessed Woodson’s success and he would probably be near the top of most team’s wish lists of coaches for hire come June, while Jackson’s hire is no certainty at all.

2. Find a taker for Amar’e Stoudemire’s contract.

Stoudemire is one of the game’s best offensive big men. Don’t let this year’s down numbers fool you. He put up 17.5 points (worst since his rookie season) and 7.8 rebounds per contest this season despite a back injury and an unsure role alongside Carmelo Anthony and Tyson Chandler.

If he’s healthy and has room to roam on offense, he looks like he’s still good for 20–23 points and 8–10 rebounds a night.

It’s uncertainty about his role that seems to be the biggest hindrance to making this work for the Knicks. Carmelo Anthony is the biggest talent on the team and the offense runs through him. Unless point guard Jeremy Lin, who is currently unsigned for next year, can come back next year and find a way to include everyone in the offense, much like Steve Nash does with the Suns, it doesn’t make sense to keep Stoudemire.

Trading him and…

Will the Knicks bring back both Lin (L) and coach Mike Woodson? They may opt for more expensive options such as Deron Williams and Phil Jackson instead. (Chris Trotman/Getty Images)

Trading him and his salary though (roughly $63 million owed over the next three years) won’t be easy. One possibility could be Chicago, of all teams, who could offer up similarly overpaid forward Carlos Boozer and another lower-paid player, to make the salaries match up.

The trade would work both ways: The Knicks would get a player who’s owed less money over the next three years ($47 million) and looks like he would fit in their offense a little better, but is a little older. Chicago would get more offense at a position (power forward) where they need it and they’d get a slightly younger player (Boozer is 30, Stoudemire 29) as well.

Trades of that magnitude rarely happen, though. Grunwald will have his work cut out for him on this one.

3. Bring back Jeremy Lin.

Re-signing Lin seems to be an obvious choice. Had he not had knee surgery this past spring, the Knicks might have even signed him to an extension during the season.

Lin will be a restricted free agent this offseason, meaning his first-year salary can’t exceed the NBA’s minimum salary (somewhere between $5 and $6 million) and the Knicks can match any offers he gets from other teams.

But the Knicks may have interest in a couple of other available star point guards such as Steve Nash or Deron Williams. Each is great, but each comes with a downside.

Nash is now 38, far beyond the expected life of an effective point guard and is not a long-term solution. In addition, he would require much more than the average NBA salary (probably twice as much) if they were to sign him.

Williams, 27, is in his prime but it would require a long-term commitment to sign him and an eight-figure salary to get him on board.

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Opposition leader Yulia Tymoshenko shows a bruise on her forearm, which she says is the result of abuse by prison guards at the Kachanivska penitentiary colony for women in Kharkiv, Ukraine. (AFP Photo/Ukrayinska Pravda)

Pressure from the West is mounting on Ukraine to release former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko. After weeks of European governments calling to boycott upcoming European Soccer Championship in Ukraine, Washington on Monday repeated its demand for Tymoshenko’s rehabilitation.

“The U.S. government continues to call for Mrs. Tymoshenko’s release, the release of other members of her former government, and the restoration of their full civil and political rights,” the U.S. Embassy declared in a statement after the ambassador to Kyiv met with Tymoshenko.

The foreign ministers of the European Union at a meeting also on Monday, could not agree on whether to jointly boycott the upcoming European Soccer Championship, which Ukraine will co-host with Poland next month.

Several EU governments in recent weeks, as well as the European Commission, the EU administrative body, have unilaterally declared they will not attend the tournament.

However, in a gesture of protest, at the EU meeting it was decided to postpone the signing of the Association and Trade Agreement between the European Union and Ukraine.

In a Monday statement, EU foreign affairs chief Catherine Ashton said the EU wishes to sign the agreement, “but Ukraine needs to show that it lives in the spirit of this political association.”

This agreement offers Ukraine closer economic and political integration with the EU as a step toward full membership, but it hinges on Ukraine adopting democratic and legal standards in line with the rest of Europe. In addition to the Tymoshenko case, Ashton said a big test for President Victor Yanukovych would be the upcoming parliamentary elections in October that could see him defeated.

Last week, European Council President Herman Van Rompuy, told the prime minister of the Ukraine to “Stay home!” and don’t come to Brussels for a meeting on the EU-Ukraine Co-operation Council. “It is a clear signal from our side that they have to change inside Ukraine. Ukraine was a model of democracy in 2004 and it has to become that once again,” he said in a Euronews interview with Alex Taylor on May 9.

After receiving an increasing number of cancellations from heads of state out of protest, led by German President Joachim Gauck, Yanukovych in an embarrassing move had to cancel an informal meeting of Eastern and Central European leaders last week.

Tymoshenko last week broke off a hunger strike after 20 days, which she had begun in protest of her treatment in prison, particularly over alleged beatings by prison guards.

Tymoshenko needs medical attention after suffering months of back pain. After authorities refused to let her travel abroad for treatment, in a compromise she agreed to be treated by a German doctor in a nearby hospital and ended her strike.

European leaders have for months criticized Tymoshenko’s imprisonment, after she was sentenced last October to seven years. She was convicted of abuse of power over a gas deal that she signed with Russia during her term as a prime minister that allegedly disadvantaged Ukraine.

Many governments and human rights groups accuse President Yanukovych of using the trial as a political weapon to get rid of his main opponent.

Yanukovych and his government have reacted angrily to the accusations and described the response by Western governments as reviving Cold War tactics.

Tymoshenko was a key figure during the pro-Europe Orange Revolution in 2004 that brought down Yanukovych after he rigged presidential elections. Six years later Russia-oriented Yanukovych returned to power. Since then, relations with Europe have soured amid accusations of human rights violations, growing corruption, and misuse of power.

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Ross Levinsohn seen here at a Hollywood event, will replace CEO Scott Thompson who resigned Sunday after being hired on Jan. 4. Yahoo! Inc. has had four CEO’s in less than five years. (Stephen Shugerman/Getty Images for HRTS)

NEW YORK—Yahoo! Inc. CEO Scott Thompson has resigned, the company announced, to be replaced by interim CEO Ross Levinsohn.

The Internet company has been challenged in recent years due to competition, failed mergers, and most recently, a row over its CEO’s background.

Thompson’s official resume and biography included a college degree in computer science, which he did not have, and in a press release late Sunday, Yahoo announced that Thompson will be “stepping down,” without offering further detail.

According to an “All Things D” report, a boardroom meeting on Sunday was held where Thompson was ousted from the CEO position. The official line was that Thompson was stepping down due to personal reasons, but reports confirmed that Thompson also told the board that he is battling cancer.

Thompson was hired on Jan. 4 to replace former CEO Carol Bartz. Yahoo seemingly has a revolving door at the CEO position, having had four CEOs in less than five years.

The move is a coup for hedge fund Third Point, whose chief Daniel Loeb has been lobbying for a Yahoo board seat. Third Point owns a 5.8 percent stake in Yahoo, and has been critical over the company’s direction. Loeb now owns a seat on the board, along with two others nominated by Third Point, Harry Wilson and Michael Wolf.

“The board is pleased to announce these changes and the settlement with Third Point, and is confident that they will serve the best interests of our shareholders and further accelerate the substantial advances the company has made operationally and organizationally since last August,” said Yahoo’s new Chairman of the Board Fred Amoroso.

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JPMorgan Chase & Co. Chairman and CEO Jamie Dimon waits before speaking at a business school conference in New York City on May 3. Last week, Dimon disclosed a $2 billion trading loss at the bank that rattled markets. (Mario Tama/Getty Images)

NEW YORK—JPMorgan Chase & Co.’s $2 billion—and counting—loss disclosed on May 10 will not only hurt its bottom line, but a few high-level executives are expected to leave in its aftermath.

The $2 billion trading loss disclosed by Chief Executive Jamie Dimon last week was due to massive credit default swap (CDS) positions accumulated by a London trader in the firm’s Chief Investment Office (CIO). This week, the firm confirmed that actual losses may be even greater. Issuing CDSs is like selling insurance on loans that might go bad.

On “Meet the Press” Sunday, Dimon said that the loss may widen to $3 billion by the end of the year, depending on which direction the value of its assets moves.

Dimon has explained to the public that the positions accumulated at CIO are for hedging purposes, but hasn’t disclosed what the hedge was against, which means that they were probably broad portfolio-level hedges.

The Volcker Rule of the recently enacted Dodd-Frank legislation prohibits proprietary trading, which is a bank making bets using its own capital. However, there has been discussion whether certain hedges—which are allowed under the Volcker Rule—could actually mask proprietary trading positions.

CIO on Alert

As a result, the entire staff of JPMorgan’s London CIO office may be at risk for termination, according to a Bloomberg report quoting a person with knowledge of the ongoing discussions. JPMorgan has launched an internal investigation, and federal regulators have also submitted queries for information.

Ina Drew, who is the firm’s Chief Investment Officer and head of the CIO, will resign this week, according to Bloomberg.

Two other traders on Drew’s team will also depart from JPMorgan in the wake of the loss.

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California Gov. Jerry Brown speaks during a news conference about the state budget on May 14 in Los Angeles, Calif. Brown proposes $8.3 billion in cuts to help close a projected $16 billion budget shortfall. (Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images)

Dramatic cuts may be on their way to California state government spending, if Gov. Jerry Brown’s revised May budget proposal goes through. This could force Californians to make tough decisions come November, if tax hikes are approved.

The revision, announced Monday, follows budget results that were less than ideal, with a $16 billion deficit. This was almost double the $9.2 billion that Brown estimated four months back.

“This budget reflects the fact that the nation’s economic recovery is proceeding more slowly than anticipated,” Brown said in a statement. “Lower tax revenues, coupled with federal government obstructions that blocked billions in necessary cuts, have created a deeper budget hole.”

“More painful reductions will be necessary as a result, but education and public safety must be protected,” according to Brown, in a statement.

California is the ninth-largest economy in the world and the biggest state economy in the United States, according to a 2011 report from the Los Angeles County Economic Development Corporation (LAEDC).

It was also among the states hardest hit by the 2007–2009 economic crisis, the report says, noting that California continues to lag behind others in economic recovery.

The revised May budget, which Brown is taking to the ballot box come November, includes $8.3 billion in public spending cuts—nearly twice what he estimated in January. No part of government will be immune from the cuts, including state employee compensation, welfare, health care, higher education, and courts.

The new budget also proposes a 16 percent increase in funding for K-12 education, and continues funding local governments that are putting public safety protection in place. These will be paid for by temporary increases in income tax on high-income earners, plus a statewide increase in sales tax. This is, again, conditional on approval from the public at the November ballot.

“We can’t balance the budget with cuts alone; that would just further undermine our public schools,” Brown said. “The budget I am proposing will boost funding for education, protect public safety, and prevent an even deeper round of trigger cuts.”

“It will raise income taxes by up to 3 percent on the wealthiest Californians for seven years and will also increase the state sales tax by one-quarter of 1 percent for four years,” a government statement said.

Senate Republican Leader Bob Huff (R-Diamond Bar) said he was not surprised the budget deficit became worse.

“Senate Republicans have consistently raised concerns that last year’s majority vote budget relied on too many phony spending reductions, other irresponsible revenue assumptions, and gimmicks,” he said.

Brown was anticipating extra savings from cuts, but they were blocked by a court ruling and the federal government. Tax collections also fell $3.5 billion beneath what he anticipated.

Huff said, “Democrats have no proposals to help grow the economy or to help our small business community. Republicans believe we must get people back to work, which in turn will responsibly increase our state tax revenues.”

Governor Brown’s position is that if the tax initiative does not pass in November, $6 billion in additional cuts will go into effect on January 1.

“I don’t like making additional cuts, and I recognize the impact they have on Californians. They are difficult—but necessary—in order to get us back on firm fiscal footing until California fully recovers from the global economic recession,” he said.

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Paul Watson, Canadian founder and president of the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society on May 25, 2011, in La Ciotat, southeastern France. (Gerard Julien/AFP/Getty Images)

The head of conservation group Sea Shepherd, which is known for its scuffles with Japanese whaling vessels, was arrested in Germany, the organization said Monday.

The group said in a statement that Capt. Paul Watson was arrested in Frankfurt and could be extradited to Costa Rica where the arrest warrant was issued.

The charges are based on a confrontation over shark finning in Costa Rica in 2002 while Watson was filming “Sharkwater,” the statement reads.

Watson’s lawyer Oliver Wallasch told Deutsche Welle, “My client is shocked” after the court hearing. He is being charged with “violation of ships traffic.”

“On order of the Guatemalan authorities, Sea Shepherd instructed the crew of the Varadero to cease their shark finning activities and head back to port to be prosecuted,” the organization said. “While escorting the Varadero back to port, the tables were turned and a Guatemalan gunboat was dispatched to intercept the Sea Shepherd crew.”

Varadero crewmembers then alleged that Sea Shepherd members were trying to kill them, but “the video evidence proves this to be a fallacy,” it added.

“To avoid the Guatemalan gunboat, Sea Shepherd then set sail for Costa Rica, where they uncovered even more illegal shark finning activities in the form of dried shark fins by the thousands on the roofs of industrial buildings,” the statement reads.

Watson is being aided by European Parliament Vice President Daniel Cohn Bendit and the European deputy Jose Bove.

“Our hope is that these two honorable gentlemen can set Captain Watson free before this nonsense goes any further,” the group said. “The European Sea Shepherds have also mobilized to support Captain Watson.”

Sea Shepherd gained fame for sending ships down to the Southern Ocean to disrupt Japanese whaling vessels, using ropes, nets, and firing projectiles at the whalers. Several members of the group have also been detained in Japan over related incidents.

Harper waves to the crowd after hitting his first career home run. (Greg Fiume/Getty Images)

Washington Nationals prospect Bryce Harper hit his first big-league home run in the third inning Monday night against San Diego’s Tim Stauffer.

Harper who was the unquestioned first overall pick of the 2010 MLB draft at just 17 years old, hit a 2-1 pitch from the righty Stauffer beyond the center field fence for his first career blast.

The right fielder Harper, now in his 15th major league game, was given a curtain call after the no-doubter.

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Murray Fisher (2nd from R) realized early in his life that though he loved nature, he loved people more. Above, with students at New York Harbor School, which he co-founded. (Benjamin Chasteen/The Epoch Times)

At age 6 Murray Fisher had eight pet snakes, and by age 12 he could name every species of bird. Growing up on a family farm just west of Richmond, Virginia, most of young Fisher’s time was spent playing outside. Fishing and playing in the lakes and rivers was routine, and exploration was constant.

For the co-founder of New York Harbor School, nature has always been a passion.

“I knew from an early age that I wanted my life’s work to be about studying and preserving nature,” Fisher said from a pier on Governor’s Island at the end of April. “I felt as though that meant I had to go into a career related to that stuff, so that is why I ended up going into college and majoring in biology.”

Fisher was an A-student in high school, but as a biology major at Vanderbilt University in Nashville in the early 1990s, he struggled. “Everyone else was pre-med. They were all working harder than me, and they were all spending more time studying,” he said.

For a guy who had felt a sincere calling to nature all his life, he began to question if he had chosen the right career path. Fisher decided to take a year off to refocus.

I realized I loved nature, I loved wildlife, and I loved the environment, but I loved people more.

—Murray Fisher

The eight-month internship took him around Peru and Bolivia. “I would just live in a tent and travel around the area with a machete and binoculars,” Fisher recalled.

Outside of a few local contacts, Fisher was alone for most of the eight months. The secluded journey proved transformative.

“Well, it told me I didn’t want to be a biologist,” Fisher said with a laugh, adding in a more serious tone, “It was really interesting. I realized I loved nature, I loved wildlife, and I loved the environment, but I loved people more.”

Fisher knew successful biologists, like Munn, had to be obsessed with the subject they studied, but he couldn’t fathom spending years in the jungle studying wildlife.

“I didn’t need to study the parrots to know that I wanted to stop the logging in that area,” Fisher said. “I wanted to be more involved in the policy and the wider scale conservation effort.”

With his new personal insight, he headed back to Nashville to finish studying; keeping the biology major, but having a clearer idea of how to utilize it.

I would just live in a tent and travel around the area with a machete and binoculars.

—Murray Fisher

Fisher then wrote a letter to Kennedy, telling him it was the first time anyone had articulated his environmental ethics and said he would be coming up on his spring break to work with him.

Kennedy honored his request, letting Fisher stay with him over the break. “It was definitely inspiring in terms of commitment to a cause and work ethic,” Fisher said of his stay. “He was always working on protecting the world’s water resources, all the time, as hard as he could, as fast as he could. I had never been around someone who is so hard working for something they care about. For me, it was good insight.”

Impressed with Fisher’s like-minded passion, Kennedy awarded him a year-long internship with the environmental non-profit Riverkeepers in fall 1998 where he helped monitor the Hudson River.

On a monitoring trip 60 miles up the Hudson, in chest-deep water with a 100-foot seine net, Fisher was reeling in fish, documenting what was in the waters. It was there he realized this in-water experience was something he missed in his high school education. “I remember being like, ‘there should be a school that does this kind of work,’” Fisher said.

A seed was planted.

New York Harbor School

Today, you can still find Fisher harbor-side in New York City. He found a career that marries his love of nature conservation with his love for people. He spends his work days on Governor’s Island helping to give the next generation in-water experiences at New York Harbor School, a school he helped found.

The school is a public high school, but with an emphasis on maritime education. The curriculum includes an oyster restoration project that allows the students to actively take part in restoring the New York Harbor.

The doors opened in the fall of 2003 in landlocked Bushwick, Brooklyn. It was not an ideal location, but a start he could build on.

Fisher had Bobby Kennedy Jr. come out to speak on the first day of school—none of the students knew who he was.

“I realized how far the gap was between where our kids were and where I wanted them to go during that speech,” Fisher said. “I was thinking to myself how much work we have to do to bring these two worlds closer together.”

Personal Connections

The first year, there were only 125 students at Harbor School, and Fisher became close with all of them. He knew their names, their background, and was truly invested in their lives.

In fall 2010 the school moved to Governor’s Island, a dream location for Fisher. It was a significant accomplishment, but he worried he would not have the opportunity to have the same personal connections with his students as he did in the early years.

“I saw her in the classroom and felt total joy,” Fisher said. “I gave her a huge hug and told her how proud I was.”

“That moment reminded me really clearly that those relationships with young people are really important to me and that it is kind of the soul food that keeps it going.”

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Peter Sagan celebrates as he crosses the finish line to win Stage Two of the Tour of California ahead of Heinrich Haussler and Leigh Howard. (Doug Pensinger/Getty Images)

Peter Sagan of Liquigas continued his Tour of California success with a win in Stage Two Tuesday. The 22-year-old Liquigas rider again showed poise beyond his years as he waited calmly to get a slow puncture attended to, then raced back to the head of the peloton in time to win the final sprint.

This is the second stage where the Slovakian champion successfully ascended the big climbs, stayed up front on the descents, recovered from mechanical problems, and still managed to get back to outsprint the rest of the field.

At the finish, Sagan swept around the outside of Orica-GreenEdge sprinter Leigh Howard, seeming to catch him off guard, and exploded toward the finish line. Garmin-Barracuda’s Heinrich Haussler was right behind but couldn’t match the Slovakian’s speed.

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More than 300 families of Fuzhenzhou village, Botou City, have signed a petition requesting the release of Wang Xiaodong, a Falun Gong practitioner. A Party village committee official stamp was also affixed to prove the document. This is the first page of the petition. (Web Image)

A petition signed by 300 Chinese villagers urging the authorities to release a Falun Gong practitioner was circulated in the Politburo, said a source on May 10 who is close to Chinese Communist Party (CCP) high-ranking officials.

Wang Xiaodong was arrested on Feb. 25 after police found a Falun Gong compact disk in his home in in Fuzhenzhou village, Botou City, Hebei Province. The arrest of Wang meant that his seven year old son and his elderly mother were left to fend for themselves.

Incidents like this take place across China regularly, but not the reaction that followed.

After hearing of Wang being taken away by police, local villagers were outraged and were happy to sign a petition that was organized by Wang’s younger sister, Wang Xiaomei.

“We collected more than 110 signatures within a day just by walking around the village,” she wrote in another letter to the international community published online.

The group petition had the signed named and thumb prints of nearly 300 villagers, demanding that authorities release Wang Xiaodong. The petition was then certified by head of the local Party brigade (dadui), with an official stamp.

The appeal document also described how Wang Xiaomei has been threatened by local police, who threatened to arrest her unless she paid them 20,000 yuan. The demand was seen by villagers as arbitrary and extortative, and Wang was unable to pay it anyway, so she chose to flee the village.

Those who signed it were tracked down nevertheless, according to Wang Xiaomei’s letter. Domestic security police rounded up villagers who had signed the letter and brought them to the Zhouguantun Restaurant where they were interrogated on video about why they signed the letter and whether they practice Falun Gong.

The appeal document managed to make its way to the CCP Standing Committee and it was internally circulated among members, according to a source. This source said that several members of the Standing Committee were shocked that 300 households had appealed, and had done so with their real identities and thumbprints.

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Since the persecution of the popular Falun Gong spiritual practice started in 1999, information about it in China has been hermetically sealed by the regime, which employs propaganda and violence against practitioners in an attempt to eliminate the practice from Chinese society. The decision to persecute the estimated 100 million adherents was made by former regime leader Jiang Zemin, for reasons that include ideological struggle and fear of the popularity of the traditional discipline.

More than 300 families of Fuzhenzhou village, Botou City, have signed a petition requesting the release of Wang Xiaodong, a Falun Gong practitioner. A Party village committee official stamp was also affixed to prove the document. This is the seventh page of the petition. (Web Image)

There has been resistance to the persecution both from practitioners and the wider public since the policy began, but several high-profile cases of similar petitioning in recent years.

This current instance of grassroots resistance to the persecution comes at a politically sensitive time in China, not long after the blind civil rights lawyer Chen Guangcheng fled extralegal house arrest and exposed the persecution of him and his family by local and central authorities.

Significantly, the letter also has appeared during an ongoing high-level power struggle within the Party, which has included the very public fall of former Chongqing Party chief Bo Xilai, and the isolation and loss of power of the Chinese regime’s domestic security chief, Zhou Yongkang. Both men are allied with the hard-line faction supporting Jiang Zemin, the former CCP leader who initiated the Falun Gong persecution.

Sources inside the Party say that a core question in the current split in the regime is that many officials have refused to take responsibility for or support the persecutory policies implemented by Jiang Zemin, because they fear being held accountable and punished in the future.

Read the original Chinese article.

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