Monday, April 29, 2013

Owner of collapsed building captured in Bangladesh

SAVAR, Bangladesh (AP) -- The fugitive owner of an illegally constructed building that collapsed and killed at least 377 people was captured Sunday by a commando force as he tried to flee into India. At the disaster site, meanwhile, fire broke out in the wreckage and forced authorities to suspend the search for survivors temporarily.

Mohammed Sohel Rana was arrested in the western Bangladesh border town of Benapole, said Jahangir Kabir Nanak, junior minister for local government. Rana was brought back by helicopter to the capital of Dhaka where he faced charges of negligence.

Rana's capture was announced by loudspeaker at the disaster site, drawing cheers and applause from those awaiting the outcome of a continuing search-and-rescue operation for survivors of Wednesday's collapse.

Many of those killed were workers at clothing factories in the building, known as the Rana Plaza, and the collapse was the deadliest disaster to hit the garment industry in Bangladesh that is worth $20 billion annually and is a mainstay of the economy.

The fire that broke out late Sunday night sent smoke pouring from the piles of shattered concrete and halted some of the rescue efforts ? including a bid to free a woman who was found trapped in the rubble.

The blaze was caused by sparks as rescuers tried to cut through a steel rod to reach the woman, said a volunteer, Syed Al-Amin Roman. At least three rescuers were injured in the fire, he said. It forced them to retreat while firefighters frantically hosed down the flames.

Officials believe the fire is likely to have killed the trapped woman, said army spokesman Shahinul Islam. Rescue workers had delayed the use of heavy equipment for several hours in the hope that she could be extricated from the rubble first. But with the woman presumed dead, they began using heavy equipment around midnight.

An exhausted and disheveled Rana was brought before reporters briefly at the Dhaka headquarters of the commando team, the Rapid Action Battalion.

Wearing a printed shirt, Rana was sweating as two security officers held him by his arms. A security official helped him to drink water after he gestured he was thirsty. He did not speak during the 10-minute appearance, and he is likely to be handed over to police, who will have to charge him and produce him in court within 24 hours.

A small-time politician from the ruling Awami League party, Rana had been on the run since the building collapsed Wednesday. He last appeared in public Tuesday in front of the Rana Plaza after huge cracks appeared in the building. Witnesses said he assured tenants, including five garment factories, that the building was safe.

A bank and some shops on the first floor closed Wednesday after police ordered an evacuation, but managers of the garment factories on the upper floor told workers to continue their shifts.

Hours later, the Rana Plaza was reduced to rubble, crushing most victims under massive blocks of concrete.

Rana's arrest was ordered by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, who is also the Awami League leader.

On Saturday, police arrested three owners of two factories. Also detained were Rana's wife and two government engineers who were involved in giving approval for the building design. Local TV stations reported that the Bangladesh High Court has frozen the bank accounts of the owners of all five garment factories in the Rana Plaza.

Three floors of the eight-story building apparently were built illegally.

A garment manufacturers' group said the factories in the building employed 3,122 workers, but it was not clear how many were inside when it fell. About 2,500 survivors have been accounted for.

Army Maj. Gen. Chowdhury Hasan Suhrawardy, the coordinator of the rescue operations, said the next phase of the search involved the heavy equipment such as hydraulic cranes that were brought to the disaster site Sunday. Searchers had been manually shifting concrete blocks with the help of light equipment such as pickaxes and shovels, he said.

The work will be carried out carefully so as not to mutilate bodies, he said. "We have engaged many private sector companies which supplied us equipment, even some heavy ones," Suhrawardy said.

In a rare bit of good news, a female worker was pulled out alive Sunday. Rescuer Hasan Akbari said when he tried to extricate a man next to the woman, "he said his body was being torn apart. So I had to let go. But God willing, we will be able to rescue him with more help very soon."

The collapse and previous disasters in garment factories have focused attention on the poor working conditions of workers who toil for as little as $38 a month to produce clothing for top international brands.

The death toll surpassed a fire five months ago that killed 112 people and brought widespread pledges to improve worker-safety standards. But since then, very little has changed in Bangladesh.

Its garment industry was the third-largest in the world in 2011, after China and Italy, having grown rapidly in the past decade.

Among the garment makers in the building were Phantom Apparels, Phantom Tac, Ether Tex, New Wave Style and New Wave Bottoms. Altogether, they produced several million shirts, pants and other garments a year.

The New Wave companies, according to their website, make clothing for several major North American and European retailers.

Britain's Primark acknowledged it was using a factory in Rana Plaza, but many other retailers distanced themselves from the disaster, saying they were not involved with the factories at the time of the collapse or had not recently ordered garments from them.

Wal-Mart said none of its clothing had been authorized to be made in the facility, but it is investigating whether there was any unauthorized production.

__

AP writers Farid Hossain and Gillian Wong in Dhaka contributed to this report.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/owner-collapsed-building-captured-bangladesh-184621056.html

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Analysis: Tax strategy may be key to Verizon Wireless deal

By Kevin Drawbaugh and Nanette Byrnes

(Reuters) - Verizon Communications Inc's chances of buying the 45-percent stake in Verizon Wireless owned by the UK's Vodafone Group Plc will hinge, at least in part, on the quality of tax advice it is getting.

Verizon, the No. 2 U.S. telecommunications company, may have found a way to structure a purchase of the stake so that Vodafone can avoid a multi-billion dollar U.S. capital gains tax bill, sources familiar with Verizon's plans said. The possibility of a huge tax bill has previously been regarded by analysts as a big hurdle to any such deal.

Reuters reported last Wednesday that Verizon was preparing a bid worth about $100 billion to take full control of Verizon Wireless - it already owns the other 55 percent - by buying the stake, according to people familiar with the matter. There are no guarantees that Vodafone will want to sell its stake or that Verizon will pursue the plan.

Vodafone declined to comment on the possibility of a Verizon bid for its stake or on the tax question.

One person familiar with the situation said Vodafone cannot consider the size of any tax payout in a possible transaction until the company has received an offer, which it has not.

A Verizon spokesman declined to comment.

Verizon hopes that if it structures a transaction to eliminate much of the tax bill, it can encourage Vodafone to come to the table for talks. Some analysts and investors say Verizon may have to pay as much as $130 billion to clinch the deal.

The tax bill on $100-billion deal, based on a simple acquisition of the stake, would be about $38 billion, according to UBS Investment Research. It could be much higher if the deal's price-tag rises above that figure, UBS noted.

That tax bill is based on the massive growth Verizon Wireless has experienced since it was established 13 years ago. The 45-percent stake that Verizon Communications wants to buy is owned by Vodafone Americas, a U.S. holding company. Given it is a U.S. entity, if Vodafone Americas were to sell that stake outright it would have to pay the full capital gains tax on the stake.

But the sources said Verizon Communications is contemplating a two-part deal that could avoid this. Instead of buying the stake outright, the sources said, Verizon Communications would buy the Delaware-based Vodafone Americas. Analysts said the seller of Vodafone Americas would not be a U.S.-based entity, so no U.S. capital gains tax would be due.

Vodafone's international structure is complicated, involving many holding companies, and the precise ownership of some assets is unclear. Vodafone Americas also owns some of Vodafone's non-US assets, the sources said, probably including some in Germany and Spain. These would be sold back to Vodafone by Verizon Communications, which would keep the Verizon Wireless stake, they said.

The two transactions could be done simultaneously or one after the other.

While the sale of the Verizon Wireless stake would not incur capital gains tax, the sale of the international assets back to Vodafone would. This is because it would involve the sale of assets by Verizon Communications, a U.S. entity.

Compared to Verizon Wireless, the smaller international assets are thought to have gained little in value. Analysts estimated their sale could hit Verizon Communications with a U.S. tax bill of about $5 billion or less.

The sources said that Verizon would seek to pass any tax hit onto Vodafone in the two-part transaction.

LONG COURTSHIP

Verizon has long coveted its partner Vodafone's stake in the Verizon Wireless joint venture, which started operations in 2000.

The last time the two came close to a deal was in 2004, when Vodafone bid for AT&T Wireless. The British company, the world's second-largest mobile operator, however, lost that bid to Cingular and has since held on to the Verizon Wireless stake for its exposure to the U.S. wireless market.

Wall Street analysts had previously seen it as unlikely that Verizon would want to do a deal involving Vodafone Americas' international assets. But those assets have underperformed in recent years when compared with the growth of Verizon Wireless, and are now a smaller part of the holding company, reducing the potential tax hit.

However, the timing of Verizon's interest in doing the deal has more to do with the gains in its stock price and low interest rates, the sources stressed.

Verizon is considering paying about half of the purchase price in cash and half in stock, Reuters reported on Wednesday. That means it may look to raise around $50 billion in debt.

UK TAX QUESTION

The kind of deal structure envisaged would still leave Vodafone with another tax question, said UK academics and analysts: Should it leave the proceeds from any sale offshore or bring them home to the UK?

Leaving the money offshore might invite scrutiny from the U.S. Internal Revenue Service, which sometimes questions transactions if they seem designed solely to avoid tax and are not based in an underlying economic logic, said Prems Sikka, professor of accounting at the University of Essex in the UK.

If the transaction were shaped the way the sources have described it, Vodafone would probably repatriate the proceeds into Britain, said Charles Merriman, managing director at Merriman Capital Transactions, a consultancy in London.

Once that was done, he said, the company might be able to reduce its tax bill by taking advantage of the UK's substantial shareholdings exemption. Under certain conditions, this exempts from UK corporation taxation any gains realized when one company disposes of shares in another company.

More broadly, though, Vodafone could face a political backlash in the UK from any deal that was clearly structured to avoid taxation, said Robin Bienenstock, senior analyst at Bernstein Research.

U.S. companies such as Starbucks, Amazon and Google have come under fire from British lawmakers for using legal maneuvers to cut their tax bills in the UK.

"The problem with tax is not just the technical ability to avoid it, but the scorched earth that trying to avoid it could leave with the UK government afterwards," said Bienenstock. "Recent tax cases in the UK ... suggest that an attempt to avoid tax on such a large and high profile deal would be very badly received."

(Reporting by Kevin Drawbaugh in Washington, D.C. and Nanette Byrnes in Chapel Hill, N.C.; Additional reporting by Kate Holton and Tom Bergin in London; So Young Kim and Paritosh Bansal in New York; Editing by Martin Howell)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/analysis-tax-strategy-may-key-verizon-wireless-deal-050341644.html

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Fire breaks out at collapsed factory in Bangladesh

SAVAR, Bangladesh (AP) -- A fire broke out late Sunday in the wreckage of the garment factory that collapsed last week in Bangladesh, with smoke pouring from the piles of shattered concrete and some of the rescue efforts forced to stop.

The fire came four days after the collapse, as rescuers were trying to free a woman they found trapped in the rubble. The flames broke out when sparks were generated by those rescuers trying to cut through a steel rod to reach the woman, said a volunteer rescuer, Syed Al-Amin Roman. At least three rescue workers were injured in the fire, he said.

Rescuers have retreated from the part of the wreckage where the fire erupted, but were still trying to reach any possible survivors in other parts of the destroyed eight-story building.

Firefighters were frantically hosing down the flames.

"Hopefully we will be able to control it," said Brig. Gen. Mohammed Siddiqul Alam Shikder, who is overseeing rescue operations.

It wasn't immediately clear what happened to the trapped woman.

The fire came hours after the owner of the illegally-constructed building was captured Sunday at a border crossing with India.

Mohammed Sohel Rana was arrested in Benapole in western Bangladesh, just as he was about to flee into India's West Bengal state, said Jahangir Kabir Nanak, junior minister for local government. Rana was brought back by helicopter to the capital Dhaka where he faced charges of negligence.

Rana's capture brought cheers and applause when it was announced on a loudspeaker at the site of the collapsed building in the Dhaka suburb of Savar.

At least 377 people are confirmed to have died in the Wednesday collapse. Three of the building's floors were built illegally. The death toll is expected to rise but it is already the deadliest tragedy to hit Bangladesh's garment industry, which is worth $20 billion annually and is a mainstay of the economy. The collapse and previous disasters in garment factories have focused attention on the poor working conditions of workers who toil for as little as $38 a month to produce clothing for top international brands.

Bangladesh's garment industry was the third largest in the world in 2011, after China and Italy, having grown rapidly in the past decade. The country's minimum wage is the equivalent of about $38 a month.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/fire-breaks-collapsed-factory-bangladesh-165955376.html

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Saturday, April 27, 2013

Global Health: In Central Africa, Bitter Cassava Is Linked to Mental Deficits

[unable to retrieve full-text content]Children who do not show physical symptoms of konzo, a crippling disease caused by the cyanide in improperly prepared cassava, may still have mental impairments.
    


Source: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/23/health/in-central-africa-bitter-cassava-is-linked-to-mental-deficits.html?partner=rss&emc=rss

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SmackDown live results: April 26, 2013

All WWE programming, talent names, images, likenesses, slogans, wrestling moves, trademarks, logos and copyrights are the exclusive property of WWE, Inc. and its subsidiaries. All other trademarks, logos and copyrights are the property of their respective owners. ? 2013 WWE, Inc. All Rights Reserved. This website is based in the United States. By submitting personal information to this website you consent to your information being maintained in the U.S., subject to applicable U.S. laws. U.S. law may be different than the law of your home country. WrestleMania XXIX (NY/NJ) logo TM & ? 2013 WWE. All Rights Reserved. The Empire State Building design is a registered trademark and used with permission by ESBC.

Source: http://www.wwe.com/shows/smackdown/2013-04-26/smackdown-live-results-april-26-2013

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Friday, April 26, 2013

Astrology Show 5 04/25 by X X Die DrachenhXhle X X | Blog Talk ...

  • On AirLoading

    We'll talk to Bobby Seale about the history of The Black Panther Party. Find out what they really meant by terms like "Power To The People" and "Black Power".

  • On Air

    Said to be one of the most emotional airings to date, The Hanif J. Williams Show explores the underworld of Human Trafficking with Glendene Grant.

  • On Air

    Draft Insider is joined by Co-Host Jason Davis and Peter Bukowski of Sports Illustrated to cover the 2013 NFL Draft live during the entire first round.

  • On Air

    Fantasy JAM at the NFL Draft. Join their team along with bloggers from NFL Teams LIVE during the 2013 NFL Draft.

  • On Air

    Grab a seat and listen to the Pre-draft discussion and Live Pick By Pick Coverage! Former Jacksonville Jaguar, Tom McManus will joining the show!

  • The esteemed defense attorney Mr. Joey Jackson will be joining the King Jordan Radio Show on Wednesday April 24th at 11:30AM est.

  • Once the wedding?s wrapped, why pack your dress in mothballs when it can fetch a pretty penny? says Cheryl Henker of Centsable Way consignment bridal shop.

  • Today, Michael Zislis is hear to talk about The 8th Annual Ultimate Wine Festival, Sunday, April 28th at the Shade Hotel in Manhattan Beach.

  • LOTL Welcomes Mr Phil Perry who debuts his new CD " Say Yes ". Phil Perry is a two time winner in the SoulTracks Readers' Choice Awards.

  • Blue state blues with two savvy conservative ladies, NY Pundit Karen Beseth and Cali's Leslie Eastman.

  • National Film Critics' Search offers an opportunity to interview celebrities on the Red Carpet in Hollywood! YMCritic Jakiyah and Juanita Richburg Seon give details.

  • On April 26, 2013, couple Pat Dwyer and Stephen Mosher will have been together for 27 years, the same day their documentary opens in New York City.

  • Emmy Award winning actress, Tricia Cast talks on her over 25 year role as Nina Webster on the #1 daytime drama, The Young and the Restless.

  • NWP welcomes Mackenzie Astin, son of Hollywood legends Patty Duke and John Astin. We talk about his new award winning film Hell and Mr. Fudge.

  • Sidekick Talk Radio shares with you the best information on Martial Arts, and the Martial Arts industry worldwide.

  • The Well Informed Traveler with Michael McDermott feeding you insider tips through expert guests in the travel, food ,wine and fashion world.

  • Rick Baker, author of No GoodByes, discussing the disappearance of the McStay family in 2010, when the family mysteriously vanished from their California home.

  • Newcomer Jack Reynor joins host Robin Milling at The Tribeca Film Festival for his film, What Richard Did, and talks about preparation for Transformers 4.

  • Award-winning poet Michael Warr visits Talkupy with Annie Lindstrom to celebrate National Poetry Month.

  • Hasani Pettiford, featured relationship expert for TV-One's reality show Love Addiction, helps single men and women escape "The Friend Zone."

  • Join vocal communication specialist and singer Michelle Bailly as she teaches us how to express our authentic voice and discover our true identity!

  • Pop sensation Brittany Smooch has teamed up with Project G.L.A.M. to provide prom dresses and matching accessories for underprivileged girls.

  • Behind the Mic Radio catches up with Eve Plumb, best known for her portrayal of Jan Brady on The Brady Bunch and talks her new passion; art.

  • Dennis Daniel talks with voice actor Peter New, best known as Big MacIntosh from the popular series, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic

  • One of the greatest guitarists of all time, rock/jazz fusion pioneer, John McLaughlin is going stronger than ever after 4 decades.

  • Source: http://www.blogtalkradio.com/dragons-lair/2013/04/26/astrology-show-5

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    Eric Schmidt Thinks Controlling Google Glass with Your Voice Is "the Weirdest Thing"

    There's a lot of quirkiness to Google Glass and a lot of stuff that Google still has to figure out. One of those things, according to ol' Google CEO Eric Schmidt, is talking out loud to control Google Glass. In a talk at Harvard today, Schmitty literally called it "the weirdest thing". More »
        


    Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/HdNHEh9aeHo/eric-schmidt-thinks-controlling-google-glass-with-your-voice-is-the-weirdest-thing

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    Why Delhi University's Four Year Undergraduate Programme ...

    A Note Prepared at the Request of the Department of Higher Education, MHRD, Govt of India

    Preamble:

    Universities are meant to educate, that is, to teach students how to identify, understand and evaluate multiple points of view. Therefore, dissent, debate and argument are the core concerns of a University ? they cannot be regarded as irrelevant irritations or acts of sedition. Debate cannot continue indefinitely, and must be responsible. But what constitutes responsible and well-considered criticism is inevitably a matter of judgement ? it cannot be decided through assertion and counter-assertion. It is also inevitable that motives will be called into question. This is once again a matter of judgement, based on available evidence on who is speaking (what is their wider credibility beyond the immediate dispute?) and why (what do they stand to gain or lose by what they are saying?), and an overall sense of what is at stake in the issue. We invite such judgements.

    Facts which are NOT disputed:

    1. The proposed FYUP is the biggest, most far reaching change of curriculum in the recent (i.e., last 30-40 years) history of DU ? it will replace every existing undergraduate course of study in every college and every discipline (professional courses & some other low-enrolment courses may be exceptions).

    2. The first time that the FYUP was placed before any statutory body of the University was at the Academic Council meeting of Monday, 24 December, 2012. This meeting ? to discuss the biggest curricular reform in several decades ? was an Extraordinary meeting, called at 3 days? notice, which was issued on Friday, 21 December, 2012 and delivered over the weekend, giving Departments no time to consider the proposal and formulate an informed response.3. The structure of the FYUP presented to the Academic Council on 24 December had not been sent to the Committees of Courses at the Faculties or Departments, or to the Staff Councils of Colleges.

    4. The Academic Council meeting of 24 December approved the FYUP with 6 dissents, including a written submission by the Dean, Faculty of Social Sciences, specifically requesting that the University take more time to think through this major change, and that a detailed White Paper on the FYUP be prepared and made public to enable the University community to respond to it.

    5. The Executive Council meeting at which the AC approval of the FYUP was presented was held on Wednesday, 26 December, 2012, i.e. the next working day after the AC meeting of 24 December.

    6. The first official communication to all Heads of Department asking them to initiate the process of syllabus formation and designing of courses for the FYUP (strictly according the structure already decided) was issued on 5 March, 2013. This letter asked that the entire exercise be completed by 20 March, 2013. The deadline was later informally extended by one month to 20th April, 2013.

    7. In the past, curricular changes of any significance have usually involved open discussions by teachers of the relevant discipline at both college and university level. Proposals for changes to old courses or addition of new courses have then been presented to statutory Committees of Courses at the Department and Faculty levels. These bodies have given time for members to respond to the proposed changes, and after due discussion at meetings they have sometimes rejected the changes in the form proposed, and returned them to Departments for reconsideration and re-presentation after modifications.

    8. The procedures being followed currently depart from past practice in terms of the time limit for course-making, the openness of the process, and the space and time given to statutory bodies to exercise their oversight functions.

    Claims that ARE disputed:

    1. The FYUP has been arrived at after adequate public discussion and debate.

    a) There is no evidence of any formal public discussion of any kind on the FYUP prior to September 2012.

    b) The ?Academic Congress? at which the FYUP is claimed to have been discussed makes no mention of it whatsoever in its official programme. There was no session and no individual presentation devoted to the FYUP as such. The Academic Congress was not open to the public, or even to all members of the University. Admission was strictly by invitation ? passes were issued outside the venue to a pre-decided list of invitees; only pass holders were granted entry. Several teachers of the University who tried to attend the event were denied the opportunity to attend the Academic Congress.

    c) The 61-member ?Task Force? ? which is the only body that has deliberated on the FYUP and decided its entire structure ? was created through selective appointment. In other words, its members were selected as individuals by the VC and his team, without reference to any general principle like ?all Deans of Faculty?, ?all Heads of Department?, ?all Principals of Colleges? etc. Significant numbers of eminent teachers at both college and university level of proven pedagogic competence as well as commitment to issues of curriculum design, were never consulted in any way.

    d) Even today there is no publicly available document detailing the rationale of the FYUP (why are 4 years better than 3?); justifying its framework (the types of courses proposed and their relative weight, the exit points, the mode of evaluation etc.); or explaining the logistical plans (procedures for admission, meeting infrastructure needs, adequacy of staffing etc.) made for its implementation. All we have are ad hoc pronouncements, with corrections and clarifications being issued piecemeal as difficulties are discovered, and even these we learn of through the media.

    2. The structure of the proposed FYUP is sound and in keeping with global best practice.

    a) The structure of the FYUP is fundamentally flawed because its objectives are too many and too divergent to be achieved by a single curriculum. From the students? perspective, the FYUP clubs disparate groups with very different needs and capabilities into a single homogenous mass and subjects them to the same curricular requirements, but offers them different exit points. In effect, it assumes that different phases/stages of the same curriculum can sustain vastly different pedagogical orientations. The four year course is thus a vocational course for the first two years; an applications-based disciplinary specialisation in the third year; and a research-oriented specialisation in the fourth year. These are impossible demands to make of a single curriculum. It would be more honest to offer at least two different degree courses, each with a coherent and achievable set of objectives.

    b) The proposed FYUP does not match any major pattern of undergraduate education, let alone best practices. For example, both the American pattern based on the two-year community college and the four-year liberal education university or college, and the U.K. pattern of polytechnics and degree-colleges involve separate institutions with distinct curricula. While movement from the former to the latter may be permitted, it is conditional and happens at the discretion of the longer-duration institution. In the case of the DU FYUP, it would be as though the community college student and the four-year degree student were taking the same courses in the same classroom.

    c) Until now, undergraduate students at DU have been differentiated in two ways ? in terms of the type of instruction (regular vs. non-formal, the latter consisting of evening class courses and distance education courses) and type of degree (the Honours and BA/BSc Programme streams). Roughly one-third of all undergraduates are in regular courses while two-thirds are in non-formal courses; and Honours students are one quarter of all undergraduates, while three-quarters are in the BA/BSc Programme. (See table below).

    Classification of DU Undergraduates

    (by type of degree and type of instruction)

    Honours

    Programme

    Total

    Regular

    19

    14

    33

    Non-Formal

    5

    62

    67

    Total

    24

    76

    100

    Based on 2011-12 enrolment data, excluding technical/professional courses (law, medicine etc.). Figures are percentage shares rounded to nearest integer.

    The main feature driving the huge enrolment in the non-formal courses has been the much-advertised fact that they follow exactly the same curriculum as the regular courses within each of the Honours/Programme streams of DU. By subjecting all undergraduates to the same curriculum, the FYUP effectively proposes to impose a structure oriented to 19% of the students in the Regular-Honours category on the remaining 81%. Since much of the FYUP content (20 courses in the major discipline, 6 courses in the minor discipline, etc.) and pedagogical innovations (emphasis on class presentations, hands-on applications courses, etc.) have not been part of the Programme stream, and their applicability to the non-formal formats is doubtful, this raises important issues that need to be explicitly addressed. Are the non-formal formats going to be delinked from the regular formats? How will the interests of either the Honours-stream minority or the Programme-stream majority be served by a single curriculum?

    d) While the only written document on the rationale behind the FYUP (the overview ?The Rationale for the Proposed Undergraduate Program? presented at the AC meeting of 24 December 2012) repeatedly mentions ?flexibility?, the FYUP structure offers no flexibility. Heads of Department were told to keep optionals to a minimum in Discipline 1 (there was actually no provision for any in the structure; this concession was also made after insistence), and to have none in Discipline 2 courses. This means a full set of six and only six courses can be opted for as Discipline 2. This is less choice than is available under the current BA/BSc Programme course. Similarly, if only two limited options are offered in Discipline 1, this will also be less than what is currently available in most Honours disciplines. Besides, all 11 Foundation courses are mandatory. It is thus difficult to see where flexibility comes in, other than in the ?exit? option after two years.

    3. Departures from past practice are not significant, and do not violate statutory norms.

    a) The most significant departure from past practice is in the procedures being followed by most departments in designing courses. Courses and sometimes even entire syllabi are being made by a few individuals in secret, without intimation of meetings and with no provision for vetting or seeking responses. Secrecy is being maintained even after courses have been made, and they are being sent to the Committee of Courses at the Faculty level without being revealed to teachers of the same discipline at the college or department levels. The claim that such flagrant violations of established practices are not significant is simply untenable.

    b) The time table fixed for the making of courses ? even after the one month extension ? is still too short because it coincides with the period of maximum teaching and internal evaluation activity in colleges and departments, namely March-April. There are also the end semester examination papers to be set, moderated and translated (in the case of undergraduate degrees), much of which used to be done by the Examination Branch but has since been thrust on to departments.

    c) The oversight function of the Committees of Courses will effectively be nullified by the timeline that the administration is insisting upon. This is not a change in one or two courses, something that can expect to be passed in a single CoC meeting. This is an entirely new programme, with 30 courses in each discipline. How are members of CoCs going to study these syllabi in any meaningful sense if they are expected to pass them in the same meeting in which they are proposed? This is all the more true if syllabi are being kept secret until presentation at the CoC.

    d) There are a host of statutory issues on which there is utter silence. Introducing a new programme of study offering a new degree with a different course duration involves complex legal issues implicating the UGC, the Act of Parliament that established DU, and other certifying bodies. For example, the two-year teacher certification course being proposed as part of the FYUP does not have NCTE approval. The FYUP effectively converts every course into an Honours type course; in the past, permission to offer Honours courses was conditional upon the college concerned being able to meet the required norms, which were the subject of review and inspection. Is this process going to be bypassed? How will the staffing patterns be adjusted for the differences in workload across disciplines that the transition will entail? This list does not even include the many financial issues that will arise, beginning with the UGC having to bear the extra costs that the fourth year will involve, and going on to the costs that students and their families will have to bear.

    4. Adequate preparations have been made to meet logistical & infrastructural needs.

    a) It is well known that the enhancement of infrastructure promised during the ?OBC expansion? is yet to materialize, especially classroom space and library/laboratory additions. The predictable pressures of semesterisation have severely damaged the examination branch and brought it to the brink of collapse; its in-house functions have been thrust on to departments without warning. More than 3000 UGC-sanctioned teaching posts have remained vacant for three years. On this already overstretched infrastructure, the FYUP will inevitably impose an additional burden of nearly 33%! The University has not made public any credible, systematic plan to deal with these and related infrastructural issues.

    b) Despite some adhoc media announcements, there appears to be no clear roadmap for handling admissions under the FYUP. In the past, admission to the undergraduate programme at DU has depended on three factors ? school leaving examination marks, and the applicant?s choice of college and discipline. The BA/BSc Programme accounted for 76% of all undergraduate enrolment; even if we ignore the non-formal formats, the Programme stream students account for 42% of all regular-format undergraduates. All these students will now be forced to apply to one or the other disciplines, thus significantly raising enrolment in the larger disciplines like Political Science, Physics, History or Hindi. How will the ?cut-offs? (the minimum percentages in the school leaving exams that will be required to gain admission to specific disciplines) be affected by this large addition to the candidate pool for the honours-like structure of the FYUP? How will the distribution of students across colleges and disciplines be reconciled with existing capacities and staffing patterns? Questions like this need to be addressed well in advance of the admissions process, with clear and well-publicised instructions to candidates. None of this is in place, and school principals and guidance counsellors are desperately seeking non-existent information and clarifications, while prospective applicants and their parents are left with no option but to downgrade DU in their priority lists.

    5. DU is a happy and well-run institution, except for a few ?misguided colleagues?.

    Among all the claims listed above, this one is unique in the sense that it is both the least credible and the hardest to refute. If all that we have said is true, why were there only 6 dissenters in an Academic Council with more than 100 members? Why are Deans and Heads of Department actively enforcing everything that we claim is harmful or wrong?

    We know that we cannot answer these questions to the satisfaction of our opponents. We also admit that we cannot explain why the DU authorities are adamant on implementing the FYUP in a self-defeating manner and with an impossible timetable, when there is everything to gain and nothing to lose by hastening slowly. But we do believe that we have shown that this is in fact what is happening. We invite those who disagree to show us how and why we are wrong.

    Shahid Amin (History), Apoorvanand (Hindi), Aditya Bhattacharjea(Economics),

    P.K. Datta(Political Science), Satish Deshpande (Sociology), Krishna Kumar(Education),

    Udaya Kumar (English) and Shobhit Mahajan(Physics)

    ?

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    Source: http://kafila.org/2013/04/25/why-delhi-universitys-four-year-undergraduate-programme-should-not-be-implemented-with-irresponsible-haste/

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    Thursday, April 25, 2013

    Tweetbot iOS app update brings new media timeline, redesigned image viewer

    Tweetbot iOS app update brings new media timeline, redesigned image viewer

    Twitter client Tweetbot showed its support for Flickr and Vine in the last update to its iOS apps, and making media easier to consume is again a focal point in newly released version 2.8. Debuting with the update is the "media timeline" -- a feed option which'll only shows tweets that include pictures or video. Also, the in-app image viewer has been treated to a full redesign and among the obligatory bug fixes, issues plaguing Instagram previews have been addressed. The update isn't all about pics and clips, though, as the tweet detail view has now been amended so it shows favorite and retweet figures. If you haven't yet received the update, you know where to go. Alternatively, if you don't use the client but like the idea of putting eye-candy in the spotlight, then Tweetbot can be had for $2.99 from the App Store.

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    Source: iTunes App Store (iPhone/iPod Touch), (iPad)

    Source: http://www.engadget.com/2013/04/24/tweetbot-ios-app-update-version-2.8/?utm_medium=feed&utm_source=Feed_Classic&utm_campaign=Engadget

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