Egypt: Army chief seeks mandate to fight violence

CAIRO (AP) ? Egypt's military chief on Wednesday called on his countrymen to hold mass demonstrations to voice their support for the army and police to deal with potential "violence and terrorism," a move that signals a stepped up campaign against supporters of the ousted Islamist president.

Gen. Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi, addressing a graduation ceremony for a class of military cadets, urged Egyptians to take to the streets Friday, saying a massive turnout would give him a "mandate" and an "order" to do what is "necessary" to stop bloodshed.

Since the military removed Mohammed Morsi three weeks ago, the ousted president's Islamist supporters have taken to the streets vowing to continue protests until he is restored. Clashes have erupted multiple times between the Islamists and Morsi opponents or security forces.

Each side accuses the other of starting the violence. Dozens have been killed, mostly from the pro-Morsi side, including more than 50 who were killed by troops during clashes at their Cairo sit-in.

Throughout, the military and its allied media have depicted the protesters as a dangerous armed movement. Morsi's Muslim Brotherhood and its allies say their protests are peaceful. The group accuses troops or thugs hired by the Interior Ministry, which is in charge of the police, of attacking pro-Morsi rallies, careful to avoid any impression that

At the same time, Islamic militants have stepped up attacks on security forces in Sinai Peninsula since Morsi's fall, killing nearly 20 soldiers and policemen and raising fears of a wave of militant violence.

On Wednesday, suspected militants killed two soldiers and wounded three others in four separate attacks in Sinai.

In the early hours Wednesday, a bomb went off outside the main police headquarters in the Nile Delta city of Mansou6ra, wounding 19 people. Presidential spokesman Ahmed el-Muslemani called the attack an act of terrorism.

The Mansoura bombing is a possible sign that a militant campaign could be spreading to Egypt's heartland, where so far the violence has been restricted to street clashes between the two sides.

El-Sissi's address Wednesday in the Mediterranean coastal city of Alexandria was a strong sign that the top general is the source of real power in Egypt, despite his assertions that authority has been handed completely to the civilian government set up after Morsi's fall.

El-Sissi called for rallies Friday to be as large as those on June 30, when millions took to the streets to demand Morsi's ouster, and July 3, when millions again celebrated his ouster. He promised police and troops would guard the rallies.

The call for demonstrations is likely to be matched by similar calls by Morsi's supporters, raising the specter of violence on Friday.

"On Friday, every honorable and honest Egyptian must come out. Come out and remind the whole world that you have a will and resolve of your own," el-Sissi said. "Please, shoulder your responsibility with me, your army and the police and show your size and steadfastness in the face of what is going on," said the U.S.-trained general.

El-Sissi cautioned that his call for mass demonstrations should not be taken as an invitation to violence.

Commenting on el-Sissi's address, Essam el-Erian, a senior Brotherhood leader, made it clear that the Morsi camp intends to stick to its guns. "There is no solution except rescinding the coup and the return of legitimacy," he told Al-Jazeera Mubasher Misr.

Morsi's Muslim Brotherhood on Wednesday boycotted the inaugural session of a reconciliation conference sponsored by interim President Adly Mansour. The session was chaired by Mohamed ElBaradei, Egypt's top reform campaigner who was named vice president after Morsi's ouster.

The July 3 coup that ousted Morsi followed four days of mass protests by millions of Egyptians demanding that he step down.

Morsi's supporters insist he must be reinstated, branding his ouster as a coup against democracy. The former president was Egypt's first freely elected leader, but his opponents say he concentrated too much power in his own hands and his Islamist group, the Muslim Brotherhood.

El-Sissi said on Wednesday that he had no intention, "not a for a second," to go back on a political road map he announced the day he ousted Morsi, which entailed parliamentary and presidential elections by early 2014 and a referendum before that on a new constitution or amendments to the one drafted by Morsi's Islamist backers.

He promised foreign observers from the U.N. and the European Union would be invited to monitor the elections. "We are ready for an election to be supervised by the whole world," he said.

El-Sissi was a member of the military council that ruled Egypt for nearly 17 months after the ouster in 2011 of autocrat Hosni Mubarak. He was the chief of military intelligence at the time. Morsi named him defense minister and military chief in August 2012.

On Wednesday, el-Sissi sharply criticized Morsi and the Brotherhood, repeating assertions he has repeatedly made in the last three weeks that they were driving the country toward civil strife and imposing their own brand of Islam to a mostly resistant population.

He said he had never shied away from speaking his mind to Morsi.

"Don't ever think that I deceived the former president. I repeatedly told him that the army is the army of all Egyptians and stands at an equal distance from all parties. I told him that the army is under his command because he had an electoral mandate," he said.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/egypt-army-chief-seeks-mandate-fight-violence-101906312.html

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New study shows inbreeding in winter flounder in Long Island's bays

Public release date: 24-Jul-2013
[ | E-mail | Share ]

Contact: Cindy Yeast
cdyeast@earthlink.net
720-542-9455
The Institute for Ocean Conservation Science

Scientists from the School of Marine and Atmospheric Sciences at Stony Brook University advise that loss of genetic diversity presents survival risks for historically common marine fish and should be considered in fisheries management

STONY BROOK, NY, July 24, 2013Research conducted in six bays of Long Island, NY, and led by scientists from the School of Marine and Atmospheric Sciences at Stony Brook University (SBU) showed that local populations of winter flounder are inbred, which is a situation that is not usually considered in marine fisheries management. The scientists also determined that the effective number of breeders in each bay was below 500 fish, suggesting that the spawning populations of this historically common fish are now relatively small in the area.

"Severe inbreeding and small effective number of breeders in a formerly abundant marine fish," was published online in the journal PLOS ONE, and is one of the first studies indicating the occurrence of inbreeding in a marine fish. The scientists extracted genomic DNA from the fins of 267 young of the year winter flounder caught over a period of several months in 2010 and 2011, and used 11 polymorphic microsatellite loci (molecular markers) to test for genetic diversity.

"While documented to occur in freshwater fish, inbreeding in marine fish is generally not a serious concern because of their perceived ability to move through larger areas to find mates and, historically anyway, their much larger population sizes making it unlikely they would spawn with relatives," said Shannon O'Leary, lead author and doctoral student at SBU. "Our research suggests that the possibility of inbreeding should be considered in the management of some commercially and recreationally exploited marine fish."

Inbreeding has been linked to lower survival and reproductive rates as well as lower resistance to disease and environmental stress, which could directly contribute to the failure of fish populations to recover from exploitation. However, since inbreeding has not been considered likely in marine fish, current fisheries management practices have been developed without incorporating its associated risks.

"We are just beginning to realize that marine fish frequently exist as a series of smaller subpopulations as opposed to one large, well-mixed and widely distributed population," said Dr. Demian Chapman, leader of the research team, who is an assistant professor in the School of Marine and Atmospheric Science and assistant director for science at the Institute for Ocean Conservation Science at SBU. "The evidence of inbreeding we have found supports this new paradigm. The number of effective breeders in each bay is also alarmingly low and argues for strong fisheries management and habitat restoration initiatives to rebuild winter flounder populations in Long Island bays."

###

Genetic analyses for this research were supported by the Institute for Ocean Conservation Science with operational funds from The Pew Charitable Trusts. Microsatellite amplification was carried out in the Pritzker Laboratory for Molecular Systematics and Evolution operated with support from the Pritzker Foundation. Shinnecock Bay fish were sampled during the Shinnecock Bay Restoration Project, which is funded by the Laurie Landeau Foundation and matched by a gift from the Simons Foundation. Further funding was granted by the Saltonstall-Kennedy Grant Program (NOAA) and a NY DOS grant for field work in Hempstead Bays.

To read the article "Severe inbreeding and small effective number of breeders in a formerly abundant marine fish," please go to: http://www.plosone.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0066126.

The School of Marine and Atmospheric Sciences (SoMAS) is the State University of New York's center for marine and atmospheric research, education and public service. With more than 85 faculty and staff and more than 500 students engaged in interdisciplinary research and education, SoMAS is at the forefront of advancing knowledge and discovering and resolving environmental challenges affecting the oceans and atmosphere on both regional and global scales. http://www.somas.stonybrook.edu/

The Institute for Ocean Conservation Science at Stony Brook University is dedicated to advancing ocean conservation through science. The Institute transforms real-world policy while pursuing serious science, both of which are essential for ocean health. http://www.oceanconservationscience.org/

---

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?

AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.

Public release date: 24-Jul-2013
[ | E-mail | Share ]

Contact: Cindy Yeast
cdyeast@earthlink.net
720-542-9455
The Institute for Ocean Conservation Science

Scientists from the School of Marine and Atmospheric Sciences at Stony Brook University advise that loss of genetic diversity presents survival risks for historically common marine fish and should be considered in fisheries management

STONY BROOK, NY, July 24, 2013Research conducted in six bays of Long Island, NY, and led by scientists from the School of Marine and Atmospheric Sciences at Stony Brook University (SBU) showed that local populations of winter flounder are inbred, which is a situation that is not usually considered in marine fisheries management. The scientists also determined that the effective number of breeders in each bay was below 500 fish, suggesting that the spawning populations of this historically common fish are now relatively small in the area.

"Severe inbreeding and small effective number of breeders in a formerly abundant marine fish," was published online in the journal PLOS ONE, and is one of the first studies indicating the occurrence of inbreeding in a marine fish. The scientists extracted genomic DNA from the fins of 267 young of the year winter flounder caught over a period of several months in 2010 and 2011, and used 11 polymorphic microsatellite loci (molecular markers) to test for genetic diversity.

"While documented to occur in freshwater fish, inbreeding in marine fish is generally not a serious concern because of their perceived ability to move through larger areas to find mates and, historically anyway, their much larger population sizes making it unlikely they would spawn with relatives," said Shannon O'Leary, lead author and doctoral student at SBU. "Our research suggests that the possibility of inbreeding should be considered in the management of some commercially and recreationally exploited marine fish."

Inbreeding has been linked to lower survival and reproductive rates as well as lower resistance to disease and environmental stress, which could directly contribute to the failure of fish populations to recover from exploitation. However, since inbreeding has not been considered likely in marine fish, current fisheries management practices have been developed without incorporating its associated risks.

"We are just beginning to realize that marine fish frequently exist as a series of smaller subpopulations as opposed to one large, well-mixed and widely distributed population," said Dr. Demian Chapman, leader of the research team, who is an assistant professor in the School of Marine and Atmospheric Science and assistant director for science at the Institute for Ocean Conservation Science at SBU. "The evidence of inbreeding we have found supports this new paradigm. The number of effective breeders in each bay is also alarmingly low and argues for strong fisheries management and habitat restoration initiatives to rebuild winter flounder populations in Long Island bays."

###

Genetic analyses for this research were supported by the Institute for Ocean Conservation Science with operational funds from The Pew Charitable Trusts. Microsatellite amplification was carried out in the Pritzker Laboratory for Molecular Systematics and Evolution operated with support from the Pritzker Foundation. Shinnecock Bay fish were sampled during the Shinnecock Bay Restoration Project, which is funded by the Laurie Landeau Foundation and matched by a gift from the Simons Foundation. Further funding was granted by the Saltonstall-Kennedy Grant Program (NOAA) and a NY DOS grant for field work in Hempstead Bays.

To read the article "Severe inbreeding and small effective number of breeders in a formerly abundant marine fish," please go to: http://www.plosone.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0066126.

The School of Marine and Atmospheric Sciences (SoMAS) is the State University of New York's center for marine and atmospheric research, education and public service. With more than 85 faculty and staff and more than 500 students engaged in interdisciplinary research and education, SoMAS is at the forefront of advancing knowledge and discovering and resolving environmental challenges affecting the oceans and atmosphere on both regional and global scales. http://www.somas.stonybrook.edu/

The Institute for Ocean Conservation Science at Stony Brook University is dedicated to advancing ocean conservation through science. The Institute transforms real-world policy while pursuing serious science, both of which are essential for ocean health. http://www.oceanconservationscience.org/

---

[ | E-mail | Share ]

?

AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.

Source: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2013-07/tifo-nss072313.php

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Texas Dems see chance to become relevant again

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) ? It would seem that Texas Republicans have never been stronger. An all-but-certain Republican successor is emerging to follow the departing Gov. Rick Perry. They're jubilant over their victory at the Capitol, where a GOP-heavy legislature plowed through a bill to sharply restrict abortions.

Behind the scenes, however, anxious Republicans and hopeful opponents are poring over data suggesting that the GOP hegemony may end.? With the state's Hispanic population growing rapidly and voting overwhelmingly Democratic, Democrats should be able to compete for statewide office again in the next decade after a 20-year eclipse, strategists in both parties agree.?

"Republicans have at most one two-term governor left in them. From 2022 on, everything is up for grabs," said Republican pollster David Hill, who runs a firm in suburban Houston. "Numbers don't lie," he added. "We're going to completely undo the alignment."

No one disputes that a huge opportunity is fast approaching for the Democrats. Potential candidates are already waiting in the wings, including the party's telegenic new star, Sen. Wendy Davis, who led a dramatic, if ultimately futile, effort to hold off the latest abortion legislation.

But what actually comes of it, and when, rests on a number of factors in dispute.

Can Democrats turn enough Hispanic residents into Hispanic voters? In the last governor's election in 2010, only 24 percent of Hispanics voted compared to 44 percent of whites. Democrats have set up a massive new voter targeting effort aimed at pushing the Hispanic rate beyond 30 percent, potentially enough to close the party's vote gap in elections.

Can Republicans attract a larger share of the Hispanic vote and neutralize the demographic bulge? Republican strategists believe future GOP candidates can stretch the meager 38 percent Perry got in his last race into the 40s by working harder to appeal to this group. But how to do it? by stressing the GOP's self-help economics or conservative social values -- is a matter of debate.

"There clearly is a wave out there. It's up to the each one of the parties to figure out how to ride it," said Todd Olsen, a Republican strategist and key adviser to Texas Sen. John Cornyn.

The consequences of what happens extend far beyond Texas. No other state except California, which has the nation's largest population, carries as much weight in national elections. A shift by Texas from a GOP stronghold to a two-party battleground would seriously complicate the GOP's plan for winning presidential elections.

Few foresee any changes in the short term. Even without three-term incumbent Perry on the ballot, leading Democrats have not rushed to replace him. Texas' Republican attorney general, Greg Abbott, who already has a $20 million campaign treasury, appears to be a strong favorite to win the governor's race.

The era of Republican dominance in Texas came about when conservative whites began moving en masse to the party two decades ago_a phenomenon felt across the South. The Democratic political organization began to atrophy, leaving the party ill equipped to capitalize on the growing Hispanic immigration.

Now, Democrats insist, a change is at hand.

By 2020, Hispanics are projected to reach more than 42 percent of the state population, up from 38 percent in 2010. They will be the state's largest racial or ethnic group. Whites will rank second at 39 percent, according to the U.S. Census Bureau projections. Newly eligible Hispanic voters will outnumber newly eligible whites four to one.

"Ultimately, it suggests they would be increasingly dominant," said the state's leading demographer, Steve Murdoch, a sociologist at Rice University in Houston.

In February, President Obama's 2012 campaign field director, Jeremy Bird, set up an Austin-based operation to identify and register the roughly 1.5 million Hispanic citizens who are not on the voter rolls. A similar effort during the presidential campaign increased Obama's Hispanic vote in Florida, Colorado and Nevada. The Texas group has raised more than $1.1 million for the effort, according to a campaign disclosure report scheduled for release Monday.

Volunteers are canvassing Latino neighborhoods in Austin, Houston, Dallas, San Antonio, and in the heavily Hispanic Rio Grande River valley. A small-scale version in 21 precincts in largely Hispanic East Austin in 2010 helped produce turnout 20 points higher than the county average.

"No matter what happens in 2014, we need to see it as a stepping stone," said Bird. "We really need to, long term, cement the infrastructure."

But Republican campaign officials insist that Hispanic voters are not inherently Democrats. Persuasive Republican candidates will still win elections, said David Carney, a longtime Perry adviser.

"People don't vote for the person who signed them up," he said.

Strategists in both parties are assessing how different issues play with Hispanic voters, including abortion legislation, which limits the kind of public services poor women use, but also conforms with many Hispanics' Roman Catholic doctrine.

Inside the GOP, arguments are raging over whether the party is doing enough.

"There is a sensation that the Democrats are on the move in our state and we can't be behind the curve," said Carolyn Hodges, president of the Texas Federation of Republican Women.

Recently, the federation endorsed allowing the children of illegal immigrants obtain legal status. The state GOP is also counting on candidates like George P. Bush, the namesake of two former U.S. presidents who is running for state land commissioner, to project a friendly face to the Latino community. Bush's mother was born in Mexico.

But the numbers are ominous, said Mark McKinnon, top media consultant to President George W. Bush's presidential campaigns. Because Republicans haven't bonded as well with the Latino community, "Democrats will soon be within striking distance of turning the state blue again," he said.

-------------------------

Beaumont reported from Des Moines.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/texas-dems-see-chance-become-relevant-again-135742512.html

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Money on the Mind: Psychologists at the University of California at Berkeley have found that ?upper-class individuals behave more unethically than lower-class individuals.? ~ PBS

[unable to retrieve full-text content]

Source: stopmakingsense.org --- Sunday, July 14, 2013
Filed under: Big Banks , Corporations , Financial Crisis , Global Elite , Psychology ...

Source: http://stopmakingsense.org/2013/07/14/money-on-the-mind-psychologists-at-the-university-of-california-at-berkeley-have-found-that-upper-class-individuals-behave-more-unethically-than-lower-class-individuals-pbs/

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China island centenarians' secrets of long life

AFP PHOTO / WANG ZHAO

Elderly women chat at a tea house in Chengmai city, in China's southern Hainan province, on January 22, 2013.

The elderly residents of one Chinese county have endured invasion, civil war and famine, and many live in unheated concrete shacks on only a few dollars a day. But they are apparently among the longest-lived people on earth.

Chengmai, a string of villages dotted with orange plantations in the tropical island province of Hainan, claims more than 200 residents aged over 100 out of a population of 560,000?one of the highest ratios in the world.

They are said to include at least three "supercentenarians"?the name given to those aged over 110?out of fewer than 400 thought to exist worldwide.

Li Aizhu, whose government-issued residence permit says she was born in 1900, hobbles daily from her tiny concrete bedroom, where an electric fan beats back the intense heat, to watch quacking ducks waddle past her family farmhouse.

"Who are these people?" Li asked relatives when visitors arrived, a shock of white hair framing her wrinkled face.

She aimed the same question at government officials who arrived with a metal plaque declaring her to be a "longevity celebrity", her family said. It now hangs above a hard wooden bench in her simple living room, entitling her to a 500 yuan ($81) monthly payment, and free medical treatment.

RELATED: WORLD'S OLDEST PERSON TURNS 116

Other clusters of longevity are said to include Cuba, islands off Greece and Japan, and a peninsula in Costa Rica, with researchers finding common characteristics including an emphasis on family, lifestyles requiring physical activity, and a plant-based diet.

As China was swept by dramatic changes?from Japanese invasion, to the Communist victory in the civil war, and a transition from a planned economy to the market?most Chengmai residents carried on doing what they had always done, growing crops.

"I've never done any exercise, except hard farmwork," said 86 year-old Wang Kailu, who lives in a simple concrete shack with his wife Wu Aihe. The couple said they married the day after Japan's World War Two surrender, 68 years ago.

Their one-story dwelling is barely furnished and Wang draws water from a well to spread on his small vegetable plot.

Experts on aging who have travelled to the area say several factors could be involved in the phenomenon.

Jennifer Holdaway, who runs the China Environment and Health Initiative of the US-based Social Science Research Council and visited Chengmai for a government-funded conference last year, pointed out that its economy was centred around agriculture.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/nydnrss/news/world/~3/7xdxIKd5oJQ/story01.htm

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India: Maoists Reverses In Maharashtra ? Analysis

Maharashtra in India

By SATP

July 15, 2013

By Fakir Mohan Pradhan

The uncertain gains that Maharashtra had secured in its campaigns against the Communist Party of India-Maoist (CPI-Maoist) through 2012 appear to have been further consolidated in the first half of 2013.

On July 7, 2013, Maharashtra Police?s C-60 Commandos, along with a section of the Commando Battalion for Resolute Action (CoBRA) of the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF), shot dead six woman CPI-Maoist cadres, in an encounter near Mandri village in the Etapalli Division of Gadchiroli District. All the Maoists were in uniform. Police feel that the Maoists may have suffered a greater loss, but managed to drag bodies of some of their comrades into the jungles. A carbine, a .303 rifle, five 12-bore guns, 13 hand grenades and 20 rucksacks were recovered from the encounter site. Sources indicated that the Maoists were preparing for a meeting at Sawari village in the vicinity when their plans were leaked to the Police. The success of Security Forces (SFs) was reportedly engineered under difficult conditions, with odds stacked against them, as they had to cross a full flowing river and negotiate thick vegetation. The commandos also crawl some distance in the slush to avoid being spotted.

Since the beginning of 2013, Gadchiroli District in Maharashtra has witnessed several successful counter-insurgency operations, prominently including:

April 12: Four CPI-Maoist cadres and one C-60 Commando were killed in an encounter, in the forests near Sindesur village, Dhanora tehsil (revenue unit), Gadchiroli District. Two villagers were also killed in the crossfire. Several other Maoists were injured in the firing. Bodies of three women and one male rebel were recovered. The slain Maoists belonged to the Dhanora Local Organizational Squad (LOS) and Platoon 15. One SLR and a Bharmar (country made muzzle loading) rifle were also recovered from the encounter site. A month later, on May 12, SFs stumbled on the decomposed body of a woman inside the forest near the Sindesur village. One .303 rifle with 33 rounds, two backpacks and a pair of shoes were also found near the body. Police believe that the body may be of a Maoist killed in the April 12 encounter.

April 4: Seven Maoist cadres were killed in an encounter with Police near Bhatpar village in the Bhamragad Division of Gadchiroli. Police managed to recover five bodies. Police also recovered eight weapons, including one .303 gun, and seven Bharmars.

January 20: Six Maoists, including some senior cadres, were killed by SFs during an encounter near Jimulgatta, in Aheri tehsil of Gadchiroli District. The deceased Maoists included the ?secretary? of the CPI-Maoist Aheri Area Committee, Shankar aka Munneshwar Jaktu Lakada; Aheri dalam (armed squad) commander, Vinod aka Chandrayya Kodape; and ?deputy commander? of the Aheri dalam, Mohan Kowase.

Moreover, as a result of the growing strength of their intelligence network, the Gadchiroli Police were able to successfully execute a counter-ambush against a group of 50 to 60 Maoists, who were waiting to ambush Police search parties in Hetalkasa Forest under the Malewada Police Station in Gadchiroli on May 19. After the encounter, Police recovered the body of a Maoist and a small cache of arms and ammunition.

Common to these significant operational successes against the Maoists is the fact that the rebels were taken by complete surprise, a crucial departure from the experience of the past in Gadchiroli as well as most other theatres of Maoist violence. This point is driven further home by the fact that, in these operations, the Maoists did not even have the time and opportunity for orderly withdrawals, as evidenced by the high number of bodies recovered. Maoists generally do not leave behind the bodies of their fallen comrades. Moreover, SF casualties in these operations have been minimal, in sharp contrast to the ratio of fatalities in 2012.

Fatalities in Left-Wing Extremist Violence in Maharashtra: 2005-2013

Years	Incidents	Civilians	SF personnel	LWE	Total
2005	94	29	24	3	56
2006	98	39	3	19	61
2007	94	22	3	5	30
2008	68	17	5	9	31
2009	154	41	52	4	97
2010	94	35	10	3	48
2011	109	44	10	3	57
2012	134	27	14	4	45
2013*	-	8	3	26**	37

Source: 2005-2012 Ministry of Home Affairs 2013: SATP, *Data till July 12, 2013

** 23 bodies recovered in five encounters, in one case the claim was seven but five bodies were recovered and another killing was reported by Adilabad (Andhra Pradesh) Police, perhaps in an encounter with AP Police in Gadchiroli].

Maharashtra Police has lost three personnel to Maoist violence in 2013, with just one of these killed during an encounter. A second Policeman was killed while he was returning from a hospital with his wife and two children, and the third Police victim was a Police patil who was accompanying the Llyod?s Vice President and a subcontractor who were killed near Nender village in Etapalli tehsil in Gadchiroli on June 13. The Maoists carried out the last killing purportedly to protest against the attempt to start mining in Surajagad and Damkodvadavi Hills in the Gatta area despite ?popular sentiment? against mining in the area.

Out of the eight civilians killed in Left Wing Extremism (LWE)-related violence, two were killed in crossfire during an encounter and another two, by Maoists over the mining issue. Three persons were killed by the Maoists as suspected Police informers; one of the three was reported to be ?mentally deranged?. The eighth man, a shopkeeper, was killed by Maoists in Gondia District over some payment disputes with tribals.

All the incidents of killing in Maharashtra in 2013 have been reported from Gadchiroli District, with the exception of one civilian killing in Gondia District.

Fatality data alone makes it amply clear that the balance is gradually tilting in favour of the SFs in Maharashtra in 2013. Even, in the second-half of 2012, though the number of encounters with Maoists increased, the Maoists had failed to inflict any fatalities on the SFs.

Media reports in February 2013 cited a senior officer of the Aheri Police in Gadchiroli, stating that the Maoists used to deploy around 75 to 80 persons in their ?company? formations in the District. This strength has come down to around 55 to 60 at present. The officer was relying on interrogations of several Maoists in custody. Similarly, the platoon formations have also lost considerable manpower, with average strength declining from 25 to 30 members to 12 to 16 cadres, and even less in some cases. The dalam?s earlier strength was around 15, but it has come down to around 8-12.

The pressure on the Maoists is also visible in other patterns of Maoist violence. Just one incident of abduction (of three persons) and three incident of arson, have, thus far, been recorded in the State, all in Gadchiroli District, in 2013. On the other hand, at least four Maoists have been arrested and another 28 have surrendered in the District. Maoists belonging to different dalams in Gadchiroli and border areas of Chhattisgarh have surrendered before Gadchiroli Police as a result the ?Campaign Navjeevan? [Campaign New Life] initiative, under which senior Police officials visited the families of Maoist cadres and appealed to them to surrender, assuring them of fair treatment. The campaign was quietly launched in December 2012. It is significant that, in the past, surrendering Maoists generally preferred neighbouring Andhra Pradesh, which offers a better ?surrender package?.

Explaining the turnaround, Maharashtra Additional Director-General of Police (ADGP) (Special Operations), Prem Kisan Jain, told media, ?We have reorganised the setup within the Department, in which all anti-Naxal operations, including intelligence, training and action, have been brought under one chain of command.? Further, Jain claimed that increasing the duration of the stay of the forces in the forests to 3 to 5 days, instead of short durations, had helped them immensely in disrupting Maoist logistics: ?we have not only managed to confine Maoists in their areas, but have also been able to penetrate into hitherto impregnable areas, which has put them on the defensive.? Coordination among the State Police Force, the special force (C-60) and Central Armed Police Forces (CAPFs), had also improved dramatically. Advanced training centres, manned by Army personnel, were set up and more specialised equipment has been provided to the counter-insurgency (CI) troops. The ?economical use of ammunition? has also helped the Police, with better firing skills and restraint in the use of ammunition during encounters. In the past, panicked and indiscriminate firing by SFs had often resulted in units running out of ammunition during an ambush or encounter.

In addition to operational improvement, there has been a visible transformation in the capacities and processes of intelligence gathering. While surrendered Maoists have provided crucial operational information, Police appear to have infiltrated Maoist ranks in Gadchiroli.

On a downside, an Assistant Sub-Inspector, Omprakash Singh Thakur, who was in charge of the Jungle Tactics and Survival Course, was arrested on July 4, 2013, after an investigating team found out that he had pilfered arms and ammunitions that were found in a well behind the Gadchiroli Police Headquarters. The Police are now investigating if the pilfered weapons were meant for the Maoists. Further, Gadchiroli Police have registered cases against Prime Minister?s Rural Development Fellow (PMRDF) Mahesh Raut and his friend Harshali Potdar from Mumbai after two arrested Maoists revealed that the pair were travelling with them to meet top Maoist leaders.

As things appear to change in Maharashtra, the Union Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) is mulling a tactical shift in anti-Maoist operations, with greater emphasis on intensive intelligence gathering leading to the setting up village-level database at Police Stations in all affected Districts in the country. The proposed changes are reportedly to come up for discussion at a meeting called by the MHA in July-end. The meeting is to bring together Superintendents of Police of the 26 worst-affected Districts across seven States and officers of the CAPFs. The District Police Chiefs would be urged to take the initiative to collect information about each village, its residents, amenities and infrastructure available. The Andhra Pradesh Police had benefitted immensely from such village-level data bases in its effort to develop an effective intelligence network at the grassroots and to plan effective operations against the Maoists. The MHA, keen to go beyond the ?Greyhounds? model that it has been harping on for the past several years, and to replicate more nuanced elements of the success in Andhra Pradesh, now wants to ?go back to basics and revitalize Police Stations?.

Despite dramatic improvements in Gadchiroli, there is little scope for complacency. After killing 14 Maoists in 2006, the Police had claimed, in 2007, that the Maoist movement in most affected Gadchiroli and Gondia districts had ?weakened? with some of the dalams operating in the area virtually winding up due to a cadre crunch and no fresh recruitment. But the Maoists came back even stronger in subsequent years. The Maoist capacity for revival has been repeatedly underestimated in the past, and far greater consolidation is necessary before the present gains can be thought to be irreversible.

Fakir Mohan Pradhan
Research Associate, Institute for Conflict Management

Source: http://www.eurasiareview.com/15072013-india-maoists-reverses-in-maharashtra-analysis/

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Asiana Airlines considering legal action against TV station, NTSB ...

Posted on: 9:47 am, July 14, 2013, by CNN Wire, updated on: 09:48am, July 14, 2013

Asiana Airlines is considering legal action against Oakland?s KTVU television and the National Transportation Safety Board.

This, after a summer intern at the NTSB mistakenly confirmed ?inaccurate and offensive? names as those of the four pilots of Flight 214 that crashed last week in San Francisco.

The bogus names that phonetically spelled out phrases such as ?Something Wrong? and ?We Too Low? were read during KTVU?s noon broadcast Friday.

?Regarding the KTVU-TV?s demeaning report of the pilots on July 12, ASIANA Airlines is reviewing possible legal action against KTVU-TV and the NTSB,? the airline said in a statement.

?The reputation of the four pilots and of the company had been seriously damaged by this report. The company is reviewing taking legal action against both KTVU-TV and the NTSB.?

Both KTVU and the NTSB have apologized for the embarrassment.

?Nothing is more important to us than having the highest level of accuracy and integrity, and we are reviewing our procedures to ensure this type of error does not happen again,? KTVU posted on its website.

It was not immediately clear who produced the fake names, but the NTSB said it was not the intern.

Asiana Airlines identified the pilot flying the Boeing 777 that crashed at San Francisco International Airport as Lee Kang-Kuk.

Asiana Flight 214 was carrying 291 passengers and 16 crew members when it crash landed Saturday on the runway after striking a seawall.

Three passengers died, including a girl who died of her injuries Friday morning. More than 180 others were injured.

Source: http://myfox8.com/2013/07/14/asiana-airlines-considering-legal-action-against-tv-station-ntsb/

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