Riots test new French President Hollande

Riots in the northern city of Amiens have revived concerns about minority grievances and unrest in France.

By Robert Marquand,?Staff writer / August 15, 2012

A local resident walks past a burnt bus stop in the north of Amiens on Wednesday, a day after French riot police clashed with gangs of youths.

Pascal Rossignol/Reuters

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After a decade of tensions and rioting in French ghettos under a right-wing government, Socialist Fran?ois Hollande got a taste of social unrest this week as well.

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As has happened many times before, local anger over the French police practice of spot-checking youths' driver?s licenses and other forms of identification helped sparked the rioting. This time, it resulted in two days of car burnings and 17 injured police in the city of Amiens north of Paris.

President Hollande vowed last night to restore order, and there was a relative calm in the neighborhood today, following police reinforcements. But when Interior Minister Manuel Valls visited yesterday and condemned the violence, he was met with a testy standoff, jostling, and booing.

Amiens is Hollande's first urban crisis test. The question here is whether Hollande can ? in a time of austerity ? aid the ghettos and make progress at reforming the much-hated get-tough police policies of his predecessor.

Amiens is an officially designated ?urban sensitive zone? in France. The zones are mostly comprised of minority black and Arab residents facing economic problems. In Amiens, the jobless rate is nearly 45 percent, and according to town officials, two in three young persons are unemployed.

Five years ago, former president Nicolas Sarkozy promised a ?Marshall Plan? of relief and aid to them, but under his minister Fadela Amara, the plan never materialized.

Police consider the gang behavior and hostility in the zones bad enough to label many of them, including Amiens, ?no go? areas, though the phrase is used loosely.

In riots two days ago, dumpsters and cars were torched, plate glass windows were smashed, and a restaurant was destroyed. Police reported that buckshot was fired, though another report called it machine gun fire.?

The police ID check that sparked the riots took place near the funeral ceremony on Aug. 12 of a young man who died in an unrelated traffic mishap.

Mr. Valls, the interior minister, visited the mother of the deceased yesterday. She complained to him of insensitive and provocative police behavior and said local residents felt they were treated like ?animals? by local law enforcement, according to local French newspaper Le Courrier Picard.

It?s a sentiment that is widely felt throughout the area. Zone residents claim they live separate and unequal lives that include frequent ID checks that they say are humiliating and do not take place in Paris or other large cities.?

In a recent Monitor report on the sensitive Paris suburb zone of Clichy-sois-Bois ahead of this year?s French election, nearly every young male interviewed said that they had been stopped and questioned or searched more than once in the previous year.

Clichy was the epicenter of the 2005 riots that started when two youth going home from playing soccer on the eve of Ramadan ran away from a police ID check and were electrocuted when they tried to take refuge in a power station. Within a week, the riots spread across France.?

Ten years ago, France?s police strategy changed from "community" policing to a more confrontational and forceful style.?

In 2005, as interior minister, Sarkozy, vowed to bring a Karcher into the riot zones, referring to the nozzle on water cannons used by French police. This week, Valls, speaking in Amiens, told locals he was not there to bring a Karcher, another potential signal of a policy change to come.

This spring, a grassroots effort in the form of a public lawsuit was filed in French courts for the first time against the practice of police ID checks, financed in part by an NGO supported by the philanthropist George Soros.

Hollande, who just completed his first 100 days in office, was elected largely because of his policies claiming to unify the people. Observers say he?ll likely try to respond to Amiens on that basis, though it?s too early to say exactly what that will look like.

Source: http://rss.csmonitor.com/~r/csmonitor/globalnews/~3/XqECdfnkIhY/Riots-test-new-French-President-Hollande

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South Carolina: Proposed workers' comp hike cut by 58 - UnConflicted

By Michael Whiteley, Eastern Bureau Chief

South Carolina Consumer Advocate Elliott Elam Jr. and a group of small businesses reached a settlement in the latest in a series of administrative court battles with the National Council on Compensation Insurance (NCCI) on Monday and agreed to a 3% increase in loss costs, effective Sept. 1.

Elam and the South Carolina Small Business Chamber of Commerce said the agreement, approved by Chief Administrative Law Judge Ralph K. Anderson III on Monday, resolves a three-year legal challenge over loss-cost notice requirements.

The agreement cuts NCCI's pending loss-cost request by more than half. Last February, NCCI had filed for a 7.3% loss-cost increase to take effect on July 1.

Elam said Acting State Insurance Director Gwendolyn Fuller McGriff also approved the settlement. The South Carolina Insurance Department did not return telephone calls on Tuesday.

As part of the settlement, NCCI also agreed to drop its appeal of a Feb. 22, 2012, ruling by the South Carolina Court of Appeals that required the Insurance Department to post notice of all loss-cost changes, regardless of whether overall averages increase or decrease.

Both NCCI and McGriff argued state law requires notice only when the average for loss costs covering the state's 700 job classification codes goes up.

Elam argued that, without official notice, he had no standing to challenge loss-cost changes and ask the state's Administrative Law Court to force NCCI to divulge the details of its filings.

"This brings certain stability back to the market, and now we can start moving forward," Elam said on Tuesday. "With every loss-cost filing, regardless of whether the overall average increased, somebody was getting a rate increase."

Small Business Chamber President and Chief Executive Officer Frank Knapp Jr. said the settlement makes it clear that Elam and his successors can challenge loss-cost filings even when overall averages decline.

"These filings are a little bit math and a little bit art," Knapp said. "We're quite pleased that the proposed rate increase has dropped by more than 50%."

The South Carolina Consumer Advocate's Office has filed a series of challenges to NCCI's filings dating back to 2001. Elam said South Carolina law does not provide for rate hearings within the Insurance Department.

NCCI's call to boost loss costs by 32.9% in 2005 led to more than a year of legal wrangling in the state administrative law court. Former Chief Judge Marvin Kittrell reduced the increase to 18.4%, effective Dec. 1, 2006.

NCCI filed for another 23.7% increase in April 2007, but reached a settlement with Elam and the Small Business Chamber in May 2008 that limited the overall increase to 9.8%.

The double-digit increases prompted a series of workers' compensation reforms approved by the South Carolina Legislature in June 2007.

Following the reforms, NCCI obtained Insurance Department approval to cut loss costs by 0.3% in 2009 and by another 9.8% in 2010.

But Elam contested both filings, arguing that the South Carolina Insurance Department provided no notice of the filings and did not make the data available. Elam lost the challenge to the notice requirement in state administrative court and took the case to the state Court of Appeals.

The appeals court ruled on Feb. 22, 2012, that South Carolina employers have a right to know when loss costs change, because it can affect their individual premiums.

"Under the DOI's interpretation, an insured might get notice of the filing one year and might not get notice the following year, even though that insurer's loss costs increased in both years," the appellate court ruled. "Such an arbitrary result cannot have been intended."

Both McGriff and NCCI filed writs of certiorari asking the South Carolina Supreme Court to intervene. The petitions were pending when the parties reached the settlement on Tuesday.

The settlement calls for:

The state to approve an increase in loss costs averaging 3% in the voluntary market and to reduce loss costs by an average of 3.1% for "F" classifications ? which apply to workers covered by the U.S. Longshore and Harbor Workers Act.
The Insurance Department and NCCI to withdraw their petitions for certiorari within 10 days of the settlement's approval.
Elam to withdraw pending challenges of previous loss-cost changes.
The parties to agree that NCCI's filings for 2009, 2010 and 2011 were not "excessive, inadequate or unfairly discriminatory."

NCCI State Relations Executive Amy Quinn could not be reached for comment on Tuesday.

In its annual state advisory forums, NCCI reported that, prior to the settlement, South Carolina would have experienced the third largest loss-cost increase in the Southeastern region. Mississippi regulators approved a 9.9% loss-cost increase that took effect on March 1.

Florida Insurance Commissioner Kevin McCarty approved an 8.9% rate increase, effective Jan. 1, 2012, and is considering NCCI's call to increase rates by another 6.1% next January.

NCCI reported that 2012 loss costs or rates increased in seven states in the region and declined in five others. Alabama regulators approved a decrease of 9.3%, the steepest cut in the region, effective March 1.

Knapp said the settlement will streamline future loss-cost challenges.

"Small businesses now can be assured that any overall changes in workers' compensation rates will be based on an objective vetting of premiums paid and carrier payments made to workers and health care providers," Knapp said.

Source: http://www.unconflictedsc.com/2012/08/south-carolina-proposed-workers-comp.html

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Syria refugee exodus raises pressure for buffer zone

ANKARA/BAB AL-SALAMEH, Syria - (Reuters) - Syria's refugee exodus is accelerating and up to 200,000 people could settle in Turkey alone if the conflict worsens, the United Nations warned on Tuesday, increasing pressure for creation of a buffer zone inside Syria.

Turkey has floated the idea of a "safe zone" to be set up for civilians under foreign protection as fighting has intensified in a 17-month-old uprising against President Bashar al-Assad.

Up to 5,000 refugees a day have been crossing into Turkey over the past two weeks while the pace of refugees arriving at a camp in northern Jordan has doubled, heralding what could be a much bigger movement there, the U.N. refugee agency said.

Although there is no sign divided world powers are ready to back a buffer and no-fly zone, as rebels and aid organizations would like, U.N. Security Council foreign ministers are expected to discuss the idea at a meeting on Thursday.

While Turkey could in theory create a buffer zone itself, it has said it is reluctant to go it alone.

Already hosting more than 80,000 refugees, Turkey has warned it could run out of space if the number goes above 100,000.

"We are already looking at potentially up to 200,000 and are working with the Turkish government to make the necessary plans," Sybella Wilkes, spokeswoman of the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), told Reuters in Geneva.

Turkey fears the presence of refugees fleeing a conflict with a sectarian dimension could worsen its own tensions as well as straining resources.

Turkey will open four new camps for Syrian refugees by next week, bringing its capacity to 120,000 people, its disaster management agency said, but thousands remain stuck inside Syria.

"We will be asking the United Nations to be more active in terms of helping the Syrians on their side of the border," said one Turkish official, who declined to be named. He complained that Turkey had received little help so far.

Relations between Turkey and Syria have deteriorated sharply during the uprising. Syria accuses its neighbor, hosting rebel forces, of backing 'terrorist' infiltration and shot down a Turkish plane in June.

FIGHTING WORSENS

The refugee flow to Turkey has grown as fighting has worsened around Syria's biggest city, Aleppo, split between rebels and Assad's forces in a street-by-street battle that has ground on for weeks.

Heavy fighting has also returned to districts around Damascus, one month after rebels were driven back from the centre of the capital. Twelve people were killed by a car bomb at a funeral in Damascus on Tuesday, state television said. Activists said the attack targeted Assad supporters.

At least 18,000 people have been killed and 2.5 million Syrians are in need of aid or assistance, the United Nations says. More than 200,000 refugees have registered in neighboring countries, though significantly more have left Syria.

At the Azaz-Kilis crossing, the main route into Turkey from Aleppo, Syrians described dire conditions for refugees still trapped on the other side of the border.

"We saw people sitting on the street and sleeping. They don't have a toilet. It's very bad ... No food. Children in the street," said Juma'a Handawi, shortly after crossing.

Pick-up trucks crammed with people, mattresses, clothes and wooden furniture ferry refugees to the border. Rebel fighters draped with ammunition belts and carrying automatic rifles loiter among women and children waiting to cross.

Ankara fears a mass influx on the scale of the 1991 Gulf War, when half a million people poured into Turkey.

OBSTACLES AT U.N.

French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius, who will chair Thursday's U.N. meeting, said on Monday a no-fly zone may become an inevitability if refugee numbers continue to soar, while U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said in Turkey this month that all measures including a no-fly zone were on the table.

But no U.N. Security Council member has formally proposed such a measure and there are legal and practical obstacles to establishing such a zone, diplomats say, as well as strong opposition from Russia and China.

"At the moment we're not expecting much," said one French diplomatic source of the meeting on Thursday.

Many of the refugees in Turkey and other neighboring states have been housed in schools and sports centers but, with the academic term due to begin, they are being moved on.

Refugees sheltering at schools in Marj, a town in Lebanon's Bekaa Valley, were told to find somewhere else to stay after the education ministry ordered all schools to be cleared by September 2 for the registration of students, a local official said.

Men, women and children stood in the street in front of one school with their bags and suitcases, some unsure where to go.

"I will look for a house to rent and if we can't find one, we will have to go back to Syria, and whatever will happen is going to happen," said Abu Amar, who fled from fighting in the Damascus district of Kafr Souseh last month.

Activists said the new wave of refugees to Jordan may have been caused by shelling on houses in the southern town of Busra al-Sham that killed at least 15 women and children last week.

Jordan called for help with the refugee influx.

"We are being burnt by the impact of this crisis in a direct manner," Minister of State for Information Samih Maaytah told Reuters.

(Additional reporting by Khaled Yacoub Oweis in Amman, Stephanie Nebehay in Geneva, Afif Dab in Lebanon, John Irish in Paris; Writing by Nick Tattersall and Dominic Evans; Editing by Matthew Tostevin)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/syria-refugee-exodus-raises-pressure-buffer-zone-151459652.html

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International Entertainment News: Fantastic Fest Announces The ...

Fantastic Fest Announces The 2012 AMD Next Wave Filmmaker Spotlight

AUSTIN, Texas, Aug. 29, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Fantastic Fest, the largest genre film festival in the U.S., is pleased to announce the 2012 AMD Next Wave competition, which recognizes outstanding new talent in genre film directing. Eight films from seven different countries have been selected to compete in the latest installment of this annual international competition.

(Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20120629/DA33206LOGO)

These up-and-coming filmmakers are at the beginning of their movie careers and may well become the next generation of talent to shape the film industry for decades to come. The AMD Next Wave competition films will debut at Fantastic Fest, many in world and U.S. premiere screenings and compete for the highest honor of the festival.

The winning filmmaker will be awarded a $1,000 cash prize and AMD-based computer hardware featuring their latest Accelerated Processing Unit (APU). The AMD Next Wave awards will be the final presentation at the annual Fantastic Fest Awards presentation on Monday, September 24th at the Alamo Drafthouse South Lamar.

The winner of last year's AMD Next Wave competition, BULLHEAD, was acquired by Drafthouse Films and went on to receive an Academy Award nomination for Best Foreign Language Film. Director Michael R. Roskam was heralded for his incredibly artful and original vision and has been compared to a young Martin Scorsese. Roskam's next project is Focus Features' THE TIGER, produced by Darren Aronofsky and Brad Pitt.

"Michael Roskam exemplifies the powerful potential of emerging genre directors," said festival Founder and Creative Director Tim League. "In addition to being nominated for the best foreign language film Oscar, Michael is now working with Michael Mann on a high-profile American television pilot. The AMD Next Wave helps foster and support today's most exciting debut directors who may become tomorrow's industry leaders."

"AMD technology continues to be utilized by top movie makers worldwide including the director Robert Rodriguez. We created the AMD Next Wave award along with our great partners at Alamo Drafthouse to recognize up and coming directorial talent across the globe. Fantastic Fest has become the premier genre festival in the world," said Charlie Boswell, AMD Director of Digital Media and Entertainment. "The Oscar nominated film BULLHEAD from Belgium director Michael Roskam is the latest product coming through the festival."

All eyes look to the AMD Next Wave for the hottest new international directorial talent. Below you will find a brief description for each of the 2012 AMD Next Wave competition films:

COMBAT GIRLS (2011)
North American Premiere
Director - David Wnendt, 103min
The debut feature from director-writer David Wnendt is a bleak tale of two girls who, for very different reasons, get swept up in the resurgent Neo-Nazi movement in Germany.

CONSPIRACY, THE
World Premiere
Director - Christopher MacBride, 85min
Two young documentary filmmakers are drawn into a shadowy world of secret societies when the subject of their film simply disappears. Have his investigations led to his demise?

CRAVE (2012)
U.S. Premiere
Director - Charles de Lauzirika, 113min
CRAVE follows a mentally unstable crime scene photographer on his descent into violence and madness. CRAVE won the New Flesh Award for Best First Feature at the 2012 edition of the Fantasia International Film Festival.

ERRORS OF THE HUMAN BODY (2012)
U.S. Premiere
Director - Eron Sheean, 101min
Plagued by the memory of the infant son he could not save, geneticist Geoff Burton plunges into a web of intrigue, jealousy and lies in this icily precise thriller.

FLIMMER (2012)
North American Premiere
Director - Patrik Eklund, 99min
Oscar-nominated short film director Patrik Eklund's feature debut showcases the wry wit that made his shorts so hugely popular in this tale of a small town telecom company plagued by anti-radiowave anarchists.

FUCK UP (2012)
North American Premiere
Director - Oystein Karlsen, 135min
Clearly it's all the moose's fault. Jack had everything under control until his best friend crashed into a moose on the Swedish border. With a trunk full of cocaine. Now it's all gone to shit.

KING OF PIGS, THE (2011)
Texas Premiere
Director - Yeung Sang-ho, 97min
THE KING OF PIGS is an emotionally punishing animated indie film about a group of friends whose brutal childhoods continue to haunt them as adults.

PLAN C (2012)
World Premiere
Director - Max Porcelijn, 95min
Detective Ronald Plasmeyer has a problem in need of a solution: A ten thousand Euro debt to the Chinese mafia. Plan A didn't work. Plan B made things much, much worse. Now it's time for Plan C.

For more details regarding Fantastic Fest, contact festival publicist Brandy Fons, at brandy@fonspr.com. For more information, visit www.fantasticfest.com.

For the latest developments, tickets and badges visit the Fantastic Fest official site www.fantasticfest.com and follow us on Facebook & Twitter.

To apply for press credentials to FF 2012 please email an assignment from your editor to press@fantasticfest.com.

AboutFantasticFest
Fantastic Fest is the largest genre film festival in the U.S., specializing in horror, fantasy, sci-fi, action and just plain fantastic movies from all around the world. In years past the festival has been home to world premieres of THERE WILL BE BLOOD, APOCALYPTO, ZOMBIELAND, THE HUMAN CENTIPEDE 2 and RED while the guest roster has included such talent as Mel Gibson, Bill Murray, Edward Norton, Ryan Reynolds, Karl Urban, Josh Hartnett, The RZA, Dolph Lundgren, Jemaine Clement, Paul Rudd, Bill Pullman, Paul Thomas Anderson, Kevin Smith, Jon Favreau, George Romero, Darren Aronofsky and Mike Judge. Fantastic Fest also features world, national and regional premieres of new, up-and-coming genre films. The festival has launched and propelled the buzz for international genre hits like THE HUMAN CENTIPEDE, MONSTERS, TIMECRIMES and TROLLHUNTER. Fantastic Fest is held each year at the Alamo Drafthouse Cinema on South Lamar in Austin, Texas. During his Keynote Address at the International film Festival Summit in Las Vegas, Variety president and publisher Charlie Koones listed Fantastic Fest in a list of "10 Film Festivals We Love," a list which included industry heavy-hitters such as Cannes, Toronto and Telluride. We've also been named as one of the "25 coolest film festivals" and the "25 film festivals worth the entry fee" by Moviemaker Magazine.

Our Partners
Returning Presenting Sponsors for Fantastic Fest and Arcade include AMD, RealD 3D, FEARnet, Plano-based Well Go USA Entertainment, and Texas' own Shiner Beer, whose family of products will be featured throughout the festival. Returning hotel partners include Embassy Suites Austin Downtown, Radisson Hotel and Suites Austin Downtown, and the Intercontinental Stephen F. Austin

New Presenting Sponsors include Sony Digital Cinema 4K, which delivers an immersive theatrical experience with ultra-high resolution digital projection technology.

About Alamo Drafthouse
Alamo Drafthouse is a lifestyle entertainment brand comprised of an acclaimed cinema-eatery chain, the largest genre film festival in the United States and a collectible art store. Named "the best theater ever" by Time Magazine, the Alamo Drafthouse Cinema has built a reputation as a movie lover's oasis not only by combining food and drink service with the movie-going experience, but also introducing unique programming and high-profile, star studded special events. Alamo Drafthouse Founder & CEO, Tim League, created Fantastic Fest, a world renowned film festival dubbed "The Geek Telluride" by Variety. Fantastic Fest showcases eight days of offbeat cinema from independents, international filmmakers and major Hollywood studios. The Alamo Drafthouse's collectible art boutique, Mondo, offers breathtaking, original products featuring designs from world-famous artists based on licenses for popular TV and Movie properties including Star Wars, Star Trek & Universal Monsters. The Alamo Drafthouse Cinema is expanding its brand in new and exciting ways, including the launch of Drafthouse Films, a new film distribution label and plans to extend its theaters and unique programming philosophy to additional markets across the United States. More information about Alamo Drafthouse franchise opportunities are available on the official website www.drafthouse.com.

SOURCE Fantastic Fest

Photo:http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20120629/DA33206LOGO
http://photoarchive.ap.org/
Fantastic Fest

Web Site: http://www.drafthouse.com

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Source: http://internationalentertainmentnews.blogspot.com/2012/08/fantastic-fest-announces-2012-amd-next.html

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David Chase Rocks Out With 'Not Fade Away'

You know how there are all of these amazingly brilliant shows on TV right now. There's a reason for that. Many would give David Chase, the man behind "The Sopranos," credit for ushering in a golden age of television and allowing for serious, adult shows like "Mad Men," "Breaking Bad," and "Game of Thrones" to [...]

Source: http://moviesblog.mtv.com/2012/08/27/david-chase-not-fade-away/

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Media Technical Briefing on Business Risk Management and Non ...

Posted at 5:32 on August 28, 2012 by

In advance of the Federal-Provincial-Territorial Minister?s Meeting, media are invited to attend a technical overview of existing policy and programs for the Canadian agricultural sector. The briefing will only cover programs under the current federal/provincial/territorial Growing Forward agreement. ...

Source: http://wellingtonstpost.com/non-partisan/media-technical-briefing-on-business-risk-management-and-non-business-risk-management-programs-for-the-agriculture-sector

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