FROM: U.S. JUSTICE DEPARTMENT
Friday, November 15, 2013
Two Florida Men Convicted in Philadelphia of Conspiring and Trafficking in Protected Reptiles
A federal jury today found Robroy MacInnes, 54, of Inverness, Fla., and Robert Keszey, 47, of Bushnell, Fla., guilty of conspiracy to traffic in state and federally protected reptiles. MacInnes also was convicted of trafficking in protected timber rattlesnakes in violation of the Lacey Act.
Between 2007 and 2008, the defendants, who own the reptile wholesaler Glades Herp Farm Inc., collected protected snakes from the wild in Pennsylvania and New Jersey, purchased protected eastern timber rattlesnakes that had been illegally collected from the wild in violation of New York law, and transported federally threatened eastern indigo snakes from Florida to Pennsylvania. MacInnes also violated the Lacey Act by purchasing illegal eastern timber rattlesnakes and having the snakes transported from Pennsylvania to Florida. The evidence at trial showed that the protected species were destined for sale at reptile shows in Europe, where a single timber rattlesnake can sell for up to $800. Snakes that were not sold in Europe were sold through the defendants’ business in the United States.
“These defendants broke numerous wildlife laws seeking to profit from an illegal trade in threatened species,” said Robert G. Dreher, Acting Assistant Attorney General for the Environment and Natural Resources Division. “The Justice Department is committed to enforcing wildlife laws like the Endangered Species Act and the Lacey Act that protect our environment and these threatened species from a destructive and dangerous black market trade.”
The eastern timber rattlesnake is a species of venomous pit viper native to the eastern United States, and is listed as threatened in New York. It is also illegal to possess an eastern timber rattlesnake without a permit in Pennsylvania. The eastern indigo snake, the longest native North American snake species, is listed as threatened by both Florida and federal law.
The Lacey Act, one of the oldest statutes in the United States, prohibits interstate trafficking in wildlife known to be illegally obtained. The maximum penalty for conspiring to commit offenses and for violations of the Lacey Act is up to five years in prison and a $250,000 fine for each violation.
This case was investigated by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Office of Law Enforcement, with assistance from the New York Department of Environmental Conservation. The case was prosecuted by Trial Attorney Patrick M. Duggan and paralegal Ashleigh Nye of the Environmental Crimes Section of the Justice Department’s Environment and Natural Resources Division and Assistant U.S. Attorney Mary Kay Costello of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania.
Monday, November 18, 2013
Sunday, November 17, 2013
GSA LOOKING FOR SITES FOR NEW FBI HEADQUARTERS
FROM: GENERAL SERVICES ADMINISTRATION
GSA Seeks Sites for FBI Headquarters
November 15, 2013
WASHINGTON -- Today, the U.S. General Services Administration (GSA) announced that it is taking the next step in the process of finding a new headquarters for the Federal Bureau of Investigation. GSA seeks to identify sites that would be acceptable to include in a future competitive procurement that will provide the best deal for taxpayers. GSA has issued an advertisement for Expressions of Interest to landowners requesting that they offer a parcel of land to accommodate the next FBI headquarters in the District of Columbia or the surrounding counties in Maryland and Virginia. GSA will accept site proposals beginning now through December 17, 2013.
Today’s advertisement is the next phase in an overall procurement strategy that is expected to conclude sometime in 2015. GSA will include one or more of the sites in a future procurement that would allow GSA to exchange the existing J. Edgar Hoover Building on Pennsylvania Ave. in Washington, D.C. for a new facility that can accommodate the FBI’s headquarters operations and allow it to consolidate into one location.
The advertisement asks interested parties to provide information on sites that they would donate to the government or sites that they would sell to the government. Additionally, GSA will consider sites currently in the government inventory. After GSA receives responses, it will begin evaluating the submitted sites, along with those in the federal inventory, to identify sites that meet or exceed GSA’s and FBI’s requirements. GSA anticipates that selected sites will be specified in a future request for development proposals for a new FBI Headquarters.
There is significant interest from the private sector and local governments in developing a new FBI headquarters facility in the National Capital Region. Last March, GSA received 38 responses from the development community about exchanging the FBI’s current headquarters in the J. Edgar Hoover building, which no longer meets the FBI needs for a new, consolidated headquarters. GSA is using the input it is receiving to outline its future procurement.
GSA Seeks Sites for FBI Headquarters
November 15, 2013
WASHINGTON -- Today, the U.S. General Services Administration (GSA) announced that it is taking the next step in the process of finding a new headquarters for the Federal Bureau of Investigation. GSA seeks to identify sites that would be acceptable to include in a future competitive procurement that will provide the best deal for taxpayers. GSA has issued an advertisement for Expressions of Interest to landowners requesting that they offer a parcel of land to accommodate the next FBI headquarters in the District of Columbia or the surrounding counties in Maryland and Virginia. GSA will accept site proposals beginning now through December 17, 2013.
Today’s advertisement is the next phase in an overall procurement strategy that is expected to conclude sometime in 2015. GSA will include one or more of the sites in a future procurement that would allow GSA to exchange the existing J. Edgar Hoover Building on Pennsylvania Ave. in Washington, D.C. for a new facility that can accommodate the FBI’s headquarters operations and allow it to consolidate into one location.
The advertisement asks interested parties to provide information on sites that they would donate to the government or sites that they would sell to the government. Additionally, GSA will consider sites currently in the government inventory. After GSA receives responses, it will begin evaluating the submitted sites, along with those in the federal inventory, to identify sites that meet or exceed GSA’s and FBI’s requirements. GSA anticipates that selected sites will be specified in a future request for development proposals for a new FBI Headquarters.
There is significant interest from the private sector and local governments in developing a new FBI headquarters facility in the National Capital Region. Last March, GSA received 38 responses from the development community about exchanging the FBI’s current headquarters in the J. Edgar Hoover building, which no longer meets the FBI needs for a new, consolidated headquarters. GSA is using the input it is receiving to outline its future procurement.
NSF AND THE SUN'S MYSTERIOUS CORONA
FROM: NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION
It's hot...super hot
Finding answers around the sun
November 12, 2013
Astronomers have collectively puzzled over two working theories for a conundrum involving the sun that have been discussed in Astronomy 101 classes for decades: Why is the sun's corona (the atmosphere beyond the sun) so hot? The sun's core is a searing 15 million Kelvins, but by the time that heat reaches the sun's surface, it cools off to a mere 6,000 degrees, only to again heat up to more than a million degrees in the corona.
Two National Science Foundation- (NSF) funded researchers at Columbia University recently published what they believe is the solution, and it has to do with magnetic waves known as Alfven waves. The researchers present their findings today at the Hinode 7 Science Meeting in Japan.
Michael Hahn and Daniel Wolf Savin analyzed data from the Extreme Ultraviolet Imaging Spectrometer on the Japanese satellite Hinode over a polar coronal hole and found that, much like the vibrations of a plucked guitar string, the solar magnetic field lines also pulsate, and in doing so transfer energy from below the sun's surface into the corona. Hinode's spectrometer captured the waves penetrating the upper solar atmosphere.
"This is a fundamentally important finding," said Ilia Roussev, NSF program director for solar terrestrial research. "This issue is the holy grail of solar physics. If this allows us to better understand the mechanics, then it has tremendous consequences."
The coronal heating problem has been debated for 70 years with researchers essentially falling into two camps: one involving the Alfven waves and the other attributing the heating "problem" to magnetic field loops that stretch across the solar surface with the potential to "snap" and release energy. The important key to Hahn and Savin's findings comes with Hinode satellite observations. The team has been studying Hinode data since 2009 with funding since 2011 from the NSF Solar, Heliospheric and INterplanetary Environment (SHINE) Program.
"This is the big, unanswered question in solar physics, and nearly everyone in the field is somehow working on trying to solve it," Savin said. "We really had no idea where the research would lead us, but we were hoping to at least be able to add another piece to the puzzle. We did not expect it to be such a big piece."
In fact, technology had to catch up to theory to make this happen. The Hinode satellite, a Japanese mission with the Extreme Ultraviolet Imaging Spectrometer developed as collaboration between Japan, the United Kingdom and the United States, offered unique, previously unattainable observations.
"Until that time, we could only see the sun in white light; we didn't have UV observations. But, now we do," Roussev noted. With the UV capability, researchers can glean information on chemical makeup and physical conditions near the sun's surface that until the mid-1990s could not be observed. Hinode has been studying the sun since 2006.
"Some in the community have responded enthusiastically to our findings; others more cautiously, but that is to be expected," Savin said. "Others, including us, have pointed out that there may not be just one solution to the problem as there are different structures on the Sun. Our work is relevant for coronal holes, which are the source of the fast solar wind. A different mechanism or mechanisms may be operating in the quiet sun."
The "in's and out's" of Earth's atmosphere
While the sun is almost 93 million miles from earth, the electrons and protons from the sun move toward Earth via a wind of particles. This solar wind has impacts on the Earth's atmosphere in locations where satellites provide important imagery of our planet and allow technology like GPS and cell phones to operate.
"Ultimately, this kind of research does provide new perspective on space weather, which is known to affect the Earth" said Hahn, who was awarded a 2012 Blavatnik Award for Young Scientists by the New York Academy of Sciences for his work on the coronal heating problem. "Understanding these fundamental processes improves our understanding, of not just the solar corona, but also of space weather."
Specifically, the high temperature of the sun's corona causes it to emit X-rays that can affect the conditions of Earth's atmosphere where satellites roam. "The sun is the biggest X-ray machine in the solar system," Roussev explained. "The upper layers of earth's atmosphere absorb those X-rays, but what they do is heat that upper atmosphere. It expands almost like the Earth breathing in and out. This has a direct impact on the lifetime of satellites. The more the atmosphere expands, the slower the satellites move. That shortens their lifetime as they slow to a point where they re-enter the atmosphere."
Puzzle solved. Now what?
The interesting thing about potentially solving a puzzle like this one is that the solution raises more questions.
"What causes Alfven waves to be damped at such surprisingly low heights in the corona?" Savin asked, who is now proposing a series of experiments in plasma physics to simulate conditions in a coronal hole and explore possible mechanisms that would cause the waves to lose their energy. "We are also analyzing Hinode observations of other solar structures in the corona to see what role waves play in heating those structures."
Other researchers will likely explore replication, especially involving observations elsewhere in the corona, rather than just polar coronal holes.
"People have been claiming to solve the coronal heating problem for decades," Hahn said. "We are reasonably confident in our results and wait now for others to reproduce our findings."
-- Ivy F. Kupec
Investigators
Michael Hahn
Daniel Wolf Savin
Related Institutions/Organizations
Columbia University
Locations
Columbia University , New York
NSF SAYS MECHANICAL ENGINEERING TEAM DESIGNING CAR WITH INDEPENDENT MOTOR FOR EACH WHEEL
FROM: NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION
An unconventional car: no engine, no transmission, no differential
This car has no engine, no transmission and no differential. It weighs half as much as a conventional car. Each of its four wheels has its own built-in electric battery-powered motor, meaning the car has the ability to make sharp turns and change direction very quickly.
Without an exceptional traction and motion control system, however, this car would be quite difficult to drive, providing a driving experience vastly different from anything else on the road, and almost certainly more dangerous.
This is where Junmin Wang's expertise comes in.
Wang, assistant professor of mechanical engineering at Ohio State University, and his team are designing algorithms for the vehicle's onboard computer that will calculate and ensure motion control to keep the car stable and operating smoothly. The system, which receives and analyzes input data 100 times per second from the steering wheel, the gas pedal and brake, works out how each wheel should respond.
"Without it, the car is quite difficult to drive because the wheels are not coordinated," says the National Science Foundation (NSF)-funded researcher, who also directs the university's vehicle systems and control laboratory. "You feel like you are driving something uncontrollable. You could flip over, or travel along an undesired path, or cause a crash. But when the 'controller' is active, based on feedback loops, the vehicle motion can be controlled, just as the driver expects."
With a safe and reliable control system, this new electric vehicle ultimately should make the perfect in-city car. It's efficient and maneuverable--and has no emissions. Because it is all electric, "you can use wind power or solar power, and contribute toward reducing our dependency on fossil oils," Wang says.
The computer calculates exactly how much torque the car needs for each of its four wheels. Moreover, because each wheel is independent, "one wheel can be doing the braking, while another is doing the driving," Wang says. "The computer gets signals from the driver from the steering wheel and pedal positions, then calculates the desired speed, or vehicle motion, based on a mathematical model."
Wang's work on the car began in 2009 with a grant from the Office of Naval Research Young Investigator Program. In February 2012 he received an NSF Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) award, which supports junior faculty who exemplify the role of teacher-scholars through outstanding research, excellent education, and the integration of education and research within the context of the mission of their organization. He is receiving $400,000 over five years.
As part of the grant's educational component, Wang's lab hosted a summer program for high school students where, among other things, the teenagers disassembled and reassembled radio-controlled toy electric cars to increase their understanding of their mechanics.
Additionally, students from the Columbus Metro School, a public STEM (science, technology, engineering, math) high school open to students from around the state, participated in research internships on the experimental car in Wang's lab.
Wang's research also receives funding from the Honda-Ohio State University Partnership Program and the Ohio State University Transportation Research Endowment Program.
The experimental car weighs only about 800 kg., or a little more than 1,750 pounds, which makes it energy efficient. The researchers retrofitted a commercially available utility terrain vehicle chassis and removed the engine, transmission and differential, then added a 7.5 kW electric motor to each wheel and a 15 kW lithium-ion battery pack. A single electrical cable connects the motors to a central computer. This type of car design, where each wheel has its own individual motor, is known as "four wheel independently actuated."
The researchers tested the car and its controller on normal road conditions at the Transportation Research Center in East Liberty, Ohio, an independent automotive site for vehicle crash, emissions and durability testing. On roads with good conditions, the car followed a driver's "desired" path within four inches.
To see how it performs on slippery roads, they brought the car to an empty west campus parking lot on a snowy day. The car maneuvered with an accuracy of up to eight inches, and the vehicle traction and motion control system prevented "fishtailing" through independent control of the left and right sides of the car.
The researchers, including doctoral student Rongrong Wang, described the car's ability to follow a specific trajectory in a paper published in January 2013 in the journal Control Engineering Practice.
Wang can't yet estimate the mileage for a single charge, since the car only has been driven during experimental testing. But he says the car provides "about 8 to 10 hours of driving on a single charge, although not continuously."
Wang thinks it will take another five- to- 10 years before the car is ready for commercial use. The researchers still must fine-tune the computer algorithms and add more safety features. Wang says it is difficult to compare their test results to a conventional car, since the latter's maneuverability is limited by the transmission and differential systems that link the wheels together mechanically.
Nevertheless, he predicts that, ultimately, the research will produce an electric car that will be clean, fuel-efficient and "handle better than typical conventional cars," he says.
-- Marlene Cimons, National Science Foundation
An unconventional car: no engine, no transmission, no differential
This car has no engine, no transmission and no differential. It weighs half as much as a conventional car. Each of its four wheels has its own built-in electric battery-powered motor, meaning the car has the ability to make sharp turns and change direction very quickly.
Without an exceptional traction and motion control system, however, this car would be quite difficult to drive, providing a driving experience vastly different from anything else on the road, and almost certainly more dangerous.
This is where Junmin Wang's expertise comes in.
Wang, assistant professor of mechanical engineering at Ohio State University, and his team are designing algorithms for the vehicle's onboard computer that will calculate and ensure motion control to keep the car stable and operating smoothly. The system, which receives and analyzes input data 100 times per second from the steering wheel, the gas pedal and brake, works out how each wheel should respond.
"Without it, the car is quite difficult to drive because the wheels are not coordinated," says the National Science Foundation (NSF)-funded researcher, who also directs the university's vehicle systems and control laboratory. "You feel like you are driving something uncontrollable. You could flip over, or travel along an undesired path, or cause a crash. But when the 'controller' is active, based on feedback loops, the vehicle motion can be controlled, just as the driver expects."
With a safe and reliable control system, this new electric vehicle ultimately should make the perfect in-city car. It's efficient and maneuverable--and has no emissions. Because it is all electric, "you can use wind power or solar power, and contribute toward reducing our dependency on fossil oils," Wang says.
The computer calculates exactly how much torque the car needs for each of its four wheels. Moreover, because each wheel is independent, "one wheel can be doing the braking, while another is doing the driving," Wang says. "The computer gets signals from the driver from the steering wheel and pedal positions, then calculates the desired speed, or vehicle motion, based on a mathematical model."
Wang's work on the car began in 2009 with a grant from the Office of Naval Research Young Investigator Program. In February 2012 he received an NSF Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) award, which supports junior faculty who exemplify the role of teacher-scholars through outstanding research, excellent education, and the integration of education and research within the context of the mission of their organization. He is receiving $400,000 over five years.
As part of the grant's educational component, Wang's lab hosted a summer program for high school students where, among other things, the teenagers disassembled and reassembled radio-controlled toy electric cars to increase their understanding of their mechanics.
Additionally, students from the Columbus Metro School, a public STEM (science, technology, engineering, math) high school open to students from around the state, participated in research internships on the experimental car in Wang's lab.
Wang's research also receives funding from the Honda-Ohio State University Partnership Program and the Ohio State University Transportation Research Endowment Program.
The experimental car weighs only about 800 kg., or a little more than 1,750 pounds, which makes it energy efficient. The researchers retrofitted a commercially available utility terrain vehicle chassis and removed the engine, transmission and differential, then added a 7.5 kW electric motor to each wheel and a 15 kW lithium-ion battery pack. A single electrical cable connects the motors to a central computer. This type of car design, where each wheel has its own individual motor, is known as "four wheel independently actuated."
The researchers tested the car and its controller on normal road conditions at the Transportation Research Center in East Liberty, Ohio, an independent automotive site for vehicle crash, emissions and durability testing. On roads with good conditions, the car followed a driver's "desired" path within four inches.
To see how it performs on slippery roads, they brought the car to an empty west campus parking lot on a snowy day. The car maneuvered with an accuracy of up to eight inches, and the vehicle traction and motion control system prevented "fishtailing" through independent control of the left and right sides of the car.
The researchers, including doctoral student Rongrong Wang, described the car's ability to follow a specific trajectory in a paper published in January 2013 in the journal Control Engineering Practice.
Wang can't yet estimate the mileage for a single charge, since the car only has been driven during experimental testing. But he says the car provides "about 8 to 10 hours of driving on a single charge, although not continuously."
Wang thinks it will take another five- to- 10 years before the car is ready for commercial use. The researchers still must fine-tune the computer algorithms and add more safety features. Wang says it is difficult to compare their test results to a conventional car, since the latter's maneuverability is limited by the transmission and differential systems that link the wheels together mechanically.
Nevertheless, he predicts that, ultimately, the research will produce an electric car that will be clean, fuel-efficient and "handle better than typical conventional cars," he says.
-- Marlene Cimons, National Science Foundation
U.S. STATE DEPARTMENT ANNOUNCES SWITZERLAND HOSTED INITIAL PLANNING MEETING FOR THE GLOBAL FUND
FROM: U.S. STATE DEPARTMENT
Initial Planning Meeting for the Global Fund for Community Engagement and Resilience
Media Note
Office of the Spokesperson
Washington, DC
November 15, 2013
The Government of Switzerland hosted the initial planning meeting to develop the Global Fund for Community Engagement and Resilience, November 14–15. The Fund will mobilize public and private sector resources to support local, community-based efforts to counter violent extremism.
This two-day event, held in Lucerne, was facilitated by Carol Bellamy, the former Executive Director of UNICEF and former Chair of the Global Partnership for Education. Some 40 officials and experts from around the world met to begin discussions on the mandate, organizational architecture, and legal foundation of the Fund. Discussions are expected to continue over the coming months with a view to having the Fund become operational by mid-2014.
The Fund was announced by U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu at a Global Counterterrorism Forum Ministerial meeting in New York on September 27. Once established, the Fund is expected to provide and monitor the implementation of grants to local, grass-roots organizations for community-based projects on education, vocational training, civic engagement, media, and women’s advocacy that target those individuals or groups most vulnerable to radicalization or recruitment by violent extremists.
Initial Planning Meeting for the Global Fund for Community Engagement and Resilience
Media Note
Office of the Spokesperson
Washington, DC
November 15, 2013
The Government of Switzerland hosted the initial planning meeting to develop the Global Fund for Community Engagement and Resilience, November 14–15. The Fund will mobilize public and private sector resources to support local, community-based efforts to counter violent extremism.
This two-day event, held in Lucerne, was facilitated by Carol Bellamy, the former Executive Director of UNICEF and former Chair of the Global Partnership for Education. Some 40 officials and experts from around the world met to begin discussions on the mandate, organizational architecture, and legal foundation of the Fund. Discussions are expected to continue over the coming months with a view to having the Fund become operational by mid-2014.
The Fund was announced by U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu at a Global Counterterrorism Forum Ministerial meeting in New York on September 27. Once established, the Fund is expected to provide and monitor the implementation of grants to local, grass-roots organizations for community-based projects on education, vocational training, civic engagement, media, and women’s advocacy that target those individuals or groups most vulnerable to radicalization or recruitment by violent extremists.
PHILLY DEMOLITION CONTRACTOR CITED FOR VIOLATIONS RELATED TO BUILDING COLLAPSE AND FATALITIES
FROM: U.S. LABOR DEPARTMENT
Philadelphia demolition contractors cited by US Labor Department's OSHA
for willful and serious safety violations following fatal June building collapse
Contractors removed support for wall that collapsed onto the Salvation Army store
PHILADELPHIA — The U.S. Department of Labor's Occupational Safety and Health Administration today cited Griffin Campbell, doing business as Campbell Construction, and Sean Benschop, doing business as S&R Contracting, for safety violations, including three willful per-instance violations, following the June 5, 2013, building collapse that killed six people and injured 14. Campbell Construction was demolishing the four-story building known as the "Hoagie City" building adjacent to the Salvation Army Thrift Store, located at the 2100 block of Market Street in Philadelphia. S&R Contracting was operating the building's interior walls and floors.
"Campbell Construction and S&R Contracting sacrificed worker and public safety through the deliberate neglect of demolition safety fundamentals," said Assistant Secretary of Labor for Occupational Safety and Health Dr. David Michaels. "This tragic incident could and should have been prevented."
OSHA found several violations of OSHA's demolition construction standards. On the three days leading up to the collapse, Campbell Construction removed critical, structural supports for the wall that collapsed. The OSHA demolition standards prohibit the removal of lateral support walls more than one story high, leaving the wall unsupported. Campbell Construction also removed parts of the lower floors prior to the removal of the upper floors, again, contrary to the OSHA standards. Campbell Construction also failed to provide an engineering survey as promised. As a result, Campbell Construction has been cited for three willful, egregious violations for each day that it left the wall without sufficient lateral support, and two willful violations alleging the failures to demolish the building from the top down and to have an engineering survey by a competent person on the possibility of collapse prior to starting the demolition. S&R Contracting has been cited for one willful violation. A willful violation is one committed with intentional, knowing or voluntary disregard for the law's requirements, or with plain indifference to worker safety and health.
Additionally, Campbell Construction was cited for serious violations for the company's failures to provide: employees with hard hats when there was a possible risk of head injury; fall protection for employees working on surfaces at least six feet high; training on fall hazards; and adequate personal fall arrest systems. Campbell Construction also failed to inspect all stairs periodically and to maintain them in a clean, safe condition. S&R Contracting was cited for two serious violations for failing to protect employees from falling through holes and to provide fall hazard training. A serious violation occurs when there is substantial probability that death or serious physical harm could result from a hazard about which the employer knew or should have known if an accident were to occur.
OSHA proposed penalties of $313,000 for Campbell Construction and $84,000 for S&R Contracting. Both companies have 15 business days from receipt of the citations to comply, request an informal conference with the OSHA area director in Philadelphia, or contest the citations and proposed penalties before the independent Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission.
To ask questions; obtain compliance assistance; file a complaint; or report workplace hospitalizations, fatalities or situations posing imminent danger to workers, the public should call OSHA's toll-free hotline at 800-321-OSHA (6742) or the agency's Philadelphia Area Office at 215-597-4955.
Under the Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970, employers are responsible for providing safe and healthful workplaces for their employees. OSHA's role is to ensure these conditions for America's working men and women by setting and enforcing standards, and providing training, education and assistance. For more information, visit http://www.osha.gov.
Philadelphia demolition contractors cited by US Labor Department's OSHA
for willful and serious safety violations following fatal June building collapse
Contractors removed support for wall that collapsed onto the Salvation Army store
PHILADELPHIA — The U.S. Department of Labor's Occupational Safety and Health Administration today cited Griffin Campbell, doing business as Campbell Construction, and Sean Benschop, doing business as S&R Contracting, for safety violations, including three willful per-instance violations, following the June 5, 2013, building collapse that killed six people and injured 14. Campbell Construction was demolishing the four-story building known as the "Hoagie City" building adjacent to the Salvation Army Thrift Store, located at the 2100 block of Market Street in Philadelphia. S&R Contracting was operating the building's interior walls and floors.
"Campbell Construction and S&R Contracting sacrificed worker and public safety through the deliberate neglect of demolition safety fundamentals," said Assistant Secretary of Labor for Occupational Safety and Health Dr. David Michaels. "This tragic incident could and should have been prevented."
OSHA found several violations of OSHA's demolition construction standards. On the three days leading up to the collapse, Campbell Construction removed critical, structural supports for the wall that collapsed. The OSHA demolition standards prohibit the removal of lateral support walls more than one story high, leaving the wall unsupported. Campbell Construction also removed parts of the lower floors prior to the removal of the upper floors, again, contrary to the OSHA standards. Campbell Construction also failed to provide an engineering survey as promised. As a result, Campbell Construction has been cited for three willful, egregious violations for each day that it left the wall without sufficient lateral support, and two willful violations alleging the failures to demolish the building from the top down and to have an engineering survey by a competent person on the possibility of collapse prior to starting the demolition. S&R Contracting has been cited for one willful violation. A willful violation is one committed with intentional, knowing or voluntary disregard for the law's requirements, or with plain indifference to worker safety and health.
Additionally, Campbell Construction was cited for serious violations for the company's failures to provide: employees with hard hats when there was a possible risk of head injury; fall protection for employees working on surfaces at least six feet high; training on fall hazards; and adequate personal fall arrest systems. Campbell Construction also failed to inspect all stairs periodically and to maintain them in a clean, safe condition. S&R Contracting was cited for two serious violations for failing to protect employees from falling through holes and to provide fall hazard training. A serious violation occurs when there is substantial probability that death or serious physical harm could result from a hazard about which the employer knew or should have known if an accident were to occur.
OSHA proposed penalties of $313,000 for Campbell Construction and $84,000 for S&R Contracting. Both companies have 15 business days from receipt of the citations to comply, request an informal conference with the OSHA area director in Philadelphia, or contest the citations and proposed penalties before the independent Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission.
To ask questions; obtain compliance assistance; file a complaint; or report workplace hospitalizations, fatalities or situations posing imminent danger to workers, the public should call OSHA's toll-free hotline at 800-321-OSHA (6742) or the agency's Philadelphia Area Office at 215-597-4955.
Under the Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970, employers are responsible for providing safe and healthful workplaces for their employees. OSHA's role is to ensure these conditions for America's working men and women by setting and enforcing standards, and providing training, education and assistance. For more information, visit http://www.osha.gov.
SBA SIGNS ALLIANCE WITH NONPROFIT SOCIAL INVESTMENT BANK
FROM: U.S. SMALL BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION
SBA Signs Strategic Alliance with Operation HOPE to Foster Entrepreneurship and Economic Empowerment
WASHINGTON ─ The U.S. Small Business Administration and Operation HOPE, Inc., signed a Strategic Alliance Memorandum (SAM) to encourage entrepreneurship and economic empowerment through increased collaboration on entrepreneurial and financial education for small business owners.
The alliance signing took place at Operation HOPE’s HOPE Global Financial Dignity Summit November 13, 2013, in Atlanta, Ga. with John Hope Bryant, Operation HOPE’s founder and CEO, Tameka Montgomery, SBA Associate Administrator for Entrepreneurial Development, and SBA Region Four Administrator Cassius Butts.
“The SBA is pleased to work with Operation HOPE, Inc. to drive economic development through business ownership,” said SBA Associate Administrator Montgomery. “We believe our efforts will help foster entrepreneurial empowerment to communities across the nation. The benefit for Americans is clear—by encouraging entrepreneurism, we’ll be helping people through their hard work and ideas gain a firm economic footing and achieve the American Dream.”
The SAM is designed to spur economic development through small business growth, and to improve entrepreneurial education that advances greater access to capital, expanded technical assistance and access to procurement programs.
Operation HOPE, Inc. is America’s first nonprofit social investment bank and a national provider of financial literacy and economic empowerment programs. Through ongoing collaborations and long-term partnerships with leading government, private sector, and community interests, Operation HOPE works to bring self-sufficiency and a sustained spirit of revitalization to America’s inner-city communities.
At the core of Operation HOPE’s mission is to empower communities through financial capability and dignity for all through its movement of “Silver Rights” or the right to financial literacy, making free enterprise work for everyone.
SBA, its resource partners and Operation Hope will collaborate to provide small business counseling and training, and work together to make resources available to benefit entrepreneurs across the country.
SBA Signs Strategic Alliance with Operation HOPE to Foster Entrepreneurship and Economic Empowerment
WASHINGTON ─ The U.S. Small Business Administration and Operation HOPE, Inc., signed a Strategic Alliance Memorandum (SAM) to encourage entrepreneurship and economic empowerment through increased collaboration on entrepreneurial and financial education for small business owners.
The alliance signing took place at Operation HOPE’s HOPE Global Financial Dignity Summit November 13, 2013, in Atlanta, Ga. with John Hope Bryant, Operation HOPE’s founder and CEO, Tameka Montgomery, SBA Associate Administrator for Entrepreneurial Development, and SBA Region Four Administrator Cassius Butts.
“The SBA is pleased to work with Operation HOPE, Inc. to drive economic development through business ownership,” said SBA Associate Administrator Montgomery. “We believe our efforts will help foster entrepreneurial empowerment to communities across the nation. The benefit for Americans is clear—by encouraging entrepreneurism, we’ll be helping people through their hard work and ideas gain a firm economic footing and achieve the American Dream.”
The SAM is designed to spur economic development through small business growth, and to improve entrepreneurial education that advances greater access to capital, expanded technical assistance and access to procurement programs.
Operation HOPE, Inc. is America’s first nonprofit social investment bank and a national provider of financial literacy and economic empowerment programs. Through ongoing collaborations and long-term partnerships with leading government, private sector, and community interests, Operation HOPE works to bring self-sufficiency and a sustained spirit of revitalization to America’s inner-city communities.
At the core of Operation HOPE’s mission is to empower communities through financial capability and dignity for all through its movement of “Silver Rights” or the right to financial literacy, making free enterprise work for everyone.
SBA, its resource partners and Operation Hope will collaborate to provide small business counseling and training, and work together to make resources available to benefit entrepreneurs across the country.
FDA TELLS PEOPLE TO CUT DOWN ON ACRYLAMIDE', OFFERS WAYS TO CUT BACK ON CONSUMPTION
FROM: U.S. FOOD AND DRUG ADMINISTRATION
You Can Help Cut Acrylamide in Your Diet
If you're trying to lose weight, you may already be telling your waiter to hold the fries. Now there's another health benefit you can reap: Cutting down on certain fried foods can also help you cut down on the amount of acrylamide you eat. That's a good thing because high levels of acrylamide have been found to cause cancer in animals, and on that basis scientists believe it is likely to cause cancer in humans as well.
FDA chemist Lauren Robin explains that acrylamide is a chemical that can form in some foods—mainly plant-based foods—during high-temperature cooking processes like frying and baking. These include potatoes, cereals, coffee, crackers or breads, dried fruits and many other foods. According to the Grocery Manufacturers Association, acrylamide is found in 40 percent of the calories consumed in the average American diet.
While acrylamide has probably been around as long as people have been baking, roasting, toasting or frying foods, it was only in 2002 that scientists first discovered the chemical in food. Since then, the FDA has been actively investigating the effects of acrylamide as well as potential measures to reduce it. Today, the FDA posts a draft document with practical strategies to help growers, manufacturers and food service operators lower the amount of acrylamide in foods associated with higher levels of the chemical.
In addition, there are a number of steps you and your family can take to cut down on the amount of acrylamide in the foods you eat.
Acrylamide forms from sugars and an amino acid that are naturally present in food. It does not form, or forms at lower levels, in dairy, meat and fish products. The formation occurs when foods are cooked at home and in restaurants as well as when they are made commercially.
"Generally speaking, acrylamide is more likely to accumulate when cooking is done for longer periods or at higher temperatures," Robin says. Boiling and steaming foods do not typically form acrylamide.
Tips for Cutting Down on Acrylamide
Given the widespread presence of acrylamide in foods, it isn't feasible to completely eliminate acrylamide from one's diet, Robin says. Nor is it necessary. Removing any one or two foods from your diet would not have a significant effect on overall exposure to acrylamide.
However, here are some steps you can take to help decrease the amount of acrylamide that you and your family consume:
Frying causes acrylamide formation. If frying frozen fries, follow manufacturers' recommendations on time and temperature and avoid overcooking, heavy crisping or burning.
Toast bread to a light brown color rather than a dark brown color. Avoid very brown areas.
Cook cut potato products such as frozen french fries to a golden yellow color rather than a brown color. Brown areas tend to contain more acrylamide.
Do not store potatoes in the refrigerator, which can increase acrylamide during cooking. Keep potatoes outside the refrigerator in a dark, cool place, such as a closet or a pantry.
FDA also recommends that you adopt a healthy eating plan, consistent with the Dietary Guidelines for Americans, including:
Eat plenty of fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and fat-free or low-fat milk products.
Include lean meats, poultry, fish, beans, eggs and nuts.
Choose foods low in saturated fats, trans fat (which both raises your bad LDL cholesterol and lowers your good HDL cholesterol and is linked to heart attacks), cholesterol, salt and added sugars.
This article appears on FDA's Consumer Updates page, which features the latest on all FDA-regulated products.
November 14, 2013
You Can Help Cut Acrylamide in Your Diet
If you're trying to lose weight, you may already be telling your waiter to hold the fries. Now there's another health benefit you can reap: Cutting down on certain fried foods can also help you cut down on the amount of acrylamide you eat. That's a good thing because high levels of acrylamide have been found to cause cancer in animals, and on that basis scientists believe it is likely to cause cancer in humans as well.
FDA chemist Lauren Robin explains that acrylamide is a chemical that can form in some foods—mainly plant-based foods—during high-temperature cooking processes like frying and baking. These include potatoes, cereals, coffee, crackers or breads, dried fruits and many other foods. According to the Grocery Manufacturers Association, acrylamide is found in 40 percent of the calories consumed in the average American diet.
While acrylamide has probably been around as long as people have been baking, roasting, toasting or frying foods, it was only in 2002 that scientists first discovered the chemical in food. Since then, the FDA has been actively investigating the effects of acrylamide as well as potential measures to reduce it. Today, the FDA posts a draft document with practical strategies to help growers, manufacturers and food service operators lower the amount of acrylamide in foods associated with higher levels of the chemical.
In addition, there are a number of steps you and your family can take to cut down on the amount of acrylamide in the foods you eat.
Acrylamide forms from sugars and an amino acid that are naturally present in food. It does not form, or forms at lower levels, in dairy, meat and fish products. The formation occurs when foods are cooked at home and in restaurants as well as when they are made commercially.
"Generally speaking, acrylamide is more likely to accumulate when cooking is done for longer periods or at higher temperatures," Robin says. Boiling and steaming foods do not typically form acrylamide.
Tips for Cutting Down on Acrylamide
Given the widespread presence of acrylamide in foods, it isn't feasible to completely eliminate acrylamide from one's diet, Robin says. Nor is it necessary. Removing any one or two foods from your diet would not have a significant effect on overall exposure to acrylamide.
However, here are some steps you can take to help decrease the amount of acrylamide that you and your family consume:
Frying causes acrylamide formation. If frying frozen fries, follow manufacturers' recommendations on time and temperature and avoid overcooking, heavy crisping or burning.
Toast bread to a light brown color rather than a dark brown color. Avoid very brown areas.
Cook cut potato products such as frozen french fries to a golden yellow color rather than a brown color. Brown areas tend to contain more acrylamide.
Do not store potatoes in the refrigerator, which can increase acrylamide during cooking. Keep potatoes outside the refrigerator in a dark, cool place, such as a closet or a pantry.
FDA also recommends that you adopt a healthy eating plan, consistent with the Dietary Guidelines for Americans, including:
Eat plenty of fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and fat-free or low-fat milk products.
Include lean meats, poultry, fish, beans, eggs and nuts.
Choose foods low in saturated fats, trans fat (which both raises your bad LDL cholesterol and lowers your good HDL cholesterol and is linked to heart attacks), cholesterol, salt and added sugars.
This article appears on FDA's Consumer Updates page, which features the latest on all FDA-regulated products.
November 14, 2013
Saturday, November 16, 2013
USS GEORGE WASHINGTON PROVIDES RELIEF TO TYPHOON VICTIMS IN THE PHILIPPINES
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FROM: U.S. DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE
A C-2A Greyhound carrying relief supplies for Operation Damayan prepares to make an arrested landing on the flight deck of the USS George Washington, in the Leyte Gulf, Philippines, Nov. 15, 2013. U.S. Navy photo by Petty Officer 3rd Class Paolo Bayas.
U.S.+Navy+photo+by+Petty+Officer+3rd+Class+Paolo+Baya..jpg)
Sailors aboard the aircraft carrier USS George Washington move a palate of drinking water across the flight deck in support of Operation Damayan, in the Leyte Gulf, Philippines, Nov. 15, 2013. U.S. Navy photo by Petty Officer 3rd Class Paolo Baya.
SECRETARY OF STATE KERRY EXPRESSES CONCERN OVER RECENT CLASHES AND DEATHS IN TRIPOLI, LIBYA
FROM: U.S. STATE DEPARTMENT
Violence in Tripoli, Libya
Press Statement
John Kerry
Secretary of State
Washington, DC
November 16, 2013
We are deeply concerned by the death and injury of many Libyans in recent clashes in Tripoli. We condemn the use of violence in all its forms and urge all sides to exercise restraint and restore calm.
Libyans did not risk their lives in their 2011 revolution for this violence to continue. Libyans fought their revolution to establish a democratic system in which the voices of the Libyan people could be heard through peaceful means, which all Libyan people have a right to do.
If a free people are going to succeed in forging a peaceful, secure, and prosperous country with a government based on the rule of law and respect for human rights, then there can be no place for this kind of violence in the new Libya.
We encourage all Libyans to break the cycle of violence through respectful dialogue and reconciliation.
The United States will continue to work with the Libyan authorities to build its capacity to deliver security and good governance to its people.
We recognize that the Libyan authorities and Libyan people are facing significant challenges in their democratic transition, but too much blood has been spilled and too many lives sacrificed to go backwards. The United States will continue to support the Libyan people in this difficult time.
Violence in Tripoli, Libya
Press Statement
John Kerry
Secretary of State
Washington, DC
November 16, 2013
We are deeply concerned by the death and injury of many Libyans in recent clashes in Tripoli. We condemn the use of violence in all its forms and urge all sides to exercise restraint and restore calm.
Libyans did not risk their lives in their 2011 revolution for this violence to continue. Libyans fought their revolution to establish a democratic system in which the voices of the Libyan people could be heard through peaceful means, which all Libyan people have a right to do.
If a free people are going to succeed in forging a peaceful, secure, and prosperous country with a government based on the rule of law and respect for human rights, then there can be no place for this kind of violence in the new Libya.
We encourage all Libyans to break the cycle of violence through respectful dialogue and reconciliation.
The United States will continue to work with the Libyan authorities to build its capacity to deliver security and good governance to its people.
We recognize that the Libyan authorities and Libyan people are facing significant challenges in their democratic transition, but too much blood has been spilled and too many lives sacrificed to go backwards. The United States will continue to support the Libyan people in this difficult time.
PRESIDENT OBAMA'S WEEKLY ADDRESS FOR NOVEMBER 16, 2013
FROM: THE WHITE HOUSE
Weekly Address: Taking Control of America’s Energy Future
WASHINGTON, DC—In his weekly address, President Obama discussed progress in American energy and highlighted that we are now producing more oil at home than we buy from other countries for the first time in nearly two decades. We reached this milestone in part not only because we’re producing more energy, but because we’re wasting less energy, and as a result, we are also reducing our carbon emissions while growing the economy.
The audio of the address and video of the address will be available online at www.whitehouse.gov at 6:00 a.m. ET, November 16, 2013.
Remarks of President Barack Obama
Weekly Address
The White House
November 16, 2013
Weekly Address
The White House
November 16, 2013
Hi, everybody. On Thursday, I visited a steel plant in Cleveland, Ohio to talk about what we’re doing to rebuild our economy on a new foundation for stronger, more durable economic growth.
One area where we’ve made great progress is American energy. After years of talk about reducing our dependence on foreign oil, we are actually poised to control our own energy future.
Shortly after I took office, we invested in new American technologies to reverse our dependence on foreign oil and double our wind and solar power. And today, we generate more renewable energy than ever – with tens of thousands of good, American jobs to show for it. We produce more natural gas than anyone – and nearly everyone’s energy bill is lower because of it. And just this week, we learned that for the first time in nearly two decades, the United States of America now produces more of our own oil here at home than we buy from other countries.
That’s a big deal. That’s a tremendous step towards American energy independence.
But this is important, too: we reached this milestone in part not only because we’re producing more energy, but because we’re wasting less energy. We set new fuel standards for our cars and trucks so that they’ll go twice as far on a gallon of gas by the middle of the next decade. That’s going to save an average driver more than $8,000 at the pump over the life of a new car. We also launched initiatives to put people to work upgrading our homes, businesses, and factories so that they waste less energy. That’s going to save our businesses money on their energy bills – that's money they can use to hire more workers.
Here’s another thing. Between more clean energy, and less wasted energy, our emissions of dangerous carbon pollution are actually falling. That’s good news for anyone who cares about the world we leave to our kids.
And while our carbon emissions have been dropping, our economy has been growing. Our businesses have created 7.8 million new jobs in the past 44 months. It proves that the old argument that we can’t strengthen the economy and be good stewards of our planet at the same time is a false choice. We can do both. And we have to do both.
More good jobs. Cheaper and cleaner sources of energy. A secure energy future. Thanks to the grit and resilience of American businesses and the American people, that’s where we’re heading. And as long as I’m President, that’s where we’re going to keep heading – to leave our children a stronger economy, and a safer planet.
Thanks, and have a great weekend.
FDA APPROVES DRUG TO TREAT AGGRESSIVE TYPE OF BLOOD CANCER
FROM: U.S. FOOD AND DRUG ADMINISTRATION
FDA approves Imbruvica for rare blood cancer
Second drug with breakthrough therapy designation to receive FDA approval
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration today approved Imbruvica (ibrutinib) to treat patients with mantle cell lymphoma (MCL), a rare and aggressive type of blood cancer.
MCL is a rare form of non-Hodgkin lymphoma and represents about 6 percent of all non-Hodgkin lymphoma cases in the United States. By the time MCL is diagnosed, it usually has already spread to the lymph nodes, bone marrow and other organs.
Imbruvica is intended for patients with MCL who have received at least one prior therapy. It works by inhibiting the enzyme needed by the cancer to multiply and spread. Imbruvica is the third drug approved to treat MCL. Velcade (2006) and Revlimid (2013) are also approved to treat the disease.
“Imbruvica’s approval demonstrates the FDA’s commitment to making treatments available to patients with rare diseases,” said Richard Pazdur, M.D., director of the Office of Hematology and Oncology Products in the FDA’s Center for Drug Evaluation and Research. “The agency worked cooperatively with the companies to expedite the drug’s development, review and approval, reflecting the promise of the Breakthrough Therapy Designation program.”
Imbruvica is the second drug with breakthrough therapy designation to receive FDA approval. The Food and Drug Administration Safety and Innovation Act, passed in July 2012, gave the FDA the ability to designate a drug a breakthrough therapy at the request of the sponsor if preliminary clinical evidence indicates the drug may offer a substantial improvement over available therapies for patients with serious or life-threatening diseases.
The FDA is approving Imbruvica under the agency's accelerated approval program, which allows the FDA to approve a drug to treat a serious disease based on clinical data showing that the drug has an effect on a surrogate endpoint that is reasonably likely to predict a clinical benefit to patients. This program provides earlier patient access to promising new drugs while the company conducts confirmatory clinical trials. The FDA also granted Imbruvica priority review and orphan-product designation because the drug demonstrated the potential to be a significant improvement in safety or effectiveness in the treatment of a serious condition and is intended to treat a rare disease, respectively.
Imbruvica’s accelerated approval for MCL is based on a study where 111 participants were given Imbruvica daily until their disease progressed or side effects became intolerable. Results showed nearly 66 percent of participants had their cancer shrink or disappear after treatment (overall response rate). An improvement in survival or disease-related symptoms has not been established.
The most common side effects reported in participants receiving Imbruvica are low levels of platelets in the blood (thrombocytopenia), diarrhea, a decrease in infection-fighting white blood cells (neutropenia), anemia, fatigue, musculoskeletal pain, swelling (edema), upper respiratory infection, nausea, bruising, shortness of breath (dyspnea), constipation, rash, abdominal pain, vomiting, and decreased appetite. Other clinically significant side effects include bleeding, infections, kidney problems and the development of other types of cancers.
Imbruvica is co-marketed by Sunnyvale, Calif.-based Pharmacyclics and Raritan, N.J.-based Janssen Biotech, Inc. Velcade (bortezomib) is marketed by Millennium Pharmaceuticals, based in Cambridge, Mass. Revlimid (lenalidomide) is marketed by Summit, N.J.-based Celgene.
FDA approves Imbruvica for rare blood cancer
Second drug with breakthrough therapy designation to receive FDA approval
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration today approved Imbruvica (ibrutinib) to treat patients with mantle cell lymphoma (MCL), a rare and aggressive type of blood cancer.
MCL is a rare form of non-Hodgkin lymphoma and represents about 6 percent of all non-Hodgkin lymphoma cases in the United States. By the time MCL is diagnosed, it usually has already spread to the lymph nodes, bone marrow and other organs.
Imbruvica is intended for patients with MCL who have received at least one prior therapy. It works by inhibiting the enzyme needed by the cancer to multiply and spread. Imbruvica is the third drug approved to treat MCL. Velcade (2006) and Revlimid (2013) are also approved to treat the disease.
“Imbruvica’s approval demonstrates the FDA’s commitment to making treatments available to patients with rare diseases,” said Richard Pazdur, M.D., director of the Office of Hematology and Oncology Products in the FDA’s Center for Drug Evaluation and Research. “The agency worked cooperatively with the companies to expedite the drug’s development, review and approval, reflecting the promise of the Breakthrough Therapy Designation program.”
Imbruvica is the second drug with breakthrough therapy designation to receive FDA approval. The Food and Drug Administration Safety and Innovation Act, passed in July 2012, gave the FDA the ability to designate a drug a breakthrough therapy at the request of the sponsor if preliminary clinical evidence indicates the drug may offer a substantial improvement over available therapies for patients with serious or life-threatening diseases.
The FDA is approving Imbruvica under the agency's accelerated approval program, which allows the FDA to approve a drug to treat a serious disease based on clinical data showing that the drug has an effect on a surrogate endpoint that is reasonably likely to predict a clinical benefit to patients. This program provides earlier patient access to promising new drugs while the company conducts confirmatory clinical trials. The FDA also granted Imbruvica priority review and orphan-product designation because the drug demonstrated the potential to be a significant improvement in safety or effectiveness in the treatment of a serious condition and is intended to treat a rare disease, respectively.
Imbruvica’s accelerated approval for MCL is based on a study where 111 participants were given Imbruvica daily until their disease progressed or side effects became intolerable. Results showed nearly 66 percent of participants had their cancer shrink or disappear after treatment (overall response rate). An improvement in survival or disease-related symptoms has not been established.
The most common side effects reported in participants receiving Imbruvica are low levels of platelets in the blood (thrombocytopenia), diarrhea, a decrease in infection-fighting white blood cells (neutropenia), anemia, fatigue, musculoskeletal pain, swelling (edema), upper respiratory infection, nausea, bruising, shortness of breath (dyspnea), constipation, rash, abdominal pain, vomiting, and decreased appetite. Other clinically significant side effects include bleeding, infections, kidney problems and the development of other types of cancers.
Imbruvica is co-marketed by Sunnyvale, Calif.-based Pharmacyclics and Raritan, N.J.-based Janssen Biotech, Inc. Velcade (bortezomib) is marketed by Millennium Pharmaceuticals, based in Cambridge, Mass. Revlimid (lenalidomide) is marketed by Summit, N.J.-based Celgene.
CDC SAYS E-CIGARETTES, HOOKAHS GAINING POPULARITY WITH STUDENTS
FROM: CENTERS FOR DISEASE CONTROL AND PREVENTION
Press Release Emerging tobacco products gaining popularity among youth
Increases in e-cigarette and hookah use show need for increased monitoring and prevention
Emerging tobacco products such as e-cigarettes and hookahs are quickly gaining popularity among middle- and high-school students, according to a report in this week’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report.
While use of these newer products increased, there was no significant decline in students’ cigarette smoking or overall tobacco use. Data from the 2012 National Youth Tobacco Survey (NYTS) show that recent electronic cigarette use rose among middle school students from 0.6 percent in 2011 to 1.1 percent in 2012 and among high school students from 1.5 percent to 2.8 percent. Hookah use among high school students rose from 4.1 percent to 5.4 percent from 2011 to 2012.
The report notes that the increase in the use of electronic cigarettes and hookahs could be due to an increase in marketing, availability, and visibility of these tobacco products and the perception that they may be safer alternatives to cigarettes. Electronic cigarettes, hookahs, cigars and certain other new types of tobacco products are not currently subject to FDA regulation. FDA has stated it intends to issue a proposed rule that would deem products meeting the statutory definition of a "tobacco product" to be subject to the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act.
Another area of concern in the report is the increase in cigar use among certain groups of middle and high school students. During 2011-2012, cigar use increased dramatically among non-Hispanic black high school students from 11.7 percent to 16.7 percent, and has more than doubled since 2009. Further, cigar use among high school males in 2012 was 16.7 percent, similar to cigarette use among high school males (16.3 percent).
“This report raises a red flag about newer tobacco products,” said CDC Director Tom Frieden, M.D., M.P.H. “Cigars and hookah tobacco are smoked tobacco – addictive and deadly. We need effective action to protect our kids from addiction to nicotine.”
Press Release Emerging tobacco products gaining popularity among youth
Increases in e-cigarette and hookah use show need for increased monitoring and prevention
Emerging tobacco products such as e-cigarettes and hookahs are quickly gaining popularity among middle- and high-school students, according to a report in this week’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report.
While use of these newer products increased, there was no significant decline in students’ cigarette smoking or overall tobacco use. Data from the 2012 National Youth Tobacco Survey (NYTS) show that recent electronic cigarette use rose among middle school students from 0.6 percent in 2011 to 1.1 percent in 2012 and among high school students from 1.5 percent to 2.8 percent. Hookah use among high school students rose from 4.1 percent to 5.4 percent from 2011 to 2012.
The report notes that the increase in the use of electronic cigarettes and hookahs could be due to an increase in marketing, availability, and visibility of these tobacco products and the perception that they may be safer alternatives to cigarettes. Electronic cigarettes, hookahs, cigars and certain other new types of tobacco products are not currently subject to FDA regulation. FDA has stated it intends to issue a proposed rule that would deem products meeting the statutory definition of a "tobacco product" to be subject to the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act.
Another area of concern in the report is the increase in cigar use among certain groups of middle and high school students. During 2011-2012, cigar use increased dramatically among non-Hispanic black high school students from 11.7 percent to 16.7 percent, and has more than doubled since 2009. Further, cigar use among high school males in 2012 was 16.7 percent, similar to cigarette use among high school males (16.3 percent).
“This report raises a red flag about newer tobacco products,” said CDC Director Tom Frieden, M.D., M.P.H. “Cigars and hookah tobacco are smoked tobacco – addictive and deadly. We need effective action to protect our kids from addiction to nicotine.”
ASSISTANT AG, ASSISTANT FBI DIRECTOR TESTIFY ON CARTEL MISCONDUCT BEFORE SENATE SUBCOMMITTEE
FROM: U.S. JUSTICE DEPARTMENT
Assistant Attorney General Bill Baer and Assistant Director of the FBI's Criminal Investigative Division Ronald T. Hosko Testify Before the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Antitrust, Competition Policy and Consumer Rights on Cartel Prosecution
~ Thursday, November 14, 2013
Chairman Klobuchar, Ranking Member Lee, and distinguished members of the Subcommittee, thank you for inviting us to appear before you today to discuss how cartels steal money from American consumers and why criminal enforcement against cartels is a cornerstone of the work of the Department of Justice’s Antitrust Division. The FBI is a key and long-standing partner in virtually all Antitrust Division cartel investigations. Working together we are making a difference for American consumers.
The subcommittee is right to spotlight cartel misconduct. This criminal misbehavior, whether international, national or local, harms both American consumers and businesses. The courts agree. They unanimously condemn cartel offenses “because of their pernicious effect on competition and lack of any redeeming virtue,” N. Pac. Ry. Co. v. United States, 356 U.S. 1, 5 (1958), and describe criminal antitrust offenses as “the supreme evil of antitrust,” Verizon v. Trinko, 540 U.S. 398, 408 (2004). Judicial precedent and common sense tell us the same thing: price fixing, bid rigging, and other criminal antitrust crimes cause direct and unambiguous antitrust harm.
Our efforts to uncover and prosecute cartel behavior are, and need to be, robust. We target domestic and international cartels and prosecute those who rob consumers of their hard-earned dollars—both corporations and individuals, whether foreign or domestic. The Antitrust Division and the FBI use all available investigative tools to detect and prosecute violators of U.S. antitrust laws.
The Department of Justice applies resources and expertise from its Fraud Section, Antitrust Division, Civil Division, Public Integrity Section, Office of International Affairs, and the Asset Forfeiture and Money Laundering Section, as well as U.S. Attorneys’ Offices across the country to support prosecutions relating to these criminal cases. The FBI assists the Antitrust Division through its International Corruption Unit (ICU), which, in addition to antitrust offenses, investigates allegations of corruption of U.S. public officials and fraud against the U.S. Government (among others). The FBI found conceptual and analytical synergy in grouping these activities since investigations in any one of these areas has the potential to lead to operational intelligence in another, and its robust liaison relationships with foreign law enforcement and regulatory officials often aid the investigations. Moreover, the FBI’s assistance in Antitrust Division investigations benefit ICU personnel, who gain expertise in conducting multinational criminal investigations and navigating judicial processes supporting those matters.
Aggressively pursuing criminal price fixers and bid riggers benefits us in many ways. Enforcement ensures that the specific bad conduct is eliminated. At the same time, other wrongdoers are put on notice and are dissuaded from continuing their illegal conduct. Finally, those contemplating price fixing realize the serious adverse consequences and are deterred from committing the crime in the first instance. At the end of the day, our enforcement actions result in lower prices for consumer goods and services, including computers, televisions, automobiles, shipping, hospital services, and financial services.
Let us start with our most recent cartel enforcement statistics. During Fiscal Year 2013 the Antitrust Division filed 50 criminal cases, and obtained $1.02 billion in criminal fines. The criminal antitrust fines imposed in these cases reflect the harm that cartels inflict on consumers; under the Sentencing Guidelines they take into account the total value of sales affected by the defendant’s participation in the cartel. In those 12 months we charged 21 corporations and 34 individuals and courts imposed 28 prison terms with an average sentence of just over two years per defendant.
American taxpayers are well-served by effective cartel enforcement. In the last ten fiscal years, the Antitrust Division has obtained criminal fines averaging nearly $675 million per year. That is more than 10 times its average annual appropriation of $60 million (net of the division’s share of offsetting collections of Hart-Scott-Rodino fees collected by the FTC). In just the last five fiscal years the division averaged nearly $850 million in criminal fines versus an average appropriation of about $85 million (again, net of HSR fees). These fines do not go to the Antitrust Division, but rather are contributed to the Crime Victims Fund, which helps victims of all types of crime throughout the country. They are provided assistance with medical and counseling expenses, assistance in the form of shelter, crisis intervention, and justice advocacy, and money for state and local services to crime victims.
The Evolution of Cartel Enforcement at the Antitrust Division
The Antitrust Division’s cartel enforcement successes are the result of many years of building and implementing an enforcement strategy that couples strong sanctions with incentives for voluntary disclosure and timely cooperation. The Antitrust Division’s Corporate Leniency Program is a particularly effective investigative tool for detecting large-scale international price-fixing cartels. But, it is not the only tool. The division and the FBI uncover cartel behavior using a variety of tools, including internal investigative efforts, customer complaints and submissions to our Citizen Complaint Center, outreach efforts with law enforcement agents, information from auditors, trade groups, business and law students, suspicious documents uncovered in civil investigations, and everyday news stories. Collaboration with federal and state agencies is also key to detecting and investigating cartels.
Our progress in detecting and prosecuting cartels can be traced to a deliberate change in strategy and approach implemented over the last two decades. In the early 1990’s, recognizing the harm that international cartels pose to American businesses and consumers, the division made investigating and prosecuting international cartels a top priority. What did we do?
· We adopted a corporate leniency program that provides incentives for companies, both domestic and foreign, to investigate and self-report to the Antitrust Division their involvement in antitrust crimes. This dramatically increased the rate of self-disclosure by corporations.
· We strengthened our ties with the FBI to partner better on investigations, make more use of FBI covert techniques and financial expertise, and expedite our investigation and prosecutions.
· We engaged bilaterally and multilaterally with competition authorities around the world to achieve a general consensus on attacking cartels and coordinating our approach to detection, investigation and prosecution.
These strategies have resulted in a dramatic increase in exposing the world’s largest price-fixing cartels. In recent years we prosecuted cartels involving air transportation (more than $1.8 billion in criminal fines obtained), liquid crystal displays (more than $1.39 billion in criminal fines obtained), and auto parts. Attorney General Holder recently described the auto parts investigation as the largest criminal investigation the Antitrust Division has ever pursued, both in terms of its scope and the potential volume of commerce affected by the alleged illegal conduct. The investigation is far from over. Thus far we have obtained more than $1.6 billion in fines. In each of these matters, the FBI is a strong partner with the Antitrust Division, providing invaluable contributions to our investigations, including in interviews, searches, and forensic work.
Criminal fines cannot and do not tell the whole story. Large criminal penalties make cartel behavior less attractive. But the threat of jail time for the company officials responsible for injuring consumers is itself a powerful deterrent. The Antitrust Division has pursued stiff penalties against individuals. Today more individuals involved in cartel activity are being sent to jail and are being jailed for longer periods of time than ever before. In the 1990’s, jail sentences for Antitrust Division defendants averaged eight months. Today the average prison sentence for Antitrust Division defendants is 25 months. Culpable foreign nationals who injure American consumers do not escape our grasp either. In the last four years, courts have sentenced an average of 11 foreign nationals to jail per year. That compares with a total of three foreign nationals sentenced to jail in the ten years from 1990 through 1999.
Specific Cartel Enforcement
Our ongoing and recent activities demonstrate how effective cartel enforcement makes an enormous, measurable difference to consumers and the economy. I will start with large-scale international cartels that affect wide swaths of the economy and then I will turn to more local cartels that also have demonstrable adverse effects.
Investigations of large international cartels pose significant challenges—with documents, witnesses, and wrongdoers often located outside the U.S. We have developed over time a shared commitment with enforcers around the world to fighting international cartels. We work closely in addressing these challenges.
This has significantly increased our ability to effectively investigate and prosecute these cartels. Cooperation with our sister agencies around the world allows for coordinated raids in cross-border cartel investigations, helping to preserve crucial evidence, increases access to foreign-located evidence, and induces cooperation from foreign subjects of investigations that previously had been lacking.
Our ongoing auto parts investigation exemplifies how the Antitrust Division and the FBI cooperate with our foreign counterparts. The investigation included FBI search warrants executed on the very same day and conducted at the very same time as searches by enforcers in other countries. During the ongoing investigation the department has coordinated with antitrust agencies of Japan, Canada, the Republic of Korea, Mexico, Australia, and the European Commission.
What has this effort thus far produced? To date the division has charged a total of 21 companies and 21 executives. All 21 companies have either pleaded guilty or have agreed to plead guilty. The immediate victims of these conspiracies include such automotive manufacturers as Ford, General Motors, Chrysler, Honda, Toyota, Nissan, Subaru, Mazda and Mitsubishi. The parts involved included safety systems such as seatbelts, airbags, and antilock brake systems, making it costlier for car makers to provide many safety features. Many car models were fitted with multiple parts that were fixed by the auto parts suppliers. In September, Attorney General Holder announced nine corporate guilty pleas involving more than $740 million in criminal fines. Those September charges involved more than a dozen separate conspiracies spanning over a decade and involving numerous auto parts suppliers from around the globe that targeted U.S. manufacturing, U.S. businesses and U.S. consumers. The cases filed to date involve conduct affecting over $8 billion in auto parts sold to car manufacturers in the U.S. and parts used in more than 25 million cars purchased by American consumers. The multiple conspiracies charged in September affected U.S. automobile plants in 14 states: Alabama, California, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Michigan, Mississippi, Missouri, Ohio, Tennessee, Texas, and Wisconsin. And as the Attorney General said in the recent announcement, our work in this area is not finished.
Cartels involving components of finished products are not unique to the auto industry. For example, the joint Antitrust Division/FBI investigation into LCD panels uncovered long-running price-fixing conspiracies that affected some of the largest computer manufacturers in the world, including Hewlett Packard, Dell and Apple. These conspiracies injured every family, school, business, charity and government agency that paid more for notebook computers, computer monitors and LCD televisions during the conspiracy. The conspirators fixed the prices of at least $23.5 billion in panels that came into the United States, either as raw panels or incorporated in finished products. At last year’s trial of AUO, one of the cartel ringleaders, the division’s economic expert testified that the conspirators increased their margin by an average of $53 for each and every flat panel the conspirators made over the course of four years. This figure demonstrates concretely the very real costs this price-fixing conspiracy imposed on American businesses and consumers. The division has obtained more than $1.39 billion in criminal fines in this investigation.
In recent years we detected and prosecuted of number of cartels affecting shipping services. An increase in shipping prices can influence the prices of a wide array of goods. The division, with the assistance of the FBI, uncovered a number of conspiracies involving air cargo services affecting over $20 billion in commerce, and the air cargo investigation led to the discovery of conspiracies involving freight forwarding services affecting over $350 million in commerce, and air passenger transportation involving over $4 billion in commerce. In the air cargo and freight forwarding conspiracies, various fees and surcharges were imposed on customers for shipments of goods to and from the U.S., including agreements on the amount and timing of surcharges in the period before the Christmas holiday shopping season. We obtained total fines of over $1.9 billion in the air transportation and freight forwarding investigations, coordinating with the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission, the European Commission, the New Zealand Commerce Commission, the U.K. Office of Fair Trading, the Japan Fair Trade Commission, the Brazilian competition agency, and other agencies. And, the division has an ongoing investigation into price fixing, bid rigging and other anticompetitive conduct in the coastal water freight transportation industry. So far, three companies and six individuals have pleaded guilty or have been convicted at trial, and have been ordered to pay more than $46 million in criminal fines in a price-fixing conspiracy involving coastal freight services between the continental United States and Puerto Rico.
In addition, the division’s investigation into bid rigging in municipal bonds markets has been conducted with the assistance of the FBI and Internal Revenue Service – Criminal Investigation, and also coordinated with other federal and state law enforcement agencies that have parallel investigations, including the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency and the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, and a working group of 20 State Attorneys General. This investigation, like others, demonstrates how coordination of parallel investigations enhances our ability to identify and prosecute significant crimes. To date, a total of 20 individuals have been charged as a result of the department’s ongoing municipal bonds investigation and 19 have been convicted or pleaded guilty, and one company has pleaded guilty. Those implicated have agreed to pay a total of nearly $745 million in restitution, penalties, and disgorgement to federal and state agencies. Conspirators went to great lengths to defraud municipalities across the country, from soliciting intentionally losing bids for investment agreements to paying out kickbacks to manipulate the competitive bidding process. These actions deprived American towns and cities of competitive interest rates for the investment of tax-exempt bond proceeds used by municipalities for various public works projects, such as building or repairing schools, hospitals and roads, water pollution abatement projects, and low-cost housing, and to refinance outstanding debt. These complex, seemingly uninteresting backroom deals have a real impact on taxpayers, who should benefit from a municipal bond issue and are ultimately responsible for paying it off. In addition, corrupt bidding schemes serve to weaken the public’s trust in the municipal bond market and prevent public entities from enjoying the benefits of a true competitive bidding process.
While large-scale international cartels can involve significant volumes of commerce, the FBI and the Antitrust Division are acutely aware that local or regional cartels also have the potential to significantly harm consumers. In local communities the division continues to uncover collusive schemes among real estate speculators aimed at eliminating competition at real estate foreclosure auctions. The division continues to investigate with the FBI and HUD inspectors general bid rigging and fraud in local real estate markets in Alabama, California, Georgia, and North Carolina. The division and FBI have uncovered patterns of misconduct through which conspirators worked together to keep public auction prices artificially low by making agreements not to bid against one another, instead designating a winning bidder to obtain selected properties at public real estate foreclosure auctions. Conspirators also conducted their own unofficial “knockoff” auctions open only to members of the conspiracy—often taking place at or near the courthouse steps where the public auctions were held—paying each other off and diverting money to co-conspirators that otherwise would have gone to pay off the mortgage and other holders of debt secured by the properties, and, in some cases, the defaulting homeowner. The division’s real estate foreclosure auction investigations have resulted in recent cases against 64 individuals and 3 companies. Altogether, these investigations have uncovered bid rigging and fraud on auctions involving more than 3,400 foreclosed homes, and have caused more than $23 million in loss, primarily to mortgage holders. The division also has uncovered similar schemes involving public tax lien auctions, including an ongoing investigation of tax lien auctions in New Jersey that has resulted in guilty pleas from 11 individuals and three companies.
Conclusion
Together, the FBI’s and the Antitrust Division’s dedicated public servants are working hard to hold both corporations and individuals responsible for cartel behavior. American consumers are the beneficiaries of that dedication. We are honored to be part of this hard-working team and to be associated with a law enforcement mission that is delivering real benefits to American consumers.
Assistant Attorney General Bill Baer and Assistant Director of the FBI's Criminal Investigative Division Ronald T. Hosko Testify Before the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Antitrust, Competition Policy and Consumer Rights on Cartel Prosecution
~ Thursday, November 14, 2013
Chairman Klobuchar, Ranking Member Lee, and distinguished members of the Subcommittee, thank you for inviting us to appear before you today to discuss how cartels steal money from American consumers and why criminal enforcement against cartels is a cornerstone of the work of the Department of Justice’s Antitrust Division. The FBI is a key and long-standing partner in virtually all Antitrust Division cartel investigations. Working together we are making a difference for American consumers.
The subcommittee is right to spotlight cartel misconduct. This criminal misbehavior, whether international, national or local, harms both American consumers and businesses. The courts agree. They unanimously condemn cartel offenses “because of their pernicious effect on competition and lack of any redeeming virtue,” N. Pac. Ry. Co. v. United States, 356 U.S. 1, 5 (1958), and describe criminal antitrust offenses as “the supreme evil of antitrust,” Verizon v. Trinko, 540 U.S. 398, 408 (2004). Judicial precedent and common sense tell us the same thing: price fixing, bid rigging, and other criminal antitrust crimes cause direct and unambiguous antitrust harm.
Our efforts to uncover and prosecute cartel behavior are, and need to be, robust. We target domestic and international cartels and prosecute those who rob consumers of their hard-earned dollars—both corporations and individuals, whether foreign or domestic. The Antitrust Division and the FBI use all available investigative tools to detect and prosecute violators of U.S. antitrust laws.
The Department of Justice applies resources and expertise from its Fraud Section, Antitrust Division, Civil Division, Public Integrity Section, Office of International Affairs, and the Asset Forfeiture and Money Laundering Section, as well as U.S. Attorneys’ Offices across the country to support prosecutions relating to these criminal cases. The FBI assists the Antitrust Division through its International Corruption Unit (ICU), which, in addition to antitrust offenses, investigates allegations of corruption of U.S. public officials and fraud against the U.S. Government (among others). The FBI found conceptual and analytical synergy in grouping these activities since investigations in any one of these areas has the potential to lead to operational intelligence in another, and its robust liaison relationships with foreign law enforcement and regulatory officials often aid the investigations. Moreover, the FBI’s assistance in Antitrust Division investigations benefit ICU personnel, who gain expertise in conducting multinational criminal investigations and navigating judicial processes supporting those matters.
Aggressively pursuing criminal price fixers and bid riggers benefits us in many ways. Enforcement ensures that the specific bad conduct is eliminated. At the same time, other wrongdoers are put on notice and are dissuaded from continuing their illegal conduct. Finally, those contemplating price fixing realize the serious adverse consequences and are deterred from committing the crime in the first instance. At the end of the day, our enforcement actions result in lower prices for consumer goods and services, including computers, televisions, automobiles, shipping, hospital services, and financial services.
Let us start with our most recent cartel enforcement statistics. During Fiscal Year 2013 the Antitrust Division filed 50 criminal cases, and obtained $1.02 billion in criminal fines. The criminal antitrust fines imposed in these cases reflect the harm that cartels inflict on consumers; under the Sentencing Guidelines they take into account the total value of sales affected by the defendant’s participation in the cartel. In those 12 months we charged 21 corporations and 34 individuals and courts imposed 28 prison terms with an average sentence of just over two years per defendant.
American taxpayers are well-served by effective cartel enforcement. In the last ten fiscal years, the Antitrust Division has obtained criminal fines averaging nearly $675 million per year. That is more than 10 times its average annual appropriation of $60 million (net of the division’s share of offsetting collections of Hart-Scott-Rodino fees collected by the FTC). In just the last five fiscal years the division averaged nearly $850 million in criminal fines versus an average appropriation of about $85 million (again, net of HSR fees). These fines do not go to the Antitrust Division, but rather are contributed to the Crime Victims Fund, which helps victims of all types of crime throughout the country. They are provided assistance with medical and counseling expenses, assistance in the form of shelter, crisis intervention, and justice advocacy, and money for state and local services to crime victims.
The Evolution of Cartel Enforcement at the Antitrust Division
The Antitrust Division’s cartel enforcement successes are the result of many years of building and implementing an enforcement strategy that couples strong sanctions with incentives for voluntary disclosure and timely cooperation. The Antitrust Division’s Corporate Leniency Program is a particularly effective investigative tool for detecting large-scale international price-fixing cartels. But, it is not the only tool. The division and the FBI uncover cartel behavior using a variety of tools, including internal investigative efforts, customer complaints and submissions to our Citizen Complaint Center, outreach efforts with law enforcement agents, information from auditors, trade groups, business and law students, suspicious documents uncovered in civil investigations, and everyday news stories. Collaboration with federal and state agencies is also key to detecting and investigating cartels.
Our progress in detecting and prosecuting cartels can be traced to a deliberate change in strategy and approach implemented over the last two decades. In the early 1990’s, recognizing the harm that international cartels pose to American businesses and consumers, the division made investigating and prosecuting international cartels a top priority. What did we do?
· We adopted a corporate leniency program that provides incentives for companies, both domestic and foreign, to investigate and self-report to the Antitrust Division their involvement in antitrust crimes. This dramatically increased the rate of self-disclosure by corporations.
· We strengthened our ties with the FBI to partner better on investigations, make more use of FBI covert techniques and financial expertise, and expedite our investigation and prosecutions.
· We engaged bilaterally and multilaterally with competition authorities around the world to achieve a general consensus on attacking cartels and coordinating our approach to detection, investigation and prosecution.
These strategies have resulted in a dramatic increase in exposing the world’s largest price-fixing cartels. In recent years we prosecuted cartels involving air transportation (more than $1.8 billion in criminal fines obtained), liquid crystal displays (more than $1.39 billion in criminal fines obtained), and auto parts. Attorney General Holder recently described the auto parts investigation as the largest criminal investigation the Antitrust Division has ever pursued, both in terms of its scope and the potential volume of commerce affected by the alleged illegal conduct. The investigation is far from over. Thus far we have obtained more than $1.6 billion in fines. In each of these matters, the FBI is a strong partner with the Antitrust Division, providing invaluable contributions to our investigations, including in interviews, searches, and forensic work.
Criminal fines cannot and do not tell the whole story. Large criminal penalties make cartel behavior less attractive. But the threat of jail time for the company officials responsible for injuring consumers is itself a powerful deterrent. The Antitrust Division has pursued stiff penalties against individuals. Today more individuals involved in cartel activity are being sent to jail and are being jailed for longer periods of time than ever before. In the 1990’s, jail sentences for Antitrust Division defendants averaged eight months. Today the average prison sentence for Antitrust Division defendants is 25 months. Culpable foreign nationals who injure American consumers do not escape our grasp either. In the last four years, courts have sentenced an average of 11 foreign nationals to jail per year. That compares with a total of three foreign nationals sentenced to jail in the ten years from 1990 through 1999.
Specific Cartel Enforcement
Our ongoing and recent activities demonstrate how effective cartel enforcement makes an enormous, measurable difference to consumers and the economy. I will start with large-scale international cartels that affect wide swaths of the economy and then I will turn to more local cartels that also have demonstrable adverse effects.
Investigations of large international cartels pose significant challenges—with documents, witnesses, and wrongdoers often located outside the U.S. We have developed over time a shared commitment with enforcers around the world to fighting international cartels. We work closely in addressing these challenges.
This has significantly increased our ability to effectively investigate and prosecute these cartels. Cooperation with our sister agencies around the world allows for coordinated raids in cross-border cartel investigations, helping to preserve crucial evidence, increases access to foreign-located evidence, and induces cooperation from foreign subjects of investigations that previously had been lacking.
Our ongoing auto parts investigation exemplifies how the Antitrust Division and the FBI cooperate with our foreign counterparts. The investigation included FBI search warrants executed on the very same day and conducted at the very same time as searches by enforcers in other countries. During the ongoing investigation the department has coordinated with antitrust agencies of Japan, Canada, the Republic of Korea, Mexico, Australia, and the European Commission.
What has this effort thus far produced? To date the division has charged a total of 21 companies and 21 executives. All 21 companies have either pleaded guilty or have agreed to plead guilty. The immediate victims of these conspiracies include such automotive manufacturers as Ford, General Motors, Chrysler, Honda, Toyota, Nissan, Subaru, Mazda and Mitsubishi. The parts involved included safety systems such as seatbelts, airbags, and antilock brake systems, making it costlier for car makers to provide many safety features. Many car models were fitted with multiple parts that were fixed by the auto parts suppliers. In September, Attorney General Holder announced nine corporate guilty pleas involving more than $740 million in criminal fines. Those September charges involved more than a dozen separate conspiracies spanning over a decade and involving numerous auto parts suppliers from around the globe that targeted U.S. manufacturing, U.S. businesses and U.S. consumers. The cases filed to date involve conduct affecting over $8 billion in auto parts sold to car manufacturers in the U.S. and parts used in more than 25 million cars purchased by American consumers. The multiple conspiracies charged in September affected U.S. automobile plants in 14 states: Alabama, California, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Michigan, Mississippi, Missouri, Ohio, Tennessee, Texas, and Wisconsin. And as the Attorney General said in the recent announcement, our work in this area is not finished.
Cartels involving components of finished products are not unique to the auto industry. For example, the joint Antitrust Division/FBI investigation into LCD panels uncovered long-running price-fixing conspiracies that affected some of the largest computer manufacturers in the world, including Hewlett Packard, Dell and Apple. These conspiracies injured every family, school, business, charity and government agency that paid more for notebook computers, computer monitors and LCD televisions during the conspiracy. The conspirators fixed the prices of at least $23.5 billion in panels that came into the United States, either as raw panels or incorporated in finished products. At last year’s trial of AUO, one of the cartel ringleaders, the division’s economic expert testified that the conspirators increased their margin by an average of $53 for each and every flat panel the conspirators made over the course of four years. This figure demonstrates concretely the very real costs this price-fixing conspiracy imposed on American businesses and consumers. The division has obtained more than $1.39 billion in criminal fines in this investigation.
In recent years we detected and prosecuted of number of cartels affecting shipping services. An increase in shipping prices can influence the prices of a wide array of goods. The division, with the assistance of the FBI, uncovered a number of conspiracies involving air cargo services affecting over $20 billion in commerce, and the air cargo investigation led to the discovery of conspiracies involving freight forwarding services affecting over $350 million in commerce, and air passenger transportation involving over $4 billion in commerce. In the air cargo and freight forwarding conspiracies, various fees and surcharges were imposed on customers for shipments of goods to and from the U.S., including agreements on the amount and timing of surcharges in the period before the Christmas holiday shopping season. We obtained total fines of over $1.9 billion in the air transportation and freight forwarding investigations, coordinating with the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission, the European Commission, the New Zealand Commerce Commission, the U.K. Office of Fair Trading, the Japan Fair Trade Commission, the Brazilian competition agency, and other agencies. And, the division has an ongoing investigation into price fixing, bid rigging and other anticompetitive conduct in the coastal water freight transportation industry. So far, three companies and six individuals have pleaded guilty or have been convicted at trial, and have been ordered to pay more than $46 million in criminal fines in a price-fixing conspiracy involving coastal freight services between the continental United States and Puerto Rico.
In addition, the division’s investigation into bid rigging in municipal bonds markets has been conducted with the assistance of the FBI and Internal Revenue Service – Criminal Investigation, and also coordinated with other federal and state law enforcement agencies that have parallel investigations, including the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency and the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, and a working group of 20 State Attorneys General. This investigation, like others, demonstrates how coordination of parallel investigations enhances our ability to identify and prosecute significant crimes. To date, a total of 20 individuals have been charged as a result of the department’s ongoing municipal bonds investigation and 19 have been convicted or pleaded guilty, and one company has pleaded guilty. Those implicated have agreed to pay a total of nearly $745 million in restitution, penalties, and disgorgement to federal and state agencies. Conspirators went to great lengths to defraud municipalities across the country, from soliciting intentionally losing bids for investment agreements to paying out kickbacks to manipulate the competitive bidding process. These actions deprived American towns and cities of competitive interest rates for the investment of tax-exempt bond proceeds used by municipalities for various public works projects, such as building or repairing schools, hospitals and roads, water pollution abatement projects, and low-cost housing, and to refinance outstanding debt. These complex, seemingly uninteresting backroom deals have a real impact on taxpayers, who should benefit from a municipal bond issue and are ultimately responsible for paying it off. In addition, corrupt bidding schemes serve to weaken the public’s trust in the municipal bond market and prevent public entities from enjoying the benefits of a true competitive bidding process.
While large-scale international cartels can involve significant volumes of commerce, the FBI and the Antitrust Division are acutely aware that local or regional cartels also have the potential to significantly harm consumers. In local communities the division continues to uncover collusive schemes among real estate speculators aimed at eliminating competition at real estate foreclosure auctions. The division continues to investigate with the FBI and HUD inspectors general bid rigging and fraud in local real estate markets in Alabama, California, Georgia, and North Carolina. The division and FBI have uncovered patterns of misconduct through which conspirators worked together to keep public auction prices artificially low by making agreements not to bid against one another, instead designating a winning bidder to obtain selected properties at public real estate foreclosure auctions. Conspirators also conducted their own unofficial “knockoff” auctions open only to members of the conspiracy—often taking place at or near the courthouse steps where the public auctions were held—paying each other off and diverting money to co-conspirators that otherwise would have gone to pay off the mortgage and other holders of debt secured by the properties, and, in some cases, the defaulting homeowner. The division’s real estate foreclosure auction investigations have resulted in recent cases against 64 individuals and 3 companies. Altogether, these investigations have uncovered bid rigging and fraud on auctions involving more than 3,400 foreclosed homes, and have caused more than $23 million in loss, primarily to mortgage holders. The division also has uncovered similar schemes involving public tax lien auctions, including an ongoing investigation of tax lien auctions in New Jersey that has resulted in guilty pleas from 11 individuals and three companies.
Conclusion
Together, the FBI’s and the Antitrust Division’s dedicated public servants are working hard to hold both corporations and individuals responsible for cartel behavior. American consumers are the beneficiaries of that dedication. We are honored to be part of this hard-working team and to be associated with a law enforcement mission that is delivering real benefits to American consumers.
NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION EXPLAINS FORECASTING THE PATH OF A WILDFIRE
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| Credit: NASA |
Scientists nearing forecasts of long-lived wildfires' paths
Scientists have developed a new computer modeling technique that for the first time offers the promise of continually-updated daylong predictions of wildfire growth through the lifetimes of long-lived blazes.
The technique, devised by scientists at the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) in Boulder, Colo., and the University of Maryland, combines cutting-edge simulations of the interaction of weather and fire with newly available satellite observations of active wildfires.
The breakthrough is described in a paper published today in the online edition of the American Geophysical Union journal Geophysical Research Letters.
The National Science Foundation (NSF), which is NCAR's sponsor, funded the research, along with NASA and the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
"These scientists have developed a unique mechanism that will predict even a long-lived fire's lifecycle, which has the potential to save lives and property from large wildfires in the future," said Gannet Hallar, program director in NSF's Division of Atmospheric and Geospace Sciences, which supported the study.
Updated with new observations every 12 hours, the computer model forecasts critical details such as the extent of a blaze and changes in its behavior.
"With this technique, we believe it's possible to continually issue good forecasts throughout a fire's lifetime, even if it burns for weeks or months," said NCAR scientist Janice Coen, the lead paper author and model developer.
"This model, which combines interactive weather prediction and wildfire behavior, could greatly improve forecasting--particularly for large, intense wildfire events where the current prediction tools are weakest."
Firefighters use tools that can estimate the speed of the leading edge of a fire, but are too simple to capture critical effects caused by the complex interactions of fire and weather.
The researchers successfully tested the new technique by using it retrospectively on the 2012 Little Bear Fire in New Mexico, which burned for almost three weeks and destroyed more buildings than any other wildfire in the state's history.
To generate an accurate forecast of a wildfire, researchers need a computer model that can incorporate current data about the fire and simulate what it will do in the near future.
Over the last decade, Coen has developed a tool, known as the Coupled Atmosphere-Wildland Fire Environment (CAWFE) computer model, that connects how weather drives fires and, in turn, how fires create their own weather.
Using CAWFE, she successfully simulated the details of how large fires grow.
But without the most updated data about a fire's current state, CAWFE could not reliably produce a longer-term prediction of an ongoing fire.
That's because the accuracy of all fine-scale weather simulations declines significantly after a day or two, affecting the simulation of the blaze.
An accurate forecast would also need to include updates on the effects of firefighting and of such processes as spotting, in which embers from a fire are lofted in the fire plume and dropped ahead of a fire, igniting new flames.
Until now, it was not possible to update the model.
Satellite instruments offered only coarse observations of fires, providing images in which each pixel represented an area a little more than a half mile across.
These images might show several places burning, but could not distinguish the boundaries between burning and non-burning areas, except for the largest wildfires.
To solve the problem, Coen's co-author, Wilfrid Schroeder of the University of Maryland, produced higher-resolution fire detection data from a new satellite instrument, the Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS), jointly operated by NASA and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
The new tool provides coverage of the entire globe at intervals of 12 hours or less, with pixels about 1,200 feet across. The higher resolution enabled the two researchers to outline the active fire perimeter in much greater detail.
Coen and Schroeder then fed the VIIRS fire observations into the CAWFE model. By restarting the model every 12 hours with the latest observations of the fire extent--a process known as cycling--they could accurately predict the course of the Little Bear Fire in 12- to 24-hour increments during five days of the historic blaze.
By continuing that way, it's possible to simulate even a very long-lived fire's entire lifetime, from ignition through extinction.
"The transformative event has been the arrival of this new satellite data," said Schroeder.
"The enhanced capability of the VIIRS data favors detection of newly ignited fires before they erupt into major conflagrations. The satellite data has tremendous potential to supplement fire management and decision support systems, sharpening the local, regional and continental monitoring of wildfires."
The researchers said that forecasts using the new technique could be particularly useful in anticipating sudden blowups and shifts in the direction of the flames, such as what happened when 19 firefighters perished in Arizona last summer.
In addition, they could enable decision makers to look at several newly ignited fires and determine which pose the greatest threat.
"Lives and homes are at stake and depend on these decisions," Coen said. "The interaction of fuels, terrain and changing weather is so complicated that even seasoned managers can't always anticipate rapidly changing conditions.
"Many people have resigned themselves to believing that wildfires are unpredictable. We're showing that's not true."
-NSF-
SECRETARY OF STATE KERRY'S REMARKS ON WOMEN IN AFGHANISTAN
FROM: U.S. STATE DEPARTMENT
Remarks at the Georgetown University Symposium "Advancing Afghan Women"
Remarks
John Kerry
Secretary of State
Georgetown University
Washington, DC
November 15, 2013
Thank you. Thank you, Hillary. Thank you very much. Thank you very much, Hillary, for a very, very generous introduction. And thank you most of all for the remarkable work that you have done. I think you’re over here, Hillary. Here we go. (Laughter.) Get you over there. That’s my job, seat the former First Lady/Secretary. (Laughter.)
What a pleasure to be here, and distinguished members of the diplomatic corps, President DeGioia, thank you for this. Unbelievable, one of my favorite venues in the world. Madam Secretary/Senator/First Lady/everything – (laughter) – and former First Lady Bush, it’s great to be here with you, Laura. To our ambassadors and everybody else, I’m really happy to be here. For all the men studying here at Georgetown who sat in or sit in classrooms where Bill Clinton sat so many years ago, my advice to you is this: Study hard, go to Oxford, become governor of your state – (laughter) – and then maybe you can marry one of the country’s remarkable Secretaries of State. (Laughter and applause.)
I think everybody here knows that nobody has done more to advance the cause of women and the cause of Afghan women, together with Laura Bush, in our foreign policy directly than Secretary Clinton. And she took the helm of the State Department at a particularly challenging time, a critical moment in the history of the war, and she has worked tirelessly to remind all of us that this fight is not just waged on the battlefield. It’s a fight for the lives of Afghanistan’s people and their future, and it is a fight, above all, for universal values and aspirations, and I think we all owe her a tremendous debt of gratitude for the work that she has done. Thank you, Hillary, appreciate it. (Applause.)
I want to thank Georgetown’s Institute for Women, Peace, and Security; I want to thank the U.S.-Afghan Women’s Council; the George W. Bush Institute; and the Alliance in Support of the Afghan People for co-hosting and coming together to bring this remarkable event together here today. I particularly want to thank all of you. You are a remarkable group of women, absolutely extraordinary, and I was pleased to meet a couple of you in Afghanistan. Thank you for coming here, and I know people will really enjoy hearing the program later.
I want to express my gratitude also to former First Lady Laura Bush, as Hillary did in her comments and her introduction. She really helped lead the effort to advance opportunities for women in Afghanistan. And if you haven’t seen it yet today, she has a terrific op-ed in today’s Washington Post. And Madam First Lady, we thank you very much for your leadership also. (Applause.) And as Hillary did, I want to pay particular tribute and thanks to our nation’s first Ambassador-at-Large for Global Women’s Issues Melanne Verveer and her successor, Cathy Russell, who has just returned from Afghanistan. This is very special for me to be able to be here today, particularly with these extraordinary women who have lived their lives every single day to make sure that all women can pursue their potential and live free of violence.
And we all know that creating opportunities for women is not just the right thing to do. It’s also a strategic necessity. Societies where women are safe, where women are empowered to exercise their rights and to move their communities forward – these societies are more prosperous and more stable – not occasionally, but always. And nowhere is the pursuit of this vision more important, and in many ways more compelling and immediate and possible than in Afghanistan.
If I had to walk blind into a district in Afghanistan and I could only ask one question to determine how secure it was and how much progress it was making, I would ask, “What proportion of the girls here are able to go to school?” There’s no question in my mind that investing in Afghan women is the surest way to guarantee that Afghanistan will sustain the gains of the last decade and never again become a safe haven for international terrorists. On my many trips to Afghanistan as a senator and as Secretary of State, I have met with an array of Afghan Government officials. I’ve met with businesspeople, development experts, diplomats. I’ve met with our brave troops, as well as our brave -- shared responsibility, participation by the international community, the international troops who are there, our counterparts – all of whom have sacrificed for the promise of a safe and secure and a sovereign Afghanistan.
But I actually come back time and again to my very first trip to Kabul as Secretary of State, when I met a remarkable woman who is changing Afghanistan. Her name is Roya Mahboob. Now, Roya is chief executive of a software development firm called Citadel. And the local authorities did absolutely everything they could in order to stop her dead in her tracks. They even pressured her family to close her company. But she, like a lot of the women sitting here and like so many women across Afghanistan, absolutely refused to be intimidated. And the first time that she competed for an Afghan Government project, guess what? She went up against six businesses led by men and she won. And it’s a good thing she won because Roya has invested almost all of her profits to provide internet access to 35,000 girls in Herat. And believe me, she’s just getting started. Today, she has plans to help five times as many girls across Afghanistan.
Now I’m sure you’ll hear this in the discussion in a little while – it is hard enough to start your own business anywhere else in the world, but to start it in Afghanistan, to balance the books, build a revenue stream, fight against incredible outrage in the local community, is sheer guts and courage and determination. She never backed down. Instead, she’s using her talents and her money in order to connect Afghans of all ages – men and women, boys and girls – to a global community and a global economy where all of us are connected to each other. That’s the world we live in today, and that’s the world that women in Afghanistan want to share in too.
As Roya said to me, she doesn’t want to be the only woman who’s an entrepreneur in Afghanistan. She wants all women to have that opportunity. And she believes nothing should stop any of them. Now, I’m serious when I tell you that I think of Roya and the women like her that I’ve met in Afghanistan. Every time I hear the amazing numbers that illustrate how far this country has come since 2001 and that underscore what Secretary Clinton was saying a few minutes ago about how critical our choices are with respect to the future – in 2001, back then, there were only 900,000 Afghan children in school, and all of them were boys. Today, nearly 8 million students are in school, and more than a third of them are girls. Think about what that means for the future.
In 2001, maternal mortality was 1,600 per 100,000 births; today, it’s down by 80 percent. In 2001, life expectancy for the average Afghan was 42 years; today, it’s 62 years and rising. In 2001, 9 percent of Afghans had access to basic healthcare; today, 60 percent of Afghans live within an hour of basic health services. In 2001, there was only one television station and it was owned by the government; today, there are 75 stations and only two – and all of those but two are privately owned. And in 2001, there were virtually no cellphones in the country; today, there are 18 million covering about 90 percent of residential areas. 80 percent of Afghan women now have access to a cellphone, meaning that they are connected to their families, their friends, and most importantly, they’re connected to the world and to their futures.
Thanks to entrepreneurs like Roya, Afghan women will also now be connected to the internet too. Ten years ago, it just would have been unfathomable to imagine this. But because of so many individual acts of courage, this is the future that we are now watching Afghan women build. And as Secretary Clinton and Laura Bush and Ambassadors Verveer and Russell powerfully remind us, when Afghan women live longer and go to school in greater numbers, all Afghan families and their communities will grow stronger. When Afghan women run their own businesses, all Afghans profit from a more diverse, dynamic, and inclusive economy. And when Afghan women hold public office at the local and national levels, all Afghans gain a stronger voice in their communities.
That is the vision behind the United States National Action Plan on Women, Peace and Security, which President Obama directed to be implemented two years ago and which Hillary spoke about just a few minutes ago. And that’s why we are committed to bringing the perspectives of women and their full participation to bear on these opportunities and challenges in Afghanistan going forward.
Now what has moved me – and I mean moved me – in my meetings with an impressive group of Afghan women entrepreneurs is that when Afghan women move forward, believe me, they never want to go back. Not to the days when the Taliban ruled Afghanistan. Not to the days before the Taliban when the country was torn apart by violence. And that is why it is so important that we keep investing in and defending the progress that empowers Afghan women, as well as men, to be able to have their voices heard and to buy into their future and shape their future. What has been achieved is nothing less than remarkable, and it would have been more than a tragedy if the world ever allowed this progress to be threatened or, worse yet, to be abandoned.
So the question now is: Where do we go from here? Because as we think about the future, we are mindful of the challenges that Afghan women continue to face. This is a critical moment. Many of the women that I’ve met share very legitimate concerns that the gains of the past decade could be lost. All that I talked about could be wiped out. And the truth is their anxiety that I hear when I visit Afghanistan, or you’ll hear today, it’s palpable. Despite the significant achievements of Afghan women and girls, many challenges still remain. And we remember too well the difficulties, the difficult history that led to the decades of war in Afghanistan. We know the costs of walking away. Believe me, Afghan women know the costs because they have always paid the steepest price.
So I say to you today: As Afghanistan sees women standing up in Afghanistan to take control of their country’s future – not only for themselves, but for all Afghans – we have to be determined that they will not stand alone. America will stand up with them as they shape a strong and united Afghanistan that secures the rightful place in the community of nations. And that is why President Obama and President Karzai signed a Strategic Partnership Agreement last year that lays out our mutual commitments. And that’s why America’s relationship with Afghans is changing; it’s not ending.
There’s a lot to do, so much to do, and obviously the road ahead is not easy. The violence that has plagued Afghanistan for decades has left very deep wounds, and it is going to take time to heal. We also know that security is going to be a real challenge. We know that Afghans have to strengthen the rule of law. They have to improve access to justice. We also know that discrimination and violence against women continue to be major problems.
But I know every one of these women and the women in Afghanistan today will remain determined, and we have an obligation to remain determined and stand by them. We intend to make clear that securing the rights of Afghan women and girls is not just a challenge for this moment; it’s a generational challenge. In fact, we’ve already made a significant down payment, but make no mistake – finishing this job is going to take courage, and not just the courage of women in Afghanistan.
As a proud father of two daughters, I have many times been reinforced in the fact that this job will require the courage of men, too. In Afghanistan, it will take the courage of every man who defends his daughter’s right to an equal education; it will take the courage of every brother who challenges a law that keeps his sister from owning property or opening a business; and every husband who not only promises that the cycle of domestic violence can stop with him, but who actually proves it. We have spent a great blood and treasure in Afghanistan, and that makes even greater our obligation to get this right.
Yes, there are challenges ahead. For sure, the transition is going to be difficult. But without question, there’s a world of possibilities staring us in the face. In fact, the transition that we are talking about and now working on is really about three transitions: a political transition, a security transition, and an economic transition. And no surprise, Afghan women are playing an integral role in all of them.
Just look at the political transition. We all know that the single most important milestone over the next year is the peaceful transfer of power from President Karzai to a democratically elected successor. The elections have to be on time. They have to be accountable and transparent and free and fair and accessible. They have to be inclusive and result in an outcome that is perceived as legitimate by all segments of Afghan society above all, but also by the international community. Above all, though elections obviously always entail competition and debate, they’ve got to be a unifying moment for the country, not a divisive one.
As we speak, as we are here, Afghan women are leading the charge to ensure that the elections next year are credible, inclusive, and transparent. You have – Gulalay Achekzai is one of those women. Gulalay is a teacher by profession, but she’s always had this passion for public service. She used to work as a human rights commissioner in Kandahar. Today, she’s serving on the Independent Election Commission. She told President Karzai she has only one character flaw – that she fears no one. (Laughter.)
Now we are deeply encouraged by the Gulalays and others who are taking part in this, by the hundreds of women from all over the country, who are running for positions on provincial councils. And we are very pleased to lend our support, in partnership with the United Nations, to train female volunteers as they facilitate secure access for women at the polls. There is no question that lasting security and prosperity in a unified Afghanistan will take root only when women have as loud a voice as men – not just on election day, but every day.
The success of the political transition is essential. It’s the prerequisite to the future stability of Afghanistan. But make no mistake – it’s not enough, it’s not sufficient, it won’t do the job alone. That’s why the United States firmly supports and will continue to support an Afghan-led peace and reconciliation effort as the surest way to end the violence and bring lasting stability to Afghanistan and the region.
But peace is only possible if it respects the historic achievements that Afghanistan has made over the past decade, all those things I listed and talked about, including above all the protection of the rights of all Afghans – both men and women. And as part of the outcome of any process, the Taliban and other armed opposition groups have to end the violence, break ties with al-Qaida, accept Afghanistan’s constitution, including its provisions on women’s rights. Those are the standards which will lead us in this effort. There can be no compromise on these points. And there can be no peace without respecting the rights of all Afghans, and Afghan women have to have a seat at the table.
Afghan women are also at the forefront of the second part of the transition – the security transition. This is one of the most stunning things. You saw it in the video. These folks in uniform – unprecedented. They’re joining the army and the police, and they’re serving as judges, prosecutors in some of the most conservative parts of the country. It’s an extraordinary transformation. My team recently met with a female police officer from Kabul. For those of you who have been to Afghanistan, you’ll know there aren’t too many female police officers, and even fewer of them are willing to step forward and tell their story.
But on her way home from work one evening, this particular police officer heard another woman screaming inside a house. And when she heard the cries, she didn’t run away. She didn’t call someone else to come and do the job. She went right up to the house, knocked down the door in order to help. Police officer went inside and she saw a woman inside badly beaten on the ground and her husband was standing over her. Without any hesitation – she was not intimidated, not an ounce of fear – she pushed the husband aside and took the victim to her own house in order to record her statement and make a report. Believe me – believe me – that’s courage.
And it’s an example that all Afghans can be proud of and follow. They can be proud that their security and law enforcement forces are growing stronger by the day, more capable by the day. And of course, they can be proud that this past summer, the Afghan National Security Forces took over the lead responsibility in providing security all across the country.
Now, as you know, we have made a commitment along with our NATO partners to continue to advise, train, and support the Afghan forces beyond 2014, should Afghans approve in the next – within the next two weeks the Bilateral Security Agreement. And make no mistake – bringing women into the force and supporting their safe and meaningful participation is going to be a key part of this transition.
I’m pleased to report to you now that we are closer than ever to completing this task of defining our new partnership with Afghanistan, going well into the future. The Bilateral Security Agreement, when it is completed, will help both countries to fulfill the longstanding commitment that we made to a security partnership after 2014. But I want to underscore again that nothing – neither this agreement when completed, nor the assistance that we provide – will replace the role that the Afghan people themselves will play determining the future of their country.
Afghan women are also taking enormous risk to support Afghanistan’s third transition. That’s the economic transition. And women like Hassina Sayed are leading the charge.
I met Hassina in March. She started a trucking company, I think, about 10 years ago. She started it with $500. Now, she has 500 trucks. Of her 650 employees, 300 are women who not so long ago would absolutely never have had the opportunity they have today. She told me that she always knew she wanted to be a businesswoman when she grew up. And I asked why, and she said simply, “Because then I’ll get to be my own boss.” (Laughter.) Now, obviously, that’s not just an Afghan trait; that’s a universal aspiration. (Laughter.)
But Afghan women like Hassina are forming connections not just within Afghanistan, but all across the region. Actually, her trucking company is doing a great deal of work in “the ’Stans” and outside of Afghanistan in order to bring supplies and things, food and so forth, into the country. And what I found is that all of the Afghans understand they may be landlocked, but they’re not trapped, and they refuse to be trapped.
Afghanistan is linked everywhere by roads, railways, products, markets. And the reality is that Afghanistan’s fortunes are tied to the whole region, just as the future of the region is tied to the stability of Afghanistan. We call this the New Silk Road vision, which Secretary Clinton launched in July of 2011. It’s a vision we believe in, and it’s a vision we’re going to continue to work hard to implement.
Hassina knows that the benefits of investing in women and girls are not limited to one village, one province, or one country alone. They ripple out across the borders. You all remember that great quote of Robert Kennedy’s about rippling and creating a huge current that sweeps down the mightiest walls of oppression. That’s what’s happening. And that’s why investing in the training and mentoring of Afghan women entrepreneurs is so important. That’s why we launched the regional economic women’s initiative in Bishkek and in Dhaka in order to link female entrepreneurs to markets in South and Central Asia. And that strengthens those women to have those connections to those other parts of the region. That’s why we’re investing in the education of Afghan girls, so they can break the cycle of poverty and become community leaders and engaged citizens in ways that inspire and actually strengthen their neighbors’ willingness to join them.
That is the future that, even here in Gaston Hall today, we are all building together. And that’s the story that I want to leave you with today. As I was flying back from Kabul in March, my staff handed me a letter from a young Afghan girl who had earned a scholarship from the State Department to study at the American University of Afghanistan. And this young girl has exactly the same courage as women like Roya, Hassina, Gulalaya, who are marching forward to define this new future for Afghanistan. She has the same vision as leaders like Hillary Rodham Clinton and Laura Bush, who know that no country can succeed if it leaves half of its people behind. The phrase that Hillary and I both loved as we heard it about the bird with two wings can’t fly with one wing.
One line in that girl’s letter stood out to me. She wrote about the importance of education and how her goal is not just to help herself, but to lift her community, her society, and her country, just like Roya, Gulalay, and Hassina are doing today. You know what she wrote, very simply? She said, “I want to be one of them.” That’s the power of example. That’s the ripple fanning out to create the current. Think about that for a minute. She feels ownership over the future that she is creating in Afghanistan, and that’s not something that her sisters or her mother could say even a decade ago. But girls all over Afghanistan – believe me, I promise you – they are saying it today and they are living that dream thanks to the courage and the leadership of women themselves in Afghanistan.
Our responsibility is clear. We need to make sure that they succeed. Because this is one of those benchmark moments – not just for them, but for all of us – in what we care about, what we fight for, and who we are. As we move forward, just keep thinking about that young girl who wrote that letter and the inspiration that she draws from women like Roya, Gulalay, and Hassina. She just wants to be one of them. And making that happen is going to take every single one of us. Thank you very much. (Applause.)
Thank you very much. Thank you. Thank you very much. Now we get to the really exciting part of the program. I want to invite Secretary Clinton, Mrs. Bush, Anita Haidary, and her extraordinary colleagues to all come up on stage so we have an opportunity to listen to Anita for a moment, and then I think we’re going to go out and they’re going to set up the chairs and the program will continue. Can I invite all of you up here, please? (Applause.)
Remarks at the Georgetown University Symposium "Advancing Afghan Women"
Remarks
John Kerry
Secretary of State
Georgetown University
Washington, DC
November 15, 2013
Thank you. Thank you, Hillary. Thank you very much. Thank you very much, Hillary, for a very, very generous introduction. And thank you most of all for the remarkable work that you have done. I think you’re over here, Hillary. Here we go. (Laughter.) Get you over there. That’s my job, seat the former First Lady/Secretary. (Laughter.)
What a pleasure to be here, and distinguished members of the diplomatic corps, President DeGioia, thank you for this. Unbelievable, one of my favorite venues in the world. Madam Secretary/Senator/First Lady/everything – (laughter) – and former First Lady Bush, it’s great to be here with you, Laura. To our ambassadors and everybody else, I’m really happy to be here. For all the men studying here at Georgetown who sat in or sit in classrooms where Bill Clinton sat so many years ago, my advice to you is this: Study hard, go to Oxford, become governor of your state – (laughter) – and then maybe you can marry one of the country’s remarkable Secretaries of State. (Laughter and applause.)
I think everybody here knows that nobody has done more to advance the cause of women and the cause of Afghan women, together with Laura Bush, in our foreign policy directly than Secretary Clinton. And she took the helm of the State Department at a particularly challenging time, a critical moment in the history of the war, and she has worked tirelessly to remind all of us that this fight is not just waged on the battlefield. It’s a fight for the lives of Afghanistan’s people and their future, and it is a fight, above all, for universal values and aspirations, and I think we all owe her a tremendous debt of gratitude for the work that she has done. Thank you, Hillary, appreciate it. (Applause.)
I want to thank Georgetown’s Institute for Women, Peace, and Security; I want to thank the U.S.-Afghan Women’s Council; the George W. Bush Institute; and the Alliance in Support of the Afghan People for co-hosting and coming together to bring this remarkable event together here today. I particularly want to thank all of you. You are a remarkable group of women, absolutely extraordinary, and I was pleased to meet a couple of you in Afghanistan. Thank you for coming here, and I know people will really enjoy hearing the program later.
I want to express my gratitude also to former First Lady Laura Bush, as Hillary did in her comments and her introduction. She really helped lead the effort to advance opportunities for women in Afghanistan. And if you haven’t seen it yet today, she has a terrific op-ed in today’s Washington Post. And Madam First Lady, we thank you very much for your leadership also. (Applause.) And as Hillary did, I want to pay particular tribute and thanks to our nation’s first Ambassador-at-Large for Global Women’s Issues Melanne Verveer and her successor, Cathy Russell, who has just returned from Afghanistan. This is very special for me to be able to be here today, particularly with these extraordinary women who have lived their lives every single day to make sure that all women can pursue their potential and live free of violence.
And we all know that creating opportunities for women is not just the right thing to do. It’s also a strategic necessity. Societies where women are safe, where women are empowered to exercise their rights and to move their communities forward – these societies are more prosperous and more stable – not occasionally, but always. And nowhere is the pursuit of this vision more important, and in many ways more compelling and immediate and possible than in Afghanistan.
If I had to walk blind into a district in Afghanistan and I could only ask one question to determine how secure it was and how much progress it was making, I would ask, “What proportion of the girls here are able to go to school?” There’s no question in my mind that investing in Afghan women is the surest way to guarantee that Afghanistan will sustain the gains of the last decade and never again become a safe haven for international terrorists. On my many trips to Afghanistan as a senator and as Secretary of State, I have met with an array of Afghan Government officials. I’ve met with businesspeople, development experts, diplomats. I’ve met with our brave troops, as well as our brave -- shared responsibility, participation by the international community, the international troops who are there, our counterparts – all of whom have sacrificed for the promise of a safe and secure and a sovereign Afghanistan.
But I actually come back time and again to my very first trip to Kabul as Secretary of State, when I met a remarkable woman who is changing Afghanistan. Her name is Roya Mahboob. Now, Roya is chief executive of a software development firm called Citadel. And the local authorities did absolutely everything they could in order to stop her dead in her tracks. They even pressured her family to close her company. But she, like a lot of the women sitting here and like so many women across Afghanistan, absolutely refused to be intimidated. And the first time that she competed for an Afghan Government project, guess what? She went up against six businesses led by men and she won. And it’s a good thing she won because Roya has invested almost all of her profits to provide internet access to 35,000 girls in Herat. And believe me, she’s just getting started. Today, she has plans to help five times as many girls across Afghanistan.
Now I’m sure you’ll hear this in the discussion in a little while – it is hard enough to start your own business anywhere else in the world, but to start it in Afghanistan, to balance the books, build a revenue stream, fight against incredible outrage in the local community, is sheer guts and courage and determination. She never backed down. Instead, she’s using her talents and her money in order to connect Afghans of all ages – men and women, boys and girls – to a global community and a global economy where all of us are connected to each other. That’s the world we live in today, and that’s the world that women in Afghanistan want to share in too.
As Roya said to me, she doesn’t want to be the only woman who’s an entrepreneur in Afghanistan. She wants all women to have that opportunity. And she believes nothing should stop any of them. Now, I’m serious when I tell you that I think of Roya and the women like her that I’ve met in Afghanistan. Every time I hear the amazing numbers that illustrate how far this country has come since 2001 and that underscore what Secretary Clinton was saying a few minutes ago about how critical our choices are with respect to the future – in 2001, back then, there were only 900,000 Afghan children in school, and all of them were boys. Today, nearly 8 million students are in school, and more than a third of them are girls. Think about what that means for the future.
In 2001, maternal mortality was 1,600 per 100,000 births; today, it’s down by 80 percent. In 2001, life expectancy for the average Afghan was 42 years; today, it’s 62 years and rising. In 2001, 9 percent of Afghans had access to basic healthcare; today, 60 percent of Afghans live within an hour of basic health services. In 2001, there was only one television station and it was owned by the government; today, there are 75 stations and only two – and all of those but two are privately owned. And in 2001, there were virtually no cellphones in the country; today, there are 18 million covering about 90 percent of residential areas. 80 percent of Afghan women now have access to a cellphone, meaning that they are connected to their families, their friends, and most importantly, they’re connected to the world and to their futures.
Thanks to entrepreneurs like Roya, Afghan women will also now be connected to the internet too. Ten years ago, it just would have been unfathomable to imagine this. But because of so many individual acts of courage, this is the future that we are now watching Afghan women build. And as Secretary Clinton and Laura Bush and Ambassadors Verveer and Russell powerfully remind us, when Afghan women live longer and go to school in greater numbers, all Afghan families and their communities will grow stronger. When Afghan women run their own businesses, all Afghans profit from a more diverse, dynamic, and inclusive economy. And when Afghan women hold public office at the local and national levels, all Afghans gain a stronger voice in their communities.
That is the vision behind the United States National Action Plan on Women, Peace and Security, which President Obama directed to be implemented two years ago and which Hillary spoke about just a few minutes ago. And that’s why we are committed to bringing the perspectives of women and their full participation to bear on these opportunities and challenges in Afghanistan going forward.
Now what has moved me – and I mean moved me – in my meetings with an impressive group of Afghan women entrepreneurs is that when Afghan women move forward, believe me, they never want to go back. Not to the days when the Taliban ruled Afghanistan. Not to the days before the Taliban when the country was torn apart by violence. And that is why it is so important that we keep investing in and defending the progress that empowers Afghan women, as well as men, to be able to have their voices heard and to buy into their future and shape their future. What has been achieved is nothing less than remarkable, and it would have been more than a tragedy if the world ever allowed this progress to be threatened or, worse yet, to be abandoned.
So the question now is: Where do we go from here? Because as we think about the future, we are mindful of the challenges that Afghan women continue to face. This is a critical moment. Many of the women that I’ve met share very legitimate concerns that the gains of the past decade could be lost. All that I talked about could be wiped out. And the truth is their anxiety that I hear when I visit Afghanistan, or you’ll hear today, it’s palpable. Despite the significant achievements of Afghan women and girls, many challenges still remain. And we remember too well the difficulties, the difficult history that led to the decades of war in Afghanistan. We know the costs of walking away. Believe me, Afghan women know the costs because they have always paid the steepest price.
So I say to you today: As Afghanistan sees women standing up in Afghanistan to take control of their country’s future – not only for themselves, but for all Afghans – we have to be determined that they will not stand alone. America will stand up with them as they shape a strong and united Afghanistan that secures the rightful place in the community of nations. And that is why President Obama and President Karzai signed a Strategic Partnership Agreement last year that lays out our mutual commitments. And that’s why America’s relationship with Afghans is changing; it’s not ending.
There’s a lot to do, so much to do, and obviously the road ahead is not easy. The violence that has plagued Afghanistan for decades has left very deep wounds, and it is going to take time to heal. We also know that security is going to be a real challenge. We know that Afghans have to strengthen the rule of law. They have to improve access to justice. We also know that discrimination and violence against women continue to be major problems.
But I know every one of these women and the women in Afghanistan today will remain determined, and we have an obligation to remain determined and stand by them. We intend to make clear that securing the rights of Afghan women and girls is not just a challenge for this moment; it’s a generational challenge. In fact, we’ve already made a significant down payment, but make no mistake – finishing this job is going to take courage, and not just the courage of women in Afghanistan.
As a proud father of two daughters, I have many times been reinforced in the fact that this job will require the courage of men, too. In Afghanistan, it will take the courage of every man who defends his daughter’s right to an equal education; it will take the courage of every brother who challenges a law that keeps his sister from owning property or opening a business; and every husband who not only promises that the cycle of domestic violence can stop with him, but who actually proves it. We have spent a great blood and treasure in Afghanistan, and that makes even greater our obligation to get this right.
Yes, there are challenges ahead. For sure, the transition is going to be difficult. But without question, there’s a world of possibilities staring us in the face. In fact, the transition that we are talking about and now working on is really about three transitions: a political transition, a security transition, and an economic transition. And no surprise, Afghan women are playing an integral role in all of them.
Just look at the political transition. We all know that the single most important milestone over the next year is the peaceful transfer of power from President Karzai to a democratically elected successor. The elections have to be on time. They have to be accountable and transparent and free and fair and accessible. They have to be inclusive and result in an outcome that is perceived as legitimate by all segments of Afghan society above all, but also by the international community. Above all, though elections obviously always entail competition and debate, they’ve got to be a unifying moment for the country, not a divisive one.
As we speak, as we are here, Afghan women are leading the charge to ensure that the elections next year are credible, inclusive, and transparent. You have – Gulalay Achekzai is one of those women. Gulalay is a teacher by profession, but she’s always had this passion for public service. She used to work as a human rights commissioner in Kandahar. Today, she’s serving on the Independent Election Commission. She told President Karzai she has only one character flaw – that she fears no one. (Laughter.)
Now we are deeply encouraged by the Gulalays and others who are taking part in this, by the hundreds of women from all over the country, who are running for positions on provincial councils. And we are very pleased to lend our support, in partnership with the United Nations, to train female volunteers as they facilitate secure access for women at the polls. There is no question that lasting security and prosperity in a unified Afghanistan will take root only when women have as loud a voice as men – not just on election day, but every day.
The success of the political transition is essential. It’s the prerequisite to the future stability of Afghanistan. But make no mistake – it’s not enough, it’s not sufficient, it won’t do the job alone. That’s why the United States firmly supports and will continue to support an Afghan-led peace and reconciliation effort as the surest way to end the violence and bring lasting stability to Afghanistan and the region.
But peace is only possible if it respects the historic achievements that Afghanistan has made over the past decade, all those things I listed and talked about, including above all the protection of the rights of all Afghans – both men and women. And as part of the outcome of any process, the Taliban and other armed opposition groups have to end the violence, break ties with al-Qaida, accept Afghanistan’s constitution, including its provisions on women’s rights. Those are the standards which will lead us in this effort. There can be no compromise on these points. And there can be no peace without respecting the rights of all Afghans, and Afghan women have to have a seat at the table.
Afghan women are also at the forefront of the second part of the transition – the security transition. This is one of the most stunning things. You saw it in the video. These folks in uniform – unprecedented. They’re joining the army and the police, and they’re serving as judges, prosecutors in some of the most conservative parts of the country. It’s an extraordinary transformation. My team recently met with a female police officer from Kabul. For those of you who have been to Afghanistan, you’ll know there aren’t too many female police officers, and even fewer of them are willing to step forward and tell their story.
But on her way home from work one evening, this particular police officer heard another woman screaming inside a house. And when she heard the cries, she didn’t run away. She didn’t call someone else to come and do the job. She went right up to the house, knocked down the door in order to help. Police officer went inside and she saw a woman inside badly beaten on the ground and her husband was standing over her. Without any hesitation – she was not intimidated, not an ounce of fear – she pushed the husband aside and took the victim to her own house in order to record her statement and make a report. Believe me – believe me – that’s courage.
And it’s an example that all Afghans can be proud of and follow. They can be proud that their security and law enforcement forces are growing stronger by the day, more capable by the day. And of course, they can be proud that this past summer, the Afghan National Security Forces took over the lead responsibility in providing security all across the country.
Now, as you know, we have made a commitment along with our NATO partners to continue to advise, train, and support the Afghan forces beyond 2014, should Afghans approve in the next – within the next two weeks the Bilateral Security Agreement. And make no mistake – bringing women into the force and supporting their safe and meaningful participation is going to be a key part of this transition.
I’m pleased to report to you now that we are closer than ever to completing this task of defining our new partnership with Afghanistan, going well into the future. The Bilateral Security Agreement, when it is completed, will help both countries to fulfill the longstanding commitment that we made to a security partnership after 2014. But I want to underscore again that nothing – neither this agreement when completed, nor the assistance that we provide – will replace the role that the Afghan people themselves will play determining the future of their country.
Afghan women are also taking enormous risk to support Afghanistan’s third transition. That’s the economic transition. And women like Hassina Sayed are leading the charge.
I met Hassina in March. She started a trucking company, I think, about 10 years ago. She started it with $500. Now, she has 500 trucks. Of her 650 employees, 300 are women who not so long ago would absolutely never have had the opportunity they have today. She told me that she always knew she wanted to be a businesswoman when she grew up. And I asked why, and she said simply, “Because then I’ll get to be my own boss.” (Laughter.) Now, obviously, that’s not just an Afghan trait; that’s a universal aspiration. (Laughter.)
But Afghan women like Hassina are forming connections not just within Afghanistan, but all across the region. Actually, her trucking company is doing a great deal of work in “the ’Stans” and outside of Afghanistan in order to bring supplies and things, food and so forth, into the country. And what I found is that all of the Afghans understand they may be landlocked, but they’re not trapped, and they refuse to be trapped.
Afghanistan is linked everywhere by roads, railways, products, markets. And the reality is that Afghanistan’s fortunes are tied to the whole region, just as the future of the region is tied to the stability of Afghanistan. We call this the New Silk Road vision, which Secretary Clinton launched in July of 2011. It’s a vision we believe in, and it’s a vision we’re going to continue to work hard to implement.
Hassina knows that the benefits of investing in women and girls are not limited to one village, one province, or one country alone. They ripple out across the borders. You all remember that great quote of Robert Kennedy’s about rippling and creating a huge current that sweeps down the mightiest walls of oppression. That’s what’s happening. And that’s why investing in the training and mentoring of Afghan women entrepreneurs is so important. That’s why we launched the regional economic women’s initiative in Bishkek and in Dhaka in order to link female entrepreneurs to markets in South and Central Asia. And that strengthens those women to have those connections to those other parts of the region. That’s why we’re investing in the education of Afghan girls, so they can break the cycle of poverty and become community leaders and engaged citizens in ways that inspire and actually strengthen their neighbors’ willingness to join them.
That is the future that, even here in Gaston Hall today, we are all building together. And that’s the story that I want to leave you with today. As I was flying back from Kabul in March, my staff handed me a letter from a young Afghan girl who had earned a scholarship from the State Department to study at the American University of Afghanistan. And this young girl has exactly the same courage as women like Roya, Hassina, Gulalaya, who are marching forward to define this new future for Afghanistan. She has the same vision as leaders like Hillary Rodham Clinton and Laura Bush, who know that no country can succeed if it leaves half of its people behind. The phrase that Hillary and I both loved as we heard it about the bird with two wings can’t fly with one wing.
One line in that girl’s letter stood out to me. She wrote about the importance of education and how her goal is not just to help herself, but to lift her community, her society, and her country, just like Roya, Gulalay, and Hassina are doing today. You know what she wrote, very simply? She said, “I want to be one of them.” That’s the power of example. That’s the ripple fanning out to create the current. Think about that for a minute. She feels ownership over the future that she is creating in Afghanistan, and that’s not something that her sisters or her mother could say even a decade ago. But girls all over Afghanistan – believe me, I promise you – they are saying it today and they are living that dream thanks to the courage and the leadership of women themselves in Afghanistan.
Our responsibility is clear. We need to make sure that they succeed. Because this is one of those benchmark moments – not just for them, but for all of us – in what we care about, what we fight for, and who we are. As we move forward, just keep thinking about that young girl who wrote that letter and the inspiration that she draws from women like Roya, Gulalay, and Hassina. She just wants to be one of them. And making that happen is going to take every single one of us. Thank you very much. (Applause.)
Thank you very much. Thank you. Thank you very much. Now we get to the really exciting part of the program. I want to invite Secretary Clinton, Mrs. Bush, Anita Haidary, and her extraordinary colleagues to all come up on stage so we have an opportunity to listen to Anita for a moment, and then I think we’re going to go out and they’re going to set up the chairs and the program will continue. Can I invite all of you up here, please? (Applause.)
Friday, November 15, 2013
UNEMPLOYMENT INSURANCE WEEKLY CLAIMS REPORT FOR WEEK ENDING NOVEMBER 9, 2013
FROM: U.S. LABOR DEPARTMENT
SEASONALLY ADJUSTED DATA
In the week ending November 9, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 339,000, a decrease of 2,000 from the previous week's revised figure of 341,000. The 4-week moving average was 344,000, a decrease of 5,750 from the previous week's revised average of 349,750.
The advance seasonally adjusted insured unemployment rate was 2.2 percent for the week ending November 2, unchanged from the prior week's unrevised rate. The advance number for seasonally adjusted insured unemployment during the week ending November 2 was 2,874,000, unchanged from the preceding week's revised level of 2,874,000. The 4-week moving average was 2,866,250, a decrease of 2,000 from the preceding week's revised average of 2,868,250.
UNADJUSTED DATA
The advance number of actual initial claims under state programs, unadjusted, totaled 357,836 in the week ending November 9, an increase of 26,485 from the previous week. There were 478,543 initial claims in the comparable week in 2012.
The advance unadjusted insured unemployment rate was 2.0 percent during the week ending November 2, an increase of 0.1 percentage point from the prior week. The advance unadjusted number for persons claiming UI benefits in state programs totaled 2,560,359, an increase of 59,748 from the preceding week. A year earlier, the rate was 2.3 percent and the volume was 2,963,198.
The total number of people claiming benefits in all programs for the week ending October 26 was 3,907,671, a decrease of 53,536 from the previous week. There were 4,997,171 persons claiming benefits in all programs in the comparable week in 2012.
No state was triggered "on" the Extended Benefits program during the week ending October 26.
Initial claims for UI benefits filed by former Federal civilian employees totaled 1,893 in the week ending November 2, a decrease of 2,122 from the prior week. There were 2,287 initial claims filed by newly discharged veterans, a decrease of 146 from the preceding week.
There were 21,843 former Federal civilian employees claiming UI benefits for the week ending October 26, a decrease of 6,031 from the previous week. Newly discharged veterans claiming benefits totaled 32,243, an increase of 346 from the prior week.
States reported 1,333,709 persons claiming Emergency Unemployment Compensation (EUC) benefits for the week ending October 26, a decrease of 37,065 from the prior week. There were 2,095,605 persons claiming EUC in the comparable week in 2012. EUC weekly claims include first, second, third, and fourth tier activity.
The highest insured unemployment rates in the week ending November 2 were in Alaska (4.3), Puerto Rico (4.0), Virgin Islands (3.5), New Jersey (3.0), California (2.9), Connecticut (2.7), Pennsylvania (2.6), District of Columbia (2.4), Illinois (2.4), and Oregon (2.4).
The largest increases in initial claims for the week ending November 2 were in Michigan (+2,720), Ohio (+2,289), New Jersey (+1,371), Massachusetts (+1,051), and Kansas (+919), while the largest decreases were in Oregon (-3,011), California (-2,468), Tennessee (-989), Puerto Rico (-859), and South Carolina (-718).
SEASONALLY ADJUSTED DATA
In the week ending November 9, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 339,000, a decrease of 2,000 from the previous week's revised figure of 341,000. The 4-week moving average was 344,000, a decrease of 5,750 from the previous week's revised average of 349,750.
The advance seasonally adjusted insured unemployment rate was 2.2 percent for the week ending November 2, unchanged from the prior week's unrevised rate. The advance number for seasonally adjusted insured unemployment during the week ending November 2 was 2,874,000, unchanged from the preceding week's revised level of 2,874,000. The 4-week moving average was 2,866,250, a decrease of 2,000 from the preceding week's revised average of 2,868,250.
UNADJUSTED DATA
The advance number of actual initial claims under state programs, unadjusted, totaled 357,836 in the week ending November 9, an increase of 26,485 from the previous week. There were 478,543 initial claims in the comparable week in 2012.
The advance unadjusted insured unemployment rate was 2.0 percent during the week ending November 2, an increase of 0.1 percentage point from the prior week. The advance unadjusted number for persons claiming UI benefits in state programs totaled 2,560,359, an increase of 59,748 from the preceding week. A year earlier, the rate was 2.3 percent and the volume was 2,963,198.
The total number of people claiming benefits in all programs for the week ending October 26 was 3,907,671, a decrease of 53,536 from the previous week. There were 4,997,171 persons claiming benefits in all programs in the comparable week in 2012.
No state was triggered "on" the Extended Benefits program during the week ending October 26.
Initial claims for UI benefits filed by former Federal civilian employees totaled 1,893 in the week ending November 2, a decrease of 2,122 from the prior week. There were 2,287 initial claims filed by newly discharged veterans, a decrease of 146 from the preceding week.
There were 21,843 former Federal civilian employees claiming UI benefits for the week ending October 26, a decrease of 6,031 from the previous week. Newly discharged veterans claiming benefits totaled 32,243, an increase of 346 from the prior week.
States reported 1,333,709 persons claiming Emergency Unemployment Compensation (EUC) benefits for the week ending October 26, a decrease of 37,065 from the prior week. There were 2,095,605 persons claiming EUC in the comparable week in 2012. EUC weekly claims include first, second, third, and fourth tier activity.
The highest insured unemployment rates in the week ending November 2 were in Alaska (4.3), Puerto Rico (4.0), Virgin Islands (3.5), New Jersey (3.0), California (2.9), Connecticut (2.7), Pennsylvania (2.6), District of Columbia (2.4), Illinois (2.4), and Oregon (2.4).
The largest increases in initial claims for the week ending November 2 were in Michigan (+2,720), Ohio (+2,289), New Jersey (+1,371), Massachusetts (+1,051), and Kansas (+919), while the largest decreases were in Oregon (-3,011), California (-2,468), Tennessee (-989), Puerto Rico (-859), and South Carolina (-718).
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