North Korea Hails Openhearted Talk with South Korean envoys

SEOUL, South Korea -- North Korea said Tuesday that its leader, Kim Jong-un, has held an "openhearted talk" with visiting envoys from South Korea, reaching a "satisfactory agreement" about holding an inter-Korean summit meeting with the South's president, Moon Jae-in.

Mr. Kim spent more than four hours with the South Korean envoys, including Mr. Moon's national security adviser, Chung Eui-yong. They met in talks and over a dinner held on Monday in the headquarters of the North's ruling Workers' Party in Pyongyang, the North's capital, Mr. Moon's office said on Tuesday.

South Korean officials said the talks with Mr. Kim were "not disappointing."

The 10 members of the delegation led by Mr. Chung are the first South Korean officials to meet Mr. Kim since he took power six years ago. The South Korean envoys have hoped to persuade Mr. Kim to start a dialogue with the United States on ending the North's nuclear weapons program.

Africa takes cue from Zim 2004

Vote in South Africa's parliament moves land reform closer 27 FEB

Sisulu urges international community to back land reform 4 MAR

Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.

Origins and genetic legacies of the Caribbean Taino
"It is possible, therefore, that haplotype B2 was relatively rare in the Caribbean in the past. Alternatively [?], it may have been lost during the dramatic population declines experienced by Caribbean populations after 1492."

Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.

Ha'aretz

An Israeli borrower won relief from the Supreme Court and now owes just 22 million shekels after running up a debt of no less than 1.6 trillion shekels ($460 billion) on a loan he took out decades ago

How can he get away with this and Greece can't?

Final trial results confirm Ebola vaccine provides high protection against disease
"It was not possible to collect biological samples from people who received the vaccine in order to analyse their immune response."

Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.

What is the world coming to? Larry Krasner as Philadelphia DA is actually behaving as he did when campaigning.

Back on the campaign trail last year, Krasner, a former civil rights and criminal defense attorney who had been best known for suing police officers, offered a stump speech that condemned the criminal justice system for being racist and for criminalizing poverty and addiction. He was an unusual candidate to be the city's top law enforcer. Voters swept him into office. Now, two months into his term, DA Krasner is virtually undistinguishable from candidate Krasner.

On Tuesday, Krasner issued a memo to his staff making official a wave of new policies he had announced his attorneys last month. The memo starts: "These policies are an effort to end mass incarceration and bring balance back to sentencing."

"These policies are an effort to end mass incarceration and bring balance back to sentencing," Larry Krasner said in an announcement on Tuesday.
The most significant and groundbreaking reform is how he has instructed assistant district attorneys to wield their most powerful tool: plea offers. Over 90 percent of criminal cases nationwide are decided in plea bargains, a system which has been broken beyond repair by mandatory minimum sentences and standardized prosecutorial excess. In an about-face from how these transactions typically work, Krasner's 300 lawyers are to start many plea offers at the low end of sentencing guidelines. For most nonviolent and nonsexual crimes, or economic crimes below a $50,000 threshold, Krasner's lawyers are now to offer defendants sentences below the bottom end of the state's guidelines. So, for example, if a person with no prior convictions is accused of breaking into a store at night and emptying the cash register, he would normally face up to 14 months in jail. Under Krasner's paradigm, he'll be offered probation. If prosecutors want to use their discretion to deviate from these guidelines, say if a person has a particularly troubling rap sheet, Krasner must personally sign off.

Mar 12

The 852-tonne (950-ton) section of the FIU-Sweetwater University City Bridge was built adjacent to the eight-lane Southwest Eight Street using accelerated bridge construction (ABC) methods, which are being advanced at FIU's Accelerated Bridge Construction University Transportation Center (ABC-UTC).

The main span of the bridge was installed in a few hours over the weekend, with limited disruption to traffic. The bridge was designed by Figg Bridge Engineers and built by MCM. Barnhart Crane & Rigging operated the self-propelled modular transporters that placed the bridge on its permanent supports.

"This project is an outstanding example of the ABC method," said ABC-UTC director Atorod Azizinamini, who is also chair of FIU's civil and environmental engineering department. "Building the major element of the bridge - its main span superstructure - outside of the travelled way and away from busy Eighth Street is a milestone."

Mar 15

A brand-new pedestrian bridge collapsed onto a highway at a Miami-area college Thursday, crushing at least five vehicles. Several people were seen being loaded into ambulances and authorities said they were searching for people.

RT

Republican State Rep. Harry Shiver (64th District) said Alabama lawmakers need to protect "our ladies" by not arming teachers because most of them are females who are "scared of guns."

59.3% polling districts reported. cute infographics. Reminds me of Bloomberg LIVE UPDATE! 2016

Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.

This is all over the Israeli and Arab press, but seems to have been completely ignored by the great free Western press. Al-Aswat

A national high committee, assembled by Palestinian factions in the Hamas-run Gaza Strip, announced on Saturday that it was coordinating a number of events that would culminate in a major a protest march that would demand the right of return for Palestinians.

The events and demonstrations aim to reject any attempts to eliminate the Palestinian cause. It also seeks to lift the siege on the Gaza Strip, which Israel imposed 11 years ago.

[...]

He pointed out that the major rally will coincide with a broad regional and international political move, with the participation of individuals, institutions and Palestinian, Arab and international bodies supporting the cause.

He added that preparations are underway for millions of Palestinians to participate from Gaza, the West Bank and diaspora.

Ha'aretz

It is the sum of all fears of Israel's ruling right. It is a weapon against which one of the world's most powerful, advanced militaries is at a loss.

It could succeed where suicide bombings, ballistic missile barrages, and sophisticated attack tunnels have failed. And it's coming on Passover, just over a week away.

It's non-violence.

Beginning on the day of the Passover seder, just a week from this Friday, Palestinians plan mass marches toward Israeli and Israeli-held territory, as well as sit-ins and vigils. They will press for Israeli and world attention to UN Resolution 194, the legal basis for what is known as the Palestinian Right of Return.

The plan is this: They will be unarmed. They will not throw stones. They will be organized by family clans rather than militant groups. They will avoid clashes with Israeli troops.

And Israel, with its layers of defenses against attacks from space, cyberspace, nuclear submarines, and every manner of killing machine devised by man, is unprepared.