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11/25/2012
11/18/2012
Croatian Generals' War Crimes Sentence
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(At - On - In) 2011 Ante Gotovian and Mladen Markac, two former Croatian generals were sentenced to 24 and 18 years, respectively, on charges of war crimes committed during the 1991-to-1995 Balkans war. A third general, Ivan Cermak, was acquitted. He returned to the Croatian capital, Zagreb, (when - where - were) Prime Minister Jadranka Kosor greeted (to him - on him - him).
(Last - The last) Friday Appeals judges at the U.N. Yugoslav war crimes court (will overturn - overturn - overturned) the convictions of the two former generals.
Friday's (ruling - sentence - conviction) is the latest development concerning "Operation Storm", a Croatian offensive carried out in 1995 to reclaim the republic of Krajina from Serb control.
Some reports claim that the late Croatian president, Franjo Tudjman, (is - was - were) a key member of what was described as a "joint criminal operation," during which hundreds of Serb civilians (is - was - were) killed and thousands of (others - another - the others) driven from (his - there -their) homes.
(Unless - Though - However) many Croats consider the two convicted generals to be national heroes and the operation they directed to be the legitimate liberation of Croatian territory, the Zagreb government agreed to cooperate with the U.N. probe to help pave the way for membership in the European Union.
11/12/2012
Argentina beat Wales, 26-12
CARDIFF, WALES — Any doubts about the difference that regular international competition can mean to a team, and how it is viewed in the world order, were answered in a single match when Argentina beat Wales, 26-12.
Argentina’s first match after its debut season in the Southern Hemisphere’s Rugby Championship saw Los Pumas put on their best performance ever on British soil. Argentina had won in Wales before, 11 years earlier to the day, but that and its victories over England in 2008 and Scotland on four occasions represented Los Pumas picking off of Europe’s low-hanging fruit.
This time, Argentina defeated the reigning European Six Nations champion, and by a margin that in no way flattered Wales.
The difference between previous Argentina teams, which arrived for autumn tests in Europe untried, and the current one, hardened by six matches against Australia, New Zealand and South Africa, was not lost on Wales’s interim coach, Rob Howley.
“Their experience and their exposure to the Rugby Championship have taken them to another level,” said Howley, who is filling in while the incumbent, Warren Gatland, scouts players for British and Irish Lions’ tour of Australia next year. “You have to play against the best to learn, and they’ve certainly learned from it.”
Howley said that Wales’s performance had left him “disappointed, frustrated and annoyed.”
“We know we’re a better team than that,” he said.
Wales, though, played as well it was allowed — and Argentina, superior in every department of the game, allowed very little.
When the host led, 12-6, shortly after halftime, the score seemed a total misrepresentation. A 17-point scoring burst by Argentina between the 51st and 59th minutes — a drop goal from outside half Nicolás Sánchez was followed by brilliantly worked tries from wingers Juan Imhoff and Gonzalo Camacho, both converted by Sanchez — restored logic and justice to the scoreboard. Wales never remotely threatened a comeback.
Argentina turned things around without its two most experienced backs. Center Felipe Contepomi, the only player left from Argentina’s previous victory in Wales, and fullback Juan Martín Hernández both left the match Saturday with injuries. “We are all sad for Felipe,” said Argentina coach Santiago Phelan, another veteran of 2001, albeit as a player.Contepomi’s knee injury looked serious enough to cause worries among players of any age — and at 35, there were fears that his could be career-ending.
It all made for a striking beginning to four consecutive weekends of confrontations between Northern and Southern Hemisphere players — for British and Irish players, it also was the start of their campaign to secure places on the Lions squad. For every other team, the four weeks of matches offer a final chance to affect the International Rugby Board’s world rankings before the draw for the 2015 World Cup on Dec. 3.
“We need to be calm and realistic and not get carried away before our next match against France,” said Phelan. The sense of those words was underlined a few hours later as France flattened Australia, 33-6, in Paris. The victory snapped a run of five consecutive losses to the Wallabies, and it lifted France over England among the top four of the world rankings, which will guarantee a top seeding in the 2015 World Cup. (New Zealand, Australia and South Africa are ranked No. 1-3.)
“It is a matter of great pride to beat Australia,” said Pascal Papé, the French caption, who said the whole team was well aware of a 59-16 beating inflicted by the Australians in Paris two years ago. “None of us wanted to relive that, and it made us extra motivated.”
adapted from The New York Times
Chrysler's airbag issue
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(Reuters) - Chrysler Group LLC ……………………………………………… (recalls - is recalling - should recall - recalled) 919,545 Jeep sport utility vehicles from the 2002 to 2004 model years to fix a part that ………………………………………………(could - should - must - will) cause the airbags to inadvertently deploy.
Chrysler ……………………………………………… (recalls - is recalling - should recall - recalled) 919,545 Jeep Grand Cherokee and Liberty SUVs from model years 2002 through 2004 ………………………………………………(although - but - because - however) a part in airbag control modules ……………………………………………… (should - must - will - may) fail, according to documents filed with the U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) and Chrysler.
A failure of that module ………………………………………………(will - must - could - should) cause the front airbags or side curtain airbags to deploy inadvertently while the SUVs are being operated, increasing the risk of injury or accident, according to NHTSA documents.
Of the vehicles recalled, 744,822 ……………………………………………… (was - were - is - are) in the United States; 49,430 in Canada; 21,828 in Mexico; and 103,465 outside North America, Chrysler said.
Chrysler said that about half of the recalled vehicles ……………………………………………… (was - were - is - are) Grand Cherokee and the other half Liberty.
Chrysler has been controlled ………………………………………………(during - for - since - in) 2009 ………………………………………………(for - by) Italy's Fiat SpA.
In October 2011, NHTSA ………………………………………………(was opening - has opened - opened - will open) a preliminary investigation relating to complaints of inadvertent airbag deployments in Liberty SUVs, according to the documents.
The probe ……………………………………………… (founded - found - finds - is finding) 215 cases of inadvertent airbag deployments that resulted in 81 minor injuries involving both SUVs in the United States, according to the documents. There ……………………………………………… (will be - is - was - were) no crashes caused by inadvertent airbag deployment.
Chrysler's dealers ………………………………………………(should - could - will - can) install a supplemental jumper harness to the airbag control module at no cost to owners. The recall ……………………………………………… (should - could - will - can) end in January.
from Reuters
11/11/2012
Protests as residents are left in the dark (video)
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US UnitedHealth to take 90% stake in Brazil's Amil
US health insurers are looking for international opportunities due to the fact that the industry faces greater regulation at home as part of the Obama administration’s healthcare reform law.
UnitedHealth, the biggest US health insurer by revenues is looking to become more of a global force in the healthcare industry. It bought PacifiCare for $9.2bn in 2005 and Sierra Health Services for $2.6bn in 2007.
As part of plans to increase its presence in emerging markets, UnitedHealth Group will spend $4.9 billion to acquire a 90 percent stake in Amil Participacoes, the largest healthcare company in Brazil.
By entering the Brazilian healthcare market, UnitedHealth can better access the country’s 200 million population, only 25 percent of which has private insurance, at a time when Brazilian leaders increasingly are turning to private companies to insure its citizens.
Brazil’s Amil Participacoes has about 5 million members, a provider network of 3,300 hospitals and 44,000 doctors, and also owns 22 hospitals and about 50 clinics.
“Brazil is a consistently growing and evolving market for private sector health benefits and services. Its growing economy, emerging middle class and progressive policies toward managed care make it a high potential growth market”, UnitedHealth CEO Stephen Hemsley said Monday in a statement.
“Combining Amil, the clear market leader serving a market of nearly 200 million people, with UnitedHealth Group’s experiences and capabilities developed over the last three decades, is a unique growth and value creation opportunity,” said Mr Hemsley.
Dr Edson Bueno, Amil’s founder will remain chief executive of the unit after the deal closes. Bueno and his partner Dulce Pugliese will retain their 10 percent ownership of Amil for at least five years. Amil also will invest about $470 million in UnitedHealth Group shares, according to the Minneapolis Star-Tribune.
adapted from Reuters and Associated Press reports
11/07/2012
11/05/2012
Lance Armstrong scandal
An Australian sports wear company is seeking US$2m in damages from cycling’s government body, claiming its brand has been damaged by the mismanagement of the Lance Armstrong doping scandal.
Skins, which has backed cycling teams since 2008 and supplied the USA cycling team with race suits at the London Olympics, alleges Union Cycliste Internationale is responsible for a “total loss of confidence” in professional cycling that has harmed its brand.
“Skins was under the illusion that professional cycling had been fundamentally reformed to contain doping and minimize the risk of scandals with which the brand of any sponsor could be associated,” the company said in a letter sent to UCI.
Armstrong was banned for life and stripped of his seven Tour de France titles after the US Anti-Doping Agency published a report claiming the US cyclist had used performance enhancing drugs.
The move by Skins to seek damages raises the possibility that other sportswear companies might also launch action against UCI.
Armstrong’s biggest sponsors severed ties with the former professional cyclist soon after the allegation emerged that he was at the center of the “most sophisticated and successful doping program that sport has ever seen”. Nike, Trek, RadioShack and AB InBev have all dropped sponsorship ties.
Jaimie Fuller, Skins chairman, said an “overhaul” of cycling could only be achieved by a “credible and capable” governing body and called on UCI President Pat McQuaid and Honorary President for Life Hein Verbruggen to step down.
The UCI has set up an independent commission into itself and ordered Armstrong to return the prize money he received for his seven Tour de France titles. It is seeking to recover up to $3m.
Mr McQuaid recently denied allegations that the governing body accepted a donation from Armstrong in return for overlooking a positive test.
from Financial Times
11/04/2012
Are you paying a tip or a bribe?
There's actually a fine line between the socially acceptable act of tipping and the immoral act of bribing, according to Magnus Thor Torfason, (photo) an assistant professor in Harvard Business School's Entrepreneurial Management Unit.His article for Social Psychological & Personality Science, "Here's a Tip: Prosocial Gratuities Are Linked to Corruption," was co-authored with Francis J. Flynn, the Paul E. Holden Professor of Organizational Behavior at Stanford, and Daniella Kupor, a doctoral student at Stanford.
Torfason and his colleagues found a link between these two behaviors when they studied cross-national data and per capita gross domestic product, income inequality, and other factors for 32 countries. In short, countries with higher rates of tipping behavior also tended to have higher rates of corruption.
Tips and bribes can possess striking similarities that may lead to their positive association, the researchers report. "In a sense, both are gifts intended to strengthen social bonds and each is offered in conjunction with advantageous service. One could even argue that the main difference between the two acts is merely the timing of the gift: Tips follow the rendering of a service, whereas bribes precede it."
The link between tipping and bribing may come in part from "temporal focus," or how each individual thinks about and weighs the past and future. In some places, tips are provided not so much to reward good service but to encourage good service in the future—a perception that brings the tip closer to the purpose of a bribe, which is also focused on future service.
The mixed messages that can come with these cash exchanges have deep roots in history. During the Middle Ages, feudal lords traveling beyond their territories would toss coins to beggars in hopes that these acts of kindness would ensure safe trips. And in Tudor England, guests who stayed overnight were expected to leave payment for their hosts' servants at the end of their stay as a way of compensating for the extra work their visit created.
Today, most people in Western societies draw a distinct line between tipping and bribery, and the fact that the two are linked runs counter to what most people would expect. When Torfason and his colleagues asked 51 participants from a national online pool about their impressions of the relationship between tipping and bribery, just 5.9 percent said they thought they were "probably positively related," whereas 78.4 percent thought they were "probably not related."
"In the United States, people assume tipping and bribery are not related," Torfason says. "There's a clear distinction between professions that are tipped and situations where informal payments would be considered a bribe." And yet, despite this distinction, corruption exists in the United States, where consumers regularly tip restaurant wait staff, taxi drivers, hairdressers and others.
"Richer countries tend to have less corruption than poorer countries," Torfason notes. "But if you control for GDP in the US, our country is higher in tipping and also higher in corruption than other similarly rich countries."
The Torfason team decided to take a particularly close look at Canada and India—which were similar in their tipping habits, but quite different in their bribery levels—with Canada seeing little bribing activity and India seeing substantially more.
The researchers concluded that the reason for this difference was rooted in the way people in the two countries viewed this exchange of money.
Indians were more likely than Canadians to tip with the hope that the offer would bring about better service in the future. Canadians viewed tipping more as a reward for a service received in the past. The researchers found that Indians also rated bribery as more morally acceptable than did Canadians.
"In the mind of someone who thinks of tipping as something that implies better future service, tipping and bribery are closer together," Torfason says.
The author, Dina Gerdeman, is a freelance writer based in Mansfield, Massachusetts
11/02/2012
Spain's economic crisis and Catalonia (video)
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