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You are here: Home Technology Artificial intelligence to enhance air safety in adaptation to climate change
Artificial intelligence to enhance air safety in adaptation to climate change
Subject: Technology
Topic: Article
Generally, throughout flights, aircraft have to alter their route (their flight plan) due to unexpected occasions, similar to storms. These meteorological phenomena, which may be accompanied by hail and lightning, are difficult to predict; they are known to appear in a wide area, but it is difficult to accurately predict when and where the storm focus will happen.
START's goal is the event of analysis algorithms for optimizing air transport networks by way of their resilience (the system's restoration capability) when going through this sort of disruptive phenomena. "The storms we're analyzing on this venture are convective, usually cumulonimbus (a kind of cloud), that are very energetic and harmful for a plane in flight, so pilots are likely to systematically keep away from them", explains the venture's coordinator, Manuel Soler, from the UC3M's Division of Bioengineering and Aerospace Engineering. Along with heavy rain, these storms typically current hail, lightning, and thunder, and will finally block airports or massive airspace corridors.
START's goal is the event of analysis algorithms for optimizing air transport networks by way of their resilience when going through this sort of disruptive phenomena. It will also improve airlines' economic indicators by reducing their costs and increasing their revenue with improved flight timing.
"It can be crucial that, when growing these algorithms, they're resilient, in different phrases, they'll mechanically react to storms and get well the system. On this means, flights might be deliberate with the information that there's a probability that storms will happen in a specific space, even when the precise place and time are unknown," the researcher explains. Along with this, the system will even take different components that will trigger uncertainty when planning flights into consideration, such because the completely different plane fashions getting used, their weight and cargo, gusts of wind, or take-off and touchdown makes an attempt.
Scientists anticipate that the final result of this project will be a flight planning software that will improve air transport system indicators, reducing delays, increasing their capacity, and improving safety. It will also improve airlines' economic indicators by reducing their costs and increasing their revenue with improved flight timing.
On a methodological stage, this venture requires a multidisciplinary strategy. On the one hand, scientists will use Artificial Intelligence to characterise the uncertainty of all the parts that make up air site visitors, utilizing an epidemiological mannequin to simulate how delays within the system unfold on the community stage. Alternatively, they are going to use Massive Information (knowledge science) to analyse how massive volumes of knowledge may be processed constantly, along with the event of those flight optimisation algorithms.
START (A Stable and resilienT ATM by inTegrating Robust airline operations into the neTwork) is a European scientific project funded by the European Commission (GA 893204) that started this year and will run until 2022. It is being coordinated by the UC3M and has partners participating from five European countries: Boeing Deutschland (Germany), the German Aerospace Center (DLR), the French National Civil Aviation School (France), the flight planning company Flightkeys (Austria), the Universidad Politécnica de Cataluña (Spain) and the Istanbul Technical University (Turkey).
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This Is The Most Intense Racewalking Clip You'll See All Day
Dan Gartland
With two kilometers to go in today's 20k race walk, 2008 gold medalist Valeriy Borchin was in second place. That is, until he crumpled to the pavement in exhaustion. According to the Wall Street Journal, Borchin was later placed on a stretcher and taken away in an ambulance. Racewalking: pushing the human body to its absolute limits.
For a handy master schedule of every Olympic event, click here.
Here Is Your Handy Olympic Master Schedule
The Olympics are crazy. There are lots and lots of events at all hours of the day. But if NBC has…

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


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Ютросин () — гмина (волость) в Польше, входит как административная единица в Равичский повят, Великопольское воеводство. Население — 7041 человек (на 2004 год).

Сельские округа
 Бартошевице
 Белявы
 Домарадзице
 Дубин
 Громбково
 Яново
 Езора
 Надстав
 Новы-Селец
 Остое
 Павлово
 Плачково
 Рогожево
 Стары-Селец
 Шкарадово
 Шимонки
 Слёнсково
 Заборово

Прочие поселения
 Бембина
 Боново
 Борек
 Катажиново
 Охлода
 Пискорня
 Стасин
 Вельки-Бур
 Змыслово
 Зыгмунтово
 Жыдовски-Бруд

Соседние гмины
 Гмина Цешкув
 Гмина Кобылин
 Гмина Мейска-Гурка
 Гмина Милич
 Гмина Пакослав
 Гмина Пемпово
 Гмина Здуны

Известные уроженцы и жители
 В с. Дубин родился известный польский археолог Здислав Раевский (1907—1974).

Ссылки
 Официальная страница

Гмины Великопольского воеводства

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Q: Why my plot is not working in loop for different graph representations? I have a matrix 'capacity' and I want to plot its row and for that I have used a loop, my code is
for j_1=1:8
plotStyle = {'k -','r +','g *','b.','y o','r--','b d','g s'};
hold on;
plot(x_1,capacity(j_1,:),plotStyle(j_1));
end
hold off;

x_1 is just the x axis, the number of elements in x_1 is equal to the number of columns of capacity.But I am getting error as:
Error using plot
Invalid first data argument
Error in varyingDiffusioncofficient (line 124)
plot(x_1,capacity(j_1,:),plotStyle)

A: Edit: all you need to do is replace the round braces by curly braces in the call to plot, i.e.
plot(x_1,capacity(j_1,:),plotStyle{j_1});

Alternatively, you could separate the color and linestyle and make the call this way. This might be convenient when you make even larger plots and want to loop in different ways through the combinations of colors and linestyles.
capacity = rand(8,8);     % test data for a workable example
x_1 = 1:8;

for j_1=1:8
linestyle = {'-','+','*','.','o','--','d','s'};
color = {'k','r','g','b','y','r','b','g'};
hold on;
plot(x_1,capacity(j_1,:),'color',color{j_1},'linestyle',linestyle{j_1});
end
hold off;

A: Your issue is accessing a cell array with normal parentheses (), you should be using curly braces {}.
plotStyle = {'k -','r +','g *','b.','y o','r--','b d','g s'};
% plotStyle(1) = {'k -'}   : cell
% plotStyle{1} = 'k -'     : string

So
hold on;  % Move the hold and style assignment outside the loop for efficiency
plotStyle = {'k -','r +','g *','b.','y o','r--','b d','g s'};
for j_1=1:8
    plot(x_1,capacity(j_1,:),plotStyle{j_1});
end
hold off;

Documentation link for accessing data in a cell array

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Andy has been acting since she broke her mother's lamp when she was five and blamed it on her sister. A teacher by day and an improviser by night, Andy has been improvising since 2012 and has loved it since forever. She has studied with the Improv Guild, Loose Moose Theatre Company and the Kinkonauts, and she's taught improv for the last four years. She is also one of our teachers for our Saturday dojo drop in classes. You can catch her performing with The Longform Conservatory and Nonsense and Sensability: An Improvised Jane Austen. Andy also performs on Friday nights and she is one of the Kinkonauts' community and diversity coordinators. When she's not performing you can catch her napping, watching trash tv or impulse shopping online.


We want to eradicate low level numeracy among adults and children, and create more positive attitudes to maths and numeracy. To achive this, we aim to influence public policy, change public attitudes and win support among business, education and community organisations.
Launched in July 2017, our report The Essentials of Numeracy; A new approach to making the UK numerate puts forward a new approach to improving the population's number skills, calling on government and employers to recognise the scale and urgency of the problem.
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We provide a frequent voice in the national media on numeracy and maths, and have partnered with the BBC and others to raise awareness of the benefits of good everyday maths. We have recently appeared on Sky News, Good Morning Britain, Radio 4 Today Programme, and BBC Breakfast among others. Highlights include L'Oreal dropping their 'no good at maths' slogan and BBC Maths of the Day.
National Numeracy has established a Numeracy Forum to bring together the many stakeholders interested in the drive to improve numeracy across the UK. This meets one to two times a year and combines perspectives from the classroom, the workplace, the community, and business. The Forum aims to facilitate communication, providing space for discussion, debate and exchange of ideas.
National Numeracy is a member of the Fair Education Alliance, launched in 2014 to help end the persistent acheivement gap between young people from poor communities and their wealthier peers.
Get in touch to work with us or find out more.


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Home Parliamentary Business Bills and Legislation Browse Bills Digests Bills Digests alphabetical index 2008–09 Trade Practices Legislation Amendment Bill 2008
Trade Practices Legislation Amendment Bill 2008
Portfolio: Treasury
Commencement: On the day after the day of Royal Assent.
The primary purpose of the Bill is to amend the Trade Practices Act 1974 (TPA) to clarify the meaning of the term take advantage and address problems in relation to predatory pricing in the context of the prohibition on misuse of market power in section 46. In addition the Bill will extend the jurisdiction for section 46 cases to the Federal Magistrates Court.
The provisions of Part IV of the TPA, which includes section 46, prohibit various trade practices that tend to prevent or lessen competition in an Australian market for goods and services. These provisions are at the heart of the TPA. Since 1974, they have been instrumental in shaping the Australian economy. They lay down rules which, as interpreted by the courts from time to time, restrain anti-competitive behaviour and promote competition in the market place.[1]
The original form of section 46 of the TPA reflected provisions of the Sherman Act 1890 in the United States[2] and the Australian Industries Preservation Act 1906[3]. It was directed at a corporation operating independently using its market power against a competitor.[4]
Since that time section 46 has been the subject a number of formal inquiries and resultant amendments. Today, subsection 46(1) provides that a corporation that has a substantial degree of power in a market shall not take advantage of that power in that, or any other, market for the following proscribed purposes:
eliminating or substantially damaging a competitor of the corporation or of a body corporate that is related to the corporation in that or any other market
preventing the entry of a person into that or any other market or
deterring, or preventing, a person from engaging in competitive conduct in that or any other market.
Despite the amendments to section 46 over the years, there remain concerns that the section does not achieve its purpose of prohibiting the misuse of market power.
Review by the Dawson Committee
The Review of Competition Provisions of the Trade Practices Act (known as the Dawson report) was released in April 2003. Its terms of reference were broadly cast as there had not been a comprehensive review of the competition provisions in Part IV of the TPA since the Independent Committee of Inquiry into National Competition Policy in Australia reported in 1993. After the Dawson Committee had completed its consultations, but before the report was actually completed, a number of decisions about section 46 of the TPA were handed down by the Full Court of the Federal Court and the High Court. Of these, Boral Besser Masonry Ltd v ACCC[5] (the Boral case) in particular, raised a number of issues. The Dawson Committee did not make any recommendations for change to section 46 at that time.[6]
2004 Review by the Senate Economics References Committee
The following year the Senate Economics References Committee (the 2004 Senate Committee) conducted a review entitled The effectiveness of the Trade Practices Act 1974 in protecting small business which detailed a number of concerns about the effectiveness of section 46 at that time, specifically:
whether the TPA gives sufficient guidance as to what constitutes substantial power in a market
whether the TPA provides sufficient guidance as to what constitutes taking advantage of market power
whether the TPA provides sufficient protection against predatory pricing
whether a financial power test should be introduced
whether the TPA should proscribe the misuse of market power in a second market
whether the TPA provides sufficient protection against the use of co-ordinated market power and
whether an effects test should be included as an addition to, or substitute for, the current purpose test .
These have been the recurring themes in calls for an update to section 46. However, only taking advantage of market power and protection against predatory pricing are relevant to the current Bill.
Taking advantage of market power
There have been a number of cases in which the courts have commented on the meaning of taking advantage in the context of section 46 of the TPA. In 2003, two cases were heard which considered this issue. The first was ACCC v Safeway Stores[7] in which the Federal Court decided that the business rationale of the conduct is important to the question of whether the corporation has taken advantage of its market power.
However, Rural Press Ltd v ACCC,[8] (the Rural Press case) was determined by the High Court. It defined take advantage very narrowly, suggesting that one test of whether a company had taken advantage of its market power was whether it could have acted in that way in the absence of the market power.
This could test is about physical or business capacity, rather than rationale or intent. It appears to result in a situation where corporations may use their market power to engage in proscribed conduct with impunity, as long as they could also undertake that conduct in the absence of such power.
Recommendation by the 2004 Senate Committee
The 2004 Senate Committee recommended that the TPA be amended to include a provision which clearly outlined the elements of take advantage for the purposes of subsection 46(1).[9]
However, the Howard Government did not accept the recommendation on the grounds that it did not accept that the interpretation of take advantage required any statutory clarification. The Howard Government relied on the interpretation of the High Court in Queensland Wire Industries Pty Ltd v Broken Hill Proprietary Co Ltd (1989) 167 CLR 77 that take advantage merely means use .[10] As a result the question of what it means for a corporation that has a substantial degree of power in a market to take advantage of that power (as required by section 46 of the TPA) is still unresolved.
Predatory pricing occurs where:
a corporation prices a product below some measure of cost and
it does so with the intention of driving a competitor out of the market and
the corporation raises the price again in an attempt to recoup the losses they incurred as a result of their below cost conduct. This is referred to as recoupment .
In effect, predatory pricing is an exclusionary tactic because the corporation is seeking, in its pricing, to exclude competitors from the market for the product. This can be done in one of two ways:
for an existing competitor, the corporation excludes them from the market for the product because the competitor cannot match the below cost price that has been set
for a new competitor, the corporation sets the price so low that it deters anyone else from entering the market.
The difficulty with predatory pricing is that in some instances, it looks like legitimate competitive behaviour, because the existence of price wars is often an indicator of competition. This happened in the Boral case.
The Boral case
Boral Besser Masonry Limited (Boral) manufactured concrete masonry products such as concrete blocks, bricks and pavers. Boral, Pioneer, C&M, Rocla and Budget all supplied these products into the Melbourne market. In the 1990 s a price war broke out between the manufacturers of these masonry products for the supply of the products into Melbourne.
The price war that took place between 1993 and 1996 primarily involved Boral and Pioneer who were competing with each other to supply concrete products to block layers working on major construction sites in Melbourne. The price war took place during a time when the Victorian economy was in recession which had an adverse effect upon the commercial building industry and the level of demand for concrete masonry products. Boral and Pioneer cut the prices charged for concrete masonry products significantly and on many occasions during the price war, Boral s prices were lower than their variable costs. In 1996, Boral also expanded its production capacity for concrete masonry products.
In 1995, Rocla closed down all its Victorian masonry operations. In June 1996, Budget stopped manufacturing concrete masonry products.
The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) alleged that between 1994 and 1996 Boral engaged in conduct that contravened section 46 of the TPA. In particular the ACCC alleged that Boral reduced the prices at which it offered to supply concrete masonry products in Melbourne to levels at, or below, the cost of manufacture and supply of the products and that it increased the production capacity of concrete masonry products. The ACCC alleged that the conduct of Boral was designed to eliminate or substantially damage C & M and other competitors including Rocla and Budget.
The majority of the High Court (with Justice Kirby in dissent) decided Boral had not breached section 46 of the TPA.
Section 46 does not contain the words predatory pricing . In the Boral case, the High Court considered, amongst other things, whether recoupment was needed to establish predatory pricing in the context of section 46 of the TPA. It concluded that:
recoupment is a useful tool for analysis in cases where pricing behaviour is alleged to contravene section 46 and
evidence that there was no prospect of recoupment would point away from predatory pricing.
The 2004 Senate Committee recommended that the TPA be amended as follows:
to provide that in determining whether a corporation has breached section 46, the courts may have regard to the capacity of the corporation to sell a good or service below its variable cost and
where the form of proscribed behaviour alleged under section 46(1) is predatory pricing, it is not necessary to demonstrate a capacity to subsequently recoup the losses experienced as a result of that predatory pricing strategy.[11]
The Howard Government accepted this recommendation[12] and the TPA was amended by the Trade Practices Legislation Amendment Act (No. 1) 2007.
Trade Practices Legislation Amendment Bill (No. 1) 2007
The breadth of submissions to, and the nature of the recommendations by the 2004 Senate Committee, reflected a level of frustration experienced by both business and the ACCC with the manner in which section 46 had been interpreted by the courts. As a consequence of those interpretations, the ACCC had not been able to successfully prosecute a number of corporations which it considered had engaged in a misuse of market power.[13]
The Trade Practices Legislation Amendment Bill (No. 1) 2007 was introduced into the Senate on 20 June 2007. The following day, the Senate Selection of Bills Committee referred the provisions of the Bill to the Standing Committee on Economics (the 2007 Senate Committee) for enquiry. The 2007 Senate Committee reported on 1 August 2007.[14]
Relevant amendments
The Trade Practices Legislation Amendment Act (No. 1) 2007 inserted new subsections 46(1AA) and (1AB) as follows:
(1AA) A corporation that has a substantial share of a market must not supply, or offer to supply, goods or services for a sustained period at a price that is less than the relevant cost to the corporation of supplying such goods or services, for the purpose of:
(a) eliminating or substantially damaging a competitor of the corporation or of a body corporate that is related to the corporation in that or any other market; or
(b) preventing the entry of a person into that or any other market; or
(c) deterring or preventing a person from engaging in competitive conduct in that or any other market.
(1AB) For the purposes of subsection (1AA), without limiting the matters to which the Court may have regard for the purpose of determining whether a corporation has a substantial share of a market, the Court may have regard to the number and size of the competitors of the corporation in the market.
These two subsections became known as the Birdsville amendment .[15] The subsections were significantly different from subsection 46(1) which provides that a corporation that has a substantial degree of power in a market shall not take advantage of that power.
Subsection 46(4A) was also inserted into the TPA by the Trade Practices Legislation Amendment Bill (No. 1) 2007. The Bills Digest provides useful background and information about that subsection stating that subsection 46(4A) deals with whether a company has taken advantage of its market power for one or more of the prohibited purposes in section 46(1). Under subsection 46(4A), the Court may to have regard in making that decision to:
the conduct of the corporation in selling goods or services for a sustained period at a price that is below cost. and
the corporation s reasons for such below-cost selling.[16]
Both of those amendments are relevant to the current Bill.
It has been argued that the Birdsville amendment introduced considerable uncertainty into the law by introducing the concepts of substantial market share sustained period and relevant cost - terms which had not been determined by the courts.[17] This uncertainty had the potential to discourage discounting for fear of being caught by the provision.[18]
In addition, the predatory pricing prohibition introduced by the Birdsville amendment was thought to apply more broadly than other parts of section 46 because it applied to firms with a substantial share of the market rather than firms with substantial market power.[19]
Finally Duke opines that the Birdsville amendment rendered the newly-introduced subsection 46(4A) redundant. A party seeking to challenge predatory pricing would be foolish to attempt to prove that the alleged predator has taken advantage of its market power when they could avoid the difficulties associated with establishing market power and taking advantage of that power by bringing their claim under the provisions introduced by the Birdsville amendment .[20]
Further criticism of the Birdsville amendment was made by the Law Council of Australia which stated:
The fundamental difficulty with the Birdsville Amendments is that they prohibit price discounting below cost for a substantial period when undertaken for a proscribed purpose. However, as almost all price discounting is undertaken to secure more custom for the discounter, it follows that it must also be undertaken for the purpose of taking custom away from the discounter s competitors, thereby exposing the discounter to having a proscribed purpose of damaging those competitors, preventing their market entry or deterring or preventing them from engaging in competitive conduct. The practical consequence of the Birdsville Amendments would be to deter any corporation with a substantial market share from discounting to low prices, for fear of prosecution by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission or attack by competitors.[21]
Position of significant interest groups
Peak bodies
The Motor Trades Association of Australia welcomed the introduction of this Bill on the grounds that the proposed clarification of aspects of section 46 will assist small business operators in seeking redress against predatory behaviour.[22]
The Australian Retailers Association supported the Bill stating that:
The proposed amendments distinguish predatory pricing from legitimate competitive discounting, which was previously unclear. This allows retailers to get on with business and provide benefits to consumers without being concerned they are breaching the TPA under recent amendments.[23]
The Council of Small Business in Australia[24] has given similar support to the proposed amendments in this Bill.
Australian Competition and Consumer Commission
The ACCC has also responded positively stating that:
The reforms announced recently by the government to section 46 continue the process of providing the regulator with the tools it needs to vigorously protect competition, while not falling into the trap of protecting competitors from the impact of that competition.[25]
And further:
moves by the Federal Government to clarify predatory pricing provisions of the law should be welcomed by all consumers who enjoy the benefits if competition lower prices and better products
The Government is now proposing to streamline the predatory pricing provisions of the act, consistent with the broader misuse of market power provisions this is a sensible strategy.[26]
Institute of Public Affairs
In contrast, Alan Moran, of the Institute of Public Affairs acknowledged that it is not uncommon for businesses large and small to involve themselves in price cutting in general, or to selected valued customers. He stated that:
the amendments will provide further opportunities for the ACCC to flex its muscles and doubtless allow it to bid for a larger budget. Small businesses now have a permanent voice within the ACCC that can be recruited against a competitor offering lower prices and can make a determination without any tests of its merits of practicality.
giving the ACCC more powers to pursue companies that are pricing goods and services too attractively for the consumer will put a brake on competition.[27]
Opposition position
The Opposition small business spokesman, Steven Ciobo was reported as saying that the Coalition supported the amendments in principle but they would make little difference. The Government needed to improve industrial relations and boost small business confidence.[28]
However, Shadow Minister for Finance, Competition Policy and Deregulation, the Hon Peter Dutton MP stated that the Government needed to show that the proposed changes to section 46 will increase competition, thereby benefiting businesses and consumers.[29]
The comments by Shadow Attorney General, the Hon. George Brandis are discussed under the heading concluding comments at the end of this digest.
On 26 June 2008, the Senate referred the Trade Practices Legislation Amendment Bill 2008 to the Senate Standing Committee on Economics for report by 27 August 2008.
According to the Explanatory Memorandum, the measures outlined in the Bill will have no significant financial impact. Furthermore, there is no ongoing compliance cost impact and a minimal transitional impact.[30]
The Bill contains three schedules of amendments.
Schedule 1 Misuse of market power by corporations
Item 1 proposes to amend existing subsection 46(1AA) so that it will read:
(1AA) A corporation that has a substantial degree of power in a market must not take advantage of that power in that or any other market by supplying, or offering to supply goods or services for a sustained period at a price that is less than the relevant cost to the corporation of supplying such goods or services, for the purpose of:
The term substantial market share has been replaced by substantial degree of power in a market . This is the same as term as is already used in section 46 of the TPA. The terms sustained period and relevant cost remain and courts will be required to take these factors into account when considering whether a corporation has engaged in predatory pricing.
Item 2 repeals the existing subsection 46(1AB) which contains a list of factors to which the court may regard in deciding whether a corporation has a substantial share of the market under subsection 46(1AA). With the changes to subsection 46(1AA) which are contained in item 1, existing subsection 46(1AB) becomes redundant.
Item 2 inserts proposed subsections 46(1AB) and (1AC) which make clear what part recoupment plays in determining whether predatory pricing has occurred. Under the proposed subsections it is not necessary to prove that a corporation has an ability to recoup losses incurred from predatory pricing in order to establish a breach of subsection 46(1AA). The amendment takes into account the comments of the High Court in the Boral case that matters relating to recoupment of costs were useful but not essential for analysis in cases where pricing behaviour is alleged to contravene section 46.[31]
Item 4 repeals existing subsection 46(4A) which currently deals with the question of what constitutes taking advantage of market power.
Item 5 inserts proposed subsection 46(6A) which sets out those matters to which a Court may have regard in determining whether a corporation, by engaging in conduct [32] has taken advantage of its substantial degree of power in a market. Those matters include, but are not limited to:
whether the conduct was materially facilitated by the corporation s substantial degree of power in the market
whether the corporation engaged in the conduct in reliance on its substantial degree of power in the market
whether it is likely that the corporation would have engaged in the conduct if it did not have a substantial degree of power in the market
whether the conduct is otherwise related to the corporation s substantial degree of power in the market.
The amendment is introduced in response to the decision of the High Court in the Rural Press case which interpreted the meaning of take advantage very narrowly. The matters listed in proposed subsection 46(6A) are intended to ensure that the term take advantage can be interpreted more broadly.
Conferring jurisdiction on the Federal Magistrates Court
Existing subsection 86(1) confers jurisdiction on the Federal Court in respect of any civil proceeding arising under the TPA. Existing subsection 86(1A) confers an additional jurisdiction on the Federal Magistrates Court (FMC) under certain limited parts of the TPA where the relevant civil proceeding is instituted by a person other than the Minister or the ACCC.
Item 7 amends existing subsection 86(1A) to include section 46 matters in the additional jurisdiction of the FMC. Item 3, which omits the word Court and inserts the word court in existing subsections 46(3), (3A) and (3C) reflects the increased jurisdiction of the FMC.
During the Senate Inquiry, submissions expressed concerns about the costs and delays associated with bringing section 46 matters, particularly for smaller businesses. If the costs associated with enforcing section 46 are prohibitively high, then it will not be effective in addressing anticompetitive conduct no matter how well it is otherwise suited to doing so.[33] The Bill addresses those concerns by conferring jurisdiction for section 46 matters on the FMC for civil proceedings instituted by a person other than the Minister or the ACCC.
It should be noted that section 86AA of the TPA provides that for proceedings instituted in the Federal Magistrates Court, the amount that can be awarded for loss or damage is capped at $750,000. In addition, the Federal Magistrates Court is permitted to transfer proceedings to the Federal Court where appropriate under Part 5 of the Federal Magistrates Act 1999.
Schedule 2 Misuse of market power by persons
Schedule 2 makes amendments to the version of section 46 found in the Competition Code as set out in the Schedule of the TPA.
The Schedule originates from the agreement by the governments of Australia entered into on 11 April 1995 the Competition Code Agreement under which the States and Territories of Australia agreed to submit, to their respective legislatures, legislation to implement the version of Part IV of the TPA contained in the Schedule.[34] The intention was to extend the operation of the restrictive trade practices provisions of the TPA to all sectors of the community through the enactment of complementary State and Territory legislation.[35]
To this end, section 150C of the TPA provides that the Competition Code consists of, amongst other things, a schedule version of Part IV of the TPA.
The amendments in Schedule 2 of the Bill are in exactly the same terms as the amendments in Schedule 1 of the Bill. This is so that the schedule version of Part IV in the Competition Code is in exactly the same terms as Part IV of the TPA.
Schedule 3 Other Amendments
Schedule 3 contains amendments to both the Australian Securities and Investments Commission Act 2001 (the ASIC Act) and the TPA.
Extension of jurisdiction to the Federal Magistrates Court
Items 1-4 of Schedule 3 amend various sections in Part 2 of Division 2 of the ASIC Act. That Part is about unconscionable conduct and consumer protection in relation to financial services. Each of the amendments omits a reference to the Court and substitutes a reference to the court . The effect of the amendments is to recognise that courts other than the Federal Court have jurisdiction in relation to matters arising under those sections. Items 8-11 relate to those parts of the TPA which are about unconscionable conduct. As with items 1-4, they omit references to the Court and substitute references to the court . These amendments are consequential to an amendment in 2006[36] when the jurisdiction of the FMC was expanded to include unconscionable conduct matters. That amendment was in accordance with recommendation 17 of the 2004 Senate Committee.[37]
Prohibition on unconscionable conduct removal of price thresholds
Item 5 repeals existing subsections 12CC(8), (9) and (10) of the ASIC Act which provide that the prohibition on unconscionable conduct in relation to financial services does not apply in relation to a supply or acquisition of goods or services at a price in excess of $10 million. The effect of the amendment is that the prohibition against unconscionable conduct will apply regardless of the price paid.
Similarly, item 12 repeals existing subsections 51AC(9), (10) and (11) of the TPA so that the prohibition against unconscionable conduct applies to all transactions not just those under $10 million.
The 2004 Senate Committee noted that section 12CC of the ASIC Act and 51AC of the TPA currently did not, at that time, apply where the complainant is a publicly listed company or where the services involved are priced at more than $3 million. Recommendation 7 in the 2004 Senate Committee report was that the $3 million threshold be removed.[38]
This was rejected by Government Senators who were not persuaded of the need to lift the ceilings altogether so as to extend the protections in the section to all firms, irrespective of size. They did, however, consider that the statutory ceiling was too low and recommended the threshold be lifted to $10 million.[39] Accordingly, the threshold amount was lifted to $10 million in the Trade Practices Legislation Amendment Act (No. 1) 2007.
Items 5 and 12 of this Bill give final effect to the majority recommendation of the 2004 Senate Committee.[40]
ACCC Deputy Chairperson knowledge of small business affairs
Item 7 inserts proposed subsection 10(1B) into the TPA. This provides that the Minister must be satisfied that at least one Deputy Chairperson of the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) has a knowledge of or experience in, small business matters.
The Trade Practices Legislation Act 2007 amended the TPA to create a second Deputy Chairperson for the ACCC. The then Treasurer, the Hon. Peter Costello said:
The government intends for the position to be filled by a candidate who is experienced in small business matters. On implementation, the government will consult with the states and territories on its preferred candidate for the position, in accordance with the requirements of the Conduct Code Agreement.[41]
However, despite this statement, there was no legislative provision to that effect. This Bill gives effect to that intention.
Information gathering powers of the ACCC
Subsection 155(1) of the TPA provides the ACCC with powers, under certain circumstances, to obtain information relevant to its decisions under the Act, by issuing a notice requiring a person:
(a) to furnish to the Commission within the time and in the manner specified in the notice, any such information
(b) to produce to the Commission in accordance with the notice, any such documents; or
(c) to appear before the Commission at a time and place specified in the notice to give any such evidence, either orally or in writing, and produce any such documents.
These powers are similar in nature to powers available to the Australian Securities and Investments Commission, the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority, the Australian Customs Service, and the Australian Taxation Office under their various Acts.
Currently, the courts have established that the ACCC s powers under section 155 cease once legal proceedings have commenced. This view is based on the notion that executive government agencies should not interfere in judicial proceedings, once such proceedings are underway.[42]
The ACCC argued to the 2004 Senate Committee that this interpretation of section 155 deters it from seeking interim injunctions against companies undertaking anti-competitive behaviour, because once those injunction proceedings have commenced, its powers under section 155 cease.[43] The ACCC put its position as follows:
At the moment, we have a trade-off between either getting an interim injunction and therefore losing the ability to use our section 155 powers thereafter, or not getting an interim injunction until the point where we have more or less, if you like, got our case together and finished using our 155 powers. But that can be a reasonable way down the track and the conduct continues in the meantime.[44]
The 2004 Senate Committee considered that it was appropriate to amend the [TPA] to enable the ACCC to seek, from the court in which injunctive proceedings are brought, an order to enable the continued operation of its powers under section 155 and recommendation 15 is in those terms.[45] However, the former Government did not accept the recommendation on the grounds that the court already had very extensive powers to compel exchange of information in preparation for trial. The former Government did not accept that those powers were inadequate.[46]
Item 14 inserts proposed subsection 155(4) into the TPA which is a response to that recommendation. It provides that the ACCC can continue to exercise its powers under subsection 155(1) until:
the ACCC commences proceedings (other than injunctive proceedings) in relation to the matter or
the close of pleadings in relation to an application by the ACCC for a final injunction in the matter.
The real question in respect of the amendments in this Bill is: will they work when all previous attempts to prohibit predatory pricing and define what it means to take advantage of market power, have not?
According to Professor Frank Zumbo, Justice Kirby s powerful insights as to the impact of the present High Court s decisions on section 46 provide strong evidence of the need to amend the section to restore its parliamentary intention:[47]
This is the third recent decision of this Court (Melway and Boral Besser Masonry Ltd v Australian Competition and Consumer Commission being the other two) in which a majority has adopted an unduly narrow view of s 46 of the Act. In effect, it has held, in each case, that the established large degree of market power enjoyed by the impugned corporation was merely incidental or coincidental to the anti-competitive consequences found to have occurred. Notwithstanding the proof of market power, the Court has held that the impugned corporations did not directly or indirectly take advantage of that power to the disadvantage of competition in the market.
In my view, the approach taken by the majority is insufficiently attentive to the object of the [Trade Practices] Act to protect and uphold market competition. It is unduly protective of the depredations of the corporations concerned. It is unrealistic, bordering on ethereal, when the corporate conduct is viewed in its commercial and practical setting. The outcome cripples the effectiveness of s. 46 of the Act. It undermines this Court's earlier and more realistic decision in Queensland Wire. The victims are Australian consumers and the competitors who seek to engage in competitive conduct in a naive faith in the protection of the Act. Section 46 might just as well not have been enacted for cases like these where its operation is sorely needed to achieve the purposes of the Act. Judicial lightning strikes thrice. A novel doctrine of innocent coincidence prevails. Effective anti-competitive threats can be made without the redress which s. 46 appears to promise. Once again I dissent.[48]
It has been argued that there are very real concerns that the present High Court is failing to do justice to the parliamentary intention behind section 46 and, as a result, section 46 is now an ineffective deterrent against abuses of market power by large and powerful corporations.[49] Although the amendments in the Bill take into account the reasoning of the High Court in each of the recent section 46 cases, it remains to be seen how they will be interpreted judicially in future cases.
On a related matter, the Law Council of Australia has been particularly critical of the plan to have Federal Magistrates decide misuse of market power cases on the grounds that they will be more, rather than less expensive to run.[50] This view is based on the complexity of section 46 cases and the inexperience of magistrates in dealing with competition cases.
Shadow Attorney General, the Hon. George Brandis supported the comments by the Law Council of Australia stating that:
section 46 cases are, of their nature, complex and usually long. Conducting the hearings in the Federal Magistrates Court will not make them less complex or shorter.[51]
As already stated, there has been considerable criticism of the High Court s interpretation of the provisions of section 46 to date. That being the case, it seems premature to extend the jurisdiction for such matters to the Federal Magistrates Court before judicial interpretation of the amendments in the Bill has occurred. A likely outcome of a proceeding lodged in the FMC is that it will be transferred directly to the Federal Court under the Federal Magistrates Act 1999.
Copyright Commonwealth of Australia
Feedback is welcome and may be provided to: web.library@aph.gov.au. Any concerns or complaints should be directed to the Parliamentary Librarian. Parliamentary Library staff are available to discuss the contents of publications with Senators and Members and their staff. To access this service, clients may contact the author or the Library s Central Entry Point for referral.
[1]. Committee of Inquiry, Review of the Competition Provisions of the Trade Practices Act , Canberra, January 2003, p. 29.
[2]. The Sherman Antitrust Act was enacted in 1890. It outlaws all contracts, combinations and conspiracies that unreasonably restrain interstate and foreign trade. This includes agreements among competitors to fix prices, rig bids and allocate customers. The Sherman Antitrust Act makes it a crime to monopolize any part of interstate commerce.
[3]. Australian anti-trust laws began with the Australian Industries Preservation Act 1906 designed to protect a local manufacturer against the International Harvester Company.
[4]. Graeme Samuel, Chairman, Australian Competition and Consumer Commission, Recent and foreshadowed reforms of the Trade Practices Act , Speech, Competition law conference, Sydney, 24 May 2008.
[5]. [2003] HCA 5.
[6]. Committee of Inquiry, Review of the Competition Provisions of the Trade Practices Act ,
p. 88.
[7]. [2003] FCAFC 149 (30 June 2003).
[8]. [2003] HCA 75.
[9]. Senate Economics References Committee, The effectiveness of the Trade Practices Act 1974 in protecting small business , Canberra, March 2004, p. 15.
[10]. Australian Government Response to the Senate Inquiry into the Effectiveness of the Trade Practices Act 1974 in protecting small business, p. 5.
[11]. Senate Economics References Committee, op. cit., p.19.
[12]. Australian Government Response, op. cit., p. 6.
[13]. Graeme Samuels has been reported as stating that the ACCC has only had one success in 45 years: Alan Moran, Hidden dangers in altered Trade Practices Act , The Age, 29 April 2008, p.10.
[14]. Senate Standing Committee on Economics, Trade Practices Legislation Amendment Bill (No. 1) 2007 [Provisions] , Canberra, 1 August 2007.
[15]. This is reportedly because the amendment was drafted by Senator Barnaby Joyce whilst in Birdsville. Dave Poddar, Birdsville law change is off track , Australian Financial Review, 17 September 2007, p. 71.
[16]. Angus Martyn and Jonathon Chowns, Trade Practices Legislation Amendment Bill (No. 1) 2007 , Bills Digest No. 13, Parliamentary Library, Canberra, 2007-08, p. 11.
[17]. Arlen Duke, The need to close the take advantage gap in the regulation of unilateral anti-competitive conduct , Competition and Consumer Journal, Volume 15, 2008, pp. 284-301.
[18]. ibid., p. 288.
[20]. ibid.
[21]. Law Council of Australia, Trade Practices Legislation Amendment Bill (No. 1) 2007: Birdsville Predatory Pricing Changes to the Trade Practices Act , Letter to the Treasurer, Canberra, 19 September, 2007.
[22]. Michael Delaney, Trade Practices Act Reforms Offer Greater Competition , Media Release, Motor Trades Association of Australia, Canberra, 26 June 2008.
[23]. Richard Evans, Retailers welcome changes to trade practices law Trade Practices Act amendments pro-competition , Media Release, Australian Retailers Association, 27 June 2008.
[24]. Tony Steven, TPA Changes Supported , Media Release, Council of Small Business of Australia, Canberra, undated.
[25]. Graeme Samuel, Recent and foreshadowed reforms of the Trade Practices Act , op. cit.
[26]. Graeme Samuel, Reforms should make predators simpler to hunt , The Age, 30 April 2008, p. 16.
[27]. Alan Moran, Hidden dangers in altered Trade Practices Act , The Age, 29 April 2008, p. 10.
[28]. Nicola Berkovic, Predatory pricing law open to abuse , Australian, 29 April 2008, p. 2.
[29]. Hon. Peter Dutton and Senator the Hon George Brandis SC, Trade Practices Act Section 46 Cases , Joint Media Release, Canberra, 4 July 2008.
[30]. Explanatory Memorandum, pp. 4 and 5.
[31]. Boral Besser Masonry Limited v Australian Competition and Consumer Commission [2003] HCA 5, 7 February 2003, para. 130.
[32]. Engaging in conduct is defined in paragraph 4(2)(a) of the TPA as to doing or refusing to do any act, including the making of, or the giving effect to a provision of, a contract or arrangement, the arriving at, or the giving effect to a provision of, an understanding or the requiring of the giving of, or the giving of, a covenant.
[33]. Explanatory Memorandum, p. 17.
[34]. This referral of powers by the State to the Commonwealth is permitted by section 51(xxxvii) of the Constitution. Its purpose is to achieve a co-ordinated nationwide approach to consumer protection.
[35]. Russell V Miller, Millers Annotated Trade Practices Act: Australian Competition and Consumer Law, 26th Edition , Thomson Lawbook Company, Pyrmont, 2005, p. 1167.
[36]. Jurisdiction of the Federal Magistrates Court Legislation Amendment Act 2006.
[37]. Senate Economics References Committee, op. cit., p. xx.
[38]. ibid., p.37.
[41]. Hon. Peter Costello, Treasurer, Second reading speech: Trade Practices Legislation Bill (No. 1) 2007 , House of Representatives, Debates, 20 June 2007, p. 6.
[42]. Brambles Holdings Ltd. v TPC & Anor (1980) ATPR 40-179.
[43]. Senate Economics References Committee, op. cit., p. 74.
[44]. Brian Cassidy, Chief Executive Officer, Australian Competition and Consumer Commission, Senate Standing Committee on Economics, Trade Practices Legislation Amendment Bill (No. 1) 2007 [Provisions] Transcript of Evidence, 31 October 2003, p. 91.
[46]. Australian Government Response to the Senate Inquiry into the Effectiveness of the Trade Practices Act 1974 in protecting small business, op. cit., p. 15.
[47]. Frank Zumbo, The High Court s Rural Press decision: The end of s 46 as a deterrent against abuses of market power? , Trade Practices Law Journal, Vol. 12, 2004, pp. 126-134 at p. 133.
[48]. Rural Press Ltd v Australian Competition and Consumer Commission [2003] HCA 75 (11 December 2003), paragraphs 138 139.
[49]. Frank Zumbo, op. cit., p. 134.
[50]. Matthew Drummond, Law reforms ridiculed , Australian Financial Review, 4 July 2008,
Paula Pyburne


text:
African apologetics event asks if Christianity is the faith for Africa
CP Current Page: World | Friday, November 27, 2020 | Coronavirus →
By Jackson Elliott, Christian Post Reporter Follow | Friday, November 27, 2020
Left to right: Felix Sumba, Kevin Muriithi and Bill Dindi of Apologetics Kenya | Apologetics Kenya
The first Annual African Apologetics Conference is engaging with postmodern and traditional African worldviews by asking if Christianity is Africa's faith.
Hosted by Christian group Apologetics Kenya, the Nov. 27 to Nov. 29 event is featuring over 26 lectures, public apologetics debates, panels and workshops online. The speakers include prominent African theologians, church leaders and Christian activists, according to the website.
"Younger generations are asking about the validity of their Christian faith in a global world," Kevin Muriithi, chairperson of Apologetics Kenya, told The Christian Post. "We decided, since COVID is there and we have the technology, then why don't we do something special?"
Christians in Africa face a surprising apologetics challenge, Muriithi said. They must be grounded enough in biblical truth to argue with postmodernism, traditional Western atheism, traditional African religions and Christian heresies like the prosperity gospel. In their context, versatile apologetics skills make a huge difference.
"We need to be able to understand what we believe and why we believe it as Christians and Africans," he said. "We need to answer those questions with confidence, clarity and compassion.
Today, Africa has the most Christians of any continent. Since 1900, the number of Christians in Africa has multiplied by 70 times, Pew Research Center found. These numbers should be taken with a grain of salt, said Muriithi, because some African Christians are prosperity gospel believers who don't truly understand the Gospel.
Some Africans feel uncomfortable with Christianity because of the colonial past. They turn to critical race theory or traditional tribal faiths because they feel like Christianity is a "white man's religion," Muriithi said.
He cited the words of Kenya's first prime minister, Jomo Kenyatta, who once said: "When the missionaries arrived, the Africans had the land and the missionaries had the Bible. They taught how to pray with our eyes closed. When we opened them, they had the land and we had the Bible."
For those who say Christianity is a "white man's religion," Muriithi has a different story to tell. Africans have been part of Christian history since the beginning, he said. Jesus spent his childhood in Egypt, the African Simon of Cyrene carried his cross when he grew too weak to bear it and one of the first converts to Christianity was an Ethiopian court official. Some of the Church's most important theologians, including Saint Augustine, Athanasius of Alexandria and Origen, all came from Africa.
"Looking at Christianity, it's been there for a pretty long time," Muriithi said.
Christianity grows quickly in Africa for two reasons, he explained. First, God has blessed and moved within the Church on the continent. Also, African cultures which place a high value on living in community result in the rapid spread of the Gospel. People tell their friends about God instead of seeing faith as a quiet, personal decision.
"If someone trusts in Christ, they share their story with those around them," he said. "The church is really a part of society in Africa. People come to their church for support. That makes Christianity very much a part of everyday life."
Although Africans have had a long involvement with Christianity, only recently have so many Africans become Christian, he said. The current generation of African believers has had to reflect carefully on how to keep the good parts of their traditional cultures while rejecting the parts that are against Christian belief, like ancestor worship.
Muriithu has faced these questions in his role as a member of the Kikuyu tribe. His tribal elders mentor young boys into manhood using ceremonies, he said. Although some of the ceremonies involve teaching generosity and maturity for men, others involve sacrificial rituals that Christians can't take part in.
"When we look at Scripture on these issues, we have to ask what is culturally OK and what isn't," he said. "Traditional practice would be shedding of blood as a covenant. But from a biblical perspective, Christ is the final sacrifice so there shouldn't be a shedding of blood."
Because of social media and the internet, young people around the world often are part of the same global culture with its own customs and traditions that conflict with the Bible, he said. These include the prosperity gospel and critical race theory, among others.
"The term 'race' is a Darwinian concept based on hierarchy. But the Bible describes people as "ethnos" or nations. The scriptures are clear that God created all ethnicities from one man, Adam (Acts 17:26) and that they are all equal in God's eyes," the event website reads. "It is important for Africans not to identify with the suffering of their own ethnicity to the extent of reinterpreting Christianity in light of perceived oppression by white people, or out of a sense of African inferiority."
The most important apologetics work Christians can do is to study Scripture so they can live by it daily in a way that impacts them more deeply than culture, Muriithi stressed. Wherever someone may be, the Bible offers answers on how they should live.
"The thing with cultures is that there are so many different ones, it's important to be grounded in biblical faith. Once we have the truth, we can ask what is culturally OK," he said.
More Christians Now Live in Africa Than Any Other Continent in the World
What Nigerian Church should learn from early Ethiopian Church
International Day of Prayer for Africa seeks continent's safety, spread of Gospel
Reaching the unreached with the Gospel only is not good enough
Radical Hindu leader threatens violence unless churches in tribal areas are shut down
Egyptian Christians faring better under Al-Sisi, but remain under threat of attacks and persecution
Prison chaplain ousted for warning against Islamic extremism in British prisons to get court hearing
More contagious COVID variant found in 15 US states


Police have issued CCTV still images of two males they would like to speak to in relation to a high value theft that occurred at an Antique's shop in the Duncombe Place area of York.
The theft occurred at the "Red House Antique Store" on Duncombe Place in York at approximately 1pm on 10 January 2019 when around £4500 worth of antiques were stolen from a glass cabinet.
Officers are asking members of the public to get in touch if they recognise the people in the images or have any information that may assist this investigation.
Please quote reference number 12190005730 when passing on information.


text:
Q: How to Change Default URL in MVC5 I have one default route in my routeconfig.cs file
 routes.MapRoute(
                name: "Default",
                url: "{controller}/{action}/{id}",
                defaults: new { controller = "Home", action = "Index", id = UrlParameter.Optional }
            );

It will hide Home/Index as Url in browser. My target is to display localhost:44300/Login instead of localhost:44300/Home/Index (but internally it will call Home/Index) and I want to hide Home/Details action method as url

A: You can change your default route to Account controller and to your necessary Action method:
routes.MapRoute(
            name: "Default",
            url: "{controller}/{action}/{id}",
            defaults: new { controller = "Account", action = "Login", id =
            UrlParameter.Optional }
        );

Update:
It is not possible as MVC has a convention that RouteTable should be look like that:
controller/action or vice versa.
If you exclude controller from the route, you'll get an exception:

The matched route does not include a 'controller' route value, which
  is required.


This San Diego hard money loan was funded on a property located in San Diego, California.
It is a single-family home with 4 bedrooms and 3 bathrooms each, built in 1991. Total square footage of the property is 1,939 s.f., while the whole lot is 5,401 s.f.
The real estate investor purchased the property held it as a rental.


text:
La piattaforma Intel Dual Socket Extreme (più conosciuta con il nome in codice Skulltrail) è una piattaforma hardware sviluppata da Intel, durante tutto il 2007, espressamente per il settore desktop di fascia più alta, e presentata ufficialmente il 20 febbraio 2008.

Skulltrail: nata per combattere AMD 4x4
Inizialmente, la piattaforma Skulltrail era stata annunciata da Intel nella primavera del 2007 in risposta al lancio dell'analoga soluzione sviluppata già a partire dal 2006 da AMD per poter fornire il massimo delle prestazioni ai propri clienti. La tecnologia concorrente era chiamata 4x4 (ma era stato reso noto anche un altro nome, Quad FX) ed era basata, almeno nella sua prima incarnazione, su 2 processori Athlon 64 FX dual core appositamente sviluppati, in modo che anche AMD potesse offrire un sistema con 4 core, al pari di quanto era in grado di offrire Intel che però raggiungeva tale scopo con sistemi molto più economici e un unico processore quad core. In realtà, il 30 novembre 2007 AMD ha dichiarato l'intenzione di sospendere lo sviluppo di tale piattaforma, per poter indirizzare tutte le risorse interne verso le piattaforme Spider basate sul nuovo processore Phenom. Il 2007 è stato infatti per AMD un anno nero con continui ritardi dei nuovi prodotti e soprattutto prestazioni non all'altezza delle aspettative. Da qui la decisione di non disperdere gli investimenti in soluzioni pensate per piccole nicchie di mercato.

La piattaforma Skulltrail per un certo periodo era stata chiamata da Intel anche con un altro nome, Intel V8, e si presumeva che sarebbe stato questo il nome commerciale della piattaforma, fino a quando l'annuncio del febbraio 2008 ha spazzato via tale ipotesi. La scelta del nome V8 in realtà non era affatto casuale ma voleva, in parte riprendere il marchio numerico utilizzato dalla tecnologia concorrente, e in parte sottolineare come le prestazioni offerte dalla piattaforma Intel erano doppie rispetto a quelle offerte da AMD, grazie soprattutto al fatto che se AMD poteva fornire un sistema da 4 core complessivi, Intel poteva arrivare fino a 8, grazie ai propri processori quad core che erano già sul mercato.

Caratteristiche tecniche
Come detto (e come il nome V8 voleva sottolineare), Skulltrail prevede la presenza di ben 8 core e, pur essendo indirizzata al mercato desktop, quindi a quello dei videogiocatori più esigenti, è interamente basata su tecnologie pensate inizialmente per il settore server, opportunamente evolute per poter accogliere anche componenti aggiuntivi (quali ad esempio schede video di ultima generazione) che difficilmente riuscirebbero ad esprimere il proprio potenziale in un sistema server tradizionale.

Primi annunci
Nella presentazione fatta all'Intel Developer Forum della primavera 2007, Intel presentò una versione preliminare della piattaforma Skulltrail, che evidenziava ancora molto bene la propria derivazione dal settore server: tale soluzione infatti era basata su 2 Xeon DP (dual processor), per sistemi biprocessore, a 4 core Clovertown, dato che la contemporanea controparte desktop, il Core 2 Quad Kentsfield, non supportava configurazioni multiprocessore. Anche gli altri componenti del sistema derivavano da una piattaforma Xeon, e in particolare la memoria RAM, che era di tipo FB-DIMM, la stessa adottata per le soluzioni server e workstation basate sui processori Xeon delle ultime generazioni e 4 slot grafici PCI Express. L'utilizzo di memoria FB-DIMM in un sistema del genere è stato in realtà uno scotto da pagare in quanto per poter utilizzare la tradizionale memoria DDR2 o DDR3 (che avrebbero tra l'altro garantito prestazioni superiori e consumi inferiori) sarebbe stato necessario riprogettare il chipset con evidente impatto sui tempi e costi di sviluppo.

In ogni caso, già in questa prima incarnazione era presenti 4 slot PCI Express x16 per poter installare fino a 4 schede video in parallelo, anche se in quel momento l'unica tecnologia multi GPU possibile era la CrossFire di ATI Technologies/AMD.

Evoluzione della piattaforma: prima generazione ufficiale
Al momento della presentazione ufficiale, avvenuta il 20 febbraio 2008, Intel ha presentato anche il primo processore desktop specificatamente sviluppato per il funzionamento sulla piattaforma Skulltrail. Si tratta del Core 2 Extreme QX9775, basato sul core Yorkfield a 45 nm, che è di fatto una variante del modello QX9770 (clock di 3,2 GHz, BUS a 1600 MHz e cache L2 da 12 MB) ma con Socket 771 (specifico degli Xeon) e installabile quindi su una scheda madre a 2 socket come quella utilizzata dalla piattaforma Skulltrail. In realtà, Intel ha temporaneamente sospeso la vendita di tali modelli in quanto alle alte velocità soffrono di un fastidioso bug nel processo produttivo che dovrebbe essere risolto entro marzo 2008. La compagnia ha comunque precisato la piattaforma Skulltrail consigli l'utilizzo dei processori sopracitati ma non offre supporto esclusivo ad essi: derivando da una piattaforma server, è possibile installare anche qualunque altro processore Xeon DP basato sul socket 771, per un totale (al momento del lancio) di ben 43 modelli diversi (tra dual core e quad core), sebbene Intel consigli espressamente le soluzioni a 4 core Clovertown e Harpertown che è l'evoluzione a 45 nm del primo e di conseguenza è in tutto e per tutto simile al particolare modello di Yorkfield annunciato da Intel per Skulltrail.

L'unica scheda madre che è possibile utilizzare per il momento è la Intel Desktop Board D5400XS che è realizzata su un PCB a 10 strati e ha dimensioni di 33x30,5 cm; di conseguenza anche il case dovrà essere specifico, presumibilmente uno dedicato al settore workstation. Il chipset è il nuovo i5400 Seaburg che continua il supporto alla memoria FB-DIMM (a 667 MHz o 800 MHz) in configurazione quad channel al posto della usuale DDR3 per i sistemi Yorkfield, ma la grande novità rispetto ai primi annunci riguarda il fatto che Intel è ora in grado di fornire supporto ufficiale alla tecnologia Scalable Link Interface di NVidia, sebbene questo non sia stato ottenuto grazie a concessioni di licenza (che già da tempo consentono la configurazione concorrente CrossFire in tutti gli ultimi modelli di chipset Intel), ma attraverso l'installazione di 2 chipset distinti: quello Intel per la gestione generale del sistema, e uno di NVidia (chiamato nForce 100) dedicato alla gestione dei 4 slot PCI Express x16. È evidente che lo scopo principale di Intel con questa mossa è quello di spingere verso l'impiego della tecnologia SLI al posto della CrossFire che ormai appartiene ad AMD e quindi al concorrente diretto di Intel, oltre ovviamente al fatto che al momento del lancio, la tecnologia SLI offre prestazioni superiori alla concorrente.

In ogni caso, il supporto a CrossFire in Skulltrail è rimasto, ma non è ancora chiaro se sarà possibile sfruttare configurazioni fino a 3 oppure 4 schede video in parallelo, oppure non sarà possibile superare le 2 schede video.

Skulltrail, pertanto, è al momento attuale l'unica piattaforma che permetta di utilizzare alternativamente tecnologia SLI di NVidia oppure CrossFire di ATI.

Altre caratteristiche
Il Northbridge Intel non dispone di abbastanza linee PCI Express per gestire 4 slot x16, e quindi il compito dei chip nForce 100 presenti sulla scheda madre (in realtà sono 2 identici) è quello di fungere da switch del segnale PCI Express. Le 32 linee che escono dal northbridge, sono divise in 2 canali x16 ciascuno collegato ad un chip nForce 100 il quale ripartisce dinamicamente le 16 linee tra i due slot ad esso collegati. La conseguenza è che ogni slot dal punto di vista della scheda video collegata ha comunque un collegamento 16x elettrico.

Quando sono collegate solo 2 schede video, ognuna può utilizzare un collegamento a 16 linee; se invece ne vengono collegate 4, ciascuna continua a poter utilizzare un collegamento a 16 linee ma ne deve condividere l'ampiezza di banda con l'altra scheda video presente nello slot adiacente e gestito dallo stesso chip nForce 100 che ha proprio la funzione di allocare dinamicamente la banda tra le 2 schede video ad esso collegate.

In ogni caso, si tratta comunque sempre di slot PCI Express di prima generazione; l'nForce 100 ha un'architettura molto simile a quella dell'nForce 200 utilizzato da NVidia nei propri chipset nForce 780i SLI, con la differenza che quest'ultimo gestisce segnali del tipo PCI Express 2.0.

Le 2 CPU sono collegate al northbridge del chipset mediante 2 collegamenti indipendenti, al pari di quanto introdotto dai chipset predecessori di Seaburg, ma è stato disabilitato il supporto alla tecnologia di risparmio energetico SpeedStep in quanto su tale piattaforma porta a blocchi di sistema, e di conseguenza anche il consumo massimo del sistema ne risente.

Per poter supportare adeguatamente un tale insieme di componenti, Intel ha evidenziato che è necessario utilizzare alimentatori da almeno 1 kW per la configurazione base con 2 sole schede video, e fino a 1,6 kW per la configurazione top di gamma.

Prestazioni "teoriche" di Skulltrail
La scelta di Intel di impiegare 2 processori a 4 core, consente di ottenere un sistema in grado di usufruire di ben 8 core di processore, uniti alla potenza di 4 schede video operanti in parallelo. Lo spazio tra i vari slot è molto limitato, e di conseguenza non sarà possibile installare 4 schede video di fascia più alta, in quanto al momento tali schede utilizzano tutte un sistema di raffreddamento che occupa 2 slot. Una tale limitazione progettuale in un sistema pensato per le massime prestazioni delude leggermente in quanto è possibile collegare fino a 3 schede con dissipatore a doppio slot o 4 a singolo slot, ma queste ultime come detto non appartengono attualmente alla fascia alta.

Per gli stessi problemi "fisici" di spazio non è possibile installare nemmeno schede video "doppie" come per esempio le NVidia GeForce 7950 GX2, dotate cioè di 2 GPU per ogni scheda; è possibile che le future generazioni di schede video a 2 GPU riescano a contenere l'ingombro in un solo slot ma in ogni caso Intel non ha mai chiarito se è possibile installare 4 schede video di questo tipo. Qualora fosse possibile si potrebbe arrivare fino a 8 schede video in parallelo, ma si tratta di una configurazione che certamente non potrà essere sfruttata con nessun videogioco per molti anni ancora, ma che nell'ambito della computazione identificata come GPGPU ovvero "General Purpose GPU", potrebbe trovare una collocazione ideale. Si tratterebbe infatti di utilizzare le schede video non per la generazione di immagini tridimensionali a video ma per l'elaborazione di specifici problemi della fisica e della medicina che si avvantaggiano dell'architettura delle moderne GPU. 8 schede video e 8 core di processore, consentirebbero di avere potenze elaborative molto alte con un "semplice" computer desktop.

Di certo si sa che tali sistemi non possono accogliere configurazioni "Triple SLI" ovvero formate da 3 schede video NVidia collegate tra loro (mentre la presenza delle 2 schede "singole", per esempio per gestire diversi output grafici è possibile). Per precisa volontà dell'azienda, possono essere installate solo 2 o 4 schede video.

I primi test hanno evidenziato come al momento non esistano praticamente applicazioni in grado sfruttare adeguatamente una simile potenza elaborativa, se non quelle prettamente multimediali tipiche delle workstation grafiche, e di conseguenza la piattaforma Skulltrail non è ancora in grado di esprimere il suo reale potenziale, anzi, nell'utilizzo di software ottimizzato per soli 2 o 4 core, tale sistema si rivale anche più lento di un tradizionale sistema desktop dotato di un unico processore, e questo è dovuto alle inevitabili latenze presenti in una piattaforma a doppio socket. Nei vari test sono stati raggiunti i seguenti risultati:
 3D Mark06 (test CPU) -  6481 punti
 Cinebench 10 - 20160 punti

Potenziale di overclock
Alcuni laboratori indipendenti hanno provato a "spremere" al massimo la piattaforma Skulltrail alla ricerca delle massime prestazioni possibili e tale scopo viene raggiunto ovviamente tramite l'overclock dei processori.

La stessa Intel ha sviluppato un BIOS ottimizzato appositamente per l'overclock del sistema offrendo all'utente praticamente qualsiasi regolazione possa servire durante tale pratica, eccetto una: per motivi non ancora resi noti, non è possibile agire sulla velocità della memoria RAM, e di conseguenza il tentativo di overcloccare processori diversi dal Core 2 Extreme che è l'unica famiglia di CPU Intel ad avere il moltiplicatore sbloccato, diventa molto più complicato dovendo agire sul BUS di sistema che inevitabilmente influisce anche sui banchi di memoria.

La modifica del moltiplicatore viene applicata contemporaneamente (e con lo stesso valore) a entrambe le CPU, e di conseguenza, il raggiungimento dei massimi valori di clock è limitato dalle possibilità del processore "più debole". Statisticamente parlando, le possibilità di avere un buon overclock sono quindi inferiori rispetto a quelle riscontrabili con un singolo processore quad core. Di seguito alcuni tentativi di overclock:

 Se si porta il moltiplicatore dall'iniziale valore 8x a 9x, si imposta i processori a 3,6 GHz ottenendo un incremento del 12,5% senza dover agire su nessun altro parametro.
 Per aumentare il clock del 25% e raggiungere i 4 GHz è possibile portare il moltiplicatore a 10x ma è necessario aumentare anche il voltaggio di alimentazione da 1,25 V a 1,4 V altrimenti il sistema diventa instabile, ma si tratta di una tensione troppo alta per poter essere mantenuta perennemente e i rischi di danneggiamento repentino delle CPU sono discretamente alti.
 Continuare ad agire sul moltiplicatore portandolo a 11x porterebbe i processori fino a 4,4 GHz ma si tratta di un valore troppo elevato per poter essere realizzato senza passi intermedi. Abbassando il BUS dai 400 MHz (1600 MHz quad pumped) ai 386 MHz e impostando proprio il valore 11x per il moltiplicatore si ottiene un clock finale di 4,25 GHz (11 x 386 MHz = 4,25 GHz), ma in queste condizioni non è possibile nemmeno eseguire il boot del sistema.

Prezzi della piattaforma
Essendo composta da componenti di élite, il prezzo finale della piattaforma Skulltrail è molto elevato. Di seguito i prezzi dei vari componenti commercializzati da Intel che sono acquistabili anche separatamente:
 Motherboard "Intel Desktop Board D5400XS" - 649 $
 Processore "Core 2 Extreme QX9775" - 1499 $ (ciascuno)
Per un totale di 3647 $ per le sole CPU e scheda madre. A questo vanno aggiunti i costi per la RAM e le schede video, oltre ovviamente a quelli di tutti gli altri componenti di un sistema finito. Dato che sarebbe assurdo abbinare una tale configurazione a componenti non di prim'ordine, il costo di un sistema finito potrà superare facilmente i 5000 $.

In ogni caso, visto il supporto a ben 43 modelli diversi di processore, grazie alla compatibilità con gli Xeon DP su socket 771 (al momento del lancio di Skulltrail Intel commercializza 21 modelli quad core e 21 dual core) un utente potrebbe anche scegliere processori meno costosi che non abbasserebbero in maniera considerevole le prestazioni, ma solo il prezzo finale. Con il 50% della spesa per un processore Core 2 Extreme QX9775 è possibile acquistare un modello Xeon DP Harpertown più lento di una manciata di punti percentuali (nell'ordine del 15%), che comunque può venire in seguito overclockato grazie al buon potenziale offerto dalla scheda madre.

Diversi produttori di PC di fascia alta hanno iniziato ad offrire sistemi basati su questa piattaforma a partire già dal giorno della presentazione, tra i quali: Armari, Boxx Tech, Digital Storm, Falcon Northwest, Maingear, Puget Systems, Scan, Velocity Micro, Vigor Gaming, Voodoo, @Xi Computers.

Skulltrail a confronto con AMD 4x4
Come detto prima, le caratteristiche tecniche della nuova piattaforma Intel evidenziano come il produttore abbia, nelle prime presentazioni al pubblico, rimarchiato (di fatto) come "Skulltrail" un sistema server dotato di processori Xeon DP Clovertown, mentre nella presentazione ufficiale di febbraio 2008, abbia apportato alcune lievi modifiche per poter offrire processori Core 2 Extreme Yorkfield (realizzati però con il socket 771 degli Xeon) e supporto alla tecnologia SLI. A parte questi lievi cambiamenti, la linea generale è rimasta quella di riutilizzare componenti server, dato che sia la scheda madre, che il chipset (che è un semplice riadattamento del chipset per Clovertown), che la RAM derivano proprio da questo settore.

Al contrario, l'approccio scelto da AMD per la propria piattaforma 4x4 era sensibilmente differente, infatti la memoria RAM era la tradizionale DDR2 unbuffered, e non quella ECC Registered richiesta dalle soluzioni server Opteron, e le differenze non si fermano qui: il chipset di AMD era l'NVidia nForce 680a, in grado di offrire subito il supporto a configurazioni con doppia scheda grafica in SLI. In un certo senso però, anche AMD ha compiuto una "rimarchiatura" di alcune sue CPU: gli Athlon 64 FX pensati per la piattaforma 4x4 erano in realtà degli Opteron, dovendo essere alloggiati non nel Socket AM2 ma nel Socket F a 1207 pin, tipico dei processori per server della casa, limitandosi quindi a estendere il supporto alla memoria DDR2 tradizionale.

Intel vs AMD: 8 core vs 4 core
La differenza più evidente che comunque è rimasta tra le 2 piattaforme risiede nel numero di core messi a disposizione: Intel ne fornisce 8 mentre AMD, poteva arrivare solo fino a 4, e questo fatto sia dal punto di vista del marketing, sia delle prestazioni, è stato subito un grosso handicap da parte di AMD. Era prevista un'evoluzione della piattaforma 4x4 per poter fornire 8 core anche da parte di AMD, grazie ai nuovi processori Phenom, ma la sospensione del progetto (annunciata a novembre 2007) unita ai continui ritardi accumulati da questi processori di nuova generazione, dei quali era prevista la variante Phenom FX specificatamente dedicata a tale piattaforma ha di fatto impedito l'arrivo sul mercato di tale sviluppo.

Ironicamente, in occasione della prima presentazione alla stampa dei nuovi processori avvenuta a maggio 2007, AMD aveva mostrato sia un sistema basato su un Phenom a 4 core a singolo socket, sia un sistema basato su 2 Phenom a 4 core, dimostrando come in quel momento il futuro di questa piattaforma era ancora ben presente nei piani di sviluppo di AMD.

Alcuni problemi di gioventù
A parte il problema del software che non è ancora in grado di sfruttare adeguatamente la piattaforma Skulltrail, è possibile evidenziare che alcune scelte progettuali a cui è stata costretta Intel stanno di fatto frenando le prestazioni e il calo fisiologico dei prezzi di questo tipo di soluzioni.

Tra tutte, è possibile citare l'utilizzo della memoria FB-DIMM che a parità di dimensione rispetto ad una tradizionale DDR2, costa e consuma di più, oltre ad essere più lenta. Tutto questo è dovuto al fatto che essa integra un maggior numero di protocolli di correzione degli errori e, mentre tale caratteristica rappresenta un valore aggiunto per quanto riguarda l'integrità dei dati, le prestazioni sono inferiori, e i controlli non possono essere esclusi. Rispetto ad una DDR3 invece al momento il limite è solo nelle prestazioni dato che il costo è inferiore, ma si tratta comunque di una situazione di mercato transitoria dovuta in gran parte allo scarso numero di moduli DDR3 commercializzati al momento.

Oltre a questo, l'utilizzo del chipset per server i5400 Seaburg, non aiuta a sfruttare a pieno le potenzialità delle 2 CPU e delle schede video in quanto è stato originariamente progettato per un settore in cui la completa stabilità è il requisito fondamentale, anche a costo di un leggero calo delle prestazioni finali. È da questa scelta, oltre a quella della memoria, che deriva lo scarso potenziale in overclock della piattaforma Skulltrail

Possibili sviluppi futuri
A fine 2008 Intel presenterà Bloomfield, il primo processore basato sulla futura architettura Nehalem, successiva all'attuale "Core" e che sarà destinato alla fascia più alta del mercato desktop e quindi, forse, proprio all'evoluzione della piattaforma Skulltrail. Tra le sue peculiarità, comune del resto anche a tutti gli altri futuri prodotti basati su Nehalem, sarà il controller della memoria integrato. Potrebbe essere l'occasione di vedere la memoria DDR3 sulla piattaforma Skulltrail.

Voci correlate
 Elenco dei processori Intel
 Xeon
 Clovertown
 Core 2 Extreme
 Yorkfield
 AMD 4x4
 Quad FX
 Quad core

Piattaforme hardware


text:
Jordan had 14 points and 20 rebounds
LOS ANGELES -- Doc Rivers push to transform DeAndre Jordan into a dominant interior defender is already paying dividends. NCAA Jerseys China . Challenged by Rivers before the season began to win the NBAs defensive player of the year award, Jordan is working toward the honour with the kind of performance he had against the Pelicans. Jordan had 14 points and 20 rebounds -- two off his career high -- and Blake Griffin had 21 points and 10 rebounds before fouling out with 4:05 left in the Los Angeles Clippers 108-95 victory Wednesday night. "Its fun to take on that challenge," Jordan said. "Its part of my job to be energetic. If Im not playing well I can still play with energy and that spark to get other guys going." Chris Paul added his own double-double against his former team, with 12 points and 11 assists in the Clippers third straight win. "Outstanding," Paul said of Jordans effort. "He had five blocks, too. He was MVP of the game. We were a little sluggish. D.J. kept telling us, Come on, fellas." Jared Dudley had 20 points, one of seven Clippers in double figures. Jamal Crawford scored 17 points, making 10 of 11 free throws, and Darren Collison added 14, hitting all nine of his free throws. "D.J. kept us in it with his defence and rebounding," Clippers coach Rivers said. "Hes just going after things. He accepts his role and hes become a star in it. Hes still going to score by doing all of that stuff." Anthony Davis led the Pelicans with 24 points and 12 rebounds in his return after missing seven games with a broken left hand. "Its great just to get back out there with my teammates, have fun and do the things that Im used to doing," he said. "Ive got to get back in a rhythm. You can work out for as much as you want and train as much as you want, but that game rhythm is a lot different. Hopefully it wont take me long to get my shot back and the plays I usually make and get back in the groove." Ryan Anderson added 17 points, Jrue Holiday had 13 points and 10 assists, and Tyreke Evans had a triple-double of 11 points, 13 rebounds and 10 assists after missing the past two games with a sprained left ankle. "When I got in and started running up and down the floor, it was a little tight. But coach kept me out there and it got looser," Evans said. "It was big (getting himself and Davis back), but were going to need everybody on this team. Everybodys a big key, but were still learning to play with each other." Austin Rivers, the 21-year-old son of Doc Rivers, had two points while playing 14 minutes in a reserve role. "Its my first time beating him so thats nice," said the elder Rivers, whose wife watched the game on TV. "She was cheering for Austin 100 per cent." New Orleans lost for the third straight game and fifth time in its past seven. The Clippers reserves carried them in the fourth when Griffin didnt score before fouling out. Willie Green hit two of their five 3-pointers in the quarter, with Dudley adding two of his four and Paul tossing one in, too. "We kept a double-digit lead but you never felt comfortable because we couldnt pull away," Rivers said. "We played pretty flat." The Clippers pulled away in the third after the Pelicans closed within four points. Crawford beat the shot clock with a 3-pointer, launching a 15-2 run that extended the Clippers lead to 70-53. Griffin scored six points. Davis scored the Pelicans final four points to get them to 78-65 heading into the fourth. NOTES: With no practice Thursday, comedy fan Griffin said he planned to see Will Ferrell in "Anchorman 2." ... Clippers F Matt Barnes dressed and was cleared to play, but didnt as he returns from surgery to repair a torn retina in his left eye. ... Former Clippers Eric Gordon (nine points) and Al-Farouq Aminu (six points) both started against their former team. Replica NCAA Jerseys . With the Rangers already leading 2-0, Carey Price was taken down early in the second period of New Yorks 7-2 pounding of the Canadiens in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference final on Saturday afternoon. Cheap Football NCAA Jerseys . Case in point: LeBron James vs. Ben McLemore. James was driving to the rim in the first quarter and McLemore decided to try to take the charge, which was quite admirable and predictably futile.With last weeks trade deadline in the rear-view mirror, TSN 1050s Josh Lewenberg and Duane Watson take a look back at Masai Ujiris decision to stand pat, more or less, in this edition of the Raptors Report podcast. What will the future hold for Kyle Lowry now that hell play the season out in a Raptors unifoorm and how big of an impact will the minor acquisition of Nando De Colo have on the team as they get closer to the playoffs? This weeks podcast also examines the Raptors second-half dominance paired with their troublesome trend of starting slow. Wholesale NCAA Jerseys. Click here for the podcast. ' ' '


text:
New barriers in Europe keep people out, not in
by Colin McIntyre | 28 Jul 2015 | Europe, Eyewitness
Hungarian police officers on Hungary's border with Serbia, 16 July 2015. (AP Photo/Darko Vojinovic)
By Colin McIntyre
A quarter century after the fall of the "Iron Curtain" and the Berlin Wall separating Communist East Europe from the West, new barriers are going up across the continent.
In stark contrast to the old barriers erected by the Soviet bloc to keep its people in, the new walls are aimed at keeping people out—in this case tens of thousands of migrants and asylum-seekers fleeing war and poverty in Africa, the Middle East and Asia.
The latest country to join the trend is Hungary, a target for migrants because of its membership in the Schengen group of European Union countries that have abolished visa controls between them.
The irony is that it was Hungary's decision in 1989, when it was still a Communist country under Soviet occupation, to open its border to the West that set in motion events that brought down the Berlin Wall and the Iron Curtain a few months later.
Faced with a growing number of migrants from Asia and Africa and refugees from Syria, Greece erected a 12.5-kilometer long barbed wire fence along part of its border with Turkey in 2012.
While the move had some impact on the numbers coming in overland, it did little to stem the flow of those reaching the Greek islands by sea.
"Building walls is not a solution."
According to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, more than 77,100 immigrants and asylum-seekers have reached Greece by sea since the beginning of this year, some 60 percent of them from Syria.
At the same time over 60,000 refugees crossed by sea to Italy, a longer and far more dangerous journey during which more than 1,800 lost their lives.
In 2014 Bulgaria began building an even more radical barrier along its border with Turkey, a 33-kilometer barbed wire construction, with plans to extend it eventually to 160 kilometers.
Faced with this tightening of frontiers in southern Europe, migrants looked to other countries in the region like Macedonia, Albania, Kosovo and particularly Serbia, which borders Hungary.
After some 60,000 migrants crossed illegally into Hungary this year, mostly from Serbia, the country's right-wing government announced it could not wait for the European Union to come up with a solution to the crisis and would build a four-meter high wall along its 175-kilometer border with Serbia.
Serbia responded with shock over the decision. "Building walls is not a solution," Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic said. "Serbia can't be responsible for the situation created by the migrants. We are just a transit country. Is Serbia responsible for the crisis in Syria?"
Tourists streamed across the border to Austria. None of them looked back.
There was also surprise and dismay among some of Hungary's neighbors as they recalled the decision of its government in the summer of 1989 to open its border with Austria, the first real break in the Iron Curtain, to allow out thousands of East Germans who had occupied the West German embassy in Budapest for weeks.
I was in Hungary at the time and watched as East Germans, who were allowed to visit fellow-Communist Hungary as tourists, streamed across the border to Austria on the way to West Germany. None of them looked back.
A few weeks later East Germans stormed the West German embassy in Prague. Following government-level negotiations, the refugees were allowed to leave for West Germany by train, a move that caused riots in Dresden, East Germany, as people tried to board the trains.
With anti-government protests building elsewhere in the country, and with neighboring Czechoslovakia now off limits to its citizens, the beleaguered East German government finally bowed to pressure and opened the Berlin Wall in November 1989.
By the end of the year, Communist regimes across Europe under Soviet occupation following World War Two had fallen.
Colin McIntyre
Colin McIntyre led coverage of the end of communism in Eastern Europe as chief correspondent in the region in the late 1980s. During 34 years at Reuters, he covered the last days of the Vietnam War and was posted to Indonesia, Ireland and London.
Tags: Berlin Wall, Communism, migrants, Serbia, UNHCR
German Supporter of Hungary	on 28 July 2015 at 5:32 pm
Serbia is not responsible for the crisis in Syria, of course, but for protecting its state territory against illegal intruders.
Why should Hungary sit idly by watching how Serbia lets passing through scores of peoples? By erecting the fence, Hungary has made sure that Serbia's responsibilities are Serbia's problem again.
If Belgrade is clever, it stops looking to impotent Brussels for help and constructs a fence on its own at its southern border, so that the ball is in Greece's field – until all gaps on the Balkan are closed.
Let us be realistic: with Africa's population projected to rise by 3 billion people (!!!) until 2100, the days of open borders are over. It was a fleeting phase in Europe's history, but the windfall effects of the collapse of communism are over.
Now it is all about protecting Europe against the demographic challenge of the 21th century, and it is good to see that Hungary is in the vanguard again.
WorldEuropeNew barriers in Europe keep people out, not in


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