Deterrence is not about guaranteeing to one's adversaries that one will only spend what the adversary deems acceptable to enable a "fair fight."
If one is to believe the advocates of minimum deterrence, Russia has plans to attack 400 U.S. nuclear missile silos and nearly 50 associated launch control centers, using two warheads for each target to assure success. But a Russia that had at least 900 nuclear warheads would not be "balanced" by the United States that had only 250 warheads.
Many nations have not been deterred from aggression, even by the prospect of losing millions of their own people.
The U.S. requires a survivable deterrent force; not one subject to being eliminated by an enemy's first strike because the U.S. deterrent was so small that it was no deterrent at all.
In discussing the nuclear deterrent required by the U.S., former commander of U.S. strategic nuclear forces General C. Robert Kehler said, "The whole purpose of deterrence is to bind the other guy's behavior," requiring robust military and vigorous statecraft.
The breakdown in international order recently described by retired General James Clapper, the Director of National Intelligence, (DNI), however, calls into question the very effectiveness of America's deterrent capability.
In light of recent geostrategic developments, some former U.S. defense experts are calling for the United States dramatically to curtail its nuclear deterrent.
These experts assume that the deterrent value of nuclear weapons is waning and that since the it spends far more on overall defense than do other nations, the U.S. can afford to cut back in this area.
But are such recommendations unwise? Absolutely.
A former U.S. Chief of Naval Operations produced a chart some years ago showing annual deaths per capita prior to the nuclear age, in an era when only conventional deterrence existed. Surprisingly, after the atomic bombs were dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the worldwide per capita death toll from armed conflict during the next half-century dropped 80%, and during the next seventy years, by more than 90%.
In the half-century before 1945, two conventional world wars were fought, which included the use of chemical weapons and the fire-bombing of cities. Add to that devastation the deaths from the Nazi Holocaust and the mass murders committed in the USSR by Stalin and his successors, and it is clear that hostile behavior by states was the norm even before the nuclear age.
Retired General Brent Scowcroft, National Security Advisor to two U.S. Presidents, once remarked that the two world wars were a testament to the fragility of traditional conventional deterrence.
Since 1945, however, large-scale war between nuclear-armed powers has been avoided. That is not to say that there have been no conflicts between states. The fight between totalitarianism and freedom took the form of a cross-border war in Korea, subversion and guerilla warfare in Vietnam, and state-sponsored terrorism in Africa, Central America and the Middle East, to name just a few. The fight continues today, in the post-Cold War era, despite the "end of history" narrative that promised armed conflict would pretty much end.
Potential major conflicts, however, still are prevented by the U.S. nuclear deterrent: on the Korean peninsula; between China and Taiwan; in the Middle East and in Eastern Europe.
Conflict continues, of course, in the form of Iranian and North Korean terrorist activity, Chinese aggression in the South China Sea, continued Russian subversion in Ukraine and elsewhere, and in various terrorist activities in Africa and the Middle East. Those conflicts have not been prevented even by conventional capabilities, let alone U.S. nuclear deterrent forces. Nevertheless, is the prudent response to jettison a significant portion of U.S. nuclear capability?
The new post-Cold War era still requires the prevention of any number of possible crises from escalating into armed conflict between any of the nine nuclear-armed nations. The era also requires stopping existing conflicts from becoming wholesale nuclear wars.
It is always important to avoid what Israeli missile defense expert Uzi Rubin calls "fortune cookie analysis" -- the claim that the need for nuclear deterrence is over because "it didn't stop 9-11" or today's conflicts.
Terrorist attacks, such as 9-11, were also not prevented by non-nuclear capabilities such as the FBI, Coast Guard, Border Patrol, the military, or intelligence agencies. But the U.S. nuclear deterrent is not there just for today. Any future deterrent needs to be robust and flexible enough to anticipate technological surprise. There can also be sudden changes in regimes and regimes' intentions; these must also be taken into account.
In addition, emerging technological threats such as cyber-attacks, the advanced capabilities of long-range conventional strikes, and the threat of electromagnetic pulse (EMP) attacks are changing the pattern of deterrence among various countries, according to Andrew Krepinevich, president of the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments (CSBA). Even so, as he underscores the need for new deterrent capabilities, he does not minimize the need for a continued powerful nuclear deterrent.
It is not enough to claim that a much smaller, even minimalist, nuclear deterrent, will suffice for today. "Less" does not automatically mean "better." Nor is it enough simply to add up what other countries spend on defense, compare it to what the United States spends, and declare that the two sides need only be relatively equal in defense expenditure for deterrence to be effective.
Deterrence is not about guaranteeing to your adversaries that you will only spend what the adversary deems acceptable to enable a "fair fight." It is important to spend whatever is needed to ensure a credible, capable force. It would be reckless to adopt some arbitrary figure based on what others might spend, or unilaterally to accept sentimental notions about what is "fair."
Unfortunately, there have been a number of recent calls for the U.S. to reduce its nuclear arsenal unilaterally by 85% and to keep no more than 250 nuclear warheads. This low number would roughly equal the warheads fielded by Pakistan and India combined.
What is the basis for such a proposal? Apparently such advocates start with the assumption that a U.S. president will be deterred from taking military action if, in a conflict, upward of 250 enemy warheads were targeted in retaliation on American cities. This logic assumes that one's enemies think the same way as oneself, and consequently, that a small American arsenal of 250 nuclear warheads would suffice to deter would-be adversaries.
But do adversaries really think this way? Ironically, even the advocates of such a minimal nuclear deterrent do not appear to believe their own rhetorical assumptions. Most of the advocates of a minimal nuclear deterrent claim that 400 Minuteman silo-based missiles, spread out over tens of thousands of square miles in five U.S. western states, would be vulnerable to attack by the same enemies who are supposedly interested in attacking only cities. Why would Russia or China target U.S. missile silos and other military assets when presumably all they would need to do to maintain deterrence against the U.S. is hold a few dozen American cities for ransom?
If one is to believe the advocates of minimum deterrence, Russia has plans to attack 400 U.S. missile silos and nearly 50 associated launch control centers. This assault would require Russia to maintain at least 900 warheads, attacking each American ICBM with at least two warheads to ensure a high chance of destroying all of those targets.
But a Russia that had at least 900 warheads would not be balanced by the United States that had only 250.
Deterrence simply does not work the way advocates of minimum deterrent assert.
When a U.S. president orders military commanders to provide deterrence against the country's enemies, this strategy must be measured against what it takes to implement deterrence, and not against a nice round number of nuclear warheads that appears "reasonable."
Further, is a U.S. president comfortable with only the option of striking back at an adversary's cities? Would threatening to incinerate millions even be a moral or workable deterrent strategy? With 250 warheads in total, and perhaps just half of them available for retaliation, the only targets a U.S. president could sufficiently threaten would be an adversary's cities, but not an adversary's military assets -- not to mention if other countries were to pile on, such as Russia, China, North Korea and Iran.
The minimalists argue that destroying a nation's cities would certainly deter any sane national leader. Yet, as Keith Payne, president of the National Institute of Public Policy, explains, many nations have not been deterred from aggression, even by the prospect of losing millions of their own citizens. In efforts to achieve their political objectives, the Soviet Union, Iran, Cambodia, China and North Korea, to mention the most obvious, have slaughtered tens of millions of their own people. In communist nations alone, the number exceeds 95 million. Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan killed and maimed millions of their own people by going to war and continuing the conflict even when their defeat was clearly imminent.
Would the U.S. seek to deter ISIS and Hezbollah this way? Or Iran or North Korea, for that matter?
The weapons or military assets of one's adversaries -- the weapons one would need to hold at risk or target -- are precisely the instruments of state power on which these enemies rely for their status as global or regional powers and prestige. Holding such assets at risk gives the U.S. president the ultimate "stick" with which to threaten to take away the adversary's power: his military assets.
Today, non-state terrorist organizations also have such assets, as seen from fighting ISIS, Al Qaeda, Hamas Hezbollah, the FMLN and FARC.
Thus, holding at risk, or being able to destroy a significant number of, say, Russian submarines, missile silos, bomber bases, and other instruments of military power, thereby leaving Russia unable to act as a major power, is not an attempt to "go first" in a crisis or "get the jump" on one's enemies. Instead, it merely places at risk all the instruments of state power -- consisting of hundreds of militarily critical targets -- upon which, for instance, a Russian or Chinese head of state relies for world power status.
This plan requires a nuclear deterrent capable of striking back at an enemy with sufficient surviving nuclear warheads, even after absorbing an enemy's initial strike against one's own military assets.
A deterrent strategy such as the U.S. has today leaves nuclear-armed adversaries with only one sound choice in a crisis. Either they risk "Armageddon" and use all their nuclear weapons early in a crisis, to avoid seeing any of their military assets destroyed by the U.S. in a subsequent retaliatory strike; or they stand down, not launching their nuclear weaponry, and instead seek to end any crisis through diplomatically. This is the essence of deterrence. It is one that the late American diplomat Paul Nitze described as the "Not Today, Comrade" option. Today it would be, "Not Today, Jihadi."
Such a deterrent strategy, as advocated here and reflected in America's current nuclear modernization plans, stands the test of logic. If an adversary used all its nuclear forces against the U.S. in a first strike, such an attack would invite a massive retaliatory strike from the U.S. that would leave an attacker completely destroyed.
But that, of course, requires a survivable U.S. deterrent force to begin with; not one subject to being eliminated by an enemy's first strike because the U.S. deterrent was so small that it was no deterrent at all.
According to the Obama administration, to guarantee maximum flexibility in a crisis so that a president can be confident he has a survivable deterrent, a robust deployment of 1550 warheads is required, on a mixture of 12 submarines, 400 ICBMs and 40-60 bombers. Fortunately, this is the number the U.S. can field under the 2010 New Start Treaty with Russia.
Having a nuclear deterrent strategically dispersed among over 500 nuclear assets -- submarines, land-based missiles, and bombers -- means that any enemy attempt to destroy the U.S. nuclear arsenal before the U.S. could use it, would require an unambiguous attack. If an adversary, such as Russia, were to deploy its entire arsenal against the United States, the attack would involve over fifteen hundred warheads.
The U.S. would know from where most of the warheads would be coming: ICBMs flying over the North Pole could easily be seen by U.S. early-warning satellites.
U.S. allies also would see preparations, such as weapons platforms moved, for such a strike. Enemy forces would have to be moved from a day-to-day alert status to heightened alert if there were plans to destroy U.S. nuclear forces in their entirety. That is why the U.S. has, and is planning to keep, more than 500 nuclear assets, including submarines, bombers, and silo-based missiles capable of surviving even the most massive strike.
Deploying only 250 warheads, however -- all of them on submarines, as many minimal deterrent advocates have proposed -- would make such a secure retaliatory force impossible to maintain. It would also so minimize the size of the U.S. deterrent forces -- to fewer than 10 targets -- as possibly to invite an attack.
By contrast, a flexible U.S. nuclear deterrent policy, based on keeping a large deployment of day-to-day survivable forces -- numbering over 500 missiles, submarines and bombers -- leaves the president options. There is no need to act rashly. An enemy could then be informed that any attack, no matter how large, would invite such a massive retaliation that no benefit whatsoever would accrue to the attacker. Such a force also would allow the president, during a crisis, to make the U.S. deterrent even more survivable over time, by putting more U.S. submarines to sea and placing U.S. bombers on alert or in the air.
Such a new nuclear force of submarines, bombers and ICBMs, which the U.S. is now beginning to produce (albeit after much delay), would allow the U.S. to threaten the entire range of an adversary's military assets, and not be limited only to striking back at an enemy's cities. These twin capabilities -- having a survivable force day-to-day and an even more highly survivable force over time -- would avoid putting all one's nuclear eggs in one minimalist leaky basket.
The U.S. nuclear "Triad" consists of nuclear warheads mounted on platforms based at sea, in the air and on land.
The strategy is called "crisis stability": giving no nuclear power the incentive to strike first, and providing the world with the stability it needs to avoid Armageddon.
For 70 years, this strategy has kept the nuclear peace. This strategy even allowed the U.S. and the USSR, (subsequently Russia) carefully and logically to reduce the number of strategic, long-range nuclear weapons by nearly 90%, while maintaining strategic stability.
In short, nuclear deterrence still matters. If the U.S. deterrent is even more survivable, flexible, and robust, while maintained at lower levels than during the Cold War, such modernization as the U.S. is now planning provides America's leaders with the leverage in a crisis to keep a major armed conflict from breaking out. And it keeps the United States and its allies safe.
Certainly, other elements of deterrence matter as well, such as a strong conventional deterrent, space-based assets for top-notch situational awareness, prompt conventional precision-strike weaponry, missile defenses -- both national and regional and those deployed with U.S. allies -- and a strong diplomatic will to use such instruments of state power in the defense of liberty.
In particular, missile defense can avoid limited strikes from small nuclear powers, as well as significantly complicating the strike options of larger nuclear powers, thus making such potential attacks less likely. In addition, a surreptitious missile strike from a freighter or submarine in the off-shore maritime regions adjacent to the United States could be intercepted, but a retaliatory strike would be pure guesswork, as the identity of the state or terror group responsible would in all probability remain a mystery.
Unfortunately, what critics miss is that, for nearly a quarter of a century, the U.S. paid little attention to its nuclear deterrent and avoided addressing the topic. Apparently, the U.S. was simply relying on past policy. However, such a lack of original thought and analysis does not mean nuclear deterrent requirements must come to an end or be changed dramatically. Far from it. Congress, the Administration and U.S. citizens have looked at the nuclear deterrent and decided, wisely, that the current nuclear deterrent modernization plan of building 12 new submarines, 400 Minuteman ICBMs and 100 new bombers -- some of which will be nuclear capable -- is the right one, even as the U.S. adopts a new post-Cold War policy and framework for keeping the United States and the free world safe.
Peter Huessy is President of Geostrategic Analysis, Senior Defense Consultant to the Mitchell Institute of the Air Force Association, and teaches nuclear deterrent policy at the US Naval Academy.
 "Former Pentagon Chief, Other Experts: Get Rid of ICBMs" by John LaForge, Duluth Reader, January 21, 2016.
 Admiral Richard Mies, "The Strategic Deterrent Mission: Ensuring a Strong Foundation for America's Security" in Journal of Undersea Warfare, Summer 2012. See also for a version of the Admiral's chart Max Roser (2015)—"War and Peace after 1945," Published online at OurWorldInData.org.
 Retired General Scowcroft is reported to have said this at a dinner event at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in 2009.
 Summer, 1989, The National Interest, "The End of History" by Francis Fukuyama, who declared the 20th century ended with "An unabashed victory of economic and political liberalism."
 Uzi Rubin, personal communication to the author.
 The Myth of Nuclear Deterrence, by Ward Wilson in Nonproliferation Review, Vol. 15, No. 3, November 2008.
 March 19, 2013, Subcommittee on Strategic Forces, Committee on Armed Services, statement of General (ret) Eugene Habiger, in "The U.S. Nuclear Deterrent: What Are the Requirements for a Strong Deterrent in an Era of Defense Sequester?"
 Keith Payne, Georgetown University, "Deterrence in the Second Nuclear Age," University Press of Kentucky, 1996.
 "The Black Book of Communism," Harvard University Press, October 1999.
Israel is talking about producing these weapons systems for export. They are of little value to nuclear superpowers such as the US and Russia; but can propel rogue nuke states such as N. Korea, Iran and Pakistan to front-row status.
Containerized ballistic missiles are more stealthy than missile-firing submarines; and they can deliver payloads of practically any size.
Welcome to Pandora's Box, and to the end of the world as we know it.
The major powers are undoubtedly doing their best, to track the US's, Russia's, China's, the UK's, France's and India's nuclear submarines; so that even though they cannot prevent them from unleashing nuclear salvos, at least when a nuke does head towards these major powers, they will know where it came from and respond accordingly.
We could field 300 Minuteman III with 300 W87-1 boosted to 475KT each and have them dispersed as far apart as possible. This would then allow us to place 400 W88 Alt 370s on 4 subs with 20 SLBMs with 5 warheads each. Then we could deploy 800 W76-1 warheads on 8 subs with 20 SLBMs with 5 warheads each. Shifting the warhead loading to subs vs. ICBMs allows us to begin upgrading the Minuteman III to the GBSD. It could also allow us to retire the W78. Also, we could still deploy 50 heavy bombers with 10 B-2A and 40 B-52H deployed. It is probably difficult to have more than this number of bombers ready at one time anyway. So why not put the most warheads on our subs since they are the most protected? Russia would still have to target 450 ICBM silos, and less missiles and warheads would be destroyed in a surprise first strike.
A total war scenario could easily lead to an originally neutral party wanting to join in after the destruction has begun. Why take chances?
"completely obliterate" in my mind means total infrastructure destruction, most of the population dead, and the country generally ruined for the foreseeable future.
It's an ugly business, and it'll get uglier without a proper deterrent, that is SURE.


text:
SQL Server 2012 'Launch Event' Happening on March 7
By Gladys Rama
Microsoft indicated today that SQL Server 2012 is nearing product release.
The company plans to hold a "virtual launch event" for its next-generation relational database management system on March 7. Those interested can register to attend here. The event will feature keynotes by Ted Kummert, corporate vice president of Microsoft's Business Platform Division, who will discuss the company's "data evolution vision." It also will include Quentin Clark, corporate vice president of Microsoft's Database Systems Group, who will spotlight some of SQL Server 2012's new features.
Event attendees can also access more than 30 sessions and pose questions to Microsoft's product experts and MVPs.
Missing from the announcement of the launch event is any description of Microsoft's release-to-manufacturing or general availability dates for SQL Server 2012, which is currently available at the release candidate testing stage. In Microsoft parlance, a "launch event" usually does not signify a product release. Microsoft more typically uses the RTM and general availability nomenclature to describe its product releases. In the case of SQL Server 2012's predecessor, SQL Server 2008 R2, the launch event took place in April 2010, but the product was not released until the following month. In other cases, such as with last year's launch of Office 365, the launch event and general availability date were the same.
When asked for clarification on whether the March 7 launch event is indeed SQL Server 2012's release date, a Microsoft spokesperson said, "[W]e have no further information to share beyond what is on the virtual launch event registration page."
Aaron Bertrand, a Microsoft MVP and a senior consultant at SQL Sentry Software, cautioned against interpreting Microsoft's launch event announcement as a release date.
"This date will not mark a release, go-live, or general availability. These launch events are marketing-centric sessions to get you excited about the product," he wrote in a blog post on Monday. "Will you be able to download Express editions from the Microsoft web site, and other SKUs from MSDN or your volume licensing portal, shortly after that? Sure. The next day? Almost certainly not."
Microsoft announced last fall that SQL Server 2012 will be released in the first half of 2012 in three versions: Standard (the most basic version), Business Intelligence (a new version tier that adds BI features on top of the Standard version) and Enterprise (the most feature-rich version).
The company detailed SQL Server 2012's licensing plan late last year. In a departure from its previous models, licensing for SQL Server 2012 will be based on cores instead of processors, with one processor containing at least four cores. Organizations running SQL Server 2012 with virtualization can either license virtual machines (VMs) based on core licenses, or they can do so based on server plus Client Access Licenses. Only organizations running the Enterprise edition with Software Assurance are eligible for the maximum virtualization (i.e., a limitless number of VMs).
SQL Server 2012 in the 2011 Microsoft Product Roadmap
Gladys Rama (@GladysRama3) is the editor of Redmondmag.com, RCPmag.com and AWSInsider.net, and the editorial director of Converge360.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


text:
THAI LAWYERS FOR HUMAN RIGHTS
News/Article
Statement/Legal Opinion
Thalugaz Protests: Lawyers' Reflection of the "New Low" on Children's Rights under Arrests
19/09/2564 19/09/2021 admin12 Articles (EN), Pin to highlight
Khumklao Songsomboon
Human Rights Lawyer, Thai Lawyer for Human Rights
It has been almost a month where the "Din Daeng Triangle" in the middle of Bangkok has become the gathering point of many children and young people whose political expressions differ from other previous protests. They are not the intellectual ones who always debate about democracy, nor vocal public speakers, nor university student activists who study about social issues and discuss social structures.
There are many other reasons for why they bring themselves here. They come here because they are not satisfied with the current administration; or because police officers started to use violence to disband peaceful protests they organized at the first Infantry Regiment – the home of prime minister Prayut Chan-ocha. They come here to express their anger at the government that cannot solve the economic hardship, nor manage the Covid-19 pandemic. Some come here because their livelihoods are heavily affected, or they may come here because their older comrades asked them to join. They come here to respond to the police officers in their own way by shutting down streets, burning tires, and throwing small grenades.
Many people view what happened was not a "peaceful civil resistance," even though many schools of pacifist academics interpret this in various ways. However, this is not a valid reason or the permission for police officers to not act in accordance with the law or not following international standards for crowd control. The dispersal must start from the least intrusive measures, and the use of force must comply with the principles of necessity and proportionality.
Importantly, these protesters are still children and youth under the age of 18. Despite being accused of criminal offenses, in arrest and detention, the authorities are obliged to comply with the International Convention on the Rights of the Child to which the Thai State has become a party and has an obligation to comply; not to mention having to abide by the Constitution. This includes other laws that protect the rights of children and youths who have been arrested.
The key points of such laws can be summarized as follows:
The Convention on the Rights of the Child has established a number of principles on the treatment of children and young people such as the Article 37, stipulating that states parties must ensure that no child will be subjected to torture or other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment. The arrest and detention of children must be in accordance with the law. All children detained must be treated humanely and with respect and dignity. The children and youths must be detained separately from adults, and they must have the right to contact their family members and to receive visits.
Article 40 states that state parties must ensure that all children accused or charged with violating criminal laws are guaranteed to be promptly and directly informed of the charges. Where appropriate, they can be informed through a parent or legal guardian and will receive legal or other appropriate assistance.
Article 10 of the United Nations' Standard Minimum Rules for the Administration of Juvenile Justice (Beijing Rules) states that when arresting a child and a juvenile, authorities must notify parents or guardians immediately. If it was not possible immediately, they must inform the guardian later at the earliest time.
The Constitution of the Kingdom of Thailand, 2017, Section 28 stipulates that a person has the right and liberty in life and body. Arrest and detention may not be made unless there is an order or a warrant from the court, or any other grounds as provided by law. The search of a person shall not be made except where there is a cause provided by law. Torture, cruel acts or inhumane punishment shall not be permitted.
The Act of Juvenile and Family Court Act 2010, Section 69 also states that the arrest and detention of a child or a juvenile must be conducted peacefully and respects human dignity and privacy. The authorities shall not use any means more than necessary to prevent escape or for the safety of the arrested child or other person. They also must not use fetters and handcuffs against a child under any circumstances unless there is an unavoidable necessity to prevent escape or for the safety of the arrested child or other person.
At the time of arrest, the officer in charge must inform the child or juvenile of the arrest, and notify the allegations and their legal rights. If at the time of arrest there was no father, mother, or guardian present, the arresting officer shall notify any such person of the arrest as early as possible. And if a child or youth wishes to contact such person which does not impede the arrest, the officer shall proceed as appropriate in the case without delay.
Before bringing the child or juvenile to the local police station, the arresting officer shall make a record of the arrest and inform the offence and cause of arrest to the child/juvenile. However, they must not ask them for testimonies. The arresting officer must then immediately take the arrested to the local police station so they can hand over the arrested to the officer responsible for inquiry.
According to media reports and TLHR's experiences in providing legal assistance to those arrested from Thalugaz protest, during August 2021, the lawyers found that the arrests carried out by the police have used excessive force and weapons. The police officers aggressively arrest the people until they fall down, beat them with batons repeatedly, knock down a running motorcycle, shooting rubber bullets in endangered levels, and chasing the suspects with the police cars at dangerously close distances, etc.
Moreover, when the Thalugaz protesters are arrested, they are often tied with cable tire around the wrist. Mobile phones are usually seized, making it impossible to contact parents or lawyers. And instead of being taken to Din Daeng police station, the local police station, the protesters are immediately taken to the Narcotics Suppression Bureau, which is far from the scene of the accident. In addition, with the curfew in place between 21.00 – 04.00 hrs, even though some can contact their parents, the parents could not travel immediately to partake in the preparation of an arrest record. The children/juveniles also could not be taken back home that night as the parents might not have cars and not wish to violate the curfew. This results in children and youth being held in police custody for a longer period of time.
The arrests carried out by the authorities are far from respecting human dignity, and exceeding necessary controls to prevent escape or for the safety of the arrested child and juvenile or other person. It is not in accordance with the principles of the International Convention on the Rights of the Child, unconstitutional, in breach of the Juvenile Court Act, and not based on legal basis. It is a direct civil and criminal liability of the Prime Minister as the crowd control police officers using excessive forces are under the Royal Thai Police, and is a direct responsibility to the Prime Minister.
It is also the duty of the Juvenile and Family Court to check the legality of the arrests. If the court finds that the arresting officers do not comply with the law, the court has the power to rule the arrest unlawful. It is a system for checking the use of power by the authorities to guarantee the rights of the people. It is also the duty of human rights organizations to investigate and report any non-compliance with the rights of children and youth to the international community in a timely manner.
Most importantly, the public should not ignore the violence that occurred in the Din Daeng Triangle because neglect is a permit that allows the authorities to continue using violence against children and youth without any accountability
First minor prosecuted with Thai lèse-majesté law in 2021
27/05/2564 17/06/2021 News (EN)
On 24 May 2021, the Central Juvenile and Family Court informed the lèse-majesté indictment dated 9 April 2021 to Thanakorn (surname withheld), aka Petch, a 17-year-old (as of the incident day) pro-democracy, LGBTQ+ human rights defender, making this the first case in Thailand to indict minors under the Article 112 of the Criminal Code (lèse-majesté […]
Overview of cases against youth political activists: At least 43 persons prosecuted
06/06/2564 06/06/2021 Highlight (EN), News (EN), Situation Report (EN)
During the protest movement for rights, liberties, and democracy that began in 2020, youths- any persons younger than 18 years old- have played a critical role in organizing and participating in political activities inside and outside their educational institutions. They have also been actively contributing to pushing the limits of public discussion on social and […]
Interview with 16-year-old "Sand," Isaan youth leader prosecuted for her political expression
19/06/2564 05/08/2021 Articles (EN), Highlight (EN)
• Since the outset of her political awakening, Sand (Pseudonym), a 15-year-old youth, has begun her involvement in pro-democracy activities in her hometown in Phu Khiao district of Chaiyaphume province and neighboring district Chumpae. Gradually, she expanded her activism into other areas. At times, she was a mere participant, whereas sometimes she would go up […]
"The courtroom has been made into a prison": Defendants in the 19 September case declare withdrawal of legal representation
On 8 April 2021, a hearing to examine the evidence in the case of the #19 September Return Power to the People protest was held in Room 704 at the Criminal Court on Ratchadaphisek Road. The protest in question was held on 19- 20 September 2020 on the Tha Prajan campus of Thammasat University and […]
children's rights din daeng Freedom of assembly freedom of expression thalugaz youth


Whiting, Ind.- The 2017 MLB Draft was stacked with promising talent that is heading to the minor leagues with their goal to make the major leagues.
The Midwest Collegiate League had five former members drafted in the 2017 MLB first-year player draft.
Jake Latz (Joliet, Ill./DuPage County Hounds) was selected in the fifth round by the Texas Rangers. Latz made two appearances in the playoffs for the DuPage County Hounds, helping the Hounds win the 2015 MCL Championship. During that period, Latz threw five innings, scattering four hits, walking three and striking out seven.
Latz, who is currently enrolled at Kent State was selected by the Texas Rangers in the fifth round. Before going to Kent State, he went to LSU. Latz struggled during his time at LSU throwing 8.2 innings with an ERA of 7.56, after that he decided to transfer to Kent State, but was not allowed to play his first season there because of transfer rules.
Latz was also part of the Lemont High School team that won the 2014 Class 3A state championship. During that season, Latz held an 10-0 record with a 0.23 ERA.
Pitcher Connor Ryan (Homer Glenn, Ill./Crestwood Panthers) was selected in the 8th round by the Cincinnati Reds. Ryan in 2016 at UIC had an ERA of 3.78 which was good for ninth best in the Horizon League.
Ryan is the highest draft pick from UIC since Curtis Granderson was selected in the third round by the Detroit Tigers in 2002.
Craig Dedelow (Munster, Ind./Northwest Indiana Oilmen), former Indiana Hoosier and Munster Mustang, was selected in the ninth round by the Chicago White Sox.
Dedelow improved his power numbers in his senior season with the Hoosiers. In 60 games he hit .258 and 19 home runs.
During his one year in the MCL, Dedelow was a member of the 2014 Northwest Indiana Oilmen. He led the Oilmen in batting average and RBIs, where he hit .319 and had 24 RBI.
Ben Hecht (Effingham, Ill./Lexington Snipes) was selected by the Chicago Cubs in the 12th round. Hecht was taken after finishing his junior season at Wichita State.
In his one season with the Shockers, he pitched 30.1 innings, posted a 5.04 ERA, issuing only 12 walks and striking out 42.
However, Hecht pitched in just one game for Lexington, where he threw five innings while allowing two earned runs against the Oilmen on June 1, 2014.
Another former Oilman, Donivan Williams (Oak Lawn, Ill./Northwest Indiana Oilmen) from Richards High School, was selected by the St. Louis Cardinals in the 14th round. As a senior, Williams hit over .500, 10 home runs and driving in 49 runs.
Williams has not made a decision on whether or not to sign with the organization. Williams in a very short stint with Northwest Indiana batted .450 with one home run.
Williams said he enjoyed it a lot and it was fun playing with the team.
In the 30th round, Cody Bohanek (Oak Lawn, Ill./Crestwood Panthers), a shortstop from UIC was selected by the Houston Astros. As a Flame in 2017, Bohanek hit .297 with 47 RBI.
Bohanek was a former member of the Crestwood Panthers, the newest member of the MCL. In 2014 with the Panthers, Bohanek hit .459 and also played perfect defense in 23 games.


Many purchasers like the vacuum's great cleaning performance with pet hair.
The vacuum's slim design is highlighted for enabling it to easily get underneath furniture.
Most reviews compliment its quiet noise level.
A lot of buyers say that the vacuum is very easy to clean.
The vacuum is described to be sturdy and reliable, with an efficient design.
Some reviews dislike the vacuum's reliabilty over time.
The vacuum's side brushes are said to come loose easily.
Several buyers remark that certain parts can break very easily.
A few purchasers criticize the vacuum for often getting stuck.
The vacuum is not meant for use on carpet.
TrustedReviews gave a total score of 70.


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Former White House staffer Omarosa releases secret recording of her being fired
There is a segment of the left that is convinced there are secret tapes everywhere that document alleged misdeeds by the president and reveal his true character — and this group pounces whenever the words "Trump" and "tapes" are included within the same sentence.
The latest secret recording to prompt the reflexive leap by anti-Trumpers was released over the weekend by former Trump campaign adviser and brief White House official Omarosa Manigault Newman and documented the moment she was fired from the White House by Chief of Staff John Kelly.
The Washington Examiner reported that the recording was released by Omarosa during an appearance Sunday on NBC's Meet The Press, which raises substantial questions about security and integrity considering the recorded conversation allegedly occurred in the highly-secure Situation Room, where recording devices would presumably be banned.
WATCH: Omarosa releases secret tape of John Kelly firing from White House #MTP pic.twitter.com/KtNEiuPkqz
— Meet the Press (@MeetThePress) August 12, 2018
Serious integrity violations
In the recorded conversation, Kelly can be clearly heard explaining to Omarosa that her termination was prompted by "some pretty serious integrity violations" on her part that had come to the attention of the administration.
"We're going to talk to you about leaving the White House," Kelly told Omarosa. "It's come to my attention over the last few months that there's been some pretty, in my opinion, significant integrity issues."
Kelly, who later reiterated just how serious the "integrity violations" on Omarosa's part were, nevertheless appeared to offer her a chance at a "friendly departure" from the White House in order to avoid potential legal trouble or bad publicity.
"It's important to understand that if we make this a friendly departure we can all be, you know, you can look at your time here in the White House as a year of service to the nation," Kelly said. "And then you can go on without any type of difficulty in the future relative to your reputation."
"Downright criminal" threat
Omarosa, who is making the media rounds ahead of a new tell-all book about her year in the White House — which has already been ripped as fanciful and uncredible ahead of its release — said she took Kelly's remarks to her as an obvious threat.
"It's very obvious a threat. He goes on to say, 'things can get ugly for you.' The chief of staff of the United States under the direction of the president of the United States threatening me on damage to my reputation and things getting ugly," she said incredulously. "That's downright criminal."
But nothing said by Kelly in the recording comes across as overtly threatening or out of the ordinary for any employee being fired anywhere, and the only thing "criminal" about the secret recording at all is how Omarosa was capable of making it in a purportedly secure area of the White House or its subsequent release to the media.
Omarosa quite obviously has some "serious integrity issues" — hence the reason she was fired — and the supposed secret tapes she claims to possess that will disparage Trump will likely to prove disappointing to the president's haters who are desperate to "get him" in any way they can.


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Unexplained death of man who collapsed in car
The incident happened on Sunday at 7.30am on Southfield Road near to Station View Health Centre
Harriet Robinson
An off-duty police officer jumped into action to try to help a man who had collapsed.
The incident happened on Sunday at 7.30am on Southfield Road near to Station View Health Centre.
Sgt Graeme Thompson of Hinckley Police Station said: "The passenger of a vehicle was taken ill. The police officer was off-duty when he came across a distressed female. She had tried to get the man out of the car.
"The ambulance hadn't arrived and the officer treated the man for a head injury.
"Unfortunately the man died and the incident is being treated as an unexplained death and a file is being prepared for the coroner."
A spokesman from East Midlands Ambulance Service said: "We received a call at 7.28am on Sunday June 1 reporting a collapsed male who was in a car with his wife. We dispatched a Double Crewed Ambulance (DCA) who arrived within five minutes of the call being made.
"A second DCA arrived on scene and both emergency vehicles travelled to hospital."
Leicestershire Police
Hinckley and Bosworth Borough CouncilSome of Hinckley and Bosworth's waste for recycling shipped overseasSeven tonnes of paper and card went to China


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HomeMumbaiFPJ Legal: Bombay HC grants bail to rape accused as victim 'untraceable' since April 2021
FPJ Legal: Bombay HC grants bail to rape accused as victim 'untraceable' since April 2021
Narsi BenwalUpdated: Thursday, June 17, 2021, 10:12 PM IST
The Bombay High Court bench of Justice Bharati Dangre on Monday granted bail to a man booked for raping a minor girl, who lived on the platform of Andheri railway station and has gone missing since the rape incident. The bench while granting bail to the accused said he couldn't be allowed to languish in the jail when the victim isn't traceable.
The bench was hearing a bail plea filed by a man, who was arrested in 2018 by the Andheri police station for raping a minor girl in a moving autorickshaw.
As per the prosecution case, the girl was acquainted with an autorickshaw driver, who allegedly raped her along with his brother - the applicant who had petitioned Justice Dangre's bench for bail.
The girl claimed that she was given beer and food by the men and later raped her. The man, who sought bail, was caught red handed while sexually assaulting the victim in a moving rickshaw.
The rickshaw was intercepted by a motorist, who heard the girl's cries when the rickshaw stopped near a traffic signal. In his defence, the man claimed that the girl was actively involved in flesh trade and had even aborted a foetus earlier.
However, in April when the bail plea was first heard, the bench was informed that the girl had been missing. The judge while slamming the Mumbai Police had ordered the investigating team to trace the girl. Since then, the matter came up for hearing several times and on each date of hearing, the bench was informed that the girl continues to be untraceable.
On Monday when the matter was heard, the bench said, "A categorical statement is made that Andheri Police station team is taking serious efforts to trace the victim girl". "When the matter is being heard today, the position continues to remain the same and except for lamenting about the unfortunate situation, nothing more can be done by this Court to trace the girl,", Justice Dangre noted in her orders.
"No doubt, the accusation faced by the accused is serious one but, in absence of any proof to demonstrate that the victim girl is aged 16 years and a minor and, the basis of recording her age as 16 in the hospital papers being not known, in the absence of any documentary proof or any ossification test being carried out, he cannot be kept incarcerated for further period of time", the court held.
The court further noted that the medical papers had mentioned the victim's age as 17 and 18 years on different occasions. "The medical papers further revealed the mental status of the girl and on June 2018, the medical papers recorded her behaviour as 'highly violent'– laughing at inappropriate time", the judge noted while granting him bail.
Rape accused acquitted after minor victim remains untraceable
Mumbai: Work at Bhandup complex complete, water supply resumes; BMC appeals to boil water before...
ON CAMERA: Motorman faints in Borivali-bound train at Malad
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Palghar: Four killed after car collides with bus on highway; visuals of mangled car surface
Mumbai: CM Shinde, Dy CM Fadnavis hail Union Budget 2023


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Q: How can I specify a path and filename for my files with meteor and collectionfs filesystem I'm using CollectionFS to store files uploaded from my meteor app. I'm using the cfs-filesystem package to save my files using the local filesystem.
Right now, when I upload a file, it gets saved to ~/uploads/images-h9jWnALqSZMpAX4h4-IMG_3737.JPG
I have an existing filesystem structure that I need to work with and we need the files to be easy to traverse by hand if necessary.
Suppose I want to customize that path to be something like this ~/uploads/jaredtmartin/IMG_3737.jpg. And when a different user uploads, it goes to a new folder with his name, for example, ~/uploads/suzyq/IMG_1234.jpg. Can that be done? If not, where can I dig in to modify the code to make it happen?

A: You can use the fileKeyMaker, see here
var imageStore = new FS.Store.FileSystem("images", {
  fileKeyMaker: function (fileObj) {
    // Lookup the copy
    var store = fileObj && fileObj._getInfo(name);
    // If the store and key is found return the key
    if (store && store.key) return store.key;

    // TO CUSTOMIZE, REPLACE CODE AFTER THIS POINT

    var filename = fileObj.name();
    var filenameInStore = fileObj.name({store: name});

    // If no store key found we resolve / generate a key
    return fileObj.collectionName + '-' + fileObj._id + '-' + (filenameInStore || filename);
  }
});

A: I found a simpler solution (IMHO).
In the declaration of the storage adapter you can do something like this:
var photoStore = new FS.Store.FileSystem("photos", {
  transformWrite: function(fileObj, readStream, writeStream) {
    gm(readStream, fileObj.name).resize(100,100,"^").gravity('Center').crop(100,100).quality(100).autoOrient().stream().pipe(writeStream);
  },
  beforeWrite:function (fileObj) {
    var post = Posts.findOne(fileObj.postId);
    if (post.type==='Dog') return {name:slugify(post.name)};
    else return {name:slugify(post.title)};
  },
});

In this example, some of the images for my were named using the name property and others using the title property. In the example above, I didn't preserve the extensions, but I think you get the idea. I removed that for clarity.  If you need that code, let me know. I have it.
Now this doesn't actually put the images in different folders, but it does allow you to name the files.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


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Episode 8DanShow2020-05-25T11:56:01+00:00
Andriy is a Ukrainian politician, football manager and former professional footballer who played for Dynamo Kyiv, Milan, Chelsea and the Ukraine national team as a striker. From February to July 2016, he was an assistant coach of the Ukraine national team, at the time led by Mykhailo Fomenko. On 15 July 2016, shortly after the nation's elimination from UEFA Euro 2016, Shevchenko was appointed Ukraine's head coach.
Shevchenko is ranked as the sixth top goalscorer in all European competitions with 67 goals. With a tally of 176 goals scored for Milan, Shevchenko is the second most prolific player in the history of the club, and is also the all-time top scorer of the Derby della Madonnina (the derby between Milan and their local rivals Internazionale) with 14 goals. Furthermore, he is the all-time top scorer for the Ukrainian national team with 48 goals.
Shevchenko's career has been highlighted by many awards, the most prestigious of which was the Ballon d'Or in 2004 (becoming the third Ukrainian, after Oleh Blokhin and Igor Belanov, to receive it). He won the UEFA Champions League in 2003 with Milan, and he has also won various league and cup titles in Ukraine, Italy and England. He was also an UEFA Champions League runner-up in 2005 and 2008. He was named in the FIFA World XI for 2005.
In his illustrious international career, the striker led Ukraine as captain to the quarter-finals in their first ever FIFA World Cup appearance in 2006, and also took part at UEFA Euro 2012.
On 28 July 2012, Shevchenko announced that he was quitting football for politics. He stood for election to the Ukrainian Parliament in the October 2012 Ukrainian parliamentary election, but his party failed to win parliamentary representation.
Ernie is a South African professional golfer. A former World No. 1, he is known as "The Big Easy" due to his imposing physical stature along with his fluid golf swing. Among his 71 career victories are four major championships: the U.S. Open in 1994 at Oakmont and in 1997 at Congressional, and The Open Championship in 2002 at Muirfield and in 2012 at Royal Lytham & St Annes. He is one of six golfers to twice win both the U.S. Open and The Open Championship.
Other highlights in Els' career include topping the 2003 and 2004 European Tour Order of Merit and winning the World Match Play Championship a record seven times. He was the leading career money winner on the European Tour until overtaken by Lee Westwood in 2011, and was the first member of the tour to earn over €25,000,000 from European Tour events. He has held the number one spot in the Official World Golf Ranking and until 2013 held the record for weeks ranked in the top ten with 788. Els rose to fifteenth in the world rankings after winning the 2012 Open Championship. He was elected to the World Golf Hall of Fame in 2010, on his first time on the ballot, and was inducted in May 2011.
When not playing, Els has a golf course design business, a charitable foundation which supports golf among underprivileged youth in South Africa, and a winemaking business. He has written a popular golf instructional column in Golf Digest magazine for several years.
Kevin is a South African-born British former cricketer. He is a right-handed batsman and occasional off spin bowler who played in all three formats for England between 2005 and 2014.
Pietersen was born to an Afrikaner father and English mother in South Africa. He made his first-class debut for Natal in 1997 and moved to England in 2000, after voicing his displeasure at what he said was the racial quota system in South African cricket. Being of English ancestry, Pietersen was eligible for the England team so long as he first served a four-year qualifying period in English county cricket. He was called up by England almost immediately after he completed four years with Nottinghamshire. He made his international debut in the One Day International (ODI) match against Zimbabwe in 2004 and his Test match debut in the 2005 Ashes series against Australia.
Pietersen left Nottinghamshire for Hampshire in 2005, but the England team's subsequent reliance on him resulted in Pietersen making only a single first-class appearance for his new county between 2005 and 2010. In June 2010, Pietersen announced his wish to leave Hampshire; he joined Surrey on loan for the remainder of the season, then moved permanently in 2011.
Pietersen was captain of the England Test and ODI teams from 4 August 2008 to 7 January 2009, but resigned after just three Tests and nine ODIs following a dispute with the England coach Peter Moores, who was sacked the same day. Pietersen's relationship with the ECB never fully recovered. This came to a head in 2012 when, after a disagreement over his schedule, Pietersen announced his retirement from all forms of international limited-overs cricket on 31 May. Although he later retracted his retirement, his relationship with both the ECB and his team-mates soured during the series against South Africa, and he was dropped for the final Test of that series. Pietersen last played for England in the 2013–14 Ashes and subsequent ODIs, after which he was informed that he was no longer being considered for international selection.
He also played for the Melbourne Stars in the Big Bash League until the end of BBL|07 (seventh season), the Quetta Gladiators in the Pakistan Super League as well as the Hollywoodbets Dolphins in the CSA T20 Challenge. He was also signed by the Rising Pune Supergiants for the 2016 season of the Indian Premier League.
Pietersen is one of the fastest batsman to reach 1,000 ODI runs and still holds the record for being the fastest player to cross 2,000 runs in One Day International cricket. He has the second-highest run total from his first 25 Tests, behind only Sir Don Bradman of Australia, and was the fastest player, in terms of days, to reach 4,000, 5,000 and 7,000 Test runs. He became only the third English batsman to top the ICC One Day International rankings, doing so in March 2007. In July 2008, after a century against South Africa, The Times called him "the most complete batsman in cricket" and in 2012 The Guardian called him "England's greatest modern batsman". On the occasion of England's 1000th Test in August 2018, he was named in the country's greatest Test XI by the ECB


Add a playful touch to your look with this cozy crew sock! Covered in a pirate skull print, it lends quirky style with premium comfort.
This three-pack of cotton blend crew socks with micro terry cushion sole are a must-have for your collection. Crafted for live in luxury, these socks will become a casual-wardrobe favorite.
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The Earliad: "The Game of Thrones"
One of my colleagues at work hand-crafted an Iron Throne for Corporate Challenge. I knew immediately it was just the right scale for Captain Picard. One bad pun later, and we have an homage to one of the cheesiest episodes of Star Trek: The Next Generation as well as A Song of Ice and Fire.


text:
East Dutchess Daily Voice serves Amenia, Beekman, Dover, Millbrook, North East, Pawling, Pine Plains, Stanford, Union Vale & Washington
serves New Milford, Plymouth, Torrington, Watertown, Winchester & Woodbury
Breaking News: Man Who Fled From Troopers Turns Himself In, Police Say
Ex-Area Police Office May Face Death Penalty For Quadruple Murder, Report Says
Nicholas Tartaglione with a K-9 officer in 2007 when Tartaglione was a member of the Briarcliff Manor Police Department. Photo Credit: File
The four alleged victims, clockwise from top left: Miguel Sosa-Luna, Martin Santos-Luna, Urbano Morales-Santiago and Hector Guitierrez. Photo Credit: U.S. Attorney/Southern District
Federal prosecutors will reportedly seek the death penalty against Nicholas Tartaglione, a former police officer in the lower Hudson Valley who is accused of murdered four men in Orange County in 2016.
Late in 2016, Tartaglione, a former Briarcliff Manor police officer, was charged in a five-count indictment for his participation in a drug conspiracy to distribute more than five kilograms of cocaine and for the murders of four men, all of whom lived in Middletown.
Prosecutors will be seeking the death penalty when his case heads to trial, according to a lohud report. Tartaglione's defense team reportedly called the motion "outrageous."
According to the indictment that was filed in White Plains Federal Court, Tartaglione killed Martin Luna, 41, Urbano Santiago, 32, Miguel Luna, 25, and Hector Gutierrez, 43, at the Likquid Lounge - a bar that his brother reportedly managed for a time in the town of Chester in Orange County - when a cocaine deal went badly involving at least one of the victims.
It is further alleged that Tartaglione then drove with the bodies for approximately a half hour from the bar in Chester to his farm in Otisville, also in Orange. Four bodies would be removed from his property the day after he was arrested.
According to court papers, in 1999, Tartaglione was charged with perjury and official misconduct after testifying in court at a DMV license revocation hearing for a friend. Tartaglione was ultimately acquitted at trial, but fired by the village.
In 2003, he sued to get his job back and received more than $300,000 in back pay. He retired from the force in 2008 on disability with a reported annual pension of $65,000.
Tartaglione also had an ongoing legal battle with the late Clay Tiffany, an Ossining resident who hosted the popular public-access TV show, "Dirge For The Charlatans," sued the village of Briarcliff Manor multiple times, claiming that Tartaglione assaulted him.
Tartaglione had worked as a police officer in Pawling, Mount Vernon and Yonkers prior to Briarcliff Manor.
Photos: Three Hospitalized In Multi-Vehicle Crash In Area
COVID-19: Here's Brand-New Breakdown Of Dutchess Cases By Com...
Dutchess House Built In 1900 At Total Loss Following Three-Al...
East Dutchess Daily Voice!


text:
When Inmates Die Of Poor Medical Care, Jails Often Keep It Secret
10:40Play
Copy the code below to embed the WBUR audio player on your site
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Dying on the Sheriff's Watch
Part one of a series.
Christine WillmsenTwitter
Beth HealyTwitter
Confined at the Worcester County jail in 2016, Michael Ramey was in agony. At various times, he couldn't walk, see or hear.
As he awaited trial, he complained to medical staff of his worsening symptoms, jail records show. He told a nurse, "my head was about to explode."
But hardly anyone believed him. Within a month, Ramey died of a treatable type of meningitis. He was 36.
A Worcester County jail report would say he died of "natural causes."
Part One: When Inmates Die Of Poor Medical Care, Jails Often Keep It Secret
Part Two: Pain And Profits: Sheriffs Hand Off Inmate Care To Private Health Companies
Part Three: Inside One Jail's Health Care Problems And 'Culture Of Impunity'
Part Four: Powerful Sheriffs Rarely Held To Account As Families Fight For The Truth
A WBUR investigation found that when people suffered from dire medical conditions in Massachusetts county jails, they were often ignored or mistrusted, with fatal consequences. The sheriffs and for-profit companies increasingly responsible for inmate health care face little oversight, and often have withheld the circumstances of these deaths from the public — even from inmates' families.
Ramey's death and others in county jails came well before the coronavirus began to raise global health alarms. Now, as the pandemic upends life as we know it, reaching into every corner of society, this vulnerable group behind bars is at risk of falling ill, out of the public eye and at the mercy of a system that has failed many before.
"Jails are perhaps the least accountable part of government in the United States," said David Fathi, director of the ACLU National Prison Project. "When you combine that lack of transparency — that lack of oversight — with a marginalized, unpopular captive population, it's a recipe for neglect and mistreatment."
Reporters set out to uncover how many people had died in Massachusetts jails over the past decade, who they were, and what killed them. The information available to the public was extremely limited.
Data compiled by WBUR show that 195 people died in the custody of sheriffs from 2008 to 2018. Of those, 127 died of medical causes such as heart disease, sepsis or drug overdoses. Most of the rest died by suicide. One woman lost a late pregnancy.
Of the cases reporters were able to identify and examine closely, at least one-third had allegations or evidence of poor medical care before their deaths, based on lawsuits, internal jail investigations, state police records and interviews.
Now, under the coronavirus threat, medical care in jails — where most people are awaiting trial — is sure to be tested. As of Monday, at least 79 people incarcerated or working in jails or prisons in 16 states had tested positive for the coronavirus, including at least seven in Massachusetts.
JAIL DEATH DATA
WBUR's reporting is based on:
- Internal investigations and mortality reviews
- Court records and lawsuits
- Jail and medical records
- State police reports
- Interviews with victims' families, lawyers, sheriffs and jail officials
Before the outbreak, WBUR made an independent accounting of Massachusetts jail deaths. That examination also found that the Department of Justice's tally of deaths in custody is inaccurate and does not represent the full breadth of lives lost. In the latest nine-year period available, Massachusetts sheriffs reported to the DOJ that 125 people died from all causes. But WBUR found 37 more deaths.
In jails large and small, there were cases of inmates being denied prompt care. Some were not believed when they called for help, and others were simply ignored in the custody of sheriffs who have a legal obligation to care for them.
Susan Chamberlain lost her husband. Tony Dunn lost his son. Abigale Mulstay lost her sister. Judith Tavarez lost her father. All still have questions about how their loved ones died.
Family members of Massachusetts county jail inmates who died. Clockwise from far left, Judith Tavarez, Ellen Shannon, Janice Pendleton and Susan Chamberlain. (Jesse Costa and Robin Lubbock/WBUR)
On any given day in the commonwealth, there are about 9,500 people held in 13 county jails, more than in the state's prisons. A majority of those people, 65%, have not been convicted of a crime, sheriffs say. The rest are serving sentences of less than two-and-a-half years.
"A lot of people coming into jails ... are not necessarily hardened criminals," said Andrew Harris, professor of criminology and justice studies at the University of Massachusetts, Lowell. "And in many, many cases they're there because they can't make bail."
Jails are operated by elected sheriffs and funded by state taxpayers. Under the U.S. Constitution, jails are required to provide health care comparable to what people receive in the community. But that's not always how it works.
"All too often," Fathi said, "jail health care is vastly inferior, in some cases virtually nonexistent."
Inmates peer through the windows behind cell doors inside the Worcester County jail. (Jesse Costa/WBUR)
At the Suffolk County House of Correction, a man complaining of stomach pain for days wasn't sent to the hospital in time; he died of a bowel obstruction. In the back of an Essex County sheriff's van for six hours, an inmate died of an overdose, as guards sat in the front seat. In the Bristol County jail, a woman died of a heart infection in a hallway, waiting for a ride to the infirmary.
Certainly some who had medical problems would have died regardless of whether they were incarcerated. Many struggle with mental illness and drug addiction. These can also be factors in suicides, which account for one-third of the Massachusetts jail deaths that WBUR reviewed.
People who died in jail frequently did so within days or weeks of arriving. A WBUR analysis shows that nearly half the deaths occurred in the first month of incarceration.
'Everybody Writes It Off'
Michael Ramey with his niece, Alex Joyce, in 2000. (Courtesy Kerri Joyce)
Michael Ramey's older sister, Kerri Joyce, saw him at Christmas before he died, in 2015. She bought him a few sweatshirts and hoped he'd stay sober this time.
They grew up in Randolph. Ramey's sister said he was smart, funny and sweet. College wasn't for him as he wanted to work with his hands, like his relatives with union jobs. In his 20s, he was prescribed pain medication for a skull fracture and became addicted.
In July 2016, Ramey was booked at the decrepit Worcester County jail, awaiting trial for unarmed robbery. His intake form and medical records showed he had hepatitis C, epilepsy, anxiety and a history of drug use.
Within days, medical records show, Ramey started to complain about headaches. Over the next month, his speech was slurred, and he had paralysis on his left side.
On Aug. 13, jail medical staff sent him to Saint Vincent Hospital. A doctor diagnosed Ramey with atypical migraines, and said he needed to see a neurologist within a week.
Saint Vincent Hospital in Worcester. (Jesse Costa/WBUR)
But the guards returned Ramey to his cell, and staff never set up that appointment, according to the family's lawsuit. About 10 days later, Ramey fell down for the first of several times, medical records show.
The medical staff suspected he was lying about his symptoms to get drugs.
A nurse practitioner wrote in Ramey's record that he was showing "apparent medication seeking behavior." After a body-strength test, she stated he "does not appear to be using full effort."
Ramey fell again the next day. Crying, he explained he couldn't feel his left leg. The jail physician also wrote that Ramey was showing "med seeking behavior."
The family's attorney, Hector Pineiro, said in an interview, "Even though this kid is screaming that he has a neurological condition that's raging, everybody writes it off."
Attorney Hector Pineiro reviews documents related to a former inmate's case at John Adams Courthouse in Boston. (Jesse Costa/WBUR)
On Aug. 30, records show Ramey complained of headaches, left-side pain and dizziness. He fell face-down on the floor, in front of the staff.
WBUR asked Dr. Matthew Tobey, a physician with Massachusetts General Hospital who has experience working in jails, to review the case. He said, "It is surprising and troubling that the jail's medical staff did not recognize worsening meningitis."
Over the next several days, Ramey's symptoms waxed and waned. Sometimes he refused to have his vital signs taken. He asked for the anti-seizure medication the hospital physician had prescribed but the jail had stopped giving him.
By Sept. 7, a licensed practical nurse found Ramey on the floor of his cell, unable to walk to the door.
Ramey's medical records said, "He was repeatedly shouting, 'What, I can't hear you. I can't hear or see anything … I need help, something is wrong.' "
The medical staff sent Ramey back to Saint Vincent Hospital. Eight days later, a standard test showed he had cryptococcal meningitis, which the lawsuit claims should've been detected by medical staff.
"Nobody thought he was being truthful," Ramey's sister, Joyce, said. "I can't believe how sick he was, and the reaction he got from the medical professionals."
WBUR found numerous cases in the state where jail and medical staff assumed inmates were lying about their symptoms — "malingering," as they call it in jail. But reflexively disbelieving inmates can lead to medical conditions growing more serious, and even to death.
"There is a baked-in cynicism about what inmates say and what they complain about," Harris, the UMass professor, said. "It's just part of the correctional culture. The risk is that you assume that everybody is lying to you."
The Ramey family is suing the Worcester County sheriff's staff and the health care provider, Wellpath Holdings Inc., of Nashville, Tenn., as well as Saint Vincent Hospital.
Spokespersons for Wellpath and the hospital declined to comment on Ramey. In an interview, Wellpath President Kip Hallman said jails are challenging clinical environments, and that patients often are in poor health and haven't seen doctors outside of jail in a long time. (Wellpath is a financial underwriter for WBUR. It has no editorial involvement in this story.)
An inmate walks down a hallway inside the Worcester County jail. (Jesse Costa/WBUR)
Feds Investigated Worcester
The Worcester County jail came under rare federal scrutiny in 2007, when the DOJ investigated the facility after what it called an "alarming" number of suicides.
The resulting 2008 report cited massive overcrowding, brutality by guards, overuse of restraints and segregation, and a failure to properly assess inmates' mental health upon arrival.
Worcester County Jail
Current sheriff: Lewis Evangelidis
Total deaths 2008-2018: 27
Average inmate population (2018): 952
Health care provider: Wellpath
The DOJ questioned the jail's ability "to keep its inmates safe" and made numerous recommendations. But the report said even federal officials could not get a complete read on Worcester: "The Jail has repeatedly refused to give our expert consultants access to the facility's mortality reviews," citing attorney-client privilege. "Consequently, we are unable to determine whether the Jail is conducting a meaningful analysis of its in-custody deaths."
Mortality reviews are reports that sheriffs, with the help of medical staff, must complete within 30 days of a death under state Department of Correction rules. They're meant to summarize the circumstances of each death, and to report any necessary improvements in care or procedures. But the mortality reviews WBUR was able to obtain hid key elements from the public.
For example, the Worcester sheriff's report on Ramey states: "Pursuant to policy, the mortality review will seek to determine" — but the next three pages were blacked out.
The reports are "all self-congratulatory" and often blame the inmate's death on a "bad lifestyle," said Pineiro, Ramey's attorney, who has seen several of these reviews.
The for-profit medical providers hired at many jails add a layer of secrecy. They aren't subject to public records laws as sheriffs are, nor do they have to offer information to grieving families.
In the wake of the DOJ report, Worcester County Sheriff Lewis Evangelidis, a former state lawmaker elected sheriff in 2010, made some changes. He hired an outside firm to take over health care: NaphCare Inc., which was later replaced by Wellpath.
Since the DOJ investigation, 29 more people have died in the Worcester County sheriff's custody. Ten were suicides; the rest resulted from a variety of medical issues. Evangelidis declined to be interviewed.
Jail Superintendent David Tuttle would not discuss the Ramey case, but said in an interview that many of the people who've died in Worcester had serious medical issues when they arrived.
"We don't want it to happen, but it's not by any neglect of ours," Tuttle said.
Weak Oversight Of Deaths Reported To DOJ
The federal Death in Custody Reporting Act requires the government to collect data on the more than 1,000 inmates who die every year in American jails. Sheriffs have been required to file a form called a CJ-9, which provides the inmate's name, age, race, cause of death and other information.
But compliance by the roughly 3,000 U.S. jails has been voluntary. The DOJ's Bureau of Justice Statistics, which for years has compiled the data, has no enforcement teeth. The result is that an unknown number of deaths go uncounted, and since 2014, reports have been years late.
A bureau spokeswoman in an email blamed the delay on the complexity of gathering the data, and on waiting for medical examiners' reports.
As to the discrepancy between the DOJ's death count and the 37 more deaths discovered by WBUR, Ann Carson, acting chief of the bureau's corrections unit, said, "We report what is reported to us, and we trust our respondents."
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A new system launched this year will be even less transparent. Another arm of the DOJ will rely on states to collect death data. In Massachusetts, a unit of the Executive Office of Public Safety and Security is assuming this role. It will take information from the state's medical examiner — instead of directly from sheriffs, a spokesman said.
WBUR found Massachusetts sheriffs largely unaware of the change, raising questions about how thorough the death count will be nationwide. When asked for a list of jail deaths under the new system, the state did not provide the records.
"The quality of your data is going to diminish," with the reporting change, said Nancy Neveloff Dubler, professor emerita at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York and a specialist in the ethics of jail health care. "It's about to get worse, and less reliable."
To create an accounting of deaths, WBUR sought public records from the 13 sheriffs who run county jails in the commonwealth. The information they provided varied widely.
Sheriffs in five large counties — Essex, Middlesex, Worcester, Norfolk and Hampden — all refused to disclose the identities of the dead, citing medical privacy or potential litigation.
Sheriffs' internal investigations of the 127 deaths due to medical reasons sometimes didn't include key interviews with witnesses or guards, or video went missing.
"... many of these deaths, in fact, reflect conditions that the person was exposed to behind bars."
Dr. Homer Venters
It's unclear whether corrections officers or medical staff faced repercussions in the wake of these deaths and internal investigations. Officials at the Suffolk and Worcester County jails said they could not recall anyone being punished.
Disciplinary records for jail employees are not considered public in Massachusetts. WBUR found one licensed practical nurse fired, at the Barnstable jail, in its review of deaths.
Several physicians and criminal justice specialists said there should be independent probes of these deaths, to determine if there was medical neglect or insufficient care.
"It's not enough to simply report the number of people who die,'' said Dr. Homer Venters, a former medical director of the New York City jail system.
"We shouldn't leave it to a sheriff or commissioner of corrections to say that somebody's death from diabetes or from heart disease or from suicide or withdrawal was simply a product of their own profile of pathology. Because many of these deaths, in fact, reflect conditions that the person was exposed to behind bars."
A 'Baby Boy'
Even amid signs of an obvious medical emergency, WBUR found, inmates were often ignored in jail.
Lidia Lech, 32, was about five-and-a-half months pregnant when she arrived at the Western Massachusetts Regional Women's Correctional Center on a probation violation.
At her Oct. 4, 2013, intake, medical staff diagnosed the Southampton woman as having a high-risk pregnancy. She later told them of a previous miscarriage.
Over several weeks, Lech complained to medical staff under the Hampden County Sheriff's Department that she was feeling numbness in her extremities, reduced fetal movement and cramping.
Jail nurses told her to drink water, lie on her side and monitor the fetus' movement. It would be the first of many times she was told this, according to her lawsuit against the jail and its employees.
Her allegations include the following details:
Corrections officers took her to Baystate Medical Center on Dec. 5 for a checkup. A doctor reported the fetus was active, according to the exam. But within a couple of days, Lech had more troubling symptoms, including headaches, a rash and itching.
By Dec. 23, Lech told jail medical staff she had severe cramping and numbness in her leg, and felt the fetus moving less. She also said she was bleeding. These symptoms continued for about 10 days.
"Ms. Lech also began to experience a feeling of her baby withering away inside of her, making her tremendously afraid of the well-being for her baby."
Dave Rountree
The staff's advice was the same: drink water, lie on her side and monitor the fetal movement.
"Ms. Lech also began to experience a feeling of her baby withering away inside of her, making her tremendously afraid of the well-being for her baby," her attorney, Dave Rountree, said in an interview.
Terrified, she begged to go to the hospital. The lawsuit claims staff thought Lech was "stressed out" and "overbearing."
On New Year's Day 2014, Lech, in excruciating pain, believed she was in labor. She started to bleed profusely and pleaded with a corrections officer to get help that evening.
Rountree said an officer asked how bad her symptoms were; nursing staff wanted to know if she could wait until morning. Only after a consultation with Baystate did the jail staff send her to the hospital.
A doctor at Baystate detected a placental abruption that put Lech's health in jeopardy. There was no fetal heartbeat.
Hampden County Jail
Current sheriff: Nicholas Cocchi
Average inmate population (2018): 1,165
Health care provider: In-house
The current sheriff, Nick Cocchi, declined to comment on the Lech case, citing the lawsuit. In a statement, his spokesman, Stephen O'Neil, said the women's jail "provides quality care to all of the pregnant females in our custody, and the Department maintains that Lidia Lech received such quality care while she was in our custody."
A spokesperson for Baystate, which is also being sued, declined to comment. The state police did not investigate this case.
An autopsy revealed an infection that, the lawsuit claims, could have been treated with antibiotics. The fetus was at least 34 gestational weeks old, but had been dead inside Lech for some time.
The Hampden sheriff's death records identified him simply as "baby boy."
Lech had named him Kaiden.
Unexamined Sick Slips
About 60 miles east, at the Worcester County jail, another inmate's written plea for help was ignored by medical staff.
Jail medical records show Ziggy Lemanski had a weak immune system from HIV and hepatitis C.
Over several days in February 2008, Lemanski felt flu-like symptoms, according to a lawsuit filed by his brother, Mario Lemanski.
Ziggy Lemanski's condition deteriorated in front of the guards and nurses who gave him his daily HIV medication.
He struggled to get out of bed and was coughing up blood. He wrote to the medical staff that he needed antibiotics.
"I've been in bed since Saturday," he scrawled on a form known as a sick slip, a copy of which was part of the lawsuit against the jail. "I've been coughing up dark phlegm and [having diarrhea] and feel weak and the chills."
An image of Ziggy Lemanski's sick slip from his family's lawsuit.
Filing a sick slip, as Lemanski did, is the main way to ask for help in a Massachusetts county jail. It's a piece of paper inmates fill out and put into a locked box, like a mail slot.
Medical staff are supposed to review a sick slip within 24 hours. But no one examined Lemanski that day, or the next, the lawsuit claims.
A box where inmates at the Worcester County jail submit "sick slips" to request medical care. (Jesse Costa/WBUR)
When he eventually was sent to the jail's infirmary, he was dehydrated, his heart was beating rapidly and his oxygen level was dangerously low. On the morning of Feb. 29, an ambulance took Lemanski to Saint Vincent Hospital.
That night, the suit alleges, a jail nurse reported giving Lemanski a dose of medication in his cell. But the nurse couldn't have; Lemanski was dying in the hospital at that time.
Mario Lemanksi recalls physicians at the hospital apologizing to him, saying, "By the time they brought him in here ... his lungs were so congested they wouldn't even show up on an x-ray."
Within days, Ziggy Lemanski died of pneumonia. He was 44.
"If it could happen to Ziggy, it could happen to anybody," Mario Lemanski said. He spent years seeking justice for his brother.
At his home in Worcester, Mario Lemanski holds a family photo album that sits atop paperwork regarding his brother's death. (Robin Lubbock/WBUR)
A decade after Lemanski's death, a lawyer representing the jail met with Mario Lemanski to settle the lawsuit. The ceiling on suits against taxpayer-funded agencies is generally $100,000, and the lawyer made clear the jail wanted to negotiate an even lower payout, Lemanski recalled.
In 2018, the sheriff's office agreed to pay Lemanski $62,500.
"In the state's eyes, his life didn't mean anything," he said.
A photograph of Ziggy Lemanski kept in a family album by his brother. (Robin Lubbock/WBUR)
This segment aired on March 24, 2020.
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Cavs Beaten by Kings, 109-95
On Wednesday night, Vince Carter made a season-high with 24 points, and the Sacramento Kings passed the Cleveland Cavaliers a second straight loss of theirs with a victory of 109-95. It was cause of a rib injury and also due to coach's decision Carter had missed the earlier three games. The former 40-year old Dunk King brought Cleveland all types of troubles in his return, shooting within only 30 minutes a ten of twelve.
On Christmas Eve at the Golden State, Cleveland was coming off a loss of 99-92, ceasing the 26-game streak of Cavalier with 100 points or even more. It's since a four-game slide from 25th Oct till Nov. 1st Cleveland had not dropped any continuous games. Willie Cauley-Stein had 9 rebounds and 17 points for the Sacramento, and bogdan Bogdanovic included eight assists and 16 points, Zach Randolph had seven boards and 14 points. LeBron James had 14 assists and 10 rebounds for the Cave along with 16 points, and 23 points was scored by Kevin Love.
James viewed the transition defense of the team as the main and first reason for its loss to Golden State. This time it was big night and an irregular offense by Carter that did in the ruling Eastern Conference champions.
Carter score a 3-pointer buzzer-beating to give Sacramento a lead of 85-80 heading into the fourth-quarter. He then hitched again from a long range to achieve 101-87 with left timing 5:38, and then scored a 16- foot double-pump shot atop Jae Crowder before making over a standing ovation with only 20:1 secs left.
This season Carter didn't made any more than 8 points in a game.
The long awaited debut of Isaiah Thomas for Cleveland was held off for another game atleast. The veteran point guard, who is setting back from a hip injury, pulled off before the loss and there was supposition that before being ruled out he may play against the Kings.
Cleveland had triumphed five out of the last six against the Kings. Malachi Richardson in Cavs also made a start up of his career scoring four points.
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Paisa Vasool is a 2017 Telugu action comedy film written and directed by Puri Jagannadh. The film is produced by V. Anand Prasad under Bhavya Creations banner. The film starring Nandamuri Balakrishna, Shriya Saran in the lead roles and Vikramjeet Virk plays the key role. The film is music composed by Anup Rubens and cinematography by Mukesh G. The film is scheduled to release on 1st September 2017.


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Liam Fox – 2017 Speech on Brexit and Global Trade
Below is the text of the speech made by Liam Fox, the Secretary of State for International Trade and the President of the Board of Trade, in Mexico City on 27 July 2017.
It is a pleasure to be here today in Mexico City, to speak to you about Britain's new place in the world, and the growing importance of the relationship between the UK and Mexico.
I would like to extend my thanks to HSBC for hosting such an excellent event, and giving me the opportunity to share the government's vision of the UK's commercial and economic future.
It is fitting that we are hosted by HSBC, the largest UK investor in Mexico. Their presence here is not only an important part of the commercial ties that already connect our nations, but also indicative of the future direction of that relationship.
Last night, I was fortunate enough to enjoy dinner with my colleague, Minister for the Economy Ildefonso Guajardo.
We stressed the need to redouble our efforts to increase bilateral trade between the Mexico and the UK, especially given the wealth of opportunities that exist in both countries.
Like me, Minister Guajardo sees the need to champion global free trade, and ensure that the larger economies of the world, such as the UK and Mexico, work together to reverse a rising tide of protectionism.
Our agreement on these key issues is symbolic of the wider relationship between Mexico and the United Kingdom.
Fundamentally, our two nations have a very similar global outlook. So much so, that we have hardly ever disagreed on the world stage.
Time and again, at the UN, the G20, and the WTO, the UK and Mexico have shown a united front, working together to address global issues.
This closeness has been underlined by the personal ties that continue to link our two countries, as increasing numbers of people move between Mexico and the UK to travel, work, and study.
But there is more to do. The level of trade and commerce between two large economies can, and should, be far greater.
At our meeting last night, Secretary Guajardo and I launched an informal Trade Dialogue, aiming at discussing how to ensure that the preferential arrangements that the UK currently enjoys with Mexico remain in place as we leave the EU.
At the same time, we reiterated our support for an ambitious and speedy outcome to the modernisation of the EU-Mexico FTA.
As I said last night, there are no conceivable circumstances in which the UK would not want to have a free trade agreement in place with Mexico.
Going forward, our priority must be to ensure stability, continuity and transitional agreements that minimise disruption for businesses.
In the same way, the UK wants the closest possible relationship with our European neighbours, with no interruption of our trading relationship.
This will provide the most stable platform for those companies from other countries, such as Mexico, who use Britain as an access point to Europe.
Outside the EU, it is Britain's ambition to be a tireless advocate of global free trade, working with allies such as Mexico to ensure that the voice of commercial freedom is never drowned out by the increasing siren song of protectionism.
I am here today in Mexico City not only to celebrate the existing relationship between our nations, but to look to the opportunities of the future.
It is clear to any observer that Mexico's star is in the ascendancy.
Buoyed by a far-reaching package of economic reforms, including opening up the energy and telecoms sectors, and reforming the financial and education system, your economy has maintained steady growth throughout the global slowdown.
British businesses believe in Mexico, and are matching that faith with investment. Petrofac and Premier Oil have long been involved in the energy sector.
I was delighted to hear of the recent discovery of one billion plus barrels of light oil in the Zama-1 field, a resource which British companies will have a key role in extracting.
Mexico City's new international airport has been designed by Norman Foster, in a collaboration with distinguished Mexican architect Fernando Romero.
Hamley's, a British institution, has opened a store here, and, soon, state of the art British double-decker buses will be a regular sight on Reforma.
To top it off, BP has recently become the first foreign oil company to open petrol stations in Mexico, and Shell will follow next month. The belief that UK businesses have in Mexico is palpable.
The UK boasts more Mexican masters' students studying in our universities than anywhere else in Europe. Last year, Mexican and British scientists became the first in the world to develop a vaccine against Chikungunya, a tropical disease spread by mosquitos.
Already, our two countries enjoy a remarkably successful relationship.
Earlier, I touched on our shared beliefs and global attitudes. I understand that Mexico has voted more times with the UK in the UN and multilateral institutions than with any other nation.
This shows a remarkable, and important, convergence in opinion, especially for two countries situated over 5,000 miles from one another.
This can, and will, be the foundation of a deeper trading relationship, as Britain looks to build new trading relationships with new friends around the world.
I have spoken of how companies from across the United Kingdom are seizing the opportunities that Mexico has to offer.
But trading relationships have to go both ways, and the UK promises huge prospects for Mexican firms.
As the world's fifth largest economy, there is a huge market for everything from oil and gas, tourism, manufactured goods and food and drink.
The structure of our economy also has the potential to be hugely complementary to Mexico's interests. Our world-leading expertise in industries such as transport, manufacturing, education, and healthcare allow UK companies to help their Mexican counterparts grow domestically.
As the world's leading financial services centre, London is well-placed to lend its expertise to Mexican industry, whether through financing, insurance or business services.
And although there is currently only one Mexican company registered on the London Stock Exchange, we would encourage many more to follow.
For example, we are world leaders in green finance, and UK firms have worked closely with Mexico to support the development of Mexico's green bond market and clean energy certificates.
Mexico is now the leader in Latin America at issuing green bonds, including a $2 billion bond, underwritten by HSBC, for the new Mexico City airport, a shining example of successful British/Mexican collaboration in design and innovation.
The UK is home to a globally unique concentration of skills, knowledge, expertise and industries. We are constantly ranked among the best places on earth to start and grow a business, thanks in part to our progressive regulatory environment, robust legal system, and highly skilled workforce.
These intrinsic strengths will always remain. Indeed, the UK attracted more foreign direct investment projects than ever before in the year 2016 to 2017, with more than 2,200 projects recorded.
Already, companies from throughout Mexico are coming to take advantage of all the UK has to offer, including Cemex, Mexichem, Bimbo, Gruma, Kidzania, Monex and Jose Cuervo, to name a few.
They are the pioneers of what will become an extremely fruitful relationship.
They are also innovators and this is something else that unites us. I am delighted that Innovation is GREAT features today at the breakfast, as part of a year-long Innovation campaign at the embassy.
And I understand that distinguished Mexican chef, Martha Ortiz, will be opening a new, top class Mexican restaurant in Central London in September.
This will help promote appreciation of Mexico's outstanding cuisine and hospitality, a little of which I have already experienced in my short visit.
In the course of my meetings many have asked about the implications of Brexit for our bilateral relations. It is true that as we leave the EU we are opening a new chapter in our history.
For the first time in more than four decades, the UK will enjoy a fully independent trade policy, free to build closer trading ties with countries around the world, with partners new and old.
But let me make one thing clear. Any who are tempted to see our exit from the EU as evidence of Britain looking inwards should think again. We have chosen another path – to embrace the wider horizons of a truly global Britain.
That means looking for new opportunities and it represents a willingness to invest the time and energy to make the necessary partnerships succeed over a long period.
With increased bilateral trade, increased investment, and a strong strategic partnership, the UK-Mexico trading relationship is set to change radically. It can be a step change in our mutual commitment.
Already, we are working together to support each other's growth and development through exciting work streams and partnerships such as the Prosperity Fund and Senior Business Leaders Group, and I am delighted that several members of the group are represented here today.
As we work together to promote the trade and investment opportunities that exist between our two countries, our relationship will go from strength to strength.
And as Britain embraces the wider world, we will stand together with Mexico to defend free trade, and all the transformative prosperity that it can bring.
After all, it is through our friends and allies that we achieve our ambitions.
CategoriesUncategorized Tags2017, Liam Fox, Speeches
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Library Version: 2.70
Character set conversions
The g_convert() family of function wraps the functionality of iconv(). In addition to pure character set conversions, GLib has functions to deal with the extra complications of encodings for file names.
File Name Encodings
Historically, UNIX has not had a defined encoding for file names: a file name is valid as long as it does not have path separators in it ("/"). However, displaying file names may require conversion: from the character set in which they were created, to the character set in which the application operates. Consider the Spanish file name "Presentación.sxi". If the application which created it uses ISO-8859-1 for its encoding,
Character:  P  r  e  s  e  n  t  a  c  i  ó  n  .  s  x  i
Hex code:   50 72 65 73 65 6e 74 61 63 69 f3 6e 2e 73 78 69
However, if the application use UTF-8, the actual file name on disk would look like this:
Character:  P  r  e  s  e  n  t  a  c  i  ó     n  .  s  x  i
Hex code:   50 72 65 73 65 6e 74 61 63 69 c3 b3 6e 2e 73 78 69
Glib uses UTF-8 for its strings, and GUI toolkits like GTK that use GLib do the same thing. If you get a file name from the file system, for example, from readdir() or from g_dir_read_name(), and you wish to display the file name to the user, you will need to convert it into UTF-8. The opposite case is when the user types the name of a file they wish to save: the toolkit will give you that string in UTF-8 encoding, and you will need to convert it to the character set used for file names before you can create the file with open() or fopen().
By default, GLib assumes that file names on disk are in UTF-8 encoding. This is a valid assumption for file systems which were created relatively recently: most applications use UTF-8 encoding for their strings, and that is also what they use for the file names they create. However, older file systems may still contain file names created in "older" encodings, such as ISO-8859-1. In this case, for compatibility reasons, you may want to instruct GLib to use that particular encoding for file names rather than UTF-8. You can do this by specifying the encoding for file names in the G_FILENAME_ENCODING environment variable. For example, if your installation uses ISO-8859-1 for file names, you can put this in your ~/.profile:
export G_FILENAME_ENCODING=ISO-8859-1
GLib provides the functions g_filename_to_utf8() and g_filename_from_utf8() to perform the necessary conversions. These functions convert file names from the encoding specified in G_FILENAME_ENCODING to UTF-8 and vice-versa. This diagram illustrates how these functions are used to convert between UTF-8 and the encoding for file names in the file system.
Conversion between file name encodings
Checklist for Application Writers
This section is a practical summary of the detailed things to do to make sure your applications process file name encodings correctly.
If you get a file name from the file system from a function such as readdir() or gtk_file_chooser_get_filename(), you do not need to do any conversion to pass that file name to functions like open(), rename(), or fopen() — those are "raw" file names which the file system understands.
If you need to display a file name, convert it to UTF-8 first by using g_filename_to_utf8(). If conversion fails, display a string like "Unknown file name". Do not convert this string back into the encoding used for file names if you wish to pass it to the file system; use the original file name instead.
For example, the document window of a word processor could display "Unknown file name" in its title bar but still let the user save the file, as it would keep the raw file name internally. This can happen if the user has not set the G_FILENAME_ENCODING environment variable even though he has files whose names are not encoded in UTF-8.
If your user interface lets the user type a file name for saving or renaming, convert it to the encoding used for file names in the file system by using g_filename_from_utf8(). Pass the converted file name to functions like fopen(). If conversion fails, ask the user to enter a different file name. This can happen if the user types Japanese characters when G_FILENAME_ENCODING is set to ISO-8859-1, for example.