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Al-Qaeda in Spain
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7:00 a.m., April 3, 2004: Elite Police Unit Begins to Prepare to Raid Hideout of Madrid Bombers
A group of the suspected Madrid train bombers are holed in an apartment in the town of Leganes, near Madrid. Around 7:00 a.m. on April 3, 2004, members of GEO, an elite Spanish police unit, receive orders that they should prepare for a major operation. At about the same time, a government informant is picked up and driven to near the Leganes apartment (see 7:00 a.m.-Noon, April 3, 2004). (Mugica 4/23/2004) There will later be controversy as to just when the authorities discovered the apartment.
2:00-9:00 p.m., April 3, 2004: Spanish Agents Surround Suspected Madrid Bombers, Shooutout Begins
The March 2004 Madrid train bombings were not suicide bombings (see 7:37-7:42 a.m., March 11, 2004), and most of the key bombers remain in Spain, holed up in an apartment in the town of Leganes, near Madrid. By April 3, 2004, Spanish police are tipped off about the general location of the apartment from monitoring cell phone calls. Agents from the Spanish intelligence agency, the UCI, arrive near the apartment around 2:00 p.m. The head of the UCI unit on the scene will later say that he is told around this time that the specific floor where the suspects are has been pinpointed through phone intercepts, but he will not recall who tells him this. At about 5:00 p.m., one of the suspected bombers, Abdelmajid Boucher, goes outside to throw away the trash. He spots the plainclothes agents surrounding the house and runs away. The agents pursue him but he gets away. Presumably, he soon calls the other men in the apartment to let them know the police are outside. A gunfight breaks out between the police and the men in the apartment. (Sotero 3/21/2007; Sotero 3/21/2007) During the several hours of shooting, the bombers make a series of phone calls to relatives, telling them good-bye. They also allegedly somehow call radical imam Abu Qatada three times, even though he is being held in a maximum security prison in Britain, and get religious approval for their planned suicides (see Between 6:00 and 9:00 p.m., April 3, 2004). When police assault the apartment shortly after 9:00 p.m. that evening, the seven bombers still there are reportedly huddled together and blow themselves up (see 9:05 p.m., April 3, 2004). (Wright 7/26/2004; Irujo 2005, pp. 360-361) In late 2005, Boucher will be arrested while traveling through Serbia by train. He will be extradited to Spain and sentenced to 18 years in prison (see October 31, 2007). (Maroevic and Williams 12/1/2005)
Between 6:00 and 9:00 p.m., April 3, 2004: Abu Qatada Allegedly Gives Madrid Bombers Permission to Blow Themselves Up
By about 6:00 p.m. on April 3, 2004, a group of seven suspects in the Madrid train bombings (see 7:37-7:42 a.m., March 11, 2004) are trapped in an apartment in the town of Leganes near Madrid and are engaged in a shootout with the police force surrounding them (see 2:00-9:00 p.m., April 3, 2004). This group of Islamist militants is said to be inspired by radical imam Abu Qatada, who has been held in the Belmarsh high security prison in Britain since 2002 (see October 23, 2002). Spanish police will later claim that these suspects call Qatada three times during the shootout, seeking religious authorization to commit suicide since they have been cornered by police. UPI will comment, "Madrid police could not explain how the terrorists could telephone somebody supposedly in a British prison." They also call people in Indonesia and Tunisia who are said to be linked to suspected terrorists. They receive the permission from Qatada. Then they purify themselves with holy water from Mecca and dress in white funeral shrouds made from the apartment's curtains. (United Press International 5/14/2004) The seven suspects allegedly blow themselves up when police start to raid their apartment shortly after 9:00 p.m. (see 9:05 p.m., April 3, 2004).
9:05 p.m., April 3, 2004: Seven Key Madrid Bombers Blow Themselves Up
The explosion in the Leganes apartment. [Source: Associated Press]The March 2004 Madrid train bombings were not suicide bombings (see 7:37-7:42 a.m., March 11, 2004), and most of the key bombers remain in Spain, holed up in an apartment in the town of Leganes, near Madrid. The police surrounded them in the early afternoon and a several hour shootout began (see 2:00-9:00 p.m., April 3, 2004). GEO, an elite police unit, arrives around 8:00 p.m. The head of GEO will later testify that he decides to assault the apartment immediately because of reports they have explosives. The entire area has already been evacuated. There reportedly is some shouting back and forth, but no negotiations. One of the bombers reportedly shouts, "Enter, you suckers!" At 9:30, the GEO unit knocks down the door to the apartment with explosives and throws tear gas into the room. But the bombers are reportedly huddled together and blow themselves up. One GEO agent is also killed in the explosion. The bombers killed are: Allekema Lamari, Serhane Abdelmajid Fakhet, Abdennabi Kounjaa, Arish Rifaat, Jamal Ahmidan (alias "El Chino"), and the brothers Mohammed Oulad Akcha and Rachid Oulad Akcha. Others are believed to have escaped during the shootout. (Wright 7/26/2004; Irujo 2005, pp. 360-361; Sotero 3/22/2007) Lamari, Fakhet, and Ahmidan are thought to have been the top leaders of the plot. (BBC 3/10/2005) It will later emerge that close associates of both Fakhet and Lamari were government informants (see Shortly Before March 11, 2004), and that Spanish intelligence specifically warned in November 2003 that the two of them were planning an attack in Spain on a significant target (see November 6, 2003). Furthermore, Fakhet himself may have been a government informant (see Shortly After October 2003).
April 4, 2004: Plans for Further Attacks Found in Raided Apartment of Madrid Bombers
Video footage taken from the Leganes apartment. [Source: Spanish Interior Ministry]On April 3, 2004, seven of the key Madrid train bombers reportedly blow themselves up in an apartment in the town of Leganes near Madrid (see 9:05 p.m., April 3, 2004), and investigators soon find interesting evidence in the wreckage. A video is found showing three of the bombers wearing masks, holding guns, and making threats. One of them reads a statement in the name of the "Al Mufti Brigades" and "Ansar al-Qaeda" giving Spain one week "to leave Muslim lands." Failing this, they say, "we will continue our jihad until martyrdom." Apparently this is in response to the new Socialist government in Spain announcing that it would double its number of troops in Afghanistan while withdrawing troops from Iraq. Evidence will also be found that the group was planning to bomb some local targets, possibly including a Jewish community center. Investigators believe the video was meant to be shown after the group had bombed again. It is unclear exactly who is in the video or when it was made, but the speaker is believed to be Serhane Abdelmajid Fakhet. (Tremlett 4/9/2004; Sciolino, Fuchs, and Daly 4/14/2004) Investigators also find various jihadist manuals, including some that give advice on how to resist interrogations. (Romero and Ordaz 2/18/2007)
April 14, 2004: Spanish Government Says Madrid Bombings Funded by Drug Money
Emilio Suarez Trashorras. [Source: Agence France-Presse / Getty Images]Spanish government officials announce that the Madrid train bombings (see 7:37-7:42 a.m., March 11, 2004) were funded largely by drug money. The bombers bought the explosives from a criminal using drugs as payment. The criminal, Emilio Suarez Trashorras, will turn out to also work as a government informant, informing about drug deals (see June 18, 2004)). The bombers also use profits from drug sales to rent an apartment, buy a car, and purchase the cell phones used as detonators in the bombs. No estimate is given as to just how much money the plotters made by selling drugs. But because of these profits the bombers apparently do not need any money from militants overseas. (Associated Press 4/14/2004) One of the main bombers, Jamal Ahmidan, alias "El Chino," was a long time dealer in hashish. (Irujo 2005) Several months before the bombings, he shot someone in the leg for failing to pay for the drugs he had given them. (Elliott 11/25/2007)
April 15, 2004: Bin Laden Possibly Offers Truce to Europe, but Offer Is Rejected
A man thought to be Osama bin Laden offers European countries a truce, but the offer is rejected. Following bombings in Madrid, Spain, (see 7:37-7:42 a.m., March 11, 2004) a new audiotape featuring a voice thought to be bin Laden's is released and addresses Europeans. After mentioning the occupation of Palestine, the voice says: "[W]hat happened to you on September 11 and March 11 are your goods returned to you. It is well known that security is a vital necessity for every human being. We will not let you monopolize it for yourselves." The speaker compares actions by militant Islamists to those of the West and its allies, in particular the killing of a wheelchair-bound Hamas leader, and asks: "In what creed are your dead considered innocent but ours worthless? By what logic does your blood count as real and ours as no more than water? Reciprocal treatment is part of justice, and he who commences hostilities is the unjust one." The voice also says, "This war is making billions of dollars for the big corporations, whether it be those who manufacture weapons or reconstruction firms like Halliburton and its offshoots and sister companies." The speaker finishes by saying that his actions have been in response to the West's alleged interference in Muslim lands: "For we only killed Russians after they invaded Afghanistan and Chechnya, we only killed Europeans after they invaded Afghanistan and Iraq, and we only killed Americans in New York after they supported the Jews in Palestine and invaded the Arabian peninsula, and we only killed them in Somalia after they invaded it in Operation Restore Hope." (BBC 4/15/2004; Laden 2005, pp. 233-6)
May 7, 2004: Oregon Lawyer Mistakenly Arrested in Connection with Madrid Train Bombings, Let Go
Attorney Brandon Mayfield [Source: MSNBC]Attorney Brandon Mayfield of Portland, Oregon, is taken into custody by the FBI in connection with the March 11 bomb attacks in Madrid (see 7:37-7:42 a.m., March 11, 2004). His detention is based on information from Spanish authorities that he had some involvement in the train bombings that killed 191 people and wounded more than 1,800. FBI sources say Mayfield's fingerprints were found on a plastic bag with bomb-related material that is being considered as evidence in the train bombing. Sources say he had been under constant surveillance. Mayfield is an Islamic convert. (Arena 5/7/2004) He is jailed for 14 days as a material witness to a terrorism investigation. The status of "material witness" means that he can be held without charge. The FBI affidavit that led to his arrest claims the fingerprint to be a "100 percent positive" match to the print on the bag. Officials say it is an "absolutely incontrovertible match." However, Spanish authorities express their doubts about US claims and announce in late May that they have matched the fingerprint to an Algerian, Ouhnane Daoud. Flaws in the US investigation rapidly become apparent. The FBI did not examine the original fingerprint evidence until after the Spanish announcement. Four FBI examiners "concurred that the latent fingerprint had multiple separations; that it was divided by many lines of demarcation possibly caused by creases in the underlying material, multiple touches by one or more fingers, or both," according to court records. The examiners conclude that the digital copy the FBI was working from was "of no value for identification purposes." The FBI comes under heavy media criticism for its material witness detainment policy and its use of scant and/or secret evidence. The competence of the investigators is called into question due to the lack of attention paid to the concerns of the Spanish investigators. (Murphy 5/28/2004) Mayfield is never charged, and the Justice Department later issues a formal apology for the intense and invasive investigation, as well as a $2 million settlement. In an unprecedented element of the settlement, the FBI agrees to destroy communication intercepts from the investigation. Mayfield contends that he was a victim of profiling and strongly criticizes the investigation. He says "I, myself, have dark memories of stifling paranoia, of being monitored, followed, watched, tracked. I've been surveilled, followed, targeted primarily because I've been an outspoken critic of this administration and doing my job to defend others who can't defend themselves, to give them their day in court, and mostly for being a Muslim." (Schuster and Frieden 11/30/2006) The official apology mentions that, "The FBI has implemented a number of measures in an effort to ensure that what happened to Mr. Mayfield and the Mayfield family does not happen again." (Washington Post 11/29/2006)
June 18, 2004: Madrid Bomber Shown to Have Curious Link to Spanish Government Bomb Squad
Juan Jesus Sanchez Manzano. [Source: PBS]It is revealed that the man accused of supplying the dynamite used in the March 2004 Madrid train bombings (see 7:37-7:42 a.m., March 11, 2004) was an informant who had the private telephone number of the head of Spain's Civil Guard bomb squad. Emilio Suarez Trashorras, a miner with access to explosives, as well as an associate named Rafa Zouhier both regularly informed for the Spanish police, telling them about drug shipments. (Fuchs 4/30/2004; Owen 6/19/2004) Trashorras began working as an informant after being arrested for drug trafficking in July 2001, while Zouhier became an informant after being released from prison early in February 2002. (Irujo 2005, pp. 277-288) Shortly after the Madrid bombings, investigators discover that Trashorras' wife Carmen Toro has a piece of paper with the telephone number of Juan Jesus Sanchez Manzano, head of Tedax, the Civil Guard bomb squad. She and her brother Antonio Toro are also informants (September 2003-February 2004). All four of them were arrested on charges of supplying the explosives for the Madrid bombings (see March 2003 and September 2003-February 2004). (Fuchs 4/30/2004; Owen 6/19/2004) The London Times later comments, "The revelation has raised fresh concerns in Madrid about links between those held responsible for the March bombings, which killed 190 people, and Spain's security services, and shortcomings in the police investigation." (Owen 6/19/2004) Trashorras will eventually be sentenced to life in prison for his role in the bombings, Zouhier will also get a ten or more year prison term, and the Toros will be acquitted (see October 31, 2007). (MSNBC 10/31/2007)
July-October 18, 2004: Spanish Informant Exposes Plot to Bomb High Court in Madrid
Abdelkader Farssaoui, a.k.a. Cartagena, served as a government informant from late 2001 to June 2003, informing on a group of the Madrid train bombers (see September 2002-October 2003). He continued to work with Spanish authorities, and in July 2004, several months after the Madrid train bombings, he hears about a new Spanish bomb plot. He tells authorities that the plot is being led by a man named Mohamed Achraf, who is leading the effort despite being held in a prison in Switzterland on immigration violations. Achraf's plan is to blow up the National Justice Building (Audiencia Nacional) in Madrid, using 500 kilos (1,100 lbs) of explosives. He is leading a criminal network and has been raising the money for the explosives through robbery and drug trafficking. He hopes that the bomb will kill judges Baltasar Garzon and Juan del Olmo, who are in charge of investigations against suspected al-Qaeda figures in Spain. He also hopes the destruction of the building will destroy many documents about Islamist militants in Spain. (Lazaro 10/21/2004) Beginning on October 18, 2004, Spain arrests about 30 people who they accuse of involvement in the plot. Achraf will be extradited to Spain to stand trial with the others there. As of early 2008, no verdicts have been reached. (BBC 10/22/2004; Wood 10/15/2007)
November 29, 2004: Former Spanish Prime Minister Suggests Basque Separatists Were Connected to Madrid Train Bombings
Recently retired Spanish Prime Minister Jose María Aznar says to a parliamentary investigation, "There is absolute proof that shows… a connection between ETA terrorists and Islamic terrorism.… I am one of those who believe that all [forms of] terrorism end up being connected." ETA are a Basque separatist group. According to the Guardian, Aznar's political party lost a national election three days after the March 2004 Madrid train bombings (see 7:37-7:42 a.m., March 11, 2004) "partly because voters mistrusted his government's initial insistence that ETA, rather than Islamists, was to blame." Since then, little evidence has come forward suggesting any ETA link with the bombing, although some of the Arab bomb suspects had contacts with some ETA associates in prison several years before. Aznar denies that his government lied about what it knew regarding who was responsible for the bombings. "My conscience is clear… we told the truth about what we knew." (Tremlett 11/29/2004) Many Spaniards, especially supporters of Aznar's conservative Popular Party, continue to assert that there was an ETA link. The Observer comments, "Few experts, however, give credence to the ETA theory. Some see it as an attempt by the [Popular] Party to muddy the waters in a vain bid to save the party's battered reputation." (Tremlett 11/28/2004)
March 18-19, 2005: Brothers with Alleged Long-time Al-Qaeda Links Arrested in Britain and Spain
On March 18, 2005, Mouhannad Almallah is arrested in Madrid, Spain. The next day, his brother Moutaz Almallah is arrested in Slough, near London. Both are accused of involvement in the 2004 Madrid train bombings (see 7:37-7:42 a.m., March 11, 2004). (Khan 3/20/2005) The arrests come less than two weeks after it was widely reported that in 2004 police had found a sketch of the New York Grand Central Station terminal in an apartment where Mouhannad was living, leading to suspicions that he was involved in a planned attack on New York. (Escriva and Marraco 3/2/2005) It appears that Moutaz was under surveillance in Spain for al-Qaeda links since 1995, and Mouhannad since 1998 (see November 1995). Mouhannad was arrested shortly after the Madrid bombings, but then released (see March 16, 2004). Moutaz will be extradited to Spain in March 2007, but he has yet to be put on trial. (Reuters 3/8/2007) In 2007, Mouhannad will be sentenced to 12 years in prison for a role in the Madrid bombings (see October 31, 2007).
May 16, 2005: Newspaper Reveals Spanish Policeman Has Suspicious Background, Including Links to Madrid Bombers
Maussili Kalaji. [Source: El Mundo]The Madrid newspaper El Mundo reveals some curious details about Spanish police officer Ayman Maussili Kalaji and the 2004 Madrid bombings (see 7:37-7:42 a.m., March 11, 2004):
Born in Syria, Kalaji belonged to the militant group Al Fatah and was also a Soviet intelligence agent. He moved to Spain in the early 1980s as a political refugee and eventually became a citizen and joined the national police by the late 1980s. He rose through the ranks and at some point he was the bodyguard to Baltasar Garzon, the Spanish judge presiding over trials of al-Qaeda-linked militants in Spain such as Barakat Yarkas.
In 1995, Kalaji sold an apartment to Moutaz Almallah. Almallah is considered a key link between the bombing cell and al-Qaeda operatives overseas. His apartment is said to be a nerve center for the plot. Kalaji admits to being in close contact with Almallah.
When a different apartment owned by Almallah was raided after the Madrid bombing, two documents were found with Kalaji's name on it. One referenced the 1995 purchase, and the second was from 2001. This apartment, on Virgen de Coro street in Madrid, was a key hub of the Madrid bombers and was under surveillance for a full year leading up to the bombings (see January 17, 2003-Late March 2004).
Kalaji is also said to have been on friendly terms with Barakat Yarkas, the leader of the al-Qaeda cell in Madrid until his arrest in November 2001. Kalaji played a role in the arrest.
In 2001, Kalaji was investigated for credit card fraud.
For many years, Kalaji's sister Lina Kalaji was in charge of translating the monitored telephone calls from Islamist cells in Spain. In 2002, she translated the intercepts of Serhane Abdelmajid Fakhet, considered one of the bombing masterminds (see 2002).
His ex-wife Marisol Kalaji is also a police officer and was the first on the scene to a van discovered the day of the bombings containing a cassette tape of the Koran. This is what first led investigators to believe the bombing was the work of Islamist and not Basque militants (see 10:50 a.m.-Afternoon, March 11, 2004).
He owns a cell phone store. The phones used to trigger the bombs were bought in a different store, but in Kalaji's store the phones' internal codes were reset so they could be used by other phone services.
He is said to go on leave not long after the bombings, due to all his curious connections. He also gives a statement to investigators regarding his role in changing the phone codes, but he is not charged for any crime. (El Mundo (Madrid) 5/17/2005; Gaffney 5/18/2005; El Mundo (Madrid) 5/20/2005; Mugica 8/22/2005) For days after El Mundo publishes its first story about Kalaji, a Spanish police commissioner will officially request Kalaji be arrested, but apparently he never is (see May 20, 2005). In August 2005, El Mundo will conclude that "it is becoming increasingly evident" that Kalaji played a "leading role" in the Madrid bombings. (Mugica 8/22/2005) Almallah will be arrested in Britain in 2005 and extradited to stand trial in Spain in 2007 (see March 18-19, 2005). (London Times 3/9/2007)
May 20, 2005: Spanish Police Unsuccessfully Ask that Police Officer Be Arrested for Role in Madrid Bombings
Spains' Commissioner General of Police, Telesforo Rubio, recommends in a report that a Spanish police officer named Ayman Maussili Kalaji should be arrested for a role in the 2004 Madrid bombings (see 7:37-7:42 a.m., March 11, 2004). The report, addressed to Juan del Olmo, the judge in charge of the bombers' trial, comes three days after the Madrid newspaper El Mundo reported on Kalaji's numerous links to some of the accused bombers, as well as the investigation itself (see May 16, 2005). The report requesting Kalaji's arrest is leaked to El Mundo in July. The judge's reply is unknown, but Kalaji is never arrested. Reportedly, the report claims that after the bombing, he gave the suspects warnings about the investigation. (El Mundo (Madrid) 7/29/2005) The report also notes that Kalaji has a background in electronics and is the most likely suspect to have soldered wires in cell phones to connect the vibrators with the bomb detonators. None of the arrested suspects have the expertise to solder the wires. The report concludes that although there is no proof he acted maliciously in adjusting the cell phones used in the bombings, there are many reasons to doubt that he did so naively. (Mugica 8/22/2005) Kalaji will testify in the Madrid bombings trial in 2007, and it will be reported that he retired after being interrogated several days after the bombings. (Sotero 3/21/2007)
September 26, 2005: Spain Convicts Some for Al-Qaeda Ties, but 9/11 Link Does Not Hold
A Spanish court sentences a number of people to prison for connections to al-Qaeda. The main defendant, Imad Eddin Barakat Yarkas, is convicted of leading an al-Qaeda cell in Madrid and conspiring to commit the 9/11 attacks by hosting a meeting in Spain in July 2001 attended by Mohamed Atta, Ramzi bin al-Shibh, and others (see July 8-19, 2001). He is sentenced to 27 years in prison. (McLean 9/27/2005) However, in 2006, Spain's supreme court will overturn his 9/11 conspiracy conviction, after prosecutors reverse themselves and ask that the conviction be dismissed. One of the reasons for the dismissal is that the US, which possesses evidence supporting the convictions, is reluctant to provide it (see Mid-2002-June 1, 2006). This will leave Zacarias Moussaoui the only person in the world jailed for a role in the 9/11 attacks. Yarkas will still have to serve a 12-year sentence for leading an al-Qaeda cell. (Naughton 6/1/2006) Seventeen men besides Yarkas, mostly Syrians, are also found guilty and are given sentences of six to eleven years. One of these is Tayseer Allouni, a correspondent for the Al Jazeera satellite network. He is convicted of giving $4,500 to a family of Syrian exiles in Afghanistan. The prosecutor alleged the family were al-Qaeda operatives, while Allouni argued he gave the money for humanitarian reasons. Two others, a Moroccan named Driss Chebli and a Syrian named Ghasoub al-Abrash Ghalyoun, were acquitted of being involved in the 9/11 plot, but Chebli was convicted of collaborating with a terrorist group. Ghalyoun was accused of videotaping the World Trade Center and other American landmarks in 1997 for the 9/11 plotters, but he claimed he was just a tourist (see 1998). (McLean 9/27/2005; Green 9/27/2005; Crawford 9/27/2005)
October 31, 2005: Al-Qaeda's Strategic Thinker Captured in Pakistan; Disappears in US Custody
Mustafa Setmarian Nasar. [Source: Public domain]Around this date, al-Qaeda leader Mustafa Setmarian Nasar, a.k.a. Abu Musab al-Suri, is arrested in a raid in Quetta, Pakistan. The US posted a $5 million reward for his capture in 2004. A red-haired, light-skinned Syrian citizen, he also is a citizen of Spain and long-time resident there. The raid takes place in a Quetta shop used as an office for the Madina Trust, a Pakistani charity that is linked to the Pakistani militant group Jaish-e-Mohammed. A man arrested with Nasar is believed to be a Jaish-e-Mohammed member; another man is killed in the raid. (CNN 11/5/2005; Associated Press 11/5/2005; Associated Press 5/2/2006) He is believed to have taught the use of poisons and chemicals at Afghanistan training camps and he is suspected of a role in the 2004 Madrid train bombings (see 7:37-7:42 a.m., March 11, 2004) and the 7/7 London bombings (see July 7, 2005). But he is best known for his strategic writings. The Washington Post calls him "one of the jihad movement's prime theorists." He long advocated a decentralized militant movement, and was often critical of bin Laden's and al-Qaeda's mistakes. He says, "Al-Qaeda is not an organization, it is not a group, nor do we want it to be. It is a call, a reference, a methodology." He is soon flown out of Pakistan and into US custody. In 2006, US intelligence sources will claim that he is now in the secret custody of another unnamed country. (Whitlock 5/23/2006; Wright 9/4/2006) In 2006, Baltasar Garzon, a Spanish judge involved in many al-Qaeda related cases, will complain that the US has not shared any information about Nasar since his secret arrest. He adds, "I don't know where he is. Nobody knows where he is. Can you tell me how this helps the struggle against terrorism?" (Sciolino 6/4/2006)
Late April 2007: Extradition Bid of Hijacker Associate Darkazanli Fails Again
Germany rejects a fresh bid from Spain to extradite Mamoun Darkazanli, a German-Syrian businessman who associated with 9/11 hijackers Mohamed Atta, Marwan Alshehhi, and Ziad Jarrah and is suspected of helping the 9/11 plot (see October 9, 1999 and Spring 2000). Germany had rejected a previous extradition request (see July 18, 2005), but German law had been amended and the Spanish, who had indicted Darkazanli on terrorism charges, tried again. The justice ministry in Hamburg was apparently in favor of extradition, but the move was blocked by the federal justice ministry, which said Germany had already investigated Darkazanli and found no grounds to prosecute him. Apparently, they could not find evidence that he supported the 9/11 plot and being a member of al-Qaeda only became illegal in Germany in 2002, so he cannot be extradited. It appears no action can now be taken against Darkazanli, and a spokesman for the justice department in the city-state of Hamburg says, "We now assume that the Darkazanli case is closed for us." (EUbusiness(.com) 4/30/2007; Agence France-Presse 4/30/2007)
October 31, 2007: 21 People Found Guilty of Role in 2004 Madrid Bombings, but Alleged Mastermind Found Innocent
Rabei Osman Sayed Ahmed. [Source: Associated Press]The trial of 28 people accused of a role in the 2004 Madrid train bombings comes to an end, and 21 are found guilty. However, only three are convicted of murder and are given life sentences: Jamal Zougam, Othman El Gnaoui, and Emilio Suarez Trashorras. Seven of the principal bombers blew themselves up one month after the bombings (see 9:05 p.m., April 3, 2004). None of the accused confessed, making convictions difficult. Rabei Osman Sayed Ahmed was accused of being the bombing mastermind. While living it Italy, he reportedly bragged, "I was the leader of Madrid," and "the Madrid bombings were my project, and those who died as martyrs there were my beloved friends." But his defense attorneys argued successfully that the tapes were mistranslated and so they were thrown out as evidence. A counterterrorism expert says the court appeared to have a very strict standard of admissible evidence. However, Ahmed is serving a ten-year prison sentence in Italy based on unrelated charges. (Whitlock 11/14/2004; MSNBC 10/31/2007; Burnett 11/1/2007) Many victims' relatives complain that the sentences are too lenient. And a spokesperson for Spain's main opposition party comments, "We still don't know who gave the order, we still don't know who built those bombs, and we still don't know who was the coordinator of these cells that carried out these attacks." (BBC 11/1/2007) Some of the other verdicts:
Hamid Ahmidan - 23 years.
Rachid Aglif - 18 years.
Abdelmajid Bouchar - 18 years.
Basel Ghalyoun - 12 years.
Mohammed Larbi ben Sellam - 12 years.
Fouad el Morabit - 12 years.
Mouhannad Almallah - 12 years.
Rafa Zouhier - 10 years.
Youssef Belhadj - 12 years.
Antonio Toro - Acquitted.
Carmen Toro - Acquitted. (El Mundo (Madrid) 11/1/2007)
November 13, 2007: Vast Majority of Spaniards Still Have Questions about Madrid Bombings after Trial
A poll conducted by the Sigma Dos polling company for Madrid's El Mundo newspaper shows that 73% of Spaniards want to see a continued investigation into the Madrid train bombings. This result comes two weeks after verdicts in the trial of most of the accused bombers (see October 31, 2007). The poll results are partly split by party loyalty. 90% of those that voted for the conservative Popular Party or its allies want to see a continued investigation while about 62% of those who voted for the ruling liberal Socialist party or its allies want to see a continued investigation. Only 40% of all those polled are satisfied with the court verdict. (Sotero 11/13/2007)
January 19, 2008: Suspected Suicide Bombers Arrested in Spain All Trained in Pakistan's Tribal Region
A group of suspected suicide bombers are arrested in Barcelona, Spain. Twelve are Pakistani and two are Indian, and all of them had trained at militant camps in Waziristan, the Pakistani tribal region where al-Qaeda has a safe haven. One of the suspected suicide bombers is actually an informant for French intelligence, known by the name Asim (see Late January 2008). Having just arrived in Barcelona from the safe haven several days before, Asim mistakenly believes that an attack is imminent. But in the rush to quickly arrest the suspects, at least six of them get away, with one supposedly taking most of the explosives with him. Spain's leading counterterrorism judge Baltasar Garzon says, "In my opinion, the jihadi threat from Pakistan is the biggest emerging threat we are facing in Europe. Pakistan is an ideological and training hotbed for jihadists, and they are being exported here." Asim claims the suspects were going to start with an attack in Barcelona, which was going to be followed by demands from al-Qaeda through Baitullah Mahsud, a militant leader in Waziristan. If their demands were not met, they would stage more attacks in Spain and then in other European countries. US officials say they monitored phone calls to Pakistan by some of the suspects. Some suspects were already under surveillance by Spanish intelligence. (Sciolino, Burnett, and Schmitt 2/10/2008)
Late January 2008: Spanish Criminal Case Reveals French Intelligence Had Informant in Al-Qaeda Safe Haven
On January 16, 2007, a young man known as Asim arrives in Barcelona. He had recently been living in the Pakistani tribal region of Waziristan as an informant for French intelligence. He comes to Barcelona to inform on a group of Pakistanis living in that town who spent time in Pakistani training camps and allegedly are planning a series of suicide attacks in Spain and possibly other European countries. He is posing as one of the suicide bombers. Fearing that an attack is imminent, Spanish authorities arrest most of the suspects three days later (see January 19, 2008). But the Spanish decide that they don't have enough physical evidence to successfully prosecute the arrested suspects, and they turn Asim into a protected witness for the prosecution. The New York Times will comment, "the case has caused diplomatic friction among investigators. Spain's handling of the French informant has enraged officials at France's intelligence agencies and eroded trust between the countries, French and other European officials said. The informant's value as a source was destroyed when he was made a prosecution witness and the contents of his statements were leaked to the news media." Asim's case contradicts the commonly held notion that intelligence agencies have been unable to penetrate al-Qaeda's central command (see March 20, 2008). But many questions remain. It is unclear when he first penetrated Waziristan as an informant, how much time he spent there, and how high level his al-Qaeda contacts there were. (Sciolino, Burnett, and Schmitt 2/10/2008)


text:
Indonesia Mandates SNI Testing and Certification for Food Contact Melamine Products
Indonesia has implemented measures to mandate the use of SNI 7322:2008 for food contact melamine products. The new law also enforces a quality management system for manufacturers and a certification process for these products. The new regulation took effect on 30 September, 2015.
On 30 September 2015, the Ministry of Industry of Indonesia published Regulation No. 77/M-IND/PER/9/2015 [1] mandating the use of SNI 7322:2008 'Melamine Products – Eating and Drinking Equipment' for food contact melamine materials and articles under HS Code 3924.10.00.10.
The new law also has a number of requirements, including:
Production audit. This can be self-declaration of implementation of Quality Management System (QMS) ISO 9001:2008 or its revision, or certification of QMS ISO 9001:2008 or its revision issued by the Quality Management System Certification Body (LSSMM) that has been accredited by KAN or an accreditation body having a signed Multilateral Recognition Arrangement (MRA) with KAN.
Raw materials. The following information on raw materials used in the polymerisation (condensation) process in the manufacture of food contact melamine products is required:
MF for melamine with formaldehyde
UF for urea with formaldehyde
FF for phenolic resins with formaldehyde
RF for a combination of melamine, urea and phenolic resins with formaldehyde
Testing. This can be conducted by a domestic or an overseas laboratory with the following conditions:
The domestic laboratory is accredited by the National Accreditation Body of Indonesia (Komite Akreditasi Nasional, KAN) with SNI 7322:2008 as the scope and must be designated by the Minister
The overseas laboratory is accredited and has a Mutual Recognition Agreement (MRA) with KAN such as the International Laboratory Accreditation Cooperation (ILAC) or the Asia Pacific Laboratory Accreditation Cooperation (APLAC) and must be appointed by the Minister
Product Certification. Manufacturers and importers are required to apply for Product Certificate of SNI-Marking (Sertifikat Produk Penggunaan Tanda SNI, SPPT-SNI) from a Certification Body (LsPro) that has been accredited by KAN and must be appointed by the Minister. The issuance of SPPT-SNI is via Certification System 5 and consists of 2 requirements:
Compliance with testing against SNI 7322:2008
Production audit of QMS ISO 9001:2008 or its revision
The LsPro issuing the SPPT-SNI must contain the following information:
Contact details of company
Name of person in charge
Name and address of the authorised representative for the importer
SNI number and title
Types of melamine resins
Manufacturing and importing activities. Manufacturers and importers of food contact melamine products are obliged to submit a written report on their activities to the Directorate General of Industrial Development (Ministry of Industry) every 6 months. The report includes:
ID of manufacturer or importer
Type of food contact melamine products and quantity
Country of Origin (CoC) for imported products
Address of storage warehouse for imported products
Proof of compliance to SNI 7322:2008
The new law took effect on the day of publication; 30 September 2015. Highlights of the new law are summarised in Table 1.
Minister of Industry of the Republic of Indonesia
Regulation No. 77/M-IND/PER/9/2015
Production Audit
- Self-declaration of QMS ISO 9001:2008 or updated version or
- Certification of QMS ISO 9001:2008 or its revision by LSSMM that is accredited by KAN or an accreditation body having a signed MRA with KAN
Information on manufacture of product to be provided
- MF (melamine-formaldehyde)
- UF (urea-formaldehyde)
- FF (phenolic resins-formaldehyde)
- RF(combination of melamine, urea and phenolic resins-formaldehyde)
- Domestic laboratory accredited by KAN with SNI 7322:2008 in scope and approved by Minister
- Accredited overseas laboratory having MRA with KAN such as ILAC or APLAC and appointed by Minister
Certificate with SNI-Marking (SPPT-SNI) from Certification Body (LsPro) accredited by KAN and appointed by Minister
Manufacturing / Importing
To be reported to the Directorate General of Industrial Development (Ministry of Industry) every 6 months
Effective Date: 30 September 2015
Throughout our global network of laboratories, we are able to provide a range of services, including analytical testing and consultancy for food contact melamine products for Indonesia and international markets. Please do not hesitate to contact us for further information.
Hing Wo Tsang
Global Toys and Juvenile Products
SGS Completes Palm Oil Supply Chain Certification in Indonesia and Malaysia
Helping companies to export fatty acids, a residue of the palm oil refinery process, to Italy.
CEN Publishes New Method for Nickel Release for Spectacle Frames and Sunglasses
The European Committee for Standardisation (CEN) has published the nickel release standard EN 16128:2015 for spectacle frames and sunglasses. This substantially revised standard will be given the status of a national standard by May 2016 and any conflicting national standards will be withdrawn by November 2018.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


I was searching for a Property and found this listing (MLS® #8483768). Please send me more information regarding 816 Virgil St, Atlanta, GA, 30307. Thank you!
I'd like to request a showing of 816 Virgil St, Atlanta, GA, 30307 (MLS® #8483768). Thank you!


text:
Die Bundesstraße 411 (Abkürzung: B 411) ist eine deutsche Bundesstraße und dient als Autobahn-Zubringer von Dieblich bei Koblenz zur A 61.

Geschichte/Weiteres
Früher war der Abschnitt der B 265 zwischen Losheimergraben und Prüm als B 411 benannt.

Siehe auch
Liste der Bundesstraßen in Deutschland

Weblinks

411
411
Straße in Europa

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


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This content was published: February 19, 2018. Phone numbers, email addresses, and other information may have changed.
Portland Community College's own trailblazer Liliana Luna is a recipient of the 2017 Women of Achievement Awards through the Oregon Commission for Women.
Luna, the Rock Creek Multicultural Center coordinator, is being recognized for her outstanding leadership in promoting equity and diversity opportunities for women within their education and civic engagement service. She will receive her award during a ceremony on March 1 that will be part of the Women's History Month proclamation signing by Governor Kate Brown.
In 2015, Luna began her educational journey as an undocumented student at PCC — the first in her family to go to college — and eventually got involved in campus life through student government.
The 26 year old serves as an educator, advocate and role model through her work with the Multicultural Center at Rock Creek. According to the commission, "she demonstrates a commitment to equity and inclusion for students, especially women of color." A DACA (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals) recipient, Luna possesses an associate degree from PCC, a bachelor's in criminal justice from Portland State University, and is working toward a master's in counseling education, also at PSU. She is responsible for providing an inclusive environment at the Multicultural Center and does this by supporting, retaining and empowering diverse students to help them achieve academic excellence and become leaders within the college and their communities.
Additionally, Luna leads the Diversity Council at the campus, developed a partnership with the Mexican consulate to provide scholarships, and founded the annual DREAMers Gala to raise money and awareness for undocumented students. Her latest accomplishment is helping to open the first Development, Relief, and Education for Alien Minors (DREAM) Center at PCC. The center is the first of its kind in Oregon at a community college or university, providing resources and support for undocumented and DACA students and their families. According to Luna, there are roughly 400 DACA students at PCC, with an estimated 200 based at Rock Creek.
In 2015, Luna began her educational journey as an undocumented student at PCC — the first in her family to go to college — and eventually got involved in campus life through student government. She became a part-time casual employee leading the Rock Creek's Multicultural Center and overseeing its projects, like the Oregon Leadership Institute and the equity ambassadors.
Luna helped lead the effort to develop PCC's DREAM Center, which offers a variety of resources: legal services, the facilitation and processing of initial DACA applications and renewal applications, workshops on student support and college navigation resources, and academic/career advising sessions. It serves 20 families and 20 students per academic term.
"The students really pushed for this initiative to happen," Luna said. "They saw the need for center and put in a lot of activism to get it done. They went to board meetings, and met with President Mark Mitsui and the campus presidents. I'm proud of how they pushed it through.
For obvious reasons, the issues affiliated with undocumented youth is Luna's passion. Besides the DREAM Center and fundraising for the DREAMers Gala, she's joined protests advocating for DACA recipients in front of the Federal Building in downtown Portland. At a very personal level, she understands the adversity and fear felt by DREAMers.
Luna's personal story is all too familiar among the college's group of undocumented students. In 2005, her parents brought their family of five from Mexico to the U.S., at the Texas border, before settling in Oregon. In Mexico, her father, a successful truck driver, and her mother, an executive, were concerned about drug cartels and the over-the-top, intrusive checkpoints and searches conducted by military troops brought in to keep the peace.
Her father had built the family house by hand, himself, and because of the quality of his work, their neighbors thought the family had a lot of money. They were regularly targeted for their perceived affluence.
"We needed to get out of there," Luna said, and within a week of their decision to leave, the family fled north.
Since that fateful time, much has changed. Despite an initial reluctance, Luna learned English through PCC's English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) Program at the Rock Creek Campus. Her parents settled into American life and moved to Washington state, where they now operate their own business. But during these uncertain times with the federal government and the current presidential administration, her family continues to be wary.
"They did all that for us because they loved us and wanted the best for us," Luna said of the move to the Northwest. "During our first Christmas away from home, we were in an empty apartment, no decorations, and we ate fast food, and that was it. But we had each other and that was all that that mattered.
Hearty congratulations to Liliana and the Rock Creek Multicultural Center! This is an outstanding achievement and thanks to everyone's passion and hard work to make the center happen.
i am so inspired by you and all of your amazing work. A million heartfelt thank yous for your passion and your advocacy for those who really need it.
Congratulations Lili! Thank you for your hard work and advocacy on behalf of students, the community and DREAMers throughout the nation. It is a privilege to learn from and work with you!
Liliana siempre demostró que tenía un espíritu de agente de cambio.


A Stewartsville resident was involved in a one vehicle crash early Saturday morning in Clinton County. The Highway Patrol reports Meranda Gann, 19, was eastbound on Route NN when she crossed the center line and went off the roadway. She then struck a farm field entrance and overturned. She was taken to Heartland Hospital with moderate injuries.


The cost of printing the newspaper is 15 cents per copy, but you get one for free. Stanley Jevons 1879, 2nd ed. Utility Depends on the Intensity of Want: Utility is the function of intensity of want. Recalling that utility includes every element of a decision, this assumption is not particularly difficult to accept. The aim of any firm is to increase both marginal utility and total utility of the products and services that they sell.
There is often something extra satisfying about obtaining or using more than one of a certain item, whether that item is a can of soda, a pair of jeans, or an airline ticket. This is point of safety. Law that states that the marginal utility of a good for each consumer decreases when each extra unit of the good consumed causes a smaller increase in its usefulness. When Marginal Utility is zero Total Utility is maximum. . Now we know what marginal utility is, we can calculate it.
Are there any cases of increasing marginal utility?
A useful commodity may not here utility of goods depend upon the intensity of wants. In 1915, derived a theory of consumer choice solely from properties of indifference curves. In economics utility is the capacity of a commodity to satisfy human wants. We could have considered the utility produced by each half cake, or for every quarter of cake, or for small pieces of cake that we want. The idea of marginal utility resulted from 19th-century economists attempting to explain the economic reality of price, which they believed was driven by a product's utility. A commodity may have utility but it may not be useful to the consumer. Find the total utility from consuming a different number of goods.
If, when everything is taken into account, one decision provides the greatest utility, which is equivalent to meaning that it is the most preferred, then we would expect the individual to take that most preferred option. In this example the marginal unit is fifth bread and the marginal utility derived is 2. Translated as Basic Principles of Economic Value. Thus, marginal utility of the third apple is 10 utils 45—35. Marginal utility is an essential concept in the study of economics as it determines how much of the same item a consumer will buy. Find the total utility from consuming a certain number of goods.
The following example illustrates the concept of marginal utility. However, if you cannot eat 100 boxes before they expire, there is less satisfaction in having so many boxes. They observed that the usefulness of the consumption of a good depends, among other things, on the amount of that good that has consumed the individual. Marginal utility is the addition made to total utility by having an additional unit of the commodity. But we were not satisfied. Stanley Jevons 1871 , The Theory of Political Economy, p. Even the same consumer may derive a higher or lower utility for the same commodity at different times and different places.
Understanding total utility is important when trying to maximize customer satisfaction from the time the product is first used to the last consumption. The answer you get will be the marginal utility, or the utility given by each additional unit consumed. What would you gain by knowing it? It is the net addition to total utility made by the utility of the additional or extra units of the commodity in its total stock. The numbers illustrating the rate of increase are in the 'Marginal Utility' column. One of the ways to arrive at the maximum of consumer surplus is to apply the optimal purchasing rule by comparing the marginal utility of each unit to price. As explained the term, Marginal considerations are considerations which concern a slight increase or diminution of the stock of anything which we possess or are considering Frequently the marginal change is assumed to start from the , meaning the total resources available for consumption see. Basically, from utility is created by the manufacturing of goods.
There were significant, distinguishing features amongst the approaches of Jevons, Menger, and Walras, but the second generation did not maintain distinctions along national or linguistic lines. In fact, many contemporary analyses of saving and portfolio choice require stronger assumptions than diminishing marginal utility, such as the assumption of , which means marginal utility. In retail trade or distribution services too, place utility is created. You perhaps pick the chocolate again. In , delivered in 1833 and included in Lectures on Population, Value, Poor Laws and Rent 1837 , explicitly offered a general marginal utility theory, but did not offer its derivation nor elaborate its implications. Though generally pursued outside of the mainstream methods, there are conceptions of utility that do not rely on quantification. Unlike marginal utility, which declines with each additional unit of the commodity consumed.
If you doubt that the consumption of reliever goods has increasing marginal utility, think of it this way. Marginal utility refers to the additional satisfaction or fulfillment that a consumer derives from consuming additional units of a particular product or service. This is different for different people. For example, meet this dog. We could have done that too well. See similar articles Marginal Utility Examples By YourDictionary There is often something extra satisfying about obtaining or using more than one of a certain item, whether that item is a can of soda, a pair of jeans, or an airline ticket. Marginal utility is the additional satisfaction a consumer gains from consuming one more unit of a good or service.


Walt 迪士尼 Movie Comics - The Hunchback of Notre Dame (Danish Version). Page 44 of the Official Walt 迪士尼 Movie Comic of "The Hunchback of Notre Dame " (1996). HD Wallpaper and background images in the 华特·迪士尼角色 club tagged: walt disney characters walt disney movie comics the hunchback of notre dame quasimodo hugo victor judge claude frollo.
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Note: Each year, every SMSF must appoint an approved SMSF auditor (registered by ASIC) to conduct a financial and compliance audit of the SMSF. In the May 2018 Federal Budget, taking effect from 1 July 2019, the federal government announced the replacement of the annual SMSF audit, with an SMSF audit every three years (assuming an SMSF has a good compliance and record-keeping history, in particular, clear audit reports for 3 years, and lodged ATO returns on time).
Guest contributor: Belinda Aisbett, CA, Bacc, SSA, SSAud, a long-time specialist SMSF auditor, and director of Super Sphere Pty Ltd believes moving to three-year SMSF audits will compromise the integrity of the SMSF sector and result in increased fees payable by SMSF trustees for their audits. She shares her views below. In response to the proposed change, Ms Aisbett has set up the SMSF Auditors Lobby Group, to represent the interests of both SMSF auditors and SMSF trustees.
It came as quite a shock to many in the industry that the federal government announced a proposal to amend the annual audit requirement for SMSFs. SMSFs (like all superannuation vehicles) are presently required to be audited each year by an ASIC-approved SMSF auditor. The federal government's proposal is to move to a three-year audit cycle, rather than an annual SMSF audit.
Currently, there is little detail as to what the proposed measure will actually look like – is it two years without audits in a three-year cycle, or is it three audits bundled together? Both scenarios raise issues, and detrimentally affect the integrity of the SMSF sector.
As a specialist SMSF auditor I have been contacted hundreds of times in recent days with concerns regarding the integrity of the system if SMSFs are to go unaudited over a three-year period.
The concerns are significant and as a result we have established the SMSF Auditors Lobby Group. We have also prepared a submission to document the collective concerns of those who have joined the SMSF Auditors Lobby Group (SALG) (more on this new group later in the article).
No scrutiny for two years. There will be trustees that attempt to take advantage of no audit scrutiny for a two-year period, and who may attempt to circumvent the SIS compliance requirements applicable to their fund.
Auditing prior year financials (that of course will still be required to comply with SIS and enable the tax return to be prepared and lodged) will inevitably identify errors, resulting in time spent preparing and lodging amended tax returns and other superannuation reporting. This will increase the work load for not only auditors, but accountants, trustees and the ATO.
Practice overheads for auditors will somehow need to be maintained to ensure adequate staffing levels, to ensure CPD is achieved and mandatory insurance is maintained – to name a few areas of concern.
Compliance issues not discussed, or reported, in a timely manner. Where an approved SMSF auditor identifies a compliance issue in say year one, the auditor may be required to bring this to the attention to the ATO, however in many instances, this matter is only required to be addressed with the trustee directly. A bundled audit cycle will mean that these communications are not done in a timely manner.
Delayed reporting to the ATO creates further compliance issues and extra cost. By moving to three-yearly audits, there will be increased reporting to the ATO in year two and year three (and year four) as prior year and ongoing issues remain unidentified and unrectified by the trustee. Increased ATO reporting will result in increased audit time, and therefore costs in connection with the year two and subsequent year audits. Additional ATO resources will therefore be required to review a greater number of auditor contravention reports.
Greater risk of penalties imposed on SMSF trustees. Moving to a three-year audit cycle, which leads to delayed reporting of compliance issues, can mean that SMSF trustees are at a greater risk of being penalised by the ATO for maintaining compliance issues in their fund, even if these matters are inadvertent.
Auditors play a key role in trustee education. To change the annual SMSF audit to a three-year requirement, waters down this key relationship.
Safeguarding of assets (via a review of asset titles) is a key audit check. It is essential that assets are held on trust for the fund. Delaying this SMSF audit check for a three-year period introduces the real risk that superannuation assets may be unprotected from administration or bankruptcy proceedings.
Fraud risk will increase for SMSF trustees. An SMSF audit can, and does, identify fraud in an SMSF. Delaying the audit over a three-year period will clearly delay the identification of fraudulent activity.
Elder abuse risk increases. The risk of elder abuse is amplified where the SMSF audit is delayed. Auditors play a key role in identifying the early warning signs of elder abuse, and to delay the audit removes the review necessary to identify those at risk of elder abuse as early as possible.
As an approved SMSF auditor, and as founder of the SMSF Auditors Lobby Group, I acknowledge that cost savings for SMSF trustees is a positive goal, and to this end, our submission to the federal government has identified three areas that could be reviewed that would assist in reducing audit fees for an SMSF.
removing the need for the approved SMSF auditor to review certain documentation throughout the audit, saving time and cost.
Consulting with the setters of auditing standards with the goal of designing more relevant and efficient mandatory auditing standards applicable to SMSFs, would assist in reducing audit fees.
Reviewing the comments on various industry forums in relation to the proposed SMSF audit changes has been interesting. Of course some in the super industry think the federal government's proposal is a good idea. Interestingly however, many clients have voiced their surprise that such a key integrity measure would be removed or delayed.
So, when you have the SMSF trustees commenting that it will be detrimental for the industry, this helps me reaffirm my conclusion that this must be bad policy.
I think it is important to remove the premise that the audit is simply a red tape annoyance, and instead focus on the integrity of the system. To remove or delay the annual SMSF audit would be akin to only putting a speed camera on the road once every three years and expecting the level of speeding drivers to remain at present-day levels.
Without timely, annual SMSF audits – how long will the SMSF industry be sustained?
The author of this article is Belinda Aisbett, CA, Bacc, SSA, SSAud. Belinda is a director of Super Sphere Pty Ltd, a specialist SMSF audit practice. She is a Chartered Accountant, a specialist audit member of the SMSF Association (SMSFA), a member of the SMSFA education and conference committees, and chairs the SMSFA's auditors' discussion group. Belinda is also a member of the ATO's SMSF Auditor Professional Association Stakeholder Group.
The SMSF Auditors Lobby Group has been set up to present a collective voice regarding these proposed SMSF audit measures. Anyone interested in joining the SMSF Auditors Lobby Group can contact Belinda via email at: baisbett@supersphere.com.au.
To be fair, this change to three year audits probably needs to be phased in. Otherwise there are going to be two very lean years for auditors as people switch from one to three years.
SMSF accountants are not responsible for monitoring the compliance of the fund. Only the auditor does a compliance check (not the ATO unless the fund gets an ATO audit which is rare). As an auditor, accountants often ask me to please not report breach as they are afraid this will impact their relationship with the client (and shows the accountant is often not up to date on the rules). With the audits I do, in 75% of cases I find (minor) errors. They often don't result in reportable breaches but clients still appreciate these errors being pointed out to them. With most contravention reports I'm required to lodge, the trustees were genuinely not aware their actions resulted in a breach. The reality is that SMSF's compliance rules are complex and I'm yet to come across a trustee with a good understanding of the compliance rules. The 3-year audit cycle will eventually mean the government will just impose restrictions on SMSF's and no longer allow any higher risk strategies such as borrowing, related party transactions or purchasing unlisted investments (i.e. property). It's likely to erode the flexibility SMSF's offer.
I'm a trustee of my family's SMSF.
The 5 of us all do our own ATO tax returns.
We have ASX listed investments, Salary [SGL] contributions, wages etc and we think it is a great education for the whole family to manage their financial affairs. Specially the early 20 year old kids.
I think the SMSF complience could be made simple in our case by having the electronic preloading of most of our super fund transactions, exactly the same as aour normal tax return.
The ATO run the SMSF complience system anyway.
I think we need a very simple lodgement system to stop fraud.
Because the Super Guarantee Levy is legislated it means there is a huge amount of money flowing [by law] to super funds in any form, that is have fees systematically removed from retirement funds of Australian workers.
See the productivity report just out today and the rain maker report out last year.
$13 billion in cost, $2.6 billion in just fees alone. Its like bees to a honey pot for the financial and Accountancy industry.
Why should it cost 1 weeks wages per year to assess my SMSF.
Call it what you like, its systematic theft in my book.
No, it is not self interest at play, as errors will occur, and when they do and they are discovered 4 years after the event, it is trustees who will be penalized, and Fund Accountants sued, many people are unaware of the draconian legislation. If self interest was at hand, then I ask you what is the purpose of an audit in the first place were it done on the third year. Many do not understand the role of an Auditor to detect fraud, error and statutory compliance. I totally agree with Belinda Aisbett.
The issue is that mandatory audit standards do not allow us to qualify opening balances, they mandate an audit of the intervening prior years back to the last audit. Given that Audit Contravention Reports will be written, do trustees want to risk deferring discovery, and rectifying error? The legislation is already complex to SMSFs I for one want an annual compliance audit on my fund.
Would politicians and public servants be so illogical as to allow three year audits but still require any problems to be remedied at the time they occurred?
I am a trustee and member of an SMSF. I support Belinda's stance. The idea of having an audit of three year's worth of returns at once, if that is indeed what is proposed, seems dangerous to me. What happens if problems are found with a past year? Actions taken in subsequent years might have embedded the mistakes even further, making it very difficult to unpick the situation.
Having said that though, my experience over the years with auditors, our current one excluded, leads me to the belief that many of them must simply rubber stamp what they are presented with. With one in particular, I found mistakes in the returns sent to us after the audit every year we were with the administators concerned. In one year, it took four goes (each one audited and approved prior to being sent to us) before we were happy to sign off on them! After that experience we changed accountants and I insisted that the draft returns be sent to us for review first, and that the audit be done only once we were happy with the figures. I usually find one of more mistakes in the drafts. I don't blame the accountants. Mistakes happen. But I am sure that most trustees do not fullfil their obligations, and simply sign returns without checking anything. I would wager that there are mistakes in the majority of returns submitted to the ATO throughout Australia each year.
I had one auditor wanting me to sign a letter saying that I certified that the accounts were correct. I am not an accountant. How could I legitimately do this? What liability would I be exposing myself to if I had signed it?
But it also shows what a sham that an audit is, if it is taken so lighlty by the auditor himself.
Needless to say I refused his audit, and asked the accountant to find an independent auditor. This auditor did the audit better, faster and cheaper than the accountant's in-house auditor.
The reason the auditor does this is that supposedly as a trustee of the fund you should and are aware of the major transactions of the fund, aware throughout the year what the investments are, and approve new investment purchases, and sales, etc. The Auditor expects you to review the balance sheet, and the investments as you have a better understanding than he/she does on the affairs of the superannuation. The auditor requires this, and notes that you are required to sign a trustee declaration to the accounts confirming the accounts are correct. That is the legal requirement under SIS and Corporations Act where a company is the corporate trustee of the Superfund. You are perfectly entitled to change auditors, however I as a SMSF Auditor would have grave concerns if you did not sign the audit representations letter that is a mandatory requirement under Audit Standards.
It was the wording of it that concerned me, not the concept. Yes, I can say that as far as I know, I did everything that was necessary as a director, but I cannot certify that the accounts were correct. The new auditor also asked me to sign a similar letter, but it was worded quite differently and I was happy to sign that. I felt that the original auditor was just too lazy to compose an appropriate letter. More worrisome was that presumably all his other clients signed the letter.
That is why I say audit is a sham, because these people had obviously signed the letter without understanding what it was actually saying.
Less audits, means greater risk of compliance breaches and thus greater revenue generation for the government, perhaps?
Annual audits totally unnecessary expense as the tax return is a self assessment itself . In addition it could be argued that tax returns themselves are not necessary because all income from a pension scheme is deemed to be non taxable. The main reason to put in a return is to gain the franking credits . Lets keep the system as simple as possible and minimise costs.


text:
See FC Cincinnati in MLS Cup Playoffs During Watch Party at TQL Stadium
For $5, fans can watch the team make history.
By Allison Babka
Soccer fans are rooting for FC Cincinnati in the team's first-ever playoff run.
FC Cincinnati fans are ready to make some noise as the team prepares for its first-ever MLS Cup playoff slot.
The Orange and Blue will host a watch party for fans on Oct. 15 as the team takes on the New York Red Bulls in New Jersey. The fun begins at 11 a.m. in the First Financial Club at TQL Stadium. Fans will enjoy half-priced food and drink as well as a FIFA gaming station, live DJ, photo booth, giveaways and more.
Tickets for the watch party are $5 and are on sale now. Parking will be available in the West End Garage and East End Garage for $10. The clear bag policy will be in effect for the event.
Fans also can can watch the game at locations within FC Cincinnati's "Pub Partners" network throughout Greater Cincinnati.
Kickoff is scheduled for noon Oct. 15. The match will be broadcast on WSTR-TV (Star 64), Univision and mlssoccer.com.
FC Cincinnati went into the record books with its 5-2 win on the road over D.C. United on Oct. 9, clinching its first spot in the Major League Soccer Cup playoffs. The Orange and Blue scored four of its five goals in the first half of the final regular-season game, marking another new franchise record. The team effort was propelled by a hat trick from Brenner (born Brenner Souza da Silva), along with attacks and assists by Luciano Acosta and Brandon Vazquez.
FC Cincinnati Heading to MLS Cup Playoffs for First Time Ever, Gets No. 5 Seed: The Orange and Blue clinched a spot with a 5-2 win on the road over D.C. United on Oct. 9.
No. 5 seed FC Cincinnati will play round one of the MLS Cup playoffs against the No. 4 seed New York Red Bulls at noon Oct. 15 in Red Bull Arena in New Jersey. The playoff winner will face Philadelphia Union in the Eastern Conference semi-finals. There then will be a finals round, followed by the crowning matchup. See the full 2022 MLS Cup bracket on the MLS website.
FC Cincinnati became the 24th team to enter the MLS as a professional soccer team in 2019. Before that, the team played in the second-division United Soccer League (USL) from 2016 to 2018.


The products thrown out in the recent eruption—which took place in 1866—like those of most other volcanic manifestations, may be divided into two categories: 1. Volatile matters exhaled in the form of gases and more or less easily condensible vapors; and, 2. Lavas overflowing in imperfect fusion, or thrown out as ashes and scoriæ. The gases varied greatly in composition during the course of the eruption. At the beginning, when they had not been subjected to the action of the air, they were rich in combustible elements, particularly in free hydrogen, arising in some cases from the separation of water into its two elements. At a later stage, the gases varied incessantly in composition, and the combustible elements at last entirely disappeared. The emitted gases consisted chiefly of free hydrogen, marsh-gas, hydrochloric, sulphuric, and carbonic acids, sulphuretted hydrogen, and nitrogen. Water played a prominent part in the different phases of the eruption. In the state of vapor it was present in all the emissions of volatile matters whatever was their temperature, and it might be regarded as the immediate cause of the explosions. No dry smoke-vent was observed. Coming in its liquid state from hot springs, the temperature and flow of the water varied with the state of the sea.
Chloride of iron, expelled as a vapor, was found associated with hydrochloric acid; but the hydrochlorate of ammonia, commonly abundant in eruptions, was almost wanting. This fact lends support to the opinion that the ammoniacal product of volcanoes is of organic origin, and is brought by the atmosphere over vents charged with hydrochloric acid. The distance and the small extent of cultivated lands explain the rarity of ammonia in the air at Santorin.
Over the central eruptive mouths, the points of the volcano where the incandescence was most lively, the spectroscope showed the presence of volatilized salts of soda and potash. After the eruptive manifestations had ceased, the salts which were deposited around the orifices of the vents were collected and analyzed, and appeared to consist largely of the chlorides of sodium and potassium, the sulphates of soda and potash, and the carbonates of soda and magnesia. Sea-water after evaporation leaves a residuum of analogous composition. These results are interesting in their bearing on the theory that the water of the sea is the immediate ordinary agent of the eruptions. All of the elements usually occurring at volcanic vents were found to be present at the points which were the seat of a volatilization of alkaline salts, lending support to the opinion which had been previously drawn from studies made at Etna, that the vents at their highest temperature present at once all the chemical elements of the volatilized bodies in the volcanoes, and that the cooler vents are gradually impoverished as their temperature becomes insufficient for the reduction of the eruptive materials to vapors.
Some of the volatilized substances in the volcanic conduits are susceptible of reacting on each other and producing fixed compounds. Thus are engendered the hydrated oxides of iron, specular iron-ore, free sulphuric acid, alum, and sulphate of lime, which are met around the vents.
Certain crystallized silicates, however, generally originate under different conditions. Although they are formed of elements which we are in the habit of considering fixed, they are found in the volcanic vents, on the surface of the rocks, under such conditions that they could have been produced only through volatilization. Such silicates have been gathered at Santorin in the interior of tubular cavities like fulgurites, which have evidently been traversed by vapors at a very high temperature. The deposited crystals are of anorthite, sphene, and pyroxene under the forms of fassaïte and augite.
Other crystallized silicates are met occasionally in the lavas. They arise from the transformation of the calcareous masses which are taken from the subsoil in the region and carried out in the lavas, and consist chiefly of anorthite, fassaïte, the melanite garnet, and Wollastonite. The quartz and mica-schist, which, like the limestone, appear as inclosed lumps in the lava of Santorin, do not seem to have suffered any action from the matter surrounding them, notwithstanding the high temperature it possessed.
The mineralogical study of the lavas of 1866 offered great difficulties, on account of the small size and strong adherence of the mineral integrants. It was not practicable to extract the crystals by picking them out, and M. Fouque was obliged to seek new processes. One, founded on the employment of a powerful electro-magnet to draw out the ferruginous minerals, permitted the isolation of the feldspar; and other minerals, harder to deal with, were separated by the use of concentrated hydrofluoric acid.
The crystallization of minerals in the recent lava took place in two stages. In the first stage were developed crystals which frequently attained the length of about a fiftieth of an inch, and of which the other dimensions exceeded a tenth of that size; and, in the other stage, crystals of notably small dimensions were produced. The latter crystals, or microliths, unite the others and follow their contour. Before the microscope was applied to the study of the rocks, only the larger crystals were recognized, and the matter which in volcanic rocks envelops crystals large enough to be perceived through the glass was supposed to be wholly uncrystalline. In this matter, however, the microliths abound in immense quantities. The discovery of them has been one of the most signal triumphs of microscopic micrography.
The minerals observed in the microliths of the general lava of 1866 are feldspar and titaniferous oxide of iron. The predominant feldspar in large crystals is the labrador, but anorthite, and some oligoclase and sanidine are also found in the same condition. The microlithic feldspar is albite with a considerable proportion of oligoclase, and the whole is cemented with a vitreous matter which represents the residue of the crystallization, the part of the rock to which the latter owed its fluidity, at the moment when the minerals which had made a portion of it were already crystallized. This amorphous matter is of a composition similar to that of albite, but a little richer in silica and potassa; and it is curious that a substance of such a composition should have constituted the part of the rock which remained longest melted.
The order of crystallization of the minerals was as follows: 1. Magnetic oxide of iron in large crystals; 2. Apatite; 3. Silicated magnesian irons (augite and hypersthene); 4. Feldspars in large crystals; 5. Microlithic granules of titaniferous oxide of iron; 6. Feldspathic microliths.
The general lava of the eruption of 1866 contains as inclosed masses lavas, the mineral composition of which differs considerably from that of the medium which surrounds them, of types which have a considerable part in the constitution of the ancient lavas of the volcano. The minerals of the recent lava are generally penetrated by foreign matters, microscopic inclusions which are sometimes crystalline, sometimes composed of amorphous matter. The latter inclusions are portions of the surrounding matter which remains inclosed in the crystals at the moment they are formed, and nearly always contain a bubble of gas, in which M. Fouqué found minute quantities of matter analogous in its properties to organic matter. Jets of ashes were cast out in many of the spurts of the eruption. These ashes are lava pulverized by the quick passage of gases and vapors through it while it was still more or less fluid. Its condition as to crystallinity depends on the condition of the lava at the moment it became an ash. The more fluid the lava, the more like pumice is the ash. If the lava has become charged with crystalline substances, especially if they are microliths, the ashes will offer the same characteristics. In the present case the ashes, being derived from lavas which were so crystalline that they were hardly fluid, were rich in crystals and microliths.
Remarkable movements of the soil have been produced by the eruptions within a limited space around the principal cones of the volcano, and have notably modified the surface of the land to that extent. These manifestations have always been special subjects of study with geologists.
Besides the phenomena already described, the complete development of an eruption involves: 1. The opening of the ground; 2. The formation of a cone or crater; 3. The production of a stream of lava. All these manifestations took place during-the last eruption at Santorin. Eruptions analogous to those of 1866 have taken place in the Bay of Santorin since the beginning of the historical period, and have given rise to the islands which are known as the Kamenis. The bay itself was created by a catastrophe which was anterior to history, for no writer of antiquity mentions it. Yet remains of habitations have been discovered in the lava, with numerous objects and domestic utensils, which lead to the conclusion that a civilized population, who had already developed artistic tastes, were its witnesses and victims. Judiciously conducted excavations and microscopic examinations of their potteries have furnished much information concerning these ancient people. They were laborers and fishermen; they had flocks of goats and sheep, cultivated grain, made meal, extracted the oil from olives, wove cloths, fished with nets, and lived in houses with walls of squared stone and wooden beams. Most of their tools were of stone, the common ones of lava, others of flint or obsidian. They were acquainted with gold and probably with copper, but those metals were rare with them. Woods were abundant, although there now exists only a single tree, a kind of palm, in all the archipelago. The vine, which is now cultivated almost exclusively, seems to have been unknown at that period.
The islands of Théra, Thérasia, and Aspronisi are the remains of a large island which existed before the formation of the bay. Their soil is composed of three classes of rocks: metamorphic rocks (marbles and mica-schists), volcanic rocks of subaërial formation, and volcanic rocks of submarine formation. Volcanic products of subaërial formation are the only ones in view in the larger part of the group. They appear as compact lavas, scoriæ, pumice, and in dikes. Fragments of the rocks in the dikes have been subjected to examination like that which was given to the lavas of the recent eruption, and the study has been applied to the solution of the problem of the specification of the triclinic feldspars. By it M. Fouqué has been led to conclude that the four varieties so described are distinct.
M. Fouqué accounts for the origin of Santorin by supposing that there was an island composed of marbles and mica-schists, against which submarine eruptions took place; a considerable upheaval then occurred. The eruptions having become subaërial, masses of matter were thrown out from different vents, and produced a large island, the slopes of which became wooded and its valleys fertile, while its summits continued to be rugged with lavas. A violent convulsion, accompanied and followed by formidable explosions and showers of pumice, hollowed out the bay. Finally, eruptions which have taken place since the beginning of the historical period have produced the Kamenis.
The phenomena of this volcano, which is one of those that were cited by Leopold von Buch, the principal advocate of the theory, as examples of the mode of formation which he suggested, have been carefully studied in view of their bearing upon the theory of craters of elevation. They appear, in the light of M. Fouqué's investigations, to contradict this theory at every point, to sustain the old arguments which have been brought against it, and to offer other features which are irreconcilable with it; so that the conclusion is reached that the theory must be definitively abandoned.—Revue Scientifique.


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Home » Coffeehouse » Nancy Beaudette / The Pavao Family Band
Nancy Beaudette / The Pavao Family Band
The Coffee House on the Rocky Plain Presents
Nancy Beaudette
The Pavao Family Band
Doors open 7pm tickets and refreshments
With Christine Hatch
$12 general admission, $8 students
327 Concord Rd, Sudbury, MA 01776
On Saturday, March 12, 2011 First Parish Sudbury Unitarian Universalist will once again be bringing you a night filled with wonderful music performed by some of the best singer-songwriters around. Nancy Beaudette is an award winning singer/songwriter who has been on tour and in the studio several times. The Pavao Family Band is a wonderfully creative trio who will be starting the night off for us. Although their group is young the songs they sing and the style in which they performed make you think they have been around for a lot longer.
Please join us for what promises to be an evening of good home spun folk music with the hospitality to match..
Nancy Beaudette fills the stage with fun, upbeat performances in true troubadour fashion. Her writing is reminiscent of singer songwriters of the sixties and seventies, and has the emotional edge of a woman with some heartfelt life experience. "I want to write music without having to edit personal feelings." She doesn't just write songs, she paints them. When you listen to her music you may find yourself seeing pictures, glimpsing a rich palette of colors in her guitar playing, and noticing that the beautiful honesty of her voice and her lyrics points directly to your own heart. Come to one of Beaudette's shows and you will experience first-hand all the warmth and welcome of a Canadian kitchen party! On-stage and off, Nancy practices hometown hospitality, taking special pleasure in "greeting you at the door." Blending brave and honest song-writing, first-rate musicianship, and a huge helping of native Canadian wit and generosity, Nancy Beaudette is an artist of signs and songs and heart and all the signs point to rousing success! To learn more about Nancy
http://nancybeaudette.com
We are very lucky to have the Pavao Family Band performing for us in March as this will be one of their rare performances during the school year. The Pavao Family Band is the creative collaboration of Steve Pavao and his sons Victor and Aidan. This band does everything together as a family, from performing to making decisions about how to market and produce their music. They started playing music together during the boys' grade school years in the summer of 2010. As Victor turned 14 and Aidan 12, they recorded their first CD single containing two of their best known original songs, "Time to Go" and "Block Island Song". Then they commenced on a month-long tour of widely-varied venues in RI, MA, and NH during August to share the new songs. Steve is still writing and performing very actively, and is embarking on a U.S Northeast tour in late March to share his music with a wider audience. His solo version of his song "My Beautiful Friend", long a staple of Pavao Family Band performances, will be appearing on the forthcoming compilation being produced by The Starving Artist Collective in Keene, NH. For more information
http://pavaofamilyband.com
Tickets and refreshments will be available at 7 pm. General admission is $12. Students' (with valid high school or college ID) admission is $8 and child's admission is $4. Refreshments on sale include homemade pies, cakes and cookies, , coffee, tea and soda.


WASHINGTON — Voters in tightly-contested "swing" districts favor Republican candidates this year, according to a poll Tuesday that showed the vulnerability of President Barack Obama's ruling Democrats in November's congressional elections.
The National Public Radio survey polled 1,200 likely voters in 70 House districts seen by experts as most likely to oust incumbents in November, and found voters are choosing Republicans over Democrats 49 percent to 41 percent.
The poll, which aimed to measure voter sentiment in battleground House districts where a switch in party control is possible, also found Obama's approval ratings to be much lower than they are nationally, with 54 percent disapproving of his performance, while just 40 percent approved.
"It's very problematic for the president to have a 40 percent approval rating in these 60 Democratic districts," said Republican pollster Glen Bolger, who conducted the polling for NPR along with Democrat Stan Greenberg.
"When you look at history, when the president is below 50 percent nationally, his party tends to lose more than 40 seats," Bolger said.
The pollsters said the NPR poll provides evidence of a trend that has been apparent all year — that Republican voters are energized, while Democrats are dispirited ahead of a midterm vote in which Republicans need just 40 pickups to take control of the House.
"What that means is that in a close election, the Republican enthusiasm will put Republicans over the top, just like in '06 and '08, the Democratic enthusiasm put the Democrats over the top," Bolger said.


Welcome to the first in a series of tutorials on creating UIs in Unreal. Most other tutorials I've seen online only cover basic UI creation using Blueprints and UMG, however this series is focussed on creating professional-quality UIs in Unreal using C++ and Blueprints.
Cover the basics of creating UIs in the editor, using UMG and Blueprints.
Transition to implementing our UI logic in C++, and tying it to visuals in UMG.
Learning how to create new types of base widgets in pure C++.
Have experience with the basics of Unreal - the Content Browser, creating and scripting Blueprints, UObjects, things covered by basic UE4 tutorials.
Be competent with C++. You don't have to be an expert, but you should understand inheritance, pointers, references, etc.
Be comfortable with creating C++ classes and using them in Unreal. There are many great tutorials that cover creating components and other code in C++.
Have access to the Unreal engine source code from Github.
The first thing we will be dealing with is UMG, the name given to Unreal 4's latest UI system. We will first get used to using it from within the editor, and learn what its features and limitations are.
In order to get started with UMG, the first thing you should do is create a space that lets you experiment with the UI tools available.
In the case of level design this would be making a new Map asset in Unreal. In the case of UMG, you need to create a UserWidget asset. We'll talk about what UserWidgets are in detail below. But for now just right-click in the Content Browser, choose UserWidget from the pop-up menu and call it whatever you want.
The editor view on UserWidgets is split into two tabs, shown in the top-right. The Designer view and the Graph view. They are two views onto the same widget, one is its visual aspect, the other its logic.
The Designer view is where you set up how your UserWidget will look when it is created. You can add new widgets, lay them out, change their default properties.
The Graph view is where you set up your Blueprint logic and control how the widget will behave in-game.
Hierarchy: The tree view of your UserWidget, with the UserWidget's root at the very top. You can click on any of the widgets to select them.
Widgets in bold are "Is Variable" widgets. These are available in the Graph view.
Viewport: The selected widget is shown with a green border.
Details: Shows the properties available on the curently-selected widget.
We will cover the details of some of these sections later, for now let's move on to explaining more about how UMG documents work.
The first thing to understand is that the "document" in UMG is a tree of nested widgets. Some widgets cannot contain any children, some can contain a single child, and some can contain many children.
When a widget is put inside another, we can customise how it behaves inside its parent through its Slot property. In the editor it's the first set of variables shown in the the property view.
▲ On the left, Image_1 is inside a CanvasPanel. On the right it is inside an OverlayPanel.
Notice in the screenshot that our Image widget's Slot properties are different depending on whether it's inside an Overlay or a Canvas widget.
In the Overlay Slot property we can set how the widget is stretched or aligned in its parent. The Canvas Panel Slot gives us the option of setting pixel-based offsets from the edges of the parent.
In Blueprints, to access the Slot property of a widget use the GetSlotAs node.
We're not going to list every type of widget here and explain what each one does. The best thing you can do as a new UI developer is to try out each widget and see what you can do with it. What options it has for itself, if it can contain children what options are available on its children's slots etc.
To give you an idea of where to start, here's a list of widgets that are most commonly used. Try out each of these, read up about them, see what they do in the editor and how to use them from Blueprints.
If you can understand how to use these widgets you should be able to make pretty much anything.
Your experimentations above should have been done inside a UserWidget. So what's a UserWidget? Similar to the way Blueprint Classes are used to create reusable objects with custom logic in maps, UserWidgets are used to create reusable objects with custom logic for user interfaces.
▲ Simple example showing a page title and large button user widget on an example widget. We can build up more complex widgets from re-usable individual pieces.
It's important to note that I could create the same UI with just regular widgets, and copy-paste them to create identical-looking buttons. In the case of the PageTitle, there is only one instance of it on the page so I wouldn't even have to copy-paste!
As a UI programmer and designer it's up to you to decide whether or not to create UserWidgets for elements, whether they'd be better served by using existing Widgets, or whether it would be worth creating your own C++ based Widget. We will cover the latter of these in our more advanced tutorials on creating new UWidget subclasses in C++ and creating Slate classes in C++.
When you want widgets with the same visuals in multiple parts of your UI.
When the widgets need complicated or very specific logic to set up their appearance or contents.
When you need to need to add and delete pre-styled widgets at run-time.
At first glance this panel seems fairly straightfoward: it shows you a preview of your UserWidget. You've probably been using it until now without thinking about it.
A widget's desired size is something worth discussing further.
if a widget is placed inside an Overlay, and its OverlaySlot settings are Horizontal-Left and Vertical-Top, it will display in the top-left at its desired size.
if a widget is placed in a Canvas, and its CanvasSlot setting "Size to Content" is set to true.
The desired size of a widget is especially useful when putting many widgets inside a with flow-layout style widget panels like HorizontalBox and VerticalBox.
You may have noticed when playing with UMG that placing more than one widget in a HorizontalBox or VerticalBox, that subsequent widgets are positioned based on the size of previous widgets. The desired size is what is used to calculate widget positions.
Size Box: Set a forced explicit height/width, or enforce a min/max size.
The problem with Unreal and tutorials that I've seen so far is they often outline many different ways to solve a problem and don't really give any suggestions on what kinds of approach work best.
In this series I will try to distill what I've learned in working on a large game in an industry-leading company, and what I've seen recommended by Epic.
I'm not trying to claim that this is the very best way to solve the problem, or all problems, but rather explain what did or didn't work for me when working on a large game.
You are likely to hit performance problems in large Blueprint-based UIs. Small one-use blueprints are fine, but for large, complicated logic that is called every frame, a Blueprint-based UI can really affect performance.
In Blueprints complicated logic is a nightmare to maintain. Anyone who's written large Blueprint scripts can attest to the constant fight against spaghetti.
Separation of data acquisition and data presentation. With a Blueprint-only system, it's easy to mix getting data from disparate sources, and formatting it for display. This makes future changes to data or display a real pain to implement as your display graph nodes are so closely tied to data-acquisition nodes.
Harder for many people to work on the UI at once. Blueprints are binary assets, meaning they're impossible to merge, so only one person can edit them at a time. If the UI artist wants to update the appearance of a widget, and the developer is updating some Blueprint logic, they artist will have to wait. If most of the logic is in C++, both people are less likely to step on each others' toes.
As we'll see in the next chapter, we can solve a lot of these problems by moving some of our logic into C++.


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Q: How to reduce size of jar file? I dont know how to reduce the size of jar file.
When we normally code in Java Swing the jar file is created, is there any way to reduce the size of jar file? I can't remove the images and other stuff which I have included as it's necessary.
I tried to unzip the jar file and and tried to remove the stuff which is not needed. I wanted to reduce jar file size because I have to upload it in a portal for my college project, max size to upload is 1 MB.

A: There are actually multiple ways to reduce the size of .jar files. If you really need to reduce the size of .jar file without dropping some content, I would recommend trying the following two automated tools.
Compression
Perhaps the easiest way is to use a different tool to create the .jar file than the standard jar distributed with the Java SDK. KZIP is one such tool and the best one I have encountered in terms of compression efficiency.
Obfuscators
Obfuscators such as Proguard can often reduce the size of jar files considerably. Besides making the application harder to reverse engineer they can typically manipulate the byte code in a way that makes it smaller without affecting the functionality. This includes but is not limited to removing unused code and renaming symbols to shorter ones.
There are also more ways to reduce the jar size (e.g. using uncompressed png images for better jar compression), but they are not as practical to use.

A: A jar (and war and ear) are .zip archives that have a specific directory and file structure under them.
As they are zipped, the only way to further compress the contents is to remove things from them.  This may be in the form of deduplication (I once dealt with deployment that had duplicates for the classes and the client that were packaged in the same deployment - though admittedly that was deployed in an exploded structure) or it may be in moving the resources to other services.
Images tend to be already compressed and thus themselves compress poorly in a compressed archive (such as a .jar).  If the images are making the .jar too large, you need to remove them or replace them with smaller images (change the complexity of the image to something that compresses better).
In the case of "I wanted to reduce jar file size because I have to upload it in a portal for my college project" your recourse is probably to talk to the people giving you the assignment. If you can't make the images smaller or remove them from the .jar, you can't make the .jar smaller.

A: Well there are ways to reduce the size of jar file among which one is to optimally apply depencices to your project object manager (pom.xml or gradle.build)

*

*Use only required dependencies.

*IF you have test dependencies put those under test scope.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


Carol, I think it's great! Love the paper pieced pumpkins and the flourishes! Great take on the photo.
I knew you would come through on this one and the scored tiles are a great idea. Love the paper pieced pumpkins, too. Well done on a real challenge which I think makes it more fun when a person finally conquers it.
Love how you did the tiles, and the paper pieced pumpkins look great. Neat card.
I am so proud of you! You were determined and ended with great success! I love all of the elements you pulled into it.
That is a tough one! You've done a beautiful rendition; your pp pumpkins and stem flourishes are adorable!
Love the tiled background and paper pieced pumpkins. Thanks for joining Speedy Fox and Friends.
Wow, Carol, you really nailed that picture on the head! Gorgeous paper pieced pumpkins and the swirly vines against the tiles are perfect!
Total honesty, the photo was a bit of a challenge for me too. You did a TERRIFIC job with the challenge!!1 Your tiles look great and I love the paper pieced pumpkins!!!! Thanks for joining Speedy Fox and Friends this week!
I love the paper pieced pumpkins and the tile back ground. You die a wonderful job on the challenge. Thanks, so much for joiniong us at Speedy Fox and Friends.
Great job with the challenge, Carol! Nice Autumn card!
Very pretty Carol. Great take on the photo inspiration. The paper-pieced pumpkins are really nice... great background!