Crucial meeting to take call on 53 varieties of GM crops tomorrow

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NEW DELHI: Almost a year after holding its last meeting, the Genetic Engineering Appraisal Committee (GEAC) - government regulatory body on genetically modified organisms - will meet on Friday to take a call on "confined field trials" for 53 transgenic varieties of GM crops.

The move is a step forward after the environment ministry's recent decision to give its go ahead to field trials of over 200 varieties of genetically modified crops which had got the GEAC's nod in its last meeting in March, 2013.

Though the GEAC has circulated agenda of the Friday meeting among its members, it preferred not to bring it in public domain - contrary to the ministry's earlier stand to do such clearance exercise in transparent manner.

Besides considering applications for "confined field trials" of different transgenic varieties of GM crops, the meeting is also scheduled to take a follow up action on the decision taken in its March, 2013. Field trial is an important step to know the bio-safety details of a particular variety.

Among the applications which are to be considered by the GEAC in its Friday meeting include transgenic varieties of maize, sorghum, rice, wheat, cotton and groundnut.

Besides private seed companies, government research institutions and Universities are also among the applicants which have applied for "confined field trials" of their respective transgenic varieties of GM crops. Applications relating to pharmaceuticals will also be considered by the appraisal committee.

The move and the manner in which the GEAC has called the meeting are, however, strongly resisted by anti-GM activists who felt that any decision to allow field trials would not only go against the spirit of the ministry's earlier stand (under the former environment minister Jayanthi Natarajan) but also violate the 'model code of conduct' which has been in force in the country ahead of general elections.

The Coalition of GM Free India - an umbrella organization of all anti-GM activists - on Thursday even wrote the Central Election Commission, requesting it to stop the permissions for field trial of GM crops by GEAC as it violates the model code of conduct.

In a letter to chief election commissioner V S Sampath, the Coalition's convenor Rajesh Krishnan said, "We strongly believe that this is being done at the instruction of the current government and there is quid pro quo benefits that the ruling party and the minister in charge (M Veerappa Moily) might accrue during the election period. Needless to say, this will have an impact on the purity of the election process".

The Coalition urged the CEC to direct GEAC and the ministry of environment and forest "to withhold permissions for those field trials that have been granted and also to stop granting of permissions for any field trials in the upcoming meeting (on Friday) until the election process are over and results declared".

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Crucial meeting to take call on 53 varieties of GM crops tomorrow

A look into the future of libraries with futurist Garry Golden and Tech Guru Al Car – Video

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A look into the future of libraries with futurist Garry Golden and Tech Guru Al Car
Join Garry for this follow-up webinar, along side tech guru Al Carlson, where attendees will have an opportunity to hear from Garry, and then to interact wit...

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A look into the future of libraries with futurist Garry Golden and Tech Guru Al Car - Video

Embracing Future Trends to Be Addressed by Global Futurist Jack Uldrich at TEXPERS 25th Annual Conference

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Fort Worth, TX (PRWEB) March 20, 2014

The TEXPERS 25th Annual Conference will be held at the Renaissance Worthington Hotel from March 23-26, 2014 and best-selling author and futurist, Jack Uldrich, will be delivering the keynote speech, Foresight 2020: The Ten Trends Transforming the World of Tomorrow, Today.

The Texas Association of Public Employee Retirement Systems (TEXPERS), formed in 1989, is a statewide voluntary nonprofit association that provides quality education to trustees, administrators, professional service providers and employee groups and associations engaged or interested in the management of public employee retirement systems. TEXPERS mission is to provide training, support, and advocacy for public pension plans of Texas.

The focus of this years TEXPERS conference is Learn, Connect, Promote and Protect. The Association provides the highest quality education and services to its participating retirement systems and affiliate members. They have selected Uldrich, a highly sought after presenter, to deliver their keynote speech regarding future trends, which will specifically touch on each of the 25th Annual Conference themes.

The presentation is based on a combination of Uldrich's best-selling books, "Foresight 2020: A Futurist Explores the Trends Transforming Tomorrow" and Jump the Curve: 50 Essential Strategies to Help Your Company Stay Ahead of Emerging Technologies.

Uldrichs interactive speech, which has been tailored to TEXPERS goals, and their quest to learn and embrace what 2014 holds in store, is designed to provide the non-profit with a solid and thought-provoking foundation upon which to continue shaping the associations future. An overview of some of Uldrichs ideas can be found in this YouTube clip of his presentation, "Why Future Trends Demand Unlearning," which originally aired on WFYI in Indianapolis.

Uldrich will also provide an overview of how technological change is upending long-standing business models and discuss in depth why future technological trends demand unlearning. Uldrich's use of dynamic stories and analogies, drawn from a wide spectrum of industries, will ensure his message of unlearning makes a lasting impression on his TEXPERS audience.

Spanning a vast array of industries, Uldrichs most recent keynotes have been delivered to the American Medical Association, the Idaho Technology Council, Wells Fargo, the Allan P. Kirby Lecture Series at Wilkes University, and The Million Dollar Round Table.

Other clients of Uldrich include General Electric, IBM, Cisco, United Healthcare, PepsiCo, Verizon Wireless, General Mills, the Young Presidents Organization (YPO), Pfizer, Healthcare Association of New York, Southern Company, St. Jude Medical, Dressbarn, AG Schering, Imation, Lockheed Martin, Fairview Hospitals, Touchstone Energy, The Insurance Service Organization, and hundreds more.

Parties interested in learning more about Jack Uldrich, his books, his daily blog or his speaking availability are encouraged to visit his School of Unlearning website. Media wishing to know more about either the event or interviewing Jack can contact Amy Tomczyk at (651) 343.0660.

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Embracing Future Trends to Be Addressed by Global Futurist Jack Uldrich at TEXPERS 25th Annual Conference

Museums seek a new generation of donors

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Already anticipating this generational changing of the guard, some museums are racing to pursue younger donors and trustees.

At the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis, 75 percent of the board membership has turned over in the last seven years. That has brought new life to the Walker, which focuses on modern and contemporary art. But it has also meant the loss of several stalwarts who could be relied on for big checks and sage advice.

"Most of the oldest generation has completely gone off," said the Walker's director, Olga Viso. In its place, Ms. Viso said, a group of trustees in their 50s and 60s has moved into senior leadership roles and begun giving at higher levels, while a younger group of trustees in their early 40s and even late 30s has joined the board.

Among the more youthful members Ms. Viso has recruited of late are John Christakos, founder of the furniture company Blu Dot, who is in his late 40s and serves as the Walker board's treasurer, and Monica Nassif, the founder of the fragrance and cleaning companies Caldrea and Mrs. Meyers Clean Day.

As well as being proactive, another way to attract young donors and trustees is to be a cultural powerhouse. Many prominent art museums in major metropolitan areas, in particular, are so far navigating this transition with ease.

"The very big institutions are doing very well," said Ms. Robinson of the Museum Group. "They have a gravitational field."

Take the Museum of Modern Art in New York, which has well-oiled machinery for cultivating young patrons and turning the exceptional ones into trustees at MoMA or its sister institution, PS1.

"We've been doing this since 1949," said Todd Bishop, MoMA's senior deputy director of external affairs. That was the year that it set up the Junior Council, a group for young patrons. MoMA refreshed the effort in 1990 with the founding of the Junior Associates, a membership group open to those 40 years old and younger.

At a recent Junior Associates event, about 50 young patrons gathered to sip white wine in the museum's lobby after work, giant Brice Marden paintings looming over the makeshift bar. The occasion was a private tour of MoMA's retrospective of the German sculptor Isa Genzken, hardly the most accessible show.

After 45 minutes of schmoozing, the Junior Associates dutifully followed Laura Hoptman, the curator, on a walk-through of the sometimes jarring exhibition. Ms. Hoptman spoke of Ms. Genzken's "physicalization of sound waves" and the artist's battles with depression.

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Dunya News-Punjab govt pays fine securing freedom of 84 prisoners released after completing sentence – Video

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Dunya News-Punjab govt pays fine securing freedom of 84 prisoners released after completing sentence
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Dunya News-Punjab govt pays fine securing freedom of 84 prisoners released after completing sentence - Video

Freedom camping bylaw unlikely

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A Canterbury tourist operator is horrified a freedom camping bylaw could be dumped.

Freedom campers have this summer been seen dumping their toilet waste, littering and occupying key public spaces, with Akaroa a popular spot for the visitors.

Akaroa Top 10 Holiday Park manager Jane Arwidson said the issue needed to be adressed, citing this week's story about a trio of German travellers pitching a tent and defecating in an abandoned red zone property.

A bylaw was the only way officials could try to stop the ''absolutely disgusting'' behaviour of freedom campers, she said.

A Christchurch City Council staff report, to be tabled at tomorrow's strategy and planning committee, said it should keep dealing with issues on a case-by-case basis instead of introducing a bylaw.

While a bylaw would give a ''comprehensive, city-wide approach'' to freedom camping, the report said it may not be a priority ''given the range of earthquake (and other) issues at the moment''.

Arwidson could not understand that rationale as a tough line needed to be taken on the issue that had plagued so many parts of the city this summer.

At her holiday park, freedom campers had been caught ''sneaking'' into the camp to shower, do their laundry and cook, and empty their toilet waste down drains or into the water.

''The situation will just keep going if we don't have a bylaw. Anything other than a bylaw isn't actually going to fix the situation,'' Arwidson said.

Council staff were told in late January to investigate actions that could control and restrict incidents of freedom camping issues.

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Politicized press freedom

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Press freedom has been taken to extremes in Hong Kong. Any newsroom dispute, irrespective of the cause, can touch off protests by young reporters, together with the usual crowd of self-styled liberal academics and politicians desperate for a chance to step into the limelight.

The firing of a radio talk show host was made out by this group to be an example in the oppression of press freedom while the allegations, mostly unsubstantiated, made by the dismissed woman against her former employer and the government were widely reported by the media. One would suspect that her allegations would have been suppressed if press freedom was indeed reduced.

Of course, Hong Kong people are outraged by the vicious attack on Kevin Lau, former chief editor of Ming Pao. The police have said that at this stage of the investigation, there is no evidence indicating the attack was related to the victim's work as a journalist. But many reporters and some politicians have wasted no time concluding that freedom of the press is once again threatened.

Demonstrations staged by many hundreds of concerned journalists to demand swift action by the police in tracking down the perpetrators of this serious crime were understandable. But it is presumptuous for those politicians to win public attention by branding the case an attack on press freedom.

At the TV licensing hearing in the Legislative Council, a "liberal" legislator raised the concern of "meddling" in news programs by the respective managements of the two stations. In response, representatives of both stations denied they had ever tried to "meddle" in the affairs of their respective news department.

That legislator who raised the question didn't seem to understand what press freedom is. And the denials from these two TV executives looked decidedly disingenuous.

Press freedom applies specifically to the owners of the press. The owners and their representatives to whom management power is delegated have every right to "meddle" in the affairs of any department within the organization, news or otherwise, in ways they see fit.

Purists believe that the owner of the press should be allowed to print anything. Normally, the limit is set by the law of the land. The law in Hong Kong is never seen to be overly restrictive of the press by any standard. And the government knows better than to infringe on the freedom of publishing. In fact, every journalist in Hong Kong knows that the safest way to be sensational is to criticize the government. Rub a property tycoon up the wrong way and you can expect to be slapped with a big law suit.

There have been suggestions of self-censorship by publishers who have sizeable business interests on the mainland. They have every right to do so if they don't care about the future of the publications they own. Hong Kong readers are particularly sensitive to bias and inaccurate reporting. They won't be fooled especially when there is a vast variety of news sources made available to them in cyberspace, which is uncensored in Hong Kong.

The politicians should stop misleading the public about the state of press freedom in Hong Kong and young reporters should refrain from citing the imagined curtailment of press freedom as an excuse for their incompetence and shortcomings in news gathering.

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Politicized press freedom

Florence Freedom looking to fill 200 job openings for 2014 season

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East Walnut Hills market robbed, merchants show support East Walnut Hills market robbed, merchants show support East Walnut Hills market robbed, merchants show supportFull Story > Reds' Aroldis Chapman to undergo facial surgery Reds' Aroldis Chapman to undergo facial surgery Reds' Aroldis Chapman to undergo facial surgeryFull Story > Ft Benning soldier saves drowning children from Whitewater rapids Ft Benning soldier saves drowning children from whitewater rapids

Updated: Thursday, March 20 2014 9:12 PM EDT2014-03-21 01:12:10 GMT

If he didn't risk his own life to save them, emergency officials are confident the children could have easily drowned in the Chattahoochee River.

Updated: Thursday, March 20 2014 8:43 PM EDT2014-03-21 00:43:17 GMT

Have you ever wanted to work in professional baseball? Now's your chance.

Florence Freedom Professional Baseball has more than 200 job openings for the 2014 baseball season, which runs from May 15 through early September.

The job listings and application instructions can be found on florencefreedom.com and include positions ranging from catering, running cash registers, rolling hot dogs, pouring soft drinks, parking lot attendants and more.

"We're looking for friendly faces and energetic personalities to help our fans have the best experience possible while enjoying a game here at UC Health Stadium," Freedom General Manager Josh Anderson said. "In a sense, we're Northern Kentucky's first job with all the high school and college kids we hire."

The Freedom are also looking for adults to work as concession managers, cooks, beer pourers, servers and to work on the keg crew.

Opening Night is Thursday, May 15 as Florence takes on the Washington Wild Things at 6:35 p.m. Fans will enjoy Thirsty Thursday drink specials to kick-off the 2014 season.

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Florence Freedom looking to fill 200 job openings for 2014 season