On 26th February Senegal will experience one of the most controversial and hotly contested presidential elections of its relatively long democratic history. Since the first presidential elections in 1978 only the 1988 contest was marred by such tension and violence. The forthcoming elections are certainly the most violent in recent history. Up to six people have been killed in different clashes and demonstrations since the Constitutional Council validated Wade's candidacy on 26 January.
The Council accepted President Wade's argument that his first term does not count towards the constitutionally stipulated two-term presidential limit because the amendment was introduced one year after he was first elected in 2000. A technicality of dubious validity has allowed Wade to run for his third term, despite his long-standing promise to limit a President's mandate to two consecutive terms. In a recent visit, former Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo , who comes as an observer for the presidential elections this Sunday, has called Wade to withdraw from the presidential race, reminding him of the time when the Senegalese President persuaded Obasanjo not to run for a third time in Nigeria. However, domestic and international pressure has been insufficient to persuade Wade that his time is up. He has been defiant and his intransigence has further stirred existing tensions.
Following the controversial decision by the Constitutional Council, eight of the 13 presidential challengers signed an agreement to form a united front of anti-Wade politicians and civil society organisations under the banner of the M23 movement, with reference to violent June 23rd protests that forced the president to abandon a controversial constitutional referendum that would have eased his re-election in the first round of the forthcoming election. The anti-Wade opposition claims that Wade's intention is to turn Senegal into a pseudo-monarchy by paving the way for his son Karim Wade to succeed him should he win this election. They also decry the authoritarian drive that the President has gradually taken since his last re-election in 2007 and his habit of manipulating Senegal's democratic institutions to his own and his entourage's benefit. In their view and that of many Senegalese people, Wade has undermined Senegalese democracy.
However, despite the joint campaign against Wade, one of the key opposition candidates, Macky Sall (former prime minister with Wade and one of the most popular figures contesting the election) finally decided to carry out his own campaign separate from the rest of the anti-Wade movement. This underscores one of the major weaknesses of the opposition – its inability to form a coalition under one single candidate who could capitalize on the growing discontent with Wade. In fact, the lack of unity is a result of the insistence of some established politicians (Ousmane Tanor Dieng, Moustapha Niasse, Idrissa Seck) in trying their own individual chances. Lack of consensus on a single opposition candidate may also be due to the absence of a political figure who can match Wade's charisma and cunning.
The likely outcome on 26 February will be a fragmentation of the opposition vote and possibly a victory of Wade in the first round, albeit without sufficient majority. It will be in the second round when the opposition group will have no option but to rally behind the best placed candidate against Wade, which would enhance the opposition's chances.Wade will of course, in such a scenario, try to co-opt some of the opposition candidates in order to weaken the appeal of his main rival in the second round. He has been able to manipulate different politicians in previous occasions, especially those coming from his own "˜political family', PDS, like Macky Sall and Idrissa Seck. A firm promise of succession might lure these leaders to support Wade in order to secure a way into power before the mandate ends. So, a second round may not necessarily end Wade's chance to win.
Both Wade and Macky Sall have been very active during the campaign and, while they have toured much of the Senegalese territory, they have been careful to focus on those areas where they have a chance to win votes, i.e. rural areas, small towns and religious constituencies. They have in particular targeted the powerful Mouride brotherhood, based in the town of Touba. Religious and other customary notables have been focused on by Wade's campaign while demonstrations and anti-Wade mobilisations have been concentrated in Dakar and some other urban centres.
Meanwhile, most other opposition candidates essentially wasted one week of campaign by focusing their efforts on the demonstrations against Wade's candidacy, which concentrated in Dakar and eventually waned. Therefore, their chances of winning much of the rural vote have been probably undermined by their tactics of trying to force Wade's withdrawal before the election. After all, the rural-urban voting divide may well be the key to the presidential election results. Wade knows how unpopular he has become in urban areas, especially in Dakar, but this can be compensated for with enough support from rural areas and from large segments of the powerful religious constituencies, especially the Mourides.
The fact that the campaign has in the end taken place despite fears that mass-scale violence would prevent the organisation of the elections, suggest that Senegal's democratic institutions are strong enough to survive this impasse. A different matter is what may happen if Wade wins the election. Unrest may significantly increase although mass-scale violence is less likely. Even the leaders of the rebel youth movement Y'en marre claim their stance is non-violent and believe Senegalese society is not ready for mass-scale violence. Perhaps Wade is also aware of this and hence his insistence in going ahead with a project that would otherwise look extremely risky.
Wade seems to believe that his legacy after twelve years in power justifies an extension of his mandate, not least to complete some of the flagship projects that he wants to be remembered for (the new airport, roads and better mobility in Dakar). But Wade's record is actually far from impressive. He has certainly left some visible legacy in the form of new roads, a rehabilitated port and an ambitious airport project (as well as other controversial investments like the Renaissance monument). However, his main infrastructural projects have not yet been completed, despite so many announcements and much fundraising. The economy has grown at reasonably good rate (hovering around 5% per year) but somewhat erratically and certainly not as fast as many African economies enjoying the commodity boom that has lasted since the early 2000s. This is despite the improvement in some indicators of the investment climate and an increase in foreign investment.
More worrying is the lack of structural transformation in the economy, the sluggish performance of the industrial sector and the dubious record in agriculture. Therefore, apart from the few flagship infrastructural improvements, the economy is not significantly better twelve years after Wade took power. In some ways, public infrastructure has actually deteriorated to an alarming extent. Power outages have become a habit and seriously undermined prospects for economic activities, especially in industry and services, while making life difficult, especially for the average urban dweller. Protests against unreliable power supply and mismanagement have also become common currency in the past few years. The record in terms of poverty reduction and employment, as far as statistics can show, is also quite disappointing, and there is a sense, especially in urban areas, that despite some visible improvements in the quality of roads and a real estate boom, there has been deterioration in living standards. Increases in basic energy and food prices since 2007 have not helped either, making social discontent ever more evident, especially in the streets of Dakar.
Overall, Wade's regime has not achieved a coherent sustainable economic strategy for the country and key structural vulnerabilities persist while opportunities for more durable economic transformation are missed out. The tragedy is that organised opposition and civil society organisations have concentrated largely on governance issues, but have not come up with an alternative credible development strategy for the country. Will the electorate keep faith in the "˜devil they know'? Or will the "˜enough is enough' slogan (Y'en marre) prevail?
Carlos Oya is Senior Lecturer in the Political Economy of Development at SOAS, London.
Political risk in Africa: predicting the unpredictable – by Jolyon Ford at Oxford Analytica.
Chatham House: Green Revolutions for Sub-Saharan Africa?


THE MODERATOR: Questions, please, in English.
Q. How did you find your knee was? Also, when you're playing someone like that that is going for shots all the time, testing your movement?
ROGER FEDERER: Yeah, the knee felt really good, like in practice. Felt like I didn't have to worry about it. I could just go freely. I think I'm at a point now where, you know, I'm looking more forward in the sense that whenever I can dig out a good point, I did good movement, I just kind of went for the dropshot without having second thoughts. It's only building on my confidence now, which is great.
It's been like that for at least, I'd say, over a week now. Yeah, I was very pleased how I felt, even how I played. I mean, he did kind of go for his shots, but we had longer rallies in the beginning of the first set.
I think in a way it was a perfect match. It was close in the beginning, then I was able to go on a roll. Points were cut short by virtue of me serving better and returning better, getting second serves, taking advantage of that fact.
At the end, again, I had to fight for it. I went through different phases in the match. Also emotionally. I was excited and tense in the beginning just because it's a first round. It's my first match back. So it was nice to go through all these emotions.
At the end he's a guy that knows how to close out, knows how to play points on clay. It was a great win for me. I said beforehand, it was always going to be a winning result today, regardless of winning or losing essentially. I'm just very happy I'm back on the tour again.
I think I got what I needed. So we'll see how I feel tomorrow, tonight, the next day. Sometimes after a match, you can feel it for two days. At this point I'm pretty confident I'll feel fine.
Q. You were saying the knee felt good for the last week. Does that mean in retrospect maybe it was a good thing you didn't play in Miami?
ROGER FEDERER: No, I would have been okay in Miami. Just that it was close from feeling perfectly fine. I was probably one week in of feeling fine. But every week that goes by, you feel more confident, more solid.
I've been going full out for three weeks now maybe. Ever since I arrived here, I've been able to practice on center court every day. I felt really good.
It's nice to see it also held up in the match the way it did in practice.
Q. Is the medical advice you don't need to hold back at all?
ROGER FEDERER: No, no, I'm at the point where the knee's solid, and it's fine. I mean, the knee does feel different after the operation. It just does feel like a different knee. I guess I also got to get used to that.
It's not painful or anything. It just feels different because I've had a different knee for 34 years. So that's why it's a different feel, but not in a bad way, I must tell you.
Q. Had a minor meltdown, broken to love serving for the match.
ROGER FEDERER: I served and volleyed twice. He hit twice a really good return off the backhand which he didn't hit for the entire match. Maybe he was saving that one for that particular game (smiling). I don't remember what happened on the other two. But I think I actually served okay in that game.
He's a good player, so clearly it can happen. It was good for me to see, as well, that if your opponent strings some good shots together, some good points, and you maybe pick the wrong decisions, it can happen very quickly. That's why you've always got to stay very focused.
I was trying to do that. It just worked out in a way really well for him to get back. Now in retrospect, I'm happy I got tested like this, that I did have to take the right decisions at 30-All, 5-4, serving for the match. Serve and volley on the second serve, all that stuff. It's good to go through these tougher moments early on in a tournament like this, especially coming off an injury.
Q. How much did you miss it? How hard did you find it to be away?
ROGER FEDERER: Honestly, I didn't miss it too much. I was really happy being home. I was really happy doing the rehab. I just enjoyed the process of getting better every day. I really thought it was something very different that I've never really had to experience to this extent in my career.
I'm very happy how I came through it mentally, physically, emotionally as well. I had a short sort of down right after surgery where I felt very sad and worried for maybe 12 hours. After that, once I got back up walking on the crutches, I felt it would be fine, it's going to be okay.
Then I felt improvement every single day. Big improvements. I was surprised how much I could do, how quickly I could do it. I was pretty healthy going into the surgery, because I just came off playing best-of-five-set matches. Plus I had December where I worked out really hard. I think that's also why I was able to bounce back as quick as I did.
I'm really happy with how I coped with the injury and the rehabbing, yeah.
Q. That was your first match after being away for two months and a half. How did you feel on the court?
ROGER FEDERER: I'm quite reassured. I was dissatisfied. I don't know if you can say I'm relieved, it's not the right word, but I'm just happy that I was again on the court playing against the best players in front of a crowd.
I saw the atmosphere was different on center court from the 10 previous days where I had practiced on the court. Suddenly the stadium was full. Also the tension was different. You can feel it in your body.
So I'm happy that I was able to experience this once again. I'm also very satisfied with my performance. The knee was okay. I was able to serve well. But I don't want to go into the details because everything was positive for me today.
Q. Just to be precise, was it the internal or external meniscus?
ROGER FEDERER: The internal meniscus.
Q. During the whole process, did you have a moment when you were afraid that something wouldn't come back, that you wouldn't be able to do something again?
ROGER FEDERER: As I said, for me, the toughest moment was the two hours after waking up. I couldn't feel my knee, my leg. I could hardly move my toes. It was hurting a little. This is when I was a bit afraid about the future. Suddenly I thought that I needed to really go for it if I wanted to be a professional tennis player. I was wondering.
But then my father came to visit me in the hospital. Mirka was there, too. The first evening things were already better. We were joking again with my doctor. It was good to see everybody there.
The next day or two days later I had a meeting with the whole team to talk about our plan, our schedule, how we were going to do the rehabilitation process, what tournament I could start playing again. From there, it became a lot more pleasant because I was able to be much more positive mentally. I knew we had a plan.
Once you have a plan, it's better. You have to wait until the surgery is over to know how the surgery went. Then it was good talking with the doctor who told me what I could expect for the next 10 days, the next three weeks, et cetera. So there was a slight possibility of me playing Miami.
It's always good to have a goal. So the goal was Miami. In the end, I was very satisfied to say I was ready to play for that tournament, but unfortunately the virus stopped me from doing that.
Q. Is it true that in your whole life you never had a total anesthesia?
ROGER FEDERER: I had anesthesia for my wisdom teeth, but that was local anesthesia only. So, indeed, I was a bit afraid before the surgery. I had a different kind of fear after the surgery. After the surgery, I was sad I had to do this surgery. I thought I would be able to have my whole career without any surgery.
But I was happy the way it happened, in fact. It didn't happen when I was playing and pulling on my leg too hard or something. But I don't know what I did. I gave a bath to my daughters. It was something that could have happened to anyone. Maybe my meniscus was degenerated and ready to collapse already, so I'm happy the way it happened. I'm thankful for that.
Q. This is a question that has nothing to do with the knee. Julien Hoferlin went earlier than he should. Can you say something about him?
ROGER FEDERER: I've known him for a very long time. I've known Thierry and Julien since we were juniors. Later on I didn't see him because he was playing the challengers. But I saw him a lot on the tour. We always got along together.
It's always very sad. So the whole tennis family is sad for his family and for friends like Thierry. It always affects me, of course, when it happens. It happened so quickly, after an exceptional year for the Belgian team in Davis Cup.
Fortunately he was able to experience huge moments with his tennis team, the Davis Cup team. But there's nothing you can change.
Q. Sometimes soccer players, when they have a surgery, say the major test is when they're able to tackle again. Is there something particular you need to do to be totally reassured about your knee?
ROGER FEDERER: Right now? No. Maybe I will need to see how my knee will be after three matches in a row. But I'm not afraid because I didn't go too hard during the practice, the fitness sessions. So I've been working with my physio. In rehabilitation they told me, Now you're cured, you don't need to be afraid anymore. If I'm still afraid, it's only in my mind. I'm creating this.
I have no pain. I can go for it. I'm totally reassured. In the beginning it was extremely interesting to see how things developed. First I was afraid when I was walking with the crutches, then I started walking without the crutches, and then the stairs. So it's one step after the other, like a child learning.
When you don't have your crutches, you start running. You think it's wonderful. Then you can jump. Then you can jump higher. Then you can move more quickly, you can sprint. Every time I was able to do something for the first time, I saw I was improving, it made me more confident.
I did that for six weeks. I loved that part of rehabilitation.
Q. So today you went to your limit? You let go?
ROGER FEDERER: Well, I always did what the physio and the doctor and the physical therapist told me. Each time I was improving, we went to the limit, then they looked at the reaction of me knee, one hour after, three hours after, then the next day. If nothing happened, then you go to the next level.
Maybe once I had some liquid in the knee after serving 20 times. But 24 hours afterwards, it was fine. That was the worst thing that happened, nothing else. So it was good to see it was a crescendo all the time. I would like to thank everyone who worked for me.


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51st State Master Set – Review
Paul | October 28, 2016 | Reviews | No Comments
What is it? From the man who brought you a game about budding civilisations based on a game about the end of civilisation, comes a game about the end of civilisation based on the game about budding civilisations.
Complexity: Medium
Genre: Engine building
Designer: Ignazy Trzewiczek
Imperial Settlers is a game that unlike most of its brethren gathering dust on my shelves, actually sees a fair bit of play. For those who may not know, IS is essentially a rethemed and retweaked version of one of Ignazy Trzewiczek's earliest successes called 51 State. No, not the 51st State in the title of this review, although they do share the same universe. 51st State, that is, not Imperial Settlers. Yes, I am as confused as you are. But let's power on and hopefully we can all make sense of this together. And I haven't even mentioned The New Era either.
Right, so Imperial Settlers performed pretty well for Ignazy and Portal Games, it's still seeing expansions being produced and currently languishes in the mid 90s on Boardgamegeek's Top 100, which is no small feat. Aside from fine tuning an existing design, what powered IS's fortunes was the introduction of separate faction decks. Whilst 51st State also had different factions, cards were all played from one central deck. Naturally this made it easier for Portal to produce expansions for IS, but it also allowed players to latch on to faction decks that suited their particular play style, or to formulate unique card combinations.
So when it was announced that Ignazy was going to be re-implementing Imperial Settlers in its original 51st State setting, let's just say a fair number of people experienced the loud dinging of hype meters hitting maximum elevation. But it also raised a number of questions: would the new version do enough to distinguish itself from both IS and the original 51st State? What would the impact on Portal be of running two very similar product lines concurrently?
We definitely appreciate the tongue-in-cheek nature of the rulebook
As we tallied up victory points at the end of our first game of 51st State Master Set, my initial response was that I preferred Imperial Settlers. This new iteration was certainly a great game and I enjoyed it thoroughly, but I missed the experience of having my own unique faction deck with a style and function different from anyone else. And then I played 51st State again. And then again. And then when Stuart recently went on honeymoon, I asked if I could borrow his copy. And then I promptly played it another half dozen times.
Is it better than Imperial Settlers? Well, I honestly don't think that's an important question to answer. If you already own Imperial Settlers, 51st State is absolutely different enough to warrant owning it as well. And if you don't own Imperial Settlers, your choice is likely to come down to which theme you prefer and how sold you are on the idea of faction specific decks. And if you really want to know, I'm afraid I'm going to disappoint you by taking the standard parental default – I love both my children equally. But rest assured, 51st is good. Boy, is it good.
Shiny and Chrome
The component quality is excellent
51st State is set in a post-apocalyptic universe of Neuroshima that happens to also be shared by the Neuroshima Hex series of boardgames. Originally a Polish tabletop RPG system, it's mainly inspired by the Mad Max, Fallout and Terminator themes, and describes a mid-21st century United States caught in the aftermath of a nuclear war. Contrast that with Imperial Settlers and its Roman, Barbarian and Egyptian etc factions, and it's evident that 51st State is perhaps less likely to be embraced by family members. Forget the somewhat quaint stylings of the IS artwork, the world of Neuroshima is a distinctly unwelcoming place. Burnt-out churches, masked assassins and tattooed maniacs with fire blazing in their eyes, this is a world as likely to have you impaled upon a rusted machete as it is swallow you alive in a desert of endless sand. Conversely, if Imperial Settlers' style felt at odds with what can be a very nasty game, you'll feel right at home in the Neuroshima setting.
I'm not going to go through a detailed explanation of how the game works, the basics remain largely identical to Imperial Settlers which you can read about here, or alternatively you can watch Rodney's always excellent video explanation. So if the basics are similar, what aside from theme sets them apart? Ironically, Imperial remains the meaner of the two, but I'll come back to that later. Imperial is also the more generous of the two, which I suppose it actually in keeping with their respective themes. In IS, whether you are Roman or Japanese, the earth brings forth resources aplenty for you to build you locations, whereas Neuroshima's blighted landscape makes scrounging for every drop of oil a struggle.
Each of those Actions listed can be performed once per round
And it's not just the earth's miserly nature that makes building locations more difficult. Two logs may build you a Watchtower in Imperial, but 51st State forces you to go a step further – generally locations can only be built using what the game refers to as Contact tokens, and the same is true for making deals and for razing. How does one obtain these Contact tokens? By exchanging the resources you generate, such as Oil or Guns. Essentially what's happening is that 51st State has this duel economic engine requirement, forcing you to adapt to balancing two separate resource streams.
Then of course as I've already mentioned, is the lack of faction decks. The game still implements a degree of asymmetry in that the faction boards both generate and utilise resources in varying quantities. The Mutants Union for example generates 1 Gun resource each turn whilst the Appalachian Federation generates 1 Brick instead. The Mutants Union can also exchange 1 Gun for 3 red Contact tokens (which are used for razing), but exchanging Cogs for grey Contact tokens (used for building locations) is more costly for them than for New York. But aside from that, drafting and drawing cards is all done from a shared deck.
Your base production resources. Deal with it
And whilst on the face of it you'd think surely having separate faction decks offers greater variety and well, fun, it's important to note that one of Imperial Settlers' biggest criticisms is the potential for an imbalance between factions. Many will argue that certain factions are perhaps easier to play than others (in fact even the game will tell you to only play the Japanese once you're experienced) and perhaps more importantly, that it's easier to win playing certain factions. A common pool of cards removes this potential pitfall and certainly makes the experience feel like a more genuine test of wits.
The last major difference is how the games handle that last bend as you hurtle toward the finish line. Imperial Settlers adopts the limited round formula, as in the game finishes at the end of the 5th round, whereas 51st State takes the approach of signalling the final round when a player reaches 25 victory points. In theory, this means a game of 51st could take seven or eight rounds, but in practice we've found that if anything it's actually quicker to play. This just adds another layer of strategy as racing to trigger that final round becomes a viable path to victory. If the reaction to the same end-game mechanic in Scythe is anything to go by, this particular choice is a fairly divisive one. However, what I appreciate in this instance is that chasing the race option can backfire very easily. You need to pay close attention to what your opponent could still do before that last round ends, and I've seen what was assumed to be a comfortable 15-point lead disappear. Racing to 25 points in all likelihood means you haven't necessarily built the most robust victory point engine, eking out 2 and 3 VPs where you can. If your opponent has spent three turns lagging behind but generating a lot of resources, chances are their last turn is going to be a heck of a lot more fruitful than yours.
Yeah…feels like hope
I'm not sure I'd call this a negotiation…
So what's to love? I said earlier that 51st isn't as mean as IS, and what I meant by that is that razing your opponent's locations will happen far less frequently in 51st. It's more costly to raze, which makes the action more a surgical strike and less carpet bombing. Sure, IS can be played without any razing whatsoever, but if you choose to you can mess with your opponents' production without giving the action much thought. And yet oddly, we found 51st felt more interactive. This is partly due to the existence of open production locations which can be used by any player at a cost to them and a boon to the locations owner, but that race to 25 points also means you're paying far more attention to your opponent's tableau. The shared deck also adds somewhat to the level of tension, as you can no longer rely on your Faction deck providing you with the locations you desperately need.
The addition of the Contact token system is probably my favourite. I found the trickiness of balancing the generation of resources to activate locations and yet also needing to acquire Contact tokens to construct, make deals or raze cards fascinating and engaging. It does mean that your strategy needs to be informed by the faction you're playing, for example the Mutants Union's strength is generating utilising gun resources, which in turn means it's easier for them to raze cards from hand or an opponent's locations.
The two expansions that come with the base game, New Era and Winter.
If there is a negative it's perhaps that, like Imperial Settlers, 51st is best as a two-player game. Sure, it works at 3 and 4 and I'd be happy to play at those numbers, but it shines best as a duel. Not only does it play quick enough at 2 to warrant multiple rematches in the same session, but as a contest of wits everything clicks in a way that's subtly absent at higher counts. I'm sure I may have had more complaints had I played the original. I could see players potentially grumble that certain cards are perhaps too similar, differing only in incremental VP rewards for the same resources, but this didn't bother me at all. There are two 'expansions' included in the game, but these both add more of the same as opposed to introducing new mechanics or twisting existing ones. It's also difficult to recover from a poor first round, especially if the card gods frown upon you and production locations are scarce.
It may be little too soon to compare potential expansions for 51st to the existing ones for Imperial, but I still feel it's important to point out that as things stand, Imperial has enjoyed a run of excellent expansions – if variety is an important factor in your purchase decision. There are additional Faction boards available for 51st, but it will only see its first proper expansion next year in the form of Scavengers, which promises the addition of a new mechanism as well as new locations.
Like all engine-builders, the greatest appeal of 51st State comes in learning to master synergies, in tweaking every part of your creaking ancient machinery until those ear-splitting clanks become a whir of well-oiled perfection. Everyone loves an engine that purrs as sweetly as a '65 Ford Mustang, but the enjoyment should come from the restoration process as much as the final result. And that's where 51st State won me over. Watching your locations churn out victory points in that last round is most pleasing indeed, but the true joy is to be found in getting there.
Excellent balance
Contact mechanism elevates strategy
Excellent theming
Race to 25 points
Tight scoring
Not really a 'Master Set'
Boxed expansions don't offer enough variation
Very difficult to recover from a poor first round
Okay, I lied about loving both kids equally. As the bard once said, 'Truth will out' and there may be a little more affection in play for 51st State. Please don't tell their mom.
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redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


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The Last Curtain Call (Kobo eBook)
By Juliet Blackwell
A new ghoulish mystery from the New York Times bestselling author of A Ghostly Light, featuring Mel Turner, a ghost-whispering contractor.
Mel Turner can't resist the chance to bring the Crockett Theatre, a decrepit San Francisco art nouveau movie palace, back to life. But there's a catch for Turner Construction: Several artists are currently squatting in the building, and they aren't the only ones haunting the once-grand halls of the historic theater....
When one of the squatters is found dead, the police department has a long list of suspects to investigate. Meanwhile, Mel and her fiancé, Landon, are remodeling an old house for themselves, and Mel finds it more challenging than she expected to be on the other side of a home renovation project.
When Mel discovers that the original owner of the Crockett Theatre died under mysterious circumstances, and that there just might be a connection to the ghost haunting her own attic, the case takes a new turn--one that could bring down the curtain for the last time.
Publisher: Berkley
Publication Date: June 29th, 2020
Compact Disc (June 30th, 2020): $37.99
MP3 CD (June 30th, 2020): $24.99
Mass Market (June 30th, 2020): $7.99


The John T. Vucurevich Foundation facilitates solutions to key challenges related to health, human services, education and the arts in western South Dakota. Prior to becoming fully funded in 2007, the foundation had a responsive approach to grantmaking. With more money and a larger staff, JTVF shifted to foundation initiatives focused on big issues. It now provides funding and human resources through a collaborative approach that creates a sense of shared responsibility among partners. It is out of the foundation's efforts to be more proactive, strategic, outcomes focused, learning oriented and inclusive that the Collaborations for Change Initiative was born.
Collaborations for Change is a strategy used by the John T. Vucurevich Foundation as a key to solving issues in western South Dakota and the Black Hills region. JTVF seeks to understand community issues through partnerships with other funders, community leaders, organizations, governments and schools. The foundation convenes community meetings and taskforces to identify and understand pressing issues and then proactively solicits grant proposals.
One of the first things JTVF did was link collaboration to its organizational goals because organizations that have success with collaboration are explicit about what they want to achieve and how collaborative efforts can help advance those goals. Another important step for JTVF was to determine how it fit into the community landscape and what role would be most helpful for it to play. Sandy Diegel, president and CEO, says, "Collaboration could be strategic leadership by us, but it doesn't have to be. That is how it started, but I can see that as time goes on others in the community are stepping forward to lead collaborative change." Through the Collaborations for Change initiative, the foundation redefined its role to become a curator and a steward, and participated in collaboratives such as Partners in Nursing, a crisis care center, Future of the Arts in Rapid City and the Prosperity Initiative.
Collaboration happens through trust. You need to make sure people aren't coming to the table because they think there's a consequence if they don't come to the table. Put the grantees at ease and be clear with expectations right from the start.
Successful collaborations require trust and for trust to develop, grantmakers must prioritize building strong relationships with grantees and other partners. In preparing for collaboration, it's important to foster a culture that values trust, as well as a willingness to be flexible and sometimes give up control.


There is a lot of fruit growing on trees in Portland, but every year, thousands of pounds of this delicious organic food ends up in a sticky mess in yards and on sidewalks.
The Portland Fruit Tree Project organizes people in Portland to gather fruit before it falls, and make it available to those who need it most. The project registers fruit trees around the city, coordinates harvesting parties and offer workshops in pruning and fruit preservation.
Do you have a fruit tree to register? The project will coordinate volunteers to come and help with the harvest in exchange for a share of the fruit.
If you don't have a fruit tree, sign up for a harvest party. The parties take place on Saturdays in August and September.
There are also workshops on winter pruning and summer canning.
The project also needs volunteer fruit tree scouts to help identify fruit that isn't being harvested.


Ladislav Kamarad is from Chech republic. He makes photos of different places on our planet, trying to choose the most beautiful and extreme places. In his list he's got Nepal, Pakistan, Peru, Bolivia, Chile, Mexico, Namibia, New Zealand, and, of course, Chech republic. We can enjoy all this beauty at the comfort of our own homes.


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by vietnamshipbuildingnews October 23, 20139:09 am
Official: Vinalines corruption case challenges Vietnam's anti-corruption will
Prof. Nguyen Minh Thuyet says Duong Chi Dung's crime means destruction of the national economy
Duong Chi Dung's corruption case at Vinalines has aroused great public criticism and the punishment he gets will measure the country's anti-corruption will, one official has said.
Prof. Nguyen Minh Thuyet, former Vice Chair of National Assembly's Committee for Culture, Education, Youth and Children, made the statement in a recent interview with DTiNews concerning the major corruption case at the Vietnam National Shipping Lines (Vinalines). The interview continued:
According to the conclusions of the investigative agency, Vinalines' former chairman, Duong Chi Dung, was the culprit who ordered the purchase of Floating Dock 83M at a much inflated price in order to misappropriate USD1.6 million from state funding. What are your comments about this case?
As far as I know Duong Chi Dung pocketed USD1.6 million but the discrepancy between the listed price, (USD5 million) and the amount paid (USD9 million) was USD4 million. Not to mention that the substandard dock purchased was unusable so in fact the entire investment of USD9 million was completely useless and seriously harmed the State budget. This is a really fiendish corruption case and it's absolutely unacceptable. This crime should be punished to the fullest extent of the law, especially in the context of the current economic downturn, tight State budget revenues, a series of sluggish projects due to capital shortfall and people's difficult lives. Recently, a poor mother in southern Ca Mau Province opted to commit suicide instead of continuing to get medical care so as to save money for her family and help them be classified as poor to give her children a chance to continue their education. Dung's crime drew so much anger from people because this is really destruction of the national economy.
In your opinion why did Dung dare to do this?
I must say that it would have been insane if Dung had used his own money to invest in such a dangerous project, however, in this case, Dung used money from the State budget, and he knew very well how to take advantage of the loopholes in the current management mechanism. To finish such a major scheme, Dung must have had several accomplices. I'm sure he could not have done it alone. Of the total loss of USD5.7 million, Dung and his accomplices admitted misappropriating USD1.6 million but it's still unclear where the rest of the money went. The investigative agency has proved the involvement of customs agents in the case but I wonder if they stole all the rest or not.
Dung spent most of his misappropriated money on buying luxury houses for his girlfriend. What do you think about this?
It seems like it was so easy for him to misappropriate money from the state budget, so why would he hesitate to spend money buying two luxury apartments for his girlfriend. It's hard to understand how such a debauched human being was appointed as director of the Vietnam Maritime Administration in the first place. It's just so ridiculous.
Looking at the case of Vinalines, how do you now see the case of the troubled Vietnam Shipbuilding Industry Group (Vinashin)?
Vinalines was not the first state-owned enterprise to be betrayed by its leaders. Vinashin owed up to VND85 trillion (USD4.02 billion), plus accumulated interest of around VND50 trillion (USD2.36 billion) over the past three years.
This means that Vinashin will be unable to settle its debts seeing it has annual revenue of only VND14 trillion (USD662.4 million) even if it halts salary payments for its staff and stops all investment projects. Public concerns have been raised over the efficiency of state-owned enterprises (SOEs) and people begin to wonder which SOE will implode next. This is a known outcome for the state-owned economic sector due to lax management.
SOEs use up to 70% of our country's natural resources and as much as 40% of the State budget but their contributions to the national economy are so much lower than those of private firms. SOEs are seen as the major stones pulling down national economic growth, yet there's still no convincing explanation why the government insists on this economic model.
Many said that the tricks used by Duong Chi Dung at Vinalines to steal money from the State budget are nothing new and not really so sophisticated because they were so easily uncovered. What do you think about this?
I do believe that their tricks are nothing new. Actually, several SOEs are doing the same thing: buying unusable equipment and facilities like the Floating Dock 83M. Vinashin for instance, spent money extravagantly on buying a downgraded Hoa Sen ship. Why didn't they buy new things, or confer beforehand about what to buy, with scientists and research institutes instead? It's obvious that they tried to devise a scheme expressly in order to swindle money from the government.
But why couldn't management agencies detect and prevent such misconduct?
I really believe the situation is attributable to several things. However, people have the right to wonder about where the rot stops because such major acts of corruption could not be conducted without cooperation from several different forces.


text:
EXPENDITURE FROM RESERVES
Meeting of Policy & Finance Committee, Thursday, 29th October, 2020 9.15 am (Item 153/PF)
To consider approving expenditure from reserves as set out below:
(a) Bus shelters
To consider the recommendation below made by the Planning and Transport Committee on 21 October 2020:
RECOMMENDED to the Policy and Finance Committee that a total of up to £12,000 be drawn down from Earmarked Reserve 920/9056 – Highway Schemes (£29,080) and a further £12,000 to be drawn down from General Reserves for the supply and installation of up to 4 number "Bay Standard Shelters with quarter end panels" to be used in West Street as occasioned by the TRO for the High Street; As Town Council assets, the shelters to remain located within the parish to ensure ongoing benefit to residents.
(b) Railings
RECOMMENDED to the Policy and Finance Committee that up to £2,000 be drawn down from Earmarked Reserve 920/9056 – Highways Schemes – for railings to surround the flower bed outside Taylors Estate Agents on North Street.
(this land is owned by Central Bedfordshire Council so will be subject to their consent)
(c) Laptop computers
To consider approval of expenditure in the amount of £1,258 from earmarked reserve 9060/920 (I.T./Mod.gov, £5000 available) for the purchase of two laptops for staff use, due to home working and distancing requirements arising from the Covid-19 pandemic.
(a) The Committee received and considered the recommendation made by the Planning and Transport Committee on 21 October 2020 for the supply and installation of bus shelters in West Street. The amount to be drawn down from General reserves for the supply and installation of up to 4 bus shelters had been amended from £12,000 to £16,000 with the installation of the first two shelters taking place in the week beginning 16 November and the other two shelters in the week beginning 23 November.
A question was raised regarding the size of the shelters and how many they could accommodate during the current coronavirus restrictions. Highways had advised these shelters would be fit for purpose and once purchased would be Town Council assets to use or relocate as they see fit when the situation arose.
Councillor Owen spoke on behalf of the Liberal Democrat Group to reiterate this decision should have been made much earlier in the year. The bus shelters in the High Street had been disused since the 16 June and after discussions with Central Bedfordshire Council and a time period of 8 weeks nothing had been decided. At the 24 August Council meeting a motion was presented by the Liberal Democrat Group to request the Town Clerk discussed the provision of bus shelters and benches with Central Bedfordshire Council but the motion was not carried. A further question was raised at the Council meeting on 28 September 2020 whether any update had been received regarding the bus shelters, but no further installation updates had been received. The Liberal Democrats felt the people of the town deserved an apology for the confusion and delay in supplying bus shelters in West Street.
A further question was raised as to whether the shelters contained real-time display and it was confirmed this was ready for operation.
On voting the recommendation was carried unanimously.
RESOLVED that a total of up to £12,000 be drawn down from earmarked Reserve 920/90565 – Highway Schemes (£29,080) and a further £16,000 to be drawn down from General reserves for the supply and installation of up to 4 number 'Bay Standard Shelters with quarter end panels' to be used in West Street as occasioned by the TRO for the High Street, as Town Council assets, the shelters to remain located within the parish to ensure ongoing benefit to residents.
(b) The Committee received and considered the recommendation from Planning and Transport Committee on 21 October 2020 that up to £4,000 be drawn down from Earmarked Reserve 920/9056 – Highways Schemes – for railings to surround the flower beds outside Taylors Estate Agents on North Street and on the opposite side.
After discussion members agreed these railings should be installed on highway safety grounds, both on the side of Taylors Estate Agents and also on the opposite side to stop people stepping out onto the road.
RESOLVED that a total of £4,000 be drawn down from Earmarked Reserve 920/9056 – Highways Schemes – for railings to surround the flower beds outside Taylors Estate Agents on North Street and on the opposite side (subject to permission from Central Bedfordshire Council).
(c) The Committee received and considered a proposal to purchase laptops for staff use, due to home working and distancing requirements arising from the Covid-19 pandemic.
RESOLVED that a total of £1,258 from earmarked reserve 9060/920 (IT/Mod.Gov) be drawn down for the purchase of two laptops for staff use, due to home working and distancing requirements.
Temporary Bus Shelters West Street, item 153/PF PDF 374 KB


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