pastor Terry Jones canceled a plan to burn copies of the Koran at his obscure Florida church

A Christian pastor on Thursday canceled a plan to burn copies of the Koran at his obscure Florida church, which had drawn international condemnation and a warning from President Barack Obama that it could provoke al Qaeda suicide bombings.Defense Secretary Robert Gates called Terry Jones, an obscure minister who heads the tiny Dove World Outreach Center church in the Florida town of Gainesville, to urge him not to go ahead, the Pentagon said.

Pentagon spokesman Geoff Morrell said Gates had expressed “grave concern” in the brief telephone call with Jones that the Koran burning “would put the lives of our forces at risk, especially in Iraq and Afghanistan.”Jones later told journalists outside his church that he was calling off his plan, which had caused worldwide alarm and raised tensions over this year’s anniversary of the September 11, 2001, al Qaeda attacks on New York and Washington.

He confirmed Gates’ call but linked his decision to what he said was an agreement by Muslim leaders — which they denied — to relocate an Islamic cultural center and mosque planned close to the site of the September 11 attacks in New York.The proposed location has drawn opposition from many Americans who say it is insensitive to families of the victims of the September 11 attacks that killed nearly 3,000 people.”The imam has agreed to move the mosque, we have agreed to cancel our event on Saturday,” Jones said.

CONFUSION OVER MOSQUE “DEAL”

He said he would fly to New York on Saturday with Imam Muhammad Musri, head of the Islamic Society of Central Florida to meet the New York imam at the center of the controversy, Feisal Abdul Rauf.But Rauf said in a statement he was surprised by the announcement. “I am glad that Pastor Jones has decided not to burn any Korans. However, I have not spoken to Pastor Jones or Imam Musri. I am surprised by their announcement,” he said.

“We are not going to toy with our religion or any other. Nor are we going to barter. We are here to extend our hands to build peace and harmony,” he said.Sharif el-Gamal, the project developer for the New York mosque, said in a statement: “It is untrue that the community center known as park 51 in lower Manhattan is being moved. The project will proceed as planned. What is being reported in the media today is a falsehood.”Musri conceded to reporters: “This is not a done deal yet. This is a brokered deal,” he said. He said he had no fixed time for him and Jones to meet Rauf in New York.

INTERNATIONAL CONDEMNATION

Earlier, world leaders had joined Obama in denouncing Jones’ plan to burn copies of the Islamic holy book on Saturday, the ninth anniversary of the September 11 attacks.The international police agency Interpol warned governments worldwide of an increased risk of terrorist attacks if the burning went ahead, and the U.S. State Department issued a warning to Americans traveling overseas.

Jones has said Jesus would approve of his plan for “Burn a Koran Day,” which he called a reprisal for Islamist terrorism.The United States has powerful legal protections for the right to free speech and there was little law enforcement authorities could do to stop Jones from going ahead, other than citing him under local bylaws against public burning.Many people, both conservative and liberal, dismissed the threat as an attention-seeking stunt by the preacher.”This is a recruitment bonanza for al Qaeda,” Obama said in an ABC television interview.

“You could have serious violence in places like Pakistan or Afghanistan. This could increase the recruitment of individuals who would be willing to blow themselves up in American cities or European cities.The president, who has sought to improve relations with Muslims worldwide, spoke out in an effort to stop Jones from going ahead and head off growing anger among many Muslims.Insults to Islam, no matter their size or scope, have often been met with huge protests and violence around the world. One such outburst was sparked when a Danish newspaper published a cartoon mocking the Prophet Mohammad in 2005.

Pentagon spokesman Morrell said earlier in the day that there was intense debate within the administration over whether to call Jones. Officials feared of setting a precedent that could inspire copy-cat “extremists.”Jones’ plan was condemned by foreign governments, international church groups, U.S. religious and political leaders and military commanders.It also threatened to undermine Obama’s efforts to reach out to the world’s more than one billion Muslims at a time when he is trying to advance the Middle East peace process and build solidarity against Iran over its disputed nuclear program.(Reuters)

22-year-old Mexico woman has won the Miss Universe ,Jimena Navarrete of Guadalajara

LAS VEGAS A 22-year-old Mexico woman has won the Miss Universe pageant after donning a flowing red gown and telling an audience that it’s important to teach kids family values.Jimena Navarrete of Guadalajara was first to answer an interview question Monday night and the last of 83 contestants standing in the headline-grabbing pageant on the Las Vegas Strip.Her one-strap gown flowed behind her while she walked as she held it out like a cape. Earlier, she smiled in a violet bikini as she confidently strutted across the stage.

Asked by Olympic gold-medal figure skater Evan Lysacek how she felt about unsupervised Internet use, she said the Internet is important but parents need to be careful and watch over their kids.”I do believe that Internet is and indispensable, necessary tool for the present time,” she said. “We must be sure to teach them the values that we learned as a family.”First runner-up was Miss Jamaica Yendi Phillipps, while second runner-up was Miss Australia Jesinta Campbell.Navarrete is Mexico’s second Miss Universe; Lupita Jones of Mexico won the title in 1991. She replaces Miss Universe 2009 Stefania Fernandez of Venezuela.Navarrete’s win thwarted Miss Venezuela Marelisa Gibson from giving the South American country a third consecutive win. Neither Gibson nor Miss USA Rima Fakih made the top 15 finalists.

Navarrete won a package of prizes including an undisclosed salary, a luxury New York apartment with living expenses, a one-year scholarship to the New York Film Academy with housing after her reign, plus jewelry, clothes and shoes fit for a beauty champion.Campbell won the Miss Congeniality Universe award. Miss Thailand Fonthip Watcharatrakul won Miss Photogenic Universe and a second award for having the best national costume.(AP)

Mosque flap tests limits of NYC tolerance

The word tolerance comes from the Latin “tolerare” – to bear. In our dictionaries, we define it as, among other things, the “freedom from bigotry or prejudice.”Its meanings are almost as numerous as the people who express them, as recent entries in the visitor comment book at the Simon Wiesenthal Center’s Museum of Tolerance in Los Angeles suggest.It means “to respect other races even if u hate them,” says one commenter, signed only as G. “Acceptance,” says another, Alejandra, adding, “To me, tolerance is tinged with the negative aspect of `putting up with’ someone or something, but not fully embracing it.”

As rancor swirls around the issue of whether a mosque and Islamic cultural center should be built two blocks from the New York site where the destroyed Twin Towers stood, Americans are being forced to examine just how tolerant they are – or are not.The issue has always been with us. Against the backdrop of Puritan rigidity and the infamous Salem witch trials, the Founding Fathers made sure the concept of tolerance was woven into the very fabric of the young American republic.In 1790, in a letter welcoming newly elected President George Washington to Newport, R.I., on behalf of “the children of the stock of Abraham,” Moses Seixas reflected this view. “Deprived as we heretofore have been of the invaluable rights of free Citizens,” he wrote, he saw the hand of God in the establishment of a government “which to bigotry gives no sanction, to persecution no assistance.”

In reply, Washington assured the Jewish leader that the birth of the United States meant a new birth of freedom and respect.”It is now no more that toleration is spoken of, as if it was by the indulgence of one class of people, that another enjoyed the exercise of their inherent natural rights,” he wrote. This would be a country, he pledged, where “every one shall sit in safety under his own vine and figtree, and there shall be none to make him afraid.”

If Washington’s promise remains part of the nation’s creed today, it’s still true that disputes like that involving the New York mosque test the limits of that tolerance.”We were never as tolerant as we thought we were,” says the Rev. Barry W. Lynn, executive director of Americans United for Separation of Church and State. “I think that the rock on which tolerance is built is often more like sandstone than it is granite. It is easy to erode at any times when problems in the culture develop.”

Despite the current imbroglio over the Manhattan mosque, the Rev. Patrick McCollum says he believes Americans are becoming more tolerant. His proof: The fact that his house hasn’t been firebombed in a while.”There were people actually killed and such for having beliefs different than the dominant belief system,” says the San Francisco man, a Wiccan minister in the “sacred path” tradition. “And that doesn’t happen as much anymore.”

McCollum, 60, has been involved in a seven-year federal court battle over California’s policy of employing as state chaplains only Protestants, Catholics, Jews, Muslims and adherents to Native American religions. He attributes both his struggle and the Manhattan mosque fight to what he calls the “dominant religious lens factor.”

Even so, he interprets the latter as a sign of growth.”I think that the intolerance that we’re experiencing right now is that for the first time in a long period of time, since almost the founding of our country, we’ve actually begun to ALLOW pluralism to surface in our country,” says McCollum. “So we’ve started to uphold the ideals that our country was founded on … and the people who’ve been in the dominant position begin to feel like they’re under attack.”

Although not declaring his outright support for the mosque planners’ real estate choice, President Barack Obama has defended their constitutional right to be there.

Not everyone was satisfied with his words.”I think to reason in that manner is to shortchange American identity; it’s not to apprehend fully the robustness of American identity,” says Brad Stetson, co-author of the book “The Truth About Tolerance: Pluralism, Diversity And The Culture Wars.”

America’s “penchant for toleration,” as Stetson puts it, is “beyond question.” But he says that tolerance has always been “circumscribed by some understanding of what was best for the commonweal, the health of the social body.””It’s not necessarily intolerant to say no,” says Stetson, who also lectures at Chapman University and California State University, Long Beach. “Governing bodies at various levels of a deeply pluralistic society like ours have a duty to consider the range of public sensibilities … a given decision affects, and not merely reflexively grant the naked exercise of rights upon request.”

Lynn can understand why some people are so upset about the Islamic center plans. “I’m not saying that everybody who is against building this mosque is some kind of a bigot,” he says. But is building the mosque really the equivalent of, as former House Speaker Newt Gingrich suggested, putting a Nazi sign “next to the Holocaust Museum” in Washington, D.C.?

Yes, says 88-year-old Abe Rosenblum.In 1943, Rosenblum was taken from his home in the Carpathian Mountains and “drafted” into the Hungarian labor force. When the Nazis occupied the area, he and the other Jews were sent to a ghetto, then loaded into boxcars, and eventually wound up in Mauthausen, a notorious concentration camp not far from Adolf Hitler’s hometown of Linz, Austria.

By the time the Russians liberated him from another subcamp in 1945, the 6-foot-1 Rosenblum weighed just 85 pounds. His father, grandparents and five sisters all perished. Only he and his oldest brother, who had emigrated to Chicago in 1939, survived. Rosenblum eventually joined him, settling in the suburb of Skokie, Ill.

In 1977, Rosenblum and the many other Holocaust survivors who settled in Skokie were horrified when Frank Collin and his National Socialist Party of America announced plans to march there. Although the courts eventually upheld Collin’s right to parade, the march was called off after Chicago, Collin’s original target, agreed to grant him a permit to rally there.

Years later, when arriving for the dedication of the Holocaust Museum in Skokie, Rosenblum looked out his bus window and saw a single protester standing in the rain, holding a Nazi flag and wearing a swastika arm band. It made him physically ill.

“We already lived through all these atrocities, and these guys come over here and still want to?” he says in heavily accented English, his respiration quickening. “They didn’t have enough? … This is not free speech. This is antagonizing.”Rosenblum does not believe that Islam is an inherently violent religion. But he says Muslims have no more business building a mosque so close to ground zero than an order of Carmelite nuns had to establish a convent outside the walls of the Auschwitz concentration camp.

His voice rising, he asks why another New York site can’t be found. “You have to build it there, where people suffered? … It hurts me even to talk about it. Because I know what these people feel, those people who lost their loved ones.”Lynn wonders who is speaking for the Muslim-Americans who died in the 9/11 attacks. “There was the same terror for Muslims as … for Jews or Christians or atheists that morning.”

Eighteen-year-old Ceara Sturgis has been oblivious to the storm clouds emanating from New York. But she’s had a busy week.On Wednesday, she started classes at Mississippi State University. The day before, she filed a federal lawsuit against her high school in Wesson, Miss.

Sturgis claims she was discriminated against when her name and photo were left out of the senior yearbook. School officials said Sturgis, who is lesbian and generally dresses in gender-neutral or “masculine” clothes, violated a policy that allowed only boys to wear tuxedos for their senior portraits.When Sturgis tried on the scoop-necked drape, she felt so uncomfortable that it brought her to tears. She changed into a tux and submitted that photo.

Sturgis – a National Honor Society member who was involved in numerous school sports and clubs – had been told the photo wouldn’t be included in the yearbook. But the omission of her name seemed an attempt to deny her very existence.”I’d been going there 13 years, and that was my senior year, and that was the last memory I was going to have,” she says. “And, like, 40 years down the road, when people look at that, I’m not going to be in there. My friends aren’t going to see me in there. And that just, it really hurt my feelings.”

Ironically, it took what Sturgis sees as an act of intolerance to show her just how much support she has. A Facebook page dedicated to her has nearly 3,000 friends.”Most of them are not from Mississippi,” she says with a chuckle. “I really think it’s just the small, closed-minded towns that are doing this.”

If Americans are conflicted, they can be forgiven, says tolerance museum director Liebe Geft. She admits to finding the word “problematic” herself.Geft – whose paternal grandmother and namesake was among Lithuanian Jews rounded up by their neighbors ahead of the Nazi invasion, taken out to the woods and shot – would like visitors to define tolerance “in a much more active way, putting respect into practice.”

“It’s not a mandate to accept everything,” says Geft, who grew up in Zimbabwe and has lived on four continents. “There are limits to what a civil society should tolerate. And when the human rights and dignities of others are being trampled and denied, that’s not acceptable in a country that advocates rights and freedoms and dignity for all.”But, as the visitor comments reveal, intolerance is in the eye of the beholder.

In the museum’s “Tolerancenter” are four polling stations that allow visitors to weigh in on the provocative topic du jour. On Wednesday, Geft posed the question: Is it appropriate to erect a Mosque and Islamic Community Center close to the 9/11 site?”The results, as of Friday: 37 percent answered “yes,” 62 percent said “no.”

Some Companies using criminal records or bad credit reports for job screening tactics challenged as illegal

WASHINGTON Companies using criminal records or bad credit reports to screen out job applicants might run afoul of anti-discrimination laws as the government steps up scrutiny of hiring policies that can hurt blacks and Hispanics.A blanket refusal to hire workers based on criminal records or credit problems can be illegal if it has a disparate impact on racial minorities, according to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. The agency enforces the nation’s employment discrimination laws.”Our sense is that the problem is snowballing because of the technology allowing these checks to be done with a fair amount of ease,” said Carol Miaskoff, assistant legal counsel at the EEOC.

With millions of adults having criminal records – anything from underage drinking to homicide – a growing number of job seekers are having a rough time finding work. And more companies are trying to screen out people with bankruptcies, court judgments or other credit problems just as those numbers have swollen during the recession.Just ask Adrienne Hudson, a single mother who says she was fired from her new job as a bus driver at First Transit in Oakland, Calif., when the company found out she had been convicted seven years earlier for welfare fraud.

Hudson, 44, is fighting back with a lawsuit alleging the company’s hiring practice discriminates against black and Latino job seekers, who have arrest and conviction rates far greater than whites. A spokesman for First Transit said the company does not comment on pending litigation.”People make mistakes,” said Hudson, who is black, “but when they correct their mistake, they should not be punished again outside of the court system.”

Justice Department statistics show that 38 percent of the U.S. prison population is black, compared with about 12 percent of the general population. In 2008, African-Americans were about six times more likely to be incarcerated than whites. The incarceration rate for Latinos was 2.3 times higher than whites.If criminal histories are taken into account, the EEOC says employers must also consider the nature of the job, the seriousness of the offense and how long ago it occurred. For example, it may make sense to disqualify a bank employee with a past conviction for embezzlement, but not necessarily for a DUI.

Most companies tend to be more nuanced when they look at credit reports, weeding out those applicants with bad credit only if they seek senior positions or jobs dealing with money. But if the screening process weeds out more black and Hispanic applicants than whites, an employer needs to show how the credit information is related to the job.

About 73 percent of major employers report that they always check on applicants’ criminal records, while 19 percent do so for select job candidates, according to a 2010 survey by the Society for Human Resource Management.The same survey found that almost half of major companies conduct credit checks for some job candidates, such as those who would be in a position of financial trust. Another 13 percent perform credit checks for all potential workers.

Last fall, the EEOC sent a strong message to employers when it filed a class-action lawsuit against Freeman Companies, a Dallas-based events planning firm, alleging the company discriminated against blacks, Hispanics and males by rejecting job seekers based on credit history and criminal records. Freeman has denied the charges.The growth of online databases and a multimillion dollar background check industry have made it easy for employers to find out reams of information about potential hires. Companies see the checks as another way to weed out unsavory candidates, keep a safe work environment and prevent negligent hiring claims.

“Past indiscretions may be an indicator of future behavior, especially in the criminal context,” said Pamela Devata, a Chicago employment lawyer who has represented companies trying to comply with EEOC’s requirements.Devata said employers nationwide have seen the EEOC become more active in investigating employer hiring practices. The scrutiny has caused many companies to reevaluate their screening process and move to a case-by-case standard.

Ariela Migdal, an attorney with the American Civil Liberties Union’s Women’s Rights Project in New York, said a person might have a blemish that has nothing to do with the job he or she is seeking. And records sometimes are inaccurate or not updated to reflect that someone arrested later had charges dropped or a conviction overturned or expunged, she said.”Somebody with an old conviction that has been rehabilitated doesn’t have any greater likelihood of committing a crime, so its irrational to use that against them,” Migdal said.

Ron Heintzman, president of the Amalgamated Transit Union, said he’s seen dozens of job candidates disqualified “for reasons that were just ridiculous.” His union, with 13,000 members in First Transit, is paying for the lawsuit that Hudson filed last month against the company which operates bus service in Oakland and several other major cities.

In Hudson’s case, she was fired after just two days on the job as a bus driver because of a 7-year-old felony welfare fraud conviction. The conviction was later dismissed under California law, but her lawsuit, filed in federal court last month, claims the company has a policy to deny employment no matter how old the conviction, the applicant’s prior work history or whether it is related to the job.

(This version CORRECTS name of American Civil Liberties Union.)(AP)

Immigrants in New York City have a lower unemployment rate and participate in the labor force at a higher rate than native

Immigrants in New York City have a lower unemployment rate and participate in the labor force at a higher rate than native-born Americans, a divergence from the national trends that may reflect optimism about the recovery.The economic recession didn’t hit New York City as badly as other parts of the country. The city lost proportionally fewer payroll jobs than the nation as a whole.

A report by the Fiscal Policy Institute, a think tank, shows that in the first five months of 2010 the unemployment rate for immigrants in New York City was 8.8 percent while the rate for native-born residents was 10.9 percent. The city average was 9.9 percent.”When employers see the light at the beginning of the recovery, when they begin hiring again, the first kind of worker they seek will likely be expendable,” said Demetrios Papademetriou, president of the Migration Policy Center in Washington.

“New York has always relied on immigrants, and new immigrants, to drive its economy,” he said.Labor participation rates of U.S.-born New Yorkers declined from 59.2 percent in 2008 to 57.1 percent in 2010, while that of immigrant residents rose from 60 percent to 64.1 percent in the same period, the study said.

Labor participation is defined by those employed plus those actively looking for work.”Immigrant labor force participation in New York goes up during the recession, underscoring the notion that as the economy worsens, immigrants are more increasingly looking for work to cover their needs,” said David Dyssegaard Kallick, senior fellow at the Fiscal Policy Institute who authored the report.

Kallick measured immigrants’ employment, regardless of their legal status, using five months of data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics and the Census Bureau.Immigrants laborers are more likely to relocate in pursuit of work, and without access to unemployment insurance many more quickly accept undesirable and temporary jobs.

“We see people coming from towns in Michigan, from Wisconsin, from North Carolina,” said Cirilo Gonzalez, 50, who works on indoor construction, primarily installing drywall.Oscar Hernandez, 39, moved to the United States 12 years ago from the central Mexican state of Morelos, and said labor conditions in New York push some immigrant workers to New Jersey or Philadelphia.”Seven dollars an hour is bad but it’s better than nothing,” Hernandez said. “My family is waiting for food.”(Reuters)

London Euro slumped back against the U.S. dollar on Monday

London Euro slumped back against the U.S. dollar on Monday, as investors adjust positions ahead of Federal Reserve meeting, which some believe could announce new measures to boost the sluggish recovery.Dealers said the euro rose in early trading very strongly supported by the German trade figures which show Europe’s economic giant will help drive growth across the region.As the day develops, markets anticipate that the Fed could announce new stimulus steps in a meeting on Tuesday which will be positive for the dollar with the increase in U.S. economic prospects.

However, choppy trade with investors reluctant to make big commitments awaiting the Fed’s statement after the closely watched U.S. jobs report on Friday is much worse than expected.In late trading in London, the euro was at 1.3236 dollars, the highest in the early retreat of around 1.3283 dollars, down from 1.3276 dollars late Friday in New York.

Against the Japanese yen, the dollar is stronger at 85.86 yen from 85.48 yen on Friday.Michael Hewson of CMC Markets in London said the attention of everyone there at the Fed.”The results that will dominate this week’s sentiment   What will become of certain records would be a tone of language used in the statement of work, especially after the data is weaker than expected on Friday,” said Hewson.Forex.com said Jane Foley of choppy trade “as the market grappled with the possibility of facing the Federal Reserve.”,”Payrolls Friday may have been disappointing, but the market still was not sure because if the data illustrate a major slowdown in U.S. economic sukup” which will prompt the Fed to take new action, he said.

With interest rates near zero percent, analysts had suggested the Fed could mempertimbangkankebijakan based monetary stimulus, including a new pumping money directly into the system to increase the demand for credit.Earlier, Germany’s second largest exporter in the world after China, said exports in June surged 28.5 percent to 86.5 billion euros (115 billion dollars), the highest level since October 2008.

Meanwhile, imports surged 31.7 percent to reach a new record of 72.4 billion euros, meaning that the German trade partners also work well.”This has increased the possibility of Germany’s economy grew faster in the second quarter from the previous assumptions,” said Commerzbank analyst, Simon Junker.In London trading, the euro changed hands at 1.3236 dollars against 1.3276 dollars on Friday, at 113.65 yen (113.50), 0.8297 British pounds (0.8326) and 1.3851 Swiss francs (1, 3788).Dollar stood at 85.86 yen (85.48) and 1.0466 Swiss francs (1.0378). The pound was at 1.5951 dollars (1.5941).On the London Bullion Market, gold prices slid to 1203 dollars per ounce from 1207.75 dollars per ounce on Friday. (  AFP) –

black youths versus Mexican conflict has NYC worried

A wave of attacks by black youths against Mexican immigrants has provoked a police show of force and swift action by politicians worried about racial conflict in the remote New York City borough of Staten Island.Gravely concerned about racial conflict in the middle of a hot summer, city authorities, immigrant advocates and the Mexican consulate have announced a series of measures aimed at reducing the violence even as they disagree over the cause of the attacks and how to stop them.

The situation has combined two of America’s most intractable social problems — the plight of inner-city black youths who lack jobs and opportunity, and the world of the migrant workers who flee poverty or violence at home in search of low-paying jobs that Americans generally refuse to take.Police are investigating at least 10 incidents of beatings or robberies since April as hate crimes and in recent days have flooded the Port Richmond neighborhood with highly visible patrol cars, street officers and “eye in the sky” mobile watch towers that can be staffed by police.

Experts say the incidents are likely under-reported because illegal immigrants fearful of deportation are reluctant to report crimes to police. On the streets, Mexican immigrants tell enough stories about how they or their compatriots have been targeted to suggest more than 10 cases.

The police build-up began last week after a July 23 incident in which several young men yelling anti-Mexican slurs attacked a 31-year-old Mexican, breaking his jaw and cutting his scalp while stealing his backpack. Then last weekend three men beat a 17-year-old Mexican, stealing $10.

The beatings are often accompanied by anti-Hispanic epithets, and in some cases little or no money has been taken.”It’s nothing more than racial hate,” said Gerardo Garcia, 29, of Acapulco, one of the many immigrant day laborers who gather at different points, hoping to get hired for the day.”We try to do things right. We work. We go home. We’re not looking for fights. But we’re always confronted by groups of four or five black kids who always want to fight. They’re not looking for money, they just want to fight.”

EASY TARGETS

The sight of Hispanic men concentrating on street corners has unsettled communities across the United States, particularly when associated with littering or public drunkenness.

Staten Island, which is less diverse than other New York City boroughs, is still getting used to them. Sometimes called the forgotten borough, Staten Island is geographically closer to New Jersey than to the rest of New York City and, with the smallest population of the five boroughs, it rarely receives as much attention.

The youths may been looking for easy targets for robberies of men who carry large amounts of cash on payday.”It’s a crime of opportunity, not just because they are Mexicans,” said Debi Rose, the city council representative of the neighborhood and one of the officials who on Tuesday announced a $300,000 anti-bias program for high schools and fund-raising to buy more security cameras, among other steps.

“The young African American males involved are not exemplary of the community. We are working hard to ensure that we don’t demonize young African American men,” she said.

The poor economy has hit both minority groups hard. Jobs for teenagers are scarce and the city has cut funding for recreational programs that might keep them out of trouble.Mexican day laborers who commanded $120 for a full day of work before the recession now say they are lucky to get $80.

“I just hope that at some point these young African Americans realize we are on the same side. We are both minorities. We are suffering from discrimination in various parts of the country,” said Ruben Beltran, the Mexican consul.Even before the most recent attacks, the Mexican consulate hired a counselor to roam Staten Island, advising Mexicans of their rights and encouraging them to report crimes.

“Across the country there is a wave of anti-immigrant violence. There are people who are particularly hateful of the undocumented who are seen as less than human,” said Ana Maria Archila of Make the Road, an immigrant advocate group.”Now it just seems so much more gratuitous and intense than ever before,” she said. “I’m not sure anyone knows what the right solution is.”(Reuters)

Dozens of U.S. billionaire promised to give at least half their wealth to charity

New York  – Tens of millionaire United States (U.S.) on Wednesday (4 / 8 ) promised to give at least half their wealth to charity, as part of a charity campaign two richest men, Warren Buffet and Bill Gates.Forbes magazine estimates based on the billionaire’s wealth, at least amereka can give 150 billion dollars worth of money. Among the rich people who joined the campaign for “The Giving Pledge” is a New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, the media magnate Barry Diller and Ted Turner, and Oracle founder Larry Ellison, director of “Star Wars” George Lucas and energy king T. Boone Pickens.

Till now 40 richest people in the U.S., including Microsoft founder Gates and investor Warren Buffet who give a commitment.Since the campaign was launched in June, Buffett, Gates and his wife Melinda have spoken to the 20 percent richest people in the U.S. – between 70 to 80 people – to take their share. “In many cases we believe they already have the interest to charity. Already there are 40 people who signed,” said Buffett.”We want to recruit as many mungkind from 40 people to contribute and so they invite others so we can make a bigger stake and start with the good.”

U.S. millionaire campaigns asked to give at least half their wealth during their lives, or after they die, and to publicize their cause with a letter explaining their decision.Gates has kekeyaan approximately 53 billion worth of dollars, which put him in second place in the world’s richest people list of Forbes magazine. Buffett’s third-richest man is, his wealth comes from insurance and investment company Berkshire Hathaway Inc. The company ranked third in the list with a fortune worth 47 billion dollars.

“The Giving Pledge” does not accept money or directing people on how menyumbang.Para billionaires are only required to make a moral commitment to give their wealth to charity.”The idea is not to tell anyone when or how to do it, but at least offer what has been learned by the other,” Buffett said.Millionaire who was involved during this average has been actively involved in charity utnuk kegitan everything from genetics and cancer research, education, gun control, library and art.

Tax Avoidance motivation was not
“I’ve always said that I like making money, and I like to give it. I do not like to inheritance. More harm than benefit,” said Pickens, whose wealth worth approximately one billion dollars.

Buffet and Gates will make some dinner this year to recruit more millionaires, and a member of “The Giving Pledge” will hold annual meetings to discuss their charitable activities. They also will meet with some of the richest people in China in September and India in March.”We expect this to be followed by other countries. If they want to follow what we consider to be a good idea and do it, we’ll be happy,” said Buffett.Forbes said the U.S. is home to 403 billionaires, the highest compared to other countries.

“I always thought that the best thing is to make the world a better place for your children and your grandchildren, instead of giving them some money. The kids you get more benefit from your charity work than your legacy,” said Bloomberg , which has a net worth of 18 billion dollars.

Buffett said there were no members of “The Giving Pledge” whose motivation is to avoid taxes.Real estate and construction billionaire Eli Broad, the capitalist John Doerr, a media entrepreneur and former leader Gerry Lensfest Cisco Systems John Morgridge joined Gates and Buffett as “The Giving Pledge” was introduced in June. As many as 34 other members announced on Wednesday.

Buffett pledged in 2006 to give 99 percent of fatherly fortune to Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and family charities yayasana. Bill and Melinda has so far donated more than 28 billion of their wealth to their foundations. List of billionaires and their letters can be read on the site http://www.thegivingpledge.org.

Who Partake Join The Millionaires
Paul Allen (57) has a wealth of 7.8 billion poundstrling founded Microsoft. She resigned in 1983 because of fear of cancer. Since then she has helped charities.

Michael Bloomberg (68) is a financial news tycoon with a fortune of 12 billion pounds, which now serves the New York mayoralty for the third time. He once said: “The best financial planning ended with the toss check to the funeral home.”

Warren Buffett (79) is the world’s third richest man who has a wealth of 30 billion pounds through the investment company Berkshire Hathaway. He vowed to give 99 percent of the money.

Bill (54) and Melinda Gates (45). Bill is the inventor of Microsoft, and he remains the largest single shareholder with a profit of 33 billion worth of poundstrling. He founded the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation in 2000, which has donated more than 17 billion pounds for charity.

George Lucas (66) has a personal fortune of about 1:26 billion pounds. Director of “Star Wars” it never won an Oscar and Golden Globe and she often works with Steven Spielberg.

T. Boone Pickens (82) American financial expert who heads the BP Capital Management and was worth two billion pounds.

Rockefeller David (1995) is a member of the Rockefeller family, one of the famous American family that started from the 19th century. Personal fortune valued at 2 billion pounds.

Diane von Furstenberg (63) and Barry Diller (68) between them, worth a combined wealth of more than 1 billion pounds. Diane is a designer known for “wrap dress” designs, while Barry’s famous thanks to popular shows like “The Simpson” while working at Fox television stations.

Ted Turner (71) founder of the CNN news network and has a net worth of 1.1 billion pounds. He had more land than other U.S. citizens and have the largest bison herds on the planet.

Barron Hilton (82) is one of Conrad Hilton, who started the chain of hotels with the same name, and is the grandfather of Paris Hilton. He has wealth valued at approximately 1.6 billion pounds.(AFP)

Facebook unrestrained amid NY ownership lawsuit

Facebook may continue business as usual while it fights a New York man’s claim he has a contract with founder Mark Zuckerberg that entitles him to 84 percent ownership of the world’s leading social networking site, a U.S. court heard on Tuesday.Paul Ceglia of Wellsville, New York, sued Zuckerberg and Facebook Inc last month claiming a 2003 contract with Zuckerberg to develop and design a website now entitled him to a majority stake in the privately-held company.

A New York State judge in Allegany County put a temporary restraining order on company asset transfers, but that order was suspended on June 30 by Judge Richard Arcara of federal court in Buffalo, New York.Arcara decided at a hearing on Tuesday that his ruling should remain in place, Facebook and a lawyer for Ceglia said.

“We have reached an agreement with respect to the progress of the next stage of the litigation,” said Ceglia’s lawyer, Terrence Connors.In a statement, the Palo Alto, California-based company said: “We are pleased that the court’s decision to stay the temporary restraining order remains in place and will continue to fight this frivolous claim.”The purported contract was dated April 2003 and ended in February 2004, according to Ceglia’s complaint, which had a two-page “‘Work for Hire’ Contract” attached.”He has contract. The contract is clean and clear,” Connors said by telephone after the hearing.Connors said he argued in court that Zuckerberg had signed the contract.

“The judge asked the question of the defense and they said they were looking into it,” Connors said. “I suspect that, if their client did not sign it, they would have made that clear.”In court documents, lawyers for Zuckerberg and Facebook wrote that Ceglia “sat on his allowed rights for over six years” and should not be permitted “to say that now, all of a sudden, he requires immediate relief.”The company, which has nearly 500 million users and 1,000 employees, argued the “purported contract itself is wrought with irregularities, inconsistencies and undefined terms.”Zuckerberg was a freshman at Harvard University in Massachusetts at the time of the purported contract.

Facebook’s court papers noted that last December a state prosecutor accused a wood-pellet fuel company that Ceglia owned with his wife of taking $200,000 from customers and failing to deliver products or refunds.The company is also defending a claim in federal court in Delaware that the most basic functions of its website infringe a patent held by a little-known company [ID:nN16102757].

Facebook ranks among the Web’s most popular sites, alongside Google Inc, Yahoo Inc and Microsoft Corp. Facebook is also one of the most closely watched Web companies by investors eager for a blockbuster initial public offering.The cases are Paul Ceglia v Zuckerberg & Facebook, New York State Supreme Court, Allegany County, No. 038798/2010 and Ceglia v Zuckerberg et al, U.S. District Court for the Western District of New York, No. 10-00569.(Reuters)

President Barack Obama welcomed China's announcement Saturday that it will allow a more flexible exchange rate for its currency

BEIJING  President Barack Obama welcomed China’s announcement Saturday that it will allow a more flexible exchange rate for its currency, saying it would help protect the economic recovery.The announcement by China’s central bank suggested a possible break from the yuan’s two-year peg to the U.S. dollar – a source of friction between the two countries – but ruled out any large-scale appreciation.The People’s Bank of China mentioned no specific policy changes, though markets will be watched closely Monday for the announcement’s effects. Chinese officials have said all along that reforms of the yuan, also known as the renminbi, or “people’s money,” will be gradual.”It is desirable to proceed further with reform of the RMB exchange rate regime and increase the RMB exchange rate flexibility,” the central bank said in a statement posted on its website.

The announcement, timed just before President Hu Jintao’s trip to the G-20 summit in Toronto, Canada, follows warnings from Beijing earlier this week against making its currency policies a main focus of the meeting.Beijing kept the yuan frozen against the dollar to help Chinese manufacturers compete amid weak global demand. It faces pressure from the United States and other trading partners who contend the yuan is undervalued.

“China’s decision to increase the flexibility of its exchange rate is a constructive step that can help safeguard the recovery and contribute to a more balanced global economy,” Obama said in a statement.U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner called the move an “important step.””But the test will be how far and how fast they let the currency appreciate,” he said.The European Commission also welcomed the decision, saying it would help achieve more sustainable global economic growth, reduce trade imbalances and strengthen the stability of the international financial system.

But the announcement is unlikely to satisfy critics in the U.S. Congress, who argue that an undervalued Chinese currency gives China’s exporters an unfair advantage, costing millions of American jobs.”This vague and limited statement of intentions is China’s typical response to pressure,” Sen. Charles Schumer, a New York Democrat, said in a statement. “Until there is more specific information about how quickly it will let its currency appreciate and by how much, we can have no good feeling that the Chinese will start playing by the rules.”

Signs that a global economic recovery has taken hold have prompted speculation that China would begin letting the yuan resume a gradual appreciation against the U.S. dollar that began in 2005 but was halted abruptly in 2008 as the global financial crisis took effect.Since then, the yuan’s value has remained at roughly 6.83 to $1, although it is formally pegged to a basket of currencies that includes the U.S. dollar.

“It definitely sounds significant. They’re saying they’re going to press forward,” Stephen Green, an economist at Standard Chartered Bank in Shanghai, said of Saturday’s statement.”We didn’t ever think they were going to do a big one-off, so it looks like that’s not going to happen,” he said. “We’re going to see more movement around a basically stable exchange rate until the global economy is basically healthier. The proof will be in the pudding on Monday.”

Chinese officials have warned that any adjustment to the exchange rate is not other countries’ concern.The director of the international department of the People’s Bank of China, Zhang Tao, told a news conference Friday that Chinese leaders will not discuss the yuan at the G-20 summit.

Saturday’s statement pointed to economic growth both inside and outside China as a reason for the increase in exchange rate flexibility.”The global economy is gradually recovering. The recovery and upturn of the Chinese economy has become more solid with the enhanced economic stability,” the central bank said.However, it indicated no major policy changes, adding: “The exchange rate floating bands will remain the same as previously announced in the interbank foreign exchange market.”(AP)