samedi 25 février 2012

Greece Launches Debt Swap

ATHENS—Greece on Friday formally launched a bond-swap offer to private-sector creditors, kicking off a €100 billion ($134.7 billion) debt write-down plan that is part of a fresh multibillion-euro rescue agreement Athens is seeking from its international creditors.

The Finance Ministry said that at least 90% of the face amount of all bonds selected to participate in the debt deal must be exchanged in order for it to go forward. However, Greece—along with its European partners—would consider proceeding with an alternative bond swap if only 75% of bondholders participate, without necessarily forcing holdouts to sign on to the deal.

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Greek Prime Minister Lucas Papademos arrives at Friday's cabinet meeting.

Earlier this week, euro-zone finance ministers approved a fresh €130 billion bailout for Greece and the debt-restructuring program. The two deals are linked: Greece's European partners demanded that the country proceed with a debt restructuring before they would approve the new loan.

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Under the terms of the debt deal, Greece's private-sector creditors will waive 53.5% of the principal on the bonds they hold by swapping their old bonds with new ones, worth less than half the face value of the original bonds and carrying lower coupons. The deal aims to erase as much as €107 billion from Greece's sovereign-debt burden and bring its debt ratio down to a more sustainable 120.5% of gross domestic product by 2020, from more than 165% now.

The ministry, in its statement, noted that "Unless bonds representing at least 90% of the aggregate face amount of all bonds selected to participate in the PSI [private sector initiative] are validly tendered for exchange, the Republic will not be required to settle any of the exchanges." It added that "If at least 75%, but less than 90% of the aggregate face amount of all bonds selected to participate in PSI are validly tendered for exchange, the Republic, in consultation with its official sector creditors, may proceed to exchange the tendered bonds without putting any of the proposed amendments into effect," it added.

European Union leaders will meet March 1-2 at a summit to give the final nod to the deal.

Greece's Cabinet signed off on the deal earlier Friday. "The cabinet has approved the procedure, the terms, and offer relating to the [debt deal]," said a senior government official present in the meeting.

To secure the new loan, Greek lawmakers also are scrambling to pass further cutbacks—ranging from pension cuts to lowering the minimum wage to reductions in defense and health-care spending—by the middle of next week to meet the demands of the country's European partners and the International Monetary Fund.

Over the next few weeks, Greece's government must complete some 80 new measures to fulfill those demands, including many that must be completed by March 1, said a government official.

"In general, there is optimism that there will be very high participation" in the debt swap, the official said.

By March 9, according to a government official, Greece will determine whether the take-up rate from investors is enough for the debt deal to proceed. If so, the actual exchange of the new bonds for the old will take place March 12.

The deal also calls for bond holders to accept retroactive collective-action clauses, or CACs, aimed at forcing losses on holdouts who may resist what is being billed as a "voluntary" debt restructuring.

Depending on the participation rate, Greece will then decide whether to activate the CACs to rope in any holdouts—a move that risks triggering credit default swaps, or CDS, on Greek government bonds.

CDS are derivatives that function like a default insurance contract for debt. If a borrower defaults, sellers compensate buyers.

The new bonds issued by Greece will be governed by English law rather than Greek law because Greek lawmakers won't be able to review the legal terms of the deal. If the bonds were governed by Greek law, it would be easier for the Greek legislature to pass a law that simply amends the bonds.

Write to Alkman Granitsas at alkman.granitsas@dowjones.com, Stelios Bouras at stelios.bouras@dowjones.com and Nektaria Stamouli at nektaria.stamouli@dowjones.com

debt restructuring online, European partners, European partners, face amount, face amount, ATHENS—Greece, Prime Minister Lucas Papademos

Online.wsj.com

jeudi 23 février 2012

Behind the bluster, Kenyon Martin has a heart

Kenyon Martin

Clippers forward Kenyon Martin may seem like a tough guy, but his on-court demeanor hasn't stopped him from helping children overcome stuttering. (Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times / February 22, 2012)

It figured to be one of those welcome to L.A. interviews, the scary, animated and intimidating tattoo that is Kenyon Martin saying, "Why don't you put on your basketball shoes, come on the court and I will run right through you."

I think that was after I said hello.

T.J. Simers

T.J. Simers

Bio | E-mail | Recent columns

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You hear about this thug now playing for the Clippers, the run-in he had with a radio guy in Denver, his suspension at halftime of a playoff game for getting into it with Denver Coach George Karl, and more Karl bashing this week.

Then, a few hours before Wednesday night's game, you listen to the blowhard huff and puff about how he's a man, he doesn't care what anyone thinks of him and blah, blah, blah.

It's a great show of bluster, and almost believable when he adds, "You tease me about that, and I'll mess you up. I will fight you."

But he's stuttering as he says it, and while I would never tease him about stuttering, I just had no idea. I guess I was too intent on ducking if necessary, not noticing the occasional collision of words coming from Martin's mouth.

A few minutes later he's talking about how much he wants to help kids who might also be stutterers, and it's almost scary how thoughtful he can be.

"If you're a kid, it's all you think about if you stutter," Martin says. "Kids can be so mean. My grades suffered. Class participation weighs heavy in grading, and I wouldn't open my mouth to read or talk in front of anyone.

"When kids would tease me, the way I would handle it, I would fight them."

He went to the University of Cincinnati and did what he could to avoid being interviewed. It wasn't easy for someone who would become the No. 1 player selected in the 2000 NBA draft.

But looking back now, whatever he's accomplished on the basketball court, it's hard to believe it's any bigger than what he's already done for so many off the court.

In addition to donating money to disaster victims across the country and his own foundation, which helps youngsters who do not have fathers, he works as a role model on behalf of various organizations for those who stutter.

How's this for a headline? "Bad Guy Does Good."

A few years ago he received an award from the American Institute for Stuttering, the blue crystal iceberg emblematic of the pain that runs beneath the surface for so many stutterers.

"I first met this kid, I think his name is Darius, and he couldn't even get the words out," says Martin, talking as soft and caring as a father might about his own children. "Then he went through a program, and here he's the one who is presenting me with the award.

"And he didn't stutter one time. How cool is that? It makes me so happy just thinking about it."

Martin says he has learned how to control his breathing, which helps him not stutter. And he laughs when reminded how routine it is for him now to speak to large groups.

"I couldn't even stand in front of 15 other kids in school," he says.

So what would Martin, the tough-guy basketball player, do now if approached by a kid with a stuttering problem?

Kenyon Martin, Nuggets Clippers, Chris Paul, Clippers, Warriors Clippers, stuttering, stuttering, Denver Coach George Karl, stutter

Latimes.com

samedi 18 février 2012

Flood of civil cases hampers Miramonte investigation

<a href=Miramonte Elementary School" border="0" width="580" height="292" />

A teacher newly assigned to Miramonte Elementary leads her students out to recess. Many fear that recent gains at the school will be lost in the chaos surrounding abuse allegations. (Irfan Khan, Los Angeles Times / February 9, 2012)

For much of the last year, sheriff's detectives delicately and quietly investigated the case of Miramonte Elementary School teacher Mark Berndt after discovering photographs of students gagged and blindfolded, some allegedly tasting his semen from a spoon.

But they proceeded gingerly, desperate to prevent rumors from spreading around the campus that could taint the testimony of children.

Those safeguards evaporated Jan. 31, when the charges became public and reporters and attorneys descended on the South Los Angeles school. The media circus reached new heights Thursday when two alleged victims — and their attorney — appeared on the "Dr. Phil" show.

Officials from the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department said they are concerned that Berndt's defense could use public statements made by alleged victims and their attorneys to raise inconsistencies and to suggest that they have a financial motive for accusing the teacher.

"The lawyers are making it that much more difficult," said William McSweeney, chief of detectives for the Sheriff's Department. "It is going to raise issues of credibility."

Prosecutors have charged Berndt with 23 counts of lewd acts against students, but civil attorneys involved in the case say they are representing more than 60 victims. And the number seems to grow by the day.

The attorneys are making accusations about Berndt that are not contained in the original charges, including some claims — repeated on "Dr. Phil" — that Berndt fed them cookies with semen on them.

"What was your cookie like?" Phil McGraw, the show's host, asked one young girl.

"It had something like saliva, and it was like slimy," replied the girl, whose face was not shown. She also said Berndt "shook her hard" when she told him she did not want to eat the cookie.

Sheriff's officials say that although they suspect Berndt fed students his semen, they have no evidence to prove he gave them the so-called semen cookies.

Last week, one attorney suggested that another teacher at Miramonte was involved in the Berndt case. The department took the unusual step of publicly stating that the teacher was not a suspect in the case.

Berndt's attorney has declined requests to discuss the case. But others agreed that the civil litigation can pose some challenges for prosecutors.

"You just sit there and cringe your teeth as a D.A.," said Robin Sax, a former Los Angeles County sex crimes prosecutor who is a legal analyst for Fox 11 News. The prosecutors "are watching a case unfold on television and they're stuck with whatever is said in public."

At the heart of the abuse scandal are hundreds of photos that Berndt allegedly took of his students. Those photos constitute physical evidence, which is rare in child sex-abuse cases.

In this way, the situation at Miramonte is significantly different from the infamous McMartin Pre-School case of the late 1980s, in which children accused the operators of wild acts of abuse.

The charges made national headlines, but over time, many came to believe that the child witnesses were asked leading questions in their initial interviews, then later were improperly coached before testifying. Critics contended that the coaching prompted them to believe things that were not true. Many charges were dropped and a jury in 1990 acquitted one defendant, while a case against the other ended in a mistrial.

Leonard Levine, a criminal defense attorney who specializes in sexual abuse cases, said the photos are a big advantage for prosecutors in the Miramonte case. But prosecutors must show that Berndt took the photos for sexual gratification.

The most sensational part of the prosecution narrative is the allegation that Berndt fed children semen.

According to school officials, photographs taken in Berndt's classroom showed a spoon containing a milky liquid; in some images, the liquid could be seen in and around the children's mouths. Several of the photos reviewed by The Times show children eating cookies with a light substance spread across the top.

Mark Berndt, Miramonte Elementary School, Dr. Phil, Miramonte Elementary, Los Angeles County, Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department, Miramonte, alleged victims, teacher, teacher

Latimes.com

jeudi 9 février 2012

Art on Ice - 2012

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Art on Ice - 2012

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mercredi 8 février 2012

not Gormley

photo

not Gormley

I love this shot from Burnt Island in Fife. The rather beautiful statue is my wife.

We had the most wonderful walk this evening with stunning light - she was very patient with me and my camera!

I think I need to work puppet warp out though with u/w lens making her look drunk.

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mardi 7 février 2012

Abandon hope...

photo

Abandon hope...

The tired looking main buildings of S21. There's something uniquely obscene about taking a high school built for laughing, chattering children, and turning it into a torture prison, as the Khmer Rouge did here. During their regime, only seven inmates emerged alive from about 20,000 who found themselves here for 'interrogation - and they were considered 'useful' as artists and photographers.

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Khmer Rouge, torture prison

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Summer Waterfall

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Summer Waterfall

Red Butte Garden, Salt Lake City, Utah

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Salt Lake City, Lake CitySalt Lake CountySummerUSAUTUtahwaterwaterfall

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Mother & son

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Mother & son

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lundi 6 février 2012

The Crow

photo

The Crow

View on black or 500px

I've decided that long exposure photography is a bit like fishing. Scoping out places, working out whether there's anything worth catching and then casting your line/exposure and waiting to see what comes back.

I mention this as yesterday was a bit of the 'one that got away' that fishermen are always keen to tell you about. We didn't get any of the snow that seems to be all over the rest of the UK, so I planned to go down to the beach at high tide and spend a couple of hours out taking some LE shots whilst my wife was out. However after getting ready, it started to rain which looked set to scupper my plans. Thankfully though there was a bit of a break but not knowing how long it'd last I headed to this spot on the beach not far from me. I had one thing in mind, I wanted to take a shot of the sign that was on the fence with the water around it to create a fairly minimalist image.

You'll notice there are two things wrong with that scenario from the image above - I was too late for the tide but more significantly, the sign has gone. What a shame - I loved the idea of "no access beyond this point". Ah well.

In spite of all that I had a good 30-40 minutes photographing this before the rain forced me to pack up and head home. Thankfully for this shot the crow that was perched on the fence stayed pretty still. I think this is some kind of outlet from the sewage works further inland but I could be wrong.

Shot details
Canon 600D (T3i/Kiss X5)
Canon EF-S 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 IS @ 27mm
B+W ND110
ISO 100
90 second exposure @ f11

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dimanche 5 février 2012

2012-01-28 01-29 Santa Cruz 067 Natural Bridges State Beach

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2012-01-28 01-29 Santa Cruz 067 Natural Bridges State Beach

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Santa Cruz, Natural Bridges

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vendredi 3 février 2012

034/365 Crabtree sunset

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034/365 Crabtree sunset

Day 34
Nice day today, finished with a beautiful sunset. I love how the trees are given a fire like background as the sun dips below the horizon.
Probably my first 400mm sunset photo!
Notice the bird on the left heading in to roost before darkness falls.

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Westminster Abbey - London England

photo

Westminster Abbey - London England

Westminster Abbey - London England

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London EnglandWestminster Abbey, Westminster Abbey, London

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jeudi 2 février 2012

Trumped

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Trumped

Chicago, IL

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chicago

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foggy

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skyscraper

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Something's Here In The Middle Of Nowhere Nothing Happens Often

photo

Something's Here In The Middle Of Nowhere Nothing Happens Often

Connect with me:

www.twitter.com/lanolan | Twitter
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www.lanolan.com | Personal Website

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mercredi 1 février 2012

Floating Panels

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Floating Panels

Stepped out into this as the tide started coming up and it was all wobbly and sketchy.

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