Russia tries to kick habit with anti-smoking law

By Steve Gutterman

MOSCOW (Reuters) - Tobacco restrictions came into force in Russia on Saturday which President Vladimir Putin hopes will create a healthier workforce and help reverse a population decline, but they face stiff opposition in a country where four in ten people smoke.

The measures, part of a law Putin signed in February, include a ban on smoking at schools and universities, museums, sports facilities, hospitals and on public transport - in many cases places where it is already prohibited.

A minimum price for cigarettes is expected to be set next January and the biggest challenge to Russia's cigarette culture will come in June 2014: a ban on smoking in cafes, restaurants and hotels, and on tobacco sales at street kiosks.

Nearly 40 percent of Russians smoke, compared with 27 percent in the United States and 30 percent in France, according to the World Health Organization's latest figures.

The average Russian life expectancy is 69, against 79 in the United States and 82 in France, according to the World Bank.

There are doubts about enforcement, and widespread debate among Russians over the impact of the new law.

Adopting it was the right thing to do, said Moscow resident Alexander. "I plan to quit smoking and hope this will help."

But opponents say it will not work and infringes on the rights of smokers. "Our country is not ready for this law," said prominent legal expert Mikhail Barshchevsky, likening it to former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev's unpopular effort to crack down on drinking under his "perestroika" reforms of the late 1980s.

"This is not a law about fighting smoking, it's a law on genocide against smokers."

He said fines ranging from 500 to 1500 roubles ($15-$50) could lead to bribe-taking by police.

The law is designed to gradually bring the country in line with an international tobacco control pact and wean its citizens off a habit that Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev has said kills almost 400,000 Russians every year.

Russia's population fell to 142 million in 2011 from 149 million in 1991, the year the Soviet Union collapsed, and experts warn it will fall further.

Putin, who could seek another six-year term in 2018, wants the population to increase instead, and has urged Russians - particularly young people - to live healthier lives.

"ABSOLUTE EVIL"

Restrictions that came into force on Saturday also included a ban on smoking within 15 meters (50 feet) of entrances to airports, subway, train and bus stations, and in the stairwells of apartment buildings, and a reduction in the number of places where tobacco can be sold.

"It's a big step in strengthening the position of our society about the absolute evil that is smoking, but ... I think less has been done than could have been," Russia's consumer protection agency chief, Gennady Onishchenko, said on Friday.

In an early sign that enforcement may be a challenge, police said that for the first few weeks at least, they will issue violators verbal warnings but not fines.

The reason, according to Ekho Moskvy radio, is not mercy toward smokers but a legal oversight - the administrative code has not yet been adjusted to conform with the anti-tobacco law.

"In some cases it is not clear how these measures will be implemented and enforced," said Alexander Lioutyi, corporate affairs director of British American Tobacco's Russian division.

"Who will monitor violations of the law, as the number of policemen in Russia remains the same?" he said.

He said it was too early to evaluate the effect on Russia's $20 billion a year cigarette market, about 90 percent of which is controlled by foreign firms such as BAT, Imperial Tobacco, Japan Tobacco and Philip Morris.

On the streets of Moscow, pack-a-day smoker Igor Kolesnichenko, 40, shrugged after lighting up outside a store where he bought cigarettes. "I'm not sure what is changing now but I don't plan to quit," he said.

($1 = 31.9362 Russian roubles)

(Additional reporting by Maria Kiselyova; Editing by Pravin Char)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/russia-tries-kick-habit-anti-smoking-law-114057546.html

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Breast cancer walk raises awareness, funds | WGN-TV

Chicagoans finally laced up their shoes as the 11th Annual Avon Walk for Breast Cancer kicked off Saturday morning at Soldier Field.

Over the weekend, participants have the choice of either walking a marathon of 26-miles or 39 miles along Lake Michigan.

Walkers raised more than $6 million towards research to find a cure for breast cancer.

Since 2012, the weekend-long event has raised more than $55 million dollars for organizations and institutions in Illinois and across the Midwest.

The marathon will conclude Sunday in a closing ceremony at Soldier Field.

Source: http://wgntv.com/2013/06/01/breast-cancer-walk-raises-awareness-funds/

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Kids/Sports: Toto Tembo Rugby Sessions for Pupils & Parents ...

May 31, 2013 at 7:25 pm njathika

Toto Tembo Rugby in partnership with the United Nations Recreation Centre would like to invite your pupils and their parents to rugby sessions this and every other weekend at the UNRC in Gigiri, UN Avenue.

We provide training for first time and experienced rugby players between the ages of 5 to 14 years. We explore rugby basics like passing, catching, running lines, evasion/sidestepping, tag defense, line out, etc in a non contact environment. All games are by nature fun safe and highly active and aim to provide the best environment for children learn develop and enjoy the game of rugby.

We charge Kshs 500 for registration once and Kshs 700 per session.

Download Toto Tembo poster with additional details

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Entry filed under: kids. Tags: toto tembo, UN Avenue, UNRC in Gigiri.

Source: http://nairobinow.wordpress.com/2013/05/31/kidssports-toto-tembo-rugby-sessions-for-pupils-parents-every-weekend-unrc-in-gigiri-un-avenue/

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It's time to start mining the moon

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'Fill the Void' probes loyalty and desire

'Fill the Void' lets viewers inside an Orthodox religious society.

By Peter Rainer,?Film critic / May 31, 2013

Shira (Hadas Yaron) faces pressure to marry her late sister?s husband in the insider-crafted film ?Fill the Void.?

Sony Pictures Classics

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Very few movies have ever been made, successfully or otherwise, about life inside an Orthodox religious society. Even fewer have been made by a filmmaker who is herself a member of that world, as is the case with Rama Burshtein, the director of the extraordinary Israeli film ?Fill the Void.?

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Burshtein belongs to the ultra-Orthodox Haredi community. Her prior experience was making short films only for the women in her sexually segregated circle. I did not know Burshtein?s background when I saw ?Fill the Void,? but, in retrospect, it makes perfect sense.

The film is made from deep inside, without a trace of otherness or voyeurism. For those of us for whom this life might seem alien, Burshtein quickly sets us straight. We become as absorbed in the intricacies of this world as we would be in a domestic drama derived from Jane Austen.

Austen was, in fact, a great influence on Burshtein, as she has stated in interviews. The film centers on the 18-year-old Shira (Hadas Yaron), who is looking forward to a prospective match with a young man from Tel Aviv she has only glimpsed, to her delight, in a supermarket aisle. By contrast, her mother, Rivka, played with industrial-strength resoluteness by Irit Sheleg, looks at the young man and knowingly remarks to her daughter, ?You?re going to do a lot of laundry.?
When Shira?s beloved older sister Esther (Renana Raz) dies giving birth to her son, tradition demands that Esther?s husband, Yochay (Yiftach Klein), soon remarry. But when it turns out he would likely relocate to Belgium for his bride-to-be, thus separating Rivka from her first grandchild, his mother-in-law engineers an alternative scenario: Shira should marry Yochay.

The marriages in this community are not so much arranged as strenuously encouraged. Shira ultimately has veto power but heavy-duty pressures are brought to bear. Neither Shira nor Yochay is initially keen on the idea; their tentative meetings are both highly formalized and startlingly, hurtfully direct.
Burshtein makes it very clear that, despite the sexually segregated hierarchy in this world ? despite the patriarchy at its core ? the women are an indomitable bunch. At least the women in Shira?s immediate circle are, from her mother on down. Rivka?s husband may be the rabbi who doles out charity on Purim (a Jewish holiday) to the men in need of it, but it is Rivka who knows where the money is kept and how much to dispense.

Burshtein keeps the focus on Shira throughout ? a good thing, since Yaron?s performance grows in intensity. (She won the best actress award at the Venice film festival.) When we first glimpse her, she is maidenly and unformed, but the loss of her sister, and the welter of complications that ensues, matures her real fast. Shira is changed by the end, and even though we may miss the wide-eyed girl, we feel privileged to have charted her deepening responses. Her predicament is bound up not only in Hasidic tradition but also with the push-pull of loyalty and desire that would confront any young woman in her situation. A similar emotional trajectory, if less intimately observed, is also apparent in the film?s depiction of Yochay.

Burshtein draws us into this world without simplifying it for us. She doesn?t ?comment? on what she shows us, or offer a critical slant. There is, I suppose, documentary value in all this, but the film plays out too intensely, and has too many good performances, to be mistaken for mere ethnography.

One might think that, with lives this circumscribed by ritual, the people in ?Fill the Void? would seem straitened and two-dimensional. Quite the opposite. As Burshtein said in an interview in The New York Times, ?I believe in the rules, but I will find the passion within.? The ritualistic confines, if anything, heighten the inherent drama, as was also true, in a very different way of course, with Jane Austen.

Burshtein doesn?t promote a we-are-all-the-same-under-the-skin agenda here. Even though she is of this community, she acknowledges its observances might seem disorienting to outsiders. But implicit in this film is a simple truth: The sheer force of artistry has the power to convert outsiders into insiders. I left ?Fill the Void? feeling privileged, however briefly, to have been brought into this world. Grade: A- (Rated PG for mild thematic elements and brief smoking.)

Source: http://rss.csmonitor.com/~r/feeds/csm/~3/GxoIvOSMAEs/Fill-the-Void-probes-loyalty-and-desire

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Rich ?FilthieRich? Bantegui Leaves Community Manager Position at ...

Earlier this morning, Rich ?FilthieRich? Bantegui announced through Namco Bandai?s Facebook that he will be stepping down as the company?s community manager. Bantegui has been an integral part of Namco?s outreach to the fighting game scene and the gaming community as a whole during his three years there, but he promises this won?t be the last we hear from him. His entire message has been included below.

I?m posting to announce that today Friday May 31st, will be my last day at NAMCO BANDAI Games.

It?s been such an amazing 3 years learning, building, interacting and playing with all of you. I am having a lot of difficulty writing this message because there are so many thoughts and memories that come to mind as I summarize my time at NAMCO BANDAI. I will definitely miss my time here as I move on?

I was never given a ?how to be a community manager? manual when I joined my team, but with the support of my peers and the community, we?ve painted this beautiful picture telling the world about the importance of the community. I am forever in debt to my peers and all of you for this amazing opportunity, and would like to thank you all.

Although this chapter of my career here has come to an end, I will always be a NAMCO BANDAI Games fan. This is simply the beginning of a new story in my life, and I promise that you will still hear of the crazy antics of ?filthierich? in the world of gaming.

My love for games has brought me through this amazing journey, and with enough determination and passion, it can happen to you too. Our communities are strong, intelligent, and most of all passionate. We should continue to inspire each other, and never let the fun side of things wash away.

The next generation of gamers rest in our hands. Together we must grow our family, build and let passion, kindness and creativity drive us.

Rest assured there will be a new community manager that will come in to give all of you the latest news about your favorite NAMCO BANDAI games. In the meantime, please visit facebook.com/NamcoBandai and twitter.com/NAMCOGames pages for updates on your favorite games.

I hope all of you will extend your support to the next community manager as you have to me.

- Rich ?FilthieRich? Bantegui

We here at Shoryuken would like to thank Rich for his dedication to fostering a relationship between Namco Bandai and the fighting game community and all he has done to strengthen our connection with the developer. We wish him all the luck in the world as he moves forward, wherever that journey may take him.

Source: Facebook, tip via?Mawutor A., featured image via Josh Engel

Source: http://shoryuken.com/2013/05/31/rich-filthierich-bantegui-leaves-community-manager-position-at-namco-bandai/

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Pakistan may be next in line for an IMF bailout

ISLAMABAD (AP) ? With foreign reserves diminishing fast, Pakistan is on the brink of an economic crisis that may force its new government to ask for an unpopular bailout from the International Monetary Fund requiring a sweeping overhaul of the country's economy.

The troubles could inject a new element of instability into the nuclear-armed nation of 180 million people that Washington is relying on to combat Islamic militants at home and to help negotiate an end to the war in neighboring Afghanistan.

Pakistan's foreign currency reserves stood at just $6.4 billion as of May 17, down from more than $14 billion two years ago. That is only enough to cover about 1.5 months' worth of imports while the IMF considers adequate foreign reserves for any country enough to cover three months of imports.

Bottoming out could bring painful consequences: A run on the banks by panicked citizens anxious to convert savings into dollars amid fears of a devaluation, a withdrawal from the stock market, a collapse of economic activity and higher unemployment.

The presumptive head of the new government, former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, has made fixing the economy his main priority. But even though a crisis may be only six to nine months away, his incoming government appears hesitant about taking IMF money. They know it will come with conditions attached that would likely stir discontent on the streets, such as raising energy prices and broadening tax collection significantly.

"If we manage for six months, then of course we don't have to go" to the IMF, said Sartaj Aziz, a key economic adviser to the government about to take power. He told The Associated Press that in his view, the country might not need a bailout if it moves quickly enough to boost growth and gets help from key allies such as Saudi Arabia, which would come with fewer strings attached.

Stepping up growth, however, is a daunting challenge in a country plagued by severe electricity shortages and a bloody Taliban insurgency, both of which have hampered economic expansion and foreign investment.

Most experts see another IMF bailout as inevitable and are urging the government to immediately seek at least $5 billion. They worry that any delay in asking for IMF help could spark a crisis of confidence that would snowball.

"The writing is on the wall that Pakistan is going to the IMF. The only thing left is to give a date," said Ashfaque Hasan Khan, head of the business school at the National University of Sciences and Technology in the Pakistani capital, Islamabad.

Khan said the official reserve figure understates the problem because the central bank has also borrowed more than $2.3 billion from commercial banks in the forward swap market to prevent the rupee from depreciating. That means the actual reserve figure is closer to $4 billion, he said.

Adding to those woes, Pakistan has very large debt payments coming due over the next year that will further drain reserves. Most notably, it owes the IMF about $2.5 billion by the end of this calendar year.

There have already been worrying signs in Islamabad, where commercial banks have begun telling customers trying to withdraw dollars that they are not available, or that they need to make a special request. Foreign exchange companies in the capital have also reported a shortage of dollars. Pakistan's two largest cities, Lahore and Karachi, show no sign of similar problems. Khan, however, said that was only a matter of time.

Foreign investment, dampened by both political and economic instability, is only expected to be about 0.5 percent of GDP this fiscal year, while the average emerging market country runs at about 3 to 4 percent, according to the IMF.

Still Aziz, the adviser, said he is hopeful the incoming government can take emergency steps to grow the economy that will help Pakistan avoid going for an IMF bailout, or at least make the loan conditions less painful. He said the government will likely ask Saudi Arabia, a major oil supplier, to defer payments on oil imports.

And he predicted the IMF would impose tough conditions if Pakistan does request a new loan now.

"Not only would we find it difficult to fulfill them, but they would stifle our revival agenda," he said of the expected conditions. "The important thing, therefore, is to try to revive investment and growth."

Since 1988, Pakistan has signed onto eight IMF programs that demanded structural changes in the economy. But it has never managed to resolve its chronic problems.

Sakib Sherani, head of Macro Economic Insights Ltd. in Islamabad, said the government will make a mistake if it delays a request for a new IMF bailout.

"There are structural issues here. No amount of Chinese money or Saudi money can get us out of this," he said.

If Pakistan does have to turn to the IMF, it will bring its own set of challenges.

For one, the country has a patchy track record in upholding promised reforms that secured past IMF loans, including an $11 billion program granted amid the last foreign reserves crisis in 2008. The former government abandoned that program in 2011 because it refused to carry out the strict financial reforms required by the IMF. But it still owes the lending agency nearly $5 billion from that old loan.

The new government will have to convince the IMF with quick actions that this time around will be different. The IMF will want to see far-reaching reforms fast-tracked to reduce the chance of another reversal part way through a multi-year program.

And the lending agency is expected to demand vast improvements in a woeful tax system that collects very little money. Taxes currently bring in only about 10 percent of gross domestic product, one of the lowest effective rates in the world.

The IMF is also likely to press for major changes in the energy sector such as raising prices and phasing out costly subsidies that disproportionately benefit the wealthy, who use far more energy than the poor. The government spends about $1 billion in foreign currency each month to import oil to run its power plants ? a costly way to generate electricity and another drain on foreign reserves. Building new hydroelectric plans or converting to less expensive natural gas production would be very expensive and take years.

The IMF is also expected to demand some kind of plan to curb losses from state-owned enterprises that amount to billions of dollars a year.

Pakistan's budget deficit ? the difference between what it spends and takes in ? is expected to be at least 7 percent of GDP this year. The IMF does not consider that sustainable and would likely press for a scaling back to about 3-4 percent of GDP.

The economy is expected to grow around 3.5 percent for the fiscal year ending June 30, and though that figure may look good in comparison to Europe or America, it is less than half the rate needed to supply jobs to the growing population. And it is also low by historical standards. Aziz said growth from 1960-2010 averaged about 5.5 percent annually but in the last five years, it slowed to 3 percent.

Despite the enormous challenges, there are some in Pakistan who remain sanguine that an IMF bailout will come through no matter what because the U.S. ? the largest shareholder in the organization ? considers Pakistan too strategic to fail.

"By now, just about everybody knows that it's U.S. strategic interests that dictate the disbursement of this money and not really any progress or timeline on reforms," said Khurram Husain, a business columnist for Pakistan's Dawn newspaper.

____

Olster reported from Washington.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/pakistan-may-next-line-imf-bailout-183109278.html

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