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(From the new Just Bento forum)
Here are the details of the Get Started Bento Challenge. Please note: I got the start date wrong for the first week because I don't know how to read a calendar properly! I really meant for it to start on Monday, January 12th. Because of my mistake though, we'll say we'll start the first week on the 12th or the 13th, then re-adjust so that the next week starts properly on a Monday.
Please see this post which lists the overall goals for this Challenge.
Here's how the challenge will work.
Anything other than me messing up the start date (grr) that I'm missing? Please let me know!
The Big Onigiri.
- Wherever you go, there you are. -
Can't wait to start!
Just one small little comment: January 13 is a Tuesday or is my calendar wrong?
Yes, the 13th is a tue. Kind of an odd day to start, but for me, it works since school starts the next day!
Yum yum bento yum yum!
Tuesday works for me, too. It gives me time to come up with something to bring in for lunch on Monday, and still have time to post it! :)
Dawn of Dawn's Recipes
I really meant to say Monday the 12th. I don't know how to read a calendar properly it seems. :(
Hmm, what to do... I guess we say we start the 12th or the 13th the first week? So sorry about that everyone...
(goes to bang head on desk, and maybe get some more sleep!)
It's Ok. You have done quite a lot to set this up properly. Will be posting my Bento this weekend. Looking forward to the challenge ahead! CHEERS. xxox
i'm feeling so inspired!
can't wait to start the challenge!!!
Looking forward to getting started on this and hope I can stick to it. I'll be making lunches for both me and my wife although she's somewhat sceptical about me being able to do it. We went to the Japan Centre here in London last week and we weren't completely happy with the bento lunch boxes they had on sale. They had the two compartment ones but we wanted something that we could nuke. We already have a couple of conainters with the lockable lids so we'll use those. I've decided to start with Bento #1 to be safe as I think I can handle that much. Instead of tofu I'll probably cook some chicken and I'll probably use half a chicken's egg instead of a quail's egg.
Cant wait to start (started last week but I wana give this a REAL go) is gonna be fun :D trying to get my friends to join in too!
The crazy rat lady @
(From the new Just Bento forum)
Wherever you go, there you are.
Begin by knowing you have already arrived.
~ Begin by knowing you have already arrived ~
my blog - http://honeysheistwisted.blogspot.com/
this is going on my calendar! I don't want to forget XD
I can't wait to get started. However, I might get off to a slow start on things, as that is also the start of the first week of A2 January modules and I'm aiming for a good university. I will do my best for now, and come February I'll have enough time to make bento's hopefuly every day.
Where are we suppose to post our goals for doing this??
What/where is the 'central community'??
I am soooooooo confused now!
Where are we suppose to post our goals for doing this??
What/where is the 'central community'??
This forum is the central community. (I noticed people have been making sub-groups elsewhere and that's fine, but I don't have the time to go around reading all of them so that's why right here is the central community :))
So we just make and photograph a bento lunch each workday during the challenge?
Do the photos get posted here or on our own blogs?
flyinglillies, you can post your reports here, or on your blog (though please link to your blog post here). It's even better if you can put the photo on the flickr pool too since it's easier for me to look at them all in one place, plus they'll appear on the sidebar here too. Hopefully other questions are answered in the Week 1 Challenge post!
Tues is a good day.. a good mistake.. hee, at least for me, I'll be able to post what and how I did on Monday.. and so forth. I'm buried in a mountain of activities.. moving house on 17th, flying home on 21st for lunar new year festivities.. but I'm not forgetting my commitment to the challenge, I'll try to make lunch and eat out of my bento-box as much as I can..
Totally excited about the bento box challenge. Our challenge is getting back to using our bentos since we've returned from the holidays (and been swamped with work & life)... What about listing the overall goals for the week possibly by Saturday? We do our grocery shopping & menu planning for the week over the weekend... That would help us focus a bit on the week's challenge! Yay, can't wait!
I have a question about the 3 levels. For the Basic level, we should aim to make one bento this week. Does that increase with the levels? For example, if I'm going for the Weight Loss level, should I be aiming to make 3 bentos this week?
If you fail to plan, you plan to fail.
Hi glamrgeek! You should basically do what you think you are capable of time wise and so on. You can choose to make just 1 bento if you're brand new to bento making, and concentrate on the weight loss tasks, and so on. Make it your own!
Hmm, I've explained my problem in the other thread, so here I've got a suggestion: Why don't you add an extra level for college/phd students? We don't have kitchens we could organise and meals we could plan, etc. But we'd love a challenge, anyway. If I was smarter, I'd suggest something myself, but all that comes to mind is "stock up on stolen salt/sugar/mayo/ketchup/honey portion packets". Actually, "Cook at least one real meal (ramen doesn't count) and use the leftovers for bento" would be a good idea.
Another challenge suggestion is something I've been doing for several months now: When you make a bento for yourself and have more than you need, make another one in a disposable container (you get those from takeaways or cheaply on ebay) and give it to a homeless person. It doesn't even have to be decorated or anything, just healthy, home-cooked food. I encounter at least half a dozen beggars (who actually ask for food) every day in Berlin, I'm not comfortable with giving money, but I'm happy giving away healthy food.
Hi bentokitty! I think that there are people in many different circumstances here, judging from the intro posts. SAHMs, some working moms, college/uni or graduate school students, high school or younger students, full time workers, etc. If the specific details don't fit your own circumstances it's good to adapt them. In your case for example - what about putting together a small 'bento kit' at both your place and your boyfriend's for example? It could be supplies, or ready-to-eat food staples, etc. The no-ramen for a meal with planned leftovers sounds like a great idea.
For the homeless idea - well that might work in some cases but not in others. In my old neighborhood in NYC I'm fairly sure I'd have run into trouble if I did that :) (and homeless-ish people here in Zürich, the very few that are there, seem to mostly want money for eh, 'coffee' or 'the train fare home'. I try to give back by giving money to charities, donating to Caritas or the Salvation Army, or participating things like Menu for Hope.) if the homeless people you give the food to appreciate it it's a very good thing youre doing.
:D eee! I'm so excited, I got up and made my first bento ever this morning and now I just feel.. elated <3 floating on air.
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Here's the 'New York' DIY eclair I can do without the twist...ahem
Ah-- l'Eclair [au cafe]! A favorite of mine. I enjoyed learning about the new "trendy" presentation with "la plaque" de chocolat/vanille on top. Interesting. Doesn't it get a bit messy to eat (messier than the gooey mess the traditional version usually offers, that is)? Thanks for this in-depth report on my favorite French pastry (my second favorite is "Le millefeuille" so feel free to investigate any time ;-) -- Veronique (French Girl in Seattle)ReplyDelete
I fancy one about now Carol.... xvReplyDelete
Carol, I wonder if eclairs are easier to make than macarons?
Your next cooking adventure?
Here I sit, coffee in hand, and up comes your Eclair post. Aesthetically I find all these variations pleasing to the eye, but since I'm a S. Jersey boy whose idea of exotic is a cone of Vanilla and Chocolate ice cream, I'll still prefer my eclairs with the slathered topping of Chocolate...or Vanilla.ReplyDelete
William T:
Eclairs do not usually come with a vanilla topping...don't know why that is..
Maybe too 'plain vanilla'?
Here's a how-to video
Eclair Recipe - How to make perfect Eclairs
Eclairs are MUCH easier to make than macarons.
No ancient egg whites to beat to the exactly correct consistency nor must the weather cooperate.
Oh I do love that painting. Lots of lovely pink tulips & color. And I LOVE Eclairs. One of my favorites. Great post.ReplyDelete
Those completely unexpected colors for the frostings on both book covers are a shock to the senses! What would an eclair be without that chocolate in every bite?
Still, the colors are gorgeous!
Eclairs are my favourite. Why do you tempt me Carol, why?ReplyDelete
Aha, I'm behind in my xmas shopping and just discovered all these books! Even bought the Christophe Adam book and dying to see it but have to wait until my daughter opens it ;-)
Trust you, Carol. We know you're obsessed with shoes so love this choux-shopping spree!
I love you blog Carol, you are a wonderful artist.
Nice week and nice Christmas time for you,

subset: commoncrawl


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A Bolivian NGO backed by church and other development groups has almost totally eradicated death-in-childbirth and significantly diminished infant mortality in one of the poorest regions of the country.
The pilot scheme in two districts in Potosi, Bolivia, has been so successful that the progressive Evo Morales government has pledged to roll it out across the whole country, says UK-based agency Christian Aid.
The organisation, Causananchispaj, reported that in the area where the pilot programme took place, 600 women died in childbirth per 100,000 in 2002. In the year 2004/2005 there was only one death and that was from pre-eclampsia, a very serious condition.
The scheme works by training local health workers to adopt the simple premise that women's views and feelings about their deliveries should be at the centre of their birthing plans.
Bolivia has a large indigenous population and these women previously often felt misunderstood by the medical establishment and were therefore reluctant to attend clinics.
But such simple measures as respecting cultural practices like giving birth in a kneeling position and allowing male partners to attend the birth gave women the confidence in the system to attend clinics. This meant that at-risk pregnancies were identified in time to treat them properly. Also, women who faced difficult deliveries were encouraged to have their babies in hospital.
Isabel Sardinas, one of the women who attended a clinic in the pilot scheme, said: "Before we hardly went to the doctor to be treated. Now we can go because they treat us as if we were in our own houses, also we can have our husbands and a midwife by our sides."
Causananchispaj, which means 'to be able to live' in Quechua, runs an integrated rural development programme including agriculture, water, health, education and community organisation with 21 rural communities in Potos??.


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We are a talented, diverse, and spirited team making a meaningful impact on the productivity and success of millions of people around the world.
Of course we offer catered lunch, generous PTO, and great insurance... but here's what makes us different
We love learning! Evernote Academy provides an opportunity for us to stretch our creative legs and learn a new skill like flower arranging, public speaking, or lock picking.
At Evernote HQ in Redwood City, we love our coffee! Employees can learn to make espresso drinks and pick up a shift to meet fellow co-workers and create amazing latte art!
Plan a trip! Employees at Evernote are encouraged to take time off and relax. Every year use a $1,000 vacation stipend to travel somewhere new!
Family is important to us! Both mothers and fathers are encouraged to take time off when welcoming a new member to the family by offering an additional 6 weeks paid leave.


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Baruch Professor Donates $3 Million for the Narendra Paul Loomba Department of Management
Celebrates More Than 45 Years of Service with Generous Gift to the College and its Students
NEW YORK, NY- October 17, 2013 - The Zicklin School of Business at Baruch College is proud to announce a $3 million gift for the renaming of its Department of Management. Through a generous gift by long-serving Professor of Management Narendra Paul Loomba, the Department is now the Narendra Paul Loomba Department of Management.
Professor Loomba has been teaching in the Department of Management at Baruch College since 1968. During his tenure at Baruch, Professor Loomba served as Chair of the Department of Management from 1972 to 1978 and helped establish the Healthcare MBA program and the Master of Science in Industrial Labor Relations program. Professor Loomba also wrote a number of textbooks and taught both undergraduate and graduate courses in the areas of Operations Management and Corporate Strategy.
"As one of the nation's top public colleges, Baruch's success and aspirations are reflected through the scholarship and commitment of its faculty and the quality of our students. This extraordinary and most generous gift by a member of our faculty, Professor Narendra Loomba, helps to ensure the quality of the Department of Management in the Zicklin School of Business and the future success of its students," said Baruch President Mitchel B. Wallerstein.
"I am very grateful to this institution and my colleagues," said Professor Loomba. "I have enjoyed teaching thousands of students in my classes throughout my time at Baruch. Baruch is my home away from home, and I wanted to give a small token of my appreciation. It's a beautiful thing."
"I am thrilled to see that our colleague has decided to endow the Department of Management with this generous gift," said Myung-Soo Lee, Interim Dean of the Zicklin School of Business. "This will be truly a turning point of our philanthropic culture since, to the best of my knowledge, Professor Loomba's gift is the first significant one coming from a member of our faculty and staff. I hope that this sets precedence for future gifts to further our core mission of educating our students and supporting faculty research."
"Professor Loomba's gift will have a significant impact on our faculty and students," said Edward Rogoff, Chair of the Department of Management in the Zicklin School of Business. "Faculty will be supported in career development activities and student programs will be expanded. The fact that this is a gift from an active faculty member gives it special meaning to everyone."
Born and raised in Dhilwan, a town in the state of Punjab, India, Professor Loomba grew up as the oldest of seven children. His parents instilled the importance of social work, charity and education � values that Professor Loomba has passed on to his three children, who now have successful careers in law and higher education.
After earning his B.S. in Physics and Chemistry from the University of Punjab in 1947, Professor Loomba left Dhilwan at the age of 21, and enrolled in the University of Nebraska where he later earned a BS in Electrical Engineering and a BS in Mechanical Engineering (1949-1952). He continued with his education and earned an MS in Electrical Engineering from the Mass. Institute of Technology (1952-1954) and a PhD in Management and Economics from the University of Wisconsin (1955-1957).
Before joining Baruch, Professor Loomba taught management and business at other institutions including Florida International University, Lehigh University, the University of Iowa, and Wichita State University. He entered the academic world as a teaching assistant in the Department of Electrical Engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where he taught from 1952 to 1954 and then worked as a teaching assistant in the Department of Management at the University of Wisconsin.
In addition to teaching, Professor Loomba serves as a consultant to a variety of businesses. He has worked with organizations that include HealthWays Inc., the Ford Foundation, Phelps Dodge Cable & Wire Company, and White Plains Hospital Medical Center.
About Baruch College:
Baruch College is a senior college in the City University of New York (CUNY) with a total enrollment of more than 17,000 students, who represent 160 countries and speak more than 100 languages. Ranked among the top 15% of U.S. colleges and the No. 5 public regional university, Baruch College is regularly recognized as among the most ethnically diverse colleges in the country. As a public institution with a tradition of academic excellence, Baruch College offers accessibility and opportunity for students from every corner of New York City and from around the world. For more about Baruch College, go to http://www.baruch.cuny.edu/.
Manny Romero, (646) 660-6141, firstname.lastname@example.com
Mercedes Sanchez, (646) 660-6112, email@example.com


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March 01. 2014 7:52PM
Pelham man confesses to machete attack on sister
Dennis Lozeau
- Police say a 57-year-old man walked into the police station on Friday afternoon and confessed to attacking his sister with a machete eight days earlier.
Dennis Lozeau entered the lobby of the police department just before 4:30 p.m. and said he wanted to turn himself in for attempted murder, according to a press release.
Police investigated his story and learned that Lozeau had attempted to hurt his 65-year-old sister with a machete on Feb. 20, the release stated. The man's 29-year-old niece defended her mother and was slightly injured on her left arm, police said, but was able to get the weapon away from Lozeau and "de-escalate" the situation, police said.
The injured woman did not seek medical attention and no one reported the incident to authorities, police said.
Lozeau was arrested at the police department Friday and charged with two counts of first-degree assault. He declined the services of a bail commissioner and will be arraigned Monday at 10th Circuit Court, Salem Division.
Police said the fight allegedly occurred because "Lozeau overheard his sister talking about his employment status." Alcohol also appears to have been a factor in the incident, they said.
More than $1.1b gambled in casinos
In its first full year, customers gambled $677 million at Maine's Oxford Casino slot machines, walked away with $619 million in wins and left close to $30 million behind for the house, after taxes.
The figures were released Friday in the Maine Gambling Control Board's 2013 annual report.
Bangor's Hollywood Casino, meanwhile, saw customers gamble $469 million at its slot machines, $100 million less than the year before. It paid out $422 million.
"We get daily numbers, so we had been watching the trend," said Patrick Fleming, the board's executive director. "When Hollywood was the only facility in the state, everyone went there."
There was a "honeymoon period" last year with players checking out the newer Oxford Casino, he said. "We're kind of expecting that Bangor will now plateau. Oxford went through two expansions in that first year, so we're kind of getting them to, I think, the size they're going to remain for a while."
As of January, Oxford had 858 slot machines and 26 table games; Hollywood had 888 slot machines and 16 table games.
The Gambling Control Board has an inspector on site at both Oxford and Hollywood whenever they're open. Fleming said he's been generally pleased with both operations.
Thermal-imaging finds 'forgotten' cat
- Police and fire officials used a thermal-imaging camera to find a pet cat that was accidentally left behind when the owner's home was foreclosed on.
The rescue effort started after the former property owner notified police that she had been unable to locate two of her cats when the foreclosure was done.
Volunteers and police officers searched the house but had not found the cats. But on Saturday, police said they found one of the missing cats hiding behind a bookcase. The animal "appeared fine" and will be returned to its owner, police said.
The second cat remained elusive.
Police reminded the public that the property is private and that police were doing "everything legally possible" to locate the animal. "Have a heart" traps have been set up inside and outdoors and there is food available inside the house, police said.
Maine couple guilty in fraud trial
AUBURN, Maine
- A Lewiston couple was found guilty Friday of bilking the federal government out of tens of thousands of dollars in housing money at the same time they were buying downtown properties with cash.
Active-Retired Justice Robert Clifford signed an 11½-page verdict Friday in Androscoggin County Superior Court, convicting Roda Abdi, 45, and her husband, Ali-Nassir Ahmed, 53, of felony theft by deception.
They were charged with taking roughly $20,000 in U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development subsidies.
from 2006 to 2008, according to Assistant Attorney General Leanne Robbin, who prosecuted the case.
The convictions are punishable by up to 10 years in prison.
On a second misdemeanor charge of theft by deception against Abdi, Clifford found her not guilty, writing that some of her actions were "questionable" but were not proven illegal beyond a reasonable doubt.
All of the charges stem from a 2010 raid by federal agents on the couple's business, the A&R Halal Market at 199 Bartlett St. in Lewiston.
Agents from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement converged on the store with a warrant on a tip about possible violations of the Maine Women, Infants and Children nutrition program benefits.
Instead, investigators found that Abdi and Ahmed misrepresented their income and assets in an effort to get federal housing money to help pay their rent, the prosecution said during the December 2013 trial.
A sentencing in the case will follow.


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We're fast approaching the time of year when you're likely to see little ghosts, goblins, witches, and princesses roaming around town to look for a treat. Halloween is a favorite holiday for many children (and parents). Pretending to be a scary monster or sweet fairy is the epitome of fun for children, and the free candy certainly doesn't lessen children's excitement for the holiday. Choosing or creating a costume, decorating pumpkins, making a scarecrow or fall display, and trick-or-treating are just a few of the reasons why people look forward to October 31 every year.
Costume Fun
Picking out costumes for Halloween with your children can be tricky since there are so many options to choose from each year. Google and Yahoo recently released their lists of the most searched for Halloween costumes in 2013. Minion, Batman, Minnie Mouse, pirate, Alice in Wonderland, zombie, vampire, Hello Kitty, and cat costumes are just a few of the popular costumes listed.
Try picking out a costume that children can add to their dress up closet and use to play dress up in all year round. Picking a multipurpose costume helps you save money and encourages children to use their imagination as they pretend play. Kaplan Toys offers a variety of quality Dress Up Fun costumes that children can use again at all times of the year. Career, dance, and multicultural costumes are just a few of the costumes featured in our selection.
Safety Tips
Be sure to put reflective tape on top of your child's costume if they are not wearing reflective clothing on Halloween night. Don't let the excitement of Halloween distract your family from taking safety precautions. Here are a few other tips for Halloween safety:
- Be sure that costumes, shoes, and other accessories are the correct length and size to ensure that kids can see where they are going and do not trip or fall.
- Costume accessories should be soft and flexible to prevent any accidental injuries.
- Be sure to remove any choking hazards and to wear flame-resistant costumes.
- Go trick-or-treating in groups.
- Consider trunk-or-treats as an alternative to trick-or-treating in a neighborhood.
- Take a flashlight with you, especially if you are going to be out after dusk.
- Only trick-or-trick at well-lit houses or at trunk-or-treats.
- Make sure your child knows to not accept candy from someone without parent or guardian permission.
- Tell your children to not eat any candy that has been tampered with or opened.
- Do not let your children snack while they are trick-or-treating unless you look to make sure that what they are eating has not been tampered with or opened.
~Sweet Treat~
Caramel or chocolate-covered apples are great sweet treats to make and enjoy with your children during this time of the year. You can even encourage your kids to eat fruit and nuts with this delicious dessert or snack! Have your children help you prepare the apples and toppings, and tell them about your favorite Halloween memories as a kid as you work on the apples together. The following recipe makes 5-6 caramel or chocolate-covered apples. Enjoy!
1. Prepare the apples
Wash and dry apples thoroughly. Remove stem and stick a wooden craft stick into the stem end.
2. Assemble the ingredients
Pick what toppings you want on your caramel or chocolate-covered apples. Mini M&M's, chopped nuts, crushed cookies, coconut, and sprinkles are all great toppings. Prepare the toppings you choose and place them into individual bowls.
3. Prepare chocolate or caramel
Melt chocolate baking chips or caramel bits in the microwave according to directions on the packaging.
4. Dip the apples in chocolate or caramel
Use a spoon to help cover the apple in chocolate or caramel if you can't get it all covered. Be sure to let the excess chocolate or caramel drip off or gently scrape some of the excess off at the bottom before you move to the next step.
5. Roll the apples in toppings
Roll the apples in your favorite toppings. Be sure to try different combinations. You may need to press the toppings in some with your hand to ensure that they stick to the apple. Place the apple on wax paper once you've finished adding the toppings. Refrigerating the caramel or chocolate apples for 15-30 minutes may help the chocolate or caramel harden faster. You can also drip melted chocolate onto the caramel apple or vice versa as another topping option.
Check out Allrecipes' Caramel Apples and Chocolate-Dipped Apples recipes if you need additional help or inspiration.


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SpaceX, the Hawthorne-based maker of rockets and spacecraft, posted a Youtube Saturday video of the latest test launch of its Grasshopper reusable launch vehicle.
Grasshopper reached a height of 744 meters (2,441 feet) before returning to the launch pad. That was about double the height achieved in the previous test. The company officially called Space Exploration Technologies Corp., conducted the test at its launchpad near McGregor, Texas.
The 10-story rocket was designed to test technologies need to allow a rocket to return to Earth intact. SpaceX sees this ability as necessary to allow humans to become an multi-planetary species. The space shuttle fleet came closest to being reusable rockets, although the spacecraft had to undergo extensive refurbishment between flights. Grasshopper includes a Falcon 9 rocket first stage tank, Merlin 1D engine, four steel and aluminum landing legs with hydraulic dampers, and a steel support structure.
— Muhammed El-Hasan


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The pomp and soaring rhetoric of President Barack Obama's State of the Union address roused his Capitol audience to standing ovations, but a day after, the U.S. Congress was no closer to achieving major accomplishments in 2013 than it was before Tuesday's speech.
In his annual address to a joint session of Congress - one designed to set the tone in Washington for the coming year - Obama offered plenty of big legislative goals: gun control, higher minimum wage, deficit reduction, immigration reform, climate change.
All are daily topics of conversation in the halls of Congress, and Obama tried to inspire lawmakers to act on each of those fronts.
But the Democrats and Republicans who jockey for power in a divided Congress see eye-to-eye on very few of these matters even though polls say voters yearn for cooperation over confrontation.
And so small steps, at best, are likely on a few but probably not all of the marquee issues.
(Read More: Obama to Republicans: Can We Just Move On?)
"It's going to be a modest year," predicted Senator John Thune of South Dakota, a member of the Senate's Republican leadership. "In terms of actually accomplishing something, I think there isn't going to be a whole lot there," he said in an interview.
If Thune is correct, Obama is in for a year that sees many of his initiatives advance in the Democratic-controlled Senate, only to die, or be trimmed down, in the Republican-held House.
Then, it will be up to voters in the mid-term congressional elections next year to decide on whether they are happy with that.
Legislative Trash Can
The morning after the speech began with Republican House Speaker John Boehner dismissing Obama's call to raise the national minimum wage to $9 an hour, up from the current $7.25. "Let's declare that in the wealthiest nation on Earth, no one who works full-time should have to live in poverty," Obama urged.
Boehner, a former small businessman from Ohio, saw things differently. "When you raise the price of employment, guess what happens? You get less of it." With those words, he appeared to drop Obama's idea into a legislative trash can.
(Read More: Raising Minimum Wage Carries Risks for Obama)
Meanwhile, on the other side of the Capitol building, Republicans in the Senate Judiciary Committee were challenging Obama's comprehensive immigration reform plans, and even some broad reform proposals signed off on by some senior Republican senators. Their focus was on first securing the southwestern border with Mexico.
Republican Senator John Cornyn, who is up for re-election in Texas next year, said the federal government has "a long, long way to go" before it achieves a secure border.
Senator Jeff Sessions of Alabama, echoing the sentiment of many of his House Republican colleagues, advised against comprehensive reforms. Deal with "discrete" bits of immigration reform rather than a "massive" reform bill, he advised.
That likely was Sessions' way of saying that Democrats ought to forget about achieving their goal of setting 11 million undocumented foreigners in the United States on a path to citizenship.
(Read More: Zell: Border Not a Problem Because 'Jobs Aren't Here')
Obama's plan for universal pre-school education? How are you going to pay for it without raising deficits, Republican after Republican said, seeming to doom the idea.
In one of the most emotional moments of Tuesday's speech, Obama referred to the gun violence that has racked cities and towns across the United States. "The families of Newtown deserve a vote. The families of Aurora deserve a vote. The families of Oak Creek, and Tucson, and Blacksburg, and the countless other communities ripped open by gun violence - they deserve a simple vote," Obama said.
Families might see that vote, sort of.
"Guns? We'll have the debate but if something passes and it well could pass the Senate, I'd be real hesitant to predict they would get an outcome in the House on that," Senator Thune said.
(Read More: State of the Union Reaction: Gun Sales Still Strong)
One area where some sort of legislative action will be forced is on budget bills in coming weeks and months as the U.S. government runs out of funds on March 27 and exhausts its borrowing authority around August.
But again, there will be a big fight over whether those bills are enacted with deficit reductions that are achieved only through spending cuts, as Republicans demand, or are coupled with tax increases on the rich, as many Democrats insist.
And lawmakers from the two parties are at odds over how to avoid the "sequestration" of sweeping public spending cuts.
Amid all the nay-saying, at least one optimist was not willing to give up on a robust year in Congress. Democratic Senator Jay Rockefeller of West Virginia who is not running for re-election in 2014, told Reuters: "I've only got two years left. I don't want one of them to be 'modest.'"


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General Motors Co. continued to throw off worries over its massive safety recalls as consumers pushed up its June U.S. sales while Fiat Chrysler Automobiles NV sales continued to soar on demand for its pickup and sport-utility vehicles.
After a torrid May--which included five weekends compared with June's four--analysts expected sales for the industry to cool off last month. The month had two fewer selling days than the same period a year earlier. But early reports were encouraging and again showed consumers continue to buy despite the year's big safety recalls.
Total results weren't yet available on Tuesday but GM GM, -1.27% and Fiat Chrysler IT:F projected an annualize pace of at least 16.6 million cars and light trucks for the month. May's seasonally adjusted rate was 16.77 million vehicles, according to market researcher Autodata Corp.
GM -- which has recalled about 29 million cars and trucks in North America this year--said it sold 267,461 total vehicles in June, up 1% from a year earlier. Auto researcher Kelley Blue Book had expected GM sales to slip 3.7%.
The nation's largest auto maker posted its best June sales in seven years, with its Buick and GMC brands delivering double-digit sales increases. Retail sales grew 1%, while fleet sales increased 2%. The company had said last month that its May fleet sales would likely represent its highest monthly volume for the year.
"June was the third very strong month in a row for GM, with every brand up on a selling-day adjusted basis," Kurt McNeil, U.S. vice president of sales operations, said in a statement. "In fact, the first half of the year was our best retail sales performance since 2008, driven by an outstanding second quarter."
Ford Motor Co.'s F, -0.45% U.S. vehicle sales fell 6% to 221,396 with its car sales off 1.4% compared with a year earlier as a surge in the company's Focus and Fusion models wasn't enough to offset declines in its Fiesta and Taurus models. Sales of its F-150 pickup truck topped 50,000 units last month, but were down 11% from a year earlier. Sales of its Lincoln luxury brand fell 3% compared with a year ago.
Chrysler--which expanded an ignition-switch recall this week--was among the largest percentage gainers with sales boosted by strong demand for its new Cherokee sport-utility vehicle and Ram pickups. It sold 171,086 total vehicles in June, up 9% from the same month a year ago.
Truck and SUV sales, which made up 77% of total Chrysler sales in the month, improved 22%, while car sales fell 19%, hurt by double-digit declines in its Chrysler 200 and 300 sedans.
Chrysler brand sales were off 12 percent overall. Sales of the Jeep brand jumped 28%, on the new Cherokee. The Ram brand posted a 14% increase, driven by the brand's pickup and its new ProMaster van.
Toyota Motor Corp. TM, -0.26% said its U.S. sales rose 3% to 201,714 vehicles last month, topping expectations. The company cited double-digit gains in its recently redesigned Corolla and Camry car models.
"Sales in the first half of 2014 indicate a steadily recovering industry, and we expect this pace to increase as we move into the second part of the year," said Bill Fay, Toyota division group vice president and general manager.
Nissan Motor Co. NSANY, -1.02% said it sold 109,643 total vehicles in the U.S. last month, aided by shape increases in sales of its Versa and Sentra small cars. Its midsize Altima fell 3% compared with a year earlier.The figure marked a 5% year-over-year increase for the company.


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VIDEO: The Daily Zap for games played March 13
Report: Rockets could push for 'Melo | Pau backs Kobe's L.A. viewpoint | McHale: Noah should win DPOY | Bynum focusing on playoff role | Jazz home-game attendance in major slump
No. 1: Report: Rockets could push for 'Melo — The rumors about where Carmelo Anthony might sign this summer have been buzzing ever since he said he'd opt out last October. While the Los Angeles Lakers and perhaps Chicago Bulls have led most of the chatter — as well, of course, is the option that 'Melo will stay in New York — a new team may be entering the fray. Marc Berman of the New York Post reports that the Houston Rockets could make a big push for Anthony this summer:
Could Carmelo Anthony rocket off to Houston?
According to a league source, the Rockets will make a bid for Carmelo Anthony this summer, even though they probably won't have cap space and would have to orchestrate a creative sign-and-trade. The source said Houston asked the Knicks about Anthony before February's trade deadline.
The Knicks have held discussions with the Rockets about power forward Omer Asik. Even though Rockets president Daryl Morey is the pioneer of advanced statistics and Anthony has never fared well in some efficiency categories, Morey's old-school instincts believe he could form a terrific Big 3 with Dwight Howard and James Harden. Rockets management also believes Anthony has made advancements in the grit department the past two seasons.
The only way the Rockets can get under the cap is by dealing the expiring contracts of Jeremy Lin, who is entering the poison pill year of $15 million, and Asik, also scheduled to make $15 million.
But even if the Rockets don't, a desperate Knicks team could take on Lin or Asik and draft picks if Phil Jackson doesn't believe in building around Anthony. The Knicks still would be set for 2015's free agency and Lin wold be a drawing card during a season the Knicks may want to tank and fall into the lottery.
Howard has been most outspoken in encouraging Anthony to consider smaller markets than New York just like Howard did in eschewing Los Angeles.
The Lakers, Clippers and Bulls are other potential destinations for Anthony, who said his "first priority'' is to remain a Knick if he likes their future blueprint.
No. 2: Pau glad Kobe called out Lakers' front office — If you somehow managed to miss it Tuesday night or all day Wednesday, Kobe Bryant — in announcing his season was over — was not happy when asked about the Lakers' long-term outlook and front office (you can read all the quotes here).In short, Bryant is wondering what kind of direction the Lakers are going and he's not about to wait around for a full rebuild. While what L.A. does next is anyone's guess, teammate Pau Gasol supported Bryant's words, writes Mark Medina of the Los Angeles Daily News:
The bond Kobe Bryant and Pau Gasol formed runs in many directions, and it doesn't just include winning two NBA championships and meshing complementary personalities together.Gasol also supported Kobe Bryant for publicly questioning the front office. Those included issues ranging from wanting executives Jim and Jeanie Buss to improve their relationship, decide Mike D'Antoni's future as head coach and build a championship caliber roster this offseason.
"I'm glad that he spoke his mind," Gasol said following the Lakers' 131-102 loss Thursday to the Oklahoma City Thunder at Chesapeake Energy Arena. "He wants to win. He's got two years under contract with the franchise. He wants to be in the best possible position to win. Whether you do that publicly or internally, that's totally up to you. He spoke his mind and you have to respect him for that."
Will the Lakers pull that off?
Perhaps easier said than done.
Meanwhile, the Lakers don't expect LeBron James to leave the Miami Heat if he opts out of his contract. The Lakers aren't thrilled about Carmelo Anthony should he opt out of his deal with the Knicks. The Lakers wouldn't want to spend a max-level contract on Cleveland's Luol Deng and on Toronto's Kyle Lowry. GM Mitch Kupchak had suggested earlier that the Lakers may use their financial flexibility more conservatively both to save up for a star-studded 2015 free-agent class and because of recently-imposed harsher penalties for high-spending teams.
"It makes things harder for teams, but it is what it is," Gasol said. "The rules keep changing over the years. But you have to adjust and make the best out of it."
VIDEO: Kobe Bryant sounds off on the Lakers' future during his news conference
No. 3: McHale backs Noah for DPOY — Rockets coach Kevin McHale knows a thing or two about defense. As a player, he was an All-Defensive Team first or second teamer six times, is the Celtics' second all-time leading shotblocker and, oh yeah, currently coaches former three-time Defensive Player of the Year winner Dwight Howard. So it carries some hefty weight when McHale, speaking before last night's Rockets-Bulls game in Chicago, says that Joakim Noah of the Bulls is the DPOY. Nick Friedell of ESPNChicago.com has more:
Kevin McHale said Thursday that Bulls center Joakim Noah should win the league's Defensive Player of the Year Award based on his performance this season.
The Houston Rockets coach knows a special defensive big man when he sees one. He was one himself, being selected multiple times to the NBA all-defense team. He has also coached two previous award winners in Kevin Garnett and Dwight Howard.
McHale included Noah in that elite category Thursday. Noah is averaging 12.2 points, 11.3 rebounds, 4.9 assists, 1.1 steals and 1.5 blocks this season.
"He's played very well," McHale said after his team's shootaround at Moody Bible Institute. "He should be defensive player of the year. He's done a great job with these guys. They've been winning a lot just on his energy and effort, his kind of determination and toughness. Those are all qualities everybody appreciates."
McHale was complimentary not only of Noah's defensive game but of his offensive one as well.
"He's just more confident in what he's doing," McHale said. "He's making plays with the pass. He's driving and kicking. When he was coming out, I thought he'd be a pick-pop-and-drive playmaking 4. He's doing more of that now."
VIDEO: Joakim Noah talks after the Bulls' win over the Rockets Thursday
No. 4: Bynum embracing long-term view to season, playing time — Center Andrew Bynum made his Indiana debut on Tuesday night and gave Pacers fans a nice taste of what he can bring to the court: eight points, 10 rebounds and solid interior defense in about 15 minutes. Bynum won't play tonight in Philly (7 p.m. ET, League Pass) and told Pacers.com's Mark Montieth that he's more concerned with gearing up for the playoffs than getting in tons of regular-season game action:
Short-term, Andrew Bynum sat out the Pacers' practice on Thursday, will sit out their game in Philadelphia on Friday, and then return the following night in Detroit.
Long-term? That question mark will follow him everywhere he goes for the remainder of the season, particularly on the walks from the training room to the basketball court. Does the 26-year-old eighth-year pro have enough left in his knees to recapture something resembling his All-Star level of two seasons ago, or is backing up a healthier player his future job description?
"I don't think back-to-backs are prime right now," he said, resting in an end zone seat at Hinkle Fieldhouse following the team's workout. "There's two more left after this one, and we don't want to risk anything. It's more about being healthy for the playoffs.
"I'm pleased with the way it's responded to the treatment I've been getting. I don't have any swelling, just general arthritic conditions, I guess. We want to calm it down. Everything is about not causing a flare-up that causes me to miss four or five consecutive days. If I can play two really strong hard days and take a day off and it's fine, that's the remedy we want. We don't want to have any bone bruises or flareups, because that's when you start to lose conditioning."
Bynum is to the Pacers what Greg Oden is to Miami: a talented 7-foot center with tender knees, being nursed along in hopes he can be a difference-maker in the quest for a championship. They're in a gimpy-legged race to the finish line, and who remains healthiest could have a lot to say about who reaches the NBA Finals.
As for Bynum, the Pacers would be thrilled to keep getting what they got in Tuesday's game against Boston.
"He got me excited," Pacers coach Frank Vogel said Thursday. "He's one heck of a basketball player and he's really going to help us. Now it's a matter of getting as much work as we can in with him while managing the soreness in his knees. Hopefully come playoff time he's healthy and as far along as we can get him."
Beyond that, Bynum has no way of knowing what lies ahead. But he wants as much as he can get out of his remaining years.
"I think I have to monitor my body, always staying in shape, being more professional," he said. "A lot of times in the summer I would take two months off and then attack it like a boxing training camp where I'd go for eight weeks twice a day, really hard. I obviously have to change that. It's a young man's game, and I'm still young in the human sense, but as a basketball player, a thoroughbred, I'm pretty old. So I have to revamp my training strategy."
VIDEO: Andrew Bynum talks after Wednesday's practice about his role and his debut
No. 5: Jazz home-game attendance in sharp decline — Given that the Utah Jazz are firmly in rebuilding mode and are tied with the Los Angeles Lakers for the worst record in the Western Conference (22-43), the fact that attendance is down in Salt Lake City isn't shocking. But according to Aaron Falk of The Salt Lake Tribune, the rabid fan base in Utah has taken attendance for the team's home games to levels not seen since before 1991:
As he walks out onto the court with his team before each home game, of course Tyrone Corbin sees them.
"You notice," the Utah Jazz coach says. "You notice the green seats."
And for Corbin, who spent three seasons in Utah as a player and a decade as a coach, he's seen more of them this season than ever before. With the Jazz, owners of a 23-42 record, firmly in rebuilding mode, attendance — an average of 17,947 announced fans per game, though there are often far fewer than that actually in the building — has dropped to the lowest the franchise has seen since moving out of the Salt Palace and into the Delta Center in 1991.
It's a four-percent decline from a season ago, and a nine-percent decline from a peak of 19,908 six seasons ago when the Jazz won the Northwest Division and made it to the Western Conference semifinals.
The drop, however, was not unexpected for a franchise that let four of its five top scorers from last year leave for free agency to make playing time for a younger, developing base.
"We anticipated that we would have a slight decline," Jazz president Randy Rigby said.
It would be a hit to the bottom line, Rigby added, especially in one of the league's smallest markets, where ticket sales are a "critical component" of financial viability. Helping ease concerns, Jazz officials believed the team had a fan base that was "supportive of the plan and strategy."
With just nine home games remaining in the season, franchise leaders have been happy with the numbers they've drawn. After drawing the ninth-most fans in the NBA on average last season, the Jazz have dropped to 14th-most and are still above the league average of 17,297. Among teams with losing records this season, only the New York Knicks, the Los Angeles Lakers and the Boston Celtics are drawing more fans.
Commitment to the rebuild took faith and market research. Rigby said Jazz officials also heard the message from fans last season that they would endure rebuilding, taking "short-term pain for a long-term reward."
"They've been very supportive of the plan and the strategy," he said.
And as the season draws to a close, Rigby is still preaching "patience in a very impatient business."
"We all want to have a winner sooner than later," he said. "But we're not going to skip steps. We're going to do it right, so we can have something that will be sustainable for a long period of time."
SOME RANDOM HEADLINES: In a Q&A on the team's website, Kings GM Pete D'Alessandro said he hopes Rudy Gay sticks with the team long term … It doesn't seem likely that Al Horford will be be back anytime this season … Jazz veteran forward Marvin Williams is having an MRI on his back today … Wizards guard John Wall says the reason Kemba Walker gets calls is because he screams a lot … The Blazers got some bad news: both LaMarcus Aldridge and Mo Williams will be out for a little while … Milwaukee's guard rotation of Nate Wolters, Brandon Knight and Ramon Sessions have been playing well lately …
ICYMI of the Night: The Bulls' Taj Gibson made up for his dunk fail the other night with this monster slam on Omer Asik last night …
VIDEO: Taj Gibson powers one down against the Rockets


text:
CHARLESTON, S.C. (AP) — Charleston is known for its colorful history from colonial days to the Revolutionary War siege by the British to the first shots of the Civil War. But now visitors can glimpse much further back - billions of years back.
Amid the skeletons of a cave bear, a ground sloth and a giant armadillo at the Natural History Museum at the College of Charleston is a fossil dating to 3.4 billion years ago. All were prized possessions of Mace Brown, a Mount Pleasant businessman who has collected fossils most of his life and donated his entire collection of 3,000 items, appraised at about $1.6 million, to the college.
Early next year, the college will dedicate and name the museum after Brown, who started with a rock collection in middle school and later started collecting fossils.
"It became an obsession and then a passion and now a museum," Brown, retired after a career in investing and financial planning, said Friday. He used to display his fossils at his home and his downtown Charleston office building.
"It just got to the point where 10 or 15 years ago I said I've got to have an endgame for what's going to happen," he said.
His longtime friend is Jim Carew, a geology professor at the college who is now curator of the museum.
"The problem with the college has always been space," said Carew, who worked to bring Brown's collection to the school.
When they first discussed the idea, there was no room on campus for such a museum. But then the college built a new $70 million, 100,000-square-foot building for its School of Math and Sciences, and room was found for the 3,700-square-foot museum on the building's second floor.
The initial museum exhibits were in place when the building was dedicated in April 2010. A second phase of exhibits was finished by early last year, Carew said. A number of items are still displayed on tables so there are more display cases to be built, and there's an adjacent room for expansion in the future.
About 90 percent of the items displayed are fossils of creatures that once would have inhabited South Carolina, although not all were found in the state. The oldest item, from Western Australia, is a stomatolite, a structure formed by bacteria dating to 3.45 billion years ago.
Sharing the collection with the public was important to Brown, who also teaches a class in artifact preservation at the college.
"There are museums around here of many kinds but there is no museum with a commitment to having nice fossils on display," he said. "A lot of museums have a lot of nice fossils in the back for scientists to look at but they don't have a lot of things out that are really high quality."
As for having the named for him, "It's like a dream come true," he said. "This has been a passion and I'm glad it's turned into something everyone can appreciate."


text:
|دولة قطر
Dawlat Qatar
|Coat of Arms
|Constitutional Monarchy
|Arabic (official)
|King Hamad bin Khalifa (emir)
|Prime minister
|Hamad ibn Jaber Al Thani
|4,416 sq mi
|841,000 (2007)
|$25.01 billion
|GDP per capita
The State of Qatar is an emirate on a peninsula on the west coast of the Persian Gulf, with a population of over 900,000, although one quarter of that population are foreign workers and their family. The official language is Arabic and the capital is Doha. English is a commonly used second language.
Government and Political Conditions
The ruling Al Thani family continued to hold power following the declaration of independence in 1971. The head of state is the Amir, and the right to rule Qatar is passed on within the Al Thani family. Politically, Qatar is evolving from a traditional society to one based on more formal and democratic institutions to meet the requirements of social and economic progress. The country's constitution formalizes the hereditary rule of the Al Thani family, but it also establishes an elected legislative body and makes government ministers accountable to the legislature. In current practice, the Amir's role is influenced by continuing traditions of consultation, rule by consensus, and the citizen's right to appeal personally to the Amir. The Amir, while directly accountable to no one, cannot violate the Shari'a (Islamic law) and, in practice, must consider the opinions of leading families and the religious establishment.
The opinions of the people are institutionalized in the Advisory Council, an appointed body that assists the Amir in formulating policy. However, it is possible that the first elections for this body will occur in 2008. Elections in 1999, in which both men and women participated, resulted in the formation of a municipal council. One woman candidate was elected to the municipal council in 2003. Municipal elections were held for the third time in April 2007.
There has been no serious challenge to Al Thani rule. As the most visible sign of the move toward openness, the Al Jazeera satellite television station based in Qatar is considered the most free and unfettered broadcast source in the Arab world. In practice, however, Al Jazeera rarely criticizes the ruling Al Thani family.
Principal Government Officials
- Amir, Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces, and Minister of Defense--HH Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani
- Heir Apparent, Deputy Chief of the Armed Forces--HH Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani
- Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs--HE Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim bin Jabir Al Thani
- Minister of Energy and Industry and Deputy Prime Minister--Abdullah al-Attiyah
- Ambassador to the U.S.--vacant
Foreign Relations
Qatar achieved full independence in an atmosphere of cooperation with the U.K. and friendship with neighboring states. Most Arab states, the U.K., and the U.S. were among the first countries to recognize Qatar, and the state promptly gained admittance to the United Nations and the Arab League. Qatar established diplomatic relations with the U.S.S.R. and China in 1988. It was an early member of OPEC and a founding member of the GCC.
In September 1992, tensions arose with Saudi Arabia when Saudi forces allegedly attacked a Qatari border post, resulting in two deaths. Relations have since improved, and a joint commission has been set up to demarcate the border as agreed between the two governments. Most, but not all, of the border issues have been resolved.
For years, both Qatar and Bahrain claimed ownership of the Hawar Islands. The case was eventually referred to the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in The Hague. The ICJ issued a ruling in June 2001, which both sides accepted. In the agreement Bahrain kept the main Hawar Island but dropped claims to parts of mainland Qatar, while Qatar retained significant maritime areas and their resources.
Natives of the Arabian Peninsula, many Qataris are descended from a number of migratory tribes that came to Qatar in the 18th century from the neighboring areas of Nejd and Al-Hasa. Some came from neighboring Gulf emirates and others are descended from Persian merchants. Most of Qatar's 907,229 inhabitants live in Doha, the capital. Foreigners with temporary residence status make up about three-fourths of the population. Foreign workers comprise 52% of the total population and make up about 89% of the total labor force. Most are South and Southeast Asians, Egyptians, Palestinians, Jordanians, and Iranians. About 8,000 U.S. citizens reside in Qatar.
For centuries, the main sources of wealth were pearling, fishing, and trade. At one time, Qataris owned nearly one-third of the Persian Gulf fishing fleet. With the Great Depression and the introduction of Japan's cultured-pearl industry, pearling in Qatar declined drastically.
The Qataris are mainly Sunni Muslims. Islam is the official religion, and Islamic jurisprudence is the basis of Qatar's legal system, although civil courts have jurisdiction over commercial law. Arabic is the official language, and English is widely spoken. Education is compulsory and free for all Arab residents 6-16 years old. Qatar has an increasingly high literacy rate.
Qatar's defense expenditures are estimated to be in the range of 10% of GDP. Qatar maintains a modest military force of about 12,000 men, including an army, navy, and air force. The country has a public security force of about 8,000 men, including a coast guard, national firefighting force, air wing, marine police, and an internal security force. Qatar also has signed defense pacts with the U.S., U.K., and France. Qatar plays an active role in the collective defense efforts of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC--the regional organization of the Arab states in the Gulf; the other five members are Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Bahrain, the U.A.E., and Oman). Qatari forces played an important role in the first Gulf War, and Qatar has supported U.S. military operations critical to the success of Operation Enduring Freedom and Operation Iraqi Freedom. Qatar hosts CENTCOM Forward Headquarters.
Oil formed the cornerstone of Qatar's economy well into the 1990s and still accounts for about 62% of total government revenue. In 1973, oil production and revenues increased sizably, moving Qatar out of the rank of the world's poorest countries and providing it with one of the highest per capita incomes. In 2006, Qatar's per capita income of nearly $62,000 was the fifth-highest in the world.
Qatar's economy suffered a downturn from in the mid-1990s. Lower Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) oil production quotas, a fall in oil prices, and the generally unpromising outlook on international markets reduced oil earnings. In turn, the Qatari Government cut spending plans to match lower income. The resulting recessionary local business climate caused many firms to lay off expatriate staff. With the economy recovering in the late 1990s, expatriate populations have grown again.
Oil production is currently around 835,000 barrels a day (bpd), and is expected to reach 1.1 million bpd by 2009. At the current production pace, oil reserves are expected to last more than 40 years. Moreover, Qatar's proven reserves of gas are the third-largest in the world, exceeding 900 trillion cubic feet (14% of the world's total proven gas reserves). Qatar shares with Iran the largest single non-associated gas field in the world, the North Field. Qatar is now the world's largest producer of liquefied natural gas (LNG), with a capacity of more than 31 million metric tons per annum (mmta), and it expects to reach 77.5 mmta of LNG exports by 2010. By 2010, Qatar will account for one-third of the world's LNG supply.
The 1991 completion of the $1.5-billion Phase I of the North Field gas development project strongly boosted the economy. In 1996, Qatar began exporting liquefied natural gas to Japan. Further phases of North Field gas development costing billions of dollars are in various stages of planning and development, and Qatar has concluded agreements with the U.A.E. to export gas via pipelines and to Spain, Turkey, Italy, the U.S., France, South Korea, India, China, Taiwan, and the U.K. via ship. However, the government has halted any further expansion of gas production until 2010, as it assesses its plans for future exploitation of the field.
Qatar's natural gas liquefaction facilities and related industries are located in Ras Laffan Industrial City, site of the world's largest LNG exports of more than 31 million metric tons per year. Qatar's heavy industrial base, located in Messaieed, includes a refinery with a 140,000 bpd capacity, a fertilizer plant for urea and ammonia, a steel plant, and a petrochemical plant, and several new petrochemical plants will be built in the coming years. All these industries use gas for fuel. Most are joint ventures between U.S., European, and Japanese firms and the state-owned Qatar Petroleum (QP). The U.S. is the major equipment supplier for Qatar's oil and gas industry, and U.S. companies are playing a major role in the development of the oil and gas sector and petrochemicals.
The country's economic growth has been stunning. Qatar's nominal GDP, currently around $52.7 billion, has grown an average of 15% over the past five years. GDP is expected to grow approximately 8.3% in 2007. Qatar's per capita GDP is more than $60,000, and projected to soon be the highest in the world. The Qatari Government's strategy is to utilize its wealth to generate more wealth by diversifying the economic base of the country beyond hydrocarbons.
Qatar pursues a vigorous program of "Qatarization," under which all joint venture industries and government departments strive to move Qatari nationals into positions of greater authority. Growing numbers of foreign-educated Qataris, including many educated in the U.S., are returning home to assume key positions formerly occupied by expatriates. In order to control the influx of expatriate workers, Qatar has tightened the administration of its foreign manpower programs over the past several years. Security is the principal basis for Qatar's strict entry and immigration rules and regulations.
Qatar has been inhabited for millennia. The Al Khalifa family of Bahrain dominated the area until 1868 when, at the request of Qatari nobles, the British negotiated the termination of the Bahraini claim, except for the payment of tribute. The tribute ended when the Ottoman Empire occupied Qatar in 1872.
When the Ottomans left at the beginning of World War I, the British recognized Sheikh Abdullah bin Jassim Al Thani as ruler. The Al Thani family had lived in Qatar for 200 years. The 1916 treaty between the United Kingdom and Sheikh Abdullah was similar to those entered into by the British with other Gulf principalities. Under it, the ruler agreed not to dispose of any of his territory except to the U.K. and not to enter into relationships with any other foreign government without British consent. In return, the British promised to protect Qatar from all aggression by sea and to lend their good offices in case of a land attack. A 1934 treaty granted more extensive British protection.
In 1935, a 75-year oil concession was granted to the Qatar Petroleum Company, a subsidiary of the Iraq Petroleum Company, which was owned by Anglo-Dutch, French, and U.S. interests. High-quality oil was discovered in 1940 at Dukhan, on the western side of the Qatari peninsula. However, the start of WWII delayed exploitation of Qatar's oil resources, and oil exports did not begin until 1949.
During the 1950s and 1960s gradually increasing oil revenues brought prosperity, rapid immigration, substantial social progress, and the beginnings of Qatar's modern history. When the U.K. announced a policy in 1968 (reaffirmed in March 1971) of ending the treaty relationships with the Gulf sheikdoms, Qatar joined the other eight states then under British protection (the seven trucial sheikdoms--the present United Arab Emirates--and Bahrain) in a plan to form a union of Arab emirates. By mid-1971, as the termination date of the British treaty relationship (end of 1971) approached, the nine still had not agreed on terms of union. Accordingly, Qatar declared independence as a separate entity and became the fully independent State of Qatar on September 3, 1971.
In February 1972, the Heir Apparent, Sheikh Khalifa bin Hamad, deposed his cousin, Amir Ahmad, and assumed power. Key members of the Al Thani family supported this move, which took place without violence or signs of political unrest.
On June 27, 1995, the Deputy Amir, Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa, deposed his father Amir Khalifa in a bloodless coup. An unsuccessful counter-coup was staged in 1996. The Amir and his father are now reconciled, though some supporters of the counter-coup remain in prison. The Amir announced his intention for Qatar to move toward democracy and has permitted a freer and more open press and municipal elections as a precursor to expected parliamentary elections. Qatari citizens approved a new constitution via public referendum in April 2003, which came into force in June 2005.
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