Thursday, December 31, 2015

BBC - Capital - Picked the wrong career? This five-year plan could help

BBC - Capital - Picked the wrong career? This five-year plan could help: "Craving a professional change isn’t unusual. Forty-eight percent of US workers feel ready for a career switch, according to a survey by consulting firm Lee Hecht Harrison, and another 13% feel they are almost ready. In the UK, 47% of professionals felt the same way, according to a report by the London School of Business and Finance."



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Gender Equality in Science Will Require a Culture Shift - Scientific American

Gender Equality in Science Will Require a Culture Shift - Scientific American: "The problem is not only outright sexual harassment—it is a culture of exclusion and unconscious bias that leaves many women feeling demoralized, marginalized and unsure. In one study, science faculty were given identical résumés in which the names and genders of two applicants were swapped; both male and female faculty judged the male applicant to be more competent and offered him a higher salary.



Unconscious bias also appears in the form of “microassaults” that women scientists are forced to endure daily. This is the endless barrage of purportedly insignificant sexist jokes, insults and put-downs that accumulate over the years and undermine confidence and ambition. Each time it is assumed that the only woman in the lab group will play the role of recording secretary, each time a research plan becomes finalized in the men's lavatory between conference sessions, each time a woman is not invited to go out for a beer after the plenary lecture to talk shop, the damage is reinforced."



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Bill Cosby Is Charged With Felony Sex Crime Over 2004 Case : The Two-Way : NPR

Bill Cosby Is Charged With Felony Sex Crime Over 2004 Case : The Two-Way : NPR: "Narrowly beating a statute of limitations deadline to file charges, prosecutors in Pennsylvania announced felony sexual assault charges against comedian Bill Cosby on Wednesday. A former Temple University employee says Cosby drugged and assaulted her in January 2004.

Montgomery County, Pa., prosecutors have charged Cosby with three counts of aggravated indecent assault. The charges against him are second-degree felonies, each carrying a minimum of five and a maximum of 10 years in prison.

"These charges stem from a sexual assault," according to prosecutor Kevin Steele, who said the assault occurred at Cosby's house in Cheltenham, a Montgomery County township that's just outside Philadelphia.

Steele urged any other victims to contact his office."



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Tuesday, December 29, 2015

No Criminal Charges For Police Officers Who Shot Tamir Rice - BuzzFeed News

No Criminal Charges For Police Officers Who Shot Tamir Rice - BuzzFeed News: "A grand jury in Cleveland declined Monday to criminally charge two police officers who shot and killed Tamir Rice.
Rice, 12, was shot and killed in a public park in November 2014 after two Cleveland police officers, Timothy Loehmann and Frank Garmback, mistook his toy gun for a real weapon.
Cuyahoga County Prosecutor Timothy McGinty said at a press conference that he had, too, recommended that no charges be brought against the officers, saying that the “perfect storm of human error” that led to Rice’s death did not raise to the level of criminality.
“The death of Tamir Rice was an absolute tragedy,” McGinty said, “but it was not, by the law that binds us, a crime.”"



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Thursday, December 17, 2015

UN Human Rights Council Calls Special Session on Burundi

UN Human Rights Council Calls Special Session on Burundi: "The session, set for Thursday, was called at the request of the United States, and supported by 17 members of the Human Rights Council and 25 observer states. Only one African state, Ghana, supported the measure.

This will be the first such special session for the group since April, when the Human Rights Council convened to discuss terrorist attacks and human rights abuses by the terrorist organization Boko Haram in northern Nigeria."



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Tuesday, December 8, 2015

Man carrying gun around Akron gets big response, prompts talk of racial tension, gun laws | cleveland.com

Man carrying gun around Akron gets big response, prompts talk of racial tension, gun laws | cleveland.com: "Cleveland.com talked to several people Wednesday afternoon at the corner of East Exchange and Sumner Streets, outside the University of Akron, one of several places Kovacevic was spotted with the large weapon. Most considered it an unnecessary demonstration of open carry laws. Others said guns make them feel safer.



 "I feel safer that he had it visible," said University of Akron student Sean Chappell. "If everybody knew everybody was packing, they'd all leave each other alone."



 Akron Public Schools notified the media about Kovacevic's display, but its spokesman said Wednesday it had no real impact on the schools' day-to-day operations.



 "He stayed far enough away, but because there are schools in every neighborhood, we wanted to let the media know," school spokesman Mark Williamson said. "When we put the advisory out, we talked to the police, and they assured us this is not a threat and nothing to be concerned about."



 According to the Akron Beacon Journal, residents at the community meeting Tuesday brought up racial profiling and compared Kovacevic's situation to Tamir Rice.



 Kovacevic is white. People Wednesday told cleveland.com they believe the outcome would have been different if he were black.



 "It's different if it's a black person. People say it isn't, but it is," 26-year-old Traneece Johnson said. "[Kovacevic] was approached, and they gave him a chance to speak and say he was expressing his right. The little boy didn't get that chance.""



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Donald Trump: Ban all Muslim travel to U.S. - CNNPolitics.com

Donald Trump: Ban all Muslim travel to U.S. - CNNPolitics.com: "Obama's deputy national security adviser Ben Rhodes reacted to Trump's call Monday on CNN, calling it "totally contrary to our values as Americans" and pointed to the Bill of Rights' protection of freedom of religion and pointing to the "extraordinary contributions" Muslim Americans have made to the U.S.

"But it's also contrary to our security," Rhodes told CNN's Wolf Blitzer on "The Situation Room." "The fact of the matter is ISIL wants to frame this as a war between the United States and Islam, and if we look like we're applying religious tests to who comes into this country, we're sending a message that essentially we're embracing that frame and that is going to make it very difficult to partner with Muslim communities here in the United States and around the world to prevent the scourge of radicalization that we should be focused on.""



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Thursday, December 3, 2015

'Daily News' provokes with cover on Calif. shooting: 'God isn't fixing this'

'Daily News' provokes with cover on Calif. shooting: 'God isn't fixing this': "The front cover of New York's Daily News for Thursday takes a strong stance against how some politicians are reacting to the San Bernardino shooting with calls for prayer instead of tighter gun control laws.

The headline says, "God Isn't Fixing This."

"As latest batch of innocent Americans are left lying in pools of blood, cowards who could truly end gun scourge continue to hide behind meaningless platitudes," the cover reads.

House Speaker Paul Ryan and GOP presidential hopefuls Rand Paul, Ted Cruz, Jeb Bush and Lindsey Graham all responded with "prayers" for the victims of San Bernardino."



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Searchers Refine Possible Path of Lost Malaysian Flight 370 - The New York Times

Searchers Refine Possible Path of Lost Malaysian Flight 370 - The New York Times: "SYDNEY, Australia — Investigators have refined the possible flight path of a missing Malaysia Airlines jet using a set of probability tools that they say takes them closer to locating the jetliner in the southern Indian Ocean.

The analysis, made public in a report on Thursday, emphasized a search area toward the southern end of the current search zone, which is a long strip of ocean known as the seventh arc, a remote area off the southwest coast of Western Australia."



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CBS News finds Peace Corps volunteers blamed, punished for reporting sexual assault - CBS News

CBS News finds Peace Corps volunteers blamed, punished for reporting sexual assault - CBS News: "Nearly 7,000 Peace Corps currently serve in about 65 countries. Roughly one in five of them is sexually assaulted during that service, according to the results of a recent anonymous Peace Corps safety questionnaire, obtained exclusively by CBS News.

The report also shows that nearly half don't report the assaults.

Pressure to change a culture of victim-blaming goes back years, but some survivors still claim they are blamed or punished. One volunteer wrote that in reporting an assault, "I made myself a target.""



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Multinational force frees 900 hostages held by Boko Haram - CBS News

Multinational force frees 900 hostages held by Boko Haram - CBS News: "YAOUNDE, Cameroon -- A multinational force freed 900 hostages held by Nigeria's Boko Haram extremists, killed more than 100 fighters and arrested 100 others last week, Cameroon's government spokesman said Wednesday."



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