DOCSLIB.ORG

Page 01 Jan 25.Indd

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Page 01 Jan 25.Indd ISO 9001:2008 CERTIFIED NEWSPAPER 25 January 2014 24 Rabial I 1435 - Volume 18 Number 5955 Price: QR2 ON SATURDAY Gmail down for users around the world SAN FRANCISCO: Google Inc suf- fered a service outage yesterday that briefly took down Gmail, the Internet email service used by hundreds of mil- lions of people and many businesses across the globe. Google, which first acknowledged the outage at 11.12am Pacific Time (19.12 GMT), said roughly one hour later that service had been restored for some users and it expected “a resolution for all users in the near future.” It remained unclear what triggered the outage, which affected users in at least India, Britain and the United States and prompted a stream of complaints on Twitter from users in many more countries. Syrian govt, oppn to discuss aid for Homs GENEVA: The Syrian government and opposition have agreed to discuss over the next two days a possible deal to provide humanitarian access to the besieged city of Homs as part of con- fidence building measures, diplomatic sources said yesterday. In Homs, rebels are surrounded in cen- tral districts by forces loyal to President Bashar Al Assad. “The practical aspects have been worked on, things are ready and if the government doesn’t put a block on it then it could happen quickly.” The two parties are set to begin for- mal talks with international mediator Lakhdar Brahimi today. TRAVEL BOOM See also page 8 Wave of deadly THE ISSUE bombings hits Egypt CAIRO: A car bomb struck Cairo The tour and travel business in overseas and want classy transport arrange- worldwide due to increasing popularity of air- police headquarters Friday, the first of Qatar has been booming with ments in those places,” said the official. line and hotel bookings online. four blasts in Egypt’s capital that killed However, talking generally about the travel According to the report, more than 20,000 six people on the eve of the anniversary operators reporting revenue industry’s growth here, market sources say it travel agencies in the US had closed down Design: Abraham Augusthy of the 2011 uprising. growth in double digits in the is mainly propelled by the rising population. since the 1990s, and their number was now The bombings, all targeting the past few years. The sector’s The sector has seen extraordinary growth 13,000, down from the good old days in 1990s police, came as street clashes between since 2007, when the country’s population was when they totalled 34,000. Islamist supporters of deposed president exact annual revenues are hard less than a million. In 2006, it was even lower, “An increasing number of younger people Mohammed Mursi and backers of the to know as no official figures are at 885,359. are relying on the Internet for airline and military killed 14 people, the latest in available, and market sources The population, fuelled by a heavier influx hotel and tour bookings rather than approach violence that has killed hundreds. of foreign workers for the FIFA 2022 develop- a travel agency,” said the CNN Arabic report. They struck a day before police were refuse to make guesstimates. ment projects, has more than doubled since “Travel agencies worldwide are, thus, facing to deploy across the capital for the third and breached the two million-mark now. the biggest challenge to their survival from anniversary of the Arab Spring uprising rising population and more airlines Travel agencies in Qatar depend largely the Internet.” that unseated autocratic president Hosni operating here with increasing fre- on business from companies that must com- In Qatar, though, the official from the ace Mubarak. quencies can be cited as reasons for pulsorily provide air tickets to their foreign travel agency who spoke to this newspaper See also page 9 A an almost 15 percent yearly growth workers, and their dependents in many cases, on grounds of anonymity about most Qataris in the tour and travel trade’s revenues in the to travel home (and back) during their annual preferring to travel premium class, said the Setback for Britain’s past five to six years. leave. Internet was no threat to travel and tour Some bigger travel agencies privately admit Considering that companies have also operators here EU referendum their year-on-year business growth is even multiplied considerably in number over the “Internet usage for airline, hotel and tour larger, at between 25 and 35 percent. past several years and now total more than bookings is minimal in Qatar,” said the official. LONDON: Britain’s planned 2017 ref- Cash-rich Qataris, according to market 80,000 employing more than a million work- Talking of customer complaints, travel erendum on whether to stay in the sources, constitute the majority (almost 60 ers, travel agencies are bound to thrive, argue agencies say most such grievances pertain European Union was close to collapse percent) of the premium class clientele. Tour market sources. to airlines. yesterday. operators have multiplied manifold in number Some travel agencies have faced payment “We get calls from customers, sometimes A vote in the House of Lords, the upper in the country over the past several years. woes with their client companies and closed from the airport, claiming that they were chamber of parliament, means that a bill An official of a large and popular travel down. Then, there are others that complain being charged extra for luggage. Sometimes proposing the referendum looks likely to agency said, asking not to be named, that of stiff competition in the trade due to the people call us saying they were being heavily run out of time to become law. after the massive salary raise for Qatari industry being overcrowded. But, trade penalised for no-show,” said an official from The original wording of the question in public servants and defence personnel in sources say, generally speaking, the sector is a medium-sized travel agency. the bill was: “Do you think that the United PAGElate 2011, leisure travel6 in premium classes doing fairly well. “As you can yourself see, those are the Kingdom should remain a member of the by Qataris rose enormously. A CNN Arabic report on the global travel problems of airlines, not of our making,” said European Union?” Members of the Lords “Most Qatari premium class travellers trade last November said travel agencies were the official. voted to amend it after determining that insist on bookings in top-class luxury hotels facing formidable challenges to their survival See also page 2 question was misleading. AGENCIES www.thepeninsulaqatar.com [email protected] | [email protected] Editorial: 4455 7741 | Advertising: 4455 7837 / 4455 7780 JANUARY 25, 2014 ON SATURDAY 02 www.thepeninsulaqatar.com Home Travel grows despite problems Increasing population and incomes sustaining the industry BY MOHAMMED SHOEB new airlines (figures include only formal body, which will be working for buying stocks and investing in for such sharp growth, despite stringent conditions and very lim- IATA member airlines) started in close cooperation with all con- other lucrative businesses enjoying many people opting for online ited rescheduling flexibility. DOHA: The road map for devel- flying to Qatar, accounting for cerned authorities, such as Qatar leverage on us,” said Fahad. booking, he said: “A significant “Sometimes the difference oping a vibrant and competitive nearly 20 percent of the 211 new Civil Aviation Authority, Qatar Comparing IATA and non-IATA increase in the frequency of travel in fare or fee charged on date tourism and travel industry in airlines that have entered five of Airways, Qatar Tourism Authority travel agencies, he said: “Non- is one of the important reasons. rescheduling on a promotional Qatar has started taking shape, the six GCC countries (except and QC to address the problems IATA operators are like motorists “Earlier, the majority of people ticket is so high that people pre- following double-digit growth in Saudi Arabia) since 2009, accord- and obstacles faced by the travel without any driver’s licence and used to travel only once a year, but fer to buy a new ticket instead the number of travel agencies ing to figures provided by IATA. industry.” road permit. If they violate rules as a result of high income growth of paying the fee,” said the travel and airlines over the past sev- “We are looking forward to a “We are looking forward to two or meet with accidents, it is dif- and prosperity, people are travel- agent. eral years. year of strong passenger growth important policy reforms: One, ficult to take legal action against ling more frequently, especially the “For us, whenever there is an Massive public spending in of 13 percent, and increasing information about clients with them.” Qataris.” offer we struggle to make a profit preparation for the 2022 Fifa industry profitability to a record poor payment records should be To obtain IATA accreditation, With growth in the size of the because in such cases the base fare World Cup and for realising the QR8.74bn ($2.4bn) for the Middle passed on to all agencies to save travel agencies are required to sat- market, the prices of tickets have is very low. At times it can be as goals laid down in Qatar National East, which is good news for cus- others, and secondly, non-IATA isfy many conditions, such as have gone down substantially over the low as QR300. So if we charge Vision 2030 has created several tomers and the economy of the agencies should be asked to join a valid licence, other legal docu- past several years, enabling a large even seven percent commission hundred thousand jobs, resulting region,” said Hussein Dabbas, IATA with a given time frame or ments, qualified staff and business chunk of people in the lower mid- on QR300, the amount will be too in the influx of a large number of Regional Vice President at IATA quit air booking,” noted Hussain, experience, in addition to main- dle-income group to travel more meagre to work with”, added the foreign workers.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Long-Term Land Cover Changes in the Western Part of the Korean Demilitarized Zone
    land Article Long-Term Land Cover Changes in the Western Part of the Korean Demilitarized Zone Jae Hyun Kim 1,2,3 , Shinyeong Park 2, Seung Ho Kim 2 and Eun Ju Lee 3,* 1 Research Institute for Agriculture and Life Sciences, Seoul National University, Seoul 08826, Korea; [email protected] 2 DMZ Ecology Research Institute, Paju 10881, Korea; [email protected] (S.P.); [email protected] (S.H.K.) 3 School of Biological Sciences, Seoul National University, Seoul 08826, Korea * Correspondence: [email protected] Abstract: After the Korean War, human access to the Korean Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) was highly restricted. However, limited agricultural activity was allowed in the Civilian Control Zone (CCZ) surrounding the DMZ. In this study, land cover and vegetation changes in the western DMZ and CCZ from 1919 to 2017 were investigated. Coniferous forests were nearly completely destroyed during the war and were then converted to deciduous forests by ecological succession. Plains in the DMZ and CCZ areas showed different patterns of land cover changes. In the DMZ, pre-war rice paddies were gradually transformed into grasslands. These grasslands have not returned to forest, and this may be explained by wildfires set for military purposes or hydrological fluctuations in floodplains. Grasslands near the floodplains in the DMZ are highly valued for conservation as a rare land type. Most grasslands in the CCZ were converted back to rice paddies, consistent with their previous use. After the 1990s, ginseng cultivation in the CCZ increased. In addition, the landscape changes in the Korean DMZ and CCZ were affected by political circumstances between South and North Citation: Kim, J.H.; Park, S.; Kim, Korea.
    [Show full text]
  • ICC Women's T20 World Cup 2020
    SECTION XXX | XXXXXXXX 1 SECTION 01 TRAVELLING IN THE WEST INDIES MEDIA GUIDE VERSION 01 2 The ICC would like to thank all its commercial partners for their support of the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup 2020 3 WELCOME ICC Chief Executive It gives me great pleasure to welcome media from around the world who are here in Australia to cover the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup, an event that promises to make history as well as great memories. This is the seventh edition of the event and it is the first time for women’s sport at the final on International Women’s Day. I would love us to make history on 8 March but whatever Manu Sawhney it is being held in Australia where the hosts and reigning champions will be looking to retain their title on home soil. happens, this event is part of a much bigger plan to grow the But nine other nations will not be making it easy for them and women’s game and ensure it is sustainable for the long term. I know in this league format followed by a knock-out stage, we’re going to enjoy some competitive top quality cricket. As part of this, we will be promoting the event and providing you with videos, imagery, transcripts and editorial material The ICC is committed to growing the women’s game and this via the Online Media Zone. But we can’t realise our ambition event demonstrates the scale of that ambition. The winners without your support. You can help us create heroes and we are will receive $1m whilst an overall 320% increase in the total confident players here will give you many opportunities to do so.
    [Show full text]
  • Gray03 May-Jun 2021 Gray01 Jan-Feb 2005.Qxd
    The Graybeards is the official publication of the Korean War Veterans Association (KWVA). It is published six times a year for members and private distribution. Subscriptions available for $30.00/year (see address below). MAILING ADDRESS FOR CHANGE OF ADDRESS: Administrative Assistant, P.O. Box 407, Charleston, IL 61920-0407. MAILING ADDRESS TO SUBMIT MATERIAL: Graybeards Editor, 2473 New Haven Circle, Sun City Center, FL 33573-7141. MAILING ADDRESS OF THE KWVA: P.O. Box 407, Charleston, IL 61920-0407. WEBSITE: http://www.kwva.us In loving memory of General Raymond Davis, our Life Honorary President, Deceased. We Honor Founder William T. Norris Editor Directors National Insurance Director Resolutions Committee Arthur G. Sharp Albert H. McCarthy Narce Caliva, Chairman 2473 New Haven Circle 15 Farnum St. Ray M. Kerstetter Sun City Center, FL 33573-7141 Term 2018-2021 Worcester, MA 01602 George E. Lawhon Ph: 813-614-1326 Narce Caliva Ph: 508-277-7300 (C) Tine Martin, Sr [email protected] 102 Killaney Ct [email protected] William J. McLaughlin Publisher Winchester, VA 22602-6796 National Legislative Director Tell America Committee Gerald W. Wadley, Ph.D. Ph: 540-545-8403 (H) Michele M. Bretz (See Directors) John R. McWaters, Chaiman [email protected] Finisterre Publishing Inc. National Legislative Assistant Larry C. Kinard, Asst. Chairman 3 Black Skimmer Ct Bruce R. 'Rocky' Harder Douglas W. Voss (Seee Sgt at Arms) Thomas E. Cacy Beaufort, SC 29907 1047 Portugal Dr Wilfred E. ‘Bill’ Lack [email protected] Stafford, VA 22554-2025 National Veterans Service Officer (VSO) Douglas M. Voss Richard “Rocky” Hernandez Sr.
    [Show full text]
  • 1Q 2019 Satisfaction Survey Report on the Youth Basic Income in Gyeonggi Province Basic Income Research Group(BIRG) August 2019
    POLICY BRIEF 1Q 2019 Satisfaction Survey Report on the Youth Basic Income in Gyeonggi Province Basic Income Research Group(BIRG) August 2019 Gyeonggi Research Institute POLICY BRIEF 1Q 2019 Satisfaction Survey Report on the Youth Basic Income in Gyeonggi Province Basic Income Research Group(BIRG) August 2019 Gyeonggi Research Institute Gyeonggi Research Institute Preface Recently, basic income is attracting people’s attention. This is due to the fact that it is being considered as a countermeasure for solving the social issue that our society is confronted with. However, controversies related to basic income and confrontations in stances still exist acute. Amidst it, there has been big and small experiments and pilot projects conducted to identify the effect of policies. The substantial number of cases is demonstrating extremely positive results. However, the limit lies in the fact that majority of them are small in scale or are not free from experimental conditions. On the contrary, instead of relying on experiments, Gyeonggi Province has been implementing a policy in full scale, that is a project on payment of youth basic income since April 2019. The youth basic income in Gyeonggi Province involves paying out KRW 1 million in the form of regional currency 4 times in a year individually to youths (age of 24) who has been residing in Gyeonggi Province for at least three consecutive years. Those eligible to receiving payment in a year are approximately 175,000 people, making this policy the second biggest in the world after the State of Alaska in USA in terms of scale. It is a case that is gaining international attention not only because of its scale but also because it is not an experiment and is an actual policy in implementation.
    [Show full text]
  • Inside the Democrats' Battle to Take Back Texas
    FT Magazine US presidential election 2020 Inside the Democrats’ battle to take back Texas Will shifting demographics and anti-Trump energy be enough to reverse the state’s long Republican dominance? Demetri Sevastopulo 13 MINUTES AGO The first time Sima Ladjevardian experienced a political revolution, she was 12 years old and sitting in a classroom in Tehran in the middle of what felt like an earthquake. “Everything was shaking,” she says, recalling the uprising that engulfed Iran four decades ago and led to the country’s Islamic republic. “We all came out and it was a sea of people throwing acid into the school and shooting guns in the air. Very scary.” There had been whispers at home about the dangers of the revolution. Ladjevardian’s grandmother had helped women secure the right to vote and then become a member of parliament. Her father was also an MP at the time. But after that eventful day, those rumours turned into a harsh reality when her mother told her and her brother that they would go to Paris — just for a short while. “I had a really weird premonition that we were just never gonna go back,” she says. She was right. Her family spent two years in France, before moving to California to pursue the American dream. As a teenager, Ladjevardian perfected her English by watching Star Wars. Now 54, she talks to me from Houston, Texas, where in next month’s US elections she will embark on her own political quest with the Democratic party: she is campaigning to oust Dan Crenshaw, a freshman Republican in the second congressional district in Texas.
    [Show full text]
  • Athletics Chief Sebastian Coe Has Defended Catch Fish and There Are Many Sports That Have Tering Their fi Rst Win Since Join- Converted and Added a Penalty Questions
    NBA | Page 9 FOOTBALL | Page 5 Thompson’s Suarez To Advertise here 40 points strikes as Call: 444 11 300, 444 66 621 lead Warriors Uruguay to victory hold Brazil Sunday, March 27, 2016 CRICKET Jumada II 18, 1437 AH India to take on GULF TIMES Australia in must-win match SPORT Page 2 CRICKET Buttler treat serves up England win, Lankans out AFP He received crucial support from New Delhi Chamara Kapugedera who hit 30 while Thisara Perera (20) and Dasun Shanaka who struck 15 off nine balls ngland qualifi ed for the to take the contest down to the wire. World Twenty20 semi-fi - Moeen Ali and Adil Rashid were nals and knocked holders Sri on the receiving off some fi ercesome Lanka out after a nail-biting hitting from the Sri Lankans, with E10-run victory in their do-or-die both men conceding 21 in a single showdown in New Delhi yesterday. over. Jos Buttler smashed 66 in a 37- But Joe Root’s stunning catch at ball knock as England posted a com- mid-off to dismiss Shanaka off the manding total of 171 for four that bowling of Chris Jordan in the 19th ultimately proved too much for Sri over proved crucial as Mathews then Lanka despite a brave, undefeated began running out of partners. innings of 73 by injured skipper An- With Sri Lanka needing 15 from gelo Mathews. the last six balls, allrounder Ben England are now likely to face Stokes conceded just four runs to New Zealand in a semi-fi nal en- clinch the England victory.
    [Show full text]
  • Sustainability Report 2008 Sustainability Report 2008 About the Sustainability Report
    Sustainability Report 2008 Sustainability Report 2008 About the Sustainability Report Introduction and Structure Reporting Period Korea Land Corporation, since its establishment in 1975, has been committed to develop- This report illustrates our sustainability management activities and performance from ing the national economy and improving the public welfare. Today, we are doing our August 1 of 2006 to December 31 of 2007. Our first Sustainability Report was issued in best to take good care of our precious land resources which we share with our successive 2005, which describes our sustainability management for the calendar year 2004 and generations, keeping in mind the philosophy that we serve as a "National Land the <Sustainability Report 2008> is our third Sustainability Report which illustrates our Gardener". economic, environmental and social progress and our commitment to corporate social responsibility management. This report contains Our corporate strategies, systems, activities and performance in each of the three pillars of sustainability management: economy, environment and society. Scope and Limitations Data used in this report cover performance of all of our offices at home and abroad and Improvements from our Earlier Sustainability Report were collated as of December 31 of 2007 unless stated otherwise. Most data present This report responds to feedback from our external stakeholders including NGOs (the Center time-series trends of at least three years and denominated in Korean won. for Corporate Responsibility) and academia on our <Sustainability Report 2006>(published in December, 2006) in the following areas External Assurance -we made sure that this report specifies whether it satisfies reporting guidelines of the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) and duly describes our commitment to sustainability management.
    [Show full text]
  • Isolation and Genetic Characterization of African Swine Fever Virus from Domestic Pig Farms in South Korea, 2019
    viruses Brief Report Isolation and Genetic Characterization of African Swine Fever Virus from Domestic Pig Farms in South Korea, 2019 Hyun-Joo Kim, Ki-Hyun Cho , Ji-Hyoung Ryu, Min-Kyung Jang, Ha-Gyeong Chae, Ji-Da Choi , Jin-Ju Nah, Yong-Joo Kim and Hae-Eun Kang * Animal and Plant Quarantine Agency, 177 Hyeoksin 8-ro, Gimcheon 39660, Korea; [email protected] (H.-J.K.); [email protected] (K.-H.C.); [email protected] (J.-H.R.); [email protected] (M.-K.J.); [email protected] (H.-G.C.); [email protected] (J.-D.C.); [email protected] (J.-J.N.); [email protected] (Y.-J.K.) * Correspondence: [email protected]; Tel.: +82-54-912-0884 Received: 7 October 2020; Accepted: 28 October 2020; Published: 30 October 2020 Abstract: On 17 September 2019, the first outbreak of African swine fever in a pig farm was confirmed in South Korea. By 9 October, 14 outbreaks of ASF in domestic pigs had been diagnosed in 4 cities/counties. We isolated viruses from all infected farms and performed genetic characterization. The phylogenetic analysis showed that all of fourteen ASFV isolates in South Korea belong to genotype II and serogroup 8. Additionally, all isolates had an intergenic region (IGR) II variant with additional tandem repeat sequences (TRSs) between the I73R and I329L genes and showed characteristics of central variable region (CVR) 1 of the B602L gene and IGR 1 of MGF 505 9R/10R genes. These are identical to the genetic characteristics of some European isolates and Chinese isolates. Keywords: African swine fever; virus isolation; genetic characterization; South Korea 1.
    [Show full text]
  • CFRW Upcoming Dates
    VOLUME 10 NOVEMBER 2011 Special thanks go to Millie Alford, our Program Chair, for securing our speaker and working so hard to Once again I’m happy to say that invite the other candidates for the the members of Cy Fair Republican office of US Senator for Texas. Women are truly wonderful. We held our biennial fundraiser, High It was such a fun day that I want to Heels & High Tea, on October 14, make sure to thank our members 2011 and it was outstanding. The who worked so hard to make the luncheon, style show, vendor sales we then had him and our new event so successful. Everything and blind auction were all a huge County Commissioner of Precinct success. We were honored to have 4, Jack Cagle, moderate the style State Representative Allen Fletcher show. The guys were so very good lead us in the US and Texas working together to make the style pledges. And we were so pleased show fun. Great ad-libs about the to have one of our members, Kelli clothing were a constant and they Ray, District Director for State really entertained us all. Our thanks Representative Gary Elkins, sing to our Guest Speaker, Ted Cruz and the Star Spangled Banner with County Commissioner, Jack Cagle everyone joining in. What a for being such good sports and was so well organized and that’s making the style show a great hit thanks to our Ways and Means with the crowd. Ted Cruz also Chair, Suzanne Davis, and the helped with resolving the ties in our committees she put together.
    [Show full text]
  • The Perrymander, Polarization, and Peyote V. Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act
    Loyola of Los Angeles Law Review Volume 46 Number 3 Symposium: Juveniles and the Article 7 Supreme Court Spring 2013 The Perrymander, Polarization, and Peyote v. Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act Rosemarie Unite J.D. 2014, Loyola Law School, Los Angeles Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.lmu.edu/llr Part of the Law Commons Recommended Citation Rosemarie Unite, The Perrymander, Polarization, and Peyote v. Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act, 46 Loy. L.A. L. Rev. 1075 (2013). Available at: https://digitalcommons.lmu.edu/llr/vol46/iss3/7 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Law Reviews at Digital Commons @ Loyola Marymount University and Loyola Law School. It has been accepted for inclusion in Loyola of Los Angeles Law Review by an authorized administrator of Digital Commons@Loyola Marymount University and Loyola Law School. For more information, please contact [email protected]. The Perrymander, Polarization, and Peyote v. Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act Cover Page Footnote J.D. 2014, Loyola Law School, Los Angeles; B.A., Rice University. Thanks to Professors Jessica Levinson and Justin Levitt for their help navigating the upheaval in Voting Rights Act jurisprudence in the midst and wake of an election year. Thanks also to Professors Richard Hasen and Spencer Overton for granting me early access to their work. Thank you to Professors Allan Ides and Aimee Dudovitz for their insight into gray areas of the law, and to Professor Susan Bakhshian for her excellent writing instruction. I am especially grateful to Robert Shepard and Cameron Bell for their literary expertise and invaluable feedback, and to Leah Johannesson for her painstaking efforts and patience.
    [Show full text]
  • Testing the Waters” and the Big Lie: How Prospective Presidential Candidates Evade Candidate Contribution Limits While the FEC Looks the Other Way
    215 E Street, NE Washington, DC 20002 tel (202) 736-2200 fax (202) 736-2222 www.campaignlegalcenter.org “Testing the Waters” and the Big Lie: How Prospective Presidential Candidates Evade Candidate Contribution Limits While the FEC Looks the Other Way Paul S. Ryan February 2015 Executive Summary With the 2014 midterm elections behind us, public attention has shifted to the 2016 presidential election. News stories appear daily about prospective 2016 presidential candidates’ repeated trips to Iowa and New Hampshire, extensive fundraising and campaign machine building. Yet none of the early frontrunners—former Governor Jeb Bush, Governor Scott Walker and more than a dozen other politicians—will even admit that they are “testing the waters” of a presidential campaign. Why is this? And how can it be? The “why” part is easy to explain. Federal law requires an individual who is “testing the waters” of a federal candidacy to pay for those activities with funds raised in compliance with the federal candidate contribution restrictions—no individual contributions above $2,700, no corporate or labor union funds. “Testing the waters” means activity “undertaken to determine whether the individual should become a candidate,” including, for example, travel to see if there is sufficient support for one’s candidacy. Prospective presidential candidates deny that they are “testing the waters” in order to evade the candidate contribution limits. The “how” part is more difficult to explain. Among the long list of nearly 20 prospective 2016 presidential candidates, only Senator Lindsey Graham and former Senator Jim Webb appear to be complying with the federal campaign finance law requirement that “testing the waters” activities be paid for with candidate-permissible funds.
    [Show full text]
  • Factors Contributing to Residential Vacancy and Some Approaches to Management in Gyeonggi Province, Korea
    sustainability Article Factors Contributing to Residential Vacancy and Some Approaches to Management in Gyeonggi Province, Korea Jeehyun Nam 1, Jiae Han 2,* and Changho Lee 3,* 1 Department of Urban Planning & Housing Policy, Gyeonggi Research Institute, Gyeonggi-do 16207, Korea; [email protected] 2 Department of Architectural Engineering, Hongik University, Seoul 30016, Korea 3 Department of Geography Education (GIS Lab), Seoul national University, Seoul 08826, Korea * Correspondence: [email protected] (J.H.); [email protected] (C.L.); Tel.: +82-44-860-2021 (J.H.); +82-2-880-2557 (C.L.) Academic Editors: William D. Shuster, Audrey L. Mayer and Ahjond S. Garmestani Received: 13 February 2016; Accepted: 7 April 2016; Published: 13 April 2016 Abstract: With the decrease in the demand for large-scale apartments as a result of an aging society and a decrease in population, there has been an increase in vacant houses due to a supply that exceeds the projected demands. As a method of urban regeneration in rural areas and activation of citizen communities, the utilization of vacant houses has become one of the ways to promote a new lifestyle, active movement for citizen participation, and business model for long-term revitalization. This study aims to uncover and examine the major causes and factors behind the upswing in vacant houses. We investigated the current state of vacant houses, the recent policies concerning them, and the types of vacant houses in Korea’s Gyeonggi province. We then categorized and analyzed the causes of houses being vacant, their types, and the methods of utilizing them under different local conditions in order to understand the efficient processes and strategies for their utilization.
    [Show full text]