Daily Archives: February 24, 2017

Lauren Markoe, Religion News Service 10:33 a.m. ET Feb. 24, 2017

Pope Francis addresses a joint session of Congress on Sept. 24, 2014 in Washington.(Photo: Paul J. Richards, AFP/Getty Images)

Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., and Rep. Chris Smith, R-N.J., earned the highest scores on a first-of-its kind report card forfederal lawmakers on internationalreligious freedom issues.

Thescorecardrated senators on 14 legislative votes and representatives on 25 in the legislative session that began in January 2015 and ended in December 2016, and then factored in caucus work on the issue during that period.

The ranking was released by the21st Century Wilberforce Initiative, a nonprofit group that advocatesfor religious freedom. Its website says it does that from a distinctly Christian perspective while working on behalf of all individuals regardless of religion, belief, ethnicity, or location.

The scorecard focused on legislatorsresponses to measuressuch as a Senate resolution condemning Iran for its treatment of its Bahai minority, and House resolutions on the protection of Coptic churches in Egypt and on combating anti-Semitism in Europe.

Thereport concludes that while both Republicans and Democrats should have done better, with most scoring lower than an A or B, the Senate has been less engaged in promoting religious freedom than the House.

The reports authors said they hoped the scorecard would encourage recognition of those who prioritize international religious freedom issuesand inspire legislators to pay more attention to those oppressed abroad because of their religious identity or practice.

Having served 34 years in Congress, I know that the International Religious Freedom Congressional Scorecard is a much-needed tool, said former Rep. Frank Wolf, R-Va., a distinguished senior fellow at the Wilberforce Initiative who made religious freedom abroad a focus of his tenure in the House.

Support for theFrank R. Wolf International Freedom Act, which calls for stronger U.S. responses to religious freedom violations abroad, increased senators and representatives scorecard grades. The actwas signed into law by then-President Obama in 2016.

The 21st Century Wilberforce Initiative is named afterWilliam Wilberforce, an English parliamentarian, evangelical Christian and leader in the late 18th and early 19th centuries of the movement to abolish slavery.

Read or Share this story: http://usat.ly/2lDvYCN

More:

First scorecard on international religious freedom rates members of Congress - USA TODAY

When a bipartisan group of legislators proposed that the Legislature pass more restrictions this month on the use of cellphones while driving, Republican lawmaker Warren Limmer offered a reason why it shouldnt.

They like their freedom, Limmer said of people who want the freedom to endanger other people.

Freedom apparently killed Scott Spoo, 35, of Woodbury this week. He was in the crosswalk on Dayton Avenue in St. Paul on Wednesday when a driver didnt stop.

Peter H. Berge, 60, of St. Paul, has been arrested.

According to witnesses interviewed at the scene, Mr. Berge may have been using his cellular phone at the time of the crash, police spokesman Steve Linders tells the Star Tribune.

Maybe he was. Maybe he wasnt. Even if true, its hardly an anomaly that drivers are on their phones and the rest of us are at risk because of their entitlement freedom, if you will to put us at risk.

On its Facebook page today, Sweet Science Ice Cream, tries a word that just doesnt seem to make any difference to far too many drivers: please.

Drivers with cellphones arent the only ones who cherish freedom.

So do people in crosswalks.

Bob Collins has been with Minnesota Public Radio since 1992, emigrating to Minnesota from Massachusetts. He was senior editor of news in the 90s, ran MPRs political unit, created the MPR News regional website, invented the popular Select A Candidate, started the two most popular blogs in the history of MPR and every day laments that his Minnesota Fantasy Legislature project never caught on.

NewsCut is a blog featuring observations about the news. It provides a forum for an online discussion and debate about events that might not typically make the front page. NewsCut posts are not news stories but reflections , observations, and debate.

Here is the original post:

A threat to pedestrians: freedom - Minnesota Public Radio News (blog)

Hundreds of thousands of internet users in Germany have signed a petition calling on the German government to address Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's crackdown on free speech.

The petition, called #FreeWordsTurkey, was launched on Friday by the German Publishers and Booksellers Association, the German arm of PEN International, a worldwide association for writers, and Reporters Without Borders Germany. More than 125,000 people to date have signed the petition, which urges both German Chancellor Angela Merkel and the EU Commission "to adopt a clear and resolute position on the current state of freedom of expression in Turkey."

The petition comes a week after German-Turkish journalist Deniz Ycel was taken into custody by Turkish authorities, the first German reporter to be caught in a widespread crackdown on human rights in the country that has seen around 120 media workers put in jail. The growing repression is seen as a response to a failed coup attempt in Turkey in July 2016.

'Free the words!'

"Freedom of expression is in acute danger in Turkey," the petition says, adding that "the German federal government and the EU Commission are obliged to re-evaluate their policies with regard to the countries in question."

The writers of the petition also say that the German government is responsible for providing quick aid to journalists and writers affected by Erdogan's crackdown, "for instance by issuing no-bureaucratic emergency visa."

The online petition, which ends with the exclamation "Free the words!" is seeking 150,000 signatories in total and will be sent to both Merkel and EU Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker.

See the original post:

German writers, journalists call for Merkel to defend freedom of expression in Turkey - Deutsche Welle

Investment without evidence is often needed when trying to turn around a struggling program.

Thats why this years Freedom High School girls basketball team will hold a special place in the heart of coach Dean Reiman. The Patriots made a commitment to winning, even without a guarantee that success would come.

That dedication is why Freedom was playing on Thursday night in the District 11 Class 6A quarterfinals.

The Patriots (14-10) snapped two long postseason droughts this winter, appearing in the district tournament for the first time since 2010 and the league bracket for the first time since 2006.

Their District 11 run, and season, however, came to an end at the hands of second-seeded Parkland, 65-54, at Whitehall High School.

They just talked in the locker room about how this is just establishing a foundation, Reiman said after the quarterfinal defeat. Im so proud of this group and the seniors. This group will always be special to me because they did it with blind faith. They didnt know what winning looked like.

Seniors Meckenzie Herman, Kaitlyn Swint, Giselle Sanchez and Jaiden Coyne hadnt seen an above-.500 record prior to this winter.

When you tell them you need to work harder, you need to lift more weights, you need to run more when youre a winning program, you know whats at the end of that, said Reiman, who wrapped up his second season at Freedom. When youre trying to become a winning program, its blind faith. I give these kids a lot of credit because they bought in and they worked their tails off to become a winning program.

Freedoms dedication to improvement got the Patriots to the postseason, but a rough third quarter resulted in an exit at the hands of Parkland. The No. 7 seed scored two points over the opening 5:50 of the second half, allowing the Trojans to pull out to a 43-30 advantage.

Parkland (18-6) made 23 foul shots on 30 attempts after intermission.

Obviously, we fouled a little bit more than we would have liked to, put them on the line and they made a lot of free throws in the second half, Reiman said. To start the third quarter, we couldnt make a basket. As we couldnt make baskets, we were fouling on the other end. That kind of set the tone for the rest of the game.

Junior forward Hailey Silfies, Freedoms All-Eastern Pennsylvania Conference selection, had a team-high 15 points on Thursday.

Reiman hopes this seasons progress sets the table for bigger accomplishments down the road.

Now, the torch will be carried by the juniors and sophomores, he said. Well see what Freedom basketball looks like in the future.

Kyle Craig may be reached atkcraig@lehighvalleylive.com. Follow him on Twitter@KyleCraigSports. Find Lehigh Valley high school sports on Facebook.

Read more:

Freedom girls basketball showed program what winning looks like again - lehighvalleylive.com

The San Ysidro Port of Entry the largest land border crossing between Tijuana, Mexico and San Diego, California. Such crossings are gateways for trade, one of the economic freedoms that make Americans much richer. Unfortunately, a new measure of economic freedom shows the U.S. has become less economically free in recent years. (Howard Shen/UPI/Newscom)

A new report from the Heritage Foundation, the 2017 Index of Economic Freedom, shows advances worldwide in cutting regulations, curbing government spending, rooting out corruption, and increasing openness to international trade and investment. Lagging behind? The United States.

The Index is a comprehensive measure of economic freedom that compiles data from dozens of independent sources to measure the extent to which a government intervenes through economic policy to control the actions of its citizens and businesses. The latest edition reflects conditions in the world economy through the middle of 2016.

Since 1995, when the Index was first produced, there has been about a 5% increase in economic freedom around the world. That may sound small, but that modest increase has been accompanied by massive improvements in human well-being. Global poverty rates have dropped by two-thirds as economic freedom has grown.

Economic freedom matters for a lot of reasons beyond income and wealth. It's true that improvements in economic freedom correlate with increases in economic growth. And countries with higher levels of economic freedom have much higher average per capita incomes.

In addition, however, their citizens enjoy myriad other benefits. They are better educated, for example, and they enjoy better health and longer lives than those who lack economic freedom. Economic freedom even helps the environment: Economically free countries scored almost 30 points higher on the Yale University 2016 Environmental Performance Index than did countries where economic freedom is repressed.

This year, more than 100 countries recorded increases in their economic freedom. Those winners are found around the world, but the Asia-Pacific region had the highest number of countries recording major gains. Forty-nine countries recorded their highest economic freedom scores ever. This group included both China and Russia, though even with their improvements, both continue to lag far behind most western developed economies in economic freedom.

The U.S., regrettably, headlined the list of countries not only losing freedom, but recording their lowest scores ever. Driving the U.S. decline was a new category in the Index: fiscal health. That category measures fiscal deficits and government debt relative to the size of the economy. U.S. government spending has accounted for over 38% of total U.S. economic activity over the last three years, with deficits averaging above 4% of GDP and total government debt exceeding a full year's output of the economy.

U.S. business and labor freedom both also declined slightly over the last year, increasing concerns that the combination in recent years of expanding government, increased regulatory and tax burdens, and the loss of confidence that has accompanied perceptions of increased cronyism, elite privilege, and corruption is eroding U.S. international competitiveness.

The big question, of course, is whether the election of PresidentTrump will change the trajectory of economic freedom in America. He has promised a strong break with the policies of his predecessor, particularly in areas such financial and health care regulation, tax policy, and trade.

Regulatory and tax reform are clearly areas where even modest improvements could have a major positive impact on U.S. economic freedom and performance. The U.S. corporate income tax rate remains one of the highest in the world, and the explosive regulatory burden of mammoth laws such as the Affordable Care Act and the Dodd-Frank financial regulatory bill has stifled investment and slowed recovery. Policy fixes in these areas will pay big dividends.

Any increase in protectionism, by contrast, could have a devastating impact on U.S. economic growth and job creation. Though U.S. trade accounts for a relatively modest share of our overall economy (exports and imports together equaling roughly 28% of GDP), the jobs created by the international flows of goods, services, and investment capital are a vital factor in the productivity growth necessary to keep the U.S. on top in terms of economic performance and our standard of living.

One of the most interesting conclusions of the Index of Economic Freedom is that intentions matter. Policy changes that increase or retard economic freedom can have an immediate impact for good or ill on economic performance. The free market, now ascendant in much of the world, is an incredibly fast and accurate monitor of economic prospects, whether at the level of the household, the firm, or the national economy.

At the moment, most market indicators are pointing up for the U.S. Hope is high that policy changes are coming to restore American's economic freedom. We'll see if the politicians can deliver.

See original here:

Economic Freedom Up Again, But Not in the US - Investor's Business Daily

GHAZIABAD: After arresting Mohit Goel, Director of Noida-based Ringing Bells Pvt Ltd, police said they were searching for four more directors of the company that launched the world's cheapest smarphone.

Goel was detained late on Thursday after an FIR was filed by Ghaziabad-based Ayam Enterprises, alleging that Ringing Bells defrauded it of Rs 16 lakh.

"We are trying to arrest four other directors -- Anmol Goel, Dharna Garg (Mohil Goel's wife), Ashok Chadha and Sumit Kumar -- named in the FIR," Superintendent of Police Salman Taj Patil told.

As news of Goel's arrest emerged, several other distributors reached the police station, describing their suffering at the hands of the company, the official said.

In the FIR, Ayam Enterprises claimed it was persuaded by Goel and other company officials to take up the distributorship of "Freedom 251" (costing less that $4) smartphones in November 2015.

In India, each phone was to cost Rs 250.

"We paid Rs 30 lakh to Ringing Bells through RTGS on different occasions. But it delivered us product worth Rs 13 lakh only. Upon follow-up, we could get products plus money totalling Rs 14 lakh," the company said.

According to Akshay Malhotra, one of the distributors of Ayam Enterprises, Goel contacted him two years ago to become the clearing and forwarding (C&F) agent for his products.

Malhotra paid Rs 30 lakh to Goel in four instalments but Goel did not supply the consignment even after the promised delivery time lapsed.

After much persuasion, Goel supplied the first consignment of mobile phones, called 'Freedom 251', worth Rs 8 lakh. After finding them substandard in quality, Ayam Enterprises returned them to Ringing Bells.

Ayam Enterprises was later forced to accept power banks and LFD bulbs from Goel in place of mobile phones, Malhotra claimed.

After registering the FIR under sections 420, 406, 467, 468, 471 and 120 (b) of the Indian Penal Code, police arrested Goel from his residence at ATS Towers at Indirapuram on Thursday.

A report in TeleAnalysis, a leading news portal on the telecommunication and technology industry, claimed in December that Ringing Bells owners had shut down the company and opened a new firm, MDM Electronics Private Ltd.

Ringing Bells later refuted these charges.

After announcing that it had delivered 5,000 'Freedom 251' smartphones to customers in July last year, Ringing Bells said it would deliver 65,000 more to those who had booked the device in cash on delivery (COD) mode.

After that, no new numbers were shared. The company has since forayed into making TVs and other smartphones, burying the Freedom 251 dream.

The company in mid-February last year had planned to deliver 2.5 million handsets before June 30. Ringing Bells received mammoth -- over 70 million -- registrations before its payment gateway crashed.

The world's cheapest phone made a splash across the globe, with almost every big media house writing about the "miracle device".

Doubts were initially raised over Ringing Bells' handset after some experts said no smartphone could be manufactured for less than Rs 2,000.

See more here:

'Freedom 251' fraud: Police hunt for other directors - Economic Times