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Fierce debate continues in Washington over the proposed trade agreement known as the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), between the United States and 11 Asia-Pacific nations, including Japan. Hundreds of members of Congress (from both parties!) are joining economists left and right to include an enforceable provision on currency manipulation in the TPP, but there are still some who argue that this rule isn't needed.

That's why we put together this handy list of the top 10 facts you need to know about currency and the TPP. (Hint: It's about middle-class jobs).

1. Japan, a potential TPP partner, is gaming the United States, and it's getting worse. The country's currency, the yen, is down by over 50 percent over the past three years. Meanwhile, Japan's export growth is way up. Example: Japan ships 1.5 million cars to the U.S. every year -- while we ship 20,000 to Japan.



2. History tells us that Japan responds to pressure on currency. Back in the 1980s, the Reagan administration compelled Japan via the Plaza Accord to raise the value of the yen and shift some production to the U.S. or lose some access to the U.S. market. And, wouldn't you know it, Japan complied.



3. If we want to ensure that China doesn't write the rules of trade in Asia, then the TPP must include currency, because China will be the prime beneficiary of the TPP if we don't apply pressure on currency, both inside and outside the trade agreement. China spent much of 2014 manipulating its currency, the yuan, to boost its exports. Partly as a consequence, the U.S. trade-in-goods deficit with China grew from $226.9 billion in 2009 to a record $342.6 billion in 2014. The yuan essentially hasn't increased in value since President Obama and 2012 GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney stopped talking about it on the 2012 campaign trail.



4. We also know that China responds to pressure. The only significant movements in the yuan over the past 14 years have occurred when:
   a. Congress voted to put pressure on China (see 2005, 2010, 2011);
   b. The Obama administration made a credible threat (see 2010);
   c. When China's currency cheating was part of the national political conversation (see 2012).



5. Defining currency manipulation isn't rocket science. Clear guidelines have been in place for decades, through organizations such as the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Trade Organization (WTO), along with the Treasury Department's semi-annual exchange rate report.



6. The United States is not a currency manipulator (despite what some misguided pundits have argued), nor would it ever be considered one. We don't have persistent current account surpluses, and we don't accumulate massive quantities of foreign currency reserves -- two things you need to be defined as a currency manipulator by the IMF and any other credible source.



7. Even if you don't believe Japan is currently manipulating its currency, having a deterrent in place through the TPP simply makes sense. Establishing clear consequences for currency cheating right from the start ensures a level playing field for all parties involved.



8. The TPP doesn't stand a chance of passage without currency in it. Large, bipartisan majorities of the House and Senate have weighed in. So have a significant group of domestic manufacturers and economists.



9. Ignore the naysayers. A currency provision for the TPP is not a poison pill for the agreement. That's why traditional free-trade proponents such as Reagan administration veteran and economist Art Laffer and former Bush administration U.S. Trade Representative and current Ohio Sen. Rob Portman feel so strongly about it.



10. Above everything else, this isn't an academic debate. It's about American jobs. More than 900,000 U.S. jobs -- 466,000 of them in manufacturing -- were lost in 2013 due to the trade deficit with Japan (which was driven by Japan's currency manipulation). China's currency manipulation displaced 3.2 million U.S. jobs between 2001 and 2013.

But projections show that ending currency manipulation would create 5.8 million jobs over three years. And that effort starts by making sure there is a strong, enforceable rule against currency cheating in the TPP.

JOHANNESBURG (AP) — A video purported to be by Somalia's al-Qaida-linked rebel group al-Shabab urged Muslims to attack shopping malls in the U.S., Canada, Britain and other Western countries.

In the video, released late Saturday, the extremist group again said its September 2013 attack on the Westgate Mall in Nairobi, Kenya, was in reprisal for Kenyan military involvement in Somalia. Sixty-seven people died in the attack. The video, using footage from major news organizations, showed the assault on the mall. The masked narrator of the 76-minute video warned of more attacks in Kenya and concluded by calling on Muslims to attack shopping malls, specifically mentioning the Mall of America in Minnesota, the West Edmonton Mall in Canada and the Westfield mall in Stratford, England.

The authenticity of the video could not be immediately verified by The Associated Press.

The narrator, his face wrapped in a black-and-white kaffiyeh-type scarf and wearing a camouflage jacket, spoke with a British accent and appeared to be of Somali origin. He accused Kenyan troops in Somalia of committing abuses against Somali Muslims.

He ended the video by calling on Muslim men to attack other shopping malls in Western countries.

"What if such an attack were to occur in the Mall of America in Minnesota? Or the West Edmonton Mall in Canada? Or in London's Oxford Street?" the masked man said, then called for Britain's Westfield mall to be targeted.

Speaking on morning talks shows in the U.S., Department of Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson, called the video "the new phase" of the global terrorist threat and said the U.S. took such threats seriously.

"These groups are relying more and more on independent actors to become inspired, drawn to the cause and they'll attack on their own," Johnson said, speaking on CNN's "State of the Union."

"I am very concerned about serious potential threats of independent actors here in the United States. We've seen this now in Europe, we've seen this in Canada."

Asked specifically about the Mall of America, Johnson said: "Any time a terrorist organization calls for an attack on a specific place we've got to take that seriously. What we're telling the public is you've got to be vigilant. ... There will be enhanced security there that will be apparent ... but public vigilance, public awareness and public caution in situations like this is particularly important. It's the environment we're in."

The Mall of America in Bloomington, Minnesota, and the Edmonton Mall both issued statements saying they have increased security.

Minnesota is home to the largest Somali population in the U.S., and the Twin Cities have been the target of terror recruiters. Since 2007, more than 22 young Somali men from Minnesota have traveled to Somalia to join al-Shabab, and a handful of Minnesota residents have also traveled to Syria to fight with militants within the last year, authorities say. At least one Minnesotan has died while fighting for the Islamic State.

On Thursday, a 19-year-old Minneapolis man who was stopped at a New York City airport in November as he and three others were allegedly attempting to travel to Syria was indicted on charges associated with supporting the Islamic State group.

Last week U.S. Attorney Andy Luger led a Minnesota delegation, including law enforcement officials and Somali community leaders, to a White House summit on countering extremism and radicalization. In his remarks, Vice President Joe Biden held up Boston, Los Angeles and Minneapolis as examples of communities moving ahead with programs to counter extremism locally.

In Kenya, the government dismissed the al-Shabab video.

"They're using propaganda to legitimize what cannot be legitimized. When you lead a group to go and attack a shopping mall and kill innocent shoppers that cannot be legitimized, those were not soldiers," Interior Ministry spokesman Mwenda Njoka said.

"Muslims also died in the Westgate attack. It's in our interest to ensure Somalia is stabilized because the instability affects us. The video is cheap propaganda trying to re-write history and to get more support from those support them."

___

AP writers Tom Odula in Nairobi, Kenya; Jeff Baenen in Minneapolis and Thomas Strong in Washington, DC, contributed to this report.

One peace ring begets another.

A group of Norwegians plans to link hands and encircle a mosque in Oslo, Norway, next Saturday, offering the symbolic peace gesture as a "thank you" to the city's Muslim population, more than 1,000 of whom formed their own "peace circle" around Oslo's synagogue this weekend.

Tonight Norwegian muslims formed a human shield in front of the Oslo synagogue. Historic. #ringOfPeaceOslo #Norway pic.twitter.com/iCQxJrQSrt
— Oda Leraan Skjetne (@oSkjetne) February 21, 2015

1300 Muslims link hands in a Ring of Peace around Jewish synagogue in Oslo. Best news from Europe all year. pic.twitter.com/CnsrbC3o1c
— ian bremmer (@ianbremmer) February 21, 2015

Organizers of the event say they want the human shield to be a seen as an endorsement of peace, tolerance and respect for Muslims, who they say are "a vulnerable minority in Norwegian society."

"We want to stand shoulder to shoulder with our Muslim fellow citizens to show disgust towards increasing Muslim hate and xenophobia in society," the organizers say, according to a translation of the event's Facebook page.

"In this time of fear and polarization we feel it is more important than ever to stand together and show solidarity," the organizers continue. "We believe in and will highlight [the] human will to live together in peace and in [respect] for each other regardless of religion [and] ethnicity."

This past Saturday, members of Oslo's Muslim population encircled a synagogue there. The gesture came a week after a Danish-born man, reportedly of Arab origins, killed two people at a free speech event and a synagogue in Copenhagen, Denmark.

"Humanity is one and we are here to demonstrate that," Zeeshan Abdullah, one of the organizers of the synagogue event, told Reuters. "There are many more peace mongers than warmongers ... There's still hope for humanity, for peace and love, across religious differences and backgrounds."

JERUSALEM, Feb 22 (Reuters) - Israel's mayor of Jerusalem and his security guard wrestled a Palestinian attacker to the ground near city hall on Sunday after an ultra-Orthodox Jew was stabbed with a knife at a busy intersection.
Security camera footage showed mayor Nir Barkat, in a white shirt, walk towards the suspect together with his bodyguard and lunge at him, pinning him down on a pedestrian crossing before others took charge and detained the man.
Before Barkat intervened, the distant but distinct black-and-white footage showed a man waving his arm in a stabbing motion and making contact with one individual and attempting to stab others as they waited to cross the road. When they realized what had happened, the pedestrians ran clear.
The stab victim was rushed to hospital but was not seriously hurt, medical officials said. Police said the suspect, an 18-year-old Palestinian, did not have authorisation to reside in Israel.
"My bodyguard took out his weapon and when he aimed at the terrorist, the terrorist dropped his knife and we immediately tackled him on the ground to make sure that he cannot continue with the terror attack," Barkat told reporters shortly afterwards.
Barkat, 55, served as an officer in the paratroopers' brigade. A former high-tech entrepreneur, he was elected as Israel's mayor of Jerusalem in 2008.
Jerusalem has been the scene of many attacks in recent years. Most recently, late last year tensions rose again over access to a holy site in an Israeli-annexed part of the city where al-Aqsa mosque now stands and Biblical Jewish temples once stood.
Eleven Israelis have been killed, including four rabbis and a policeman stabbed and shot by Palestinians in a Jerusalem synagogue. Twelve Palestinians have also been killed, including several of those who carried out the attacks.
Israel annexed East Jerusalem, in whose walled Old City the compound is located, as part of its capital. This status is not recognized abroad. Many world powers support the Palestinians' goal of setting up their own future capital in East Jerusalem. (Writing by Ori Lewis; Editing by Stephen Powell)

GM is worth around $60 billion, and has over 200,000 employees. Its front-line workers earn from $19 to $28.50 an hour, with benefits.

Uber is estimated to be worth some $40 billion, and has 850 employees. Uber also has over 163,000 drivers (as of December -- the number is expected to double by June), who average $17 an hour in Los Angeles and Washington, D.C., and $23 an hour in San Francisco and New York.

But Uber doesn't count these drivers as employees. Uber says they're "independent contractors."

What difference does it make?

For one thing, GM workers don't have to pay for the machines they use. But Uber drivers pay for their cars -- not just buying them but also their maintenance, insurance, gas, oil changes, tires, and cleaning. Subtract these costs and Uber drivers' hourly pay drops considerably.

For another, GM's employees get all the nation's labor protections.

These include Social Security, a 40-hour workweek with time-and-a-half for overtime, worker health and safety, worker's compensation if injured on the job, family and medical leave, minimum wage, pension protection, unemployment insurance, protection against racial or gender discrimination, and the right to bargain collectively.

Not to forget Obamacare's mandate of employer-provided health care.

Uber workers don't get any of these things. They're outside the labor laws.

Uber workers aren't alone. There are millions like just them, also outside the labor laws -- and their ranks are growing. Most aren't even part of the new Uberized "sharing" economy.

They're franchisees, consultants, and free lancers.

They're also construction workers, restaurant workers, truck drivers, office technicians, even workers in hair salons.

What they all have in common is they're not considered "employees" of the companies they work for. They're "independent contractors" -- which puts all of them outside the labor laws, too.

The rise of "independent contractors" is the most significant legal trend in the American workforce -- contributing directly to low pay, irregular hours, and job insecurity.

What makes them "independent contractors" is the mainly that the companies they work for say they are. So those companies don't have to pick up the costs of having full-time employees.

But are they really "independent"? Companies can manipulate their hours and expenses to make them seem so.

It's become a race to the bottom. Once one business cuts costs by making its workers "independent contractors," every other business in that industry has to do the same -- or face shrinking profits and a dwindling share of the market

Some workers prefer to be independent contractors because that way they get paid in cash. Or they like deciding what hours they'll work.

Mostly, though, they take these jobs because they can't find better ones. And as the race to the bottom accelerates, they have fewer and fewer alternatives.

Fortunately, there are laws against this. Unfortunately, the laws are way too vague and not well-enforced.

For example, FedEx calls its drivers independent contractors.

Yet FedEx requires them to pay for the FedEx-branded trucks they drive, as well as the FedEx uniforms they wear, and FedEx scanners they use -- along with insurance, fuel, tires, oil changes, meals on the road, maintenance, and workers compensation insurance. If they get sick or need a vacation, they have to hire their own replacements. They're even required to groom themselves according to FedEx standards.

FedEx doesn't tell its drivers what hours to work, but it tells them what packages to deliver and organizes their workloads to ensure they work between 9.5 and 11 hours every working day.

If this isn't "employment," I don't know what the word means.

In 2005, thousands of FedEx drivers in California sued the company, alleging they were in fact employees and that FedEx owed them the money they shelled out, as well as wages for all the overtime work they put in.

Last summer, a federal appeals court agreed, finding that under California law -- which looks at whether a company "controls" how a job is done along with a variety of other criteria to determine the real employment relationship -- the FedEx drivers were indeed employees, not independent contractors.

Does that mean Uber drivers in California are also "employees"? That case is being considered right now.

What about FedEx drivers and Uber drivers in other states? Other truck drivers? Construction workers? Hair salon workers? The list goes on.

The law is still up in the air. Which means the race to the bottom is still on.

It's absurd to wait for the courts to decide all this case-by-case. We need a simpler test for determining who's an employer and employee.

I suggest this one: Any corporation that accounts for at least 80 percent or more of the pay someone gets, or receives from that worker at least 20 percent of his or her earnings, should be presumed to be that person's "employer."

Congress doesn't have to pass a new law to make this the test of employment. Federal agencies such as the Labor Department and the IRS have the power to do this on their own, through their rule making authority.

They should do so. Now.

ROBERT B. REICH's film "Inequality for All" is now available on DVD and blu-ray, and on Netflix. Watch the trailer below:

Once in a while in the U.S. we hear about a bill or a law that seems like it must be a joke. For example, in Florida it is illegal for a single woman to parachute or skydive on a Sunday. This week in Montana, a legislator explained that he seriously wants to make it illegal for women to wear yoga pants in public.

These examples might seem silly and inconsequential, but even so, at their core, they speak to very discriminatory ideas about gender, authority and rights that manifest themselves in much more dangerous ways all over the world, including in the United States. Last year in California, an appeals court overturned a rapist's conviction after a judge cited a standing 1872 law stating only married women could legally be raped.  Last December, a legislator in Missouri proposed a bill reading, "No abortion shall be performed or induced unless and until the father of the unborn child provides written, notarized consent to the abortion." And, because I promised myself I'd repeat this every single chance I have until it's not true, it is still legal in more than 30 states in the United States for a rapist to sue his rape victim for child visitation and custody if his forcible insemination resulted in a pregnancy.

As ridiculous as these sound to some of us, they were not included in a top 10 list of misogynistic laws compiled in a report released today by women's rights advocacy group Equality Now. The report describes laws maintained by more than 50 governments. Many reflect the institutionalization of men's entitlement to rape or beat wives and to "own" children. Others limit women's movements and ability to work based on what husband's want. Here are the top 10:

1. Saudi Arabia maintains its 1990 Fatwa prohibiting "women's driving of automobiles" as "a source of undeniable vices".

Last week, in a TV talk show, an historian defending this prohibition suggested that foreign female drivers be imported wholesale to avoid the shame that the rape ("not a big deal" for a woman) would bring to the family.  Of course, Saudi Arabia is only one of a handful of countries, including The Vatican, where women cannot vote. Saudi women are also, effectively, electronically tagged... if they try to travel out of the country their guardians are automatically contacted.

2. A 2013 Indian act confirmed the legality of marital rape... "Sexual intercourse or sexual acts by a man with his own wife, the wife not being under fifteen years of age, is not rape."

India has the world's highest number of early marriages and while fewer girls younger than 15 are being married (18.2 percent), the rates for girls ages 15-18 has increased to 29.2 percent. Waiting a year eliminates "rape."

3. In the U.S., a child born outside of marriage can only be granted citizenship in certain cases relating to the father.

For example, when "a blood relationship between the person and the father is established by clear and convincing evidence" or "the father (unless dead) agreed, in writing, to provide financially for the person until they reach age of eighteen. Somehow, I doubt that millennials, for whom out-of-wedlock births are the norm, know that this might be the case where they live.

4. Likewise, Yemen's 1992 act says that a wife "must permit [her husband] to have legitimate intercourse with her when she is fit to do so."

No age limit. Fourteen percent of girls in Yemen are married to adult men before they are 15. Periodically, the news cycle is interrupted by a sad and enraging story about girls and women assaulted, sometimes to death, by their husbands. While efforts are underway to change the legal age of marriage to 18, marital rape is a separate issue. In either case, Yemen is in the process of falling apart as I type.

5. In Malta, a kidnapper "after abducting a person, shall marry such person, he shall not be liable to prosecution."

This may seem like a strange law to some, however is a real problem in many countries and common in certain cultures.

6. In Nigeria, violence "by a husband for the purpose of correcting his wife" is just fine.

It is difficult for some, however, to live in a country where this is true and then move to another where it is not. Two weeks ago, Sahara Reporters' Abidodun Ladepo wrote about multiple cases of Nigerian men killing beating and killing their wives in the U.S. These women are among the three who die each day here at the hands of their spouses.

7. Women in the Democratic Republic of Congo, where during the war an estimated 48 women were raped per hour and where rape, including rape tied to intimate partner violence, continues at horrific rates, "is obliged to live with her husband and follow him wherever he sees fit to reside."

Marital rape is not a punishable offense.

8. In Guinea women are not allowed to have "a separate profession from that of her husband" if he objects.

9. Kenya's 2014 Marriage Act legitimizes polygamy.

"A marriage celebrated under customary law or Islamic law is presumed to be polygamous or potentially polygamous." This law is one thread in a very thick cloth and complicated cloth. Women's rights groups in the country seemed torn. Some applauded the law because polygamy is so widely practice and the law extended vital protections to all wives that were previously denied.

10. A Bahamian act dating from 1991, two years before the last U.S. state outlawed marital rape, defines rape as anyone older than 14 "having sexual intercourse with another person who is not his spouse."

In addition, married Bahamian women cannot pass their nationality to children, with foreign fathers, born outside of the country. This is not true for children born to Bahamian men. It's also easier for men to get citizenship for spouses.


Rape laws, laws governing movement or work or children's nationality are reflections of deeply held and rooted ideas about women being men's property.  The common law history of rape laws in particular show that rape was, and in many cases still is, not about a woman's human rights being violated, but about a man -- her father, brother, husband -- having his property stolen.  They were never meant to actually protect the raped, but rather defend these property rights. Rape, domestic violence, control of movement -- these are, by many men and the countries they govern, understood as entitlements. Men surveyed in the largest global study of gender-based violence cited "entitlement" as the "primary reason" that they sexually assaulted women.

Women living in countries where they face multiple forms of legal discrimination are rendered exceptionally vulnerable to both spousal and state abuse.  If they marry foreigners, or bear their children abroad, they constantly fear deportation of their families if they "get out of line." Because they are women, their families are economically disadvantaged in terms of property ownership and access to financial tools. When women cannot pass nationality on to children or their spouses it also frequently means their families have no access to public services.  Their children have no automatic and equal right to be educated in public schools, and their families might not have access to national heath care. If they are in abusive relationships they are much more likely to fear the loss of their children, who can be used to extort and control them. The inability to pass nationality on to male spouses and to children puts women at risk. Combined with other discriminatory laws, it hurts them and their families every day.

Equality Now has, for several years, led a global campaign to end sexism in laws governing nationality.  In the wake of the newly released report, they are pursing  country-by-country #unsexylaws campaigns, which include opportunities for interested people and organizations to support grass-roots activists.

PARIS (AP) — Hundreds of graves have been vandalized at a Jewish cemetery in eastern France, in what the president called an "odious and barbaric" anti-Semitic act against French values.

The vandalism comes at a time of growing insecurity among French Jews and amid general religious tensions in Europe, after Islamic radicals attacked a kosher market and a satirical newspaper in Paris last month and similar attacks hit Denmark this weekend.

French Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve said in a statement Sunday that a criminal investigation team is at the damaged cemetery in Sarre-Union, near the German border, and authorities will do "everything" to pursue the vandals.

Jewish and Muslim gravesites and places of worship in France see sporadic but frequent vandalism. The incident this weekend was of an unusually large scale, and hit a cemetery that has been vandalized in the past. Local media reported that about 200 grave stones were knocked down, and a monument to Holocaust victims was damaged.

French President Francois Hollande said in a statement that "France is determined to fight relentlessly against anti-Semitism and those who want to attack the nation's values."

Hollande visited the Danish Embassy in Paris on Sunday, and a crowd waving candles gathered to show solidarity with the victims of the Copenhagen attacks.

"We need stand together in Europe and in all the world wherever jihadis try to threaten democracy," said Sacha Reingewirtz, president of the Union of Jewish Students of France.

Many French Jews feel increasingly worried about anti-Semitism, particularly coming from young Muslims who embrace radical ideology propagated online.

France has Europe's largest Jewish population, about half a million. More than 7,000 emigrated to Israel last year.

France's leading Muslim groups denounced the attacks in Paris and Copenhagen, and are frustrated that Islam is often associated with terrorism.

CAIRO, Feb 15 (Reuters) - Islamic State released a video on Sunday that appeared to show the beheadings of 21 Egyptian Christians in Libya and President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi warned that his country would respond to the deaths as it saw fit.

Speaking on national television hours after the release of the video, Sisi said Cairo would choose the "necessary means and timing to avenge the criminal killings."

Egypt's state news agency MENA quoted the spokesman for the Coptic Church as confirming that 21 Egyptian Christians believed to be held by Islamic State were dead.

The beheadings could stiffen Sisi's resolve in dealing with security threats from militants thriving in neighboring Libya's chaos who want to topple his U.S.-backed government.

Egypt has denied reports in the past that it had taken part, along with its close ally the United Arab Emirates, in air strikes against militants based in Libya.

The footage showing the deaths of the Egyptians appeared on the Twitter feed of a website that supports Islamic State, which has seized parts of Iraq and Syria and has also beheaded Western hostages.

In the video, militants in black marched the captives, dressed in orange jump suits, to a beach the group said was near Tripoli. They were forced down onto their knees, then beheaded.

A caption on the five-minute video read: "The people of the cross, followers of the hostile Egyptian church." Before the killings, one of the militants stood with a knife in his hand and said: "Safety for you crusaders is something you can only wish for."

Thousands of Egyptians desperate for work have traveled to Libya since an uprising at home in 2011, despite advice from their government not to go to a country sliding into lawlessness.

Sisi, who met with the country's top military commanders to discuss the killings, called for a seven-day mourning period, state television reported.

The Coptic Church said it was confident the government would seek justice. Al Azhar, the center of Islamic learning in Egypt, said no religion would accept such "barbaric" acts.

The families of the kidnapped workers had urged Cairo to help secure their release. In the mostly impoverished southerly Minya Governorate, relatives screamed and fainted upon hearing news of the deaths.

CONCERNS ABOUT LIBYA

Egypt, the most populous Arab state, has not taken part directly in the U.S.-led air strikes against Islamic State targets in Iraq and Syria, focusing instead on the increasingly complex insurgency within its own borders.

Militants based in Libya have made contact with Sinai Province, a group operating from Egypt's Sinai Peninsula that has changed its name from Ansar Beyt al-Maqdis and pledged allegiance to Islamic State.

The group has killed hundreds of Egyptian soldiers and police since the army toppled Islamist president Mohamed Mursi in 2013 after mass protests against his rule.

With Libya caught in a chaotic power struggle between two rival factions operating their own governments, Western officials worry that Islamist militants are taking advantage of the turmoil to strengthen their presence.

A number of Islamist militant groups have been active since the fall of Muammar Gaddafi in 2011 left Libya without a strong central government. A few have declared ties to the radical Islamic State and claimed high-profile attacks over recent weeks in what appears to be an intensifying campaign.

Fears that the crisis in neighboring Libya could spill across the border have prompted Egypt to upgrade its military hardware. French President Francois Hollande has said Egypt will order 24 Rafale fighter jets, a naval frigate and related military equipment in a deal to be signed in Cairo on Monday worth more than 5 billion euros ($5.7 billion). (Editing by Kevin Liffey and Frances Kerry)

LOS ANGELES, Feb 15 (Reuters) - As the story of a little-known British World War Two code breaker gears up for the Oscars as one of the top nominees, "The Imitation Game" has found a larger cause to fight for the rights of persecuted gay men.
Nominated for eight Oscars on Feb. 22, "The Imitation Game" tells the story of mathematician Alan Turing, who worked with a secret group of government cryptologists during World War Two to break Nazi Germany's wartime code and saved countless lives.
Turing, played by Benedict Cumberbatch, went uncredited for his work and instead was persecuted on charges of homosexuality, a crime in 1952, and died a broken man in 1954. He was posthumously pardoned in 2013 by Britain's Queen Elizabeth.
The film, distributed by The Weinstein Co, has sparked off a petition by the Human Rights Campaign, an organizing advocating for equal rights for the LGBT community, to pardon some 49,000 homosexual men charged under Britain's gross indecency law that was repealed in 2003.
It has attracted more than 330,000 signatures including Cumberbatch and Keira Knightley, who plays female mathematician Joan Clarke, as well as notable CEOs including Google's Eric Schmidt and Yahoo's Marissa Mayer.
"Alan's own treatment by history had been so unfair," said Graham Moore, Oscar-nominated for his "Imitation Game" script.
"We always hoped we could create a dialog around these issues of the treatment of gay men in society, about the historical persecution reaped upon them, and getting to be a part of these kinds of conversations is even more important."
Made for a budget of $33 million, according to BoxOffice.com, "The Imitation Game" has grossed more than $155 million worldwide since its November release.
It earned Oscar nods for Cumberbatch, Knightley, director Morten Tyldum and the coveted best picture prize, where it will contend against frontrunners "Birdman" and "Boyhood."
Tyldum, the Norwegian director of 2011's "Headhunters," said while Scandinavian filmmakers such as himself hone their talents on American genre films, they bring a fresh esthetic for underdogs such as Turing to Hollywood films.
"We're very skeptical of people who are too perfect. We like flawed people," Tyldum said. "The more shaded, flawed characters that are struggling, I think there's something very relatable about that."
Much of the film focuses on Cumberbatch's portrayal of Turing's nuances, vulnerabilities and strengths as an outcast among his peers.
Both Tyldum and Moore, who won best adapted screenplay at Saturday's Writers Guild Awards, faced initial concerns from film financiers that a film about an unknown historical figure who commits suicide would be marketable to audiences.
"I love when people say 'Imitation Game' is such a crowd pleaser," Tyldum said. "Yes, it's a crowd pleaser but the guy kills himself. We've achieved something, it's a beautiful challenge."
Moore said he relished the challenge of making "an unmakeable project."
"The whole goal of the film was to bring Alan Turing's story to a crowd that wouldn't otherwise have been exposed to his life and his work and his person."
(Reporting by Piya Sinha-Roy; Editing by Nick Zieminski)

Countries like Chile, Colombia, Mexico and Peru are among the resource-rich economies in Latin America that have made inroads their extractive sectors, particularly regarding transparency in revenues. Others, like Venezuela, that are embroiled in major economic crises illustrate the extent to which a man-made resource curse still grips the continent, while the Petrobras scandal in Brazil starkly reminds us of how persistent and costly corruption and political patronage in these sectors can be.

The Resource Governance Index suggested in 2013 that Latin America on average exhibited satisfactory performance in some dimensions of its transparency and accountability in natural resources. Yet there is variation across countries, and even those that are better-performing face obstacles. As seen in the figure below, a particular challenge for the region lies in countries' relatively weak enabling governance environment, which consists of rule of law, accountability and institutions for the control of corruption, among other elements.




To address the region's weak enabling governance environment, I'd like to explore three areas of emphasis for Latin American policymakers:

First, focus on medium-term institutional strengthening, emphasizing what is optimal for the country's socio-economic development as well enacting strong macroeconomic policies.

Some governments in Latin America tend to treat their natural resources as if they will last forever -- even though they are finite and non-renewable. Thus, optimizing for the longer term is not akin to maximizing in the short term: The optimal rate of resource extraction should not be confused with attempts to maximize the rate of extraction in the short term, which can, at times, be counterproductive in the medium and longer terms.

Countries should conduct economic, environmental and social cost-benefit analyses on current and potential resource extraction efforts and use these analyses to inform decisions on whether to extract, and, if so, at what pace and by whom.

The recent fall in commodity prices is a reminder of the need to move away from the tendency of some governments to treat resource price increases as permanent, while regarding declines as temporary. This tendency perpetuates an excessive economic dependency on natural resources, and staves off the structural reforms needed for more diversified economies.

In times of significantly reduced budgetary revenues from natural resources, as is currently the case, it is also timely to strengthen the countries' public finance institutions. Too often revenue mobilization from general taxation is plagued by loopholes, exemptions, tax avoidance and evasion, while waste and inefficiency in public expenditures remain prevalent, both at national and subnational levels.

Politics often conspire against addressing these public finance failings in times of bounty; it is during leaner times such as now that the political opportunity to tackle these issues arises, with potentially large payoffs in the medium and longer terms for a country's economy, its institutions, and, above all, its citizens. Now is the time for politicians and policymakers to seriously consider such reforms, which also ought redress the high level of income inequality that still persists on the continent.

Second, increase the efficiency and integrity of state-owned enterprises (SOEs).

Latin American governments must ensure that SOEs in natural resources are managed with integrity and efficiency and are subject to market rigor. A number of SOEs in Latin America (and in some other regions) tend to be inefficient, politicized and wanting for integrity. Furthermore, their dominance of the sector -- and preferential treatment by governments -- often stymie competition and investment.

The ongoing corruption scandal engulfing Brazil's Petrobras is a reminder of the case for integrity of SOE executives and politicians, and presents an opportunity to implement major organizational and regulatory reforms, starting with the de-politicization of the company in general, and in the way high-level appointments are made in particular. Similarly, Venezuela's state-owned Petróleos de Venezuela, S.A (PDVSA) demonstrates the overall damage that the politically induced mismanagement of a state-owned enterprise can inflict on the economy.

It doesn't have to be that way: Chile's Codelco and, to an extent, Colombia's Ecopetrol illustrate that such enterprises can be managed relatively well. And Pemex in Mexico serves nowadays as an interesting case study, as it is currently undergoing a revamp, even though the outcomes are not yet certain.

Third, improve transparency, anti-corruption and accountability institutions, including regulatory and subnational mechanisms.

Latin American countries must strengthen and ensure the independence and effective multi-stakeholder participation of domestic actors as well as further engagement in international initiatives in order to redouble efforts to enhance transparency, accountability and the fight against corruption.

On the domestic front, one priority for governments is to make regulatory agencies more independent, shielding them from the considerable political influence that they currently face. Brazil's Agencia Nacional de Petróleo has been weak in overseeing Petrobras, and Venezuela's PDVSA lacks any semblance of independence, reporting directly to the executive.

Enforcement of effective environmental regulations is also important: Governments must strengthen environmental ministries and agencies to ensure compliance with environmental standards in the extraction of natural resources.

Furthermore, governments and companies must do more to protect the rights of indigenous populations. Social tensions and delays often arise because of a failure to include the views of indigenous populations in effective consultation and consensus-building, as has happened in Peru. Generally, more emphasis is needed in strengthening subnational governments, as they have the most proximate mandates over the territories where extraction actually takes place.

More broadly, countries in the region must also ensure that their legislatures are not mere rubber-stamp institutions, but that they serve as effective mechanisms to ensure accountability in the extractives sector. Mexico, Colombia and Chile have made significant strides on this front, while others such as Bolivia, Venezuela, Ecuador and Peru still face a long road ahead.

Similarly, controlling corruption continues to be a challenge in most countries on the continent, and particularly in resource-rich countries. Yet there is variation in this dimension as well, illustrated by the contrasting extremes of Chile and Venezuela (Figure 2). The implementation of judiciary and legal reforms is still pending in many countries in the region and so in the meantime impunity still prevails.



On the international front, the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI) offers an opportunity to commit to further reforms and share relevant experience and know-how across the globe. Latin American countries have been slow to join this initiative, but it is finally gaining traction in the region.

In conclusion, the case for governance reforms supporting improved management of natural resources in Latin America is rather strong. The timing could not be better, given the pressures brought to bear by the major fall in commodity prices faced by all resource-rich countries on the continent, combined with the need to draw urgent lessons from the ongoing crises for a whole country (Venezuela), and for the mighty state company in Brazil (Petrobras). There is an opportunity to implement structural reforms for the medium term. Here, I have focused on institutions and policies that deserve particular attention in the areas of accountability, anti-corruption and public finances, at the national and subnational levels.

There is no "one-size-fits-all" set of recommendations. Acknowledging this should inspire us to further engage in more analysis and learning from one another. Still, it is clear is that standalone and partial transparency initiatives in natural resources will not suffice. The time is now to traverse to deeper institutional change, one where all key stakeholders -- governments, parliaments, broad-based civil society and the private sector -- collectively strive to engage and help carry out a governance reform compact.

Daniel Kaufmann is the president of the Natural Resource Governance Institute.

Note: This post is a shortened version of one that originally appeared on the website of the Brookings Institution. It is based on a presentation the author made at the recent high-level seminar on governance in extractive industries held in Santiago, Chile, hosted by the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC). The author acknowledges the valuable inputs of Carlos Monge, Eric Li and Humberto Campodónico.

PHOENIX (AP) — Kayla Mueller was in a detention cell, face to face with her Syrian boyfriend. Had she told her captors she was married to Omar Alkhani, she might have been freed from the hands of Islamic State militants, he said. Instead, she denied being his wife.

After posing as Mueller's husband and persuading a string of people to let him plead for her release, Alkhani left the room empty-handed. He said he saw her face for just a few seconds when guards uncovered it.

The guards had assured Mueller, 26, that Alkhani would not be harmed if she told the truth, so she apparently stuck to honesty to save him rather than take the slim chance to save herself, he said.

"Since she's American, they would not let her go anyway. No sense to stay here, both of us," Alkhani said. "Maybe she wanted to save me. Maybe she didn't know I came back to save her."

Such was the nature of Mueller, the American hostage from Prescott who was content without new clothes, a hair dryer, makeup and much of the wages she earned as an aid worker so she could give to others.

Alkhani spoke to The Associated Press on Sunday via webcam from Turkey in one of his first interviews, detailing how he met Mueller in 2010 and the last time he saw her in 2013 as a prisoner of the Islamic State group.

The U.S. government and Mueller's family confirmed her death last week.

About 200 people turned out Saturday night at Northern Arizona University in Flagstaff, where Mueller studied, to honor her.

Mueller and Alkhani were taken hostage in August 2013 after leaving a Doctors Without Borders hospital in Aleppo, Syria, where he was hired to fix the Internet. Mueller had begged him to let her tag along so she could see the suffering firsthand and help, despite the dangers of traveling into the war-torn region. He said he agreed reluctantly.

"We argued about it," he said. "In the end, I was afraid if she didn't go with me, she would go with someone else."

Mueller took advantage of an unexpected overnight stay at the hospital when the Internet repairs took longer than expected and asked Syrian women about how they managed daily life. During what should have been a 10-minute trip to the bus station the next day, Mueller, Alkhani, the taxi driver and a fourth person were ambushed and forced out of the vehicle at gunpoint and threatened with death.

Mueller remained a hostage, while Alkhani was released a couple of months later after being beaten and interrogated about his work as a photographer, his religion and his relationship to Mueller, he said.

Against the advice of his friends, Alkhani said he returned to Syria from Turkey to try and get back the woman he met in Cairo when she responded to an advertisement he posted to house international visitors. He said he didn't want to break his promise to Mueller that he would look out for her.

A spokesperson for Mueller's family said they didn't have any reason not to trust Alkhani's account.

"They know that he deeply cared for her, and when he went back to try and rescue her by posing as her boyfriend, they knew he was taking extreme risks to do that," the spokesperson said Sunday. The spokesperson talked to the AP on condition of anonymity because the person works in media relations for other families in Middle East hostage situations and wants to remain anonymous for safety reasons.

(Reuters) - Japan's economy rebounded from recession to grow an annualized 2.2 percent in the final quarter of last year, giving a much-needed boost to premier Shinzo Abe's efforts to shake off decades of stagnation even as the global outlook deteriorates.

But the expansion was smaller than a 3.7 percent increase forecast in a Reuters poll, suggesting a fragile recovery for the world's third-largest economy as consumer mood remained soft and uneven global growth weighed on exports.

Still, the return to growth will allow the Bank of Japan to hold off on expanding monetary stimulus in coming months, even as slumping oil prices push inflation further away from its 2 percent target, analysts say.

The data will be one of the key factors the BOJ will scrutinize at its two-day rate review ending on Wednesday, where it is widely set to maintain the current pace of asset purchases in its monetary stimulus program.

The preliminary reading for gross domestic product (GDP), which translates into a quarter-on-quarter increase of 0.6 percent, follows two straight quarters of contraction blamed on the hit on consumption from a sales tax hike last April.

External demand added 0.2 percentage point to growth in the quarter, a sign the weak yen was finally driving up exports.

Private consumption, which makes up about 60 percent of the economy, rose 0.3 percent in the final quarter, less than a median market forecast for a 0.7 percent increase.

Japan's economy slid into recession in July-September last year, prompting Abe to delay a second sales tax hike initially scheduled in October 2015.

The slump slowed Japan's quest to beat off nearly two decades of grinding deflation, and forced the BOJ into expanding monetary stimulus in October last year.

(Additional reporting by Stanley White; Editing by Shri Navaratnam)