Gaza, Palestinian Territory (IRIN) – The lack of job opportunities for young people in the occupied Palestinian territory (oPt) has created an unemployment crisis that could further destabilize the Arab region, experts warn.

“The largest generation, which was born in the’80s, has reached working age… young adults are now perceived as the most problematic age group,” notes sociologist and demographer Philippe Fargues, also director of the Migration Policy Centre at the European University Institute in Florence.

“Their growth has outpaced the resources available to them, from employment that provides income and status, to freedom, participation, and agency,” added Fargues, who in a recent paper suggested that the “youth bulge” will reshape the Arab world.

Frustrated Arab youth, he argues, have been left with two options: stay in their countries and protest, or leave to seek work and opportunity abroad. The number of people in the 15-29 age range is the largest the Arab world has seen.

The latest figures from the Palestinian Bureau of Statistics put 21.7 percent of the population out of work. This breaks down to 30.8 percent of the population in Gaza and 17.4 percent in the West Bank.

According to the UN, 43.4 percent of the Palestinian population is under 15, and in the Gaza Strip 63.4 percent of 15-24 year-olds are unemployed. This figure rises to 75.8 percent among women.

Few options

And yet, since the Israeli blockade was imposed in 2007, migration has not been an option for the vast majority of Gazans. As a result, there are few options left for young people looking for a job.

“This generation faces many more difficulties than we did,” said Mahmoud Abu Libda, a supervisor in an engineering workshop supported by the ACT Alliance in Khan Younis, south Gaza.

Libda trains young men to be mechanics – perhaps the only trade still flourishing in Gaza. Continual electricity cuts and a reliance on generators mean that mechanics are rarely in want of work. Every year there is a huge demand for places at the workshop, with at least 150 applicants for 22 places.

“The most important thing for them is to find a job,” he added. “We could work in Israel, Gulf States, but with the blockade we are living in a prison here. Being part of a political faction [Fatah or Hamas] or joining the extremists [Al Qaeda] are the easiest ways to be supported and earn money in Gaza.

“I brought my son to work [at the workshop] to avoid him getting drawn into an extremist group – to protect him. It is dangerous working with the resistance.”

Abdullah Nam Rooti, 21, who is in his final year of training with Libda, said: “I was very excited to get my place on the course. Most people I went to school with are unemployed. Most who can’t find work are working in the tunnels, although work has slowed down since Israel’s slight easing of the blockade.

“One time, a tunnel collapsed at two points and trapped three of my friends inside,” he added. “If I had not got on this course I would have worked in the tunnels too and I would have been very scared. It would be better if we could work outside. I would go any place that offered me work, although prefer to live and work here.”

Too many checkpoints

Chris Gunness, spokesperson for the UN Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), told IRIN: “Young people in Gaza face a double whammy – high educational achievement and no work. Having a highly educated, unemployed population is a recipe for discontent, frustration and worse. This is in no one’s interests, least of all Israel.”

In the West Bank, the economic situation is different but still bleak. There is no blockade but the Israeli occupation means the job market cannot support this generation of job seekers.

“In the West Bank we have heard much about economic success but years of occupation have set the base line very low. Nor is this economic success spread evenly across the population,” says Gunness.

“Running an economy and empowering young people with employment is a huge challenge when road blocks and checkpoints make getting to and from work difficult and products must be exported through a regime of occupation. In the West Bank it is really very difficult to get a proper career and work life. That’s why we have so many micro-finance projects there.”

Ironically economic migration for most Palestinians in the West Bank means working, often illegally, in Israel.

According to the bureau of statistics, the number of Palestinians employed in Israel and Israeli settlements had risen from 75,000 to 78,000 in the third and fourth quarters of 2010, of whom 17,000 have no work permit and 50 percent work in the construction industry.

In Gaza, international observers predict that the recent opening of Rafah border crossing by Egypt, may see a flood of workers leaving the Gaza Strip to seek employment opportunities abroad.

Ever since protests started across the Arab world earlier this year, the Hamas authorities have so far managed to dissolve any efforts towards spontaneous protest swiftly.

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– Provided by Integrated Regional Information Networks.

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Fukushima, Japan (AHN) – Officials of Tokyo Electric Power on Sunday announced they no longer believe the utility’s damaged Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant may be stabilized by the end of the year.

The admission would mean a further delay to plans of residents within the 20-kilometer (12-mile) danger zone to return home. The delay in stabilizing the plant is a result of official confirmation of core meltdowns of Fukushima Daiichi’s reactors 1 to 3. There also were breaches to pressure vessels that hold the nuclear fuel.

Tokyo Electric set April 17, 2012, as the new target date to achieve a cold shutdown of the damaged nuclear facility. The utility firm earlier set a dateline of January to stabilize the plant.

The officials also admitted that the power firm is not ready for heavy rain and typhoon winds because the damaged reactor buildings are still uncovered. If a weather disturbance hits the plant, it may cause radioactive materials to be carried into the air and sea.

Typhoon Songda, which spared the Philippines over the weekend, was projected to hit Japan by early Monday with winds of up to 216 kilometers (134 miles) per hour.

Tokyo Electric officials said the utility firm had made efforts to cover the damaged reactor buildings, but they had not completed the project. To prevent more radioactive materials from spreading further, Tokyo Electric poured anti-scattering agents such as synthetic resins around the damaged buildings.

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Trenton, NJ, United States (AHN) – Trenton Public Schools officials are working to continue bus service for students after transportation workers started a sick-out late in the week.

As state budget wrangling continues, the district is moving ahead with plans to privatize its school bus service, contending it could save about $2 million.

About half (15) of the district’s 29 transportation workers reportedly called in sick Thursday, though the number was reduced to about a third (9) Friday according to a school official. The 29 are a part of 196 school employees who recently learned they would lose their jobs to reduce the district’s school budget.

A report in the Trentonian stated 300 to 400 students missed school due to the school bus situation.

“So each of the (seven) drivers had to make three different runs, but that only covers 21 schools. There are 36 schools. Some students have to go to special schools as far out as Neptune. It’s a terrible mess. Kids are calling on the phones, left to stay at home, no way to get to school. Their parents have to take a bus to work, so they drop their child off, counting on a school bus to take them to school. Often they’re not picked up,” a source told the paper.

A school official admitted as much in a letter posted on the district’s website and sent home with students.

“We are experiencing a job action among our bus drivers,” interim superintendent Raymond Broach wrote. “This is causing delays in the pickup and delivery of our students and in some cases, (we’re) not picking up at all.”

With the drivers losing their jobs anyway, they will likely not be punished for their actions and the district will call upon drivers from other companies it has deals with — Rick Bus Co. and Delaware Valley Bus Line — to cover the gap in service, according to a report on nj.com.

Trenton Public Schools may get $12 million in additional school funding due to a recent action by the state legislature, but will still seek an outside vendor for its school bus service.

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Orlando, FL, United States (AHN) – Orlando police are reporting that a gunman killed a surgeon at Florida Hospital, then killed turned the weapon on himself.

The shooting happened Thursday just after 5 p.m. in the McCray Garage on the Florida Hospital Orlando campus. The garage is for patients and employees, and police said several people were inside the garage as the shots rang out.

Police confirm Dimitriy Nikitin an organ transplant surgeon who specialized in liver, kidney, pancreas and intestinal transplants died at the hospital.

“Why the doctor is targeted, we don’t know. We are working with the hospital…We still have a lot of unanswered questions,” said Lt. Barb Jones, of the Orlando Police Department. “It’s a horrible incident.

Certainly somebody who kills somebody like that in a parking lot… A doctor who works to save lives…It’s just a unfortunate situation.”

Police said 53-year-old Nelson Flecha shot Nikitin several times near the first floor elevator of the parking garage. Flecha then went to a different level of the garage where he shot and killed himself.

Doctors at Florida Hospital were ten tasked with trying to save one of their own but were unable to undo the damage from Flecha’s bullets.

Flecha was rushed to Orlando Regional Medical Center where he also died.

Florida Hospital issued the following statement:

“The Florida Hospital family is deeply saddened by the tragic event Thursday evening which has taken two lives, one of whom is Dmitriy A. Nikitin, a respected and talented multi-organ transplant surgeon. At this time, we ask for your sympathy as we and the family of Nikitin grieves for our loss.”

Nikitin who had been at the hospital for three years leaves behind a wife and children. He also taught at the University of Central Florida’s College of Medicine. In 2010 he and others set a Florida Hospital record for the most number of transplants ever done in a weekend.

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The truth is, i have always been on the side of those pinning their dreams on getting into the most highly regarded distance learning mba they can wanting to make something of themselves by going to one of the best programs. In fact, I have always secretly identified with applicants. Perhaps it’s because admissions decisions can seem arbitrary, or because admission boards wield such a degree of distance learning mba. Who wouldn’t need a little guidance for such a daunting task? But I had other reasons for wanting to help candidates with their essays. As we mentioned earlier, b-schools are unique interested in non-test-score characteristics. High on their list is emotional maturity self awareness leadership ability creativity teamwork potential and morality. Even the online ms in it Business School has a stated mission to do no less than educate leaders who make a difference in the world. To screen for all these qualities the schools rely on the essays.

And herein lies he problem. It may be difficult for an engineer who will one day launch a new product that will transform an industry to craft a compelling self-narrative. How many great distance learning mba leaders might be disqualified from getting their distance learning mba at a top school because their writing or storytelling skills are poor or because at this young age they don’t know how to show self awareness or articulate it in their essays. In tis way the essays on b-school applications can be overreaching. But they’re imperfect in other areas as well. When you consider the questions posed by the most selective. An essay is any school’s test when considering your candidacy. Whether you’re applying to business school, law school or medical school, what you write says more about you than your online mba or test score. Unlike the law or med school admissions processes, online mba in India are unique in their request for many essays and their heavy weighting of those essays. Although grades and standardized test are considered key benchmarks for admission they function more as a threshold. You stories are what close the deal one way or the other. In online mba in India admissions the essays tie all the pieces of your application together. They weave a narrative of who you are and why you belong in particular program of online mba. They provide a framework for your personal and professional activities highlighting your choices and attitudes as well as your analytical and communication skills. they also reveal your character and integrity. That’s because those onerous essay questions are designed to elicit thumbnail profiles of the real you which is arguably the most heavily weighted criterion in the admissions process. For these reasons the essays are invaluable screening tools.

Nairobi, Kenya (IRIN) – Instead of joining militias or idling at street corners, the youth in Garowe, the regional capital of the self-declared autonomous region of Puntland, are learning skills to help them earn a living, officials said.

A local NGO, the Farsano Technical Institute, is implementing the project, which is funded by the Education Development Centre (EDC), an American NGO. Trainees learn skills such as welding, plumbing and electrical services; carpentry, auto mechanics, bookkeeping and IT.

“These are young people in their teens and 20s; most, if not all, were born during the civil war,” said Abdihakim Mohamed Jama, of the Farsano Technical Institute. “We have to find something for them to do or they may end up in criminal gangs, such as militia groups.”

Jama said the project, Shaqa Doon (“Looking for a job” in Somali] started early this year with 156 trainees.

“We have two types of trainees; those with no education and those with some education,” he said, adding that some had completed primary school while others had a secondary school education, “but most are illiterate”.

Jama told IRIN: “Bookkeeping and IT are taught to those with education, because the others cannot manage. We also teach reading, writing and basic mathematics to those who never had an education. So while they are learning the skills, we are also teaching them how to read and write.”

Of the total number of current trainees, Jama said, 38 are women.

One of the trainees, Amina Mohamed Nur, 20, said after completing primary school, she could not afford secondary school fees.

“I was basically sitting at home doing nothing; when I heard about the project I applied and was accepted.”

Nur chose to train as a mechanic, an unusual profession for a woman from a conservative community. “I am not the only one,” she told IRIN. “Four other girls are with me in this training. Since I was a child, I always wanted to work with cars. I don’t know why but that is what I wanted to do.”

She said she would eventually like to own a garage.

Nur Hassan Hussein, 25, from Garowe, was unemployed when he heard about Farsano. He had dropped out of school due to a lack of funds and is training to become an electrician. “I want to be the best electrician I can be and then eventually start my own business.”

Hussein said there were many young people like him “who would do anything to get this opportunity; I am very lucky”.

Jama said that once they have finished the course, trainees “go out and become self-employed, placed in jobs with government agencies or with businesses and other groups. If they don’t get the first two options, we absorb them in Farsano and they help with the project.”

“All these trainees are at-risk young people; if we save them now, they, in turn, will save others and contribute to the well-being of the community instead of becoming a menace,” he said.

The Farsano Technical Institute project is the only one in Garowe targeting the youth.

“There are many young people out there who need help, but we cannot take them all,” Jama said, urging other agencies to help with the growing number of unemployed youth by “giving them the ability and capacity to be productive members of their community”.

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– Provided by Integrated Regional Information Networks.

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Andover, MN, United States (AHN) – Two national civil rights groups are planning on suing the Anoka-Hennepin school district if school officials don’t properly address anti-gay harassment. The Southern Poverty Law Center and National Center for Lesbian Rights say they have proof that students in the district have faced harassment for being gay or perceived as gay and that harassment violates federal law.

Lawyers for the two civil rights groups which sued the district earlier this year in a separate case sent a letter Tuesday to Anoka-Hennepin superintendent Dennis Carlson warning of possible legal action.

According to the letter the two groups have had the district, the largest in the state under investigation for some time and found that students who are or perceived to be gay or lesbian are in jeopardy and in a hostile environment when they’re at school. They were originally contacted by students and alumni who sought help.

Sam Wolfe an attorney with the Southern Poverty Law Center, a nonprofit civil rights group said Anoka-Hennepin is breaking federal law by allowing such a culture to exist.

“On a daily basis they’re going into the schools and into the hallways — other kids are calling them names, such as ‘faggot’ and other names about either their actual or perceived sexual orientation or gender identity,” Wolfe said in an MPR report. “And it’s a continual thing.”

The letter goes on to list examples of harassment of at least three unnamed current or former students. It remains unknown how many other clients could be represented by the groups if a settlement can’t be reached.

Wolfe said his group will sue Anoka-Hennepin unless district officials compensate his clients and repeals a district policy that requires staff to be neutral in dealing with sexual orientation. The so called “neutrality policy” allows sexual orientation to be discussed but stipulates teachers to remain neutral.

“The policy ties the hands of these teachers,” Wolfe said. “Some of these kids are being relentlessly harassed.”

District spokeswoman Mary Olson said school district leaders believe their policy is legal.

In a Star Tribune report she said people have different view points on whether “homosexuality is appropriate.” She added, “I don’t think by eliminating the neutrality policy we’re going to eliminate bullying.

The board stance is they don’t see a connection between the two. However civil rights proponents hope with the threat of a lawsuit they will reevaluate their position and repeal the policy.

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BUJUMBURA (IRIN) – Asha* is in a polygamous marriage, and while she would like to protect herself from HIV and other sexually transmitted infections, the message from the preachers at her local mosque in the Burundian capital, Bujumbura, is that condoms promote adultery.

“We can’t use condoms as a way of preventing AIDS in our community; only abstinence is preached in our mosques,” she said. “We [Muslims] are so exposed to the AIDS pandemic, especially because we believe in polygamy…”

The scholars at her mosque, in the predominantly Muslim suburb of Buyenzi, are keen to participate in the fight against HIV, caring for HIV-positive people and orphans in their communities and even encouraging HIV testing before marriage, but according to Asha, this advice is flawed.

“I can take HIV tests but the problem is that I can’t know that the other wife of my husband has done it or will do it; I have no right to tell her to do so,” she said. “How do you [protect yourself from HIV] when… subjected to the constraints of religion?”

Muslims make up about 10 percent of Burundi’s population; research is divided on the HIV risk posed by polygamy – some regional studies indicate that women in polygamous relationships are at higher risk of HIV , while others argue that “closed” polygamous relationships can actually protect against HIV as long as sexual relationships remain within the closed group. However, HIV policy-makers and implementers do agree on one thing – condoms should be an essential part of any effort to prevent HIV.

But Islamic scholars insist that condoms must be avoided at all costs. “Encouraging condoms in Islamic circles is a way of calling people to sexual debauchery,” said Secretary-General of the Islamic community of Burundi, El Hadj Nkunduwiga Haruna. “We ask people to be faithful and not to engage in sexual promiscuity as a means to fight AIDS.”

Poverty factors

According to Jolie*, a non-practising Christian, poverty was often a bigger consideration than religion or HIV prevention when choosing a spouse.

“With this poverty everywhere here in Burundi, if [a woman] gets a chance to get married to a rich man who happens to be a Muslim, she can’t refuse it… thoughts of AIDS come afterwards,” she said.

“It is difficult to convince a man who wants to marry, especially when he is rich, to do HIV tests,” she added.

Muslim scholars are not the only religious leaders firmly against condom use. Father Emmanuel Gihutu, a professor of philosophy at a seminary in Gitega, east of the capital, said: “It is unthinkable that people insist on condom use in schools and even among young children, rather than teaching them to [wait] before any sexual temptation.

“I was surprised when I was rector of the seminary during a training seminar in Gitega and we were told to go and teach our students to protect themselves from HIV/AIDS with condoms. Do you believe that as a spiritual personality we can teach such things?”

“We’re so concerned about the AIDS pandemic, but we cannot teach Christians to engage in debauchery; that’s not our mission,” said Father Evode Bigirimana, rector of the Marian shrine at Mount Zion in Bujumbura. “Encouraging the faithful to use condoms is a way to encourage them in a way to indulge in carnal acts.”

Members of the Seventh Day Adventist Church have similarly strong views on the subject. “Condoms are the satanic ways to fool the gullible that AIDS can be fought by the hoods,” said Cassien Sindaye, a member. “Our condom is the sixth commandment, which prevents us from adultery.”

However, according to INERELA+ , a network of religious leaders living with or personally affected by HIV/AIDS, condoms must be an integral part of any realistic HIV prevention strategy.

“The implication that the use of a condom automatically marks a person as unable to be faithful fuels stigma and acts as a disincentive to evidence-based prevention,” the organization says in its prevention model, which involves safer practices such as abstinence and condom use, counselling and testing, and empowerment and education.

Local NGOs are urging religious leaders to rethink their stance on condom use.

“We ask them to change their language because it can prevent people from using condoms to protect themselves against AIDS, and I am sure among them [religious leaders] there are those in need of condoms,” said Baselissa Ndayisaba, coordinator of the NGO, Society for Women Against AIDS in Africa. “The condom is a tool to prevent AIDS and church teachings can have negative impacts on our work.”

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*Not their real names

– Provided by Integrated Regional Information Networks.

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The world has become highly competitive and there is no end to the degrees and diplomas one can acquire. In fact, a mere graduation degree will get you hardly anywhere, least of all a well paid job. MBA has become the need of the hour. However, only MBA will not suffice because many companies require practical knowledge of how things work, in addition to the knowledge of business management. With the majority of the colleges in the country offering full time master of business administration courses, students joining these courses have no scope for acquiring practical experience during their MBA days.

This particular problem, in addition to others, has led to introduction of online executive MBA courses. These courses allow the students to pursue MBA education online, without the need to go to college or relocate to some another city. In the meantime, these students can very well get some valuable practical experience through on the job training. Online MBA does not require the students to attend lectures through a major part of the day. Most of these courses are actually meant as weekend MBA for executives. Executives in companies have weekends off, which enable them to pursue their online MBA education and learn valuable management tips and techniques.

Karnataka State Open University is perhaps the first university in the country to introduce online distance learning courses. It also allows students to appear for online exams, doing away with the paper based examination for the good number of courses. The distance learning online MBA degree courses offered by KSOU are the best for the students, who cannot pursue regular full time management courses because of monetary or non-monetary reasons. Even working professionals find KSOU online courses very valuable as they give them a chance to enhance their knowledge in the field of management studies.

KSOU is established under an Act of the Indian government and all its distance learning and online courses are recognized by the UGC and AICTE. This implies that the students pursuing the online executive MBA do not have to fear about the employment opportunities. All the major companies recruit MBA students on a regular basis for the designation of manager, analysts and assistant managers. The demand for MBA executives is bound to increase in the near future, but the emphasis would be higher on work experience than on only theoretical learning.

To guarantee proper functioning of a social or professional edifice, proper management is essential. At home, working and managing everything in accordance with what the family members want is essential; at office, management of your professional tasks to prove your efficiency is necessary; and managing the political and economic affairs to assure your state or country to prosper is a must for every individual. In such a scenario, it is obvious for each and every person Distance learning MBA, Online MBAto pursue management-oriented studies. Online MBA programs have been designed in such a way that the career aspirants could avail these services properly, gaining all possible managerial skills and attributes. Distance learning MBA courses also provide the career-oriented individuals a chance to specialize in a specific management segment to widen their career prospects in that particular discipline. These management branches include HR, Sales, Finance, Media, IT & Systems, etc.
When the distance or online learning arrangement was in its initial phase of emergence, it was not considered as effective as campus mode of learning. As per the belief of commoners, this mode of academic arrangement was designed for the below average students so that they get a chance to earn a degree for namesake. But the performance of the MBA distance learners was such that it broke all records. This proved the efficiency of distance learning MBA courses offered by this contemporary form of imparting management education. Just a computer at home with proper internet connection and appropriate range of bandwidth and you are eligible to pursue online MBA education and specialize in the segment that grabs your attention the most. .
Several reasons are there which drive majority of candidates towards the distance learning MBA programs. Some of them have been mentioned below:

• Increasing demand: With the increasing influence of management in every sector, the demand for personnel having managerial capabilities has increased to a great extent. Such an enhanced requirement for management professionals, however, broadens the scope for the ones having an online MBA degree. This is one of the basic reasons that pushes the learners towards these programs. .
• Individual interest: Next on the list of reasons is, undoubtedly, an individual’s interest. If you do not have an interest in a particular field, you won’t ever be able to give your hundred percent. Thus, the people having an interest in management field opt for distance learning MBA. Interest plays a great role while you make a choice of the management segment to specialize in.
• Stable career: Once you obtain an online MBA degree, it opens several professional doors for you. If you are a qualified candidate with a management degree, you are guaranteed a perfect job with a prestigious designation in a reputed organization. In short, it can simply be stated that the management courses provide job security and career stability to an individual.
• Attractive package: Money, definitely, is not everything, but it is one of the necessities in current times. Thus, before opting for their career, even more than their interest, the career aspirants concentrate on the career and financial stability that the programs offer, once they complete their distance learning MBA programs efficiently.