Israel army 'game' leaves Palestinian dead

As the Shawakha brothers rushed to protect their home from intruders, they had no clue they were unwitting participants in an Israeli army exercise that would leave one of them dead.

"It was March 27, 1:30 in the morning," recalls Akram Shawakha, 36, who was on watch duty on the top floor of the modest family home on a hill east of the West Bank city of Ramallah.

Their house is on the outskirts of the wealthy village of Rammun, where most residents have emigrated to America.

"I saw two men dressed in ordinary clothes near the entrance," said Akram, a cement factory worker who was taking the first shift on guard duty to keep an eye on the family's 10 sheep and their car from would-be thieves.

Clutching a stick, Akram went down to wake his brothers -- 39-year-old Anwar and 28-year-old Rashad -- then went outside as they got dressed and picked up a knife to protect themselves.

Akram confronted the two strangers, addressing them in Arabic "which they spoke perfectly," he recalls.

"I asked them who they were.

"One of them said: 'Don't worry, we know everyone in Rammun.' We insisted on seeing their identity papers, and they put their hands in their pockets and pulled out their guns, not to threaten us, but with the intention of shooting."

Gunfire erupted and a confused melee ensued. The three brothers suffered bullet wounds although they managed to throw blows of their own as they fought.

"Everything happened in less than a minute," Akram says.

"Then Israeli soldiers in uniform arrived and we were ordered to stop. My brothers were lying on the ground, injured. I asked the soldiers for help."

The two "intruders" were quickly whisked away in a military vehicle as the three brothers waited, lying on the ground. At one point, "a soldier fired a round at the ground, injuring Rashad further," Akram says.

Eventually the three brothers were taken to an Israeli hospital.

Rashad died on April 2.

The story was picked up by the Israeli media, which soon discovered that the two "intruders" were in fact soldiers participating in a training exercise by the "Dudevan" military unit, which specialises in infiltrating Palestinian areas disguised as Arabs.

Shortly after the two surviving brothers were released from hospital, they filed a complaint through the Israeli rights group B'Tselem.

On April 24, nearly a month after the incident, the military prosecutor informed B'Tselem that it had opened an investigation.

The military has repeatedly refused to comment on the investigation, saying only that it is ongoing.

"It wasn't until I was at the hospital that I understood the people we confronted were soldiers," Anwar Shawakha told AFP, saying he had only realised what had happened when an army officer called "Adam" told him during his interrogation.

"Their lives were never in danger. We just wanted to know their identity, but their identity was their guns," he says.

"We thought they were thieves. At no point did they mention Israel, nor the army, nor did they order us to go back into the house, otherwise none of this would have happened," he sighs.

"Rammun is a quiet village."

Using Palestinian villages as a training ground for undercover Israeli troops is not uncommon. In 2007, the practice prompted Israeli NGO Yesh Din to complain to the military's top legal adviser, warning the exercises could endanger both Israeli and Palestinian lives.

Yehuda Shaul, founder of Breaking the Silence, a group of former Israeli soldiers critical of army practices in the occupied territories, says such exercises have increased in recent years.

"As the West Bank becomes more and more secure, security-wise, there is more and more training on 'live' Palestinians," he told AFP.

Back during the violence of the second intifada (2000-2005), the security situation was too dangerous for troops to carry out such undercover work, but since then, the army has been taking advantage of the calm for training purposes.

"Now training on Palestinians is not putting the troops in danger, so as the West Bank becomes more and more calm, we hear more and more of these stories," he said.

A newly trained unit doesn't want "their first arrest operation to be carried out on a real sting, on a really wanted person," he explains.

"So you pick a quiet village in the area where you're based, you open the map, choose a random house ... You go in the middle of the night, you surround the house, you grab a guy as if it's a real arrest."

The argument is that training "has to be as close to the real thing" as possible, he said.

"It is another form of what we call in the army 'Making our presence felt' -- if Palestinians get the feeling that the army is everywhere all the time, they will be afraid to attack," Shaul told AFP.

"When you control people under military occupation for so long, you're starting to play games. Individual soldiers play games at checkpoints with people, and the big army plays games with villages."

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Robot builds 3-D map of ancient Roman sewers

12 hrs.

Devin Coldewey

Roman archaeologists are using an interesting new tool to map and study one of the ancient city's little-appreciated features: Its sewers. They've deployed a?remotely?controlled rover called an "archeo-robot" to help them create a detailed and complete map of the extensive waterways.

Ancient Rome's "cloaca maxima," Latin for greatest or largest sewer, was a marvel at the time of its use, permitting great quantities of waste water to flow away from the city center. It still functions today, draining rainwater from the historic Forum area of Rome.

A team was recently brought in to study and map the main sewer and its several secondary tunnels. To do it properly, they decided to use a little remote bot equipped with high-definition cameras, atmospheric sensors and a laser-scanning system that would capture the pipes and stones in 3-D. This will allow them to get very exact dimensions as well as an explorable model.

The results are quite cool-looking, and should be of utility to scholars and historians who have often wondered about the cloaca maxima and its construction. You can see a short video of some of the data they've collected here.

The group doing the work is called Indissoluble, and they've placed much more information regarding the archeo-robot on the project's site.

Devin Coldewey is a contributing writer for msnbc.com. His personal website is coldewey.cc.

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Networking Interview #18: Business, Networking and Internship Advice

Today in my networking challenge I am interviewing Annie Ladino. Annie Ladino is a New York-based fashion stylist, editor and Chief Stylist for Shop It To Me?and I?am so excited to speak with her today and so thanks so much Annie for being here!

In case you are reading this at work and can?t watch the video, you can read all of the great advice below instead!

1) After you graduated from the Fashion Institute of Technology, how did you get your first job at Elle magazine?

I was interning since I was 18, my first semester in college. I ended up doing a lot of internships throughout college and during my internships I met a stylist who asked me to assist him on a project outside the magazine that I interned for. By the time I was almost about to graduate my last semester in college, a friend of mine referred me to a stylist. Hiss name is Joe Zee. He was actually in between magazine jobs and I was assisting him on several projects. At the time we did various types of jobs like advertising jobs or work for magazines. Six months later after I graduated he took a position at Elle magazine and asked me to come with him. I went to be his assistant at the magazine.

2) Do you have any advice for how you got all your internships since you we?re 18?

Think of your dream job. Where exactly do you wanna be? Where do you envision yourself being after college? I tell them to aim there. Send in your resume there and apply for an internship. At the place that they would essentially see themselves working after college. Also think about what?s most beneficial were you going to learn the most. My best advice is aim high and go for that place that you wanna be at.

3)?How has networking contributed to your success?

Networking has been a very valuable tool and I didn?t realize it at first. I didn?t realize that going to after work events would actually be beneficial in the end. I find myself still coming across the same people I met 10 years or 5 years ago. And I realize later it was all through networking that my work with them came my way today.

4) Do you usually go to events after work?

I do. I definitely go to events after work. In the industry I worked in, a lot of designers have events. You want to go support them or support your friends, support your colleagues in any way you can. You could call it networking. It?s been really helpful.

5) Do you have any tips like staying in touch with your network?

Its really great to keep up with your social network. And that wasn?t the case many years ago. That wasn?t how it was when I was interning. Now, a great way to keep in touch is through all variety of social media tools that we have.

6) What made you decide to leave Elle magazine and become a personal stylist on your own?

Leaving Elle was such a hard decision. I was there for almost 4 years and throughout the years I?ve been working a lot on celebrity covers and a lot of photo shoots. I met a lot of people, publicists, celebrities and they kept asking me to style them for personal events or red carpet appearances. By that time I had to make the choice of what my next step would be and my career. I think that what seem to out weigh the other ones was that I had a large clientele and that was taking up more of my time than the magazine. I decided to take a really big risk and go out on my own and start my own business because that?s what you are as a personal stylist, you are an independent stylist.

7) How did you get over those fears of going out on your own?

I closed my eyes and ran. I weighed pros and cons and I realized there were more pros and I had a lot of really great support at the time and that?s something that networking helped with. Plenty of new people said to me, you know what, we have this project coming up that will keep you busy and working. That was reassurance that I would have work and it was a good time for me to do that. Don?t make the leap without being prepared. I took time to prepare for it and it was just perfect timing.

8 ) What is your favorite part of being a personal stylist?

One of my favorite parts of my job is when someone feels really great on what they?re wearing and they?re walking out the door and they?re going to red carpet event or even a personal event and they?re really happy with how they look and how they feel.

9) Since you are a personal stylist, how can we (classy career girls) be stylish at work while still looking professional? ?Do you have any outfit suggestions?

You can still definitely be trendy and stylish and look professional. It?s about updating your closets. Going for staples that you had in your closet. Go on for a different color or a pin stripe or a pencil skirt in a print. Trying things that are a little fashion forward like instead of just the button up shirt look for a shirt dress. Accessories go along way so you could update your look with accessories. Try statement jewelry or colored pumps. It?s all about edging it up a little more with those classic staple things that you already have.

10) This question I ask at the end of all of my interviews, what do you wish you would have known when you were a young professional woman just starting out in her career?

I will take it back to networking because I didn?t realize that time how important it was. I think it?s very important to keep up that contact list and keep up with the networks that you create for yourself. You?re going to run into people somewhere again down the line in the future. I met people in my internship that today I?m still working with. You have to keep that up because you don?t know where or how you are going to run into someone that can help you out in the future. I genuinely tell people that hard work does take you a long way. You might think people aren?t noticing all of the hard work you are doing but they are. ?Whether you think someone is watching you or not, someone is watching you and your hard work is being noticed.

11) If people want to learn more about you where can they find you online?

Since I?m the chief stylist at Shop It To Meyou can find a lot of my work there. I do pop up shops and trends and advice for the members. Shop It To me is like a personal assistant that helps you find your brands in your size and when they go on sale they brings it to your inbox. ?You can also find me on my own personal website at annieladino.com.

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Texas health insurance risk pool - HEALTH, BEAUTY & FITNESS

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South African star goes back to school at 60

On Saturday nights, 60-year-old Sipho "Hotstix" Mabuse is on stage, thrilling South African audiences with hits from his more than four decades in music.

But on week nights, the massively popular music maker is in a classroom near his Soweto home, working to earn the high school degree he abandoned in 1969 as his music career took off.

In a country where the public education system is struggling and half of all students don't always have a desk, Mabuse eschewed Johannesburg's posh private schools or a personal tutor.

Instead, he signed up for the government's adult education classes, a move school officials heralded as a welcome endorsement of the beleaguered public system.

"When I started becoming a musician, I was at a very impressionable age. Young, 15, 16," he said.

"Suddenly you make all this money, and you get invited to all the (graduation) dances and all the beautiful girls, you're attracted by all those things, and you forget that you're still a scholar. So I dropped out of high school."

His early talent for drums earned him the nickname Hotstix and his career took him across the world, performing with the likes of Percy Sledge and Paul Simon, who recorded parts of his landmark "Graceland" album in South Africa.

Mabuse won his own popular success with songs pulling elements from township music with jazz, funk and disco.

Even in South Africa's state of emergency, during one of apartheid's most brutal periods, his 1985 single "Burn Out" leapt from the townships to mainstream success, selling over 500,000 copies.

He remains a fixture in South African music with regular performances and a seat on the National Arts Council.

But last year, he decided something was missing.

"When I started growing up, really growing up as a responsible professional, I realised there was something that I had not completed, and that was my matric," he said, referring to his high school education.

In his first year, he took six classes and passed four -- a heavy course load even for full-time students. This year, he's taking geography and history, the last two required to matriculate, plus business economics just for fun.

He sits in the front row of a classroom where many of the students are much more recent drop-outs. Dressed in a sharp grey suit, he jokes with girls about their boyfriends and shows off the cover art for his upcoming album "Class Act".

When class starts, he's the one with questions and wondering about exams.

"The Great Trek. Do you think that will be the kind of history we will do? When I was in school, that was the history that we did. Do we still do that?" he asked.

The migration of white Afrikaners into the country's interior doesn't figure as prominently as it did when Mabuse first was in school.

Blacks then were subjected to so-called Bantu education, meant to "train and fit" them for a subservient role under the white-minority regime.

Seven years after Mabuse dropped out, the apartheid government forced high school students to learn in Afrikaans, a move that sparked the 1976 Soweto uprising and led many black students to boycott schools.

Under the democratic government, education is the single biggest budget expense, but the results are disappointing.

In northern Limpopo province, some schools began receiving text books six months into the academic year, and only after a court order forced the government to act.

Nationally, enrolment has been slipping. About 70 percent of seniors passed their exams last year, a feat that requires only a 30 percent mark in some subjects.

A survey last year found that one out of two students doesn't always have a desk; 15 percent of schools have no electricity; 10 percent have no running water.

At Thaba-Jabula Secondary School, Mabuse's attendance has become seen as a national endorsement that public schools can still offer a good education.

Teachers say enrolment is up, and students appear more attentive, inspired by their celebrity classmate.

"We all want the same thing. All of us want knowledge," Mabuse said of his fellow students.

"For them to see a 60-year-old man coming to class and sitting down in class is in itself encouraging. It says to people, well, if he can do it at that age, well, why shouldn't we, you know much younger people, go back and study."

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Why Personal Development is Important to Your Network Marketing ...

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Pentagon review recommends combat pay changes

WASHINGTON (AP) ? A Pentagon review recommends ridding the combat pay system of inequities that have allowed officers thousands of miles from battle to get better benefits proportionally than troops on the front lines in Afghanistan.

The recommendations in a review released Thursday are likely to anger service members. But the director of the review said they're aimed at paying more to troops who are in the gravest danger and giving the best tax benefits to those who are paid the least.

Troops who are not near the fight can sometimes get more in combat pay and tax benefits than those who are getting shot at on the front lines, said Thomas Bush, who directed the review. He said the main goal was to make combat pay more equitable.

The report doesn't recommend any specific rates of combat pay or say that certain troops should get less. But, Bush said, "we suggest there be some meaningful distinction" between troops who are getting shot at and those who are simply deployed to one of many countries designated as combat zones.

Under the military's current system, there are two types of combat pay. One, called "hostile fire pay," gives troops $225 a month if they are in an area where they could be exposed to enemy fire.

The second, called "imminent danger pay," gives up to $225 per month to those who are in a combat zone, and it is pro-rated at $7.50 a day, based on how long they are there.

Bush said the report recommends that hostile fire pay be more than the danger pay and that there be levels of imminent danger pay based on where service members are. Currently they can get the danger pay for being in more than two dozen places, including Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Kyrgyzstan, the Philippines and Jordan ? as well as in Afghanistan, Yemen and Somalia.

"We want to target compensation to people who are at the greatest risk," Bush said.

In December 2009, President Barack Obama directed the department to examine four specific areas: combat pay, benefits and pay for the National Guard and Reserve, compensation for wounded service members and their survivors and pay incentives for key defense jobs, such as drone operators, special operations forces, linguists and mental health professionals.

Under the current system, service members up to the top level senior enlisted rank do not pay taxes on their pay when they are in a war zone. Higher level officers would not pay taxes on the portion of their salary equal to the top senior enlisted members' amount.

When they go to a combat zone, the taxes are no longer taken out of their pay, giving them an automatic raise for their deployment time.

The proposed change would make the combat pay a refundable tax credit that service members would file for at the end of the tax year.

But Bush said that because of the federal tax code, the benefits for higher level officers clearly outweigh the tax benefits for low-ranking troops, because much of their pay would already be at a very low tax rate.

The panel was struck by that disparity, Bush said, adding that a senior officer could get as much as a $15,000 tax benefit, while an Army private might get a $1,000 tax benefit.

And yet, the private serving at a combat outpost in Kandahar or Khost in Afghanistan has a much higher chance of getting killed or injured than a senior officer serving in a headquarters unit or in Bahrain.

Congress members have been loath to do anything that appears to cut combat pay and have often tried to increase pay raises for the military. Bush acknowledged that it's not clear how open they would be to the changes recommended by the report, but he said he hoped lawmakers would be open to making the system more equal.

___

Online:

Military compensation review:

http://militarypay.defense.gov/REPORTS/QRMC/11th_QRMC_Main_Report_(290pp)_Linked.pdf

Associated Press

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