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Saturday, March 28, 2009



Pontchartrain Elementary School students were on hand to test the newly opened KidSense Playground in Mandeville on Friday while parents and teachers participated in a ribbon cutting ceremony.


Nine year-old Louie Knights rocked back and forth on a springy wave rider and then sat atop the multi-textured climbing tunnel in Pontchartrain Elementary School's new sensory yard, which is geared toward special needs students.

It's all part of his twice-daily "sensory diet," which gives him the physical stimulation he needs to return to his classroom relaxed and ready to learn, said Roxanne Newman, Knights' mother.

"He loves it," she said of the yard, which gives Louie, who is autistic, "more ability to run out here and get more energy out."

The yard, which parents and school officials say is the first of its kind in the United States, was built thanks to more than $120,000 in donations and in-kind contributions. It was completed earlier this month, and now joins a smaller sensory room, which was set up a year ago in one of the Mandeville school's old supply rooms.

LeAnne Cantrell, a Pontchartrain mother who lead the fundraising effort, said she wanted to create a space where special needs kids could attend to their sensory needs on a larger scale.

"The bigger the better when it comes to motor sensory integration," she said.

Experts say the new yard gives easily distracted special-needs students more room to work through their anxieties and focus on learning. Studies have shown that physical contact or activity might help children who have autism or attention deficit hyperactivity disorder process information better.

Those children are often hypersensitive to things such as bright light or an itchy T-shirt tag, and they can become distracted in the classroom, where they might throw tantrums or otherwise act out.

Sensory integration therapy "allows them to get rid of a little extra energy, come back and regroup," said Tom Heier, a physical education teacher who works with the 50 or so students who use the equipment as part of their therapy.

Parents, school and local officials and business leaders celebrated the new yard, located in a shared courtyard between Pontchartrain and Tchefuncte Middle School, in a dedication ceremony on Friday.

"This helps not only autistic children but other children on the same playground," said Mandeville Mayor Eddie Price.

Pontchartrain Principal Kathleen Wiseman said the yard is "amazing."

"The children really are so, so active that it's hard for them to focus so we just bring them out here," she said.

While the adults raved, a special needs child ran his hands along the yard's multi-textured sensory wall, complete with a Braille alphabet and glued-on seashells and marbles. Other kids climbed a 6-foot-tall boulder and navigated across a balance beam. Newly-planted flowers and shrubbery surrounded the space.

Stacy Autin, another Pontchartrain mom, said the yard has given her autistic son, Jack, an incentive in school. When he gets distracted during a lesson, his teacher will show Jack a picture of the yard, which is often used as a reward for finishing his school work.

"He will breeze through it," she said.

Monday, March 23, 2009

World stock markets soared Monday ahead of a U.S. announcement to purge as much as $1 trillion in bad bank assets and as Japan signaled more stimulus measures to resuscitate the world's second-largest economy.

By noon in mainland Europe, Britain's FTSE 100 climbed 1.4 percent to 3,898.17, Germany's DAX jumped 1.8 percent to 4,143.15, and France's CAC 40 advanced 1.5 percent to 2,833.61.

Investors were largely cheered by the Obama administration's latest effort to heal the hard-hit financial sector and restore bank and consumer lending. The program, to be unveiled later Monday, involves creating a new government entity to clear from bank balance sheets up to $1 trillion in souring securities and loans at the root of the crisis.

The initiative seeks to enlist private investors by offering billions of dollars in low-interest loans and sharing certain risks, and is just the latest in an unprecedented effort by major governments to stem the worst global downturn in decades.

"Simply hoping for banks to work these assets off over time risks prolonging the crisis," U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner wrote in an opinion piece in Monday's Wall Street Journal.

U.S. futures were boosted by the pending announcement. Dow industrials futures jumped 2.4 percent to 7,425, Standard & Poor's 500 index futures rose 2.7 percent to 787.90, and Nasdaq 100 index futures added 2.7 percent to 1,219.50. On Friday, Wall Street lost ground without any significant news to reinforce its recent rally.

"Markets are certainly reasonably buoyant this morning after a difficult session in the States — pretty much all around anticipation for Mr. Geithner's plans to try and move toxic assets from the banking sector," said Keith Bowman, an analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown Stockbrokers in London. "There's hope that this second announcement will prove more fruitful than the first one we heard in February, when investors felt there was not enough detail."

In Asia, markets resumed their two-week advance after ending mixed Friday. Tokyo shares helped lead the region's gains, with the country's benchmark hitting a two-month high, after Japan's finance minister said aggressive public spending to the tune of 20 trillion yen ($208 billion) might be needed to end the country's painful recession.

The market's mood was shadowed by questions about whether enough private investors would participate and how the banks' highly illiquid assets would be priced. But for now, news of the bailout helped re-energize a global rally that started two weeks ago on signs of improvement in the financial system.

"It's becoming difficult to remain bearish," said Desmond Tjiang, chief investment officer, who helps manage $3 billion in Asian equities at Fortis Investment Management in Hong Kong. "The governments have definitely helped ... and people are still hoping for a second-half recovery."

In Europe, shares of Daimler AG were up 2.5 percent, after earlier rising 8.2 percent, following an announcement that Abu Dhabi-based Aabar Investments PJSC will buy a stake in the German automaker and become its biggest shareholder. Aabar's biggest shareholder is the International Petroleum Investment Co., owned by the Abu Dhabi government.

Tokyo's Nikkei 225 stock average surged 269.57 points, or 3.4 percent, to 8,215.53 as a weaker yen also boosted sentiment. Hong Kong's Hang Seng jumped 613.91, or 4.8 percent, 13,447.42, and South Korea's Kospi climbed 2.4 percent to 1,199.50.

Elsewhere in Asia, Shanghai's key index added 2 percent to 2,325.48 on higher commodity prices. Australia's benchmark gained 2.4 percent, while India's Sensex climbed 5.1 percent to 9,424.02.

Banks were especially strong across the region, with Japan's Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group Inc. jumping 7.3 percent and Mizuho Financial Group Inc. up 5.3 percent. China Construction Bank surged 7 percent in Hong Kong.

Higher oil and commodity prices lifted Australian mining giant BHP Billiton Ltd, which rose 3.5 percent. Benchmark crude for May delivery gained 10 cents at $52.17 a barrel in European trade.

On Friday in New York, the Dow Jones industrial average had fallen 122.42, or 1.7 percent, to 7,278.38. Broader stock indicators also lost ground, with the Standard & Poor's 500 off 15.50, or 2 percent, to 768.54.

AP business writer Jeremiah Marquez in Hong Kong contributed to this report.

Saturday, March 21, 2009

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Americans fear home prices will drop more sharply in the coming year, despite government efforts to resuscitate the battered real estate sector, according to a poll released on Friday.

U.S. homeowners surveyed by Reuters and University of Michigan predicted their home values would fall by 2.2 percent in the year ahead, the biggest anticipated decline in the past few years.

This predicted decline in March was steeper than the expected average fall of 1.9 percent in February.

Concerns that home value depreciation will intensify underscored the severe damage to consumer psychology stemming from the bursting of the housing bubble, heavy losses in the stock market and massive job losses.

If consumers, who account for more than two-thirds of U.S. economic activity, stay jittery about home prices, it will diminish the chance of the recession, the worst in decades, ending this year.

In the event of home prices rebounding, Americans downgraded the extent of future price rises, according to the survey.

"Even after the decline ends, the plunge in home prices has been so steep that it will be years before these concerns are completely erased and the negative wealth drag on spending growth disappears," said survey director Richard Curtin.

The average annual five-year expected gain among homeowners surveyed slipped to 1.9 percent in March, the smallest in the past two years and compared with the 2.4 percent rise seen last month.

U.S. home prices have tumbled more than 26 percent since their peak almost three years ago, according to Standard Poor's/Case-Shiller indexes.

A less gloomy aspect of the survey showed fewer homeowners saw a drop in the value of their homes in March. The share of these homeowners fell to 56 percent from 63 percent in February.

But it is too early to tell whether this decline portends a turnaround in housing. "That insignificant improvement hardly constitutes a turning point," Curtin said.

Thursday, March 19, 2009

In some schools religious differences have become a flashpoint, with parents demanding special assemblies or that their children be exempt from detention. But Steve McCormack finds out how multiple faiths can be a virtue

When Julia Robinson became head of Meersbrook Bank Primary School in Sheffield last year, she inherited a situation where, once a week, a group of Muslim pupils held what amounted to their own assembly, while the rest of the school gathered in the hall.

Deciding that this was divisive, she announced she was scrapping the Muslim gatherings, which provoked fierce opposition from a small number of Muslim parents. But before the matter could be resolved, Robinson left on sick leave, and has now resigned permanently.

Earlier this month, after negotiations between the acting head, governors and parents, a compromise was agreed. Some Muslim pupils will continue to withdraw from assembly for a meeting of their own. However, this will, from now on, be called a "study group" rather an "assembly".

That may be an extreme case of religious differences becoming a flashpoint in school. Many other schools manage to accommodate a big mix of pupils under the umbrella of a broadly Christian assembly. Grange Primary School in Ealing, is one – and there isn't a whiff of the kind of discord evident in Sheffield.

On a Monday in February the theme of its assembly is the Christian period of Lent. "This was the time when Jesus went into the desert for 40 days so that he could have no distractions," Karen Merison, the deputy head of Grange Primary, tells a gathering of children kitted out in hijab scarves and a Sikh topknot. She asks if anyone can explain the meaning of the word "fast," prompting her audience to note that Muslims also have a time of the year when they fast.

This is the day before Shrove Tuesday, so light relief comes in the form of some artificial pancake tossing, before Merison asks for eyes shut and a period of silent thought. "In your minds, think of how you might turn over a new leaf in some way, perhaps by being a better friend, doing more exercise or not eating as many sweets," she says.

At the second assembly, the approach is much the same. Addressing the older children, some with braided and dreadlocked hair, others with Muslim head-scarves, the school's head, Hans Formella, describes Lent as "a time to stop and think about things you can do for someone else". Over the year, Formella's aim is to mark all the main religious festivals and to give the children encouragement to lead productive lives and get on with everyone.

Formella is adamant that he would never allow any one religious group to hold an assembly of their own – as the Muslims were doing in Sheffield. "If you do that, you start marginalising them and it becomes separatist," he says. "That's not what we are about here. We try to get them to recognise and respect each other's faiths."

But there are occasions when some Muslim parents ask for special treatment, he acknowledges. "At Christmas, the songs we sing get more overtly Christian, and do mention Jesus," he says. "That is when we get requests for children to be withdrawn from assemblies, which for a school of our size does not cause a big headache."

But other Muslim families embrace Christmas traditions with open arms. "Two years ago, at our Nativity play, Mary was played by a Muslim girl," Formella says. "And her mum had tears in her eyes!"

Not all schools have such harmonious relationships with parents. The Sheffield case is one example of a disagreement escalating seriously, but there are plenty of other cases where teachers are uneasy at the way Muslim parents try to influence what happens in school.

It's a topic of such sensitivity that few will speak publicly, so, from here on, names are being withheld. But teachers are quite clear that Muslim parents do sometimes use their religion to exempt their children from unpopular activities.

"Some Muslim parents write letters to say their children can't do detentions after school because they have to go to the mosque," says the deputy head of a secondary school in the Home Counties. "And some of them are the really badly behaved ones, too."

Another teacher from a secondary school in Essex, complains about the way that Islam, and other faiths, are allowed to intrude on school life. "Every year we see some 15- and 16-year-old girls just disappearing from school," she says. "Everyone knows it is for arranged marriages. But no one makes a fuss. If they were from other families, we wouldn't let it happen."

Other parents insist their children can't do anything active, or go on school trips, during the month of Ramadan, because they are fasting during day-time. "This isn't good for their education, and I've tried explaining my understanding that it's not compulsory under Islam for children to fast during Ramadan, but they won't budge," says the head of a primary school in outer London. "I get the impression that fasting is treated as a badge of honour by these children and their parents."

When this head was asked by Muslim pupils to provide a special prayer room during Ramadan – something that would have required a member of staff to supervise – he refused, arguing that his answer would be the same if Christian children wanted a similar arrangement during Lent.

Occasionally, tensions over faith issues can lead to unsavoury scenes, as happened just before Christmas at a London C of E primary school, where 10 per cent of the pupils are Muslim. The Muslim parents of one boy had insisted he be exempt from taking part in the Nativity play, but his teacher thought it would do no harm for him to attend the rehearsal in church.

"At the end of the school day, when he was picked up from school by his father, a furious row broke out," says the teacher. "The father became angry that his son had even crossed the threshold of the church. He shouted at his son, who broke down in tears, and then marched into the head's office to loudly berate him for allowing the boy to set foot in the church."

Incidents such as this reflect a hardening of attitudes among some Muslim parents in the past few years, teachers believe. This includes parents not allowing children to play some musical instruments and preventing girls from taking part in swimming lessons.

But it's not only Muslim parents who make life difficult for head teachers. At a school near the outskirts of London, a head teacher recently found himself under intense pressure from parents of Sikh and Hindu pupils, because he allowed Muslim children to use a hut in the playground for prayers on Friday lunchtimes, under the supervision of a parent volunteer.

"When this news got out, some of the Sikh and Muslim parents were up in arms," he says. "It had an incendiary effect. I was having people coming into school and talking to me for an hour about their unhappiness at this decision. They were very hostile, but I did not change my decision."

Monday, March 16, 2009

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Friday, March 13, 2009



Zohaib Ahmed: Zohaib has beaten the record held by Hong Kong maths prodigy March Boedihardjo who was nine years and three months old when he sat exams to get an A-grade in maths Photo: SOLENT

Zohaib Ahmed grabbed top marks in Mathematics despite sitting his exams an incredible nine years early.

Zohaib, who goes to primary school, was still only eight when he took the first of his A-level papers in January.

He scored 90 per cent across all six modules to land his A-grade.

Now he plans to take A-level further maths, doing three modules in the summer and then three in January. He aims to head off to university by the time he is 14.

Last August Zohaib scooped an A* (A star) in his GCSE maths at the age of just eight.

Zohaib's 11-year-old brother Wajih is also celebrating getting an A-grade at A-level further maths with a 96 per cent pass.

Last summer he had achieved a top grade A in his maths A-level while aged 10.

The brothers share the same ambition of working in the city as an actuary in the finance sector.

The two boys, from Chandler's Ford, near Southampton, Hants, are please with their results.

Zohaib said: "I'm really, really happy about my result and breaking the record.

"I was slightly nervous when I did the exams but afterwards I knew I had got an 'A' because I had got As in past papers.

"Maths is my favourite subject but I also like English, Science and PE.

"I like playing football and I'm a Liverpool fan. But getting an A-grade in Maths was even better than Liverpool beating Real Madrid.

"I look up to my brother and he used to help me with bits but I don't really need much help now."

Despite attending Knightwood Primary School in Chandler's Ford, the brothers did their A-levels at Farnborough Sixth Form College, Hants.

Their father Dr Usman Ahmed, 43, who works for the Ministry of Defence in Farnborough, said he spotted his sons' potential when they were five.

He quickly arranged with their school for them both to take their own maths work to do in class.

He said: "We spotted that they both had talent five or six years ago and started giving them extra work.

"It has been hard for them both but we are so very, very proud of both boys, especially as Zohaib is now the youngest ever to get an A-grade at A-level.

"They have worked very hard by doing several hours of maths every day after school but they are very friendly and sporty boys as well who love football - it's not just maths in their lives."

Zohaib has beaten the record held by Hong Kong maths prodigy March Boedihardjo who was nine years and three months old when he sat exams to get an A-grade in maths in 2007.

March moved to Britain from his native Hong Kong after his 14-year-old brother was accepted at Oxford University. March was given a place at Hong Kong Baptist University.

The previous record was held by Ganesh Sittampalam who achieved a grade A in his Maths A-level in June 1988 at the age of nine years and four months.

He went on to become the youngest British graduate of the 20th century, graduating at the age of 13 in July 1992.

Tuesday, March 10, 2009

SWIMMING AGAINST THE TIDE:

The sharp global contraction is affecting both advanced and developing countries. Global industrial production declined by 20 percent in the fourth quarter of 2008, as high income and developing country activity plunged by 23 and 15 percent, respectively. Particularly hard hit have been countries in Eastern Europe and Central Asia and producers of capital goods.
Global GDP will decline this year for the first time since World War II, with growth at least 5 percentage points below potential. World trade is on track to register its largest decline in 80 years, with the sharpest losses in East Asia, reflecting a combination of falling volumes, price declines, and currency depreciation.

Full Report...

Thursday, March 5, 2009



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