Thanks for joining us here in Geneva for WISIS Forum 2019 as we celebrate the 10th anniversary of what has become the world's largest platform for the ICT for Good community. And I am joined by Mr. Kathleen Marinesco, head of the Corporate Strategy Division at ITU. Thank you very much for joining us, sir. Thank you for inviting me. So I've mentioned that we celebrate an anniversary, an important milestone here. It is an important milestone. I think everybody remembered that about the WISIS process started in 2003 here in Geneva and continuing in Tunisia, so we had very high level participation, presidents, prime ministers there, deciding to work together to develop, to use ICT for development, this was the idea. In the first years after the Tunis meeting, we could see some activities in each of the organizations, the UN organization responsible for one of the action lines. But after a few years, we could see that, how to say, the energy of the event was not enough. And it was a decision at the level of action line facilitators, the co-organizer, to transform all these events in a forum, to create a platform where the countries, civil societies, private sector can come and share with the other stakeholders their innovation and their projects and ICT for development. And we started in 2009 with 300 participants and now we have more than 3,000 after 10 years and we have more than 300 workshops during this week of WISIS Forum. And as organizers of the forum, you always try to keep it fresh, don't you, and you innovate every year, don't you? We've got new tracks this year, we've got tracks on sports, accessibility, we've got youth and emphasis on youth as well. There's always something new basically at WISIS Forum. Every year we have something new. And what is helpful, the fact that ICT, in fact, affects all aspects of our life. And we try to show how ICT industry can influence different other aspects of our life and can facilitate the achievement of the targets, the achievement of SDGs. This year we started the WIS with ICT for sports and really we have as a partner of International Federation of Thai Condor, we have an event tomorrow, we had the Real Madrid Foundation and we could show what, how application can change the way how the sport is played and how the, I don't know, different aspects are assessed during the sport. With one of our focus, every year we try to change, maybe the participants could remember that the inauguration of the exhibition, we had a lot of school children and we will have WISIS talks this afternoon, Thursday, the fourth day of the forum, with inviting school children, inviting students and it will be very interesting. And once the forum stops, that's not it, is it? Because so many ideas are generated, so what do you do with the outcomes? It is very interesting that most of the speakers, most of the participants in all the workshop this year, ask the organizer to look in the outcomes more careful and to come with proposals of actions, with proposal of projects based on what the participants proposed. It was a request from the ministerial round table and we'll do this year, we'll analyze very careful what are the outcomes, what are the proposals in all the, all the sessions and we'll present a plan for the year that will come. So how do you see the forum evolving in the years ahead, especially as we witnessed the introduction of new innovative, but also very powerful technologies like blockchain artificial intelligence for instance? I think there will be different directions for the development of the forum. The first one is what you said, will add innovation every year, will add the things that influencing our lives that we cannot think now what will happen in five, ten years. On the other hand, one of the request is to go in the regions, to have some kind of forum reviews at the regional level, showing what are the projects in the region, each of the region and we'll go. We are thinking how to do this, maybe depending on the characteristics of each region, we'll go with, we'll focus in each region with the things that are really exceptional in that region and then we'll conclude here in Geneva during the forum. We'll be forced to move from Geneva because of the new building project after in three years we need to have a different premises and but it's that means we'll go in two directions to the regions and to the new technologies. So a macro and micro approach. Yes. Fantastic. Mr. Catalin Malinescu, thank you very much. Thank you very much for having me.


Nominations for Best in the Mountains are open now. Go to bestinthemountains.com, nominate all the best people, businesses and organizations you love. Foding begins February 4th, bestinthemountains.com. With the continuation of the cold, snowy weather, many are trying to keep their homes warm. However, heating a home can come with its own risks. Mountaintop spoke with the Pikeville Fire Department to learn how to safely heat your home. So, with this cooler weather, we definitely need to be concerned with our heating safety and carbon monoxide is definitely something we need to keep an eye on. So, always ask that you have a carbon monoxide detector in your home, at least one in the home but multiple if possible. According to provisional CDC data, 624 people died accidentally of carbon monoxide poisoning in 2022. Carbon monoxide is odorless and colorless and keeping a carbon monoxide detector in the home is important to avoid emergencies. Fires and fireplaces should also be handled with care, making sure the chimney is clean and no embers leave the hearth as you feed the fire. We obviously should have smoke detectors as well as fire extinguishers in our home, but that carbon monoxide detector is just a third safety element that we definitely want to have, especially if we're burning gas heat. Staying warm in this icy weather is important, but doing so safely is even more crucial. For additional information or questions, you can call the Pikeville Fire Department. For Mountain Top News, I'm Kelsie Fiddell.


Welcome back to, welcome back to the second lecture, BC310 Church Administration. Are we going to get started from where we paused? So I was just sharing with you our page, apc.org slash guidelines where you could go and you know, we've tried to document, and this has happened over the years. And then we try to keep these documents up to date, in fact, our staff and consultant guidance going through another revision right now. We have to add, or we decided to add some section, add a section on sexual harassment and you know, that kind of thing. So just to make that clear on what needs to be done on those areas. Again, some of these things, you know, as the industry around us changes and government makes rules and government makes their labor laws and so on and so forth. We also have to keep updated. So, and so, you know, we keep updating these documents and I'm putting them out here on the webpage and you're welcome to use them. I take them, adapt them and use them. Now, some other things that I'll just, you know, that I want to talk about in relation to this. We looked at staff and consultant guidelines. Workplace policies, you know, so people need to be clear what is, you know, what are the policies based on which we work. And so that some of this is already documented in our staff and consultant guidelines. So they know about it before they join the organization. And then there are policies inside, you know, internal policies. For example, when you, so various teams will want to spend money or will have to spend money on their ministry area. So then there is a way on how to get it approved. So usually what happens, example, if the youth pastor is going to have a youth camp, then the youth pastor writes up a budget, you know, so he works on a budget with all the items on it. Then he sends it to our accountant and me for approval. I would approve, you know, I would go through it and then I would approve it. And, or if there is something, I feel like it's an unnecessary expense. So let's take this off.  But once it's approved, he is then ready to go ahead and spend that money on that particular ministry. And then there's a whole process where, you know, because they may be working with several different vendors to make that camp happen. You know, there'll be a vendor for transportation, a vendor for the venue, a vendor maybe sometimes for the food, a vendor for maybe the sound and the equipment that are being used. So there could be several vendors involved. So the vendor has to give a certain bill, I mean, a bill that has to go to the account, then the account will pay, accounts will pay them. So these are all internal policies. This is how we work. For example, it's a policy that we will not make a payment to a vendor without a proper bill. So nobody gets paid, no vendor will get paid without a bill or it's an internal policy that you cannot reimburse, get a claim and expense without a proper bill. You know, it won't be done. So you have to send a bill. So that bill, which is a genuine bill, which shows that, you know, certain amount has been spent on that. So these are internal policies or in case we have to make cash payments. So, you know, there may be some, and this usually happens for like small purchases where there are either daily wage workers or, you know, you may buy food for a group of people and so on, get them in a small, some small expense where the person providing the service may not be a registered organization to give a bill. And so there's a cash payment made. Then what happened? There are two things. That person has to give an ID card, a copy of an ID card. So we know that the payment has been made to that real person. And there's also a piece of paper, we call it a voucher. That means they sign that voucher.  So these are all internal policies. And like this, there are several others, many of it having to do with accounting because, you know, we want to manage the money properly, which happens inside the organization, right? Within the organization. And how we interact with external entities. Again, here we need to have policies. This is how we work. And some of these things, you know, evolve over time. You learn through experience. Just for example, I will, I can share one example. You know, after we started our People's Church in Bangalore in 2001, in those years there was opportunity for foreign, I mean, overseas churches, mainly churches from the United States. Mainly, mainly from the United States who organizations who were coming into India and they would want to do ministry in India.  So these people would come and they may spend some time here in Bangalore. They would want to do ministry and so, you know. So in the early days, now, and so they, you know, they would want to attend a church. So they would, some of them may come to All People's Church and then they want to get involved with the church. So they would want to maybe serve in some area of ministry and so on. Now, in the early days, you know, I didn't know, I didn't have that experience. I just, you know, we should just welcome them. It's okay, yeah, you're welcome. You have a, so on and so forth. Now, but I had certain experiences. So I'll just share a couple of things. And this is not to, you know, speak bad about the missionaries who came from the US. That's not to speak bad about them. I'm telling you, these are things that actually happened. For example, there was a very, very large church in the US and they're known all over the world and they're the good people, but this is what happened.  They said, we want to have a conference for workplace people, for professionals.  We want to have a conference and can you help us? And I said, see, yeah, of course we can. We can announce it. We welcome people and, you know, fine.  So we spread the word around and we just hosted a small conference for them because they wanted to talk to professionals, you know. So they had a conference. The next thing I found out was they had collected all the addresses, the contact details of all of these people. And the next thing I hear from them is we are here to plant a church of that big church from the US and they were inviting all these people who attended for the conference to come to their church plant. I said, this is not, you know, this is not right. And I was shocked actually that they would even do something like this, you know. Because out of good faith, you know, I said, yeah, I'll help you have a conference. But the next thing I know they're saying they're planting a church. Now, absolutely no problem. In fact, we help other people plant churches in our own city. And we have absolutely no problem. The city is so big and we need many, many churches. So absolutely no problem. But the way they went about doing it was completely incorrect in my observation. But then I learned from that lesson, you know.  But it was a learning lesson for me. Then there was another missionary group that came from another part of the US and they said, you know, we want to serve and we want to be part of your church and say, okay, yeah, you can come and attend. And then they started getting, you know, they started trying to, basically what my observation was they started promoting their brand of Christianity within the people they were mingling with as though the way they did things was better or, you know, different from what we were doing. And so it brought a lot of confusion with the people they were interacting with. And so for me, that was again, you know, it seemed like they were more interested in promoting their particular brand of Christianity or the way they would do things. And it brought a lot of confusion and kind of we had to work through that. So that was, again, another learning lesson. And then I was watching, you know, other organizations. Again, these people would come, they would plant a church and then after two years they'll wrap up and go and, you know, everything will disintegrate and the church no longer exists. And so I was observing all this. So what happened from all these experiences and then we developed our own policy, you know, on how we were going to work with missionaries, foreign missionaries who come, you know, so some of the things I decided based on these experiences that they're welcome to come and worship at all people's church. You're welcome to be part of anything that's happening here, but none of them will be given leadership positions. They will all, they have to work under one of our leaders. The reason is, you know, I noticed they would come here for one or two years and then they would leave. And when they leave, you know, we don't want that ministry to stop. And so the leadership will always be our leadership. If they want to serve, they serve under us so that when they leave, the work will continue. You know, so that was very clear. Secondly, when they come and they serve, we do it the way we want to do it. We will not let them promote their style or their brand of Christianity. Of course we're going to learn good things. We will try to learn, you know, what we can, but we will do it the way, you know, we want to do it because we understand the local terrain better. And so these were things that we put in place as a policy and I wrote up a little document just distributed within our own pastoral team so that we know that this is how we're going to work and so on. So that's just having to do with interactions with external entities, meaning, you know, other ministries and other churches. So for example, we have a policy about when other Christian organizations in our city, when they want to promote their event, how will that happen? You know, because I remember in the past, they used to ask, you know, can you give us some time to make announcements?  And then the person will come and he'll take 10 minutes or sometimes even more. And then, you know, that disrupts our Sunday service. So we went through some experience like that and then we said, okay, from now on, we will not announce any event during the service, period. So it doesn't matter which organization who wants to come and say, can we make an announcement? Answer is no. Yeah, what we will give them is an opportunity to put a table outside of our auditorium. They can keep their posters, handles, banners, everything on that table. They have to man the table themselves and they are free to promote their event like that. No distribution of handles, things inside the auditorium, no putting it on the chairs, none of that. And this is to be uniform for all Christian organizations who want to promote an event on a Sunday morning at an APC church service or any other event. So this is a very clear policy. We've made it known to our admin people. So that whenever there's an inquiry, the answer is, this is how you can do it. You can use it or if you don't want to use it, it's okay. So, you know, these things we learned through our mistakes, we learned over time but then we documented the policies on various things based on observations, interactions. And then everybody within the organization is clear how they have to respond to external entities who want to interact with us and so on. And last point here in terms of the administrative side is that, you know, always whenever we do things with the vendor or we take up a building, everything is contractual. That means we have a signed contract with the landlord or the people who own the premises. And we don't just do this by word of mouth. Everything is documented. So we don't want to get into any kind of trouble. So, you know, our administrative people, they understand contracts and lease agreements have to be in place, have to be renewed as we take up places that we use or, you know, do our activities in. All right, let me pause here. Any questions, any thoughts so far? Everybody with me? Any thoughts, any questions? Okay. So much, yeah, sorry, go ahead. Sri Kumar. Thank you, Master. Master, I just want to know, do we also have some legal thing in it is settled the bear in case any kind of persecution or such thing happens. So do we have some kind of that kind of something? Some guidelines are there. Thank you. Okay. So in case of any persecution, what do we do? We haven't written this document out. Actually, your question kind of makes me think that we need to write it down and put it as a document. But so it's a good question. But internally, we know what to do. One is if it is something that has to do with us locally here, we have a person, a lawyer who is one of the, who is on, like I said, the advisory board, right? So we go to him for any legal advice. Secondly, there is a network across India called the, it's called, it stands for ADF, the Alliance in Defense of Faith, right? So basically it's a network of Christian lawyers all across India and we have their contact. And so like that there are one, two, there are three organizations, three Christian organizations who cover India. So ADF, another one is persecution relief and another one is, I forget the name, so anyway, I have these contacts on my phone and you know, Passenance has those details as well. So if any of our churches outside of Bangalore are affected, we know that immediately we call ADF, we call them, we call that number. We ask them for the lawyers in that particular area. So they'll give us the details. So then we engage with those lawyers in that area and they will guide us, you know, how do we, what should we do, how do we respond and so on. And this has happened in reality. In, I know we have done this on at least two occasions for our churches outside of Bangalore when there was a mob that came outside the building and you know, ready to attack and so on. And so again, we engaged with ADF, got the lawyers involved, got the police involved and so we worked on that. But we have these contact details. Now, based on your question, I think, you know, we will write up a document and put it there for easy access or at least circulated internally, but we have the details and this is what we normally do in case of persecution. Yeah, thank you, sir. Can I ask you one more question? Okay, go ahead. Thank you. Because of the current situation, now the government came out with this law that you should not advise non-Christians and other things. So in that case, do we have to take any measures like especially when we are reaching out to the people? So in that, when the laws are changing, so do we also, you know, have some guidelines where we have to take care of ourselves in these areas? Do we have that also? Thank you, master. Okay, so what, okay, let me answer it like this. What we did, that this was even before the government came up with these laws, this right from the beginning from day one is for what, I'm sorry, I'm speaking specifically for what a baptism is that we have a what a baptism consent form. And again, this is also available on our church website. You know, let me just give you the link. So we have, we have a baptism consent form and you can find it there and that forms. So before we baptize any person, if they're an adult 18 years about, they have to sign this form. Basically it just says they are making the choice to do it and so on. So if, if they're not, obviously an adult is free to make their choice, right? In India, nobody can violate an adult's choice, but the form says that they are making the choice. They're not being induced, forced, compelled, coerced in any way to make the choice to be baptized. So we started doing this from the very beginning and we continue to do that today. So if at all, you know, in any case, any questions are raised by anybody. We have this form with us saying they signed it and they have given us a consent. If it's a person under 18 and the parents sign it, right? So that way we are, in some way we are protected in the sense we had, we have a document that says we did not force the person into baptism. Okay. And this was advised to us in the very beginning when we started, again by our advisors and say, okay, you do it like this. You know, so we've got it in writing. That's what we continue to follow. And I think it's fine. And I think the other thing is more, more from my side, you know, understanding that what's happening.  Really it's an expression of faith. So, you know, we do our baptisms in the swimming pool. People may take their own photos, but you know, it's not like something we publicize, put out on social media and all that, you know, we don't do that. So, you know, it just happens quietly and we keep going. Yeah. Is that okay, Sri Kumar? Thank you. Can I do your question, please? Thank you. Thank you for this opportunity. Can you talk about in case where you want to aid some foreign aid or get some foreign aid, you want to assist somebody outside your charge and where you want to get some kind of assistance, we have some kind of policy based on that. Okay. Good question. So, our policy on receiving aid from overseas, outside of India. So this was something we, we, you know, from the day, what I would say from before we started, our policy was, let us be 100% indigenous. Let us be like that. That means we said, okay, we will not receive money from outside India. Right. Because in order to do that, there's a government procedure we have to follow. We have to get what is known as a special permit, you know, under a particular category called foreign currency remittance account and so on. So there's this process, the government has a process, but we said, look, we will not make use of it. Now, there were times we thought about it, you know, later on as we made our journey, a couple of times we did discuss it, should we, should we get it, should we not. And, you know, every time we, that came up for discussion, the end decision was, okay, let's not do it. And the reason is we said, look, you know, we will be indigenous. All the money will be from Indian citizens and we will just use it.  And we continued that, and we still continue like that. The other reason was the moment you start receiving money from overseas, then you come under the government scanner. The government begins to look at you. Now, the only change we made was, I think, last year when, or a year before, last year, I think, when we started having overseas students in the Bible college. Now, when we started having overseas students in the Bible college, there is a provision by the Indian government that you can't receive tuition fees from students if they are being educated in your college. So, that was a provision. So, we gave the option to students who were overseas if you want to pay. Now, we don't make it mandatory, but those who want to pay, if they are from overseas, they want to pay, they can. So, because there was a provision that education, money coming for education fees is exempt from that criteria. So, I would say maybe, you know, a couple of students from overseas would pay, but, you know, we would be not insisting on it. We just gave it as an option. Now, this... So, that's about money coming from outside to us. Similarly, the government has a restriction on money going out. That means we cannot use money as a church. We cannot use money... I mean, we cannot send money out of India. So, that became a problem for us because when we wanted to... I mean, first is we wanted to work outside India. And secondly, you know, even if you're thinking about our Bible college students, you will be the first batch of so many international students graduating, and we wanted to be able to support, you know, financially and help. And for those, of course, we'll have a process in place. But if our students wanted to start a ministry and work with us and so on, we wanted the means to do it. But then the government says we cannot send money outside India. So, our option was to create another entity outside India, in the U.S., where we could receive money there. And that money will be used to fund our work outside of India. And so, you know, we are working on that. I've spoken to some people whom we know and they're ready to form that legal entity and they're people ready to contribute towards that. So, that will be called APC World Missions. And APC World Missions basically will fund the work outside of India. And the focus will be on our Bible college students who graduate to help them start churches and ministries and so on. So, that's how we plan to do it. So, as far as Indian regulations, you know, we just follow the regulations, but then we find legal ways outside to do the work. Yeah. Thank you. Okay. Any other questions? Okay. Christopher. Yes, Pastor. I just wanted to find out if you have any criteria in regards to source of funds, you know, funds that come into the church and particularly maybe in the case of large sums of money which may be in cash. I'm not sure if you have that experience, but they are religious trust or, you know, communities that have received funds and they received some cash. So, I'm not sure if there's any sort of criteria around that. So, yeah. So, you know, let's think about the time pre-pandemic. Before the pandemic, in the churches, in our services, you know, we would pass the offering bags and people would put money in. It's all cash. And we should take it and deposit it. Do we know the source of the funds? No. You know, it's whatever people just put in. That's, that was what, you know, whatever came in, that was it. Right. Right. So, do we know the source of the funds? No. Even in fact, so now post-pandemic, we don't necessarily take offerings very much in our services, everything is digital. So people transfer online. And even in those cases, we don't know the source of the funds, meaning, you know, because it's a bank to bank transfer or, you know, through UPI, of course, all within India, but we don't know the individual who's sending the money and we don't know how that individual got the money. In some cases, we will know the name of the individual because, you know, the transaction will carry their name. In some cases, nothing is there. We don't know the name of the person who actually contributed. But from a legal standpoint for a religious organization, that is okay, meaning the government is not asking because the government knows that people are contributing. You know, they could contribute in cash. They can contribute in, you know, all of these ways I mentioned. And we are not responsible for tracking the individual. And the government is not making us responsible to account for where the individual got their money from. So the answer to your question is we don't know. And the government has not made it a requirement for us to track it because it's going to be very difficult, you know, when people make these contributions. We actually don't even know who all are making contributions and what is the amount other than when they actually see names show up in the transaction, which doesn't happen all the time. So the answer to your question is we don't know. And secondly, the government doesn't mandate that we know because of the nature of our organization. It's a religious trust. So it's okay. Yeah. Did I answer your question? Okay. All right. Let's pick up from the pause. And I hope these questions are useful to everybody. I don't know if it's boring to some, but it's good to hear the questions and try to answer that. Okay. Let's sort of finish this chapter. Another area is operational guidelines. That means for various teams, and you will see this in on that guidelines page, you know, for various ministry teams, if you think about the hub and spoke model that we spoke about in the earlier lecture for all of those teams, the volunteer teams, it's good to have guidelines. What are the teams supposed to do? How is the team supposed to operate? And how does the team interact with, you know, the staff and the pastors? So these guidelines are very useful. They help us train new volunteers who join and they make sure that, you know, there's consistency in this work. And of course, these guidelines have to be updated because, you know, things are constantly changing or how we do things change. And so we need to keep these things updated, but there are these guidelines and they help us in inducting new volunteers and staff. And lastly, we also have standards. So, you know, when we do graphic design or video, when we have our books, our done, we follow standards. So we have, you know, for example, the graphics that we do, there are certain standards, you know, example, on a Sunday, for a one Sunday service, for one Sunday sermon, there are 14 different sizes of graphics being created for one Sunday sermon. So, you know, I will send a sermon title, okay, this coming Sunday, this is the sermon title. Okay, I just have to send that. Now the media team creates a design, a graphic design, but there are 14 different layouts and sizes of that same graphic that is done because one is done for the, you know, website banner, one is done for the PowerPoint presentation, one is done for, you know, different social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and so on. There are thumbnails that have to be done for sermons, for YouTube. There are, yeah, so, you know, so just that same graphic, the different sizes and details that have to be done in so many different ways, what is being used in the videos and so on. But it's standardized, I mean, it's all documented, so the work is very simple. If I send this title, all of that will get done, you know, and then it will be distributed to the people who need that and they will push it out on their platforms. Or, you know, when we do videos, okay, there's a certain way, for example, Sunday morning, our announcements are on videos, there are guidelines for it. The video has to be five minutes or less. As a rule, it's five times five. That means, maximum, you know, keep it to five announcements, less than five minutes, and each announcement, less than, say, about 30 seconds, you know, maximum. If there's a reason for it to be longer, okay, you know, so on. So all these guidelines were, you know, put together. And then for, you know, for various videos that you create, if you're doing a report of a ministry event, it's got to be, you know, one minute, maximum two minutes. Now, a year in video, reviewing the whole year, is between eight to 10 minutes, you know. So these are all guidelines that are already set for different people who are doing the work. For the books we do, you know, this is the font we use, this is how the cover is going to be, this is how the back cover is going to be, this is how the scripture should appear on all of that. So all these things are documented as standard, especially, you know, in these areas of graphic design, videos, books, so on, and then, of course, for the IT team, and how they do it, and when they send out the e-mailers, what is the format they follow. So all these things are standardized, so everything looks very uniform. And, you know, when we do our class next semester on media and technology, we'll talk about the importance of, you know, having this standard look and feel on different platforms, or when do you want to make it a variable of what is the importance of consistency and all that. But these are all documented standards, so everybody follows it. And, you know, when new people join, they can read it up, they know what to do, and they follow. So I want to close this with a question. The sad thing is Christians don't like rules. When I say Christians, I mean us people, you know. We don't like rules. And the moment we start talking about policies and guidelines and standards, the thing like, oh, you're putting us, you know, under so many rules. I shouldn't, I must do it like this. I shouldn't do it like that.  And so we tend to have a very negative perception of having policies, guidelines and standards. And believers tend to view it as legalism. You know, you're not giving me freedom. You know, why are you being so legalistic about these things? So my question is, and we could discuss for a few minutes, how do we help people understand that this is not legalism, but this is something good for everybody. You know, so when we have guidelines, when we are doing things according to certain policies, we have certain standards, this is not about, you know, being legalistic, but it's good for everybody, you know, so we can all work well together. How do we help people understand that? That's something we can just talk about for a few minutes before we close. Anybody want to share your thoughts on it? Okay. So Srikumar says, educate on the importance. Educate on the importance. Yeah, good. Elisha, go ahead. Pastor, thank you for the opportunity. I think engagement, extensive engagement with those who are going to be the ultimate implementers of beneficiaries of the policies, the standards is very important here. Sometimes some of these policies have come out without the engagement of the people. So I believe when at the initial stage, when the thoughts are being guarded, we engage the people to also make input. Then they come to own it. When there's that ownership, then there's that commitment to see the successful implementation of the policies and then the standards. That is my thoughts. Very good. Very good. Yeah, I think that's very important that, you know, that this as far as possible, especially when there are teams of people, that they come up with these things and then they own that. And if they own it, they will definitely make sure they do it. Very good. Go ahead, Kennedy. Thank you again. I think there should be an importance to let them know the, I think there should be an issue of public participation. Because these administrative issues, it's like they cut across the board. So they are beneficial to the touch. So if we have public participation, where they'll see the benefit, teach them the values while we're doing this, I think they'll eventually appreciate. Because that equalism is an old school of thought. Because they are not taught what to do. They are told just do it straight away. So it doesn't give them that clear understanding. Yes. Yes. Good. Good. Thank you. And I see Rupa's comment. Teach by example. Good. So when they see it and being followed and they observe that others are following, they will also want to do it. Good. Any other thoughts? How do you help people understand that this is good for them? It's not legalism. It's like, you know, bringing a set of commandments and forcing them. No, it's everybody's good. What can we do? Any other thoughts? We've got some good ideas. Anybody else? Go ahead. Nice. Pastor, I also think that we can push from the puppets. Many a times you see, you hear ministers of the gospel, what they say, the comment they make about government rules and regulations. We realize that they push some philosophies in the mindsets of the congregation. In that this is, as you stated, is something that is for all Christians. Generally, all Christians are against rules, standards, policies. They think they are legalistic. So from the Prophet also, we can begin to preach messages. When our messages are coming, it shouldn't attack policies, government, policies, government programs, government standards. We should rather try to harmonize them with the gospel so that our people, the congregation will begin to have a different perspective in some of these things. So help people see things on biblical perspective so that they can then begin to imbibe those things. Good thought. I see Asha's comment there, help and encourage them with love, kindness and compassion. That's true. So we gently lead people to understand these things and practice these things. Charles, maybe we'll take yours. Let's last before we close. Sorry Charles, I can't hear you. I'm not sure if it's just me, but I can't hear what you're saying. Could you please repeat it Charles? I couldn't hear what you were saying. Okay, I'm not sure, but that's a connection issue now. All right. Okay, it's time for us to close so that you can have your break and get ready for your next class. I want to encourage you to think about this. I know we're kind of moving quickly through different topics, but there's a lot of ground to cover. And just think about these things. See if you have the opportunity to make use of them, please do in your organizations where you work. But definitely keep these things in mind for the future. May I request somebody just to say a quick prayer and then we can dismiss, please. Thank you so much for everything that you do in life. Thank you for the message and the truth that you've spoken. Now that they're hard to obey and follow the guidelines that you have for us from authority and blessedness or in health care, deliverance, peace of mind, and also thank you so much for the blessing and that each one of my classmates got that they will grow in wisdom and knowledge, strengthen them, empower them and equip them more so we'll be done each one of their life. Thank you so much for everything that you understand. Everything that you have for us and growing your ways, God, you need me to pray in you. Amen. Amen. Okay. Thank you, Rowan. I have a quick break and enjoy your next class and the rest of the day. See you soon. God bless.


of the United States. Present to this audience the president of the United States Ronald Reagan. Thank you. Well, thank you all very much Mark Cohen and Sue Roode Reverend clergy, Mr. Mayor Members of the Council here the World Affairs Council. It's great to be here in Springfield to get out of Washington To find out what people are really thinking Nobody writes me anymore since they raised the postal rates Actually though coming here today violates one of Washington's most important rules Nobody in government likes to appear in public this soon after April 15th But I do know all about Springfield the fact basketball was invented here and that tremendous Hall of Fame you have In fact, Tip O'Neill always tried to get me to come to Springfield Believe me, Mr. President. He used to say you love Springfield They have a Hall of Fame there for people who only work a few hours a day But I'm delighted to be here with you and especially in the state where America's own struggle for freedom began I'm well aware John Adams wrote in 1776 of the toil toil and blood and treasure that it will cost us To support and defend these states yet through all the gloom. I can see the rays of ravishing light and glory Historians have wondered ever since what it was that made men like Adams and and that outnumbered band of colonists Believe they could overthrow the power of the mightiest empire on earth How appropriate it seemed five years later when the British band played at Yorktown The world turned upside down Truly the predictions of the wiser heads in Europe had been proven wrong The boldness the vision and yes the gift for dreaming of a few farmers merchants and lawyers here on these shores had started a revolution that today reaches into every corner of the world a Revolution that still fires men's souls with the ravishing light and glory of human freedom as As members of the world affairs council as active students of global politics all of you here today Contestify to how unlikely the prospects for freedom seemed at the start of this decade You can recall Democracy on the defensive in country after country an unparalleled buildup of nuclear arms hostages in Iran the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan predictions of economic contraction and global chaos ranging from food and fuel shortages to environmental disaster All of these were the unrelenting themes of so much of what we read and heard in the media with the economic recovery of the United States and the democracies however much of this talk abated and this economic recovery anticipated in Massachusetts in 1981 and 82 with reduced state and local tax rates was itself rooted in the insight That was at the heart of the revolution begun here two centuries ago Trust the people let government get out of the way and leave on harness the energy and dynamism of free men and women But I've come here today to suggest that this notion of trusting the power of human freedom and Letting the people do the rest was not just a good basis for our economic policy It proved a solid foundation for our foreign policy as well That's what we've given to the people why we have repeated what they instinctively knew But what the experts had shied away from saying in public? We spoke plainly and bluntly We rejected what gene Kirkpatrick calls moral equivalency We said freedom was better than totalitarianism. We said communism was bad We said a future of nuclear terror was unacceptable We said we stood for peace, but we also stood for freedom We said we held fast to the dream of our founding fathers The dream that someday every man woman and child would live in dignity and in freedom And because of this we said containment was no longer enough That the expansion of human freedom was our goal We spoke for democracy and we said that we would work for the day when the people of every nation Enjoyed the blessing of liberty well Well at first the experts said this kind of candor was dangerous That it would lead to a worsening of Soviet-American relations But far to the contrary this candor made clear to the Soviets the resilience and strength of the West It made them understand the lack of illusions on our part about them or their system By reasserting values and defining once again what we as a people in a nation stood for We were of course making a moral and spiritual point and in doing this We offered hope for the future for democracy and we showed we had retained that gift for dreaming That marked this continent and our nation at its birth But in all this we were also doing something practical We had learned long ago that the Soviets get down to serious negotiations Only after they are convinced that their counterparts are determined to stand firm We knew the least indication of weakened resolve on our part would lead the Soviets to stop the serious bargaining stall diplomatic progress and attempt to exploit this perceived weakness So we were candid We acknowledged the depth of our disagreements and their fundamental moral import In this way, we acknowledged that the differences Separated us and the Soviets were deeper and wider than just missile counts and a number of warheads As I've said before we do not mistrust each other because we're armed We're armed because we mistrust each other And I spoke those words to General Secretary Gorbachev at our very first meeting in Geneva and that was why We resolved to address the full range of the real causes of that mistrust and Raised the crucial moral and political issues directly with the Soviets Now in the past the full weight of the Soviet-American relationship all too often seemed to rest on one issue Arms control a plank not sturdy enough to bear up the whole platform of Soviet-American relations So we adopted not just a one-part agenda of arms control, but a broader four-part agenda We talked about regional conflicts, especially in areas like Afghanistan and Gola and Central America Where Soviet expansionism was leading to sharp confrontation? We insisted on putting human rights on our bilateral agenda and the issue of Soviet non-compliance with the Helsinki Accords we also Emphasized people-to-people exchanges and we challenged the Soviets to tear down the artificial barriers that isolate their citizens from the rest of the world As for the final item on the agenda arms control even that we revised We said we wanted to go beyond merely establishing new limits that would permit even greater build-ups in nuclear arms We insisted on cutting down Reducing not just controlling the number of weapons arms reductions not just arms control Now this approach to the Soviets public candor about their system and ours a full agenda that put the Real differences between us on the table has borne fruit Just as we look at leading indicators to see how the economy was doing We know the global momentum of freedom is the best leading indicator of how the United States is doing in the world When we see a freely elected government in the Republic of Korea Battlefield victories for the Angolan freedom fighters China opening and liberalizing its economy Democracy ascending in Latin America the Philippines and on every other continent Where these and other indicators are strong so too is America and so too are our hopes for the future And yet even while freedom is on the March Soviet-American relations have taken a dramatic turn Into a period of realistic engagement in a month I will meet mr. Gorbachev in Moscow for our fourth summit since 1985 Negotiations are underway between our two governments on an unparalleled number of issues The INF Treaty is reality and now the Senate should give its consent to ratification The stark treaty is working alone, and I know that on everyone's mind today is this single startling fact The Soviets have pledged that next month They will begin withdrawing from Afghanistan And if anyone had predicted just a few years ago that by the end of this decade a treaty would be signed Eliminating a whole class of nuclear weapons that discussions would be moving along toward a 50% reduction in all strategic nuclear arms And that the Soviets had set a date certain for pulling out of Afghanistan That individual would have faced more than a little skepticism But that on the eve of the fourth summit is exactly where we are So let me now summarize for you some of the issues that need crucial Definition as we approach this summit Let's begin with Afghanistan History records few struggles so heroic as that of the Afghan people against the Soviet invasion In eight years more than a million Afghans have been killed More than five million have been driven into exile and yet despite all this suffering the Afghan people have fought on a Determined patriotic resistance force against one of the world's most powerful and sophisticated armies Yes, their land has been occupied But they have not been conquered Now the Soviets have said they've had enough The will for freedom has defeated the will for power as it always has and I believe always will But let me say here that the next few months will be no time for complacency No time to sit back and congratulate ourselves The Soviets have rarely before and not at all in more than three decades Left a country once occupied they have often promised to leave But rarely in their history and then only under pressure from the West have they actually done it Afghanistan was a critical strategic prize for the Soviets the development of air bases near Afghanistan's border with Iran And Pakistan would have dramatically increased the Soviet capability to project their power To the Strait of Hormuz and to threaten our ability to keep open that critical passage We believe that they still hope to prop up their discredited doomed puppet regime and they still seek to pose a threat to neighboring Pakistan to whom we have a long-standing defense commitment So we ask have the Soviets really given up these ambitions Well, we don't know we can't know until the drama is fully played We must make clear that any spreading of violence on the part of the Soviets or their puppets Could undo the good that the Geneva Accords promised for East-West relations The Soviets are now pledged to withdraw their forces totally from Afghanistan by next February 15th at the latest In the meantime, they know that as long as they're aiding their friends in Kabul We will continue to supply the Mujahideen by whatever means necessary Let me repeat we will continue to support the Mujahideen for as long as the Soviets Support the Kabul regime the Soviets understand that this is our position and that we wouldn't have entered into this agreement without it And is more than a position. This is a hard and fast commitment on my part backed up by a unanimous resolution of the United States Senate From the start our policy in Afghanistan has of course been directed at restoring that country to an independent Non-aligned status in which the Afghan people could decide their own future and to which their Refugees could return safely and with honor the same goals as those stated in successive United Nations General Assembly resolutions over the years But these aren't the only goals of our policy there in a broader sense Our policy is intended to nurture what you might call more normal relations between East and West You see just as a Soviet Union that oppresses its own people that Violates the Helsinki Accords on human rights to which it is a party That continues to suppress free expression and religious worship and the right to travel Just as such a Soviet Union can never have truly normal relations with the United States and the rest of the free world Neither can a Soviet Union that is always trying to push its way into other countries ever have a normal relationship with us And that's what has happened in countries like Angola Nicaragua and Ethiopia The Soviet Union has helped install or maintain client regimes against the will of the people None of these regimes has brought peace or a better life to their people Each has brought misery and hardship Each is an outrage to the conscience of mankind and none more so than Ethiopia Two years ago a pitying world believed that it lasts the hopes of all compassionate people had been realized And that the famine in Africa had come to an end Humanity prayed that it would never again see pictures of children with bloated stomachs or hear stories of families dying One by one as they walked dozens of miles to reach feeding stations But now in one country the famine has returned Ethiopia suffers from drought. Yes, and even more it suffers from inadequate agricultural policies But now to drought and failed policy has been added a third even more deadly element war The Ethiopian army has recently suffered major defeats in its long war with the Eritrean Secessionist forces the combination of drought and the dislocations of war is the immediate cause of famine in that part of the country But the Ethiopian regime recently ordered all foreign famine relief workers to leave the afflicted northern region That leads us to the horrible conclusion that starvation and scorched earth Are being considered as weapons to defeat the rebellion The subject of Ethiopia has long been in the US Soviet agenda But now it is more urgent because of this tremendous human catastrophe in the making Is the world to know another holocaust is it to see another political famine? The Soviets are the principal arms supplier and primary backer to the regime and Addis Ababa They are also supplying 250,000 tons of food this year. They can stop this disaster before it happens And I appeal to them to persuade the Ethiopian regime as only they can To change its decision and to allow the famine relief efforts to continue And let me add I hope as well that the Soviet Union will join us and other concerned governments in Working toward a peaceful negotiated solution to the civil war You know if Ethiopia of course For that matter in every country in which the Soviets have imposed a regime the issues of human rights and regional conflicts merge into one greater issue That of Soviet intentions designs and behavior both at home and across the earth Several years ago the French political thinker and writer John Francois Ravel Reported on a conversation that a member of the French cabinet had with a high Soviet official The Soviet official in reviewing the history of the 70s the 1970s said as Ravel writes We took Angola and you did not protest We noted the fact and included it in our analyses The Soviet official continued then we took Mozambique forget it. You don't even know where it is Then we took Ethiopia a key move no reply and he went on Then we took a den and set up a powerful Soviet base there a den on the Arabian peninsula in the heart of your supply center No response and the Soviet official concluded by saying So we noted we can take a den The years of Western passivity in the face of Soviet aggression ended of course seven years ago But the issue here is that the mentality that produced such analyses as the Soviet official called them has not ended Until it does the world cannot know true peace That's a lesson. We should apply closer to home in Nicaragua a Few months before the Soviets launched their invasion of Afghanistan the Soviets also helped Sandinista communists in Nicaragua To steal a democratic revolution The communists promised democracy in human rights But they instead imposed a cruel dictatorship massively militarized and began a secret war of subversion against Nicaragua's peaceful neighbors the People of Nicaragua took up arms against the communists and they fought a valiant struggle But our Congress instead of giving the Nicaraguan resistance the same steady support the Afghans have received has Repeatedly turned aid on and off Even now while the Soviet bloc pours half a billion dollars of arms a year in the Nicaragua Congress has denied the freedom fighters the support they need to force the Sandinistas to fulfill their democratic promises. I Think it's about time that Congress learned the lessons of Afghanistan America by supporting freedom fighters against brutal dictatorships is helping to advance the values we hold most dear peace freedom human rights and yes democracy At the same time we're helping to secure our own freedom By raising the cost of Soviet aggression and by extending the battle for freedom to the far frontier Some say the Soviet Union is reappraising its foreign policy these days to concentrate on internal reform Well, clearly there are signs of change But if there is change It's because the costs of aggression and the real moral difference between our systems were brought home to it If we hope to see a more fundamental change, we must remain strong and firm If we fulfill our responsibility to set the limits as well as offering constructive cooperation Then this could indeed turn out to be a turning point in the history of East-West relations By starting now to show real respect for human rights and Abandoning the quest for military solutions to these regional conflicts The Soviet Union would also be working to build trust and improve relations between our two countries Regional conflicts and human rights are closely intertwined They are issues of moral conscience. They are issues of international security Because when a government abuses the rights of its own people It is a grim indication of its willingness to commit violence against others two of the most basic rights that we've called on the Soviets to comply with under the Helsinki Accords are The right to emigrate and the right to travel How can we help but doubt a government that mistrust its own people and holds them against their will and What better way would there be to improve understanding between the United States and the Soviet Union? Than to permit free and direct contact between our two peoples In the new spirit of openness, why doesn't the Soviet government issue passports to its citizens? I think this would dramatically improve US-Soviet relations of course The world-account affairs council here is a major sponsor of USIA's international visitors program So I don't have to tell you the importance of people to people exchanges And I want to personally to thank all of you who have provided assistance and hospitality to foreign visitors. I Have often I just left a meeting in the Oval Office To come up here and that meeting brought about by director Wicca of USIA Was a meeting with an assemblage of media and publishing people from the Soviet Union That I think is a first in our relationship. I Have often reflected in public on how if our planet was ever threatened by forces from another world All nations and all people would quickly come together in unity and brotherhood You hear today at the world affairs council understand better than most This lesson about how much all of us have in common as members of the human race It is governments after all not people who put obstacles up and cause misunderstandings When I spoke at the United Nations several years ago, I mentioned some words of Gandhi Spoken shortly after he visited Britain in his quest for independence for India I Am not conscious of a single experience throughout my three months in England in Europe He said that made me feel that after all east is east and west is west on the contrary I have been convinced more than ever that human nature is much the same No matter under what climb it flourishes and that if you approach people with trust and affection You would have tenfold trust and thousandfold affection Return to you. Well you in the world affairs council have done much praiseworthy work in this area And I'm hopeful that American foreign policy Based it as it has been on strength and candor is opening a way to a world where trust and affection among peoples is an everyday reality This is my hope as I prepare to leave for Moscow I'm grateful for your prayers and for your support. I Thank you God bless you. Thank you, mr. President. We understand that you have time to answer a few questions from our audience today We have selected six questioners at random from the many names that were submitted at the beginning of our lunch Three questioners are now from Collier Caracoli. I'm a law student at Western New England College school of law here in Springfield, Massachusetts My question to you sir is What will be the central theme of your message that you will carry to the people of the Soviet Union next month? And how will the Senate's ratification of the INF Treaty or in the alternative the Senate's failure to ratify the treaty? affect that message now The did you the last part? I missed a thing. Are you speaking of the INF Treaty and the failure of ratification? Yes Well, let me answer that part first and then get to the other. I think it would be very Well upsetting and It would put a strain on the summit if the Senate has not ratified the treaty by the time we go there and We're hoping and praying they will and yet they're scheduling of it for discussion and debate is such that I'm very concerned that possibly we may have to go without it having been ratified Now as to the message to the Soviet people, I don't know how much contact we'll be able to have with them We're going to try we have been providing lists by name of individuals in the Soviet Union to the general secretary and his people and so far I have to say there has been quite a response in They're allowing these refused nicks. We've named To emigrate Most of them to the United States, but many to Israel and to other countries We've provided some more lists before this meeting and we'll be talking about that but to the people I Have a feeling that the people of the Soviet Union As well as what Gandhi said about the people everywhere That if we had a chance and they had a chance for more contact We would find That they were very much like us. They have a great sense of humor and I Think they're a they tend to be very friendly I'm not going to burden you with it now, but I have a new hobby. I'm collecting jokes That I can find are told by the Russian people among themselves that reveal that sense of humor as well as a little cynicism about their own system But I'm looking forward to meeting and meeting with some of the refused nicks And they are very nice people Mr. President my name is Richard E. Barstam I'm from Springfield and I'd just like to ask you one question about the trade deficit and foreign trade policy here in America What do you think that the United States people should look for in the next election for a candidate? That would have a policy that would Help this country tackle the trade deficit and compete at a more stronger rate would say Japan and West Germany on a manufacturing base Well, if you forgive me, you've got an administration now We have continuously Reduced the trade deficit. We have not brought it to where there is no trade deficit as yet And this last one even though they said oh why the deficit went up a little bit They didn't say a little bit. They made it sound horrendous something about around 13 Billion-plus in this trade deficit, but what they didn't announce was that our exports Were at their highest level that they've been so far And it so happened that also there was because of the a little lowering in the price of the dollar There was a little increase in in imports at the same time so that there was still a deficit But we have continued in the years. We've been here every year to have an increase in our exports I'll tell you there's something I don't feel the way about the trade deficit that I do about deficit spending here within our own country in the 70 years back when our country was growing from It's colonial beginnings into the great industrial power that it is today Every one of those 70 years we had a trade imbalance There were things that we couldn't hadn't learned to produce yet in our own country and so forth and yet That was our great period of growth now with all of this trade imbalance these last 65 Months have been the longest period of economic expansion in the history of the United States so Now I've said repeatedly the trade bill that is now Before the conference comes to me as it is I will veto it not because I'm against a trade bill But because they have loaded on so many items and one item in particular That would be very restrictive on business and industry in America, and I have served notice that is that item is in there I can't sign it, but if I do have to veto it. I will immediately Call on the Congress to adopt a trade bill that is similar to this one without Those things that have been added on because we've been working in the economic summit as hard as we can to bring about the changes in the GATT treaty that's the general you know tariff and trade agreement of the industrial nations of the West and Japan and We all we've been asking for is not protectionism, but asking for a free and fair Area so that we're all playing on a level field if they've got restrictions on our exports coming into their country Then we're going to respond we want and we've made we've gotten some great changes made So I'm very optimistic and not concerned as much about that trade imbalance to be fine to change it, but the imbalance I want to get is a Congress that will join truly in Eliminating the reckless spending that has has us Overspending and then I would look for all your support in having a change in the Constitution that says hereafter It'll be against the Constitution to have a trade or not a trade in but to have a deficit spending situation in our country My name is Jeffrey Burke sophomore English major of Springfield College My question to you this afternoon Are you considering any military intervention when it comes to stifling drug trafficking into the United States if so We'll be on an live lateral or bilateral basis into what scale Are you talking about just military using the military in helping against the drug menace and as far as increasing? Well We have been for the first time we have been utilizing the military There are some laws that limit what you could ask the military to do, but last year alone. There were 16,000 flying hours of surveillance by our military aircraft in helping us Interdict the drugs coming into the America and there were 2,500 full sailing days of the Navy out there patrolling and helping us interdict this this drug entry I have to tell you though we We have done a remarkable job Incidentally, we've increased our spending with regard to drugs and the fighting of the drug abuse We have increased that tripled it since we've been here but That is not going to to do the job as much as we have to keep on intercepting those drugs last year alone Last year we confiscated $500 million of assets of the drug dealers and still the problems with us. I think Nancy Set out on the course that we must all do more to bring about You can't totally ever with the boundaries. We have shut off the influx of drugs The deal is take the customer away from the drugs turn the customer away I'm sure you've heard about the just say no idea in drugs Would you be interested in knowing how easily things can get started Nancy was talking to a group of school children in Oakland, California and a little girl asked what do we do if somebody offers his drugs and Nancy said just say no That's where it started. There are now over 12,000 just say no clubs in the schools of the United States I think you have a follow-up No, thanks. Thank you. Thank you very much. Well, thank you How do you solve all the questions in America, Mr. President? Have we solved all the questions in America I Know I'd be the first to say no as a matter of fact. We probably haven't heard some of them yet But we're working on it when we came here. We found a situation came to office found a situation In which our country was in the economic doldrums. We had double-digit inflation. We had great unemployment and We had some pretty high taxes and we set out on an economic recovery program that was aimed at Changing that and also I had always felt before I came here that there was a growing Spiritual hunger in the United States to once again believe and believe not only in the Almighty But in this country of ours Well So we answered some of those questions We found out that by cutting the tax rates The government got more revenue than it did at the higher rates Because when there's an incentive and you can keep more of the money that you're earning people earn more money 1% of our highest taxpayers When we came here was actually paying 18% of the total tax revenue from the income tax when we reduced their rates That 1% is now paying 26 and a half percent of the total revenue And yet we still have some people saying we must tax the rich we must go after them and Those taxes started as I think helped start us very much on the road of economic recovery we have now in these last Five or six years We have now created on 16 million new jobs and The family income average is higher than it has ever been before Inflation is under control is no longer double-digit and One of the things I will always be very proud to see is That Americans are proud once again to be Americans Mr. President you have for years tried to bring peace to the Middle East Can we rely on your administration to continue to move Israel to settle a Palestinian question on a more even-handed basis? We're going to keep on trying as hard as we can. We feel that the coming together in negotiations Sitting down at a table with the other countries, you know Most of us have forgotten that technically the state of war still exists between the Arab nations and Israel but We're not we're not going to cure it until we come together and find out how we can arrive at a fair settlement of the differences between those people's I Can't resist telling you a little joke. It's kind of cynical very cynical in a matter of fact About the Middle East it has to do with a scorpion that came to a creek and wanted to cross and said to the frog there Would you carry me across scorpions can't swim and the frog said? You'd sting me and I'd die and the scorpion said that it'd be silly because if I stung you and you died I'd drown Well that made sense to the frog so he said get on Started ferrying across and in midstream the scorpion stung him and the frog in his dying said that the scorpion as they were both dying Said why did you do that now? We're both going to die and the scorpion said this is the Middle East Does that mean mr. President that the United States is going to move closer to address the Palestinians directly? Yes, there are some among them that we have refused on principle to address Such as Arafat because Arafat has refused to recognize the right of Israel to exist as a nation And I don't think that there's any negotiation between someone who just says you're not even a nation I won't talk to you Israel is a nation recognized as such by almost all of the civilized world and So this is what we're what we're seeking our Palestinian leaders who are agreeable to coming together And with the other Arab states we have worked very hard also to make the other Arab states aware that even in in addition to our Agreement and the security we agree of Israel that we want to and can be fair and Friends with them and so we have established a relationship that I think is growing very much about that we have the trust of a great many of the Arab states and a number of those Are willing to join in this kind of negotiation that we want to achieve Thank You mr. President. It's very refreshing to hear you say you are going to open up negotiations Yes Well mr. President my name is Brian Kane I'd just like to tell you what an honor and totally unexpected privilege it is for me to ask you a question here My question has to do with the article that was in the Wall Street Journal today about the stealth bomber the artists sketch of it and After all these years of secrecy why it was unveiled now perhaps it has something to do with your foreign trip and How the stealth program is going to be incorporated with the Star Wars defense system well This is of course a form of conventional weapon an airplane at a bomber and I think the timing was probably somewhat accidental about the revealing this photo What has happened is we are we have just reached the testing point So very shortly that plane will be in the air and visible to all so it didn't seem to be any More reason to keep it secret and I don't think it'll hurt at the summit I hope it helps. Well, I hope so, too I know this is the final question, but I would just like to say to you that I Because there is some misunderstanding about that and about treaties like the stark treaty that we're trying to get We don't know it doesn't look likely that that treaty is so much more complicated than the INF treaty That there's a great question as to whether it could be ready for signature at the summit But we've never set a deadline on when it can be worked out. We don't want a fast treaty. We want a good one and There are some lack of understanding in the part of some people I've read some columns that think that our emphasis on reducing nuclear weapons means that we're going to allow the Soviet Union to wind up with that Great superiority they have in conventional weapons and won't that be to our disadvantage? I think you all should know that as we continue any further development of Eliminating nuclear weapons will now have to follow Negotiations in conventional weapons to reduce to parity so that no one is left with An advantage over the other as we go on eliminating nuclear weapons if we can So that is definite and I have informed the good the general secretary that that That that must take place and he has he has expressed a willingness to talk on on Reducing our conventional weapons Well, I know that you were the Sixth and that was all can I do something terrible here and the press knows I do this I mentioned that hobby of mine So as long as I can't answer any more questions, can I conclude in just telling you? One of those jokes which illustrates this sense of humor and this is one that I told to Gorbachev Seems that they recently issued an order that anyone that's caught speeding Must get a ticket and you know that the most of the driving there is done by the Pollock Bureau by the the Well the bureaucracy they're the ones with cars and drivers and so forth So it seems that one morning Gorbachev himself came out of his country home knew he was late getting to the Kremlin Told his driver to get in the back seat and he'd drive and down the road He went past two motorcycle policemen one of them took out after him a few minutes He's back with his buddy and the buddy said did you give him a ticket? He said no Well, he said why not we were told that everyone Anyone caught speeding was to get a ticket. He says no no this one was too important Well, he said who was it? He says I don't know I couldn't recognize him, but his driver was Gorbachev I again thank you mr. President for your address and your response to our questions as a symbol of our appreciation for your being here with us today and In recognition of the emphasis in your address to the importance of freedom around the world We would like to present to you at this time a rendering of one of the 18 banners Which are displayed continuously in the center of Springfield to remind us of our daily celebration of freedom in America The banners were prepared for the bicentennial anniversary of the federal Constitution and Represent 18 different ethnic groups living in Springfield By bearing the words meaning celebrate freedom in 18 different languages and By displaying the images of fireworks, which are a traditional symbol of our celebration of freedom in the city of Springfield


I think it has been a very exciting experience, very enriching and a learning experience too. Judging categories across different formats, across different business formats. I think it has been a very enriching and learning experience. I think very clearly top three things for me would be creativity, innovation and relevance to the business, to the category that fits me. Creativity, innovation and relevance. I'll have to go back on history a bit. I think there will be a bit of bias in this. I think two campaigns stand out for me. One is Asian Prince Harghar Kuchkata. I think it was a very, very emotional advertising. And the other one was Bleeding Blue for Pepsi. So these two campaigns stand out for me.


Drug users and activists worked together in seven countries to produce a movie about a day in the life of eight people. A film about their drug use and their struggles. This is the first time I have done something like this. Now I have a good feeling about myself and I have captured it. I don't think about it. I think about it now. With the second fix, I completely lost my consciousness, blackout. When I started coming back, my right arm was dislocated and I had spent more than six hours unconscious on the joint of the nerve, which left my arm almost completely paralyzed. This was something that really changed the way I felt and thought about the heroine and the drug in general. A film about how the drug war affects their lives. What I experienced then is that my legs were hung upside down because of them. My legs were constantly hung upside down and they asked me to call the names of the people I know as the victims of the drug war. With my eyes closed, I was taken inside the car and walked for a few minutes. When the car stopped at a place I didn't know, I was taken down from the car. And then they hit my legs. A film showing their fight against stigma and discrimination. We want our female drug users to come outside to fight for our rights. Let there be equality within the way the men and the women do. In my city, several people were killed in rehabilitation and violence continues. And today I'm talking about it. Hundreds of people in Crimea have been left without treatment and dozens of them have already died. And I'm talking about it. A film about saving lives. I'm walking up and down Washington Heights, promoting harm reduction, promoting not to get infected with ACV and HIV, also giving out cleanser ranges. I've reversed the overdoses in my life and, you know, I say the person's life, the person's alive. It's a very good feeling. I can't describe it. I would like to inform you about the dialysis procedure. This is the dialysis procedure. This is 10 grams of heroin. Exactly, then we go over here with a spoon, spray it. That's it. I'm going to clean these two dishes. A film about how people who use drugs can effectively influence policies and improve the lives of their communities. We also always promote that drug users can live together with other people. We can contribute to the community and we can also be productive. We are part of the solution, not part of the problem. A day in the life, the world of humans who use drugs.


Hello, bonjour. So today we do the shading of our comic page. This video follows a previous video here. So if you haven't seen and you want to know how I prepare all this flat color, just refer to this video. And if you are ready, let's start. So in today's tutorial, we will replicate this layer, the shading layer, on this page 7 of Ep.34. And it's a layer that is really responsible for all the light and all the shadows on my webcomic. So if I remove it, the visibility, not the layer, you will see that the page is full flat. There is only the background that are painted and sometimes it's just a flat color. And if I reactivate it, you can see now the page fully shaded. So I will zoom in so you can see more detail about it. If I deactivate it, you will see all the parts flat. And if I activate it, there is and the shadow and the light. And this is quite unique because usually other comic artists prefer to shade and shadows and highlights separately. But I prefer to put them together on a single layer because for me it's easier this way. So to start, I will start to remove this layer because we will recreate it. And I will keep this stack. So in this layer stack, what I have, I have here my inking. That is my character. You can see it's tainted slightly in violet. This is done by calling the control U filter HSV HSY and just put colorize. And then you can put the color of your choice on your line. And you have also my speed line that I keep separately. You have on the bottom of the layer stack that is not visible because it's not part of the group. It's my colorize mask, the one we obtained on the previous tutorial. It wasn't on this page, but it's really similar. And you can see that my colorize mask fill areas like the face fully. There is no part for the eyes or for the color for the tongue. It's all the same color because I treat it by selection area. And you will see it has a very important role into this tutorial. So then I duplicate my colorize mask into the character layer. And in the character layer, you can see that I use a normal brush just to paint this eyeball color, this tongue color, the little blushing here. And I'm doing even the tears of Shishimi here. And then I paint the background under the character. So this is usually more than one layer. I simplified the stack to get a single layer here. But as you can see, I'm painting all the lighting effect and everything directly on my background layer. So once I have a layer stack that is prepared like this, what I can do is I can select the character layer and I will put it inside a group. So you have a shortcut for this is Ctrl G and it creates a group where your character layer is inside. Now I will create a new paint layer, just a little plus here. And I will rename this layer shade. And I will press here the little A Greek symbol on the layer stack. And this is the inner it alpha. And thanks to this, everything I will paint on this layer will have the same alpha, so the same transparency as my character. I can also do more. If I put another layer and paint some red, I can color and then I will only shade my character. So I will remove that and delete the content of this experiment. For my shade layer, I want a blending mode that is able to do the shading and also to do the light as mentioned before. So I will just put the layer into the hard light blending mode. So I'm clicking here on this menu. And if you don't have already the hard light in your favorite, you'll find this layer in the light and category. So press the little arrows here to unfold all the layers related to the light and category. And inside it, you will find the hard light here. So you can press the little checkbox.  So it will be quicker to find next time. But then when it's ready, you can click it. And now your layer is set to hard light. Now we will select a brush. I'm proposing for this tutorial to use this one. It's the dry roller one. And then we could already start painting on our layer. But I prefer here to fill it with a mid gray. And why I prefer fill it this layer with a mid RGB gray? It's because if we start to get some transparent color like this one gray, and we want to then pick this color on this character, right now, as you can see on the layer, there is only a black color. So if I'm picking with control alt and click, this is just to pick the color on this layer and not on the full stack, I will obtain some black everywhere. And this is a problem because sometimes I want this gray and not this black for my brush. If I want to replicate exactly the same color from this one to here, I have some black. So to avoid this problem, I will delete, I will pick on my palette here 127 127 and 127 type of gray. It's really at the middle if you have RGB in eight byte document. So I'm pressing okay, I'm going to edit and fill with foreground color. So now my layer is full gray, as you can see, but the highlight blending mode considered the mid gray as a transparent color. Everything above it will be some lighting or light effect. And everything under it will be a bit like multiply some shadows effect. Then I can start to shade my page. So at first, I advise to use a very low zoom. So something that you can see some far from far away and do some color sketch. So because the background is blue, I will probably assume that the general color ambient is blueish. So I'm selecting a blue color and I will replicate this maybe on all the page here. Maybe for this tutorial, I will change the scene where Chichimi is fighting and I will give her orange power for changing. And now because I can pick the color previously, because I have a solid basis layer, I can control, I'll click this color and replicate here because we have the same light on paper. And we can also reproduce this by click selecting this color layer for this character. So now we have a first pass of color. If I want to select to start shading, for example, this panel, I will want to just start shading the hair. But how to not paint outside the hair. And that's where our selection, remember the colorized mask under will be very useful. For that, you can right click on it. And how my menu is a bit outside. So I will move a bit the windows. So you can see what is happening. If I right click on it, I can select here a color label. And you can pick the one you want. But for this tutorial, I will pick a pink one. And I will try to reposition the windows like that. And now I can ask, for example, the magic wand, the contiguous selection tool. If I go to the tool option, so I will just unfold that a little bit, I can ask to select by color label here. And I will pick the pink color label. So now when I will be on my shading layer, if I press the magic wand here, it will select the hair. And this will not depend of the color because you might say, yes, it's normal because here the color is yellow. But no, you will see, even if I do some really weird stuff on this layer shading, if I go to the magic wand, this tool, I have a shortcut for this. And I press it again, it will select the hair. And here, it will select the skin. And here, it will select the clothes. So thanks to that, I will go back with undoing time. And I will select the hair of Chichimi here. And I want to start to shade the hair. So I will pick this color right here. And I will press the K shortcut key on the keyboard. And I will press it twice a bit more. And this will darken my color selected. So then, as you can see, I have like a shadow color. It's not a good one. It's a bit too warm for me. So I will probably go back and select something like this. Yes, this one is better. And then I can start to make some big block for where I don't want the light to reach this character. So maybe for this tutorial, I will limit myself to this panel because I don't want to reshade the full page. It would be like working another time on it. And you can see that I'm using the color picker on this layer a lot. So it's control alt click. And I have my key light here. I could probably take a little bit brighter color and fill the shadow with another color here. Something just a little bit brighter just to better see the volume. Maybe something like that. I will zoom it a little bit more so you can see what's happening. And if I want now to make some deep shadows here, I'm just pressing K on keyboard just to get darker color. And then I will be able like this to select a relative darker color to the one I have. So this is very convenient for making very deep shadows. And by the way, if you are annoyed by this preview of selection, the marching hunt, it's collared, you can hide this marching hunt by pressing control H on your keyboard. The selection is still here, but you will see sort of what you see is what you get rendering. And at any time if you want to show the selection again, press control H again, and you will see the marching hunt. So right now I will launch a little time lapse and I will continue to shade this way all the character. When your shading is done, you can also influence the color. If you are not really happy later with the with the composition, just select your shading and select your panel with a rectangular selection tool. And then press control B for the color balance and control B, the color balance plus this shading technique works very well together because you can decide for the mid tone to go a bit more violet. And you will see directly the effect. And for example getting the highlight, probably more yellow. So but here I guess I have mostly mid tones on this layer and no small points of highlight. And for the deep shadow, you can also get them a bit more reddish or a little mid-bond bluish following your taste. So that's how ends my video about shading. It was a little bit too detailed and if you want to continue and get more tips about color grading, you can see this video that I'm showing right now on the screen. And if you want to know a bit more how to make this character some very good magical effect, I also made this video about the magical effect. I hope you liked the video and I want to thank my co-worker here. I also want to thank all the supporters of my webcomic on TP, Liberapay and Patreon. This video wouldn't exist without your support and that's a lot. I also want to thank all the comments, all the like, all the button, the reshare and etc etc. This is very important for the channel to grow and also to reach more audience. So thank you very much for that and see you later. Bye bye.


Photography is an art of visual storytelling and travel photography is the combination of all other genres of photography like that of street, portrait, nature and wildlife and so on. But to be a professional travel photographer one should possess three piece in life that are passion, patience and perseverance. So today in this video you will get to know how to become a professional travel photographer in order to express one's vision to the world. Welcome back to Creative Hut channel an exclusive platform to know more about photography. As a travel photographer one should be able to settle in quickly to whichever destination one has planned to go. In other words as a pro one cannot be jet lagged or procrastinate their work due to some reasons and to gain that level of confidence one has to know and inherit certain points which are 1. Develop a basic knowledge about photography 2. Completing the professional photography education 3. Improving the editing skills because a good photograph is valued by its presentation 4. Get proper camera gears and accessories and if you want to know about the gears one can go through our travel photography gears video after this section. 5. Apply marketing strategy in order to establish your work either online or offline 6. Improve observation and research skills so as to pre-plan the trip 7. Explore ways to make money out of your passion by choosing appropriate platforms to make an impact on the viewers as there are many websites to sell one stock images or one can tie up with travel magazines to meet up their needs. 8. Network means from a tribe of yours and get recognized within the travel photographers community so as to flourish your work worldwide 9. Portfolio. Build a portfolio of your own both in printed and digital version and keep updated and edited according to the trend and the last is 10. Create a signature style from your photographing technique to your content writing. Apart from the above points one has to be a creative thinker, self-confident, possess strong social skills and also a good visual analyst. Henceforth it is said that travel is the only thing you buy that makes you reach a bit time in every aspect so travel as much as possible and broaden your perspective to live an authentic life and if you have any further queries regarding the travel photography then comment on the comment section below. Till then stay tuned with us subscribe our channel click on the bell button for the notifications on our latest videos for photographic courses different specializations in photography visit our website www.creativehud.org and know about photography articles tips tricks portfolio and much more visit our official blog www.creativehud.com feel free to like and share until we meet next time stay safe and healthy bye


Aflatoxins are a type of toxin. They're produced by fungus or moles and these moles are found in farmer's fields where they grow naturally but of course not all fungus produce these toxins but in tropical countries the fungus which produce toxins are quite common especially in certain types of crops. The mold grows well under tropical conditions and also it tends to infest the crops when they're damaged by drought or by insects so they're particularly a problem where crops are prone to experiencing drought and insect damage. For the crops that get contaminated especially maize it's a large part of people's diets and so what you find is if there's contaminated maize children and adults are getting a large dose. Children are obviously smaller and more susceptible to dying. So this toxin has a range of effects and these are only imperfectly understood. We're quite sure that very high doses of these toxins are lethal. They can kill animals and people and there have been several major outbreaks in Kenya. In fact Kenya is one of the world's hotspots for this problem. But another problem is chronic consumption of lower levels of toxins and that is strongly associated with liver cancer especially if there is hepatitis and again many tropical countries have large problems of hepatitis and then the third area over which there's a little bit more uncertainty but there's a strong association between the presence of these toxins people consuming these toxins and stunting and immunosuppression in children. I think that it's been for some time but more in temperate climates than in tropical climates. We've known about the problem in tropical countries for several decades but because markets are informal and there's not a lot of trade it hasn't been a high priority. For a couple of reasons. I think one is because people are looking for it and finding it a lot and therefore it is affecting trade and the second thing is there has been a few spectacular cases where very high levels of aflatoxins have led to deaths of large number of children particularly in Kenya. So there's a lot of interest in testing to open up export markets to open up commercial markets. There's a lot of interest in governments and a lot of this stems from the fact that now we're trying to purchase more and more food locally for food aid and for other things and this maze or these ground nuts get tested and then we're finding high levels of aflatoxins in the maze that we're buying and so it can't be distributed. There's a growing appreciation that this is an important problem and there's been a lot of investment in different control methods. I think the weakness at the moment is understanding how we can establish on a broader scale diagnostic tests how we can get them implemented and what we can do about the burden and the poor. We're quite concerned that if we get better at diagnosing maize that we'll get a maize channel which is very clean and a maize channel which is very dirty. Better off consumers will be smart enough to know where to get sourced their products to get clean maize and then the other maize will go into food channels for poor people and they'll get higher doses of aflatoxin than they get now. I think we have a wide range of solutions and indeed many of the the centers the CG centers have been working on solutions for a number of years and have come up with a very attractive portfolio of ways to manage aflatoxins but the big challenge now is to scale those out especially into the fields of the poorest farmers who are not so likely to get their their crops tested and who sometimes are because of their poverty find it difficult to invest in these methods which are quite good at helping control the toxin. One of the exciting things is to a transfer of a technology that's been used in America for around 20 years or so which is bio control which is which is taking the fungi that don't produce the toxins and seeding them into fields so they can compete with the toxin producing fungi and that has some potential to go to scale. I think the other is just working in the whole supply chain system and trying to figure out where we can diagnose where the values added what the market is willing to pay and then if we can understand better this stunting problem that's been described we will be able to to know whether we would also want to you invest kind of public health money to reduce the problem using different control methods. So we wanted to look at the range of aflatoxins from how to control them how to test for them but also what were the effects on markets what were the effects on health and how how could we solve the problem and so that's the focus of the range of briefs we invited a number of global experts to comment on these briefs so that we're able to assemble for policy makers and for other decision makers the current state of knowledge of what we need to do about aflatoxins in tropical countries