Well, good afternoon everyone. Thanks for being here and welcome. This meeting is going to be broadcast, this discussion is going to be broadcast to Brazil and will become a television program. So when we reach the level of questions from the audience, at the end I would ask you to wait for the microphones because not only is the only way to register the sound, but also the simultaneous translation will require the microphone to catch your voice. My name is Silvio Bocanera. I'm a Brazilian journalist. We're doing this for Global News, Brazilian television. We have a very interesting discussion ahead of us. The topic as has been given to us is are the bricks in a mid-life crisis? That is the big question. It refers, of course, to the reduction in the growth of GDP in all the countries of the of the bricks. The bricks are no longer the darlings of the international investors. There are threats by international agencies to reduce the ratings, the credit ratings of some of the countries. And there's also the new threat of foreign investments pulling out of the bricks as a result of the action of the feds in Washington. The theme of our discussion could actually be are the bricks dead? Are they in life-supporting machines? Can they recover from this mid-life crisis? Let me quote a report launched at Davos here last Sunday by the chief economist of the consulting group IHS, Narima Beravesh. He says, turn out the lights. The bricks party is over. Not very subtle. But is he right? Is the party over? It's been 13 years, as you recall, since Jim O'Neill of Goldman Sachs created the acronym of the Bricks, pointing out that these countries required attention because they were growing quite a bit. The governments of the bricks were smart enough to take advantage of that, that sudden fame and create the group that tried to act together and international forum, even though they had as many differences they had similarities. They still meet as a group. In fact, they're gonna meet in Brazil soon. They're gonna try to match it with the World Cup, so they can watch a couple of matches as well, and see Brazil become the champion. As the bricks slow down, in economic power and prestige, even Jim O'Neill has moved on to another acronym. Now he talks about the Mintz. Mexico, Indonesia, Nigeria, and Turkey, the new stars on the world stage of economic performance. Mintz sounds fresh, sounds like a fresh breath. Bricks sound more solid, but maybe they're crumbling. Interesting metaphors. Which will prevail? We may get some answers here, and you may be able to ask some questions at the end. And you do have a full description of the biography of each one here. It's enough for me to say that we have three ministers of finance, India, South Africa, and Brazil, one deputy prime minister, Russia, and one former top regulator of the bank, the banks in China, now with the Fund Global Institute. No prepared statements from our guests. We're just gonna have a chat, and perhaps I can start with China. China is growing at a respectable rate of 7.7 a year, not bad, but way below the rates of 11, 12 percent of a few years back. And a few days ago, the mega investor George Soros, who is in Davos, who knows, might even be in this room, said he's more worried about China than he is about Europe. Because 20 years of rapid growth in China, in his words, are running out of steam. I would guess that Minister Montague of Brazil, as much as Soros, is also worried because China, after all, is a big client of Brazilian products, Brazilian commodities, mainly. So my first question to the representative of China is, should they be worried? Should Mr. Montague be losing sleep? Thank you very much for the question, and thank you for showing us the concern from Soros, and the the concerns about China's health, health is is something, you know, where it's linking with its growth pace. Because nowadays we witness the growth pace of China's GDP is slowing down. That's the fact. As a visa visa three years ago, it's a 30% down as a double-digit, more than 10% three years ago, and then coming down to nine percent, then seven, seven, eight percent around, and now it's 7.7 percent or something. And this coming year, maybe it could be slowing down further a little bit, but like in line with the performance of last year, more or less the same. But this is the fact, of course, the huge stir worldwide. But the Chinese government and Chinese people, now they reach the consensus. The story behind high-speed development is what? It's create a feud fixed asset investment and export driven economy. What do we get? In the positive way, what we got is just a very marginal fee-based income. And some projects are not economic viable. So we realize what we meant to the Chinese people is pollution. Okay, they created some job, but the pollution is with us, it's part of our life. So we got to change this. So it's our own willingness to reduce the speed a little bit. 30% doesn't matter much. So long as we can keep the speed around 6.9% every year, along to year 2020, still we can really realize our goal. Set by year 2010 that we will double the GDP growth from GDP size of the China, Chinese. So what? 7% is okay for China for the remaining seven years. And we will use that room to maneuver to reduce three things, to do three things. The first, to reduce overcapacity. In line with reduced overcapacity, because most overcapacity industries are heavy industries. Steelmaking, nemperous, shipbuilding and many others, coal mining and so on, so forth. So that is the two stories connected with each other. We can, you know, kill two birds with one stone. The second thing is to reduce the government, local government platform borrowing. It's a huge zest and it ensues them from the localities to pull up the GDP. And they are competing with each other, province by province, which is no good. So the third thing is that by and by we will change our growth model. We will try our best to realize that we reduce the export growth ratio. We will reduce the fixed asset investment ratio. But we will pull up the domestic consumption by pulling up, you know, the productivities. And how we can raise the productivities in China? We will rely upon innovation. We're not relying upon the WTO entry benefits no longer. We're not relying upon the cheap label and cheap land. Now this time is innovation. And how we can realize the innovation to pull up the productivity and raise the income per person so that domestic consumption could be a real story in five years or so, I mean, years by the end of year 2020. We can initially change the growth model. How can we do that? For China specific, we got to have the boldness, the decisiveness to carry out the reform and the opening up. And that showed our determination. So long as we can balance the decisiveness like that with credibility, I think China will move out the problem. So it's a top-down decision to change the model. And it's welcome to buy, but it's a huge country. You know, when all of a sudden you decide on a new model to actually carry it out, it has a lot of risk. What kind of risks do you see ahead? Of course, the profitability will be the profit-growing ratio will be going down. Then performance assets and loans will be rising automatically, OK? Because it's a trade-off. It takes time to realize that goal. So it's actually it's we create something to backfire ourselves. OK, to push us to think about how we can change how we can change the growth model and how quickly we can do that. But during that process, it's a painful, but no pain, no gain, as saying goes. I wonder if Mr. Montague fused more at ease now. Will he sleep well tonight after hearing this explanation? I didn't sleep well last night because the air. So they can get the phones. OK, you can put it on top. OK, I must say I didn't sleep well last night because the heating was too strong in my room. So I woke up at the middle of the night and I was sweating and had nothing to do with China, I must say, because I believe that China and its economy will be revised and reformed. The model will be changed and it will continue to be the most dynamic economy in the world, at least for the foreseeable future in the next decades. I don't think we're facing a midlife crisis. Us, the BRICS, what I see is a world economy crisis that somehow affected the BRICS by reducing the trade volume, by reducing international demand. Now, of course, the world economy and the developed countries that caused the storm are now recovering. But that recovery is gradual and it's the process. And with that recovery, we will likely have a reactivation of trade growth. Trade before the crisis was growing at a rate of six, seven percent per annum. Not talking, not even considering the press of commodities from this point on, I think commerce will again experience a four to five percent growth in the future. It's not going to go back to the levels that we had in the past, but I still do believe that the BRICS will continue to lead that effort in the global economy. But for that to happen, of course, the BRICS will have to be serious about introducing some reforms. In the case of China, the change and the model is already the subject of discussion under G20 discussions. China has a level of overdevelopment, a lot of vital capacity, and it depends greatly on external demand. So the model has to be changed so as to create some more internal demand and thereby decreasing the level of investment or the reliance on investment. We also need to increase investments that are get to more growth in innovation. I think China is coming out of a phase where expansion was based on a model that is now giving birth to a different kind of setup. That will eventually bring about more growth. I think I still do believe that China will continue to grow seven to eight percent over the next decade. It's never going to go back to, you know, 12, 13, 14 percent, as was the case in 2007, the year before the crisis. But I will in the case of India also. Here's another economy that's going to continue to grow and again, not at nine or eight percent, but at six percent, say, which is already a very, very good level in global economic terms. And since it is based on low income, there will likely be a convergence towards medium income and high income. So I believe that in the case of Brazil, change will go the other way. And we're going to go a different way. For a moment there, you said that the countries, the BRIC countries will have to change their models. What change would that be in Brazil? What kind of model would you change in Brazil? Expanding its middle class by more than 400 million, it has reduced poverty, so we have a large consumer market that we have built in recent years. We are the fourth world market in automobiles, third in physicians, and so forth. In order to activate this market, we are lacking credit. Credit is still scarce. And we're not going to be able to do that. We're lacking credit. Credit is still scarce. But most importantly, investment is what is going to drive Brazil's economic growth. And that's why, that's the reason the government is encouraging investment in Brazil. In 2013, investment growth, the investment growth rate was about six and a half percent, compared to the previous year. That was the fastest growth we've had in foreign investment. We've extended a large program in concessions for infrastructure. We've held a number of auctions in 2013. They were very successfully handled. We will have new auctions for oil and gas, highways, electricity. This year we will also be opening bidding to ports, airports, and railways. So we have an extensive program of more than $250 billion worth of investment taking, that's not including the oil and gas sector, which is another large number of billions. So we're going to continue that investment. Investment will continue to grow in Brazil. It is a partnership between the government and the private sector. These are concessions. These are licenses. It is not the government that will perform the work. It is the private sector. But that will bring new investment. We will need foreign trade. We will depend less and less on foreign trade. Now, as with China, we will have less investment and greater growth. The World Economic Forum published its survey of 700 opinion makers around the world a few days ago from businessmen to politicians, bankers, et cetera. And they were asked, what is the biggest risk to the global community in the next decade? Expectations, they would say, a new fiscal crisis, climate change, but they actually said, it's the income gap between the rich and the poor, which is growing, not shrinking. Some of the bricks of particularity are vulnerable in that area. Brazil is, India is, South Africa. So I would appreciate if you give your evaluation of this conclusion of the highest risk. Well, that's a risk. Income inequality and middle class stagnation are risks to every country in the world. In the US, I'm told that real wages have been stagnant for the last 20 years. In the UK, wages have risen slowly, more slowly than inflation. So I think this is true of many countries. In developing countries, the early winners of development, the early winners of high growth, are the well to do. But that doesn't mean we are not lifting millions of people who are below the poverty level above the poverty line. China has lifted about 500 million people above the poverty line. India has lifted 150 million people above the poverty line. So while there is income inequality, and we must address that, we must also recognize that people at the very bottom of the pyramid are being lifted upward. In India, for example, rural wages have grown in real terms at 7% a year over the last five or six years. Which is one of the reasons why food inflation is high, one of the reasons. So I think there are several forces at play. We are concerned about income inequality. We would like to tax the rich a little more. But since we need capital to be formed in the hands of the entrepreneurial class and we encourage them to reinvest the capital, we are going slow on that. But as long as we're able to lift a large number of people above the poverty line, I think we are doing reasonably well. In this issue of the changing the model in order to grow more, what's India doing to try to reach the levels of the past or close to it, go beyond the levels of today? You see, our growth declined firstly because of external environment and secondly because of some decisions that we took and some decisions we did not take. But in the last year and a half, we have acknowledged that we need to be more decisive. We need to move forward at a rapid pace. And the results are there to see the economy has stabilized. Investment is back both for indirect investment as well as domestic investment and the global economic outlook prediction for India for calendar 2014 is 6.2%. I have predicted that in calendar 2014, which is more or less the same as our financial year 2014-15, nine months of this calendar and three months of the next calendar, we will grow at 6% plus and next year we will grow at 7% plus and the year after that we will achieve our potential growth rate of 8% plus. In the worst year, our savings to GDP was 30%. In the best year, it was 36%. Even today we are saving about 32% of our GDP. So I think if we avoid some of the mistakes we made, and if we are more decisive, if we are able to implement the kind of single-mindedness with which say China, Japan implement their projects, we will get back to high growth. I have no doubt in my mind in three years we'll be back to 8% growth. Minister Gordon, South Africa also suffers from this problem of inequality brought out in the foreign report. Many political and economic analysts actually took advantage of the recent events in South Africa of the death of Nelson Mandela to bring out the fact that 20 years after the end of apartheid, that gap is still very high. What has been done to change that and what needs to be done to change that? The gap is still there, but I think any review of the last 20 years will tell us that there have been formidable changes in South Africa. None of the countries at this table had an iniquitous system like apartheid to overcome. So the last 20 years I've seen the per capita income grow from 27 and a half thousand runs to 36 and a half thousand runs. Our economy grow two and a half times in nominal terms. Disposable income has grown about 40% during that time. If you look at services to South African citizens who were historically excluded, both economically and socioeconomically, we've built three million houses in this period. Access to portable water has gone up from 50% to close to 90% and those figures replicate themselves in other areas as well. In the last few years, our social wage in South Africa is about 57% of our non-interest expenditure. So overcoming 300-year legacy of colonialism and apartheid is not going to be done in 20 years. And I think we have some illustrious examples in this panel of countries who've tried different things to all achieve the same objective. We want all of our people to have a better life. We want all of our people to have decent jobs and incomes. We want all of our economies to be competitive and I think over time we will certainly get there. As Mr. Montego pointed out, this financial crisis that did a huge amount of damage to all of our economies wasn't of our own making. It came from the financial centers of the world, particularly the United States. Up to 2008, South Africa was growing close to 5% for several years. Growth dropped, we've recovered somewhat, but now we have to confront another set of structural challenges that come with our past and with the present as well. So we need to diversify our economy. We need to build a more skilled workforce. We need to overcome some of our constraints in respect of energy and logistics, all of which are either being done or in very advanced planning stages. In the next few years, we'll see us both increase our potential growth but also reach our potential growth as well. And most of the Africans have been lifted in the last 20 years above the bottom three tiers of the LSM measure that we use in South Africa to a lower middle class level than ever before. And that progress will continue as well. Do you see a major risk factor coming up in something that is happening in other countries as well, that breaks elections, elections coming up this year? Do you think that will put this project in jeopardy in any way? Not at all. I think the ruling party, the African National Congress, Mr. Mandela's organization has always enjoyed more than a 60% vote from South Africans who understand that this is the only organization that can and has the determination to overcome all of these legacies that we are talking about. So there's no doubt about the outcome of the elections. There might be a percentage point this way or that way at the end of the day. If we move on to Russia, President Putin made a speech in December. Very critical of the economic performance of Russia. Growth of 1.3% last year, forecast 1.4% for this year. In his own words, the main reason for the economic slowdown are not external, but internal. So let's take the lead from President Putin. What were those internal reasons? Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for inviting me here to the discussion. It's very simple, business environment. It's not good enough. The business environment overall in the world? In Russia. I'm talking about Russian rules. There are some external reasons as well. Our major trading partners are Europe and China. If Europe is almost in recession and China is slowing down a little bit, it's natural for Russia to slow down a little bit. But main reasons are internal. Our saving rate is also 30%, but investment rate is only 20% even less than that. 10% are not being invested from savings. People don't want to invest more than they do. And with such investment rates, you cannot have growth higher than 2% per annum. That's the reality. And the only thing we can do about this is to improve business environment. And we started doing this, but this will bring effects in the medium term perspective not immediately. As people will need time to be persuaded, they need to believe that it is not just for one year. It will be continued. We moved more than 10 positions in world bank rating doing business. And now we are first among the BRICS countries in this rating, but we are far below all major economies. We are number 92. Only. And long way to go to number 20 that we want to have in 2018. Is it the Russian business community you're concerned about or the foreign business community? No, that's both foreign and Russian business community who are being asked about various aspects of business environment. The same being done in India, China, South Africa and Brazil. And our scores are not good enough and we need to improve a lot. Some of the things are not really important for growth in this rating, but some of the things are really crucial like bureaucracy, red tape, speed of getting all the permissions, access to finance, things like that, especially for SMEs and this is what is important. And if we are talking about those extra investments, there are two things that are crucial. First innovation, investments should be linked to modern technologies. Otherwise, if you invest in the old stuff, I don't think we'll be competitive. I don't think we'll win a competition. And the second thing, we should substitute old inefficient jobs by new efficient jobs. So it's not about adding more jobs. It's about month by month, quarter by quarter, year by year substitution of old by new. When you talk about the need for investment... You said about the need for investment. It's similar to Brazil, that Russia invested colossal amount of money in Olympic games, the number that is called 50 billion dollars, how Brazil spent it, spent it on World Football Championship. So the criticism is, why do you spend so much on sports events? Allow me to mention some of the collectives. 7 billion dollars was invested for the construction of other sports buildings. 40 billion was invested in infrastructure. Not Olympic objects, but roads, railway roads, line of transportation, electric transportation, hospitals, and so on and so on. Everything depends on the life of people in Sochi. And we actually created a modern resort. The resort is not only for Russia, but for the whole world. That is, all these investments are productive. It was made not only for the sake of sports associations, but also for the country. And it also provided a significant increase in GDP in recent months. Mr. Minister, I have a question for you. Maybe we will put on headphones. Our colleague just mentioned the infrastructure investment. The criticism in Brazil has been that the investments made in Sochi are not as heavy as the infrastructure in the state of the world, wasting money based on the criticism. And demonstrations in the streets of Brazil last year had that specific focus. You're spending too much money on football tournament when the country needs infrastructure. What can you tell us about that? Well, precisely, most of the resources are being spent as in Russia, in urban infrastructure. Therefore, they are necessary improvements because we need more metros, more highways, means of transport, etc. So, only one part is being invested in the construction of the stadiums. The federal government is only financing, giving financing because it is the states or the private initiative that is spending to make the stadiums. And we believe that there will be a benefit for the population. And that the Brazilian population wants the World Cup in Brazil. The research shows that the Brazilian population likes football, wants the World Cup. And therefore, it's... They're happy about it, and everybody is pretty much aware of the fact that on the side we're also going to have a lot of investments. Wait a little bit for the translation. I'd like to come back to India on a separate question. It has to do... There's a big discussion going around the world. It's been going for many years, but it's got intensive... when you talk about the BRICS as well, which it has to do with state intervention in the economy. You're all economies where the state has a heavy percentage of intervention. Do you think, in the case of India, this state is just too dominant to the point of creating some form of lethargy and hurting the economy? Well, I don't think so. I think the new space that is being opened up is substantially or almost completely occupied by the private sector. The state can't be dismantled overnight, nor should it be. What happened when U.S. banks and European banks were in a crisis? The state took over the banks. So why do you deny that the state has a role to play? Take our banking industry. We've got government-owned banks. We've got Indian private banks. And we've got foreign banks. And we have promised to license more private sector banks in the next couple of months. So I think there is a role for the state to play and to wish away the role of the state in a developing economy is unwise and wrong. Likewise, we have public sector companies engaged in steel. We've got private sector companies. We have public sector companies producing automobiles. We have a private sector companies producing automobiles. We don't have a public sector company. We have one public sector airline. So I think as long as the public sector company is competitive and is run on commercial principles, there's nothing wrong in having a public sector company. And there's no reason to dismantle it. There must be a reason to dismantle a public sector company. But as I said, the new space that is opening up is almost completely occupied by the private sector. I'd like to ask you about what we raised in the case of South Africa, the upcoming election. The risk factor certainly much bigger than in South Africa in the election coming up in India. What can you tell us about that? South Africa is in the happy position of a dominant political party dominating the political scene for the 20 years. So did the Congress party in the first 30 years. But since then, we've had other political parties. It's too early to predict the outcome of the election. We have not had a single party with a clear majority since 1991. It's most likely that the next government also will be a coalition government. Now, who will lead that coalition government? I'm unable to say. But if you ask me for my preference, I'm ready to say that. In the case of China and another subject, you touched upon it in your first answer. International analysts are saying that the Bank of China is flooding the economy with excessive money supply and that there is too much credit. That's the criticism. Perhaps even a credit bubble such as in the property area. And too many liabilities. The figure that is thrown around is the equivalent of $3 trillion in municipalities in debt. Are you worried? Should we all worry, considering the importance of China and the international economy nowadays? That's a very good question. This is very sensitive. What happened is that when China moved forward very rapidly in the past 10 years, especially after entering the WTO, we embraced the WTO benefits. So the localities, they built up their leverages during the whole process. What we witnessed is that the State Statistics Bureau published the data first of it. It's kind in history in China. In year 2012, year 2011, sorry, for the data of the legacy, the stock of the loans followed by local government by the end of year 2010. That is $11 trillion in being Chinese. And by the end of last year, after two years roughly, and the State Statistics Bureau published the figure once again, the latest census showed us that figure coming out is about $21 trillion instead of $11 trillion. You can see the spiral now. And the good news is that China is determined to bring the transparency and information disclosure to the market. And underneath the total amount, they have classified items, province by province, about their gearing ratio and their leverage legacy. This is a very good practice because you put everything under the same line. And I think it caught a lot of attention globally, not only in China. And yes, the figure is increasing. Then next step, people will automatically keep the game. How about the quality of that assets and how about the quality of that borrowing? Where the money goes? So that is a very good question. And we raise these things, put under the sunlight, and let people think. And then next step, I think the government already showed the roadmap. The first thing, number eight is we will set up the new rules and the legislation. And we have clear-cut rules regarding the borrowing on the platform's local government, which province could borrow the money, which couldn't, if allowed, what kind of limitation they are facing. For example, they got to do their homework seriously to give the public the balance sheet, cash flow statements, profit and loss counts. And also they put everything on the website as other tax authorities does. And then they will calculate the funding cost and to disclose where the money goes. And furthermore, item B is the central government decide to reform our tax session system and make sure that the division of the homework done by the central government and the local government will be redefined. And according to that roadmap and the redefinition, then the resources will be redefined as well. So that is the second step. The rule over, the rule out of the VAT reform, instead of business tax, the Chinese will wipe out the business tax very soon. Instead, we will use the westernized VAT. And that is part of the reduction of the burden of the local government and enterprises. And that we will nourish more ideas about this issue. And that we also harness all the banks to do the due diligence from time to time and once again, and to make sure that the exposures could be measurable and the risk could be controllable. If not, then according to the risk exposure, all the banks must build up their capitals and provisioning extra. So this work has already stopped and it never stops until we clean up everything. I think it's about time to hear from you. Make sure to wait for the microphone because the interpreter needs it and the recording also requires it. So we're open to questions from the audience. There's a gentleman here and another one there. Let's take some questions in pairs. This gentleman here. Thank you for the opportunity. My name is Salil Shetty. I'm the Secretary General for Amnesty International. I want to just start by saying that the overall question really is linked to the interplay between economic growth and human rights. I want to get some... A question. You're not going to make a speech. The question really is about the relationship between the two. I want to say that consistently we've exposed the double standards of Western governments about human rights, whether it's the fifth year anniversary of Guantanamo Bay not being closed after President Obama promised it, NSA snooping from the US government, including the president of Brazil. So let's take that as a given. My question is to BRICS leaders. The BRICS countries and constitutions have committed themselves to human rights. So that's a good thing. So if... Is the magic bullet for the next stage of economic growth actually to liberate significant proportions or sections of the population in the BRICS countries to actually have access to human rights? It's women, indigenous people, minorities, if they get it. Do you think that's the breakthrough? The gentleman over here. Thank you. Marcelo Neri, Minister of Strategic Affairs from Brazil. Getting a bit on this question, on human rights. The point that the biggest risk in the world, as pointed in the mentioned research that was mentioned, is inequality. How you see internal inequality. How is the median Russian, South African, because you're talking about countries. Brazil, how about Brazilians, Russians, Indians, etc. How do you see in the next stage the role of social policies and the connection with internal markets and consumption? Okay, let's hold there for a moment. So these two questions. Who would like to volunteer? Since you're closer to me, I volunteer you. You're volunteering me. Well, we recognize that human rights must be respected. Every violation of human right must be investigated and punished. Let me also tell this audience, denial of access to drinking water, to sanitation, denial of access to basic healthcare. Those are gross violations of human rights. So a developing country laying out money to ensure that people get food, people get drinking water, sanitation, access to healthcare, that's ensuring that people enjoy human rights. Development is the answer to many human rights violations in poor and emerging economies. But there are other violations of human rights that take place. Gender injustice, crimes against women and children, caste discrimination, religious discrimination. Those violations of human rights must be investigated and punished. India is an open democracy. We are proud that we are an open liberal democracy. We will defend the human rights of every individual in India. At the same time, we are conscious that poverty denies people human rights and the elimination of poverty is the best assurance of human rights. Would anybody like to add something to it? The government of Brazil places great importance of moving forward in human rights. We have been working intensively in Brazil to implement broad-reaching rights and access to human rights. In the following ways, reducing poverty. Over the last ten years, Brazil has reduced absolute poverty by 90%. Secondly, social inequality. This is a problem that increased during the financial crisis in most countries. Inequality increased. Whereas in Brazil, we reduced inequality during that same period. Guaranteeing a good job during the crisis, we saw unemployment grow throughout the world. While in Brazil, we have virtually full employment. People are working and earning more. In addition to that, there have been other advances such as what Minister Sidi Bahans mentioned related to health, education, sanitation. These are all priority areas to the Brazilian government. Right next to her to make it easy for the microphone. Right there. Right there. Raise your arms over here right now. Thank you, sir. I am from Yes Bank in India. Sir, when BRICS started, there was energy. There was synergy. And the sigma of that in my judgment was kinetic energy. Today, sir, as I listen, that there are a lot of individual cases which are being presented. The fact of the matter is the world is looking forward to in this panel today to define the opportunities between emerging markets. And emerging markets are still the best in terms of growth, best in terms of demographics, best in terms of the ability to consume even the developed pockets supply. So a lot of our discussions are somewhat political. It does help to see how can we really connect the economic equation between the BRICS and revive what started with a lot of enthusiasm and is still a very good equation. Thank you. The gentleman there. Hello, I'm Ilan Goldberg from Itaú Bank. The global context is changing. The next five years will not be equal to the last five. It looks like the global economy is recovering, at least partly, which is a good sign. But at the same time, we are seeing normalization of monetary policy. Financial conditions globally will be tighter. So my question to you is, are you concerned with that or are you more relaxed as the global economy is recovering? In long run, I think the whole global economy is recovering, led by the recovery in the US. This is conspicuous. If you look back, the equity performed there outperformed the other countries by 30% roughly, 27 to 30% year. But in short term, the reverse movement of the QE could spill out huge shocks in these areas. I am more relaxed. So simply put, my suggestion is pull the cards closer to your chest. So the year to come, we must bring the bankers. We must do the due diligence more seriously. We must master the risk of the liquidity as a top priority. How thick the capital adequacy is and the structure of how better the structure of your capital is. It doesn't matter much. The problem is that if you can master a good mastery of intraday liquidity on a consolidated basis, on group-wise basis, then you will win. Definitely we will see a huge volatility in capital flows and greater rotation of risk debitals. Mr. Gauden, would you like to add something to that? Yes, I think we must accept that the kind of growth patterns and dynamism that we saw from certain areas of the world isn't going to continue forever. We should accept that we are, if you like, in a new transition to a new, new normal, if you can use that phrase, what exactly will characterize the new, new normal is not clear, but clearly it won't be the growth rates that we've seen before. Hopefully there will still be a return to investment, particularly fixed investment in this sort of atmosphere. And in this context, it's going to be a test for the G20 in particular if we can get coordinated macro-policy. So whilst my colleague from China says we're going to get a bit of turbulence as a result of tapering of QE, at the same time as my colleagues who participate in the G20 will say in the last four months, there's been a lot of debate within the G20 to manage tapering properly, to communicate effectively, and to create as much predictability and certainty as the tapering process unfolds. I think many in the Fed have heard us, particularly from the developing countries, quite effectively, and so there are going to be some shifts, but hopefully those shifts are not going to be shocks. The second point is that BRICS is not dead, nor are the emerging markets dead. The narratives change as they often do in fashionable terms. I think we must be careful not to forget that we are an interconnected community of nations and economies, that we are also interdependent, that at different stages, now in shorter periods and longer periods, it will be either developed countries or the developing countries that will take the lead, contribute more or less to global growth, but unless all of us see all of the world as opportunities for growth and opportunities for investment, we're not going to get the rebalancing that is actually required in the global economy, nor are we going to see new poles of growth and demand developing as well. That's what the emerging market story is about at the end of the day. So if you take a global multipole of you, then these are ructions that we've got to live through and manage effectively on the one hand, but that shouldn't amount to such massive swings in the narrative, which often as some people have described in the last day shifts in fashion. You know, red is in fashion one day and blue on another day. We've also got to look at some consistency in the way this works. I also want to take this opportunity to say that in South Africa we also value human rights and I share the comments of my colleagues. We have a very modern constitution, a bill of rights that acknowledges socioeconomic rights in very explicit terms, and what I've described earlier on in terms of government programs, all contributions to making sure that all 50, 55 million people who live in South Africa enjoy full human rights and human dignity, which is absolutely crucial. Thank you. Minister Dwork? Just very briefly, we do not see any real recovery. We are concerned very much about what's going on in the world. All those signs of recovery from our perspective are not sustainable yet. In the United States, still lose monetary policy helps to grow a little bit, but that level is still unsustainable. At some point, yes, Fiat will have to tighten at least a little bit. It's not clear whether energy prices will be as low as now for a long time. Shell oil development, we just don't know whether it's forever or prices will recover at some point and costs will go up again in the United States. Of course, Russia would like the prices to go up. The rest of the group would like the prices to go down. Well, our new sources of growth are not in oil and gas. As I mentioned, new sources of growth are in other industries. But more importantly, Europe, 0.4 is not growth. It's zero, 0.4. And it's clear that at some point the ECB will have to relax its policy to support growth. Otherwise, Europe is not going to have any growth. Banks will have to adopt Basel III now. They will have to tighten, as was mentioned, their policies and find new instruments to finance SMEs. It's very difficult to give just loans. What you're saying that George Soros should go back to worrying about Europe instead of the BRICS? Well, we are not separated from the rest of the world. We are dependent on Europe and the United States. BRICS are a part of the global economy. It's important to understand. Questions? A gentleman over here, a lady over there. Yes, Juan Garrido from Lima, Peru. Milton Friedman famously said that political freedom reforms normally follow economic freedom reforms. I would like to ask China if we will see political reforms in the medium or term. If we're not going to see one political party, we're going to see elections and many parties. Thank you. Just a second if you could hold for the second question. Sheila Nahi with Enphase Energy. Mr. Ming Kang, you referenced the immense problem of pollution in China, and I would just like to know from all of the panelists, do any of you support a carbon tax? Or in the alternative, do you support a policy that levels the playing field between the fossil fuel energy and the renewable energy industry? Okay, very quickly, because that will run off time. And to answer your question, political reform must go in line with economic reform. And the sequence is that economic reform will take a half step forward to nourish the basic fundamentals and then you can better people's lives because real law is some equality on economic way. And in the meantime, that will give you the backfire than to push the political reform. You've got to think about that. And Chinese new leaders already started political reform. We are thinking about how to nourish the new rules and the laws. And also we have already waged a huge campaign of fighting against corruption from top down and from bottom up. Any corrupt fries and any corrupt tigers will be caught according to the rule of law. And in the meantime, only in three months, we abolish the system of label camp to show respect to the human rights because the young people who are doing some wrong doings against the rules and laws, should be educated, not necessarily put behind the bars. The full stop, nationwide full stop of the label camp. So that's the basic answer to you. And that question is closely linked with the human rights. We must improve our human rights. It's a long and important mission. We must bear that in mind. But when we have the poverty and inequality and the pollution everywhere, we must make sure that well is our focus. Okay? But having said that, we can never forget human rights is a very important thing. We got to build up and prove ourselves all along the way forward. And to answer your question, yes, we approve the carbon tax implementation, but make sure that there's no recipe in economic life. Incrementing carbon tax can bring us a double-edged sword. Okay? So it must go side by side for the big market like China, side by side with the carbon trade system, the cap and the trading system, to encourage the people and give them motives to move forward to kill the pollutants and to reduce the carbon and monitor his carbon footprint while he is working on. That is something you can never nourish by carbon tax. But the carbon tax is very, you know, feasible and very quick. But in long run, you got to bring the market forth. To be a decisive one. To motivate people to do the right things in long run. China is stopped to do that. If you want to see the cap and the trade system, please go to Guangdong. And if you want to talk with the carbon tax scheme, you can talk to the more people. They'll nourish the scheme very quickly. Thank you very much. I think, you know, time flies when we're having fun. It's been an hour already. And we have to close this. There will be other people taking over the room. I appreciate you being here. I think we've come to the consensus over here that the BRICS are not dead. They may be taking a nap, but they will wake up soon. I'm not sure everybody agrees. How do we have a midlife crisis? No midlife crisis either. Maybe they just need to buy a sports car. They're far from midlife. Thank you very much. You're very young. Thanks for coming.


Thank you very much Firstly we would like to thank our colleagues and friends at harm doctrine international for this platform and the amazing effort that has been put into making this conference possible We would like to thank you for such an intense and concentrated opportunity to strengthen our knowledge and build our capacities of Carrying out our work towards the recognition and fulfillment of the human rights of people who use drugs We equally applaud much of the work that we have heard documented at this conference however, we urge caution in spite of increasing recognition of the centrality of a human rights-based approach to the HIV response and to a greater degree the response to Hepatitis C harm reduction is increasingly being reduced both in understanding and in practice to a biomedical approach and a set of technical interventions and palliative strategies This reinforces and is driven by the pathology Pathologization of drug use and of people who use drugs it effectively works as a way of sustaining the intense stigma and Marginalization to which people who use drugs are subject it neutralizes many other Possibilities of growth and evolution that would emerge from a community-driven approach We are concerned by the ongoing moralistic and stigmatizing definition of drug use as Intrinsically negative and wrong something to be condemned and cured from Rather than the small set of specific interventions that have historically formed the core of the HIV-driven response to injecting drug use Inputs like many of you with views harm-doction as a human rights response aimed to Improving quality of life. This not only applies to people who inject opiates, but people who use all kinds of drugs That by historical accident have been deemed criminal immoral and undesirable Harm reduction properly understood aims to mitigate many of the negative aspects of punitive prohibition To to this end input has produced the documents this one lunch before this conference entitled consensus statement on drug use under prohibition human rights health and the law The document is driven by the experiences and voices of people who use drugs in different places around the world People who have suffered systematic human rights violations fueled by misinformation and stigma Reinforced by political and economic interests. We're cautiously optimistic about the recent UNO DC paper of which many of us are aware But we believe that crucial issues have still not been addressed the wording of the conventions upon which punitive prohibition rests embeds discrimination and marginalization into drug policies It is only by addressing these conventions themselves that we will be able to truly remove the dominant punitive and the humanizing responses to drug use Be they routine incarceration, torture, violence, harassment, execution, extrajudicial killings, domestic intrusion, removal of child custody, forced sterilization, forced abortion or so-called Rehabilitation and mental treatment which has so often be used as means of control and the method by which our community The community of people who use drugs are framed as inherently problematic and in need of intervention We re-emphasize that a person who uses drugs as any other human being has the right to protection of their human rights Their human rights must be respected by the rule of law People who use drugs have the right to access the highest attainable health services and quality of life to have authority over their own body and decisions and to Cognitive liberty. This means the freedom of deciding over our state of consciousness or awareness as we may so choose The only ways to guarantee these rights and ensure that people who use drugs are able to achieve the recognition of a rights addresses the profound structural violence Discrimination and oppression to which we are subject and shake off all the pervasive stigma that has been attached to us is The complete dismantling of punitive prohibition Complete and an unbiased review of the international conventions and and then to the so-called war on drugs We're really stressed that these war on drugs is a war on people Human beings have been using psychoactive drugs for thousands of years psychoactive plan psychoactive animal based Substances and it is due to prohibition and the so-called war on drugs that harms associated with drugs with drug use are now Endemic and routine. We ask that you respect people who use drugs as experts on their own lives and their own lived realities It is only through respect Solidarity and compassion that we can move forward now as before we stress nothing about us without us So let's work together Towards a better world for everyone and for people who use drugs specifically. Thank you so much


With David Cohn, I'm Nancy Newman. It's that time. We're heading to the stretch run of spring training So we're going to do a spring training report card. Sounds good. Sounds good to me Let's start with the pitching Garrett Cole as advertised He was a little sick earlier in the week, but he's looking good now. He I mean he came out his first game through In 99 hours an hour So this guy is certainly a number one starter the guy you want leading your staff and also a leader too He's already taken charge of the clubhouse and kind of teaching talking to people getting to know people I think he's just been perfect a perfect fit for the Yankees. He brings it on the field every single day You can see the intensity and you can also see that he's a willing teacher. He really is I mean His first press conference was done so well I mean his introduction to the New York Yankee fan base couldn't have gone better and then one step at the time You know every step of the way he's been Right on point You know, I think Yankee fans are just gonna love this guy And I know you've had a chance to spend some good time with him good conversation What's your biggest takeaway from that? You know the thing I love is his curiosity. He's never satisfied He wants to learn his craft and that's that's right in my wheelhouse. That's as you know I mean you never stop learning in this game and he respects The players that came before him, but yet he's also kind of new school So he's got that good balance of old and new and he's just always looking for an edge Looking for a piece of information that he can use and I know you've always got an eye on the next wave The young guys coming up how great for them to have him showing the way Absolutely, that's that's the guy you want me and setting the example for a lot of the young guys And for me, you know when you look at the next wave of arms coming up through the Yankee system It's exciting and there's some great great talent on the way knocking on the door probably we'll see them this year at some point Who's impressed you the most? You know, there's so many I mean Clark Schmidt, you know for a number one draft one through Tommy John surgery is back He's healthy. You know, he's knocking on the door. Davey Garcia is right there Michael King I mean the list goes on and on the arms that are on on the way in the Yankee system It's really exciting if you're a Yankee fan, there's a lot of great arms on their way and that number five starter It is open. So there are decisions ahead there. There really are I mean There's roster considerations whether you're on the 40 man or not Certainly some of the young guys are falling into that right now, but when their time comes, they're gonna be ready And the Yankees are gonna have choices Jonathan the wise he has been great this spring He may be that the shoe in for the number five guy right now But you're gonna need more more than five starters as we've seen in years past. So it's more like the next five Right, it's like ten starters. Yeah at times throughout the season. So I I think the Yankees have incredible depth right now Yeah, we're seeing that already and before we move on Jordan Montgomery has looked terrific this spring. Yeah, it's a great story I mean, you know, we saw him, you know, and his really is rookie year He was probably the best rookie pitcher, you know three years ago when he was in 2017 when he was Breaking in with the Yankees and we thought wow, this guy's gonna be around a long time Had the Tommy John surgery and he's come back even better. He's throwing harder He looks like he's hungry and how could he not be?  Yes, he's very confident. He knows because he had success here. So he knows he belongs It's not like he's trying to establish himself. He's just coming back from injury So it's just a matter of him getting back out there again and doing what he knows he can do more grades to hand out Let's move around the infield glaver every day shortstop DJ every day second baseman early thoughts Yeah, I think you know when you think about the offseason decisions and letting DD Gugorius go Signing you know down the pike a little bit in Philadelphia that I think that was so DJ Love me. You can play second base every day, you know I mean the original plan was for him to move around to be a utility type of player, but he's too good You need him every day at second base He's a cold glove fielder and glaver showed us last year in the first half when DD Gugorius was out that he can play shortstop He's a natural shortstop. He came with the minor league playing shortstop. So, you know, it's I think that's that's the comfort level The Yankees have it's okay We can let we can let him play shortstop play DJ every day at second base and we'll go from there And they'd sign up every day for what DJ did last year. Oh my goodness. Oh, yeah I mean, it's he was just remarkable and you know, I I think you know for a lot of players that come out of Colorado You don't know what you're gonna get and there's kind of a stigma attached to those those guys that come out of Colorado Was at the air or they we know what kind of player are they really we found out You know, DJ LaMay is one of the best players in the game, you know on all both sides of the ball. So He's the guy you want, you know playing every day and penciling him in you don't want him moving around Even though he could do it third base one day first base the next day and I'll put him at second base every day and let's go and Luke Voight and geo your corners. Yes Geo deserves it. He really established himself last year is great with the gloves We know he really came into his own offensively So he deserves a chance to be the everyday third baseman and of course Luke Voight as well I mean his injury issues last year, but his profile is a batter is incredible Is his plate discipline the way he gets on base? his power You know, he another guy when you look at the corners, you think these guys deserve a shot You know, they were they've earned they've earned their way to be the everyday guys Let's address the outfield a lot of activity not all the great kind with the injuries happening to judge, etc it does open some doors and Maybe walking through could be Miguel and do her. Yes Miguel and do her is Certainly somebody everybody's excited to see back and now all of a sudden he's got an outfielders glove And he's gonna play the field and that just increases his Ability to be versatile to jump around and play multiple positions to me the the story is Clint Frazier It's time to find out about Clint Frazier. I mean he's been a top prospect for so many years We saw him last year Offensively really contributed last year and people forget in the first half of the year when the injuries were Hampering the Yankees that he really made a big impact on the Yankees So it's time to find out about Clint and and rightly so he deserves the shot to find out You know exactly how good he can be and Mike talk man very much in the mix as well. Yes another guy that Hey just do his last year really showed what what he can do and You know a guy that's gonna be really counted on this year and aside from the injuries These guys would have been there either way So, you know, it's it's nice to see people like that who came up through the minor leagues They paid their dues They had some success on the big league level and now it's time for them to establish themselves and really cement their status as big league players Let's make a full circle and go back to pitching and the bullpen finishing up there appropriately Your thoughts early impressions Well, that is the strength of the team the backbone of the team is the bullpen When you look they have two closers at the back end of the bullpen the most teams We'd love to have one of those guys when you think about Chapman and Britain at the end of the games Britain is one of the premier closers of his generation and he's the eighth inning guy So that shows you right there the depth they have on the back end and then you fill it on in from there From a lot of vino to Chad Green to Tommy Kainley the list goes on and on how deep they are It's just incredible to me I mean when you think about six seven deep of guys that could do any role If you needed out of a new to close one day, he could close out a game I mean there's four or five different pitchers that have our arms that you'd be comfortable in any role and any To put them in the game and that's a luxury most things don't happen. Yeah, and Ottavino a guy We know has worked very hard at being quicker to the plate Holding runners back. Yes.  That's a big deal. Just giving your catcher a chance To you know, it's not about throwing runners out. It's about slowing the running game down So I think that will really help him this year Especially when he comes into games with his runners on base late in the game So that that could be a big deal for him just to put put a stopgap on you know, the Running consistently on him. So yeah, I think it doesn't surprise me with him because he's the type of guy That's really smart. He's gonna work on his weaknesses and he continues to do so and I have to get a word from you on Gary Sanchez Yes, I think you know, there's a lot of pressure on Gary this year people have high expectations for him He set the bar so high when he first broke in a few years ago when you think about 2017 You know, everybody thought oh my this guy's a world be here And he's kind of a victim of how high he set the bar back in 2017 But he's still to me one of the most talented catchers in the game With the injuries to judge in Giancarlo early in the season He's gonna be in the middle of that lineup So there's even more pressure on him to really you know re-establish himself But I think when you think about the other catchers around the game He's right at the top of the list, you know among among the top three or four best catchers in the game And finally early season prognostication. What are you seeing for this team? Oh, I see high expectations I see incredible depth up and down the roster They have a good farm system that can support if somebody gets hurt or to be able to supplement throughout the year I think the Yankees they've been knocking on the door for the last three years It's it's sort of a world series or best type of year for them and rightly so and Aaron brings an excellent leader He really has he's established himself He's very comfortable in his own skin. You could see him really coming to his own over the last couple years He's the manager the Yankees knows it the fan base loves him now He is well established to take this team for the next one. Let it for the season. Yes. Let's get going David Cohn ready to go


Tonight on EKB Evening News at 6, communities around the region are still waiting for help from FEMA. Good evening, everyone. I'm Jill Dotson. And I'm Gary Sloan. Cindy Mae Johnson is off tonight. The city of Williamson, West Virginia and Floyd County, Kentucky are in limbo when it comes to FEMA. Both areas have applied for extra assistance, but are now waiting to hear whether they will be awarded funding for recovery and repairs from this winter's severe weather. EKB News reporter Shelby Steele talked to officials in both areas and brings us this report. A declaration from FEMA regarding assistance for the severe storms in the city of Williamson, West Virginia during March 3rd through 14th has been announced. Representatives from FEMA visited the city of Williamson Thursday afternoon to discuss details of damages from the storm. Williamson Fire Chief Joey Carey says this will be a difficult but fairly quick process. This is going to be a lot of documentation that they're requesting, but the process is going to move really quickly. I will be in contact and working, you know, alongside of Jason, who is a project manager for Viola and handles the utilities and the city works in the street department. Carey explains once the money becomes available it will be dispersed to a lot of different areas. The money that we're going to be receiving is reimbursements for expenditures that the city was out during that time to pay overtime and fuel for our trucks. Meanwhile, Floyd County, Kentucky is also in limbo with FEMA. If approved for the final application sent to FEMA, Floyd County will have four different declarations in four months. Floyd County Judge Executive Ben Hell says once a declaration is announced, FEMA will assess the damages caused by severe weather. Their individuals will be coming in and actually going out and looking at the individual sites and writing up what we call PWs, project worksheets. And once those are approved by FEMA, then we are allowed then to go in and fix them back the way they were pre-disaster. Hell explains that it is important for residents to remain patient as they are hashing out the final details in regards to receiving federal assistance. People need to understand that if we can get these declarations, which we have, then we'll be able to fix the roads that were torn up, complete it and fix them back the way they were and then when we get reimbursed on it, we'll be able to take that money and take it and do other roads. For EKB Evening News at 6, I'm Shelby Steele. To wrap up National Police Week, the Pikeville City Police Department joins city, county and state law enforcement agencies from across Pike County at the Billy Johnson stage just outside the East Kentucky Exposition Center in downtown Pikeville. A short ceremony was held and different law enforcement officials spoke on behalf of their department to pay tribute to those who paid the ultimate sacrifice by giving their lives for their communities. A memorial parade was held immediately following the ceremony. Pikeville Police Chief Phillip Reed described the day as a wonderful opportunity. Today, we have a ceremony, you know, all the different agencies were able to gather together as one. We were able to be there for the families of the individuals that have lost their lives in the line of duty in Pike County to allow us all together in one spot to show our appreciation to them as well as appreciation to all the law enforcement that's still active. It was just a great opportunity to be able to do that here today. This was the final event to take place in honor of National Police Week. One Martin County man is dead. Another is in jail. After an accident while the two were allegedly stealing copper yesterday. The Martin County Sheriff's Office as Charlie Walker Jude had climbed a tower at a substation at the Van Leer Mine at Meathouse when he came in contact with a 70,000-volt electrical line. Jude died at the scene. His cousin, an alleged accomplice, 27-year-old Stephen Michael Jude, was arrested and charged with second-degree burglary, possession of burglar tools, trespassing and criminal mischief. He remains lodged in the Pike County Regional Detention Center. The Williamson Fire Department has been short-handed for a while with the resignation of the previous fire chief and a longtime fire official moving to work in Tennessee. Current fire chief Joey Carey is in the process of hiring three new firefighters in hopes of getting the department back up to full strength. Carey explains that since the department is short-staffed right now, the men are having to work overtime and sometimes only one man is at the fire department when there used to be two. Carey adds that in order to move further in the process, the fire department, along with the mayor and city officials, needs to hire a new board member for the Civil Service Board which helps administer the test for those who are hoping to be hired. The City Williamson Fire Department is under civil service so there's a lot of guidelines that we have to go through from the state in order to have a hiring process. The Williamson Fire Department has not set a date for when firefighter applications need to be turned in, but if you would like to be considered by the Civil Service Board, you must be a resident in the City of Williamson. Floyd County magistrates today entered into agreements with the cities of Whiteland and Wheelwright to provide animal control service in those communities. Under the agreement, the county's animal control officer will operate the city's boundaries. Now County Judge Executive Ben Hale said the county will only step in to address certain specific problems. Once it's approved, then we'll be able to go into their cities for vicious, dangerous, or diseased animals. If it's just strays or they're having a problem with it and they're not a dangerous or vicious animal, then they can take them to the shelter, but when it becomes a problem that they don't have the equipment to be able to pick up these vicious or dangerous or diseased animals, then we'll be allowed to go into those cities and help them with that. The agreement approved today will continue until December 31, 2018. Coming up, Prestonburg is looking for ways to revitalize downtown. Virginia Wally State Reserve Park hosted area senior citizens in competition today. We'll be back in two minutes. Tuesday is election day in Kentucky with primary races on the ballot for state constitutional offices such as the governor and attorney general. But while the importance of the election is high, interest in the races appears to be low. Secretary of State Alison Lundgren-Grimes is predicting as few as 10 percent of Kentuckians will head out to the polls on Tuesday. Alison said she hopes that prediction turns out to be low. We are just a few short days away from a May 19 primary where we hope all eligible Kentuckians will get out and have their voice heard by voting. It's not enough just to register, you've got to make it to the polls on election day and this year we have all of our statewide constitutional officers up from our governor and lieutenant governor, auditor, secretary of state, attorney general, commissioner of agriculture and we want to make sure that everyone across the Commonwealth gets out and cast their vote on May 19th. Pulse will be open this Tuesday from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. local time. EKB-TV and the radio stations of East Kentucky Broadcasting will bring you the results afterward. The 30th annual Big Sandy Senior Games were held today at Geniwale State Resort Park drawing competitors from all across the Big Sandy Area Development District. EKB news reporter Shelby Steele attended the games and brings us this report. The rain didn't stop the fun today here at the Dewey Dam Recreational Center where Big Sandy Senior Games were held. 350 participants, 50 years and older, got the chance to compete in different activities during the 30th annual Big Sandy Senior Games. Lead case manager for Big Sandy Add, Stacey Hall says this is their biggest event. They're able to get out and socialize and also have fitness, they look forward to this every year. They love to come out here and try to win those gold medals. We love their smiling faces and believe me, they're ready to compete. Hall adds that there are many different events and new activities were added this year. They can participate in shuffleboard. We got a softball toss, cornhole, horseshoes, softball toss. We have an archery this year that's a medaled event, lawn bowling. We have about 10 events that they can participate in and we also added this year just for our 30th annual some fun events. We have a cookie stacker contest, Johnny Applestack and a breakfast scramble with cereal boxes. Hall explains that over 100 volunteers are needed to make this event possible each year. If you would like to volunteer or participate in next year's games, contact the Big Sandy Add. For EKB Evening News at 6, I'm Shelby Still. Like many communities around the region, Prestonsburg is looking to revitalize its downtown district. Last night, the city held a meeting to discuss ways to do exactly that. EKB News reporter Courtney Lovern attended the meeting and tells us what is being considered. Prestonsburg City Hall was the site for the first-ever economic development meeting in the city of Prestonsburg. Four businesses from downtown showed up to brainstorm with Mayor Les Stapleton on ways that their business and downtown Prestonsburg could be improved. We're going to try to bring interest back to downtown and get people in there. Now that being said, we're going to use downtown as a springboard to also go to these other clusters of businesses we have out in town and let everybody feed off each other. And what we're trying to do is get people involved. You know, they're the ones got to be as a state of who comes and goes. We want them to tell us what we can do to help them increase their business. The meeting was set up by new economic development director Miranda Hicks and several ideas were considered. Some of the ideas mentioned included randomly selected zip codes wherein the residents of that zip code could bring their ID to participating businesses and get a discount on their purchase. Another idea discussed was to stay open later one Friday out of the month and also include music and car shows on those nights to generate a more marketable downtown area. We are, we're very quaint and it's original quaint. It's not been remodeled. It's not been redone. It's not been tweaked here and there. I mean, we're an original town and I think that we need to capitalize on that part downtown and then bring everything else in as it goes. For EKB Evening News at 6, I'm Courtney Levering. Coming up on EKB Evening News at 6, parents and fans rallied last night in support of an embattled baseball coach. But first, EKB chief meteorologist Lathan Hopkins will be in to tell us how the weekend weather is looking. We'll be back in two minutes. Well, it was a really, really nice day to end the week. We've had beautiful temperatures very mild this week, a little bit of rain this afternoon and I'm afraid that's going to stick around for the rest of the weekend. You know, just in time for the weekend, the rain would return to the forecast. As you mentioned, I had a few showers earlier this morning and to the early afternoon, those long gone now. Doppler radar showing well, just that a dry Doppler radar across our region. But we do have showers and thunderstorms in central parts of the state that we will watch very spotty in nature, very isolated. You have to look all the way back into western parts of Kentucky, into Indiana, western parts of Tennessee before you see any real scattered showers and thunderstorms. Now, I think that will be changing though as we make our way into the day tomorrow. Let's talk about temperatures. We had the rain earlier, as Jill mentioned, but once the sun broke out of the cloud cover, this is what happened. Temperatures rebounded into the low 80s for most of us. 81 Pikeville, Prestonburg, Paintsville, Logan, 81 in Weitzberg. We have 83 in Sowersville, 84 in Williamson, 78 right now in Dorton, and in Wise, Virginia. The official high today went down in the record books at 82 degrees. The official low 63 above normal once again, 74 and 54, where we should be this time of the year. Officially at the National Weather Service office in Jackson, we picked up about a quarter inch of rain. It puts us about two inches below average for the month, but as you can see, still a well above average for the year. Sunrise tomorrow morning is the days keep getting longer and longer, 6.20 sunset at 8.33. We're going to show you the satellite and radar composite across the entire eastern half of the country. And what I want you to pay close attention to, not really the showers and storms to our west, where we generally would look for our weather. You have to look down to the south and notice all the showers and thunderstorms developing from Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia. This is some of the moisture that will gradually be heading right toward eastern Kentucky, southwest Virginia and western West Virginia here over the next 24 hours. I'm going to show you one of the computer forecasting models and show you what it's predicting. You can see drive through much of the overnight hours. Then with the heating of the day, notice all the blue and the green showing up on the map. That's those scattered showers and thunderstorms. Once we get to tomorrow night, we lose those. And then in Sunday, here we go again. Another round of those scattered showers and thunderstorms expected all the way through Tuesday, as a matter of fact. Again, this is mainly going to be an afternoon and evening event, but could put down locally heavy rainfall across the region. We do need a little rain. I know it's hard to believe after the month of April, where we had about eight inches of rain above average for the month, but we do need a little rain across the region. So not a bad thing. The only bad thing about it, it's happening on the weekend.  Of course, with the rain moving in, 6.0 tomorrow in the moderate category. With the 50% chance of rain on Sunday, 8.5, which puts us back into the high category. And then right back down in the moderate categories, we head into Monday. Your seven day forecast, 70% chance of rain for Saturday, 50% chance of rain Sunday. Right back to a 70% chance on Monday, temperatures in the low 80s. By Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, we are in the low to mid 70s. And we start to dry things out by the middle to the latter part of next week. Looking good next week. So rain just in time for the weekend, but... Yeah, fortunately. But the gardeners are saying, thank goodness, we need a little rain. They need to plant their tomatoes this weekend. They do indeed. It's very important. You will be on that. I will be. We all will. All right, Latham, thank you. Each Friday, EKB Showcase is one of the many local attractions in our region where you can satisfy a thirst for nature or for adventure. Tonight, videographers Ronnie Hilton and Charles Mim takes us to one of Eastern Kentucky's most beautiful locations, Letcher County's Bad Branch Falls. This week, we took a ride over Pine Mountain and Letcher County to visit the Bad Branch State Nature Preserve. The Nature Preserve encompasses a pristine mountain gorge featuring a 60-foot waterfall, a high-quality stream, and numerous species of flora and fauna. Beginning at the trailhead located on the southern side of Pine Mountain in Letcher County, the hiker has a mile-long hike along an old logging road until they reach Bad Branch Falls. The trail follows a mountain stream through a densely-wooded forest featuring a couple stream crossings and a moderate uphill climb. Venomous snakes, although rare, are in the area, so it is wise to stay on the marked trail. About three quarters of a mile into the hike, you will come to a fork in the trail. The trail to the right will take you onto the falls, while going straight will take you another 2.4 miles to High Rock on top of Pine Mountain. From this point on, the trail becomes slightly more difficult as the hiker climbs over rocks and boulders to reach the falls. Be sure to wear sturdy shoes if you hike this trail. This isn't the place for flip-flops and sandals. After climbing uphill for approximately a quarter-mile, you will catch your first glimpse of the falls. Plummeting 60 feet over a sandstone cliff, the water descends into Bad Branch Gorge and eventually flows downstream to meet up with the port fork of the Cumberland River. The water runs crystal clear here and the mist from the waterfall offers a refreshing cool-down after you've climbed up to the falls. Giant boulders dot the stream bottom while towering sandstone cliffs loom overhead, completely dwarfing the hiker.  The Bad Branch State Nature Preserver is definitely one of Eastern Kentucky's prime jewels, showcasing just how beautiful our region really is. If you're looking for a little adventure in a truly amazing place, take a hike up the Bad Branch Falls. You'll be glad that you did. For EKB Evening News at 6, I'm Ronnie Hilton. Wow, that's beautiful. Absolutely gorgeous. Gonna put that on my bucket list. Absolutely. Well, we'll be back with jammin' Jamie Johnson with Sports in Two Minutes. Well, the Reds continue their role. Yeah, they went streaking last night. Three in a row. I'll tell you about that in a minute. First though, over 100 parents, fans, and current past and past players from Prestonburg High School's baseball team held a meeting following last night's game against Painesville in support of the Black Cats head coach, Shane Simpkins, who has been told that he would have to reapply for the baseball head coaching position next season despite winning 96 games the past five seasons, three all-A regional championships, and finishing in the final eight of the state baseball tournament after winning the 15th region championship in 2013. Those in attendance verbally gave a vote of no confidence in Prestonburg High School's decision to let go of a coach that's impacted so many lives. What we have to do is show the people. And I'm talking about the TV cameras. I'm talking about sports cancels. I'm talking about social media.  Let people know. If we don't pay the stand right now, we'll lose the baseball coach. The decision to rehire Simpkins falls squarely on the shoulders of Prestonburg Principal Jerry Butcher. A petition in support of coach Simpkins will be collected and some plan a campaign on social media to inform alumni, parents, and citizens of what's going on at their school. Because there's a lot of smart people in this crowd. We got a mayor. I've seen doctors and lawyers and dentists. You know, it's obvious where it starts at. It don't start at the bottom. Starts at the top. You get your superintendent. If he don't want to do his job, get him out. You get your principal. He don't want to do his job. Get him out. You fix those two things.  Interesting candidates would be able to apply for the job through June 30th. Now some at the meeting feel that the coaching position has already been fueled for next year. Thus, the motivation behind this move is about the show of support. Many feel that nothing will be done to change the outcome. And I don't have a child playing baseball.   So I'm here as a past parent. I think whatever goes to Butcher, because it will disappear. Go to this board meeting.  And again, I'll say this, Shane knows he's got support. I'm telling you, until you take down the top guys, this is not the next guy. The next guy coming in is going to get the same support. But you know how long he's going to last? It's going to continue to happen. Parents are planning a demonstration walk across from Prestonsburg High School next Friday before graduation in support of Coach Simpkins, who made this statement today to EKB Sports. Quote, it was incredible to see people who came out to support not only me, but Prestonsburg Baseball and the kids last night. It was a very humbling experience to see that number of people and see how myself and baseball have affected and reached so many people. As for the action on the field, the black cats found themselves trailing Painesville 16-nothing in the bottom of the fourth. Scott Stapleton, with runners on first and third, slaps this single to right field, driving in the first run of the night for Prestonsburg. Stapleton would steal second base just because he can. Two runners now in scoring position, senior Jaren Hall with a dunk to third. Bearhand and grab, but the throw pulls the first baseman off the bag while there were another run to score. Prestonsburg trying to get back in this ball game. Next, Grant Martin with this dribbler back to third base and bad news bears. Another bad throw. Two more runs would score. The rally, though, would come up short. Painesville hangs on for a 19-eight win. Other scores, Alan Central took down MacGuffin County 17-4. Belfrey took care of Sheldon Clark 12-8. Jenkins defeated Betsy Lane 9-6, and Johnson Central shut out Ashland Blazer 10-0. It was Knot County Central over Eastridge 13-6. Lawrence County took care of Pikeville 8-3. Finally, Letcher Central slipped past Pike Central 4-3, and Shelby Valley defeated Sound Floyd 6-5. The Reds last night were going streaking, as I mentioned earlier, looking to put together a three-game winning streak behind a starter Johnny Cueto. We'll pick this up with the conventional two, six, wait for it, wait for it, two, six, five, two, double play if you're scoring it home. Bottom of the fourth, Brian Pena with the bouncing ball to center field. That was scored Todd Frazier, Reds pulled within one. Johnny Cueto last night was solid. Casey McGee, freeze frame. Tim Lensigam last night. He's going to be swatting nets. And Joe Panic, Joe Panic at the disco. Cueto strikes out the side, yet the Reds needed Marlon Bird. Time for me to fly. Bird's eighth home run of the season, hitting 3-42 in the month of May. Reds win their third in a row, 4-3 the final. Reds and Giants continue to visit at Great American Ballpark tonight. Star Wars night tonight's made the four speak with them. The hero of the World Series, Madison Bumgarner will go for San Francisco versus Jason Markey of the Reds. Game time is 7-10 on Hitt City, USA, 98-1, and 104.3 at Phelm, and that is a look at sports. Wow, interesting. Very busy, absolutely. Busy time of year for baseball, too. That it is. Good to see they kind of support for Shane Simpkins. He's only been there going on five years now and to see that kind of support for a program that maybe doesn't get the recognition that maybe football does or other sports at other schools. Good to see the community out last night. Absolutely, Jamie, thank you. We'll be back in two minutes. Well, some showers possible this weekend. No, more than possible. 70% chance of rain in the forecast for tomorrow with temperatures in the low 80s. Again, a 50% chance of rain on Sunday, 70% chance of rain on Monday, and then back into the 70s. And of course you can find the latest forecast in tomorrow's edition of the Appalachian News Express. Okay. Very good. Jamie, what's on tonight? The award ceremony for patient care at Pawville Medical Center as soon as we wrap things up here. Coming up right after the newscast. Well, that will do it for tonight's CKB Evening News. Remember, you can get more local news anytime by listening to the radio stations of East Kentucky Broadcasting. You can also follow EKB News and EKB TV on Facebook. Tonight, we leave you with a tribute to the King of Blues, BB King, who died last night at his Las Vegas home. He was 89 years old. Good night and thanks for watching.


Hey everybody, this is Brian and welcome to the 78th Q-Tutorial with C++ and GUI programming. I'm moving right along in our graphic series. Today we're going to cover gradients. So, put it in the usual place, and of course, Q-Dialog. Next, next, finish, finish. If you're just jumping in for the first time, I have to apologize, I'm still recovering from the flu. So, I may sound a little funny and I may have to pause the video a couple of times. We're just going to add and include a Q-Core and an Include to Q-GUI. And we're going to add a few other Includes here. We're going to add Q-LinearGradient. And then we're going to of course include Q-RadialGradient. And we're going to include Q-, and I can never pronounce this one correctly. ConicalGradient, Q-ConicalGradient. If anybody can pronounce that, send me an MP3 or WAV file or something. Alright, going to Overwrite the paint event. And there we go, now we've got our nice beautiful paint event here. Now, first thing of course we need to do is make a painter object.  Now, we need to make our gradients. Our gradients are actually brushes. Look over here on the left here. You see this, how it's gradient? It starts dark and then it goes light. That's a gradient. So, you've been looking at gradients this whole time and maybe you didn't realize it, but all the gradient is, it's a fancy brush. So, we're going to make a Q-LinearGradient. And we're going to call this Grade 1. And I'm just going to type in some magic numbers here and you're going to have to follow along for the time being. 175. And I know these numbers because I've done this tutorial before. And we're going to say Grade 1 and we're going to say Set Color At. And what Set Color At does is we're defining a gradient. It's going to go from dark to light. And we want to give it certain points where it changes color. So, we're going to say 0.0. We're going to say cute white. And if you're wondering what in the world I'm doing, don't worry. I was very confused the first time I read the tutorial on how to do this. I'm going to just copy and paste this here a little bit. 2 and then we're going to say at 1.0. And we're going to green and of course black. What we're doing is we're defining our gradient. We're going to say at 0.0 it's white. At the .2 mark it turns green and at the 1 mark it turns black. And then we're going to make a Q-Rect. I'm going to say 10. 10 and we're going to make this 200. We've got a nice big rectangle here. Painter and we're going to say Fill Rect. And we give it our Rect. And then we give it to our brush. Which in this case is the Grade 1. Save and run. After it's done building we should get a nice big rectangle on the screen. Maybe. There we go. And there we go. There's our linear gradient. Now linear means it goes in a line. It starts here. It goes here. And here's those numbers we're talking about. 0, 0. Right here. White. And then at .2 it starts green. So here's .2. And then black is at 1. Actually that 1's down here. And it does the math and makes the colors. Now you're going to have to kind of experiment. That's what I was talking about with magic numbers. You're going to have to kind of experiment a little bit with these numbers here. To determine how you want these to look. Like if we set this to let's say 5. Save, run. Let's rebuild this and see just what happens. You notice how 5 is right in the center here. There's our green. Alright. Now what we want to do is we want to make a different kind of brush. So we're going to say Q. Radio gradient. And radio gradient is a little bit different. So we're going to say Grade 2. And the first thing we need to do with the radio gradient is give it a point. So we'll say Q point. And we'll say 100, 100. And then we need to give it a radius. Because you know a radio gradient is different. And we're just going to switch these brushes out here real quick. Just so you can see the difference here. What a radio gradient does. That's a radio gradient. Notice how it's much, much different. So we defined our center point right here at 100, 100. And then we've given it a radius of 100. And it does the gradient from there. And that becomes 0. That becomes 0.5 and that becomes 1. A little confusing I understand. It took me a while to get this. I did not grasp this the first time I went through it. So don't beat yourself up if you're having a hard time following along. The Q documentation is usually very, very good. I don't like to criticize. But this time I did kind of wonder what the heck I just read. I just kind of looked at the documentation and went, what? I don't get it. So we're going to make another point. And we're going to say 100, 100. And we're going to give it a 10. And this is our conical gradient. I think that's how it's pronounced. Now if you're wondering about the linear gradient, I believe this 175 is the angle that it draws it at. I'll play around that in a second here if you want. I just want to show you what the Q conical gradient looks like. No matching function. What did I do wrong here? Silly me. There we go. I should fix the problem. So that is our conical gradient. And I don't know if you can really see it very well, but it does kind of go from white to the dark. I guess because we played around with our numbers a little bit. Let's throw this back to 2. Let's give this 100. Just for a sake of argument, see if that fixes the problem here. Nope, still didn't. But you know how it went from at 10 it was here and at 100 it was here. It's the angle that starts in. So that is the Q conical gradient. Obviously having a hard time getting that working. Let's switch back to the Q linear gradient because I believe that's really what most of you are going to be looking at and using in your projects. Instead of 175, let's just set this to 90 degrees. See what happens here. Yeah, you can see how it goes at 90 degrees now. 175 was kind of across. Let's put it at zero just to see what it does. There's zero. And you can look these up in the help system. And like I said, it's a very descriptive help system, but it kind of left me wondering what I was reading. It took me a while, I'll admit that. It took me a couple of reads through this to figure out what they were really talking about. But I would recommend you read through this and hit a couple of other sources at the internet. Google is your friend. And just kind of get familiar with some of these and see what they're talking about and how they work. Because they have different styles and different things like you can do. But they're called spreads. This is a pad spread. It's kind of like a chrome. And then a repeat spread. So this is Brian. I hope you found this tutorial educational and entertaining. And thank you for watching.


But the thing is, when you break down so many of the major religions, a lot of the tenets are the same, and we kind of believe the same thing inherently. So there's this prevalent myth that says that all religions are basically the same because they all just teach about being a good person, but this couldn't be further from the truth. You see, in the Bible it teaches that no one is good, no one does what is right, everyone has fallen short of the glory of God, and because of that God's judgment is upon us and we are children of wrath by nature.  And he rose again on the third day, defeating death, sin and the devil, all in one. And what we need to do is repent, which means, say God I'm sorry, turn from our sin, trust in Jesus and he will forgive us and give us eternal life in him.