Notable achievements have been made in the area of Juvenile Justice and with regard to more liberal approaches in the criminal justice sector. The Ministry of Justice has been placing the emphasis on promoting restorative justice, alternatives to imprisonment and mediation. This is expected to cut the prison population in Georgia, which is one of the highest prison populations per capita in the world. The results of the nationwide Georgian crime survey carried out in , using international standards and methodology, show that public safety in the country has improved significantly in recent years.
The survey also confirms a gradual growth in public trust towards justice sector institutions. Georgia has also made substantial progress in addressing corruption. Further progress is needed to increase the performance and accountability of law enforcement agencies. Concern over the use of excessive force during apprehension and detention, mistreatment by prison staff, and doubts over the uniformity of the application of the law remain.
The lack of democratic oversight on the part of the Constitutional Protection Department of the Ministry of the Interior is also a concern. The Government of Georgia took several steps to implement its strategy of de-isolation and engagement with the breakaway territories, including stepping up efforts to provide health services to inhabitants of the breakaway regions.
Specifically the provision of healthcare services has been a welcome constructive step towards reconciliation; it is important that it continues without preconditions, such as an insistence on the acceptance of Georgian-issued ID documents by the beneficiaries of medical assistance. Georgia also introduced 'Status Neutral Travel Documents' for travel by inhabitants of the breakaway territories outside Georgia.
These documents constitute an important step forward in Georgia's engagement strategy; but given the strong rejection of the documents by the Abkhaz and South Ossetian de facto authorities thus far, it is important that they exist as an de-isolation option, not as an exclusive means for travel of Abkhaz and Ossetians, so that confidence building and dialogue initiatives are not hindered. In , de facto presidential elections were held in Abkhazia and South Ossetia. The EU did not recognise the constitutional and legal framework within which these elections took place.
The situation around the Administrative Boundary Lines with the breakaway regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia remained relatively stable, but serious incidents were regularly reported. Following a strategic review, the mandate of the EUMM was extended in September for another year. The review concluded that the EUMM had performed its stabilisation and confidence building tasks well, but that the lack of access to breakaway regions still remained a challenge for the full implementation of its mandate.
The government's practice of IDP "resettlements" has remained problematic, although a steady improvement has nevertheless been observed. Ongoing concerns include; the notice and information provided to IDPs on upcoming evictions; inconsistent offers for alternative housing; and lack of consideration for particular vulnerabilities.
As a result, IDP families received new housing. There has also been progress in addressing the overall concerns of IDPs. After a hotline for IDPs was set up and Tbilisi's IDP reception centre upgraded into a comprehensive service centre, four more regional service centres have been recently set up and have significantly improved the quality and efficiency of services provided to IDPs. However, structural and human resource shortcomings within the Ministry of Reintegration remain. Georgia has, to a large degree, respected the principles laid down in to work toward a durable solution to housing problems.
Parliamentary and specific monitoring reports by the PDO have stirred public debates and stimulated concrete changes in government policies. One example is the complete overhaul of the penitentiary healthcare strategy in the wake of PDO reports. The Gender Action Plan was implemented consistently. Significant problems in domestic violence remain, and the State Coordination Mechanism, which was established to promote policies addressing this issue, proved to be dysfunctional.
Women continue to be under-represented in public office. On freedom of religion, one major achievement was the adoption of the amendments to the Civil Code, allowing congregations to register as Legal Entities of Public Law, paving the way for the ownership of properties to be used for worship and religious ceremonies. The property rights and restitution of churches confiscated during Soviet times, however, has still not been resolved.
Ethnic minorities remain poorly represented in state administration, and Georgia has not signed the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. Discrimination on the grounds of sexual orientation remains an issue in Georgian society. Marginalisation of persons with disabilities persists, and Georgia is not yet a signatory of the relevant UN Convention.
There is an increasing concern that property rights are not being fully respected in Georgia. Recently, a significant number of disputes surrounding land development have arisen from the lack of or the lack of clarity of legal titles to land traditionally used by local populations. Another problem concerns cases of the opaque procedures associated with the privatisation of state-owned assets.
Economic and social reform Macroeconomic framework and functioning market economy. After a strong recovery in real GDP growth of 6. The fiscal deficit was reduced from 6. A budget entailing a deficit of 3. Georgia's external economic situation remains fragile due to a large — and widening — current account deficit: The trade deficit, at Georgia's exports continue to suffer from the trade embargo imposed by Russia in The high trade deficit was partly offset by growing tourism revenues and current transfers remittances.
Recovering FDI and official assistance also helped finance the current account deficit.
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Official reserves increased from USD 2. A peak in the public debt roll-over in the coming years represents a concern. Georgia is well advanced towards becoming a functioning market economy, with an impressive improvement in the business climate. The country is about to adopt a new strategy for its future economic development. Accurate poverty figures are not available, but Social Service Agency figures indicate just over a third of the population is below the poverty line.
The unemployment rate, despite the economic recovery, remains the highest in the region and is almost unchanged in relation to levels In the unemployment rate for women The government announced in October a point strategic of socio-economic policy plan to address modernisation and employment, including refining social policies. As part of the package, limited tax exemptions for companies employing people aged were offered to increase employment in this age category.
In July, the Ministry of Education and the employers' and trade unions' sides signed an Agreement on Social Partnership Policy in Vocational Education and Training to improve the process of matching skills with the demands of the labour market. The issue of labour rights continues to be a serious concern, including the insufficient implementation of core ILO conventions, in particular No 87 on Freedom of association and protection of the right to organise and No 98 Right to organise and collective bargaining.
The government has continued a dialogue with ILO, but has not yet given clear indications of steps made regarding necessary legislative amendments that were recommended by ILO in Tripartite social dialogue meetings took place at regular intervals, and the work of the Tripartite Commission resumed in December. The process has yet to deliver in practice a functioning and mutually agreed mediation mechanism between employers including the government as employer and trade unions. In the area of agriculture, the EU and Georgia signed, in July , an agreement on the protection of Geographical Indications.
The Ministry of Agriculture prepared, with EU support, a long term sector strategy which was approved by the Georgian government in March In the area of fisheries, Georgia needs to strengthen the public control over its fishing fleet as some of the vessels operating under its national flag are involved in illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing activities. Bilateral trade continued to improve in at a steady pace year-on-year but has not yet fully recovered for both imports and exports.
Total bilateral trade amounted to EUR 2. Accordingly, EU exports to Georgia increased by However, Georgian exports to the EU are still concentrated in a few commodities of low value added in particular, primary products such as fuels and mining products formed However, benefitting from the above-mentioned is conditional on the country's compliance with the international conventions on human and labour rights, environmental protection and good governance.
Whereas in progress was made in the dialogue of Georgia with the ILO and certain recommendations issued by ILO in were taken on board, Georgia is still expected to address several of them, notably with regard to legislative amendments to the Law on Trade Unions and the Labour Code. However, the reforms undertaken in the trade-related areas are far from complete and Georgia will need to continue them if it is to benefit fully from the future DCFTA, notably by diversifying its export base and attracting foreign direct investment.
Support to key trade-related institutions in the fields of standards, metrology, accreditation and food safety will be provided through the EU programme on Comprehensive Institution Building. A unified Tax Code, with a reduced number of customs code provisions, entered into force in January The power of issuing certificates of origin should be transferred to customs.
A twinning project EUR 1. In July , the government submitted to parliament a Code on Safety and free movement of goods and informed the Commission about plans for a domestic market surveillance system. Georgia organised, for its regulatory bodies, an institutional gap assessment that resulted in an Institutional Reform Plan in July Georgia became an associate member in the European Co-operation in Accreditation scheme in November The Government adopted technical regulations for the safety of lifts July and cableways August as first priority sectors, with the help of an EU twinning project.
Before that, Heard, who was an FE Weapon Systems Officer turned Strike Eagle pilot, had repeatedly decided to break the rules while his teammates were flying just feet away from his aircraft. This included taking the diamond formation supersonic during a transit flight to the Royal International Air Tattoo in the UK back in July of Heard also attempted a loop on takeoff at an airshow in Boise even though weather conditions were below the minimums allowed for the maneuver.
One of the witnesses, who was closest to the two, intervened and broke it up, the report said. Ironically, Heard stated the following when he was selected to head the Thunderbirds in November of I promise to provide adaptive leadership, maintain the standards and fly a safe show. It remains unclear what exactly happened to Heard after being pulled from the Thunderbirds roster, but based on these revelations, doing so seems now like a far more essential move than it did at the time.
All we really knew then was that he had lost the trust of his team and that his focus on safety-or lack thereof-was an issue. Trust is everything in an elite aerobatic demonstration squadron environment. Instead, he was selectively unsafe and fostered an adversarial work environment for his teammates. Senior Air India pilot Arvind Kathpalia, stripped of his flying licence for three years and demoted after failing an alcohol test shortly before he was to command a flight from New Delhi to London on November 11, is set to lose his automatic access to airports.
HT File Photo Senior Air India pilot Arvind Kathpalia, stripped of his flying licence for three years and demoted after failing an alcohol test shortly before he was to command a flight from New Delhi to London on November 11, is set to lose his automatic access to airports. The pass is issued to pilots with valid commercial pilot licence. Senior members of airlines, who often have to visit the airports, are also issued a pass. Kathpalia, who was removed from the post of director operations after he tested positive for alcohol content, has been demoted to executive director without any portfolio.
Civil aviation minister Suresh Prabhu approved his removal. Air India has also ordered a vigilance enquiry in the matter. An Air India spokesperson said that since Kathpalia will be without a portfolio, his entry pass will be submitted to BCAS and that he will not be required to visit airports for official purposes. The Directorate General of Civil Aviation DGCA suspended the flying licence of the year-old Air India pilot for three years on November 12, a day after he was found to have an unacceptably high blood alcohol count just before he was scheduled to pilot a flight. Kathpalia was selected following the procedure and since he has now been removed, he automatically becomes executive director, which is a demotion.
He was not sacked by the aviation ministry so he will be assigned some designation. Kathpalia was previously suspended for three months in January when he tested positive for alcohol consumption during a pre-flight breathalyser test. He had resumed duty after serving the suspension. By demoting him to ED, Air India is ensuring that he retires with all the privileges. On January 19 last year, Kathpalia flew a Delhi-Bengaluru flight AI without going through the mandatory breathalyser test.
He did not even take the test after landing in Bengaluru. In an emergency airworthiness directive AD issued Nov. These inspections are in addition to the requirements of an AD issued earlier this month, which called for AW and AW operators to check for correct installation of the tail rotor servo-actuator.
The helicopter was departing King Power Stadium in Leicester when it spun out of control and crashed outside the stadium, killing five people, including Leicester City Football Club owner Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha. In a special bulletin published on Nov. The AAIB has yet to identify a cause for the apparent loss of yaw control. The FAA has proposed some changes to its standards for obtaining an Airline Transport Pilot ATP certificate in the airplane category or for obtaining an airplane type rating, and if you have any opinions about the proposal, the FAA wants to hear from you.
The proposed rule change is posted online, and comments will be accepted until Dec. The proposed standards include what a pilot is expected to know, consider and do in order to prepare for the FAA ATP knowledge test and practical test and receive an ATP certificate or airplane type rating.
The areas covered are preflight preparation, takeoffs and landings, inflight maneuvers, stall prevention, instrument procedures, emergency operations and post-flight procedures. The group prepared the draft, which was then approved by the full committee. More than U. Air Force Academy cadets from the graduating class have been matched to attend pilot training pending final qualifications and commissioning.
More than cadets from the U. Jay Silveria, Air Force Academy superintendent, said in a press release.
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Some of these cadets could even move through a shortened version of Undergraduate Pilot Training, the release added. The academy is also planning to add flight-related courses to the sophomore and senior years to help cadets already leaning toward attending pilot training, as well as nurture that interest among others.
During their time at the academy, cadets are already exposed to academic, virtual and hands-on flight training. Dissimilar formations are typically flown for pilots finishing Undergraduate Pilot Training. Candidates for Air Force pilot, remotely piloted aircraft officer and combat systems officer all begin training with initial flight screening and RPA flight screening at Pueblo, Colorado. There, candidates are judged on their flight aptitude and introduced to the realities of military aviation, according to AETC. The squadron trains both U. Air Force and allied nation pilots prior to moving them on to fly more advanced aircraft.
Retaining these airmen, so that the service can recoup its investment, is also a challenge. The problem is compounded by commercial airliners that have been on hiring sprees over the past few years. To address the problem, the service has increased retention bonuses and worked to eliminate non-flying duties that keep airmen out of the cockpit. Air Force Secretary Heather Wilson said at a Senate Armed Services readiness and management support subcommittee hearing in October that the service trained 1, new pilots in fiscal , and expects to train another 1, in fiscal Taylor Deen is a senior pilot with Goodyear Airship Operations.
Everyone has a dream job growing up: But how do you actually get the gig? My name is Matthew St. I guess it all started when I was 13 years old and I went on a family vacation. We went down to Puerto Vallarta, Mexico. I grew up in a small town, and as I arrived there, I realized that I loved traveling, I loved the adventure, and getting back on the plane, I realized I want to be a pilot. After I graduated from high school I went to an aerospace engineering school and I got my certifications and ratings to be a commercial pilot.
I also got into sailing.
You ever thought about airships? Flying airplanes and flying blimps has similarities. You can either come from the military, you can be a helicopter pilot or an airplane pilot and then transition over to airships. So when they hire you here, they train you in-house and you get all of your airship time with the company. Founder Hiralal Shastri, a politician who was born into a peasant family in Rajasthan, relocated to the village of Vanasthali in with his family.
In this rural outpost, about 50 miles south of Jaipur, he founded a social program to reconstruct the village and educate local farmers. At a very young age, his daughter embraced his passion and began holding classes for village children. Tragically, she fell ill at the age of 12 and passed away. Encouraged by his wife, Shastri set out to educate and empower young women, a dream they had envisioned for their own daughter.
And so Banasthali Vidyapith opened in with seven students — all girls — and now offers more than 28 disciplines, including doctoral degrees. The university offers a wide range of departments, including law, design, science, nanotechnology and literature. At first, the aviation training was intended to help women build confidence as part of the schools holistic program. Tarana Saxena Growing up in the town of Bilari, in Uttar Pradesh, Saxena has had her eyes on the sky ever since her parents gave her a toy airplane when she was about five years old.
She lived in a town where there was no airport, not many people spoke English and it was a big deal if a girl rode a bike. There are exceptions, of course. Some parents have dreams for their daughters in sync with our mission. Saxena says her parents — her mom, a doctor who works with unprivileged people; her father, a professor — endured an onslaught of judgment from neighbors, who questioned their investment in a girl. Why are you letting your daughter to that?
How can they fly? But my parents wanted us to be whatever we wanted to be — my sister wanted to be a doctor, she is a doctor. I wanted to be a pilot, I am a pilot. In December , the day finally arrived.
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An instructor accompanied her as she settled into the cockpit of a Cessna A, a common training aircraft. I wanted five more minutes, 10 more minutes…I wanted it to last forever. Everything at the company is based on merit. I just hope that having more women pilots in India can change perceptions about gender. Today, Vardhan estimates there are more than 2, women flying for private airlines, as navy and helicopter pilots, and in other aviation related capacities across India.
It will take time, but it will grow when we choose pilots based on merit. The jet was flying to Beijing, China to Warsaw, Poland file photo. Passengers onboard a Polish plane have been forced to chip in and pay for their own plane repairs before being allowed to fly in Beijing, China. The flight eventually landed safely in Warsaw and the airline has reimbursed the passengers, and offered them compensation. The plane was becoming unserviceable and was donated to the Snead State Aviation College for student training. We would not be able to leave the country, but [what] we did was relieve the men to go overseas and we would take stateside duties.
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She still has a letter from her mother, who never cursed, telling her to, "Be the best damn pilot in the Air Force! When the women arrived, the men were shocked to see them on the base and didn't have a place for them to stay the first night. The next morning in the dining room, all eyes were on them. One of them was a navigational officer, who Meachem ended up marrying.
While a pilot, the women were encouraged to fix their hair and lipstick while the planes were taxing on the tarmac. Also, they were told to return salutes but never initiate them. On her first assignment, she flew navigation students on their missions, who then got bombers and set up mock navigation stations on the ship. I was to follow those as long as possible. I was supposed to wait for the copilot to abort if it looked dangerous, but a couple of times I beat him to it," she laughed. She flew other missions around the country, mainly moving planes and people where they needed for the war effort.
However, the military and Congress disbanded WASP in after deciding it was too costly to keep up with. Although she was no longer needed as a pilot, she couldn't stay out of the skies. She had a cousin who repaired antique planes and got a chance to fly when she visited. In the time she was in a plane, she felt at ease and doing what she loved. In , the United States finally recognized the WASPs as members of the military by giving them an honorable discharge. In , about of the surviving female pilots were given the Congressional Gold Medal in Washington, D.
However, with such an expensive passion, 50 years went by without her sitting in the cockpit. Every time she was on a commercial plane, she would ask to speak to the pilots and talk shop. To her surprise, she finally met a female pilot onboard. She chose to go up in an AT-6 and do some aerobatics with a pilot. The mayor of Broward County, her sisters at the Red Hat Society, family and friends all attended a special ceremony.
A male chorus sang the Air Force song, rewording it to incorporate her name, including "there she goes into the wild blue yonder…" Sitting in the plane with another pilot, they flew over the Everglades and did flips and turns. For a time, she took control of the plane, which she said was like riding a bicycle. From Israel National News: The course concludes three years of officer's training, flight training, and results in both an IDF officer's commission and an academic degree from Ben Gurion University of the Negev.
Graduates will go on to specialized flight training for the specific roles they will fill in the IAF. This years class includes five female graduates, the highest number to graduate at one time. Commanders touted the women graduates as "definitive proof" Israel is a democratic and civilized society. Men and women warriors, we salute you today with satisfaction and great pride in our fighters," he added. The five female graduates, however, are not the first women to serve in the IAF as pilots. The IAF flight school has been formally co-ed since and graduated its first female fighter pilot in Woman also fill almost all instructor positions in the IDF.
Prop Wash Holiday Punch. Recipe by Shenelle Ham. An interesting article on how all fundamentalist religions exclude women - not just Islam Beyond the bus Israel hasn't seen a consensus like this on women's rights in a long time. It's only been a few weeks since the phrase "exclusion of women" became a staple of the news pages, and already it's become a catchphrase that calls to mind associations like ultra-Orthodox extremism, religious coercion, the slogan "Iran is here," oppression of women and fear of further escalation.
On the streets, on the Internet, in the media, on university campuses, in the Knesset and in the government, Israelis are protesting the exclusion of women by the ultra-Orthodox. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Public Security Minister Yitzhak Aharonovitch have condemned the phenomenon, and last week Kadima jumped on the bandwagon - or should we say on the bus? Saying No to the Exclusion of Women. Daniel Bar-On It almost seems as if the exclusion of women were a specifically ultra-Orthodox hang-up, that in Israel, full equality exists between the sexes, threatened only by sex-segregated bus lines.
But many of the women protesting the discrimination reject Netanyahu's statement that it is a "limited phenomenon that does not reflect the entire population," and say the fight against Haredi discrimination should be just the beginning. It was only when I reached the conference itself that I discovered the true exclusion. In the [conference] hall there was one woman for every 10 men.
And on the panel? One woman myself and four men. When we speak of free day care, we must not forget that its objective is not only to reduce social inequality or lessen the financial burden on young families. It is also to allow women to work where they please, and as long as they choose, and to receive maximum support for doing so. The "true exclusion," as Shaffir calls it, is in the law and the economic and social structure, not least in its most liberal outposts. While the country was in a frenzy over Israel Defense Forces soldiers walking out of military events featuring female singers, two theory and criticism periodicals identified with the radical left published issues that did not include a single article written by a woman.
Not many were bothered by this. Yet the demonstrations against the most visible forms of discrimination against women - like sex-segregated buses geared toward the ultra-Orthodox, the elimination of women from outdoor advertising campaigns in Jerusalem for fear of angering the ultra-Orthodox, and ultra-Orthodox attacks on the students and chaperones of a religious but non-Haredi girls school in Beit Shemesh - pave the way for a struggle against the "true exclusion.
Shemesh hopes that "if there is consistent collaboration among women over a long time, we'll be able to take the struggle one step forward. We need to address ultra-Orthodox exclusion, but just as a basis for something much broader. Kadima chairwoman Tzipi Livni said the struggle is not just against the ultra-Orthodox. It begins in ultra-Orthodox neighborhoods and moves to secular ones, all with public funding. The election campaign sharpened her vision. Even if I didn't mean it, it suddenly happened.
Now that discrimination against women has suddenly become a popular cause, Gruber said there is a "certain feeling of consensus which was perhaps foreign to the feminist sphere over the years. Secular people ask religious ones, 'Do you see nothing but the sexual aspect of a woman's singing? Why can't you see a woman as a human being? So it's infuriating to hear the reactions of the prime minister and politicians, who on the one hand are responsible for trampling women's rights and, on the other hand, call exclusion a limited phenomenon that they utterly oppose.
If we focus the fight on the ultra-Orthodox alone, we're liable to forget that women are excluded from all public arenas.
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We can certainly use all available hands. But I would like to add a comment about sponsoring the race: Sponsorship does not entail thousands of dollars. All of the proceeds raised during the silent auction go to support our youth outreach activities and the continuation of the Air Race Classic so ALL can be supporters and sponsors.
Please feel free to contact me about sponsorships, silent auction donations or lending a hand at info airraceclassic. Posted by Cathy Gale at 8: Sunday, December 25, Hangar Hash: Prop Wash Golden Punch. Golden Punch Combine in a blender: Add the banana mixture and mix well. Pour in plastic cartons and freeze. TO serve, thaw until slushy just enough to get them out of the containers.
Add 4 bottles 2 liters of chilled Sprite. Halve recipe if necessary. Recipe by Marilyn Stowe. Naval aviator creates a rumble during a trip home to Lexington. Naval aviator creates a rumble during a trip home to Lexington The rumble that rattled windows across Lexington on Friday and Sunday was not Santa doing a test run of some really souped-up reindeer.
Laura Combs, 25, a naval flight officer who grew up in Lexington and is one of an elite group of women in naval aviation. She was navigating an EAG Growler, a new plane that jams enemy radar. Combs flew home with Lt. Robert Scott, a pilot from Virginia Beach, Va. Flight crews are allotted a number of flight hours each month. She and Scott had some unused hours and were allowed to make the quick trip to Lexington from her base in Whidbey Island, Wash.
Naval Academy in Annapolis, Md. Women like Combs make up a small percentage of naval fliers. Her female colleagues are "really smart, really nice. We get the exact same training as the guys. No difference," Combs said, noting that one other woman is in her squadron. Although women are increasingly a part of the Navy, only about 6. As of June, about women are navigators like Combs. Even smaller is the number of women who fly in planes similar to Combs'. Currently, two women are pilots in either a Prowler or a Growler.
Combs' fascination with aviation began at home. Her father, Jim Combs, is a pilot. Combs' mother, Susan, said they used to fly together as a family. Laura Combs said she "knew since early middle school" that she wanted to fly. Her mother recalled an experience at Lexington Traditional Magnet School that fed her daughter's drive to fly.
The plane she's flying now is part of the Navy's "electronic attack" fleet. The job of the plane, according to Combs, is to jam radar.
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The plane is armed, but the weapons are defensive. Combs' primary responsibility is to tell the pilot, "'Fly this way, fly that way. It is "definitely a male-dominated career," Combs said, but she has found her place in the Navy, flying planes that go really fast. The Growler's ground speed to Lexington was about knots, roughly mph. Flight time was Santa-speed: Tail winds made the trip to Lexington faster than the return trip to Washington.
Combs' arrival and departure coincided with loud noises some residents reported hearing. Said Combs' mother, Susan: We're very proud of her. As always, go Navy. I received this email today Most of us can't be sponsors, but we can certainly be volunteers We invite you to join us. Be an ARC sponsor.