1. We, the Foreign Ministers of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), met on 31 July 2019 at the 52nd ASEAN Foreign Ministers’ Meeting (AMM) in Bangkok. We underlined the need to further strengthen cooperation and advance our partnership to ensure sustainability in all dimensions for ASEAN amidst the rapid changes in Southeast Asia and beyond. ASEAN COMMUNITY-BUILDING 2. We reaffirmed our commitment to the full and effective implementation of the ASEAN Community Vision 2025 and the ASEAN Leaders’ Vision Statement on Partnership for Sustainability. We reaffirmed the importance of maintaining ASEAN centrality and unity in our community-building efforts, engagement with external partners and regional architecture. We commended the ongoing work of all ASEAN Sectoral Bodies and Organs for progress in the implementation of the ASEAN Political-Security Community (APSC), ASEAN Economic Community (AEC), and ASEAN Socio-Cultural Community (ASCC) … [Read more...] about Joint Communique of 52nd ASEAN Foreign Ministers’ Meeting
Volunteer to read to children
Q&A with Superior Court Judge candidate Matt Brower
Union-Tribune: So tell us why you decided to seek this particular office in the first place.BROWER: I was already aware of Gary Kreep’s lawsuit to, I guess, prohibit Barack Obama from appearing on the ballot due to his doubts about the authenticity of his birth certificate and then last August when I saw that the Commission on Judicial Performance had censured him for essentially over two dozen different violations of the Judicial Cannon of Ethics it kind of confirmed my suspicions of his mindset and I have the opinion that we need to remove him from being in a position of authority in our community and that we need to instead change directions and have a judge who’s going to treat people professionally and with dignity and respect, and we weren’t getting that from Gary Kreep.I feel like I have the qualifications from my time being a Judge Advocate in the Marine Corps, I’m a lieutenant colonel in the Marine Corps Reserve, and also from being a prosecutor at the … [Read more...] about Q&A with Superior Court Judge candidate Matt Brower
United Way prepares to move — and move forward in a changing world
Neal Rubin The Detroit News Published 12:00 AM EST Feb 18, 2019 Detroit — Darienne Driver sometimes glides off the freeway on her way to work and steers past the school where she taught fifth grade only 14 years ago. Or rather, the ghost of the school. Greenfield Park Elementary isn't there anymore. It's a reminder that things change. Her life, certainly: laid off twice as a Detroit schoolteacher, she's now the president and CEO of United Way for Southeastern Michigan. And United Way as well. For generations, United Way was the benevolent 400-pound gorilla of nonprofits. Plumped by payroll deductions, it carried $70 million budgets into the 2000s, dispensing grants for most any good cause imaginable. Now, counting the current fiscal year, it's had three straight shortfalls against budgets at least $10 million smaller than the old days. A long list of changes in society, workplaces and even cell phones have affected a once-predictable business model. In September, … [Read more...] about United Way prepares to move — and move forward in a changing world
Full transcript of “Face the Nation” on January 6, 2019
On this "Face the Nation" broadcast moderated by Margaret Brennan: Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill. (read more) Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C. (read more) Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y. (read more) Reps. Colin Allred, D-Texas; Jahana Hayes, D-Conn.; Max Rose, D-N.Y.; Mikie Sherrill, D-N.J. (read more) Dan Balz, Ed O'Keefe, Shannon Pettypiece, Mark Landler (watch) Click here to browse more full transcripts of "Face the Nation." MARGARET BRENNAN: It's Sunday, January 6th. I'm Margaret Brennan and this is FACE THE NATION. Washington may have a new Congress, but it's stuck in the same shutdown. PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: You can call it the Schumer or the Pelosi or the Trump shutdown, doesn't make any difference to me. Just words. MARGARET BRENNAN: But words so far have produced no solution as a quarter of the U.S. government remains shuttered for the third week. President Trump warns it could last months or years and Democrats dig in. NANCY PELOSI: We're not a doing a wall. Does … [Read more...] about Full transcript of “Face the Nation” on January 6, 2019
Volunteer elves respond to every letter sent to town of Santa Claus, Indiana
Not all the millions of letters sent to Santa every year make it to the North Pole. Some end up in Santa Claus, Indiana. Town postmaster Marian Balbach said they get about 20,000 a year, coming from places like South America and China. Rather than forwarding them all the way to the Arctic, the U.S. Postal Service directs them to Santa Claus, Indiana, where about 200 volunteer elves read every one. They also answer every one. Pat Koch, 87, is the chief elf. She's been at it for 78 years. "I think it's so wonderful that children believe in Santa Claus in this electronic age," she said. The tradition began in 1914 with a kind-hearted postmaster. But when Ripley's "Believe It or Not" featured the town in 1930, letters to Santa began arriving like snowflakes on a winter's day. It's not just the children whose holidays are made brighter by these personal messages. For many of the elves, this the high point of their year. Especially when the letter-writer has a parent who is somewhere else, … [Read more...] about Volunteer elves respond to every letter sent to town of Santa Claus, Indiana