New Usa New

##Afghan official: Taliban kill 20 police officers in attack KANDAHAR, Afghanistan (AP) Taliban fighters overran multiple checkpoints in a nighttime raid in Afghanistan-s volatile southern Helmand province, killing at least 20 police officers as the battle raged into Saturday, authorities said// The assault came as Afghanistan-s military acknowledged the Taliban controls at least four districts across the country// The attacks in Helmand hit police checkpoints in the Musa Qala district, said Mohammad Ismail Hotak, the head of the province-s joint coordination of police and military operations// He said the attacks wounded at least 10 officers, though the Taliban also seemed to have suffered high casualties// The spokesman for the Interior Ministry, Sediq Sediqqi, said fighting ended Saturday afternoon with around 30 insurgents killed, including a group leader he named as Abdul Hadi// Saqi Jan, the head of police logistics in Musa Qala, said area checkpoints were manned by officers from the neighboring district of Baghran who had been forced out by earlier Taliban attacks// *Baghran has been under Taliban control since last year, so these police came to Musa Qala and built themselves a small compound and some checkpoints,* he said// The Taliban claimed responsibility for the attacks// The militants have been targeting vulnerable police checkpoints across the country since launching their summer offensive in April// Last month, a Taliban attack in Helmand-s Naw Zad district killed at least 19 police officers// Afghan army Gen// Afzel Aman, the head of the Defense Ministry-s operational department, told journalists Saturday that four districts are now under Taliban control in the country: Nawa in Ghazni province, Baghran and Dishu in Helmand province and Khak-e Afghan in Zabul province// *Fighting is going on almost everywhere compared to last year, and many places are under threat of enemy attack,* Aman said// Afghan forces are fighting alone this year as the U//S// and NATO have ended their combat mission and their casualties are soaring// Between Jan// 1 and May 7, 2,322 army, police and local police personnel were killed, 53 percent more than the same period in 2014, according to NATO// By comparison, a total of 2,217 American service members have been killed since the 2001 invasion//

## Asked about the status of his starting goalie on Friday, Tampa Bay Lightning coach Jon Cooper offered the most honest answer he could// If Ben Bishop can play a game, he-s playing, Cooper said// The keeper-s availability for tonight-s crucial Game 5 likely won-t be revealed until just before puck drop, but Bishop crossed the first hurdle Saturday by taking part in the team-s morning skate// Speaking after practice, Bishop said *progress has been made//* 

 ## While that-s great news for the Bolts, it-s no guarantee that he-s good to go// Bishop skated before Game 4 and later spoke to the media but was a last minute scratch// He was replaced by Andrei Vasilevskiy, who shook off some early nerves to make 17 stops in the 2 1 loss to the Chicago Blackhawks// There were reports Friday night, none of them official, that the extra day off between games had Bishop on the mend// It-s believed he suffered a left leg injury in Game 2, although that-s not been confirmed by the Lightning//

## At about 9, gunfire and terrified cries shattered the evening calm// In the pastor s office, Mr// Pinckney s wife, who had been waiting patiently with their younger daughter, turned off the lights, locked the door, hugged her child close and called 911// When the shooting was over, nine congregants were dead, including Mr. Pinckney and two of the newly ordained ministers, each shot multiple times with a //45caliber handgun// The stranger identified by the police as Dylann Roof, 21, a high school dropout and sometime landscaper has been charged with nine counts of murder// *You are raping our women and taking over our country,* Mr. Roof said to the victims, all of them black, before killing them, witnesses told the police// In a matter of unforeseen moments, the future of the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church and its 350 active members would be changed forever// Church leaders were lost, along with worshipers young and middleaged// Children were left motherless// A girls track team lost its coach, a university its admissions coordinator// And residents of all races in Charleston, a city that places such value on its houses of worship that it calls itself the Holy City, recoiled in horror as one of its most storied buildings was desecrated by intolerant rage and transformed, if briefly, into a charnel house// 

## A parishioner, Elizabeth Alston, said Saturday that the church would be open for Sunday school and services the next morning// The massacre has reverberated far beyond Charleston, prompting fierce new debate about race relations in a nation already grappling with protests over police conduct toward AfricanAmericans// President Obama spoke Thursday of *the heartache and the sadness and the anger* the shootings had elicited// The Justice Department opened a hate crimes investigation// And in Columbia, where Mr. Pinckney s empty desk in the Legislature has been adorned with a black cloak and flowers, lawmakers were once again grappling with the question of whether the Confederate battle flag should fly on the grounds of the statehouse//But the deepest pain was at the handsome, whitewashed old church in Charleston, now cordoned off with yellow police tape, and along the intimate tendrils that connected its members to friends and family// The Itinerant Pastor Mr. Pinckney, 41, was a busy man// But when he was talking to you, said Sylvia Johnson, 56, his cousin, he locked eyes intently and listened carefully// He was especially tender toward Ms.Johnson s blind daughter// His voice could move into a more stern, but still loving, register when he addressed his own daughters, Eliana and Malana// With his flock in Charleston, his home in Jasper County, at South Carolina s southernmost tip, and his job up in Columbia, Mr. Pinckney had to work to spread his love around// He called himself the *itinerant pastor//* He had recently run an old car dry and bought a new SUV// On Wednesday morning in Columbia, he was dressed, sharp as always, in a dark suit and sitting in his office with his back to a view of the capitol dome, preparing for a Senate Finance Committee meeting// He was surrounded by framed newspaper spreads, recognitions of achievement, volumes of Bibles and a poster of the Rev// Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Next to a refrigerator bearing a *Yes! I Love My Library* sticker given to him by his wife, Jennifer, a librarian, he had rolled up a bunch of posters depicting AfricanAmerican life in the South Carolina Lowcountry// He planned to take them home that day// But first, another day of work// Mr. Pinckney, elected to the South Carolina House at age 23, had always had a sense of purpose// In seventh grade, the skinny student endured the taunts of his classmates in Jasper County, a depressed angle of what Senate colleagues called the Forgotten Triangle, for wearing a starched shirt and tie and for carrying a briefcase instead of a backpack// 

## He thought you needed to dress like someone to be someone// Continue reading the main story RELATED IN OPINION Hatred or Heritage? He quickly became someone// He had begun preaching sermons in his teens// An ambitious intern unafraid to ask his bosses to look at the county budget, he became a page in the State House of Representatives and ultimately a member, and then a senator//Now, 12 hours before he was killed, he took the elevator down to Room 105 for another meeting on the budget, where he again pushed, in the face of an overwhelming Republican majority, for funding to fix the roads in his deprived district// Later, he rode an escalator up from the parking lot to the statehouse// He walked between marble columns and up a mahogany staircase lined with paintings of the Revolutionary War, and greeted friends in a lobby presided over by a statue of John C. Calhoun// In the stately Senate chamber, he greeted more friends on the floor and took a seat next to Senator Vincent A.Sheheen, a fellow Democrat// It was here that Mr.Pinckney made his mark that day// When Mr.Sheheen nervously prepared to voice his opposition to a compromise reached with Republicans on their effort to introduce a voter ID bill, he was shocked to hear Mr.Pinckney s booming voice call out, *No//* Advertisement Continue reading the main story *When I heard him voting no, loud and clear, I knew I was doing the right thing,* Mr.Sheheen said// They were the only two to vote in dissent// Mr.Pinckney left another meeting early, telling colleagues that he had an appointment at his church back in Charleston// A WildTalking SuspectIt is not clear where or how Mr. Roof spent his Wednesday morning// Even to his friends, there were unexplained gaps// He had dropped out of many of his oldest friends lives some years ago// But then, about a month ago, he resurfaced, telling them that he had gone to a public library in Columbia to open a Facebook account for the express purpose of finding them// As a younger man, Mr. Roof had a rocky academic career, attending ninth grade twice at two schools, but possibly not making it any further// Friends recalled him as being painfully shy// But recently, he had been showing a new side, his friends said: spouting racist comments, praising segregation and talking wildly of setting off a race war// He had also been arrested twice: once in February for possession of Suboxone, a drug used to treat opiate addiction, and a second time in April for trespassing at a mall where he had been banned for a year after the first arrest// On the day Mr. Roof contacted his old friends through Facebook, he went to the family trailer home of one of them, Joseph C.Meek Jr//, in Red Bank, in suburban Lexington County// Soon, he was sleeping there as often as four times a week, sometimes on the floor// He had a cellphone, his friends said, but no phone service// To communicate, he used WiFi to send messages via Facebook, or he showed up in person// Mr. Roof told his friends that he had quit a landscaping job because he could not bear working in the Southern heat// He spent his days loafing around the place, watching television and sometimes calling his father, pretending to be at work, said Jacob Meek, 15, Joseph s brother// *He said his parents kept pressuring him to get a job,* Jacob said// He was fond of vodka and usually kept a stash around// He went to the Platinum Plus strip club recently, Jacob said, and threw dollar bills at the dancers//But amid his aimlessness, Joseph Meek, 20, and other friends said, Mr.Roof talked wildly about hurting AfricanAmericans, about doing something *crazy//* Joseph, worried, hid the //45caliber handgun Mr. Roof had bought with money his parents gave him for his 21st birthday// But Joseph eventually returned the gun because he was on probation and feared having it around// At one point, Jacob said, Mr. Roof s parents took the gun, too// *I guess he stole it back,* he said// On Tuesday, Mr. Roof agreed to drive his friends to Lake Murray// He said he was pressed for time, because he wanted to make the 2 p.m. showing of *Jurassic World* at the AMC theater// He showed Jacob the movie coupon he had in his car// He carried a $7 pack of American Spirit cigarettes and wore a longsleeve gray shirt with a Border Patrol logo on one side and a sleeve stained with battery acid// 

## He wore that shirt all the time, Jacob said// Advertisement Continue reading the main story He was not acting jumpy or out of the ordinary, his friends recalled// He was acting like a guy who had a movie to catch// *He did seem like he was in a rush,* Jacob said// *He was like, Come on, let s go// *Felicia Sanders, who was in the room, heard the gunfire before seeing who the gunman was, she later told a friend, Ms. Johnson, Mr. Pinckney s cousin// Ms,Sanders dropped to the ground with her 5yearold granddaughter// She saw blood everywhere// The white visitor was doing the shooting, and he reloaded his weapon five times// Ms, Sanders s son, Tywanza Sanders, tried unsuccessfully to shield his aunt, Susie Jackson, 87, and talk sense to the gunman// *That s when the gunman said: Y all are raping our women and taking over the country// This must be done, * Ms. Johnson recalled Ms. Sanders telling her// Then he shot Tywanza// At one point, he asked a woman if she had been shot yet// When she said no, he said: *Good// Someone has to live to tell the story, because I m going to kill myself, too//* Ms. Sanders survived only by playing dead, Ms. Johnson said// Soon, the gunman was gone, fleeing in his Hyundai Elantra and leaving nine churchgoers dead or dying behind//

Hillary Clinton is going to lose: She doesn-t even see the frustrated progressive wave that will nominate Bernie Sanders 

In this photo taken May 20, 2015, Democratic Presidential candidate Sen// Bernie Sanders, I Vt//, poses for a portrait before an interview with The Associated Press in Washington// For Democrats who had hoped to lure Massachusetts Sen// Elizabeth Warren into a presidential campaign, independent Sen// Bernie Sanders might be the next best thing// Sanders, who is opening his official presidential campaign Tuesday in Burlington, Vermont, aims to ignite a grassroots fire among left leaning Democrats wary of Hillary Rodham Clinton// He is laying out an agenda in step with the party-s progressive wing and compatible with Warren-s platform reining in Wall Street banks, tackling college debt and creating a government financed infrastructure jobs program// Hillary Clinton went to New York-s Roosevelt Island earlier this month to relaunch her campaign for president// Her first kickoff fell flat, perhaps because she herself didn-t attend, opting instead to send a video greeting card in which people she still insists on calling everyday Americansshared their life plans// She came on at the end to say she had plans of her own that include being president, and that she does it all for us// She delivered a 45 minute speech that told us little more than that three minute video// She still won-t say where she-d peg the minimum wage or if she-d ever rein in the surveillance state or get us out of Iraq// Most amazing is how she finesses the Trans Pacific Partnership that President Obama so covets// It-s the biggest deal in the history of commerce; its investor tribunals would substitute corporate for democratic will here and around the world and Clinton hasn-t said boo about it// Some ask how she gets away with it// I-m not so sure she does// Politicians have always ducked tough issues, but today-s Democrats are the worst// When the TPP came before the House, enough Democrats played it cute to leave the outcome in doubt till the very end// Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi didn-t tip her hand until just before the vote// Many who voted no never said exactly why// Some want to curb currency manipulation// Some oppose the fast track process, others the secret tribunals or the intellectual property rules that actually restrain competition// If the caucus as a whole has a bottom line, no one knows what it is// The TPP is a mystery because our leaders wish it so// We don-t know what-s in it because our president won-t let us read it, and not out of respect for precedent or protocol// George W// Bush showed us drafts of his trade agreements// We-re negotiating one right now with Europe, and Europeans get to read those drafts// If a comma gets cut from the TPP, hundreds of corporate lobbyists know in an instant// The only people who don-t know are the American people and that-s only because our president thinks our knowing would ruin everything// The process by which Congress considers the TPP is confusing in itself// The pact is still being negotiated by the 12 nations who-d be parties to it// The fight now is over legislation meant to grease the skids for it when it finally arrives// At issue are trade promotion authority or TPA the fast track by which Congress vows not to amend or filibuster a trade agreement it hasn-t even read and trade adjustment assistance or TAA, which gives benefits (money, health insurance, job training) to workers who can prove to the federal government that they lost their jobs due to trade// Signed into law by John Kennedy, expanded by Bill Clinton and extended by George W// Bush, the half century old program is set to expire in September// The bills now before Congress would keep it alive another six years// Back in May the Senate approved a bill that included both TAA and TPA// On June 12, the House voted on both, but in separate bills under a rule requiring passage of each in order to send either to the Senate// The rule was alternatively described as an attempt to mirror the Senate bill, or a strategy to gain House passage, there being different majorities there for each provision// As a strategy for passage it was a dud// When fast track passed by eight votes (219 to 211), Democrats reversed field and bailed on the TAA just to derail the whole process// The press called the June 12 votes a huge win for labor and a *humiliating defeat* for Obama// Reading such stories one might think fast track or even the TPP itself had suffered a crushing blow// Some on the left even called it historic// Paul Krugman wrote, *House Democrats shocked almost everyone by rejecting key provisions needed to complete the Trans Pacific Partnership//* To Krugman it seemed a watershed: *Ever since Ronald Reagan-s election in 1980, Democrats have been on the ideological defensive// Even when they won elections they seemed afraid to endorse clearly progressive positions… But that era appears to be over//* I wouldn-t pop any corks quite yet// For the first time ever Congress hit the pause button on globalization, but that-s all it did// House Dems didn-t suddenly lurch left: they just did what they always do// In 1993 they voted no on NAFTA// In 2002 they voted against the Iraq War// In 2010 they passed an Obamacare bill with a public option// But they can-t ignore their president or their donors forever// In 2008 they resisted Bush-s bailout but finally gave in to Obama and Wall Street// Republicans held firm, thus setting in motion the Tea Party and the sad, sorry debacle of 2010// On Thursday the Republicans did what any fool could have predicted: they passed a new rule and sent the TPA to the Senate sans worker assistance// We don-t know what will happen next, but we do know fast track has already passed both houses of Congress once// In the end, Obama, Boehner, McConnell and their global capital partners will likely get their way, but June 12 may yet prove historic// In 2008 House Republicans lost the bailout battle but planted the seeds of a grass-roots movement that would win wars// Progressives should examine the precedent// Krugman-s right: there-s a rumbling out there, but most Democrats are a long way from hearing it, let alone joining in// If House Dems stand firm, they too may plant the seeds of a grass roots movement// Much of their party will resist// Every political party is really many parties// The Democrats- presidential, Senate, governors and donors parties all line up with global capital// Even in the House, Minority Whip Steny Hoyer is a staunch free trader and Pelosi herself spent the week before the vote quietly imploring her caucus to swallow the poison pill// No one knows where scores of Democrats really stand// Both parties are caught in a crossfire between their donors and their base// Republican voters are suspicious of the TPP and hate fast track, mostly because they hate Obama// Democratic voters hate fast track but accept the TPP, mostly because they love Obama// Republicans in Congress are civil because they can-t bash Democrats for doing what their base wishes they would do// Democrats in Congress are quiet because they don-t want their donors to think they mean what they say and don-t know when someone may offer them something to take one for the team by switching sides// It-s hard to follow the bouncing ball when the topic-s so opaque, the bill-s locked up like a nuclear code and everyone-s lying or speaking in such empty phrases that they may as well be lying// The press isn-t helping// When all coverage is about motives, message or strategy, it-s easier for politicians to hide their views// This week I told two liberal friends that Pelosi is trying to find *a path to yes on fast track//* (Her words) Both said Pelosi and Clinton had broken with Obama, are moving left and now oppose the deal// In terms of strategy and message it was true all except the part about Clinton and Pelosi opposing the deal// No one plays the game better than Hillary Clinton, the Harry Houdini of syntax// The question is whether it-s a winning game, and if so for whom// It isn-t a winning game for progressives// We only win when debate is specific, honest and brave// The TPP debate is like those we have every day over government// The more abstract the terms, the harder it is for us to win// If we find ourselves debating government or bureaucracy, we lose// If we talk Medicare or Social Security, we win// We even win on foreign aid but only when armed with the facts// It-s the same with the TPP// Everyone wants more -global cooperationbut no one wants to let Big Pharma stamp out generic drugs or let Big Tobacco tell us how they-ll label their products// And no one wants some secretive global tribunal telling a state legislature how to govern// If there-s an easier case to make, I-ve never seen it// You may ask why every Democrat in Congress doesn-t make it, but we-ve gone over that// Whether they-re in thrall to their donors, their consultants, their leaders or their ambitions, whoever or whatever holds them back, they just can-t do it//

 

 ## Nearly every discussion of the Greek fiasco is based on a morality play// Call it Naughty Greece versus Noble Europe// Those troublesome Greeks never belonged in the euro, runs this story// Once inside, they got themselves into a big fat mess and now it-s up to Europe to sort it all out// 

 Eurozone creditors raise hopes of Greek bailout deal 

## Those are the basics all Wise Folk agree on// Then those on the right go on to say feckless Greece must either accept Europe-s deal or get out of the single currency// Or if more liberal, they hem and haw, cough and splutter, before calling for Europe to show a little more charity to its southern basketcase// Whatever their solution, the Wise Folk agree on the problem| it-s not Brussels that-s at fault, it-s Athens// Oh, those turbulent Greeks! That-s the attitude you smell when the IMF-s Christine Lagarde decries the Syriza government for not being *adult * enough// That-s what licenses the German press to portray Greece-s finance minister, Yanis Varoufakis, as needing *psychiatric help *// There-s just one problem with this story| like most morality tales, it shatters upon contact with hard reality// Athens is merely the worst outbreak of a much bigger disease within the euro project// Because the single currency isn-t working for ordinary Europeans, from the Ruhr valley to Rome//  On saying this, I don-t close my eyes to the endemic corruption and tax dodging in Greece// Nor am I about to don Farage ist chalkstripes// My charge is much simpler| the euro project is not only failing to deliver on the promises of its originators, it-s doing the exact opposite by eroding the living standards of ordinary Europeans// And as we-ll see, that-s true even for those living in the continent-s number one economy, Germany//  First, let-s remind ourselves of the noble pledges made for the euro project// Let-s play the grainy footage of Germany-s Helmut Schmidt and France-s Giscard d-Estaing, as they lay the foundations for Europe-s grand unifier// Most of all, let-s remind ourselves of what the true believers felt// Take this from Oskar Lafontaine, Germany-s minister of finance, on the very eve of the launch of the euro// He talked of *the vision of a united Europe, to be reached through the gradual convergence of living standards, the deepening of democracy, and the flowering of a truly European culture *// We could quote a thousand other such stanzas of euro poetry, but that single line from Lafontaine shows how far the single currency project has fallen// Instead of raising living standards across Europe, monetary union is pushing them downwards// Rather than deepening democracy, it is undermining it// As for *a truly European culture *, when German journalists accuse Greek ministers of *psychosis *, that mythic agora of nations is a long way off// 

## Of all these three charges, the first is most important because it explains how the entire union is being undermined// To see what-s happened to the living standards of ordinary Europeans, turn to some extraordinary research published this year by Heiner Flassbeck, former chief economist at the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development, and Costas Lapavitsas, an economics professor at Soas University of London turned Syriza MP// 

## In Against the Troika, the German and the Greek publish one chart that explodes the idea that the euro has raised living standards// What they look at is unit labour costs how much you need to pay staff to make one unit of output| a widget, say, or a bit of software// And they map labour costs across the eurozone from 1999 to 2013// What they find is that German workers have barely seen wages rise for the 14 year stretch// In the short life of the euro, working Germans have fared worse than the French, Austrians, Italians and many across southern Europe//  Yes, we-re talking about the same Germany| the mightiest economy on the continent, the one even David Cameron regards with envy// Yet the people working there and making the country more prosperous have seen barely any reward for their efforts// And this is the model for a continent//Perhaps you have an image of Deutschland as being a nation of highly skilled, highly rewarded workers in gleaming factories// That workforce and its unions still exist but it-s shrinking fast// What-s replacing it, according to Germany-s leading expert on inequality, Gerhard Bosch, are crap jobs// The low wage workforce has shot up and is now almost at US levels, he reckons// 

 ## Don-t blame this on the euro, but on the slow decline of German unions, and the trend of business towards outsourcing to cheaper eastern Europe// What the single currency has done is make Germany-s low wage problems the ruin of an entire continent// 

 ## Workers in France, Italy, Spain and the rest of the eurozone are now being undercut by the epic wage freeze going on in the giant country in the middle// Flassbeck and Lapavitsas describe this as Germany-s *beggar thy neighbour * policy *but only after beggaring its own people *// 

 ## In the last century, the other countries in the eurozone could have become more competitive by devaluing their national currencies just as the UK has done since the banking meltdown// But now they-re all part of the same club, the only post crash solution has been to pay workers less//That is expressly what the European commission, the European Central Bank and the IMF are telling Greece| make workers redundant, pay those still in a job much less, and slash pensions for the elderly// But it-s not just in Greece// Nearly every meeting of the Wise Folk in Brussels and Strasbourg comes up with the same communique for *reform * of the labour market and social security entitlements across the continent| a not so coded call for attacking ordinary people-s living standards// This is what the noble European project is turning into| a grim march to the bottom// This isn-t about creating a deeper democracy, but deeper markets and the two are increasingly incompatible// Germany-s Angela Merkel has shown no compunction about meddling in the democratic affairs of other European countries tacitly warning Greeks against voting for Syriza for instance, or forcing the Spanish socialist prime minister, José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, to rip up the spending commitments that had won him an election//The diplomatic beatings administered to Syriza since it came to power this year can only be seen as Europe trying to set an example to any Spanish voters who might be tempted to support its sister movement Podemos// Go too far left, runs the message, and you-ll get the same treatment// 

 ## Whatever the founding ideals of the eurozone, they don-t match up to the grim reality in 2015// This is Thatcher-s revolution, or Reagan-s but now on a continental scale// And as then, it is accompanied by the idea that There Is No Alternative either to running an economy, or even to which kind of government voters get to choose// 

 ## The fact that this entire show is being brought in by agreeable looking Wise Folk often claiming to be social democratic doesn-t render the project any nicer or gentler// It just lends the entire thing a nasty tang of hypocrisy//

## A few years ago, he caused shockwaves in France by saying he-d paid backhanders to figures on all sides of the political spectrum after being told he was facing a tax inspection, presumed to have been in the 1970s. A later tax investigation found no irregularity. Decades ago, he left France to live just over the border in Switzerland. *I was never a tax exile,* he is at pains to point out. *I didn-t have a penny when I left.*

## The phrase Aznavour probably hates the most is *farewell tour*. He swears he has never uttered the words, and vows to keep performing until he dies.

 ## *You-ve got to learn to leave the table when love is no longer being served,* he once crooned. But with audiences still dishing up a never ending pot of it, he-s happy to stick around. 

## Charles Aznavour, one of the greatest singer songwriters France has ever known, sits in a velvet armchair a few days before his 91st birthday, discussing the whiff of ladies armpits. 

## A song on his new album, in which he declares, *I love the smell of your underarms,* worried his Swedish wife of 50 years, but Aznavour knows his audience. If he-s the most successful French crooner in the world a lyricist who defined the country-s popular culture for decades it-s precisely because his songs have always been risky.

 ## When Aznavour began writing in the 1940s, sex was something that happened with the light off. It was OK for women singers to howl over their broken hearts, but men didn-t sing about their own emotional despair and later their dodgy prostates. Aznavour shone a spotlight on masculinity and libido, singing about depression, sex, prejudice and rape. His hits ranged from the 1970s story of a gay transvestite in What Makes a Man, to the once banned ballad of muggy, post coital exhaustion, Après l-Amour, and the controversial You-ve Let Yourself Go the plea of a man whose wife has grown dowdy and fat *I gaze at you in sheer despair and see your mother standing there*.He is unrepentant. *It-s a kind of sickness I have, talking about things you-re not supposed to talk about. I started with homosexuality and I wanted to break every taboo.* The armpit line comes in a new ballad about a blind lover-s sense of smell. *When I wrote a song about the deaf , I learned sign language to perform it on stage. On this album, I wanted to describe what it was like for someone non sighted.* He pauses. *I still don-t know how I-m going to perform it …* In his shows, he takes on various personas with dramatic gestures that resemble a mime act. He-s an actor who sings rather than a Frank Sinatra style singer who acts. A few years ago, he caused shockwaves in France by saying he-d paid backhanders to figures on all sides of the political spectrum after being told he was facing a tax inspection, presumed to have been in the 1970s. A later tax investigation found no irregularity. Decades ago, he left France to live just over the border in Switzerland. *I was never a tax exile,* he is at pains to point out. *I didn-t have a penny when I left.*

 ## The phrase Aznavour probably hates the most is *farewell tour*. He swears he has never uttered the words, and vows to keep performing until he dies. 

## *You-ve got to learn to leave the table when love is no longer being served,* he once crooned. But with audiences still dishing up a never ending pot of it, he-s happy to stick around. 

## Aznavour is still composing and performing, he-s written around 1,200 songs and sold more than 100m records in his 70 year career. France worships him as the last living legend of a golden era. Like many popular singers who came to represent the very essence of France such as Georges Moustaki and, to a certain extent, Edith Piaf herself Aznavour is shaped by his foreign roots. Born Shahnour Varenagh Aznavourian in Paris to an actor father and singer mother who had fled the Armenian genocide, he left school and became a child actor at the age of nine. He survived the German occupation of Paris singing in cabarets, while his parents hid fellow Armenians, Jews, Russians and Communists in their apartment and his father joined the resistance. 

## Piaf pestered him to have a nose job. Afterwards he presented himself for inspection. I preferred you before, she said 

## But Aznavour-s path to success was long and torturous. French critics dismissed him as repulsively ugly, too short, with a terrible voice and dubious song titles. It wasn-t until the end of the 50s, a decade after Piaf had taken him on as her songwriter, flatmate and all round bag carrier that he finally began to make it. In 1960, he played the shy and haunted piano player in François Truffaut-s classic New Wave film, Shoot the Piano Player (he went on to act in over 60 films). But his global singing fame was cemented in the 70s with a triumphant crossover into the US and UK –something he puts down to the excellent translation of his lyrics into English. (The bittersweet British No 1, She, is hardly known in France). Britain was seduced by this scrawny Frenchman crooning about painful crushes in a 10 ton accent. *I often say:- France is for lyrics, England is for music,* he muses. 

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## Nowadays, Aznavour is a *dinosaur* his word who trades on agelessness. His 51st studio album is out in the UK now and he is working on his 52nd. He loves being sampled by adoring French rappers. He relishes the irony that at 30 he was considered ugly, but past 90 he is now seen as dashing. What it-s like being 91? *I wouldn-t have a clue,* he says, wide eyed. *I don-t feel 91. I-ve always thought a person must never lose the gaze of a child.* At 5 foot 3, he holds his tiny frame perpetually taut (keeping his shoulders straight is one his secrets of eternal youth). But he-s brutally honest about performing on stage. *I hide nothing from the audience,* he says. He tells them he has an Auto cue because his memory is fading, and says his mouth ulcers make it hard to sing. He relies on hearing aids. But he loathes what he calls the show business *cult of youth*.

 ## *More and more men are changing themselves, having surgery, and you can see it on TV, because their dyed black hair turns blue under the lights,* he says. *I had a problem with my nose, I got it done. I made some white hair that was falling out grow back. But I left my wrinkles where they are. And I look younger than the others because I have never retouched nature-s work.*In fact, it was Edith Piaf cabaret superstar and queen of chanson française, who forced Aznavour to have a nose job 50 years ago. She pestered him for months to fix what she deemed his too large hooter. He eventually went under the knife, and presented himself for inspection. *I preferred you before,* she said. 

## There-s a song about Piaf on the new album. It is the first time he has written about her, though they lived together platonically for eight years. *We were like cousins. We had this extraordinary complicity. I never had a love affair with her that-s what saved us.* Why did Piaf, the star, latch on to him, an unknown nine years her junior? *I brought her my youth, my madness, she loved my whole jazzy side.* 

## I can-t say anything about ,because I would anger half the Armenians. 

## His other main role today is as one of the world-s most famous Armenians. He has finally taken dual Armenian citizenship, is Armenian ambassador to Switzerland and travelled with the French president François Hollande to mark the centenary of the Armenian genocide this year. But France still defines his identity. *I-ve always felt totally French. That really vexed the Armenians in Armenia, but now they-re used to it.* He politely declines to say what he thinks about his challenger as pop culture-s international symbol of the Armenian diaspora: Kim Kardashian. He-s never met her. Does he watch her reality show? 

## *I can-t say anything about it, because I would anger half the Armenians.* He laughs nervously. *I suppose Armenians are quite prudish and don-t like too much nudity …*A few years ago, he caused shockwaves in France by saying he-d paid backhanders to figures on all sides of the political spectrum after being told he was facing a tax inspection, presumed to have been in the 1970s. A later tax investigation found no irregularity. Decades ago, he left France to live just over the border in Switzerland. *I was never a tax exile,* he is at pains to point out. *I didn-t have a penny when I left.* 

## The phrase Aznavour probably hates the most is *farewell tour*. He swears he has never uttered the words, and vows to keep performing until he dies. 

## *You-ve got to learn to leave the table when love is no longer being served,* he once crooned. But with audiences still dishing up a never ending pot of it, he-s happy to stick around.

 ## Today the High Court of the United Kingdom handed down an excellent decision excellent because the result is so unreasonable, so out of touch with reality, and so divorced from the needs and expectations of ordinary users, that it provides a textbook illustration of the need for urgent reform of the outdated and unbalanced European Copyright Directive// 

## In a nutshell, the court struck down the UK government-s decision to allow users to lawfully make copies of content that they have purchased for personal use, given the absence of a compulsory levy to compensate copyright owners for the “harm” that they suffer from such copying// The government-s choices are now to remove the private copying exception making personal copying illegal again, or to supply additional evidence that copyright owners suffer no or minimal “harm” from personal copying, or else to begin imposing a new tax on users to compensate the industry for that “harm”// 

## The notion that every use of copyright works by users [which for digital works, generally involves a technical act of copying] is a use that rightsholders must be compensated for, is not a notion with any historical foundation in copyright law// Copyright law is a limited monopoly right that is bestowed by statute, and therefore it can be limited or taken away by statute just as easily// Thus, the limitations and exceptions to copyright law are as much an integral part of it as the exclusive rights of copyright owners are// 

## However, in May 2001, with the adoption of European Union Copyright Directive , what had been a well settled principle of British copyright law was suddenly made subject to a new restriction: that no new copyright limitations and exceptions could be introduced without compensation to rightsholders, unless its introduction would cause them minimal or no harm// 

## Seizing on the opportunity to use this supranational directive to overturn a democratically enacted law, music industry groups [the Musicians- Union, UK Music, and the British Academy of Songwriters, Composers and Authors] sued the UK government arguing that yes, by making a copy of content that you have purchased, in your own home and for your own use, you are indeed causing them to suffer harm// 

 ## The government-s response was that the added value that consumers receive from being able to make personal copies is already being captured, because it is built in to the purchase price of the original works, resulting in no or minimal loss to rightsholders// The problem, as found by the court, was that the government hadn-t actually done its homework to demonstrate that this was indeed the case//

 ## Whilst accepting that the Copyright Directive does not require “that sellers must be able to extract the very last gram of value from the copyright,” the court found that the personal copying exception might have resulted in some loss of sales [for example, some hypothetical consumer might have refrained from buying an extra copy of their favorite CD for their car, in reliance on the new exception], and that the government had failed to present any evidence that these lost sales were zero or minimal// 

 ## This decision is so bad, that it isn-t even wrong// Not because we think that the government did produce the economic evidence that the court was looking for, but because the fact the government should even be required to produce that sort of evidence before allowing users to make personal copies of purchased works shows how completely detached copyright law has become from the real world// 

 ## In the digital age, the ability for copyright works to be legally copied is not something that can be characterized in any sensible way as an additional value, over and above the value that those works possess in splendid, uncopiable isolation// For many digital works, it is impossible to make use of copyright works at all without making copies; perhaps many times over, and it is absolutely right and proper that the making of those copies ought to be permitted by the law, without relying on a levy or on a license from the copyright owner// 

 ## Demanding that each such lawfully made copy be somehow carved into its own sliver of value, and ensuring that rightholders have been afforded the maximum opportunity to extract rents from that value, is nonsense on every level: it is administratively unworkable, acts as a barrier to fair use and innovation, and has no justifiable legal or moral basis as a matter of copyright policy//

## Whilst we therefore think that the court got it wrong by buying into the industry-s argument that it was entitled to share in the value of personal copying, the court is not alone in carrying the blame for this momentously bad precedent// As suggested above, the fault must also be shared by the inflexible and one sided European Copyright Directive// 

 ## Neither can we fully absolve the rightsholders from blame; although a stupid law is an open invitation for anyone to take advantage of it, it still takes a special kind of mercenary greed to use it to strike down an exception that allows people to freely make personal copies of CDs, videos and personal photographs in the privacy of their own homes// [And let-s not kid ourselves that the recording industry in the United States wouldn-t pull the same stunt if they thought they could//] 

 ## Today-s decision puts the very worst features of copyright law on full display, and to that extent is an excellent illustration of the need for change// It bolsters the argument that thousands of European citizens have made that the Copyright Directive must be urgently reviewed, though measures such as the introduction of a fair use style exception// Unfortunately this week-s refusal by the European 

## Parliament-s Legal Affairs Committee to recommend just such an exception as proposed by Member of Parliament [MEP] Julia Reda does not bode well for the success of the pending review// 

## But perhaps a stupid decision like this is just what is needed to turn the temperature up a notch, and place more British users on the offensive// After years of lobbying for a free personal copying exception, its loss at the hands of the music industry clearly outlines the incursions that unbalanced copyright law makes upon users- freedom to make reasonable, private [and public] uses of copyright works// It-s high time to bring European copyright law back into line with reality//

 ## The assets were seized in a move triggered by a court ruling over the now defunct Yukos oil firm// In July 2014, an international arbitration court said Russian officials had manipulated the legal system to bankrupt Yukos// Yukos was then taken over by a Russian state firm// Its former boss, Mikhail Khodorkovsky, was also jailed// Last year a court told Russia to pay Yukos shareholders $50bn [£32bn] in compensation, after Yukos-s break-up// But Russia does not acknowledge the court-s findings, leading former Yukos shareholders to get Russian state assets frozen// 

## Responding to the asset seizure, Russia-s President Vladimir Putin said he would *defend our interests by the route of justice*//Belgium-s ambassador to Moscow was summoned to the Kremlin, and told the asset seizure was *an openly hostile act* that *crudely violates the recognised norms of international law*// While visiting China, Belgium-s Foreign Minister Didier Reynders said: *A solution has been found to unblock as a priority accounts for the running of the embassies, and the rest will follow//* France also seized Russian state accounts in about 40 banks, along with several buildings// It is not known if those assets will also be unblocked//

## One of the biggest health insurers in the country, Anthem, on Saturday announced an offer to acquire a rival, Cigna, for more than $47 billion in cash and stock// The move is the latest step toward an expected consolidation among health insurance companies// Last month, Humana, another competitor, was said to be exploring a sale of itself// Driving the push to get bigger has been the Obama administration*s health care overhaul, which has bolstered revenues// Yet, at the same time, profit margins have come under pressure in the face of greater pricing transparency and less generous funding of government plans// By going public with its offer, Anthem is seeking to stir up Cigna*s shareholders and force the company back to the negotiating table// Anthem said it had been in talks with Cigna over a potential combination since August// Continue reading the main story RELATED COVERAGE DealBook: Mergers Might Not Signal Optimism JUNE 8, 2015 ® 

## Shares of Humana jumped in afternoon trading on Friday//Humana Is Said to Consider Sale of CompanyMAY 29, 2015 Dr// Emily Rubenstein, right, with Sandra Guaccio during a dermatology consultation at Swedish Covenant Hospital, which recently teamed with an insurer to offer a so called limited network health plan//Health Insurance Shoppers Look to Limited Networks to Save MoneyAPRIL 13, 2015 Those talks floundered, Anthem said in a statement, over **Cigna*s insistence on uncommon governance demands** - chiefly over the leadership and board structure of a combined company// In particular, Anthem cited the demand that David Cordani, the chief executive of Cigna, lead the combined company// **We were stunned that the Cigna board continues to insist on a guaranteed C//E//O// position for Mr// Cordani over choosing to allow its stockholders to realize the significant premium being offered,** Joseph R// Swedish, the chief executive of Anthem, wrote in a letter on June 18 to Cigna*s chairman that was released on Saturday// Cigna declined to comment// Anthem*s proposed takeover comes as the nation*s largest for profit health insurers are all looking to combine, creating what Ana Gupte, an analyst at Leerink Partners, predicts will become an industry of the Big Three from the current five: Aetna, Anthem, Cigna, Humana and UnitedHealth Group// UnitedHealth, the industry*s largest player, is already well diversified// In addition to providing health insurance directly to consumers as well as through employers, United*s Optum business includes companies offering a broad range of health and technology services// While no one has ruled out United as a possible suitor, the company could run into regulatory hurdles, depending on what it acquired// Drastic industry changes in recent years are fueling the interest in mergers// ®

 ## Growth from the traditional market of providing health coverage to employees has stalled as fewer companies provide insurance for their workers// As a result, the insurers have steadily moved into the heavily regulated government markets of Medicare and Medicaid as well as the individual market under the Affordable Care Act// The proposed deals represent the companies* interest in trying to capture as much revenue growth as they can, Ms// Gupte recently told investors// The expectation is that the companies can use their larger size to be more efficient// The proposed combination of Anthem and Cigna would create a much larger entity with $115 billion in revenue// Anthem operates well known Blue Cross plans in 14 states and has a strong presence in offering Medicaid plans for low income individuals// Cigna is best known for offering plans through employers and selling other kinds of insurance like dental and disability// ®