Archive for May, 2007

Afternoon with Albuquerque’s ‘gang suppression unit’

Sergeant Larry Bitsoih (left) says gangs have been active in Albuquerque since at least the 1930s and are likely to be around for a long time to come.

Gangs have always been around, they are a cultural issue in America, said the head of a new gang suppression unit set up by the city last week as part of a public campaign by Mayor Martin Chávez to combat gang violence.

Although we only just started the new unit, its already beginning to make a difference in what we do, added Bitsoih added. We can never get rid of gangs altogether, but we can make it more difficult for them to operate here. Larry Bitsoih on the gang violence cycle here

There are around 7,000 known gang members in the state of New Mexico – which has a population of under 2 million – and some 200 gangs with the average age of members between 14 and 25. Around 190 of those gangs can be found in Albuquerque, where the metropolitan area population grew from 485,000 in 1980 to 712,000 in 2000.

For some time the police force has tried to avoid naming gangs or specific gang members in the media to deprive them of attention.

Detective Sullivan (pictured upper left) said that gangs also use media coverage as a recruitment tool. He describes it here

Sullivan and Bitsoih scope out graffiti on walls to check for new gang activity, which is constantly changing and passes from generation to generation. They also talk to gang members on a daily basis in an effort to glean information about what is happening on the streets and track gang movements.

Much of what they do is also aimed at persuading children not to join the gangs.

Once theyre in, its so much harder to get out, Sullivan said. We know plenty of older gang members who want to quit gang life, but have no way out.

The gateway to Greenland’s mysteries

KANGERLUSSUAQ, Greenland - The town that is the gateway to Greenland doesn’t look particularly inviting at first sight. Touching down in a plane filled with scientists, journalists, tourists and locals returning from Copenhagen, we are greeted by a barren, harsh and unforgiving landscape dotted with drab cinder block buildings tiny-windowed to keep out the deep winter freeze.

Luckily, nobody comes here for the town, but for what lies right outside. A short drive up a gravel road reveals a startling landscape of frozen lakes rimmed by hills on which woolly musk oxen graze and finally, 16 miles (26 kilometres) in the distance, the Greenland ice cap, which may hold the answer to how fast and how much the worlds oceans will rise due to climate change.

The Americans turned this former hunting outpost into an air force base in World War II and continued to use it through the Cold War until 1992, when they handed it over to Greenlands home rule government. Greenland, the worlds largest island if you dont count Australia, is an autonomous territory of Denmark. It has about 57,000 inhabitants, most of them Inuit, only about 550 of whom live in Kangerlussuaq.

The Americans are gone, but they left behind their buildings, which give the place its air of cold military efficiency. More importantly, they also left behind the airport. The locals brag that its the best airport in the world as far as the weather is concerned, at least. The wind never blows sideways on the runway and it rarely snows here, so the airport is open year-round, making Kangerlussuaq the ideal entry point to Greenland.

The town’s name means The Long Fjord, because it lies at the beginning of a 100-mile fjord that leads out to the islands west coast. A short hike up the rocky cliffs surrounding Kangerlussuaq offers a spectacular view of the fjord, choked here at its endpoint by sand blown in periodically off the ice cap.

We get more sand storms here than snow storms, says Kim Petersen, a local guide who runs Arctic Caving Adventures and takes thrill-seekers spelunking inside dangerous ice tunnels formed by water inside the ice sheet.

I hike with Petersen through shrubs and up a hill to try to sneak up on some musk oxen. We are lucky to get close enough to see five grazing peacefully, looking prehistoric with their curved horns and flowing wool. They get alarmed when they spot us and trot away. Spring is here now and with temperatures up to 15 degrees Celsius (59 Fahrenheit), it gets harder to find oxen close to the town. Their thick coats get too hot and they move toward the ice cap to seek relief.

And thats exactly where were going, too.

Scientists agree the earths climate is warming and most believe its very likely that much of the increase in temperature is a result of human activity. What still isn’t fully understood is the dynamics of the miles-high ice cap in Greenland, which has been melting faster. Scientists believe that if it melts completely, the world’s oceans would rise by about 7 meters, flooding London and New York City and drowning island nations like the Maldives.

So Reuters photographer Bob Strong and I are heading north to visit a team of scientists led by University of Colorados Dr. Koni Steffen, who has been studying the melting of the ice sheet for years at a research camp halfway between Greenlands western coast and the ice cap’s highest point.

Aerial view of a fjord in Greenland. Photo by Bob Strong, Reuters.  

What’s next for American carmakers? Autoworkers?

 With 80 percent of Chrsyler Group going to Cerberus for $7.4 billion, a major U.S. automaker will be in the hands of a private equity group for the first time.

Buzz Hargrove, the head of the Canadian Auto Workers, called the deal “very, very worrisome for us… I don’t have any bone to pick with (Cerberus), but the whole point of private equity is not to grow the business over the long term and that’s what we need.”

Chrysler aims to return to profit in 2008.

How do you think American carmakers will evolve over the next decade? And the industry’s workers? The Big 3 directly employed 377,000 at the beginning to 2006, according to the office of Michigan Congressman John Dingell.

Sarkozy: Uniting with U.S., dividing at home?

The election Sunday of center-rightest Nicolas Sarkozy in France is being viewed as:

• A headache for European Union officials after he urged his European partners to “hear the voice of the people who want to be protected.”
• A potentially divisive political event at home. Left-wing papers “came out in mourning” on Monday, Kerstin Gehmlich reports from Paris.
• A mandate for economic reform. He’s expected to undermine the 35-hour work week in France by cutting taxes on overtime and curbing union powers.
• A pro-American leader in the heart of Europe whose tough immigration policies are a cause for concern in French-speaking Africa.

What’s your view? What sort of change will Sarkozy bring to European policies and relations with the U.S.?

Surprise bid for Dow Jones: Reactions from around the Web

As soon as Dow Jones confirmed an approach from News Corp., speculation sprang up in some corners that a takeover battle for the Wall Street Journal publisher was surely about to begin.

Paul Kedroksy, the Infectious Greed blogger who calls himself  “an occasional commentator on CNBC”, said GE/NBC should bid aggressively for Dow Jones. “A new Fox biz network with integrated WSJ/DJ/Marketwatch will be an instant major media presence.” 

“I would think that some senior people at CNBC … pleading with GE execs to make a run at Dow Jones,” The Big Picture speculates.

It’s about time, said Jim Cramer at thestreet.com, recalling how Murdoch asked him about the wisdom of a Dow Jones bid 10 years ago. “With Dow Jones, News Corp has a ready-made business team to give its business channel the talent and the data it needs.”

Media blogger Jim Romenesko carried the report from CNBC’s David Faber, posting that the surpise $60 a share offer could draw in newspaper groups Washington Post Co., the New York Times Co. as well as privately-held Bloomberg LP. 

If concluded, the deal would give News Corp.’s Rupert Murdoch a lock on global financial news, Reuters Ken Li reports.

The offer fuelled some U.S. newspaper shares. The New York Times rose over 6 percent on the day. Murdoch’s offer means “New York Times Chairman Arthur Sulzberger, who has brushed aside shareholder critics, is probably on the phone with is bankers right now,” concludes Jonathan Barr in AOL’s bloggingstocks. 

What’s your view of the News Corp move?