Helmut Heinrich Waldemar Schmidt was a German politician and member of the Social Democratic Party of Germany, who served as Chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany from 1974 to 1982. Before becoming Chancellor, he had served as Minister of Finance. In the latter role he gained credit for his financial policies, he had served as Minister of Economics and as acting Foreign Minister. As Chancellor, he focused on international affairs, seeking "political unification of Europe in partnership with the United States" and issuing proposals that led to the NATO Double-Track Decision in 1979 to deploy US Pershing II missiles to Europe, he was an energetic diplomat who sought European co-operation and international economic co-ordination and was the leading force in creating the European Monetary System in 1978. He was re-elected chancellor in 1976 and 1980, but his coalition fell apart in 1982 with the switch by his coalition allies, the Free Democratic Party, he retired from Parliament in 1986, after clashing with the SPD's left wing, who opposed him on defence and economic issues.

In 1986 he was a leading proponent of a European Central Bank. Helmut Schmidt was born as the eldest of two sons of teachers Ludovica Koch and Gustav Ludwig Schmidt in Barmbek, a working-class district of Hamburg, in 1918. Schmidt studied at Hamburg Lichtwark School, graduating in 1937. Schmidt's father was born the biological son of a German Jewish banker, Ludwig Gumpel, a Christian waitress, Friederike Wenzel, covertly adopted, although this was kept a family secret for many years; this was confirmed publicly by Schmidt in 1984, after Valéry Giscard d'Estaing revealed the fact to journalists with Schmidt's assent. Schmidt himself was a non-practising Lutheran. Schmidt was a group leader in the Hitler Youth organization until 1936, when he was demoted and sent on leave because of his anti-Nazi views. However, newly accessible documents from 1942 praise his "Impeccable national-socialist behaviour", in 1944 his superiors mentioned that Schmidt "stands the ground of national-socialist ideology, knowing that he must pass it on".

On 27 June 1942, he married his childhood sweetheart Hannelore "Loki" Glaser. They had two children: Helmut Walter, Susanne, who works in London for Bloomberg Television. Schmidt resumed his education in Hamburg after the war, graduating in economics and political science in 1949. Schmidt planned to study without interruption, therefore volunteered at age 18 for military service in 1937, he began serving with an anti-aircraft battery of Luftwaffe at Vegesack near Bremen. In World War II, after brief service on the Eastern Front during the invasion of the Soviet Union in 1941, he returned to Germany in 1942 to work as a trainer and advisor at the Ministry of Aviation. During his service in World War II, Schmidt was awarded the Iron Cross 2nd Class, he attended the People's Court as a military spectator at some of the show trials for officers involved in the 20 July plot, in which an unsuccessful attempt was made to assassinate Hitler at Rastenburg, was disgusted by Roland Freisler's conduct. Toward the end of the war, from December 1944 onwards, he served as an Oberleutnant in the Flakartillery on the Western Front during the Battle of the Bulge and the Ardennes Offensive.

He was captured by the British in April 1945 on Lüneburg Heath, was a prisoner of war until August of that year in Belgium. Schmidt joined the Social Democratic Party of Germany in 1946, from 1947-48 was the leader of the Socialist German Student League, the student organization of the SPD. Upon graduating from the University of Hamburg, where he read Economics, he worked for the government of the city-state of Hamburg, working in the department of Economic Policy. Beginning in 1952, under Karl Schiller, he was a senior figure heading up the Behörde für Wirtschaft und Verkehr, he was elected to the Bundestag in 1953, in 1957 he became a member of the SPD parliamentary party executive. A vocal critic of conservative government policy, his outspoken rhetoric in parliament earned him the nickname Schmidt-Schnauze. In 1958, he joined the national board of the SPD, campaigned against nuclear weapons and the equipping of the Bundeswehr with such devices, he alarmed some in his party by taking part in manoeuveres as a reserve officer in the newly formed Bundeswehr.

In 1962, he gave up his seat in parliament to concentrate on his tasks in Hamburg. The government of the city-state of Hamburg is known as the Senate of Hamburg, from 1961 to 1965, Schmidt was the Innensenator: the senator of the interior, he gained a reputation as a Macher – someone who gets things done regardless of obstacles – by his effective management during the emergency caused by the 1962 flood, during which 300 people drowned. Schmidt used all means at his disposal to alleviate the situation when that meant overstepping his legal authority, including employing the federal police and army units. Describing his actions, Schmidt said, "I wasn't put in charge of these units – I took charge of them!" He swiftly managed the re-housing of thousands of the homeless. In 1965, he was re-elected to

Joseph A. "Joe" Griffo is a member of the New York Senate, representing the 47th district since 2007. The 47th district encompasses all of Lewis County, most of Oneida County, parts of St. Lawrence County. Prior to his election to the Senate, Griffo served as Mayor of Rome, New York and as Oneida County Executive. A Republican, Griffo serves as Deputy Minority Leader of the State Senate. Joseph Griffo was born to Betty Griffo in Rome, New York. While he was an only child, Griffo had a large extended family of aunts and cousins, his mother was his father worked as a meter officer. Griffo went through the Rome public school system and graduated from Rome Free Academy High School in 1974, he went on to the State University of New York at Brockport, where he graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science, magna cum laude, in 1978. Griffo is married to Lorraine Griffo. Griffo served in the Oneida County Legislature from 1989 to 1991. Griffo was elected mayor of his hometown of Rome, NY in 1991, won two subsequent elections in 1995 and 1999.

As Mayor, Griffo eliminated Rome's special one-quarter percent sales tax. Griffo "was able to prevent a tax hike there in all but one of his years in office, despite the crippling loss of Griffiss Air Force Base in 1993 - the worst single economic blow the county has seen." Griffo merged the parks and recreation departments and handed over the city's weights and measures and emergency management departments to the county, resulting in savings. To prevent closures and service cuts, he privatized Rome Hospital, the Erie Canal Village, city trash collection services. Griffo was instrumental in bringing Woodstock 1999 to Rome; the concert was held at the deserted Griffiss Air Force Base and served as a precedent to using the space for future concerts and events. Woodstock'99 attracted over 200,000 people; the event was successful until the final day, when the audience--encouraged by the performing band--began making bonfires. As the crowd got out of control, state troopers and local police dispersed the crowd without further incident.

Griffo was appointed Oneida County Executive in June 2003 to serve out the term of his predecessor. Griffo was elected to the post in November 2003. After raising taxes 16% for 2003, his predecessor had announced that taxes for 2004 might need to be raised by as much as 26% due to skyrocketing Medicare costs and retirement benefits. However, after Griffo was appointed County Executive, he was able to balance the 2004 budget while raising taxes by 2.9%. In 2005, he implemented a prescription drug plan that cut drug costs for Oneida county residents by up to 38%. Griffo increased the county sales tax 1.5% in the 2005 budget to cover soaring Medicaid costs. Sales tax revenues are split amongst state and townships/cities. However, in order to cover mandated Medicaid costs, the 1.5% increase would all go to the county government. Utica Mayor Tim Julian began claiming a share of the revenues. Griffo remained adamant in refusing to split the revenues. Griffo tried to disarm the situation by offering the city of Utica $800,000 in debt forgiveness, which Julian refused.

Griffo won out and the county did not split the extra sales tax revenues with Utica. Griffo helped stop the New York Regional Interconnect plan to run electricity from Canada through Oneida County. Concerned citizens feared the project would increase electricity costs in the area and pose health and safety risks to residents. A grassroots effort formed opposing the plan, Griffo supported that effort with $50,000 of county money. In 2006, Griffo ran for State Senate. Utica Mayor Tim Julian ran against Griffo in the Republican primary for State Senator. While Julian lost the primary, he secured a spot on the Independence Party ticket and continued his campaign. A week before the election, Julian dropped out of the race. Griffo was elected in 2006 to represent the 47th district in the New York State Senate, he replaced Raymond Meier. Among Griffo's significant legislation was a law that created the website ResultsNY.gov where anyone could log on and see how state funds were being used. Griffo proposed bills that would create term limits for the Governor and Attorney-General as well as forcing vacancies at statewide positions to be filled through popular election rather than appointment by the Governor.

"His bills have included child abuse victim protection, a law to keep snowmobile fees for trail system use and legislation capping assessment increases for farmers." Griffo voted against same-sex marriage legislation on December 2, 2009. In 2011, he voted against the Marriage Equality Act, which the Senate passed 33-29. On January 3, 2017, Griffo drew media attention for a sharp and contentious Twitter exchange with Melissa DeRosa, Chief of Staff to New York State Governor Andrew Cuomo. In December 2018, Griffo was appointed Deputy Minority Leader of the State Senate. In January 2019, he was appointed Acting Minority Leader after Minority Leader John J. Flanagan sought treatment for alcoholism. Griffo was arrested on August 1, 1988 after serving alcohol or permitting alcohol to be served to minors at a party he hosted, his case was discharged under contemplation of dismissal. After his arrest, Griffo accused the officer who arrested him of being'disgruntled', despite the Rome Police having legitimate grounds for an arrest.

The Rome Democratic Party hired attorney Robert Abrams to probe into Rome Judge James Kehoe's disposition of charges against Joseph Griffo. Griffo was involved in a two-vehicle collision on East Oak Street in Rome. Pol

The 2008 Halton Borough Council election took place on 1 May 2008 to elect members of Halton Unitary Council in Cheshire, England. One third of the council was up for election and the Labour party stayed in overall control of the council. After the election, the composition of the council was Labour 33 Liberal Democrat 14 Conservative 9 20 seats were contested in the election with Labour defending 12, the Liberal Democrats 6 and the Conservatives 2. Among these seats were those of the Labour leader of the council, Tony McDermott, the Liberal Democrat group leader, Linda Redhead. There were 63 candidates including 20 from Labour, 19 each from the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats, 4 from the Green party and 1 Citizens Party of Halton candidate. Labour were expected to remain in control of the council, but both Liberal Democrats and Conservatives were hoping to make gains, with the Liberal Democrats targeting Runcorn and the wards of Castlefields and Halton Brook. A big issue in the election was a plan for an Ineos Chlor heat and power plant in the area with both the Liberal Democrats and Conservatives raising concerns from residents.

Other issues included the Mersey Gateway project and the government Building Schools for the Future programme for building new schools. Labour were happy to defend their record in control of the council, but the Conservatives attacked council tax rises over the previous decade and the Liberal Democrats said that Runcorn had been neglected in favour of Widnes; the results saw Labour remain in control of the council as they had been since it became a unitary authority in 1998. Labour held all 12 seats they had been defending, including the leader of the council, Tony McDermott, comfortably re-elected in Broadheath ward, he described the results as being a "real vote of confidence in the party". However, in Halton Brook ward the Labour councillor Stef Nelson only held his seat after a tie which required the drawing of lots. Both Nelson and the Liberal Democrat candidate, Louise Whitley, won 551 votes after 7 recounts, requiring the Returning Officer to draw a lot to decide the result, with Nelson successful and thus being declared to have won the election by 1 vote.

The only seat to change hands was Daresbury, where the Conservative Marjorie Bradshaw gained from the Liberal Democrats, in a ward which her husband had won in the 2007 election. Elsewhere the Green party reduced the Labour majority in Halton View ward. Overall turnout in the election was down at 26.84%

The New Arab or Al-Araby Al-Jadeed is a pan-Arab media outlet headquartered in London. It was first launched in March 2014 as an online news website by Qatari company Fadaat Media, it went on to establish a daily newspaper in September 2014. In January 2015, Fadaat launched Al Araby TV Network as a counterweight to Al Jazeera, viewed by some to hold a pro-Muslim Brotherhood bias. Dr. Azmi Bishara, a Doha-based ex-member of Israeli parliament, founded the Arabic-language news website as the first platform launched by Al-Araby Al-Jadeed in March 2014. Six months they launched an Arabic daily newspaper from London. An English version of the website was inaugurated shortly after the newspaper's launch, goes by the translated name of The New Arab. Al-Araby Al-Jadeed now operates globally, with more than 150 staff in three offices, based in Beirut and London; the outlet is owned by Qatar-based Fadaat Media Ltd. Abdulrahman Elshayyal is the newspaper's CEO. Fadaat Media is an Arab media investment company.

Al-Araby Al-Jadeed stories are taken up by Middle East-focused outlets as well as established outlets such as Time magazine, International Business Times, Middle East Eye, The National and others. The new Arab, homepage

The Malayan Union was a union of the Malay states and the Straits Settlements of Penang and Malacca. It was the successor to British Malaya and was conceived to unify the Malay Peninsula under a single government to simplify administration. Following opposition by the ethnic Malays, the union was reorganized as the Federation of Malaya in 1948. Prior to World War II, British Malaya consisted of three groups of polities: the protectorate of the Federated Malay States, five protected Unfederated Malay States and the crown colony of the Strait Settlements. On 1 April 1946, the Malayan Union came into existence with Sir Edward Gent as its governor, combining the Federated Malay States, Unfederated Malay States and the Straits Settlements of Penang and Malacca under one administration; the capital of the Union was Kuala Lumpur. The former Straits Settlement of Singapore was administered as a separate crown colony; the idea of the Union was first expressed by the British on October 1945 in the aftermath of the Second World War by the British Military Administration.

Sir Harold MacMichael was assigned the task of gathering the Malay state rulers' approval for the Malayan Union in the same month. In a short period of time, he managed to obtain all the Malay rulers’ approval; the reasons for their agreement, despite the loss of political power that it entailed for the Malay rulers, has been much debated. Hence the approval was given; when it was unveiled, the Malayan Union gave equal rights to people who wished to apply for citizenship. It was automatically granted to people who were born in any state in British Malaya or Singapore and were living there before 15 February 1942, born outside British Malaya or the Straits Settlements only if their fathers were citizens of the Malayan Union and those who reached 18 years old and who had lived in British Malaya or Singapore "10 out of 15 years before 15 February 1942"; the group of people eligible for application of citizenship had to live in Singapore or British Malaya "for 5 out of 8 years preceding the application", had to be of good character and speak the English or Malay language and "had to take an oath of allegiance to the Malayan Union".

However, the citizenship proposal was never implemented. Due to opposition to the citizenship proposal, it was postponed modified, which made it harder for many Chinese and Indian residents to obtain Malayan citizenship; the Sultans, the traditional rulers of the Malay states, conceded all their powers to the British Crown except in religious matters. The Malayan Union was placed under the jurisdiction of a British Governor, signalling the formal inauguration of British colonial rule in the Malay peninsula. Moreover, while the State Councils were still kept functioning in the former Federated Malay States, they lost the limited autonomy that they enjoyed, left to administer only some less important local aspects of government, became an extended hand of the Federal government in Kuala Lumpur. British Residents replacing the Sultans as the head of the State Councils meant that the political status of the Sultans was reduced. A Supreme Court was established in 1946; the Malays opposed the creation of the Union.

The opposition was due to the methods Sir Harold MacMichael used to acquire the Sultans' approval, the reduction of the Sultans' powers, easy granting of citizenship to immigrants. The United Malays National Organisation or UMNO, a Malay political association formed by Dato' Onn bin Ja'afar on 1 March 1946, led the opposition against the Malayan Union. Malays wore white bands around their heads, signifying their mourning for the loss of the Sultans' political rights. After the inauguration of the Malayan Union, the Malays, under UMNO continued opposing the Malayan Union, they utilised civil disobedience as a means of protest by refusing to attend the installation ceremonies of the British governors. They had refused to participate in the meetings of the Advisory Councils, hence Malay participation in the government bureaucracy and the political process had stopped; the British had recognised this problem and took measures to consider the opinions of the major races in Malaya before making amendments to the constitution.

The Malayan Union was dissolved and replaced by the Federation of Malaya on 1 February 1948. Bumiputra Reports and proceedings of the Malayan Union are held by SOAS Archives. Zakaria Haji Ahmad. Government and Politics. P.p 30-21. ISBN 981-3018-55-0. Marissa Champion. Odyssey: Perspectives on Southeast Asia – Malaysia and Singapore 1870–1971. ISBN 9971-0-7213-0 Sejarah Malaysia

The Colby Echo, established in 1877, is the weekly student newspaper of Colby College in Waterville, Maine. The Colby Echo staff consists of 20 editors, who are responsible for assigning and writing articles, overseeing the production process and maintaining the Echo’s online presence; the Colby Echo editors assign weekly articles to a team of 15 news staff writers. Students interested in contributing to the paper are encouraged to contact the editor of the section they are interested in working for in order to learn more. A current Editorial Board roster can be found at: https://medium.com/colby-echo/about The Colby Echo is published every Wednesday that the College is in session, with 1,300 copies printed each week. A full year subscription costs $60; the paper is available at many locations throughout campus, including the three dining halls, the Street in Miller Library, Pulver Pavilion, the Diamond building, the alumni center, the admissions building and the athletic center. The Colby Echo is distributed to several businesses in Waterville, including Jokas’ Discount Beverages, Jorgenson’s Café and the Railroad Square Cinema.

SECTIONS The Echo is organized into seven sections: 1. News: Covers academic and administrative issues on campus. Articles follow campus events, Student Government Association initiatives, administrative changes and curriculum modifications, among other topics of interest to the campus community. 2. Local News: Covers events occurring off-campus in Waterville and the state of Maine, following student involvement in off-campus projects. 3. Features: Considers larger cultural and political concerns at the campus level and highlights student and faculty achievements; the section includes the monthly Bachelor and Bachelorette piece. 4. Arts & Entertainment: Follows the arts on-campus and off, reviewing musical and dance performances at Colby and elsewhere, as well as recent music and movie releases. 5. Opinion: is open to submissions from the student body concerning issues both off campus. 6. Forum: publishes student surveys. 7. Sports: follows the playing seasons of all the College’s sports teams. All sections appear weekly, with the exception of Local News.

In addition to the six print sections, the Forum runs in print weekly, including a campus events calendar, the weekly forecast and the “Students in the Street,” in which students share informal responses to a question posed by the Echo staff. STYLE When referring to people, the Echo uses honorifics, while all students and alumni are identified by class year, it uses color photography on the front page only. The Colby Echo was first published on March 1, 1877; as editors noted in this first issue, “ears ago, college journalism was unknown. Colby had nothing of the sort, except the yearly Oracle.” The paper a monthly publication, was designed to serve as “an Echo of the ideas and opinions of the students. College spirit had begun to demand such a paper, sooner or it was bound to be established."After a Publishing Association had been formed, committee members worked on choosing a name for the paper, were drawn to either “Colbiensis” or “Colby Echo.” The selected “Colby Echo” because they found it unique.

Unbeknown to the Colby editors, the College of the City of New York had created its own paper, The College Echo, a few months earlier. In an issue printed in May 1877, the Colby editors explain that they “did not ascertain until too late to make a change in the name, or should have done so, recognizing the prior right of brothers of the College Echo to the name.” However, they explain, they believe the decisions must have been “nearly simultaneous.” Upon learning of the similar names, the College Echo wrote to the Colby editors a “gentlemanly note,” leading the Colby editors to request that “all exchanges, in mentioning us, to do so always as The Colby Echo, the other as The Echo, or The College Echo.”From the beginning, editors of The Colby Echo emphasized the paper’s collective role within the College community. “The paper is not by any means the property of a firm of half-a-dozen men...who are elected editors.... But it belongs to the whole College, and, as such, each student should take pride in it and feel bound to do all that he can towards sustaining it,” the editors wrote in April 1877.

The Colby Echo “ceased to be an experiment,” and became “regarded as one of the College fixtures.” It began to provide a means for alumni to stay up-to-date on College events. In the October 1877 issue, editors noted that for some alumni, the Echo is “the only link which connects you to your Alma Mater...we are sure the Echo will be to you a welcome messenger—bearing good news, awakening old and fond recollections, bringing you back to the scenes of your College days.”By the twentieth century, editors began to implement many influential changes on the Hill, as former college official Earl Smith describes in his book, Mayflower Hill: A History of Colby College. Smith notes a number of instances in which Echo editors became active, both politically and within their own campus community. After listening to former President William Taft speak at the Waterville Opera House in 1917, editors were so taken by Taft’s “message of patriotism and warnings of an inevitable war” that they “promptly urged the formation of a campus military company.”Joseph Coburn Smith ’24 “first proposed that the College adopt t