Mexican President Calderon Set to Meet with Obama
President Barack Obama is to meet with Mexican President Felipe Calderon to calm tensions between the two countries on Thursday at the White House.
The meeting comes two weeks after the death of a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcements agent. A member of the Los Zetas drug cartel allegedly killed agent Jaime Zapata in northern Mexico. Since the killing, the head of the cartel and the member that allegedly carried out the killing have been arrested.
Recently, U.S. documents were leaked that revealed a harsh criticism of Mexico's efforts and implementation of anti-drug tactics. The documents described Mexico's armed forces in the war on drugs as inefficient, corrupt, and still too reliant on the U.S. to carry out an operation.
The focus of the meeting between the two presidents will be on immigration as well as economic and anti-crime issues.
Calderon met with U.S. business leaders on Wednesday evening to discuss investment opportunities. Calderon is also scheduled to meet with House Speaker John Boehner during his U.S. visit.
Additional Charges for Soldier Involved in Wikileaks
A soldier connected with the publishing of U.S. government documents has had new charges filed against him by the U.S. Army.
Private First Class Bradley Manning is now looking at 22 new charges after he supplied information to the Wikileaks site.
In May, Bradley was charged with 12 counts of illegally downloading and sharing a secret video of military operations as well as sharing secret military and diplomatic documents. Bradley now faces more charges including using unauthorized software on government computers and aiding the enemy, which is a capital offense.
Prosecutors say they will not pursue the death penalty.
Among the leaked information are 380,000 military records from the Iraq War and 250,000 files from a U.S. state department database, which reveal classified information spanning back more than 50 years. A secret video of a 2007 helicopter attack in Iraq was also made public.
Bradley is currently being held in a Virginia military jail. If convicted of all charges, he faces life imprisonment.
UB Homepage Redesign Progresses
A welcoming and interactive homepage is often the first impression of what students and faculty can expect from the university. Last year, UB began efforts to revamp its homepage under the direction of the Office of University Communications.
The goal of the home =page makeover is to highlight UB's unique culture and identity while also making the site as efficient and user-friendly as possible. In addition to the www.buffalo.edu changes, new links will be available for academics, admissions, research, and other topics.
Extensive research and interviews were conducted to gauge the needs of current, as well as prospective, students and faculty. Members of the redesign group spoke with colleagues at universities around the country to see what worked, and what didn't, for their respective sites.
Students and faculty can contribute to the process by keeping up with site news and leaving comments on the UB Homepage Redesign blog at www.buffalo.edu/redesign.
The first changes, including the new home page, will be implemented in June.
E-mail: news@ubspectrum.com
