Source: http://news.feedzilla.com/en_us/stories/politics/top-stories/302347446?client_source=feed&format=rss
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Tuesday, April 30, 2013
Car bombs, shootings kill 23 across Iraq
BAGHDAD (Reuters) - At least 23 people were killed in Iraq on Monday in a series of car bombs in Shi'ite Muslim areas and militant attacks, medics and police sources said, taking the week's death toll to nearly 200 as sectarian violence intensifies.
Clashes have increased as the civil war in Syria puts strain on fragile relations between Sunnis and Shi'ites. The tensions are at their highest in Iraq since U.S. troops pulled out more than a year ago.
The latest bout of blood-letting began when security forces raided a Sunni protest camp near Kirkuk last week triggering clashes that quickly spread to other Sunni areas including the western province of Anbar, which borders Syria and Jordan.
Iraq decided on Monday to close a border crossing with Jordan for two days starting on Tuesday due to "organizational issues", the interior minister said without giving any details.
It is the second time this year that authorities have ordered the closure of the Traibil border post in Anbar where Sunnis have been protesting against Iraq's Shi'ite-led government since December.
The demonstrations had eased in the past month, but this week's army raid on a protest camp in Hawija, near Kirkuk, 170 km north of Baghdad, angered Sunnis and appears to have given insurgents more momentum.
Early on Monday, at least nine people were killed and 40 wounded in two car bomb explosions in Amara, 300 km (185 miles) southeast of Baghdad.
The first of two blasts in Amara, ripped through a market where people were meeting to eat breakfast, and the second hit an area where day laborers were gathering to look for work.
Another car bomb was detonated in a market in Diwaniya, 150 km south of Baghdad, killing two people, police said.
"I was preparing to go to work when a big explosion shook my house and broke the glass in all the windows," said witness Widy Jasim. "I ran outside, the explosion was near my house and bodies were everywhere".
A bomb in a parked car went off near a busy market in Kerbala, killing at least three people. A further six people were killed in an explosion near a Shi'ite worship site in Mahmudiya, about 30 km south of Baghdad.
No group immediately claimed responsibility for the attacks, but car and suicide bombings are trademarks of the Islamic State of Iraq, the Iraqi wing of Sunni Islamist al Qaeda which seeks to provoke sectarian conflict.
Violence is still well below its height in 2006-07, but provisional figures from rights group Iraq Body Count indicate about 1,494 people have been killed so far in 2013.
In Mosul, 390 km (240 miles) north of Baghdad, gunmen clashed with the army early on Monday, killing two soldiers and wounding three others, military sources said.
A sniper shot dead a soldier and wounded another while they were on patrol in Madaen in eastern Baghdad, police said.
The speaker of parliament Osama al-Nujaifi, himself a Sunni, proposed an initiative to avoid "the ghost of civil war and sectarian strife", calling on Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki and his Shi'ite-led government to resign, dissolve parliament and prepare for an early parliamentary election.
Iraqi politics are deeply divided along sectarian lines, with Maliki's government mired in crisis over how to share power among Shi'ite Muslims, the largest group, Sunnis and ethnic Kurds who run their own autonomous region in the north.
(Reporting by Aref Mohammed in Basra, Kareem Raheem and Ahmed Rasheed in Baghdad and Emad al-Khuzaie in Diywaniya; Additional reporting by Ali al-Rubaie in Hilla and Ziad al-Sanjary in Mosul; Writing by Suadad al-Salhy; Editing by Jon Hemming)
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/car-bombs-shootings-kill-23-across-iraq-143130081.html
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Monday, April 29, 2013
Adichie focuses on Nigeria's present for new novel
LAGOS, Nigeria (AP) -- The traffic is there, grinding life to a halt as the middle class pound out messages on BlackBerry mobile phones and worry about Facebook. The heat, the sweat and the daily tragedy of unclaimed bodies lying alongside roadways, passers-by hurrying past for fear of someone else's misfortune becoming entangled in their own.
This is modern life in Nigeria's largest city, Lagos, which becomes almost a character of its own in novelist Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie's new book, "Americanah." And within its pages, one catches self-acknowledged glimpses of the writer herself, who shot to fame with her previous love story set during Nigeria's civil war called "Half of a Yellow Sun."
As that book is being made into a movie, more international attention will focus on Adichie, part of a raft of new Nigerian writers finding acclaim after years of military-induced slumber in a nation with a rich literary history. Yet Adichie, like her new book's heroine, finds herself straddled between a life in the United States and one in Nigeria, where even seemingly innocuous comments on hair care and wigs can stir resentment.
"I'm writing about where I care about and I deeply, deeply care about Nigeria," Adichie told The Associated Press. "Nigeria is the country that most infuriates me and it is the country I love the most. I think when you're emotionally invested in a place as a storyteller, it becomes organic."
That sense of place runs throughout "Americanah," ? make sure to stress the fourth syllable, says the daughter of a university professor and a university registrar. It's a term people use to describe the accents carried by some of the Nigerians now returning in droves to the country after it embraced an uneasy democracy after years of military rule. While oil and gas money continues to flow and other business opportunities abound, the nation's universities now sit in shambles, graduating more unqualified students than can be offered jobs.
That intellectual dulling has been challenged by a host of new writers, many of whom like Adichie live almost double lives abroad.
"She is part of the pack of novelists who have, after what you might call the two decades of silence, who have helped to tell Nigerian stories to the whole world again," writer Tolu Ogunlesi said. "It was the dictatorships and all that's associated with them. ... The '80s and '90s were dark ages of sorts for Nigeria."
It's that period where "Americanah" finds its beginning. Though dismissing the idea of being a "dutiful daughter of literary conventions," Adichie's new novel takes root in the vagaries and murmured promises of a love story like much of her other work. It also focuses largely on the slim percentage of Nigerians able to afford diesel generators in a country largely without electricity and who look at the poor through the chilled air and tinted-glass windows of luxury SUVs.
Despite that, her writing hits a nerve with Nigerian readers who identify with the descriptions of church worship services focused on getting foreign visas and the nervous wives of rich men in a nation notorious for philandering. Adichie describes herself as looking "at the world through Nigerian eyes," but she doesn't hold back on criticizing its culture that fosters widespread government corruption. Or what she perceives as the excessive, neutered politeness of "political-correct language" in the U.S.
"Nigeria wasn't set up to succeed, but the extent of its failure is ours. It's our responsibility," she said. "This country is full of so many intelligent people, so much energy, so much potential, so why are we here?"
That kind of truth telling isn't exactly welcome, even in a democratic Nigeria. Speaking Saturday night at a book signing, Adichie drew laughter and a few nervous looks from organizers by describing President Goodluck Jonathan as "not a bad guy, he just seems like he's floundering and has no clue."
It also leads to comparisons some make between Adichie and late author Chinua Achebe, who died in March at age 82. Both come from the Igbo people of Nigeria's southeast and Achebe's own praise of Adichie graces the cover of her new novel in Nigeria. Adichie said the rise of new writers served as a testament to the power of Achebe's writings and the works of others.
"I think there's just this wonderful flowering that's happening," she said.
Even more controversial, it seems, have been Adichie's comments on natural hair in Nigeria, where many spend huge sums of money on straight-banged wigs and weaves known as Indian hair. An online commenter on Twitter asserted that Adichie, whose natural hair sits in buns atop her head, said that those wearing weaves were insecure, sparking controversy. Adichie herself ended up responding to the criticism and gave a recent audience advice on finding hair conditioners with no sulfates.
"It's only black women for whom an entire industry exists which is geared toward specifically making sure that the hair that grows on their head looks different," she said. "I want natural black hair to be an equally valid option, not something interesting, not something you do when you're a jazz musician, but something you can do when you're a lawyer in a fancy firm in New York City or if you're a politician in Abuja," Nigeria's capital.
That, however, still remains a challenge. Adichie acknowledged it herself by pausing, and then adding: "My mother doesn't like my hair like that. She is still praying."
___
Jon Gambrell can be reached at www.twitter.com/jongambrellAP.
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/adichie-focuses-nigerias-present-novel-135202005.html
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The Marketplace Fairness Act Will Support Small Businesses ...
Click if you like this column!
Republicans in Ohio last week took an important step toward broad tax reform when the state House of Representatives approved an across-the-board reduction in the personal income tax. That tax cut, however, is contingent upon Congress passing legislation that will allow Ohio and other states to have online-only retailers remit state sales tax just like any other business does. The U.S. Senate is now poised to grant states this power via the aptly named Marketplace Fairness Act. This legislation levels the economic playing field by putting small businesses on the same footing as online-only outfits. Conservatives should embrace this needed reform.
Under the current system, state governments collect sales tax from stores located in the jurisdictions if an outlet conducts an in-person sale or makes a transaction online with a state resident. When an individual makes an online purchase from a retailer outside their state, that person is supposed to report the purchase and pay the sales tax?commonly called a ?use tax??to his or her home state. As one might imagine, taxpayers rarely adhere to the requirements of use taxes.
The nationwide increase in online shopping has thus led to a sharp decline in sales tax compliance for state governments. States, which are legally forced to balance their budgets, have made up their revenue shortfalls through a mix of spending cuts, increasing marginal income tax rates and hiking other taxes or fees. The lack of a mechanism to have remote sellers collect and remit sales tax ultimately hurts small local business owners while increasing the overall tax burden on individuals and families who now pay for the higher taxes in other areas. This policy essentially amounts to a federal subsidy for online-only retailers and it threatens the creation of jobs for many local businesses.
The Marketplace Fairness Act is Congress? answer to a 1992 Supreme Court ruling that said states needed federal approval to have remote retailers remit sales tax the same way local retailers do. This legislation allows states to correct the tax imbalance and divide the burden they impose on their residents more sensibly. With the recovery of lost sales tax revenues, states will be able to reduce marginal income tax rates and other levies as they balance their budgets. Naysayers argue that this will not be done, but they are already being proven wrong.
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French Socialists soften tone on Merkel
By Sybille de La Hamaide
PARIS (Reuters) - France's ruling Socialist party will remove strongly worded criticism of German Chancellor Angela Merkel from a draft text on Europe that revealed the level of hostility Berlin's focus on austerity, its coordinator for Europe said on Sunday.
Cooperation between France and Germany has long provided the main motor for decision-making in the European Union. But a debt crisis has strained those ties in the past year as ideologically opposed leaders have disagreed on points of economic policy.
A document to be presented at a June party brainstorming conference on Europe had described the German leader as "self-centered" and said her austerity policies were hurting Europe.
But this "stigmatizing language used towards Angela Merkel" would now be removed, Jean-Christophe Cambadelis, deputy-chairman of the Party of European Socialists (PES), said on his website.
French Prime Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault also stepped in to stress the importance of the Franco-German dialogue and praised the friendship between Paris and Berlin which he said was indispensable to the European project and economic recovery.
"We will not solve Europe's problems without an intense and sincere dialogue between France and Germany," Ayrault, a former German teacher, said in tweets posted both in French and German.
The tone of the initial document added to growing criticism of Berlin from France after Socialist National Assembly speaker Claude Bartolone this week raised the prospect of a "confrontation" with Merkel.
A source in President Francois Hollande's office said on Friday that the document represented only the party, but did not dispute its central message.
In its first reaction to the comments on Merkel, Berlin played down any tension between the two countries.
"We work very well together. We don't have the feeling that there is a change in policy," Merkel's spokesman Steffen Seibert told Le Monde newspaper.
ISOLATED
Hollande was critical of Merkel's insistence on budget consolidation while he was running for president last year, but has adopted a more conciliatory tone since becoming president.
He often describes France's ties with EU paymaster Germany as defined by "friendly tension" between equal partners but some Socialists, including Bartolone, think this friendliness overstated.
Senior opposition politician and former Prime Minister Alain Juppe said told Le Monde he thought the trust between France and Germany had been broken and said that France had lost the credibility for a tough dialogue with Berlin.
"France is totally isolated," he said.
Hollande must rely on a solid Socialist majority in parliament to pass structural reforms this year, including overhauls of the jobless and pension systems. But a small camp of dissidents is growing, threatening his Senate majority.
The left-wing of the party accepted the idea of a single text to be presented at a meeting of the European Socialist in late June, but several disagreements remained, Cambadelis said, without detailing them.
"The battle for an alternative majority to the governing right-wing in Europe has begun," he said.
(Reporting by Sybille de La Hamaide; Editing by Jon Hemming)
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/french-socialists-soften-tone-merkel-151724370.html
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Sunday, April 28, 2013
Italy's Letta names new government
By James Mackenzie and Gavin Jones
ROME (Reuters) - Italian center-left politician Enrico Letta said on Saturday he had won support of other parties to form a coalition government that will include one of former prime minister Silvio Berlusconi's closest allies as deputy prime minister.
Letta met President Giorgio Napolitano after talks with Berlusconi and leaders of his center-right People of Freedom (PDL) party to confirm that he had reached an accord which would clear the way for a government to be formed.
"I hope that this government can get to work quickly in the spirit of fervent cooperation and without any prejudice or conflict," Napolitano told reporters.
PDL secretary Angelino Alfano will be deputy prime minister and interior minister, giving the center-right a powerful voice at the heart of the new government.
Bank of Italy director general Fabrizio Saccomanni will take the key economy ministry portfolio and former European Commissioner Emma Bonino will be foreign minister.
The government, which Letta said would contain a record number of women ministers, will be sworn in at 5:30 a.m. EDT on Sunday and Letta is expected to go before parliament to seek a vote of confidence on Monday.
Letta, 46, the deputy leader of the center-left Democratic Party (PD), spent more than two hours on Saturday in talks with Berlusconi, who will not be a member of the government but is likely to play an important backstage role.
Letta is on the right of the PD and the nephew of one of Berlusconi's closest aides.
Agreement had been held up by wrangling over ministerial posts and policy differences, notably over Berlusconi's demand to scrap the unpopular IMU housing tax, a move that would blow an 8 billion euro hole in this year's budget plans.
Italy, the euro zone's third largest economy, has been without an effective government for months, with the long post-election deadlock holding up any concerted effort to end a recession set to become the longest since World War Two.
Letta received some encouragement late on Friday when the ratings agency Moody's kept its rating on Italian government debt unchanged at Baa2 because low interest rates were making it possible to buy time to implement much-needed reforms.
Bond yields have fallen to their lowest in more than two years as investors hope for enough stability to help Italy revive its economy and gradually tackle its large public debt.
However, Moody's also said medium-term growth prospects were weak and forecast the economy would shrink by 1.8 percent this year, compounding more than two decades of stagnation.
Letta has said his priorities will be boosting the economy and tackling unemployment, restoring confidence in Italy's discredited political institutions and trying to turn Europe away from austerity to focus more on growth and investment.
PRIORITIES
On paper, the priorities laid out by Letta fit in well with proposals from Berlusconi's camp, which has attacked the austerity policies of outgoing prime minister Mario Monti.
Berlusconi, in the middle of legal battles over a tax fraud conviction and charges of paying for sex with a minor, had pressed for the cabinet to include close political allies and had opposed the inclusion of technocrats.
In the event, however, several of the big ministries were led by non-political figures.
As well as Saccomanni at the economy ministry, Anna Maria Cancellieri, the former police official who served as interior minister under Monti took the justice portfolio, while the labor ministry went to Enrico Giovannini, head of statistics agency ISTAT.
Monti's centrist movement Civic Choice obtained a token presence in the government, with Mario Mauro taking the defense ministry.
Letta has had to fight strong resistance in parts of the Democratic Party to an accord with Berlusconi, its sworn enemy for almost 20 years.
The center-left, which threw away a 10-point lead before the elections poll and now trails Berlusconi by more than five points, according to a poll by the SWG institute on Friday.
The other main force in parliament, Beppe Grillo's anti-establishment 5-Star Movement, has ruled out taking part in a government made up of the two main parties. He called the right-left coalition "an orgy worthy of the best of bunga bunga", a reference to Berlusconi's parties at his private villas.
(Additional reporting by Roberto Landucci, Steve Scherer; Editing by Stephen Powell)
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/italian-government-could-settled-saturday-sources-035335771.html
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93% Room 237
All Critics (107) | Top Critics (28) | Fresh (101) | Rotten (7) | DVD (1)
There's enough real evidence supporting the theory that Kubrick was a genius, and that's pretty entertaining all by itself.
It's about the human need for stuff to make sense - especially overpowering emotional experiences - and the tendency for some people to take that sense-making to extremes.
The results can range from enlightening - Kubrick did like to mess with things - to embarrassing. But it's never dull. "Room 237" shines.
You don't have to buy any of the nutty theories in Room 237 to appreciate what director Rodney Ascher has accomplished.
It's nuts, in the best possible way.
Their imaginings are not far removed from the deconstuctionist gobbledygook that has hammerlocked academic film and literary scholarship. But here at least the gobbledygook is entertaining.
You know when "Room 237? starts getting really scary? When the people in the film start making sense.
Kubrick fans and movie geeks will want to check this film out as soon as possible
Kubrick fans will take 'Shining' to 'Room 237.'
The credibility of these theories ranges from faintly plausible to frankly ridiculous, but Ascher isn't interested in judging them; his movie is more about the joys of deconstruction and the special kind of obsession that movies can inspire.
Some of the interpretations seem more of a stretch than others but all are entertainingly presented by director Rodney Ascher. (The movie) serves as a testament to Stanley Kubrick's cinematic mastery.
As fascinating as it is frustrating
It is nice to see a doc that makes you smile instead of making you angry. Anyone who is a fan of Stanley Kubrick will eat this up.
Powered by a deep and abiding affection for both The Shining and Kubrick in general, Room 237 is an amuse-bouche of remix culture.
Room 237 is an extended riff of the "Paul is dead" variety. But, you know what? Sometimes a guy moving a table in the background is just a guy moving a table in the background.
A diverting excursion for lovers of Kubrick's films...even if, at over a hundred minutes, it does go on a bit long.
A fascinating doc that will get both film geeks and conspiracy theorists alike drooling, it all but guarantees you'll never watch The Shining quite the same way again.
Confounding, eye-opening, and often hilarious.
I suspect that Ascher's intention was to dynamize an academic exercise, but these constant, sundry inserts render the tone as corny and glib as a VH1 special.
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Source: http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/room_237_2012/
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Breyer has shoulder surgery after bike accident
In this photo taken Jan. 24, 2013, file photo U.S. Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer reacts during a lecture at Boston University School of Law in Boston. Breyer is in a Washington hospital after shoulder replacement surgery following a bicycle accident injury to his right shoulder Friday, April 26, 2013. Court spokeswoman Kathy Arberg says the 74-year-old Breyer is expected to make a full recovery following the operation Saturday. Previously he broke his collarbone in an accident in 2011 and sustained broken ribs and a punctured lung in a bicycle mishap in 1993, before he joined the court. (AP Photo/Elise Amendola)
In this photo taken Jan. 24, 2013, file photo U.S. Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer reacts during a lecture at Boston University School of Law in Boston. Breyer is in a Washington hospital after shoulder replacement surgery following a bicycle accident injury to his right shoulder Friday, April 26, 2013. Court spokeswoman Kathy Arberg says the 74-year-old Breyer is expected to make a full recovery following the operation Saturday. Previously he broke his collarbone in an accident in 2011 and sustained broken ribs and a punctured lung in a bicycle mishap in 1993, before he joined the court. (AP Photo/Elise Amendola)
WASHINGTON (AP) ? Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer is in a Washington hospital after shoulder replacement surgery following a bicycle accident.
Court spokeswoman Kathy Arberg says the 74-year-old Breyer is expected to make a full recovery following the operation Saturday.
Breyer injured his right shoulder in a fall Friday near the Korean War Veterans Memorial.
The justice previously broke his collarbone in an accident in 2011 and sustained broken ribs and a punctured lung in a bicycle mishap in 1993, before he joined the court.
Breyer was appointed to the court in 1994 by President William Clinton.
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Saturday, April 27, 2013
Could Hyundai Avoid Epic Suicide Ad PR Crisis - Business Insider
Hyundai / YouTube
A shot from the commercial.
After releasing an ad that tries to find comedy in a man's failed suicide attempt ? the "joke" being that the new car's exhaust emissions are made of water rather than carbon monoxide and, thus, aren't toxic ? Hyundai has unsurprisingly found itself in the midst of a PR crisis.After freelance copywriter Holly Brockwell's heartfelt blog about her father, who successfully killed himself by inhaling his car's exhaust fumes, went viral Thursday, both Hyundai Motor America and the company as a whole, released apologies for the European-made ads.
Hyundai is in trouble with the public, but could the company have done anything to prevent it?
The most obvious answer, of course, is that the ad should never have been made and certainly never approved. Barring public service announcements, suicide has no place in advertising ? especially as a joke.
(Pepsi got in trouble for ads that came out in Dusseldorf in 2008?which a personified calorie committed suicide in various graphic ways.)
But even after the green light, Hyundai dropped the ball in a way that contributed to its current PR crisis.
On April 19, a full six days before Brockwell wrote her condemning blog post, Adweek published an article criticizing the "suicide" commercial.
While the story didn't immediately appear on other major media sites or incite mass outrage, it laid out the problems and noted, "Neither Hyundai nor ad agency Innocean responded to queries."
And there's the problem.?
Reporter David Gianatasio directly reached out for comment. And it looks like he was ignored. Perhaps the company thought the issue would go away on its own, but they were mistaken ??and it resurfaced in a major way, six days later.
Of course there's a risk involved in drawing attention to an issue that might magically disappear before the mass public has become aware of the misstep. Maybe Brockwell would still have seen the video and written her passionate piece, even if the company had apologized in Adweek.
But failing to acknowledge the mistake can be worse, and make the company look more callous.?
Assuming that a problem will go away and people will stop watching the ad on their own is a fundamental misstep. Companies can't assume that the internet will just forget.
The ad was bound to gain attention, and an earlier apology might have lessened the blow.
You can watch the ad below:
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Source: http://www.businessinsider.com/could-hyundai-avoid-epic-suicide-ad-pr-crisis-2013-4
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The pride of Africa - Montreal Gazette
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?I wanted all four corners, plus the centre, of Africa to be represented,? Gis?le Kayembe says.
Photograph by: Marie-France Coallier , The Gazette
MONTREAL - Gis?le Kayembe is being courted.
?Montreal is trying to seduce me. We?ll see if I fall amoureuse,? said the lively Congo native and ? as of 2011 ? U.S. resident who visited our city for the first time last spring to cover the Vues d?Afrique film festival.
?Radio Okapi, a UN radio station, asked me to open the event in Montreal,? she said. ?There was a film by Thierry Michel, L?Affaire Chebeya, a documentary that had been banned in the Congo. Politicians were implicated in the death of a human rights activist. It was a delicate situation. Chebeya?s widow was present at the screening. I came as a journalist.?
Something must have clicked. By the end of the year, Kayembe was Vues d?Afrique?s programming director. The 29th edition of the festival runs Friday to May 5, boasting more than 100 films from 30 countries touching on various facets of the African experience.
?I really worked on the diversity (of the lineup),? Kayembe said. ?It?s true that in previous years, other programmers did the same; but I really wanted people to see Africa?s diversity through the films ? so that they don?t feel like it?s a festival for Maghreb, or Creole countries or Central African countries only. I wanted all four corners, plus the centre, of Africa to be represented.?
Mission accomplished. This year?s Vues d?Afrique takes a wide-angle look at life in Africa and the diaspora: from opening film Kinshasa Kids (in Lingala with French subtitles), Belgian director Marc-Henri Wajnberg?s tale of a bunch of Congolese street children who form a rap group; to Kedach Ethabni (Combien tu m?aimes, in Arabic with French subtitles), Algerian-French director Fatma Zohra Zamoum?s story of a boy who is sent to stay at his grandparents?s house after his parents fight; Flora Gomes?s La R?publique des enfants (English with French subtitles), a Portuguese-French-Guinea-Bissau co-production about a fantasy country populated only by children, co-starring Danny Glover as a benevolent elder; Deported (Expuls?s, in English, French and Creole with French subtitles), Rach?le Magloire and Chantal Regnault?s documentary on delinquent youth sent back to Haiti from Canada and the U.S.; Robert Mugabe ? What Happened? (English with French subtitles), British filmmaker Simon Bright?s doc on the Zimbabwe leader?s reign; and Post-9-11: Peur, col?re et politique (English with French subtitles), Quebecer Nadia Zouaoui?s look at how the U.S. Muslim community has been affected by the fallout from the 2001 World Trade Centre attacks.
Kayembe grew up in the Democratic Republic of Congo, where she worked for seven years for Radio Okapi as a production assistant, programmer and producer, among other titles. In 2010, she was hired by the communications department of Coop?rative Technique Belge, a Belgian development agency ? her last job before moving to Atlanta. She?s also an actor who has worked for and participated in various theatre and music festivals. Vues d?Afrique is her first film fest. So far so good.
?It?s a new challenge,? she said. ?Every day is exciting. There are many things to learn.?
The first thing she has learned ? a little too well ? is not to pick favourites. As we talked about the festival lineup, Kayembe wouldn?t choose highlights or even insinuate a preference for one film over another.
?I recommend all the films,? she said diplomatically. ?And while it?s true that I have my coups de coeur, they?re all worth seeing ? from documentaries to short films and fiction features.?
She did comment on a few films, with a little prodding and the disclaimer that ?this is my point of view, not as programming director.?
Of Kinshasa Kids, which features rising Congolese actor Rachelle Mwanza (star of Quebec director Kim Nguyen?s Oscar-nominated Rebelle) in her first acting role, she said: ?The message is very strong. It?s fiction-documentary. These kids are really from the street, so there?s not a lot of scripted scenes. He?s following their everyday life, and their will to do something with their lives.?
The reality of African children is one of the inadvertent themes of this year?s festival, with several films touching on the topic from different angles; others include Didier Mauro?s ?coles en Ha?ti (in French and Creole, with French subtitles); and Montrealer Catherine Mullins?s Rayons d?espoir (Rays of Hope, in English with French subtitles), the sequel to her 2005 film Orphans of AIDS.
Other themes include: political leaders (Christophe Cupelin?s Capitaine Thomas Sankara, in French; Thierry Michel?s Mo?se Katumbi: foot, business et politique, in French; and Marie-Claude Dupont?s Demokarasi, in French and Kirundi with French subtitles); and the Arab Spring (Ibrahim El Batout?s Winter of Discontent, in Arabic with French subtitles; and Nadia El Fani and Alina Isabel P?rez?s M?me pas mal, in French and Arabic with French subtitles).
Though Kayembe isn?t yet ready to call herself a Montrealer, she has committed to stick around for the festival?s 30th edition next year. She sees Vues d?Afrique as a vital link between her current home and her homeland.
?It?s important that Montrealers, and people who attend the festival, be aware of what?s happening, that they discover Africa and participate in the exchange, to understand how people live there.
?For African immigrants, it?s a way to reconnect; there?s a pride in it. Vues d?Afrique is the biggest, oldest festival of its kind in North America.?
Vues d?Afrique runs Friday to May 5 at Excentris, 3536 St. Laurent Blvd. (except Friday?s opening film, Kinshasa Kids, at the Imperial Theatre, 1432 Bleury St.). Tickets available at Excentris, from 12:30 to 9:30 p.m. Call 514-847-2206.
For more information, visit vuesdafrique.com or cinemaexcentris.com
tdunlevy@montrealgazette.com
Twitter: @tchadunlevy
? Copyright (c) The Montreal Gazette
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Friday, April 26, 2013
A Self-Propelled Snowboard Makes Going Uphill Just as Fun
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Belief in God Can Improve Mental Health Outcomes | Psych Central ...
Reviewed by John M. Grohol, Psy.D. on April 26, 2013
A new study suggests belief in God may significantly improve the outcome of those receiving short-term treatment for psychiatric illness.
Researchers followed patients receiving care from a hospital-based behavioral health program to investigate the relationship between patients? level of belief in God, expectations for treatment and actual treatment outcomes.
In the study, published in the current issue of Journal of Affective Disorders, researchers comment that people with a moderate to high level of belief in a higher power do significantly better in short-term psychiatric treatment than those without.
?Belief was associated with not only improved psychological well-being, but decreases in depression and intention to self-harm,? says David H. Rosmarin, Ph.D., an instructor in the Department of Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School.
The study looked at 159 patients, recruited over a one-year period. Each participant was asked to gauge their belief in God as well as their expectations for treatment outcome and emotion regulation, each on a five-point scale.
Levels of depression, well-being, and self-harm were assessed at the beginning and end of their treatment program.
Of the patients sampled, more than 30 percent claimed no specific religious affiliation yet still saw the same benefits in treatment if their belief in a higher power was rated as moderately or very high.
Patients with ?no? or only ?slight? belief in God were twice as likely not to respond to treatment as patients with higher levels of belief.
Investigators believe the study demonstrates that a belief in God is associated with improved treatment outcomes in psychiatric care.
?More centrally, our results suggest that belief in the credibility of psychiatric treatment and increased expectations to gain from treatment might be mechanisms by which belief in God can impact treatment outcomes.?
Investigators hope that the study will lead to additional investigation on the clinical implication of spirtual life as more than 90 percent of the U.S. population hold religious beliefs.
Source: McLean Hospital
APA Reference
Nauert PhD, R. (2013). Belief in God Can Improve Mental Health Outcomes. Psych Central. Retrieved on April 26, 2013, from http://psychcentral.com/news/2013/04/26/belief-in-god-improves-mental-health-outcomes/54121.html
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Source: http://psychcentral.com/news/2013/04/26/belief-in-god-improves-mental-health-outcomes/54121.html
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MacBook Pro is the best performing Windows laptop
The MacBook Pro was judged to be the "best performing" Windows laptop, according to a new study by PC services company Soluto. Soluto used "frustration analytics" to make the determination, according to Brooke Crothers at CNet.
"Frustration analytics," in this case, tracks the crapware that PC makers put on machines fresh from the factory. Apple doesn't make new MacBook owners jump through hoops to have a useable machine, so the MacBook Pro wins.
Soluto feels their comparison is valid because it looks at computers used in the field, as opposed to how they can optimally be set up to run. Other "frustration metrics" measured by Soluto include crashes per week, hangs per week, average boot time, and frequency of "Blue Screens of Death."
Getting Windows working on the Mac takes some extra steps, though - installing Boot Camp or virtualization software and a fresh copy of Windows, for example. Soluto also dings Apple for possible driver issues.
Do you use Windows on a Mac? Are you doing it with Boot Camp or virtualization software? How's your experience, compared to a regular PC laptop?
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Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/TheIphoneBlog/~3/SK5VOsJI-KU/story01.htm
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Thursday, April 25, 2013
Stilt walker trekking around Michigan for charity
ANN ARBOR TOWNSHIP, Mich. (AP) ? Neil Sauter (SAW'-ter) walks 9 feet off the ground. But he's more concerned with distance than height these days.
Sauter plans to trek 400 miles across his home state during the next month as part of an effort to raise money for the United Cerebral Palsy of Michigan nonprofit.
The 29-year-old Deerfield resident has mild cerebral palsy.
His "Walk for No Limits" kicked off April 12 in Ann Arbor. His journey is scheduled to end May 19, not far from his southern Michigan home.
Five years ago, Sauter stilt-walked 830 miles across the state and raised about $85,000 in the process. This time, he's looking to walk less and raise more.
Sauter says that when he looks back, he's "going to be really proud of these trips."
___
Online:
http://www.walkfornolimits.org
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/stilt-walker-trekking-around-michigan-charity-154341474.html
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Asia stocks mixed after US durable goods falls
BANGKOK (AP) ? Asia's major stock markets logged slight gains Thursday but smaller indexes slipped after U.S. corporations reported mixed earnings and orders for U.S. durable goods fell.
The U.S. government reported Wednesday that orders for long-lasting factory goods fell more than economists expected. That added to concerns that global growth is slowing. Orders for durable goods declined 5.7 percent in March following a 4.3 percent gain the previous month. The March figure was the biggest dip in seven months.
"A weaker than expected reading for March US durable goods orders maintained a run of weaker than expected US data releases, reinforcing concerns of an economic slowdown over coming months," said Mitul Kotecha at Credit Agricole CIB in a market commentary.
Japan's Nikkei 225 rose 0.1 percent to 13,862.86. Hong Kong's Hang Seng advanced 0.3 percent to 22,257.63. South Korea's Kospi advanced 0.5 percent to 1,944.03. But benchmark indexes in mainland China, Singapore, Taiwan, and the Philippines fell. Markets in Australia and New Zealand were closed for public holidays.
Stocks in Europe posted gains Wednesday investors grew more hopeful of an interest rate cut from the European Central Bank after another weak business survey for Germany, Europe's biggest economy.
The Ifo Institute said its main index of business optimism fell to 104.4 points from 106.7 in March. Market analysts had expected a more modest decline to 106.2.
European markets have also been buoyed in recent days by progress in Italy to produce a government after inconclusive elections in February.
On Wall Street, however, disappointment over durable goods order was compounded by quarterly results that included a subscriber slump at AT&T and a weak profit forecast from Procter & Gamble.
The Dow Jones industrial average fell 0.3 percent to close at 14,676.30. The Standard& Poor's 500 index was flat at 1,578.79. The Nasdaq composite rose marginally to 3,269.65.
Benchmark oil for June delivery was up 45 cents to $91.88 per barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract jumped $2.25, or 2.5 percent, to finish at $91.43 a barrel Wednesday on the Nymex.
In currencies, the euro rose to $1.3046 from $1.3021 late Wednesday in New York. The dollar fell to 99.41 yen from 99.51 yen.
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/asia-stocks-mixed-us-durable-goods-falls-032931274--finance.html
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Alleged Canada plot turns focus to rail transport's vulnerability
By Ian Simpson
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - An alleged al Qaeda-backed plot to derail a U.S. passenger train in Canada sought to exploit the vulnerabilities of railroads that have not gotten much attention from the American public.
While the United States has sharply tightened security around airlines since the September 11, 2001, attacks, trains are far harder to police, with masses of passengers getting on and off and stops at many stations on a single line. Thousands of miles (km) of track, bridges and tunnels present a major challenge to monitor.
Even though the United States has largely been immune from attacks, extremists around the world have frequently exploited rail transport's vulnerability, said Brian Michael Jenkins, a security expert with the Mineta Transportation Center at California's San Jose State University.
"Surface transportation really has become the terrorists' killing fields," he said.
Two suspects were arrested in Canada on Monday charged with conspiring to blow up a trestle on the Canadian side of the border as the Maple Leaf, the daily Amtrak connection between Toronto and New York, passed over it. Amtrak is the U.S. passenger rail service.
The two men charged in the plot made their first court appearances on Tuesday. A lawyer for one said his client would fight the charges vigorously.
Jenkins and Steve Kulm, an Amtrak spokesman, said trains presented a unique security challenge, different from airports with their screening process for passengers.
Amtrak coordinates security with local law enforcement, does counterterrorism exercises and patrols its tracks and stations, Kulm said. It also is reconfiguring stations to make them safer from potential attack.
"It's no surprise and no secret that overseas terrorists have targeted rail transportation, and so we have, as I say, many seen and unseen measures that we have put in place and continue to improve upon," Kulm said.
MORE FATALITIES IN RAIL ATTACKS
Although popular attention has tended to focus on airliner attacks, far more people have died worldwide from surface rail assaults, Jenkins said.
Since the September 11, 2001, militant attacks on the United States, there have been 75 assaults on airliners, with 157 fatalities, he said.
During the same period, there were 1,800 attacks on surface transport, with nearly 4,000 people killed. Among them were attacks on Madrid in 2004 and on Mumbai in 2006 that each killed about 200 people, and a 2005 London bombing that claimed 52 lives.
In the United States, only one person has died from an extremist rail attack in recent decades, when Amtrak's Sunset Limited was derailed in Arizona in 1995. Responsibility was claimed by a group calling itself Sons of the Gestapo and the saboteurs have not been found.
The United States has more than 200,000 miles of railroad, with about 21,000 milesused by Amtrak. Amtrak carried 31.2 million passengers in the last fiscal year, its ninth record year in the last 10, Kulm said.
Elliot G. Sander, a former chief executive of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority of New York, which runs two of the biggest U.S. commuter railroads, said public awareness was critical to countering potential attacks.
"One cannot understate the importance of the participation of the public, in terms of eyes and ears," he said.
The Department of Homeland Security spent $136 million in the 2013 fiscal year on surface transportation security, with 775 personnel. Aviation security received $5.3 billion and has 53,000 personnel.
Special Visible Intermodal Prevention and Response (VIPR) teams have the job of carrying out random baggage and security checks at train, subway and bus stations as well as truck weighing stations.
Created after the Madrid railway bombing, the VIPR teams carried out more than 9,300 operations in fiscal 2011, according to the Department of Homeland Security's 2013 budget request.
The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) was criticized last year by the Government Accountability Office (GAO), an investigative arm of Congress, for failing to carry out analysis of railroad security information.
The GAO also criticized the TSA for inconsistent reporting requirements from rail agencies and failure to inspect a rail service the GAO did not name. The TSA concurred with the GAO's recommendations for improvement.
(Reporting by Ian Simpson and Hilary Russ; Editing by Cynthia Osterman)
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/alleged-canada-plot-turns-focus-rail-transports-vulnerability-010315694.html
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BBC iPlayer radio app finally starts broadcasting on Android and Kindle devices (video)
While the iPhone didn't even have a built-in FM radio to replace, Android phones have now started to forgo the radio tuner in the last few years as streaming services (and data reception) have improved. This time around, Beeb listeners can now access the iPlayer radio app, which has made the leap across from iOS. Not only will you be able to install it on your Android smartphone, but also Amazon's Kindle Fire tablet series. The new app doesn't use Flash, given its absence on most up-to-date versions of Google's mobile OS, instead using HLS (HTTP Live Streaming) to deliver your weekly doses of Doctor Who serial. There's even a handful of improvements over the iOS iteration, with the ability to use the iPlayer alarm function without keeping the app running overnight.
Meanwhile, the radio app's design has been given a rethink for its Android debut, following the design and navigation notions of Google's homemade apps which should hopefully making sense to any seasoned Android 4.0 user. The BBC's Executive Producer James Simcock explains exactly what's been done differently at the source, but if you're not a "reading" kind of... reader, there's a trailer after the break.
Filed under: Cellphones, Tablets
Source: BBC, BBC iPlayer radio (Google Play)
Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/Gv9R3iQSx_s/
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Wednesday, April 24, 2013
Tweetbot iOS app update brings new media timeline, redesigned image viewer
Twitter client Tweetbot showed its support for Flickr and Vine in the last update to its iOS apps, and making media easier to consume is again a focal point in newly released version 2.8. Debuting with the update is the "media timeline" -- a feed option which'll only shows tweets that include pictures or video. Also, the in-app image viewer has been treated to a full redesign and among the obligatory bug fixes, issues plaguing Instagram previews have been addressed. The update isn't all about pics and clips, though, as the tweet detail view has now been amended so it shows favorite and retweet figures. If you haven't yet received the update, you know where to go. Alternatively, if you don't use the client but like the idea of putting eye-candy in the spotlight, then Tweetbot can be had for $2.99 from the App Store.
Filed under: Cellphones, Tablets, Software, Mobile
Source: iTunes App Store (iPhone/iPod Touch), (iPad)
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With New Ad Units, Vibrant Media Comes To Smartphones And Tablets
Vibrant Media, which powers in-text ads and other contextual ad products, is going cross-platform today with the launch of a number of new units. Some of those ad units are entirely new to Vibrant's lineup, while others take the company's desktop ads and optimize them for touch interactions. CEO Cella Irvine told me that there's growing interest from ad agencies in campaigns that span desktops, smartphones, and tablets, and also in mobile-specific campaigns. Some of Vibrant's existing ad units already worked on mobile, she said, but they weren't really designed for non-desktop devices. The goal with today's launch is to make sure "the experience is native to the device."Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/39OWsU1c4ec/
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Asia stocks up on US company earns, home sales
BANGKOK (AP) ? An increase in new U.S. home sales and strong corporate earnings across a range of industries lifted investment sentiment in Asia, where most stock markets rose Wednesday.
Luxury handbag maker Coach, Lockheed Martin and DuPont reported results that were better than analysts expected. Netflix, which streams TV shows and movies over the Internet, announced profits that delighted investors. Meanwhile, the U.S. government reported that sales of new homes rose 1.5 percent in March, adding to evidence of a sustained housing recovery.
That offset results of a survey into manufacturing conditions among the 17 European Union countries that use the euro. The monthly purchasing managers' index fell to a 3-month low in April.
"Sentiment was upbeat yesterday as solid US earnings and new home sales data helped equities shrug off disappointing PMI data earlier in the day," Gary Yau at Credit Agricole CIB said in a commentary.
Japan's Nikkei 225 index jumped 1.3 percent to 13,703.62. Hong Kong's Hang Seng rose 1 percent to 22,014.90. South Korea's Kospi rose 0.8 percent to 1,933.83. Australia's S&P/ASX 200 jumped 1.4 percent to 5,087.90.
On Wall Street, corporate earnings propelled all three major indexes higher. The Dow Jones industrial average climbed 1.1 percent, to close at 14,719.46. The S&P 500 index rose 1 percent to 1,578.78. The Nasdaq composite rose 1.1 percent to 3,269.33.
Later Wednesday in the U.S., consumer goods giant Procter & Gamble, drug maker Eli Lilly and Boeing will release earnings. United Parcel Service, Exxon Mobil and Amazon are among the corporations that will do so on Thursday.
Benchmark oil for June delivery was up 20 cents to $89.38 per barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract fell 1 cent to close at $89.18 a barrel on the Nymex on Tuesday.
In currencies, the euro rose slightly to $1.2993 from $1.2991 late Tuesday in New York. The dollar fell to 99.30 yen from 99.44 yen.
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Tuesday, April 23, 2013
The Board Game Family Best Board Games 2012 - Nominees are in ...
Are you ready to find out what the best board games and card games are from 2012?
While we don?t quite have that answer for you yet, we do have the list of nominations. And it?s quite the list!
Thousands of board games are published each year!
A couple months ago, I saw a chart that shows how many new board games are published every year. The chart is derived from the immense database at BoardGameGeek.com (BGG). If you want to know something about any board game ever made -check BGG.
I was amazed that there were more than 3,000 new board games published in 2012!
So how on earth can we say which are the best?
There?s no way to play them all. So for that, we turn to game reviews and players around the world. And we?ve found the best compilation comes from The Dice Tower Awards.
Here?s the list of nominations for Best Board Games of 2012.
Game of the Year:
- Android: Netrunner
- CO2
- Descent, 2nd Edition
- Lords of Waterdeep
- Mage Wars
- Mice and Mystics
- Robinson Crusoe: Adventures on the Cursed Island
- Space Cadets
- Spartacus
- Star Wars: X-wing Miniatures Game
Let the battles begin!
Best Family Game Nominees:
- Lords of Waterdeep
- Love Letter
- Marvel: Legendary
- Smash Up
- Space Cadets
Best New Game Designer Nominees: (for any designer?s first or second published game)
- Lords of Waterdeep: by Peter Lee and Rodney Thompson
- Mage Wars: by Bryan and Benjamin Pope
- Mice and Mystics: by Jerry Hawthorne
- Space Cadets: by Brian, Geoff, and Sydney Engelstein
- Spartacus: A Game of Blood and Treachery: by Aaron Dill, John Kovaleski, and Sean Sweigart
The box comes packed with game goodies.
Best Game Reprint Nominees:
- Android: Netrunner
- Descent, 2nd Edition
- Merchant of Venus, 2nd Edition
- Sentinels of the Multiverse
- War of the Ring, 2nd Edition
Best Production Values Nominees:
- Descent, 2nd Edition
- Mice and Mystics
- Tzolk?in: The Mayan Calendar
- Star Wars: X-wing Miniatures Game
- Zombicide
Best Small Publisher Nominees: (five or less published board games)
- Agents of SMERSH: 8th Summit Games
- Empires of the Void: Red Raven Games
- Mage Wars: Arcane Wonders
- Mice and Mystics: Plaid Hat Games
- Spartacus: A Game of Blood and Treachery: Gale Force 9
More party fun!
Best Party Game Nominees:
Best Game Expansion Nominees:
- 7 Wonders: Cities
- Alien Frontiers: Factions
- Core Worlds: Galactic Orders
- King of Tokyo: Power Up!
- Mage Knight Board Game: The Lost Legion
Most Innovative Game Nominees:
- Escape: The Curse of the Temple
- Flowerfall
- Mage Wars
- Space Cadets
- Tzolk?in: The Mayan Calendar
Best Game Artwork Nominees:
- Libertalia: art done by Ben Carre and Stephane Gantiez
- Marvel: Legendary: art done by Julius Abrea, Bien Flores, Katrina Mae Hao, Ray Anthony Height, Jay David Ramos, Nigel Raynor, Kevin Sharpe, The Marvel Bullpen, Tony Kordos, Brian ?Tots? Valerz, and Will Conrad
- Mice and Mystics: art done by John Ariosa
- Seasons: art done by Xavier Gueniffey Durin
- Smash Up: art done by Dave Allsop, Bruno Balixa, Conceptopolis, and Francisco Rico Torres
Best War Games Nominees:
- 1812: The Invasion of Canada
- 1989: Dawn of Freedom
- Andean Abyss
- Thunderbolt Apache Leader
- Virgin Queen
Best Game Theme Nominees:
- CO2
- Mice and Mystics
- Robinson Crusoe: Adventures on the Cursed Island
- Space Cadets
- Spartacus
We haven?t yet played most of the board games and card games on these lists. But there are a bunch of them that I?m very interested in getting to the table before casting my votes. Wish me luck!
The final judging won?t take place until mid-summer since that will give judges more tine to play the nominated games for final judgement.
We also know that truly judging the merits of a board games takes time. Some games may be good initially, but will fade when the shiny ?hotness? wears off. That?s why we also like to take a look at winners from years past and see if those games are still considered great board games.
Check out the top board games from years past:
2011 ? Best Game of the Year Winner: Eclipse
2010 ? Best Game of the Year Winner: 7 Wonders
2009 ? Best Game of the Year Winner: Smallworld
2008 ? Best Game of the Year Winner: Dominion
2007 ? Best Game of the Year Winner: Race for the Galaxy
?
Source: http://www.theboardgamefamily.com/2013/04/best-board-games-2012-nominees/
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